In our constant pursuit of exploring new technologies, we stumbled upon the Eucalyptus and greatly contemplated on its installation. Being driven by our leaning towards cloud. Eucalyptus really clouded our minds and we decided, "no pain, no gain". And here we are having successfully installed Eucalyptus and here is how we did it. We have the Cloud Controller, the Cluster Controller and Node Controller all up and running. But the document is still a draft version.
CloudBerry Explorer allows end users to accomplish simple tasks without special technical knowledge, automate time-consuming tasks to improve productivity. AWS Import/Export accelerates moving large amounts of data into and out of AWS using portable storage devices for transport. AWS loads your data directly onto and off of storage devices using Amazon's high-speed internal network and bypassing the Internet. New version of CloudBerry Explorer automates the process of creating the manifest file and digitally signing it along with the job identifier with your AWS Secret Access Key and placing that signature file on the device.
All this while the IT team is faced with another reality, the main corporate datacenter has 6-18 months left in terms of shelf life. The datacenter's power distribution and patch panel design was not built to handle the massive density and cooling power requirements. The sprawl of unstructured data, app servers, web servers and now virtual machines is proliferating at a pace that will force a space crunch in a time frame that is counter to the challenge from the business in terms of capital preservation and opex reduction.
A couple of months ago I detailed a new feature for BIRT charts that allows multiple hyperlinks to be attached to one the supported events. That post is available read more
Steve Jobs once said that Java is a big heavyweight ball and chain. Good news: the ball is now optional! In this article, I share results we achieved after implementing a component deployment model, also known as JRE modularity, for the core of J2SE 5.0 and Java SE 6. The technology's been in production use for more than two years and proved effective. This is not a mere "Java gets smaller" message. Given that Project Jigsaw is emerging in JDK 7, I also offer some insights on the challenges that any implementation of modularity for the Java SE core may face, all derived from our practical experience.
From the thin reports out of Brussels about the closed-door hearing at the European Commission Thursday, it appears that Oracle – which is supposed to be trying to convince the regulator to let it swallow Sun whole MySQL and all – has gone on the offensive and accused the EC of twisting the results of its investigation to suit its MySQL bias by misrepresenting, cherry-picking or ignoring what users said about the market and the competitive scene.
Should the enterprise standardize on JSON or XML as their lingua franca for Web 2.0 integration? Or should they use both as best fits the application?The decision impacts more than just integration – it resounds across the entire infrastructure and impacts everything from security to performance to availability of those applications.
One of the things a developer may or may not have control over when building enterprise applications is the format of the data used to communicate (integrate) with other applications. 
Increasingly services external to the enterprise are very Web 2.0 in that they provide HTTP-based APIs for integration that exchange data in one of a couple of standard formats: XML and JSON. While RSS and ATOM are also seen in APIs as options, these are generally used only when the data being presented is frequently updated and of a “listing” style nature. XML and JSON are used to deliver more complex structures that do not fit well in to the paradigm described by RSS and ATOM formatted information. Increasingly libraries or toolkits are used to build interactive Web 2.0 style applications – XAJAX, SAJAX, Dojo, Prototype, script.aculo.us – and these, too, generally default to XML or JSON, though other formats are often supported as well.
So as you’re building out that Web 2.0 style application and thinking about the API you’re going to offer to make it easier for partners/customers/other departments to handle integration with their Web 2.0 style applications – or even thinking about the way in which data will be exchanged with the client (browser) - you need to think carefully about the choice you’re making. There are pros and cons to both JSON and XML, and the choice has implications outside the confines of application development in your organization.
The debate on which is “best” or “optimal” is far from over, and it’s likely to eclipse – for developers anyway – the religious-style wars over the choice of browser. Even mainstream technology coverage is taking an interest in the subject. A recent piece from C|NET on “NoSQL and the future of cloud databases” says “Mapping object data to JSON, a JavaScript data interchange format, is far less complex. The "schemaless" nature of many of these products is an excellent fit with agile development methodologies.” Indeed, schemaless data formats are certainly more flexible, but that flexibility has a price that may need to be paid by the rest of the infrastructure.
