The District’s main server http://www.dist228.org or http://www.geneseoschools.org has been powered for years by a Mac Pro G5 standalone machine.  This unit was top of the line in its day with a 1.5 gigs of RAM, a G5 1.6 GHZ processor, and a SATA hard drive with 80 gigs of storage.  Unbelievably this unit is actually water cooled and is the only Apple water cooled computer that I have ever seen.  To the credit of Apple this machine has worked well and continues to run although the hard drive has shown signs of wear and will soon fail.

Old Webserver Mac Pro

At one point in the School Districts history student records were managed with PowerSchool, to power this program a rack mountable XServe G5 was purchased.  This unit has 4 gigs of RAM, dual G5 PPC processors at 2.3 GHZ, and three drive bays with a RAID storage controller.  PowerSchool no longer exists here in District 228 (and rumor has it will no longer be supported anywhere in 6 months – This project once was owned by a startup, then Apple, then sold to Pearson in 2006) and thus this server has not really been used for anything or than storing student transcripts for its brief time in service.

This little used PowerSchool Server has the perfect specs for an excellent web server more RAM, more processing power, better storage capabilities.

Steps taken to Move the WebServer to New Hardware

1. The Project consisted of backing up existing Web Server. (Simple used TimeMachine on external Drive).

2. Fixing the XServe needed a new Power Supply, needed to be upgraded from 10.3 to 10.4 so that it was able to restore a backup from 10.5.  Most time consuming step,  since the XServe was running 10.3 Panther, it had to first get upgraded to 10.4 before it would accept or run installer to restore a time machine image.

XServe G5 PowerSupply (135.00$ GSX Price)

XServe G5 Internal – New Power Supply Installed

3.  Restore Backup Image to XServe

4.  Fix the Apache Configuration on new server (install new PHP module 5.2).  Good to run latest stable builds of Apache and PHP when moving to a new system.

5.  Test new system (fix minor errors, PostFix problems, permission errors)

6.  Go Live and Power Down old Server.

Site is up and running on the XServe and is working well.

New Webserver Rackmounted at the Middle School

Hardware Upgrade: Cisco Aironet 1140 and Cisco 5500 Wireless Controller

I recently switched out the wireless at GHS from using primarily Apple Airport Extremes to Cisco Aironet 1140 model’s.  These units have better speed and can handle more simultaneous connections – Cisco has a good track record for longevity so these units should last for quite some time (Apple Airports – start having transmitting errors at around 3 years).  Unlike the Apple Airport Extreme’s (which are really designed for a home or small office) these units are controlled by a special Cisco piece of hardware called the Cisco 5500 Wireless Controller.

What does this controller do?

This controller controls all of the individual units creates a map of the entire area.  This controller has the ability to balance the overall wireless traffic and connections so that they are evenly distributed across the network – this equals more robust network and better speed.  These units also have the ability to handle multiple connections and move traffic at a better rate than the units they are replacing.  These Units operate on the 802.11N standard but are also set to be backward compatible with A/B/ and G. \

These units have been wall mounted and are located around the building (Thanks to Randy and his crew).

These units all work off of a centralized server (Cisco 5500 Wireless Controller) which can configure the Aironets through the web (Also through Console).  Here is where the enterprise level of the units is revealed – Cisco allows an impressive array of configuration options.

These units have the most detailed and flexible configuration options for Wireless that I have ever come across.  You can control and customize different Quality of Service (QOS) levels, setup Multiple Wireless Networks , setup Multiple SSD’s  and am impressive array of options for Guest Networks (Radius, LDAP, HTML login, logging, QOS limiting).  You can control Radio frequencies transmit rates, set minimum connection criteria, and so on.

For example soon I will modify the current configuration to allow students to use the wireless network freely.  I will create a Guest network that will be truly open and that will be given a lower bandwidth (QOS) quality standard bronze.  Another network will be created that allows students to use it but will require LDAP based Active Directory Windows accounts (All HS students already have these) – this will be larger bandwidth, finally the teachers network will remain separate and will have a high GOLD level of QOS.  Here we can accomodate a large number of units, including guests and students while preserving a somewhat private and fast wireless connection that teachers and staff have come to appreciate.

