Ethernet To Serial Bridging Technologies

Comtrol
http://www.comtrol.com/

Digi
http://www.digi.com/

Perle Systems
http://www.perle.com/

MSFT To Android Porting Tools

iFactr (commercial solution)
http://ifactr.com/

Monocross
http://monocross.net/

Monocross - What is it?
http://objectiveme.com/monocross-part-1/

MvvmCross
https://github.com/MvvmCross

Cloud Information

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Python
http://aws.amazon.com/articles/Amazon-S3/3998

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Python "boto" Interface
http://docs.pythonboto.org/en/latest/

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Relational Database Service (RDS)
http://aws.amazon.com/rds/

Home Automation / Security

2lemtry
http://www.2lemetry.com/

2lemetry API
http://www.2lemetry.com/api

Mosquitto API Doc
http://mosquitto.org/api/files/mosquitto-h.html

MQTT (MQ Telemetry Transport)
http://mqtt.org/

Very Simple Control Protocol
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_Simple_Control_Protocol

Very Simple Control Protocol (Home Page)
http://www.vscp.org/

J1708 / J1939 / CAN bus Related Links

CAN bus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controller_Area_Network

CAN Newsletter Online
http://can-newsletter.org/

Engine Control Unit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engine_control_unit

Equipment and Tool Institute
http://www.etools.org/

Fleet Management System (Interface)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleet_Management_System

J1708
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J1708

J1939
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J1939

J1939 Standards Collection
http://store.sae.org/j1939/contents/

On Board Diagnostics (OBD)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On-board_diagnostics

On Board Diagnostic Codes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_OBD-II_Codes

Some More Tools Of Late

MyMobiler for Windows Mobile
http://www.mymobiler.com/windowsmobile.html


Windows Mobile Developer Power Toys
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=10601


Windows Mobile Device Center (WMDC) (wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Mobile_Device_Center


Virtual Box XP Images:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/download-windows-xp-for-free-and-legally-straight-from-microsoft-si/
http://www.modern.ie/en-us/virtualization-tools#downloads

VMWare vSphere Hypervisor (free, supposedly)
http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere-hypervisor/gettingstarted.html

VMWare (Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VMware_ESX

RDBMS (MySQL)
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/

RDBMS (Navicat)
http://www.navicat.com/

RDBMS (phpMyAdmin)
http://www.phpmyadmin.net

SmartBear SW
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SmartBear_Software

ICSharp Tools (especially, SharpDevelop)
http://www.icsharpcode.net/

Other Test Tools Of Late

Behavior Driven Development (BDD)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavior-driven_development

Business Readable DSL
http://martinfowler.com/bliki/BusinessReadableDSL.html

Cucumber
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucumber_(software)

Cucumber Related Tools
https://github.com/cucumber/cucumber/wiki/Related-tools

Curl-Loader
http://curl-loader.sourceforge.net/

Gherkin BNF (sorta)
https://github.com/cucumber/gherkin/wiki/BNF

Gherkin (more info)
https://github.com/cucumber/cucumber/wiki/Gherkin

Gherkin Language Reference (fuels Cucumber family)
https://github.com/cucumber/gherkin/wiki

Lettuce (Python module based on Cucumber for BDD)
http://lettuce.it/intro/overview.html

Packer (operates in various VM ecosystems)
http://www.packer.io/

Pickle
https://github.com/ianwhite/pickle

Ragel
http://www.complang.org/ragel/

Relish
https://www.relishapp.com/

Robot Framework
http://robotframework.org/
https://code.google.com/p/robotframework/

Selenium
http://docs.seleniumhq.org/

Specflow (pragmatic BDD for .Net)
http://www.specflow.org/

Test Anything Protocol (TAP)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_Anything_Protocol

Vagrant (to re-create VMs)
http://www.vagrantup.com/

Virtual Box
https://www.virtualbox.org/

Watir WebDriver
http://watirwebdriver.com/

XUnit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XUnit

Mobile Application Test Automation

Google: "Mobile Application Test Automation"
http://automationtestingblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/mobile-application-test-automation.html

