The IP Subnet Mask Calculator enables subnet network calculations using network class, IP address, subnet mask, subnet bits, mask bits, maximum required IP subnets and maximum required hosts per subnet – all on the go on your Android Mobile Device.

Free. Simple. 100% No Malware and no logging.

Results of the subnet calculation provide the hexadecimal IP address, the wildcard mask, for use with ACL (Access Control Lists), subnet ID, broadcast address, the subnet address range for the resulting subnet network and a subnet bitmap.

Please let us know what you think, what can be changed or improved upon and finally what other applications you would like to see! Don’t forget to check out the ads and support our sponsers!

Are our friends from www.AndroidGuys.com still reading?

_TheAndroidAdmiN_

Let me start by saying I use Putty all day every day. I had not tweaked my settings as I have now. I found this article which helped me along and figured I would share with all my fellow Puttyers. Remember – Configure your Putty first, then make entries or your default settings will NOT trickle down to your saved connections. They will retain their old defaults.
This is important advice. First configure your environment before you start using it. This is especially true for Putty, since you always start off from the default, it is important to configure the default entry before you create entries from these defaults. It will save you a lot of time afterwards to get things straight.

So before you make any changes, open the default template in Category: Session by selecting Default Settings and pressing the Load button.

Make SSH the default.
If you have an older version of Putty, chances are that you have Telnet as the default protocol. Changing it to SSH will probably save you some time when you start Putty out-of-the-blue. For this go to Category: Session and select SSH.

Keep windows around.
Putty cleverly exits when you leave a session, but I don’t like that. I like to be able to still copy&paste from console even when one of my sessions times out or I closed one bash/session too many. Since I consider terminal output as possible interesting information I don’t want to loose that by mistake (or inconsiderate intent). So you’d want to set in Category: Session the option Close window on exit to Never.

Annoying PC bell.
Some systems have quite annoying (and loud) PC speaker bell sounds and since I am not fond of audible notifications (and I can imagine my colleagues even less when I frantically expand stuff in bash) I always enable visual bell in Category: Terminal > Bell and select Visual bell.

I also like to have taskbar notifications (when eg. putty is minimized or in the background) so I set Taskbar/caption indication on bell to Flashing.

Increase scrollback buffer.
By default Putty buffers 200 lines of output, which is too little in lots of circumstances. And the moment you actually need this number increased, chances are you already lost some information you wanted. So it is wise to increase this number. What I do is go to Category: Window and increase Lines of scrollback to 20000.

Scrollback behavior
One thing I hate about terminal consoles is that if you are scrolling back output while the system is still producing output, the terminal jumps back to the bottom. I can see why this is the default, people might be confused if they are not aware that they are looking at the terminal buffer.

So in Category: Window I disable the Reset scrollback on display activity but I do enable Reset scrollback on keypress.

Choose a good font.
The newer Putty binaries are able to make use of ClearType which drastically improves the font quality compared to Antialiased. Go to Category: Window > Appearance, choose ClearType and a nice font. I prefer Lucida Console, 9-point.

When you are there, you might want to change the Gap between text and window edge to 3 pixels.

Use proper character encoding.
Nowadays all Linux systems are able to use Unicode (UTF-8) so to make sure that the output in Putty (especially everything non-ascii) looks fine, go to Category: Window > Translation and change the character set to UTF-8, make sure that also the line drawing characters use Unicode as well.

Linux copy-and-pasting.
I prefer to do an implicit copy when selecting and using the middle mouse button for pasting. So I go to Category: Window > Selection and set the Action of mouse buttons to xterm (Right extends, Middle pastes)

When you are there, also enable the option Paste to clipboard in RTF as well as plain text, which is nice when you are copy-and-pasting to emails or text documents that allow fonts and colours. Your console output will look much the same as it does on your screen!

Change dark colours on a black background.
One of the more annoying things with terminal applications (xterm has the same issue) is that by default dark-blue is too dark to be visible on a black background. Not only is this frustrating, it makes the experience for new users so bad that they prefer to disable colours (or hate the ls colour output or syntax highlighting in vim).

So if you are like me, go to Category: Window > Colours and select ANSI Blue in the Select a colour to adjust to Red:74 Green:74 Blue:255. I do the same for ANSI Blue Bold to Red:140 Green:140 Blue:255.

Keeping idle sessions active.
Another frustrating problem is induced by the time-to-live of inactive or idle TCP sessions on firewall or switch configurations. At some companies this is put aggressively low so that TCP sessions that have no activity for 1 minute or even 30 seconds are being dropped. If you are using an SSH connection over such a network device, you have to take care to send keep-alive packets over your idle session. To do this go to Category: Connection and set Seconds between keepalives (0 to turn off) to 25.

Enable X11 forwarding.
Together with Xming, Putty allows you to run graphical Linux applications on your Windows system, so enabling X11 forwarding by default can be useful. To enable this, got to: Connection > SSH > X11 and enable Enable X11 forwarding.

Also dynamic forwarding is very useful to connect to systems on a remote network, even when you do not know in advance having it enabled can be useful. This option however reserves a local port on the system so enabling it by default is not really practical. However you can still enable it from a running Putty by selecting Change settings.

Finally, saving the default.
Now, don’t forget to save the changes you just made to the default template. If you loaded the Default Settings at the start, return back to Category: Session and press the Savebutton. Now you are done !

