TmR Blog

The new Ubuntu has been released on Thursday I have downloaded it and get IBM ThinkPad R51 (Centrino 1.6, 2GB or RAM, 40GB HDD, Intel Extreme Graphic). Installation is simplified, that true, but takes much much longer, almost as long as Vista, and after you install it you can’t see almost any visual difference.

People always say that after you install any MS operating system you have to install updates… not much difference with Ubuntu, in the evening it had downloaded already 2 updates (same day as released!!) When you install you can’t see any difference to old Ubuntu, apart from one or two application. But here start the steps up. Up until now I had OpenSUSE on that box, really fast, graphic smooth no problems. But Ubuntu I have to say disappoint me. The graphic is really slow, and jumps a lot when you scroll through websites, you could say that it might have something to do with the Beta Version of Mozilla 3 (that is as well a bad decision I think) but other browser doesn’t work well either. And it’s the only system that killed my graphic card and didn’t let to restart the X services.

At the moment then I will not be updating to it, have to say really disappointment after so many months. They say it’s a good replacement for Windows… but it’s not good enough for it. It’s not simple enough for people to move over, and as well it’s not fast enough. You could say that Vista on that system would not work really fast, but XP is flying on it.

So overall a Red Light from me for new Ubuntu… I will keep OpenSUSE and XP for now.

I haven’t wrote anything for a while, but now I find few spare minutes. So here we go: Today I would like to write about Buzz words in IT, there is many of them but at the moment you will hear most often about two: Virtualization and going Green, and in fact you will hear about both of them at the same time.

Virtualization is a system that have been introduced back in 2000 by VMWare, since then the computers become more and more powerful, and now you have more products, the second biggest after the VMWare is CITRIX XenServer.
The idea behind both of the products is the same, it’s to allowed to run more then one operating system on one physical box. Why is that. The main reason is that your hardware is powerful enough to manage with the tasks, so why not try to get the most of it?? The VMWare is older product and it’s now concentrated on bigger environments so if you have about 50 server then it’s a better product with it’s functionality. At the same time CITRIX solution is designed for smaller environments. The idea is the same but approach is different, for example in VMWare you can use VMotion (moving servers between different hosts) between host that are not the same, but in CITRIX they have to come from the same manufacture and have the same family of processors. With VMotion from VMWare came the most most interesting Green feature. you can specify that at night at certain time your systems will be moved over to one or two hosts, and other hosts will be power down, then in the morning it will wake up other hosts and will move servers back on them, it’s additional function of Load Balancing introduced with VMWare 3.5. There are many other benefits from one and other products, but by the end of the day you need to make sure that the product you buying suits you the most.

Why then Going Green in here. Well everyone is now talking about environment… so by implementing virtualization you are becoming green, because you can minimize the amount of servers, lower the electricity consumption, and general cost of replacing hardware.

So to be Green in IT just implement Virtualization

On Friday I was on the meeting with CISCO as our kit is now 5 years old. We were looking for Juniper solutions, but as soon as we got in touch with Juniper our account manager at CISCO called (she haven’t done it for last 2 years though). She invited us for onsite presentation and discussion about newest technology and possible ways of upgrade. Out off all different systems I would like today to write about CS-MARS (Cisco Security Monitoring, Analysis and Response System) system.

I think that it takes the security on the network to the next level. What that appliance does is monitor all Layer 2 and Layer 3 devices and traffic on your network. If it’s a CISCO device it will get the configuration and exact model numbers. If it’s any other router it will just get the model. But it’s not the most advance part of the system. What is does and what amaze me the most is the fact that it monitor your network in real-time and if it will spot any unusual traffic that can be connected with any viruses, hacking activity or anything else (it use the behaviour based system) it will show it to you on the map. But here start the most amazing function!! It will give you the best solutions and changes that you need to do to CISCO equipment in order to stop the spread of the threat. It will always show you few possibilities and the only thing you need to do is chose one and the system will apply the change. But if you think to long, then it will tell you “my last solutions are no longer correct” and will give you a new set of possibilities.

