Not long after I started to learn Aikido, I was fortunate to see Sensei Shuji Maruyama at a little seminar in NJ. He is the founder of the Kokikai-Ryu style of Aikido. It was simply amazing seeing how powerful and gentle he is. Every year he comes to the US and runs a few seminars. Luckily, I'll get to see him again this year in San Francisco. Here's the calendar of events:
http://kokikai.org/events.php
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Sun Blueprint Article on Zones.
Sun Blueprints has published an article on Zones and Containers in Solaris. Has some excellent examples! Check it out:
http://www.sun.com/blueprints/0505/819-2679.pdf
http://www.sun.com/blueprints/0505/819-2679.pdf
Compiling software..
So I'm working on compiling our freeware software for Solaris 10 and packaging it. This can be a long and complicated tasks. I have a 6 page list, and I'm only on page three today:( The difficult part is tracking down dependencies and dealing with bad build processes. A lot of people may assume that doing a "./configure;make;make install" is all that's required. Well you would be wrong to assume that. While there are some application builds that are smooth, there are plenty that require a little *extra* help. So here some some things to look out for:
1. Try using Sun Studio 10! It makes better binaries and handles *gnu* builds better than previous versions. So setup your environment (CC,CFLAGS, CXX, CXXFLAGS, etc.). If you want to optimize your builds, you can use "-xO3". If you want to compile for a specific CPU type, you can do "-xarch=sparcv9". The best part is that you will end up with binaries that are not dependent upon some version of libgcc;)
2. Try to compile against versions of libraries that are already included in the Solaris 10 OEM. No point in compiling your own versions and then having to maintain multiple things.
3. Most software today makes use of configure to setup the Makefiles. So take the time to look at the options for your software "./configure --help". That way, you don't miss an option that could be useful or dangerous:)
4. Take a look at the Makefile to ensure it has everything setup correctly. Some software will assume you are using gcc and want to install everything, including the kitchen sink, into /usr/local.
Now for some help on creating packages..
1. First create a directory to install the software you are going to package:
$ mkdir -p pkg/reloc
2. Some well behaved software will accept "$ make DESTDIR= install", which will install the software into your package build directory. You may have to look at the Makefile to see what the correct variable is, or you may have to override the "prefix" variable.
3. Change to the pkg directory:
$ cd pkg
4. Create your pkginfo file. Here's an example:
PKG=autoconf
NAME=GNU AutoConf
ARCH=SPARC
VERSION=2.59
CATEGORY=application
VENDOR=GNU
BASEDIR=/usr/local/
5. Do the following to create your prototype file:
$ (echo 'i pkginfo'; pkgproto `pwd`/reloc= ) > prototype
6. Modify your prototype file to match your file ownerships (i.e. root:bin).
7. Make your package:
$ pkmk -o
8. Now transfer your package into a package file:
$ pkgtrans -s /var/spool/pkg `pwd`/.pkg
9. Now test your package out:
# pkgadd -d /var/spool/pkg
And that's it;)
1. Try using Sun Studio 10! It makes better binaries and handles *gnu* builds better than previous versions. So setup your environment (CC,CFLAGS, CXX, CXXFLAGS, etc.). If you want to optimize your builds, you can use "-xO3". If you want to compile for a specific CPU type, you can do "-xarch=sparcv9". The best part is that you will end up with binaries that are not dependent upon some version of libgcc;)
2. Try to compile against versions of libraries that are already included in the Solaris 10 OEM. No point in compiling your own versions and then having to maintain multiple things.
3. Most software today makes use of configure to setup the Makefiles. So take the time to look at the options for your software "./configure --help". That way, you don't miss an option that could be useful or dangerous:)
4. Take a look at the Makefile to ensure it has everything setup correctly. Some software will assume you are using gcc and want to install everything, including the kitchen sink, into /usr/local.
Now for some help on creating packages..
1. First create a directory to install the software you are going to package:
$ mkdir -p pkg/reloc
2. Some well behaved software will accept "$ make DESTDIR=
3. Change to the pkg directory:
$ cd pkg
4. Create your pkginfo file. Here's an example:
PKG=autoconf
NAME=GNU AutoConf
ARCH=SPARC
VERSION=2.59
CATEGORY=application
VENDOR=GNU
BASEDIR=/usr/local/
5. Do the following to create your prototype file:
$ (echo 'i pkginfo'; pkgproto `pwd`/reloc= ) > prototype
6. Modify your prototype file to match your file ownerships (i.e. root:bin).
7. Make your package:
$ pkmk -o
8. Now transfer your package into a package file:
$ pkgtrans -s /var/spool/pkg `pwd`/
9. Now test your package out:
# pkgadd -d /var/spool/pkg
And that's it;)
Sunday, May 08, 2005
Saturday, May 07, 2005
Sun Ray!
