Monday, May 30, 2011

DNS in Windows Server 2008 R2

The Windows Server 2008 R2 improvements on the basic BIND version of DNS help to further establish DNS as a reliable, robust name-resolution strategy for Microsoft and non-Microsoft environments. An overall knowledge of the increased functionality and the structural changes will help you to further understand the capabilities of DNS in Windows Server 2008 R2.


Application Partition
Perhaps the most significant feature in Windows Server 2008 R2 DNS implementation, Active Directory-integrated zones are stored in the application partition of the AD. For every domain in a forest, a separate application partition is created and is used to store all records that exist in each AD-integrated zone. Because the application partition is not included as part of the global catalog, DNS entries are no longer included as part of global catalog replication.

With the application partition concept, replication loads are now reduced while important zone information is delegated to areas of the network where they are needed.


Automatic Creation of DNS Zones
The Configure a DNS Server Wizard, as demonstrated in 「Installing DNS Using the Add Roles Wizard」 section, allows for the automatic creation of a DNS zone through a step-bystep wizard. This feature greatly eases the process of creating a zone, especially for Active Directory. The wizard can be invoked by right-clicking on the server name in the DNS MMC and choosing Configure a DNS Server.


Fix to the 「Island」 Problem
Earlier versions of the Microsoft DNS had a well-documented issue that was known as the 「island」 problem, which was manifested by a DNS server that pointed to itself as a DNS server. If the IP address of that server changed, the DNS server updated its own entry in DNS, but then other DNS servers within the domain were unable to successfully retrieve updates from the original server because they were requesting from the old IP address. This effectively left the original DNS server in an 「island」 by itself, hence the term.

Microsoft DNS fixed this problem in Windows Server 2003 and above. Windows Server 2008 R2 DNS first changes its host records on a sufficient number of other authoritative servers within DNS so that the IP changes made will be successfully replicated, thus eliminating this 「island」 problem. As a result, it is no longer necessary to point a root DNS server to another DNS server for updates, as was previously recommended as a method of resolving this issue.


Forest Root Zone for _msdcs
In Active Directory, all client logons and lookups are directed to local domain controllers and global catalog servers through references to the SRV records in DNS. These SRV records were stored in a subdomain to an Active Directory domain that is known as the _msdcs subdomain.

In Windows Server 2008 R2, _msdcs is a separate zone in DNS. This zone, stored in the application partition, is replicated to every domain controller that is a DNS server. This listing of SRV records was moved mainly to satisfy the requirements of remote sites. In Windows 2000, these remote sites had to replicate the entire DNS database locally to access the _msdcs records, which led to increased replication time and reduced responsiveness. If you delegate the SRV records to their own zone, only this specific zone can be designated for replication to remote site DNS servers, saving replication throughput and increasing the response time for clients.

Source of Information : Sams - Windows Server 2008 R2 Unleashed (2010)

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Fedore Desktop Environments

It would be a good idea to discuss what is different—specifically, the graphical interfaces that users work with when they work with any kind of Linux.

Most computer users are used to seeing just one graphical interface when they run their PCs. Windows 7 Home Edition users get to use the basic Windows interface, Windows 7 Premium and Ultimate Editions use the fancier Aero interface, and OS X users use Aqua. Graphical interfaces are the technical name for the windows, menus, and icons that so many computer users have grown accustomed to.

In these operating systems, you get the interface that comes with the OS. You can change the colors and the sizes of some items (bigger icons, for instance), but at the end of the day, you're still using the same interface.

In Linux, this is not the case: There are literally dozens of interfaces for you to choose from. This goes back to the whole modular nature of Linux. Unlike Windows 7, the interface applications are separate from the core operating system. So, if something creates a glitch on a Linux interface, known as a desktop environment, the core operating system is not affected.

These desktop environments do more than just look different; they are managed by completely different tools, and each carries its own set of specialized applications. For example, a text editor (like Windows Notepad) called Gedit is available for the GNOME desktop environment, and in the K Desktop Environment (KDE) the same kind of editor is known as Kate. (The first letter of an application is often a clue to the preferred environment for that application.)

