Red Hat is no less secure than any other operating system fresh out of the box. In fact, I've always held the opinion that all operating systems are insecure until they've been hardened. It only takes about thirty minutes and one reboot to secure a networked Red Hat box. It takes even less if you use Bastille. The only distro I've seen that cuts this time in half is Mandrake 7.2 and that's because of its ability to select a predefined security setting at install. Even then its still wise to double check the machine afterwards.
In life there are always extenuating circumstances. Unfortunately, bosses who want blood from a stone are quite common.
I bet when you called Oracle support, you didn't have a chip on your shoulder, some people do. Hell, I corupted a database once with a bad script. At first I thought it was a problem with the database, because I looked over the script and couldn't see where my mistake was therefore there was no mistake. When I called support, they were a little skeptical that it was a bug and instead wanted to see my script. They took one look at it and politely tore it apart. They told me how to fix the database, how to rewrite the script, and to call them if I had any problems. It was a humbling experience, because I was to blame for my mistake. Some people can never admit when they're wrong and support people have to deal with them daily.
I only hope that when you did screw up, your bosses didn't hang you out to dry. I've seen that happen many times before. A few words of advice, suck up as much knowledge and experience you can and find someone who is willing to pay you to be a real DBA.
BTW, Oracle support is the best support organization I've ever encountered, you really can count on them.
First of all, what is the DB supposed to do. Set off a klaxon horn? Call the hardware vendor and request another drive? or just start overwriting files at will?
I don't think you understand how Oracle works. One of the reasons people put such a premium on Oracle is because of its reliability and durability. Oracle (in an optimal configuration) will back up every transaction log it writes, if this back up does not complete and the database continues on its merry way then the DB will most likely not be recoverable if it should crash. As a result Oracle has a brake mechanism built in that if the database for whatever reason cannot backup the transaction log, switch log files, or write to a datafile it is going to stop in its tracks immediately, because at that specific moment the database is recoverable. If it continues it may not be. This is not only acceptable behavior for a DB it is desirable. Most people would rather have the DB come to a grinding halt and do absolutely nothing until the "skilled DBA" has time to correct the problem. And if that "skilled DBA" was doing their job, they got a page as soon as it happened, if not before. I personally would not want my DBMS do anything more than that, I'll happily leave the rest up to the monitoring scripts, Enterprise Manager Event handler, and the cron job running df every other hour.
But where do you draw the line? While I'll admit that there are certain circumstances that should be checked for there does come a point where the application vendor must say, "This is the users/admins responsibility. Without that dividing line between application and user responsibility, then all applications will eventually become operating systems.
In the example the poster stated, those admins are clearly derelict in their duties. Every admin worth their weight in dung has some kind of monitoring in place for that kind of thing. Be it Tivoli, Shell scripts, Oracle Enterprise Manager, or even checking the space manually every so often would have clued them in ahead of time. And even if they somehow missed it, a competent Oracle DBA who stumbled across a hung database would immediately check for a log switch, missing file, or lack of free space. For DBA's this knowledge should be as second nature as breathing.
If John Doe goes out and buys a Porsche with a five speed manual transmission without even knowing how to drive a stick, is it the car's responsibility to tell him that he needs to push in the clutch when he comes to a stop? No it isn't, because there is a modicon of user responsibility that they know what they are getting themselves into.
Technically no it isn't a relational database. According to Codd's definition of a relational database the software must meet a certain set of criteria.
- All information must be represented explicitly in one and only one way: as values in tables.
- Each and every datum in the database must be accessible by specifying a table name, a column name, and a primary key.
- Null Values must be treated systematically.
- At least one character-based language must be provided which can be used to modify the structure and contents of the database. This language must be able to do all of the following:
data definition
view definition
data manipulation
integrity constraints
- At least two integrity constraints need be supported:
No primary key can have a null value, and no primary key can be duplicated.
For every non-null foreign key there must exist a matching primary key.
Although non-relational tools are allowed, it must be possible to manage the database using only relational tools, and the non-relational tools must not be allowed to bypass the integrity constraints imposed by the relational tools.
The last I heard, MySQL did not support foreign keys natively and while referential integrity could be maintained through code, the database itself cannot insure RI.
