1 <?xml version=
"1.0" encoding=
"ISO-8859-1"?>
2 <rss version='
2.0' xmlns:lj='http://www.livejournal.org/rss/lj/
1.0/'
>
4 <title>Petter Reinholdtsen - Entries from July
2013</title>
5 <description>Entries from July
2013</description>
6 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/
</link>
10 <title>How to fix a Thinkpad X230 with a broken
180 GB SSD disk
</title>
11 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_fix_a_Thinkpad_X230_with_a_broken_180_GB_SSD_disk.html
</link>
12 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_fix_a_Thinkpad_X230_with_a_broken_180_GB_SSD_disk.html
</guid>
13 <pubDate>Wed,
17 Jul
2013 23:
50:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
14 <description><p
>Today I switched to
15 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230_.html
">my
16 new laptop
</a
>. I
've previously written about the problems I had with
17 my new Thinkpad X230, which was delivered with an
18 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Intel_SSD_520_Series_180_GB_with_Lenovo_firmware_still_lock_up_from_sustained_writes.html
">180
19 GB Intel SSD disk with Lenovo firmware
</a
> that did not handle
20 sustained writes. My hardware supplier have been very forthcoming in
21 trying to find a solution, and after first trying with another
22 identical
180 GB disks they decided to send me a
256 GB Samsung SSD
23 disk instead to fix it once and for all. The Samsung disk survived
24 the installation of Debian with encrypted disks (filling the disk with
25 random data during installation killed the first two), and I thus
26 decided to trust it with my data. I have installed it as a Debian Edu
27 Wheezy roaming workstation hooked up with my Debian Edu Squeeze main
28 server at home using Kerberos and LDAP, and will use it as my work
29 station from now on.
</p
>
31 <p
>As this is a solid state disk with no moving parts, I believe the
32 Debian Wheezy default installation need to be tuned a bit to increase
33 performance and increase life time of the disk. The Linux kernel and
34 user space applications do not yet adjust automatically to such
35 environment. To make it easier for my self, I created a draft Debian
36 package
<tt
>ssd-setup
</tt
> to handle this tuning. The
37 <a href=
"http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/ssd-setup.git
">source
38 for the ssd-setup package
</a
> is available from collab-maint, and it
39 is set up to adjust the setup of the machine by just installing the
40 package. If there is any non-SSD disk in the machine, the package
41 will refuse to install, as I did not try to write any logic to sort
42 file systems in SSD and non-SSD file systems.
</p
>
44 <p
>I consider the package a draft, as I am a bit unsure how to best
45 set up Debian Wheezy with an SSD. It is adjusted to my use case,
46 where I set up the machine with one large encrypted partition (in
47 addition to /boot), put LVM on top of this and set up partitions on
48 top of this again. See the README file in the package source for the
49 references I used to pick the settings. At the moment these
50 parameters are tuned:
</p
>
54 <li
>Set up cryptsetup to pass TRIM commands to the physical disk
55 (adding discard to /etc/crypttab)
</li
>
57 <li
>Set up LVM to pass on TRIM commands to the underlying device (in
58 this case a cryptsetup partition) by changing issue_discards from
59 0 to
1 in /etc/lvm/lvm.conf.
</li
>
61 <li
>Set relatime as a file system option for ext3 and ext4 file
64 <li
>Tell swap to use TRIM commands by adding
'discard
' to
65 /etc/fstab.
</li
>
67 <li
>Change I/O scheduler from cfq to deadline using a udev rule.
</li
>
69 <li
>Run fstrim on every ext3 and ext4 file system every night (from
70 cron.daily).
</li
>
72 <li
>Adjust sysctl values vm.swappiness to
1 and vm.vfs_cache_pressure
73 to
50 to reduce the kernel eagerness to swap out processes.
</li
>
77 <p
>During installation, I cancelled the part where the installer fill
78 the disk with random data, as this would kill the SSD performance for
79 little gain. My goal with the encrypted file system is to ensure
80 those stealing my laptop end up with a brick and not a working
81 computer. I have no hope in keeping the really resourceful people
82 from getting the data on the disk (see
83 <a href=
"http://xkcd.com/
538/
">XKCD #
538</a
> for an explanation why).
84 Thus I concluded that adding the discard option to crypttab is the
85 right thing to do.
</p
>
87 <p
>I considered using the noop I/O scheduler, as several recommended
88 it for SSD, but others recommended deadline and a benchmark I found
89 indicated that deadline might be better for interactive use.
