Before & After: A Tale of Data Cabling

Saturday, I tackled a beast.

It wasn’t anything of insane epic porportions, and in reality it only took a couple hours but I felt like sharing.

The picture on the far left is of a clients data rack (after I removed the non-functional and abandonded equipment). Long story short, this is what happens when you don’t have a clear plan, or a single person to make decisions.

There were more problems than the obvious mess:

• Troubleshooting connectivity problems with this tangled mess can make a grown man cry.
• With so much extra cable in such a tangled mess, your chances of Alien Crosstalk goes up, which ultimately means poor network performance.
• The weight of the unsupported cable puts kinks in the cables at the plugs, as well as can damage the connections resulting in poor conductivity (again, ultimately poor network performance).
• Its not apparent (and took me nearly an hour to fully navigate) but the switches on this rack (and there are 5 in use) are daisy chained together, which means that the network had severe bottlenecks, as well, if a device in the middle of the chain were to fail, everything below it would stop working.

The simple solution, get the right sized patch cables for the job. In my case, I was able to layout the equipment in such a way that I could do just about everything with 1′ patch cables. I also re-structured the topography into a star with the switch at the very top of the rack acting as the center of my star. It does unfortunatly mean I still have a single point of failure that could take down the network, but if any one of the other switches fail only devices connected directly to that switch will go down, so I see it as an improvement. Rebuilding the topography also means I don’t have the same bottlenecking problem I had before. Internal traffic now has a maximum of three hops, as opposed to the potentially 6 hops in the prior design.

I’ve asked the client to keep an eye on things, see if the improvements are actually noticable or not. They han’t had any serious problems before so I won’t be supprised if the changes are not readily noticable to the end users. If they do though, it’ll be in the voice quality of their VoIP phone system. At the moment on busy days they get a noticable degredation of the voice quality, and without QoS capable switches there isn’t anything I can do besides hope the drop in packet loss due to the rebuild is enough to subdue the problem until I can get new switches.

Drupal DKP Module

The Drupal DKP module will allow you to pull data from an existing eqdkp installation and display DKP stats directly in your Drupal setup. Currently this version is very beta, and there are no options. Your EQDKP installation needs to be in the same database as Drupal, and needs to have ‘eqdkp_’ in front of all table names. You can see it in action on guilds website.

Pulls DKP information from an existing EQDKP installation and displays it in Drupal.

Details

Drupal DKP integrates with EQDKP by giving you the following functionality:

• Display current standings
• Display loot distribution
• Display raid history
• Display individual member history (loot, raids etc)

Dependencies

The loot linking relies on functions from the drupal_armory module, which is located at http://losmuertos.houseofbob.net.

Installation

1. Download the module archive and expand it (you’ve likely already done this).
2. Put the ‘dkp’ folder in your modules directory. Since the /modules/ folder is typically reserved for Drupal core modules, as of version 5.x you should create a sites/all/modules/ directory and put uploaded modules there.
3. Go to administer > site building > modules. Check the ‘Enabled’ box next to the module and then click the ‘Save Configuration’ button at the bottom.
4. Go to administer > users > access control and make sure you set the permissions up, otherwise nobody else will be able to view the page.
5. Go to administer > site building > menus and create add a menu item (typically in your primary links). The name and description are arbitrary, but the path needs to be ‘dkp’.

Configuration

There are currently no configuration options available.

Known Issues

• The wow_armory plugin has many known bugs and is officially unsuported. You may find that item names (typically ones with symbols in the name) will not link properly. This is a bug of wow_armory, and there is nothing I can do. The workaround is to enter the item ID in EQDKP instead of the name.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do I do if my eqdkp tables start with something other than ‘eqdkp_’.

You’ll need to go through the dkp.module file and replace every instance of ‘eqdkp_’ with whatever your tables start with. I hard coded the table names because I built this module for personal use, I never planned for it to be release to the public.

What do I do if my eqdkp database is not in the same location as my drupal database.

Because I built this module for personal use, I never planned for this. Without making significant changes to the code, its just not possible.

Anything else?

That about does it – enjoy!

Of Bicycles and Mercedes’

So today, my girlfriend and I hop on our bicycles to go for a nice ride in todays beautiful weather. We rode around exploring the trails that Folsom has to offer and eventually passed through Livermore Community Park. We pause for a little bit because My b-day is coming up and Kerry was point it out as a possible location to have it. After that, we head back down the road.

