As a follow up to my first introductory video on using Aperi, I now have a follow-up videocast on how to add storage systems to your Aperi installation. The process is two-stage, first you have to run a discovery process (to find the devices) and then a probe (to find out information about those devices, such as the specific configuration of the SAN).
A new article on scanning your network for information, both in a general device/service level and at a more detailed data level is now available.
Discover how to scan your network for services and how to regularly monitor your services to keep uptimes to a maximum. A key way of ensuring the security of your network is to know what is on your network and what services individual machines are at risk of exposure. Unauthorized services, such as Web servers or file sharing solutions, not only degrade performance, but others can use these services as routes into your network. In this article, learn how to use these same techniques to ensure that genuine services remain available.
Do you know what your users are doing? Do you know how frequently people are using your systems?
As I explain in the intro:
Explore new ways to record UNIX logins and other system activities in a number of different logs, and take advantage of this information to monitor user usage. This can be helpful from a number of perspectives, either to use for chargeback reporting or just to get an idea of how busy and active individual users are on the system to help when planning and allocating resources.
One of the problems with the new servers I've bought is that I'll have to pay for the costs of running them, and we all know that the running costs in terms of electricity are not cheap.
Using lower energy machines (but with the same CPU power) such as the T1000 is one solution, but it's always possible. However, that drive towards low-energy computing is producing some interesting side projects, like the new 1W x86 CPU from VIA. Here are some resources if you want more information:
One of the problems with the new servers I've bought is that I'll have to pay for the costs of running them, and we all know that the running costs in terms of electricity are not cheap.
Using lower energy machines (but with the same CPU power) such as the T1000 is one solution, but it's always possible. However, that drive towards low-energy computing is producing some interesting side projects, like the new 1W x86 CPU from VIA. Here are some resources if you want more information:
Use Secure Shell (SSH) to run commands on remote UNIX systems and, with some simple scripts, put together a system that enables you to manage many systems simultaneously from one machine without having to log in directly to the machines themselves. Also examine the basics of a distributed management system and some scripts and solutions using the technique.
Last week I talked about More Bulb Replacement Taking Place. I had already determined that our energy use was pretty high because of the spotlight halogen bulbs.
Aperi is an open source storage management framework that provides you with a single interface to managing all of your different storage solutions. You can get more information from the Aperi Homepage.
The Aperi application is based on Eclipse, and is an excellent example of an application built on top of the core Eclipse framework (technically, the IDE is another example of this, but many people confuse the Eclipse IDE and the Eclipse Framework as the same thing).
To help you understand and use Aperi, I’ve created a video that shows how to install and setup Aperi ready to start using it.
The final part of the four-part series on developing VoiceXML applications, this time covering an interface to an internet search system, is available:
In this final article of a four-part series, develop an application that takes VoiceXML as input and queries the Yahoo Search API for both basic Web searches and Yahoo local searches. The query returns information about businesses within a specific location and region. The application then reads the results to the caller after submission.
Internet searching is taken for granted these days, with numerous services available for searching. Web searching has also expanded. With so many companies that have a Web presence, many companies now merge their Web and traditional offline data, like business directories, and map and location information to make it possible to search for a variety of businesses and information.
This information is perfect to use VoiceXML (VXML) to submit your searches and listen to the returned results. In this article, you will create an application that does this, and you will also:
Review a Web searching workflow
Create a generic class for outputting VXML form elements
Create VXML grammar that supports a wide range of input