andylockran’s blog

Load Balancing Services on CentOS

Posted by Andy under CentOS, Linux, Projects, Tech Geek

This documentation shows how to us ipvsadm to create load-balanced services on CentOS that are capable of handling over 8 million concurrent connections in 1GB of memory. It’s possible to use this to load-balance any service. However, this doesn’t take into account data-syncronisation issues you may incur. For this you’ll need to set up Networked File Systems and Database replication (maybe coming soon).

Instructions for CentOS 5 (with ip_vs loaded in kernel as module).

Load ip_vs module

modprove ip_vs

Install ipvsadm

yum install ipvsadm

Run the following commands on the commandline and test them by visiting the $(external_ip) address in your browser.

ipvsadm -A -t $(external_ip):$(port) -s rr -p $(timeout_in_seconds)
ipvsadm -a -t $(external_ip):$(port) -r $(nat_ip_real_server1):$(port)
-m -w $(weight) [ example = 1 ]
ipvsadm -a -t $(external_ip):$(port) -r $(nat_ip_real_server2):$(port)
-m -w $(weight) [ example = 1 ]

Once you’re confident they’re set right.  run:

ipvsadm –save

This will output the config file to the screen.  Copy that into /etc/sysconfig/ipvsadm.

nano /etc/sysconfig/ipvsadm

Restart ipvsadm

/etc/init.d/ipvsadm restart

Test the sites.

Make module & config persistent @ boot time:

echo modprobe ip_vs >> /etc/rc.modules
chmod +x /etc/rc.modules
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!! /etc/rc.modules is used instead !!
!! of rc.local as it loads earlier !!!!!!!!!
!! in the boot process.!!               !!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

chkconfig –add ipvsadm

Done

Open Source @ Construction Company

Posted by Andy under Birmingham, Control, Digital Freedom, Freedom, Linux, Marketing, Microsoft, Projects, SBLUG Planet, Software, Tech Geek, Ubuntu

Over the past few weeks I’ve been helping my Uncle out by setting up a few computers for him. He wanted a laptop to take out ‘on-site’ - and a Desktop for a new employee.

Unfortunately, the ASUS eee901 is not yet available, and the 7″ series is slightly too small for his perceived ‘on-site’ usage, so he ended up getting a Toshiba Laptop and HP Desktop - both running Windows Vista (against my advice).

So, three weeks on, he’s not happy with Vista at all. Having already spent a fair bit of cash on the two machines, he was little disappointed that some ‘core software’ (his term) was still not installed. The new “Live Mail” application was also far too complicated compared to his Outlook Express - the change in UI wasn’t welcome.

So, I installed Mozilla Thunderbird onto both computers, and OpenOffice.org. I do have to admit to setting the default file-format to Windows 97/XP/2003 formats though (.doc, .xls and .ppt). I’d like to not do this, but for simplicities sake when dealing with clients - it was the easier option.

Aside from running the proprietary accounts software “Foundation Evolution” - I’ve got the company running on a very open-’saucy’ setup. The best thing about it has been the change in attitude towards the software since originally buying the PCs. After initially thinking that my enthusiasm for the ASUS eee was due to the Linux OS on it - it seems likely that when the 9″ series come out, that will be an addition to the “Construction Computing Team”.

The best new was though that I received a call this morning asking me how to install OpenOffice.org on all of the computers and get rid of MS Office & install Thunderbird on all the machines. With the old setup, there would have been a training overhead in having to run different versions of the same software on all four PCs - however, with the Open Source Setup, all the computers, despite being purchased at different times, can run the same software - giving the users the opportunity to use the computers to help run the business, rather than having to work out how to use that particular version of the program.

Smile

Free Software - Who benefits?

Posted by Andy under Birmingham, Digital Freedom, Freedom, Linux, Marketing, Microsoft, Projects, SBLUG Planet, Software, Tech Geek, Ubuntu

I’ve been thinking alot recently about the power of free software and how it could be put to better use to innovate in companies.  At the moment, most of it is used to replace old proprietary blobs around offices, and has very much the same components as the old system - only cheaper.

