I got a call from my client that their server is running slowly. One of our engineers found that it is a case of virus infection and removed viruses from the server as well as all the PCs. The next day they have reported problem accessing the shared folders on the server. I suspected a “samba” issue as they use windows at client and Linux at the server. The samba share intermittently disconnects while connecting with windows explorer.
After couple of hours of diagnosis I found it is not a samba problem but the hard drive is dying. Their server is bit too old so I reckoned it is better to copy the working files to a temporary server before doing any hard disk repair. I set up a temporary server and scheduled to copy the data overnight using winscp as I could not access the samba share reliably. The next day morning greeted me with a surprise. The copying data stopped at 30 %. Bigger surprise was the folder it was copying “just disappeared”. I doubted it is mere case of hard drive corruption so shutdown the server in order to give the hard drive for data recovery.
We have recently taken over the service contract of this company previously maintained by another IT service provider. I was on the assumption that this server runs on RAID 5 SCSI hard drives. When I opened the hood I found it was a 250 GB SATA holding all their data!! Quite obvious that when they needed an upgrade some one advised to go for cheap SATA drives instead of the more expensive SCSI hard drives.
I have very good experience with More Computers http://www.datarecovery.ae/ on several occasions previously so was the default choice for data recovery. After couple of days of attempt they could not recover the data.
I finally had to rebuild the server with new hardware and OS. The client had some loss of productive hours. I have learned a lesson, “before entering into a service contract, do not forget to perform a detailed inventory check”.
My brother in law (Aby) and I have differences with shopping this weekend. He thinks Lulu is the best place for cloths. I think Lulu is ripping off and their quality is deteriorating.
We are on a holiday shopping, so far we have visited Deira City Centre, Lamzy Plaza, shopping places in Karama, Lulu (Hypermarket Deira&Barsha, Lulu Centre), Monalisa and Ansar Mall, Safeer Mall and Discount Centre in Sharjah.
Aby thinks Lulu is the only place where he could find good selection of cloths. Obviously he is looking for men’s stuff. I partially agree with him, Lulu Hypermarket is big and thus you may have enough choice. However, I completely disagree on the quality levels of cloths and the price at Lulu. I think we are not getting the right quality for that price. Many of the Indian residents in Deira, Dubai (especially Keralites) Lulu has become a default choice. They have everything under one roof. You wont think of going around different shops during the hot and humid summer time.
My wife agree with me, she has found far more quality stuff at Monalisa than Lulu, even a better price.
You may not see some of the very common brands at Lulu because all those now been replaced with “Lulu Brands”.
We wanted a short break, have visited almost all places in UAE during our (me, my wife and 2 kids) stay in Dubai for the last 7 years). The next affordable place is Oman. We have already visited Muscat couple of times, why not Salala? Called the travel agents in Dubai. For 3 nights it is around AED 3000 per person. For four of us (children may get 20% reduction) it may cost around AED 12000!!. Why not try by road? Hold on… it is around 1500 kms from Dubai to Salala, including the sight seeing tour nearby areas; we may have to travel 3500 kms.
Fortunately I have a Mitsubishi Pajero 3.0 ltr(an SUV is not necessary, Saloon cars are more than enough to get to Salala), full tank petrol costs AED 110 , covers 500 Kms roughly. Assuming the hotel/apartment rates for 3 days is AED 750, Plus other expenses It may cost AED 2500 for the entire trip!!.It is a season (Kharif Festival) in Salala, Almost all hotels are full. Let’s try if there are any apartments available? Googled(for non tech readers, “googled” means searching the internet by going to www.google.com and type the key words to search) for few hours…got few, telephoned them, but no confirmed booking yet. However, it is understood that there are lot of apartments around so we may get one, so let’s take a chance.
