I've been on leave... give me a break!

Several hundred photos to sort through. I'll get to all that this week some time, perhaps.

I'll update this page shortly.

I walked into the WOW Superstore this afternoon and lo and behold they had video clips of Roxette playing on their TV screens. Being a Roxette fan I thought, "I gotta have that" so picked up the DVD which has the entire collection, 1987 - 2001, for under $10. BARGAIN!
So I'm typing this listening to the strains of Marie singing "Dressed for Success". Ah, those were the days, big hair and even bigger shoulder pads.
Now I guess you thought that Roxette had fallen off the face of the Earth a long time ago. Well, actually they're still producing music, and rather good stuff if you ask me. But then I'm biased. For the latest goss you can visit the Daily Roxette...or just Google them.

Room Service in 2001 was their last new material album, since then there has been a number of "Greatest Hits" type CD's. This albums first track "Real Sugar" is a typical 80's Roxette sound. The final track "My world, my love, my life" is probably the best song on the album. Per and Marie have both had successful solo careers staying mainly in Europe

I have always liked Marie's voice, powerful yet subtle, and I think it's getting better as she gets ...how do you say older without offending a woman?
Here's hoping they continue on for a while yet.

Pearls of Passion - 1986
Look Sharp - 1988
Joyride - 1991
Tourism - 1992
Crash Boom Bang - 1994
Don't bore us, get us to the Chorus - 1995
Have a nice Day - 1999
Tourism - 2001

There are other remixes and best of's.

I also picked up a few Led Zepplin's and Pink Floyd's as I slowly replace tapes with CD's

Tags: music

I probably shouldn't have ridden to work. Lack of sleep was causing my brain to wander. This is not a good thing when you're on a motorcycle.

Screaming my way to work I had visions of my first coffee for the day.
Sitting my helmet in the usual place, I made a statement something to the effect of "I'm not thinking straight, I need a coffee".

I walk to the lift. I enter and push the button.

Nothing.

I push the button again.

Still nothing.

Oh for crying out loud, what is wrong with this damn thing. Then the doors close. Finally!

Nothing.

WTF???

I press the button again.

Still nothing.

Ok losing patience really fast now. I start pushing the button furiously and then realise...

I'm pushing the 4.

I'm on level 4.

SMACK.

Malbec is originally from France, and these days is primarily used as a blending grape for Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon wines. However, it's been flourishing in South America where it gets the needed sun and warmth to do really well.

Casillero del Diablo from Chile has released a Malbec which is quite wonderful. There are three versions 2004, 2005 and 2006. In the glass it is a dark ruby red and smells particularly french with undertones of Dubonnet (rouge variety). On the tongue this version of Malbec is fresh, fruity with berry flavours and it's obvious why this grape is used to boost Merlots. While you can taste the tannins on the side of the tongue, this Malbec is still rather smooth for it's rusticity.

This wine is definitely for red meat and tomatoes, and while rather full-bodied you could probably get away with chilling. I'm not a fan of chilling red wines as I believe their flavours are best released at room temperature, but give this one a go if you like cold reds.

Updated 27 September 2007:
Casillero del Diablo also has an excellent 2004 Cab Sav.

Updated 23 October 2007:
I have just tried the 2005 Shiraz.. not bad, not bad at all.

Tags: wines

"If I have to explain why money is bad, you're clearly going to have trouble understanding it."

Quote: Craig Chapman (aka Chapmaan)

I had to include the above quote because I think it's one of the best I've seen that didn't come from someone considered famous. He may end up being famous.

I had an interesting problem a few weeks ago with an IDM 3.0.1 driver on one of my NetWare 6.5 servers. While all drivers in the driver set on the particular server were set to auto-start, one of them refused to do so. After doing some digging it appears that drivers start in the order of creation time. The first driver created is the first to load. I verified this by looking at the driver logs. The driver I was having trouble with, was the first driver created in this driver set.

So what could be causing the first driver to fail to start but the second, and subsequent others, to load just fine?

