Skip to main content

Replacing the number-plate separator

Not going to identify either customer or consultants involved here, but...

In the beginning, there was the Novell file server, and there was the MS-Windows 2000 MS-SQL Server, and there was the SomeRandomLinux Gateway server, and the happiness was general and the Delphi-based ADO-backed applications did download onto the MS-Windows workstations and run in their course.

The gateway server became upgraded to RedHat 9, and there was much rejoicing, but the SendMail did remain.

And then the Novell server was declared obsolete, and deemed in need of replacement, and so the Samba server was commissioned. And the SuSE flavour of Linux was duly chosen, of the ninth version, that migration from Novell might be sweet. The transition took place, and the network did run like a dog, and the file permissions did give suck, and the users were greatly offended and did seek to lay hands on the consultants.

Much confusion arose amongst those consultants, and much assignment of blame, and much running to and fro, and the smb.conf file did bear the scars of many tweaks, and eventually the consultants decided... to replace the Samba server with a humungous and costly Windows 2003 server, and to run the applications locally on that, and to supply the users with raw pixels through Terminal Services, which was fine as far as it went.

And then the management laid eye on the accounting for all of those “seats”, and did contemplate the spectre of a dozen users running RDP from a remote location through a thin ADSL uplink and at Telstra prices per megabyte, and much dung did bog up the waving ostrich feathers.

The programmer who wrote the software did some tests and consumed approximately 4 megabytes of data in two reasonably busy minutes, which is almost feasible at 64kb/s. Yours truly did the same and ran up 90 megabytes in about a third of a minute, which is well into “no way, Hosea” territory.

Yes, Virginia, there is a problem. But why solve it or even understand it when you can pave over it with MS-Windows licences and a truckload of expensive hardware? What? Do a network traffic dump? Preposterous!

And yet, faced with trolling through ninety megabytes of SMB crap in search of the root of the issue, I can see the merit in their approach...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

every-application-is-part-of-a-toolkit at work

I have a LibreOffice Impress slideshow that I wish to turn into a narrated video. 1. export the slideshow as PNG images (if that is partially broken — as at now — at higher resolutions, Export Directly as PDF then use ‘pdftoppm’ (from the poppler-utils package) to do the same). 2. write a small C program (63 lines including comments) to display those images one at a time, writing a config file entry for Imagination (default transition: ‘cross fade’) based on when the image-viewer application (‘display,’ from the GraphicsMagick suite) is closed on each one; run that, read each image aloud, then close each image in turn. 3. run ‘Imagination’ over the config file to produce a silent MP4 video with the correct timings. 4. run ‘Audacity’ to record speech while using ‘SMPlayer’ to display the silent video, then export that recording as a WAV file. 4a. optionally, use ‘TiMIDIty’ to convert a non-copyright-encumbered MIDI tune to WAV, then import that and blend it with the speech (as a quiet b
1 comment
Read more

new life for an old (FTX) PSU, improved life for one human

the LEDs on this 5m strip happen to emit light centred on a red that does unexpectedly helpful things to (and surprisingly deeply within) a human routinely exposed to it. it has been soldered to a Molex connector, plugged into a TFX power supply from a (retired: the MoBo is cactus) Small Form Factor PC, the assorted PSU connectors (and loose end from the strip) have been taped over. the LED strip cost $10.24 including postage, the rest cost $0, the PSU is running at 12½% of capacity, consumes less power than a laptop plug-pack despite running a fan. trial runs begin today.
Post a Comment
Read more

boundaries

pushing the actual boundaries of the physical (not extremes, the boundaries themselves) can often remove barriers not otherwise perceived. one can then often resolve an issue itself, rather than merely stonewalling at the physical consequences of the issue.
Post a Comment
Read more