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• How to generate a number in arbitrary range using random()={0..1} preserving uniformness and density?

  - by psihodelia

  Generate a random number in range [x..y] where x and y are any arbitrary floating point numbers. Use function random(), which returns a random floating point number in range [0..1] from P uniformly distributed numbers (call it "density"). Uniform distribution must be preserved and P must be scaled as well. I think, there is no easy solution for such problem. To simplify it a bit, I ask you how to generate a number in interval [-0.5 .. 0.5], then in [0 .. 2], then in [-2 .. 0], preserving uniformness and density? Thus, for [0 .. 2] it must generate a random number from P*2 uniformly distributed numbers. The obvious simple solution random() * (x - y) + y will generate not all possible numbers because of the lower density for all abs(x-y)>1.0 cases. Many possible values will be missed. Remember, that random() returns only a number from P possible numbers. Then, if you multiply such number by Q, it will give you only one of P possible values, scaled by Q, but you have to scale density P by Q as well.

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• Velocity CTP: can we 'search' for objects?

  - by Stato Machino

  It appears that 'tags' allow us to associate a 'search term' with the objects placed into the Velocity cache space. However, these can only be queried within a 'region'. Further, regions somehow limit the locality of objects in the cache to a single server (or maybe something kinda like that). So this appears to make it hard to perform any operation for which the unique Id of the cached item is not persisted or continuously available to the application that stores and retrieves objects to and from the cache. In any case, I can't see an easy way to 'cleanse' the cache of objects or to find objects across the entire cache that may share some prefix, postfix or infix values in the cache key so that i can clear out the cache of object repeatedly created in unit tests, for example. And I am unsure about the consequences of regions being associated with single server cache locations. So I would appreciate any help with the following questions: What is the difference between a 'distributed cache' (called a 'partitioned' cache??) when using regions, and a 'local cache'? 1.a. In particular, are the region-oriented values in a distributed cache visible through a cache factory that is configured to 'see' the entire cache space? Are the operations of creating and removing 'regions' efficient enough that it would be reasonable to create a region and a group of tags for each bundle of objects that need to be cached? 2.a. Or does this just push the problem of scoping the 'search for objects' up the chain because the ability of the DataCache object to query down through regions and tags as limited as querying for the cache keys of objects themselves. Thanks, Stato

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• Best practices to deal with "slightly different" branches of source code

  - by jedi_coder

  This question is rather agnostic than related to a certain version control program. Assume there is a source code tree under certain distributed version control. Let's call it A. At some point somebody else clones it and gets its own copy. Let's call it B. I'll call A and B branches, even if some version control tools have different definitions for branches (some might call A and B repositories). Let's assume that branch A is the "main" branch. In the context of distributed version control this only means that branch A is modified much more actively and the owner of branch B periodically syncs (pulls) new updates from branch A. Let's consider that a certain source file in branch B contains a class (again, it's also language agnostic). The owner of branch B considers that some class methods are more appropriate and groups them together by moving them inside the class body. Functionally nothing has changed - this is a very trivial refactoring of the code. But the change gets reflected in diffs. Now, assuming that this change from branch B will never get merged into branch A, the owner of branch B will always get this difference when pulling from branch A and merging into his own workspace. Even if there's only one such trivial change, the owner of branch B needs to resolve conflicts every time when pulling from branch A. As long as branches A and B are modified independently, more and more conflicts like this appear. What is the workaround for this situation? Which workflow should the owner of branch B follow to minimize the effort for periodically syncing with branch A?

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

  - by SaveTheRbtz

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

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• Is it possible to run dhcpd3 as non-root user in a chroot jail?

  - by Lenain

  Hi everyone. I would like to run dhcpd3 from a chroot jail on Debian Lenny. At the moment, I can run it as root from my jail. Now I want to do this as non-root user (as "-u blah -t /path/to/jail" Bind option). If I start my process like this : start-stop-daemon --chroot /home/jails/dhcp --chuid dhcp \ --start --pidfile /home/jails/dhcp/var/run/dhcp.pid --exec /usr/sbin/dhcpd3 I get stuck with these errors : Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Server V3.1.1 Copyright 2004-2008 Internet Systems Consortium. All rights reserved. For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/ unable to create icmp socket: Operation not permitted Wrote 0 deleted host decls to leases file. Wrote 0 new dynamic host decls to leases file. Wrote 0 leases to leases file. Open a socket for LPF: Operation not permitted strace : brk(0) = 0x911b000 fcntl64(0, F_GETFD) = 0 fcntl64(1, F_GETFD) = 0 fcntl64(2, F_GETFD) = 0 access("/etc/suid-debug", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb775d000 access("/etc/ld.so.preload", R_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/lib/tls/i686/cmov", 0xbfc2ac84) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/lib/tls/i686/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/lib/tls/i686", 0xbfc2ac84) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/lib/tls/cmov/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/lib/tls/cmov", 0xbfc2ac84) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/lib/tls/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/lib/tls", 0xbfc2ac84) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/lib/i686/cmov/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/lib/i686/cmov", 0xbfc2ac84) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/lib/i686/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/lib/i686", 0xbfc2ac84) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/lib/cmov/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/lib/cmov", 0xbfc2ac84) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/lib/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY) = 3 read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\260e\1\0004\0\0\0t"..., 512) = 512 fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=1294572, ...}) = 0 mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb775c000 mmap2(NULL, 1300080, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0xb761e000 mmap2(0xb7756000, 12288, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x138) = 0xb7756000 mmap2(0xb7759000, 9840, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7759000 close(3) = 0 mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb761d000 set_thread_area({entry_number:-1 - 6, base_addr:0xb761d6b0, limit:1048575, seg_32bit:1, contents:0, read_exec_only:0, limit_in_pages:1, seg_not_present:0, useable:1}) = 0 mprotect(0xb7756000, 4096, PROT_READ) = 0 open("/dev/null", O_RDWR) = 3 close(3) = 0 brk(0) = 0x911b000 brk(0x913c000) = 0x913c000 socket(PF_FILE, SOCK_DGRAM, 0) = 3 fcntl64(3, F_SETFD, FD_CLOEXEC) = 0 connect(3, {sa_family=AF_FILE, path="/dev/log"...}, 110) = 0 time(NULL) = 1284760816 open("/etc/localtime", O_RDONLY) = 4 fstat64(4, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2945, ...}) = 0 fstat64(4, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2945, ...}) = 0 mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb761c000 read(4, "TZif2\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\f\0\0\0\f\0\0\0\0\0"..., 4096) = 2945 _llseek(4, -28, [2917], SEEK_CUR) = 0 read(4, "\nCET-1CEST,M3.5.0,M10.5.0/3\n"..., 4096) = 28 close(4) = 0 munmap(0xb761c000, 4096) = 0 stat64("/etc/localtime", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2945, ...}) = 0 send(3, "Sep 18 00:00:16 dhcpd: Intern"..., 73, MSG_NOSIGNAL) = 73 write(2, "Internet Systems Consortium DHCP "..., 46Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Server V3.1.1) = 46 write(2, "\n"..., 1 ) = 1 time(NULL) = 1284760816 stat64("/etc/localtime", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2945, ...}) = 0 send(3, "Sep 18 00:00:16 dhcpd: Copyri"..., 75, MSG_NOSIGNAL) = 75 write(2, "Copyright 2004-2008 Internet Syst"..., 48Copyright 2004-2008 Internet Systems Consortium.) = 48 write(2, "\n"..., 1 ) = 1 time(NULL) = 1284760816 stat64("/etc/localtime", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2945, ...}) = 0 send(3, "Sep 18 00:00:16 dhcpd: All ri"..., 47, MSG_NOSIGNAL) = 47 write(2, "All rights reserved."..., 20All rights reserved.) = 20 write(2, "\n"..., 1 ) = 1 time(NULL) = 1284760816 stat64("/etc/localtime", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2945, ...}) = 0 send(3, "Sep 18 00:00:16 dhcpd: For in"..., 77, MSG_NOSIGNAL) = 77 write(2, "For info, please visit http://www"..., 50For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/) = 50 write(2, "\n"..., 1 ) = 1 socket(PF_FILE, SOCK_STREAM, 0) = 4 fcntl64(4, F_SETFL, O_RDWR|O_NONBLOCK) = 0 connect(4, {sa_family=AF_FILE, path="/var/run/nscd/socket"...}, 110) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) close(4) = 0 socket(PF_FILE, SOCK_STREAM, 0) = 4 fcntl64(4, F_SETFL, O_RDWR|O_NONBLOCK) = 0 connect(4, {sa_family=AF_FILE, path="/var/run/nscd/socket"...}, 110) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) close(4) = 0 open("/etc/nsswitch.conf", O_RDONLY) = 4 fstat64(4, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=475, ...}) = 0 mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb761c000 read(4, "# /etc/nsswitch.conf\n#\n# Example "..., 4096) = 475 read(4, ""..., 4096) = 0 close(4) = 0 munmap(0xb761c000, 4096) = 0 open("/lib/libnss_db.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/usr/lib/tls/i686/cmov/libnss_db.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/usr/lib/tls/i686/cmov", 0xbfc2ad5c) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/usr/lib/tls/i686/libnss_db.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/usr/lib/tls/i686", 0xbfc2ad5c) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/usr/lib/tls/cmov/libnss_db.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/usr/lib/tls/cmov", 0xbfc2ad5c) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/usr/lib/tls/libnss_db.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/usr/lib/tls", 0xbfc2ad5c) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/usr/lib/i686/cmov/libnss_db.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/usr/lib/i686/cmov", 0xbfc2ad5c) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/usr/lib/i686/libnss_db.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/usr/lib/i686", 0xbfc2ad5c) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/usr/lib/cmov/libnss_db.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/usr/lib/cmov", 0xbfc2ad5c) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/usr/lib/libnss_db.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/usr/lib", 0xbfc2ad5c) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/lib/i486-linux-gnu/tls/i686/cmov/libnss_db.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/lib/i486-linux-gnu/tls/i686/cmov", 0xbfc2ad5c) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/lib/i486-linux-gnu/tls/i686/libnss_db.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/lib/i486-linux-gnu/tls/i686", 0xbfc2ad5c) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/lib/i486-linux-gnu/tls/cmov/libnss_db.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/lib/i486-linux-gnu/tls/cmov", 0xbfc2ad5c) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/lib/i486-linux-gnu/tls/libnss_db.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/lib/i486-linux-gnu/tls", 0xbfc2ad5c) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/lib/i486-linux-gnu/i686/cmov/libnss_db.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/lib/i486-linux-gnu/i686/cmov", 0xbfc2ad5c) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/lib/i486-linux-gnu/i686/libnss_db.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/lib/i486-linux-gnu/i686", 0xbfc2ad5c) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/lib/i486-linux-gnu/cmov/libnss_db.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/lib/i486-linux-gnu/cmov", 0xbfc2ad5c) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/lib/i486-linux-gnu/libnss_db.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/lib/i486-linux-gnu", 0xbfc2ad5c) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/usr/lib/i486-linux-gnu/tls/i686/cmov/libnss_db.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/usr/lib/i486-linux-gnu/tls/i686/cmov", 0xbfc2ad5c) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/usr/lib/i486-linux-gnu/tls/i686/libnss_db.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/usr/lib/i486-linux-gnu/tls/i686", 0xbfc2ad5c) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/usr/lib/i486-linux-gnu/tls/cmov/libnss_db.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/usr/lib/i486-linux-gnu/tls/cmov", 0xbfc2ad5c) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/usr/lib/i486-linux-gnu/tls/libnss_db.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/usr/lib/i486-linux-gnu/tls", 0xbfc2ad5c) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/usr/lib/i486-linux-gnu/i686/cmov/libnss_db.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/usr/lib/i486-linux-gnu/i686/cmov", 0xbfc2ad5c) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/usr/lib/i486-linux-gnu/i686/libnss_db.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/usr/lib/i486-linux-gnu/i686", 0xbfc2ad5c) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/usr/lib/i486-linux-gnu/cmov/libnss_db.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/usr/lib/i486-linux-gnu/cmov", 0xbfc2ad5c) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/usr/lib/i486-linux-gnu/libnss_db.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/usr/lib/i486-linux-gnu", 0xbfc2ad5c) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/lib/libnss_files.so.2", O_RDONLY) = 4 read(4, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\320\30\0\0004\0\0\0\250"..., 512) = 512 fstat64(4, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=38408, ...}) = 0 mmap2(NULL, 41624, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 4, 0) = 0xb7612000 mmap2(0xb761b000, 8192, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 4, 0x8) = 0xb761b000 close(4) = 0 open("/etc/services", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 4 fcntl64(4, F_GETFD) = 0x1 (flags FD_CLOEXEC) fstat64(4, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=18480, ...}) = 0 mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7611000 read(4, "# Network services, Internet styl"..., 4096) = 4096 read(4, "9/tcp\t\t\t\t# Quick Mail Transfer Pr"..., 4096) = 4096 read(4, "note\t1352/tcp\tlotusnotes\t# Lotus "..., 4096) = 4096 read(4, "tion\nafs3-kaserver\t7004/udp\nafs3-"..., 4096) = 4096 read(4, "backup\t2989/tcp\t\t\t# Afmbackup sys"..., 4096) = 2096 read(4, ""..., 4096) = 0 close(4) = 0 munmap(0xb7611000, 4096) = 0 time(NULL) = 1284760816 open("/etc/protocols", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 4 fstat64(4, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2626, ...}) = 0 mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7611000 read(4, "# Internet (IP) protocols\n#\n# Upd"..., 4096) = 2626 close(4) = 0 munmap(0xb7611000, 4096) = 0 socket(PF_INET, SOCK_RAW, IPPROTO_ICMP) = -1 EPERM (Operation not permitted) time(NULL) = 1284760816 stat64("/etc/localtime", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2945, ...}) = 0 send(3, "Sep 18 00:00:16 dhcpd: unable"..., 80, MSG_NOSIGNAL) = 80 write(2, "unable to create icmp socket: Ope"..., 53unable to create icmp socket: Operation not permitted) = 53 write(2, "\n"..., 1 ) = 1 open("/etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf", O_RDONLY) = 4 lseek(4, 0, SEEK_END) = 1426 lseek(4, 0, SEEK_SET) = 0 read(4, "#----------------------------\n# G"..., 1426) = 1426 close(4) = 0 mmap2(NULL, 401408, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb75b0000 mmap2(NULL, 401408, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb754e000 mmap2(NULL, 401408, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb74ec000 brk(0x916f000) = 0x916f000 close(3) = 0 socket(PF_FILE, SOCK_DGRAM, 0) = 3 fcntl64(3, F_SETFD, FD_CLOEXEC) = 0 connect(3, {sa_family=AF_FILE, path="/dev/log"...}, 110) = 0 time(NULL) = 1284760816 stat64("/etc/localtime", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2945, ...}) = 0 send(3, "Sep 18 00:00:16 dhcpd: Inter"..., 74, MSG_NOSIGNAL) = 74 time(NULL) = 1284760816 stat64("/etc/localtime", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2945, ...}) = 0 send(3, "Sep 18 00:00:16 dhcpd: Copyr"..., 76, MSG_NOSIGNAL) = 76 time(NULL) = 1284760816 stat64("/etc/localtime", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2945, ...}) = 0 send(3, "Sep 18 00:00:16 dhcpd: All r"..., 48, MSG_NOSIGNAL) = 48 time(NULL) = 1284760816 stat64("/etc/localtime", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2945, ...}) = 0 send(3, "Sep 18 00:00:16 dhcpd: For i"..., 78, MSG_NOSIGNAL) = 78 open("/var/lib/dhcp3/dhcpd.leases", O_RDONLY) = 4 lseek(4, 0, SEEK_END) = 126 lseek(4, 0, SEEK_SET) = 0 read(4, "# The format of this file is docu"..., 126) = 126 close(4) = 0 open("/var/lib/dhcp3/dhcpd.leases", O_WRONLY|O_CREAT|O_APPEND, 0666) = 4 fstat64(4, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=126, ...}) = 0 mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb74eb000 fstat64(4, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=126, ...}) = 0 _llseek(4, 126, [126], SEEK_SET) = 0 time(NULL) = 1284760816 time(NULL) = 1284760816 open("/var/lib/dhcp3/dhcpd.leases.1284760816", O_WRONLY|O_CREAT|O_TRUNC, 0664) = 5 fcntl64(5, F_GETFL) = 0x1 (flags O_WRONLY) fstat64(5, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=0, ...}) = 0 mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb74ea000 _llseek(5, 0, [0], SEEK_CUR) = 0 close(4) = 0 munmap(0xb74eb000, 4096) = 0 time(NULL) = 1284760816 stat64("/etc/localtime", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2945, ...}) = 0 send(3, "Sep 18 00:00:16 dhcpd: Wrote"..., 70, MSG_NOSIGNAL) = 70 write(2, "Wrote 0 deleted host decls to lea"..., 42Wrote 0 deleted host decls to leases file.) = 42 write(2, "\n"..., 1 ) = 1 time(NULL) = 1284760816 stat64("/etc/localtime", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2945, ...}) = 0 send(3, "Sep 18 00:00:16 dhcpd: Wrote"..., 74, MSG_NOSIGNAL) = 74 write(2, "Wrote 0 new dynamic host decls to"..., 46Wrote 0 new dynamic host decls to leases file.) = 46 write(2, "\n"..., 1 ) = 1 time(NULL) = 1284760816 stat64("/etc/localtime", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2945, ...}) = 0 send(3, "Sep 18 00:00:16 dhcpd: Wrote"..., 58, MSG_NOSIGNAL) = 58 write(2, "Wrote 0 leases to leases file."..., 30Wrote 0 leases to leases file.) = 30 write(2, "\n"..., 1 ) = 1 write(5, "# The format of this file is docu"..., 126) = 126 fsync(5) = 0 unlink("/var/lib/dhcp3/dhcpd.leases~") = 0 link("/var/lib/dhcp3/dhcpd.leases", "/var/lib/dhcp3/dhcpd.leases~") = 0 rename("/var/lib/dhcp3/dhcpd.leases.1284760816", "/var/lib/dhcp3/dhcpd.leases") = 0 socket(PF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, IPPROTO_UDP) = 4 ioctl(4, SIOCGIFCONF, {0 - 64, NULL}) = 0 ioctl(4, SIOCGIFCONF, {64, {{"lo", {AF_INET, inet_addr("127.0.0.1")}}, {"eth0", {AF_INET, inet_addr("192.168.0.10")}}}}) = 0 ioctl(4, SIOCGIFFLAGS, {ifr_name="lo", ifr_flags=IFF_UP|IFF_LOOPBACK|IFF_RUNNING}) = 0 ioctl(4, SIOCGIFFLAGS, {ifr_name="eth0", ifr_flags=IFF_UP|IFF_BROADCAST|IFF_RUNNING|IFF_MULTICAST}) = 0 ioctl(4, SIOCGIFHWADDR, {ifr_name="eth0", ifr_hwaddr=00:c0:26:87:55:c0}) = 0 socket(PF_PACKET, SOCK_PACKET, 768) = -1 EPERM (Operation not permitted) time(NULL) = 1284760816 stat64("/etc/localtime", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2945, ...}) = 0 send(3, "Sep 18 00:00:16 dhcpd: Open "..., 74, MSG_NOSIGNAL) = 74 write(2, "Open a socket for LPF: Operation "..., 46Open a socket for LPF: Operation not permitted) = 46 write(2, "\n"..., 1 ) = 1 exit_group(1) = ? I understand that dhcpd wants to create sockets on port 67... but I don't know how to authorize that through the chroot. Any idea?

