Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Server

Looking for good system monitoring / task scheduling software

Nothing — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 14:09:28 -0800

Looking for good system monitoring / task scheduling software to run on Windows for server monitoring as well as running custom scripts for keeping track application specific metrics. Right now I am using a hand-rolled solution which runs scripts and updates logs / sends emails on output. It's nice because it is easy to add new custom tasks and metrics, but I am looking to migrate the functionality into something a little more robust, possibly with the ability to keep track of tasks running on multiple machines, etc.

.htaccess or some other solution for altering a url across a domain?

You Should See the Other Guy — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:30:09 -0800

I use a CMS which needs domain.com/index.php/template/filename in order to work. I used to have an htaccess file which would make domain.com/template/filename work fine (ie, it would load the correct page even without the index.php there). Dreamhost recently upgraded its software and the htaccess file no longer works. Is there a solution for this problem? Note that I know nothing about htaccess. I got this file years ago off of a web forum, but it worked so I never question it. Here's what the htaccess file had in it (I changed the greater and lesser thans to square brackets because AskMe wasn't displaying them properly):



[IfModule mod_rewrite.c]

RewriteEngine On

RewriteBase /

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/stats/(.*)$ [OR]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/failed_auth.html$

RewriteRule ^.*$ - [L]

[/IfModule] 



[Files index.php]

SetHandler application/x-httpd-php

[/Files]



RewriteEngine On

RewriteBase /

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php/$1 [L]



AddHandler application/x-httpd-php .php

Thank you.

Holiday Tipping for Server

MeetMegan — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:10:18 -0800

What kind of holiday tip/gift should I give a server I see regularly (once a week) and regularly tip 30%? I saw my favorite server last night, and he pressed me to schedule my next meal so that he could "see me before the holidays." That reminded me that I'd like to get/give him something for the holidays. What's the protocol on this? Should I just provide him a larger tip? Is a gift appropriate? If so, how much/what kind?

This is an upscale restaurant. Two of us dine together (myself and my brother) and we regularly spend $70+ and tip very well (30%+). We see Bill about three-four times a month.

Thanks for your help!

Need a Virtual Server

cg1 — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:59:17 -0800

I am looking for a a virtual server - sitting somewhere in the cloud that can hold around 150 GB of information. I am thinking of Box.net - does anyone know of something better? Thanks!

Would linux breathe new life into my old powerbook?

jlowen — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:21:21 -0800

I want to have a fast capable NAS/file server/upnp device very similar to the QNAP TS-110 TurboNAS. I have an old 12" Powerbook G4 aluminum MAC OS x laptop. Would it be possible to install a barebones linux installation on the Powerbook to have access to many of the same features of the QNAP device? My Powerbook is a 1.3ghz with 800mb memory, with OS X 10.5 (leopard) installed. I want to use it to stream movies to my PS3 using upnp. I have tried software like Nullsoft's medialink and the PS3 media server, but the laptop does not seem capable of serving up media files to the ps3 without serious stuttering and lagging. (Even with both devices using ethernet cables - A problem my new shiny macbook pro does not have)

I was considering purchasing a QNAP TS-110 but it seems that my powerbook has twice the power and should in theory make a dandy media server. Would it be possible to learn and install a linux variation on the powerbook to recreate the same core features of the NAS device and turn the old decrepit powerbook into a capable media/file server? Note: I need only serve the file from the powerbook to be played on other hardware.

Is there a particular linux distribution I should use? Or would it be better to upgrade to a dedicated NAS?

Talk me out of paying for a dedicated server!

Hellafiles — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:19:48 -0800

What kinds of cool things can I do with a Dedicated Server? I’m active in a few torrent communities and the majority of the other forum members seem to paying for and using their own dedicated servers as “seedboxes” (Gasp!) and other cool things. As a result, now I want one. Partly to “keep up with the Joneses” and partly because I’d like to learn about server administration.

I also run a few websites and do some affiliate marketing stuff, so I know I could use a dedicated server to host my own sites and cancel my Bluehost account. So that would save me money. But what other things can I do with it, and why does everyone seem to have one but me?

I dare not ask everyone in my forums how they justify paying $60-$100+ a month for their servers for fear of a massive flamefest at my expense so I wanted to ask here

Thanks guys!