Putty settings summary.
Category: Session
Connection type: SSH
Close window on exit: Never

Category: Terminal > Bell
Action to happen when a bell occurs: Visual bell (flash window)
Taskbar/caption indication: Flashing

Category: Window
Lines of scrollback: 20000
Reset scrollback on keypress: Checked
Reset scrollback on display activity: Unchecked

Category: Window > Appearance
Font: Lucida Console, 9-point
Font quality: ClearType
Gap between text and window edge: 3

Category: Window > Translation
Character set: UTF-8
Handling of line drawing characters: Unicode

Category: Window > Selection
Action of mouse buttons: xterm (Right extends, Middle pastes)
Paste to clipboard in RTF as well as plain text: enabled

Category: Window > Colours
ANSI Blue: Red:74 Green:74 Blue:255
ANSI Blue Bold: Red:140: Green:140 Blue:255

Category: Connection
Seconds between keepalives (0 to turn off): 25

Category: Connection > SSH > X11
Enable X11 forwarding: enabled

Other interesting features ?
Let me know, so I can update this document for future visitors.

_thePuttyAdmin_

Hey Guys,
It’s me the Admin at AskTheAdmin.com and I am looking for your feedback to make our upcoming Android App Awesome! So hit me up in the comments or via email at info at asktheadmin.com!

We are looking for tools that you could use on your Android device to help with your day to day tasks as an Admin…

_theAppAdmin_

There are companies that operate as if each department and division of its organization is its own separate entity when it comes to technology. An accounting department, for example, would have a widely disparate system from its human resources and sales organizations, with different front end applications and database implementations for each. There are other companies who operate much more efficiently than this. These companies streamline their processes and unify their technology through a solution known as ERP.

Image source: MP Computer

What is ERP?

ERP stands for “Enterprise Resource Planning.” ERP implementations promote more efficient use of company data by providing a process in which all departments share common systems and a universal data set. Rather than every department having its own applications and back end database systems, an ERP implementation gives each division its own “module” with a similar look and feel, sharing a common back end. The core idea behind ERP is that with the same database or data warehouse and similar systems, departments can operate more efficiently and thrive.

How Can ERP Help?

Let’s say Company A’s sales force is really working hard this quarter and have increased client orders by 15%. With an ERP system in place, the manufacturing department would have access to sales data right away and would be able to plan for increased production immediately. The accounting department wouldn’t need to be told about increasing their billing. Instead, they’d know by accessing the ERP data. Purchasing departments, human resources, management and more would also need this data right away for their own operations and, with ERP, they’d have it.

What are the Major ERP Divisions?

In an ERP system, the major divisions or departments are known as “modules.” All modules’ data is integrated with the ERP system for better information sharing and increased efficiency. A company’s modules will vary depending on their industry, but these are the basics:

*Accounting: financials, payables, receivables, assets, general ledger, cash.

*Human Resources: payroll, benefits, recruitment, employee management.

*CRM: sales, sales support, customer data, marketing, customer services.

*Manufacturing: management of work flow, resource planning, QA, capacity planning, process descriptions.

*Project Management: planning, billing, cost planning, budgeting.

*Data Warehousing: aggregation of all business data for analysis and planning.

*Supply Chain: procurement, sales support, management of inventory, ordering, distribution.
Each of these key areas have their own needs and inherent ways that they integrate with one, some or all of the others. Analyzing each, it becomes clear how vital information sharing truly is and how crucial a role ERP plays in a large scale business environment.

ERP’s Impact on Infrastructure

Implementing an ERP system is not to be taken lightly. It’s not a weekend IT project. A new ERP system will affect every desktop in an organization and its effect on the data center is even bigger. Old, separate server-side software will need to be removed, replaced with the components of an integrated ERP solution. Before this can happen, though, all the data in each system being replaced will need to be exported, massaged and imported into the new ERP system. Hardware and software aren’t the only systems being affected, though. IT staff will need extensive education and training in the management of the new system. With its single point of data storage and centralized management, a proper ERP solution will take a lot of burden off IT staff, but it takes a lot of effort to get there.

The Need for Extra Help

The design, planning, implementation and ongoing management of an enterprise resource planning system is an intricate process that can prove daunting for many IT organizations. As with other extremely specialized systems, many IT departments will recognize the need for expert support from consultants, such as Syntax’s ERP consulting division.

Experienced consultants understand the complexities of implementing and managing and ERP system, along with the changes in IT department needs and processes that go with it. ERP-specific consultant can help IT administrators plan and execute an ERP solution, extend the capabilities of an existing system and even provide ongoing support. Consultants can help in all areas of ERP, creating a system that will streamline activities in the business organization and greatly simplify IT processes,

There is a little known feature in newer versions of Outlook. You can display favorite folders at the top of other folders and there are some special folders you can create – including an Unread Message folder and Here is how to do it:

1. In the Navigation Pane, click the plus sign (+) next to Search Folders to display its subfolders.
2. Click the Unread Mail folder.

Your unread items are displayed in the message list.

Tip To make the Unread Mail folder more visible, drag it to the Favorite Folders pane.

_TheUnreadAdmiN_

if you get a second can you like this picture of my little one to help her win a contest? http://on.fb.me/wIANqk It is for a GAP fashion show and the other participants are cheating!

Simply click on the link or picture below and like Kayla’s picture on the Gap Facebook page… C’mon help us out voting ends tonight at midnight!! http://on.fb.me/wIANqk

TheProudAdmiN

Have you ever seen the error that your SEL is full? Well here are some solutions to clear it on your Dell server. You will see an error during post and this error will be displayed in your LCD panel on the front bezel of the server:

I1912 SEL Full

1. If you have openmanage agents install run the command on service console: “omconfig system esmlog action=clear”. (You can also do it from the web interface)

2. if you have DRAC, you can log into the web interface and clear the log

3. If you neither have DRAC or openmanage. Reboot the system, go to the BMC menu and there should be an option to clear the log.

_theSELAdmin_

I was reading a great article on Lifehacker and had to share:

You use a handful of web services every day, but perhaps none holds more of your personal information than your Gmail account. So what happens to your Gmail account should you end up in that big archive folder in the sky? The folks from cloud backup service Backupify set out to find out. Here’s what they learned.

