NetworkWorld: DST: Change goes smoothly, though most IT shops still on lookout for glitches

It does indeed look like the DST changeover went well for most people. For once, however, the geeks get revenge; they may have lost countless hours of sleep, but finally, their work ensured that an hour of sleep was lost by countless people.

Metzger, for example, began preparing for the daylight saving shift in October when he and his team began updating dozens of Java virtual machines, a task that was particularly tricky because of the wide variety of Java Runtime Environments.

"We had our big push last weekend, which required the restart of every production server, database and application to apply all the patches for the new [daylight-saving time] rules, with double the staff we allocate for typical maintenance events," Metzger says. "I also had additional management staff on hand to make sure all went smoothly."

If geeks ever need job security, they should start lobbying local governments to lobby for DST changes…

New York Times: Study says computers give big boost to productivity.

Money spent on computing technology delivers gains in worker productivity that are three to five times those of other investments, according to a study being published today. But the study also concluded that the information technology industry itself was unlikely to be a big source of new jobs.

Yeah, right. You look up the history of a company on Wikipedia, three hours of distracted clicking later, you're looking for which British actor was the second Doctor Who. Actually, who was the second Doctor? Hartnell was first, then… hmm… I know the third was Jon Pertwee… darn it, I'm going to have to look this up now…

NomadIsHere: A note to employers: 8 things intelligent people, geeks, and nerds need to work happily.

Anyone who understands how to leverage todays [sic] technology to increase intelligence, productivity and efficiency; anyone who stays up nights working to get better at what they do; anyone whose job is their life - is a geek. These are the most important asset your company has. For this reason, its [sic] important to give geeks what they want.

Geeks Want Apostrophes!

Actually, that was a bit mean-spirited and pedantic of me (and it's not like I don't have a litany of apostrophe, comma, semicolon, and umlaut mistakes of my own); but the points made in the article are pretty sound, and I (editor Brian Boyko) am personally lucky that NetQoS follows most of them closely.

Mary Jo Foley: Microsoft customers melting down over Daylight Savings Time patches.

Man, am I glad I'm not in the datacenter today.

"The workstation patches are easy, the stand alone Outlook tool is no big deal. If you're running Exchange and you try to run the Exchange update tool 930879, good luck. It's a crap shot," said Microsoft customer Paul Marsh.

"I was requested to call Microsoft support because of my particular problem," Marsh said. "I called Microsoft support. I was 117th in the queue and was informed the wait was 3 hours. I waited 4 hrs and 45 minutes but no one ever picked up. If I hear Microsoft hold music again I think I'll go mad. The bottom line is 'Hello Microsoft! There is a problem!' and we have something like 42 hours to figure this out."

Here's something I never figured out: Why have hold times? I know that being on hold is the way that technical support has worked since the beginning of time, but wouldn't it make more sense to get the number of the person calling quickly, let them hang up the phone, and then ring them back when there's an available tech? Time spent on hold ties up phone lines (increasing hold times for everyone,) isn't productive for anyone, and annoys the customer.

CNet: Your Wi-Fi can tell people a lot about you

CNet talks about Wi-Fi's insecurities and how someone operating a packet sniffer can intercept communications on unsecured Wi-Fi connections in areas such as coffeeshops and airports.

"You're leaking all kinds of information that an attacker can use," David Maynor, chief technology officer at Errata Security, said Thursday in a presentation at the Black Hat DC event here. "If the government was taking this information from you, people would be up in arms. Yet you're leaking this voluntarily using your laptop at the airport."

With Wi-Fi, you often have no idea who else is on the network with you.

PCMagazine: The Killing of Wi-Fi

John Dvorak talks about how cell phone companies see ubiquitous WiFi is a threat.

It's not about the technology. It's about the threat of Wi-Fi overall. And I mean free Wi-Fi in particular. If you take a city the size of San Francisco and give the entire population free high-speed Wi-Fi, think of the applications that will fall into place. That includes VoIP calls galore. Move over, cell phone; hello, Wi-Fi phone.

This of course, assumes that bandwidth over a municipal Wi-Fi network - where anyone can connect remains plentiful enough to make the call, and it also assumes that there's very little latency even over Wi-Fi.

Speaking of VoIP…

Ars Technica: FCC forces rural phone companies to carry VoIP traffic

A "net neutrality" issue, rural phone companies in Nebraska and South Carolina can't block calls coming from VoIP services.