The only downside I can say to this system at them moment is that the Aironets 1100 series has a significantly weaker coverage range than the 1250 series (Used currently at the MS).  Currently these machines are already operating and Guest and Student network should come on-line in September.

Microsoft has not been very good at making headlines as of late.  In fact they are so bad at marketing and promoting that I almost completely forgot about the new Office Live Online offered for free.  I decided to reactivate my old hotmail account, jamesroodhouse@hotmail.com, and then give the online office a try.  In short I must admit I am surprised,  Office Live via Skydrive is superior to Google docs and may be superior to zoho.com.  Yes that is right the online functionality of the Microsoft Office suite online is much greater than that offered by Google Docs and probably all other competitors.  Microsoft still has limited some of the functionality on the web versions of Office but no where near so as Google Docs.

How so,  first off importing docs with existing complicated formatting, lets say a resume or a multi-sheet excel spreadsheet imports almost perfectly in this online version of Office (And terribly in Google Docs).  Secondly and most importantly the feature set included in the online version of Office dwarfs that of Google,  if one were a college student or taking a class you could easily type all papers easily and efficiently with this version.  Like Google Docs you get a free 2 gigabyte drive to store your docs on and it is easy to review and share docs.

So if you have a Hotmail account give the new office online a try, it works on macs, pcs, and machines running linux.  To Access the tools login to Windows LIve and click on the Office tab.  (If you are logged into Hotmail look under the section where it says MORE and select Office Live)

Microsoft might be entering this arena late in the game compared to its competitors – but has delivered on a superior product.

Here is screenshot of Word Online Running.

Last Week Apple approved my iPhone app WGRG 100.5 FM.  This app connects to the ogg online radio stream for WGRG 100.5 FM, Geneseo’s High School radio station.  This was created with Geneseo sports in mind,  often I find myself out of town on the weekend and it can be difficult to get a live or current score on Geneseo Football.

Click here to view the app in iTunes

With any iPod, iPad or iPhone and a signal you can now listen to the live broadcast anywhere in the world. Works well on EDGE network so app is great for the iPhone.  I have considered making a blackberry version of this app but will wait and see if there is sufficient interest.

The radio feed itself is being broadcast using winamp and edcast (lame mp3) to capture the audio and is streamed using icecast.  All products are open source and free.  You can read about how I stream the audio online in an earlier post here.

App is free on available on the iTunes app store.

My two new iPhone Apps

Emergency Dial

Princess and the Goblin

My First iPhone App

Roodhouse Tech Blog iPhone App

I have spend a little more time familiarizing myself with mobile app development on the iPhone and now have two more approved apps on the itunes app store.  The first app is called the Princess and the Goblin and is my first attempt at creating a mobile reading platform for the iphone.  The app is free and straightforward featuring over 30 high res illustrations and sketches along with the entire text of the novel. Since this is a chilldren’s fantasy story I thought including full illustrations a definite must and was surprised that larger free domain literature warehouses like Gutenberg do not include illustrations.  I also have hopes for this being my first iPad specific app as well since I am almost finished working on a modified version of this app that uses the better screen resolution on the iPad and includes more illustrations.

Here is a screen shot of this app from the itunes App Store.

My next recently approved app is called Emergency Dial.  The concept is simple and comes from a friend of mine(Thanks Tom).  How does a 3 year call for help on an iPhone?  With many families abandoing landlines and only having cell phones this can actually present a real issue.  This app – currently free as of this writing is straigtforward and acts like a modified Speed Dial.  With a Red Phone Icon you simply go to settings and setup a special emergency number (the police, 911, relatives, etc).  Then when you hit the red button this number is automatically dialed.  Simple and to the point, a 3 year old can simply hit the red help phone button and help is called.

Here is another iTunes App Screen shot.