Information Technology (IT) Management Resource-

A Career in IT?

galt — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 21:38:20 +0000

This video presentation was done with Vidjak - an online video branding tool.

Blog Books

galt — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 03:27:22 +0000

I recently found a new site that I thought was interesting. It is called foader.com and they sell blog books and other books by bloggers. The link is here - Books by Bloggers.

23 Great Technology Quotes

galt — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 04:38:57 +0000

1. In a few minutes a computer can make a mistake so great that it would have taken many men many months to equal it. - Anonymous 2. If computers get too powerful, we can organize them into a committee. That will do them in. - Bradley’s Bromide

3. A good programmer is someone who always looks both ways before crossing a one-way street. - Doug Linder 4. If you have any trouble sounding condescending, find a Unix user to show you how it’s done. - ScottAdams 5. The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do. - B. F. Skinner 6. There are three roads to ruin; women, gambling and technicians. The most pleasant is with women, the quickest is with gambling, but the surest is with technicians. - George Pompidou 7. Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage, and those who manage what they do not understand. - Archibald Putt 8. For years there has been a theory that millions of monkeys typing at random on millions of typewriters would reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. The Internet has proven this theory to be untrue. - Anonymous 9. Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don’t need to be done. - Andy Rooney 10. There are two major products that came out of Berkeley: LSD and UNIX. We don’t believe this to be a coincidence. - Jeremy S. Anderson 11. Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus. Computers are from hell. - Anonymous 12. Those parts of the system that you can hit with a hammer are called hardware; those program instructions that you can only curse at are called software. - Anonymous 13. The most overlooked advantage to owning a computer is that if they foul up there’s no law against whacking them around a little. - Porterfield 14. Any technology that is distinguishable from magic is not sufficiently advanced. - Gregory Benford 15. Never let a computer know you’re in a hurry. - Anonymous 16. A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God. - Alan J. Perlis 17. The Internet is a great way to get on the net. - Senator Bob Dole 18. AOL is like the cockroach left after the nuclear bomb hits. They know how to survive. - Jan Horsfall, VP of marketing for Lycos 19. The Linux philosophy is ‘Laugh in the face of danger’. Oops. Wrong One. ‘Do it yourself’. Yes, that’s it. - Linus Torvalds 20. Windows is just DOS in drag. - Anonymous 21. 640K ought to be enough for anybody. - Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates,1981 22. If Gore invented the Internet, I invented spell-check. - Former Vice President J. Danforth Quayle 23. Foolproof systems don’t take into account the ingenuity of fools. - Gene Brown. Almost all of these quotes were found on the article - Fast Guide to IT Humor. Hope you enjoyed!

Free Sample: Linux Strategy Outline

galt — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 03:01:45 +0000

As mentioned in Free Sample: Open Source Strategy Outline Linux is a key component of your company’s open source strategy. Having a formal Linux Strategy can help you educate non tech business leaders, calm their concerns, and provide a framework that shows if, when, how, and where Linux makes sense in the enterprise. Even if you don’t have Linux deployed, it is a big enough hot topic that you will eventually be asked about it. Having a strategy document that explains why you do not use Linux shows you have researched and thought about the issue.

Below is a sample of an outline I have used successfully for Linux strategy documents. Fill in details of you company and situation and enjoy! Note: places to insert information are denoted by curly braces {}. I. Scope

a. This document is specifically a Linux Strategy, this discussion should concentrate on how, where, and why Linux is deployed in the Enterprise b. The scope of this strategy only applies to use in the {insert company name} IT Enterprise – i.e. pros and cons would be different for a vendor planning to sell software

II. Linux Background and Overview

a. Linux was originally developed and released in 1991 by Linus Torvalds who wanted a free Unix operating system b. Linux (Linus’ Unix) was originally and still is released under GPL licensing terms and Torvalds still oversees kernel development c. There are now many distributions of Linux including Redhat, Suse, Debian, and Slackware to name a few that all share the same kernel base d. Of these vendors Redhat and Suse offer their own versions of commercial Linux software aimed at the enterprise server market

III. Current {company} Linux Implementations

a. Run on Sun and Compaq hardware b. Used for Sendmail relays c. Used as web server hosts d. Used as platform for MySql for {} applications

IV. Linux Technical Benefits

a. Hardware Independence – Linux can be run on many different hardware platforms including Intel (Compaq/Dell), AMD (Compaq/Sun), and Sparc (Sun) which are currently deployed in the {} Enterprise b. Linux can combine a Unix operating system and the CPU clock speeds of Intel/AMD processors – This provides a high performance platform for applications whose usage patterns are a large number of small integer based transactions. c. Filesystem – Has several free choices in journaling filesystems d. Software – There is a large number of software applications that run on Linux including many administration tools

V. Linux Non-Technical Benefits

a. Cost – Linux is available for free and also available in low cost enterprise software bundles b. Hardware Independence – Being able to choose the hardware platform (Compaq, Dell, Sun) provides leverage to {} when dealing with hardware vendors and flexibility in hardware reuse c. Business Software – Many freely available software applications geared for business use are available for Linux to compete with commercial software packages including BEA, Websphere, Oracle, and Microsoft. Also, many of the large commercial software vendors now have Linux editions of their software d. Administration Tools – Current administration tools used by {} Unix Administrators can be used to manage Linux servers at no additional costs