I think it’s the first system that support you to improve the security, monitor the system and react much faster then ever before. As well most of the time you don’t have time to log on to the CISCO kit and do the change as the threat spread fast. That system will do it instantly. I have to say we will be getting it in for testing soon so I will write a bit more about it… but still I’m speechless

Today my small post is about common view on IT… what you will notice that a lot of people will say “I’m IT” and you would assume he will know everything… but surprise surprise… they won’t!! Let me give you an example: IT Developer will know how to create application, websites, possibly some basic changes on the computer, but most likely he will have no idea about how to design network, routing, install and configure servers, domains that Networks/System Administrator would be able to do.

So what you have to remember by saying I’m IT doesn’t mean that I know everything about IT, it’s the same with doctors you don’t go with your problem to just a doctor, if you have a tooth problem you go to a dentist, and so on and on. So just remember that IT is a huge word… and the word that is follows IT is the most important.

Have a nice day!!

I don’t know if you noticed that like in mode as well in computers everything goes in circles.

Do you still remember DOS operating system, no mouse attached, everything from command line, and the world was simple. You tend to do all your work faster then you do on new Windows/Linux GUI. Compare those two pictures… do you remember those times??

Here you have DOS command line, and new Windows GUI. It was all great but for all computer geek’s the command line is still the way. Look for example on CISCO, Fortigate or any other device, you have GUI interface for them, but to be most efficient you still go through the command line, now even Microsoft with it newest product line went back. The PowerShell is not must have for anyone who is involved in Exchange 2007, new Server’s systems or even in Vista. Of course you are still able to do everything using GUI, but to be 100% sure you will go and use Shell.

Are there any advances in using shell?? Well from my usage yes there are, some of the system functionality is just to hard to put into GUI, for example just last week I had to change the port settings on our firewall to be 100-full. Tried to find it in GUI and couldn’t but just 2 minutes in shell and all went smoothly. I think the biggest advantage of Shell is a TAB button, and question mark. You put your command and press question mark and you get the list of possible commands, then when you start to typing you just press TAB to get auto completion of the command you wanted to type. With those two, and without any CISCO experience I managed to get all major configuration changes done.

So like in mode, cars design and many others everything goes in circles, so now just wait for new version of DOS

I spotted today a strange behavior in Windows, when you have both WLAN and LAN enabled and working your default route will jump from WLAN to LAN, and it’s not controlled by user. Very surprised I had to find a workaround. I haven’t noticed it until installation of Juniper WXC Network accelerator (about it in near future) and the fact that at one moment I was able to access it and few minutes later I wasn’t.

What is the work around then?? You need to go into command line (Start -> Run -> cmd) in the new window type:
route print
The result will be a list like on the picture below.

What you need to do now is create a new default gateway for all connections. To do that in my situation I had to type:

route add (to add new route) 0.0.0.0 MASK 0.0.0.0 (all the traffic on all network mask) 10.17.204.19 (that is my WLAN route IP address so at the same time my gateway) METRIC 1 (importance of the route the lower the number the higher the importance) -p (make the route persistent, will remain after restart)

so to clarify:
route add 0.0.0.0 MASK 0.0.0.0 10.17.204.19 METRIC 1 -p

By doing that I have created a new default route for all the traffic to use that IP, it doesn’t stop you using your LAN resources like company network drives, as it’s the gateway if the system can’t find other way to access where you want to go. By doing that you can as well avoid Proxy servers (about that as well later) on your network, and any monitoring

If you do now now route print you will notice extra line in the end and default gateway will change as well.

Just to clarify if you will have any problems go and type:

route delete 0.0.0.0

It will remove that route and your system will go back to old way.

Enjoy and don’t share with your IT Manager… he might want to block it

I’m finally decided… I will share my knowledge with others

What you will find here are some tips and tricks how to get the most of your systems. As my work require me to use CISCO, Fortigate, Juniper, Windows, and some Linux I will share with you all new tricks I have learned over the time hope it will be some help for you