Transfer Picture from Client to Server (VB6)

This sample code in VB6 demonstrates sending picture or image file from a client to server software via Winsock using TCP.

Initially I thought it was easy. I was wrong.

The challenges are:

• Maximum packet size using socket is 8191 bytes, thus if the picture/image is more than, the image will be transferred via socket in multiple packets.
  
• In VB6, I have discovered that array variable can only be passed as by reference (byRef) parameter. Since there is no way to pass an array byVal and there is no way to perform thread-concurrency on the process of winsock.GetData(), the best practice is to use 'variant' to fetch binary data which comes in multiple packets instead of using byte array.

It seems 'variant' implements thread-concurrency.

If you attempt to use byte array to fetch the binary data, the end result image file would be corrupted. This will be explored in the next blog.

Download the sample code (VB6)

Juniper Networks Multiservice Edge, Core and Carrier Ethernet Routers Awarded Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) 21 Certification

Juniper Networks® (NYSE: JNPR), the leader in high-performance networking, today announced that its M Series Multiservice Edge Routers, T Series Core Routers and MX Series 3D Universal Edge Routers have been awarded certification to Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) 21 Standards by Iometrix, the MEF-authorized independent certification testing laboratory.

The MEF's Carrier Ethernet Certification Program is designed to ensure that global infrastructure equipment and services comply with MEF standards and accelerate the worldwide adoption of interoperability. MEF 21 certifications focus on Link Operations Administration and Maintenance (Link OAM) mechanisms which enable real-time discovery, monitoring, fault management and performance management of the network. As the MEF provides a single, globally-recognized test and certification process, the equipment certified to MEF 21 will help reduce OPEX significantly by eliminating testing, service costs and charges for providers. By certifying its compliance with these specifications, Juniper's routing platforms have demonstrated that they establish a solid foundation for interoperability.

Check out details.

Remote Desktop Not Working ?

Yes, indeed it is annoying.

First of all, refer to the following two references.

• Checklists for remote desktop not working
• Windows' registry for remote desktop

Here is what I did to solve my problem (in Windows Server 2003), in steps.

1. Make sure you can ping the server
2. Make sure the default TCP/IP port (3389) is up and running.To do this the easiest way is to make use of telnet utility. Refer to here.
3. Make sure the firewall is off or not blocking the port
4. Make sure 'Terminal Services' is running
5. Make sure Remote Desktop is enabled
6. Optional - Administrator is granted administrator access.

For my case, the port 3389 is not listening while other checklists are fine.

So, the only few things left to troubleshoot are Windows registry.

Refer to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306759

The registry key for remote desktop is

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\TerminalServer\WinStations\RDP-Tcp\   

And indeed it was missing from the server.

So, I just need to recreate the registry key.

But the registry key is not just one or two values, it has a lot of settings. So, the best way is to import from another server of the same type.

And it works!

Therefore, the best way is to import the registry key from another similar computer which remote desktop is working fine.

Download the Windows Registry(Windows Server 2003) for above mentioned issue.

Can PING but Cannot Connect ?

You can PING the IP, but you can't connect to it via TCP/IP on specific port.

In many cases, it is because TCP/IP on that specific port connection timeout.

How to prove it ?

An easy way is to use Telnet utility.

Juniper Networks and O’Reilly Media Release New Book on Green Networking

Juniper Networks and O’Reilly Media have released a book on green networking. ‘The Sustainable Network: The Accidental Answer for a Troubled Planet’, a special project of Juniper's corporate green initiatives, features the products and services of the entire ICT industry - from routers to mobile phones, from computers to data centres – and is said to be for anyone who uses a laptop, or has a Facebook page or uses their iPhone to stay connected.

Written by sustainability consultant Sarah Sorensen, the book talks about why the network as the foundation of global communications infrastructure is the best sustainable technology available to help tackle a wide range of problems - from energy conservation to economic and social innovation - with its future depending on the continued penetration of broadband, as well as industry innovation.

Sorensen neither advocates one networking industry vendor over another, nor recommends one networking implementation over another, but urges individuals, governments, markets and organisations to put the power of global networking to good use as a tool for sustainable action with the potential to: reduce global CO2 emissions by 15% by 2020 by replacing physical tools with virtual ones (McKinsey), to let individuals participate in global markets, and to give people a platform to bring like minds together and mobilise them to assemble support for social causes and to better influence and shape public discourse and policy.

Publishers O'Reilly Media are chroniclers of cutting-edge development, homing in on technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying "faint signals" from alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism. http://oreilly.com. The Sustainable Network: The Accidental Answer for a Troubled Planet’ is available at : http://catalog/9780596157043/ and from the Safari Books Online service at : http://my.safaribooksonline.com and via www.amazon.com.

Check out details.