We checked with few of our relatives and friends if any of them are interested to join us. Most of them cannot make it on a short notice and doubt whether it is too long to drive. So it is important to have a road map with us because it is the first time we travel to Salala. Lets try if technology helps again..Garmin says “we’ll take you there”. I called their agents in Dubai. The Receptionist told they can probably rent it. But the sales people are busy, I have been asked to call back after 30 mts. Called again the sales guy was not very impressed that I am asking it for rent. He was not interested to continue the conversation too. Ok, lets get some maps. Tried wikimapia.org, the places are marked, but most of them are in Arabic ( I would love to speak, read and write in Arabic, tried several times, still trying but no luck yet) . Google again, mapquest.com is giving all road maps. But the browser is not very user friendly, cannot scroll like google maps or wiki mapia. Now the most important, collected the passport from the PRO (it is a norm in here to keep the passport with the company). I am not sure about the Oman whether the credit cards are accepted in all outlets as in Dubai so arranged for 100 OR (One Omani Riyal is about 10 UAE Dirham). Filled the Petrol (AED 110).
OK…This is my technology blog…Let me put the technical aspects of this trip…
Olympus Digital Camera 4 MP (works from normal AA batteries)
Archos Media Player cum External Hard Disk, battery lasts from 5 hours to 10 hours depending whether the LCD screen is on.
Dell Dlink 510 Laptop, battery lasts only for 3 hours.
You probably have noticed, I was skeptical about whether these batteries are going to last, so I used the DC to AC converter shown in the following picture.
FM Transmitter for playing music from Laptop and Archos on the car radio.
Day 1 ………………….Kms 0000
We wanted to start as early as possible (4 am), but managed to start by 6:00 am !! Took the Hatta road,The road to Hatta is interesting travel, a good relief from the concrete jungle we could see the Hajar Mountain range. We reached the hatta border by 7:15, there were no one at the check UAE check post, so we continued till the Oman Immigration office. Only a few people in the queue so have to wait for 10-15 minutes. The counter staff told that I have to go back to the UAE check post because we did not have the exit stamp on the passport. So we went back, this time again we were not stopped and thus continued our way to Oman check post. One of the cops were following us and we were asked to stop because we have not done the customs check. He asked to go back to the UAE check post again. After the customs check we came back to the Oman check post but now the queue was too long because there was a bus full of travelers. The visa charges were AED 60 for 4 of us, We also paid AED 160 as Auto Insurance. It took almost 2 1/2 hours to get out from the border mainly due to our own mistake by not properly checking out of UAE.
Oman roads at the beginning were a two way road because of the road works and there were trucks crossing so were running less than 100 kms per hour. There is lot of small places in between the road to Muscat. I have to pay attention to the vehicles taking U turns in the middle of the highway. We reached Sohar at about 12:00 pm.
We continued towards Muscat there we were boards showing Salalah so we make sure that we are going in the right direction. We reached almost in Muscat and took diversion to Nizwa. Here we stopped to fill petrol (7.5 OR). There are small shops next to petrol station like the ones in Dubai. I did not have roaming enabled in my post paid Etisalat phone so asked the counter staff if there is a mobile SIM card for visitors but they do not have such a package. I purchased a phone card for OR 20. The way to Nizwa is also thru mountains. We stopped by the side of a mountain when we saw rain drops. Children were much exited to see rains especially because they are out of the hot humid whether in Dubai. By 4:00 pm we reached Nizwa, we looked for hotel apartments, found a few but finally selected falajdaris hotel. We all liked it, there was a cool breeze and nice swimming pool beside our room. Then we went out to Nizwa City Centre. It is small city with a Fort as the centre of attraction. We could not find decent restaurants so came back to the hotel. They have a restaurant serving continental food. We had noodles, rice and chicken. The food was OK. I thought of having a beer but no alcohol was served because it was a religious holiday
Day 2 ……………………. Kms 0592
We checked out, the bill was Or 47 (OR 37 room rent, OR 8.8 dinner and 1.2 for morning coffee and milk for children) started 9am to Salala. The two way road was bit of a surprise to us. I have to be very careful in driving especially during overtaking the slow trucks. Children forced me to stop to see the sheep, I stopped the car by the side at the old unused road. They fed the sheep with a pack of bread. By the time we started of we could also spot a single camel under the tree.The next couple of hours were bit boring, the road started showing cracks, there was not much things of interest, no radio signals were available, so we started listening to the songs by plugging in the Archos mp3 player with the FM transmitter.
