AsRock EP2C612D16C-4L Server Motherboard Review

ASRock opened the motherboard floodgates on Tuesday to reveal 17 new C612 motherboards for servers and workstations. This new series supports DDR4 memory modules and Intel's Xeon E5-2600 v3 and ES-1600 v3 "Haswell-EP" processors.

In the first group, High Performance Computing Servers, ASRock provides the EP2C612D16-2L2T and EP2C612D16-4L. These motherboards feature dual CPU sockets, 16 DDR4 DIMM slots, 10 SATA 3 ports via Intel and 2 SATA 3 ports by Marvell. They also include an Aspeed AST2400 remote management controller, support for two 10G Base-T and support for two GLAN.

The next group, Cutting-edge Front PCIe Design, includes the EP2C612D16FM and the 3U8G-C612. These boards include 2 CPU sockets, 16 DDR4 DIMM slots, 10 SATA 3 ports by Intel and 2 SATA 3 ports by Marvell. The EP2C612D16FM can be installed in main storage bays with lots of drives while the 3U8G-C612 is a barebones rack.

Next up is the Thermal Optimized Servers group, which includes the EP2C612D16NM-2T8R, EP2C612D16NM-8R and EP2C612D16NM boards. These feature CPU sockets that are located in places where they will get air flow equally. There are also 16 DDR4 DIMM slots, 10 SATA 3 ports by Intel, 8 SAS3 ports by LSI, and support for 3 PCIe 3.0 x16 slots.

There are only two motherboards in the Highly Expandable Servers group: the EP2C612D16SM-2T and the EP2C612D16SM. These boards contain 6 PCIe 3.0 x8 slots, 10 SATA 3 ports by Intel and an additional mezzanine slot for a storage mezzanine card. Other features include support for the Aspeed AST2400 remote management controller and support for GLAN.

The next batch, ATX Compact Storage with Onboard SAS3, includes three motherboards: the EP2C612D8-2T8R, EP2C612D8-8R and EP2C612D8. These set of boards include 10 SATA 3 ports by Intel, 8 SAS3 ports controlled by an LSI chip, 8 DDR4 DIMM slots, an Aspeed AST2400 remote management controller, 2 PCIe 3.0 x16 slots and a single PCIe 3.0 x8 slot.

Specifications

MB Physical Status
Form Factor	- SSI EEB
Dimensions	- 12'' x 13''
Processor System
CPU	- Intel® Xeon processor E5-2600/4600 & v3 series
Socket	- Dual Socket LGA 2011 R3
Power Design	- Intel® C612
System Memory
Capacity	- 16 DIMM slots
Type	- Quad Channel memory technology - Supports 2133/1866 LR/R/ECC, UDIMM and NVDIMM
Voltage	- 1.2V
Expansion Slot
PCIe 3.0 x 16	- 3 slots
PCIe 3.0 x 8	- 2 slots (PCIE1 switch with PCIE2: x8/x8 ; PCIE3 switch with PCIE4: x8/x8 )
Storage
SATA Controller	- Intel® C612 : 10 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s, support RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 (SSATA_3 port is shared with M.2 Socket)
Additional Storage Controller	- Marvell 9172: 2 x SATA3 6Gbps, support RAID 0, 1 1 (supports M.2 SATA3 6.0 Gb/s module and M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen3 x4 (32 Gb/s))
Ethernet
Interface	- 1000 /100 /10 Mbps by Intel® i210
LAN Controller	- 4 x RJ45 GLAN by Intel® i210 - 1 x RJ45 Dedicated IPMI LAN port - Supports Wake-On-LAN - Supports Energy Efficient Ethernet 802.3az - Supports Dual LAN with Teaming function
Management
BMC Controller	- ASPEED AST2400
IPMI Dedicated LAN	- 1 x Realtek RTL8211E for dedicated management GLAN
Features	- Watch Dog - NMI
Graphics
Controller	- ASPEED AST2400
VRAM	- DDR3 16MB
Rear Panel I/O
VGA Port	- 1 x D-Sub
USB 3.0 Port	- 2
Lan Port	- 4 + 1 (IPMI) Lan port (RJ45) - LAN Ports with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED)
Serial Port	- 1 (COM1)
UID Button/UID LED	- 1
Internal Connector
COM Port Header	- 1 (COM2)
Auxiliary Panel Header	- 1 (includes chassis intrusion, location button & LED, front LAN LED)
TPM Header	- 1
IPMB Header	- 1
Buzzer	- 1
Fan Header	- 2x CPU Fan, 6x system Fan (4-pin)
ATX Power	- 1 (24-pin) + 2 (8-pin)
USB 3.0 Header	- 1 ( support 2 USB 3.0)
USB 2.0 Header	- 1 ( support 2 USB 2.0)
Type A USB 3.0 Port	- 1
System BIOS
BIOS Type	- 128Mb AMI UEFI Legal BIOS
BIOS Features	- Plug and Play (PnP) - ACPI 2.0 Compliance Wake Up Events - SMBIOS 2.8.1 Support - ASRock Rack Instant Flash
Hardware Monitor
Temperature	- Motherboard Temperature Sensing - CPU1 Temperature Sensing - CPU2 Temperature Sensing
Fan	- CPU/Rear/Front Fan Tachometer - CPU Quiet Fan (Allow CPU Fan Speed Auto-Adjust by CPU Temperature) - CPU/Rear/Front Fan Multi-Speed Control
Voltage	- Voltage Monitoring: +12V, +5V, +3.3V, CPU Vcore, DRAM, 1.05V_PCH, +BAT, 3VSB, 5VSB
Support OS
OS	Microsoft Windows - Server 2008 R2 SP1 (64 bit) - Server 2012 (64 bit) - Server 2012 R2 (64 bit) Linux - RedHat Enterprise Linux Server 5.10/6.5 (32 / 64 bit) - CentOS 5.10 / 6.5 (32 / 64 bit) - SUSE Enterprise Linux Server 11 SP3 (32 / 64 bit) - FreeBSD 9.1 (32 / 64 bit) - Fedora core 19 (64 bit) - Ubuntu 12.04.2 (64 bit) / 12.10 (64 bit) Virtual - VMWare ESXi 5.5 (not supported for Marvell 9172)
Environment
Temperature	Operation temperature: 10°C ~ 35°C / Non operation temperature: -40°C ~ 70°C

