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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
Amazon, the biggest online retailer, sees profits tumble as it spends on technology and invests in its toy business.
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
Well, after a few problems with getting Gems working yesterday I appear to have made some progress.
As Dave mentioned, it indeed turned out to be a memory problem. Stopping all my sites and MySQL running seemed to do the trick, so I managed to suck down Mongrel, and Mongrel Cluster.
Now all I needed to do is to configure everything so Lighttpd would proxy everything save for the Mint stats requests to Mongrel. Here’s how it went.
Configuring Mongrel
Firstly, I created a mongrel_cluster configuration as per the project’s documentation.
$ cd /var/www/servers/www.oobaloo.co.uk/current
sudo mongrel_rails cluster::configure -e production \
-p 8000 -N 3 -c /var/www/servers/www.oobaloo.co.uk/current -a 127.0.0.1 \
--user mongrel --group mongrel
That’ll create a config/mongrel_cluster.yml file that contains the configuration. That mongrel should cwd to /var/www/servers/www.oobaloo.co.uk/current before running itself, and that it should create 3 nodes from port 8000 up inclusive.
So, to check it all worked, I then ran
$ sudo mongrel_rails cluster::start
$ telnet localhost 8000
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.
That showed me the individual servers were up and running, so I then created a mongrel cluster configuration directory, to place configuration files for all my mongrel clustered sites (so far, just this one).
$ sudo mkdir /etc/mongrel_cluster
$ sudo ln -s /var/www/servers/www.oobaloo.co.uk/current/config/mongrel_cluster.yml \
/etc/mongrel_cluster/oobaloo.yml
Now, I can then configure mongrel cluster to launch via a System V init script, so it’ll start (and restart etc.) along with lighty and my other services. Rather nicely, mongrel cluster includes a script.
$ sudo cp /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel_cluster-0.2.0/resources/mongrel_cluster \
/etc/init.d
$ sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/mongrel_cluster
I also then need to link that in to the various runtime init directories for my distribution (RedHat Enterprise Linux 4 I believe), so I did the following
$ sudo ln -s /etc/init.d/mongrel_cluster /etc/rc0.d/S84mongrel_cluster
$ sudo ln -s /etc/init.d/mongrel_cluster /etc/rc3.d/S84mongrel_cluster
$ sudo ln -s /etc/init.d/mongrel_cluster /etc/rc6.d/S84mongrel_cluster
That ensures that mongrel kicks off before Lighttpd does, ready for it to handle proxied requests.
Configuring Lighttpd
Lighty took a little more playing with to get a successful configuration. I still use FastCGI for serving PHP requests (solely for using Mint), but want to proxy any other requests through to my underlying clustered Mongrel nodes.
To do this, I did a little more regular expression trickery as follows in my Lighttpd.conf.
fastcgi.server = (".php" =>
("mint" =>
("socket" => "/tmp/oobaloo-lighttpd-php.socket",
"bin-path" => "/usr/bin/php",
"bin-environment" => (
"PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN" => "3",
"PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS" => "200" )
))
)
$HTTP["url"] !~ "^/mint.$" {
proxy.balance = "fair"
proxy.server = ("/" =>
(( "host" => "127.0.0.1", "port" => 8000 ),
( "host" => "127.0.0.1", "port" => 8001 ),
( "host" => "127.0.0.1", "port" => 8002 )))
}
That ensures that, by default, .php requests will be serviced by the FastCGI server, and anything not matching the ^./mint.$ regular expression (i.e. anything other than mint) will be picked up by the proxy to the 3 clustered Mongrel nodes.
That should tie it all together, so all that’s left to do is
$ sudo /etc/init.d/mongrel_cluster start
$ sudo lighttpd start
And hey presto, the server’s up and all seems to be well. I’ve read somewhere that Lighty’s mod proxy isn’t too great right now, but that there’s some new stuff on the way, which appears to be for an upcoming 1.4.12 release. As soon as that’s out looks like I’ll have something else to update!
Until then, looks like I should also look at getting my Typo deploys up using Capistrano as per Geoff’s post, and then get my Capistrano configuration working with Mongrel.
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
Well, after a few problems with getting Gems working yesterday I appear to have made some progress.
As Dave mentioned, it indeed turned out to be a memory problem. Stopping all my sites and MySQL seemed to do the trick, allowing me to pull down Mongrel and Mongrel Cluster.
