Technology: Good, Bad and Ugly

Disclaimer: these observations are based upon my experiences.
And UGLY does not refer to aesthetics or appearance.
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Sonicwall CDP6080 - GOOD! [6/22/2009]
I've spent several weeks evaluating this product. The product is marketed on two levels; file-level backups and image system backups.
The file-level backups work well and the users ability to restore files is reasonably intuitive. The server application backups work well with SQL Server, MS Exchange and Active Directory. The image backups for servers works well - but for PCs, the image backup is sorely lacking.
Sonicwall uses a repackaged Acronis product and has neglected to implement the version which allows for a Workstation Universal Restore, even though it is available from Acronis.
My biggest issue with the product though is the lack of bandwidth throttling or backup scheduling for the agent. When you first install and start the agent, depending on how much data you select for backup, the CDP agent will consume a substantial amount of bandwidth. However, once the initial PC synchronization is done, the continuous file backups has very little impact on PC or network performance.
Overall, the product is good... But with a little more tweaking, it could be great.

Western Digital My Book Essential Edition - I attached it to a Windows XP Home SP2 PC. I shared the drive but all attempts failed with a message indicating a failure of permissions. The key part of the message, though, is "Not enough server storage is available to process this command". After a couple of hours of internet searching, I found the answer.... It is a matter of increasing the IRPStackSize - here is the regedit import:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\parameters]
"IRPStackSize"=dword:00000015

Copy this regedit and save it as IRPStackSize.reg, then run this on your PC.

AVENTAIL EX-1500 SSL-VPN Appliance - VERY GOOD IN ITS DAY!
We replaced our Aventail box with a Sonicwall 2000 SSL-VPN Appliance a couple of years ago. We've been wrestling with what to do with the old Aventail box.....????? This has led me to download FreeNAS and OpenFiler. If your prospective NAS box is a standard off the shelf PC, I am sure that both will work fine. But, I had problems with both downloads. FreeNAS had several issues which stopped it from booting; I worked through these and found that it could not write to the USB stick as it touted. The problem is most likely because it cannot write to a single device when there are multiple USB ports. OpenFiler does not support USB sticks so that test ended quickly.
If anyone has had success re-allocating an Aventail appliance, please let me know.

DELL PE6850 - EXCELLENT!
All of the Dell Server hardware is very good. Over the years I have worked on Compaq, HP and IBM servers. For the most part, the Hot Swap drives never really worked in true Hot Swap mode. About a month ago, I had a drive failure on a Dell Poweredge 6850 running RAID5, the server logged the error. I set the drive to Offline, pulled the drive from the server with the OS still running, screwed a new drive into the carriage and inserted the drive into the server. The PERC controller almost immediately began rebuilding the drive.

D-Link G700 Wireless Access Point - VERY GOOD!
After years of installing strictly the Netgear WG102 Access Points, I recently encountered a D-Link G700. I like this product very much. I am very impressed by it's distance and strength in a dense office environment; it, by far, outperforms the Netgear WG102. [Note: while the WG102 is PoE capable, the G700 is not.]

LaCie 1u Rack-Mount Ethernet Disks - VERY GOOD!
Had the 1TB disk in play for more than 2 years and it has performed without failure. Recently installed the 2TB model also. Both are used to backup a server farm and therefore handle a lot of stress from multiple servers simultaneously.
UPDATE: The 1TB version recently stopped responding (after 2 years of constanst use). I spent several days corresponding with LaCie on this and never received an appropriate response. I did find several restore image files on their site though.
My system is the 4 Drive version and there is only one version which works:
LaCieEDdiskRestore-4HDD_5.0_no_pdf.iso
To apply the OS:
1. connect a monitor, keyboard and USB drive to the LaCie Disk
2. boot from drive with LaCieEDdiskRestore-4HDD_5.0_no_pdf.iso image
This image will...
format the first drive
create a base partition with the embedded Windows XP
then format the remaining drives

Netgear FVS124G VPN Routers - UGLY!
Even with the latest firmware, these routers frequently lose their configuration. Not reliable!

Netgear GSM7324 - High failure rate - BAD!
Because of its price point, we initially deployed many of these. Within 2 years, we had a 50% failure rate.

Companies that rely on user forums for customer support - BAD and UGLY!

Netgear WG102 Wireless Access Points - GOOD!
Only occasionally have issues. Overall a good product and good value; especially when paired with Netgear's unmanaged PoE switches.

From My Perch.... Humorous Observations AND....

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While driving the other day, a car passed by with a cone stuck between the front wheels. The driver was oblivious to the noise it made......

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A few years ago, I went to the DMV to renew my license. At the counter, you have to present your paperwork to the attendant and then the attendant administers the eye test.
The attendant told the man in front of me to look into the eye test machine and read line 5. The man stepped up, placed his face against the viewer..... about a minute of total silence passed and then attendant said "Out Loud!". The man then read the letters so that the attendant could also hear them.

