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• Nginx configuration leads to endless redirect loop

  - by brianthecoder

  So I've looked at every sample configuration I could find and yet every time I try and view a page that requires ssl, I end up in an redirect loop. I'm running nginx/0.8.53 and passenger 3.0.2. Here's the ssl config server { listen 443 default ssl; server_name <redacted>.com www.<redacted>.com; root /home/app/<redacted>/public; passenger_enabled on; rails_env production; ssl_certificate /home/app/ssl/<redacted>.com.pem; ssl_certificate_key /home/app/ssl/<redacted>.key; proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr; proxy_set_header X_FORWARDED_PROTO https; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for; proxy_set_header Host $http_host; proxy_set_header X-Url-Scheme $scheme; proxy_redirect off; proxy_max_temp_file_size 0; location /blog { rewrite ^/blog(/.*)?$ http://blog.<redacted>.com/$1 permanent; } location ~* \.(js|css|jpg|jpeg|gif|png)$ { if (-f $request_filename) { expires max; break; } } error_page 500 502 503 504 /50x.html; location = /50x.html { root html; } } Here's the non-ssl config server { listen 80; server_name <redacted>.com www.<redacted>.com; root /home/app/<redacted>/public; passenger_enabled on; rails_env production; location /blog { rewrite ^/blog(/.*)?$ http://blog.<redacted>.com/$1 permanent; } location ~* \.(js|css|jpg|jpeg|gif|png)$ { if (-f $request_filename) { expires max; break; } } error_page 500 502 503 504 /50x.html; location = /50x.html { root html; } } Let me know if there's any additional info I can give to help diagnose the issue.

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• exim4 seem to stop listening

  - by trakos

  Hey, I have a strange problem with my exim4 configuration. I have a dedicated server running debian for quite a long time now, but I'm not really using it actively recently, so everything just worked due to lack of changes ;) However, recently, my exim4 smtp stopped answering on port 25. It does not respond through localhost, as well - even though it's set to listen on any interface available. Some things I've checked: ks:/home/trakos/Maildir/new# netstat -ap | grep exim tcp 0 0 *:smtp : LISTEN 12521/exim4 ks:/home/trakos/Maildir/new# exiwhat 12521 daemon: -q30s, listening for SMTP on port 25 (IPv4) ks:/home/trakos/Maildir/new# cat /var/log/exim4/rejectlog ks:/home/trakos/Maildir/new# cat /var/log/exim4/paniclog The queue is set for 30s only because I was running it in a non-daemon mode to see any output. Strangely enough, no suspicious output is given, netstat even shows it is listening on port 25, but still trying to telnet to it times out. The only things that may have changed recently are: I've got second IP for my server I remember that few days ago my spamassasin crashed, and I've started it up again So yeah, I'm really clueless about this one now :P I mean, I don't even know what could be failing here. Could someone give me some ideas what should I check next? PS: it has uptime of 442 days, so I haven't really tried rebooting it yet ^^

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• How to reinstall bootloader after migration to SSD

  - by hijarian

  I must say, it was difficult to name this question. Basically, I need to properly reinstall the bootloader on my system, because I already have the working system disks for my OSes. The long story is this: I had the large slow HDD with Windows7 & Debian Wheezy dual-boot on it, perfectly bootable. Then, I ordered the SSD drive and prepared my system partitions to fit onto the much smaller SSD. I wanted the following schema: 128 GB Windows 24 GB / on Debian 86 GB /home on Debian Strange size for /home because there's no such thing as true 256GB disk drive. So, I've prepared such a partitions on my initial HDD and installed the new SSD and then I loaded the GParted live USB (can't remember now how it was really named), and then just copypasted the partitions from HDD to SSD. So, now I have the following partitions across the physical disks: SSD 128 GB copy of original Windows partition 24 GB copy of presumably Debian / 86 GB copy of presumably Debian /home HDD 128 GB Windows 24 GB / on Debian 86 GB /home on Debian ... several other partitions with non-system data ... And the behavior of the system right after the Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V in GParted was as follows: no GRUB, system boots right into the Windows on HDD. In BIOS settings are to boot from SSD first. I managed to create the Debian Testing installation USB and loaded it into the rescue mode, found that it identified my SSD as /dev/sda and installed the GRUB to the /dev/sda. Now my system loads the GRUB which lists both Windows and Debian. From HDD. So, I am now back into initial position. Please, how I should set up the GRUB so it'll load the OSes correctly from SSD? Should I fire up my Debian, fiddle with the GRUB's config and reinstall it again to the same place (at SSD)?

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• Why doesn't SSHFS let me look into a mounted directory?

  - by Jan

  I use SSHFS to mount a directory on a remote server. There is a user xxx on client and server. UID and GID are identical on both boxes. I use sshfs -o kernel_cache -o auto_cache -o reconnect -o compression=no \ -o cache_timeout=600 -o ServerAliveInterval=15 \ [email protected]:/mnt/content /home/xxx/path_to/content to mount the directory on the remote server. When I log in as xxx on the client I have no problems. I can cd into /home/xxx/path_to/content. But when I log in on the client as another user zzz and then $ ls -l /home/xxx/path_to I get this d????????? ? ? ? ? ? content and on $ ls -l /home/xxx/path_to/content I get ls: cannot access content: Permission denied When I do $ ls -l /mnt on the remote server I get drwxr-xr-x 6 xxx xxx 4096 2011-07-25 12:51 content What am I doing wrong? The permissions seem to be correct to me. Am I wrong?

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• Remove an apache alias subdirectory

  - by Hippyjim

  I'm using Apache 2 on Ubuntu 12.04. I added an alias for a subdirectory, to point to gitweb. I realised I should probably make it accessible only on https - so I removed the alias and restarted Apache. I can still navigate to http://xyz/gitweb - even with no alias in any of my config files. How do I remove it? EDIT The config file looked like this before: <VirtualHost *:80> ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost DocumentRoot /home/administrator/webroot <Directory /> Options FollowSymLinks AllowOverride None </Directory> <Directory /home/administrator/webroot/> Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews AllowOverride All Order allow,deny allow from all </Directory> Alias /gitweb/ /usr/share/gitweb/ <Directory /usr/share/gitweb/> Options ExecCGI +FollowSymLinks +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch AllowOverride All order allow,deny Allow from all AddHandler cgi-script cgiDirectory Index gitweb.cgi </Directory> ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /usr/lib/cgi-bin/ <Directory "/usr/lib/cgi-bin"> AllowOverride None Options +ExecCGI -MultiViews +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch Order allow,deny Allow from all </Directory> ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log # Possible values include: debug, info, notice, warn, error, crit, # alert, emerg. LogLevel warn CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined </VirtualHost> And this after: <VirtualHost *:80> ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost DocumentRoot /home/administrator/webroot <Directory /> Options FollowSymLinks AllowOverride None </Directory> <Directory /home/administrator/webroot/> Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews AllowOverride All Order allow,deny allow from all </Directory> ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /usr/lib/cgi-bin/ <Directory "/usr/lib/cgi-bin"> AllowOverride None Options +ExecCGI -MultiViews +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch Order allow,deny Allow from all </Directory> ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log # Possible values include: debug, info, notice, warn, error, crit, # alert, emerg. LogLevel warn CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined </VirtualHost>

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• Port(s) not forwarding?

  - by user11189

  I have cable internet service through Charter Communications and feed two desktop computers through a Linksys RP614v3 router. One system is my wife's running WinXP Home Edition and the other is mine, running Vista Home Premium (sp1). I have port forwarding configured in the Linksys so I can access the Vista system remotely using TightVNC. Initially, it worked great and I was able to remotely tend email and access local files while out of town for work. Lately, the cable internet service appears to flicker intermittently and upon return, my Mailwasher program loses ability to access the net and I've been unable to make the remote connection. When I reset the port forwarded for email in the router control panel, Mailwasher functionality returns but as I'm home when that happens, I have no easy way to check remote access until the next time I'm on the road or at work. I'm at my wit's end -- the TightVNC client accesses fine from my wife's system from behind the modem/router setup but I don't know how to maintain whatever gets reset when I fiddle with the control panel and the need to do so at all is new. I accessed it fine for a week off and on while out of town a month ago and now I can't leave home and access it from work an hour later.

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• Ubuntu Launcher Items Don't Have Correct Environment Vars under NX

  - by ivarley

  I've got an environment variable issue I'm having trouble resolving. I'm running Ubuntu (Karmic, 9.10) and coming in via NX (NoMachine) on a Mac. I've added several environment variables in my .bashrc file, e.g.: export JAVA_HOME=$HOME/dev/tools/Linux/jdk/jdk1.6.0_16/ Sitting at the machine, this environment variable is available on the command line, as well as for apps I launch from the Main Menu. Coming in over NX, however, the environment variable shows up correctly on the command line, but NOT when I launch things via the launcher. As an example, I created a simple shell script called testpath in my home folder: #!/bin/sh echo $PATH && sleep 5 quit I gave it execute privileges: chmod +x testpath And then I created a launcher item in my Main Menu that simply runs: ./testpath When I'm sitting at the computer, this launcher runs and shows all the stuff I put into the $PATH variable in my .bashrc file (e.g. $JAVA_HOME, etc). But when I come in over NX, it shows a totally different value for the $PATH variable, despite the fact that if I launch a terminal window (still in NX), and type export $PATH, it shows up correctly. I assume this has to do with which files are getting loaded by the windowing system over NX, and that it's some other file. But I have no idea how to fix it. For the record, I also have a .profile file with the following in it: # if running bash if [ -n "$BASH_VERSION" ]; then # include .bashrc if it exists if [ -f "$HOME/.bashrc" ]; then . "$HOME/.bashrc" fi fi

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• Remote Desktop leaves host unresponsive

  - by Jeff Dalley

  I have my desktop PC at home set up to accept remote connections, and I often connect to it from work on my laptop via mstsc.exe. However, every time I remote to it, I find when I go home that despite the monitor being on - it's not receiving an image and it looks as though the computer is hibernating/asleep. I basically have to restart it whenever I get home and I know there's an answer for why its doing this. More details: When exiting the remote session, I have tried both logging off the account, and closing the RDP window without logging off; both give the same result. When I get home to the desktop I of course try moving the mouse, ctrl+alt+del to see if its responsive to restart, multiple key-press to see if I can get any audio out of it; It seems pretty obvious its sleeping/hibernating in some way: Nothing happens in any of these cases and a physical restart is necessary. Both desktop and laptop are running Windows 7 Ultimate. I'm thinking it really is sleeping/hibernating it, and I'm not sure why because left alone my desktop's power options are set to never turn off the HDD or change its state - I leave it on 24/7. This could be a stupid error on my part but I just can't see it! Thanks.

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• Why just splitting an Ethernet cable does not work?

  - by Sin Jeong-hun

  I thought the Ethernet is logically one-line communication bus (for argument's sake, I am excluding hubs). All machines attached in the bus hears the same signals and the machines themselves try to avoid collisions by randomly backing off. http://computer.howstuffworks.com/ethernet6.htm If so, why splitting one Ethernet line from my home router into two and connecting two computers would not work? Why do I have to add a switch to it? *What the Internet said would not work. [4 port home router] ------[one Ethernet cable]-----[simple splitter]======[two computers] *What the Internet said I should do [4 port home router] ------[one Ethernet cable]-----[switch]======[two computers] Is this because of the signal degradation (reduced electric current)? Thank you for all the answers! The reason why I did not just use the two ports of my home router is... The 4-port gigabit router is in my room and I had put a computer in another room (also my room, though). Since wired network is far more reliable and secure, I had bought a long Ethernet cable and and connected the computer to the router. Now I was thinking about adding another computer to that room. I could buy another long Ethernet cable, but then there will be two cables between the rooms. The one line already is a minor annoyance, so I thought if I could share the one line between the two computers in that room. A switch would work, but it requires power and is a little bit pricey. That is why I wondered why it would not work to simply split the physical Ethernet cable. Apparently I do not completely understand how Ethernet and a switch work. I just have some bit of knowledge I heard in my college class.

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• ProxyPass for specific vhost

  - by Steve Robbins

  I have a web server that it set up to dynamically server different document roots for different domains <VirtualHost *:80> <IfModule mod_rewrite.c> # Stage sites :: www.[document root].server.company.com => /home/www/[document root] RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.[^.]+\.server\.company\.com$ RewriteRule ^(.+) %{HTTP_HOST}$1 [C] RewriteRule ^www\.([^.]+)\.server\.company\.com(.*) /home/www/$1/$2 [L] </IfModule> </VirtualHost> This makes it so that www.foo.server.company.com will serve the document root of server.company.com:/home/www/foo/ For one of these sites, I need to add a ProxyPass, but I only want it to be applied to that one site. I tried something like <VirtualHost *:80> <Directory /home/www/foo> UseCanonicalName Off ProxyPreserveHost On ProxyRequests Off ProxyPass /services http://www-test.foo.com/services ProxyPassReverse /services http://www-test.foo.com/services </Directory> </VirtualHost> But then I get these errors ProxyPreserveHost not allowed here ProxyPass|ProxyPassMatch can not have a path when defined in a location. How can I set up a ProxyPass for a single virtual host?

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• Google Sites (via Apps) setup questions

  - by Dave

  I thought that it would be a piece of cake to set up a Google site via Google Apps, but perhaps my previous (limited) experience with web development has given me unrealistic expectations. I have actually had a really tough time finding help with the exact question that I have, which is: How do I change the home page contents??? You see, I'm used to having hosting with someone like GoDaddy, where I can just ftp in and drop my HTML files in the www folder. From research I have found that this is simply not possible with any flavor of Google Sites. That's fine, I can live with it. So let's say I have www.mydomain.com. When I hit that URL, it redirects me to a very long URL (unfortunately) like https://sites.google.com/a/mydomain.com/sites/system/app/pages/meta/domainWelcome, which just says: Google Apps Welcome to mydomain.com If you are the domain administrator get started creating your home page with Google Sites Great! I want to do that. So I click on the "If you are the..." link and end up at a screen where I can choose a template, a name, and some visibility options. If I click on My Sites, there isn't a "default" site, i.e. the one that www.mydomain.com displays. I figured that maybe I just have to create a site first, so I went ahead and did that. My first test was to create a site that was publicly accessible. I thought that maybe if I did that, the Google would decide that this must be my home page since it's the only one. But it doesn't, and I still get the "Welcome to" page. Under "More Actions", I didn't see anything interesting except for "Manage site". I went in there and had a peek around, and didn't see anything about using this as the default home page. Am I looking for something that just doesn't exist? I can't believe there isn't a way to modify the "domain welcome to" page...