We talk a lot about data ownership in the context of retaining control of the information you create via online services. But let’s say I use a service that’s actually pretty good about keeping me in control of my explicitly stored data—Gmail, for example—does that control survive my own death?

Put more simply, can my wife inherit my Gmail account when I die?

This is more than an academic exercise: I have a number of online accounts and services that send primary notifications to my Gmail account. It’s entirely possible my wife may not be able to access my Health Savings Account or Roth IRA in a timely fashion without access to my Gmail account.

The easy answer is to leave credentials to my account in a place my wife knows to find them in the event of my untimely demise. The only problem with that plan is impersonating a Gmail user is a violation of the Gmail terms of service. Google is unlikely to know the impersonation is happening, and unlikely to care in the majority of cases, but on the off chance they find out my wife is logging into my account after my death, they can suspend or terminate the account at their discretion. This more or less obviates the whole reason for giving my wife access in the first place.

Gmail is a service, not a product, and my use of that service is non-transferrable. If I die without giving my wife my Gmail password, the account will be automatically deleted nine months after my date of last login. If I do give her the password, I run the risk of Google deleting the account the second they realize my wife is impersonating me. Google is far from alone in this, and actually has some of the more well considered data privacy and ownership policies out there.

So, is there a way to bequeath my Gmail account to my wife? After a fashion, yes.

My wife can apply for access to the contents of my Gmail account after my death, but there are some moderately strenuous legal hurdles for her to jump, not least of which is A) having received a message from my Gmail account before, B) a copy of my death certificate and C) a court order showing she’s entitled to the account. And even if she gives all of that, it’s possible Google could deny her request at its discretion.

Continue reading the rest of the post on Life Hacker here.

So Commodore64 and I have started producing droid apps. We have two up for sale now and can use some eyeballs/dollars on it! Check out Ambient Candles and The Bart Simpson Chalboard app! Check them out below:

Ambient Candle

 Any room can be spicier with this beautiful set of 5 flickering candles.

Spice up your room’s ambiance with this beautiful set of flickering, twinkling candles. This app makes the perfect addition to your phone or tablet and gives you 5 beautiful candles to choose from. Unleash the romantic side of your phone!

• Double tap to toggle animation on each candle
• Includes gallery and slideshow functions
• 5 different candles with more to come.

Bart Simpson Chalkboard Quotes

 A little app that shows every funny quote ever written by Bart Simpson

A cute little app that shows every single funny quote ever written by Bart Simpson at the beginning of each show on the chalkboard.

• Features over 200 quotes in fact it contains every single one EVER!
• Whimsically displayed on a virtual chalkboard
• Displays a random selection with each press of the button

Please excuse intermittent issues as we are updating our theme due to some incompatiabilites. We will be bringing you a new improved AtA shortly. We will let you know when we are done.

Suggestions? Criticisms? Death-threats? Send them on over to Info at AskTheAdmin dot Com or leave them in the comments below!

_TheUpdatingAdmiN_

This is absolutely Awesome!

[Via XKCD]

HP sent over their latest 8200 Elite Ultra-Slim desktop computer and we put it through our regular battery of tests. We were pretty happy with the performance and form factor.

The most impressive upgrades over the last Ultra-Slim we saw is the Sandy Bridge processor and the lower price tag. It has an Intel Core i5-2500S processor running at 2.7GHz. We see 4 GB of memory which handle day to day business applications with ease. The compact design still has 10 – yes 10 USB ports for all your peripherial needs!

The computer runs pretty quietly and it helps us be a little greener. Check this out from the HP site:

The limited expansion options and smaller size of the chassis allow for a highly efficient 135W external power adapter rated at 87% efficiency. ENERGY STAR^® qualified and EPEAT^® Gold registered,² the HP Compaq 8200 puts customers in control of power settings with HP’s exclusive Power Assistant, which provides an easy-to-use desktop application that lets users control the PC’s energy use by scheduling various power settings throughout the day.

Designed with the environment in mind, the HP Compaq 8200 Elite Ultra-slim Desktop PC is also free of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).³

We see it priced at around $924 from Amazon here. It has a 1 TB drive and the 4GB of memory. Add in a Blu-Ray burner, card reader, support for dual monitors out of the box and a starting price of only $739.

Remember you can bump this guy up to 8GB of Ram yourself and load up Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit for a WONDERFUL experience in such a small package. Deploying these in a corporate will help imporve productivity and cut back on electrical prices. We have seen it priced higher with only a 250GB drive and 2GB of memory so beware. Below are the specs:

HP Compaq 8200 Elite Ultra-Slim

• The HP Compaq 8200 Elite Ultra-Slim incorporates business PC technology with HP’s designs, and specific programs and services created for business including stable and lengthy lifecycles,  and security and remote management solutions
• Delivers up to 8GB of DDR3 memory
• Features Intel 2nd Generation Core™ vPro™ processors providing hardware-based remote management solutions that enable a stable, secure and reliable IT infrastructure
• Line in and line out ports and USB ports up front for convenience. Connect dual external monitors via VGA and DisplayPort
• Includes a Blu-ray Writer Drive and Media Card Reader that can accommodate up to 22 formats
• The starting price for the HP Compaq 8200 Elite Ultra-slim is $739

Hey what’s going on fellow Admins? I thought I would drop by aTa today to drop the latest Tech Chop video on you. In this episode I talk about a really great computer management solution that runs on your favorite flavor of Linux.

By computer management, I mean it’s sort of in the same category of Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager, but way easier to setup. Plus since it’s open source, there are no licensing costs. It’s called FOG.

FOG can clone hard drives, and deploy the disk images in a multicast. Not only that, but you can deploy software with it, map printers and join computers to Active Directory.

Check out the video:

If you have any questions about FOG that I didn’t cover in the video. Capabilities, installation questions, etc. Let me know in the comments!

