So I will have another update as soon as I get the project that I have started on up to speed and uploaded into GitLab. It seems everyone is making the switch to GitLab. (Since Microsoft bought github…) Microsoft doesn’t have a great track record with open source, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. None of the other items will be moving to GitLab. So this webpage will stay here, unless I decide to move it.

Wow, it’s been a while since an update. :(

Not to much to update. I have been swamped at work with getting multiple projects done at once. I’ve got tons of different server builds and a lot of them don’t have many things we can do with automation until I can learn the build process. One of the servers is an Oracle DB build where we have to configure ASM disks, which I don’t have experience doing. Hopefully all will go well and I can make some headway and finish it up quickly.

Uh oh, so it looks like over the weekend someone found a flaw in the WPA2 encrtyption protocol. Hopefully we’ll get a patch for the fix soon. (If one exists…)

It is done. I have been working on a command line tool for the last couple of weeks. It allows me to run a command or multiple commands against unix/linux servers. The release version is very crude, but I will add on to it, if need be to suit my needs. It is mostly because we lack a suitable automation tool at work. I would prefer to use Ansible, but I don’t get to make those decisions so it was necessary to make a tool to hold our team over until the automation team finishes their project. During the week we can build anywhere between 50/60 servers. For the windows team it’s not really to difficult of a task as they have scripts that take care of most of the items. Unix and Linux are different stories. I won’t go into details about the things that come up, but we got some automation going, but we don’t have access to a lot of tools that would help us when build servers. plus the automation has gaps that need to be filled in and when you have to run a command on 60 server logging into each box is no longer feasible. I think the biggest thing that myr is missing right now is the ability to tunnel through a bastion host and run commands from a jump box or even multiple jump boxes on a group of machine that you could potentially reach from that jump box. We run into those situations a lot at work when building in different environment. So that is the next item on the list. Not sure how long it will take, but since I have created a great deal of reusable method hopefully it will go quicker than the creation of the original program. I am shooting for version 1.1.0 to have this function. since it is not a major feature. If I can stick with this project 2.0.0 may even have a gui, but we’ll see.

So, I have been looking around on ebay for a box to use as a virtualization host in my homelab. I do already have 2 unused laptops inside my apartment which I could use, but since I love spending money so much I want to buy another one. I am still using my MacBook, although the small display is proving difficult to keep using and I have the scale the interface up so I cause less strain on my eyes reading the tiny font. I am watching CentOS install and I want to give it a try before I try using it at work. I may just use ubuntu and call it a day since we can get packages for ubuntu as well. We’ll have to see though. So I will be making a short on my development environment. Unfortunately I don’t think I can avoid using outlook for emails. :(

So a little bit about my background. I have been programming since I was around 12. In my early days I loved to play games and I guess at some point in playing Nintendo, and games on the AOL channels, I found that you could make games. I look extensively for game making software to fuel make ambitions, but most were only paid or shareware. I was really into RPG, after watching my cousins playing Final Fantasy VII. They let me take a stab at it. I was instantly obsessed with characters and plot. I had never played anything quite like it. I want to make games like this. I then narrowed my search to RPG makers. At a little while I found a program called RPG Maker 2000. The screen shots were incredible. I wanted to use this software to make my dream game. This was back when dial up internet was a popular thing. I initiated the download… at 5MBs it took a while, but I finally had it. I installed it. I was finally going to make the next final fantasy vii. Nope, error need to install something called a run time package. Okay that is simple enough. Sure enough it is on the same site. Okay download… much to my dismay this file was much bigger than the actual program around 25MB. It was going to take hours. Thats okay I could wait. I would just leave the internet up. The one thing about dial up connections. If someone picks up the phone and the internet shares the same line you lose your internet connection. I didn’t calculate that my parents might need to use the phone while I was trying to let the download finish. I can’t tell you how many times I tried to download that RTP, only to have it fail halfway. It took years to actually get the full file and shortly after we got broadband internet.

So I won’t post about my nice new MacBook today. Instead about a project I started a couple of days ago called myr. Myr is a tool that assist with configuring and running commands on multiple unix/linux servers. I wanted a small program that was able to achieve this. I haven’t had a chance to look at the way ansible works, but I can say myr is nowhere near as extensive as any of the other automation tools you can find on the internet.

So I am one day three of me using my MacBook, and I can say that I am pretty impressed by this little laptop. I am in love with the gestures for macOS and the way you can quickly switch between desktops with ease. I can honestly see why people would purchase this device. I love being able to slide between desktops. I have been also using elementary OS for quite a little while and I can say that it feels a lot similar to that distribution. I am still getting used to the keyboard, but I do not dislike as much as I did yesterday. I haven’t had any issues with speed today. There were some issues yesterday with visual studio, but they were do to a malfunctioning safari. I fixed the issue and started using it early this morning and it was fine. I stiil need to get the hang of using command button instead of the ctrl for various functions, but I believe that will come will a little bit of time.

So after being against Apple (mostly for the dev lockout and crazy expensive hardware…) I finally broke down and got a Macbook. For the most part I am enjoying trying out macOS. I am still getting used to the keyboard and new screen. I am thinking about maybe upgrading to a MacBook pro if I like this Mac enough. I guess we will just have to wait and see. It seems to be running my programs just fine (Atom, Safari, Term, Mail, Steam) all at the same time. It does get a little warm when you put load on the CPU, but the heat dissipates pretty quickly if the load is not sustained.

So apparently you can use markdown to edit a fully static blog. Guessing I can just write up a test post and commit the changes. I don’t have a lot of experience with markdown, but I do like it.

Next you can update your site name, avatar and other options using the _config.yml file in the root of your repository (shown below).