If intermediaries can’t parse the data format natively – or at a minimum have the capability to implement a parsing scheme – application delivery becomes problematic. This is especially true for security-related infrastructure because you’re effectively losing the ability to apply valuable security policies and functionality that is tied to application-specific data. Effectively you’re reducing what is (or could be) an application-aware network back to a circa 1999 network: little more than a set of dumb pipes.
This can also result in certain network services no longer being usable on the data: caching, for example, relies heavily on understanding the data and objects being returned. While most understand and can act on XML, not many are up to speed on JSON or <insert custom format here>. Using a format that is unknown to the caching solution can result in a loss of caching functionality in the network. That puts the burden for caching back on the web and application servers, which requires resources. Resources used to support caching takes away from the resources available for core application processing, which reduces overall capacity and can impact the ability to service customers. Security, too, may be impacted – from application firewall functionality and capabilities down to integration with identity stores for authentication and authorization.
In general, there are a wide variety of solutions that support XML across a broad category of functions. There are far fewer that natively support JSON.
Before making a decision go talk to the network, application network, and security teams. Determine whether there is a concern over the use of one format over another and then be sure to factor that into the decision making process. You still might need for business or technical reasons to choose a format that might negate the ability to use some infrastructure solutions most effectively, but at least you’ll have made an informed decision and understand the ramifications of that choice.
The key is that you’re aware of the data formats in the first place, as they directly impact the usability of infrastructure solutions to perform their given functions in your environment on your data.
Before making a purchasing decision on a product designed to manipulate or apply policies based on layer 7 data, talk to the development teams. Determine what formats are being used in a broad sense: XML, JSON, SOAP, HTML, RSS, ATOM, etc… and take that list with you when you evaluate solutions. Make support of those formats – or at a minimum the ability to be extended to support those formats – part of the decision making process. As with developers you might have an overriding business or technical requirement that forces the decision away from a product that can support those formats natively, but at least you’ll be able to explain to management why if or when the subject comes up.
It’s no longer enough just to categorize applications by name (PeopleSoft, Exchange, SharePoint) or even style (“Web 2.0”, Client-Server). It’s more important than ever that applications also be understood based on the data formats they use to exchange information both with consumers and with each other via APIs, and that not only developers take an interest in what data formats are being utilized.
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Sun has released VirtualBox 3.1.0, it's cross-platform virtualisation software to include support for 2D video acceleration for Windows guests. Virtual Box is available in two versions.The open source edition is available under the GPL, but is only available from Sun as source code. The full version is also available free of charge, but under a personal use and evaluation license that requires you to " use the Product on the same Host Computer where you installed it yourself and that no more than one client connect to that Host Computer at a time for the purpose of displaying Guest Computers remotely."
The Standard Performance Evaluation Corp. (SPEC) has released SPECjEnterprise2010, a new benchmark that measures full-system performance for Java Enterprise Edition (Java EE) application servers, databases and supporting infrastructure. SPECjEnterprise2010 was developed by SPEC’s Java subcommittee, which includes AMD, HP, IBM, Intel, Oracle, Red Hat, SAP, and Sun Microsystems.
After watching my PB refactoring eTutorial, you’re getting a glimmer of the potential confidence, joy and power of refactoring in a test driven manner. No doubt you’re already familiar with the uncomfortable feeling of slogging though ponderous legacy code. Now you are beginning to know the benefits of refactoring; you know the smells, and you know the catalog of techniques. You can’t wait get your hands on some legacy code. You know exactly what to do to whip it into shape. Legacy code, watch out, here I come.
Goldman Sachs claims the corporate PC and PC server refresh will be one of the most important trends in technology over the next two years, positively impacting software and semiconductors as well as hardware. It’s projecting PC growth of 12% next year and 13% in 2011, when the cycle should peak. Revenue growth, however, will be limited to the low to mid-single digits because of aggressive pricing and the shift to lower-end desktops and notebooks. It figures Dell will be the biggest beneficiary because of its outsized exposure to the enterprise.