Save and Retrieve Image from Database (MS SQL)

Download the sample codes

• VB6
  
• VB.NET (Visual Studio 2008 SP1)
  

A few points to take note.

• These samples use ADODB
  
• Includes functions to resize image to PictureBox's size
  
• In VB6, the object variable for image is 'StdPicture' whereas in VB.NET, the object variable for image is 'Bitmap'

TippingPoint Introduces Groundbreaking Network Security Platform Designed for Data Center and Core Network Deployments

TippingPoint, a 3Com subsidiary and a leader in network security solutions, today announced the TippingPoint® N-Platform, a new intrusion prevention system (IPS) platform with a newly-designed Threat Suppression Engine (TSE) that adds significant capacity for deep packet traffic inspection. The N-Platform enables the integration of multiple network protection services and provides organizations with the security automation required to help reduce total cost of security and ensure business continuity. The N-Platform further leverages the industry-leading research of TippingPoint's Digital Vaccine® Labs (DVLabs) and Zero Day Initiative by incorporating security intelligence from over 1,100 external security researchers worldwide. The platform was developed to help customers meet the broad security demands of the new data center and is a key component of the recently-announced 3Com Secure Network Fabric, which integrates security platforms and LAN infrastructure equipment from TippingPoint and H3C, the enterprise networking brand of 3Com.

Ivan Wen, Country Manager of Tipping Point Malaysia says, “The TippingPoint N-Platform is extremely fast and very powerful. The number of filters providing inspection can be increased exponentially, yet the performance is as strong – if not stronger – than ever.”

Check out details.

Product Marketing - There Is A Pattern

1. Advertisement, Marketing & Promotion

Advertisement is good for two or three reasons:

1. Let people know your brand
2. Help people to make decision
3. Upgrade your brand value

After you have done advertisement, what must you do ?

2. Reference Site

You can create reference site most effectively using web site.

Why, because people would like to find out more about your product, who is the inventor and etc.

This is very very important.

For those companies which the web traffics are little, it is because your advertisement, marketing and promotion is not effectively carried out.

3. Leisure & More Activities

How to create more life to your product ?

I have a few suggestions:

• Create Videos for YouTube
• Make Some Noise in Facebook
• Create A Blog For the Product

Do u reckon that this is a best practise ?

Software Engineering Team Management #1

Image by kqedquest via Flickr

Inspired by The Way I Worked : Jason Fried (37Signals.com)

What I like best is the facts:

• One investor.
  
• A staff of 16
  
• More than three million customers...

Sounds like a good reference for benchmark of how many staffs you need.. ya ? I just want to share some of my philosophies for software engineering team.

The Basic:

• Must have a leader.
  
• Must make use of collaboration tool.
  
• Must share the codes and best practices.
  
• Do not waste time researching things which there are already best practices, just learn it. Instead, research other things which the team not yet know.

Follow The Practice of Medical Fields

A leader must be a practitioner and also a teacher. The idea is that we must keep learning.

Must Always Create Excitement in the Team; everyday.

Do not ever demotivate the team.

The Boss Must Not Think that The Job is So Easy

It is very wrong to think that you can always get sample codes out in the web.

Must Anticipate Problems

A software company must anticipate problems, there will be problems, don't ever pull the panic button.

At Least Two Developers (for a project)

1. Backends
   
2. Features / Front-End

Backends will always be revised.

• New technology
  
• New platform / libraries
  
• New techniques
  
• To cater new features.

Therefore, whenever changes are made to the backend, features and front-end will nee to be changed as well. Challenges:

• You always need to make sure existing version is working while creating a new version.
  
• Support customers.

Juniper Networks Showcases Breakthrough Performance Capabilities for its Junos® Trio Chipset with Test from EANTC

Juniper’s new MX 3D routers can download 8.5 million iTunes in one tenth of a second, 50 Blu-Ray DVDs in less than five seconds, 10 years of Hubble Telescope data in one minute or more than 430,000 HDTV channels simultaneously. They can increase ROI over five years by up to 540 percent[i]; reduce operating expenses for aggregation services up to 47 percent[ii]; reduce operating expenses for business services up to 63 percent[iii]; reduce operating expenses for residential services up to 77 percent[iv]; and improve power efficiency by a factor of 10-to-1 versus other vendors[v].

The European Advanced Networking Test Center (EANTC) has completed a commissioned performance verification of the Juniper Networks® MX80 3D Universal Edge Router and new 16 port 10GbE aggregation line card, validating the ground-breaking performance of the company's 3D Scaling technology using the Junos Trio chipset. 3D Scaling technology helps networks scale dynamically to support more bandwidth, subscribers and services – all at the same time.

