Today's Random #MPFreebie - Section 27

The Internet has certainly spawned an enormous range of creative outlets, and 'netlabels' promise to be a significant presence in the musical section of the creative spectrum. 

Most of us are familiar with the notion of "major labels," such as Sony or MCA; if your musical taste is on the eclectic side, you've probably explored the world of "indie labels," those independent (usually regional) record labels bringing even more artists to the commercial arena.  Well, netlabels take that idea one step further; they're usually community-driven enterprises, and their music is made freely available, usually under the Creative Commons license.  Given the nature of the Internet, netlabels tend to focus on the more...electronic genres of the musical world.

Section 27 is one such netlabel, and they've released a 2011 sampler of their artists.  Now, I'll be the first to admit that electronica is not my typical first choice of playlist, but (as usual) there's some ear-catching stuff on this 8-track compilation.  My FLFs (First Listen Favorites) are the bookends of this sampler, tracks 1 and 8: Non Dolet's Terminal and Intr1 from Shodan.  In between, you'll find digital meanderings of all sorts, including an interesting take on samples from an 80s chart-topper.

Check it out, and let us know what you think in the comments...

Today's Obscure Command You Should Know: netstat -s

There are any number of operating system (OS) commands that are VERY handy when performing initial troubleshooting or 'drilling down' on a suspected issue.  However, many of the most useful instances are either obscure commands or obscure options to well-known commands,  What?  You say that sounds like a good idea for a blog series?  Why, I think you're right!  Thus, it's time for today's obscure command!

Most of you have used the netstat command to check your current network connections from time to time, but the IP stack also keeps track of a (sometimes) dizzying variety of per-protocol statistics.  These are available to you via the -s option, and they can be an important indicator of "network problems."  The image to the right is a subsection of the Windows output for TCP/IPv4, but--depending upon your OS and the protocols installed--you can also gather the numbers for UDP, ICMP, and even protocols like GRE.  If IPv6 is installed, you'll see those statistics as well.

Now, keep in mind that these statistics are "since last boot," so you'll want to consider them something of a baseline for your investigations.  When I'm looking for intermittent network problems, I use a batch file (or shell script, or even a cronjob) to gather these on a regular basis, which may range from "every 5 minutes" to "once per hour," depending upon the nature of the problem under investigation.  You can then look for 'spikes' in a particular sample and correlate them to the timestamped log/debug entries made by applications or the OS itself (such as the Windows event log or /var/log/messages).  The tie-in to network packet analysis (e.g. Wireshark, Microsoft Network Monitor, et al.) is obvious...

Take a look at netstat -s - it may just bail you out of a jam one day...

Tonight's #MPFreebie - Sounds from Down Under, Courtesy of @soundslikebne

Sounds Like Brisbane is a collective effort from 17 of Australia's independent labels, and it's definitely one of the more diverse samplers I've heard in a while.  Folks in Oz are absolutely kicking it across the board, if these tracks are representative of the indie music scene.  My FLFs (First Listen Favorites) are Marialy Pacheco's wonderful piano work on Sunshine State, the somewhat ethereal Unsolved Mysteries from The Rational Academy, and the straight-up punk of Undead Apes' Taxes.  Check it out - all 17 tracks can be previewed and/or downloaded from SLB's site, linked above...and keep your eyes open for news/downloads of the BIG SOUND music festival, coming this September...