[MCN-L] Virtualization woes
I appreciate your position. I find the free VMWare server immensely useful, particularly for really small non-profits, but an affordable path to infrastructure seems less obvious. VMWare server and an external drive bay with a drive drawer fitted allows a really cheap, simple and robust disaster recovery solution for a one or two server LAN. I'm accustomed to $200 windows server licenses (TechSoup) and at the moment I'm only using VMWare Server on this platform. I'm planning to take a look at Hypervisor as an alternative to a windows host but I have not found the time yet. I'd love to see VMWare compete with Microsofts generosity to non-profits (although give them full credit for making VMWare server free). D === David Marsh Chief Technician System Administrator H.R. MacMillan Space Centre 1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver, BC V6J 3J9 E sysadmin at hrmacmillanspacecentre.com T (604) 738 7827 ext. 229 C (604) 813 9667 F (604) 736 5665 === -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Doron Ben-Avraham Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2009 3:07 PM To: mcn-l at mcn.edu Subject: [MCN-L] Virtualization woes the subject keeps coming up for obvious reasons, the demonstrated ability of virutalization to cut costs, and insure availability is of great interest to any cultural institution. In the processes of evaluating the museum requirements in an economic climate that requires much prudence. I am wondering if we can attempt to create a common pressure (or a coordinated better deal). if you are considering this, please contact me, perhaps we might gain traction through a common reseller. I am at present considering virtualizing our environment using Microsoft products, I dont think they have achieved the maturity vmware demonstrates, but they are very fast to adapt, and very aggressive in development and pricing (Microsoft offers very generous benefits as you all know). VMware however... is nowhere to be found, and i am under the impression that the pricing and licensing models they offer are designed to obfuscate a very expensive future upgrade path. I am in favor of VMware as my first choice, based on my impressions of the technology, but i really cannot justify such sharp developments, the pricing model i see insures no easy path to upgrade in the future. With a very aggressive competitor (probably the most aggressive out there) behind them, I find it really strange VMware does not even attempt to bend towards cultural institutions and other non profits, its strangely shortsighted. Doron
[MCN-L] HD video in the galleries?
with the free VLC player to minimize cost. Price is substantially lower than the MAC Mini, but for overall value there are still hard to beat. Wireless networking in particularly may be handy for hard to reach or mobile locations. Blu Tooth could be useful to. Administer them with a wireless Blu Tooth keyboard and mouse without climbing on a step ladder... Network: If we get into streaming full HD (1080p) more, I will install those GBits/s LAN switches and look at splitting the network into subnets and VLANs to get some control over bandwidth allocation and make sure the streams get the headspace they need without crippling our other LAN usage. Hope that's useful to someone else working on an HD project with a tight budget I'd be happy to share info/tricks with anyone else trying something similar. Regards, David Marsh === David Marsh Chief Technician System Administrator H.R. MacMillan Space Centre 1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver, BC V6J 3J9 E sysadmin at hrmacmillanspacecentre.com T (604) 738 7827 ext. 229 C (604) 813 9667 F (604) 736 5665 ===
[MCN-L] Offsite Digital Image Archive Options
A thought: ...When deciding to go with an online solution, did you factor in bandwidth costs? It looks like you may be moving a fair amount of data around. May or may not be a problem depending on volume and the terms of your internet connection package. Should be checked though. I'd probably be looking at something simple and cheap involving SATA drives in removable draws or maybe several NAS appliances. I'd have one big working directory tree (500GB+?) and have something like Microsoft's free Robocopy tool scan it daily and move everything that hadn't been touched for 3 months (or whatever) to a second onsite archive drive. Maybe periodically mirror that to third, which you swap weekly with a fourth in a bank size II safety deposit box ($70 a year?). Just thinking out loud. I'd be happy to talk about this further off list if that's useful. An inexpensive, simple, archive solution would be good for a lot of small orgs with little IT. David === David Marsh Chief Technician System Administrator H.R. MacMillan Space Centre 1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver, BC V6J 3J9 E sysadmin at hrmacmillanspacecentre.com T (604) 738 