During the long boring road to Haima children played cartoons & video on the Archos and my wife played songs from the Laptop. I began realizing the use of technology; we were running out of battery in the media player and the laptop. The car a/c adaptor was a ‘life saver’ when it comes to charging these devices. Another surprising thing, we no longer see any petrol stations. This has caused concern to me since I have not filled petrol when started from Nizwa. We were hopeful to see some places in between but we could not see anything but desert. I slowed down to 100 kms so that I don’t waste petrol (technically speaking, not sure whether that will help). Finally we reached Haima station when it was just about to finish.
I had a chat with the attendant and found no restaurants other than the one next to the station. The only available option was Chicken Biriyani, It only cost us OR 1.8, and we enjoyed it.Haima Kms 0967 I stopped over a few minutes after Haima to take a short nap. We had tea at Shaheen Al Khurait. Not to take any risk we filled the petrol for OR 7.0 before continuing.
We were stopped by military personnel about 50 km before Salala. They just looked at the Driving License and Car registration and allowed us to continue. Slowly we could see bit of greenery by the side of the road and could see small muddy hills appearing. The temperature started cooling down to 30, Even though we have read about the whether in Salala, the mist, rain and wind came bit of a surprise to us. We were stopped by the police as soon as we enter into Salala Mountains. My wife thought it was because of a bad whether and we can’t continue. The cops asked for the passports. One cop sitting in front passed the passports to the back and asked questions, Name, date of birth and place of birth and the cop at the back seat confirmed it. Children were so happy to see the cool whether and jumped out of the car and dancing. It was a wonderful scene, a must see at the following link.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evfkpVSOQtw
We continued our journey thru the Hajar mountains, the traffic was moving very slow due to lack of visibility. I switched on the fog lamp. Many of the drivers put the hazard lights on, which did not make sense to me. What if there is a real danger and you stop the car? If the hazard lights are always on how the drivers behind you are going to notice it. Unfortunately the tentative booking we made at one of the hotels was not available. We found a chicken shawarma restaurant in the New Salala area and had dinner. The waiter had recommended an apartment nearby. The rentals are bit too much OR 40 per night (because this is peak time otherwise it is OR 15), however the apartment was big enough and furnished, even to cook the basic stuff.
Day 3………………….Kms 1550 We started for the sight seeing via the beach road, towards Ayn Hamaran. The cool nice spring brought memories of Kerala(My native place). Also took a short trucking to the hill top. It was very exciting for the children since they never see small fishes and frogs in Dubai! There were few groups of people at the picnic spot nearby. We spend some time in there enjoying the beautiful landscapes.Darbat has a waterfall. Children spent some time playing in water in the small river. We also drive to the muddy interiors of the river side. At some point I was bit worried whether we are going to get stuck in the mud…see the video below.On our way to Mirbat we saw lot of camels on the road. We did not have a tourist map (however managed one by the end of our trip in Salala) so I am sure we missed many tourist places on the way to Mirbat. Mirbat is a small town with a nice beach. Before we wind up the day we called one of my relatives (my wife’s Aunt) who stay in Salala.She voluntarily agreed to come with us to show the places next day. In the evening we went for a walk in the new Salala area looking for Bank ATM. We were also looking for to dine at a restaurant, and next to the Bank we found the famous Indian Vegetarian restaurant “Udupi”. That was a relief for us as we were having junk food for the whole day
Day 4 …………………Kms 1701
We visited Aunt’s house and then started off to Garziz area. This place reference in the Bible and believed as Job’s Tomb (Nabi Ayub). There were lots of people visiting the Jobs tomb.Next was Mughsail on our plan.This is almost near the Yemen border. We spotted the Frankincense trees.I managed to steal a branch of it (I have been told later that I was not supposed to do so) The road to Yemen was interesting, we went to the peak to get a view from the top. But the visibility was poor because of mist. There is a natural fountain in Mughsail. The sea water bursts up through the holes in the rock. Also the place had beautiful scenery.One of the other places we missed during our journey to Mirbat was the Khor Rori, believed to be the palace of Queen Sheba I was told. This is a world heritage. This was once a very busy port. It was evident as the land was cut next to the sea.One another place we wanted to visit was the Anti-Gravity place Tawi Attar. Even thought it was too late, I wanted to experience it. I put the car on neutral on a plain road and the car started moving and reached at the speed of 40 Kms/Hour.On our way back to the hotel, there were lot of fruits and vegetable shops in the street. Aunty insisted to take some with us to Dubai. We picked up a sack full of some banana, tender coconut and Mango.
