Tech Talks

This is what i call proper cabling!

2006-03-20T01:18:00.000+08:00

Im really wide awake right now. That's what you get for sleeping till 5:30 in the evening! The result of my oversleeping is not because i partied all night long till wee hours in the morning, i mean it's F1 weekend here in Malaysia and every corner downtown is having an event of some sort. Nope. no party for me, unless spending the whole of saturday from 8:30 am - 5:00am the next day in the office is a party.. (not in this lifetime it's not!!)

Anyway, the reason i was there for nearly 24 hours was due to the fact my server room was a mess. Yes, every administrator's nightmare. When you can't tell which network cable goes to which server, and which client is connected where.. and your equipment rack looks like 300 packs of instant noodles all cooked in a mighty big pot.. yeap, houston, we have a problem.

Crappy D-Link Switch. Yuck!

An insult to the IBM x366 Server to sit in a rack that looks like this.

First of all, me and my colleagues had to check and confirm the patch panels were labeled correctly, comparing each port to the face plate on the users desk. Thank god, i had a set of the handy Motorola T5320 Walkie-Talkie with me, courtesy of Vgin and Howe. My drift buddies use em' when they go racing and man do they come in handy! Beats running to the phone every two minutes to confirm the cables are correct, labels correct, etc.... no?

Once that was done, we had to start clearing out the unused equipment and cables like the motorola routers and modems that were build back in the days Kopi-O costs only 20 sen. At one point, we had to lift the raised flooring and man, the junk we found under there was disasterous. AS400 Twinax cables that could be used for mountain climbing!! Huge, bulky, heavy and dusty. and a whole lot of em' too!

Who wants some maggi mee, anyone?

We had to down the whole organisation's network to get the work done, needless to say but the results were fruitful. From what used to be a children's playground full of mazes and shit like that, now looks top notch data centre class. I Like. Yes, yes, i'm a geek for that. Sue me.

Is this neat or is this neat?

Floor clean enough to eat off.

No more playing hide and seek behind here!

Waterfall cabling.. the way it should be... Bye bye 10BaseT hubs, hello Gigabit Switch!

Million thanks 2xdizzy, for all your help. Thanks boss!

I haven't sat for an exam in almost 5 years..

2006-03-17T01:46:00.000+08:00

Since college, seriously. And im rusty as hell. Im gonna sit for my first Oracle OCP paper (Exam 1Z0-007: Introduction to Oracle9i SQL) in a couple of weeks and i'm no where near prepared. Maybe it's just the "worried" part of my brain talking.. Shit, i've been reading up and doing sample exam papers nearly everyday till 2 in the morning. I have to ace this paper.. can not fail.... muuussssttt succceeeddd... muuusttt geeettt certified for beeettterr job opportunities.. (That's a struggling me talking, in case you're wondering what the hell's with the draggy words).

Im taking a breather from reading. Hence, this entry. Right now all this don't make sense to me at all..

TOTO... I DON'T THINK WE'RE IN KANSAS ANYMORE..

I am LOST. Any OCP's out there willing to help? Pleassseee hellpp!! Exam tips, free TEST-KING papers, any oracle eBooks, better yet, if you have anything from OSBOURNE PRESS...

HELPP MEEE!!!!

Please drop me a comment if you have any tips...... or if you can mail me any documents and papers.. even better.. i need all the test exam papers i can get. TooLlLloOoOooggggGGg!!

Back to my books. must study study study study study!!!!!!!!!!!

"OMG!! Not another Sex Scandal?!?" :- Explained..

2006-03-05T11:33:00.000+08:00

This post is a result of one person having too much free time on a saturday evening, and ofcourse, when you have something like Intervideo WinDVD Creator installed on your laptop and a stupid barney clip, i guess the rest is history? Anyway, the reason why i put the clip up for download was to see, what kind of traffic would be generated with such a scandalous post and better yet, a value add clip for your view pleasure? Obviously, those who have viewed it would know by now it was nothing more than a sham and from some of the comments i've viewed, it was nothing more than a cheap trick to earn brownie points. Sorry folks, you got the latter wrong. In fact, all i really wanted to do was to find out this :-

Click image to view the stats clearer..

I'm pretty sure i'm not the first daft prick to use sexual explicit (fake, i should add) material to lure audience to a website, nor will i be the last. But what i see here is just unbelievable! I mean, minutes into pinging my first entry, there were already 65 downloads worldwide!

Will you just take a look at this. First screenshot:: Download link to hear DJ Nicholar Matar doing an Eric Kupper Remix..

Yup, 6 lousy downloads since posting one month ago.

173 downloads in less than a day! Every loves that huggable purple dino.

In conclusion, i've learnt that blogging about anything other than sex or something controversial enough to raise eyebrows is a fvcking waste of time. NO body gives a flying dutchmen's ass what you have to say about what you had for lunch, dinner or breakfast unless maybe a couple of handful of friends. or your pet dog. or perhaps, your spouse.

I would also like to sincerely apologize to all the statistics who gotten out the kleenex and hand cream only to find barney and his friends rapping to 2pac. I'm sure you'll find other means. No hard feelings k?

Oh and before i walk out into the sunset, leaving behind my 30 seconds of fame (seriously, i'll probably never get traffic to my site like this ever again! hehe) , i'd just like to add that many of you out there really don't have a freaking sense of humour! GEEZ! come on man, it's not like you spent 3 days downloading the clip only to see it was a dud right? lighten up man.... if it did really offend you in anyway.........

OMG!! Not another Sex Scandal?!?

2006-03-04T21:11:00.000+08:00

It's bad enough you read about it in the papers that some poor soul lost her handphone and the idiot who stole it finds some home made vids in it and distributes it across the net.. and now this?!?! A little closer to home, a guy of a guy of a guy i know who works downtown at a puter shop finds this movie clip hidden somewhere in the HDD of one of his customers.

Apparently, the customer complained that his PC just won't boot and brought it in for repair. Turned out, the power supply blew and once that was replaced this guy did some standard OS diagnostics and health check. By Accident (or so it seems), he finds a home made of this chick he apparently have seen hanging out around where he works!!!

Can you Fncking believe that?!?!

I WANNA SEE THE CLIP TO CONFIRM!

YOU ARE ALL JERKS AND SHOULD BE SHOT IN THE HEAD, PERVERTS.

This shit has been circulated around, for a couple of days now and i just got it in my mailbox. I really pitty these people who get 'caught in the act' digitally. I mean come on, how many Paris Hilton do we need?

Another one bites the dust..

2006-03-03T00:21:00.000+08:00

Hardly into 2006, there has been 4 resignations from my department, most recently 2 which happened this morning. Great. B-E-A-UTIFUL. It's bad enough we are running low on man power, the department is getting pretty top heavy; ratio of management : kuli (that's me) is something like 2 : 1.5. Can you imagine how fscked up that is gonna be? Not to mention, you officially inherit the work of two other people, minus their pay since no replacements will be hired. My work now equates to something like this:-

DOUBLEWORK + NO INCREMENT + MULTIPLE BOSS + MORE END USERS TO SUPPORT = ME

This is ME.

