Cisco Live - 2008

I am really, really bummed. I was going to go to Cisco Live 2008 being held in Orlando, in June. Alas, with the upcoming forecasted recession, my company has cut back on expenses. Thus, no trip.

Actually, I was surprised my trip to Sweden didn’t get cancelled.

Anyone planning on going to Cisco Live 2008? Anyone going to blog about it? I would love to hear/see what went on from an observer’s point-of-view.

Partial Internet Shutdown?

While no one can control the internet, you can certainly degrade it for many people.

We have a major technological hub in Sweden. Their internet provider (like many others in Sweden and Europe) use Telia as their communications provider. Over the last couple of days, our outbound emails kept queueing up in our systems, and some websites wouldn’t work.

Come to find out, Cogent, a major communications company in US and Europe, have actually depeered Telia from it’s AS routing, making it impossible for Nordic customers (as well as some in Europe, I would imagine) to access systems on Cogent’s network. Even alternate routing was turned off.

Apparently, this is because Cogent got ticked off because of contract dispute about the size and locations of certain internet pipes. They feel it was:

“…for the good of the internet.”

Also, coming from Jeff Henrikson, spokesperson for Cogent:

“Some traffic flow was impeded and some traffic was redirected further than it needed to go.”

“[Telia] wasn’t responding to requests to comply with the contract….[Cogent] wasn’t left with much alternative but to terminate the contract.”

Wow. Can you believe that? See the below links for more information:

http://www2.meltedcube.com/blog/web-internet-telecom/isp-quarrel-partitions-internet/
http://gigaom.com/2008/03/14/the-telia-cogent-spat-could-ruin-web-for-many/

Technorati Tags: cogent, internet, telia

Firefox vs IE memory usage

Being the Network Operations Manager, one of my duties is to decide on policies and standardization across the Desktop and Server infrastructure.  For the longest time, I’ve had to weigh and determine whether we should drop IE and move to Firefox.

Why the hard decisions?  Well, although Firefox is certainly more secure (and more productive to use in my opinion), the fact remains that many 3rd-party companies are still designing applications to the IE spec.  I won’t go into detail why that is wrong in around 100-different ways.  The fact is, we must keep IE.

However, I do encourage users to try Firefox, and use it if they can.  The only downside it has had, was the huge memory usage it would take.  The more tabs and windows you used, and the longer it sat, the more memory it would use.

Apparently, that has changed, according to some tests prominently displayed and explained on Pavlov.net’s blog.

They tested three different browsers.  IE7, Firefox2, and Firefox3-beta.  The results were shocking to me.  Basically, they opened 30 webpages, each using their own window, and did that 11 times.  Each window that was opened, closes the other window.  At the end, the last window remained opened, and they let the browser sit awhile.

Check out these results (blatently taken from Pavlov’s site):

This shows that not only has Firefox3 have BETTER memory management than it’s predecessor,  but check out IE7!!  It didn’t even reclaim the used space of all those windows after sitting!!

This is proof in the pudding!  Not only does IE SUCK at CSS, but it also SUCKS at memory usage.  No wonder why Vista has such steep memory requirements!  It’s not for the eye-candy, or advanced graphics and tools.  It’s to keep browsing the internet!!!

Here’s the link to the article, in case you missed it above:

Firefox 3 Memory Usage « pavlov.net

Salesman grief…

Okay, my last post was about using email as a File Transfer Medium, and what alternatives were out there.  This post was in response to a Sales Person at Utechsoft.com (I suppose the makers of File Catalyst).  So, first, a little background:

I contacted Unlimi-Tech Software as I was interested in their File Catalyst product.  The File Catalyst product does quite a few things that I wanted, such as LDAP Authentication, file upload, and receipient emails.  The only thing it didn’t do, that I wanted, was an Address Book Lookup, which, I’m told by the developers, that it’s in the works.

However, when demo’ing the product, I ran into an error where my end-recipients couldn’t access the file.  There was an error message.  No problem, these things happen.  I requested a "walk-through" which entailed a software developer troubleshooting the problem.  It turns out, that it was a programming error on their end, and they had to fix it.

1 week later, the sales person emails me back asking me to test using the new software.  At that point, I really didn’t want to keep testing.  I was done.  It did some things I wanted, not others, and for a price of between $10,000USD and $18,000USD, I was actually expecting more.  Now, before you start complaining about price, let me just say, I work for a large company, and I spend lots of money where I think it needs to be.  So, if it was worth it, I would spend that money.  I just don’t believe File Catalyst is worth it yet.  Especially after the fact that the technician had to debug their own problem on my machine.

