Virtual Machines & Snapshots

Recently I was getting a lot of errors on my VMWare ESXi 3.5 server, that there is not enough space for the redo log etc. When I created the VMs, there was enough space left on the VM Server and suddenly I am out of space and all my VMs are either complaining or not working. Did some dig up and found that some snapshots were created, which was never committed and hence they were growing and eating all my disk space! I always thought the snapshot takes only a little space and it is a one time cost. But only now I came to know that creating a snapshot keeps on consuming more disk space to preserve the previous state and to keep note of the deltas that happened there after. So if you created a snapshot, either revert or delete(commit) it soon, unless you must retain the snapshot and have plans to revert to it. I recovered around 150GB or more after deleting all my snapshots..

Screenshot of datastore, with snapshots:

Screenshot, after removing snapshots:

Understanding Snapshots

Snapshots let you preserve the state of a virtual machine so you can return to the same state repeatedly. A snapshot captures the entire state of a virtual machine at the time you take the snapshot. This includes:

•  Memory State – Contents of the virtual machine’s memory

•  Settings State – Virtual machine settings

•  Disk State – State of all the virtual machine’s virtual disks

Snapshots operate on individual virtual machines. In a team of virtual machines, taking a snapshot preserves the state of only the active virtual machine. When you revert to a snapshot, you return these items to the state they were in at the time you took that snapshot. If you want the virtual machine to be suspended, powered on, or powered off when you start it, ensure it is in the state you want when you take that snapshot.

Snapshots let you revert repeatedly to the same state without creating multiple virtual machines. With snapshots, you create backup and restore positions in a linear process. You can also preserve a baseline before diverging a virtual machine in a process tree.

Snapshots can be used as restoration points during a linear or iterative process, such as installing update packages, or during a branching process, such as installing different versions of a program. Taking snapshots ensures that each installation begins from an identical baseline.

Multiple Snapshots

“Multiple snapshots” refers to the ability to create more than one snapshot of the same virtual machine. To take snapshots of multiple virtual machines, for example, taking snapshots for all members of a team, requires that you take a separate snapshot of each team member.

Multiple snapshots are not just a new way of saving your virtual machines. With multiple snapshots, you can save many positions to accommodate many kinds of work processes.

Although you can take snapshots to 32 levels, the time it takes to commit or delete those snapshots increases as the levels get deeper. The required time is directly proportional to the amount of data (committed or deleted) and the virtual machine’s RAM size.

Managing a Snapshot

The Snapshot Manager lets you review all snapshots for the active virtual machine and act on them directly.

In addition to the Snapshot tree, the Snapshot Manager dialog box contains the following areas:

•  Details displays the selected snapshot’s name and description. These fields are blank if you have not selected a snapshot.

•  Command buttons: Go to, Delete, Delete All, Edit

•  You are here icon represents the current operational state of the virtual machine. The icon is always selected and visible when you open the Snapshot Manager. You cannot go to or select the You are here state because it represents the current and active state.

The You are here icon represents a state that is never a snapshot itself but rather the virtual machine state after the parent snapshot has been taken. A snapshot is always a static record of a virtual machine state. The You are here state can be operational and changing. Even when you create a snapshot of a powered off or suspended virtual machine, the state is not identical to the snapshot.

To go to a snapshot

1.  Select a snapshot by clicking it.

2.  Click the Go to button to restore the virtual machine to the snapshot.

     The Go to command lets you restore the state of any snapshot.

3.  Click Yes in the confirmation dialog box.

4.  Click Close to exit the Snapshot Manager.

To permanently remove a snapshot from VirtualCenter

1.  Select a snapshot by clicking it.

     Note: Clicking Delete commits the snapshot data to the parent and removes the selected snapshot.

2.  Click the Delete button.

3.  Click Yes in the confirmation dialog box.

4.  Click Close to exit the Snapshot Manager.

To delete all snapshots

Note: Clicking Delete All commits all the immediate snapshots before the You are here current active state to the base disk and removes all existing snapshots for that virtual machine.

