On a similar topic, I am a longtime Unix/Linux admin who has inherited a large farm of Windows servers (don't ask, I'm not happy about it either). This is probably about the worst place to ask this, but I'll give it a shot:
Do any of you have recommendations for books/URLs on how to effectively manage a large Windows cluster using automated methods?
The only problem I had getting 2.4.0 to work with my RH 7 workstation was with USB...I had to tweak one line in the/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit file, and that was because 2.4 was actually displaying my USB character devices in/proc/devices, whereas 2.2.14 did not.
The one thing that will save you many headaches when upgrading your Red Hat kernel is to modularize as much as possible. This is the way that Red Hat's system initialization scripts like it, and it's probably good practice anyway.
Since this seems to have turned into an @Home-bashing thread, I thought I would share a discussion I had with an @Home sales representative about a year ago.
I had been using my trusty old 90Mhz Pentium for the prior year and a half, without any major problems. I was one of the few subscribers in my neighborhood, which probably accounts for the lack of problems. So my lease came up on my apartment, so I deemed it time to move. I called @Home to coordinate the deactivation of my current account and the installation at my future location. The sales representative asked for my computer's specifications, and this is where the fecal matter hit the oscillating air movement device.
Upon learning that my computer was a Pentium 90, the sales representative promptly told me that they could not provide me with service, because they only supported computers with a Pentium 166 processor or above. When I asked why, I got the response, "I don't know why, I just sign up new accounts." I immediately asked to talk to the sales rep's supervisor. When he got on the line, I explained the situation to him, and asked why they could not set me up with an account. Here's the response I got: "Because the company wants to ensure that the service runs quickly; they don't want a browser running on a slow machine to lead someone to believe that the @Home service is slow."
I was absolutely blown away by this response. I asked the manager why it was impossible to sign me up for the service, given the fact that I had been using my slow computer with their service for the last TWO YEARS. He gave me a BS response about how he could get into trouble for signing me up for the service when I don't meet the requirements.
At this point, I was tired of dealing with these half-wits. So I hung up the phone, called back two minutes later, and told them I had a Pentium II. The tech came out a week or so later, and I said, "Don't touch my computer; I'll take care of everything." He acquiesced, and I used @Home with my Pentium 90 for the next couple of months or so.
So there's my story...I should say that despite the problems getting signed up, I haven't had any major problems with the service itself. I've had a few outages since I've been a subcriber, but not many more than my company suffered with their Pac Bell business DSL. I guess I'd rather have the higher max throughput than the increased reliability of a DSL line.
The first one requires Perl/Tk. Install it (get it from http://www.perl.com/CPAN-local/modules/by-authors/ Nick_Ing-Simmons/) and try the script again.
Hey, were you in DeltaNet's (now Concentric's) old Anaheim facility? My company used to have some servers in there, and there was a big thermometer on one of the racks that always read around 80-82 degrees. Needless to say, we pulled our servers out of there real quick.
Granted, the cooling problem was a moot point since it occurred after they had planned their big move to Irvine. It was still pretty bad, though.
One good thing about that facility: the NOC staff there was great. They were old DeltaNet employees who were left after Concentric swallowed them up. The NOC staff was the only thing I missed after pulling our servers out of there. I think that some of them are still working for Concentric at the Irvine NOC, so if anyone has servers down there, you may get lucky and get one of these guys working with you.
If you need to do anything custom, especially anything involving CGI, I would recommend an Intel-based Linux or BSD box (check out VA Linux for some good 1U boxes). The Cobalt RaQ and RaQ2 ran CGIs pretty poorly, and forget about customizing them. Voiding your warranty at the drop of a hat sucks, and the MIPS processor in the RaQ and RaQ2 make it difficult to work with custom software (you'll need to compile your software from scratch most of the time, rather than installing binaries).
In Cobalt's defense, the RaQ3 has addressed some of these issues: its processor is now Intel-compatible, and has 512K of L2 cache, which helps the CGI slowness. However, it maxes out at 512MB of RAM and 20.4GB of hard disk space. That's not much compared to the dual PIIIs and 2GB of RAM that you can shove into a VA box.
If you need some kind of web interface, try Webmin (http://www.webmin.org). It's not as pretty as Cobalt's interface, but it gets the job done (and gives you much more control over the server) without you having to get your hands dirty in the config files.
