Search Results

Search found 2922 results on 117 pages for 'raw noob'.

Page 117/117 | < Previous Page | 113 114 115 116 117 

• Rendering ASP.NET Script References into the Html Header

  - by Rick Strahl

  One thing that I’ve come to appreciate in control development in ASP.NET that use JavaScript is the ability to have more control over script and script include placement than ASP.NET provides natively. Specifically in ASP.NET you can use either the ClientScriptManager or ScriptManager to embed scripts and script references into pages via code. This works reasonably well, but the script references that get generated are generated into the HTML body and there’s very little operational control for placement of scripts. If you have multiple controls or several of the same control that need to place the same scripts onto the page it’s not difficult to end up with scripts that render in the wrong order and stop working correctly. This is especially critical if you load script libraries with dependencies either via resources or even if you are rendering referenced to CDN resources. Natively ASP.NET provides a host of methods that help embedding scripts into the page via either Page.ClientScript or the ASP.NET ScriptManager control (both with slightly different syntax): RegisterClientScriptBlock Renders a script block at the top of the HTML body and should be used for embedding callable functions/classes. RegisterStartupScript Renders a script block just prior to the </form> tag and should be used to for embedding code that should execute when the page is first loaded. Not recommended – use jQuery.ready() or equivalent load time routines. RegisterClientScriptInclude Embeds a reference to a script from a url into the page. RegisterClientScriptResource Embeds a reference to a Script from a resource file generating a long resource file string All 4 of these methods render their <script> tags into the HTML body. The script blocks give you a little bit of control by having a ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ of the document location which gives you some flexibility over script placement and precedence. Script includes and resource url unfortunately do not even get that much control – references are simply rendered into the page in the order of declaration. The ASP.NET ScriptManager control facilitates this task a little bit with the abililty to specify scripts in code and the ability to programmatically check what scripts have already been registered, but it doesn’t provide any more control over the script rendering process itself. Further the ScriptManager is a bear to deal with generically because generic code has to always check and see if it is actually present. Some time ago I posted a ClientScriptProxy class that helps with managing the latter process of sending script references either to ClientScript or ScriptManager if it’s available. Since I last posted about this there have been a number of improvements in this API, one of which is the ability to control placement of scripts and script includes in the page which I think is rather important and a missing feature in the ASP.NET native functionality. Handling ScriptRenderModes One of the big enhancements that I’ve come to rely on is the ability of the various script rendering functions described above to support rendering in multiple locations: /// <summary> /// Determines how scripts are included into the page /// </summary> public enum ScriptRenderModes { /// <summary> /// Inherits the setting from the control or from the ClientScript.DefaultScriptRenderMode /// </summary> Inherit, /// Renders the script include at the location of the control /// </summary> Inline, /// <summary> /// Renders the script include into the bottom of the header of the page /// </summary> Header, /// <summary> /// Renders the script include into the top of the header of the page /// </summary> HeaderTop, /// <summary> /// Uses ClientScript or ScriptManager to embed the script include to /// provide standard ASP.NET style rendering in the HTML body. /// </summary> Script, /// <summary> /// Renders script at the bottom of the page before the last Page.Controls /// literal control. Note this may result in unexpected behavior /// if /body and /html are not the last thing in the markup page. /// </summary> BottomOfPage } This enum is then applied to the various Register functions to allow more control over where scripts actually show up. Why is this useful? For me I often render scripts out of control resources and these scripts often include things like a JavaScript Library (jquery) and a few plug-ins. The order in which these can be loaded is critical so that jQuery.js always loads before any plug-in for example. Typically I end up with a general script layout like this: Core Libraries- HeaderTop Plug-ins: Header ScriptBlocks: Header or Script depending on other dependencies There’s also an option to render scripts and CSS at the very bottom of the page before the last Page control on the page which can be useful for speeding up page load when lots of scripts are loaded. The API syntax of the ClientScriptProxy methods is closely compatible with ScriptManager’s using static methods and control references to gain access to the page and embedding scripts. For example, to render some script into the current page in the header: // Create script block in header ClientScriptProxy.Current.RegisterClientScriptBlock(this, typeof(ControlResources), "hello_function", "function helloWorld() { alert('hello'); }", true, ScriptRenderModes.Header); // Same again - shouldn't be rendered because it's the same id ClientScriptProxy.Current.RegisterClientScriptBlock(this, typeof(ControlResources), "hello_function", "function helloWorld() { alert('hello'); }", true, ScriptRenderModes.Header); // Create a second script block in header ClientScriptProxy.Current.RegisterClientScriptBlock(this, typeof(ControlResources), "hello_function2", "function helloWorld2() { alert('hello2'); }", true, ScriptRenderModes.Header); // This just calls ClientScript and renders into bottom of document ClientScriptProxy.Current.RegisterStartupScript(this,typeof(ControlResources), "call_hello", "helloWorld();helloWorld2();", true); which generates: <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" > <head><title> </title> <script type="text/javascript"> function helloWorld() { alert('hello'); } </script> <script type="text/javascript"> function helloWorld2() { alert('hello2'); } </script> </head> <body> … <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ helloWorld();helloWorld2();//]]> </script> </form> </body> </html> Note that the scripts are generated into the header rather than the body except for the last script block which is the call to RegisterStartupScript. In general I wouldn’t recommend using RegisterStartupScript – ever. It’s a much better practice to use a script base load event to handle ‘startup’ code that should fire when the page first loads. So instead of the code above I’d actually recommend doing: ClientScriptProxy.Current.RegisterClientScriptBlock(this, typeof(ControlResources), "call_hello", "$().ready( function() { alert('hello2'); });", true, ScriptRenderModes.Header); assuming you’re using jQuery on the page. For script includes from a Url the following demonstrates how to embed scripts into the header. This example injects a jQuery and jQuery.UI script reference from the Google CDN then checks each with a script block to ensure that it has loaded and if not loads it from a server local location: // load jquery from CDN ClientScriptProxy.Current.RegisterClientScriptInclude(this, typeof(ControlResources), "http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3.2/jquery.min.js", ScriptRenderModes.HeaderTop); // check if jquery loaded - if it didn't we're not online string scriptCheck = @"if (typeof jQuery != 'object') document.write(unescape(""%3Cscript src='{0}' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E""));"; string jQueryUrl = ClientScriptProxy.Current.GetWebResourceUrl(this, typeof(ControlResources), ControlResources.JQUERY_SCRIPT_RESOURCE); ClientScriptProxy.Current.RegisterClientScriptBlock(this, typeof(ControlResources), "jquery_register", string.Format(scriptCheck,jQueryUrl),true, ScriptRenderModes.HeaderTop); // Load jquery-ui from cdn ClientScriptProxy.Current.RegisterClientScriptInclude(this, typeof(ControlResources), "http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.7.2/jquery-ui.min.js", ScriptRenderModes.Header); // check if we need to load from local string jQueryUiUrl = ResolveUrl("~/scripts/jquery-ui-custom.min.js"); ClientScriptProxy.Current.RegisterClientScriptBlock(this, typeof(ControlResources), "jqueryui_register", string.Format(scriptCheck, jQueryUiUrl), true, ScriptRenderModes.Header); // Create script block in header ClientScriptProxy.Current.RegisterClientScriptBlock(this, typeof(ControlResources), "hello_function", "$().ready( function() { alert('hello'); });", true, ScriptRenderModes.Header); which in turn generates this HTML: <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" > <head> <script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3.2/jquery.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> if (typeof jQuery != 'object') document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='/WestWindWebToolkitWeb/WebResource.axd?d=DIykvYhJ_oXCr-TA_dr35i4AayJoV1mgnQAQGPaZsoPM2LCdvoD3cIsRRitHKlKJfV5K_jQvylK7tsqO3lQIFw2&t=633979863959332352' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); </script> <title> </title> <script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.7.2/jquery-ui.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> if (typeof jQuery != 'object') document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='/WestWindWebToolkitWeb/scripts/jquery-ui-custom.min.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); </script> <script type="text/javascript"> $().ready(function() { alert('hello'); }); </script> </head> <body> …</body> </html> As you can see there’s a bit more control in this process as you can inject both script includes and script blocks into the document at the top or bottom of the header, plus if necessary at the usual body locations. This is quite useful especially if you create custom server controls that interoperate with script and have certain dependencies. The above is a good example of a useful switchable routine where you can switch where scripts load from by default – the above pulls from Google CDN but a configuration switch may automatically switch to pull from the local development copies if your doing development for example. How does it work? As mentioned the ClientScriptProxy object mimicks many of the ScriptManager script related methods and so provides close API compatibility with it although it contains many additional overloads that enhance functionality. It does however work against ScriptManager if it’s available on the page, or Page.ClientScript if it’s not so it provides a single unified frontend to script access. There are however many overloads of the original SM methods like the above to provide additional functionality. The implementation of script header rendering is pretty straight forward – as long as a server header (ie. it has to have runat=”server” set) is available. Otherwise these routines fall back to using the default document level insertions of ScriptManager/ClientScript. Given that there is a server header it’s relatively easy to generate the script tags and code and append them to the header either at the top or bottom. I suspect Microsoft didn’t provide header rendering functionality precisely because a runat=”server” header is not required by ASP.NET so behavior would be slightly unpredictable. That’s not really a problem for a custom implementation however. Here’s the RegisterClientScriptBlock implementation that takes a ScriptRenderModes parameter to allow header rendering: /// <summary> /// Renders client script block with the option of rendering the script block in /// the Html header /// /// For this to work Header must be defined as runat="server" /// </summary> /// <param name="control">any control that instance typically page</param> /// <param name="type">Type that identifies this rendering</param> /// <param name="key">unique script block id</param> /// <param name="script">The script code to render</param> /// <param name="addScriptTags">Ignored for header rendering used for all other insertions</param> /// <param name="renderMode">Where the block is rendered</param> public void RegisterClientScriptBlock(Control control, Type type, string key, string script, bool addScriptTags, ScriptRenderModes renderMode) { if (renderMode == ScriptRenderModes.Inherit) renderMode = DefaultScriptRenderMode; if (control.Page.Header == null || renderMode != ScriptRenderModes.HeaderTop && renderMode != ScriptRenderModes.Header && renderMode != ScriptRenderModes.BottomOfPage) { RegisterClientScriptBlock(control, type, key, script, addScriptTags); return; } // No dupes - ref script include only once const string identifier = "scriptblock_"; if (HttpContext.Current.Items.Contains(identifier + key)) return; HttpContext.Current.Items.Add(identifier + key, string.Empty); StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(); // Embed in header sb.AppendLine("\r\n<script type=\"text/javascript\">"); sb.AppendLine(script); sb.AppendLine("</script>"); int? index = HttpContext.Current.Items["__ScriptResourceIndex"] as int?; if (index == null) index = 0; if (renderMode == ScriptRenderModes.HeaderTop) { control.Page.Header.Controls.AddAt(index.Value, new LiteralControl(sb.ToString())); index++; } else if(renderMode == ScriptRenderModes.Header) control.Page.Header.Controls.Add(new LiteralControl(sb.ToString())); else if (renderMode == ScriptRenderModes.BottomOfPage) control.Page.Controls.AddAt(control.Page.Controls.Count-1,new LiteralControl(sb.ToString())); HttpContext.Current.Items["__ScriptResourceIndex"] = index; } Note that the routine has to keep track of items inserted by id so that if the same item is added again with the same key it won’t generate two script entries. Additionally the code has to keep track of how many insertions have been made at the top of the document so that entries are added in the proper order. The RegisterScriptInclude method is similar but there’s some additional logic in here to deal with script file references and ClientScriptProxy’s (optional) custom resource handler that provides script compression /// <summary> /// Registers a client script reference into the page with the option to specify /// the script location in the page /// </summary> /// <param name="control">Any control instance - typically page</param> /// <param name="type">Type that acts as qualifier (uniqueness)</param> /// <param name="url">the Url to the script resource</param> /// <param name="ScriptRenderModes">Determines where the script is rendered</param> public void RegisterClientScriptInclude(Control control, Type type, string url, ScriptRenderModes renderMode) { const string STR_ScriptResourceIndex = "__ScriptResourceIndex"; if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(url)) return; if (renderMode == ScriptRenderModes.Inherit) renderMode = DefaultScriptRenderMode; // Extract just the script filename string fileId = null; // Check resource IDs and try to match to mapped file resources // Used to allow scripts not to be loaded more than once whether // embedded manually (script tag) or via resources with ClientScriptProxy if (url.Contains(".axd?r=")) { string res = HttpUtility.UrlDecode( StringUtils.ExtractString(url, "?r=", "&", false, true) ); foreach (ScriptResourceAlias item in ScriptResourceAliases) { if (item.Resource == res) { fileId = item.Alias + ".js"; break; } } if (fileId == null) fileId = url.ToLower(); } else fileId = Path.GetFileName(url).ToLower(); // No dupes - ref script include only once const string identifier = "script_"; if (HttpContext.Current.Items.Contains( identifier + fileId ) ) return; HttpContext.Current.Items.Add(identifier + fileId, string.Empty); // just use script manager or ClientScriptManager if (control.Page.Header == null || renderMode == ScriptRenderModes.Script || renderMode == ScriptRenderModes.Inline) { RegisterClientScriptInclude(control, type,url, url); return; } // Retrieve script index in header int? index = HttpContext.Current.Items[STR_ScriptResourceIndex] as int?; if (index == null) index = 0; StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(256); url = WebUtils.ResolveUrl(url); // Embed in header sb.AppendLine("\r\n<script src=\"" + url + "\" type=\"text/javascript\"></script>"); if (renderMode == ScriptRenderModes.HeaderTop) { control.Page.Header.Controls.AddAt(index.Value, new LiteralControl(sb.ToString())); index++; } else if (renderMode == ScriptRenderModes.Header) control.Page.Header.Controls.Add(new LiteralControl(sb.ToString())); else if (renderMode == ScriptRenderModes.BottomOfPage) control.Page.Controls.AddAt(control.Page.Controls.Count-1, new LiteralControl(sb.ToString())); HttpContext.Current.Items[STR_ScriptResourceIndex] = index; } There’s a little more code here that deals with cleaning up the passed in Url and also some custom handling of script resources that run through the ScriptCompressionModule – any script resources loaded in this fashion are automatically cached based on the resource id. Raw urls extract just the filename from the URL and cache based on that. All of this to avoid doubling up of scripts if called multiple times by multiple instances of the same control for example or several controls that all load the same resources/includes. Finally RegisterClientScriptResource utilizes the previous method to wrap the WebResourceUrl as well as some custom functionality for the resource compression module: /// <summary> /// Returns a WebResource or ScriptResource URL for script resources that are to be /// embedded as script includes. /// </summary> /// <param name="control">Any control</param> /// <param name="type">A type in assembly where resources are located</param> /// <param name="resourceName">Name of the resource to load</param> /// <param name="renderMode">Determines where in the document the link is rendered</param> public void RegisterClientScriptResource(Control control, Type type, string resourceName, ScriptRenderModes renderMode) { string resourceUrl = GetClientScriptResourceUrl(control, type, resourceName); RegisterClientScriptInclude(control, type, resourceUrl, renderMode); } /// <summary> /// Works like GetWebResourceUrl but can be used with javascript resources /// to allow using of resource compression (if the module is loaded). /// </summary> /// <param name="control"></param> /// <param name="type"></param> /// <param name="resourceName"></param> /// <returns></returns> public string GetClientScriptResourceUrl(Control control, Type type, string resourceName) { #if IncludeScriptCompressionModuleSupport // If wwScriptCompression Module through Web.config is loaded use it to compress // script resources by using wcSC.axd Url the module intercepts if (ScriptCompressionModule.ScriptCompressionModuleActive) { string url = "~/wwSC.axd?r=" + HttpUtility.UrlEncode(resourceName); if (type.Assembly != GetType().Assembly) url += "&t=" + HttpUtility.UrlEncode(type.FullName); return WebUtils.ResolveUrl(url); } #endif return control.Page.ClientScript.GetWebResourceUrl(type, resourceName); } This code merely retrieves the resource URL and then simply calls back to RegisterClientScriptInclude with the URL to be embedded which means there’s nothing specific to deal with other than the custom compression module logic which is nice and easy. What else is there in ClientScriptProxy? ClientscriptProxy also provides a few other useful services beyond what I’ve already covered here: Transparent ScriptManager and ClientScript calls ClientScriptProxy includes a host of routines that help figure out whether a script manager is available or not and all functions in this class call the appropriate object – ScriptManager or ClientScript – that is available in the current page to ensure that scripts get embedded into pages properly. This is especially useful for control development where controls have no control over the scripting environment in place on the page. RegisterCssLink and RegisterCssResource Much like the script embedding functions these two methods allow embedding of CSS links. CSS links are appended to the header or to a form declared with runat=”server”. LoadControlScript Is a high level resource loading routine that can be used to easily switch between different script linking modes. It supports loading from a WebResource, a url or not loading anything at all. This is very useful if you build controls that deal with specification of resource urls/ids in a standard way. Check out the full Code You can check out the full code to the ClientScriptProxyClass here: ClientScriptProxy.cs ClientScriptProxy Documentation (class reference) Note that the ClientScriptProxy has a few dependencies in the West Wind Web Toolkit of which it is part of. ControlResources holds a few standard constants and script resource links and the ScriptCompressionModule which is referenced in a few of the script inclusion methods. There’s also another useful ScriptContainer companion control  to the ClientScriptProxy that allows scripts to be placed onto the page’s markup including the ability to specify the script location and script minification options. You can find all the dependencies in the West Wind Web Toolkit repository: West Wind Web Toolkit Repository West Wind Web Toolkit Home Page© Rick Strahl, West Wind Technologies, 2005-2010Posted in ASP.NET  JavaScript  

  Read the article

• The broken Promise of the Mobile Web

  - by Rick Strahl

  High end mobile devices have been with us now for almost 7 years and they have utterly transformed the way we access information. Mobile phones and smartphones that have access to the Internet and host smart applications are in the hands of a large percentage of the population of the world. In many places even very remote, cell phones and even smart phones are a common sight. I’ll never forget when I was in India in 2011 I was up in the Southern Indian mountains riding an elephant out of a tiny local village, with an elephant herder in front riding atop of the elephant in front of us. He was dressed in traditional garb with the loin wrap and head cloth/turban as did quite a few of the locals in this small out of the way and not so touristy village. So we’re slowly trundling along in the forest and he’s lazily using his stick to guide the elephant and… 10 minutes in he pulls out his cell phone from his sash and starts texting. In the middle of texting a huge pig jumps out from the side of the trail and he takes a picture running across our path in the jungle! So yeah, mobile technology is very pervasive and it’s reached into even very buried and unexpected parts of this world. Apps are still King Apps currently rule the roost when it comes to mobile devices and the applications that run on them. If there’s something that you need on your mobile device your first step usually is to look for an app, not use your browser. But native app development remains a pain in the butt, with the requirement to have to support 2 or 3 completely separate platforms. There are solutions that try to bridge that gap. Xamarin is on a tear at the moment, providing their cross-device toolkit to build applications using C#. While Xamarin tools are impressive – and also *very* expensive – they only address part of the development madness that is app development. There are still specific device integration isssues, dealing with the different developer programs, security and certificate setups and all that other noise that surrounds app development. There’s also PhoneGap/Cordova which provides a hybrid solution that involves creating local HTML/CSS/JavaScript based applications, and then packaging them to run in a specialized App container that can run on most mobile device platforms using a WebView interface. This allows for using of HTML technology, but it also still requires all the set up, configuration of APIs, security keys and certification and submission and deployment process just like native applications – you actually lose many of the benefits that  Web based apps bring. The big selling point of Cordova is that you get to use HTML have the ability to build your UI once for all platforms and run across all of them – but the rest of the app process remains in place. Apps can be a big pain to create and manage especially when we are talking about specialized or vertical business applications that aren’t geared at the mainstream market and that don’t fit the ‘store’ model. If you’re building a small intra department application you don’t want to deal with multiple device platforms and certification etc. for various public or corporate app stores. That model is simply not a good fit both from the development and deployment perspective. Even for commercial, big ticket apps, HTML as a UI platform offers many advantages over native, from write-once run-anywhere, to remote maintenance, single point of management and failure to having full control over the application as opposed to have the app store overloads censor you. In a lot of ways Web based HTML/CSS/JavaScript applications have so much potential for building better solutions based on existing Web technologies for the very same reasons a lot of content years ago moved off the desktop to the Web. To me the Web as a mobile platform makes perfect sense, but the reality of today’s Mobile Web unfortunately looks a little different… Where’s the Love for the Mobile Web? Yet here we are in the middle of 2014, nearly 7 years after the first iPhone was released and brought the promise of rich interactive information at your fingertips, and yet we still don’t really have a solid mobile Web platform. I know what you’re thinking: “But we have lots of HTML/JavaScript/CSS features that allows us to build nice mobile interfaces”. I agree to a point – it’s actually quite possible to build nice looking, rich and capable Web UI today. We have media queries to deal with varied display sizes, CSS transforms for smooth animations and transitions, tons of CSS improvements in CSS 3 that facilitate rich layout, a host of APIs geared towards mobile device features and lately even a number of JavaScript framework choices that facilitate development of multi-screen apps in a consistent manner. Personally I’ve been working a lot with AngularJs and heavily modified Bootstrap themes to build mobile first UIs and that’s been working very well to provide highly usable and attractive UI for typical mobile business applications. From the pure UI perspective things actually look very good. Not just about the UI But it’s not just about the UI - it’s also about integration with the mobile device. When it comes to putting all those pieces together into what amounts to a consolidated platform to build mobile Web applications, I think we still have a ways to go… there are a lot of missing pieces to make it all work together and integrate with the device more smoothly, and more importantly to make it work uniformly across the majority of devices. I think there are a number of reasons for this. Slow Standards Adoption HTML standards implementations and ratification has been dreadfully slow, and browser vendors all seem to pick and choose different pieces of the technology they implement. The end result is that we have a capable UI platform that’s missing some of the infrastructure pieces to make it whole on mobile devices. There’s lots of potential but what is lacking that final 10% to build truly compelling mobile applications that can compete favorably with native applications. Some of it is the fragmentation of browsers and the slow evolution of the mobile specific HTML APIs. A host of mobile standards exist but many of the standards are in the early review stage and they have been there stuck for long periods of time and seem to move at a glacial pace. Browser vendors seem even slower to implement them, and for good reason – non-ratified standards mean that implementations may change and vendor implementations tend to be experimental and  likely have to be changed later. Neither Vendors or developers are not keen on changing standards. This is the typical chicken and egg scenario, but without some forward momentum from some party we end up stuck in the mud. It seems that either the standards bodies or the vendors need to carry the torch forward and that doesn’t seem to be happening quickly enough. Mobile Device Integration just isn’t good enough Current standards are not far reaching enough to address a number of the use case scenarios necessary for many mobile applications. While not every application needs to have access to all mobile device features, almost every mobile application could benefit from some integration with other parts of the mobile device platform. Integration with GPS, phone, media, messaging, notifications, linking and contacts system are benefits that are unique to mobile applications and could be widely used, but are mostly (with the exception of GPS) inaccessible for Web based applications today. Unfortunately trying to do most of this today only with a mobile Web browser is a losing battle. Aside from PhoneGap/Cordova’s app centric model with its own custom API accessing mobile device features and the token exception of the GeoLocation API, most device integration features are not widely supported by the current crop of mobile browsers. For example there’s no usable messaging API that allows access to SMS or contacts from HTML. Even obvious components like the Media Capture API are only implemented partially by mobile devices. There are alternatives and workarounds for some of these interfaces by using browser specific code, but that’s might ugly and something that I thought we were trying to leave behind with newer browser standards. But it’s not quite working out that way. It’s utterly perplexing to me that mobile standards like Media Capture and Streams, Media Gallery Access, Responsive Images, Messaging API, Contacts Manager API have only minimal or no traction at all today. Keep in mind we’ve had mobile browsers for nearly 7 years now, and yet we still have to think about how to get access to an image from the image gallery or the camera on some devices? Heck Windows Phone IE Mobile just gained the ability to upload images recently in the Windows 8.1 Update – that’s feature that HTML has had for 20 years! These are simple concepts and common problems that should have been solved a long time ago. It’s extremely frustrating to see build 90% of a mobile Web app with relative ease and then hit a brick wall for the remaining 10%, which often can be show stoppers. The remaining 10% have to do with platform integration, browser differences and working around the limitations that browsers and ‘pinned’ applications impose on HTML applications. The maddening part is that these limitations seem arbitrary as they could easily work on all mobile platforms. For example, SMS has a URL Moniker interface that sort of works on Android, works badly with iOS (only works if the address is already in the contact list) and not at all on Windows Phone. There’s no reason this shouldn’t work universally using the same interface – after all all phones have supported SMS since before the year 2000! But, it doesn’t have to be this way Change can happen very quickly. Take the GeoLocation API for example. Geolocation has taken off at the very beginning of the mobile device era and today it works well, provides the necessary security (a big concern for many mobile APIs), and is supported by just about all major mobile and even desktop browsers today. It handles security concerns via prompts to avoid unwanted access which is a model that would work for most other device APIs in a similar fashion. One time approval and occasional re-approval if code changes or caches expire. Simple and only slightly intrusive. It all works well, even though GeoLocation actually has some physical limitations, such as representing the current location when no GPS device is present. Yet this is a solved problem, where other APIs that are conceptually much simpler to implement have failed to gain any traction at all. Technically none of these APIs should be a problem to implement, but it appears that the momentum is just not there. Inadequate Web Application Linking and Activation Another important piece of the puzzle missing is the integration of HTML based Web applications. Today HTML based applications are not first class citizens on mobile operating systems. When talking about HTML based content there’s a big difference between content and applications. Content is great for search engine discovery and plain browser usage. Content is usually accessed intermittently and permanent linking is not so critical for this type of content.  But applications have different needs. Applications need to be started up quickly and must be easily switchable to support a multi-tasking user workflow. Therefore, it’s pretty crucial that mobile Web apps are integrated into the underlying mobile OS and work with the standard task management features. Unfortunately this integration is not as smooth as it should be. It starts with actually trying to find mobile Web applications, to ‘installing’ them onto a phone in an easily accessible manner in a prominent position. The experience of discovering a Mobile Web ‘App’ and making it sticky is by no means as easy or satisfying. Today the way you’d go about this is: Open the browser Search for a Web Site in the browser with your search engine of choice Hope that you find the right site Hope that you actually find a site that works for your mobile device Click on the link and run the app in a fully chrome’d browser instance (read tiny surface area) Pin the app to the home screen (with all the limitations outline above) Hope you pointed at the right URL when you pinned Even for you and me as developers, there are a few steps in there that are painful and annoying, but think about the average user. First figuring out how to search for a specific site or URL? And then pinning the app and hopefully from the right location? You’ve probably lost more than half of your audience at that point. This experience sucks. For developers too this process is painful since app developers can’t control the shortcut creation directly. This problem often gets solved by crazy coding schemes, with annoying pop-ups that try to get people to create shortcuts via fancy animations that are both annoying and add overhead to each and every application that implements this sort of thing differently. And that’s not the end of it - getting the link onto the home screen with an application icon varies quite a bit between browsers. Apple’s non-standard meta tags are prominent and they work with iOS and Android (only more recent versions), but not on Windows Phone. Windows Phone instead requires you to create an actual screen or rather a partial screen be captured for a shortcut in the tile manager. Who had that brilliant idea I wonder? Surprisingly Chrome on recent Android versions seems to actually get it right – icons use pngs, pinning is easy and pinned applications properly behave like standalone apps and retain the browser’s active page state and content. Each of the platforms has a different way to specify icons (WP doesn’t allow you to use an icon image at all), and the most widely used interface in use today is a bunch of Apple specific meta tags that other browsers choose to support. The question is: Why is there no standard implementation for installing shortcuts across mobile platforms using an official format rather than a proprietary one? Then there’s iOS and the crazy way it treats home screen linked URLs using a crazy hybrid format that is neither as capable as a Web app running in Safari nor a WebView hosted application. Moving off the Web ‘app’ link when switching to another app actually causes the browser and preview it to ‘blank out’ the Web application in the Task View (see screenshot on the right). Then, when the ‘app’ is reactivated it ends up completely restarting the browser with the original link. This is crazy behavior that you can’t easily work around. In some situations you might be able to store the application state and restore it using LocalStorage, but for many scenarios that involve complex data sources (like say Google Maps) that’s not a possibility. The only reason for this screwed up behavior I can think of is that it is deliberate to make Web apps a pain in the butt to use and forcing users trough the App Store/PhoneGap/Cordova route. App linking and management is a very basic problem – something that we essentially have solved in every desktop browser – yet on mobile devices where it arguably matters a lot more to have easy access to web content we have to jump through hoops to have even a remotely decent linking/activation experience across browsers. Where’s the Money? It’s not surprising that device home screen integration and Mobile Web support in general is in such dismal shape – the mobile OS vendors benefit financially from App store sales and have little to gain from Web based applications that bypass the App store and the cash cow that it presents. On top of that, platform specific vendor lock-in of both end users and developers who have invested in hardware, apps and consumables is something that mobile platform vendors actually aspire to. Web based interfaces that are cross-platform are the anti-thesis of that and so again it’s no surprise that the mobile Web is on a struggling path. But – that may be changing. More and more we’re seeing operations shifting to services that are subscription based or otherwise collect money for usage, and that may drive more progress into the Web direction in the end . Nothing like the almighty dollar to drive innovation forward. Do we need a Mobile Web App Store? As much as I dislike moderated experiences in today’s massive App Stores, they do at least provide one single place to look for apps for your device. I think we could really use some sort of registry, that could provide something akin to an app store for mobile Web apps, to make it easier to actually find mobile applications. This could take the form of a specialized search engine, or maybe a more formal store/registry like structure. Something like apt-get/chocolatey for Web apps. It could be curated and provide at least some feedback and reviews that might help with the integrity of applications. Coupled to that could be a native application on each platform that would allow searching and browsing of the registry and then also handle installation in the form of providing the home screen linking, plus maybe an initial security configuration that determines what features are allowed access to for the app. I’m not holding my breath. In order for this sort of thing to take off and gain widespread appeal, a lot of coordination would be required. And in order to get enough traction it would have to come from a well known entity – a mobile Web app store from a no name source is unlikely to gain high enough usage numbers to make a difference. In a way this would eliminate some of the freedom of the Web, but of course this would also be an optional search path in addition to the standard open Web search mechanisms to find and access content today. Security Security is a big deal, and one of the perceived reasons why so many IT professionals appear to be willing to go back to the walled garden of deployed apps is that Apps are perceived as safe due to the official review and curation of the App stores. Curated stores are supposed to protect you from malware, illegal and misleading content. It doesn’t always work out that way and all the major vendors have had issues with security and the review process at some time or another. Security is critical, but I also think that Web applications in general pose less of a security threat than native applications, by nature of the sandboxed browser and JavaScript environments. Web applications run externally completely and in the HTML and JavaScript sandboxes, with only a very few controlled APIs allowing access to device specific features. And as discussed earlier – security for any device interaction can be granted the same for mobile applications through a Web browser, as they can for native applications either via explicit policies loaded from the Web, or via prompting as GeoLocation does today. Security is important, but it’s certainly solvable problem for Web applications even those that need to access device hardware. Security shouldn’t be a reason for Web apps to be an equal player in mobile applications. Apps are winning, but haven’t we been here before? So now we’re finding ourselves back in an era of installed app, rather than Web based and managed apps. Only it’s even worse today than with Desktop applications, in that the apps are going through a gatekeeper that charges a toll and censors what you can and can’t do in your apps. Frankly it’s a mystery to me why anybody would buy into this model and why it’s lasted this long when we’ve already been through this process. It’s crazy… It’s really a shame that this regression is happening. We have the technology to make mobile Web apps much more prominent, but yet we’re basically held back by what seems little more than bureaucracy, partisan bickering and self interest of the major parties involved. Back in the day of the desktop it was Internet Explorer’s 98+%  market shareholding back the Web from improvements for many years – now it’s the combined mobile OS market in control of the mobile browsers. If mobile Web apps were allowed to be treated the same as native apps with simple ways to install and run them consistently and persistently, that would go a long way to making mobile applications much more usable and seriously viable alternatives to native apps. But as it is mobile apps have a severe disadvantage in placement and operation. There are a few bright spots in all of this. Mozilla’s FireFoxOs is embracing the Web for it’s mobile OS by essentially building every app out of HTML and JavaScript based content. It supports both packaged and certified package modes (that can be put into the app store), and Open Web apps that are loaded and run completely off the Web and can also cache locally for offline operation using a manifest. Open Web apps are treated as full class citizens in FireFoxOS and run using the same mechanism as installed apps. Unfortunately FireFoxOs is getting a slow start with minimal device support and specifically targeting the low end market. We can hope that this approach will change and catch on with other vendors, but that’s also an uphill battle given the conflict of interest with platform lock in that it represents. Recent versions of Android also seem to be working reasonably well with mobile application integration onto the desktop and activation out of the box. Although it still uses the Apple meta tags to find icons and behavior settings, everything at least works as you would expect – icons to the desktop on pinning, WebView based full screen activation, and reliable application persistence as the browser/app is treated like a real application. Hopefully iOS will at some point provide this same level of rudimentary Web app support. What’s also interesting to me is that Microsoft hasn’t picked up on the obvious need for a solid Web App platform. Being a distant third in the mobile OS war, Microsoft certainly has nothing to lose and everything to gain by using fresh ideas and expanding into areas that the other major vendors are neglecting. But instead Microsoft is trying to beat the market leaders at their own game, fighting on their adversary’s terms instead of taking a new tack. Providing a kick ass mobile Web platform that takes the lead on some of the proposed mobile APIs would be something positive that Microsoft could do to improve its miserable position in the mobile device market. Where are we at with Mobile Web? It sure sounds like I’m really down on the Mobile Web, right? I’ve built a number of mobile apps in the last year and while overall result and response has been very positive to what we were able to accomplish in terms of UI, getting that final 10% that required device integration dialed was an absolute nightmare on every single one of them. Big compromises had to be made and some features were left out or had to be modified for some devices. In two cases we opted to go the Cordova route in order to get the integration we needed, along with the extra pain involved in that process. Unless you’re not integrating with device features and you don’t care deeply about a smooth integration with the mobile desktop, mobile Web development is fraught with frustration. So, yes I’m frustrated! But it’s not for lack of wanting the mobile Web to succeed. I am still a firm believer that we will eventually arrive a much more functional mobile Web platform that allows access to the most common device features in a sensible way. It wouldn't be difficult for device platform vendors to make Web based applications first class citizens on mobile devices. But unfortunately it looks like it will still be some time before this happens. So, what’s your experience building mobile Web apps? Are you finding similar issues? Just giving up on raw Web applications and building PhoneGap apps instead? Completely skipping the Web and going native? Leave a comment for discussion. Resources Rick Strahl on DotNet Rocks talking about Mobile Web© Rick Strahl, West Wind Technologies, 2005-2014Posted in HTML5  Mobile   Tweet !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); (function() { var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.async = true; po.src = 'https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })();

