Thursday, December 20, 2007

W - Payload Website Mirroring

I have been testing rsync for copying files for the purpose of maintaining a true fail back mirror for HSTPLFSW on MNISUN.

1. Run options: Most of interactive runs are done by

rsync -avze ssh hstplfsw:/web/docs/payload1 /web/docs/payload1/

Notice that there is no / after the source location for a good reason. This creates a large log with the first level -v option (706,0192 bytes). The log file basically lists all the files that were "touched". For a run within cron job, it seems better to do it without -v option:

rsync -aze ssh hstplfsw:/web/docs/payload1 /web/docs/payload1/

This produces a very samll log since it supposed to list only error messages, or would it also list files where there is a change? I do not have chance to see any changes in the files yet. I just noticed that ACS has a 12/20 update. Let me just run rsync on ACS directory and see the way the file is updated and log is recorded.

2 Current rsync on hstlfsw is 2.6.5pre2, while MNISUN is running a slightly older version.
It might not be a problem, but I would like to upgrade both to newer stable versions.

3. It seems that we can install a BLOGing server on our website. I checked Apache website. Apache Roller seems quite nice and a good potential candidate. The question may be if it requires Tomcat and MySQL. That might be more work than what I can take on now.

Use my Blog for notes

It is hard the believe that I have not write anything on the BLOG for more than a year. Not that I don't have anything to write but it is not my habit to write it here.

Since this BLOG is really not public (I'll make sure that is the case), I can use it to record many areas of thoughts and progress. Just share it among friends, or people who need to know.

Friday, January 26, 2007

I am the "Hug Collector"

It is really simple why I call myself the HUG Collector. When our kids a young, I just love getting a big hug and even a kiss from them. As our boys grew older, all of a sudden, I found myself getting not quite that many hugs. It is perhaps a man thing in our culture that we don't hug much as we become more mature. Whatever the reason for my reduction of hugs might be, I found myself really missing them. So I started to institute a simple policy to collect a hug from our youngest boy Xander each day. Like the tax collector who collects taxes. Just like any "good" law makers (the tax collectors), my requirement for hug started to creep. Then I started to collect one hug a day from our middle boyTimothy as well. I guess I started that early enough, even though he is 12 now, he still automatically and habitually give me a hug whenever I hint at it.

That's how I become the "Hug Collector".

For a while, I was collecting a hug before I go to work, a bug when I get home and a hug before bedtime. That didn't last long because it was hard to enforce. Another variation I had was a usury clause. If they miss giving a hug, then it is 5 the next day. That is a bit harsh, isn't it? It was nice but it kinda dulls the fun of getting a hug, if he just stand there and counted 1, 2, ..., 6, open adn close his arm 6 times to give me a hug, and make up for the one from yesterday, that messed up even just that one hug now disguised as 6 hugs.

Well, just like everything, just keep it simple works the best. Now I just keep it one hug (minimum) a day. After seeing I collect hugs for these months and years, even my 14 year old Jonathan, who is as tall as me now, is pretty comfortable giving me hugs at various occasions. That was a wonderful bonus to have.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

So I have a BLOG too!!

Welcome to my BLOG.

After reading several people's blogs, esp. my son Jonathan's Xanga, and Keith Arthur's record of his fight with cancer, I think it is a good idea to have a blog too.

BLOG is really not something new for me. Years ago, I think it was 1981, before there was the term BLOG, I created something at work using a basic guest book CGI script and created a log utility for CCS Response Team that I worked on for NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Project. (CCS stands for Command Control System, it is the ground system for HST.) The log utility is used to record trouble calls Response Team received, and actions taken by Response Team. We called it simply a log utility. It is still being used by CCS Response Team. Later, I was tasked by my manager who is the liaison between CCS and HST project to modify and extend its functionality to allow HST DOC () and HST Flight Operations Team, each to have a BLOG. Neither one of them was actually used because they want something they "home grown".

I actually set up this account with Blogger.com before they were sold to Google, but I was testing it for a DC real estate investor who wanted to set up a BLOG on his business site. Blogger.com actually has an interface easy enough even for non-techinical person like him to run the Blog. After he paid me (very little, may I say) for a small website I set up for him, we parted ways because I was more interested in learning about RE investment but he just want to use my technical expertise but pay me as little as possible. After I understand his operation, it wasn't clear at all that his business is more concentrated on selling his books, tapes and courses or doing real estate. So we parted ways.

All that to say this is a simple idea whose time has come. This is a good implementation too. Allowing many customization that I would have hard time implementing.

In any case, have a great day!