1.  Click the Delete All button to permanently remove all snapshots.

2.  Click Yes in the confirmation dialog box.

3.  Click Close to exit the Snapshot Manager.

Summary:

Snapshots are not meant for long term, so make a decision soon and based on the decision either merge the snapshot(delete will merge & commit) or revert to previous state. Never use snapshot for backup, as the files are inter-dependent and if any of them is gone, whole VM is gone. Too many snapshots negatively impacts the performance of a virtual machine; and a single snapshot can take up as much disk space as the virtual machine itself

More info:

http://www.petri.co.il/virtual_vmware_snapshot.htm

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1009402

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/virtualization-coach/?p=143

  

Free VMWare Server - VMWare ESXi

I am an ardent fan of virtualization and has been following this technology since more than 10 years now! You may have noticed other posts on this technology in this blog already. Gone are the days of dual or multi boots. Why do you want go thru the pain of restarting your machine every time just to access the other operating system.

VMWare has a bunch of lovely options for you! Virtualize is the key word! Crawling (slow) virtual machines are a thing of past (ya, it used to be painfully slow before, make this technology kind of useless, especially on low-end hardware). The latest breed are "almost" comparable to real hardware performance. If you want to try your hands on virtualization, check out one of the following free (yes, totally free) options from VMWare:

1) VMWare Player:
Just play your VM like you play a movie. Great if you want to try a new OS or bring up an OS for casual use! Just load your VM, start it and you are ready to roll! Needs a host OS like Windows to run this. Perfect for desktop/laptop users.
http://www.vmware.com/products/player/

2) VMWare Server:
A little more advanced than VMWare Player, more features, more customization. Remote management of VMs possible. Use this if you want to host it on a server and then access it remotely. Needs a host OS like Windows or Linux.
http://www.vmware.com/products/server/

3) VMWare ESXi Server:
If you want more performance and has better hardware, then you should go for this instead of the above. This is a bare-metal hypervisor (means, doesn't need any host OS, therefore direct access to hardware and way too faster and lighter). Install this directly onto your server (as your base OS) and it gives you everything you need for a software enthusiastic, developer, tester or even a small business! It is a carrot from VMWare to get you to try this (and fall in love with and get addicted to it), with an upgrade path to their other licensed advanced products.
http://www.vmware.com/products/esxi/

Only catch is some missing advanced features and a cap on physical and virtual hardware.

Comparisons between ESXi (Free) vs licensed products (ESX etc)

VMware ESX and ESXi 4.0 Comparison (latest version)
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1015000
VMware ESX and ESXi 3.5 Comparison
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1006543
ESX vs ESXi
http://blogs.vmware.com/esxi/2009/06/esxi-vs-esx-a-comparison-of-features.html

  












  












VMWARE VSPHERE 4 ESSENTIALS BUNDLE LICENSE
VMWARE VSPHERE STANDARD LICENSE

WebSphere (WAS) Password Recovery

Many a times you might have come across scenarios like you don't remember the passoword of the newly installed WebSphere Application Server (WAS) or you installed it a while back and totally forgot the userid, password or both! Same can be used if you screw up the security configuration too. Here is a lifesaver tip!

Turn off WebSphere Application Server global security from outside the administrative console so that you can access admin console. To do so you can either change the security.xml file of WAS or use the wsadmin tool for it.

Using WAS command-line client wsadmin (run with root privileges):
1) Open a connection to local WAS in offline mode (else you would need to login)
wsadmin -conntype NONE

2) Turn off global security
wsadmin> securityoff

3) Save
wsadmin> $AdminConfig save

OR
Disable security by modifying the security.xml file(s)
1) The security.xml file is located under WSAS_install_root/AppServer/config/cells/cellname. Always store a copy of the security.xml file in a temporary directory before making any changes

2) Open the security.xml file and search for the very first occurrence of enabled="true". This is located inside the tag.

3) Change enabled="true" to enabled="false", then save the file.

You must restart the server for the change to take effect!

Server admins, secure your WAS server installation (tighter OS security) to prevent unauthorized access ;-)


More info:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=180&context=SSEQTP&q1=disable+global+security+security.xml&uid=swg21105430&loc=en_US&cs=utf-8&lang=en

