IT / Virtualization

Building Oracle DB on VMware VM and Block Storage

• by Oleg

Oracle DB on VM

Assign different types of disks to separate paravirtualized SCSI controller.

Use EagerZeroedThick formatting on database disks to avoid performance penalty while zeroing during runtime.

Set VM property disk.EnableUUID to TRUE. Below PowerCLI code will do it

[code language=”powershell”]
$vmConfigSpec = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineConfigSpec
$extra = New-Object Vmware.Vim.OptionValue
$extra.Key = "disk.EnableUUID"
$extra.Value = "true"
$vmConfigSpec.extraconfig = $extra

Get-VM | % { (Get-View $_.ID).ReconfigVM($vmConfigSpec)}
[/code]

Web Hosting

Web Site Performance

• by Oleg

Toolset:

WordPress Performance Issues

Keep website lean

Minify everything

Image Compression

Caching

You can simulate load and measure performance on your site with tools like:

or  simple test using ab  like:

$ ab -n 100 -c 5 http://example.com/

Use CDN

BMW

Pretty Good BMW shop in VA

• by Oleg

RRTIt is not very often we can really recommend good car mechanic. But today I would like to do just that. I have almost always been taking my cars to Curry’s Auto Service in their Dulles, VA location until they decided to close that branch.
I have been looking for competent alternative in the area and I think I found one.

The place is called Road Race Technologies. I took one of my cars there for alignment and I am happy with the result so far. And it was just $110 which is also cheaper than I paid before to do the same in both Curry’s or BMW of Sterling. The guy on the phone told me that they usually take BMW’s to next door shop for alignment, but I did not mind since the price was right anyway. When I came to pick up my car that evening I saw that all they were working was BMW cars. Their regular hour cost is $95. Which I think is reasonable now.
Check them out if you are in the Dulles, VA area. I’d like to see more review of them. So far I have only found one on Yelp.

BTW, the way they specified their address on their web site does not work in Google map. So here is correct one with the like for you convenience.
23700 Overland Dr, Sterling, VA 20166

And one thing that I did not especially like is that they open at 8:30 am which is kind of late if you let’s say want to drop your car there in there morning and still get to work on time to some place like in DC.

DIY

How not to change flat tire

• by Oleg
A cutaway view of a car final drive unit which contains the differential
A cutaway view of a car final drive unit which contains the differential

I watched the funny scene the other day. My neighbor minivan fell off the jack. It fell hard on its belly when the guy removed the flat tire. It could ended up very bad if somebody got hurt. Luckily just van’s belly had  couple of scratches and that was it.

So guess why it fell off the jack?

You guessed it right – the human error. Or I’d call it stupidity in this case. The owner of the minivan did not engage the parking break nor he ensured by any other means that the car would not roll.

The guy was changing one of the front tires of  front wheel drive Toyota Sienna. Once the flat tire was off the ground, lugs were  removed and he shook the tire the minivan rolled back a little bit, just enough to fell off the jack.

The lesson there for owner was that the differential lets one wheel roll freely once another wheel is off the ground even if transmission is in “P” (Park).

[image credit: wikipedia]

BMW

European Delivery

• by Oleg

BMW WeltDid you ever think how exciting it would be to fly out to Germany to personally pick up your own brand new car at famous BMW Welt?

BMW has European delivery program that gives you a chance to pick up your car in Germany, drive it around the Europe while having unforgettable experience of European vacation, also to enjoy lack of speed limits on autobahns .

By picking your car in Europe you usually are ably to get it for  around 7% less compared to what you’d pay if you picked it at your local dealer. But most people I talked to usually spend the difference on the trip.

BMWBLOG made series of videos about one of such trips to Europe. Enjoy.

Here are links to bmwblog posts so you can also read about it.

BMW

BMW 6 Series GT Update

• by Oleg

BMW 6 Series

BWDBLOG has posted couple of updates regarding new BMW 6 Series GT.

The new six is going to be four seater only. The car will also look different from other 6 series BMW. It will have wider grille, srong shoulder line typical for these kind of cars.

New car will receive the same 6 cylinder twin turbo and 8 cylinders engienes as others 6 series BMWs.

BMW

Free Defects and Recalls Database

• by Oleg

Woman & SafetyFREE lists of Car Recalls, Equipment, Tires, Child Restraint and technical service bulletins, Courtesy of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration(NHTSA).

Go to website and list year, make and model of your car.

Filing an Official Consumer Complaint about Your Car

The U.S. Department of Transportation encourages consumers to file an official complaint of record with them when the suspect safety issues with their model car. This information will be entered into National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) vehicle owner’s complaint database and used with other complaints to determine if a safety-related defect trend exists.

Your complaint is important in determining if further action is needed to investigate the possibility of a recall. Continue reading →

BMW

BMW Comfort Access

• by Oleg

Here is a little video demonstrating BMW’s later feature, the Comfort Access System.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wo6dacBN1E

The comfort access system puts an end to searching for car keys in your handbag or pockets. Simply approach your BMW, open the door and press the Start button. Your unique key is recognized remotely by the comfort access sensors as soon as you come within 1.5 meters of your BMW, wherever you happen to be carrying it – in your pocket, your handbag or briefcase. Touch the door handle and the door unlocks.
Continue reading →