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• Issue using a "used" SSD as a Windows 8.1 Boot Drive

  - by EpiGrad

  So, I'm something of a Mac person, but decided to take a stab at this whole "build yourself a PC" thing - right now, the thing is assembled, posts just fine, and can get to the BIOS. The problem is the drive I want to use - I intended to use a 80 GB Corsair SSD I've had sitting around as the boot drive, and a new Samsung SSD for games and the like. So I boot using a Windows 8.1 install USB stick, and if the Samsung drive is plugged in, it happily offers to install Windows on it. The Corsair drive though, it's flipped out - I reformatted it as a blank NTFS drive (it was HFS for Mac purposes) and the BIOS can't see it, nor can the Windows installer. What's wrong, and how do I fix it? The tools at my disposal are: The current ASUS BIOS that came with my motherboard (a Z87I-Deluxe), a Mac running the latest OS X which can also boot to Windows 7 if needed via either Parallels or Bootcamp. Update 1: Update: Based on a friend's suggestion to switch SATA ports, Windows 8.1's installer can now see the drive as Drive 0, Partition 1, a 83.8 GB "Primary" partition. But when I click it and hit "Next", I get the following error: "We couldn't create a new partition or locate an existing one. For more information, see the Setup log files" - not that it gives any clue how to access those. Update 2: Following a trail of Google suggestions, I ended up going into advanced tools and just reformatting the drive as follows: Start DISKPART. Type LIST DISK and identify your SSD disk number (from 0 to n disks). Type SELECT DISK <n> where <n> is your SSD disk number. Type CLEAN Type CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY Type ACTIVE Type FORMAT FS=NTFS QUICK Type ASSIGN Type EXIT twice (one to get out of DiskPart, the other to exit the command line tool) Per these instructions. This goes well enough, but now I can select the disk for installation, and I get a new error: "Windows 8 cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GP disks." So, Googling that, I do the following: select disk 0 clean convert gpt exit ...and we might have fixed it. Windows is at least trying to install now.

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• Concerning persistence size in the Linux Live Creator

  - by user63085

  Message : Hello everyone! I have ,for the last several months, used the Linux Live USB Creator which it is a very useful app to make portable OS on to flash drives. I mostly use this application to test and try out new OS's as they are released, before I decide to make a hard disk installatio on to the computer. In many cases, the application developers will allow the “persistence” feature in the flash-drive-installed OS, which is just another way of saying that after multiple boot-ups and shutdowns, all the changes made to the OS will be saved in the flash-drive. But I have a question about the limit of the Persistence size in Linux Live USB Creator (currently version 2.6). I install Super OS 10 on to a partition on my external drive which has 30 GB. I wanted to reserve 10 GB for the persistence so that I can install more applications and space will not run out as I update the installed applications or when I do system updates. But why is it that only 3950 MB can be put for persistence? It would be great if, when desired, as much more persistence space could be set aside so that the space will not run out soon. Also, as I have installed the OS on a 30 GB drive, I tried to see how much space is left. But it seems only the remaining of the Persistence space is displayed when I click on the File System folder. For example, after I have just installed it now, there is 3.5 GB of free space. Where can I access the remaining 26 GB or so drive space which is in the same drive? How do I access it Sir?? It would be helpful if any one could explain and help me with this. Most importantly, it would be a big relief if the persistence can be somehow expanded by a work-around so that I can continue using my SuperOS 10.04 (now heavily customized) OS, which unfortunately has just over 576 MB of space left now, after I removed OpenOffice.org and installed the Libre Office earlier today. This is what remains from the maximum allowable 3950 MB of space for persistence at set-up. Thanks in advance!

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• Troubleshooting Network Speeds -- The Age Old Inquiry

  - by John K

  I'm looking for help with what I'm sure is an age old question. I've found myself in a situation of yearning to understand network throughput more clearly, but I can't seem to find information that makes it "click" We have a few servers distributed geographically, running various versions of Windows. Assuming we always use one host (a desktop) as the source, when copying data from that host to other servers across the country, we see a high variance in speed. In some cases, we can copy data at 12MB/s consistently, in others, we're seeing 0.8 MB/s. It should be noted, after testing 8 destinations, we always seem to be at either 0.6-0.8MB/s or 11-12 MB/s. In the building we're primarily concerned with, we have an OC-3 connection to our ISP. I know there are a lot of variables at play, but I guess I was hoping the experts here could help answer a few basic questions to help bolster my understanding. 1.) For older machines, running Windows XP, server 2003, etc, with a 100Mbps Ethernet card and 72 ms typical latency, does 0.8 MB/s sound at all reasonable? Or do you think that slow enough to indicate a problem? 2.) The classic "mathematical fastest speed" of "throughput = TCP window / latency," is, in our case, calculated to 0.8 MB/s (64Kb / 72 ms). My understanding is that is an upper bounds; that you would never expect to reach (due to overhead) let alone surpass that speed. In some cases though, we're seeing speeds of 12.3 MB/s. There are Steelhead accelerators scattered around the network, could those account for such a higher transfer rate? 3.) It's been suggested that the use SMB vs. SMB2 could explain the differences in speed. Indeed, as expected, packet captures show both being used depending on the OS versions in play, as we would expect. I understand what determines SMB2 being used or not, but I'm curious to know what kind of performance gain you can expect with SMB2. My problem simply seems to be a lack of experience, and more importantly, perspective, in terms of what are and are not reasonable network speeds. Could anyone help impart come context/perspective?

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• Display is slightly blurry on (native) 1920x1080 resolution

  - by Martin Tuskevicius

  I have a computer monitor that is approximately 23" in size. Its native resolution is 1920x1080, and Windows 7 will not allow it to be any higher. However, I cannot make the resolution a little lower as well. When I right-click on my desktop and select 'Screen resolution,' the vertical slider has only two options: 1920x1080 and 1280x720. There are no real problems that I am having besides the fact that the image is slightly blurry. I can easily make things out and see them, but I definitely feel that the image is not as clear as it could be. My graphics card is ATI Radeon HD 5450 and it has the latest graphics drivers installed. I've tried playing around with the AMD VISION Engine Control Center to see if I can change an option to make the image clearer, but I had no luck. I did find one odd thing, though. When I lowered the refresh rate from 60Hz to 50Hz, the image kind of "zoomed in" but it also became perfectly clear like I would expect it to look. The problem is that when I use 50Hz, the image zooms in a little on the center and I lose maybe an inch and a half of the screen (I do not see the bar at the top of applications, I do not see the Windows taskbar thing, etc). I figured if I could somehow zoom in so that the entire image fills the screen (not the slightly cropped version) then I would have the perfectly crisp image of 50Hz, and also the uncropped image of 60Hz. However, upon zooming in, the image began to look blurry again just like it did with 60Hz. So I am at a loss here. I do not know how to make the image look as clear as it should. I have the latest drivers (I updated them today) and I know that my monitor supports the resolution that I am trying to use. Has anybody experienced something like this before? I'd really appreciate any input - thanks! Update: I have figured out how to make the display look crisp! I set it to the 50Hz option, and then I changed the scaling through the monitor itself, rather than software. Now, however, I am finding that games look pretty bad because since it is clear, the lower quality really becomes apparent. I cannot run new games at 1080p, so I run them at the lowest resolution possible (1280x720, since it is the only other option offered, as I have mentioned). So I am wondering, is there a way to have Windows display more resolution options?

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• A name was started with an invalid character. Error processing resource

  - by Gallen

  Here is the exact error I'm getting when I try to launch my default.aspx file from the published folder. Can anybody point me in the right direction? The XML page cannot be displayed Cannot view XML input using XSL style sheet. Please correct the error and then click the Refresh button, or try again later. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A name was started with an invalid character. Error processing resource 'file:///C:/inetpub/wwwroot/MHNProServices/Default.... <%@ Page Title="" Language="C#" MasterPageFile="~/ProServices.Master" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="Default.aspx.cs"... Here are the contents of default.aspx <%@ Page Title="" Language="C#" MasterPageFile="~/ProServices.Master" AutoEventWireup="False" CodeBehind="Default.aspx.cs" Inherits="MHNProServices.Default" %> <asp:Content ID="Content1" ContentPlaceHolderID="head" runat="server"> <link type="text/css" href="css/Default.css" rel="Stylesheet" /> </asp:Content> <asp:Content ID="Content2" ContentPlaceHolderID="ContentPlaceHolder1" runat="server"> <div id="contentHead"> <img src="css/img/heading_landing.jpg" /> </div> <div id="contentTop"></div> <div id="content"> <div id="contentLeft"> <asp:Image ID="displayPicture" runat="server" /> <img id="displayOverlay"src="css/img/profilepicture_overlay.gif" /> <a id="contentButton_makeAppointment" href="Appointments.aspx?step=start"></a> <a id="contentButton_cancelAppointment" href="Appointments.aspx?step=cancel"></a> </div> <div id="contentRight"> <h3><asp:Label ID="lbl_homepageHeader" runat="server" Text=""></asp:Label></h3> <hr /> <asp:Label ID="lbl_homepageContent" runat="server" Text=""></asp:Label> </div> </div> <div id="contentBottom"></div> </asp:Content>

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• Need help troubleshooting highly variable ping times

  - by Elliot.Bradshaw

  I'm at work using Citrix (think Remote Desktop) to connect to client sites. With my job I have to write a fair bit of code while I'm connected remotely via Citrix, so the latency of my internet connection is important. If I'm getting ping times above 250ms, then it becomes almost impossible to scroll, click or type with accuracy. Recently my Comcast business internet has been exhibiting highly variable ping times. If I ping google.com, I'll get pings that range from 9ms all the way up to 1300ms. The problem seems to be at its worst during the hours of 1PM to 4:30PM. Outside of those hours and the variance in pings settles down, mostly between 9ms and 50ms. The signal to noise ratio and upstream power are both fine on my modem--the values are here: http://pastebin.com/D4hWGPXf I ran a trace route from my computer to google.com (the results of which are here: http://pastebin.com/GcdjYvMh) and did another test ping to the IP of the first hop outside of our local network (73.98.44.1)--the variance in ping times existed in exactly the same manner as if I were pinging Google. Connecting directly to the cable modem by CAT5 makes no difference. Here is a screenshot demonstrating the variance of the ping times: http://postimage.org/image/haocdeauv/full/ -- as you can see it can get pretty bad. Three Comcast techs have been out (two of them were here when the problem wasn't happening) and they as well as the regional tier 2 Comcast support were unable to diagnose the problem. I now have a ticket open with tier 3 support, but have yet to hear back from them. Does anyone know what could cause these sorts of problems or have any idea from the traceroute above where it could be originating? The regional tier 2 guy tried to tell me that what I'm seeing is normal--are highly variable ping times like that ever acceptable? Anything I should ask Comcast to do or look at to get this problem fixed? Any tips/advice much appreciated! Edit: This is Comcast cable internet at a small start-up, we've ruled out congestion in our private LAN as a cause (i.e., no one's watching YouTube when the pings become variable). Update: Tier 3 Comcast support advised swapping out the modem, a tech came here today and did that--same problem persists.

