A Mime in a Box

Picking up on a thread by Andy the IT Guy, which of these things is not like the other?

1. A developer who doesn’t understand databases, networks or firewalls.
2. A system manager or DBA who doesn’t understand applications, networks and firewalls.
3. A firewall or network administrator who doesn’t understand operating systems and applications.
4. A mime in a box.

Trick question. They’re the same. The mime’s box is imaginary, as are the cross disciplinary restrictions that we place on developers, system and network administrators.

In the example from Andy’s post, the developer didn’t understand the difference between an app installed on a desktop and an app installed on a server. Similarly, non-network people often don’t understand the critical difference between source and destination when an app server connects to a database.

For example, I often see this diagram:

 

showing an application updating a database, when from a network point of view, what we really need to see is:

 

showing the application making a network connection to the database. But that subtle difference doesn’t mean much unless the person understands firewalls. They’ll need to understand them though, because I’m going to do this:

 

If they don’t understand the difference between TCP and UCP, between Inbound and Outbound and between Source and Destination, that firewall is probably going to break things.

This problem seems to occur nearly universally.

Let's call this System Management Principle #5:

Each technology specialist must understand enough about the adjoining technologies to design and build systems that make maximum use of those technologies. 

(If you’ve got a better way of phrasing that, let me know.)

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I’ve got System Management Principle #6, and now, with Andy’s help, principle #5. Someday we’ll dream up the rest of them.
Photo by B. Tse, found here.

Home Server Energy Consumption

I'm moving toward 'less is more', where 'less' is measured in watts. Right now my entire home entertainment and technology stack uses about 150 watts total (server + network + storage + Sun Rays + laptops + wall warts). I no longer use the stereo or television -  that stack is unplugged and consuming zero energy, and I don’t have any watt sucking game consoles. My next iteration of home entertainment & technology should use about 25 watts for all servers and storage and about 20 watts for each user end point (laptop). The server and network should be the only devices that run continuously. End points should suspend and resume quickly and reliably so that no more than one is normally running at a time, so the net of all server, network and user devices should be under 50 watts.

Expecting Stewardship Without Understanding

What are the consequences of building a society where we rely on technology that we don’t understand? Is lack of stewardship one of those consequences?

From Wayne Porter:

Most people no longer understand anything about the technology they use everyday and because of this ignorance many people use it without good stewardship. We drive cars we cannot fix, eat food we cannot make or produce, and many operate in an environment they do not understand with a false sense of security. We run and gun this technology with fuel that has probably reached its peak point.

Can we expect people who don’t understand a technology to be good stewards of the technology?
Should we expect application developers, who largely don’t understand relational databases, database security, firewalls or networks, to write applications that rationally utilize or properly protect those resources? Should we expect ordinary computer users, who understand almost nothing of how their computers work, to operate their computers in a manner that protects them and us from themselves and the Internet?

For some technologies (automobiles for example) we’ve almost completely given up on users understanding the technology well enough to make rational decisions and exhibit good stewardship. Drivers will never understand tire contact patches and slip angles, so we give them speed limits, ABS brakes, stability control, crumple zones and air bags. Drivers don’t understand engines and engine maintenance, so we give them idiot lights and dashboard messages. Drivers don’t understand the consequences of fossil fuel consumption, so we legislate minimum mileage and emission standards. We force drivers to be good stewards whether they like it or not.

Home owners don’t understand strength of beams, dynamic wind loads and electricity's propensity to escape to the ground via the path of least resistance, so we have building codes and permits, building inspectors, fire inspectors, licensed contractors and tradesmen to force homeowners into reasonable stewardship of their property.

On the other hand, most computer users don’t have even a basic understanding of how their computer works, yet we give them administrative access, allow them to install random software from the Internet, and then somehow expect them to keep their computer secure and functional. We expect them to be good stewards of the technology and not allow their home computers to be malware infested botnet nodes without them having even a vague understanding of how their computer works.

That’s probably not going to work.