Blog
Bill Wear

Bill Wear

28 posts

MAAS Developer Advocate

Stormrider is a tech enthusiast whose passion for computer programming and the UNIX system led to a lifelong exploration of technology. Starting with early experiences in a college computer lab, Stormrider became captivated by the simplicity and power of UNIX, which eventually led to the discovery of org-mode. Embracing org-mode and its versatile capabilities, Stormrider found a perfect match for their organizational and productivity needs. With a love for abstraction and a desire to simplify complex tasks, org-mode became an integral part of their life and work, allowing them to thrive in various endeavors. Today, Stormrider continues to embrace the power of org-mode and shares their journey of leveraging technology and language to optimize efficiency and creativity.

Bill Wear
26 April 2023

No more DHCP(d)

Cloud and server Article

“He’s dead, Jim.” Dr. McCoy DHCP is dead; long live DHCP. Yes, the end-of-life announcement for ISC DHCP means that the ISC will no longer provide official support or updates for the software. Our ever-faithful, omnipresent friend — the familiar dhcpd daemon — is retiring, albeit over a really long walk to that cabin in the ...

Bill Wear
17 March 2023

Help us build better doc

Canonical announcements Article

We want you to join our Ubuntu circle, and help us document MAAS. More minds, more eyes, more hands make better doc. ...

Bill Wear
20 October 2022

Join our Ubuntu circle

Canonical announcements Article

The Ubuntu circle: We are because you are The MAAS 3.3 Beta 1 release is out. You should take a look. Normally, a blog like this would wait for the final release. And that blog will still happen, later, but this feels like a watershed moment: There are some significant new features, including better search ...

Bill Wear
28 July 2022

Compassionate doc

People and culture Article

Being the best open-source company in the world means building the best open-source documentation. That’s means giving appropriate respect for ownership and prior art. We crave your feedback about how to best make that happen. ...

Bill Wear
10 March 2022

Deep work in interesting times

Cloud and server Article

Prologue As programmers and tech writers, we are creators, and we are knowledge workers. We strive to do rare and valuable work, regardless of the circumstances, what Dartmouth professor Cal Newport calls deep work. Deep work is hard and difficult. At Canonical, we are specifically committed to doing things that are simultaneously hard an ...

Bill Wear
13 December 2021

Linux deployment tools: MAAS 3.1 for hot metal

Cloud and server Article

Back a few months ago, we did a feature poll on our MAAS forum, and the most-requested new feature turned out to be “Recommission/rescan a machine after it has been deployed“. With the release of MAAS 3.1, we’ve added that feature, making MAAS an even better choice for linux deployment tools. Here’s a sample of ...

Bill Wear
6 December 2021

Announcing MAAS 3.1: bare metal cloud gets easier

Cloud and server Article

We are happy to announce that MAAS 3.1 has been released. Bare metal provisioning just got even easier! MAAS 3.1 brings some of the most frequently-requested features into the product. A lot of this is serendipity — or maybe you could say that it’s about like minds tracking the same problem. Either way, we’re doing ...

Bill Wear
2 September 2021

Commissioning deployed machines: Request granted

Cloud and server Article

We want to make it possible to deploy MAAS in an existing datacenter, and have it keep track of machines that already have a deployed workload — without disturbing machine or workload. Currently, in order to get a machine into MAAS, with correct hardware information, you have to network boot the machine and let MAAS ...

Bill Wear
19 August 2021

About MAAS 3.0 and LXD

Cloud and server MAAS

With the release of MAAS 3.0, we moved LXD virtual machines out of Beta. Several articles in the MAAS documentation address LXD. Since no document ties all these features together, though, it’s time for a topical blog about LXD. About LXD LXD, pronounced “lex-DEE,” is a container manager, as well as a virtual machine manager. ...

Bill Wear
8 July 2021

DHCP Server Conflict Detection

Cloud and server MAAS

This blog title should really be, “Why you always, always, always want conflict detection turned on on all the networks MAAS touches,” but that’s really long as a title. But hear me out. As promised, here is another DHCP blog, this time explaining how you can have multiple DHCP servers on the same subnet, serving ...

Bill Wear
8 July 2021

DHCP scope

Cloud and server MAAS

It’s possible to have more than one DHCP server on the same network and still have everything work right, with no conflicts and no dropped packets or IP requests. It’s really not that hard to pull together, either, but there are some things to know, and some things to consider before we investigate that situation. ...

Bill Wear
7 July 2021

Moving toward Diátaxis

Cloud and server Server

We discovered the Diátaxis Framework earlier this year. It’s been on our roadmap to shift MAAS doc to this cool new way of explaining things. This cycle, we plan to make it happen. You’d think it would be obvious…. Diátaxis is one of those ideas. Once you see it, you can’t figure out why everybody ...