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Comment Re:There will just become more U1 server offerings (Score 1) 84

I believe rather than moving to 1U servers, many companies will be (and already are) looking at virtualization via VMWare and HyperV. Yes, a 1U server attached to about 2TB space allocated on a backend Clarion and running a lowend Oracle or SQL database functionality is better power wise than a 4-6U server with 2TB(+redundancy) space locally running the exact same functions.

However, IF that functionality is capable of being run on a VM guest, you could put that and 20 other virtual servers in a maxed out (full hardware complement) HP DL580 G5 running VMware Fusion hooked to a backend SAN, and save even more power than breaking those individually out to separate 1U servers connected to the SAN. Multiple Fusion servers hooked into a farm for failover redundancy, at that, in case a host server goes down.

Better decision though, if you really have the capacity need for it, is to actually setup a database farm (with multi host redundancy) of those 4U servers, and run multiple databases, not just one, off of it. Do the same for your Apache farm, your SQL farm, etc... let the VM hosts handle the servers that can't be placed in a farm.

In order of functionality, then: Farms broken into functionality > VMs > server individualization in lowest form factor server possible > server individualization in a big server, leaving tons of wasted resources.

Censorship

Apple Refusing Any BitTorrent Related Apps? 296

jamie pointed out what appears to be an unfortunate policy for Apple's app store that is refusing anything to do with BitTorrent. The example is a remote control app that allows a user to interface with their Transmission BitTorrent client. This certainly isn't the first complaint over app store policy. Issues from the return policy to the "objectionable content" of Nine Inch Nails have some developers concerned over what Apple is doing to the market. Of course, many are quick to remind that it is Apple's store and they are free to do whatever they want with it.

Comment Re:incredible artist rendition (Score 4, Informative) 79

Note... That's Don Davis, not to be confused with Don Davis, aka General Hammond from SG1.

Although, I do believe that somewhere in the SG1 mythos it was suggested that Tunguska was either a failed Asgard or Goa'uld experiment, or that it was a weapons blast from orbit by a Ha'tak mothership.

Not that that has anything to do with this article or anything....

Comment Re:A quick peek at the picutres says a lot (Score 3, Informative) 386

Actually, looking at the battery, ir looks like the same exact type of battery as you'd find in an APC small (450-800VA) UPS. We also used the same batteries for emergency power in our door access systems to power the controller when I was managing those at a small college. That type of battery is widely used to compensate for short term power outages.

I presume, given the amount of hardware shown (2 drives, 2 processors, motherboard, RAM) that the battery would probably last that given system about 7-10 minutes... plenty of time for the electric system to failover to the generator farm (you know they have more than 2 for redundancy.

As to the lifetime on those batteries... I was replacing them every 3-3.5 years, maybe 4 if I was lucky. It's a standard generic battery, and the failure rate on them is quite low.

I'd echo another user... If Google wanted to be smart, they wouldn't bother repairing a server when a component fails. Server obselescence at a company that can afford it is about 3-4 years... pretty close to the time for these batteries. They'd probably just pull the main power on it, and when a threshold of servers is "dead" in the container, they pull it offline for renovation... Either to repair the bad servers, or just retire everything.

Comment Aero Peek... not TOTALLY new, Vista has it too (Score 2, Funny) 342

Aero Peek isn't totally new. Vista has had Aero Peek all along. The difference is that in Vista's Aero Peek, you weren't able to see ALL the peek preview windows by hovering over the taskbar stack. You had to open the taskbar stack's context window that showed all the different items, then you could peek at each item.

Oh wait, I forgot. Vista doesn't exist. Sorry about that. I must be new here.

Comment Another App store is not really a RIVAL, per se... (Score 2, Insightful) 165

The way I see it, another App store that is on another platform is not really a direct rival to Apple's iTunes App store for iPhone/iPod touch. They're not REALLY stealing any sales from Apple's store, as the Apple users will still continue to have to use the iTunes app store to buy stuff for their iPhones/iPod touch.

Now, if someone was to open an app store that was able to sync and install onto the iPhone, THAT would be a rival. Yes, at the moment that would require Apple certifying the application to be able to sync to the iPhone, and configuring the iPhone to allow such a store to sync onto it, which we all know would probably be as likely to happen as seeing Halley's comet next month near Earth.

Maybe, in the future, all these stores will coalesce into one big store, or use an open framework so that each store can sync onto any device... but for now, they are not really competition of each other so long as each store retains sole rights over its respective device.

Government

Clear Public Satellite Imagery Tantamount to Yelling Fire 230

TechDirt pointed out a recent bit of foolishness as a followup to California Assemblyman Joel Anderson's push to force Google and other online mapping/satellite companies to blur out schools, churches, and government buildings. When pushed, apparently his justification was that leaving these buildings un-obscured is the same as shouting fire. "News.com ran an interview with Anderson, where he attempts to defend his proposed legislation as a matter of public safety. He claims that there is no good reason why anyone would need to clearly see these buildings online, and that it can only be used for bad purposes. [...] Apparently, Anderson is the final determiner of what good people do and what bad people do with online maps."

Comment Re:Tested on a beta... (Score 2, Informative) 496

Actually, most large hardware vendors will, on request, ship out a sample machine to the IT Dept at the target company. They ask the IT Dept to install the default image they want. The IT Dept would obviously wipe the drive, reinstall with a fresh copy of their own Volume License copy of Windows (XP/Vista/7) with all relevant initial software, testing, etc. I'm sure if you were a large enough company and wanted 20 different initial configurations, the vendor would accommodate you. Another option would be to just install the Ghost system partition, and send to vendor... your machines would come with Ghost then, and you could deploy whatever image you wanted to them.

Then, after the sample machine is imaged and qualified for production usage, ship it back... then the hardware vendor clones that to all subsequent systems that are sent out. Personally, I've dealt with HP and Dell and they both have done that for large scale rollouts (you don't want to sit and clone 500 desktops and 400 laptops, its much easier to have the factory clone your image onto them.)

There's also a signed contract agreement that the vendor does not touch or alter your image in any fashion or include any additional partitions or software on the computers.

Use SMS from there to deploy applications to the desktop, and there you have your custom machine.

I personally as an admin would NEVER allow a machine containing a factory default image onto my production network. Regardless of the miscellaneous CRAP applications that are bundled, you never know if the person who created the image had any malicious intentions... and would you willingly let that propagate across 100, 1000, or 10,000 computers in your network? Is there some trojan that you just deployed? We've heard too many stories here about just that exact thing happening to systems sold at Walmart, Best Buy, Circuit City, et al. I'd rather wipe and reload, than let a factory default image that I haven't seen or reviewed ahead of time be deployed in a production network.

And BTW, who in his right mind loads a major OS, then an upgrade, and another upgrade, and expects it to work 100 percent? Will the same machine work under a clean install of the final OS?

Media

Submission + - SCO is running out of money 2

erpbridge writes: "The New York Times reports that SCO is running out of money due to the credit crunch. They have had their credit line cut twice by their bank, and may not be able to pay their employees this month. Many others in the industry are reporting the same concerns."

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