Recently I’ve been working on building a new MSSQL server at work, and migrating some databases. One of my tasks was to move the Datastore for my Citrix XenApp 5 farm to the new server. We are using Agile, or Scrum to manage our projects, so at the beginning of a “sprint” we estimate the time we will need to complete a specified task. When I got to the task of the Datastore, I initially allocated myself 2 hours – one for moving and one for testing (we can’t estimate less than one hour). I thought it would be the simplest task I would have in this sprint.

As I looked further into it, later, I was a little overwhelmed, thinking it would be more difficult than I anticipated. After some research I discovered it wouldn’t be that bad after all, but I decided to document it here, for not only my benefit, in case I ever had to do it again, but in case I could help someone else.

First, let me specify that I am running XenApp 5 on a Windows Server 2008 farm.

So, first things first, you need to backup the Datastore database from the old SQL server and restore it onto the new one, making sure your Citrix SQL account is moved also.

On my infrastructure server, I went to Data Sources (ODBC) under Administrative tools, and looked in the “File DSN” section. I browsed to C:\Program Files\Citrix\Independent Management Architecture\MF20.dsn and changed the settings to reflect the new server and tested the connection. Then I ran an elevated command prompt and executed the following command:

dsmaint config /user:citrix_sql_user /pwd:"citrix_sql_user_pw" /dsn:"C:\Program Files\Citrix\Independent Management Architecture\MF20.dsn"

Obviously you will use whatever username and password you set up when you first installed XenApp and linked to you previous database server.

After that, just restart the Citrix IMA service and make sure to take the old database offline just to be sure. Be sure to check the new SQL server also to make sure that your connection has been made successfully, and you should be good to go!

I hope this make this task easier for someone out there- I spun my wheels for a little while researching this one.

Well, I’ve decided to start blogging again – about to post my few new “content post” in quite a while. Glad to be back at it!

I’ve started messing around with Linux again, and there’s been some stuff I’m working on at work I’ve wanted to blog about, so here goes!

?I started writing here back in January of 2008. In just a little over 2 years, I’ve generated 169 posts (well 170 now) and had nearly 200,000 page views. Mostly I’ve written about Linux or other geeky computer related things, and I’ve had quite a blast doing so.

Here lately, I simply haven’t had much of a desire to keep up with the blog. I find that Twitter is a much more efficient way of sharing information and ideas, and is far more collaborative – more personal. I’m not going to say I’m hanging up the blog for good, just that I’ve “Gone Fishing” for now. I may start posting again, or I may not.

I’m simply not actively distro-hopping around the Linux world right now. I don’t really have a need for Linux on any of my desktop computers any longer as Windows XP, Windows 7 and Mac OS X satisfy my needs quite nicely. I still keep the current Ubuntu and Fedora loaded in Virtual Machines, and I’ve even toyed with the idea of dual-booting the Core i3, but why bother? I’ll just tinker in virtuals.

A lot of stuff has changed in my life in the last 4-5 months. I feel like I’ve come alive again – I feel better than ever, and I’m simply doing more things away from the computer in my leisure time. I have a wonderful time with my BBBS “little”, and I’m enjoying fishing, hiking and other outdoor activities once again.

Thanks to everyone who has read my blog, and everyone that’s commented. I’m not “taking it down” or anything, I have a lot of posts that get hits, and may help someone. I don’t think I’m gonna renew my domain mapping, however, so it’ll just go back to being http://jaysonrowe.wordpress.com again; I can just think of better ways to spend $20 right now. Also, be sure to follow me on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/jayson_r

Thanks, and Peace Out!

Step right up Ladies and Gentleman! You are about to receive three blog posts for the price of one…

Well I don’t know about all of that, but I do have three very important topics to cover tonight.