Here is the email I received after the technician worked with me:

From: XXXXXXX
Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 10:18 AM
To: Aaron Paxson
Subject: FileCatalyst Webmail

Aaron,

You recently installed FC Webmail and walked through a quick online session with XXXX, technical engineer.

We would like to set up another session with you to walk you through the newest release and have you conduct you testing with this version.

Let me know when you would like to set up this web meeting next week.

Regards,

Okay, so moving on, I simply told the sales person that for the price, I felt that I shouldn’t be testing their software, and that I was no longer interested. I still feel I was professional, but I really didn’t want to continue. It was too expensive for what I received from it. Plus, I was a little disappointed that I had to help the technician debug their own problem. This was a pretty big problem, if the recipients couldn’t get the files. I mean…isn’t that the point?

My response was fair, I believe:

From: Aaron Paxson
Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 11:23 AM
To: XXXX
Subject: RE: FileCatalyst Webmail

No thank you, XXX. I have tested the application enough to see what it does, and how it does it. I feel the cost of the application is more than the Quality of Service that goes into the "production" application.

At this point, I feel like I’m "testing" your application for your developers than actually "demo’ing" it. There was no "walkthrough" on our last call, but merely a helpdesk call for your developer to troubleshoot the problem.

Again, for the price of this product, I just feel uncomfortable.

Thank you for your time.

Regards,
Aaron Paxson

I mean, I don’t think anyone can blame me for that, right?  I was disappointed in how it was handled, and I really do not feel I should continue.  Here is the response I received today, and the reason for this post:

From: XXXXXXX
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2008 9:34 AM
To: Aaron Paxson
Subject: RE: FileCatalyst Webmail

Aaron,

It is unfortunate that you have this impression and feel uncomfortable with our solution and the pricing.

You contacted us February 21/08 via an online request for information and download of FileCatalyst Webmail.

I responded by providing download instructions the same day and offered a web meeting to demo FileCatalyst Webmail.

On Feb. 28/08 you downloaded the software and proceeded to test independently prior to a thorough overview of our solution.

If price is the issue, I understand.

If you would like a complete “walkthrough” of Filecatalyst Webmail, I would be pleased to provide this to you.

Sincerely,
XXXXXX

Okay, maybe it’s just me, but this really ticked me off. It sounds like the salesman was going through a chronological timeline, to justify what he did, and then proceed to (and I’m paraphrasing here) tell me that I’m too stupid to test their product because I, "….proceeded to test independantly prior to a thorough overview of their solution.".

Let me tell you something… when an engineer has to get on my laptop, to test and troubleshoot the problem, then have the salesman send me the "latest version" to continue testing… it is NOT BECAUSE I proceeded to test independantly prior to a thorough overview.

At this point, my professionalism is leaving me, and I’m starting to get upset.  Here is my final email:

From: Aaron Paxson
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2008 9:44 AM
To: XXXX
Subject: RE: FileCatalyst Webmail

I had no problems testing your software. But, recall, there was an error in the software that your software developer had to be on the call for, troubleshoot, then fix the problem.

This had nothing to do with "not having a thorough overview". By sending me an email and implying that I had these problems because I "failed to receive a thorough overview", because I, "proceeded to test independantly" has me feeling that it was my ignorance that caused the problem.

If it was because I "tested independantly prior to a thorough overview of your solution", then why send me the "latest version" to proceed to test with.

I wanted a demo, not be a ginea pig. The demo didn’t work, and I am moving on. So should you.

Thank you for your time.

Regards,
Aaron Paxson

Now, I’m not saying that their product is bad.  But, I did have a bad experience.  If you choose File Catalyst as your FileTransfer server, just be cautious.  And if you happen to have a salesman like this, just drop the product all together.  It’s not worth it.  I have better things to do.

What’s the most humerous piece of this??  Well, I received a comment from ANOTHER sales-person about the same product.  I’m done….

Tags: filecatalyst, file catalyst, email, attachment, transfer

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Email as a File Transfer Medium?

It is getting out-of-hand. Users are treating email as a file-transfer medium. Even if the other person is sitting 3 desks down. Rather than saving their files to the network, they "feel" it’s easier to just attach it, and send it to the other person’s mailbox.