My work officially sucks starting today. Not that it didn't suck yesterday, or the day before that.. but it now sucks harder due to the fact with two more gunned down, crappy work will most probably be diverted your way. It is inevitable, like how smiths in the Matrix turns everyone around him to smith. Even the oracle becomes smith. Fsck, even seti becomes smith. "Cookies need love, like everything else" my ass.

I am now pressured to look for greener pastures. Not by anyone, but myself. The way i see it, 4 years of hard work and dedication did not pay off for jack shit. Yea, so your appraisal looks great, but so does the hair between my buttcheeks. In an end-user organisation where everything is pro-operations, a good appraisal is as good as the hair between your buttcheeks, literally. Sadly, I feel the people who have pushed my once happy, cheerful, resourseful, dynamic and hardworking department into such chaos will only truly see the value of a strong IT team when there is no IT team. It is utter crap i tells yas. CRAP. MNC outlook with lowyatt style operations, tumbling down the rabbit hole... bad. really bad.

I decided, the time has come to make the change for myself. And so, i paid a visit to the ORACLE to foretell my future:-

Oracle, are you trying to tell me i'm screwed or i should be patient? Oracle...? ORACLE!!!!!

3 million job seekers vs. job opportunities you can count with your toes. Jeez, im not asking for a million dollar income man, it's reasonable wages!

I'm back from my trip to the Oracle, and i guess all i can do now besides waiting is to be more aggresive in my job hunt. Which, i already am.. Tonight while i cry myself to sleep, i'll pray extra harder that tomorrow, i'll get an email too good to be true i'll immediately ask my new employers, "where do i sign, boss?"

I was joking about the crying part. ;)

Technorati::- Jobs, Oracle, Can you offer me a job?

*TechRawks*

.B.I.O.N.I.C. presents.. CHEMICAL 06'

2006-02-27T01:26:00.000+08:00

Im begining to wonder, what's gotten into my blog recently.. No tech talks, no free tools, no reviews on anything relevant to the technosphere, just music. Why? Ermm.. the only logical reason is because i can? It's my blog!! :) Okay... that's not it. The reason im doing this is to let you guys in on some of the really cool music that you may have heard about, maybe know a little, or are completely oblivious to it's very existence.
And why should you lack the knowledge of when our local dudes get the beat rockin down town? So maybe Tiesto, Pete Tong, and the likes of em' got their sponsors and advertising agency to market their gig. Well i'd like to let you know, local talents have theirs too, in the true form of 'Malaysia Boleh' where we use our mulut to pass on news to our friends, colleagues, aunts and uncles... oh and not to forget unleashing the true power of the blogosphere..

TechRawks presents.. (with no permission or written approval in anyway..)

Click on the image for larger view.

That's right folks! All the info you need in the brochure above. The dates are set, so polish up those kickers and loosen yer bodies for the event cause Nouvo is set to bring the house down when the champs spin!

You may have read or perhaps even downloaded some of DJ Droo's tracks from my previous post. If you haven't, click here to read more. If you like his tracks, well here's your chance to catch him in action live! Don't forget now, 6th May 2006.

On a seperate note: Do you upload an entire MP3 to your mobile, just to be able to hear the first 3 seconds of the song before you answer your phone? Pretty waste of space if the MP3 is sitting there purely as a ringtone huh? Why not trim it? Cut them buggers up and you'll have lotsa space for more tones... so you dont get sick of just the same boring crap.

The solution is MPTrim! the free, easy to use no hassle 200kb software that does just that. Clip away the parts you don't want and keep the parts you do and voila! true tones ready to be bluetoothed to your mobile.

Get it Here!:: http://www.savefile.com/files/8341016

A couple of my favourite tunes are available here:

Sophie Ellis Bextor's "Murder on the Dance Floor"

Aerosmith's "Pink".

Technorati::- Music, DJ Droo, MP3, Mobile Tunes, Free Music, DJ Events

*Tech-Rawks*

-:Downloads:- DJ Nicholas Matar freakin' rawks!

2006-01-24T00:57:00.000+08:00

A truly soulful house experience, and that's that. Nothing else better describe DJ Nicholas Matar's wicked tracks. I have the Journeys by DJ:Nicholas Matar: Latitude 40' album and every track from 1 to 16 keeps getting ya pumped for more. DJ Matar here is a native New Yorker but has been resident for super club Pacha on Ibiza for over 6 years. Enough said; you can always google his details if you're interested.. but right now, i'd like to present to you...

I'm only posting one track which is my personal fav.. Cool Affair [Eric Kupper Remix]. Download it, listen to it, and see if it gets you pumped. It's been WMAed for your listening pleasure. If you like it, then PLEASE go get the original. I am in no way pirating his music, but rather giving you a taste of his talent. If you like what you hear, then go buy the original and drag this file to the recycle bin once you're done with it. Help keep the music industry alive yo!

Yes! i want to download this track! : Cool Affair [Eric Kupper Remix].

*Music is a form of Technology on Tech Rawks*

Technorati::- Music, DJ Nicholas Matar, House Music

-:Downloads:- DJ Droo's never B4 heard tracks!

2006-01-21T02:10:00.000+08:00

One of the best things about having a DJ for a friend is getting free samplings! Yessirree boys and girls, never before heard tracks from the main man himself, DJ Droo! You can check him out alongside other fantastic DJ's at DJ@WORK. The link's on the side of this page.. but just incase you missed it.. ohhh okay.. here's where you gotta go:-

A little bit about DJ Droo before we get to the juicy downloads shall we?

"DJ@Work's Droo was 1st Runner Up & Reader's Choice at JUICE's DJ Quest 2004. The road to success for DJ Droo started years ago, pioneering house at Bar Savanh. Although currently playing at KL's biggest club, Droo has been drafted this year to play for several prestigious fashion launches - including the Guess Outlet Launch and Mini Cooper presents Looque / Elite Models Launch Party, and at the Follie Follie Watch Launch Party. Droo continues to expand his outreach of sexy house music through DJ@Work."
Dipetik dari http://djatwork.us :)

And now... for the two tracks you have been waiting for... **drum-roll**

Track 1#

Gimme the night :- http://savefile.com/files/5123041

Track 2#

Switch It :- http://www.savefile.com/files/1230419

Now nothing beats grooving to DJ's spin live, so bookmark DJ@WORK and check out their events update regularly. You wouldn't wanna miss out on anything now would ya? ;) Oh and by the way, if you like Droo's mixes, drop me a comment and i'll get more tracks from him for your listening pleasure.

Cheerios!

*Tech-Rawks*

Error Nuker: Blowing the crap outta errors.

2006-01-15T14:54:00.000+08:00

Ah Windows registry.. the framework that tells your OS how to behave.. Many a cool tweaks can be done using regedit, provided you do it right. By now you should know that many a ichy fingers can lead to your OS crashing too, if parameters in the registry aren't set correctly. Sometimes, when you install and uninstall lots and lots of crapola' software, you tend to leave many a registry keys orphaned too.. that may, or may not lead to complications later on.. Anyhow, it's always good practice to house keep your registry.. after you do proper backup that is..

