• Network Infrastructure,  personal

    New UPS

    April 26, 2007

    I just picked up one of those Geek Squad branded UPSs.  It’s nice.  The USB interface was picked right up by my Mac.  I then swapped it into my XP box and loaded up the software that it came with.  It’s flashy and gives me all the stats for the UPS.  I’ll miss my old APC UPS, but this one is way, way better, both in ratings and hopefully in the fact that it doesn’t kill any of my boxes when it blows…  It doesn’t have a network interface though, so I have it going into a FreeBSD box.  If the box detects a power outage on the UPS then…

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  • Network Infrastructure

    Zoneedit UI

    March 23, 2007

    A couple of years ago I posted that if you didn’t want to host your own DNS then you should look to Zoneedit to do it for you.  I recently caught a little flack for that.  Why?  Because the user interface sux.  Well, what do I have to say about that?  Well, I don’t care if the UI is bad – it works, and has for years.  Until I need something it can’t do or something better comes along them I’ll keep using it.

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  • Mac OS X,  Network Infrastructure

    Magic Packets

    February 6, 2007

    A Magic Packet is a broadcast frame with 6 bytes of ones (FF FF FF FF FF FF) followed by sixteen repetitions of the target systems Mac address.  Magic Packets can be sent as a broadcast packet of any network- and transport-layer protocol. The Mac supports Wake on LAN and therefore a sleeping Mac can be brought to life using a magic packet.  There are GUI wrappers that allow you to use Magic Packets, such as WOL, Nudge, etc.  Just search for Magic Packet or Wake On LAN on Version Tracker and I’m sure you’ll find plenty… These sometimes work for Windowz too, provided Wake on LAN support has been enabled.  …

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  • Business,  Consulting,  Network Infrastructure,  On the Road

    VoIP 101

    November 7, 2006

    I originally posted this at http://www.318.com/TechJournal As the name implies, VoIP refers to voice or phone calls that traverse data networks using Internet Protocol (IP). This may mean that the calls are going over the Internet, or it may simply mean calls are traveling over privately managed data networks that are using IP to transport the calls from one location to the other. This represents a fundamental change or shift in transportation and routing of traditional voice services work over analog wires. With VoIP, the voice stream is broken down into data packets, compressed and sent to its destination using the Internet (as opposed to establishing a ‘permanent’ connection for…

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  • Mac OS X,  Mac Security,  Network Infrastructure,  Windows XP

    Wireless Networking 101

    October 6, 2006

    I originally posted this at http://www.318.com/TechJournal Wireless networks use high frequency radio signals to connect computers to each other and to shared-resources for the transmission of data such as files, images or connection to the internet. This type of network is known as a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). Wireless networks offer most of the same ability as a traditional wired LAN. If your wired network has the ability to access the Internet today, then your wireless LAN will be able to as well. A wireless LAN typically consists of two components; a wireless network card and an access point. The access point serves as an aggregate point for all…

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