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• Determine asymmetric latencies in a network

  - by BeeOnRope

  Imagine you have many clustered servers, across many hosts, in a heterogeneous network environment, such that the connections between servers may have wildly varying latencies and bandwidth. You want to build a map of the connections between servers my transferring data between them. Of course, this map may become stale over time as the network topology changes - but lets ignore those complexities for now and assume the network is relatively static. Given the latencies between nodes in this host graph, calculating the bandwidth is a relative simply timing exercise. I'm having more difficulty with the latencies - however. To get round-trip time, it is a simple matter of timing a return-trip ping from the local host to a remote host - both timing events (start, stop) occur on the local host. What if I want one-way times under the assumption that the latency is not equal in both directions? Assuming that the clocks on the various hosts are not precisely synchronized (at least that their error is of the the same magnitude as the latencies involved) - how can I calculate the one-way latency? In a related question - is this asymmetric latency (where a link is quicker in direction than the other) common in practice? For what reasons/hardware configurations? Certainly I'm aware of asymmetric bandwidth scenarios, especially on last-mile consumer links such as DSL and Cable, but I'm not so sure about latency. Added: After considering the comment below, the second portion of the question is probably better off on serverfault.

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• Updating a C# 2.0 events example to be idiomatic with C# 3.5?

  - by Damien Wildfire

  I have a short events example from .NET 2.0 that I've been using as a reference point for a while. We're now upgrading to 3.5, though, and I'm not clear on the most idiomatic way to do things. How would this simple events example get updated to reflect idioms that are now available in .NET 3.5? // Args class. public class TickArgs : EventArgs { private DateTime TimeNow; public DateTime Time { set { TimeNow = value; } get { return this.TimeNow; } } } // Producer class that generates events. public class Metronome { public event TickHandler Tick; public delegate void TickHandler(Metronome m, TickArgs e); public void Start() { while (true) { System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(3000); if (Tick != null) { TickArgs t = new TickArgs(); t.Time = DateTime.Now; Tick(this, t); } } } } // Consumer class that listens for events. public class Listener { public void Subscribe(Metronome m) { m.Tick += new Metronome.TickHandler(HeardIt); } private void HeardIt(Metronome m, TickArgs e) { System.Console.WriteLine("HEARD IT AT {0}",e.Time); } } // Example. public class Test { static void Main() { Metronome m = new Metronome(); Listener l = new Listener(); l.Subscribe(m); m.Start(); } }

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• I want to build a Google-friendly web app, where should I start?

  - by ronii

  I have only very basic experience with HTML/CSS and have quite a bit of experience with testing software and web apps from a consumer perspective. I'd love to launch a web application that plays nicely with Google services, similar to some of the apps you'd find on the Google Apps Marketplace, such as ManyMoon, time to note, Socialwok, etc. I'm a huge Google fan and would like to build something that's well integrated with other Google services. If you were a total beginner and wanted to build a complex app like one of examples above (project management, CRM, etc), where would you start? If you worked your ass off 18 hours a day, 24/7, how fast could you do it? I've dabbled into various languages and development frameworks, and read about which apps are using what languages but it's hard to figure out what would be most beneficial to jump into. Ruby on Rails, PHP, Google Web Toolkit, AppEngine. The list goes on and on. I want to be able to build and launch my own scalable web app. Thanks.

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• Celery Received unregistered task of type (run example)

  - by Echeg

  I'm trying to run example from Celery documentation. I run: celeryd --loglevel=INFO /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/celery/loaders/default.py:64: NotConfigured: No 'celeryconfig' module found! Please make sure it exists and is available to Python. "is available to Python." % (configname, ))) [2012-03-19 04:26:34,899: WARNING/MainProcess] -------------- celery@ubuntu v2.5.1 ---- **** ----- --- * *** * -- [Configuration] -- * - **** --- . broker: amqp://guest@localhost:5672// - ** ---------- . loader: celery.loaders.default.Loader - ** ---------- . logfile: [stderr]@INFO - ** ---------- . concurrency: 4 - ** ---------- . events: OFF - *** --- * --- . beat: OFF -- ******* ---- --- ***** ----- [Queues] -------------- . celery: exchange:celery (direct) binding:celery tasks.py: # -*- coding: utf-8 -*- from celery.task import task @task def add(x, y): return x + y run_task.py: # -*- coding: utf-8 -*- from tasks import add result = add.delay(4, 4) print (result) print (result.ready()) print (result.get()) In same folder celeryconfig.py: CELERY_IMPORTS = ("tasks", ) CELERY_RESULT_BACKEND = "amqp" BROKER_URL = "amqp://guest:guest@localhost:5672//" CELERY_TASK_RESULT_EXPIRES = 300 When I run "run_task.py": on python console eb503f77-b5fc-44e2-ac0b-91ce6ddbf153 False errors on celeryd server [2012-03-19 04:34:14,913: ERROR/MainProcess] Received unregistered task of type 'tasks.add'. The message has been ignored and discarded. Did you remember to import the module containing this task? Or maybe you are using relative imports? Please see http://bit.ly/gLye1c for more information. The full contents of the message body was: {'retries': 0, 'task': 'tasks.add', 'utc': False, 'args': (4, 4), 'expires': None, 'eta': None, 'kwargs': {}, 'id': '841bc21f-8124-436b-92f1-e3b62cafdfe7'} Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/celery/worker/consumer.py", line 444, in receive_message self.strategies[name](message, body, message.ack_log_error) KeyError: 'tasks.add' Please explain what's the problem.

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• How to prevent VC++ 9 linker from linking unnecessary global variables?

  - by sharptooth

  I'm playing with function-level linking in VC++. I've enabled /OPT:REF and /OPT:ICF and the linker is happy to eliminate all unused functions. Not so with variables. The following code is to demonstrate the problem only, I fully understand that actually having code structured that way is suboptimal. //A.cpp SomeType variable1; //B.cpp extern SomeType variable1; SomeType variable2; class ClassInB { //actually uses variable1 }; //C.cpp extern SomeType variable2; class ClassInC { //actually uses variable2; }; All those files are compiled into a static lib. The consumer project only uses ClassInC and links to the static library. Now comes the VC++ 9 linker. First the linker sees that C.obj references variable2 and includes B.obj. B.obj references variable1, so it includes A.obj. Then the unreferenced stuff elimination phase starts. It removes all functions in A.obj and B.obj, but not the variables. Both variable and variable2 are preserved together with their static initializers and deinitializers. That inflates the image size and introduces a delay for running the initializers and deinitializes. The code above is oversimplified, in actual code I really can't move variable2 into C.cpp easily. I could put it into a separate .cpp file, but that looks really dumb. Is there any better option to resolve the problem with Visual C++ 9?

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• Turn based synchronization between threads

  - by Amarus

  I'm trying to find a way to synchronize multiple threads having the following conditions: * There are two types of threads: 1. A single "cyclic" thread executing an infinite loop to do cyclic calculations 2. Multiple short-lived threads not started by the main thread * The cyclic thread has a sleep duration between each cycle/loop iteration * The other threads are allowed execute during the inter-cycle sleep of the cyclic thread: - Any other thread that attempts to execute during an active cycle should be blocked - The cyclic thread will wait until all other threads that are already executing to be finished Here's a basic example of what I was thinking of doing: // Somewhere in the code: ManualResetEvent manualResetEvent = new ManualResetEvent(true); // Allow Externally call CountdownEvent countdownEvent = new CountdownEvent(1); // Can't AddCount a CountdownEvent with CurrentCount = 0 void ExternallyCalled() { manualResetEvent.WaitOne(); // Wait until CyclicCalculations is having its beauty sleep countdownEvent.AddCount(); // Notify CyclicCalculations that it should wait for this method call to finish before starting the next cycle Thread.Sleep(1000); // TODO: Replace with actual method logic countdownEvent.Signal(); // Notify CyclicCalculations that this call is finished } void CyclicCalculations() { while (!stopCyclicCalculations) { manualResetEvent.Reset(); // Block all incoming calls to ExternallyCalled from this point forward countdownEvent.Signal(); // Dirty workaround for the issue with AddCount and CurrentCount = 0 countdownEvent.Wait(); // Wait until all of the already executing calls to ExternallyCalled are finished countdownEvent.Reset(); // Reset the CountdownEvent for next cycle. Thread.Sleep(2000); // TODO: Replace with actual method logic manualResetEvent.Set(); // Unblock all threads executing ExternallyCalled Thread.Sleep(1000); // Inter-cycles delay } } Obviously, this doesn't work. There's no guarantee that there won't be any threads executing ExternallyCalled that are in between manualResetEvent.WaitOne(); and countdownEvent.AddCount(); at the time the main thread gets released by the CountdownEvent. I can't figure out a simple way of doing what I'm after, and almost everything that I've found after a lengthy search is related to producer/consumer synchronization which I can't apply here.