The core of IDM is DIRXML.NLM which is loaded automatically by DS.NLM which is in turn automatically loaded when the SYS: volume is mounted. Working backwards, IDM uses JAVA to run the drivers. So if JAVA is not loaded or finished loading by the time DIRXML is trying to load the drivers it will fail. In my case, DIRXML was loading the first driver before JAVA was ready.

But if it's all loading automatically how do you ensure JAVA is ready for DIRXML?

Easy.

DS.NLM is loading DIRXML.NLM, so if you rename DIRXML.NLM to DIRXMLA.NLM, DS will not be able to find it and not load it. Now that we have stopped DIRXML from loading we need to wait for JAVA to finish. This is accomplished by ensuring load statements for JAVA (tomcat) are as early in the AUTOEXEC.NCF file as possible. Then add a DELAY command at the end of the AUTOEXEC.NCF, followed by the load command for the DIRXMLA.NLM file. Something like this...

DELAY 30
LOAD DIRXMLA.NLM

DELAY 30 will put a pause in the execution for 30 seconds before continuing with the next line. This should be plenty of time for JAVA to finish loading.

DIRXMLA.NLM will then load and start all the drivers.

As simple as that.

Tags: Novell, IDM, Identity Manager

This particular drop is a lovely drinking wine, either immediately or after a year or two. It has a rich flavour that rolls off the tounge, with a touch of wood that isn't over powering.

I discovered this one while in South Africa drinking my way through the wine region of the Western Cape. I actually brought back a couple of bottles that I managed to hang on to for over 3 years. Then, after sampling, they were consumed at a great rate of knots.

Nederberg was established in 1791 and is considered South Africa's most prized winery. For those of you who have trouble visualising timeframes, when did Captain Cook plant the Union Jack in the sands of the Australian coast? ...that would be 1788. So, as you can see, Nederberg has been around for a while and almost as long as this country of ours.

This red compliments red meat dishes really well, like steak, casseroles, stews etc. Or just drink it on it's own.. I do.

I have tried the 2001 (pictured), the 2004 and the 2006 versions of this red. The '01 and '04 were/are superlative and while the '06 is very good, it wouldn't hurt putting it down for a few years. Being as it's now 2007, give it another 12 months.

Tags: wines

...now if it had been a once off I would have thought nothing of it. But it's now happened to me a number of times. What is it with car drivers that makes them want to wash their windscreen when a motorcycle is behind them?
Do they think it's funny?
Do they get some kind of obscene pleasure from firing their misaligned jets of sudsy water at riders who have a hard enough time as it is trying to read drivers minds and anticipate every split second last minute lane change that brings threat to life and limb? Is it like listening to running water that makes the "bladder control" challenged go dashing for the nearest latrine? Is this phenomenon like the sudden urge to go?
If it is then, for God's sake cross your friggin legs and HOLD IT!
I just hope the light turns red on the next driver who showers me in sudsy water and bug splats so I get a chance to "thank" them in person.

I was told recently by a friend of mine (in jest) that I perhaps, had an impeccable taste in Wine. Well, I'll take the compliment however it was intended because I like wine and I won't pass up an opportunity to try another glass, bottle, whatever.

It was during an IT deployment project that we discovered this lovely drop. As I'm sure you'll agree, IT deployments require the extended sampling of the local fare and I first tried this light Chardonnay at a restaurant along the Noosa River (name forgotten sorry) back in 2004. I won't reveal how many bottles were consumed, needless to say this particular wine has become a favorite.

All attempts to buy a carton failed and it seemed that the label had dropped off the face of the earth. However, every couple of months I'd do an internet search and the last one has paid off. It seems that Ashwood Grove Chardonnay is back.

Tags: wines

I was introduced to this very drinkable Gin about 7 years ago and so far it cannot be surpassed in quality, in my opinion.

Beautifully presented in a sapphire coloured bottle with acid etching pictorials of the key ingredients down the sides, this top shelf drop can be enjoyed on it's own over ice or with a splash of tonnic (my preference).

I'm sure James Bond insisted his martini's were made with this blue gem.

Tags: spirits

So for one reason or another you need to move your GroupWise post-office to a new server. I have used the following process with GW7 but there should be no reason you can't use it with version 5.x and 6.x. The key is to do it in a test environment first, in case things turn pear-shaped. If your GroupWise system is using UNC paths for access links between the agents, I recommend you change this now to TCP links. The GroupWise documentation covers this.

