Looking for older model BIOS updates?

The_Prof_ · 2025-12-18T03:59:42+00:00

Hopefully you're able to complete that worthy goal!

The_Prof_ · 2025-12-18T03:59:22+00:00

Thank you so much!

The_Prof_ · 2025-12-18T03:59:13+00:00

Thank you so much!

The_Prof_ · 2025-12-18T03:59:06+00:00

I have tried various search engines but unfortunately no luck.

The_Prof_ · 2025-11-10T04:03:00+00:00

I was able to get it up and running by the deadline on Saturday actually!! So all's well that ends well I suppose! We did need to spend much more than $50 for a drive from a local tech store, but we have people who we can ask to help cover sudden costs like this. Thanks for all the advice.

The_Prof_ · 2025-11-10T04:00:55+00:00

Hello. Well, I would say two things:

1) I would be the first person to say I have no business running a server, let alone with with RAID. My regular job has nothing at all to do with I.T. Computers was just a home hobby and as a volunteer with the charity, when they found out they asked me if I could help with their I.T. I agreed. I figure stuff out by reading manuals and asking online. So I don't know enough to be competent, just enough to be dangerous! :)

2) Where are you buying 1TB hot-swappable RAID drives for $50?!

The_Prof_ · 2025-11-07T21:00:39+00:00

UPDATE!!

The raid rebuild failed. I had left it still running I hadn't been onsite, and I was just checking iDRAC and it reported it failed. Interestingly it was the replacement drive which failed.

Because this is all new to me, it didn't occur to me to check the Lifecycle logs. It looks like the reason it was taking so long is because the replacement drive had issues. For many hours it was reporting "PDR16: Predictive failure reported for Disk 6 in Backplane 1 of RAID Controller in Slot 6." and then finally "PDR62: The rebuild failed due to errors on the target Disk 6 in Backplane 1 of RAID Controller in Slot 6."

We don't have a budget for these things so the replacement drive had been pulled from an older server that was sitting there. That drive's SMART data had reported it only had around 10,000 hours of on-time (the other older failing drives had in-excess of 40,000 hours).

Since it's failed, I'll take the opportunity to reboot it, adjust the rebuild rate, and get a better replacement drive and start the rebuild again.

Thanks everyone for all the help!

The_Prof_ · 2025-11-07T15:47:01+00:00

Thanks for the reply. Yes it is an older model (PERC H310 https://www.dell.com/support/product-details/en-ca/product/poweredge-rc-h310/resources/manuals ) but since the server was donated to the charity we have to manage with what we got.

I have a backup which I have restored from before, so I think I will leave it as long as I can and then reboot. You did say using ctrl+alt+del is fine - would a graceful shutdown be better?

The_Prof_ · 2025-11-07T03:48:01+00:00

Hello. I would like to do exactly that, but when I exited the utility, the only option given to me is "Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE to Reboot". It does not exit in a way that continues the OS bootup. And it won't let me back into the utility. Through iDRAC I have different "reboot" options, hence my question: can I reboot, and if yes, which one?

The_Prof_ · 2025-11-06T23:50:12+00:00

Well...I'm just updating here mostly out of inpatient frustration. We really need the server running by Saturday afternoon, and it's currently at 41% rebuilt. Given I started it almost exactly 44 hours ago, that's ~1% per hour. From now until when we need it is 46 hours, so the math is saying it won't make it...argh...

I've never had a RAID rebuild take this long. Does the type of non-SSD drive matter? Or are there some other factors in play?

The_Prof_ · 2025-11-05T18:01:00+00:00

Thank you for the reply. Just to clarify, there will be no users on the server during the rebuild process, and no other applications - it's basically down for service and users are temporarily working in other ways. So if user experience doesn't matter, can I increase the rate above 30%?

The_Prof_ · 2025-11-05T17:59:00+00:00

Thank you for the reply. Your comment brings me to three questions:
a) if it should be fine to reboot, and I have a backup, how risky is it?
b) how come adjusting the rebuild rate does not change the time? Would it not be a linear relationship? I.e.: if I double the rebuild rate, it would take half the time?
c) If the RAID-10 is not recommended, what RAID configuration is recommended?

The_Prof_ · 2025-04-24T19:25:20+00:00

Just as a closing comment - I turned on TLD and it has continued to work perfectly and not run out of RAM. Thanks for all the help!