Show me your naming convention

togdon — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:28:46 -0800

After approximately 10 years of using the same equipment naming convention at work we're thinking about changing, I'm curious what other people have used. Our current convention was decided with much frustration by committee about 10 years ago. Roughly we use this for the FQDN:

[network interface].[device class].[pop].[organization].[domain]

A better example might be:

hme0.sun457.pdx1.acme.domain.tld

This gets used as the reverse pointer for the primary IP on the box, and as a business rule we've never re-used names (so once sun457 is assigned to a piece of equipment it never gets another name and any replacement will have a new name). In addition to that name we create a minimum of two others (as CNAMEs to the A record), a nodename that's essentially the shortened version of the FQDN (eg. sun457.domain.tld) and a friendly name that better describes the function of the piece of equipment (eg. staff.domain.tld).

At the time the convention was put in place we had three geographically separated data centers, no good systems for tracking inventory, and a needed to provide as much information as possible via the reverse pointer on the IP alone.

Fast forward a few months from when the convention was put in place and we'd managed to get a database with a nice web front end in place to track all of the pieces that were part of the name along with a whole lot more. Fast forward a few more years and we managed to get a good tracking system in place for inventory. Fast forward to today and we've got in the neighborhood of 1000 pieces of equipment (servers, routers, switches, load balancers, virtual machines, desktops, etc). We're working to consolidate our various ad-hoc tools into a unified portal, and we're shifting to a new monitoring system for the third time since the convention was put in place.

I'm one of the only folks that remembers the initial arguments over the naming convention, most new people think it's bloated and gives away too much information in the hostname. I tend to agree. The current system works fine for our purposes, and probably always will, it just seems like we could do better and that now is the best time to make a change.

Simply cutting the name down to the nodename (eg. sun457.domain.tld) seems like the easiest thing, but there are a variety of arguments about keeping other pieces. On top of that, after 10 years it seems like if we're going to make a change we might as well either make a drastic one or no change at all.

So, with the caveat that these are going in DNS (so they need to conform to the RFCs) and that cutesy names are out (there aren't enough Simpsons characters to cover the number of devices we have and remembering that itchy and scratchy are DNS servers and that moe, lenny, and carl are border routers simply isn't an option), what have you used?

The sky is the limit, so outside of the DNS/cutesy limits don't try to fit with any of the above.

How can I access files from a fritzed Windows Home Server?

Hartster — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:28:15 -0800

How can I access files from a fritzed Windows Home Server? Yesterday, we had a power surge at home followd by a a power outage. When the power returned, the Tranquil WHS wouldn't boot: turning the power on just got a fast blinking blue light and nothing else (no drive activity or boot up etc). Unfortunately, I urgently need some files of that drive.

So I removed the SATA hard drive and stuck that in my (Windows XP running) desktop. I thought that had worked, but while my desktop can see the drive and all the files, clicking on a file or copying it gets nowhere, I get a "this file cannot be accessed by the system" message or some sort of variant depending on how I try and open the file.

Have I just not installed it properly? Is the file system corrupted by the power surge? Is sticking a drive with its own operating system in another desktop the issue? Is there another way to get hold of the files I need in the short term?

To an extent, I'm more bothered about getting access to the drive than getting my WHS up and running again, as I've not been using it as anything other than an overspecced external harddrive for a while now anyway.

(Also as a bonus question: if I do get it up and running as another internal hard drive, is there a way of mapping a folder on a drive to its own drive letter: e.g. map "F:/shares/music" to "M:")

To Build or Not to Build

sciencemandan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:25:14 -0800

I'm looking for a decent 4-bay (minimum) network server on the cheap. I'm trying to set up a backup server for a video surveillance system. I am going to end up needing 8TB or so for file space (I won't need all of that to start, but I will over time, so being able to add drives to an existing system would be nice). Windows Home Server seems like the way to go since you can add drives and it puts them in a storage pool.

So here's my question: should I go for an existing product like this, or can I build one for cheaper? I have a license for Windows Home Server, so that's not an issue.

I've built systems before, but never one for the sole purpose of network storage, so any suggestions for a case that can hold at least 4 drives, a motherboard that can take 4 SATA drives, and a decent power supply would be much appreciated. Also, knowing how much RAM and processing power would be helpful (if that even matters...I'd imagine that serving up files wouldn't take up a great deal of system resources).

