August 10, 2010 1

Update re: ESXi & ZFS Storage

By Wes Kroesbergen in Technology

It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update to this blog. I’ve been rather busy with both work and personal matters, and haven’t had a chance to maintain this blog properly. I hope to rectify this and post at least once a week for the next few months.

I posted an update1 regarding my home server on ESXi a few months ago, and that I was re-evaluating how my data storage implementation was going to change. I’m happy to report that I’ve finally found an appropriate solution, utilizing the NexentaStor OpenSolaris-based OS2. While not without its problems (notably a buggy web-management interface, I suspect due to Python issues), it has proved itself to be quite stable as far as data access and integrity. Read the rest of this entry »

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June 2, 2010 0

Some Perspective on Google Ditching Windows

By Wes Kroesbergen in Technology

Just a quick note regarding the Financial Times’ report Monday1 about Google phasing out internal Windows client operating system usage, and Microsoft’s subsequent response2. Microsoft has retorted that Windows is indeed secure, and that the facts don’t support the assertion. Microsoft makes its defense by attacking its competitors, and highlighting a few things that Windows 7 ‘focuses’ on. Read the rest of this entry »

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June 1, 2010 1

Summary of Steve Jobs at D8

By Wes Kroesbergen in Featured Articles, General, Technology

Thought I’d post a quick summary of key remarks by Steve Jobs at D8, courtesy Engadget’s live coverage1.

Regarding Foxconn Suicides:
Steve: It’s a factory — but my gosh, they have restaurants and movie theaters… but it’s a factory. But they’ve had some suicides and attempted suicides — and they have 400,000 people there. The rate is under what the US rate is, but it’s still troubling.
Steve: We had this in my hometown of Palo Alto, copy cat suicides. Read the rest of this entry »

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May 14, 2010 2

Facebook

By Wes Kroesbergen in General

I hate Facebook. I hate their constant changes to UI without adequate customer feedback. I can’t stand the detiorating usability they introduce with each update. The frequent updates to the terms of service force me to give up more control over my data each update. The usability of their account and privacy controls are absolutely appalling. The cavalier attitude of their young and immature upper management toward their customers is disgusting. The way they introduce changes to access levels/privacy settings and open up their client data is disgusting. Read the rest of this entry »

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May 12, 2010 3

ESXi, ZFS, and Home Server Data Storage – Part 1

By Wes Kroesbergen in Technology

UPDATE: It seems I may be re-evaluating my choice of OpenSolaris vs. Nexenta. I’ve experienced a lot of issues with SMB/CIFS authentication on OpenSolaris, and have not been able to get it to work properly. I’ve also had a reply from a commenter assuring me as to the stability of Nexenta 3. I’ll post again once I’ve re-evaluated my choice of SAN OS.

A few months ago I wrote1 about a new home server I was setting up. I designed the server from ground up to handle VMware ESXi 4.0. When I built it I did not build in data redundancy, as I had two mismatched drives (a 1.5TB and a 1TB). Also, because I was relatively new to ESXi, I created the datastore with default block sizes, limiting me to 256GB virtual disk file sizes. I used Ubuntu Linux to link the virtual disks together with Logical Volume Manager (LVM), and create one big mount for my data storage. Unfortunately, the 2.5TB volume is now full. Read the rest of this entry »

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May 4, 2010 2

iPad Tethering

By Wes Kroesbergen in General

As you’re no doubt aware, Steve Jobs indicated1 before the launch of the iPad that tethering to an iPhone would not be a supported feature. True to his word, my WiFi-only iPad does not tether via Bluetooth to the iPhone (as a matter of fact, they won’t pair at all). Unfortunately for me, I’ve sold my laptop. This means I can no longer tether the iPhone’s 3G connection to the laptop and set up an ad hoc WiFi network for the iPad to connect to. Read the rest of this entry »

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April 29, 2010 0

Why IT Pros Should Study Design and UX

By Wes Kroesbergen in Design, Featured Articles, General, Technology

This may sound like a weird idea coming from someone who thinks with the right half of their brain, but I think technology professionals need to study design principles and user experience (UX). Far too often IT pros fail to grasp and/or appreciate how the technology on which they are working impacts the end user. This results in upset clients, clients who (rightly so) feel that the technician attempting to fix their issue or help them implement a new project does not understand their ‘problem’. In turn, the tech feels that the user is ignorant and doesn’t appreciate how complex the task they are doing really is. This communication barrier begins to circle, and eventually you are left with two groups of people who do not trust or understand each other, and yet are forced to interact. This does not build good client relations. Read the rest of this entry »