EggPlant (scripting language: "senseTalk")
http://www.testplant.com/eggPlant

M-eux (Jamosolutions, supports Resco for .NET Compact Frameworks)
http://www.jamosolutions.com

Resco Toolkit:
http://www.resco.net/mobileformstoolkit/

Sikuli (can use Python as a scripting language, makes use of Jython technology)
http://www.sikuli.org/
http://doc.sikuli.org/                   (Documentation)
https://github.com/sikuli/sikuli     (GitHub site)
https://launchpad.net/sikuli         (Sikuli Base Site, "launchpad")

Sikuli vs Eggplant:
http://testwarriors.blogspot.com/2012/04/comparison-report-sikuli-vs-eggplant.html

SOTI - MobiControl
http://www.soti.net/mobicontrol/

Splunk

Dig into Splunk
http://www.splunk.com/

Chess Dot Com Accts

1. iamnotmagnus  / chess(subs)(magic)(bang)
2. iamnotmagnusreally / sameasabove

SQLite Base Link

http://www.sqlite.org/

Home Page

AutoMate - by Network Automation

AutoMate by Network Automation
http://www.networkautomation.com
http://www.networkautomation.com/automate/9/

VPN Links

Good article:
http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/webmaster/how-to-connect-multiple-offices-with-vpn.html

SoftEther VPN Project:
http://www.softether.org/

Consider using:

• GotoMyPC (http://www.gotomypc.com)
• LogMeIn     (http://www.logmein.com)

For one-off situations.

A Couple Of Job Sites

Corp Wiki       http://www.corporationwiki.com/
Indeed             http://www.indeed.com/
Monster           http://www.monster.com/
Thingamajob   http://www.thingamajob.com/

OpenVPN Links

OpenVPN (Related Projects Link)
https://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/wiki/RelatedProjects

OpenVPN (Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openvpn

Android Development

Base Android Dev Link
http://developer.android.com/index.html

Instant Appraisal

Are there sites for: coins, comics, stamps, etc. ?

Open Source Idea: TestResultDB

Must be Open Source:

TestResultDBClient (Java) talks to TestResultDBServer (Java) via RMI

TestResultDBServer talks to RDBMS via JDBC

TestResultDB stores test results, optionally linked to requirements 

Turnkey Linux Appliances

Turnkey Linux Appliances

http://www.turnkeylinux.org/

Test Tools

ApTest - www.aptest.com

Test Anything Protocol (TAP) - testanything.org
Test Anything Protocol For Java - tap4j
Test Anything Protocol (TAP) WikiPedia Article
Test Anything Protocol (TAP) Plugin For Jenkins

TestLink - www.teamst.org
TestLink - Eclipse Plug-In
TestLink - gitorious.org/testlink-ga Official Repository
TestLink - Jenkins Plugin for Automated Tests
TestLink - Java API       TestLink Client

TestNG Homepage    TestNG WikiPedia

Jenkins Continuous Integration On WikiPedia
Jenkins Homepage

Open Source Testing Tools - opensourcetesting.org

Software Test Automation Framework (STAF)

Microsoft Project - Comparing Project Sheets

MSFT Project - Comparing Project Sheets
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2zJ2Rs5G2c

Google's WWW SQL Designer

http://code.google.com/p/wwwsqldesigner/

Free Fax Send Services

Free fax send services:

http://faxzero.com/
http://www.gotfreefax.com/

Article about hooking in faxing from Gmail account
http://www.googlefax.org/

David Berger's Internet Fax Guide
http://www.a2.com/telecom/freefax.html

RegExp Engine for ExpenseTracker

Comparison Of RegExp Engines
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_regular_expression_engines

Java 6 Documentation
http://download.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/


Regular Expression Flavors
http://www.regular-expressions.info/refflavors.html

SQLite In ExpenseTracker

Google Comparison of SQLite Wrappers
http://code.google.com/p/sqlite4java/wiki/ComparisonToOtherWrappers

SQLite - Maybe The Easiest To Use
http://www.xerial.org/trac/Xerial/wiki/SQLiteJDBC    
with Example Here