So at work, I'm fighting for having a Sun workstation to do my work on. Apparently, someone in the past made the decision to force windoze boxes on everyone. As a result, I have a P3 POS that can't multi-task its way out of a wet paper bag. So for my Solaris 10 project, I get to have an Ultra10 under my desk. But long-term wise, this won't be possible.The alternative is to use Exceed.. which is also not acceptable.. still have to interface with windoze. So the other alternative is to get the company to deploy Sun Rays!
Sun Rays are really kewl thin clients(no moving parts, no drives, etc). Everything is done over a secure protocol that only requires 300kb bandwidth. So everything is running off the server. For those who think this is slow or impractical.. here are some things to consider:
1. It's secure! You can setup your smart card as a token for access. Someone can take your Sun Ray and it doesn't give them anything! Nothing is stored locally!
2. Low power consumption! Pretty important in this economy to reduce engergy needs.
3. 24-bit graphics, streaming audio and video, VoIP, and USB connectivity for devices(flash cards, cd drives, storage, cameras, printers, etc).
4. All the applications are on the server, so you don't have to worry about maintaining applications per user. You set them up once on the server!
5. When combined with the Java Desktop System 3 and the Java Desktop System Configuration Manager, you have a friendly and centrally manageable desktop for all users.
6. With Rdesktop, you can access windoze applications with full functionality.
7. With VNC, you can supply remote access to your Sun Ray session.
8. You can do Sun Ray's over broadband!
So there are lot of pluses, many I did not list. But those are the big ones. So anyways, to ready myself for this, I downloaded the latest SRSS software which is version 3.1 Alpha and installed it at home on my Ultra 60. I had first installed verion 3.0 and had issues.. then found that 3.1 was out:) It works! As a matter of fact I'm typing this out from my Sun Ray. I'm thinking about hooking it up to our TV and doing some fun stuff in the comming weeks with it. I have not setup my Sun Ray for a long time, since version 1.3.I had deployed them before when I was at Sun, but that was over 3 years ago, so it was fun relearning it, which didn't take long.
So next I have to setup the JDS Configuration Manager, also known as APOC. Speaking of APOC and JDS, I beta tested both of these last year when I was beta testing Solaris 10! When I was on the JDS 3 beta program, I was invited to test out APOC, which was lots of fun to do. At the time, I was hoping to get the company I was working for to switch to Sun Rays for the help desk, which would have been kewl. APOC allows you to lock down desktops. So you can create standard desktop templates for different groups of users. It ties into an LDAP database and then into GNOME. You can do fun stuff like removing or adding things to menus and locking desktops down.
I have to work on cost justifications and maybe go the extra mile and invite some co-workers over to my house to do a demo. We'll see how well this goes! Luckily, there are other people at work that are interested, just need to get the managers to see the value:)
So now that there are soo many tools that are LDAP dependent.. it's comming time for me to setup LDAP at home and hopefully tie in the iMac:)
Sun Ray and JDS 3 Links:
http://www.sun.com/software/sunray/index.xml
http://www.sun.com/software/javadesktopsystem/index.xml
http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/javadesktopsystem.xml
Documentation:
http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/coll/1230.2
http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/coll/1217.2
http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/coll/1221.1
Sun Rays are really kewl thin clients(no moving parts, no drives, etc). Everything is done over a secure protocol that only requires 300kb bandwidth. So everything is running off the server. For those who think this is slow or impractical.. here are some things to consider:
1. It's secure! You can setup your smart card as a token for access. Someone can take your Sun Ray and it doesn't give them anything! Nothing is stored locally!
2. Low power consumption! Pretty important in this economy to reduce engergy needs.
3. 24-bit graphics, streaming audio and video, VoIP, and USB connectivity for devices(flash cards, cd drives, storage, cameras, printers, etc).
4. All the applications are on the server, so you don't have to worry about maintaining applications per user. You set them up once on the server!
5. When combined with the Java Desktop System 3 and the Java Desktop System Configuration Manager, you have a friendly and centrally manageable desktop for all users.