Now all I needed to do was to configure everything so Lighttpd would proxy everything save for the Mint stats requests to Mongrel.
Here’s how it all went.
Configuring Mongrel
Firstly, I created a mongrel_cluster configuration as per the project’s documentation.
$ cd /var/www/servers/www.oobaloo.co.uk/current
sudo mongrel_rails cluster::configure -e production \
-p 8000 -N 3 -c /var/www/servers/www.oobaloo.co.uk/current -a 127.0.0.1 \
--user mongrel --group mongrel
That’ll create a config/mongrel_cluster.yml file that contains the configuration. That mongrel should cwd to /var/www/servers/www.oobaloo.co.uk/current before running itself, and that it should create 3 nodes from port 8000 up inclusive.
So, to check it all worked, I then ran
$ sudo mongrel_rails cluster::start
$ telnet localhost 8000
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.
That showed me the individual servers were up and running, so I then created a mongrel cluster configuration directory, to place configuration files for all my mongrel clustered sites (so far, just this one).
$ sudo mkdir /etc/mongrel_cluster
$ sudo ln -s /var/www/servers/www.oobaloo.co.uk/current/config/mongrel_cluster.yml \
/etc/mongrel_cluster/oobaloo.yml
Now, I can then configure mongrel cluster to launch via a System V init script, so it’ll start (and restart etc.) along with lighty and my other services. Rather nicely, mongrel cluster includes a script.
$ sudo cp /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel_cluster-0.2.0/resources/mongrel_cluster \
/etc/init.d
$ sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/mongrel_cluster
I also then need to link that in to the various runtime init directories for my distribution (RedHat Enterprise Linux 4 I believe), so I did the following
$ sudo ln -s /etc/init.d/mongrel_cluster /etc/rc0.d/S84mongrel_cluster
$ sudo ln -s /etc/init.d/mongrel_cluster /etc/rc3.d/S84mongrel_cluster
$ sudo ln -s /etc/init.d/mongrel_cluster /etc/rc6.d/S84mongrel_cluster
That ensures that mongrel kicks off before Lighttpd does, ready for it to handle proxied requests.
Configuring Lighttpd
Lighty took a little more playing with to get a successful configuration. I still use FastCGI for serving PHP requests (solely for using Mint), but want to proxy any other requests through to my underlying clustered Mongrel nodes.
To do this, I did a little more regular expression trickery as follows in my Lighttpd.conf.
fastcgi.server = (".php" =>
("mint" =>
("socket" => "/tmp/oobaloo-lighttpd-php.socket",
"bin-path" => "/usr/bin/php",
"bin-environment" => (
"PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN" => "3",
"PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS" => "200" )
))
)
$HTTP["url"] !~ "^/mint.$" {
proxy.balance = "fair"
proxy.server = ("/" =>
(( "host" => "127.0.0.1", "port" => 8000 ),
( "host" => "127.0.0.1", "port" => 8001 ),
( "host" => "127.0.0.1", "port" => 8002 )))
}
That ensures that, by default, .php requests will be serviced by the FastCGI server, and anything not matching the ^./mint.$ regular expression (i.e. anything other than mint) will be picked up by the proxy to the 3 clustered Mongrel nodes.
That should tie it all together, so all that’s left to do is
$ sudo /etc/init.d/mongrel_cluster start
$ sudo lighttpd start
And hey presto, the server’s up and all seems to be well. I’ve read somewhere that Lighty’s mod proxy isn’t too great right now, but that there’s some new stuff on the way, which appears to be for an upcoming 1.4.12 release. As soon as that’s out looks like I’ll have something else to update!
Until then, looks like I should also look at getting my Typo deploys up using Capistrano as per Geoff’s post, and then get my Capistrano configuration working with Mongrel.
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
South Molton Street 2 - Nails Hosted on Zooomr
Fancy your nails done? Not for me, thank you. Definately one for the ladies.
View In Zooomr (multiple sizes).
View Original Size - 3456 x 2304.
This post is part of the Photography Workshop series.
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
And about time too! I get so many questions asking when Beta 2 will be available that now I can finally say:
It's available now. Get it from here... And with the public Beta, don't forget to download the release notes and the SDK (17mb) that Scott blogged about yesterday... There are some useful code samples in the SDK, things like:
Bandwidth Logging
Bridgehead and Gateway Logging
Create Mailbox Before Logon
Create New Store
Move Mailbox ADSI_CDOEXM
These sample clode snippets will save you quite a bit of time when you're planning your move to Exchange 2007 - especially the ability to automatically create mainboxes, and creating new stores in your new streamlined environment. That's going to be a huge improvement.