The next group, High Performance and High Density, consists of the EP2C612D16HM-2T and EP2C612D16HM boards. These are proprietary half-width server boards with two CPU sockets. They also include 16 DDR4 DIMM slots, 10 SATA ports by Intel, 8 SAS3 ports by LSI, and the Aspeed AST2400 remote management controller. There's also one PCIe 3.0 x16 slot.

Finally we have the Versatile Server/Work Station/IPC with Thunderbolt group, consisting of three motherboards: the EPC612D8A-TB, EPC612D8A and EPC612D8 boards. These include a single CPU socket and support for the Intel Xeon E5-1600/2600 V3 CPU. Other features include 8 DDR4 DIMM slots, 10 SATA 3 ports by Intel, the Aspeed AST2400 remote management controller, 4 PCIe 3.0 x16 slots and 1 PCIe 3.0 x8 and M.s slot. They also have two GLAN ports by Intel.

Save for the last group of motherboards with a single socket, all motherboards listed here support the Intel Xeon E5-2600/4600 v3 processor. To see more information about these 17 new ASRock boards, head to asrockrack.com.

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Understanding SCSI, ATA, SAS and SATA

For years the parallel interface has been widely used in storage systems. The need for increased bandwidth and flexibility in storage systems made the SCSI and ATA standards an inefficient option. A parallel interface is a channel capable of transferring date in parallel mode — that is transmitting multiple bits simultaneously. Almost all personal computers come with at least one parallel interface. Common parallel interfaces include SCSI and ATA.

SCSI

(sku4ze) Short for small computer system interface, a parallel interface standard used by Apple Macintosh computers, PCs and many UNIX systems for attaching peripheral devices to computers. Nearly all Apple Macintosh computers, excluding only the earliest Macs and the recent iMac, come with a SCSI port for attaching devices such as disk drives and printers. SCSI interfaces provide for data transmission rates (up to 80 megabytes per second). In addition, you can attach multiple devices to a single SCSI port, so that SCSI is really an I/O bus rather than simply an interface.

ATA

(Also known as IDE) is a disk drive implementation that integrates the controller on the disk drive itself. ATA is used to connect hard disk drives, CD-ROM drives and similar peripherals and supports 8/16-bit interface that transfer up to 8.3MB/s for ATA-2 and up to 100MB/s (ATA-6).