By -=El Di Pablo=-

We have seen many networks fail because of poor power considerations. A UPS is a key factor in keeping up with a 99.9999% uptime. UPS or Uninterruptible power supply kicks in when there is a power failure. These UPS’s can safely shut down your equipment to keep them from going down hard.

Eaton sent over there 5PX1500RT UPS for review and for us to keep (consider this our disclosure.) It is a 1500VA-class Line Interactive Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS). This rack-mountable UPS weighs in at 65 pounds and is made by a 100 year old company! We will be giving away our review unit so please chime in below in the comments as to why you should be the proud recipient of the device (you will have to pay for shipping though!)

 

The device arrived from a struggling freight delivery gentleman. It comes with a rail kit for 2U rack mounting, two pedestals feet for tower orientation, quick start guide, RS-232 serial cable, USB cable, user manual CD, software CD and a Phillips head screw driver.

After un-boxing the big guy the first thing I noticed was the LCD screen on the front panel. I feel this is a must for appliances nowadays! You can monitor the device right from the LCD which is great. You can see from the image below that it shows the current load information, battery charge percentage and run time. The LCD is orientated to either a rack mount situation or if you stand it up besides your rack. 

Let’s take a look at where the action happens. The back panel of our UPS:

We have 8 total outlets. The black ones are standard battery protected outlets. The Grey ones allow for more configuration and management. There is the option to connect up 4 additional external batteries. The slot all the way to the left allows for an optional web management interface card.

We plugged in two servers, one firewall and one router into our unit. We simulated a power failure and we were able to keep our devices running for close to 15 minutes before the IPP software kicked in and started shutting down our server. Letting the servers run without the software caused the devices to completely die at the 22 minute mark.

Talking about the IPP software – we should explain what it is. The software is called “Eaton’s Intelligent Power Software Suite.” The IPSS includes two powerful tools to help you manage your power. These tools are the IPM and the IPP. Don’t you just love an acronym?

Intelligent Power Manager (IPM) is the “supervisory software” that facilitates management of power and environmental devices through a Web-based interface that can be accessed from any PC, anywhere on your network. Eaton’s IPM is compatible with network-enabled power devices such as UPSs, PDUs and environmental sensors. It even supports some non-Eaton UPS units. Through IPM you can monitor battery conditions, load levels and runtime. You can also perform mass firmware upgrades, customize views, centralize alarms and track equipment. So, what about virtualized environments? Intelligent Power Manager easily integrates with VMware’s vCenter, bringing power management right to your vCenter dashboard [in its own tab]. It even allows for remote shutdown of servers in clusters. There’s more, it integrates with vCenter’s vMotion and SCVMM’s Live Migration applications so you can transparently move virtual machines from a power affected server to a non-affected server on the network.

Intelligent Power Protector (IPP) is the “protection software” that monitors and protects connected devices during power events. It can be configured to automatically save any work or open files and conduct a graceful shutdown of computers and network devices. It communicates with the UPS via serial port, USB or via network (with optional Web/SNMP card) and acquires information that can be monitored, configured and updated via a web browser or through IPM.

All in all, the device is solid and reliable. We have had no issues with the device thus far in around 45 days of testing. It is backed by a full 3 year warranty and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

We have received the UPS device as compensation for this article. The article/review was not biased. The device will also be given away on our website. Let us know why you want and/or deserve it!

_ThePoweredAdmiN_

If you or a little one flipped your laptop display chances are you are freaking out. Stop… Don’t worry you can flip it right back to where it is supposed to be with the following hot keys:

•  Ctrl-Alt-Up – right side up
• Ctrl-Alt-Right – 90 degrees
• Ctrl-Alt-Down – 180 degrees
• Ctrl-Alt-Left – 270 degrees (If that doesn’t work try Ctrl-Shift-R)

_TheUpsideDownAdmiN_

The word on the street is if you have a jailbroken iPhone 4 now you too can access the full functionality of SIRI using a Cydia program called H1Siri. But, Before you run and download your copy know that they will send ALL YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION TO CHINA!

According to Gizmodo – Grant Paul has detected that the hack sends your personal information through a server in China. And with personal information I mean email, SMS, calendar, contacts and location. Good luck with that.

Beware of the hacked Siri! If you really want it be patient or go get a damn 4s!

_ThejailBrokenAdmiN_

Are you interested in seeing a snow storm cover your Google listings? Google has introduced a new Easter Egg this weekend for those of you looking for some virtual snow and not getting a blizzard like last year!

All you have to do is open up Google’s homepage from any HTML5 compliant browser and type in Let It Snow.

When it is done click Defrost and thaw out!

_TheNoSnowForMeAdmiN_

Hey Hey Hey…

It looks like some spam comments  were causing the site to crash on all posts… Our traffic dropped from 4k hits a day to 20 hits a day! The comments have been removed, the database has been repaired…

If you see something funky make sure you say something! If you can’t comment email info at asktheadmin dot com.

Thanks for all you loyalty and Happy Holidays!

_TheTiredAdmiN_

Image via Wikipedia

I’m sure that like me, most of you are the tech support for the family. Every time your creepy uncle goes to a sleazy porn site, you have to stop by his house and clean up his computer’s internet VD (Viruses and Malware). You’re mom calls you because she can’t figure out how to print pictures of her precious little dog, and your dad’s hard drive is crashing every time he plays Farmville on Facebook. We at AskTheAdmin feel your pain.

How many times have you just told your family, “screw it, re-install Windows”? Of course they can’t because all of their precious files are on there, and of course they never ever back that stuff up! Why not give them the gift of backing their stuff up for them? Not just to an external hard drive that will fail in 6 months either. I’m talking about true set and forget automated cloud backup!