  Read the article

• Security Issues with Single Page Apps

  - by Stephen.Walther

  Last week, I was asked to do a code review of a Single Page App built using the ASP.NET Web API, Durandal, and Knockout (good stuff!). In particular, I was asked to investigate whether there any special security issues associated with building a Single Page App which are not present in the case of a traditional server-side ASP.NET application. In this blog entry, I discuss two areas in which you need to exercise extra caution when building a Single Page App. I discuss how Single Page Apps are extra vulnerable to both Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks and Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks. This goal of this blog post is NOT to persuade you to avoid writing Single Page Apps. I’m a big fan of Single Page Apps. Instead, the goal is to ensure that you are fully aware of some of the security issues related to Single Page Apps and ensure that you know how to guard against them. Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Attacks According to WhiteHat Security, over 65% of public websites are open to XSS attacks. That’s bad. By taking advantage of XSS holes in a website, a hacker can steal your credit cards, passwords, or bank account information. Any website that redisplays untrusted information is open to XSS attacks. Let me give you a simple example. Imagine that you want to display the name of the current user on a page. To do this, you create the following server-side ASP.NET page located at http://MajorBank.com/SomePage.aspx: <%@Page Language="C#" %> <html> <head> <title>Some Page</title> </head> <body> Welcome <%= Request["username"] %> </body> </html> Nothing fancy here. Notice that the page displays the current username by using Request[“username”]. Using Request[“username”] displays the username regardless of whether the username is present in a cookie, a form field, or a query string variable. Unfortunately, by using Request[“username”] to redisplay untrusted information, you have now opened your website to XSS attacks. Here’s how. Imagine that an evil hacker creates the following link on another website (hackers.com): <a href="/SomePage.aspx?username=<script src=Evil.js></script>">Visit MajorBank</a> Notice that the link includes a query string variable named username and the value of the username variable is an HTML <SCRIPT> tag which points to a JavaScript file named Evil.js. When anyone clicks on the link, the <SCRIPT> tag will be injected into SomePage.aspx and the Evil.js script will be loaded and executed. What can a hacker do in the Evil.js script? Anything the hacker wants. For example, the hacker could display a popup dialog on the MajorBank.com site which asks the user to enter their password. The script could then post the password back to hackers.com and now the evil hacker has your secret password. ASP.NET Web Forms and ASP.NET MVC have two automatic safeguards against this type of attack: Request Validation and Automatic HTML Encoding. Protecting Coming In (Request Validation) In a server-side ASP.NET app, you are protected against the XSS attack described above by a feature named Request Validation. If you attempt to submit “potentially dangerous” content — such as a JavaScript <SCRIPT> tag — in a form field or query string variable then you get an exception. Unfortunately, Request Validation only applies to server-side apps. Request Validation does not help in the case of a Single Page App. In particular, the ASP.NET Web API does not pay attention to Request Validation. You can post any content you want – including <SCRIPT> tags – to an ASP.NET Web API action. For example, the following HTML page contains a form. When you submit the form, the form data is submitted to an ASP.NET Web API controller on the server using an Ajax request: <!DOCTYPE html> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <title></title> </head> <body> <form data-bind="submit:submit"> <div> <label> User Name: <input data-bind="value:user.userName" /> </label> </div> <div> <label> Email: <input data-bind="value:user.email" /> </label> </div> <div> <input type="submit" value="Submit" /> </div> </form> <script src="Scripts/jquery-1.7.1.js"></script> <script src="Scripts/knockout-2.1.0.js"></script> <script> var viewModel = { user: { userName: ko.observable(), email: ko.observable() }, submit: function () { $.post("/api/users", ko.toJS(this.user)); } }; ko.applyBindings(viewModel); </script> </body> </html> The form above is using Knockout to bind the form fields to a view model. When you submit the form, the view model is submitted to an ASP.NET Web API action on the server. Here’s the server-side ASP.NET Web API controller and model class: public class UsersController : ApiController { public HttpResponseMessage Post(UserViewModel user) { var userName = user.UserName; return Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.OK); } } public class UserViewModel { public string UserName { get; set; } public string Email { get; set; } } If you submit the HTML form, you don’t get an error. The “potentially dangerous” content is passed to the server without any exception being thrown. In the screenshot below, you can see that I was able to post a username form field with the value “<script>alert(‘boo’)</script”. So what this means is that you do not get automatic Request Validation in the case of a Single Page App. You need to be extra careful in a Single Page App about ensuring that you do not display untrusted content because you don’t have the Request Validation safety net which you have in a traditional server-side ASP.NET app. Protecting Going Out (Automatic HTML Encoding) Server-side ASP.NET also protects you from XSS attacks when you render content. By default, all content rendered by the razor view engine is HTML encoded. For example, the following razor view displays the text “<b>Hello!</b>” instead of the text “Hello!” in bold: @{ var message = "<b>Hello!</b>"; } @message   If you don’t want to render content as HTML encoded in razor then you need to take the extra step of using the @Html.Raw() helper. In a Web Form page, if you use <%: %> instead of <%= %> then you get automatic HTML Encoding: <%@ Page Language="C#" %> <% var message = "<b>Hello!</b>"; %> <%: message %> This automatic HTML Encoding will prevent many types of XSS attacks. It prevents <script> tags from being rendered and only allows &lt;script&gt; tags to be rendered which are useless for executing JavaScript. (This automatic HTML encoding does not protect you from all forms of XSS attacks. For example, you can assign the value “javascript:alert(‘evil’)” to the Hyperlink control’s NavigateUrl property and execute the JavaScript). The situation with Knockout is more complicated. If you use the Knockout TEXT binding then you get HTML encoded content. On the other hand, if you use the HTML binding then you do not: <!-- This JavaScript DOES NOT execute --> <div data-bind="text:someProp"></div> <!-- This Javacript DOES execute --> <div data-bind="html:someProp"></div> <script src="Scripts/jquery-1.7.1.js"></script> <script src="Scripts/knockout-2.1.0.js"></script> <script> var viewModel = { someProp : "<script>alert('Evil!')<" + "/script>" }; ko.applyBindings(viewModel); </script>   So, in the page above, the DIV element which uses the TEXT binding is safe from XSS attacks. According to the Knockout documentation: “Since this binding sets your text value using a text node, it’s safe to set any string value without risking HTML or script injection.” Just like server-side HTML encoding, Knockout does not protect you from all types of XSS attacks. For example, there is nothing in Knockout which prevents you from binding JavaScript to a hyperlink like this: <a data-bind="attr:{href:homePageUrl}">Go</a> <script src="Scripts/jquery-1.7.1.min.js"></script> <script src="Scripts/knockout-2.1.0.js"></script> <script> var viewModel = { homePageUrl: "javascript:alert('evil!')" }; ko.applyBindings(viewModel); </script> In the page above, the value “javascript:alert(‘evil’)” is bound to the HREF attribute using Knockout. When you click the link, the JavaScript executes. Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) Attacks Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks rely on the fact that a session cookie does not expire until you close your browser. In particular, if you visit and login to MajorBank.com and then you navigate to Hackers.com then you will still be authenticated against MajorBank.com even after you navigate to Hackers.com. Because MajorBank.com cannot tell whether a request is coming from MajorBank.com or Hackers.com, Hackers.com can submit requests to MajorBank.com pretending to be you. For example, Hackers.com can post an HTML form from Hackers.com to MajorBank.com and change your email address at MajorBank.com. Hackers.com can post a form to MajorBank.com using your authentication cookie. After your email address has been changed, by using a password reset page at MajorBank.com, a hacker can access your bank account. To prevent CSRF attacks, you need some mechanism for detecting whether a request is coming from a page loaded from your website or whether the request is coming from some other website. The recommended way of preventing Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks is to use the “Synchronizer Token Pattern” as described here: https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Cross-Site_Request_Forgery_%28CSRF%29_Prevention_Cheat_Sheet When using the Synchronizer Token Pattern, you include a hidden input field which contains a random token whenever you display an HTML form. When the user opens the form, you add a cookie to the user’s browser with the same random token. When the user posts the form, you verify that the hidden form token and the cookie token match. Preventing Cross-Site Request Forgery Attacks with ASP.NET MVC ASP.NET gives you a helper and an action filter which you can use to thwart Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks. For example, the following razor form for creating a product shows how you use the @Html.AntiForgeryToken() helper: @model MvcApplication2.Models.Product <h2>Create Product</h2> @using (Html.BeginForm()) { @Html.AntiForgeryToken(); <div> @Html.LabelFor( p => p.Name, "Product Name:") @Html.TextBoxFor( p => p.Name) </div> <div> @Html.LabelFor( p => p.Price, "Product Price:") @Html.TextBoxFor( p => p.Price) </div> <input type="submit" /> } The @Html.AntiForgeryToken() helper generates a random token and assigns a serialized version of the same random token to both a cookie and a hidden form field. (Actually, if you dive into the source code, the AntiForgeryToken() does something a little more complex because it takes advantage of a user’s identity when generating the token). Here’s what the hidden form field looks like: <input name=”__RequestVerificationToken” type=”hidden” value=”NqqZGAmlDHh6fPTNR_mti3nYGUDgpIkCiJHnEEL59S7FNToyyeSo7v4AfzF2i67Cv0qTB1TgmZcqiVtgdkW2NnXgEcBc-iBts0x6WAIShtM1″ /> And here’s what the cookie looks like using the Google Chrome developer toolbar: You use the [ValidateAntiForgeryToken] action filter on the controller action which is the recipient of the form post to validate that the token in the hidden form field matches the token in the cookie. If the tokens don’t match then validation fails and you can’t post the form: public ActionResult Create() { return View(); } [ValidateAntiForgeryToken] [HttpPost] public ActionResult Create(Product productToCreate) { if (ModelState.IsValid) { // save product to db return RedirectToAction("Index"); } return View(); } How does this all work? Let’s imagine that a hacker has copied the Create Product page from MajorBank.com to Hackers.com – the hacker grabs the HTML source and places it at Hackers.com. Now, imagine that the hacker trick you into submitting the Create Product form from Hackers.com to MajorBank.com. You’ll get the following exception: The Cross-Site Request Forgery attack is blocked because the anti-forgery token included in the Create Product form at Hackers.com won’t match the anti-forgery token stored in the cookie in your browser. The tokens were generated at different times for different users so the attack fails. Preventing Cross-Site Request Forgery Attacks with a Single Page App In a Single Page App, you can’t prevent Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks using the same method as a server-side ASP.NET MVC app. In a Single Page App, HTML forms are not generated on the server. Instead, in a Single Page App, forms are loaded dynamically in the browser. Phil Haack has a blog post on this topic where he discusses passing the anti-forgery token in an Ajax header instead of a hidden form field. He also describes how you can create a custom anti-forgery token attribute to compare the token in the Ajax header and the token in the cookie. See: http://haacked.com/archive/2011/10/10/preventing-csrf-with-ajax.aspx Also, take a look at Johan’s update to Phil Haack’s original post: http://johan.driessen.se/posts/Updated-Anti-XSRF-Validation-for-ASP.NET-MVC-4-RC (Other server frameworks such as Rails and Django do something similar. For example, Rails uses an X-CSRF-Token to prevent CSRF attacks which you generate on the server – see http://excid3.com/blog/rails-tip-2-include-csrf-token-with-every-ajax-request/#.UTFtgDDkvL8 ). For example, if you are creating a Durandal app, then you can use the following razor view for your one and only server-side page: @{ Layout = null; } <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <title>Index</title> </head> <body> @Html.AntiForgeryToken() <div id="applicationHost"> Loading app.... </div> @Scripts.Render("~/scripts/vendor") <script type="text/javascript" src="~/App/durandal/amd/require.js" data-main="/App/main"></script> </body> </html> Notice that this page includes a call to @Html.AntiForgeryToken() to generate the anti-forgery token. Then, whenever you make an Ajax request in the Durandal app, you can retrieve the anti-forgery token from the razor view and pass the token as a header: var csrfToken = $("input[name='__RequestVerificationToken']").val(); $.ajax({ headers: { __RequestVerificationToken: csrfToken }, type: "POST", dataType: "json", contentType: 'application/json; charset=utf-8', url: "/api/products", data: JSON.stringify({ name: "Milk", price: 2.33 }), statusCode: { 200: function () { alert("Success!"); } } }); Use the following code to create an action filter which you can use to match the header and cookie tokens: using System.Linq; using System.Net.Http; using System.Web.Helpers; using System.Web.Http.Controllers; namespace MvcApplication2.Infrastructure { public class ValidateAjaxAntiForgeryToken : System.Web.Http.AuthorizeAttribute { protected override bool IsAuthorized(HttpActionContext actionContext) { var headerToken = actionContext .Request .Headers .GetValues("__RequestVerificationToken") .FirstOrDefault(); ; var cookieToken = actionContext .Request .Headers .GetCookies() .Select(c => c[AntiForgeryConfig.CookieName]) .FirstOrDefault(); // check for missing cookie or header if (cookieToken == null || headerToken == null) { return false; } // ensure that the cookie matches the header try { AntiForgery.Validate(cookieToken.Value, headerToken); } catch { return false; } return base.IsAuthorized(actionContext); } } } Notice that the action filter derives from the base AuthorizeAttribute. The ValidateAjaxAntiForgeryToken only works when the user is authenticated and it will not work for anonymous requests. Add the action filter to your ASP.NET Web API controller actions like this: [ValidateAjaxAntiForgeryToken] public HttpResponseMessage PostProduct(Product productToCreate) { // add product to db return Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.OK); } After you complete these steps, it won’t be possible for a hacker to pretend to be you at Hackers.com and submit a form to MajorBank.com. The header token used in the Ajax request won’t travel to Hackers.com. This approach works, but I am not entirely happy with it. The one thing that I don’t like about this approach is that it creates a hard dependency on using razor. Your single page in your Single Page App must be generated from a server-side razor view. A better solution would be to generate the anti-forgery token in JavaScript. Unfortunately, until all browsers support a way to generate cryptographically strong random numbers – for example, by supporting the window.crypto.getRandomValues() method — there is no good way to generate anti-forgery tokens in JavaScript. So, at least right now, the best solution for generating the tokens is the server-side solution with the (regrettable) dependency on razor. Conclusion The goal of this blog entry was to explore some ways in which you need to handle security differently in the case of a Single Page App than in the case of a traditional server app. In particular, I focused on how to prevent Cross-Site Scripting and Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks in the case of a Single Page App. I want to emphasize that I am not suggesting that Single Page Apps are inherently less secure than server-side apps. Whatever type of web application you build – regardless of whether it is a Single Page App, an ASP.NET MVC app, an ASP.NET Web Forms app, or a Rails app – you must constantly guard against security vulnerabilities.

  Read the article

• Android Remote Service Keeps Restarting

  - by user244190

  Ok so I've built an app that uses a remote service to do some real time GPS tracking. I am using the below code to start and bind to the service. The remote service uses aidl, sets up a notification icon, runs the GPS and locationListener. In onLocationChanged, a handler sends data back to the caller via the callback. Pretty much straight out of the examples and resources online. I want to allow the service to continue running even if the app closes. When the app is restarted, I want the app to again bind to the service (using the existing service if running) and again receive data from the tracker. I currently have the app mode set to singleTask and cannot use singleinstance due to another issue. My problem is that quit often even after the app and service are shut down either from the app itself, or from AdvancedTaskKiller, or a Forceclose, the service will restart and initialize the GPS. touching on the notification will open the app. I again stop the tracking which removes the notification and turns off the GPS Close the app, and again after a few seconds the service restarts. The only way to stop it is to power off the phone. What can I do to stop this from happening. Does it have to do with the mode of operation? START_NOT_STICKY or START_REDELIVER_INTENT? Or do I need to use stopSelf()? My understanding is that if the service is not running when I use bindService() that the service will be created...so do I really need to use start/stopService also? I thought I would need to use it if I want the service to run even after the app is closed. That is why i do not unbind/stop the service in onDestroy(). Is this correct? I've not seen any other info an this, so I,m not sure where to look. Please Help! Thanks Patrick //Remote Service Startup try{ startService(); }catch (Exception e) { Toast.makeText(ctx, e.getMessage().toString(), Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show(); } } try{ bindService(); }catch (Exception e) { Toast.makeText(ctx, e.getMessage().toString(), Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show(); } //Remote service shutdown try { unbindService(); }catch(Exception e) { Toast.makeText(ctx, e.getMessage().toString(), Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show(); } try{ stopService(); }catch(Exception e) { Toast.makeText(ctx, e.getMessage().toString(), Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show(); } private void startService() { if( myAdapter.trackServiceStarted() ) { if(SETTING_DEBUG_MODE) Toast.makeText(this, "Service already started", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show(); started = true; if(!myAdapter.trackDataExists()) insertTrackData(); updateServiceStatus(); } else { startService( new Intent ( "com.codebase.TRACKING_SERVICE" ) ); Log.d( "startService()", "startService()" ); started = true; updateServiceStatus(); } } private void stopService() { stopService( new Intent ( "com.codebase.TRACKING_SERVICE" ) ); Log.d( "stopService()", "stopService()" ); started = false; updateServiceStatus(); } private void bindService() { bindService(new Intent(ITrackingService.class.getName()), mConnection, Context.BIND_AUTO_CREATE); bindService(new Intent(ITrackingSecondary.class.getName()), mTrackingSecondaryConnection, Context.BIND_AUTO_CREATE); started = true; } private void unbindService() { try { mTrackingService.unregisterCallback(mCallback); } catch (RemoteException e) { // There is nothing special we need to do if the service // has crashed. e.getMessage(); } try { unbindService(mTrackingSecondaryConnection); unbindService(mConnection); } catch (Exception e) { // There is nothing special we need to do if the service // has crashed. e.getMessage(); } started = false; } private ServiceConnection mConnection = new ServiceConnection() { public void onServiceConnected(ComponentName className, IBinder service) { // This is called when the connection with the service has been // established, giving us the service object we can use to // interact with the service. We are communicating with our // service through an IDL interface, so get a client-side // representation of that from the raw service object. mTrackingService = ITrackingService.Stub.asInterface(service); // We want to monitor the service for as long as we are // connected to it. try { mTrackingService.registerCallback(mCallback); } catch (RemoteException e) { // In this case the service has crashed before we could even // do anything with it; we can count on soon being // disconnected (and then reconnected if it can be restarted) // so there is no need to do anything here. } } public void onServiceDisconnected(ComponentName className) { // This is called when the connection with the service has been // unexpectedly disconnected -- that is, its process crashed. mTrackingService = null; } }; private ServiceConnection mTrackingSecondaryConnection = new ServiceConnection() { public void onServiceConnected(ComponentName className, IBinder service) { // Connecting to a secondary interface is the same as any // other interface. mTrackingSecondaryService = ITrackingSecondary.Stub.asInterface(service); try{ mTrackingSecondaryService.setTimePrecision(SETTING_TIME_PRECISION); mTrackingSecondaryService.setDistancePrecision(SETTING_DISTANCE_PRECISION); } catch (RemoteException e) { // In this case the service has crashed before we could even // do anything with it; we can count on soon being // disconnected (and then reconnected if it can be restarted) // so there is no need to do anything here. } } public void onServiceDisconnected(ComponentName className) { mTrackingSecondaryService = null; } }; //TrackService onDestry() public void onDestroy() { try{ if(lm != null) { lm.removeUpdates(this); } if(mNotificationManager != null) { mNotificationManager.cancel(R.string.local_service_started); } Toast.makeText(this, "Service stopped", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show(); }catch (Exception e){ Toast.makeText(this, e.getMessage(), Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show(); } // Unregister all callbacks. mCallbacks.kill(); // Remove the next pending message to increment the counter, stopping // the increment loop. mHandler.removeMessages(REPORT_MSG); super.onDestroy(); } ServiceConnectionLeaked: I'm seeing a lot of these: 04-21 09:25:23.347: ERROR/ActivityThread(3246): Activity com.codebase.GPSTest has leaked ServiceConnection com.codebase.GPSTest$6@4482d428 that was originally bound here 04-21 09:25:23.347: ERROR/ActivityThread(3246): android.app.ServiceConnectionLeaked: Activity com.codebase.GPSTest has leaked ServiceConnection com.codebase.GPSTest$6@4482d428 that was originally bound here 04-21 09:25:23.347: ERROR/ActivityThread(3246): at android.app.ActivityThread$PackageInfo$ServiceDispatcher.<init>(ActivityThread.java:977) 04-21 09:25:23.347: ERROR/ActivityThread(3246): at android.app.ActivityThread$PackageInfo.getServiceDispatcher(ActivityThread.java:872) 04-21 09:25:23.347: ERROR/ActivityThread(3246): at android.app.ApplicationContext.bindService(ApplicationContext.java:796) 04-21 09:25:23.347: ERROR/ActivityThread(3246): at android.content.ContextWrapper.bindService(ContextWrapper.java:337) 04-21 09:25:23.347: ERROR/ActivityThread(3246): at com.codebase.GPSTest.bindService(GPSTest.java:2206) 04-21 09:25:23.347: ERROR/ActivityThread(3246): at com.codebase.GPSTest.onStartStopClick(GPSTest.java:1589) 04-21 09:25:23.347: ERROR/ActivityThread(3246): at com.codebase.GPSTest.onResume(GPSTest.java:1210) 04-21 09:25:23.347: ERROR/ActivityThread(3246): at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnResume(Instrumentation.java:1149) 04-21 09:25:23.347: ERROR/ActivityThread(3246): at android.app.Activity.performResume(Activity.java:3763) 04-21 09:25:23.347: ERROR/ActivityThread(3246): at android.app.ActivityThread.performResumeActivity(ActivityThread.java:2937) 04-21 09:25:23.347: ERROR/ActivityThread(3246): at android.app.ActivityThread.handleResumeActivity(ActivityThread.java:2965) 04-21 09:25:23.347: ERROR/ActivityThread(3246): at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2516) 04-21 09:25:23.347: ERROR/ActivityThread(3246): at android.app.ActivityThread.handleRelaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:3625) 04-21 09:25:23.347: ERROR/ActivityThread(3246): at android.app.ActivityThread.access$2300(ActivityThread.java:119) 04-21 09:25:23.347: ERROR/ActivityThread(3246): at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1867) 04-21 09:25:23.347: ERROR/ActivityThread(3246): at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99) 04-21 09:25:23.347: ERROR/ActivityThread(3246): at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:123) 04-21 09:25:23.347: ERROR/ActivityThread(3246): at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4363) 04-21 09:25:23.347: ERROR/ActivityThread(3246): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method) 04-21 09:25:23.347: ERROR/ActivityThread(3246): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:521) 04-21 09:25:23.347: ERROR/ActivityThread(3246): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:860) 04-21 09:25:23.347: ERROR/ActivityThread(3246): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:618) 04-21 09:25:23.347: ERROR/ActivityThread(3246): at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method) And These: Is this ok, or do I need to make sure i deactivate/close 04-21 09:58:55.487: INFO/dalvikvm(3440): Uncaught exception thrown by finalizer (will be discarded): 04-21 09:58:55.487: INFO/dalvikvm(3440): Ljava/lang/IllegalStateException;: Finalizing cursor android.database.sqlite.SQLiteCursor@447ef258 on gps_data that has not been deactivated or closed 04-21 09:58:55.487: INFO/dalvikvm(3440): at android.database.sqlite.SQLiteCursor.finalize(SQLiteCursor.java:596) 04-21 09:58:55.487: INFO/dalvikvm(3440): at dalvik.system.NativeStart.run(Native Method)

  Read the article

• Please help me understand why my XSL Transform is not transforming

  - by Damovisa

  I'm trying to transform one XML format to another using XSL. Try as I might, I can't seem to get a result. I've hacked away at this for a while now and I've had no success. I'm not even getting any exceptions. I'm going to post the entire code and hopefully someone can help me work out what I've done wrong. I'm aware there are likely to be problems in the xsl I have in terms of selects and matches, but I'm not fussed about that at the moment. The output I'm getting is the input XML without any XML tags. The transformation is simply not occurring. Here's my XML Document: <?xml version="1.0"?> <Transactions> <Account> <PersonalAccount> <AccountNumber>066645621</AccountNumber> <AccountName>A Smith</AccountName> <CurrentBalance>-200125.96</CurrentBalance> <AvailableBalance>0</AvailableBalance> <AccountType>LOAN</AccountType> </PersonalAccount> </Account> <StartDate>2010-03-01T00:00:00</StartDate> <EndDate>2010-03-23T00:00:00</EndDate> <Items> <Transaction> <ErrorNumber>-1</ErrorNumber> <Amount>12000</Amount> <Reference>Transaction 1</Reference> <CreatedDate>0001-01-01T00:00:00</CreatedDate> <EffectiveDate>2010-03-15T00:00:00</EffectiveDate> <IsCredit>true</IsCredit> <Balance>-324000</Balance> </Transaction> <Transaction> <ErrorNumber>-1</ErrorNumber> <Amount>11000</Amount> <Reference>Transaction 2</Reference> <CreatedDate>0001-01-01T00:00:00</CreatedDate> <EffectiveDate>2010-03-14T00:00:00</EffectiveDate> <IsCredit>true</IsCredit> <Balance>-324000</Balance> </Transaction> </Items> </Transactions> Here's my XSLT: <xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0"> <xsl:output method="xml" /> <xsl:param name="currentdate"></xsl:param> <xsl:template match="Transactions"> <xsl:element name="OFX"> <xsl:element name="SIGNONMSGSRSV1"> <xsl:element name="SONRS"> <xsl:element name="STATUS"> <xsl:element name="CODE">0</xsl:element> <xsl:element name="SEVERITY">INFO</xsl:element> </xsl:element> <xsl:element name="DTSERVER"><xsl:value-of select="$currentdate" /></xsl:element> <xsl:element name="LANGUAGE">ENG</xsl:element> </xsl:element> </xsl:element> <xsl:element name="BANKMSGSRSV1"> <xsl:element name="STMTTRNRS"> <xsl:element name="TRNUID">1</xsl:element> <xsl:element name="STATUS"> <xsl:element name="CODE">0</xsl:element> <xsl:element name="SEVERITY">INFO</xsl:element> </xsl:element> <xsl:element name="STMTRS"> <xsl:element name="CURDEF">AUD</xsl:element> <xsl:element name="BANKACCTFROM"> <xsl:element name="BANKID">RAMS</xsl:element> <xsl:element name="ACCTID"><xsl:value-of select="Account/PersonalAccount/AccountNumber" /></xsl:element> <xsl:element name="ACCTTYPE"><xsl:value-of select="Account/PersonalAccount/AccountType" /></xsl:element> </xsl:element> <xsl:element name="BANKTRANLIST"> <xsl:element name="DTSTART"><xsl:value-of select="StartDate" /></xsl:element> <xsl:element name="DTEND"><xsl:value-of select="EndDate" /></xsl:element> <xsl:for-each select="Items/Transaction"> <xsl:element name="STMTTRN"> <xsl:element name="TRNTYPE"><xsl:choose><xsl:when test="IsCredit">CREDIT</xsl:when><xsl:otherwise>DEBIT</xsl:otherwise></xsl:choose></xsl:element> <xsl:element name="DTPOSTED"><xsl:value-of select="EffectiveDate" /></xsl:element> <xsl:element name="DTUSER"><xsl:value-of select="CreatedDate" /></xsl:element> <xsl:element name="TRNAMT"><xsl:value-of select="Amount" /></xsl:element> <xsl:element name="FITID" /> <xsl:element name="NAME"><xsl:value-of select="Reference" /></xsl:element> <xsl:element name="MEMO"><xsl:value-of select="Reference" /></xsl:element> </xsl:element> </xsl:for-each> </xsl:element> <xsl:element name="LEDGERBAL"> <xsl:element name="BALAMT"><xsl:value-of select="Account/PersonalAccount/CurrentBalance" /></xsl:element> <xsl:element name="DTASOF"><xsl:value-of select="EndDate" /></xsl:element> </xsl:element> </xsl:element> </xsl:element> </xsl:element> </xsl:element> </xsl:template> </xsl:stylesheet> Here's my method to transform my XML: public string TransformToXml(XmlElement xmlElement, Dictionary<string, object> parameters) { string strReturn = ""; // Load the XSLT Document XslCompiledTransform xslt = new XslCompiledTransform(); xslt.Load(xsltFileName); // arguments XsltArgumentList args = new XsltArgumentList(); if (parameters != null && parameters.Count > 0) { foreach (string key in parameters.Keys) { args.AddParam(key, "", parameters[key]); } } //Create a memory stream to write to Stream objStream = new MemoryStream(); // Apply the transform xslt.Transform(xmlElement, args, objStream); objStream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin); // Read the contents of the stream StreamReader objSR = new StreamReader(objStream); strReturn = objSR.ReadToEnd(); return strReturn; } The contents of strReturn is an XML tag (<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>) followed by a raw dump of the contents of the original XML document, stripped of XML tags. What am I doing wrong here?

  Read the article

• Solving embarassingly parallel problems using Python multiprocessing

  - by gotgenes

  How does one use multiprocessing to tackle embarrassingly parallel problems? Embarassingly parallel problems typically consist of three basic parts: Read input data (from a file, database, tcp connection, etc.). Run calculations on the input data, where each calculation is independent of any other calculation. Write results of calculations (to a file, database, tcp connection, etc.). We can parallelize the program in two dimensions: Part 2 can run on multiple cores, since each calculation is independent; order of processing doesn't matter. Each part can run independently. Part 1 can place data on an input queue, part 2 can pull data off the input queue and put results onto an output queue, and part 3 can pull results off the output queue and write them out. This seems a most basic pattern in concurrent programming, but I am still lost in trying to solve it, so let's write a canonical example to illustrate how this is done using multiprocessing. Here is the example problem: Given a CSV file with rows of integers as input, compute their sums. Separate the problem into three parts, which can all run in parallel: Process the input file into raw data (lists/iterables of integers) Calculate the sums of the data, in parallel Output the sums Below is traditional, single-process bound Python program which solves these three tasks: #!/usr/bin/env python # -*- coding: UTF-8 -*- # basicsums.py """A program that reads integer values from a CSV file and writes out their sums to another CSV file. """ import csv import optparse import sys def make_cli_parser(): """Make the command line interface parser.""" usage = "\n\n".join(["python %prog INPUT_CSV OUTPUT_CSV", __doc__, """ ARGUMENTS: INPUT_CSV: an input CSV file with rows of numbers OUTPUT_CSV: an output file that will contain the sums\ """]) cli_parser = optparse.OptionParser(usage) return cli_parser def parse_input_csv(csvfile): """Parses the input CSV and yields tuples with the index of the row as the first element, and the integers of the row as the second element. The index is zero-index based. :Parameters: - `csvfile`: a `csv.reader` instance """ for i, row in enumerate(csvfile): row = [int(entry) for entry in row] yield i, row def sum_rows(rows): """Yields a tuple with the index of each input list of integers as the first element, and the sum of the list of integers as the second element. The index is zero-index based. :Parameters: - `rows`: an iterable of tuples, with the index of the original row as the first element, and a list of integers as the second element """ for i, row in rows: yield i, sum(row) def write_results(csvfile, results): """Writes a series of results to an outfile, where the first column is the index of the original row of data, and the second column is the result of the calculation. The index is zero-index based. :Parameters: - `csvfile`: a `csv.writer` instance to which to write results - `results`: an iterable of tuples, with the index (zero-based) of the original row as the first element, and the calculated result from that row as the second element """ for result_row in results: csvfile.writerow(result_row) def main(argv): cli_parser = make_cli_parser() opts, args = cli_parser.parse_args(argv) if len(args) != 2: cli_parser.error("Please provide an input file and output file.") infile = open(args[0]) in_csvfile = csv.reader(infile) outfile = open(args[1], 'w') out_csvfile = csv.writer(outfile) # gets an iterable of rows that's not yet evaluated input_rows = parse_input_csv(in_csvfile) # sends the rows iterable to sum_rows() for results iterable, but # still not evaluated result_rows = sum_rows(input_rows) # finally evaluation takes place as a chain in write_results() write_results(out_csvfile, result_rows) infile.close() outfile.close() if __name__ == '__main__': main(sys.argv[1:]) Let's take this program and rewrite it to use multiprocessing to parallelize the three parts outlined above. Below is a skeleton of this new, parallelized program, that needs to be fleshed out to address the parts in the comments: #!/usr/bin/env python # -*- coding: UTF-8 -*- # multiproc_sums.py """A program that reads integer values from a CSV file and writes out their sums to another CSV file, using multiple processes if desired. """ import csv import multiprocessing import optparse import sys NUM_PROCS = multiprocessing.cpu_count() def make_cli_parser(): """Make the command line interface parser.""" usage = "\n\n".join(["python %prog INPUT_CSV OUTPUT_CSV", __doc__, """ ARGUMENTS: INPUT_CSV: an input CSV file with rows of numbers OUTPUT_CSV: an output file that will contain the sums\ """]) cli_parser = optparse.OptionParser(usage) cli_parser.add_option('-n', '--numprocs', type='int', default=NUM_PROCS, help="Number of processes to launch [DEFAULT: %default]") return cli_parser def main(argv): cli_parser = make_cli_parser() opts, args = cli_parser.parse_args(argv) if len(args) != 2: cli_parser.error("Please provide an input file and output file.") infile = open(args[0]) in_csvfile = csv.reader(infile) outfile = open(args[1], 'w') out_csvfile = csv.writer(outfile) # Parse the input file and add the parsed data to a queue for # processing, possibly chunking to decrease communication between # processes. # Process the parsed data as soon as any (chunks) appear on the # queue, using as many processes as allotted by the user # (opts.numprocs); place results on a queue for output. # # Terminate processes when the parser stops putting data in the # input queue. # Write the results to disk as soon as they appear on the output # queue. # Ensure all child processes have terminated. # Clean up files. infile.close() outfile.close() if __name__ == '__main__': main(sys.argv[1:]) These pieces of code, as well as another piece of code that can generate example CSV files for testing purposes, can be found on github. I would appreciate any insight here as to how you concurrency gurus would approach this problem. Here are some questions I had when thinking about this problem. Bonus points for addressing any/all: Should I have child processes for reading in the data and placing it into the queue, or can the main process do this without blocking until all input is read? Likewise, should I have a child process for writing the results out from the processed queue, or can the main process do this without having to wait for all the results? Should I use a processes pool for the sum operations? If yes, what method do I call on the pool to get it to start processing the results coming into the input queue, without blocking the input and output processes, too? apply_async()? map_async()? imap()? imap_unordered()? Suppose we didn't need to siphon off the input and output queues as data entered them, but could wait until all input was parsed and all results were calculated (e.g., because we know all the input and output will fit in system memory). Should we change the algorithm in any way (e.g., not run any processes concurrently with I/O)?

  Read the article

• PE Header Requirements

  - by Pindatjuh

  What are the requirements of a PE file (PE/COFF)? What fields should be set, which value, at a bare minimum for enabling it to "run" on Windows (i.e. executing "ret" instruction and then close, without error). The library I am building first is the linker: Now, the problem I have is the PE file (PE/COFF). I don't know what is "required" for a PE file before it can actually execute on my platform. My testing platform is Vista. I get an error message, saying "This is not a valid Win32 executable." when I execute it by double-clicking, and I get an "Access Denied." when executing it with CLI cmd. I have two sections, .text and .data. I've implemented the PE headers as provided by several online documents, i.e. MSDN and some other thirdparty documentation. If I use a hex-editor, it looks almost like a regular PE file. I don't use any imports, nor IAT, nor any directories in the PE header. Edit: I've added an import table, still not a valid .exe-file, says my Windows. I've tried to use values which are also mentioned at the smallest PE-file guide. No luck. Really the only thing I can't seem to figure out is what is required and what isn't. Some guides tell me everything is required, whilst others say about deprications: and it can be zero. I hope this is enough information. Thank you, in advance. Raw data (as requested) of current PE header: 4D 5A 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 40 00 00 00 50 45 00 00 4C 01 02 00 C8 7A 55 4B 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 E0 00 82 01 0B 01 0D 25 00 10 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 00 40 00 00 10 00 00 00 02 00 00 01 00 0B 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 0A 00 00 00 00 00 00 22 00 00 38 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 40 00 00 00 40 00 00 00 40 00 00 00 40 00 00 00 00 00 00 0E 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 00 00 24 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 2E 74 65 78 74 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 00 00 60 2E 69 64 61 74 61 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 40 00 00 C0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 3C 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 24 20 00 00 34 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 4B 45 52 4E 45 4C 33 32 2E 64 6C 6C 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 80 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 80 00 00 00 00

  Read the article

• Uploading multiple files using Spring MVC 3.0.2 after HiddenHttpMethodFilter has been enabled

  - by Tiny

  I'm using Spring version 3.0.2. I need to upload multiple files using the multiple="multiple" attribute of a file browser such as, <input type="file" id="myFile" name="myFile" multiple="multiple"/> (and not using multiple file browsers something like the one stated by this answer, it indeed works I tried). Although no versions of Internet Explorer supports this approach unless an appropriate jQuery plugin/widget is used, I don't care about it right now (since most other browsers support this). This works fine with commons fileupload but in addition to using RequestMethod.POST and RequestMethod.GET methods, I also want to use other request methods supported and suggested by Spring like RequestMethod.PUT and RequestMethod.DELETE in their own appropriate places. For this to be so, I have configured Spring with HiddenHttpMethodFilter which goes fine as this question indicates. but it can upload only one file at a time even though multiple files in the file browser are chosen. In the Spring controller class, a method is mapped as follows. @RequestMapping(method={RequestMethod.POST}, value={"admin_side/Temp"}) public String onSubmit(@RequestParam("myFile") List<MultipartFile> files, @ModelAttribute("tempBean") TempBean tempBean, BindingResult error, Map model, HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws IOException, FileUploadException { for(MultipartFile file:files) { System.out.println(file.getOriginalFilename()); } } Even with the request parameter @RequestParam("myFile") List<MultipartFile> files which is a List of type MultipartFile (it can always have only one file at a time). I could find a strategy which is likely to work with multiple files on this blog. I have gone through it carefully. The solution below the section SOLUTION 2 – USE THE RAW REQUEST says, If however the client insists on using the same form input name such as ‘files[]‘ or ‘files’ and then populating that name with multiple files then a small hack is necessary as follows. As noted above Spring 2.5 throws an exception if it detects the same form input name of type file more than once. CommonsFileUploadSupport – the class which throws that exception is not final and the method which throws that exception is protected so using the wonders of inheritance and subclassing one can simply fix/modify the logic a little bit as follows. The change I’ve made is literally one word representing one method invocation which enables us to have multiple files incoming under the same form input name. It attempts to override the method protected MultipartParsingResult parseFileItems(List fileItems, String encoding) {} of the abstract class CommonsFileUploadSupport by extending the class CommonsMultipartResolver such as, package multipartResolver; import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException; import java.util.HashMap; import java.util.Iterator; import java.util.List; import java.util.Map; import javax.servlet.ServletContext; import org.apache.commons.fileupload.FileItem; import org.springframework.util.StringUtils; import org.springframework.web.multipart.MultipartException; import org.springframework.web.multipart.MultipartFile; import org.springframework.web.multipart.commons.CommonsMultipartFile; import org.springframework.web.multipart.commons.CommonsMultipartResolver; final public class MultiCommonsMultipartResolver extends CommonsMultipartResolver { public MultiCommonsMultipartResolver() { } public MultiCommonsMultipartResolver(ServletContext servletContext) { super(servletContext); } @Override @SuppressWarnings("unchecked") protected MultipartParsingResult parseFileItems(List fileItems, String encoding) { Map<String, MultipartFile> multipartFiles = new HashMap<String, MultipartFile>(); Map multipartParameters = new HashMap(); // Extract multipart files and multipart parameters. for (Iterator it = fileItems.iterator(); it.hasNext();) { FileItem fileItem = (FileItem) it.next(); if (fileItem.isFormField()) { String value = null; if (encoding != null) { try { value = fileItem.getString(encoding); } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException ex) { if (logger.isWarnEnabled()) { logger.warn("Could not decode multipart item '" + fileItem.getFieldName() + "' with encoding '" + encoding + "': using platform default"); } value = fileItem.getString(); } } else { value = fileItem.getString(); } String[] curParam = (String[]) multipartParameters.get(fileItem.getFieldName()); if (curParam == null) { // simple form field multipartParameters.put(fileItem.getFieldName(), new String[] { value }); } else { // array of simple form fields String[] newParam = StringUtils.addStringToArray(curParam, value); multipartParameters.put(fileItem.getFieldName(), newParam); } } else { // multipart file field CommonsMultipartFile file = new CommonsMultipartFile(fileItem); if (multipartFiles.put(fileItem.getName(), file) != null) { throw new MultipartException("Multiple files for field name [" + file.getName() + "] found - not supported by MultipartResolver"); } if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) { logger.debug("Found multipart file [" + file.getName() + "] of size " + file.getSize() + " bytes with original filename [" + file.getOriginalFilename() + "], stored " + file.getStorageDescription()); } } } return new MultipartParsingResult(multipartFiles, multipartParameters); } } What happens is that the last line in the method parseFileItems() (the return statement) i.e. return new MultipartParsingResult(multipartFiles, multipartParameters); causes a compile-time error because the first parameter multipartFiles is a type of Map implemented by HashMap but in reality, it requires a parameter of type MultiValueMap<String, MultipartFile> It is a constructor of a static class inside the abstract class CommonsFileUploadSupport, public abstract class CommonsFileUploadSupport { protected static class MultipartParsingResult { public MultipartParsingResult(MultiValueMap<String, MultipartFile> mpFiles, Map<String, String[]> mpParams) { } } } The reason might be - this solution is about the Spring version 2.5 and I'm using the Spring version 3.0.2 which might be inappropriate for this version. I however tried to replace the Map with MultiValueMap in various ways such as the one shown in the following segment of code, MultiValueMap<String, MultipartFile>mul=new LinkedMultiValueMap<String, MultipartFile>(); for(Entry<String, MultipartFile>entry:multipartFiles.entrySet()) { mul.add(entry.getKey(), entry.getValue()); } return new MultipartParsingResult(mul, multipartParameters); but no success. I'm not sure how to replace Map with MultiValueMap and even doing so could work either. After doing this, the browser shows the Http response, HTTP Status 400 - type Status report message description The request sent by the client was syntactically incorrect (). Apache Tomcat/6.0.26 I have tried to shorten the question as possible as I could and I haven't included unnecessary code. How could be made it possible to upload multiple files after Spring has been configured with HiddenHttpMethodFilter? That blog indicates that It is a long standing, high priority bug. If there is no solution regarding the version 3.0.2 (3 or higher) then I have to disable Spring support forever and continue to use commons-fileupolad as suggested by the third solution on that blog omitting the PUT, DELETE and other request methods forever. Just curiously waiting for a solution and/or suggestion. Very little changes to the code in the parseFileItems() method inside the class MultiCommonsMultipartResolver might make it to upload multiple files but I couldn't succeed in my attempts (again with the Spring version 3.0.2 (3 or higher)).

  Read the article

• How do I repair the corrupted files found by sfc /scannow? "Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them."

