My company supplies me with a very nice HP nc2400. Much faster, more memory, etc than my old HP nc4010.
Problem is the drive is not swappable, and they encrypt the drive (the OS is XP).
The nc2400 has a DVD/CDRW and 2 USB 2.0 ports so I was thinking.....
Make a Live DVD with everything I need but map
/etc /root /home and /var/log (and what else?) to a USB flash drive (16Gb are available and I was just sent a PR on a 32Gb, maybe I can get an eval device :) ).
So first I would want a bootable DVD that would have everything I want to have running on the cd2400. And of course, everytime one of the components get updated, I will have to build a new DVD.
Then I would like to run within XEN my company's XP image on that encrypted drive. Is this possible. If I could do this, I can move the nc2400 as my 'workhorse', downgrade my nc4010 to my test box, and reallocate the Toshiba 3490 to the family.... And more importantly one less box to carry when traveling!
I guess one thing in this whole equation will I be able to repartition the USB flash drive with a swap partition (will probably never use, as there is 1.5Gb memory in the nc2400. Twice as much as the nc4010), and an ext3 data partition? Or should I use LVM on it?
Not to pitch another distro, but knoppix and dsl do pretty much what are looking for ,minus the xen. What I would propose though is to run vmware P2V (now called converter) on your XP machine. It will export a vmware image of that drive, then just format that sucker, install centos and vmware and run your corp image inside of that. It's what I do at work and it has always worked splendidly.
On 1/5/08, Robert Moskowitz rgm@htt-consult.com wrote:
My company supplies me with a very nice HP nc2400. Much faster, more memory, etc than my old HP nc4010.
Problem is the drive is not swappable, and they encrypt the drive (the OS is XP).
The nc2400 has a DVD/CDRW and 2 USB 2.0 ports so I was thinking.....
Make a Live DVD with everything I need but map
/etc /root /home and /var/log (and what else?) to a USB flash drive (16Gb are available and I was just sent a PR on a 32Gb, maybe I can get an eval device :) ).
So first I would want a bootable DVD that would have everything I want to have running on the cd2400. And of course, everytime one of the components get updated, I will have to build a new DVD.
Then I would like to run within XEN my company's XP image on that encrypted drive. Is this possible. If I could do this, I can move the nc2400 as my 'workhorse', downgrade my nc4010 to my test box, and reallocate the Toshiba 3490 to the family.... And more importantly one less box to carry when traveling!
I guess one thing in this whole equation will I be able to repartition the USB flash drive with a swap partition (will probably never use, as there is 1.5Gb memory in the nc2400. Twice as much as the nc4010), and an ext3 data partition? Or should I use LVM on it?
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Jason Clark wrote:
Not to pitch another distro, but knoppix and dsl do pretty much what are looking for ,minus the xen.
I am using DSL 4.2 on a Libretto, so I will first be testing booting the nc2400 off a DSL live CD.
What I would propose though is to run vmware P2V (now called converter) on your XP machine. It will export a vmware image of that drive, then just format that sucker, install centos and vmware and run your corp image inside of that. It's what I do at work and it has always worked splendidly.
I CANNOT touch the drive. I have to leave it and its encrypted XP alone. In fact I think it will be rather hard to get the encyrption off the drive without blowing the MSB and partition tables.
And they force XP updates down to me that I have no choice to 'install later'. Rather my only choice once they pop up on the box is when to reboot...
It would be nice, but question about how much work Live CD is. Perhaps I should pull the current one down and boot it for kicks...
On 1/5/08, *Robert Moskowitz* <rgm@htt-consult.com mailto:rgm@htt-consult.com> wrote:
My company supplies me with a very nice HP nc2400. Much faster, more memory, etc than my old HP nc4010. Problem is the drive is not swappable, and they encrypt the drive (the OS is XP). The nc2400 has a DVD/CDRW and 2 USB 2.0 ports so I was thinking..... Make a Live DVD with everything I need but map /etc /root /home and /var/log (and what else?) to a USB flash drive (16Gb are available and I was just sent a PR on a 32Gb, maybe I can get an eval device :) ). So first I would want a bootable DVD that would have everything I want to have running on the cd2400. And of course, everytime one of the components get updated, I will have to build a new DVD. Then I would like to run within XEN my company's XP image on that encrypted drive. Is this possible. If I could do this, I can move the nc2400 as my 'workhorse', downgrade my nc4010 to my test box, and reallocate the Toshiba 3490 to the family.... And more importantly one less box to carry when traveling! I guess one thing in this whole equation will I be able to repartition the USB flash drive with a swap partition (will probably never use, as there is 1.5Gb memory in the nc2400. Twice as much as the nc4010), and an ext3 data partition? Or should I use LVM on it? _______________________________________________ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org <mailto:CentOS@centos.org> http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos-- Jason Luck favors the prepared.