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• Reference properteries declared in a protocol and implemented in the anonymous category?

  - by Heath Borders

  I have the following protocol: @protocol MyProtocol @property (nonatomic, retain) NSObject *myProtocolProperty; -(void) myProtocolMethod; @end and I have the following class: @interface MyClass : NSObject { } @end I have a class extension declared, I have to redeclare my protocol properties here or else I can't implement them with the rest of my class. @interface()<MyProtocol> @property (nonatomic, retain) NSObject *myExtensionProperty; /* * This redeclaration is required or my @synthesize myProtocolProperty fails */ @property (nonatomic, retain) NSObject *myProtocolProperty; - (void) myExtensionMethod; @end @implementation MyClass @synthesize myProtocolProperty = _myProtocolProperty; @synthesize myExtensionProperty = _myExtensionProperty; - (void) myProtocolMethod { } - (void) myExtensionMethod { } @end In a consumer method, I can call my protocol methods and properties just fine. Calling my extension methods and properties produces a warning and an error respectively. - (void) consumeMyClassWithMyProtocol: (MyClass<MyProtocol> *) myClassWithMyProtocol { myClassWithMyProtocol.myProtocolProperty; // works, yay! [myClassWithMyProtocol myProtocolMethod]; // works, yay! myClassWithMyProtocol.myExtensionProperty; // compiler error, yay! [myClassWithMyProtocol myExtensionMethod]; // compiler warning, yay! } Is there any way I can avoid redeclaring the properties in MyProtocol within my class extension in order to implement MyProtocol privately?

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• How can I provide property-level string formatting?

  - by jhubsharp

  Not sure if the question wording is accurate, but here's what I want to do: I want to databind a class with some strings in it: class MyClass { public string MyProperty { get; set; } public string MyProperty2 { get; set; } } When databinding, everything behaves normally. On the back end, I'm writing to a file and I want MyProperty2 to always be encrypted using some encryption algorithm. I want my back-end code to write each string without needing to know that encryption is required (I want the class to know it should be encrypted, not the consumer). Can I do this with a type converter, or something similar? EDIT: There are other scenarios as well. Some booleans I want to format as "Y" or "N", other booleans I want formatted as "Enabled" / "Disabled", etc. I can write (and have written) helper methods and let the file writer call the helper methods as appropriate, I'm just wondering if there's a way to do this without the file writer needing to know which objects need which kind of formatting and let the objects tell that to the file writer.

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• MySQL Table Loop using PHP

  - by JM4

  I have an online form which collects consumer data and stores in a dedicated MySQL database. In some instances, data is passed in the URL under the "RefID" variable which is also stored in the database and attached to each registration. I use the 'mysql_num_rows ($result)' to fetch all agent details on another page but this only returns ALL available details. My goal is as follows: GOAL I want to create an HTML table in which rows are automatically generated based on the list of all registrations on my site. A new row is created IF and ONLY IF a unique RefID is present on that particular record. In the event the field is NULL, it is reported on a single line. In short, the HTML table could look something like this: RefID - Number of Enrollments abc123 - 10 baseball - 11 twonk - 7 NULL - 33 Where abc123 is a particular RefID and 10 is the number of times that RefID appears in the DB. If a new registration comes in with RefID = "horses", a new row is created, showing "horses - 1". The HTML table will be viewable by account administrators needing to see the number of enrollments for a particular RefID (which they won't know ahead of time). Anybody have any suggestions?

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• DB Strategy for inserting into a high read table (Sql Server)

  - by Tom

  Looking for strategies for a very large table with data maintained for reporting and historical purposes, a very small subset of that data is used in daily operations. Background: We have Visitor and Visits tables which are continuously updated by our consumer facing site. These tables contain information on every visit and visitor, including bots and crawlers, direct traffic that does not result in a conversion, etc. Our back end site allows management of the visitor's (leads) from the front end site. Most of the management occurs on a small subset of our visitors (visitors that become leads). The vast majority of the data in our visitor and visit tables is maintained only for a much smaller subset of user activity (basically reporting type functionality). This is NOT an indexing problem, we have done all we can with indexing and keeping our indexes clean, small, and not fragmented. ps: We do not currently have the budget or expertise for a data warehouse. The problem: We would like the system to be more responsive to our end users when they are querying, for instance, the list of their assigned leads. Currently the query is against a huge data set of mostly irrelevant data. I am pondering a few ideas. One involves new tables and a fairly major re-architecture, I'm not asking for help on that. The other involves creating redundant data, (for instance a Visitor_Archive and a Visitor_Small table) where the larger visitor and visit tables exist for inserts and history/reporting, the smaller visitor1 table would exist for managing leads, sending lead an email, need leads phone number, need my list of leads, etc.. The reason I am reaching out is that I would love opinions on the best way to keep the Visitor_Archive and the Visitor_Small tables in sync... Replication? Can I use replication to replicate only data with a certain column value (FooID = x) Any other strategies?

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• Detecting modifier keys held down during startup in OS/X (or Windows)?

  - by Tom Swirly

  I've searched here and not found any question that really covers this. I have a cross-platform Windows-OS/X application in which I'd like to be able to detect whether modifier keys like shift or control are being held down while the application starts up. We'd like to do this to allow the application to start up without reading its preferences file, in case that somehow gets corrupted (we saw in testing a prefs bug, now fixed, that made the window size 0 by 0, for example). We're using the excellent and comprehensive cross-platform C++ library named Juce. Unfortunately, Juce's master tells me that he believes this is impossible on OS/X at least since you only get keyboard events and there is no way to read the state of the keys unless something changes. Is this true? Or is there some way around this? I'm almost sure I've used Mac programs that used this mechanism to bypass their preferences. Or... stepping up one level... is there another solution to providing the functionality of "run the program but don't read the prefs file" other than "holding a key down while launching the program"? This is consumer software so we can't expect too much from the user. The final solution will end up being a cross-platform one so hints on the Windows side will also be appreciated. Thanks, and be well! I'll report in with progress on my end.

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• What "pieces" are needed in order to set up a cluster of physical servers?

  - by Chris Dutrow

  Background: Currently, we use Rackspace cloud servers. We have no intention to stop using them, but would like to look into setting up a cluster of physical servers (probably desktop computers in the $400 range with 8gb memory each) to offset some of our load and work as a secondary, more powerful, less reliable system. To put things in perspective, we can buy comparable desktop computers for the same price as we pay in one month to rent them on Rackspace Cloud. I understand that this is generally a dumb idea. However, in this particular instance, the server cluster is needed for its computation power. It is not mission-critical, it does not host a consumer-facing website, and if it goes down for a day or two, its not really a problem. Currently, we have access to business class verizon fios. If I understand correctly, we can get at least 25 dedicated IP addresses with this service, this should be enough. Requirements: Each server runs Linux Centos 6.3 Some of the servers run Python and execute processes from a task queue (Redis or RabbitMQ) Some of the servers are capable of serving static files and Python driven REST APIs Some of the servers host a Cassandra database cluster One or more of the servers are a Redis database servers One or more of the servers are PostgreSQL servers Questions: What kind of router or switch is needed? We would like the computers to be able to communicate effectively with each other via internal IP addresses. This is especially important for communicating with servers hosting Redis that need to be able to respond to requests very quickly. Are there special switches or routers that need to be used to connect the servers together? Are Desktop computers ok for this? We have found that we are mostly RAM-bottle necked, I understand that some servers have highly superior CPUs, but I'm not sure we need CPU power as much as we need RAM, which is cheap in Desktop computers. Will we have problems with the WIFI cards in the desktops or any other unexpected hardware limitation? What tools should be used to "image" the servers. For example, when we get an installation right for a Redis server or Cassandra node, are there tools that come with Linux Centos 6.3 to image the server to a USB drive or something like that? Or do we need to use some other software for this? What other things are we missing that we should be concerned about? Thanks so much!

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• How do I combine static and dynamic DHCP leases on a Cisco router?