  - by galacticninja

  After running chkdsk C: /F /R and finding out that my hard disk has 24 KB in bad sectors (log is posted below), I decided to run Windows 7's System File Checker utility (sfc /scannow). SFC showed the ff. message after I ran it: "Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them. Details are included in the CBS.Log windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log." Since the CBS.log file is too large, I ran findstr /c:"[SR]" %windir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log >"%userprofile%\Desktop\sfcdetails.txt" (as per Microsoft's KB 928228 article) to only get the log text pertaining to the corrupt files. (log is also posted below) How do I troubleshoot and repair the corrupted files mentioned by sfc /scannow? My OS is Windows 7, 64-bit. chkdsk log Checking file system on C: The type of the file system is NTFS. A disk check has been scheduled. Windows will now check the disk. CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 5)... 936192 file records processed. File verification completed. 25238 large file records processed. 0 bad file records processed. 4 EA records processed. 44 reparse records processed. CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 5)... 1051640 index entries processed. Index verification completed. 0 unindexed files scanned. 0 unindexed files recovered. CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 5)... 936192 file SDs/SIDs processed. Cleaning up 24 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9. Cleaning up 24 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9. Cleaning up 24 unused security descriptors. Security descriptor verification completed. 57725 data files processed. CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal... 36994248 USN bytes processed. Usn Journal verification completed. CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)... 936176 files processed. File data verification completed. CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)... 306238 free clusters processed. Free space verification is complete. Adding 1 bad clusters to the Bad Clusters File. Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap. Windows has made corrections to the file system. 488282111 KB total disk space. 485595420 KB in 766458 files. 401856 KB in 57726 indexes. 24 KB in bad sectors. 1059863 KB in use by the system. 65536 KB occupied by the log file. 1224948 KB available on disk. 4096 bytes in each allocation unit. 122070527 total allocation units on disk. 306237 allocation units available on disk. Internal Info: 00 49 0e 00 81 93 0c 00 34 01 17 00 00 00 00 00 .I......4....... 6b 29 00 00 2c 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 k)..,........... 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ sfc /scannow log (through findstr /c:"[SR]" %windir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log >"%userprofile%\Desktop\sfcdetails.txt") Note: The full log is at http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=gTEGZmWj . I've only quoted parts of the full log below (mostly from the last part), as the full log won't fit within the character limit for questions. I've added it to serve as a preview. ... 2013-12-28 19:37:50, Info CSI00000542 [SR] Beginning Verify and Repair transaction 2013-12-28 19:37:55, Info CSI00000544 [SR] Verify complete 2013-12-28 19:37:56, Info CSI00000545 [SR] Verifying 95 (0x000000000000005f) components 2013-12-28 19:37:56, Info CSI00000546 [SR] Beginning Verify and Repair transaction 2013-12-28 19:38:03, Info CSI00000548 [SR] Verify complete 2013-12-28 19:38:03, Info CSI00000549 [SR] Repairing 43 (0x000000000000002b) components 2013-12-28 19:38:03, Info CSI0000054a [SR] Beginning Verify and Repair transaction ... 2013-12-28 19:38:15, Info CSI00000730 [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:84{42}]"\??\C:\Windows\System32\migwiz\dlmanifests"\[l:62{31}]"GroupPolicy-Admin-Gpedit-DL.man"; source file in store is also corrupted 2013-12-28 19:38:15, Info CSI00000733 [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:84{42}]"\??\C:\Windows\System32\migwiz\dlmanifests"\[l:30{15}]"frs-core-DL.man"; source file in store is also corrupted 2013-12-28 19:38:15, Info CSI00000736 [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:84{42}]"\??\C:\Windows\System32\migwiz\dlmanifests"\[l:26{13}]"gpmgmt-DL.man"; source file in store is also corrupted 2013-12-28 19:38:15, Info CSI00000739 [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:84{42}]"\??\C:\Windows\System32\migwiz\dlmanifests"\[l:74{37}]"MediaServer-ASPAdmin-Migration-DL.man"; source file in store is also corrupted 2013-12-28 19:38:15, Info CSI0000073c [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:84{42}]"\??\C:\Windows\System32\migwiz\dlmanifests"\[l:36{18}]"Ldap-Client-DL.man"; source file in store is also corrupted 2013-12-28 19:38:15, Info CSI0000073f [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:84{42}]"\??\C:\Windows\System32\migwiz\dlmanifests"\[l:38{19}]"iSNS_Service-DL.man"; source file in store is also corrupted 2013-12-28 19:38:15, Info CSI00000742 [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:84{42}]"\??\C:\Windows\System32\migwiz\dlmanifests"\[l:76{38}]"MediaServer-Multicast-Migration-DL.man"; source file in store is also corrupted 2013-12-28 19:38:15, Info CSI00000745 [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:84{42}]"\??\C:\Windows\System32\migwiz\dlmanifests"\[l:78{39}]"Kerberos-Key-Distribution-Center-DL.man"; source file in store is also corrupted 2013-12-28 19:38:15, Info CSI00000748 [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:84{42}]"\??\C:\Windows\System32\migwiz\dlmanifests"\[l:86{43}]"GroupPolicy-CSE-SoftwareInstallation-DL.man"; source file in store is also corrupted 2013-12-28 19:38:15, Info CSI0000074b [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:84{42}]"\??\C:\Windows\System32\migwiz\dlmanifests"\[l:28{14}]"ieframe-dl.man"; source file in store is also corrupted 2013-12-28 19:38:15, Info CSI0000074e [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:84{42}]"\??\C:\Windows\System32\migwiz\dlmanifests"\[l:76{38}]"GroupPolicy-Admin-Gpedit-Snapin-DL.man"; source file in store is also corrupted 2013-12-28 19:38:15, Info CSI00000751 [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:84{42}]"\??\C:\Windows\System32\migwiz\dlmanifests"\[l:32{16}]"IPSec-Svc-DL.man"; source file in store is also corrupted 2013-12-28 19:38:15, Info CSI00000754 [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:84{42}]"\??\C:\Windows\System32\migwiz\dlmanifests"\[l:22{11}]"HTTP-DL.man"; source file in store is also corrupted 2013-12-28 19:38:15, Info CSI00000757 [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:84{42}]"\??\C:\Windows\System32\migwiz\dlmanifests"\[l:56{28}]"MediaServer-Migration-DL.man"; source file in store is also corrupted 2013-12-28 19:38:15, Info CSI0000075a [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:84{42}]"\??\C:\Windows\System32\migwiz\dlmanifests"\[l:26{13}]"GPBase-DL.man"; source file in store is also corrupted 2013-12-28 19:38:15, Info CSI0000075d [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:84{42}]"\??\C:\Windows\System32\migwiz\dlmanifests"\[l:38{19}]"IasMigPlugin-DL.man"; source file in store is also corrupted 2013-12-28 19:38:15, Info CSI00000760 [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:84{42}]"\??\C:\Windows\System32\migwiz\dlmanifests"\[l:50{25}]"International-Core-DL.man"; source file in store is also corrupted 2013-12-28 19:38:16, Info CSI00000762 [SR] Cannot repair member file [l:24{12}]"wbemdisp.dll" of Microsoft-Windows-WMI-Scripting, Version = 6.1.7600.16385, pA = PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_INTEL (0), Culture neutral, VersionScope = 1 nonSxS, PublicKeyToken = {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35}, Type neutral, TypeName neutral, PublicKey neutral in the store, hash mismatch 2013-12-28 19:38:16, Info CSI00000763 [SR] This component was referenced by [l:202{101}]"Microsoft-Windows-Foundation-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.1.7601.17514.WindowsFoundationDelivery" 2013-12-28 19:38:16, Info CSI00000766 [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:58{29},l:56{28}]"\??\C:\Windows\SysWOW64\wbem"\[l:24{12}]"wbemdisp.dll"; source file in store is also corrupted 2013-12-28 19:38:16, Info CSI00000768 [SR] Cannot repair member file [l:56{28}]"Microsoft.MediaCenter.UI.dll" of Microsoft.MediaCenter.UI, Version = 6.1.7601.17514, pA = PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_MSIL (8), Culture neutral, VersionScope = 1 nonSxS, PublicKeyToken = {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35}, Type neutral, TypeName neutral, PublicKey neutral in the store, hash mismatch 2013-12-28 19:38:16, Info CSI00000769 [SR] This component was referenced by [l:176{88}]"Microsoft-Windows-MediaCenter-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.1.7601.17514.MediaCenter" 2013-12-28 19:38:16, Info CSI0000076c [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:40{20}]"\??\C:\Windows\ehome"\[l:56{28}]"Microsoft.MediaCenter.UI.dll"; source file in store is also corrupted 2013-12-28 19:38:16, Info CSI0000076e [SR] Cannot repair member file [l:24{12}]"ReAgentc.exe" of Microsoft-Windows-WinRE-RecoveryTools, Version = 6.1.7601.17514, pA = PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_INTEL (0), Culture neutral, VersionScope = 1 nonSxS, PublicKeyToken = {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35}, Type neutral, TypeName neutral, PublicKey neutral in the store, hash mismatch 2013-12-28 19:38:16, Info CSI0000076f [SR] This component was referenced by [l:202{101}]"Microsoft-Windows-Foundation-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.1.7601.17514.WindowsFoundationDelivery" 2013-12-28 19:38:16, Info CSI00000772 [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:48{24},l:46{23}]"\??\C:\Windows\SysWOW64"\[l:24{12}]"ReAgentc.exe"; source file in store is also corrupted 2013-12-28 19:38:16, Info CSI00000774 [SR] Cannot repair member file [l:82{41}]"System.Management.Automation.dll-Help.xml" of Microsoft-Windows-PowerShell-PreLoc.Resources, Version = 6.1.7600.16385, pA = PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_AMD64 (9), Culture = [l:10{5}]"en-US", VersionScope = 1 nonSxS, PublicKeyToken = {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35}, Type neutral, TypeName neutral, PublicKey neutral in the store, hash mismatch 2013-12-28 19:38:16, Info CSI00000775 [SR] This component was referenced by [l:266{133}]"Microsoft-Windows-Client-Features-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~en-US~6.1.7601.17514.Microsoft-Windows-Client-Features-Language-Pack" 2013-12-28 19:38:16, Info CSI00000778 [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:104{52}]"\??\C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\en-US"\[l:82{41}]"System.Management.Automation.dll-Help.xml"; source file in store is also corrupted 2013-12-28 19:38:16, Info CSI0000077a [SR] Cannot repair member file [l:18{9}]"hlink.dll" of Microsoft-Windows-HLink, Version = 6.1.7600.16385, pA = PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_INTEL (0), Culture neutral, VersionScope = 1 nonSxS, PublicKeyToken = {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35}, Type neutral, TypeName neutral, PublicKey neutral in the store, hash mismatch 2013-12-28 19:38:16, Info CSI0000077b [SR] This component was referenced by [l:202{101}]"Microsoft-Windows-Foundation-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.1.7601.17514.WindowsFoundationDelivery" 2013-12-28 19:38:16, Info CSI0000077e [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:48{24},l:46{23}]"\??\C:\Windows\SysWOW64"\[l:18{9}]"hlink.dll"; source file in store is also corrupted 2013-12-28 19:38:16, Info CSI00000780 [SR] Repair complete 2013-12-28 19:38:16, Info CSI00000781 [SR] Committing transaction 2013-12-28 19:38:19, Info CSI00000785 [SR] Verify and Repair Transaction completed. All files and registry keys listed in this transaction have been successfully repaired

  Read the article

• Set up linux box for secure local hosting a-z

  - by microchasm

  I am in the process of reinstalling the OS on a machine that will be used to host a couple of apps for our business. The apps will be local only; access from external clients will be via vpn only. The prior setup used a hosting control panel (Plesk) for most of the admin, and I was looking at using another similar piece of software for the reinstall - but I figured I should finally learn how it all works. I can do most of the things the software would do for me, but am unclear on the symbiosis of it all. This is all an attempt to further distance myself from the land of Configuration Programmer/Programmer, if at all possible. I can't find a full walkthrough anywhere for what I'm looking for, so I thought I'd put up this question, and if people can help me on the way I will edit this with the answers, and document my progress/pitfalls. Hopefully someday this will help someone down the line. The details: CentOS 5.5 x86_64 httpd: Apache/2.2.3 mysql: 5.0.77 (to be upgraded) php: 5.1 (to be upgraded) The requirements: SECURITY!! Secure file transfer Secure client access (SSL Certs and CA) Secure data storage Virtualhosts/multiple subdomains Local email would be nice, but not critical The Steps: Download latest CentOS DVD-iso (torrent worked great for me). Install CentOS: While going through the install, I checked the Server Components option thinking I was going to be using another Plesk-like admin. In hindsight, considering I've decided to try to go my own way, this probably wasn't the best idea. Basic config: Setup users, networking/ip address etc. Yum update/upgrade. Upgrade PHP/MySQL: To upgrade PHP and MySQL to the latest versions, I had to look to another repo outside CentOS. IUS looks great and I'm happy I found it! Add IUS repository to our package manager cd /tmp wget http://dl.iuscommunity.org/pub/ius/stable/Redhat/5/x86_64/epel-release-1-1.ius.el5.noarch.rpm rpm -Uvh epel-release-1-1.ius.el5.noarch.rpm wget http://dl.iuscommunity.org/pub/ius/stable/Redhat/5/x86_64/ius-release-1-4.ius.el5.noarch.rpm rpm -Uvh ius-release-1-4.ius.el5.noarch.rpm yum list | grep -w \.ius\. # list all the packages in the IUS repository; use this to find PHP/MySQL version and libraries you want to install Remove old version of PHP and install newer version from IUS rpm -qa | grep php # to list all of the installed php packages we want to remove yum shell # open an interactive yum shell remove php-common php-mysql php-cli #remove installed PHP components install php53 php53-mysql php53-cli php53-common #add packages you want transaction solve #important!! checks for dependencies transaction run #important!! does the actual installation of packages. [control+d] #exit yum shell php -v PHP 5.3.2 (cli) (built: Apr 6 2010 18:13:45) Upgrade MySQL from IUS repository /etc/init.d/mysqld stop rpm -qa | grep mysql # to see installed mysql packages yum shell remove mysql mysql-server #remove installed MySQL components install mysql51 mysql51-server mysql51-devel transaction solve #important!! checks for dependencies transaction run #important!! does the actual installation of packages. [control+d] #exit yum shell service mysqld start mysql -v Server version: 5.1.42-ius Distributed by The IUS Community Project Upgrade instructions courtesy of IUS wiki: http://wiki.iuscommunity.org/Doc/ClientUsageGuide Install rssh (restricted shell) to provide scp and sftp access, without allowing ssh login cd /tmp wget http://dag.wieers.com/rpm/packages/rssh/rssh-2.3.2-1.2.el5.rf.x86_64.rpm rpm -ivh rssh-2.3.2-1.2.el5.rf.x86_64.rpm useradd -m -d /home/dev -s /usr/bin/rssh dev passwd dev Edit /etc/rssh.conf to grant access to SFTP to rssh users. vi /etc/rssh.conf Uncomment or add: allowscp allowsftp This allows me to connect to the machine via SFTP protocol in Transmit (my FTP program of choice; I'm sure it's similar with other FTP apps). rssh instructions appropriated (with appreciation!) from http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/linux-unix-restrict-shell-access-with-rssh.html Set up virtual interfaces ifconfig eth1:1 192.168.1.3 up #start up the virtual interface cd /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ cp ifcfg-eth1 ifcfg-eth1:1 #copy default script and match name to our virtual interface vi ifcfg-eth1:1 #modify eth1:1 script #ifcfg-eth1:1 | modify so it looks like this: DEVICE=eth1:1 IPADDR=192.168.1.3 NETMASK=255.255.255.0 NETWORK=192.168.1.0 ONBOOT=yes NAME=eth1:1 Add more Virtual interfaces as needed by repeating. Because of the ONBOOT=yes line in the ifcfg-eth1:1 file, this interface will be brought up when the system boots, or the network starts/restarts. service network restart Shutting down interface eth0: [ OK ] Shutting down interface eth1: [ OK ] Shutting down loopback interface: [ OK ] Bringing up loopback interface: [ OK ] Bringing up interface eth0: [ OK ] Bringing up interface eth1: [ OK ] ping 192.168.1.3 64 bytes from 192.168.1.3: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.105 ms Virtualhosts In the rssh section above I added a user to use for SFTP. In this users' home directory, I created a folder called 'https'. This is where the documents for this site will live, so I need to add a virtualhost that will point to it. I will use the above virtual interface for this site (herein called dev.site.local). vi /etc/http/conf/httpd.conf Add the following to the end of httpd.conf: <VirtualHost 192.168.1.3:80> ServerAdmin [email protected] DocumentRoot /home/dev/https ServerName dev.site.local ErrorLog /home/dev/logs/error_log TransferLog /home/dev/logs/access_log </VirtualHost> I put a dummy index.html file in the https directory just to check everything out. I tried browsing to it, and was met with permission denied errors. The logs only gave an obscure reference to what was going on: [Mon May 17 14:57:11 2010] [error] [client 192.168.1.100] (13)Permission denied: access to /index.html denied I tried chmod 777 et. al., but to no avail. Turns out, I needed to chmod+x the https directory and its' parent directories. chmod +x /home chmod +x /home/dev chmod +x /home/dev/https This solved that problem. DNS I'm handling DNS via our local Windows Server 2003 box. However, the CentOS documentation for BIND can be found here: http://www.centos.org/docs/5/html/Deployment_Guide-en-US/ch-bind.html SSL To get SSL working, I changed the following in httpd.conf: NameVirtualHost 192.168.1.3:443 #make sure this line is in httpd.conf <VirtualHost 192.168.1.3:443> #change port to 443 ServerAdmin [email protected] DocumentRoot /home/dev/https ServerName dev.site.local ErrorLog /home/dev/logs/error_log TransferLog /home/dev/logs/access_log </VirtualHost> Unfortunately, I keep getting (Error code: ssl_error_rx_record_too_long) errors when trying to access a page with SSL. As JamesHannah gracefully pointed out below, I had not set up the locations of the certs in httpd.conf, and thusly was getting the page thrown at the broswer as the cert making the browser balk. So first, I needed to set up a CA and make certificate files. I found a great (if old) walkthrough on the process here: http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/284. Here are the relevant steps I took from that article: mkdir /home/CA cd /home/CA/ mkdir newcerts private echo '01' > serial touch index.txt #this and the above command are for the database that will keep track of certs Create an openssl.cnf file in the /home/CA/ dir and edit it per the walkthrough linked above. (For reference, my finished openssl.cnf file looked like this: http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=hnZDij4T) openssl req -new -x509 -extensions v3_ca -keyout private/cakey.pem -out cacert.pem -days 3650 -config ./openssl.cnf #this creates the cacert.pem which gets distributed and imported to the browser(s) Modified openssl.cnf again per walkthrough instructions. openssl req -new -nodes -out dev.req.pem -config ./openssl.cnf #generates certificate request, and key.pem which I renamed dev.key.pem. Modified openssl.cnf again per walkthrough instructions. openssl ca -out dev.cert.pem -config ./openssl.cnf -infiles dev.req.pem #create and sign certificate. cp dev.cert.pem /home/dev/certs/cert.pem cp dev.key.pem /home/certs/key.pem I updated httpd.conf to reflect the certs and turn SSLEngine on: NameVirtualHost 192.168.1.3:443 <VirtualHost 192.168.1.3:443> ServerAdmin [email protected] DocumentRoot /home/dev/https SSLEngine on SSLCertificateFile /home/dev/certs/cert.pem SSLCertificateKeyFile /home/dev/certs/key.pem ServerName dev.site.local ErrorLog /home/dev/logs/error_log TransferLog /home/dev/logs/access_log </VirtualHost> Put the CA cert.pem in a web-accessible place, and downloaded/imported it into my browser. Now I can visit https://dev.site.local with no errors or warnings. And this is where I'm at. I will keep editing this as I make progress. Any tips on how to configure SSL email would be appreciated.

  Read the article

• Registration form validation not validating

  - by jgray

  I am a noob when it comes to web development. I am trying to validate a registration form and to me it looks right but it will not validate.. This is what i have so far and i am validating through a repository or database. Any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks <?php session_start(); $title = "User Registration"; $keywords = "Name, contact, phone, e-mail, registration"; $description = "user registration becoming a member."; require "partials/_html_header.php"; //require "partials/_header.php"; require "partials/_menu.php"; require "DataRepository.php"; // if all validation passed save user $db = new DataRepository(); // form validation goes here $first_nameErr = $emailErr = $passwordErr = $passwordConfirmErr = ""; $first_name = $last_name = $email = $password = $passwordConfirm = ""; if(isset($_POST['submit'])) { $valid = TRUE; // check if all fields are valid { if ($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST") { if (empty($_POST["first_name"])) {$first_nameErr = "Name is required";} else { // $first_name = test_input($_POST["first_name"]); // check if name only contains letters and whitespace if (!preg_match("/^[a-zA-Z ]*$/",$first_name)) { $first_nameErr = "Only letters and white space allowed"; } } if (empty($_POST["email"])) {$emailErr = "Email is required";} else { // $email = test_input($_POST["email"]); // check if e-mail address syntax is valid if (!preg_match("/([\w\-]+\@[\w\-]+\.[\w\-]+)/",$email)) { $emailErr = "Invalid email format"; } } if (!preg_match("/(......)/",$password)) { $passwordErr = "Subject must contain THREE or more characters!"; } if ($_POST['password']!= $_POST['passwordConfirm']) { echo("Oops! Password did not match! Try again. "); } function test_input($data) { $data = trim($data); $data = stripslashes($data); $data = htmlspecialchars($data); return $data; } } } if(!$db->isEmailUnique($_POST['email'])) { $valid = FALSE; //display errors in the correct places } // if still valid save the user if($valid) { $new_user = array( 'first_name' => $_POST['first_name'], 'last_name' => $_POST['last_name'], 'email' => $_POST['email'], 'password' => $_POST['password'] ); $results = $db->saveUser($new_user); if($results == TRUE) { header("Location: login.php"); } else { echo "WTF!"; exit; } } } ?> <head> <style> .error {color: #FF0000;} </style> </head> <h1 class="center"> World Wide Web Creations' User Registration </h1> <p><span class="error"></span><p> <form method="POST" action="<?php echo htmlspecialchars($_SERVER["PHP_SELF"]);?>" onsubmit="return validate_form()" > First Name: <input type="text" name="first_name" id="first_name" value="<?php echo $first_name;?>" /> <span class="error"> <?php echo $first_nameErr;?></span> <br /> <br /> Last Name(Optional): <input type="text" name="last_name" id="last_name" value="<?php echo $last_name;?>" /> <br /> <br /> E-mail: <input type="email" name="email" id="email" value="<?php echo $email;?>" /> <span class="error"> <?php echo $emailErr;?></span> <br /> <br /> Password: <input type="password" name="password" id="password" value="" /> <span class="error"> <?php echo $passwordErr;?></span> <br /> <br /> Confirmation Password: <input type="password" name="passwordConfirm" id="passwordConfirm" value="" /> <span class="error"> <?php echo $passwordConfirmErr;?></span> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <input type="submit" name="submit" id="submit" value="Submit Data" /> <input type="reset" name="reset" id="reset" value="Reset Form" /> </form> </body> </html> <?php require "partials/_footer.php"; require "partials/_html_footer.php"; ?> class DataRepository { // version number private $version = "1.0.3"; // turn on and off debugging private static $debug = FALSE; // flag to (re)initialize db on each call private static $initialize_db = FALSE; // insert test data on initialization private static $load_default_data = TRUE; const DATAFILE = "203data.txt"; private $data = NULL; private $errors = array(); private $user_fields = array( 'id' => array('required' => 0), 'created_at' => array('required' => 0), 'updated_at' => array('required' => 0), 'first_name' => array('required' => 1), 'last_name' => array('required' => 0), 'email' => array('required' => 1), 'password' => array('required' => 1), 'level' => array('required' => 0, 'default' => 2), ); private $post_fields = array( 'id' => array('required' => 0), 'created_at' => array('required' => 0), 'updated_at' => array('required' => 0), 'user_id' => array('required' => 1), 'title' => array('required' => 1), 'message' => array('required' => 1), 'private' => array('required' => 0, 'default' => 0), ); private $default_user = array( 'id' => 1, 'created_at' => '2013-01-01 00:00:00', 'updated_at' => '2013-01-01 00:00:00', 'first_name' => 'Admin Joe', 'last_name' => 'Tester', 'email' => '[email protected]', 'password' => 'a94a8fe5ccb19ba61c4c0873d391e987982fbbd3', 'level' => 1, ); private $default_post = array( 'id' => 1, 'created_at' => '2013-01-01 00:00:00', 'updated_at' => '2013-01-01 00:00:00', 'user_id' => 1, 'title' => 'My First Post', 'message' => 'This is the message of the first post.', 'private' => 0, ); // constructor will load existing data into memory // if it does not exist it will create it and initialize if desired public function __construct() { // check if need to reset if(DataRepository::$initialize_db AND file_exists(DataRepository::DATAFILE)) { unlink(DataRepository::DATAFILE); } // if file doesn't exist, create the initial datafile if(!file_exists(DataRepository::DATAFILE)) { $this->log("Data file does not exist. Attempting to create it... (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")"); // create initial file $this->data = array( 'users' => array( ), 'posts' => array() ); // load default data if needed if(DataRepository::$load_default_data) { $this->data['users'][1] = $this->default_user; $this->data['posts'][1] = $this->default_post; } $this->writeTheData(); } // load the data into memory for use $this->loadTheData(); } private function showErrors($break = TRUE, $type = NULL) { if(count($this->errors) > 0) { echo "<div style=\"color:red;font-weight: bold;font-size: 1.3em\":<h3>$type Errors</h3><ol>"; foreach($this->errors AS $error) { echo "<li>$error</li>"; } echo "</ol></div>"; if($break) { "</br></br></br>Exiting because of errors!"; exit; } } } private function writeTheData() { $this->log("Attempting to write the datafile: ".DataRepository::DATAFILE." (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")"); file_put_contents(DataRepository::DATAFILE, json_encode($this->data)); $this->log("Datafile written: ".DataRepository::DATAFILE." (line: ".__LINE__.")"); } private function loadTheData() { $this->log("Attempting to load the datafile: ".DataRepository::DATAFILE." (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")"); $this->data = json_decode(file_get_contents(DataRepository::DATAFILE), true); $this->log("Datafile loaded: ".DataRepository::DATAFILE." (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")", $this->data); } private function validateFields(&$info, $fields, $pre_errors = NULL) { // merge in any pre_errors if($pre_errors != NULL) { $this->errors = array_merge($this->errors, $pre_errors); } // check all required fields foreach($fields AS $field => $reqs) { if(isset($reqs['required']) AND $reqs['required'] == 1) { if(!isset($info[$field]) OR strlen($info[$field]) == 0) { $this->errors[] = "$field is a REQUIRED field"; } } // set any default values if not present if(isset($reqs['default']) AND (!isset($info[$field]) OR $info[$field] == "")) { $info[$field] = $reqs['default']; } } $this->showErrors(); if(count($this->errors) == 0) { return TRUE; } else { return FALSE; } } private function validateUser(&$user_info) { // check if the email is already in use $this->log("About to check pre_errors: ".DataRepository::DATAFILE." (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")", $user_info); $pre_errors = NULL; if(isset($user_info['email'])) { if(!$this->isEmailUnique($user_info['email'])) { $pre_errors = array('The email: '.$user_info['email'].' is already used in our system'); } } $this->log("After pre_error check: ".DataRepository::DATAFILE." (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")", $pre_errors); return $this->validateFields($user_info, $this->user_fields, $pre_errors); } private function validatePost(&$post_info) { // check if the user_id in the post actually exists $this->log("About to check pre_errors: ".DataRepository::DATAFILE." (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")", $post_info); $pre_errors = NULL; if(isset($post_info['user_id'])) { if(!isset($this->data['users'][$post_info['user_id']])) { $pre_errors = array('The posts must belong to a valid user. (User '.$post_info['user_id'].' does not exist in the data'); } } $this->log("After pre_error check: ".DataRepository::DATAFILE." (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")", $pre_errors); return $this->validateFields($post_info, $this->post_fields, $pre_errors); } private function log($message, $data = NULL) { $style = "background-color: #F8F8F8; border: 1px solid #DDDDDD; border-radius: 3px; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; overflow: auto; padding: 6px 10px;"; if(DataRepository::$debug) { if($data != NULL) { $dump = "<div style=\"$style\"><pre>".json_encode($data, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT)."</pre></div>"; } else { $dump = NULL; } echo "<code><b>Debug:</b> $message</code>$dump<br />"; } } public function saveUser($user_info) { $this->log("Entering saveUser: (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")", $user_info); $mydata = array(); $update = FALSE; // check for existing data if(isset($user_info['id']) AND $this->data['users'][$user_info['id']]) { $mydata = $this->data['users'][$user_info['id']]; $this->log("Loaded prior user: ".print_r($mydata, TRUE)." (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")"); } // copy over existing values $this->log("Before copying over existing values: (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")", $mydata); foreach($user_info AS $k => $v) { $mydata[$k] = $user_info[$k]; } $this->log("After copying over existing values: (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")", $mydata); // check required fields if($this->validateUser($mydata)) { // hash password if new if(isset($mydata['password'])) { $mydata['password'] = sha1($mydata['password']); } // if no id, add the next available one if(!isset($mydata['id']) OR (int)$mydata['id'] < 1) { $this->log("No id set: ".DataRepository::DATAFILE." (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")"); if(count($this->data['users']) == 0) { $mydata['id'] = 1; $this->log("Setting id to 1: ".DataRepository::DATAFILE." (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")"); } else { $mydata['id'] = max(array_keys($this->data['users']))+1; $this->log("Found max id and added 1 [".$mydata['id']."]: ".DataRepository::DATAFILE." (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")"); } } // set created date if null if(!isset($mydata['created_at'])) { $mydata['created_at'] = date ("Y-m-d H:i:s", time()); } // update modified time $mydata['modified_at'] = date ("Y-m-d H:i:s", time()); // copy into data and save $this->log("Before data save: (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")", $this->data); $this->data['users'][$mydata['id']] = $mydata; $this->writeTheData(); } return TRUE; } public function getUserById($id) { if(isset($this->data['users'][$id])) { return $this->data['users'][$id]; } else { return array(); } } public function isEmailUnique($email) { // find the user that has the right username/password foreach($this->data['users'] AS $k => $v) { $this->log("Checking unique email: {$v['email']} == $email (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")", NULL); if($v['email'] == $email) { $this->log("FOUND NOT unique email: {$v['email']} == $email (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")", NULL); return FALSE; break; } } $this->log("Email IS unique: $email (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")", NULL); return TRUE; } public function login($username, $password) { // hash password for validation $password = sha1($password); $this->log("Attempting to login with $username / $password: (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")", NULL); $user = NULL; // find the user that has the right username/password foreach($this->data['users'] AS $k => $v) { if($v['email'] == $username AND $v['password'] == $password) { $user = $v; break; } } $this->log("Exiting login: (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")", $user); return $user; } public function savePost($post_info) { $this->log("Entering savePost: (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")", $post_info); $mydata = array(); // check for existing data if(isset($post_info['id']) AND $this->data['posts'][$post_info['id']]) { $mydata = $this->data['posts'][$post_info['id']]; $this->log("Loaded prior posts: ".print_r($mydata, TRUE)." (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")"); } $this->log("Before copying over existing values: (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")", $mydata); foreach($post_info AS $k => $v) { $mydata[$k] = $post_info[$k]; } $this->log("After copying over existing values: (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")", $mydata); // check required fields if($this->validatePost($mydata)) { // if no id, add the next available one if(!isset($mydata['id']) OR (int)$mydata['id'] < 1) { $this->log("No id set: ".DataRepository::DATAFILE." (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")"); if(count($this->data['posts']) == 0) { $mydata['id'] = 1; $this->log("Setting id to 1: ".DataRepository::DATAFILE." (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")"); } else { $mydata['id'] = max(array_keys($this->data['posts']))+1; $this->log("Found max id and added 1 [".$mydata['id']."]: ".DataRepository::DATAFILE." (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")"); } } // set created date if null if(!isset($mydata['created_at'])) { $mydata['created_at'] = date ("Y-m-d H:i:s", time()); } // update modified time $mydata['modified_at'] = date ("Y-m-d H:i:s", time()); // copy into data and save $this->data['posts'][$mydata['id']] = $mydata; $this->log("Before data save: (".__FUNCTION__.":".__LINE__.")", $this->data); $this->writeTheData(); } return TRUE; } public function getAllPosts() { return $this->loadPostsUsers($this->data['posts']); } public function loadPostsUsers($posts) { foreach($posts AS $id => $post) { $posts[$id]['user'] = $this->getUserById($post['user_id']); } return $posts; } public function dump($line_number, $temp = 'NO') { // if(DataRepository::$debug) { if($temp == 'NO') { $temp = $this->data; } echo "<pre>Dumping from line: $line_number\n"; echo json_encode($temp, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT); echo "</pre>"; } } } /* * Change Log * * 1.0.0 * - first version * 1.0.1 * - Added isEmailUnique() function for form validation and precheck on user save * 1.0.2 * - Fixed getAllPosts() to include the post's user info * - Added loadPostsUsers() to load one or more posts with their user info * 1.0.3 * - Added autoload to always add admin Joe. */