Mobile Phone Secret Codes

Samsung
IMEI number:	*#06#
Software version:	*#9999#albo*#0837#
Net Monitor:	*#0324#
Chaning LCD contrast:	*#0523#
Memory info:	*#0377#albo*#0246#
Check SIMLOCK Factory Reset (removes SIMLOCK):	*#7465625# *2767*3855#
Reset CUSTOM memory:	*2767*2878#
Battery state:	*#9998*228#
Alarm beeper:	*#9998*289#
Vibra test:	*#9998*842#
Nokia
IMEI number:	*#06#
Software version:	*#0000#lub*#9999#
Simlock info:	*#92702689#
Enhanced Full Rate:	*3370#[#3370#off]
Half Rate:	*4720#
Provider lock status:	#pw+1234567890+1
Network lock status:	#pw+1234567890+2
Provider lock status:	#pw+1234567890+3
SimCard lock status:	#pw+1234567890+4
1234567890 - MasterCode which is generated from IMEI
Sony
IMEI number:	*#06#
Software version:	*#8377466#

More info:
http://www.gsm-technology.com/gsm.php/en,unlock,subpage_id,free_codes.html
http://www.gsm-technology.com/gsm.php/en,unlock,subpage_id,kody+sieciowe.html
http://www.freefonefun.co.uk/ff/secretcodes.htm
http://twilightwap.com/mobile/secrets.Asp

Samsung Spica (i5700) Android 2.1 update

Bought the new Samsung Spica (aka Galaxy Lite) i5700 yesterday. Amazing phone, great features, quite affordable and cost-effective (<13k in India). 

Phone-spec Summary:

OS: Android (1.5)

Processor: 800 MHz

Screen: 3.2" TFT Full Touch

Camera: 3 MP AutoFocus

Internal Mem (User): 200 MB

External Mem: 2 GB Free, expandable upto 32GB microSD

Other main features: WiFi, 3G, A-GPS, BlueTooth, DivxPlayer, Accelerometer etc 

http://www.samsung.com/ie/consumer/mobile-phones/mobile-phones/touch-screen/GT-I5700UWAXEU/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail&tab=spec&fullspec=F

Cons: No hardware keyboard, No camera cover, No Radio(FM), 3G is HSDPA (max 3.6Mbps), No TV out, No Video Calls and a little short on inbuilt memory!

Android rocks, but 1.5 is too old and the latest is 2.1. Also 1.5 doesn't support Bluetooth file transfer (OBEX). Although here and there are a few glitches, it is mostly because of the software. Android 2.1 just got officially announced, but it is not available everywhere. They are doing it region by region, starting with some parts of Europe like Germany. Another major issue of Android 1.5 is that the phone is not supported by the software that it comes with (NPS -New PC Studio).... quite weird, huh?!  I tried different versions of PC Studio as well as Kies (newer version, to replace PC Studio in a while), but Kies kept on saying the device is not supported. Even though PC Studio detects the phone as i5700, it gives a message that only 'Update Service' will be supported. Well, even the update service doesn't work though :-(

Because of all the issues of Android 1.5 and hearing all the great features of Android 2.1, I was being restless to upgrade to this ASAP. After lots of googling, reading, researching, trials and many long frustrating hours later, I managed to do it!. Yep, my phone now is now an Éclair (code for 2.1).

I will share the steps here, hoping it would help many frustrated people like me who desperately want to upgrade to 2.1 and don't want to wait till Samsung fixes their software and release the official firmware upgrade!!!

WARNING: These steps should be done by a professional only. I am not responsible for anything that MAY happen to your phone, because of your error or software issues!!!

Step 1) Since you can't install the latest firmware through any of the Samsung provided software (NPS, Kies), we will have to do it the hard way. You need the following to proceed:

  a) Firmware updater (Odin Multi Downloader v4.03)

      http://files.samdroid.net/files/i5700/Odin4_03-Spica_ops.zip#googtrans/auto/en

  b) The firmware (Android 2.1), get the latest from here (~90MB):

      http://samsung-firmware.webs.com/WEBPROTECT-samsungandroidi5700.htm

      I used version (I570EXXJCB, 2010 March)

      You can find more info on what is I570EXXJCB here:

      http://samsung-firmware.webs.com/samsunglettercode.htm

      In short, XX - Locale code (languages supported)

      eg: XX = Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom 

Step 2) Backup your data, remove your SIM & SD Card

Step 3) Do a hard reset by typing *2767*3855#  on the phone. All your data, apps and settings will be erased and phone will be reset to factory defaults. This MUST be done for detecting and connecting your phone correctly by Odin. 

      

Step 4) Switch off your phone. Start up in "Download" mode by pressing following keys together "Volume Down + Camera + Power On)

You should see the following on your phone

If you have already installed Kies or NPS, the phone will be detected automatically and necessary drivers will be installed by windows. The drivers for this mode vs normal mode are different. In case your phone is not detected, you should download the USB drivers and manually install it.

