Once SquidMan is downloaded, copy the SquidMan application bundle to the /Applications directory. Then open it. At the Helper Tool Installation screen click on the Yes button.

At the Squid Missing screen click on the OK button to install squid itself.

The Preferences screen then opens. Click on the Clients tab and, if you would like to restrict access to only a set of IP addresses, define them (or use the net mask to define a range).

Click on the General tab. Here, provide the following information:

• HTTP Port: The port number that the proxy will run on.
• Visible hostname: The hostname of the server (e.g. proxy.318.com).
• Cache size: The total amount of space used for the proxies cache.
• Maximum object size: The maximum size of single cached files.
• Rotate logs: The frequency with which log files are rotated (I usually use Manually here).
• Start Squid on launch: Automatically start squid when SquidMan is launched, and delay start by x number of seconds.
• Quid Squid on logout: Define whether logging out of the server also stops squid.
• Show errors produced by Squid: Displays squid’s errors in SquidMan.

Click on the Parent and define a proxy server that this one will use (if there is one, otherwise it just uses the web to directly access files). This feature is only used if you are daisy chaining multiple squid servers.

Click on the Direct tab and enter any sites that should not be proxied. Internal staging environments are a great example of sites that should bypass proxy servers.

At the Template tab, enter any custom variables.

Squid is usually used to cache and speed up web access, so the default configuration file is optimized for small files. In order to cache larger files effectively, change the configuration to allow for larger files (up to 64 megabytes) and allow for more total disk storage of cached files (up to 8 gigabytes in our tests for a few specific projects, but much larger is fine). This usually depends on the total available disk space on the machine which will run squid.

These are some of the options which we updated for a specific project we’re working on in the squid.conf (Template):

http_port 3128 transparent (add transparent if using NAT to redirect http requests):
maximum_object_size_in_memory 65536 KB
cache_dir ufs /usr/local/var/squid/cache 8192 16 256
maximum_object_size 65536 KB

These days, we prefer to use squid running in NetBSD’s pkgsrc, although any method of installation (such as the squidman approach) should be acceptable.

Next, click on the SquidMan application which should have been running the whole time and click Start Squid.

The squid daemon then starts. Looking at the processes running on the host reveals that it is run as follows:

/usr/local/squid/sbin/squid -f /Users/admin/Library/Preferences/squid.conf

Client systems can then be configured to use the squid proxy, or PAC (Proxy auto-config) file can be configured to configure clients. Another option being transparent parodying:

rdr de0 0.0.0.0/0 port 80 -> (local Squid server) port 3128 tcp

Lack of font management is a cost center for many organizations. There is a loss of productivity every time a user has to manually add fonts when opening co-workers documents, or the cost of a job going out with the wrong version of a font. Some of the other benefits of fonts servers are separate font sets for different workgroups and isolating corrupt fonts to clean up large font libraries, along with quick searching and identification of fonts.

Font Management and Best Practices

Anyone who uses fonts for daily workflow needs font management. This could be a standalone product such as Suitcase Fusion or Font Agent Pro. But larger environments invariably need to collaborate and share fonts between users, meaning many environments need font servers. Two such products include Extensis Universal Type Server and Font Agent Pro Server. But before adding font management products, users should clean up and any fonts loaded or installed and added prior to moving to a managed font environment. Places to look for fonts when cleaning them up include the following:

• ~/Library/Fonts
• /Library/Fonts
• /System/Library Fonts

Leaving any necessary system, Microsoft Web Core, and required Adobe fonts.

The best resource for this process can be found at Extensis Font Best Practices in OX v.7, which can be found at: http://www.extensis.com/en/downloads/document_download.jsp?docId=5600039

Types of Font Server Products Available

There are two major font server publishers: Extensis and Font Agent Pro. Both have workgroup and enterprise products. All server products from both products work on a client/server model. Both can sync entire font sets or serve fonts on-demand. The break down for the Extensis Universal Type Sever is at 10 clients. Below 10 clients Universal Type Server Lite is a 10 clients product, which lacks Enterprise features, such as the ability to use a SQL database or integrate in Open Directory or Active Directory. The full Universal Type Server Professional adds Directory integration, external database use, and font compliance features and is sold as 10-user license, with an additional per seat license.

Insider Software offers two levels of font servers. The first is FontAgent Pro Team Server designed for small workgroups and sold in a 5 or 10 client configuration. The next level of product is Font Agent Pro Enterprise server. This adds the same directory services integration as Universal Type Server Professional. This product also has Kerberos single sign on, server replication and fail over. It uses the same per-seat pricing structure as Universal Type Server Professional.

A third tool is also available in Monotype Font Explorer, at http://www.fontexplorerx.com, which we will look at later in this article.