</p
>
91 <p
>I also considered using the
'discard
' file system option for ext3
92 and ext4, but read that it would give a performance hit ever time a
93 file is removed, and thought it best to that that slowdown once a day
94 instead of during my work.
</p
>
96 <p
>My package do not set up tmpfs on /var/run, /var/lock and /tmp, as
97 this is already done by Debian Edu.
</p
>
99 <p
>I have not yet started on the user space tuning. I expect
100 iceweasel need some tuning, and perhaps other applications too, but
101 have not yet had time to investigate those parts.
</p
>
103 <p
>The package should work on Ubuntu too, but I have not yet tested it
106 <p
>As for the answer to the question in the title of this blog post,
107 as far as I know, the only solution I know about is to replace the
108 disk. It might be possible to flash it with Intel firmware instead of
109 the Lenovo firmware. But I have not tried and did not want to do so
110 without approval from Lenovo as I wanted to keep the warranty on the
111 disk until a solution was found and they wanted the broken disks
117 <title>Intel SSD
520 Series
180 GB with Lenovo firmware still lock up from sustained writes
</title>
118 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Intel_SSD_520_Series_180_GB_with_Lenovo_firmware_still_lock_up_from_sustained_writes.html
</link>
119 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Intel_SSD_520_Series_180_GB_with_Lenovo_firmware_still_lock_up_from_sustained_writes.html
</guid>
120 <pubDate>Wed,
10 Jul
2013 13:
30:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
121 <description><p
>A few days ago, I wrote about
122 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230_.html
">the
123 problems I experienced with my new X230 and its SSD disk
</a
>, which
124 was dying during installation because it is unable to cope with
125 sustained write. My supplier is in contact with
126 <a href=
"http://www.lenovo.com/
">Lenovo
</a
>, and they wanted to send a
127 replacement disk to try to fix the problem. They decided to send an
128 identical model, so my hopes for a permanent fix was slim.
</p
>
130 <p
>Anyway, today I got the replacement disk and tried to install
131 Debian Edu Wheezy with encrypted disk on it. The new disk have the
132 same firmware version as the original. This time my hope raised
133 slightly as the installation progressed, as the original disk used to
134 die after
4-
7% of the disk was written to, while this time it kept
135 going past
10%,
20%,
40% and even past
50%. But around
60%, the disk
136 died again and I was back on square one. I still do not have a new
137 laptop with a disk I can trust. I can not live with a disk that might
138 lock up when I download a new
139 <a href=
"http://www.skolelinux.org/
">Debian Edu / Skolelinux
</a
> ISO or
140 other large files. I look forward to hearing from my supplier with
141 the next proposal from Lenovo.
</p
>
143 <p
>The original disk is marked Intel SSD
520 Series
180 GB,
144 11S0C38722Z1ZNME35X1TR, ISN: CVCV321407HB180EGN, SA: G57560302, FW:
145 LF1i,
29MAY2013, PBA: G39779-
300, LBA
351,
651,
888, LI P/N:
0C38722,
146 Pb-free
2LI, LC P/N:
16-
200366, WWN:
55CD2E40002756C4, Model:
147 SSDSC2BW180A3L
2.5" 6Gb/s SATA SSD
180G
5V
1A, ASM P/N
0C38732, FRU
148 P/N
45N8295, P0C38732.
</p
>
150 <p
>The replacement disk is marked Intel SSD
520 Series
180 GB,
151 11S0C38722Z1ZNDE34N0L0, ISN: CVCV315306RK180EGN, SA: G57560-
302, FW:
152 LF1i,
22APR2013, PBA: G39779-
300, LBA
351,
651,
888, LI P/N:
0C38722,
153 Pb-free
2LI, LC P/N:
16-
200366, WWN:
55CD2E40000AB69E, Model:
154 SSDSC2BW180A3L
2.5" 6Gb/s SATA SSD
180G
5V
1A, ASM P/N
0C38732, FRU
155 P/N
45N8295, P0C38732.
