The Shape of Things » technology

Linux

Shane Schnell — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:59:53 +0000

I started a new job last summer and one of my favorites aspects has been the exposure to Linux. I have been a “Windows” system admin for 10 years now so it feels good to learn something new. I am still working with Windows, but 2 of the projects I have been working on are rooted in Linux. The first project was to provide a blogging platform and I was quick to suggest WordPress, which is a free open source software based on the “LAMP” stack… Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP. I have been using wordpress on my blog for a few years now, but I feel like I know the software much more intimately now that I have deployed 40+ blogs at work. The second project I have been working on is VMware. When I was brought on we had 2 different VMware farms running different versions of the software. Now we are setup in a single farm all running the latest version. VMware uses Linux as its service console to help you monitor and support the environment. Of course over the last 6 months or so I have had the rite of passage that is vi. I am not going to claim that I am an expert but I am quite comfortable with the core keyboard commands.

Just today I was asked to deploy Urchin which is very similar to Google Analytics, except that you get to store your data in house rather than Google using it to learn more and more about you. I had the option of using Windows or Linux on this project and I think I might just go with Linux

Ocarina iPhone App Review

Shane Schnell — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 07:15:57 +0000

I really love my iPhone but there are times when I can go through a dry period where I think the gadget is getting stale. Oh… but that dang App Store keeps me coming back. Recently I discovered Ocarina developed by Smule. Anyone who has played the Legend of Zelda will fondly remember the angelic sounds of the Ocarina.

The way you play the iPhone Ocarina is by blowing into the microphone and playing the 4 keys on the touch screen:

In my opinon it is probably the best designed application for the iPhone because of it creativity and functionality. Until you try it, you won’t believe how well it works.

There is even sheet music for quite a few songs… my favorite being the Godfather theme.

Calling all IT Professionals…

Shane Schnell — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:10:59 +0000

I work as a SysAdmin for a medium size software company and even though I have really smart and talented co-workers sometimes I wonder… how are other companies handling this or that.

Tonight (via my Google Reader feed) I found this absolutely fantastic forum:
The Server Room

Listen, I am not a forum guy most of the time… but this is just exactly what I have been looking for. A place where I can go to see what other people are doing in IT. Typically what I find in forum (such as Digg.com) is a bunch of comments that end up sounding like an argument from the playground in 5th grade.

I intend to follow this forum very closely and to actually post once in a while. If there are any other SysAdmins out there, what forums do you frequent?

awareness [VMWare]

Shane Schnell — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 05:34:33 +0000

My wife is an architect and is into “green” design which I whole-heartedly support. Today she sent me a blog post titled: Server Rooms and the Future of Humanism. It piqued my interested quite a bit mainly due to the fact that one, I am a human… and two that I implement and maintain servers for a living.

The purpose of the article is to raise awareness that servers are bad for the environment due to their stringent cooling requirements. The author (Geoff Manaugh) went so far as to say that a single server can do as much damage to the environment as an SUV. However, of the many remedies that Manaugh purposed, he (hopefully not knowingly) didn’t talk about “server virtualization” at all.

Since Manaugh didn’t raise the awareness of server virtualization, please allow me.

Wikipedia defines server virtualization as: “a method of partitioning a physical server computer into multiple servers that each has the appearance and capabilities of running on its own dedicated machine”.

So think of it like this: typically we think of SUVs as a bad thing for the environment. However SUVs would be at least somewhat better if they were always used to their maximum potential. In that I mean, whenever they are driven there are 8-9 people seated in them. Server virtualization is the same thing. Typically a physical server only uses 10%- 20% of its resources, so you could use a product like VMWare to setup 5-10 “virtual” servers to run on one “physical” server.

I know that I am a total computer geek, but I am really excited by VMWare and I want people to understand that computer software can be “green” too!!