Memories. Ahhh Yes, Memories of My Life

Virtual Machines, And Waiting

         I've been chatting with one of my co-workers recently. He has the same form of Cancer I do, yet this disease is supposed to be rare, occurring in less than 1% of the population. I can't fathom how two people in a small group of 16 can both have this illness then. Just goes to show, huh. Yes, 16. We have 16 instructors who cover the USA, Canada, and help cover classes around the world. There are other trainers in Asia, Europe, Australia and such, for a total of maybe 40 of us. Yes, I do feel very fortunate to be where I am. By the way, I may be retiring in the not too distant future. Who wants to take my place?

         Anyway, on to the real reason for this post. He and I were chatting about the use of Virtual Machines in our systems, and how he has a Nuk at home, configured with a virtual radio system from Motorola. The thing is, his Virtual Machine (VM) is about the size of the average home router! Our support staff at work, those who maintain our system and it's numerous databases, order parts, etc, configured this for him. I'm all excited because he wants another co-worker, and myself to receive the other two that are sitting in the office/lab. First, being a computer nut, I'd love it. Second though, it would make some of my course deliveries a lot easier. Let me explain.

         We use Adobe Connect for our online class deliveries. Adobe offers a really good interface, the ability to share files, video, chat, etc. The problem with Adobe is, when we log onto our VPN at work, as we often have to in order to access our systems remotely, the connection speed drops to the Kbps range, while my internet connection remains in the 200+ Mbps range! This can cause audio issues, and connection drops. Fortunately, I don't seem to suffer as much as some instructors do, but there are moments.

         So imagine that all of a sudden, you don't have to log onto the VPN to access a database, it's right there next to you! Yes, it would (will) have its limitations, such as physical access to devices. However, there are 5-6 classes I could deliver using something like that, and never use the VPN. Life would be so easy! (Like it's so hard for me right now... Sheesh!)

         Now it's a wait and see game. Will he convince the powers that be that I should have one of these 'toys'? Only time will tell. If they say no to one of those small Nuk's, there's always an older HP DL360 server sitting in the system that I maintain, doing nothing at all. True, it's not small (19" wide, about 2" high, and 36"long!), and would make my electric bill jump some. The answer there is, power it on only when needed. I have a lot to learn about this, and powering it on and off might not be the best thing. We'll see. In the meantime, I wait.