Confusing? It shouldn't be. The good news is that applications for one desktop environment usually work in other environments without a hitch. (The author, for instance, prefers to work in KDE but won't part with the Gedit text editor. The two work together quite well.)

Source of Information : Cengage-Introducing Fedora 2010

Monday, May 23, 2011

Yes, There’s More Than One Way to Spin Fedora

You could almost say that Fedora is a victim of its own popularity. Because Fedora is so efficient and easy to use (even among Linux distributions), developers of all persuasions have taken a good thing and recrafted it into something they prefer even more. These variations of Fedora are known as spins, and they follow the same release cycle as the main version (though they might be offset by a few days here and there). Most of the differences between the flavors of Fedora are purely cosmetic: sometimes it’s a different desktop environment, sometimes it’s a different set of installed applications.

It is important to note that these spins are not completely different versions of Fedora; they are just Fedora pre-packaged in different ways. You can, if you wish, download and install all of the software needed to created identical versions of these spins. But having the spins already set up will save you a great deal of time and effort.


Fedora Desktop
The Fedora Desktop is the primary version among the Fedora ‘‘family’’ of spins, the one from which all the others are based. One of Fedora’s main characteristics is that it uses, by default, the GNOME desktop environment. GNOME, along with its predecessor KDE, is one of the most popular desktop environments around for Linux and other UNIX-based operating systems. It’s often regarded as an easier-to-use environment, with fewer controls for users to worry about. Free software purists prefer it for the totally free nature of the code that is used to build GNOME.


Fedora KDE
Fedora KDE is the most popular ‘‘alternate’’ Fedora spin, and as you might have guessed from the name, it features the KDE. The KDE environment came before GNOME, but quite a few people in the Linux community don’t like it because initially it was built with the help of nonfree code. (The Debian Project, for instance, initially would not ship any release with KDE.) The GNOME Project was started as a result of this concern. Today, the code in KDE is more open, and those objections have been rendered moot. Fedora KDE makes exclusive use of KDE and its attendant applications.


Fedora LXDE Spin
LXDE stands for ‘‘Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment,’’ and it is designed to be very fast and light on its electronic feet. While not as popular as GNOME and KDE, the LXDE interface features multi-language support, standard keyboard shortcuts, and tabbed file browsing. LXDE is a good environment for low-power devices such as netbooks, mobile Internet devices, or older machines.


Fedora Xfce Spin
This Fedora spin uses the Xfce environment, a simple and fast environment based on the old UNIX CDE environment. Xfce takes a bit of getting used to, because the graphic interface tools are a bit less intuitive than the more robust GNOME and KDE environments. But using Xfce gives this Fedora spin the added advantage of not being as resource-hungry as other Linux distributions and makes it ideal for running on slower, older PCs.


Fedora Games Spin
Like to get your game on? The Fedora Games spin offers a great collection of games available for Fedora. Not every Fedora game is included with this spin, but the designers have tried to put together a good representation of the different styles of games that you can get for the Fedora distribution.


Fedora Edu Spin
Unlike the other Fedora spins, Fedora Edu is not different because of its look or feel. Rather Fedora Edu’s differences lie in the content and tools it provides to users. Fedora Edu is sometimes referred to as the ‘‘kids’ Fedora,’’ and indeed, the addition of educational and development software certainly matches that description. But the overall goal of the project is to provide an easy-to-use distribution for all ages of students. According to the project’s home page, ‘‘The purpose of this spin is to create a ready-to-go development environment for contributing to educational projects inside, but also outside of the Fedora ecosystem....’’ Edu runs a GNOME desktop, with the differences mostly in the set of educational applications that ships with the distribution. These include various language, science, and development learning tools.