Day 5 ………………….Kms 2040
Started off at about 9’O clock from salala, stayed at a friend’s house in Muscat
Day 6 ………………….Kms 3060
Started off to Dubai , Checked out at Hatta border, paid AED 20 for exit pass . Reached Dubai at about 3 pm. ………………….Kms 3466
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Tips:
Where ever possible top up the fuel tank.
Avoid traveling during night.
Keep enough Omani Riyals with you.
Enable roaming (or use Wasel) in you GSM
Try to get a bargain at the hotel apartments (Hotels have fixed price), some of them may try to rip you off.
Keep enough battery for you electronic stuff (or get the DC to AC converter mentioned earlier).
Get your vehicle checked up.
Last week I was extremely busy especially with a disaster recovery for one of the clients. I will describe the interesting story in the next post. During this difficult time I used to work long hours without leaving the desk and thus was starving when going home and on my way picked up cheap and best Shawarma from here.
The biggest advantage of this place is that you can stop your car just outside the shop to order (if the copes are not around!) and they deliver fast.
As I marked in the above picture they have a special way of making it with hot plates and thus the Shawarma is very crisp. Also, the bread used is special ( I don’t know the name, I must ask next time) and fresh makes the tastiest Shawarma I have ever had.
The location may not be convenient for many of my readers, it is in Deira, just after the Shindaga Tunnel towards Hamariya.
1. Standardise as much as you can: For businesses, standardising may be the last thing to do but when it comes to IT, it can save time and money in the long run. Pick the same applications and the same version for the entire office (for example MS Office 2003).
2. Business computers are for business only:No matter how many times you tell your IT users not to download files from unknown/untrusted sources or open attachments in emails, somebody will do it and the costs can be high. Use firewall/proxy servers to control the usage of internet and protect the network from internet.
3. Protect your PCs: Get a good suite of computer protection software and make sure it is updated on a regular basis. Viruses are not the only threats, spywares, adwares, malware could harm your PC.
4. Buy legal software to avoid hefty fines, use free and open source software to reduce licensing cost:“According to the UAE Law the offence is subject to a maximum of three years imprisonment and/or a fine of not less than Dh 50,000.00” Use windows at PC and Linux at the server to reduce licensing cost. A small business could save from AED 5000 to AED 15000 by using Linux at the backend.
5. Always buy the extended warranty or maintenance:When you buy PCs and other IT hardware, like printers, get the extended warrantees. Keep all the information in a single file because it is not a matter of “if” you will need it, it is a matter of “when”.
6. Backup regularly:On numerous occasions people come to me and beg “Please, My harddrive crashed, All my important files are there, Please help me recover it” . It takes a bit of time and discipline to backup data but it will save your precious time when the PC fails.
7. Hire a consultant:If there is nobody on staff who is IT qualified, get a maintenance contract from an IT company. This will also free up the staff to concentrate on their business, instead of fixing computer problems.
I have noticed a lot of people waiting in front of this office almost every day when I try to drop my wife to her office. We were discussing the reason for this; it could be either they are waiting for the office to open or a layoff possibly because of the recent economic slow down. On another occasion I have noticed the same at the middle of the day and later in the afternoon. After a few days I realised when I happen to be standing in the same crowd, it is an un-official bus station !!
