Send Time Machine backups to a VM hosted in Windows

I've successfully configured Time Machine backups over my home network using VMware Workstation, Ubuntu, and a 1 TB WD drive. A big thanks to HowToGeek for their Raspberry Pi post for the inspiration and to Netatalk's Wiki. Here we go!

:: Prerequisites

• Windows (using Windows 10 in this tutorial)


• VMware Workstation (using 12.5 Pro)


• Linux ISO (using Ubuntu 16.04 mini.iso)


• Dedicated backup drive (using a 1TB WD) formatted as HFS+


• macOS Seirra

:: Prepare your drive

Format your hard drive to be HFS+. This can be done by booting to any linux live disk and using gparted. You'll likely need to install hfsprogs and hfsplus to enable the formatting.

When attached to your Windows Host system, Windows won't mount this drive in Explorer, but you can still see it in Windows Disk Management to ensure it's working properly. Here it shows as Disk 0

Choose a mount point that your backup server will use for the drive. I'll use /media/tm
Choose a user that will connect to your backup server from the Mac. <your-user>

Save these for later.

:: Setting up the dedicated backup server

I run my personal servers on a Windows 10 box under VMware Workstation. It's plain simple, easy to administer and maintain, and works great for home needs. Because I like dedicating my servers to individual VMs, I wanted a small VM to attach my 1 TB backup drive to - something with a small footprint as I won't need to interact with the OS much. This is why I chose to use Ubuntu's mini.iso

1. In Workstation, create a new VM using the mini.iso. The only 'options' I chose to install with it were opensshserver for management, and samba (might use this in the future). My VM uses 512 MB of RAM and 1vCPU.


2. Obtain HFS+ support by running
   

   sudo apt-get install hfsprogs hfsplus



3. Let's take a moment to add our disk to the VM. I chose for my VM to have direct access to the physical disk as its primary purpose will be for backups.
   


4. Now boot the VM back up, and mount the drive
   

   sudo mount -t hfsplus -o force,rw /dev/sd* /media/tm

   
   You should also add this to /etc/fstab so it mounts properly at boot
   

   /dev/sd* /media/tm hfsplus force,rw,user,auto 0 0



5. Setup permissions for your user that will connect to the server
   

   sudo chown -R root:users /media/tm
   sudo chmod -R g+rwx /media/tm
   sudo usermod -a -G users <your-user>



6. Once that's done, follow Netatalk's Wiki on setting up v3.1.10 (current at time of writing) on Ubuntu 14.04 (my server is using Ubuntu 16.04 and I can attest it works). Here are the commands for reference:
   

   sudo apt-get install build-essential libevent-dev libssl-dev libgcrypt11-dev libkrb5-dev libpam0g-dev libwrap0-dev libdb-dev libtdb-dev libmysqlclient-dev avahi-daemon libavahi-client-dev libacl1-dev libldap2-dev libcrack2-dev systemtap-sdt-dev libdbus-1-dev libdbus-glib-1-dev libglib2.0-dev libio-socket-inet6-perl tracker libtracker-sparql-1.0-dev libtracker-miner-1.0-dev

   
   

   wget http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/netatalk/netatalk-3.1.10.tar.gz

   
   

   tar -xf netatalk-3.1.10.tar.gz

   
   

   cd netatalk-3.1.10

   
   

   ./configure --with-init-style=debian-systemd --without-libevent --without-tdb --with-cracklib --enable-krbV-uam --with-pam-confdir=/etc/pam.d --with-dbus-sysconf-dir=/etc/dbus-1/system.d --with-tracker-pkgconfig-version=1.0

   
   

   make

   
   

   sudo make install

   
    
7. Now edit your /etc/nsswitch.conf and append mdns4 mdns to the end of the hosts file so it looks like this
   

   hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns mdns4 mdns

   
    
8. Create the file /etc/avahi/services/afpd.service with the below contents
   

   <?xml version="1.0" standalone='no'?><!--*-nxml-*-->
   <!DOCTYPE service-group SYSTEM "avahi-service.dtd">
   <service-group>
      <name replace-wildcards="yes">%h</name>
      <service>
        <type>_afpovertcp._tcp</type>
        <port>548</port>
      </service>
      <service>
        <type>_device-info._tcp</type>
        <port>0</port>
        <txt-record>model=TimeCapsule</txt-record>
      </service>
   </service-group>

    