Back in August I wrote about how I am using some software at work to backup my servers. It’s called Crashplan. Now Crashplan has some pay versions if you want to back up to their servers, but they also give you the option to set up your own cloud solution for free! Plus it runs on Windows, Mac and Linux! That means no matter what you’re relatives use, they can backup using Crashplan.

I said cloud backup though right? This is where you come in. I recommend buying a relatively low-cost NAS device with RAID, or you can build your own Bauer-Power SAN using Ubuntu, IET, ZFS and GlusterFS. Then you can install Crashplan on your computer at home, and backup all of your friend’s and family to your redundant storage; because Crashplan will let your friends and family backup to your machine over the Internet using a simple friend code. You only pay for your home storage.

With this solution their files are offsite, and you are once again the computer guru that swooped in and saved the day!

Now when they call you after pooching their computers, you can re-install with confidence, and restore all of their essential files. You can also drop off an extra drive at their house, and back your stuff up to them. Ulterior motive? Maybe. Awesome idea? Absolutely!

The cool thing about Crashplan, besides it being free, is it also saves data using deduplication and encryption. That means the files you save for your relatives will be secure and won’t take up a lot of space. It’s a friggin’ thing of beauty!

If you decide to do this for your family over the holidays, let us know about it in the comments!

-=El Di Pablo=-

At my current day job, I work for a small technology start-up in La Jolla California. We offer web-based solutions for some of the nation’s top banks, and housing lenders. We also provide a database for “closing service” providers, so you can hire people like home inspectors, and exterminators at the best price when selling your house. It’s kind of like the “Orbitz” of the real estate closing market.

Any way, the company is only a few years old, and up until now we are running on a Microsoft BizSpark licensing plan. Now that we’re getting a little older though, and we are using more servers to produce our goods, we need a more robust licensing plan from Microsoft. I decided to go to one of my local VARs to work on some quotes, and what they came back with almost gave my boss a heart attack.

In this post I am strictly going to talk about Microsoft SQL Licensing. Just so you know though, the quote we got for SQL was on top of an already ridiculously high $107K three year quote for server licenses. Before I give you the quote I got for SQL, keep in mind this is only for two physical servers running SQL Enterprise.

So we got our quote from Microsoft, and it was roughly $183K for three years. Yes, for two servers it was almost $200,000! That is because at the time of this writing, they were quoting us based on the number of processors. One of the physicals servers has four processors, and the other has two. Bam! Bend us over for $200K!

On top of that, my VAR is telling me that next year Microsoft is switching to a per-core model of licensing. On my server with four procs, each proc has six cores! On the two proc box, each proc has four cores! Now my boss is starting to hyperventilate.

I’m sorry Microsoft, I know you’re just a mom and pop shop, and you’re just trying to make your way in this crazy world, but $200K is too much to pay for a database. The good news for us is that Microsoft SQL isn’t the only game in town. Good news for my company, I’m not afraid to think outside of the Microsoft box.

After getting that quote, the manager of our dev team and I started talking about moving to an Open Source database solution. First he said MySQL, but since they’re owned by Oracle now they have more strict licensing. I’m suggesting PostgreSQL.

Never heard of it? Here’s a description from their About page:

An enterprise class database, PostgreSQL boasts sophisticated features such as Multi-Version Concurrency Control (MVCC), point in time recovery, tablespaces, asynchronous replication, nested transactions (savepoints), online/hot backups, a sophisticated query planner/optimizer, and write ahead logging for fault tolerance. It supports international character sets, multibyte character encodings, Unicode, and it is locale-aware for sorting, case-sensitivity, and formatting. It is highly scalable both in the sheer quantity of data it can manage and in the number of concurrent users it can accommodate. There are active PostgreSQL systems in production environments that manage in excess of 4 terabytes of data.

Best of all, PostgreSQL provides all of their Enterprise features absolutely free under a Liberal Open Source License! With something like this we can lower our overhead, and use those cost savings to improve our bottom line.

We will have to no doubt do some serious coding changes to make sure our data is compatible with PostgreSQL, but I think in the long run, the cost savings of switching to open source will outweigh the work to get there.

What do you think? Move to an open source database? Stick with Microsoft and suck up the cost? What’s your argument for or against? Let us know in the comments.

-=El Di Pablo=-

Image via Wikipedia

I have been trying to track down a network issue I’ve been having at work for the last month and a half. It’s a real pain because it only happens once a week randomly, and it only lasts for 2 to 5 minutes. Since it’s so unpredictable, it’s nearly impossible to track down how, or why it’s happening.

Anyway, I decided to setup Wireshark on a laptop, plug it into a port on my switch with mirroring enabled, and collect some network traffic. The problem I have with Wireshark is that it doesn’t display information is a way that is easy for me to read.

A buddy of mine recommended uploading my capture files to an online analyzer called CloudShark. This thing is actually pretty cool, and really easy to use. Plus it has easy graphing options so you can get a better visual idea of all the 1’s and 0’s you’re looking at.

Another cool thing about CloudShark is that once you’re capture is uploaded, you can forward the URL of your capture files to some of your Network Engineer buddies to get their take on what’s going on in your network, and they don’t need to break out any analyzers of their own. Everything is displayed right in their browser!

Here is a link to an example capture file: http://www.cloudshark.org/captures/f62e1db77ba0

One thing I did notice is that you need to use CloudShark in Internet Explorer or Firefox. It doesn’t work so well in Chrome.

Know of any other good, free and easy to use packet analyzer tools? Are they cloud based like this one? Let us know what you like to use in the comments.

-=El Di Pablo=-

The following post was written by Melissa Schraiber of FatWallet.com. We were not paid to post this and apparently we share a love for HostGator!

Check it out below:
 

 
In today’s digital world, it is vital to have a web presence. The success of a website is directly related to its hosting, so finding the right host should always be the first step. The following list outlines the attributes of a good host.