However, I believe whole-heartedly that this omission is what makes MySQL so fast and ideally suited for the web.
The problem with your thinking however, is that no large scale application or even small scale for that matter can trap for all the things that can go wrong in an operating system.
The last thing I want is for Oracle or any other DB vendor to spend so much as fifteen minutes developing error handling to account for things any brain dead sysadmin should already be monitoring with at the very least a cron job. It is simply not their responsibility to check for every event under the sun.
I've done both, but I prefer to buy. In fact, I have happily purchased...
Red Hat 5.2
Red Hat 6.0
Red Hat 6.1
Red Hat 6.2 (three times)
Red Hat 7.0
Mandrake 7.1
Mandrake 7.2 Complete
Debian 2.1.5
Now I'll admit that I felt a little foolish listing them out like that and for a moment questioned my own sanity. Then I remembered why I purchased them...
- To support Linux the best way I can
- To get the manuals and other fun stuff
- Even w/ a cable modem its still a long download.
- I didn't have a cdr until 2 years ago
- I've wanted/needed a copy in a hurry
- I wanted my company to pay for it
Yeah, maybe I could have spent my money a little better, but I'd rather plunk down $29 for Red Hat than deal with 6-12 hours of downloading any day.
I don't think Corel will ever open source their Office suite or any of their other apps for that matter. While, some people in the company may see the value in doing so, the stockholders would never allow it to happen. For one, the company could discover cold fusion tomorrow and still report a loss for the year. I don't think they're going to cut their main source of revenue just yet.
While, I think opening the code would be a great statement to make, I don't think them closing their doors shortly after would be.
Gotta disagree with you there. While I've seen the kind of shops you describe, they have generally been a rarity. Unfortunately, the majority of IT departments I've run across, suffered from a bad case of the DUH's. In my own insignificant experiences I've seen three seperate companies destroyed by upgrades gone horribly wrong simply because they had to have the latest and greatest.
Just because your so called experience contradicts Nick's doesn't make you the grand poobah of IT either. While I think that the truth lies somewhere in between, this malady DOES exist and will continue to do so as long as companies continue to hire MBA's with nothing more than a good pedigree to be CIO/CTO. Furthermore, the biggest problem with your post is your reliance on your own personal experiences. I'm sorry, but your experience in IT is insanely insignificant compared to Nick's. Sure, I don't always agree with him, but he has a tremendous amount of knowledge in the world of IT and an even greater amount of integrity.
But really, I wonder if the cart is coming before the horse in this scenario. Is linux really a reasonable portable operating system.
The answer is yes, but it clearly is a much smaller market than the traditional laptop market as a whole. For one, there are a lot of people out there who work everyday on *nix. Many of those people are certainly more comfortable in Linux than they are in Windows. In fact, I work in a Systems/Database support organization where all the DBA's and SA's have been given laptops w/ docking stations for our everyday use. They all came loaded with WinNT and now every one of the SA's and a couple of the DBA's have loaded some form of Linux on them.
While 24 people may not seem like a lot in the grand scheme, I now that the same thing happened in a very large networking firms engineering departments, and I'm willing to bet there are many more out there.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I think these have got to be the most pretentious names I've ever seen.
And what is up with "The Chinstrap". I'm no fan of the other two, but atleast "The Prince" would make a little more sense and not sound so ridiculously stupid.
"Hey whatcha got there?"
"Oh this is my new laptop, its a Chinstrap."
"Umm...yeah right. Later man"
Re:Depends what you do with it... and what OS
on
Portable Linux Box
·
· Score: 4
1) want to set up a linux game server for an impromptu Network game?:)
True, this would even make LAN parties a little easier.
2) want a quiet low profile firewall in your server closet (what? you mean everyone doesn't have a server closet?)
I've got a server corner of the room, which means I'm jealous:), but I put together a quiet low profile firewall (granted not this low) for $350.
3) I know someone who works in security. He lugs around two laptops, so he can test things out. Having one of these with an ethernet interface would be lovely. Just set it up to boot a terminal off of the serial interface. Assign it an IP address, and then telnet into it, and Viola. A much smaller solution to needing to lug around two laptops.