9. Setup the Netatalk AFP File Server config file /usr/local/etc/afp.conf
   

   [<your-user>]
    path = /home/<your-user>
    rolist = <your-user>
   
   [Global]
    mimic model = TimeCapsule6,106
   
   [Time Machine]
    path = /media/tm (or whatever your mount point is)
    time machine = yes



10. Run the init scripts in this order
    

    sudo /etc/init.d/avahi-daemon start

    
    

    sudo service netatalk start

11. Add services to default runlevels
    

    sudo update-rc.d avahi-daemon defaults
    sudo update-rc.d netatalk defaults



12. Back on your Mac, add your Ubuntu machine to /etc/hosts
    

    x.x.x.x <ubuntu-hostname>



13. At this point, you should be able to connect to the server via hostname. From Finder Window, press command+K and enter the server address afp://<ubuntu-hostname> 


14. Open Time Machine Preferences and select the Time Machine disk

If you don't see your disk in Time Machine preferences, ensure that it was mounted as read/write on the backup server. Good luck!

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The new iPad Pro 9.7 vs iPad 3

I decided it was finally time. Time to replace the iPad 3 (arguably the worst iPad ever made) with the iPad Pro 9.7 (arguably the best iPad ever made). If you're considering a similar upgrade, I hope you find this post useful!

Anyone familiar with the iPad 3 has likely had a very similar experiences to mine - so I'll jump right into the things I noticed first when using the new iPad Pro.

:: Comparing the two

1. It's incredibly light! The iPad 3 was so heavy, reading always required two hands to hold the tablet. Not very accommodating to extended reading sessions.
   


2. The screen is worlds better. Way less reflection, and true tone is easy on the eyes. True Tone alone sold me on this device.
   


3. Hey is that a lightning connection?
   


4. Touch ID. Anyone else caught yourself trying to unlock your old iPad with touch ID after getting so used to it from your iPhone?
   


5. Performance. I use my iPad for all sorts of different things: reading books, comic books, working remotely using things like Outlook, Horizon View, Office Suite, Socialcast - the iPad 3 just couldn't keep up with this type of use. It was essentially ok at doing one thing at a time (usually just reading, but even then sometimes iBooks would have a hard time keeping up with page turns and loading content). I used to cringe any time I tried web browsing on the iPad 3 because of how painfully slow it was. Loading up Safari on the iPad Pro is nothing short of a joy to use.
   


6. iOS 10. The iPad 3 was left out of the iOS 10 club. Once you're cut off from Apple's updates, you slowly start to become cutoff from app updates as well. You're left behind in this outdated ecosystem and no one's sorry for you. iOS 10 on the iPad Pro makes the tablet much more convenient to use as an every day go-to device. Doesn't matter what the task at hand is, the iPad Pro can get it done in a snap.


7. Speakers. Going from 1 speaker to 4 speakers means no more cupping the corner at full volume trying to sing along to Doc McStuffins with my daughter.

:: Other things I've noticed

• I'm not sure why the iPad Pro is advertised as fingerprint-resistant. Mine gets plenty of finger prints all over and they're actually more difficult to wipe off than the iPad 3.


• The lack of a dedicated Mute switch is a bit odd. I do miss being able to quickly mute all aspects of the device without having to interact with the software. I've noticed that even when I hold down the volume all the way to (what I thought was) mute the device, I could still hear clicking on the keyboard. I had to actually swipe up on Control Center and click the Mute Button to truly mute the iPad Pro.


• Split Screen Multitasking sounds amazing, but in real world use it's taking me longer to get used to than I anticipated. Could be due to the fact that I forget it's even there since it's still such a new feature for me.


• Picture-In-Picture is great, when the app supports it. So far I've found Netflix does, but Hulu doesn't.

It's a very welcome upgrade for my use. I can easily see myself traveling to a customer site or for vacation and bringing just the iPad Pro to handle any computing needs. Especially when paired with Horizon View and the Lighting to HDMI adapter.



Looking for more? Check out my pal Dale's iPhone 7 Review.

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Horizon Collector for Mac now on VMware Flings

I'm happy to announce that my little project to automate collecting Horizon View Client logs for Mac OS X has been published to VMware Flings!

Why Horizon Collector for Mac?

Currently, the Horizon Client for Windows has a built-in log collection feature. Even the Linux Client has a script that's provided by VMware to collect the necessary files. There is, however, no automated process provided by VMware to collect client logs for Mac OS X, leaving admins and end-users on their own to navigate through system files and manually set log collection levels and manually upload to support.