You're going to need to bring down the MTA and POA to do this so pick a time when people aren't needing the system urgently.
We work in I.T. We're used to doing the late shift... aren't we?

First things first. Know a little about your GW system. Are your POA's, MTA's etc configured for TCP links or UNC paths? Also know where your log files are currently going and where to change this information.

1. Shutdown the MTA and POA. If you have more than 1 post office in your domain, shut the others down also.

2. Copy the PO data to the new location.
You can use whatever you like. I'm lucky, my PO resides on a SAN LUN so it can be easily pointed at any server with a HBA. But you can use XCOPY, DBCOPY, even the Server Migration Utility. While the copy is occurring carry on with the next steps.

3. Edit the post-office object in ConsoleOne and change the UNC path to reflect the new location.

4. Edit the post-office agent in ConsoleOne and change the network address to reflect the new server. You can also change the port if required. Check the log file UNC path to ensure it's still valid and change if necessary. I like to keep logs local to the post-office so I change this to reflect a path on the local server.

5. Select the Domain MTA and edit the Link configuration of the post-office in ConsoleOne to reflect the network address and port of the new server. Save this.

6. Edit the links for your Web Access Gateway if you use it, to reflect the new server network address. Save this.

7. Edit the links for your GWIA to reflect the new server network address. Save this.

8. If your NGWNameserver DNS entry points to the old server, make sure you update this information if required.

9. Load the MTA for the domain if the data copy has completed.

10. Rename and rebuild all post-offices in the domain and reload the agents on their respective servers. (I have two post-offices in the domain and until I had rebuilt the second post-office it wouldn't redirect clients to the moved post-office)

11. From the MTA Agent screen press F10 and view the configuration information. Ensure it reflects the changed network address/port of the new server for the PO in question.

12. Test.

As mentioned previously I assume the use of TCP links rather than UNC between the different agents. If you use UNC paths the process is the same except you will need to ensure the /USER-userid has the required filesystem rights to the new post-office location.

LINUX. If you're running your GW system on Linux the process is the same. But rather than use the MTA agent screens that appear on NetWare, you will need to use the web consoles for your agents.

I highly recommend you run up a test environment and test your proposed course of action.

Tags: Novell, groupwise, Netware

While this doesn't apply specifically to Novell, it's what I've been playing with.

Thanks to Eddie for being a ready-reference, you're a LEGEND!

I had to extend our eDirectory schema at work with an auxiliary class for the Users. Easily done. However actually extending all the user objects with the new class information was a little more challenging...only slightly. Yes it can be done in C1 and iManager but I needed to do this to 21,000 users at once as well as apply some attribute values.

LDAP to the rescue.

Using a text editor and C1 you can easily manipulate values in a Directory using the power of LDAP. This doesn't just apply to eDirectory, you can do similar things with MAD or any LDAP directory. This is how I did it.

1. Backup your Directory

2. You need a list of accounts to modify. Using C1 do an export of objectclass=inetOrgPerson and select Entry names only.
This gives you a nice list of distinguished usernames. Perfect.

3. Now you'll need a good editor. TextWrangler is my choice but anything that can search and replace including special characters like CR... so Notepad is out, and so is Wordpad. I'm not sure about Word but you could give it a shot. If you have a MAC, use TextWrangler, it's hard to beat. Excel can be used initially also.

For each user record you need the following in your LDIF file:

dn: ‹username›
changetype: modify
add: objectClass
objectClass: ‹name of your aux class›
-
add: ‹attribute name›
‹attribute name›: ‹attribute value›
-
add: ‹attribute name›
‹attribute name›: ‹attribute value›

Continue on for all additional attributes leaving a space or two between useraccounts. Some creative search and replacing will do it.

3. Import using the wizard in C1 and 5mins later all 21,000 accounts have been updated. It helps if you tell C1 not to stop on errors, if you've done the above correctly you shouldn't get any but you don't want to walk away from the PC only to find the import stopped on record 55 of 21,000.