USB Drivers: http://forum.samdroid.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=94&d=1264530070#googtrans/auto/en 

Another thing you have to make sure is that Kies or NPS is not running (even in background, check your tray/task manager). If any of these are running, it might prevent Odin from detecting and connecting to the phone. 

If you have all the right drivers, you will see the Samsung phone under USB and Modems in Windows Device Manager

Step 5) Start Odin and connect to the phone.

This is kinda tricky. Find yourself lucky if you get it right on the first try. It took me many tries to get the phone detected and connect. See below:

<1> setup connection...

[ A LONG WAIT... ~ 5 mins, disconnected phone]

<1> e - dll cannot setup connection with the target.

<0> Destroy instant..

<0> Killed timer

Odin detected the phone, but is not able to connect. In case you come across such an issue (if no progress bar/no logs for like >2 min), you can just disconnect the phone and reboot (remove battery and put back). I thought the first time that my phone is gone!

You may have to reboot/reset phone and also reboot your windows a few times to get it right! If the phone is detected, you will see a COM port with yellow indicator as show above.

Step 6) Odin config and flashing:

Most of the new firmware packages are just one single tar file (unzip I570EXXJCB.zip). 

If there are multiple tars, configure BOOT, PHONE, PDA, CSC according to tar names. Otherwise just give the only tar in 'One Package' and enable the 'One Package' check box. You have to give OPS in both cases, follow the instructions in the site where you downloaded firmware, I used the "spica_jc3.rar"

Disable(uncheck) 'Debug' if enabled, cross your fingers... pray for a moment and click "START" :-)

You can see the logs in the "Message" area and a progress bar comes in the connected Port.

In pic above, flashing in progress

In pic above, flashing over... now restarting phone.....

Phone will restart and you can see the home screen with an initializing message if everything goes successfully!!!

Note: I570EXXJCB is European and the default language is German. 

Do the following to change it to English:

Click on the options/menu (left top) button, a menu will come

Click on the settings menu (right bottom) - Einstellungen

Scroll down and select Region settings – Gebietsschema und Text

Select Language setting - Gebietsschema auswahlen

Select – English (United States)

Viola, you are done!!!

Odin log... if successful...

Download Start...

<0> Create File...

<1> StartThread Detected : 1

<2> StartThread Detected : 0

<3> StartThread Detected : 0

<4> StartThread Detected : 0

<5> StartThread Detected : 0

<6> StartThread Detected : 0

<7> StartThread Detected : 0

<8> StartThread Detected : 0

<1> setup connection...

<1> odin mode.. check plcatform verification.

<1> START!!!

<1> check download environment.

<1> zImage download..

<1> 1/5 Finished.

<1> datafs.rfs download..

<1> 2/5 Finished.

<1> factoryfs.rfs download..

<1> 3/5 Finished.

<1> cache.rfs download..

<1> 4/5 Finished.

<1> modem.bin download..

<1> 5/5 Finished.

<1> reset pda..

<0> Started Timer

<1> Close serial port and wait until rebooting.

<1> PASS!!!

<0> Destroy instant

<0> Killed timer

Now Kies identifies and support i5700 (funny, right)... :-)

I tried upgrading the firmware again with Kies, but didn't work for now. Have to wait see, perhaps I don't have access to the official release yet...

Some pics of Android 2.1 on i5700...

All the best to the early adopters ;-)

NOTE: Click on the images to see them wholly, bigger and better!

  












Search Amazon.com for samsung spica

Configuring VNC for Linux

VNC (Virtual Network Computing) is a remote display application widely used these days (similar to RDC or 'Remote Desktop Connection' on Windows). It is a client/server software that allows you to build up a terminal server scenario. VNC is available on most of the major platforms including Windows, Linux, Unix, Solaris etc.

Most of the new Linux distributions provide an easy way to configure VNC in main menu as 'Remote Desktop Preferences'. You just need to enable the options and provide a password. But if for any reason your linux doesn't have VNC or you don't have physical access to the machine to even enable VNC you can do the following:


1) Download and Install VNC
You can download the rpm off internet. Famous distributions are RealVNC and TightVNC. TightVNC offers more compression and is better when you have less bandwidth. Please google for more info.