If Qwest's backbone appeals to you, but you don't want to deal with their moronic tech support, you could find a smaller company that is reselling colocation within a Qwest data center. If you find a company with sharp people on board, you'll get the advantages of dealing with a smaller company (and having that company take care of the messiness with Qwest), as well as the advantages of Qwest's backbone.
I should mention that I'm somewhat biased here...I run the servers for a small company that is reselling rackspace in Qwest's facilities. But if I personally were colocating a server or servers, I would choose a company like that over a Qwest or a Concentric.
As for the forms, Qwest *asks* that you fill them out, but when I need to install or remove a server, I just call the NOC staff a few hours ahead to let them know I'm coming. Then when I arrive, I give them the info on the relevant server(s), then take off. They just need the info so they can update their OpenView database anyway, and I make sure to provide the admin guys with an updated copy of the server list after the fact. Works like a charm.
You can set the IP address using the buttons and LCD panel on the front of the Whistle. This means that you can take a laptop, give it a nonroutable IP (e.g. 192.168.1.2), assign the Whistle an IP of 192.168.1.1, then fire up your laptop's browser and administer away! (Just be sure you use a crossover if you're connecting the laptop directly to the Whistle.)
But in a Greenfield Online survey of 5,200 online music shoppers, nearly 70 per cent say that they have not paid -- and will not pay -- for digital music downloads.
I'm interested to see what will happen after 70 percent of Napster's users take off when they go subscription-based. Napster's strength is its huge userbase. Once they lose a few million users, their song selection will drop significantly.
Here's another question: does anyone know anything about what Napster/BMG will be doing to address the problem of mislabeled/poor quality/truncated MP3s? If I were to pay for a service, I would expect problems like these to be addressed.
If any of you decide to send this letter, I would suggest that you spellcheck it first. No offense meant to Brent, but nothing destroys credibility more than poor spelling, poor grammar, or the use of colloquialisms such as 'pissed'.
personl -> personal unappropriate -> inappropriate aweful -> awful precident -> precedent speach -> speech (as was mentioned before) exaclty -> exactly (probably a typo, but still incorrect)
At my old job, our servers were named after serial killers. We had Ripper, Dahmer, Manson, Gacey, Stalker (Richard Ramirez), OJ (Simpson...not technically a serial killer, but funny anyway).
Too bad my new company has boring names like NS1, NS2, WWW, etc...:)
I don't think this would be a problem if every ATM had an iris scanner. Currently, your account information is only stored at your bank. If you use another bank's ATM, or a gas station's ATM, their system connects to your bank's to verify that the PIN is correct. What would stop them from doing the same, but with your iris information rather than your PIN information?
If the banks decide to go through with the changeover, they would have to continue to issue ATM cards until the majority of ATMs have the iris scanners installed. (I'm bummed that it doesn't scan the retina...'retinal scanner' just sounds so much cooler.)
I was in exactly the same position as these kids throughout my elementary school, junior high, and high school years. I had an abundance of intelligence, curiosity and computer skills, but my social skills were sadly lacking. I was somewhat of an outcast until I reached puberty, when I was Fortunately, I was blessed with better-than-average athletic ability, which saved me from being a target of daily ridicule.
I am curious about what would have happened if the situation had been reversed. What if the school's most popular athlete had gone on a shooting rampage, killing the school's social outcasts? How do you think the media would have handled it differently?
On a different note, this situation brings to light the importance of parents' relationships with their children. My parents were highly instrumental in helping me to survive my tumultuous junior high years. They constantly reminded me of the same facts that many of you have mentioned: that my tormentors were just as insecure as I was, and that the smart kids like me would be the ones who would come out on top in the end. It is very important that the parents of geeks try to give their gifted offspring a better perspective on life in general. There is much more to life then high school, and had the two Colorado teens been more aware of this fact, this tragedy might have been averted.
There's also one in Disneyland here in SoCal. It's not directly customer-accessible, though...you make your selections at one of several kiosks, then the employees actually perform the CD burning.
It's a great idea; I'd like to see more of this in the US (preferably not Disney songs, though...I can't imagine actually wanting to listen to those over and over...it seems rather masochistic to me).