So how do you actually housekeep your registry without screwing your OS? Why, use free tools of course! And one particular free software i find pretty handy is Error Nuker, "it blows the crap outta your registry!". Get it here!

Using Error Nuker is easier then baking a pie. Not that i've ever baked a pie in my life, but okay.. moving on. After installation, error nuker sits on your system tray ready to detect registry problems for ya without costing you a dime. It's tweakable so don't worry about resources. if you dont want it start then turn it off period. Then interface is pretty easy to use too. Just start it up, hit the scan button and voila'!! errors detected. Check it out:

Momma.. can i have error-nuker for christmas, puh-leaseee?

The scan probably takes about 5-10 minutes, after which you get to just hit one magic button to make all your pain go away...

Pretty neat huh? Especially since you ain't paying jack for it. Check it out and see if it helps out your registry woes..

*Tech Talks*

Tweaking XP:: Lesson #5 Crashed Programs

2006-01-10T18:46:00.000+08:00

Lets hear it. who loves to get that damn " Program has encountered an unrecoverable error" which subsequently asks you to click the Send button, so Microsoft can immediately send technical support to your door steps before you can say 'What the F*ck just happened to my PC???!!!'?

Oh, I'm sorry.. my bad. Microsoft doesn't do that. Ya big deal. you encountered a program crash. It's not something that Microsoft takes pride in fixing, no? ;) In most cases, tough buns. Just restart your PC if you have too, or just re-launch the application and start using it again, pretending it never cost you your day's worth of document typing. By now, if you're a seasoned PC user, you'd know better then to not save your work every 20 seconds which crunching numbers or preparing that ever so important document for your boss.

But seriously, that program error thingy-ma-jingy is really a pain in the ass! Look. i know it crashed, and i've dealed with it. It's not un-common but can you please stop bothering me with that darn message? NO i do not want to send anything to Microsoft. I don't want to tell them that their software boils my blood and makes me want to shit bricks sometimes despite the fact I paid good money to get the orriginal licensed copy.. -- Just leave me alone!

Lucky for us, Microsoft to some extent do allow us to customise registry settings so we can skip the bullshit and get back to work. So ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, i present to you today's registry tweak:

HOW TO DISABLE ERROR REPORT WHEN A PROGRAM CRASHES

Very simple, really:

Go to START >> RUN >> REGEDIT.
Under HKLM\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\PCHealth\ErrorReporting (HKLM by the way stands for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE)
Edit this Value: "DoReport"
Set the value to '0' to disable the error report prompt.

At the same time, some programs just got that habit of going into 'Not Responding' mode cause you didn't bake him enough cookies in the morning... Kinda like a form of program retaliation. Sometimes, it gets really annoying to have to go to end task and kill the damn process. So, if you really wanna make life easier, just use this tweak.

Go to START >> RUN >> REGEDIT.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Change the registry value REG_SZ >> AutoEndTasks to value 1.

There! Doesn't that make using Windows a whole lot better? ;) Cherios!

*Tech-Talks*

Where do you draw the line?

2006-01-02T15:16:00.000+08:00

IT, End Users, IT, End Users. Lets see.. if you work in an end user environment, where your job scope is predominantly influenced by the business of your organization, I'll bet my last dollar that some where along the way you have at least encountered a situation where by you were required to drill down to the business operations to help out, from an "IT Perspective", even though your employment letter states you are required to perform your duties within the IT scope. So where exactly do you draw the line on "IT Scope"?

Lets see:- You are involved in a new project, implementing a software that will help your manufacturing plant perform better, operationally. Yes, you will most probably be required to drill down to operations to understand the process, the business flow and yada yada. This is most beneficial as with better understanding of your business process, you will be able to implement the project more efficiently.

But sometimes, you the IT personnel finds yourself being saconded for a work that goes beyond your scope. Yeah, take a good hard look at your employment letter. See that little clause that states that the "Company at any time, has the right to transfer you within the group of companies as deemed fit"? Did you ponder over this before you signed the dotted line? Hmm...

So lets just say, your company suddenly decides to send you on a point of no return mission, to clean up the mess made by the business people itself. What do you do? say 'YES' cause the company is in a middle of a crisis and they need all the help they can get? or say 'NO' cause you didn't just pay 10 grand to get your CCNA to be seconded to do manual paper work filling in a warehouse in some god forsaken island?

Unless the company belongs to your dad, my opinion is to say NO. You have to draw the line some where right? It's okay if you're involved in the debacle from an IT Standpoint, not if you're doing it just cause no one else wants to take the fall for the mess, that in no way has anything to do with IT. Let's put it this way; MS Excel wasn't made for IT Geeks. It was made to make the life of everyday business people easier. If you were employed to ensure your critical business systems and network runs flawlessly, then stick to that; cause at the end of the day, no one is gonna help you out when your servers crash or services fail, cause you were too busy counting carton boxes in your store to "help out" your company, when you have about 50 other idle people sitting duck, just because management says IT personnels can do a better job. (At counting boxes? hmm...)

Do you all agree?

Can end users adapt to change?

2005-12-21T00:34:00.000+08:00

The question that all tech support can never run from. Can users adapt to change? Are they willing to change their routine work with anything regards to the puter for the benefit of the company? Will they think or feel their doing too much for the company and not being paid enough with the change at hand? - Frankly speaking, as the implementer, you really couldn't give a rat's ass what they feel, but sometimes, their comments can really dig into your skin, or even make you roll over laughing your head off.

Well i recently had the pleassure of assisting in the implementation of one, will not be named (for security purpose) proxy server for my organization. Everything was going as planned, setup completed successfully, roll out was error-less, and policies were well defined.. right up to the end-user implementation phase; and this happened to be one painful change the users weren't ready to accept. You see, right up till today internet surfing for those who were given the privilege had no boundaries, no monitoring and they could do everything a homeuser could do on the net. From yahoo! to MSN Messenger, just name it.

SO.. my first encounter today with one particular user was a retaliation most bitter. After briefing the user (USER01) on the new restricted access, User01 proceeded to bitch and bitch and bitch about why free surfing was needed. Lots of research needed to be performed and how without it, life as we know it will end. OKAY... i got your point. Tell it to judge! Your boss didn't give us the green light to upgrade your access to unrestricted okay?? Jeez, don't go throwing your tantrum at me cause i'm just doing my job!! Like i really get the pleassure out of banning you from the net? Puh-leaseee. (Although i must admit, controlling user access sure as hell saves the company hellava lot of bandwidth!!) You should see the crap users download every single day!!.. It's not to say they give a crap about the important business applications that run on the same network right? They just keep downloading, and downloading, and wasting all that bandwidth until one day, the important application hits a bottleneck, THEN They start to complain.. Yeah, thanks dude.. like you didn't contribute to the mess you made..

On the other hand, i encountered one particular user (USER02) which raised a question which made me nearly fall of my seat. The conversation went something like this..

