Yikes. Slimy politicians are trying to slide in an amendment to a European ruling which means that ISP's can switch you off after three strikes. So much for net neutrality, eh? More here

Time to eMail your MEP!

Update: Use TheyWorkForYou.com to keep tabs on your MP/MSP, and WriteToThem.com to contact your MP/MSP/MEP..

Posted by Bill Buchan At 14:01:46 Location Marykirk | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)    | Category None Bookmark :              

How does the internet work? Well, aside from the tubes, there's the DNS - Domain Name Service. Someone holds all the TLD's - Top Level Domains - such as .com, .uk, and so forth. And we 'buy' names off of DNS registers (I use BulkRegister.com). However, we need to find someone to host DNS entries for us. NOT webspace, just someone to actually hold our DNS entry. In my case, Prominic.net do my Domino hosting and my DNS hosting - so I just get them to do it all for me. (And they're very good)

So this DNS stuff. What is it ? Its a 'name' - such as billbuchan.com - that resolves to an IP address. My server(s) have static IP addresses on the internet, making like a bit easier, so all I need to do is point billbuchan.com to the public IP address of my server. However, there are more than one type of record. There's the 'Host' record - for web traffic - which tells your browser where to go. And there's the MX (Mail Exchange) record, which tells your eMail where to go.

In my case, I have Postini spam-scanning my stuff, so the mail goes there first, and then ends up at my server. A good example of web going direct to my server, and mail taking a more indirect route.

Now, theres a new-ish thing on the anti-spam thing called 'SPF' (short for Sender Policy Framework). This means that my DNS entries has some extra text entries, which state that mail has to come from a particular place. This *should* cut down the amount of spam that appears to come from my eMail servers (I hope).

One really useful site (And the point to this entire post!) was to point you at mxTookbox.com which gives you the tools to query MX records, and to create valid SPF records for your domains.

Phew. And you thought that hosting a service just meant slapping a server onto the internet, and switching it on, eh ?

Posted by Bill Buchan At 13:05:50 Location Marykirk | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)    | Category MX Records Bookmark :              

Doo-Dah news:

Posted by Bill Buchan At 10:43:57 Location Marykirk | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)    | Category Wow Bookmark :              

This technote was invaluable today. Today, I had to add self-signed SSL to a domino server. This 30-step odd process was the clearest technote on how to actually enable SSL and add *any* sort of certificate.

I'm not kidding when I say it still took three hours, and four attempts to get right. Okay, aside from me being a developer, and it being Friday afternoon (and I can *smell* the Caledonian 80-shilling on tap from the bottom of the garden), it still requires using Certificate Authority (the 'CA' process), AdminP, creating random databases, and copying server keyring files to the server hard drive. Sacrificing the odd chicken helps, as does screaming AAAAAUUUGGGGGH at the moon when I got to the end and I'd misspelt the domain.

Please, can someone please tell me why it has to be so bad? Can someone acually justify designing a process this horrible?

At the end of this process, as I'm too tight to pay for a proper keyring from Verisign or someone else (Who's the cheapest, BTW?), the users STILL get prompted and warned not to use the SSL key. Is it worth it ?

And you'd think by 8.x that we'd have a wee page on the admin client that said 'create me an SSL keyring, for ALL my domains and install it for me please'.. ? Instead of tramping through this nightmare process for EACH domain..

The pub is now calling..

Posted by Bill Buchan At 15:47:00 Location Marykirk | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)    | Category None Bookmark :              

Hint. It wasnt American. But it was based around what could only be Hursley.. Come on folks..

Hint: Sylvia

(Dammit: I thought it was the first hacker movie..)

Posted by Bill Buchan At 23:46:55 Location Marykirk | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (0)    | Category Hackers.. Bookmark :              

Sometimes when doing complex tasks, its tempting just to clear out an entire databases's contents and buiid everything up from scratch. Sometimes through laziness, or sometimes because you cant actually get a decent reconcilliation in terms of documents.

Its bad - it leaves a deletion stub - that is, a tiny document fragment just containing that documents UNID - hanging around so when it replicates, the 'deletion' action can be pushed around. Its an extremely efficient design mechanism for replicated databases - as long as you dont routinely generate hundreds of thousands of documents, then delete them. Every 30 minutes.

