Posts in category "software"

After my recent brush with disaster, I realised that my, err, backup strategy relied on me remembering to perform a manual, occasional Wordpress export or a database backup.

This was acceptable while I was messing around with this blogging lark but now I realise that it would be a little disappointing to lose the entire contents of my blog.

While Bluehost run backups (which have saved my skin once), it would be foolish to completely rely on my hosting provider and the height of stupidity to rely on me !

As I said to a lovely hotel receptionist in Brussels recently, struggling to find the reservation made on my behalf for Monday night, 'We have a saying in England - if you want something doing, then do it yourself.' She nodded sagely as she eventually unearthed my booking for Tuesday night by which time I would have left the country.

Unlike Mark Rittman, I can't really count on the goodwill of both my readers to manually type in more than 500 articles, so I looked around for a fully automated backup that would backup all of my MySQL databases (not just WordPress) using cron.

AutoMySQLBackup does exactly what it says on the tin and works like a dream.

I even tested it on a local installation because we all know backups are worthless unless you prove that you can actually restore them.

Excellent article by Seth Godin about the perils of PowerPoint.

Just look what it did to the poor pigeon.

Meet Dan Morrison. His main aim in life is :-

Currently dedicated to linking all IT professionals together in one network so they can find each other and communicate.

Don't scoff. Dan already has 93,822 connections (including me) on ITtoolbox so he's very nearly half way there.

Dan - Let me know when you've finished and I'll have that list of email addresses in exchange for a box of vintage 1980's records.

People never ask me:

Norman - why dont you post a pretty Zoho chart of your blog posting frequency by month ?'

I could write a thesis about this but a picture will have to suffice.

Great news. Bill Gates has heeded my advice and I will be able to purchase Vista online and download the media. This means that I no longer have to buy an expensive box full of fresh air from Microsoft.

Burning a DVD is probably still recommended just in case the seamless Windows upgrade fails and I discover, to my horror, that none of my drivers work any more and I have to format the hard disk in order to boot the computer.

However, I take a similar attitude to risk averse Siebel customers contemplating the recently released 8.0. I have a large and demanding customer base (son and daughter) and an integrator who wastes all my hard-earned money (wife) with a perceived requirement for 7x24 operation and high availability.

On reflection, it's probably better to let other ~~idiots~~ people suffer the pain and iron all the glitches out before I take the plunge when SP1 is released.

That reminds me; I really must ring my Dad tonight and warn him not to do anything stupid.

I have experimented with many different RSS readers in the past. However, in recent months, nothing has managed to dislodge NetVibes as my preferred feed reader.

However, I still occasionally use Google Reader and like the recent addition of detailed statistics about your RSS subscriptions and reading habits.

Matt Cutts posts an example of his own data and Robert Scoble also likes the new features.

Drupal gets an upgrade to 4.7.4 via the Bluehost Fantastico auto-installer.

The Wiki gets converted to MediaWiki simply because it is a lot easier on the eye. This software requires PHP5 and I was originally on a server running PHP4. However I read that Bluehost does also support PHP5. I just asked politely and got moved to a different server. No fuss. No questions. Technical support just did it. Quickly and efficiently.

Of course, neither package is currently used but that's beside the point.

DreamHost upgraded to the recently released WordPress 2.0.5 almost immediately. I think I prefer Bluehost's strategy of waiting a while for any creases to be ironed out before upgrading.

Today I have accepted a new and challenging position after a series of gruelling, demanding interviews and in depth technical tests. My new role is working for Dreamhost as a BMC Patrol Monitor Agent.

My key responsibilities are as follows:

• Write a blog article offline using Performancing.
• Post draft.
• Preview article in WYSIWG format on the blog.
• Blog is slow and unresponsive.
• ssh to Dreamhost server which is slow and unresponsive.
• Run 'w' to determine load average which is slow and unresponsive.
• Raise ticket with Dreamhost technical support.
• Wait for a period of time.

The performance problem is 'resolved'. Perm any one from:

1. 'Denial of Service attack' - now resolved by firewall configuration
2. 'Users in breach of Terms of Service - accounts now cancelled
3. 'Users producing abnormal heavy load' - now migrated to another server
4. Machine was recently rebooted that should solve problem

Repeat whole pointless exercise the next time. Repeat ad-infinitum.

So anyone with any recommendations for a reliable hosting provider capable of hosting a low bandwidth personal WordPress blog, please make themselves known.

I'm really starting to regret leaving the warm, cozy, uncomplicated world of hosted WordPress.com.

Just downloaded Firefox 2.0 RC3 and it worked a lot better then my previous experience.

My lengthy list of extensions (or add-ons as they are now called) also worked fine.

• Google Browser Sync
• CoComment
• Performancing

My thoughts now turn to the day when Microsoft unleash IE7 on the world through automatic updates to universal acclaim apart from my wife who will comment 'Why did they have to go and change everything ?'