If thin clients like the SunRays I’ve shown in BIVBlog #34 were so appealing to users, system administrators and managers alike, then why did they stay a niche product? And why does nobody care about them anymore? The answers to these questions are interesting not only with regard to thin clients, or SunRays, but to […]
BIVBlog #34: Playing Around with SunRay 1 Thin Clients
During an IPv6 training I held last year I was given two Sun Microsystems SunRay 1 thin clients. I give them a closer look, explain why they caused so much excitement when they hit the market, and tell about the problems I ran into trying while trying to get the server side to work.
BIVBlog #24: IPv6 Subnet Security
In a reply to the previous episode, Matthias pointed out that while the ramond is a useful tool, it is little if any use against a malicious attacker. Right, but if you let an attacker into a subnet with potential targets, you are in some very serious trouble anyway.
BIVBlog #19: IPv6 deployment strategies—mail and web servers first?
If you plan to wait for IPv6 to become “necessary” and then deploy it only on your external interfaces, usually your mail and web servers, you are likely in for a whole range of nasty surprises.
BIVBlog #18: Adding post-installation scripts to installation images
This final episode of the diskless network rescue/install system takes a look at how to customize newly installed systems on first reboot—and the surprises I’ve run into while trying to resize partitions and file systems to make use of the entire physical disk installed to.
BIVBlog #17: Creating installation images for the diskless installer
With the diskless installer all set up, what’s missing now are installation images. In this episode I explain how to create them, what to watch out for and how to ensure they are efficient and convenient to use.
BIVBlog #16: Setting up a diskless installer
With the rescue system from the previous two episodes in place, it is almost straightforward to extend it such that it caters for the installation of pre-built disk images on the target machines.
BIVBlog #15: Setting up a PXE based diskless rescue system, part 2
While trying to add a disk image install feature to the PXE rescue system, I ran into a few minor problems that unexpectedly turned out to be quite a can of worms.
BIVBlog #13: Adding network interfaces to a notebook
What if you need more than one Ethernet interface on a notebook? A IEEE 802.1Q tagged VLAN capable switch solves the problem.
BIVBlog #12: Uptime Bragging Nonsense
If you think that running your Unix (/Linux, if you insist) system forever to get an uptime you can brag about, then think again: What will happen next time you actually have to reboot that machine?