My use of a Windows machine, an iPhone and an iPad (W+i^2)
I currently own an iPhone and iPad. I owned a MacBook Pro, but sold it. I'm a Windows user and can't make the switch. The keyboard is different, and i'm not willing to learn all the ins and outs of the Mac world. The iPhone and iPad (i^2) makes me feel less tied to a desk, monitor; very mobile. My company did pickup the tab for my iPad and my original iPhone. My company also has MS Exchange. i^2 and MS Exchange work well since Apple got a license for Microsoft Active Sync. I check email accounts from my Windows computer, and i^2.
The iPad did become a paperweight VERY quickly. The onboard keyboard is nice, but found it sloggish compared to a regular keyboard. Then, the iPad became really useful when my wife gave me a Kensington KeyFolio for Valentine's day. It's a nice leather case with a bluetooth keyboard. It's very light-weight and ready to go into meetings on a moment's notice. It now sits to the left of my keyboard running Pandora in the background while I flip through all of my apps. The F6 key gives me a quick way to jump to the SPOTLIGHT search bar. I did notice that it has a hole where a front-facing camera for the iPad would be. It's taunting me to get the next gen iPad. I can feel the pressure from this KeyFolio! You can look it up on buy.com.
Keeping the Windows computer and i^2 (W+i^2) in sync is another big deal for me. It was a pain to keep notes, tasks, and files in sync even while being disconnected. Evernote is the ideal note-taking (FREE) app from the app store. That helped me keep notes in sync between the 3. It's ideal and highly recommended for people who rely on notes (especially from meetings). I haven't found a good task manager that syncs with everything. I am trying IMExchange 2. It connects to my company's MS Exchange Server and syncs the tasks. DropBox is a great, cloud-based storage app. It gives you 2GB (FREE). I dont put any music, videos or anything that can take up the 2GB. I only put documents (XLSX, DOCX, or PDFs). Dropbox, like Evernote, has an app/installer for just about anything. I dont have a long commute, but if I did I would imagine appreciating files being available in my i^2.
W+i^2 is a great combination. I've even toyed around with TV and TV surfing experience. I was pleasently surprised to find Boxee has a remote control (FREE) in the app store. I did build my own Boxee from an ACER pc, but D-LINK recent came out with their own adaptation of Boxee. I use i^2 as a remote to my TV. Either one turns into a keyboard when i have to search for something on Youtube or any of the other great Boxee apps. I dont see myself using a MBP or MBA to manipulate my Boxee.
In closing, I would highly recommed you get an iPad instead of a MacBood Pro or Air as long as you get some type of keyboard. I recommend the KeyFolio by Kensington. I cant compare with a non-mobile Mac experience, but I certainly have what I need out of a laptop from my iPad. I'm even finding out more of a use from all the apps that is in the Apple App Store. I agree to have your company pay for it and wait for the next generation iPad. Rumor say it is soon to be out. You will certainly find yourself replying to email, taking meeting notes, and managing your work-related (and personal) tasks from you iPad. I'm guessing from a front-facing camera hole in my case that video chat (FaceTime) will be a bigger hit once the iPad gets wind of it.
Enjoy!
Jose
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Using Chrono Boost to speed up Warp Gates
Did you know you can use Chrono Boost on the Warp Gates to speed up the recovery time? You can! This is mind-blowing.
I was watching Team Liquid #11 tournament, White Rav vs. TLO. The game was casted by HD Starcraft. The Protoss player went with a 3-gate. If you go to 5:45 on the following video, you'll see how the player uses Chrono Boost to speed up the Warp Gate enery replenished. This is going to be a very useful tactic!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSq-2Cbj6Sk
Enjoy.
I was watching Team Liquid #11 tournament, White Rav vs. TLO. The game was casted by HD Starcraft. The Protoss player went with a 3-gate. If you go to 5:45 on the following video, you'll see how the player uses Chrono Boost to speed up the Warp Gate enery replenished. This is going to be a very useful tactic!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSq-2Cbj6Sk
Enjoy.
Monday, February 7, 2011
How to name Infrastructure devices
Description
Asset management is important when running an IT infrastructure. All items must be cataloged, kept in inventory, but most important is the ability to mentally generate the device name on command. This is crucial when troubleshooting a problem with one of your systems.
This article describes how to generate a device name. The steps are simple: determine the purpose of the device. All falls into place after that. Let's say you manage the infrastructure for a development team. The team is working on something, PROJECT X! for a client, ABC Company. The work requires a web server, database server, a switch, and a firewall. The recommended names are based on attributes. In this scenario, the names will be based on client name, project or system name, and device type. The result is a system called ABCPRJX. The devices in the system would be ABCPRJXWEB, ABCPRJXDB, ABCPRJXSWT, ABCPRJXFW. This may seem robotic and just odd, but it's required for communicating to other members of your team and keeping track of tens or hundreds of devices.