Deleting is just as easy. Simply change your LDIF file to something like this:

To delete the attribute:

dn: ‹username›
changetype: modify
delete: ‹attribute name›


To delete the class extension (essentially deleting all auxiliary attributes that were part of the auxiliary class we extended the user with, and removing the extension from the object. Be very careful with this!!!!!):

dn: ‹username›
changetype: modify
add: objectClass
objectClass: ‹name of your aux class›

Note: ensure you are not still using the attribute data before deleting it. You might want to consider doing an LDAP export of all data before making any deletes, in case you need to put it all back in a hurry.
Note: Step 1

Tags: Novell, Netware, edirectory

As I was checking my mail this afternoon I received an email reminding me that my support for a very good cause, had come to an end. The Sepilok Orangutan Appeal is operated from the UK but is for the support of the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary in Sabah, Malaysia. I have been adopting a little orangutan by the name of Naru for 3 years now. It costs bugger all and you get a photo of your adopted orang. and a certificate.

I have visited the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary twice and I have seen how your money is being to put good use. You can view some of my images here.

If you have some spare cash why not adopt a little orang. and help out these gentle creatures whose natural habitat is fast disappearing.

Visit www.orangutan-appeal.org.uk

So this is my new keyboard...

Sexy isn't it!?

It's the new offering from Apple and is currently shipping with the new iMac. I picked up this wired USB version (also comes in wireless but that's too much smoke and mirrors for me) because I've been using a MacBook for a while now and have come to like the keyboard on the MB very very much. This new keyboard gives me the same luxurious feel on my PC that I've come to appreciate from my MB.

It works fantastically with SLED10 and seems to work perfectly with Windows XP, based on my experience with a virtual machine.

I'm likening the key press to what a sniper might be feeling as he rests his finger on the trigger of his weapon. There is enough resistance so you know you've pressed the key, but requires no effort to type continuously. Fantastic all round if you ask me.

Apple are masters of design and function, they prove it over and over again.

Tags: apple

On a recent forum the question was raised "what does GroupWise client have that Outlook doesn't?" This was the response. I'm sure there's more but I've copied this verbatim from the forum at the last update that I could find.

"Yes, there are features that Outlook/Exchange has that GroupWise does not, and we hear about those all the time. What we don't hear is the dozens of client features lost when you go to Exchange/Outlook. Let's face it, the people asking to go to Outlook are end users, not IT people. So it's the features that matter to them.

Here's a few highlights of features lost when moving to Outlook ...

1) Cannot silently retract messages: Outlook can retract, but whether successful or not, the recipient knows that the attempt was made (and the attempt includes the subject line).

2) Tracking sent items: Outlook sends copies of messages to every recipient; it is not a link as it is in GroupWise. Therefore, if you want to know if someone opened or received your email, you must ask for a receipt at the time you send it. However, not getting a receipt back does not mean the email delivery failed. It could be that the recipient's system doesn't want to give you back a receipt (Outlook users can make that choice themselves, separate from their server). Additionally, GroupWise users often track a message to see that it was deleted and never opened - or that the message had been replied to. You'll never be able to tell that with Outlook.

3) Viewing attachments: In Outlook, attachments must be opened or saved. There are no viewers. So if you get an attachment made with a program you don't have, you are out of luck. Well, IT-savvy folks will figure a way around it, but regular users won't know to save it, then Open With a compatible program. BTW, there is no "Open With" in Outlook.

4) Reminder Notes: No such thing in Outlook. There are notes, which are dated, but they are not related to the calendar and therefore cannot recur. The equivalent in Outlook is an All Day Event. All Day Events appear at the top of the calendar day before 8 a.m. (or whatever is set for the work time).

5) Recurring appointments: Not all recurring appointments are a pattern (every Monday, the last Friday of the month, every 14 days, etc.). Some are random, like taking vacation days. GroupWise has a calendar where you can just point and click the dates you want to recur. Outlook does not. To use the recurring feature in Outlook, there must be a pattern.

