When we want to use one of the U family servers, to host on our communication cabinet (usually not for private use – unless you have placed a communication cabinet at your home  ), you need to consider a couple of variables in order to understand exactly what type of server do you need and for what purpose. How strong the server needs to be (CPU power, Memory), capacity of hard-disks, how resistant should it be? (Does it need a RAID controller? So how many hard-disks do we need?).

The communication cabinets which U servers are being placed into are also called rack-mount. The reason is that the computers are being stacked up one on the other, mounted into the shelves of the communication cabinet creating a rack of servers.

The decision procedures on how to assess the server we need are:

1. The main decision should be what is the purpose of the server?
2. Who will be the designated audience and how many will be using the server at the same time?
3. What types of services are going to run on it, and how strong in terms of processing and memory does it need. (CPU needs – dual core, quad core, 2.4 MHZ etc… and RAM, 4GB, 8GB, 32GB etc…).
4. Total hard-disk capacity needed, expected storage needs according to use. What type of RAID controller does it requires and how many disks are needed – storage capacity.
5. How much do we want to spend on hosting our server on a hosting farm, money wise.

• When we use all of those basic features that define the server, then we can choose what type of server we need, and how large it will be. Each U (height) of the server will usually cost us extra money to host, since each U space is being charged by the hosting farm.

Well, now we know what type of server we need, so all we have to do is decide which server type and model we want that fits our requirements.

We probably will want a brand (A known company manufacturer like DELL, IBM, HP etc…) type of a server. I like the Dell Power-Edge models, but you can choose which server you prefer and compare prices between one to the other, to make your best choice.

Places where you can buy and choose U servers are:

• DELL Power-Edge Servers
• HP Integrity System Family
• HP Integrity Server Blades
• HP ProLiant Servers
• IBM Rack-Mount Servers

Computer animation technology – is the graphic process of animated figures, where you animate a real figure, only it is created graphically using CGI (Computer-generated imagery) and at the end of the process, the result is close to a real figure that looks and acts like a real one. Animation also includes the motion of the figure. All that creates a living breathing animated figure, that animates a real figure, resemble a real person, creature, animal, etc…

The nice fact of all that is that you can even create creatures or any type of character that we have never seen before, you can invent a whole race of aliens, and they will look as real as they can, using the computer animation technology we have today, which is growing and improving from day today. We can see those effects when we

go to the movies, or when we play computer games (as they become more realistic), on advertisements, almost everywhere.

There are builders who use computer animation technology to simulate a new house, so the buyers will be able to see every little detail about the house from the exteriors to the internal design and decoration. Instead of visualizing things in our mind, trying to figure out how will the house come out at the end when it will be finished, we can just see it as if it is already have been built. We can see every detail as if we were walking through it, visiting it physically. The accuracy and realism of computer animation and CGI technology enable us to see an accurate replica of what we would expect a built house to be.

After we gave a bit of background on what is computer animation technology, and how it effect
s and assists us in our daily life, we can check what are our options in taking a part of such technology. There are options to study the technology, there are degrees you can achieve while studying it. It is a profession like any other, and you can understand from my opening, that there are so many possibilities of using it and it is still evolving, changing and advancing as the technology improves.

Here are some schools I found, just a couple of examples, but I am sure you can find one that suits you best:

1. Bachelor’s in Game and Simulation Programming – at DeVry University

2. Computer Gaming and Animation Technology – at Anglia Ruskin University

3. 3D Animation Program – at The Art Institute Of Pittsburgh

4. Bachelor – Computer Animation – at International Academy of Design & Technology

Who doesn’t like to play games?

Since we where little we were playing games, and in this advanced age, the games just passed to the computer, well not completely true, there are still regular games that you can play as you used to, using your hands, moving game pieces, but computer games, well… they are something else.

You can find computer games in many different types, and on different subjects. Computer games on science, science fiction, space flying to space or fight using space ships, detective plots trying to solve unsolved crimes of sort, adventures, races, race simulations where you drive almost any type of vehicle dirt bikes, motorcycles, race cars or even top sport cars that we have today without paying the price they cost , fighting games either in the ring or on martial arts sort of fighting games, flight simulators that enable you to fly a combat jet, helicopter or just simulate that you are the pilot of a commercial airline airplane and your flying passenger around the world. There are computer games that simulate life which enables you to play a person in a family that conduct their day to day life of going to work coming home to eat dinner etc… and just learn how to date women/men or how to live with roommates.

Those kind of games enable us to simulate life, who wouldn’t want to be a fighter pilot and fly assignments, bomb cities, do dog fighting with other enemy fighter planes and all that from the comfort of your home, without getting hurt. Computer games enable that, you can just sit back, turn on your computer, run your favorite game, and enter a character of your choice, and just play, enjoy it and have fun.

Kids have computer games that enable them to study, learn languages, study mathematics or increase their knowledge in different areas, and all that while playing computer games, enjoying the popup characters that talk to them from the computer, teaching them and all that while they are having fun. Who wouldn’t want to learn new things while having fun? we probably will learn much better while we enjoy ourselves.

Computer games are being sold at stores, and you just buy them, install them on your computer and you’re in business, the fun can begin. We can also find free computer games online, there are many websites that enable us to play online games using a web browser. Those websites have so many online games, that you most likely won’t have a problem finding a computer game that you like, and with the quality and the higher speed of the internet today, we can enjoy online games that work smoothly, load faster and let us enjoy the fun and games from anywhere, when all you need is just an internet connection, and you don’t need to install anything to be able to play.