However, with free software there are many more benefits that just being cheaper than paying for a legacy software license for things like file storage and printer servers.  There are many cases when I look at small/medium sized companies and see how their entire business model could benefit from adopting an Open Source system as the backbone to what their business does.

In the past, IT has been a tool which allows businesses to go about their business - only recently has it actually become the business of businesses.  It’s a shame though, because as more and more businesses sell services based on free software - in essence it becomes standard customised solutions at a slight discount to the client, and without licensing overheads for the vendor.

What I’d like to see is the promotion of open source and open standards, and the ability for as much software to work in tandem with other stuff.  There’s a heck of a lot of quality free software out there that companies should be able to utilise.  Rather than simply provide free software on a plate, efforts should be made to educate the users on what exactly they are getting.  How extensible the packages are and how to utilise them to their greatest benefit.

I don’t know how other people feel, but setting up a new company legally incurs some costs - and when you add MS licenses to the mix, for just a single PC, it can double the cost.  I’ve recently set up a business who’d just bought a couple of new PCs.  They both came with Vista (laptop and Desktop).  I’ve been runnning purely Open Source Software on those two PCs for the company (aside from Vista) - and they’re very happy with all the software, it does exactly what they need.  The next step is for me to speed them up, by switching them over to ubuntu.  I can see this happening within the next six months.  However, I’ll also leave 1 Windows XP machine intact, so they can use it for remote-desktop connection for running some legacy software.

Neat!

BBC Click! Online - Build a PC using Free Software

Posted by Andy under BBC, Debian, Digital Freedom, Facebook, Freedom, Gentoo, Linux, Marketing, Microsoft, Political, Projects, SBLUG Planet, Software, Sun, Tech Geek, Ubuntu

BBC Click! Online - Watch the Show

Ok, so they ‘bend’ RMS’s definition of ‘free’ software in some places - but it’s still a fantastic 25 minute program for John Doe.

Enjoy!

OLPC - Is advocacy a profitable business model?

Posted by Andy under Africa, BBC, BECTA, Conspiracy Theory, Debian, Digital Freedom, Freedom, Linux, Marketing, Microsoft, Personal, Political, Projects, Python, SBLUG Planet, Software, Tech Geek, Ubuntu

Having just read Rory Cellan-Jones article on the BBC News Website about the OLPC choosing to use the Windows XP operating system, I felt it sensible to put forward the reasons why I think it may/may not be a bad thing, and who’s going to benefit from the deal.

Education versus Training

Unfortunately, I think the UK IT Education System passed under this bridge so far up river, that it would require getting out of the river, and a hard trek upstream to ever get back to fixing the problem.  Since 1997 (the year I started secondary school, and the year the Labour government came into power), there has been a worrying trend toward using the education system as a training system.  I enjoyed my first couple of years IT lessons - we played with things like Logo - and used some very simple database software (key-plus?) to understand the power of databases.  We also used MS Excel to enter data into spreadsheets, and learn some basic formulae - as well as being told how to write the same formulae on the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet software I had at home.

The difference that occurred in Year 9 (when RM ‘upgraded’ the IT suite at school) - was that we were now using MS Office.  Sure, we’d had Word and Excel on the PCs before, and I guess the financial costs of upgrading to Office rather than having the two separately are minimal, especially once you take into account the “educational discount” that schools are entitled to from Microsoft.

This meant that everything we did was MS based.  The simple database has gone, we were using MS Access.  In essence, IT lessons involved being trained in how to use basic productivity tools for our future office careers; which, in my opinion, is not something that the Education System should pay for.  I’d prefer to see people have an understanding of the difference between the ‘web’ and ‘email’;  the difference between what a Spreadsheet can accomplish in comparison with a Database; and hopefully a way for people to be taught on looking after their data, online and offline.
Advocacy as a Business Model

I recently watched a lecture given by Nicolas Negroponte in 1984.  In it he discussed his ideas for the future of Computer Interfaces.  It was an interesting talk, as he spoke about experiments he was doing in some African Countries on UI design.  However, he also noted that he’d done a dry-run of these experiments in New York previous to heading out to the African Continent.

