Susan Komen Race for the Cure 5k 10/17/2010

This past weekend a few of us from the HostDime office did the Susan Koman Race for a Cure 5k.  It was our second time doing this run at UCF.  Last year we had a great time did a casual jog/run and this year we took it a bit seriously.  Alex V and myself trained for about 6 weeks, Alex F jumped in a few weeks in.  We started off on the treadmill working on pacing and eventually did a few weeks outside at local park.  There were a total of 7,565 participants, 545 survivors and 334 race teams.

This was everyones first chipped (timed) race.  Alex F ended the race at 25:01 @ #102, my time was 27:38 @ #226, Greg was a second behind me at 27:39 @ #227 and Alex V had a 29:07 @ #347.  Not bad out of 1170 chipped runners.  Full results here.

Starting Line (I am right in the middle) Route around UCF
The team pre race The team with Chester Cheetah post race

We are looking forward to our next 5k and we plan on doing another in Dec and January.

Nike + iPod

Currently I’m doing some light training for a Susan G. Komen 5k next month.  I’m trying to start participating more in any charity runs in the area and I would love to complete a marathon in the next few years.  I told myself if I could stay in a decent training routine for 3+ weeks that I would buy a new pair of shoes.   My Asics were pretty beat and the backs were giving me blisters.  I was able to get to the gym after work and complete 3-4 decent runs a week in the past month.  I think the key for me was bringing my gym clothes in the car and going on my way home.  Give that a try if you are having difficulty getting into routine.

So this past weekend since I was able to meet my goal I picked up a new pair of shoes (Nike Lunarglide+ 2) (love them) and also picked up a Nike + sensor over the past weekend.

Nike + iPod is awesome.  The iPhone 4 has built in capabilities to obtain run data from the shoe sensor. During your run it tracks your distance, pace, and calories burnt.  There is also an GPS app available that tracks and maps out your route.  After your run it syncs with your account on nikeplus.com.  Nikeplus.com lets you add friends, challenge friends, and set every type of goal imaginable.  This sensor and app make me want to run everyday.  Its really a great motivator and good technology to help you run more often.

My nikeplus profile: http://my.nike.com/mikeyr0x

Left: Both apps, Not sure which one I’m going to use as my primary.  For now I’m using the Nike+ GPS app for outdoor runs and Nike + iPod app for indoor.  Right: the start a new run menu on the GPS app.

Left: the run summary view within the GPS app.  Right: the run history summary within the Nike+ iPod app.

Earlier today I found that the run data is stored in xml files from http://runometer.com/howto.html. I’m going play around with the xml tonight to see if anything fun can be done with the data I’m generating during my runs. Should be cool 🙂

Configuring DNS on Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Server for Web Hosting

Preface
Snow Leopard Server takes control over bind and named and provides you Server Admin to configure DNS. Apple wants you to use Server Admin either via Server Admin Tools, Server Admin within Remote Management, or via serveradmin on terminal or via ssh to your SLS.   You may want to start fresh if you are having trouble with dns service after modifying config files by hand.  Small changes and file modifications can corrupt the entire DNS service.  If you are having trouble with DNS try to telnet to port 53 on your machine and check dig and dns reports on your domain.  If these fail consider starting fresh.

You’ll need
OS X Snow leopard server with remote access
A domain name and access to your domains management console
2 IP addresses, one for each name server you’ll use
To plan a bit– figure out which IPs you want to use for name servers, what you would like to call the name servers

To begin
Rndc is not necessary for named to work on SLS
Any db zone file edits via command line will be reverted/overwritten with Server Admin
DNS zones are stored in /var/named/zones
Basic server network config like IPs and a network resolver need to be functioning. See network connections and /etc/resolv.conf
Many times SLS relies on and uses RDNS. When you are able set RDNS for IPs you use for NS and hostnames

References
Apple.com Mac OS X Server Snow Leopard Resources – Guides
Apple.com Discussions Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard

Tools
dig on your command line
dig from menandmice.com
dig from geektools.com
dns report from dns.hostdime.com
dns report from intodns.com

Downloads
10.6 DNS Defaults Use these for starting over fresh with DNS after experiencing configuration or performance issues.
Package contents:
/dns
loggingOptions.conf.apple
options.conf.apple
publicView.conf.apple
/named
localhost.zone
named.ca
named.local
named.conf

These files are all system defaults and are tested on SLS 10.6.4.

Server Admin Tools Remote administration tools, documentation and utilities that you can install on a OS X machine other than your server.

Setting up DNS
If you have not already, visit Apple.com Mac OS X Server Snow Leopard Resources – Guides and download the Network Services Admin pdf.
Skip to chapter 3  Working with DNS Service and read this chapter in its entirety if you are new to DNS. If you are already familiar and have configured or setup a DNS server before, skim it and continue to follow this article.