  - by Brad

  Basically, what I need is super similar to the unanswered cisco forum question below: https://supportforums.cisco.com/message/3139749#3139749 I have a Cisco 850 Series router. I have configured a DHCP pool for the 10.0.0.0/24 network. I have excluded 10.0.0.1 - 10.0.0.99 from the DHCP pool. I want to add a static DHCP pool for stuff and I want DHCP to statically assign them the addresses of my choice below 100. Actually, I don't care what addresses I statically assign. They can be anything in the pool for all I care, I just want it to work. Why are you doing this? Just statically assign the IPs on the devices! I don't want to do this because I have some laptop users. They could obviously only use that static IP here. This isn't a problem if they could be bothered to change any location setting or something. They can't. So it HAS to be DHCP. It also has to be static IPs because I need to forward ports to them. I know, I know, this is weird but it's an apartment LAN/WLAN so this isn't exactly a typical use case. Relevant sections of config below: ip dhcp excluded-address 10.0.0.1 10.0.0.99 ! ip dhcp pool Internal-net import all network 10.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 default-router 10.0.0.1 domain-name 1770.local lease 7 ! ip dhcp pool static-pool import all origin file flash://staticmap default-router 10.0.0.1 domain-name 1770.local Contents of staticmap: *time* Aug 5 2010 09:00 AM *version* 2 !IP address Type Hardware address Lease expiration 10.0.0.100/24 1 001f.5b3e.d50a Infinite *end* You can see here I was trying addresses outside the excluded-address range to see if that would make any difference. My testing machine's MAC: mainframe:~ brad$ ifconfig en1 en1: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 ether 00:1f:5b:3e:d5:0a What shows up in the DHCP binding table: basestar#show ip dhcp binding Bindings from all pools not associated with VRF: IP address Client-ID/ Lease expiration Type Hardware address/ User name 10.0.0.112 0100.1f5b.3ed5.0a Aug 12 2010 10:06 AM Automatic What's up with the funny looking MAC in the DHCP binding table?? Is what I'm trying to accomplish basically impossible? Am I going about this the wrong way? All I want to to be able to port forward some ports to specific devices. The way I would do this with a consumer router is to do what I'm trying to do here; assign static DHCP to those devices then configure PAT for ports on those addresses.

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• Macintosh computers cannot connect to router unless we re-start the modem and router

  - by dwwilson66

  We have a small office network with DSL and a Netgear WNR-2000 wireless router acting as a DHCP server. There are nine devices connected to the router, wirelessly and wired. Whenever a Mac computer tries to connect, it's unsuccessful until we restart the router. Each of the possible devices that can connect to the network is listed in a table to assign certain IP addresses to certain MAC addresses. I am running WPA-PSK security. I can view the router status and see that the Mac's MAC address is visible to the router, but with a 169.* IP address, even though I'm assigning its MAC address to an IP address within my subnet. All non-Mac devices attached to the network connect properly, and can access the network properly even AFTER the Mac has not successfully connected. The network includes Windows devices, Roku boxes, printers and internet ready TVs. This to me, would point to a DHCP issue with how Mac communicates with my network. One interesting thing to note is that if a Mac connects and is prevented from sleeping, it will stay connected indefinitely; reissuing the security cert from the router works fine. I'm not sure if that's supposed to sever & re-establish a connection with the updated credentials or not, but I do stay connected. If the Mac sleeps and is awakened while the security cert is still valid, it connects fine. If the security certificate expires while the Mac is asleep, we need to restart the router. Restarting the router will ALWAYS assigns the proper IP addresses to the Mac equipment. I have heard anecdotally that Mac doesn't play well with 802.11n; I have not tested any other Wireless protocols. There's a couple issues here: First, I found this on Stack, Mac laptop crashing wireless router, but it's not rally applicable since the router isn't crashing. But, it does give some clues about Mac's accessing the network. I did change my encryption from WEP to WPA-PSK, but after about a week, we're still experiencing the issue. I'm not really sure if there's anything else useful in that question. Second, I'm considering getting a 802.11c router and hooking it up to the wireless N router. the 802.11c router would handle all the Mac traffic, and would be set up as a Mac-only subnet. Everything else would remain as is. However, I'm not sure if this is doable on a technology level...do I need a bridge or is this some way to do this with regular consumer gear?

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• How to configure Transparent IP Address Sharing (TAS) on a Mediatrix 4102 with DGW 2.0 firmware?

  - by Pascal Bourque

  I am making the switch to VoIP. I chose voip.ms as my service provider and Mediatrix 4102 as my ATA. One reason why I chose the Mediatrix over other popular consumer ATAs is that it's supposed to be easy to place it in front of the router, so it can give priority to its own upstream traffic over the home network's upstream traffic. This is supposed to work transparently, with the ATA and router sharing the same public IP address (the one obtained from the modem). They call this feaure Transparent IP Address Sharing, or TAS. Their promotional brochure describes it like this: The Mediatrix 4102 also uses its innovative TAS (Transparent IP Address Sharing) technology and an embedded PPPoE client to allow the PC (or router) connected to the second Ethernet port to have the same public IP address, eliminating the need for private IP addresses or address translations. I am interested by this feature because my router, an Apple Time Capsule, doesn't support QoS and cannot give priority to the voice packets if the ATA is behind the router. However, after hours of searching the web, reading the documentation, and good ol' trial and error, I haven't been able to configure the Mediatrix to run in this mode. Then I found a version of the manual that looks like it was for a previous version of the firmware (SIP), where there is an entire section dedicated to configuring TAS (starting at page 209). But my Mediatrix comes with the DGW 2.0 firmware, whose documentation does not mention TAS at all. So I tried to follow the TAS setup instructions from the SIP documentation and apply them to my DGW firmware, using the Variable Mapping Between SIP v5.0 and DGW v2.0 document as a reference, but no success. Some required SIP variables don't have an equivalent in DGW. So it looks like the DGW firmware does not support TAS at all, or if it does they are not doing anything to help us set it up. So right now, the Mediatrix is behind the router and VoIP works perfectly except when my upstream bandwidth is saturated. My questions are: Is downgrading to SIP firmware the only way to have my Mediatrix 4102 run in TAS mode? If not, anybody knows how to setup TAS on the DGW firmware? Is TAS mode the only way to give priority to the voice packets if I want to keep my current router (Apple Time Capsule)? Thanks!

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• How should I set up my Hyper-V server and network topology?

  - by Daniel Waechter

  This is my first time setting up either Hyper-V or Windows 2008, so please bear with me. I am setting up a pretty decent server running Windows Server 2008 R2 to be a remote (colocated) Hyper-V host. It will be hosting Linux and Windows VMs, initially for developers to use but eventually also to do some web hosting and other tasks. Currently I have two VMs, one Windows and one Ubuntu Linux, running pretty well, and I plan to clone them for future use. Right now I'm considering the best ways to configure developer and administrator access to the server once it is moved into the colocation facility, and I'm seeking advice on that. My thought is to set up a VPN for access to certain features of the VMs on the server, but I have a few different options for going about this: Connect the server to an existing hardware firewall (an old-ish Netscreen 5-GT) that can create a VPN and map external IPs to the VMs, which will have their own IPs exposed through the virtual interface. One problem with this choice is that I'm the only one trained on the Netscreen, and its interface is a bit baroque, so others may have difficulty maintaining it. Advantage is that I already know how to do it, and I know it will do what I need. Connect the server directly to the network and configure the Windows 2008 firewall to restrict access to the VMs and set up a VPN. I haven't done this before, so it will have a learning curve, but I'm willing to learn if this option is better long-term than the Netscreen. Another advantage is that I won't have to train anyone on the Netscreen interface. Still, I'm not certain if the capabilities of the Windows software firewall as far as creating VPNs, setting up rules for external access to certain ports on the IPs of Hyper-V servers, etc. Will it be sufficient for my needs and easy enough to set up / maintain? Anything else? What are the limitations of my approaches? What are the best practices / what has worked well for you? Remember that I need to set up developer access as well as consumer access to some services. Is a VPN even the right choice?

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• How to configure Transparent IP Address Sharing (TAS) on a Mediatrix 4102 with DGW 2.0 firmware?

  - by Pascal Bourque

  I am making the switch to VoIP. I chose voip.ms as my service provider and Mediatrix 4102 as my ATA. One reason why I chose the Mediatrix over other popular consumer ATAs is that it's supposed to be easy to place it in front of the router, so it can give priority to its own upstream traffic over the home network's upstream traffic. This is supposed to work transparently, with the ATA and router sharing the same public IP address (the one obtained from the modem). They call this feaure Transparent IP Address Sharing, or TAS. Their promotional brochure describes it like this: The Mediatrix 4102 also uses its innovative TAS (Transparent IP Address Sharing) technology and an embedded PPPoE client to allow the PC (or router) connected to the second Ethernet port to have the same public IP address, eliminating the need for private IP addresses or address translations. I am interested by this feature because my router, an Apple Time Capsule, doesn't support QoS and cannot give priority to the voice packets if the ATA is behind the router. However, after hours of searching the web, reading the documentation, and good ol' trial and error, I haven't been able to configure the Mediatrix to run in this mode. Then I found a version of the manual that looks like it was for a previous version of the firmware (SIP), where there is an entire section dedicated to configuring TAS (starting at page 209). But my Mediatrix comes with the DGW 2.0 firmware, whose documentation does not mention TAS at all. So I tried to follow the TAS setup instructions from the SIP documentation and apply them to my DGW firmware, using the Variable Mapping Between SIP v5.0 and DGW v2.0 document as a reference, but no success. Some required SIP variables don't have an equivalent in DGW. So it looks like the DGW firmware does not support TAS at all, or if it does they are not doing anything to help us set it up. So right now, the Mediatrix is behind the router and VoIP works perfectly except when my upstream bandwidth is saturated. My questions are: Is downgrading to SIP firmware the only way to have my Mediatrix 4102 run in TAS mode? If not, anybody knows how to setup TAS on the DGW firmware? Is TAS mode the only way to give priority to the voice packets if I want to keep my current router (Apple Time Capsule)? Thanks!

