Tiernan's Comms Closet http://blog.lotas-smartman.net Dont Ask... Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:47:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9-rare en hourly 1 53.2920052887039-6.3411084965833http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gifSome Rights Reservedlotashttp://feedburner.google.comThis is an XML content feed. It is intended to be viewed in a newsreader or syndicated to another site. Jungle Disk Server http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/lotas/~3/lpS7KZElKAA/jungle-disk-server http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/jungle-disk-server#comments Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:47:12 +0000 admin http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/?p=4068
  • Backing up WordPress on Ubuntu to S3
  • Subversion Server, Windows, Apache and Backing up
  • backup started, could be soon with new copy of linux
    • ]]>

    A Few days ago on the Jungle Disk blog, it was announced they would be releasing a BETA of their new product: Jungle Disk Server. This sounded very interesting, and one of the more interesting features that was added was De-Duplication…. let me try explain with a bit of detail…

    I am backing up my SVN server. I have 2 scheduled tasks: every 15 min, take the latest revesions that where not previously backed up and dump them to a file… then weekly, take a full backup. i ran this on a folder with 13 full backups (about 730mb a piece, totaling about 9Gb) and 31 smaller backups, averaging about a meg and a half… there is a LOT of duplicated data here: every full backup is the equivilant of the last weeks full backup and the smaller 15min backups… and it goes on. De-Duplication looks at all the blocks, and figures out of they have already been backed up… If so, it wont back it up again, put puts a pointer to that block in the backup db…

    So, we say the last full backup is 750mb… that shold be all that is needed… Jungle Disks first backup of this server found 8.45Gb and uploaded 149mb! Thats it! there is compression going on there also, but that is pretty impressive! A Full backup has been run since then, and it brough the total file size to 9.17Gb, and the upload was 4.47mb! Very, VERY Cool!

    So, at the moment, i have it backing up my SQL server, my Ubuntu server (where the blogs live, both the WordPress dirs and the MySQL server itself) and also my SVN Box. So far so good! Check if out.

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    ]]>     http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/jungle-disk-server/feed 0 http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/jungle-disk-server     New Machine Part 4: Final parts list, and first part of the build http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/lotas/~3/_YuBzD-lwb8/new-machine-part-4-final-parts-list-and-first-part-of-the-build http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/new-machine-part-4-final-parts-list-and-first-part-of-the-build#comments Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:52:22 +0000 admin http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/new-machine-part-4-final-parts-list-and-first-part-of-the-build
  • sisters machine still a pain in the ass!
  • Building a new Media Centre PC, Part 1: thinking and main machine
  • My Mac Pro died…
    • ]]>     So, it has been a couple of weeks since i last posted the status of the upgrade… In those weeks, i have finilized the parts list, started ordering stuff, and stuff has started arriving! But first, some news about the Mac Pro… you all though it was dead… I though it was dead… then i cleaned the graphics card, and, well, its working again…. but, and this is a big but, the graphics card is still over heating… pain in the arse… going to try replace the Graphics card and use it as a server… more on that later.

    So, Final parts list:

    1. Mobo and Chips – Went with the Intel S5520SC and E5520 processors. Ordered them and they arrived a few weeks ago. Unboxing photos here.
    2. Coolers: Went with non Watercooling… kind of chickened out at the idea of water flowing around a couple of grands worth of computer… Went with the Noctua NH-U12 DX. Photos and Unboxing here.
    3. Case: Antec P193
    4. HDDs: Boot: 2 x WD Velociraptor 300Gbs Data: Currently 2 1Tb WD Black Editions
    5. Graphics: Asus GeForce 275 with 896Mb Ram
    6. Powe Supply: Corsair HX-1000w
    7. Memory: 12Gb Kingston (Still waiting on this…)

    Photos of the first part of the build are up here, Once the memory arrives, i will fill in the HDDs, grab a DVDR from somewhere and stick that in and hook up some monitors. We can then start testing this bad boy!