Fedora BrOffice Spin
One of the interesting results of working on the international stage of the Internet is how names can be used for different things in different nations. For instance, the office suite found in Fedora, OpenOffice.org, gets the ‘‘.org’’ in its official name from the fact that OpenOffice is actually a trademarked company name in the Netherlands, as well as a trademark owned by Orange UK, the British telecommunications company. Rather than raise a ruckus, the project’s organizers decided to simply tack on the ‘‘.org’’ to the name. But even that didn’t work, as OpenOffice.org is a trademark held in Brazil. So, OpenOffice.org users in Brazil use BrOffice. BrOffice, as you may have surmised,
is the centerpiece of the Fedora BrOffice spin. But the spin’s creators didn’t stop there. This spin is loaded with language packs and applications that are well suited for Central and South American users, whether they converse in Spanish or Portuguese.


Fedora FEL Spin
Very likely the most specialized Fedora spin is the Fedora Electronic Laboratory (FEL) spin. FEL was put together solely to provide a solid platform for the Electronic Design Automation (EDA) community. These are the people who put together things like microchips, processors, and robots. You know, easy stuff. According to the project’s Web site, FEL ‘‘provides a complete electronic laboratory setup with reliable open source design tools in order to help you keep in pace with the current technological race. It reduces the risk assessment of open source hardware development and enables electronic designers to create their work quickly and efficiently.’’

Source of Information : Cengage-Introducing Fedora 2010

Friday, May 20, 2011

The Fedora Connection

Fedora actually began its existence as a simple collection of software. One of the community outreach projects started by Red Hat as it was working to keep community interest high was the Fedora Linux project, a collection of newer and more experimental software that, when installed on Red Hat Linux, would give users a chance to enhance their computers without introducing risky software to the main Red Hat Linux distribution.

It’s important to note that Fedora Linux was not a stand-alone version of Linux, like other distributions, but was actually what’s known as a repository of software. But it would play a key role in what was to come next.

In September 2003, Red Hat made a stunning announcement: Red Hat Linux would cease to be a product. Instead, users who wanted to have commercial grade support (such as those coveted enterprise customers) would now use and pay for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Users who wished to continue using Red Hat Linux for free and without support would use Fedora Core, a formal merging of Red Hat Linux and the software from the Fedora Linux project.

The new Fedora Core distribution would be governed not by Red Hat, but by an independent nonprofit organization known as the Fedora Project. At the time, this was considered to be a radical move, but as Linux became more commercially viable, vendors like Red Hat were able to make the jump to a pure commercial distribution.

Initially, reaction was mixed. After all, many people wondered, what about home and small business users who wanted some level of support? In response, in 2004 Red Hat (rather quietly) released Red Hat Professional Workstation, a $100 version of Red Hat Linux that came with direct Red Hat support. It was, unfortunately, a commercial failure.

What happened next would shape the commercial/community distribution model for all future releases—not just for Red Hat, but also for other followers of the model.

Simply put, the Fedora community took care of the support problem itself. By becoming a cohesive, flexible body, members of the Fedora Project began to fill the gaps that were once occupied by Red Hat. Documentation was created; support issues resolved; bugs tracked, identified, and removed. In short, the Fedora Core distribution became as robust and powerful as Red Hat Linux ever was and soon surpassed its parent distribution in terms of ease of use and features.

In fact, the Fedora Project became so strong that eventually Red Hat would drop its efforts for a home/small business desktop product and put time, effort, and resources back into Fedora Core.

Ultimately, this approach worked out very well for both sides. Power users and developers got a complete and robust distribution to experiment with and use, and Red Hat kept its commercial distribution solid and mature. And, as an added benefit, Fedora Core, later named just Fedora, would become a test bed for new technologies and applications, which would later be included in Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

It’s a good example of a win-win situation for users, developers, and commercial vendors alike.

Source of Information : Cengage-Introducing Fedora 2010

Monday, May 16, 2011

The Red Hat Connection with Fedora

Red Hat Linux is one of the earliest created Linux distributions, having been invented by Marc Ewing in 1994. Ewing actually began working on the distribution, then known as Red Hat Software Linux, in December of 1992, soon after he graduated from Carnegie Mellon University.

