VMWare Convertor

Having a look at the VMWare converter software today, pretty nifty to find that the newest version allows me to image my still running server.

I've been talking to one of our business contacts this morning regarding shifting a number of our servers over on to their enterprise VMWare system. For those systems that are tricky to rebuild directly, the converter now allows us to do direct copies.

There are two versions, the normal one which you can download for free here, and an enterprise variant. If you have an enterprise license for VMware, you get the big one for free as well.

The downside: for the moment, only Windows Machines can be cloned.

• Windows XP Professional
• Windows 2003 Server
• Windows 2000 Professional
• Windows 2000 Server
• Windows NT SP4+ (IE5 or higher required)

Thou for something thats cost me $0 to try at the moment, I'm not really complaining.

Bonus: It also allows you to convert from other virtual machine images.

Overlord (I need more minions.)

As first primarily single player game I've played in a good while, "Overlord" has me quite impressed.

You play the role of newly resurrected evil Overlord, set to command and build up your legion of minions. These include a number of different classes, 2 of which I've accessed so far (Brown = Fighters, Red = Ranged and Fire-Immune)

Normally these types of games end up more of a challenge of navigation that tactics when trying to control such a group, but overlord has pulled it off well. A series of simple click commands allow you to send your troops to battle with you, or through puzzle type areas to activate switches (because of course no evil Overlord should do his own work)

Also, the other critical component to your evil marauding is your stronghold which starts off in ruins to be slowly upgraded with the addition of extra parts (thanks to some heavy lifting, of course again all done by minions). This allows you to unlock a Dungeon (used for fighting practice) a forge (used to make new Evil armor or just upgrade) which you can sacrifice your unused minions in to imbue your gear.

Graphics are very much like Fable IMHO, but due to my computer not really maintaining current standards I'm going to assume they could be a fair bit better with the settings maxed.

--More after I've played for a while--

My thoughts so far is that it is well worth the purchase and thats without even having looked into any multi-player action or what that brings.

l33tboots

Had some imaginings going on about the fancy footwear we may be seeing in the next couple of years.

My ideas were based mainly around a rather rugged set of uggboots I have at home. They are knee high, hold their form well, and have a very thick tread (thick enough to crush something like a small bab, a umm.. nevermind).

So, ideas:

- USB Sleeve:
just a small elastic-y sleeve on the inside of one of the uggboots to hold a USB stick of some kind, could even have a velcro bit at the top to ensure its safety.

- Wifi Sniffer:
Linksys have had a small usb wireless sniffer device out for some time now.. I'd propose a small plastic usb port and recessed plastic mould to hold it in place. Could even use a small plastic outdoorsy type zip if ya wanted to. (See pic of device)

- iPod Dock:
as much as I dislike iPods (yeah, no real reason.. just don't like em); I wouldn't pass up on the opportunity to dock an iPod into yet another unique place. Speakers and batteries could either be built into the uggboots, or just batteries, and the wireless going to a set of earbuds/headphones for the user.
Earbuds would be the prefered method, as these could also have a recharging spot on the boot, which would be charged via usb when not in use.

- Adaptors:
Finally in the heel, as well as housing the batteries and such, a small assortment of usb and firewire adapters could be contained in a rotating horizontal wheen in the heel. (hehe poetry) This would allow the user to rotate the wheel to a certain adapter and rotate back to a blank spot when not needed.

Anyway.. enough crazy talk for today. I'll leave this to someone smart to invent.. so long as I get some royalties.

WRAP and RouterOS

As someone who is frequently involved in Hotspots, VPN's, QoS, Firewalling, Queuing and Shaping; I've chosen to use a WRAP 1-2 loaded up with RouterOS to manage my home connection.

The system had to support many features and preferably all in one package which the WRAP hardware makes easily possible (as opposed to my previous methods of piecing together discarded systems and old cards)

The setup comprises of an IPSEC Tunnel through to my work network, standard routes out through the ADSL Line (soon to be dual lines with load-balancing); Mikrotik Usermanager gives everyone a monthly limit on the ADSL connection.