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• NginxHttpAuthBasicModule with Sinatra & Passenger

  - by scainey

  Hi, I'm serving static pages from a Sinatra application using Nginx. I've implemented Basic Authentication for one page on the site using NginxHttpAuthBasicModule, the authentication succeeds but Nginx doesn't resolve the link. Error log gives - 2010/03/22 12:15:19 [error] 7143#0: *2902 open() "/home/me/live/mysite_home/public /mypage" failed (2: No such file or directory), client: 82.71.18.122, server: mysite.com, request: "GET /mypage HTTP/1.1", host: "mysite.com" The actual file is found at: /home/me/live/mysite_home/live/mypage.erb The configuration file is: server { listen 80; server_name mysite.com; root /home/me/live/mysite_home/public; passenger_enabled on; location /mypage { auth_basic "Restricted"; auth_basic_user_file htpasswd; } } server { listen 443; server_name mysite.com; root /home/me/live/mysite_home/public; passenger_enabled on; ssl on; ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/conf/certs/server.crt; ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/conf/certs/server.key; keepalive_timeout 70; location /mypage { auth_basic "Restricted"; auth_basic_user_file htpasswd; } } Not sure if this is a Sinatra, Passenger or Nginx thing, or if I'm just missing something.

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• File upload folder permission fastCGI - How to make it writeable?

  - by user6595

  I am using centos 5.7 with cPanel WHM running fastcgi/suEXEC I am trying to make a particular folder writable to allow a script to upload files but seem to be having problems. The folder (and all recursive folders) I want to be writable is: /home/mydomain/public_html/uploads And I want only scripts run by the user "songbanc" to be able to write to this directory. I have tried the following: chown -R songbanc /home/mydomain/public_html/uploads chmod -R 755 /home/mydomain/public_html/uploads But it still doesn't seem to work. The script will only upload files if I set the permissions manually via FTP client to 777. I assume I am misunderstanding how to set permission for users with fastcgi and hopefully someone can help me. Thanks in advance EDIT: Running getfacl on one of the scripts or folders gives the following: # file: home/mydomain/public_html/ripples/1.jpg # owner: songbanc # group: songbanc So it appears that the owner is correct? I'm now totally confused! EDIT 2: The plot thickens... lsattr and chattr are returning Inappropriate ioctl for device While reading flags on...

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• Sudo won't execute command as another user

  - by TOdorus

  I'm trying to get a unicorn server to start when the server boots. I've created a shell script which works if I log as the ubuntu user and run /etc/init.d/unicorn start Shell script #!/bin/sh case "$1" in start) cd /home/ubuntu/projects/asbest/current/ unicorn_rails -c /home/ubuntu/projects/asbest/current/config/unicorn.rb -D -E production ;; stop) if ps aux | awk '{print $2 }' | grep `cat ~/projects/asbest/current/tmp/pids/unicorn.pid`> /dev/null; then kill `cat ~/projects/asbest/current/tmp/pids/uni$ ;; restart) $0 stop $0 start ;; esac When I rebooted the server I noticed that the unicorn server wasn't listening to a socket. Since I ran the code succesfully as the ubuntu user I modified the script to let it always use the ubuntu user via sudo. #!/bin/sh case "$1" in start) cd /home/ubuntu/projects/asbest/current/ sudo -u ubuntu unicorn_rails -c /home/ubuntu/projects/asbest/current/config/unicorn.rb -D -E production ;; stop) if ps aux | awk '{print $2 }' | grep `cat ~/projects/asbest/current/tmp/pids/unicorn.pid`> /dev/null; then sudo -u ubuntu kill `cat ~/projects/asbest/current/tmp/pids/uni$ ;; restart) $0 stop $0 start ;; esac After rebooting unicorn still wouldn't start, so I tried running the script from the command line. Now I get the following error sudo: unicorn_rails: command not found I've searched high and low to what could cause this, but I'm afraid I've tapped my limited understanding of Linux. From what I can understand is that although sudo should use the ubuntu user to execute the commands, it still uses the environment of the root user, which isn't configured to run ruby or unicorn. Does anybody have any experience with this?

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• PPTP VPN on Server 2008 Enterprise

  - by Mike K

  I asked this question on Server fault and was told that was not allowed so im moving it here. I am running Windows Server 2008 enterprise in my HOME network inside of vmware workstation. I am running this on my home network to setup a PPTP VPN connection at home. I have correctly setup everything I needed to make it work, including opening all the ports, 1723 and 43 (GRE). I am able to connect just fine, but when I connect I dont have internet unless I uncheck use remote gateway. The thing is, I want to use the remote gateway to route all my traffic through that connection. Can someone tell me why this isnt working and how to get it to work. When I have remote gateway checked, and I do an ipconfig I dont get a remote gateway for the VPN connection, its 0.0.0.0 when id assume if connected properly should be 192.168.1.254 (my ATT Home Router). Also, if I cant get the remote gateway issue to work, and I have to uncheck that box to get internet, does this mean my VPN session is no longer encrypted? I am fully aware the PPTP VPN is the weakest VPN encryption out there but still having that extra layer of security when im on an unsecure wifi connection makes me feel a bit better. Thank you for all your help in advance. Someone told me I need to setup a gateway or router configured on the server. If thats the case, how go I go about telling the remote co

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• NginxHttpAuthBasicModule with Sinatra & Passenger

  - by scainey

  I'm serving static pages from a Sinatra application using Nginx. I've implemented Basic Authentication for one page on the site using NginxHttpAuthBasicModule, the authentication succeeds but Nginx doesn't resolve the link. Error log gives - 2010/03/22 12:15:19 [error] 7143#0: *2902 open() "/home/me/live/mysite_home/public /mypage" failed (2: No such file or directory), client: 82.71.18.122, server: mysite.com, request: "GET /mypage HTTP/1.1", host: "mysite.com" The actual file is found at: /home/me/live/mysite_home/live/mypage.erb The configuration file is: server { listen 80; server_name mysite.com; root /home/me/live/mysite_home/public; passenger_enabled on; location /mypage { auth_basic "Restricted"; auth_basic_user_file htpasswd; } } server { listen 443; server_name mysite.com; root /home/me/live/mysite_home/public; passenger_enabled on; ssl on; ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/conf/certs/server.crt; ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/conf/certs/server.key; keepalive_timeout 70; location /mypage { auth_basic "Restricted"; auth_basic_user_file htpasswd; } } Not sure if this is a Sinatra, Passenger or Nginx thing, or if I'm just missing something.

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• SQL Server 2012 - AlwaysOn