Another Reference
http://code.google.com/p/sqlite-jdbc/

SQLite Tutorial 01
http://www.squidoo.com/sqlitehammer

SQLite Wiki - List of Wrappers
http://www.sqlite.org/cvstrac/wiki?p=SqliteWrappers

Java Encryption and Decryption in ExpenseTracker

Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Encryption_Standard

AES Implementations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AES_implementations

AES Implementation - Bouncy Castle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouncy_castle_(cryptography)

AES Implementation - Bouncy Castle Homepage
http://www.bouncycastle.org/

AES - Using From Java
http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/Security/AES/AES_v1.html

Basic Encryption Of Transaction Information:
http://www.devx.com/java/10MinuteSolution/21385/1954

Blowfish Example In Java
http://jcs.mobile-utopia.com/jcs/2026_BlowfishEncryptor.java

Blowfish Example 02 In Java
http://www.java.happycodings.com/Security/code2.html

Blowfish Example 03 In Java
http://www.java2s.com/Tutorial/Java/0490__Security/ABlowfishexample.htm

Example Of Using The Java Encryption Framework
http://javaboutique.internet.com/resources/books/JavaSec/javasec1_7.html

Excellent Example Of Using Java To Encrypt/Decrypt
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=170967&seqNum=4

Encrypting Very Short Strings
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/102788/what-is-the-best-way-to-encrypt-a-very-short-string-in-php

Good Example Of Java String Encryption:
http://www.idevelopment.info/data/Programming/java/security/java_cryptography_extension/StringEncrypter.java

How To Encrypt and Decrypt Strings (Android Example)
http://www.tutorials-android.com/learn/How_to_encrypt_and_decrypt_strings.rhtml

How To Encrypt User Passwords:
http://www.jasypt.org/howtoencryptuserpasswords.html

Java Cryptography Architecture
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/technotes/guides/security/crypto/CryptoSpec.html

Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) Reference Guide
http://download.oracle.com/javase/1.4.2/docs/guide/security/jce/JCERefGuide.html

Java Tips Encryption and Decryption Using Symmetric Keys
http://www.java-tips.org/java-se-tips/javax.crypto/encryption-and-decryption-using-symmetric-2.html

Java RMI Examples

http://www.asjava.com/distributed-java/java-rmi-example-just-get-starting/
http://www.eg.bucknell.edu/~cs379/DistributedSystems/rmi_tut.html
http://www.javacoffeebreak.com/articles/javarmi/javarmi.html
http://yama-linux.cc.kagoshima-u.ac.jp/~yamanoue/researches/java/rmi-ex2/
Why RMI Might Be Better Then Sockets
http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/ALT/sockets/
RMI Plug-In For Eclipse
http://www.genady.net/rmi/index.html
RMI Resources
http://www.genady.net/rmi/v20/general-resources.html
YouTube - Simple Java RMI Tutorial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILeAeFZOkMI
Oracle RMI Tutorial
http://download.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/rmi/index.html

Bouncy Castle Encryption For Java and .NET

Bouncy Castle Crypto For Java and .NET
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouncy_Castle_(cryptography)

Eclipse (Galileo Flavor)

Galileo Eclipse Download Area
http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/packages/release/galileo/sr2

SCons - Open Source S/W Contruction Tool

SCons - Open Source Construction Tool
http://www.scons.org/

SCons Wiki Page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCons

ClearCase: Current Gig

ClearCase Command Reference
http://www.ipnom.com/ClearCase-Commands/

NetBeans

NetBeans Main Wiki Page
http://wiki.netbeans.org/Main_Page

NetBeans Maven Best Practices
http://wiki.netbeans.org/MavenBestPractices

Jenkins

Jenkins
http://jenkins-ci.org/

WikiPedia Entree
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenkins_(software)

Maven

Maven
http://maven.apache.org/

Maven Download Location
http://maven.apache.org/download.html

Maven Repository (Artifactory)
http://www.jfrog.com/products.php

Maven Standard Directory Layout
http://maven.apache.org/guides/introduction/introduction-to-the-standard-directory-layout.html

A Little GUI Automation

Use For A Little GUI Automation
http://www.autohotkey.com/

JATF Technologies

Use simple technologies like:


CSV, Environment Variables, JavaDoc, JSON, and SQLite.