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• Building The Right SharePoint Team For Your Organization

  - by Mark Rackley

  I see the question posted fairly often asking what kind SharePoint team an organization should have. How many people do I need? What roles do I need to fill? What is best for my organization? Well, just like every other answer in SharePoint, the correct answer is “it depends”. Do you ever get sick of hearing that??? I know I do… So, let me give you my thoughts and opinions based upon my experience and what I’ve seen and let you come to your own conclusions. What are the possible SharePoint roles? I guess the first thing you need to understand are the different roles that exist in SharePoint (and their are LOTS). Remember, SharePoint is a massive beast and you will NOT find one person who can do it all. If you are hoping to find that person you will be sorely disappointed. For the most part this is true in SharePoint 2007 and 2010. However, generally things are improved in 2010 and easier for junior individuals to grasp. SharePoint Administrator The absolutely positively only role that you should not be without no matter the size of your organization or SharePoint deployment is a SharePoint administrator. These guys are essential to keeping things running and figuring out what’s wrong when things aren’t running well. These unsung heroes do more before 10 am than I do all day. The bad thing is, when these guys are awesome, you don’t even know they exist because everything is running so smoothly. You should definitely invest some time and money here to make sure you have some competent if not rockstar help. You need an admin who truly loves SharePoint and will go that extra mile when necessary. Let me give you a real world example of what I’m talking about: We have a rockstar admin… and I’m sure she’s sick of my throwing her name around so she’ll just have to live with remaining anonymous in this post… sorry Lori… Anyway! A couple of weeks ago our Server teams came to us and said Hi Lori, I’m finalizing the MOSS servers and doing updates that require a restart; can I restart them? Seems like a harmless request from your server team does it not? Sure, go ahead and apply the patches and reboot during our scheduled maintenance window. No problem? right? Sounded fair to me… but no…. not to our fearless SharePoint admin… I need a complete list of patches that will be applied. There is an update that is out there that will break SharePoint… KB973917 is the patch that has been shown to cause issues. What? You mean Microsoft released a patch that would actually adversely affect SharePoint? If we did NOT have a rockstar admin, our server team would have applied these patches and then when some problem occurred in SharePoint we’d have to go through the fun task of tracking down exactly what caused the issue and resolve it. How much time would that have taken? If you have a junior SharePoint admin or an admin who’s not out there staying on top of what’s going on you could have spent days tracking down something so simple as applying a patch you should not have applied. I will even go as far to say the only SharePoint rockstar you NEED in your organization is a SharePoint admin. You can always outsource really complicated development projects or bring in a rockstar contractor every now and then to make sure you aren’t way off track in other areas. For your day-to-day sanity and to keep SharePoint running smoothly, you need an awesome Admin. Some rockstars in this category are: Ben Curry, Mike Watson, Joel Oleson, Todd Klindt, Shane Young, John Ferringer, Sean McDonough, and of course Lori Gowin. SharePoint Developer Another essential role for your SharePoint deployment is a SharePoint developer. Things do start to get a little hazy here and there are many flavors of “developers”. Are you writing custom code? using SharePoint Designer? What about SharePoint Branding?  Are all of these considered developers? I would say yes. Are they interchangeable? I’d say no. Development in SharePoint is such a large beast in itself. I would say that it’s not so large that you can’t know it all well, but it is so large that there are many people who specialize in one particular category. If you are lucky enough to have someone on staff who knows it all well, you better make sure they are well taken care of because those guys are ready-made to move over to a consulting role and charge you 3 times what you are probably paying them. :) Some of the all-around rockstars are Eric Shupps, Andrew Connell (go Razorbacks), Rob Foster, Paul Schaeflein, and Todd Bleeker SharePoint Power User/No-Code Solutions Developer These SharePoint Swiss Army Knives are essential for quick wins in your organization. These people can twist the out-of-the-box functionality to make it do things you would not even imagine. Give these guys SharePoint Designer, jQuery, InfoPath, and a little time and they will create views, dashboards, and KPI’s that will blow your mind away and give your execs the “wow” they are looking for. Not only can they deliver that wow factor, but they can mashup, merge, and really help make your SharePoint application usable and deliver an overall better user experience. Before you hand off a project to your SharePoint Custom Code developer, let one of these rockstars look at it and show you what they can do (in probably less time). I would say the second most important role you can fill in your organization is one of these guys. Rockstars in this category are Christina Wheeler, Laura Rogers, Jennifer Mason, and Mark Miller SharePoint Developer – Custom Code If you want to really integrate SharePoint into your legacy systems, or really twist it and make it bend to your will, you are going to have to open up Visual Studio and write some custom code.  Remember, SharePoint is essentially just a big, huge, ginormous .NET application, so you CAN write code to make it do ANYTHING, but do you really want to spend the time and effort to do so? At some point with every other form of SharePoint development you are going to run into SOME limitation (SPD Workflows is the big one that comes to mind). If you truly want to knock down all the walls then custom development is the way to go. PLEASE keep in mind when you are looking for a custom code developer that a .NET developer does NOT equal a SharePoint developer. Just SOME of the things these guys write are: Custom Workflows Custom Web Parts Web Service functionality Import data from legacy systems Export data to legacy systems Custom Actions Event Receivers Service Applications (2010) These guys are also the ones generally responsible for packaging everything up into solution packages (you are doing that, right?). Rockstars in this category are Phil Wicklund, Christina Wheeler, Geoff Varosky, and Brian Jackett. SharePoint Branding “But it LOOKS like SharePoint!” Somebody call the WAAAAAAAAAAAAHMbulance…   Themes, Master Pages, Page Layouts, Zones, and over 2000 styles in CSS.. these guys not only have to be comfortable with all of SharePoint’s quirks and pain points when branding, but they have to know it TWICE for publishing and non-publishing sites.  Not only that, but these guys really need to have an eye for graphic design and be able to translate the ramblings of business into something visually stunning. They also have to be comfortable with XSLT, XML, and be able to hand off what they do to your custom developers for them to package as solutions (which you are doing, right?). These rockstars include Heater Waterman, Cathy Dew, and Marcy Kellar SharePoint Architect SharePoint Architects are generally SharePoint Admins or Developers who have moved into more of a BA role? Is that fair to say? These guys really have a grasp and understanding for what SharePoint IS and what it can do. These guys help you structure your farms to meet your needs and help you design your applications the correct way. It’s always a good idea to bring in a rockstar SharePoint Architect to do a sanity check and make sure you aren’t doing anything stupid.  Most organizations probably do not have a rockstar architect on staff. These guys are generally brought in at the deployment of a farm, upgrade of a farm, or for large development projects. I personally also find architects very useful for sitting down with the business to translate their needs into what SharePoint can do. A good architect will be able to pick out what can be done out-of-the-box and what has to be custom built and hand those requirements to the development Staff. Architects can generally fill in as an admin or a developer when needed. Some rockstar architects are Rick Taylor, Dan Usher, Bill English, Spence Harbar, Neil Hodgkins, Eric Harlan, and Bjørn Furuknap. Other Roles / Specialties On top of all these other roles you also get these people who specialize in things like Reporting, BDC (BCS in 2010), Search, Performance, Security, Project Management, etc... etc... etc... Again, most organizations will not have one of these gurus on staff, they’ll just pay out the nose for them when they need them. :) SharePoint End User Everyone else in your organization that touches SharePoint falls into this category. What they actually DO in SharePoint is determined by your governance and what permissions you give these guys. Hopefully you have these guys on a fairly short leash and are NOT giving them access to tools like SharePoint Designer. Sadly end users are the ones who truly make your deployment a success by using it, but are also your biggest enemy in breaking it.  :)  We love you guys… really!!! Okay, all that’s fine and dandy, but what should MY SharePoint team look like? It depends! Okay… Are you just doing out of the box team sites with no custom development? Then you are probably fine with a great Admin team and a great No-Code Solution Development team. How many people do you need? Depends on how busy you can keep them. Sorry, can’t answer the question about numbers without knowing your specific needs. I can just tell you who you MIGHT need and what they will do for you. I’ll leave you with what my ideal SharePoint Team would look like for a particular scenario: Farm / Organization Structure Dev, QA, and 2 Production Farms. 5000 – 10000 Users Custom Development and Integration with legacy systems Team Sites, My Sites, Intranet, Document libraries and overall company collaboration Team Rockstar SharePoint Administrator 2-3 junior SharePoint Administrators SharePoint Architect / Lead Developer 2 Power User / No-Code Solution Developers 2-3 Custom Code developers Branding expert With a team of that size and skill set, they should be able to keep a substantial SharePoint deployment running smoothly and meet your business needs. This does NOT mean that you would not need to bring in contract help from time to time when you need an uber specialist in one area. Also, this team assumes there will be ongoing development for the life of your SharePoint farm. If you are just going to be doing sporadic custom development, it might make sense to partner with an awesome firm that specializes in that sort of work (I can give you the name of a couple if you are interested).  Again though, the size of your team depends on the number of requests you are receiving and how much active deployment you are doing. So, don’t bring in a team that looks like this and then yell at me because they are sitting around with nothing to do or are so overwhelmed that nothing is getting done. I do URGE you to take the proper time to asses your needs and determine what team is BEST for your organization. Also, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not skimp on the talent. When it comes to SharePoint you really do get what you pay for when it comes to employees, contractors, and software.  SharePoint can become absolutely critical to your business and because you skimped on hiring a developer he created a web part that brings down the farm because he doesn’t know what he’s doing, or you hire an admin who thinks it’s fine to stick everything in the same Content Database and then can’t figure out why people are complaining. SharePoint can be an enormous blessing to an organization or it’s biggest curse. Spend the time and money to do it right, or be prepared to spending even more time and money later to fix it.

