Some of you may be wondering, "where did you get those sweet plans for the server rack?". Well I have to give credit to Jeremiah Duke for mentioning the Google SketchUp program in his video about making his own server rack.
The Google SketchUp program has a free as well as professional version and is a full featured CAD program that is fairly intuitive. I just looked up the actual dimensions of lumber that I was going to use, then I drew lines to the size making 3D boxes which the program then interpreted as solid objects. Finally after making multiple revisions I came up with a model that is made exclusively out of 2x4 lumber with the exception of some 3/4 inch plywood and caster wheels.
See this video for an idea on how easy it actually is to make 3D CAD models for your next project.
Ever since I started working in I.T. I've always longed to have my own cool server rack with lots of blinking lights and cables going everywhere. The only problem is that I never had a reason to have a server rack since I didn't have any hardware to put in one.
Well all that's changed now so bar the door and hide the women folk because I have just inherited five servers from a school that just closed. Now that good times are on the way I started shopping for 19 inch metal server racks. With the consumption of steel by China and the U.S. going through the roof, so has the cost of anything made of steel. I will not be dropping $700 - $2000 for a quality steel server rack so I started looking for alternatives. Since Steel doesn't grow on trees I am resorting to the one thing that does... wood.
My inspiration comes from Jeremiah Duke at the missiondukewebsite. You can see his video below.
Now I'm not knocking his design by any means because it fits the bill for him. My design is different in that it's flush on the sides and incorporates plywood shelves for the bottom two levels which is due to the extremely heavy beasts that I'm housing there. The last thing I want to do is get a hernia because the edge of a server got caught on the lip of a 2x4. See my illustration below.
Hope to have pictures of the actual build and the final setup soon.
One of the complaints that we get when using the Windows 7XP mode is that the print is too small to read. There are two keys to changing the screen resolution for the XP mode to make it "bigger".
First you must break the integration from the Windows 7 machine.
Finally change the resolution to something smaller like 1024 X 768
Second you must change the relational size of the Windows 7 screen to something closer to what your wanted the XP mode to be. See illustrations for clarification.
In the first illustration we have a windows size of 2480 x 1530, so the XP mode will originally have a resolution of over 2000 x 1400 which will have tiny print. If you change the resolution down to 1024 x 768 the print will not become larger, but the viewing screen will become smaller and 800 x 600 will be even smaller yet.
In the second illustration we have changed the resolution to something slightly larger than 1024 x 768 (like 1152 x 864) and now the relational size is closer to the targets.
If the icons on the Windows 7 screen are too large now, you will need to go to the desktop personalize settings and change the desktop icons down to medium or small (150% or 100%)
Image via CrunchBaseBy The Computer Doctor Video By Jonathan Mann
So many of you are still bemoaning the shortcomings of Microsoft's project Longhorn which has spawned the Windows Vista and Windows 7 series of operating systems.
Despite the compatibility mode which is supposed to make older software run properly, many times we find erroneous errors popping up in our applications or that the applications will not run at all.
Well for once I applaud a Microsoft decision with reservation of course. If you own a legitimate copy of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise or Ultimate you can get for no additional cost the Windows XPmode. This is a virtual machine of Windows XP running on Microsoft Virtual PC platform.
My reservation of course is that if you have Windows 7 Basic or Home premium or any copy of Windows Vista you are S.O.L.
My experience with XP mode is in helping a customer who couldn't run software for her class that was required for school. Her computer specs were a 2.8 Ghz processor with 8 Gb of RAM and a 250 GB hard drive running Windows 7 Professional. We tried running in compatibility mode, changing graphics modes, cleaning the registry, and re-installing multiple times. Why shouldn't a 6 year old program designed for Windows XP Professional work on this system? Because the Windows Kernel has more forks than a public school cafeteria! So now what was she to do? Search endless garage sales for a used computer with Windows XP on it?
The answer came from one of my oldest tricks from the Linux side. If you can't beat them then join them with a virtual machine running the OS that the software you need was designed for. Microsoft finally saw the light in making a real XP environment available for these circumstances.
See the following promotional video for more information and to see what this XP mode looks like.
Last week's move by Oracle to sue Google over Java use in the Android open source mobile operating system, may well end up having an impact that effects far more that just Android. And that has some key stakeholders in the open source community concerned.
Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu Linux, is among those in the community who don't see a positive outcome from Oracle's lawsuit, which was based around claims of Linux-based Android wrongfully treading on Oracle's patented Java code and copyrights.
"It's an extremely unsophisticated move by someone at Oracle to launch a patent-based lawsuit, and it's clearly going to be a significant setback for their relationship with the broader open source community, which is a significant part of many of their products," Shuttleworth told InternetNews.com.
Ubuntu is no stranger to working with Sun Microsystems -- original owner of the patents in question -- prior to Sun's acquisition by Oracle. Back in 2006, Canonical, the lead commercial sponsor of Ubuntu, first gained certification for Ubuntu Linux on Sun hardware. The effort was further expanded in 2007 with Sun Java technologies made directly available to Ubuntu Linux users.
"This will complicate the relationships Oracle has with a very important audience, which is the broader open source community," Shuttleworth said. "It will significantly undermine their efforts to establish many of their major products like Java, Solaris and Oracle Unbreakable Linux, and in due course, I'll imagine that they'll quietly wish they hadn't taken this approach."
"I certainly respect their right to take whatever approach they want to take with what they consider to be their property, but I cannot see any way in which this ultimately ends in a constructive outcome for them," he added.
Shuttleworth, like many open source advocates, is critical of software patents in general, which he said aren't a winning strategy for major software vendors.
"Big, traditional software companies have been looking for ways of protecting their franchises and many have waved patents around as a way of entrenching their margins," Shuttleworth said. "But it isn't working out that way."
That open source community leaders like Shuttleworth have long argued against software patents isn't surprising, considering the fights that flare up frequently between the open source and proprietary worlds around intellectual property. For instance, there's the looming specter of Microsoft, which in 2007 claimed that Linux infringed on hundreds of patents, and which hasn't been afraid to use that position to encourage open source users to pay for licenses. Last year, Microsoft inked a number of Linux users to licensing agreements, and sued GPS vendor TomTom over open source patent issues -- a spat that ended in a settlement and another licensing deal for Microsoft.
Last week, Eben Moglen, director-counsel and chairman at the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC), told attendees at the LinuxCon conference that he sees patent threats against open source companies on a regular basis, and that the patent crisis facing open source is not going away anytime soon.
But Shuttleworth's view is that eventually big software companies will wake up to the reality that patents actually don't help them.
"I think that large software companies are simply going to find that patents and patent-based thinking keeps them locked in the past," Shuttleworth said. "Fundamentally, the biggest software organizations are the biggest losers from software patents-based litigation."
Software giant Microsoft’s internet explorer turned 15 years on Monday. The company recently said it would launch the internet explorer 9 public beta version on September 15, 2010.
Microsoft would launch the new version at a special event in San Francisco and confirmed the browser would only function with Windows Vista and Windows 7.
In July 2010, Internet Explorer has a combined market share of 60.74 percent and Firefox is at 22.91 percent, followed by Google's Chrome with 7.16 percent, Safari with 5.09 percent, and Opera with 2.45 percent, according to the latest data from Net Applications.
The software giant launched the first version of the browser internet explorer 1 on August 16, 1995. It was a revised version of Spyglass Mosaic, which Microsoft had licensed from Spyglass Inc. The first version came with Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95 and the original equipment manufacturer release of Windows 95.
Internet explorer 2 was released for Windows 95, Windows NT 3.5, and NT 4.0 on November 22, 1995 (following a 2.0 beta in October). Internet explorer 3 was released on August 13, 1996.
Microsoft internet explorer 4, released in September 1997, deepened the level of integration between the web browser and the underlying operating system. The traditional Windows Explorer was replaced by version 4, when installed.
Internet explorer 5 was launched on March 18, 1999. Also, with the release of internet explorer 5, Microsoft released the first version of XMLHttpRequest, giving birth to Ajax. Internet explorer 6 was released on August 27, 2001, a few months before Windows XP. Internet explorer 7 was released on October 18, 2006.
“The company's Windows 7 should benefit from the corporate PC refresh cycle, which is in its early stages and the release of Windows Service Pack 1 (SP1) in the first half of calendar year 2011. The much-awaited corporate PC refresh cycle is underway and should drive Windows 7 sales for at least the next year,” said David Hilal, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets.
Internet Explorer 8 "Final" was released on March 19, 2009. On March 5, 2008, the first public beta (Beta 1) was released to the general public. The second public beta (Beta 2) was released on August 27, 2008. Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) RC1 was released on January 26, 2009.
