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• How do I prevent TCP connection freezes over an OpenVPN network?

  - by Jason R

  New details added at the end of this question; it's possible that I'm zeroing in on the cause. I have a UDP OpenVPN-based VPN set up in tap mode (I need tap because I need the VPN to pass multicast packets, which doesn't seem to be possible with tun networks) with a handful of clients across the Internet. I've been experiencing frequent TCP connection freezes over the VPN. That is, I will establish a TCP connection (e.g. an SSH connection, but other protocols have similar issues), and at some point during the session, it seems that traffic will cease being transmitted over that TCP session. This seems to be related to points at which large data transfers occur, such as if I execute an ls command in an SSH session, or if I cat a long log file. Some Google searches turn up a number of answers like this previous one on Server Fault, indicating that the likely culprit is an MTU issue: that during periods of high traffic, the VPN is trying to send packets that get dropped somewhere in the pipes between the VPN endpoints. The above-linked answer suggests using the following OpenVPN configuration settings to mitigate the problem: fragment 1400 mssfix This should limit the MTU used on the VPN to 1400 bytes and fix the TCP maximum segment size to prevent the generation of any packets larger than that. This seems to mitigate the problem a bit, but I still frequently see the freezes. I've tried a number of sizes as arguments to the fragment directive: 1200, 1000, 576, all with similar results. I can't think of any strange network topology between the two ends that could trigger such a problem: the VPN server is running on a pfSense machine connected directly to the Internet, and my client is also connected directly to the Internet at another location. One other strange piece of the puzzle: if I run the tracepath utility, then that seems to band-aid the problem. A sample run looks like: [~]$ tracepath -n 192.168.100.91 1: 192.168.100.90 0.039ms pmtu 1500 1: 192.168.100.91 40.823ms reached 1: 192.168.100.91 19.846ms reached Resume: pmtu 1500 hops 1 back 64 The above run is between two clients on the VPN: I initiated the trace from 192.168.100.90 to the destination of 192.168.100.91. Both clients were configured with fragment 1200; mssfix; in an attempt to limit the MTU used on the link. The above results would seem to suggest that tracepath was able to detect a path MTU of 1500 bytes between the two clients. I would assume that it would be somewhat smaller due to the fragmentation settings specified in the OpenVPN configuration. I found that result somewhat strange. Even stranger, however: if I have a TCP connection in the stalled state (e.g. an SSH session with a directory listing that froze in the middle), then executing the tracepath command shown above causes the connection to start up again! I can't figure out any reasonable explanation for why this would be the case, but I feel like this might be pointing toward a solution to ultimately eradicate the problem. Does anyone have any recommendations for other things to try? Edit: I've come back and looked at this a bit further, and have found only more confounding information: I set the OpenVPN connection to fragment at 1400 bytes, as shown above. Then, I connected to the VPN from across the Internet and used Wireshark to look at the UDP packets that were sent to the VPN server while the stall occurred. None were greater than the specified 1400 byte count, so the fragmentation seems to be functioning properly. To verify that even a 1400-byte MTU would be sufficient, I pinged the VPN server using the following (Linux) command: ping <host> -s 1450 -M do This (I believe) sends a 1450-byte packet with fragmentation disabled (I at least verified that it didn't work if I set it to an obviously-too-large value like 1600 bytes). These seem to work just fine; I get replies back from the host with no issue. So, maybe this isn't an MTU issue at all. I'm just confused as to what else it might be! Edit 2: The rabbit hole just keeps getting deeper: I've now isolated the problem a bit more. It seems to be related to the exact OS that the VPN client uses. I have successfully duplicated the problem on at least three Ubuntu machines (versions 12.04 through 13.04). I can reliably duplicate an SSH connection freeze within a minute or so by just cat-ing a large log file. However, if I do the same test using a CentOS 6 machine as a client, then I don't see the problem! I've tested using the exact same OpenVPN client version as I was using on the Ubuntu machines. I can cat log files for hours without seeing the connection freeze. This seems to provide some insight as to the ultimate cause, but I'm just not sure what that insight is. I have examined the traffic over the VPN using Wireshark. I'm not a TCP expert, so I'm not sure what to make of the gory details, but the gist is that at some point, a UDP packet gets dropped due to the limited bandwidth of the Internet link, causing TCP retransmissions inside the VPN tunnel. On the CentOS client, these retransmissions occur properly and things move on happily. At some point with the Ubuntu clients, though, the remote end starts retransmitting the same TCP segment over and over (with the transmit delay increasing between each retransmission). The client sends what looks like a valid TCP ACK to each retransmission, but the remote end still continues to transmit the same TCP segment periodically. This extends ad infinitum and the connection stalls. My question here would be: Does anyone have any recommendations for how to troubleshoot and/or determine the root cause of the TCP issue? It's as if the remote end isn't accepting the ACK messages sent by the VPN client. One common difference between the CentOS node and the various Ubuntu releases is that Ubuntu has a much more recent Linux kernel version (from 3.2 in Ubuntu 12.04 to 3.8 in 13.04). A pointer to some new kernel bug maybe? I'm assuming that if that were so, then I wouldn't be the only one experiencing the problem; I don't think this seems like a particularly exotic setup.

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• Building dynamic OLAP data marts on-the-fly

  - by DrJohn

  At the forthcoming SQLBits conference, I will be presenting a session on how to dynamically build an OLAP data mart on-the-fly. This blog entry is intended to clarify exactly what I mean by an OLAP data mart, why you may need to build them on-the-fly and finally outline the steps needed to build them dynamically. In subsequent blog entries, I will present exactly how to implement some of the techniques involved. What is an OLAP data mart? In data warehousing parlance, a data mart is a subset of the overall corporate data provided to business users to meet specific business needs. Of course, the term does not specify the technology involved, so I coined the term "OLAP data mart" to identify a subset of data which is delivered in the form of an OLAP cube which may be accompanied by the relational database upon which it was built. To clarify, the relational database is specifically create and loaded with the subset of data and then the OLAP cube is built and processed to make the data available to the end-users via standard OLAP client tools. Why build OLAP data marts? Market research companies sell data to their clients to make money. To gain competitive advantage, market research providers like to "add value" to their data by providing systems that enhance analytics, thereby allowing clients to make best use of the data. As such, OLAP cubes have become a standard way of delivering added value to clients. They can be built on-the-fly to hold specific data sets and meet particular needs and then hosted on a secure intranet site for remote access, or shipped to clients' own infrastructure for hosting. Even better, they support a wide range of different tools for analytical purposes, including the ever popular Microsoft Excel. Extension Attributes: The Challenge One of the key challenges in building multiple OLAP data marts based on the same 'template' is handling extension attributes. These are attributes that meet the client's specific reporting needs, but do not form part of the standard template. Now clearly, these extension attributes have to come into the system via additional files and ultimately be added to relational tables so they can end up in the OLAP cube. However, processing these files and filling dynamically altered tables with SSIS is a challenge as SSIS packages tend to break as soon as the database schema changes. There are two approaches to this: (1) dynamically build an SSIS package in memory to match the new database schema using C#, or (2) have the extension attributes provided as name/value pairs so the file's schema does not change and can easily be loaded using SSIS. The problem with the first approach is the complexity of writing an awful lot of complex C# code. The problem of the second approach is that name/value pairs are useless to an OLAP cube; so they have to be pivoted back into a proper relational table somewhere in the data load process WITHOUT breaking SSIS. How this can be done will be part of future blog entry. What is involved in building an OLAP data mart? There are a great many steps involved in building OLAP data marts on-the-fly. The key point is that all the steps must be automated to allow for the production of multiple OLAP data marts per day (i.e. many thousands, each with its own specific data set and attributes). Now most of these steps have a great deal in common with standard data warehouse practices. The key difference is that the databases are all built to order. The only permanent database is the metadata database (shown in orange) which holds all the metadata needed to build everything else (i.e. client orders, configuration information, connection strings, client specific requirements and attributes etc.). The staging database (shown in red) has a short life: it is built, populated and then ripped down as soon as the OLAP Data Mart has been populated. In the diagram below, the OLAP data mart comprises the two blue components: the Data Mart which is a relational database and the OLAP Cube which is an OLAP database implemented using Microsoft Analysis Services (SSAS). The client may receive just the OLAP cube or both components together depending on their reporting requirements.  So, in broad terms the steps required to fulfil a client order are as follows: Step 1: Prepare metadata Create a set of database names unique to the client's order Modify all package connection strings to be used by SSIS to point to new databases and file locations. Step 2: Create relational databases Create the staging and data mart relational databases using dynamic SQL and set the database recovery mode to SIMPLE as we do not need the overhead of logging anything Execute SQL scripts to build all database objects (tables, views, functions and stored procedures) in the two databases Step 3: Load staging database Use SSIS to load all data files into the staging database in a parallel operation Load extension files containing name/value pairs. These will provide client-specific attributes in the OLAP cube. Step 4: Load data mart relational database Load the data from staging into the data mart relational database, again in parallel where possible Allocate surrogate keys and use SSIS to perform surrogate key lookup during the load of fact tables Step 5: Load extension tables & attributes Pivot the extension attributes from their native name/value pairs into proper relational tables Add the extension attributes to the views used by OLAP cube Step 6: Deploy & Process OLAP cube Deploy the OLAP database directly to the server using a C# script task in SSIS Modify the connection string used by the OLAP cube to point to the data mart relational database Modify the cube structure to add the extension attributes to both the data source view and the relevant dimensions Remove any standard attributes that not required Process the OLAP cube Step 7: Backup and drop databases Drop staging database as it is no longer required Backup data mart relational and OLAP database and ship these to the client's infrastructure Drop data mart relational and OLAP database from the build server Mark order complete Start processing the next order, ad infinitum. So my future blog posts and my forthcoming session at the SQLBits conference will all focus on some of the more interesting aspects of building OLAP data marts on-the-fly such as handling the load of extension attributes and how to dynamically alter the structure of an OLAP cube using C#.

