I use some sites frequently to view site information.

http://www.domaintools.com (site information and lookup)

http://www.netcraft.com (what is that site running)

http://www.builtwith.com (what technology is use on a site)

I am always on the lookout for a small form factor PC. I have reduced the number of machines in my home down to 2 machines.  Our home PC and my wife’s laptop.  What I have found is that I need one more (linux) machine to do tasks.  Things like email archiving, scanning, and forensics. 

To make this work I have used a few options.  My first attempt was to use an old laptop that had a broken display.  It worked ok until it overheated (laptops just don’t stay cool).  The nice part about a laptop is that is has a build in UPS. 

My recent process was for a SFF machine and I purchased a Compaq EVO D51e (which is about 1foot by 18 inches x 5 inches)   It is a quit running machine and has 2 ghz processor and 512 meg of ram.  This works well because I swapped out the drive and added a huge internal IDE drive.  This allows for automated backups via rsync.

Looking online I just found this option https://store.dataevolution.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=DT%2D7001 What a great little box.

I have had my hard drive fail.  In fact I have had a lot of drives fail.  This may be a shock to people but hard drives fail.  They have moving parts and run at high speeds so they will fail.  What frustrates me is how many people do not backup.  There are so many tools that automate backups and make it easy.  I suggest if you are reading this you should backup right now. 

Here are some great free tools:

www.mozy.com

http://www.mediamax.com/home/xl.aspx

www.idrive.com

Recently had a client have issues with their WSS site and needed to restore the content DB. I took a look at their server and could not find the DB’s. After a little investigation we discovered that they had attached to the Embedded Edition of sql instead of the Standard edition that was installed.

What was strange about this is the way the embedded edition works. I could not attach to it in the SQL manager. After some searching I found this method of attaching to it.

\\.\pipe\mssql$microsoft##ssee\sql\query

If you put this into the ServerName area it will connect. If you use the actual instance name for server name it will not work. If anyone knows some more about the above connection / server name it would be great if you could explain it.

On the same topic, it appears that WSS can run on the Embedded edition. However, I would not recommend it. To correct the situation we stopped the service. Grabbed the .mdf files and attached them to the standers SQL 2005 server instance and then ported WSS to use that Database instance.

Also, the instance name is listed as SERVERNAME\MICROSOFT##SSEE

I recently started a project where I had to stream a live audio broadcast for a church.  I have done live audio streaming in the past (few years back).  I was in the middle of setting up the Windows Media Server and could not remember how to get the system to take a “push” broadcast.  Push is the method where an encoder (computer with the source audio or video) sends it’s encoded product to the server and the server then rebroadcasts (streams) that content.

Knowing that this can be done and I have done it before, I began to setup the server.  What was interesting is that I could not remember how I did it before.  There was one trick setting (not really documented) that I could not remember.   So I did as most do, I googled for “push distribution” and “windows media server”.  What I found was many / many documents and articles on how to encode to a windows media server, but not how to setup the server.  I then remembered that the same thing happened a few years back when I was wrestlingwith the same issue.  In the end, a freak search on google pulled up that little trick.

FYI : if you are interested, one of the details when setting up a publishing point for live streams is the Encoder URL (http://something) is pre-populated.   To allow for push distribution you have to just put something in that area during the wizard, then go into the properties and change that to “push:*”.  Like I said, this is not really documented anywhere and if you look at the instructions it only tells you to setup the server (no steps) and start encoding.  For those interested I will post the steps on how to stream live audio / and video using Windows Media server soon.  And I will detail out how to do PUSH distribution.

I have been using vista for a bit now.  I have not been too impressed.  A few great features are locked in vista.  Many things that are added are items I never use (Sidebar, graphics, etc…) the look and feel stuff.  One thing that came with vista was a performance hit.  I have a Dell 820 with 2 gig ram and it is a nice little box.  With XP on this thing it is a rocket, when you put vista on it, it’s just OK.

Today Microsoft released a few updates that are to address a few of the issues that are out with vista.  Even though they will not increase the performance of my box they may remove some of the little issues I am having.