Has Dell dropped Ubuntu Linux as an operating system selection for its panoply of PCs? Yes… and no. PC Pro is reporting that one can no longer pick up consumer PCs preloaded with the popular Linux distribution, but that's only if one's trying to order online.
PC Pro goes on to quote a company spokesperson: "We've recently made an effort to simplify our offerings online, by focusing on our most popular bundles and configuration options, based on customer feedback for reduced complexity and a simple, easy purchase experience. We're also making some changes to our Ubuntu pages, and as a result, they are currently available through our phone-based sales only."
However, the same spokesperson—in an interview with PC Pro—went on to suggest that a majority of Dell's sales go toward consumer PCs laden with Microsoft's Windows operating system. Ubuntu systems tend to shop out to, "advanced users and enthusiasts," a sentiment that's reflected in Dell's own on-side material about Linux.
On the company's "Windows or Ubuntu?" page, Dell states that the former is the better choice of an OS for those that are already familiar with Windows programs or, conversely, for those completely new to the world of computing in general. Ubuntu, on the other hand, should be reserved for those that, "do not plan to use Microsoft WINDOWS," or those who are, "interested in open source programming."
The caveat, however, is that this material—as well as the lack of online Ubuntu options—seems to be limited to the European Dell hub. The standard dell.com domain still features a "Top Ten" list of facts to know for consumers interested in an Ubuntu system, as well as purchasing links to both an Ubuntu-backed Dell Mini 10n notebook and a Dell Inspiron 15n notebook.
That said, Slashdot commenter "Nimey" points to a key visual indicator that Dell's Ubuntu support, in general, might be waning.
"They don't offer any with 10.04, and two of the four models they offer still have 9.04," Nimey writes. "Doesn't seem like they're too keen on it."
According to Canonical, Ubuntu's primary commercial sponsor, the Linux distribution is currently used by more than 12 million individuals. Data taken by the site Distrowatch—which has been tracking the popularity of hundreds of Linux distributions since its inception in 2001—ranks Ubuntu as the most popular distribution based on an analysis of hits to the site's official "Ubuntu" section.
Now that the Doctor has his own server hardware to use, one of the first things in the installation of either Server 2003 or Ubuntu 10.04 LTS was the use of RAID array drives. For those of you that have never built a RAID array or have heard of them in reference to an existing server but are not sure what they are, let me take some time to explain.
RAID is an acronym that stands for "redundant array of independent disks" or "redundant array of inexpensive disks". Even when the disks are not redundant they may be considered RAID if they work in conjunction to each other in an array.
I will illustrate the most common RAID array and give a brief explanation of each.
This provides improved performance and additional storage but no redundancy or fault tolerance. Any disk failure destroys the array, and the likelihood of failure increases with more disks in the array. A single disk failure destroys the entire array because when data is written to a RAID 0 volume, the data is broken into fragments called blocks. The number of blocks is dictated by the stripe size, which is a configuration parameter of the array. The blocks are written to their respective disks simultaneously on the same sector. This allows smaller sections of the entire chunk of data to be read off the drive in parallel, increasing bandwidth. RAID 0 does not implement error checking, so any error is uncorrectable. Additional disks in the array means higher bandwidth, but greater risk of data loss. Remember with Raid 0, "if you loose a disk you get zero data back"
RAID 1: Mirroring Without Parity Or Striping
Data is written identically to multiple disks (a "mirrored set"). Although many implementations create sets of 2 disks, sets may contain 3 or more disks. Array provides fault tolerance from disk errors or failures and continues to operate as long as at least one drive in the mirrored set is functioning. Increased read performance occurs when using a multi-threadedoperating system that supports split seeks, as well as a very small performance reduction when writing. Using RAID 1 with a separate controller for each disk is sometimes called duplexing. Remember with RAID 1, "One always sees himself in the mirror"
RAID 2: Bit-Level Striping With Dedicated Hamming-Code Parity
All disk spindle rotation is synchronized, and data is striped such that each sequential bit is on a different disk. Hamming-codeparity is calculated across corresponding bits on disks and stored on one or more parity disks. Extremely high data transfer rates are possible.
RAID 3: Byte Level Striping With Dedicated Parity
All disk spindle rotation is synchronized, and data is striped such that each sequential byte is on a different disk. Parity is calculated across corresponding bytes on disks and stored on a dedicated parity disk. Very high data transfer rates are possible.