My other car needed an long waited a/c fix, I wanted to give it to my car mechanic at Sharjah. I dropped my car at my wife’s office so that she can drive home. I thought of taking the bus to Sharjah because I wanted to get a feeling of the new big buses to Sharjah . I waited near Salahuddin intersection (better known as Dubai Cinema) at Deira. One of those guys dressed in a shalwar kameez was calling “Sharjah Sharjah”. I was aware that there are private(illegal) taxis ply to Sharjah but I really wanted to find out how the bus service so did not bother to his call. After about 45 minutes I lost my patience. The next time I heard a “Sharjah” call I quickly responded and I was told ‘Age Jao Gadi Ghada Hai’ meaning go forward the car is waiting.
By the time I reached the scene the 14 seat mini van was full. I have been told by the van driver to wait for the next van. There were few others along with me waiting. I could see more and more people joining including some ladies. It looked like every one was quite familiar with the place and the system. After about 15 minutes another van came and we were taken to Sharjah.
I was wondering if I was adamant about taking the RTA bus how much time I would be wasting. For several years we have been told they are improving the transport services and fining illegal taxis but this trend continues. People need affordable and reliable transport system. I don’t blame the illegal taxis, it is a relief for those who cant afford a car.
1. Under estimate the poor internet infrastructure.
Internet charges are 5 to 10 times higher than US/UK, speed is 1/2 of what you get there. For instance, vast majority of US internet users get speed between 2.5 Mbps and 10 Mbps where us in the ME it is 0.5 Mbps to 4 Mbps. In UAE a 2 Mbps costs nearly GBP 2600 per year whereas it is only GBP 250 in UK. BTW: Your upload speed is only 256 K !! Many people assume that speed they promise is what you get. The ISP guaranteed speed is from your office/home to ISP’s network. The moment the packet goes out of ISP’s network the speed varies depends on where it is going and what time it is going. This means; if you have a 2 Mbps link you may download a 2MB file in 8 seconds from your ISP’s server. However this could take few minutes to download it from elsewhere.
2. ISPs Promises but Don’t Deliver: My previous employer acquired a company just a Kilo meter away. The ISP promised a point to point leased line in less than a week but we had to wait for more than 2 months to actually get it.
3. The comms provider and ISP is the same company and it is a monopoly.They do not provide a Service Level Agreement (SLA) so you can’t expect quality of service from them. You have been told that there is a second ISP in here but they only operate at certain locations and the quality and value is definitely not competitive.
4. The comms to international networks are unreliable;there are only a couple of under sea cables for this region; if one of them are cut by then you are stuck.
However, they have pretty good country wide and regional cable infrastructure. If your customers are only in ME it makes sense to put your server in a UAE data centre.
BTW: Emix (Emirates Internet Exchange) based in UAE is the regional hub providing internet to many ISPs in the region.
5. Don’t even think of hosting your server for any where other than on your local ISP’s server or in US. The company I worked previously hosted the Microsoft Share Point servers at UK ignoring my warning. The Middle East users were badly affected. They finally had to move their server to the data centre in Dubai. A prospective client of mine an Engineering Consultant is now facing the similar situation, their Intranet server hosted at UK is having performance problem. You can imagine, transferring large files over bad connections, how difficult it would be for the impatient users in the Middle East.
6. Don’t even think of using voip (skype etc); it is illegal here. However if you can take the risk it is worth because international phone rates are one of the highest in the world. Many of my clients at the free zone call me for trouble shooting their IP Phones provided by their parent companies in western countries. I tell them there is nothing wrong with the Phones it is the ISP blocking popular VoIP ports.
7. Out source/centralise IT support from overseas: Outsourcing may lower cost and bring efficiency but without a proper local support your business will suffer. Things are happening in the Middle East especially in Dubai 5 times faster than anywhere else in the world. So you definitely need to support the users ASAP make sure you have the IT support locally available.
