As Linux improved in usability and hardware driver availability, I began using it on my desktop environments instead of excursively on servers. My reasons for running a Linux desktop and dumping windows were as follows.

• I got fed up of paying £35-£50 to buy software to protect me from virus’s , and then not being sure that you are actually still virus free.
• I got fed up of asking Microsoft for a new activation code for windows every time, I upgraded my Graphics card, or upgraded my PC.
• I got fed-up of having my machine taken, over just by viewing a jpeg in Internet explorer.
• I loved the fact that I could install software from Linux on-line catalogs for free.
• I love the fact I have more tools to secure my computer ,without having to ask if I have the “Professional” or “Ultimate” versions of Linux.
• I love the fact that I’m forced to run as a with non administrative rights, and elevate my right only when required.
• I love the desktop effects and and virtual desktops which windows is only just starting to try and emulate.

Running a Linux desktop puts you back in control. You don’t feel that Microsoft have lent you the machine, or that your machine is actually owned by a teenager from china, and it’s in your house.

As for which version of Linux to use, yes there a lots to choose from, which makes things so interesting. One of the key ones which as had a key hand in making Linux so usable is Ubuntu Linux. “Linux for Human beings”.

Now when I’m approached to fix a virus ridden machines with about 12 botnets running on it. I also suggest the owners take a look at Linux.

9 times out of ten , most people moan that they wish they heard about Linux earlier.

If that’s the case ( you may ask). Why does Linux have less that 2% market share.

This will come clear in my later articles.

Many thanks for all your hard work guys.

If you read my article on ” What is Applied Information Technology” you will see that I take the view that the use of technology in business should create strong benefits, otherwise technology becomes a burden. You should be able to see a direct business benefit in the operation of your business, and also your customer satisfaction due to your more efficient information management and hopefully your process’s .

One of the best case studies of how to fail, even with good technology is parcelforce worldwide . I have written this post due to the fact that I’m currently experiencing some symptoms of the serious failings of this business, and thought I would use this as a case study, and also to warn other people not to trust items to parcelforce until they improve their systems and process’s. An item I’m shipping overseas has been lost or stolen whilst entrusted to parcelforce. Yes I’m annoyed that the parcel has been lost, but the key area of study is how it is being dealt with.

This is what is highlighting some serious problems which I wish I knew before i tried to use there services. Especially after I have done some research I can see that it is far reaching. I had no idea things were like this.

Parcelforce are keen to highlight that in 2006 they received an IFW Freighting Industry Awards for technology Well as we approach 2010 it looks like the technology no longer fits the business, or it is not being used effectively and they are now firefighting.

Apparently in 2007 a number of new computer systems were installed to replace some of the older systems which they inherited from Royal Mail and Post office counters.

Here are some of the symptoms, As we approach the Christmas rush this organisation will be under greater strain, and I would recommend you find an alternative method of delivering items.

• Electronically tracked items are lost without trace, which the investigations team can not locate
• To make a claim for lost items, You download a claim form in PDF fill it in by hand and FAX it back to them
• Once the claim is faxed, staff are not able to acknowledge receipt for at least 7 days. Hang on to your fax receipt
• You can’t book online on your Apple Mac, Smartphone, netbook or Linux machine. Windows only
• In June 2009 personal information customer information was leaked via the parcelforce.com website

“Competitive advantage does not come from possessing Information Technology, It comes from how well it is applied”

• Bandwidth
• Size, 1U, 2U etc
• Additional IP addressing
• Physical Firewall
• **Power Consumption

The reason I have placed an asterisk next to power consumption is because this is a key area where you may get stung. Most hosting providers will have an introductory tarrif which will allow your server to consume 0.4a to 0.5a of power. If your server is pulling more than 0.4a when a measurement is taken, You will be charged extra for going over your allowance,

Seems fair at first glance, power & cooling is expensive after all. However , how many servers draw 0.5amps. You are hosting a server designed to serve hundreds of people, lots of ram and redundant power supplies and hard discs. Yet you have an allowance of 0.5amps. To put this in perspective, I have seen my little Fujitsu sub-note book draw 0.3amps when on charge.

Perhaps I should co-locate my sub-notebook.

The point of this posting is to let you be aware that the headline tarrifs you see for server hosting will not always be what you will pay. It is very important to know your hardware and how much power it use’s at idle, and also on full load. That £45 per month tarrif could end up costing you £75 per month because you did not do your homework.

Caveat emptor

A rather dangerous security flaw which can cause major havoc on the ability to deliver internet services has been discovered. A team of security researchers have discovered a security flaw in the protocol called TCP. TCP is the blood that flows through the internet. Without TCP the internet would not function as we know it.

To investigate this security flaw, an application called Sockstress has been created. This application has the ability to crash routers, Firewalls, Web Servers, Windows Servers and even Linux servers. This is a serious cross platform flaw which affects any internet device which offers internet based services. Even your small webserver sitting behind your broadband router is affected.