In this white paper you will see how to boost performance with Terracotta’s Ehcache caching products, identify how to select which Ehcache product is right for your application, and see in performance comparison based on Spring’s PetClinic application how Terracotta stacks up against the database, a leading in-memory data grid (IMDG), and memcached.In short, see why over 100,000 deployments already rely on Terracotta’s Ehcache line of products for a simple cost-effective approach to boosting performance, scale, and reliability for Java applications. Terracotta Ehcache caching products allow your application to utilize the full power of the Terracotta platform by providing a simple plugin object cache using the industry standard Ehcache interface or Ehcacheʼs plug-in support for the the JSR-107 interface. Terracotta Ehcache products also may be used as a Hibernate second level cache. For your convenience, information from your member profile has been used to fill out this form as far as possible. Please provide any remaining information requested, then click 'Submit'.
Oracle provides the Smart Update utility to upgrade WebLogic Server installations between versions, or to apply specific patches applied by Oracle Support. This post considers upgrading a 10.3.1 server to 10.3.2, not applying patches. As usual your mileage may vary so be diligent in checking these instructions beforehand.
The Oracle Smart Update utility is documented here.
The general steps to run the Oracle Smart Update utility and upgrade the server are as follows:
1) Ensure your WLS and any managed servers are not running. In turn it would be a good idea to backup your server before running this procedure, in particular if it's a production server.
2) (For whatever reason I couldn't invoke the following utility from Windows Explorer, so I had to invoke it via the command line)
2.1) Under Windows open the command prompt at <wls_home>utilsbsu
2.2) Execute the bsu.cmd. This displays the Oracle Smart Update dialog to enter your Oracle Support user ID and password:
3) Assuming your login details are correct you'll be presented with the Oracle Smart Update dialog. This can take some time to open as the utility scans your existing WLS patches
4) You may be prompted to "Register for security updates", take your choice, be annoyingly nagged by Oracle, or miss applying security patches in the future:
5) The end result:
6) The Target Installation tree on the left hand side shows you the WLS servers the patch engine will work with. We're not interested in the content on the right. Presumably it includes one off patches to apply as supplied by Oracle Support, or hot security fixes applying to all WLS installations. I've yet to see one of these so can't comment on what you'll actually see.
7) To upgrade your WLS between versions you apply a "Maintenance Pack". Click on the same named menu option followed by the sub-option Update. This launches the BEA Smart Update dialog. On selecting your existing WLS server in the left tree, you'll see the option to apply the Upgrade Option in the right, in this case specifically WebLogic Platform (10.3.2.0):
The Oracle documentation for Maintenance Pack installations is here.
8) Selecting the Ok button will display a download dialog:
9) On the file downloading you'll be presented with the Oracle Installer for WebLogic 10.3.2.0:
10) Again you'll get a chance to "Register for security updates". Be brave and skip it:
11) The next page allows you to specify the download location of any additional files, whether the files should be removed after installation, and the HTTP Proxy options to get through your firewall including username and password:
12) You'll then get another download screen and a chance for a coffee or 2 (make that 4):
If the downloads fails half way through, don't give up as the download utility supports resumes, just wait for it to timeout and then ask it to continue downloading.
13) You'll then be given one last chance to back out:
14) After which there's no backing out:
15) Just click Done on the final page. If the QuickStart dialog shows, close it:
16) In turn the BEA Smart Upgrade dialog will also show detailing the new 10.3.2 upgrade. You'll note in the lower part of the right window, you can downgrade from 10.3.2 to 10.3.1 if necessary. You can close this dialog:
17) Returning to the Oracle Smart Update window it'll misreport the current version which you can ignore.
18) To verify the install the easiest thing is to start your managed servers and then access the console login. At the bottom of the page you'll see the server version:
19) It's probably worth investigating the server logs to see if any unexpected exceptions have been thrown.
You need not to opt for recovery service, if your hard drive is physically intact and working properly. If all the hard drive internals are working properly, you would be able to start your system and access data from it. However, the the internal components of your computer hard drive gets damaged, you can not retrieve data from it and you need to opt for data recovery services for easy and quick accessing of your valuable and mission critical data. Each file that you store on your computer hard drive is crucial from your business point of view. When you lose even a single file, you might feel lost. Particularly for the businesses, loss of valuable files might prove a real disaster. Although, the manufacturers might give you guarantee of the hardware, but when a problem occurs in your drive, you can not retrieve data from it. Manufacturers can only replace the damaged hard drive if it is in guarantee period, but could not help you to get your data back.
