I owe my mother so much …

This made me smile 

My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE
‘If you’re going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning.’

My mother taught me RELIGION
‘You better pray that this will come out of the carpet.’

My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL
‘If you don’t straighten up, I’m going to knock you into the middle of next week!’

My mother taught me LOGIC
‘ Because I said so, that’s why.’

My mother taught me MORE LOGIC
‘If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you’re not going to the store with me.’

My mother taught me FORESIGHT
‘Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you’re in an accident.’

My mother taught me IRONY
‘Keep crying, and I’ll give you something to cry about.’

My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS
‘Shut your mouth and eat your supper.’

My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM
‘Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!’

My mother taught me about STAMINA
‘You’ll sit there until all that spinach is gone.’

My mother taught me about WEATHER
‘This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it.’

My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY
‘If I told you once, I’ve told you a million times. Don’t exaggerate!’

My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE
‘I brought you into this world, and I can take you out.’

My mother taught me about BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION
‘Stop acting like your father!’

My mother taught me about ENVY
‘There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don’t have wonderful parents like you do.’

My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION
‘Just wait until we get home.’

My mother taught me about RECEIVING
‘You are going to get it when you get home!’

My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE
‘If you don’t stop crossing your eyes, they are going to get stuck that way.’

My mother taught me ESP
‘Put your sweater on; don’t you think I know when you are cold?’

My mother taught me HUMOUR
‘When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don’t come running to me.’

My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT
‘If you don’t eat your vegetables, you’ll never grow up.’

My mother taught me GENETICS
‘You’re just like your father.’

My mother taught me about my ROOTS
‘Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?’

My mother taught me WISDOM
‘When you get to be my age, you’ll understand.’

And my favourite: My mother taught me about JUSTICE
‘One day you’ll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you ‘

 

What is https

I also got asked this … What is https!

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Https

https (Hypertext Transfer Protocol over Secure Socket Layer) is a URI scheme used to indicate a secure HTTP connection. It is syntactically identical to the http:// scheme normally used for accessing resources using HTTP. Using an https: URL indicates that HTTP is to be used, but with a different default TCP port (443) and an additional encryption/authentication layer between the HTTP and TCP. This system was designed by Netscape Communications Corporation to provide authentication and encrypted communication and is widely used on the World Wide Web for security-sensitive communication such as payment transactions and corporate logons.

How It Works
Strictly speaking, https is not a separate protocol, but refers to the combination of a normal HTTP interaction over an encrypted Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) connection. This ensures reasonable protection from eavesdroppers and man-in-the-middle attacks.

An https: URL may specify a TCP port; if it does not, the connection uses port 443 (unsecured HTTP typically uses port 80).

To prepare a web-server for accepting https connections the administrator must create a public key certificate for the web-server. This certificate must be signed by a certificate authority of one form or another, which certifies that the certificate holder is indeed the entity it claims to be. Web browsers are generally distributed with the signing certificates of major certificate authorities, so that they can verify certificates signed by them.

Organizations may also run their own certificate authority, particularly if they are responsible for setting up browsers to access their own sites (for example, sites on a company intranet), as they can trivially add their own signing certificate to those shipped with the browser.

Some sites, especially those operated by hobbyists, use self-signed certificates on public sites. Using these provides protection against simple eavesdropping, but unlike a well-known certificate, preventing a man-in-the-middle attack with a self-signed certificate requires the site to make available some other secure method of verifying the certificate.

The system can also be used for client authentication, in order to restrict access to a Web server to only authorized users. For this, typically the site administrator creates certificates for each user which are loaded into their browser. These normally contain the name and e-mail address of the authorized user, and are automatically checked by the server on each reconnect to verify the user’s identity, potentially without ever entering a password.

 

Exchange 2003 Soft vs. Hard recovery

I got asked this today and just to confirm I was kinda right I thought I would share it! ;-)

Transaction Log File Replay: Soft Recovery and Hard Recovery in Exchange Server 2003
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa997761(EXCHG.65).aspx

As used in Microsoft® Exchange Server 2003, the word recovery must be distinguished from the word restore. Restore is the act of putting database and log files back into place on a server, and recovery is the act of replaying transaction logs into the restored database.

Types of Recovery
There are two forms of recovery:

  • Soft recovery   A transaction log replay process that occurs when a database is re-mounted after an unexpected stop, or when transaction logs are replayed into an offline file copy backup of a database.
  • Hard recovery   A transaction log replay process that occurs after restoring a database from an online backup.

Soft Recovery
In the default soft recovery scenario, an external event unexpectedly stops an Exchange database, but the database and log files remain intact and in place. When the database is mounted again, Exchange reads the checkpoint file and begins to replay the transaction log that is listed as the checkpoint log. If no checkpoint file exists, replay begins with the oldest log file available in the transaction log folder for the storage group.

Exchange writes to the database files completed transactions found in the log file that have not already been written and reverses any incomplete transactions. Exchange never begins writing a transaction into the database files until all the operations composing it have been secured to the log files. You do not need to physically undo or back out a transaction in the database if all uncommitted transaction logs present at the time of the unexpected stop are present when replay begins.

Hard Recovery
Hard recovery must be completed after restoring from online backup. Hard recovery is a log file replay process that is similar to soft recovery, but there are some important differences. In hard recovery:

  • Patch information must be applied to the database during log file replay.
  • The checkpoint file is ignored. Restore.env is used instead of the checkpoint file to determine from which log file recovery should start.
    Exchange 5.5 administrators may be familiar with the Restore in Progress registry key. Restore.env replaces the functionality of that key in Exchange 2000. You can view the contents of the Restore.env file by running the command Eseutil /cm.
  • If the database has been restored to a different path than that from which it was backed up, log file replay succeeds, ignoring the database paths listed in the log files.
  • Restored transaction log files replay first from a temporary folder designated by the administrator before restore. Log files from the normal transaction log folder may also be replayed.
  • Hard recovery does not fail if other databases in the storage group are missing.

