windows server 2008 - different versions

go here http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/r2-editions-overview.aspx to find the differences between the different versions...


to run certificate services, u will need the Enterprise version...

if you run it under XenServer, you will be forced to use a harddisk image of 24GB, even though the XenServer manual state that 10GB is the minimum for server 2008.

xen live cd - adding windows guests

download xen live cd image and burn it to a cd and boot the cd in your computer

it took ten min to boot in my case.

i have a 160 GB harddisk, with one 1GB NetBSD partition; the rest are not partitioned.

i want to install windows on Xen.

add a partition
after you have boot the Xen live CD, cretate a partition by running fdisk.

fdisk /dev/sda (sd means SCSI but i am sure my harddisk is not SCSI)

n
p

i added a primary parition of 50GB

create a filesystem for the partition
mkfs -t ext3 /dev/sda2

mount it
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt

to be continued....

netbsd

managed to install netbsd on my hp laptop EliteBok 6930p.

sometimes this laptop gives problem with ACPI.

netbsd will boot normal with ACPI enabled.. and the timeout is very fast... not enough for u to select to boot "boot netbsd -2" to disable ACPI

so what u can do here is :

edit /boot.cfg

and consult http://netbsd.gw.com/cgi-bin/man-cgi?boot.cfg++NetBSD-current the web man page on the boot.cfg

for me, i have to change default=1 to default=3

Xen using netbsd

need to install multiple Window servers on my laptop for some testing... one domain controller, one offering certificate service (pki), one as file server, and one Vista as client...


i can't imagine using type 1 hypervisor for this task... i only have 2G RAM on my laptop.. so virtualbox and vmware server is out..

i am left with Xen and VMware ESX Server , but the latest ESX server only runs on 64bit hardware and it don't support intel cpu with emt64 extension... while at least this is what i found, i maybe wrong as i don't have much time ...

so i move on to using Xen... either ubuntu and debian... ubuntu does not offer dom0 kernel now and i saw many criticism on running Xen with Ubuntu..

i did tried it out but it is some troublesome and time is running short

so i went to debian... but debian didn't install on my HP EliteBook... oh ...

i will try netbsd now... i always prefer *bsd more...

Xen

Ganeti
Ganeti is a cluster virtual server management software tool built on top of existing virtualization technologies such as Xen or KVM and other Open Source software.
http://code.google.com/p/ganeti/


http://www.serverwatch.com/news/article.php/3770221/Hypervisor-Face-Off-KVM-vs-Xen-vs-VMware.htm

"KVM benchmarking is extremely selective," Crosby commented. "Where it does benefit in performance, it does so by sacrificing what we view as fundamental security concerns for enterprise virtualization deployments. Xen's deep separation of trust domains costs a bit in performance but provides the hard-line separation required for any secure deployment of virtualization."


Bruce also noted KVM relies on strong CPU performance with very limited support for para-virtualization. As such, Bruce argued it is difficult to achieve top performance in a KVM virtualized environment without powerful hardware underneath. Conversely, in his view, Xen offers strong support for para-virtualization for modified Windows guests and modified Linux guests to achieve near-native performance.


http://virt.kernelnewbies.org/TechComparison - features and performance of the various virtualization technologies available for Linux


Diff between para virtualization and hardware assisted virtualization

To run OS unmodified on Xen , u need a cpu that support hardware virtualization. You need to use HVM in Xen to run Windows.

http://www.virtuatopia.com/index.php/An_Overview_of_Virtualization_Techniques

xen live cd
http://wiki.xensource.com/xenwiki/LiveCD
Xenoppix http://unit.aist.go.jp/itri/knoppix/xen/index-en.html

installing Windows on Xen
http://www.virtuatopia.com/index.php/Virtualizing_Windows_Server_2008_with_Xen
http://mediakey.dk/~cc/howto-install-windows-xp-vista-on-xen/

wifi
http://wiki.xensource.com/xenwiki/XenWifi - sharing a wireless nic between dom0 and domU.

You might need http://ebtables.sourceforge.net/ if your wireless NIC does not allow packets with a MAC that is different from its own.




Xen setup docs that i found:

http://www.virtuatopia.com/index.php/Xen_Virtualization_Essentials

Xen on OpenSuse
http://en.opensuse.org/Installing_Xen3

Xen on Debian 5
http://www.howtoforge.com/virtualization-with-xen-on-debian-lenny-amd64

xen tools http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/533

http://wiki.xensource.com/xenwiki/HowTos
http://www.howtoforge.com/perfect_setup_xen3_debian
http://www.packtpub.com/files/Xen-Virtualisation-Sample-Chapter-Chapter-2-Running-Xen.pdf
http://www.howtoforge.com/xen_gui_fedora_7_desktop

How to Add JARs to Project Build Paths in Eclipse (Java)

see http://www.wikihow.com/Add-JARs-to-Project-Build-Paths-in-Eclipse-%28Java%29

Google App Engine

Deploying app engine to your own domain

http://code.google.com/appengine/articles/domains.html

basically you need to use Google Apps to manage your domains and point it to your App Engine application.

i have to wait for 15 minutes before my domain points to my app engine.

i register my domain with godaddy through google, and the cname records are added automatically when you add them in Google Apps.




Using Google Account to authenticate users

making use of Google Account has the advantage of offloading the user authentication to Google. You are left with more time to develop your web application.

There are several ways to force users to authenticate.

servlet

http://code.google.com/appengine/docs/java/users/overview.html go to "Using Google Accounts in Java" section


web.xml

please see http://code.google.com/appengine/docs/java/config/webxml.html#Security_and_Authentication


jsp

http://code.google.com/appengine/docs/java/javadoc/com/google/appengine/api/users/package-summary.html

Package com.google.appengine.api.users
The UserService provides facilities to check whether a user has authenticated using their Google Account, retrieve their email address, and check whether they are an administrator for this application.

See:
Description

Interface Summary
UserService The UserService provides information useful for forcing a user to log in or out, and retrieving information about the user who is currently logged-in.


Class Summary
User User represents a specific user, represented by the combination of an email address and a specific Google Apps domain (which we call an authDomain).
UserServiceFactory Creates a UserService.


Exception Summary
UserServiceFailureException UserServiceFailureException is thrown when any unknown error occurs while communicating with the user service.


Package com.google.appengine.api.users Description

The UserService provides facilities to check whether a user has authenticated using their Google Account, retrieve their email address, and check whether they are an administrator for this application. It can also be used to construct a URL for users to login or logout. More information is available in the on-line documentation.

As an example, your application might, in a JSP file, have code like this:

<%
UserService userService = UserServiceFactory.getUserService();
if (!userService.isUserLoggedIn()) {
%>
Please %>">log in>
<% } else { %>
Welcome, <%= userService.currentUser().getNickname(); %>!
( %>">log out>)
<%
}
%>

about master boot record - mbr

just got a task that involves mbr, so i manage to find some good links on mbr...


Assembly code on how to read boot sector
http://bootmaster.filerecovery.biz/appnote4.html

backing up mbr using the dd command, but only for Unix*
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/columns/backing_up_your_master_boot_record
dd if=/dev/hda of=/home/richmondg/mbr_backup bs=512 count=1

dd if=/dev/sda of=mbr.bin bs=512 count=1

http://www.ntfs.com/mbr.htm say the mbr is always at track (cylinder) 0, side (head) 0, and sector 1.