USER02 : Hello, Hello!
Me : Hello, what's the matter?
USER02 : Eh, just now ah.. you all people install what on my pc ah??
Me : Oh, that's the new proxy access.. you have to log in before you can use the internet.
USER02 : Ya... i know! i alredi change password! but i cannot access internet!!!
Me : Can i know what site you're trying to access?
USER02 : fodee, fodee fodee lahhhh!! why cannot access?? something wrong isit?!?!
Me : fodee? What do you mean fodee? Our records show you are only allowed to access sites related to your work. If you mean why you can't surf to other sites, that's because you do not have the privilege to do so.
USER02 : Yaaa..... what ever lahhh.. now i ask u why i canot go fodee!!
Me : fodee?!? (I was really blur..) What is that??
USER02 : Aiyoh you ahh..... Kuda, TOTO, MAGNUM Lahhh!!! Why cannot access???

(Slight pause...)

Bloodyshit. This guy trying to look at horse race results online.. he meant 4D!!!

Me : (Refrain from laughing my ass off) Ohhhh.... you mean 4D is it... haiiihhh.. where can access that site?? You wanna see result go kedai lah.!!
USER02 : What go kedai.. why you all like that one?? Every morning i come work i check 4d now how to check 4d?! If kena how?

(Thinking to myself.. KNN, kena you no need to work lah! become king and live of your 4d lahh!)

Me : Sorry la. But access for you is restricted to business related sites. If you wanna check 4D, you send request to my boss for approval ok? (Sure will go through one, my boss sure give users like you access to 4D and while we're at it, we'll give you access to porn too!)
USER02 : Lidddatttt ahhh..... haihhh. Nevermind lah.. what to do, cannot check 4D anymore.. Eh, Sure ah cannot check 4D anymore?
Me : Yes... I'm very sure you cannot access 4D anymore.
USER02 : Then nevermind lah.. i check somewhere else lah. bye. *click*(hang up phone)

The shit we put up with everytime something new is implemented. I'm pretty much convinced, IT systems can only be implemented efficiently in an organization where bosses iron fist end users. In reality, most companies treat IT as the cost centre, without realising the potential of it being a profit centre, or at least a value added service to customers. Businesses today should be driven by IT, not being led by outdated methodology and mindset which died out with the dinosaurs. With all this said, IT policies and procedures will save any organization a significant, quantifiable amount of time and investment not to mention, the improvement of resource efficiency.

I guess, these things take time to adapt. Rome wasn't built in a day. End Users will never learn the value of bandwidth overnight. In some ways, i do feel sorry for USER02. I mean, all he wanted was to check his 4D..... So as consolation, User02.. i hope you DO read techrawks.blogspot.com on your free and busy time.. (Although this isn't an approved site on the proxy..), i present to you, today's Magnum Results.

I sincerely hope, you blew your life savings on the number 4894. Then you can buy your own IT department, set up your own proxy, and allow only you, access to FODEE!!

*Tech-Talks*

How do i collect Stats from Oracle?

2005-12-18T01:06:00.000+08:00

Every DBA should be well aware of what's going on in their database. You can't expect to install it, mount it, and hope your users never complain about it. OR that is never crashes on you. OR it has Artificial Intelligence and can call you on your mobile telling you it's not feeling well and needs you to do reindexing. hah hah.. this isn't Dexter's Laboratory man..! Hence, today's topic on Maintaining oracle Alert Log files:: The first place DBA's should look for problematic DB's.

What's an Alert Log file?

It's a love letter full of rainbows and sunshine. Yeah right. ;).. Oracle Alert log files are logs that are churned by oracle that consists of a chronology of messages and errors on your database.
A DBA should always check alert log files regularly:

Detect internal errors (ORA-600) and block corruption errors.
Monitor database operations.
View the nondefault initialization parameters

Where is the Alert log file situated?

It's not buried in your backyard i can tell you that much. It's actually located in the folder specified in your init.ora file under the parameter BACKGROUND_DUMP_DEST. The init.ora file can be located in your oracle home directory, under the database folder. Init.ora basically holds all the parameters to initialize your DB instance. This is where you set your SGA (System Global Area), or in other words how much memory is allocated to your database instance. In later posts, i will ellaborate more on how to tune your SGA correctly to ensure your database returns more cache hits than cache misses.

The alert log file contains information for tuning the database. Use it.

Checkpoint start and end times. (Frequent checkpoints ensures instance recovery takes a shorter time to complete. However, too much checkpoint can also cause an overhead on process. Be aware.)
Incomplete checkpoints.
Time to perform archiving.
Instance recovery start and complete times.
Deadlock and timeout errors.

Moving on...

Background process trace file. This lil' loggie thingy can be obtained from your udump folder, or in other words the folder specified under init.ora file under the parameter USER_DUMP_DEST. Oracle server dumps information errors detected by any background process into trace files. These files don't usually contain tuning information; however if you are tuning user trace files then it will help you gather some stats on what's going on based on a specific user. This is the highlight of today's post:

How do i collect stats from User Trace Files?

First of all, let's look at how we can perform a Session-Level Trace:

SQL> Alter session set timed_statistics = TRUE;

SQL> Alter session set sql_trace = TRUE;

Now, get some information on your session by performing the following query while logged in as sysdba:

SQL> Select sid, serial#, user, osuser, machine from v$session;

You may want to format the columns for a better view (e.g. SQL> col machine format a25). Get the SID and SERIAL# of the user you want to dump to trace. Now, execute this package:

SQL> execute dbms_system.set_sql_trace_in_session ("SID","SERIAL",TRUE);

Once you get the 'procedure compiled successfully notification, return to your C:\> and run TKPROF.

Note: Tkprof is a tool in oracle for formating trace files to a readable format. To run TKPROF perform the following in C:\>

C:\> TKPROF C:\\udump\_ora_####.trc C:\outputfile.out sys=no explain=username/password

where: [""= Instance Name, "outpufile.out"=Name of your output file for review, "sys=no"=Do not report on sys user SQL statements, "explain=username/password"=Your Oracle Username and password.

Your output file should look something like THIS.

How do I interpret this file?

I'd like to say you can burn it in a cup, add some hot water and drink it down while chanting "oracle, oracle, oracle" but that doesn't work. There are some basic legends in the text files itself, but to understand more, it's best you look it up through Oracle.com or better yet if you're a metalink user, then head on down to Metalink. Alternative option will be to look it up at oraperf. Oracle documentation usually helps so use that.

Alot of people prefer gathering stats through OEM (Oracle Enterprise Manager). I prefer using command prompt cause it gives me the whole Matrix feel, especially if you set your screen colour to black and text to neon green. ;).. I guess it's always best to start from command line cause you grasp the concept better.

Stay tuned for next session on running Statspack!

*Tech-Talks*

Oracle Rawks My Sawks!

2005-12-15T01:12:00.000+08:00

I've been blogging about tweaking XP so much, im kinda bored of it. Okay, so maybe 4 posts on XP can't quantify as "So Much".. but then again, it's my blog so i'm gonna say it's enough for now. ;) Besides, i can't think of anything to write today on tweaking Windows.. maybe something will pop into my head tomorrow.

