Monthly Archives: May 2006

Geograph to use Ubuntu?

I had been planning to use Debian Sarge on the new Geograph servers, but the buzz around tomorrow’s new release of Ubuntu is hard to ignore. I’d previously dismissed Ubuntu for server use assuming it was too focussed on the desktop, and while they are doing admirable work in that area, it seems they aren’t slouching when it comes to servers either.

Tomorrow’s release of “Ubuntu 6.06 LTS” includes a Server Edition which will be supported for 5 years, with a “certified” LAMP application stack. The certification is primarily to do with MySQL, which I’ve found to be problematic to build from source in the past, so this sounds good to me!

I’ll give it a whirl when it’s released, but if it delivers a low-maintenance LAMP server supported for 5 years, it will hard to resist using it for Geograph. I’ve no doubt they’ve got a great set of packages for LAMP, but one thing in particularly I’ll be looking at is installation of the packages necessary to support LVS based clustering.

More Tea Vicar?

Well, the important question of what to name the Geograph servers has been answered.

  • Tea – the load balancer, as everything should start with a nice cup of tea
  • Toast, Scone and Crumpet – web servers, keeping our site sustained!
  • Jam – NAS / database, as toast, scones and crumpets are naught without jam

See, there’s method in it.

While I’m waiting for the new kit to arrive, I’m building some VMWare virtual servers of the new setup, which should help anyone developing for Geograph since it allows them to run an identical setup without needing to know much about Linux configuration, and will also allow us to trial new ideas without messing up the “real” boxes.

O’Reilly turned evil?

I’m hoping there’s been a few crossed wires and misunderstandings surrounding O’Reilly’s lawyers issuing a Cease and Desist against use of the term Web 2.0. O’Reilly are the “Google” of publishing, surely they can do wrong? Geeks worldwide take a pride in their bulging shelves of O’Reilly tomes bedecked in animal engraved covers. There’s a few people venting their frustration in comments on Tim O’Reilly’s blog, but surely some sort of official clarification must be coming!

Say it ain’t so!

(Edit #1) here is a first response, but it’s not going down well.

(Edit #2) …and a second one! No-one denies they have to make a buck, but is no one at O’Reilly actually grasping the irony of this situation?

(Edit #3) …finally Tim O’Reilly responds. Huzzah.