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    ]]>     http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/new-machine-part-4-final-parts-list-and-first-part-of-the-build/feed 0 http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/new-machine-part-4-final-parts-list-and-first-part-of-the-build     Backing up WordPress on Ubuntu to S3 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/lotas/~3/N0I6bDI5P0A/backing-up-wordpress-on-ubuntu-to-s3 http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/backing-up-wordpress-on-ubuntu-to-s3#comments Sun, 06 Sep 2009 22:38:27 +0000 admin http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/backing-up-wordpress-on-ubuntu-to-s3
  • Jungle Disk Server
  • ZFS, Amazon S3, CloudFiles, and a bit of automation…
  • My Experiance in Moving from MovableType to WordPress
    • ]]>     Right… So, my blog is currently living on an Ubuntu box here in the house and is running 3 of my blogs (this one, The Angry Viking and Tiernans Photography Blog). With all the news about WordPress being under attack, i though i better share some of my scripts i use for Backing up the sites…

    1. i am using S3Sync for the Upload to S3…
    2. The code for the Script is available on this Gist. It was slightly modified (Removing my DB username and passwords, and only backing up one DB and Directory).
    3. I want this to run every night, but at the moment it is kicked off manually…
    4. There should be a clean up part at the end deleting the uploaded file… Ideally the uploader should check if the upload file was finished before deleting also…

    If there is anything anyone can see that could be changed, please leave a comment.

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    ]]>     http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/backing-up-wordpress-on-ubuntu-to-s3/feed 0 http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/backing-up-wordpress-on-ubuntu-to-s3     Thinking about building a SAN http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/lotas/~3/XunX83Pijg4/thinking-about-building-a-san http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/thinking-about-building-a-san#comments Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:12:29 +0000 admin http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/?p=4064
  • Home Storage Cloud?
  • Drobo: Worlds first storage robot
  • Building a new Media Centre PC, Part 1: thinking and main machine
    • ]]>     So, i have been thinking about building a ZFS powered SAN, and today i started thinking about using USB keys and drives… Why? SATA controllers with more than 4 ports are not cheap!

    So, the way i was thinking was as follows (If anyone knows about ZFS and SANs, tell me if this is completely off the wall!)

    • Buy a basic Board and Chip, some RAM and a couple of PCI Express or PCI USB controllers
    • Stick in 2 Western Digital Raptors (i have 2 Spare 74Gb 10k drives here) and use them for ZIL storage. Or split them so one is for ZIL, the other for Cache
    • attach some USB Drives to the machine. I was thinking 16 x 32Gb USB Keys, but realized i can get a 500Gb external drive that takes no external power for about the same price…

    In theory, when writing and reading, the external drives would be slower than expected, but with the ZIL and Cache Drives, things should (in theory…) be faster… Any thoughs?

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    ]]>     http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/thinking-about-building-a-san/feed 0 http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/thinking-about-building-a-san     Going back to College: Getting ready http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/lotas/~3/gQeTB5siVvs/going-back-to-college-getting-ready http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/going-back-to-college-getting-ready#comments Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:14:15 +0000 admin http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/?p=4062
  • Fiber To The Dorm Room
  • The Code Room
  • CTR500 Cellular Travel Router: close, but no cigar…
    • ]]>     So, i have been wanting to talk about this for a couple of weeks, but never actually got around to it. In September, some time, i will be heading back to college, part time. I am going back to get my Degree, which i have wanted to do since i left Clown College and now this will happen! :)

    Its going to take 4 years. So, since i start in a few weeks (not got the final date just yet) i though i better write up some of my plans to help me though college…

