I'm gonna stretch the theme of the blog slightly this time. Xen virtualisation is based on Linux (Red Hat) so that's OK. Windows at some point in history had network related stuff from BSD which Mac OS X partly is based on so that's OK as well. NetApps are also based on BSD so there goes, everything is in line with the theme of the blog :-)
Apparently virtualised Windows (in this specific case Windows Server 2008 R2 hosted on a Xen 5.6 pool) can be really slow to update network changes (not putting the blame on any specific actor). Not only can the network change updating be slow (as in minutes or even five minutes) it looks totally OK from the Windows GUI and ping starts to work almost immediately. That doesn't mean everything is OK though since different parts of the network is starting to work much later. Therefore, for example, ping is not that a good tester of the network when handling virtualised Windows (2008 server R2 on Xen 5.6, don't know about other combinations). According to collegauges Microsoft's Remote Desktop is among the latest things to start working so if possible that is a better test (although not possible from, say, firewalls).
Another thing is that when planning a Change you have to plan for this update delay, something like ''change - delay - change - delay'' and so on or ''change - change - change - long delay''. It can build up to substantial amounts of time.
It also means that if you're working fast and change something and it doesn't work you tend to go on and change something else to make it work but you really don't know if it worked or not because the Windows network weren't updated and while it's updating you're already doing the next change and then Windows has to update again and during that time you discover that it doesn't work (or so it seems). Then you might go on and do some other change or even a roll back just to discover that your roll back didn't work either (or so it seems). Patience seems to be the key word here.
Friday 31 August 2012
Sunday 26 August 2012
A few Mountain Lion tips 1
Calendar application (former iCal)
If you have Mountain Lion, 10.8, you can get back the mini calendar and the calendar list by clicking ''Calendars'' (wasn't there in Lion, 10.7).
Calendar Alerts in Notification Center (10.8) is configured in Calendar -> ''Settings'' -> ''Alerts'' where you also can set if they should be used on this computer only.
Contacts application (former Address Book)
You can start mails, iMessages and FaceTime connections from within the Contacts application by clicking the title of a field (e g ''mobile'', ''work'' or ''iPhone'') in Mac OS 10.8.
From the left bottom of a contact card you can share the card via mail, iMessage or AirDrop (10.8).
Reminders application (new in 10.8)
Now you can have location based reminders on the computer as well.
To-do lists can be exported from Reminders application as ICS files which means they can be imported to calenders/calendar applications.
Notes application (new in 10.8)
If you liked applications like Stickies you can double-click a note in Notes application to have it opened in it's own always visible window.
Mail
Apple Mail for 10.8 has a new sorting option, to set certain senders as VIPs. By doing this (clicking their address in a mail) they get marked by a star and get their own Smart Mailbox.
There's also two new options for setting mail alerts and what counts for the number shown at the Apple Mail icon (if you choose to show anything at all). In ''Settings'' -> ''General you can set some options like ''Inbox'' or ''VIPs''.
If you have Mountain Lion, 10.8, you can get back the mini calendar and the calendar list by clicking ''Calendars'' (wasn't there in Lion, 10.7).
Calendar Alerts in Notification Center (10.8) is configured in Calendar -> ''Settings'' -> ''Alerts'' where you also can set if they should be used on this computer only.
Contacts application (former Address Book)
You can start mails, iMessages and FaceTime connections from within the Contacts application by clicking the title of a field (e g ''mobile'', ''work'' or ''iPhone'') in Mac OS 10.8.
From the left bottom of a contact card you can share the card via mail, iMessage or AirDrop (10.8).
Reminders application (new in 10.8)
Now you can have location based reminders on the computer as well.
To-do lists can be exported from Reminders application as ICS files which means they can be imported to calenders/calendar applications.
Notes application (new in 10.8)
If you liked applications like Stickies you can double-click a note in Notes application to have it opened in it's own always visible window.
Apple Mail for 10.8 has a new sorting option, to set certain senders as VIPs. By doing this (clicking their address in a mail) they get marked by a star and get their own Smart Mailbox.
There's also two new options for setting mail alerts and what counts for the number shown at the Apple Mail icon (if you choose to show anything at all). In ''Settings'' -> ''General you can set some options like ''Inbox'' or ''VIPs''.
Monday 20 August 2012
Annoying bank card checking
It annoys me that Apple/iTunes Store checks my bank card/account even when I update existing apps for free or download free apps and this for one main reason. I have security settings on my bank account that I can't use if I don't want to unlock and then lock my bank card again every time I download a free app or updates an app. That's really annoying and I guess that my bank isn't the only bank with security settings for different areas in the world or for Internet.
I can't see why this is necessary. If I download a free app or update existing apps for free there's no reason to check, right?
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