Google testing Sun’s OpenSolaris, sources say; Reasons to set up a test network; Gartner forecasts security troubles; How Indiana cleaned its IT mess; update on Praessler AG’s Praessler Router Traffic Grapher; Writing the book on IT
Sun set
Regarding “Google testing Sun’s OpenSolaris, sources say”: It was not Linux+x86 that set back Sun so much. The problem was that a lot of dot-com companies went belly up and started selling their servers (usually Sun servers) second-hand, which of course led to a huge fall in demand for first-hand servers. At the time, IBM’s Power 5 chip turned out to perform better than Sparc III and Sun had huge quality problems with its Sparc III chips line. Linux did not and still does not scale up enough to be a real problem for any vendor.
Benny Kleykens
Antwerp, Belgium
Worth mentioning
Regarding “Reasons to set up a test network”: You make a point about the cost of a test network not being cheap. You don’t mention the availability of virtual server software from VMWare and Microsoft that allow multiple virtual machines to be set up on a single workstation or server. This can significantly reduce the hardware and, with snapshots (VMWare), provide testing, quick “un-dos” and standby setups of servers.
Hank Arnold
Network administrator
Hospice, Inc.
Hyde Park, N.Y.
Take a seat
Regarding “Gartner forecasts security troubles”: This story belongs in the “stating the obvious” department, except for the ending comment that “companies should not increase their seat count to meet a vendor’s price list,” which is marginal advice. It is worth looking at the price per seat closely. If you can add one or 100 seats to your license, have that move you to another purchasing level and result in a net savings, it’s worth doing. Face it: Most companies are still adding computers to their offices. Chances are, you’ll use the extra licenses before the contract expires.
Mike Avery
Owner
Gunnison Network Consulting
Gunnison, Colo.
Playing politics
Regarding “How Indiana cleaned its IT mess”: It’s a bit disappointing to find this article so devoid of any mention of the many problems that have plagued the effort described.
It has been great sport for the present Republican administration to portray its predecessors — such as is done in this article — as a bunch of loutish amateurs incapable of doing anything right and wont to waste the taxpayers’ money. The story doesn’t mention the furor over the IT cutovers at the Department of Motor Vehicles that led to the governor personally apologizing to the people of the state.
I think your reporter was snookered into writing a piece of partisan cheerleading, portraying Gerry Weaver as the salvation of the state’s IT department, left in shambles for him by the Democrats. It’s not quite that simple.
Brian Capouch
Chair, Computer Science Department
Saint Joseph’s College
Rensselaer, Ind.
Worthy of the spotlight
Kudos to Mark Gibbs for his update on Praessler AG’s Praessler Router Traffic Grapher (PRTG) — except he fails to mention one of the product’s top selling points. PRTG is by far the cheapest commercial NetFlow data collection and reporting tool I’ve found. While its NetFlow capabilities are a bit limited, it does the basics that most business networks need quite well. NetFlow licensing is an add-on module licensed per number of collectors — but PRTG comes in at about 30% the price of the next nearest competitor from my survey of the market.
Taken together with features Gibbs mentions (and don’t forget interface bandwidth reporting), PRTG is an excellent product that I have used in a number of networks ever since Gibbs first brought it to light three years ago.
Todd Doolittle
Network engineer
Perot Systems
Boulder, Colo.
Timeless reading
Regarding “Writing the book on IT”: When I wrote Debugging (Amacom Books, 2002), I tried to make it timeless so that the advance I received was not the only money I ever made. The book has been around for four years and is still selling well (and generating income), with big bursts every time a blogger discovers it. Staying away from instantaneous information avoids the problem of “the vendor changed the procedure at the last minute.” But even the most successful technical authors should not expect to make a living at it — Frederick Brooks sold a few hundred thousand copies of his book The Mythical Man-Month in the 30 years since it was published, which probably works out to about $10,000 per year in royalties. He kept his day job.
David Agans
Director of engineering
SeaChange International
Greenville, N.H.
