Undocumented Sanity

This time, we're going to be setting up Cisco Unity 4.0(3). If you are following along at home (why would you subject yourself to this???), I've posted the entire disk set over at archive.org . Also, you're going to want to reference the Installation Guide (and you probably want to pay a little closer attention than I did in my new video). I definitely feel like I probably added some additional pain to myself. The general process is this (if on VMware): Create a Windows 2000 Server Virtual Machine (you can find the ISOs on archive.org) Install KB835732 (required for VMware Tools) Install VMware Tools Run the "Cisco Unity System Preparation Assistant" (cuspa\cuspa.vbs on the Unity Service Packs CD 1) Install SQL Management Tools if using MSDE Set IP Address, join Domain Install Exchange Management Tools Extend AD Schema (ADSchemaSetup\ADSchemaSetup.exe on Cisco Unity CD 1) Create any OUs and additional Mailbox Stores that you need Create and configure ...

Ok, this post probably isn't going to be very exciting, unfortunately. I'm not super passionate about e-mail, but it's kind of a requirement in order to progress in this series. But, in order to get e-mail working, we are going to need DNS. So I'm going to have a Ubuntu machine running PowerDNS to handle that. We'll start by installing the relevant packages: sudo apt update && sudo apt install pdns-server pdns-backend-sqlite3 sqlite3 pdns-recursor -y Below I'm going to include all of the configuration files from how I set up my instance of PowerDNS so that you can follow along (why would you do that to yourself?). On my Docker Host, I also installed pdns-admin (again, see configs at the bottom for the docker-compose that I used for that. I then added the relevant domains for this part of the project, which are retromail.com and pinnacledataworks.com. (I also added cisco.com because I'm working on grabbing pages from Internet Archive from around 200...

I covered some of this in my last video , but I can include more of the boring details here. Let's start with the overall topology - for context "Nexion" is my retro ISP, and Pinnacle Dataworks is my first retro customer: Full configurations are referenced at the bottom of this post. My goal for Pinnacle Dataworks was to build a network that could have existed in 2005, and I got somewhat close. According to this press release , the Cisco 3825 router was scheduled to begin shipping in October 2004. The IOS version is slightly too new, dated in 2006, but I couldn't find a version that included voice features that had a 2005 (or earlier) date on it. The 3524-PWR switch had been announced in 2000, so it was well established by this point. And running a software version from 2004 works for me. I've since procured a slightly more time-relevant device since then, but this will do for now. In terms of phones, I'm rocking the 7940, which was also announced in 2000, ...

Getting Creative Again – and Reinstalling 2005 in 2025 It’s certainly been a while—and a lot has changed in my life. But I’ve been wanting to get back into more creative projects, especially the kind that mix creativity with something deeply technical. This one definitely checks both boxes. Get ready to Collaborate like it's 2005! Please check out my YouTube video . Installing Cisco CallManager 4.1(3) on VMware in 2025 When I first had this idea, I figured it would be a quick weekend project—knock it out in a couple of days and move on. Many months later, I can finally call it a success. The Classic Method (That No Longer Works) Historically, you'd follow a guide like this one to install CallManager 4.x. It relied on: Installing vanilla Windows 2000 Server Modifying the registry to bypass hardware checks Applying Cisco OS update files like win-OS-Upgrade-K9.2000-2-6sr4.exe But in 2025? These Cisco OS update files have vanished from the internet. Despite...