Database files (.edb and .stm) restored from an online backup set are restored to the normal paths defined for the database. Restore begins by overwriting existing databases files. If there is any chance that you might need the existing database files in the future, you must move them or back them up before restoring from online backup. Take into consideration that restore of the online backup could fail for any number of reasons. Even if the existing database files cannot be started at the moment, they are probably still repairable, and data could still be salvaged if necessary.

As you begin restoration of an online backup, Exchange prompts you to provide a temporary folder location. The backup program restores transaction log files from the backup set to this location, not to the normal transaction log file path. The backup program also creates the Restore.env file in the temporary folder.

The function of Restore.env in hard recovery is similar to that of the checkpoint file in soft recovery. Restore.env defines the range of transaction log files that should be present in the temporary folder for hard recovery. If you place extra logs in the temporary folder—logs that are outside the range listed in Restore.env—they are not replayed and the recovery process may delete them automatically.

You may have extra log files to replay that are not from an online backup set. In this case, place those logs in the normal transaction logs folder for the storage group and not in the temporary folder. After hard recovery finishes replaying the logs restored from the backup set, the process checks the normal transaction log folder to see if the next log in sequence is available.

 

BlackBerry Enterprise Server software version 4.1 Service Pack 5

Interesting, this was kept quite :-| but indeed it is available for download from https://www.blackberry.com/Downloads/entry.do

Service Pack 5

  • File name: besx_upgrader_4.1.5.exe
  • File size: 308 MB
  • Date posted: 18-April-2008

And supporting docs are here: http://www.blackberry.com/knowledgecenterpublic/livelink.exe/customview.html?func=ll&objId=7963

So the release notes say:

  • Research In Motion (RIM) plans to discontinue support for the “You were BCC’d” portion of messages as of BlackBerry
    Enterprise Server Version 5.0 (SDR 79671).
  • BlackBerry Enterprise Server Version 4.1 SP5 is not certified for use in Japanese environments.
  • RIM certifies that the BlackBerry Enterprise Server operates on VMware® ESX Server Version 3.0.1. As with any
    deployment of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, consider taking baseline measurements of performance after you
    install the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, and then add users in stages to the server. In a VMware environment, other
    virtual machines might be running on that server, which might impact how many users the BlackBerry Enterprise
    Server can support. See the BlackBerry Enterprise Server Version 4.1 Performance Benchmarking Guide for more
    information about performance measurements.
  • RIM has deemphasized support for BlackBerry® Instant Messaging for Microsoft® Office Live Communications Server
    2005 for Windows® Messenger users. RIM does not plan to release new versions of the BlackBerry Instant Messaging
    Connector and enterprise instant messaging application for Windows Messenger. BlackBerry Enterprise Server Version
    4.1 SP5 and later maintenance releases will continue to include the connector that is compatible with the last release of
    the device client only (version 1.1.0.28). The connector will not be included in BlackBerry Enterprise Server Version 5.0
    or later.

The Feature and Technical Overview says:

  • The BlackBerry Enterprise Server now supports the Microsoft SQL Server 2005
    (64-bit) database management system.

None of the documents mention anything about Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1 only Exchange 2007!

Novell announced that it has acquired PlateSpin Ltd

Hummm this was news to me.

Source: http://www.platespin.com/novell/

On March 31, 2008, Novell announced that it has acquired PlateSpin Ltd. The combination of Novell’s platform and automation management with PlateSpin’s leading solutions for workload relocation, protection and provisioning will give customers the agility to cross physical and virtual boundaries so IT can work together. Both organizations are focused on helping customers maximize the strategic value of the heterogeneous data center. Novell and PlateSpin will deliver products for complete workload lifecycle management and optimization for Linux, UNIX, and Windows operating systems in the physical and virtual data center.

 

Prince2 Foundation

So that is it, 3 days of life on a Prince2 training course, and I passed with 63 out of 75, which is really cool, so its time to update my CV and upload it jobserve ASAP.

What I found interesting is that the objective of the course is to get you to pass the exam, and not really get a fill grasp of project management … but I would recommended it.  Its like ITIL, you have to “learn” a new language .. Prince2 speak.

I booked it with KnowledgeTrain and the training is in some nice offices in Temple.  Looking to probably book the Prince2 practioner conversion course next week.

Now back to job hunting and concreting my shed bas .. got a ton of aggregate and cement turning up tomorrow .. oh joy!

HTC Shift .. an interesting one

So today my Windows mobile hung.  With most WM devices you have a soft reset button, but that is sadly lacking from the Shift, so the only fix is to remove the battery.

So I put vista into hibernate and removed the battery.

What is strange is that vista performed a standard boot and not a restore from hibernate!!! confused me .. I thought the hibernate file is stored on disk!

oh and to top things off, vista boots before WM, so to get 3g on vista you need to turn the modem off and back on again!

Forefront for Exchange Rollup 2

Talking to Joe today and he applied Forefront RU2 to an Exchange 2007 SCC Cluster.What he didn’t expect what that Forefront stopped updating with the following error:

Event Source:   GetEngineFiles
Event Category: Engine Error
Event ID:       6012
Description:
Microsoft Forefront Server Security encountered an error while performing a scan engine update.
Scan Engine: AhnLab
Error Code: 0x80090005
Description: The product license has expired.

CAS/HUB servers continued updating with no problems.  He removed RU2 and updates work again!

What he did find is that when you do to Help/About on the Forefront console it said that the expiration date was the 31st March 2009!

Beware my fellow readers.  Any views, comments or workaround (apart from removing RU2) .. let me by posting a comment!