Posts filed under 'Software'
The main reason why I entered the computer science field is CREATION. Given a computer and programming environment, one can create something from his imagination from an empty notepad. Though I’m far from becoming a successful one, I still persist in learning. Learning is double edged. It’s fun and it’s demanding. Since my topic is cluster computing, there’s no reason for me to delve on the negative side of learning. Instead, let’s jump on the fun side.
I enjoy learning new things in computing. It’s a pity because I didn’t learn much when I was in college and now I’m trying to teach myself without the help of professors and classmates. I believe that learning hands-on is way better. If I was to do it again [college], I still wouldn’t learn as much as I’ve learned on the field. My current employer does not have sophisticated computing. All we have are file server, mail server, and a phone server. I may have splurged for a better setup if I had thought it out properly or was well informed. You see, i stayed away from RAID mechanism because (1) it was over the budget, (2) I don’t approve of it (if cost was a factor). To make a long story short, I’m suffering now because I miscalculated the setup (or rather experimentally failed).
My biggest woe at work is storage. Second is processing. Third is system. Fourth is portability. I wish I have partitioned the drives properly. I would like to do a re-install, but I have no time to do so. I will have to spend a week or two to do this — alone! We will be migrating into a system which is very user unfriendly, but the maintenance is out of my hands. Still, I’m not happy with the system. Because I had limited knowledge in computing (I still am) and with very minimal budget, my portability solutions have been deduced to freeware.
At work, one server takes care of everything including terminal services. No wonder the damn thing shuts down by itself without absence in every week. Windows is user friendly, but not admin-friendly. I hate the damn Windows Updates that forces the damn box to restart even though it’s setup to not do anything unless I say so. If I ignore it enough number of times, it’ll do the updates by itself. (Done digressing.) A TS session (for us) requires plenty of processing resources and sometimes if Windows haven’t slept for a few hours, it’ll just stick the process on the memory even though the session has ended. It adds to the causes of rapid shutdowns.
These shortcomings can be solved, but the timing and management budget won’t allow me. In our other office, they are really hooked up pretty well. Though the technology is minimally used, I liek the setup there. They have a farm of tower servers, but they are not exactly clusters. They’re just a farm of different processes.
Since I’ve seen my setup which doesn’t work as I thought it out, I do my own research at home. I have a small network in the house which I could contest against the office setup. However, my goal since the beginning when I first started tweaking my computer hardware was to build a cheap, but powerful personal computer. Cheap on the standards that I can afford it while it can compete against expensive powerful processing environments. I have ideas on how to go about it, but nothing concrete. The projection is still afar. I’m not perfectly stable financially to undertake such project. The good thing is that I have a model to follow. I saw from hackaday’s website an article on cluster computing using an IKEA cabinet as the case. Though I may not follow the IKEA way, it’s a confirmation that such project can be achieved. My goal is the same as his, but the purpose would be different.
If I win the lottery, I will begin the project immediately. Otherwise, I’ll have to wait.
October 6th, 2008
Hali kayo magsilapit kahit na po ilang saglit pakinggan nyo itong awit na hindi na mauulit.
Yesterday was a disaster for me. Fortunately, I worked it out finally. I started the day without opening all possible ways to access the router in case of changes. When the ISP executed the changes, I forgot to prepare the IP block for the router and I was unable to access it to perform the changes. So I ran to the nearest Radio Shack to purchase serial cable. Now that I was able to access the router, I implemented the changes — except for one line. The whole office did not have internet access until later in the afternoon when we were able to identify the problem.
So to continue Dong Abay’s song…
Trahedya trahedya trahedya!
September 19th, 2008
After eight hours of downtime, I found out that the site was down. The site went down at 12:32:44 and I realized it was down at 8:32:56PM I hardly access the website when I’m at work that’s why I wasn’t given urgent notice of the situation. I failed to change my alert notice for Hotmail, so again I did not receive the notice of suspension from my host. So what happened?
