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• What is a good layout for a somewhat advanced home network and storage solution?

  - by Shaun

  My home network/storage needs are changing and I am searching for some opinions and starting points on what a good network/storage layout would be that can serve my needs for a few years into the future. I think I have a decent starting point for equipment, but I am also willing to invest fairly heavily in a solution that can last me for a while. I am a bit of a tech nerd and I have a moderate tolerance for setup of the solution. I would prefer if maintenance of the system is somewhat low once it is setup, but I am willing to accept some tradeoffs. Existing equipment: Router - Netgear WNDR3700 (gigabit) Router - DLink Gamerlounge DGL-4300 (gigabit) Switch - 16 port Trendnet green switch (gigabit) Switch - 5 port Trendnet green (gigabit) Computer - i7-950 office computer (gigabit ethernet) Computer - Q6600 quad core media center, hooked up to TV, records shows (gigabit ethernet) Computer - Acer 1810T ultraportable laptop (gigabit and N ethernet) NAS - Intel SS4200-E (gigabit) External hard drive - 2TB WD Green drive (esata) All kinds of miscellaneous network connected TV, Bluray, Verizon network extender, HDhomerun TV tuners, etc. Requirements: -Robust backup solution for a growing collection of huge family picture files and personal files, around 1.5TB. (Including offsite backup) -Central location for all user's files, while also keeping them secure from each other. -Storage for terabytes of movie backups and recorded TV, and access to them from all computers (maybe around 4TB eventually) -Possibility to host files to friends and family easily Nice to have: -Backup of terabytes of movie backups Intriguing possibilities: -Capability to have users' Windows desktops and files look the same from all network computers I am not sure if the new Windows Home Server 2011 would fit into this well, if I need a domain server, how best to organize my backups, or how to most effectively use RAID. Currently I am simply backing up all computers to a RAID 1 on the NAS box, which I was thinking could prevent a situation where I reach for a backup and find that the disk is corrupt. One possibility that I am thinking about now is simply using my media center PC with a huge RAID of hard drives on which all files are stored. Pseudo-backup of all files would be present because of the RAID, but important files would also be backed up off site via carrying hard drives to work. But what if corruption seeps into the files and the corrupted data is then backed up? Does RAID protect against this? I really want to take next to zero risks with the irreplaceable files. I can handle some degree of risk with the movies and other files. I'm looking for critiques on this idea as well as other possibilities. To summarize, my goal is high functionality, media capable, and robust backup of irreplaceable files.

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• Setting up a fileserver, some questions?

  - by Tanax

  Recently I've become very interested in setting up a fileserver, mostly for home usage but also because of the fact that I live in 2 places, I need to be able to access my files from both homes. I have already done some research into this but I am unclear about some things. My requirements are the following; Needs to work on both Mac and PC(only using Windows atm on PC but could be good if it supports more OS's to make it futureproof in case I need Linux or something else) Need to be able to set up a folder/drive/network space to act as a link to a certain folder on the fileserver All files should only be stored on the fileserver, e.g. no "shared" folders like in Dropbox where files are stored on the client computer Would prefer it if folders are password protected or that I can somehow specify what users can access the fileserver's shares Fileserver's OS most likely have to be Windows due to other factors outside of being just a fileserver I've already kinda figured out that I will need to set up a VPN so that I can access my fileserver from outside the local network. Probably going to use OpenVPN. Question 1: How would I go about to set up a VPN server so that I can connect to my local network at the fileserver's location? I know that since I'm on a dynamic IP I will have to get some sort of dynamic DNS server - I've already checked into this and I'm fairly sure I know how to fix that. I also know that I will have to forward the port OpenVPN uses in my router. Question 2: How would I actually share the folders on the fileserver so that I can access them on my other computers? I've researched into Samba but I'm uncertain if it needs to be run on a Linux OS. I know that the clients connecting to it can be Windows for example but can the Samba "server" be run on Windows? Also it appears that Samba shares a folder, meaning it works like Dropbox - I don't want that. So how would I share a folder in that case to make it work like I want it to? Sorry for the incredibly long question, I tried to structure it the best I could for easier read. Thanks in advance!

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• Setting up a fileserver, some questions?

  - by Tanax

  Recently I've become very interested in setting up a fileserver, mostly for home usage but also because of the fact that I live in 2 places, I need to be able to access my files from both homes. I have already done some research into this but I am unclear about some things. My requirements are the following; Needs to work on both Mac and PC(only using Windows atm on PC but could be good if it supports more OS's to make it futureproof in case I need Linux or something else) Need to be able to set up a folder/drive/network space to act as a link to a certain folder on the fileserver All files should only be stored on the fileserver, e.g. no "shared" folders like in Dropbox where files are stored on the client computer Would prefer it if folders are password protected or that I can somehow specify what users can access the fileserver's shares Fileserver's OS most likely have to be Windows due to other factors outside of being just a fileserver I've already kinda figured out that I will need to set up a VPN so that I can access my fileserver from outside the local network. Probably going to use OpenVPN. Question 1: How would I go about to set up a VPN server so that I can connect to my local network at the fileserver's location? I know that since I'm on a dynamic IP I will have to get some sort of dynamic DNS server - I've already checked into this and I'm fairly sure I know how to fix that. I also know that I will have to forward the port OpenVPN uses in my router. Question 2: How would I actually share the folders on the fileserver so that I can access them on my other computers? I've researched into Samba but I'm uncertain if it needs to be run on a Linux OS. I know that the clients connecting to it can be Windows for example but can the Samba "server" be run on Windows? Also it appears that Samba shares a folder, meaning it works like Dropbox - I don't want that. So how would I share a folder in that case to make it work like I want it to? Sorry for the incredibly long question, I tried to structure it the best I could for easier read. Thanks in advance!

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• Exchange server not serving mobile devices - how to troubleshoot?

