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Author Archives: Kenneth Ristau

Why use a Wiki to document your IT infrastructure (or your clients’)? What are some of the Good Things about using a Wiki, and how can you amplify them to your advantage? What are some of the Bad Things inherent to using a Wiki and how can you tame or control them?

With this series of posts, I hope to help answer a few of the above questions, perhaps bring up (and answer) a few more questions, and recount my personal experiences using a Wiki to document IT infrastructure for my employers and clients over the past five or so years.

Keeping with my site’s informal theme, I’m not going to draw up an outline or try to structure this. Instead, I intend to think about these questions and tie them to some personal experience which illustrates them.

While my personal experience lies in documenting IT infrastructure, I hope the ideas I present here are general enough that you can apply them to your own experience.

Next post: The Wiki is here to stay!

I’ve got a couple of ideas boiling in my head, building up pressure. I’ll be letting them out on this site over the next month or so. In the mean time, here are some updates on older posts.

  • 420 Picture Of The Day# is up to 23 pics.
  • CIALUG meeting minutes for April are missing ‘cause there wasn’t much discussed.
  • For Good Places to Eat in the Des Moines Area add Daddy O’s to the list. Close to my home, and they have Yam Fries! Yummy!
  • Tip: Catching up on podcasts at 2x speed works, but only if you don’t get too far behind. Had to perform some triage on my back log of podcasts this week.
  • SomaFM donation required me to sign up again for PayPal. UGH. Guess that just shows how much I like SomaFM, right?

I have to admit, I wasn’t too hot on the idea of RSS feeds when they were first introduced. I was in the habit of visiting each of my favorite Web sites each day to see if they had updated. Early on, I tried a few RSS feed readers and browser plug-ins. I wasn’t impressed.

That all changed about a year ago when I started adding those sites’ RSS feeds into Google Reader. As of today, I subscribe to a total of 18 feeds. I like the fact that is Web-based and not a plugin because I can access my feeds from just about any browser or computer (and I do get around in that regard).

I’m sure most of the other feed readers I tried have improved a lot since I last gave them a go, but I’m happy with Google Reader, and I’m sticking with it.

Short version:

  • I’ve set my phone alarm to go off every day at 4:20 PM Monday through Friday.
  • I’m going to try taking a picture at that time each day.
  • I’m going to upload those photos HERE.

Long version:

I wanted to set a daily alarm to alert me when the end of the business day was approaching. Since I have an aversion to round numbers/times (don’t ask), I did not want to set it for 4:15 PM or 4:30 PM. Therefore, the natural choice was “something in between”, and I happened to choose 4:20 PM. The primary reasoning was this would give me about 10 minutes to pack up my stuff and hit the door by 4:30 PM.

One day while surrounded by my co-workers, this alarm went off. One of my astute co-workers asked if I had to be somewhere and pointed out the significance of 4:20 PM to a certain cultural group. We had a laugh, because I had certainly not intended to make that statement with my alarm!

So what do I do? Change the alarm? Take up a new bad habit? No way! Inspired by the connotation associated with that time of day and remembering a plot point from the movie Smoke, I decided to take a photo each time that alarm goes off and upload it to my Picasa Web account.

The photos will probably be crap at first, but I hope to improve my composition over time. I may try to get creative and seek to capture something unusual or striking about my location each time, or I may just pull the phone out and simply snap what is right in front of me. Either way, enjoy!

P.S. And yes, I do realize this will probably attract a lot of stoners to my site. Maybe they will be inspired to make their own 420POTD albums? Hilarity Ensues if they do. . .

Zimbra Open Source Collaboration Suite

Presented by Rich Harms

Intro

  • Zimbra is more than just a simple mail server. It is a full collaboration suite.
  • Web browser client and offline client are extremely similar.
  • Supports IMAP and POP3 clients. Outlook, Thunderbird and the like.
  • Shared Calendars, document spaces and such not only within the company but with external users as well.
  • Powerful built-in search features.* Wiki-like document features.
  • Spamassassin and virus scanning built in.
  • Built on several other Open Source projects.
  • Zimlets scripting language for administrative and feature add-ons.
  • ZMProv utility for scripting admin tasks.
  • Import utility for pulling in Exchange data (licensed).