It works by causing what is known as a DOS (Denial of Service ) attack. This means the server will no longer be able to function or offer websites, Email or any internet based services.

It works by causing the internet server to consume large amounts of resources, and then it runs out of resources and stops working. Resources are things like Memory and Disc space. Every connection that is made to a internet servers requires resources. When a new connection is made , the servers will allocate resources for that connection. The more connections that are made, the more resources are allocated.

Sockstress creates connections to the internet server, then does nothing with them. The internet server then keeps asking “Can you use the connection now ?” and the answer is always no. And at the same time new connections are being made, and the process gets repeated. Eventually the server runs out of resources to offer to real customers, and it dies.

Think of it like this.

A few people telephone a restaurant and reserve a table. The restaurant reserves the table for that person. These people keep doing this over a period of time pretending to be different people. The restaurant reserves all it’s tables, calls in extra staff, cancels staff vacations and starts refusing real customers because all tables are reserved.

These trickster people who have made these reservations do not turn up and the restaurant tries to contact these people to see what’s happening. Some people can be contacted and they insist that they are coming, please do not unreserve my table.

During all this, the restaurant is no longer accepting reservations from real customers. The real customers have been denied service. Hence the term DOS “Denial Of Service” attack

This is a very simplistic view, but it conveys the principal of how the attack works.

I’m sure a workaround will be created soon, However at the moment we don’t have one, and the internet is as risk.

http://www.t2.fi/2008/08/27/jack-c-louis-and-robert-e-lee-to-talk-about-new-dos-attack-vectors/

• Speed
• Reliability
• Cost
• Flexibility

The Great Office War from Runawaybox on Vimeo.

The code and the user front end are separated from each other, this makes template development so much easier. Some of key areas still need development.

• Performance can be a problem, and a dedicated host with a PHP bytecode cache is ideal
• No support file based down-loadable products like software or music
• Poor support for bulk importing of products, if you have product set of several thousand products, It can take several hours to import data

I actually quite like the product and will be watching it mature. In fact when I get more time , I would like to contribute to it’s development. However as it is now, I would not recommended for a very busy or a site with a large product set.

http://www.magentocommerce.com/

Once booted into the Ubuntu Live CD, Open a terminal session, and enter the following commands
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo su -
This will give you root access
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ modprobe dm-mod
Installs the LVM modules into the kernel so you can see your Volumes
root@ubuntu:/dev# apt-get install lvm2
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
lvm2
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Need to get 325kB of archives.
After this operation, 918kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy/main lvm2 2.02.26-1ubuntu9 [325kB]
Fetched 325kB in 0s (726kB/s)
Selecting previously deselected package lvm2.
(Reading database ... 98423 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking lvm2 (from .../lvm2_2.02.26-1ubuntu9_i386.deb) ...
Setting up lvm2 (2.02.26-1ubuntu9) ...
Backing up any LVM2 metadata that may exist...done.
update-initramfs is disabled since running on a live CD

root@ubuntu:/dev# lvs
LV VG Attr LSize Origin Snap% Move Log Copy%
san vol1 -wi--- 467.00G
root@ubuntu:/dev# lvchange -a y san
Volume group "san" not found
root@ubuntu:/dev# lvchange -a y vol1


The rest of this code activates the LVM Volume ( Mine is called VOL1 in this case). You now have access to your LVM volumes.

The complaints range from the fact that they perceive windows vista to be
slow, or certain hardware devices or programs have stopped working since
installing Vista. Some problems have been so hard to overcome some of my
associates have “downgraded” to Windows XP.

People often resent the fact they eventually have to migrate to the newest
Windows operating system if the current one meets their needs. Microsoft
provides a limited life cycle for windows versions. It will stop supporting
versions of Windows as technology evolves and as hardware performance and
capacity increases. They do quite a good job in maintaining all the
different applications and operating systems; however they have to draw the
line at some point. Therefore Windows versions will eventually become
obsolete. To have your computer supported, you should upgrade to a current
supported operating system.

With this in mind, the point of this article is to highlight the fact that
people do have viable alternatives to Windows. As windows has evolved, so
have the alternatives.

The two most popular alternatives to windows are OSX running on Macintosh
computers & Linux. Linux has the advantage that it runs on a wider range of
computers. Linux has improved vastly over the past few years. Linux is a
operating system which has its roots in an operating system called UNIX. It
was mostly used on servers rather than on desktops computers. Over the past
few year’s companies have invested large sums of money into making Linux
function within a desktop environment. Mark Shuttleworth a South African
billionaire who made his fortune because of technology he created using
Linux, has invested large sums of money into Ubuntu Linux. This investment
has created a very stable desktop environment.

So rather than feel forced into a particular direction, lift your head up
and look around. There are alternatives. Examine how you use your computer
and what is important to you, and look around; you will be surprised at
what you may find.