Tag: windows

Send Your Windows Server’s Disk Free Space to ThingSpeak Using PowerShell

ThingSpeak

I manage a lot of servers. One of the things that I am always curious about is how much disk space is left on my servers. I know there are a lot of ways to track this, but almost always it seems the service that I am using changes on me or breaks over time.

My super simple solution for tracking server disk space is to use Windows PowerShell and ThingSpeak. I went to the trouble to release the code to GitHub, so that you can try this out for yourself. This can be used on any Windows Server as long as you have the ability to execute PowerShell scripts. ThingSpeak gives you a place to store data from anything. In this case, I am sending my disk free space to ThingSpeak once per day by scheduling a Windows Task.

Check out the open source code on GitHub!

Will Windows 7 be better than Vista?

Software, Technology

“Will Windows 7 be better than Vista?” is the wrong question to be asking. We should be asking, “Will Windows 7 be better than XP?”

Chris Hernandez of Microsoft posted on his blog, “One of the main goals with Windows 7 in general has been to be better than Vista.” Chris’ quote scares me. Being better than Vista is not what I am looking for. I want an OS that makes me want to upgrade from XP. XP has served me well and I want a clear upgrade path. What are the killer new features? What makes Win7 an “upgrade”?

I have been using Windows 7 on my laptop for a few months. I do like some UI improvements, but compared to XP it misses the mark. Compared to Vista, Win7 is better. Although, Win7 requires pretty good hardware to install where XP is able to install on my pieced together machines with parts 8-10 years old in some cases. I hope by the time Windows 7 is on the shelf, someone figures out that we are not looking for an upgrade from Vista, we are looking for a real upgrade to XP.

Wireshark 1.2.0 – New Version

Technology

Wireshark is a tool that performs packet and protocol analysis on a network. Packets are the virtual transport mechanism that moves are data from sender to receiver. Each packet has a header and payload – the header contains information about where the packet came from and where it’s going, as well as the protocols being used. The payload has our actual digitized data – parts of a website, text, a section of a photo, or a clip of audio from an MP3 or a phone call. If you don’t get all of the packets then a phone call may sound choppy or it may take a while to download a complete file. Wireshark allows you to take a look at the packets you are sending and receiving and learn a lot more about what it happening and what’s breaking down. Wireshark is not for the lighthearted, as the tool requires knowledge of protocols and a deep understanding of OSI, IP, and TCP/UDP at the very least. But, with time, Wireshark becomes invaluable to the troubleshooting process. I have relied on the tool for my work supporting Voice-over-IP (VoIP) and system and application connectivity. The only side-effect of Wireshark is that you will soon realize why it’s not a good idea to surf the web in a public spot (without a VPN or encryption).

The new version of Wireshark includes more protocols that it will decode, supports 64-bit Windows, and has GeoIP integrated support. Also, Wireshark works perfectly with my passive network cable. Visit www.wireshark.org to download the latest version and learn more about it.

Clearblue Screen of Death

Comedy, Technology

Everything is going digital. I know, a profound statement, but the consequences of “digital” are a future riddled with software bugs, failures, and EMP induced outages (the EPT EMP to be exact). We rely on technology to get us through our days and we will be faced with crashes when we need technology the most.

“Clearblue” has released a digital version of their pregnancy tester. My girlfriend, completely fictional to make a point, and I was discussing the ramifications of a digital pregnancy test. One day the test will be dependent on an Operating System to drive the user interface. It might even have Windows on it.

In your critical moment, of whether you will be with a child or have more time to yourself – unshackled by a disappointing version of yourself, the pregnancy tester will crash giving you an ambiguous result.

Take a glimpse of the future. You have been warned.