  - by Claus Jandausch

  Ich war nicht nur irritiert, ich war sogar regelrecht schockiert - und für einen kurzen Moment sprachlos (was nur selten der Fall ist). Gerade eben hatte mich jemand gefragt "Wann Oracle denn etwas Vergleichbares wie AlwaysOn bieten würde - und ob überhaupt?" War ich hier im falschen Film gelandet? Ich konnte nicht anders, als meinen Unmut kundzutun und zu erklären, dass die Fragestellung normalerweise anders herum läuft. Zugegeben - es mag vielleicht strittige Punkte geben im Vergleich zwischen Oracle und SQL Server - bei denen nicht unbedingt immer Oracle die Nase vorn haben muss - aber das Thema Clustering für Hochverfügbarkeit (HA), Disaster Recovery (DR) und Skalierbarkeit gehört mit Sicherheit nicht dazu. Dieses Erlebnis hakte ich am Nachgang als Einzelfall ab, der so nie wieder vorkommen würde. Bis ich kurz darauf eines Besseren belehrt wurde und genau die selbe Frage erneut zu hören bekam. Diesmal sogar im Exadata-Umfeld und einem Oracle Stretch Cluster. Einmal ist keinmal, doch zweimal ist einmal zu viel... Getreu diesem alten Motto war mir klar, dass man das so nicht länger stehen lassen konnte. Ich habe keine Ahnung, wie die Microsoft Marketing Abteilung es geschafft hat, unter dem AlwaysOn Brading eine innovative Technologie vermuten zu lassen - aber sie hat ihren Job scheinbar gut gemacht. Doch abgesehen von einem guten Marketing, stellt sich natürlich die Frage, was wirklich dahinter steckt und wie sich das Ganze mit Oracle vergleichen lässt - und ob überhaupt? Damit wären wir wieder bei der ursprünglichen Frage angelangt.  So viel zum Hintergrund dieses Blogbeitrags - von meiner Antwort handelt der restliche Blog. "Windows was the God ..." Um den wahren Unterschied zwischen Oracle und Microsoft verstehen zu können, muss man zunächst das bedeutendste Microsoft Dogma kennen. Es lässt sich schlicht und einfach auf den Punkt bringen: "Alles muss auf Windows basieren." Die Überschrift dieses Absatzes ist kein von mir erfundener Ausspruch, sondern ein Zitat. Konkret stammt es aus einem längeren Artikel von Kurt Eichenwald in der Vanity Fair aus dem August 2012. Er lautet Microsoft's Lost Decade und sei jedem ans Herz gelegt, der die "Microsoft-Maschinerie" unter Steve Ballmer und einige ihrer Kuriositäten besser verstehen möchte. "YOU TALKING TO ME?" Microsoft C.E.O. Steve Ballmer bei seiner Keynote auf der 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas am 9. Januar   Manche Dinge in diesem Artikel mögen überspitzt dargestellt erscheinen - sind sie aber nicht. Vieles davon kannte ich bereits aus eigener Erfahrung und kann es nur bestätigen. Anderes hat sich mir erst so richtig erschlossen. Insbesondere die folgenden Passagen führten zum Aha-Erlebnis: “Windows was the god—everything had to work with Windows,” said Stone... “Every little thing you want to write has to build off of Windows (or other existing roducts),” one software engineer said. “It can be very confusing, …” Ich habe immer schon darauf hingewiesen, dass in einem SQL Server Failover Cluster die Microsoft Datenbank eigentlich nichts Nenneswertes zum Geschehen beiträgt, sondern sich voll und ganz auf das Windows Betriebssystem verlässt. Deshalb muss man auch die Windows Server Enterprise Edition installieren, soll ein Failover Cluster für den SQL Server eingerichtet werden. Denn hier werden die Cluster Services geliefert - nicht mit dem SQL Server. Er ist nur lediglich ein weiteres Server Produkt, für das Windows in Ausfallszenarien genutzt werden kann - so wie Microsoft Exchange beispielsweise, oder Microsoft SharePoint, oder irgendein anderes Server Produkt das auf Windows gehostet wird. Auch Oracle kann damit genutzt werden. Das Stichwort lautet hier: Oracle Failsafe. Nur - warum sollte man das tun, wenn gleichzeitig eine überlegene Technologie wie die Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) zur Verfügung steht, die dann auch keine Windows Enterprise Edition voraussetzen, da Oracle die eigene Clusterware liefert. Welche darüber hinaus für kürzere Failover-Zeiten sorgt, da diese Cluster-Technologie Datenbank-integriert ist und sich nicht auf "Dritte" verlässt. Wenn man sich also schon keine technischen Vorteile mit einem SQL Server Failover Cluster erkauft, sondern zusätzlich noch versteckte Lizenzkosten durch die Lizenzierung der Windows Server Enterprise Edition einhandelt, warum hat Microsoft dann in den vergangenen Jahren seit SQL Server 2000 nicht ebenfalls an einer neuen und innovativen Lösung gearbeitet, die mit Oracle RAC mithalten kann? Entwickler hat Microsoft genügend? Am Geld kann es auch nicht liegen? Lesen Sie einfach noch einmal die beiden obenstehenden Zitate und sie werden den Grund verstehen. Anders lässt es sich ja auch gar nicht mehr erklären, dass AlwaysOn aus zwei unterschiedlichen Technologien besteht, die beide jedoch wiederum auf dem Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) basieren. Denn daraus ergeben sich klare Nachteile - aber dazu später mehr. Um AlwaysOn zu verstehen, sollte man sich zunächst kurz in Erinnerung rufen, was Microsoft bisher an HA/DR (High Availability/Desaster Recovery) Lösungen für SQL Server zur Verfügung gestellt hat. Replikation Basiert auf logischer Replikation und Pubisher/Subscriber Architektur Transactional Replication Merge Replication Snapshot Replication Microsoft's Replikation ist vergleichbar mit Oracle GoldenGate. Oracle GoldenGate stellt jedoch die umfassendere Technologie dar und bietet High Performance. Log Shipping Microsoft's Log Shipping stellt eine einfache Technologie dar, die vergleichbar ist mit Oracle Managed Recovery in Oracle Version 7. Das Log Shipping besitzt folgende Merkmale: Transaction Log Backups werden von Primary nach Secondary/ies geschickt Einarbeitung (z.B. Restore) auf jedem Secondary individuell Optionale dritte Server Instanz (Monitor Server) für Überwachung und Alarm Log Restore Unterbrechung möglich für Read-Only Modus (Secondary) Keine Unterstützung von Automatic Failover Database Mirroring Microsoft's Database Mirroring wurde verfügbar mit SQL Server 2005, sah aus wie Oracle Data Guard in Oracle 9i, war funktional jedoch nicht so umfassend. Für ein HA/DR Paar besteht eine 1:1 Beziehung, um die produktive Datenbank (Principle DB) abzusichern. Auf der Standby Datenbank (Mirrored DB) werden alle Insert-, Update- und Delete-Operationen nachgezogen. Modi Synchron (High-Safety Modus) Asynchron (High-Performance Modus) Automatic Failover Unterstützt im High-Safety Modus (synchron) Witness Server vorausgesetzt     Zur Frage der Kontinuität Es stellt sich die Frage, wie es um diesen Technologien nun im Zusammenhang mit SQL Server 2012 bestellt ist. Unter Fanfaren seinerzeit eingeführt, war Database Mirroring das erklärte Mittel der Wahl. Ich bin kein Produkt Manager bei Microsoft und kann hierzu nur meine Meinung äußern, aber zieht man den SQL AlwaysOn Team Blog heran, so sieht es nicht gut aus für das Database Mirroring - zumindest nicht langfristig. "Does AlwaysOn Availability Group replace Database Mirroring going forward?” “The short answer is we recommend that you migrate from the mirroring configuration or even mirroring and log shipping configuration to using Availability Group. Database Mirroring will still be available in the Denali release but will be phased out over subsequent releases. Log Shipping will continue to be available in future releases.” Damit wären wir endlich beim eigentlichen Thema angelangt. Was ist eine sogenannte Availability Group und was genau hat es mit der vielversprechend klingenden Bezeichnung AlwaysOn auf sich?   SQL Server 2012 - AlwaysOn Zwei HA-Features verstekcne sich hinter dem “AlwaysOn”-Branding. Einmal das AlwaysOn Failover Clustering aka SQL Server Failover Cluster Instances (FCI) - zum Anderen die AlwaysOn Availability Groups. Failover Cluster Instances (FCI) Entspricht ungefähr dem Stretch Cluster Konzept von Oracle Setzt auf Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) auf Bietet HA auf Instanz-Ebene AlwaysOn Availability Groups (Verfügbarkeitsgruppen) Ähnlich der Idee von Consistency Groups, wie in Storage-Level Replikations-Software von z.B. EMC SRDF Abhängigkeiten zu Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) Bietet HA auf Datenbank-Ebene   Hinweis: Verwechseln Sie nicht eine SQL Server Datenbank mit einer Oracle Datenbank. Und auch nicht eine Oracle Instanz mit einer SQL Server Instanz. Die gleichen Begriffe haben hier eine andere Bedeutung - nicht selten ein Grund, weshalb Oracle- und Microsoft DBAs schnell aneinander vorbei reden. Denken Sie bei einer SQL Server Datenbank eher an ein Oracle Schema, das kommt der Sache näher. So etwas wie die SQL Server Northwind Datenbank ist vergleichbar mit dem Oracle Scott Schema. Wenn Sie die genauen Unterschiede kennen möchten, finden Sie eine detaillierte Beschreibung in meinem Buch "Oracle10g Release 2 für Windows und .NET", erhältich bei Lehmanns, Amazon, etc.   Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) Wie man sieht, basieren beide AlwaysOn Technologien wiederum auf dem Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC), um einerseits Hochverfügbarkeit auf Ebene der Instanz zu gewährleisten und andererseits auf der Datenbank-Ebene. Deshalb nun eine kurze Beschreibung der WSFC. Die WSFC sind ein mit dem Windows Betriebssystem geliefertes Infrastruktur-Feature, um HA für Server Anwendungen, wie Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, SQL Server, etc. zu bieten. So wie jeder andere Cluster, besteht ein WSFC Cluster aus einer Gruppe unabhängiger Server, die zusammenarbeiten, um die Verfügbarkeit einer Applikation oder eines Service zu erhöhen. Falls ein Cluster-Knoten oder -Service ausfällt, kann der auf diesem Knoten bisher gehostete Service automatisch oder manuell auf einen anderen im Cluster verfügbaren Knoten transferriert werden - was allgemein als Failover bekannt ist. Unter SQL Server 2012 verwenden sowohl die AlwaysOn Avalability Groups, als auch die AlwaysOn Failover Cluster Instances die WSFC als Plattformtechnologie, um Komponenten als WSFC Cluster-Ressourcen zu registrieren. Verwandte Ressourcen werden in eine Ressource Group zusammengefasst, die in Abhängigkeit zu anderen WSFC Cluster-Ressourcen gebracht werden kann. Der WSFC Cluster Service kann jetzt die Notwendigkeit zum Neustart der SQL Server Instanz erfassen oder einen automatischen Failover zu einem anderen Server-Knoten im WSFC Cluster auslösen.   Failover Cluster Instances (FCI) Eine SQL Server Failover Cluster Instanz (FCI) ist eine einzelne SQL Server Instanz, die in einem Failover Cluster betrieben wird, der aus mehreren Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) Knoten besteht und so HA (High Availability) auf Ebene der Instanz bietet. Unter Verwendung von Multi-Subnet FCI kann auch Remote DR (Disaster Recovery) unterstützt werden. Eine weitere Option für Remote DR besteht darin, eine unter FCI gehostete Datenbank in einer Availability Group zu betreiben. Hierzu später mehr. FCI und WSFC Basis FCI, das für lokale Hochverfügbarkeit der Instanzen genutzt wird, ähnelt der veralteten Architektur eines kalten Cluster (Aktiv-Passiv). Unter SQL Server 2008 wurde diese Technologie SQL Server 2008 Failover Clustering genannt. Sie nutzte den Windows Server Failover Cluster. In SQL Server 2012 hat Microsoft diese Basistechnologie unter der Bezeichnung AlwaysOn zusammengefasst. Es handelt sich aber nach wie vor um die klassische Aktiv-Passiv-Konfiguration. Der Ablauf im Failover-Fall ist wie folgt: Solange kein Hardware-oder System-Fehler auftritt, werden alle Dirty Pages im Buffer Cache auf Platte geschrieben Alle entsprechenden SQL Server Services (Dienste) in der Ressource Gruppe werden auf dem aktiven Knoten gestoppt Die Ownership der Ressource Gruppe wird auf einen anderen Knoten der FCI transferriert Der neue Owner (Besitzer) der Ressource Gruppe startet seine SQL Server Services (Dienste) Die Connection-Anforderungen einer Client-Applikation werden automatisch auf den neuen aktiven Knoten mit dem selben Virtuellen Network Namen (VNN) umgeleitet Abhängig vom Zeitpunkt des letzten Checkpoints, kann die Anzahl der Dirty Pages im Buffer Cache, die noch auf Platte geschrieben werden müssen, zu unvorhersehbar langen Failover-Zeiten führen. Um diese Anzahl zu drosseln, besitzt der SQL Server 2012 eine neue Fähigkeit, die Indirect Checkpoints genannt wird. Indirect Checkpoints ähnelt dem Fast-Start MTTR Target Feature der Oracle Datenbank, das bereits mit Oracle9i verfügbar war.   SQL Server Multi-Subnet Clustering Ein SQL Server Multi-Subnet Failover Cluster entspricht vom Konzept her einem Oracle RAC Stretch Cluster. Doch dies ist nur auf den ersten Blick der Fall. Im Gegensatz zu RAC ist in einem lokalen SQL Server Failover Cluster jeweils nur ein Knoten aktiv für eine Datenbank. Für die Datenreplikation zwischen geografisch entfernten Sites verlässt sich Microsoft auf 3rd Party Lösungen für das Storage Mirroring.     Die Verbesserung dieses Szenario mit einer SQL Server 2012 Implementierung besteht schlicht darin, dass eine VLAN-Konfiguration (Virtual Local Area Network) nun nicht mehr benötigt wird, so wie dies bisher der Fall war. Das folgende Diagramm stellt dar, wie der Ablauf mit SQL Server 2012 gehandhabt wird. In Site A und Site B wird HA jeweils durch einen lokalen Aktiv-Passiv-Cluster sichergestellt.     Besondere Aufmerksamkeit muss hier der Konfiguration und dem Tuning geschenkt werden, da ansonsten völlig inakzeptable Failover-Zeiten resultieren. Dies liegt darin begründet, weil die Downtime auf Client-Seite nun nicht mehr nur von der reinen Failover-Zeit abhängt, sondern zusätzlich von der Dauer der DNS Replikation zwischen den DNS Servern. (Rufen Sie sich in Erinnerung, dass wir gerade von Multi-Subnet Clustering sprechen). Außerdem ist zu berücksichtigen, wie schnell die Clients die aktualisierten DNS Informationen abfragen. Spezielle Konfigurationen für Node Heartbeat, HostRecordTTL (Host Record Time-to-Live) und Intersite Replication Frequeny für Active Directory Sites und Services werden notwendig. Default TTL für Windows Server 2008 R2: 20 Minuten Empfohlene Einstellung: 1 Minute DNS Update Replication Frequency in Windows Umgebung: 180 Minuten Empfohlene Einstellung: 15 Minuten (minimaler Wert)   Betrachtet man diese Werte, muss man feststellen, dass selbst eine optimale Konfiguration die rigiden SLAs (Service Level Agreements) heutiger geschäftskritischer Anwendungen für HA und DR nicht erfüllen kann. Denn dies impliziert eine auf der Client-Seite erlebte Failover-Zeit von insgesamt 16 Minuten. Hierzu ein Auszug aus der SQL Server 2012 Online Dokumentation: Cons: If a cross-subnet failover occurs, the client recovery time could be 15 minutes or longer, depending on your HostRecordTTL setting and the setting of your cross-site DNS/AD replication schedule.    Wir sind hier an einem Punkt unserer Überlegungen angelangt, an dem sich erklärt, weshalb ich zuvor das "Windows was the God ..." Zitat verwendet habe. Die unbedingte Abhängigkeit zu Windows wird zunehmend zum Problem, da sie die Komplexität einer Microsoft-basierenden Lösung erhöht, anstelle sie zu reduzieren. Und Komplexität ist das Letzte, was sich CIOs heutzutage wünschen.  Zur Ehrenrettung des SQL Server 2012 und AlwaysOn muss man sagen, dass derart lange Failover-Zeiten kein unbedingtes "Muss" darstellen, sondern ein "Kann". Doch auch ein "Kann" kann im unpassenden Moment unvorhersehbare und kostspielige Folgen haben. Die Unabsehbarkeit ist wiederum Ursache vieler an der Implementierung beteiligten Komponenten und deren Abhängigkeiten, wie beispielsweise drei Cluster-Lösungen (zwei von Microsoft, eine 3rd Party Lösung). Wie man die Sache auch dreht und wendet, kommt man an diesem Fakt also nicht vorbei - ganz unabhängig von der Dauer einer Downtime oder Failover-Zeiten. Im Gegensatz zu AlwaysOn und der hier vorgestellten Version eines Stretch-Clusters, vermeidet eine entsprechende Oracle Implementierung eine derartige Komplexität, hervorgerufen duch multiple Abhängigkeiten. Den Unterschied machen Datenbank-integrierte Mechanismen, wie Fast Application Notification (FAN) und Fast Connection Failover (FCF). Für Oracle MAA Konfigurationen (Maximum Availability Architecture) sind Inter-Site Failover-Zeiten im Bereich von Sekunden keine Seltenheit. Wenn Sie dem Link zur Oracle MAA folgen, finden Sie außerdem eine Reihe an Customer Case Studies. Auch dies ist ein wichtiges Unterscheidungsmerkmal zu AlwaysOn, denn die Oracle Technologie hat sich bereits zigfach in höchst kritischen Umgebungen bewährt.   Availability Groups (Verfügbarkeitsgruppen) Die sogenannten Availability Groups (Verfügbarkeitsgruppen) sind - neben FCI - der weitere Baustein von AlwaysOn.   Hinweis: Bevor wir uns näher damit beschäftigen, sollten Sie sich noch einmal ins Gedächtnis rufen, dass eine SQL Server Datenbank nicht die gleiche Bedeutung besitzt, wie eine Oracle Datenbank, sondern eher einem Oracle Schema entspricht. So etwas wie die SQL Server Northwind Datenbank ist vergleichbar mit dem Oracle Scott Schema.   Eine Verfügbarkeitsgruppe setzt sich zusammen aus einem Set mehrerer Benutzer-Datenbanken, die im Falle eines Failover gemeinsam als Gruppe behandelt werden. Eine Verfügbarkeitsgruppe unterstützt ein Set an primären Datenbanken (primäres Replikat) und einem bis vier Sets von entsprechenden sekundären Datenbanken (sekundäre Replikate).       