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HP

HP/HPE Physical to VMware conversion for Windows 2008 R2 blue screens

by Philip Sellers June 9, 2019

written by Philip Sellers

Recently, I was converting an HP/HPE Windows 2008 R2 physical server into VMware (yes, P2V still happens), when I hit a blue screen on boot. Turned out I was getting an Inaccessible Boot Volume stop error – a partial screenshot is below.

bluescreen 151

Problem was, the blue screen went by so quickly that I had a difficult time capturing what the stop code or issue was before the VM rebooted. Turns out it was a simple boot issue to solve. The VM was moving to an LSI Logic SAS controller in VMware. That driver was not enabled in the image. The following steps will walk you through enabling LSI SAS to allow the VM to boot.

Launch recovery mode – this was automatically available on the menu after my failed boot.
On the welcome screen, select Next.
Launch Command Prompt.
Run regedit.
Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, then select File > Load Hive from Menu.
Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\Config\SYSTEM.
Give the Hive a temporary name. The temporary name will be added under HKLM. I called mine TEMP.
Expand your new temporary name.
Find key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/TEMP/System/CurrentControlSet001/Services/LSI_SAS
Change Start to 0. (mine was set to 3).
Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/TEMP, then select File > Unload Hive from Menu.
Reboot.

Thanks to this older post over on serverfault for the steps.

June 9, 2019 0 comments

Datacenter Storage

HP offers a portfolio of products to solve enterprise print security problems

by Philip Sellers March 31, 2017

written by Philip Sellers

In the enterprise space, many of the free vendor tools simply don’t scale and address the wide range of security issues around printing. Enterprises have to deal with compliance and regulations, the potential for audits, and most nagging is finding the time to address printing security. While the security of the PC, servers, networking, and storage are the forefront of the security strategy in enterprise environments, printing is not one that typically has human capital and attention allocated.

Enterprise customers facing the task of securing, particularly without additional staffing, must turn to automation to solve the problem. While ignorance is bliss, now that you’re aware of the significantly lacking security of your printing fleet, you have to do something to shore things up. Fortuntely, HP has a solid set of offerings for its print customers – a set of offerings that really sets it apart from its competition.

HP uses the JetAdvantage Security Solutions suite as branding for its solutions that address many of the pain points for enterprises looking to manage printer fleets on large scale. Inside of the suite, there are three major components that help enterprise lock down their original IoT devices — printers.

HP Access Control
HP JetAdvantage Security Manager
HP JetAdvantage Secure Print
HP JetAdvantage Private Print

On-Premises Solutions

Authenticating Users

The first step is knowing who… HP Access Control is foundation of enhanced security, when looking at data security. At its core, it is about establishing authentication at the device for users and so it is the foundational product of the suite. With authentication, you tie a user interaction at the device to print jobs. This should eliminate misprints and secure documents being routed or left on a printer by accident.

Access Control also solves the problem of the “print and sprint” – running to a shared printer to retrieve a sensitive document.Most company acknowledge that it is far more cost effective to buy bigger and more capable printers and share them across a wider pool of users. But shared printing leave the doorway open for a paystub or customer data being left in the print tray where it can be picked up by an unauthorized user. Once authentication is established, you can leverage Access Control to setup release printing or pull printing – where the job doesn’t actually print until a user releases it at the printer. This is a walk-up technology that allows better data security.

It prevents the absent minded user from leaving data lying around the office. It can be leveraged to add and address scanning and routing and by adding the aptly named Capture and Route product from HP, you can use the known user to intelligently send documents to locations, shortcutting manual steps and routing by the user.

Securing Devices

While much of the configuration management that the JetAdvantage Security Suite can be accomplished with HP’s free Web Jetadmin tool, this tool falls short of reporting and ensuring compliance of desired configurations.

HP JetAdvantage Security Manager fills in the next layer of config management for your HP printers. It is best described as a tool like System Center Configuration Manager for your printer fleet. Like SCCM, it not only allows you to deploy configuration, but also audit and report on the system configuration to demonstrate compliance. The tool goes out and helps you to discover and then apply a baseline profile to each printing device, but to do that you must first find your printers. Security Manager is able to run discoveries against your environment and collection a list of devices and their current state. From there, it can make recommendations in the assess-only mode and for companies that want a white-glove service, Security Manager can also remediate any of the printers that do not match their baseline or recommendations. Like any good config management tool, it is packaged with reports and dashboards to give a quick look into the fleet and the current running state of the printing environment.