My other domain which I’ve been planning to resurrect was hacked because of my negligence towards it. I did not pay attention to the site and without knowing, the scripts running in it were compromised. Because the script showed the path and other critical information of the server, the intruder was able to upload his phishing scripts. Luckily, a concerned netizen reported the phishing activity to my host and my host immediately acted on the situation that caused temporary lockdown of the whole account. As you may know, only one account hosts all my domains, so a series circuit is always at play.
I’ve had a few encounter with my site being locked down without me knowing instantly. It’s not because of incapability in my host’s part. They inform me instantly. It’s on my part that’s slacking. I need to device an instant notification system if my site goes down without having to use a SmartPhone. And for that, you may want to stay tuned because you may be able to use it in the future.
September 15th, 2008
I’ve been reading about Google’s Chrome release and I had to try it. The first thing I did was to check how get_browser() would call this new browser. I have no knowledge whatsover of how Chrome was developed, so I was surprised to know that PHP calls it a Safari.
September 3rd, 2008
I can finally come out of the shell and talk about Smart’s latest technology release — Plug ‘n Talk. I met with Smart representatives earlier today and I was able to witness a demonstration of this very cool gadget. It is a hybrid VoIP unit. In a nutshell, the unit which is essentially a thumbdrive accepts a Smart Buddy Simcard, plugged into a Windows computer with internet connection and can take outgoing and incoming voice calls and SMS/MMS messages incurring Philippine local rates. The hybrid nature of the technology is derived from the model whereas the party using the unit uses an over-IP technology which connects to Smart’s network in the Philippines and from there a circuit-switch communication occurs. The reciprocal applies when the unit becomes the receiver. In other words, it’s a VoIP-Circuit-switch technology.
Though I know the launch date, I will not provide that information as well as any pricing. I’m just to excited to post the technology’s overall concept. For more information, visit the hyperlinked site above.
During the demonstration, the call is quite loud and clear, however I won’t be too optimistic. There still is that VoIP characteristic. I’m only after the text messaging because it only costs P1/outgoing message to any Smart/TNT and P2 for Globe/TM/Sun and the MMS which costs the same as what they charge in the Philippines. I’ll have my dongle hooked into my PC and find TXTM8S.
September 3rd, 2008
Here I am again ranting about data integrity. For years, I have been criticizing all kinds of data protection systems. I’m referring to backups, not security. I can’t really trust any kind of RAID system. My site is a perfect example of it. Yes the backup is nearly instantaneous, but if both the running disk and the backup disk go down, the system won’t be able to recover the very latest data. The problem with my site is that my host never tells me they used my backup to recover my data. If the data recovered is the last memory bank entry, ten I don’t need a heads up, but if it’s a day old, then they should inform me. That way, I know which part of my data is lost. I also run a separate backup daily for this kind of situation, but it’s useless because I don’t know where the gap is.
Well, on a happy note, I received my LinkStation yesterday and I’m running RAID1 on it. It’ll help me criticize the technology more hehe.
August 6th, 2008
I’m currently working with MSSQL Server 2005 and why does Microsoft have to make everything difficult? With MySQL, a multiple insert is as simple as INSERT INTO table (columns) VALUES (array of values), (another array of values), … (last array of values). This way works in MS SQL 2008, but that’s another expense.
My current assignment in the office is to export and import MS Access data into a completely different schema in MSS. I will pose a problem at the end of this entry and if someone has a solution, I would be grateful to you.
Multiple insert in MSSQL 2005 Thanks to Pinal Dave for this
USE database_name
GO
INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2, ... columnN)
SELECT 'value1a', 'value2a', ... 'valueNa'
UNION ALL
SELECT 'value1b', 'value2b', ... 'valueNb'
...
UNION ALL
SELECT 'value1n', value2n', ... 'valueNn'
Problem: How would I do a SELECT…INSERT in the middle of an insert because one or more columns are foreign keys. That way I don’t have to verify my data before inserting. Have the machine do it for me. For instance:
USE database_name
GO
INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2, ... columnN)
SELECT 'value1a', [SELECT...INSERT], ... 'valueNa'
UNION ALL
SELECT 'value1b', [SELECT...INSERT], ... 'valueNb'
...
UNION ALL
SELECT 'value1n', [SELECT...INSERT], ... 'valueNn'
July 23rd, 2008
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