 Cost versus Value

There are many hosts who promise to deliver unlimited bandwidth and disk space along with 100 percent up-time, for a very low monthly fee. There is no such thing as unlimited in the hosting world and no host has perfect performance. There are often strings and hidden catches attached to such claims, as well.

A good host will have clearly defined limits on resources and will offer several levels of service for different needs. Those just starting out will benefit from GoDaddy promotional codes, which can be found online.

Technical Support

A proper host will offer support by phone, live chat and email. Support services should be available every day of the year, 24 hours per day.

A good way to test the level of a prospective host’s support is to contact them with pre-sales questions. How fast and well the company responds will reveal the quality of the service overall.

Uptime

Uptime is important to anyone hosting a site but especially so to businesses. Downtime equals lost revenue and reputation, so it needs to be avoided as much as possible. It should be noted that equipment and power failures happen and sometimes this is beyond the control of the host.

Quality hosts will offer 99.999 percent uptime over the course of one year, which would amount to roughly six minutes of downtime. This claim will be backed by a Service Level Agreement, which will provide a credit to the customer if uptime slips below the stated percentage.

Scalability

All websites need room to grow and this is where scalability comes in. A host should make make expanding and upgrading as painless an experience as possible.

A stable, established host offering services ranging from budget all the way up to dedicated servers is a good choice. Moving an account to a bigger hosting package or even a new server should take place with a few clicks and little to no downtime.

Along with the above guidelines, anyone considering hosting a site should first carefully consider the present and future needs of that site before embarking on the search for the right host.

What do you use for a web host? Do you have any questions? Hit us up in the comments below…

At my office we use Office Communicator to keep in touch with other users in the office. It’s nice to be able to send a quick chat to someone in the next room to save yourself a trip from having to get up and go talk to someone, or pick up the phone to call them. I am a huge advocate of chat and IM.

Well, not sure if my coworkers do this, but I like to use the status update area in Office Communicator to subtly say what I’m thinking about. Sometimes that also requires a little bit of ASCII art.

Do you do the same? Awesome! Here is a list of some simple one line ASCII art you can use to put in your messages:

Ascii Text Animals

Caterpillar ,/\,/\,/\,/\,/\,/\,o
Fish <`)))><
Fish Swimming ¸.·´¯`·.´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸><(((º>
Happy Cat <(^.^)>
Kitty cat =^..^=
Koala @( * O * )@
Loch Ness monster _mmmP
Monkey @(‘_’)@
Mouse <:3 )~~~~
Rat (to the left) <^__)~
Rat (to the right) ~(__^>
Sheep °l°(,,,,);
Spider ///\oo/\\\

Ascii Objects

Crayon ())__CRAYON___)) >
Cup of coffee [_]3
Glasses -@-@-
Needle |==|iiii|>—–
Pie fight —=======[}
Rose 1 @-}--
Rose 2 @}}>-----
Rose 3 @)}---^-----
Rose 4 @->-->---
Rose 5 --------{---(@

Ascii Faces/People

Angel ^i^
Concerned (@_@)
Heart <3
In Love <*_*>
Looking at you ô¿ô
Very Happy ^_^
Very Happy 2 [^_^]
Sleeping (-.-)Zzz…
Sleeping Baby w/Pillow [{-_-}] ZZZzz zz z…
Whoa O_o

Miscellenous Ascii Art

Ascii Waves 1 *~’`^`’~*-,._.,-*~’`^`’~*-,._.,-*~’`^`’~*
Ascii Waves 2 `’~,.,~’`'~,.,~’`'~,.,~’`'~,.,~’
Hearts w/text »-(¯`·.·´¯)->TEXT<-(¯`·.·´¯)-«
Robot d[ o_0 ]b
Text Embellishment 1 (¯`·._.·(¯`·._.·(¯`·._.· Your Text ·._.·´¯)·._.·´¯)·._.·´¯)
Text Embellishment 2 ,.-~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸-(_Your_Text_)-,.-~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸

Not only are these good for IM, but you’ll find that they work pretty good for Twitter and Facebook as well. Hell, you can use these for email signatures if you want. The sky’s the limit really.

Do you like to add a dash of ASCII to your every day? Let us know how you like to insert ASCII into your stuff in the comments.

-=El Di Pablo=-

[Via Squidoo]

I love this time of year. I live in San Diego, so the weather doesn’t get cold enough to snow, but it’s chilly enough to wear jackets. It’s like the best of both worlds here. I get the cold, but don’t have to do any shoveling or driving on icy roads. Win win!

Let’s be honest though, this time of year is not great because of the weather, it’s great because it is gift giving season. No matter if you are celebrating Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa or Festivus. chances are pretty good that you are shopping for gifts, or someone is shopping for gifts for you. If you are in the market for set top boxes, then you may want to check out the review I did for this month’s Tech Chop!

In this episode I review the Mvix Ultio Pro MX 880HD, WD TV Live Plus, Boxee Box, and the Apple TV. Check it out!

Got any questions about the devices mentioned in the show? Do you own a set top box? Maybe the Roku? Do you like the one you have? Looking to trade up? Let us know in the comments.

When I started my current day job one of the things the IT department didn’t have was a decent monitoring system. They did have an external service that monitored the company websites, but nothing internally for monitoring servers for disk space, service, or CPU issues. To remedy that problem I decided to implement a really cool open source monitoring solution called Zenoss Core.

After setting up Zenoss, I learned about a really cool application for Windows servers that lets you get more our of monitoring using SNMP. With this applications, it means less to configure, and you can simply add servers to your monitoring solution with SNMP, and pretty much get everything you need to keep your network in top top shape!