Tools For Java Class

Crimson Editor
NetBeans
Tutorials Online Link
Of course, JDK installed too.
Other tools not used in class:
Eclipse      IntelliJ       Maven

CruiseControl

CruiseControl (Sourceforge)
ThoughtWorks CruiseControl Site

Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration V 2.0

Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration

Core Specification Version 2.0

GVIM file to source in

set shiftwidth=4
set tabstop=4
set expandtab
set autoindent
set number
colorscheme peachpuff

OpenGrok

Excellent tool to use for full-text searching across source code:

OpenGrok

Learn Hudson/Jenkins and Maven

Jenkins tool.

• Jenkins link.

Apache Maven build tool.

• Apache project link.
• WikiPedia link.

Terminal Emulators For Windows

mintty (terminal emulator for Cygwin)

pterm (included with PuTTy, standalone terminal emulator)

PuTTY

SecureCRT

Tera Term

20110708 - technologies

Emulex OneCommand
I/O Verify
MSFT iSCSI Initiator
QLogic SanSurfer
Wireshark

Uptime in Windows Server 2008 or Windows 7

Seven ways to find uptime in Windows Server 2008 or Windows 7: here

Automated Build Tools To Investigate

CruiseControl

Hudson and/or Jenkins Jenkins Home Site

20110607 Technologies

eCos

RedBoot

Video and Screen Capture

Real Time video capture and benchmarking: FRAPS

BitLocker Volume Encryption

BitLocker

Zlib

Zlib: http://zlib.net/

Null Modem Link

Null Modem Link http://www.lammertbies.nl/comm/info/RS-232_null_modem.html Null Modem, DB9(F) - DB9(F) http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0237075 http://us.startech.com/product/NM9FF-DB9-RS232-Serial-Null-Modem-Adapter-Female-to-Female

20110331 Tech Exposure

iometer utility

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iometer
http://www.iometer.org/

ExpenseTracker TODOs

Google: "python date validation"

Argparse

http://docs.python.org/dev/library/argparse.html

S/W QA Test

Nice tool summary:
http://www.softwareqatest.com/ here

Mouse and Keyboard Macro Program

AutoHotkey: http://www.autohotkey.com/
AutoHotkey on WikiPedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AutoHotkey

VPN

Revisit OpenVPN
Another Link: Wikipedia

20110303 - Tech Exposure

Inspire (Application)
IntelliTrace
Microsoft Test Manager 2010
MKS Integrity (requirements management)
Ranorex Plug-In For UI Testing
SilkTest (WPF - lacking)
WPF

Note Taking Software

MSFT OneNote
Simplenote

Python HTTPS Web Server Example

Recipe 442473: Simple HTTP server supporting SSL secure communications (Python) by Sebastien Martini

ActiveState Code (http://code.activestate.com/recipes/442473/) at this LINK


Helpful too: http://docs.python.org/library/socketserver.html at this LINK

Helpful too:
http://www.java2s.com/Tutorial/Python/0420__Network/AForkingServer.htm

Serial Communications Related

FabulaTech: http://www.fabulatech.com/

PC Backup / Restore Systems

Re-look at:
>>>> Acronis True Image
>>>> ImageX (Windows Imaging Format)
>>>> Symantec Ghost

If using Windows 7, consider using the native backup/restore software.

Nice Editor For XML On A MSFT Machine

Notepad++
This has a good XML diff capability. Try Plugins -> Compare.

Also,
Notepad++ Project Page

XML Notepad 2007 is good too. Has an XML diff capability too. From MSFT.