First, I’ve “Called off” the PC Build recommendations series – I’ll finish it up for you in just a few words: Buy or build a system based on Intel Core i3/5/7 architecture…period. If building, stick with Gigabyte for Motherboards, almost anything reputable for RAM, HDD and Vid cards to meet your needs and cases to meet your taste. If you area  die hard AMD fan, and wouldn’t consider building or buying an Intel system, for the low-end stick with the Athlon II x2 or x3 series, for the mid line, either the Athlon II x4 or Phenom II x3, and of course for the high end, nothing but the Phenom II x4 965, although I’d wager some of Intel’s current DUAL CORE CPU’s will send it whimpering away with it’s tail between it’s legs!

Secondly, here are a few self explanatory screenshots from my new Core i3 530 system:

WEI:

HDTune:

Cinebench R10:

There you have it – that is one heck of a Dual Core CPU – remember, although it’s dual-core, it’s hyperthreaded so you do get 4 threads total.

And last but not least – do you buy a PC or do you build it? Well, that all depends on you. I’ve done both. I’ve build several PC’s in my time, and I’ve also bought PC’s. This i3 system is my 3rd Gateway – I’ve bought and sold 2 Dell Precisions and I also have an HP Pentium D system downstairs. This doesn’t count the Apple and Mac Clone systems I’ve owned.

Which do I like better? Honestly, it simply doesn’t matter. As I just said, this is my third Gateway, and they have all been excellent machines built from components I would likely pick for myself. My two Dell systems were simply overkill- I sold them both to people who are really enjoying them and utilizing them for what they were intended. As for my build systems? I tend to tweak myself to death with a home-built system, and I’m never completely satisfied- there is ALWAYS something that can be changed, tweaked or could have been picked out better in the beginning.

I think I’ve built my last PC and will be sticking to off-the-shelf systems for now on. I did the price-work – to build my Gateway from the very same parts from NewEgg.com would have cost me exactly $78 more, and that doesn’t include my time spent building it, nor the amount of time waiting on parts to arrive – also doesn’t take into account additional downtime if a defective part is received and an RMA is called for.

Do as you wish, either build or buy – whatever suits your needs – just make sure it’s a balanced PC, and you will enjoy the performance.

Yeah, I’ve gone and done it – I’ve added another PC to the home network. For those who do not know, I’ve been living in the dark ages in regards to my TV. I’m finally in the process of picking out a LCD HDTV, and I decided I wanted a Home Theater computer to hook up to it…well, actually, I decided I wanted to hook my Mac Mini up to it. The Mac Mini (to me anyway) is the perfect HTPC: It’s small, quiet and very fast. I can use iTunes, Hulu and access my Video and Music collection via SMB…it’s a great solution.

The only problem, the Mac Mini was my main Home computer. Do I buy a second Mini? Well, I decided to go back to a PC and Windows 7 for my home system. I use (and love) my MacBook all day, every day, and I think to keep all of my skills sharp, I should keep using a windows system on a regular basis – plus, it’s nice to have and use both systems daily.

I started thinking through all of this as I was doing my “PC Build Recommendation” posts, as I was planning to build a PC. Well, this week Best Buy had a system on sale that was simply too good to pass up – it’s a Gateway (this will be my third Gateway system) – the model number is DX4831-01e (what a model number!), but here are the specs:

• Intel Core i3 530 (2.93GHz) Hyper-threaded Dual Core
• 6GB DDR3-1333
• 1TB WD HDD

This system is going to cause me to go back and revamp one of my Intel articles – to put it mildly, I’m blown away with what this i3 can do. To put it in perspective, this Dual Core system mops the floor with my old QUAD core q6600 – it IS hyper-threaded, but is ultimately only two physical cores.

I’ll do up some benchmarks in the future, and I’m going to add a new Intel build to my article line-up – perhaps a “non-gaming” mainstream build (which is what this is). Oh, and BTW, the onboard graphics rock (did I just say that about ON BOARD graphics?) – I can do dual monitor (1HDMI and 1VGA) with ON BOARD video, and I can also play CS:Source smoothly at 1680×1050 w/ default settings.

Anyway, wanted to share quickly – more detail to come (still installing applications).

For my next entry in the PC build series, I’m building out a budget Intel rig. Not everyone has over a grand to spend on a new machine, nor do they need the horsepower of the last two builds.