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• OEM sound card with no drivers or support

  - by randy

  I thought my sound card was going out so I bought a sound card online. Everything seemed to work ok, I do have sound. But after a few months, I noticed the extra software that downloaded with the sound card drivers didn't work. I ended up contacting creative and after a month of e-mail support, they asked for the serial number and/or model number. Their reply back was I had purchased an OEM sound card and they could not provide support for that, and informed me that that is why their drivers and software didn't work. They informed me that I had to contact the company that distributed the sound card and install their software. Is there anything I can do to find out who distributed this sound card, or is there anything I can do to get other features to work? I have 4 speakers and a sub but only 2 speakers produce sound. The only control I have is the volume. Creative's driver update program will find my sound card, download updates and even added software, but if I try to click on a downloaded program like Creative's Toolbox or Media Center, I get an error that it cannot find the devise. That is why I contacted creative in the first place. EDIT Thanks for the responses everyone. Here's an update. I thought I'd go thru my old computer stuff for my classes at school. I have a lot of old stuff saved, boxes and cables and stuff. I found the box the sound card came in. It looks like a box you'd buy at the store, like Best Buy or CompUSA. I worked with creative for such a long time, it went past the point of being able to return it to the junk online store this shipped from. The box did have an install CD, so I thought I'd start over to reinstall the drivers and software that shipped with the card. I noticed that the install would uninstall a program, then reinstall it. so I thought things were working out. But no good. Everything still works but the programs were still bad. I'd get an error trying to load them - not found. I'll look on the card the next time I get a chance and see if I can spot any kind of name on it.

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• Glassfish JSF/EAR Apache 2.2 proxy_ajp_mod Referred Content Missing (images/links/etc)

  - by BillR

  Full disclosure: Since this seems to be more of a configuration issue, I deleted this from Stack (where it wasn't getting any response) and reposted here. The problem is how to change the requestContextPath served up by Glassfish behind mod_proxy_ajp. The site/app runs fine if connecting directly to Glassfish port 8080 which is ultimately not what I want to do. So I need help with configuration for my servers and jsf deployment. I can see the issue but don't know how to resolve it. It has to do with the requestContextPath. Simply put, Apache directs to http://mysite.com/welcome.xhtml which is correct and what I want, but the page is minus the images and styles. The issue is Glassfish itself is still pointing to http://mysite.com/myapp/*. So all links it serves in the app/site still refer via the requestContextPath. That is the /myapp/* part of http://mysite.com/myapp/welcome.xhtml. When I look in the page source, images which are referred to with relative links still point to the requestContextPath (that is, /myapp/). This is fixable but a real pain. However with page links I can't set the relative path. If I hover over the contact page link I see http://mysite.com/myapp/contact.xhtml, and if I click it, I get 404. You can see the /myapp/ context path in the page source as well. If I type in the URL http://mysite.com/contact.xhtml I get the page minus its referred links (requestContextPath). On Apache ProxyPass / ajp://littlewalterserver:8009/myapp-web/ ProxyPassReverse / ajp://littlewalterserver:8009/myapp_Project-web On Glassfish asadmin create-network-listener --listenerport 8009 --protocol http-listener-1 --jkenabled true jk-connector I have tried going in to Glassfish and setting the web app as the default web app. I have changed the / in glassfish-web.xml (and checked to make sure it was the same in the EAR file). How can I get Glassfish to not include the /myapp/ context in the URLs? This has to be easy if you know how, but I don't know how, can someone help out here? Thanks.

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• Finding a Relative Path in .NET

  - by Rick Strahl

  Here’s a nice and simple path utility that I’ve needed in a number of applications: I need to find a relative path based on a base path. So if I’m working in a folder called c:\temp\templates\ and I want to find a relative path for c:\temp\templates\subdir\test.txt I want to receive back subdir\test.txt. Or if I pass c:\ I want to get back ..\..\ – in other words always return a non-hardcoded path based on some other known directory. I’ve had a routine in my library that does this via some lengthy string parsing routines, but ran into some Uri processing today that made me realize that this code could be greatly simplified by using the System.Uri class instead. Here’s the simple static method: /// <summary> /// Returns a relative path string from a full path based on a base path /// provided. /// </summary> /// <param name="fullPath">The path to convert. Can be either a file or a directory</param> /// <param name="basePath">The base path on which relative processing is based. Should be a directory.</param> /// <returns> /// String of the relative path. /// /// Examples of returned values: /// test.txt, ..\test.txt, ..\..\..\test.txt, ., .., subdir\test.txt /// </returns> public static string GetRelativePath(string fullPath, string basePath ) { // ForceBasePath to a path if (!basePath.EndsWith("\\")) basePath += "\\"; Uri baseUri = new Uri(basePath); Uri fullUri = new Uri(fullPath); Uri relativeUri = baseUri.MakeRelativeUri(fullUri); // Uri's use forward slashes so convert back to backward slashes return relativeUri.ToString().Replace("/", "\\"); } You can then call it like this: string relPath = FileUtils.GetRelativePath("c:\temp\templates","c:\temp\templates\subdir\test.txt") It’s not exactly rocket science but it’s useful in many scenarios where you’re working with files based on an application base directory. Right now I’m working on a templating solution (using the Razor Engine) where templates live in a base directory and are supplied as relative paths to that base directory. Resolving these relative paths both ways is important in order to properly check for existance of files and their change status in this case. Not the kind of thing you use every day, but useful to remember.© Rick Strahl, West Wind Technologies, 2005-2010Posted in .NET  CSharp  

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• WCF WS-Security and WSE Nonce Authentication