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• The Benefits of Smart Grid Business Software

  - by Sylvie MacKenzie, PMP

  Smart Grid Background What Are Smart Grids?Smart Grids use computer hardware and software, sensors, controls, and telecommunications equipment and services to: Link customers to information that helps them manage consumption and use electricity wisely. Enable customers to respond to utility notices in ways that help minimize the duration of overloads, bottlenecks, and outages. Provide utilities with information that helps them improve performance and control costs. What Is Driving Smart Grid Development? Environmental ImpactSmart Grid development is picking up speed because of the widespread interest in reducing the negative impact that energy use has on the environment. Smart Grids use technology to drive efficiencies in transmission, distribution, and consumption. As a result, utilities can serve customers’ power needs with fewer generating plants, fewer transmission and distribution assets,and lower overall generation. With the possible exception of wind farm sprawl, landscape preservation is one obvious benefit. And because most generation today results in greenhouse gas emissions, Smart Grids reduce air pollution and the potential for global climate change.Smart Grids also more easily accommodate the technical difficulties of integrating intermittent renewable resources like wind and solar into the grid, providing further greenhouse gas reductions. CostsThe ability to defer the cost of plant and grid expansion is a major benefit to both utilities and customers. Utilities do not need to use as many internal resources for traditional infrastructure project planning and management. Large T&D infrastructure expansion costs are not passed on to customers.Smart Grids will not eliminate capital expansion, of course. Transmission corridors to connect renewable generation with customers will require major near-term expenditures. Additionally, in the future, electricity to satisfy the needs of population growth and additional applications will exceed the capacity reductions available through the Smart Grid. At that point, expansion will resume—but with greater overall T&D efficiency based on demand response, load control, and many other Smart Grid technologies and business processes. Energy efficiency is a second area of Smart Grid cost saving of particular relevance to customers. The timely and detailed information Smart Grids provide encourages customers to limit waste, adopt energy-efficient building codes and standards, and invest in energy efficient appliances. Efficiency may or may not lower customer bills because customer efficiency savings may be offset by higher costs in generation fuels or carbon taxes. It is clear, however, that bills will be lower with efficiency than without it. Utility Operations Smart Grids can serve as the central focus of utility initiatives to improve business processes. Many utilities have long “wish lists” of projects and applications they would like to fund in order to improve customer service or ease staff’s burden of repetitious work, but they have difficulty cost-justifying the changes, especially in the short term. Adding Smart Grid benefits to the cost/benefit analysis frequently tips the scales in favor of the change and can also significantly reduce payback periods.Mobile workforce applications and asset management applications work together to deploy assets and then to maintain, repair, and replace them. Many additional benefits result—for instance, increased productivity and fuel savings from better routing. Similarly, customer portals that provide customers with near-real-time information can also encourage online payments, thus lowering billing costs. Utilities can and should include these cost and service improvements in the list of Smart Grid benefits. What Is Smart Grid Business Software? Smart Grid business software gathers data from a Smart Grid and uses it improve a utility’s business processes. Smart Grid business software also helps utilities provide relevant information to customers who can then use it to reduce their own consumption and improve their environmental profiles. Smart Grid Business Software Minimizes the Impact of Peak Demand Utilities must size their assets to accommodate their highest peak demand. The higher the peak rises above base demand: The more assets a utility must build that are used only for brief periods—an inefficient use of capital. The higher the utility’s risk profile rises given the uncertainties surrounding the time needed for permitting, building, and recouping costs. The higher the costs for utilities to purchase supply, because generators can charge more for contracts and spot supply during high-demand periods. Smart Grids enable a variety of programs that reduce peak demand, including: Time-of-use pricing and critical peak pricing—programs that charge customers more when they consume electricity during peak periods. Pilot projects indicate that these programs are successful in flattening peaks, thus ensuring better use of existing T&D and generation assets. Direct load control, which lets utilities reduce or eliminate electricity flow to customer equipment (such as air conditioners). Contracts govern the terms and conditions of these turn-offs. Indirect load control, which signals customers to reduce the use of on-premises equipment for contractually agreed-on time periods. Smart Grid business software enables utilities to impose penalties on customers who do not comply with their contracts. Smart Grids also help utilities manage peaks with existing assets by enabling: Real-time asset monitoring and control. In this application, advanced sensors safely enable dynamic capacity load limits, ensuring that all grid assets can be used to their maximum capacity during peak demand periods. Real-time asset monitoring and control applications also detect the location of excessive losses and pinpoint need for mitigation and asset replacements. As a result, utilities reduce outage risk and guard against excess capacity or “over-build”. Better peak demand analysis. As a result: Distribution planners can better size equipment (e.g. transformers) to avoid over-building. Operations engineers can identify and resolve bottlenecks and other inefficiencies that may cause or exacerbate peaks. As above, the result is a reduction in the tendency to over-build. Supply managers can more closely match procurement with delivery. As a result, they can fine-tune supply portfolios, reducing the tendency to over-contract for peak supply and reducing the need to resort to spot market purchases during high peaks. Smart Grids can help lower the cost of remaining peaks by: Standardizing interconnections for new distributed resources (such as electricity storage devices). Placing the interconnections where needed to support anticipated grid congestion. Smart Grid Business Software Lowers the Cost of Field Services By processing Smart Grid data through their business software, utilities can reduce such field costs as: Vegetation management. Smart Grids can pinpoint momentary interruptions and tree-caused outages. Spatial mash-up tools leverage GIS models of tree growth for targeted vegetation management. This reduces the cost of unnecessary tree trimming. Service vehicle fuel. Many utility service calls are “false alarms.” Checking meter status before dispatching crews prevents many unnecessary “truck rolls.” Similarly, crews use far less fuel when Smart Grid sensors can pinpoint a problem and mobile workforce applications can then route them directly to it. Smart Grid Business Software Ensures Regulatory Compliance Smart Grids can ensure compliance with private contracts and with regional, national, or international requirements by: Monitoring fulfillment of contract terms. Utilities can use one-hour interval meters to ensure that interruptible (“non-core”) customers actually reduce or eliminate deliveries as required. They can use the information to levy fines against contract violators. Monitoring regulations imposed on customers, such as maximum use during specific time periods. Using accurate time-stamped event history derived from intelligent devices distributed throughout the smart grid to monitor and report reliability statistics and risk compliance. Automating business processes and activities that ensure compliance with security and reliability measures (e.g. NERC-CIP 2-9). Grid Business Software Strengthens Utilities’ Connection to Customers While Reducing Customer Service Costs During outages, Smart Grid business software can: Identify outages more quickly. Software uses sensors to pinpoint outages and nested outage locations. They also permit utilities to ensure outage resolution at every meter location. Size outages more accurately, permitting utilities to dispatch crews that have the skills needed, in appropriate numbers. Provide updates on outage location and expected duration. This information helps call centers inform customers about the timing of service restoration. Smart Grids also facilitates display of outage maps for customer and public-service use. Smart Grids can significantly reduce the cost to: Connect and disconnect customers. Meters capable of remote disconnect can virtually eliminate the costs of field crews and vehicles previously required to change service from the old to the new residents of a metered property or disconnect customers for nonpayment. Resolve reports of voltage fluctuation. Smart Grids gather and report voltage and power quality data from meters and grid sensors, enabling utilities to pinpoint reported problems or resolve them before customers complain. Detect and resolve non-technical losses (e.g. theft). Smart Grids can identify illegal attempts to reconnect meters or to use electricity in supposedly vacant premises. They can also detect theft by comparing flows through delivery assets with billed consumption. Smart Grids also facilitate outreach to customers. By monitoring and analyzing consumption over time, utilities can: Identify customers with unusually high usage and contact them before they receive a bill. They can also suggest conservation techniques that might help to limit consumption. This can head off “high bill” complaints to the contact center. Note that such “high usage” or “additional charges apply because you are out of range” notices—frequently via text messaging—are already common among mobile phone providers. Help customers identify appropriate bill payment alternatives (budget billing, prepayment, etc.). Help customers find and reduce causes of over-consumption. There’s no waiting for bills in the mail before they even understand there is a problem. Utilities benefit not just through improved customer relations but also through limiting the size of bills from customers who might struggle to pay them. Where permitted, Smart Grids can open the doors to such new utility service offerings as: Monitoring properties. Landlords reduce costs of vacant properties when utilities notify them of unexpected energy or water consumption. Utilities can perform similar services for owners of vacation properties or the adult children of aging parents. Monitoring equipment. Power-use patterns can reveal a need for equipment maintenance. Smart Grids permit utilities to alert owners or managers to a need for maintenance or replacement. Facilitating home and small-business networks. Smart Grids can provide a gateway to equipment networks that automate control or let owners access equipment remotely. They also facilitate net metering, offering some utilities a path toward involvement in small-scale solar or wind generation. Prepayment plans that do not need special meters. Smart Grid Business Software Helps Customers Control Energy Costs There is no end to the ways Smart Grids help both small and large customers control energy costs. For instance: Multi-premises customers appreciate having all meters read on the same day so that they can more easily compare consumption at various sites. Customers in competitive regions can match their consumption profile (detailed via Smart Grid data) with specific offerings from competitive suppliers. Customers seeing inexplicable consumption patterns and power quality problems may investigate further. The result can be discovery of electrical problems that can be resolved through rewiring or maintenance—before more serious fires or accidents happen. Smart Grid Business Software Facilitates Use of Renewables Generation from wind and solar resources is a popular alternative to fossil fuel generation, which emits greenhouse gases. Wind and solar generation may also increase energy security in regions that currently import fossil fuel for use in generation. Utilities face many technical issues as they attempt to integrate intermittent resource generation into traditional grids, which traditionally handle only fully dispatchable generation. Smart Grid business software helps solves many of these issues by: Detecting sudden drops in production from renewables-generated electricity (wind and solar) and automatically triggering electricity storage and smart appliance response to compensate as needed. Supporting industry-standard distributed generation interconnection processes to reduce interconnection costs and avoid adding renewable supplies to locations already subject to grid congestion. Facilitating modeling and monitoring of locally generated supply from renewables and thus helping to maximize their use. Increasing the efficiency of “net metering” (through which utilities can use electricity generated by customers) by: Providing data for analysis. Integrating the production and consumption aspects of customer accounts. During non-peak periods, such techniques enable utilities to increase the percent of renewable generation in their supply mix. During peak periods, Smart Grid business software controls circuit reconfiguration to maximize available capacity. Conclusion Utility missions are changing. Yesterday, they focused on delivery of reasonably priced energy and water. Tomorrow, their missions will expand to encompass sustainable use and environmental improvement.Smart Grids are key to helping utilities achieve this expanded mission. But they come at a relatively high price. Utilities will need to invest heavily in new hardware, software, business process development, and staff training. Customer investments in home area networks and smart appliances will be large. Learning to change the energy and water consumption habits of a lifetime could ultimately prove even more formidable tasks.Smart Grid business software can ease the cost and difficulties inherent in a needed transition to a more flexible, reliable, responsive electricity grid. Justifying its implementation, however, requires a full understanding of the benefits it brings—benefits that can ultimately help customers, utilities, communities, and the world address global issues like energy security and climate change while minimizing costs and maximizing customer convenience. This white paper is available for download here. For further information about Oracle's Primavera Solutions for Utilities, please read our Utilities e-book.