We get probably a third of a mile down the road and a lady in a brand new white Mercedes SUV (ML-something). Flags us down and says we hit her car in the parking lot of the park we just left. Since she’s parked in the middle of the road now, I told her to drive down to the next street and we’ll take a look at this dent she claims we put in her car.

Map of storyline. Point A is the park, point B is where we exchanged information.

Below is a picture of the dent. It sucks, but it was really small and all I had with me was the cell phone camera.

The lady said she had a picture (or video, it wasn’t really clear) of us denting her car, which she refused to show us. So we refused to give her our information. She was adiment and said repeatedly that she was a police officer and it would be easier if we just gave her our information. After we continued to refuse she called her office in Sacramento (I wasn’t sure if she was PD or CHP). I heard her tell a quick story that we hit her car, quickly ran away and were now refusing to give our information. She asked to be patched through to Folsom, and after she got off the phone she said an officer would be there in a bit to take our information (first question… is that legal? more later).

After a while of waiting, she got on the phone with what seemed like a few people, but she was speaking softly so I don’t know who she called, or what she said. She came back to us and said that the officer would be another 30 minutes and that she was going to go back to her family in the park and we would need to wait for the officer or give her our info now. I decided to f waiting, and gave her my first name and phone number only so that we could be on our way.

Once Kerry and I got back home, I printed the picture and we headed over toFolsom PD to make a report for our records, and possible a harassment report since this off-duty officer (I think she even called herself a Sargent but I could be wrong) seemed to be threatening us with her police status. When we got to the Police Department they told us we cannot file a report since the incident was on private property. I expressed that it was a Folsom city community park, but still… I could not file a report.

So we went back home and I dialed up CHP to see if I could do anything there. I was told they couldn’t really do anything and I believe I got patched to the Folsom PD office and gave them the story and they said the same thing again, that there was no report I could file since it was out of their jurisdiction, that I would have to settle it all privately through insurance. I further explained that the lady who owned the Mercedes had said she was an officer and she had called to have an officer come out to take our information and the lady on the phone said she didn’t have any call like that come in. And if they had, there would have been nothing the officer could have done.

So that leaves me to now. I have her name and phone number but I’m not planning on doing anything more than I have. She has my information so if she wants to have something done about it she can call me. Mostly I just wanted to get it off my chest.

But I wanted to see if anybody here had any other advice, other things so I know I’ve done my due diligence. I’d rather not have it go through any insurance nor do I want to have this end up becoming some “hit-and-run” because we left the parking lot (we certainly didn’t “speed” away on our bicycles though), but I’m also not going to hand her a couple hundred bucks cash to fix a dent that we didn’t cause. The only thing close to the right height is the handlebars of the bike, and they are completely wrapped in rubber. The lady wouldn’t pull her car away from the curb far enough for us to put the bike next to it to see if it was even the right height either.

Sorry if its a bit long winded, but a lot happened in the period of only about an hour.

Turbo Kitty

It has been a long hard road for Turbo, Chris’ adopted cat. But she could always make you smile.

You can read the whole story of Turbo from Chris’ post last night. My memories of Turbo are mostly from the late nights and weekends over at Chris’ house doing physics homework, when turbo would make it well known to both of us that she ruled the table, not our homework .

My heart goes out to Chris & Michelle, and I too will miss Turbo dearly.

Disney MGM (Disney Day 5)

[fa:p:a=disney-mgm-disney-day-5,p=3,id=469349713,j=l,s=s,l=i]It’s amazing what 10 hours of sleep and some well chosen anti-histamine drugs can do for a cold. I felt really quite good this morning. MGM is like Disney’s version of Universal Studios. This was the first day that I had ALL my camera equipment with me, so I snapped a ton of pictures, I’m not sure if all of them are worth publishing, so you may not see all of them.

We even got some special treatment at MGM. This year at Disney World is “The Year of a Million Dreams”. And they granted us a dream. In the form of a “Dream Fast Pass” Which was a badge that gave us a Fast Pass for 6 of the rides at MGM. Granted, we didn’t need it so much at this particular park, but we still used it a few times, and enjoyed having won something just simply by walking around.

Keith and I rode on the Tower of Terror, which seemed a little more cheap than the one in Anaheim, however we found out later that the ride is completely random, including lighting … the stuff that leads up to it, and the number of falls and whatnot, so it could have just been a bum random setup (I don’t know if “cheap” is the right word. The ride had more story than the California Adventure version, but the actual rising and falling of the ride was far less intense. Kyle and I agreed that the ride must be 3+ stories shorter than the California Adventure version – Keith).