According to legend—because you can have legends in under 20 years on the Internet—the name ‘‘Red Hat’’ came from Ewing’s habit of wearing a red hat while at CMU. The name stuck, even after Ewing’s company was purchased by entrepreneur Bob Young in 1995.

Red Hat’s initial popularity is attributed to some key technological advantages it had over other Linux distributions of the time. One such advantage was the addition of a graphical configuration system used when installing Red Hat. Primitive by today’s standards, nonetheless this simple series of installation screens was hugely helpful for those early adopters who wanted to try out Linux.

Another advantage Red Hat had was how software applications were distributed for the Red Hat Linux platform. Recall that while open source and free software is always available in its source code form, such a format is not easy to use. What software developers must do is deliver their application in a form that’s easy to install. On Windows, this is done with a self-executing file that users can double-click and have the new program installed.

On Linux, such an approach is not a good idea. Self-executing installs can bring a host of mistakes and potentially malicious changes to a computer, and at the most fundamental level, all Linux systems resist such packages. Instead, applications are installed using packages. A Linux package can contain many of the same files as a Windows installation routine, but the control of the installation lies with the package manager—not the package itself.

Package managers will not only ensure the package is properly and safely put together, but they will also make sure that any other software the application needs will be installed as well.

Red Hat’s advantage here was the introduction of the RPM package management system. RPM packages are one of two major Linux packaging systems (the other being Debian GNU/Linux’s DEB package system).

Over the next nine years, Red Hat Linux would continue to capitalize on these and other advantages, devoting much of its marketing and sales efforts to getting Linux into the workplace; specifically, the enterprises which are organizations with 500 or more computer users. By targeting this market, Red Hat was essentially aiming for the low-hanging fruit; there aren’t a lot of enterprise-level customers out there, but it only takes a few to really build your revenue stream.

But this approach, while commercially successful, gave Red Hat a problem. While Red Hat Linux was becoming increasingly popular in the corporate world, the community-oriented developer and user bases that had helped to bring Red Hat Linux to where it was technologically were feeling increasingly disenfranchised. What good was it to develop cutting-edge software, the community complained, when Red Hat, fearing any software instability for its well-heeled enterprise customers, would only include it after a laborious quality control process?

This issue was serious enough to prompt Red Hat to launch several community outreach programs—because if the community began to vote with their feet and walk away from Red Hat, highly valuable development resources could be lost, and Red Hat’s community reputation would plummet. Some of this outreach helped, but in the end, it took the birth of a new distribution and the death of Red Hat Linux to help save Red Hat.

Red Hat Linux is one of three major branches of Linux distributions that exist today. Many successful distributions, including Fedora, are based on Red Hat Linux, such as Red Flag, a popular Chinese distribution, and Yellow Dog, a flavor of Linux designed to run on Apple's Mac hardware.

Source of Information : Cengage-Introducing Fedora 2010

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Distributions of All Shapes and Sizes

In the very beginning, there was one distribution of Linux, known as MCC Interim Linux. Its singular status didn’t last long. Very soon, there were a handful of distributions. Today, nearly 18 years later, there are upwards of 200 distributions. No one knows the exact number, since new ones are being created every week, and old ones are being allowed to languish into obscurity.

Whatever the exact number, there are a lot of distributions out there, and they all fall into one of two categories: commercial (like RHEL) or noncommercial (like Fedora).

The commercial distributions exist for a pretty self-explanatory reason: someone, either a company or a group of developers, wants to make money. These distributions tend to be the most well-known of the Linux distributions, although they are not necessarily the most influential.

Distributions in this category include RHEL, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Mandriva Linux, and Ubuntu Server. Those are the more commercially successful distributions; it is by no means a complete list.

Noncommercial distributions are generally run as not-for-profits, if they are well organized, or even as a hobby for one of a group of developers. The motivation for developers is varied. Some want to create something meaningful. Some do it to earn extra money. (Actually, some nonprofit distributions do receive some funding through voluntary support and donations.) Some want to have fun coding. Whatever the reason, developers have made noncommercial distributions very popular and extremely influential among all Linux developers.

