http://www.alexwilliams.ca/blog High-Availability Guru Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:28:45 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I've been fixing and breaking MySQL replication clusters for quite some time now, and I realized one of the biggest problems is the lack of consistency provided through MySQL replication. Sure your data will be consistent most of the time, but how do you check if it really IS consistent across ... http://www.alexwilliams.ca/blog/2009/10/01/scripted-mysql-replication-consistency-checks/ (Update 1 - Aug 29, 2009:) It appears this configuration wasn't working with HAProxy version 1.3.20 due to the "option nolinger" feature. I have removed it from the configuration and can confirm it works well with HAProxy v.1.3.15 to v.1.3.20. Because of this, you'll also notice a significant increase in ... http://www.alexwilliams.ca/blog/2009/08/10/using-haproxy-for-mysql-failover-and-redundancy/ I've decided I am going to attempt to give up using email. I've grown tired of sifting through spam messages in order to find the few who are legit. I'm tired of mail folders, filters, labels, stars, and every other doohicky used to help "classify" my messages which I'll still be unable ... http://www.alexwilliams.ca/blog/2009/07/15/dear-email-were-done/ Well i've finally decided to start using twitter a few weeks ago. I'm definitely *not* an early adopter (see first tweet), but it's not too late. I find it much more convenient to write quick twitter updates, as opposed to long well-thought blog posts. Follow me: @alexandermensa. http://www.alexwilliams.ca/blog/2009/07/05/twitter-me-too/ Unfortunately (for me) I haven't been idling on a beach without my MacBook these last 2 months. I've actually been typing away like a mad-scientist on a big shiny VMware server (which I setup, obviously!). I've created an R&D server setup which will allow me to post a series of technical ... http://www.alexwilliams.ca/blog/2009/04/10/new-articles-coming-soon/ Everyone involved in web or networking knows that DNS is the root of the internet. Despite this, some people forget how to properly configure their domains for full redundancy. It is common practice to add 2 Name Server records for each domain. (i.e: ns1.domain.com and ns2.domain.com). Nothing is wrong with that. ... http://www.alexwilliams.ca/blog/2009/02/06/registrars-and-dns-server-redundancy/ I've seen many corporate networks fail to observe the most simple rules of networking. Often, administrators try to implement solutions to solve problems (more bandwidth for VoIP), as opposed to using existing networking technology. In today's post, I will discuss the segmentation of a corporate network using VLANs. A VLAN allows you ... http://www.alexwilliams.ca/blog/2009/01/17/segmenting-your-corporate-network-with-vlans/ I still consider myself in career limbo at the moment. Having yet been able to precisely define my future career, I've decided to simply close this blog until I figure out what to do. As much as I love marketing and all things related, I have no interest in starting over ... http://www.alexwilliams.ca/blog/2008/07/14/im-no-marketer-yet-end-of-blog/ Where am I? I seem to have been all over the map these last few months, but in reality I've been sitting in the same chair quietly pondering the future. One day I decided to change my title to Network Architect. After spending days reading absolutely everything I can about Network ... http://www.alexwilliams.ca/blog/2008/06/17/lack-of-focus-or-too-much-ambition/ Reflecting on my previous post about scalability, I've realized I omitted one important detail: decentralization. One of the biggest hurdles has always been in regards to the decentralization of the IT infrastructure. I've been lucky to work with companies having offices in various remote locations and I'm still puzzled that ... http://www.alexwilliams.ca/blog/2008/04/25/computer-systems-network-decentralization/