Es können jedoch nicht alle SQL Server Datenbanken einer AlwaysOn Verfügbarkeitsgruppe zugeordnet werden. Der SQL Server Spezialist Michael Otey zählt in seinem SQL Server Pro Artikel folgende Anforderungen auf: Verfügbarkeitsgruppen müssen mit Benutzer-Datenbanken erstellt werden. System-Datenbanken können nicht verwendet werden Die Datenbanken müssen sich im Read-Write Modus befinden. Read-Only Datenbanken werden nicht unterstützt Die Datenbanken in einer Verfügbarkeitsgruppe müssen Multiuser Datenbanken sein Sie dürfen nicht das AUTO_CLOSE Feature verwenden Sie müssen das Full Recovery Modell nutzen und es muss ein vollständiges Backup vorhanden sein Eine gegebene Datenbank kann sich nur in einer einzigen Verfügbarkeitsgruppe befinden und diese Datenbank düerfen nicht für Database Mirroring konfiguriert sein Microsoft empfiehl außerdem, dass der Verzeichnispfad einer Datenbank auf dem primären und sekundären Server identisch sein sollte Wie man sieht, eignen sich Verfügbarkeitsgruppen nicht, um HA und DR vollständig abzubilden. Die Unterscheidung zwischen der Instanzen-Ebene (FCI) und Datenbank-Ebene (Availability Groups) ist von hoher Bedeutung. Vor kurzem wurde mir gesagt, dass man mit den Verfügbarkeitsgruppen auf Shared Storage verzichten könne und dadurch Kosten spart. So weit so gut ... Man kann natürlich eine Installation rein mit Verfügbarkeitsgruppen und ohne FCI durchführen - aber man sollte sich dann darüber bewusst sein, was man dadurch alles nicht abgesichert hat - und dies wiederum für Desaster Recovery (DR) und SLAs (Service Level Agreements) bedeutet. Kurzum, um die Kombination aus beiden AlwaysOn Produkten und der damit verbundene Komplexität kommt man wohl in der Praxis nicht herum.    Availability Groups und WSFC AlwaysOn hängt von Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) ab, um die aktuellen Rollen der Verfügbarkeitsreplikate einer Verfügbarkeitsgruppe zu überwachen und zu verwalten, und darüber zu entscheiden, wie ein Failover-Ereignis die Verfügbarkeitsreplikate betrifft. Das folgende Diagramm zeigt de Beziehung zwischen Verfügbarkeitsgruppen und WSFC:   Der Verfügbarkeitsmodus ist eine Eigenschaft jedes Verfügbarkeitsreplikats. Synychron und Asynchron können also gemischt werden: Availability Modus (Verfügbarkeitsmodus) Asynchroner Commit-Modus Primäres replikat schließt Transaktionen ohne Warten auf Sekundäres Synchroner Commit-Modus Primäres Replikat wartet auf Commit von sekundärem Replikat Failover Typen Automatic Manual Forced (mit möglichem Datenverlust) Synchroner Commit-Modus Geplanter, manueller Failover ohne Datenverlust Automatischer Failover ohne Datenverlust Asynchroner Commit-Modus Nur Forced, manueller Failover mit möglichem Datenverlust   Der SQL Server kennt keinen separaten Switchover Begriff wie in Oracle Data Guard. Für SQL Server werden alle Role Transitions als Failover bezeichnet. Tatsächlich unterstützt der SQL Server keinen Switchover für asynchrone Verbindungen. Es gibt nur die Form des Forced Failover mit möglichem Datenverlust. Eine ähnliche Fähigkeit wie der Switchover unter Oracle Data Guard ist so nicht gegeben.   SQL Sever FCI mit Availability Groups (Verfügbarkeitsgruppen) Neben den Verfügbarkeitsgruppen kann eine zweite Failover-Ebene eingerichtet werden, indem SQL Server FCI (auf Shared Storage) mit WSFC implementiert wird. Ein Verfügbarkeitesreplikat kann dann auf einer Standalone Instanz gehostet werden, oder einer FCI Instanz. Zum Verständnis: Die Verfügbarkeitsgruppen selbst benötigen kein Shared Storage. Diese Kombination kann verwendet werden für lokale HA auf Ebene der Instanz und DR auf Datenbank-Ebene durch Verfügbarkeitsgruppen. Das folgende Diagramm zeigt dieses Szenario:   Achtung! Hier handelt es sich nicht um ein Pendant zu Oracle RAC plus Data Guard, auch wenn das Bild diesen Eindruck vielleicht vermitteln mag - denn alle sekundären Knoten im FCI sind rein passiv. Es existiert außerdem eine weitere und ernsthafte Einschränkung: SQL Server Failover Cluster Instanzen (FCI) unterstützen nicht das automatische AlwaysOn Failover für Verfügbarkeitsgruppen. Jedes unter FCI gehostete Verfügbarkeitsreplikat kann nur für manuelles Failover konfiguriert werden.   Lesbare Sekundäre Replikate Ein oder mehrere Verfügbarkeitsreplikate in einer Verfügbarkeitsgruppe können für den lesenden Zugriff konfiguriert werden, wenn sie als sekundäres Replikat laufen. Dies ähnelt Oracle Active Data Guard, jedoch gibt es Einschränkungen. Alle Abfragen gegen die sekundäre Datenbank werden automatisch auf das Snapshot Isolation Level abgebildet. Es handelt sich dabei um eine Versionierung der Rows. Microsoft versuchte hiermit die Oracle MVRC (Multi Version Read Consistency) nachzustellen. Tatsächlich muss man die SQL Server Snapshot Isolation eher mit Oracle Flashback vergleichen. Bei der Implementierung des Snapshot Isolation Levels handelt sich um ein nachträglich aufgesetztes Feature und nicht um einen inhärenten Teil des Datenbank-Kernels, wie im Falle Oracle. (Ich werde hierzu in Kürze einen weiteren Blogbeitrag verfassen, wenn ich mich mit der neuen SQL Server 2012 Core Lizenzierung beschäftige.) Für die Praxis entstehen aus der Abbildung auf das Snapshot Isolation Level ernsthafte Restriktionen, derer man sich für den Betrieb in der Praxis bereits vorab bewusst sein sollte: Sollte auf der primären Datenbank eine aktive Transaktion zu dem Zeitpunkt existieren, wenn ein lesbares sekundäres Replikat in die Verfügbarkeitsgruppe aufgenommen wird, werden die Row-Versionen auf der korrespondierenden sekundären Datenbank nicht sofort vollständig verfügbar sein. Eine aktive Transaktion auf dem primären Replikat muss zuerst abgeschlossen (Commit oder Rollback) und dieser Transaktions-Record auf dem sekundären Replikat verarbeitet werden. Bis dahin ist das Isolation Level Mapping auf der sekundären Datenbank unvollständig und Abfragen sind temporär geblockt. Microsoft sagt dazu: "This is needed to guarantee that row versions are available on the secondary replica before executing the query under snapshot isolation as all isolation levels are implicitly mapped to snapshot isolation." (SQL Storage Engine Blog: AlwaysOn: I just enabled Readable Secondary but my query is blocked?)  Grundlegend bedeutet dies, dass ein aktives lesbares Replikat nicht in die Verfügbarkeitsgruppe aufgenommen werden kann, ohne das primäre Replikat vorübergehend stillzulegen. Da Leseoperationen auf das Snapshot Isolation Transaction Level abgebildet werden, kann die Bereinigung von Ghost Records auf dem primären Replikat durch Transaktionen auf einem oder mehreren sekundären Replikaten geblockt werden - z.B. durch eine lang laufende Abfrage auf dem sekundären Replikat. Diese Bereinigung wird auch blockiert, wenn die Verbindung zum sekundären Replikat abbricht oder der Datenaustausch unterbrochen wird. Auch die Log Truncation wird in diesem Zustant verhindert. Wenn dieser Zustand längere Zeit anhält, empfiehlt Microsoft das sekundäre Replikat aus der Verfügbarkeitsgruppe herauszunehmen - was ein ernsthaftes Downtime-Problem darstellt. Die Read-Only Workload auf den sekundären Replikaten kann eingehende DDL Änderungen blockieren. Obwohl die Leseoperationen aufgrund der Row-Versionierung keine Shared Locks halten, führen diese Operatioen zu Sch-S Locks (Schemastabilitätssperren). DDL-Änderungen durch Redo-Operationen können dadurch blockiert werden. Falls DDL aufgrund konkurrierender Lese-Workload blockiert wird und der Schwellenwert für 'Recovery Interval' (eine SQL Server Konfigurationsoption) überschritten wird, generiert der SQL Server das Ereignis sqlserver.lock_redo_blocked, welches Microsoft zum Kill der blockierenden Leser empfiehlt. Auf die Verfügbarkeit der Anwendung wird hierbei keinerlei Rücksicht genommen.   Keine dieser Einschränkungen existiert mit Oracle Active Data Guard.   Backups auf sekundären Replikaten  Über die sekundären Replikate können Backups (BACKUP DATABASE via Transact-SQL) nur als copy-only Backups einer vollständigen Datenbank, Dateien und Dateigruppen erstellt werden. Das Erstellen inkrementeller Backups ist nicht unterstützt, was ein ernsthafter Rückstand ist gegenüber der Backup-Unterstützung physikalischer Standbys unter Oracle Data Guard. Hinweis: Ein möglicher Workaround via Snapshots, bleibt ein Workaround. Eine weitere Einschränkung dieses Features gegenüber Oracle Data Guard besteht darin, dass das Backup eines sekundären Replikats nicht ausgeführt werden kann, wenn es nicht mit dem primären Replikat kommunizieren kann. Darüber hinaus muss das sekundäre Replikat synchronisiert sein oder sich in der Synchronisation befinden, um das Beackup auf dem sekundären Replikat erstellen zu können.   Vergleich von Microsoft AlwaysOn mit der Oracle MAA Ich komme wieder zurück auf die Eingangs erwähnte, mehrfach an mich gestellte Frage "Wann denn - und ob überhaupt - Oracle etwas Vergleichbares wie AlwaysOn bieten würde?" und meine damit verbundene (kurze) Irritation. Wenn Sie diesen Blogbeitrag bis hierher gelesen haben, dann kennen Sie jetzt meine darauf gegebene Antwort. Der eine oder andere Punkt traf dabei nicht immer auf Jeden zu, was auch nicht der tiefere Sinn und Zweck meiner Antwort war. Wenn beispielsweise kein Multi-Subnet mit im Spiel ist, sind alle diesbezüglichen Kritikpunkte zunächst obsolet. Was aber nicht bedeutet, dass sie nicht bereits morgen schon wieder zum Thema werden könnten (Sag niemals "Nie"). In manch anderes Fettnäpfchen tritt man wiederum nicht unbedingt in einer Testumgebung, sondern erst im laufenden Betrieb. Erst recht nicht dann, wenn man sich potenzieller Probleme nicht bewusst ist und keine dedizierten Tests startet. Und wer AlwaysOn erfolgreich positionieren möchte, wird auch gar kein Interesse daran haben, auf mögliche Schwachstellen und den besagten Teufel im Detail aufmerksam zu machen. Das ist keine Unterstellung - es ist nur menschlich. Außerdem ist es verständlich, dass man sich in erster Linie darauf konzentriert "was geht" und "was gut läuft", anstelle auf das "was zu Problemen führen kann" oder "nicht funktioniert". Wer will schon der Miesepeter sein? Für mich selbst gesprochen, kann ich nur sagen, dass ich lieber vorab von allen möglichen Einschränkungen wissen möchte, anstelle sie dann nach einer kurzen Zeit der heilen Welt schmerzhaft am eigenen Leib erfahren zu müssen. Ich bin davon überzeugt, dass es Ihnen nicht anders geht. Nachfolgend deshalb eine Zusammenfassung all jener Punkte, die ich im Vergleich zur Oracle MAA (Maximum Availability Architecture) als unbedingt Erwähnenswert betrachte, falls man eine Evaluierung von Microsoft AlwaysOn in Betracht zieht. 1. AlwaysOn ist eine komplexe Technologie Der SQL Server AlwaysOn Stack ist zusammengesetzt aus drei verschiedenen Technlogien: Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) SQL Server Failover Cluster Instances (FCI) SQL Server Availability Groups (Verfügbarkeitsgruppen) Man kann eine derartige Lösung nicht als nahtlos bezeichnen, wofür auch die vielen von Microsoft dargestellten Einschränkungen sprechen. Während sich frühere SQL Server Versionen in Richtung eigener HA/DR Technologien entwickelten (wie Database Mirroring), empfiehlt Microsoft nun die Migration. Doch weshalb dieser Schwenk? Er führt nicht zu einem konsisten und robusten Angebot an HA/DR Technologie für geschäftskritische Umgebungen.  Liegt die Antwort in meiner These begründet, nach der "Windows was the God ..." noch immer gilt und man die Nachteile der allzu engen Kopplung mit Windows nicht sehen möchte? Entscheiden Sie selbst ... 2. Failover Cluster Instanzen - Kein RAC-Pendant Die SQL Server und Windows Server Clustering Technologie basiert noch immer auf dem veralteten Aktiv-Passiv Modell und führt zu einer Verschwendung von Systemressourcen. In einer Betrachtung von lediglich zwei Knoten erschließt sich auf Anhieb noch nicht der volle Mehrwert eines Aktiv-Aktiv Clusters (wie den Real Application Clusters), wie er von Oracle bereits vor zehn Jahren entwickelt wurde. Doch kennt man die Vorzüge der Skalierbarkeit durch einfaches Hinzufügen weiterer Cluster-Knoten, die dann alle gemeinsam als ein einziges logisches System zusammenarbeiten, versteht man was hinter dem Motto "Pay-as-you-Grow" steckt. In einem Aktiv-Aktiv Cluster geht es zwar auch um Hochverfügbarkeit - und ein Failover erfolgt zudem schneller, als in einem Aktiv-Passiv Modell - aber es geht eben nicht nur darum. An dieser Stelle sei darauf hingewiesen, dass die Oracle 11g Standard Edition bereits die Nutzung von Oracle RAC bis zu vier Sockets kostenfrei beinhaltet. Möchten Sie dazu Windows nutzen, benötigen Sie keine Windows Server Enterprise Edition, da Oracle 11g die eigene Clusterware liefert. Sie kommen in den Genuss von Hochverfügbarkeit und Skalierbarkeit und können dazu die günstigere Windows Server Standard Edition nutzen. 3. SQL Server Multi-Subnet Clustering - Abhängigkeit zu 3rd Party Storage Mirroring  Die SQL Server Multi-Subnet Clustering Architektur unterstützt den Aufbau eines Stretch Clusters, basiert dabei aber auf dem Aktiv-Passiv Modell. Das eigentlich Problematische ist jedoch, dass man sich zur Absicherung der Datenbank auf 3rd Party Storage Mirroring Technologie verlässt, ohne Integration zwischen dem Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) und der darunterliegenden Mirroring Technologie. Wenn nun im Cluster ein Failover auf Instanzen-Ebene erfolgt, existiert keine Koordination mit einem möglichen Failover auf Ebene des Storage-Array. 4. Availability Groups (Verfügbarkeitsgruppen) - Vier, oder doch nur Zwei? Ein primäres Replikat erlaubt bis zu vier sekundäre Replikate innerhalb einer Verfügbarkeitsgruppe, jedoch nur zwei im Synchronen Commit Modus. Während dies zwar einen Vorteil gegenüber dem stringenten 1:1 Modell unter Database Mirroring darstellt, fällt der SQL Server 2012 damit immer noch weiter zurück hinter Oracle Data Guard mit bis zu 30 direkten Stanbdy Zielen - und vielen weiteren durch kaskadierende Ziele möglichen. Damit eignet sich Oracle Active Data Guard auch für die Bereitstellung einer Reader-Farm Skalierbarkeit für Internet-basierende Unternehmen. Mit AwaysOn Verfügbarkeitsgruppen ist dies nicht möglich. 5. Availability Groups (Verfügbarkeitsgruppen) - kein asynchrones Switchover  Die Technologie der Verfügbarkeitsgruppen wird auch als geeignetes Mittel für administrative Aufgaben positioniert - wie Upgrades oder Wartungsarbeiten. Man muss sich jedoch einem gravierendem Defizit bewusst sein: Im asynchronen Verfügbarkeitsmodus besteht die einzige Möglichkeit für Role Transition im Forced Failover mit Datenverlust! Um den Verlust von Daten durch geplante Wartungsarbeiten zu vermeiden, muss man den synchronen Verfügbarkeitsmodus konfigurieren, was jedoch ernstzunehmende Auswirkungen auf WAN Deployments nach sich zieht. Spinnt man diesen Gedanken zu Ende, kommt man zu dem Schluss, dass die Technologie der Verfügbarkeitsgruppen für geplante Wartungsarbeiten in einem derartigen Umfeld nicht effektiv genutzt werden kann. 6. Automatisches Failover - Nicht immer möglich Sowohl die SQL Server FCI, als auch Verfügbarkeitsgruppen unterstützen automatisches Failover. Möchte man diese jedoch kombinieren, wird das Ergebnis kein automatisches Failover sein. Denn ihr Zusammentreffen im Failover-Fall führt zu Race Conditions (Wettlaufsituationen), weshalb diese Konfiguration nicht länger das automatische Failover zu einem Replikat in einer Verfügbarkeitsgruppe erlaubt. Auch hier bestätigt sich wieder die tiefere Problematik von AlwaysOn, mit einer Zusammensetzung aus unterschiedlichen Technologien und der Abhängigkeit zu Windows. 7. Problematische RTO (Recovery Time Objective) Microsoft postioniert die SQL Server Multi-Subnet Clustering Architektur als brauchbare HA/DR Architektur. Bedenkt man jedoch die Problematik im Zusammenhang mit DNS Replikation und den möglichen langen Wartezeiten auf Client-Seite von bis zu 16 Minuten, sind strenge RTO Anforderungen (Recovery Time Objectives) nicht erfüllbar. Im Gegensatz zu Oracle besitzt der SQL Server keine Datenbank-integrierten Technologien, wie Oracle Fast Application Notification (FAN) oder Oracle Fast Connection Failover (FCF). 8. Problematische RPO (Recovery Point Objective) SQL Server ermöglicht Forced Failover (erzwungenes Failover), bietet jedoch keine Möglichkeit zur automatischen Übertragung der letzten Datenbits von einem alten zu einem neuen primären Replikat, wenn der Verfügbarkeitsmodus asynchron war. Oracle Data Guard hingegen bietet diese Unterstützung durch das Flush Redo Feature. Dies sichert "Zero Data Loss" und beste RPO auch in erzwungenen Failover-Situationen. 9. Lesbare Sekundäre Replikate mit Einschränkungen Aufgrund des Snapshot Isolation Transaction Level für lesbare sekundäre Replikate, besitzen diese Einschränkungen mit Auswirkung auf die primäre Datenbank. Die Bereinigung von Ghost Records auf der primären Datenbank, wird beeinflusst von lang laufenden Abfragen auf der lesabaren sekundären Datenbank. Die lesbare sekundäre Datenbank kann nicht in die Verfügbarkeitsgruppe aufgenommen werden, wenn es aktive Transaktionen auf der primären Datenbank gibt. Zusätzlich können DLL Änderungen auf der primären Datenbank durch Abfragen auf der sekundären blockiert werden. Und imkrementelle Backups werden hier nicht unterstützt.   Keine dieser Restriktionen existiert unter Oracle Data Guard.

