Category: Random

MySQL Disaster Recovery…

Within a couple of weeks of doing our disaster recovery testing we’ve had a number of disasters, one of which was our Bugzilla server. The recovery was pretty sweet. The database engine (mySQL) was loaded as part of the Linux install and recovering the database was done with one command:

mysql -u root –password=”myPassword” bugs < backup.sql

What to do?

I’m really struggling to think of something to write about today. Every time I start to think of an idea I play another game and it’s gone…

I’ve got the first of 4 Christmas parties starting tonight. It would have been 5 only 2 clash. I have a horrible feeling that December will disappear with little in the way of productivity…

Cheers

Tim…

Back to work…

First day back and I got woken up by a support call.

Once that was fixed I tried my website and found it was freaking out, giving “PHP has encountered an Access Violation at 0289A2DF” errors. I’ve called my ISP, but for the mean time, if you need a page just refresh it multiple times until it appears.

Good to be back?

Cheers

Tim…

Update: A reboot of the application server sorted my website problem. You gotta love reboots 🙂

Kickstart and Holiday…

The disaster recovery week showed me how truely boring it is to install lots of Linux boxes in one go. As a result I’ve spent a little time looking at automated installations using Kickstart over the last few days. It’s pretty simple, and makes multiple installations a real no-brainer. I’m sure the next disaster recovery tests will be a little less time consuming because of this. I must download the DVDs so that I don’t even have to change CDs 🙂

I’m off on holiday for a week. Most of the time I’ll be in Edinburgh (Scotland) on a Yoga course, but I will be around from time to time. If I’m not back in a week it means I’m tied in a knot somewhere 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Back to normal life, for a few days…

I’m back in the office today, recovering from the disaster recovery week 🙂

One of my friends phoned today and asked me to cover his yoga classes tonight, so I’ll have to give Karate a miss. Shame, but a friend in need etc.

I hope he feels better by the weekend. We’re both going to a Yoga course in Edinburgh on Friday and I don’t want him sneezing on me during the flight 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Website Design…

The subject of website design has come up in conversation a few times recently. Whilst searching on the net I came across this site:

http://usability.gov/guidelines/ (link now broken)

The nice thing about this site is it bases its statements on research and rates the strength of the research that backs the statements. There’s very little you haven’t already heard, but it seems people are still making the same mistakes after all these years.

The things that stuck out for me were:

  • Planning – Have an idea of what you are aiming for before you start. If you take a random approach to design and development you will get a random result. Make group decisions on the look and feel. Relying on one persons opinion will reduce the chances of have a site with mass appeal.
  • Colours – Basic colour schemes rule. Black text on a white background may seem boring, but it’s easy to read, which is why just about every publication you will see uses it.
  • Navigation – It should be simple and consistent. People need to understand where they are and where they came from!
  • Layout – Use page layouts that are appealing to the eye. Jumbled pages don’t scan well and are generally very annoying.

For anyone still convinced, take a look at all the really big IT company websites and you’ll see most of very plain and simple:

Personally I find the whole design thing very difficult. I’m not very artistic and I don’t have a great eye for colours, but that may be my saving grace 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Search Engine Ordering Extension…

Whilst playing with the search plugins I came across this Firefox extention:

http://www.maltekraus.de/Firefox/Search-Engine-Ordering/

By default the plugins are ordered alphabetically, which can be annoying. This extension allows you for order them any way you want. It also allows you to delete them easily, which is quite handy as different versions of Firefox store the plugins in different locations.

Cheers

Tim…