As gearheads and techjunkies, each new day brings fun new toys into our little Portland world here at opus:interactive. Usually this new gadgetry comes via client server purchases (yes, we get excited about eco-aware BladeSystems and VMware in the same manner we look forward to the latest Apple iPhone firmware: sweeeeet) or company laptops, but sometimes we just like to kick back and relish in a new console or PC game. Unless you were hiding under a sand dune on Mars, you’re probably fully aware of the media frenzy of the Halo 3 launch last week, and we were waiting impatiently to fire this baby up.

Fire it up we did and with company equipment at our disposal - we luxuriated in three LCD projector screens luxing against the largest white wall we have in our Lounge. The carnage was nearly full-scale dwarf sized! Each screen was set to an XBOX 360 and in turn they were all SystemLinked. We had the capacity to unleash twelve teammates at each other, but we got greedy and wanted more visual real-estate, so it was six: two people to a box.

Everyone had a turn, though some didn’t last long, the memory of their triumphs and failures will live on:

Shannon McCormack:

Jason Nuss:

Brady Wilson:

Lynn Twiss:

Rounding out the evening was the typical free supply of company available soda pop (via the Pepsi & Coca-Cola machines) keeping the caffeine injection flowing and four extra-large Garlic Jim’s pizzas to sate our stomaches (Nice spicy sauce and tons (tons!) of little pepperonis!)

Walking through our data center it is easy to see that our collaboration with HP continues to increase day-by-day. With new Blade solutions being installed as we migrate existing partners and welcome new ones into our family, we’re taking steps to assure their businesses succeed while we move toward a sustainable existence with the nature around us.

Our commitment to these partnerships is being showcased this fall season in a print publication by HP on transforming the enterprise. You can read a snippet from the publication just below and from there you can download the entire publication in a friendly Adobe pdf format by jumping off to HP’s micro-site dedicated to the publication.

Companies routinely waste a ton of money cooling and powering open space. We wanted a micro data center that is efficient and eco-aware. And we wanted the ability to expand and optimize the data center as we grew versus filling empty space over time.”

If opus:interactive is any indication, the prevailing set of earth friendly principles are now spilling into the corporate sector. A Managed Services Provider (MSP), opus:interactive offers a variety of online services to its clients, such as Web hosting, managed servers, email hosting and high-speed Internet access. These solutions are provided through the company’s state-of-the-art data center in Portland, Ore.

“We’re not your average MSP,” says Jeremy Sherwood, Business Solutions Executive for opus:interactive. “Stewardship is very important to us, and we strive to take exceptional care of our clients as well as our environment.”

Whereas many organizations would opt to set aside a large parcel of space in which a modern data center can grow, opus:interactive contemplated efficiency more than square footage. “Companies routinely waste a ton of money cooling and powering open space,” Sherwood continues. “We wanted a micro data center that is efficient and eco-aware. And we wanted the ability to expand and optimize the data center as we grow versus filling empty space over time. We have the space, obviously, but why build it all out at once?”

Today, opus:interactive’s 1,000 square-foot Internet Data Center is home to numerous HP BladeSystem c-Class and p-Class server blades as well as 62 ProLiant servers. The facility is served by fiber optics and all vital systems are fully redundant. The company utilizes VMware on HP ProLiant BL460c server blades to offer virtual dedicated managed servers for its clients and to run many of its internal business applications without having to purchase additional servers.

“We made a concerted effort to become an eco-aware data center facility with the implementation of HP BladeSystems,” Sherwood says. “The blades have allowed us to scale faster, use power efficiently, provision servers faster and ultimately, close more deals.”

He adds that the blades are pulling a mere 15 amps of power compared the 40 amps that the stand-alone servers consume. And VMware has turned one or two day deployments into 15 minute projects from start to finish. As the company and its client base grows, opus:interactive is gradually replacing its ProLiant servers with HP BladeSystems, freeing up space in the data center, further reducing power consumption and easing cabling complexity.

“The use of HP BladeSystems stays true to our customer-first initiative by providing the best-of-the-breed hardware that truly is “Always On,” easy to manage, extensible, scalable, reliable and eco-aware,” says Eric Hulbert, Chief Information Officer of opus:interactive. “This shift in IT is our push for business innovation in all that we do. We plan to replace our entire infrastructure with the HP BladeSystem c-Class.”

Apparently, being green is easy after all.

For the full opus:interactive case study and information on the HP BladeSystem, visit: www.hp.com/go/transformblades.

Instructions:

In order to view the case study you will be asked to register. Please assure that you have selected the top check box of Step 1 (see the screen capture below for example) titled: HP BladeSystem Special Edition, Fall 2007 (PDF).

by Jeremy Sherwood

Walking into Interop in Las Vegas reminded me very much of a big kids’ Disneyland. The lights, the overly large gimmicks that scream “Look at me! Look at me!” It really was sensory overload. Looking back on the event I can still remember the booths that really made an impression. There was a lot of good swag, and of course the cheap booths that attempt to persuade you with a simple little 25-cent plastic clapper (although my 1-year-old digs the plastic clapper).