RAID 4: Block Level Striping With Dedicated Parity
Identical to RAID 5, but confines all parity data to a single disk, which can create a performance bottleneck. In this setup, files can be distributed between multiple disks. Each disk operates independently which allows I/O requests to be performed in parallel, though data transfer speeds can suffer due to the type of parity. The error detection is achieved through dedicated parity and is stored in a separate, single disk unit.
RAID 5: Block Level Striping With Distributed Parity
Distributed parity requires all drives but one to be present to operate. Drive failure requires replacement, but the array is not destroyed by a single drive failure. Upon drive failure, any subsequent reads can be calculated from the distributed parity such that the drive failure is masked from the end user. The array will have data loss in the event of a second drive failure and is as vulnerable as a RAID 0 array until the data that was on the failed drive is rebuilt onto a replacement drive. A single drive failure in the set will result in reduced performance of the entire set until the failed drive has been replaced and rebuilt.
RAID 6: Block Level Striping With Double Distributed Parity
Provides fault tolerance from two drive failures. The array will continue to operate with up to two failed drives. This makes larger RAID groups more practical, especially for high-availability systems. This becomes increasingly important as large-capacity drives lengthen the time needed to recover from the failure of a single drive. Single-parity RAID levels are as vulnerable to data loss as a RAID 0 array until the failed drive is replaced and its data rebuilt; the larger the drive, the longer the rebuild will take. Double parity gives time to rebuild the array without the data being at risk if a single additional drive fails before the rebuild is complete.
The easiest graphical way to find these can be found in the disc utility program in administration.
When you open the disc utility you will see a screen like the one pictured below.To find your hard drive number count from the top down with the first one being 0 "zero". To find your partition number count from the left to the right with the first one being 1 "one".
Now for the new editing in Grub2. For experienced grub legacy users that remember editing the menu.lst file... those days are long gone. The new grub.cfg file is not like the menu.lst very much at all with very few items that can be edited manually and none of the menu items being editable. To add new menu items you need to open an editor in root privileged mode and I will use gedit for my example.
In terminal mode you need to enter sudo gedit and then enter your root password. Next you will navigate to and open /etc/grub.d/40_custom
See the next illustration for an example of the items I added to my menu. If you can follow the syntax of the second menu item, the Windows Vista Recovery Partition" and change the label to match your menu item along with the Hard Drive number in the set root line and the partition number in the drivemap line you should be able to add your own menu items.
To finish up the procedure just save the 40_custom file and close gedit.
Now back in the terminal you want to type the following code sudo update-grub Once this is done running reboot your computer to see and test your new menu items.
*although hard to believe, the Computer Doctor may make a mistake, but is totally willing to add a microscopic apology near the bottom of a future article.
I spent a wonderful evening recently with some friends looking at old servers and fixing database reports. I know... I really need to get out more.
During the course of the evening Gene showed us how to force a reboot or shutdown by using the SysRq key and a combination of other keys which were as follows...
Hold down the "Alt" and "Print Screen - SysRq" key and type in the following letters R, E, I, S, U, B Which can easily be remembered with the mnemonic "Raising Elephants Is So Utterly Boring"
As intrigued as I was, I noticed that the screen went black like we were back in terminal mode and I saw a flood of information on the screen and I knew that each of these letters stood for something. After doing a little bit of research online I found the following chart that may help if you need to use the "Magic System Request" in Linux.
0 - 9 - sets the console log level, controlling which kernel messages will be printed to your console so that you don't get flooded.
B - restarts the system without making steps to ensure that the conditions are good for a safe reboot, using this key alone is like doing a cold reboot.
E - sends SIGTERM to all processes except init. This means that an attempt is done to end the current processes except init, safely, e.g. saving a document.
F - call oom_kill(Out Of Memory Killer), which will kill a process that is consuming all available memory.
H - displays help about the SysRq keys on a terminal though in actuality you can use any key except for the ones specified, to display help.
I - sends SIGKILL to all processes except init. This means that all the processes except for init are killed, any data in processes that are killed will be lost.
K - kills all processes on the current terminal. It is a bad idea to do this on a console where X is running as the GUI will stop and you can't see what you type, so you will need to switch to a tty after doing the magic SysRq.