It’s called SNMP Informant. Here are some of it’s features from their website:

• Full 64 bit support – Our "all-in-one" installer automatically detects the operating system version and installs the correct components
• Access Windows Performance data – Our Performance providers allow you to connect to any "out of the box" Windows Performance counter object using industry standard SNMP Object IDs (OIDs)!
• Access Custom Performance data – Our new "Custom" provider (part of SNMP Informant-Premium) allows you to collect data from any valid Windows performance counter.  If you’ve got a performance counter instrumented application, and you can see the performance counters in PerfMon, then you can monitor it using SNMP Informant Premium!
• Run Remote scripts and collect data – If you’re using custom scripts to monitor something on a remote Windows server, you can now execute that script remotely using SNMP Informant, and collect the results of that script into an OID that YOU specify!
• Use your OWN Private Enterprise ID – You can customize SNMP Informant to respond to queries made against your OWN IANA Private Enterprise number!
• Read Remote Registry information – The new "Custom" provider also lets you specify what registry value to read!
• Collect WMI information – Our WMI providers allow you to connect to the Windows Management Instrumentation sub-system using SNMP!  Stop/Start/Restart services!  Reboot servers!  Execute programs remotely!
• Monitor Exchange, SQL, Cluster, BizTalk, ISA and more, including Forefront, WSUS, Virtual Server, Citrix, the OS, and system hardware.  Supported Operating Systems include Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7, Server 2000, Server 2003 (incl. R2), AND Server 2008 (incl. R2).
• Extend your monitoring system’s ROI – If you use products like HP Network Node Manager, IpSwitch Whatsup, OpenNMS, Nagios/Cacti/MRTG/RRDttool, Zenosss, or other SNMP compliant management platforms, find out how SNMP Informant can add significant value to them in minimal time and with minimal effort!
• Stop/Start/Restart Services and Windows Server – Using SNMP, you can control your Windows server like never before!
• Can be used with SNMPv1, SNMPv2 and SNMPv3 – Many companies are starting to to take advantage of enhanced SNMPv3 security.  SNMP Informant supports all 3 versions.  Find out more here!
• SNMP Informant is priced attractively – We recognize that while functionality is important, value cannot be overlooked. That’s why we have priced SNMP Informant to help maximize your IT budget spending.

Their standard version is absolutely free, so you can start adding it to all of your Windows servers today, and start seeing better results with your monitoring solution.

What are you guys using for monitoring these days? Solarwinds? What’s Up? Microsoft Systems Center? OpManager? What’s your favorite and why? Let us know in the comments.

-=El Di Pablo=-

Image via CrunchBase

A while back I mentioned some applications and or plugins I found that will help boost the views you have on a particular Youtube video on Bauer-Power. These methods might be considered by some as shady. I say, if by shady you mean helpful, then yes… Very shady!

All of these tools are fully automated. You can simply set them, and forget them to earn credits which in turn you can trade in for more views. With some of them, not only can you get more views, but you can also get comments, likes, favorites and subscribers! Basically everything you need to be the next Justin Bieber.

Here’s my list:

• Vagex – Terrible name I know. Sounds like something your girlfriend might use when she’s feeling not so fresh. Trust me though, it’s the best one out there. Not only can you get more views, but you can specify key words that you want to rank for in Youtube’s search. Plus you can get likes, favs, comments and subs as well.
• U2BViews – This is number two on my list. This is available as a desktop application as well as a Firefox extension. They are getting ready to add likes, favs and subs, but they do not have it yet. I’ve also chatted with the developer and talked them into adding Google Plus One’s as well.
• Viewet – This one is pretty much just like U2BViews, except it’s really only good for more views in my opinion. The thing I like about it is you can manage your credits easier. You can withdraw from one video to deposit on another video.
• Enhanceviews – This one runs as a browser plugin only. This one is great for comments and likes. You can even submit your Youtube account to them to use as they see fit, and earn credits that way. The only thing I don’t like about it though is their credit to view ratio. The ones above are all one to one, but Enhanceviews is something like 38 to one. Still, you can rack up credits pretty fast.

So why would you want to use this I hear you mumbling to yourself, all creepy like. This can best be answered from the Viewet page:

YouTube video views benefit your videos in many different ways. Viewet [and the other tools] increase your video’s ranking for your keywords and tags, increases the chances of your video being featured on a Google search for the keywords on your video, and also can get you video honors and even featured on the YouTube homepage.

If you can make it to the front page of Youtube, you are two clicks away from Bieberdom! Woot!

The best thing about these tools is they are 100% free to use. They all have paid features, but the free versions are robust enough that you don’t need to use them. I find it’s best to set these up on a computer in the corner over the weekend with the sound off, and walk away. The next time you have a video of you cats doing something super cute, use your new secret weapons to push them to the front page.

Got questions about these? Know of any other similar tools? Let’s chat in the comments!

-=El Di Pablo=-

Karl and I try to not get too political on our blogs for the most part. I mean, Bauer-Power and AskTheAdmin are just not the right forums for political debate. However, I think this type of topic is relevant, and it’s something I am very worried about.

You see, if you did not know, there are currently two major censorship bills passing through the halls of government these days. SOPA, and Protect IP. From what I understand from the media, SOPA is pretty much dead thanks to you Internet users that have contacted your representatives, but Protect IP is still being pushed through the Senate.

What is Protect IP? From Wikipedia:

The PROTECT IP Act (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011; United States Senate Bill S.968) is a proposed law with the stated goal of giving the US government and copyright holders additional tools to curb access to "rogue websites dedicated to infringing or counterfeit goods", especially those registered outside the U.S.The bill was introduced on May 12, 2011 by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and 11 initial bipartisan co-sponsors. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that implementation of the bill would cost the federal government $47 million through 2016, to cover enforcement costs and the hiring and training of 22 new special agents and 26 support staff. The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the bill, but Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) placed a hold on it.

