Famous Failures

What do Michael Jordan, Thomas Edison, Walt Disney, Abraham Lincoln, Lucille Ball, Ulysses S. Grant, and The Beatles have in common?

Copying ElasticFox Tags from One Browser to Another

The ElasticFox Firefox extension allows you to tag EC2 instances, EBS volumes, EBS snapshots, Elastic IPs, and AMIs. ElasticFox’s tags are stored locally within Firefox, so if you use ElasticFox from more than one browser your tags from one browser are not visible in any other browser.  Also, if your browser crashes you may lose your tags - so back them up.

Manually Copy ElasticFox Tags
Use this method to manually copy ElasticFox tags for backup or copy to another machine.

1. Open about:config (enter about:config in address field of Firefox.
2. In the filter field enter the word, "tags."
3. Copy entries with data in the value field such as:
1. ec2ui.eiptags...
2. ec2ui.instancetags...
3. ec2ui.volumetags...
4. ec2ui.snapshotTags...

See full article, which covers:

• How to Export ElasticFox Settings
• How to Import ElasticFox SettingsCopying ElasticFox Tags to Another Browser Manually
• Copying ElasticFox Tags to Another Browser with OPIE
• Copying ElasticFox Tags to Another Browser with Shell Scripts

"Tech Star" - Parody of Nickelback's "Rock Star"

Tech Star Lyrics

I'm through with standing in line for a bullshit promotion,
Working for a luddite who ain't got a notion.
This career hasn't turned out quite the way I want it to be.

(So tell me what you want?)

I want to join a start-up in the digital space,
And build a rock star business just like Steve Case,
Or better Sergey and Larry or Mark or Evan Jack and Biz.

(So what you need?)

I need some VC funding from a quality firm,
Have to watch the dilution and the other terms,
Don't want to give away too much precious equity.

(Been there, done that.)

I want to build a business with lots of scale,
That levereges real time / local / long tail,
Then sell it for $100 mil seems fine to me.

(So how you gonna do it?)

We'll build an iPhone app, distribute it for free,
Then monetize with ads that target to a tee.

'Cause we all just want to be big tech stars,
Second time entrepreneurs with exits and scars.
The backing comes easy and the money comes cheap,
We'll sell it before we get in too deep.
And I'll tweet my drivel like a digital player,
And check in everywhere so I can be Mayor.
Spend all my time on conference panels,
Which will all be covered in the digital annals.
Hey, hey, I wanna be a tech star.
Hey, hey, I wanna be a tech star.

Now digital innovation's back in spades,
The traditional players are digging their graves.
They claim pay walls will be their savior.

(But you can't change ingrained consumer behavior.)

We'll use cloud computing and open source,
And Facebook for free distribution of course.
Gonna do it all without a need for a series B.

(So how you gonna do it?)

We'll build an iPhone app, distribute it for free,
Then monetize with ads that target to a tee.

'Cause we all just want to be big tech stars,
Second time entrepreneurs with exits and scars.
The backing comes easy and the money comes cheap,
We'll sell it before we get in too deep.
And I'll tweet my drivel like a digital player,
And check in everywhere so I can be Mayor.
Spend all my time on conference panels,
Which will all be covered in the digital annals.

And the markets and deals are back for sure,
Thank God the doomsday call was premature.
The big companies are chock full of cash,
And all I'm lookin' for is my own little stash, well. . .

Hey, hey, I wanna be a tech star.

I'll hire the staffers and the engineers,
And pay them with options, pizza and beers.
I'll get laid off bankers to do all my deals,
Maybe a smoking hot salesperson in high heels.

'Cause we all just want to be big tech stars,
Second time entrepreneurs with exits and scars.
The backing comes easy and the money comes cheap,
We'll sell it before we get in too deep.
And I'll tweet my drivel like a digital player,
And check in everywhere so I can be Mayor.
Spend all my time on conference panels,
Which will all be covered in the digital annals.

And to ensure we get a sky-high price,
We'll hire the best bank to give is advice.
Getting the right team is very worthwhile,
Everybody should have these guys on speed dial.

Hey, hey, I wanna be a tech star.
Hey, hey, I wanna be a tech star.