Pre-Deployment Strategies and Projects

Before any font server deployment, there are a few things to take into consideration. First is number of clients. This will guide you to which product will be appropriate for installation. Also note if Directory integration and compliance is needed. Is failover or a robust database important. The most important part of any font server installation is the fonts. How may are there, where are they coming from, are separate workgroups needed? Are all your fonts legal? In my experience probably not. Is legal compliance required for you organization or your clients? What is the preferred font type, PostScript Type 1, Open Type? What version are the fonts? Most fonts have been “acquired” over time, with some Postscript fonts dating back to early to mid nineties. As a font server is just a database, the axiom “garbage in, garbage out” is true here as well. This should lead to a pre-deployment font library consolidation and clean up. This can be either be done by 318 or we can train the you to perform this task. If compliance is an issue this is where we would weed out unlicensed fonts. Which to my experience is about 90% of all fonts. A clean, organized font set is the most important part of pre-deployment.

A major part of any font server roll out should be compliance and licensing. This allows for the tracking and reporting of font licenses and to make sure that stays in licensing and compliance.

Extensis

Universal Type Server includes the ability to generate and export reports to help you determine if you are complying with your font licenses. The font compliance feature only allows you to track your licensing compliance and does not restrict access to noncompliant fonts. To help you understand how the font licensing compliance, let’s look at the following typical example of how to use licenses and the font compliance report in your environment.

Say you are starting up your own design shop and need a good group of licensed fonts for your designers to create projects that will bring you fame and fortune. You know that fonts are valuable, and you want to be sure that you have purchased enough licenses for your requirements. So, you purchase a 10­user license of a sizable font library. Using the Universal Type Client, these fonts are added to a Type Server workgroup as a set. A font license is then created and the Number of Seats field is set to 10. This license is then applied to all fonts in the set.

When you run the font compliance report, Universal Type Server compares the number of seats allowed to the total number of unique users who have access to the workgroup. If more users have access than licenses available, the fonts are listed as “non-­compliant.” You can now either remove users from the workgroup or purchase more font licenses to become compliant.

Universal Type Server is unique amongst other products in that it uses a checksum process to catalog fonts. Others just use file names and paths.

Universal Type Server Deployment

Universal Type Server system requirements include the following:

Macintosh Server

•          Mac OS X v 10.5.7, 10.6 Mac OS X Server 10.5 or 10.6•          1.6 GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor (PowerPC is not supported)
•          1 GB available RAM
•          250 MB of hard disk space + space for fonts
•          Safari 3.0 or Firefox 3.0 or higher*
•          Adobe Flash Player 10 or higher*

Windows Server

•          Windows XP SP3 (32-bit only), Server 2003 SP2, Server 2008 SP2 (32 or 64-bit version**)
•          P4 or faster processor***
•          1 GB available RAM
•          250 MB of hard disk space + space for fonts
•          Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox 3.0 or higher*
•          Adobe Flash Player 10 or higher*
•          Adobe Reader 7 to read PDF documentation*
•          Microsoft .NET 3.5 or higher

Universal Type Server Installation Process:

1.         Verify server system requirements
2.         Run the installer on the target server machine
3.         Login to the Server Administration web interface
4.         Serialize the server
5.         Set the Bonjour Name
6.         Resolve any port conflicts
7.         Set any desired server configuration options, including backup schedule, log file configuration, secure connection options, and any other necessary server settings.
8.         After installing the server, configure workgroups, roles and add users.

The basic user and workgroup configuration steps include:

1.   Plan your configuration
2.   Create workgroups
3.   Create new users
4.   Add users to workgroups
5.   Assign workgroup roles to users
6.   Modify user settings as required

Optional Setup:

1. Managing System Fonts with System Font Policy The System Font Policy feature allows Universal Type Server administrators to create a list of system fonts that are allowed in a user’s system font folder.
2. Font Compliance Reporting
   The font compliance feature only allows you to track your licensing
   compliance and does not restrict access to noncompliant fonts.
3. Directory Integration
   Directory integration allows network administrators to automatically
   synchronize users from an LDAP service
   (Active Directory on Windows or Open Directory on Mac OS X) with Universal Type Server workgroups.

* UTS Documentation:

http://tinyurl.com/4xgn9rr

Both Universal Type Server Professional and Font Agent Pro Enterprise can be configured for Open Directory, Active Directory, and LDAP integration. Both also can utilize Kerberos Single User sign on. Universal Type Sever Professional directory integration instructions can be found in the UTS 2 Users and Workgroups Administration Guide at http://tinyurl.com/4xgn9rr. Some users have reported issues connecting to Open Directory (which happens with all products, not just this one).

Universal Type Server runs in Flash for administrative functions, which many do not like.

Monotype Font Explorer

Monotype Font Explorer is a third tool that can be used to manage fonts. Available at http://www.fontexplorerx.com there are some things that some environments do not like about Universal Type Server or Font Agent Pro. Let’s face it, the reason there are multiple products and multiple workflows is that some work for some environments and others work for other environments/workflows better. For example, Font Agent Pro stores master fonts on one client machine, which is then synchronized to the server, and from there to the rest of the clients; not everyone wants a client system acting as a master to the server. Font Explorer keeps the master is on the server, groups and synchronization works well and the administration is in the same window as font management. And best of all, Font Explorer is also typically cheaper than its server-based competitors in the font management space.