7827 ext. 229 C (604) 813 9667 F (604) 736 5665 === For your next special event or meeting, consider the unique atmosphere of the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre. For more information go to www.spacecentre.ca or call (604) 738-7827 (ext 233) P Please consider the environment before printing e-mails -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Mary Bloodworth Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2008 12:42 PM To: mcn-l at mcn.edu Subject: [MCN-L] Offsite Digital Image Archive Options I am writing to ask if any of you -- like us here at the Folger Shakespeare Library -- are at small institutions and without major digital asset management or IT infrastructures but nevertheless are engaged in active digital imaging? If so, are you willing to talk (offlist or on) about your backup / archiving schemes? We are working on establishing scalable systems architecture and backup strategies for digital images of collection materials, and would love to compare notes with others who have some version of a 2-3 tier backup strategy. Our current situation is this: For each digital image of collection material, our Photography and Digital Imaging lab produces a minimum of two images: a ca. 100-120 mb unretouched master, and a ca. 80-100 mb cropped color-corrected derivative. We are looking for a solution that will permit us to archive the masters offsite. We're currently running tape backups and taking them to a staff member's house. However, tapes sitting on the bookshelf in a Folger staff member's house isn't good enough anymore. What we'll need is at least 1.5 - 2 TB of space. This can be a dark archive because we won't need frequent access, though infrequent access would be necessary. I looked at the MCN-L archives and found one thread from November, in which some spoke of Amazon S3. Any thoughts on this, or a different service that's cost-effective? With thanks in advance, Mary Bloodworth Head of Information Services Folger Shakespeare Library ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l
[MCN-L] shared whiteboard/computer screen solutions
Just a thought: As a fast and dirty approach, have you considered just using a remote control program to grant remote access to a common desktop?. Programs like the frame buffer VNC and it's siblings, TightVNC (better compression), ultraVNC (uses Windows A/D authentication) are free and easy to use and work well over any IP connection of reasonable bandwidth. Connection is password protected. Pros are: 1) free (to acquire and to use). 2) cross-platform: Win, Linux and Mac viewers and servers freely available. 3) Multiple interactive connections to the same desktop (=server) are possible, unlike windows Remote Desktop (RDP). 4) can grant full and view only access simultaneously. 5) modest bandwidth: should be useable on anything from about 128 - 200kbit/s up. Hope this is useful. David === David Marsh Chief Technician System Administrator H.R. MacMillan Space Centre 1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver, BC V6J 3J9 E sysadmin at hrmacmillanspacecentre.com T (604) 738 7827 ext. 229 C (604) 813 9667 F (604) 736 5665 === For your next special event or meeting, consider the unique atmosphere of the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre. For more information go to www.spacecentre.ca or call (604) 738-7827 (ext 233) P Please consider the environment before printing e-mails -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of martyn.farrows.lexara.com Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2008 7:54 AM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] shared whiteboard/computer screen solutions Ari - we used GoToMeeting quite successfully in the past - i am not sure what the current pricing policy is. Martyn On Wed, 9 Jul 2008 10:47:11 -0400, Ari Davidow aridavidow at gmail.com wrote: We have been using a service first provided as Macromedia Breeze, then Adobe Breeze, and now Acrobat Connect to share computer screens/white boards on teleconferences. That service is expensive, and at the moment seems broken. Is there something else out there that folks have been using and really like? Thanks, ari ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l
[MCN-L] 3D Artifact Images, stitching together
