In a galaxy far far away... http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben ...my own little world Wed, 14 May 2008 14:43:40 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 en The Fibonacci in Lateralus http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2008/01/28/the-fibonacci-in-lateralus/ http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2008/01/28/the-fibonacci-in-lateralus/#comments Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:40:33 +0000 bwakefield http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2008/01/28/the-fibonacci-in-lateralus/ Awesome video, definitely worth a watch even if you aren’t a huge fan of Tool.

]]> http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2008/01/28/the-fibonacci-in-lateralus/feed/ My super-backup adventure! http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/11/08/my-super-backup-adventure/ http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/11/08/my-super-backup-adventure/#comments Fri, 09 Nov 2007 02:14:00 +0000 bwakefield http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/11/08/my-super-backup-adventure/ So, a few months ago I embarked on an adventure that involved backing up our production webserver to tape. Yes, tape. A really big, hunk of magnetized plastic. It was a long trip, took way more time than one would think is necessary. First, the Powervault unit was not even powered on, go figure. Then a second trip down to the server room reveled that the SCSI cable was not plugged into the correct channel! So after all that was resolved, the trick was getting the data backed up properly. Here is how our data (that needs backed up) is laid out:

/home/clients - all of our clients web files are stored her.
/var/www/[hosted domain] - we have several hosted domains, both from a couple clients and some sites we run ourselves.

We are also making use of AutoMySQLbackup and the files that it creates need to be stored long term on the tape as well. So here is what I did…

#####################################################################################
# Server Backup - VAR and HOME
# Create individual tar/gz files
#####################################################################################
mkdir /backup/`date +‘%F-%a’`
tar -cvvzf /backup/`date +‘%F-%a’`/hosteddomain1-www-`date +‘%F-%a’`-tar.gz /var/www/hosted1
tar -cvvzf /backup/`date +‘%F-%a’`/hosteddomain2-www-`date +‘%F-%a’`-tar.gz /var/www/hosted2
tar -cvvzf /backup/`date +‘%F-%a’`/clients-`date +‘%F-%a’`-tar.gz /home/clients

#####################################################################################
# Write some information to the log file
#####################################################################################
echo “————————————————————-” >> /home/backup/backup.log
echo “Full Backup for:” >> /home/backup/backup.log
date >> /home/backup/backup.log
echo “————————————————————-” >> /home/backup/backup.log
du -sh /backup/`date +‘%F-%a’`/* >> /home/backup/backup.log
du -sh /backup/sql/latest/ >> /home/backup/backup.log
echo “————————————————————-” >> /home/backup/backup.log

#####################################################################################
# Delete the tar/gz files once they are written to tape
#####################################################################################
#delete the previous backup which is stored on disk for easy access, create the new ‘lastest’ for the files and SQL
rm /backup/latest
mv /backup/`date +‘%F-%a’`/* /backup/latest
cp -R /backup/sql/latest /backup/latest/sql

#####################################################################################
# add total backup size to log file
#####################################################################################
echo “Total backup size:” >> /home/backup/backup.log
du -sh /backup/latest >> /home/backup/backup.log
echo “————————————————————-” >> /home/backup/backup.log
echo “” >> /home/backup/backup.log

#####################################################################################
# Copy backed up tar/gz files to the tape drive with the latest SQL backup
#####################################################################################
tar cfv /dev/tape /backup/latest

This code keeps the latest backup on the disk for easy access as well as puts it to the tape. I try to keep a basic log file to have an idea what has been written and how large it was. I haven’t found a good way to keep a running count of how much has been written to the tape yet. Once I do, the log file will be simplified quite a bit. This script is run M/W/F and a similar script that backups only the SQL files Sa/Su/T/R.

There were a few sites that were of great help getting the tape backup working well:
http://www.whoopis.com/howtos/tapebackup.html
http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-tape-backup-with-mt-and-tar-command-howto/

There was another site, which I don’t have handy at the moment, but I will update as soon as I find the link.

]]> http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/11/08/my-super-backup-adventure/feed/ Holy long over due post Batman! http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/10/04/holy-long-over-due-post-batman/ http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/10/04/holy-long-over-due-post-batman/#comments Thu, 04 Oct 2007 13:37:14 +0000 bwakefield http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/10/04/holy-long-over-due-post-batman/ I have been really busy the past month. Between ramping up projects at work and school there hasn’t been much time for anything else. I have gotten quite a few of my videos from the Rockford Airfest and the Cleveland National Airshow uploaded to YouTube. You can check out my new airshow page to see more information about those. I also have a ton of good stuff from the Gathering of Mustangs and Legends. There will be more on that as soon as I am able to check out the video I took. My dad got some pretty good pictures too:



]]> http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/10/04/holy-long-over-due-post-batman/feed/ Cleveland National Air Show http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/09/04/cleveland-national-air-show/ http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/09/04/cleveland-national-air-show/#comments Tue, 04 Sep 2007 15:17:58 +0000 bwakefield http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/09/04/cleveland-national-air-show/ Wow! It was amazing. The show was really great. I actually paid attention to the Aerobatics shows. Oh what have I missing! I really wanted to go a second day, but time (and money) didn’t allow for it. I need to start planning for “Airshow season” in advance. I might be able to go to a few more next year. I need to get my pictures from Air Fest up…

Pictures from Saturday can be found here. Thanks to my buddy Steve for operating the digital cam while I took video!