One of the other big features for Security Manager is the ability to administer certificates. Most administrators are accustomed to the untrusted certificates that come pre-installed and simply clicking through the browser prompts. Security Manager can workflow and handle the deployment and upkeep of trusted certificates across your printing fleet, making sure that anyone tampering with software would not pass the muster if they tampered with a device. Certificate management on printers is generally cumbersome and time consuming, taking 10 to 15 minutes per device for experienced admins. Security Manager can automate that process quickly and completely.

Cloud Solutions

HP has been working hard to bring print capabilities to the cloud and to its devices. It has developed HP JetAdvantage On Demand as an app store, of sorts, to enable new applications on your HP printers. These apps are cloud-based, so there is nothing that you need to install or maintain on-premises. These solutions are great for small to medium businesses.

HP JetAdvantage Secure Print is essentially HP Access Control running from the cloud. It is a fee-based SaaS solution to enable pull printing in your environment. With Secure Print, you have a cloud queue or a local workstation queue where jobs are held until you walk up to a printer and release them. The primary difference between Secure Print and Access Control is the location where it is installed and who maintains it. With Secure Print, HP maintains the software and you simply consume it.

Secure Print supports for both HP and non-HP printers. HP printers offer more integration and possibilities, but any third party can be enabled with a simple QR code and mobile app to enable job releases at a particular device.

HP JetAdvantage Private Print is a free service, with features much like Secure Print, except it is only for HP devices. While the free service does not have feature parity with Secure Print, it does offer a lot of capabilities and puts secure printing within reach for many SMB customers.

Also within the data security segment, JetAdvantage Insights offers analytics and insight to your printing environment. You get all the basics you would expect from printing analytics – who printed, how often, page counts, which printers have heavier load, etc. Insights can be deployed with agents on each workstation and at each printer in order to gain full visibility of the print landscape. Once deployed, administrators can monitor for attacks, monitor for device failures and watch passive data loss and corruption.

HP is also busy bringing other apps into its JetAdvantage On Demand portfolio, so keep you eye them for more capabilities in the coming months.

Disclaimer: HP, Inc., invited me to their Palo Alto headquarters and paid all expenses associated with this educational trip. This blog post is a result of that trip and the information shared, however, the information I have written in this post is solely written by me without any editorial input from HP.

March 31, 2017 0 comments

Datacenter Storage

5 Tips to Secure your Printer fleet for free

by Philip Sellers January 27, 2017

written by Philip Sellers

So, you’re sufficiently concerned about security for your printing environment. What can you do to immediately improve your situation? And secondly, how much is it going to cost you? Let’s take a look at some general tips that you can accomplish with no additional expense.

Tip 1: Check for patches to your firmware and BIOS and patch your printers software.

This may seem like an obvious one, but the fact remains that a majority of companies do not have a regular patching plan for their printers. When talking with them about their servers and workstations, there are plans and procedures for patching and maintaining that software. When you talk with them about other infrastructure, like networking and storage, there is an awareness and proactivity to patch and upgrade these devices – for features and to rid themselves of bugs. But its not so for printers.

While on the topic, you should also ensure that you get your patches and upgrades directly from the vendor’s website. Third party sites could host modified firmware and BIOS that has malicious code. Relatively few printers checksum or validate their code before running it. It may be a good idea to audit and check the code running on your printers to ensure it is authentic and it has not been tampered with.

Tip 2: Disable any services that you do not require on the devices.

Just like companies have build standards for servers, networking and storage, your printers should also have a standard build profile. This profile should remove any unnecessary services and leave only the ones that are truly required by the company. For instance, did you know Telnet and FTP are often enabled on printers by default? When was the last time you needed to Telnet or FTP to a printer? Should you allow HTTP or only HTTPS? Develop a build document for standardizing your printer fleet. Disable any service that is not used or needed to avoid open doorways for malicious activity.

Tip 3: Change those default passwords!

This really should be second nature, but again, most companies do not have a build standard and therefore default passwords exist in the wild – in the wild and even connected directly to public IP addresses. So, the first line of defense is to change known passwords so that if your printer is ever made accessible, it is not an easy target with a known password. Also, adhere to your normal password policies for complexity and length to ensure a good password is installed on all of your devices.

Tip 4: Monitor your devices – tap into logs and/or SNMP

You should use SNMP to setup alerting from the device and also allow secure polling of the device from management software. While there have been a few known vulnerabilities in printers via SNMP, patching should allow you to safely implement SNMP for your printer fleet. SNMP should be configured to forward traps to your Security Information Event Management (SIEM) software and also to allow SIEM to poll and retrieve information from the device. The traps should alert you to conditions, and although capabilities my vary by vendor and printer, you should be able to find out when new code is loaded, when toner is running low and other useful conditions.