Extensis publishes a guide as to which fonts to include in the system and which to handle in the font management software. According to Apple documentation, and fonts in my ~/Library/Fonts folder take precedence to fonts in /Library/Fonts, which again takes precedence to /System/Library/Fonts. That means that if I install Times in my ~/Library/Fonts folder, it will be used instead of the font with the same name in /Library/Fonts or in /System/Library/Fonts. So how is it that I should care which fonts is installed where, as the font management applocation should simple take precedence to the others? If it does not take precedence, then where in the chain is it actually activating fonts? Maybe fonts are handled in these solution in parallel with the system mechanism? Thats the only explanation I can find to that, but is then only valid for UTS, or is it also valid for the other solutions?

End User Training and Font Czar

No font server installation would be complete without end user training and the appointment of a Font Czar. User training can be a fairly easy endeavor if client systems are using the same publishers stand-alone font client. Other times it could entail discussing licensing and compliance concepts along with adding metadata to fonts. An onsite Font Czar (or more than one) is very important to font server installations. The Font Czar cleans up and ingests new fonts, adds new users to font server, and in general be the Font Admin. This is usually a senior designer or technical point of contact for the creative environment.

Conclusion

Font Book is adequate for most users that don’t need a server. Universal Type Server, Font Agent Pro and FontExplorer are all great products if you need a font server. They all are installed centrally and allow end users to administer fonts, based on the server configuration and group memberships. They all work with directory services (some better than others) and can be mass deployed. In big workgroups or enterprises, where only a few people are handling the administration of fonts for a lot of people, a centralized font management solution is a must. But in much smaller organizations, it requires care and feeding, which represents a soft cost that often rivals a cost to purchase the solution.

Finally, test all of the tools available. Each exists for a reason. Find the one that works with the workflow of your environment before purchasing and installing anything.

Note: Thanks to Søren Theilgaard of Humac for some of the FontExplorer text!

Additionally, some other new features including custom starting timecode, the new Tribute theme, GPU-accelerated exports, One-step transitions, media stems export and of course, XML support. XML support is very important as it introduces the ability to integrate Final Cut Pro X with asset management systems or APIs from other applications. The ability to interact with other tools helps to plan and implement an automated workflow, reducing the labor for reoccurring tasks common in media environments.

Apple also now provides a free 30 day trial to Final Cut Pro X. If your organization is considering migrating from Final Cut Studio into Final Cut Pro X, or if you have a Final Cut Server based asset management solution that you would like to migrate to something newer and supported, then please feel free to contact your 318 Professional Services Manager, or sales@318.com if you do not yet have one.

By default, the PHP configuration file, php.ini, is stored at /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini (in most distributions of Linux) or just in /etc/php.ini (as with Mac OS X). In this file

vi /etc/php.ini

Then locate the expose_php variable within the file. Once found, set it to Off as follows:

expose_php = Off

Doing so will not improve the overall security of a system (unless you believe in security through obscurity). However, it is a good idea and will help defeat a number of vulnerability scanners. If you do suppress the Apache and PHP versioning information for the sake of passing a vulnerability scanner on a backported distribution of one of the packages then it would be a good idea to check the CVEs for the port you are using and verify that you are secure.

Our first site upgrade went smoothly, although the automatic upgrading of certain plugins still fail and must be done manually. As always, it’s a good idea to make complete, tested backups of your site files and database dumps before starting the upgrade process.

WordPress 3.0 offers a lot of new online publishing options – call your 318 account manager today, or email sales@318.com for more information.

UPDATE: Our second site upgrade had to be reverted to version 2.9.2 temporarily due to an issue with the WP Events Calendar plugin. Since we had our site backups readily available, this was a quick and easy process.

In other WordPress community news, Automattic (the company behind WordPress.com) announced a beta program for VaultPress, an online, automated method of backing up and securing your WordPress-based website.

The beta plans start at $15/month and include protection for the entire WordPress environment, including the WordPress files (theme, plugins, options), content (posts, photos, videos, audio files), and all comments. Implementation is via Vaultpress plug-in.

As part of WWDC, Apple also hands out a number of design awards. If you have any applications you would like to nominate for a design award then you can do so here.

• The merge with WordPress Multi-User (and multisite capabilities)
• Better support for custom post types
• Better menu management
• New default theme “Twenty Ten” (preview here)
• Custom Navigation
• Custom Backgrounds
• Choose username for the first account, rather than using ‘admin’
• New template files for custom post types
• Author specific templates
• jQuery updated to 1.4.2

The code merge between “normal” WordPress and WordPress MU is a major undertaking. This will also allow BuddyPress to officially be installed on non-multiuser sites. The new default theme and ability to easily modify backgrounds should allow non-designers to create a nice custom site without having to know too much about theme design. The WooNav addition looks great and the elimination of the default admin user is something we talked about in our last post on WordPress security.