The EANTC tests confirmed the MX480 3D Universal Edge Router’s unidirectional throughput of up to 1.4Tbit/s, 240Gbits/s per slot – which is able to exceed one billion packets per second, in a compact sixth of a rack configuration: establishing new boundaries for high-performance networking. Services scale displayed 6,000 active Layer 3 VPNs and 6,000 active VPLS instances, as well as a leading 25.34 watts per 10GbE port in full configuration.

The new line cards and routers process two to four times more traffic than the competition – up to 2.6 terabits per second – while using half as much power per gigabit.[vi] For subscribers, this means the flagship MX960 system with 3D Scaling enables fast access to download 8.5 million iTunes in one tenth of a second, 50 Blu-Ray DVDs in less than five seconds, 10 years of Hubble Telescope data in one minute or more than 430,000 HDTV channels simultaneously[vii].

Junos Trio represents Juniper's fourth generation of purpose-built silicon, and is the industry's first "network instruction set" – a new silicon architecture unlike traditional application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and network processing units (NPUs). The new architecture leverages customized network instructions that are designed into silicon to maximize performance and functionality, while working closely with Junos software to ensure programmability of network resources.

EANTC conducts vendor-neutral performance testing for Carrier Ethernet, IP/MPLS, and Triple Play technologies and applications for network equipment manufacturers, service providers and enterprise customers.

Juniper's MX Series 3D products are available starting December 2009. The MX Series 3D 16-port 10GbE aggregation line card will be generally available to customers in December 2009, with additional MX Series 3D products coming throughout 2010.

[1] Network Strategy Partners case study findings, to be published November 2009.

[1] Network Strategy Partners case study findings, to be published November 2009.

[1] Network Strategy Partners case study findings, to be published November 2009.

[1] Network Strategy Partners case study findings, to be published November 2009.

[1] Network Strategy Partners case study findings, to be published November 2009.

[1] Juniper comparison against competitive products, conducted October 2009. Reflects 2.64 Tbit/s throughput for Juniper’s MX960 3D versus 1 Tbit/s and 1.28 Tbit/s for competitors. For power efficiency, reflects 37 Watts per 10GE for Juniper’s MX960 3D versus 75 Watts per 10GE and 90 Watts per 10GE for competitors.

[1] Juniper engineering estimates based on publicly available file size data.

Check out details.

MYSQL™ PROVIDES SCALABILITY, RELIABILITY, & ENTERPRISE SUPPORT AT A LOWER COST

Image via Wikipedia

Download this article about 'MYSQL™ PROVIDES SCALABILITY,
RELIABILITY, ENTERPRISE SUPPORT AT A LOWER COST', which in my opinion, it doesn't sell much ideas.

If you are talking about cost, it is really about Oracle.

MS SQL is not that expensive. And for people who have high requirements, they will go for Oracle.In another words, if you have money, you can afford SAP already.

The article should focus on technical aspect and usability for database administrators, developers and architects.

Most of the techies are familiar with one database platform, and MySQL should focus on helping these people to migrate over the the newer platform. The availability of brand new GUI and tools since acquisition by SUN microsystem is a good step. But actually, many people don't have time to explore new things anyway. This is why Microsoft can keep up with the sales.This is another aspect of zero downtime, which is there is not time to explore new things.

Ok, the point quoted by the following paragraph is good.

MySQL is proven in the field as a database server that can run anything from deeply
embedded applications with a footprint of just +3-4MB to massive data warehouses
holding terabytes of information. It also can be configured with a variety of
high-availability capabilities such as high-speed master/slave replication and
specialized cluster servers with instant failover. This level of flexibility to attain optimum scalability and availability for a particular set of needs is a hallmark of the open approach to database technology that underlies MySQL.

It tells that MySQL is scalable and reliable.

It should try to provide an apple to apple comparison with other databases which MySQL can do better.

And also need to have a channel for knowledge sharing.

MySQL should focus on making techies fall in love with it.

Tech Blog Malaysia Statistics (Oct 09)

As usual, check out the analysis for 2008.

For month of Jan 2009.
For month of Feb 2009.
For month of Mar 2009.
For month of April 2009.
For month of May 2009.
For month of Jun 2009
For month of July 2009
For month of Aug 2009
For month of Sep 2009

For the month of Oct 2009, we have the followings.

• The brand of This Blog
• Malaysia Internet Services
• World Largest EPR Software Brand
• Support Number for Malaysia's Largest Broadband Provider
• Malaysia's Portal for World No.1 Music Store
• Phishing

Overview:

• Total monthly traffic decreased by as much as 3.21%
  
• Traffic from referring sites decreased by 0.32%
  
• Google still top contributor (61.40%). Up from last month.
  
• Top 5 countries (Malaysia, US, UK, India, Singapore). Check out here.
  
• New visitors 87.48% (up from last month).