Secondly, if you have the ability to reach in and obtain the logs of the printer, this is valuable information from a forensics and analysis standpoint. The logs should have records for any new code added, any reboot requested, and should lead you with information about source IP and the account used for any of these operations. During my event with HP last week, the question was asked – “If a printer was used to compromise your network, would you know?” Monitoring is the only way to know.

Tip 5: Investigate printer specific monitoring and management software

Most printer vendors give away free monitoring and management software as a value-add to their customers. This software often becomes ‘shelf-ware’ and never gets implemented. That’s a critical mistake. The management software may be a big help in accomplishing all 4 of the prior tips. Rather than having to manually reconfigure and secure each printer, a free vendor software, such as HP’s Web Jetadmin, may be available for your use.

Ok, what next?

So, after implementing these tips, you can go further and deeper to secure your printing fleet. In HP’s case, they have a full suite of software under the JetAdvantage branding to help enterprises combat and ensure that their printer fleet is secure. For more information about those products, see http://www.hp.com/go/jetadvantage and check out my next blog post.

January 27, 2017 0 comments

Datacenter Storage

Are printers putting your network at risk?

by Philip Sellers January 27, 2017

written by Philip Sellers

Only a small percentage of companies think of printers when it comes to securing their network, leaving them vulnerable and susceptible to attacks. Print security? Is that really such a thing? Last week, I spent the day today with HP in Palo Alto, CA, learning about secure printing solutions within their portfolio. Why HP? To me, printing has always been synonymous with HP, even moreso after company split into two companies in 2015. The new HP, Inc., is focused specifically on printing and personal systems and it has one of the largest install bases of its printers in the world.

In many ways, printers were the original thing of IoT. Printers have been network connected for a couple decades now, but the fact that they have been stable and largely ‘just work’ allows people to take them for granted. That leaves printers unpatched and unsecured on networks, which could be a gateway for malicious activity. Add to the mix that printers are also unmonitored and you have a winning combination for hackers to play.

Printers have changed in recent years to keep up with the mobile revolution – adding WiFi, their own email addresses, connections to cloud services, and even apps inside of them – and the build-out of printers software has increased attack surface and the number of potential vulnerabilities. WiFi and wired connectivity on the same device makes it possible to bridge a network. WIRED posted a story almost 18 months ago that outlined hackers creatively using drones to fly phones and connect wirelessly to printers in an office building, then bridging the network, and injecting code for a backdoor onto the network while bypassing the company’s firewalls.

At the HP event, hacker Michael Calce, aka MafiaBoy, spoke with our group of bloggers. Calce was the infamous hacker who took down CNN and Yahoo in 2000 using a distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack. It was unlike anything the Internet had seen before and Calce was only 15. Some years later, Calce switched sides and became a security consultant – advising and providing penetration test services to customers.

Calce spoke for a long time about the mindset of a hacker. “Hackers don’t think the same as regular people,” he reiterated multiple times during his presentation and during discussions throughout the day. The mindset of a hacker is first to understand how you are going to use technology, but then to find ways to circumvent and utilize it for their own purposes. During his first years of hacking, it was all about ‘look at me’ and showing off. Today, however, the goal of hacking is all about monetary gain and these hackers have found funding from sponsor states and free reign to do their bidding. In short, they’re incented.

The main piece of advice from Calce for companies to to educate their employees. According to him, employees are the weakest link and without fail, social engineering and spear phishing are his go-to methods for infiltrating companies during pen-tests. Education programs can come in many shapes and forms, but the primary intent is awareness and changing employee behavior to be more cautious about attachments, documents, and links they receive.

Most hackers, according to Calce, are not coming through your front door or your back door. He likened it to bank robbers – they aren’t breaking into your bank through the doorways, they are coming in through creative ways – cutting through walls or under floors. And the same is true for your network. Hackers are looking for opportunistic ways to get in through easier methods that are not protected. Printers and other connected devices are easy targets for those attacks since they are not secured like other parts of the network.

Printers are an endpoint, just like your PC, Servers, storage and network equipment. So, what are you to do? I’ve got 5 ways you can improve your printer security for free. Check out my next blog post.

Disclaimer: HP, Inc., invited me to this blogger tech day and paid for my travel and hotel accommodations. This blog post, however, is my own views and opinions based on the information that was presented. HP did not review or advise what to say or how to say it – these are my own words.

January 27, 2017 0 comments

Printing

Taking the new HP PageWide Pro 577dw for a test drive

by Philip Sellers March 8, 2016

written by Philip Sellers

HP PageWide Pro 577dw MFP Printer For the first time in forever, HP has birthed a new line and brand of printers – well, sort of. A couple of years go, HP introduced the OfficeJet Pro X line of printers. These printers looked a lot like a LaserJet printer, they were built for business, but the actual print tech was more closely related to an inkjet, and so they were placed in the OfficeJet line. But, there was so much different than other OfficeJet printers. These printers didn’t use a moving print head, they didn’t use the same type of ink and the print speeds were much faster than any other inkjet. This was all enabled because of a print bar that spanned the entire width of the page – something HP dubbed PageWide Technology – and pigmented ink.