6) Calendar PopOut: In any GroupWise calendar, you can hover your mouse over an item (appointment, note or task) and a yellow popout will display giving you all the details except for the message (from, to, cc, place, time, subject). In Outlook, there is no popout. So a lengthy subject or a place or the from or the due date of a task is viewable only when you open the item. Yes, it's a few seconds - but when you do it dozens of time a day, that adds up.

7) Sending Appointments: When an Outlook appointment is sent, a copy of - not a link to - the appointment is sent. Therefore, when the organizer changes the appointment, an additional message is sent to the original recipient to alert them. If the recipient deletes that email notice, the calendar item is not updated (yes, it's true, folks!). Ditto when deleting an item: the recipient must click "Remove from Calendar" or the item will stay on there forever. Also, for any update, if the recipient acknowledged the update on the calendar, the matching email that arrived stays in the inbox until the user deletes it. If you do a lot of calendaring in GroupWise, the Outlook calendar is very painful. There are several more issues regarding calendaring in Outlook that I won't take space to go into here.

8) Recurring appointments: if you delete a recurring appointment in Outlook, it does not go to the Trash. It is not recoverable - and you are out of luck.

9) Tracking calendar items that were sent: There is no sent item when an appointment/task is sent. The organizer of the appointment automatically gets a copy of the appointment put on their own calendar. That *is* the tracking copy (it makes for a very busy calendar for a secretary who does a lot of scheduling, and she's probably not even attending any of the events herself!). If that tracking copy is deleted (also out of Deleted Items), there is no way to manage that item. If an appointment/task needs to be changed or removed, it must be done on each recipients account.

10) Recipients of meetings can move the item: It's hard to imagine that this is permitted, but it's because the structure of Outlook is that copies are sent to recipients, not links. You can understand why it is possible for a recipient of an appointment (group meeting) to be able to accidentally drag that appointment to a new place/time on their own calendar. Yep, just click and drag the appointment is all it takes. They get no warning they've done it. The organizer gets no warning they've done it. And in opening the item, there is no way to tell what the original date/time was. The only fix is for the organizer of that appointment to send an update (how would she know she should?).

11) Tasks: Unbelievably, Outlook tasks sent to multiple people cannot be managed by the person who sent them (called the Organizer). Remember, a copy of the task is sent to the recipient and changes to tasks require an update message to be sent. For tasks, apparently Outlook is unable to update tasks if sent to multiple people. Therefore, if you sent a task to 2+ folks and then you need to change the task or recall it, you cannot. That change (or removal) would have to be done individually for each recipient.

12) Viewing Tasks in the Calendar: If you want to see future tasks on your calendar in Outlook, you cannot. The task list that appears on the Day or the Week view is a static list of tasks as of today. Clicking on a day in the future changes only the appointments, not the tasks. Therefore, to see future tasks, you must look at the task list (where there is no calendar).

13) Losing attachments when changing type: Just like GroupWise, Outlook can change an email to an appointment by just dragging from the mailbox to the calendar. However, in Outlook when you do this, if the email had an attachment, that attachment is gone. Only the contents of the email stay intact. A difference from GroupWise is that Outlook keeps the email in the mailbox (GroupWise converts it, Outlook copies it).

14) Discussion threads: The relationships of posted items in a discussion thread are lost when converted to GroupWise and cannot be reestablished.

15) Dragging contacts to an email: In GroupWise (I think this began with 6.5), you can drag contacts from the Contacts folder and drop them on the mailbox to begin a new email message. This is very convenient when needing to select several people. In Outlook, you cannot.

16) Resources: What GroupWise considers resources, Outlook generally would set up as a public folder. But there are many resources that need an actual account for a variety of reasons. All accounts in Exchange require a license, even those tho are not real people. Thinking of all the fictious mailboxes you set up for groups or pseudnyms, those will cost $. Even conference rooms often need an account, having a public folder may not be sufficient.

And oh by the way ...

