Darwin Streaming Server 6.0.3 and Solaris

Apple has released a new version of their streaming software: Darwin Streaming Server, DSS.
Many production systems use Solaris 10 for DSS without a problem. DSS works nicely on Solaris 8,9 and 10 and some examples are already presented:

- DSS 5.5.x on Solaris 10 with ZFS and zones
- Prune's patch

Now we have a new version out: 6.0.3 with new features and better Solaris 10 support, here
For all of you interested in streaming you might want to check it out.

Wish list:
- OpenSolaris integration: IPS package, testing
- DTrace probes for DSS
- DSS 64bit support for Solaris
- Better documentation for OpenSolaris, Solaris

Enjoy and happy streaming on Solaris

Turbocharging your sysadmin day

It is final: Neil will visit Finland, to teach us about PDQ, Capacity Planning and Performance Analysis.
You don't get these sort of classes from your local vendor, so all admins pay attention !

Why Capacity Planning matters and why should you listen and understand such things ?

• don't end up having your Java development team changing your DataCenter infrastructure every 6-12 months based on their fantasies how the world should run and support their latest builds. More and more visible is the penetration of a dozens of Java architects, developers and consultants into the heart of Data Centers. They change wires, servers, standard operation procedures to make the applications faster and scale, so they said. Instead they focus in making their own J2EE application less buggy they start shifting and virtually touching intimate parts of the data centers without a clue what are they doing. Management pressured by business demands accepts quickly and approves all this mess without a real understanding. At the end: admins have to clean up after all these folks and redo all the things to avoid severe service outages (Java is an example here based on the high number of current projects, same applies to any other language or technologies)
  
• avoid the mess - where everyone is a system manager and nobody does know what's going on
• save time and money
• work smart
  

One might argue that hardware is anyway so cheap nowadays so you can entirely skip this section and renew all over again your infrastructure when you run in troubles... and here comes the Guerrilla Capacity Planning class:

• Capacity Planning and mathematics. Capacity planning is not a software or something you buy from amazon.com or your local software store
• Tactical planning
  
• Analyse your current load capacity
• Model your business and forecast
• Avoid spending $$$ for another commercial software, PDQ the open-source analytic solver software can be easily used to model and resolve performance problems

Welcome, Neil