Direct FTP please

Jason Land — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:52:20 -0800

How do I setup a FTP-like service without having a website? I'm of limited internet knowledge, but without using things like Rapidshare, I'd like to have an FTP-like function where I can open a program, have someone else also be logged on, and we can directly send large files to each other, without having to own and operate a website with a connected FTP server.

I guess it's technically like the AIM file transfer, but without using AIM, and more stable/secure.

I'm on a Macbook Pro, OSX 10.5.8. I have Cyberduck, if perhaps there is a hidden function there like what I'm asking about.

Can long uptime cause server corruption?

joecacti — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:42:26 -0800

Is there any documentation out there showing that sometimes (memory) corruption can occur when servers are left running for 6+ months? I'm in charge of a production system that recently experienced a production error, one that was eventually corrected with a system reboot. The error was in a .NET application on IIS, and the current theory is that there was some sort of corruption on the server, maybe some memory corruption, caused by the system being running for more than 6 months without a reboot. Is that possible? I've tried google searches without success...

Where to buy server hardware in Dallas?

edmz — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:17:23 -0800

I need to buy a custom 1U server in or around Dallas. Tomorrow. I need to buy a 1U rack server to install in a collocation facility in Dallas. Tomorrow I will be flying to Dallas and I need to buy the server once I'm there.

Ideally, the place where I can buy this server has the items in stock so that I can cherry-pick the hardware I need.

Linux will be installed on the server, in case it matters.

Thanks for any suggestions.

We need to argue for a local server

scruss — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:32:12 -0800

Our office is losing hours of productivity a week due to networking decisions from head office. We'd like to price out a server to replace the dodgy technology that's been foisted on us. Not surprisingly, HQ gets kind of defensive if we use that language. Please help me cost out a server, and make it seem like it was their idea all along. I work in a regional office of an energy company. Head office is many thousands of kilometres away. Head office likes to keep complete control of their data centrally, so offices that used to have servers were replaced by WAFS boxes on the end of a 10Mbit link.

Since the WAFS boxes went in, users in remote offices have had nothing but trouble. Accessing files over the network feels like dialup speed. MS applications zone out for minutes on end thinking about autosaves. We have been known to start applications, go down to the coffee shop, come back, and the application might just have initialized. The WAFS machines themselves are unreliable, needing replaced every few months and rebooting weekly.

Our office has about fifteen professionals in it - engineers, lawyers, developers, environmental and admin staff. We're told that we never quite manage to fully fill our 10Mbit allocation, and that our connection maintains a supposedly quite speedy ping time of 50ms to Head office.

We're not digging the slowness. We estimate that we're each losing several hours per week waiting for the system. Some users have taken to working from home, as using a Citrix connection over DSL to head office is many times faster than running local applications in the office. We've lost staff over this issue.

Head office is all about the centralization, though. So much so that, a couple of years back, a fire alarm knocked out our central data server for 18 hours and we had no offsite failover. We'd need to make a very good case that having a local server would be cheaper than what we're using now.

Head office admits that the WAFS didn't deliver all it was supposed, and are looking at a similar technology from a different vendor. We're worried it will be a big spend with the same result - slow performance, and yet more technology that local techs barely understand. We have some allies in IT at head office, but not the ear of the head of IT.

So just how much would a robust small server with local support and backup cost for a 15 user office? We're in a big Canadian city with good access to service and support.

Contemplating getting my own server

sindark — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:59:43 -0800

How would the new Mac Mini server compare to a cheap shared hosting account? At present, my website is hosted on GoDaddy.com's 'economy' shared Linux hosting plan. I noticed that Apple has now released a version of the Mac Mini designed to act as a server, costing about $1,000 Canadian.

Does anyone have any idea of how it would compare with GoDaddy, in terms of performance? I have found myself frustrated by how slowly content loads from their servers, especially anything that depends on MySQL databases, such as WordPress and MediaWiki.

$1,000 would be akin to about 10 years of shared hosting payments, but there might be secondary benefits to running my own server, rather than farming the task out to someone else. Any thoughts?

Why can't I access my self-hosted site anymore?