So, what do parallel interfaces have to do with SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) and SATA (Serial ATA)? A lot, actually. It is the architectural limitations of the parallel interfaces that serial technologies like SAS and SATA address. In contrast to multiple parallel data stream, data is transmitted serially, that is in a single steam, by wrapping multiple bits into packets and it is able to move that single stream faster than parallel technology.

Serial Attached SCSI (SAS)

Abbreviated as SAS, Serial Attached SCSI, an evolution of parallel SCSI into a point-to-point serial peripheral interface in which controllers are linked directly to disk drives. SAS is a performance improvement over traditional SCSI because SAS enables multiple devices (up to 128) of different sizes and types to be connected simultaneously with thinner and longer cables; its full-duplex signal transmission supports 3.0Gb/s. In addition, SAS drives can be hot-plugged.

Serial ATA (SATA)

Often abbreviated as SATA, Serial ATA is an evolution of the Parallel ATA physical storage interface. Serial ATA is a serial link — a single cable with a minimum of four wires creates a point-to-point connection between devices. Transfer rates for Serial ATA begin at 150MB/s.

Starting with SATA, it extends the capabilities of ATA and offers transfer rates starting at 150MB/s and, after years of development, has moved to the mainstream of disk interfaces. The successor the SCSI interface is SAS at speeds of up to 3Gb/s. Additionally, it also addresses parallel interface issues such as drive addressability and limitations on the number of device per port connection.

SAS devices can communicate with both SATA and SCSI devices (the backplanes of SAS devices are identical to SATA devices). A key difference between SCSI and SAS devices is the addition in SAS devices of two data ports, each of which resides in a different SAS domain. This enables complete failover redundancy. If one path fails, there is still communication along a separate and independent path.

Cables & Connectors

Another big advantage of SATA over ATA is the cabling and connectors. The serial interface reduces the amount of wires needed to transmit data, making for much smaller cable size and making it easier to route and install SATA devices. The IDE cables used in parallel ATA systems are bulkier than Serial ATA cables and can only extend to 40cm long, while Serial ATA cables can extend up to one meter. In addition to the cabling, a new design of connectors is also used that reduces the amount of crosstalk between the wires, and the connector design also provides easier routing and better air flow.

The Benefits of SAS & SATA in Storage

Serial interfaces offer an improvement over older parallel SCSI (with a serial version) in storage applications and environments. These benefits include better performance, better scalability, and also better reliability as the parallel interfaces are at their limits of speed with reliable data transfers. SAS and SATA drives can also operate in the same environment while SCSI and ATA cannot. For example, using faster SAS drives for primary storage and offloading older data to cheaper SATA disks in the same subsystem, something that could not be achieved with SCSI and ATA.

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OpenWrt with PPTP VPN on TP-Link TL-MR3020

The other day, I gave up trying to put OpenWrt on a TP-Link TL-WR703n. The stock firmware seems to check for valid hashes, and OpenWrt doesn’t pass the test. Until someone comes up with a hack, I’ve moved on to the TL-MR3020. From what I’ve read only, the only difference is that the MR3020 has a few status LEDs, and the stock interface is in English instead of Chinese.

Again, my plan for this router is to use it when I travel. I plan on plugging it into the ethernet port in a hotel and having it broadcast a wireless network. Any devices that join that wireless network will be VPNed in back to a PPTP VPN server at my house. This encrypts my connection, as well as gives me access to resources at home. Eventually, I’ll be upgrading the VPN server at home to OpenVPN. If you don’t know the difference between PPTP, IPSec, and OpenVPN, you should get started with this.

Install OpenWrt

First, disconnect your PC from all wired and wireless networks. Then, plug the MR3020 into your PC with a wired connection. Do not do any of this over wireless. I started off by checking my IP in Windows.

