RoAkSoAx’s Weblog

Hi all,

An hour ago I upgraded my Lucid desktop to the latest updates available and after the upgrade, I noticed that some Folders I had in the ‘Desktop’ where missing. I tried to see if they were hidden or if it was just a weird bug that was not actually showing the files but it wasn’t… so yeah I guess that something caused the data loss after the upgrade!! so BE CAREFULL!

UPDATE: I’ve filed a bug LP: #543822. However, this bug is not reproducible. The data loss just happened after an upgrade. I haven’t seen this behavior again after any other upgrades i’ve been making. So i guess there’s nothing to be alarmed.

Continuing with the Ubuntu Cluster Stack testing, it is the time now for Load Balancing. During las UDS, we discussed that we should based the Load Balancing as part of the Ubuntu Cluster Stack using Keepalived due to its speed. However, since the main Cluster Stack is based in Pacemaker, we decided to do Load Balancing with Pacemaker/ldirectord too.

The wikipage showing the procedure is THIS ONE. If you find any bugs in the documentation, please let us know by leaving your comments at the END of the wikipage in preparation for the Documentation that might be included in the Ubuntu Server Guide.

All the packages are now in the archives. So please test the configurations and if you find any bugs, please report them in LP .

I was wondering how many people out there use loadbalancers based in Heartbeat/ldirectord/ipvsadm? If you do in Ubuntu Hardy 8.04, have you already considered an update path into Pacemaker based clusters? If you have, would you go for Pacemaker/OpenAIS (The New Technology) or stay with Pacemaker/Heartbeat (Will now be supported by Linbit for an undetermined period of time).

Please, let me know.

Thank you .

PS. This is just something that I wan’t to know and has nothing to do about with the Ubuntu Cluster Stack Goals!

The last week of December 2009 I had a surgery. This surgery was supposed to keep me away from computers for just a week or two at most. However, after the second week of the recovery process, doctors discovered a serious complication that was the result of the first surgery. So, I had a second emergency surgery that kept me in bed for the past two weeks and a half.I’m finally recovering and I’m much better. I’m actually able to use the computer to read and reply emails. However, I’m not going to be able to work on Ubuntu related stuff at least for a month. I’ve even lost 1 month of classes, and I’m not even back in the US yet.

Anyways.. the important thing is that I’m recovering and that I’m coming back to the US really soon so that I can restart my normal life!

Hopefully I can catch up with school real soon so that I can restart contributing . Anyways.. I’m going back to bed .

The past two days I’ve not been around because I just had a surgery on Saturday Morning. The pain (that I still have) has kept me out of my computer, since I’ve been lying in bed. This is my first attempt to use my computer after the surgery, however I’m still in pain (and dizzy) and it seems i’ll be away for a couple more days.

Anyways.. I’m off to rest and i’ll try to come back later today to start working on the things I promised .

I finally finished my first semester as a Graduate Student!! After the UDS I just had 3 more weeks to go of school… and man!! they have been quite busy weeks!! Now it is time to chill for a couple days and to restart doing some MOTU work.

Anyways… I’m really glad my first semester is over… and I’m really happy cause tomorrow I’ll be taking a plane to come back to Peru for the Holidays!! Hopefully this time I’ll be able to go to Cusco and visit Macchu Picchu. (Yes I’m Peruvian and I’ve lived there pretty much all my life but never went there!!).

About two months ago I made a post where I mentioned how I introduced some friends into Ubuntu… They showed their desired to see what it was and how it worked. The post is here: The Need to Ubuntize people.

Anyways, the thing is that before going to the UDS I showed one of my friends Ubuntu working with full Compiz Effects and he was just amazed. He told me it just looks like a Mac!! I told him… well they are similar and explained to him the whole concept behind Unix and Linux again. Back from the UDS, I brought back some CDs and the Ubuntu User Magazine. I gave a CD and the Magazine to him (with some stickers) and he was just excited about it. The thing is that today he told me: “I just installed Ubuntu and I love it!!.” First of all I though, “wow, he just did it by himself without requiring my help!!”… and well, he did it using Wubi… but, that doesn’t not matter… he gave first step by jumping into it by himself!!

