JTS

As part of one of our data integration projects, we were asked to process some web form data through a third party webservice. The web form was built in PHP, and our standard PHP webservice library has always been to use NuSOAP tool kit (http://sourceforge.net/projects/nusoap/). It has always been easier to deal with and integrate and diverse hosting platforms, that is, up until this past project.

Read More

We’ve recently moved a large client from an ill performing “Virtual Private Server” hosting provider to a more robust solution at a different vendor. We came up with a generic questionnaire to help future clients plan for a move/new system.

1.) What are your needs? Is it a new deployment or are you dissatisfied with your current hosting provider and are looking for something better? They will directly affect your costs, in both startup costs and the potential downtime you will have if you are currently a site. Migration involves, coordinating downtime with customers, moving mail servers, updating database servers on the new server during a move, ensure mail is working on the new server, setting up the new VPS so it is configured like the previous, etc. Its sometimes easier to hire someone that does this on a regular basis.

2.) Does scalability matter? Do you see yourself needing either dedicated hardware and/or a higher rated VPS solution in the future? Make sure the new VPS company has that ability. Is the storage on the server large enough now AND for the future. Some VPS hosting providers force you to move to a new server, if you run out of room.

Do you see yourself needing dedicated hardware in the future? Does the vendor maintain dedicated servers, thereby easing the move down the road?

Read More

From Wikipedia , Cloud computing is described as:

Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand, like the electricity grid.

When you are purchasing hosting from a hosting company, beware that the term “Cloud” may be mis-used and may not be what you think it is!

Read More

If you run a linux site that is exposed to the internet, check the /var/log/auth.log or /var/log/secure log files. Chances are you’ll see a bunch of ‘ Failed password for user ‘ attacks on your site.

Read More

I recently was having horrible download rates on some VMWare ubuntu images that are hosted on a beefy Win7 box.

Read More

Upgrade time for an older storage server (really a workstation), running Ubuntu 10.04. The old workstation did not have any Sata controllers in it, so I had to install a new MASSCOOL XWT-RC018 run-of-the-mill PCI Sata controller. Popped in two brand new Samsung Spinpoing 1 TB drives (SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM) and started to setup Software raid-1 in Ubuntu.

Read More

A recent upgrade to a new Ubuntu server version, caused my dovecote server to not be happy.   Apparently in my haste, I had kept my old configuration files for Dovecot that had several features replaced or depreciated.  I tried removing the package using “apt-get remove dovecot*”, but my config files were still left behind.

Read More

Recently I worked on a client’s workstation that had a very interesting “infection”. Google internet searches would be redirected to random company websites and the Microsoft Windows Update website refused to load properly.

The client was running Avast and SpyBot (with Tea-Timer). I turned up the detection level in Avast to show exactly what was being scanned and/or retrieved from the internet. Sure enough, I spotted a variety of strange URLs being retrieved, like “rudolfdisney.com”.

Read More