This will be a major release that should be tested in a non-production environment before being deployed on your server. 318 will be ready to help you with this upgrade when it’s released – call us at 877.318.1318 to schedule an appointment today!

After reading Sarah Gooding’s WPMU.org article, 7 Quick Strategies to Beef Up Your Security, we decided to take a look at our own WordPress settings here on the 318 Tech Journal.

Deleting the Default Admin User

Creating a new user with admin permissions, then logging in as that user and deleting the default “admin” account is great advice. Just make sure you assign all of the old admin users posts and links to the new account. Another caveat, if you are using the WPG2 plugin with a Gallery2 installation, make sure to remove the Gallery2 user links before deleting the old admin account.

Don’t Use the Default “wp_” Table Prefix

SQL injection attacks are very real, and this tip can help mitigate risk of infection. The WP Security Scan plug-in mentioned in the WPMU.org article has a built-in tool to help automate this change, but it can also lock you out of your dashboard. The trick is to make sure each user’s meta_key settings in the usermeta table match whatever prefix you choose:

wp_capabilities –> newprefix_capabilities
wp_usersettings –> newprefix_usersettings
wp_usersettingstime –> newprefix_usersettingstime
wp_user_level –> newprefix_user_level

Whitelisting Access to wp-admin by IP Address

This is typically done via .htaccess files and the AskApache Password Protection For WordPress plug-in mentioned in the WPMU.org article can help get the settings correct, although that plug-in has specific server requirements in order to run (it will run some tests for you to see if your server qualifies). If you do set this up, beware of dynamic IP address changes, which can lock you out in the future.

Other Items to Consider

• Consider using a local MySQL application like Sequel Pro or the command line mysql tools for database configuration instead of public web-facing tools like phpMyAdmin. If you do use PMA, you should lock down access as much as possible using .htaccess controls (or other methods).
• Tools like the WP Security Scan plug-in mentioned above or Donncha O Caoimh’s WordPress Exploit Scanner plug-in can help identify file permission issues in your WordPress setup.
• Using SSH/SFTP instead of FTP to access your server is always good advice, even when you are using whitelists.
• Stay up to date on both WordPress core files and all of your plug-ins.

318 is here to help you with all of your WordPress needs – call us today at 877.318.1318!

The 1.5 version of the Google Apps connector for Blackberry has now been released. This update brings maturity, additional capacity and overall performance enhancements. But most importantly, it can be run on 64-bit operating systems. You can also now use BlackBerry Professional with the Google Apps Connector for BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

If your organization is considering a move to Google Apps, contact 318 now and we can help to plan the transition; whether from Exchange or Lotus Notes or even good ‘ole postfix, 318 is here to help!

As partners of Research in Motion, Microsoft and Apple, 318 would be happy to work with you to formulate a unified strategy for managing, application development and application delivery for your mobile enterprise – no matter the platform.

Within the Citrix product line you will now be able to provision a thin client-based application and achieve the agility that business units want without the commitment to a specific platform. This means that if your users want Windows Mobile or an iPhone you can publish an application, tailored to their screens and with Dazzle, you can give them the option to choose which applications they want to access, making application provisioning easier for many environments. Because a thin client leaves all of its data on the server, the lack of full disk encryption becomes less of an issue with the iPhone as you can choose to sandbox your business critical data into thin client environments. And finally, you can go to market with solutions that can enhance your business faster in many cases, by leveraging existing efforts and resources.

Overall, we’re happy to add Citrix Receiver in our own portfolio of product offerings. We can now go into any development opportunity with even more options: begin a new application (fat client), deploy a mobile-specific web-based application or bring a thin client solution to the table. From an application lifecycle, being able to look at the iPhone in a similar fashion to how we look at Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X is key to maximizing the capacity an organization towards their the business potential.

Oracle doesn’t just get hardware and Solaris though.  This move also solidifies a plan for Oracle customers to integrate Sun storage.  Oracle had previously been working with HP in a partnership that never seemed to gain traction.  Then there is Java, MySQL, VirtualBox, GlassFish and OpenOffice.org.  A number of the Sun contributions will be Open Source projects, but overall it’s possible to see a strategy that can emerge from a new Oracle + Sun organization.

As a Sun partner, 318 can assist its clients through this transition, be it with storage, MySQL, Java, Solaris or Oracle middleware scripting.  Overall, this deal makes a lot of sense and 318 is behind doing whatever possible to ease our clients through the transition.

Finally, for those concerned that Oracle might just be buying Sun to kill off MySQL, keep in mind that the Open Source community built MySQL in the first place (or was integral to building it) and it can build another in its place just as easily, this time faster and with less required legacy support.  MySQL is not a fluke.  PostgreSQL or a newer solution will take its place if MySQL were to fall by the wayside under the Oracle helm. Oracle is not going to make MySQL into a martyr of sorts, and is going to want to capitalize on their investment (a Billion dollar purchase by Sun and obviously part of this purchase); especially with a clear business plan for MySQL to be profitable (which is why Sun bought them for such a lofty price in the first place). Overall, Oracle has no reason to kill MySQL; instead, with Siebel, MySQL, Oracle, PeopleSoft, etc – they can simply tout “All Your Databasen Are Belong To Us!”