  - by chickeninabiscuit

  Our exchange server has suddenly stopped serving mobile devices. Attempts to connect result in our ActiveSync server returning HTTP 500. It is serving outlook clients fine. Our server is Windows 2003 SBS 6.5 SP2 There are no abnormal events in the system log. I ran the "Exchange ActiveSync with AutoDiscover" at https://www.testexchangeconnectivity.com/ I've notice an abnormality in the exchange properties, Log File Directory shows: Access denied. Facility: Win32 ID no: 80070005 Exchange System Manager As shown in the following image: I think it may be related to a recent issue we had here: http://serverfault.com/questions/40222/windows-server-2003-suddenly-unable-to-connect-to-anything We followed a procedure to reinstall TCP/IP: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/325356 I've run the "exchange activesync" connectivity test at testexchangeconnectivity.com: Attempting to Resolve the host name mail.immersive.com.au in DNS. Host successfully Resolved Additional Details IP(s) returned: 221.133.203.229 Testing TCP Port 443 on host mail.immersive.com.au to ensure it is listening/open. The port was opened successfully. Testing SSL Certificate for validity. The certificate passed all validation requirements. Test Steps Validating certificate name Successfully validated the certificate name Additional Details Found hostname mail.immersive.com.au in Certificate Subject Common name Validating certificate trust for Windows Mobile Devices Certificate is trusted and all certificates are present in chain Additional Details Certificate is trusted for Windows Mobile 5 and Later platforms. Root = [email protected], CN=Thawte Server CA, OU=Certification Services Division, O=Thawte Consulting cc, L=Cape Town, S=Western Cape, C=ZA Testing certificate date to ensure validity Date Validation passed. The certificate is not expired. Additional Details Certificate is valid: NotBefore = 1/5/2009 4:00:00 PM, NotAfter = 1/11/2010 3:59:59 PM Testing Http Authentication Methods for URL https://mail.immersive.com.au/Microsoft-Server-Activesync/ Http Authentication Methods are correct Additional Details Found all expected authentication methods and no disallowed methods. Methods Found: Basic Attempting an Activesync session with server Errors were encountered while testing the ActiveSync session Test Steps Attempting to send OPTIONS command to server OPTIONS response was successfully received and is valid Additional Details Headers received: MicrosoftOfficeWebServer: 5.0_Pub Pragma: no-cache Public: OPTIONS, POST Allow: OPTIONS, POST MS-Server-ActiveSync: 6.5.7638.1 MS-ASProtocolVersions: 1.0,2.0,2.1,2.5 MS-ASProtocolCommands: Sync,SendMail,SmartForward,SmartReply,GetAttachment,GetHierarchy,CreateCollection,DeleteCollection,MoveCollection,FolderSync,FolderCreate,FolderDelete,FolderUpdate,MoveItems,GetItemEstimate,MeetingResponse,ResolveRecipients,ValidateCert,Provision,Search,Notify,Ping Content-Length: 0 Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2009 01:07:27 GMT Server: Microsoft-IIS/6.0 X-Powered-By: ASP.NET Attempting FolderSync command on ActiveSync session FolderSync command test failed Tell me more about this issue and how to resolve it Additional Details Exchange

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• In search of a network file system with extended caching to speed up file access

  - by Brecht Machiels

  I'm running a small home server that stores my documents. The disks in this server are in a RAID 1 configuration (using Linux md) and it's also periodically being backup up to an external hard drive to make sure I don't lose them. However, I'm always accessing the files from other computers on the home network using an SMB share, and this results in a considerable speed penalty (especially when connected over WLAN). This is quite annoying when editing large files, such as digital camera RAWs, for example. I've been looking for a solution to this problem. It would have to offer some kind of local caching to speed up the file access. The client would preferably not keep a copy of all data on the server, as it consists of a very large collection of photographs, most of which I will not access frequently. Instead, it should only cache the accessed files and sync the changes back in the background. Ideally, it would also do some smart read-ahead (cache the files that are in the same directory as the currently opened file, for examples), but I suppose that's asking a bit much. Synchronization should be automatic (on file change). Conflicting file changes (at the same time on different clients) are unlikely to happen in my use case, but I would prefer if they are handled properly (notification to the user). I've come across the following options, so far: something similar to Dropbox. iFolder seems to be the only thing that comes close, but its reputation (stability) and requirements put me off. A distributed file system such as OpenAFS. I'm not sure this will speed up file access. It is probably overkill for what I need. Maybe NFS or even Samba offer these possibilities. I read a bit about Windows' Offline Files, but its operation seems limited (at least on Windows XP). As this is just for personal use, I'm not willing to spend a lot of money. A free solution would be preferred. Also, the server needs to run on Linux, and I need a client for at least Windows.

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• Splitting an internet connection between multiple separate subnetworks

  - by pythonian4000

  Problem I have an internet connection that I want to split between four separate networks. My requirements are: I need to be able to monitor the amount of bandwidth and data being used by each network, and notify or control as necessary. The four networks should only be able to connect to the internet, not each other. My parents need to be able to operate it, so it needs a simple, preferably Windows-based GUI. Progress so far Server I have a mini-ITX server with six Gigabit ethernet ports - one for the ethernet internet connection, one for each of the four networks, and one for remote access to the server for administration. Bandwidth control I spent a long time researching solutions here. The majority of the control systems/software I found could control bandwidth usage via QOS, but could not monitor or control the amount of data being used. Eventually I found the SoftPerfect Bandwidth Manager, which has everything I need in terms of monitoring and control - per-interface quota management, usage statistics, a web interface for checking usage, and email notifications when quotas are exceeded. It is also Windows-based and has a simple GUI. Internet sharing This is where I am having issues. I am currently using Windows XP Pro SP2 for the server (yes, I know this is far from ideal, but it's the only spare Windows OS I currently have). I can't use the built-in Internet Connection Sharing for several reasons: The upstream internet router has an IP of 192.168.0.1 which ICS clashes with, and I cannot change the router settings. ICS can only share an internet connection with a single interface, but I have four. I have tried bridging the four network cards, but then the Bandwidth Manager cannot see the four individual interfaces - it only sees the bridge. I have tried setting up Dual DHCP DNS server (and am having issues getting DHCP offers to be received by clients), but that would still require gateway software of some sort, which I have been unable to find. My current attempt is to use OpenVPN, with a server for the internet NIC and a separate client for each of the four networks. My thought is that I could bridge the OpenVPN TAP devices to each NIC, meaning that the Bandwidth Manager would control traffic from the bridge instead of the interface. I have not made much progress here though - I've never used OpenVPN before. Questions Is there a Windows software package that does everything I need? (Unlikely, I know) Is there a Windows software package that will share internet between multiple NICs without bridging? Are either of my about attempts feasible? Would it help to have a newer/server version of Windows? Is there a non-Windows alternative that is easy to use?

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• SQL Server High Availability - Mirroring with MSCS?