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• Oracle Solaris: Zones on Shared Storage

  - by Jeff Victor

  Oracle Solaris 11.1 has several new features. At oracle.com you can find a detailed list. One of the significant new features, and the most significant new feature releated to Oracle Solaris Zones, is casually called "Zones on Shared Storage" or simply ZOSS (rhymes with "moss"). ZOSS offers much more flexibility because you can store Solaris Zones on shared storage (surprise!) so that you can perform quick and easy migration of a zone from one system to another. This blog entry describes and demonstrates the use of ZOSS. ZOSS provides complete support for a Solaris Zone that is stored on "shared storage." In this case, "shared storage" refers to fiber channel (FC) or iSCSI devices, although there is one lone exception that I will demonstrate soon. The primary intent is to enable you to store a zone on FC or iSCSI storage so that it can be migrated from one host computer to another much more easily and safely than in the past. With this blog entry, I wanted to make it easy for you to try this yourself. I couldn't assume that you have a SAN available - which is a good thing, because neither do I! What could I use, instead? [There he goes, foreshadowing again... -Ed.] Developing this entry reinforced the lesson that the solution to every lab problem is VirtualBox. Oracle VM VirtualBox (its formal name) helps here in a couple of important ways. It offers the ability to easily install multiple copies of Solaris as guests on top of any popular system (Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Solaris, Oracle Linux (and other Linuxes) etc.). It also offers the ability to create a separate virtual disk drive (VDI) that appears as a local hard disk to a guest. This virtual disk can be moved very easily from one guest to another. In other words, you can follow the steps below on a laptop or larger x86 system. Please note that the ability to use ZOSS to store a zone on a local disk is very useful for a lab environment, but not so useful for production. I do not suggest regularly moving disk drives among computers. In the method I describe below, that virtual hard disk will contain the zone that will be migrated among the (virtual) hosts. In production, you would use FC or iSCSI LUNs instead. The zonecfg(1M) man page details the syntax for each of the three types of devices. Why Migrate? Why is the migration of virtual servers important? Some of the most common reasons are: Moving a workload to a different computer so that the original computer can be turned off for extensive maintenance. Moving a workload to a larger system because the workload has outgrown its original system. If the workload runs in an environment (such as a Solaris Zone) that is stored on shared storage, you can restore the service of the workload on an alternate computer if the original computer has failed and will not reboot. You can simplify lifecycle management of a workload by developing it on a laptop, migrating it to a test platform when it's ready, and finally moving it to a production system. Concepts For ZOSS, the important new concept is named "rootzpool". You can read about it in the zonecfg(1M) man page, but here's the short version: it's the backing store (hard disk(s), or LUN(s)) that will be used to make a ZFS zpool - the zpool that will hold the zone. This zpool: contains the zone's Solaris content, i.e. the root file system does not contain any content not related to the zone can only be mounted by one Solaris instance at a time Method Overview Here is a brief list of the steps to create a zone on shared storage and migrate it. The next section shows the commands and output. You will need a host system with an x86 CPU (hopefully at least a couple of CPU cores), at least 2GB of RAM, and at least 25GB of free disk space. (The steps below will not actually use 25GB of disk space, but I don't want to lead you down a path that ends in a big sign that says "Your HDD is full. Good luck!") Configure the zone on both systems, specifying the rootzpool that both will use. The best way is to configure it on one system and then copy the output of "zonecfg export" to the other system to be used as input to zonecfg. This method reduces the chances of pilot error. (It is not necessary to configure the zone on both systems before creating it. You can configure this zone in multiple places, whenever you want, and migrate it to one of those places at any time - as long as those systems all have access to the shared storage.) Install the zone on one system, onto shared storage. Boot the zone. Provide system configuration information to the zone. (In the Real World(tm) you will usually automate this step.) Shutdown the zone. Detach the zone from the original system. Attach the zone to its new "home" system. Boot the zone. The zone can be used normally, and even migrated back, or to a different system. Details The rest of this shows the commands and output. The two hostnames are "sysA" and "sysB". Note that each Solaris guest might use a different device name for the VDI that they share. I used the device names shown below, but you must discover the device name(s) after booting each guest. In a production environment you would also discover the device name first and then configure the zone with that name. Fortunately, you can use the command "zpool import" or "format" to discover the device on the "new" host for the zone. The first steps create the VirtualBox guests and the shared disk drive. I describe the steps here without demonstrating them. Download VirtualBox and install it using a method normal for your host OS. You can read the complete instructions. Create two VirtualBox guests, each to run Solaris 11.1. Each will use its own VDI as its root disk. Install Solaris 11.1 in each guest.Install Solaris 11.1 in each guest. To install a Solaris 11.1 guest, you can either download a pre-built VirtualBox guest, and import it, or install Solaris 11.1 from the "text install" media. If you use the latter method, after booting you will not see a windowing system. To install the GUI and other important things, login and run "pkg install solaris-desktop" and take a break while it installs those important things. Life is usually easier if you install the VirtualBox Guest Additions because then you can copy and paste between the host and guests, etc. You can find the guest additions in the folder matching the version of VirtualBox you are using. You can also read the instructions for installing the guest additions. To create the zone's shared VDI in VirtualBox, you can open the storage configuration for one of the two guests, select the SATA controller, and click on the "Add Hard Disk" icon nearby. Choose "Create New Disk" and specify an appropriate path name for the file that will contain the VDI. The shared VDI must be at least 1.5 GB. Note that the guest must be stopped to do this. Add that VDI to the other guest - using its Storage configuration - so that each can access it while running. The steps start out the same, except that you choose "Choose Existing Disk" instead of "Create New Disk." Because the disk is configured on both of them, VirtualBox prevents you from running both guests at the same time. Identify device names of that VDI, in each of the guests. Solaris chooses the name based on existing devices. The names may be the same, or may be different from each other. This step is shown below as "Step 1." Assumptions In the example shown below, I make these assumptions. The guest that will own the zone at the beginning is named sysA. The guest that will own the zone after the first migration is named sysB. On sysA, the shared disk is named /dev/dsk/c7t2d0 On sysB, the shared disk is named /dev/dsk/c7t3d0 (Finally!) The Steps Step 1) Determine the name of the disk that will move back and forth between the systems. root@sysA:~# format Searching for disks...done AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS: 0. c7t0d0 /pci@0,0/pci8086,2829@d/disk@0,0 1. c7t2d0 /pci@0,0/pci8086,2829@d/disk@2,0 Specify disk (enter its number): ^D Step 2) The first thing to do is partition and label the disk. The magic needed to write an EFI label is not overly complicated. root@sysA:~# format -e c7t2d0 selecting c7t2d0 [disk formatted] FORMAT MENU: ... format fdisk No fdisk table exists. The default partition for the disk is: a 100% "SOLARIS System" partition Type "y" to accept the default partition, otherwise type "n" to edit the partition table. n SELECT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING: ... Enter Selection: 1 ... G=EFI_SYS 0=Exit? f SELECT ONE... ... 6 format label ... Specify Label type[1]: 1 Ready to label disk, continue? y format quit root@sysA:~# ls /dev/dsk/c7t2d0 /dev/dsk/c7t2d0 Step 3) Configure zone1 on sysA. root@sysA:~# zonecfg -z zone1 Use 'create' to begin configuring a new zone. zonecfg:zone1 create create: Using system default template 'SYSdefault' zonecfg:zone1 set zonename=zone1 zonecfg:zone1 set zonepath=/zones/zone1 zonecfg:zone1 add rootzpool zonecfg:zone1:rootzpool add storage dev:dsk/c7t2d0 zonecfg:zone1:rootzpool end zonecfg:zone1 exit root@sysA:~# oot@sysA:~# zonecfg -z zone1 info zonename: zone1 zonepath: /zones/zone1 brand: solaris autoboot: false bootargs: file-mac-profile: pool: limitpriv: scheduling-class: ip-type: exclusive hostid: fs-allowed: anet: ... rootzpool: storage: dev:dsk/c7t2d0 Step 4) Install the zone. This step takes the most time, but you can wander off for a snack or a few laps around the gym - or both! (Just not at the same time...) root@sysA:~# zoneadm -z zone1 install Created zone zpool: zone1_rpool Progress being logged to /var/log/zones/zoneadm.20121022T163634Z.zone1.install Image: Preparing at /zones/zone1/root. AI Manifest: /tmp/manifest.xml.RXaycg SC Profile: /usr/share/auto_install/sc_profiles/enable_sci.xml Zonename: zone1 Installation: Starting ... Creating IPS image Startup linked: 1/1 done Installing packages from: solaris origin: http://pkg.us.oracle.com/support/ DOWNLOAD PKGS FILES XFER (MB) SPEED Completed 183/183 33556/33556 222.2/222.2 2.8M/s PHASE ITEMS Installing new actions 46825/46825 Updating package state database Done Updating image state Done Creating fast lookup database Done Installation: Succeeded Note: Man pages can be obtained by installing pkg:/system/manual done. Done: Installation completed in 1696.847 seconds. Next Steps: Boot the zone, then log into the zone console (zlogin -C) to complete the configuration process. Log saved in non-global zone as /zones/zone1/root/var/log/zones/zoneadm.20121022T163634Z.zone1.install Step 5) Boot the Zone. root@sysA:~# zoneadm -z zone1 boot Step 6) Login to zone's console to complete the specification of system information. root@sysA:~# zlogin -C zone1 Answer the usual questions and wait for a login prompt. Then you can end the console session with the usual "~." incantation. Step 7) Shutdown the zone so it can be "moved." root@sysA:~# zoneadm -z zone1 shutdown Step 8) Detach the zone so that the original global zone can't use it. root@sysA:~# zoneadm list -cv ID NAME STATUS PATH BRAND IP 0 global running / solaris shared - zone1 installed /zones/zone1 solaris excl root@sysA:~# zpool list NAME SIZE ALLOC FREE CAP DEDUP HEALTH ALTROOT rpool 17.6G 11.2G 6.47G 63% 1.00x ONLINE - zone1_rpool 1.98G 484M 1.51G 23% 1.00x ONLINE - root@sysA:~# zoneadm -z zone1 detach Exported zone zpool: zone1_rpool Step 9) Review the result and shutdown sysA so that sysB can use the shared disk. root@sysA:~# zpool list NAME SIZE ALLOC FREE CAP DEDUP HEALTH ALTROOT rpool 17.6G 11.2G 6.47G 63% 1.00x ONLINE - root@sysA:~# zoneadm list -cv ID NAME STATUS PATH BRAND IP 0 global running / solaris shared - zone1 configured /zones/zone1 solaris excl root@sysA:~# init 0 Step 10) Now boot sysB and configure a zone with the parameters shown above in Step 1. (Again, the safest method is to use "zonecfg ... export" on sysA as described in section "Method Overview" above.) The one difference is the name of the rootzpool storage device, which was shown in the list of assumptions, and which you must determine by booting sysB and using the "format" or "zpool import" command. When that is done, you should see the output shown next. (I used the same zonename - "zone1" - in this example, but you can choose any valid zonename you want.) root@sysB:~# zoneadm list -cv ID NAME STATUS PATH BRAND IP 0 global running / solaris shared - zone1 configured /zones/zone1 solaris excl root@sysB:~# zonecfg -z zone1 info zonename: zone1 zonepath: /zones/zone1 brand: solaris autoboot: false bootargs: file-mac-profile: pool: limitpriv: scheduling-class: ip-type: exclusive hostid: fs-allowed: anet: linkname: net0 ... rootzpool: storage: dev:dsk/c7t3d0 Step 11) Attaching the zone automatically imports the zpool. root@sysB:~# zoneadm -z zone1 attach Imported zone zpool: zone1_rpool Progress being logged to /var/log/zones/zoneadm.20121022T184034Z.zone1.attach Installing: Using existing zone boot environment Zone BE root dataset: zone1_rpool/rpool/ROOT/solaris Cache: Using /var/pkg/publisher. Updating non-global zone: Linking to image /. Processing linked: 1/1 done Updating non-global zone: Auditing packages. No updates necessary for this image. Updating non-global zone: Zone updated. Result: Attach Succeeded. Log saved in non-global zone as /zones/zone1/root/var/log/zones/zoneadm.20121022T184034Z.zone1.attach root@sysB:~# zoneadm -z zone1 boot root@sysB:~# zlogin zone1 [Connected to zone 'zone1' pts/2] Oracle Corporation SunOS 5.11 11.1 September 2012 Step 12) Now let's migrate the zone back to sysA. Create a file in zone1 so we can verify it exists after we migrate the zone back, then begin migrating it back. root@zone1:~# ls /opt root@zone1:~# touch /opt/fileA root@zone1:~# ls -l /opt/fileA -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Oct 22 14:47 /opt/fileA root@zone1:~# exit logout [Connection to zone 'zone1' pts/2 closed] root@sysB:~# zoneadm -z zone1 shutdown root@sysB:~# zoneadm -z zone1 detach Exported zone zpool: zone1_rpool root@sysB:~# init 0 Step 13) Back on sysA, check the status. Oracle Corporation SunOS 5.11 11.1 September 2012 root@sysA:~# zoneadm list -cv ID NAME STATUS PATH BRAND IP 0 global running / solaris shared - zone1 configured /zones/zone1 solaris excl root@sysA:~# zpool list NAME SIZE ALLOC FREE CAP DEDUP HEALTH ALTROOT rpool 17.6G 11.2G 6.47G 63% 1.00x ONLINE - Step 14) Re-attach the zone back to sysA. root@sysA:~# zoneadm -z zone1 attach Imported zone zpool: zone1_rpool Progress being logged to /var/log/zones/zoneadm.20121022T190441Z.zone1.attach Installing: Using existing zone boot environment Zone BE root dataset: zone1_rpool/rpool/ROOT/solaris Cache: Using /var/pkg/publisher. Updating non-global zone: Linking to image /. Processing linked: 1/1 done Updating non-global zone: Auditing packages. No updates necessary for this image. Updating non-global zone: Zone updated. Result: Attach Succeeded. Log saved in non-global zone as /zones/zone1/root/var/log/zones/zoneadm.20121022T190441Z.zone1.attach root@sysA:~# zpool list NAME SIZE ALLOC FREE CAP DEDUP HEALTH ALTROOT rpool 17.6G 11.2G 6.47G 63% 1.00x ONLINE - zone1_rpool 1.98G 491M 1.51G 24% 1.00x ONLINE - root@sysA:~# zoneadm -z zone1 boot root@sysA:~# zlogin zone1 [Connected to zone 'zone1' pts/2] Oracle Corporation SunOS 5.11 11.1 September 2012 root@zone1:~# zpool list NAME SIZE ALLOC FREE CAP DEDUP HEALTH ALTROOT rpool 1.98G 538M 1.46G 26% 1.00x ONLINE - Step 15) Check for the file created on sysB, earlier. root@zone1:~# ls -l /opt total 1 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Oct 22 14:47 fileA Next Steps Here is a brief list of some of the fun things you can try next. Add space to the zone by adding a second storage device to the rootzpool. Make sure that you add it to the configurations of both zones! Create a new zone, specifying two disks in the rootzpool when you first configure the zone. When you install that zone, or clone it from another zone, zoneadm uses those two disks to create a mirrored pool. (Three disks will result in a three-way mirror, etc.) Conclusion Hopefully you have seen the ease with which you can now move Solaris Zones from one system to another.

