SunRay Science Fair Project - 2
I have been working late nights preparing for the upcoming trade show. Since we are providing the internet connectivity via SunRay terminals, I had to work out how best to accomplish this.

One aspect of providing internet connectivity that my dear friends and coworkers revealed to me on Friday during a small test of multiple SunRay terminals was that of content filters. My dear friends and coworkers decided to challenge our companies web filtering software, and were able to achieve an alarming degree of success at locating and displaying the front page of certain inappropriate websites out there in cyberspace.

Which left me wondering.

Shouldn't I provide some type of content filtering on the show floors? After researching the possibilities with friends and my companies IT staff, I've come up with three options - in no particular order:

1. My IT staff suggested that perhaps I could leverage our corporate investment (as effective as it supposedly is). Their idea was for me to obtain a hardware VPN router and direct internet connectivity through our corporate infrastructure. An interesting idea, because I can do other interesting things with a hardware VPN router...

2. Someone suggested that i could just download surfcontrol and run that with a temp key. I mean, after all surfcontrol is The World Leader in Enterprise Web and E-Mail Filtering. Well that's what their website says..

3. As I continue to grow my relationship and understanding of NetApp products, my NetApp presales SE has offered up a netcache 1105? (I think it is a 1105) He tells me it's got webwasher on it so I should be good to go.

One way or another I think it might be a good idea to get some kind of content filtering. This show is targeted at IT Directors in the South Carolina government, so I really don't expect any trouble - but hey if you are going to provide transportation you should make sure the seat belts work just in case, right?

Stay Tuned
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- posted by Jason @ 12:09 AM 0 comments links to this post   

 
Escort 8500 x50 Red: First Impressions
In other news - my Escort 8500 x50 Red arrived today. You might be wondering why this is. Well, fine law enforcement officials in the state of South Carolina have tracked my vehicle in excess of the posted limit on two occasions in the past two weeks.

The first event was clearly all my fault. I mean, I was in HurryMode. That's the mode you get in when you are ready to be some where. In this case I was ready to be home. I was speeding, and I deserved that ticket. I think I was clocked at something like 76 in a 55, but the kind officer worth it down to 64 in a 55, 2 points in my state, Lucky me.

Now the second ticket was no fair. Same road, opposite direction. I was headed out, and I was in NO hurry. I was hanging back suckin down my java listenin to morning talk radio. I even WAVED to the officer as he passed me (I'll do that - you know my lame way to show the local law that I acknowledge and respect their job - I get return waves about 50% of the time.)

This time something different happened. I don't think he waved back, but I immediately noticed that after he passed me he smashed on his breaks. Next thing I know he's making a U-turn and that's when I noticed I was doing 68 in a 55. Busted again.

This fine fellow worth me down to 64 in a 55 as well. Only 2 point, but it's another 2 points I'd rather not have.

So I figured I do a LOT of driving. I should get some kind of warning system installed. I deserved the first ticket, but the second - perhaps if I had some warning that he was lurking out there I might have been watchful of my speed and backed off a bit.

So we will see how this works out. I struggled for 2 weeks on this purchase. I went back and forth between the Escort and the Valentine One. In the end, the reviews and features swayed me to the Escort. Price was not a factor.

Stay Tuned.
-jason
- posted by Jason @ 10:43 PM 0 comments links to this post   

 
SunRay Science Fair Project
You may or may not know (or care) that I have been busy slaving away in the trenches getting ready for a trade show where Sun will be providing the Internet Connectivity Kiosks. Since the team I am working with is decidedly void of any actual technical skills, I'm about the closest thing there is to actually making something work.

And work it will.

This week I started out with Solaris 9 update 4 and latest patches on a V240, then SRSS3.0. I was informed that this is not a particularly healthy mix, and that I would be better served if I did at least update 5. The latest update for S9 is update.

So I found some update 9 CDs and rebuilt the server, repatched the server, and reinstalled SRSS3.0. I was able to achieve basic connectivity.

Then I was told that it I really wanted to be a man I would actually run Solaris 10. I've already had Solaris 10 up and running on the W2100z, on some really old stuff at home, and on Sparc, so S10 was nothing new - but I knew that SRSS3.0 wasn't "supported" on S10 - which is why I didn't go there to begin with.

Given the nudge though, that's precisely where I went. The V240 has S10GA no patches, and SRSS3.0 is up and running (no zones) and basic functionality seems to be working.

Also in preparation for the show, 5 x SunRay 150s showed up. These are on loan for 30 days which should be plenty time for the show. I also put in a requisition for 2 x SunRay 170s. I learned today that these can switch between dumb terminals and SunRays. If I understand correctly, that would be Very Cool. I hope the purchase requisition gets approved. There is no telling if or when it might.

Stay Tuned.
-jason
- posted by Jason @ 10:32 PM 0 comments links to this post