Monthly Archives: May 2014

Virtualization, XenServer

Compiling RocketRaid 3510 driver for XenServer 6.2

A while ago I decided to convert one of my workstations into a hypervisor so I could run VMs entirely separate from my main desktop. The specs on this machine are:

  • Intel Core i7-950
  • Asus Maximus Gene III
  • 6x2GB Corsair 1600 DDR-3 CAS9
  • 1GB Radeon 5450
  • 120GB Intel 320
  • HighPoint RocketRAID 3510 running 3x500GB WD RE3 drives in RAID5
  • Cosair VX550 PSU
  • Corsair H70 with Scythe GT fans
  • Antec Mini P180

I wanted to try VMware ESXi but there’s no driver support for the RocketRAID 3510 and I didn’t feel like purchasing a supported raid card. I tried Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 for a bit since it can load normal Windows drivers; I was able to get the RocketRAID recognized easily. Too bad I could never figure out how to get the management console on my workstation to connect properly (access denied every time). I went back to XenServer (which I used extensively at work) and after lots of Google, managed to figure out how to compile a custom driver for the RocketRAID 3510.

Most of this information came from a now defunct blog which is my motivation for creating this post and this blog; to make sure important information doesn’t get lost.

First you need to download and import the “DDK (Driver Development Kit) 6.2.0” VM appliance from Citrix. This appliance will be used to download and compile the drivers.

At the terminal on the DDK VM run:

Next we extract the source code:

Go into the newly extracted folder:

Compile the driver:

Now we need to copy the hptiop.ko kernel driver to our XenServer:

Now at the terminal on our XenServer we install the driver:

Now we have compiled and installed a driver for the RocketRAID 3510 but we still need to create the storage repository manually; I used the KB article from Citrix to do that – http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX121313

Windows

Create USB Installer for Windows 7

Sometimes I don’t remember all the commands for creating a USB installer for Windows 7; most of the time I google “ars technica usb install” to look at their great article. But here are the commands I like to use (slight variation from Ars Technica):

Open a command prompt window as administrator:

Now you can copy the contents of your Windows ISO to your flash drive and boot from it to install Windows.

PC peripherals

Fix Logitech G700 double-click issue

Update 9/5/23: For whatever reason traffic to this old post is gaining traction from Google searches. The real solution to this is to replace the switches as outlined in my newer posts on the G Pro Wireless and G900/G903.
Here’s a YouTube video demonstrating disassembly and switch replacement the G700: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK7vwgZ7O28.

Recently my G700 started experiencing the double-click issue; unfortunately it is out of warranty. Searching around on the internet I found a guide on how to fix it here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Repair-mouse-with-double-click-problem/

The mouse in the guide is a different model but the actual switch unit is the same (Omron D2FC-F-7N).  In the process of fixing my G700, I managed to damage one of the mouse feet at the bottom. I bought my replacement feet for the G700 from Cooler Guys. These mouse feet are made by Corepad; they glide much smoother than the original feet and come in sets of 2.

MS Exchange

How to Uninstall Exchange 2013 on Server 2012

Last year I set up 2012 AD and Exchange 2013 for testing in my home lab (Citrix XenServer 6.2 on i7-950, 12GB DDR3, Rocketraid 3510). Fast forward to this year where I remembered Exchange 2013 Service Pack 1 is finally supported on Server 2012 R2. I wanted to do a clean install of Exchange Service Pack 1 onto a Server 2012 R2 VM in my AD environment, so I needed to uninstall Exchange 2013 first. However, removing Exchange isn’t as simple and going to Add/Remove Programs. If you do that first without anything else, you will get a wall of text like the one below:

exchange_2013_uninstall_error

Fortunately after some googling, I found the commands to successfully remove Exchange 2013 thanks to this blog post:

Now you can uninstall Exchange 2013 from Add/Remove Programs.