If you're thinking this is indicative of some of the debate over network neutrality, there's good reason. At its heart, this is an issue of net neutrality. The rural telecoms were discriminating against certain types of traffic by refusing to connect VoIP calls to their network. Since they have a monopoly in the areas they serve, their decision to lock out VoIP traffic left the VoIP providers at a competitive disadvantage in those markets.

Although, assuming a broadband connection, if I wasn't getting calls from my phone company, I'd just switch to using VoIP full time. Of course, if I wasn't getting calls from my phone company, how would I know that I wasn't?

LinuxWatch: Switching your Linux systems to the new DST

This guide tells you how to, what else, switch your Linux systems over to the new Daylight Savings Time. Basically, you have to update a file called /usr/share/zoneinfo. But this little tidbit is particularly interesting…

The system clock, no matter how you update it, doesn't keep time the way most of us do. For Linux, the universe began at midnight UTC (a.k.a. Coordinated Universal Time), or 12:00 a.m. on Jan. 1, 1970. The system clock tells time by counting the number of seconds since the Linux "universe" began. This method of telling time is referred to as the Unix Epoch.

(As an aside, since most computers store the Epoch's number of seconds as a 32-bit signed integer, the "End of Time" will come at 03:14:07 UTC on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2038. That, however, is a problem for another day.)

Specifically, it's a problem for Tuesday, January 19, 2038. EVERYBODY PANIC!

SharkTank at ComputerWorld: "Really, Really good at his job"

Monitoring network performance is a complicated and very subtle science. However, sometimes diagnosis is dead-obvious.

Fish: Hi, I'm calling from network operations. I'm calling to ask if the power is still on at your location. Branch manager: Yes, it is. Fish: OK, is anyone doing any construction in your building? Manager: In the building? No. Fish: (sensing there's something going on) What about outside? Manager: Well, there's a group of guys with a backhoe across the back alley. Fish: Can you see them from where you are? Manager: Yes. Fish: Are they standing around in a circle around a hole? Manager: Yeah. How do you know this? Fish: I'm really good at my job. Do they look like they may have just done something really bad? Manager: Do they look guilty? From what I can see, yeah, I'd say so.

InfoWorld (via Yahoo): Firefox 3.0 opens door to Web apps, Mozilla says

Mozilla 3.0 will likely include increased supports for Web apps, making software-as-a-service even more prevalent than it is now.

Perhaps most exciting could be Firefox's ability to support writing an e-mail in, for example, Gmail while offline, with the data sent later when a user is connected to the Internet again. Ultimately, Mozilla engineers are aiming for an integration between the browser and Web-based services that is as smooth-running as a desktop application, Schroepfer said.

So far, engineers have made Firefox work with Zimbra, an open-source e-mail, messaging, and VoIP application. With a bit of code from Google and Microsoft, it would be possible to integrate with Gmail and Hotmail and other e-mail services.

The only problem is that the entire development of SAAS is predicated on the idea that the Internet (or, in some cases, the network) is so ubiquitous that there's no need for client-side programs. If we want to compose an e-mail offline, that's what old POP3 clients like Ye Olde Eudora Lite and Pegasus Mail were for.

Don't get me wrong, I see the utility in having offline access to SAAS applications, but if you plan to use offline access, why build your program online?

Of course, there are a few areas where this might make sense; especially if this IT Wire story (http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/10043/53/) is true and Adobe plans to build a SAAS version of Photoshop, or you need to access Salesforce data on a flight.

SpendMatters: Vista, Office and Outlook 2007 are a nightmare.

This post by Jason Busch claims that category managers in charge of IT spending should pass on Microsoft Windows Vista and Office 2007 if given a chance, due to frustrations he's had with the operating system and office suite.

Having spent approximately 25 of my last 40 waking hours trying to get Vista and Office 2007 to perform at the level of my previous operating system and desktop environment, I can honestly say that it's an absolute travesty that Microsoft would have released such a half-baked product, having put billions into its development. In fact, my friends, colleagues and clients will probably attest to my slower than average response rates via email recently (I simply have not had the patience or the time to write emails while the new composer catches up with my typing).

While I'm not sure I'd go as far as Jason Busch, I have had some problems with Windows Vista testing it out on my home computer as well. Jason's main complaint was speed - mine is compatibility. I have a printer I can't use and tons of programs which just won't run.

We're not Microsoft bashers - in fact, we can't think of a company, for good or ill, that has advanced rapid adoption of personal computing than Microsoft. But there hasn't been a whole lot of love for the latest major offering - with one pundit at Yahoo! Tech calling for the return of Windows XP - and claims it would be like a return to "classic coke" from "new coke." I'd likely purchase a version of Windows XP SP2 which contained Windows Media Center, a 3D interface like Vista's, integrated search and gadgets. (Or I could just use VLC, WindowBlinds, Google Desktop, and Konfabulator…)

Business Intelligence Lowdown: How to be a Terrible Network Admin - 25 fail safe tips.

