Friday, February 20, 2009

Garden 2.0 Release Notes

Released: 14:11, 20 February 2009 (CST)

This is notification that the Garden 2.0 system is officially released. Please take the time to read through these release notes as this information may be important for your continued access and operation of the Garden 2.0 system.

Upgrade Issues/Procedures


  • During the upgrade, firewalls were disabled. In some cases it became common for Garden users to access the system by means other than one of the 2 approved GUI[1] systems. Please note that after the upgrade, this is no longer possible. Access via one of the 2 GUIs is now the only approved mechanism of access.
  • The RED Security System™ was also disabled during the upgrade. Any intrusion events have not been detected or logged. Although there is no evidence of any such intrusion, please note that while RED[2] was inactive we can make no assumptions that intrusions did not occur.
  • There appeared to be a grounding issue when the additional capacity was originally added. However, this problem went away when we defragmented using the Tiller application.
  • Legacy system Tree 1.0 was downgraded to Stump 0.75 almost a year ago. Stump 0.75 was found to impede access to the new Garden 2.0 systems and was further downgraded to Stump 0.1. It is unlikely that removal of Stump 0.1 will be possible in the near future.

Fixed in this Release

  • All Blackberry 3.x systems are now accessed via the Garden 2.0 system. Note that in Garden 1.0, Blackberry 3.0 access was outside the firewall. This problem has been resolved. Access to Blackberry 3.x by the Firefox is expected to no longer be possible.
  • All Blueberry systems (versions 1.x through 4.x) are now accessed via the Garden 2.0 system. There will no longer be access to these systems outside the firewall. Blueberry 1.x systems are expected to have small amounts of data output this year, thus needing protection via the RED Security System™. Output from versions 2.x through 4.x are not expected this year.
  • There is an estimated capacity increase of approximately 40 percent. Initial estimates before the upgrade were nearer to 80 percent. However, Blackberry 3.0 systems and Blueberry 1.0 and 2.0 applications used up more space than was initially estimated. An additional estimated 55% increase of capacity over Garden 1.0 is expected with upgrade to Garden 3.0.
  • You now may use all newly available capacity with the API.[3]
  • The Rational Rose Software is included in Garden 2.0 and is now behind the firewall. Maintenance of this software will have to occur via the approved GUI, though it is expected to display properly outside the firewall.

Unresolved/Known Issues

  • Blackberry 2.1 and 2.2 systems and Grape 1.0 systems are still outside the firewall. They are also not protected by the RED Security System™. At this point in time, there are no plans to upgrade Garden to include Blackberry 2.1 and 2.2 users. The problem here is with the Tractor network that lies between Garden 2.0 and the Blackberry 2.x systems. It is not possible to allow access due to the Tractor network and its use of UDP.[4]
  • Due to the inclusion behind the firewall, it is expected that access to Blackberry 3.x systems will have increased latency. Measured latency during testing seems to be acceptable, though further latency testing should be done.
  • Garden 2.0 is known to be accessible to gopher.
  • The new capacity is may have some amount of weedly output due to random seeding.
  • Strawberry 2.0 systems are not included behind the firewall and will not be included until the version 3.0 release of Garden. They are, however, covered by installation of the RED Security System™. This is known to diminish but not eliminate intrusions.

Migration Plan

  • Garden 3.0 is expected to be released next year.
  • Garden 3.0 upgrade requires removal of Tree 2.0. Tree 2.0 was expected to be removed this year. It was not removed, however due to the overabundance of log entries in the Firewood system. Every effort has been made to reduce these log entries in house. However, it is recommended that outside contractors be called in for analysis and removal of some of these log entries. It is unlikely in the forseeable future that we will be able to reduce the log entries in house. It is expected that most of these log entries occurred from use of the IKE protocol.
  • Garden 3.0 upgrade also requires removal or distribution of Haybale 2.0.
  • An investigation should be done to determine if a third GUI needs to be added to increase throughput. If there is any expected interface with the Tractor network, it will have to occur with a new GUI that has increased capacity.

Other Known Bugs

  • cut worms
  • june bug grubs
  • grass hoppers
  • aphids

References

  1. Gate User Interface
  2. Raccoon Electrocution Device
  3. Appropriate planting interface
  4. Unusually Dense Poundage

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am sorry to hear that Blueberry will not be accessible outside of the firewall. However, if Blackberry 3.0 is able to handle sufficient output then I am certain that its product would be an excellent substitute.

Spork In the Eye said...

I am expecting more significant Blueberry output next year.

Blackberry 1.0 Systems and Blackberry 3.0 systems should have significant output this year.

Blackberry 2.0 systems were shutdown and rebooted in a different location (outside the firewall) and are expected to have less output due to excessive RIP [Note 1] packets on the network.

1 - Raccoon Infestation Problem

Kari said...

Is there a system for reporting potential issues with Garden 2.0? We had a known issue with Garden 1.0 that was not addressed in this release. Specifically, Firefox is bypassing RED and accessing Strawberry 2.0 directly.

Spork In the Eye said...

Technically Strawberry 2.0 is not a part of the Garden 1.0 or the Garden 2.0 system. This is why there is a firefox access problem.

Without a firewall, firefox is likely to continue accessing Strawberry 2.0. RED may or may not be a deterrent to firefox, but should not be considered 100% effective.

The proposed solution is to wait for Garden 3.0, where Strawberry 2.0 can be integrated fully into the Garden system.

Alternatively, as a workaround, the RED access security could be increased by putting in a second layer of security -- say about 9 inches above the current layer. This would, however, require purchase order approval of minor equipment purchases from Atwoods Integrated Systems Inc. You would also have to be very careful when logging into Strawberry 2.0 so that you do not create an access violation.

Og Make Blog said...

Ah, I see the layered protocols, but I thought you were such a fan of Open Systems Architecture.

Og Make Blog said...

Oh, and whatever happened to Raspberry 1.0?

Spork In the Eye said...

Raspberry 1.0 has always been integrated into Garden 1.0. Raspberry 1.0 thrives almost like a virus or a rapidly spreading trojan -- despite naysayers that claimed it would not perform on our chipset.