Michael W. Lucas's Blog, page 7

“Run Your Own Mail Server” is leaking out

My latest tech book, Run Your Own Mail Server, is starting to creep into bookstores. The book entry on my web site links to various stores that carry it, and will be updated as more stores appear.

Paperbacks are available on Amazon and will reach other stores shortly. They’ll be in the Ingram catalog, so you can have your local bookstore order them via ISBN 9781642350784.

Hardcovers are pending. Once the Ingram databases finish churning, they’ll also be available everywhere. Ask your bookstore t...

Moving Virtual Machines to Jails

I recently learned that I could rent a dedicated machine from bloom.host for less than I’ve been paying for my virtual machines. Time to move some VMs to jails! Here’s the notes I’ve left for myself. All of my VMs run ZFS.

First, clean up unneeded boot environments, remove any unnecessary crap that lingered on the VM, apply all security updates, and in general tidy up the source VM.

Then decide how you want to flip services over. The cleanest way is to shut down all services and start the migrat...

Why “Run Your Own Mail Server” is not in Amazon’s Kindle store

I expect folks to ask this, so here’s a pre-emptive blog post. TLDR: for the same reasons OpenBSD Mastery: Filesystems is not. Amazon’s deal is unacceptable.

You can get Run Your Own Mail Server for Kindle direct from me at Tilted Windmill Press or at Gumroad. You can get a Kindle-friendly ebook from any number of other retailers, but while they’re all supposed to be DRM-free I can’t advise on prying the file out of another vendor’s ecosystem. The one place you cannot buy RYOMS for Kindle is Ama...

61: An Abiding and Passionate Desire

Shipping backer copies of Run Your Own Mail Server has owned me for days. I haven’t been able to write a word for two weeks now. So here’s a chunk from Network Flow Analysis.

Network administrators of all backgrounds share one underlying, overwhelming desire.
It doesn’t matter if you manage a network with 400 separate manufacturing plants connected by a global MPLS mesh or if you’re responsible for three computers and an elderly printer. Network administrators all share an abiding and passionate...

“Run Your Own Mail Server” sponsor and Patronizer gifts

I spent the weekend transforming crates of stuff into a heap of packages.

Dear sponsors, you have a gift coming. It is not a copy of Run Your Own Mail Server. Go read the fine print on the description of what you backed: I said I will send you a gift, not a copy of the book. Your package contains not one but two items. They are irreplaceable, so when you trick them into falling into the smelter they will be gone forever.

Tricking them won’t be hard. They’re not that smart. Merely irreplaceable....

60: Free Probing from the Greys

My brain is tired after the email book, and needs the concrete beaten out of it.

The more experienced GalactiCop is on his fifth life, old enough to actually be grey. His people came from the sunny side of a tidelocked inner planet, like Mercury with ice machines. Most bright siders never leave their tunnels, so his colleagues named him Bright Land. That happens to be the meaning of our name Lambert, so we’ll go with that.

The newer cop still has the bronze hide of his first life and has the imp...

“Run Your Own Mail Server” Auction for BSD Conference AV Team

A team of volunteers led by the stalwart Patrick McEvoy records the talks for EuroBSDCon, BSDCan, and AsiaBSDCon and makes them available. They rent equipment from local suppliers every year. The rental fees approach the cost of purchasing the equipment, and the team has to configure the gear from scratch and desperately hope that the previous renter didn’t break any connectors or fry any capacitors, but at least they don’t have to lug heavy gear around the world.

Video equipment now small enoug...

August’s Acquernous Sausage

This post went to Patronizers at the beginning of August, and the world at the beginning of September.

Wow, is it raining. The word “acquerne” has nothing to do with water, but I believe the acquerne are crazy damp and none too pleased.

Anyway. In the name of Dog I’m tired, but here’s where things stand.

Most importantly, I learned how to pronounce “floccinaucinihilipilification” and “hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia.” That should guarantee I live my next life as ringworm.

Run Your Own Mail ...

59: Dark Purple Highlighters

The Run Your Own Mail Server launch is eating all my time, what with ordering hundreds of books and shipping them across the world. It’s brought cash flow to my mind, so here’s a chunk of Cash Flow For Creators.

I’ve known more than one artist who started looking at their craft as a business, kept all their receipts, and discovered at the end of the year that they’d dropped more on their art than on their kids. Many folks are horrified to learn just how much they spent on supplies. The truth is,...

“Run Your Own Mail Server” official release date?

Folks are asking when this book will be available to the general public. Fair question. The short answer is, “it depends on UPS.”

I want my Patronizers, sponsors, and Kickstarter backers to have a reasonable chance of getting the book within a day or two of release. I’ve ordered a stack of print books. When the printer approves the backers-only edition, I’ll be ordering those. They will arrive here when UPS decides they will arrive.

Once they arrive, all other work stops. I start signing. Patron...