Hey folks,
I'm retiring this journal and moving over to WordPress for my work-related bloggery. I would like a bit of distance from LiveJournal but, more importantly, I feel that WP gives me more flexibility to poke around in the gears of my blog and trick it out 21st-century style.
I'll probably delete the journal in a couple weeks or so.
My new URL - http://purl.org/net/leftwing/blog
Everyone does RSS nowadays. If you do too, subscribe. If you do not, you are a faulty human being. |
Forget about that Instant Rails stuff. Try the following tutorial instead, which gave me a better sense of how Rails actually works. Very, very helpful.
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2005/01/20/rails.html
Ruby on Rails is quite cool. What I don't like about it, so far:
- I don't know Ruby, so I can't do anything sophisticated with Rails
- I'm not sure how much I like the idea of all Rails applications being so intimately tied to the Rails framework.
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I've been hearing a lot about the Ruby programming language lately, and specifically about Ruby on Rails. After looking at different strategies to get this sucker up and running, I decided to take the path of the cowardly and install Instant Rails. I am still trying to figure out what the heck it is and does, but a lot of people seem to like it for throwing together quick, powerful, open, and structured web applications.
On a related "gaining in popularity" note is S5, an open-source, open-standards application for producing web-enabled presentations. No more must one be a slave to that wicked master, Microsoft Powerpoint (or OO.o Impress, for that matter, or whatever you crazy Mac heathens use). Now one can produce a web presentation using S5, which puts all the material into one XHTML file. It uses CSS and JavaScript for styles and functionality, respectively. I think I might check that out as well. Counterpoint: OpenOffice 2.0's Impress application does a bang-up job as well.
And finally, what is all this talk of the Web 2.0? Here's a more or less full run-down of Web 2.0, and five reasons why it matters.
In the meantime, I'm still cranking away on my NLB'd terminal servers. |
As of the SP1 release, Windows Server 2003 now supports access-based enumeration of file shares. Basically, files and folders to which users lack access will not be visible within file shares. No more double-clicking shared resources only to be greeted with "Access denied." This is quite a nice feature, and one which is long overdue.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/techinfo/overview/abe.mspx
Also, the new release of Windows Server 2003 R2 appears to have a number of new features that were not included in SP1 (and that probably will not be featured in SP2). As far as I can figure out, R2 is related to 2003 SP1 as NT4 Option Pack was related to NT4.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/r2/whatsnewinr2.mspx |
Perhaps I am mistaken, but I thought one of the biggest purported benefits of the newest incarnation of Active Directory was its supposed reliance upon the more commonly used DNS system for computer name lookups rather the old WINS and NetBIOS lookup system. I've recently installed a new server running Windows Server 2003 Enterprise and hooked it into our Active Directory 2003 domain and configured it to run Terminal Services. Upon this assumption, I disabled NetBIOS in the TCP/IP stack and turned off the TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper service.
When I connect to the server via Remote Desktop and login with a local administrative account, I get in just fine. When I specify my domain credentials, however, my connection is refused because Terminal Services apparently has problems reaching the RPC Server. Says it is unavailable. Turning back on the NetBT Helper service clears this up, but I did not think NetBIOS would be required for name resolution given AD integration with DNS. In the eventlog, TS shows the following error after the "RPC Server is unavailable" error: "Unable to obtain Terminal Server User Configuration".
Any ideas? I'm alright with leaving on the NetBT service, but I just don't understand why it's necessary.
I have tried re-enabling NetBIOS in the stack and that has zero effect on the connection behavior. I have also checked the DNS settings and the AD domain name is in the list of default domains to search through.
NOTE: Perhaps it is due to having external University DNS servers listed instead of the AD DNS servers. Come to think of it, I'm not sure why we would be using external DNS servers if we run AD. Giving this a try.
ADDENDUM: Apparently our AD servers do not run their own DNS; the records are offloaded to the campus DNS system. Perhaps this is the culprit? |
| » Microsoft Office Viewers |
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For users who have neither access to Microsoft Office nor desire to dive headfirst into OpenOffice*, Microsoft provides freely downloadable viewers for Office documents.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA010449811033.aspx
Most of these viewers are at the Office 2003 version, e.g., Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Others, like Access, are at the 2002 version.
* For the record, though, OpenOffice 2.0 is fabulous. I've exclusively been using OO at home for at least a year or two, and the new version is tres magnifique.
Dec. 6th, 2005 @ 09:50 am
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| » NLB vs. MSCS, or load-balancing versus clustering |
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Not quite sure you grasp the subtleties of difference between load-balancing (NLB) and server clustering (MSCS)? After all, both are technologies that allow distinct server nodes to be externally visible via a virtual server, and support failover. The fundamental similarities might overshadow their concisely stated difference:
( The answer )
Note: This information is copyright © 2003, Microsoft Corporation, gleaned from the freely available documentation on cluster quorums for Windows Server 2003. I provide it here for the sake of convenience and exposure.