Read more about OpenWrt with PPTP VPN on TP-Link TL-MR3020 at LoganMarchione

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Comparison : PPTP vs L2TP/IPSec vs OpenVPN

	PPTP	L2TP/IPSec	OpenVPN
Background	A very basic VPN protocol based on PPP. The PPTP specification does not actually describe encryption or authentication features and relies on the PPP protocol being tunneled to implement security functionality.	An advanced protocol formally standardized in IETF RFC 3193 and now the recommended replacement for PPTP on Microsoft platforms where secure data encryption is required.	An advanced open source VPN solution backed by 'OpenVPN technologies' and which is now the de-facto standard in the open source networking space. Uses the proven SSL/TLS encryption protocol.
Data Encryption	The PPP payload is encrypted using Microsoft's Point-to-Point Encryption protocol (MPPE). MPPE implements the RSA RC4 encryption algorithm with a maximum of 128 bit session keys.	The L2TP payload is encrypted using the standardized IPSec protocol. RFC 4835 specifies either the 3DES or AES encryption algorithm for confidentiality. IVPN uses the AES algorithm with 256 bit keys. (AES-256 is the first publicly accessible and open cipher approved by the NSA for top secret information).	OpenVPN uses the OpenSSL library to provide encryption. OpenSSL supports a number of different cryptographic algorithms such as 3DES, AES, RC5, Blowfish. As with IPSec, IVPN implements the extremely secure AES algorithm with 256 bit keys.
Security weaknesses	The Microsoft implementation of PPTP has serious security vulnerabilities. MSCHAP-v2 is vulnerable to dictionary attack and the RC4 algorithm is subject to a bit-flipping attack. Microsoft strongly recommends upgrading to IPSec where confidentiality is a concern.	IPSec has no major vulnerabilities and is considered extremely secure when used with a secure encryption algorithm such as AES.	OpenVPN has no major vulnerabilities and is considered extremely secure when used with a secure encryption algorithm such as AES.
Speed	With RC4 and 128 bit keys, the encryption overhead is least of all three protocols making PPTP the fastest.	L2TP/IPSEC has a slightly higher overhead than its rivals due to double encapsulation. Comparable to OpenVPN under most conditions.	When used in its default UDP mode on a reliable network OpenVPN should perform better than L2TP/IPSec.
Ports	PPTP uses TCP port 1723 and GRE (Protocol 47). PPTP can be easily blocked by restricting the GRE protocol.	L2TP/IPSEC uses UDP 500 for the the initial key exchange, protocol 50 for the IPSEC encrypted data (ESP), UDP 1701 for the initial L2TP configuration and UDP 4500 for NAT traversal. L2TP/IPSec is easier to block than OpenVPN due to its reliance on fixed protocols and ports.	OpenVPN can be easily configured to run on any port using either UDP or TCP. To bypass restrictive firewalls, OpenVPN can be configured to use TCP on port 443.
Setup / Configuration	All versions of Windows and most other operating systems (including mobile) have native support for PPTP. PPTP only requires a username, password and server address making it incredibly simple to setup and configure.	All versions of Windows since 2000/XP and Mac OSX 10.3+ and most mobile operating systems have native support for L2TP/IPSec.	OpenVPN is not included in any operating system release and requires the installation of client software. The software installers are very user friendly and installation typically takes less than 5 minutes.
Stability / Compatibility	PPTP is not as realiable, nor does it recover as quickly as OpenVPN over unstable network connections. Minor compatibility issues with the GRE protocol and some routers.	L2TP/IPSec is more complex than OpenVPN and can be more difficult to configure to work reliably between devices behind NAT routers. However as long as both the server and client support NAT traversal, there should be few issues. In practice L2TP/IPSec has shown itself it be as reliable and stable as OpenVPN for IVPN customers.	Very stable and fast over wireless, cellular and other non reliable networks where packet loss and congestion is common. OpenVPN has a TCP mode for highly unreliable connections but this mode sacrifices some speed due to the ineffeciency of encapsulating TCP within TCP.
Client compatibility	Windows Mac OSX Linux Apple iOS Android DD-WRT	Windows Mac OSX Linux iOS Android	Windows Mac OSX Linux Android IOS DD-WRT (with the correct build)
Conclusion	Due to the major security flaws, there is no good reason to choose PPTP other than device compatibility. If you have a device on which neither L2TP/IPsec or OpenVPN is supported then it may be a reasonable choice. If quick setup and easy configuration are a concern then L2TP/IPsec should be considered.	L2TP/IPSec is an excellent choice but falls slightly short of OpenVPN's high performance and excellent stability. If you are using a mobile device running iOS (iPhone) or Android then it is the fastest to setup and configure as it is supported natively.	OpenVPN is the best choice for all platforms. It is extremely fast, secure and reliable. Additionally, the IVPN multihop network is only available when connecting via OpenVPN. The only minor downside is the requirement to install the software client but on most platforms this only takes a few minutes.