The PROTECT IP Act is a re-write of the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA), which failed to pass in 2010. A similar House version of the bill, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was introduced on October 26, 2011

According to groups like the Eff and AmericanCensorship.org, this bill is vague enough that it will make it really easy for the US Government to shut down any website they deem a threat. Mmmm, what’s that smell? Smells like communist China! I don’t know about you, but I like my freedom of speech protected by the first amendment. This act threatens that freedom.

Imagine if one day Uncle Sam had an issue with AskTheAdmin? Guess what Jack! You can’t read it any more! Don’t let that happen!

Well, I’m asking for your help. Please use the form above to call your representatives and let them know that you oppose the Protect IP Act. We need as many calls as possible before the Senate breaks for the holidays if we want to stop it.

-=El Di Pablo=-

I was cruising around on Stumbleupon today during some down time, and came across this video from Microsoft showing how they envision our world of tomorrow with the advancements of technology. It’s pretty interesting to thing that some day we will not have computers and laptops like we do now, but our smart phones, and tablet devices will be powerful enough to replace them. Heck, even our credit cards will be powerful computers!

Not only that, but all the walls, and windows around us will be computerized as well, and can sync up with our mobile devices. Seeing the way technology is right now, I don’t think this dream is too far fetched any more. Check it out:

Some comments on the Youtube page say things like:

Technology? will kill us! – pajkica

I know I am a f***n hippie or something for all of you.. But who cares about the future of technology? We have computers, and cell phones, and we can enter? internet every moment we want, we have bluray, we have 3d.. We can communicate now with everybody! so… It’s time to talk about the future of the people microsoft..;/ – RandomProductionzzTV

While others are saying:

All I can say is that it’s awesome. I would like to live that future? :) thank you for sharing it. – wesamly

It seems the future holds technology that is incredibly intuitive, knowing exactly where the user wants it? to go, as if there are no other options. There are some interesting and exciting parts to this video, but also some things that woulde cause fear for anyone concerned about privacy. The concierge seemed to know a lot. Identity theft seems easier in the future. – citzsold

What do you think about Microsoft’s vision of the future? Flippin’ awesome? Cold and bleak? I’m curious to know what your vision of the future is. Let us know in the comments!

-=El Di Pablo=-

I think it was in 2006 I attended my first hacker convention in San Diego called Toorcon. It was pretty cool because the company I worked for at the time was a sponsor, so they paid for my admission in. I will never forget one of the guys that I saw there. Dude was bald with a douchy bluetooth headset on, a military M1 jacket with cammo pants, sunglasses indoors, combat boots, and of course a backpack with a friggin’ antenna coming out of the back that was easily six feet tall. The dude was a serious wardriver.

What is wardriving you ask? According to Wikipedia:

Wardriving is the act of searching for Wi-Fi wireless networks by a person in a moving vehicle, using a portable computer, smartphone or PDA…

…Wardriving originated from wardialing, a technique popularized by a character played by Matthew Broderick in the film WarGames, and named after that film. Wardialing in this context refers to the practice of using a computer to dial many phone numbers in the hopes of finding an active modem.

Basically you drive around, and look for open wireless networks. Simple right?

Now I’m not saying you need to be like the guy at the hacker convention, but sometimes it’s nice to know where in town you can go to catch some free Internet in case you have to send an emergency Tweet, or update Facebook at the drop of the hat.

Well I found a cool tool that runs on Windows that will automatically try find and connect to open wireless networks when you’re in range, and will alert you to stop when it has found an open access point and is trying to connect.

The tool is called outSSIDer, and you can get it as a free download. From their page:

outSSIDer automatically attempts to connect to any open access point that comes within range as you walk down the streets hunting for WiFi.

When an attempt is made it alerts you with sound to stand still and wait. That way you don’t need to watch the screen while walking – you can even close the laptop lid to save battery!

The connection is then verified against payment hotspots and restricted networks by trying to fetch the Google website icon.

If it fails connecting or verifying, it alerts you with the sound again and resumes scanning.

This tool is light and easy to use, and certainly a good tool to have in your wardriving goody bag. Do you go wardriving ever? What tools do you like to use? Let us know in the comments!

-=El Di Pablo=-

A few years ago I came across a free web host provider, and have been using them ever since. Now, as some of you know, I have my own technology blog called Bauer-Power, and that is hosted on Blogger. I love Blogger because it’s easy and free. Plus it’s owned by Google, so that means that the servers that it’s running on are fairly rock solid. The problem with Blogger though is it’s not as versatile as other blogging platforms like WordPress.

For you guys looking to move over to WordPress like here at AskTheAdmin, you probably want to go with your own web host. What if you don’t have any cash yet? I mean it takes a few months for that Adsense revenue to kick in right? Well don’t fret, I have a solution for you. It’s a free webhost that supports PHP and MySQL. Guess what? That is exactly what WordPress runs on jack!

The provider is called 000Webhost, and here is a list of their free hosting features:

• 1500 MB of Disk Space, 100 GB Bandwidth
• Host your own domain
• cPanel Powered Hosting
• Over 500 website templates ready to download
• Easy to use website builder
• Free POP3 Email Box with Webmail access
• FTP and Web based File Manager
• PHP, MySQL, Perl, CGI, Ruby.
• And many more…

I personally use them for my custom Ninja themed URL shortening service, and I also set up a test WordPress blog so you can see what I’m talking about. You can have unlimited websites under your account as well, so if you want to be the next Internet mogul, you can get started on 000Webhost.

Know of any other free web hosting providers? Are they better than 000Webhost? Why? Share with the rest of the class in the comments!

-=El Di Pablo=-

Disclosure Notice: Although 000Webhost is free for you, I will get $5 per sign up as long as your account stays active for 30 days. A guy has to pay the bills doesn’t he?