Dec. 6th, 2005 @ 09:04 am
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| » WSF - good for metascripting? |
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The Windows Script File, .wsf, allows one to mark-up in XML different blocks of scripting. One can, in effect, write a script hooking VBScript, JavaScript, and PerlScript together. This looks to be quite powerful for scripters, especially within the domain of systems administration. Often one knows one scripting language better than another, and even more commonly one may exploit the strengths of multiple languages. Imagine combining the ease of Windows operability in VB with the regular expression power of PerlScript with... whatever it is that JavaScript does well. Could be quite a nifty tool.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/script56/html/wsAdvantagesOfWs.asp
Dec. 5th, 2005 @ 11:40 am
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| » Automated System Recovery |
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Here is a link describing how one might use ASR -- the new term for Emergency Repair Disk -- in Windows Server 2003.
Of particular note is how to use ASR when a server does not have a floppy drive, a predicament I now find myself in.
http://hacks.oreilly.com/pub/h/1196
Dec. 5th, 2005 @ 10:49 am
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| » Google Maps JavaScript problem in IE |
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Internet Explorer likes to throw the "Operation Aborted" error when trying to hook into the Google Maps API via JavaScript, at least when the JavaScript is placed where it is supposed to, i.e., a reference to the Google Maps JavaScript in the page HEAD and the actual rendering of the map within the DIV tag.
( The fix )
It is worth noting that this "fix" does not break functionality in Firefox. And, really, who cares about the other browsers? Communists and robots, my friend.
( The code )
Dec. 2nd, 2005 @ 02:51 pm
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| » List of Free Software |
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Here's a list of all the free software I'm running on my Windows XP workstation, or least the subset that I deem noteworthy. Rather than annotate the list, which would be far too helpful, I will merely provide links.
( The list )
P.S. I do have Firefox installed but I don't use it. Internet Explorer is the only way to browse.
Nov. 30th, 2005 @ 11:52 am
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| » A restrictive IPSec script |
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What do you do when you've got a server to install and you're too lazy to burn a CD with all the latest service packs and hotfixes? I suppose you could attach the server to the Internet and head over to Microsoft's Windows Update website. But then you would be committing a grievous faux pas among systems people. Only connect an unpatched machine to the Internet if you wish to have it 0wN3d in seconds flat.
One strategy for patching up your server is to install on your local network a server running Windows Software Update Services, and configure IPSec on your new server to allow connections only to the local WSUS server. For the sake of convenience, I have also allowed outgoing DNS requests. If you know the IP address of the WSUS server, these are probably unnecessary, but otherwise shouldn't pose much of a risk.
Here's an IPSec script, which I called newServerLockdown.txt, that you may use to accomplish this task.
( The script )
Nov. 30th, 2005 @ 10:12 am
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| » Problems joining a Windows 2003 Active Directory domain |
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One of the first tasks that has been assigned to me is the installation and configuration of a pair of network load-balanced Terminal Servers running Windows Server 2003. The department has already cobbled together documentation on how to build servers within the locally developed and recognized best practices, and I am loath to deviate from these in my first month of employment. I got up to the point of joining the first TS node ("TS1") to the AD domain pretty smoothly. When I attempted to move TS1 out of its workgroup and into the domain, I was prompted for a password (which is a good thing, and is to be expected). When I attempted to use my domain admin account in the form "DOMAIN\account", I was rudely greeted with an "unknown username or bad password" error. When I tried to provide my credentials in the form of "account@domain.university.edu", I received the unfamiliar "Element not found" message.
( The fix )
These steps might not work for you, as they were likely necessary in my environment due to networking and domain configuration particulars.
Nov. 30th, 2005 @ 09:57 am
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| » Home and End keys - PuTTY - bash - Linux |
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Here's a simple one. But first, some backstory.
I'd been using the tcsh shell on my Linux servers for years, but I am now working in an environment where bash is the preferred shell. I view it as an opportunity to poke around in a shell that's relatively unfamiliar to me as a dyed-in-the-wool tcsh user[1]. I'd also been used to connecting to my Linux servers with the SSH Communications Security version of the Secure Shell client. Unfortunately, the newest version of this client, which is available to me, will not connect to our department's boxes due to the version (or configuration) of the OpenSSH libraries that have been installed. I'm new to this job, so I'm accepting this more or less on the authority of comments made by coworkers; I haven't independently verified this, though I can confirm that I can't connect with the SSH client. I switched to the PuTTY SSH client, since it's free, widely used, and supported by my colleagues. And, oh yeah, it connects to our Linux boxes.
One of the neat features of the SSH Communications Security client is the ability map keys to certain other keys. For instance, I used to map the Home and End keys to <Ctrl-a> and <Ctrl-e> for ease of navigation on the command-line; sometimes the command strings I have to type are, to put it technically, really frickin' long and it's nice to be able to make edits to the beginning and end of these command strings without holding down the left and right arrow keys for an hour. PuTTY does not have a key-mapping feature, so I was wondering how to get my Home and End keys to do more than just generate the '~' character. (Though such a feature is on PuTTY's wish-list.)
( The fix )
For some more shell-based key mapping geared toward the Backspace and Delete keys, see the Consistent BackSpace and Delete Configuration page.
1. While I've used tcsh as my default shell for years, I do acknowledge the argument that csh programming is considered harmful. I use the Bourne shell and Perl for scripting, though primarily the latter.
Nov. 30th, 2005 @ 09:30 am
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