KI6ILS — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 22:16:05 -0800

Switched ISPs and now not able to access my own websites which I host myself by TLD. Before I switched ISPs I was able to type in the TLD of my website to view it, eg: ki6ils.com. Now I am not able to. I have to go into the server properties and tell it to accept connections on the internal IP address and wait for the service to restart and call it by 192.168.0.2. That makes it hard when I want to update more than one site.

How can I get it working again to go to www.ki6ils.com and actually see that site, or any other site I want to work on? What changed to cause this to happen?

Oh, I updated the domain name with the new IP address.

Can anyone lend me a hand in designing my new home network computer setup?

decrescendo — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:54:03 -0800

Can anyone lend me a hand in designing my new home network computer setup? I have two computers right now.

1. Macbook Pro from about a year ago. In awesome shape. Bought it new. I currently use it mostly on travel and in my living room when I'm watching TV and browsing the net.

2. Desktop I built myself in 2006. I use this computer to store all of my music and listen to said music through speakers that are hooked up to it. I also have tons of pictures and videos stored on this machine. 3 harddrives, around 1.5 TB of space I believe.

I'd really like to make this Macbook Pro my primary computer. I spent too much money on it to use it for browsing the net in my living room. I want to be able to have access to the videos, pictures, and music that are currently on my desktop wirelessly while I'm on my Macbook.

How would I best go about this? I can see retiring this desktop or using parts of it to create a server. I envision this server living in my closet somewhere with a lot of storage and backup capability. I'd like to be able to access the data on this server wirelessly via my Macbook anywhere in the world.

And if I have speakers in my bedroom and a 7.1 system in my living room, how can I "beam" music on my server to these seperate speaker setups via my Macbook (basically it would sorta function as a remote control). I don't want to listen to music THROUGH the laptop or speakers connect to the laptop; I want it to come through other setups.

Also, would swapping out my laptop for a new one in a few years be an easy way to tech refresh this system since the server probably wouldn't have to be built from the most up-to-date components? The laptop is going to be what accesses the internet and edits video and what not.

So can I make this setup work and is it easy? (And does anyone have any good resources for building this server?)

Researching website options

titanium_geek — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:03:04 -0800

Researching options for all things website: hosting, domain name registration and DNS. Can you help me narrow it down? Hello Mefites, this is my first ask.mefi question. I'm writing a report for a 'professional writing' course. We will be assessed on the quality of the writing, not the content.

Scenario: you say "I would like a website for my small company."
I say: "Well, you need content (I have this covered), a domain name, and hosting."

What do I say next? I know I can google web hosting providers, but there are lots! What are the good and/or popular companies out there?

I have on the list already: GoDaddy (my own domain bought through them, looking to change.)
nearlyfreespeech.net
mediatemple

These are companies I've seen mentioned on my journeys around the web, but I'd like more recommendations please.

What is the lowest priced IP camera with optical zoom for use as webcam to display a mountain to the public?

fenwaydirtdog — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:55:03 -0800

What is the lowest priced IP camera with optical zoom for use as webcam to display a mountain to the public? I would like to set up a webcam for only one use: to display a mountain that is a few miles from my house for anyone on the internet to see. I need this webcam to be independent, i.e. not attached to my computer (I've heard terms like IP camera, network camera, or video server to describe this). But I also need an optical zoom feature, as 1) the mountain is too far away for the picture to be interesting with no zoom, and 2) the digital zoom on another webcam I've tried (Panasonic BL-C111A) yields very poor picture quality. Alternately, I could use a potential optical zoom lens accessory that attaches to a camera -- I won't need to be adjusting the zoom once I have achieved the level of zoom I want initially. Finally, this webcam would need to allow anyone on the internet to access it and display basically a window that only has the picture -- I don't want members of the public to be doing pan/tilt and such (the camera doesn't need pan/tilt at all), and I'd rather there not be any other superfluous text in the window that the public would see.

There are so many different options that I am lost. Can someone point me to a low-cost option that would solve my problem? I would love for this to be $100-$200.

How to make my LaCie 5big NAS better?

Señor Pantalones — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:55:32 -0800

LaCie 5Big NAS hacks/modifications/tricks? Just got a 5Big NAS (5TB) running RAID5. Has a built-in torrent client but it's pretty weak. Any way to hack it to run a linux distro of Transmission or Vuze, something like that? Any other tricks that make this box better (aside from "spend $1500 more and get a readyNAS")

Thanks!

Sync 2 IMAP Servers?