I guess "practices to avoid in network administration" didn't have quite the ring to it. Most of these are common sense tips; but because there's so many of them, even the best of us could use a reminder - there's probably something you'll read about and realize that you missed something.

Anyway, we really like #3:

3. Say no to knowing your network: Monitoring your servers and your network interface is unnecessary, simply because you have no need to know how much traffic is traveling about your network. Regular observation of your network provides you with knowledge on normal, trouble-free usage, which in turn helps you identify problem spots and potential causes when you're called to troubleshoot and plan for future growth. This is not necessary for a terrible network administrator.

ComputerWorld: How IT Makes Johnny More Productive.

This story by Kathleen Melymuka talks about a study from Sinan Aral and Erik Brynjolfsson about exactly how IT helps worker productivity by studying individual executive recruiters and their interactions with technology in the workplace.

If you look across e-mail and social networks, database and phone, the surprise was that overall, IT use is not associated with an increase in speed. In fact, it's associated with slower speed. But we found that heavier IT users are much heavier multitaskers, so over time, they're completing more projects and bringing in more money for the firm.

Anyone who tells you more technology is associated with faster speed has not looked at the story of the Franklin stove.

Throughout much of American history, technological improvements have been marketed as labor saving devices. But cooking times increased dramatically when the "labor saving" stove was invented - because people were no longer content with the simple meals that can be cooked over open pit-fires, and asked for more time-intensive meals that were now possible.

Similarly, despite many advances in technology, it takes a person roughly the same amount of time to clean a house as it did to clean a house in the 19th century - it's just that our standards for cleanliness have become much higher.

So this seems entirely plausible to me - that we get more done, but we don't necessarily get things done faster.

DailyWTF: Bunker Buster

Talk about misplaced priorities. This story from the DailyWTF (ah, DailyWTF - what would I do without you?) starts with a story about poor network performance, but ends with the world's most secure insecure server.

The President smirked. As they waited for the elevator, he told Jack about the facility. It was a decommissioned military bunker with a 40,000-square foot, two-story underground facility. They had air scrubbers, generators, food, water -- enough supplies to last completely cut off from the world for at least two months. They even had decontamination showers and holding cells. Yes, holding cells.

I know network security is a big deal, but I've never known an IT department to need a holding cell. (Decontamination showers, on the other hand…)

Mike-O-Matic: The Three Kinds of IT Shops: Which is Yours?

Mr. O'Matic breaks down the different types of IT departments into three groups - places that think of everything in terms of databases, places that look at everything in terms of application frameworks, and places that put an emphasis on design and the front end.

If you are a developer working in a culture that is different from how you approach technology, you are likely to butt heads a lot with your coworkers. It's sort of a square-peg-in-round-hole situation. Once I was working at a place that was squarely in the SQL Squad camp. Our inventory management software was very feature-rich, but was overkill for many of our customers. As the person who handled all of our customer support, I was acutely aware of this pain. "What the hell is a Master Item?" they would ask. "Why can't I just add a jar of pickles?"

Unfortunately, you need to have at least 13 hearts before you pick up the Master Item. However, you can get the pickles from the old man under the tree for 70 rupees.

IBM: Windows to Linux Roadmap

The article isn't surprising - the source is. This is a roadmap for developers migrating from Windows to Linux from IBM's e-business architect, Chris Walden.

This roadmap is designed to help you take the experience and knowledge that you already have in computing and redirect it to working in Linux. It's not the only reference you'll ever need, but it will help you get past some of your first obstacles and adjust to a new and, I think, exciting approach to computing. As you follow this roadmap, you'll discover many new resources to help you learn, troubleshoot, and manage Linux.

DailyWTF: Practice Makes Perfect

Rule of thumb - when you're given 6-12 months to do a SQL server upgrade, don't just come in one weekend and upgrade all the servers.

When Kevin returned from vacation on the day following New Year's, he noticed an email sent from the issue tracker with the subject "Test email from SQL2005 Upgrade." After logging in to the issue tracker server, he went directly to the manager to ask why the server was upgraded.

"Oh that," the manager replied, "that was because I needed practice doing an upgrade."

