Blog Archives

Big Data – Bigger Networking

One of the really attractive aspects of working at a start-up like DataSift is managing the challenges that come with the rapidity of organic growth. Our experiences with the networking aspects of Hadoop are an excellent example of this. When

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Posted in Big Data, Datacenter, Networks, Systems

I build High Availability Platforms so Cloud is not for me

Ever since someone first tried to represent the idea of packet switched network that was resilient to failure they probably used a picture of a cloud. Cisco’s official iconography for such a network is a cloud. It has been taken

Posted in Big Data, Datacenter, Networks, Systems, Virtualization

IPv6 and Virtualisation Revisited

I recently discovered Vagrant and after some experimentation and reading I set about replacing all my ESXi and HyperV hosts with Linux based hypervisors. After installation of the RPM package creating a VM was as simple as issuing; vagrant box

Posted in IPv6, NAMOS, Networks, Systems, Virtualization

Utilising Read Only Domain Controllers to Leverage Hosted Active Directory

One of the common issues that appears when integrating a hybrid vision of Hosted Exchange with someones existing infrastructure (so not really Hosted Exchange at all!) is synchronising credentials between the Exchange Server and the local machines or for the

Posted in Datacenter, Email, Networks, Systems, Virtualization

Introducing psFetch

psFetch is my latest project and is a Powershell cmdlet that communicates with various Repositories on the Internet to find what you are looking for and easily download and install them to your machine. The cmdlet itself is written in

Posted in NAMOS, Systems

Active Directory Fun

This post has no real merit its just that the Error message caused me to actually laugh out loud:

Posted in NAMOS, Systems

Last H.O.P.E and Tackling the Debian OpenSSL Issue

Well I’m back from my trip to New York and I’ve brought back a couple of things. With the most tracks HOPE has ever had I was truly spoilt for choice but I spent most of my time [when I

Posted in Datacenter, Networks, Systems

Windows Server 2008 With Exchange 2007 – In Production

Considering how bleeding edge the majority of my projects are I’m a little behind the curve on this one but I’ve finally managed to move all my Windows Servers across to Windows Server 2008. This includes the Domain Controllers, Web

Posted in Datacenter, Email, NAMOS, Systems

Benefits of Virtualisation For Training

Working in a Data Center brings with it various challenges that you wouldn’t normally find in most other jobs; we come across demanding solutions, ingenious ‘hacks‘, impressive software and outright weird errors. Once we’ve crossed a particular hurdle then we

Posted in Datacenter, Systems, Virtualization

Leveraging Virtualisation To Fight Spam

A few weeks ago I ‘inherited’ a frontend anti-spam solution that was getting crushed under the weight of the Christmas run-up. Emails were taking up to a week to arrive at the back-end system and a lot of spam was

Posted in Datacenter, Email, Systems, Virtualization