May 2007

Rails on OSX tip: MySQL access

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After wasting lots of time trying to get a database connecting to Rails on my MacPro at work I finally found the magic combination for MySQL.

  • Install MySQL.
  • Install the MySQL GUI Tools set.
  • Using the MySQL Administrator from the GUI Tools add a new user.
  • When adding permissions for the use set the hostname to be "(computername).local", e.g. "mymac.local".

It is that last part that had me pulling my hair out - using just "%" didn't work for me, it had to be "(computername).local". Silly thing.

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Why IT magazines are worthless (updated)

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Today the Harry McCracken, editor-in-chief of PC World magazine, resigned because he was unhappy with the company's new CEO pushing the magazine to be "nicer" to vendors who advertise in the magazine rather than being honest in their reviews & coverage. That pretty much sums up my feelings on the whole IT industry print media - it's all a circlefudge, everyone patting themselves on the back afraid to say anything that might upset the applecart, and I applaud Mr McCracken for standing up against it.

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Apache+SSL for Windows

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There's a site called Apache Lounge that has put together a collection of binary files for Apache for Windows. What's notable about these is the inclusion of the SSL module, which the Apache Foundation don't distribute in their Windows binaries anymore. Along with the core Apache install they also have some some plugins/modules for Apache that are worth using - a log rotator (so that the traffic log doesn't fill your drive), an interesting looking security plugin, and updated plugins for PHP and Perl.

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Rails tip - run FCGI if you can't do Mongrel

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A small tip, but one I just encountered. If your web hosting provider can't allow you to set up a nice proxied Mongrel cluster, your best bet is to use the FastCGI (aka "FCGI") interface to Apache as the plain-Jane CGI interface is just slow as a dog. I ran into this little issue when using RedMine for my project management, and let me tell you it was slow. Well, it finally dawned on me to take a look see if it was using CGI or FCGI - low and behold by default it is set to use CGi, no wonder it was so slow!

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Goldberg - turn-key user auth & CMS for Rails

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One of Rails' most commonly mentioned faults is the lack of a turn-key user authentication & content management system as part of the standard install. While a good point, there are a number of open-source projects that have stepped up to the plate to fill this gap. After looking around for some time I've found one which I suspect I'll be using often: Goldberg.

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Apache commercial support

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Many corporations require that all software used have a commercial support structure available to cope with worst-case scenarios. Typically many open-source applications in use today don't have support available from the core development team, and the ubiquitous Apache HTTPd web server is no different. To the rescue is the company Covalent who can provide not only support for several of the Apache products but also make a customized bundle available of Apache HTTPd, Tomcat and several other applications.

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Apache log rotation on Windows (update)

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Way back when I wrote how to do log rotation for Apache on Windows. Well, as it turns out there's a better way that is available with the recent discover of ApacheLounge.org - there's a module/plugin for Apache that can do log rotation automagically called mod_log_rotate that'll be easier to use and won't leave tonnes of zombie tasks running if you restart Apache. Much nicer.

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Migrate SSL certs from IIS to Apache

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Migrating away from IIS feels like taking a breath of air on a cool, crisp morning - it is thoroughly invigorating and refreshes your entire body^H^H^H^Hserver. Aside from the basic site configuration, the only tricky part is getting the SSL certificates out of IIS and into Apache. As it turns out there are only a few short steps - export the certificate out of IIS, run three commands in DOS and then hook 'em up in your httpd.conf!

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Site DNS updating

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I'm migrating the DNS to a different facility, so please bare with us during this minor migration. The change is being done in a two-step process, first I updated the DNS so that the new nameservers were listed along with the old ones, then I'm going to remove the old ones. This should ensure that there isn't a blip period where the site is unavailable.

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Microsoft drops key features from another product

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In yet another astonishing move, Microsoft has just announced that it's upcoming virtualization system, Windows Server Virtualization, will be missing three of the key reasons businesses were anticipating it: live migrations of running virtual machines between servers, "hot" system resource upgrades (i.e. increase the amount of RAM designated to a VM while it is still running), and support for more than 16 CPU cores (spread over however many physical CPUs there happen to be).

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