Open Source At Apple For MacOSX

http://www.apple.com/opensource/

Tools And Things I Have Used In 2011

LabSim (in-house simulator) - To drive LIS traffic and 8 DigiBoard ports in parallel.
Protocol - CLSI [1] LIS1-A (aka ASTM E1381-02)
Protocol - CLSI [1] LIS2-A2
Ranorex Automation Framework: http://www.ranorex.com/
SQL Server (MSFT)
Team Foundation Server (TFS) 2010 (MSFT)
TestComplete (for test automation)
Visual Studio 2010 (MSFT)
Westgard Rules: http://www.westgard.com/
Wiki

[1] Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institutue (CLSI)

Some Technologies 20101206

Aegis SCM System: http://aegis.sourceforge.net

Perforce: http://www.perforce.com

Quick Python Links

Python 101: http://www.rexx.com/~dkuhlman/python_101/python_101.html Python Beginner Guides: http://wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide Using sqlite in Python: http://www.devshed.com/c/a/Python/Using-SQLite-in-Python/

Excellent sqlite3 Tutorial: http://www.doughellmann.com/PyMOTW/sqlite3/

Another One: http://souptonuts.sourceforge.net/readme_sqlite_tutorial.html

And Another: http://www.sqlite.org/lang_datefunc.html

AutoIt (GUI Automation Tool)

AutoIt site: http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/

AutoIt Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AutoIt

AutoIT site: http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/

AutoIt Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AutoIt

TestPartner (Yet Another GUI Test Tool)

Another GUI Test Tool To Consider

TestPartner (from Wikipedia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TestPartner

TestPartner (off of microfocus)

http://www.microfocus.com/products/silk/testpartner.aspx

Git Hosting Services

GitHub

Gitorious

Locate Utility On GNU/Linux Systems

Build the database necessary for the "locate" utility:

updatedb &

Automation Dot Com

Automation Dot Com

Python (finally)

What the heck, I might as well learn Python (finally...)
Python docs here.

Because my current gig (@ROK) utilizes it, might as well. Also, from a support standpoint, it doesn't hurt that a bunch of GOOG meisters use it either.

Glanced at Ruby off and on, but Python (finally) seems more pragmatic for me..

On Linux, Mac, and PC --- use Python 2.7.1 as the baseline.

The TIOBE link emphasizes why this is a good choice.
http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html

Also, found out that MIT uses Python heavily.

Google Protocol Buffers

Better than JSON, etc?

Google Protocol Buffers -

"Protocol buffers are a flexible, efficient, automated mechanism for serializing structured data – think XML, but smaller, faster, and simpler."

Language Guide

Donald Knuth

I was reminded of how inspiring he is:

Donald Knuth

Donald Knuth's Standford Home Page

Good Comparison of RDBMS

Love WikiPedia!

Good comparison of RDBMS here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_relational_database_management_systems

Windows Git S/W

Windows Git Software http://code.google.com/p/msysgit/

Installing Mono 2.6.7 On A CentOS 5.4 VMWare Image

1) Acquire Mono 2.6.7.tar.bz2

2) Extract it:

# tar jxvf mono-2.6.7.tar.bz2

3) Change everything to belong to root:root

# chown -R root:root mono-2.6.7/

4) Change into newly created directory:

# cd mono-2.6.7/

5) Configure, build, and install it:

# ./configure -prefix=/opt/mono; make; make install

6) Add the path to ~/.bash_profile or something as effective.

Since I started out working with a CentOS 5.4 VMWare virtual machine, I had to modify the instructions I found here.

I got my source tar.bz2 from Novell here.

Good link for building Mono for ARM here.

Java Versus .Net Articles

Java Versus C# Programming Languages (Wikipedia)

Java Versus .Net Platforms (Wikipedia)

Generating Ant Buildfile for Eclipse Java Project

Generating Ant Buildfile for Eclipse Java project

Bitvise Tunnelier

Bitvise Tunnelier

Code Review Tool(s)

Reviewboard

Java Object Persistence

Article 01

GlassFish

Tools And Things I Have Used Lately

Ant also Apache Ant Manual

ApTest

CentOS

ClearCase

CodeCollaborator

Dell Inspiron mini

Eclipse

FIT: Framework For Integrated Test

FitNesse

Gallio (just looked at)

JadClipse

Microsoft UI Automation

Mindjet

Mono (Dot Net for GNU/Linux, MacOS, MSFT)

MontaVista Linux and MontaVista Wikipedia Entry

Nant

OSGi

PySide

PyQt

Qt

Scratchbox (cross compilation)

SQLite

SQLite Database Browser

SQLite NET Data Provider

Squish

Thrift and Thrift Whitepaper and Thrift Wiki Page

Visual Build Professional

VMware

ApTest Tool

RA uses ApTest Tool for manual test cases:

http://www.aptest.com/contact.html

Fitnesse Test Framework

http://fitnesse.org/FitNesse.UserGuide.OneMinuteDescription

Good Article 1

Good Article 2

Selenium vs Squish for Web Testing

Link comparing Selenium to Squish (commercial tool) here.