  - by Rick Strahl

  WCF makes it fairly easy to access WS-* Web Services, except when you run into a service format that it doesn't support. Even then WCF provides a huge amount of flexibility to make the service clients work, however finding the proper interfaces to make that happen is not easy to discover and for the most part undocumented unless you're lucky enough to run into a blog, forum or StackOverflow post on the matter. This is definitely true for the Password Nonce as part of the WS-Security/WSE protocol, which is not natively supported in WCF. Specifically I had a need to create a WCF message on the client that includes a WS-Security header that looks like this from their spec document:<soapenv:Header> <wsse:Security soapenv:mustUnderstand="1" xmlns:wsse="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-secext-1.0.xsd"> <wsse:UsernameToken wsu:Id="UsernameToken-8" xmlns:wsu="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-utility-1.0.xsd"> <wsse:Username>TeStUsErNaMe1</wsse:Username> <wsse:Password Type="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-username-token-profile-1.0#PasswordText" >TeStPaSsWoRd1</wsse:Password> <wsse:Nonce EncodingType="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-soap-message-security-1.0#Base64Binary" >f8nUe3YupTU5ISdCy3X9Gg==</wsse:Nonce> <wsu:Created>2011-05-04T19:01:40.981Z</wsu:Created> </wsse:UsernameToken> </wsse:Security> </soapenv:Header> Specifically, the Nonce and Created keys are what WCF doesn't create or have a built in formatting for. Why is there a nonce? My first thought here was WTF? The username and password are there in clear text, what does the Nonce accomplish? The Nonce and created keys are are part of WSE Security specification and are meant to allow the server to detect and prevent replay attacks. The hashed nonce should be unique per request which the server can store and check for before running another request thus ensuring that a request is not replayed with exactly the same values. Basic ServiceUtl Import - not much Luck The first thing I did when I imported this service with a service reference was to simply import it as a Service Reference. The Add Service Reference import automatically detects that WS-Security is required and appropariately adds the WS-Security to the basicHttpBinding in the config file:<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> <configuration> <system.serviceModel> <bindings> <basicHttpBinding> <binding name="RealTimeOnlineSoapBinding"> <security mode="Transport" /> </binding> <binding name="RealTimeOnlineSoapBinding1" /> </basicHttpBinding> </bindings> <client> <endpoint address="https://notarealurl.com:443/services/RealTimeOnline" binding="basicHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="RealTimeOnlineSoapBinding" contract="RealTimeOnline.RealTimeOnline" name="RealTimeOnline" /> </client> </system.serviceModel> </configuration> If if I run this as is using code like this:var client = new RealTimeOnlineClient(); client.ClientCredentials.UserName.UserName = "TheUsername"; client.ClientCredentials.UserName.Password = "ThePassword"; … I get nothing in terms of WS-Security headers. The request is sent, but the the binding expects transport level security to be applied, rather than message level security. To fix this so that a WS-Security message header is sent the security mode can be changed to: <security mode="TransportWithMessageCredential" /> Now if I re-run I at least get a WS-Security header which looks like this:<s:Envelope xmlns:s="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:u="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-utility-1.0.xsd"> <s:Header> <o:Security s:mustUnderstand="1" xmlns:o="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-secext-1.0.xsd"> <u:Timestamp u:Id="_0"> <u:Created>2012-11-24T02:55:18.011Z</u:Created> <u:Expires>2012-11-24T03:00:18.011Z</u:Expires> </u:Timestamp> <o:UsernameToken u:Id="uuid-18c215d4-1106-40a5-8dd1-c81fdddf19d3-1"> <o:Username>TheUserName</o:Username> <o:Password Type="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-username-token-profile-1.0#PasswordText" >ThePassword</o:Password> </o:UsernameToken> </o:Security> </s:Header> Closer! Now the WS-Security header is there along with a timestamp field (which might not be accepted by some WS-Security expecting services), but there's no Nonce or created timestamp as required by my original service. Using a CustomBinding instead My next try was to go with a CustomBinding instead of basicHttpBinding as it allows a bit more control over the protocol and transport configurations for the binding. Specifically I can explicitly specify the message protocol(s) used. Using configuration file settings here's what the config file looks like:<?xml version="1.0"?> <configuration> <system.serviceModel> <bindings> <customBinding> <binding name="CustomSoapBinding"> <security includeTimestamp="false" authenticationMode="UserNameOverTransport" defaultAlgorithmSuite="Basic256" requireDerivedKeys="false" messageSecurityVersion="WSSecurity10WSTrustFebruary2005WSSecureConversationFebruary2005WSSecurityPolicy11BasicSecurityProfile10"> </security> <textMessageEncoding messageVersion="Soap11"></textMessageEncoding> <httpsTransport maxReceivedMessageSize="2000000000"/> </binding> </customBinding> </bindings> <client> <endpoint address="https://notrealurl.com:443/services/RealTimeOnline" binding="customBinding" bindingConfiguration="CustomSoapBinding" contract="RealTimeOnline.RealTimeOnline" name="RealTimeOnline" /> </client> </system.serviceModel> <startup> <supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.0"/> </startup> </configuration> This ends up creating a cleaner header that's missing the timestamp field which can cause some services problems. The WS-Security header output generated with the above looks like this:<s:Header> <o:Security s:mustUnderstand="1" xmlns:o="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-secext-1.0.xsd"> <o:UsernameToken u:Id="uuid-291622ca-4c11-460f-9886-ac1c78813b24-1"> <o:Username>TheUsername</o:Username> <o:Password Type="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-username-token-profile-1.0#PasswordText" >ThePassword</o:Password> </o:UsernameToken> </o:Security> </s:Header> This is closer as it includes only the username and password. The key here is the protocol for WS-Security:messageSecurityVersion="WSSecurity10WSTrustFebruary2005WSSecureConversationFebruary2005WSSecurityPolicy11BasicSecurityProfile10" which explicitly specifies the protocol version. There are several variants of this specification but none of them seem to support the nonce unfortunately. This protocol does allow for optional omission of the Nonce and created timestamp provided (which effectively makes those keys optional). With some services I tried that requested a Nonce just using this protocol actually worked where the default basicHttpBinding failed to connect, so this is a possible solution for access to some services. Unfortunately for my target service that was not an option. The nonce has to be there. Creating Custom ClientCredentials As it turns out WCF doesn't have support for the Digest Nonce as part of WS-Security, and so as far as I can tell there's no way to do it just with configuration settings. I did a bunch of research on this trying to find workarounds for this, and I did find a couple of entries on StackOverflow as well as on the MSDN forums. However, none of these are particularily clear and I ended up using bits and pieces of several of them to arrive at a working solution in the end. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/896901/wcf-adding-nonce-to-usernametoken http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/wcf/thread/4df3354f-0627-42d9-b5fb-6e880b60f8ee The latter forum message is the more useful of the two (the last message on the thread in particular) and it has most of the information required to make this work. But it took some experimentation for me to get this right so I'll recount the process here maybe a bit more comprehensively. In order for this to work a number of classes have to be overridden: ClientCredentials ClientCredentialsSecurityTokenManager WSSecurityTokenizer The idea is that we need to create a custom ClientCredential class to hold the custom properties so they can be set from the UI or via configuration settings. The TokenManager and Tokenizer are mainly required to allow the custom credentials class to flow through the WCF pipeline and eventually provide custom serialization. Here are the three classes required and their full implementations:public class CustomCredentials : ClientCredentials { public CustomCredentials() { } protected CustomCredentials(CustomCredentials cc) : base(cc) { } public override System.IdentityModel.Selectors.SecurityTokenManager CreateSecurityTokenManager() { return new CustomSecurityTokenManager(this); } protected override ClientCredentials CloneCore() { return new CustomCredentials(this); } } public class CustomSecurityTokenManager : ClientCredentialsSecurityTokenManager { public CustomSecurityTokenManager(CustomCredentials cred) : base(cred) { } public override System.IdentityModel.Selectors.SecurityTokenSerializer CreateSecurityTokenSerializer(System.IdentityModel.Selectors.SecurityTokenVersion version) { return new CustomTokenSerializer(System.ServiceModel.Security.SecurityVersion.WSSecurity11); } } public class CustomTokenSerializer : WSSecurityTokenSerializer { public CustomTokenSerializer(SecurityVersion sv) : base(sv) { } protected override void WriteTokenCore(System.Xml.XmlWriter writer, System.IdentityModel.Tokens.SecurityToken token) { UserNameSecurityToken userToken = token as UserNameSecurityToken; string tokennamespace = "o"; DateTime created = DateTime.Now; string createdStr = created.ToString("yyyy-MM-ddThh:mm:ss.fffZ"); // unique Nonce value - encode with SHA-1 for 'randomness' // in theory the nonce could just be the GUID by itself string phrase = Guid.NewGuid().ToString(); var nonce = GetSHA1String(phrase); // in this case password is plain text // for digest mode password needs to be encoded as: // PasswordAsDigest = Base64(SHA-1(Nonce + Created + Password)) // and profile needs to change to //string password = GetSHA1String(nonce + createdStr + userToken.Password); string password = userToken.Password; writer.WriteRaw(string.Format( "<{0}:UsernameToken u:Id=\"" + token.Id + "\" xmlns:u=\"http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-utility-1.0.xsd\">" + "<{0}:Username>" + userToken.UserName + "</{0}:Username>" + "<{0}:Password Type=\"http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-username-token-profile-1.0#PasswordText\">" + password + "</{0}:Password>" + "<{0}:Nonce EncodingType=\"http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-soap-message-security-1.0#Base64Binary\">" + nonce + "</{0}:Nonce>" + "<u:Created>" + createdStr + "</u:Created></{0}:UsernameToken>", tokennamespace)); } protected string GetSHA1String(string phrase) { SHA1CryptoServiceProvider sha1Hasher = new SHA1CryptoServiceProvider(); byte[] hashedDataBytes = sha1Hasher.ComputeHash(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(phrase)); return Convert.ToBase64String(hashedDataBytes); } } Realistically only the CustomTokenSerializer has any significant code in. The code there deals with actually serializing the custom credentials using low level XML semantics by writing output into an XML writer. I can't take credit for this code - most of the code comes from the MSDN forum post mentioned earlier - I made a few adjustments to simplify the nonce generation and also added some notes to allow for PasswordDigest generation. Per spec the nonce is nothing more than a unique value that's supposed to be 'random'. I'm thinking that this value can be any string that's unique and a GUID on its own probably would have sufficed. Comments on other posts that GUIDs can be potentially guessed are highly exaggerated to say the least IMHO. To satisfy even that aspect though I added the SHA1 encryption and binary decoding to give a more random value that would be impossible to 'guess'. The original example from the forum post used another level of encoding and decoding to string in between - but that really didn't accomplish anything but extra overhead. The header output generated from this looks like this:<s:Header> <o:Security s:mustUnderstand="1" xmlns:o="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-secext-1.0.xsd"> <o:UsernameToken u:Id="uuid-f43d8b0d-0ebb-482e-998d-f544401a3c91-1" xmlns:u="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-utility-1.0.xsd"> <o:Username>TheUsername</o:Username> <o:Password Type="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-username-token-profile-1.0#PasswordText">ThePassword</o:Password> <o:Nonce EncodingType="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-soap-message-security-1.0#Base64Binary" >PjVE24TC6HtdAnsf3U9c5WMsECY=</o:Nonce> <u:Created>2012-11-23T07:10:04.670Z</u:Created> </o:UsernameToken> </o:Security> </s:Header> which is exactly as it should be. Password Digest? In my case the password is passed in plain text over an SSL connection, so there's no digest required so I was done with the code above. Since I don't have a service handy that requires a password digest,  I had no way of testing the code for the digest implementation, but here is how this is likely to work. If you need to pass a digest encoded password things are a little bit trickier. The password type namespace needs to change to: http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-username-token-profile-1.0#Digest and then the password value needs to be encoded. The format for password digest encoding is this: Base64(SHA-1(Nonce + Created + Password)) and it can be handled in the code above with this code (that's commented in the snippet above): string password = GetSHA1String(nonce + createdStr + userToken.Password); The entire WriteTokenCore method for digest code looks like this:protected override void WriteTokenCore(System.Xml.XmlWriter writer, System.IdentityModel.Tokens.SecurityToken token) { UserNameSecurityToken userToken = token as UserNameSecurityToken; string tokennamespace = "o"; DateTime created = DateTime.Now; string createdStr = created.ToString("yyyy-MM-ddThh:mm:ss.fffZ"); // unique Nonce value - encode with SHA-1 for 'randomness' // in theory the nonce could just be the GUID by itself string phrase = Guid.NewGuid().ToString(); var nonce = GetSHA1String(phrase); string password = GetSHA1String(nonce + createdStr + userToken.Password); writer.WriteRaw(string.Format( "<{0}:UsernameToken u:Id=\"" + token.Id + "\" xmlns:u=\"http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-utility-1.0.xsd\">" + "<{0}:Username>" + userToken.UserName + "</{0}:Username>" + "<{0}:Password Type=\"http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-username-token-profile-1.0#Digest\">" + password + "</{0}:Password>" + "<{0}:Nonce EncodingType=\"http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-soap-message-security-1.0#Base64Binary\">" + nonce + "</{0}:Nonce>" + "<u:Created>" + createdStr + "</u:Created></{0}:UsernameToken>", tokennamespace)); } I had no service to connect to to try out Digest auth - if you end up needing it and get it to work please drop a comment… How to use the custom Credentials The easiest way to use the custom credentials is to create the client in code. Here's a factory method I use to create an instance of my service client:  public static RealTimeOnlineClient CreateRealTimeOnlineProxy(string url, string username, string password) { if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(url)) url = "https://notrealurl.com:443/cows/services/RealTimeOnline"; CustomBinding binding = new CustomBinding(); var security = TransportSecurityBindingElement.CreateUserNameOverTransportBindingElement(); security.IncludeTimestamp = false; security.DefaultAlgorithmSuite = SecurityAlgorithmSuite.Basic256; security.MessageSecurityVersion = MessageSecurityVersion.WSSecurity10WSTrustFebruary2005WSSecureConversationFebruary2005WSSecurityPolicy11BasicSecurityProfile10; var encoding = new TextMessageEncodingBindingElement(); encoding.MessageVersion = MessageVersion.Soap11; var transport = new HttpsTransportBindingElement(); transport.MaxReceivedMessageSize = 20000000; // 20 megs binding.Elements.Add(security); binding.Elements.Add(encoding); binding.Elements.Add(transport); RealTimeOnlineClient client = new RealTimeOnlineClient(binding, new EndpointAddress(url)); // to use full client credential with Nonce uncomment this code: // it looks like this might not be required - the service seems to work without it client.ChannelFactory.Endpoint.Behaviors.Remove<System.ServiceModel.Description.ClientCredentials>(); client.ChannelFactory.Endpoint.Behaviors.Add(new CustomCredentials()); client.ClientCredentials.UserName.UserName = username; client.ClientCredentials.UserName.Password = password; return client; } This returns a service client that's ready to call other service methods. The key item in this code is the ChannelFactory endpoint behavior modification that that first removes the original ClientCredentials and then adds the new one. The ClientCredentials property on the client is read only and this is the way it has to be added.   Summary It's a bummer that WCF doesn't suport WSE Security authentication with nonce values out of the box. From reading the comments in posts/articles while I was trying to find a solution, I found that this feature was omitted by design as this protocol is considered unsecure. While I agree that plain text passwords are rarely a good idea even if they go over secured SSL connection as WSE Security does, there are unfortunately quite a few services (mosly Java services I suspect) that use this protocol. I've run into this twice now and trying to find a solution online I can see that this is not an isolated problem - many others seem to have struggled with this. It seems there are about a dozen questions about this on StackOverflow all with varying incomplete answers. Hopefully this post provides a little more coherent content in one place. Again I marvel at WCF and its breadth of support for protocol features it has in a single tool. And even when it can't handle something there are ways to get it working via extensibility. But at the same time I marvel at how freaking difficult it is to arrive at these solutions. I mean there's no way I could have ever figured this out on my own. It takes somebody working on the WCF team or at least being very, very intricately involved in the innards of WCF to figure out the interconnection of the various objects to do this from scratch. Luckily this is an older problem that has been discussed extensively online and I was able to cobble together a solution from the online content. I'm glad it worked out that way, but it feels dirty and incomplete in that there's a whole learning path that was omitted to get here… Man am I glad I'm not dealing with SOAP services much anymore. REST service security - even when using some sort of federation is a piece of cake by comparison :-) I'm sure once standards bodies gets involved we'll be right back in security standard hell…© Rick Strahl, West Wind Technologies, 2005-2012Posted in WCF  Web Services   Tweet !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); (function() { var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.async = true; po.src = 'https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })();