Fast forward to today and HP has taken the PageWide name and started using it as a brand for large-format printers, including the PageWide XL printer line. PageWide is the both the enabling technology – a stationary print bar that spans the width of the page – and it is also a brand name – a catchy one. With the broader use of the name, HP thinks its is time to rebrand the HP OfficeJet Pro X line to HP PageWide. (I for one, think that’s a smart move.)

So, HP sent me one of the new PageWide Pro 577dw for a test drive. I was lucky to test the OfficeJet Pro X 576dw a couple years ago, so the model I was shipped allowed me to compare the two head to head and see where HP has made some improvements. I wanted to compare the same print jobs head to head on these two printers and clock the differences between them. Those results are near the end, but first, take a look at how the PageWide Pro 557dw is equipped.

PageWide Pro 577dw Specs

Three print modes
- Professional mode speed: Up to 50 ppm black or color
- General Office mode (fastest mode) up to 70 ppm and Presentation mode (highest quality)
Scan resolution: Up to 1200 x 1200 dpi hardware and optical
Copy resolution: Up to 600 dpi black or color (text and graphics)
Standard connectivity: 2 Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Host; 1 Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Device; 1 Ethernet 10/100 Base-TX network; 2 RJ-11 modem port/phone line; 802.11 b/g/n Station; 802.11 b/g Access Point
Paper handling: 500-sheet input tray, 50-sheet multi-purpose tray; 300-sheet face-down output bin
Duty cycle (monthly): Up to 80,000 pages

PageWide Pro 577dw versus OfficeJet Pro X 576dw

For the 500 series, ink has been relocated into the previously empty space below the output tray — but the PageWide 300 and 400 series are configured like the OfficeJet Pro X 577dw.
Pro X was rated at 42ppm and the PageWidePro is rated at up to 50 ppm in Professional mode – general office is also faster and the output tray has been redesigned slightly to handle increased speeds – my tests saw better than these advertised speeds, if you deduct the time for the first page to print.
The duplexing scanner now includes two scan heads – one for front and one for back of page to simultaneously scan – increasing duplex scan speeds tremendously
Improved Embedded Web Server with AirPrint and Google Cloud Print integration, and HP ePrint and Apps
Wi-Fi Direct and NFC touch-to-print technology

‘General’ Impressions

Overall the printer firmware is a big improvement over the previous generation. The touch screen seems to be much improved and the ability to move and customize the display is great. There are also new app additions to the onboard software.

Many of the great features of the OfficeJet Pro X made their way on the PageWide Pro including the ability to scan directly from the printer to a network folder, scan to email and scan to SharePoint. These shortcuts are handy as you place the PageWide in walk-up situations. In addition to these shortcuts, you can also walkup and retrieve and print jobs – directly from a USB and from cloud services.

General Office Mode is nothing short of incredible. When printing in the fastest mode, its sort-of like watching to a machine gun fire as the pages come out so quickly (but not as loud). And the quality of the print in General Office mode is still very high quality – not at all what you would expect of a ‘draft’ mode. This is why HP doesn’t refer to this as draft mode – because there is nothing draft about the quality of the print.

Scanning, in particular duplex scanning, is much improved on the PageWide Pro 577dw. The addition of a second scan bar for the document feeder allows for a single pass duplex scanning and also allows for the profile of the document feeder to be slimmed down. The duplexer required in the OfficeJet Pro X 576dw is no longer needed with a second scan bar. This provides up to 5x faster duplex scans without the worry of paper jams due to a cleaner paper path.

Print durability is still incredible in the PageWide Pro 577dw. When I reviewed the OfficeJet Pro X, this was one of the remarkable things about the ink system and the printer in general. The paper would deteriorate under water before the ink would run, particularly with Colorlok paper. I posted about this and even included a video and in testing, this still holds true with the PageWide Pro prints.

As I wrote about back in 2014, the PageWide Pro is a greener alternative to printing, consuming much less power that the laser printer counterparts and also producing less waste than that of many other printers – both laser and inkjet. That tradition continues with the PageWide models. The consumables for this printer only include the cartridges and a waste tray. Comparable laser printers have bulkier toner cartridges with more plastic, fuser kits that have to be replaced during the lifecycle and they consume 50% more energy than the PageWide Pro models.

