Building The Net

Why nobody cares about Network Neutrality.

In the circles I run in, you can’t go 15 minutes into a conversation without someone bring up Network Neutrality. In my world, it’s a huge deal. And, in my world, there are people on both sides of the issue. If you don’t know what Network Neutrality is, then just pop open your favorite search engine, and type in ‘network neutrality’. You’ll find tons of articles and videos about the subject. All of them asking you to write your elected official, or sign a digital petition. The problem is, for the most part, no one really cares. Sure, there’s a small group of technology people that consider Network Neutrality as one of the most pressing issues of our age, but for the most part, regular folks aren’t getting the message. With so much info available about Network Neutrality from both sides of the issue, you would think people would be all over it.

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My God, can it all be the same?

Seems like most of my job now a days is looking at large systems and isolating problem areas. Things like performance problems, data corruption, or even failure analysis. Many of these systems have several independently managed processes, all tied together in a single forward facing application. Over the years, I’ve developed some methods of approaching system failures and problems that gives me a better chance of quickly evaluating and repairing the issues that plague these systems. I used to believe that these methods were only valid on larger system models, then, one day, a colleague of mine and I were sitting in a small coffee house discussing a problem they were having with one of the desktops they manage. While we exchanged ideas, I suddenly realized that I was using the same mental process on this little desktop as I did with the large cluster systems.

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The end of an Era…

Back in 1999, My company, ACT USA leased a small storefront in Thousand Oaks, CA. At the time, we did just about everything related to business computing. Not only did we service desktops back then, but we also served as a Corporate ISP to many of our customers, with T1s and Frame Relay connections terminating directly to that little facility.

A few months back, the CFO and I started to review our costs, and came to the conclusion, that we no longer needed to host any services locally, and that we could save a fair amount of money relocating to a business / industrial park. So, the hunt was on for a new facility. We managed to locate a new office only five miles from our old storefront that was perfect for our use.

Needless to say, these are exciting times for all of us at ACT USA. New bigger office in a beautiful complex, with a large shop area and room for a classroom! This move however, set into motion the dismantling of our NOC in that office.

See, the only way the move really made sense, was to completely eliminate all outward facing services from the Thousand Oaks NOC. This idea was nothing new, I had started this process almost 5 years ago, but found a few services / customers to be difficult and expensive to move, so I procrastinated. Well, that procrastination ended with the signing of a new lease, and all of a sudden I was faced with unraveling a location that I had personally kept operational 24/7 the last 12 years.

Today, November 18th, 2011, without fan fair or even a whimper… Yes, today, the NOC in Thousand Oaks fell silent. As I reached over and turned off the last router (border1), the sound of absolute silence over whelmed me. I had spent the last 12 years making sure this room stayed noisy, keeping this equipment running. Yes, the last 12 years… Responding to power failures and carrier issues all times of day and night. And now… Silence… How strange… How strange…

Thousand Oaks NOC

Brought On-Line: November 1, 1999

Decommissioned: November 18, 2011

— Stu

Open Source Groupware – The Clear Leader is SOGo:

Some of the early groups of articles I penned on this blog, were comparisons of Open Source Groupware projects. At that time, the only one I could really recommend was eGroupware. Although I still believe eGroupware is a valid contender for your Groupware server, I have discovered a project, that in my opinion is leaps and bounds ahead of the pack. The project is called SOGo.

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S.C.A.L.E is coming! Feb. 19-21!

Sorry to take so long between posts… But I’ve been kinda busy getting ready for The So. Cal Linux Expo, coming up in Los Angeles February 19th through the 21st. This is the premier open source show on the west coast! I’ll be there as the network architect this year, with Mike Maki taking over my position as Tech Committee Chairperson.

This year, we are pushing the envelope by adding IPv6 connectivity network wide. As near as we all can gather, this makes us the first show of this type to provide a dual stack network show wide!

If you are in to opensource, or getting pressure to reduce your IT costs, come enjoy the show! A quick sumary:

• Over 80 exhibitor booths
• Over 100 talks and presentations
• B.O.F. events
• Gatherings and Fun & Games

See their web page for details http://www.socallinuxexpo.org.

Come be a part!

Hope to see you there.

— Stu

Open Source Good, Microsoft Bad…

This seems to be the cry of the hard core Linux and open source community in regards to the next release of Windows. Currently, most of the Linux camps are gearing up for all out war. Being a Linux and Open Source geek, I understand why we all seem to be bracing ourselves for a battle, but I think we might be going over the edge a bit on this one.

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This can’t be right. It’s going to cost $1000.00 just for software?

I must admit, this is quite a surprise, even for me. While pricing a PC for a client, I was shocked when I calculated the total cost of the software that they are required to use for their business.

The cost of software is one of those things that most business owners understand, but very few employees grasp. While there are open source alternatives available for these software packages, chances are that the client will elect to purchase this software, but as always, I’ll sure give him the option to try something different.

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Why do I even try…

As my dad used to say, “Sometimes, the Dragon, he wins…”. For quite a while now, I have been on a mission to try to move my wife over to Open Office. She is a devoted Microsoft user, and runs the only jointly owned PC that has Windows as it’s primary operating system. Now, I’m not a totally anti-Microsoft, and I do believe that a person has the right to use whatever software they like, and are willing to properly license. But I really have a problem with paying for any software license when an equivalent Open Source option is available. I can’t seem to get through to my lovely wife, that Open Office will do all the things she uses MS Office for. The really sad thing, is she won’t even try Open Office. She gets mad if it’s on her PC! And when I ask her why she is against using it, she has the following reasons:

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Is the Internet killing Main Street, or was it already dead?

When I was a kid, I could walk down Las Tunas Blvd. and not go more then 3 store fronts without knowing the the business owner’s names. Well, at least their family names, because back then you called people by their last name, usually preceded by a Mr., Mrs. or Miss.

That’s not to say that there weren’t Super Markets and Department Stores. But you still went down to the corner drug store to get your prescriptions, paper and office supplies were purchased from the local stationary store, and small toy stores and hobby shops were where I would go and dream of all the fun I could have for the price of a months allowance.

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