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• SQL SERVER – Retrieve and Explore Database Backup without Restoring Database – Idera virtual databas

  - by pinaldave

  I recently downloaded Idera’s SQL virtual database, and tested it. There are a few things about this tool which caught my attention. My Scenario It is quite common in real life that sometimes observing or retrieving older data is necessary; however, it had changed as time passed by. The full database backup was 40 GB in size, and, to restore it on our production server, it usually takes around 16 to 22 minutes, depending on the load server that is usually present. This range in time varies from one server to another as per the configuration of the computer. Some other issues we used to have are the following: When we try to restore a large 40-GB database, we needed at least that much space on our production server. Once in a while, we even had to make changes in the restored database, and use the said changed and restored database for our purpose, making it more time-consuming. My Solution I have heard a lot about the Idera’s SQL virtual database tool.. Well, right after we started to test this tool, we found out that it really delivers what it promises. Using this software was very easy and we were able to restore our database from backup in less than 2 minutes, sparing us from the usual longer time of 16–22 minutes. The needful was finished in a total of 10 minutes. Another interesting observation is that there is no need to have an additional space for restoring the database. For complete database restoration, the single additional MB on the drive is not required anymore. We can use the database in the same way as our regular database, and there is no need for any additional configuration and setup. Let us look at the most relevant points of this product based on my initial experience: Quick restoration of the database backup No additional space required for database restoration virtual database has no physical .MDF or .LDF The database which is restored is, in fact, the backup file converted in the virtual database. DDL and DML queries can be executed against this virtually restored database. Regular backup operation can be implemented against virtual database, creating a physical .bak file that can be used for future use. There was no observed degradation in performance on the original database as well the restored virtual database. Additional T-SQL queries can be let off on the virtual database. Well, this summarizes my quick review. And, as I was saying, I am very impressed with the product and I plan to explore it more. There are many features that I have noticed in this tool, which I think can be very useful if properly understood. I had taken a few screenshots using my demo database afterwards. Let us see what other things this tool can do besides the mentioned activities. I am surprised with its performance so I want to know how exactly this feature works, specifically in the matter of why it does not create any additional files and yet, it still allows update on the virtually restored database. I guess I will have to send an e-mail to the developers of Idera and try to figure this out from them. I think this tool is very useful, and it delivers a high level of performance way more than what I expected. Soon, I will write a review for additional uses of SQL virtual database.. If you are using SQL virtual database in your production environment, I am eager to learn more about it and your experience while using it. The ‘Virtual’ Part of virtual database When I set out to test this software, I thought virtual database had something to do with Hyper-V or visualization. In fact, the virtual database is a kind of database which shows up in your SQL Server Management Studio without actually restoring or even creating it. This tool creates a database in SSMS from the backup of the same database. The backup, however, works virtually the same way as original database. Potential Usage of virtual database: As soon as I described this tool to my teammate, I think his very first reaction was, “hey, if we have this then there is no need for log shipping.” I find his comment very interesting as log shipping is something where logs are moved to another server. In fact, there are no updates on the database from log; I would rather compare it with Snapshot Replication. In fact, whatever we use, snapshot replicated database can be similarly used and configured with virtual database. I totally believe that we can use it for reporting purpose. In fact, after this database was configured, I think the uses of this tool are unlimited. I will have to spend some more time studying it and will get back to you. Click on images to see larger images. virtual database Console Harddrive Space before virtual database Setup Attach Full Backup Screen Backup on Harddrive Attach Full Backup Screen with Settings virtual database Setup – less than 60 sec virtual database Setup – Online Harddrive Space after virtual database Setup Point in Time Recovery Option – Timeline View virtual database Summary No Performance Difference between Regular DB vs Virtual DB Please note that all SQL Server MVP gets free license of this software. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com), Idera (virtual database) Filed under: Database, Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Add-On, SQL Authority, SQL Backup and Restore, SQL Data Storage, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL Utility, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology Tagged: Idera

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• Looking for Your Next Challenge...Don't Stretch Too Far

  - by david.talamelli

  In my role as a Recruiter at Oracle I receive a large number of resumes of people who are interested in working with us. People contact me for a number of reasons, it can be about a specific role that we may be hiring for or they may send me an email asking if there are any suitable roles for them. Sometimes when I speak to people we have similar roles available to the roles that they may actually be in now. Sometimes people are interested in making this type of sideways move if their motivation to change jobs is not necessarily that they are looking for increased responsibility or career advancement (example: money, redundancy, work environment). However there are times when after walking through a specific role with a candidate that they may say to me - "You know that is very similar to the role that I am doing now. I would not want to move unless my next role presents me with the next challenge in my career". This is a far statement - if a person is looking to change jobs for the next step in their career they should be looking at suitable opportunities that will address their need. In this instance a sideways step will not really present any new challenges or responsibilities. The main change would be the company they are working for. Candidates looking for a new role because they are looking to move up the ladder should be looking for a role that offers them the next level of responsibility. I think the best job changes for people who are looking for career advancement are the roles that stretch someone outside of their comfort zone but do not stretch them so much that they can't cope with the added responsibilities and pressure. In my head I often think of this example in the same context of an elastic band - you can stretch it, but only so much before it snaps. That is what you should be looking for - to be stretched but not so much that you snap. If you are for example in an individual contributor role and would like to move into a management role - you may not be quite ready to take on a role that is managing a large workforce or requires significant people management experience. While your intentions may be right, your lack of management experience may fit you outside of the scope of search to be successful this type of role. In this example you can move from an individual contributor role to a management role but it may need to be managing a smaller team rather than a larger team. While you are trying to make this transition you can try to pick up some responsibilities in your current role that would give you the skills and experience you need for your next role. Never be afraid to put your hand up to help on a new project or piece of work. You never know when that newly gained experience may come in handy in your career. This article was originally posted on David Talamelli's Blog - David's Journal on Tap

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• SQL SERVER – Mirroring Configured Without Domain – The server network address TCP://SQLServerName:50

