Entic.net: On The Cloud

Here is a quick list of the recent software releases that we think are pretty big in their area. If we missed something else, be sure to let us know.

JDK 1.6.0u10: faster startup, better desktop integration
OpenOffice 3: MS office 2007 compatible, a whole load of other improvements
OpenSolaris 2008.11: Time Slider, Great new desktop software (Songbird)
Python 3: 3 years in the making, long standing bugs fixed, better unicode support
Mysql 5.1: Big performance improvements

All of them have had previous beta or release candidates but now that they are all in their final release stage, you can use it in production!

Here's is what we use for running OpenDS on a Solaris based VPS server -- on our FreeLDAP.org web site. You can make some minor adjustments to it to make it run as a non-root user.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE service_bundle SYSTEM "/usr/share/lib/xml/dtd/service_bundle.dtd.1">
 
<service_bundle type='manifest' name='opends'>
 
<service
        name='network/ldap/opends'
        type='service'
        version='1'>
 
        <create_default_instance enabled='false' />
 
        <single_instance />
 
     	<!-- 
     	Wait for network interfaces to be initialized. 
     	--> 
     	<dependency 
       	   name='network' 
       	   grouping='require_all' 
       	   restart_on='none' 
       	   type='service'> 
       	   <service_fmri value='svc:/milestone/network:default' /> 
     	</dependency> 

     	<!-- 
       	   Wait for all local filesystems to be mounted. 
     	--> 
     	<dependency 
       	   name='filesystem-local' 
       	   grouping='require_all' 
       	   restart_on='none' 
       	   type='service'> 
     	   <service_fmri value='svc:/system/filesystem/local:default' /> 
     	</dependency>

    	<method_context>
       	 <method_environment>
       	     <envvar name='OPENDS_JAVA_HOME' value='/usr/jdk/latest' />
       	     <envvar name='OPENDS_JAVA_ARGS' value='-d32 -XX: UseParallelOldGC' />
       	 </method_environment>
    	</method_context>

 
        <exec_method
            type='method'
            name='start'
            exec='/opt/OpenDS/bin/start-ds'
            timeout_seconds='60'>
	</exec_method>
 
        <exec_method
            type='method'
            name='stop'
            exec='/opt/OpenDS/bin/stop-ds'
            timeout_seconds='60' />
 
        <template>
                <common_name>
                        <loctext xml:lang='C'>
                        OpenDS LDAP server
                        </loctext>
                </common_name>
        </template>
</service>
 
</service_bundle>

A VPS is a virtual server. You get root, you get your own dedicated server. You can run as many VPS servers as the physical system resources allow for.

Looking at google and some searches for "Solaris VPS", we've found several companies using the name Solaris VPS but when they are not a true virtual private server, as described above.

Verio shows it, but it is hardly a VPS. You don't get root. Why do they only list some specific software. On a true VPS, you can run whatever you want. You are not limited to any set software. The price tag on them is also a joke. Don't spend that much on a VPS when you are not even getting the full power of a true VPS provider like Entic's Solaris VPS.

Here is another one, and another.

Be sure you are getting what you need -- a full UNIX based OS, with root, with full permissions to run whatever you want.

SparseZone.com shuts down. This is not the first time we've seen (Solaris) service providers close its doors. Its a bit disappointing.

I wanted to take some time to convey a few things about the direction for Entic.net and our future plans.

We've always run Solaris and will continue to run Solaris. We like the OS and it performs well. You can run anything Linux can, with all the added benefits of Sun's Solaris (Dtrace, ZFS, optimized Sun Studio compiler, and a rock solid network stack). Our CoolStack AMP stack also kicks butt!

We may expand into other OSes but that'll not be our primary objective. We want to concentrate more on redundancy, reliability, and relevance (Rx3). Lot of work to do there (perhaps mimic Cloud behavior). We also want to continue developing our own in-house control panel. They are not as fancy as some other providers, so we got some work to do on that! But, again, our goal has been on the Rx3. Our focus still is providing good service, not fancy control panels. Our servers are meant for people who want to learn or know Unix.

We also want to expand our Your Apps service, we still have our bets on this. It is currently still in Beta but we hope to move it out of Beta soon.

We also would like to expand our FreeLDAP.org (LDAP address book) service. Development on it has slowed down, but we are thinking of redoing that service from scratch - improving on what we've messed up on. Being able to import and access/sync with Yahoo/Gmail might be good to have! Mobile access needs some work too.

We also have some other plans for other Internet related services, but I can't share those with you now. 2008 continues to be a busy year for us. That's all I can share now. I hope this shows that we are real busy and we are no way going to close down! We got bigger plans!

:)