  - by David

  I'm looking at options for high-availability for my SQL Server-powered application. The requirements are: HA protection from storage failure. Data accessibility when one of the DB servers is undergoing software updates (e.g. planned outage for Windows Update / SQL Server service-packs). Must not involve much in the way of hardware procurement. The application is an ASP.NET web application. The web application's users have their own database instances. I've seen two main options: SQL Server failover clustering, and SQL Server mirroring. I understand that SQL Server Failover Clustering requires the purchasing of a shared disk array and doesn't offer any protection if the shared storage goes down (so the documentation recommends to set up a Mirroring between two clusters). Database Mirroring seems the cheaper option (as it only requires two database servers and a simple witness box) - but I've heard it doesn't work well when you have a large number of databases. The application I'm developing involves giving each client their own database for their application - there could be hundreds of databases. Setting up the mirroring is no problem thanks to the automation systems we have in place. My final point concerns how failover works with respect to client connections - SQL Server Failover Clustering uses MSCS which means that the cluster is invisible to clients - a connection attempt might fail during the failover, but a simple reconnect will have it working again. However mirroring, as far as I know, requires that the client be aware of the mirrored partners: if the client cannot connect to the primary server then it tries the secondary server. I'm wondering how this work with respect to Connection Pooling in ASP.NET applications - does the client connection failovering mean that there's a potential 2-second (assuming 2000ms TCP timeout policy) pause when the connection pool tries the primary server on every connection attempt? I read somewhere that Mirroring can be used on top of MSCS which means that the client does not need to be aware of mirroring (so there wouldn't be any potential delays during connection, and also that no changes would need to be made to the client, not even the connection string) - however I'm finding it hard to get documentation or white papers on this approach. But if true, then it means the best method is then Mirroring (for HA) with MSCS (for client ignorance and connection performance). ...but how does this scale to a server instance that might contain hundreds of mirrored databases?

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• Connecting a 2560x1440 display to a laptop?

  - by tjollans

  Having read Jeff Atwood's blog post on Korean 27" IPS LCDs, I've been wondering to what extent these are useful in a notebook + large display situation. I own a Lenovo Thinkpad Edge E320 with 2nd gen. integrated Intel graphics. According to the spec from Intel, this should support HDMI version 1.4, and, using DisplayPort, resolutions up to 2560x1600. HDMI version 1.4 supports resolutions up to 4096×2160, however, according to c't (German), the HDMI interface used with Intel chips only supports 1920x1200. The same goes for the DVI output - dual-link DVI-D, apparently, is not supported by Intel. It would appear that my laptop cannot digitally drive this kind of resolution. Now what about other laptops? According to the article in c't above, AMD's integrated graphics chips have the same limitation as Intel's. NVIDIA graphics cards, apparently, only offer resolutions up to 1900x1200 over HDMI out of the box, but it's possible, when using Linux at least, to trick the driver into enabling higher resolutions. Is this still true? What's the situation on Windows and OSX? I found no information on whether discrete AMD chips support ultra-high resolutions over HDMI. Owners of laptops with (Mini) DisplayPort / Thunderbolt won't have any issues with displays this large, but if you're planning to go for a display with dual-link DVI-D input only (like the Korean ones), you're going to need an adapter, which will set you back something like €70-€100 (since the protocols are incompatible). The big question mark in this equation is VGA: a lot of laptops have it, and I don't see any reason to think this resolution is not supported by the hardware (an oft-quoted figure appears to be 2048x1536@75Hz, so 2560x1440@60Hz should be possible, right?), but are the drivers likely to cause problems? Perhaps more critically, you'd need a VGA to dual-link DVI-D adapter that converts analog to digital signals. Do these exist? How good are they? How expensive are they? Is there a performance penalty involved? Please correct me if I'm wrong on any points. In summary, what are the requirements on a laptop to drive an external LCD at 2560x1440, in particular one that supports dual-link DVI-D only, and what tools and adapters can be used to lower the bar?

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• What "pieces" are needed in order to set up a cluster of physical servers?

  - by Chris Dutrow

  Background: Currently, we use Rackspace cloud servers. We have no intention to stop using them, but would like to look into setting up a cluster of physical servers (probably desktop computers in the $400 range with 8gb memory each) to offset some of our load and work as a secondary, more powerful, less reliable system. To put things in perspective, we can buy comparable desktop computers for the same price as we pay in one month to rent them on Rackspace Cloud. I understand that this is generally a dumb idea. However, in this particular instance, the server cluster is needed for its computation power. It is not mission-critical, it does not host a consumer-facing website, and if it goes down for a day or two, its not really a problem. Currently, we have access to business class verizon fios. If I understand correctly, we can get at least 25 dedicated IP addresses with this service, this should be enough. Requirements: Each server runs Linux Centos 6.3 Some of the servers run Python and execute processes from a task queue (Redis or RabbitMQ) Some of the servers are capable of serving static files and Python driven REST APIs Some of the servers host a Cassandra database cluster One or more of the servers are a Redis database servers One or more of the servers are PostgreSQL servers Questions: What kind of router or switch is needed? We would like the computers to be able to communicate effectively with each other via internal IP addresses. This is especially important for communicating with servers hosting Redis that need to be able to respond to requests very quickly. Are there special switches or routers that need to be used to connect the servers together? Are Desktop computers ok for this? We have found that we are mostly RAM-bottle necked, I understand that some servers have highly superior CPUs, but I'm not sure we need CPU power as much as we need RAM, which is cheap in Desktop computers. Will we have problems with the WIFI cards in the desktops or any other unexpected hardware limitation? What tools should be used to "image" the servers. For example, when we get an installation right for a Redis server or Cassandra node, are there tools that come with Linux Centos 6.3 to image the server to a USB drive or something like that? Or do we need to use some other software for this? What other things are we missing that we should be concerned about? Thanks so much!