Facebook seems to be more and more popular by the day. 318 has had a group on Facebook for a couple of years, and managed the Mac OS X Server group and the Xsan group, amongst others. Now we’ve added a fan page as well! Check it out here and become a fan.

The new Ubuntu installer comes with a new utility called Wubi. Wubi can run as a Windows application, which means that Windows users will be able to more easily transition and learn about Ubuntu. Wubi can perform a full installation of Ubuntu as a file on a Windows hard drive. This means that you no longer need to install a second drive or perform complicated partitioning on an existing drive. When you boot up Ubuntu the system reads and writes to the disk image as though it were a standard drive letter, much like VMWare would do. Ubuntu can also be uninstalled as though it were a standard Windows application using Add/Remove Programs.

The new application set is solid. Firefox 3.0 comes pre-installed. Brasero provides an easier interface for burning CDs and DVDs. PulseAudio now gets installed by default (which is arguably a questionable decision but we found it worked great for us). The Transmission BitTorrent client is now included by default. Vinagre provides a very nice and streamlined VNC client for remote administration (although the latency for remote users is still a bit of a pain compared to the Microsoft RDP protocol). Inkscape has always been easy to install and use, but the popular Adobe Illustrator-like application it now comes bundled with Ubuntu.

In order to play nicer in the enterprise, the security infrastructure of Ubuntu has also had a nice upgrade. The Active Directory plug-in is provided using Likewise Open (unlike Mac OS X which sees a custom package specifically for this purpose). There is a new PolicyKit which provides policies similar to GPOs in Windows or MCX in Mac OS X. The default settings in 8.04 are also chosen with a bit more of a security mindset. New memory protection is built into 8.04, primarily to make exploits harder to uncover and prevent rootkits. Finally, UFW (uncomplicated firewall) is now built into the system to make firewall administration more accessible to the everyday *nix fan.

Network Administrators will be impressed by the inclusion of many new features. KVM is included in the Kernel and lib-virt and virtmanager are provided to make Ubuntu a very desirable virtualization platform. iSCSI support provides more targets with which to store those virtual machines and also expanded storage for those larger filers (eg – using Samba 3). Postfix and Dovecot provide a standardized mail server infrastructure out of the box. CUPS in 8.04 now supports Bonjour and Zeroconf protocols as well as the solid standbys of SMB, LPD, JetDirect and of course IPP. Those building web servers will be happy to see Apache 2, PHP 5, Perl, Python and Ruby on Rails (with GEM) and of course Sun Open JDK (community supported). If you need the database side of things there’s MySQL, Postgresql, DB2 and Oracle Database Express.

However, if you are just starting out keep in mind that Ubuntu Server does not come with a windowing system by default – so beef up those command line skills sooner rather than later! We are also still waiting for a roadmap for integrating much of the more Enterprise or Network-oriented packages. For example, we now have the PolicyKit and a solid Active Directory client. But how do we push out en masse the policies that we want our users to have post imaging?

So if you use Ubuntu or are interested in getting to know the Linux platform then 8.04 is likely a great move. It’s solid, stable and much improved over 7. It’s easier to migrate, virtualize and work in. The developers should be proud!

So first impressions? Office Live Workspace doesn’t let you edit documents. Anyone who has used Google Docs or Zoho is going to be looking for that feature. There is a nice plug-in that is free that allows you to save up to 500 Megabytes of new or existing files into the Workspace portal as well as edit documents that are actually located on the portal. You can also create multiple locations for others to access, called workspaces and sync task lists or online events with Microsoft Outlook (a feature most Outlook Web Access users are already using). If you don’t have Office though, you can only view files and create notes about them. Changes are automatically synchronized so you can easily work while offline without a lot of headache.

There’s also SharedView. SharedView is part of Microsoft Office Live Workspace and gives other users the ability to view or take over your desktop as part of the collaboration benefits of Microsoft Office Live Workspace. This is already available through other Microsoft technologies, but this is a little more user friendly and nicely ties together with the document editing process.

All in all, users of Microsoft Office just got a host of new features with the Microsoft Office Live Workspace. So we might as well take use of this new technology since Microsoft was so nice to give it to us. However, if we’re looking for something that mirrors the functionality of Google Docs then this isn’t it. It’s more of meeting half-way between Google Docs and Microsoft Office.

Ruby is an object-oriented program language that Rails is built on.  To access rails, you can use the rails command.

The Ruby on Rails framework is built into Leopard Server and can be started up using the mongrel_rails start command. It can be stopped using the mongrel_rails command. Mongrel is a fast HTTP library and server for Ruby. Mongrel_rails is a command line tool that can be used to control the Mongrel webserver.