One of my friends and his family is moving from Muscat to Dubai and asked my help in finding accommodation. I could have called the real estate agents and find out what is available and then visit the place. That may not fit into my time schedules, so decided to look for “TOLET” boards when ever I go on regular visits to my clients at different locations in Dubai. In the last few days I managed to visit major areas of Dubai, Zabeel Road, Karama, Sheikh Zayed Road, Barsha, Muraqabat Road, Deira, Al Qusais.
My search started from Oud Mehta Road, Opposite to Dubai Health Care City, Next to Eppco Fuel Station( Near KM Trading and OurOwn School Signal). This would be an ideal place for him, School, Park, Church, Shopping Malls all at a walking distance. The rent is AED 165,000 per month for a 2 Bed Room apartment!
I felt that it is bit too much and moved towards Lamcy Plaza. I could easily spot this one just opposite to Lamcy Car Park for AED 110, 000. No doubt, there are incredible Building Structural Engineers in Dubai ! Look at the Sitting Room and the Bed Room.
I hoped I could find better buildings around, not too far away, I found this one for about AED 139,000.
Barsha
My friend’s office is in Jebel Ali, so I thought Barsha is an ideal place for him. The one below is AED 110,000.
SZR
On my way back I spotted this one on Sheik Zayed Road. The rent is 148,000 for a 2 bed room apartment.
Hoping that Deira will be less expensive I look for flats in Muraqqabat Road Deira Dubai, I could only find this one in a new building opposite to Coral Dubai Hotel from AED 130,000 to AED 150,000.
Quasais
This one is just behind the Emirates Driving Institute, with all those facilities as they advertised in the sheet attached, it is AED 97,900.
Dubai Residential Oasis
You may have noticed this large residential complex when you go from the Al Qusais main signal towards Sharjah, very convenient lot of shops in the complex, is AED 110,000 One free parking, you may have to pay for other facilities (Pool, Gym etc)
Al Nahda 3
This one is AED 90-95000. I did not bother to visit and take photographs.
This is the most affordable so far, just behind Higher College of Tehcnology, AED 85,000 for 2 Bed Room. Not very spacious but OK for a small family.
Another affordable one, almost at the border to Sharjah just behind Sahara Centre this one is AED 85,000.
No matter how much time I spend in traffic from Sharjah to Dubai I will stop complaining from now onwards, the rents in Dubai is simply not affordable for me; “Long Live Sharjah” !
Last weekend was too busy with a family get together and engaged with uncle and family who are on their way back to South Africa. I could not spare a minute to sit down for the regular blogging. I hoped I could do it during lunch time, but was on an emergency call to attend one of my clients at Ras Al Khaimah . But that did not stop me writing this blog straight from the beach, a blogging lunch !
My client is on waterfront residential and leisure project at the man-made Al Marjan Island, in Ras Al Khaimah. Those of my readers who have not visited RAK for quite some time it will be a suprise, this city has gone thru un imaginable growth, is a tourist attarction hardly 45 minutes from Dubai while Dubai is getting un affordable.
They have an Office at the land and a new site office at the Island. They have no way of getting any communication cables by the telecoms provider. We have enabled them to make use the exisiting telephone and broad band internet at the land office by using wireless connection over a distance of 6 Kms. This was working OK for the last 3 months so I was surprised what caused it to stop working today.
Driving from Dubai via the Emirates road was easy as there was no much traffic. After I took the exit 110 I was stopped by the camels.
It is almost the lunch time so better to take the lunch before dwelling into the job as you never know when it is going to finish. Being in the IT industry for several years I know the management term ” start with an end in mind” does not apply for IT people. My wife has packed lunch for me so I used to have it in the car whenever I get a chance. The moment I saw the sea view I pull over and drive towards. My Pajero always gave me confidence while driving off road. There was no one at the beach except this guy riding a glide. It looked so wonderful towards the sea side but not the near by areas messed up by irresponsible beach users.
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Before I get into the office I tried to scan for the signals using my laptop from the Car at both end to make sure that the Wireless Bridges are working OK. The weather conditions were worse than when we first put the devices. The wind speed were almost double than before and the sand storm could have reduced signal strength. I managed to fix it by fine tuning the Wireless Bridge by turning the Turbo mode on.
