We're creating content for our website... Every. Techie's. Worst. Nightmare. The question came up: "What sets Abacus Data Exchange apart from Rackspace and Amazon's EC2?". Ugh.
We offer a fully customizable virtual machine option. Try getting a 1 CPU, 8 GB RAM, 1 TB persistent storage option with those other two. Most cloud services limit you to specific RAM/Storage sizes. Each of our images come with pre-installed operating systems ready to go on statically sized disk images which don't have much room left on them. At any point, even during creation, you can add additional persistent disk images to your virtual machine (you could try that too, but you won't be able to). Unlike the other two where you can change CPU/RAM/Storage "on-the-fly", we require a reboot of the virtual machine for the changes to take effect.
We also offer hardware based VLAN capabilities. While they cannot be provisioned on demand, a simple request to tech support will get one created free of charge. Combined with a virtual appliance installed with Vyatta, a customer can completely secure a set of virtual machines from the outside world. That's how we run our services. Even our router for our internet service is a virtual appliance.
I believe our biggest advantage is to the local market in Lafayette, LA. Lafayette is home to a successful Fiber-to-the-Home network that is municipally owned. Any home/business on the fiber network can get 100 mbps connectivity to any other peer. Soak that in. If you live in Lafayette, you could create a virtual machine and get 100 mbps connection to that virtual machine. How is that not amazing?!?
Of course, we didn't do this on our own. We have to give props to the awesome team over at Enomaly. Other than that, most of our infrastructure is open sourced. So here's a shoutout to: CentOS, Xen, Fedora, Ubuntu and FAN. Don't forget the ones I already mentioned!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Cloud Computing
Wow. What a whirlwind the last few months have been. The company I'm consulting for at Abacus Data Exchange, is now running a cloud computing solution for end users. We've always offered virtual machines. I've always had redundancy and fail-over on those host machines. The only real difference now is that instead of having to call me to create that virtual machine, you can: create an account, enter a credit card, create a virtual machine and have remote access to that virtual machine within minutes. Our smallest image (router software) completes in about 5 minutes. Our largest (Windows Server 2008) takes roughly 40-50 minutes.
Here's a quick outline of how it went down:
Our only initial goal was to create a customer interface to at least power cycle a virtual machine. I created the outline in my head of the python driven site to allow for this. Before I could even get it on paper, I began to realize how much it encompassed. I thought of frameworks to use such as Tornado. Still seeing the amount of development considering security and user management, I realized I should do what I always do, find the open source solution and go from there.
I came up with Eucalyptus, Enomaly, and OpenNebula. Eucalyptus showed lots of promise, but it was extremely immature and clunky. I've since heard it's made great strides even in the last few months and has become a real contender. Enomaly looked like it was exactly what I wanted hands down. The features it did lack that we wanted were available in the paid version (which came with support which never hurts). OpenNebula gave us a great option on the control side. Clients could manage their virtual machines exactly how I wanted them to.... from the command line. I spoke with a few interface developers and got an idea on cost to build the front end. I called Enomaly and got pricing. Easily, Enomaly was the choice.
The JQueryUI interface is slick, easy to use and full of features. The admin interface, which I didn't even expect to get when this all started, is easy and full featured as well. The development team over there has taken full advantage of hypervisor technology and keep adding features monthly. Just about every feature that I first felt were lacking have all been added in features that have since been released. The only one I still haven't seen is the ability for a customer to boot an existing virtual machine to an iso image, but I hear it's coming soon.
There was only one problem still, I had to create new user accounts as admin. So I grabbed my favorite developer, and we went to town on a php driven user signup/verification process (cause php is so damn quick and easy). We verified credit cards and, using Enomaly's API, gave ability to manipulate virtual machines after a sign-up process.
So with much less cost, we only had to develop roughly 1/10th of what we would have had to develop to begin with. Plus we got all kinds of features we didn't expect!
