Drupal

A very useful document when you are working with virtualization, e.g. VMware, XEN, KVM, plus Windows platform.

Usually you may face time sync problem, whatever faster or slower than host. A very simple tip: setup a ntpd within host, and force client to keep ping and update it. The Linux ntpd is very simple and so I will not mention the detail setup, but how to client to be more hardworking?

Here is the most important setting:

Windows Time Service Group Policy Settings

You can configure most W32Time parameters by using the Group Policy Object Editor. This includes configuring a computer to be an NTPServer or NTPClient, configuring the time synchronization mechanism, and configuring a computer to be a reliable time source.

Note
- Group Policy settings for the Windows Time service can be configured on Windows Server 2003 domain controllers and can be applied only to computers running Windows Server 2003.

You can find the Group Policy settings used to configure W32Time in the Group Policy Object Editor snap-in in the following locations:
- Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Windows Time Service
Configure Global Configuration Settings here.

- Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Windows Time Service\Time Providers
Configure Windows NTP Client settings here.
Enable Windows NTP Client here.
Enable Windows NTP Server here.

IMHO, just set it as 100 if you have local ntpd server ;-)

A very useful document when you are working with virtualization, e.g. VMware, XEN, KVM, plus Windows platform.

Usually you may face time sync problem, whatever faster or slower than host. A very simple tip: setup a ntpd within host, and force client to keep ping and update it. The Linux ntpd is very simple and so I will not mention the detail setup, but how to client to be more hardworking?

Here is the most important setting:

Windows Time Service Group Policy Settings

You can configure most W32Time parameters by using the Group Policy Object Editor. This includes configuring a computer to be an NTPServer or NTPClient, configuring the time synchronization mechanism, and configuring a computer to be a reliable time source.

Note
- Group Policy settings for the Windows Time service can be configured on Windows Server 2003 domain controllers and can be applied only to computers running Windows Server 2003.

You can find the Group Policy settings used to configure W32Time in the Group Policy Object Editor snap-in in the following locations:
- Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Windows Time Service
Configure Global Configuration Settings here.

- Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Windows Time Service\Time Providers
Configure Windows NTP Client settings here.
Enable Windows NTP Client here.
Enable Windows NTP Server here.

IMHO, just set it as 100 if you have local ntpd server ;-)

I am now playing with eGroupware, since my working place hope to replace the old MS Exchange server by some update solution. But we face some basic requirement:

1. Most users are MS based, which means we need to ensure the combination of MS Outlook and Windows Mobile PDA are working fine with new server system. Thanks god that eGroupware comes with SyncML supporting (http://www.egroupware.org/sync), we can use Funambol (http://www.funambol.com/) to synchronize all sort of supported devices (http://www.funambol.com/opensource/downloads.php). Thanks once again, OOS :)
2. The system need to support resource handling + calendar sharing. E.g. if I book a meeting room on tomorrow, within my personal scheduler, the system may need to update all other users that the resource is already preserved. By the help of eGroupware, it seems not too difficult
3. We have a mixed environment: Windows XP/Vista, MS Outlook 05/07, Windows Mobile 5/6, etc. E.g. We have Dopod 818pro on hand, which is coming with WM5 Eng. Funambol 6 can works fine with WM5, but how about WM6? Therefore I need to test the upgrade of WM6, too. BTW, Dopod 818pro don't have official traditional Chinese WM6 ROM provided, and so I seek for unofficial (http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=224&t=385791&p=1). The upgrade is not such easy, but all works fine after completely upgrade to WM6 (anyway, the install of Funambol 6 will cause error message under WM6, but works fine). It is a good studying since this is my first time of using PDA ;p

Still have some other issue, which are funny and interesting. Will be continuous...

I am now playing with eGroupware, since my working place hope to replace the old MS Exchange server by some update solution. But we face some basic requirement:

1. Most users are MS based, which means we need to ensure the combination of MS Outlook and Windows Mobile PDA are working fine with new server system. Thanks god that eGroupware comes with SyncML supporting (http://www.egroupware.org/sync), we can use Funambol (http://www.funambol.com/) to synchronize all sort of supported devices (http://www.funambol.com/opensource/downloads.php). Thanks once again, OOS :)
2. The system need to support resource handling + calendar sharing. E.g. if I book a meeting room on tomorrow, within my personal scheduler, the system may need to update all other users that the resource is already preserved. By the help of eGroupware, it seems not too difficult
3. We have a mixed environment: Windows XP/Vista, MS Outlook 05/07, Windows Mobile 5/6, etc. E.g. We have Dopod 818pro on hand, which is coming with WM5 Eng. Funambol 6 can works fine with WM5, but how about WM6? Therefore I need to test the upgrade of WM6, too. BTW, Dopod 818pro don't have official traditional Chinese WM6 ROM provided, and so I seek for unofficial (http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=224&t=385791&p=1). The upgrade is not such easy, but all works fine after completely upgrade to WM6 (anyway, the install of Funambol 6 will cause error message under WM6, but works fine). It is a good studying since this is my first time of using PDA ;p

