Random musings in IT

We host the server for a legacy application in our office. Since it's more like a favor than a real assignment we don't care much about the server. However we had a few network issues lately, so we decided to migrate it to a virtual server running on our hosted server. Also the machine produces lot's of heat and noise, so we'd better had it switched off.

This seemed like such an easy task to do, what could be hard in creating a disk image with CloneZilla, copy it to a server, set up a virtual machine there with kvm, restore the image and redirect all traffic to this computer instead of the one in our office. We estimated it could be done in two to three hours tops, and we get home around 7PM.

Something gave me the weird idea to try the new features of JAX-WS on a current project. The main idea was, to get rid of the code generators that must be ran whenever some minor change is done in the web service.

So instead of designing the WSDL along with the matching schema definition for the connector classes, I decided to start of by designing the interfaces and the connector classes, then just create the implementation with the corresponding annotations on the server side, that will be deployed automatically. The WSDL is generated from the annotations and the connector classes, there is no need to write them manually.

What could make one's Saturday morning better, than a slight hangover? Well idling through a few mail folders, reading a few log messages and discovering that your server has been hacked for over three days is not the thing, for sure.

My dad found this puppy on the street. Someone decided to get rid of it, and put it out for grabs. Since it's a nice compact looking machine we decided to give it a spin.

Originally the computer ran DOS, and judging from the software I found on it, it was used by someone visually challenged, for reading out text through the speaker.

Looking at the configuration I found that even though originally it is supposed to contain 4 to 8 Megs of RAM, and 84 to 250Mb HDD. It's expanded to the last limits possible for the computer. I have 20Mb RAM with a blasting 1,3Gb HDD! Unfortunately the board only has a 486 SLC, running on a staggering 25Mhz, a 4 bit grayscale VGA adapter and a grayscale LCD with 640x480 resolution.

I HAD TO put Linux on this, no matter how slow it is to start with!

For our current pet project we've decided to use DB2 Express-C as a database back-end. The choice is made, so our junior developers could practice their art on databases that resemble enterprise databases more than MySQL or Postgres. (We have already ruled out SAPDB/MaxDB on previous occasions.)

We are continously looking for Java developers for our company. We've recently received a job application which is even more ridiculous thant the others.

I've been working for a major company as a lead developer for some time, and can't fail to notice the trends of ignoring even the simplest and most basic "precautions" on any given project, whenever possible. Projects are always pushed for time either because it is really urgent, or more frequently, because it would cost more to have it hanging out for a bit longer. All the while I see software development trends focusing on quality, with continuous integration, iterative development, automated testing and so on, while all these great utilities are the first to be sacrificed when a project is "cost optimized". The projects pass with flying colors and new people are hired for maintenance. These people are nowhere near the quality of a qualified developer, and screw things up until more experts are called in again to clean things up.

Being in the IT business for quite a while, I've came across quite a few project management methodologies, of which I found (IBM) Rational Unified Process (RUP) the most flexible and really universally useful. I've just recently (about fifteen minutes ago) found an upcoming rival to this methodology and that's coming from the open source community it's the OpenUP.

This is the English version of a tale I've recently found in my archive mailbox from 2001. Looking at ongoing projects, I think it still has a point.

Once upon a time, in a kingdom not far from here, a king summoned two of his advisors for a test. He showed them both a shiny metal box with two slots in the top, a control knob, and a lever. "What do you think this is?"

We are starting up prototyping on a new project I've mentioned in this article. Our aim is to provide a proof-of-concept implementation of a simple off-line application running on the PDA's we have.