</p
>
157 <p
>The only difference is in the first number (serial number?), ISN,
158 SA, date and WNPP values. Mentioning all the details here in case
159 someone is able to use the information to find a way to identify the
160 failing disk among working ones (if any such working disk actually
166 <title>July
13th: Debian/Ubuntu BSP and Skolelinux/Debian Edu developer gathering in Oslo
</title>
167 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/July_13th__Debian_Ubuntu_BSP_and_Skolelinux_Debian_Edu_developer_gathering_in_Oslo.html
</link>
168 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/July_13th__Debian_Ubuntu_BSP_and_Skolelinux_Debian_Edu_developer_gathering_in_Oslo.html
</guid>
169 <pubDate>Tue,
9 Jul
2013 10:
40:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
170 <description><p
>The upcoming Saturday,
2013-
07-
13, we are organising a combined
171 Debian Edu developer gathering and Debian and Ubuntu bug squashing
172 party in Oslo. It is organised by
<a href=
"http://www.nuug.no/
">the
173 member assosiation NUUG
</a
> and
174 <a href=
"http://www.skolelinux.org/
">the Debian Edu / Skolelinux
175 project
</a
> together with
<a href=
"http://bitraf.no/
">the hack space
176 Bitraf
</a
>.
</p
>
178 <p
>It starts
10:
00 and continue until late evening. Everyone is
179 welcome, and there is no fee to participate. There is on the other
180 hand limited space, and only room for
30 people. Please put your name
181 on
<a href=
"http://wiki.debian.org/BSP/
2013/
07/
13/no/Oslo
">the event
182 wiki page
</a
> if you plan to join us.
</p
>
187 <title>The Thinkpad is dead, long live the Thinkpad X230?
</title>
188 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230_.html
</link>
189 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230_.html
</guid>
190 <pubDate>Fri,
5 Jul
2013 08:
30:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
191 <description><p
>Half a year ago, I reported that I had to find a
192 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Thank_you_Thinkpad_X41__for_your_long_and_trustworthy_service.html
">replacement
193 for my trusty old Thinkpad X41
</a
>. Unfortunately I did not have much
194 time to spend on it, and it took a while to find a model I believe
195 will do the job, but two days ago the replacement finally arrived. I
197 <a href=
"http://www.linlap.com/lenovo_thinkpad_x230
">Thinkpad X230
</a
>
198 with SSD disk (NZDAJMN). I first test installed Debian Edu Wheezy as
199 a roaming workstation, and it seemed to work flawlessly. But my
200 second installation with encrypted disk was not as successful. More
201 on that below.
</p
>
203 <p
>I had a hard time trying to track down a good laptop, as my most
204 important requirements (robust and with a good keyboard) are never
205 listed in the feature list. But I did get good help from the search
206 feature at
<a href=
"http://www.prisjakt.no/
">Prisjakt
</a
>, which
207 allowed me to limit the list of interesting laptops based on my other
208 requirements. A bit surprising that SSD disk are not disks according
209 to that search interface, so I had to drop specifying the number of
210 disks from my search parameters. I also asked around among friends to
211 get their impression on keyboards and robustness.
</p
>
213 <p
>So the new laptop arrived, and it is quite a lot wider than the
214 X41. I am not quite convinced about the keyboard, as it is
215 significantly wider than my old keyboard, and I have to stretch my
216 hand a lot more to reach the edges. But the key response is fairly
217 good and the individual key shape is fairly easy to handle, so I hope
218 I will get used to it. My old X40 was starting to fail, and I really
219 needed a new laptop now. :)
</p
>
221 <p
>Turning off the touch pad was simple. All it took was a quick
222 visit to the BIOS during boot it disable it.
</p
>
224 <p
>But there is a fatal problem with the laptop. The
180 GB SSD disk
225 lock up during load. And this happen when installing Debian Wheezy
226 with encrypted disk, while the disk is being filled with random data.
227 I also tested to install Ubuntu Raring, and it happen there too if I
228 reenable the code to fill the disk with random data (it is disabled by
229 default in Ubuntu). And the bug with is already known. It was
230 reported to Debian as
<a href=
"http://bugs.debian.org/
691427">BTS
231 report #
691427 2012-
10-
25</a
> (journal commit I/O error on brand-new
232 Thinkpad T430s ext4 on lvm on SSD). It is also reported to the Linux
234 <a href=
"https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=
51861">Kernel bugzilla
235 report #
51861 2012-
12-
20</a
> (Intel SSD
520 stops working under load
236 (SSDSC2BW180A3L in Lenovo ThinkPad T430s)). It is also reported on the
237 Lenovo forums, both for
238 <a href=
"http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/T430s-Intel-SSD-
520-
180GB-issue/m-p/
1070549">T430
239 2012-
11-
10</a
> and for
240 <a href=
"http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/X-Series-ThinkPad-Laptops/x230-SATA-errors-with-
180GB-Intel-
520-SSD-under-heavy-write-load/m-p/
1068147">X230
241 03-
20-
2013</a
>. The problem do not only affect installation. The
242 reports state that the disk lock up during use if many writes are done
243 on the disk, so it is much no use to work around the installation
244 problem and end up with a computer that can lock up at any moment.