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Robert Moskowitz wrote:
My company supplies me with a very nice HP nc2400. Much faster, more memory, etc than my old HP nc4010.
Problem is the drive is not swappable, and they encrypt the drive (the OS is XP).
The nc2400 has a DVD/CDRW and 2 USB 2.0 ports so I was thinking.....
Make a Live DVD with everything I need but map
/etc /root /home and /var/log (and what else?) to a USB flash drive (16Gb are available and I was just sent a PR on a 32Gb, maybe I can get an eval device :) ).
If you can boot from USB, why not get one of the laptop-drive based external units that are available up to 250 gigs now and do a full install on it?
Les Mikesell wrote:
Robert Moskowitz wrote:
My company supplies me with a very nice HP nc2400. Much faster, more memory, etc than my old HP nc4010.
Problem is the drive is not swappable, and they encrypt the drive (the OS is XP).
The nc2400 has a DVD/CDRW and 2 USB 2.0 ports so I was thinking.....
Make a Live DVD with everything I need but map
/etc /root /home and /var/log (and what else?) to a USB flash drive (16Gb are available and I was just sent a PR on a 32Gb, maybe I can get an eval device :) ).
If you can boot from USB, why not get one of the laptop-drive based external units that are available up to 250 gigs now and do a full install on it?
Duh......
I would have to get one that can be powered from that one USB port (fairly rare, the few that I have require external power or the power from a 2nd USB port). I would also have to be able to strap it to the bottom of the unit for easy management on a plane.
Though if I can get that 32Gb USB flash drive that might almost be enough....
And too bad not a larger Compact Flash MicroDrive. Hey, wait. I run my Libretto's DSL off of one.... I can put one in a PCMCIA holder and map the swap drive to it and.... Now I am cooking. Maybe.
But still down to can XEN run the content of the encrypted drive. How do I find out?
On Sunday 06 January 2008 08:35:13 Robert Moskowitz wrote:
Les Mikesell wrote:
Robert Moskowitz wrote:
My company supplies me with a very nice HP nc2400. Much faster, more memory, etc than my old HP nc4010.
Problem is the drive is not swappable, and they encrypt the drive (the OS is XP).
The nc2400 has a DVD/CDRW and 2 USB 2.0 ports so I was thinking.....
Make a Live DVD with everything I need but map
/etc /root /home and /var/log (and what else?) to a USB flash drive (16Gb are available and I was just sent a PR on a 32Gb, maybe I can get an eval device :) ).
If you can boot from USB, why not get one of the laptop-drive based external units that are available up to 250 gigs now and do a full install on it?
Duh......
I would have to get one that can be powered from that one USB port (fairly rare, the few that I have require external power or the power from a 2nd USB port). I would also have to be able to strap it to the bottom of the unit for easy management on a plane.
Though if I can get that 32Gb USB flash drive that might almost be enough....
And too bad not a larger Compact Flash MicroDrive. Hey, wait. I run my Libretto's DSL off of one.... I can put one in a PCMCIA holder and map the swap drive to it and.... Now I am cooking. Maybe.
But still down to can XEN run the content of the encrypted drive. How do I find out?
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
I have a external USB HD enclosure that takes its power from the one USB socket. Its only failed to do so on one oldish tower that a friend of mine has, on that machine it needed the second "power" connection. Got it from Ebay. You might find that mounting /swap on a solid state device brings about its early demise. They can't be written to indefinitely. Looking at my two external HD enclosures the one in question has an IDE hard drive in it and the other which quite often need a double connection, (though not when connected to this note book HP 510), has the original SATA hard drive that was in this note book when I first purchased it. Note book runs Mandriva 2008. (puts tin helmet on !)
