Well, I'm now in Florida moving those servers that I told you about previously. This whole thing went smoother than we ever thought it would. In fact it looks like we'll be done way early. The servers are in place, configured and seem to be working. There are a few issues that we need to take care of in the morning, but other than that we're done and this was a very successful trip. We planned the extra day just in case something went wrong. Since we're not leaving till Saturday, when we're done working tomorrow we are going to hit the beaches and one of the IT guys in Melbourne is taking us sailing tomorrow afternoon. Then on Saturday we'll hit the Disney parks before we fly back on Saturday night.
You gotta love Spring break in Florida. The weather is perfect. It's sunny but not hot or humid yet (although today had a bit of humidity) . (Funny thing - as I wrote this we just has a brief thunderstorm roll through, the first since we've been here) The only problem is that everyone wants to gouge you. We tried to get a hotel in Melbourne where we're working, the problem is that with spring break, all the hotels near the beach have tripled their prices and sold out of rooms. When making my reservations, I waded through 5 pages of sold out hotels before I found one that had a room available. When we drove by it after we got out here, I immediately cancelled the reservation as it was a trashy hotel in a junky part of town. We ended up staying back in Orlando about an hour drive away. I guess I'm used to the hour commute to work in the mornings. We got a very nice Sheraton hotel by the airport in Orlando for much cheaper than the junky hotel in Melbourne by the beach.
Florida drivers are horrible. I felt uncomfortable driving here when Amanda and I were on our honeymoon, but I think they've gotten even worse. Or I guess I've gotten used the LA drivers. Florida drivers - don't signal, just change lanes even if there is no room, will pull out of a driveway right in front of you, run red lights, and drive eratically. You frequently rapidly come upon someone who is going 20 in a 45 or 50 zone - and everyone just swerves around them without looking even if there are cars in the other lane.
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Friday, March 18, 2005
How do they do it?
Long update...Breathe deeply...
How do people normally backup entire computer systems and restore them on different hardware when systems crash? It seems like it would happen all the time. Yet there is neither very many tools to do such a thing, nor wads of documentation to scour on the internet regarding this when things go wrong. It seems that in today's world, it's easier for someone to build a new system from scratch, and then restore any user data on the system from a backup, rather than restore an entire identical system from a backup.
I had the opportunity to do such a thing this week except that the computer didn't crash first. We are moving 4 servers to Florida next month, and we had to build 4 temporary servers to keep operating here in California while the real servers are in transit to Florida. The temporary servers had to be exact copies of the real servers so anyone using them wouldn't know that they were on a different system. If fact the goal is to move the servers without causing any impact. However, to get back to my point, nobody seems to build exact copies of servers on different hardware anymore. It wouldn't be an issue if the temporary servers had identical hardware to the real ones. Since all this has to be done after hours as well, it was a few long days this week. Jeff and I worked 12 hours on Wed, 15 hours on Thurs, and 12 hours Today - and that was only for 4 systems. Even after we did that, there are still some problems with the temporary servers - stuff didn't all copy right or something. But at least the applications seem to be working. And there is overtime $$$ for the extra hours.
On another note, Gas prices seem to creep even higher and Oil has hit a record high of $57 a barrel. This is even after OPEC said they were going to put another 500,000 barrels per day into the market. You'd think that an increase in supply would lower oil prices. But this is a different market now. OPEC no longer has control over the market by their traditional supply/price fixing, profits now are king at the expense of consumers. It seems like we are repeating history. In the past, the end of an oil price boom does not come from an increase in OPEC output to provide a surplus supply, but rather a recession in the oil consuming world. High oil prices cause inflation, which cause rising interest rates and eventually the falling profits and stock markets. Eventually there will be an economic crisis in this or other high demand countries which will slash oil demand and reduce prices to something more in line with what consumers can handle. No oil price boom has ever ended without causing a recession in the oil consumer countries. The real question is how long it will take for this to happen and whether it will be gradual or sudden. In the mean time, I guess I just have to continue to whine and complain about the price at the pump and grumble even more as it goes higher. Bush's plan for exploring the Artic for Oil is good in that it will make us less reliant on OPEC and foreign oil, but it won't do much to end this era of high prices we're in.
I haven't written much about our vacation since we returned. I hope you all enjoyed the pictures. They turned out wonderfully, and Napa is such beautiful country. Of course we visited in the spring when wildflowers were blooming and everything was green for California. We toured several wineries and tasted the different varieties of wine bringing home a number of bottles we just loved. We stated in the cutest Bed and Breakfast that was a historic Victorian mansion. To make it even cuter, they were filming the show "Trading Spaces" at the Bed and Breakfast where they traded with another B&B to redo one room. On our way home we traveled through San Francisco, and on down HWY 1 along the coast. That is a stunning drive if you've never done it before. I could go on and on for hours about the trip, but I put it better in speech rather than in print.
How do people normally backup entire computer systems and restore them on different hardware when systems crash? It seems like it would happen all the time. Yet there is neither very many tools to do such a thing, nor wads of documentation to scour on the internet regarding this when things go wrong. It seems that in today's world, it's easier for someone to build a new system from scratch, and then restore any user data on the system from a backup, rather than restore an entire identical system from a backup.