FYI: Actually stitching isn't too hard. Here at the planetarium we're all over stitching images together to make seamless images for our dome. We've been doing it for years and we've got pretty good at it. There are now some excellent software tools. I can get the details from one of my colleagues if you like. I get the impression it's pretty straightforward once you've got the hang and at least some of the tools are free to use (at least for non-profits). Hope that's helpful. Dave === David Marsh Chief Technician System Administrator H.R. MacMillan Space Centre 1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver, BC V6J 3J9 E sysadmin at hrmacmillanspacecentre.com T (604) 738 7827 ext. 229 C (604) 813 9667 F (604) 736 5665 === For your next special event or meeting, consider the unique atmosphere of the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre. For more information go to www.spacecentre.ca or call (604) 738-7827 (ext 233) P Please consider the environment before printing e-mails -Original Message- From: Farber, Allison Subject: Re: [MCN-L] 3D Artifact Images Do you stitch the photographs together in house or do you hire consultants? Can anyone recommend photographers and a consultants in New York who can do this kind of work? Thanks to everyone who offered advice on this issue! -Allison
[MCN-L] Macs vs. CF media players, video distribution over LAN
A quick note: We went ahead here at the planetarium and implemented a display project based on MAC minis. So far, they've been fine. We have a windows PC capturing a video stream from a piece of speciality software and sending it over the LAN, and we have MAC mini's picking up the stream and driving 37 LCD displays via VGA. All inexpensive and flexible. Anything we can get on a PC screen, we can send to any/all other PC/MAC connected screens in the building. Cost per feed around $1,000 including cost of Mac Mini and LAN cable drop. A 'conventional' off-the-shelf video distribution system (Extron VGA extender boxes, racked commodity Dell/HP PCs, Omnivex type software) cost around $3,500 up per screen feed. We went with MACs as they are hard to compete with as a digital Swiss Army Knife. I looked at building windows mini-PCs, but was looking at approaching twice the price for an inferior spec. Macs benefit from large-volume commodity pricing and specialized hardware (flash players etc) will always find it hard to compete. I'd prefer a PC as it would let me 1) use all my regular support tools (disk imaging, backup, AV etc.), 2) use Microsoft's Windows Media Player 3) and let me do everything on one platform. I'm using Microsoft Windows Media Services as it's free, but ended up needing to find a third-party media player (free VLC Player) to give good performance on the Macs. Microsoft don't offer a Mac media player ...or at least not one that's remotely useable (trust me on this). This is a major gotcha of going with Windows Media Services in a mixed MAC/PC environment. One of those major pains you discover in the thick of implementation too, as is should work in theory but doesn't in practice. FYI a high-def (approx 720p, 1280x768) feed runs at 28.5 fps using only 500kbits/s of LAN bandwidth. Streaming over the LAN is surprisingly cheap and easy to do and works very well. Stream and players seem stable too. I'd love to see an entirely flash-based micro PC with Windows, Ethernet, P4 class CPU and video output on board of comparable vintage for $500 or less (Acer Digital Engine?). DM === David Marsh Chief Technician H.R. MacMillan Space Centre 1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver, BC V6J 3J9 E sysadmin at hrmacmillanspacecentre.com sysadmin at vanmuseum.bc.ca T (604) 738 7827 ext. 229 C (604) 813 9667 F (604) 736 5665 ? Please consider the environment before printing e-mails ===
[MCN-L] Looking for Policies--Provisional Internet Computing Policy
Hi, Holly... Here's a somewhat informal email I circulated amongst our staff as a first stab at a Computer and Internet Usage policy. Hope it's helpful. DM QUOTE Hi, everyone. I've been working on developing some of the policies we need to govern the use of some of our technology. I'll be publicizing formal, final versions of these from time to time. In the meantime, here's a couple of points you should know about: 1) Appropriate Use Of The Internet Policy: Consider the Internet a public place. In fact, it's probably the most public place there is. Everything you do and everywhere you go is subject to scrutiny, logging and recording by various parties for various purposes (many potentially malign). Reasonable Behavior Principle: As a good rule of thumb, behave like you're in public. Do not engage in any behaviors or view any content you aren't prepared to be held accountable for. Liability Principle: In particular, any anti-social behavior that might expose the HRMSC to risk or legal liability will constitute a breach of this policy. An example would be distributing illegal copies of copyrighted material through our network. Any other use of our technological resources to facilitate a crime would qualify too. 2) HRMSC Personal Computing Policy Consider your office PC (and any resources you have on the network) as equivalent to you physical workspace. Some key points to cogitate over: Respect Of Personal Workspace Principle: You have reasonable expectations of privacy and respect of your space. You would not normally expect other staff to mess with it without speaking to you first, unless there's a good reason to do so. One consequence of this