The Open Source Advocate

If you follow the Utah Open Source Planet , you will notice a lot of food related posts. I do not have the credentials to join this area of discussion, but I am going to put in my two cents anyway. As a bachelor, I perfected a culinary technique of creating delicious meals using only three ingredients. I often wonder how I would fare on Iron Chef . After Chairman Taga announces the secret ingredient, I would only have to come up with two more ingredients! This technique makes shopping simple, preparation is easy, and there aren't many dishes to clean afterwards. Some chefs may choose to implement paper plates and plasticware for the ultimate reduction in dish cleaning. The following recipes are guaranteed to taste great, and therefore they are suggested for people who need to gain weight and/or increase their cholesterol levels. Sausage Spaghetti 1 lb ground sausage 1 jar of spaghetti sauce Some spaghetti noodles 1. Boil the spaghetti noodles in a large pot until the noodles a...

You are probably wondering how a Cisco network could ever be built at a low cost. You are right to wonder, because Cisco equipment is quite expensive when compared to other vendors. I would argue that the cost of Cisco equipment is justified by the quality of their products and support, however, that is not the purpose of this post. In this post I will demonstrate a multilayer campus network design that provides high-availability at the lowest possible cost, with the added benefit of a simple design that is easier to implement than traditional high-availability designs. This design has many similarities to Cisco's Solution Reference Network Design which is nicely described in two white-papers: Designing a Campus Network for High Availability Campus Network Multilayer Architecture and Design Guidelines The primary differences between the Cisco design and this one are found in the distribution layer. Take a look at the diagram below, which was created using an open source program cal...

Here is a simple explanation of the features that can be enabled on most Cisco switches to protect DHCP services. Port Security Description: Count the number of MAC addresses that are seen coming from a user's switchport. If the number of MAC addresses goes above a configured limit (usually a low number), take appropriate action. This action can range from blocking any new MAC addresses to disabling the switchport. Benefits: Prevents a hacker from repeatedly spoofing their MAC address to flood the switch CAM (Content Addressable Memory) table which turns the switch into a hub, where all packets are broadcasted to all ports. Prevents a hacker from "gobbling" up all available DHCP leases and leaving none for your users. DHCP Snooping Description: This feature functions like a DHCP firewall, blocking any DHCP servers on ports that are not configured as "trusted". Only switch uplinks and DHCP server ports should be configured as trusted. Benefits: Prevents a hack...

My wife and I were fortunate to witness the launch of the world's largest bottle rocket on the Fourth of July. I must confess that I was stunned by the enormous amount of energy that is experienced during the launch. It was so surreal, it felt like I was watching an animated movie rather than experiencing a man-made miracle. The only thing I can compare it to is watching a 12-story building suddenly lift off the ground and head to into low Earth orbit... which means that I can't compare it to anything. Another astounding aspect of the shuttle launch is the complexity of systems that work together; it truly is an engineering marvel. The space shuttle is often called "the most complex machine ever built by mankind". Here are some facts that may help you understand what a space shuttle launch entails: A Space Shuttle and its boosters ready for launch are the same height as the Statue of Liberty but weigh almost three times as much. The Space Shuttle's solid rock...

I just snapped this shot tonight from Ogden. The colors are not represented accurately, but it is a nice shot. Looking at the actual sunset, "pink lemonade" was the first thought that came to mind.