This is a great idea!, but what a niche.
I think the biggest problem I see is that it just doesn't have broad enough appeal.
Good point, but it begs the question, "Who is this product for?"
The trend of late has been for corps to buy/lease laptops for many of their employees for a number of reasons.
1. They can take the machines home with them and do work.
Most individuals never even power their company's laptop on at home unless they need to. And I think you'll find with the possible exception of some techies very few people actually plug their laptop into a seperate keyboard, monitor, and mouse at home. Mouse and keyboard maybe, but monitor, I don't think so.
2. They can take their machine on the road/plane with them and do work.
I definitely don't think this machine can fit the bill for trying to get a proposal or piece of code done on a plane.
3. The laptop gives their employees the ability to move around more, bring them to meetings, collaboration sessions, etc.
I don't know about the rest of the world, but at my company this happens a lot and again this machine just doesn't fit there either.
As for the home market, I don't see this replacing any laptops. Not very many people buy laptops for personal use only and those that do typically put the premium paid in its true portability.
While I think this is a step in the right direction, the problem is that it is in fact a traditional PC masquerading in a very large PDA's body. The absence of character input, battery power, and display simply makes it a lighter desktop box. And is it me or is the touchscreen input useless when you consider that if you need to carry around a keyboard, monitor, and power plug you had might as well carry a mouse or trackman with you.
I think I'd rather have a nice slim Vaio or Portege running Linux.
Didn't they try that in Jurassic Park? I bet this supergerm would simply mutate (in a relatively short time frame) like the dinosaurs did and start mating. Then they would grow out of control like a plague of locusts and destroy all civilization.
Slashdot Mirror
I wasn't think about security, I was thinking about having to enter them all over again.
Or he'll use it as a chew toy.
What I'd like to know is who's going to throw away a phone that has all their phone numbers stored in it.
Now you too can have an all new Smokia 2000! The phone that makes you feel just fine.
Or..What if the ink runs.
Red Hat is no less secure than any other operating system fresh out of the box. In fact, I've always held the opinion that all operating systems are insecure until they've been hardened. It only takes about thirty minutes and one reboot to secure a networked Red Hat box. It takes even less if you use Bastille. The only distro I've seen that cuts this time in half is Mandrake 7.2 and that's because of its ability to select a predefined security setting at install. Even then its still wise to double check the machine afterwards.
In life there are always extenuating circumstances. Unfortunately, bosses who want blood from a stone are quite common.
I bet when you called Oracle support, you didn't have a chip on your shoulder, some people do. Hell, I corupted a database once with a bad script. At first I thought it was a problem with the database, because I looked over the script and couldn't see where my mistake was therefore there was no mistake. When I called support, they were a little skeptical that it was a bug and instead wanted to see my script. They took one look at it and politely tore it apart. They told me how to fix the database, how to rewrite the script, and to call them if I had any problems. It was a humbling experience, because I was to blame for my mistake. Some people can never admit when they're wrong and support people have to deal with them daily.
I only hope that when you did screw up, your bosses didn't hang you out to dry. I've seen that happen many times before. A few words of advice, suck up as much knowledge and experience you can and find someone who is willing to pay you to be a real DBA.
BTW, Oracle support is the best support organization I've ever encountered, you really can count on them.
First of all, what is the DB supposed to do. Set off a klaxon horn? Call the hardware vendor and request another drive? or just start overwriting files at will?
I don't think you understand how Oracle works. One of the reasons people put such a premium on Oracle is because of its reliability and durability. Oracle (in an optimal configuration) will back up every transaction log it writes, if this back up does not complete and the database continues on its merry way then the DB will most likely not be recoverable if it should crash. As a result Oracle has a brake mechanism built in that if the database for whatever reason cannot backup the transaction log, switch log files, or write to a datafile it is going to stop in its tracks immediately, because at that specific moment the database is recoverable. If it continues it may not be. This is not only acceptable behavior for a DB it is desirable. Most people would rather have the DB come to a grinding halt and do absolutely nothing until the "skilled DBA" has time to correct the problem. And if that "skilled DBA" was doing their job, they got a page as soon as it happened, if not before. I personally would not want my DBMS do anything more than that, I'll happily leave the rest up to the monitoring scripts, Enterprise Manager Event handler, and the cron job running df every other hour.