If more devices of the same type are required then add a number that increments as the need grows. If another web server is needed the it will be ABCPRJXWEB02. I recommend starting with incremental number, at the very start, as a base attribute to the name.
Dont be too strict
Roles change! For example, a particular web server may be a development server and then a production server simply because it works. This is by the "don't touch it" rule. The sales stage (production, trial, development, beta, etc) may be added as a base attribute to the name. On the flip side, it is difficult to move the data around and frankly, not necessary. The same goes for the location of the device. Virtualization makes it possible to move a server from one location to another.
Keep it short and simple (KISS)
The attributes are to be kept short. No one likes to type a long y device name like ABCCOMPANYPROJECTXWEBSERVER01. The system may throw an exception if a limit is reached. On the other hand, abbreviating certain words may back-fire. Take PROJECT for example. Some may choose PRJ or PROJ. It's out of preference, but should be communicated to the entire team.
No Dashes or Extra Printable Characters
Additional characters may help to read the name if it gets long. In my experience, the consistency is not kept. For example, one administrator may set the dash after the client name, another name set it after the system name. It gets out of hand very quickly and will defeat the purpose of the naming convention: to mentally generate the device name quickly.
Retiring a device
This is simple. Respect the device for the wonderful things that it did during its lifetime. The number is not to be reused after the device has been retired. Sooner or later, a question will come "what server was part of that system?". If ABCPROJWEB01 is reused, then everyone will undoubtedly get confused.
How many digits should I use
In my examples, I use a 2-digit convention. This is dependent on the growth of your infrastructure. In my case, using 1-digit will not be enough and 3-digit will just look odd. If it looks odd then the name will not be generated easily.
Recommendations
Suggested Attributes
Asset management is important when running an IT infrastructure. All items must be cataloged, kept in inventory, but most important is the ability to mentally generate the device name on command. This is crucial when troubleshooting a problem with one of your systems.
This article describes how to generate a device name. The steps are simple: determine the purpose of the device. All falls into place after that. Let's say you manage the infrastructure for a development team. The team is working on something, PROJECT X! for a client, ABC Company. The work requires a web server, database server, a switch, and a firewall. The recommended names are based on attributes. In this scenario, the names will be based on client name, project or system name, and device type. The result is a system called ABCPRJX. The devices in the system would be ABCPRJXWEB, ABCPRJXDB, ABCPRJXSWT, ABCPRJXFW. This may seem robotic and just odd, but it's required for communicating to other members of your team and keeping track of tens or hundreds of devices.
If more devices of the same type are required then add a number that increments as the need grows. If another web server is needed the it will be ABCPRJXWEB02. I recommend starting with incremental number, at the very start, as a base attribute to the name.
Dont be too strict
Roles change! For example, a particular web server may be a development server and then a production server simply because it works. This is by the "don't touch it" rule. The sales stage (production, trial, development, beta, etc) may be added as a base attribute to the name. On the flip side, it is difficult to move the data around and frankly, not necessary. The same goes for the location of the device. Virtualization makes it possible to move a server from one location to another.
Keep it short and simple (KISS)
The attributes are to be kept short. No one likes to type a long y device name like ABCCOMPANYPROJECTXWEBSERVER01. The system may throw an exception if a limit is reached. On the other hand, abbreviating certain words may back-fire. Take PROJECT for example. Some may choose PRJ or PROJ. It's out of preference, but should be communicated to the entire team.
No Dashes or Extra Printable Characters
Additional characters may help to read the name if it gets long. In my experience, the consistency is not kept. For example, one administrator may set the dash after the client name, another name set it after the system name. It gets out of hand very quickly and will defeat the purpose of the naming convention: to mentally generate the device name quickly.
Retiring a device
This is simple. Respect the device for the wonderful things that it did during its lifetime. The number is not to be reused after the device has been retired. Sooner or later, a question will come "what server was part of that system?". If ABCPROJWEB01 is reused, then everyone will undoubtedly get confused.
How many digits should I use
In my examples, I use a 2-digit convention. This is dependent on the growth of your infrastructure. In my case, using 1-digit will not be enough and 3-digit will just look odd. If it looks odd then the name will not be generated easily.
Recommendations
- For startups, use a 2-digit, incremental convention by default. You may get a 2nd or an Nth device of the same type. Hey, it can happen!
- Do not use Location or Sales Stage unless you have a method of changing the device name quickly without additional pain and labor.
Suggested Attributes
- Client Name
- Project/Product Name
- System Name (same as Client Name + Project/Product Name)
- Device type: web, db, domain controller (dc), switch (swt), firewall (fw), router (rt), monitor (mon), security (sec), terminal (term), service (svc), server (svr)
- Sales Stage (must be able to logically move the data from one device to another): Prod, trial (tri), demonstration (demo), BETA, user acceptance test (uat), development (dev), laboratory (lab), disaster recover (dr)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)