is that, as sysadmin, I will not normally look at your screen without asking you first. This is an extension of common courtesy, the same as not entering your physical office without knocking on the door first. HRMSC Ownership Principle: Over-riding the above, the HRMSC ultimately owns its computing resources the same way it owns the physical workspace, and therefore has full and final authority to control their use. In the same way you are required to respect HRMSC policies in the use of the building, you will also be required to do so in the use of the computing facilities. Likewise, all the programs, data and assets residing on the network are the property of the HRMSC. That's enough for now .any questions, feel free to ask. David Marsh, HRMSC System administrator END QUOTE === David Marsh Chief Technician System Administrator H.R. MacMillan Space Centre Vancouver Museum 1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver, BC V6J 3J9 E sysadmin at hrmacmillanspacecentre.com sysadmin at vanmuseum.bc.ca T (604) 738 7827 ext. 229 C (604) 813 9667 F (604) 736 5665 === -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Holly Witchey Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 7:15 AM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Cc: Douglas Hiwiller Subject: [MCN-L] Looking for Policies--Can you help? Hi Folks, My apologies if I am repeating a query that's been done here time and time again and for any cross-postings. CMA is looking at revising staff policies regarding internet usage, archiving of emails, storage (any policies about what you can and cannot keep on your desk pc and on the servers), and purchasing. If you've got great models for any of these, I'd love to see them. If you are willing to share internal documents you can do it here on the list serv, if that would be of help to others, or share with me off the list serv at hwitchey at clevelandart.org. Holly Witchey Director, New Media Initiatives The Cleveland Museum of Art 11150 East Blvd. Cleveland, Ohio 44106 Phone: 216-707-2653 Fax: 216-721-4176 Email: hwitchey at clevelandart.org www.clevelandart.org www.museumattic.org (blog) www.musematic.net ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l
[MCN-L] MAC mini's for digital signage:
Hi, everyone... MAC mini's for digital signage: I've been following the video in exhibits thread with Interest. I'm looking to build a small scale video and signage distribution system (6 screens?). I prefer sending content over the LAN to using VGA over CAT5 devices (e.g. extron). Right now, MAC Mini's are looking far and away the best value for money for the endpoint device that will actually drive the displays. A couple of questions: 1) Is there a good, free or low cost Powerpoint Viewer for MAC OSX? MS don't offer one and TonicPoint Viewer seems very minimal and unsuited to being set up to automatically play a signage-type presentation. 2) does anyone have experience streaming high definition VGA video from PC to MAC? ...I'm interested in the hardware and software required. Looking at distributing a full motion 1280 x 768 VGA output (PC) to some of the MAC Mini driven displays. Do I need to get hardware to capture and stream the VGA output, or can I do this with software only? ...all insights (...hints, tips, abuse, derision...) cheerfully accepted! David Marsh === David Marsh System Administrator H.R. MacMillan Space Centre Vancouver Museum 1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver, BC V6J 3J9 E sysadmin at hrmacmillanspacecentre.com sysadmin at vanmuseum.bc.ca T (604) 736 4431 ext. 5507 C (604) 813 9667 F (604) 736 5665 === -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Bruce Wyman Sent: Friday, March 16, 2007 3:12 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] videos in exhibits Is there some form of technology that has been developed that can use one hard drive and 8 different point of displays showing 8 the 8 different films? Do the movies run independently or are the synchronized with each other? My first thought would be to use a mac pro with 4 dual headed graphics cards (8 video outputs (There are also 4 port graphics cards, so 2 of those would do the same trick)). On each screen, play a single full-screen movie. (The computer's going to treat it as a single large contiguous desktop space). Depending on the movie resolution, the computer'll probably do fine with the playback, especially if you use a quicktime happy codec like H.264. -bw. -- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=-=-= Bruce Wyman, Director of New Technologies Denver Art Museum / 100 W 14th Ave. Pkwy, Denver, CO 80204 office: 720.913.0159 / fax: 720.913.0002 bwyman at denverartmuseum.org ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l
[MCN-L] MAC mini's for digital signage:
Hi, Bruce ...thanks for the quick and imformative response: What we're doing: 2 main jobs right now. 1) Distribution of Hubble ViewSpace service We have the STSI's excellent ViewSpace application running on a PC in one our public spaces and feeding a VGA data projector at 800x600 (the service is also available at WXGA 1280x768). We want to distribute that signal to three ouput devices separated by considerable distance. Two exceed 90m from the server PC location. We could just get 3 entire PCs, but then we'd need three licences (x ~USD$900 each) and we'd have to pay three annual useage fees (~USD$160). I'm looking for a better way, that doesn't waste PCs and money. Other obvious solution is to get a 3 (or more) way VGA distribution amplifier and/or VGA over Cat5 extenders. This would undoubtedly work, although you can get colour separation issues. I don't like this as it ties our display devices to the fixed locations where the dedicated cat5 drops are run. The investment in the cabling also provides no other benefit. The possibility I'm interested in is capturing the VGA output of the ViewSpace PC and streaming it in real time to display devices. Not sure if this can be done with software or hardware. I'd prefer if the capture and streaming components could live in the ViewSpace PC itself. 2) digital signage We're looking for an airport information and digital signage solution to a handful of screens. We've seen expensive solutions using software like Omnivex, but we feel we can achieve what we need with a much smaller investment (...we have too!). DISPLAY DEVICES: I like the idea of each display device (LCD display or projector) having a small-format computer (iTX PC or Mac Mini) directly attached via VGA so that the combination becomes an independent, fully mobile display output device that can be plugged in and centrally managed wherever network connectivity is available (including wireless). Each standard setup will be able to run full motion HDTV video or signage displays or anything else we may need and can get a computer to output. Standard network tools and utilities (RDP/VNC, SMB filesharing) should allow for centralized management, including automatic content distribution, without too much effort. I really like the flexibility. Right now, MAC minis seem are the favourite for the display device. I look forward to your comments, Thanks, David M === David Marsh System Administrator H.R. MacMillan Space Centre Vancouver Museum 1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver, BC V6J 3J9 E sysadmin at hrmacmillanspacecentre.com sysadmin at vanmuseum.bc.ca T (604) 736 4431 ext. 5507 C (604) 813 9667 F (604) 736 5665 === -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Bruce Wyman Sent: Monday, March 26, 2007 11:20 AM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] MAC mini's for digital signage: A couple of questions: 1) Is there a good, free or low cost Powerpoint Viewer for MAC OSX? MS don't offer one and TonicPoint Viewer seems very minimal and unsuited to being set up to automatically play a signage-type presentation. Well, if you're willing to save out the ppt files as either pdf or jpg then you could use Preview which comes with OS X. Another option that comes to mind (assuming that you're using ppt on os x) is that you can save the presentation as a quicktime movie and then any number of things can view that on OS X. Pretty much as long as you're willing to do a little conversion, then you're in good shape on OS X. However, that being said, PPT as your graphics engine is always going to be fairly annoying and limiting, especially if you're going to go cross platform. That's a longer rant and I'll spare that conversation at the moment unless you're interested. I'll assume you have a good idea of what you're up against there and even though I'm a fan of hacking anything under the sun, that's a path of pain. 2) does anyone have experience streaming high definition VGA video from PC to MAC? ...I'm interested in the hardware and software required. Do you need to stream in real-time or are you just doing playback of pre-recordered / pre-rendered video? The former is hard and I'd have some questions about what you're trying to do before figuring out a solution. If you're doing playback, why do you need a second computer? Don't you just need a single computer to do playback and either send video a great distance to a remote screen OR have the computer at the display for playback and suck the video content over the network from a file server (is that what you're imagining in your scenario above?) In any case, if you're wondering about lower cost solutions, take a look at the new Apple TV appliance - http://www.apple.com/appletv/. While it doesn't do full VGA, it is only $300 and will do up to 1280 x 720 at 24fps (other
[MCN-L] Ticketing Software Survey