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Iranian anti-censorship software ‘Simurgh’ circulated with malicious backdoor

Simurgh is an Iranian stand-alone proxy software for Microsoft Windows. It has been used mainly by Iranian users to bypass censorship since 2009. The downloadable file is less than 1 MB and can be downloaded within a reasonable amount of time even with a slow internet connection, which makes it convenient for many users in Iran. Simurgh runs without prior installation or administrator privileges on the computer and therefore, can be copied and used from a USB flash drive on any shared computer (i.e Internet cafes).

Simurgh is available for free download from its official website https://simurghesabz.net. After running the executable file, a user interface (see below) opens. When the user clicks “Start”, Simurgh will attempt to establish a secure connection. The web browser will then open a new window to provide users with a test page, confirming their secure connection originating from a different country.

Download PDF version

Click here to read an update to the post. (Last updated: May 30)

Click here to read the post in Farsi.

Click here to read media coverage on this post.

It has recently come to our attention that this software is being recommended and circulated among Syrian Internet users for bypassing censorship in their country. This information led to the discovery and analysis of a back-doored version of this software.

The malicious copy will install the Simurgh software, but will also install an undesirable backdoor on the victim’s computer. This software is distributed as “Simurgh-setup.zip” and is identifiable via the following md5 and sha256 hashes:

5e2a714fdfc2309af843056e8c5ae7d3 Simurgh-setup.zip
9c1a238d87e3bad41708c2e98f753442a224ed9df994e1a34083b2bf336047e5 Simurgh-setup.zip

When you unzip this file you are presented with Simurgh-setup.exe

379480c807812f3521466f7ff5ffa273 Simurgh-setup.exe
e20438a4cf90b67dab613451cc5b3bc35256413461dafdfc35425429d8d478df Simurgh-setup.exe

The installer from the most recent legitimate version of Simurgh looks like this:

Executing the malicious version starts an installation dialogue which looks like this:

In addition to creating a copy of Simurgh in:

C:\Program Files\Simurgh\Simurgh.exe

The malicious GUI installer drops 4 binaries in C:\windows\system32\drivers:

MSINET.OCX – 73da54b69911bdd08ea8bbbd508f815ef7cfa59c4684d75c1c602252ec88ee31
richtx32.ocx – 318cc48cbcfaba9592956e4298886823cc5f37626c770d6dadbcd224849680c5
shdocvw.dll – fdae6764d190bf265dbc2df352174ccdcc97b1680545e348f1ee1111b0808693
lsass.exe – 9320d247dd94f610f31037df8eda75fe79991f126d2e55d35a9532d09ff79896

The first three files are legitimate Microsoft system files which appear to be dependencies of the fourth, ‘lsass.exe’. This file is VB6 native code and is installed as an implant to allow persistent access to the victim’s computer and to provide data exfiltration capabilities.

As part of the installation the following registry entry is written which ensures the running of the Trojan on logon:

HKLM\software\microsoft\windows nt\currentversion\winlogon\shell explorer.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\lsass.exe REG_SZ 0

On startup, ‘lsass.exe’ deletes ‘C:\WINDOWS\Media\Windows XP Start.wav’. This file is the ‘navigation’ sound in Explorer, IE, and other applications based on a common set of controls. Since ‘lsass.exe’ uses several of these controls, this is presumably done to prevent ‘clicking’ sounds during the operation of the implant. However, this will also lead to a lack of navigation sounds in other applications, where they would be expected.

In addition to ensuring persistence, ‘lsass.exe’ enumerates basic details of the system (IP address, hostname, victim username) and provides keylogging functionality. This binary contains three javascript files which are written out as the text files:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\win.txt
C:\WINDOWS\system32\1.txt
C:\WINDOWS\system32\2.txt

These act as basic HTML templates for data mined from the victim’s system (such as keystrokes). Processing of ‘win.txt’ renames it to ‘upl.htm’ which is then sent via HTTP post request to a remote site registered with a Saudi Arabian ISP.

If this Trojan is found to be installed on a computer one must consider all online accounts (E-mail, banking, etc.) to have been compromised and it is advised that all online passwords be changed as soon as possible. While this Trojan is detected by most anti-virus software as malicious, AV software cannot always be guaranteed to clean up an infected system and a full re-install is suggested.