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• Lock ups, crashing, transferring files using TrueCrypt with iSCSI

  - by Anthony

  I have looked into this error and it seems that it hasn't been discussed yet - or at least I can't find any information relating. I'm having issues transferring files, usually larger files over a couple of hundred MB. Here is the setup: QNAP 410 as iSCSI Target with multiple LUNs. (CRC is turned on (Data Digest and Header Digest) Server 2003 with iSCSI Initiator version 2.08 - build 3825 (I'm copying files from anothe machine to shares on Server 2003 = into TrueCrypt volume ergo onto the NAS) I have mounted the LUN and formatted it with TrueCrypt using NTFS (Full format, not a quick one). What happens is some files, mainly RAR/Compressed files, appear as if they copy but fail. I've tested this in a number of ways and can repeat the process every time. So I thought to check transfer over iSCSI without TrueCrypt in between, a plain NTFS format - no problem at all. So it would seem TrueCrypt is at least part of the problem here. I haven't tried copying directly from the server yet, I will try that. I also haven't tried it without CRC but fail to see how that would affect this. I will update with my findings later. In the meantime does anyone have any ideas as to what could be wrong? Thanks for your time. Update: I copied a set of files, the ones I was having issues with, to the server then from there I copied those into two places within the TrueCrypt volume (Mounted on the NAS). A seperate directory create in the root of the volume The same initial directory I was using in the first instance Both worked fine. So it now seems clear that this is a link between TrueCrypt, iSCSI and Windows Shares. I say this because I originally setup the whole system using TrueCrypt volume files, not iSCSI. I changed it as it didn't suit my requirements - day wasted as well. While I had this setup though I copied my entire file set to the volume files and all files copied without error - over the network, from a pc, to the server where TrueCrypt had the volume files mounted from the NAS. I didn't bother turning off CRC on the iSCSI system as I highly doubt that is the cause in light of this finding. So any ideas?

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• Choosing my first Domain Registrar?

  - by user36914

  This will be the first domain i've ever registered. So i'm at a loss what to look for. I definitely don't want to go with GoDaddy. Here are my requirements: Must have unlimited email forwards for my domain Easy to transfer away if i choose. Must not be one of those shady registrars that will try to auction your domain at the end. Ability to create sub domains Domain Registration is Private I would like a domain registrar that would let me use my dynamic ip of my ISP (Cable) if i want to. So hopefully they would have some type program that would detect IP changes and update accordingly So i've looked at a variety of registrars so far. The three left were really NameCheap, DreamHost, & DomainMonster. I have heard good things about DreamHost but i think its off the list because they don't give you any information about the features you get when you register your domain with them. They have a "Whats included" button the page but it mainly list the features with hosting not registration. DomainMonster looks pretty cool but i don't see anything about subdomains. Also i would assume they don't have a system for dynamic ip address updating. So you would have to constantly check that your ip of your ISP has changed or not and update it manually. NameCheap also looks nice. There are two things i really like about them. Right on their feature page they list "Free Dynamic DNS With Client" which is pretty cool. They also have a free SSL certificate for the first year. Haven't messed a lot with certificates but this would definitely be something i would use. Only minus i can see is you only get free private whois for the first year. After that its $2.99 which isn't that big of a deal. I'm leaning towards NameCheap now. Is this a good choice. Is there anything else i should be looking at?

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• Remove DRM from *.pdb e-book that I own - while maintaining footnotes, etc.?

  - by ziesemer

  Background: I've already reviewed Remove DRM from ePub Files? and How can I remove DRM from Kindle books? - the answers to which have already brought me partial process. The challenge is that I have a few purchased *.pdb e-books that I purchased in years past, e.g. 2006. In particular, they were purchased from the palm eBook Store (ebooks.palm.com - now defunct, possibly part of http://www.ereader.com / Barnes & Noble?) - originally for use on a Palm Treo that has since died. Of particular note is that I have a revision / publication of a book that is no longer published, and not available as an e-book from anywhere else that I've been able to find. (I feel fortunate to have even found the *.pdb files on backup.) I have a copy of the electronic invoice for it - which includes the details necessary for unlocking - the "Purchaser's Name" and the "Unlock Code" - which is the digits of my credit card # that I had used to purchase it. Given the above information, I was surprised to be able to open the book using the Windows eReader software and unlock it. Here I am able to view the complete contents and functionality of the book as I had done on the Palm Treo - including viewing of linked annotations / footnotes, etc. Following the full spirit of Remove DRM from ePub Files?, I want to ensure that I can access this on any device of my choosing - especially now and in the future, and as new technologies arrive and disappear. Ideally, I'm just looking to accomplish the minimum necessary to allow import into calibre. Outstanding Issue: I've found a few solutions that have given me "90%" success - all based on various versions of some Python scripts - including versions 0.21 and 0.11 of "erdr2pml.py" (based on "ereader2html"). Unfortunately, unless I'm missing something, these programs are attempting to also "convert" - instead of just "decrypting". As such, the outputs are missing embedded images and/or footnotes. I.E., there is a linked, underlined, and super-scripted "a" after some text - but the content of the footnote no longer exists. I can validate this by inspecting the generated *.pmlz file, and nowhere does it contain the original footnotes that are still visible in the original *.pdb file. I'm hoping to find a process that focuses on the decryption only, instead of attempting any type of a content conversion - or if a content conversion is required / involved, that it maintains all of the features and content of the original. (Again, I'm confident that if/once a version is obtained that calibre can import, I'll be able to fulfill the rest of my requirements.)

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• SMTP for multiple domains on virtual interfaces

  - by Pawel Goscicki

  The setup is like this (Ubuntu 9.10): eth0: 1.1.1.1 name.isp.com eth0:0 2.2.2.2 example2.com eth0:1 3.3.3.3 example3.com example2.com and example3.com are web apps which need to send emails to their users. 2.2.2.2 points to example2.com and vice-versa (A/PTR). MX - Google. Google handles all incoming mail. 3.3.3.3 points to example3.com and vice-versa (A/PTR). MX - Google. Google handles all incoming mail. Requirements: Local delivery must be disabled (must deliver to MX specified server), so that the following works (note that there is no local user bob on the machine, but there is an existing bob email user): echo "Test" | mail -s "Test 6" [email protected] I need to be able to specify from which IP/domain name the email is delivered when sending an email. I fought with sendmail. With not much luck. Here's some debug info: sendmail -d0.12 -bt < /dev/null Canonical name: name.isp.com UUCP nodename: host a.k.a.: example2.com a.k.a.: example3.com ... Sendmail always uses canonical name (taken from eth0). I've found no way for it to select one of the UUCP codenames. It uses it for sending email: echo -e "To: [email protected]\nSubject: Test\nTest\n" | sendmail -bm -t -v [email protected]... Connecting to [127.0.0.1] via relay... 220 name.isp.com ESMTP Sendmail 8.14.3/8.14.3/Debian-9ubuntu1; Wed, 31 Mar 2010 16:33:55 +0200; (No UCE/UBE) logging access from: localhost(OK)-localhost [127.0.0.1] >>> EHLO name.isp.com I'm ok with other SMTP solutions. I've looked briefly at nbsmtp, msmtp and nullmailer but I'm not sure thay can deal with disabling local delivery and selecting different domains when sending emails. I also know about spoofing sender field by using mail -a "From: <[email protected]>" but it seems to be a half-solution (mails are still sent from isp.com domain instead of proper example2.com, so PTR records are unused and there's more risk of being flagged as spam/spammer).