VI. Linux Drawbacks

a. Intellectual Property – There have been IP concerns over Linux. Commercial vendors such as Redhat now provide software assurance programs to protect against concerns b. Security – Malicious hackers have access to the same source as those with good intentions c. Interoperability – Proprietary commercial software vendors could make it difficult with interface them without purchasing their software

VII. Where Linux Makes Sense

a. Linux makes sense to deploy for applications whose operating characteristics are mainly composed of a high number of small integer based transactions. Examples would be:
i. Web Servers ii. Application Servers iii. Mail Relays iv. LDAP v. Firewalls vi. DNS vii. Lower End Databases
b. Linux also makes sense to deploy as the underlying platform for Open Source applications to fully realize Open Source cost savings

VIII. Deployment Criteria

a. Linux has been evaluated to ensure that it meets the below minimum requirements to deploy into a production environment
i. Supported by current fault management tool ii. Supported by current performance metric tools iii. Portscan detection security tool available iv. File integrety checker available v. Automated system build capable vi. Volume Management software available vii. Journaling Filesystem available viii. SSH Support ix. Supported backup client available x. Remote administration

IX. Linux Strategy

a. Linux should be regarded as a choice for an operating environment when it makes sense in greenfield applications and enhancements to existing applications b. Linux should be deployed as the base operating environment to support other Open Source applications to fully realize cost savings of Open Source c. Deploy Linux in web, application, and network services to give management comfort level before moving to larger database space d. Continue down {} path by phased migration of JBoss applications to internal Linux cluster e. Utilize “Incident Packs” for Linux software support

X. Linux Support Strategy

a. Linux should be deployed as another Unix operating environment to include the following:
i. Standard initial configuration ii. Remote fault monitoring iii. Performance metrics
b. Linux should be managed using existing Unix practices and procedures currently in place

Free Sample: Open Source Strategy Outline

galt — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 03:26:25 +0000

As mentioned in the article Your Open Source Software Strategy having a formal open source strategy can help you educate non tech business leaders, calm their concerns, and provide a framework that shows if, when, how, and where open source software makes sense in the enterprise. Even if you don’t have open source software deployed, it is a big enough hot topic that you will eventually be asked about it. Having a strategy document that explains why you do not use open source shows you have researched and thought about the issue. As promised below is an outline I have used successfully for open source strategy documents. Fill in details of you company and situation and enjoy! Note: places to insert information are denoted by curly braces {}. I. Scope

a. The scope of this strategy only applies to use in the {insert company name} IT Enterprise – i.e. pros and cons would be different for a vendor planning to sell software

II. Open Source Background

a. Open Source Software (OSS) refers to a program in which the source code is available to the general public for use and/or modification from its original design free of charge b. Examples of commonly used Open Source Software: c. Linux – A Unix operating system d. Sendmail – Email processing software e. JBoss – A J2EE application server f. Apache – A web server g. MySQL, Postgres – Database software h. Open Office – Microsoft Office competitor i. There are many different licensing types that fall under the Open Source umbrella. The most commonly used licenses are the GPL, LGPL, BSD, MIT, and MPL licenses.

III. Current {insert company name} Open Source Software Implementations

a. The following software is used for Data Center level processing:

i. Linux – Linux is being run on Compaq hardware to provide services such as… ii. JBoss – Many applications such as {} are built on the JBoss platform iii. Sendmail – Used by servers to send mail iv. MySQL – Used as part of {} v. Administration Tools – Used daily to administer systems vi. Etc, etc

IV. Open Source Benefits

a. Technical

i. “Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow” – Eric Raymond ii. Developers/Administrators can review the source code of the software iii. Platform independence

b. Non-Technical

i. Freely available ii. Use to leverage commercial vendors iii. Access to source negates need for software escrow iv. No licensing audits v. Independence from vendors

V. Open Source Drawbacks

a. Technical

i. Software might not have specific features of comparable commercial products ii. Hackers have access to source code

b. Non-Technical

i. For some software support is done by “Google” ii. Lack of specific business applications iii. Possible lack of documentation

VI. Open Source Applications

a. Open Source applications can provide competition to widely used commercial applications as shown below

i. Jboss -> BEA Weblogic ii. Apache -> Microsoft IIS iii. Bind -> Microsoft DNS iv. MySQL -> Oracle

VII. Open Source Application Strategy

a. Bring architecture, development, and application support teams to table to participate in IT strategy for Open Source applications b. Suggested use of Open Source applications is in place of commercial applications in scenarios where application functionality is acceptable and licensing cost considerations are a driving factor c. Review licensing terms with legal and procurement for each Open Source software package to be used in the Enterprise d. Deploy Open Source applications and development software environments on Open Source operating environment (Linux) to realize full license cost savings e. Utilize Open Source to leverage pricing from existing and new commercial hardware and software vendors f. Open Source software should be treated like commercial software and source code should not be modified

We realize that often Linux is specifically a key component of a company’s open source strategy. So for a future post, we will provide a free Linux Strategy Outline you can use.