John Bowden wrote:
I have a external USB HD enclosure that takes its power from the one USB socket. Its only failed to do so on one oldish tower that a friend of mine has, on that machine it needed the second "power" connection. Got it from Ebay
thts also out of spec, as USB is speced for 2.5 watts, 500mA at 5V, per port. Typlical laptop HD is like 5 watts, more when spinning up.
yes, I know it usually works. just saying...
on 1/7/2008 1:46 AM John R Pierce spake the following:
John Bowden wrote:
I have a external USB HD enclosure that takes its power from the one USB socket. Its only failed to do so on one oldish tower that a friend of mine has, on that machine it needed the second "power" connection. Got it from Ebay
thts also out of spec, as USB is speced for 2.5 watts, 500mA at 5V, per port. Typlical laptop HD is like 5 watts, more when spinning up.
yes, I know it usually works. just saying...
Sometimes you can find small 4 to 6 gig closeout drives with lower power requirements. And you can look around for 1.8 inch drives and enclosures. That should run on a single port.
Just to let you all know (and the reason for top posting)....
The install of Centos with XEN went with no problems. Just had to be VERY careful and NOT touch hda1.
Booting was taking 10min or more. Timeouts. On study, it was USB related and the drive I am using is .7A (3.5W ie more than USB spec...). So I have to look for a .5A drive! BTW, I have some internal IDE 3.5:2.5 converters and these are ONLY booting .5A laptop drives. Won't even spin up .7A drives.
But the big looser with my dreams is running XP inside of XEN. You have to set up an LVM partition then install XP into it withing XEN. And I cannot touch that drive.
Sigh. Back to other projects.
Scott Silva wrote:
on 1/7/2008 1:46 AM John R Pierce spake the following:
John Bowden wrote:
I have a external USB HD enclosure that takes its power from the one USB socket. Its only failed to do so on one oldish tower that a friend of mine has, on that machine it needed the second "power" connection. Got it from Ebay
thts also out of spec, as USB is speced for 2.5 watts, 500mA at 5V, per port. Typlical laptop HD is like 5 watts, more when spinning up.
yes, I know it usually works. just saying...
Sometimes you can find small 4 to 6 gig closeout drives with lower power requirements. And you can look around for 1.8 inch drives and enclosures. That should run on a single port.
-----Original Message----- From: centos-bounces@centos.org [mailto:centos-bounces@centos.org] On Behalf Of Robert Moskowitz Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 19:25 To: CentOS mailing list Subject: Re: [CentOS] Re: Live CD Planning systems
But the big looser with my dreams is running XP inside of XEN. You have to set up an LVM partition then install XP into it withing XEN. And I cannot touch that drive.
Have you tried Vmware?
We have used it many a time to mount a physical drive and boot it.
Sigh. Back to other projects.
Scott Silva wrote:
on 1/7/2008 1:46 AM John R Pierce spake the following:
John Bowden wrote:
I have a external USB HD enclosure that takes its power
from the one
USB socket. Its only failed to do so on one oldish tower that a friend of mine has, on that machine it needed the second "power" connection. Got it from Ebay
thts also out of spec, as USB is speced for 2.5 watts,
500mA at 5V,
per port. Typlical laptop HD is like 5 watts, more when
spinning up.
yes, I know it usually works. just saying...
Sometimes you can find small 4 to 6 gig closeout drives with lower power requirements. And you can look around for 1.8 inch drives and enclosures. That should run on a single port.
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- - - - Jason Pyeron PD Inc. http://www.pdinc.us - - Sr. Consultant 10 West 24th Street #100 - - +1 (443) 269-1555 x333 Baltimore, Maryland 21218 - - - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
This message is for the designated recipient only and may contain privileged, proprietary, or otherwise private information. If you have received it in error, purge the message from your system and notify the sender immediately. Any other use of the email by you is prohibited.
Jason Pyeron wrote:
-----Original Message----- From: centos-bounces@centos.org [mailto:centos-bounces@centos.org] On Behalf Of Robert Moskowitz Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 19:25 To: CentOS mailing list Subject: Re: [CentOS] Re: Live CD Planning systems
But the big looser with my dreams is running XP inside of XEN. You have to set up an LVM partition then install XP into it withing XEN. And I cannot touch that drive.
Have you tried Vmware?
We have used it many a time to mount a physical drive and boot it.
oh, I thought VMware had the same limitations. So the OS on the physical drive was installed directly with that OS, no touching it by VMware?
It is strictly hands off the drive in this case.
Sigh. Back to other projects.