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• CodePlex Daily Summary for Wednesday, June 19, 2013

  CodePlex Daily Summary for Wednesday, June 19, 2013Popular ReleasesSQL Compact Query Analyzer: 1.0.1.25676: Beta build of SQL Compact Query Analyzer Bug fixes: - Resolved issue where the application crashes when loading a database that contains tables without a primary key Features: - Displays database information (database version, filename, size, creation date) - Displays schema summary (number of tables, columns, primary keys, identity fields, nullable fields) - Displays the information schema views - Displays column information (database type, clr type, max length, allows null, etc) - Support...xFunc: xFunc (2.2.2.0): Added: hex, bin, oct numbers; gcd (greatest common factor) and lcm (least common multiple); Fixed: the "undef" function;Prism Model Factory Extensions: 1.0.0.0: Initial releaseCODE Framework: 4.0.30618.0: See change notes in the documentation section for details on what's new. Note: If you download the class reference help file with, you have to right-click the file, pick "Properties", and then unblock the file, as many browsers flag the file as blocked during download (for security reasons) and thus hides all content.Toolbox for Dynamics CRM 2011: XrmToolBox (v1.2013.6.18): XrmToolbox improvement Use new connection controls (use of Microsoft.Xrm.Client.dll) New display capabilities for tools (size, image and colors) Added prerequisites check Added Most Used Tools feature Tools improvementNew toolSolution Transfer Tool (v1.0.0.0) developed by DamSim Updated toolView Layout Replicator (v1.2013.6.17) Double click on source view to display its layoutXml All tools list Access Checker (v1.2013.6.17) Attribute Bulk Updater (v1.2013.6.18) FetchXml Tester (v1.2013.6.1...Media Companion: Media Companion MC3.570b: New* Movie - using XBMC TMDB - now renames movies if option selected. * Movie - using Xbmc Tmdb - Actor images saved from TMDb if option selected. Fixed* Movie - Checks for poster.jpg against missing poster filter * Movie - Fixed continual scraping of vob movie file (not DVD structure) * Both - Correctly display audio channels * Both - Correctly populate audio info in nfo's if multiple audio tracks. * Both - added icons and checked for DTS ES and Dolby TrueHD audio tracks. * Both - Stream d...LINQ Extensions Library: 1.0.4.2: New to release 1.0.4.2 Custom sorting extensions that perform up to 50% better than LINQ OrderBy, ThenBy extensions... Extensions allow for fine tuning of the sort by controlling the algorithm each sort uses.ExtJS based ASP.NET Controls: FineUI v3.3.0: ??FineUI ?? ExtJS ??? ASP.NET ???。 FineUI??? ?? No JavaScript，No CSS，No UpdatePanel，No ViewState，No WebServices ???????。 ?????? IE 7.0、Firefox 3.6、Chrome 3.0、Opera 10.5、Safari 3.0+ ???? Apache License v2.0 ?：ExtJS ?? GPL v3 ?????(http://www.sencha.com/license)。 ???? ??：http://fineui.com/bbs/ ??：http://fineui.com/demo/ ??：http://fineui.com/doc/ ??：http://fineui.codeplex.com/ FineUI???? ExtJS ?????????，???? ExtJS ?。 ????? FineUI ? ExtJS ?：http://fineui.com/bbs/forum.php?mod=viewthrea...CMake Tools for Visual Studio: CMake Tools for Visual Studio 1.0 RC2: This is the second release candidate of CMake Tools for Visual Studio 1.0, which contains the following bug fixes and enhancements: The CMake Editor is now available for file extension mapping and in the Open With dialog box. A bug that caused CMake IntelliSense to appear when editing ordinary text files has been fixed. Commenting characters are now properly placed for large blocks of code. Smart indentation now behaves correctly when the cursor is not at the end of the line. Function...BarbaTunnel: BarbaTunnel 8.0: Check Version History for more information about this release.ExpressProfiler: ExpressProfiler v1.5: [+] added Start time, End time event columns [+] added SP:StmtStarting, SP:StmtCompleted events [*] fixed bug with Audit:Logout eventpatterns & practices: Data Access Guidance: Data Access Guidance Drop4 2013.06.17: Drop 4Microsoft Ajax Minifier: Microsoft Ajax Minifier 4.94: add dstLine and dstCol attributes to the -Analyze output in XML mode. un-combine leftover comma-separates expression statements after optimizations are complete so downstream tools don't stack-overflow on really deep comma trees. add support for using a single source map generator instance with multiple runs of MinifyJavaScript, assuming that the results are concatenated to the same output file.Kooboo CMS: Kooboo CMS 4.1.1: The stable release of Kooboo CMS 4.1.0 with fixed the following issues: https://github.com/Kooboo/CMS/issues/1 https://github.com/Kooboo/CMS/issues/11 https://github.com/Kooboo/CMS/issues/13 https://github.com/Kooboo/CMS/issues/15 https://github.com/Kooboo/CMS/issues/19 https://github.com/Kooboo/CMS/issues/20 https://github.com/Kooboo/CMS/issues/24 https://github.com/Kooboo/CMS/issues/43 https://github.com/Kooboo/CMS/issues/45 https://github.com/Kooboo/CMS/issues/46 https://github....VidCoder: 1.5.0 Beta: The betas have started up again! If you were previously on the beta track you will need to install this to get back on it. That's because you can now run both the Beta and Stable version of VidCoder side-by-side! Note that the OpenCL and Intel QuickSync changes being tested by HandBrake are not in the betas yet. They will appear when HandBrake integrates them into the main branch. Updated HandBrake core to SVN 5590. This adds a new FDK AAC encoder. The FAAC encoder has been removed and now...Employee Info Starter Kit: v6.0 - ASP.NET MVC Edition: Release Home - Getting Started - Hands on Coding Walkthrough – Technology Stack - Design & Architecture EISK v6.0 – ASP.NET MVC edition bundles most of the greatest and successful platforms, frameworks and technologies together, to enable web developers to learn and build manageable and high performance web applications with rich user experience effectively and quickly. User End SpecificationsCreating a new employee record Read existing employee records Update an existing employee reco...OLAP PivotTable Extensions: Release 0.8.1: Use the 32-bit download for... Excel 2007 Excel 2010 32-bit (even Excel 2010 32-bit on a 64-bit operating system) Excel 2013 32-bit (even Excel 2013 32-bit on a 64-bit operating system) Use the 64-bit download for... Excel 2010 64-bit Excel 2013 64-bit Just download and run the EXE. There is no need to uninstall the previous release. If you have problems getting the add-in to work, see the Troubleshooting Installation wiki page. The new features in this release are: View #VALUE! Err...WPF Application Framework (WAF): WPF Application Framework (WAF) 3.0.0.440: Version: 3.0.0.440 (Release Candidate): This release contains the source code of the WPF Application Framework (WAF) and the sample applications. Please build the whole solution before you start one of the sample applications. Requirements .NET Framework 4.5 (The package contains a solution file for Visual Studio 2012) Changelog Legend: [B] Breaking change; [O] Marked member as obsolete Samples: Use ValueConverters via StaticResource instead of x:Static. Other Downloads Downloads OverviewBlackJumboDog: Ver5.9.1: 2013.06.13 Ver5.9.1 (1) Web??????SSI?#include???、CGI?????????????????????? (2) ???????????????????????????Free language translator and file converter: Free Language Translator 3.3: some bug fixes and a new link to video tutorials on Youtube.New ProjectsA model oriented programming language and IDE for model driven development: Mo+ Solution Builder is a model oriented programming language and integrated development environment for effective model driven development.ActiveWindowsStoreAppFromWin32: This is a dome of how to active Windows Store App From MFC and pass value to itAjax Jquery ASP.NET Control Toolkit: User Controls to facilitate ASP.NET integration to Ajax and JQuery components.Animations: empresaAricie - Distributed Caching Provider: Aricie - Distributed Caching Provider is a DotNetNuke module and a DNN caching provider, which leverages distributed caching technologies (AppFabric, Memcached)Background Action Pool<TParam, TReturn> (.Net Task Pool): Provides a generic typed Pool for running Tasks/Funcs in an extra thread with return value and various parameters for every task Bordecal.ImportsSorter: Visual Studio add-in for sorting imports/using blocksCodagenic Bootstrap Theme: Codagenic Ecommerce 3 ThemeeBook: eBook is an engine designed to perform text mining on TEI based document.Microsoft CRM 2011 RESTful Grid: MIcrosoft CRM 2011 RESTful Grid CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Destroy) data operations.MyHandsCursor 1.0: MyHandsCursor is a demo application that uses the Kinect for Windows SDK 1.7 .mylib2: mylib2nodejs chat server: nodejs websocket jquery chat serverPiGraph: Ph?n m?n h? tr? kh?o sát hàm s? - Pixels Ð?i H?c Khoa H?c T? Nhiên TP.HCM - Khoa Công Ngh? Thông TinPurpleKnife: The Swiss Army Knife for Extreme Networks XOS switches.PVMapper Desktop: PVMapper Open Source TeamSSQForecast: TESTStored Procedure Pager: Stored Procedure Pager is an open source asp.net/mvc user pager control.The most important feature is support for Stored Procedure.Tetris Online: A 2-player Tetris game you play against another person on the internet.ubdblib: A library providing multipolar model parameterization of electron density using ubdb aspherical atom data bank.Umbraco Multi User Picker: Multi User Picker is an Umbraco datatype for selecting one or more users.UnLinkAlbumTracks: Unlinks tracks in Windows Media Player, allowing them to have their album info updated independently.Vis på Google Maps hvor medlemmerne bor: This project is only relevant for people living in Denmark Ud fra en CSV-fil genererer dette lille program en KML fil indeholdende et koordinatsæt for hvor adresse i CSV-filen. Dette kan f.eks. bruges til at vise hvor medlemmerne af en forening bor.