What's fresh in my head though, is Oracle 9i Tuning. Personally, i find Oracle to be one of the most kick-ass RDBMS. PostgreSQL is cool cause it's free but for enterprise deployment, i'll put all my money in Oracle. MS SQL? ermmmm... moving on. =p

Alot of DBAs deploy database and then forget about it.. until users start calling and asking why does it take 1/2 hour to print report 'X' when it used to take 3 mins? Data grows baby and if you don't manage it, you're digging your own grave. Before moving on to more technical tips on database performance tuning, I'd like to cover some of the basic tuning phases every dba should know or cover appropriately.

In a nutshell, tuning can be divided into 4 phases:

Application design and programming.
Database Configuration.
Adding a new application to an existing database.
Troubleshooting and tuning.

1#: Application design and programming

The fundamental of all tuning. 75% of the time, your users are breathing down your neck on performance due to this problem. The best way to do this, run statspack and see what kinda statements are being parsed. Statspack is god's gift to DBA's. Use it. (Will cover more on this)

2#: Database configuration

Always plan data configuration to ensure shorter recovery time and faster data access.

3#: Adding new application to an existing database

Workload changes when new apps are added to an existing system. You must accompany any major change in the workload with performance monitoring.

4#: Troubleshooting and Tuning

Use tools to identify bottlenecks. Examine this data to form a hypothesis. Develop a solution from the hypothesis and implement it. Run a test load to see if it solves your problems. Common performance problems are Bad session management, bad cursor management, and bad relational designs.

Remember, always collect a Baseline set of statistics. This should be when the system is optimal. From there, collect statistics on a scheduled basis and monitor for degration.

Some tools you can use to tune your database....

Oracle Enterprise Manager
Diagnostics and tuning packs
Statspacks
Dynamic troubleshooting views
dba_xxxxxx dictionary views
Oracle wait events
utlbstat.sql and utlestat.sql scripts

I'll drill down more into using SQL Scripts and tools to manage and tune your database. But not today ;) Cause i have to sleep. Most of you probably have left this site reading the first few lines.. Those of you who did manage to reach this far.. thanks for reading my textbook bullshit ;)

Tomorrow, i hope to drill down to the more techi shit. Those who do return to read it, well i hope it helps you and if it doesn't, thanks for wasting your time at techrawks!

Terminal Server burns my nuts

2005-12-06T23:02:00.000+08:00

LITERALLY. And it caused me to miss 1/2 day of my critical Oracle Fine Tuning training!! Frankly, I'm all for Windows technology even though sometimes their solution may cost a bomb but yesterday, My Windows Server 2003 running Citrix played a bloody cruel joke on me. Terminal Service expired on me, even though i have close to 100 licensed CALs installed! WTF!!

MS really got to lighten up on the licensing man.. Have you ever tried activating or reactivating your windows CAL? It's a freaking pain in the ass if you ask me! Anything i install for oracle doesn't ask me for freakin' serial number. But when it comes to windows... you need open license number, authorization number, activate over the net, key in MORE serial numbers and finally, calling ol' Bill himself for the final 1,200 character long, alphanumeric serial unlock. Okay im just kidding on the last part. But the actual process is pain-staking enough!

And don't get me started on Citrix. Can't the damn thing work the way it should?? I have it running on state of the art hardware yet, it never fails to kick me in the nuts everytime i don't have time to play with it!! The whole fact that it can't run without Terminal Service, The moment it expires, fails, what ever (When it really shouldn't!!).. Citrix falls like a sack of bricks from a 10 storey building. And for the same sad fact, after you finally get terminal service to work again, Citrix won't bloody innitiate! *ArrrGGggGGggghhhHHHHhhh*

Question of the day :: IS Citrix really worth running in an enterprise deployment?

Every white paper you read, they tell you the same crap:

Mobility. Applications can be deployed and run from virtually anywhere in the world just from a few clicks of the browser.
Better access management.
Better control of users.
THIN CLIENT.
Quick deployment.

What they forgot to mention was::

Rigid.
Not platform independent.
Buggy.
Resource hogger.
works like crap over VPN. (But then again, everything works like crap over VPN).
EXPENSIVE. Bad enough you gotta buy Citrix license, you gotta buy Windows and Terminal Service CAL as well!

Okay okay, so maybe every software has it's pros and cons, and i can't deny that Citrix does make deployment of software easier but today, i feel like ranting about it cause it pissed me off and wasted all of my time for nothing! Maybe if it works better next week. I'll boast about how good it really is. yeah, right...

ON A LIGHTER NOTE....

How Drunk can you really get during and after a Wedding Dinner?

A special congratulations to my good friends Roger, Koma, Ah Liew and 'Lau Pan' on tying the knot this month. You guys are gonna make great husbands and fathers.

Tweaking XP:: Lesson #4 Get rid of em' balloons!

2005-12-04T23:36:00.000+08:00

You know, there's nothing i hate more than that damn XP balloons that pop up every 5 minutes telling ya that something's up with your PC. yeah yeah, informative i know.. but it's information i don't need when im doing my work! If i wanted to know something, then i'd look for it. I don't need you telling me that my desktop needs cleaning up okay! Or that i am 'connected' at 100Mbps. I'm always connected at 100Mbps everyday man, so telling me that isn't gonna make we feel that you've just unleash a wealth of information to me!

Okay, okay.. credit needs to be given where deserved, and yes sometimes it's good to know what's up with your PC, but not every-single-waking-hour when your PC is up and running right?? GEEZ! Personnally, i think it's just a waste of resource, balloons and all. If i wanted to see balloons so much i'd go get it from an ugly looking clown at the circus. And besides, it's not humurous information like this:

Thank god, XP allows us to tweak this. All you gotta do is:

RUN> Regedit

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows

\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Add a DWORD Value and name it 'EnableBalloonTips' and give it the value '0'.

This should stop those pesky balloons from popping up. And if you get lonely and want XP to return to it's caring state off notifying you for every darn thing that happens, then remove the value you keyed in. Cherios!

*Tech-Rawks*

Tweaking XP:: Lesson #3

2005-12-03T18:17:00.000+08:00

Performance! Who can stand a pc that starts up and operates slower than grandma doing push-ups? The best tweaks to do on your pc are to enhance performance, all the other cool extras can wait if you ask me =)

So today's little tweak technique is..........

How to keep Windows Operating Data in Physical Memory

Windows XP contains a couple of tweakable memory settings in the registry, one of which is DisablePagingExecutive registry key. This neat little bugger controls whether your OS will transfer it's essential drivers and kernel files to the Virtual Memory. By default, Windows XP allows the system to do this.

General Rule of Thumb. Anything that runs of physical memory is Ferari. Anything that runs from harddisk is kancil. Ka Piissh ? Moving on..

Windows XP will do this, whether you like it or not. So even if you got like 1 GB of memory running on your PC, if you don't tweak XP will still do what it's told to do by default.