So go and download Beta 2 (it's 32 bit so you don't have the 64-bit excuse...) and let me know what you think...
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
Following Eileen's lead I've decided to post my mobile phone number on my blog. Bearing in mind that I disclose it to anyone who asks and I'd like to be contactable by anyone who's interested in the sames things as I am it seems like a good idea.
I just hope I don't receive a barrage of text spam as a result.
If you'd like to get in touch then feel free to call me on +44 7812 980621.
Note: I've updated the "News" section on the left hand side of my blog skin to include my telephone number
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
Here's a pretty old article on using MbUnit for your TD development, Peli does have some additional thoughts about how MbUnit can help further by using the RowFixture.
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
Lost in translation some place was the credit that Roy fully deserves for being the man to come up with the concept for the database testing attributes and fixtures in MbUnit. Roy emailed me last week to voice some concerns for credit and in return I have edited the MbUnit wiki. If your not sure what I mean by the database testing features then here's a syndicated copy of Peli's post on it.
MbUnit now supports the new attributes for Roy Osherove (ISerializable) to solve the database Rollback problem:
- SqlRestoreInfoAttribute contains the information necessary to perform database restore (connection string, etc...),
- RollBackAttribute uses EnterpriseServices to roll back the transactions done in the test case, (Note that this attribute does not rely on SqlRestoreInfo and can live on its own)
- RestoreDatabaseFirstAttribute, restores the database before starting the test (using DbAdministrator from TestFu).
I will assume that you have read the article from Roy so I can skip explanation and show an example. Consider the following test fixture:
[TestFixture]
[SqlRestoreInfo("connectionstring","databasename",@"c:\backups\nw.mbk")]
public class NorthWindTest
{
[Test, RollBack]
public void TestWithRollBack()
{...}
[Test, RestoreDatabaseFirst]
public void TestWithRestoreFirst()
{...}
}This example, which runs in MbUnit, is similar to what Roy has proposed: SqlRestoreInfo gives information that can be used to restore the db. TestWithRollBack is rolled back using Enterprise services, the database is restored before TestWithRestoreFirst is executed.
What about data abstraction ?
We would like to create a fixture and apply it to different Db provider (Oracle, MySql,etc..). Is this possible ? This is (will**) possible in a minimum of work, it is just a matter of changing SqlRestoreInfo to OracleRestoreInfo:
[TestFixture]
public abstract class DbNorthwindTest
{
[Test, RollBack]
public void TestWithRollBack()
{...}
[Test, RestoreDatabaseFirst]
public void TestWithRestoreFirst()
{...}
}
[SqlRestoreInfo("connectionstring","databasename",@"c:\backups\nw.mbk")]
public class SqlNorthwindTest : DbNorthwindTest
{}
[OracleRestoreInfo("connectionstring","databasename",@"c:\backups\nwporacle.mbk")]
public class OracleNorthwindTest : DbNorthwindTest
{}This example is quite neat and self-explenatory: SqlNorthwindTest will apply the fixture against a MsSql server using System.Data.SqlClient classes, while OracleNorthwindTest will test against Oracle.
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
Another handy VSTS feature is that you can test ASP.NET code behind with FxCop, I can't seem to find a way to simply do this using the FxCop GUI or command line for CCNet. Any approaches or suggestions welcome.
Update:
A bit ad-hoc but I came up with the following
Go to
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\MyTest
Where MyTest is your project folder
Select details view from Explorer so you can see which folder is the newer folder and open it up
Select details view again and hunt down the App_Web dll file that is the latest e.g.
App_Web_cxauo9ex.dll
You can then add this as a target in your FxCop project.
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
I really like the fact you can run FxCop direct from VS in VSTS, I really want that from my plain old VS. While researching I found two ways.
VS external tools
You can set up FxCop to run inside of the VS command window, the reporting is not great but you could change the options to report to a file.
To run direct in the console window go to tools\External Tools.
Cick Add
Title : FxCop
Command : C:\Program Files\Microsoft FxCop 1.35\FxCopCmd.exe
Arguments: /c /f:$(TargetPath) /s /p:"C:\myproject\test.fxcop"
(Where test.fxcop would be the fxcop project you’re working with)
Initial directory: C:\Program Files\Microsoft FxCop 1.35
Click the “Use Output window”
I hacked this up from http://www.codeproject.com/dotnet/FxCopIntegrateVSNET.asp you can base on your output rather than a fxcop project.