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• Pain Comes Instantly

  - by user701213

  When I look back at recent blog entries – many of which are not all that current (more on where my available writing time is going later) – I am struck by how many of them focus on public policy or legislative issues instead of, say, the latest nefarious cyberattack or exploit (or everyone’s favorite new pastime: coining terms for the Coming Cyberpocalypse: “digital Pearl Harbor” is so 1941). Speaking of which, I personally hope evil hackers from Malefactoria will someday hack into my bathroom scale – which in a future time will be connected to the Internet because, gosh, wouldn’t it be great to have absolutely everything in your life Internet-enabled? – and recalibrate it so I’m 10 pounds thinner. The horror. In part, my focus on public policy is due to an admitted limitation of my skill set. I enjoy reading technical articles about exploits and cybersecurity trends, but writing a blog entry on those topics would take more research than I have time for and, quite honestly, doesn’t play to my strengths. The first rule of writing is “write what you know.” The bigger contributing factor to my recent paucity of blog entries is that more and more of my waking hours are spent engaging in “thrust and parry” activity involving emerging regulations of some sort or other. I’ve opined in earlier blogs about what constitutes good and reasonable public policy so nobody can accuse me of being reflexively anti-regulation. That said, you have so many cycles in the day, and most of us would rather spend it slaying actual dragons than participating in focus groups on whether dragons are really a problem, whether lassoing them (with organic, sustainable and recyclable lassos) is preferable to slaying them – after all, dragons are people, too - and whether we need lasso compliance auditors to make sure lassos are being used correctly and humanely. (A point that seems to evade many rule makers: slaying dragons actually accomplishes something, whereas talking about “approved dragon slaying procedures and requirements” wastes the time of those who are competent to dispatch actual dragons and who were doing so very well without the input of “dragon-slaying theorists.”) Unfortunately for so many of us who would just get on with doing our day jobs, cybersecurity is rapidly devolving into the “focus groups on dragon dispatching” realm, which actual dragons slayers have little choice but to participate in. The general trend in cybersecurity is that powers-that-be – which encompasses groups other than just legislators – are often increasingly concerned and therefore feel they need to Do Something About Cybersecurity. Many seem to believe that if only we had the right amount of regulation and oversight, there would be no data breaches: a breach simply must mean Someone Is At Fault and Needs Supervision. (Leaving aside the fact that we have lots of home invasions despite a) guard dogs b) liberal carry permits c) alarm systems d) etc.) Also note that many well-managed and security-aware organizations, like the US Department of Defense, still get hacked. More specifically, many powers-that-be feel they must direct industry in a multiplicity of ways, up to and including how we actually build and deploy information technology systems. The more prescriptive the requirement, the more regulators or overseers a) can be seen to be doing something b) feel as if they are doing something regardless of whether they are actually doing something useful or cost effective. Note: an unfortunate concomitant of Doing Something is that often the cure is worse than the ailment. That is, doing what overseers want creates unfortunate byproducts that they either didn’t foresee or worse, don’t care about. After all, the logic goes, we Did Something. Prescriptive practice in the IT industry is problematic for a number of reasons. For a start, prescriptive guidance is really only appropriate if: • It is cost effective• It is “current” (meaning, the guidance doesn’t require the use of the technical equivalent of buggy whips long after horse-drawn transportation has become passé)*• It is practical (that is, pragmatic, proven and effective in the real world, not theoretical and unproven)• It solves the right problem With the above in mind, heading up the list of “you must be joking” regulations are recent disturbing developments in the Payment Card Industry (PCI) world. I’d like to give PCI kahunas the benefit of the doubt about their intentions, except that efforts by Oracle among others to make them aware of “unfortunate side effects of your requirements” – which is as tactful I can be for reasons that I believe will become obvious below - have gone, to-date, unanswered and more importantly, unchanged. A little background on PCI before I get too wound up. In 2008, the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council (SSC) introduced the Payment Application Data Security Standard (PA-DSS). That standard requires vendors of payment applications to ensure that their products implement specific requirements and undergo security assessment procedures. In order to have an application listed as a Validated Payment Application (VPA) and available for use by merchants, software vendors are required to execute the PCI Payment Application Vendor Release Agreement (VRA). (Are you still with me through all the acronyms?) Beginning in August 2010, the VRA imposed new obligations on vendors that are extraordinary and extraordinarily bad, short-sighted and unworkable. Specifically, PCI requires vendors to disclose (dare we say “tell all?”) to PCI any known security vulnerabilities and associated security breaches involving VPAs. ASAP. Think about the impact of that. PCI is asking a vendor to disclose to them: • Specific details of security vulnerabilities • Including exploit information or technical details of the vulnerability • Whether or not there is any mitigation available (as in a patch) PCI, in turn, has the right to blab about any and all of the above – specifically, to distribute all the gory details of what is disclosed - to the PCI SSC, qualified security assessors (QSAs), and any affiliate or agent or adviser of those entities, who are in turn permitted to share it with their respective affiliates, agents, employees, contractors, merchants, processors, service providers and other business partners. This assorted crew can’t be more than, oh, hundreds of thousands of entities. Does anybody believe that several hundred thousand people can keep a secret? Or that several hundred thousand people are all equally trustworthy? Or that not one of the people getting all that information would blab vulnerability details to a bad guy, even by accident? Or be a bad guy who uses the information to break into systems? (Wait, was that the Easter Bunny that just hopped by? Bringing world peace, no doubt.) Sarcasm aside, common sense tells us that telling lots of people a secret is guaranteed to “unsecret” the secret. Notably, being provided details of a vulnerability (without a patch) is of little or no use to companies running the affected application. Few users have the technological sophistication to create a workaround, and even if they do, most workarounds break some other functionality in the application or surrounding environment. Also, given the differences among corporate implementations of any application, it is highly unlikely that a single workaround is going to work for all corporate users. So until a patch is developed by the vendor, users remain at risk of exploit: even more so if the details of vulnerability have been widely shared. Sharing that information widely before a patch is available therefore does not help users, and instead helps only those wanting to exploit known security bugs. There’s a shocker for you. Furthermore, we already know that insider information about security vulnerabilities inevitably leaks, which is why most vendors closely hold such information and limit dissemination until a patch is available (and frequently limit dissemination of technical details even with the release of a patch). That’s the industry norm, not that PCI seems to realize or acknowledge that. Why would anybody release a bunch of highly technical exploit information to a cast of thousands, whose only “vetting” is that they are members of a PCI consortium? Oracle has had personal experience with this problem, which is one reason why information on security vulnerabilities at Oracle is “need to know” (we use our own row level access control to limit access to security bugs in our bug database, and thus less than 1% of development has access to this information), and we don’t provide some customers with more information than others or with vulnerability information and/or patches earlier than others. Failure to remember “insider information always leaks” creates problems in the general case, and has created problems for us specifically. A number of years ago, one of the UK intelligence agencies had information about a non-public security vulnerability in an Oracle product that they circulated among other UK and Commonwealth defense and intelligence entities. Nobody, it should be pointed out, bothered to report the problem to Oracle, even though only Oracle could produce a patch. The vulnerability was finally reported to Oracle by (drum roll) a US-based commercial company, to whom the information had leaked. (Note: every time I tell this story, the MI-whatever agency that created the problem gets a bit shirty with us. I know they meant well and have improved their vulnerability handling/sharing processes but, dudes, next time you find an Oracle vulnerability, try reporting it to us first before blabbing to lots of people who can’t actually fix the problem. Thank you!) Getting back to PCI: clearly, these new disclosure obligations increase the risk of exploitation of a vulnerability in a VPA and thus, of misappropriation of payment card data and customer information that a VPA processes, stores or transmits. It stands to reason that VRA’s current requirement for the widespread distribution of security vulnerability exploit details -- at any time, but particularly before a vendor can issue a patch or a workaround -- is very poor public policy. It effectively publicizes information of great value to potential attackers while not providing compensating benefits - actually, any benefits - to payment card merchants or consumers. In fact, it magnifies the risk to payment card merchants and consumers. The risk is most prominent in the time before a patch has been released, since customers often have little option but to continue using an application or system despite the risks. However, the risk is not limited to the time before a patch is issued: customers often need days, or weeks, to apply patches to systems, based upon the complexity of the issue and dependence on surrounding programs. Rather than decreasing the available window of exploit, this requirement increases the available window of exploit, both as to time available to exploit a vulnerability and the ease with which it can be exploited. Also, why would hackers focus on finding new vulnerabilities to exploit if they can get “EZHack” handed to them in such a manner: a) a vulnerability b) in a payment application c) with exploit code: the “Hacking Trifecta!“ It’s fair to say that this is probably the exact opposite of what PCI – or any of us – would want. Established industry practice concerning vulnerability handling avoids the risks created by the VRA’s vulnerability disclosure requirements. Specifically, the norm is not to release information about a security bug until the associated patch (or a pretty darn good workaround) has been issued. Once a patch is available, the notice to the user community is a high-level communication discussing the product at issue, the level of risk associated with the vulnerability, and how to apply the patch. The notices do not include either the specific customers affected by the vulnerability or forensic reports with maps of the exploit (both of which are required by the current VRA). In this way, customers have the tools they need to prioritize patching and to help prevent an attack, and the information released does not increase the risk of exploit. Furthermore, many vendors already use industry standards for vulnerability description: Common Vulnerability Enumeration (CVE) and Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS). CVE helps ensure that customers know which particular issues a patch addresses and CVSS helps customers determine how severe a vulnerability is on a relative scale. Industry already provides the tools customers need to know what the patch contains and how bad the problem is that the patch remediates. So, what’s a poor vendor to do? Oracle is reaching out to other vendors subject to PCI and attempting to enlist then in a broad effort to engage PCI in rethinking (that is, eradicating) these requirements. I would therefore urge all who care about this issue, but especially those in the vendor community whose applications are subject to PCI and who may not have know they were being asked to tell-all to PCI and put their customers at risk, to do one of the following: • Contact PCI with your concerns• Contact Oracle (we are looking for vendors to sign our statement of concern)• And make sure you tell your customers that you have to rat them out to PCI if there is a breach involving the payment application I like to be charitable and say “PCI meant well” but in as important a public policy issue as what you disclose about vulnerabilities, to whom and when, meaning well isn’t enough. We need to do well. PCI, as regards this particular issue, has not done well, and has compounded the error by thus far being nonresponsive to those of us who have labored mightily to try to explain why they might want to rethink telling the entire planet about security problems with no solutions. By Way of Explanation… Non-related to PCI whatsoever, and the explanation for why I have not been blogging a lot recently, I have been working on Other Writing Venues with my sister Diane (who has also worked in the tech sector, inflicting upgrades on unsuspecting and largely ungrateful end users). I am pleased to note that we have recently (self-)published the first in the Miss Information Technology Murder Mystery series, Outsourcing Murder. The genre might best be described as “chick lit meets geek scene.” Our sisterly nom de plume is Maddi Davidson and (shameless plug follows): you can order the paper version of the book on Amazon, or the Kindle or Nook versions on www.amazon.com or www.bn.com, respectively. From our book jacket: Emma Jones, a 20-something IT consultant, is working on an outsourcing project at Tahiti Tacos, a restaurant chain offering Polynexican cuisine: refried poi, anyone? Emma despises her boss Padmanabh, a brilliant but arrogant partner in GD Consulting. When Emma discovers His-Royal-Padness’s body (verdict: death by cricket bat), she becomes a suspect.With her overprotective family and her best friend Stacey providing endless support and advice, Emma stumbles her way through an investigation of Padmanabh’s murder, bolstered by fusion food feeding frenzies, endless cups of frou-frou coffee and serious surfing sessions. While Stacey knows a PI who owes her a favor, landlady Magda urges Emma to tart up her underwear drawer before the next cute cop with a search warrant arrives. Emma’s mother offers to fix her up with a PhD student at Berkeley and showers her with self-defense gizmos while her old lover Keoni beckons from Hawai’i. And everyone, even Shaun the barista, knows a good lawyer. Book 2, Denial of Service, is coming out this summer. * Given the rate of change in technology, today’s “thou shalts” are easily next year’s “buggy whip guidance.”