This Trojan has been specifically crafted to target people attempting to evade government censorship. Given the intended purpose of this software, users must be very careful if they have been infected by this Trojan. Additionally, they should be cautious about installing software, especially circumvention software, from untrusted sources. Where possible, software should be downloaded from trusted official websites over HTTPS. If checksums or cryptographic signatures are provided by the software vendor, these should be checked prior to installation.

UPDATED: May 30, 2012

Media coverage

• Toronto Star
• Slashdot
• BBC News
• Der Spiegel
• The Register
• CNET
• Sophos’s Naked Security blog
• CSO Australia
• Computerworld
• Infosecurity Magazine
• The Hosting News
• eSecurity Planet
• Ping! Zine Web Tech Magazine
• Threatpost
• Help Net Security

Since our report was published, the Simurgh team has taken several important steps to warn their users about this threat.

The Simurgh team warns their users directly on the website https://simurghesabz.net/ with a prominent message in Arabic, Farsi and English about the malicious versions of the software. They post MD5 checksums of the official binaries and malicious packages, as well as instructions for how to check MD5 checksums against downloaded software. If you use Simurgh you should immediately compare your installer against the checksums posted on the official site.

You can also find these checksums below:

Official binaries
– simurgh120.20100910.exe – 07855ead46bb15718ee73d513bdb9678
– simurgh120beta.20100326.exe – ddecf8ac6c96c148cc7c42183d25baa9

Malicious installer packages
– Simurgh-setup.zip – 5e2a714fdfc2309af843056e8c5ae7d3
– Simurgh-setup.exe – 379480c807812f3521466f7ff5ffa273
– Simurgh-setup.exe – 300b0d061dfb9c9c6d7bdeecc74169f1
– simurgh[homs-sin.ibda3.org].exe – c8c8817af66312cfcfcb1ddf952f9d98

As Sophos has pointed out in a recent blog post on Naked Security http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/05/29/spying-trojan-targets-iranian-web-surfers-dissidents/, the splash page that loads when Simurgh is initialized to show the users’ IP has been configured to warn users who may be compromised.

If you see a warning you should immediately run an antivirus program to remove the software or for greater assurance, reinstall your operating system.

In addition to the steps Simurgh has taken, we have made outreach to and notified the provider that was hosting the malicious version of Simurgh and they have now taken down the malicious package.

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Psiphon : Local mobile phone users bypass billing as devs try to disable free Internet

MANILA - Psiphon, a free mobile app that’s available on Android, recently started trending on social media after some local users found a way to use it to gain free unlimited Internet access.

The users under local carriers Smart, Globe, and Sun Cellular have been using the mobile app to go online without incurring data charges, and have even managed to bypass the data caps that are supposed to limit those with unlimited mobile data subscriptions.

Psiphon continues to work even now, allowing users to browse the Web without load with the use of their tablets or smartphones.

Using the app couldn’t be simpler. You just download it and install it on your device, and you could be online browsing your favorite web sites free of charge within a few minutes — no technical knowledge required.

But all of this may soon come to an end. As we reported last week, Psiphon issued a statement to local users through one of their web sites, warning of an upcoming software update that will remove the ability to connect to the Internet for free.

Psiphon CEO and VP of Commercial Management Karl Kathuria sent us an e-mail to outline what really happened with Psiphon in this whole kerfuffle.

According to Kathuria, the previous Psiphon software update was intended to improve performance in certain areas, “making it harder to block the software and thus improving the experience for our existing user base.”

But shortly after the update, they noticed that Psiphon became “extremely popular” here in the Philippines.

The reason, according to reports sent to Psiphon and various social media postings, was that the app was being used not to bypass censorship but to bypass the billing paywall of local mobile providers.

So in the interest of making users use the app as intended, Psiphon will be updated soon to disable the free mobile Internet access.

Kathuria said in a statement, “Obviously, we intend to continue to make Psiphon available to everyone. Our next update will not stop Psiphon working in the Philippines, but it will prevent it being used for people to get free Internet connectivity.”

“The purpose of Psiphon is to bypass censorship,” Kathuria continued. “And we need to make sure that’s what it’s being used for.”

via interaksyon

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Installing Windows 7 on VirtualBox Status 0xc0000225?

Today, after downloading a MS Windows7 Ultimate 64bit  edition I wanted to test it on a Virtual machine. I have VirtualBox installed on my PC so I give this a try to see if the .ISO I have downloaded is working and really a 64bit edition.