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• Continuous Integration for SQL Server Part II – Integration Testing

  - by Ben Rees

  My previous post, on setting up Continuous Integration for SQL Server databases using GitHub, Bamboo and Red Gate’s tools, covered the first two parts of a simple Database Continuous Delivery process: Putting your database in to a source control system, and, Running a continuous integration process, each time changes are checked in. However there is, of course, a lot more to to Continuous Delivery than that. Specifically, in addition to the above: Putting some actual integration tests in to the CI process (otherwise, they don’t really do much, do they!?), Deploying the database changes with a managed, automated approach, Monitoring what you’ve just put live, to make sure you haven’t broken anything. This post will detail how to set up a very simple pipeline for implementing the first of these (continuous integration testing). NB: A lot of the setup in this post is built on top of the configuration from before, so it might be difficult to implement this post without running through part I first. There’ll then be a third post on automated database deployment followed by a final post dealing with the last item – monitoring changes on the live system. In the previous post, I used a mixture of Red Gate products and other 3rd party software – GitHub and Atlassian Bamboo specifically. This was partly because I believe most people work in an heterogeneous environment, using software from different vendors to suit their purposes and I wanted to show how this could work for this process. For example, you could easily substitute Atlassian’s BitBucket or Stash for GitHub, depending on your needs, or use an alternative CI server such as TeamCity, TFS or Jenkins. However, in this, post, I’ll be mostly using Red Gate products only (other than tSQLt). I would do this, firstly because I work for Red Gate. However, I also think that in the area of Database Delivery processes, nobody else has the offerings to implement this process fully – so I didn’t have any choice!   Background on Continuous Delivery For me, a great source of information on what makes a proper Continuous Delivery process is the Jez Humble and David Farley classic: Continuous Delivery – Reliable Software Releases through Build, Test, and Deployment Automation This book is not of course, primarily about databases, and the process I outline here and in the previous article is a gross simplification of what Jez and David describe (not least because it’s that much harder for databases!). However, a lot of the principles that they describe can be equally applied to database development and, I would argue, should be. As I say however, what I describe here is a very simple version of what would be required for a full production process. A couple of useful resources on handling some of these complexities can be found in the following two references: Refactoring Databases – Evolutionary Database Design, by Scott J Ambler and Pramod J. Sadalage Versioning Databases – Branching and Merging, by Scott Allen In particular, I don’t deal at all with the issues of multiple branches and merging of those branches, an issue made particularly acute by the use of GitHub. The other point worth making is that, in the words of Martin Fowler: Continuous Delivery is about keeping your application in a state where it is always able to deploy into production.   I.e. we are not talking about continuously delivery updates to the production database every time someone checks in an amendment to a stored procedure. That is possible (and what Martin calls Continuous Deployment). However, again, that’s more than I describe in this article. And I doubt I need to remind DBAs or Developers to Proceed with Caution!   Integration Testing Back to something practical. The next stage, building on our set up from the previous article, is to add in some integration tests to the process. As I say, the CI process, though interesting, isn’t enormously useful without some sort of test process running. For this we’ll use the tSQLt framework, an open source framework designed specifically for running SQL Server tests. tSQLt is part of Red Gate’s SQL Test found on http://www.red-gate.com/products/sql-development/sql-test/ or can be downloaded separately from www.tsqlt.org - though I’ll provide a step-by-step guide below for setting this up. Getting tSQLt set up via SQL Test Click on the link http://www.red-gate.com/products/sql-development/sql-test/ and click on the blue Download button to download the Red Gate SQL Test product, if not already installed. Follow the install process for SQL Test to install the SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) plugin on to your machine, if not already installed. Open SSMS. You should now see SQL Test under the Tools menu:   Clicking this link will give you the basic SQL Test dialogue: As yet, though we’ve installed the SQL Test product we haven’t yet installed the tSQLt test framework on to any particular database. To do this, we need to add our RedGateApp database using this dialogue, by clicking on the + Add Database to SQL Test… link, selecting the RedGateApp database and clicking the Add Database link:   In the next screen, SQL Test describes what will be installed on the database for the tSQLt framework. Also in this dialogue, uncheck the “Add SQL Cop tests” option (shown below). SQL Cop is a great set of pre-defined tests that work within the tSQLt framework to check the general health of your SQL Server database. However, we won’t be using them in this particular simple example: Once you’ve clicked on the OK button, the changes described in the dialogue will be made to your database. Some of these are shown in the left-hand-side below: We’ve now installed the framework. However, we haven’t actually created any tests, so this will be the next step. But, before we proceed, we’ve made an update to our database so should, again check this in to source control, adding comments as required:   Also worth a quick check that your build still runs with the new additions!: (And a quick check of the RedGateAppCI database shows that the changes have been made).   Creating and Testing a Unit Test There are, of course, a lot of very interesting unit tests that you could and should set up for a database. The great thing about the tSQLt framework is that you can write these in SQL. The example I’m going to use here is pretty Mickey Mouse – our database table is going to include some email addresses as reference data and I want to check whether these are all in a correct email format. Nothing clever but it illustrates the process and hopefully shows the method by which more interesting tests could be set up. Adding Reference Data to our Database To start, I want to add some reference data to my database, and have this source controlled (as well as the schema). First of all I need to add some data in to my solitary table – this can be done a number of ways, but I’ll do this in SSMS for simplicity: I then add some reference data to my table: Currently this reference data just exists in the database. For proper integration testing, this needs to form part of the source-controlled version of the database – and so needs to be added to the Git repository. This can be done via SQL Source Control, though first a Primary Key needs to be added to the table. Right click the table, select Design, then right-click on the first “id” row. Then click on “Set Primary Key”: NB: once this change is made, click Save to save the change to the table. Then, to source control this reference data, right click on the table (dbo.Email) and selecting the following option:   In the next screen, link the data in the Email table, by selecting it from the list and clicking “save and close”: We should at this point re-commit the changes (both the addition of the Primary Key, and the data) to the Git repo. NB: From here on, I won’t show screenshots for the GitHub side of things – it’s the same each time: whenever a change is made in SQL Source Control and committed to your local folder, you then need to sync this in the GitHub Windows client (as this is where the build server, Bamboo is taking it from). An interesting point to note here, when these changes are committed in SQL Source Control (right-click database and select “Commit Changes to Source Control..”): The display gives a warning about possibly needing a migration script for the “Add Primary Key” step of the changes. This isn’t actually necessary in this case, but this mechanism would allow you to create override scripts to replace the default change scripts created by the SQL Compare engine (which runs underneath SQL Source Control). Ignoring this message (!), we add a comment and commit the changes to Git. I then sync these, run a build (or the build gets run automatically), and check that the data is being deployed over to the target RedGateAppCI database:   Creating and Running the Test As I mention, the test I’m going to use here is a very simple one - are the email addresses in my reference table valid? This isn’t of course, a full test of email validation (I expect the email addresses I’ve chosen here aren’t really the those of the Fab Four) – but just a very basic check of format used. I’ve taken the relevant SQL from this Stack Overflow article. In SSMS select “SQL Test” from the Tools menu, then click on + New Test: In the next screen, give your new test a name, and also enter a name in the Test Class box (test classes are schemas that help you keep things organised). Also check that the database in which the test is going to be created is correct – RedGateApp in this example: Click “Create Test”. After closing a couple of subsequent dialogues, you’ll see a dummy script for the test, that needs filling in:   We now need to define the SQL for our test. As mentioned before, tSQLt allows you to write your unit tests in T-SQL, and the code I’m going to use here is as below. This needs to be copied and pasted in to the query window, to replace the default given by tSQLt: –  Basic email check test ALTER PROCEDURE [MyChecks].[test Check Email Addresses] AS BEGIN SET NOCOUNT ON         Declare @Output VarChar(max)     Set @Output = ”       SELECT  @Output = @Output + Email +Char(13) + Char(10) FROM dbo.Email WHERE email NOT LIKE ‘%_@__%.__%’       If @Output > ”         Begin             Set @Output = Char(13) + Char(10)                           + @Output             EXEC tSQLt.Fail@Output         End   END;   Once this script is entered, hit execute to add the Stored Procedure to the database. Before committing the test to source control,  it’s worth just checking that it works! For a positive test, click on “SQL Test” from the Tools menu, then click Run Tests. You should see output like the following: - a green tick to indicate success! But of course, what we also need to do is test that this is actually doing something by showing a failed test. Edit one of the email addresses in your table to an incorrect format: Now, re-run the same SQL Test as before and you’ll see the following: Great – we now know that our test is really doing something! You’ll also see a useful error message at the bottom of SSMS: (leave the email address as invalid for now, for the next steps). The next stage is to check this new test in to source control again, by right-clicking on the database and checking in the changes with a commit message (and not forgetting to sync in the GitHub client):   Checking that the Tests are Running as Integration Tests After the changes above are made, and after a build has run on Bamboo (manual or automatic), looking at the Stored Procedures for the RedGateAppCI, the SPROC for the new test has been moved over to the database. However this is not exactly what we were after. We didn’t want to just copy objects from one database to another, but actually run the tests as part of the build/integration test process. I.e. we’re continuously checking any changes we make (in this case, to the reference data emails), to ensure we’re not breaking a test that we’ve set up. The behaviour we want to see is that, if we check in static data that is incorrect (as we did in step 9 above) and we have the tSQLt test set up, then our build in Bamboo should fail. However, re-running the build shows the following: - sadly, a successful build! To make sure the tSQLt tests are run as part of the integration test, we need to amend a switch in the Red Gate CI config file. First, navigate to file sqlCI.targets in your working folder: Edit this document, make the following change, save the document, then commit and sync this change in the GitHub client: <!-- tSQLt tests --> <!-- Optional --> <!-- To run tSQLt tests in source control for the database, enter true. --> <enableTsqlt>true</enableTsqlt> Now, if we re-run the build in Bamboo (NB: I’ve moved to a new server here, hence different address and build number): - superb, a broken build!! The error message isn’t great here, so to get more detailed info, click on the full build log link on this page (below the fold). The interesting part of the log shown is towards the bottom. Pulling out this part:   21-Jun-2013 11:35:19 Build FAILED. 21-Jun-2013 11:35:19 21-Jun-2013 11:35:19 "C:\Users\Administrator\bamboo-home\xml-data\build-dir\RGA-RGP-JOB1\sqlCI.proj" (default target) (1) -> 21-Jun-2013 11:35:19 (sqlCI target) -> 21-Jun-2013 11:35:19 EXEC : sqlCI error occurred: RedGate.Deploy.SqlServerDbPackage.Shared.Exceptions.InvalidSqlException: Test Case Summary: 1 test case(s) executed, 0 succeeded, 1 failed, 0 errored. [C:\Users\Administrator\bamboo-home\xml-data\build-dir\RGA-RGP-JOB1\sqlCI.proj] 21-Jun-2013 11:35:19 EXEC : sqlCI error occurred: [MyChecks].[test Check Email Addresses] failed: [C:\Users\Administrator\bamboo-home\xml-data\build-dir\RGA-RGP-JOB1\sqlCI.proj] 21-Jun-2013 11:35:19 EXEC : sqlCI error occurred: ringo.starr@beatles [C:\Users\Administrator\bamboo-home\xml-data\build-dir\RGA-RGP-JOB1\sqlCI.proj] 21-Jun-2013 11:35:19 EXEC : sqlCI error occurred: [C:\Users\Administrator\bamboo-home\xml-data\build-dir\RGA-RGP-JOB1\sqlCI.proj] 21-Jun-2013 11:35:19 EXEC : sqlCI error occurred: +----------------------+ [C:\Users\Administrator\bamboo-home\xml-data\build-dir\RGA-RGP-JOB1\sqlCI.proj] 21-Jun-2013 11:35:19 EXEC : sqlCI error occurred: |Test Execution Summary| [C:\Users\Administrator\bamboo-home\xml-data\build-dir\RGA-RGP-JOB1\sqlCI.proj]   As a final check, we should make sure that, if we now fix this error, the build succeeds. So in SSMS, I’m going to correct the invalid email address, then check this change in to SQL Source Control (with a comment), commit to GitHub, and re-run the build:   This should have fixed the build: It worked! Summary This has been a very quick run through the implementation of CI for databases, including tSQLt tests to test whether your database updates are working. The next post in this series will focus on automated deployment – we’ve tested our database changes, how can we now deploy these to target sites?  