]]> http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/09/04/cleveland-national-air-show/feed/ Star Wars is here! http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/09/03/star-wars-is-here/ http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/09/03/star-wars-is-here/#comments Mon, 03 Sep 2007 18:12:01 +0000 bwakefield http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/09/03/star-wars-is-here/ “Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.”

]]> http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/09/03/star-wars-is-here/feed/ How to raise your GPA http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/08/30/how-to-raise-your-gpa/ http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/08/30/how-to-raise-your-gpa/#comments Thu, 30 Aug 2007 19:02:28 +0000 bwakefield http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/08/30/how-to-raise-your-gpa/ I saw a good article over at pickthebrain.com about how to increase your GPA. Some of these stuff seems like common sense, but they are worth noting none the less.

]]> http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/08/30/how-to-raise-your-gpa/feed/ Stage 1 - Define your needs http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/08/28/stage-1-define-your-needs/ http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/08/28/stage-1-define-your-needs/#comments Wed, 29 Aug 2007 03:00:21 +0000 bwakefield http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/08/28/stage-1-define-your-needs/ “Measure twice, cut once.” When it comes to any major (or minor!) project, planning is everything. Many headaches will be avoided if you start planning your network infrastructure by clearly defining the requirements and needs for the network.

What do you need out of your network infrastructure? What goals or mission is going to be accomplished by your network? What does your “business” revolve around? Do you leverage technology to meet your goals or are you a provider of tools using that technology? The first thing that comes to mind for me, is email. There are many options, and this choice could determine what route you go for the rest of the network. What do you need from your email? Email is closely followed by a “domain” solution, file server, and web hosting (no particular order to the last items).

My theory is you need to go with your strengths and know when you are at your limits before you can really try to decide what you need. Too often we get caught up in one detail about something that we need to do and spend large amounts of time trying to figure out that aspect and over look other important details.
When I am working with planning a new network I start by trying to decide how best to meet the needs of the users of the network. I start by listing the tasks that need to be accomplished the software that needs to be used. It helps to get a pretty good idea of what “jobs” need to be completed.

  • Do you need to provide your own email solution or is it hosted?
  • Are you providing your own DNS services?
  • What sort of file storage and backup is needed?
  • Do any of the employees work from home? Do you need VPN?
  • Is there any chance of leveraging a VoIP solution?
  • Will you be hosting any websites? Are they internal or externally facing? (might influence your DNS decision!!!)
  • Does it make sense to deploy thin clients?
  • What sort of network services or applications are going to be used?
  • What about security? Is what is provided through the ISP enough? Is a separate firewall needed?

Defining your needs is going to be the best way to avoid spending extra money or backing your organization down a path that ultimately is not going to work out. There are many other things to consider other than the above items but it provides a starting block. It may seems like you are spending a lot of time evaluating software or platforms, but in the end, it makes purchasing, deploying, and managing the resulting network far easier in the end.

Next up, Planning your network around your needs.

]]> http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/08/28/stage-1-define-your-needs/feed/ Yay for school! http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/08/20/yay-for-school/ http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/08/20/yay-for-school/#comments Mon, 20 Aug 2007 22:50:30 +0000 bwakefield http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/08/20/yay-for-school/ The weekend was exciting indeed! I picked up a new (to me) set of wheels and tires for my car; MOMO RPM 17″ wheels with Nito NeoGen tires. They are super sticky and about as wide as you can wedge under the car, even with the rear fenders rolled.

First week of the semester, whoo hoo!!

I am taking Computer Graphics, Data Communications, and Geography (Real Americans fail geography. - The Colbert Report).

Should see some interesting projects in Graphics. It should go along nicely with the senior design project we did back in the spring, a 2.5D Real Time Strategy game. We used Open GL through the .NET based bindings for the SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer) Libraries.

Be looking for a posting about designing your network infrastructure (geared around Not-for-Profit organizations and very low budgets) in the coming week!

]]> http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/08/20/yay-for-school/feed/ Save a copy of your Putty Session Settings http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/08/06/save-a-copy-of-your-putty-session-settings/ http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/08/06/save-a-copy-of-your-putty-session-settings/#comments Tue, 07 Aug 2007 03:33:32 +0000 bwakefield http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/08/06/save-a-copy-of-your-putty-session-settings/ I have found a few nifty ways to copy your settings for Putty. Putty is a windows SSH client allowing a secure cli (command line interface) to *nix based servers. I use it daily for various tasks related to managing the Ideas Unleashed servers. I do have a habit of formatting my systems semi-frequently, at least once a year, so keeping track of bookmarks, Filezilla settings (a topic for a future blog), Putty settings, and many other things difficult.

However, saving and restoring your Putty Settings is a snap! From the Start -> run dialog, run this command to place a .reg file on your desktop that you can merge on another windows system to copy your putty settings.

regedit /e "%userprofile%\desktop\putty.reg" HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Simontatham

Thanks to Joe Mansfield’s comment for the shortcut!

]]> http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/08/06/save-a-copy-of-your-putty-session-settings/feed/ Solid State Musical Tesla Coil http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/08/05/solid-state-musical-tesla-coil/ http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/08/05/solid-state-musical-tesla-coil/#comments Sun, 05 Aug 2007 15:17:41 +0000 bwakefield http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/08/05/solid-state-musical-tesla-coil/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VX5V_9s0Gfw

The Super Mario Brothers theme for your listening pleasure. For more information on Tesla Coils, check the Wikipedia article.

]]> http://www.ideasunleashed.org/ben/2007/08/05/solid-state-musical-tesla-coil/feed/