Clonezilla

You're probably familiar with the popular proprietary commercial package Norton Ghost®. The problem with these kind of software packages is that it takes a lot of time to massively clone systems to many computers. You've probably also heard of Symantec's solution to this problem, Symantec Ghost Corporate Edition® with multicasting. Well, now there is an OpenSource clone system (OCS) solution called Clonezilla with unicasting and multicasting!

Clonezilla, based on DRBL, Partclone and udpcast, allows you to do bare metal backup and recovery. Two types of Clonezilla are available, Clonezilla live and Clonezilla SE (server edition). Clonezilla live is suitable for single machine backup and restore. While Clonezilla SE is for massive deployment, it can clone many (40 plus!) computers simultaneously. Clonezilla saves and restores only used blocks in the harddisk. This increases the clone efficiency. At the NCHC's Classroom C, Clonezilla SE was used to clone 41 computers simultaneously. It took only about 10 minutes to clone a 5.6 GBytes system image to all 41 computers via multicasting!

Features of Clonezilla

• Free (GPL) Software.
• Filesystem supported: (1) ext2, ext3, ext4, reiserfs, reiser4, xfs, jfs of GNU/Linux, (2) FAT, NTFS of MS Windows, (3) HFS+ of Mac OS, (4) UFS of FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD, and (5) VMFS of VMWare ESX. Therefore you can clone GNU/Linux, MS windows, Intel-based Mac OS, and FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD, no matter it's 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x86-64) OS. For these file systems, only used blocks in partition are saved and restored. For unsupported file system, sector-to-sector copy is done by dd in Clonezilla.
• LVM2 (LVM version 1 is not) under GNU/Linux is supported.
• Grub (version 1 and version 2) is supported.
• Multicast is supported in Clonezilla SE, which is suitable for massively clone. You can also remotely use it to save or restore a bunch of computers if PXE and Wake-on-LAN are supported in your clients.
• Based on Partclone (default), Partimage (optional), ntfsclone (optional), or dd to image or clone a partition. However, Clonezilla, containing some other programs, can save and restore not only partitions, but also a whole disk.
• By using another free software drbl-winroll, which is also developed by us, the hostname, group, and SID of cloned MS windows machine can be automatically changed.

Learn more and download Clonezilla.

Clonezilla Kicks Ghost's Ass!

Back in '93 I found a great little utility called Ghost, which could quickly and easily clone DOS or Windows (3.1, 95, NT) computers.  I used to teach week-long IT training classes and had to set a dozen or so computers back to default settings in order for each class to start fresh.  Ghost.exe was awesome & did the job easily and quickly.  I wish I could remember the name of the developer - he was a nice fellow from down under, New Zealand if I remember correctly. I spoke with him a few times about using Ghost & gave him some feedback from my perspective.  I used it for several years and it was great!

Then along came Symantec who bought Ghost (I think Norton actually bought Ghost, then Symantec bought them).  No matter.  They screwed it up royally.  Just like they do with about everything they buy.  Oh, they don't have the corner on screwing things up - Microsoft, CA and myriad others do the same thing.

Anyway, Clonezilla is a fresh new product that gets back to the basics of cloning.  Here's a little from the Clonezilla site:

Clonezilla, based on DRBL, Partclone and udpcast, allows you to do bare metal backup and recovery. Two types of Clonezilla are available, Clonezilla live and Clonezilla SE (server edition). Clonezilla live is suitable for single machine backup and restore. While Clonezilla SE is for massive deployment, it can clone many (40 plus!) computers simultaneously. Clonezilla saves and restores only used blocks in the harddisk. This increases the clone efficiency. At the NCHC's Classroom C, Clonezilla SE was used to clone 41 computers simultaneously. It took only about 10 minutes to clone a 5.6 GBytes system image to all 41 computers via multicasting!