  - by pinaldave

  Regular readers of my blog will be aware of my friend who called me few days ago with very a funny SQL Problem SQL SERVER – SSMS Query Command(s) completed successfully without ANY Results. This time, it did not take long before he called me up with another interesting problem, although the issue he was facing this time was not that interesting and also very specific to him, however, he insisted me to share with all of you. Let us understand his situation at first. My friend is preparing for DBA exam Exam 70-450: PRO: Designing, Optimizing and Maintaining a Database Server Infrastructure using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and for the same, he was trying to set up replication on his local laptop. He had installed two different instances of SQL Server on his computer and every time when he started the mirroring, it failed with common error message. The server network address “TCP://SQLServer:5023? cannot be reached or does not exist. Check the network address name and that the ports for the local and remote endpoints are operational. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 1418) Well, before he contacted me, he searched online and checked my article written on the error in mirroring. However, he tried all the four suggestions, but it did not solve his problem. He called me at a reasonable time of late evening (unlike last time, which was midnight!). I even tried all the seven different suggestions myself, as previously proposed in my article; however, none of them worked. While looking at closely at services, I noticed something very simple. He was running all the instances on ‘Network Services’. In fact, his computer was a stand-alone computer. There was no network at all. Also, there was no domain or any other advance network concepts implemented. I just changed services from ‘Network Services’ to ‘Local System’ as his SQL Server was running on his local system and there were no network services. This prompted to restart the services. As this was not the production server and his development machine, we restarted the services on the laptop (do not restart services on production server without proper planning). After changing the ‘services log on’ account to localsystem, when he attempted to reconfigure the mirroring it worked right away. As usually in production server, proper domains are configured and advance network concepts are implemented I had never faced this type of problem earlier. My friend insisted to post this solution to his situation, wherein there was no domain configured and setting up mirroring was throwing an error. According to him, this is bound to help people, like him, who are preparing for certification using single system. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Error Messages, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology Tagged: SQL Certifications, SQL Mirroring

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• Our Look at the Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview

  - by Asian Angel

  Have you been hearing all about Microsoft’s work on Internet Explorer 9 and are curious about it? If you are wanting a taste of the upcoming release then join us as we take a look at the Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview. Note: Windows Vista and Server 2008 users may need to install a Platform Update (see link at bottom for more information). Getting Started If you are curious about the systems that the platform preview will operate on here is an excerpt from the FAQ page (link provided below). There are two important points of interest here: The platform preview does not replace your regular Internet Explorer installation The platform preview (and the final version of Internet Explorer 9) will not work on Windows XP There really is not a lot to the install process…basically all that you will have to deal with is the “EULA Window” and the “Install Finished Window”. Note: The platform preview will install to a “Program Files Folder” named “Internet Explorer Platform Preview”. Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview in Action When you start the platform preview up for the first time you will be presented with the Internet Explorer 9 Test Drive homepage. Do not be surprised that there is not a lot to the UI at this time…but you can get a good idea of how Internet Explorer will act. Note: You will not be able to alter the “Homepage” for the platform preview. Of the four menus available there are two that will be of interest to most people…the “Page & Debug Menus”. If you go to navigate to a new webpage you will need to go through the “Page Menu” unless you have installed the Address Bar Mini-Tool (shown below). Want to see what a webpage will look like in an older version of Internet Explorer? Then choose your version in the “Debug Menu”. We did find it humorous that IE6 was excluded from the choices offered. Here is what the URL entry window looks like if you are using the “Page Menu” to navigate between websites. Here is the main page of the site here displayed in “IE9 Mode”…looking good. Here is the main page viewed in “Forced IE5 Document Mode”. There were some minor differences (colors, sidebar, etc.) in how the main page displayed in comparison to “IE9 Mode”. Being able to switch between modes makes for an interesting experience… As you can see there is not much to the “Context Menu” at the moment. Notice the slightly altered icon for the platform preview… “Add” an Address Bar of Sorts If you would like to use a “make-shift” Address Bar with the platform preview you can set up the portable file (IE9browser.exe) for the Internet Explorer 9 Test Platform Addressbar Mini-Tool. Just place it in an appropriate folder, create a shortcut for it, and it will be ready to go. Here is a close look at the left side of the Address Bar Mini-Tool. You can try to access “IE Favorites” but may have sporadic results like those we experienced during our tests. Note: The Address Bar Mini-Tool will not line up perfectly with the platform preview but still makes a nice addition. And a close look at the right side of the Address Bar Mini-Tool. In order to completely shut down the Address Bar Mini-Tool you will need to click on “Close”. Each time that you enter an address into the Address Bar Mini-Tool it will open a new window/instance of the platform preview. Note: During our tests we noticed that clicking on “Home” in the “Page Menu” opened the previously viewed website but once we closed and restarted the platform preview the test drive website was the starting/home page again. Even if the platform preview is not running the Address Bar Mini-Tool can still run as shown here. Note: You will not be able to move the Address Bar Mini-Tool from its’ locked-in position at the top of the screen. Now for some fun. With just the Address Bar Mini-Tool open you can enter an address and cause the platform preview to open. Here is our example from above now open in the platform preview…good to go. Conclusion During our tests we did experience the occasional crash but overall we were pleased with the platform preview’s performance. The platform preview handled rather well and definitely seemed much quicker than Internet Explorer 8 on our test system (a definite bonus!). If you are an early adopter then this could certainly get you in the mood for the upcoming beta releases! Links Download the Internet Explorer 9 Preview Platform Download the Internet Explorer 9 Test Platform Addressbar Mini-Tool Information about Platform Update for Windows Vista & Server 2008 View the Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview FAQ Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Mysticgeek Blog: A Look at Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 on Windows XPMake Ctrl+Tab in Internet Explorer 7 Use Most Recent OrderRemove ISP Text or Corporate Branding from Internet Explorer Title BarWhy Can’t I Turn the Details/Preview Panes On or Off in Windows Vista Explorer?Prevent Firefox or Internet Explorer from Printing the URL on Every Page TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Awesome Lyrics Finder for Winamp & Windows Media Player Download Videos from Hulu Pixels invade Manhattan Convert PDF files to ePub to read on your iPad Hide Your Confidential Files Inside Images Get Wildlife Photography Tips at BBC’s PhotoMasterClasses

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• Geek Fun: Virtualized Old School Windows – Windows 95

  - by Matthew Guay

  Last week we enjoyed looking at Windows 3.1 running in VMware Player on Windows 7.  Today, let’s upgrade our 3.1 to 95, and get a look at how most of us remember Windows from the 90’s. In this demo, we’re running the first release of Windows 95 (version 4.00.950) in VMware Player 3.0 running on Windows 7 x64.  For fun, we ran the 95 upgrade on the 3.1 virtual machine we built last week. Windows 95 So let’s get started.  Here’s the first setup screen.  For the record, Windows 95 installed in about 15 minutes or less in VMware in our test. Strangely, Windows 95 offered several installation choices.  They actually let you choose what extra parts of Windows to install if you wished.  Oh, and who wants to run Windows 95 on your “Portable Computer”?  Most smartphones today are more powerful than the “portable computers” of 95. Your productivity may vastly increase if you run Windows 95.  Anyone want to switch? No, I don’t want to restart … I want to use my computer! Welcome to Windows 95!  Hey, did you know you can launch programs from the Start button? Our quick spin around Windows 95 reminded us why Windows got such a bad reputation in the ‘90’s for being unstable.  We didn’t even get our test copy fully booted after installation before we saw our first error screen.  Windows in space … was that the most popular screensaver in Windows 95, or was it just me? Hello Windows 3.1!  The UI was still outdated in some spots.   Ah, yes, Media Player before it got 101 features to compete with iTunes. But, you couldn’t even play CDs in Media Player.  Actually, CD player was one program I used almost daily in Windows 95 back in the day. Want some new programs?  This help file about new programs designed for Windows 95 lists a lot of outdated names in tech.    And, you really may want some programs.  The first edition of Windows 95 didn’t even ship with Internet Explorer.   We’ve still got Minesweeper, though! My Computer had really limited functionality, and by default opened everything in a new window.  Double click on C:, and it opens in a new window.  Ugh. But Explorer is a bit more like more modern versions. Hey, look, Start menu search!  If only it found the files you were looking for… Now I’m feeling old … this shutdown screen brought back so many memories … of shutdowns that wouldn’t shut down! But, you still have to turn off your computer.  I wonder how many old monitors had these words burned into them? So there’s yet another trip down Windows memory lane.  Most of us can remember using Windows 95, so let us know your favorite (or worst) memory of it!  At least we can all be thankful for our modern computers and operating systems today, right?  Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Geek Fun: Remember the Old-School SkiFree Game?Geek Fun: Virtualized old school Windows 3.11Stupid Geek Tricks: Tile or Cascade Multiple Windows in Windows 7Stupid Geek Tricks: Select Multiple Windows on the TaskbarHow to Delete a System File in Windows 7 or Vista TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 PCmover Professional Enable Check Box Selection in Windows 7 OnlineOCR – Free OCR Service Betting on the Blind Side, a Vanity Fair article 30 Minimal Logo Designs that Say More with Less LEGO Digital Designer – Free Create a Personal Website Quickly using Flavors.me

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• Geek Fun: Virtualized Old School Windows – Windows 95

