Why We Monitor: DNS

This is a continuation of the series Why We Monitor. This time we are going to look at DNS, why we monitor it and what to monitor. The Domain Name System ( DNS ), among other things, is what allows us to have cute and memorable names for a web service instead of memorizing the ip of the local server that runs it. When it’s working, the DNS system gives all sorts of information about your domain. When it’s down it doesn’t matter how good your application is, no one will be able to find it. When it’s hijacked a person could send your users to another site or imitate your site and steal your user’s logins ( if your site uses clear text authentication forms ). I am going to run through some basic monitoring that can help you avoid issues.

Read the rest and comment on my J Squared Consulting Blog

Butterfly photography in winter?

Winter photography can be beautiful: the soft blanket of white contrasting against the stark blue sky and sharp pines, the sun comes up later and the alpenglow can be seen against the white peaks rising into the morning sky. Winter photography can also be brutal: Brown grass growing out of the brown earth which is shading that brown patch of snow, sharp cold sucking the life out of your battery, fingers and toes. It’s all in the mood your in and what your given to work with. When I start to get down on winter I find a trip to the tropics helps and, for much less than an airplane ticket, Denver has it’s own portal to warm, green and colorful at the Butterfly Pavilion.

The Butterfly Pavilion is open to the public almost every day and, with it’s huge variety of butterflies and tropical plants, provides a great escape from the winter doldrums that so often catch up with me in February and March. During regular hours tripods are not allowed and it can be difficult to juggle camera, kids, not stepping on the butterflies, not stepping on other people. Because of this they have an open photography tripod session where they open a couple of hours earlier and you can set up tripods and generally have the place to yourself. The last time I attended ( November 2009 ), I shared the place with 5 other photographers and 4 or 5 other staff. The staff were working on preopening things but were extremely open and helpful.

One benefit of attending so early on a cold morning is that, being cold blooded, butterflies cannot move around much before they get warmed up. This is great for photographers because, not only can you set up a tripod, but you can get fairly close to the butterflies without having them fly away before you get your shot. Although I tried not to hover around one butterfly too much in case their little minds couldn’t take it. I ended up staying for roughly 3 hours and really enjoyed the experience. You can see the full set of photos I took on Flickr.

Tripod day appears to be every month on the third Tuesday according to the Butterfly Pavilion calendar and is coming up this Tuesday. It costs a bit more than the regular admission but you have all day access and is worth it.

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Delurker Day

So two days ago I open my email and find one from my good friends, Aimee of greeblemonkey.com fame. She is an amazing photographer and writes a great blog, so when I opened my email and got flashed I was confused.




But I wasn’t confused for long, Delurker Day is on us again. Delurker Day is an idea, started by Rude Cactus and logo’d by our very own Greeblemonkey, is a day when you, the reader who lurks in the shadows, come forth and participate in the conversation by leaving a comment. If you have a blog feel free to participate, leave a link in the comments and I’ll come, read, and comment on your site as well.

Happy Delurking!

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Zero Day Exploits

Zero day exploits, best explained here, will be coming out daily for the month of January, it seems, due to a security research firm in Russia. No matter what you think about their methods, this does highlight a fact that is sometimes forgotten, every running service presents the potential for an exploit. But without those services a computer is just an overpriced electric heater. So how do we protect ourselves against the unknown and unpatched? By being very careful about what our servers are running, only allowing access to the minimum number of resources required to get the job done, and having a plan for when your monitoring reports the service is down.

Read the rest and comment on my consulting blog.

Ignite Boulder (7)

Ignite is an event where people present for five minutes with twenty slides that advance every ( 5 * 60 /20 = ) 15 seconds. Ignite Boulder is where 750 of your newest friends come to see amazing people present in the Ignite format.

I have attended every Ignite Boulder since Ignite Boulder 2 and have enjoyed every show as well as watching them grow into their current space, The Boulder Theater, where they have sold out for the last 3 shows.

This has become the new date night for Heather and I. The day that the date is announced we get a baby sitter all lined up ( Thanks Judy! ) and on day one we buy our tickets. This is followed by the voting. That’s right, you vote on the presentations that make it to the show.

The night of the show we all pile into the Boulder Theater and, after visiting with old friends and meeting new ones, Andrew Hyde opens the show and explains what is going on, in Ignite format of course. Following him Ef Rodriguez, one of the kindest people I’ve ever met, welcomes everyone. In song. It’s amazing. This is followed by half of the presentations, all of which are great and even if you don’t think so, it’s 5 minutes, go get a drink and it’ll be done. Half way through there is an intermission where we all take a break and a local band plays, Fellow Citizens played at Ignite Boulder 7.

Fellow Citizens playing Ignite Boulder 7

After the intermission the rest of the presenters go on and continue to bring the awesome while the audience continues to practice productive heckling. This continues until, before you realize it, the show has ended and you must say goodnight to sweet Ignite Boulder.

If you have not been to an Ignite in Boulder you have 30 days to remedy this mistake, the next event is February 10th. Tickets for the next event are on sale now.

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