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• How should we serve files in a small bioinformatics cluster?

  - by cespinoza

  We have a small cluster of six ubuntu servers. We run bioinformatics analyses on these clusters. Each analysis takes about 24 hours to complete, each core i7 server can handle 2 at a time, takes as input about 5GB data and outputs about 10-25GB of data. We run dozens of these a week. The software is a hodgepodge of custom perl scripts and 3rd party sequence alignment software written in C/C++. Currently, files are served from two of the compute nodes (yes, we're using compute nodes as file servers)-- each node has 5 1TB sata drives mounted separately (no raid) and is pooled via glusterfs 2.0.1. They each have as 3 bonded intel ethernet pci gigabit ethernet cards, attached to a d-link DGS-1224T switch ($300 24 port consumer-level). We are not currently using jumbo frames (not sure why, actually). The two file-serving compute nodes are then mirrored via glusterfs. Each of the four other nodes mounts the files via glusterfs. The files are all large (4gb+), and are stored as bare files (no database/etc) if that matters. As you can imagine, this is a bit of a mess that grew organically without forethought and we want to improve it now that we're running out of space. Our analyses are I/O intensive and it is a bottle neck-- we're only getting 140mB/sec between the two fileservers, maybe 50mb/sec from the clients (which only have single NICs). We have a flexible budget which I can probably get up $5k or so. How should we spend our budget? We need at least 10TB of storage fast enough to serve all nodes. How fast/big does the cpu/memory of such a file server have to be? Should we use NFS, ATA over Ethernet, iSCSI, Glusterfs, or something else? Should we buy two or more servers and create some sort of storage cluster, or is 1 server enough for such a small number of nodes? Should we invest in faster NICs (say, PCI-express cards with multiple connectors)? The switch? Should we use raid, if so, hardware or software? and which raid (5, 6, 10, etc)? Any ideas appreciated. We're biologists, not IT gurus.

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• change height in Android 2.2 LinearLayout in code