    1. Laptop: So, at the moment i have my MacBook Pro. its fully loaded with 4Gb ram, and i was thinking of replacing the HDD, which is currently a 320Gb 5200RPM drive with a 500Gb 7200RPM drive. i would love to go for SSD, but the price is not right yet…
    2. NetBook: I have the MSI Wind at the moment, and its about a year old. it does have 2gb of ram, but its not the fastest in the world. Mind you, speed is not that important: Battery is. So, Nokia are releasing a their Booklet 3G, which has 12 hour battery life! that sounds more like it!
    3. Source Control: this is probably the most important thing. Since there will be code and assignments to be written up and submitted, i think i should bring some of my learning’s from the work place into the college. In work, we use a Team Foundation Server, with Team Suite, with all the fixings (including the for Database Professionals edition) and use it religiously for code and DB changes. i am going to do the same with my code and documents for College. At the moment at home i have a VisualSVN Server sitting on a VM. there is a scheduled task to backup the latest revisions of the code to a SVN dump every 15 min, and i use JungleDisk to backup that folder to Amazon S3 every 15 min. the problem i would have is if i cant connect to the house (more on connectivity below). i don’t like the idea of having code or docs checked out locally and not stored centrally… So, i have been looking at the idea of using sometime like GitHub or Unfuddle… Currently testing both, and will post something when i have a decision…
    4. Connectivity: At the moment, i have 2 3G modems: an old Vodafone Branded and Locked Huawei E220 and a Three Branded, but fully unlocked Huawei E169. I use the E169 more since its smaller, and faster (7.2mb/s compared to 3.6 on the E220), but i have been thinking of changing to a Novatel MiFi 2352. i am liking this idea because it is tiny, fast, has a 4 hour battery life, can be charged via USB and can share my 3G/HSDPA signal with all my devices (NetBook, MacBook Pro, what ever mobile i have at the time and iPod touch). I will also be using a VPN connection to connect to the house. this will allow me access to my file shares in house and also remote desktop to my workstation and servers.
    5. Music: This is a big one for me. When coding or writing docs, i need to listen to music. So, my iPod touch is a must. Thing is, over the last few weeks, i haven’t used it as much for music. that is because i use Spotify. Well, today it was confirmed that Apple has approved The Spotify app for the iPod Touch and iPhone which will mean i can download my music and listen to it on my iPod anywhere! I will be upgrading to an iPod Touch 2nd Gen or 3rd Gen (still unannounced, but we all know its coming) because of its extra capacity (my 1st gen has 16gb, but more is always handy) and Bluetooth support.. very important since i want a pair of these: The Nokia BH-905 Bluetooth headset. These are not cheap (About 300EUR) but they are suppose to be the best headphones ever made… they are on my birthday list and i have been dropping hints (like saying to the sister “I want these for my birthday!”) and hope to get my hands on these soon! :)
    6. Bags: I need a new bag. I have had the laptop bag i use at the moment for a couple of years now… at least 5… its a bit grubby, shabby and ragged… Don’t get me wrong: it works, its just old. So, i want a new bag… Not sure what just yet but it should be waterproof (it rains a lot in Ireland, and travelling to college via the LUAS will involve some walking… and its bound to rain. It should also have enough capacity to carry both laptops, accessories, and maybe a change of cloths, just in case… the search will start tomorrow!
    7. “Dorm Room”: Finally, or at least i think its finally, the “Dorm Room” or my bedroom. I want to set my bedroom up correctly: TV, Sound system, and gaming consoles on one side. big desk and computers on the other. Bed somewhere and a sofa in front of the TV… it might be a tight squeeze, but i think i can do it… Just a matter of getting the room organized correctly…

    So, there we have it. Any comments, please leave them below…

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    ]]>     http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/going-back-to-college-getting-ready/feed 0 http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/going-back-to-college-getting-ready     New Machine Part 3: the search beings… http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/lotas/~3/ClOxhYB9i_E/new-machine-part-3-the-search-beings http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/new-machine-part-3-the-search-beings#comments Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:57:03 +0000 admin http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/new-machine-part-3-the-search-beings
  • update on the sisters machine
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    • ]]>     So, i am now in the process of finding the bits so i can order the machine… Waiting for money to clear in to my bank account (hopefully by Thursday) and then into the Credit Card (Friday). Then i can start ordering!

