So, what did your NOC get for Christmas?

So, it's Christmas here in the SUL, and of course I'm playing Christmas music. The SUL is home to our very modest- meaning there is a sparse amount of equipment, and not shy- NOC (network operations center). As is the case most, if indeed not all years, our NOC is on the "NICE" list rather than the "other" list. So, because a couple of PCs were on the "other" list because of hard drive failures, I resolved that I would be a better SOHO I.T. manager in 2017.

It is now the 2nd of January. I'm happy (but slightly drained) as I report that I've been a very good giver of gifts to the network in general and the NOC in particular. It all started out with our family Christmas present. I should note that over the years, we've scaled back our Christmas celebrations to a few Christmas cards, a nice dinner and Christmas music. Much less stress, much less expense (commercialism), and with a few cats, no destroyed decorations to clean up.

The family Christmas present this year was a Steam Link and a Steam Controller. What is Steam? Check it out here. By the way, this is also the simplest way to explain the Cloud to folks. In a nutshell, the Steam Link is a device that is on your network. It will automatically detect any computer that is running that has Steam, and then let you play your Steam-hosted games on your TV. So, I tasked Mr. T with installing the device. Valve (the makers of the Link) have provided everything one needs to get the Link operational quickly. They included several electrical adapters, an HDMI cable and a flat CAT 6 cable.

And this is where the dominoes started to fall.

The ethernet cable was about 2 meters short. Not a problem- I had a spare in the SUL that was going to be replaced by another, longer cable that we had received that same day. I gave Mr. T the cable from the SUL and it was 1 meter short. We searched a bit for a dimly remembered cache of ethernet cables, but it proved to be as real as the city of El Dorado. So, I traded the flat cable for my shiny new purple cable. All was good with the Link.

Mr. T then gave the Link a functional test, discovering the computers on our network. Unsurprisingly, all three of my PCs had huge lag issues- I had observed this before. However, over the network, my Steam games were unplayable. So, I went back down to the NOC, and after a few simple tests I was reminded that the NOC's primary (8 port) switch had a dead port. I looked at my other (5 port) switch. I noted at least one CAT 5e cable was in use, so I went beck and ordered more CAT 6 cables and another 8 port switch.

 


Its now Monday night, and I've done all that I can. The 5 port switch has been replaced by an 8 port switch. I was about to say all was up to date on the new switch, when I decided to take one more look at the cabling.

FRACK! One more CAT 5e cable to replace!

Well, that's done. There's actually one more CAT 5e cable, but its attached to a printer that has a 10/100 NIC, so it can stay. In another few days the other switch will arrive, and after its installation  our NOC will be up to date. I still need to complete the configuration of our NAS (network atttached storage) device, but there's no rush on that.

My brain is officially on overtime- that's all for now from the SUL.

As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.

C and 10x10

Welcome to my 100th blog post celebration! Help yourself to some virtual cake and ice cream!!

To commemorate this event, I'm going to take everyone a bit deeper into the Secret Underground Lair, share a few speeds and feeds, post some Top Ten lists (10, to be precise), and hopefully have a little bit of fun.

Well, I started with the Secret Underground Lair, so we might as well go there first. In case you were wondering, yes, it really is underground. We currently have a roster of nine PCs which more or less permanently reside in the SUL with us. Of these, one is an ancient laptop, two are Raspberry Pi's, one is a much more recent laptop, and the remainder are desktops. The Pi's and two of the desktops run Linux; the others run Win7. I have a laptop which I occasionally use down here, and there are another 6+ PCs in various states of repair. We've got one functional inkjet printer hooked up, and a few other printers with questionable functionality. The SUL is also our NOC (network operations center), which includes our router and a couple of wired gigabit switches. It should be noted that although the SUL as a rule does not utilize wireless (with the exception of my cell phone and occasionally my laptop), on any given day most of the rest of the Hovel may access our internet service wirelessly. In case you were wondering, the Hovel is our home- our humble abode. The SUL is also home to some of our video collection, my Lego collection, and a good part of my technical (I.T.) library, our music collection, and various and sundry other references and some fiction. It has be noted that the SUL is pretty small; we don't have room for a fuβball table, but we do have the Lego Soccer Championship Challenge set (#3409). Speaking of Lego Soccer, here's the first list- my Top Ten toys: 1. Lego 2. Wooden blocks (including dominoes) 3. Teddy bears (and plush animals in general) 4. cardboard boxes 5. Electric trains 6. Your Dad's tools 7. Walkie-talkies 8.Flashlights 9. Rubber bands/string/rope 10. Magnifying glass

Other SUL highlights... the lair is rectangular and fairly cat-proofed, in that cats cannot enter at will. Also, as Schwarz is a typical Bombay, the primary egress point has a cat bell for his use. Mr. T and I sit at opposite ends of the SUL and we both have a telephone with intercom. When the Zombie Apocalypse happens, we'll know about it. If I had only one word to describe the SUL, it should come as no surprise to anyone that the word would be "cluttered". Second list: Top Ten things found in the SUL: 1. Legos 2. Music CDs 3. VHS movies 4. Books 5. Software 6. Playstation/PS2 games 7. computer components 8. Shelves and racks 9. Cat5 cabling 10. a shredder