2) Configure VNC remotely
Connect to the system using telnet, xterm or ssh/putty.

The default location of server configuration file for vncserver is '/etc/sysconfig/'. To configure the resolution, user and port open '/etc/sysconfig/vncservers' in you favorite editor and add two lines per user configuration as shown below:

VNCSERVERS="<displayport>:<username>"
VNCSERVERARGS[<displayport>]="-geometry <windowWidth> x
<windowHeight>"

eg:
VNCSERVERS="2:root"
VNCSERVERARGS[2]="-geometry 800x600"

You can choose any display port, but it should not be in use by another X server. Window height and width can be anything. The system on which you are going to view the desktop using vncviewer should have greater resolution than what you specify here, otherwise scrollbars will appear.


The default desktop view in vncviewer is gray scale desktop with very pathetic GUI (TWM or Tab Window Manager which came out in 1988!) as shown above. To view normal Gnome or KDE desktop in vncviewer, the xstartup file needs to be configured properly. This user specific configuration file of vncviewer resides in '.vnc' directory in user's home directory. (e.g. '/home/user1/.vnc/' or /root/.vnc). Open '.vnc/xstartup' in your favorite editor and edit as below:

#!/bin/sh

# Uncomment the following two lines for normal desktop:
unset SESSION_MANAGER
exec /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc

[ -x /etc/vnc/xstartup ] && exec /etc/vnc/xstartup
[ -r $HOME/.Xresources ] && xrdb $HOME/.Xresources
#xsetroot -solid grey
#vncconfig -iconic &
#xterm -geometry 80x24+10+10 -ls -title "$VNCDESKTOP Desktop" &
#twm &
startx &

The changes are:
1) uncomment
unset SESSION_MANAGER
exec /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc

2) comment
#xsetroot -solid grey
#vncconfig -iconic &
#xterm -geometry 80x24+10+10 -ls -title "$VNCDESKTOP Desktop" &
#twm &

3) add
startx & - for Gnome OR
startkde & - for KDE

3) Configuring VNC password
For setting up vncviewer password for user 'xyz', login as user 'xyz' and issue 'vncpasswd' command on a terminal/konsole. Enter password twice and you are good to go.
4) Starting Vncserver
To start vncserver, login as root and issue 'service vncserver start' command (first stop if already running - 'service vncserver stop'). If service started successfully, you are ready to use vncviewer on a remote/local machine.

5) Accessing through Vncviewer
* From Linux based machines
vncviewer <ipaddress>:<displayport> [Enter] #(IP Address is for the machine where you set up vncserver)

* From Windows
Install a VNC Viewer available for download from net (RealVNC, TightVNC, UltraVNC etc). Open it and enter <ipaddress>:<displayport> in the dialog box.



Keep in mind that by default, VNC is not a secure protocol. Passwords are not send in plain text though. But there are many distributions which encrypt the entire session (eg: UltraVNC). You can access a windows machine also remotely if you install VNC Server on it.

Alternatives to VNC:

• XDMCP

Operating systems using the X Window System can use the X Display Manager Control Protocol (XDMCP) to allow network based access to a remote system's graphical desktop. XDMCP uses much less network bandwith than VNC, but it requires an X server. There are X servers available for non-UNIX OS's. (eg: CygwinX for Windows or XManager or Hummingbird Exceed)

• NX

Faster than VNC and with sound. NX is an exciting new technology for remote display. It provides near local speed application responsiveness over high latency, low bandwidth links.

Visit this link for more info on NX:
http://www.nomachine.com/


For more info on VNC, refer:
http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/VNC
http://bobpeers.com/linux/vnc.php
http://fedora.co.in/2007/12/01/how-to-configure-vncserver
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Network_Computing

Replace Notepad with Notepad2

Notepad is one of the few tools that have always been a part of Windows, but in the process of updating and improving the OS, were left behind and have not evolved at all. Microsoft views Notepad as a final product and does not plan to make any changes or additions to it in the foreseeable future.

The original Notepad shipped with Windows is probably the handiest program of all times, small, fast, without frills! But Notepad has many disadvantages that are clear to any person using it on a daily basis. That's why many programmers and 3rd-party software developers looked into developing better tools that will still be as simple to use as Notepad, yet offer additional features and capabilities that were left out of the original Notepad. For example, notepad hangs if you try to open a large file (even if just a few MBs). Also there is no option to view line numbers or to go to a line. Again notepad can undo only the last action and neither can it detect external file changes.

