τεχνοσοφια

Forget about that Instant Rails stuff. Try the following tutorial instead, which gave me a better sense of how Rails actually works. Very, very helpful.

http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2005/01/20/rails.html

Ruby on Rails is quite cool. What I don't like about it, so far:

1. I don't know Ruby, so I can't do anything sophisticated with Rails
2. I'm not sure how much I like the idea of all Rails applications being so intimately tied to the Rails framework.

I've been hearing a lot about the Ruby programming language lately, and specifically about Ruby on Rails. After looking at different strategies to get this sucker up and running, I decided to take the path of the cowardly and install Instant Rails. I am still trying to figure out what the heck it is and does, but a lot of people seem to like it for throwing together quick, powerful, open, and structured web applications.

On a related "gaining in popularity" note is S5, an open-source, open-standards application for producing web-enabled presentations. No more must one be a slave to that wicked master, Microsoft Powerpoint (or OO.o Impress, for that matter, or whatever you crazy Mac heathens use). Now one can produce a web presentation using S5, which puts all the material into one XHTML file. It uses CSS and JavaScript for styles and functionality, respectively. I think I might check that out as well. Counterpoint: OpenOffice 2.0's Impress application does a bang-up job as well.

And finally, what is all this talk of the Web 2.0? Here's a more or less full run-down of Web 2.0, and five reasons why it matters.

In the meantime, I'm still cranking away on my NLB'd terminal servers.

(And another trackback test).  

As of the SP1 release, Windows Server 2003 now supports access-based enumeration of file shares. Basically, files and folders to which users lack access will not be visible within file shares. No more double-clicking shared resources only to be greeted with "Access denied." This is quite a nice feature, and one which is long overdue.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/techinfo/overview/abe.mspx

Also, the new release of Windows Server 2003 R2 appears to have a number of new features that were not included in SP1 (and that probably will not be featured in SP2). As far as I can figure out, R2 is related to 2003 SP1 as NT4 Option Pack was related to NT4.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/r2/whatsnewinr2.mspx

Perhaps I am mistaken, but I thought one of the biggest purported benefits of the newest incarnation of Active Directory was its supposed reliance upon the more commonly used DNS system for computer name lookups rather the old WINS and NetBIOS lookup system. I've recently installed a new server running Windows Server 2003 Enterprise and hooked it into our Active Directory 2003 domain and configured it to run Terminal Services. Upon this assumption, I disabled NetBIOS in the TCP/IP stack and turned off the TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper service.

When I connect to the server via Remote Desktop and login with a local administrative account, I get in just fine. When I specify my domain credentials, however, my connection is refused because Terminal Services apparently has problems reaching the RPC Server. Says it is unavailable. Turning back on the NetBT Helper service clears this up, but I did not think NetBIOS would be required for name resolution given AD integration with DNS. In the eventlog, TS shows the following error after the "RPC Server is unavailable" error: "Unable to obtain Terminal Server User Configuration".

Any ideas? I'm alright with leaving on the NetBT service, but I just don't understand why it's necessary.

I have tried re-enabling NetBIOS in the stack and that has zero effect on the connection behavior. I have also checked the DNS settings and the AD domain name is in the list of default domains to search through.

NOTE: Perhaps it is due to having external University DNS servers listed instead of the AD DNS servers. Come to think of it, I'm not sure why we would be using external DNS servers if we run AD. Giving this a try.

ADDENDUM: Apparently our AD servers do not run their own DNS; the records are offloaded to the campus DNS system. Perhaps this is the culprit?

For users who have neither access to Microsoft Office nor desire to dive headfirst into OpenOffice*, Microsoft provides freely downloadable viewers for Office documents. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA010449811033.aspx Most of these viewers are at the Office 2003 version, e.g., Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Others, like Access, are at the 2002 version. * For the record, though, OpenOffice 2.0 is fabulous. I've exclusively been using OO at home for at least a year or two, and the new version is tres magnifique.