L - sends SIGKILL to all processes, including init. This means that every process including init will be killed, using this key will render your system non-functional and no further magicSysRq keys can be used. So in this case you will have to cold reboot it.
M - dumps memory info to your console.
O - shuts down the system via ACPI or in older systems, APM. As in key "B", using this key alone is like a cold reboot(Or in this case, a cold shutdown).
P - dumps the current registers and flags to your console.
Q - dumps all timers info to your console.
R - takes keyboard and mouse control from the X server. This can be useful if the X-Server crashed, you can change to a console and kill the X-Server or check the error log. NOTE:- The documentation refers to this key's task as "Turns off keyboard raw mode and sets it to XLATE", but I suppose it's safe enough to assume that it takes back control from X.
S - writes all data from the disc cache to the hard-discs, it is a sync and is necessary to reduce the chances of data corruption.
T - dumps a list of current tasks and info to your console.
U - remounts all mounted filesystems read-only. After using this key, you can reboot the system with Alt+SysRq+B without harming the system.
W - dumps uninterruptable (blocked) state tasks.
Remember that although you can use these letters in any sequence that you wish, there may be unforeseen consequences by skipping some of the letters in the REISU* sequence and skipping straight to the B or O so be careful when using these commands. Also remember that there is a build in reboot or shutdown procedure and it is better to use that then the forced commands with the magic system request keys.
For the past year I've been enjoying (tongue in cheek) providing software support for a primarily Windows oriented company. Every time I see references to does not work in Linux or no support for Linux it gets my ire and curiosity up (and not always in equal portions).
My original idea was to have a virtual Linux box available so I could test different software packages with WINE but I kept running into the same brick wall... The Proxy.
That's right, a simple proxy was stopping me. I was able to configure the proxy for my browser, but not for synaptic. "So What?" you might be thinking. Well without Synaptic or apt-get in the terminal I can't get updates or other familiar software packages. I know some wise guy out there is saying that I could go get the tar-gz with my browser and compile from scratch, but remember that I'm supposed to be doing software support in a windows shop. Do you think the local IT guy or some MCSE is going to be happy to hear that someone is setting up a Linux box in house? So down to the nuts and bolts of how I finally set up my Linux box behind the proxy.
What you need to start with:
Oracle's VirtualBox with a new machine setup. I gave it 30Gb hard drive and 768Mb Ram
After setting up your VirtualBox machine and installing Ubuntu I used these settings to get access to the internet.
Go to System / Preferences / and select Network Proxy.
Inside the Network Proxy settings you want to check the Manual proxy configuration box. Also check the Use the same proxy for all protocols. Fill in the proxy address or IP address. Fill in the port number which will usually be 8080. Now click the close button.After clicking the close button you will get a system question box asking if you want to apply these setting system wide (and you do). When you click on the Apply System-Wide button it will ask you for your password. Just fill it in as many times as it asks you for it and it will eventually end. The next step is to set up Synaptic. Go to the System menu / Administration menu / and select Synaptic Package Manager.Inside Synaptice you want to click on the Settings Menu and then choose Preferences. Inside the Preferences menu you want to click on the Network tab. Check the Manual proxy configuration box. Fill in the proxy address or IP address in the HTTP and FTP proxy box and fill in the port for both as well. Click on the Authentication button and fill in your username and password. REMEMBER: If you network has you change your password occasionally, you will have to come back and change your password here as well.
How many times have you gotten stuck trying to support a friend of family member over the phone and no matter what you tell them they can not follow your directions. Or perhaps they are having difficulty with a program and you really need to see what they are trying to describe in woeful futility.
The program that I have been using for over a year now and thoroughly enjoy is teamviewer. With teamviewer you can use the program for free for non-commercial use or purchase one of their business packages and get advanced features.
To use Teamviewer you will have already installed the program on your own computer and direct the person that needs support to go to teamviewer.com and click on the "Start Full Version" button on the main page. Direct them to run the program and when it asks if they want to install it direct them to just run it instead. Next they will need to provide the ID and Password that the program gives them. Just enter their ID and click on the connect button, then enter their password and click log on. Next you will see their screen and will have access to their computer.
In addition to remote control of the target computer you will also have a built in file transfer feature and presentation feature.
This is a tool to practice converting
between decimal
and binary representations.
After you have practiced for a while and feel that you know how to do
the conversions, take the quiz.
Image via CrunchBaseBy The Computer Doctor
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