The main reason for this is that I am planning to write some windows (good chance there will be Mac too ) software after reading a post on Lifehacker.

I hope to complete this new design before the end of this week, and the software done before christmas. It will be free, don’t worry.

Hope you like the new design…

Solution 1: (Return example: Linux, Win32)

<?php
$S_SS = $_SERVER['SERVER_SOFTWARE'];

$S_SS_E = explode('(',$S_SS);

$S_SS_E2 = explode(')',$S_SS_E[1]);

echo $S_SS_E2[0];
?>

In the method above we simply use the $_SERVER['SERVER_SOFTWARE'] variable and we explode out the brackets.
UPDATE: This method only works with apache software as far as I know – does not work with litespeed software. Untested on Lighttpd.

Solution 2:

<?php
$os_string = php_uname('s');

if (strpos(strtoupper($os_string), 'WIN')!==false) {
echo 'Windows';
} else {
echo 'Linux';
}
?>[/php]

I also got a Wacom Bamboo Tablet for my birthday recently, and it has been interesting playing with the touch support in Windows 7.

I shall be buying a new GFX Card soon so I can run blender smoothly.

Well, i say that but several of them are running – there is a local development server, and a teamviewer server which i use to access the network from remote locations such as at school.

I am hoping to get some “new” tower PCs before christmas which we plan to put together as a cluster.

We are just waiting on an internet connection now, i have been emailing companies and getting quotes for lines . I have got one or two in mind so far…

I have included pictures of the current setup with the rack and the servers in it. (Sorry about the quality – they were taken with an iphone camera).

BTW – the cables have now been tidyed up, and are neatly tied to each side of the rack seperating Power and Data cables

I have been playing around with server positions and other stuff, while it is in the warm of my office before being moved out to the datacenter where it is a frosty 5.7 degrees celsius.

I have included some pictures below for those that are interested

This is the first of hopefully many server racks for JCKD Hosting. Part 3 of this series is hopefully coming mid-april when we move into our facility. Stay tuned!

sorry for the bad quality – was taken with an iphone.

My school uses OmniQuad SurfWall remote, which we browse through as a proxy server. We discovered that when accessing the internet using Terminal Server, you could disable using the proxy. We tested this in an ICT lesson, when the internet appeared to have gone down for everyone in the classroom. I went onto TS, and opened IE. Then i tried to access google. No luck. I disabled the proxy and hey presto, the internet works. We believe that the proxy server is not very stable, as there has been a problem with the internet almost every day of the past few weeks.

Using a remote proxy server makes the internet slower, no matter how fast the internet connection the company pays for is. This is because the internet connection is only getting you too the proxy server. Once you get through the server, you are using the Datacenter’s internet. A Datacenter with lots of servers hosting lots of websites is obviously going to have high network traffic. This is the bottleneck of any remote service. Even if you had a 1Gbps internet connection, you won’t be able to utilze that internet connection if the proxy server has a high usage, as i imagine a remote proxy server would.

Therefore, the best way for a company or educational esablishment to use a proxy server is to have one on the local network. You can do this with a physical server, or on a virtual machine using software such as squid. The downside to this is that you have to set it up yourself, or pay someone else to set it up. Then you have to manage it. These all create tasks for ICT network staff which may already be stretched. So a manage remote proxy server has its benifits and downsides. I’ll let you choose

Disclamer: I am not responsible for anything that may happen if you follow the advice shown on this blog.

EDIT: I have uploaded a screenshot below…

We’ve got about 3inches of snow (8cm)!!!

Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11927&id=100000114711753

Will upload more pics there as the day goes on…

Today was the last day of school, but it was great because our last lesson was ICT.

Looking forward to christmas, it starts now!!

On thursday my school donated 7 ‘old’ish computers to me . Of the 7, 4 work and 3 will be used for parts (this is because of a lack of motherboards with processors ).

The next day, they presented me with a Netgear FS524 100mbps 24 ports switch. Apart from it being very noisy, it is awesome :p.

All of this kit is going to be upgraded a bit and will then be put to test on my local network. If they pass, then they will go into the server room, and an internet connection from BT will be purchased and the PC’s linked up to the internet as web servers. They will be hosting www.xeonhosting.co.uk to start with, and eventually we will host all the JCKD websites (including this one) on them.

In the not-to-distant future, i hope to make another 4U server and start selling VPS hosting.

Thank you Matt and Les!