Installation from scratch

  • CentOS 5.2 virtual machine for the demo.
  • Download the OSE edition as a tgz file.
  • Run the included installer shell script which walks you through the install.
    • Install script is text-based, and starts out with some questions.
    • After the interview, it unpacks the RPMs, installs them and configures itself.
    • After it unpacks and installs, there are a few more questions, then completes the install.
    • At this point, you should have a basic running configuration.

Administrative Interface

  • Accessible via https://{siteurl}:7071/zimbraAdmin
  • Domains are pretty easy to set up, just a few steps configures all the services on the back end.
  • User setups are pretty easy. Password is not required, but you can’t log in with a null password!
  • Resources have their own management section.
  • Class of Service controls what features that client sees and can access.
  • Built-in IM server which uses the Jabber protocol.
  • Full control over what themes are available on the webmail interface.
  • Domains can be configured to be hosted on a specific server (clustering features).
  • Can also use the Zimbra server for LDAP authentication on your network to provide authentication for users on workstations.

Good Things

  • Lots of Zimlets, or plug-ins to add features. Some which are available are Bugzilla integration, Asterisk integration, WebEx integration, etc.
  • Good statistics gathering and reporting interface.
  • Some basic Exchange integration is built in to the Open Source version. The more advanced features require licensing, though.
  • Rich search features for building custom searches for Admin accounts, locked out accounts, inactives, etc.
  • Client can pull e-mail from multiple servers such as Gmail, Yahoo, mail-enabled PBX, etc.
  • Works with smartphones such as the Iphone (via IMAPS).
  • Two-month “try before you buy” license is available for the non-OS version.

Complaints

  • Web interface sometimes truncates HTML messages.
  • Most, but not all PCI requirements can be met within the configuration. Logging login failures is a bit wonky, so hard to bring into compliance.
  • User training can be tricky. Recommend leaving all unnecessary features disabled and only enable them as needed.
  • Non-core Zimlets require manual updating. No package management system for them.
  • Large mailboxes (10+ GB) can cause issues requiring more server-side RAM.
  • Be sure to install cron on your server! Zimbra will happily re-import logs, which it expects to be rotated by cron.
  • Backup management is missing from the OS version, but present in the licensed version.
  • Missing the Assigned Tasks feature Outlook/Exchange users are used to.
  • Exchange import wizard did not import recurring calendar appointments.

SomaFM has been streaming audio live on the Internet since 1995. I discovered them around 1997-1999 and have been listening off and on since then.

They have several channels, but I tend to listen to either Secret Agent or Groove Salad. They also have Techno, Rock, Lounge and several other styles available. They stream each station at several quality levels, so even if you have a lower bandwidth connection you can enjoy their broadcast.

They really, really need help. If you’ve listened to SomaFM in the past, please consider donating to them. If you’ve never listened to them, please give them a try. If you find yourself listening to them more and more like I did, please support them!

Sitting here wondering what I’m going to write for this blog next when it hits me (in my ears) — Coverville!

Even though I don’t listen to every single episode of this excellent podcast, I’m going to put it at the top of my list as my favorite. How is that possible? Brian Ibbott pumps out several 40+ minute podcasts each week. With such a prolific output, I just can’t keep up!

I will confess that I skip some episodes simply because I’m not in to the particular artist or artists being featured. That is not, however, a Bad Thing. In fact, I would call it a good thing for you, my reader. It means that Brian does a good job of “covering” various styles and genres of music — virtually guaranteeing you will be able to find an episode you really dig.

As I write this, I’m listening to episode #553! I encourage you to search through this extensive catalog — every single episode is still available.

While working from home the other day, I observed from my office window a gentleman walking his small dog on the bicycle trail which runs behind our house. First, they walked by in one direction, then a few minutes later they came back through, obviously heading home.