Some options to the mongrel_rails command include the following:
-d daemonize
-p assign a custom port
-a assign an address for the HTTP listener
-l assign a log file to use
-t customize the timeout variable
-m use additional MIME types
-r change the document root
-B enable debugging
-C use a configuration file
-S define an additional config script
-h access the help libraries
-G generate a config file
–user define who the server will run as
–version get the version information for Mongrel

But that’s not all you can do with mongrel_rails. The actual file is not compiled so you can read it in clear text and learn more about what it is doing behind the scenes. Just cd into the /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0.1/bin/ folder to find it. One item of note is the inclusion of mongrel_rails_persist, a wrapper for mongrel_rails that allows admins to register the Mongrel Server with Bonjour and create a launchd plist to run Mongrel (/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.persist.portnnnn.mongrel_rails_server.plist).

So let’s say that you have a Ruby application that lives at the following location /Library/WebServer/MyRubyApp. You can run the following command to launch it over port 8001 in a persistent manner:
mongrel_rails_persist start -p 8001 -c /Library/WebServer/MyRubyApp

To access it from a web browser you would enter the address http://servername.domainname.com:8001

From here you’ll be able to daemonize Mongrel and provide the Rails development framework to developers in your environment. There are already a lot of projects for using Ruby with FileMaker and other database systems, so keep an eye out for more information about this piece of Leopard Server!

This was the foundation for the web. Apache, the most popular web server in use, is a product of the open source community. Recently, due to a large pool of code to draw upon and the entry into the open source community of many proprietary products we have been seeing a lot of advancements coming at a more rapid rate than ever. OpenOffice.org, a project for replacing Microsoft Office, Eclipse, a project supposedly named because they were going to “eclipse” Sun and a list almost as long as the postings on SourceForge.net (a popular site for open source software) have emerged.

This is changing the way people write code. Programmers today are often charged with assembling and integrating code more than they are actually writing new code. Many organizations have seen that by using code repositories online and in some cases searchable is more efficient than writing new code. In many cases, software developers and architects spend more time finding, downloading and evaluating available code than anything else.

Some programmers sell their code, but many just post it online giving back to the community that helped them find code they have been using and in some cases learn their craft. Finding the appropriate code for a given task and making sure that the licensing and documentation is taken care of can be a tough task. This is where a new type of search engine comes into play. Koders.com currently offers over 225,000,000 lines of code for languages including PHP, Python, SQL and many others. Krugle is another search engine that offers much more information on code although it is currently in beta. If you would rather pay for your ability to search code you can sign up for the protexIP/OnDemand service with Black Duck. Anyone who will be writing a lot of code should get to know all their options for trolling around for code.

In very general terms, Web 2.0 is commonly referred to as the upsurge in development of web-based services and applications utilizing open-source development platforms such as Ruby on Rails and Ajax. Which doesn’t really mean very much to, you and me, the non-developer community, except that what these developmental tools actually allow us to do on the internet are shaping up to be rather interesting prospects, indeed. For instance, last year, using their own Ruby on Rails technology, a company called 37 signals, released a completely internet-based project management and collaboration suite called Basecamp. For a rather nominal licensing fee, small businesses can manage projects and the people assigned to them in real-time, all within a web-browser. No more confusing licensing issues with project management software. One licensing fee, unlimited users. That’s it. Simple, easy. It’s the perfect example of what many developers are banking on. No more confusing licensing issues and expensive support.

What makes this technology so alluring, besides cost-effectiveness, is the collaborative capabilities inherent in tagging technology. In a nutshell, “tagging” or “Wiki” is the ability for users to link information to make it available to whomever they see fit. For example, Flickr.com, one of the more successful Web 2.0 outcroppings, gives users the ability to upload their pictures to their own personal Flickr website. They then tag their pictures, inserting keywords that describe the picture, which are then enabled as hyperlinks, making them searchable to other users that have similar tags. Other users have the ability to tag your photos, if you so desire. Allowing you to accept or deny these tags, thereby giving your pictures less or more visibility depending on what your level of participation might be. Essentially, the more you contribute, the more visible you become.

Taking online collaboration to a more global level, Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia, allows registered users to contribute to articles in encyclopedic entries, essentially tagging them with additional information they deem important to that article. Volunteers, or Wikipedians, as they’re referred to in the wiki-sphere, edit these entries and collaborate on whether they should be included or not. True global collaboration.

But this technology is not just reserved for the internet. Software developers are feverishly developing web 2.0 applications for the enterprise. SocialText, a Palo Alto based developer has just released server software that will facilitate easy online collaboration for documents and projects in an enterprise environment. Companies like design firms and media firms that rely heavily on collaboration for the success of their enterprise will probably want to take a good hard look at these kinds of collaborative solutions. Another interesting development comes from Joyent, a Marin County, CA start-up that is targeting small businesses with a completely web-based network server solution, literally, in a box. For just around $5K and a $65 monthly service fee for updates and support, this “out-of-the-box” server plugs into a company’s intranet and via a web-browser, hosts email, file-sharing, contact management, and calendar publishing, with tagging supported across the whole suite allowing for a true online collaborative environment.