    Some things i have been looking into since the last update:

    The case has changed 3 times… Originally i was looking at the SilverStone TJ07, but cant seem to get my hands on it anywhere… Then I was looking at their Raven RV01… Then this morning i found the Antec P193… and now i am thinking The Thermaltake Kandalf VD4000BWS… and its water cooled!!! This thing looks like a bit of a beast… It has:

    • 360×120mm radiator in the front
    • 500l/hr pump
    • all the stuff needed to water cool the machine (need to get a second cooler for the CPU… and might have to change the first one also… no mention of the Socket 1366 support)
    • 9 5.25” drive bays
    • 2 external 3.5” and 6 internal 3.5” drive bays (total of 17 drive bays!!!)
    • 120mm and 90mm rear and a 90mm top mounted exhaust fans
    • and some other pretty impressive stuff

    Next thing to change was the hard drives. I did not mention them the last time around, but the idea is now that i will have 2 Western Digital VelociRaptor 300Gb drives and 4 1Tb Drives (not sure make just yet). The VelociRaptors will be in RAID 0 (for SPEED!) and the 1Tb drives will be mixed (2 in RAID 1 and 2 in RAID 0). i will have a home server backing up the raptors incase anything goes wrong, and all my important stuff will be stored on the RAID 1 array. The Board has onboard RAID 0, 1 and 10 support, so its all hardware raid.

    Finally, and a decision has not been 100% made on this, is the graphics card… I am leaning towards a NVidia GTX 275 card (Cuda is a tempting option). but the ATI Cards (the 4850 and 4890s) are quite tempting also… The board only supports CrossFire, so i know i cant get 2 NVida cards working together, but if i add a second card, i only want it for extra monitor support… SLI and CrossFire are not much use to me… Any Recommendations?

    So, i am currently talking with a computer shop and they are working on getting the parts… Hopefully if all goes well, i could have this in the next week or so!

    [Update] So the guys on the OverClockers.co.uk forums are not impressed with this case… they are strongly advising i stay away from it… Maybe we are back to the P193… leaning back to water cooling again too…

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    ]]>     http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/new-machine-part-3-the-search-beings/feed 0 http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/new-machine-part-3-the-search-beings     New Machine Part 2: Update to planning http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/lotas/~3/FHC_Gcxc3jQ/new-machine-part-2-update-to-planning http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/new-machine-part-2-update-to-planning#comments Sun, 02 Aug 2009 15:08:11 +0000 admin http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/new-machine-part-2-update-to-planning
  • New Machine Post: Part 1: Planning
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    • ]]>     In yesterday’s post, i mentioned that i was thinking about Water Cooling the Workstation V.Next… Well, after some “research” i have come to the conclusion that maybe water cooling is not for me… or at least not at the moment.

    The reason i am thinking of not water cooling the box at the moment is, well, im lazy. after reading up a bit about it, it seems there is a lot more maintance with water cooling that with air cooling… You need to change water every now and again, clean pipes, sometimes you may even need to clean the blocks, pump and RAD… It all sounds like too much hard work! As you know, i am a lazy git…

    So, a quick trip to OverClockers.co.uk has found me 3 posible coolers:

    Nocta NH-U12P SE1366

    The Nocta NH-U12P SE1366

    Scythe Mini Ninja

    The Scythe Mini Ninja (wondering where the bigger brother is…, if this is mini, it shouldent be hard to find…)

    Xigmatek Thor's Hammer

    The Xigmatek Thor’s Hammer (With a name like that… what else can i say!)

    Of the 3, i think the NH-U12P is going to be the winner… OverClockersClub.com has a review and its a very nice looking setup. there are 2 120mm fans on this thing! only thing that worries me… the heatsync with 2 fans weighs in at… wait for it… 940G!!! thats a little under a kilo! Christ! 2 of these could pull the board apart! Now to do some maths and see if it will 1) fit, and 2) not break the board…

    Update: Seems that there is a Version called the NH-U12DX for Daul Xeon processors…

    NH-U12DX

    Looks like a bit of a monster, right? should do the trick!

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    ]]>     http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/new-machine-part-2-update-to-planning/feed 0 http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/new-machine-part-2-update-to-planning     New Machine Post: Part 1: Planning http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/lotas/~3/s9kuj9RIZLk/new-machine-post-part-1-planning http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/new-machine-post-part-1-planning#comments Sat, 01 Aug 2009 17:34:46 +0000 admin http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/?p=4055
  • New Machine Part 2: Update to planning
  • update on the sisters machine
  • New Machine Part 3: the search beings…
    • ]]>     So, a few days back i mentioned that my Mac Pro died… this meant that i could start the process of planning and building the Workstation V.Next, as i like to call it.