Posted by Bill Buchan At 18:26:33 Location Marykirk | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)    | Category Lotus Notes AntiPattern Dont do this at home Bookmark :              

During a recent engagement, a particular client had an issue where they would bill for Lotus Notes applications hosted on their environment. (Charging for server disk space is a good way of ensuring that applications dont hang around on the servers after they've stoppd being useful). However, there was little faith on the catalog.nsf database containing all items, and little appetite for a globally replicated solution. So how can you do this ?

• Start off by writing an agent which sends 'sh dir -xml' to all servers' consoles from LotusScript. This returns the server directory as an XML stream, and is extremely fast. It also causes very little load on the target server, and little network load.
• Parse this XML into memory (which in LotusScript is pretty horrible) and build up a memory structure (using Lists and Classes) which bind individual databases together (using Replica ID).
• So by this time, we now have a very up to date directory listing on all servers. We can now impose order. For instance,
  • if its a mail server, and the database is in a 'mail*' directory, then its a mailfile..
  • If its on an application server, in the 'apps' directory, then its an application.
  • If an application has a second-level directory, then its a complex application comprised of more than one database.
  • If its on a hub server, then its on a globally replicated application.
  All of these rules are easy to write once the items are in memory.
• Now spit this out as an Excel spreadsheet. Ah. Now only an insane person would wish to load a copy of Excel onto the server, so the scheduled agent can construct an actual excel spreadsheet. So spit out a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file. most office/openOffice users associate *.csv with the spreadsheet program.

I guess it boils down to having decent standards for your mailfile and application deployments.. How do you do yours ?

Posted by Bill Buchan At 17:14:35 Location Marykirk | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)    | Category Lotus Notes Global Catalog Bookmark :              

Sometimes, I get all maudlin, and wonder "what if".. What if I didnt slavishly follow Lotus Notes as a platform, and use my skills in other fields. What if I actually shut my mouth sometimes and became employable.. What if I could actually work in an office, 9-5 each day, pushing boring bits of work around. What if IBM actually Marketed Lotus Notes (Oh, let not talk about impossibilties, here!) What if I could actually be content?

This has recently got a bit of a hammering, finding out that a number of very senior folks in very large firms whom I thought were enormously happy and content with their jobs, voicing disassfection, etc. So I guess when I saw this cartoon, it kinda summed it all up for me:

Whilst I might be poor, lonely, and listening to Radio 4's womens hour each day, at least I report to one person - SWMBO - who although is technically insane (she married me) and violent (she set fire to me), isnt as mad as some of the decisions routinely handed out by large corporations.

Guess I should actually start trying to enjoy my work a little more, and stop moaning about developing cool stuff whilst wearing shorts, looking out over half an acre of lovely garden, and seeing the local pub at the other side of the garden fence.

Posted by Bill Buchan At 13:46:36 Location Marykirk | Permalink | Comments (14) | TrackBacks (0)    | Category None Bookmark :              

Sigh. Some of the customer servers are in Belgium:

So the thousands separator is the decimal point, and the decimal point is the comma. But othe servers run American internationalisation. Aaaauugh!

Posted by Bill Buchan At 11:32:42 Location Marykirk | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)    | Category None Bookmark :              

Healthwise, my weight has went up, my blood pressure down, and I've not smoked since the day before Lotusphere comes to you in Edinburgh. So I've survived iLug, LotusBeer - all without the usual 'have a beer and a fag' urge. Nice. I heartily recommend Champix. It inhibits the nicotine receptor in the brain, but the side effect is depression. Talk to your doctor about it. Certainly worked for me. Now, I need to get rid of four stone of unsightly fat. I think I'll chop my head off..

Dogwise, Lister - the amazing 25 kilo spaniel - passed away a week ago. God the house is quiet without her. She was coming up to her 16th birthday - this week. Goodnight, Lister.

Housewise, all I can say - Grand Tourismo 5 Prelude for the playstation 3 is awesome. Especially as I can race my own car - the Mini Cooper S..

Workwise, the distraction levels are decreasing, and some interesting stuff is happening in terms of Flex and Domino. I'm very tempted to write an article on a 'dummies guide to Domino and Flex'. Interestingly, some very hard things have to happen to build a decent domino application - things such as a decent name-picker. Soon.