The PageWide Enterprise models ship with HP SureStart and FutureSmart firmware capabilities along with integration with HP Flow and other enterprise features, but this doesn’t mean the PageWide Pro models are lacking. From a networking perspective, the PageWide Pro supports every major computing platform – from Windows to OS X, iOS and Android in a variety of ways. The PageWide Pro also includes support for 802.1x, SNMP and other enterprise requested features, so it can fit comfortably in a small home network, a branch office, or medium sized business all the way up to the enterprise network.

Where does it fit?

HP is positioning the PageWide lineup between the OfficeJet and LaserJet models. It has compelling DNA from both lines – sharing similar form factors and enterprise-ready features from the LaserJet line and combining those with the economies of ink and a more compelling price point. Below is a lineup for HP’s business printing options and where the company positions each brand.

HPBusinessPrintLineup

Speed Tests

Printer	Pages	Page Type	Job Type	Mode	Time (seconds)	PPM Equivalent
PageWide Pro 577dw	42	Single	Print	Professional	56.6	44.52
PageWide Pro 577dw	42	Duplex	Print	Professional	82.64	30.49
OfficeJet Pro X 576dw	42	Single	Print	Professional	62.2	40.51
OfficeJet Pro X 576dw	42	Duplex	Print	Professional	115.47	21.82
PageWide Pro 577dw	37	Single	Print	Professional	50.3	44.14
PageWide Pro 577dw	37	Duplex	Print	Professional	73.29	30.29
OfficeJet Pro X 576dw	37	Single	Print	Professional	51.71	42.93
OfficeJet Pro X 576dw	37	Duplex	Print	Professional	103.1	21.53
PageWide Pro 577dw	37	Single	Print	General Office	32.02	69.33
PageWide Pro 577dw	37	Duplex	Print	General Office	67.89	32.70
PageWide Pro 577dw	37	Single	Scan	Color 200dpi	100.15	22.17
PageWide Pro 577dw	37	Duplex	Scan	Color 200dpi	77.29	28.72
OfficeJet Pro X 576dw	37	Single	Scan	Color 200dpi	140.1	15.85
OfficeJet Pro X 576dw	37	Duplex	Scan	Color 200dpi	310	7.16

The times reported include the initial wake-up/warm-up time, once the print job is submitted, until the last page hits the output tray. If this time is removed, these ppm ratings exceed the ppm rating from HP Inc.

Availability and Price

HP expect the PageWide Pro 500 series printers to be available in April, 2016, with a starting price of $699. In addition to the PageWide Pro 577dw multifunction printer, a PageWide Pro 552dw single function printer will be also be available.

Disclaimer: HP Inc. provided the HP PageWide Pro 577dw at no charge for me to review. The views and opinions I share here are my own and were not previously reviewed or dictated by HP.

March 8, 2016 0 comments

Printing

HP Inc. revamps printing lineup and introduces PageWide brand

by Philip Sellers March 8, 2016

written by Philip Sellers

PrintingReinvented

The slimmed down HP Inc. today unveiled a new lineup of revamped business-focused printers including the introduction of a brand new brand of office printers to be known with the PageWide brand. The announcement is expansive, with the introduction of 15 new printer models and a set of Secure Managed Print services from the company. Packed into the announcement is a major focus on security of printers included in the new print models. Let’s dive into each of the areas in more detail.

Security

There’s a growing concern that devices that make up the Internet of Things (IoT) will become a hotbed for malware and attacks. In fact, 60% of companies have had a data breach involving printers according to the “Insecurity of Network-Connected Printers” study that Ponemon Institute published in October 2015. Updates and patching become incredibly important to secure these devices the same way we have attempted to keep our computers secure.

According to HP, today’s printers more closely resemble computers and are increasingly more connected. Today’s printers aren’t just networked, they have email accounts and are directly connected to the Internet. They are cloud integrated with services backing the choices on the display panels. But even with the innovation and increased capabilities, security has largely been an afterthought, and capable processors and lax security make for a hackers playground. HP realizes this and has been at work with solutions and a change of mindset about printers to try and head off issues.

The first way HP is attempting to address issues is with push updates. The percentage of companies that update printer firmware is small, but HP hopes to change that with a direct from the Internet update capable on new printers. The update feature is powered by software on board the printer, but security professionals may pause and wonder if this is wise to do. Is it possible to simply inject malicious updates and auto-deploy them across an entire enterprise? No so fast, says HP.

The enterprise printers announced today include a security technology called HP SureStart. In September 2015, HP introduced three LaserJet printers that use HP SureStart technology to protect the printer’s BIOS. If the HP SureStart name sounds familiar, it is a security feature that was introduced into the HP Elitebook line of professional laptops back in 2014, that HP has brought to its printer lineup.