Squish (Froglogic) Link

Selenium Remote Control

Selenium Remote Control (RC) !

WatiN / Watir

Excellent tools:

Web Application Test In .Net

WatiN

WatiN Getting Started and WatiN Test Recorder and Another Helpful Link

Web Application Test In Ruby

watir

More power tools for .NET

Power Tools

One Serial Technique For Two Linux Hosts

Let "A" and "B" be Linux hosts.
Let B be the Linux host we want to grab the serial (console) output from.

1) Run a null modem cable between A and B.
2) Added "console=ttyS0,9600" to the boot line of B.
3) cu -l /dev/ttyS0 | tee console-out-from-b.txt from A. (could use minicom too)
4) Reboot B.
5) Console output from B should be visible on A.

IB Fabric: Manipulating HSM Autostart

# Stop all HSMs
cmdall "service qlogic_fm stop"

# Keep Them Off
cmdall "chkconfig qlogic_fm off"

# Turn an HSM on for a particular host. Keep it on for reboot.
# On the chkconfig command, the runlevels are specified in
# the init script itself. So, you don't have to specify
# "--level 235" for example.
cmdall -h st146 "service qlogic_fm start"
cmdall -h st146 "chkconfig qlogic_fm reset"

Online Git Book

Online git book here.

http://help.github.com/

Another one:

http://book.git-scm.com/

Good Git conceptual link:

Gitready Link

Git Architecture Link

Interesting Boot Loader

Unetbootin

http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

Redirect Console Messages To RS-232 On RHEL 5.2

1) Add the following lines to /etc/inittab

s0:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -L -f /etc/issueserial 9600 ttyS0 vt100

s1:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -L -f /etc/issueserial 9600 ttyS1 vt100

2) Add the following lines to /etc/securetty

ttyS0

ttyS1

3) Add the following directive to the GRUB boot line for the kernel:

console=ttyS1,9600

Watching Ethernet Interface(s): mii-tool

# mii-tool -v eth0
eth0: negotiated 100baseTx-FD flow-control, link ok
product info: vendor 00:08:18, model 24 rev 0
basic mode: autonegotiation enabled
basic status: autonegotiation complete, link ok
capabilities: 1000baseT-HD 1000baseT-FD 100baseTx-FD 100baseTx-HD 10baseT-FD 10baseT-HD
advertising: 100baseTx-FD 100baseTx-HD 10baseT-FD 10baseT-HD flow-control
link partner: 1000baseT-HD 1000baseT-FD 100baseTx-FD 100baseTx-HD 10baseT-FD 10baseT-HD flow-control

# mii-tool -w -v eth0
16:31:05 eth0: negotiated 100baseTx-FD flow-control, link ok

High Level Overview: Duplicating Linux Multi-Boot Systems

Assumptions:
-- 2 drives, /dev/sda and /dev/sdb, roughly 160GB each.
-- Each node has identical h/w, including drives.
-- Partitions:
sda1(/boot), sda2(swap), sda3(OS #1), sda4(extended, containing 5-9), sda5(OS #2), sda6(OS #3), sda7(OS #4), sda8(OS #5), sda9(OS #6), sdb1(OS #7), sdb2(OS #8), sdb3(OS #9), sdb4(extended, containing 5-9), sdb5(OS #10), sdb6(OS #11), sdb7(OS #12), sdb8(OS #13), sdb9(OS #14)
-- All partitions are compatible with the partimage utility. EXT3 is the choice here.
-- GRUB installed into MBR and pulling its OS boot options (grub.conf/menu.lst) from sda1