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• Edit Media Center TV Recordings with Windows Live Movie Maker

  - by DigitalGeekery

  Have you ever wanted to take a TV program you’ve recorded in Media Center and remove the commercials or save clips of favorite scenes? Today we’ll take a look at editing WTV and DVR-MS files with Windows Live Movie Maker. Download and Install Windows Live Movie Maker. The download link can be found at the end of the article. WLMM is part of Windows Live Essentials, but you can choose to install only the applications you want. You’ll also want to be sure to uncheck any unwanted settings like settings Bing as default search provider or MSN as your browser home page.   Add your recorded TV file to WLMM by clicking the Add videos and photos button, or by dragging and dropping it onto the storyboard.   You’ll see your video displayed in the Preview window on the left and on the storyboard. Adjust the Zoom Time Scale slider at the lower right to change the level of detail displayed on the storyboard. You may want to start zoomed out and zoom in for more detailed edits.   Removing Commercials or Unwanted Sections Note: Changes and edits made in Windows Live Movie Maker do not change or effect the original video file. To accomplish this, we will makes cuts, or “splits,” and the beginning and end of the section we want to remove, and then we will delete that section from our project. Click and drag the slider bar along the the storyboard to scroll through the video. When you get to the end of a row in on the storyboard, drag the slider down to the beginning of the next row. We’ve found it easiest and most accurate to get close to the end of the commercial break and then use the Play button and the Previous Frame and Next Frame buttons underneath the Preview window to fine tune your cut point. When you find the right place to make your first cut, click the split button on the Edit tab on the ribbon. You will see your video “split” into two sections. Now, repeat the process of scrolling through the storyboard to find the end of the section you wish to cut. When you are at the proper point, click the Split button again.   Now we’ll delete that section by selecting it and pressing the Delete key, selecting remove on the Home tab, or by right clicking on the section and selecting Remove.   Trim Tool This tool allows you to select a portion of the video to keep while trimming away the rest.   Click and drag the sliders in the preview windows to select the area you want to keep. The area outside the sliders will be trimmed away. The area inside is the section that is kept in the movie. You can also adjust the Start and End points manually on the ribbon.   Delete any additional clips you don’t want in the final output. You can also accomplish this by using the Set start point and Set end point buttons. Clicking Set start point will eliminate everything before the start point. Set end point will eliminate everything after the end point. And you’re left with only the clip you want to keep.   Output your Video Select the icon at the top left, then select Save movie. All of these settings will output your movie as a WMV file, but file size and quality will vary by setting. The Burn to DVD option also outputs a WMV file, but then opens Windows DVD Maker and prompts you to create and burn a DVD.   Conclusion WLMM is one of the few applications that can edit WTV files, and it’s the only one we’re aware of that’s free. We should note only WTV and DVR-MS files will appear in the Recorded TV library in Media Center, so if you want to view your WMV output file in WMC you’ll need to add it to the Video or Movie library. Would you like to learn more about Windows Live Movie Maker? Check out are article on how to turn photos and home videos into movies with Windows Live Movie Maker. Need to add videos from a network location? WLMM doesn’t allow this by default, but you check out how to add network support to Windows Live Move Maker. Download Windows Live Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Rotate a Video 90 degrees with VLC or Windows Live Movie MakerHow to Make/Edit a movie with Windows Movie Maker in Windows VistaFamily Fun: Share Photos with Photo Gallery and Windows Live SpacesAutomatically Mount and View ISO files in Windows 7 Media CenterAutomatically Start Windows 7 Media Center in Live TV Mode TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Xobni Plus for Outlook All My Movies 5.9 CloudBerry Online Backup 1.5 for Windows Home Server Snagit 10 Get a free copy of WinUtilities Pro 2010 World Cup Schedule Boot Snooze – Reboot and then Standby or Hibernate Customize Everything Related to Dates, Times, Currency and Measurement in Windows 7 Google Earth replacement Icon (Icons we like) Build Great Charts in Excel with Chart Advisor

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• 10 Great Free Icon Packs To Theme Your Android Phone

  - by Chris Hoffman

  Android allows you to customize your home screen, adding widgets, arranging shortcuts and folders, choosing a background, and even replacing the included launcher entirely. You can install icon packs to theme your app icons, too. Third-party launchers use standard app icons by default, but they don’t have to. You can install icon packs that third-party launchers will use in place of standard app icons. How to Use Icon Packs To use icon packs, you’ll need to use a third-party launcher that supports them, such as Nova, Apex, ADW, Go Launcher, Holo Launcher, or Action Launcher Pro. Once you’re using a third-party launcher, you can install an icon pack and go into your launcher’s settings. You’ll find an option that allows you to choose between the icon packs you’ve installed. Many of these icon packs also include wallpapers, which you can set in the normal way. MIUI 5 Icons This icon pack offers over 1900 free icons that are similar to the icons used by the MIUi ROM developed by China’s Xiaomi Tech. The large list of icons is a big plus — this pack will give the majority of your app icons a very slick, consistent look. DCikonZ Theme DCikonZ is a free icon theme that includes a whopping 4000+ icons with a consistent look. This icon theme stands out not just because it’s huge, but also for offering for going in its own direction and avoiding the super-simple, flat look many icon packs use. Holo Icons Holo Icons replaces many app icons with simple, consistent-looking that match Google’s Holo style. If you’re a fan of Android’s Holo look, give it a try. It even tweaks many of the icons from Google’s own apps to make them look more consistent. Square Icon Pack Square Icon Pack turns your icons into simple squares. Even Google Chrome becomes an orb instead of a square. This makes every icon a consistent size and offers a unique look. The icons here almost look a bit like the small-size tiles available on Windows Phone and Windows 8.1. The free version doesn’t offer as many icons as the paid version, but it does offer icons for many popular apps. Rounded Want rounded icons instead? Try the Rounded icon theme, which offers simple rounded icons. The developer says they’re inspired by the consistently round icons used on Mozilla’s Firefox OS. Crumbled Icon Pack Crumbled Icon Pack applies an effect that makes icons look as if they’r crumbling. Rather than theming individual icons, Crumbled Icon Pack adds an effect to every app icon on your device. This means that all your app icons will be themed and consistent. Dainty Icon Pack Is your Android home screen too colorful? Dainty Icon Pack offers simple, gray-on-white icons for over 1200 apps. It’d be ideal over a simple background. The contrast may be a bit low here with the gray-on-white, but it’s otherwise very slick. Simplex Icons Simplex Icons offers more contrast, with black-on-gray icons. This icon pack could simplify busy home screens, allowing photographic wallpapers to come through. Min Icon Set Min attempts to go as minimal as possible, offering simple white icons for over 570 apps. It would be ideal over a simple wallpaper with app names hidden in your launcher, offering a calming, minimal home screen. For apps it doesn’t recognize, it will enclose part of the app’s icon in a white circle. Elegance Elegance goes in another direction entirely, offering icons that incorporate more details and gradients rather than going for minimalism. Its over 1200 icons offer another good option for people who aren’t into the minimal, flat look. Icon pack designers generally have to create and include their own icons to replace icons associated with specific apps, so you’ll probably find a few of your app icons aren’t replaced with most of these themes. Of course, a standard Android phone without an icon pack doesn’t have consistent icons, either. Even if all the icons in your app drawer aren’t themed, the few app icons you have on your home screen will be if you use widely used apps.     

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• SQLAuthority News – Storing Data and Files in Cloud – Dropbox – Personal Technology Tip

  - by pinaldave

  I thought long and hard about doing a Personal Technology Tips series for this blog.  I have so many tips I’d like to share.  I am on my computer almost all day, every day, so I have a treasure trove of interesting tidbits I like to share if given the chance.  The only thing holding me back – which tip to share first?  The first tip obviously has the weight of seeming like the most important.  But this would mean choosing amongst my favorite tricks and shortcuts.  This is a hard task. Source: Dropbox.com My Dropbox I have finally decided, though, and have determined that the first Personal Technology Tip may not be the most secret or even trickier to master – in fact, it is probably the easiest.  My today’s Personal Technology Tip is Dropbox. I hope that all of you are nodding along in recognition right now.  If you do not use Dropbox, or have not even heard of it before, get on the internet and find their site.  You won’t be disappointed.  A quick recap for those in the dark: Dropbox is an online storage site with a lot of additional syncing and cloud-computing capabilities.  Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s explore some of my favorite options in Dropbox. Collaborate with All The first thing I love about Dropbox is the ability it gives you to collaborate with others.  You can share files easily with other Dropbox users, and they can alter them, share them with you, all while keeping track of different versions in on easy place.  I’d like to see anyone try to accomplish that key idea – “easily” – using e-mail versions and multiple computers.  It’s even difficult to accomplish using a shared network. Afraid that this kind of ease looks too good to be true?  Afraid that maybe there isn’t enough storage space, or the user interface is confusing?  Think again.  There is plenty of space – you can get 2 GB with just a free account, and upgrades are inexpensive and go up to 100 GB of storage.  And the user interface is so easy that anyone can learn to use it. What I use Dropbox for I love Dropbox because I give a lot of presentations and often they are far from home.  I can keep my presentations on Dropbox and have easy access to them anywhere, without needing to have my whole computer with me.  This is just one small way that you can use Dropbox. You can sync your entire hard drive, or hard drives if you have multiple computers (home, work, office, shared), and you can set Dropbox to automatically sync files on a certain timeline, or whenever Dropbox notices that they’ve been changed. Why I love Dropbox Dropbox has plenty of storage, but 2 GB still has a hard time competing with the average desktop’s storage space.  So what if you want to sync most of your files, but only the ones you use the most and share between work and home, and not all your files (especially large files like pictures and videos)?  You can use selective sync to choose which files to sync. Above all, my favorite feature is LanSync.  Dropbox will search your Local Area Network (LAN) for new files and sync them to Dropbox, as well as downloading the new version to all the shared files across the network.  That means that if move around on different computers at work or at home, you will have the same version of the file every time.  Or, other users on the LAN will have access to the new version, which makes collaboration extremely easy. Ref: rzfeeser.com Dropbox has so many other features that I feel like I could create a Personal Technology Tips series devoted entirely to Dropbox.  I’m going to create a bullet list here to make things shorter, but I strongly encourage you to look further into these into options if it sounds like something you would use. Theft Recover Home Security File Hosting and Sharing Portable Dropbox Sync your iCal calendar Password Storage What is your favorite tool and why? I could go on and on, but I will end here.  In summary – I strongly encourage everyone to investigate Dropbox to see if it’s something they would find useful.  If you use Dropbox and know of a great feature I failed to mention, please share it with me, I’d love to hear how everyone uses this program. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology Tagged: Personal Technology

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• How to export ECC key and Cert from NSS DB and import into JKS keystore and Oracle Wallet

  - by mv

  How to export ECC key and Cert from NSS DB and import into JKS keystore and Oracle Wallet In this blog I will write about how to extract a cert and key from NSS Db and import it to a JKS Keystore and then import that JKS Keystore into Oracle Wallet. 1. Set Java Home I pointed it to JRE 1.6.0_22 $ export JAVA_HOME=/usr/java/jre1.6.0_22/ 2. Create a self signed ECC cert in NSS DB I created NSS DB with self signed ECC certificate. If you already have NSS Db with ECC cert (and key) skip this step. $export NSS_DIR=/export/home/nss/ $$NSS_DIR/certutil -N -d . $$NSS_DIR/certutil -S -x -s "CN=test,C=US" -t "C,C,C" -n ecc-cert -k ec -q nistp192 -d . 3. Export ECC cert and key using pk12util Use NSS tool pk12util to export this cert and key into a p12 file      $$NSS_DIR/pk12util -o ecc-cert.p12 -n ecc-cert -d . -W password 4. Use keytool to create JKS keystore and import this p12 file 4.1 Import p12 file created above into a JKS keystore $JAVA_HOME/bin/keytool -importkeystore -srckeystore ecc-cert.p12 -srcstoretype PKCS12 -deststoretype JKS -destkeystore ecc.jks -srcstorepass password -deststorepass password -srcalias ecc-cert -destalias ecc-cert -srckeypass password -destkeypass password -v But if an error as shown is encountered, keytool error: java.security.UnrecoverableKeyException: Get Key failed: EC KeyFactory not available java.security.UnrecoverableKeyException: Get Key failed: EC KeyFactory not available        at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.pkcs12.PKCS12KeyStore.engineGetKey(Unknown Source)         at java.security.KeyStoreSpi.engineGetEntry(Unknown Source)         at java.security.KeyStore.getEntry(Unknown Source)         at sun.security.tools.KeyTool.recoverEntry(Unknown Source)         at sun.security.tools.KeyTool.doImportKeyStoreSingle(Unknown Source)         at sun.security.tools.KeyTool.doImportKeyStore(Unknown Source)         at sun.security.tools.KeyTool.doCommands(Unknown Source)         at sun.security.tools.KeyTool.run(Unknown Source)         at sun.security.tools.KeyTool.main(Unknown Source) Caused by: java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException: EC KeyFactory not available         at java.security.KeyFactory.<init>(Unknown Source)         at java.security.KeyFactory.getInstance(Unknown Source)         ... 9 more 4.2 Create a new PKCS11 provider If you didn't get an error as shown above skip this step. Since we already have NSS libraries built with ECC, we can create a new PKCS11 provider Create ${java.home}/jre/lib/security/nss.cfg as follows: name = NSS     nssLibraryDirectory = ${nsslibdir}    nssDbMode = noDb    attributes = compatibility where nsslibdir should contain NSS libs with ECC support. Add the following line to ${java.home}/jre/lib/security/java.security :      security.provider.9=sun.security.pkcs11.SunPKCS11 ${java.home}/lib/security/nss.cfg Note that those who are using Oracle iPlanet Web Server or Oracle Traffic Director, NSS libs built with ECC are in <ws_install_dir>/lib or <otd_install_dir>/lib. 4.3. Now keytool should work Now you can try the same keytool command and see that it succeeds : $JAVA_HOME/bin/keytool -importkeystore -srckeystore ecc-cert.p12 -srcstoretype PKCS12 -deststoretype JKS -destkeystore ecc.jks -srcstorepass password -deststorepass password -srcalias ecc-cert -destalias ecc-cert -srckeypass password -destkeypass password -v [Storing ecc.jks] 5. Convert JKS keystore into an Oracle Wallet You can export this cert and key from JKS keystore and import it into an Oracle Wallet if you need using orapki tool as shown below. Make sure that orapki you use supports ECC. Also for ECC you MUST use "-jsafe" option. $ orapki wallet create -pwd password  -wallet .  -jsafe $ orapki wallet jks_to_pkcs12 -wallet . -pwd password -keystore ecc.jks -jkspwd password -jsafe AS $orapki wallet display -wallet . -pwd welcome1  -jsafeOracle PKI Tool : Version 11.1.2.0.0Copyright (c) 2004, 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.Requested Certificates:User Certificates:Subject:        CN=test,C=USTrusted Certificates:Subject:        OU=Class 3 Public Primary Certification Authority,O=VeriSign\, Inc.,C=USSubject:        CN=GTE CyberTrust Global Root,OU=GTE CyberTrust Solutions\, Inc.,O=GTE Corporation,C=USSubject:        OU=Class 2 Public Primary Certification Authority,O=VeriSign\, Inc.,C=USSubject:        OU=Class 1 Public Primary Certification Authority,O=VeriSign\, Inc.,C=USSubject:        CN=test,C=US As you can see our ECC cert in the wallet. You can follow the same steps for RSA certs as well. 6. References http://icedtea.classpath.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=356 http://old.nabble.com/-PATCH-FOR-REVIEW-%3A-Support-PKCS11-cryptography-via-NSS-p25282932.html http://www.mozilla.org/projects/security/pki/nss/tools/pk12util.html

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• Failed to compile Network Manager 0.9.4

