Having used a mac for years, I've always used either Parallels or Vmware Fusion for virtualization.

Before that, when I was using Linux, I used Vmware Workstation.

Today, when looking for a virtualization solution on Windows, I discovered Vmware Player.

It's free, and seems really fast. Just installed a virtual machine on it, and will do further testing as soon as I can.

But so far the signs seem very hopefully. I'm very impressed with the responsiveness, and that it doesn't cause the host to lag in the slightest.

Why the web server in my company went down

So I was reading on line about a piece of news about how Nginx, an alternative web server, has overtaken IIS in usage on the web. In the comments below the news, people were praising Nginx on how fast and lightweight it is compared to Apache.

So I absolutely had to try it out. On the unimportant company web server, I installed Nginx and tested it, without removing Apache. Being new to Nginx, I didn't really know what I was doing, and I wasn't very interested in reading the documentation because I was just experimenting.

I set it all up, didn't like what I saw because of some Bad Gateway issues, and decided to remove Nginx and restart Apache.

This resulted in lots of segmentation faults. I don't know why, because I didn't do a thing to the Apache config files. All I did was to stop and start the service.

Had to get the hosting service provider to give me a new VPS and spent long hours migrating from the current VPS to the new one.

But this time, while waiting for the hosting service to prepare the VPS, I set up a Debian server in my virtual machine, and set everything up using Nginx + FPM-PHP and Memcached. Success.

Then I replicated the configuration in the new VPS and migrated everything over. Had problems with Memcache config at first, but it's been resolved. Then I read that APC would be preferably since it's a single server, so I switched to that. Far easier than using Memcache, and it seems as fast.

Now the web site's really fast and spiffy but I will have to keep monitoring the site in case I see Bad Gateway errors (which randomly comes up, I don't know why. Is it due to the FPM-PHP version I'm using?) or in case the server cannot take the load (unlikely).

I may still switch back to using Memcache, especially when Django has to be used. I wonder if it makes sense to use Nginx + APC + Memcached, or just take out APC and use Memcached for everything, since Nginx can serve static files from Memcached?

In any case, I have now experienced for myself why people drop Apache. Previously, the web service had to be restarted automatically twice a day because it'd stop responding due to server load (not that it had lots of traffic; the server just wasn't powerful enough). I hope this switch will remove the need for the restarting. Right now I can already see an obvious speed boost, which is excellent, even if the restarting problem isn't resolved.

Fingers crossed :)

Guangzhou, Shenzhen 4 days

Feel like writing something here. Hence i shall write about my recent trip to China. My first ever trip to China!

Day 1: We managed to visit the main attractions as planned in my itinerary, which includes Yue xiu park, Zhenhai tower, Five rams, Sun Yat-sen memorial hall, Six banyan temple and Western Han Nanyue King's tomb museum. We didn't get to visit Chen jia si and the wholesale market as i find Beijing lu is good enough.

The main attractions are very accessible by train and the hotel location is fairly good. Just 10 mins walk to Yuexiu park train station. It cost only 8 yuan to Beijing lu by taxi.

Photos of Sino hotel IT Business room along Panfu road:

2 big beds!

Room equipped with PC and free internet, minibar, coffee making facilities...

Newly renovated toilet, comes with toiletries, hand and face towels.



Day 2 night: Paid 100 yuan per person for a 1.5 hr cruise down Pearl river, snacks and tea served on board. Kinda ex i feel... compared to Bangkok river cruise. Moreover the night view is nothing fantastic.

Day3: We took a fast speed train from GZ railway station to Shenzhen. The train cabins are much better than Tiger air plane, i swear. Including the uniform of the train attendant. The highest speed it went was 202km/h. It took just 1hr 15 mins to get from GZ to SZ. 75 yuan for a one way ticket.

My little surprise on my birthday:

24 roses for my 24th birthday!

An interesting restaurant with interesting signboard displayed at the entrance:

Haa! Japanese tourists must be pretty upset.



Day 4 morning: Dim sum with Long jun, his gf and family.



Shenzhen is a very modernized, urban city. I'm quite impressed by it's rapid development. In just 20 years, it changed from a fishing village to what it is today. I can say it's ahead of us and we are seriously not catching up. What i see in SZ is what Singapore will be in the future. I hope in the NEAR future but i doubt so.

After 2 days with my SZ friend and his family, i feel inspired to work harder to achieve my ultimate goal. My perspective of China has changed over these short 4 days. I feel i'm able to appreciate China culture, history and the people even more. I don't mind migrating to SZ for work or should i say return home? Afterall our grandparents came from different parts of China. That is how our Singapore dialets came about isn't it?

Maybe to many Singaporeans, this is home. But to me, it's more like a stopover country. Even more so now. I just happened to be born here. Sad to say, there is no sense of belonging.

I'm still finding my ideal place to call home. Wish me luck.

Bugis

Didn't go to Night safari or Chinese garden today because meeting ended late for them. Luckily i went off earlier with colleagues to Bugis. We had drinks at Victoria bar, it's the bar that i've always thought of going to one day because i often past that place when i'm in Bugis. Heehee.

After that we went to Massion (spelling?) for dinner. I have loads of photos yet to be posted up in here. Maybe next time. Anyway it's a cosy Japanese Western restaurant, hidden in a corner of level 2 of Bugis junction. I would want to go back there again.

There are many new shops in Bugis i noticed. Southhaven is in Seiyu, replaced the old U2. And i've noticed there are new restaurants and cafes in level 2. I want to shop!

20-sept-2007

Another sinful day...

Wednesday
Breakfast: Milk
Lunch: Catered buffet
Dinner: Carlton hotel's Chinese restaurant (very classy but food is so-so only)

Today
Breakfast: Milk
Lunch: Catered buffet from Neo
Dinner: Jumbo seafood at ECP; First time there, i had many pepper crabs until i'm feeling heaty now... :X There are many leftovers, waste food...

I'll be going to Night safari tomorrow... with colleagues from China and US. -_-''

So... My job sounds pretty adventurous right?

LOL

Gym anyone?

Sinful meals

I had sinful meals for the past few days... Visitor from US came down to give system training. And me, colleague, manager and boss had to entertain him for 2 days.

Thursday
Breakfast: 1 big bao
Lunch: Tung lok Dim sum ala cart buffet
Tea: 1 Oreo donut from Munchy donut
Dinner: Thai Village Sharkfin
Dessert: Swensen ice cream...

Friday
Breakfast: Milk
Lunch: Ajisen ramen; I had beef ramen, baby octopus and soft shell crab
Dinner: Black Angus's Sirloin Steak with garden salad and soup
Dessert: Anderson of Denmark ice cream...

*Gasps* I ate so much....! He especially loves chocolate ice cream. So it is a must to bring him for desserts. I'll never have ice cream for the next few weeks!

Been doing uzap and hoola lately to get rid of excess fats. Good thing i went for the Terry Fox run this morning, ran about 2.5km, walked 1.5km. LOL. But hey, among the ladies, i'm the first few ok....

Next week is another week of meetings and sumptuous meals because my direct Big boss is coming down for annual meeting. *Gasps* I hope he won't speak to me. Anyway by right i should only attend for 2 days. Hopefully it will stay that way... I want my Friday nights...

Pearly

My newly found favourite drink: Pearly Soya Milk drink! ^_^

And also Oolong Tea for a healthier choice.