Seems I have gotten side tracked with a lot of hardware issues lately. About two months ago (more?) I decided that I needed more hard drive space on my server. I upgraded to sql server 2000 so that I could accomodate things like Reporting Services and SourceGear Vault (single user). I just couldn’t eek along my old 4 gig scsi drive anymore. So a friend sent me a spare 18gb scsi drive, but it was a different type of scsi and I finally received a new scsi adapter card and cable and went to town with my server box on Saturday afternoon. What I really wanted to do was start absolutely from a clean slate and with Windows 2003 server while I was at it. I have to say I went though my own little hell – some incompaitibiliites between the scsi cards, the fact that the floppy disk drive hasn’t worked in 3 years (but who cares, right?) and that no matter what I did, the CD refused to be used as a bootable drive and lastly of COURSE, my ethernet card was “incompatible” with win2k3 server (though it turned out that the winxp drivers worked just fine). Because of the scsi problems, I still have some issues to work out with getting my cd player and old drive back into the mix, but I’m not concerned about that – I can just keep moving cables around till it works.

Speaking of cables, there was a little issue of the improperly seated cable which really broke the camel’s back!

Anyway, now I am rolling along, have gotten AD setup, IIS installed and have just a few more things to do. One thing I like is that when I set up IIS the first time, I just dumped everyhting into the default web server – now I have set up a separate web server just for my stuff. So what I have left is pull my web sites back intot he new IIS, install SQL 2K and bring the databases back in, install Reporting Services and install SourceGear.

Then it’s back to the regular work.

Why do I say Win2K3 instead of Win2003? It saves me ONE keystroke!

Rich was kind enough to try to help me after all of the illogical trouble I was having wtih my server installation. He took a close look in the box and said the scsi cable wasn’t plugged in properly. “Oh No!” I sasid, I have reseated that a # of times, it’s a software problem. I was at a point where if I booted up to the win2000 disk, I could see, format, partition, read, etc. the NEW disk, but when I tried to continute the win2k3 server setup onto that new disk, I kept getting the blue screen of death. He finally convinced me to let him at it and – gulp – he was right. The install is now almost done. Damn! There’s a developer joke in there somewhere about it really being a hardware problem after all, but the real issue was that I was so focused on the software side of things, I didn’t take the hardware end seriously enough. Embarrassing? Not really, it could have been a thousand things – incompatible hardware etc, and I *had* considered and reseated those cables. Educational – yup!

The Rocket Scientist/Carpenter reference is because Rich’s college degree is in physics, but he now happily works for himself as a carpenter.

Werner got a way-cool laptop. The kind a rocket scientist should have! But he’s already having second doubts about it.

• In early december he ordered the machine. Here is his post about that.
• Earlier this week, he recieved the box and expressed some dissapointment as well as some hope for it.
• One day later, he is now thinking about a Dell. Here is why.

I wonder how his laptop compares to the Longhorn machine that Clemens Vasters is now toting around Europe.

• Here is where Clemens lays out the specs of the box.
• Here is where he receives it.
• Here is where he installs Longhorn on it and realizes that he will have to make some concessions, though raves about the support from the manufacturer.

“Europa” by way of Robert Scoble.

Having been a FoxPro developer for many years before I switched to VB4, there is always a soft spot in my heart for the product, though moreso for the community.

I have found this incredibly informative thread on Dell of all places (thank you google) that talks about a variety of backup solutions revolvoing around an external hard drive and various software (eg. Retrospects Dantz is bundled with Maxtor One-Touch, vs. Ghost vs. some others).

I am closing in on a solution which will involve occasional complete images via ghost and then frequent incremental backups. I have a 160 gig hard drive with 3 partitions.

The various Maxtor options look great for a single hardware solution – encased USB2 or Firewire hard drive. And they these drives got a “storage product of the year“ award from an industry magazine.

Gha – why do I have to learn all this stuff? Oh yeah, cause I’m a geek and it’s fun!

Well, I have spent 4 hours trying to create a backup that I will be able to automate.

I have had to throw 3 cd’s away.

I really have to get some WORK done!

This is a survey for contractors/independents who are responsible for their own data backup in what is likely your home office.

What software do you use?

Do you back up to cd, dvd, writeable cd/dvd’s, tape another hard drive?

Is your backup process automated?

How often?

Full always? Differential? Incremental?

How do you store your back up media?

Do you floss daily? How often? After every meal? Waxed or waxless? 🙂

James Avery points out Mike Gunderloy’s upcoming book which I have had in the back of my head from some conversations with Mike. I’m glad James brought it up to the part of my brain that is closer to the keyboard. Mike writes the most wonderfully practical and educational books (much like is no nonsense Daily Grind!). I checked the description of the book on Amazon. It sounds like it is going to speak to MANY MANY people out there. I know from my user group. It’s the people who don’t want to show you their code. They know that they want to get to the next level and not just write programs that work, but write well-architected applications that really leverage the development tools.

So here is the description of the book:

Are you ready to take the leap from programmer to proficient developer? Based on the assumption that programmers need to grasp a broad set of core skills in order to develop high-quality software, “From Coder to Developer” teaches you these critical ground rules. Topics covered include project planning, source code control, error handling strategies, working with and managing teams, documenting the application, developing a build process, and delivering the product. All of the techniques taught in this unique book are language and platform neutral, and were selected to help you effectively design and develop complex applications.

So if James’ post has a link to my blog and then this post points back to that post is that going to create some cyclical blog thing that brings down the internet or something? (kidding)

okay back to my deployment…

I had a visit today from Ron Lewis from my user group who was helping my neighbor with a computer hardware emergency. Ron is a regular at the user group and he has been soaking up knowledge about .NET for over a year. But his real expertise is as a hardware guy. This is the same guy who brought Stephen Forte’s laptop back to life at our March 2003 meeting after repeated blue screen’s of death had Stephen relegating the box to the garbage can.

So Ron looked around my office and the quiz began. He asked a few questions about my UPS’s (yes I passed), was astonished at my 8 year old humongous HP LaserJet IVSI that still is in perfect working condition and impressed with the number and variety of p.c.s. He was a little curious about the Apple sticker on my monitor. It’s just a sticker though. My husband put it there to be funny and I left it, trying to be funnier. But then he asked me about my backup habits. This is like when the dental hygienist asks if you’ve been flossing regularly. Skip to after that conversation. We have a deal. He is going to call me in two weeks. If I am not backing up regularly (DAILY as I can’t really afford to lose more than a day’s work) by then, he is going to set me up on remote automated backup to his servers, which is a service he offers. That sounds cool to me!! I know there are gigantic companies who do this kind of thing with offsite data centers and offsite networks but this is just my size.

I have been VERY spoiled in the last few years as a user group leader, INETA volunteer, MVP and babbling blogger because people like to push software my way. Here! use it, write about it, tell the world, give it to your user group. No problemo, dude! Now that I found a product I really want and need (XCeed) I am about to pay for software for the first time in a really really long time! Here’s why. And happily of course – to contribute to the independent software economy!

BTW – Eric if you are reading this, I am still waiting to rebuild my server so I can add more software, including YOURS!