Technology

There are 44 posts filed in Technology (this is page 5 of 5).

home router replaced!

I finally decided to replace my FreeBSD-based Sun Ultra 10-based home router. There were a couple of reasons for this:

  1. I was running FreeBSD 5.x, which meant that the keyboard wouldn’t work — I could only control the system remotely over SSH or through a serial console. This was fixed in later versions of FreeBSD 5.x but I didn’t want to bother upgrading, since the box isn’t the fastest machine
  2. Using a desktop workstation for routing and running ppp consumes more power than it’s worth, and makes a fair amount of noise
  3. Using an 400 MHz UltraSparc III-based workstation with 512 MB of ECC RAM for a simple firewall and router seemed like a bit of overkill 🙂
  4. I want to free up the Ultra 10 for testing out Solaris 10 and possibly upgrading my Solaris 9 SCSA designation.
  5. I want to (finally!) equip my home with wireless… yes, I’m a little late getting on the bandwagon.

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a few changes…

I’ve decided to give up my consulting practice. It’s too hard to do consulting and hold down a full-time job, so I’ve decided that for now, the full-time job trumps consulting. OpenTrend will still continue to exist, as my business partner Rob has bought me out, and I think he’s bringing additional people on board. So I would continue to recommend OpenTrend for your open-source consulting needs. My last day with OpenTrend is October 31st, 2005.

The latest project I’ve been working on at $DAYJOB is rolling out an implementation of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9, all managed with ZENworks Linux Management (ZLM). Originally, we were sold ZLM 6.6.1, which is partly cobbled together from some stuff that SUSE AG did, and also partly cobbled together from Ximian’s Red Carpet. Sadly, this shows; there are a few things that don’t work quite right, bundled with some serious show-stopper bugs.

We’re a Novell shop, though, so I’m currently evaluating ZENworks Linux Management 7, which is a complete rewrite. I’ll keep you all posted on how that pans out!

[belated] report from BSDCan 2004

I attended BSDCan 2004 last month and I’ve been remiss in not speaking about it. In my view it is an example of a conference “done right”. Here’s why:

  • Inexpensive (registration fees were $150)
  • Excellent speakers
  • Good crowd, from developers to administrators to plain old users and students

There’s really not much more than that to ask for at a conference. Lots of FreeBSD developers attended; among them, Wes Peters, Robert Watson, Poul-Henning Kamp, Jacques Vidrine, and so on. It just proves that you don’t need to charge an arm and a leg to demonstrate how “professional” your conferences are, or to attract quality speakers.

The full text of all the papers presented is here.