Still have some other issue, which are funny and interesting. Will be continuous...

which OS is better? MS Windows? UNIX? or Linux? everyone have their own answer and reason, or better say no simple sample answer. e.g. i use Debian to host my blog, build my production email/web/dns/dhcp/etc server, help my production or open source project development; but i am not keeping away from WinXP: i use it for listening music (foobar2000), browsing Internet (firefox), writing code (VIM), checking email, and even writing this blog message. my answer is: use the most suitable tools for each cases :)

you may also ask a question as me: can't we get the powerful *NIX shell running on WinXP, to replace the lousy CMD? there are a lot of open source solution around us, e.g.

• Cygwin
• DJGPP
• MKS Toolkit
• AT&T UWIN
• UnxUtils
• UnixKit
• etc...

BTW, any "official package" for running *NIX shell on Win32? microsoft also understand what we are asking for: Windows Services For UNIX (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/interopmigration/bb380242.aspx).

Windows Services for UNIX 3.5 provides a full range of supported and fully integrated cross-platform network services for enterprise customers to use in integrating Windows into their existing UNIX-based environments.

it is a relatively huge package, when comparing with other open source solution, but you will find it is very useful under some cases. you can download it from Microsoft Download Center (around 217.6 MB), or get my local copy

which OS is better? MS Windows? UNIX? or Linux? everyone have their own answer and reason, or better say no simple sample answer. e.g. i use Debian to host my blog, build my production email/web/dns/dhcp/etc server, help my production or open source project development; but i am not keeping away from WinXP: i use it for listening music (foobar2000), browsing Internet (firefox), writing code (VIM), checking email, and even writing this blog message. my answer is: use the most suitable tools for each cases :)

you may also ask a question as me: can't we get the powerful *NIX shell running on WinXP, to replace the lousy CMD? there are a lot of open source solution around us, e.g.

• Cygwin
• DJGPP
• MKS Toolkit
• AT&T UWIN
• UnxUtils
• UnixKit
• etc...

BTW, any "official package" for running *NIX shell on Win32? microsoft also understand what we are asking for: Windows Services For UNIX (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/interopmigration/bb380242.aspx).

Windows Services for UNIX 3.5 provides a full range of supported and fully integrated cross-platform network services for enterprise customers to use in integrating Windows into their existing UNIX-based environments.

it is a relatively huge package, when comparing with other open source solution, but you will find it is very useful under some cases. you can download it from Microsoft Download Center (around 217.6 MB), or get my local copy

i just find some GNU tools for Win32 from:
http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/

Here are some ports of common GNU utilities to native Win32. In this context, native means the executables do only depend on the Microsoft C-runtime (msvcrt.dll) and not an emulation layer like that provided by Cygwin tools.

how to use:

1. get the dir "wbin" from UnxUtils.zip, place it in c:\windows\system32\
2. place all file within UnxUpdates.zip to c:\windows\system32\wbin\
3. edit the PATH variable, add c:\windows\system32\wbin\ to it

and that's all. then we can use "ls", "diff" and other GNU tools under cmd !! there is a "sh" port within the package too, but i think cmd is enough. i don't care about the version of tools, since i am not trying to replace my Debian by Win32, just try to let life become more simple ;-)

UPDATE (2007-06-26):

the content of UnxUtils official homepage is a bit outdated (since 2004-04-30), but sourceforge project page (http://sourceforge.net/projects/unxutils/) is still keep on maintenance.

on the other hand, you can find the latest version of UnxUtils in sourceforge project page (http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=9328), which last update on 2007-03-01 (including source and binary package)

P.S. i also get a copy (2007-03-01 version), and you can get from my site if you find any difficulty:
http://edin.no-ip.com/recycle_bin/%5bPROGRAM%5d/UnxUtils/UnxUtils.zip
http://edin.no-ip.com/recycle_bin/%5bPROGRAM%5d/UnxUtils/UnxUtilsSrc.zip

i just find some GNU tools for Win32 from:
http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/