The Dungeon is another story. Adjacent to the SUL, it is where our workout equipment resides, as well as being a holding place for the SUL's overflow. The main attractions of the Dungeon are a weight bench and an elliptical. There are also three rectangular lidded clear plastic storage boxes in front of the weight bench right now; these contain primarily I.T.-related books which used to be stacked in the SUL. Third list (no- not the contents of the Dungeon!): speaking of I.T. stuff, my Top Ten websites: 1. Google+ 2. LinkedIn 3. Twitter 4.Facebook 5. Portal.pixelfederation.com/Trainstation 6. Steam 7. Tech Republic 8. How To Geek 9. Wikipedia 10. IMDB.com

In all honesty, I was a bit concerned when I first came up with the idea of ten Top Ten lists- after all, ten lists can be rather boring, and I don't work all that much with the formatting or HTML on blogger to make some neat, bulleted lists. I tried the segue+bolding at the end of a paragraph, and I think it works- if anyone has any thoughts, please post a comment! And now for something completely random, Ten Vehicles we have owned: 1.'03 Chevy S10 pickup 2. '99 Ford Escort 3. '94 Chevy S10 Blazer 4. '89 Honda Civic 5. Ford Crown Victoria 7. Chevy Suburban 8. Opel Ascona 9. Honda Civic hatchback 10. Plymouth Volare wagon. The funny thing about the Volare is that we're not sure if we ever even legally owned it...we sold it to a scrapyard for $50 bucks.  I also did not include the He-Man Beemer.

Well, back to the Dungeon, I suppose. The Dungeon is our workout/training area when we cannot get to the gym- theoretically. Apart from the elliptical, most of the equipment is inaccessible, save for some kettlebells, dumbbells and medicine balls.

We also have something of a pantry next to the Dungeon. This area does not have a name, but it does have a Top Ten list (#5) of things you'll find: 1. Ramen 2. Noodle mixes 3. Noodles 4. Cereal 5. Vitamins 6. Chocolate 7. Coffee 8. Tea 9. Toilet paper 10. Facial tissue.

List #6 is my current Top Ten list of albums- the only list presented in order of popularity (so far!): 1. Beatles For Sale 2. The Blues Brothers soundtrack 3. Help! (The Beatles) 4.Revolver (The Beatles) 5. Rubber Soul (The Beatles) 6. Different Light (Bangles) 7. The Transformers Movie soundtrack (the original cartoon) 8. Songs (Rich Mullins) 9. A Hard Day's Night (The Beatles) 10. A Maze Of Grace (Avalon). The interesting thing about this last list is that while it is the most accurate (it actualy comes out of a database), it is also fairly inaccurate because the data is incomplete! However, for the thirty-four albums currently represented  in the database, it is accurate.

List #7 is thematically related to List #4 in that both are automotive. #7 is ten of my favorite vehicles: 1. '71 Chevelle SS 396 2. '69 American Motors AMX 3. Mercedes Unimog 4. '77 Chevy Blazer 5. SDKFZ7 6. SDKFZ250 7. '70 Plymouth Roadrunner 8. Subaru Impreza WRX STi  8. '67 Mustang Shelby Cobra 9. Porsche 928 10. Volvo 940GL wagon. Now, that's an eclectic list of vehicles!

List #8 is my Top Ten list of board games. 1. France 1940 2. Risk 3. Monopoly 4. Chess 5. Checkers 6. Panzer Blitz 7. Squad Leader 8. Trivial Pursuit 9. Othello 10. Axis and Allies.

List #9 is a bit quirky. I have a backpack I take to work every day, and it has some work things in it and some zombie apocalypse-type things as well. So, here are ten things that are in my work backpack on any given day: 1. Logitech Marble Mouse 2. 2x .5L bottles of water 3. small Leatherman-type tool 4. Bluetooth enabled speaker 5. iPod 6. Triangular extruded aluminium ruler 7. Plastic ruler with magnifier 8. Wind up flashlight 9. HP 11c programmable RPN calculator 10. elastic wrap

List Ten is probably THE list  It is the list of my Top Ten blogs. I suppose that isn't too impressive when the blog count is only 100, but I never really thought I'd hit 100 posts when I started this... and for it to have an international following amazes me even further.And with that, here are the Top Ten blogs, in order of reader popularity:

http://hochspeyer.blogspot.com/2013/05/why-2k.html

http://hochspeyer.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-free-night.html

http://hochspeyer.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-final-frontier.html

http://hochspeyer.blogspot.com/2013/01/who-does-that-anyway.html

http://hochspeyer.blogspot.com/2012/12/december-31-2012-state-of-blog.html

http://hochspeyer.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-official-end-of-winter.html

http://hochspeyer.blogspot.com/2012/12/an-it-christmas-whole-lotta-cliches-in.html

http://hochspeyer.blogspot.com/2013/06/spinning-wheel.html

http://hochspeyer.blogspot.com/2013/01/like-data-we-are-in-it-sense-fully.html

http://hochspeyer.blogspot.com/2013/02/normal-is-town-in-illinois.html I think I've written enough for now. I hope some of it, at least, has been enjoyable. Happy 100th! As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.