4chrisd — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 07:21:40 -0800

How do I sync two IMAP folders? I currently use Gmail for all my e-mail (personal & work). I currently have about 4,000+ messages archived in Gmail and I'll continue to add 300-500 per month. I also have a IMAP account with my webhost and I was wondering if there was any type of application or script that would connect to the Gmail IMAP servers and backup/sync all of my mail so I know that in addition to being in Gmail's cloud....it is also on my IMAP server in case something happens. Thoughts?

Locating a deadbeat

pmaxwell — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:27:22 -0800

Can I triangulate someones location with a cell phone number? After filing at small claims court, I hired a process server to serve the person (company owner) who ripped me off for $2500 (deposit on central AC system install in NY). Server went to his house – wife said he moved out, he went to office, nothing there. he has no employees. Server tried 5 different times to locate. I can't get a court date without serving him. Need a cheap way to find this bastard!

Help me create an RSS feed from a site updated daily

Merlin144 — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 12:12:24 -0800

How can I create an RSS feed from a wordpress site that doesn't add new posts, only updates the SAME post every day? Please direct me to online tools I can utilize based on specifics below. Specifics:
1. The website I want to create the feed from is: www.serveraday.com, which is updated every morning with a great dedicated server deal.
2. They update the SAME wordpress post from 6/25/2008 with the NEW information in this post each and every day. This prevents most feed creation tools, including feedburner, from updating a feed, as they think it's the same post.
3. I need to be able to set the tool I end up using to refresh on a daily basis, to capture the update on the site as soon as possible after it's posted.
4. I am not the owner of this site, just a person that wants to find great deals and share them through an RSS feed!

Thank you!!

Zero to HTPC in 700?

itesser — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 05:59:47 -0800

Going crazy trying to figure out my HTPC/media server options from scratch. Yes, I've been reading other threads but I'm a unique snowflake so there's My husband and I are a couple of nomads with a handful of computers (desktops and laptops, 3 Win and 1 Mac) who will be getting our first real TV/stereo/etc when we move into a new apartment late next month.

I want to...
- Stream Netflix to our TV
- Watch other internet video on the TV (and stream Pandora?)
- Play locally stored video / music on the TV/stereo
- Have all our music (~200 gigs) in one place, plus long-term expandability
- Keep important files in one location for frequent backing up to/from multiple computers
- I don't care to watch network or cable tv

My budget is somewhat flexible, but I'm aiming for solutions around $700 for the media-serving part of the set up.

After several hours considering my options (though I admit I'm not experienced at this, plus it's way past my bedtime), I think my current best bet is: xbox360 + XBMC on an XP system* + (Free)NAS. Would 3 machines be overkill?

* I like the iphone remote! and for a few other reasons

Or ditch the NAS and put a bunch of HDs in the XBMC system?
Or ditch the XBMC and stream directly from NAS to 360?
Or replace the XBMC with a MacMini+Plex?

webcam street watch?

dabitch — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 01:11:33 -0800

Webcam server for dummies? A bunch us folks on a street here want to set up a few webcams aimed at the street that everyone here can view. Is there a 'youtube' (or bambuser.com / qik.com) for webcams specifically? - doesn't need to be free at all, just needs to be very very easy to set up. Picture one guy in each house having a cam aimed at the street, and all of us able to log on to "the street view" so we can see from house #1 to house #10 in the same page.
A few of use have actual (linux) servers, so if there is some dead-easy webcam->webpage software out there bring that on. We're webcam n00bs and googling made us no wiser. Specifically, it has to be easy for a neighbor to "join" in with their webcam, as if they were user-groups on a social webpage. We also want to cam to archive footage. (not forever though)

Most boring server rack question ever

Maarika — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 07:44:59 -0800

How can I put HP DL160s on slide rails in an IBM rack? I'm in over my head here, so apologies for the technical details... I need to put a couple HP DL160s on slide rails in an IBM rack (IBM 42U Enterprise Rack - 19” Rack). I can find standard rails just fine, but there don't seem to be any compatible slide rails available for HP 1U servers.

My Google-fu is failing me here -- do you know of any specific technical forums where I can ask this question? Where do data center and server hardware folks gather online to exchange information?

Or, if any of you are IT gurus, do you have any suggestions on which rail kits to look for, where to look for them, or who to ask?