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• Partner Blog Series: PwC Perspectives Part 2 - Jumpstarting your IAM program with R2

  - by Tanu Sood

  Identity and access management (IAM) isn’t a new concept. Over the past decade, companies have begun to address identity management through a variety of solutions that have primarily focused on provisioning. . The new age workforce is converging at a rapid pace with ever increasing demand to use diverse portfolio of applications and systems to interact and interface with their peers in the industry and customers alike. Oracle has taken a significant leap with their release of Identity and Access Management 11gR2 towards enabling this global workforce to conduct their business in a secure, efficient and effective manner. As companies deal with IAM business drivers, it becomes immediately apparent that holistic, rather than piecemeal, approaches better address their needs. When planning an enterprise-wide IAM solution, the first step is to create a common framework that serves as the foundation on which to build the cost, compliance and business process efficiencies. As a leading industry practice, IAM should be established on a foundation of accurate data for identity management, making this data available in a uniform manner to downstream applications and processes. Mature organizations are looking beyond IAM’s basic benefits to harness more advanced capabilities in user lifecycle management. For any organization looking to embark on an IAM initiative, consider the following use cases in managing and administering user access. Expanding the Enterprise Provisioning Footprint Almost all organizations have some helpdesk resources tied up in handling access requests from users, a distraction from their core job of handling problem tickets. This dependency has mushroomed from the traditional acceptance of provisioning solutions integrating and addressing only a portion of applications in the heterogeneous landscape Oracle Identity Manager (OIM) 11gR2 solves this problem by offering integration with third party ticketing systems as “disconnected applications”. It allows for the existing business processes to be seamlessly integrated into the system and tracked throughout its lifecycle. With minimal effort and analysis, an organization can begin integrating OIM with groups or applications that are involved with manually intensive access provisioning and de-provisioning activities. This aspect of OIM allows organizations to on-board applications and associated business processes quickly using out of box templates and frameworks. This is especially important for organizations looking to fold in users and resources from mergers and acquisitions. Simplifying Access Requests Organizations looking to implement access request solutions often find it challenging to get their users to accept and adopt the new processes.. So, how do we improve the user experience, make it intuitive and personalized and yet simplify the user access process? With R2, OIM helps organizations alleviate the challenge by placing the most used functionality front and centre in the new user request interface. Roles, application accounts, and entitlements can all be found in the same interface as catalog items, giving business users a single location to go to whenever they need to initiate, approve or track a request. Furthermore, if a particular item is not relevant to a user’s job function or area inside the organization, it can be hidden so as to not overwhelm or confuse the user with superfluous options. The ability to customize the user interface to suit your needs helps in exercising the business rules effectively and avoiding access proliferation within the organization. Saving Time with Templates A typical use case that is most beneficial to business users is flexibility to place, edit, and withdraw requests based on changing circumstances and business needs. With OIM R2, multiple catalog items can now be added and removed from the shopping cart, an ecommerce paradigm that many users are already familiar with. This feature can be especially useful when setting up a large number of new employees or granting existing department or group access to a newly integrated application. Additionally, users can create their own shopping cart templates in order to complete subsequent requests more quickly. This feature saves the user from having to search for and select items all over again if a request is similar to a previous one. Advanced Delegated Administration A key feature of any provisioning solution should be to empower each business unit in managing their own access requests. By bringing administration closer to the user, you improve user productivity, enable efficiency and alleviate the administration overhead. To do so requires a federated services model so that the business units capable of shouldering the onus of user life cycle management of their business users can be enabled to do so. OIM 11gR2 offers advanced administrative options for creating, managing and controlling business logic and workflows through easy to use administrative interface and tools that can be exposed to delegated business administrators. For example, these business administrators can establish or modify how certain requests and operations should be handled within their business unit based on a number of attributes ranging from the type of request or the risk level of the individual items requested. Closed-Loop Remediation Security continues to be a major concern for most organizations. Identity management solutions bolster security by ensuring only the right users have the right access to the right resources. To prevent unauthorized access and where it already exists, the ability to detect and remediate it, are key requirements of an enterprise-grade proven solution. But the challenge with most solutions today is that some of this information still exists in silos. And when changes are made to systems directly, not all information is captured. With R2, oracle is offering a comprehensive Identity Governance solution that our customer organizations are leveraging for closed loop remediation that allows for an automated way for administrators to revoke unauthorized access. The change is automatically captured and the action noted for continued management. Conclusion While implementing provisioning solutions, it is important to keep the near term and the long term goals in mind. The provisioning solution should always be a part of a larger security and identity management program but with the ability to seamlessly integrate not only with the company’s infrastructure but also have the ability to leverage the information, business models compiled and used by the other identity management solutions. This allows organizations to reduce the cost of ownership, close security gaps and leverage the existing infrastructure. And having done so a multiple clients’ sites, this is the approach we recommend. In our next post, we will take a journey through our experiences of advising clients looking to upgrade to R2 from a previous version or migrating from a different solution. Meet the Writers:   Praveen Krishna is a Manager in the Advisory Security practice within PwC.  Over the last decade Praveen has helped clients plan, architect and implement Oracle identity solutions across diverse industries.  His experience includes delivering security across diverse topics like network, infrastructure, application and data where he brings a holistic point of view to problem solving. Dharma Padala is a Director in the Advisory Security practice within PwC.  He has been implementing medium to large scale Identity Management solutions across multiple industries including utility, health care, entertainment, retail and financial sectors.   Dharma has 14 years of experience in delivering IT solutions out of which he has been implementing Identity Management solutions for the past 8 years. Scott MacDonald is a Director in the Advisory Security practice within PwC.  He has consulted for several clients across multiple industries including financial services, health care, automotive and retail.   Scott has 10 years of experience in delivering Identity Management solutions. John Misczak is a member of the Advisory Security practice within PwC.  He has experience implementing multiple Identity and Access Management solutions, specializing in Oracle Identity Manager and Business Process Engineering Language (BPEL). Jenny (Xiao) Zhang is a member of the Advisory Security practice within PwC.  She has consulted across multiple industries including financial services, entertainment and retail. Jenny has three years of experience in delivering IT solutions out of which she has been implementing Identity Management solutions for the past one and a half years.