And of course, summertime means shorts, sun, and in Scotland - another 15 inches of rain over two days. So my half acre of grass is about a foot tall now, and I think a lost tribe of pygmies are making camp in there..

Posted by Bill Buchan At 10:33:49 Location Marykirk | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)    | Category None Bookmark :              

Aberdeen, Prince of Wales, 5pm onwards.. LotusBeer, if you havent found out already, is a gathering of highly motivated, powerful, and knowlegable technology specialists and managers, from all strata of Aberdonian Business. And me. Aside from our continued plans to take over the universe, tonights discussion will hinge on Keith, Eclipse, and his continued efforts to get composite application adption in a fund management company.

Feel free to join us - look for the fat git with the green hair. Thats me.

Posted by Bill Buchan At 13:42:18 Location Marykirk | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)    | Category None Bookmark :              

Guess what I've been doing for the last year:

Scary, eh. Its the same on-line web-based java summary tool as everyone else has listed. Yeah. I did this last week and have already forgotten where it is. Thank god for Google.

Update: Its http://wordle.net

As you can see, most of my blog entries in the last 12 months was about LotusFear. Closely followed by Lotus, iLug, Mac, BlackBerry, etc. God, am I that boring ? And to think I waffled about an event I almost died at (and am seriously considering not going to next year), am probably banned from (crimes against piano bars, and multiple youTube offenses), and unlikely to ever get another speaking slot at every again (but thats a different story. Ask Mooney about the 'eMail award' he presented me with last year).

I've gotta get more interesting stuff on this blog.. Whaddyathink? Ferret Racing ?

Posted by Bill Buchan At 21:56:14 Location Marykirk | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)    | Category Blog Summary Bookmark :              

Its small, its (3x!) faster on a mac. Go get it. But beware - Firebug doesnt work on it yet.

Update: Many readers have pointed out that the Beta of firebug looks good..

Posted by Bill Buchan At 21:38:17 Location Marykirk | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)    | Category FireFox Bookmark :              

At the weekend, David Clark called up and told me to get moving. The Caterline Cartie Challenge was starting!

(Dear reader, in Jockoland - a 'cartie' is something with four wheels, steering and brakes, that you sit on and run down a big hill. No engine, no springs, no car stereo. Simple. Effective).

A fantastic day was had by all. Not only was the 'local' supporting pub The Creel Inn - one of the best in Aberdeenshire, but the rain stayed away. 26 carts of various shapes, colours, and professionalism did three timed trials down 'the brae'. I'm guessing the brae is about a mile long, and drops at least 500 feet. A nice, gravel technical set of curves at the start (at the top of the cliffs), followed by a long sweeping corner down to the boathouse at sea level.

I was really surprised by the marshalls. Clearly, the dozen or so folks had done this before, but were tooled up with walkies, dayglow jackets, first aiders, the lot. Very well organised. Just look at the rules for entrance to see what I'm talking about:

Design 1. Cartie must not have any parts to aid speed, for example (but not limited to) catapults, elastic bands, pedals, hamsters, motors, propellers, jet engines, balloons, pigeons, warp drives, teleporters, springs or anything else like that. It's not complicated. It's just a free wheel gravity powered cartie.

Posted by Bill Buchan At 09:58:05 Location Marykirk | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)    | Category Downhill Bookmark :              

I love me Mac. You see, this is the first laptop I've been able to do this:

What on earth is going on?

• Top Left Workspace, is OS/X Leopard - naked. With Skype, Notes, all my non-business stuff. Thats notes 8.5 beta basic, BTW. I still cant get 'standard' working, and I dont have time to try.
• Top Right, is parallels with an image of my old Blingmaster. So I have a Domino server, and Notes 801 (designer, etc) running all the HADSL business stuff.
• Bottom left, is a current customer work environment running XP under VMWare fusion. Notes 6.0.3 (yeah, seriously!), lots of VPN action, etc.
• Bottom right is where iTunes lives, feeding me podcasts all day.

Perhaps I'll pursuade the wife I want a under-the-desk Mac Pro, like David Clarks. quad Xenon-quad-core with 32gb of Ram, and a pair of 30" displays... Mmm..

Posted by Bill Buchan At 11:14:17 Location Marykirk | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)    | Category Mac Bookmark :