Here are the links

1. (Reliability Update) - This is a reliability update. Install this update to improve the reliability of Windows Vista in certain scenarios

2. (Performance Update) - This is a performance update. Install this update to improve the performance of Windows Vista in certain scenarios

The first week of using the blackjack has shown me that a full keyboard is really useful.  In the past my previous smart phone (Cingular 2125) did not have the full keyboard, and I would typically use it for just reading email.  Now I have found myself being productive when not having my computer by being able to respond using the phone.

Features:

• (Pro) As I mentioned the full keyboard is a great feature to have.
• (Pro)The scroll wheel on the side is great for email and the web
• (Pro) Web browsing is much nicer on this device because of the display.
• (Con) I have found myself hitting way too many keys when wanting to just go back a screen, the keys need a little more feel
• (Con) Windows mobile 5, the new os 6 is out but not available yet for this phone.
• (Con) Power cord, Samsung decided to use a proprietary connecter rather than the standard usb to phone connector.  That means all the cords and chargers I have won’t work.

Phone

• Right now I thrilled that the phone part is better than my last phone
• (Pro) reception and signal are better with this phone than my last.
• (pro) sound quality and speaker phone are great, I am able to talk with the windows down in my car and people can hear me.
• (Con) size, the phone is a bit wider than my last and I am working to be comfortable holding this thing to my ear.
• (Con) Battery life, when I have used the phone (calls) the drain on the battery is pretty quick.  I now know why they give you 2 batteries when you purchase this thing, the extended battery is a bit bulky.

So after 1 week I am smitten with the BlackJack and feel that is was a great purchase.

If you are like me you probably are installing some freeware apps and also some new beta software to try.  You have no doubt ran across an installation error or corruption, either adding or removing these programs.   Microsoft has release a tool that will help fix corrupted installs or removals.

 The Microsoft Installer Cleanup Utility is located here (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301/)

Here is the summary from Microsoft

Microsoft has updated the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility. With the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility, you can remove a program’s Windows Installer configuration information. You may want to remove the Windows Installer configuration information for your program if you experience installation (Setup) problems. For example, you may have to remove a program’s Windows Installer configuration information if you have installation problems when you try to add (or remove) a component of your program that was not included when you first installed your program.

I have always been a fan of compression on IIS.  I have written a few posts on how to actually do compression on IIS6 and II5 (http://www.iisinformation.com/blogs/jimiz/archive/2007/04/30/iis-6-0-compression.aspx).   The problem with the built in compression is that you do not get any stats or results of what is actually happening.   The team over at ripcordsoftware put together a great application called IISxpress.  It does a wonderful job of compression and gives you some flexibility to limit or expand what gets compressed.  (http://www.ripcordsoftware.com/IISxpress/Default.aspx).  They have a free (non comerical version) and a purchasable version.  So head on over and download or purchase this great software.

Well my previous phone Cingular 2125 died on me over the weekend.  I was without a phone for a few days.  What a horrible thing.  You realize how dependent you are on a cell phone when it is your only means of communication.  I travel from client to client frequently with my job and my office phone goes days on end without me ever talking on it.  I also work from home and my cell phone is the only consistent thing I have for my job.  

Over the weekend my phone decided to not pick up the network (Att) even when it had a full signal (5 bars).  On Monday I called ATT for some help, after a few tests the TEch told me that it was probably an issue with an antenna.  Even though I had full signal strength.  Even though I did not believe him I tried a few other tricks.  Put another sim card in my phone and it had the same results.  I was then able to put my sim card in an older phone and have all my contact info and at least make calls.  So I chalked it up as a dead phone.  Since it was over a year old there was no warranty.  Att was very nice in saying that I could get a new one with a new 2 year plan if that was what I wanted to do.  

So I just signed my life away again to Att and now have a Blackjack (Blackjack).  I will post after I have had the thing more than 24 hours.  So far it is a nice phone.  I do miss having my small candy bar style phone.