UPS Monitoring

One of the things that I just hadn’t got around to after migrating to the new server was restoring my UPS monitoring.  The first time I set it up, it seemed pretty involved – partly because the version of Ubuntu I was using (Dapper) needed some special USB configuration.  Now that my server is on a more recent level of Ubuntu, it just works like it is supposed to.

The Ubuntu Community Documentation is well done and covers all the details.  Basically I needed to install apcupsd.  Reading through the known Linux USB issues listed on the APCUPSD site made my scratch my head a bit.  It tells you to check the file /proc/bus/usb/devices to see if the USB device is recognized.  My Ubuntu install doesn’t have this, I suspect it is due to usbfs not running.  The lsusb utility seems to find the device just fine:


$ lsusb
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 051d:0002 American Power Conversion Uninterruptible Power Supply
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

So I figured I’d install and see what happened.

sudo apt-get install apcupsd apcupsd-cgi

You’ll note that I installed the CGI package as well so I can check in via the web, this is optional.  You do need to do some minor configuration, this is covered in detail by the Ubuntu Community Documentation on apcupsd.  In my case it was set UPSCABLE usb; UPSTYPE usb; and comment out DEVICE in the file /etc/apcupsd/apcupsd.conf.  Then change ISCONFIGURED to yes in the /etc/default/apcupsd file.

All that was left was to start the service:

sudo /etc/init.d/apcupsd start

and test it using apcaccess.  I’ll leave the cgi-bin setup as an exercise for the reader.

So why bother doing this at all?  Well, the apcupsd service (daemon) will shut down the machine in a controlled manner if there is an extended power failure, configured correctly it will also come back up when the power has been restored.  Logs are also generated to indicate when power failures have happened.   Knowing when, and how long the power was out is comforting.

eXtreme Blue

IBM runs an internship (COOP) program called IBM Extreme Blue.  This is in addition to the regular internship (COOP) program, the difference is that the extreme blue program is the “best of the best”.  There are only a few IBM labs that host these projects, but they select students from a very broad base of students who have worked for IBM in previous work terms.

The teams are composed of 3 students focused on technical work, and 1 MBA who handles the business side of things.  Their goal is to take a concept and create a compelling business case for further investment (by IBM).  Think of this as a Start-Up on steroids – they’ve got less than 4 months to do it all.

This week all of the extreme blue students are gathered in Armonk, N.Y. where they will deliver their finely tuned pitches.  The audience will be composed of their fellow students, IBM mentors and most importantly IBM Executives.  Sam Palmisano is usually able to find time to take a brief tour of the booths that the students have setup, with a special stop at one of them for a deeper dive.

The Ottawa J9 team hosted an extreme blue project this year.  We used this to help take one of our prototype concepts further towards a complete business case.  I have to confess this is a bit of a teaser post – since I can’t disclose very much about the project.  You’ll have to speculate wildly based on the following image:

java_unlimited

You may want to check out the video clip from the local news station that talks about the IBM Ottawa Extreme Blue expo.

Our team has a long history of hiring our COOP students, its a great deal both ways.  The students know what they are walking into, and we’re got a better idea of what they are capable of.  Even I was a COOP student for the VM team way back when.  Each of the names involved with this project are top notch students -whoever manages to hire them will be lucky (and yes, we’ll be trying to).

Good luck in N.Y. this week guys!

Tool in Concert

Image0026-1Tool played the K-ROCK Centre in Kingston on Aug 4th.  The opening act was Tweak Bird – who managed to generate and impressive amount of sound with their 2 primary members (a 3rd joined them for a couple of songs on various ‘odd for a heavy metal band’ instruments: flute, sax).  If you want a sample of what they sounded like check out their MySpace page.

This was the 2nd time I’ve seen Tool in concert, and this was a very different experience than the last.  The 1st show I saw was in Ottawa at the Corel Centre, a much larger venue.  Also, this time we were in general admission (on the floor) vs. in seats.

The K-ROCK Centre has a concert capacity of 6500.  It was clear from the number of empty seats that this was not a sold out show, I’d guess it was somewhere under 6000 people.Image0022-1 On the left is a picture I took before the opening act – it gives you a sense of how small this venue is and how close we were to the stage (this was 3/4 of the way back from the stage).  The general (floor) crowd did get more tightly packed once Tool took the stage, but we ended up standing closer (about 1/2 between the sound board and the stage) and there wasn’t a crazy crush around us.  To be able to see a band like Tool in such a small venue was pretty amazing.

Tweak Bird was LOUD.  Tool was LOUDER.  I was glad to have my earplugs, but don’t get me wrong – I expect a concert like this to be very loud.  Feeling the bassline inside your chest is part of the experience.  Tool put on a great concert.  For more, check out these reviews of the Toronto show.