It’s getting worse. Nowadays, Marketing files are getting overwhelmingly (is that a word?) large. We are now using email to transfer Marketing campaigns, video’s, and Magazine layout files. Where did we go wrong? And don’t get me started on the oversized 5MB photos of someone’s mom’s birthday with those 7 megapixel cameras.

I’m guessing it’s because everyone is so used to using email, it just became second nature. Now, of course I’ve implemented the size-restriction policy. Most of the medium/large-sized business have. BUT, you also can’t stop business processes either.  If they gotta have it, they gotta have it.

If Company A has a critical financial spreadsheet that Company B must have, and it is 25MB in size, do you just tell them they are out of luck? Unless you want to lose your job, you temporarily give them access.

Of course, you have the other alternative, which is setup an FTP server. That way, you can give your user’s access to their own "folder", and drop files in there for the "outside" user’s. But, what if an outside user shouldn’t see another outside user’s data, from the same internal user’s folder?

Now, you are back to heavy administration. You’ve alleviated the database size problem from email, and moved over to an administrative overhead of maintaining user accounts and permissions.

Really, the best option is to setup a web-enabled file transfer application. This type of application allows end-users to "upload" the files they want to transmit, and type in the recipient’s email address. An email is then submitted, on the user’s behalf, with a link to download the file. Now, you’ve moved from a push (synchronous) technology, to a pull (asynchronous) technology. AND, if the user doesn’t want it, you are not forced to use up the bandwidth.

A perfect solution. I haven’t found many products to do what I want, though. Either, they are too expensive, or they don’t do what I want. So, I’m half-way thinking just making our own web application. Jeez, it can’t be that hard?

Anyone have any suggestions on products they use, to alleviate using email to transfer files, but still use email to notify users of the files?

Technorati Tags: email, ftp, transfer, server, web, size

Captaris Rightfax First User Group!

For the first time, a Captaris Rightfax User Group is forming in Minn, with it’s first event set in Feb.

If you are not familiar with RightFax, it is an electronic fax delivery and document conversion application, which can scale extremely well. It also offers software development kits (SDK’s) for those that want custom integration into your ERP systems, and can integrate into some messaging/ERP systems out of the box.

If you were ever wishing you could centralize your inbound/outbound faxing due to regulatory compliance, or just for accurate metrics, RightFax can also integrate with most MFP (Multi-Function Printers), which includes your All-in-one HP printer/fax/copier.  Also, your high-end copier/fax machiens should also integrate well with it (but ask your rep first).

I’m a huge fan of user groups. Not only does it allow you to network with your peers with similar interests, but you can learn how they solved certain solutions, and, at the same time, learn new items that the User Group discusses.

Although, the User Group is only as successful as it’s sponsers and community, it is uncertain who will sponser and lead the User Group at this time. However, there is one company sponsering the first event, which is Dynamic Solutions Group. Companies such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, ING Group, and United Health Group will attend and share their experiences.

The User Group will be held in Minneapolis, Minn on Feb 22, 2008 at the Embassy Suites Hotel.

For more information on the User Group, or for attendance details, see the press release (PDF)

Rightfax and Cisco integration using PRI

Rightfax, a Captaris product that centralizes Desktop Faxing and Electronic Document Delivery. I purchased Rightfax to help my company integrating Fax solutions, and save on maintenance and labor costs associated with manual faxing.

I purchased Rightfax with a digital PRI Brooktrout board (specifically a TR1034+E4H+T1+1N). Now, this board also supports T.38. So, why did I choose to use the digital PRI? Well, up till now, I haven’t had alot of luck using the T.38 protocol (probably due to my ignorance), and my users are starting to get very frustrated. So, for the time being, I chose to use PRI.

It took some soft massaging on both the Brooktrout, as well as on the Serial interface on my Cisco 3845, but I have it working. I will start with an overview of my design, before the implementation.

