Something old + something new = pretty sweet

So I recently spent some time attempting to thin down my home theater/television set up...

Old setup:
"TV Server": Windows 7 Pro with MCE + HD HomerunPrime 3 tuner cablecard networked cable tuner,
Clients: Xbox 360's running Windows Media Center as extenders - Often with "network issues" due to the WMC maching caching the live tv for each tuner in use.

"iTunes Server": MacOS w/itunes w/library stored on Airport Extreme external USB 1.5T disk
Clients: Various iDevices + Apple TV 2/3/4 in various rooms

This obviously is quite messy in each room with big ass Xbox + Apple TV + speakers, etc. not to mention the cables..HDMI's and Opticals going all over the place..

Needless to say, I have been waiting and searching for a way to simplify this...and then the answer popped out at me...

Apple TV 4 App "Channels 2.0"  http://getchannels.com

This app installed on the Apple TV4 in my living room suddenly allows me to watch live tv directly from the HDHomeRun Prime!  Using the internal storage on my 64GB Apple TV 4, allows the app to cache the current video stream to the device for pausing of live tv, rewing capability etc.

Suddenly, we no longer need the xbox 360's!  But what about recorded TV?  Apple TV natively cannot browse network shares and even if it could, it would not be able to play the huge .wtv recordings...enter MCEBuddy...

MCEBuddy automatically or on a schedule converts the .wtv files into normal MP4 files, and also as an added bonus cuts out the commercials.  My testing so far seems to be working as advertised, YMMV.

Now, let's deal with the pesky MacOS box...did I mention both "servers" are running as VM's on ESXi 6?  The future is pretty awesome!

Since the iTunes library lives on an external USB 1.5TB drive connected to the Airport Extreme router, here's what I did..

I have installed iTunes to the WMC box, and added a 1.5TB second vmdk to the VM.  Robocopy the entire Library folder to the new disk, copy the contents of my music folder (itunes library files) from the Mac to the music folder to the WMC user account.

Fire up iTunes, and voila, home sharing is on, set the library location in preferences to the new location, allow iTunes to do it's thing there and bam, I'm in business!

Finally, I have MCEBuddy set to drop the converted .wtv files into the iTunes library's "Automatically Add to iTunes" folder, and Chuck me...iTunes auto imports the files AND categorizes the file as a TV show, sets the title. episode number and more!

I went and bought a 32GB ATV4 for the bedroom, and we're all set, much less wires, MUCH less clutter, and it's easy enough, my wife can use it ;)

My next effort will be to get WMC installed on Server 2012R2 and have a single VM with all my home theater needs addressed in an environment that will be relevant for the next several years.

Happy watching!

Migrating DHCP server from 2003 to 2008R2

So I'm in the process of migrating all AD services from 2003 to 2008R2, currently I have a 2003 SP2 x86 server hosting AD, DHCP, DNS, and RRAS.  After adprepping the domain, I was able to promote a 2008R2 server to a DC, and now I have to move all the existing services, including FMSO roles to the new 2008R2 server.  After a quick google search, I found that MS has migration tools for PowerShell, this is NOT my idea of a good time ;)  very complex series of web pages and command..ugh.  Migrating DHCP as it turns out is not complicated, at all.

From the source server command prompt: netsh dhcp server export c:\dhcpdb
copy the file to the destination server
On the destination server, administrator command prompt: netsh dhcp server import c:\dhcpdb

Stop the DHCP service on the source, authorize and start on the new server. That is all there is to it.

Simple, for the win!

Moving VM's from VMWare ESXi to Hyper-V

I was amazed at how fairly painless this was. First I set up Hyper-V R2 core server, which is painless. Next I made 2 machines, 1 to run SCVMM, and 1 to run VMWare vCenter 4.1 (why these 2 can't get along on the same hardware is ridiculous!). SCVMM will import the vCenter server and treat the host and guest's as it's own. To convert the servers, first I tried running a V2V conversion, this process took an extremely long time for a 40GB server with about 30 GB worth of data. Next I attempted a P2V conversion, this cut the time down from serveral hours to about 1 hour for the same amount of data! It also was handy that it removed the VMWare tools AND installed the Hyper-V Integration stuff. Once the conversion was done, all that was left was to shut down the original VM and boot the newly converted one. Everything worked from the get go, including the NIC with static IP's and everything. I've since converted 2 production servers using the P2V method, but oddly enough, the first server running 2003 SP2 and Exchange 2003 SP2 weighing in around 230GB took roughly 1.5 times longer than a 2003 x64 running SQL 2005 weighing in at 270GB. I also took note that Hyper-V uses BITS over HTTP for moving data, which is extremely slow and there is not a way to use LAN or something faster....boo on Microsoft for that.

End of rambling.

I like free stuff

I'm a big fan of DIY stuff using whatever free utilities are available, so...I give you the SpamSnake powered by Ubuntu. http://www.howtoforge.com/the-perfect-spamsnake-ubuntu-jeos-10.10-maverick-meerkat

It takes a while to do all that but the end result will be worth it. Why pay big $$$ for a premade box that does essentially the same thing with essentially the same tools?

Enjoy!