17) Document Management: GroupWise is the only DMS that allows you to send a document from the library in an email that is addressed to both internal and external folks - and each party gets what they need. Internal folks get a link to the document so any changes they might make are updated in the actual document. The external folks get a copy of the document as it existed at the time the email was sent. All other DMS' will do both things, but they must be done in separate emails. (I hear the groaning now). Yes, the workaround is for an internal person to receive a copy of the document - one email to internal and external with a copy of the document. Why is that so bad? This is why ... because one of the favorite features we hear about for Outlook is the ability to modify an attachment and the changes stick. Yes, they do ... to the file that is attached to that email. We all know the danger of modifing an attachment in an email. But in this scenario, the internal person thinks they are making changes to the document in DMS and they are not."

The whole document can be found here.

Tags: groupwise, Novell

Ok, so I'm a Novell supporter. I have been for a very long time.

Why? Well because their software works, is innovative, meets business needs, is easy to manage, doesn't include hidden costs, and can run extremely well on modest hardware, and they adopt open standards to ensure compatibility between whatever applications you choose to use.

But we all knew that already didn't we? Didn't we? Well we should because Novell is coming back with a vengeance. Novell acquired SuSe Linux a few years back and the rush of support has been impressive. Even the NetWare platform is showing a resurgence.

I know a number of Novell employees and quite a number of support forum moderators. All of them show a strong commitment to the company and what Novell is all about. It must be something about being a Novell system administrator, because they're some of the best and knowledgeable people I've met. Perhaps I've just been lucky?!

...enough of all that.

Here are some interesting sites:

The Novell Museum has some interesting items, some of which I have and some which predate even my affair with Novell.
http://www.novellmuseum.net/

and the aptly named..
http://www.iwantnetware.com/

Tags: Novell

Well it's raining again. A week or so ago, Noosa and parts of the coast were suffering from a deluge and subsequent flooding. The forecast is for a couple more days of rain so they well may be facing the same again.

The dams are full, on my place at least, and the creeks and river floweth strongly.

I'm used to the flooding. It takes a bit of water but every 10 years or so I get a large flood that cuts me off from civilisation for up to 5 days. My previous place of employment took this in their stride and with grace. My new employer may not be so obliging. Time will tell, and I think I'll be putting the 'Flood' option on my leave form in the near future.

I only hope they don't think I have control over the weather conditions. I'm good, but not that good.

I had an early start today. 4:00 am, which for me means a 2:00 am alarm. Such is the price for living a respectable distance from work.

The reason or the early start was a complete shutdown of all IT systems/servers while contractors did a bit of pre-installation work for a new UPS for our data-centre. Power was being turned off to the building.

I work in IT. I wouldn't call myself a professional, merely a pleb. But as I was sitting there in the dark, waiting for the power to come back on, I realised just how utterly useless computers are without it. Not completely I guess... a boat anchor comes to mind. However, there was nothing for me to do except wait. And wait. I wonder if it's something like an astronaut drifting in a vacuum just out of reach of the shuttle. Nothing he can do, but drift.

In this world today the developed nation runs completely on electricity, we can exist without power for a day, perhaps two. It's an annoyance if it's out for a few hours, almost a disaster if out for a few days. What would happen if the power goes out for longer? perhaps completely? How would we drift I wonder?

So... this is my MacBook.
Friends at work (on ya Paul and Rob) through subtle and subliminal advertising convinced me to buy one and I'll be forever grateful.

The history of this purchase is... I was looking for something to take traveling with me, that would be portable, stable, run Photoshop, and have enough storage to take multiple Gigs of images from my Canon 10D. I do a fair amount of travel and I'm an avid photographer so I needed something that would cater for all this. I was originally looking at an image viewer from Epson, however this wouldn't allow me to backup to DVD if required. Something I tend to do regardless of what they say about X-Ray screening machines. Plus I couldn't run PS.

I also looked at a tiny Dell laptop however, after checking out a MacBook owned by one of the other guys at work, I was hooked.

Down went the plastic and as they say, the rest is history.

Quick specs:
Dual core 2Ghz processor
2 Gb RAM
120Gb Hard drive
SuperDrive
Firewire/USB
Built in camera (iCam)
OS X Tiger

I mentioned stability. According to iStat Nano the longest I've had my MacBook running is 30 days 21hrs. That's with constant daily use. Try that with windows!
For PS work, I connect to a 24" Dell monitor and colour manage with a ColorVision Spyder2.

Tags: apple, OS X