Room 118 Solutions - Web Application Development & Programming

Ubuntu 10.10 Server + GRUB + GPT Partitions

So, I ran into a peculiar problem while trying to get my homebuilt 4TB NAS up and running last night.  I bought two 2TB SATA drives, and sourced everything else from my old computer boneyard (i.e. my closet).  The issue I was having was the Ubuntu 10.10 Server installer kept failing when trying to install GRUB.  I eventually tracked this down to an issue installing GRUB to GPT partitions (GRUB requires a BIOS boot partition).  Since I’m running a small 5GB partition in RAID1 for Ubuntu, and the rest of the disks (~4TB) in RAID0, I’m exceeding the partition size limitations of MBR, and thus need to use GPT.  Fine.  The issue is that the Ubuntu installer seems to be unaware of how to handle this situation.  Long story short, here’s what you need to do when yours fails:

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Our Small-Business-In-The-Cloud Boilerplate – Part I: External

When Chris and I formed Room 118 Solutions one year ago, we didn’t really know how we were going to run a business from our home offices.  We didn’t even know what was involved in running a corporation (an S-corp, to be exact), from a business perspective.  Over this past year, we’ve fallen into a nice groove using a combination of web applications that has made everything from collaboration to running payroll a breeze.  We’d like to share them with you, as they mostly apply to all small business teams.  In Part I, I’ll cover services we use to work with customers; in Part II, I’ll cover services we use internally. Read on

Happy 1st Birthday!

Today marks one full year of business as Room 118 Solutions and it’s been an awesome ride. We’ve made some great friends, worked on awesome projects and expanded our skill sets. Here’s to another amazing year.

In celebration of one year in business, we thought its about time we started blogging, so welcome to the inaugural post and keep an eye out for more to come in the future.

Chris & Jim