I guess basically all I'm really sayin is .... Enomaly... FTW!!!!
Here's a quick outline of how it went down:
Our only initial goal was to create a customer interface to at least power cycle a virtual machine. I created the outline in my head of the python driven site to allow for this. Before I could even get it on paper, I began to realize how much it encompassed. I thought of frameworks to use such as Tornado. Still seeing the amount of development considering security and user management, I realized I should do what I always do, find the open source solution and go from there.
I came up with Eucalyptus, Enomaly, and OpenNebula. Eucalyptus showed lots of promise, but it was extremely immature and clunky. I've since heard it's made great strides even in the last few months and has become a real contender. Enomaly looked like it was exactly what I wanted hands down. The features it did lack that we wanted were available in the paid version (which came with support which never hurts). OpenNebula gave us a great option on the control side. Clients could manage their virtual machines exactly how I wanted them to.... from the command line. I spoke with a few interface developers and got an idea on cost to build the front end. I called Enomaly and got pricing. Easily, Enomaly was the choice.
The JQueryUI interface is slick, easy to use and full of features. The admin interface, which I didn't even expect to get when this all started, is easy and full featured as well. The development team over there has taken full advantage of hypervisor technology and keep adding features monthly. Just about every feature that I first felt were lacking have all been added in features that have since been released. The only one I still haven't seen is the ability for a customer to boot an existing virtual machine to an iso image, but I hear it's coming soon.
There was only one problem still, I had to create new user accounts as admin. So I grabbed my favorite developer, and we went to town on a php driven user signup/verification process (cause php is so damn quick and easy). We verified credit cards and, using Enomaly's API, gave ability to manipulate virtual machines after a sign-up process.
So with much less cost, we only had to develop roughly 1/10th of what we would have had to develop to begin with. Plus we got all kinds of features we didn't expect!
I guess basically all I'm really sayin is .... Enomaly... FTW!!!!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Droid vs. iPhone
I've been running the Verizon Droid phone for about 2 weeks now and figured I would write up a little comparison. I switched because AT&T was a nightmare to deal with on multiple occasions when it came to repair, replacement and finally stolen iPhones. Having only been with Verizon for a couple of weeks, I've not had the chance to compare customer service, so I'll be leaving that out.
Usability is the iPhone's biggest seller. On the iPhone, a simple click on an icon and your app is open. You want to change the way the application acts in some manner. Close the app, open your settings, locate the app and make your changes. Re-open your app. On the Droid, a simple click and your app is open. You want to change the functionality of the app, you tap the menu button and the better written apps have the options right there. NICE!
On the iPhone, you scroll from screen to screen searching for your app (or use the never used search feature that might help). If you're an organized freak, then you have certain screens for certain types of apps (which I had until the fourth wipe out of the iPhone and gave up). With the Droid, you only have 3 screens to place icons, shortcuts or widgets by default (It's my understanding there are a few apps that give you more screens or desktops, but I haven't played with them yet). The widgets take up too much screen room, so I generally use shortcuts. However, you can create folders. VERY NICE!
Multi-tasking was always my biggest complaint on the iPhone. I wanted to listen to Pandora while collecting my road treasures on Waze. Not Possible. While this is possible on the Droid, I see the setback. A majority of apps written for the Android platform don't seem to come with a Quit option. You must use a free app that kills any running services. I pull this app up close to 5 or 6 times a day. I do use the Quit function in an app when it's available, but it is my belief that this should almost be a standard for these applications.
Multimedia seems to work equally well with a much better sound quality coming out of the Droid. Videos look phenomenal on both devices, probably better on the iPhone with it's slightly larger screen. Sound sounds way better coming out of the Droid due to the larger speaker on the back that is roughly 1/4" high and spans the entire width of the phone. I always hated holding the bottom of my iPhone to my ear to hear something low coming out of that tiny speaker down there. I rarely ever use the built-in speakers anyway as I've mostly plugged my devices into my car stereo when I listen to music.
