Oracle Berkeley DB

Oracle Berkeley DB is the industry-leading open source, embeddable storage engine that provides developers a fast, reliable, local database with zero administration. Oracle Berkeley DB is a library that links directly into your application. Your application makes simple function calls, rather than sending messages to a remote server, eliminating the performance penalty of client-server architectures.

via Oracle Berkeley DB.

We’ve combined the strengths of SQLite with the strengths of Berkeley DB. If you choose the SQL API then the Berkeley DB APIs are completely hidden, your program is written to use the SQLite APIs. Because this is a full SQL database engine you are free to use JDBC, ODBC or any other compatible access layer as well.

This DB is called db4.  I needed to yum install db4-devel to compile squidguard to use this database.

Hortonworks Data Platform 1.0 Targets Enterprises

Hortonworks has unveiled Hortonworks Data Platform (HDP) 1.0, an open-source platform built on Apache Hadoop 1.0 that includes data-management, monitoring, metadata and data-integration features.

via Hortonworks Data Platform 1.0 Targets Enterprises.

For example, the platform’s provisioning interface surveys nodes in the target cluster and recommends optimal software configurations, with the subsequent ability to start the cluster via a single click. The monitoring interface offers a streamlined ability to see the health of the cluster in depth. The data integration services allow users to connect with data services and build transformation logic via graphical interfaces, sparing them from having to write code.

Researcher: Interdependencies could lead to cloud ‘meltdowns’

Ford compared this scenario to the intertwining, complex relationships and structures that helped contribute to the global financial crisis.

New cloud services may arise that essentially “resell, trade, or speculate on complex cocktails or ‘derivatives’ of more basic cloud resources and services, much like the modern financial and energy trading industries operate,” he wrote.

via Researcher: Interdependencies could lead to cloud ‘meltdowns’.

IN DEPTH: Staying ahead of cloud complexity

LinkedIn Password Leak: Salt Their Hide

Let me walk through the process of password protection and explain why unsalted passwords are only infinitesimally better than plaintext passwords:

via LinkedIn Password Leak: Salt Their Hide – ACM Queue.

Conclusion

LinkedIn is learning fast right now, according to their damage control missives, they have now implemented salting and “better hashing.” But we have yet to find out why nobody objected to them protecting 150+ million user passwords with 1970s methods.

And everybody else should take notice too: Even if you use md5crypt, you should upgrade your password scrambling algorithm. As a rule of thumb: If it does not take a full second to calculate the password hash, it is too weak.

How Open Compute is a Win for Rackspace

Rackspace is one of the fastest-growing cloud computing providers. The San Antonio company spent $202 million on servers and storage for customers over the past year, adding more than 12,000 servers in its data centers.

via How Open Compute is a Win for Rackspace » Data Center Knowledge.

To put this in perspective, Amazon EC2 has over 450,000 servers according to this article.

At the Open Compute Summit earlier this month in San Antonio, both Dell and HP showed off server hardware that will work with the new Open Rack design, which features 21-inch wide equipment slots rather than the traditional 19 inches. Roenigk says Open Rack will play a key role in Rackspace’s cloud computing infrastructure in its next-generation data center design.

 

version control – What’s the best Web interface for Git repositories?

version control – What’s the best Web interface for Git repositories? – Stack Overflow.

  • gitweb, which is developed together with git, and is written in Perl. Works both as CGI script, and legacy mod_perl script. There is repo.or.cz duct tape (soon to be released as Girocco), which together with gitweb make for git hosting interface. I think it most commonly used web interface; it is used for example by kernel.org.
  • cgit is is a fast (caching) and lightweight webinterface written in C. It is used for example by freedesktop.org
  • git-php and ViewGit are git web interfaces written in PHP.

 

Moodle

Moodle is a Course Management System (CMS), also known as a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It is a Free web application that educators can use to create effective online learning sites. It is used by over 54,000 institutions (that we know about) and millions of teachers in 212 countries.

via SourceForge Community Blog | Project of the Month, July 2011.

What is the difference between Course Management and Content Management?  I suspect very little.

GeeXboX

GeeXboX is a free and Open Source Media-Center purposed Linux distribution for embedded devices and desktop computers. GeeXboX is not an application, it’s a full-featured OS, that one can boot as a LiveCD, from a USB key, an SD/MMC card or install on its regular HDD. The GeeXboX distribution is lightweight and designed for one single goal: embed all major multimedia applications as to turn your computer into an HTPC. GeeXboX runs on x86, PowerPC and ARM devices.

via GeeXboX.