Hi Mathew... Haven't seen ticketing come up on the list recently. FYI: Here at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre (Vancouver, BC) we're using Vantix ATMS+. The Vancouver Museum is considering adopting it too. The Vancouver Aquarium and Science World also use the system (BTW: I have no connection with Vantix!) We've found it offers a feature set we couldn't find on anything in the same cost bracket when we last looked. It provides support for admissions, show/event/ride scheduling, membership, rentals and an option for web admissions. We're happy with it. David M === David Marsh System Administrator H.R. MacMillan Space Centre Vancouver Museum 1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver, BC V6J 3J9 E sysadmin at hrmacmillanspacecentre.com sysadmin at vanmuseum.bc.ca T (604) 736 4431 ext. 5507 C (604) 813 9667 F (604) 736 5665 === -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Matthew P. Stevens Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 11:18 AM To: mcn-l at mcn.edu Subject: [MCN-L] Ticketing Software Survey Hi folks, Has anyone surveyed the group in the past with regards to which software ticketing systems our organizations utilize? If so, would you be willing to share your results? Thanks, Matt - Matthew Stevens, Technology Officer Adventure Science Center 800 Fort Negley Blvd Nashville TN 37203 Direct: 615-401-5064 Main: 615-862-5160 Fax: 615-862-5178 http://www.adventuresci.com ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l
[MCN-L] encrypting compressed NTFS drives
Hi, everyone... I'm the sysadmin for a small(-ish) science centre in Canada. I'm looking to encrypt media (removable hard drives) that will be used for offsite backup. Naturally, I want to both compress and encrypt the data on the removable drives. Given that NTFS can encrypt or compress but not both at the same time, I'm looking for third party encryption solutions. This is a backup system. It's vital. It must be simple, easy to completely understand, with no subtle gotchas or caveats to it's behaviour (unlike NTbackup, xcopy). Factors are: 1) low cost 2) (relatively) secure encryption suggestions/insight for what constitutes an adequate level of encryption would be most welcome. Are there any legislative requirements or known best practices for this? 3) simple decryption/recovery I'm aiming at simply encrypting the off-site media against loss in transit. I'm not encrypting data in situ. NTFS style user-based certificate security seems over-complex and heavy handed. Only the IT staff will ever need to work with the backed-up data. Also, I want a simple password/certificate I can store in a physical safe and be totally confident I (or an authorized person) can recover the data. I do not wish to obtain a higher degree in NTFS encryption key infrastructure just to be sure I won't get a nasty surprise when I need to restore. Concerns are missing, destroyed or expired certificates. 4) encryption must be on the fly. 5) we're encrypting static data, not software or OS files. I'm strictly protecting off-site media in transit, therefore some of the big advantages of NTFS encryption, such as preventing unauthorized access to data by unscrupulous staff within the organisation, are not the issue here. I am therefore looking at volume encryption tools. An example would be BestCrypt. [ http://www.jetico.com/index.htm#/bcve.htm ] This MUST be a common issue, and I'd love to hear from anybody with some experience resolving it. Thanks! David M === David Marsh System Administrator H.R. MacMillan Space Centre Vancouver Museum 1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver, BC V6J 3J9 E sysadmin at hrmacmillanspacecentre.com sysadmin at vanmuseum.bc.ca T (604) 736 4431 ext. 5507 C (604) 813 9667 === -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Farrell, David Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2006 11:54 AM To: mcn-l at mcn.edu Subject: [MCN-L] SM SIG: Small Museum SIG meeting in Pasadena Hi all, In my absence the Small Museum SIG meeting at the upcoming MCN conference in Pasadena will be chaired Richard Cloutier of the Passage Project. Richard will hold the meeting at a local restaurant which will be announced at the conference. I would encourage all those who either work in small museums, archives or libraries, or who are interested in the challenges faced by staff these institutions when adopting various technologies to either attend the SIG Meeting or talk to Richard during the conference. I would very much like to increase the visibility of small museums at the 2007 conference and to make the SIG more relevant for members who work in small institutions. Please participate by forwarding relevant news items or links to this listserv. If you have any other ideas please post them, talk to Richard at the Conference or e-mail me. Thanks, David Farrell, Chair, Small Museum SIG Peel Heritage Complex 9 Wellington St. East, Brampton, ON L6W 1Y1 (905)791-4055 x3628 http://www.peelregion.ca/heritage ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l
[MCN-L] Tricky question - is Mac better than PC?