Anyways, after he told me that he was using Ubuntu for quite a few hours, he was setting up all he needed. He got Empathy and Evolution with his accounts working without any help. However, he couldn’t set up three things: Skype, Flash Player, and Music!! I helped him out and showed him how easy it was to install everything…

First, I told him to use the Ubuntu Software Center to install the Adobe Flash Player, but he couldn’t find it there… I browse it by myself and It was there indeed… but the thing was that he just couldn’t find it. For me, this means that there are still things to improve in the Ubuntu Software Center to make it easier for people to install new software.

Second, He told me that he was having difficulty playing his music. I just showed him how to install the codecs by clicking the song and leaving the Player to find it by itself and that’s it. I also showed him how to install Skype.

Anyways, after resolving all the issues he just kept telling me how amazed he was with Ubuntu. He told me, “it is so much faster than Windows, it is so straight forward and easy to use, and I just love it”. He loved it so much that he is still using it in this same exact moment, and its been more than 12 hours!! He also kept telling me how much faster Karmic is in his old laptop in comparison to Windows!! And well… I’m just happy he enjoys it as much as I do.

In conclusion… Ubuntu ROCKS!! I’m very amazed that he did pretty much everything he needed without any help and that he loves it. He is just happy that he does not have the same problems he has with windows in the same time frame. Anyways, I guess that this is all thanks to the developers who put so much effort in the Upstream Projects, and to all of those who make Ubuntu Rock!!

Oh… btw… I almost forget… he said “Ubuntu is the future…”, “Windows is so gonna loose against Ubuntu…”, so… if a regular Windows user thinks this… I’m pretty sure people is just getting sicker and sicker of Windows and they are desperately looking for something new… and unfortunately for us… some of them are switching to Mac because they do not know anything else… so this is where we should show them that there is a whole world besides just Windows and Mac… and this world is the Linux world, and from mine opinion… I would drive them into Ubuntu!!

Today we had the Ubuntu Cluster Stack session at the Ubuntu Developer Summit in Dallas, Texas. We made a few decisions regarding the future goals of the ubuntu-ha team summarized as follows:

Failover Cluster Stack: We decided to continue to fully support redhat-cluster-suite, as well as openais /corosync and pacemaker. However, we will also track Heartbeat 3.0 since LinBit has decided to step up and continue to maintain Heartbeat 3.0 for an undetermined period of time (No new features though, see post here). This way, those who still don’t want to upgrade to pacemaker/openais, will have the opportunity to upgrade to Heartbeat 3.0 + Pacemaker.

Load Balacing: We decided to experiment with keepalived and ipvsadm because of the simplicity and speed of keepalived. This also led us to provide bonding that works out of the Box.

Actions:

1. The first step will be document simple installation/configuration of the different clustering tools to help with any possible transition/testing. This includes: Pacemaker-Corosync/Openais, Pacemaker-Heartbeat 3.0, RHCS, Keepalived/ipvsadm.
2. Be more active in upstream, since lots of Ubuntu users are asking for help in upstream channels (#linux-cluster, #linux-ha). Also, work with Debian on getting Pacemaker/corosync working as best as possible (To set as default cluster stack in the future).
3. And, off course, update packages to latest upstream release as possible, and do this in collaboration with Debian.

Once we finish these actions, we’ll continue with some of other objectives we would like to achieve. If anyone has any suggestions please feel free to post.

I finally arrived to Dallas few hours ago!!!  Right now I’m hanging out at the Hotel’s lounge with a whole bunch of other Ubuntu Developers!! I’ve already met some however I might not have identified all of them… but soon when everybody is with their name tags.

Anyways… this is so exiting… I really look forward to this week!!

Yesterday I was working on my old laptop and I had to move location, so I disconnected my laptop from the power outlet in the wall. After doing this, my screen started flickering and showing strange lines, from time to time different colors and stuff like that. This is the second time that happens to me… however I got it fixed the first time and I do not know how.

The same behavior is shown during booting process (POST), loading process and well… even when I connect to my laptop through VNC. I have not connected it yet to an external monitor because I do not have cables. You can see a screenshot here:

If anyone know what could be wrong, or a possible fix, let me know.