Slashdot Mirror
On a similar topic, I am a longtime Unix/Linux admin who has inherited a large farm of Windows servers (don't ask, I'm not happy about it either). This is probably about the worst place to ask this, but I'll give it a shot:
Do any of you have recommendations for books/URLs on how to effectively manage a large Windows cluster using automated methods?
Thanks in advance for any useful information.
Oops...yes, I did mean 2.2.16.
The only problem I had getting 2.4.0 to work with my RH 7 workstation was with USB...I had to tweak one line in the /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit file, and that was because 2.4 was actually displaying my USB character devices in /proc/devices, whereas 2.2.14 did not.
The one thing that will save you many headaches when upgrading your Red Hat kernel is to modularize as much as possible. This is the way that Red Hat's system initialization scripts like it, and it's probably good practice anyway.
Since this seems to have turned into an @Home-bashing thread, I thought I would share a discussion I had with an @Home sales representative about a year ago.
I had been using my trusty old 90Mhz Pentium for the prior year and a half, without any major problems. I was one of the few subscribers in my neighborhood, which probably accounts for the lack of problems. So my lease came up on my apartment, so I deemed it time to move. I called @Home to coordinate the deactivation of my current account and the installation at my future location. The sales representative asked for my computer's specifications, and this is where the fecal matter hit the oscillating air movement device.
Upon learning that my computer was a Pentium 90, the sales representative promptly told me that they could not provide me with service, because they only supported computers with a Pentium 166 processor or above. When I asked why, I got the response, "I don't know why, I just sign up new accounts." I immediately asked to talk to the sales rep's supervisor. When he got on the line, I explained the situation to him, and asked why they could not set me up with an account. Here's the response I got: "Because the company wants to ensure that the service runs quickly; they don't want a browser running on a slow machine to lead someone to believe that the @Home service is slow."
I was absolutely blown away by this response. I asked the manager why it was impossible to sign me up for the service, given the fact that I had been using my slow computer with their service for the last TWO YEARS. He gave me a BS response about how he could get into trouble for signing me up for the service when I don't meet the requirements.
At this point, I was tired of dealing with these half-wits. So I hung up the phone, called back two minutes later, and told them I had a Pentium II. The tech came out a week or so later, and I said, "Don't touch my computer; I'll take care of everything." He acquiesced, and I used @Home with my Pentium 90 for the next couple of months or so.
So there's my story...I should say that despite the problems getting signed up, I haven't had any major problems with the service itself. I've had a few outages since I've been a subcriber, but not many more than my company suffered with their Pac Bell business DSL. I guess I'd rather have the higher max throughput than the increased reliability of a DSL line.
The first one requires Perl/Tk. Install it (get it from http://www.perl.com/CPAN-local/modules/by-authors/ Nick_Ing-Simmons/) and try the script again.
Hey, were you in DeltaNet's (now Concentric's) old Anaheim facility? My company used to have some servers in there, and there was a big thermometer on one of the racks that always read around 80-82 degrees. Needless to say, we pulled our servers out of there real quick.
Granted, the cooling problem was a moot point since it occurred after they had planned their big move to Irvine. It was still pretty bad, though.
One good thing about that facility: the NOC staff there was great. They were old DeltaNet employees who were left after Concentric swallowed them up. The NOC staff was the only thing I missed after pulling our servers out of there. I think that some of them are still working for Concentric at the Irvine NOC, so if anyone has servers down there, you may get lucky and get one of these guys working with you.
Since everyone's plugging their company, I won't.
If you need to do anything custom, especially anything involving CGI, I would recommend an Intel-based Linux or BSD box (check out VA Linux for some good 1U boxes). The Cobalt RaQ and RaQ2 ran CGIs pretty poorly, and forget about customizing them. Voiding your warranty at the drop of a hat sucks, and the MIPS processor in the RaQ and RaQ2 make it difficult to work with custom software (you'll need to compile your software from scratch most of the time, rather than installing binaries).
In Cobalt's defense, the RaQ3 has addressed some of these issues: its processor is now Intel-compatible, and has 512K of L2 cache, which helps the CGI slowness. However, it maxes out at 512MB of RAM and 20.4GB of hard disk space. That's not much compared to the dual PIIIs and 2GB of RAM that you can shove into a VA box.
