step the first…

LRN — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:00:42 +0000

So all our new b5media servers are about to be handed off to me so I can start work on turning them into a super fast, merciless thresher of incoming requests. Standing up this sort of server arrangement is a first for me, since I inherited the one b5media uses now. This is at once daunting and highly exhilarating. 40 servers, where to start?

Well the first thing I know I want to do is secure the machines to a reasonable level. This means removing any unnecessary packages, making sure only required services are running on each of the servers. I’ve chosen to run Centos 5 on these machines, as I have the most experience in RedHat variants.

To that end, here’s a link to the Secure Centos project. It’s still a work in progress, and you’ll want to double check their suggestions and not follow blindly, but it’s a great place to start for ideas and methods for securing a new server in an unmanaged environment.

Well, off I go to survey my new domain, more to come!

network management solutions

LRN — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:51:27 +0000

What to do? I’ve been playing with the open source version of hyperic for a while now. While I still revert to MRTG for an immediate view of what’s going on with my key servers, I do like the hyperic interface. Unfortunately, their pricing structure doesn’t exactly scale very well, and you need the enterprise version if you plan on doing anything other than passive monitoring.

The b5media infrastructure upgrade will see us leaving a managed DC, and entering the world of DIY big time. Time to explore functional open source solutions. Nagios and OpenNMS are my front runners right now. I’ll be test driving Nagios over the next couple of days, see if it can fulfill all our requirements for hardware and service monitoring. OpenNMS looks to be more geared to >1 support staff, and may be the way to go a little bit further down the road.

brave new world

LRN — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:17:43 +0000

The great b5media infrastructure upgrade is finally underway! This may be a good time for me to start doing some technical blogging, then again I may not get the chance. I expect to be working very long hours for the next little while, but it’s going to be fun and challenging experience, not to mention a long over due chance to put my own stamp on the b5media network. Since joining the team last October, I’ve endeavored to assimilate the differences between administering individual *NIX servers operating out of shoe closets in 300+ retail locations, to administering 300+ forward facing blogs in a network that’s at the forefront of what it does.

The change in environment has been both terrifying and exhilarating… the internet is a wild place compared to cell phone stores and pharmacies. Given my experiences at b5media to date, I’m very excited to be setting out on this next phase of growth. A chance to fix the mistakes and growing pains of the past, and define an infrastructure which will scale successfully as b5media continues to soar.

softly into that dark knight

LRN — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 15:51:49 +0000

I didn’t rush out and buy a ticket for the first screenings of the Dark Knight and maybe I should have. Like a band-aid which has to be removed in one sharp tug, I should have stood in line, jammed myself into some bad seats, and resigned myself to spending most of the run time desperately trying not to murder the people around me.

I do really want to see the film before some one slips up and says something to ruin it for me. I’ve made 2 attempts to see the film now, but when the 7 and 8pm showings are front row seating 30 minutes before the curtain and later showings filling up fast, I find my distaste for the cinema going public outweighs my burning desire to see the film.

If I expected the Dark Knight to be the typical brain dead popcorn amusement ride I expect of other franchises, I’d suck it up and go try and get into the crowd spirit. This is however a movie I intend to savour, and god help the vapid couple with a metric ton of snacks they’re too stupid to blunder their way into while performing a running commentary of the movie if they sit within earshot of me.

mmo uh oh

LRN — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:10:30 +0000

This could be bad, Jeremy (my benevolent overlord at b5media) has recently tempted my partner and I to try out City of Heroes. I’m already hard pressed to keep up with my friends playing World of Warcraft, and with Wrath of the Lich King right around the corner, I’d like to hit L70 before it drops.

We’re on a 14 day trial for CoH, and although it lacks the polish of WoW, and is nagging me every 5 minutes to upgrade to a full account (gotta let your game speak for itself guys)… I can see the appeal. I had a blast creating The Boghdoir (my archery blaster on Guardian server). The graphics are dated and the quests are paper thin, yet there’s a hint of promise in the incentives to group up for big XP bonuses. Classes also compliment each other nicely, promising for some good group combat mechanics.

Didn’t get much of a chance to play last night, but they’re running a double XP weekend at the end of the week. City of Heroes has till then to wow me.

anyone want to pee with me?

LRN — Wed, 21 May 2008 16:31:13 +0000

Was just poking around our network some here at b5media, and noticed a link to a reuters story about a recent invention which combines a urinal and a video game system. Their promo booth is a little awkward but I think Werner Dupont and Bart Geraets are definately on to something here. Dunno how well it would really go in puritan US of A, but I can only imagine what this could do for beer sales in the right bar with the right crowd

Muto by Blu

LRN — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:19:07 +0000

It’s hard to describe public wall animation, so just trust me and check it out!

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

see you tomorrow… or will I?

LRN — Thu, 15 May 2008 02:59:06 +0000

So the Large Hadron Collider goes online in just over 1 hour. This is really exciting shit, as scientists will either unravel previously unfathomable facets of our understanding of the universe, or blow it up.
Read more about the LHC here.

Speedracer … good??

LRN — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:31:26 +0000

I haven’t seen it yet, but Jeremy Wright, b5media CEO and avid movie goer saw it with his kids this weekend. Low-down was the plot is forgivable, the effects were indeed mind blowing, a solid 3/5 stars. *sigh* I suppose since I have the choice of seeing it at the IMAX, I should just bite the bullet and see it for myself.

I like Dick

LRN — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:08:34 +0000

So I was at MySQL Con last month. Lot’s of great sessions, learned some good tricks, but I think my favorite part of the whole trip was catching Dick Hardt’s Identity 2.0 talk on the last day. He’s definately got the right idea when it comes to the future of personal identification, but it’s his presentation style I was really struck by. Check it out…