Here is the corresponding configuration on my Cisco 3845:

controller T1 0/0/0
  framing esf
  clock source internal
  linecode b8zs
  pri-group timeslots 1-4,24
  description RIGHTFAX
!
! Config Snipped
!
interface Serial0/0/0:23
  no ip address
  encapsulation hdlc
  isdn switch-type primary-dms100
  isdn protocol-emulate network
  isdn incoming-voice voice
  no cdp enable
!
! Config snipped
!
dial-peer voice 6799 pots
  destination-pattern 6799
  no digit-strip
  port 0/0/0:23

Okay, so here is some specifics:

CONTROLLER T1 0/0/0

• clock source internal - I am receiving my clock source from one of my T1’s from the Telco side.  This command passes the clock source internally on the backplane, for this controller
• pri-group timeslots 1-4,24 - I only have 4 channels licensed on the PRI card for RightFax.  Thus, I only want to allocate those channels.  Channel 24 is required for the D-channel.

INTERFACE SERIAL 0/0/0:23

• isdn switch-type primary-dms100 - This will change based on your configuration.  I am only using it, since I’m using it on my other PRI’s from the telco.  Whatever you choose, you must make sure it’s matched on the Brooktrout card.
• isdn protocol-emulate network - THIS IS INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT!!  Rightfax expects to be talking to the telco, not another device.

DIAL-PEER VOICE 6799 POTS

• destination-pattern 6799 - This will change based on your dialplan.  I chose to use a specific number for testing.  Generally, you will create a pattern for your fax numbers.
• no digit-strip - If you will be using DID numbers (you probably are), then you’ll need to send the number along to RightFax.  In order to do that, we need to send the digits on, so RightFax can use them to sort out the correct Fax mailbox.
• port 0/0/0:23 - This just directs the call to the Serial interface for Rightfax.

That’s really it.  I kept the default configuration on the Brooktrout card, except for the ISDN config (Protocol Options under the Port A tab).  For the ISDN config, I just chose what I’ve configured here (i.e. B8ZS, DMS-100 switch, etc).  Oh, and you need to modify the max. DID digits.  By default, it is set to ‘0′, so I assumed that meant no limit.  No, that means 0 digits.  Change it.
Good LUCK!!!

Styx Update

Styx now has it’s own webpage. I had to put it in googlepages since Javaforge won’t do web hosting Which makes me irritable, since they were doing web hosting when I first checked them out!

The site is in it’s extreme infancy, since I just started it today, but plan for much more information in the very near future. I can’t wait for this project to really take off!

Anyway, the project site is located here.

I’m calling it a 0.01 release. It won’t be a 0.1 release, until I have two tasks completed. Which one of them is already 95% done.

It’s the Network. No it’s NOT!

Hasn’t everyone received this reason for practically every problem that exists in business? My computer won’t open Outlook…. It’s the Network! My system is running slow… It’s the Network! My chair won’t swivel… It’s the Network! It’s getting ridiculous.

Quite a frustrating incident today. One of our database servers was running incredibly slow. A user calls me up informing me about it. Upon looking at the server, their process was pegging the CPU at 100%.

I merely told them there wasn’t much I can do. The server is giving them everything it’s got (Quoting Scotty with a scottish accent). I was then told, “Well, we do this every month, and it’s never done this before”. I merely said (paraphrasing, of course), “I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe you have more calculations, data, etc etc”.

I then realized, that this user was attempting to train me in the ways of Net-Fu, and why it is the Wireless network that was causing the slow down. I must have been trained well in the Net-Fu skills, as that was a VERY enlightening experience for me. What level of ascension allows CPU cycles to be affected by Wireless RF signals? I need more training………..

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OpenOffice vs Microsoft Office: Which one??

So, many of you know my sincere and utter disliking to Microsoft.  That is not to say they do not have great products… I can name a few (and only a few) that are superb products (and the majority of those were done by acquisition).

Microsoft Office is not one of them.  OpenOffice is a fantastic business productivity suite that is perfect for your small business, and most likely, even for your medium-sized businesses.  Your Large Businesses can afford to waste money to Microsoft (grin… sorry… had to say it).  No, they just have the resources to make the most out of Microsoft Office.

So, which is better?  Well, TechTarget has an article that describes just that.  They do not actually choose, but they give you some research and some opinions to help YOU choose.

Personally, I love OpenOffice.  I am also very impressed that the next version of OpenOffice will include Pentaho’s Business Reporting software.  Definately a good move, if they want to take on the Microsoft Giant.  Can’t wait to see it.  It’s planned for OpenOffice 2.3.

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I use OpenOffice for 80% of my needs, and no one (i.e. other Microsoft Office users) seems to notice a thing.

Technorati Tags: business, technology, productivity suite, openoffice, microsoft office

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