  Read the article

• An Introduction to ASP.NET Web API

  - by Rick Strahl

  Microsoft recently released ASP.NET MVC 4.0 and .NET 4.5 and along with it, the brand spanking new ASP.NET Web API. Web API is an exciting new addition to the ASP.NET stack that provides a new, well-designed HTTP framework for creating REST and AJAX APIs (API is Microsoft’s new jargon for a service, in case you’re wondering). Although Web API ships and installs with ASP.NET MVC 4, you can use Web API functionality in any ASP.NET project, including WebForms, WebPages and MVC or just a Web API by itself. And you can also self-host Web API in your own applications from Console, Desktop or Service applications. If you're interested in a high level overview on what ASP.NET Web API is and how it fits into the ASP.NET stack you can check out my previous post: Where does ASP.NET Web API fit? In the following article, I'll focus on a practical, by example introduction to ASP.NET Web API. All the code discussed in this article is available in GitHub: https://github.com/RickStrahl/AspNetWebApiArticle [republished from my Code Magazine Article and updated for RTM release of ASP.NET Web API] Getting Started To start I’ll create a new empty ASP.NET application to demonstrate that Web API can work with any kind of ASP.NET project. Although you can create a new project based on the ASP.NET MVC/Web API template to quickly get up and running, I’ll take you through the manual setup process, because one common use case is to add Web API functionality to an existing ASP.NET application. This process describes the steps needed to hook up Web API to any ASP.NET 4.0 application. Start by creating an ASP.NET Empty Project. Then create a new folder in the project called Controllers. Add a Web API Controller Class Once you have any kind of ASP.NET project open, you can add a Web API Controller class to it. Web API Controllers are very similar to MVC Controller classes, but they work in any kind of project. Add a new item to this folder by using the Add New Item option in Visual Studio and choose Web API Controller Class, as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1: This is how you create a new Controller Class in Visual Studio   Make sure that the name of the controller class includes Controller at the end of it, which is required in order for Web API routing to find it. Here, the name for the class is AlbumApiController. For this example, I’ll use a Music Album model to demonstrate basic behavior of Web API. The model consists of albums and related songs where an album has properties like Name, Artist and YearReleased and a list of songs with a SongName and SongLength as well as an AlbumId that links it to the album. You can find the code for the model (and the rest of these samples) on Github. To add the file manually, create a new folder called Model, and add a new class Album.cs and copy the code into it. There’s a static AlbumData class with a static CreateSampleAlbumData() method that creates a short list of albums on a static .Current that I’ll use for the examples. Before we look at what goes into the controller class though, let’s hook up routing so we can access this new controller. Hooking up Routing in Global.asax To start, I need to perform the one required configuration task in order for Web API to work: I need to configure routing to the controller. Like MVC, Web API uses routing to provide clean, extension-less URLs to controller methods. Using an extension method to ASP.NET’s static RouteTable class, you can use the MapHttpRoute() (in the System.Web.Http namespace) method to hook-up the routing during Application_Start in global.asax.cs shown in Listing 1.using System; using System.Web.Routing; using System.Web.Http; namespace AspNetWebApi { public class Global : System.Web.HttpApplication { protected void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e) { RouteTable.Routes.MapHttpRoute( name: "AlbumVerbs", routeTemplate: "albums/{title}", defaults: new { symbol = RouteParameter.Optional, controller="AlbumApi" } ); } } } This route configures Web API to direct URLs that start with an albums folder to the AlbumApiController class. Routing in ASP.NET is used to create extensionless URLs and allows you to map segments of the URL to specific Route Value parameters. A route parameter, with a name inside curly brackets like {name}, is mapped to parameters on the controller methods. Route parameters can be optional, and there are two special route parameters – controller and action – that determine the controller to call and the method to activate respectively. HTTP Verb Routing Routing in Web API can route requests by HTTP Verb in addition to standard {controller},{action} routing. For the first examples, I use HTTP Verb routing, as shown Listing 1. Notice that the route I’ve defined does not include an {action} route value or action value in the defaults. Rather, Web API can use the HTTP Verb in this route to determine the method to call the controller, and a GET request maps to any method that starts with Get. So methods called Get() or GetAlbums() are matched by a GET request and a POST request maps to a Post() or PostAlbum(). Web API matches a method by name and parameter signature to match a route, query string or POST values. In lieu of the method name, the [HttpGet,HttpPost,HttpPut,HttpDelete, etc] attributes can also be used to designate the accepted verbs explicitly if you don’t want to follow the verb naming conventions. Although HTTP Verb routing is a good practice for REST style resource APIs, it’s not required and you can still use more traditional routes with an explicit {action} route parameter. When {action} is supplied, the HTTP verb routing is ignored. I’ll talk more about alternate routes later. When you’re finished with initial creation of files, your project should look like Figure 2.   Figure 2: The initial project has the new API Controller Album model   Creating a small Album Model Now it’s time to create some controller methods to serve data. For these examples, I’ll use a very simple Album and Songs model to play with, as shown in Listing 2. public class Song { public string AlbumId { get; set; } [Required, StringLength(80)] public string SongName { get; set; } [StringLength(5)] public string SongLength { get; set; } } public class Album { public string Id { get; set; } [Required, StringLength(80)] public string AlbumName { get; set; } [StringLength(80)] public string Artist { get; set; } public int YearReleased { get; set; } public DateTime Entered { get; set; } [StringLength(150)] public string AlbumImageUrl { get; set; } [StringLength(200)] public string AmazonUrl { get; set; } public virtual List<Song> Songs { get; set; } public Album() { Songs = new List<Song>(); Entered = DateTime.Now; // Poor man's unique Id off GUID hash Id = Guid.NewGuid().GetHashCode().ToString("x"); } public void AddSong(string songName, string songLength = null) { this.Songs.Add(new Song() { AlbumId = this.Id, SongName = songName, SongLength = songLength }); } } Once the model has been created, I also added an AlbumData class that generates some static data in memory that is loaded onto a static .Current member. The signature of this class looks like this and that's what I'll access to retrieve the base data:public static class AlbumData { // sample data - static list public static List<Album> Current = CreateSampleAlbumData(); /// <summary> /// Create some sample data /// </summary> /// <returns></returns> public static List<Album> CreateSampleAlbumData() { … }} You can check out the full code for the data generation online. Creating an AlbumApiController Web API shares many concepts of ASP.NET MVC, and the implementation of your API logic is done by implementing a subclass of the System.Web.Http.ApiController class. Each public method in the implemented controller is a potential endpoint for the HTTP API, as long as a matching route can be found to invoke it. The class name you create should end in Controller, which is how Web API matches the controller route value to figure out which class to invoke. Inside the controller you can implement methods that take standard .NET input parameters and return .NET values as results. Web API’s binding tries to match POST data, route values, form values or query string values to your parameters. Because the controller is configured for HTTP Verb based routing (no {action} parameter in the route), any methods that start with Getxxxx() are called by an HTTP GET operation. You can have multiple methods that match each HTTP Verb as long as the parameter signatures are different and can be matched by Web API. In Listing 3, I create an AlbumApiController with two methods to retrieve a list of albums and a single album by its title .public class AlbumApiController : ApiController { public IEnumerable<Album> GetAlbums() { var albums = AlbumData.Current.OrderBy(alb => alb.Artist); return albums; } public Album GetAlbum(string title) { var album = AlbumData.Current .SingleOrDefault(alb => alb.AlbumName.Contains(title)); return album; }} To access the first two requests, you can use the following URLs in your browser: http://localhost/aspnetWebApi/albumshttp://localhost/aspnetWebApi/albums/Dirty%20Deeds Note that you’re not specifying the actions of GetAlbum or GetAlbums in these URLs. Instead Web API’s routing uses HTTP GET verb to route to these methods that start with Getxxx() with the first mapping to the parameterless GetAlbums() method and the latter to the GetAlbum(title) method that receives the title parameter mapped as optional in the route. Content Negotiation When you access any of the URLs above from a browser, you get either an XML or JSON result returned back. The album list result for Chrome 17 and Internet Explorer 9 is shown Figure 3. Figure 3: Web API responses can vary depending on the browser used, demonstrating Content Negotiation in action as these two browsers send different HTTP Accept headers.   Notice that the results are not the same: Chrome returns an XML response and IE9 returns a JSON response. Whoa, what’s going on here? Shouldn’t we see the same result in both browsers? Actually, no. Web API determines what type of content to return based on Accept headers. HTTP clients, like browsers, use Accept headers to specify what kind of content they’d like to see returned. Browsers generally ask for HTML first, followed by a few additional content types. Chrome (and most other major browsers) ask for: Accept: text/html, application/xhtml+xml,application/xml; q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8 IE9 asks for: Accept: text/html, application/xhtml+xml, */* Note that Chrome’s Accept header includes application/xml, which Web API finds in its list of supported media types and returns an XML response. IE9 does not include an Accept header type that works on Web API by default, and so it returns the default format, which is JSON. This is an important and very useful feature that was missing from any previous Microsoft REST tools: Web API automatically switches output formats based on HTTP Accept headers. Nowhere in the server code above do you have to explicitly specify the output format. Rather, Web API determines what format the client is requesting based on the Accept headers and automatically returns the result based on the available formatters. This means that a single method can handle both XML and JSON results.. Using this simple approach makes it very easy to create a single controller method that can return JSON, XML, ATOM or even OData feeds by providing the appropriate Accept header from the client. By default you don’t have to worry about the output format in your code. Note that you can still specify an explicit output format if you choose, either globally by overriding the installed formatters, or individually by returning a lower level HttpResponseMessage instance and setting the formatter explicitly. More on that in a minute. Along the same lines, any content sent to the server via POST/PUT is parsed by Web API based on the HTTP Content-type of the data sent. The same formats allowed for output are also allowed on input. Again, you don’t have to do anything in your code – Web API automatically performs the deserialization from the content. Accessing Web API JSON Data with jQuery A very common scenario for Web API endpoints is to retrieve data for AJAX calls from the Web browser. Because JSON is the default format for Web API, it’s easy to access data from the server using jQuery and its getJSON() method. This example receives the albums array from GetAlbums() and databinds it into the page using knockout.js.$.getJSON("albums/", function (albums) { // make knockout template visible $(".album").show(); // create view object and attach array var view = { albums: albums }; ko.applyBindings(view); }); Figure 4 shows this and the next example’s HTML output. You can check out the complete HTML and script code at http://goo.gl/Ix33C (.html) and http://goo.gl/tETlg (.js). Figu Figure 4: The Album Display sample uses JSON data loaded from Web API.   The result from the getJSON() call is a JavaScript object of the server result, which comes back as a JavaScript array. In the code, I use knockout.js to bind this array into the UI, which as you can see, requires very little code, instead using knockout’s data-bind attributes to bind server data to the UI. Of course, this is just one way to use the data – it’s entirely up to you to decide what to do with the data in your client code. Along the same lines, I can retrieve a single album to display when the user clicks on an album. The response returns the album information and a child array with all the songs. The code to do this is very similar to the last example where we pulled the albums array:$(".albumlink").live("click", function () { var id = $(this).data("id"); // title $.getJSON("albums/" + id, function (album) { ko.applyBindings(album, $("#divAlbumDialog")[0]); $("#divAlbumDialog").show(); }); }); Here the URL looks like this: /albums/Dirty%20Deeds, where the title is the ID captured from the clicked element’s data ID attribute. Explicitly Overriding Output Format When Web API automatically converts output using content negotiation, it does so by matching Accept header media types to the GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Formatters and the SupportedMediaTypes of each individual formatter. You can add and remove formatters to globally affect what formats are available and it’s easy to create and plug in custom formatters.The example project includes a JSONP formatter that can be plugged in to provide JSONP support for requests that have a callback= querystring parameter. Adding, removing or replacing formatters is a global option you can use to manipulate content. It’s beyond the scope of this introduction to show how it works, but you can review the sample code or check out my blog entry on the subject (http://goo.gl/UAzaR). If automatic processing is not desirable in a particular Controller method, you can override the response output explicitly by returning an HttpResponseMessage instance. HttpResponseMessage is similar to ActionResult in ASP.NET MVC in that it’s a common way to return an abstract result message that contains content. HttpResponseMessage s parsed by the Web API framework using standard interfaces to retrieve the response data, status code, headers and so on[MS2] . Web API turns every response – including those Controller methods that return static results – into HttpResponseMessage instances. Explicitly returning an HttpResponseMessage instance gives you full control over the output and lets you mostly bypass WebAPI’s post-processing of the HTTP response on your behalf. HttpResponseMessage allows you to customize the response in great detail. Web API’s attention to detail in the HTTP spec really shows; many HTTP options are exposed as properties and enumerations with detailed IntelliSense comments. Even if you’re new to building REST-based interfaces, the API guides you in the right direction for returning valid responses and response codes. For example, assume that I always want to return JSON from the GetAlbums() controller method and ignore the default media type content negotiation. To do this, I can adjust the output format and headers as shown in Listing 4.public HttpResponseMessage GetAlbums() { var albums = AlbumData.Current.OrderBy(alb => alb.Artist); // Create a new HttpResponse with Json Formatter explicitly var resp = new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.OK); resp.Content = new ObjectContent<IEnumerable<Album>>( albums, new JsonMediaTypeFormatter()); // Get Default Formatter based on Content Negotiation //var resp = Request.CreateResponse<IEnumerable<Album>>(HttpStatusCode.OK, albums); resp.Headers.ConnectionClose = true; resp.Headers.CacheControl = new CacheControlHeaderValue(); resp.Headers.CacheControl.Public = true; return resp; } This example returns the same IEnumerable<Album> value, but it wraps the response into an HttpResponseMessage so you can control the entire HTTP message result including the headers, formatter and status code. In Listing 4, I explicitly specify the formatter using the JsonMediaTypeFormatter to always force the content to JSON.  If you prefer to use the default content negotiation with HttpResponseMessage results, you can create the Response instance using the Request.CreateResponse method:var resp = Request.CreateResponse<IEnumerable<Album>>(HttpStatusCode.OK, albums); This provides you an HttpResponse object that's pre-configured with the default formatter based on Content Negotiation. Once you have an HttpResponse object you can easily control most HTTP aspects on this object. What's sweet here is that there are many more detailed properties on HttpResponse than the core ASP.NET Response object, with most options being explicitly configurable with enumerations that make it easy to pick the right headers and response codes from a list of valid codes. It makes HTTP features available much more discoverable even for non-hardcore REST/HTTP geeks. Non-Serialized Results The output returned doesn’t have to be a serialized value but can also be raw data, like strings, binary data or streams. You can use the HttpResponseMessage.Content object to set a number of common Content classes. Listing 5 shows how to return a binary image using the ByteArrayContent class from a Controller method. [HttpGet] public HttpResponseMessage AlbumArt(string title) { var album = AlbumData.Current.FirstOrDefault(abl => abl.AlbumName.StartsWith(title)); if (album == null) { var resp = Request.CreateResponse<ApiMessageError>( HttpStatusCode.NotFound, new ApiMessageError("Album not found")); return resp; } // kinda silly - we would normally serve this directly // but hey - it's a demo. var http = new WebClient(); var imageData = http.DownloadData(album.AlbumImageUrl); // create response and return var result = new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.OK); result.Content = new ByteArrayContent(imageData); result.Content.Headers.ContentType = new MediaTypeHeaderValue("image/jpeg"); return result; } The image retrieval from Amazon is contrived, but it shows how to return binary data using ByteArrayContent. It also demonstrates that you can easily return multiple types of content from a single controller method, which is actually quite common. If an error occurs - such as a resource can’t be found or a validation error – you can return an error response to the client that’s very specific to the error. In GetAlbumArt(), if the album can’t be found, we want to return a 404 Not Found status (and realistically no error, as it’s an image). Note that if you are not using HTTP Verb-based routing or not accessing a method that starts with Get/Post etc., you have to specify one or more HTTP Verb attributes on the method explicitly. Here, I used the [HttpGet] attribute to serve the image. Another option to handle the error could be to return a fixed placeholder image if no album could be matched or the album doesn’t have an image. When returning an error code, you can also return a strongly typed response to the client. For example, you can set the 404 status code and also return a custom error object (ApiMessageError is a class I defined) like this:return Request.CreateResponse<ApiMessageError>( HttpStatusCode.NotFound, new ApiMessageError("Album not found") );   If the album can be found, the image will be returned. The image is downloaded into a byte[] array, and then assigned to the result’s Content property. I created a new ByteArrayContent instance and assigned the image’s bytes and the content type so that it displays properly in the browser. There are other content classes available: StringContent, StreamContent, ByteArrayContent, MultipartContent, and ObjectContent are at your disposal to return just about any kind of content. You can create your own Content classes if you frequently return custom types and handle the default formatter assignments that should be used to send the data out . Although HttpResponseMessage results require more code than returning a plain .NET value from a method, it allows much more control over the actual HTTP processing than automatic processing. It also makes it much easier to test your controller methods as you get a response object that you can check for specific status codes and output messages rather than just a result value. Routing Again Ok, let’s get back to the image example. Using the original routing we have setup using HTTP Verb routing there's no good way to serve the image. In order to return my album art image I’d like to use a URL like this: http://localhost/aspnetWebApi/albums/Dirty%20Deeds/image In order to create a URL like this, I have to create a new Controller because my earlier routes pointed to the AlbumApiController using HTTP Verb routing. HTTP Verb based routing is great for representing a single set of resources such as albums. You can map operations like add, delete, update and read easily using HTTP Verbs. But you cannot mix action based routing into a an HTTP Verb routing controller - you can only map HTTP Verbs and each method has to be unique based on parameter signature. You can't have multiple GET operations to methods with the same signature. So GetImage(string id) and GetAlbum(string title) are in conflict in an HTTP GET routing scenario. In fact, I was unable to make the above Image URL work with any combination of HTTP Verb plus Custom routing using the single Albums controller. There are number of ways around this, but all involve additional controllers.  Personally, I think it’s easier to use explicit Action routing and then add custom routes if you need to simplify your URLs further. So in order to accommodate some of the other examples, I created another controller – AlbumRpcApiController – to handle all requests that are explicitly routed via actions (/albums/rpc/AlbumArt) or are custom routed with explicit routes defined in the HttpConfiguration. I added the AlbumArt() method to this new AlbumRpcApiController class. For the image URL to work with the new AlbumRpcApiController, you need a custom route placed before the default route from Listing 1.RouteTable.Routes.MapHttpRoute( name: "AlbumRpcApiAction", routeTemplate: "albums/rpc/{action}/{title}", defaults: new { title = RouteParameter.Optional, controller = "AlbumRpcApi", action = "GetAblums" } ); Now I can use either of the following URLs to access the image: Custom route: (/albums/rpc/{title}/image)http://localhost/aspnetWebApi/albums/PowerAge/image Action route: (/albums/rpc/action/{title})http://localhost/aspnetWebAPI/albums/rpc/albumart/PowerAge Sending Data to the Server To send data to the server and add a new album, you can use an HTTP POST operation. Since I’m using HTTP Verb-based routing in the original AlbumApiController, I can implement a method called PostAlbum()to accept a new album from the client. Listing 6 shows the Web API code to add a new album.public HttpResponseMessage PostAlbum(Album album) { if (!this.ModelState.IsValid) { // my custom error class var error = new ApiMessageError() { message = "Model is invalid" }; // add errors into our client error model for client foreach (var prop in ModelState.Values) { var modelError = prop.Errors.FirstOrDefault(); if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(modelError.ErrorMessage)) error.errors.Add(modelError.ErrorMessage); else error.errors.Add(modelError.Exception.Message); } return Request.CreateResponse<ApiMessageError>(HttpStatusCode.Conflict, error); } // update song id which isn't provided foreach (var song in album.Songs) song.AlbumId = album.Id; // see if album exists already var matchedAlbum = AlbumData.Current .SingleOrDefault(alb => alb.Id == album.Id || alb.AlbumName == album.AlbumName); if (matchedAlbum == null) AlbumData.Current.Add(album); else matchedAlbum = album; // return a string to show that the value got here var resp = Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.OK, string.Empty); resp.Content = new StringContent(album.AlbumName + " " + album.Entered.ToString(), Encoding.UTF8, "text/plain"); return resp; } The PostAlbum() method receives an album parameter, which is automatically deserialized from the POST buffer the client sent. The data passed from the client can be either XML or JSON. Web API automatically figures out what format it needs to deserialize based on the content type and binds the content to the album object. Web API uses model binding to bind the request content to the parameter(s) of controller methods. Like MVC you can check the model by looking at ModelState.IsValid. If it’s not valid, you can run through the ModelState.Values collection and check each binding for errors. Here I collect the error messages into a string array that gets passed back to the client via the result ApiErrorMessage object. When a binding error occurs, you’ll want to return an HTTP error response and it’s best to do that with an HttpResponseMessage result. In Listing 6, I used a custom error class that holds a message and an array of detailed error messages for each binding error. I used this object as the content to return to the client along with my Conflict HTTP Status Code response. If binding succeeds, the example returns a string with the name and date entered to demonstrate that you captured the data. Normally, a method like this should return a Boolean or no response at all (HttpStatusCode.NoConent). The sample uses a simple static list to hold albums, so once you’ve added the album using the Post operation, you can hit the /albums/ URL to see that the new album was added. The client jQuery code to call the POST operation from the client with jQuery is shown in Listing 7. var id = new Date().getTime().toString(); var album = { "Id": id, "AlbumName": "Power Age", "Artist": "AC/DC", "YearReleased": 1977, "Entered": "2002-03-11T18:24:43.5580794-10:00", "AlbumImageUrl": http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/…, "AmazonUrl": http://www.amazon.com/…, "Songs": [ { "SongName": "Rock 'n Roll Damnation", "SongLength": 3.12}, { "SongName": "Downpayment Blues", "SongLength": 4.22 }, { "SongName": "Riff Raff", "SongLength": 2.42 } ] } $.ajax( { url: "albums/", type: "POST", contentType: "application/json", data: JSON.stringify(album), processData: false, beforeSend: function (xhr) { // not required since JSON is default output xhr.setRequestHeader("Accept", "application/json"); }, success: function (result) { // reload list of albums page.loadAlbums(); }, error: function (xhr, status, p3, p4) { var err = "Error"; if (xhr.responseText && xhr.responseText[0] == "{") err = JSON.parse(xhr.responseText).message; alert(err); } }); The code in Listing 7 creates an album object in JavaScript to match the structure of the .NET Album class. This object is passed to the $.ajax() function to send to the server as POST. The data is turned into JSON and the content type set to application/json so that the server knows what to convert when deserializing in the Album instance. The jQuery code hooks up success and failure events. Success returns the result data, which is a string that’s echoed back with an alert box. If an error occurs, jQuery returns the XHR instance and status code. You can check the XHR to see if a JSON object is embedded and if it is, you can extract it by de-serializing it and accessing the .message property. REST standards suggest that updates to existing resources should use PUT operations. REST standards aside, I’m not a big fan of separating out inserts and updates so I tend to have a single method that handles both. But if you want to follow REST suggestions, you can create a PUT method that handles updates by forwarding the PUT operation to the POST method:public HttpResponseMessage PutAlbum(Album album) { return PostAlbum(album); } To make the corresponding $.ajax() call, all you have to change from Listing 7 is the type: from POST to PUT. Model Binding with UrlEncoded POST Variables In the example in Listing 7 I used JSON objects to post a serialized object to a server method that accepted an strongly typed object with the same structure, which is a common way to send data to the server. However, Web API supports a number of different ways that data can be received by server methods. For example, another common way is to use plain UrlEncoded POST  values to send to the server. Web API supports Model Binding that works similar (but not the same) as MVC's model binding where POST variables are mapped to properties of object parameters of the target method. This is actually quite common for AJAX calls that want to avoid serialization and the potential requirement of a JSON parser on older browsers. For example, using jQUery you might use the $.post() method to send a new album to the server (albeit one without songs) using code like the following:$.post("albums/",{AlbumName: "Dirty Deeds", YearReleased: 1976 … },albumPostCallback); Although the code looks very similar to the client code we used before passing JSON, here the data passed is URL encoded values (AlbumName=Dirty+Deeds&YearReleased=1976 etc.). Web API then takes this POST data and maps each of the POST values to the properties of the Album object in the method's parameter. Although the client code is different the server can both handle the JSON object, or the UrlEncoded POST values. Dynamic Access to POST Data There are also a few options available to dynamically access POST data, if you know what type of data you're dealing with. If you have POST UrlEncoded values, you can dynamically using a FormsDataCollection:[HttpPost] public string PostAlbum(FormDataCollection form) { return string.Format("{0} - released {1}", form.Get("AlbumName"),form.Get("RearReleased")); } The FormDataCollection is a very simple object, that essentially provides the same functionality as Request.Form[] in ASP.NET. Request.Form[] still works if you're running hosted in an ASP.NET application. However as a general rule, while ASP.NET's functionality is always available when running Web API hosted inside of an  ASP.NET application, using the built in classes specific to Web API makes it possible to run Web API applications in a self hosted environment outside of ASP.NET. If your client is sending JSON to your server, and you don't want to map the JSON to a strongly typed object because you only want to retrieve a few simple values, you can also accept a JObject parameter in your API methods:[HttpPost] public string PostAlbum(JObject jsonData) { dynamic json = jsonData; JObject jalbum = json.Album; JObject juser = json.User; string token = json.UserToken; var album = jalbum.ToObject<Album>(); var user = juser.ToObject<User>(); return String.Format("{0} {1} {2}", album.AlbumName, user.Name, token); } There quite a few options available to you to receive data with Web API, which gives you more choices for the right tool for the job. Unfortunately one shortcoming of Web API is that POST data is always mapped to a single parameter. This means you can't pass multiple POST parameters to methods that receive POST data. It's possible to accept multiple parameters, but only one can map to the POST content - the others have to come from the query string or route values. I have a couple of Blog POSTs that explain what works and what doesn't here: Passing multiple POST parameters to Web API Controller Methods Mapping UrlEncoded POST Values in ASP.NET Web API   Handling Delete Operations Finally, to round out the server API code of the album example we've been discussin, here’s the DELETE verb controller method that allows removal of an album by its title:public HttpResponseMessage DeleteAlbum(string title) { var matchedAlbum = AlbumData.Current.Where(alb => alb.AlbumName == title) .SingleOrDefault(); if (matchedAlbum == null) return new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.NotFound); AlbumData.Current.Remove(matchedAlbum); return new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.NoContent); } To call this action method using jQuery, you can use:$(".removeimage").live("click", function () { var $el = $(this).parent(".album"); var txt = $el.find("a").text(); $.ajax({ url: "albums/" + encodeURIComponent(txt), type: "Delete", success: function (result) { $el.fadeOut().remove(); }, error: jqError }); }   Note the use of the DELETE verb in the $.ajax() call, which routes to DeleteAlbum on the server. DELETE is a non-content operation, so you supply a resource ID (the title) via route value or the querystring. Routing Conflicts In all requests with the exception of the AlbumArt image example shown so far, I used HTTP Verb routing that I set up in Listing 1. HTTP Verb Routing is a recommendation that is in line with typical REST access to HTTP resources. However, it takes quite a bit of effort to create REST-compliant API implementations based only on HTTP Verb routing only. You saw one example that didn’t really fit – the return of an image where I created a custom route albums/{title}/image that required creation of a second controller and a custom route to work. HTTP Verb routing to a controller does not mix with custom or action routing to the same controller because of the limited mapping of HTTP verbs imposed by HTTP Verb routing. To understand some of the problems with verb routing, let’s look at another example. Let’s say you create a GetSortableAlbums() method like this and add it to the original AlbumApiController accessed via HTTP Verb routing:[HttpGet] public IQueryable<Album> SortableAlbums() { var albums = AlbumData.Current; // generally should be done only on actual queryable results (EF etc.) // Done here because we're running with a static list but otherwise might be slow return albums.AsQueryable(); } If you compile this code and try to now access the /albums/ link, you get an error: Multiple Actions were found that match the request. HTTP Verb routing only allows access to one GET operation per parameter/route value match. If more than one method exists with the same parameter signature, it doesn’t work. As I mentioned earlier for the image display, the only solution to get this method to work is to throw it into another controller. Because I already set up the AlbumRpcApiController I can add the method there. First, I should rename the method to SortableAlbums() so I’m not using a Get prefix for the method. This also makes the action parameter look cleaner in the URL - it looks less like a method and more like a noun. I can then create a new route that handles direct-action mapping:RouteTable.Routes.MapHttpRoute( name: "AlbumRpcApiAction", routeTemplate: "albums/rpc/{action}/{title}", defaults: new { title = RouteParameter.Optional, controller = "AlbumRpcApi", action = "GetAblums" } ); As I am explicitly adding a route segment – rpc – into the route template, I can now reference explicit methods in the Web API controller using URLs like this: http://localhost/AspNetWebApi/rpc/SortableAlbums Error Handling I’ve already done some minimal error handling in the examples. For example in Listing 6, I detected some known-error scenarios like model validation failing or a resource not being found and returning an appropriate HttpResponseMessage result. But what happens if your code just blows up or causes an exception? If you have a controller method, like this:[HttpGet] public void ThrowException() { throw new UnauthorizedAccessException("Unauthorized Access Sucka"); } You can call it with this: http://localhost/AspNetWebApi/albums/rpc/ThrowException The default exception handling displays a 500-status response with the serialized exception on the local computer only. When you connect from a remote computer, Web API throws back a 500  HTTP Error with no data returned (IIS then adds its HTML error page). The behavior is configurable in the GlobalConfiguration:GlobalConfiguration .Configuration .IncludeErrorDetailPolicy = IncludeErrorDetailPolicy.Never; If you want more control over your error responses sent from code, you can throw explicit error responses yourself using HttpResponseException. When you throw an HttpResponseException the response parameter is used to generate the output for the Controller action. [HttpGet] public void ThrowError() { var resp = Request.CreateResponse<ApiMessageError>( HttpStatusCode.BadRequest, new ApiMessageError("Your code stinks!")); throw new HttpResponseException(resp); } Throwing an HttpResponseException stops the processing of the controller method and immediately returns the response you passed to the exception. Unlike other Exceptions fired inside of WebAPI, HttpResponseException bypasses the Exception Filters installed and instead just outputs the response you provide. In this case, the serialized ApiMessageError result string is returned in the default serialization format – XML or JSON. You can pass any content to HttpResponseMessage, which includes creating your own exception objects and consistently returning error messages to the client. Here’s a small helper method on the controller that you might use to send exception info back to the client consistently:private void ThrowSafeException(string message, HttpStatusCode statusCode = HttpStatusCode.BadRequest) { var errResponse = Request.CreateResponse<ApiMessageError>(statusCode, new ApiMessageError() { message = message }); throw new HttpResponseException(errResponse); } You can then use it to output any captured errors from code:[HttpGet] public void ThrowErrorSafe() { try { List<string> list = null; list.Add("Rick"); } catch (Exception ex) { ThrowSafeException(ex.Message); } }   Exception Filters Another more global solution is to create an Exception Filter. Filters in Web API provide the ability to pre- and post-process controller method operations. An exception filter looks at all exceptions fired and then optionally creates an HttpResponseMessage result. Listing 8 shows an example of a basic Exception filter implementation.public class UnhandledExceptionFilter : ExceptionFilterAttribute { public override void OnException(HttpActionExecutedContext context) { HttpStatusCode status = HttpStatusCode.InternalServerError; var exType = context.Exception.GetType(); if (exType == typeof(UnauthorizedAccessException)) status = HttpStatusCode.Unauthorized; else if (exType == typeof(ArgumentException)) status = HttpStatusCode.NotFound; var apiError = new ApiMessageError() { message = context.Exception.Message }; // create a new response and attach our ApiError object // which now gets returned on ANY exception result var errorResponse = context.Request.CreateResponse<ApiMessageError>(status, apiError); context.Response = errorResponse; base.OnException(context); } } Exception Filter Attributes can be assigned to an ApiController class like this:[UnhandledExceptionFilter] public class AlbumRpcApiController : ApiController or you can globally assign it to all controllers by adding it to the HTTP Configuration's Filters collection:GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Filters.Add(new UnhandledExceptionFilter()); The latter is a great way to get global error trapping so that all errors (short of hard IIS errors and explicit HttpResponseException errors) return a valid error response that includes error information in the form of a known-error object. Using a filter like this allows you to throw an exception as you normally would and have your filter create a response in the appropriate output format that the client expects. For example, an AJAX application can on failure expect to see a JSON error result that corresponds to the real error that occurred rather than a 500 error along with HTML error page that IIS throws up. You can even create some custom exceptions so you can differentiate your own exceptions from unhandled system exceptions - you often don't want to display error information from 'unknown' exceptions as they may contain sensitive system information or info that's not generally useful to users of your application/site. This is just one example of how ASP.NET Web API is configurable and extensible. Exception filters are just one example of how you can plug-in into the Web API request flow to modify output. Many more hooks exist and I’ll take a closer look at extensibility in Part 2 of this article in the future. Summary Web API is a big improvement over previous Microsoft REST and AJAX toolkits. The key features to its usefulness are its ease of use with simple controller based logic, familiar MVC-style routing, low configuration impact, extensibility at all levels and tight attention to exposing and making HTTP semantics easily discoverable and easy to use. Although none of the concepts used in Web API are new or radical, Web API combines the best of previous platforms into a single framework that’s highly functional, easy to work with, and extensible to boot. I think that Microsoft has hit a home run with Web API. Related Resources Where does ASP.NET Web API fit? Sample Source Code on GitHub Passing multiple POST parameters to Web API Controller Methods Mapping UrlEncoded POST Values in ASP.NET Web API Creating a JSONP Formatter for ASP.NET Web API Removing the XML Formatter from ASP.NET Web API Applications© Rick Strahl, West Wind Technologies, 2005-2012Posted in Web Api   Tweet !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); (function() { var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.async = true; po.src = 'https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })();

  Read the article

• Upload File to Windows Azure Blob in Chunks through ASP.NET MVC, JavaScript and HTML5

  - by Shaun

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/shaunxu/archive/2013/07/01/upload-file-to-windows-azure-blob-in-chunks-through-asp.net.aspxMany people are using Windows Azure Blob Storage to store their data in the cloud. Blob storage provides 99.9% availability with easy-to-use API through .NET SDK and HTTP REST. For example, we can store JavaScript files, images, documents in blob storage when we are building an ASP.NET web application on a Web Role in Windows Azure. Or we can store our VHD files in blob and mount it as a hard drive in our cloud service. If you are familiar with Windows Azure, you should know that there are two kinds of blob: page blob and block blob. The page blob is optimized for random read and write, which is very useful when you need to store VHD files. The block blob is optimized for sequential/chunk read and write, which has more common usage. Since we can upload block blob in blocks through BlockBlob.PutBlock, and them commit them as a whole blob with invoking the BlockBlob.PutBlockList, it is very powerful to upload large files, as we can upload blocks in parallel, and provide pause-resume feature. There are many documents, articles and blog posts described on how to upload a block blob. Most of them are focus on the server side, which means when you had received a big file, stream or binaries, how to upload them into blob storage in blocks through .NET SDK.  But the problem is, how can we upload these large files from client side, for example, a browser. This questioned to me when I was working with a Chinese customer to help them build a network disk production on top of azure. The end users upload their files from the web portal, and then the files will be stored in blob storage from the Web Role. My goal is to find the best way to transform the file from client (end user’s machine) to the server (Web Role) through browser. In this post I will demonstrate and describe what I had done, to upload large file in chunks with high speed, and save them as blocks into Windows Azure Blob Storage.   Traditional Upload, Works with Limitation The simplest way to implement this requirement is to create a web page with a form that contains a file input element and a submit button. 1: @using (Html.BeginForm("About", "Index", FormMethod.Post, new { enctype = "multipart/form-data" })) 2: { 3: <input type="file" name="file" /> 4: <input type="submit" value="upload" /> 5: } And then in the backend controller, we retrieve the whole content of this file and upload it in to the blob storage through .NET SDK. We can split the file in blocks and upload them in parallel and commit. The code had been well blogged in the community. 1: [HttpPost] 2: public ActionResult About(HttpPostedFileBase file) 3: { 4: var container = _client.GetContainerReference("test"); 5: container.CreateIfNotExists(); 6: var blob = container.GetBlockBlobReference(file.FileName); 7: var blockDataList = new Dictionary<string, byte[]>(); 8: using (var stream = file.InputStream) 9: { 10: var blockSizeInKB = 1024; 11: var offset = 0; 12: var index = 0; 13: while (offset < stream.Length) 14: { 15: var readLength = Math.Min(1024 * blockSizeInKB, (int)stream.Length - offset); 16: var blockData = new byte[readLength]; 17: offset += stream.Read(blockData, 0, readLength); 18: blockDataList.Add(Convert.ToBase64String(BitConverter.GetBytes(index)), blockData); 19:  20: index++; 21: } 22: } 23:  24: Parallel.ForEach(blockDataList, (bi) => 25: { 26: blob.PutBlock(bi.Key, new MemoryStream(bi.Value), null); 27: }); 28: blob.PutBlockList(blockDataList.Select(b => b.Key).ToArray()); 29:  30: return RedirectToAction("About"); 31: } This works perfect if we selected an image, a music or a small video to upload. But if I selected a large file, let’s say a 6GB HD-movie, after upload for about few minutes the page will be shown as below and the upload will be terminated. In ASP.NET there is a limitation of request length and the maximized request length is defined in the web.config file. It’s a number which less than about 4GB. So if we want to upload a really big file, we cannot simply implement in this way. Also, in Windows Azure, a cloud service network load balancer will terminate the connection if exceed the timeout period. From my test the timeout looks like 2 - 3 minutes. Hence, when we need to upload a large file we cannot just use the basic HTML elements. Besides the limitation mentioned above, the simple HTML file upload cannot provide rich upload experience such as chunk upload, pause and pause-resume. So we need to find a better way to upload large file from the client to the server.   Upload in Chunks through HTML5 and JavaScript In order to break those limitation mentioned above we will try to upload the large file in chunks. This takes some benefit to us such as - No request size limitation: Since we upload in chunks, we can define the request size for each chunks regardless how big the entire file is. - No timeout problem: The size of chunks are controlled by us, which means we should be able to make sure request for each chunk upload will not exceed the timeout period of both ASP.NET and Windows Azure load balancer. It was a big challenge to upload big file in chunks until we have HTML5. There are some new features and improvements introduced in HTML5 and we will use them to implement our solution.   In HTML5, the File interface had been improved with a new method called “slice”. It can be used to read part of the file by specifying the start byte index and the end byte index. For example if the entire file was 1024 bytes, file.slice(512, 768) will read the part of this file from the 512nd byte to 768th byte, and return a new object of interface called "Blob”, which you can treat as an array of bytes. In fact,  a Blob object represents a file-like object of immutable, raw data. The File interface is based on Blob, inheriting blob functionality and expanding it to support files on the user's system. For more information about the Blob please refer here. File and Blob is very useful to implement the chunk upload. We will use File interface to represent the file the user selected from the browser and then use File.slice to read the file in chunks in the size we wanted. For example, if we wanted to upload a 10MB file with 512KB chunks, then we can read it in 512KB blobs by using File.slice in a loop.   Assuming we have a web page as below. User can select a file, an input box to specify the block size in KB and a button to start upload. 1: <div> 2: <input type="file" id="upload_files" name="files[]" /><br /> 3: Block Size: <input type="number" id="block_size" value="512" name="block_size" />KB<br /> 4: <input type="button" id="upload_button_blob" name="upload" value="upload (blob)" /> 5: </div> Then we can have the JavaScript function to upload the file in chunks when user clicked the button. 1: <script type="text/javascript"> 1: 2: $(function () { 3: $("#upload_button_blob").click(function () { 4: }); 5: });</script> Firstly we need to ensure the client browser supports the interfaces we are going to use. Just try to invoke the File, Blob and FormData from the “window” object. If any of them is “undefined” the condition result will be “false” which means your browser doesn’t support these premium feature and it’s time for you to get your browser updated. FormData is another new feature we are going to use in the future. It could generate a temporary form for us. We will use this interface to create a form with chunk and associated metadata when invoked the service through ajax. 1: $("#upload_button_blob").click(function () { 2: // assert the browser support html5 3: if (window.File && window.Blob && window.FormData) { 4: alert("Your brwoser is awesome, let's rock!"); 5: } 6: else { 7: alert("Oh man plz update to a modern browser before try is cool stuff out."); 8: return; 9: } 10: }); Each browser supports these interfaces by their own implementation and currently the Blob, File and File.slice are supported by Chrome 21, FireFox 13, IE 10, Opera 12 and Safari 5.1 or higher. After that we worked on the files the user selected one by one since in HTML5, user can select multiple files in one file input box. 1: var files = $("#upload_files")[0].files; 2: for (var i = 0; i < files.length; i++) { 3: var file = files[i]; 4: var fileSize = file.size; 5: var fileName = file.name; 6: } Next, we calculated the start index and end index for each chunks based on the size the user specified from the browser. We put them into an array with the file name and the index, which will be used when we upload chunks into Windows Azure Blob Storage as blocks since we need to specify the target blob name and the block index. At the same time we will store the list of all indexes into another variant which will be used to commit blocks into blob in Azure Storage once all chunks had been uploaded successfully. 1: $("#upload_button_blob").click(function () { 2: // assert the browser support html5 3: ... ... 4: // start to upload each files in chunks 5: var files = $("#upload_files")[0].files; 6: for (var i = 0; i < files.length; i++) { 7: var file = files[i]; 8: var fileSize = file.size; 9: var fileName = file.name; 10:  11: // calculate the start and end byte index for each blocks(chunks) 12: // with the index, file name and index list for future using 13: var blockSizeInKB = $("#block_size").val(); 14: var blockSize = blockSizeInKB * 1024; 15: var blocks = []; 16: var offset = 0; 17: var index = 0; 18: var list = ""; 19: while (offset < fileSize) { 20: var start = offset; 21: var end = Math.min(offset + blockSize, fileSize); 22:  23: blocks.push({ 24: name: fileName, 25: index: index, 26: start: start, 27: end: end 28: }); 29: list += index + ","; 30:  31: offset = end; 32: index++; 33: } 34: } 35: }); Now we have all chunks’ information ready. The next step should be upload them one by one to the server side, and at the server side when received a chunk it will upload as a block into Blob Storage, and finally commit them with the index list through BlockBlobClient.PutBlockList. But since all these invokes are ajax calling, which means not synchronized call. So we need to introduce a new JavaScript library to help us coordinate the asynchronize operation, which named “async.js”. You can download this JavaScript library here, and you can find the document here. I will not explain this library too much in this post. We will put all procedures we want to execute as a function array, and pass into the proper function defined in async.js to let it help us to control the execution sequence, in series or in parallel. Hence we will define an array and put the function for chunk upload into this array. 1: $("#upload_button_blob").click(function () { 2: // assert the browser support html5 3: ... ... 4:  5: // start to upload each files in chunks 6: var files = $("#upload_files")[0].files; 7: for (var i = 0; i < files.length; i++) { 8: var file = files[i]; 9: var fileSize = file.size; 10: var fileName = file.name; 11: // calculate the start and end byte index for each blocks(chunks) 12: // with the index, file name and index list for future using 13: ... ... 14:  15: // define the function array and push all chunk upload operation into this array 16: blocks.forEach(function (block) { 17: putBlocks.push(function (callback) { 18: }); 19: }); 20: } 21: }); 22: }); As you can see, I used File.slice method to read each chunks based on the start and end byte index we calculated previously, and constructed a temporary HTML form with the file name, chunk index and chunk data through another new feature in HTML5 named FormData. Then post this form to the backend server through jQuery.ajax. This is the key part of our solution. 1: $("#upload_button_blob").click(function () { 2: // assert the browser support html5 3: ... ... 4: // start to upload each files in chunks 5: var files = $("#upload_files")[0].files; 6: for (var i = 0; i < files.length; i++) { 7: var file = files[i]; 8: var fileSize = file.size; 9: var fileName = file.name; 10: // calculate the start and end byte index for each blocks(chunks) 11: // with the index, file name and index list for future using 12: ... ... 13: // define the function array and push all chunk upload operation into this array 14: blocks.forEach(function (block) { 15: putBlocks.push(function (callback) { 16: // load blob based on the start and end index for each chunks 17: var blob = file.slice(block.start, block.end); 18: // put the file name, index and blob into a temporary from 19: var fd = new FormData(); 20: fd.append("name", block.name); 21: fd.append("index", block.index); 22: fd.append("file", blob); 23: // post the form to backend service (asp.net mvc controller action) 24: $.ajax({ 25: url: "/Home/UploadInFormData", 26: data: fd, 27: processData: false, 28: contentType: "multipart/form-data", 29: type: "POST", 30: success: function (result) { 31: if (!result.success) { 32: alert(result.error); 33: } 34: callback(null, block.index); 35: } 36: }); 37: }); 38: }); 39: } 40: }); Then we will invoke these functions one by one by using the async.js. And once all functions had been executed successfully I invoked another ajax call to the backend service to commit all these chunks (blocks) as the blob in Windows Azure Storage. 1: $("#upload_button_blob").click(function () { 2: // assert the browser support html5 3: ... ... 4: // start to upload each files in chunks 5: var files = $("#upload_files")[0].files; 6: for (var i = 0; i < files.length; i++) { 7: var file = files[i]; 8: var fileSize = file.size; 9: var fileName = file.name; 10: // calculate the start and end byte index for each blocks(chunks) 11: // with the index, file name and index list for future using 12: ... ... 13: // define the function array and push all chunk upload operation into this array 14: ... ... 15: // invoke the functions one by one 16: // then invoke the commit ajax call to put blocks into blob in azure storage 17: async.series(putBlocks, function (error, result) { 18: var data = { 19: name: fileName, 20: list: list 21: }; 22: $.post("/Home/Commit", data, function (result) { 23: if (!result.success) { 24: alert(result.error); 25: } 26: else { 27: alert("done!"); 28: } 29: }); 30: }); 31: } 32: }); That’s all in the client side. The outline of our logic would be - Calculate the start and end byte index for each chunks based on the block size. - Defined the functions of reading the chunk form file and upload the content to the backend service through ajax. - Execute the functions defined in previous step with “async.js”. - Commit the chunks by invoking the backend service in Windows Azure Storage finally.   Save Chunks as Blocks into Blob Storage In above we finished the client size JavaScript code. It uploaded the file in chunks to the backend service which we are going to implement in this step. We will use ASP.NET MVC as our backend service, and it will receive the chunks, upload into Windows Azure Bob Storage in blocks, then finally commit as one blob. As in the client side we uploaded chunks by invoking the ajax call to the URL "/Home/UploadInFormData", I created a new action under the Index controller and it only accepts HTTP POST request. 1: [HttpPost] 2: public JsonResult UploadInFormData() 3: { 4: var error = string.Empty; 5: try 6: { 7: } 8: catch (Exception e) 9: { 10: error = e.ToString(); 11: } 12:  13: return new JsonResult() 14: { 15: Data = new 16: { 17: success = string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(error), 18: error = error 19: } 20: }; 21: } Then I retrieved the file name, index and the chunk content from the Request.Form object, which was passed from our client side. And then, used the Windows Azure SDK to create a blob container (in this case we will use the container named “test”.) and create a blob reference with the blob name (same as the file name). Then uploaded the chunk as a block of this blob with the index, since in Blob Storage each block must have an index (ID) associated with so that finally we can put all blocks as one blob by specifying their block ID list. 1: [HttpPost] 2: public JsonResult UploadInFormData() 3: { 4: var error = string.Empty; 5: try 6: { 7: var name = Request.Form["name"]; 8: var index = int.Parse(Request.Form["index"]); 9: var file = Request.Files[0]; 10: var id = Convert.ToBase64String(BitConverter.GetBytes(index)); 11:  12: var container = _client.GetContainerReference("test"); 13: container.CreateIfNotExists(); 14: var blob = container.GetBlockBlobReference(name); 15: blob.PutBlock(id, file.InputStream, null); 16: } 17: catch (Exception e) 18: { 19: error = e.ToString(); 20: } 21:  22: return new JsonResult() 23: { 24: Data = new 25: { 26: success = string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(error), 27: error = error 28: } 29: }; 30: } Next, I created another action to commit the blocks into blob once all chunks had been uploaded. Similarly, I retrieved the blob name from the Request.Form. I also retrieved the chunks ID list, which is the block ID list from the Request.Form in a string format, split them as a list, then invoked the BlockBlob.PutBlockList method. After that our blob will be shown in the container and ready to be download. 1: [HttpPost] 2: public JsonResult Commit() 3: { 4: var error = string.Empty; 5: try 6: { 7: var name = Request.Form["name"]; 8: var list = Request.Form["list"]; 9: var ids = list 10: .Split(',') 11: .Where(id => !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(id)) 12: .Select(id => Convert.ToBase64String(BitConverter.GetBytes(int.Parse(id)))) 13: .ToArray(); 14:  15: var container = _client.GetContainerReference("test"); 16: container.CreateIfNotExists(); 17: var blob = container.GetBlockBlobReference(name); 18: blob.PutBlockList(ids); 19: } 20: catch (Exception e) 21: { 22: error = e.ToString(); 23: } 24:  25: return new JsonResult() 26: { 27: Data = new 28: { 29: success = string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(error), 30: error = error 31: } 32: }; 33: } Now we finished all code we need. The whole process of uploading would be like this below. Below is the full client side JavaScript code. 1: <script type="text/javascript" src="~/Scripts/async.js"></script> 2: <script type="text/javascript"> 3: $(function () { 4: $("#upload_button_blob").click(function () { 5: // assert the browser support html5 6: if (window.File && window.Blob && window.FormData) { 7: alert("Your brwoser is awesome, let's rock!"); 8: } 9: else { 10: alert("Oh man plz update to a modern browser before try is cool stuff out."); 11: return; 12: } 13:  14: // start to upload each files in chunks 15: var files = $("#upload_files")[0].files; 16: for (var i = 0; i < files.length; i++) { 17: var file = files[i]; 18: var fileSize = file.size; 19: var fileName = file.name; 20:  21: // calculate the start and end byte index for each blocks(chunks) 22: // with the index, file name and index list for future using 23: var blockSizeInKB = $("#block_size").val(); 24: var blockSize = blockSizeInKB * 1024; 25: var blocks = []; 26: var offset = 0; 27: var index = 0; 28: var list = ""; 29: while (offset < fileSize) { 30: var start = offset; 31: var end = Math.min(offset + blockSize, fileSize); 32:  33: blocks.push({ 34: name: fileName, 35: index: index, 36: start: start, 37: end: end 38: }); 39: list += index + ","; 40:  41: offset = end; 42: index++; 43: } 44:  45: // define the function array and push all chunk upload operation into this array 46: var putBlocks = []; 47: blocks.forEach(function (block) { 48: putBlocks.push(function (callback) { 49: // load blob based on the start and end index for each chunks 50: var blob = file.slice(block.start, block.end); 51: // put the file name, index and blob into a temporary from 52: var fd = new FormData(); 53: fd.append("name", block.name); 54: fd.append("index", block.index); 55: fd.append("file", blob); 56: // post the form to backend service (asp.net mvc controller action) 57: $.ajax({ 58: url: "/Home/UploadInFormData", 59: data: fd, 60: processData: false, 61: contentType: "multipart/form-data", 62: type: "POST", 63: success: function (result) { 64: if (!result.success) { 65: alert(result.error); 66: } 67: callback(null, block.index); 68: } 69: }); 70: }); 71: }); 72:  73: // invoke the functions one by one 74: // then invoke the commit ajax call to put blocks into blob in azure storage 75: async.series(putBlocks, function (error, result) { 76: var data = { 77: name: fileName, 78: list: list 79: }; 80: $.post("/Home/Commit", data, function (result) { 81: if (!result.success) { 82: alert(result.error); 83: } 84: else { 85: alert("done!"); 86: } 87: }); 88: }); 89: } 90: }); 91: }); 92: </script> And below is the full ASP.NET MVC controller code. 1: public class HomeController : Controller 2: { 3: private CloudStorageAccount _account; 4: private CloudBlobClient _client; 5:  6: public HomeController() 7: : base() 8: { 9: _account = CloudStorageAccount.Parse(CloudConfigurationManager.GetSetting("DataConnectionString")); 10: _client = _account.CreateCloudBlobClient(); 11: } 12:  13: public ActionResult Index() 14: { 15: ViewBag.Message = "Modify this template to jump-start your ASP.NET MVC application."; 16:  17: return View(); 18: } 19:  20: [HttpPost] 21: public JsonResult UploadInFormData() 22: { 23: var error = string.Empty; 24: try 25: { 26: var name = Request.Form["name"]; 27: var index = int.Parse(Request.Form["index"]); 28: var file = Request.Files[0]; 29: var id = Convert.ToBase64String(BitConverter.GetBytes(index)); 30:  31: var container = _client.GetContainerReference("test"); 32: container.CreateIfNotExists(); 33: var blob = container.GetBlockBlobReference(name); 34: blob.PutBlock(id, file.InputStream, null); 35: } 36: catch (Exception e) 37: { 38: error = e.ToString(); 39: } 40:  41: return new JsonResult() 42: { 43: Data = new 44: { 45: success = string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(error), 46: error = error 47: } 48: }; 49: } 50:  51: [HttpPost] 52: public JsonResult Commit() 53: { 54: var error = string.Empty; 55: try 56: { 57: var name = Request.Form["name"]; 58: var list = Request.Form["list"]; 59: var ids = list 60: .Split(',') 61: .Where(id => !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(id)) 62: .Select(id => Convert.ToBase64String(BitConverter.GetBytes(int.Parse(id)))) 63: .ToArray(); 64:  65: var container = _client.GetContainerReference("test"); 66: container.CreateIfNotExists(); 67: var blob = container.GetBlockBlobReference(name); 68: blob.PutBlockList(ids); 69: } 70: catch (Exception e) 71: { 72: error = e.ToString(); 73: } 74:  75: return new JsonResult() 76: { 77: Data = new 78: { 79: success = string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(error), 80: error = error 81: } 82: }; 83: } 84: } And if we selected a file from the browser we will see our application will upload chunks in the size we specified to the server through ajax call in background, and then commit all chunks in one blob. Then we can find the blob in our Windows Azure Blob Storage.   Optimized by Parallel Upload In previous example we just uploaded our file in chunks. This solved the problem that ASP.NET MVC request content size limitation as well as the Windows Azure load balancer timeout. But it might introduce the performance problem since we uploaded chunks in sequence. In order to improve the upload performance we could modify our client side code a bit to make the upload operation invoked in parallel. The good news is that, “async.js” library provides the parallel execution function. If you remembered the code we invoke the service to upload chunks, it utilized “async.series” which means all functions will be executed in sequence. Now we will change this code to “async.parallel”. This will invoke all functions in parallel. 1: $("#upload_button_blob").click(function () { 2: // assert the browser support html5 3: ... ... 4: // start to upload each files in chunks 5: var files = $("#upload_files")[0].files; 6: for (var i = 0; i < files.length; i++) { 7: var file = files[i]; 8: var fileSize = file.size; 9: var fileName = file.name; 10: // calculate the start and end byte index for each blocks(chunks) 11: // with the index, file name and index list for future using 12: ... ... 13: // define the function array and push all chunk upload operation into this array 14: ... ... 15: // invoke the functions one by one 16: // then invoke the commit ajax call to put blocks into blob in azure storage 17: async.parallel(putBlocks, function (error, result) { 18: var data = { 19: name: fileName, 20: list: list 21: }; 22: $.post("/Home/Commit", data, function (result) { 23: if (!result.success) { 24: alert(result.error); 25: } 26: else { 27: alert("done!"); 28: } 29: }); 30: }); 31: } 32: }); In this way all chunks will be uploaded to the server side at the same time to maximize the bandwidth usage. This should work if the file was not very large and the chunk size was not very small. But for large file this might introduce another problem that too many ajax calls are sent to the server at the same time. So the best solution should be, upload the chunks in parallel with maximum concurrency limitation. The code below specified the concurrency limitation to 4, which means at the most only 4 ajax calls could be invoked at the same time. 1: $("#upload_button_blob").click(function () { 2: // assert the browser support html5 3: ... ... 4: // start to upload each files in chunks 5: var files = $("#upload_files")[0].files; 6: for (var i = 0; i < files.length; i++) { 7: var file = files[i]; 8: var fileSize = file.size; 9: var fileName = file.name; 10: // calculate the start and end byte index for each blocks(chunks) 11: // with the index, file name and index list for future using 12: ... ... 13: // define the function array and push all chunk upload operation into this array 14: ... ... 15: // invoke the functions one by one 16: // then invoke the commit ajax call to put blocks into blob in azure storage 17: async.parallelLimit(putBlocks, 4, function (error, result) { 18: var data = { 19: name: fileName, 20: list: list 21: }; 22: $.post("/Home/Commit", data, function (result) { 23: if (!result.success) { 24: alert(result.error); 25: } 26: else { 27: alert("done!"); 28: } 29: }); 30: }); 31: } 32: });   Summary In this post we discussed how to upload files in chunks to the backend service and then upload them into Windows Azure Blob Storage in blocks. We focused on the frontend side and leverage three new feature introduced in HTML 5 which are - File.slice: Read part of the file by specifying the start and end byte index. - Blob: File-like interface which contains the part of the file content. - FormData: Temporary form element that we can pass the chunk alone with some metadata to the backend service. Then we discussed the performance consideration of chunk uploading. Sequence upload cannot provide maximized upload speed, but the unlimited parallel upload might crash the browser and server if too many chunks. So we finally came up with the solution to upload chunks in parallel with the concurrency limitation. We also demonstrated how to utilize “async.js” JavaScript library to help us control the asynchronize call and the parallel limitation.   Regarding the chunk size and the parallel limitation value there is no “best” value. You need to test vary composition and find out the best one for your particular scenario. It depends on the local bandwidth, client machine cores and the server side (Windows Azure Cloud Service Virtual Machine) cores, memory and bandwidth. Below is one of my performance test result. The client machine was Windows 8 IE 10 with 4 cores. I was using Microsoft Cooperation Network. The web site was hosted on Windows Azure China North data center (in Beijing) with one small web role (1.7GB 1 core CPU, 1.75GB memory with 100Mbps bandwidth). The test cases were - Chunk size: 512KB, 1MB, 2MB, 4MB. - Upload Mode: Sequence, parallel (unlimited), parallel with limit (4 threads, 8 threads). - Chunk Format: base64 string, binaries. - Target file: 100MB. - Each case was tested 3 times. Below is the test result chart. Some thoughts, but not guidance or best practice: - Parallel gets better performance than series. - No significant performance improvement between parallel 4 threads and 8 threads. - Transform with binaries provides better performance than base64. - In all cases, chunk size in 1MB - 2MB gets better performance.   Hope this helps, Shaun All documents and related graphics, codes are provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind. Copyright © Shaun Ziyan Xu. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons License.