Features of Clonezilla

• Free (GPL) Software.
• Filesystem supported: (1) ext2, ext3, ext4, reiserfs, reiser4, xfs, jfs of GNU/Linux, (2) FAT, NTFS of MS Windows, (3) HFS+ of Mac OS, (4) UFS of FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD, and (5) VMFS of VMWare ESX. Therefore you can clone GNU/Linux, MS windows, Intel-based Mac OS, and FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD, no matter it's 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x86-64) OS. For these file systems, only used blocks in partition are saved and restored. For unsupported file system, sector-to-sector copy is done by dd in Clonezilla.
• LVM2 (LVM version 1 is not) under GNU/Linux is supported.
• Grub (version 1 and version 2) is supported.
• Multicast is supported in Clonezilla SE, which is suitable for massively clone. You can also remotely use it to save or restore a bunch of computers if PXE and Wake-on-LAN are supported in your clients.
• Based on Partclone (default), Partimage (optional), ntfsclone (optional), or dd to image or clone a partition. However, Clonezilla, containing some other programs, can save and restore not only partitions, but also a whole disk.
• By using another free software drbl-winroll, which is also developed by us, the hostname, group, and SID of cloned MS windows machine can be automatically changed. 

Read more about Clonezilla, download it and check it out.

Swiss File Knife - the open source file tree processor

Swiss File Knife is a free multi function command line tool that belongs onto every USB stick. SFK can be downloaded from sourceforge. this package contains binaries, source and buildscripts for Windows and Linux. You may also download just the Windows executable sfk.exe or the Linux binary for Ubuntu or DSL. No installation, no registry entries, no DLL's - one exe handles all.

How to Backup Exchange 2007 Databases using Exchange 2007 SP2 VSS plug-in

There are many frustrated admins regarding backing up exchange 2007 on windows 2008 with windows server backup.Microsoft has been released VSS plug-in with exchange server 2007 SP2 as a solution for this problem.I will show you how to backup and restore to Original location and alternative location using VSS-plug-in in this multi part article. In the first article contain how to backup and restore to original location.

See full article which covers:

• Backing Up Exchange 2007 SP2 on Windows 2008 SP2
• Restoring Databases to Original Location

Simulate SQL Server Activity on a Disk Subsystem with SQLIOSim from Microsoft

The SQLIOSim utility simulates the I/O patterns of Microsoft SQL Server 2005, of SQL Server 2000, and of SQL Server 7.0. The I/O patterns of these versions of SQL Server resemble one another. The SQLIOStress utility has been used to test SQL Server 2005 I/O requirements for many years.

For more information and to download SQLIOSim utility from Microsoft see KB231619.

NOTE: The SQLIOSim utility replaces the SQLIOStress utility. The SQLIOStress utility was formerly named the SQL70IOStress utility.

Email To SMS Address List - US Cell Providers

Ever wanted (or needed) to send an email to a cell phone via SMS?  It's easy - as long as you know the cell phone carrier and their SMS/email domain name.

US & Canadian Carriers

3 River Wireless

• 10digitphonenumber@sms.3rivers.net

ACS Wireless

• 10digitphonenumber@paging.acswireless.com

Alltel

• 10digitphonenumber@message.alltel.com

AT&T

• 10digitphonenumber@txt.att.net

Bell Canada

• 10digitphonenumber@txt.bellmobility.ca

Bell Canada

• 10digitphonenumber@bellmobility.ca

Bell Mobility (Canada)

• 10digitphonenumber@txt.bell.ca

Bell Mobility

• 10digitphonenumber@txt.bellmobility.ca

Blue Sky Frog

• 10digitphonenumber@blueskyfrog.com

Bluegrass Cellular

• 10digitphonenumber@sms.bluecell.com

Boost Mobile

• 10digitphonenumber@myboostmobile.com

BPL Mobile

• 10digitphonenumber@bplmobile.com

Carolina West Wireless

• 10digit10digitnumber@cwwsms.com

Cellular One

• 10digitphonenumber@mobile.celloneusa.com

Cellular South

• 10digitphonenumber@csouth1.com

Centennial Wireless

• 10digitphonenumber@cwemail.com

CenturyTel

• 10digitphonenumber@messaging.centurytel.net

Cingular (Now AT&T)