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• CodePlex Daily Summary for Monday, November 21, 2011

  CodePlex Daily Summary for Monday, November 21, 2011Popular ReleasesSQL Monitor - tracking sql server activities: SQLMon 4.1 alpha 6: 1. improved support for schema 2. added find reference when right click on object list 3. added object rename supportdns?????: 1.0: ???????。??????。BugNET Issue Tracker: BugNET 0.9.126: First stable release of version 0.9. Upgrades from 0.8 are fully supported and upgrades to future releases will also be supported. This release is now compiled against the .NET 4.0 framework and is a requirement. Because of this the web.config has significantly changed. After upgrading, you will need to configure the authentication settings for user registration and anonymous access again. Please see our installation / upgrade instructions for more details: http://wiki.bugnetproject.c...Anno 2070 Assistant: v0.1.0 (STABLE): Version 0.1.0 Features Production Chains Eco Production Chains (Complete) Tycoon Production Chains (Disabled - Incomplete) Tech Production Chains (Disabled - Incomplete) Supply (Disabled - Incomplete) Calculator (Disabled - Incomplete) Building Layouts Eco Building Layouts (Complete) Tycoon Building Layouts (Disabled - Incomplete) Tech Building Layouts (Disabled - Incomplete) Credits (Complete)Free SharePoint 2010 Sites Templates: SharePoint Server 2010 Sites Templates: here is the list of sites templates to be downloadedVsTortoise - a TortoiseSVN add-in for Microsoft Visual Studio: VsTortoise Build 30 Beta: Note: This release does not work with custom VsTortoise toolbars. These get removed every time when you shutdown Visual Studio. (#7940) Build 30 (beta)New: Support for TortoiseSVN 1.7 added. (the download contains both setups, for TortoiseSVN 1.6 and 1.7) New: OpenModifiedDocumentDialog displays conflicted files now. New: OpenModifiedDocument allows to group items by changelist now. Fix: OpenModifiedDocumentDialog caused Visual Studio 2010 to freeze sometimes. Fix: The installer didn...nopCommerce. Open source shopping cart (ASP.NET MVC): nopcommerce 2.30: Highlight features & improvements: • Performance optimization. • Back in stock notifications. • Product special price support. • Catalog mode (based on customer role) To see the full list of fixes and changes please visit the release notes page (http://www.nopCommerce.com/releasenotes.aspx).WPF Converters: WPF Converters V1.2.0.0: support for enumerations, value types, and reference types in the expression converter's equality operators the expression converter now handles DependencyProperty.UnsetValue as argument values correctly (#4062) StyleCop conformance (more or less)Json.NET: Json.NET 4.0 Release 4: Change - JsonTextReader.Culture is now CultureInfo.InvariantCulture by default Change - KeyValurPairConverter no longer cares about the order of the key and value properties Change - Time zone conversions now use new TimeZoneInfo instead of TimeZone Fix - Fixed boolean values sometimes being capitalized when converting to XML Fix - Fixed error when deserializing ConcurrentDictionary Fix - Fixed serializing some Uris returning the incorrect value Fix - Fixed occasional error when...Media Companion: MC 3.423b Weekly: Ensure .NET 4.0 Full Framework is installed. (Available from http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=17718) Ensure the NFO ID fix is applied when transitioning from versions prior to 3.416b. (Details here) Replaced 'Rebuild' with 'Refresh' throughout entire code. Rebuild will now be known as Refresh. mc_com.exe has been fully updated TV Show Resolutions... Resolved issue #206 - having to hit save twice when updating runtime manually Shrunk cache size and lowered loading times f...Delta Engine: Delta Engine Beta Preview v0.9.1: v0.9.1 beta release with lots of refactoring, fixes, new samples and support for iOS, Android and WP7 (you need a Marketplace account however). If you want a binary release for the games (like v0.9.0), just say so in the Forum or here and we will quickly prepare one. It is just not much different from v0.9.0, so I left it out this time. See http://DeltaEngine.net/Wiki.Roadmap for details.ASP.net Awesome Samples (Web-Forms): 1.0 samples: Full Demo VS2008 Very Simple Demo VS2010 and Tutorials (demos for the ASP.net Awesome jQuery Ajax Controls)SharpMap - Geospatial Application Framework for the CLR: SharpMap-0.9-AnyCPU-Trunk-2011.11.17: This is a build of SharpMap from the 0.9 development trunk as per 2011-11-17 For most applications the AnyCPU release is the recommended, but in case you need an x86 build that is included to. For some dataproviders (GDAL/OGR, SqLite, PostGis) you need to also referense the SharpMap.Extensions assembly For SqlServer Spatial you need to reference the SharpMap.SqlServerSpatial assemblyAJAX Control Toolkit: November 2011 Release: AJAX Control Toolkit Release Notes - November 2011 Release Version 51116November 2011 release of the AJAX Control Toolkit. AJAX Control Toolkit .NET 4 - Binary – AJAX Control Toolkit for .NET 4 and sample site (Recommended). AJAX Control Toolkit .NET 3.5 - Binary – AJAX Control Toolkit for .NET 3.5 and sample site (Recommended). Notes: - The current version of the AJAX Control Toolkit is not compatible with ASP.NET 2.0. The latest version that is compatible with ASP.NET 2.0 can be found h...MVC Controls Toolkit: Mvc Controls Toolkit 1.5.5: Added: Now the DateRanteAttribute accepts complex expressions containing "Now" and "Today" as static minimum and maximum. Menu, MenuFor helpers capable of handling a "currently selected element". The developer can choose between using a standard nested menu based on a standard SimpleMenuItem class or specifying an item template based on a custom class. Added also helpers to build the tree structure containing all data items the menu takes infos from. Improved the pager. Now the developer ...SharpCompress - a fully native C# library for RAR, 7Zip, Zip, Tar, GZip, BZip2: SharpCompress 0.7: Reworked API to be more consistent. See Supported formats table. Added some more helper methods - e.g. OpenEntryStream (RarArchive/RarReader does not support this) Fixed up testsSilverlight Toolkit: Windows Phone Toolkit - Nov 2011 (7.1 SDK): This release is coming soon! What's new ListPicker once again works in a ScrollViewer LongListSelector bug fixes around OutOfRange exceptions, wrong ordering of items, grouping issues, and scrolling events. ItemTuple is now refactored to be the public type LongListSelectorItem to provide users better access to the values in selection changed handlers. PerformanceProgressBar binding fix for IsIndeterminate (item 9767 and others) There is no longer a GestureListener dependency with the C...DotNetNuke® Community Edition: 06.01.01: Major Highlights Fixed problem with the core skin object rendering CSS above the other framework inserted files, which caused problems when using core style skin objects Fixed issue with iFrames getting removed when content is saved Fixed issue with the HTML module removing styling and scripts from the content Fixed issue with inserting the link to jquery after the header of the page Security Fixesnone Updated Modules/Providers ModulesHTML version 6.1.0 ProvidersnoneSCCM Client Actions Tool: SCCM Client Actions Tool v0.8: SCCM Client Actions Tool v0.8 is currently the latest version. It comes with following changes since last version: Added "Wake On LAN" action. WOL.EXE is now included. Added new action "Get all active advertisements" to list all machine based advertisements on remote computers. Added new action "Get all active user advertisements" to list all user based advertisements for logged on users on remote computers. Added config.ini setting "enablePingTest" to control whether ping test is ru...C.B.R. : Comic Book Reader: CBR 0.3: New featuresAdd magnifier size and scale New file info view in the backstage Add dynamic properties on book and settings Sorting and grouping in the explorer with new design Rework on conversion : Images, PDF, Cbr/rar, Cbz/zip, Xps to the destination formats Images, Cbz and XPS ImprovmentsSuppress MainViewModel and ExplorerViewModel dependencies Add view notifications and Messages from MVVM Light for ViewModel=>View notifications Make thread better on open catalog, no more ihm freeze, less t...New ProjectsAnno 2070 Assistant: Anno 2070 Assistant is a program that is useable with the Ubisoft game Anno 2070. It shows you production chain information, building layouts, population supplies, etc.ASINDO Administration: Administration pages for ASINDO Pediatrics.Birthright Campaign Manager: Birthright Campaign Manager is a tool made with Microsoft Visual Studio LightSwitch 2011 designed to help players manage and handle games of Birthright at the domain level, let it be pen and paper, or play by email games.buttons: toolbar buttonsCAML Viewer: CAML Viewer Web Part lets you view CAML Query from Views. This Web Part also helps you find internal names for fields.CapitaList: The Craigslist for current and aspiring entrepreneurs to get all the information to start and establish a local business. This application offers its users access to licensing and permit information, financing option, business proposals and federal grants and awards for the area.CountryProject: Again country gameCSSMMS: ???????????Distributed replay GUI: With release of SQL Server 2012 RC0 I was disaapointed to discover that there was not User Interface for Distributed Replay. This is my contribution. May it help Distributed Replay to get the attention it deserves.DSCop: DSCop is an open source tool that analyzes IBM InfoSphere DataStage jobs and reports information such as violation of some commonly accepted best practices. It's developed in C# and uses MEF from .NET 4 to provide plug-in based architecture.Emailing Files as Attachments in Sharepoint 2010: This solution makes it easy for Sharepoint 2010 users to email files as attachments from the Sharepoint Ribbon Menu. The user can select multiple documents at a time, as well as Folders of files and document sets. The form contains fields for external email addresses as well a Sharepoint People Picker for internal users. If you want to exclude either of them, then simply set the containing panel to invisible. This is described in the documentationExtendable JSON Serialization: Contains an interface (IJSONSerializable) and a collection of JSON objects (conforms to the document set out at http://www.json.org) that enable you to add JSON serialization to your own data access classes. FitLib: A .NET library to parse FIT files used by Garmin GPS receivers.FlyComet: A simple ASP .Net comet implementation enabling ActiveMQ JMS Publisher to push live updates to the client using IHttpAsyncHandler.Free SharePoint 2010 Sites Templates: in this project am pleased to offer these SharePoint 2010 custom templates. These templates are free to all and are provided “as is”. FullByte Tools: This is a test project of mine.GDL: This is the goddamn library. 'Nuff said.kimocsys: KiMoCSys stands for Kinect Motion Capture System. It captures the movement using the kinect hardware and kinect SDK for windows and generates a Collada file with the animation inside. Intended for indie game developers and enthusiasts. Use WPF and C#Leoscorp: This is a test.Nop 23 Multi Store: Nop Commerce Multi Store supportPaper Reader: Silverlight application for read rich text filesPivot Viewer for Office 365: Pivot Viewer Silverlight 5 control in a webpart for Office 365Projeto Teste: Projeto de testesReflective-C#: The Reflective-C# Project. It consists in a pre-preprocessor (yeah, still gotta work on that name xD ), which extends the C# language for more versatility and ease of use. The Project also includes a AOT compiler for IL assemblies, targeting inumerous plataforms.Secure Text Box for Windows Forms: A secure text box control that is implemented using SecureString for secure entering of passwords written in C#SharePoint Mystery: Source code for the SharePoint Mystery sample projectShenJH.Net: ShenJH NetSilverlight in the Enterprise: Project dedicated to Promoting Silverlight usage in the enterprise.Small demo: Call WCF web services using jQuery: Small asp.net web site used to show how to call a WCF service from JavaScript. The main goal is to add a custom BehaviorExtensionElement that will be used to log server errors. It's developed in C# (.net framework 4.0).ThapHaNoiGiaiThuatAKT: Demo d? án môn h?c Các Phuong Pháp L?p TrìnhVolgaTransTelecomClient: VolgaTransTelecomClient makes it easier for clients of "Volga TransTelecom" company to get info about account. It's developed in C#.Your Last Options Dialog: Are you tired of recreating the same option dialog logic for each Windows Phone app every time? "Your Last Options Dialog" is an attempt to create a generic, highly configurable implementation you can easily pull into your own app and set up for your needs quickly. It's extensible in case you need to add more features or want to change existing ones, and allows easy localization of the complete content to all of the languages supported by your app.

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• Categorized Document Management System

  - by cmptrgeekken

  At the company I work for, we have an intranet that provides employees with access to a wide variety of documents. These documents fall into several categories and subcategories, and each of these categories have their own web page. Below is one such page (each of the links shown will link to a similar view for that category): We currently store each document as a file on the web server and hand-code links to these documents whenever we need to add a new document. This is tedious and error-prone, and it also means we lack any sort of security for accessing these documents. I began looking into document management systems (like KnowledgeTree and OpenKM), however, none of these systems seem to provide a categorized view like in the preview above. My question is ... does anyone know of any Document Management System that allow for the type of flexibility we currently have with hand-coding links to our documents into various webpages (major and minor , while also providing security, ease of use, and (less important) version control? Or do you think I'd be better off developing such a system from scratch?

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• What is the best way of doing this?

  - by NewSOuser

  Hey, I am wondering how exactly the below pagination systems are set up? In terms of the how the data is displayed, for instance, does BuySellAds load all results in from database and then paginate that data so filter can be done easier? or, do they call the database every time a new page is loaded and then grab the info and display it? I really would like to know how both BuySellAds and Nike make their pagination systems, since I have to make a similar system that has many filters and options to easily sort through the data from a database. I want to accomplish this with php and jquery if that's what I even need to use. Here is what I am talking about so you can experience it for yourself: BuySellAds store.nike.com Any info/suggestions would be great. Thanks for your input.

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• Tool to migrate TFS repository to SVN/GIT/HG

  - by Bjorn Reppen

  Is it possible to migrate the source from a TFS repository to to one of the open version control systems while preserving history?

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• Career advice: I am best at what I hate most

  - by flybywire

  I think my career has entered a vicious circle which I would like to exit: I am best at what I hate most. And because I am good at that, I always receive that kind of assignments, and I do them as expected or even better. Which makes me more of an expert and brings me more similar tasks. My "expertise" is what (I think) every programmer hates: legacy systems. I can very quickly learn systems, and modify them, migrate them, extract web services from them whatever (without breaking them). Never to develop more functionality or to solve interesting or original problems. Just have that work with Java 1.4, or convert it into a rest-full service or support oracle too. I feel (and I am told) that I am highly regarded and very helpful to my company. But I hate what I do. What would you do in my place?