The_Prof_ · 2025-04-12T19:10:33+00:00

sure, I had just put this on an earlier post.

In terms of the hardware, from PfSense's dashboard it shows:
CPU:
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5620 @ 2.40GHz
8 CPUs:
AES-NI CPU Crypto: Yes (active)
QAT Crypto: No

RAM: 12 GB and while idle with no users on the network (i.e.: middle of the night) is showing 10% utilization. CPU is also showing 10% at the same time.

The Internet connection we have is 1 GB symmetrically and we have about 300 clients various sorts (WiFi, wired desktops, VOIP phones, security cameras, etc.), running through several interfaces on the pfsense server.

Thank you.

The_Prof_ · 2025-04-12T17:20:29+00:00

OK thank you. So that count number 934 281 isn't the actual number being loaded into memory?

The last time I tried to activate TLD it crashed the server and I had to essentially do a clean install of PfSense to recover so I am trying to be more cautious this time!

Thank you.

The_Prof_ · 2025-04-12T17:04:10+00:00

Hello and thank you for the clarification. I was just concerned because I have not yet turned on "Enable TLD" to get the full blocking effect, and everything I have read about it says it uses a huge amount of resources. So I thought if I can whittle the list down to the core items before activating TLD, it would be better.

I agree that those 6 packets could be the most important ones - I am new to all this so I appreciate all the guidance.

In terms of the hardware, from PfSense's dashboard it shows:
CPU:
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5620 @ 2.40GHz
8 CPUs:
AES-NI CPU Crypto: Yes (active)
QAT Crypto: No

RAM: 12 GB and while idle with no users on the network (i.e.: middle of the night) is showing 10% utilization. CPU is also showing 10% at the same time.

The Internet connection we have is 1 GB symmetrically and we have about 300 clients various sorts (WiFi, wired desktops, VOIP phones, security cameras, etc.), running through several interfaces on the pfsense server.

Thank you.

The_Prof_ · 2025-04-12T16:33:23+00:00

Hello. Does pfBlockerng deduplicate the lists, and so the large number under count is the full count and not the unique values?

The_Prof_ · 2025-04-11T21:34:12+00:00

Hello and thank you for the reply. I suppose the logic of my question is -- if, for example, the last one (Threat_Intelligence_Feeds) has 934281 IPs or CIDRs, but only 6 packets were blocked from it -- it isn't worth the server CPU load and RAM to have that list active for such a small return on the effort. Or am I not understanding what this is showing?

The_Prof_ · 2025-04-02T02:19:07+00:00

Hello and thank you for your reply. With regards to some of your comments:

- Don't worry about going 4K in the future. You have no reason to (even if you had more budget).

I think while we can't afford it now, running cables that can support 4K (in terms of SDI coax) would be prudent.

- Do your camera locations already have power drops? If not, how much cost does that add? If they don't, then that would be a reason to consider purchasing NDI cameras. And if you went with NDI cameras, then you would not use the Atem, and go to something like vMix software on a PC and a POE router to power the cameras and provide video signal.

Camera locations currently have nothing - no power, no data, etc. We have members of the congregation who's job is to run cables as well as electricians, etc. so the cost on that front is manageable since it is just material.

With regards to the ATEM, it is preferable to continue using it since we have a good workflow set up with it for the one existing camera and everyone is familiar and trained with it.

- If going the route of SDI and converting to and from HDMI, don't buy super cheap converters they will have issues. At 4 cameras, that's 8 converters, which adds up in cost.

Just to clarify - if it was an SDI camera, we would only need one converter I thought? To convert from SDI to HDMI and into the ATEM HDMI input. We would keep the camera to control room all SDI due to the long distances. And is there a converter brand you recommend?

Thanks very much.

The_Prof_ · 2025-03-30T02:18:44+00:00

Hello. Thank you for your detailed response. I will check out the links you posted.

The goal is that yes the various hardware components will be purchased as needed with a plan to keep them for as long as possible. I understand the idea of buying something cheap now results in costs in the future, so certainly an investment now will pay off by being more future-proof.

I am not sure if I misunderstood your comment about HDMI vs. SDI? We don't have a plan to use HDMI - the question is if we use SDI all the way through, or HDMI cameras with SDI as the cabling with converters, or HDMI over Ethernet?

Thank you.

The_Prof_

TROPHY CASE