  Read the article

• Red Gate Coder interviews: Alex Davies

  - by Michael Williamson

  Alex Davies has been a software engineer at Red Gate since graduating from university, and is currently busy working on .NET Demon. We talked about tackling parallel programming with his actors framework, a scientific approach to debugging, and how JavaScript is going to affect the programming languages we use in years to come. So, if we start at the start, how did you get started in programming? When I was seven or eight, I was given a BBC Micro for Christmas. I had asked for a Game Boy, but my dad thought it would be better to give me a proper computer. For a year or so, I only played games on it, but then I found the user guide for writing programs in it. I gradually started doing more stuff on it and found it fun. I liked creating. As I went into senior school I continued to write stuff on there, trying to write games that weren’t very good. I got a real computer when I was fourteen and found ways to write BASIC on it. Visual Basic to start with, and then something more interesting than that. How did you learn to program? Was there someone helping you out? Absolutely not! I learnt out of a book, or by experimenting. I remember the first time I found a loop, I was like “Oh my God! I don’t have to write out the same line over and over and over again any more. It’s amazing!” When did you think this might be something that you actually wanted to do as a career? For a long time, I thought it wasn’t something that you would do as a career, because it was too much fun to be a career. I thought I’d do chemistry at university and some kind of career based on chemical engineering. And then I went to a careers fair at school when I was seventeen or eighteen, and it just didn’t interest me whatsoever. I thought “I could be a programmer, and there’s loads of money there, and I’m good at it, and it’s fun”, but also that I shouldn’t spoil my hobby. Now I don’t really program in my spare time any more, which is a bit of a shame, but I program all the rest of the time, so I can live with it. Do you think you learnt much about programming at university? Yes, definitely! I went into university knowing how to make computers do anything I wanted them to do. However, I didn’t have the language to talk about algorithms, so the algorithms course in my first year was massively important. Learning other language paradigms like functional programming was really good for breadth of understanding. Functional programming influences normal programming through design rather than actually using it all the time. I draw inspiration from it to write imperative programs which I think is actually becoming really fashionable now, but I’ve been doing it for ages. I did it first! There were also some courses on really odd programming languages, a bit of Prolog, a little bit of C. Having a little bit of each of those is something that I would have never done on my own, so it was important. And then there are knowledge-based courses which are about not programming itself but things that have been programmed like TCP. Those are really important for examples for how to approach things. Did you do any internships while you were at university? Yeah, I spent both of my summers at the same company. I thought I could code well before I went there. Looking back at the crap that I produced, it was only surpassed in its crappiness by all of the other code already in that company. I’m so much better at writing nice code now than I used to be back then. Was there just not a culture of looking after your code? There was, they just didn’t hire people for their abilities in that area. They hired people for raw IQ. The first indicator of it going wrong was that they didn’t have any computer scientists, which is a bit odd in a programming company. But even beyond that they didn’t have people who learnt architecture from anyone else. Most of them had started straight out of university, so never really had experience or mentors to learn from. There wasn’t the experience to draw from to teach each other. In the second half of my second internship, I was being given tasks like looking at new technologies and teaching people stuff. Interns shouldn’t be teaching people how to do their jobs! All interns are going to have little nuggets of things that you don’t know about, but they shouldn’t consistently be the ones who know the most. It’s not a good environment to learn. I was going to ask how you found working with people who were more experienced than you… When I reached Red Gate, I found some people who were more experienced programmers than me, and that was difficult. I’ve been coding since I was tiny. At university there were people who were cleverer than me, but there weren’t very many who were more experienced programmers than me. During my internship, I didn’t find anyone who I classed as being a noticeably more experienced programmer than me. So, it was a shock to the system to have valid criticisms rather than just formatting criticisms. However, Red Gate’s not so big on the actual code review, at least it wasn’t when I started. We did an entire product release and then somebody looked over all of the UI of that product which I’d written and say what they didn’t like. By that point, it was way too late and I’d disagree with them. Do you think the lack of code reviews was a bad thing? I think if there’s going to be any oversight of new people, then it should be continuous rather than chunky. For me I don’t mind too much, I could go out and get oversight if I wanted it, and in those situations I felt comfortable without it. If I was managing the new person, then maybe I’d be keener on oversight and then the right way to do it is continuously and in very, very small chunks. Have you had any significant projects you’ve worked on outside of a job? When I was a teenager I wrote all sorts of stuff. I used to write games, I derived how to do isomorphic projections myself once. I didn’t know what the word was so I couldn’t Google for it, so I worked it out myself. It was horrifically complicated. But it sort of tailed off when I started at university, and is now basically zero. If I do side-projects now, they tend to be work-related side projects like my actors framework, NAct, which I started in a down tools week. Could you explain a little more about NAct? It is a little C# framework for writing parallel code more easily. Parallel programming is difficult when you need to write to shared data. Sometimes parallel programming is easy because you don’t need to write to shared data. When you do need to access shared data, you could just have your threads pile in and do their work, but then you would screw up the data because the threads would trample on each other’s toes. You could lock, but locks are really dangerous if you’re using more than one of them. You get interactions like deadlocks, and that’s just nasty. Actors instead allows you to say this piece of data belongs to this thread of execution, and nobody else can read it. If you want to read it, then ask that thread of execution for a piece of it by sending a message, and it will send the data back by a message. And that avoids deadlocks as long as you follow some obvious rules about not making your actors sit around waiting for other actors to do something. There are lots of ways to write actors, NAct allows you to do it as if it was method calls on other objects, which means you get all the strong type-safety that C# programmers like. Do you think that this is suitable for the majority of parallel programming, or do you think it’s only suitable for specific cases? It’s suitable for most difficult parallel programming. If you’ve just got a hundred web requests which are all independent of each other, then I wouldn’t bother because it’s easier to just spin them up in separate threads and they can proceed independently of each other. But where you’ve got difficult parallel programming, where you’ve got multiple threads accessing multiple bits of data in multiple ways at different times, then actors is at least as good as all other ways, and is, I reckon, easier to think about. When you’re using actors, you presumably still have to write your code in a different way from you would otherwise using single-threaded code. You can’t use actors with any methods that have return types, because you’re not allowed to call into another actor and wait for it. If you want to get a piece of data out of another actor, then you’ve got to use tasks so that you can use “async” and “await” to await asynchronously for it. But other than that, you can still stick things in classes so it’s not too different really. Rather than having thousands of objects with mutable state, you can use component-orientated design, where there are only a few mutable classes which each have a small number of instances. Then there can be thousands of immutable objects. If you tend to do that anyway, then actors isn’t much of a jump. If I’ve already built my system without any parallelism, how hard is it to add actors to exploit all eight cores on my desktop? Usually pretty easy. If you can identify even one boundary where things look like messages and you have components where some objects live on one side and these other objects live on the other side, then you can have a granddaddy object on one side be an actor and it will parallelise as it goes across that boundary. Not too difficult. If we do get 1000-core desktop PCs, do you think actors will scale up? It’s hard. There are always in the order of twenty to fifty actors in my whole program because I tend to write each component as actors, and I tend to have one instance of each component. So this won’t scale to a thousand cores. What you can do is write data structures out of actors. I use dictionaries all over the place, and if you need a dictionary that is going to be accessed concurrently, then you could build one of those out of actors in no time. You can use queuing to marshal requests between different slices of the dictionary which are living on different threads. So it’s like a distributed hash table but all of the chunks of it are on the same machine. That means that each of these thousand processors has cached one small piece of the dictionary. I reckon it wouldn’t be too big a leap to start doing proper parallelism. Do you think it helps if actors get baked into the language, similarly to Erlang? Erlang is excellent in that it has thread-local garbage collection. C# doesn’t, so there’s a limit to how well C# actors can possibly scale because there’s a single garbage collected heap shared between all of them. When you do a global garbage collection, you’ve got to stop all of the actors, which is seriously expensive, whereas in Erlang garbage collections happen per-actor, so they’re insanely cheap. However, Erlang deviated from all the sensible language design that people have used recently and has just come up with crazy stuff. You can definitely retrofit thread-local garbage collection to .NET, and then it’s quite well-suited to support actors, even if it’s not baked into the language. Speaking of language design, do you have a favourite programming language? I’ll choose a language which I’ve never written before. I like the idea of Scala. It sounds like C#, only with some of the niggles gone. I enjoy writing static types. It means you don’t have to writing tests so much. When you say it doesn’t have some of the niggles? C# doesn’t allow the use of a property as a method group. It doesn’t have Scala case classes, or sum types, where you can do a switch statement and the compiler checks that you’ve checked all the cases, which is really useful in functional-style programming. Pattern-matching, in other words. That’s actually the major niggle. C# is pretty good, and I’m quite happy with C#. And what about going even further with the type system to remove the need for tests to something like Haskell? Or is that a step too far? I’m quite a pragmatist, I don’t think I could deal with trying to write big systems in languages with too few other users, especially when learning how to structure things. I just don’t know anyone who can teach me, and the Internet won’t teach me. That’s the main reason I wouldn’t use it. If I turned up at a company that writes big systems in Haskell, I would have no objection to that, but I wouldn’t instigate it. What about things in C#? For instance, there’s contracts in C#, so you can try to statically verify a bit more about your code. Do you think that’s useful, or just not worthwhile? I’ve not really tried it. My hunch is that it needs to be built into the language and be quite mathematical for it to work in real life, and that doesn’t seem to have ended up true for C# contracts. I don’t think anyone who’s tried them thinks they’re any good. I might be wrong. On a slightly different note, how do you like to debug code? I think I’m quite an odd debugger. I use guesswork extremely rarely, especially if something seems quite difficult to debug. I’ve been bitten spending hours and hours on guesswork and not being scientific about debugging in the past, so now I’m scientific to a fault. What I want is to see the bug happening in the debugger, to step through the bug happening. To watch the program going from a valid state to an invalid state. When there’s a bug and I can’t work out why it’s happening, I try to find some piece of evidence which places the bug in one section of the code. From that experiment, I binary chop on the possible causes of the bug. I suppose that means binary chopping on places in the code, or binary chopping on a stage through a processing cycle. Basically, I’m very stupid about how I debug. I won’t make any guesses, I won’t use any intuition, I will only identify the experiment that’s going to binary chop most effectively and repeat rather than trying to guess anything. I suppose it’s quite top-down. Is most of the time then spent in the debugger? Absolutely, if at all possible I will never debug using print statements or logs. I don’t really hold much stock in outputting logs. If there’s any bug which can be reproduced locally, I’d rather do it in the debugger than outputting logs. And with SmartAssembly error reporting, there’s not a lot that can’t be either observed in an error report and just fixed, or reproduced locally. And in those other situations, maybe I’ll use logs. But I hate using logs. You stare at the log, trying to guess what’s going on, and that’s exactly what I don’t like doing. You have to just look at it and see does this look right or wrong. We’ve covered how you get to grip with bugs. How do you get to grips with an entire codebase? I watch it in the debugger. I find little bugs and then try to fix them, and mostly do it by watching them in the debugger and gradually getting an understanding of how the code works using my process of binary chopping. I have to do a lot of reading and watching code to choose where my slicing-in-half experiment is going to be. The last time I did it was SmartAssembly. The old code was a complete mess, but at least it did things top to bottom. There wasn’t too much of some of the big abstractions where flow of control goes all over the place, into a base class and back again. Code’s really hard to understand when that happens. So I like to choose a little bug and try to fix it, and choose a bigger bug and try to fix it. Definitely learn by doing. I want to always have an aim so that I get a little achievement after every few hours of debugging. Once I’ve learnt the codebase I might be able to fix all the bugs in an hour, but I’d rather be using them as an aim while I’m learning the codebase. If I was a maintainer of a codebase, what should I do to make it as easy as possible for you to understand? Keep distinct concepts in different places. And name your stuff so that it’s obvious which concepts live there. You shouldn’t have some variable that gets set miles up the top of somewhere, and then is read miles down to choose some later behaviour. I’m talking from a very much SmartAssembly point of view because the old SmartAssembly codebase had tons and tons of these things, where it would read some property of the code and then deal with it later. Just thousands of variables in scope. Loads of things to think about. If you can keep concepts separate, then it aids me in my process of fixing bugs one at a time, because each bug is going to more or less be understandable in the one place where it is. And what about tests? Do you think they help at all? I’ve never had the opportunity to learn a codebase which has had tests, I don’t know what it’s like! What about when you’re actually developing? How useful do you find tests in finding bugs or regressions? Finding regressions, absolutely. Running bits of code that would be quite hard to run otherwise, definitely. It doesn’t happen very often that a test finds a bug in the first place. I don’t really buy nebulous promises like tests being a good way to think about the spec of the code. My thinking goes something like “This code works at the moment, great, ship it! Ah, there’s a way that this code doesn’t work. Okay, write a test, demonstrate that it doesn’t work, fix it, use the test to demonstrate that it’s now fixed, and keep the test for future regressions.” The most valuable tests are for bugs that have actually happened at some point, because bugs that have actually happened at some point, despite the fact that you think you’ve fixed them, are way more likely to appear again than new bugs are. Does that mean that when you write your code the first time, there are no tests? Often. The chance of there being a bug in a new feature is relatively unaffected by whether I’ve written a test for that new feature because I’m not good enough at writing tests to think of bugs that I would have written into the code. So not writing regression tests for all of your code hasn’t affected you too badly? There are different kinds of features. Some of them just always work, and are just not flaky, they just continue working whatever you throw at them. Maybe because the type-checker is particularly effective around them. Writing tests for those features which just tend to always work is a waste of time. And because it’s a waste of time I’ll tend to wait until a feature has demonstrated its flakiness by having bugs in it before I start trying to test it. You can get a feel for whether it’s going to be flaky code as you’re writing it. I try to write it to make it not flaky, but there are some things that are just inherently flaky. And very occasionally, I’ll think “this is going to be flaky” as I’m writing, and then maybe do a test, but not most of the time. How do you think your programming style has changed over time? I’ve got clearer about what the right way of doing things is. I used to flip-flop a lot between different ideas. Five years ago I came up with some really good ideas and some really terrible ideas. All of them seemed great when I thought of them, but they were quite diverse ideas, whereas now I have a smaller set of reliable ideas that are actually good for structuring code. So my code is probably more similar to itself than it used to be back in the day, when I was trying stuff out. I’ve got more disciplined about encapsulation, I think. There are operational things like I use actors more now than I used to, and that forces me to use immutability more than I used to. The first code that I wrote in Red Gate was the memory profiler UI, and that was an actor, I just didn’t know the name of it at the time. I don’t really use object-orientation. By object-orientation, I mean having n objects of the same type which are mutable. I want a constant number of objects that are mutable, and they should be different types. I stick stuff in dictionaries and then have one thing that owns the dictionary and puts stuff in and out of it. That’s definitely a pattern that I’ve seen recently. I think maybe I’m doing functional programming. Possibly. It’s plausible. If you had to summarise the essence of programming in a pithy sentence, how would you do it? Programming is the form of art that, without losing any of the beauty of architecture or fine art, allows you to produce things that people love and you make money from. So you think it’s an art rather than a science? It’s a little bit of engineering, a smidgeon of maths, but it’s not science. Like architecture, programming is on that boundary between art and engineering. If you want to do it really nicely, it’s mostly art. You can get away with doing architecture and programming entirely by having a good engineering mind, but you’re not going to produce anything nice. You’re not going to have joy doing it if you’re an engineering mind. Architects who are just engineering minds are not going to enjoy their job. I suppose engineering is the foundation on which you build the art. Exactly. How do you think programming is going to change over the next ten years? There will be an unfortunate shift towards dynamically-typed languages, because of JavaScript. JavaScript has an unfair advantage. JavaScript’s unfair advantage will cause more people to be exposed to dynamically-typed languages, which means other dynamically-typed languages crop up and the best features go into dynamically-typed languages. Then people conflate the good features with the fact that it’s dynamically-typed, and more investment goes into dynamically-typed languages. They end up better, so people use them. What about the idea of compiling other languages, possibly statically-typed, to JavaScript? It’s a reasonable idea. I would like to do it, but I don’t think enough people in the world are going to do it to make it pick up. The hordes of beginners are the lifeblood of a language community. They are what makes there be good tools and what makes there be vibrant community websites. And any particular thing which is the same as JavaScript only with extra stuff added to it, although it might be technically great, is not going to have the hordes of beginners. JavaScript is always to be quickest and easiest way for a beginner to start programming in the browser. And dynamically-typed languages are great for beginners. Compilers are pretty scary and beginners don’t write big code. And having your errors come up in the same place, whether they’re statically checkable errors or not, is quite nice for a beginner. If someone asked me to teach them some programming, I’d teach them JavaScript. If dynamically-typed languages are great for beginners, when do you think the benefits of static typing start to kick in? The value of having a statically typed program is in the tools that rely on the static types to produce a smooth IDE experience rather than actually telling me my compile errors. And only once you’re experienced enough a programmer that having a really smooth IDE experience makes a blind bit of difference, does static typing make a blind bit of difference. So it’s not really about size of codebase. If I go and write up a tiny program, I’m still going to get value out of writing it in C# using ReSharper because I’m experienced with C# and ReSharper enough to be able to write code five times faster if I have that help. Any other visions of the future? Nobody’s going to use actors. Because everyone’s going to be running on single-core VMs connected over network-ready protocols like JSON over HTTP. So, parallelism within one operating system is going to die. But until then, you should use actors. More Red Gater Coder interviews

  Read the article

• What&rsquo;s New in ASP.NET 4.0 Part Two: WebForms and Visual Studio Enhancements

  - by Rick Strahl

  In the last installment I talked about the core changes in the ASP.NET runtime that I’ve been taking advantage of. In this column, I’ll cover the changes to the Web Forms engine and some of the cool improvements in Visual Studio that make Web and general development easier. WebForms The WebForms engine is the area that has received most significant changes in ASP.NET 4.0. Probably the most widely anticipated features are related to managing page client ids and of ViewState on WebForm pages. Take Control of Your ClientIDs Unique ClientID generation in ASP.NET has been one of the most complained about “features” in ASP.NET. Although there’s a very good technical reason for these unique generated ids - they guarantee unique ids for each and every server control on a page - these unique and generated ids often get in the way of client-side JavaScript development and CSS styling as it’s often inconvenient and fragile to work with the long, generated ClientIDs. In ASP.NET 4.0 you can now specify an explicit client id mode on each control or each naming container parent control to control how client ids are generated. By default, ASP.NET generates mangled client ids for any control contained in a naming container (like a Master Page, or a User Control for example). The key to ClientID management in ASP.NET 4.0 are the new ClientIDMode and ClientIDRowSuffix properties. ClientIDMode supports four different ClientID generation settings shown below. For the following examples, imagine that you have a Textbox control named txtName inside of a master page control container on a WebForms page. <%@Page Language="C#"      MasterPageFile="~/Site.Master"     CodeBehind="WebForm2.aspx.cs"     Inherits="WebApplication1.WebForm2"  %> <asp:Content ID="content"  ContentPlaceHolderID="content"               runat="server"               ClientIDMode="Static" >       <asp:TextBox runat="server" ID="txtName" /> </asp:Content> The four available ClientIDMode values are: AutoID This is the existing behavior in ASP.NET 1.x-3.x where full naming container munging takes place. <input name="ctl00$content$txtName" type="text"        id="ctl00_content_txtName" /> This should be familiar to any ASP.NET developer and results in fairly unpredictable client ids that can easily change if the containership hierarchy changes. For example, removing the master page changes the name in this case, so if you were to move a block of script code that works against the control to a non-Master page, the script code immediately breaks. Static This option is the most deterministic setting that forces the control’s ClientID to use its ID value directly. No naming container naming at all is applied and you end up with clean client ids: <input name="ctl00$content$txtName"         type="text" id="txtName" /> Note that the name property which is used for postback variables to the server still is munged, but the ClientID property is displayed simply as the ID value that you have assigned to the control. This option is what most of us want to use, but you have to be clear on that because it can potentially cause conflicts with other controls on the page. If there are several instances of the same naming container (several instances of the same user control for example) there can easily be a client id naming conflict. Note that if you assign Static to a data-bound control, like a list child control in templates, you do not get unique ids either, so for list controls where you rely on unique id for child controls, you’ll probably want to use Predictable rather than Static. I’ll write more on this a little later when I discuss ClientIDRowSuffix. Predictable The previous two values are pretty self-explanatory. Predictable however, requires some explanation. To me at least it’s not in the least bit predictable. MSDN defines this value as follows: This algorithm is used for controls that are in data-bound controls. The ClientID value is generated by concatenating the ClientID value of the parent naming container with the ID value of the control. If the control is a data-bound control that generates multiple rows, the value of the data field specified in the ClientIDRowSuffix property is added at the end. For the GridView control, multiple data fields can be specified. If the ClientIDRowSuffix property is blank, a sequential number is added at the end instead of a data-field value. Each segment is separated by an underscore character (_). The key that makes this value a bit confusing is that it relies on the parent NamingContainer’s ClientID to build its own ClientID value. This effectively means that the value is not predictable at all but rather very tightly coupled to the parent naming container’s ClientIDMode setting. For my simple textbox example, if the ClientIDMode property of the parent naming container (Page in this case) is set to “Predictable” you’ll get this: <input name="ctl00$content$txtName" type="text"         id="content_txtName" /> which gives an id that based on walking up to the currently active naming container (the MasterPage content container) and starting the id formatting from there downward. Think of this as a semi unique name that’s guaranteed unique only for the naming container. If, on the other hand, the Page is set to “AutoID” you get the following with Predictable on txtName: <input name="ctl00$content$txtName" type="text"         id="ctl00_content_txtName" /> The latter is effectively the same as if you specified AutoID because it inherits the AutoID naming from the Page and Content Master Page control of the page. But again - predictable behavior always depends on the parent naming container and how it generates its id, so the id may not always be exactly the same as the AutoID generated value because somewhere in the NamingContainer chain the ClientIDMode setting may be set to a different value. For example, if you had another naming container in the middle that was set to Static you’d end up effectively with an id that starts with the NamingContainers id rather than the whole ctl000_content munging. The most common use for Predictable is likely to be for data-bound controls, which results in each data bound item getting a unique ClientID. Unfortunately, even here the behavior can be very unpredictable depending on which data-bound control you use - I found significant differences in how template controls in a GridView behave from those that are used in a ListView control. For example, GridView creates clean child ClientIDs, while ListView still has a naming container in the ClientID, presumably because of the template container on which you can’t set ClientIDMode. Predictable is useful, but only if all naming containers down the chain use this setting. Otherwise you’re right back to the munged ids that are pretty unpredictable. Another property, ClientIDRowSuffix, can be used in combination with ClientIDMode of Predictable to force a suffix onto list client controls. For example: <asp:GridView runat="server" ID="gvItems"              AutoGenerateColumns="false"             ClientIDMode="Static"              ClientIDRowSuffix="Id">     <Columns>     <asp:TemplateField>         <ItemTemplate>             <asp:Label runat="server" id="txtName"                        Text='<%# Eval("Name") %>'                   ClientIDMode="Predictable"/>         </ItemTemplate>     </asp:TemplateField>     <asp:TemplateField>         <ItemTemplate>         <asp:Label runat="server" id="txtId"                     Text='<%# Eval("Id") %>'                     ClientIDMode="Predictable" />         </ItemTemplate>     </asp:TemplateField>     </Columns>  </asp:GridView> generates client Ids inside of a column in the master page described earlier: <td>     <span id="txtName_0">Rick</span> </td> where the value after the underscore is the ClientIDRowSuffix field - in this case “Id” of the item data bound to the control. Note that all of the child controls require ClientIDMode=”Predictable” in order for the ClientIDRowSuffix to be applied, and the parent GridView controls need to be set to Static either explicitly or via Naming Container inheritance to give these simple names. It’s a bummer that ClientIDRowSuffix doesn’t work with Static to produce this automatically. Another real problem is that other controls process the ClientIDMode differently. For example, a ListView control processes the Predictable ClientIDMode differently and produces the following with the Static ListView and Predictable child controls: <span id="ctrl0_txtName_0">Rick</span> I couldn’t even figure out a way using ClientIDMode to get a simple ID that also uses a suffix short of falling back to manually generated ids using <%= %> expressions instead. Given the inconsistencies inside of list controls using <%= %>, ids for the ListView might not be a bad idea anyway. Inherit The final setting is Inherit, which is the default for all controls except Page. This means that controls by default inherit the parent naming container’s ClientIDMode setting. For more detailed information on ClientID behavior and different scenarios you can check out a blog post of mine on this subject: http://www.west-wind.com/weblog/posts/54760.aspx. ClientID Enhancements Summary The ClientIDMode property is a welcome addition to ASP.NET 4.0. To me this is probably the most useful WebForms feature as it allows me to generate clean IDs simply by setting ClientIDMode="Static" on either the page or inside of Web.config (in the Pages section) which applies the setting down to the entire page which is my 95% scenario. For the few cases when it matters - for list controls and inside of multi-use user controls or custom server controls) - I can use Predictable or even AutoID to force controls to unique names. For application-level page development, this is easy to accomplish and provides maximum usability for working with client script code against page controls. ViewStateMode Another area of large criticism for WebForms is ViewState. ViewState is used internally by ASP.NET to persist page-level changes to non-postback properties on controls as pages post back to the server. It’s a useful mechanism that works great for the overall mechanics of WebForms, but it can also cause all sorts of overhead for page operation as ViewState can very quickly get out of control and consume huge amounts of bandwidth in your page content. ViewState can also wreak havoc with client-side scripting applications that modify control properties that are tracked by ViewState, which can produce very unpredictable results on a Postback after client-side updates. Over the years in my own development, I’ve often turned off ViewState on pages to reduce overhead. Yes, you lose some functionality, but you can easily implement most of the common functionality in non-ViewState workarounds. Relying less on heavy ViewState controls and sticking with simpler controls or raw HTML constructs avoids getting around ViewState problems. In ASP.NET 3.x and prior, it wasn’t easy to control ViewState - you could turn it on or off and if you turned it off at the page or web.config level, you couldn’t turn it back on for specific controls. In short, it was an all or nothing approach. With ASP.NET 4.0, the new ViewStateMode property gives you more control. It allows you to disable ViewState globally either on the page or web.config level and then turn it back on for specific controls that might need it. ViewStateMode only works when EnableViewState="true" on the page or web.config level (which is the default). You can then use ViewStateMode of Disabled, Enabled or Inherit to control the ViewState settings on the page. If you’re shooting for minimal ViewState usage, the ideal situation is to set ViewStateMode to disabled on the Page or web.config level and only turn it back on particular controls: <%@Page Language="C#"      CodeBehind="WebForm2.aspx.cs"     Inherits="Westwind.WebStore.WebForm2"        ClientIDMode="Static"                ViewStateMode="Disabled"     EnableViewState="true"  %> <!-- this control has viewstate  --> <asp:TextBox runat="server" ID="txtName"  ViewStateMode="Enabled" />       <!-- this control has no viewstate - it inherits  from parent container --> <asp:TextBox runat="server" ID="txtAddress" /> Note that the EnableViewState="true" at the Page level isn’t required since it’s the default, but it’s important that the value is true. ViewStateMode has no effect if EnableViewState="false" at the page level. The main benefit of ViewStateMode is that it allows you to more easily turn off ViewState for most of the page and enable only a few key controls that might need it. For me personally, this is a perfect combination as most of my WebForm apps can get away without any ViewState at all. But some controls - especially third party controls - often don’t work well without ViewState enabled, and now it’s much easier to selectively enable controls rather than the old way, which required you to pretty much turn off ViewState for all controls that you didn’t want ViewState on. Inline HTML Encoding HTML encoding is an important feature to prevent cross-site scripting attacks in data entered by users on your site. In order to make it easier to create HTML encoded content, ASP.NET 4.0 introduces a new Expression syntax using <%: %> to encode string values. The encoding expression syntax looks like this: <%: "<script type='text/javascript'>" +     "alert('Really?');</script>" %> which produces properly encoded HTML: &lt;script type=&#39;text/javascript&#39; &gt;alert(&#39;Really?&#39;);&lt;/script&gt; Effectively this is a shortcut to: <%= HttpUtility.HtmlEncode( "<script type='text/javascript'>" + "alert('Really?');</script>") %> Of course the <%: %> syntax can also evaluate expressions just like <%= %> so the more common scenario applies this expression syntax against data your application is displaying. Here’s an example displaying some data model values: <%: Model.Address.Street %> This snippet shows displaying data from your application’s data store or more importantly, from data entered by users. Anything that makes it easier and less verbose to HtmlEncode text is a welcome addition to avoid potential cross-site scripting attacks. Although I listed Inline HTML Encoding here under WebForms, anything that uses the WebForms rendering engine including ASP.NET MVC, benefits from this feature. ScriptManager Enhancements The ASP.NET ScriptManager control in the past has introduced some nice ways to take programmatic and markup control over script loading, but there were a number of shortcomings in this control. The ASP.NET 4.0 ScriptManager has a number of improvements that make it easier to control script loading and addresses a few of the shortcomings that have often kept me from using the control in favor of manual script loading. The first is the AjaxFrameworkMode property which finally lets you suppress loading the ASP.NET AJAX runtime. Disabled doesn’t load any ASP.NET AJAX libraries, but there’s also an Explicit mode that lets you pick and choose the library pieces individually and reduce the footprint of ASP.NET AJAX script included if you are using the library. There’s also a new EnableCdn property that forces any script that has a new WebResource attribute CdnPath property set to a CDN supplied URL. If the script has this Attribute property set to a non-null/empty value and EnableCdn is enabled on the ScriptManager, that script will be served from the specified CdnPath. [assembly: WebResource(    "Westwind.Web.Resources.ww.jquery.js",    "application/x-javascript",    CdnPath =  "http://mysite.com/scripts/ww.jquery.min.js")] Cool, but a little too static for my taste since this value can’t be changed at runtime to point at a debug script as needed, for example. Assembly names for loading scripts from resources can now be simple names rather than fully qualified assembly names, which make it less verbose to reference scripts from assemblies loaded from your bin folder or the assembly reference area in web.config: <asp:ScriptManager runat="server" id="Id"          EnableCdn="true"         AjaxFrameworkMode="disabled">     <Scripts>         <asp:ScriptReference          Name="Westwind.Web.Resources.ww.jquery.js"         Assembly="Westwind.Web" />     </Scripts>        </asp:ScriptManager> The ScriptManager in 4.0 also supports script combining via the CompositeScript tag, which allows you to very easily combine scripts into a single script resource served via ASP.NET. Even nicer: You can specify the URL that the combined script is served with. Check out the following script manager markup that combines several static file scripts and a script resource into a single ASP.NET served resource from a static URL (allscripts.js): <asp:ScriptManager runat="server" id="Id"          EnableCdn="true"         AjaxFrameworkMode="disabled">     <CompositeScript          Path="~/scripts/allscripts.js">         <Scripts>             <asp:ScriptReference                    Path="~/scripts/jquery.js" />             <asp:ScriptReference                    Path="~/scripts/ww.jquery.js" />             <asp:ScriptReference            Name="Westwind.Web.Resources.editors.js"                 Assembly="Westwind.Web" />         </Scripts>     </CompositeScript> </asp:ScriptManager> When you render this into HTML, you’ll see a single script reference in the page: <script src="scripts/allscripts.debug.js"          type="text/javascript"></script> All you need to do to make this work is ensure that allscripts.js and allscripts.debug.js exist in the scripts folder of your application - they can be empty but the file has to be there. This is pretty cool, but you want to be real careful that you use unique URLs for each combination of scripts you combine or else browser and server caching will easily screw you up royally. The script manager also allows you to override native ASP.NET AJAX scripts now as any script references defined in the Scripts section of the ScriptManager trump internal references. So if you want custom behavior or you want to fix a possible bug in the core libraries that normally are loaded from resources, you can now do this simply by referencing the script resource name in the Name property and pointing at System.Web for the assembly. Not a common scenario, but when you need it, it can come in real handy. Still, there are a number of shortcomings in this control. For one, the ScriptManager and ClientScript APIs still have no common entry point so control developers are still faced with having to check and support both APIs to load scripts so that controls can work on pages that do or don’t have a ScriptManager on the page. The CdnUrl is static and compiled in, which is very restrictive. And finally, there’s still no control over where scripts get loaded on the page - ScriptManager still injects scripts into the middle of the HTML markup rather than in the header or optionally the footer. This, in turn, means there is little control over script loading order, which can be problematic for control developers. MetaDescription, MetaKeywords Page Properties There are also a number of additional Page properties that correspond to some of the other features discussed in this column: ClientIDMode, ClientTarget and ViewStateMode. Another minor but useful feature is that you can now directly access the MetaDescription and MetaKeywords properties on the Page object to set the corresponding meta tags programmatically. Updating these values programmatically previously required either <%= %> expressions in the page markup or dynamic insertion of literal controls into the page. You can now just set these properties programmatically on the Page object in any Control derived class on the page or the Page itself: Page.MetaKeywords = "ASP.NET,4.0,New Features"; Page.MetaDescription = "This article discusses the new features in ASP.NET 4.0"; Note, that there’s no corresponding ASP.NET tag for the HTML Meta element, so the only way to specify these values in markup and access them is via the @Page tag: <%@Page Language="C#"      CodeBehind="WebForm2.aspx.cs"     Inherits="Westwind.WebStore.WebForm2"      ClientIDMode="Static"                MetaDescription="Article that discusses what's                      new in ASP.NET 4.0"     MetaKeywords="ASP.NET,4.0,New Features" %> Nothing earth shattering but quite convenient. Visual Studio 2010 Enhancements for Web Development For Web development there are also a host of editor enhancements in Visual Studio 2010. Some of these are not Web specific but they are useful for Web developers in general. Text Editors Throughout Visual Studio 2010, the text editors have all been updated to a new core engine based on WPF which provides some interesting new features for various code editors including the nice ability to zoom in and out with Ctrl-MouseWheel to quickly change the size of text. There are many more API options to control the editor and although Visual Studio 2010 doesn’t yet use many of these features, we can look forward to enhancements in add-ins and future editor updates from the various language teams that take advantage of the visual richness that WPF provides to editing. On the negative side, I’ve noticed that occasionally the code editor and especially the HTML and JavaScript editors will lose the ability to use various navigation keys like arrows, back and delete keys, which requires closing and reopening the documents at times. This issue seems to be well documented so I suspect this will be addressed soon with a hotfix or within the first service pack. Overall though, the code editors work very well, especially given that they were re-written completely using WPF, which was one of my big worries when I first heard about the complete redesign of the editors. Multi-Targeting Visual Studio now targets all versions of the .NET framework from 2.0 forward. You can use Visual Studio 2010 to work on your ASP.NET 2, 3.0 and 3.5 applications which is a nice way to get your feet wet with the new development environment without having to make changes to existing applications. It’s nice to have one tool to work in for all the different versions. Multi-Monitor Support One cool feature of Visual Studio 2010 is the ability to drag windows out of the Visual Studio environment and out onto the desktop including onto another monitor easily. Since Web development often involves working with a host of designers at the same time - visual designer, HTML markup window, code behind and JavaScript editor - it’s really nice to be able to have a little more screen real estate to work on each of these editors. Microsoft made a welcome change in the environment. IntelliSense Snippets for HTML and JavaScript Editors The HTML and JavaScript editors now finally support IntelliSense scripts to create macro-based template expansions that have been in the core C# and Visual Basic code editors since Visual Studio 2005. Snippets allow you to create short XML-based template definitions that can act as static macros or real templates that can have replaceable values that can be embedded into the expanded text. The XML syntax for these snippets is straight forward and it’s pretty easy to create custom snippets manually. You can easily create snippets using XML and store them in your custom snippets folder (C:\Users\rstrahl\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Code Snippets\Visual Web Developer\My HTML Snippets and My JScript Snippets), but it helps to use one of the third-party tools that exist to simplify the process for you. I use SnippetEditor, by Bill McCarthy, which makes short work of creating snippets interactively (http://snippeteditor.codeplex.com/). Note: You may have to manually add the Visual Studio 2010 User specific Snippet folders to this tool to see existing ones you’ve created. Code snippets are some of the biggest time savers and HTML editing more than anything deals with lots of repetitive tasks that lend themselves to text expansion. Visual Studio 2010 includes a slew of built-in snippets (that you can also customize!) and you can create your own very easily. If you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to spend a little time examining your coding patterns and find the repetitive code that you write and convert it into snippets. I’ve been using CodeRush for this for years, but now you can do much of the basic expansion natively for HTML and JavaScript snippets. jQuery Integration Is Now Native jQuery is a popular JavaScript library and recently Microsoft has recently stated that it will become the primary client-side scripting technology to drive higher level script functionality in various ASP.NET Web projects that Microsoft provides. In Visual Studio 2010, the default full project template includes jQuery as part of a new project including the support files that provide IntelliSense (-vsdoc files). IntelliSense support for jQuery is now also baked into Visual Studio 2010, so unlike Visual Studio 2008 which required a separate download, no further installs are required for a rich IntelliSense experience with jQuery. Summary ASP.NET 4.0 brings many useful improvements to the platform, but thankfully most of the changes are incremental changes that don’t compromise backwards compatibility and they allow developers to ease into the new features one feature at a time. None of the changes in ASP.NET 4.0 or Visual Studio 2010 are monumental or game changers. The bigger features are language and .NET Framework changes that are also optional. This ASP.NET and tools release feels more like fine tuning and getting some long-standing kinks worked out of the platform. It shows that the ASP.NET team is dedicated to paying attention to community feedback and responding with changes to the platform and development environment based on this feedback. If you haven’t gotten your feet wet with ASP.NET 4.0 and Visual Studio 2010, there’s no reason not to give it a shot now - the ASP.NET 4.0 platform is solid and Visual Studio 2010 works very well for a brand new release. Check it out. © Rick Strahl, West Wind Technologies, 2005-2010Posted in ASP.NET  