Having the benefit of a mini PCI slot I can use my preferred wireless card (namely the SR2) and present an open wireless hotspot connection, meaning I don't have to worry about neighbors using my internet.

P2P shaping and simple Queueing means that web pages will always load quickly even if someone else is whipping their Bittorrent client. Even World of warcraft runs better ;-)

Best of all, I don't have to worry about noise, lack of space, excess power usage or hardware failure for years to come. The WRAP system has replaced 3 computers for me for less than the price of 1.

Some stats from the www.yawarra.com.au page:

	WRAP 1-1	WRAP 1-2	WRAP 2 Indoor	WRAP 2 Outdoor	net4801
Features
Processor	AMD Geode SC1100 - 233 MHz	AMD Geode SC1100 - 233 MHz	AMD Geode SC1100 - 233 MHz	AMD Geode SC1100 - 233 MHz	AMD Geode SC1100 - 266 MHz
Onboard memory	128MB	128MB	64MB or 128MB	64MB or 128MB	128MB or 256MB
Ethernet ports (10/100)	2	3	1	1	3
Throughput (MBits/sec) *	42.8	42.8	N/A	N/A	33.6
mini-PCI slots	2	1	2	2	1
PCI slots	None	None	None	None	1 (3.3V cards only)
IDE interfaces	1 x CF type I/II	1 x CF type I/II	1 x CF type I/II	1 x CF type I/II	1 x CF type I/II 1 x 2.5" HDD
GPIO interface	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Serial ports	1	1	1	1	2 (1 internal, 1 external)
USB ports	None (1 or 2 port USB 1.1 expansion kit available)	None (1 or 2 port USB 1.1 expansion kit available)	None	None	1 (USB 1.1)
Power usage	typical 3-5W @ 12V	typical 3-5W @ 12V	typical 3-5W @ 12V	typical 3-5W @ 12V	up to 15W (with HDD)
PPOE	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Recommended)	No
Network bootable (PXE)	Yes #	Yes #	Yes #	Yes #	Yes
Case colours	red, orange, green, blue, silver, black, white, yellow ^	red, orange, green, blue, silver, black, white, yellow ^	silver	matt silver	Soekris green, Yawarra black^
Size (mm)	163W x 161D x 28H	163W x 161D x 28H	110W x 166D x 28H	210W x 180D x 53H	216W x 157D x 35H
Weight (board & case)	420g	425g	378g	1718g	770g
C-Tick compliance	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Available products	WRAP 1-1 board WRAP 1-1	WRAP 1-2 board WRAP 1-2	WRAP 2 board WRAP 2 Indoor	WRAP 2 board WRAP 2 Outdoor	net4801 board net4801

Embeded Systems

'

I've been experimenting recently with a number of embeded router/firewall OS's in the hope of finding something that can easily handle the following tasks:

a) IPSEC Tunnel into my work network, for VoIP, Email and Access to the systems there.
b) Port forwarding, NAT, UPnP (for the families computers connected on the network)
c) Load Balancing over 2 WAN connections
d) Download limiting, something with a built in user-manager.
e) Future allowance for hosting my own wireless hotspot off this. (So long as I upgrade to a SOHO or Business Internet connection)

Of the ones I've tested (M0n0wall, pfSense, RouterOS) RouterOS is the costliest, but also the most open in terms of configuration.

That and they've currently started making a built in usermanager openly available.
I'm currently testing it with a couple of monthly limits for my brother (or bothers ;-) who are using my connection at home. This way they get a limited amount for the month, and can checkup on it at any time.
For the moment, I plan on just getting the user management setup correctly so they can continue using. (Rate limiting applied of course!)

After I'm comfortable that its all working I shall start work on setting up the load balancing to here.

Redundancy

Hmm, I've gotta get me one of these.