So, if you got a good 256MB memory to spare, try this registry tweak to force Windows to keep it's Operating Data in Main Memory:

Under RUN> regedit

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

Select the DisablePagingExecutive value to '1'
Reboot your PC.

So how, can ahh can ahh? PC got feel faster like FELALI ah? heh heh..
Try and see for yourself! =)

*Tech-Rawks*

And Symantec gave life, in the form of Livestate

2005-12-01T00:02:00.000+08:00

I haven't had the chance to blog much recently, partly because the whole of last week was a pretty busy week, so is this week... Had a wedding to attend last week, this week, next week and in two weeks!! Oh, Im on training this week too and Im down with fever and yet, still so much to do! crap, crap, crap.. Nothing i hate more then falling sick. Makes me feel so damn unproductive. How i wished they had anti-virus scans in the form of tablets. Just pop one of em' buggers in and after a good 1 hour scan, your body is free from any sickness.. Fevers and all, begone! Ya, a far fetched idea and in fact, an idea only a geek is capable of conjuring.. Go figure.

Annyywwayy.... speaking of anti-virus, the makers of one of the most widely used Anti-virus systems in the world SYMANTEC recently acquired Veritas Corporation. In my opinion, the merger really edges for consumers. Not only has Symantec began incorporating all their key products into Veritas Backup Exec, but licensing scheme has changed to the advantage of us corporate users. Check this out:

Symantec Backup Exec 10d bundles 10 free Symantec Client Security with every purchase.
IDR (Intelligent Disaster Recovery) now comes unlimited for all servers with just one license purchase for your media server. Before the merger, you had to buy 1 IDR license per server and it costs something like RM2000++ !!

I attended Symantec's launch of Backup Exec 10d last week at Sheraton Imperial KL, and it was there the most cost/implementation effective Bare Metal Recovery solution was revealed to me..

SYMANTEX LIVESTATE RECOVERY

Okay, maybe it's not that cost effective but we are talking about bare metal recovery here...

You can read more about it here

Livestate is sort of like your cross between Symantec Ghost and Veritas IDR. Backing up an entire system literally takes minutes to complete. The same goes for recovery. Just pop the recovery CD in, recover either from your SATA disk or Tape Drive and before you know it, your system is back to pre-disaster state.

Now what's really cool about this piece of software is it's ability to perform bare metal recovery on virtually any box. It doesn't have to be the same configuration as the box that crashed. Like if you had your system running on a dell machine and it blows, you can just as easily recover your entire system on an IBM machine.. even if you have different RAID implementation, recovery can still be performed. Pretty good if you have a mission critical server to bring up if you have SLA with end users on uptime.

I would seriously recommend Livestate if you can afford it, but if not using IDR with your Backup Exec is just as good. The only limitation is recovery works best only on the same config machine.

Neway, symantec is paying me for boasting their solution, but they did give away free Backup Exec 10d Softwares with Continuous Protection Server during the seminar! ;)

-: Im such a geek sometimes :-

Next topic, Oracle 9i Database tuning TIPS! or maybe i'll blog about this new software im about to evaluate.. "Tune-up", or maybe more tweaking tips on XP.. See how first la. ;)

Oh btw, feel free to ask me anything you need to know on Backup Exec.. Just drop me a comment.

Cherios!

Tweaking XP:: Lesson #2

2005-11-22T19:56:00.000+08:00

Okay so yesterday's post pretty much sucked (in my opinion anyways) except for the helpful tips from shawn and englee, - Thanks guys! Lesson #1 wasn't that helpful a tweak but hey! it's only Lesson 1# and we got like 1,000,000,000 more tips to go heh heh.. can't be releasing all the good shit all at once right? and besides, i type what comes to mind so forgive me if it isn't in any particular order or categorised for easy reference, yada yada yada.. and before i start, once again if you're sleeping reading up to here, please go to this site instead. =p

Today's little tip is on performance. Yup. seriously, there's nothing i hate more than a slow PC. Slow everything else is fine by me, but a slow PC?? *ArgggHhhHHhhh* Double-click my computer... zZZZZzzzZZZzzZZzz.. Shut down computer? again.. zzzZZzzzZZZZzzz

And like you all know, out of the box XP pretty much starts every service there is to start whether you like it or not! It's there for a reason no doubt, but seriously, if you're a homeuser how much of the services will you actually be using anyway?

Many know, many don't but XP ships with performance monitor. It constantly monitors various areas of your system to provide statistics which are pretty helpful when troubleshooting but when you're not using it, what does it do? EAT RESOURCES. Anyway, i for one am a stingy poker when it comes to resources. Don't let your system eat what you don't use.

So if you're not planning to use performance monitor, turn it off! and to do that, simply go to:

RUN > CMD

To turn it off, type 'diskperf -N' and hit

To turn it back on again, type 'diskperf -Y' and hit

Another thing you can turn off if you're not using is, indexing service. Index basically is used to speed up searching for files on your system. Of course, index created for all the files on your system contributes to performance degration, since the service works as a background process.

So if you don't give a rat's ass about searching for files.. or if you don't do it that often anyway, then turn it off!

Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > Windows Components : Uncheck 'Indexing Service'

Does your PC feel faster? No? Then go buy a new one! heh heh kidding.. stay tuned for more tuning tips!

2005-11-22T01:23:00.000+08:00

-: Tech Notes :-

PC Booster ain't all that great, as after you install it, you can only use it for like 2 weeks and then you gotta pay. I don't like paying, hence i won't waste time evaluating.. Hence, the search continues.. Cherios. =p

Tweaking XP:: Lesson #1

2005-11-21T19:35:00.000+08:00

Ever felt you don't have enough control over your PC? Or rather, not enough control over your Windows EXPEE? Out of the box, your OS pretty much is just an OS; a platform for your to run your applications for your to do your daily crappola's like documents, spreadsheets, image editing, programming, yada yada yada...

Well it's time to change that, cause if you do a quick google, you can actually find a million and one tools on the net to tweak your XP. In fact, gaining more control over your OS will improve performance, step up security and even remove unnecessary applications that come built in with windows, example Windows Messenger.. especially if the PC you're setting up is for your office, and messenger-ing withing the LAN is a big no-no.

Besides that, tweaking your XP is sort of like modifying your wheels. A set of 18" rims here, a HKS inter-cooler there, maybe a 4-2-1 extractor here, a Super SQV there.. haha.. Okay, so tuning your OS is nothing like your car, for a fact it doesn't cost you an arm and leg to perform the former... Anyway not to digress.. Today's lesson in tweaking or rather easier "accessibility" of applications..

Lesson 1#: How to access applications faster

If you guys are falling asleep reading till here, thanks alot guys. Please visit this site instead. Oh, you're still here? gee thanks. :) Moving on..

To make applications accessible at a click of a button, try doing this to see if it helps make your life easier, instead of searching the high heavens on your desktop for an icon.