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• Web application/ site service (like Google App Engine) for PHP/ MySQL and Postgres

  - by Simon

  I would like to find a service similar to Google App Engine for PHP/ MySQL/ Postgres sites/ applications. We host two different types of site. i). PHP/ Mysql/ Zend Framework <VirtualHost *:80> DocumentRoot "/home/websites/website.com/public" ServerName website.com # This should be omitted in the production environment SetEnv APPLICATION_ENV development <Directory "/home/websites/website.com/public"> Options Indexes MultiViews FollowSymLinks AllowOverride All Order allow,deny Allow from all RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -s [OR] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -l [OR] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d RewriteRule ^.*$ - [NC,L] RewriteRule ^.*$ index.php [NC,L] </Directory> </VirtualHost> ii). Matrix CMS - PHP/ Postgres + loads of pear classes <VirtualHost *:80> ServerName server.example.com DocumentRoot /home/websites/mysource_matrix/core/web Options -Indexes FollowSymLinks <Directory /home/websites/mysource_matrix> Order deny,allow Deny from all </Directory> <DirectoryMatch "^/home/websites/mysource_matrix/(core/(web|lib)|data/public|fudge)"> Order allow,deny Allow from all </DirectoryMatch> <DirectoryMatch "^/home/websites/mysource_matrix/data/public/assets"> php_flag engine off </DirectoryMatch> <FilesMatch "\.inc$"> Order allow,deny Deny from all </FilesMatch> <LocationMatch "/(CVS|\.FFV)/"> Order allow,deny Deny from all </LocationMatch> Alias /__fudge /home/websites/mysource_matrix/fudge Alias /__data /home/websites/mysource_matrix/data/public Alias /__lib /home/websites/mysource_matrix/core/lib Alias / /home/websites/mysource_matrix/core/web/index.php/ </VirtualHost> My key requirements are: I don't want to worry/ know/ care about the server/ infrastructure Secure/ up to date software/ os Good monitoring Automatic scalability SLA I apologise for the length of the question. In short all I want to do is i). create vhost, ii). create db iii). install app/ site iv). relax. Thanks. Edit: I include the Matrix vhost because that is the only complication that I cannot really do via a .htaccess file.

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• Linux filesystem with inodes close on the disk

  - by pts

  I'd like to make the ls -laR /media/myfs on Linux as fast as possible. I'll have 1 million files on the filesystem, 2TB of total file size, and some directories containing as much as 10000 files. Which filesystem should I use and how should I configure it? As far as I understand, the reason why ls -laR is slow because it has to stat(2) each inode (i.e. 1 million stat(2)s), and since inodes are distributed randomly on the disk, each stat(2) needs one disk seek. Here are some solutions I had in mind, none of which I am satisfied with: Create the filesystem on an SSD, because the seek operations on SSDs are fast. This wouldn't work, because a 2TB SSD doesn't exist, or it's prohibitively expensive. Create a filesystem which spans on two block devices: an SSD and a disk; the disk contains file data, and the SSD contains all the metadata (including directory entries, inodes and POSIX extended attributes). Is there a filesystem which supports this? Would it survive a system crash (power outage)? Use find /media/myfs on ext2, ext3 or ext4, instead of ls -laR /media/myfs, because the former can the advantage of the d_type field (see in the getdents(2) man page), so it doesn't have to stat. Unfortunately, this doesn't meet my requirements, because I need all file sizes as well, which find /media/myfs doesn't print. Use a filesystem, such as VFAT, which stores inodes in the directory entries. I'd love this one, but VFAT is not reliable and flexible enough for me, and I don't know of any other filesystem which does that. Do you? Of course, storing inodes in the directory entries wouldn't work for files with a link count more than 1, but that's not a problem since I have only a few dozen such files in my use case. Adjust some settings in /proc or sysctl so that inodes are locked to system memory forever. This would not speed up the first ls -laR /media/myfs, but it would make all subsequent invocations amazingly fast. How can I do this? I don't like this idea, because it doesn't speed up the first invocation, which currently takes 30 minutes. Also I'd like to lock the POSIX extended attributes in memory as well. What do I have to do for that? Use a filesystem which has an online defragmentation tool, which can be instructed to relocate inodes to the the beginning of the block device. Once the relocation is done, I can run dd if=/dev/sdb of=/dev/null bs=1M count=256 to get the beginning of the block device fetched to the kernel in-memory cache without seeking, and then the stat(2) operations would be fast, because they read from the cache. Is there a way to lock those inodes and/or blocks into memory once they have been read? Which filesystem has such a defragmentation tool?

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• File copying software to do this kind of work... in Windows 7 32 bit

  - by Senthil

  I need a software (Windows 7 32bit) to help me in this process: I have my documents, music, video clips, movies, pictures in my hard disk. These will not be scattered around the system. But will be inside C:\Senthil\ At the end of every week, I want to plug in an external hard disk and run a software that should make sure whatever is inside C:\Senthil\ is also present in the external disk. Files deleted from C:\Senthil\ should be deleted there, and new files should be copied etc... at the end of the process, every bit inside the source folder in my internal disk should be inside my external disk. A couple of important requirements and points: I do NOT need multiple versions or historic versions. I don't need the previous versions of my files. I only want the latest copy to be present in my "backup". Incremental backup makes sense. If files were not touched since the last backup, it need not copy. The size of my folder will run into GBs and in a year or two will go into TBs. But I will make sure the size of the external HDD is equal to or bigger than my source folder. I do not want it to run automatically because when I accidentally delete a file in my source, it will delete the one in the backup (I know this is why we have versioning facilities). I just want to be able to run it manually so that I am in control of when the backup is made and what is backed up and I should be able to pick something from the backup and restore it to the source folder in the above situation. Is there any software that will let me do exactly this? I don't want any other "smart" facility of the software to interfere with this process. I know what I want and the software can keep its smartness to itself :D The main reason I am asking this question is, I am a software developer and I can write this software myself. But I am a little constrained by time at the moment and I want to know if there is an existing program that can do this. Kindly don't worry about earthquakes or fire or snowstorms and bring up the "in case of a natural disaster your backup will also be in the damage zone and will be lost" argument because: I will have bigger things to worry about than my holiday memories. I don't think I will digitally store any life-ruining documents. This backup is only to avoid the inconvenience of obtaining a new copy of stuff that I have. Not to protect them against the end of the world. I am more worried about power surges in my area frying my system, hard disk failure, children who merrily hit Delete or teens who hit Shift + Delete or myself getting a little careless at times! In short: Is there a file/folder syncing software that listens to what I say and doesn't try to act smart? Please forgive me if I sound arrogant :)

