DB2 is one of the best databases available today for the money and features. It also offers a relatively easy upgrade from 8.2 to 9.1 database versions. The primary issue was finding which level of DB2 that other application vendors all supported. The attached...
There were quite a lot of comments on this site and other sites on the original post -- all by IT professionals, and almost all negative. The comments were interesting, but quite one-sided. Many people thought the article was suggesting dropping a figurative bomb on...
In September we introduced a blog post series on how IT outsourcing can deliver multiple benefits to organizations. These gains can range from lower costs to support for an activity or function to process improvements delivered by an organization that has extensive...
Picture your ideal company technological infrastructure. Servers to handle day to day tasks, servers to do engineering simulations, network equipment to handle communication, network-attached storage for your company critical data, and last but not least,...
As the global economy remains turbulent, corporate decisions-makers continue to remain laser-focused on cost containment and finding new ways of generating additional productivity and value to their organizations. As a result, these macro factors are shaping many of...
This week we want to have a look at a useful website that enables us to quickly and accurately install any of a large number of useful software packages. The website, www.ninite.com, presents a large number of current freeware packages, along with trial versions of a...
Two years ago, Google announced a new product: Wave. Their (and I use the term loosely, since all new Google products seem to come from the same giant, faceless Googleplex) original goal was to unify messaging – have you thought about how many tools you use to...
VMWare is wonderful for getting full utilization of scarce resource. However, if you're on a limited budget, affording ESX clustered hosts for all needs is overkill. Sometimes a free ESXi server is enough. In the latter, we ran into challenges doing backups. ...
We recently obtained the necessary licenses required to enable one of our clients' FAS2050 filers for deduplication. Currently, deduplication is offered by Netapp for free. You simply need to get in touch with your reseller and request both ASIS licenses...
Managing infrastructure comes with unique challenges. Lab network, computer farm, load-balancing app, build-and-release system - each is distinct. "IT" is a broad term, but it comprises separate realms that are easily overlooked. But, understanding the uniqueness of...
In a previous post, my colleague Mike described how to setup a Redhat 4 (RHEL4) local update repository. With Redhat 5 (RHEL5), the procedure to setup a local repository has changed somewhat. At SPK, we often will setup a local update repository for Redhat or...
In the world of IT, solutions become problems with alarming regularity. The new software of today is the upgrade nightmare of tomorrow. The policies that solved problems create new ones years later. The corporate IT departments that we look to for solutions are...