  Read the article

• FreeBSD performance tuning. Sysctls, loader.conf, kernel

  - by SaveTheRbtz

  I wanted to share knowledge of tuning FreeBSD via sysctl.conf/loader.conf/KENCONF. It was initially based on Igor Sysoev's (author of nginx) presentation about FreeBSD tuning up to 100,000-200,000 active connections. Tunings are for FreeBSD-CURRENT. Since 7.2 amd64 some of them are tuned well by default. Prior 7.0 some of them are boot only (set via /boot/loader.conf) or does not exist at all. sysctl.conf: # No zero mapping feature # May break wine # (There are also reports about broken samba3) #security.bsd.map_at_zero=0 # If you have really busy webserver with apache13 you may run out of processes #kern.maxproc=10000 # Same for servers with apache2 / Pound #kern.threads.max_threads_per_proc=4096 # Max. backlog size kern.ipc.somaxconn=4096 # Shared memory // 7.2+ can use shared memory > 2Gb kern.ipc.shmmax=2147483648 # Sockets kern.ipc.maxsockets=204800 # Can cause this on older kernels: # http://old.nabble.com/Significant-performance-regression-for-increased-maxsockbuf-on-8.0-RELEASE-tt26745981.html#a26745981 ) kern.ipc.maxsockbuf=10485760 # Mbuf 2k clusters (on amd64 7.2+ 25600 is default) # For such high value vm.kmem_size must be increased to 3G kern.ipc.nmbclusters=262144 # Jumbo pagesize(_SC_PAGESIZE) clusters # Used as general packet storage for jumbo frames # can be monitored via `netstat -m` #kern.ipc.nmbjumbop=262144 # Jumbo 9k/16k clusters # If you are using them #kern.ipc.nmbjumbo9=65536 #kern.ipc.nmbjumbo16=32768 # For lower latency you can decrease scheduler's maximum time slice # default: stathz/10 (~ 13) #kern.sched.slice=1 # Increase max command-line length showed in `ps` (e.g for Tomcat/Java) # Default is PAGE_SIZE / 16 or 256 on x86 # This avoids commands to be presented as [executable] in `ps` # For more info see: http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=120749 kern.ps_arg_cache_limit=4096 # Every socket is a file, so increase them kern.maxfiles=204800 kern.maxfilesperproc=200000 kern.maxvnodes=200000 # On some systems HPET is almost 2 times faster than default ACPI-fast # Useful on systems with lots of clock_gettime / gettimeofday calls # See http://old.nabble.com/ACPI-fast-default-timecounter,-but-HPET-83--faster-td23248172.html # After revision 222222 HPET became default: http://svnweb.freebsd.org/base?view=revision&revision=222222 kern.timecounter.hardware=HPET # Small receive space, only usable on http-server, on file server this # should be increased to 65535 or even more #net.inet.tcp.recvspace=8192 # This is useful on Fat-Long-Pipes #net.inet.tcp.recvbuf_max=10485760 #net.inet.tcp.recvbuf_inc=65535 # Small send space is useful for http servers that serve small files # Autotuned since 7.x net.inet.tcp.sendspace=16384 # This is useful on Fat-Long-Pipes #net.inet.tcp.sendbuf_max=10485760 #net.inet.tcp.sendbuf_inc=65535 # Turn off receive autotuning # You can play with it. #net.inet.tcp.recvbuf_auto=0 #net.inet.tcp.sendbuf_auto=0 # This should be enabled if you going to use big spaces (>64k) # Also timestamp field is useful when using syncookies net.inet.tcp.rfc1323=1 # Turn this off on high-speed, lossless connections (LAN 1Gbit+) # If you set it there is no need in TCP_NODELAY sockopt (see man tcp) net.inet.tcp.delayed_ack=0 # This feature is useful if you are serving data over modems, Gigabit Ethernet, # or even high speed WAN links (or any other link with a high bandwidth delay product), # especially if you are also using window scaling or have configured a large send window. # Automatically disables on small RTT ( http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/src/sys/netinet/tcp_subr.c?#rev1.237 ) # This sysctl was removed in 10-CURRENT: # See: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg06178.html #net.inet.tcp.inflight.enable=0 # TCP slowstart algorithm tunings # We assuming we have very fast clients #net.inet.tcp.slowstart_flightsize=100 #net.inet.tcp.local_slowstart_flightsize=100 # Disable randomizing of ports to avoid false RST # Before usage check SA here www.bsdcan.org/2006/papers/ImprovingTCPIP.pdf # (it's also says that port randomization auto-disables at some conn.rates, but I didn't checked it thou) #net.inet.ip.portrange.randomized=0 # Increase portrange # For outgoing connections only. Good for seed-boxes and ftp servers. net.inet.ip.portrange.first=1024 net.inet.ip.portrange.last=65535 # # stops route cache degregation during a high-bandwidth flood # http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/handbook/securing-freebsd.html #net.inet.ip.rtexpire=2 net.inet.ip.rtminexpire=2 net.inet.ip.rtmaxcache=1024 # Security net.inet.ip.redirect=0 net.inet.ip.sourceroute=0 net.inet.ip.accept_sourceroute=0 net.inet.icmp.maskrepl=0 net.inet.icmp.log_redirect=0 net.inet.icmp.drop_redirect=1 net.inet.tcp.drop_synfin=1 # # There is also good example of sysctl.conf with comments: # http://www.thern.org/projects/sysctl.conf # # icmp may NOT rst, helpful for those pesky spoofed # icmp/udp floods that end up taking up your outgoing # bandwidth/ifqueue due to all that outgoing RST traffic. # #net.inet.tcp.icmp_may_rst=0 # Security net.inet.udp.blackhole=1 net.inet.tcp.blackhole=2 # IPv6 Security # For more info see http://www.fosslc.org/drupal/content/security-implications-ipv6 # Disable Node info replies # To see this vulnerability in action run `ping6 -a sglAac ::1` or `ping6 -w ::1` on unprotected node net.inet6.icmp6.nodeinfo=0 # Turn on IPv6 privacy extensions # For more info see proposal http://unix.derkeiler.com/Mailing-Lists/FreeBSD/net/2008-06/msg00103.html net.inet6.ip6.use_tempaddr=1 net.inet6.ip6.prefer_tempaddr=1 # Disable ICMP redirect net.inet6.icmp6.rediraccept=0 # Disable acceptation of RA and auto linklocal generation if you don't use them #net.inet6.ip6.accept_rtadv=0 #net.inet6.ip6.auto_linklocal=0 # Increases default TTL, sometimes useful # Default is 64 net.inet.ip.ttl=128 # Lessen max segment life to conserve resources # ACK waiting time in miliseconds # (default: 30000. RFC from 1979 recommends 120000) net.inet.tcp.msl=5000 # Max bumber of timewait sockets net.inet.tcp.maxtcptw=200000 # Don't use tw on local connections # As of 15 Apr 2009. Igor Sysoev says that nolocaltimewait has some buggy realization. # So disable it or now till get fixed #net.inet.tcp.nolocaltimewait=1 # FIN_WAIT_2 state fast recycle net.inet.tcp.fast_finwait2_recycle=1 # Time before tcp keepalive probe is sent # default is 2 hours (7200000) #net.inet.tcp.keepidle=60000 # Should be increased until net.inet.ip.intr_queue_drops is zero net.inet.ip.intr_queue_maxlen=4096 # Interrupt handling via multiple CPU, but with context switch. # You can play with it. Default is 1; #net.isr.direct=0 # This is for routers only #net.inet.ip.forwarding=1 #net.inet.ip.fastforwarding=1 # This speed ups dummynet when channel isn't saturated net.inet.ip.dummynet.io_fast=1 # Increase dummynet(4) hash #net.inet.ip.dummynet.hash_size=2048 #net.inet.ip.dummynet.max_chain_len # Should be increased when you have A LOT of files on server # (Increase until vfs.ufs.dirhash_mem becomes lower) vfs.ufs.dirhash_maxmem=67108864 # Note from commit http://svn.freebsd.org/base/head@211031 : # For systems with RAID volumes and/or virtualization envirnments, where # read performance is very important, increasing this sysctl tunable to 32 # or even more will demonstratively yield additional performance benefits. vfs.read_max=32 # Explicit Congestion Notification (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explicit_Congestion_Notification) net.inet.tcp.ecn.enable=1 # Flowtable - flow caching mechanism # Useful for routers #net.inet.flowtable.enable=1 #net.inet.flowtable.nmbflows=65535 # Extreme polling tuning #kern.polling.burst_max=1000 #kern.polling.each_burst=1000 #kern.polling.reg_frac=100 #kern.polling.user_frac=1 #kern.polling.idle_poll=0 # IPFW dynamic rules and timeouts tuning # Increase dyn_buckets till net.inet.ip.fw.curr_dyn_buckets is lower net.inet.ip.fw.dyn_buckets=65536 net.inet.ip.fw.dyn_max=65536 net.inet.ip.fw.dyn_ack_lifetime=120 net.inet.ip.fw.dyn_syn_lifetime=10 net.inet.ip.fw.dyn_fin_lifetime=2 net.inet.ip.fw.dyn_short_lifetime=10 # Make packets pass firewall only once when using dummynet # i.e. packets going thru pipe are passing out from firewall with accept #net.inet.ip.fw.one_pass=1 # shm_use_phys Wires all shared pages, making them unswappable # Use this to lessen Virtual Memory Manager's work when using Shared Mem. # Useful for databases #kern.ipc.shm_use_phys=1 # ZFS # Enable prefetch. Useful for sequential load type i.e fileserver. # FreeBSD sets vfs.zfs.prefetch_disable to 1 on any i386 systems and # on any amd64 systems with less than 4GB of avaiable memory # For additional info check this nabble thread http://old.nabble.com/Samba-read-speed-performance-tuning-td27964534.html #vfs.zfs.prefetch_disable=0 # On highload servers you may notice following message in dmesg: # "Approaching the limit on PV entries, consider increasing either the # vm.pmap.shpgperproc or the vm.pmap.pv_entry_max tunable" vm.pmap.shpgperproc=2048 loader.conf: # Accept filters for data, http and DNS requests # Useful when your software uses select() instead of kevent/kqueue or when you under DDoS # DNS accf available on 8.0+ accf_data_load="YES" accf_http_load="YES" accf_dns_load="YES" # Async IO system calls aio_load="YES" # Linux specific devices in /dev # As for 8.1 it only /dev/full #lindev_load="YES" # Adds NCQ support in FreeBSD # WARNING! all ad[0-9]+ devices will be renamed to ada[0-9]+ # 8.0+ only #ahci_load="YES" #siis_load="YES" # FreeBSD 8.2+ # New Congestion Control for FreeBSD # http://caia.swin.edu.au/urp/newtcp/tools/cc_chd-readme-0.1.txt # http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/78/slides/iccrg-5.pdf # Initial merge commit message http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg31410.html #cc_chd_load="YES" # Increase kernel memory size to 3G. # # Use ONLY if you have KVA_PAGES in kernel configuration, and you have more than 3G RAM # Otherwise panic will happen on next reboot! # # It's required for high buffer sizes: kern.ipc.nmbjumbop, kern.ipc.nmbclusters, etc # Useful on highload stateful firewalls, proxies or ZFS fileservers # (FreeBSD 7.2+ amd64 users: Check that current value is lower!) #vm.kmem_size="3G" # If your server has lots of swap (>4Gb) you should increase following value # according to http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-hackers/2009-October/029616.html # Otherwise you'll be getting errors # "kernel: swap zone exhausted, increase kern.maxswzone" # kern.maxswzone="256M" # Older versions of FreeBSD can't tune maxfiles on the fly #kern.maxfiles="200000" # Useful for databases # Sets maximum data size to 1G # (FreeBSD 7.2+ amd64 users: Check that current value is lower!) #kern.maxdsiz="1G" # Maximum buffer size(vfs.maxbufspace) # You can check current one via vfs.bufspace # Should be lowered/upped depending on server's load-type # Usually decreased to preserve kmem # (default is 10% of mem) #kern.maxbcache="512M" # Sendfile buffers # For i386 only #kern.ipc.nsfbufs=10240 # FreeBSD 9+ # HPET "legacy route" support. It should allow HPET to work per-CPU # See http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg03603.html #hint.atrtc.0.clock=0 #hint.attimer.0.clock=0 #hint.hpet.0.legacy_route=1 # syncache Hash table tuning net.inet.tcp.syncache.hashsize=1024 net.inet.tcp.syncache.bucketlimit=512 net.inet.tcp.syncache.cachelimit=65536 # Increased hostcache # Later host cache can be viewed via net.inet.tcp.hostcache.list hidden sysctl # Very useful for it's RTT RTTVAR # Must be power of two net.inet.tcp.hostcache.hashsize=65536 # hashsize * bucketlimit (which is 30 by default) # It allocates 255Mb (1966080*136) of RAM net.inet.tcp.hostcache.cachelimit=1966080 # TCP control-block Hash table tuning net.inet.tcp.tcbhashsize=4096 # Disable ipfw deny all # Should be uncommented when there is a chance that # kernel and ipfw binary may be out-of sync on next reboot #net.inet.ip.fw.default_to_accept=1 # # SIFTR (Statistical Information For TCP Research) is a kernel module that # logs a range of statistics on active TCP connections to a log file. # See prerelease notes http://groups.google.com/group/mailing.freebsd.current/browse_thread/thread/b4c18be6cdce76e4 # and man 4 sitfr #siftr_load="YES" # Enable superpages, for 7.2+ only # Also read http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-hackers/2009-November/030094.html vm.pmap.pg_ps_enabled=1 # Usefull if you are using Intel-Gigabit NIC #hw.em.rxd=4096 #hw.em.txd=4096 #hw.em.rx_process_limit="-1" # Also if you have ALOT interrupts on NIC - play with following parameters # NOTE: You should set them for every NIC #dev.em.0.rx_int_delay: 250 #dev.em.0.tx_int_delay: 250 #dev.em.0.rx_abs_int_delay: 250 #dev.em.0.tx_abs_int_delay: 250 # There is also multithreaded version of em/igb drivers can be found here: # http://people.yandex-team.ru/~wawa/ # # for additional em monitoring and statistics use # sysctl dev.em.0.stats=1 ; dmesg # sysctl dev.em.0.debug=1 ; dmesg # Also after r209242 (-CURRENT) there is a separate sysctl for each stat variable; # Same tunings for igb #hw.igb.rxd=4096 #hw.igb.txd=4096 #hw.igb.rx_process_limit=100 # Some useful netisr tunables. See sysctl net.isr #net.isr.maxthreads=4 #net.isr.defaultqlimit=4096 #net.isr.maxqlimit: 10240 # Bind netisr threads to CPUs #net.isr.bindthreads=1 # # FreeBSD 9.x+ # Increase interface send queue length # See commit message http://svn.freebsd.org/viewvc/base?view=revision&revision=207554 #net.link.ifqmaxlen=1024 # Nicer boot logo =) loader_logo="beastie" And finally here is KERNCONF: # Just some of them, see also # cat /sys/{i386,amd64,}/conf/NOTES # This one useful only on i386 #options KVA_PAGES=512 # You can play with HZ in environments with high interrupt rate (default is 1000) # 100 is for my notebook to prolong it's battery life #options HZ=100 # Polling is goot on network loads with high packet rates and low-end NICs # NB! Do not enable it if you want more than one netisr thread #options DEVICE_POLLING # Eliminate datacopy on socket read-write # To take advantage with zero copy sockets you should have an MTU >= 4k # This req. is only for receiving data. # Read more in man zero_copy_sockets # Also this epic thread on kernel trap: # http://kerneltrap.org/node/6506 # Here Linus says that "anybody that does it that way (FreeBSD) is totally incompetent" #options ZERO_COPY_SOCKETS # Support TCP sign. Used for IPSec options TCP_SIGNATURE # There was stackoverflow found in KAME IPSec stack: # See http://secunia.com/advisories/43995/ # For quick workaround you can use `ipfw add deny proto ipcomp` options IPSEC # This ones can be loaded as modules. They described in loader.conf section #options ACCEPT_FILTER_DATA #options ACCEPT_FILTER_HTTP # Adding ipfw, also can be loaded as modules options IPFIREWALL # On 8.1+ you can disable verbose to see blocked packets on ipfw0 interface. # Also there is no point in compiling verbose into the kernel, because # now there is net.inet.ip.fw.verbose tunable. #options IPFIREWALL_VERBOSE #options IPFIREWALL_VERBOSE_LIMIT=10 options IPFIREWALL_FORWARD # Adding kernel NAT options IPFIREWALL_NAT options LIBALIAS # Traffic shaping options DUMMYNET # Divert, i.e. for userspace NAT options IPDIVERT # This is for OpenBSD's pf firewall device pf device pflog # pf's QoS - ALTQ options ALTQ options ALTQ_CBQ # Class Bases Queuing (CBQ) options ALTQ_RED # Random Early Detection (RED) options ALTQ_RIO # RED In/Out options ALTQ_HFSC # Hierarchical Packet Scheduler (HFSC) options ALTQ_PRIQ # Priority Queuing (PRIQ) options ALTQ_NOPCC # Required for SMP build # Pretty console # Manual can be found here http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=6134 #options VESA #options SC_PIXEL_MODE # Disable reboot on Ctrl Alt Del #options SC_DISABLE_REBOOT # Change normal|kernel messages color options SC_NORM_ATTR=(FG_GREEN|BG_BLACK) options SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR=(FG_YELLOW|BG_BLACK) # More scroll space options SC_HISTORY_SIZE=8192 # Adding hardware crypto device device crypto device cryptodev # Useful network interfaces device vlan device tap #Virtual Ethernet driver device gre #IP over IP tunneling device if_bridge #Bridge interface device pfsync #synchronization interface for PF device carp #Common Address Redundancy Protocol device enc #IPsec interface device lagg #Link aggregation interface device stf #IPv4-IPv6 port # Also for my notebook, but may be used with Opteron device amdtemp # Same for Intel processors device coretemp # man 4 cpuctl device cpuctl # CPU control pseudo-device # Support for ECMP. More than one route for destination # Works even with default route so one can use it as LB for two ISP # For now code is unstable and panics (panic: rtfree 2) on route deletions. #options RADIX_MPATH # Multicast routing #options MROUTING #options PIM # Debug & DTrace options KDB # Kernel debugger related code options KDB_TRACE # Print a stack trace for a panic options KDTRACE_FRAME # amd64-only(?) options KDTRACE_HOOKS # all architectures - enable general DTrace hooks #options DDB #options DDB_CTF # all architectures - kernel ELF linker loads CTF data # Adaptive spining in lockmgr (8.x+) # See http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg10782.html options ADAPTIVE_LOCKMGRS # UTF-8 in console (8.x+) #options TEKEN_UTF8 # FreeBSD 8.1+ # Deadlock resolver thread # For additional information see http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg18124.html # (FYI: "resolution" is panic so use with caution) #options DEADLKRES # Increase maximum size of Raw I/O and sendfile(2) readahead #options MAXPHYS=(1024*1024) #options MAXBSIZE=(1024*1024) # For scheduler debug enable following option. # Debug will be available via `kern.sched.stats` sysctl # For more information see http://svnweb.freebsd.org/base/head/sys/conf/NOTES?view=markup #options SCHED_STATS If you are tuning network for maximum performance you may wish to play with ifconfig options like: # You can list all capabilities via `ifconfig -m` ifconfig [-]rxcsum [-]txcsum [-]tso [-]lro mtu In case you've enabled DDB in kernel config, you should edit your /etc/ddb.conf and add something like this to enable automatic reboot (and textdump as bonus): script kdb.enter.panic=textdump set; capture on; show pcpu; bt; ps; alltrace; capture off; call doadump; reset script kdb.enter.default=textdump set; capture on; bt; ps; capture off; call doadump; reset And do not forget to add ddb_enable="YES" to /etc/rc.conf Since FreeBSD 9 you can select to enable/disable flowcontrol on your NIC: # See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_flow_control and # http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg07927.html for additional info ifconfig bge0 media auto mediaopt flowcontrol PS. Also most of FreeBSD's limits can be monitored by # vmstat -z and # limits PPS. variety of network counters can be monitored via # netstat -s In FreeBSD-9 netstat's -Q option appeared, try following command to display netisr stats # netstat -Q PPPS. also see # man 7 tuning PPPPS. I wanted to thank FreeBSD community, especially author of nginx - Igor Sysoev, nginx-ru@ and FreeBSD-performance@ mailing lists for providing useful information about FreeBSD tuning. FreeBSD WIP * Whats cooking for FreeBSD 7? * Whats cooking for FreeBSD 8? * Whats cooking for FreeBSD 9? So here is the question: What tunings are you using on yours FreeBSD servers? You can also post your /etc/sysctl.conf, /boot/loader.conf, kernel options, etc with description of its' meaning (do not copy-paste from sysctl -d). Don't forget to specify server type (web, smb, gateway, etc) Let's share experience!

  Read the article

• Cisco Unifed Communication integration for Microsoft Lync crashes on Remote Desktop services 2008 R2!

  - by user66267

  Hi everybody i have deployed office communication server 2007 R2 and communicator 2007 R2 and i made integration with Cisco Unified Communication Manager 7.1 in my network, i also uses Remote Desktop Servers 2008 R2 for Thin Client Computers, now that i installed Cisco UC integration client for communicator 2007 R2 (Ver. 8.0.3) or Cisco UC integration client for Microsoft Lync that works fine on PCs but Not on Remote Desktop Servers. i have Three Remote Desktop Servers in a Farm with loadbalancing enabled. all other applications on these RDP servers works fine for 120 active users. some times when i start Cisco UC client on Remote Desktop servers i get the following error "The Port Reguired for callbacks from Cisco unified client framework could not be read, please retry" i also found the folowing log so i think that may be the cause: 2011-01-05 08:24:21,489 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.SingleInstanceManager] [SingleInstanceManager.acquireMutex(0)] - Acquiring Mutex... 2011-01-05 08:24:21,512 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.IPC.PipeServer] [PipeServer.start(0)] - Starting Pipe Server 2011-01-05 08:24:21,516 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.SingleInstanceManager] [SingleInstanceManager.acquireMutex(0)] - Mutex Acquired... 2011-01-05 08:24:25,437 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.process.ProcessUtil] [ProcessUtil.isOtherPRTProcessRunning(0)] - No other instance(s) of ProblemReportingTool.exe found 2011-01-05 08:24:25,438 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.Controller] [Controller.Main(0)] - ******************************* 2011-01-05 08:24:25,439 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.Controller] [Controller.Main(0)] - **Launching CUCSF Problem Reporting Tool v0.8.3.2** 2011-01-05 08:24:25,440 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.Controller] [Controller.Main(0)] - ******************************* 2011-01-05 08:24:25,441 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.Controller] [Controller.Main(0)] - Raw input: -reason=Launched by the user from CUCIMOC ver 8.5.105.17095 -file=C:\Users\MA899~1.SAD\AppData\Local\Temp\36\CUCIMOCInstaller.txt 2011-01-05 08:24:25,445 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.Controller] [Controller.Main(0)] - Current culture: English (United States) 2011-01-05 08:24:25,448 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.ResourceUtil] [ResourceUtil.init(0)] - Loading string resources from file 2011-01-05 08:24:25,455 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.context.CLIUtil] [CLIUtil.parse(0)] - Argument -reason Launched by the user from CUCIMOC ver 8.5.105.17095 received 2011-01-05 08:24:25,456 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.context.CLIUtil] [CLIUtil.parse(0)] - Argument -file C:\Users\MA899~1.SAD\AppData\Local\Temp\36\CUCIMOCInstaller.txt received 2011-01-05 08:24:25,457 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.Controller] [Controller.startup(0)] - Launching GUI... 2011-01-05 08:24:25,536 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.ResourceUtil] [ResourceUtil.getResourceFileString(0)] - Retrieving Key: com.cisco.uc.csf.prt.PROG.PleaseWaitText from resource file 2011-01-05 08:24:25,545 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.ResourceUtil] [ResourceUtil.getResourceFileString(0)] - Retrieving Key: com.cisco.uc.csf.prt.PF.OKButtonText from resource file 2011-01-05 08:24:25,548 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.ResourceUtil] [ResourceUtil.getResourceFileString(0)] - Retrieving Key: com.cisco.uc.csf.prt.PF.CancelButtonText from resource file 2011-01-05 08:24:25,549 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.ResourceUtil] [ResourceUtil.getResourceFileString(0)] - Retrieving Key: com.cisco.uc.csf.prt.PF.ErrorMsgText1 from resource file 2011-01-05 08:24:25,549 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.ResourceUtil] [ResourceUtil.getResourceFileString(0)] - Retrieving Key: com.cisco.uc.csf.prt.PF.Title from resource file 2011-01-05 08:24:25,552 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.ResourceUtil] [ResourceUtil.getResourceFileString(0)] - Retrieving Key: com.cisco.uc.csf.prt.PF.WindowTitle from resource file 2011-01-05 08:24:25,553 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.ResourceUtil] [ResourceUtil.getResourceFileString(0)] - Retrieving Key: com.cisco.uc.csf.prt.PF.AgreeText from resource file 2011-01-05 08:24:25,553 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.ResourceUtil] [ResourceUtil.getResourceFileString(0)] - Retrieving Key: com.cisco.uc.csf.prt.PF.PrivacyText from resource file 2011-01-05 08:24:25,554 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.ResourceUtil] [ResourceUtil.getResourceFileString(0)] - Retrieving Key: com.cisco.uc.csf.prt.PF.PrivacyTitle from resource file 2011-01-05 08:24:25,555 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.ResourceUtil] [ResourceUtil.getResourceFileString(0)] - Retrieving Key: com.cisco.uc.csf.prt.PF.PrivacyLinkText from resource file 2011-01-05 08:24:25,555 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.ResourceUtil] [ResourceUtil.getResourceFileString(0)] - Retrieving Key: com.cisco.uc.csf.prt.PF.DescriptionTitle from resource file 2011-01-05 08:24:25,629 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.SysInfoManager] [SysInfoManager..ctor(0)] - Starting SysInfoManager... 2011-01-05 08:24:25,634 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.WindowsUtilsInfo] [WindowsUtilsInfo.startWindowsUtilsThreads(0)] - Launching worker thread: systeminfo.exe 2011-01-05 08:24:25,669 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.WindowsUtilsInfo] [WindowsUtilsInfo.startWindowsUtilsThreads(0)] - Launching worker thread: tasklist.exe 2011-01-05 08:24:25,672 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.WindowsUtilsInfo] [WindowsUtilsInfo.startWindowsUtilsThreads(0)] - Launching worker thread: ipconfig.exe 2011-01-05 08:24:25,676 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.WindowsUtilsInfo] [WindowsUtilsInfo.startWindowsUtilsThreads(0)] - Launching worker thread: netstat.exe 2011-01-05 08:24:25,684 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.WindowsUtilsInfo] [WindowsUtilsInfo.startWindowsUtilsThreads(0)] - Launching worker thread: net.exe 2011-01-05 08:24:25,926 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.SysInfoManager] [SysInfoManager.launchHardwareInfoThread(0)] - Launching worker thread: HardwareInfo 2011-01-05 08:24:25,928 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.CSFDirectoryInfo] [HardwareInfo.getHardWareInfo(0)] - Gathering CPU data 2011-01-05 08:24:26,149 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.SysInfoManager] [SysInfoManager.launchCSFDirectoryInfoThread(0)] - Gathering CSF Directory Listing 2011-01-05 08:24:26,153 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.CSFDirectoryInfo] [CSFDirectoryInfo.getCSFInstallPath(0)] - Retrieving CSF Install Directory 2011-01-05 08:24:26,159 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.CSFDirectoryInfo] [CSFDirectoryInfo.getCSFInstallPath(0)] - CSF Install Path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Cisco Systems\Client Services Framework 2011-01-05 08:24:26,162 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.SysInfoManager] [SysInfoManager.launchWMIInfoThread(0)] - Launching worker thread: WMIInfo 2011-01-05 08:24:26,164 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.CSFDirectoryInfo] [HardwareInfo.getWMIInfo(0)] - Gathering Audio info... 2011-01-05 08:24:26,168 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.SysInfoManager] [SysInfoManager.launchRegistryAndEnvironmentalVarInfoThread(0)] - Launching worker thread: Registry & Environment Variables 2011-01-05 08:24:26,173 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.RegistryEnvironmentInfo] [RegistryEnvironmentInfo.generateRegString(0)] - Gathering Registry data under: Software\Cisco Systems, Inc.\Client Services Framework\AdminData\ 2011-01-05 08:24:26,180 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.RegistryEnvironmentInfo] [RegistryEnvironmentInfo.generateRegString(0)] - Gathering Registry data under: Software\Policies\Cisco Systems, Inc.\Client Services Framework\AdminData\ 2011-01-05 08:24:26,182 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.RegistryEnvironmentInfo] [RegistryEnvironmentInfo.generateRegString(0)] - Gathering Registry data under: Software\Cisco Systems, Inc.\Unified Communications\CUCSF 2011-01-05 08:24:26,183 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.RegistryEnvironmentInfo] [RegistryEnvironmentInfo.generateRegString(0)] - Gathering Registry data under: Software\JavaSoft\Java Runtime Environment 2011-01-05 08:24:26,184 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.RegistryEnvironmentInfo] [RegistryEnvironmentInfo.generateRegString(0)] - Gathering Registry data under: Software\JavaSoft\Java Runtime Environment\1.6 2011-01-05 08:24:26,186 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.RegistryEnvironmentInfo] [RegistryEnvironmentInfo.generateRegString(0)] - Gathering Registry data under: Software\JavaSoft\Java Runtime Environment\1.6.0_17 2011-01-05 08:24:26,188 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.RegistryEnvironmentInfo] [RegistryEnvironmentInfo.generateRegString(0)] - Gathering Registry data under: Software\JavaSoft\Java Runtime Environment\1.6.0_17\MSI 2011-01-05 08:24:26,190 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.RegistryEnvironmentInfo] [RegistryEnvironmentInfo.gatherRegistryAndEnvInfo(0)] - Gathering Environment Variables data 2011-01-05 08:24:26,283 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.CSFDirectoryInfo] [HardwareInfo.getWMIInfo(0)] - Gathering Video driver info... 2011-01-05 08:24:26,750 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.SysInfoManager] [SysInfoManager.writeFile(0)] - Creating file: DirectoryInfo.txt 2011-01-05 08:24:26,759 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.CSFDirectoryInfo] [HardwareInfo.getWMIInfo(0)] - Gathering Monitor info... 2011-01-05 08:24:34,483 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.FileUtil] [FileUtil.gatherFiles(0)] - Config Dir C:\Users\m.sadeghi\AppData\Roaming\Cisco\Unified Communications\ 2011-01-05 08:24:34,530 [WARN ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.FileUtil] [FileUtil.addFile(0)] - C:\Users\MA899~1.SAD\AppData\Local\Temp\36\CUCIMOCInstaller.txt not found 2011-01-05 08:24:34,561 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.FileUtil] [FileUtil.addSystemInfo(0)] - Waiting for worker threads... 2011-01-05 08:24:38,180 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.CSFDirectoryInfo] [HardwareInfo.getHardWareInfo(0)] - Gathering Resolution data 2011-01-05 08:24:55,565 [ERROR] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.FileUtil] [FileUtil.addSystemInfo(0)] - One or more worker threads have not returned in a timely manner. Forcing quit. 2011-01-05 08:24:55,568 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.SysInfoManager] [SysInfoManager.writeFile(0)] - Creating file: SystemInfo.txt 2011-01-05 08:24:55,577 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.FileUtil] [FileUtil.removePrivateFiles(0)] - Checking for files to be excluded 2011-01-05 08:24:55,578 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.FileUtil] [FileUtil.removePrivateFiles(0)] - Excluding: d11bfd8f-9745-41db-a35b-200389e65583.dat 2011-01-05 08:24:55,579 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.FileUtil] [FileUtil.removePrivateFiles(0)] - Excluding: cacerts 2011-01-05 08:24:55,580 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.FileUtil] [FileUtil.removePrivateFiles(0)] - Excluding: Voicemail.2639.20110103081119+0330.wav 2011-01-05 08:24:55,581 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.FileUtil] [FileUtil.removePrivateFiles(0)] - Excluding: Voicemail.farhad.20101224165510+0330.wav 2011-01-05 08:24:55,581 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.FileUtil] [FileUtil.removePrivateFiles(0)] - Excluding: Voicemail.postmaster.20101224165906+0330.wav 2011-01-05 08:24:55,582 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.FileUtil] [FileUtil.removePrivateFiles(0)] - Excluding: VoicemailBeep.wav 2011-01-05 08:24:55,583 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.FileUtil] [FileUtil.removePrivateFiles(0)] - Excluding: secModeNone 2011-01-05 08:24:55,586 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Preparing to create zip file... 2011-01-05 08:24:55,588 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - 60 files found 2011-01-05 08:24:55,589 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying .CSFExit.loc to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:55,595 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CSF.loc to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:55,597 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CsfAddress.dat to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:55,600 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CSFLogSetting.dat to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:55,634 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CSFSecurityKey.dat to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:55,637 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CommunicationHistory.xml to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:55,641 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying MehdiSadeghi.cnf.xml to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:55,751 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying jtapi.jar to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:55,812 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoJtapi.index to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:55,820 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoJtapi01.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:55,887 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoJtapi02.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:55,968 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoJtapi03.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:55,972 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoJtapi04.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:56,008 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoJtapi05.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:56,038 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoJtapi06.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:56,079 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoJtapi07.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:56,100 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoJtapi08.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:56,140 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoJtapi09.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:56,215 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoJtapi10.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:56,296 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying Core.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:56,319 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying Core.log.1 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:56,498 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying Core.log.2 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:56,708 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying Core.log.3 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:56,912 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying Core.log.4 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:57,105 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying Core.log.5 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:57,292 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying Core.log.6 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:57,505 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying tracker.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:57,523 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying VideoEngineEncryptedTrace.txt to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:57,542 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying VoiceEngineDebugTrace.txt to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:57,545 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying VoiceEngineTrace.txt to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:57,548 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying operationreport.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:57,551 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying voicemailbox.dat to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:57,554 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying voicemailfolder.dat to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:57,558 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying UIPrefs.xml to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:57,562 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying uc-client.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:57,569 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying uc-client.log.1 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:57,752 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying uc-client.log.10 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:58,099 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying uc-client.log.2 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:58,302 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying uc-client.log.3 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:58,517 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying uc-client.log.4 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:58,697 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying uc-client.log.5 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:58,899 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying uc-client.log.6 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:59,100 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying uc-client.log.7 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:59,303 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying uc-client.log.8 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:59,500 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying uc-client.log.9 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:59,895 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying Cisco.ClickToCall.Common.Core.dll.config to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:59,915 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying ClickToCall.pref to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:59,918 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoClickToCall.dll.config to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:59,928 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoClickToCallContacts.dll.config to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:59,948 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoPersonName.dll.config to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:59,980 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying userData.properties to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:59,988 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying userData.properties.backup to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:59,990 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying cisco-uc-client.log4net.config to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:59,994 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying cisco-uc-tab.log4net.config to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:25:00,011 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying LocalSettings.xml to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:25:00,025 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying Description.txt to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:25:00,028 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying LaunchInfo.txt to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:25:00,031 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying DirectoryInfo.txt to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:25:00,034 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying SystemInfo.txt to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:25:00,036 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying csf-prt.log to temp folder.

  Read the article

• Cisco Unified Communication integration for Microsoft Lync crashes on Remote Desktop services 2008 R2!