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• Embedded Linux or eCos ?

  - by mawg

  One way to look at it - embedded Linux starts with desktop Linux & ditches the parts not needed for embedded systems (is this actually true?), whereas eCos is designed from the ground up for embedded systems. Now, assume an ARM processor, probably ARM 7 - does performance make a difference? Actually, we talking a very low load system, max 500 transactions a day. Any advantages of one over the other (or FreeRTOS, etc)? Stability, maturity, performance, development tools, anything else? All that I can think of is that if I am certain that I will never port to another o/s, then if I go with embedded Linux, I don't need an o/s abstraction layer to allow me to do unit testing on host (desktop Linux box). Any thoughts or comments? Thanks.

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• connect two ESX hosts on private LAN

  - by maruti

  can a PC setup as W2K3 DC manage two ESX hosts connected to physical hub/switch? Services: DNS, DHCP, Domain distributed to host using a hub/switch. NIC2 on each host connected to switch/hub...spanning a virtual network inside each ESX host

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• How can I read individual lines of a CSV file into a string array, to then be selectively displayed

  - by Ryan

  I need your help, guys! :| I've got myself a CSV file with the following contents: 1,The Compact,1.8GHz,1024MB,160GB,440 2,The Medium,2.4GHz,1024MB,180GB,500 3,The Workhorse,2.4GHz,2048MB,220GB,650 It's a list of computer systems, basically, that the user can purchase. I need to read this file, line-by-line, into an array. Let's call this array csvline(). The first line of the text file would stored in csvline(0). Line two would be stored in csvline(1). And so on. (I've started with zero because that's where VB starts its arrays). A drop-down list would then enable the user to select 1, 2 or 3 (or however many lines/systems are stored in the file). Upon selecting a number - say, 1 - csvline(0) would be displayed inside a textbox (textbox1, let's say). If 2 was selected, csvline(1) would be displayed, and so on. It's not the formatting I need help with, though; that's the easy part. I just need someone to help teach me how to read a CSV file line-by-line, putting each line into a string array - csvlines(count) - then increment count by one so that the next line is read into another slot. So far, I've been able to paste the numbers of each system into an combobox: Using csvfileparser As New Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.TextFieldParser _ ("F:\folder\programname\programname\bin\Debug\systems.csv") Dim csvalue As String() csvfileparser.TextFieldType = Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.FieldType.Delimited csvfileparser.Delimiters = New String() {","} While Not csvfileparser.EndOfData csvalue = csvfileparser.ReadFields() combobox1.Items.Add(String.Format("{1}{0}", _ Environment.NewLine, _ csvalue(0))) End While End Using But this only selects individual values. I need to figure out how selecting one of these numbers in the combobox can trigger textbox1 to be appended with just that line (I can handle the formatting, using the string.format stuff). If I try to do this using csvalue = csvtranslator.ReadLine , I get the following error message: "Error 1 Value of type 'String' cannot be converted to '1-dimensional array of String'." If I then put it as an array, ie: csvalue() = csvtranslator.ReadLine , I then get a different error message: "Error 1 Number of indices is less than the number of dimensions of the indexed array." What's the knack, guys? I've spent hours trying to figure this out. Please go easy on me - and keep any responses ultra-simple for my newbie brain - I'm very new to all this programming malarkey and just starting out! :)

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• Initial deployment of ClickOnce product on corporate network

  - by MrEdmundo

  Hi there I'm a developer looking at introducing ClickOnce deployment for an internal .NET Winforms application that will be distributed via the corporate network. Currently the product roll out and updates are handled by Group Policy however I would like to control the updates via ClickOnce deployment now. What I would like to know is, how should I initially roll out the package to make sure that all users have got it. Can I use a combination of Group Policy (the roll out) and then rely on the ClickOnce deployment model for any further updates?

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• Install Ubuntu 12.04 in UEFI mode on a HP Pavilion dv6-6c40ca

  - by Marlen T. B.

  I have recently (as of July 2012) bought a HP Pavilion dv6-6c40ca laptop. It came pre-installed with Windows 7 on an MBR. I installed Ubuntu 12.04 on it on a GPT partition in what I think is BIOS emulation mode. I made a BIOS-Grub partition so the install didn't fail. That is what it is for .. right? Now I want to upgrade to UEFI mode. How would I Install Ubuntu 12.04 in UEFI mode on a HP Pavilion dv6-6c40ca. Or is it impossible? My laptop, despite its new age may not be UEFI 2.0+ capable. If it isn't how can I install a software UEFI (i.e. a DUET such as the one by tianocore). Or is this too impossible? A link to my laptop's specs is: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c03137924&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&cc=ca&dlc=en&lang=en&lc=en&product=5218530 My laptop should have a UEFI given this link from HP http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&lc=en&docname=c01442956#N218. And from the link I draw a quote: That means most notebooks distributed with Windows Vista, and all notebooks distributed with Windows 7, have the UEFI environment. My laptop had Windows 7 Home Premium pre-installed. OK. Following the comments so far -- NOTE: I am trying to do this on an external drive so I can see if it works. I have partitioned the drive using GParted as a GPT drive. Created a 200MB partition at the beginning of the drive with a FAT32 file system. Given the 200MB partition a label of "EFI". Set the boot flag on the 200MB partition. What should a do next to install Ubuntu 12.04? Given the link: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFIBooting#Selecting_the_.28U.29EFI_Graphic_Protocol In my first read through (just to see if I will understand everything before I start) I get to step 2.3 Install GRUB2 in (U)EFI systems The first line is Boot into Linux (any live ISO) preferably in UEFI mode. Um .. how do you tell what mode your live CD is in?! And how do you change it if the mode is wrong?

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• Hook file saving in Linux

  - by peaceprayer

  How can i hook file saving in Linux systems (to show my programm dialog, opearting with them then)?

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• Calculating determinant by hand

  - by ldigas

  Okey, this is only half programming, but let's see how you are on terms with manual calculations. I believe many of you did this on your university's while giving "linear systems" ... the problem is it's been so long I can't remember how to do it any more. I know quite a few algorithms for calculating determinants, and they all work fine ... for large systems, where one would never try to do it manually. Unfortunatelly, I'm soon going on an exam, where I do have to calculate it manually, up to the system of 5. So, I have a K(omega) matrix that looks like this: [2-(omega^2)*c -4 2 0 0] [-2 5-(omega^2)*c -4 1 0] [1 -4 6-(omega^2)*c -4 1] [0 1 -4 5-(omega^2)*c -2] [0 0 2 -4 2-(omega^2)*c] and I need all the omegas which satisfy the det[K(omega)]=0 criteria. What would be a good way to calculate it so it can be repeated in a manual process ?

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• move element li into ul with jquery

  - by ron

  Hi everybody i'm looking for a solution to move an element that i need to move into a .... im using jquery and i leave here the code i tried with different things but wasn't working it. this is the big menu <ul class="sf-menu"> <li><a href="">Student Centre</a> <ul> <li><a href="9">STUDENT CENTRAL WEBSITE</a></li> <li><a href="10">STUDENT CENTRAL EMAIL</a></li> <li><a href="11">CCM STUDENT SURVIAL TIPS</a></li> <li><a href="12">VET TUTTTION ASSURANSE</a></li> <li><a href="13">WHAT GOING ON AT CCM</a></li> <li><a href="14">IMPORTANT STUDENTS NOTICE</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="">Research</a> <ul> <li><a href="_16">WHAT IS HOLISTIC KINESIOLOGY ?</a></li> <li><a href="_17">TRANF. CHILDREN W/ LEARNING DIFFICULTIES</a></li> <li><a href="_18">HEALING WITH HOLISTIC KINESIOLOGY</a></li> <li><a href="_19">UNDERSTANDING ASPERGER'S SYNDROME</a></li> <li><a href="_20">DAVID CORBY THE DIRECTOR OF CCM</a></li> <li><a href="_21">HELPING PEOPLE CREATE THEIR OWN MIRACLES</a></li> <li><a href="_22">MAGNESIUM AND COLLOIDAL MINERALS</a></li> <li><a href="_23">BRAIN ENERGETICS CHAKRAS AND NADIS</a></li> <li><a href="_24">KINESIOLOGY FAQ'S</a></li>' </ul> </li> <li><a href="25">Contact Us</a></li> <li><a href="26">A - Z</a></li> </ul> and i need to add this li to ul but i need to put in the second place after the first not nested <li id="faculty"> <a href="#">Faculty Courses </a> <ul> <li><a href="">INTENSE SHORT COURSES</a><ul> <li><a href="_59">CRYSTAL KINESIOLOGY ONE</a></li> <li><a href="_60">APPLIED PHYSIOLOGY</a></li> <li><a href="_61">VIBRATIONAL HEALING SYSTEMS 1</a></li> <li><a href="_62">VIBRATIONAL HEALING SYSTEMS 2</a></li> <li><a href="_63">VIBRATIONAL HEALING SYSTEMS 3</a></li> <li><a href="_64">VIBRATIONAL HEALING SYSTEMS 6</a></li> <li><a href="_65">NUTRITIONAL KINESIOLOGY</a></li> <li><a href="_66">QUANTUM HARMONICS</a></li><li><a href="_67">CHAKRA HOLOGRAM</a></li> <li><a href="_68">CLINICAL APPLICATIONS OF KINESIOLOGY</a></li> <li><a href="_69">COUNSELLING KINESIOLOGY</a></li> <li><a href="_70">HARMONISING CHI FLOW</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="=53">FREE INTRUCTION COURSE DAYS</a> <ul> <li><a href="=53_56">HOLISTIC KINESIOLOGY</a></li> <li><a href="=53_57">TRANSPERSONAL COUNSELLING</a></li> <li><a href="=53_58">SHAMMANISM &amp; TRANSFORMATIONAL MASK</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="=50">DIPLOMA MASK AND TRADITIONAL HEALING</a></li> <li><a href="=43">DIPLOMA TRANSPERSONAL ART THERAPY</a></li> <li><a href="=42">DIPLOMA HOLISTIC KINESIOLOGY</a></li> <li><a href="=47">ADVANCE DIPLOMA HOLISTIC KINESIOLOGY</a></li> <li><a href="=48">DIPLOMA DINAMIC AND FUNCTIONAL</a></li> <li><a href="=49">CERTIFICATE MASK AND TRADITIONAL HEALING</a></li> <li><a href="=51">DIPLOMA TRANSPERSONAL COUNSELLING</a></li> <li><a href="=52">STUDENT CLINICS</a></li> </ul> </li> please i need you help Thanks in advance

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• What technical skills needed for algorithmic trading, HFT, etc?

  - by alchemical

  I'm interested in getting into developing trading systems, black box, HFT, etc. My primary experience is with C# and .Net (7 years). I've also done some sockets programming. I have some experience in finance working on analysis applications (2 years). My goal is to move into developing automated trading systems for a hedge fund, bank, etc. Is there any way to learn the skills needed for this without somehow getting the job first? I've looked at the open source tradelink, IB interactive brokerage, etc. I'm playing around with this framework, and may hook it up and do some paper trading. However, I'm not sure if this has much relationship with how a well-funded entity would be conducting a high-level automated trading operation. I.e. would the tools and frameworks they prefer be a totally different skill-set? Also wondering if I need to learn C++ and/or Java for these types of apps.

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• Use bug tracker to get things done and manage personal tasks?

  - by Frank

  This is slightly off-topic, but can only be answered by programmers and is useful to many programmers: Do you think it is useful to use a bug tracking system to keep track of personal todo items and to Get Things Done? I have not tried that; in fact, I don't have much experience with bug tracking systems. For my todo lists, I have played around with Google Tasks and Remember The Milk, but both of them have shortcomings: Google Tasks: I like that you can create todo lists easily, can reorder items in the list and easily create hierarchies. But it is way too simplistic and does not allow to tag tasks or move tasks from one list to another. Remember The Milk: It is nice and sleek, but you cannot create hierarchies of tasks, cannot arbitrarily reorder tasks and cannot set dependencies of tasks. That's where a bug tracking system should come in: Since I think (maybe too much?) like a programmer, my tasks have a natural hierarchy and a tree of dependencies, like in a Makefile. Here are two examples: The task of writing my thesis is done when several milestones are done. Some of these milestones can run in parallel (writing background chapter, running experiments A, running experiments B), others depend on each other (writing main chapter depends on first getting results from experiments A). The same is true for more personal goals: I want to host a dinner party, which requires finding a good date, finishing the guest list, making invitations, finding nice recipes, cooking, ... For me, all these tasks involve hierarchical dependencies and milestones that bug tracking systems should be able to handle? Here is an article that explains how to do advanced GTD with Remember The Milk, but he has to use several workarounds: (1) add a general tag 'wait' to tasks that are waiting for others to be completed but you cannot enter the IDs of the tasks that they are waiting for, (2) starting some special tasks with "." so that they are at the top of the alphabetically sorted list and signal that others are 'below' it as subgoals. Bug tracking systems should be able to handle these things much more naturally? Does anyone have experience and can recommend a lightweight bug tracking system that might be good for this? Other requirements: Should run as web app, should allow me to tag a task with several tags (like 'work', 'fun', 'short-task', 'errands', ...).

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