Booths that made a lasting impression despite the products or services they were selling were the booths that didn’t make you feel like you were dealing with trashy used car salesmen.

I think the booths that made a lasting impression despite the products or services they were selling were the booths that didn’t make you feel like you were dealing with trashy used car salesmen. A good example is Qwest. Although they are a big player they really invited you over to their booth to play multiplayer Half-Life2, which Eric and I played for multiple rounds, fragging each other as well as 12 strangers. (The opus boys were in the top five every game we played.) The booth was very inviting, with no real sales hook to buy or sign up for anything. It was just “come and experience what Qwest broadband can do for you and your business.” The speaker was optional, and most of it was about Qwest providing bandwidth to the whole conference. I thought it was really well done.

A different aspect of Interop that was really nice was the opportunity to meet face-to-face with the vendors we work with. After spending almost two whole days with David from GTA on the phone/RDP completing our Firewall certifications, it was nice to put a face with a name and experience. The other great thing about meeting with GTA was speaking with their president. He was very personable, but more than that he was very interested in the things we wanted changed for the better. He truly expressed the desire to receive negative as well as positive feedback. That really reassured me that they are a great partner to have.

All in all, Interop itself really brought home that we are doing the right things and heading in the right direction. There wasn’t anything that jumped out and said, “Oh man, you better do this or change this. You are behind the curve.” In reality, most everything said, “ You guys are ahead of the curve.” Which is great to hear.

Last but not least: Las Vegas. What an interesting place. Where the people are proud to say, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” I never thought that would be something to be proud of. We saw Old Town Vegas, spray paint artists, and the million-LED walkway (cool technology, poor use of it). We almost got Nuss to take his picture with two guys from Chippendales to send home— now that would have been funny. We rode one too many monorails, walked more than any human should have to, ate way to much heavy food, never slept enough, inhaled well beyond some legal limit of second-hand smoke, and, most importantly, enjoyed every minute of it.

This script will change the ownership of user objects in the target database to the specified user.

This situation often occurs when importing a database from another SQL server where a user account existed that does not, and will not exist on the new SQL server.

Run this script to update user object ownership before clearing the old/incorrect user from the database.

This script could be turned into a stored procedure as well and accept the new username as a passed parameter.

There are multiple ways to do this some of which are probably more glamorous – but hey, it works.

——————————————————————————

/*
This script will change the ownership of user objects in the target database to the specified user.
This situation often occurs when importing a database from another SQL server where a user account existed that does not, and will not exist on the new SQL server.
Run this script to update user object ownership before clearing the old/incorrect user from the database.
*/

SET NOCOUNT ON

/* Set the new owner name here in place of the ‘dbo’ user */
DECLARE @New_Owner_Name Sysname
SET @New_Owner_Name = ‘dbo’

DECLARE @Object_ID Int, @Object_Name Sysname, @Owner_ID Int, @Owner_Name Sysname, @Owner_Object_Name Sysname
DECLARE CUR_ReplaceObjectOwner CURSOR FOR

/* Run this select query by itself to see the set of user objects you are working with */
SELECT so.id AS “Object ID”, so.name AS “Object Name”, so.uid AS “Owner ID”, su.name AS “Owner Name”, ‘[' + su.name + '].’ + ‘[' + so.name + ']‘ AS “Owner + Object Name”
FROM sysobjects so, sysusers su
WHERE so.uid = su.uid
AND so.xtype IN (’U',’P',’FN’,'V’)
AND so.name NOT LIKE ‘%dt_%’
AND so.name NOT IN (’syssegments’, ’sysconstraints’)
ORDER BY xtype

/* Get the results from the query and load the first row into the cursor */
OPEN CUR_ReplaceObjectOwner
FETCH NEXT FROM CUR_ReplaceObjectOwner
INTO @Object_ID, @Object_Name, @Owner_ID, @Owner_Name, @Owner_Object_Name

WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
IF @New_Owner_Name != @Owner_Name
/* Make the object owner change here */
EXEC sp_changeobjectowner @Owner_Object_Name, @New_Owner_Name

/* Load the next row into the cursor */
FETCH NEXT FROM CUR_ReplaceObjectOwner
INTO @Object_ID, @Object_Name, @Owner_ID, @Owner_Name, @Owner_Object_Name
END

/* Clean up */
CLOSE CUR_ReplaceObjectOwner
DEALLOCATE CUR_ReplaceObjectOwner
SET NOCOUNT OFF

GO

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We first heard about it this morning around 9AM on the news that runs in our Network Operations Center (NOC). We were impressed by the feature set and capabilities that the new iPhone provides. Wow! Widescreen video, music, phone, Bluetooth, wireless and more… Stunning UI work by Apple on this beauty. I can’t believe the resolution on the screen. 160ppi on a 3.5 touch screen is very slick. I can say definitively that I will be replacing my Sprint PPC-6700 with this sweet gem come June of 2007 for $599… Incredible.
More details can be seen here: http://www.apple.com/iphone

P.S. check out the demos…