1.  Register your domain name, register your name servers, set name servers
This article assumes you already have the domain name ready that you would like to setup and host on your Snow Leopard Server. The registrar I am using is Enom with a direct account.  If you are using Godaddy or another registrar you may have limited access.  If you are having trouble finding the register a name server function within your domain registration account contact their support team and they should be able to add your name servers for you.  Here are the steps in with Enom to give you an idea of the process:

a.   After logging in, go to Domain -> Register a name server

b.  Add your name server (ns1.yourdomain.com) and one of the ip addresses from your server.  For this example I’m using 66.7.195.226 (main server ip where the site will be hosted), 66.7.195.227 for name server 1, and 66.7.195.228 for name server 2.  If you have multiple IPs on your snow leopard server try and use consecutive IPs.

c.  Add your second name server and the IP you wish to use for it

d.  Check both nameservers if you can to verify they were added correctly

e.  Set the name servers that you just created on the domain you will be hosting on your Snow Leopard Server.

Keep in mind name server updates can take from 1-24 hours depending your location and the traffic on root dns servers.

Now that your domain name is properly configured to point to your Snow Leopard Server you’ll need to setup DNS service to host your domain.
2.  Enable DNS Service
a.  Launch Server Admin and connect to your server.
b.  Select your server and click [Settings]
c.  Click [Services] , Select the DNS checkbox.  Click save.

3.  Create a DNS zone and add DNS records
a.  Open Server Admin, connect to your server.  Click the triangle and expand the service drop down.
b.  Select DNS.
c.  Click [Zones]
d.  Click Add Zone -> Add Primary Zone (Master)
e.  Select the new zone, in the Primary Zone Name field enter the zone name, or the domain name you wish to host on your Snow Leopard Server
f.  Enter the email address of the zones administrator
g.  Add name servers for the zone by clicking [+] and entering the 2 name servers you created earlier.
h.  Click save.

4.  Finish configuring the zone.  Add records.
a.  Select the zone you just created
b.  Click Add Record -> Add Alias (CNAME)
c.  Add your domain as the Machine Name with a trailing . and click Fully Qualified
d.  Enter the ip address that you’ll be hosting your site on, typically your servers main ip address.
e.  Click save.

f.  Click Add Record -> Add Machine (A)
g.  Alias Name:  www
h.  Destination:  Your domain name with a trailing . and check Fully Qualified
e.  Click save.

This zone was only created for web hosting not for email or any other services for the domain mikemix.com. Snow Leopard Server will attempt to obtain rdns entries for your domain and will add them above the zone you just created.

5.  Configure logging
If you wish to troubleshoot DNS service visit -> DNS -> Settings -> Log Level
Here you can configure the amount of information displayed in Server Admin.  Select information or debug for the most information.  To trouble shoot via terminal you can :
[code lang=”bash”]
tail -F /Library/Logs/named.log[/code]
6.  Configure firewall
Before proceeding you’ll want to make exceptions in the servers firewall for dns.  Enable all port 53 traffic.
a.  In Server Admin, Select Firewall
b.  Click [Settings]
c.  Click Services
d.  Click next to both DNS entries, Inbound queries and outbound queries.
e.  Click save.

7.  Stop and start DNS service and test your domain

You  should now proceed to setup Web service and setup a Site. This web files should be placed in /Library/WebServer/Documents/domain.com or the location you set in Server Admin. This process is pretty straight forward, I will create a guide for it next.

If you setup DNS and the site correctly you should now be ready to host web sites on your Snow Leopard Server.

Starting fresh
Is DNS service not responding or acting strange?  Did you modify some of the config files above outside of Server Admin? Try starting over if you arent getting results from telnet to your ip port 53 and you arent seeing responses when you dig or do a dns report on your domain.

1. Stop DNS Service in Server Admin
2. Close Server Admin

3. Grab the 10.6 DNS Defaults package mentioned above
4. Place the DNS_defaults.zip on your server, maybe on the desktop. Extract it.
5. Overwrite the following files:

/etc/dns/loggingOptions.conf.apple
/etc/dns/options.conf.apple
/etc/dns/publicView.conf.apple
/var/named/named.ca
/etc/named.conf
/var/named/named.local
/var/named/localhost.zone

(ex: In extracted dns defaults directory: sudo mv named.conf /var/named.conf)
Also rm any of the db files in /var/named and in /var/named/zones or move them elsewhere to reference later if you need to restore these zones.

6. Launch Disk Utility
Spotlight (Command+space) -> Disk Utility
or
Finder -> Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utility
7. Click on your main disk (Macintosh HD)
8. Click the (Repair Disk Permissions) Button
9. Allow the repair to complete and restart your server

After your server comes back up from reboot check Server Admin and you’ll have a clean slate. Move back up to Setting up DNS, create a primary zone and use some of the tools above to test.

Contact me if you have any questions or need a hand setting up your Snow Leopard Server for web hosting