  - by Niro

  Im trying to change height of Layouts through the code without success. I've tried all of the examples i saw here and other site and my app just keep shutting down. xml code: <LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools" android:id="@+id/main_lay" android:orientation="vertical" tools:context=".MainActivity" > <LinearLayout android:id="@+id/layout_add" > </LinearLayout> <LinearLayout android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="50dp" android:background="@color/green"> <ImageView android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:contentDescription="@string/desc" android:layout_height="45dp" android:layout_gravity="center_vertical|left" android:scaleType="fitStart" android:background="@color/orange" android:src="@drawable/logo" > </ImageView> </LinearLayout> </LinearLayout> Java code: main_layout=(LinearLayout)findViewById(R.id.main_lay); main_layout.setLayoutParams(new FrameLayout.LayoutParams(LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT,LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT)); main_layout.setBackgroundResource(R.color.white); layout_add = (LinearLayout) findViewById(R.id.layout_add); layout_add.setLayoutParams(new FrameLayout.LayoutParams(LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT,50 )); layout_add.setBackgroundResource(R.color.dark_grey); I cant understand what im doing wrong. I've tried different ways to fix it. The Backround setting is working fine. Thank you guys Niro This is the Logcat 12-09 16:12:39.007: E/AnalyticsSDKTest.cpp(6338): Time w/ UTC Offset: 2012-12-09 12-09 16:16:14.517: E/ActivityManager(121): fail to set top app changed! 12-09 16:16:14.547: E/InputDispatcher(121): channel '4056b9c8 com.nirosadvice.converter/com.nirosadvice.converter.MainActivity (server)' ~ Consumer closed input channel or an error occurred. events=0x8 12-09 16:16:14.547: E/InputDispatcher(121): channel '4056b9c8 com.nirosadvice.converter/com.nirosadvice.converter.MainActivity (server)' ~ Channel is unrecoverably broken and will be disposed! 12-09 16:16:18.071: E/PVWmdrmProxy(5716): binder died for component: ComponentInfo{com.pv.wmdrmservice/com.pv.wmdrmservice.PVWmdrmService} 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): FATAL EXCEPTION: main 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{com.nirosadvice.converter/com.nirosadvice.converter.MainActivity}: java.lang.RuntimeException: Binary XML file line #1: You must supply a layout_width attribute. 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1821) 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1842) 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1500(ActivityThread.java:132) 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1038) 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99) 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:150) 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4263) 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method) 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:507) 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:839) 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:597) 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method) 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: Binary XML file line #1: You must supply a layout_width attribute. 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): at android.content.res.TypedArray.getLayoutDimension(TypedArray.java:491) 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): at android.view.ViewGroup$LayoutParams.setBaseAttributes(ViewGroup.java:3684) 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): at android.view.ViewGroup$MarginLayoutParams.<init>(ViewGroup.java:3764) 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): at android.widget.FrameLayout$LayoutParams.<init>(FrameLayout.java:457) 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): at android.widget.FrameLayout.generateLayoutParams(FrameLayout.java:423) 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): at android.widget.FrameLayout.generateLayoutParams(FrameLayout.java:47) 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:396) 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:320) 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:276) 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow.setContentView(PhoneWindow.java:231) 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): at android.app.Activity.setContentView(Activity.java:1715) 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): at com.nirosadvice.converter.MainActivity.onCreate(MainActivity.java:87) 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1072) 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1785) 12-09 16:16:18.161: E/AndroidRuntime(18911): ... 11 more Thanks After Iv'e added the attributes to the XML - this is what i'm getting : CatLog: 12-09 16:42:33.168: E/AndroidRuntime(19065): FATAL EXCEPTION: main 12-09 16:42:33.168: E/AndroidRuntime(19065): java.lang.ClassCastException: android.view.ViewGroup$LayoutParams 12-09 16:42:33.168: E/AndroidRuntime(19065): at android.widget.LinearLayout.measureVertical(LinearLayout.java:360) 12-09 16:42:33.168: E/AndroidRuntime(19065): at android.widget.LinearLayout.onMeasure(LinearLayout.java:309) 12-09 16:42:33.168: E/AndroidRuntime(19065): at android.view.View.measure(View.java:8526) 12-09 16:42:33.168: E/AndroidRuntime(19065): at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:3224) 12-09 16:42:33.168: E/AndroidRuntime(19065): at android.widget.FrameLayout.onMeasure(FrameLayout.java:250) 12-09 16:42:33.168: E/AndroidRuntime(19065): at android.view.View.measure(View.java:8526) 12-09 16:42:33.168: E/AndroidRuntime(19065): at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:3224) 12-09 16:42:33.168: E/AndroidRuntime(19065): at android.widget.FrameLayout.onMeasure(FrameLayout.java:250) 12-09 16:42:33.168: E/AndroidRuntime(19065): at android.view.View.measure(View.java:8526) 12-09 16:42:33.168: E/AndroidRuntime(19065): at android.view.ViewRoot.performTraversals(ViewRoot.java:902) 12-09 16:42:33.168: E/AndroidRuntime(19065): at android.view.ViewRoot.handleMessage(ViewRoot.java:1957) 12-09 16:42:33.168: E/AndroidRuntime(19065): at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99) 12-09 16:42:33.168: E/AndroidRuntime(19065): at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:150) 12-09 16:42:33.168: E/AndroidRuntime(19065): at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4263) 12-09 16:42:33.168: E/AndroidRuntime(19065): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method) 12-09 16:42:33.168: E/AndroidRuntime(19065): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:507) 12-09 16:42:33.168: E/AndroidRuntime(19065): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:839) 12-09 16:42:33.168: E/AndroidRuntime(19065): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:597) 12-09 16:42:33.168: E/AndroidRuntime(19065): at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method) 12-09 16:42:39.023: E/AnalyticsSDKTest.cpp(6338): Time w/ UTC Offset: 2012-12-09 21:42:39-05:00 12-09 16:42:49.013: E/AndroidRuntime(19095): FATAL EXCEPTION: main 12-09 16:42:49.013: E/AndroidRuntime(19095): java.lang.ClassCastException: android.view.ViewGroup$LayoutParams 12-09 16:42:49.013: E/AndroidRuntime(19095): at android.widget.LinearLayout.measureVertical(LinearLayout.java:360) 12-09 16:42:49.013: E/AndroidRuntime(19095): at android.widget.LinearLayout.onMeasure(LinearLayout.java:309) 12-09 16:42:49.013: E/AndroidRuntime(19095): at android.view.View.measure(View.java:8526) 12-09 16:42:49.013: E/AndroidRuntime(19095): at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:3224) 12-09 16:42:49.013: E/AndroidRuntime(19095): at android.widget.FrameLayout.onMeasure(FrameLayout.java:250) 12-09 16:42:49.013: E/AndroidRuntime(19095): at android.view.View.measure(View.java:8526) 12-09 16:42:49.013: E/AndroidRuntime(19095): at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:3224) 12-09 16:42:49.013: E/AndroidRuntime(19095): at android.widget.FrameLayout.onMeasure(FrameLayout.java:250) 12-09 16:42:49.013: E/AndroidRuntime(19095): at android.view.View.measure(View.java:8526) 12-09 16:42:49.013: E/AndroidRuntime(19095): at android.view.ViewRoot.performTraversals(ViewRoot.java:902) 12-09 16:42:49.013: E/AndroidRuntime(19095): at android.view.ViewRoot.handleMessage(ViewRoot.java:1957) 12-09 16:42:49.013: E/AndroidRuntime(19095): at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99) 12-09 16:42:49.013: E/AndroidRuntime(19095): at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:150) 12-09 16:42:49.013: E/AndroidRuntime(19095): at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4263) 12-09 16:42:49.013: E/AndroidRuntime(19095): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method) 12-09 16:42:49.013: E/AndroidRuntime(19095): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:507) 12-09 16:42:49.013: E/AndroidRuntime(19095): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:839) 12-09 16:42:49.013: E/AndroidRuntime(19095): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:597) 12-09 16:42:49.013: E/AndroidRuntime(19095): at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method) 12-09 16:44:00.913: E/AndroidRuntime(19148): FATAL EXCEPTION: main 12-09 16:44:00.913: E/AndroidRuntime(19148): java.lang.ClassCastException: android.view.ViewGroup$LayoutParams 12-09 16:44:00.913: E/AndroidRuntime(19148): at android.widget.LinearLayout.measureVertical(LinearLayout.java:360) 12-09 16:44:00.913: E/AndroidRuntime(19148): at android.widget.LinearLayout.onMeasure(LinearLayout.java:309) 12-09 16:44:00.913: E/AndroidRuntime(19148): at android.view.View.measure(View.java:8526) 12-09 16:44:00.913: E/AndroidRuntime(19148): at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:3224) 12-09 16:44:00.913: E/AndroidRuntime(19148): at android.widget.FrameLayout.onMeasure(FrameLayout.java:250) 12-09 16:44:00.913: E/AndroidRuntime(19148): at android.view.View.measure(View.java:8526) 12-09 16:44:00.913: E/AndroidRuntime(19148): at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:3224) 12-09 16:44:00.913: E/AndroidRuntime(19148): at android.widget.FrameLayout.onMeasure(FrameLayout.java:250) 12-09 16:44:00.913: E/AndroidRuntime(19148): at android.view.View.measure(View.java:8526) 12-09 16:44:00.913: E/AndroidRuntime(19148): at android.view.ViewRoot.performTraversals(ViewRoot.java:902) 12-09 16:44:00.913: E/AndroidRuntime(19148): at android.view.ViewRoot.handleMessage(ViewRoot.java:1957) 12-09 16:44:00.913: E/AndroidRuntime(19148): at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99) 12-09 16:44:00.913: E/AndroidRuntime(19148): at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:150) 12-09 16:44:00.913: E/AndroidRuntime(19148): at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4263) 12-09 16:44:00.913: E/AndroidRuntime(19148): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method) 12-09 16:44:00.913: E/AndroidRuntime(19148): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:507) 12-09 16:44:00.913: E/AndroidRuntime(19148): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:839) 12-09 16:44:00.913: E/AndroidRuntime(19148): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:597) 12-09 16:44:00.913: E/AndroidRuntime(19148): at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method) 12-09 16:44:02.935: E/InputDispatcher(121): channel '4056b9c8 com.nirosadvice.converter/com.nirosadvice.converter.MainActivity (server)' ~ Consumer closed input channel or an error occurred. events=0x8 12-09 16:44:02.935: E/InputDispatcher(121): channel '4056b9c8 com.nirosadvice.converter/com.nirosadvice.converter.MainActivity (server)' ~ Channel is unrecoverably broken and will be disposed! 12-09 16:45:25.075: E/AndroidRuntime(19210): FATAL EXCEPTION: main 12-09 16:45:25.075: E/AndroidRuntime(19210): java.lang.ClassCastException: android.view.ViewGroup$LayoutParams 12-09 16:45:25.075: E/AndroidRuntime(19210): at android.widget.LinearLayout.measureVertical(LinearLayout.java:360) 12-09 16:45:25.075: E/AndroidRuntime(19210): at android.widget.LinearLayout.onMeasure(LinearLayout.java:309) 12-09 16:45:25.075: E/AndroidRuntime(19210): at android.view.View.measure(View.java:8526) 12-09 16:45:25.075: E/AndroidRuntime(19210): at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:3224) 12-09 16:45:25.075: E/AndroidRuntime(19210): at android.widget.FrameLayout.onMeasure(FrameLayout.java:250) 12-09 16:45:25.075: E/AndroidRuntime(19210): at android.view.View.measure(View.java:8526) 12-09 16:45:25.075: E/AndroidRuntime(19210): at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:3224) 12-09 16:45:25.075: E/AndroidRuntime(19210): at android.widget.FrameLayout.onMeasure(FrameLayout.java:250) 12-09 16:45:25.075: E/AndroidRuntime(19210): at android.view.View.measure(View.java:8526) 12-09 16:45:25.075: E/AndroidRuntime(19210): at android.view.ViewRoot.performTraversals(ViewRoot.java:902) 12-09 16:45:25.075: E/AndroidRuntime(19210): at android.view.ViewRoot.handleMessage(ViewRoot.java:1957) 12-09 16:45:25.075: E/AndroidRuntime(19210): at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99) 12-09 16:45:25.075: E/AndroidRuntime(19210): at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:150) 12-09 16:45:25.075: E/AndroidRuntime(19210): at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4263) 12-09 16:45:25.075: E/AndroidRuntime(19210): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method) 12-09 16:45:25.075: E/AndroidRuntime(19210): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:507) 12-09 16:45:25.075: E/AndroidRuntime(19210): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:839) 12-09 16:45:25.075: E/AndroidRuntime(19210): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:597) 12-09 16:45:25.075: E/AndroidRuntime(19210): at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method) 12-09 16:50:34.507: E/AndroidRuntime(19358): FATAL EXCEPTION: main 12-09 16:50:34.507: E/AndroidRuntime(19358): java.lang.ClassCastException: android.view.ViewGroup$LayoutParams 12-09 16:50:34.507: E/AndroidRuntime(19358): at android.widget.LinearLayout.measureVertical(LinearLayout.java:360) 12-09 16:50:34.507: E/AndroidRuntime(19358): at android.widget.LinearLayout.onMeasure(LinearLayout.java:309) 12-09 16:50:34.507: E/AndroidRuntime(19358): at android.view.View.measure(View.java:8526) 12-09 16:50:34.507: E/AndroidRuntime(19358): at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:3224) 12-09 16:50:34.507: E/AndroidRuntime(19358): at android.widget.FrameLayout.onMeasure(FrameLayout.java:250) 12-09 16:50:34.507: E/AndroidRuntime(19358): at android.view.View.measure(View.java:8526) 12-09 16:50:34.507: E/AndroidRuntime(19358): at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:3224) 12-09 16:50:34.507: E/AndroidRuntime(19358): at android.widget.FrameLayout.onMeasure(FrameLayout.java:250) 12-09 16:50:34.507: E/AndroidRuntime(19358): at android.view.View.measure(View.java:8526) 12-09 16:50:34.507: E/AndroidRuntime(19358): at android.view.ViewRoot.performTraversals(ViewRoot.java:902) 12-09 16:50:34.507: E/AndroidRuntime(19358): at android.view.ViewRoot.handleMessage(ViewRoot.java:1957) 12-09 16:50:34.507: E/AndroidRuntime(19358): at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99) 12-09 16:50:34.507: E/AndroidRuntime(19358): at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:150) 12-09 16:50:34.507: E/AndroidRuntime(19358): at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4263) 12-09 16:50:34.507: E/AndroidRuntime(19358): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method) 12-09 16:50:34.507: E/AndroidRuntime(19358): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:507) 12-09 16:50:34.507: E/AndroidRuntime(19358): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:839) 12-09 16:50:34.507: E/AndroidRuntime(19358): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:597) 12-09 16:50:34.507: E/AndroidRuntime(19358): at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method) Third try - after changing the Frame to Linear : 12-09 17:42:39.076: E/AnalyticsSDKTest.cpp(6338): Time w/ UTC Offset: 2012-12-09 22:42:39-05:00 12-09 17:55:44.141: E/ActivityManager(121): Fix ANR:broadcast when App died 12-09 17:55:44.722: E/AndroidRuntime(19469): FATAL EXCEPTION: main 12-09 17:55:44.722: E/AndroidRuntime(19469): java.lang.ClassCastException: android.view.ViewGroup$LayoutParams 12-09 17:55:44.722: E/AndroidRuntime(19469): at android.widget.LinearLayout.measureVertical(LinearLayout.java:360) 12-09 17:55:44.722: E/AndroidRuntime(19469): at android.widget.LinearLayout.onMeasure(LinearLayout.java:309) 12-09 17:55:44.722: E/AndroidRuntime(19469): at android.view.View.measure(View.java:8526) 12-09 17:55:44.722: E/AndroidRuntime(19469): at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:3224) 12-09 17:55:44.722: E/AndroidRuntime(19469): at android.widget.FrameLayout.onMeasure(FrameLayout.java:250) 12-09 17:55:44.722: E/AndroidRuntime(19469): at android.view.View.measure(View.java:8526) 12-09 17:55:44.722: E/AndroidRuntime(19469): at android.view.ViewGroup.measureChildWithMargins(ViewGroup.java:3224) 12-09 17:55:44.722: E/AndroidRuntime(19469): at android.widget.FrameLayout.onMeasure(FrameLayout.java:250) 12-09 17:55:44.722: E/AndroidRuntime(19469): at android.view.View.measure(View.java:8526) 12-09 17:55:44.722: E/AndroidRuntime(19469): at android.view.ViewRoot.performTraversals(ViewRoot.java:902) 12-09 17:55:44.722: E/AndroidRuntime(19469): at android.view.ViewRoot.handleMessage(ViewRoot.java:1957) 12-09 17:55:44.722: E/AndroidRuntime(19469): at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99) 12-09 17:55:44.722: E/AndroidRuntime(19469): at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:150) 12-09 17:55:44.722: E/AndroidRuntime(19469): at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4263) 12-09 17:55:44.722: E/AndroidRuntime(19469): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method) 12-09 17:55:44.722: E/AndroidRuntime(19469): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:507) 12-09 17:55:44.722: E/AndroidRuntime(19469): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:839) 12-09 17:55:44.722: E/AndroidRuntime(19469): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:597) 12-09 17:55:44.722: E/AndroidRuntime(19469): at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)