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April 8, 2010 2

Thoughts on the iPad

By Wes Kroesbergen in Featured Articles, General, Technology

On April 3rd I, along with many other Canadians made the trip down to the Walden Galleria Apple Store in Buffalo, New York. I was too excited about the iPad to care that I was waiting in line for the first version of a new technology product. I for one hate shopping in general, and find it distasteful to wait in line. I also feel that it is silly to wait in line for a new product on the day it launches. Waiting a few days till the lineups are gone seems much more sensible to me. Yet, the lure of the iPad served to overcome my sensibilities, and at 10AM on April 3rd I was at the Apple Store waiting in line. Read the rest of this entry »

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April 2, 2010 0

Adobe Flash

By Wes Kroesbergen in Design, General, Technology

I thought I’d write another short post on my view of Adobe Flash, and why I think there is such a negative reaction to it. We went through a bit of a war over Adobe Flash when the iPhone was originally announced, and I think we’re going through one again, only this time the technology field has changed sufficiently to make an entirely new battle. When the iPhone was originally announced, and Flash support was discovered to be lacking, there was a great deal of outrage. At the time, it was a de facto standard. Since then, web developers have begun to code their websites more and more for non-Flash devices. Major sites like YouTube have developed HTML5 player alternatives for their videos. There is a lot more weight against Adobe to prove why Flash is necessary this time around. Read the rest of this entry »

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March 31, 2010 0

More on Client Platform Security

By Wes Kroesbergen in General, Technology

As I wrote the other day, anything the mind of man can make, the mind of man can break. The piece I wrote earlier was relating directly to the security of the client operating system. However, there is another aspect to consider, specifically the human factor.

While an OS itself can be secure as a rock, there is always a human factor involved. Even the most intelligent individual makes foolish decisions and actions at times. It is very difficult to protect the user from him/herself. It is very difficult to explain that some emails requesting their information are legitimate, and others are not. Or that some website popups only look like an application window, and are not to be clicked on. Read the rest of this entry »

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March 31, 2010 0

Objections to Ogg

By Wes Kroesbergen in General, Technology

An interesting analysis of the Ogg format. Take-away: Ogg is technically inferior in almost every aspect, and being (presumably) patent-free does not justify using a product that much inferior.

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March 29, 2010 0

On the Security of Client Platforms

By Wes Kroesbergen in Featured Articles, General, Technology

Anything the mind of man can make, the mind of man can break.

Realizing this, one needs to shift their perception of how to view client platform security. Theoretical analysis is good. However, practical application is what should define security evaluation. Which platform is more secure in practice? Anyone can justify any OS’s security. However, the proof is in the pudding. For example, Unix has been used for government/financial servers for a long time. Windows Server has been used, and I would argue that the Windows servers have proved themselves much more vulnerable over an extended period. Just ask any system administrator. Read the rest of this entry »

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March 21, 2010 0

Linux Alternatives to the iPad

By Wes Kroesbergen in Featured Articles, General, Technology

I was recently reading an article from LXer, entitled ‘Linux alternatives for the iPad – and the future of netbooks, tablets and smartbooks’. The author hypes up Linux on tablet devices, concluding that 2010 is the year of Linux on the tablet, most of which will be Android flavored. He attempts to put down the iPad and the would-be iPad users, saying that ‘Probably most Apple users don’t care [about System-on-Chip design] just as they don’t care about the hardware of their iPhones. The iPad is a closed device that’s supposed to just work and cater to fashion minded people, not to ‘tweakers’ and hackers.’ (In the eyes of a computer geek, this statement is designed as an insult.) The author also refers to the iPad as an iTab, again intended to provoke, rather than inform. Read the rest of this entry »

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March 3, 2010 0

Cloud Computing & IT

By Wes Kroesbergen in Technology

UPDATE: I was digging through my archives, and thought I’d repost this for general interest’s sake.

Let me start off by laying out what I believe are the three tiers of cloud computing. I believe that cloud computing consists of hosted services (IBM), hosted applications (VMWare, Citrix), and hosted storage/data. This contrasts with internal services (SharePoint, Exchange), internal applications (MS Office, Adobe Acrobat), and internal data (File server). The internal computing may be run on virtualized servers, or on their dedicated boxes. In my opinion, businesses are concerned firstly with security regarding hosted documents/storage layer, secondly web services, and thirdly, most open to hosted web applications. Read the rest of this entry »

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March 1, 2010 0

On the use of Facebook

By Wes Kroesbergen in General

The purpose of this post is to share my perspective on the place of Facebook in my life.

I’d like to start off by saying that I view social networking as a tool to communicate with others, a tool that offers the ability to share both textual and non-textual (e.g. images) information in an efficient multicast (for the non-technical, basically a shotgun blast at everyone), and to receive feedback on that information. This shapes my perspective on how I use tools like Facebook or Twitter, and I thought I’d share a few details on how my social networking experience is affected, and will be affected. Read the rest of this entry »

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