Large databases, long mysqldump times, long waits for globally locked tables. These problems basically never go away when you rely on mysqldump with –all-databases or a list of databases, as it dumps schemas serially. I’m not going to explain serial vs parallel processing here since that’s a larger topic. Suffice to say that in these days of multi-core / multi-cpu servers we only make use of one processor’s core when we serially export databases using mysqldump. So, I have a new script that attempts to alleviate those issues and now I need testers to provide feedback/improvements.

In order to keep some sanity when dealing with hundreds of database servers, the script takes care of the following:

1. low global locking time requirements: solved by parallel tasks / forked processes
2. backup file checking: with mysqldump files; it checks for “–Dump completed” at the end of the sql file …

First, AddThis.com (where I was the director of IT) and Clearspring have merged! A side effect of that is that I’m now (happily, on purpose, by choice) a full-time consultant! I’ll have a web site up soonish. Until then, check back here for updates. If you’re a tech firm who needs help, and don’t mind remote workers, send mail to bkjones at Google’s mail service (.com).

Some folks thought I’d passed away due to the uncharacteristic lull in posting frequency on this blog. I’m very much alive — but working for a startup and maintaining a consulting business simultaneously is hard, especially when two large projects fall into your lap at the same time. So what have I been up to?

Well, as part of the now-public merger between the company I worked for and the new company, …

This is a basic heads up post, perhaps even blatant self marketing. So, please continue reading.

If anyone recalls the website http://mysql-dba.com they would know that it’s based on the planet.py codebase that is written in python. I originally wrote a simple php script that utilized the lastRSS.php class for parsing feeds on the backend for archival purposes to be used at a later date. I say archival and later date because the site itself did not utilize any of the relational data storage to run the site. The site’s python code and cache was updated by cron scripts every 15 minutes and new data was scp’d from my dev server to my webhost’s servers.  This process eventually was quite randomly run since my development server rack in the garage at home gets really hot during the summer months and I ended up taking the servers offline unless I was actively using them for other purposes. You could say the priority of the site came …

Hi all,

The schedule for PyWorks has been posted! I’m really excited about three things:

1) there are some really cool talks that I’m looking forward to attending. There are a couple of sysadmin-related talks, AppEngine, TurboGears, Django, and an area I’ve been especially slow to move into: testing (I know, shame on me). There’s lots more so be sure to check it out.

2) the conference scheduling process is over

3) I get to meet a lot of people face-to-face that I’ve worked with in the past on Python Magazine developing articles, or interacted with on IRC, etc. One thing I like about conferences surrounding open source technologies is you get to thank people face-to-face for the sweat they poured into some of the tools I use regularly. Mark Ramm, Kevin Dangoor, Michael Foord, Brandon Rhodes, and a collection of Python Magazine authors …

I got to actually speak to Brian Aker for maybe a total of 5 minutes after his micro-presentation about Drizzle, which took place at the Sun booth at OSCON 2008. I was a bit nervous to ask what questions I had out loud, because the things I had wondered about were things I really didn’t see too much discussion about out in the intarweb. I’m happy to report that, if Brian Aker is to be considered any kind of authority (hint: he is), my ideas are not completely ridiculous, so maybe I’ll start talking a bit more about them.

UPDATE: lest anyone get the wrong idea, Brian Aker did, in fact, state that views are not on the short list of priority items for Drizzle, but he did say that views are one of the features he finds most useful, and that they’d probably be higher on any future priority list than, say, …

Launching a Startup in 3 Hours was a great talk given by Andrew Hyde (of techstars.org) and Gavin Doughtie (of Google). Both of the speakers are heavily involved in the recent trend of doing “Startup Weekends”, and techstars.org is an organization that hosts startup weekends all around the US (and I think internationally as well - Andrew mentioned one in Germany if I heard correctly).

The first half of the talk was about the general concept of a startup weekend, the problems it avoids (”we’ve been working for 9 months and haven’t launched anything”), the problems it brings up (”If you’re not using Java, you’re an idiot, so count me out!!”), and lots of details about how to organize, how to assign roles, and some common tools they use (like Basecamp and whatever your IM of choice is). There was also talk of legal issues, how (basically) to think about forming the company with the people involved, and decisions that need to …

The evening plans didn’t wait for talks to be done. The IRC channel (#oscon on irc.freenode.net) was alive with talk of prospects for dinner and drinks after the conference. I myself was torn between a group going out for Lebanese and another going to Henry’s, but opted to go with my buddies from home to Henry’s.

It was worth it. If you haven’t been, Henry’s Tavern boasts 100 beers and hard ciders on tap (oddly, the beer list is the only menu *not* online - guess it changes too frequently). There are a ton of local beers that you can’t even get on the east coast just waiting for you to try, but there are also some rare treats, like the Belgian Lambic beers, which you don’t often see on tap. The food is a little pricey, but is really good, and the staff is very friendly. A couple of us …

I think I have pictures of most of the basic parts of the conference at my OSCON Flickr set, and I thoroughly enjoyed day 1 of the conference. Of course, while *day* 1 is over, *night* 1 has yet to even begin. There are lots of BoF sessions, and maybe even more smaller meetups going on, as smaller groups take to discussing things over dinner and a beer or three.

I have to say, that I occasionally pop into irc channels for conferences I’m not even at and follow up on that because I’m involved a bit in conference planning as part of my work with Python Magazine (I’m helping to organize the PyWorks conference in November). This conference seems to have a pretty happy audience, if IRC chatter is any indication (and it usually is). Sure, there are a couple of weak spots in the wireless network, there are some fuzzy projectors, and there was a little …

I got an early start. Too early. But I’m from the west coast, so my body thinks I slept in. I wandered around a bit, took a few pics which you can see at my Flickr OSCON set, and I discovered a couple of things that might be of interest:

• The starbucks in the conference center charges over $2 for a small cup of joe. There’s a starbucks right across the street (you can see it from the breakfast area - seriously, it’s 5 seconds away), and they charge less than $2 for a medium (grande). That’s less than I pay at home.
• The ATM outside the starbucks charges $3 for cash. I’ll report back when I find a cheaper one, but most places seem to take plastic here.
• Every computer involved in this conference, from registration to the video screens that dot the common areas, are running Windows XP. Just sayin’.
• The …