Create a new folder anywhere on your drive and give it a name, something like crazyfrog or biteme.
Place all the shortcuts you need like your email, Toad, photoshop, AcDSee, etc into the folder.
Right-Click on the windows taskbar and select "toolbars" and "New toolbar".
Point to the folder you created earlier and Voila! Everything you need is in a super-duper customised toolbar! =)

Pretty simple right? To simple to even be worthy of a post? i know people who think the CD-ROM Tray is a cup folder ;0

Next up, We take a look at PC Booster: How to speed up your PC!! That'll probably be in my next post. Right now, I'm late for futsal! Time to kick some ass! *>(

The net features DJ@WORK..

2005-11-18T00:23:00.000+08:00

Gone were the days, the only way a guy could listen to music was either through the AM/FM or picking up an 8 track from the music store.. Let's take a look at the advancement of music through technology..

Vinyl --> 8 Track --> Cassette --> CD's --> MP3's --> Online Radio

Is my sequence correct? Did i leave anything out? Geez, i don't know.. but that's not the point. The highlight here is look at the way technology has evolved music. From Plastic Vinyl's and 8 Track, Cassettes, CD's to electronic copies of audio. MP3's.. the very paradigm shift for music lovers accross the globe that turned into a nightmare for every major record label in existence. Music gained a new medium for distribution, but in the most negative way possible. Content controlled music? Parrental Advisory? Bah!! Take a look at this scenario:

Conventional Music Lover --> Drives to record store --> Picks up EMINEM's latest CD --> Goes home and listens with disgust as 99% of the CD is ripped off or cencored (Come on, we're talking about Mr. Controversial here!). --> Total effort spent: 1hr 30mins (drive to the store and back).

New Age Music Lover --> Logs on --> Starts up Limewire --> Search for the latest EMINEM songs and every other album produced by him and about 10 other different artiste --> DOWNLOAD for free --> Burns to CD with ol' reliable Nero --> listens to the CD on his MP3 enabled Car audio on the way to work, while patting himself on the back for a job well done. --> Total effort spent: 1hr 30mins (Sitting in front of his PC).

It has become the consumers world and there's nothing the labels can do about it. So is the pardigm shift bad? Hell NO! In my opinion anyways...... Indie Bands on every continent have literally gained a target audience never before possible. Budding artiste and music enthusiast can share their insights, views, and most of all love for music through the internet hype.. all thanks to technology.

Take a look at this site:

http://www.djatwork.us

A group of DJ's showcase their talented work on the net. And when i say talented, i mean they are FANTASTIC. And once again, all thanks to technology, you can listen to their tracks while you're busting your ass at work.. Cool huh? Check it out. http://www.djatwork.us/radio.html

Trivia No 1 : DJ Droo plays funky house. IT ROCKS.
Trivia No 2 : DJ Droo was Juice Magazine's DJ Quest 1st runner up. 1000++ (Something like that i think) SMS voters listening to his performance live can't be wrong.

And the list goes on... So check the site out and see for yourself. Better yet, get on their mailing list. Djatwork frequently host events around town. Bet you'll be kicking yourself in the gonads if you miss any of it!

At the rate their going, in a couple of years i'll probably be downloading their tracks along celeb DJ's like Smokin' Jo, Digweed, and Timo Maas over limewire.. By then Droo, you better not be pulling the "copyright" crap on me like what Metallica did to Napster!

** DJ@-Techrawks **

Securing Windows..

2005-11-16T19:51:00.000+08:00

Windows Windows Windows.. 95, 98, mE, NT, 2000, XP, 2003, and upcoming, Vista and Longhorn. Up until Window 2003, did our good ol' MS have this serious flaw with Windows Operating System, especially when it comes to preventing unauthorized access.

Speaking of unauthorized access. If you're on the network and you know your colleagues TCP/IP, a simple \\xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx\c$ at RUN actually gives you access to his PC? So maybe 2000 onwards the OS will probably prompt you for authentication, i.e. a username and Password, but even with that it can be bypassed.

In Every Windows OS, there is an account called "RESTRICTED". Did you know......

C:\> net use \\xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx\ipc$ " " /user:" "

AND the use of a pretty easyly obtainable application called Dumpacl, you can actually hack into a windows PC, and recovering every password and username that exists on the box? Pretty scary huh? An unpatched webserver will most probably fall pray to this since it's published on the WWW with a public IP which is easily accessible by anyone, and everyone.

Can i prevent this?

Yessirreee boys and girls, you can! Maybe you should try doing this to prevent the above mentioned ever happening:

Go to Run > REGEDIT

HKLM/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/LSA

Change the parameter : "restrictanonymous" and set the value to 2 (by default, the value should be 0)

Do take note, for Windows 2000/XP the value should be changed to 2, and for Windows NT the value should be changed to 1.

Most important of all, always remember to patch your OS with the latest security updates and at the same time, don't forget to update that darn antivirus and spyware while you're at it!

A tip on security

2005-11-14T00:45:00.000+08:00

Many people do it. Some for fun, some to harden their internal security, while many others do it for pure malice. Yessirree humanoids.. hackers. the scums of the internet. And it's not hard with today's ease of access. A quick search on any of your famous search engine unleashes a great wealth of tools one can use to create havock. They've made it so simple to hack, any regular joe can download many of the millions of tools available online to carry out the deed.

Many hackers are just plain "Script Kiddies"; in other words the guys who download free tools like trojans with cool hacker's console.. What they do is drop the lil' bugger in their friend's PC by faking it to look like some sort of flash game and the next thing you know, your CD-ROM drive open and closes by itself. All is good fun, until that picture of you stored in your PC, doing things with a ketchup bottle normal people don't do get's spread across the internet. Do feel like flushing your head down the toilet right about now?

Of course you got the good guys or "White hats" as their called, who master the art of hacking purely to strenghen their network and to educate people on internet / systems security.

Last but not least, the crapazoids of the nation "Black hats" who hack purely to gain beneficial returns to themselves and no one else. These are the people who steal your credit card information and go on a shopping spree online. For those of you who have been victim of such attacks, you probably think, 'yeah so that dude shopped with my credit card and the bank found out, called for verification, and im not going to have to pay for it.. so big deal!!'.. Wrong again bucko! Someone's gotta pay for it, either the merchant or the bank. Its cost to the company baby so it gets absorbed back into their budget one way or another.. Trust me, you'll be paying for it indirectly one way or another.. Like they say, what goes around comes around.

"Yeah Yeah, big deal! hack mah hack my lanciao pc lah.. got nothing of your interest oso what!"

Okie dokie, if that's what you say. Just a word of advise. Many hackers don't hack you to get information about your birthday party and dog's next manicure appointment. They do it to make you a "zombie", typically to use YOUR PC to ram a target. A good example, Distributed D.O.S. Attack. (Denial of Service). For all you know, the master hacker is using your PC (and probably a million other zombies machine) to ram the webserver of a prominent company in an effort to bring their server to a standstill. Now the last thing you need is the authorities knocking on your door and holding you liable for a crime you didn't commit!! Especially if you have a static public IP registered to your name, or your company.

The lesson of the day?