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• Conducting Effective Web Meetings

  - by BuckWoody

  There are several forms of corporate communication. From immediate, rich communications like phones and IM messaging to historical transactions like e-mail, there are a lot of ways to get information to one or more people. From time to time, it's even useful to have a meeting. (This is where a witty picture of a guy sleeping in a meeting goes. I won't bother actually putting one here; you're already envisioning it in your mind) Most meetings are pointless, and a complete waste of time. This is the fault, completely and solely, of the organizer. It's because he or she hasn't thought things through enough to think about alternate forms of information passing. Here's the criteria for a good meeting - whether in-person or over the web: 100% of the content of a meeting should require the participation of 100% of the attendees for 100% of the time It doesn't get any simpler than that. If it doesn't meet that criteria, then don't invite that person to that meeting. If you're just conveying information and no one has the need for immediate interaction with that information (like telling you something that modifies the message), then send an e-mail. If you're a manager, and you need to get status from lots of people, pick up the phone.If you need a quick answer, use IM. I once had a high-level manager that called frequent meetings. His real need was status updates on various processes, so 50 of us would sit in a room while he asked each one of us questions. He believed this larger meeting helped us "cross pollinate ideas". In fact, it was a complete waste of time for most everyone, except in the one or two moments that they interacted with him. So I wrote some code for a Palm Pilot (which was a kind of SmartPhone but with no phone and no real graphics, but this was in the days when we had just discovered fire and the wheel, although the order of those things is still in debate) that took an average of the salaries of the people in the room (I guessed at it) and ran a timer which multiplied the number of people against the salaries. I left that running in plain sight for him, and when he asked about it, I explained how much the meetings were really costing the company. We had far fewer meetings after. Meetings are now web-enabled. I believe that's largely a good thing, since it saves on travel time and allows more people to participate, but I think the rule above still holds. And in fact, there are some other rules that you should follow to have a great meeting - and fewer of them. Be Clear About the Goal This is important in any meeting, but all of us have probably gotten an invite with a web link and an ambiguous title. Then you get to the meeting, and it's a 500-level deep-dive on something everyone expects you to know. This is unfair to the "expert" and to the participants. I always tell people that invite me to a meeting that I will be as detailed as I can - but the more detail they can tell me about the questions, the more detailed I can be in my responses. Granted, there are times when you don't know what you don't know, but the more you can say about the topic the better. There's another point here - and it's that you should have a clearly defined "win" for the meeting. When the meeting is over, and everyone goes back to work, what were you expecting them to do with the information? Have that clearly defined in your head, and in the meeting invite. Understand the Technology There are several web-meeting clients out there. I use them all, since I meet with clients all over the world. They all work differently - so I take a few moments and read up on the different clients and find out how I can use the tools properly. I do this with the technology I use for everything else, and it's important to understand it if the meeting is to be a success. If you're running the meeting, know the tools. I don't care if you like the tools or not, learn them anyway. Don't waste everyone else's time just because you're too bitter/snarky/lazy to spend a few minutes reading. Check your phone or mic. Check your video size. Install (and learn to use)  ZoomIT (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897434.aspx). Format your slides or screen or output correctly. Learn to use the voting features of the meeting software, and especially it's whiteboard features. Figure out how multiple monitors work. Try a quick meeting with someone to test all this. Do this *before* you invite lots of other people to your meeting.   Use a WebCam I'm not a pretty man. I have a face fit for radio. But after attending a meeting with clients where one Microsoft person used a webcam and another did not, I'm convinced that people pay more attention when a face is involved. There are tons of studies around this, or you can take my word for it, but toss a shirt on over those pajamas and turn the webcam on. Set Up Early Whether you're attending or leading the meeting, don't wait to sign on to the meeting at the time when it starts. I can almost plan that a 10:00 meeting will actually start at 10:10 because the participants/leader is just now installing the web client for the meeting at 10:00. Sign on early, go on mute, and then wait for everyone to arrive. Mute When Not Talking No one wants to hear your screaming offspring / yappy dog / other cubicle conversations / car wind noise (are you driving in a desert storm or something?) while the person leading the meeting is trying to talk. I use the Lync software from Microsoft for my meetings, and I mute everyone by default, and then tell them to un-mute to talk to the group. Share Collateral If you have a PowerPoint deck, mail it out in case you have a tech failure. If you have a document, share it as an attachment to the meeting. Don't make people ask you for the information - that's why you're there to begin with. Even better, send it out early. "But", you say, "then no one will come to the meeting if they have the deck first!" Uhm, then don't have a meeting. Send out the deck and a quick e-mail and let everyone get on with their productive day. Set Actions At the Meeting A meeting should have some sort of outcome (see point one). That means there are actions to take, a follow up, or some deliverable. Otherwise, it's an e-mail. At the meeting, decide who will do what, when things are needed, and so on. And avoid, if at all possible, setting up another meeting, unless absolutely necessary. So there you have it. Whether it's on-premises or on the web, meetings are a necessary evil, and should be treated that way. Like politicians, you should have as few of them as are necessary to keep the roads paved and public libraries open.

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• Raspberry Pi entrance signed backed by Umbraco - Part 1

  - by Chris Houston

  Being experts on all things Umbraco, we jumped at the chance to help our client, QV Offices, with their pressing signage predicament. They needed to display a sign in the entrance to their building and approached us for our advice. Of course it had to be electronic: displaying multiple names of their serviced office clients, meeting room bookings and on-the-pulse promotions. But with a winding Victorian staircase and minimal storage space how could the monitor be run, updated and managed? That’s where we came in…Raspberry PiUmbraco CMSAutomatic updatesAutomated monitor of the signPower saving when the screen is not in useMounting the screenThe screen that has been used is a standard LED low energy Full HD screen and has been mounted on the wall using it's VESA mounting points, as the wall is a stud wall we were able to add an access panel behind the screen to feed through the mains, HDMI and sensor cables.The Raspberry Pi is then tucked away out of sight in the main electrical cupboard which just happens to be next to the sign, we had an electrician add a power point inside this cupboard to allow us to power the screen and the Raspberry Pi.Designing the interface and editing the contentAlthough a room sign was the initial requirement from QV Offices, their medium term goal has always been to add online meeting booking to their website and hence we suggested adding information about the current and next day's meetings to the sign that would be pulled directly from their online booking system.We produced the design and built the web page to fit exactly on a 1920 x 1080 screen (Full HD in Portrait)As you would expect all the information can be edited via an Umbraco CMS, they are able to add floors, rooms, clients and virtual clients as well as add meeting bookings to their meeting diary.How we configured the Raspberry PiAfter receiving a new Raspberry Pi we downloaded the latest release of Raspbian operating system and followed the official guide which shows how to copy the OS onto an SD card from a Mac, we then followed the majority of steps on this useful guide: 10 Things to Do After Buying a Raspberry Pi.Installing ChromiumWe chose to use the Chromium web browser which for those who do not know is the open sourced version of Google Chrome. You can install this from the terminal with the following command:sudo apt-get install chromium-browserInstalling UnclutterWe found this little application which automatically hides the mouse pointer, it is used in the script below and is installed using the following command:sudo apt-get install unclutterAuto start Chromium and disabling the screen saver, power saving and mouseWhen the Raspberry Pi has been installed it will not have a keyboard or mouse and hence if their was a power cut we needed it to always boot and re-loaded Chromium with the correct URL.Our preferred command line text editor is Nano and I have assumed you know how to use this editor or will be able to work it out pretty quickly.So using the following command:sudo nano /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE/autostartWe then changed the autostart file content to:@lxpanel --profile LXDE@pcmanfm --desktop --profile LXDE@xscreensaver -no-splash@xset s off@xset -dpms@xset s noblank@chromium --kiosk --incognito http://www.qvoffices.com/someURL@unclutter -idle 0The first few commands turn off the screen saver and power saving, we then open Cromium in Kiosk Mode (full screen with no menu etc) and pass in the URL to use (I have changed the URL in this example) We found a useful blog post with the Cromium command line switches.Finally we also open an application called Unclutter which auto hides the mouse after 0 seconds, so you will never see a mouse on the sign.We also had to edit the following file:sudo nano /etc/lightdm/lightdm.confAnd added the following line under the [SeatDefault] section:xserver-command=X -s 0 dpmsRefreshing the screenWe decided to try and add a scheduled task that would trigger Chromium to reload the page, at some point in the future we might well change this to using Javascript to update the content, but for now this works fine.First we installed the XDOTool which enables you to script Keyboard commands:sudo apt-get install xdotoolWe used the Refreshing Chromium Browser by Shell Script post as a reference and created the following shell script (which we called refreshing.sh):export DISPLAY=":0"WID=$(xdotool search --onlyvisible --class chromium|head -1)xdotool windowactivate ${WID}xdotool key ctrl+F5This selects the correct display and then sends a CTRL + F5 to refresh Chromium.You will need to give this file execute permissions:chmod a=rwx refreshing.shNow we have the script file setup we just need to schedule it to call this script periodically which is done by using Crontab, to edit this you use the following command:crontab -eAnd we added the following:*/5 * * * * DISPLAY=":.0" /home/pi/scripts/refreshing.sh >/home/pi/cronlog.log 2>&1This calls our script every 5 minutes to refresh the display and it logs any errors to the cronlog.log file.SummaryQV Offices now have a richer and more manageable booking system than they did before we started, and a great new sign to boot.How could we make sure that the sign was running smoothly downstairs in a busy office centre? A second post will follow outlining exactly how Vizioz enabled QV Offices to monitor their sign simply and remotely, from the comfort of their desks.