HP SureStart is a secure BIOS that stores both the current and a previous version of the BIOS. SureStart detects tampering and malware attacks on the BIOS and will revert to saved, good BIOS version to ensure that the basic firmware of the hardware is not compromised. HP calls it self-healing.

Not only are the updates meant to be for security, they also provide a consistent user interfaces across the printer fleet. HP FutureSmart is a push from HP to establish a consistent user experience across all of its enterprise printers and enable the same walk-up features no matter where you go in the organization and this capability is also included in the enterprise printers announced today.

Secure Managed Print Services

Building on the HP SureStart, HP has created an ensemble of services to create Secure Managed Print Services. The self-healing capabilities of the printers with HP SureStart is the foundation of the secure print services, but it also combines security software to detect threats, protect, monitor and manage the printer fleet and provide reporting for regulatory and compliance audits. Secure Managed Print Services also includes a strong component of security consulting from the experts at HP to device a comprehensive print security plan. Finally, the services also allow for data encryption to provide protection for confidential information.

As part of the announcement, HP introduced an updated version of HP JetAdvantage Security manager, a software that allows for policy-based printer security. This software provides much of the reporting, auditing and compliance enforcement capabilities for the Secure MPS.

HP also announced that its Enterprise printers will now be able to be monitoring using Splunk.

HP PageWide Printers

In perhaps the biggest news, HP introduce a new brand of printers – the HP PageWide line. PageWide has been used by HP to describe the printing technology of the HP OfficeJet Pro X line as well as the brand name of some specialty large-format printers, like the PageWide XL line, over the last several years. Now, HP is borrowing the name of its wide print bar to be the brand name for the printers that use it.

PageWide printers will come in two major categories – Pro and Enterprise. HP introduced two PageWide Enterprise printers today – the PageWide Enterprise Color 586 multifunction and the PageWide Enterprise Color 556 single function printer. Enterprise models will be the most full featured models and include options to essentially replace copiers and multifunction with floor stands and other accessories. There are also additional software capabilities in the Enterprise models, including integration with HP Flow print control services.

The PageWide Pro models will be focused on small to medium business and branch office solutions and are split into 3 series – the 300, 400 and 500 series. The major difference between each series is speed. The 300 series features printers with up to 30 pages per minute (ppm) in Professional print mode and 45 ppm in General Office mode (HP PageWide’s version of draft mode – but don’t think low quality here – it is still very high quality). The 400 series features 40 ppm in Professional print mode and 55ppm in General Office mode. While the fastest printers are in the 500 series, rated at 50 ppm in Professional and 70 ppm in General Office mode. The 500 series also offers a series of accessories to convert the printer into a floor model with additional drawers for paper types and job accounting and PIN printing on the front console. All of the new PageWide Pro printers feature a single-pass duplexing scanner rated at 26 ppm. HP has released a multifunction printer and single-function printer in each series today.

The new PageWide brand will replace the Pro X moniker that HP initially introduced for its business-class printers using the PageWide print bar. The new brand will differentiate the print technology that uses the wide print bar and pigment inks versus all of its business ink printers in the OfficeJet line that use moving print heads and traditional inks. HP sees the PageWide brand sitting in between the LaserJet and OfficeJet families – providing the lowest cost per page of any of its business-class printers, along with the least amount of waste generated and least amount of energy used.

Below are slides with details of the new printers are below to provide more information for the entire lineup:

OfficeJet Pro Additions

HP also introduced several new models in the OfficeJet Pro category, targeted at small business with up to 5 users sharing a printer. These print models target small office environments and specific use cases, such as legal documents and mobile printing. All of the new OfficeJet printers announced replace existing models that HP is retiring in the lineup. Details on the models and their specs in the slides below.

LaserJet Additions

For the LaserJet line, HP introduced two new printers today – the HP LaserJet Pro M501 – a monochrome laser printer targeted at 5 to 15 users and the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M377dw – targeted at 3 to 10 users with multifunction capabilities. Both are brand new products, not replacing existing products in the lineup.

March 8, 2016 0 comments

Datacenter News Storage

Atlantis Computing Expands HyperScale Lineup

by Michael Davis January 16, 2016

written by Michael Davis

Atlantis Computing has expanded their hyperconverged lineup with the HyperScale CX-4; a new offering targeting both ROBO deployments and smaller SMB customers. The two node CX-4 features 4TB (usable capacity) of all flash storage, 10GbE networking, 48 CPU cores, and up to 1.5TB of RAM in a tidy 2U package starting at $43,000 with three years of 24/7 support (4 hour parts replacement). This price point places it among the lowest cost hyperconverged appliances on the market with Chetan Venkatesh, Atlantis CEO, calling it a game changer for ROBO customers.