Dmiessler.com: Lsof

This Linux/Unix command gives you the ability to show all your network connections, show only your TCP or UDP network connections, show all the networking related to a given port, a specific host, and much more.

lsof is the Linux/Unix über-tool. I use it most for getting network connection related information from a system, but that's just the beginning for this amazing and little-known application. The tool is aptly called lsof because it "lists open files". And remember, in Unix just about everything (including a network socket) is a file.

I love Unix, but why is it that on one hand, you have file names like "ls" for "list" and "rm" for "remove" and "lsof" for "lists open files" and on the other hand you have names like "gstreamer-libdvd-0.3.0-1.i386.rpm."

CodeIDE: Live Coding Interface

This is just the coolest thing ever if you're a beginning or hobbyist programmer. Type or paste the text of your Basic, Pascal, C++, Perl, Javascript, or HTML code, and test your input and output on the web page itself.

WebTVWire: Texas Judge Denies "Deep Linking" Appeal.

To get to this article:
1) Go to www.webtvwire.com.
2) Browse to February 9th, 2007 in the listings.
3) Click on the story that is entitled "Judge Denies Appeal that Deep Linking Directly to Video and Audio Streams is Not Illegal"

We could just tell you to go to http://www.webtvwire.com/judge-denies-appeal-that-deep-linking-directly-to-video-and-audio-streams-is-not-illegal/ - but apparently that's illegal in Texas.

The judge ruled that "the link Davis provides on his Web site is not a 'fair use' of copyright material" and ordered all links to the audiocasts to be removed. SFX sued supercrosslive.com because they believed that listeners should only access the audiocasts through the website, in order for logos of sponsors to be seen.

"Deep Linking" - or linking to an individual Web site page, as opposed to linking to the index site of the page - is an invention. Before business found its way onto the Internet, the system was designed so that you could link to any page on any Web site that you wanted - the entire point of it was to organize information, filtering out the information you don't need from the information you do need. In this case "sponsor logos" are most certainly information you don't need.

Network World - Layer 8: VoIP services can cause a home security alarm system to malfunction.

While this is mainly for the Vonage customer that also has a home security system that dials-out through the phone line, this is something to keep in mind when moving to a VoIP rollover in the enterprise - if your security system uses the phone line.

* VoIP requires continuous power. If you lose power, you will not be able to use any phone connected to VoIP. More importantly, the security system will not send a signal to your monitoring center.

* Software changes to the alarm system or updates from the service provider could render the system useless.

Now, granted, enterprises typically have backup generators and the like to continue to provide power, but you never when British guys playing German guys with fake American accents (to fool Bruce Willis) intend to rob your company of bearer bonds on Christmas Eve.

Dr. Tim Wu: Wireless Network Neutrality

Dr. Tim Wu, whom we tried to contact for our series on Network Neutrality, but was regretfully unavailable, has produced a paper on network neutrality over wireless networks.

This report finds a mixed picture. The wireless industry, over the last decade, has succeeded in bringing wireless telephony at competitive prices to the American public. Yet at the same time we also find the wireless carriers aggressively controlling product design and innovation in the equipment and application markets, to the detriment of consumers. Their policies, in the wired world, would be considered outrageous, in some cases illegal, and in some cases simply misguided.

Much of the network neutrality debate occurs over whether the Internet should remain neutral - it's easy to forget that there are other networks out there, like the cellphone networks, which would be broadly affected by federally mandated network neutrality. For example, Verizon didn't work well in Austin, though Cingular was clear as a bell - in rural Virginia, when I visited my parents, the reverse was true. On the other hand, a neutral network may merely lower things to a "least common denominator" and technological innovation could move at the slow pace that standardizing agencies often do.

The Codist: It's Not The Database, Stupid.

This is the story of a beleagured Java team being blamed for a slow database application.

Oddly enough the application ran very fast when run against the Dev and QA partitions in the AS/400 (the system supports multiple partitions with own memory pool, fractional CPU usage, and disk mappings). When the same code ran against the Production partition the performance turned to stone. However this fact was ignored by the AS/400 team, as their platform was known to be incredibly fast and self-tuning, and thus it had to be the fault of Java. Or the Java programmers. Or JDBC. Or anything except the database.

It's not really a network story but it is the story of finger-pointing in an IT environment because no one is really doing what they need to do to diagnose the real problem. It's too often too human to blame others rather than taking the initiative to get to the real root of the problem.

• Wired News: Hackers Attack Key Net Traffic Computers
• The Daily WTF: The Intentional Slowdown
• Security.itworld.com (via Techworld): Study notes link between IT sabotage, work behavior.

Continue reading "Thursday Links: UltraDNS attacked, Intentional Slowdowns, and I’m telling y’all it’s sabotage." »