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• The Next Wave of PeopleSoft Capabilities for the Staffing Industry Is Here

  - by Mark Rosenberg

  With the release of PeopleSoft Financials and Supply Chain Management 9.1 Feature Pack 2 in January this year, we introduced substantial new capabilities for our Staffing Industry customers. Through a co-development project with Infosys Limited, we have enriched Oracle's PeopleSoft Staffing Solution with new tools aimed at accelerating and improving the quality of job order fulfillment, increasing branch recruiter productivity, and driving profitable growth. Staffing industry firms succeed based on their ability to rapidly, cost-effectively, and continually fill their pipelines with new clients and job orders, recruit the best talent, and match orders with talent. Pressure to execute in each of these functional areas is even more acute on staffing firms as contingent labor becomes a more substantial and permanent part of the workforce mix. In an industry that creates value through speedy execution, there is little room for manual, inefficient processes and brittle, custom integrations, which throttle profitability and growth. The latest wave of investment in the PeopleSoft Staffing Solution focuses on generating efficiency and flexibility for our customers. Simplicity To operate profitably and continue growing, a Staffing enterprise needs its client management, recruiting, order fulfillment, and other processes to function in harmony. Most importantly, they need to be simple for recruiters, branch managers, and applicants to access and understand. The latest PeopleSoft Staffing Solution set of enhancements includes numerous automated defaulting mechanisms and information-rich dashboard pagelets that even a new employee can learn quickly. Pending Applicant, Agenda management, Search, and other pagelets are just a few of the newest, easy-to-use tools that not only aggregate and summarize information, but also provide instant access to applicants, tasks, and key reports for branch staff. Productivity The leading firms in the Staffing industry are those that can more efficiently orchestrate large numbers of candidates, clients, and orders than their competitors can. PeopleSoft Financials and Supply Chain Management 9.1 Feature Pack 2 delivers productivity boosters that Staffing firms can leverage to streamline tasks and processes for competitive advantage. For example, we enhanced the Recruiting Funnel, which manages the candidate on-boarding process, with a highly interactive user interface. It integrates disparate Staffing business processes and exploits new PeopleTools technologies to offer a superior on-boarding user experience. Automated creation of agenda items and assignment tasks for each candidate minimizes setup and organizes assignment steps for the on-boarding process. Mass updates of tasks and instant access to the candidate overview page (which we also expanded), candidate event status, event counts, and other key data enable recruiters to better serve clients and candidates. Lower TCO Constructing and maintaining an efficient yet flexible labor supply chain can be complicated, let alone expensive. Traditionally, Staffing firms have been challenged in controlling their technology cost of ownership because connecting candidate and client-facing tools involved building and integrating custom applications and technologies and managing staff turnover, placing heavy demands on IT and support staff. With PeopleSoft Financials and Supply Chain Management 9.1 Feature Pack 2, there are two major enhancements that aggressively tackle these challenges. First, we added another integration framework to enable cost-effective linking of the Staffing firm’s PeopleSoft applications and its job board distributors. (The first PeopleSoft 9.1 Feature Pack released in March 2011 delivered an integration framework to connect to resume parsing providers.) Second, we introduced the teaming concept to enable work to be partitioned to groups, as well as individuals. These two capabilities, combined with a host of others, position Staffing firms to configure and grow their businesses without growing their IT and overhead expenditures. For our Staffing Industry customers, PeopleSoft Financials and Supply Chain Management 9.1 Feature Pack 2 is loaded with high-value tools aimed at enabling and sustaining a flexible labor supply chain. For more information, contact [email protected] or [email protected].

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• Tuxedo 11gR1 Client Server Affinity

  - by todd.little

  One of the major new features in Oracle Tuxedo 11gR1 is the ability to define an affinity between clients and servers. In previous releases of Tuxedo, the only way to ensure that multiple requests from a client went to the same server was to establish a conversation with tpconnect() and then use tpsend() and tprecv(). Although this works it has some drawbacks. First for single-threaded servers, the server is tied up for the entire duration of the conversation and cannot service other clients, an obvious scalability issue. I believe the more significant drawback is that the application programmer has to switch from the simple request/response model provided by tpcall() to the half duplex tpsend() and tprecv() calls used with conversations. Switching between the two typically requires a fair amount of redesign and recoding. The Client Server Affinity feature in Tuxedo 11gR1 allows by way of configuration an application to define affinities that can exist between clients and servers. This is done in the *SERVICES section of the UBBCONFIG file. Using new parameters for services defined in the *SERVICES section, customers can determine when an affinity session is created or deleted, the scope of the affinity, and whether requests can be routed outside the affinity scope. The AFFINITYSCOPE parameter can be MACHINE, GROUP, or SERVER, meaning that while the affinity session is in place, all requests from the client will be routed to the same MACHINE, GROUP, or SERVER. The creation and deletion of affinity is defined by the SESSIONROLE parameter and a service can be defined as either BEGIN, END, or NONE, where BEGIN starts an affinity session, END deletes the affinity session, and NONE does not impact the affinity session. Finally customers can define how strictly they want the affinity scope adhered to using the AFFINITYSTRICT parameter. If set to MANDATORY, all requests made during an affinity session will be routed to a server in the affinity scope. Thus if the affinity scope is SERVER, all subsequent tpcall() requests will be sent to the same server the affinity scope was established with. If the server doesn't offer that service, even though other servers do offer the service, the call will fail with TPNOENT. Setting AFFINITYSTRICT to PRECEDENT tells Tuxedo to try and route the request to a server in the affinity scope, but if that's not possible, then Tuxedo can try to route the request to servers out of scope. All of this begs the question, why? Why have this feature? There many uses for this capability, but the most common is when there is state that is maintained in a server, group of servers, or in a machine and subsequent requests from a client must be routed to where that state is maintained. This might be something as simple as a database cursor maintained by a server on behalf of a client. Alternatively it might be that the server has a connection to an external system and subsequent requests need to go back to the server that has that connection. A more sophisticated case is where a group of servers maintains some sort of cache in shared memory and subsequent requests need to be routed to where the cache is maintained. Although this last case might be able to be handled by data dependent routing, using client server affinity allows the cache to be partitioned dynamically instead of statically.