Noncommercial distributions include Debian GNU/Linux, Slackware Linux, Ubuntu, openSUSE, and SimplyMEPIS. Just to give you an idea of how influential noncommercial distributions can be, know that SimplyMEPIS, Freespire, Linspire, and Xandros are among the many Linux distributions (commercial or otherwise) based on what has become the most popular noncommercial distribution today: Debian GNU/Linux.

Source of Information : Cengage-Introducing Fedora 2010

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Video for ‘Net Success

Part I: Guidelines for Video Research, Planning and Development

Like mobile before it, industry pundits have been calling video the next big thing for the past few years. While big brands have leveraged video’s educational and entertainment qualities for many years, the time has come for the rest of the ‘Net to get started.

The challenge for many Web businesses interested in using video to attract or retain an audience is that it remains a relatively new and developing channel — that means it’s hard to know what compels a particular audience to watch and share a video and in what context it will be successful.

The best tactic is to commit to research and planning, ensure brand continuity throughout the development lifecycle, and aim to position the videos in a manner that moves browsers to buyers. When videos are developed against measurable goals, results can be quantified, improvements made and ROI achieved. In this first of a three-part series, we reveal some tactics to ensure your video is positioned to succeed before it is seen for the first time. In part two, in the next issue of Website Magazine, we explore the nuts and bolts of video production. And in part three, we will examine the best ways to market and promote your video, and methods to analyze performance.


Video Research and Planning
One of the more serious stumbling blocks when getting started with video is that most campaigns begin without a formal strategy. There are two essential parts of any strategy — research and planning. Only with these steps completed can you move on to execution (development) and marketing (deployment).


Research
In the research phase of our video campaign strategy we must first understand the competitive marketplace and what type of videos competitors are producing, for what terms they are ranking on search engines (and with what levels of success) and, in a perfect world which are generating traffic and awareness and aiding in conversion.

You might be wondering why some videos soar while others crash and burn. While there is no absolute way to account for consumer taste, we can analyze the most effective videos or those that are going viral at any moment in time. Consider reviewing videos first-hand by checking out Viddler’s Most Viewed and Most Favorited categories; YouTube Charts (primarily most discussed and most liked); and the most popular videos on services like Photobucket, MetaCafe and DailyMotion. Also consider using video aggregation websites such as the Viral Video Chart from Unruly Media, which monitors the “most contagious” videos on YouTube, Facebook and elsewhere or check out PoPScreen, whose home page features videos on their way to becoming popular as determined by its “Popscore” which uses hundreds of metrics including the influence of the video’s creator or submitter.

Once you get an idea of some elements that make a video popular, enjoyable or otherwise effective, make a list of a few key attributes that you might include in your own video. Next, research some videos related to your business and industry. Again, find a few that seem to work well and note some of the more outstanding qualities. This will help provide a light framework for your videos.


Planning
In the planning phase, we need to take the information we gathered from our research and determine an appropriate plan of action to promote our business or product. According to Bill Curci, VP of Marketing at VMIX, “All the things that you think about in terms of a [marketing] campaign … the rules still apply. You still need to know who you are going to reach, what you want them to think, what kind of feeling you want to have associated with it (is it upbeat or serious) and what you want people to do. In a video, I want someone to do something. When I have not thought those things through I realize they are never as successful [as they could be].” You might determine, for example, that the competitors producing videos in your niche are primarily used for entertainment. Or, you might find that most of your competitors are using video to provide instructional support for more complicated products and services. Perhaps in your research you found that instructional videos garner more views than the entertainment space for your particular industry. Therefore, logic would dictate that planning for instructional videos is the best place to start.

The planning stage is also the best time to consider execution strategies, such as specifying a production schedule and taking some time to designate certain individuals (with specific skill sets) to be responsible for the various aspects of development, production and marketing. If we are planning for instructional videos, those within the organization most familiar with the product’s features and nuances (developers and engineers) will be essential in helping plan the videos’ content and flow. Should your plan include a video about the culture of your company (profiling the company CEO or the community surrounding your business), perhaps individuals from your PR staff or marketing department might be best suited to the task.