From a tech support point of view: 1) I agree with those who have stated the position that there is little difference in performance potential. 2) As a hardware nut, I personally suspect that a powerhouse PC could be built with better price/performance ratio than a MAC. Commodity economics. I wonder how many PCs are built for each MAC (10:1, 100:1 or more?) 3) Utility software: There is very little (if any) utility software that isn't available for PC. Availability for MAC is far more patchy. I use a bunch of highly useful and powerful tools like Symantec Ghost, Anti-Virus, file management any many other obscure and handy tools that are often not available for MAC. 4) PCs integrate easily into my PC support systems (AV, backup etc.) MACs require extra effort, resources and tools to accommodate. 5) Regardless of merit, having 2 classes of computer rather than 1 creates extra support workload, regardless of which may be better. VHS is technically inferior to Betamax, and certainly Philips 2000 (ever heard of that?) yet nobody would ever advocate adopting either of the latter pair. 6) While many techs respect MACs, I've never yet met a tech who actually advocated for them. Think about that. Frankly, the individuals I've encountered who most vociferously advocate for them generally have little technical background. As a techie I therefore find it hard to find their positions compelling. If I want advice on a well-engineered car I'm more likely to listen to a mechanic than a taxi driver. Let's be clear: I'm not anti-MAC. I'm just not pro-MAC, and I've not been convinced yet by anybody who is. David M === David Marsh System Administrator H.R. MacMillan Space Centre Vancouver Museum 1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver, BC V6J 3J9 E sysadmin at hrmacmillanspacecentre.com sysadmin at vanmuseum.bc.ca T (604) 736 4431 ext. 5507 C (604) 813 9667 === -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Randy Heise Sent: Friday, September 08, 2006 12:17 PM To: 'Museum Computer Network Listserv' Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Tricky question - is Mac better than PC? With the latest operating systems both machines co-exist on the network very well. We have Macs in the Graphics, Exhibit design and Multi-media departments. Cost is equal. It would it would initially appear that the Mac is more expensive, but by the time you've spent the money on a PC to make it an equivelent performer you could buy a Mac for the same amount. As far as the Administration portions of the Museum ... PC's are far superior simply because the majority of Museum specific software available is written for a PC. It becomes not a question of the machine itself but of the useage that dictates which is best for what job. My advice would be 'apply the best tool to the job at hand' and don't be afraid to mix when necessary. Our Macs log on to an MS Exchange server for e-mail, share calendar functions with the PCs, store data on Win2K3 servers, print to windows printers and behave on the network like any other workstation. I would not waste the power of a Mac for writing word documents nor performing accounting functions. I would also not waste the time required to make the average PC perform as well as a Mac in graphics oriented duties. Just my .02 typed on a PC while my G4 mactop is beside it monitoring traffic flow on my Win2K3 Network. Randy Heise Information Technology Manager High Desert Museum 59800 South Hwy 97 Bend, OR 97702 541.382.4754 x244 rheise at highdesertmuseum.org www.highdesertmuseum.org ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l
[MCN-L] File Storage Best Practices Redux
Hi Chuck... I'm reviewing similar issues on a much smaller scale here at the Space Centre and Museum here in Vancouver BC. Here's some random thoughts on my efforts. FYI: we're a non profit operating with minimal budgets and resources here. Enterprise class Solution Providers need not apply! :-) (...open source hackers get free coffee and cookies) Our main shared resource is a single shared directory tree which contains everything from planetarium visuals to accounting's Excel spreadsheets. I use disk based backup with a 10 cartridge rotation. The entire tree is backed up daily. Using commodity IDE (or SATA) hard disks is very cost effective. Blows tape systems out of the water regarding cost, speed, random access, flexibility. But a single tier system like this will inevitably run out of space eventually, so I'm looking to develop a more sophisticated model. My current line of thinking is to retain the single tree for simplicity. Users (all of them ...not just the technophiles) need to understand something before they can use it. I'm intending to add a separate archive area. This will be on a separate disk volume. The main directory tree will be scanned nightly, and any file not even looked at for, say, 6 months will be moved to the archive in an identical directory path. It will probably be made read-only. I may provide users direct access to it, and that would stop them modifying the contents. I want that data static. Right now I'm thinking of maintaining 3 copies of the archive. That's a big deal, as with the 10 cartridge rotation on the main directory