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• SSIS - Connect to Oracle on a 64-bit machine (Updated for SSIS 2008 R2)

  - by jorg

  We recently had a few customers where a connection to Oracle on a 64 bit machine was necessary. A quick search on the internet showed that this could be a big problem. I found all kind of blog and forum posts of developers complaining about this. A lot of developers will recognize the following error message: Test connection failed because of an error in initializing provider. Oracle client and networking components were not found. These components are supplied by Oracle Corporation and are part of the Oracle Version 7.3.3 or later client software installation. Provider is unable to function until these components are installed. After a lot of searching, trying and debugging I think I found the right way to do it! Problems Because BIDS is a 32 bit application, as well on 32 as on 64 bit machines, it cannot see the 64 bit driver for Oracle. Because of this, connecting to Oracle from BIDS on a 64 bit machine will never work when you install the 64 bit Oracle client. Another problem is the "Microsoft Provider for Oracle", this driver only exists in a 32 bit version and Microsoft has no plans to create a 64 bit one in the near future. The last problem I know of is in the Oracle client itself, it seems that a connection will never work with the instant client, so always use the full client. There are also a lot of problems with the 10G client, one of it is the fact that this driver can't handle the "(x86)" in the path of SQL Server. So using the 10G client is no option! Solution Download the Oracle 11G full client. Install the 32 AND the 64 bit version of the 11G full client (Installation Type: Administrator) and reboot the server afterwards. The 32 bit version is needed for development from BIDS with is 32 bit, the 64 bit version is needed for production with the SQLAgent, which is 64 bit. Configure the Oracle clients (both 32 and 64 bits) by editing  the files tnsnames.ora and sqlnet.ora. Try to do this with an Oracle DBA or, even better, let him/her do this. Use the "Oracle provider for OLE DB" from SSIS, don't use the "Microsoft Provider for Oracle" because a 64 bit version of it does not exist. Schedule your packages with the SQLAgent. Background information Visual Studio (BI Dev Studio)is a 32bit application. SQL Server Management Studio is a 32bit application. dtexecui.exe is a 32bit application. dtexec.exe has both 32bit and 64bit versions. There are x64 and x86 versions of the Oracle provider available. SQLAgent is a 64bit process. My advice to BI consultants is to get an Oracle DBA or professional for the installation and configuration of the 2 full clients (32 and 64 bit). Tell the DBA to download the biggest client available, this way you are sure that they pick the right one ;-) Testing if the clients have been installed and configured in the right way can be done with Windows ODBC Data Source Administrator: Start... Programs... Administrative tools... Data Sources (ODBC) ADITIONAL STEPS FOR SSIS 2008 R2 It seems that, unfortunately, some additional steps are necessary for SQL Server 2008 R2 installations: 1. Open REGEDIT (Start… Run… REGEDIT) on the server and search for the following entry (for the 32 bits driver): HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MSDTC\MTxOCI Make sure the following values are entered: 2. Next, search for (for the 64 bits driver): HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\MSDTC\MTxOCI Make sure the same values as above are entered. 3. Reboot your server.

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• Remote Desktop (Vino-Server) connects but display doesn't work?

  - by kmassada

  Ubuntu comes default with vino-server, I can remote into my machine, and connect to it, however, the display inside my remote client, is a mirror of my own desktop. I tried using one monitor, thinking that's what is the issue but still won't work. (vino-server:3608): EggSMClient-CRITICAL **: egg_sm_client_set_mode: assertion `global_client == NULL || global_client_mode == EGG_SM_CLIENT_MODE_DISABLED' failed 25/07/2012 12:23:58 PM Autoprobing TCP port in (all) network interface 25/07/2012 12:23:58 PM Listening IPv6://[::]:5900 25/07/2012 12:23:58 PM Listening IPv4://0.0.0.0:5900 25/07/2012 12:23:58 PM Autoprobing selected port 5900 25/07/2012 12:23:58 PM Advertising security type: 'TLS' (18) 25/07/2012 12:23:58 PM Re-binding socket to listen for VNC connections on TCP port 5900 in (all) interface 25/07/2012 12:23:58 PM Listening IPv6://[::]:5900 25/07/2012 12:23:58 PM Listening IPv4://0.0.0.0:5900 25/07/2012 12:23:58 PM Clearing securityTypes 25/07/2012 12:23:58 PM Advertising security type: 'TLS' (18) 25/07/2012 12:23:58 PM Clearing securityTypes 25/07/2012 12:23:58 PM Advertising security type: 'TLS' (18) 25/07/2012 12:23:58 PM Advertising authentication type: 'No Authentication' (1) 25/07/2012 12:23:58 PM Re-binding socket to listen for VNC connections on TCP port 5900 in (all) interface 25/07/2012 12:23:58 PM Listening IPv6://[::]:5900 25/07/2012 12:23:58 PM Listening IPv4://0.0.0.0:5900 25/07/2012 12:23:58 PM Clearing securityTypes 25/07/2012 12:23:58 PM Clearing authTypes 25/07/2012 12:23:58 PM Advertising security type: 'TLS' (18) 25/07/2012 12:23:58 PM Advertising authentication type: 'VNC Authentication' (2) 25/07/2012 12:23:58 PM Clearing securityTypes 25/07/2012 12:23:58 PM Clearing authTypes 25/07/2012 12:23:58 PM Advertising security type: 'TLS' (18) 25/07/2012 12:23:58 PM Advertising authentication type: 'VNC Authentication' (2) 25/07/2012 12:23:58 PM Advertising security type: 'VNC Authentication' (2) (vino-server:3608): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent. (vino-server:3608): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent. 25/07/2012 12:24:16 PM [IPv4] Got connection from client static-XXXX.bltmmd.fios.verizon.net 25/07/2012 12:24:16 PM other clients: 25/07/2012 12:24:29 PM Client Protocol Version 3.7 25/07/2012 12:24:29 PM Advertising security type 18 25/07/2012 12:24:29 PM Advertising security type 2 25/07/2012 12:24:30 PM Client returned security type 18 25/07/2012 12:24:30 PM Advertising authentication type 2 25/07/2012 12:24:30 PM Client returned authentication type 2 25/07/2012 12:24:37 PM rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding type -258 25/07/2012 12:24:37 PM Enabling NewFBSize protocol extension for client static-XXXX.bltmmd.fios.verizon.net 25/07/2012 12:24:37 PM rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding type 1464686185 25/07/2012 12:24:37 PM rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding type -259 25/07/2012 12:24:37 PM rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding type -257 (vino-server:3608): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent. 25/07/2012 12:24:55 PM Client static-XXXX.bltmmd.fios.verizon.net gone 25/07/2012 12:24:55 PM Statistics: 25/07/2012 12:24:55 PM key events received 0, pointer events 80 25/07/2012 12:24:55 PM framebuffer updates 43, rectangles 152, bytes 292401 25/07/2012 12:24:55 PM tight rectangles 152, bytes 292401 25/07/2012 12:24:55 PM raw bytes equivalent 11621332, compression ratio 39.744502 25/07/2012 12:25:21 PM [IPv4] Got connection from client static-XXXX.bltmmd.fios.verizon.net 25/07/2012 12:25:21 PM other clients: 25/07/2012 12:25:28 PM Client Protocol Version 3.7 25/07/2012 12:25:28 PM Advertising security type 18 25/07/2012 12:25:28 PM Advertising security type 2 25/07/2012 12:25:28 PM Client returned security type 18 25/07/2012 12:25:29 PM Advertising authentication type 2 25/07/2012 12:25:29 PM Client returned authentication type 2 25/07/2012 12:25:37 PM rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding type -258 25/07/2012 12:25:37 PM Enabling NewFBSize protocol extension for client static-XXXX.bltmmd.fios.verizon.net 25/07/2012 12:25:37 PM rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding type 1464686185 25/07/2012 12:25:37 PM rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding type -259 25/07/2012 12:25:37 PM rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding type -257 (vino-server:3608): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent. 25/07/2012 12:25:47 PM Client static-XXXX.bltmmd.fios.verizon.net gone 25/07/2012 12:25:47 PM Statistics: 25/07/2012 12:25:47 PM key events received 0, pointer events 7283 25/07/2012 12:25:47 PM framebuffer updates 27, rectangles 82, bytes 113354 25/07/2012 12:25:47 PM tight rectangles 82, bytes 113354 25/07/2012 12:25:47 PM raw bytes equivalent 5831432, compression ratio 51.444431 couple of things I notice, the following error occurs over and over again. the menu error seems to be caused by ubuntu, similar problems occur http://trac.wxwidgets.org/ticket/14292, (vino-server:3608): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent. the second one also seem to be a display related issue, can't seem to figure out a solution. I really rather try to fix this issue than have to use the other vnc clients most suggest. (vino-server:3608): EggSMClient-CRITICAL **: egg_sm_client_set_mode: assertion `global_client == NULL || global_client_mode == EGG_SM_CLIENT_MODE_DISABLED' failed

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• Node.js Lockstep Multiplayer Architecture