But where do you draw the line? While I'll admit that there are certain circumstances that should be checked for there does come a point where the application vendor must say, "This is the users/admins responsibility. Without that dividing line between application and user responsibility, then all applications will eventually become operating systems.
In the example the poster stated, those admins are clearly derelict in their duties. Every admin worth their weight in dung has some kind of monitoring in place for that kind of thing. Be it Tivoli, Shell scripts, Oracle Enterprise Manager, or even checking the space manually every so often would have clued them in ahead of time. And even if they somehow missed it, a competent Oracle DBA who stumbled across a hung database would immediately check for a log switch, missing file, or lack of free space. For DBA's this knowledge should be as second nature as breathing.
If John Doe goes out and buys a Porsche with a five speed manual transmission without even knowing how to drive a stick, is it the car's responsibility to tell him that he needs to push in the clutch when he comes to a stop? No it isn't, because there is a modicon of user responsibility that they know what they are getting themselves into.
Technically no it isn't a relational database. According to Codd's definition of a relational database the software must meet a certain set of criteria.
- All information must be represented explicitly in one and only one way: as values in tables.
- Each and every datum in the database must be accessible by specifying a table name, a column name, and a primary key.
- Null Values must be treated systematically.
- At least one character-based language must be provided which can be used to modify the structure and contents of the database. This language must be able to do all of the following:
data definition
view definition
data manipulation
integrity constraints
- At least two integrity constraints need be supported:
No primary key can have a null value, and no primary key can be duplicated.
For every non-null foreign key there must exist a matching primary key.
Although non-relational tools are allowed, it must be possible to manage the database using only relational tools, and the non-relational tools must not be allowed to bypass the integrity constraints imposed by the relational tools.
The last I heard, MySQL did not support foreign keys natively and while referential integrity could be maintained through code, the database itself cannot insure RI.
However, I believe whole-heartedly that this omission is what makes MySQL so fast and ideally suited for the web.
The problem with your thinking however, is that no large scale application or even small scale for that matter can trap for all the things that can go wrong in an operating system.
The last thing I want is for Oracle or any other DB vendor to spend so much as fifteen minutes developing error handling to account for things any brain dead sysadmin should already be monitoring with at the very least a cron job. It is simply not their responsibility to check for every event under the sun.
I've done both, but I prefer to buy. In fact, I have happily purchased...
Red Hat 5.2
Red Hat 6.0
Red Hat 6.1
Red Hat 6.2 (three times)
Red Hat 7.0
Mandrake 7.1
Mandrake 7.2 Complete
Debian 2.1.5
Now I'll admit that I felt a little foolish listing them out like that and for a moment questioned my own sanity. Then I remembered why I purchased them...
- To support Linux the best way I can
- To get the manuals and other fun stuff
- Even w/ a cable modem its still a long download.
- I didn't have a cdr until 2 years ago
- I've wanted/needed a copy in a hurry
- I wanted my company to pay for it
Yeah, maybe I could have spent my money a little better, but I'd rather plunk down $29 for Red Hat than deal with 6-12 hours of downloading any day.
I don't think Corel will ever open source their Office suite or any of their other apps for that matter. While, some people in the company may see the value in doing so, the stockholders would never allow it to happen. For one, the company could discover cold fusion tomorrow and still report a loss for the year. I don't think they're going to cut their main source of revenue just yet.
While, I think opening the code would be a great statement to make, I don't think them closing their doors shortly after would be.
Gotta disagree with you there. While I've seen the kind of shops you describe, they have generally been a rarity. Unfortunately, the majority of IT departments I've run across, suffered from a bad case of the DUH's. In my own insignificant experiences I've seen three seperate companies destroyed by upgrades gone horribly wrong simply because they had to have the latest and greatest.
Just because your so called experience contradicts Nick's doesn't make you the grand poobah of IT either. While I think that the truth lies somewhere in between, this malady DOES exist and will continue to do so as long as companies continue to hire MBA's with nothing more than a good pedigree to be CIO/CTO. Furthermore, the biggest problem with your post is your reliance on your own personal experiences. I'm sorry, but your experience in IT is insanely insignificant compared to Nick's. Sure, I don't always agree with him, but he has a tremendous amount of knowledge in the world of IT and an even greater amount of integrity.