Here are some ports of common GNU utilities to native Win32. In this context, native means the executables do only depend on the Microsoft C-runtime (msvcrt.dll) and not an emulation layer like that provided by Cygwin tools.

how to use:

1. get the dir "wbin" from UnxUtils.zip, place it in c:\windows\system32\
2. place all file within UnxUpdates.zip to c:\windows\system32\wbin\
3. edit the PATH variable, add c:\windows\system32\wbin\ to it

and that's all. then we can use "ls", "diff" and other GNU tools under cmd !! there is a "sh" port within the package too, but i think cmd is enough. i don't care about the version of tools, since i am not trying to replace my Debian by Win32, just try to let life become more simple ;-)

UPDATE (2007-06-26):

the content of UnxUtils official homepage is a bit outdated (since 2004-04-30), but sourceforge project page (http://sourceforge.net/projects/unxutils/) is still keep on maintenance.

on the other hand, you can find the latest version of UnxUtils in sourceforge project page (http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=9328), which last update on 2007-03-01 (including source and binary package)

P.S. i also get a copy (2007-03-01 version), and you can get from my site if you find any difficulty:
http://edin.no-ip.com/recycle_bin/%5bPROGRAM%5d/UnxUtils/UnxUtils.zip
http://edin.no-ip.com/recycle_bin/%5bPROGRAM%5d/UnxUtils/UnxUtilsSrc.zip

I’ve written about UnixKit before, but now it seems that the UnixKit website has been offline for a while. After careful consideration of licensing issues (UnixKit is simply a handy compilation of other people’s free software), I’ve decided to offer UnixKit for download from my server. It will stay up until I’m contacted and asked to remove it. Many thanks to J. L. Blank for compiling UnixKit in the first place.

UnixKit for Windows is a tiny collection of native ports of many common UNIX programs, which doesn’t require emulation like Cygwin, and can be run from a USB drive if necessary.

http://quadlasers.com/wp/download.php?file=http://www.quadlasers.com/dow...

» http://quadlasers.com/wp/software/download-unixkit-for-windows/

local download:
http://edin.no-ip.com/recycle_bin/%5bPROGRAM%5d/unixkit-tiny.rar

I’ve written about UnixKit before, but now it seems that the UnixKit website has been offline for a while. After careful consideration of licensing issues (UnixKit is simply a handy compilation of other people’s free software), I’ve decided to offer UnixKit for download from my server. It will stay up until I’m contacted and asked to remove it. Many thanks to J. L. Blank for compiling UnixKit in the first place.

UnixKit for Windows is a tiny collection of native ports of many common UNIX programs, which doesn’t require emulation like Cygwin, and can be run from a USB drive if necessary.

http://quadlasers.com/wp/download.php?file=http://www.quadlasers.com/dow...

» http://quadlasers.com/wp/software/download-unixkit-for-windows/

local download:
http://edin.no-ip.com/recycle_bin/%5bPROGRAM%5d/unixkit-tiny.rar

Sterling Ball是個說話風趣且平易近人的老闆，他擔任吉他琴弦製造商Ernie Ball的執行長，該公司在音樂圈享有極高盛名，包括吉他之神Eric Clapton或重金屬搖滾樂團Metallica都指名推薦它的琴弦。

不過自從該公司三年前決定全數揚棄微軟產品後，Ernie Ball又多了一個不小的名氣：一家敢向專屬軟體說「不」，卻又能活到現在的廠商。

話說2000年，商業軟體聯盟(BSA)突擊檢查該公司，並找到好幾版未經合法授權使用的軟體版本。Sterling Ball最後以6.5萬美元外加3.5萬美元律師費與BSA達成和解。但代表軟體大廠版權利益的BSA竟在晚報大幅刊登廣告，拿Ernie Ball為例子警告其他企業要看緊自家的軟體版權。

Ball不甘受此屈辱，下令該公司IT部門在六個月內把所有微軟產品通通掃出門。「我說，即使員工要開始學打算盤我都在所不惜。」最近出席LinuxWorld大會的Ball回憶道。「我不希望跟羞辱我們公司的人做生意。」

Ball的IT手下最後湊合了許多開放原始碼軟體來使用，包括Red Hat版本Linux，OpenOffice辦公室套件、Mozilla的Web瀏覽器，以及幾個開放原始碼還無法取代的專屬程式。

身為Ernie Ball公司第二代繼承人，Sterling Ball表示此一轉變並沒有太大問題，自此他樂得逢人就說開放原始碼的優點。最近他則與CNET記者暢談他的轉變經驗。