  

Potpourri

I think today's post has a lot of little things, so potpourri is a good title. There were others I could have selected- miscellany, odds 'n' ends, and melange came immediately to mind, but I settled pretty quickly on potpourri because of the warm connotation it seems to carry.

Today started off with a National Weather Service (NWS) flood advisory. Although we've seen some serious flooding in the time we've lived here, so far we have been blessed to not have suffered more than inconvenience by waters gone wild. So, we take these things seriously- Jennifer made a quick breakfast and we got everything that needed to get done accomplished by noon. It's been raining on and off, accompanied by impressive thunder and lightning ever since. It is supposed to stop some time Thursday (tomorrow).

I was able to get a bit more straightening done in the basement as well today. The problem I've discovered with organizing is that, in the middle of it all, the mess is really horrendous. Still, there are a few areas where the progress is marked- the Secret Underground Lair, for example, is a bit neater.... The Dungeon, though- I've got weights in there, somewhere, under a lot of boxes that are staging areas for stuff. That's the area where all of the work is occurring, so it will be the last to be neat.

I mentioned in my last communique from my command chair behind the NOC that I was taking the HTML plunge. To be honest, the first few days have been rough, but this morning I had an epiphany regarding code. I had been having some brain cramps with getting the code to post as something that actually looked like a web page rather than just code. I finally figured out that my file name needed to end in .html to display properly. Once I got this, I was happy, but then.... Well, then I discovered that once I saved the code as an HTML file, it was not editable in the plain jane text editor I was using. So, I sat in front of the keyboard this morning, doing a lot of copy/paste and proofreading code to see why it didn't work. I finally figured out that I needed two files: one .txt to write and modify code, and one .html to actually display.

Lastly, I got a bit of database work in tonight. I added a few records to the Publisher/Manufacturer table, and also added a few URLs. I also added a few movie titles, and noticed that the ISBN seems to be going away from movies; that doesn't bother or surprise me, but it is one of the pieces of data that I track. The final piece of good news is that my DBA honey do list is a bit smaller tonight.

As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.

  

Midnight at the NOC

Saturday night. Quiet time in the quest for forty-two. I'm thinking of calling it a relatively early night and getting a little extra sleep in tonight. Hey- it can't hurt!

I've been in search of a software package for the past few days, and as a result the Secret Underground Lair  has started gain some floorspace as things are rearranged and kludge is eliminated. I took this opportunity to move the shredder next to my #2 PC. Our shredder is pretty nice- the throat capacity is something like 9+ sheets. I generally don't get anywhere near that, but extra capacity is nice for those times when one underestimates the thickness of the paper. What I found most distressing was that our cat is more fascinated by the shredder than terrified of it. So, the machine is off and unplugged unless it is in use.

Another byproduct of the software search is floorspace. I suddenly have ~9sq ft more of bare floor behind me. Now, in the scope of things, this isn't a great amount, but when it suddenly opens up, its a big deal. I can now get at all of the PC's easily, as well as what passes for our NOC (*Network Operations Center).

NOC

It's fairly difficult to see what is in that photo, but what is depicted is the "wiring closet" of the network. We're pretty much wired everywhere, excepting the wireless access point upstairs and the cable modem downstairs (which also has a WAP). Otherwise, the premise wiring is all gigabit ethernet. What I thought was pretty neat was my "rack" solution: I wanted something that would allow airflow around the router and switch(es), but did not want to spend a great deal of money. My solution came from our local dollar store- each tier of the rack was 1USD. They are the perfect width for my existing Linksys/Cisco eight port switch and four port switching router. I secured the four wire shelving units together with a pair of flat bungee cords, and a few screws on the bottom anchor everything to a 12 inch by 12 inch piece of scrap plywood. The whole thing is very stable. The ethernet cabling follows a piece of electrical conduit where possible, and hangs from repurposed paper clips- very inexpensive, but very effective. I'm thinking of replacing the paperclips with something more similar to a traditional tray: I've collected several (~12) 36- and 48-inch cardboard cores from a plotter's paper rolls. Depending on the difficulty, I'll either butt-splice them or duct tape them together for a nice, solid, neater-looking channel. That is definitely a "sometime later" project. After all, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Database update: I'm slowly updating the main table with the new title table. This probably won't be done for another few weeks. The Lego spreadsheet is also coming along nicely- more than a quarter of the rows have new part numbers- less than 18K to go! The bad news is that it will need further modification before I import it into Access.

And, on a totally unrelated note, I installed Visio. I have not used Visio in some time- it was a lot of fun to use. I'm not sure what practical application I have for it just yet; at this point, its more for my personal edification than anything else.

As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.