Cheers,
I did not know that.
But really, I wonder if the cart is coming before the horse in this scenario. Is linux really a reasonable portable operating system.
The answer is yes, but it clearly is a much smaller market than the traditional laptop market as a whole. For one, there are a lot of people out there who work everyday on *nix. Many of those people are certainly more comfortable in Linux than they are in Windows. In fact, I work in a Systems/Database support organization where all the DBA's and SA's have been given laptops w/ docking stations for our everyday use. They all came loaded with WinNT and now every one of the SA's and a couple of the DBA's have loaded some form of Linux on them.
While 24 people may not seem like a lot in the grand scheme, I now that the same thing happened in a very large networking firms engineering departments, and I'm willing to bet there are many more out there.
No but you just made me think of an old Steve Martin bit.
King Tux!
I suppose that makes that name a little more palatable.
The Emperor & The King
I don't know about the rest of you, but I think these have got to be the most pretentious names I've ever seen.
And what is up with "The Chinstrap". I'm no fan of the other two, but atleast "The Prince" would make a little more sense and not sound so ridiculously stupid.
"Hey whatcha got there?"
"Oh this is my new laptop, its a Chinstrap."
"Umm...yeah right. Later man"
1) want to set up a linux game server for an impromptu Network game? :)
:), but I put together a quiet low profile firewall (granted not this low) for $350.
True, this would even make LAN parties a little easier.
2) want a quiet low profile firewall in your server closet (what? you mean everyone doesn't have a server closet?)
I've got a server corner of the room, which means I'm jealous
3) I know someone who works in security. He lugs around two laptops, so he can test things out. Having one of these with an ethernet interface would be lovely. Just set it up to boot a terminal off of the serial interface. Assign it an IP address, and then telnet into it, and Viola. A much smaller solution to needing to lug around two laptops.
This is a great idea!, but what a niche.
I think the biggest problem I see is that it just doesn't have broad enough appeal.
There is no battery, it runs on a conventional power plug.
Good point, but it begs the question, "Who is this product for?"
The trend of late has been for corps to buy/lease laptops for many of their employees for a number of reasons.
1. They can take the machines home with them and do work.
Most individuals never even power their company's laptop on at home unless they need to. And I think you'll find with the possible exception of some techies very few people actually plug their laptop into a seperate keyboard, monitor, and mouse at home. Mouse and keyboard maybe, but monitor, I don't think so.
2. They can take their machine on the road/plane with them and do work.
I definitely don't think this machine can fit the bill for trying to get a proposal or piece of code done on a plane.
3. The laptop gives their employees the ability to move around more, bring them to meetings, collaboration sessions, etc.
I don't know about the rest of the world, but at my company this happens a lot and again this machine just doesn't fit there either.
As for the home market, I don't see this replacing any laptops. Not very many people buy laptops for personal use only and those that do typically put the premium paid in its true portability.
Bingo!
While I think this is a step in the right direction, the problem is that it is in fact a traditional PC masquerading in a very large PDA's body. The absence of character input, battery power, and display simply makes it a lighter desktop box. And is it me or is the touchscreen input useless when you consider that if you need to carry around a keyboard, monitor, and power plug you had might as well carry a mouse or trackman with you.
I think I'd rather have a nice slim Vaio or Portege running Linux.
I do believe you mean Finland, besides Skywalker wasn't from Hoth, not to mention the Alliance got their asses kicked there.
However, if you draw a parallel between Star Wars and the Open Source revolution then Tatooine would be Finland and Redmond would be Coruscant.
Hmm now who's Yoda? Stallman?
Didn't they try that in Jurassic Park? I bet this supergerm would simply mutate (in a relatively short time frame) like the dinosaurs did and start mating. Then they would grow out of control like a plague of locusts and destroy all civilization.
...ok that's enough of the sarcasm
He should have ordered a pair that said "Sweat" and another that said "Shop". Mix and Match and boom you're done.