So it’s been over six months since I did one of these, and it’s clear that I’m literally rubbish at doing them regularly.

• I’ve been testing a number of data protection solutions recently and have needed to generate some data on some Linux VMs to back up. There are all kinds of ways of doing this on Linux, including using dd and /dev/urandom. You can also check out this handy guide on large Linux file creation here. The most useful tool I’ve come across though is from Preston. You can grab a copy of his Perl script here. Thanks also for having short URLs that are easy to remember and pump through wget. And while you’re at it – go buy a copy of Preston’s latest book – it’s great!
• One of the reasons I don’t record demos of technical things is that no-one wants to see me bumbling my way around SQL Management Studio. This article won’t help you with SQL, but it does provide a decent starting point when you’re looking at SQL backup and recovery activities.
• Apple have started selling space grey versions of their Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse 2 and Magic Trackpad 2. The price is magic too, coming in at A$215 for the keyboard (compared to A$179 for the silver version). Effed if I know why it’s more expensive. It’s one of those things where you find yourself going “Why would you?” as you start to (somehow) justify the expense to yourself.
• I’ve probably mentioned it already, but I’ll be at Dell Technologies World and Pure//Accelerate this year. You can find out details on my events page. I’m not sure what other U.S. events I’ll be at this year. If you’re at any of these things and want to say hi or meet up please feel free to get in contact. Or just come up to me and say hi.
• If you’re new to Debian, this site has a wealth of handy tutorials.
• I hate the term “fireside chat” but this fireside chat between Chris Wahl and Bipul Sinha about Rubrik’s Polaris offering is way more enlightening than my blog post on the subject.