• 10digitphonenumber@txt.att.net

Clearnet

• 10digitphonenumber@msg.clearnet.com

Comcast

• 10digitphonenumber@comcastpcs.textmsg.com

Corr Wireless Communications

• 10digitphonenumber@corrwireless.net

Dobson

• 10digitphonenumber@mobile.dobson.net

Edge Wireless

• 10digitphonenumber@sms.edgewireless.com

Fido

• 10digitphonenumber@fido.ca

Golden Telecom

• 10digitphonenumber@sms.goldentele.com

Helio

• 10digitphonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com

Houston Cellular

• 10digitphonenumber@text.houstoncellular.net

Idea Cellular

• 10digitphonenumber@ideacellular.net

Illinois Valley Cellular

• 10digitphonenumber@ivctext.com

Inland Cellular Telephone

• 10digitphonenumber@inlandlink.com

MCI

• 10digitphonenumber@pagemci.com

Metrocall

• 10digitpagernumber@page.metrocall.com

Metrocall 2-way

• 10digitpagernumber@my2way.com

Metro PCS

• 10digitphonenumber@mymetropcs.com

Microcell

• 10digitphonenumber@fido.ca

Midwest Wireless

• 10digitphonenumber@clearlydigital.com

Mobilcomm

• 10digitphonenumber@mobilecomm.net

MTS

• 10digitphonenumber@text.mtsmobility.com

Nextel

• 10digitphonenumber@messaging.nextel.com

OnlineBeep

• 10digitphonenumber@onlinebeep.net

PCS One

• 10digitphonenumber@pcsone.net

President's Choice

• 10digitphonenumber@txt.bell.ca

Public Service Cellular

• 10digitphonenumber@sms.pscel.com

Qwest

• 10digitphonenumber@qwestmp.com

Rogers AT&T Wireless

• 10digitphonenumber@pcs.rogers.com

Rogers Canada

• 10digitphonenumber@pcs.rogers.com

Satellink

• 10digitpagernumber.pageme@satellink.net

Southwestern Bell

• 10digitphonenumber@email.swbw.com

Sprint

• 10digitphonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com

Sumcom

• 10digitphonenumber@tms.suncom.com

Surewest Communicaitons

• 10digitphonenumber@mobile.surewest.com

T-Mobile

• 10digitphonenumber@tmomail.net

Telus

• 10digitphonenumber@msg.telus.com

Tracfone

• 10digitphonenumber@txt.att.net

Triton

• 10digitphonenumber@tms.suncom.com

Unicel

• 10digitphonenumber@utext.com

US Cellular

• 10digitphonenumber@email.uscc.net

Solo Mobile

• 10digitphonenumber@txt.bell.ca

Sprint

• 10digitphonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com

Sumcom

• 10digitphonenumber@tms.suncom.com

Surewest Communicaitons

• 10digitphonenumber@mobile.surewest.com

T-Mobile

• 10digitphonenumber@tmomail.net

Telus

• 10digitphonenumber@msg.telus.com

Triton

• 10digitphonenumber@tms.suncom.com

Unicel

• 10digitphonenumber@utext.com

US Cellular

• 10digitphonenumber@email.uscc.net

US West

• 10digitphonenumber@uswestdatamail.com

Verizon

• 10digitphonenumber@vtext.com

Virgin Mobile

• 10digitphonenumber@vmobl.com

Virgin Mobile Canada

• 10digitphonenumber@vmobile.ca

West Central Wireless

• 10digitphonenumber@sms.wcc.net

Western Wireless

• 10digitphonenumber@cellularonewest.com

Tail for Windows 7, Vista, 2008, etc.

Tail for Win32 is the Windows version of the UNIX 'tail -f' command.

Features

• Watch multiple files in realtime
• Detect keyword matches, and highlight occurences
• Send mail notifications on keyword matches by SMTP or MAPI
• Plugin architecture allows you to write specialised handlers
• Can process files of any size on all types of drive (local or networked)

Tail for Win32 can be used to monitor changes to files; displaying the changed lines in realtime. This makes Tail ideal for watching log files.  Tail has a plugin architecture, which allows notifications to occur when certain keywords are detected in monitored files. At the moment a MAPI plugin is available, and work is in progress on an SMTP version.

Download Tail for Win32 at the SourceForge project page.