Jason Simmons, Freelance it consultant

get-console.com

Posted on December 28, 2011
Filed Under General, IT Solutions | Leave a Comment

get-console.com sell serial console applications for network engineers for IPAD…..Really ! I’m going to take an IPAD into a data-center to configure cisco devices. I’m going to take £400 to £600 IPAD into a data-center to configure network equipment.

Have these guys actually been to a data-center?

Please don’t be a moron and fall for this crap.

Go to ebay and buy an tough old IBM X60 laptop (I use mine to smash through walls when my access card fails to work at the exit) from ebay for £60, pass by Maplins on the way to the datacenter and buy a USB to Serial converter cable so you can use the billions of blue cables that birds steal from data-centers to line nests, and then put linux on the x60.

You can then put the following on the X60 for *FREE*.

Please enlighten me if I have i missed something. Why would i take some bullshit shiny device that has only just got cut and paste to configure network equipment. When I can spend £60 -£100 and get SO much more functionality.

What does IPBRICK actually do for users?

Posted on December 6, 2011
Filed Under IT News, IT Solutions | Leave a Comment

As well as my professional services for network, I have also imported IPBRICK from Europe. IPBRICK is a fantastic unified communications platform which has been used in Europe for over 10 years. It was created by a university professor and some of his students.  I think it makes a good building block (get it !) for creating some creative communication solutions. It based on open standards and is extremely high value both in terms of acquisition and operational costs.

 

Hewlett Packard networking, throws down the gauntlet !

Posted on December 6, 2011
Filed Under Networking | Leave a Comment

Interesting times ahead in the working world, Hewlett packard have just announced a flat license fee for all wired network switches

This is fantastic news, and I really hope vendors like Cisco are taking note.

As a network designer and troubleshooter it is extremely frustrating and expensive trying to determine  what version of firmware to select for a vast range of switching hardware.

Cisco even have a rather buggy website attempting to help you choose the firmware to use on your switch

It is also extremely frustrating when customers request design changes to their network, and you have to tell them that they need to purchase firmware upgrades as the feature they wish to use is not available.

I’m one of the biggest Cisco fan boys, but what HP are doing is fantastic and they are following what juniper have been doing for a number of years.

Come on cisco….. Pickup that gauntlet…….. The challenge has been made.

The paradox of choice

Posted on October 6, 2011
Filed Under General | 2 Comments

If you have not worked it out by now, I’m a Information technology professional. I have been working in the industry for over 20 years. During this time I have seen the Information technology world leak out of the corporate world and into our homes and also into our pockets.

It is now “normal” to have a Internet firewall, Terabytes if network attached storage, wireless networks and encryption systems in your home  (or is that just me ?)

This means that as more people are consuming this type of technology a lot more suppliers have come forward to meet the demand. The marketing practise which most companies follow is the concept of first to market, and product differentiation.

This means that we have now a huge choice of what products we purchase.

People often ask me :

You get the point….

Well my answer to all of those questions is rather annoyingly another question . What do you  need that type of product to do  for you?

The point is people need help to find the right product. They forget why they want it and get dazzled by the product itself.

I watch a lot of vidoes on Tedtalks and one in paticular by Barry Schwartz explains this in a very entertaining and insightful way. The way he explains the paradox of choice is applied to everything we  do in life.

Unified communications on a HP Micro Proliant Server

Posted on August 30, 2011
Filed Under IT Solutions | Leave a Comment

 

HP Micro Proliant server running IPBrick Unified CommunicationsThis is a picture of my new Business Server running on Micro Proliant server. However it is not running Microsoft Small Business Server., it is running something quite different.

I’m using the  server to provide the following:

All of these options are managed via one interface via my browser.

IPBrick Management interface

This server is using no more than 50W of power. If I need to move to more powerful hardware to support more users, then I just re-install the OS on my new hardware, export my configuration from my old server, import the config to my new server and restore my data from the NAS.