I created my new virtual machine and tried installing Windows 7 from my .ISO file but behold a glitch!

It says:

Windows Boot Manager

Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:

1. Insert your windows installation disc and restart your computer.
2. Choose your language setting, and click "Next."
3. Click "Repair your computer."

If you do not have the disc, contact your system administrator or computer manufacturer for assistance.

Status: 0xc0000225

Info: An unexpected error has occurred.

The fix is real simple.

All you have to do is open the settings for your virtual machine:

System > Enable IO APIC

Save your new changes and launch the virtual machine again, everything will now run smoothly and you'll be able to install Windows 7.

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Qnap Firmware Reflash / Recovery

Stuct At Booting When HDD’s Are Not Plugged In

If you cannot access the NAS after Step 3, please do the following:

1. Turn off the NAS.
2. Take out all the hard disk drives.
3. Restart the NAS.

You will hear a beep after pressing the power button, followed by 2 beeps 2 minutes later. If you cannot hear first beep, Please contact your local reseller or distributor for repair or replacement service.

If you cannot Hear the two beeps, and Qnapfinder couldnt find your NAS, the NAS Firmware is Damaged. To fix this problem, please follow “Qnap firmware Recovery / Reflash” Documents for your device model.

If you couldn’t solve problem by yourself, Please contact your local reseller or distributor for repair or replacement service.

If Qnapfinder can find Qnap, fallow these steps;

1 – Download Putty software;

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html

2 – Plug in all of your HDD’s with right order while device is still working. Dont restart Qnap yet. Check if all HDD’s are alright and recognized by Qnap. If any of HDD doesn’t recognized or size seems “0″, plug out that HDD.

3 – Log with putty by entering the Qnap IP / user name / password. (Username / Password: admin / admin. Port need to enter 22.)

Now enter these command down below; (Choose command from this screen and “copy” Then go to putty, just pr “pess right mouse button once. By this way, you can paste commands automatically)

# config_util 1 -> (it must say “mirror of root succeed”. if it gives “mirror of root failed” error, stop this step and request help from Qnapsupport.)

# storage_boot_init 1

# df

If dev/md9 (HDA_ROOT) appears full, please contact QNAP support team

# reboot

Now Qnap should reboot well. If you can reach Qnap interface after restart, check RAID system, and change broken HDD with a new one.

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Windows Diskless with AoE Server Linux Distro

This is the new project for the community. A based Linux Distro ready-to-run for Diskless Server !

Windows Diskless with AoE Server Linux Distro

Main Features:

• Simple DHCP Server configuration powered with a opensource project called "Opendhcpd Server"
• MagicVolume with powered cool feature with Deduplicated FileSystem ! Now you can deploy more than 100 Windows diskless clients with ( for example ) a single SSD 128Gb Hard Disk, this feature is powered by opensource project OpenDedup.org !
• Web Interface for Administration powered by opensource project Webmin;
• Built-in ‘vblade‘ for easy export virtual disks (.vhd, .vmdk files)
• Easy Windows Share access to Upload your Master Image directly to the MagicVolume;

Preview release for Download:

http://susestudio.com/a/UZQFsW/windows-diskless-with-aoe

Links:

- How to install the Distro
- The Server Specs
- Configure a Bond Interface
- The required Services
- The MagicVolume How-To
- The TFTP Server

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How to view a website that has been deleted?

Sometimes, people delete their blog/website to protect their privacy.

For example, during Singapore Election, when Nicole Seah of NSP (National Solidarity Party) is nominated as a candidate, and she instantly becomes a public figure.

She starts protecting her privacy on Facebook, and deleted her personal blog to avoid public scrutiny. Her blog was originally at http://www.crappology.blogspot.com

http://classic-web.archive.org/web/20070713212452/http://crappology.blogspot.com/

With the help of Internet Archive, which archive ALL public webpages periodically, you can travel back in time to look at a website. Fortunately, her blog was archived in 2007 for us to take a look.

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StarWind AoE Initiator

ATA-over-Ethernet Initiator for Microsoft Windows

ATA-over-Ethernet (AoE) is a network protocol designed for simple high-performance access to SATA storage devices over Ethernet. AoE does not rely on network layers above Ethernet, such as IP and TCP. It is more comparable to Fibre Channel over Ethernet than iSCSI.