In the school in New York, there was a child of around 14.  He didn’t know how to read and was seen as needing Special Needs treatment.  However, he was simply left to fend for himself in the IT rooms.  One of the days, a local council worker came to visit the school, and happened to notice this child in the library, so asked him what he was doing.  He showed him what he’d created on the screen using the ‘LOGO’ program.  The council visitor was suitably impressed, and asked him if he could do a little variation on his work.  Rather than simply say ‘no - I don’t know how,’ the child reached for the manual, worked out how to do it - and did it - clearly pleasing the visitor.

The visitor then went to the Principle’s Office (his reason for attending the school in the first place) and happened to mention the child.  The principle was certain that the visitor was the victim of some kind of ’set-up,’ therefore took the visitor down himself to see the child demo his abilities.  Lo and behold the child was able to do a further variation on his work by looking through the manual.

When asked why the child could read the manual, yet could not read the books provided to him in class, his answer was akin to the following: “What the teachers give me in class is boring, and I don’t get anything out of it.  However, when I’m on the computer and working, I can see the results of my efforts straight away and get rewarded for them.”

OLPC - Sugar UI

The Sugar UI for the OLPC project, for me, was a symbol of the ‘LOGO’ program for this child.  Someone that the teachers has written off as a massive underachiever had been able to produce ingenuity and learning independently - given the resources to do it.  Encouragement wasn’t necessary, as the learning process is something organic to the human mind.

The Sugar UI isn’t about being Free and Open Source (thus cheap) - it’s about so much more than that.  However, it’s also not the be-all and end-all of the OLPC project.  There are thousands of Open Source applications that can run on top of Windows XP that the OLPC users will be able to access.  It will also open up their opportunities for developing for FLOSS software on Windows Desktops - and thus be able to access the Windows Market in developed countries.

Why did OLPC do the deal?

For those of you that have been following OLPC, you’ll know that the ‘Intel Classmate’ has played some underhand tactics in order to get their processor on the OLPC - and then pulled out once they’d hijacked the relationships that OLPC had with important African leaders.  There’s so much corruption in Africa, that XP was probably an (unofficial/off the record) requirement.  Sometimes you’ve got to get in bed with the bad guys to help the small guys.

Where does this leave OLPC in the future?

OLPC ‘Ltd.’ will always be the pioneers to the concept of OLPC.  The aim is a noble one, yet in what is essentially a commercial market - pure advocacy fell to the power of multi-national marketing.  However, it has opened up a new market in the developed countries too - of Ultra Mobile Personal Computers - many of which run Free / Open Source Software.  This can only be a good thing in the long run, with more and more people using FLOSS and seeing the benefits.  Coupled with the coming-of-age of Ubuntu, and the fantastic marketing effort that’s coming with that, Nicolas Negroponte can be confident that where his company may have compromised - his idea is still being pushed by those supporting him.

Rest in Peace Guido

Posted by Andy under Africa, Digital Freedom, Freedom, Linux, Microsoft, Personal, Projects, Tech Geek, Ubuntu

What a surreal experience.

This morning, I logged into Google Webmaster tools to check what people have been searching for when accessing my blog. One item stood out more than others.

Guido Sohne facebook

Guido Sohne has only been mentioned in my blog once, on an article he wrote entitled “Things have gone too far.” I guess in some ways this article is part of what inspires me to work with ‘free software.’

Guido’s philosophy re: free software

After clicking on the link on google to see whereabouts I came in the rankings, I was shocked to see that Guido has unfortunately passed away, 6 days ago aged only 34.

Rest in Peace Guido.

Obituary of a friend.

When should an application be a protocol?

Posted by Andy under Control, Digital Freedom, Freedom, Marketing, Political, Projects, SBLUG Planet, Software, Tech Geek, Ubuntu, twitter

I’m not sure whether it’s because I’m becoming more immersed technically in technology, rather than ‘functionally’ as I was previously, but it appears as though issues at the political level are clouding achievements at the technical level.

Zeth has posted before on a Social Networking protocol. That is to say that applications such as facebook, myspace and bebo share alot of similar datafields. Standardising these global fields and setting up a new social networking protocol would allow greater freedom of data-sharing, and enable more powerful “mash-ups” of data.