tree, we need 10 GB of media for every 1 GB of working space. That really holds us back from exploiting cheap disk space to the fullest. With this archive system, we'll only need 3, so all things being equal we'll have 3 (ok, 3.33...) times the archive space on the same hardware budget. The three, rotating copies will be 1 online, 1 physically secure on-sight and one in a safety deposit box (size 2) at the bank we do our cash run with. I've also considered another step: as content is moved to the archive, A copy of the new stuff is buffered in a separate area. When exactly one DVD's worth of stuff has arrived, it's burnt to DVD as extra insurance. Not sure this step is worth the trouble. Only 3 copies leaves me instinctively nervous when I'm accustomed to 10, but that is purely psychology. I'm telling myself the chances of 3 drives failing simultaneously must be remote (remember 2 offline, 1 offsite). Still, my instincts aren't quite satisfied. Intellectually, I feel burning the DVDs is less cost effective and less flexible than simply getting more hard drives. Hard disks are hard to beat for $/GB and optical storage never seems to catch up, though with each new generation of CD technology it closes the gap for a while. Even 9.something GB on a double layer disk isn't looking very big anymore (my cheap IDE disk cartridges are 300GB). The labor and logistics of doing the DVD burn are not welcome either. And of course optical disks are not famous for reliable, long term stability that you'd bet your institution on. I'm also considering another class of data: Extremely bulky data Examples would be planetarium production files (can be HUGE) and collections digitization and cataloging (I have a conservator who's very busy with a shiny new digital camera right now). I'd really like to find a storage solution that doesn't need 10 rotation copies as that would be prohibitive given the size I want to achieve. But it has to be safely backed up. I'm considering maybe two mirrored copies online (different ends of the building, UPSs etc), a third offline locally, and a fourth off-site. The last two are essential to protect from a) a system-wide event and b) destruction of the building(!). The problem I've not answered yet is volume size. I want to use JABOD or software raid to build big, easily scalable disk volumes with multiple, cheap commodity disks. No problem for the online copies, but how that could work for the offline and off-site copies is not obvious. Working on it. BTW: data size probably rules out online backup to an offsite service provider due to bandwidth costs. Hope that's interesting to some of you ...I'd love to share any ideas the rest of you may have. Cheap, flexible and secure storage is an issue many of us must be thinking about. Regards, David Marsh == David Marsh System Administrator H.R. MacMillan Space Centre Vancouver Museum 1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver, BC V6J 3J9 E sysadmin at hrmacmillanspacecentre.com sysadmin at vanmuseum.bc.ca T (604) 736 4431 ext. 5507 C (604) 813 9667 === -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Chuck Patch Sent: Monday, August 21, 2006 2:18 PM To: mcn-l at mcn.edu Subject: [MCN-L] File Storage Best Practices Redux Last January someone
Re: MCN-L Digitization procedures
Hi Mike, everybody A couple of observations re on the fly derivatives from a techie perspective: 1) I would expect JPEG derivatives, particular if at substantially lower resolution, to be very much smaller than the master TIF, even with TIF compression. Makes me wonder about the exact nature of the storage space limitations you mention. 2) Generating and a derivative on-the-fly implies loading and processing the (very) bulky original file. My instinct is that the I/O and processing burden of doing this is a high price to pay for the small proportion of storage space likely to be saved. Interesting idea tho maybe a compromise could work well. Have a few strategically sized derivatives ready made for 90% of anticipated needs, and have an on-the-fly facility to generate more specialised versions, avoiding the need to store a derivative for every conceivable purpose. I suspect thats the line youre already thinking along. David Marsh -Original Message- From: Mike Rippy [mailto:mri...@ima-art.org] Sent: Friday, January 06, 2006 6:25 AM To: mcn-l@mcn.edu Subject: Re: MCN-L Digitization procedures Oh, by the way.Our plan here for our collection photography is to store theraw file, create a master tif file (that has been corrected for dust, color, etc.)and from that make various jpg derivitives (as needed). However, do to storage space limitations, we are considering using a new system thatuses an application togenerate derivatives on the fly to be delivered to our users. Saving the cost of storing each derivative file === David Marsh System Administrator H.R. MacMillan Space Centre 1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver, BC V6J 3J9 E dma...@hrmacmillanspacecentre.com T (604) 738 7827 ext. 255 C (604) 813 9667 === --- You are currently subscribed to mcn_mcn-l as: rlancefi...@mail.wesleyan.edu To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-mcn_mcn-l-12800...@listserver.americaneagle.com