If you need some kind of web interface, try Webmin (http://www.webmin.org). It's not as pretty as Cobalt's interface, but it gets the job done (and gives you much more control over the server) without you having to get your hands dirty in the config files.
If Qwest's backbone appeals to you, but you don't want to deal with their moronic tech support, you could find a smaller company that is reselling colocation within a Qwest data center. If you find a company with sharp people on board, you'll get the advantages of dealing with a smaller company (and having that company take care of the messiness with Qwest), as well as the advantages of Qwest's backbone.
I should mention that I'm somewhat biased here...I run the servers for a small company that is reselling rackspace in Qwest's facilities. But if I personally were colocating a server or servers, I would choose a company like that over a Qwest or a Concentric.
As for the forms, Qwest *asks* that you fill them out, but when I need to install or remove a server, I just call the NOC staff a few hours ahead to let them know I'm coming. Then when I arrive, I give them the info on the relevant server(s), then take off. They just need the info so they can update their OpenView database anyway, and I make sure to provide the admin guys with an updated copy of the server list after the fact. Works like a charm.
You can set the IP address using the buttons and LCD panel on the front of the Whistle. This means that you can take a laptop, give it a nonroutable IP (e.g. 192.168.1.2), assign the Whistle an IP of 192.168.1.1, then fire up your laptop's browser and administer away! (Just be sure you use a crossover if you're connecting the laptop directly to the Whistle.)
I'm interested to see what will happen after 70 percent of Napster's users take off when they go subscription-based. Napster's strength is its huge userbase. Once they lose a few million users, their song selection will drop significantly.
Here's another question: does anyone know anything about what Napster/BMG will be doing to address the problem of mislabeled/poor quality/truncated MP3s? If I were to pay for a service, I would expect problems like these to be addressed.
If any of you decide to send this letter, I would suggest that you spellcheck it first. No offense meant to Brent, but nothing destroys credibility more than poor spelling, poor grammar, or the use of colloquialisms such as 'pissed'.
personl -> personal
unappropriate -> inappropriate
aweful -> awful
precident -> precedent
speach -> speech (as was mentioned before)
exaclty -> exactly (probably a typo, but still incorrect)
At my old job, our servers were named after serial killers. We had Ripper, Dahmer, Manson, Gacey, Stalker (Richard Ramirez), OJ (Simpson...not technically a serial killer, but funny anyway).
:)
Too bad my new company has boring names like NS1, NS2, WWW, etc...
I don't think this would be a problem if every ATM had an iris scanner. Currently, your account information is only stored at your bank. If you use another bank's ATM, or a gas station's ATM, their system connects to your bank's to verify that the PIN is correct. What would stop them from doing the same, but with your iris information rather than your PIN information?
If the banks decide to go through with the changeover, they would have to continue to issue ATM cards until the majority of ATMs have the iris scanners installed. (I'm bummed that it doesn't scan the retina...'retinal scanner' just sounds so much cooler.)
I was in exactly the same position as these kids throughout my elementary school, junior high, and high school years. I had an abundance of intelligence, curiosity and computer skills, but my social skills were sadly lacking. I was somewhat of an outcast until I reached puberty, when I was Fortunately, I was blessed with better-than-average athletic ability, which saved me from being a target of daily ridicule.
I am curious about what would have happened if the situation had been reversed. What if the school's most popular athlete had gone on a shooting rampage, killing the school's social outcasts? How do you think the media would have handled it differently?
On a different note, this situation brings to light the importance of parents' relationships with their children. My parents were highly instrumental in helping me to survive my tumultuous junior high years. They constantly reminded me of the same facts that many of you have mentioned: that my tormentors were just as insecure as I was, and that the smart kids like me would be the ones who would come out on top in the end. It is very important that the parents of geeks try to give their gifted offspring a better perspective on life in general. There is much more to life then high school, and had the two Colorado teens been more aware of this fact, this tragedy might have been averted.
There's also one in Disneyland here in SoCal. It's not directly customer-accessible, though...you make your selections at one of several kiosks, then the employees actually perform the CD burning.
It's a great idea; I'd like to see more of this in the US (preferably not Disney songs, though...I can't imagine actually wanting to listen to those over and over...it seems rather masochistic to me).