Even if you have many complex IDEs and advanced word editors installed on your machine, we still use notepad at least a few times daily, probably to copy and paste the clipboard content or quickly note down something or even to open one or two files in a rush instead of waiting for the bulky IDE to load. I have EditPlus and Programmers Notepad installed on my machine, but still I use notepad for something or the other.

I considered multiple options, which finally boiled down to
1) Programmers Notepad
2) Notepad ++
3) TinyEdit
4) Notepad2

And the winner is, well the first position is shared between two, Notepad2 as a notepad replacement and Programmers Notepad for programming uses. Notepad2 doesn't have any installer. Just download and unzip notepad2.zip and you are ready to go. See Notepad2 in action below. You can see the line numbers, current line highlighting, wrap & long line indicator etc.


To replace windows notepad, do the following:
* Backup your original c:\windows\Notepad.exe (say copy to old_notepad.exe).
* Rename Notepad2.exe to Notepad.exe in above unzipped folder
* Copy the above notepad.exe into 4 directories (in given order) :
1. c:\windows\servicepackfiles\i386 or C:\WINDOWS\i386
2. c:\windows\system32\dllcache
3. c:\windows\system32
4. c:\windows

If when you replace notepad.exe, a "Windows File Protection" message box appears, click Cancel. Now wherever notepad used to come, you get notepad2 instead. Notepad2 is fast and light (260KB versus 67KB windows notepad) and very much worth the extra 200 KB.

You can download it from here:
http://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html

I did like Notepad ++ a lot too, because:
1) Comes with an autoupdater (no need to download and install again when a new version is released)
2) Supports code folding and syntax highlighting
3) Has plugin support and MDI (multiple tabs)
4) Can replace the default notepad
5) Supports USB mode (all settings stored in app folder)
6) Auto-completion and explorer context menu
7) Love the function list in java files
and a lot more....

My favorite NPP (Notepad Plus) plugins are:
1) Function List (No Unicode Support)
2) Hex Editor
3) Search In Files (No Unicode Support)
4) Spell Checker

Download NPP from here:
http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net

Here is the list of complete plugins:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=189927

To install the plugins, just unzip to C:\Program Files\Notepad++\plugins

Since Function List and Search In Files doesn't work in the new versions because of no unicode support, I had to ditch Notepad++ and select Programmers Notepad (PN) instead.

Advantages of Programmers Notepad are:
# Code Folding/Outlining
# Docking tool windows
# Excellent external tool support with user-configurable output matching - click on errors and warnings to jump right to the place in the file where they were generated (compile and run from PN itself)
# File association manager
# In-file method/definition navigation (using Ctags)
# No limit on file size (although large files may take a while to load)
# Projects and Project Groups with multi-level folders and file system mirroring
# Support for unicode files
# Support for windows, unix and macintosh file formats
# Syntax highlighting for many languages through “schemes”.
# Tabbed MDI interface

But I wish PN has an auto updater too :(

You can download it from here:
http://www.pnotepad.org/

You can map new file types to existing schemas for enabling syntax highlighting as shown below. Now I can create/edit JSPs with PN.

This is the file type manager in PN.

PN in action. See the methods and member variables listed nicely, excellent!

You can also notice that I compiled the java program from inside PN. Click on the error and it will take you to that line in source file.

Browser Bookmarks Synchronizer

Do you have multiple computers? Say you have a desktop and a laptop? Or perhaps you have a PC/laptop at work and have another one at home too? For e.g.: I have a work laptop, a personal laptop and also a desktop at home. I get online from all of these and many times I wish I had the bookmark on the other machine here or wish I could bookmark a site and it is accessible from everywhere. Many years back I found a solution. It was a different browser called 'Avant' which is basically an Internet Explorer extension. Avant has an online storage and a bookmark manager (multi-tabbed too), and while starting the browser I can login to my account and all my bookmarks are available anywhere... wow! It was so cool and very helpful. Over the years I changed my work PC and laptops many times and I still I have all the bookmarks I accumulated. Trust me, in these days a bookmark is almost as valuable as a contact number. Of course you may be able to locate a site thru a search engine like Google or Yahoo, but then many times when you quickly want something you may not have the luxury to search and find it. Also what is the guarantee that it appears on top of your search results!