Delegates will leave Virtualization Expo with a full understanding of the interaction between virtual servers and the rest of the data center infrastructure. Indeed our overall aim is to ensure that all attendees leave the Jacob Javits Convention Center with abundant resources, ideas and examples they can apply immediately to leveraging Virtualization in their own corporate datacenter, on the desktop, and elsewhere. If you wish to submit a speaking proposal for the 8th Virtualization Expo, April 19–21, 2010, then you can do so right here
These days the popularity of Ext JS (a JavaScript library) is gaining momentum. One of the most popular widgets within Ext JS is the DataGrid. The reason – displaying data from a database is one of the most common tasks of a web application. “Out of the box” the DataGrid has functionality (for instance ascending or descending sorting and reordering of columns by dragging it) that otherwise would require some effort from developers.
I recently gave talks on the behavior of different JPA frameworks at W-JAX(Germany) and TheServerSide Java Symposium (Prague). As some people have asked me, I am publishing the samples as well. I would also give away the eclipse project, however with all the third party libraries I am sure I will end up not doing it legally correct. Additionally I can add some comments on the samples and why they are as they are :-) .
Many B2B companies know that they should be incorporating an ongoing social media campaign into their arsenal of tactics to generate leads and sales. But, as a business owner or marketing professional, half the battle is trying to get your head around the social media wave, the crushing amount of information about it, where to even begin, and how to make it all fit into your marketing plans. The great news is that being successful at Internet marketing does not need to be as complicated as others may sometimes make it out to be. It will, however, require some start-up time and dedication to get a solid working plan in place. Here's the thing. The key to effective and profitable Internet and online marketing requires an integrated approach, utilizing the right tools and applying them with consistent effort.
The dynaTrace AJAX Edition has been out there as an Alpha for a couple of weeks. It gave you the first impression what was to come. All the feedback we have received (like that from Steve Souders, and all that has come in via the contact form and the online forum) in that time made it possible to improve the tool from its early versions to its first "official" release version.
Jinfonet Software announces the General Availability of JReport 9.1, providing JReport Cloud and JReport Designer for Eclipse. JReport Cloud provides agility for rapidly and inexpensively re-provisioning infrastructure resources, greatly reduces the cost on hardware, software, and services when users pay only for what they use.
JetBrains have announced the general availability of RubyMine 2.0, a powerful IDE for Ruby and Rails development. RubyMine's second major release this year delivers many additions and improvements and is a free upgrade for all existing users, according to the "year of free updates" licensing policy.
Everyone knows that the longevity and ultimate success of a platform lies in the developers willing to create on that platform. Creating a healthy developer ecosystem in which both the developer and the platform vendor can grow and prosper is very important. No one knows this better than Microsoft. It has long been their mantra that “developers, developers, developers” are the key to success. With most of the new large scale websites and platforms being launched on open source platforms and now the cloud, this is becoming even more important.
MySQL co-developer Monty Widenius, said to have the business sense of a child by MySQL’s old management, and his hired help Florian Mueller, who made a killing on his MySQL stock when Sun lost its mind and bid a billion dollars for the Scandinavian company, paying 20 times revenues, are now insisting that Oracle should be made to divest MySQL so it can take over a fading Sun.
If your systems require constant accessibility, you know that application failover is an essential function for automatically and transparently redirecting requests to an alternate server in the case of a failure or downtime. Several options exist for ensuring high availability for your mission-critical applications. Those options may be hardware- or software-based, and may also vary considerably in terms of project or enterprise scope and in terms of cost and complexity.
3PAR, the leading global provider of utility storage, announced that TheLadders.com cut their total cost of storage in half by replacing their legacy storage infrastructure with 3PAR Utility Storage. The online job search website deployed 3PAR Utility Storage in conjunction with server virtualization from VMware as part of a datacenter virtualization initiative. This initiative reduced the company’s storage capacity requirements by 66%, which also reduced storage administration time. In addition, by consolidating onto a single, highly virtualized 3PAR InServ Storage Server, TheLadders.com was able to eliminate the use of separate arrays for different applications and reliance on costly consulting services.