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• Triple (3) Monitors under Linux

  - by widgisoft

  I have a 3 monitor setup (each 1680x1050) via an Nvidia NVS440 (2 GPUs, 2 outputs per GPU totalling 4 outputs); this works fine under Windows XP,7 but caused considerable headaches under Linux (Ubuntu 9.04). I had previously used an XFX 9600GT and the onboard XFX 9300GS to produce the same result but the card was noisy and power hungry and I was hoping that there was some magical switch in the NVS4400 that got rid of this annoying problem - turns out the NVS440 is just 2 cards on one physical PCB :-p (I searched the net high and low for people using this card under Linux but found nothing, if anything the card uses less power and is fan less so I was to benefit from it either way) Anyway, using either set up there were 5 solutions available: Have 3 separate X instances, all un joined Have 3 separate X instances, adjoined by Xinerama Have 2 separate X instances - One using twin-view, both adjoined by Xinerama Have 2 separate X instances - One using twin-view but no Xinerama Have a single Twin-view setup and leave the 3rd screen unplugged :-p The 4rd option, using 2 separate X instances and twinview (but no xinerama) was the best balance in terms of performance and usability but caused 2 really annoying issues You couldn't control (without altering the shortcuts) which screen an application opened onto - and once it was opened you couldn't move it to another screen without opening up terminal and forcing it to move Nvidia's overriding or falsifying of Xinerama breaks and the 2 screens joined by Twin view behave like a single huge screen causing popups to open in the middle of both screens and maximising of windows stretches to the width of the first 2 screens Firefox can only run one instance as the same user so having multiple firefox windows requires at least 2 users The second option "feels" like the right option, but OpenGL is basically disabled and playing any sort of game or even running anything graphical causes a huge performance drop and instability - even trying to run a basic emulator for gba or gens just causes the system to fall over. It works just enough to stare at your desktop and do nothing but as soon as you start doing some work - opening windows, dragging things around - running multiple copies of firefox it just really feels slow. The last open, only going dual screen works perfectly and everything performs as required, full GPU acceleration - two logical screen spaces - perfect, just make it work across GPUs like windows! :-p Anyway, I know RandR was supposed to pick up the slack when it would introduced GPU objects of sorts to allow multiple GPUs to be stitched together to create one huge desktop at a much deeper layer than Xinerama. I was wondering if this has now been fixed (I noticed X server 1.7 is out) and whether anyone has got it running successfully? Again, my requirements are: One huge desktop to drag any window across Maximising of windows to each screen (as XP does) Running fullscreen apps on the primary screen and disabling the mouse from moving onto the others or on all 3 stretched Finally as a side note; I am aware of the Matrox triple (and dual) head splitter but even the price they go for on eBay is more than I can afford atm, my argument: I shouldn't have to buy extra hardware to get something to work on Linux when it's something that's existed in the windows world for a long time (can you tell I don't get on with X :-p); If I had the cash I'd have bought the latest version of this box already (the new version finally supports large resolutions as the displays I have 1680x1050 each).

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• Squid on windows loadbalancing only to one server

  - by Martin L.

  After thousands of googles and trying days i cant get the load balancer/failover in squid on windows to work. Iam using squid 2.7. My webservers are 2 single NIC lighttpd and one dual nic lighttpd. server1 in this example is running squid on port 80 and lighttpd on port 8080 (just to test) Requirements: All 3 webservers running lighttpd should be balanced two option for load balancing: Best would be if server1 is busy server2 takes over, if server2 is busy server3 takes over, etc.. Round robin style evenly distributed load. Eg server1 takes first call, server2 second etc.. All requests should be treated the same way (no url rewriting or so on) Sent host headers have to be redirected to every server as http host header, speaking of "server1", "server1.company.internal" and "10.211.1.1". My approach: acl all src all acl manager proto cache_object http_port 80 accel defaultsite=server1.company.internal vhost #reverse proxy entries cache_peer 10.211.2.1 parent 8080 0 no-query originserver round-robin login=PASS name=server1_nic1 cache_peer 10.211.1.2 parent 80 0 no-query originserver round-robin login=PASS name=server2_nic1 cache_peer 10.211.2.3 parent 8080 0 no-query originserver round-robin login=PASS name=server3_nic1 cache_peer 10.211.2.4 parent 8080 0 no-query originserver round-robin login=PASS name=server3_nic2 #decl of names of squid host acl registered_name_hostdomain dstdomain server1.company.internal acl registered_name_host dstdomain server1 #ip of squid host acl registered_name_ip dstdomain 10.211.2.1 # access: redirects the correct squid hostname http_access allow registered_name_hostdomain http_access allow registered_name_host http_access allow registered_name_ip http_access deny all cache_peer_access server1_nic1 allow registered_name_hostdomain cache_peer_access server1_nic1 allow registered_name_host cache_peer_access server1_nic1 allow registered_name_ip cache_peer_access server2_nic1 allow registered_name_hostdomain cache_peer_access server2_nic1 allow registered_name_host cache_peer_access server2_nic1 allow registered_name_ip cache_peer_access server3_nic1 allow registered_name_hostdomain cache_peer_access server3_nic1 allow registered_name_host cache_peer_access server3_nic1 allow registered_name_ip cache_peer_access server3_nic2 allow registered_name_hostdomain cache_peer_access server3_nic2 allow registered_name_host cache_peer_access server3_nic2 allow registered_name_ip cache_peer_access server1_nic1 deny all cache_peer_access server2_nic1 deny all cache_peer_access server3_nic1 deny all cache_peer_access server3_nic2 deny all never_direct allow all Problems: Load balancer does not load balance other than to first server. Only if the first server is killed in any way the second will take over. I have seen the others working at some point, but definitely not as the intended load balancing described above. If the cache_peer_access is not defined sometimes the wrong hostname is sent to the backend webserver and this always depends on the defaultsite= parameter. Probably because the host header on the request to squid is not set and its replaced by defaultsite. Leaving out defaultsite didnt solve the problem. The only workaround i found for this is the current approach with cache_peer_access. Questions: Does the cache_peer_access influence the round-robin? Is there a better workaround to pass the host header to the backed webservers? Which parameters do increase the speed of load balancing or does anyone have a better approach? -Martin

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• Educate me - should I buy these prebuilt NAS (which is better) or make my own?