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• Mobile HCM: It’s not the future, it is right now

  - by Natalia Rachelson

  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-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii- mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi- mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} A guest post by Steve Boese, Director Product Strategy, Oracle I’ll bet you reached for your iPhone or Android or BlackBerry and took a quick look at email or Facebook or last night’s text messages before you even got out of bed this morning. Come on, admit it, it’s ok, you are among friends here. See, feel better now? But seriously, the incredible growth and near-ubiquity of increasingly powerful, capable, and for many of us, essential in our daily lives mobile devices has profoundly changed the way we communicate, consume information, socialize, and more and more, conduct business and get our work done. And if you doubt that profound change has happened, just think for a moment about the last time you misplaced your iPhone.  The shivers, the cold sweats, the panic... We have all been there. And indeed your personal experiences with mobile technology echoes throughout the world - here are a few data points to consider: Market research firm IDC estimates 1.8 billion mobile phones will be shipped in 2012. A recent Pew study reports 46% of Americans own a smartphone of some kind. And finally in the USA, ownership of tablets like the iPad has doubled from 10% to 19% in the last year. So truly for the Human Resources leader, the question is no longer, ‘Should HR explore ways to exploit mobile devices and their always-on nature to better support and empower the modern workforce?’, but rather ‘How can HR best take advantage of smartphone and tablet capability to provide information, enable transactions, and enhance decision making?’. Because even though moving HCM applications to mobile devices seems inherently logical given today’s fast-moving and mobile workforces, and its promise to deliver incredible value to the organization, HR leaders also have to consider many factors before devising their Mobile HCM strategy and embarking on mobile HR technology projects. Here are just some of the important considerations for HR leaders as you build your strategies and evaluate mobile HCM solutions: Does your organization provide mobile devices to the workforce today, and if so, will the current set of deployed devices have the necessary capability and ecosystems to support your mobile HCM initiatives? Will you allow workers to use or bring their own mobile devices, (commonly abbreviated as ‘BYOD’), and if so are your IT and Security organizations in agreement and capable of supporting that strategy? Do you know which workers need access to mobile HCM applications? Often mobile HCM capability flows down in an organization, with executives and other ‘road-warrior’ types having the most immediate needs, followed by field sales staff, project managers, and even potential job candidates. But just as an organization will have to spend time understanding ‘who’ should have access to mobile HCM technology, the ‘what’ of the way the solutions should be deployed to these groups will also vary. What works and makes sense for the executive, (company-wide dashboards and analytics on an iPad), might not be as relevant for a retail store manager, (employee schedules, location-level sales and inventory data, transaction approvals, etc.). With Oracle Fusion HCM, we are taking an approach to mobile HR that encompasses not just the mobile solution needs for the various types of worker, but also incorporates the fundamental attributes of great mobile applications - the ability to support end-to-end transactions, apps that respond with lightning-fast speed, with functions that are embedded in a worker’s daily activities, and features that can be mashed-up easily with other business areas like Finance and CRM. Finally, and perhaps most importantly for the Oracle Fusion HCM team, delivering mobile experiences that truly enhance, enable, and empower the mobile workforce, and deliver on the design mantras of the best-in-class consumer applications, continues to shape and drive design decisions. Mobile is no longer the future, it is right now, and the cutting-edge HR leader of today will need to consider how mobile fits her HCM technology strategy from here on out. You can learn more about our ideas and plans for Oracle Fusion HCM mobile solutions at https://fusiontap.oracle.com/.

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• Commercial Drupal Modules & Themes

  - by Ravish

  A discussion at Drupal.org forums prompted me to give my input about commercial ecosystem around Open Source Content Management Systems. WordPress and Joomla have been growing rapidly since past few years. But, growth rate of Drupal seems to be almost flat. Despite being the most powerful CMS around, Drupal is still not being adopted by masses. Many people will argue that Drupal is not targeted towards masses, but developers. I agree, Drupal is more of a development platform than a consumer CMS. Drupal is ‘many things to many people’, and I can build almost any type of website with it. Drupal is being used for building blogs, corporate websites, Intranet portals, social networking and even a project management system. Looking at the wide array of Drupal implementations, it deserves to be the most widely adopted CMS. I believe there are few challenges that Drupal community needs to overcome. To understand these challenges, I surveyed some webmasters who use Joomla or WordPress but not Drupal. I asked them why they don’t want to use Drupal, following are the responses I got from them: Drupal is too complicated, takes time to learn. Drupal is great, but its admin panel is overwhelming. I couldn’t find any nice themes for Drupal. There is no WYSIWYG editor in Drupal. Most Drupal modules do not work out of the box. There aren’t enough modules like Ubercart which provides any out of the box functionality. I tried modules like CCK, Views and Panels. After wasting several hours struggling with them, I decided to give up on Drupal. I don’t use Drupal because of pushbutton and Garland theme. I had hard time trying to customize Garland and it messed up the whole layout. There are no premium modules and themes for Drupal. Joomla has tons of awesome themes and modules. I don’t want a million hacks like CCK, Views, Tokens, Pathauto, ImageCache and CTools just to run a simple website. Most of the complaints from users are related to the learning and development curve involved with Drupal, and the lack of ecosystem. While most of the problems will be gone in Drupal 7, ecosystem is something that needs to be built by the Drupal community. Drupal distributions are a great step forward. There are few awesome Drupal distributions available like Open Publish, Open Atrium and Drupal Commons. I predict, there will be a wave of many powerful Drupal distributions after Drupal 7 release. Many of them will be user-friendly and commercial supported. Following is my post at Drupal.org forums: Quote from: http://drupal.org/node/863776#comment-3313836 Brian Gardner (StudioPress) and Woo Themes launched premium WordPress themes in 2007, the developer community did not accept it at first. Moreover, they were not even GPL licensed. There was an outcry in WordPress community against them. Following that, most premium theme providers switched to GPL licensing. Despite controversies, users voted for premium theme and plugins by buying them. Inspired by their success, hundreds of other developers started to sell premium themes and plugins. It is now the acceptable and in fact most popular business model among WordPress community. Matt Mullenweg once told me, they would not support premium themes. If he supported, developers would no more give out free GPL themes & plugins. He pointed me towards Joomla, there were hardly any nice free themes & modules available. Now two years forward, premium products are not just accepted but embraced by the WordPress community – http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/commercial/ The quality and number of themes & modules has increased, even the free ones. This also helped to boost the adoption and ecosystem of WordPress. Today, state of Drupal is like WordPress was in 2007. There are hardly any out of the box solutions available for Drupal. Ubercart, Open Publish and Open Atrium are the only ones I can think of. Many of the popular Drupal modules are patches and hole-fillers. Thankfully, these hole-filler modules are going to be in Drupal 7 core. Drupal 7 and distributions will spawn a new array of solutions built upon Drupal. Soon, we will have more like Ubercarts and Open Atriums. If commercial solutions can help fuel this ecosystem and growth, Drupal community will accept them eventually. This debate will not stop your customers from buying your product. If your product is awesome, they will vote for you by buying your product.