I had the opportunity to do such a thing this week except that the computer didn't crash first. We are moving 4 servers to Florida next month, and we had to build 4 temporary servers to keep operating here in California while the real servers are in transit to Florida. The temporary servers had to be exact copies of the real servers so anyone using them wouldn't know that they were on a different system. If fact the goal is to move the servers without causing any impact. However, to get back to my point, nobody seems to build exact copies of servers on different hardware anymore. It wouldn't be an issue if the temporary servers had identical hardware to the real ones. Since all this has to be done after hours as well, it was a few long days this week. Jeff and I worked 12 hours on Wed, 15 hours on Thurs, and 12 hours Today - and that was only for 4 systems. Even after we did that, there are still some problems with the temporary servers - stuff didn't all copy right or something. But at least the applications seem to be working. And there is overtime $$$ for the extra hours.
On another note, Gas prices seem to creep even higher and Oil has hit a record high of $57 a barrel. This is even after OPEC said they were going to put another 500,000 barrels per day into the market. You'd think that an increase in supply would lower oil prices. But this is a different market now. OPEC no longer has control over the market by their traditional supply/price fixing, profits now are king at the expense of consumers. It seems like we are repeating history. In the past, the end of an oil price boom does not come from an increase in OPEC output to provide a surplus supply, but rather a recession in the oil consuming world. High oil prices cause inflation, which cause rising interest rates and eventually the falling profits and stock markets. Eventually there will be an economic crisis in this or other high demand countries which will slash oil demand and reduce prices to something more in line with what consumers can handle. No oil price boom has ever ended without causing a recession in the oil consumer countries. The real question is how long it will take for this to happen and whether it will be gradual or sudden. In the mean time, I guess I just have to continue to whine and complain about the price at the pump and grumble even more as it goes higher. Bush's plan for exploring the Artic for Oil is good in that it will make us less reliant on OPEC and foreign oil, but it won't do much to end this era of high prices we're in.
I haven't written much about our vacation since we returned. I hope you all enjoyed the pictures. They turned out wonderfully, and Napa is such beautiful country. Of course we visited in the spring when wildflowers were blooming and everything was green for California. We toured several wineries and tasted the different varieties of wine bringing home a number of bottles we just loved. We stated in the cutest Bed and Breakfast that was a historic Victorian mansion. To make it even cuter, they were filming the show "Trading Spaces" at the Bed and Breakfast where they traded with another B&B to redo one room. On our way home we traveled through San Francisco, and on down HWY 1 along the coast. That is a stunning drive if you've never done it before. I could go on and on for hours about the trip, but I put it better in speech rather than in print.
Sunday, March 13, 2005
Napa Pictures
We just returned from our vacation to Napa. I'll post more about it later, but in the mean time, you can view our pictures here.
Monday, March 07, 2005
Happy Birthday to Me!
Wow, I'm old. I'm off to enjoy my Bday at Disneyland and whatever else Amanda has planned. What a way to start a week of vacation!
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
I hate the msn homepage
I've used the MSN.com webpage as my browser homepage for years. I always enjoy the articles they post usually creating some sort of diversion as I'm online. However, I absolutely hate the new re-designed page. The msn search dialog now steals my curser as soon as the page is fully loaded. It doesn't matter if I've already typed in half of an address in my address bar or in the google toolbar. When the msn page fully loads my curser automatically gets put in the msn search dialog. This nearly always causes me to have to re-type whatever I had been previously typing in another place. Also it seems like most of the links now go to video news stories. I don't want to click on links when I first open a web browser to watch some news video where I have to first watch a 30 sec ad. I click on links because a headline looked interesting, and I want to quickly see what the story is all about. You can't do that with video. I've gotten to the point now where as soon as I click on a link and see it's a video, I hit the back button and don't waste my time.
So I'm going to switch browser homepages now. Any suggestions on what I should use as my new homepage? I already have the google toolbar so I don't need google as my homepage. about:blank also doesn't do anything for me. It's got to be something interesting. That's why I previously liked msn. The page loaded fast, there were always interesting headlines, and they were constantly changing. Suggestions?
So I'm going to switch browser homepages now. Any suggestions on what I should use as my new homepage? I already have the google toolbar so I don't need google as my homepage. about:blank also doesn't do anything for me. It's got to be something interesting. That's why I previously liked msn. The page loaded fast, there were always interesting headlines, and they were constantly changing. Suggestions?
And they're still rising
Gas today was at $2.19 and word is 'still rising'. When is it ever going to stop? Is anyone else as PO'd about this as I am? When can we return to the good old days. I remember one occasion when gas reached 88 cents a gallon while I was at Biola - an entire trip to northern california and back for $22. Then I was whining and screaming when it hit $1.60. Now the oil companies are just pocketing the increases. And to think that the forcasts are for $2.50+ this summer...
On a better note, Amanda and I are going to be enjoying a nice vacation in Napa next week. I get to enjoy my birthday and a week off of work at the same time. Can you believe that I'm really going to be 27 next week? Geez...I really am an old fart. Well, Amanda's grandma has given us several bed and breakfast gift certificates as gifts in the past. We're finally using them, and this is going to be a wonderful vacation.
Also I hear good news on Amanda job front, but I'll leave her to tell all.
Well, I'm off to study now and then work out. Operating Systems here I come.
On a better note, Amanda and I are going to be enjoying a nice vacation in Napa next week. I get to enjoy my birthday and a week off of work at the same time. Can you believe that I'm really going to be 27 next week? Geez...I really am an old fart. Well, Amanda's grandma has given us several bed and breakfast gift certificates as gifts in the past. We're finally using them, and this is going to be a wonderful vacation.
Also I hear good news on Amanda job front, but I'll leave her to tell all.
Well, I'm off to study now and then work out. Operating Systems here I come.
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