Help choosing replacement Hyper-V host machines and connected storage
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@Dashrender said:
Nope, it's provided by Dell (and prehaps other vendors)
Dell internal app. Only Dell can provide it and only Dell can decrypt the output. Only Dell and select partners (NTG was the first and may remain the only) that can read them back for you. NTG reads back from non-sales engineering, Dell reads back from a sales channel capacity planning person who specs a 3-2-1 system for you from the details.
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So NTG has both the DPACK installers and the decryption software, so no need to talk to Dell at all?
@Minion-Queen ? -
@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
Nope, it's provided by Dell (and prehaps other vendors)
Dell internal app. Only Dell can provide it and only Dell can decrypt the output.
Seems some people have cracked it.
https://www.freelancer.co.uk/projects/C-Programming/Decode-the-Dell-dpack-file/ -
@Breffni-Potter said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
Nope, it's provided by Dell (and prehaps other vendors)
Dell internal app. Only Dell can provide it and only Dell can decrypt the output.
Seems some people have cracked it.
https://www.freelancer.co.uk/projects/C-Programming/Decode-the-Dell-dpack-file/Interesting.. I wonder if the solution is for sale or going to be publicly posted?
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@Dashrender said:
Interesting.. I wonder if the solution is for sale or going to be publicly posted?
Pretty sure Dell's T&Cs prohibit selling the solution and their lawyers will come after anyone who tries it.
Now, if the soloution just ended up being distributed outside the control of anyone one individual, they would have a hard time. DPACK is a major tool in their sales arsenal for products. Maybe the engineering guys will re-write DPACK to counter it.
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@Breffni-Potter said:
Maybe the engineering guys will re-write DPACK to counter it.
That's just a never ending battle.
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As the software and video game industries have learned, you cannot copy protect your software, ever. It's a never ending game of whack-a-mole.
Apparently, this is all he had to do. Little bit of PHP.
<?php $contents = file_get_contents("7daycapturePPP2.iokit"); $newlines = 0; for($i = 0; $i < strlen($contents); $i++) { if( ord($contents[$i]) == 10) { $newlines++; if($newlines == 2) { $original_header = substr($contents, 0, $i + 1); $contents = substr_replace($contents, "", 0, $i + 1); break; } } } echo $original_header; echo zlib_decode($contents); ?> -
@Breffni-Potter said:
As the software and video game industries have learned, you cannot copy protect your software, ever. It's a never ending game of whack-a-mole.
Apparently, this is all he had to do. Little bit of PHP.
<?php
$contents = file_get_contents("7daycapturePPP2.iokit");
$newlines = 0;
for($i = 0; $i < strlen($contents); $i++)
{
if( ord($contents[$i]) == 10) {
$newlines++;
if($newlines == 2) {
$original_header = substr($contents, 0, $i + 1);
$contents = substr_replace($contents, "", 0, $i + 1);
break;
}
}
}
echo $original_header;
echo zlib_decode($contents);
?>LOL, did you just ask him and he gave you the info?
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Pretty much!
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@Dashrender said:
So NTG has both the DPACK installers and the decryption software, so no need to talk to Dell at all?
@Minion-Queen ?No, you always have to "get the DPACK tool" from Dell. And Dell always has to physical decrypt it. But you get to choose if a 3-2-1 capacity planner sales person provides you with the results or if an NTG engineer does. In one case the results are presented as just capacity numbers for scaling your nodes and SAN. In the other it is a generic assessment that will help to look at broad needs including architecture and system design.
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@Breffni-Potter said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
Nope, it's provided by Dell (and prehaps other vendors)
Dell internal app. Only Dell can provide it and only Dell can decrypt the output.
Seems some people have cracked it.
https://www.freelancer.co.uk/projects/C-Programming/Decode-the-Dell-dpack-file/I'm not surprised. I doubt Dell goes to great lengths to lock it down.
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@Dashrender said:
@Breffni-Potter said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
Nope, it's provided by Dell (and prehaps other vendors)
Dell internal app. Only Dell can provide it and only Dell can decrypt the output.
Seems some people have cracked it.
https://www.freelancer.co.uk/projects/C-Programming/Decode-the-Dell-dpack-file/Interesting.. I wonder if the solution is for sale or going to be publicly posted?
Not if that guy is based in the UK. And why would someone pay for it if Dell provides the results for free?
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@scottalanmiller said:
Not if that guy is based in the UK. And why would someone pay for it if Dell provides the results for free?
I don't consider a sales pitch free, And I'm wondering since they went to the efforts of doing this free thing for you, will they put the high pressure on the sales pitch?
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@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Not if that guy is based in the UK. And why would someone pay for it if Dell provides the results for free?
I don't consider a sales pitch free, And I'm wondering since they went to the efforts of doing this free thing for you, will they put the high pressure on the sales pitch?
That's a good point. My only counter to that is that.... nearly anyone willing to go through the effort of avoiding that sales pitch and using a solution like this to work around it likely will not be swayed by the sales pitch. Maybe I'm wrong, but I am guessing that that is true.