So back to the story, I was a happy user of Avant for many years (since 2004). But then in between I quit using IE (2005-06) and fell in love with my sweet, sexy and versatile Firefox browser. Once a foxy (firefox user :P), always one. Back in the days of slow stupid single tabbed IE 5/6, firefox was a charmer with amazingly fast page loading, multiple tabs, integrated download manager and a general sturdy and dependable feel. It even has an integrated search box which can be associated with any search engine of your choice, including msn, Google, Yahoo and even wikipedia. Oh and as an extra bonus, you can even change your search engine in one click. I believe I started using firefox from version 1.x and now it is 3.x. But the only thing I miss is my well arranged huge collection of bookmarks. Firefox didn't have an option to automatically synchronize bookmarks (but you can import IE bookmarks). So I still used to install Avant just to get my bookmarks, but then managing bookmarks and synching between my computers became a big headache. And then I stumbled upon this, a nifty firefox add-on called ‘foxmarks’.

"If you use Firefox on more than one computer, you'll want Foxmarks. Install Foxmarks on each computer, and it works silently in the background to keep your bookmarks and (optionally) passwords synchronized. Foxmarks also keeps your data backed up and safe from computer failures. If you're away from your computer, Foxmarks allows you to access your bookmarks online by logging into my.foxmarks.com"



If you are excited already wait to hear this. Foxmarks just launched a beta version for IE (and Safari) too. Wow! What more do you need?! What are you waiting for, download foxmarks today itself, give it a try and share your experience. It also has an optional 'secure' password synchronizer, but as a word a caution, I would rather stay away from it as I don't want to take any risk and trust anyone else with my password. I prefer not to store my passwords even on the browser!

Here is the download link for foxmarks:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2410
http://www.foxmarks.com/ (home page)

Very useful, compiled link of popular Firefox add-ons
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Firefox_extensions

These are my favorite Firefox add-ons:
1) Firebug - allows the debugging, editing, and modifying of any website's CSS, HTML, DOM, and JavaScript, and provides other web development tools.
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/1843

2) DownThemAll (DTA) - a download manager/accelerator extension
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/201

3) IE Tab - view pages using the IE rendering engine from within Firefox. This is useful for some websites that do not work properly in Firefox.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1419

4) Adblock Plus - used for blocking ads
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1865/

5) PDF Download - allows users to customize the handling of PDF files. You can also convert web pages to PDF for printing or saving. Instead of the default action of opening a pdf inside browser (which clicked the pdf link), instead you can save it and open externally or even view it as html. Makes browser crashes and slow downloads a thing of the past.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/636

6) Tab Mix Plus - provides tabbed browsing enhancements. It includes such features as duplicating tabs, controlling tab focus, tab clicking options, undo closed tabs and windows, plus much more. It also includes a full-featured session manager.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1122

I haven't tried this, but BookmarkSync is another free bookmark synchronizer which supports even more browsers (opera, safari etc) and platforms.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BookmarkSync
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_browser_synchronizers

Got booted and can't sign back in to yahoo messenger?

Last night I had the same issue. I was in a chat room and someone booted me. Chat window closed and I was kicked out of messenger too (Y! 9 Beta). Since then I am not able to login to yahoo messenger with my id or any of the aliases. Tried searching in google, found no solutions. Tried using Trillian (http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/) and yahoo webmessenger (http://webmessenger.yahoo.com/), still can't login, both just hangs for ever when trying to login. When I try to login with the yahoo messenger, it logs me in for a second and show the buddy list, but quickly flicker and log out and tries to login again and goes to the same infinite loop. Tried YahELite(http://yahelite.org/), and it showed that someone is adding me as buddy and sending some variant, which I guess is exploiting some yahoo vulnerability. I tried reinstalling yahoo, and even logging in from a different machine, same issue. The same client works fine if I use a different yahoo id. Today I was able to fix it. In Internet Explorer, I cleared all temperory files, cache, cookies etc. Then in connection preferences of messenger, I changed it from "No proxies" to "Firewall with no proxies" and voila.. I'm in finally!! Hope it works for you too.... best wishes!

I hope yahoo will soon come up with some fix for the vulnerability... or your id is gone for a toss forever! All all the booters shall go to hell, Amen!