The server Loaded with IPBrick.IC operating system which enables this functionality. The IPBrick.IC can be configured to operate writing a fault tolerant configuration with a second server.

 

Here are the reasons why I chose it:

I’m in the process of creating a webstore providing virtualised machines utilising IPbrick as the key building block ( The pun was intended !)

Using IMAP+ with Evolution on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS

Posted on August 19, 2011
Filed Under Open Source | Leave a Comment

This is a quick note to highlight a fix for IMAP users with Evolution email client on ubuntu 10.04 LTS.

Evolution 2.28.2 is shipped with 10.04, The IMAP performance is crap basically.

To fix it you need to upgrade to 2.30 which supports IMAP+

To fix do the following:

In a terminal write this:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jacob/evo230

(remember to reload your repository info … you can write this to do it: )
sudo apt-get update

Now simply run your ‘update-manager’ and your Evolution packages will be upgraded :-)
(Note: If you have added the Exchange MAPI-plugin to your 2.28-installation, remove it first as it conflicts with the new 2.30)

Modify your email accounts to use IMAP+ from the protocol drop down menu.

 

 

 

How to quote for IT professional services

Posted on August 3, 2011
Filed Under IT & Business | Leave a Comment

Those who know me will know that I’m a freelance IT consultant. One of the problems I have come across of late is the length of time it takes to obtain information to provide a valid quotation. So I have written a short (evolving FAQ) which I’m hoping should speed things up.

Let me know if I have missed anything ?

www.trensys.co.uk/commercial_faq.php

Juniper kit is actually quite good !

Posted on April 2, 2011
Filed Under IT Solutions | Leave a Comment

If you have been reading my in-frequent posts on my website, or make the mistake of asking me what I do for a living, you will know that I’m a bit of a Cisco Fanboy. I have been using Cisco Equipment for a number of years.

Cisco are always evolving and bringing out new products which means I do not have much time available to get to the heart of other vendors technologies.

One of my fellow network geeks did find the time, and now he is running around in his underpants shouting JUNIPER in my face every time he meets me.

To persuade him to put his trousers back on , I said I would take at look at the product range and attend a couple of webinars.

I have to admit, I like what I have seen so far. The juniper features do make some of the Cisco product range look a little awkward.

Here are some of the my reasons why

Just these features alone can reduce your operational costs. The fact that your security, routers, and switching products have a consistent CLI reduces management time greatly. The configuration management features also reduces the cost of operation.

I’m not going to rip out all my Cisco equipment just yet, but I’m going to do some more research and I like what I have seen so far.

JUNIPER !!!!

Bespoke multi media services

Posted on July 27, 2010
Filed Under News | Leave a Comment

This is a shameless plug for a new service I have setup with my brother and a few other creative people. We have setup a service to help people create audio content for videos, presentations, phone systems and tutorials.

I’m basically reselling the following services.

Basically anyone who requires digital audio content, I know someone who can help you.

Frozen Ammo Recordings, Bespoke audio content

IPBrick Enterprise Linux

Posted on July 19, 2010
Filed Under IT & Business, IT Solutions | Leave a Comment



If you are a regular reader of my website you will know that I’m a fan of Linux and how it can be used within business. I have been looking at a number of Linux distributions and how they can be used in business. My favorites so far have been Ubuntu and also Centos. However these are great starting points for a general purpose server. You still need to provide quite a lot of installation and tweaking to create a perfect server for business use. Whilst at Cebit a couple of years ago , I can across a Linux Distribution based on Debian called IPBrick. If you can put the name aside for a moment, the distro is actually very good.

A small team of developers have taken the pain of gathering openldap, samba, apache and a number of other open-source tools and they have created a single management interface. This a commercial distro which you do have to license your server for. What you are paying for is the management tools and also the support. Yes if you are determined enough you can create your own management scripts ,and plugin other tools from sourceforge, however this does take time, and time is money, so why not pay some one else to do it.

http://www.trensys.com/ucoip

keep looking »
rss xml image rss xml image