AoE Initiator fully implements ATA-over-Ethernet client side protocol enabling you to connect to remote storage appliances such as Coraid®. AoE support enables connectivity to remote storage devices over a standard Ethernet network, regardless of where the device resides. With AoE Initiator and ATA-over-Ethernet, you can gain full access to a device anywhere on an Ethernet network, as though it were installed on a local machine.

Download StarWind AoE Initiator here

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WinAoE Driver

WinAoE Driver is from http://www.winaoe.org

You should download this version because is already self sign files

Official Web Site: http://www.winaoe.org

Screenshots:

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Game Disk Creation

To complete your Diskless Solution for you CyberCafé, you need a Game Disk !

Game disk is in fact a virtual disk. It’s a physical hard disk or just a partition on server. Game disk is almost used for game disk – on server, install games into this disk, on client side, you will get this disk and run games directly just like a local disk.
Of course, you can also use this function for other intentions.

The size of Game Disk will be very high.

We can create a Game Disk with VirtualBox to be a Master Image, after prepare all games, you can make multiples copies of this image to each Client (computer).

Note: On your Diskless Setup, need to exist one Game Disk per Client ( Computer );

Procedure

• Creating a Game Disk
• Export Game Disk with vblade
• Install AoE Initiator
• Attach Disk with AoE Initiator
• Format Disk with Windows
• Dettach Disk
• Attach Disk on Master Client Machine ( image )

1 – Creating a Game Disk

With VirtualBox, open a settings from any Virtual Machine , and on Storage Section create a Disk.

Task 1 – Create disk

Task 2- Select format

Task 3 – Fixed Size

Task 4 – Set name and location

Task 5 – Finish

Task 6 – Wait the creation ( 10 minutes )

2 – Export Game Disk with vblade

Use vblade to export the AoE Targe.

vblade -b 400 1 1 "\Device\{value}" "d:\Master-Game-Disk.vhd"

3 – Install AoE Initiator

Download and install “Aoe Initiator” from StarWind Software.

The installation is simple, just Next, Next, Finish…

4 – Attach Disk with AoE Initiator

Attach the disk, set name and mark options.

5 – Format Disk with Windows

Open the “Disk Management Utility” from Windows and create a partition and format the Drive.

6 – Dettach Disk

Dettach the Disk;

7 - Attach Disk on Master Client Machine ( image )

Now attach the Game Disk on Client, install AoE initiator ! Your Game Disk is ready.

Install all games, after disconnect AoE Initiator and on server, multiply copies of game disk to other clients.

Note: After connect on disk, put the AoE Initiator icon on Startup of Windows to automatically map the new Game Disk on boot.

Note 2: Never connect exported disk with two or more AoE Initiators with differents machines at same disk simultaneously.

     

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Control your vBlade’s Sessions with nice Interface

You can control your vblade sessions with a simple and nice interface to manage:

You can run the vblade session without a console with free “System Scheduler“

Oficial website: http://www.splinterware.com/products/wincron.htm

Alternative Download Link: Ssfree.exe

and kill the process with “Process Explorer” from SysInternals Microsoft

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Cache Write-Back

For cache write back feature you can use:

FancyCache is a supplementary software caching scheme that cooperates with system memory to provide data caching for volumes/disks. It improves system performance by transparently storing data into memory such that future requests for that data can be served faster. FancyCache caches data on a logical block basis (offsets within a volume/disk) while windows cache manager caches on a virtual block basis (offsets within a file).

FancyCache can also utilize the OS Invisible Memory which is wasted on 32-bit Windows when 4GB memory or more is installed.

Main Features

• Supports LRU (Least Recently Used) and LFU (Least Frequently Used) cache algorithms
• Supports caching strategies: Read/Write Caching, Read-Only Caching and Write-Only Caching
• Supports Write-Through and Write-Deferred modes
• Supports OS Invisible Memory and SSD (Solid-state Drive) as Level-II cache
• Supports caching for volumes or entire disks
• Supports TRIM command for SSD
• Supports visual performance monitor
• Supports cache plug and play
• Supports basic and dynamic disks
• Supports NTFS junction point
• Supports volume/disk with proprietary file system

Website: https://web.archive.org/web/20131117170301/http://www.romexsoftware.com/en-us/fancy-cache/index.html

Download:

FancyCache Volume Edition: Download Sites

FancyCache Disk Edition: Download Sites

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