How to copy directories remotely in Linux

FTP/SFTP has commands like get and mget (put/mput) but they work only on a file or multiple files. Both commands cannot handle a directory. So how do you remotely copy a directory in linux, especially say between two Linux machines?

SCP - Secure Copy Protocol
To use the scp command to copy files between systems, use the following command:

scp filename1 userid@hostname:filename2

where filename1 is the file on the local system that you wish to copy, userid@hostname is the userid and hostname where you wish to copy it, and filename2 is the name you want to call the file on the remote system. For example:

scp /home/file1 root@mysystem.com:/root/file1

When you issue the command, you'll be prompted for the password on the remote system. You will then be given the stats of the transfer. Pay attention to the second item on the stat line; it's how much of the file got transferred (eg: 100%).

Note: SCP may also be used to copy files from a remote system to a local system. To do this in the first example above, reverse the order of filename1 and userid@hostname:filename2.

scp root@mysystem.com:/root/file1 /home/file1

To use the scp command to copy directories between systems, use the following command:

scp -r directoryname userid@hostname:directoryname2

where directoryname is the directory on the local system you wish to copy, userid@hostname is the userid and hostname where you wish to copy it, and directoryname2 is the name you want to call the file on the remote system. For example:

scp -r /home/ root@mysystem.com:/root/dir1

Note: SCP may also be used to copy directories from a remote system to a local system. To do this in the first example above, reverse the order of directoryname and userid@hostname:directoryname2.

scp -r root@mysystem.com:/root/dir1 /home/

How to increase the size of an existing VM - VMware

I created a new linux VM but it is set to a max of just 4GB. Once I started installing applications into it, soon my disk is full!! Tried using the VMware Server Console of VMware Server (a free VM hosting application and is much better than the VMware player). From the console you can change the Memory (RAM) in VM settings, but not hard disk size. Tried google and found the followings options:

1) Create a new clone/replica with increased disc size

2) Add another disc to the VM

3) Use the vdiskmanager command

I used the vdiskmanager command and following is the output:

D:\VM\linux_taddm>"C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Server\vmware"-vdiskmanager -x 15GB linux_taddm.vmdk
Using log file C:\Users\admin\AppData\Local\Temp\vmware-admin\vdiskmanager.log
Grow: 100% done.
The old geometry C/H/S of the disk is: 522/255/63
The new geometry C/H/S of the disk is: 1958/255/63
Disk expansion completed successfully.

WARNING: If the virtual disk is partitioned, you must use a third-party utility in the virtual machine to expand the size of the partitions. For more information, see:
http://www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1647

It increased the size of the disc from 4GB to 15GB in couple of minutes!

















You may also want to see these:
http://www.vmware.com/support/reference/common/virtual_disks.html
http://communities.vmware.com/message/290776

How to clone a Linux VM - VMware

I had to create a new Linux virtual machine, and I wanted it to be similar to one of the existing Linux Servers (RHEL 4). A colleague of mine told to try the free software called 'VMware Converter'. It can create a virtual machine out of a physical machine. I downloaded it and gave it a try. But unfortunately it can convert only a windows based machine to VM. If you have a windows machine, it can remotely connect to that machine and create a VM for you, which would be like a clone of the physical machine (heard it takes a long time, perhaps running overnight might be a good idea). But I have to clone a linux machine, so what do I do???

Tried googling and came upon many options.

1) http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/faqs.html
Says that experimental support available for Linux-based physical to virtual machine conversions using the Vmware Converter BootCD (cold cloning) if the source physical machine has SCSI disks.
Also read: http://communities.vmware.com/thread/76266

This blog explains how to do the above:
http://virtualaleph.blogspot.com/2007/04/cloning-linux-machine-with-converter.html
It is a bit complex and you have to do a few configuration steps to get the VM running.

2) Using g4l, Ghost for Linux
http://www.windley.com/archives/2007/08/p2v_how_to_make_a_physical_linux_box_into_a_virtual_machine.shtml

3) P2V instructions for Linux
http://vmwiz.com/


All the above didn't seem quite viable. I tried creating a new VM using ESX Server, but when I powered up the VM it said "Missing operating system". I thought of cloning one of the other linux VMs in the ESX server, but you need 'Virtual Center" for that. Then suddenly the 'idea bulb' lighted and I remembered that VMware converter had an option to select a ESX server
as source. Voila!! so easy and I created a new virtual machine within a few minutes (took me just 10 mins)!!!