To make deployment easier and faster if a customer provides the IPs Atlantis will ship units with all the networking pre-configured along with connection details for the Atlantis Manager virtual appliance whether running centrally or on the ROBO appliance. Additionally the check boxes of inclusive data protection, high availability and disaster recovery are all ticked.

The expanded HyperScale lineup now includes the CX-4, CX-12, and CX-24 which are available on Dell’s FX2 modular server platform. This marks the first time Dell’s FX2 platform has been used for a hyperconverged appliance and allows for 10GbE networking between nodes without a separate 10GbE switch. Dell based CX series appliances are available through Dell distributors and channel partners in the US, Europe and Middle East. Fans of Lenovo, Cisco, SuperMicro, and HP will be pleased to see the entire lineup available from those manufacturers as well.

For more details and to configure your own, head over to Atlantis Computing.

January 16, 2016 0 comments

Datacenter Storage

HP introduces new 3PAR StoreServ 8000 series arrays for the midrange

by Philip Sellers August 27, 2015

written by Philip Sellers

HP 3PAR 8000 Series After almost a 3 year run, HP is replacing the 3PAR StoreServ 7000 series with all new 3PAR StoreSev 8000 series arrays. This news comes while HP is celebrating how well its mid-range 3PAR arrays have been selling versus competitors. The new arrays features upgraded hardware including 16-gigabit fibre channel and 12-gigabit SAS connectivity for its drives and will feature the same fifth-generation ASIC that were introduced in the 20000 series arrays earlier this year. The 8000 series also increases the density of storage possible across the board in the 3PAR arrays, reducing the footprint and increasing the top-end capacities.

In terms of portfolio, HP touts a single architecture, single OS and single management across a wide range of solutions with the HP 3PAR. With the 8000 series introduction, the difference between 3PAR models comes down to the number of controller nodes and associated ports, the types of drives in the array and the number of ASICs in the controllers. The 8000 series features a single ASIC per controller node and the 20000 series features 2 ASICs per controller node along with more CPU capacity and more RAM for caching.

Both the 8000 and 20000 series arrays feature the 3PAR Gen5 ASIC, which is the latest generation introduced earlier in 2015. If history repeats, additional capabilities of the Gen5 ASIC will get unlocked by future software upgrades on these two new series of arrays, but out of the gate, the new platforms are already touting density and performance gains in the new platforms. HP says that they have increased density by 4x, performance 30 to 40 percent and decreased latency by 40 percent between the 7000 and 8000 series arrays. HP says the 8000 series can provide up to 1 million IOPS at 0.387 ms latency.

HP also announced a new 20450 all-flash starter kit. This model scales to a maximum of 4 controller nodes as opposed to 8 controller nodes in the 20800 and 20850 models. The 20000 series are the high-end storage arrays HP introduced earlier this year to replace the 10000 series arrays, and are typically targeted at large enterprise and service providers.

That rounds out the HP 3PAR portfolio with the following models:

HP 3PAR StoreServ 8200 is the low-end dual-controller model that scales up to 750TB of raw capacity
HP 3PAR StoreServ 8400 scales up to 4 controller nodes and is capable of scaling out to 2.4PB of raw capacity
HP 3PAR StoreServ 8440 is the converged flash array that provides similiar high performance to an 8450 array, but with the ability to also have spinning disks. It scales up to 4 controller nodes and includes an increased amount of cache on the controller pairs, comparable to the cache on node with an all-flash array.
HP 3PAR StoreServ 8450 is the all-flash storage array scales up to 4 controller nodes and up to 1.8PB of raw capacity and a usable capacity over 5.5PB. This is the model HP talks about when it says 1 million IOPS at under 1 ms of latency.
HP 3PAR StoreServ 20450, a quad-controller, all-flash configuration with larger scale than the 3PAR 8450
HP 3PAR StoreServ 20800, the workhorse array with up to 8 controller nodes and a mix of hard disk and solid state drives.
HP 3PAR StoreServ 20850, the all-flash configuration of the 20000 series.

3PAR8000-1-1024x441

HP announced the new 8450 all-flash array is available in 2U starter kit priced at just $19,000 for 6TB of usable storage. When HP talks about usable storage and the all-flash array, it assumes a 4 to 1 compaction using its thin-provisioning and thin-deduplication – both native, realtime capabilities powered by the ASIC. The same array can also be configured with up to 280TB of usable capacity in just 2U of space.

All this news comes just in time for VMworld, where HP is going to be showing the new arrays publicly for the first time. I look forward to checking them out on the show floor and talking with some HP folks to find out more.