Here we will spec out a nice affordable Intel based machine that will meet the needs of the average computer user.

Read on for the specs!

I struggled with the specifications for this machine. The socket 1156 chips have been out for quite some time, and there are “budget” chips in this line up such as the Core i3, or the $99 Pentium G9650. However, at this price point I don’t feel that “raw” CPU speed is as important as a nice balanced machine, so I have actually opted for a socket 775 based solution. I have long been a fan of the “Pentium Dual-core E5XXX series” chips, and that is what I chose to build this system around.

CPU
Intel Pentium E5300 Wolfdale 2.6GHz
The E5XXX series chips are awesome dual-core chips that provide a huge value for the dollar spent, and provide more than enough horsepower for most computing tasks. Also, for those seeking “power on a budget” you can overclock the snot out of it with decent cooling. For the “average Joe build” just stick with the stock cooler, it’s fine. If you are planning to overclock this baby, pick up the ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2. It’s an excellent cooler for the money and will provide you with great cooling to enable you to push this chip just a little bit harder than stock.

Motherboard
GIGABYTE GA-EP43-UD3L
I’m sure you’ve caught onto the fact that I like Gigabyte boards for Intel systems. I will only recommend products that I’m familiar with and I know this will be a solid board for you. I could have easily gone “super low budget” and picked a board with onboard video, but as I said earlier, I think a “balanced machine” is best, and this will allow me to choose a moderately powered mainstream GPU for you to enjoy some light gaming. This is a fairly straightforward board with the P43 chipset. You don’t get a lot of features, but plenty of usb ports, adequate onboard sound and onboard Gigabit Ethernet.

Memory
PQI POWER Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
I’ve used this very RAM in two builds for friends, and it just happens to be at a great price at Newegg right now. Can’t go wrong with this – very generic DDR2-800 CAS 5 strips. 4GB total will be plenty for a budget build, but you still have 2 free slots for future upgrades.

Hard Drive
Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA
It’s no coincidence that this is one of the best selling hard drives on Newegg. It was one of the first drives with 320GB platters and also one of the first 7200RPM drives to challenge WD’s own Raptor series drives for it’s performance crown. This has low seek times and has plenty of cache memory and two controllers for optimal performance. I could have easily gone cheaper on the HDD, but I’m a firm believer in the fact that a “Hard Drive does a system make”. In other words, nothing will slow a system down more than a crappy HDD. Like PSU’s don’t skimp here. Also, 640GB should be plenty of storage for a budget box.

Optical Drive
Lite-On 24X iHAS124
Since this is a “budget build” I chose to forgo the Blu-Ray drive and stick with a solid DVD-R/RW drive from Lite-On. You can never go wrong with Lite-On – In my experience, they have always been solid, dependable drives.

Graphics Adapter
EVGA 512-P3-1220-LR GeForce GT 220 512MB
While it’s now speed demon, the Nvidia GT 220 chipset will provide smooth HD playback and also be able handle light gaming tasks, especially if playing slightly older titles. Also, you can never go wrong with eVGA (or XFX for that matter) for an Nvidia card.

Case and Power Supply
HEC 6C60BSOH48D Black / Silver 0.8mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with 485W Power Supply
Ok, I’ll admit it, I was very skeptical the first time I built a machine with this case, but I have to say, it’s been an excellent case and I’ve heard no complaints from the people who I’ve built PC’s for in this case. I’ve also yet to hear of a failed PSU either, which I find quite remarkable actually. In short, if you have the money, you can do better, but I don’t think you will be disappointed in this case either.

So, our grand total comes to just under $440 for a nice custom PC with a decent dedicated graphics card that will handle the computing needs of most folks quite nicely. Unless you are a hard-core gamer, or require more power for specialized multimedia tasks, you can’t go wrong with this. These Wolfdale cores are very fast, and although it’s based around a Budget CPU, it’s a very snappy budget CPU and we have plenty of quality components to support it by building a nice, balanced PC.