246 <a href=
"https://git.efficios.com/?p=test-ssd.git
">small C program
247 available
</a
> that will lock up the hard drive after running a few
248 minutes by writing to a file.
</p
>
250 <p
>I
've contacted my supplier and asked how to handle this, and after
251 contacting PCHELP Norway (request
01D1FDP) which handle support
252 requests for Lenovo, his first suggestion was to upgrade the disk
253 firmware. Unfortunately there is no newer firmware available from
254 Lenovo, as my disk already have the most recent one (version LF1i). I
255 hope to hear more from him today and hope the problem can be
261 <title>The Thinkpad is dead, long live the Thinkpad X230
</title>
262 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230.html
</link>
263 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230.html
</guid>
264 <pubDate>Thu,
4 Jul
2013 09:
20:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
265 <description><p
>Half a year ago, I reported that I had to find a replacement for my
266 trusty old Thinkpad X41. Unfortunately I did not have much time to
267 spend on it, but today the replacement finally arrived. I ended up
268 picking a
<a href=
"http://www.linlap.com/lenovo_thinkpad_x230
">Thinkpad
269 X230
</a
> with SSD disk (NZDAJMN). I first test installed Debian Edu
270 Wheezy as a roaming workstation, and it worked flawlessly. As I write
271 this, it is installing what I hope will be a more final installation,
272 with a encrypted hard drive to ensure any dope head stealing it end up
273 with an expencive door stop.
</p
>
275 <p
>I had a hard time trying to track down a good laptop, as my most
276 important requirements (robust and with a good keyboard) are never
277 listed in the feature list. But I did get good help from the search
278 feature at
<ahref=
"http://www.prisjakt.no/
">Prisjakt
</a
>, which
279 allowed me to limit the list of interesting laptops based on my other
280 requirements. A bit surprising that SSD disk are not disks, so I had
281 to drop number of disks from my search parameters.
</p
>
283 <p
>I am not quite convinced about the keyboard, as it is significantly
284 wider than my old keyboard, and I have to stretch my hand a lot more
285 to reach the edges. But the key response is fairly good and the
286 individual key shape is fairly easy to handle, so I hope I will get
287 used to it. My old X40 was starting to fail, and I really needed a
288 new laptop now. :)
</p
>
290 <p
>I look forward to figuring out how to turn off the touch pad.
</p
>
295 <title>Fourth alpha release of Debian Edu/Skolelinux based on Debian Wheezy
</title>
296 <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Fourth_alpha_release_of_Debian_Edu_Skolelinux_based_on_Debian_Wheezy.html
</link>
297 <guid isPermaLink=
"true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Fourth_alpha_release_of_Debian_Edu_Skolelinux_based_on_Debian_Wheezy.html
</guid>
298 <pubDate>Wed,
3 Jul
2013 14:
00:
00 +
0200</pubDate>
299 <description><p
>The fourth wheezy based alpha release of Debian Edu was wrapped up
300 today. This is the release announcement:
</p
>
302 <p
><strong
>New features for Debian Edu
7.1+edu0~alpha3 released
303 2013-
07-
03</strong
></p
>
305 <p
>These are the release notes for for Debian Edu / Skolelinux
306 7.1+edu0~alpha3, based on Debian with codename
"Wheezy
".
</p
>
308 <p
><strong
>About Debian Edu and Skolelinux
</strong
></p
>
310 <p
><a href=
"http://www.skolelinux.org/
">Debian Edu, also known as
311 Skolelinux
</a
>, is a Linux distribution based on Debian providing an
312 out-of-the box environment of a completely configured school
313 network. Immediately after installation a school server running all
314 services needed for a school network is set up just waiting for users
315 and machines being added via GOsa², a comfortable Web-UI. A netbooting
316 environment is prepared using PXE, so after initial installation of
317 the main server from CD, DVD or USB stick all other machines can be
318 installed via the network. The provided school server provides LDAP
319 database and Kerberos authentication service, centralized home
320 directories, DHCP server, web proxy and many other services. The
322 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Educational_applications_included_in_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux__the_screenshot_collection____.html
">more
323 than
60 educational software packages
</a
> and more are available from
324 the Debian archive, and schools can choose between KDE, Gnome, LXDE
325 and Xfce desktop environment.