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The toilet paper in the restroom of our data center is made by Kimberly-Clarke.
The roll is labeled "Professional Grade".

Wonder what the career track is for this...

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Words That I Like:
'kleptocracy' - heard on the Dennis Miller show
'annoising' - used by my wife to describe someone loud and annoying


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Things I Do Not Like:
The phrase "It's only business" is NOT acceptible when you are a small business!

The Cats.....

It all began rather innocently years ago. Our dog had recently passed. A mother cat had given birth in our garage. We captured the three kittens. One was turned into the Humane Society, one managed to escape and one we kept. Kiki became the first.

During nightly exercise walks, we noticed and then later, began to feed the stray cats we encountered. One thing led to another and we became involved in the Feral Cat program. We assist with capturing stray cats and having them neutered. And we feed them of course.

M&M was one of the tiniest strays. She looks sort of like a miniature Puma. M&M became the second.

One day this large striped dopey cat showed up at our feeding area. Extremely friendly, cuddly and just a rag doll of a cat. Paws is just such a carefree guy. He likes to slam into your legs to let you know he is there ready wanting affection. We were concerned that his easy acceptance of strangers and his dopiness would be his downfall, so Paws became number three.

M&M has a brother - all black, slightly cross-eyed and knock-kneed rear legs. He is very skittish and untrusting. As such, he tends to run without looking. One day he was struck by a car. At the time, the damage looked to be a dislocated rear leg. Over weeks, he recovered somewhat and when we were able to catch him, he became number four.

All the while, another cat kept coming to to our house - he had decided to adopt us. He was just a monster grey and white cat. He had a 'take no crap' attitude. For a few years he lived outside and I am not sure when it happened and I'm not sure I know what number he is. But once he came inside, he quickly became my wife's protector and constant companion. While Peeno took over the bedroom, the others were relocated to the lanai. Peeno never played well with others.

The lanai is a very nice cat play land. Lots of places to hide and play. Protected from the weather yet open enough to watch the surroundings.

These days diabetes has robbed Peeno of his muscle tone and of his 'take no crap' attitude.

We love them all and are happy that they've all become part of our family.

Current Events

I feel that I should post some comments just so that my views can judged in the future.....

- The Bailout; it seems that no one just took the time to consider what would happen if the government did nothing.... it took three attempts at the bailout bill, it grew from 3 pages to over 450 pages, and during that passage of time, the public sector began handling the situation. And what did we get with this bill? An incredible amount of debt and more pork! Has anyone considered who will need the next handout?! GM?

Addendum (10/6/08): President Bush explaining today's drop in the stock market - [paraphrasing:] we passed the bill, but we still need to figure out how to implement it...

Addendum (10/11/08): GM is now looking for a bailout or a buyout. Poor senior management!

- Automakers; every decade since the 1970s, we've faced a gas crisis. We've watched the price of oil steadily increase for decades! To date, none of the US automakers has stepped up to bring an gas-alternative to the marketplace. Why is it that Toyota can engineer the most prominent hybrid vehicle and the rest of the automakers have not stepped up? More and more SUVs continue to roll off the production lines. It just makes no sense! It cannot be said that we suffer from a a lack of engineering skills - we humans, have the capability to overcome any technical obstacle - it comes down to purely a lack of desire to address this. But, it's not just the US automakers who we should blame. With the success of the Prius, logic would lead us to expect that Nissan or Mazda would have developed their own hybrid also. Not so though. This train of thought now leads me back to bailouts. Mark these words.... GM needs to re-tool a plant to produce their new Volt electric vehicle. I suspect that soon there will be talk of an assistance package to GM to do so.

Addendum (10/7/08): Tesla motors seems to be on the right track; I hope they can translate their technical success into a vehicle for the common people.

Technology: My Background

I've been doing all of this technology stuff for many years (yes, that gives me the right to call it stuff). I've always tended to be the technical 'go to' guy. Often, I developed new products at the 'bleeding edge' of technology - but it always seemed to work out. I think this comes from my perspective that there is usually real solution to a technical problem; it's just a matter of pushing through the obstacles. Isn't this what also makes the work fun? The challenge makes work interesting and rewarding. I pity people who just go through the motions at their jobs. There needs to be a passion and fulfillment in your career - otherwise, why do it?

The Opening....

The idea of blogging is something that has taken me some time to embrace. I see it as being akin to keeping a journal or diary. And that, like exercise, requires dedication and commitment. We shall see how I will do at this, over the long run. I have no expectation that my voice will sound louder than another voice; mine is but one of a multitude.

I intend to use this blog to present topics and discussions which are important to me and to present information which may be useful to others.... In some cases, I will most likely, say something which will put off others. But, keep in mind that this are my views, my experiences, my thoughts and not someone else's. We are all different and our differences are brought about by our own life's experiences. So, that is it.....

And in case you are wondering, the blog is named for Peeno, our diabetic cat.