  - by Wakaka

  Background I'm using the lockstep model for a multiplayer Node.js/Socket.IO game in a client-server architecture. User input (mouse or keypress) is parsed into commands like 'attack' and 'move' on the client, which are sent to the server and scheduled to be executed on a certain tick. This is in contrast to sending state data to clients, which I don't wish to use due to bandwidth issues. Each tick, the server will send the list of commands on that tick (possibly empty) to each client. The server and all clients will then process the commands and simulate that tick in exactly the same way. With Node.js this is actually quite simple due to possibility of code sharing between server and client. I'll just put the deterministic simulator in the /shared folder which can be run by both server and client. The server simulation is required so that there is an authoritative version of the simulation which clients cannot alter. Problem Now, the game has many entity classes, like Unit, Item, Tree etc. Entities are created in the simulator. However, for each class, it has some methods that are shared and some that are client-specific. For instance, the Unit class has addHp method which is shared. It also has methods like getSprite (gets the image of the entity), isVisible (checks if unit can be seen by the client), onDeathInClient (does a bunch of stuff when it dies only on the client like adding announcements) and isMyUnit (quick function to check if the client owns the unit). Up till now, I have been piling all the client functions into the shared Unit class, and adding a this.game.isServer() check when necessary. For instance, when the unit dies, it will call if (!this.game.isServer()) { this.onDeathInClient(); }. This approach has worked pretty fine so far, in terms of functionality. But as the codebase grew bigger, this style of coding seems a little strange. Firstly, the client code is clearly not shared, and yet is placed under the /shared folder. Secondly, client-specific variables for each entity are also instantiated on the server entity (like unit.sprite) and can run into problems when the server cannot instantiate the variable (it doesn't have Image class like on browsers). So my question is, is there a better way to organize the client code, or is this a common way of doing things for lockstep multiplayer games? I can think of a possible workaround, but it does have its own problems. Possible workaround (with problems) I could use Javascript mixins that are only added when in a browser. Thus, in the /shared/unit.js file in the /shared folder, I would have this code at the end: if (typeof exports !== 'undefined') module.exports = Unit; else mixin(Unit, LocalUnit); Then I would have /client/localunit.js store an object LocalUnit of client-side methods for Unit. Now, I already have a publish-subscribe system in place for events in the simulator. To remove the this.game.isServer() checks, I could publish entity-specific events whenever I want the client to do something. For instance, I would do this.publish('Death') in /shared/unit.js and do this.subscribe('Death', this.onDeathInClient) in /client/localunit.js. But this would make the simulator's event listeners list on the server and the client different. Now if I want to clear all subscribed events only from the shared simulator, I can't. Of course, it is possible to create two event subscription systems - one client-specific and one shared - but now the publish() method would have to do if (!this.game.isServer()) { this.publishOnClient(event); }. All in all, the workaround off the top of my head seems pretty complicated for something as simple as separating the client and shared code. Thus, I wonder if there is an established and simpler method for better code organization, hopefully specific to Node.js games.

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• Unable to Sign in to the Microsoft Online Services Signin application from Windows 7 client located behind ISA firewall

  - by Ravindra Pamidi

  A while ago i helped a customer troubleshoot authentication problem with Microsoft Online Services Signin application.  This customer was evaluating Microsoft BPOS (Business Productivity Online Services) and was having trouble using the single sign on application behind ISA 2004 firewall.The network structure is fairly simple with single Windows 2003 Active Directory domain and Windows 7 clients. On a successful logon to the Microsoft Online Services Signin application, this application provides single signon functionality to all of Microsoft online services in the BPOS package. Symptoms:When trying to signin it fails with error "The service is currently unavailable. Please try again later. If problems continue, contact your service administrator". If ISA 2004 firewall is removed from the picture the authentication succeeds.Troubleshooting: Enabled ISA Server firewall logging along with Microsoft Network Monitor tool on the Windows 7 Client while reproducing the issue. Analysis of the ISA Server Firewall logs and Microsoft Network capture revealed that the Microsoft Online Services Sign In application when sending request to ISA Server does not send the domain credentials and as a result ISA Server responds with an error code of HTTP 407 Proxy authentication required listing out the supported authentication mechanisms.  The application in question is expected to send the credentials of the domain user in response to this request. However in this case, it fails to send the logged on user's domain credentials. Bit of researching on the Internet revealed that The "Microsoft Online Services Sign In" application by default does not support Outbound Internet Proxy authentication. In order for it to send the logged on user's domain credentials we had to make  changes to its configuration file "SignIn.exe.config" located under "Program Files\Microsoft Online Services\Sign In" folder. Step by Step details to configure the configuration file are documented on Microsoft TechNet website given below.  Configure your outbound authenticating proxy serverhttp://www.microsoft.com/online/help/en-us/helphowto/cc54100d-d149-45a9-8e96-f248ecb1b596.htm After the above problem was addressed we were still not able to use the "Microsoft Online Services Sign In" application and it failed with the same error.  Analysis of another network capture revealed that the application in question is now sending the required credentials and the connection seems to terminate at a later stage. Enabled verbose logging for the "Microsoft Online Services Sign In" application and then reproduced the problem. Analysis of the logs revealed a time difference between the local client and Microsoft Online services server of around seven minutes which is above the acceptable time skew of five minutes. Excerpt from Microsoft Online Services Sign In application verbose log:  1/26/2012 1:57:51 PM Verbose SingleSignOn.GetSSOGenericInterface SSO Interface URL: https://signinservice.apac.microsoftonline.com/ssoservice/UID1/26/2012 1:57:52 PM Exception SSOSignIn.SignIn The security timestamp is invalid because its creation time ('2012-01-26T08:34:52.767Z') is in the future. Current time is '2012-01-26T08:27:52.987Z' and allowed clock skew is '00:05:00'.1/26/2012 1:57:52 PM Exception SSOSignIn.SignIn  Although the Windows 7 Clients successfully synchronized time to the domain controller for the domain, the domain controller was not configured to synchronize time with external NTP servers. This caused a gradual drift in time on the network thus resulting in the above issue. Reconfigured the domain controller holding the PDC FSMO role to synchronize time with external time source ( time.nist.gov ) and edited the system policy on the ISA server firewall to allow NTP traffic to time.nist.gov Configure the time source for the forest:Windows Time Servicehttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc794937(WS.10).aspx Forced synchronization of Windows time using the command w32tm /resync on the domain controller and later on the clients each of which had corrected the seven minutes difference. This resolved the problem with logon to Microsoft Online Services Sign In.

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• How can I best implement 'cache until further notice' with memcache in multiple tiers?

  - by ajreal

  the term "client" used here is not referring to client's browser, but client server Before cache workflow 1. client make a HTTP request --> 2. server process --> 3. store parsed results into memcache for next use (cache indefinitely) --> 4. return results to client --> 5. client get the result, store into client's local memcache with TTL After cache workflow 1. another client make a HTTP request --> 2. memcache found return memcache results to client --> 3. client get the result, store into client's local memcache with TTL TTL = time to live Is possible for me to know when the data was updated, and to expire relevant memcache(s) accordingly. However, the pitfalls on client site cache TTL Any data update before the TTL is not pick-up by client memcache. In reverse manner, where there is no update, client memcache still expire after the TTL First request (or concurrent requests) after cache TTL will get throttle as it need to repeat the "Before cache workflow" In the event where client require several HTTP requests on a single web page, it could be very bad in performance. Ideal solution should be client to cache indefinitely until further notice. Here are the three proposals about futher notice Proposal 1 : Make use on HTTP header (current implementation) 1. client sent HTTP request last modified time header 2. server check if last data modified time=last cache time return status 304 3. client based on header to decide further processing GOOD? ---- - save some parsing for client - lesser data transfer BAD? ---- - fire a HTTP request is still slow - server end still need to process lots of requests Proposal 2 : Consistently issue a HTTP request to check all data group last modified time 1. client fire a HTTP request 2. server to return last modified time for all data group 3. client compare local last cache time with the result 4. if data group last cache time < server last modified time then request again for that data group only GOOD? ---- - only fetch what is no up-to-date - less requests for server BAD? ---- - every web page require a HTTP request Proposal 3 : Tell client when new data is available (Push) 1. when server end notice there is a change on a data group 2. notify clients on the changes 3. help clients to fetch again data 4. then reset client local memcache after data is parsed GOOD? ---- - let the cache act/behave like a true cache BAD? ---- - encourage race condition My preference is on proposal 3, and something like Gearman could be ideal Where there is a change, Gearman server to sent the task to multiple clients (workers). Am I crazy? (I know my first question is a bit crazy)

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• How can I work efficiently on a desktop sharing workflow?