Application Quality is the biggest let-down for the Android platform. The Facebook application doesn't work nearly as well as the iPhone's version and most of the games are more arcade like than iPhone's. I've not had any real issues with finding applications that suit my needs. I can still SSH into my servers, listen to my favorite internet radio stations and play car racing games. I can still track my mileage, record my expenses and check the weather complete with radar. I can ALSO see how many satellites have me for GPS, view the location of nearby wifi hotspots and their quality and BEST OF ALL buy MP3s from Amazon with NO DRM W00T!!!
I say it's a let-down because the apps just don't function the same and have the same usability. Perhaps I'm just used to the iPhone interface and need some adjusting, but they just seem a little "clunkier".
Service, keep in mind I didn't say customer service, is the biggest improvement I've seen. Sure this isn't a comparison of iPhone to Droid as much as it is a comparison of AT&T to Verizon, but I have to mention it. I have not dropped a single call yet (2 or 3 times a day on the iPhone). My calls actually ring on my phone instead of a voicemail popping up 15 minutes later when I walk outside. The call quality is outstanding.
Summary
iPhone - End user toy. It just works. If you're happy with the way it works, then it's great for you. A simple clean interface that just about anyone (even my 3 year old) can pick up and learn how to use.
Droid - A techie toy. It works and it works well. If you don't like the way it works, you have options to change it up. You have applications that actually alter the user experience. My kinda gadget!
Usability is the iPhone's biggest seller. On the iPhone, a simple click on an icon and your app is open. You want to change the way the application acts in some manner. Close the app, open your settings, locate the app and make your changes. Re-open your app. On the Droid, a simple click and your app is open. You want to change the functionality of the app, you tap the menu button and the better written apps have the options right there. NICE!
On the iPhone, you scroll from screen to screen searching for your app (or use the never used search feature that might help). If you're an organized freak, then you have certain screens for certain types of apps (which I had until the fourth wipe out of the iPhone and gave up). With the Droid, you only have 3 screens to place icons, shortcuts or widgets by default (It's my understanding there are a few apps that give you more screens or desktops, but I haven't played with them yet). The widgets take up too much screen room, so I generally use shortcuts. However, you can create folders. VERY NICE!
Multi-tasking was always my biggest complaint on the iPhone. I wanted to listen to Pandora while collecting my road treasures on Waze. Not Possible. While this is possible on the Droid, I see the setback. A majority of apps written for the Android platform don't seem to come with a Quit option. You must use a free app that kills any running services. I pull this app up close to 5 or 6 times a day. I do use the Quit function in an app when it's available, but it is my belief that this should almost be a standard for these applications.
Multimedia seems to work equally well with a much better sound quality coming out of the Droid. Videos look phenomenal on both devices, probably better on the iPhone with it's slightly larger screen. Sound sounds way better coming out of the Droid due to the larger speaker on the back that is roughly 1/4" high and spans the entire width of the phone. I always hated holding the bottom of my iPhone to my ear to hear something low coming out of that tiny speaker down there. I rarely ever use the built-in speakers anyway as I've mostly plugged my devices into my car stereo when I listen to music.
Application Quality is the biggest let-down for the Android platform. The Facebook application doesn't work nearly as well as the iPhone's version and most of the games are more arcade like than iPhone's. I've not had any real issues with finding applications that suit my needs. I can still SSH into my servers, listen to my favorite internet radio stations and play car racing games. I can still track my mileage, record my expenses and check the weather complete with radar. I can ALSO see how many satellites have me for GPS, view the location of nearby wifi hotspots and their quality and BEST OF ALL buy MP3s from Amazon with NO DRM W00T!!!
I say it's a let-down because the apps just don't function the same and have the same usability. Perhaps I'm just used to the iPhone interface and need some adjusting, but they just seem a little "clunkier".