  - by user66267

  Hi everybody i have deployed office communication server 2007 R2 and communicator 2007 R2 and i made integration with Cisco Unified Communication Manager 7.1 in my network, i also use Remote Desktop Servers 2008 R2 for Thin Client Computers, now that i installed Cisco UC integration client for communicator 2007 R2 (Ver. 8.0.3) or Cisco UC integration client for Microsoft Lync that works fine on PCs but Not on Remote Desktop Servers. i have Three Remote Desktop Servers in a Farm with loadbalancing enabled. all other applications on these RDP servers works fine for 120 active users. some times when i start Cisco UC client on Remote Desktop servers i get the following error: "The Port Reguired for callbacks from Cisco unified client framework could not be read, please retry" i also found the folowing log so i think that may be the cause: 2011-01-05 08:24:21,489 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.SingleInstanceManager] [SingleInstanceManager.acquireMutex(0)] - Acquiring Mutex... 2011-01-05 08:24:21,512 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.IPC.PipeServer] [PipeServer.start(0)] - Starting Pipe Server 2011-01-05 08:24:21,516 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.SingleInstanceManager] [SingleInstanceManager.acquireMutex(0)] - Mutex Acquired... 2011-01-05 08:24:25,437 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.process.ProcessUtil] [ProcessUtil.isOtherPRTProcessRunning(0)] - No other instance(s) of ProblemReportingTool.exe found 2011-01-05 08:24:25,438 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.Controller] [Controller.Main(0)] - ******************************* 2011-01-05 08:24:25,439 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.Controller] [Controller.Main(0)] - **Launching CUCSF Problem Reporting Tool v0.8.3.2** 2011-01-05 08:24:25,440 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.Controller] [Controller.Main(0)] - ******************************* 2011-01-05 08:24:25,441 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.Controller] [Controller.Main(0)] - Raw input: -reason=Launched by the user from CUCIMOC ver 8.5.105.17095 -file=C:\Users\MA899~1.SAD\AppData\Local\Temp\36\CUCIMOCInstaller.txt 2011-01-05 08:24:25,445 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.Controller] [Controller.Main(0)] - Current culture: English (United States) 2011-01-05 08:24:25,448 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.ResourceUtil] [ResourceUtil.init(0)] - Loading string resources from file 2011-01-05 08:24:25,455 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.context.CLIUtil] [CLIUtil.parse(0)] - Argument -reason Launched by the user from CUCIMOC ver 8.5.105.17095 received 2011-01-05 08:24:25,456 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.context.CLIUtil] [CLIUtil.parse(0)] - Argument -file C:\Users\MA899~1.SAD\AppData\Local\Temp\36\CUCIMOCInstaller.txt received 2011-01-05 08:24:25,457 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.Controller] [Controller.startup(0)] - Launching GUI... 2011-01-05 08:24:25,536 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.ResourceUtil] [ResourceUtil.getResourceFileString(0)] - Retrieving Key: com.cisco.uc.csf.prt.PROG.PleaseWaitText from resource file 2011-01-05 08:24:25,545 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.ResourceUtil] [ResourceUtil.getResourceFileString(0)] - Retrieving Key: com.cisco.uc.csf.prt.PF.OKButtonText from resource file 2011-01-05 08:24:25,548 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.ResourceUtil] [ResourceUtil.getResourceFileString(0)] - Retrieving Key: com.cisco.uc.csf.prt.PF.CancelButtonText from resource file 2011-01-05 08:24:25,549 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.ResourceUtil] [ResourceUtil.getResourceFileString(0)] - Retrieving Key: com.cisco.uc.csf.prt.PF.ErrorMsgText1 from resource file 2011-01-05 08:24:25,549 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.ResourceUtil] [ResourceUtil.getResourceFileString(0)] - Retrieving Key: com.cisco.uc.csf.prt.PF.Title from resource file 2011-01-05 08:24:25,552 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.ResourceUtil] [ResourceUtil.getResourceFileString(0)] - Retrieving Key: com.cisco.uc.csf.prt.PF.WindowTitle from resource file 2011-01-05 08:24:25,553 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.ResourceUtil] [ResourceUtil.getResourceFileString(0)] - Retrieving Key: com.cisco.uc.csf.prt.PF.AgreeText from resource file 2011-01-05 08:24:25,553 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.ResourceUtil] [ResourceUtil.getResourceFileString(0)] - Retrieving Key: com.cisco.uc.csf.prt.PF.PrivacyText from resource file 2011-01-05 08:24:25,554 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.ResourceUtil] [ResourceUtil.getResourceFileString(0)] - Retrieving Key: com.cisco.uc.csf.prt.PF.PrivacyTitle from resource file 2011-01-05 08:24:25,555 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.ResourceUtil] [ResourceUtil.getResourceFileString(0)] - Retrieving Key: com.cisco.uc.csf.prt.PF.PrivacyLinkText from resource file 2011-01-05 08:24:25,555 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.controller.ResourceUtil] [ResourceUtil.getResourceFileString(0)] - Retrieving Key: com.cisco.uc.csf.prt.PF.DescriptionTitle from resource file 2011-01-05 08:24:25,629 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.SysInfoManager] [SysInfoManager..ctor(0)] - Starting SysInfoManager... 2011-01-05 08:24:25,634 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.WindowsUtilsInfo] [WindowsUtilsInfo.startWindowsUtilsThreads(0)] - Launching worker thread: systeminfo.exe 2011-01-05 08:24:25,669 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.WindowsUtilsInfo] [WindowsUtilsInfo.startWindowsUtilsThreads(0)] - Launching worker thread: tasklist.exe 2011-01-05 08:24:25,672 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.WindowsUtilsInfo] [WindowsUtilsInfo.startWindowsUtilsThreads(0)] - Launching worker thread: ipconfig.exe 2011-01-05 08:24:25,676 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.WindowsUtilsInfo] [WindowsUtilsInfo.startWindowsUtilsThreads(0)] - Launching worker thread: netstat.exe 2011-01-05 08:24:25,684 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.WindowsUtilsInfo] [WindowsUtilsInfo.startWindowsUtilsThreads(0)] - Launching worker thread: net.exe 2011-01-05 08:24:25,926 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.SysInfoManager] [SysInfoManager.launchHardwareInfoThread(0)] - Launching worker thread: HardwareInfo 2011-01-05 08:24:25,928 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.CSFDirectoryInfo] [HardwareInfo.getHardWareInfo(0)] - Gathering CPU data 2011-01-05 08:24:26,149 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.SysInfoManager] [SysInfoManager.launchCSFDirectoryInfoThread(0)] - Gathering CSF Directory Listing 2011-01-05 08:24:26,153 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.CSFDirectoryInfo] [CSFDirectoryInfo.getCSFInstallPath(0)] - Retrieving CSF Install Directory 2011-01-05 08:24:26,159 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.CSFDirectoryInfo] [CSFDirectoryInfo.getCSFInstallPath(0)] - CSF Install Path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Cisco Systems\Client Services Framework 2011-01-05 08:24:26,162 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.SysInfoManager] [SysInfoManager.launchWMIInfoThread(0)] - Launching worker thread: WMIInfo 2011-01-05 08:24:26,164 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.CSFDirectoryInfo] [HardwareInfo.getWMIInfo(0)] - Gathering Audio info... 2011-01-05 08:24:26,168 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.SysInfoManager] [SysInfoManager.launchRegistryAndEnvironmentalVarInfoThread(0)] - Launching worker thread: Registry & Environment Variables 2011-01-05 08:24:26,173 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.RegistryEnvironmentInfo] [RegistryEnvironmentInfo.generateRegString(0)] - Gathering Registry data under: Software\Cisco Systems, Inc.\Client Services Framework\AdminData\ 2011-01-05 08:24:26,180 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.RegistryEnvironmentInfo] [RegistryEnvironmentInfo.generateRegString(0)] - Gathering Registry data under: Software\Policies\Cisco Systems, Inc.\Client Services Framework\AdminData\ 2011-01-05 08:24:26,182 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.RegistryEnvironmentInfo] [RegistryEnvironmentInfo.generateRegString(0)] - Gathering Registry data under: Software\Cisco Systems, Inc.\Unified Communications\CUCSF 2011-01-05 08:24:26,183 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.RegistryEnvironmentInfo] [RegistryEnvironmentInfo.generateRegString(0)] - Gathering Registry data under: Software\JavaSoft\Java Runtime Environment 2011-01-05 08:24:26,184 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.RegistryEnvironmentInfo] [RegistryEnvironmentInfo.generateRegString(0)] - Gathering Registry data under: Software\JavaSoft\Java Runtime Environment\1.6 2011-01-05 08:24:26,186 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.RegistryEnvironmentInfo] [RegistryEnvironmentInfo.generateRegString(0)] - Gathering Registry data under: Software\JavaSoft\Java Runtime Environment\1.6.0_17 2011-01-05 08:24:26,188 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.RegistryEnvironmentInfo] [RegistryEnvironmentInfo.generateRegString(0)] - Gathering Registry data under: Software\JavaSoft\Java Runtime Environment\1.6.0_17\MSI 2011-01-05 08:24:26,190 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.RegistryEnvironmentInfo] [RegistryEnvironmentInfo.gatherRegistryAndEnvInfo(0)] - Gathering Environment Variables data 2011-01-05 08:24:26,283 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.CSFDirectoryInfo] [HardwareInfo.getWMIInfo(0)] - Gathering Video driver info... 2011-01-05 08:24:26,750 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.SysInfoManager] [SysInfoManager.writeFile(0)] - Creating file: DirectoryInfo.txt 2011-01-05 08:24:26,759 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.CSFDirectoryInfo] [HardwareInfo.getWMIInfo(0)] - Gathering Monitor info... 2011-01-05 08:24:34,483 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.FileUtil] [FileUtil.gatherFiles(0)] - Config Dir C:\Users\m.sadeghi\AppData\Roaming\Cisco\Unified Communications\ 2011-01-05 08:24:34,530 [WARN ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.FileUtil] [FileUtil.addFile(0)] - C:\Users\MA899~1.SAD\AppData\Local\Temp\36\CUCIMOCInstaller.txt not found 2011-01-05 08:24:34,561 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.FileUtil] [FileUtil.addSystemInfo(0)] - Waiting for worker threads... 2011-01-05 08:24:38,180 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.CSFDirectoryInfo] [HardwareInfo.getHardWareInfo(0)] - Gathering Resolution data 2011-01-05 08:24:55,565 [ERROR] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.FileUtil] [FileUtil.addSystemInfo(0)] - One or more worker threads have not returned in a timely manner. Forcing quit. 2011-01-05 08:24:55,568 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.sysinfo.SysInfoManager] [SysInfoManager.writeFile(0)] - Creating file: SystemInfo.txt 2011-01-05 08:24:55,577 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.FileUtil] [FileUtil.removePrivateFiles(0)] - Checking for files to be excluded 2011-01-05 08:24:55,578 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.FileUtil] [FileUtil.removePrivateFiles(0)] - Excluding: d11bfd8f-9745-41db-a35b-200389e65583.dat 2011-01-05 08:24:55,579 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.FileUtil] [FileUtil.removePrivateFiles(0)] - Excluding: cacerts 2011-01-05 08:24:55,580 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.FileUtil] [FileUtil.removePrivateFiles(0)] - Excluding: Voicemail.2639.20110103081119+0330.wav 2011-01-05 08:24:55,581 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.FileUtil] [FileUtil.removePrivateFiles(0)] - Excluding: Voicemail.farhad.20101224165510+0330.wav 2011-01-05 08:24:55,581 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.FileUtil] [FileUtil.removePrivateFiles(0)] - Excluding: Voicemail.postmaster.20101224165906+0330.wav 2011-01-05 08:24:55,582 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.FileUtil] [FileUtil.removePrivateFiles(0)] - Excluding: VoicemailBeep.wav 2011-01-05 08:24:55,583 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.FileUtil] [FileUtil.removePrivateFiles(0)] - Excluding: secModeNone 2011-01-05 08:24:55,586 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Preparing to create zip file... 2011-01-05 08:24:55,588 [INFO ] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - 60 files found 2011-01-05 08:24:55,589 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying .CSFExit.loc to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:55,595 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CSF.loc to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:55,597 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CsfAddress.dat to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:55,600 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CSFLogSetting.dat to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:55,634 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CSFSecurityKey.dat to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:55,637 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CommunicationHistory.xml to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:55,641 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying MehdiSadeghi.cnf.xml to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:55,751 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying jtapi.jar to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:55,812 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoJtapi.index to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:55,820 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoJtapi01.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:55,887 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoJtapi02.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:55,968 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoJtapi03.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:55,972 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoJtapi04.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:56,008 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoJtapi05.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:56,038 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoJtapi06.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:56,079 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoJtapi07.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:56,100 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoJtapi08.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:56,140 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoJtapi09.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:56,215 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoJtapi10.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:56,296 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying Core.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:56,319 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying Core.log.1 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:56,498 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying Core.log.2 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:56,708 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying Core.log.3 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:56,912 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying Core.log.4 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:57,105 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying Core.log.5 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:57,292 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying Core.log.6 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:57,505 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying tracker.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:57,523 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying VideoEngineEncryptedTrace.txt to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:57,542 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying VoiceEngineDebugTrace.txt to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:57,545 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying VoiceEngineTrace.txt to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:57,548 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying operationreport.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:57,551 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying voicemailbox.dat to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:57,554 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying voicemailfolder.dat to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:57,558 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying UIPrefs.xml to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:57,562 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying uc-client.log to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:57,569 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying uc-client.log.1 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:57,752 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying uc-client.log.10 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:58,099 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying uc-client.log.2 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:58,302 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying uc-client.log.3 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:58,517 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying uc-client.log.4 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:58,697 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying uc-client.log.5 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:58,899 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying uc-client.log.6 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:59,100 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying uc-client.log.7 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:59,303 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying uc-client.log.8 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:59,500 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying uc-client.log.9 to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:59,895 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying Cisco.ClickToCall.Common.Core.dll.config to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:59,915 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying ClickToCall.pref to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:59,918 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoClickToCall.dll.config to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:59,928 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoClickToCallContacts.dll.config to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:59,948 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying CiscoPersonName.dll.config to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:59,980 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying userData.properties to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:59,988 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying userData.properties.backup to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:59,990 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying cisco-uc-client.log4net.config to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:24:59,994 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying cisco-uc-tab.log4net.config to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:25:00,011 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying LocalSettings.xml to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:25:00,025 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying Description.txt to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:25:00,028 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying LaunchInfo.txt to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:25:00,031 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying DirectoryInfo.txt to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:25:00,034 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying SystemInfo.txt to temp folder. 2011-01-05 08:25:00,036 [DEBUG] [com.cisco.uc.ucsf.ProblemReportingTool.file.Zip] [Zip.zipMultipleFiles(0)] - Copying csf-prt.log to temp folder.

  Read the article

• "domain crashed" when creating new Xen instance

  - by user47650

  I have downloaded a Xen virtual machine image from the appscale project, and I am trying to start it up. However once I run the command; xm create -c -f xen.conf The instance immediately crashes and provides no console output. however it produces logs that I have posted below. but this is the error; [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] WARNING (XendDomainInfo:1178) Domain has crashed: name=appscale-1.4b id=10. I have managed to mount the root.img file locally and verify that it is actually an ext3 file system. I am running Xen 3.0.3 that is a stock RPM from the CentOS 5 repos; # rpm -qa | grep -i xen xen-libs-3.0.3-105.el5_5.5 xen-3.0.3-105.el5_5.5 xen-libs-3.0.3-105.el5_5.5 kernel-xen-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5 any suggestions on how to proceed with troubleshooting? (i am a newbie to Xen) so far I have enabled console logging, but the log file is empty. ==> domain-builder-ng.log <== xc_dom_allocate: cmdline=" ip=:1.2.3.4::::eth0:dhcp root=/dev/sda1 ro xencons=tty console=tty1 console=hvc0 debugger=y debug=y sync_console", features="" xc_dom_kernel_file: filename="/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-server" xc_dom_malloc_filemap : 2284 kB xc_dom_ramdisk_file: filename="/boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-server" xc_dom_malloc_filemap : 9005 kB xc_dom_boot_xen_init: ver 3.1, caps xen-3.0-x86_64 xen-3.0-x86_32p xc_dom_parse_image: called xc_dom_find_loader: trying ELF-generic loader ... failed xc_dom_find_loader: trying Linux bzImage loader ... xc_dom_malloc : 9875 kB xc_dom_do_gunzip: unzip ok, 0x234bb2 -> 0x9a4de0 OK elf_parse_binary: phdr: paddr=0x200000 memsz=0x447000 elf_parse_binary: phdr: paddr=0x647000 memsz=0xab888 elf_parse_binary: phdr: paddr=0x6f3000 memsz=0x908 elf_parse_binary: phdr: paddr=0x6f4000 memsz=0x1c2f9c elf_parse_binary: memory: 0x200000 -> 0x8b6f9c elf_xen_parse_note: GUEST_OS = "linux" elf_xen_parse_note: GUEST_VERSION = "2.6" elf_xen_parse_note: XEN_VERSION = "xen-3.0" elf_xen_parse_note: VIRT_BASE = 0xffffffff80000000 elf_xen_parse_note: ENTRY = 0xffffffff8071e200 elf_xen_parse_note: HYPERCALL_PAGE = 0xffffffff80209000 elf_xen_parse_note: FEATURES = "!writable_page_tables|pae_pgdir_above_4gb" elf_xen_parse_note: PAE_MODE = "yes" elf_xen_parse_note: LOADER = "generic" elf_xen_parse_note: unknown xen elf note (0xd) elf_xen_parse_note: SUSPEND_CANCEL = 0x1 elf_xen_parse_note: HV_START_LOW = 0xffff800000000000 elf_xen_parse_note: PADDR_OFFSET = 0x0 elf_xen_addr_calc_check: addresses: virt_base = 0xffffffff80000000 elf_paddr_offset = 0x0 virt_offset = 0xffffffff80000000 virt_kstart = 0xffffffff80200000 virt_kend = 0xffffffff808b6f9c virt_entry = 0xffffffff8071e200 xc_dom_parse_elf_kernel: xen-3.0-x86_64: 0xffffffff80200000 -> 0xffffffff808b6f9c xc_dom_mem_init: mem 1024 MB, pages 0x40000 pages, 4k each xc_dom_mem_init: 0x40000 pages xc_dom_boot_mem_init: called x86_compat: guest xen-3.0-x86_64, address size 64 xc_dom_malloc : 2048 kB ==> xend.log <== [2011-03-01 12:34:01 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] INFO (XendDomainInfo:2330) Dev 2049 still active, looping... [2011-03-01 12:34:01 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] INFO (XendDomainInfo:2330) Dev 2049 still active, looping... [2011-03-01 12:34:01 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] INFO (XendDomainInfo:2330) Dev 2049 still active, looping... [2011-03-01 12:34:01 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] INFO (XendDomainInfo:2330) Dev 2049 still active, looping... [2011-03-01 12:34:01 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] INFO (XendDomainInfo:957) Dev 0 still active, looping... [2011-03-01 12:34:01 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] INFO (XendDomainInfo:957) Dev 0 still active, looping... [2011-03-01 12:34:01 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] INFO (XendDomainInfo:957) Dev 0 still active, looping... [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] INFO (XendDomainInfo:957) Dev 0 still active, looping... [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] DEBUG (XendDomainInfo:2114) UUID Created: True [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] DEBUG (XendDomainInfo:2115) Devices to release: [], domid = 9 [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] DEBUG (XendDomainInfo:2127) Releasing PVFB backend devices ... [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] DEBUG (XendDomainInfo:207) XendDomainInfo.create(['domain', ['domid', 9], ['uuid', 'd5f22dd4-8dc2-f51f-84e9-eea7d71ea1d0'], ['vcpus', 1], ['vcpu_avail', 1], ['cpu_cap', 0], ['cpu_weight', 256], ['memory', 1024], ['shadow_memory', 0], ['maxmem', 1024], ['features', ''], ['name', 'appscale-1.4b'], ['on_poweroff', 'destroy'], ['on_reboot', 'restart'], ['on_crash', 'restart'], ['image', ['linux', ['kernel', '/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-server'], ['ramdisk', '/boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-server'], ['ip', ':1.2.3.4::::eth0:dhcp'], ['root', '/dev/sda1 ro'], ['args', 'xencons=tty console=tty1 console=hvc0 debugger=y debug=y sync_console']]], ['cpus', []], ['device', ['vif', ['backend', 0], ['script', 'vif-bridge'], ['mac', '00:16:3B:72:10:E4']]], ['device', ['vbd', ['backend', 0], ['dev', 'sda1:disk'], ['uname', 'file:/local/xen/domains/appscale1.4/root.img'], ['mode', 'w']]], ['state', '----c-'], ['shutdown_reason', 'crash'], ['cpu_time', 0.000339131], ['online_vcpus', 1], ['up_time', '0.952092885971'], ['start_time', '1299011639.92'], ['store_mfn', 1169289], ['console_mfn', 1169288]]) [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] DEBUG (XendDomainInfo:329) parseConfig: config is ['domain', ['domid', 9], ['uuid', 'd5f22dd4-8dc2-f51f-84e9-eea7d71ea1d0'], ['vcpus', 1], ['vcpu_avail', 1], ['cpu_cap', 0], ['cpu_weight', 256], ['memory', 1024], ['shadow_memory', 0], ['maxmem', 1024], ['features', ''], ['name', 'appscale-1.4b'], ['on_poweroff', 'destroy'], ['on_reboot', 'restart'], ['on_crash', 'restart'], ['image', ['linux', ['kernel', '/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-server'], ['ramdisk', '/boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-server'], ['ip', ':1.2.3.4::::eth0:dhcp'], ['root', '/dev/sda1 ro'], ['args', 'xencons=tty console=tty1 console=hvc0 debugger=y debug=y sync_console']]], ['cpus', []], ['device', ['vif', ['backend', 0], ['script', 'vif-bridge'], ['mac', '00:16:3B:72:10:E4']]], ['device', ['vbd', ['backend', 0], ['dev', 'sda1:disk'], ['uname', 'file:/local/xen/domains/appscale1.4/root.img'], ['mode', 'w']]], ['state', '----c-'], ['shutdown_reason', 'crash'], ['cpu_time', 0.000339131], ['online_vcpus', 1], ['up_time', '0.952092885971'], ['start_time', '1299011639.92'], ['store_mfn', 1169289], ['console_mfn', 1169288]] [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] DEBUG (XendDomainInfo:446) parseConfig: result is {'features': '', 'image': ['linux', ['kernel', '/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-server'], ['ramdisk', '/boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-server'], ['ip', ':1.2.3.4::::eth0:dhcp'], ['root', '/dev/sda1 ro'], ['args', 'xencons=tty console=tty1 console=hvc0 debugger=y debug=y sync_console']], 'cpus': [], 'vcpu_avail': 1, 'backend': [], 'uuid': 'd5f22dd4-8dc2-f51f-84e9-eea7d71ea1d0', 'on_reboot': 'restart', 'cpu_weight': 256.0, 'memory': 1024, 'cpu_cap': 0, 'localtime': None, 'timer_mode': None, 'start_time': 1299011639.9200001, 'on_poweroff': 'destroy', 'on_crash': 'restart', 'device': [('vif', ['vif', ['backend', 0], ['script', 'vif-bridge'], ['mac', '00:16:3B:72:10:E4']]), ('vbd', ['vbd', ['backend', 0], ['dev', 'sda1:disk'], ['uname', 'file:/local/xen/domains/appscale1.4/root.img'], ['mode', 'w']])], 'bootloader': None, 'maxmem': 1024, 'shadow_memory': 0, 'name': 'appscale-1.4b', 'bootloader_args': None, 'vcpus': 1, 'cpu': None} [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] DEBUG (XendDomainInfo:1784) XendDomainInfo.construct: None [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend 3580] DEBUG (balloon:145) Balloon: 3034420 KiB free; need 4096; done. [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] DEBUG (XendDomainInfo:1953) XendDomainInfo.initDomain: 10 256.0 [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] DEBUG (XendDomainInfo:1994) _initDomain:shadow_memory=0x0, maxmem=0x400, memory=0x400. [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend 3580] DEBUG (balloon:145) Balloon: 3034412 KiB free; need 1048576; done. [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend 3580] INFO (image:139) buildDomain os=linux dom=10 vcpus=1 [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend 3580] DEBUG (image:208) domid = 10 [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend 3580] DEBUG (image:209) memsize = 1024 [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend 3580] DEBUG (image:210) image = /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-server [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend 3580] DEBUG (image:211) store_evtchn = 1 [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend 3580] DEBUG (image:212) console_evtchn = 2 [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend 3580] DEBUG (image:213) cmdline = ip=:1.2.3.4::::eth0:dhcp root=/dev/sda1 ro xencons=tty console=tty1 console=hvc0 debugger=y debug=y sync_console [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend 3580] DEBUG (image:214) ramdisk = /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-server [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend 3580] DEBUG (image:215) vcpus = 1 [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend 3580] DEBUG (image:216) features = ==> domain-builder-ng.log <== xc_dom_build_image: called xc_dom_alloc_segment: kernel : 0xffffffff80200000 -> 0xffffffff808b7000 (pfn 0x200 + 0x6b7 pages) xc_dom_pfn_to_ptr: domU mapping: pfn 0x200+0x6b7 at 0x2aaaab5f6000 elf_load_binary: phdr 0 at 0x0x2aaaab5f6000 -> 0x0x2aaaaba3d000 elf_load_binary: phdr 1 at 0x0x2aaaaba3d000 -> 0x0x2aaaabae8888 elf_load_binary: phdr 2 at 0x0x2aaaabae9000 -> 0x0x2aaaabae9908 elf_load_binary: phdr 3 at 0x0x2aaaabaea000 -> 0x0x2aaaabb9a004 xc_dom_alloc_segment: ramdisk : 0xffffffff808b7000 -> 0xffffffff82382000 (pfn 0x8b7 + 0x1acb pages) xc_dom_malloc : 160 kB xc_dom_pfn_to_ptr: domU mapping: pfn 0x8b7+0x1acb at 0x2aaab0000000 xc_dom_do_gunzip: unzip ok, 0x8cb5e7 -> 0x1aca210 xc_dom_alloc_segment: phys2mach : 0xffffffff82382000 -> 0xffffffff82582000 (pfn 0x2382 + 0x200 pages) xc_dom_pfn_to_ptr: domU mapping: pfn 0x2382+0x200 at 0x2aaab1acb000 xc_dom_alloc_page : start info : 0xffffffff82582000 (pfn 0x2582) xc_dom_alloc_page : xenstore : 0xffffffff82583000 (pfn 0x2583) xc_dom_alloc_page : console : 0xffffffff82584000 (pfn 0x2584) nr_page_tables: 0x0000ffffffffffff/48: 0xffff000000000000 -> 0xffffffffffffffff, 1 table(s) nr_page_tables: 0x0000007fffffffff/39: 0xffffff8000000000 -> 0xffffffffffffffff, 1 table(s) nr_page_tables: 0x000000003fffffff/30: 0xffffffff80000000 -> 0xffffffffbfffffff, 1 table(s) nr_page_tables: 0x00000000001fffff/21: 0xffffffff80000000 -> 0xffffffff827fffff, 20 table(s) xc_dom_alloc_segment: page tables : 0xffffffff82585000 -> 0xffffffff8259c000 (pfn 0x2585 + 0x17 pages) xc_dom_pfn_to_ptr: domU mapping: pfn 0x2585+0x17 at 0x2aaab1ccb000 xc_dom_alloc_page : boot stack : 0xffffffff8259c000 (pfn 0x259c) xc_dom_build_image : virt_alloc_end : 0xffffffff8259d000 xc_dom_build_image : virt_pgtab_end : 0xffffffff82800000 xc_dom_boot_image: called arch_setup_bootearly: doing nothing xc_dom_compat_check: supported guest type: xen-3.0-x86_64 <= matches xc_dom_compat_check: supported guest type: xen-3.0-x86_32p xc_dom_update_guest_p2m: dst 64bit, pages 0x40000 clear_page: pfn 0x2584, mfn 0x11d788 clear_page: pfn 0x2583, mfn 0x11d789 xc_dom_pfn_to_ptr: domU mapping: pfn 0x2582+0x1 at 0x2aaab1ce2000 start_info_x86_64: called setup_hypercall_page: vaddr=0xffffffff80209000 pfn=0x209 domain builder memory footprint allocated malloc : 12139 kB anon mmap : 0 bytes mapped file mmap : 11289 kB domU mmap : 35 MB arch_setup_bootlate: shared_info: pfn 0x0, mfn 0xd6fe1 shared_info_x86_64: called vcpu_x86_64: called vcpu_x86_64: cr3: pfn 0x2585 mfn 0x11d787 launch_vm: called, ctxt=0x97b21f8 xc_dom_release: called ==> xend.log <== [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend 3580] DEBUG (DevController:114) DevController: writing {'mac': '00:16:3B:72:10:E4', 'handle': '0', 'protocol': 'x86_64-abi', 'backend-id': '0', 'state': '1', 'backend': '/local/domain/0/backend/vif/10/0'} to /local/domain/10/device/vif/0. [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend 3580] DEBUG (DevController:116) DevController: writing {'domain': 'appscale-1.4b', 'handle': '0', 'script': '/etc/xen/scripts/vif-bridge', 'state': '1', 'frontend': '/local/domain/10/device/vif/0', 'mac': '00:16:3B:72:10:E4', 'online': '1', 'frontend-id': '10'} to /local/domain/0/backend/vif/10/0. [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] DEBUG (XendDomainInfo:634) Checking for duplicate for uname: /local/xen/domains/appscale1.4/root.img [file:/local/xen/domains/appscale1.4/root.img], dev: sda1:disk, mode: w [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend 3580] DEBUG (blkif:27) exception looking up device number for sda1:disk: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/dev/sda1:disk' [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend 3580] DEBUG (blkif:27) exception looking up device number for sda1: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/dev/sda1' [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend 3580] DEBUG (DevController:114) DevController: writing {'virtual-device': '2049', 'device-type': 'disk', 'protocol': 'x86_64-abi', 'backend-id': '0', 'state': '1', 'backend': '/local/domain/0/backend/vbd/10/2049'} to /local/domain/10/device/vbd/2049. [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend 3580] DEBUG (DevController:116) DevController: writing {'domain': 'appscale-1.4b', 'frontend': '/local/domain/10/device/vbd/2049', 'format': 'raw', 'dev': 'sda1', 'state': '1', 'params': '/local/xen/domains/appscale1.4/root.img', 'mode': 'w', 'online': '1', 'frontend-id': '10', 'type': 'file'} to /local/domain/0/backend/vbd/10/2049. [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] DEBUG (XendDomainInfo:993) Storing VM details: {'shadow_memory': '0', 'uuid': 'd5f22dd4-8dc2-f51f-84e9-eea7d71ea1d0', 'on_reboot': 'restart', 'start_time': '1299011642.74', 'on_poweroff': 'destroy', 'name': 'appscale-1.4b', 'xend/restart_count': '0', 'vcpus': '1', 'vcpu_avail': '1', 'memory': '1024', 'on_crash': 'restart', 'image': "(linux (kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-server) (ramdisk /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-server) (ip :1.2.3.4::::eth0:dhcp) (root '/dev/sda1 ro') (args 'xencons=tty console=tty1 console=hvc0 debugger=y debug=y sync_console'))", 'maxmem': '1024'} [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] DEBUG (XendDomainInfo:1028) Storing domain details: {'console/ring-ref': '1169288', 'console/port': '2', 'name': 'appscale-1.4b', 'console/limit': '1048576', 'vm': '/vm/d5f22dd4-8dc2-f51f-84e9-eea7d71ea1d0', 'domid': '10', 'cpu/0/availability': 'online', 'memory/target': '1048576', 'store/ring-ref': '1169289', 'store/port': '1'} [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend 3580] DEBUG (DevController:158) Waiting for devices vif. [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend 3580] DEBUG (DevController:164) Waiting for 0. [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] DEBUG (XendDomainInfo:1250) XendDomainInfo.handleShutdownWatch [2011-03-01 12:34:02 xend 3580] DEBUG (DevController:509) hotplugStatusCallback /local/domain/0/backend/vif/10/0/hotplug-status. [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend 3580] DEBUG (DevController:509) hotplugStatusCallback /local/domain/0/backend/vif/10/0/hotplug-status. [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend 3580] DEBUG (DevController:523) hotplugStatusCallback 1. [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend 3580] DEBUG (DevController:158) Waiting for devices usb. [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend 3580] DEBUG (DevController:158) Waiting for devices vbd. [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend 3580] DEBUG (DevController:164) Waiting for 2049. [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend 3580] DEBUG (DevController:509) hotplugStatusCallback /local/domain/0/backend/vbd/10/2049/hotplug-status. [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend 3580] DEBUG (DevController:509) hotplugStatusCallback /local/domain/0/backend/vbd/10/2049/hotplug-status. [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend 3580] DEBUG (DevController:523) hotplugStatusCallback 1. [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend 3580] DEBUG (DevController:158) Waiting for devices irq. [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend 3580] DEBUG (DevController:158) Waiting for devices vkbd. [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend 3580] DEBUG (DevController:158) Waiting for devices vfb. [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend 3580] DEBUG (DevController:158) Waiting for devices pci. [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend 3580] DEBUG (DevController:158) Waiting for devices ioports. [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend 3580] DEBUG (DevController:158) Waiting for devices tap. [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend 3580] DEBUG (DevController:158) Waiting for devices vtpm. [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] WARNING (XendDomainInfo:1178) Domain has crashed: name=appscale-1.4b id=10. [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] ERROR (XendDomainInfo:2654) VM appscale-1.4b restarting too fast (2.275545 seconds since the last restart). Refusing to restart to avoid loops. [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] DEBUG (XendDomainInfo:2189) XendDomainInfo.destroy: domid=10 ==> xen-hotplug.log <== Nothing to flush. ==> xend.log <== [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] INFO (XendDomainInfo:2330) Dev 2049 still active, looping... [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] INFO (XendDomainInfo:2330) Dev 2049 still active, looping... [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] INFO (XendDomainInfo:2330) Dev 2049 still active, looping... [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] INFO (XendDomainInfo:2330) Dev 2049 still active, looping... [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] INFO (XendDomainInfo:2330) Dev 2049 still active, looping... [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] DEBUG (XendDomainInfo:2114) UUID Created: True [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] DEBUG (XendDomainInfo:2115) Devices to release: [], domid = 10 [2011-03-01 12:34:03 xend.XendDomainInfo 3580] DEBUG (XendDomainInfo:2127) Releasing PVFB backend devices ... And this is the xen.conf file that I am using; # cat xen.conf # Configuration file for the Xen instance AppScale, created # bn VMBuilder kernel = '/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-server' ramdisk = '/boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-server' memory = 1024 vcpus = 1 root = '/dev/sda1 ro' disk = [ 'file:/local/xen/domains/appscale1.4/root.img,sda1,w', ] name = 'appscale-1.4b' dhcp = 'dhcp' vif = [ 'mac=00:16:3B:72:10:E4' ] on_poweroff = 'destroy' on_reboot = 'restart' on_crash = 'restart' extra = 'xencons=tty console=tty1 console=hvc0 debugger=y debug=y sync_console'

  Read the article

• getaddrinfo appears to return different results between Windows and Ubuntu?

  - by MrDuk

  I have the following two sets of code: Windows #undef UNICODE #include <winsock2.h> #include <ws2tcpip.h> #include <stdio.h> // link with Ws2_32.lib #pragma comment (lib, "Ws2_32.lib") int __cdecl main(int argc, char **argv) { //----------------------------------------- // Declare and initialize variables WSADATA wsaData; int iResult; INT iRetval; DWORD dwRetval; argv[1] = "www.google.com"; argv[2] = "80"; int i = 1; struct addrinfo *result = NULL; struct addrinfo *ptr = NULL; struct addrinfo hints; struct sockaddr_in *sockaddr_ipv4; // struct sockaddr_in6 *sockaddr_ipv6; LPSOCKADDR sockaddr_ip; char ipstringbuffer[46]; DWORD ipbufferlength = 46; /* // Validate the parameters if (argc != 3) { printf("usage: %s <hostname> <servicename>\n", argv[0]); printf("getaddrinfo provides protocol-independent translation\n"); printf(" from an ANSI host name to an IP address\n"); printf("%s example usage\n", argv[0]); printf(" %s www.contoso.com 0\n", argv[0]); return 1; } */ // Initialize Winsock iResult = WSAStartup(MAKEWORD(2, 2), &wsaData); if (iResult != 0) { printf("WSAStartup failed: %d\n", iResult); return 1; } //-------------------------------- // Setup the hints address info structure // which is passed to the getaddrinfo() function ZeroMemory( &hints, sizeof(hints) ); hints.ai_family = AF_UNSPEC; hints.ai_socktype = SOCK_STREAM; // hints.ai_protocol = IPPROTO_TCP; printf("Calling getaddrinfo with following parameters:\n"); printf("\tnodename = %s\n", argv[1]); printf("\tservname (or port) = %s\n\n", argv[2]); //-------------------------------- // Call getaddrinfo(). If the call succeeds, // the result variable will hold a linked list // of addrinfo structures containing response // information dwRetval = getaddrinfo(argv[1], argv[2], &hints, &result); if ( dwRetval != 0 ) { printf("getaddrinfo failed with error: %d\n", dwRetval); WSACleanup(); return 1; } printf("getaddrinfo returned success\n"); // Retrieve each address and print out the hex bytes for(ptr=result; ptr != NULL ;ptr=ptr->ai_next) { printf("getaddrinfo response %d\n", i++); printf("\tFlags: 0x%x\n", ptr->ai_flags); printf("\tFamily: "); switch (ptr->ai_family) { case AF_UNSPEC: printf("Unspecified\n"); break; case AF_INET: printf("AF_INET (IPv4)\n"); sockaddr_ipv4 = (struct sockaddr_in *) ptr->ai_addr; printf("\tIPv4 address %s\n", inet_ntoa(sockaddr_ipv4->sin_addr) ); break; case AF_INET6: printf("AF_INET6 (IPv6)\n"); // the InetNtop function is available on Windows Vista and later // sockaddr_ipv6 = (struct sockaddr_in6 *) ptr->ai_addr; // printf("\tIPv6 address %s\n", // InetNtop(AF_INET6, &sockaddr_ipv6->sin6_addr, ipstringbuffer, 46) ); // We use WSAAddressToString since it is supported on Windows XP and later sockaddr_ip = (LPSOCKADDR) ptr->ai_addr; // The buffer length is changed by each call to WSAAddresstoString // So we need to set it for each iteration through the loop for safety ipbufferlength = 46; iRetval = WSAAddressToString(sockaddr_ip, (DWORD) ptr->ai_addrlen, NULL, ipstringbuffer, &ipbufferlength ); if (iRetval) printf("WSAAddressToString failed with %u\n", WSAGetLastError() ); else printf("\tIPv6 address %s\n", ipstringbuffer); break; case AF_NETBIOS: printf("AF_NETBIOS (NetBIOS)\n"); break; default: printf("Other %ld\n", ptr->ai_family); break; } printf("\tSocket type: "); switch (ptr->ai_socktype) { case 0: printf("Unspecified\n"); break; case SOCK_STREAM: printf("SOCK_STREAM (stream)\n"); break; case SOCK_DGRAM: printf("SOCK_DGRAM (datagram) \n"); break; case SOCK_RAW: printf("SOCK_RAW (raw) \n"); break; case SOCK_RDM: printf("SOCK_RDM (reliable message datagram)\n"); break; case SOCK_SEQPACKET: printf("SOCK_SEQPACKET (pseudo-stream packet)\n"); break; default: printf("Other %ld\n", ptr->ai_socktype); break; } printf("\tProtocol: "); switch (ptr->ai_protocol) { case 0: printf("Unspecified\n"); break; case IPPROTO_TCP: printf("IPPROTO_TCP (TCP)\n"); break; case IPPROTO_UDP: printf("IPPROTO_UDP (UDP) \n"); break; default: printf("Other %ld\n", ptr->ai_protocol); break; } printf("\tLength of this sockaddr: %d\n", ptr->ai_addrlen); printf("\tCanonical name: %s\n", ptr->ai_canonname); } freeaddrinfo(result); WSACleanup(); return 0; } Ubuntu /* ** listener.c -- a datagram sockets "server" demo */ #include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h> #include <unistd.h> #include <errno.h> #include <string.h> #include <sys/types.h> #include <sys/socket.h> #include <netinet/in.h> #include <arpa/inet.h> #include <netdb.h> #define MYPORT "4950" // the port users will be connecting to #define MAXBUFLEN 100 // get sockaddr, IPv4 or IPv6: void *get_in_addr(struct sockaddr *sa) { if (sa->sa_family == AF_INET) { return &(((struct sockaddr_in*)sa)->sin_addr); } return &(((struct sockaddr_in6*)sa)->sin6_addr); } int main(void) { int sockfd; struct addrinfo hints, *servinfo, *p; int rv; int numbytes; struct sockaddr_storage their_addr; char buf[MAXBUFLEN]; socklen_t addr_len; char s[INET6_ADDRSTRLEN]; memset(&hints, 0, sizeof hints); hints.ai_family = AF_UNSPEC; // set to AF_INET to force IPv4 hints.ai_socktype = SOCK_DGRAM; hints.ai_flags = AI_PASSIVE; // use my IP if ((rv = getaddrinfo(NULL, MYPORT, &hints, &servinfo)) != 0) { fprintf(stderr, "getaddrinfo: %s\n", gai_strerror(rv)); return 1; } // loop through all the results and bind to the first we can for(p = servinfo; p != NULL; p = p->ai_next) { if ((sockfd = socket(p->ai_family, p->ai_socktype, p->ai_protocol)) == -1) { perror("listener: socket"); continue; } if (bind(sockfd, p->ai_addr, p->ai_addrlen) == -1) { close(sockfd); perror("listener: bind"); continue; } break; } if (p == NULL) { fprintf(stderr, "listener: failed to bind socket\n"); return 2; } freeaddrinfo(servinfo); printf("listener: waiting to recvfrom...\n"); addr_len = sizeof their_addr; if ((numbytes = recvfrom(sockfd, buf, MAXBUFLEN-1 , 0, (struct sockaddr *)&their_addr, &addr_len)) == -1) { perror("recvfrom"); exit(1); } printf("listener: got packet from %s\n", inet_ntop(their_addr.ss_family, get_in_addr((struct sockaddr *)&their_addr), s, sizeof s)); printf("listener: packet is %d bytes long\n", numbytes); buf[numbytes] = '\0'; printf("listener: packet contains \"%s\"\n", buf); close(sockfd); return 0; } When I attempt www.google.com, I don't get the ipv6 socket returned on Windows - why is this? Outputs: (ubuntu) caleb@ub1:~/Documents/dev/cs438/mp0/MP0$ ./a.out www.google.com IP addresses for www.google.com: IPv4: 74.125.228.115 IPv4: 74.125.228.116 IPv4: 74.125.228.112 IPv4: 74.125.228.113 IPv4: 74.125.228.114 IPv6: 2607:f8b0:4004:803::1010 Outputs: (win) Calling getaddrinfo with following parameters: nodename = www.google.com servname (or port) = 80 getaddrinfo returned success getaddrinfo response 1 Flags: 0x0 Family: AF_INET (IPv4) IPv4 address 74.125.228.114 Socket type: SOCK_STREAM (stream) Protocol: Unspecified Length of this sockaddr: 16 Canonical name: (null) getaddrinfo response 2 Flags: 0x0 Family: AF_INET (IPv4) IPv4 address 74.125.228.115 Socket type: SOCK_STREAM (stream) Protocol: Unspecified Length of this sockaddr: 16 Canonical name: (null) getaddrinfo response 3 Flags: 0x0 Family: AF_INET (IPv4) IPv4 address 74.125.228.116 Socket type: SOCK_STREAM (stream) Protocol: Unspecified Length of this sockaddr: 16 Canonical name: (null) getaddrinfo response 4 Flags: 0x0 Family: AF_INET (IPv4) IPv4 address 74.125.228.112 Socket type: SOCK_STREAM (stream) Protocol: Unspecified Length of this sockaddr: 16 Canonical name: (null) getaddrinfo response 5 Flags: 0x0 Family: AF_INET (IPv4) IPv4 address 74.125.228.113 Socket type: SOCK_STREAM (stream) Protocol: Unspecified Length of this sockaddr: 16 Canonical name: (null)

  Read the article

• Is there a Telecommunications Reference Architecture?