Tim Berners-Lee’s book, “Weaving the Web” (which I am currently reading) is opening my eyes to just how self-deprecating his work has been. Not only would his work have normally afforded him a very wealthy lifestyle should he have chosen to ‘close’ the development of the project and put restrictions on his work - but he actively encouraged other people to benefit from his work - even when the way in which they were taking his idea was contrary to his own.

Now, nearly twenty years after the ‘World Wide Web’ started to gain momentum into something recognisable as what we use today, we’ve not yet got to a point which has fulfilled Berners-Lee’s vision. He envisaged an open mine of information and collaboration. Wikified browsers were the original intention - where collaboration and editing was a key as browsing.

Another example of a good application that would work better as a protocol is twitter. I think the reason most people don’t get twitter is that in essence its just an RSS feed. Today, paulbradshaw suggested that there be a twitter feed created purely for football scores - not chatter, just results. An RSS feed would have the same functionality - but a different interface.

In the same way that programmers have now begun to separate the content from the design with the advent of Content Management Systems and ‘Blogs - so should things like twitter be more transparent about the platform on which it is built. RSS is expandable and usable - twitter has released an open API to allow integration and collaboration - yet it’s still hindered by having a Central Point of Control. The initial design of the Web implied there was no central point necessary. By manufacturing applications and functions so that a central point is necessary is to lose part of the magic and scalability of the Web.

Who reads blogs?

Posted by Andy under BBC, Birmingham, CentOS, Chaos, Control, Debian, Digital Freedom, Freedom, Gentoo, Linux, Marketing, PCI DSS, Personal, Political, Projects, Python, SBLUG Planet, Software, Stupid, Tech Geek, Ubuntu, openLDAP

I was having a discussion with a few mates in the pub this evening about my blogging ‘antics.’ They’ve berated me for blogging before, but as it’s becoming more and more widespread I can see them getting more interested in my motivations for ‘blogging.’

One of the friends commented that it was purely the fact that he knew me that made the blog interesting. For someone that didn’t know me, the blog would be pretty dull and of no consequence. At this point, another chipped in saying - “Only bloggers read blogs.” Is this true? I don’t know, but I don’t think so.

My motivation for starting the blog was that it was a place where I could share my technical insights. Not profound insights such as the advent of structural-object-abstract programming methods that I’ve just decided are going to be the Web 3.0 - but short howto’s and the like, and to publish a few ‘Gotchas’ - problems that have few symptoms and a nice easy solution - but take hours of work to solve. I blog advice - There’s nothing quite comparable experience.

(un)Fortunately, which ever way you personally look at it - my blogging has branched out to cover all sorts of things. From the time when some guy smashed the window of my car, to re-living and walking through my car accident in 1999, to a short article on why to avoid Red Hat’s bundled openLDAP implementation because it’s crap.

I think it’s an interesting concept, for non-bloggers and bloggers alike. Who reads blogs? If you have a regular commentator on your blog, do you add him to your blogroll as a thanks for lifting your self-esteem by having him visit your blog? Do you think you have a regular readership, or just random visitors popping in and out after being directed from Google?

I don’t think it’s a negative thing that bloggers read blogs. It’s great. From the attendance at the spontaneous meet-up last Friday, it’s clear to me that there’s a nice little community of bloggers in Birmingham. However, this is a meeting of a cross-section of the readership who it’s worth meeting face-to-face in order to better your own blog.

Is blogging journalism? Is it art? Is it a cry for help from some pathetic moron wanting to share his story with the world? Is it ‘new media’? Does it matter?

I blog tech because I think some people read it and it helps them - and also as an easy reference for me. I blog ‘about me’ as a way to vent some thoughts and get some feedback from an audience who I think would be interested. This audience is dynamic, therefore I categorise my posts different to respect that.

When doing my Psychology degree, one of the things we covered was ‘online personalities and freedom of information.’ This blog is in the public domain. If it were a diary, having it leaked would immediately bring headlines of ’scandal and gossip.’ My blog is sort of a base for my online identity. ‘andylockran’ lives here. I happen to pop up on a mailing list or a forum or IRC and you want to know more about me. Much of it is here. It’s a bit like ‘CV 2.0.’ The web is my field - if I don’t market myself well on the web, how the hell can I expect anyone to be able to trust me to market their products on the web?