The dog was at the end of one of those retractable leads and the lead was reeled all the way out, allowing the dog to go far off of the trail. Our yard is fenced, so the dog was in the middle of our neighbor’s yard, which has only an “invisible fence” for their own dog. Being a dog, it naturally determined that the middle of our neighbor’s yard was a good place to poop, and so he did. No big deal.

The gentleman waking the dog, however, did not have with him any means for picking up after his dog. So he left the poop in the middle of our neighbor’s back yard. What a jerk.

Many ideas ran through my head. I could have run out with my own scooper, picked up the poo myself and disposed of it. Or, I could have scooped it up, followed the rude man home and depsoted the poo on his yard. Maybe I should have opened my wiindow up and yelled at the man, “Hey! Pick up after your dog!” Perhaps I should have called the police. It is, after all, against the law in most cities (including ours) to not pick up after your dog — a law that is very difficult to enforce.

Instead, I let it slide and went about my business. Still (as evidenced by this post), it bothers me that some people with dogs just don’t get it. Owning and caring for an animal is a big responsibility. Being a good dog owner reqires picking up after it. At the very least, you should carry a plastic bag with you while you walk your dog. If you don’t like the idea of getting that close to your dog’s mess, pick up a proper scooping device to carry with you.

Your neighbors will thank you, I will thank you and you’ll feel good knowing you aren’t a total idiot and complete jerk.

OK, I’m at a restaurant, writing other posts for this blog. The table next to me when I sat down consisted of a family of 5, including Grandpa, Grandma, Mom, Dad and child.

I was at my table for awhile. That family finished their meal and left. Who was the next party to be sat at that very same table? A family of 5 including Grandpa, Grandma, Mom, Dad and child. Weird.

Here are the differences I observed between the two parties. The Grandpa and Grandma appeared to be older in the second party. The child sat between the parents in the first party, but in the second party, the child sat next to the wall. The child in the first party was male; in the second party the child was female.

Here are the similarities I observed between the two parties. The parents and children in each group were approximately the same ages. The entire party sat on the same sides of the table — the grandparents together on the far side (relative to my position) and the family of three on the closer side. The men sat on the outside part of the booth and the women on the side closest to the wall.

Chaos is strange.

The Idea
Nothing radical here, really. I simply propose that electric vehicles be designed around a standard “battery sled” to be mounted on the bottom of all electric vehicles. This sled would be quickly interchangeable with a new sled at stations along the highways.

The Business Model
The model would be the same as the propane tank exchange which is common here in America. The spent sled you drop off at a station would either be recharged on site (best) or shipped to a charging facility. The vendor would be responsible for charging and refurbishing the sleds.

The Mechanics
A sled station would be similar to a car wash. You’d pull in to a bay and pay for your new sled at the entrance. You would then pull on to a track, place your drivetrain in neutral and power down. The track would pull your vehicle forward through two stations inside the bay. The first station would remove the spent sled and the second station would place a new sled on your vehicle. As you exit, you would simply power up your vehicle and drive off.

The vendor would service and recharge the spent sled using renewable energy sources such as solar or wind generation. They could utilize specialized fast-charge equipment capable of charging sleds much faster than your own, home-charging system.

At home, you would have a home charging system capable of overnight charging for day-to-day driving. For most of your short-range commuter travel, you would simply recharge the same sled over and over again. This sort of charging may also be offered at each parking space around town and billed via a parking meter system.

Problem Solved, Sort Of
The main thing holding back wide spread adoption of electric-only vehicles, in my opinion, is the long charging times required after your batteries run out. Gasoline and diesel are convenient sources of energy because you can fill up your tank in a matter of minutes and drive another 200 to 400 miles. With current electric vehicle technology, you can drive about 200 miles before you have to stop and charge for 8 or more hours. That makes long trips impractical.

The replaceable battery sled is the only way to get the same level of convenience as a gasoline or diesel vehicle in an electric-only one. Now the only problem is implementation. Which comes first, the sled or the station? In reality, you need both at the same time and in enough numbers to make the solution practical.

If only I were a billionaire. . .