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• Lessons from a SAN Failure

  - by Bill Graziano

  At 1:10AM Sunday morning the main SAN at one of my clients suffered a “partial” failure.  Partial means that the SAN was still online and functioning but the LUNs attached to our two main SQL Servers “failed”.  Failed means that SQL Server wouldn’t start and the MDF and LDF files mostly showed a zero file size.  But they were online and responding and most other LUNs were available.  I’m not sure how SANs know to fail at 1AM on a Saturday night but they seem to.  From a personal standpoint this worked out poorly: I was out with friends and after more than a few drinks.  From a work standpoint this was about the best time to fail you could imagine.  Everything was running well before Monday morning.  But it was a long, long Sunday.  I started tipsy, got tired and ended up hung over later in the day. Note to self: Try not to go out drinking right before the SAN fails. This caught us at an interesting time.  We’re in the process of migrating to an entirely new set of servers so some things were partially moved.  This made it difficult to follow our procedures as cleanly as we’d like.  The benefit was that we had much better documentation of everything on the server.  I would encourage everyone to really think through the process of implementing your DR plan and document as much as possible.  Following a checklist is much easier than trying to remember at night under pressure in a hurry after a few drinks. I had a series of estimates on how long things would take.  They were accurate for any single server failure.  They weren’t accurate for a SAN failure that took two servers down.  This wasn’t bad but we should have communicated better. Don’t forget how many things are outside the database.  Logins, linked servers, DTS packages (yikes!), jobs, service broker, DTC (especially DTC), database triggers and any objects in the master database are all things you need backed up.  We’d done a decent job on this and didn’t find significant problems here.  That said this still took a lot of time.  There were many annoyances as a result of this.  Small settings like a login’s default database had a big impact on whether an application could run.  This is probably the single biggest area of concern when looking to recreate a server.  I’d encourage everyone to go through every single node of SSMS and look for user created objects or settings outside the database. Script out your logins with the proper SID and already encrypted passwords and keep it updated.  This makes life so much easier.  I used an approach based on KB246133 that worked well.  I’ll get my scripts posted over the next few days. The disaster can cause your DR process to fail in unexpected ways.  We have a job that scripts out all logins and role memberships and writes it to a file.  This runs on the DR server and pulls from the production server.  Upon opening the file I found that the contents were a “server not found” error.  Fortunately we had other copies and didn’t need to try and restore the master database.  This now runs on the production server and pushes the script to the DR site.  Soon we’ll get it pushed to our version control software. One of the biggest challenges is keeping your DR resources up to date.  Any server change (new linked server, new SQL Server Agent job, etc.) means that your DR plan (and scripts) is out of date.  It helps to automate the generation of these resources if possible. Take time now to test your database restore process.  We test ours quarterly.  If you have a large database I’d also encourage you to invest in a compressed backup solution.  Restoring backups was the single larger consumer of time during our recovery. And yes, there’s a database mirroring solution planned in our new architecture. I didn’t have much involvement in things outside SQL Server but this caused many, many things to change in our environment.  Many applications today aren’t just executables or web sites.  They are a combination of those plus network infrastructure, reports, network ports, IP addresses, DTS and SSIS packages, batch systems and many other things.  These all needed a little bit of attention to make sure they were functioning properly. Profiler turned out to be a handy tool.  I started a trace for failed logins and kept that running.  That let me fix a number of problems before people were able to report them.  I also ran traces to capture exceptions.  This helped identify problems with linked servers. Overall the thing that gave me the most problem was linked servers.  In order for a linked server to function properly you need to be pointed to the right server, have the proper login information, have the network routes available and have MSDTC configured properly.  We have a lot of linked servers and this created many failure points.  Some of the older linked servers used IP addresses and not DNS names.  This meant we had to go in and touch all those linked servers when the servers moved.

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• SQL SERVER – SSMS: Memory Usage By Memory Optimized Objects Report

  - by Pinal Dave

  At conferences and at speaking engagements at the local UG, there is one question that keeps on coming which I wish were never asked. The question around, “Why is SQL Server using up all the memory and not releasing even when idle?” Well, the answer can be long and with the release of SQL Server 2014, this got even more complicated. This release of SQL Server 2014 has the option of introducing In-Memory OLTP which is completely new concept and our dependency on memory has increased multifold. In reality, nothing much changes but we have memory optimized objects (Tables and Stored Procedures) additional which are residing completely in memory and improving performance. As a DBA, it is humanly impossible to get a hang of all the innovations and the new features introduced in the next version. So today’s blog is around the report added to SSMS which gives a high level view of this new feature addition. This reports is available only from SQL Server 2014 onwards because the feature was introduced in SQL Server 2014. Earlier versions of SQL Server Management Studio would not show the report in the list. If we try to launch the report on the database which is not having In-Memory File group defined, then we would see the message in report. To demonstrate, I have created new fresh database called MemoryOptimizedDB with no special file group. Here is the query used to identify whether a database has memory-optimized file group or not. SELECT TOP(1) 1 FROM sys.filegroups FG WHERE FG.[type] = 'FX' Once we add filegroup using below command, we would see different version of report. USE [master] GO ALTER DATABASE [MemoryOptimizedDB] ADD FILEGROUP [IMO_FG] CONTAINS MEMORY_OPTIMIZED_DATA GO The report is still empty because we have not defined any Memory Optimized table in the database.  Total allocated size is shown as 0 MB. Now, let’s add the folder location into the filegroup and also created few in-memory tables. We have used the nomenclature of IMO to denote “InMemory Optimized” objects. USE [master] GO ALTER DATABASE [MemoryOptimizedDB] ADD FILE ( NAME = N'MemoryOptimizedDB_IMO', FILENAME = N'E:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL12.SQL2014\MSSQL\DATA\MemoryOptimizedDB_IMO') TO FILEGROUP [IMO_FG] GO You may have to change the path based on your SQL Server configuration. Below is the script to create the table. USE MemoryOptimizedDB GO --Drop table if it already exists. IF OBJECT_ID('dbo.SQLAuthority','U') IS NOT NULL DROP TABLE dbo.SQLAuthority GO CREATE TABLE dbo.SQLAuthority ( ID INT IDENTITY NOT NULL, Name CHAR(500)  COLLATE Latin1_General_100_BIN2 NOT NULL DEFAULT 'Pinal', CONSTRAINT PK_SQLAuthority_ID PRIMARY KEY NONCLUSTERED (ID), INDEX hash_index_sample_memoryoptimizedtable_c2 HASH (Name) WITH (BUCKET_COUNT = 131072) ) WITH (MEMORY_OPTIMIZED = ON, DURABILITY = SCHEMA_AND_DATA) GO As soon as above script is executed, table and index both are created. If we run the report again, we would see something like below. Notice that table memory is zero but index is using memory. This is due to the fact that hash index needs memory to manage the buckets created. So even if table is empty, index would consume memory. More about the internals of how In-Memory indexes and tables work will be reserved for future posts. Now, use below script to populate the table with 10000 rows INSERT INTO SQLAuthority VALUES (DEFAULT) GO 10000 Here is the same report after inserting 1000 rows into our InMemory table.    There are total three sections in the whole report. Total Memory consumed by In-Memory Objects Pie chart showing memory distribution based on type of consumer – table, index and system. Details of memory usage by each table. The information about all three is taken from one single DMV, sys.dm_db_xtp_table_memory_stats This DMV contains memory usage statistics for both user and system In-Memory tables. If we query the DMV and look at data, we can easily notice that the system tables have negative object IDs.  So, to look at user table memory usage, below is the over-simplified version of query. USE MemoryOptimizedDB GO SELECT OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID), * FROM sys.dm_db_xtp_table_memory_stats WHERE OBJECT_ID > 0 GO This report would help DBA to identify which in-memory object taking lot of memory which can be used as a pointer for designing solution. I am sure in future we will discuss at lengths the whole concept of In-Memory tables in detail over this blog. To read more about In-Memory OLTP, have a look at In-Memory OLTP Series at Balmukund’s Blog. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Server Management Studio, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL Tagged: SQL Memory, SQL Reports

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• Guest Post: Christian Finn: Is Facebook About to Become a Victim of its Own Success?

