Monthly Archives: January 2013

Reset user password on OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

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OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion allows for easy password recovery via the Recovery HD partition installed on any 10.8 system. Here is how to reset your password:

1. Boot into the Recovery HD partition by holding Command-R during boot and before the Apple logo appears.
2. After the Recovery boot is complete, Choose Terminal from the Utilities menu.
3. Type “resetpassword” at the Terminal prompt and press return.
4. Choose your system disk (f.e. “Macintosh HD”) and the user account to reset the password for.
5. Enter the new password and hit the Save button.
6. Restart.

Alternate “Retina” display for $500

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Nixeus Vue 27"Nixeus WQHD 27″ S-IPS Ultra High Resolution 2560×1440 PC/MAC Monitor NX-VUE27 is on sale on Amazon for $474.99, a whopping $225.00 (32%) off the list price.

This jewel sports some exclusive feats that make it a great alternative choice if you don’t feel like buying an Apple 27″ Cinema Display for $994.00 (saving you almost $500 in the process):

  • 27″ S-IPS 2560 x 1440 LED Backlight Display Monitor
  • Supports Up To 16.7 Million True Colors with 102% sRGB Color Gamut
  • Supported Inputs: HDMI 1.4a, Display Port 1.2, Dual Link DVI-D, VGA (D-Sub)
  • 16:9 Aspect Ratio, 6ms Response Time (Grey to Grey), 60Hz Refresh Rate, Brightness 380 cd/m2, Contrast Ratio 1500:1 (100,000:1 DCR)
  • Hight Adjustable Base Stand with Tilt Forward/Backward by 15° and 90° Pivot for portrait mode.

So, pay the premium or spend that money somewhere else?

I’d pick the latter option and buy a 2Tb Time Capsule + AppleTV Gen 3 with the saved money instead…

Easy and fast update ESXi 5.0 to 5.1

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This is the fastest method of updating ESXi 5.0 to 5.1 without using vSphere Update Manager.

Note that the commands below work for vanilla ESXi 5.0 installation, if you have added any custom drivers, DO NOT continue or risk losing connectivity to your ESXi server.

1. Enter Maintenance mode.

2. SSH into ESXi host server.

3. Allow HTTP downloads in Firewall rules:

esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e true -r httpClient

4. View available profiles:

esxcli software sources profile list -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml

5. Choose the latest standard Image Profile version available, f.e.:

esxcli software profile install -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml -p ESXi-5.1.0-20121201001s-standard --ok-to-remove

6. After the update successfully completes, reboot the ESXi host server.

Clear DNS cache on OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

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Historically, the Directory Services were responsible for DNS queries and caching on Mac OS X 10.5 and earlier. Back then, to clear the DNS cache one would issue the “dscacheutil -flushcache” command. With the further development of various services based on the multicast DNS a mDNS service fully took over both unicast and multicast DNS queries and response caching on later OS X versions.

While the “dscacheutil” is still there even on OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, it won’t reset the caches properly. The correct method to clear DNS cache on 10.7 and 10.8 is to restart the mDNS service, “mDNSResponder”:

sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

If this doesn’t seem to help, try reloading the service:

sudo launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.mDNSResponder.plist
sudo launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.mDNSResponder.plist