software RAID10 performance
A buddy of mine works at IBM, he has a big ass SCSI raid array (DS300) on which he runs RAID5 (which is bad, BTW). He wanted to know what the overhead of running software RAID10 (aka RAID1+0) on this system would be. His numbers are here.
learning to love git
I’ve been working for Xelerance, mcr’s company, for a couple of weeks now. The project I am working on is mostly bringing KLIPS, openswan ipsec kernel module, into the 21st centry. Since KLIPS is a patch against the Linux kernel, it makes sense to keep it in git.
recent vim7 articles
Vim7 was recently released, and there have been several very nice articles by Joe ‘Zonker’ Brockmeier. Here is the listing: First look at Vim 7 Vim tips: Using viewports Vim tips: Moving around using marks and jumps Vim tips: Folding fun If you want to see more on vim, read the vim tips on vim.org site.
bootstrapping debian on my sbc
So my [sbc]{tag/sbc} of choice these days is the WRAP 1C-2. This model is powered by a 266Mhz Geode and has 128M of RAM, a CF reader, 1 mini-PCI slot, a serial console and 3 10/100 Mbit NICs. I get mine (I have three now) from Xagyl Communications. Each was about $200. This entry talks about bootstrapping debian onto a CF card.
entropy injection
I was installing openswan on my [sbc]{tag/sbc} router box. The sbc doesn’t have much hardware on it, and what it does have did not contribute to the entropy pool. I have a few boxes around with relatively good entropy (keyboard/mouse input), but there was no way to pass that entropy to the router for RSA key generation. I had to write some code to fix it. Be warned, it’s pretty EVIL… UPDATE: see below about rng-tools.
Adam
Jen gave birth to our baby boy at 1:09 PM April 19th, 2006. Adam was born weighing 8 lb 13 oz (4 kg) and is 22 in (55 cm) long. It was an unexpectedly quick delivery, which was most welcomed by the mom. After spending just over a day at the Civic Hospital, we returned home and are getting to know our Adam. Adam’s gallery page is where you will find some of the first few pictures of Adam… there will be many more to come. As you can see Kelly is thrilled of her new role as the big sister.
converting mp3s to CD
How to convert 22kHz mp3 to a CD playable in a CD player. Not the most spectacular task, but I had to do some digging to figure it out. And I might as well write it down for the next time :)
secure apt-get
Debiean-heads might find it interesting that Joey Hess has produced a detailed SecureApt article on how to use security features of apt-get. The particularly interesting bits are: details about the security levels put into packages examples of how apt-key aught to be used timeline that the debian pgp keys will adhere to problems to be avoided and symptoms you will see if you have ’em links to relevant documentation
xen domain0 on debian
This is part of my [xen box setup]{rtag/xen-box-setup} “series”. Xen domain 0 (or dom0) is special. It starts up all the other xen hosts and, be it by a rule or simply by convention, it tends to run all the drivers. I have already covered how I [partitioned my disk]{lvm2-on-raid1}. Let’s now start with this fresh install of debian/testing and get a xen dom0 running on top of it. The following steps assume that the system: is a 32bit x86 box running debian/testing has RAID1 devices configured as per my [LVM2 on RAID1]{lvm2-on-raid1} writeup uses grub for a bootloader was booting a recent 2.6.x kernel
LVM2 on RAID1 mirror
This is part of my [xen box setup]{rtag/xen-box-setup} “series”. :) I’ve installed debian on a RAID1 device, /dev/md0. This takes up a fraction of the disk, and my plan is to create a large LVM2 group on another RAID1 that I can use to dynamically create devices for my xen domains.