  - by Oleksa

  After upgrading to 12.04 I needed to re-compile Network Manager to the version 0.9.4.0 again. However with the version 9.4.0 I faced with the error during compilation with libdns-manager: $ make ... Making all in dns-manager make[4]: ????? ? ??????? "/home/stasevych/install/network-manager/nm0.9.4.0/network-manager-0.9.4.0/src/dns-manager" /bin/bash ../../libtool --tag=CC --mode=compile gcc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I../.. -I../../src/logging -I../../libnm-util -I../../libnm-util -I../../src -I../../include -I../../include -I/usr/include/libnl3 -I/usr/include/libnl3 -I/usr/include/libnl3 -I/usr/include/dbus-1.0 -I/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dbus-1.0/include -I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/glib-2.0/include -pthread -I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/glib-2.0/include -DLOCALSTATEDIR=\"/usr/local/var\" -Wall -std=gnu89 -g -O2 -Wshadow -Wmissing-declarations -Wmissing-prototypes -Wdeclaration-after-statement -Wfloat-equal -Wno-unused-parameter -Wno-sign-compare -fno-strict-aliasing -Wno-unused-but-set-variable -Wundef -Werror -MT libdns_manager_la-nm-dns-manager.lo -MD -MP -MF .deps/libdns_manager_la-nm-dns-manager.Tpo -c -o libdns_manager_la-nm-dns-manager.lo `test -f 'nm-dns-manager.c' || echo './'`nm-dns-manager.c libtool: compile: gcc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I../.. -I../../src/logging -I../../libnm-util -I../../libnm-util -I../../src -I../../include -I../../include -I/usr/include/libnl3 -I/usr/include/libnl3 -I/usr/include/libnl3 -I/usr/include/dbus-1.0 -I/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dbus-1.0/include -I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/glib-2.0/include -pthread -I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/glib-2.0/include -DLOCALSTATEDIR=\"/usr/local/var\" -Wall -std=gnu89 -g -O2 -Wshadow -Wmissing-declarations -Wmissing-prototypes -Wdeclaration-after-statement -Wfloat-equal -Wno-unused-parameter -Wno-sign-compare -fno-strict-aliasing -Wno-unused-but-set-variable -Wundef -Werror -MT libdns_manager_la-nm-dns-manager.lo -MD -MP -MF .deps/libdns_manager_la-nm-dns-manager.Tpo -c nm-dns-manager.c -fPIC -DPIC -o .libs/libdns_manager_la-nm-dns-manager.o mv -f .deps/libdns_manager_la-nm-dns-manager.Tpo .deps/libdns_manager_la-nm-dns-manager.Plo /bin/bash ../../libtool --tag=CC --mode=compile gcc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I../.. -I../../src/logging -I../../libnm-util -I../../libnm-util -I../../src -I../../include -I../../include -I/usr/include/libnl3 -I/usr/include/libnl3 -I/usr/include/libnl3 -I/usr/include/dbus-1.0 -I/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dbus-1.0/include -I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/glib-2.0/include -pthread -I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/glib-2.0/include -DLOCALSTATEDIR=\"/usr/local/var\" -Wall -std=gnu89 -g -O2 -Wshadow -Wmissing-declarations -Wmissing-prototypes -Wdeclaration-after-statement -Wfloat-equal -Wno-unused-parameter -Wno-sign-compare -fno-strict-aliasing -Wno-unused-but-set-variable -Wundef -Werror -MT libdns_manager_la-nm-dns-dnsmasq.lo -MD -MP -MF .deps/libdns_manager_la-nm-dns-dnsmasq.Tpo -c -o libdns_manager_la-nm-dns-dnsmasq.lo `test -f 'nm-dns-dnsmasq.c' || echo './'`nm-dns-dnsmasq.c libtool: compile: gcc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I../.. -I../../src/logging -I../../libnm-util -I../../libnm-util -I../../src -I../../include -I../../include -I/usr/include/libnl3 -I/usr/include/libnl3 -I/usr/include/libnl3 -I/usr/include/dbus-1.0 -I/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dbus-1.0/include -I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/glib-2.0/include -pthread -I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/glib-2.0/include -DLOCALSTATEDIR=\"/usr/local/var\" -Wall -std=gnu89 -g -O2 -Wshadow -Wmissing-declarations -Wmissing-prototypes -Wdeclaration-after-statement -Wfloat-equal -Wno-unused-parameter -Wno-sign-compare -fno-strict-aliasing -Wno-unused-but-set-variable -Wundef -Werror -MT libdns_manager_la-nm-dns-dnsmasq.lo -MD -MP -MF .deps/libdns_manager_la-nm-dns-dnsmasq.Tpo -c nm-dns-dnsmasq.c -fPIC -DPIC -o .libs/libdns_manager_la-nm-dns-dnsmasq.o nm-dns-dnsmasq.c: In function 'update': nm-dns-dnsmasq.c:274:2: error: passing argument 1 of 'g_slist_copy' discards 'const' qualifier from pointer target type [-Werror] /usr/include/glib-2.0/glib/gslist.h:82:10: note: expected 'struct GSList *' but argument is of type 'const struct GSList *' cc1: all warnings being treated as errors make[4]: *** [libdns_manager_la-nm-dns-dnsmasq.lo] ??????? 1 make[4]: ??????? ??????? "/home/stasevych/install/network-manager/nm0.9.4.0/network-manager-0.9.4.0/src/dns-manager" make[3]: *** [all-recursive] ??????? 1 make[3]: ??????? ??????? "/home/stasevych/install/network-manager/nm0.9.4.0/network-manager-0.9.4.0/src" make[2]: *** [all] ??????? 2 make[2]: ??????? ??????? "/home/stasevych/install/network-manager/nm0.9.4.0/network-manager-0.9.4.0/src" make[1]: *** [all-recursive] ??????? 1 make[1]: ??????? ??????? "/home/stasevych/install/network-manager/nm0.9.4.0/network-manager-0.9.4.0" make: *** [all] ??????? 2 Has anybody faced with the similar errors? Thank you in advance for your help.

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• R Package Installation with Oracle R Enterprise

  - by Sherry LaMonica-Oracle

  Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Programming languages give developers the opportunity to write reusable functions and to bundle those functions into logical deployable entities. In R, these are called packages. R has thousands of such packages provided by an almost equally large group of third-party contributors. To allow others to benefit from these packages, users can share packages on the CRAN system for use by the vast R development community worldwide. R's package system along with the CRAN framework provides a process for authoring, documenting and distributing packages to millions of users. In this post, we'll illustrate the various ways in which such R packages can be installed for use with R and together with Oracle R Enterprise. In the following, the same instructions apply when using either open source R or Oracle R Distribution. In this post, we cover the following package installation scenarios for: R command line Linux shell command line Use with Oracle R Enterprise Installation on Exadata or RAC Installing all packages in a CRAN Task View Troubleshooting common errors 1. R Package Installation BasicsR package installation basics are outlined in Chapter 6 of the R Installation and Administration Guide. There are two ways to install packages from the command line: from the R command line and from the shell command line. For this first example on Oracle Linux using Oracle R Distribution, we’ll install the arules package as root so that packages will be installed in the default R system-wide location where all users can access it, /usr/lib64/R/library.Within R, using the install.packages function always attempts to install the latest version of the requested package available on CRAN:R> install.packages("arules")If the arules package depends upon other packages that are not already installed locally, the R installer automatically downloads and installs those required packages. This is a huge benefit that frees users from the task of identifying and resolving those dependencies.You can also install R from the shell command line. This is useful for some packages when an internet connection is not available or for installing packages not uploaded to CRAN. To install packages this way, first locate the package on CRAN and then download the package source to your local machine. For example:$ wget http://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/arules_1.1-2.tar.gz Then, install the package using the command R CMD INSTALL:$ R CMD INSTALL arules_1.1-2.tar.gzA major difference between installing R packages using the R package installer at the R command line and shell command line is that package dependencies must be resolved manually at the shell command line. Package dependencies are listed in the Depends section of the package’s CRAN site. If dependencies are not identified and installed prior to the package’s installation, you will see an error similar to:ERROR: dependency ‘xxx’ is not available for package ‘yyy’As a best practice and to save time, always refer to the package’s CRAN site to understand the package dependencies prior to attempting an installation. If you don’t run R as root, you won’t have permission to write packages into the default system-wide location and you will be prompted to create a personal library accessible by your userid. You can accept the personal library path chosen by R, or specify the library location by passing parameters to the install.packages function. For example, to create an R package repository in your home directory: R> install.packages("arules", lib="/home/username/Rpackages")or$ R CMD INSTALL arules_1.1-2.tar.gz --library=/home/username/RpackagesRefer to the install.packages help file in R or execute R CMD INSTALL --help at the shell command line for a full list of command line options.To set the library location and avoid having to specify this at every package install, simply create the R startup environment file .Renviron in your home area if it does not already exist, and add the following piece of code to it:R_LIBS_USER = "/home/username/Rpackages" 2. Setting the RepositoryEach time you install an R package from the R command line, you are asked which CRAN mirror, or server, R should use. To set the repository and avoid having to specify this during every package installation, create the R startup command file .Rprofile in your home directory and add the following R code to it:cat("Setting Seattle repository")r = getOption("repos") r["CRAN"] = "http://cran.fhcrc.org/"options(repos = r)rm(r) This code snippet sets the R package repository to the Seattle CRAN mirror at the start of each R session. 3. Installing R Packages for use with Oracle R EnterpriseEmbedded R execution with Oracle R Enterprise allows the use of CRAN or other third-party R packages in user-defined R functions executed on the Oracle Database server. The steps for installing and configuring packages for use with Oracle R Enterprise are the same as for open source R. The database-side R engine just needs to know where to find the R packages.The Oracle R Enterprise installation is performed by user oracle, which typically does not have write permission to the default site-wide library, /usr/lib64/R/library. On Linux and UNIX platforms, the Oracle R Enterprise Server installation provides the ORE script, which is executed from the operating system shell to install R packages and to start R. The ORE script is a wrapper for the default R script, a shell wrapper for the R executable. It can be used to start R, run batch scripts, and build or install R packages. Unlike the default R script, the ORE script installs packages to a location writable by user oracle and accessible by all ORE users - $ORACLE_HOME/R/library.To install a package on the database server so that it can be used by any R user and for use in embedded R execution, an Oracle DBA would typically download the package source from CRAN using wget. If the package depends on any packages that are not in the R distribution in use, download the sources for those packages, also.  For a single Oracle Database instance, replace the R script with ORE to install the packages in the same location as the Oracle R Enterprise packages. $ wget http://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/arules_1.1-2.tar.gz$ ORE CMD INSTALL arules_1.1-2.tar.gzBehind the scenes, the ORE script performs the equivalent of setting R_LIBS_USER to the value of $ORACLE_HOME/R/library, and all R packages installed with the ORE script are installed to this location. For installing a package on multiple database servers, such as those in an Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) or a multinode Oracle Exadata Database Machine environment, use the ORE script in conjunction with the Exadata Distributed Command Line Interface (DCLI) utility.$ dcli -g nodes -l oracle ORE CMD INSTALL arules_1.1-1.tar.gz The DCLI -g flag designates a file containing a list of nodes to install on, and the -l flag specifies the user id to use when executing the commands. For more information on using DCLI with Oracle R Enterprise, see Chapter 5 in the Oracle R Enterprise Installation Guide.If you are using an Oracle R Enterprise client, install the package the same as any R package, bearing in mind that you must install the same version of the package on both the client and server machines to avoid incompatibilities. 4. CRAN Task ViewsCRAN also maintains a set of Task Views that identify packages associated with a particular task or methodology. Task Views are helpful in guiding users through the huge set of available R packages. They are actively maintained by volunteers who include detailed annotations for routines and packages. If you find one of the task views is a perfect match, you can install every package in that view using the ctv package - an R package for automating package installation. To use the ctv package to install a task view, first, install and load the ctv package.R> install.packages("ctv")R> library(ctv)Then query the names of the available task views and install the view you choose.R> available.views() R> install.views("TimeSeries") 5. Using and Managing R packages To use a package, start up R and load packages one at a time with the library command.Load the arules package in your R session. R> library(arules)Verify the version of arules installed.R> packageVersion("arules")[1] '1.1.2'Verify the version of arules installed on the database server using embedded R execution.R> ore.doEval(function() packageVersion("arules"))View the help file for the apropos function in the arules packageR> ?aproposOver time, your package repository will contain more and more packages, especially if you are using the system-wide repository where others are adding additional packages. It’s good to know the entire set of R packages accessible in your environment. To list all available packages in your local R session, use the installed.packages command:R> myLocalPackages <- row.names(installed.packages())R> myLocalPackagesTo access the list of available packages on the ORE database server from the ORE client, use the following embedded R syntax: R> myServerPackages <- ore.doEval(function() row.names(installed.packages()) R> myServerPackages 6. Troubleshooting Common ProblemsInstalling Older Versions of R packagesIf you immediately upgrade to the latest version of R, you will have no problem installing the most recent versions of R packages. However, if your version of R is older, some of the more recent package releases will not work and install.packages will generate a message such as: Warning message: In install.packages("arules") : package ‘arules’ is not availableThis is when you have to go to the Old sources link on the CRAN page for the arules package and determine which version is compatible with your version of R.Begin by determining what version of R you are using:$ R --versionOracle Distribution of R version 3.0.1 (--) -- "Good Sport" Copyright (C) The R Foundation for Statistical Computing Platform: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu (64-bit)Given that R-3.0.1 was released May 16, 2013, any version of the arules package released after this date may work. Scanning the arules archive, we might try installing version 0.1.1-1, released in January of 2014:$ wget http://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/Archive/arules/arules_1.1-1.tar.gz$ R CMD INSTALL arules_1.1-1.tar.gzFor use with ORE:$ ORE CMD INSTALL arules_1.1-1.tar.gzThe "package not available" error can also be thrown if the package you’re trying to install lives elsewhere, either another R package site, or it’s been removed from CRAN. A quick Google search usually leads to more information on the package’s location and status.Oracle R Enterprise is not in the R library pathOn Linux hosts, after installing the ORE server components, starting R, and attempting to load the ORE packages, you may receive the error:R> library(ORE)Error in library(ORE) : there is no package called ‘ORE’If you know the ORE packages have been installed and you receive this error, this is the result of not starting R with the ORE script. To resolve this problem, exit R and restart using the ORE script. After restarting R and ">running the command to load the ORE packages, you should not receive any errors.$ ORER> library(ORE)On Windows servers, the solution is to make the location of the ORE packages visible to R by adding them to the R library paths. To accomplish this, exit R, then add the following lines to the .Rprofile file. On Windows, the .Rprofile file is located in R\etc directory C:\Program Files\R\R-<version>\etc. Add the following lines:.libPaths("<path to $ORACLE_HOME>/R/library")The above line will tell R to include the R directory in the Oracle home as part of its search path. When you start R, the path above will be included, and future R package installations will also be saved to $ORACLE_HOME/R/library. This path should be writable by the user oracle, or the userid for the DBA tasked with installing R packages.Binary package compiled with different version of RBy default, R will install pre-compiled versions of packages if they are found. If the version of R under which the package was compiled does not match your installed version of R you will get an error message:Warning message: package ‘xxx’ was built under R version 3.0.0The solution is to download the package source and build it for your version of R.$ wget http://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/Archive/arules/arules_1.1-1.tar.gz$ R CMD INSTALL arules_1.1-1.tar.gzFor use with ORE:$ ORE CMD INSTALL arules_1.1-1.tar.gzUnable to execute files in /tmp directoryBy default, R uses the /tmp directory to install packages. On security conscious machines, the /tmp directory is often marked as "noexec" in the /etc/fstab file. This means that no file under /tmp can ever be executed, and users who attempt to install R package will receive an error:ERROR: 'configure' exists but is not executable -- see the 'R Installation and Administration Manual’The solution is to set the TMP and TMPDIR environment variables to a location which R will use as the compilation directory. For example:$ mkdir <some path>/tmp$ export TMPDIR= <some path>/tmp$ export TMP= <some path>/tmpThis error typically appears on Linux client machines and not database servers, as Oracle Database writes to the value of the TMP environment variable for several tasks, including holding temporary files during database installation. 7. Creating your own R packageCreating your own package and submitting to CRAN is for advanced users, but it is not difficult. The procedure to follow, along with details of R's package system, is detailed in the Writing R Extensions manual.