It is a pretty high pressure process, from what I am told.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Not if that guy is based in the UK. And why would someone pay for it if Dell provides the results for free?
I don't consider a sales pitch free, And I'm wondering since they went to the efforts of doing this free thing for you, will they put the high pressure on the sales pitch?
That's a good point. My only counter to that is that.... nearly anyone willing to go through the effort of avoiding that sales pitch and using a solution like this to work around it likely will not be swayed by the sales pitch. Maybe I'm wrong, but I am guessing that that is true.
It is a pretty high pressure process, from what I am told.
From my initial conversation with the Dell enterprise sales rep he intimated that "we may disagree on certain issues, but at the end of the day be able to work together to come up with the best solution that fits our needs".
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@JohnFromSTL said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Not if that guy is based in the UK. And why would someone pay for it if Dell provides the results for free?
I don't consider a sales pitch free, And I'm wondering since they went to the efforts of doing this free thing for you, will they put the high pressure on the sales pitch?
That's a good point. My only counter to that is that.... nearly anyone willing to go through the effort of avoiding that sales pitch and using a solution like this to work around it likely will not be swayed by the sales pitch. Maybe I'm wrong, but I am guessing that that is true.
It is a pretty high pressure process, from what I am told.
From my initial conversation with the Dell enterprise sales rep he intimated that "we may disagree on certain issues, but at the end of the day be able to work together to come up with the best solution that fits our needs".
Sure, but in the real world we've talked to literally hundreds of companies that have gone through that process and not one reports ANY variation for the inverted pyramid of doom being shoved down their throats relentlessly even after they've shown that it would be costly and reckless to do so and in no way meets their needs. We've yet to have anyone report back that their rep had ever even asked for the necessary information to begin determining their needs either.
If you want to go through this process and see if you can get a different result, feel free. But so far the reports are 100% that the IPOD is pushed as the only option even when clearly it is the worst one.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Not if that guy is based in the UK. And why would someone pay for it if Dell provides the results for free?
I don't consider a sales pitch free, And I'm wondering since they went to the efforts of doing this free thing for you, will they put the high pressure on the sales pitch?
That's a good point. My only counter to that is that.... nearly anyone willing to go through the effort of avoiding that sales pitch and using a solution like this to work around it likely will not be swayed by the sales pitch. Maybe I'm wrong, but I am guessing that that is true.
It is a pretty high pressure process, from what I am told.
It is insanely high pressure. Dell called me and when I told them "No" I got an intro call from CDW and a second vendor. They just happen to find my information and were pitching the same system the the Dell rep was... odd.
They all recommended two cheap Dell servers and a low level SAN for a crazy price.
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That is universally the story that I have been told and what has been reported online. Every case, no exceptions.
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@JohnFromSTL said:
From my initial conversation with the Dell enterprise sales rep he intimated that "we may disagree on certain issues, but at the end of the day be able to work together to come up with the best solution that fits our needs".
The problem is... that could be true or it could be an example of how high pressure that they are: that they tell you that what they are doing is to find something that fits your needs. This is both what low pressure as well as high pressure would look like.
Did they ask you your needs? The business needs, that is? Or are they only looking at capacity? If they don't do a huge amount of business investigation, why do they know what does or does not suite your needs?
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@scottalanmiller said:
@JohnFromSTL said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Not if that guy is based in the UK. And why would someone pay for it if Dell provides the results for free?
I don't consider a sales pitch free, And I'm wondering since they went to the efforts of doing this free thing for you, will they put the high pressure on the sales pitch?
That's a good point. My only counter to that is that.... nearly anyone willing to go through the effort of avoiding that sales pitch and using a solution like this to work around it likely will not be swayed by the sales pitch. Maybe I'm wrong, but I am guessing that that is true.
It is a pretty high pressure process, from what I am told.
From my initial conversation with the Dell enterprise sales rep he intimated that "we may disagree on certain issues, but at the end of the day be able to work together to come up with the best solution that fits our needs".
Sure, but in the real world we've talked to literally hundreds of companies that have gone through that process and not one reports ANY variation for the inverted pyramid of doom being shoved down their throats relentlessly even after they've shown that it would be costly and reckless to do so and in no way meets their needs. We've yet to have anyone report back that their rep had ever even asked for the necessary information to begin determining their needs either.
If you want to go through this process and see if you can get a different result, feel free. But so far the reports are 100% that the IPOD is pushed as the only option even when clearly it is the worst one.
@scottalanmiller I must say that folks on this blog have gone out of their way to patiently help me understand the perils of IPOD. I am not even considering implementing this as a possible solution. My only reason for contacting Dell and obtaining DPACK access was to utilize their tools.
Taking into consideration that DPACK revealed my IOPS are not very high, is the 730xd overkill OR is it still the best solution due to the large amount of usable storage I'd have available for my VMs?