If this kind of solution catches on, software development of this sort won’t be going away any time soon and is the stuff that might make server giants such as Microsoft and Apple rethink their strategies toward the small business market. Web 2.0 is still in its infancy; we’ll have to wait and see which of the many services and technologies being offered catch on and which will waste away in the cloud of cyberspace obscurity. But one thing is for certain, Web 2.0 development is paving the road for the future of online collaboration and productivity.

1. Download the last stable release of AWStats from www.awstats.org to your desktop.
2. In the Finder, navigate to /var/log/httpd
3. Backup and remove any old web logs.
4. Open Server Admin.
5. Select Web:Settings:Modules
6. Make sure the “perl_module” and “php4_module” are enabled.
7. Click Save.
8. Select the “Sites” pane.
9. Double-click the entry for the site you are going to enable stats on.
10. Select the “Options” pane.
11. Enable CGI Execution and Server Side Includes (SSI).
12. Click Save.
13. Select the “Realms” pane.
14. Create a new Realm called “awstats_data” in the site’s root directory or “Web Folder”. If necessary, within the Finder, navigate to the /Library/WebServer/Documents directory and create a new folder called “awstats_data”. (i.e. /Library/WebServer/Documents/awstats_data).
15. Enable Browse/Author access for the local Administrator and the “www” user only.
16. Click Save.
17. Select the “Logging” pane.
18. Change the access logging Format to “combined”
19. Change the access log Location to /var/log/httpd/awstats_access_log
20. Change the error log Location to /var/log/httpd/awstats_error_log
21. Click Save.
22. Select the “Aliases” pane and add 127.0.0.1 as an alias.
23. Click Save.
24. Click the left-arrow icon to exit Editing the site.
25. Make sure the site is enabled and Web Services are running.
26. Open Workgroup Manager.
27. Verify ACLs are enabled on the volume containing the “awstats_data” directory you created earlier.
28. Change the posix permissions of the “awstats_data” directory to allow Read/Write access for the admin group.
29. Create an ACL to allow Read/Write access for the “www” user.
30. Click Save.
31. Close Server Admin and Workgroup Manager.
32. Expand the awstats.zip downloaded from awstats.org to your desktop.
33. Create a new folder named “awstats” in the /Library/WebServer directory.
34. Copy the contents of ~/Desktop/awstats-6.5/ to /Library/WebServer/awstats
35. Open a Terminal session.
36. Type cd /Library/WebServer/awstats/tools
37. Press Return
38. Type sudo perl awstats_config.pl
39. Follow the prompts…

—– AWStats awstats_configure 1.0 (build 1.6) (c) Laurent Destailleur —–
This tool will help you to configure AWStats to analyze statistics for
one web server. You can try to use it to let it do all that is possible
in AWStats setup, however following the step by step manual setup
documentation (docs/index.html) is often a better idea. Above all if:
- You are not an administrator user,
- You want to analyze downloaded log files without web server,
- You want to analyze mail or ftp log files instead of web log files,
- You need to analyze load balanced servers log files,
- You want to ‘understand’ all possible ways to use AWStats…
Read the AWStats documentation (docs/index.html).

—–> Running OS detected: Mac OS

—–> Check for web server install
Found Web server Apache config file ‘/etc/httpd/httpd.conf’

—–> Check and complete web server config file ‘/etc/httpd/httpd.conf’
AWStats directives already present.

—–> Update model config file ‘/Library/WebServer/awstats/wwwroot/cgi-bin/awstats.model.conf’
File awstats.model.conf updated.

—–> Need to create a new config file ?
Do you want me to build a new AWStats config/profile
40. file (required if first install) [y/N] ? y

—–> Define config file name to create
What is the name of your web site or profile analysis ?
Example: www.mysite.com
Example: demo
Your web site, virtual server or profile name:
41. site.domain.com

—–> Create config file ‘/Library/WebServer/awstats/wwwroot/cgi-bin/awstats.site.domain.com.conf’
Config file /Library/WebServer/awstats/wwwroot/cgi-bin/awstats.site.domain.com.conf created.

