Free ESXi server

Download free ESXi server from here:

https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/info?slug=datacenter_cloud_infrastructure/vmware_vsphere_hypervisor_esxi/5_5

How to upgrade from ESXi 5.1 to 5.5

Shut down VMs running on host.

Enter maintenance mode:

vim-cmd /hostsvc/maintenance_mode_enter

Set firewall rules to make patch retrieval possible:

esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e true -r httpClient

Retrieve a list of available upgrades and look for the most recent one:

esxcli software sources profile list -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml | grep ESXi-5.5

Run the upgrade:

esxcli software profile update -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml -p ESXi-5.5.0-1331820-standard

Reboot.

Exit maintenance mode.

vim-cmd /hostsvc/maintenance_mode_exit

How to patch free VMware ESXi Standalone Host

Get the latest patch from VMware here:

http://www.vmware.com/patchmgr/download.portal

Look for something like

update-from-esxi5.1-5.1_update03

I think you want embeddable and installable

Upload the patch to a datastore visible from the host.

Shut down the VMs.

Put the host into maintenance mode.

Enable SSH:

Configuration | Security Profile | Properties | SSH

Connect via Putty to the host.

Run this command:

esxcli software vib update -d /vmfs/volumes/<your_datastore>/update-from-esxi5.1-5.1_update03.zip


It will take a few minutes.  Afterward, the screen will spit out a bunch of text.

Reboot the host.

Check the version number with vSphere or use the command line:

esxcli system version get

Exit maintenance mode.

SpliX fixes Samsung ML 1740 on OS X Yosemite

Upgraded to OS X Yosemite.  First casualty = my Samsung ML 1740 printer.

Mavericks had not been kind to my printer, either.  I had previously gotten it to work with tech magic I've long forgotten - something about GhostScript and CUPS.  This time, I found a solution called SpliX.

SpliX installs CUPS drivers for Samsung printers.

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Update 2015-06-12:

This only worked for a while.  It would sporadically fail.  I finally gave up and purchased a new Brother printer.

Screen shots in OS X

Splat + Shift + 3 = Captures entire screen

Splat + Shift + 4 = Captures a custom rectangle (click and drag rectangle over desired area)

Splat + Shift + 4 then Space = Captures a window (click on the window)

Screen shots are saved to the desktop

Mount Amazon EC2 instances on OS X with SSHFS

This gem lets you manipulate files on your remote EC2 instance as if they were local.  Think of it like a mini Dropbox near instantaneously updating files between your MacBook and your Ubuntu instance at Amazon.

Step 1: Configure SSH

Copy your Amazon .pem file to ~/.ssh

Change permissions on the .pem file:

chmod 600 ~/.ssh/myfile.pem

Test the .pem file:

ssh -i ~/.ssh/myfile.pem ubuntu@aws_instance_name.com

Store the .pem file in ssh so you can enter a shorter ssh command in the future:

ssh-add -K ~/.ssh/myfile.pem

Now you can ssh to your Ubuntu instance more easily:

ssh ubuntu@aws_instance_name.com

Step 2: Install SSHFS

Download and install both packages from http://osxfuse.github.io

OSXFUSE

SSHFS

Step 3: Configure the mount point

mkdir ~/AmazonEC2

sshfs ubuntu@aws_instance_name.com:/home/ubuntu/rails_projects ~/AmazonEC2

Now your EC2 files located at /home/ubuntu/rails_projects will be "synced" with ~/AmazonEC2

I do not think they are actually syncing - based on response times, I think file manipulations are done directly to the remote host.

For fun, take a look at mounted file systems:

df

Turn off wordwrap in Vim

Turns off wordwrap in Vim --

:set nowrap

Turns it back on --

:set wrap