***Security Alert*** – This should only be done where you 110% trust the proxy that is forwarded the client IP. It is quite easier to spoof an IP address using X-Forwarded-For headers.

If you have a couple of webservers behind a load blancer than you’ve probably noticed that your logs and many time web application incorrectly log the IP address of the load balancer.

This is totally expected behavior and is an important security feature in a standard Apache server.

However, it is also a pain.

Of course there is an easy way to solve the problem.

1. One enable the feature of your load balancer to turn on X-Forwarded-For headers. (The name is slightly different depending on the device so I’m not always sure about the specifics.)
2. Make sure that you are actually forwarding the additional header. I used my phpinfo() file to check you should see “HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR” in the apache environment section. If not than your load balancer is not correctly configured to pass the correct header. Troubleshoot until you can see this variable in the phpinfo().
   
3. Enable and configure the mod_rpaf module for your apache server.
4. Restart the webserver.
5. Check your phpinfo() file and you should now see the correct IP address in the “REMOTE_ADDR” section. You can also still see that the request came from in the “HTTP VIA” section.

You should now see the correct IP in WordPress comments and Moodle logs.

***Security Alert*** – This should only be done where you 110% trust the proxy that is forwarded the client IP. It is quite easier to spoof an IP address using X-Forwarded-For headers.

I’ve always hated using bullet points and wished that folks would use more imagery but here is a great illustration of why.

http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2010/08/a-long-time-ago-before-death-by-powerpoint.html

A great site that is worth following.

So, I’ve been crazy busy at work and haven’t had much time to think or write lately. But the monsoon storms of the last two days have inspired a creative burst for both me and some desert toads.

Listen to the cacophony of toads that were in a temporary pond that form in front of my house. We had nearly 2 inches of rain in 24 hours.

Here are a few useful links related to virtualization:

Virtualization Software:

• Virtual Box – FOSS
• VMware – Commerical
• Parallels – Commerical

Linux Distros:

• Debian
• OpenSUSE
• Ubuntu

What is Virtualization and FOSS?:

• Virtualization in Plain English
• School Forge
• Source Forge

This is exactly why K-12 institutions need to spend more time developing their own cloud services.

Ning is no longer free….

I hope your district hasn’t focused on staff development tied to free services.

So I finally got my hands on an iPad to play with for a few days.

My initial impression is that it is a big iPod. There seems to be so much possibility with this device, but most of that potential seems cut off at the knees by Apple. But before I start down the negative, lets look at the positive.

Things that I like or find appealing about the iPod:

1. The interface is so intuitive that my 18 month old could interact with an interactive storybook within minutes of showing it to him. Without a doubt the single most compelling part of the iPad is the touch interface. The potential for clever developers to create complex programs that require little to no training has some real potential.
2. As a eBook reader it blows the Kindle away. The high resolution screen with color adds a depth to any text with images and color that just isn’t comparable in other reader devices that I’ve seen.
3. It is a great gaming platform. Much like the WII did in the console world, I believe the iPad, with it’s touch interface and accelerometers, will create an entirely new compelling gaming experience.
4. The battery life is awesome! In today’s busy world having a device with a 10+ hours battery is huge!

Now to the things that I don’t like:

1. Apple’s closed ecosystem. I don’t have the choice to do anything with my iPad with out Apple’s blessing.
2. The iPad is primarily a consumption device with limited capacity to do creative work.
3. It doesn’t replace anything that I already have to carry with me. I still need my laptop and my phone so why an iPad?
4. As a school IT administrator, I also haven’t seen any tools that make managing or imaging a fleet of iPads easy or even feasible on a larger scale.
5. It hasn’t shifted my paradigm.

After several days of playing, I really feel like the iPad as a metaphor for computing is a set back. Proprietary device with proprietary software and a closed operating system that is missing key web-based technologies (i.e. Flash and full Java support). How is this a good thing?

I see the potential in the technology in the device but I’m seriously at odds with the business model of the iPad ecosystem.

So, I finally took a deeper look at the Common Core Standards and I’m pretty excited.

The standards themselves have a few new features, such as the way they are grouped and the fact that there are specific literacy skills related to humanities and science. Check them out for yourself.

What gets me excited is that when I see those standards, I see a huge opportunity to change the way educational content is created, delivered, and the potential for some amazing innovation.

First, lets talk creation. The same group of states that is banding together to develop these standards (48 states, 2 territories, and DC) should come together to create an open source curriculum. Using the model of open-source, the curriculum could be used as is for a base by districts or others can profit by value adds. In other words, lets have experts layout an open-source curriculum or two and make them freely available. Then we can let the publishing companies of the world make there money by adding to it with additional multimedia, teacher resources, student services, etc…. that they are experts at creating. It would be great because the basic building blocks would be available to all districts rich and poor and current educational materials companies still have a place in the curriculum ecosystem.

Next, lets take delivery to the next level. There needs to be open standards for curriculum delivery systems. Districts, schools, or teachers should be able to access that third party material mentioned above as easily as we buy a song from iTunes or an ebook from Amazon. Imagine how cool it would be for a district to purchase yearly rights to various digital databases and resources from which teachers could pull various pieces. The stores could become social networking hubs for teacher collaboration and using social bookmarking technologies the best and most popular resources could automatically rise to the top. Best of all a market could emerge for educational professions to submit their own curriculum (a la app store) for purchase.

So now you have teachers taking ownership of their teaching and responsible for getting the best hand picked curriculum they can  get. Differentiation in the classroom would be greatly simplified because teachers would have instant access to at least the open-source curriculum, if not several other high quality additions from various professional producers of content and/or peer designers. Student learning styles could be addressed by the fact that each student could have learning materials that are geared towards their likes and dislikes. It would be fantastic!

All I know is that standardization at larger scales has the potential to create a new market that will drive educational curriculum in a new direction. I believe it is sweet irony that Texas is going through it’s currently curriculum crisis and is one of the few states that isn’t part of this movement. The educational system of Texas will go from one of the driving forces behind textbook creation to an obscure backwater in a couple of years. At least one can hope!

I was pleasantly surprised to win the Technology Coordinator of the Year  Award from the Arizona Technology in Education Association.Great organization with wonderful members.

So, I just finished reading an article about wordpress.com going down for a bit and began thinking about whether or not the “Cloud” is a good or bad thing.

I’m worried that the cloud is just the latest manifestation of consumer laziness. We live in a world that is dominated by computer devices, but how many of us know rudimentary coding or computer science skills?

It makes me think of books. When books had to be written individually by scribes, they were expensive and literacy was a mark of nobility. However, once the printing press was developed and books were mass produced literacy rates soared. Why isn’t the same thing happening with coding and computer science?

We live in a world where code is easily accessible. With a little motivation and a few Google searches you can find how to code just about anything. Additionally, the coding languages are getting easier and easier to use but still very few users understand even the basics of programming. Instead we have the few that understand programming and they are considered a special class of user.

What would the world be like if instead of sites like YouTube, we had individual web servers at each persons home? Those home servers could submit their content to large aggregation tools such as Google or maybe they would interact with each other in an unimagined version of peer to peer social media.

I think the cloud is going to make a whole generation of lazy consumers that see the Internet as a strange black-box technology, instead of creating a group of highly motivated and innovative consumers that are defining for themselves what the Internet is and can be.

If you’re running a 1-to-1 in a rural area or have long bus rides in your district check this out. For many of our students this is the last Internet they have before they get home.