—–> Add update process inside a scheduler
Sorry, configure.pl does not support automatic add to cron yet.
You can do it manually by adding the following command to your cron:
/Library/WebServer/CGI-Executables/awstats.pl -update -config=site.domain.com
Or if you have several config files and prefer having only one command:
/Library/WebServer/Documents/tools/awstats_updateall.pl now
42. Press ENTER to continue…

A SIMPLE config file has been created: /Library/WebServer/awstats/wwwroot/cgi-bin/awstats.site.domain.com.conf
You should have a look inside to check and change manually main parameters.
You can then manually update your statistics for site.domain.com’ with command:
> sudo perl awstats.pl -update -config=site.domain.com
You will also read your statistics for ‘site.domain.com’ with URL:
> http://localhost/cgi-bin/awstats.pl?config=site.domain.com

43. Press ENTER to finish…
44. Edit the awstats.site.domain.com.conf file (in your favorite text editor, as root) and add these lines or augment existing lines for these variables.
LogFile=”/var/log/httpd/awstats_access_log”
LogType=W
LogFormat=1
SiteDomain=”site.domain.com”
DirData=”/Library/WebServer/Documents/awstats_data”
DirCgi=”/Library/WebServer/CGI-Executables”
DirIcons=”/icon”
AllowToUpdateStatsFromBrowser=1
AllowFullYearView=3
46. Move the remaining contents of /Library/WebServer/awstats/wwwroot to /Library/WebServer/Documents
47. Move the “tools” directory of /Library/WebServer/awstats to /Library/WebServer/Documents
48. Open Terminal
49. Type cd /Library/Webserver/CGI-Executables/
50. Type sudo perl awstats.pl -update -config=site.domain.com
51. From the server, open a browser and go to the site http://localhost/cgi-bin/awstats.pl?config=site.domain.com
52. If you see the data then you know that both your configuration and log file format is good.
53. Now it’s time to tell the system to update awstats on a regular basis.
Create a CRON job to run the command /Library/WebServer/CGI-Executables/awstats.pl -update -config=site.domain.com

1. Create a database in MySQL called wikidb.
2. Create a new user called wikiserver that has full priviledges to this database (the user does not need to be called wikiserver, but that is the username we will be using for this walkthrough).
3. Download the latest stable release of MediaWiki from http://mediawiki.sourceforge.net.
4. Extract the tar files into a new folder (for this example we are going to call it wiki to keep things easy). This can be done using the tar -xvzf mediawiki.tar.gz (or subsititute your file name for mediawiki.tar.gz
5. Make the configuration files writeable using the command chmod a+w config while in the new wiki folder
6. Move the wiki folder onto a web server
7. From your web server, visit the site 127.0.0.1/wiki or the subfolder that you placed the wiki files into
8. At the MediaWiki Installation page, you will either see a notice that you can install MediaWiki or a notice that your system does not meet the minimum requirements for installion. If your system does not meet the requirements, install the modules that are listed. If it does, move on to the next steps
9. At the MediaWiki Installation page, scroll down to the Site Config section. Here, fill in the fields for:
a. Wiki name: The name assigned to your wiki.
b. Conact e-mail: Displayed when error notices are encountered.
c. Language: The language to be used for your Wiki
d. Copyright: The copyright type, typically leave this as the default setting
e. Admin Username: The username to use for administering the Wiki
f. Admin Password: The password to use for administering the Wiki
g. Shared Memory caching: Decide whether to use memcached
10. Fill in the appropriate values for the Email and authentication setup section:
a. Email (General): Enable or disable the global use of email for your Wiki
b. User-to-User email: Allow users to email one another
c. Email Notification: Allows users to be notified if there is a change in a folder or page
d. Email Authentication: Enable email authentication for the wiki. Sends request for users to click a link to authenticate into the wiki.
11. Database Configuration options:
a. Database Type: Most users use MySQL, but Oracle is an option as well, although experimental.
b. SQLServerHost: The address of the MySQL Server. If MySQL is on the system you are currently using then leave this field as localhost.
c. Database Name: The name of the database you will be using in MySQL to store your wiki’s data.
d. DB Username: If you used wikiserver in step 2 then use wikiserver here; otherwise use the username you chose in step 2.
e. DB Password: The password you assigned for your wikidb user.
f. Database Table Prefix: Use this option if you would like to share you will be using other tables within the wiki database for other applications.
g. Database Character set: leave this as defualt unless you will be using
h. Superuser account: The MySQL SuperUser account – typically root
i. Superuser Password: The MySQL SuperUser or root account password
12. Click on Install MediaWiki!
13. Move the LocalSettings.php file from the /config directory of the wiki installation into the root directory of the wiki installation
14. Go to the http://127.0.0.1/wiki folder and the default Main MediaWiki page will open
15. Customize the wiki to work for your organization

Podcasting is the latest evolutionary branch of the iPod. With Podcasting, anyone with an iPod can download and listen to books, editorials, unofficial museum walkthroughs, and a variety of other audio commentaries.

In it’s simplest from, Podcasting is simply an audio download from a website. Utilizing a few new web technologies, iTunes now can check the site for new content, and automatically download it into your iPod. Many industries have taken advantage of this technology to provide news services to their clients. For example, several software companies publish Podcasts informing clients of upcoming products, or company events. Many companies and people are creating unofficial talk radio stations, with topics ranging from tutorials and techniques to simple editorials voicing their opinions.

Three18 is well versed in Podcasting, and the underlying technologies. If you feel that your company could benefit from Podcasting, or you would like more information, feel free to contact any staff member.