  - by Matthew Guay

  Last week we enjoyed looking at Windows 3.1 running in VMware Player on Windows 7.  Today, let’s upgrade our 3.1 to 95, and get a look at how most of us remember Windows from the 90’s. In this demo, we’re running the first release of Windows 95 (version 4.00.950) in VMware Player 3.0 running on Windows 7 x64.  For fun, we ran the 95 upgrade on the 3.1 virtual machine we built last week. Windows 95 So let’s get started.  Here’s the first setup screen.  For the record, Windows 95 installed in about 15 minutes or less in VMware in our test. Strangely, Windows 95 offered several installation choices.  They actually let you choose what extra parts of Windows to install if you wished.  Oh, and who wants to run Windows 95 on your “Portable Computer”?  Most smartphones today are more powerful than the “portable computers” of 95. Your productivity may vastly increase if you run Windows 95.  Anyone want to switch? No, I don’t want to restart … I want to use my computer! Welcome to Windows 95!  Hey, did you know you can launch programs from the Start button? Our quick spin around Windows 95 reminded us why Windows got such a bad reputation in the ‘90’s for being unstable.  We didn’t even get our test copy fully booted after installation before we saw our first error screen.  Windows in space … was that the most popular screensaver in Windows 95, or was it just me? Hello Windows 3.1!  The UI was still outdated in some spots.   Ah, yes, Media Player before it got 101 features to compete with iTunes. But, you couldn’t even play CDs in Media Player.  Actually, CD player was one program I used almost daily in Windows 95 back in the day. Want some new programs?  This help file about new programs designed for Windows 95 lists a lot of outdated names in tech.    And, you really may want some programs.  The first edition of Windows 95 didn’t even ship with Internet Explorer.   We’ve still got Minesweeper, though! My Computer had really limited functionality, and by default opened everything in a new window.  Double click on C:, and it opens in a new window.  Ugh. But Explorer is a bit more like more modern versions. Hey, look, Start menu search!  If only it found the files you were looking for… Now I’m feeling old … this shutdown screen brought back so many memories … of shutdowns that wouldn’t shut down! But, you still have to turn off your computer.  I wonder how many old monitors had these words burned into them? So there’s yet another trip down Windows memory lane.  Most of us can remember using Windows 95, so let us know your favorite (or worst) memory of it!  At least we can all be thankful for our modern computers and operating systems today, right?  Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Geek Fun: Remember the Old-School SkiFree Game?Geek Fun: Virtualized old school Windows 3.11Stupid Geek Tricks: Tile or Cascade Multiple Windows in Windows 7Stupid Geek Tricks: Select Multiple Windows on the TaskbarHow to Delete a System File in Windows 7 or Vista TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 PCmover Professional Enable Check Box Selection in Windows 7 OnlineOCR – Free OCR Service Betting on the Blind Side, a Vanity Fair article 30 Minimal Logo Designs that Say More with Less LEGO Digital Designer – Free Create a Personal Website Quickly using Flavors.me

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• Windows Azure: Announcing Support for Windows Server 2012 R2 + Some Nice Price Cuts

  - by ScottGu

  Today we released some great updates to Windows Azure: Virtual Machines: Support for Windows Server 2012 R2 Cloud Services: Support for Windows Server 2012 R2 and .NET 4.5.1 Windows Azure Pack: Use Windows Azure features on-premises using Windows Server 2012 R2 Price Cuts: Up to 22% Price Reduction on Memory-Intensive Instances Below are more details about each of the improvements: Virtual Machines: Support for Windows Server 2012 R2 This morning we announced the release of Windows Server 2012 R2 – which is a fantastic update to Windows Server and includes a ton of great enhancements. This morning we are also excited to announce that the general availability image of Windows Server 2012 RC is now supported on Windows Azure.  Windows Azure is the first cloud provider to offer the final release of Windows Server 2012 R2, and it is incredibly easy to launch your own Windows Server 2012 R2 instance with it. To create a new Windows Server 2012 R2 instance simply choose New->Compute->Virtual Machine within the Windows Azure Management Portal.  You can select the “Windows Server 2012 R2” image and create a new Virtual Machine using the “Quick Create” option: Or alternatively click the “From Gallery” option if you want to customize even more configuration options (endpoints, remote powershell, availability set, etc): Creating and instantiating a new Virtual Machine on Windows Azure is very fast.  In fact, the Windows Server 2012 R2 image now deploys and runs 30% faster than previous versions of Windows Server. Once the VM is deployed you can drill into it to track its health and manage its settings: Clicking the “Connect” button allows you to remote desktop into the VM – at which point you can customize and manage it as a full administrator however you want: If you haven’t tried Windows Server 2012 R2 yet – give it a try with Windows Azure.  There is no easier way to get an instance of it up and running! Cloud Services: Support for using Windows Server 2012 R2 with Web and Worker Roles Today’s Windows Azure release also allows you to now use Windows Server 2012 R2 and .NET 4.5.1 within Web and Worker Roles within Cloud Service based applications.  Enabling this is easy.  You can configure existing existing Cloud Service application to use Windows Server 2012 R2 by updating your Cloud Service Configuration File (.cscfg) to use the new “OS Family 4” setting: Or alternatively you can use the Windows Azure Management Portal to update cloud services that are already deployed on Windows Azure.  Simply choose the configure tab on them and select Windows Server 2012 R2 in the Operating System Family dropdown: The approaches above enable you to immediately take advantage of Windows Server 2012 R2 and .NET 4.5.1 and all the great features they provide. Windows Azure Pack: Use Windows Azure features on Windows Server 2012 R2 Today we also made generally available the Windows Azure Pack, which is a free download that enables you to run Windows Azure Technology within your own datacenter, an on-premises private cloud environment, or with one of our service provider/hosting partners who run Windows Server. Windows Azure Pack enables you to use a management portal that has the exact same UI as the Windows Azure Management Portal, and within which you can create and manage Virtual Machines, Web Sites, and Service Bus – all of which can run on Windows Server and System Center.  The services provided with the Windows Azure Pack are consistent with the services offered within our Windows Azure public cloud offering.  This consistency enables organizations and developers to build applications and solutions that can run in any hosting environment – and which use the same development and management approach.  The end result is an offering with incredible flexibility. You can learn more about Windows Azure Pack and download/deploy it today here. Price Cuts: Up to 22% Reduction on Memory Intensive Instances Today we are also reducing prices by up to 22% on our memory-intensive VM instances (specifically our A5, A6, and A7 instances).  These price reductions apply to both Windows and Linux VM instances, as well as for Cloud Service based applications: These price reductions will take effect in November, and will enable you to run applications that demand larger memory (such as SharePoint, Databases, in-memory analytics, etc) even more cost effectively. Summary Today’s release enables you to start using Windows Server 2012 R2 within Windows Azure immediately, and take advantage of our Cloud OS vision both within our datacenters – and using the Windows Azure Pack within both your existing datacenters and those of our partners. If you don’t already have a Windows Azure account, you can sign-up for a free trial and start using all of the above features today.  Then visit the Windows Azure Developer Center to learn more about how to build apps with it. Hope this helps, Scott P.S. In addition to blogging, I am also now using Twitter for quick updates and to share links. Follow me at: twitter.com/scottgu

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• OBIEE 11.1.1 - OBIEE 11g Full Sample App on VMware Player 4

  - by user809526

  The Full Sample App is designed to run on Virtual Box. Let's describe how to run it on VMware Player 4. Open Virtualization Format Tool http://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/server/vsphere/automationtools/ovf VMware Player Documentation https://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/player_pubs.html Full Sample App Deployment Guide sampleapp107-vbimage-deployguide-453583.pdf INSTALL VMplayer 4.0.0 as root LINUX # sh VMware-Player-4.0.0-471780.x86_64.bundle (A new VM is not needed and can be deleted later after that installation is completed. "I will install OS later" - blank hard disk Guest: linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5-64bits => rename to RHEL target: eg /a/root/vmware/ Max disk size: 5 GB (will be deleted) Disk: Single file Dummy RHEL.vmk, RHEL.vmdk is generated. "Delete VM from Disk" in VM Player.) Copy Full Sample App files to target /a/root/vmware/ WARNING: Select a target eg /a/root/vmware/ with lots of free space, 95 GB. Check checksums (md5sum). Please do it! ff85c7eacf7fb8c382e98da875e879e1  Sampleapp_v107_GA-disk1.vmdk 973258cb3c7d64ab03ae853278cf2233  Sampleapp_v107_GA-disk2.vmdk e576be16e36d810479736bfb15d050f5  Sampleapp_v107_GA-disk3.vmdk 3455df77279e53e07d5fee6712f1597d  Sampleapp_v107_GA-disk4.vmdk OVF FILE   Sampleapp_v107_GA.ovf CONVERSION $ cd /a/root/vmware/ LINUX $ /usr/bin/ovftool -tt=ovf --compress=1 -dm=monolithicSparse Sampleapp_v107_GA.ovf .  [dot] Opening OVF source: Sampleapp_v107_GA.ovf Warning: No manifest file Opening OVF target: . Writing OVF package: Sampleapp_v107_GA/Sampleapp_v107_GA.ovf Disk Transfer Completed                   Completed successfully WINDOWS CYGWIN $ /cygdrive/c/VMwarePlayer/OVFTool/ovftool.exe -tt=ovf --compress=1 -dm=monolithicSparse Sampleapp_v107_GA.ovf .  [dot] Opening OVF source: Sampleapp_v107_GA.ovf Warning: No manifest file Opening OVF target: . Writing OVF package: Sampleapp_v107_GA\Sampleapp_v107_GA.ovf Disk Transfer Completed Completed successfully /a/root/vmware$ du -sk 49095328    .   [50 GB already occupied] IMPORT - First start of VM Player 4: /usr/bin/vmplayer "Open a Virtual Machine" Browse to /a/root/vmware/Sampleapp_v107_GA/Sampleapp_v107_GA.ovf [the new generated .ovf] "Import Virtual Machine" dialog Name: Sampleapp_v107_GA Location: /a/root/vmware/Sampleapp_v107_GA/storage [was /home/tdubois/vmware/Sampleapp_v107_GA] "Import" "The import failed because /a/root/vmware/Sampleapp_v107_GA/Sampleapp_v107_GA.ovf did not pass OVF specification conformance or virtual hardware compliance checks. Click Retry to relax OVF specification..." "Retry" ; Long import /a/root/vmware/Sampleapp_v107_GA/storage/Sampleapp_v107_GA.vmx and new .vmdk files are created. /a/root/vmware$ du -sk 95551384    .   [95 GB occupied] Full Sample App GUEST SETUP "Edit VM settings" min 3GB, 2+ processors, network bridged. For OBIEE + Essbase testing use 8 GB RAM hardware. At first time lauch of Full Sample App, leave OEL booting for several minutes undisturbed. Problem with X display server may occur [/usr/bin/Xorg ; man Xorg]. "Failed to start the X server.... Would you like to view the X server output to diagnose the problem?" "No" [tab key] "Would you like to try to configure the X server? Note that you will need the root password for this." "Yes" [oracle] X Display Settings 800x600 saved in /etc/X11/xorg.conf "Trying to restart the X server" Login as root/oracle in guest OEL. In guest OEL, Virtual Machine > Install VMware Tools... Extract archive VMwareTools-8.8.0-471268.tar.gz all files in writable local directory eg /root In Terminal run Perl script # cd /root/vmware-tools-distrib ; ./vmware-install.pl [keep all default answers] Set keyboard layout System > Preferences > Keyboard > Layouts Restart X server eg System > Log Out root... , relogin Modify X resolution System > Preferences > Screen Resolution Full Sample App OEL login: oracle/oracle ; root/oracle [default US keyboard layout] Credentials are described in the 'sampleapp107-vbimage-deployguide-453583.pdf' The large files in /a/root/vmware/ /a/root/vmware/Sampleapp_v107_GA/ may be removed. FAILURE REMARK: Adding the 4 original Sampleapp_v107_GA-disks[1234].vmdk to VM Player does NOT work as described below. "Edit VM settings" "Remove" "Hard Disk" "Edit VM settings" "Add" "Hard Disk" "Next" "Use an existing virtual disk" "Browse" "Finish" "Keep existing format" "Ok" for each 4 disks settings one by one. Start VM Player 4. "You do not have write access to a partition" Allow all Sampleapp_v107 OEL linux launches. OEL stalls silently after 'Checking filesystems'.

