2005-09-22 07:26:00
I thought I'd be clever... I thought I'd save some money... I thought I could simply convert my iPod's file system from HFS+ (OS X) to Windows (FAT) and still keep using it like I always have. Well, I can't! I'd forgotten how sucky the FAT fs is when compared to HFS+ (or most other UNIX file systems), so while I _can_ now use the iPod as a USB drive to transfer files at the office (which uses Windows), I now cannot use the drive for my own backups!
Well, fuck that :) I'm going back! I guess I'll just have to spend the twenty-something euro on an USB stick.
kilala.nl tags: ipod, apple, other tech,
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2005-09-20 21:18:00
As I said earlier, things are coming to an end at $CLIENT. The Webmin environment I set up has been running well for weeks on end and the Nagios monitoring setup is also quite complete. The Retrospect backups are running perfectly and have proven their use more then once already! I'm really glad I managed to convince management to invest in the software!
What's even better is that in these final days of the assignment I'm finding time to do a couple of things that weren't possible earlier. One of the things my colleagues at $CLIENT had put highly on their Wish List was the ability to monitor network and broadcast equipment using SNMP and SNMP traps. This is a functionality that doesn't come built into Nagios and which requires various add-on pieces of software. We'd always decided to give priority to the monitoring of the servers, so the whole SNMP deal never got done (it wasn't a hard requirement anyway). But now, just in about a full day's work I've installed and configured all the required software and hashed out a document which nicely describes the procedure behind SNMP monitoring. So even when I'm gone the guys at $CLIENT will be able to get what they wanted :)
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2005-09-16 17:28:00
Things seem to be going alright :) My stay with $CLIENT is about to come to an end and I've just about finished my project with them. Due to time restraints they will have a few loose ends to tie up, but they're on the Windows side of things which is the domain of "the other guy" anyway.
The way things look now I'll be starting with a new customer immediately afterwards! Monday the 26th will be my first day at $NEW-CLIENT in Amersfoort. I'm quite curious about what I'm going to be doing over there, but I heard it involves Sun Cluster and data center migrations. Sounds like it's right up my alley! :3
EDIT:
Before I forget: I added the custom Nagios scripts that I wrote for $CLIENT in the Sysadmin section.
kilala.nl tags: work,
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2005-09-11 21:57:00
And some more updates in the Sysadmin section: a few scripts I once wrote for managing the migration from local storage to EMC2 / HP and some other generic systems management stuff.
Also, my good friend Dirk (whom I know from my time working at ING) came to visit us today. It was really nice seeing him again, since we always have a good time together :) And as was expected he had a lot of fantastical tales to tell us about the weird stuff happening at ING. Seriously: I shouldn't have left there any later than I did, because else I really would've gone nuts! :3
kilala.nl tags: work, friends,
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2005-09-11 09:11:00
And some more! We've always had the good habit of using so-called "acceptance checklists" to verify that new servers comply with all the standards we had set out. This ensures that each server handed over to your customers is setup just the way you expect it to be. A basic checklist can now be found in the menu. Naturally it's geared very much towards the environment I'm working on right now, but it should be very easy to modify it to fit your own needs.
I've also added some scripts that we used at ING to manage our SAN environment. There's a script that reports on EMC2 disk usage. There are also two scripts which were used to migrate our data volumes from "local -> EMC2" and from "local&EMC2 -> HP XP1024". These scripts will only work for those using Veritas Volume Manager and will most likely require heavy modification, but they should at least provide you with some head start.
kilala.nl tags: work, unix, sysadmin,
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2005-09-11 01:00:00
I've added all the custom Nagios monitors I wrote for $CLIENT. They might come in handy for any of you. They're not beauties, but they get the job done.
kilala.nl tags: work, nagios, unix, sysadmin,
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2005-09-11 00:47:00
Major updates in the Sysadmin section! w00t!
In this case a lot of information one of my favourite security tools and Nagios, my new-found love on the monitoring front.
kilala.nl tags: nagios, boks, work, unix,
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2005-09-10 21:30:00
I think I commented on this earlier... Let me check...
Yes, it was around the 25th of June. I was commenting back then how this new job is quite refreshing insofar that I'm actually enjoying what I do on a daily basis. I'm learning all kinds of new stuff and working with all kinds of new people. But something that I'd never expected to do is what happened this weekend: crack open my laptop at home and continue working! o_O WTF?! Me, who always rambles on about "keeping work and private life strictly separated" is working at home, for the sheer enjoyment of it... Fucked up!
kilala.nl tags: work, holy shit,
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2005-09-10 13:37:00
Wow! Major updates! I've added a lot of information on a wonderful security tool I think you guys should be aware of. It's called Fox Server Control (previously knows as "BoKS", "Keon" and "UNIX Control"), and is a product of Fox Technologies.
I've also added a boatload of stuff regarding Nagios, which is a free monitoring solution I've been becoming familiar with at $CLIENT. In the near future I will also add a bunch of plugins that I either modified or wrote.
All this beautiful stuff can be found in the sysadmin section of my website.
kilala.nl tags: website, work,
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2005-09-07 10:15:00
For about two years now I had been using Nedstat to keep track of visits to this website. It gave me some interesting insight into you guys' visiting habbits and what specifically interests you. However, Nedstat was recently taken over by some other guy (or is it a company?) and they decided to slip a new clause into the EULA: each tracked website would automatically open pop-up ads from their servers!
No frigging way! So, hard as it was to give up the buit up historical data, I deleted all of my Nedstat counters and moved over to Stat Counter. The information they provide on site hits is actually even a bit more comprehensive than the data provided by Nedstat! So I'm not feeling that bad about switching.
In other news I finally joined the rest of the fantasy-loving world and watched The princess brideyesterday evening. A smashing movie! Just the right amount of humour and cliches but nothing over the top.
kilala.nl tags: website,
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2005-09-07 10:15:00
It has been a very long time in coming, but finally I got around to finishing version 1.0 of my tutorial/article on planning. One thing most people in IT are notoriously bad at is writing and maintaining a project planning (or their personal planning for that matter). I was originally asked by my chef at $PREV-CLIENT to write this article, but I never got around to finishing it before i left.
Aniway... It's still version 1.0, so it's still quite rough around the edges. I hope to get a whole load of reviews from friend/colleagues before submitting it to ;Login: for publication. In the mean time you guys can find it in the Sysadmin section. I hope you enjoy reading it!
kilala.nl tags: writing, work,
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All content, with exception of "borrowed" blogpost images, or unless otherwise indicated, is copyright of Thomas Sluyter. The character Kilala the cat-demon is copyright of Rumiko Takahashi and used here without permission.