August 27, 2015 0 comments

Datacenter Software

ProLiant Gen8 servers show up disabled after HP OneView upgrade to 1.20.05

by Philip Sellers August 25, 2015

written by Philip Sellers

oneviewheader I recently upgraded our HP OneView deployment to 1.20.05. Following the upgrade, several rack-mount ProLiant systems showed up in the console as disabled. The strange thing is that the dashboard still showed active CPU, Power and Temperature stats on the Overview, so I knew the system was still communicating with OneView.

Having seen this before on a blade enclosure, I thought perhaps a refresh would solve the situation. Under Actions on an enclosure or server, you have a refresh command that goes out and repolls the iLO and tries to update everything. Unfortunately, when I attempted to refresh, OneView the system stayed in the disabled state.

A quick search online turned up a couple others who has experienced similar trouble and the resolution is a simple reboot of the HP OneView appliance. That seems to solve the situation and make everything go back to an OK status. My systems immediately came back in an OK state after reboot, but the user said he had to let it sit overnight, so mileage may vary.

August 25, 2015 0 comments

Datacenter Storage Virtualization

Use raw disks for StoreVirtual VSA to avoid warnings and maximize capacity

by Philip Sellers August 21, 2015

written by Philip Sellers

Last year at HP Discover, I was preparing for my first StoreVirtual VSA deployment. I spoke with a couple different folks from the StoreVirtual team. The main piece of advice I was given was to use raw disk mappings under the StoreVirtual VSA. At first, I questioned this. But there is good logic to this recommendation. Now, my source is HP staff, but this isn’t in their official guidelines anywhere that I have found…

Scenario without RDM’s

So, take the scenario if we did not use raw disk mappings with the StoreVirtual VSA. You would create local VMFS datastores on the local drives connected to the host. You would only need one VMFS and you would deploy the VSA onto this disk. Then, you would then create additional VMDK files for the data disks behind the StoreVirtual VSA on the same VMFS datastore. You could create multiple VMFS and do the same thing, if you like.

Now, when you created your VMDK data disk to use your full VMFS capacity, vSphere would throw a disk space alarm for your VMFS datastore. The alarms are not customizable to say alarm on these VMFS created in the StoreVirtual VSA (which you will want later), but do not alarm on these local disk VMFS. So, you would always have alarm conditions if you used the full size of the VMFS.

First point, to avoid alarms, you would need to consume 80% or less of the VMFS capacity. But, why would you ever want to leave capacity on the table, never to be used? You want to maximize the capacity you have in your local servers.

Second point, you are never going to snapshot your VSAs. You don’t need any spare capacity for snapshot delta disks. With the VSA, you have multiple copies of the data on additional StoreVirtual (VSA or physical) and that is your redundancy. In fact, snapshots at the VSA level are dangerous. You should avoid these at all cost.

Scenario with RDM’s

My recommendation would be to create two local disks on the ESXi host that will run the VSA. The first disk should be small – possibly RAID1 – and will be formatted as a VMFS datastore. The second, possibly RAID5 or RAID6 would be your storage for the VSA. It would not be a VMFS and would instead be presented to the VSA as a raw disk mapping. This allows you to use 100% of the raw capacity, with no alarms and direct access to the underlying disk.

When you deploy the VSA, do not specify any data disks during the deployment. I used the Zero To VSA toolkit for my deployments and it allows this configuration to be deployed.

The complication with the RDM plan is that vSphere does not show local disks as available storage to present as a raw disk mapping. You will need to do some work with vmkfstools to create a VMDK file, on the primary VMFS with the StoreVirtual VSA files, and point this to the physical location of the second volume. Once you create the VMDK, you may attach it to the VSA and begin your configuration.

The first step is to identify the device ID of the unformatted, data disk. To do this, open SSH or a remote shell to the ESXi host. You will want to navigate to /vmfs/devices/ or /dev/disks and run an ls -la to list the device names. Hopefully you only have two or three devices listed – possibly your boot disk, your VMFS disk and your data disk. You may identify your data disk because it will be the name without a symbolic link associated. The ID you are looking for will begin with “naa.”

The vmkfstools command to create the VMDK raw disk mapping file is:

[code]vmkfstools -z /vmfs/devices/ID /vmfs/Volumes/VMFSDatastore/SVApplianceName/SVApplianceName_2.vmdk[/code]

Change VMFSDatastore to match the name you assign to your VMFS when you created it. Change the StoreVirtual1 to be the directory/name you named your appliance on this host. And lastly, specify a name for the vmdk file.

Now, edit settings. You attach the VMDK file you just created. Browse to the location you specified in vmkfstools and select the VMDK file. Repeat this for each virtual appliance.

Lastly, boot the VSA and use the StoreVirtual Centralized Managed console and its wizards to setup the VSA and cluster the individual VSAs into a software storage array.

August 21, 2015 1 comment