» http://taiwan.cnet.com/casestudy/0,2000062888,20082681,00.htm

Sterling Ball是個說話風趣且平易近人的老闆，他擔任吉他琴弦製造商Ernie Ball的執行長，該公司在音樂圈享有極高盛名，包括吉他之神Eric Clapton或重金屬搖滾樂團Metallica都指名推薦它的琴弦。

不過自從該公司三年前決定全數揚棄微軟產品後，Ernie Ball又多了一個不小的名氣：一家敢向專屬軟體說「不」，卻又能活到現在的廠商。

話說2000年，商業軟體聯盟(BSA)突擊檢查該公司，並找到好幾版未經合法授權使用的軟體版本。Sterling Ball最後以6.5萬美元外加3.5萬美元律師費與BSA達成和解。但代表軟體大廠版權利益的BSA竟在晚報大幅刊登廣告，拿Ernie Ball為例子警告其他企業要看緊自家的軟體版權。

Ball不甘受此屈辱，下令該公司IT部門在六個月內把所有微軟產品通通掃出門。「我說，即使員工要開始學打算盤我都在所不惜。」最近出席LinuxWorld大會的Ball回憶道。「我不希望跟羞辱我們公司的人做生意。」

Ball的IT手下最後湊合了許多開放原始碼軟體來使用，包括Red Hat版本Linux，OpenOffice辦公室套件、Mozilla的Web瀏覽器，以及幾個開放原始碼還無法取代的專屬程式。

身為Ernie Ball公司第二代繼承人，Sterling Ball表示此一轉變並沒有太大問題，自此他樂得逢人就說開放原始碼的優點。最近他則與CNET記者暢談他的轉變經驗。

» http://taiwan.cnet.com/casestudy/0,2000062888,20082681,00.htm

i use firefox mainly, but due to work, i also need to use IE. as IE7 is already out, surly that i install it and so i can forget that buggy IE6. i have not much comment about IE7, at least it run as (almost) what i needed for: a normal W3C CSS support. but as my boss, my client, and maybe you too, are still using IE6, i still need to work for it specially... for example, special hack for margin, padding, and also image sizing.

i always test my work within FF2 and IE7 already, although i didn't have enough time to do so: even don't have enough time for sleeping, and keeping on working day and night (my boss say that my partner and i may have bonus due to this job, but this is not my consideration. i just try to do my best within a limited timing)! but my boss seems don't understand my code is write in standard but just IE6 is buggy, and keep on requesting me to remove IE7 in order to get back IE6. so i ask that "do we need to consider about the display within IE7?" and the answer is "no"... fine... so i even request to reinstall my notebook in order to get my IE6 back (we don't really have such time to do so), and the answer is "go ahead"...

i really gone mad and so keep on searching solution within google. and finally this is what i found:
http://tredosoft.com/Multiple_IE

thanks for their work and now i can run both of FF2/IE6/IE7 for my testing (which means i will sleep more less...) BTW i only need IE6 so i zip their work and you can download the file here
http://edin.no-ip.com/html/files/ie6_standalone.zip

update
on the other hand if you don't hope to upgrade your IE6 but still hope to use IE7, here is your choice:
http://www.tech-recipes.com/internet_explorer_ie7_tips1188.html

and here is the file that created by following their steps
http://edin.no-ip.com/html/files/ie7_standalone.zip

i use firefox mainly, but due to work, i also need to use IE. as IE7 is already out, surly that i install it and so i can forget that buggy IE6. i have not much comment about IE7, at least it run as (almost) what i needed for: a normal W3C CSS support. but as my boss, my client, and maybe you too, are still using IE6, i still need to work for it specially... for example, special hack for margin, padding, and also image sizing.

i always test my work within FF2 and IE7 already, although i didn't have enough time to do so: even don't have enough time for sleeping, and keeping on working day and night (my boss say that my partner and i may have bonus due to this job, but this is not my consideration. i just try to do my best within a limited timing)! but my boss seems don't understand my code is write in standard but just IE6 is buggy, and keep on requesting me to remove IE7 in order to get back IE6. so i ask that "do we need to consider about the display within IE7?" and the answer is "no"... fine... so i even request to reinstall my notebook in order to get my IE6 back (we don't really have such time to do so), and the answer is "go ahead"...