We also rode on the Aerosmith Rock ’n’ Roller coaster. This was awesome. It’s one of those rides that launches you from the ground using linear synchronous motors, and is sort of like Space Mountain, as it takes place in the dark. But the best part is that there is timed Aerosmith music being pumped into your seat [SWEEEEEEEET EMOOOOTION – Keith], with a sub woofer under you bum, and two speakers near your head. We rode that one basically twice in a row within about 40 min, thanks to our Dream Fast pass, and a regular fast pass.

We also went and saw their stunt show, which involves a bunch of well choreographed car action in some highly modified little cars; including one car that is built completely backwards so it can be jumped safely in reverse.

Extreem Makeover: Office Edition

A quick bit of history; about a month ago it was annouced that my office would be starting a new dress code that was to take effect May in an effort to improve our professional image. I’m cool with that, I actually went out and bought some nice shirts and pants and have been dressing quite professionally, if I do say so myself.

Thismorning when I got in, John, my boss pulled everybody into the breakroom to let us know the CEO, and associated henchmen (term used lovingly) of Raging Wire would be comming into our office for a meeting tomorrow and that today is a cleanup day. So now, I’m sitting here in my $50 pants spray painting ceiling tiles to hide the water stains that have accumulated in the confrence room (our building owner is replacing the tiles Wednesday, just my luck). There are other construction projects going on to, all of which I feel wholey overdressed for.

Hows that for a random little bit of my day?

Hate Mongering

People say the dumbest things sometimes. We were having a conversation about world politics at work today and this came straight out of Chris’ mouth discribing who should be blown up, and who shouldn’t.

I dont like any country that doesn’t agree with us.

Reminds me of Travis’ quote, which requires a quick backstory. In Highschool all my buddies lived right next to eachother so we all shared a ride home. One day while waiting for our ride my brother Keith told us how in P.E. he had to run an extra lap because a rather portly fellow wasn’t able to keep up with the group, and Travis’s immediate response was:

Thats why I hate fat people

To this day he denies the quote, unfortunatly for him there were 4 of us there to hear it and I’m sure any of them will back me up on the subject.

For other entertainment provided by Travis, go back to my post entitled Travis Eats a Deep Fried Fish Head

Life

It sure does seem like lately life has decided to kick my ass a little harder than usual. Maybe I’m just getting burnt out on things, but its hard to tell. I’ve had some free time but it sure does seem to be coming in at a very slow drizzle from lifes faucet of fun.

Probably since about the start of School in the fall I’ve been seeming busy non-stop. There have been a few free weekend (never without homework though) but not near enough. I’ve actually noticed my health diminishing lately.

Anyway, I’m currently in the Physics Center on the Sierra campus taking a break from doing Physics homework and I thought I should post an update even though I don’t think anybody reads this stuff.

Kerry and I went to Disneyland over spring break which was a blast. I hadn’t ever been to the new California Adventure Park, or Downtown Disney so it was fun to be able to see new things. They’ve made a few changes to Disneyland itself. The removed the Swiss Family Robinson tree house and replaced it with a Tarzan tree house, not cool. I’ve never seen Tarzan, and its not a story that interests me so maybe thats why this dissapoints me so much.

They also re-did the carasel theatre which used to have (If I remember correctly) scenes from different times of life. Its now the Disney Inoventions building full of lots of pretty cool technology stuffs. The Disney imagineers have got a lot better with their anamatronics, there was a “robot” figure in the inoventions and a Buzz Lightyear in his new ride that both look and move VERY well. The Buzz was probably the coolest, instead of giving him some kind of mechanical system for his facial features they mounted a small projector somewhere (couldn’t find it, may have been inside his head??) and projected his facial features (eyes, mouth etc) onto a featureless, but properly shaped face. This gave them the ability to do things to make all his movement look incredible.

The Jungle Cruise was closed for reparis/remodeling as was space mountain so we couldn’t do those but I think we covered all the other important rides (Small World, Indiana Jones (x2), Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, Matterhorn, etc… )

It was lots of fun, we even got bumped up on our hotel twice, so we paid for a Travel Lodge, and ended up staying in a Hyatt Regencey . I’ll try to get some pictures up and some more information about the California Adventure Park, but I’ve got to get going to my class now (Bah!) and then go work for TSE later this afternoon.

Peace.