  - by OSdave

  I am a freelance Magento developer, based in Spain. One of my clients is a Germany based web development company and they're asking me something I think it's impossible. OK, maybe not impossible but definitely not a preferred way of doing things. One of their clients has a Magento Entreprise installation, which is the paid (and I think proprietary) version of Magento. Their client has forbidden them to download the files from his server. My client is asking me now to study one particular module of the application in order to interact with it from a custom module I'll have to develop. As they have a read-only ssh access to their client's server, they came up with this solution: Set up a desktop/screen sharing session between one of their developer's station and mine, alongsides with a skype conversation. Their idea is that I'll say to the developer: show me file foo.php The developer will then open this foo.php file in his IDE. I'll have then to ask him to show me the bar method, the parent class, etc... Remember that it's a read-only session, so forget about putting a Zend_Debug::log() anywhere, and don't even think about a xDebug breakpoint (they don't use any kind of debugger, sic). Their client has also forbidden them to use any version control system... My first reaction when they explained to me this was (and I actually did say it outloud to them): Well, find another client. but they took it as a joke from me. I understand that in a business point of view rejecting a client is not a good practice, but I think that the condition of this assignment make it impossible to complete. At least according to my workflow. I mean, the way I work or learn a new framework/program is: download all files and copy of db on my pc create a git repository and a branch run the application locally use breakpoints use Zend_Debug::log() write the code and tests commit to git repo upload to (test/staging first if there is one, production if not) server I have agreed to try the desktop sharing session, although I think it will be a waste of time. On one hand I don't mind, they pay me for that time, but I know me and I don't like the sensation of loosing my time. On the other hand, I have other clients for whom I can work according to my workflow. I am about to say to them that I cannot (don't want to) do it. Well, I'll first try this desktop sharing session: maybe I'm wrong and it can actually work. But I like to consider myself as a professional, and I know that I don't know everything. So I try to keep an open mind and I am always willing to learn new stuff. So my questions are: Can this desktop-sharing workflow work? What should be done in order to take the most of it? Taking into account all the obstacles (geographic locations, no local, no git), is there another way for me to work on that project?

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• PBCS Hyperion Planning in the Cloud PartnerLab 2-Day Training

  - by Mike.Hallett(at)Oracle-BI&EPM

  Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Objective of the PartnerLab:  To help partners engage the interest and commitment of their clients for Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service projects. This is your unique opportunity to learn how to expand your business with the PBCS Application. This 2-day PartnerLab workshop will enable your team to understand the fundamental concepts of the PBCS Application, the implications of Oracle Public Cloud deployment, and to effectively present and demonstrate PBCS to prospective clients. Participants must already be competent with the on-premise Hyperion Planning application: this training will build on existing expertise to cover SaaS Cloud specific deployment implications and how best to demonstrate this to clients and win services led PBCS implementation engagements. Register here now and see full Agenda for 07-08 July 2014 in Oracle Paris – Colombes 15, bd Charles de Gaulle, 92715 Colombes Cedex France Register here now and see full Agenda for 15-16 July 2014 in Oracle Italy via Fulvio Testi 136, Cinisello Balsamo, Milan, Italy This training is free of charge to OPN Member Partners This PartnerLab is a 2 day in-class workshop event led by Oracle Pre-Sales subject matter experts. These 2 days consist of discussions, presentations, demonstration and hands-on exercises. Note: the hands-on exercises are in an already installed environment that you can have access to after the event (see more @ Hyperion Demonstration Systems for Partners). The PartnerLab will be delivered in English or local language. Mandatory prerequisites for a participant: Please view material available and complete the assessments before you attend the PartnerLab event. Material and assessments cover foundational information about Oracle Hyperion Planning and Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service. View material prior to live PartnerLab: Oracle Hyperion Planning 11 Sales Specialist guided learning path Oracle Hyperion Planning 11 PreSales Specialist guided learning path Oracle Hyperion Planning 11 Implementation Specialist guided learning path Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service Specialist guided learning path PBCS How-to Videos Learn More at Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service Take and pass these on-line assessments prior to the live PartnerLab training: Oracle Hyperion Planning 11 Sales Specialist on-line exam Oracle Hyperion Planning 11 PreSales Specialist on-line exam /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}

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• Good examples of MapServer / OpenLayers

  - by MarkJ

  I want to convince some clients to use MapServer and OpenLayers. Please can anyone suggest attractive websites to show off the possiblities! The clients will be impressed by: A density map (otherwise known as a heat map, colour-shaded grid coverage, contour plot...). The ability for the user to download the underlying data for the density map, restricted to the area being viewed, in some format such as netCDF. Standard OpenLayers stuff. Zooming, panning, scale bar, overview map... Different base layers. Could be WMS, Google, Bing... Searching for a placename, map is panned to display the place. MapServer.org seems to be down right now :( But from memory their examples didn't have the "wow" factor. The OpenLayers examples demonstrate only one or two features per example - I want something to wow the clients by showing all the capabilities in one example. PS If you have good examples that use some other open source tools, post them by all means. But just JavaScript please: customer says no rich client.

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• Nonblocking Tcp server

  - by hoodoos

  It's not a question really, i'm just looking for some guidelines :) I'm currently writing some abstract tcp server which should use as low number of threads as it can. Currently it works this way. I have a thread doing listening and some worker threads. Listener thread is just sits and wait for clients to connect I expect to have a single listener thread per server instance. Worker threads are doing all read/write/processing job on clients socket. So my problem is in building efficient worker process. And I came to some problem I can't really solve yet. Worker code is something like that(code is really simple just to show a place where i have my problem): List<Socket> readSockets = new List<Socket>(); List<Socket> writeSockets = new List<Socket>(); List<Socket> errorSockets = new List<Socket>(); while( true ){ Socket.Select( readSockets, writeSockets, errorSockets, 10 ); foreach( readSocket in readSockets ){ // do reading here } foreach( writeSocket in writeSockets ){ // do writing here } // POINT2 and here's the problem i will describe below } it works all smothly accept for 100% CPU utilization because of while loop being cycling all over again, if I have my clients doing send-receive-disconnect routine it's not that painful, but if I try to keep alive doing send-receive-send-receive all over again it really eats up all CPU. So my first idea was to put a sleep there, I check if all sockets have their data send and then putting Thread.Sleep in POINT2 just for 10ms, but this 10ms later on produces a huge delay of that 10ms when I want to receive next command from client socket.. For example if I don't try to "keep alive" commands are being executed within 10-15ms and with keep alive it becomes worse by atleast 10ms :( Maybe it's just a poor architecture? What can be done so my processor won't get 100% utilization and my server to react on something appear in client socket as soon as possible? Maybe somebody can point a good example of nonblocking server and architecture it should maintain?

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• Factories, or Dependency Injection for object instantiation in WCF, when coding against an interface

  - by Saajid Ismail

  Hi I am writing a client/server application, where the client is a Windows Forms app, and the server is a WCF service hosted in a Windows Service. Note that I control both sides of the application. I am trying to implement the practice of coding against an interface: i.e. I have a Shared assembly which is referenced by the client application. This project contains my WCF ServiceContracts and interfaces which will be exposed to clients. I am trying to only expose interfaces to the clients, so that they are only dependant on a contract, not any specific implementation. One of the reasons for doing this is so that I can have my service implementation, and domain change at any time without having to recompile and redeploy the clients. The interfaces/contracts will in this case not change. I only need to recompile and redeploy my WCF service. The design issue I am facing now, is: on the client, how do I create new instances of objects, e.g. ICustomer, if the client doesn't know about the Customer concrete implementation? I need to create a new customer to be saved to the DB. Do I use dependency injection, or a Factory class to instantiate new objects, or should I just allow the client to create new instances of concrete implementations? I am not doing TDD, and I will typically only have one implementation of ICustomer or any other exposed interface.

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• Can a WCF Service provide publish/subscribe activity to a Linux-based C++ client application?