Service, keep in mind I didn't say customer service, is the biggest improvement I've seen. Sure this isn't a comparison of iPhone to Droid as much as it is a comparison of AT&T to Verizon, but I have to mention it. I have not dropped a single call yet (2 or 3 times a day on the iPhone). My calls actually ring on my phone instead of a voicemail popping up 15 minutes later when I walk outside. The call quality is outstanding.
Summary
iPhone - End user toy. It just works. If you're happy with the way it works, then it's great for you. A simple clean interface that just about anyone (even my 3 year old) can pick up and learn how to use.
Droid - A techie toy. It works and it works well. If you don't like the way it works, you have options to change it up. You have applications that actually alter the user experience. My kinda gadget!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Restore address book from iTunes backup
I've recently had my last iPhone stolen and went ahead and made the switch to Verizon with the Droooiiiiiid (I love that ringtone). My problem was that I had no way of retrieving contacts since I didn't sync the contacts with any mail program or contacts because I strictly use gmail and their web interface for mail. Perhaps there was a way to sync those contacts with gmail, but I was unable to find the process.
So now, the only chance I have of retrieving my address book is through the backup files made by iTunes. I was using Windows 7 Home Premium at home (only because I had the opportunity to buy an advanced copy for $50). iTunes stored the backups in C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup. I found a very useful tool called iphonebackupextractor. I ran it from the windows machine and was able to export the Address book sqlite database with it. After that, it was clear sailing. I suppose I should mention that the only reason this tool worked was because I never told iTunes to encrypt my backups. If you do have them encrypted, you will have more issues.
I copied the sqlite database file to my linux computer and went at it from the CLI that i'm comfortable with.
From here on out, I'll be posting actual commands with notes:
sqlite3 /path/to/sqlite/file
.headers on
.mode csv
.output addressbook.csv
select ABPerson.first as 'First Name',ABPerson.last as 'Last Name',ABMultiValue.value from ABPerson,ABMultiValue where ABMultiValue.record_id=ABPerson.ROWID;
.quit
Now I had addressbook.csv on my drive and imported that into my Google contacts . I had to do quite a bit of cleanup after this. With a little more research and some tricky SQL queries, I could have fixed most of the issues.
Basically the ABMultiValue.value field is a lot of things such as: Notes, Email addresses, Phone numbers... all related to the contact. I could have identified each value type and labeled them as such, but 90% of my contacts only had phone numbers. Google contacts gave me a quick and easy way to merge duplicates and such so it wasn't too bad dealing with my 200+ contacts.
So now, the only chance I have of retrieving my address book is through the backup files made by iTunes. I was using Windows 7 Home Premium at home (only because I had the opportunity to buy an advanced copy for $50). iTunes stored the backups in C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup. I found a very useful tool called iphonebackupextractor. I ran it from the windows machine and was able to export the Address book sqlite database with it. After that, it was clear sailing. I suppose I should mention that the only reason this tool worked was because I never told iTunes to encrypt my backups. If you do have them encrypted, you will have more issues.
I copied the sqlite database file to my linux computer and went at it from the CLI that i'm comfortable with.
From here on out, I'll be posting actual commands with notes:
sqlite3 /path/to/sqlite/file
.headers on
.mode csv
.output addressbook.csv
select ABPerson.first as 'First Name',ABPerson.last as 'Last Name',ABMultiValue.value from ABPerson,ABMultiValue where ABMultiValue.record_id=ABPerson.ROWID;
.quit
Now I had addressbook.csv on my drive and imported that into my Google contacts . I had to do quite a bit of cleanup after this. With a little more research and some tricky SQL queries, I could have fixed most of the issues.
Basically the ABMultiValue.value field is a lot of things such as: Notes, Email addresses, Phone numbers... all related to the contact. I could have identified each value type and labeled them as such, but 90% of my contacts only had phone numbers. Google contacts gave me a quick and easy way to merge duplicates and such so it wasn't too bad dealing with my 200+ contacts.
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