The downside of this is that you need to change your fxcop project each time you change your VS solution, you also don't get any links to further info on the error.
VS plugin
http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=529920&SiteID=1
I mentioned this to Jamie and I do wonder if this would be nice to go into TD.net. I tried it and it does work quite well, nice inclusions in the error and warning lists, links to further info on errors. The downside is that you need to hack up your project files, manually uninstall it and rule exclusions don't work.
So for the time being stuck between a rock and a hard place with this.
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
Internet company Yahoo and security giant Symantec unveil a joint internet security initiative service.
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
Raymond was kind enough to think of me when he received a carton of 'Long Life' cigarettes from Taiwan from some out of town visitors.
Since Raymond wants a long life and is generally a sensible chap, he doesn't smoke. So he passed them on to me at a recent Microsoft bloggers gathering.
I tried two of these oriental delights later that night and soon understood why they were branded Long Life. Two reason I think. The 'after-taste' lasted at least three days. Also, given this quality, the carton will probably last some years as I don't think I'll be trying them again for a very, very long time. But it's the thought that counts, thanks Raymond!
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P.S. Light blogging over the next few days - sorting out that thyroid thing. Comments are off in the meantime.
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
My colleague Darren (he's not as effeminate as his photo would suggest) has written up a great post with some really useful tips on how to give good presentations. So many people complain about 'Death by PowerPoint', yet so few take active steps to improve their own style. Darren has a relaxed yet engaging presentation style and he understands more than most how important it is to talk from the heart, not from a bullet list. Rouse your audience from their slumber by following Darren's tips on his Office Rocker blog.
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
If you still don't know your RSS from your elbow it's about time you made use of this very useful techno gizmo. Eileen Brown tells all in this blog posting from many moons ago.
And life's even simpler if you're using the shiny new Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3 or Outlook 2007 as they have a free built-in RSS reader. Simply click the RSS link on supported websites and these clever applications will do the rest.
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
I like Microsoft, and you can quote me on that. Their marketing might be...slack, but they grok true hack nature under all those layers of corporateness. And here's some evidence of that: Visual Studio 2005: Visual Studio 2005 Starter Kits
Microsoft are handing out enhanced project templates for Visual Studio 2005 that give you seven-league boots for loads of common and popular types of applications. Want to write shareware with paypal integration, product activiation, registration and error reporting? Use the Shareware Starter Kit. What about using Amazon's web services to create a movie collection app? No problem.
Or maybe a paypal-enabled ecommerce website? Here you go:
Some of these can even be used with the freebie versions of Visual Studio.
Here's the full list of starter kits:
Windows Starter Kits
* Shareware
* Weblog Analyzer
* Card Game
* Amazon-enabled Movie Collection
* Mobile Ink To-Do
Web Starter Kits
* Personal Website (with photo album, resume and links)
* Time Tracker
* Club Website (news, calendar, directory, photo album)
* eCommerce with paypal
* eBay Selling
* Sample Access Provider
Other Kits
* Skype Wrapper for .NET (woo! check this out!)
* .NET Interface for Lego Mindstorms
* MediaShare Messenger
* Annotated Travel Log
* Movie Collcetion Manager Desktop App (C++)
technorati tags:vs2005, visual, studio, 2005, express, starterkit, starterkits, starter, kit, skype, moviecollection, website, shareware, amazon, ebay, mindstorms
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
Is C# the true successor to Delphi? You would think so, from the number of Borland folk who turn up at Microsoft. The latest (that I've noticed) is Charlie Calvert, who has just blogged about his new role as Community Program Manager for Visual C#. I have great respect for Calvert, mainly on the basis of his excellent Delphi Unleashed books. Calvert left Borland around six years ago, and subsequently worked at Falafel, another popular destination for ex-Borlanders.
Tags:
borland
microsoft
delphi
c#
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
Guidelines to help schools and parents tackle the rise of cyber-bullying are issued by the government.
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
According to Brad Abrams, the Windows Forms documentation team published a new whitepaper about how to create a great layout using the new features of the WinForms in .NET 2.0... meaning you don't have to create the same old “grey” applications everyone has come to know and love. ;-)
I've read through it and it's got some great information. Especially if your interested in knowing how to tweak the new toolstrip control to look however you wish.