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• Developer’s Life – Every Developer is a Captain America

  - by Pinal Dave

  Captain America was first created as a comic book character in the 1940’s as a way to boost morale during World War II.  Aimed at a children’s audience, his legacy faded away when the war ended.  However, he has recently has a major reboot to become a popular movie character that deals with modern issues. When Captain America was first written, there was no such thing as a developer, programmer or a computer (the way we think of them, anyway).  Despite these limitations, I think there are still a lot of ways that modern Captain America is like modern developers. So how are developers like Captain America? Well, read on my list of reasons. Take on Big Projects Captain America isn’t afraid to take on big projects – and takes responsibility when the project is co-opted by the evil organization HYDRA.  Developers may not have super villains out there corrupting their work, but they know to keep on top of their projects and own what they do. Elderly Wisdom Steve Rogers, Captain America’s alter ego, was frozen in ice for decades, and brought back to life to solve problems. Developers can learn from this by respecting the opinions of their elders – technology is an ever-changing market, but the old-timers still have a few tricks up their sleeves! Don’t be Afraid of Change Don’t be afraid of change.  Captain America woke up to find the world he was accustomed to is now completely different.  He might have even felt his skills were no longer necessary.  He, and developers, know that everyone has their place in a team, though.  If you try your best, you will make it work. Fight Your Own Battle Sometimes you have to make it on your own.  Captain America is an integral part of the Avengers, but in his own movies, the other superheroes aren’t around to back him up.  Developers, too, must learn to work both within and with out a team. Solid Integrity One of Captain America’s greatest qualities is his integrity.  His determine to do what is right, keep his word, and act honestly earns him mockery from some of the less-savory characters – even “good guys” like Iron Man.  Developers, and everyone else, need to develop the strength of character to keep their integrity.  No matter your walk of life, there will be tempting obstacles.  Think of Captain America, and say “no.” There is a lot for all of us to learn from Captain America, to take away in our own lives, and admire in those who display it – I am specifically thinking of developers.  If you are enjoying this series as much as I am, please let me know who else you would like to see featured. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL Tagged: Developer, Superhero

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• Importing Multiple Schemas to a Model in Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler

  - by thatjeffsmith

  Your physical data model might stretch across multiple Oracle schemas. Or maybe you just want a single diagram containing tables, views, etc. spanning more than a single user in the database. The process for importing a data dictionary is the same, regardless if you want to suck in objects from one schema, or many schemas. Let’s take a quick look at how to get started with a data dictionary import. I’m using Oracle SQL Developer in this example. The process is nearly identical in Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler – the only difference being you’ll use the ‘File’ menu to get started versus the ‘File – Data Modeler’ menu in SQL Developer. Remember, the functionality is exactly the same whether you use SQL Developer or SQL Developer Data Modeler when it comes to the data modeling features – you’ll just have a cleaner user interface in SQL Developer Data Modeler. Importing a Data Dictionary to a Model You’ll want to open or create your model first. You can import objects to an existing or new model. The easiest way to get started is to simply open the ‘Browser’ under the View menu. The Browser allows you to navigate your open designs/models You’ll see an ‘Untitled_1′ model by default. I’ve renamed mine to ‘hr_sh_scott_demo.’ Now go back to the File menu, and expand the ‘Data Modeler’ section, and select ‘Import – Data Dictionary.’ This is a fancy way of saying, ‘suck objects out of the database into my model’ Connect! If you haven’t already defined a connection to the database you want to reverse engineer, you’ll need to do that now. I’m going to assume you already have that connection – so select it, and hit the ‘Next’ button. Select the Schema(s) to be imported Select one or more schemas you want to import The schemas selected on this page of the wizard will dictate the lists of tables, views, synonyms, and everything else you can choose from in the next wizard step to import. For brevity, I have selected ALL tables, views, and synonyms from 3 different schemas: HR SCOTT SH Once I hit the ‘Finish’ button in the wizard, SQL Developer will interrogate the database and add the objects to our model. The Big Model and the 3 Little Models I can now see ALL of the objects I just imported in the ‘hr_sh_scott_demo’ relational model in my design tree, and in my relational diagram. Quick Tip: Oracle SQL Developer calls what most folks think of as a ‘Physical Model’ the ‘Relational Model.’ Same difference, mostly. In SQL Developer, a Physical model allows you to define partitioning schemes, advanced storage parameters, and add your PL/SQL code. You can have multiple physical models per relational models. For example I might have a 4 Node RAC in Production that uses partitioning, but in test/dev, only have a single instance with no partitioning. I can have models for both of those physical implementations. The list of tables in my relational model Wouldn’t it be nice if I could segregate the objects based on their schema? Good news, you can! And it’s done by default Several of you might already know where I’m going with this – SUBVIEWS. You can easily create a ‘SubView’ by selecting one or more objects in your model or diagram and add them to a new SubView. SubViews are just mini-models. They contain a subset of objects from the main model. This is very handy when you want to break your model into smaller, more digestible parts. The model information is identical across the model and subviews, so you don’t have to worry about making a change in one place and not having it propagate across your design. SubViews can be used as filters when you create reports and exports as well. So instead of generating a PDF for everything, just show me what’s in my ‘ABC’ subview. But, I don’t want to do any work! Remember, I’m really lazy. More good news – it’s already done by default! The schemas are automatically used to create default SubViews Auto-Navigate to the Object in the Diagram In the subview tree node, right-click on the object you want to navigate to. You can ask to be taken to the main model view or to the SubView location. If you haven’t already opened the SubView in the diagram, it will be automatically opened for you. The SubView diagram only contains the objects from that SubView Your SubView might still be pretty big, many dozens of objects, so don’t forget about the ‘Navigator‘ either! In summary, use the ‘Import’ feature to add existing database objects to your model. If you import from multiple schemas, take advantage of the default schema based SubViews to help you manage your models! Sometimes less is more!

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• Installed Ubuntu 12.04.01 with Windows XP but lost access to Windows XP

  - by Bob D

  The First time I tried to install Ubuntu the installer installed it on my D drive. This resulted in only booting to Windows XP with no access to Ubuntu. I had to download a disk partitioning program to undo all of this. A tip from the Internet said to create a partition on the C drive for Ubuntu, so I did along with a Swap Partition. I did this manually because the installer on the CD would not do so and would not let me do so from within the installer program. With the fresh partitions created for Ubuntu I let the installer do its thing. The computer rebooted and came up in Ubuntu. I then installed WINE and all was well. Then I shut the computer down for the night. The next day I turned on the computer and it booted directly into Ubuntu. I can see the Windows partition and all the files but it will not allow me to switch to the Windows XP OS. Does not even give me a choice to do so. I have reinstalled Ubuntu several times and each time is the same, I cannot access Windows XP anymore. Right now I am in a fresh install with only whatever the installer installed. How do I fix this?! I have tried the hold the shift key to see if something called GRUB shows up, but no. I tried shifting the order of boot in GRUB but that did not work either. I tried using EasyBCD but that will not run. One symptom I do not understand, my monitor will post a graphic when the computer reboots that the cable is disconnected, this is normal. Then when the computer gets to the actual boot process it will display the splash screens etc and it did this for Windows XP as well. But now something new has popped up, while booting Ubuntu after where it probably should be showing me a menu to pick what OS I want to boot, the monitor posts "Input Unsupported" until Ubuntu loads. I have never seen it post this before, maybe a clue to someone.

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• Do not use “using” in WCF Client

  - by oazabir

  You know that any IDisposable object must be disposed using using. So, you have been using using to wrap WCF service’s ChannelFactory and Clients like this: using(var client = new SomeClient()) {. ..} Or, if you are doing it the hard and slow way (without really knowing why), then: using(var factory = new ChannelFactory<ISomeService>()) {var channel= factory.CreateChannel();...} That’s what we have all learnt in school right? We have learnt it wrong! When there’s a network related error or the connection is broken, or the call is timed out before Dispose is called by the using keyword, then it results in the following exception when the using keyword tries to dispose the channel: failed: System.ServiceModel.CommunicationObjectFaultedException : The communication object, System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel, cannot be used for communication because it is in the Faulted state. Server stack trace: at System.ServiceModel.Channels.CommunicationObject.Close(TimeSpan timeout) Exception rethrown at [0]: at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.HandleReturnMessage(IMessage reqMsg, IMessage retMsg) at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.PrivateInvoke(MessageData& msgData, Int32 type) at System.ServiceModel.ICommunicationObject.Close(TimeSpan timeout) at System.ServiceModel.ClientBase`1.System.ServiceModel.ICommunicationObject.Close(TimeSpan timeout) at System.ServiceModel.ClientBase`1.Close() at System.ServiceModel.ClientBase`1.System.IDisposable.Dispose() There are various reasons for which the underlying connection can be at broken state before the using block is completed and the .Dispose() is called. Common problems like network connection dropping, IIS doing an app pool recycle at that moment, some proxy sitting between you and the service dropping the connection for various reasons and so on. The point is, it might seem like a corner case, but it’s a likely corner case. If you are building a highly available client, you need to treat this properly before you go-live. So, do NOT use using on WCF Channel/Client/ChannelFactory. Instead you need to use an alternative. Here’s what you can do: First create an extension method. public static class WcfExtensions{ public static void Using<T>(this T client, Action<T> work) where T : ICommunicationObject { try { work(client); client.Close(); } catch (CommunicationException e) { client.Abort(); } catch (TimeoutException e) { client.Abort(); } catch (Exception e) { client.Abort(); throw; } }} Then use this instead of the using keyword: new SomeClient().Using(channel => { channel.Login(username, password);}); Or if you are using ChannelFactory then: new ChannelFactory<ISomeService>().Using(channel => { channel.Login(username, password);}); Enjoy!