i really gone mad and so keep on searching solution within google. and finally this is what i found:
http://tredosoft.com/Multiple_IE

thanks for their work and now i can run both of FF2/IE6/IE7 for my testing (which means i will sleep more less...) BTW i only need IE6 so i zip their work and you can download the file here
http://edin.no-ip.com/html/files/ie6_standalone.zip

update
on the other hand if you don't hope to upgrade your IE6 but still hope to use IE7, here is your choice:
http://www.tech-recipes.com/internet_explorer_ie7_tips1188.html

and here is the file that created by following their steps
http://edin.no-ip.com/html/files/ie7_standalone.zip

i found the solution about "Windows XP Multiuser Remote Desktop" in Ricky’s Web Review
i have test it out and it is really function

here is part of his post:

1. Start your Windows in Safe Mode (tap on F8 first of the Windows Loading Splash Screen);
   click on “My Computer” with right mouse button and choose “Properties”;
   go to “Remote” tab and uncheck “Allow users to connect remotely to this computer” (if it’s already unchecked, just do nothing);
   click OK.

2. Go to Start -> Control Panel;
   open “Administrative Tools” and then “Services”;
   double click “Terminal Services”, in the list;
   choose “Disabled” for “Startup Type” option;
   click OK.

3. Go to C:\windows\system32\dllcache;
   rename the termsrv.dll file to termsrv.original or another name you like;
   copy into the folder this unrestricted old version of termsrv.dll;
   go to C:\windows\system32 (the upper folder of the current one);
   do the same operation: rename termserv.dll also here, and put another copy of the file I linked above.

4. Click Start, then “Run…”, type “regedit” (without quotes) and press ENTER;
   navigate in the Windows Registry Tree to reach this path:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\Licensing Core;
   click with right mouse button on blank space in the right part of the registry window, choose “New” > DWORD, name the new key “EnableConcurrentSessions” (without quotes), then edit it and set its value to 1;
   close the editor.

5. Click Start, then “Run…”, type “gpedit.msc” (without quotes) and press ENTER;
   open Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Terminal Services;
   double click “Limit number of connections”, choose “Enabled” and set the maximum number of concurrent connections you want to allow (2 or more), then Restart Windows in normal mode.

6. Go back to Remote tab of My Computer’s properties (see step 1) and activate “Allow users to connect remotely to this computer”;
   Go back to “Terminal services” in “Services” (see step 2) and set its “Startup type” to “Manual”

Now restart Windows. Your operating system should be ready to accept multiple remote desktop connections ;)
Remember that you’ve to prepare different Windows Users for every “phisical” user that want to connect to your desktop, to autenticate with separate logins/passwords. User accounts configuration is reachable in the control panel, and the list of users that can connect to the PC is editable in the remote tab of My computer.

i found the solution about "Windows XP Multiuser Remote Desktop" in Ricky’s Web Review
i have test it out and it is really function

here is part of his post:

1. Start your Windows in Safe Mode (tap on F8 first of the Windows Loading Splash Screen);
   click on “My Computer” with right mouse button and choose “Properties”;
   go to “Remote” tab and uncheck “Allow users to connect remotely to this computer” (if it’s already unchecked, just do nothing);
   click OK.

2. Go to Start -> Control Panel;
   open “Administrative Tools” and then “Services”;
   double click “Terminal Services”, in the list;
   choose “Disabled” for “Startup Type” option;
   click OK.

3. Go to C:\windows\system32\dllcache;
   rename the termsrv.dll file to termsrv.original or another name you like;
   copy into the folder this unrestricted old version of termsrv.dll;
   go to C:\windows\system32 (the upper folder of the current one);
   do the same operation: rename termserv.dll also here, and put another copy of the file I linked above.

4. Click Start, then “Run…”, type “regedit” (without quotes) and press ENTER;
   navigate in the Windows Registry Tree to reach this path:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\Licensing Core;
   click with right mouse button on blank space in the right part of the registry window, choose “New” > DWORD, name the new key “EnableConcurrentSessions” (without quotes), then edit it and set its value to 1;
   close the editor.

5. Click Start, then “Run…”, type “gpedit.msc” (without quotes) and press ENTER;
   open Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Terminal Services;
   double click “Limit number of connections”, choose “Enabled” and set the maximum number of concurrent connections you want to allow (2 or more), then Restart Windows in normal mode.

6. Go back to Remote tab of My Computer’s properties (see step 1) and activate “Allow users to connect remotely to this computer”;
   Go back to “Terminal services” in “Services” (see step 2) and set its “Startup type” to “Manual”

Now restart Windows. Your operating system should be ready to accept multiple remote desktop connections ;)
Remember that you’ve to prepare different Windows Users for every “phisical” user that want to connect to your desktop, to autenticate with separate logins/passwords. User accounts configuration is reachable in the control panel, and the list of users that can connect to the PC is editable in the remote tab of My computer.