</p
>
327 <p
>This is the fourth test release based on Debian Wheezy. Basically
328 this is an updated and slightly improved version compared to the
329 Squeeze release.
</p
>
331 <p
><strong
>Software updates
</strong
></p
>
333 <li
>Dropped ispell dictionaries from our default installation.
</li
>
334 <li
>Dropped menu-xdg from the KDE desktop option, to drop the Debian
335 submenu. It was not included with Gnome, LXDE or Xfce, so this
336 brings KDE in line with the others.
</li
>
337 <li
>Dropped xdrawchem, xjig and xsok from our default installation as
338 they don
't have a desktop menu entry and thus won
't show up in the
339 menu now that menu-xdg was removed.
</li
>
340 <li
>Removed the killer system to kill left behind processes on
341 multi-user machines, as it was no longer able to understand when a
342 X display was in use and killed the processes of the active users
344 <li
>Dropped the golearn (from goplay) package as the debtags in wheezy
345 are too few to make the package useful.
</li
>
347 <p
><strong
>Other changes
</strong
></p
>
349 <li
>Updated artwork matching http://wiki.debian.org/DebianArt/Themes/Joy
350 <li
>Multi-arch i386/amd64 USB stick ISO available.
</li
>
351 <li
>Got rid of ispell/wordlist related debconf questions that showed
352 up for some language options.
</li
>
353 <li
>Switched to using http.debian.net as APT source by default.
</li
>
354 <li
>Fixed proxy configuration on Main Server installations.
</li
>
355 <li
>Changed LTSP setup to ask dpkg to use force-unsafe-io the same way
356 d-i is doing it.
</li
>
357 <li
>Made sure root and user passwords were not left behind in the
358 debconf database after installation on Main Server installations.
</li
>
359 <li
>Made Roaming Workstation dynamic setup more robust and added draft
360 script setup-ad-client to hook a Roaming Workstation up to a
361 Active Directory server instead of a Debian Edu Main Server.
</li
>
362 <li
>Update system to install needed firmware packages during
363 installation, to work properly in Wheezy.
</li
>
364 <li
>Update system to handle hardware quirks (debian-edu-hwsetup).
</li
>
365 <li
>Corrected PXE installation setup to properly pass selected desktop
366 and keymap settings to PXE installation clients.
</li
>
367 <li
>LTSP diskless workstations use sshfs by default, allowing them to
368 work without adding them to DNS and NIS netgroups for NFS access.
</li
>
370 <p
><strong
>Known issues
</strong
></p
>
372 <li
>No mass import of user account data in GOsa (ldif or csv)
373 available yet (
698840).
</li
>
374 <li
>Artwork not enabled for all desktops.
</li
>
376 <p
><strong
>Where to get it
</strong
></p
>
378 <p
>To download the multiarch netinstall CD release you can use
</p
>
380 <li
><a href=
"ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-
7.1+edu0~a3-CD.iso
">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-
7.1+edu0~a3-CD.iso
</a
></li
>
381 <li
><a href=
"http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-
7.1+edu0~a3-CD.iso
">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-
7.1+edu0~a3-CD.iso
</a
></li
>
382 <li
>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-
7.1+edu0~a3-CD.iso .
</li
>
385 <p
>The MD5SUM of this image is:
2b161a99d2a848c376d8d04e3854e30c
386 <br
>The SHA1SUM of this image is:
498922e9c508c0a7ee9dbe1dfe5bf830d779c3c8
</p
>
388 <p
>To download the multiarch USB stick ISO release you can use
</p
>
390 <li
><a href=
"ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-
7.1+edu0~a3-USB.iso
">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-
7.1+edu0~a3-USB.iso
</a
></li
>
391 <li
><a href=
"http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-
7.1+edu0~a3-USB.iso
">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-
7.1+edu0~a3-USB.iso
</a
></li
>
392 <li
>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-
7.1+edu0~a3-USB.iso .
</li
>
395 <p
>The MD5SUM of this image is:
25e808e403a4c15dbef1d13c37d572ac
396 <br
>The SHA1SUM of this image is:
15ecfc93eb6b4f453b7eb0bc04b6a279262d9721
</p
>
398 <p
><strong
>How to report bugs
</strong
></p
>
400 <p
><a href=
"http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs
">http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs
</a
></p
>