Richard's Blog

  • Let's create a Logstash event pipeline to update config in your main pipeline

    If you're using Elastic Search to ingest a lot of data then you've probably got a Logstash pipeline in action to help you streamline this.

    If your logstash pipeline depends on some custom config, and you want to be able to update this config without rebooting logstash then this method is a neat way of doing that.

    Logstash introduced the feature of multiple pipelines in Logstash 6. And, in the docs you can see some of the usecases and patterns for multiple pipelines.

    My suggestion is a new pattern to create a config pipeline that checks for config updates on a set schedule and then feeds …

  • Gran's Ginger Biscuit Recipe

    I was a demanding grandson and I wanted biscuits. These were my favourite and everytime we saw gran she would have made me several tins of these. They never lasted very long and I always looked forward to seeing gran so I could get more. Sadly gran is no longer with us, so I have to make my own biscuits to her recipe.

    Ingredients

    hard margarine (4 ounces / 115g)

    golden syrup (1.5 tablespoons)

    black treacle (0.5 tablespoons)

    self raising flour (12 ounces / 345g)

    sugar (8 ounces / 230g)

    powdered ginger (2 level teaspoons)

    bicarbonate of soda (2 level teaspoons)

    1 egg

    1 pinch of salt

    Method …

  • Comparing the files in two directories with Powershell

    If you've got yourself in a bit of a mess while copying files from one place to another, or if you've got a poor person's backup of stuff in another directory then you might want to compare two folders to see if they contain the same files.

    The Compare-Object cmdlet lets you do this. Here is a simple example to compare the files in two directories based just on the file name.

    compare-object -referenceobject (get-childitem -recurse  | where { ! $_.PSIsContainer }) -differenceobject (get-childitem 'D:\simple-backup' -recurse  | where { ! $_.PSIsContainer }) -Property Name

  • Riese & Müller Roadster Vario Review

    Riese and Müller Roadster Vario

    I spent ages reading specs and reviews of e-bikes and watching videos when I was looking to buy my first e-bike. I found several favourable reviews of Riese and Müller’s Roadster Vario and decided it was the bike I wanted. The reviews were by all by people who owned bike shops though and I really wanted a review my someone who was using the bike day in and day out. Now I’ve been cycling my Roadster to and from work and all over the place for the past month I thought I could write the review that I had been looking for before. As this is the only e-bike I’ve ridden for longer than a test ride, …