  - by user29336

  I'm trying to learn as much as possible, and I think I've learned quite a bit so bear with me here under my confusion. I found a coupe NAS setups. I'm not sure if one is better than the other, other than the price being higher on some, and some coming with drives VS not. Let me list my setup so you can get an idea of what I want to provide: Macbook Pro Macbook Mini for Media streaming (so far) Windows 7 Gaming Computer Xbox 360 I'd like to provide a storage system for all these devices so they can access files very easily, I'd also like any of these devices to be able to stream media from this storage system. I'd like this storage system to be hassle free in terms of my confidence in the data integrity. If a drive fails, I want to know that I can replace the drive and all my files will still exist. I'd like to access this storage system OUTSIDE of my LAN. If I'm out on a job for work I'd like to go in, or be able to have people DL some files. This brings me to a question, is this what iSCSI is? I'd like this data system to be able to download torrents. I want to mount any drive on this storage system onto my OSX laptop as if it were a local drive attached. (Is this with iSCSI is?) I'd like this system to have a GOOD web based GUI. I don't want to install software to use it. I believe those are the most of my requirements. If I'm missing something that I have no knowledge about, can someone educate me? Here are the systems I found: $729ish on Newegg Lacie 5Big Network 2 (comes with 5TB of space. iSCSI / mac compatible, torrents, nice ui, + others?) Is this overpriced for what it provides? It almost seems like a great deal to me because of the 5TB of space it comes with vs the other NAS systems that don't come with storage but cost $600-700. Should I get a different NAS system? Netgear? Others? Do they have same features? Better? Is it better to buy your own disks? What about making my own? I'm tech savy all around. It seems cheaper to buy a premade one especially with the support/warranty it provides...

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• System won't boot: Gigabyte HD 7790 1GB OC GPU issue or Corsair VS550 PSU issue?

  - by MGOwen

  Installed a new GPU, and PC won't boot. Turn it on and: No monitor signal at all (tried HDMI and VGA via DVI, on 2 working monitors). CPU and GPU fans DO spin, but No system beeps, no sounds from drives (they might make a small noise in the first 1 second or so, but there's definitely no OS loading or anything like that) If hit "power off" button it turns off immediately (no holding down for 3 seconds like usual) If I put my old HD 5670 GPU back in, everything works fine. But (plot twist!) card is not totally dead. My friend put it in his PC, and it works fine (he even played a game for 15 minutes, no issues). He has a Corsair TX850 850W and a Gigabyte MB. So my main theory is: the GPU isn't getting enough power from the PSU. But is it: Bad PSU? Seems unlikely, since it works fine with the other GPU. Also, the PSU Is brand new and 550W (single 42A/504W 12V rail). Overkill for this GPU. Corsair is a decent brand, but maybe just mine is faulty? Bad GPU? Could it be drawing more power than it should be, somehow, or something? Supposedly HD 7790 needs only 21A/75W on the 12v rail, though this one is factory overclocked a bit... but should that triple the power requirement? Something else? Could there be a motherboard incompatibility somehow? Both MB and GPU are less than a year old and PCI Express 3.0 x16. Things I've tried: Re-seating the video card Testing PC with old GPU (works fine, same PCIe slot). Checked AMD's stated amp/watt requirements of a 7790 and my PSU (see above). My PSU can output twice the amps (single rail) and 5x the Wattage a 7790 needs. Here are the full specs: Gigabyte HD 7790 1GB OC GPU Corsair VS550 550W PSU 4GB RAM AsRock H61M U3S3 motherboard i3-2100 500GB SATA HDD (2007-ish) blu-ray drive (new) PCI 802.11g card Edit: Motherboard BIOS Update seems to have fixed it. (If anyone has same problem and it doesn't work, comment here).

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• Be your own cloud [closed]

  - by Jedi

  I have reasonably many electronic gadgets that can go LAN or WI-FI. But how do you share and/or syncronize all your files among them? Well, between my laptops and my desktop I use Dropbox. A nice way to share files among computers. But what if your HDD on your laptop is not large enough to carry music, pictures and films. Normally you would buy an extern USB HDD and store them there, but then you cannot reach the files from other computers which are not connected to the USB device. Many would say I should use a solution like a cloud with a disc station or something like that. But my needs are follows: A mass storage which can be reached among devices (laptops, desktops, iPhone, Android phone, XBox or Playstation). Has low power requirements and is silent. Can be reached inside home and it would be nice if it could be reached outside home as well. Cheap I have looked around and I have found an wireless router which can share a USB device: D-Link Wireless N HD Media Router. I thought it would be an interesting solution for a simple local cloud solution. D-Link uses a little program called SharePort Plus which mount the USB device to your computer. Unfortunately is the transfer rate to the USB storage device rather disappointing. The transfer rate was 5.8 Mbps even though the distance between the laptop and the router was 2 meter. The same is happening when I use cable from the computer to the router. Another thing is that SharePort Plus only allows one computer be connected to the device at a time. The last thing was something I could live with. I have search on the Internet for other solutions and found this video from Synology. I'm not sure if their solution is the right one. I think a disc station connected to my home LAN could the right solution. What have you done in your home to store and share files among your computers and game consoles?

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• Reviews Cheyney Group Marketing: What accounting softwares are available in the market for small businesses?

  - by user225556

  Accounting is the language of business, and good accounting software can save you hundreds of hours at the business equivalent of Berlitz. There's no substitute for an accounting pro who knows the ins and outs of tax law, but today's desktop packages can help you with everything from routine bookkeeping to payroll, taxes, and planning. Each package also produces files that you can hand off to an accountant as needed. Small-business managers have more accounting software options than ever, including subscription Web-based options that don't require their users to install or update software. Many businesses, however--including those that need to track large inventories or client databases, and those that prefer not to entrust their data to the cloud--may be happier with a desktop tool. We looked at three general-purpose, small-business accounting packages: Acclivity AccountEdgePro 2012 (both the product and the company were previously called MYOB), Intuit QuickBooks Premier 2012, and Sage's Sage 50 Complete 2013 (the successor to Peachtree Complete). All three packages offer a solid array of tools for tracking income and expenses, invoicing, managing payroll, and creating reports. These full-featured and highly mature programs don't come cheap. Acclivity AccountEdge Pro, at $299, is the least expensive; and prices climb if you opt to use common time-saving add-ons such as payroll services, or if you add licenses for multiple user accounts. All three are solid on the basics, but they have distinct differences in style and focus. The more you know about your accounting requirements, the more closely you'll want to look at the software you're thinking of buying. Sage 50 Complete should appeal most to people who understand the fine points of accounting and can use the product's many customization features (especially for businesses that manage inventory). QuickBooks works hard to appeal to newbies who need only the basics and might be intimidated by the level of detail and technical language exposed in the other two packages. At the same time, it also has a slew of third-party add-ons that meet specific needs and greatly expand its capabilities. AccountEdge Pro balances accessibility with a strong feature set at an affordable price. It's especially suitable for businesses that need to provide simultaneous access to multiple users.