    So, what do i currently have planned:

    • The Board: Intel Shady Cove S5520S. It has
      • 12 DIMM sockets, each supporting up to 4Gb, giving a total of 48Gb RAM
      • 2 1366 Sockets, allowing 2 Xeon 5500 Series processors
      • 6 SATA ports
      • 8 USB Ports (including the extra headers)
      • 2 Firewire ports
      • 2 PCI Express x16 V2 slots
      • 4X, 8X PCI Express and a PCI slot
      • Non SLI Compatible, but Crossfire is good to go…
      • and twin GigE Network ports
      • chipset
    • CPU: Intel Xeon E5520 X2
      • Intel-VT
      • x64
      • 2.26Gz
      • 8mb cache
      • Hyper-Threading
      • Quad Core
      • 731 Million Transistors!
      • Xeon inside
    • Case: SilverStone TJ07
    • Cooling: Water

    At the moment, i am not 100% sure what to get when it comes to water cooling gear. all i know is that i could potentially fit a 4×120mm rad in the bottom of the case and stick a pump and reservoir in one or 2 of the 5.25” drive bays… I am also thinking that there will be at least 1 graphics card, and it will be at least a NVidia GTX275. i know the board wont support SLI, but if i do add a second card, i don’t want SLI, i want 4 Outputs… Comments welcome.

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    ]]>     http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/new-machine-post-part-1-planning/feed 4 http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/new-machine-post-part-1-planning     Wibiya toolbar added to bottom of the page… http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/lotas/~3/sJHA_mky2kw/wibiya-toolbar-added-to-bottom-of-the-page http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/wibiya-toolbar-added-to-bottom-of-the-page#comments Thu, 30 Jul 2009 22:54:31 +0000 admin http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/?p=4052
  • Quick Fix: Block Installation of Bogus Toolbar from Fake Google Spam
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    • ]]>     installed the Wibiya toolbar to the bottom of the page… what do you think? Like? dislike? comments welcome.

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    ]]>     http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/wibiya-toolbar-added-to-bottom-of-the-page/feed 1 http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/wibiya-toolbar-added-to-bottom-of-the-page     Twitter as a message bus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/lotas/~3/GKztlRhD_xI/twitter-as-a-message-bus http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/twitter-as-a-message-bus#comments Wed, 29 Jul 2009 21:34:35 +0000 admin http://blog.lotas-smartman.net/twitter-as-a-message-bus
  • Twitter
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    • ]]>     a couple of days ago, i was browsing Programmable Web under their SMS keyword, and was thinking about how interesting it would be to get an app (web app or service) to listen to SMS messages and maybe even reply. and then it came to me: why SMS? Why not Twitter?

    Twitter has a nice API which you can use to get messages (be they direct or public) and also allows you send them back. And if you are in certain countries, you can send and receive SMS messages to and from Twitter also. (Ireland cant receive them at the moment, but thanks to Agtweet you can send them using either a Vodafone or Meteor mobile number which might be free depending on your package).

    So, then the question gets asked: Why would you want to use SMS only? any time i have gone looking for SMS –> PC stuff (as a service) they charge quite a lot of money and are limited to certain countries… with Twitter, anyone with a twitter account, which is free, can send and receive messages from your service. There are already a few services that support this (i wont go into them now… too lazy).

    So, how do you do it in C#? there are (as of writing) 4 C# libraries listed on the Twitter Libraries page. these usually include docs and code samples (Tweet# for example have OAuth Examples for both Web and Desktop Apps). There is even a library for SQL Server T-SQL! so, as a trigger on a table, you could send out a tweet when something gets inserted!

    To Give an idea of how “Twitter as a message bus” could work, Scott Hanselman has a post introducing Tweet Sandwich… I will let him explain it more in the post… He uses the Tweet# Library for all his work, so you can see how he does it over there.

    So, where else would Twitter integration be good? Any thoughts, please leave them in comments.

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