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• Calculating the Size (in Bytes and MB) of a Oracle Coherence Cache

  - by Ricardo Ferreira

  The concept and usage of data grids are becoming very popular in this days since this type of technology are evolving very fast with some cool lead products like Oracle Coherence. Once for a while, developers need an programmatic way to calculate the total size of a specific cache that are residing in the data grid. In this post, I will show how to accomplish this using Oracle Coherence API. This example has been tested with 3.6, 3.7 and 3.7.1 versions of Oracle Coherence. To start the development of this example, you need to create a POJO ("Plain Old Java Object") that represents a data structure that will hold user data. This data structure will also create an internal fat so I call that should increase considerably the size of each instance in the heap memory. Create a Java class named "Person" as shown in the listing below. package com.oracle.coherence.domain; import java.io.Serializable; import java.util.ArrayList; import java.util.HashMap; import java.util.List; import java.util.Random; @SuppressWarnings("serial") public class Person implements Serializable { private String firstName; private String lastName; private List<Object> fat; private String email; public Person() { generateFat(); } public Person(String firstName, String lastName, String email) { setFirstName(firstName); setLastName(lastName); setEmail(email); generateFat(); } private void generateFat() { fat = new ArrayList<Object>(); Random random = new Random(); for (int i = 0; i < random.nextInt(18000); i++) { HashMap<Long, Double> internalFat = new HashMap<Long, Double>(); for (int j = 0; j < random.nextInt(10000); j++) { internalFat.put(random.nextLong(), random.nextDouble()); } fat.add(internalFat); } } public String getFirstName() { return firstName; } public void setFirstName(String firstName) { this.firstName = firstName; } public String getLastName() { return lastName; } public void setLastName(String lastName) { this.lastName = lastName; } public String getEmail() { return email; } public void setEmail(String email) { this.email = email; } } Now let's create a Java program that will start a data grid into Coherence and will create a cache named "People", that will hold people instances with sequential integer keys. Each person created in this program will trigger the execution of a custom constructor created in the People class that instantiates an internal fat (the random amount of data generated to increase the size of the object) for each person. Create a Java class named "CreatePeopleCacheAndPopulateWithData" as shown in the listing below. package com.oracle.coherence.demo; import com.oracle.coherence.domain.Person; import com.tangosol.net.CacheFactory; import com.tangosol.net.NamedCache; public class CreatePeopleCacheAndPopulateWithData { public static void main(String[] args) { // Asks Coherence for a new cache named "People"... NamedCache people = CacheFactory.getCache("People"); // Creates three people that will be putted into the data grid. Each person // generates an internal fat that should increase its size in terms of bytes... Person pessoa1 = new Person("Ricardo", "Ferreira", "[email protected]"); Person pessoa2 = new Person("Vitor", "Ferreira", "[email protected]"); Person pessoa3 = new Person("Vivian", "Ferreira", "[email protected]"); // Insert three people at the data grid... people.put(1, pessoa1); people.put(2, pessoa2); people.put(3, pessoa3); // Waits for 5 minutes until the user runs the Java program // that calculates the total size of the people cache... try { System.out.println("---> Waiting for 5 minutes for the cache size calculation..."); Thread.sleep(300000); } catch (InterruptedException ie) { ie.printStackTrace(); } } } Finally, let's create a Java program that, using the Coherence API and JMX, will calculate the total size of each cache that the data grid is currently managing. The approach used in this example was retrieve every cache that the data grid are currently managing, but if you are interested on an specific cache, the same approach can be used, you should only filter witch cache will be looked for. Create a Java class named "CalculateTheSizeOfPeopleCache" as shown in the listing below. package com.oracle.coherence.demo; import java.text.DecimalFormat; import java.util.Map; import java.util.Set; import java.util.TreeMap; import javax.management.MBeanServer; import javax.management.MBeanServerFactory; import javax.management.ObjectName; import com.tangosol.net.CacheFactory; public class CalculateTheSizeOfPeopleCache { @SuppressWarnings({ "unchecked", "rawtypes" }) private void run() throws Exception { // Enable JMX support in this Coherence data grid session... System.setProperty("tangosol.coherence.management", "all"); // Create a sample cache just to access the data grid... CacheFactory.getCache(MBeanServerFactory.class.getName()); // Gets the JMX server from Coherence data grid... MBeanServer jmxServer = getJMXServer(); // Creates a internal data structure that would maintain // the statistics from each cache in the data grid... Map cacheList = new TreeMap(); Set jmxObjectList = jmxServer.queryNames(new ObjectName("Coherence:type=Cache,*"), null); for (Object jmxObject : jmxObjectList) { ObjectName jmxObjectName = (ObjectName) jmxObject; String cacheName = jmxObjectName.getKeyProperty("name"); if (cacheName.equals(MBeanServerFactory.class.getName())) { continue; } else { cacheList.put(cacheName, new Statistics(cacheName)); } } // Updates the internal data structure with statistic data // retrieved from caches inside the in-memory data grid... Set<String> cacheNames = cacheList.keySet(); for (String cacheName : cacheNames) { Set resultSet = jmxServer.queryNames( new ObjectName("Coherence:type=Cache,name=" + cacheName + ",*"), null); for (Object resultSetRef : resultSet) { ObjectName objectName = (ObjectName) resultSetRef; if (objectName.getKeyProperty("tier").equals("back")) { int unit = (Integer) jmxServer.getAttribute(objectName, "Units"); int size = (Integer) jmxServer.getAttribute(objectName, "Size"); Statistics statistics = (Statistics) cacheList.get(cacheName); statistics.incrementUnit(unit); statistics.incrementSize(size); cacheList.put(cacheName, statistics); } } } // Finally... print the objects from the internal data // structure that represents the statistics from caches... cacheNames = cacheList.keySet(); for (String cacheName : cacheNames) { Statistics estatisticas = (Statistics) cacheList.get(cacheName); System.out.println(estatisticas); } } public MBeanServer getJMXServer() { MBeanServer jmxServer = null; for (Object jmxServerRef : MBeanServerFactory.findMBeanServer(null)) { jmxServer = (MBeanServer) jmxServerRef; if (jmxServer.getDefaultDomain().equals(DEFAULT_DOMAIN) || DEFAULT_DOMAIN.length() == 0) { break; } jmxServer = null; } if (jmxServer == null) { jmxServer = MBeanServerFactory.createMBeanServer(DEFAULT_DOMAIN); } return jmxServer; } private class Statistics { private long unit; private long size; private String cacheName; public Statistics(String cacheName) { this.cacheName = cacheName; } public void incrementUnit(long unit) { this.unit += unit; } public void incrementSize(long size) { this.size += size; } public long getUnit() { return unit; } public long getSize() { return size; } public double getUnitInMB() { return unit / (1024.0 * 1024.0); } public double getAverageSize() { return size == 0 ? 0 : unit / size; } public String toString() { StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer(); sb.append("\nCache Statistics of '").append(cacheName).append("':\n"); sb.append(" - Total Entries of Cache -----> " + getSize()).append("\n"); sb.append(" - Used Memory (Bytes) --------> " + getUnit()).append("\n"); sb.append(" - Used Memory (MB) -----------> " + FORMAT.format(getUnitInMB())).append("\n"); sb.append(" - Object Average Size --------> " + FORMAT.format(getAverageSize())).append("\n"); return sb.toString(); } } public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception { new CalculateTheSizeOfPeopleCache().run(); } public static final DecimalFormat FORMAT = new DecimalFormat("###.###"); public static final String DEFAULT_DOMAIN = ""; public static final String DOMAIN_NAME = "Coherence"; } I've commented the overall example so, I don't think that you should get into trouble to understand it. Basically we are dealing with JMX. The first thing to do is enable JMX support for the Coherence client (ie, an JVM that will only retrieve values from the data grid and will not integrate the cluster) application. This can be done very easily using the runtime "tangosol.coherence.management" system property. Consult the Coherence documentation for JMX to understand the possible values that could be applied. The program creates an in memory data structure that holds a custom class created called "Statistics". This class represents the information that we are interested to see, which in this case are the size in bytes and in MB of the caches. An instance of this class is created for each cache that are currently managed by the data grid. Using JMX specific methods, we retrieve the information that are relevant for calculate the total size of the caches. To test this example, you should execute first the CreatePeopleCacheAndPopulateWithData.java program and after the CreatePeopleCacheAndPopulateWithData.java program. The results in the console should be something like this: 2012-06-23 13:29:31.188/4.970 Oracle Coherence 3.6.0.4 <Info> (thread=Main Thread, member=n/a): Loaded operational configuration from "jar:file:/E:/Oracle/Middleware/oepe_11gR1PS4/workspace/calcular-tamanho-cache-coherence/lib/coherence.jar!/tangosol-coherence.xml" 2012-06-23 13:29:31.219/5.001 Oracle Coherence 3.6.0.4 <Info> (thread=Main Thread, member=n/a): Loaded operational overrides from "jar:file:/E:/Oracle/Middleware/oepe_11gR1PS4/workspace/calcular-tamanho-cache-coherence/lib/coherence.jar!/tangosol-coherence-override-dev.xml" 2012-06-23 13:29:31.219/5.001 Oracle Coherence 3.6.0.4 <D5> (thread=Main Thread, member=n/a): Optional configuration override "/tangosol-coherence-override.xml" is not specified 2012-06-23 13:29:31.266/5.048 Oracle Coherence 3.6.0.4 <D5> (thread=Main Thread, member=n/a): Optional configuration override "/custom-mbeans.xml" is not specified Oracle Coherence Version 3.6.0.4 Build 19111 Grid Edition: Development mode Copyright (c) 2000, 2010, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 2012-06-23 13:29:33.156/6.938 Oracle Coherence GE 3.6.0.4 <Info> (thread=Main Thread, member=n/a): Loaded Reporter configuration from "jar:file:/E:/Oracle/Middleware/oepe_11gR1PS4/workspace/calcular-tamanho-cache-coherence/lib/coherence.jar!/reports/report-group.xml" 2012-06-23 13:29:33.500/7.282 Oracle Coherence GE 3.6.0.4 <Info> (thread=Main Thread, member=n/a): Loaded cache configuration from "jar:file:/E:/Oracle/Middleware/oepe_11gR1PS4/workspace/calcular-tamanho-cache-coherence/lib/coherence.jar!/coherence-cache-config.xml" 2012-06-23 13:29:35.391/9.173 Oracle Coherence GE 3.6.0.4 <D4> (thread=Main Thread, member=n/a): TCMP bound to /192.168.177.133:8090 using SystemSocketProvider 2012-06-23 13:29:37.062/10.844 Oracle Coherence GE 3.6.0.4 <Info> (thread=Cluster, member=n/a): This Member(Id=2, Timestamp=2012-06-23 13:29:36.899, Address=192.168.177.133:8090, MachineId=55685, Location=process:244, Role=Oracle, Edition=Grid Edition, Mode=Development, CpuCount=2, SocketCount=2) joined cluster "cluster:0xC4DB" with senior Member(Id=1, Timestamp=2012-06-23 13:29:14.031, Address=192.168.177.133:8088, MachineId=55685, Location=process:1128, Role=CreatePeopleCacheAndPopulateWith, Edition=Grid Edition, Mode=Development, CpuCount=2, SocketCount=2) 2012-06-23 13:29:37.172/10.954 Oracle Coherence GE 3.6.0.4 <D5> (thread=Cluster, member=n/a): Member 1 joined Service Cluster with senior member 1 2012-06-23 13:29:37.188/10.970 Oracle Coherence GE 3.6.0.4 <D5> (thread=Cluster, member=n/a): Member 1 joined Service Management with senior member 1 2012-06-23 13:29:37.188/10.970 Oracle Coherence GE 3.6.0.4 <D5> (thread=Cluster, member=n/a): Member 1 joined Service DistributedCache with senior member 1 2012-06-23 13:29:37.188/10.970 Oracle Coherence GE 3.6.0.4 <Info> (thread=Main Thread, member=n/a): Started cluster Name=cluster:0xC4DB Group{Address=224.3.6.0, Port=36000, TTL=4} MasterMemberSet ( ThisMember=Member(Id=2, Timestamp=2012-06-23 13:29:36.899, Address=192.168.177.133:8090, MachineId=55685, Location=process:244, Role=Oracle) OldestMember=Member(Id=1, Timestamp=2012-06-23 13:29:14.031, Address=192.168.177.133:8088, MachineId=55685, Location=process:1128, Role=CreatePeopleCacheAndPopulateWith) ActualMemberSet=MemberSet(Size=2, BitSetCount=2 Member(Id=1, Timestamp=2012-06-23 13:29:14.031, Address=192.168.177.133:8088, MachineId=55685, Location=process:1128, Role=CreatePeopleCacheAndPopulateWith) Member(Id=2, Timestamp=2012-06-23 13:29:36.899, Address=192.168.177.133:8090, MachineId=55685, Location=process:244, Role=Oracle) ) RecycleMillis=1200000 RecycleSet=MemberSet(Size=0, BitSetCount=0 ) ) TcpRing{Connections=[1]} IpMonitor{AddressListSize=0} 2012-06-23 13:29:37.891/11.673 Oracle Coherence GE 3.6.0.4 <D5> (thread=Invocation:Management, member=2): Service Management joined the cluster with senior service member 1 2012-06-23 13:29:39.203/12.985 Oracle Coherence GE 3.6.0.4 <D5> (thread=DistributedCache, member=2): Service DistributedCache joined the cluster with senior service member 1 2012-06-23 13:29:39.297/13.079 Oracle Coherence GE 3.6.0.4 <D4> (thread=DistributedCache, member=2): Asking member 1 for 128 primary partitions Cache Statistics of 'People': - Total Entries of Cache -----> 3 - Used Memory (Bytes) --------> 883920 - Used Memory (MB) -----------> 0.843 - Object Average Size --------> 294640 I hope that this post could save you some time when calculate the total size of Coherence cache became a requirement for your high scalable system using data grids. See you!

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