We are working with computers, and no matter how experienced we are, we will probably stumble upon a situation we have never seen before, some problem that we have no idea how to solve. Even if we are very experienced, we can’t know it all, we couldn’t have tried all aspects of a computer subject, no matter how long we were working with a certain subject. Although the experience will decrease the chances we will stumble upon such a challenge, we probably will still need to solve some challenges we didn’t encounter before.

We can use several ways to get computer assistance. We can call the closest computer technician to solve our problem at home or get our problematic computer to the computer lab and get it the treatment it needs. We can also search solutions on the internet, as the internet has become such an enormous bank of information, we can try and seek the information we need to solve our problem from someone else that has encountered the problem, solved it, and was willing to share it on the internet, in case someone else (like us) encountered the same exact problem.

We can also find computer professionals, who had much experience in certain areas (when you work in a certain computer area for years, you will gain much knowledge of that specific area, in such way that the amount of knowledge you have on the subject characterize you as an expert in that field) like anything with practice you become more efficient and confident in the area you practiced. So those professionals can either build a website and share their knowledge with the world or just become independent that assist those who need assistance in the areas they are experts on.

Mostly the computer problem has to be categorized, we can have software issues, that might involve virus, or operating system crash, or just a bad software update that can cause our computer to become unstable. On the other hand, it might be a hardware problem, which if we don’t have a computer technical knowledge or spare hardware parts, we might have to get the damaged computer to a lab where they have all the tools to determine what exactly is the problem with your computer. If you do have the technical computer knowledge and the hardware spare parts, you can seek the solution on the internet and use the guides to fix the computer yourself.

Since the most common search engine on the web is Google, you can Google your question and get the assistance you need.

Active Directory is a package designed by Microsoft to manage an organizational network, this package is using different tools to organize and manage the corporate network. Basically before we get into specifics, the Active Directory is creating a managerial environment, where all of the network clients (end users) are connected to it, and anyone who connects to it is registered and monitored by the Active Directory system. That enables it, to manage the end users, what they are allowed to do, what they can’t, which resources will be available to whom. It creates groups and give those groups policies (group of rules) which binds that group into those rules, and every end user that is defined within this group is bind by it rules, and accordingly can or can’t do things within the network.

The Active Directory, has been built inside the windows servers (server 2003, 2008) and the Active Directory is it’s source of organization. Anyone who connects to the server is actually connected to the Active Directory, and through that can use the network resources, as defined in the Active Directory rules.

So how does it work ?
The tools that Active Directory uses, are the LDAP (lightweight directory access protocol) which is basically a library service. There is the authentication protocol based on Kerberos (authentication protocol for client/server services that enables connection and communication using secret encrypted codes over the internet), then there is the DNS (domain name system, which translate names like website addresses into IP addresses) and finally the group enforcement, making sure the group rules are working properly.

The Active Directory has a Physical aspect which includes a database that is residing on DC (DomainControllers), those DCs can do various operations and purposes, or the same operation for redundancy and loading performance and separations, where each change in domain is replicated using a replication mechanism, to the other domains and of course updating the whole organization accordingly. The Logical aspect of it is hierarchical concepts, like a pyramid, the higher structure is a forest, which is containing trees which resemble a collection of DCs. The forest is actually any object on the network, anything connected to it, and the rules apply using that hierarchy.

Each object on the network is an “Entity” and each entity has its own definitions which divides into 3 types: resources, services & users. Every object has it’s unique GUID (ID), which identifies against the library (the LDAP) and that is how it gets identified.

This is the basic operation of the Active Directory. It’s use and functionality is to centralize manage all of the computerized resources in the organization. The policy can be implemented using a management tool called GPO (group policy) which can manage the policies given to different groups in the organization’s network.

This whole concept enable the network administrator to obtain control over the whole network from one computer (DC) and  to define what type of desktop will a user have, which directories he can access, what tools he can use etc…

We always want to be in control and some of us have information at home that we might want to be able to access remotely. Accessing the home computer remotely means that you connecting to the internet and want to be able to access your home computer and perform certain operations. Those types of operations have some effect on which tool to use since some of the tools enable a certain type of access and some take control of your own computer, so you could see the same screen of your home computer as if you are standing in front of your computer.

There are certain security measures that need to be understood. When we open access from the outside to our computer we actually open a door for someone (hacker) to access our computer, or to be able to do so. If the door would be closed and shut with a brick of the wall, then it is closed. But if we decide to make an opening, an external person can reach that opening, and might, of course, use it to do some harm, see our materials (in case they are confident – it might be risky) or spy on our actions, and maybe if we do not pay attention to see some important information like when we log-in to our bank account from home or place a credit card number on an online website to purchase something. If your computer is breached all of those actions and more can happen to your home computer.

The remote access tools are being divided to online programs, software programs. The online programs are programs which are using internet technology to enable the remote connection like the LogMeIn, GoToMyPC, TEAMVIEWER, WEBEX PCNOW, some of the support people use WEBEX technique to gain access to your computer, seeing your screen, with your permission of course (you initiate the session) and you can see everything the support person does on your computer. The software programs are tools that open access and enable the end-user (remote person) to take control of your home computer. Some of these programs are TightVNC, RealVNC, Symantec PCAnywhere, LAPLINK and there is a built-in application in Windows XP, called remote desktop (you can run it by typing on the start–>run MSTSC).

Some programs might require you to set a permanent IP (called Static IP), which means that you will need to ask your ISP for a permanent IP to your computer. The ISP will give you an IP, and you will need to configure your home computer’s firewall NAT (network address translation) which means you will have an internal IP translated to the IP the ISP gave you. The only IP a remote person (or anyone outside of your home) will be the ISP IP, which protects your internal IP (no one will know what your internal IP is they will only know the external IP that you set on your home computer firewall. That IP directs to your computer, and so there is a way to access it, with the correct tools, and of course only by knowing the access password.