Today, just one lesson to get you started on the road to hardening your security; and probably the most basic of all.. Always change your passwords! Especially the darn default streamyx password and your router password! An example,

If you're using Streamyx and you got a ZXADSL 831 modem router from telekom, you can simply access the router configuration by keying in http://192.168.1.1 at your browser and logging in with the default login credentials:

username : ADSL
password : expert03

For a blackhat on the net, obtaining your public IP isn't that difficult. In other words i can access your router and change some configuration and the next thing you know, your service is down.

OR.

Blackhat gets your Streamyx user login credentials and register for TM Hotspot. You pay the bills while the hacker surfs full of glee at starbucks.

OR.

Blackhat accesses your streamyx web based mail and sends liable crap to people, in anyway you're in trouble if the intent is malice. Anyway, this is to name you a few crap that can cause you hellava lot of unnecessary trouble.

So always remember:

If you got a broadband router, always change your default password.
Try rebooting it a couple of times, update some configurations if you have too and then try logging in again. Some routers have been known to reset their logon credentials to default after configurations have been made. Patches or fixes can be obtained from the router vendor, so don't forget to patch it.

Anyway, maybe youre not able to rid the world of hackers, but at least you played your part in getting rid of the cyberpunks and script kiddie scums. There's only so much they can do before they give up, so play your part and happy surfing!

*** A Tech Talks community Service ***

HDD Life Pro.. It's time to let your hard disk talk!

2005-11-13T04:01:00.000+08:00

For the last couple of weeks, i've been doing nothing but format, reformat, and reformat PC's Laptops and servers. Ok the server part was work related.. Yeah, a freakin' IBM x366 baby! that slim piece of equipment really kicks ass! But i had a couple of other personal equipment to tend too, both encountering the same blasted problem. OS CORRUPTION.

That basically drives any techi up the wall. Not because reinstalling is difficult, what with today's OS wizards.. anyone can reinstall an OS. The problem that get's your panties in a bunch is wondering; did the harddisk developed bad sectors? or is it just purely a system file crash, to name a few of the many errors a distressed PC can play on you. Yeah so you run the wizard... installation goes well, your OS is up... you install all your other applications... your freewares.. your thisware.. thatware.. and on the third restart, you're back to square one. "But i formatted my PC"!! "But i ran diagnostics in BIOS to confirm the state of my Hard disk!!" Tough buns baby.. If the hard disk is screwed, it's screwed. Deal with it. And yes, i dealt with it. I came to terms with the fact that my hard disk had lived it's life and has gotten a one way ticket to peripheral's heaven...

I guess it's all wear and tear. But to some extent, we should be able to identify the state of our harddisk to know just about when it's good to go. And so i stumbled upon this neat little tool. HDD LIFE PRO, HELL YEAH!

Like they say, prevention is better than cure. For the full 411, click this URL and check out the blah's blah's blah's of the production boasting itself: http://www.hddlife.com/

I've got it running on my PC right now and i ain't complaining! Anyone out there know of a better tool? do let me know! i'd be happy to evaluate =)

Go wireless humanoids!

2005-11-10T13:41:00.000+08:00

Nothing is worse that wires dangling all over the freakin' place when setting up a small home network. Yeah yeah, back then it's a luxury to have one stinkin' 486 in your home. You were prolly the coolest nerd on the block playing pac man on the PC. But times have changed. In every home, there's at least two to three PC's and laptops all screaming to use the internet. Hell, you can't bloody well be getting in three, four telephone lines to do dial up on the individual machines right? ICS (internet connection sharing) over dial up? please.. you're better off reading a book!

Nowadays, if you ain't got broadband, you're better off not using the net at all. (Ironically enough, our ISP here has probably one of the suckiest service around, but hey! that's still no reason to not go broadband!) Dial up sucks. period.

Getting back to hookin up all your machines on the net. I personnally find no better way to do it then to go wireless, purely for the fact that you dont have to wire your whole damn house with Cat5. As such i recommend to you, the gadget of the day.... (drum rolls)......

NETGEAR WGR614UKX - 54Mbps Wireless Router

I recommend it cause i just got it at a pretty good bargain! RM 160 from Low Yatt Plaza downtown KL. Unless i got ripped off in broad daylight, i would think it pretty much is a good buy, compared to some of the others i saw priced RM205 and above...

Comes Standard build, 1 WAN port, 1 wireless antenna, 4 LAN ports, and of course a power adapter. Okay if it didnt come with a power adapter then the damn this is as good to you as having a spoon for spaghetti. Not to digress..

To configure:

Use the smart CD that comes bundled with it. For all you streamyx users, take note on the type of modem TM installed for you when you subscribed to their service. If your modem has a built in router like the ZTE ZXDSL 831, and the friendly TM installer setup your modem in such a way that all you gotta do is turn on the modem and boot up the PC to get connected to the net, then the Netgear smart CD installer will probably drive you up the wall when it fails to configure.

That's cause the router in the modem itself has DHCP running, and netgear will try to configure DHCP for you. You can't have em' both running. Therefore, you gotta run quick setup on the modem again by going to the your browser and browsing to http://192.168.1.1. Remember to jot down your username and password if you've forgotten it or better, do a print screen on all the configurations so worse case scenario, you can reset every thing, to pre-disaster.

Once you've disabled DHCP and allowing the modem to do automatic dial up to the WAN, create a manual broadband dial up from your Windows XP network connections. Before you get started configuring netgear, make sure you manually connect to the net first. Then, pop in the CD and start the wizard. The rest should be a breeze.

Wireless tips:

You Paid for the service, so don't let your neighbour steal your bandwidth! Always make sure you set WEP encription so that only you gets connected to YOUR wireless network to use YOUR internet. Wireless security is pretty much useless so take precautions. Anyone can sit outside your house and do "war driving" using the infamous tool Network Stumbler to sniff out wireless AP's available.
Create an access list! For all the wireless devices that will be using the network, include your MAC address of your wireless adapter in the list. All you gotta do is go to command prompt and type at C:\ ipconfig /all. Look for the funny string that goes something like 00-0c-1f-45-dd-43 and key it in exactly in your netgear router wireless configuration page. Yeap, also accessible via http://192.168.1.1 by default.
If you're super vigilant, use something like etherpeek or Aeropeek from wildpackets. You can monitor the traffic that comes in and out of your network. You gotta pay for the software. Of course, there's the "free" version from Low Yatt or anywhere on the net but that aside, i state for the record that i am not here to condone piracy. If you're gonna pay for the software then good for you. You benefit from the fabulous support they offer.
Side winding a little, a hacker with linux skills can actually use a good wireless adapter like orinoco and PHLAK your ass. Yup, all they need to do is war drive ya, sniff a million of your packets and the next thing you know, your credit card is being charged for a set of 18" Nismo rims when youre driving a kancil. Nice.

All in all, setting up your own wireless network is pretty cool. Just make sure you take necessary precautions. A month a go, i had to drag my freakin' phone line outta my room all the way to the dining hall to hook up to my laptop to use the net. Today, i blog without boundaries on my laptop while my sis play's "Gunbound" on the family PC.

COOLNESS.