Other planning elements to include pertain to the goals you have set for each video. Make it clear to users what to do next. If you want to send users to your website (or a specific URL), make sure graphic elements are ready that include the URL and that each URL is enabled with the proper analytics to ensure accurate attribution — critical when analyzing video successes or failures. If your video is being used to reinforce a brand, have a logo ready for use in the backdrop, or plan for a pre-roll or overlay element. As an immense amount of video is shared outside of your site, ensuring that important branding elements are present throughout are a key to success with video.

Remember that the information you gain from the research and planning phase of your video strategy should influence how videos are developed, but it should also play a role in how those videos are marketed and promoted.

Source of Information : Website Magazine for March 2011

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

MOBILE APPS FOR WEB PROFESSIONALS

Mobile applications are dominating the headlines. Consumers (Web professionals included) are using applications for just about everything today — information discovery, entertainment, and even to get a little work done in between Angry Bird sessions. Web professionals are as varied in their experience and expertise as the applications on their smartphones. But what are the applications that Web marketers, data junkies and social mavens should consider downloading? Be it Android, Blackberry or iPhone, the mobile applications listed below are the ones you are likely to find on the smartphones of the most successful Web pros.



Android
Intuit’s GoPayment application enables Web professionals to accept credit card payments via an Android phone without any additional hardware. After a payment is approved, users can email or text message an electronic receipt directly to the customer. The application costs $12.95 per month plus transaction fees.
Link: http://wsm.co/fIiyjr

AndFTP is a JAVA application which enables access to Web servers via smartphone. The application supports FTP, SFTP and FTPS, and is particularly useful for Web designers and developers. Using AndFTP, app users can upload and download files with resume capability, and rename, delete and create files and folders.
Link: http://wsm.co/gHzqTI

Google Analytics for Android is a secure, fast and lightweight application for accessing Google Analytics data. The application is particularly useful for reviewing summary
Web traffic statistics and keyword-level data, but advanced features including custom date ranges, geolocation reports, regexenabled searches and more are also available.
Link: wsm.co/hk3cOn



BlackBerry
Nice Office LITE gives Web pros a truly mobile office on their BlackBerries, allowing them to manage emails, calendars, contacts and do most other business tasks on the go. Users can store documents and forms online and send them directly to customers, track and record all sales and lead activity by workflows and status levels, create custom sales fields and more.
Link: wsm.co/fHZmeI

PGi Mobile allows users to host or attend business meetings from their BlackBerries while providing deeper engagement and increasing productivity. The app eliminates the need to remember dial-in numbers and passwords, and participants’ names, titles and photos are displayed while indicating which of the group is speaking.
Link: wsm.co/dFz5yl

Copy2Contact is a business tool that automatically enters important contact and appointment information from emails, text messages, Web directories and search results into a BlackBerry user’s address book and calendar. This app is a resource that helps Web professionals capture sales leads and schedule and organize meetings, eliminating those tedious handwritten notes and error-prone copy-and-paste jobs.
Link: wsm.co/hIfJVY



iPhone
Awesome Note (+Todo) helps busy Web professionals organize everything they need to succeed in business. Calendars, to-do lists and notes can all be synced and dated, and folders can be created to keep everything in its place. Notes can include photo attachments and be sent as email, uploaded to Google Docs and synced with Evernote.
Link: wsm.co/eAsOIX

SEO Pro makes sure a website owner is never left wondering about their search ranking status. Monitor unlimited URLs and see Google Page Rank, Alexa Rank, Compete. com rank and monitor daily changes in rankings.
Link: wsm.co/dVKYCu

HootSuite allows users to update Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare on the go. Schedule updates, track click stats and even translate — HootSuite for iPhone can handle more than 50 languages, and the interface itself is also available in Japanese, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Arabic and Korean.
Link: wsm.co/gYbH0j

Source of Information :  Website Magazine for March 2011