Setting Up a Multi-Server Web Hosting Environment
Posted by Stephen in Personal on 26. Jun, 2009 | Comments
The last few weeks have been tough on my web servers. The release of iPhone OS 3.0 tripled my site traffic overnight as folks investigate the new Exchange integration features, and traffic to IT commentary site, Gestalt IT, which I also host, has been growing rapidly. Plus, Google just refreshed PageRank again, sending even more [...]
Ten-Year Trend: Mobility
Posted by Stephen in Apple, Computer history, Enterprise storage, Everything, Personal, Terabyte home, Virtual Storage on 11. Mar, 2009 | Comments
What is the megatrend of this decade? I suggest that we are witnessing a wholesale shift from information tied to place/device to information mobility. Cloud computing, server virtualization, and even flash memory are all contributors to this massive trend, along with the user-side trends of the post-PDA mobile phone, 3G data, social web services, and connected home.
Compression, Encryption, Deduplication, and Replication: Strange Bedfellows
Posted by Stephen in Enterprise storage, Personal on 05. Feb, 2009 | Comments
One of the great ironies of storage technology is the inverse relationship between efficiency and security: Adding performance or reducing storage requirements almost always results in reducing the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of a system.
Many of the advances in capacity utilization put into production over the last few years rely on deduplication of data. This [...]
Physical Security for the Road Warrior
Posted by Stephen in Personal on 30. Nov, 2008 | Comments
This is part of an ongoing series of longer articles I am posting on Sundays.
In this digital age, it is easy to overlook the critical element of physical security. Put simply, it is often far more efficient to steal or gain access to a physical object like a laptop or flash drive than to break [...]
MAC Addresses Are Bad Passwords
Posted by Stephen in Apple, Terabyte home on 19. Aug, 2008 | Comments
As I posted the other day, my new Cradlepoint PHS300 3G router is just awesome, and I would happily recommend it to anyone. If you do get one, however, be sure to change the default password immediately. The seemingly-strong password is worse than insecure – it’s available to anyone who asks whenever the router is [...]
Empire State Building: 1, Swiss Army Knife: 0
Posted by Stephen in Personal on 14. Aug, 2008 | Comments
Aah, security. It seems that, in the last decade, the balance between liberty and security in the United States has tilted rather strongly, to the point that we expect to be scanned and have our possessions confiscated before entering buildings. Such was the case when my family and I made our pilgrimage to the Empire State Building [...]
Where the SAN Stands
Posted by Stephen in Enterprise storage, Personal on 07. Jul, 2008 | Comments
Real Video: Where the SAN Stands
Curious about the current state of SAN technology? Stephen Bigelow of TechTarget interviewed me (last summer) about SAN options, and the video is now live on their BitPipe site.
Topics covered include combined iSCSI and FC SANs, ups and downs of modular storage and oversubscribed switches, next-generation SAN management applications, storage [...]
TSA Blog Ignites Vitriol
Posted by Stephen in Personal on 05. Feb, 2008 | Comments
As a frequent business traveler, I have repeatedly been (let’s say) confused by TSA (and FAA and airline) security policies. Lots of them seem like nonsense, overreaction, or comical misunderstandings, and they can lead to some odd results, like the current planeside baggage mess. But now that the TSA has a blog of [...]
Hifn Buys Siafu
Posted by Stephen in Enterprise storage on 23. Jul, 2007 | Comments
Looks like storage security just might happen after all. Although EMC has done little to capitalize on their acquisition of RSA, I’ve been seeing a lot of interest in the security space for the last year. Take a look at NeoScale with their global key manager, and you’ll see an interesting twist on the security [...]
