FTP server on MacOS X Lion
Can’t remember why, but I needed to transfer files from my MacBook using FTP. There is no way to enable FTP from the System Preferences. But you can enable/disable it from the console:
# sudo -s launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ftp.plist # netstat -na | grep LISTEN tcp6 0 0 *.21 *.* LISTEN tcp4 0 0 *.21 *.* LISTEN (...)
Once enabled, you can log in using the usual user account.
To disable the daemon, simply:
sudo -s launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ftp.plist
Indeed, the best solution is to use FTP over SSH. Click the “Sharing” button in the “System Preferences”. Select “Remote Login” and allow the access for some or all users. Now, you can use sftp to transfer files in a safer way.
Mac OS X Lion on vSphere ESXi 5
I find my MacBook Pro mid-2009 quite slow when rendering my personal H.264. I would like to see if the Sandy Bridge Core i5 2500T in my hypervisor does a better job. So I installed Mac OS X Lion as a virtual machine on my ESXi v5.
I’m not sure about licensing… Purchasing Lion for App Store for your Mac, you seem to have the right to install it on every Mac you own… My Hypervisor is not a Mac… But I bought Lion… Anyway, here’s a simple way to install Mac OS X Lion in ESXi 5.
Quick speed test on ICYBOX IB-RD2262 USEb
As you may have noticed, I have installed a ICYBOX IB-RD2262 USEb on my MacBook Pro. It contains two 500GB SATA disks. You can either use the “RAID Master” provided tools to create the RAID system or use the Mac OS X native RAID system. The main difference is that, using RAID Master, you’ll only see the rendered RAID disk in “Disk Util” ; whereas you will see both disks and the RAID system if you use the standard OS X configuration.
I wanted to check if there were any performance difference between native OS X configuration and RAID0/SPAN using RAID Master. Maybe using RAID Master, you benefit some hardware RAID system…
Installing ICYBOX IB-RD2262 USEb on a MacBook Pro
I got an ICYBOX IB-RD2262USEb RAID Enclosure for 2.5″ HDDs to plug some of my spare SATA disks into my Mac.
This enclosure has two main benefits. It enables me to plug my external 2.5″ disks using Firewire-800, which is faster and less CPU consuming than USB2, and it enables me to plug the two disks using a single cable. Another nice feature is that is also has an eSATA plug so that I may later connect it to my Synology.
So what I did is plug a Seagate Momentus 5400.6 500GB and Western Digital WD5000BEVT 500GB inside the box. Then use the Firewire-800 cable to connect them to my Mac.
First good new : the Firewire-800 cable gives enough power to bring both disks on. No need for additional power supply.
Continue reading…
Upgrade Crucial C300 firmware on a MacBook Pro
I just got a Crucial C300 SSD to plug in my Mac. And it came in revision 02 ; but the latest bug free firmware is revision 07.
To upgrade, just go to the Crucial website and get the “C300_FW0006.zip” archive. Unzip and burn the ISO file. Reboot, use ‘alt’ to drop to the boot selector and select the CD drive ; it appears as “Windows”. Let the process find your drive and upgrade the firmware to 06. When done, reboot.
Now, get the “C300_FW0007.zip” archive and replay the previous scenario.
After a few seconds, the SSD has the latest firware installed:
C300-CTFDDAC256MAG : Capacité: 256,06 Go (256 060 514 304 octets) Modèle: C300-CTFDDAC256MAG Révision: 7
So easy! And so nice it works on the Mac!