Scott Silva wrote:
on 1/7/2008 1:46 AM John R Pierce spake the following:
John Bowden wrote:
I have a external USB HD enclosure that takes its power
from the one
USB socket. Its only failed to do so on one oldish tower that a friend of mine has, on that machine it needed the second "power" connection. Got it from Ebay
thts also out of spec, as USB is speced for 2.5 watts,
500mA at 5V,
per port. Typlical laptop HD is like 5 watts, more when
spinning up.
yes, I know it usually works. just saying...
Sometimes you can find small 4 to 6 gig closeout drives with lower power requirements. And you can look around for 1.8 inch drives and enclosures. That should run on a single port.
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
-- Jason Pyeron PD Inc. http://www.pdinc.us -
- Sr. Consultant 10 West 24th Street #100 -
- +1 (443) 269-1555 x333 Baltimore, Maryland 21218 -
--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
This message is for the designated recipient only and may contain privileged, proprietary, or otherwise private information. If you have received it in error, purge the message from your system and notify the sender immediately. Any other use of the email by you is prohibited.
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
-----Original Message----- From: centos-bounces@centos.org [mailto:centos-bounces@centos.org] On Behalf Of Robert Moskowitz Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 20:02 To: CentOS mailing list Subject: Re: [CentOS] Re: Live CD Planning systems
Jason Pyeron wrote:
-----Original Message----- From: centos-bounces@centos.org [mailto:centos-bounces@centos.org] On Behalf Of Robert Moskowitz Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 19:25 To: CentOS mailing list Subject: Re: [CentOS] Re: Live CD Planning systems
But the big looser with my dreams is running XP inside of XEN. You have to set up an LVM partition then install XP into it withing
XEN. And I
cannot touch that drive.
Have you tried Vmware?
We have used it many a time to mount a physical drive and boot it.
oh, I thought VMware had the same limitations. So the OS on the physical drive was installed directly with that OS, no touching it by VMware?
It is strictly hands off the drive in this case.
The existing computers were remove from their cpu/cases and installed as extra drives in our VMWare hosts.
We then created new vm instances and pointed them to a the /dev/hdx (physical drive) for the presentation of the guest OS.
Now for the caveats. Some Os'es and configs wont like the hardware change. Are you allowed to clone the drive? If so the try with the clone first. If not where are the ramifications of hosing the XP install (accidentally). VMWare reccommends running a prep tool first (we don't use it).
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- - - - Jason Pyeron PD Inc. http://www.pdinc.us - - Sr. Consultant 10 West 24th Street #100 - - +1 (443) 269-1555 x333 Baltimore, Maryland 21218 - - - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
This message is for the designated recipient only and may contain privileged, proprietary, or otherwise private information. If you have received it in error, purge the message from your system and notify the sender immediately. Any other use of the email by you is prohibited.
Jason Pyeron wrote:
-----Original Message----- From: centos-bounces@centos.org [mailto:centos-bounces@centos.org] On Behalf Of Robert Moskowitz Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 20:02 To: CentOS mailing list Subject: Re: [CentOS] Re: Live CD Planning systems
Jason Pyeron wrote:
-----Original Message----- From: centos-bounces@centos.org [mailto:centos-bounces@centos.org] On Behalf Of Robert Moskowitz Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 19:25 To: CentOS mailing list Subject: Re: [CentOS] Re: Live CD Planning systems
But the big looser with my dreams is running XP inside of XEN. You have to set up an LVM partition then install XP into it withing
XEN. And I
cannot touch that drive.
Have you tried Vmware?
We have used it many a time to mount a physical drive and boot it.
oh, I thought VMware had the same limitations. So the OS on the physical drive was installed directly with that OS, no touching it by VMware?
It is strictly hands off the drive in this case.
The existing computers were remove from their cpu/cases and installed as extra drives in our VMWare hosts.
We then created new vm instances and pointed them to a the /dev/hdx (physical drive) for the presentation of the guest OS.
Now for the caveats. Some Os'es and configs wont like the hardware change. Are you allowed to clone the drive? If so the try with the clone first. If not where are the ramifications of hosing the XP install (accidentally). VMWare reccommends running a prep tool first (we don't use it).
Fortunately I am going the other direction. The XP drive stays in the system.
I will have a Centos install on a USB attached drive. To this I will add VMware to boot up and run the OS on that drive.
Well, thank you for this input. I will put it on sort of a back burner. I received company email saying that we will be getting Dell 630s later this month to fit in with the greater company standard. I am not happy to get an even larger unit.
-
Jason Clark -
Jason Pyeron -
John Bowden -
John R Pierce -
Les Mikesell -
Robert Moskowitz -
Scott Silva