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• Top 31 Favorite Features in Windows Server 2012

  - by KeithMayer

  Over the past month, my fellow IT Pro Technical Evangelists and I have authored a series of articles about our Top 31 Favorite Features in Windows Server 2012.  Now that our series is complete, I’m providing a clickable index below of all of the articles in the series for your convenience, just in case you perhaps missed any of them when they were first released.  Hope you enjoy our Favorite Features in Windows Server 2012! Top 31 Favorite Features in Windows Server 2012 The Cloud OS Platform by Kevin Remde Server Manager in Windows Server 2012 by Brian Lewis Feel the Power of PowerShell 3.0 by Matt Hester Live Migrate Your VMS in One Line of PowerShell by Keith Mayer Windows Server 2012 and Hyper-V Replica by Kevin Remde Right-size IT Budgets with “Storage Spaces” by Keith Mayer Yes, there is an “I” in Team – the NIC Team! by Kevin Remde Hyper-V Network Virtualization by Keith Mayer Get Happy over the FREE Hyper-V Server 2012 by Matt Hester Simplified BranchCache in Windows Server 2012 by Brian Lewis Getting Snippy with PowerShell 3.0 by Matt Hester How to Get Unbelievable Data Deduplication Results by Chris Henley of Veeam Simplified VDI Configuration and Management by Brian Lewis Taming the New Task Manager by Keith Mayer Improve File Server Resiliency with ReFS by Keith Mayer Simplified DirectAccess by Sumeeth Evans SMB 3.0 – The Glue in Windows Server 2012 by Matt Hester Continuously Available File Shares by Steven Murawski of Edgenet Server Core - Improved Taste, Less Filling, More Uptime by Keith Mayer Extend Your Hyper-V Virtual Switch by Kevin Remde To NIC or to Not NIC Hardware Requirements by Brian Lewis Simplified Licensing and Server Versions by Kevin Remde I Think, Therefore IPAM! by Kevin Remde Windows Server 2012 and the RSATs by Kevin Remde Top 3 New Tricks in the Active Directory Admin Center by Keith Mayer Dynamic Access Control by Brian Lewis Get the Gremlin out of Your Active Directory Virtualized Infrastructure by Matt Hester Scoping out the New DHCP Failover by Keith Mayer Gone in 8 Seconds – The New CHKDSK by Matt Hester New Remote Desktop Services (RDS) by Brian Lewis No Better Time Than Now to Choose Hyper-V by Matt Hester What’s Next? Keep Learning! Want to learn more about Windows Server 2012 and Hyper-V Server 2012?  Want to prepare for certification on Windows Server 2012? Do It: Join our Windows Server 2012 “Early Experts” Challenge online peer study group for FREE at http://earlyexperts.net. You’ll get FREE access to video-based lectures, structured study materials and hands-on lab activities to help you study and prepare!  Along the way, you’ll be part of an IT Pro community of over 1,000+ IT Pros that are all helping each other learn Windows Server 2012! What are Your Favorite Features? Do you have a Favorite Feature in Windows Server 2012 that we missed in our list above?  Feel free to share your favorites in the comments below! Keith Build Your Lab! Download Windows Server 2012 Don’t Have a Lab? Build Your Lab in the Cloud with Windows Azure Virtual Machines Want to Get Certified? Join our Windows Server 2012 "Early Experts" Study Group

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• SQL SERVER – Understanding ALTER INDEX ALL REBUILD with Disabled Clustered Index

  - by pinaldave

  This blog is in response to the ongoing communication with the reader who had earlier asked the question of SQL SERVER – Disable Clustered Index and Data Insert. The same reader has asked me the difference between ALTER INDEX ALL REBUILD and ALTER INDEX REBUILD along with disabled clustered index. Instead of writing a big theory, we will go over the demo right away. Here are the steps that we intend to follow. 1) Create Clustered and Nonclustered Index 2) Disable Clustered and Nonclustered Index 3) Enable – a) All Indexes, b) Clustered Index USE tempdb GO -- Drop Table if Exists IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.objects WHERE OBJECT_ID = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[TableName]') AND type IN (N'U')) DROP TABLE [dbo].[TableName] GO -- Create Table CREATE TABLE [dbo].[TableName]( [ID] [int] NOT NULL, [FirstCol] [varchar](50) NULL ) GO -- Create Clustered Index ALTER TABLE [TableName] ADD CONSTRAINT [PK_TableName] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED ([ID] ASC) GO -- Create Nonclustered Index CREATE UNIQUE NONCLUSTERED INDEX [IX_NonClustered_TableName] ON [dbo].[TableName] ([FirstCol] ASC) GO -- Check that all the indexes are enabled SELECT OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID), Name, type_desc, is_disabled FROM sys.indexes WHERE OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID) = 'TableName' GO Now let us disable both the indexes. -- Disable Indexes -- Disable Nonclustered Index ALTER INDEX [IX_NonClustered_TableName] ON [dbo].[TableName] DISABLE GO -- Disable Clustered Index ALTER INDEX [PK_TableName] ON [dbo].[TableName] DISABLE GO -- Check that all the indexes are disabled SELECT OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID), Name, type_desc, is_disabled FROM sys.indexes WHERE OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID) = 'TableName' GO Next, let us rebuild all the indexes and see the output. -- Test 1: ALTER INDEX ALL REBUILD -- Rebuliding should work fine ALTER INDEX ALL ON [dbo].[TableName] REBUILD GO -- Check that all the indexes are enabled SELECT OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID), Name, type_desc, is_disabled FROM sys.indexes WHERE OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID) = 'TableName' GO Now, once again disable indexes for the second test. -- Disable Indexes -- Disable Nonclustered Index ALTER INDEX [IX_NonClustered_TableName] ON [dbo].[TableName] DISABLE GO -- Disable Clustered Index ALTER INDEX [PK_TableName] ON [dbo].[TableName] DISABLE GO -- Check that all the indexes are disabled SELECT OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID), Name, type_desc, is_disabled FROM sys.indexes WHERE OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID) = 'TableName' GO Next, let us build only the clustered index and see the output of all the indexes. -- Test 2: ALTER INDEX REBUILD -- Rebuliding should work fine ALTER INDEX [PK_TableName] ON [dbo].[TableName] REBUILD GO -- Check that only clustered index is enabled SELECT OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID), Name, type_desc, is_disabled FROM sys.indexes WHERE OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID) = 'TableName' GO Let us do final clean up. -- Clean up DROP TABLE [TableName] GO From the example, it is very clear that if you have built only clustered index when the nonclustered index is disabled, it still remains disabled. Do let me know if the idea is clear. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Index, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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• Forbes Announcing The World’s Top 20 Billionaires

  - by Suganya

  Forbes company recently conducted a survey to figure out the world’s Billionaires list and has released it listing the top 20 names of the Billionaires. The company says that for the third time in the last three years the world has a new richest man for this year. So it means that Bill Gates was beaten up by someone else in world. Who is the new richest man in the world?   Forbes.Com announced the richest man in world and this time it is not Bill Gates. But it is Carlos Slim Helu who is into Telecom industry. Carlos lives in Mexico and he had the third richest man’s place last year. Having shown a Net worth of $ 53.5 Billion, Carlos has increased $18.5 Billion in a year. Carlos swooped on the privatization of Mexico’s national telephone service during the last decade and now has achieved the world’s first richest man. Following Carlos, in the second position is Bill Gates with the Nett worth of $53 Billion. As Bill Gates requires no great introduction, lets move on to the next place. The third place is occupied by Warren Buffett followed by Mukesh Ambani and Lakshmi Mittal in fourth and fifth places respectively. The top 20 names of world’s richest people, their occupation and the Nett worth that they hold are S.No Name Nett Worth (in $ Billion) Source of Income 1 Carlos Slim Helu 53.5 Telecom 2 Bill Gates 53 Microsoft 3 Warren Buffett 47 Investments 4 Mukesh Ambani 29 Petrochemical, Oil and Gas 5 Lakshmi Mittal 28.7 Steel 6 Lawrence Ellison 28 Oracle 7 Bernard Arnault 27.5 Luxury Goods 8 Eike Batista 27 Mining, Oil 9 Amancio Ortega 25 Fashion, Retail 10 Karl Albrecht 23.5 Supermarkets 11 Ingvar Kamprad and Family 23 IKEA 12 Christy Walton and Family 22.5 Wal-Mart 13 Stefan Persson 22.4 H & M 14 Li Ka-shing 21 Diversified 15 Jim C. Walton 20.7 Wal-Mart 16 Alice Walton 20.6 Wal-Mart 17 Liliane Bettencourt 20 L’Oreal 18 S. Robson Walton 19.8 Wal-Mart 19 Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Alsaud 19.4 Diversified 20 David Thomson and Family 19 Thomson Reuters   Source: Forbes and Image Credit : kevindooley Join us on Facebook to read all our stories right inside your Facebook news feed.

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