Here is what Horizon Collector does

• Automates collection of Horizon Client Application logs, as well as PCoIP, RTAV, USB, and Printing logs


• Easily enables full DEBUG logging if requested by Admins or VMware Support (and turns DEBUG off when you're done)


• Puts complete log bundle in a single .zip on your desktop


• Automates FTP upload to VMware Support (if applicable)

You can download the tool over at VMware Flings.

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Why an Apple User chose the Pebble Time over the Apple Watch

Hello. My name is Ryan, and I'm an Apple user.. with a Pebble

[caption id="attachment_322" align="aligncenter" width="660"] Photo courtesy of Forbes[/caption]

Now that we've gotten that out of the way.. I wanted to share my thoughts on why I chose the Pebble Time as my smart watch instead of the Apple Watch. They're both great options but with some pretty stark differences. Hopefully this post can help with your decision if you're currently comparing the two excellent options.

The thing I enjoy the most about Pebble is their philosophy on a smart watch is delivered beautifully in their devices - it's a tool to accompany your smart phone (not replace it) and make your day more convenient. Admittedly, I owned the original Pebble. It's the first smart-watch I've owned. A co-worker was selling it used for $40 and I figured a smart watch for $40? Heck yes I'll try that out! My verdict on the smart little device has been exactly how Pebble designed it to be - convenient.

The ability to discretely dismiss a notification as low priority from my wrist is pretty darn handy. On the other hand, (wrist?) the ability to quickly act on an important text or call after just a quick glance at my watch has proven extremely useful. When my 20 month old daughter hides my phone in-between the couch cushions and I haven't seen it for 3 hours, I'm not worried about missing my notifications because the bluetooth works really, REALLY well.

All that to say, smart watches are handy. Absolutely not necessary, but the added convenience to people actively dependent on their mobile technology for work and personal life is something worth considering.

Since most of my daily tech is Apple (Macbook Pro, iPhone, iPad) it seemed natural that if I wanted a smartwatch I should get the Apple Watch. After all what smart watch would have better integration into iOS.. However there are some things that really bug me about the Apple Watch. It's certainly a beautiful looking device and most people seem to really enjoy them. But coming from Pebble, I don't know if I'm as easily impressed.

Here are the things I really like about Pebble Time:

• Always on - even at slightly obscure angles, I can read what time it is without having to shake my wrist like an angry old man


• Battery life - you shouldn't have to charge a watch every day. The Pebble consistently lasts around a week and I don't have to worry about it dying during a run or extended use. The best part about this is being able to wear it to bed for not only sleep tracking, but silent alarms that don't wake my wife.


• Timeline - the OS is all about quick, convenient access to your schedule and notifications. There's not a lot of extra fluff for fluff's sake.


• Waterproof - you can swim without worrying about ruining your $200+ investment


• Buttons - I actually really like maneuvering the OS by using the physical buttons of the watch. It makes it feel more like a watch and less like a smartphone


• Weight - the watch is light!


• Price - At $200, the Pebble Time is around $150 cheaper than the cheapest Apple Watch

The main concerns I have about the Apple Watch:

• Battery Life - this is the biggest beef I have. I don't want to have to worry about it dying during a run or bike ride. I also want to be able to regularly wear it to sleep for silent alarms. I'm used to 6+ days on a charge - this would be a huge step backwards


• Shake of the wrist - I really don't like the idea of having to shake my wrist to check the time. It feels unnatural and looks straight up silly.


• Sluggish - Reports of the OS being slow are popping up. Likely due to poorly optimized third party applications, but when you're expecting the performance of a high powered smartphone on the low powered watch, you're going to be disappointed. This possibly could be fixed with software updates, but my own opinion is that the watch is slightly underpowered for the OS. If it's slow today, how slow will it be in 2 years?


• Price - $350 for the cheapest Apple Watch is steep. Even $200 for the Pebble Time is more than I'd like to pay for a watch, but these are the big players in the market, we play by their rules.

Perhaps the 2nd or 3rd gen Apple Watch will address these things. By then it will be exciting to see what other players have jumped into the market for some healthy competition! But for now, I'm extremely happy with my Pebble Time!

EDIT Aug 18th
Turns out I'm not the only VMware fanatic/iPhone User who chose the Pebble Time vs the Apple Watch.. Check out my colleague Duncan Epping's post over at YellowBricks

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