It's not a bug … It's a convenience issue

Random tech things that I come across.

Virtual server changed

Jul 18

Posted by Ryan in Linux, Operating Systems | No Comments

Last April I moved this website to a new virtual server with the same hosting provider. Previously I was on an OpenVZ platform. This was such a nightmare for me. I’ll explain the details in a bit. I really liked the hosting company, VPSLink, because of their communication practices, network speed and full-featured control panel. So I stuck with the same company but bought a new server on the Xen virtual platform. Now I’m much happier.

The real problem I had with OpenVZ was the lack of swap space. Swap space is disk space set aside by the operating system to be used as a stand-in for RAM when there is not enough RAM free to run all of your programs. Using swap space has a penalty and that is access time because program data has to be fetched from your hard drive before it can be used. Leased virtual servers typically are quite limited in the amount of RAM you are given so swap space is really a must unless your server will only be running 1-2 applications.

For example, my leased server is a one stop shop for website and email. To perform these tasks it needs these daemons running all of the time:

  • Apache webserver
  • Named/BIND DNS server
  • Spamassassin spam filter
  • Sendmail smtp
  • Dovecot IMAP server
  • Mysql database server

I should have known I was in for trouble when I couldn’t even start Apache + Named at the same time with their default configuration without running out of memory. I followed a few guides on the net and got their footprints trimmed down to a workable state. But the penalty was that now all of my applications were so memory constrained their performance suffered a bit. Furthermore, I was at the threshold of memory usage. Linux would routinely kill my dovecot mail processes to try to reclaim memory, this of course closed IMAP connections which I noticed from a client user perspective. I also could not run yum to update packages without running out of memory.

So one day I got fed up and bought a new server with the same company but the new server was Xen based. I couldn’t be happier now because I have swap space. Most of my applications are still quite fast and my dovecot processes are no longer getting killed.

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Wanna go green? Start with business practices!

Jul 18

Posted by Ryan in Rant, Software | 1 Comment

Its about time I dust this blog off! I have had 3 post ideas in my inbox for months and never sat down to write them! So lets start with going green.

These days it doesn’t matter where you look, you will find a reference to going green. CFL light bulbs, ‘green’ household cleaners, ‘green’ billing practices, etc. Green is as much a buzzword as it is an actual attempt to save the environment. Well in this post I’m going to do what everybody else does and use the ‘green’ initiative as an advertisement to further my cause.

Here’s the real point. Why are companies asking me to go ‘green’ and sign up for e-billing for their service while AT THE SAME TIME their marketing department is paper-mailing advertisements addressed to me by name asking me to sign up for SERVICE I ALREADY HAVE? First of all, that advertisement is going straight in the trash recycle bin. Second, this is an annoyance to the customer and as a software person its a disgrace. Why can’t different groups communicate just enough to check if someone has a service before sending an advertisement? Surely you could do the math and prove if this is rolled out nationwide the cost of developing software to check the customer database before printing ads would pay for itself in no time.

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DIRECTV Install Rant

Jan 15

Posted by Ryan in Rant | 2 Comments

While I’m at it, I’ll rant some more.

Last night I came home to find that the televisions in my apartment were no longer receiving signal. I have AT&T U-Verse which uses a set top box at each TV. In my installation, the set top box connects to an IP home network over coax (Home PNA). A quick bit of troubleshooting showed that the set top boxes were not receiving a signal on that coax.

The router they provide feeds the signal in the coax network, so I checked the router’s web status page. It showed 0 HPNA clients. So my first troubleshooting step, unplug router, unplug receivers, re plugin router then receivers. A few minutes of boot time and still not recognized receivers.

Then I think what else could have happened. I realize a new neighbor moved in to the apartment adjacent to mine over the weekend. Perhaps they got television service connected. So I went across the hall and asked. Sure enough they had a DIRECTV installer out that day to setup their satellite service. He left their apartment with a non-operational install stating he didn’t have the proper equipment.

So now I’m 99% sure this guy broke my TV. Why? Because when my U-Verse was installed the AT&T’s installer walked me through the process and showed me that in my closet there is a panel where all of the coax cables for my apartment and the adjacent apartment meet in one wall. The adjacent apartment has the same panel in the same place so if both are removed you can see from one closet into the other.

I told my neighbor that I would open my panel and take a look to see if it is an easy fix for me, otherwise I will call U-Verse support. As I was taking off the panel my neighbor returned to tell me that there is a bunch of wires coming out of the wall in his closet and he invites me to come take a look.

When I looked I was surprised to see about 10 coax cables all coming out of his access panel and not 1 is connected to a splitter or any other device. So this DIRECTV installer disconnected all of the wiring for my apartment and my neighbor’s apartment and then left for the day.

This installer definitely needs better tools! I know the AT&T U-Verse installers had tools to connect to a coax jack in the wall then identify which wire in the panel is the other end of that jack. If the DIRECTV installer had used a tool such as this they would not have disconnected my unrelated service!

My neighbors apologized (although it was not their fault) and stated that they would tell the DIRECTV installer to correct the mistake when returning. I have my doubts so I called U-Verse technical support and asked them to schedule a service call to repair my install for the day after the DIRECTV installer was supposed to return.

I know technical support has questions they have to ask to troubleshoot a problem but I explained the problem exactly in this manner then they still had to ask me what lights were on, on my modem, on my receivers, etc.

We’ll see if the DIRECTV installer corrected the mistake when I get home tonight!

See Comments for updates from me.