  - by Michael Snow

  12.00 Print 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:"Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}  Since we have a number of new members of the WebCenter Evangelist team - I thought it would be appropriate to close the week with the newest hire and leader of the global WebCenter Evangelists, Christian Finn, who has just joined the Red team after many years with the small technology company up in Redmond, WA. He gave an intro to himself in an earlier post this morning but his post below is a great example of how customer engagement takes on a life of its own in our global online connected and social digital ecosystem. Is Facebook About to Become a Victim of its Own Success? What if I told you that your brand could advertise so successfully, you wouldn’t have to pay for the ads? A recent campaign by Ford Motor Company for the Ford Focus featuring Doug the spokespuppet (I am not making this up) did just that—and it raises some interesting issues for marketers and social media alike in the brave new world of customer engagement that is the Social Web. Allow me to elaborate. An article in the Wall Street Journal last week—“Big Brands Like Facebook, But They Don’t Like to Pay” tells the story of Ford’s recently concluded online campaign for the 2012 Ford Focus. (Ford, by the way, under the leadership of people such as Scott Monty, has been a pioneer of effective social campaigns.) The centerpiece of the campaign was the aforementioned Doug, who appeared as a character on Facebook in videos and via chat. (If you are not familiar with Doug, you can see him in action here, and read the WSJ story here.) You may be thinking puppet ads are a sign of Internet Bubble 2.0 and want to stop now, but bear with me. The Journal reported that Ford spent about $95M on its overall Ford Focus campaign, with TV accounting for over $60M of that spend. The Internet buy for the campaign was just over $10M, which included ad buys to drive traffic to Facebook for people to meet and ‘Like’ Doug and some amount on Facebook ads, too, to promote Doug and by extension, the Ford Focus. So far, a fairly straightforward consumer marketing story in the Internet Era. Yet here’s the curious thing: once Doug reached 10,000 fans on Facebook, Ford stopped paying for Facebook ads. Doug had gone viral with people sharing his videos with one another; once critical mass was reached there was no need to buy more ads on Facebook. Doug went on to be Liked by over 43,000 people, and 61% of his fans said they would be more likely to consider buying a Focus. According to the article, Ford says Focus sales are up this year—and increasing sales is every marketer’s goal. And so in effect, Ford found its Facebook campaign so successful that it could stop paying for it, instead letting its target consumers communicate its messages for fun—and for free. Not only did they get a 3X increase in fans beyond their paid campaign, they had thousands of customers sharing their messages in video form for months. Since free advertising is the Holy Grail of marketing both old and new-- and it appears social networks have an advantage in generating that buzz—it seems reasonable to ask: what would happen to brands’ advertising strategies—and the media they use to engage customers, if this success were repeated at scale? It seems logical to conclude that, at least initially, more ad dollars would be spent with social networks like Facebook as brands attempt to replicate Ford’s success. Certainly Facebook ad revenues are on the rise—eMarketer expects Facebook’s ad revenues to quintuple by 2012 compared with 2009 levels, to nearly 2.9B. That’s bad news for TV and the already battered print media and good news for Facebook. But perhaps not so over the longer run. With TV buys, you have to keep paying to generate impressions. If Doug the spokespuppet is any guide, however, that may not be true for social media campaigns. After an initial outlay, if a social campaign takes off, the audience will generate more impressions on its own. Thus a social medium like Facebook could be the victim of its own success when it comes to ad revenue. It may be there is an inherent limiting factor in the ad spend they can capture, as exemplified by Ford’s experience with Dough and the Focus. And brands may spend much less overall on advertising, with as good or better results, than they ever have in the past. How will these trends evolve? Can brands create social campaigns that repeat Ford’s formula for the Focus with effective results? Can social networks find ways to capture more spend and overcome their potential tendency to make further spend unnecessary? And will consumers become tired and insulated from social campaigns, much as they have to traditional advertising channels? These are the questions CMOs and Facebook execs alike will be asking themselves in the brave new world of customer engagement. As always, your thoughts and comments are most welcome.

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• Why Software Sucks...and What You Can Do About It – book review

  - by DigiMortal

      How do our users see the products we are writing for them and how happy they are with our work? Are they able to get their work done without fighting with cool features and crashes or are they just switching off resistance part of their brain to survive our software? Yeah, the overall picture of software usability landscape is not very nice. Okay, it is not even nice. But, fortunately, Why Software Sucks...and What You Can Do About It by David S. Platt explains everything. Why Software Sucks… is book for software users but I consider it as a-must reading also for developers and specially for their managers whose politics often kills all usability topics as soon as they may appear. For managers usability is soft topic that can be manipulated the way it is best in current state of project. Although developers are not UI designers and usability experts they are still very often forced to deal with these topics and this is how usability problems start (of course, also designers are able to produce designs that are stupid and too hard to use for users, but this blog here is about development). I found this book to be very interesting and funny reading. It is not humor book but it explains you all so you remember later very well what you just read. It took me about three evenings to go through this book and I am still enjoying what I found and how author explains our weird young working field to end users. I suggest this book to all developers – while you are demanding your management to hire or outsource usability expert you are at least causing less pain to end users. So, go and buy this book, just like I did. And… they thanks to mr. Platt :) There is one book more I suggest you to read if you are interested in usability - Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition by Steve Krug. Editorial review from Amazon Today’s software sucks. There’s no other good way to say it. It’s unsafe, allowing criminal programs to creep through the Internet wires into our very bedrooms. It’s unreliable, crashing when we need it most, wiping out hours or days of work with no way to get it back. And it’s hard to use, requiring large amounts of head-banging to figure out the simplest operations. It’s no secret that software sucks. You know that from personal experience, whether you use computers for work or personal tasks. In this book, programming insider David Platt explains why that’s the case and, more importantly, why it doesn’t have to be that way. And he explains it in plain, jargon-free English that’s a joy to read, using real-world examples with which you’re already familiar. In the end, he suggests what you, as a typical user, without a technical background, can do about this sad state of our software—how you, as an informed consumer, don’t have to take the abuse that bad software dishes out. As you might expect from the book’s title, Dave’s expose is laced with humor—sometimes outrageous, but always dead on. You’ll laugh out loud as you recall incidents with your own software that made you cry. You’ll slap your thigh with the same hand that so often pounded your computer desk and wished it was a bad programmer’s face. But Dave hasn’t written this book just for laughs. He’s written it to give long-overdue voice to your own discovery—that software does, indeed, suck, but it shouldn’t. Table of contents Acknowledgments xiii Introduction Chapter 1: Who’re You Calling a Dummy? Where We Came From Why It Still Sucks Today Control versus Ease of Use I Don’t Care How Your Program Works A Bad Feature and a Good One Stopping the Proceedings with Idiocy Testing on Live Animals Where We Are and What You Can Do Chapter 2: Tangled in the Web Where We Came From How It Works Why It Still Sucks Today Client-Centered Design versus Server-Centered Design Where’s My Eye Opener? It’s Obvious—Not! Splash, Flash, and Animation Testing on Live Animals What You Can Do about It Chapter 3: Keep Me Safe The Way It Was Why It Sucks Today What Programmers Need to Know, but Don’t A Human Operation Budgeting for Hassles Users Are Lazy Social Engineering Last Word on Security What You Can Do Chapter 4: Who the Heck Are You? Where We Came From Why It Still Sucks Today Incompatible Requirements OK, So Now What? Chapter 5: Who’re You Looking At? Yes, They Know You Why It Sucks More Than Ever Today Users Don’t Know Where the Risks Are What They Know First Milk You with Cookies? Privacy Policy Nonsense Covering Your Tracks The Google Conundrum Solution Chapter 6: Ten Thousand Geeks, Crazed on Jolt Cola See Them in Their Native Habitat All These Geeks Who Speaks, and When, and about What Selling It The Next Generation of Geeks—Passing It On Chapter 7: Who Are These Crazy Bastards Anyway? Homo Logicus Testosterone Poisoning Control and Contentment Making Models Geeks and Jocks Jargon Brains and Constraints Seven Habits of Geeks Chapter 8: Microsoft: Can’t Live With ’Em and Can’t Live Without ’Em They Run the World Me and Them Where We Came From Why It Sucks Today Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don’t We Love to Hate Them Plus ça Change Growing-Up Pains What You Can Do about It The Last Word Chapter 9: Doing Something About It 1. Buy 2. Tell 3. Ridicule 4. Trust 5. Organize Epilogue About the Author

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