6. With Rdesktop, you can access windoze applications with full functionality.
7. With VNC, you can supply remote access to your Sun Ray session.
8. You can do Sun Ray's over broadband!
So there are lot of pluses, many I did not list. But those are the big ones. So anyways, to ready myself for this, I downloaded the latest SRSS software which is version 3.1 Alpha and installed it at home on my Ultra 60. I had first installed verion 3.0 and had issues.. then found that 3.1 was out:) It works! As a matter of fact I'm typing this out from my Sun Ray. I'm thinking about hooking it up to our TV and doing some fun stuff in the comming weeks with it. I have not setup my Sun Ray for a long time, since version 1.3.I had deployed them before when I was at Sun, but that was over 3 years ago, so it was fun relearning it, which didn't take long.
So next I have to setup the JDS Configuration Manager, also known as APOC. Speaking of APOC and JDS, I beta tested both of these last year when I was beta testing Solaris 10! When I was on the JDS 3 beta program, I was invited to test out APOC, which was lots of fun to do. At the time, I was hoping to get the company I was working for to switch to Sun Rays for the help desk, which would have been kewl. APOC allows you to lock down desktops. So you can create standard desktop templates for different groups of users. It ties into an LDAP database and then into GNOME. You can do fun stuff like removing or adding things to menus and locking desktops down.
I have to work on cost justifications and maybe go the extra mile and invite some co-workers over to my house to do a demo. We'll see how well this goes! Luckily, there are other people at work that are interested, just need to get the managers to see the value:)
So now that there are soo many tools that are LDAP dependent.. it's comming time for me to setup LDAP at home and hopefully tie in the iMac:)
Sun Ray and JDS 3 Links:
http://www.sun.com/software/sunray/index.xml
http://www.sun.com/software/javadesktopsystem/index.xml
http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/javadesktopsystem.xml
Documentation:
http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/coll/1230.2
http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/coll/1217.2
http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/coll/1221.1
Sun N1 Grid Engine
So I went to training last week for the Sun N1 Grid Engine! Very kewl product! It runs on Solaris(SPARC and x86 of course!), Linux, AIX, HP-UX, SGI, Mac OS X,and Windows! In the class we setup a couple of Ultra10's into a grid andlearned all the administrative aspects of the product. The queues can be simpleor pretty sophisticated, depending on what you want. This is has a lot of usesfor the type of work our researchers do. The kewl part is that it's based offof a open source project called Grid Engine. Sun just adds extra functionality,QA testing, packaging, and support. There was soo much to cover in just 3 days,it really should be a 5 day course.
Luckily, one of our systems was running Solaris 10:) So I setup a couple of zones on it and added them in as execution hosts on the grid. Too bad it was noton an SMP box, resource pools are awesome! But in N1GE, you can setup metrics onqueues to help determine thresholds and availabilty. You can also have N1GE pluginto RBAC and RSM. So you can use projects and resource management to controlyour applications. You can also have it push things through telnet, rsh, ssh, etc. Pretty flexible framework. I'm looking forward to deploying this at work,because it'll help organize our research environment and put and end to thefree-for-all environment.
One of the interesting parts about the product is ARCO, which allows you to doaccounting and reporting. The lab had a few issues for setting this up, and mylab partners gave up. But I stayed until the end of the class to make it work.What can I say? You won't learn if you don't put any effort forth.
Anycase.. here are some links:
http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/coll/1017.3
http://www.sun.com/software/gridware/index.xml
http://gridengine.sunsource.net
Luckily, one of our systems was running Solaris 10:) So I setup a couple of zones on it and added them in as execution hosts on the grid. Too bad it was noton an SMP box, resource pools are awesome! But in N1GE, you can setup metrics onqueues to help determine thresholds and availabilty. You can also have N1GE pluginto RBAC and RSM. So you can use projects and resource management to controlyour applications. You can also have it push things through telnet, rsh, ssh, etc. Pretty flexible framework. I'm looking forward to deploying this at work,because it'll help organize our research environment and put and end to thefree-for-all environment.
One of the interesting parts about the product is ARCO, which allows you to doaccounting and reporting. The lab had a few issues for setting this up, and mylab partners gave up. But I stayed until the end of the class to make it work.What can I say? You won't learn if you don't put any effort forth.
Anycase.. here are some links:
http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/coll/1017.3
http://www.sun.com/software/gridware/index.xml
http://gridengine.sunsource.net
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