Backup:
-- Boot Knoppix 5.1.1
-- Mount desired NFS share
-- Use sfdisk to capture the partitioning information for sda and sdb
sfdisk -d /dev/sda > /NFS/dev-sda-sfdisk-info.txt
sfdisk -d /dev/sdb > /NFS/dev-sdb-sfdisk-info.txt
-- Change into the desired NFS sub-directory
-- Use partimage to image all of the partitions. Here is the idea for sda1.
/usr/sbin/partimage --batch -z1 -o -d save /dev/sda1 ./dev-sda1-image

Restore/Duplication:
-- Boot Knoppix 5.1.1

-- If Knoppix is using a pre-existing swap partition, disable with "swapoff -v "
-- Mount desired NFS share
-- Use sfdisk to write out the partitioning information for sda and sdb
sfdisk /dev/sda < /NFS/dev-sda-sfdisk-info.txt
sfdisk /dev/sdb < /NFS/dev-sdb-sfdisk-info.txt
-- Use sfdisk to verify the partitioning information for sda and sdb
sfdisk -l -V /dev/sda
sfdisk -l -V /dev/sdb
-- Change into the desired NFS sub-directory
-- Use partimage to write out all of the partitions. Here is the idea for sda1.
/usr/sbin/partimage --batch restore /dev/sda1 ./dev-sda1-image.000
-- Use the GRUB shell to write out the MBR and insist, for our example, that GRUB pulls its OS boot options (grub.conf/menu.lst) from sda1.
grub
root (hd0,0)
setup (hd0)
quit
-- Reboot and enjoy your multi-boot Linux system.

NOTE: See this LINK for more GRUB info. It's pretty darn good.

TestDisk Utility

Try TestDisk:

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

InfiniBand Testing: Suggested Partitioning for Linux Hosts

Here are my suggestions for partitioning Linux host lab systems for InfiniBand OFED testing:

/boot (~100 MB)
swap (usually 2x RAM, so 4096 MB if 2GB of RAM)
/ (install rest of OS)

Other notes:
1 - use the GRUB bootloader; install into Master Boot Record (MBR)
2 - use EXT3 filesystems for compatibility with the Partimage utility
3 - when gathering data for later restoration, remember to capture the MBR.

One Linux Dual-Boot Technique (Pretty Specific)

Here is a basic write-up of the technique that I used to achieve
dual-booting between SuSe and RHEL operating systems.

Assumptions:
1) /dev/sda (SuSe, active GRUB boot loader)
2) /dev/sdb (RHEL)
3) The RHEL os had previously been installed/booted with GRUB in /dev/sda slot)
4) The RHEL /boot partition is now here: /dev/sdb3

Basic Technique:
1) Make a backup of the SuSe GRUB configuration file.
cd /boot/grub
cp menu.lst menu.lst-ORG (this file used to be called "grub.conf")

2) Mount the previously used RHEL /boot partition.
mkdir /mnt/rhel-boot
mount /dev/sdb3 /mnt/rhel-boot

3) Create a new, unified GRUB configuration file by pulling the necessary
RHEL boot information from the /mnt/rhel-boot/grub/menu.lst file and
add it to the end of the /boot/grub/menu.lst file associated with the
SuSe rendition of the GRUB boot loader.

When I did this, I just had to change the "root" line from "(hd0,2)"
to "(hd1,2)".

4) Unmount the RHEL /boot partition.
cd /
umount /mnt/rhel-boot

5) Reboot, and enjoy your dual-boot machine.
init 6

Random Test Automation Framework Attributes

Usually, at least three levels of abstraction.
L1 - protocol, suite
L2 - case, processing, program, scenario
L3 - assertion, item, step, verification point

NOTE: some sites use a L0 concept - a "suite of suites".

Usually, setup (pre-conditions or constraints) and cleanup (post-conditions or return-to-base-state) are able to be specified for L1 and L2 things.

Timeouts should usually be enforced by an automation framework rather than hard-coded throughout the test code. There should be a clear separation between a test framework and the test suites which plug into the framework.

Consider using something like JSON for data-driven things as opposed to XML (to heavy-weight), YAML (just a little over-engineered), INI (too weak), and the sourcing in of language specific syntax. As of this writing, JSON seems like the best overall technology for test input(s).