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• 20GB+ worth of emails in my /home what is a better solution for that?

  - by Skinkie

  My email storage requirements are outgrowing anything reasonable with respect to local mail storage. As we speak 99% of my home partition is filled with personal mail in Thunderbirds mail dirs. Needless to say, this is just painful, badly searchable and as history has proven me that backups work, but Thunderbird is capable of loosing a lot of mail very easily. Currently I have an remote IMAPS server (Dovecot) running for my daily mail, accessible from anywhere, which from my own practice works efficiently up to about 1000 emails. Then some archive directories should be used to move mail around. I have been looking into DBMail, but I wonder if I make my case worse or better which such solution. None of the supported database employ string deduplication or string compression out of the box, so is this going to help me with 20GB+ mail? What about falling back to a plain old IMAP server? A filesystem like ZFS would support stuff like GZIP transparently, which could help. Could someone share their thoughts? The 20GB mostly consists of mailinglists, and normal mail. Not things like attachments. To add some clarifications; As we speak, my mail is not server side indexed at all - only my new mail arrives at a remote IMAP server. It is all local storage from former POP3 accounts, local mirrored Gmail and IMAP accounts. In my perspective it is not Thunderbird that sucks, its fileformat that sucks. Regarding the 1000 mails. On the road I am using Alpine and MobileMail, quite happy with both of them, but some management is required to actually manage the mail. Sieve helps a lot with that, but browing through 10.000 e-mails is not fun, especially not on a mobile client. I am quite happy with Dovecot, never had any issues with it. I just wonder if this is the way to go. Or if there are any other better solutions. What my question is: what is the best practice solution that allows 20GB+ mails and is -on demand remotely accessible, easy to backup and archive worthy. It doesn't need to be available 24x7. The final approach I took was installing a local IMAP server (Dovecot), configured it for being my archive, using the following guide: http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Dovecot/InstallThunderbird

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• Tips for maximizing Nginx requests/sec?

  - by linkedlinked

  I'm building an analytics package, and project requirements state that I need to support 1 billion hits per day. Yep, "billion". In other words, no less than 12,000 hits per second sustained, and preferably some room to burst. I know I'll need multiple servers for this, but I'm trying to get maximum performance out of each node before "throwing more hardware at it". Right now, I have the hits-tracking portion completed, and well optimized. I pretty much just save the requests straight into Redis (for later processing with Hadoop). The application is Python/Django with a gunicorn for the gateway. My 2GB Ubuntu 10.04 Rackspace server (not a production machine) can serve about 1200 static files per second (benchmarked using Apache AB against a single static asset). To compare, if I swap out the static file link with my tracking link, I still get about 600 requests per second -- I think this means my tracker is well optimized, because it's only a factor of 2 slower than serving static assets. However, when I benchmark with millions of hits, I notice a few things -- No disk usage -- this is expected, because I've turned off all Nginx logs, and my custom code doesn't do anything but save the request details into Redis. Non-constant memory usage -- Presumably due to Redis' memory managing, my memory usage will gradually climb up and then drop back down, but it's never once been my bottleneck. System load hovers around 2-4, the system is still responsive during even my heaviest benchmarks, and I can still manually view http://mysite.com/tracking/pixel with little visible delay while my (other) server performs 600 requests per second. If I run a short test, say 50,000 hits (takes about 2m), I get a steady, reliable 600 requests per second. If I run a longer test (tried up to 3.5m so far), my r/s degrades to about 250. My questions -- a. Does it look like I'm maxing out this server yet? Is 1,200/s static files nginx performance comparable to what others have experienced? b. Are there common nginx tunings for such high-volume applications? I have worker threads set to 64, and gunicorn worker threads set to 8, but tweaking these values doesn't seem to help or harm me much. c. Are there any linux-level settings that could be limiting my incoming connections? d. What could cause my performance to degrade to 250r/s on long-running tests? Again, the memory is not maxing out during these tests, and HDD use is nil. Thanks in advance, all :)

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• Reviews Cheyney Group Marketing: What accounting softwares are available in the market for small businesses?

  - by user224313

  Accounting is the language of business, and good accounting software can save you hundreds of hours at the business equivalent of Berlitz. There's no substitute for an accounting pro who knows the ins and outs of tax law, but today's desktop packages can help you with everything from routine bookkeeping to payroll, taxes, and planning. Each package also produces files that you can hand off to an accountant as needed. Small-business managers have more accounting software options than ever, including subscription Web-based options that don't require their users to install or update software. Many businesses, however--including those that need to track large inventories or client databases, and those that prefer not to entrust their data to the cloud--may be happier with a desktop tool. We looked at three general-purpose, small-business accounting packages: Acclivity AccountEdgePro 2012 (both the product and the company were previously called MYOB), Intuit QuickBooks Premier 2012, and Sage's Sage 50 Complete 2013 (the successor to Peachtree Complete). All three packages offer a solid array of tools for tracking income and expenses, invoicing, managing payroll, and creating reports. These full-featured and highly mature programs don't come cheap. Acclivity AccountEdge Pro, at $299, is the least expensive; and prices climb if you opt to use common time-saving add-ons such as payroll services, or if you add licenses for multiple user accounts. All three are solid on the basics, but they have distinct differences in style and focus. The more you know about your accounting requirements, the more closely you'll want to look at the software you're thinking of buying. Sage 50 Complete should appeal most to people who understand the fine points of accounting and can use the product's many customization features (especially for businesses that manage inventory). QuickBooks works hard to appeal to newbies who need only the basics and might be intimidated by the level of detail and technical language exposed in the other two packages. At the same time, it also has a slew of third-party add-ons that meet specific needs and greatly expand its capabilities. AccountEdge Pro balances accessibility with a strong feature set at an affordable price. It's especially suitable for businesses that need to provide simultaneous access to multiple users.

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