  - by Jeremy Roddingham

  I have a WCF service written to provide certain functionality to intranet-based clients. This is easy when a client is running Windows. I want to implement the same functionality for my Windows clients that is available to my linux clients. My questions are? How can I communicate to a linux c++ based client (supporting callback operations for a publish subscribe) type situation? I am aware of using SOAP over the HTTPBinding but is that the only way (does not support callbacks I believe)? Would the same apply if I were using TCPBinding on the service-side? Currently, the service is set up using TCP but what are my options for the linux client communcation? I read somewhere that messages can also be sent (via webservices I believe) in XML rather than SOAP? Which would be a better approach or how to determine which is a better approach? I am trying to understand the options I would have for a WCF data service if I wanted to communicate with it from a linux client. I appreciate all your help. Thank You, Jeremy

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• How to completely wipe a previous ClickOnce installation?

  - by Dabblernl

  I have a curious problem: My app is distributed through ClickOnce. I recently installed three new clients on a new location. They worked. After an update however, all old clients worked fine, but the three new clients did not. As my code is swallowing an exception somewhere I have been unable thusfar to pinpoint where the error lies. When I XCopy the latest version of the app to the desktop of the three new client computers the program works fine. So, I thought uninstalling and reinstalling the program from the download location should fix the problem, but it does not! I can think of two explanations: The new location has some firewall/virusscanner in place that doesn't like the latest version of my app when it is run from a standard ClickOnce directory, but it allows execution from the desktop. Some old settings (the app uses user scoped and app scoped settings) remain in effect after the uninstall. When I find and check the user.config file for the app however, I find no incorrect setttings there. Thusfar, I have been unable to reproduce the error on any other machine. How can I solve this!?

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• Embedding a CMS in an MVC Web App

  - by Mr Snuffle

  I'm working on a website for searching for businesses, then displaying a listing page. We've been toying with the idea of letting the clients manage their listing page using an external CMS. I'm not sure how often this is done, or if it's even best practice. Ideally, we want to be able to setup a listing on our website, then give the clients access to an external CRM when they can manage their listing page. We then want to embed this custom page within our website, possibly using an iframe (which will come along with it's own set of complications). We'd like this integration to be as seamless as possible. I'd personally prefer it if we could directly inject the HTML into our own page and bypass an iframe all together, but I don't know of any CMS hosting services that provide the interface for such a thing. We've experimented a little with Squarespace, and we can get a fairly clean version of someone's page which would be well suited for an iframe. I'm wondering if anyone else has looked and integrating an external hosting CMS into a website (in this case, we're using ASP.NET MVC). We'd also want to automate the creation of accounts on this external CMS, so when a user signed up we could just point them to the website with some login details. I have no idea if anyone offers a service like this, but any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. We could host a service ourself too, but the aim is to have an external system that clients can use to manage their pages. Cheers, James

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• Nhibernate get collection by ICriteria

  - by Andrew Kalashnikov

  Hello, colleagues. I've got a problem at getting my entity. MApping: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> <hibernate-mapping xmlns="urn:nhibernate-mapping-2.2" assembly="Clients.Core" namespace="Clients.Core.Domains"> <class name="Sales, Clients.Core" table='sales'> <id name="Id" unsaved-value="0"> <column name="id" not-null="true"/> <generator class="native"/> </id> <property name="Guid"> <column name="guid"/> </property> <set name="Accounts" table="sales_users" lazy="false"> <key column="sales_id" /> <element column="user_id" type="Int32" /> </set> </class> Domain: public class Sales : BaseDomain { ICollection<int> accounts = new List<int>(); public virtual ICollection<int> Accounts { get { return accounts; } set { accounts = value; } } public Sales() { } } I want get query such as SELECT * FROM sales s INNER JOIN sales_users su on su.sales_id=s.id WHERE su.user_id=:N How can i do this through ICriterion object? Thanks a lot.

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• Sending solicited mass email

  - by Christian W

  Our company does work environment surveys, and these surveys are filled in online. All participants are sent a link to their survey in an email (personal code included). Some of our clients have employee counts in the hundreds and sometimes in the thousands. Our current solution is just using our SMTP-server to send this, without any form of throttling (VB6, CDO). (All recipients are usually "inside" the same domain, [email protected]) This is not a good solution, as you may imagine, this triggers every anti-spam/firewall/gatekeeper event in the clients environment. We are put in contact with their IT-department beforehand and get them to whitelist our sending server and sender-mail address. The most usual problems we run in to are: Receiving server only grabs the 20-50 first mails and rejects the rest (anti-spam measure). We sometimes can get by this by getting the it-company to whitelist us. Sometimes however, this does not work. It's getting more and more normal to disable bouncing of incorrect mail addresses. This gives us no indication of whether a mail has been delivered or not. And believe it or not, most clients gives us their email list from their HR-system, not their mailsystem. Does anyone have any suggestions for a better way to do this? We can't be the only company sending legitimate mass emails? :)

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• Need some help/advice on WCF Per-Call Service and NServiceBus interop.

  - by Alexey

  I have WCF Per-Call service wich provides data for clients and at the same time is integrated with NServiceBus. All statefull objects are stored in UnityContainer wich is integrated into custom service host. NServiceBus is configured in service host and uses same container as service instances. Every client has its own instance context(described by Juval Lowy in his book in chapter about Durable Services). If i need to send request over bus I just use some kind of dispatcher and wait response using Thread.Sleep().Since services are per-call this is ok afaik. But I am confused a bit about messages from bus, that service must handle and provide them to clients. For some data like stock quotes I just update some kind of statefull object and and then, when clients invoke GetQuotesData() just provide data from this object. But there are numerous service messages like new quote added and etc. At this moment I have an idea to implement something like "Postman daemon" =)) and store this type of messages in instance context. Then client will invoke "GetMail()",recieve those messages and parse them. Problem is that NServiceBus messages are "Interface based" and I cant pass them over WCF, so I need to convert them to types derieved from some abstract class. Dunno what is best way to handle this situation. Will be very gratefull for any advice on this. Thanks in advance.

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• How to setup Lucene search for a B2B web app?

  - by Bill Paetzke

  Given: 5000 databases (spread out over 5 servers) 1 database per client (so you can infer there are 1000 clients) 2 to 2000 users per client (let's say avg is 100 users per client) Clients (databases) come and go every day (let's assume most remain for at least one year) Let's stay agnostic of language or sql brand, since Lucene (and Solr) have a breadth of support The Question: How would you setup Lucene search so that each client can only search within its database? How would you setup the index(es)? Would you need to add a filter to all search queries? If a client cancelled, how would you delete their (part of the) index? (this may be trivial--not sure yet) Possible Solutions: Make an index for each client (database) Pro: Search is faster (than one-index-for-all method). Indices are relative to the size of the client's data. Con: I'm not sure what this entails, nor do I know if this is beyond Lucene's scope. Have a single, gigantic index with a database_name field. Always include database_name as a filter. Pro: Not sure. Maybe good for tech support or billing dept to search all databases for info. Con: Search is slower (than index-per-client method). Flawed security if query filter removed. For Example: Joel Spolsky said in Podcast #11 that his hosted web app product, FogBugz On-Demand, uses Lucene. He has thousands of on-demand clients. And each client gets their own database. His situation is quite similar to mine. Although, he didn't elaborate on the setup (particularly indices); hence, the need for this question. One last thing: I would also accept an answer that uses Solr (the extension of Lucene). Perhaps it's better suited for this problem. Not sure.

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• Multiple, Simultaneous Factories and Protocols in Twisted: Same Service, Different Ports

  - by RichardCroasher

  Greetings, Forum. I'm working on a program in Python that uses Twisted to manage networking. The basis of this program is a TCP service that is to listen for connections on multiple ports. However, instead of using one Twisted factory to handle a protocol object for each port, I am trying to use a separate factory for each port. The reason for this is to force a separation among the groups of clients connecting to the different ports. Unfortunately, it appears that this architecture isn't quite working: clients that connect to one port appear to be available among all the factories (e.g., the protocol class used by each factory includes a 'self.factory.clients.append (self)' statement...instead of adding a given client to just the factory for a particular port, the client is added to all factories), and whenever I shutdown service on one port the listeners on all ports also stop. I've been working with Twisted for a short while, and fear I simply don't fully understand how its factory classes are managed. My question is: is it simply not possible to have multiple, simultaneous instances of the same factory and same protocol in use across different ports (without these instances stepping on each other's toes)?

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