Python, Xen and just plain tired.

Its been a while since I've updated the blog. One of my New Year's resolutions is to get into a daily routine with this thing. We'll see how I do.

It's been a busy couple of weeks, lots of items to share.

job:
I acquired the position of VPS "manager" or "maintainer" however you want to look at it. I am actually the first one to fill this position at the company as before no one really spent much time with the boxes. I've kinda squirmed my way into the role. I've learned a lot about Virtuozzo and honestly I can say that I am not that impressed. As a system it lacks features that I would prefer both from a system administration position and a prospective customer point of view. However, I've significantly increased the performance of our boxes, one reason I think I got the job. We used to have 10-20 entries in our Nagios page at any one time, regarding VZ parents or instances and now I'd say we may have 10 in a day total. Not to mention the product has received some praise on Webhostingtalk.com and from customers. So, thats good news!

hacklab:
I've been working to get a Xen server up for hacklab, if I haven't mentioned hacklab before its a group of people that get together each week and work on computers. We have all levels of experience and really are still working to get organized. We've made some advancements in person, however its been a bit of a hassle getting everyone there. So two weeks ago I came up with the idea of just doing remote meetings, using 37signals' Campfire product and Xen instances. Carl and I were able to get a machine up but I've had some issue getting it configured. I believe, as strange as it sounds, that it has issues with my two physical volumes created with LVM. I am going to reinstall, putting the dom0 install on the disk directly and then leaving LVM for the Xen instances. We'll see how that goes.

I've learned a lot about Xen though, pretty neat system. Relatively easy to configure (once the bugs are worked out). I am excited to use it in some of my pursuits, as I believe it is the future. What I really like about it is getting rid of the hardware layer. Xen allows you to move instances from machine to machine. The idea of having another system there that I can move a "full installation" (in the Xen instance) to is just sexy. I've got some plans for it.

programming:
I've been working a bit on some programming projects. One is a billing program and the other a help desk system. I was originally going to hack from scratch some Ruby system and framework with which to build in. I then decided to just use Rails as it has some great features. However, after not having used Rails in about 2 years, coming back to it wasn't so easy. They've changed so much and it is so bloated now. Very frustrating (I am not the only one it appears).

So after looking around I've been working to figure out where to go. Surprisingly I decided to move to Python as a language and use the freakin fabulous web.py. So far I've really enjoyed it although learning Python has been really all I've been working on. Last weekend I read "Learning Python" and grabbed a bunch of details I was missing. Today I picked up another small book and am working my way through "Python Cookbook". I also implemented a module at work that abstracts some of the Virtuozzo commands I use on a daily basis (this should help with our Windows VPS products).

Web.py is what Reddit is/was written in. It is written by the immensely talented Aaron Swartz. I'll post more about it as I get further into hacking on it.

Other than that, sleep, food and married life. :)

I'll post more. I hope. I need to set aside a time each day to write out a post. I really want to get into essay writing so that I don't sound like an idiot with my writing (see above). I have a lot to say. :)

Hope all is well on your side of the screen.