Although the article is in VB (which I'm extremely happy to see), the code samples are in VB and C#.
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
According to Brad Abrams, the Windows Forms documentation team published a new whitepaper about how to create a great layout using the new features of the WinForms in .NET 2.0... meaning you don't have to create the same old “grey” applications everyone has come to know and love. ;-)
I've read through it and it's got some great information. Especially if your interested in knowing how to tweak the new toolstrip control to look however you wish.
Although the article is in VB (which I'm extremely happy to see), the code samples are in VB and C#.
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
I'm writing a short piece on YouOS, the experimental web OS, and wondered what would happen if I used the YouOS browser-within-a-browser to login to YouOS.
It turns out you can. At least twice. Clever. Not useful, but clever.
Tags:
youos
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
On Unix the behavior of the kill command is a result of the operating system’s signal handling – the command simply sends a signal to a running process. In the absence of other parameters, the TERM signal is used, and while the option -9 is pretty common (sends the KILL signal to terminate unconditionally), it [...]
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
Microsoft have announced availability of the public betas of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and the new Forefront Security for Exchange Server.
Exchange Server 2007 builds on the leading e-mail, messaging and calendaring server with new features for improved security, remote and mobile access, compliance management, and unified messaging.
Forefront Security for Exchange Server helps provide advanced protection against viruses, worms and spam, and is the first product available under the recently announced Microsoft Forefront brand for business security products.
Exchange Server 2007 beta 2 is available for download at
http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/beta2
and Forefront Security for Exchange Server beta can be downloaded from
http://www.microsoft.com/forefront/serversecurity/exchange/download-beta.mspx
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
Microsoft have announced availability of the public betas of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and the new Forefront Security for Exchange Server.
Exchange Server 2007 builds on the leading e-mail, messaging and calendaring server with new features for improved security, remote and mobile access, compliance management, and unified messaging.
Forefront Security for Exchange Server helps provide advanced protection against viruses, worms and spam, and is the first product available under the recently announced Microsoft Forefront brand for business security products.
Exchange Server 2007 beta 2 is available for download at
http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/beta2
and Forefront Security for Exchange Server beta can be downloaded from
http://www.microsoft.com/forefront/serversecurity/exchange/download-beta.mspx
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
This one could be big. Dabble lets you search, collect and organize your favourite web videos.
Now that sounds cool. It's free, apparently.
The search function works across
- blip.tv
- ClipShack
- Dailymotion
- Internet Archive
- Google Video
- Ourmedia
- Revver
- YouTube
- ...and more than 240 other video hosting sites.
You can also search other people's Dabble collections, which I think is a key feature. Better still, you can subscribe to an RSS feed of member's collections to get a headsup when they add something new. This has got to be favourite if you want to let other people do the hard work of finding cool videos.
Dabble lets you import videos from other sites using a bookmarking tool. Seems to work fine in Firefox and Flock; a little weird in IE.
This is the first online video app that I could actually see myself using.
technorati tags:dabble, online, video, search, share, community, youtube, playlist
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
Last night I played with the extender function of Windows Vista. This is the first time I have got my XBOX 360 working as an extender with Vista.
Using the latest build of Vista (5472) I setup up the XBOX 360 as an extender. The setup was very simple, it seems slicker that the XP version and maybe a little quicker.
Once up and running it looks exactly like Media Center running on Vista, with the new UI and sounds.
I made a little video of Vista Media Center running on my XBOX 360, check out the new mini guide in action as well as the the new sounds
Video of Vista on XBOX 360
&referrer=)
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
Last night I played with the extender function of Windows Vista. This is the first time I have got my XBOX 360 working as an extender with Vista.
Using the latest build of Vista (5472) I setup up the XBOX 360 as an extender. The setup was very simple, it seems slicker that the XP version and maybe a little quicker.
Once up and running it looks exactly like Media Center running on Vista, with the new UI and sounds.
I made a little video of Vista Media Center running on my XBOX 360, check out the new mini guide in action as well as the the new sounds
Video of Vista on XBOX 360
&referrer=)
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
A wi-fi music device developed for audiophiles boasts better than CD audio output, says its maker.
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Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
And it Rose from the Trees Hosted on Zooomr
View In Zooomr (multiple sizes).
View Original Size - 3456 x 2304.
This post is part of the Photography Workshop series.
-
Published on 25 Jul 2006 from
Guidelines to help schools and parents tackle the rise of cyber-bullying are issued by the government.