  - by raul.goycoolea

  @font-face { font-family: "Arial"; }@font-face { font-family: "Courier New"; }@font-face { font-family: "Wingdings"; }@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }ol { margin-bottom: 0cm; }ul { margin-bottom: 0cm; } Abstract   Reference architecture provides needed architectural information that can be provided in advance to an enterprise to enable consistent architectural best practices. Enterprise Reference Architecture helps business owners to actualize their strategies, vision, objectives, and principles. It evaluates the IT systems, based on Reference Architecture goals, principles, and standards. It helps to reduce IT costs by increasing functionality, availability, scalability, etc. Telecom Reference Architecture provides customers with the flexibility to view bundled service bills online with the provision of multiple services. It provides real-time, flexible billing and charging systems, to handle complex promotions, discounts, and settlements with multiple parties. This paper attempts to describe the Reference Architecture for the Telecom Enterprises. It lays the foundation for a Telecom Reference Architecture by articulating the requirements, drivers, and pitfalls for telecom service providers. It describes generic reference architecture for telecom enterprises and moves on to explain how to achieve Enterprise Reference Architecture by using SOA.   Introduction   A Reference Architecture provides a methodology, set of practices, template, and standards based on a set of successful solutions implemented earlier. These solutions have been generalized and structured for the depiction of both a logical and a physical architecture, based on the harvesting of a set of patterns that describe observations in a number of successful implementations. It helps as a reference for the various architectures that an enterprise can implement to solve various problems. It can be used as the starting point or the point of comparisons for various departments/business entities of a company, or for the various companies for an enterprise. It provides multiple views for multiple stakeholders.   Major artifacts of the Enterprise Reference Architecture are methodologies, standards, metadata, documents, design patterns, etc.   Purpose of Reference Architecture   In most cases, architects spend a lot of time researching, investigating, defining, and re-arguing architectural decisions. It is like reinventing the wheel as their peers in other organizations or even the same organization have already spent a lot of time and effort defining their own architectural practices. This prevents an organization from learning from its own experiences and applying that knowledge for increased effectiveness.   Reference architecture provides missing architectural information that can be provided in advance to project team members to enable consistent architectural best practices.   Enterprise Reference Architecture helps an enterprise to achieve the following at the abstract level:   ·       Reference architecture is more of a communication channel to an enterprise ·       Helps the business owners to accommodate to their strategies, vision, objectives, and principles. ·       Evaluates the IT systems based on Reference Architecture Principles ·       Reduces IT spending through increasing functionality, availability, scalability, etc ·       A Real-time Integration Model helps to reduce the latency of the data updates Is used to define a single source of Information ·       Provides a clear view on how to manage information and security ·       Defines the policy around the data ownership, product boundaries, etc. ·       Helps with cost optimization across project and solution portfolios by eliminating unused or duplicate investments and assets ·       Has a shorter implementation time and cost   Once the reference architecture is in place, the set of architectural principles, standards, reference models, and best practices ensure that the aligned investments have the greatest possible likelihood of success in both the near term and the long term (TCO).     Common pitfalls for Telecom Service Providers   Telecom Reference Architecture serves as the first step towards maturity for a telecom service provider. During the course of our assignments/experiences with telecom players, we have come across the following observations – Some of these indicate a lack of maturity of the telecom service provider:   ·       In markets that are growing and not so mature, it has been observed that telcos have a significant amount of in-house or home-grown applications. In some of these markets, the growth has been so rapid that IT has been unable to cope with business demands. Telcos have shown a tendency to come up with workarounds in their IT applications so as to meet business needs. ·       Even for core functions like provisioning or mediation, some telcos have tried to manage with home-grown applications. ·       Most of the applications do not have the required scalability or maintainability to sustain growth in volumes or functionality. ·       Applications face interoperability issues with other applications in the operator's landscape. Integrating a new application or network element requires considerable effort on the part of the other applications. ·       Application boundaries are not clear, and functionality that is not in the initial scope of that application gets pushed onto it. This results in the development of the multiple, small applications without proper boundaries. ·       Usage of Legacy OSS/BSS systems, poor Integration across Multiple COTS Products and Internal Systems. Most of the Integrations are developed on ad-hoc basis and Point-to-Point Integration. ·       Redundancy of the business functions in different applications • Fragmented data across the different applications and no integrated view of the strategic data • Lot of performance Issues due to the usage of the complex integration across OSS and BSS systems   However, this is where the maturity of the telecom industry as a whole can be of help. The collaborative efforts of telcos to overcome some of these problems have resulted in bodies like the TM Forum. They have come up with frameworks for business processes, data, applications, and technology for telecom service providers. These could be a good starting point for telcos to clean up their enterprise landscape.   Industry Trends in Telecom Reference Architecture   Telecom reference architectures are evolving rapidly because telcos are facing business and IT challenges.   “The reality is that there probably is no killer application, no silver bullet that the telcos can latch onto to carry them into a 21st Century.... Instead, there are probably hundreds – perhaps thousands – of niche applications.... And the only way to find which of these works for you is to try out lots of them, ramp up the ones that work, and discontinue the ones that fail.” – Martin Creaner President & CTO TM Forum.   The following trends have been observed in telecom reference architecture:   ·       Transformation of business structures to align with customer requirements ·       Adoption of more Internet-like technical architectures. The Web 2.0 concept is increasingly being used. ·       Virtualization of the traditional operations support system (OSS) ·       Adoption of SOA to support development of IP-based services ·       Adoption of frameworks like Service Delivery Platforms (SDPs) and IP Multimedia Subsystem ·       (IMS) to enable seamless deployment of various services over fixed and mobile networks ·       Replacement of in-house, customized, and stove-piped OSS/BSS with standards-based COTS products ·       Compliance with industry standards and frameworks like eTOM, SID, and TAM to enable seamless integration with other standards-based products   Drivers of Reference Architecture   The drivers of the Reference Architecture are Reference Architecture Goals, Principles, and Enterprise Vision and Telecom Transformation. The details are depicted below diagram. @font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoCaption, li.MsoCaption, div.MsoCaption { margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; font-size: 9pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; color: rgb(79, 129, 189); font-weight: bold; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } Figure 1. Drivers for Reference Architecture @font-face { font-family: "Arial"; }@font-face { font-family: "Courier New"; }@font-face { font-family: "Wingdings"; }@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }ol { margin-bottom: 0cm; }ul { margin-bottom: 0cm; } Today’s telecom reference architectures should seamlessly integrate traditional legacy-based applications and transition to next-generation network technologies (e.g., IP multimedia subsystems). This has resulted in new requirements for flexible, real-time billing and OSS/BSS systems and implications on the service provider’s organizational requirements and structure.   Telecom reference architectures are today expected to:   ·       Integrate voice, messaging, email and other VAS over fixed and mobile networks, back end systems ·       Be able to provision multiple services and service bundles • Deliver converged voice, video and data services ·       Leverage the existing Network Infrastructure ·       Provide real-time, flexible billing and charging systems to handle complex promotions, discounts, and settlements with multiple parties. ·       Support charging of advanced data services such as VoIP, On-Demand, Services (e.g.  Video), IMS/SIP Services, Mobile Money, Content Services and IPTV. ·       Help in faster deployment of new services • Serve as an effective platform for collaboration between network IT and business organizations ·       Harness the potential of converging technology, networks, devices and content to develop multimedia services and solutions of ever-increasing sophistication on a single Internet Protocol (IP) ·       Ensure better service delivery and zero revenue leakage through real-time balance and credit management ·       Lower operating costs to drive profitability   Enterprise Reference Architecture   The Enterprise Reference Architecture (RA) fills the gap between the concepts and vocabulary defined by the reference model and the implementation. Reference architecture provides detailed architectural information in a common format such that solutions can be repeatedly designed and deployed in a consistent, high-quality, supportable fashion. This paper attempts to describe the Reference Architecture for the Telecom Application Usage and how to achieve the Enterprise Level Reference Architecture using SOA.   • Telecom Reference Architecture • Enterprise SOA based Reference Architecture   Telecom Reference Architecture   Tele Management Forum’s New Generation Operations Systems and Software (NGOSS) is an architectural framework for organizing, integrating, and implementing telecom systems. NGOSS is a component-based framework consisting of the following elements:   ·       The enhanced Telecom Operations Map (eTOM) is a business process framework. ·       The Shared Information Data (SID) model provides a comprehensive information framework that may be specialized for the needs of a particular organization. ·       The Telecom Application Map (TAM) is an application framework to depict the functional footprint of applications, relative to the horizontal processes within eTOM. ·       The Technology Neutral Architecture (TNA) is an integrated framework. TNA is an architecture that is sustainable through technology changes.   NGOSS Architecture Standards are:   ·       Centralized data ·       Loosely coupled distributed systems ·       Application components/re-use  ·       A technology-neutral system framework with technology specific implementations ·       Interoperability to service provider data/processes ·       Allows more re-use of business components across multiple business scenarios ·       Workflow automation   The traditional operator systems architecture consists of four layers,   ·       Business Support System (BSS) layer, with focus toward customers and business partners. Manages order, subscriber, pricing, rating, and billing information. ·       Operations Support System (OSS) layer, built around product, service, and resource inventories. ·       Networks layer – consists of Network elements and 3rd Party Systems. ·       Integration Layer – to maximize application communication and overall solution flexibility.   Reference architecture for telecom enterprises is depicted below. @font-face { font-family: "Arial"; }@font-face { font-family: "Courier New"; }@font-face { font-family: "Wingdings"; }@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoCaption, li.MsoCaption, div.MsoCaption { margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; font-size: 9pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; color: rgb(79, 129, 189); font-weight: bold; }p.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }ol { margin-bottom: 0cm; }ul { margin-bottom: 0cm; } Figure 2. Telecom Reference Architecture   The major building blocks of any Telecom Service Provider architecture are as follows:   1. Customer Relationship Management   CRM encompasses the end-to-end lifecycle of the customer: customer initiation/acquisition, sales, ordering, and service activation, customer care and support, proactive campaigns, cross sell/up sell, and retention/loyalty.   CRM also includes the collection of customer information and its application to personalize, customize, and integrate delivery of service to a customer, as well as to identify opportunities for increasing the value of the customer to the enterprise.   The key functionalities related to Customer Relationship Management are   ·       Manage the end-to-end lifecycle of a customer request for products. ·       Create and manage customer profiles. ·       Manage all interactions with customers – inquiries, requests, and responses. ·       Provide updates to Billing and other south bound systems on customer/account related updates such as customer/ account creation, deletion, modification, request bills, final bill, duplicate bills, credit limits through Middleware. ·       Work with Order Management System, Product, and Service Management components within CRM. ·       Manage customer preferences – Involve all the touch points and channels to the customer, including contact center, retail stores, dealers, self service, and field service, as well as via any media (phone, face to face, web, mobile device, chat, email, SMS, mail, the customer's bill, etc.). ·       Support single interface for customer contact details, preferences, account details, offers, customer premise equipment, bill details, bill cycle details, and customer interactions.   CRM applications interact with customers through customer touch points like portals, point-of-sale terminals, interactive voice response systems, etc. The requests by customers are sent via fulfillment/provisioning to billing system for ordering processing.   2. Billing and Revenue Management   Billing and Revenue Management handles the collection of appropriate usage records and production of timely and accurate bills – for providing pre-bill usage information and billing to customers; for processing their payments; and for performing payment collections. In addition, it handles customer inquiries about bills, provides billing inquiry status, and is responsible for resolving billing problems to the customer's satisfaction in a timely manner. This process grouping also supports prepayment for services.   The key functionalities provided by these applications are   ·       To ensure that enterprise revenue is billed and invoices delivered appropriately to customers. ·       To manage customers’ billing accounts, process their payments, perform payment collections, and monitor the status of the account balance. ·       To ensure the timely and effective fulfillment of all customer bill inquiries and complaints. ·       Collect the usage records from mediation and ensure appropriate rating and discounting of all usage and pricing. ·       Support revenue sharing; split charging where usage is guided to an account different from the service consumer. ·       Support prepaid and post-paid rating. ·       Send notification on approach / exceeding the usage thresholds as enforced by the subscribed offer, and / or as setup by the customer. ·       Support prepaid, post paid, and hybrid (where some services are prepaid and the rest of the services post paid) customers and conversion from post paid to prepaid, and vice versa. ·       Support different billing function requirements like charge prorating, promotion, discount, adjustment, waiver, write-off, account receivable, GL Interface, late payment fee, credit control, dunning, account or service suspension, re-activation, expiry, termination, contract violation penalty, etc. ·       Initiate direct debit to collect payment against an invoice outstanding. ·       Send notification to Middleware on different events; for example, payment receipt, pre-suspension, threshold exceed, etc.   Billing systems typically get usage data from mediation systems for rating and billing. They get provisioning requests from order management systems and inquiries from CRM systems. Convergent and real-time billing systems can directly get usage details from network elements.   3. Mediation   Mediation systems transform/translate the Raw or Native Usage Data Records into a general format that is acceptable to billing for their rating purposes.   The following lists the high-level roles and responsibilities executed by the Mediation system in the end-to-end solution.   ·       Collect Usage Data Records from different data sources – like network elements, routers, servers – via different protocol and interfaces. ·       Process Usage Data Records – Mediation will process Usage Data Records as per the source format. ·       Validate Usage Data Records from each source. ·       Segregates Usage Data Records coming from each source to multiple, based on the segregation requirement of end Application. ·       Aggregates Usage Data Records based on the aggregation rule if any from different sources. ·       Consolidates multiple Usage Data Records from each source. ·       Delivers formatted Usage Data Records to different end application like Billing, Interconnect, Fraud Management, etc. ·       Generates audit trail for incoming Usage Data Records and keeps track of all the Usage Data Records at various stages of mediation process. ·       Checks duplicate Usage Data Records across files for a given time window.   4. Fulfillment   This area is responsible for providing customers with their requested products in a timely and correct manner. It translates the customer's business or personal need into a solution that can be delivered using the specific products in the enterprise's portfolio. This process informs the customers of the status of their purchase order, and ensures completion on time, as well as ensuring a delighted customer. These processes are responsible for accepting and issuing orders. They deal with pre-order feasibility determination, credit authorization, order issuance, order status and tracking, customer update on customer order activities, and customer notification on order completion. Order management and provisioning applications fall into this category.   The key functionalities provided by these applications are   ·       Issuing new customer orders, modifying open customer orders, or canceling open customer orders; ·       Verifying whether specific non-standard offerings sought by customers are feasible and supportable; ·       Checking the credit worthiness of customers as part of the customer order process; ·       Testing the completed offering to ensure it is working correctly; ·       Updating of the Customer Inventory Database to reflect that the specific product offering has been allocated, modified, or cancelled; ·       Assigning and tracking customer provisioning activities; ·       Managing customer provisioning jeopardy conditions; and ·       Reporting progress on customer orders and other processes to customer.   These applications typically get orders from CRM systems. They interact with network elements and billing systems for fulfillment of orders.   5. Enterprise Management   This process area includes those processes that manage enterprise-wide activities and needs, or have application within the enterprise as a whole. They encompass all business management processes that   ·       Are necessary to support the whole of the enterprise, including processes for financial management, legal management, regulatory management, process, cost, and quality management, etc.;   ·       Are responsible for setting corporate policies, strategies, and directions, and for providing guidelines and targets for the whole of the business, including strategy development and planning for areas, such as Enterprise Architecture, that are integral to the direction and development of the business;   ·       Occur throughout the enterprise, including processes for project management, performance assessments, cost assessments, etc.     (i) Enterprise Risk Management:   Enterprise Risk Management focuses on assuring that risks and threats to the enterprise value and/or reputation are identified, and appropriate controls are in place to minimize or eliminate the identified risks. The identified risks may be physical or logical/virtual. Successful risk management ensures that the enterprise can support its mission critical operations, processes, applications, and communications in the face of serious incidents such as security threats/violations and fraud attempts. Two key areas covered in Risk Management by telecom operators are:   ·       Revenue Assurance: Revenue assurance system will be responsible for identifying revenue loss scenarios across components/systems, and will help in rectifying the problems. The following lists the high-level roles and responsibilities executed by the Revenue Assurance system in the end-to-end solution. o   Identify all usage information dropped when networks are being upgraded. o   Interconnect bill verification. o   Identify where services are routinely provisioned but never billed. o   Identify poor sales policies that are intensifying collections problems. o   Find leakage where usage is sent to error bucket and never billed for. o   Find leakage where field service, CRM, and network build-out are not optimized.   ·       Fraud Management: Involves collecting data from different systems to identify abnormalities in traffic patterns, usage patterns, and subscription patterns to report suspicious activity that might suggest fraudulent usage of resources, resulting in revenue losses to the operator.   The key roles and responsibilities of the system component are as follows:   o   Fraud management system will capture and monitor high usage (over a certain threshold) in terms of duration, value, and number of calls for each subscriber. The threshold for each subscriber is decided by the system and fixed automatically. o   Fraud management will be able to detect the unauthorized access to services for certain subscribers. These subscribers may have been provided unauthorized services by employees. The component will raise the alert to the operator the very first time of such illegal calls or calls which are not billed. o   The solution will be to have an alarm management system that will deliver alarms to the operator/provider whenever it detects a fraud, thus minimizing fraud by catching it the first time it occurs. o   The Fraud Management system will be capable of interfacing with switches, mediation systems, and billing systems   (ii) Knowledge Management   This process focuses on knowledge management, technology research within the enterprise, and the evaluation of potential technology acquisitions.   Key responsibilities of knowledge base management are to   ·       Maintain knowledge base – Creation and updating of knowledge base on ongoing basis. ·       Search knowledge base – Search of knowledge base on keywords or category browse ·       Maintain metadata – Management of metadata on knowledge base to ensure effective management and search. ·       Run report generator. ·       Provide content – Add content to the knowledge base, e.g., user guides, operational manual, etc.   (iii) Document Management   It focuses on maintaining a repository of all electronic documents or images of paper documents relevant to the enterprise using a system.   (iv) Data Management   It manages data as a valuable resource for any enterprise. For telecom enterprises, the typical areas covered are Master Data Management, Data Warehousing, and Business Intelligence. It is also responsible for data governance, security, quality, and database management.   Key responsibilities of Data Management are   ·       Using ETL, extract the data from CRM, Billing, web content, ERP, campaign management, financial, network operations, asset management info, customer contact data, customer measures, benchmarks, process data, e.g., process inputs, outputs, and measures, into Enterprise Data Warehouse. ·       Management of data traceability with source, data related business rules/decisions, data quality, data cleansing data reconciliation, competitors data – storage for all the enterprise data (customer profiles, products, offers, revenues, etc.) ·       Get online update through night time replication or physical backup process at regular frequency. ·       Provide the data access to business intelligence and other systems for their analysis, report generation, and use.   (v) Business Intelligence   It uses the Enterprise Data to provide the various analysis and reports that contain prospects and analytics for customer retention, acquisition of new customers due to the offers, and SLAs. It will generate right and optimized plans – bolt-ons for the customers.   The following lists the high-level roles and responsibilities executed by the Business Intelligence system at the Enterprise Level:   ·       It will do Pattern analysis and reports problem. ·       It will do Data Analysis – Statistical analysis, data profiling, affinity analysis of data, customer segment wise usage patterns on offers, products, service and revenue generation against services and customer segments. ·       It will do Performance (business, system, and forecast) analysis, churn propensity, response time, and SLAs analysis. ·       It will support for online and offline analysis, and report drill down capability. ·       It will collect, store, and report various SLA data. ·       It will provide the necessary intelligence for marketing and working on campaigns, etc., with cost benefit analysis and predictions.   It will advise on customer promotions with additional services based on loyalty and credit history of customer   ·       It will Interface with Enterprise Data Management system for data to run reports and analysis tasks. It will interface with the campaign schedules, based on historical success evidence.   (vi) Stakeholder and External Relations Management   It manages the enterprise's relationship with stakeholders and outside entities. Stakeholders include shareholders, employee organizations, etc. Outside entities include regulators, local community, and unions. Some of the processes within this grouping are Shareholder Relations, External Affairs, Labor Relations, and Public Relations.   (vii) Enterprise Resource Planning   It is used to manage internal and external resources, including tangible assets, financial resources, materials, and human resources. Its purpose is to facilitate the flow of information between all business functions inside the boundaries of the enterprise and manage the connections to outside stakeholders. ERP systems consolidate all business operations into a uniform and enterprise wide system environment.   The key roles and responsibilities for Enterprise System are given below:   ·        It will handle responsibilities such as core accounting, financial, and management reporting. ·       It will interface with CRM for capturing customer account and details. ·       It will interface with billing to capture the billing revenue and other financial data. ·       It will be responsible for executing the dunning process. Billing will send the required feed to ERP for execution of dunning. ·       It will interface with the CRM and Billing through batch interfaces. Enterprise management systems are like horizontals in the enterprise and typically interact with all major telecom systems. E.g., an ERP system interacts with CRM, Fulfillment, and Billing systems for different kinds of data exchanges.   6. External Interfaces/Touch Points   The typical external parties are customers, suppliers/partners, employees, shareholders, and other stakeholders. External interactions from/to a Service Provider to other parties can be achieved by a variety of mechanisms, including:   ·       Exchange of emails or faxes ·       Call Centers ·       Web Portals ·       Business-to-Business (B2B) automated transactions   These applications provide an Internet technology driven interface to external parties to undertake a variety of business functions directly for themselves. These can provide fully or partially automated service to external parties through various touch points.   Typical characteristics of these touch points are   ·       Pre-integrated self-service system, including stand-alone web framework or integration front end with a portal engine ·       Self services layer exposing atomic web services/APIs for reuse by multiple systems across the architectural environment ·       Portlets driven connectivity exposing data and services interoperability through a portal engine or web application   These touch points mostly interact with the CRM systems for requests, inquiries, and responses.   7. Middleware   The component will be primarily responsible for integrating the different systems components under a common platform. It should provide a Standards-Based Platform for building Service Oriented Architecture and Composite Applications. The following lists the high-level roles and responsibilities executed by the Middleware component in the end-to-end solution.   ·       As an integration framework, covering to and fro interfaces ·       Provide a web service framework with service registry. ·       Support SOA framework with SOA service registry. ·       Each of the interfaces from / to Middleware to other components would handle data transformation, translation, and mapping of data points. ·       Receive data from the caller / activate and/or forward the data to the recipient system in XML format. ·       Use standard XML for data exchange. ·       Provide the response back to the service/call initiator. ·       Provide a tracking until the response completion. ·       Keep a store transitional data against each call/transaction. ·       Interface through Middleware to get any information that is possible and allowed from the existing systems to enterprise systems; e.g., customer profile and customer history, etc. ·       Provide the data in a common unified format to the SOA calls across systems, and follow the Enterprise Architecture directive. ·       Provide an audit trail for all transactions being handled by the component.   8. Network Elements   The term Network Element means a facility or equipment used in the provision of a telecommunications service. Such terms also includes features, functions, and capabilities that are provided by means of such facility or equipment, including subscriber numbers, databases, signaling systems, and information sufficient for billing and collection or used in the transmission, routing, or other provision of a telecommunications service.   Typical network elements in a GSM network are Home Location Register (HLR), Intelligent Network (IN), Mobile Switching Center (MSC), SMS Center (SMSC), and network elements for other value added services like Push-to-talk (PTT), Ring Back Tone (RBT), etc.   Network elements are invoked when subscribers use their telecom devices for any kind of usage. These elements generate usage data and pass it on to downstream systems like mediation and billing system for rating and billing. They also integrate with provisioning systems for order/service fulfillment.   9. 3rd Party Applications   3rd Party systems are applications like content providers, payment gateways, point of sale terminals, and databases/applications maintained by the Government.   Depending on applicability and the type of functionality provided by 3rd party applications, the integration with different telecom systems like CRM, provisioning, and billing will be done.   10. Service Delivery Platform   A service delivery platform (SDP) provides the architecture for the rapid deployment, provisioning, execution, management, and billing of value added telecom services. SDPs are based on the concept of SOA and layered architecture. They support the delivery of voice, data services, and content in network and device-independent fashion. They allow application developers to aggregate network capabilities, services, and sources of content. SDPs typically contain layers for web services exposure, service application development, and network abstraction.   SOA Reference Architecture   SOA concept is based on the principle of developing reusable business service and building applications by composing those services, instead of building monolithic applications in silos. It’s about bridging the gap between business and IT through a set of business-aligned IT services, using a set of design principles, patterns, and techniques.   In an SOA, resources are made available to participants in a value net, enterprise, line of business (typically spanning multiple applications within an enterprise or across multiple enterprises). It consists of a set of business-aligned IT services that collectively fulfill an organization’s business processes and goals. We can choreograph these services into composite applications and invoke them through standard protocols. SOA, apart from agility and reusability, enables:   ·       The business to specify processes as orchestrations of reusable services ·       Technology agnostic business design, with technology hidden behind service interface ·       A contractual-like interaction between business and IT, based on service SLAs ·       Accountability and governance, better aligned to business services ·       Applications interconnections untangling by allowing access only through service interfaces, reducing the daunting side effects of change ·       Reduced pressure to replace legacy and extended lifetime for legacy applications, through encapsulation in services   ·       A Cloud Computing paradigm, using web services technologies, that makes possible service outsourcing on an on-demand, utility-like, pay-per-usage basis   The following section represents the Reference Architecture of logical view for the Telecom Solution. The new custom built application needs to align with this logical architecture in the long run to achieve EA benefits.   Packaged implementation applications, such as ERP billing applications, need to expose their functions as service providers (as other applications consume) and interact with other applications as service consumers.   COT applications need to expose services through wrappers such as adapters to utilize existing resources and at the same time achieve Enterprise Architecture goal and objectives.   The following are the various layers for Enterprise level deployment of SOA. This diagram captures the abstract view of Enterprise SOA layers and important components of each layer. Layered architecture means decomposition of services such that most interactions occur between adjacent layers. However, there is no strict rule that top layers should not directly communicate with bottom layers.   The diagram below represents the important logical pieces that would result from overall SOA transformation. @font-face { font-family: "Arial"; }@font-face { font-family: "Courier New"; }@font-face { font-family: "Wingdings"; }@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoCaption, li.MsoCaption, div.MsoCaption { margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; font-size: 9pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; color: rgb(79, 129, 189); font-weight: bold; }p.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }ol { margin-bottom: 0cm; }ul { margin-bottom: 0cm; } Figure 3. Enterprise SOA Reference Architecture 1.          Operational System Layer: This layer consists of all packaged applications like CRM, ERP, custom built applications, COTS based applications like Billing, Revenue Management, Fulfilment, and the Enterprise databases that are essential and contribute directly or indirectly to the Enterprise OSS/BSS Transformation.   ERP holds the data of Asset Lifecycle Management, Supply Chain, and Advanced Procurement and Human Capital Management, etc.   CRM holds the data related to Order, Sales, and Marketing, Customer Care, Partner Relationship Management, Loyalty, etc.   Content Management handles Enterprise Search and Query. Billing application consists of the following components:   ·       Collections Management, Customer Billing Management, Invoices, Real-Time Rating, Discounting, and Applying of Charges ·       Enterprise databases will hold both the application and service data, whether structured or unstructured.   MDM - Master data majorly consists of Customer, Order, Product, and Service Data.     2.          Enterprise Component Layer:   This layer consists of the Application Services and Common Services that are responsible for realizing the functionality and maintaining the QoS of the exposed services. This layer uses container-based technologies such as application servers to implement the components, workload management, high availability, and load balancing.   Application Services: This Service Layer enables application, technology, and database abstraction so that the complex accessing logic is hidden from the other service layers. This is a basic service layer, which exposes application functionalities and data as reusable services. The three types of the Application access services are:   ·       Application Access Service: This Service Layer exposes application level functionalities as a reusable service between BSS to BSS and BSS to OSS integration. This layer is enabled using disparate technology such as Web Service, Integration Servers, and Adaptors, etc.   ·       Data Access Service: This Service Layer exposes application data services as a reusable reference data service. This is done via direct interaction with application data. and provides the federated query.   ·       Network Access Service: This Service Layer exposes provisioning layer as a reusable service from OSS to OSS integration. This integration service emphasizes the need for high performance, stateless process flows, and distributed design.   Common Services encompasses management of structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data such as information services, portal services, interaction services, infrastructure services, and security services, etc.   3.          Integration Layer:   This consists of service infrastructure components like service bus, service gateway for partner integration, service registry, service repository, and BPEL processor. Service bus will carry the service invocation payloads/messages between consumers and providers. The other important functions expected from it are itinerary based routing, distributed caching of routing information, transformations, and all qualities of service for messaging-like reliability, scalability, and availability, etc. Service registry will hold all contracts (wsdl) of services, and it helps developers to locate or discover service during design time or runtime.   • BPEL processor would be useful in orchestrating the services to compose a complex business scenario or process. • Workflow and business rules management are also required to support manual triggering of certain activities within business process. based on the rules setup and also the state machine information. Application, data, and service mediation layer typically forms the overall composite application development framework or SOA Framework.   4.          Business Process Layer: These are typically the intermediate services layer and represent Shared Business Process Services. At Enterprise Level, these services are from Customer Management, Order Management, Billing, Finance, and Asset Management application domains.   5.          Access Layer: This layer consists of portals for Enterprise and provides a single view of Enterprise information management and dashboard services.   6.          Channel Layer: This consists of various devices; applications that form part of extended enterprise; browsers through which users access the applications.   7.          Client Layer: This designates the different types of users accessing the enterprise applications. The type of user typically would be an important factor in determining the level of access to applications.   8.          Vertical pieces like management, monitoring, security, and development cut across all horizontal layers Management and monitoring involves all aspects of SOA-like services, SLAs, and other QoS lifecycle processes for both applications and services surrounding SOA governance.     9.          EA Governance, Reference Architecture, Roadmap, Principles, and Best Practices:   EA Governance is important in terms of providing the overall direction to SOA implementation within the enterprise. This involves board-level involvement, in addition to business and IT executives. At a high level, this involves managing the SOA projects implementation, managing SOA infrastructure, and controlling the entire effort through all fine-tuned IT processes in accordance with COBIT (Control Objectives for Information Technology).   Devising tools and techniques to promote reuse culture, and the SOA way of doing things needs competency centers to be established in addition to training the workforce to take up new roles that are suited to SOA journey.   Conclusions   Reference Architectures can serve as the basis for disparate architecture efforts throughout the organization, even if they use different tools and technologies. Reference architectures provide best practices and approaches in the independent way a vendor deals with technology and standards. Reference Architectures model the abstract architectural elements for an enterprise independent of the technologies, protocols, and products that are used to implement an SOA. Telecom enterprises today are facing significant business and technology challenges due to growing competition, a multitude of services, and convergence. Adopting architectural best practices could go a long way in meeting these challenges. The use of SOA-based architecture for communication to each of the external systems like Billing, CRM, etc., in OSS/BSS system has made the architecture very loosely coupled, with greater flexibility. Any change in the external systems would be absorbed at the Integration Layer without affecting the rest of the ecosystem. The use of a Business Process Management (BPM) tool makes the management and maintenance of the business processes easy, with better performance in terms of lead time, quality, and cost. Since the Architecture is based on standards, it will lower the cost of deploying and managing OSS/BSS applications over their lifecycles.

  Read the article

• Where is all the memory being consumed?

  - by Mark L

  Hello, I have a Dell R300 Ubuntu 9.10 box with 4GB of memory. All I'm running on there is haproxy, nagios and postfix yet there is ~2.7GB of memory being consumed. I've run ps and I can't get the sums to add up. Could anyone shed any light on where all the memory is being used? Cheers, Mark $ sudo free -m total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 3957 2746 1211 0 169 2320 -/+ buffers/cache: 256 3701 Swap: 6212 0 6212 Sorry for pasting all of ps' output but I'm keen to get to the bottom of this. $ sudo ps aux [sudo] password for mark: USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TTY STAT START TIME COMMAND root 1 0.0 0.0 19320 1656 ? Ss May20 0:05 /sbin/init root 2 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kthreadd] root 3 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [migration/0] root 4 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:16 [ksoftirqd/0] root 5 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [watchdog/0] root 6 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:03 [migration/1] root 7 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 3:10 [ksoftirqd/1] root 8 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [watchdog/1] root 9 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [migration/2] root 10 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:19 [ksoftirqd/2] root 11 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [watchdog/2] root 12 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:01 [migration/3] root 13 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:41 [ksoftirqd/3] root 14 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [watchdog/3] root 15 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:03 [events/0] root 16 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:10 [events/1] root 17 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:08 [events/2] root 18 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:08 [events/3] root 19 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [cpuset] root 20 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [khelper] root 21 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [netns] root 22 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [async/mgr] root 23 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kintegrityd/0] root 24 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kintegrityd/1] root 25 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kintegrityd/2] root 26 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kintegrityd/3] root 27 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kblockd/0] root 28 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:01 [kblockd/1] root 29 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:04 [kblockd/2] root 30 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:02 [kblockd/3] root 31 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kacpid] root 32 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kacpi_notify] root 33 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kacpi_hotplug] root 34 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [ata/0] root 35 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [ata/1] root 36 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [ata/2] root 37 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [ata/3] root 38 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [ata_aux] root 39 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [ksuspend_usbd] root 40 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [khubd] root 41 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kseriod] root 42 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kmmcd] root 43 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [bluetooth] root 44 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S May20 0:00 [khungtaskd] root 45 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S May20 0:00 [pdflush] root 46 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S May20 0:09 [pdflush] root 47 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kswapd0] root 48 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [aio/0] root 49 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [aio/1] root 50 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [aio/2] root 51 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [aio/3] root 52 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [ecryptfs-kthrea] root 53 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [crypto/0] root 54 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [crypto/1] root 55 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [crypto/2] root 56 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [crypto/3] root 70 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [scsi_eh_0] root 71 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [scsi_eh_1] root 74 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [scsi_eh_2] root 75 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [scsi_eh_3] root 82 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kstriped] root 83 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kmpathd/0] root 84 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kmpathd/1] root 85 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kmpathd/2] root 86 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kmpathd/3] root 87 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kmpath_handlerd] root 88 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [ksnapd] root 89 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kondemand/0] root 90 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kondemand/1] root 91 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kondemand/2] root 92 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kondemand/3] root 93 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kconservative/0] root 94 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kconservative/1] root 95 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kconservative/2] root 96 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kconservative/3] root 97 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [krfcommd] root 315 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:09 [mpt_poll_0] root 317 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [mpt/0] root 547 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [scsi_eh_4] root 587 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:11 [kjournald2] root 636 0.0 0.0 12748 860 ? S May20 0:00 upstart-udev-bridge --daemon root 657 0.0 0.0 17064 924 ? S<s May20 0:00 udevd --daemon root 666 0.0 0.0 8192 612 ? Ss May20 0:00 dd bs=1 if=/proc/kmsg of=/var/run/rsyslog/kmsg root 774 0.0 0.0 17060 888 ? S< May20 0:00 udevd --daemon root 775 0.0 0.0 17060 888 ? S< May20 0:00 udevd --daemon syslog 825 0.0 0.0 191696 1988 ? Sl May20 0:31 rsyslogd -c4 root 839 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [edac-poller] root 870 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< May20 0:00 [kpsmoused] root 1006 0.0 0.0 5988 604 tty4 Ss+ May20 0:00 /sbin/getty -8 38400 tty4 root 1008 0.0 0.0 5988 604 tty5 Ss+ May20 0:00 /sbin/getty -8 38400 tty5 root 1015 0.0 0.0 5988 604 tty2 Ss+ May20 0:00 /sbin/getty -8 38400 tty2 root 1016 0.0 0.0 5988 608 tty3 Ss+ May20 0:00 /sbin/getty -8 38400 tty3 root 1018 0.0 0.0 5988 604 tty6 Ss+ May20 0:00 /sbin/getty -8 38400 tty6 daemon 1025 0.0 0.0 16512 472 ? Ss May20 0:00 atd root 1026 0.0 0.0 18708 1000 ? Ss May20 0:03 cron root 1052 0.0 0.0 49072 1252 ? Ss May20 0:25 /usr/sbin/sshd root 1084 0.0 0.0 5988 604 tty1 Ss+ May20 0:00 /sbin/getty -8 38400 tty1 root 6320 0.0 0.0 19440 956 ? Ss May21 0:00 /usr/sbin/xinetd -pidfile /var/run/xinetd.pid -stayalive -inetd_compat -inetd_ipv6 nagios 8197 0.0 0.0 27452 1696 ? SNs May21 2:57 /usr/sbin/nagios3 -d /etc/nagios3/nagios.cfg root 10882 0.1 0.0 70280 3104 ? Ss 10:30 0:00 sshd: mark [priv] mark 10934 0.0 0.0 70432 1776 ? S 10:30 0:00 sshd: mark@pts/0 mark 10935 1.4 0.1 21572 4336 pts/0 Ss 10:30 0:00 -bash root 10953 1.0 0.0 15164 1136 pts/0 R+ 10:30 0:00 ps aux haproxy 12738 0.0 0.0 17208 992 ? Ss Jun08 0:49 /usr/sbin/haproxy -f /etc/haproxy/haproxy.cfg root 23953 0.0 0.0 37012 2192 ? Ss Jun04 0:03 /usr/lib/postfix/master postfix 23955 0.0 0.0 39232 2356 ? S Jun04 0:00 qmgr -l -t fifo -u postfix 32603 0.0 0.0 39072 2132 ? S 09:05 0:00 pickup -l -t fifo -u -c Here's meminfo: $ cat /proc/meminfo MemTotal: 4052852 kB MemFree: 1240488 kB Buffers: 173172 kB Cached: 2376420 kB SwapCached: 0 kB Active: 1479288 kB Inactive: 1081876 kB Active(anon): 11792 kB Inactive(anon): 0 kB Active(file): 1467496 kB Inactive(file): 1081876 kB Unevictable: 0 kB Mlocked: 0 kB SwapTotal: 6361700 kB SwapFree: 6361700 kB Dirty: 44 kB Writeback: 0 kB AnonPages: 11568 kB Mapped: 5844 kB Slab: 155032 kB SReclaimable: 145804 kB SUnreclaim: 9228 kB PageTables: 1592 kB NFS_Unstable: 0 kB Bounce: 0 kB WritebackTmp: 0 kB CommitLimit: 8388124 kB Committed_AS: 51732 kB VmallocTotal: 34359738367 kB VmallocUsed: 282604 kB VmallocChunk: 34359453499 kB HugePages_Total: 0 HugePages_Free: 0 HugePages_Rsvd: 0 HugePages_Surp: 0 Hugepagesize: 2048 kB DirectMap4k: 6784 kB DirectMap2M: 4182016 kB Here's slabinfo: $ cat /proc/slabinfo slabinfo - version: 2.1 # name <active_objs> <num_objs> <objsize> <objperslab> <pagesperslab> : tunables <limit> <batchcount> <sharedfactor> : slabdata <active_slabs> <num_slabs> <sharedavail> ip6_dst_cache 50 50 320 25 2 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 2 2 0 UDPLITEv6 0 0 960 17 4 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 0 0 0 UDPv6 68 68 960 17 4 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 4 4 0 tw_sock_TCPv6 0 0 320 25 2 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 0 0 0 TCPv6 72 72 1792 18 8 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 4 4 0 dm_raid1_read_record 0 0 1064 30 8 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 0 0 0 kcopyd_job 0 0 368 22 2 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 0 0 0 dm_uevent 0 0 2608 12 8 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 0 0 0 dm_rq_target_io 0 0 376 21 2 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 0 0 0 uhci_urb_priv 0 0 56 73 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 0 0 0 cfq_queue 0 0 168 24 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 0 0 0 mqueue_inode_cache 18 18 896 18 4 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 1 1 0 fuse_request 0 0 632 25 4 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 0 0 0 fuse_inode 0 0 768 21 4 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 0 0 0 ecryptfs_inode_cache 0 0 1024 16 4 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 0 0 0 hugetlbfs_inode_cache 26 26 608 26 4 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 1 1 0 journal_handle 680 680 24 170 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 4 4 0 journal_head 144 144 112 36 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 4 4 0 revoke_table 256 256 16 256 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 1 1 0 revoke_record 512 512 32 128 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 4 4 0 ext4_inode_cache 53306 53424 888 18 4 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 2968 2968 0 ext4_free_block_extents 292 292 56 73 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 4 4 0 ext4_alloc_context 112 112 144 28 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 4 4 0 ext4_prealloc_space 156 156 104 39 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 4 4 0 ext4_system_zone 0 0 40 102 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 0 0 0 ext2_inode_cache 0 0 776 21 4 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 0 0 0 ext3_inode_cache 0 0 784 20 4 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 0 0 0 ext3_xattr 0 0 88 46 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 0 0 0 dquot 0 0 256 16 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 0 0 0 shmem_inode_cache 606 620 800 20 4 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 31 31 0 pid_namespace 0 0 2112 15 8 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 0 0 0 UDP-Lite 0 0 832 19 4 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 0 0 0 RAW 183 210 768 21 4 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 10 10 0 UDP 76 76 832 19 4 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 4 4 0 tw_sock_TCP 80 80 256 16 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 5 5 0 TCP 81 114 1664 19 8 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 6 6 0 blkdev_integrity 144 144 112 36 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 4 4 0 blkdev_queue 64 64 2024 16 8 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 4 4 0 blkdev_requests 120 120 336 24 2 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 5 5 0 fsnotify_event 156 156 104 39 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 4 4 0 bip-256 7 7 4224 7 8 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 1 1 0 bip-128 0 0 2176 15 8 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 0 0 0 bip-64 0 0 1152 28 8 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 0 0 0 bip-16 84 84 384 21 2 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 4 4 0 sock_inode_cache 224 276 704 23 4 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 12 12 0 file_lock_cache 88 88 184 22 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 4 4 0 net_namespace 0 0 1920 17 8 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 0 0 0 Acpi-ParseExt 640 672 72 56 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 12 12 0 taskstats 48 48 328 24 2 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 2 2 0 proc_inode_cache 1613 1750 640 25 4 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 70 70 0 sigqueue 100 100 160 25 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 4 4 0 radix_tree_node 22443 22475 560 29 4 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 775 775 0 bdev_cache 72 72 896 18 4 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 4 4 0 sysfs_dir_cache 9866 9894 80 51 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 194 194 0 inode_cache 2268 2268 592 27 4 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 84 84 0 dentry 285907 286062 192 21 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 13622 13622 0 buffer_head 256447 257472 112 36 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 7152 7152 0 vm_area_struct 1469 1541 176 23 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 67 67 0 mm_struct 82 95 832 19 4 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 5 5 0 files_cache 104 161 704 23 4 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 7 7 0 signal_cache 163 187 960 17 4 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 11 11 0 sighand_cache 145 165 2112 15 8 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 11 11 0 task_xstate 118 140 576 28 4 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 5 5 0 task_struct 128 165 5808 5 8 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 33 33 0 anon_vma 731 896 32 128 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 7 7 0 shared_policy_node 85 85 48 85 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 1 1 0 numa_policy 170 170 24 170 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 1 1 0 idr_layer_cache 240 240 544 30 4 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 8 8 0 kmalloc-8192 27 32 8192 4 8 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 8 8 0 kmalloc-4096 291 344 4096 8 8 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 43 43 0 kmalloc-2048 225 240 2048 16 8 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 15 15 0 kmalloc-1024 366 432 1024 16 4 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 27 27 0 kmalloc-512 536 544 512 16 2 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 34 34 0 kmalloc-256 406 528 256 16 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 33 33 0 kmalloc-128 503 576 128 32 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 18 18 0 kmalloc-64 3467 3712 64 64 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 58 58 0 kmalloc-32 1520 1920 32 128 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 15 15 0 kmalloc-16 3547 3840 16 256 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 15 15 0 kmalloc-8 4607 4608 8 512 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 9 9 0 kmalloc-192 4620 5313 192 21 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 253 253 0 kmalloc-96 1780 1848 96 42 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 44 44 0 kmem_cache_node 0 0 64 64 1 : tunables 0 0 0 : slabdata 0 0 0

  Read the article

< Previous Page | 113 114 115 116 117