The best thing about it for me is the feedback, both positive and negative. Setting up a blog exposes you to both - and it gives you the opportunity to have a voice.

Quick Update

Posted by Andy under Digital Freedom, Freedom, Ingots, Linux, Marketing, Microsoft, Projects, Software, Ubuntu, Update, twitter

OOXML

Unfortunately last Wednesday, MS (n)OOXML was fast-tracked to becoming an ISO standard.  There’s alot of controversy in the geek-world about this decision (and rightly so) - but it’s something we’re all probably going to have to live with.  Check out Zeth’s Article for a succinct and simple analysis of the issues.

Birmingham Bloggers

In what started out as an offer of some free hosting, I’ve now helped shockhead (Pete Lewis) set up a few Brummie related IT ’solutions’.   The biggest one is currently up at http://dev.zrmt.com.  Thanks to Paul Bradshaw, we shall soon be setting up a permanent home @ http://planet.birminghambloggers.com.

There’s alot of Brummie stuff I’ve been made aware of this week, thanks to the repercussions from a Bloggers Meeting earlier in the week.

We also have an IRC chatroom @ ##brum on irc.freenode.net.. and a nice non-geeky web-frontend at http://dev.zrmt.com/brumspace.html.  For non-geeks, this is basically a 90’s style chatroom.  My nickname (handle) is andylockran… I bet you wouldn’t have guessed.

LNMF.info

In tragic circumstances in December 2006, a good friend’s mother was killed in a freak horde-riding accident.  However, so that her memory may live on, a fund was set up in her name, and a number of fantastic projects have been run in order to build a boarding chool in Bidar Province, India.  I’ve set up a WebSite to keep people up to date about what’s happening with the project, and it’s coming very close to completion.  It works well in firefox and opera (and IE7).. but I’ve had some issues with IE6 and Safari.  Please check it out (and pass me feedback on how it works in your browser to andy@SPAMTRAPlnmf.info).

Make IT Modular 

I’ve been doing a bit of charity work recently, and wanted to share a bit of advice that I think is pretty generic to Charities and Small to Medium Business.  One things I am passionate about (with my geek hat on) is Open Standards.  I hopefully aim the articles at a more general end-user.

The article is part of an ongoing collection of blog-style articles that are presented in a more professional way than this blog.  I often find I’m repeating the same message in lots of emails - so it’ll hopefully become a useful resource that I can point clients/charities to.

Ingots 

Now that this blog is reaching a bigger demographic - I urge the new readers to take 5 minutes out of their day to have a look at the Ingots.  If you thought that the ECDL was the only computer qualification worth having - this one could be right up your street.  The INGOTs stand for InterNational Grades in Office Technology - and are the brainchild of a Tamworth based company.  Big up the West Midlands!

Twitter

Twitters proven to be a nice way of breaking up the day.  It’s nice to see some random stuff pop up now and again.  It’s amusing to see the ramblings of loudmouthman and his Humphrey Littleton-esque style departings.  Also the collaborative book review by paulbradshaw et al. I though to be a neat little idea.

Documentation

I’ve been working on lots of documentation this week and my head hurts.  I need sympathy.

Devolo HomePlug

Posted by Andy under Digital Freedom, Funny, Marketing, Projects, Stupid, Tech Geek

Once in a while there is a fairly new and inventive solution to an old problem.

First we had networks.. then we had wireless networks.. and now we have wireless wired networks?

Ok, they’re not technically wireless - but install of having a central wireless access point in the centre of your home, you can now buy the Devolo HomePlug - and have networking points wherever you have electricity.

You see, electricity flows through your power cables at a certain frequency. The HomePlug sends your data through the wires at a different frequency. It’s quite simple really.

Anyway, you can but 14Mbps to 200+Mbps adapters for the HomePlug - and it’s n open standard, so you don’t need to just buy from devolo.

They also have wireless plugs, so instead of the plug interfacing to a network connection on your PC/laptop - you can plug in a devolo wireless homeplug adapter and get a low-range wireless base in your house too.

However, they are pretty expensive ~£80 for 2. They’re also very addictive. So much better than wifi that soon you’ll be buying them for all you computers (like I did…)

Oh well.. the more we buy the more the price will start to drop.. right?

So BUY!!!