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Geeky/Programming

Cisco VPN Client on Microsoft Vista – Connection Issues?

If you are using the Cisco VPN Client on Vista (if you can even get it installed, you need one of the latest versions) Then you probably have ran into connection issues. "Connection Reset By Peer" or "Failed to Enable Virtual Adapter" or "User Authentication Failed" etc etc. I recently redid my Vista box and was just having major issues with the Cisco VPN Client. It would connect for 3 minutes, disconnect. 8 minutes, disconnect. 2 Hours, disconnect. I couldn’t stay connected for any period of time. A possible fix?

Set up a constant ping. To a server or device on the network you are connecting to. I have been connected non-stop for 2-3 days now without issue. This was just not happening before.

start->run->cmd> ping <ip or server name> -t

and just let it run in the background, it seems to keep the VPN Client connected!

cisco

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Geeky/Programming Product Reviews

HowTo: Find a Domain Name Quick

I usually buy domain names when I think of something cool and it is available. (ilovetotsinpdx.com anyone?). The easiest way to find domains the "Web 2.0" way is using this cool AJAX’y interface to search open domains.

http://instantdomainsearch.com

Makes it fun and easy! BTW I do use http://www.active-domain.com for my DNS/domain registrar and I use http://hostmysite.com for all my hosting. Why? Just because I found it easiest 🙂

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Geeky/Programming

IT and Development Best Practice: Just Because You Can Doesn't Mean You Should..

One thing I have learned over the years in IT and Development is this: Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.

What does this mean? It means that sometimes software and programs and hardware will let you do thing/configure things in such a way that is possible in the software, but that doesn’t mean you should do it.

Some examples:

1) Development – You can add a gazillion button controls to a form. Your development IDE doesn’t complain at all. You run your program and it totally dogs or has weird issues. Why? Because common sense tells you that shouldn’t put many controls on a form, you need to redesign! Some guru’s (Aaron Ballman, Raymond Chen) on the subject have blogged about this and it is talked about all around the web

2) Networking – Windows 98 (and other OS’s – I just know this one is from example) allows you to set two gateways on your adapter. Does this make sense? Two DEFAULT Gateways. Shouldn’t there just be one? I have seen first hand two gateways that don’t talk to each other and then end users sometimes could connect to the Internet, and sometimes they could connect to internal stuff, but not at the same time! Doh!  Chris might be able to add more to this as I am not a networking guru, but I know it just isn’t right.

3) Data Warehousing – Now, The way SQL Server Analysis Services is set up, you have your SSAS server. Then you can make multiple "databases" under that instance. Sort of like regular SQL Server, Instance->Databases->Objects. The thing is, under an SSAS Database, you can create multiple cubes. Now, there might some small instances where you want to do this, but just because the GUI/API lets you create multiple cubes under a SSAS DB, doesn’t mean you should! For one, you can’t share linked objects between SSAS Databases, because both cubes are in the same DB. The other thing is that if both cubes are tightly bound or are mutually exclusive, then you run into MAJOR pains when trying to deploy/process, etc. You risk taking one cube offline because you are having a deployment issue with the other cube. Keep your cubes in separate SSAS databases! 🙂 I ran across this the other day which finally put the nail in the coffin on this issue for me

I am sure there are many more instances where there is the ability to configure or do something but you shouldn’t. It really can lead to major headaches and issues for all involved if common sense isn’t used beforehand. Although sometimes there is an unknown factor and you just have to decide, but then later when you realize it you should go back and fix it (that is probably a good topic for another post in itself!)

Keep geekin!

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Business Intelligence Geeky/Programming SQLServerPedia Syndication

SQL Server 2005 Performance Dashboard Reports

Check these out. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1d3a4a0d-7e0c-4730-8204-e419218c1efc&displaylang=en

If you are a DBA, these are pretty much money. I have seen some many custom implementations and DBA’s trying to get reports like this, and if you have SQL Server 2005 SP2, you can download that and run a SQL script and then you have these reports. They give you insight into pretty much everything going on with your server. Why pay $1000’s for a product that will give you the same info when it is built right into SQL Server!!

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Geeky/Programming SQLServerPedia Syndication

SQL 2005: Using Data Management Views (DMV's) to View Status of Database and Log Restores

SQL 2005 introduced some cool "data management views" (DMV’s) that let a DBA see what is happening on their database. Previously you had to use undocumented system tables and information schemas to get the info, and a lot of the info wasn’t even available. Well recently I was doing some backup/restore stuff on a database and wanted to know when it would finish. The first question I ask is – why isn’t this built into the SSMS view of a db, when it says "DatabaseName (Restoring)" why couldn’t they just add the % done at the end of something? Anyway’s – if you want to see what is restoring on your server and where it is at, go ahead and use this query:

use master
go

SELECT
    percent_complete AS ‘PctComplete’,
    start_time AS ‘StartTime’,
    command AS ‘Command’,
    b.name AS ‘DatabaseName’,
    DATEADD(ms,estimated_completion_time,GETDATE()) AS ‘EstimatedEndTime’,
    (estimated_completion_time/1000/60) AS ‘EstimatedMinutesToEnd’
    FROM sys.dm_exec_requests a
    INNER JOIN sys.databases b ON a.database_id = b.database_id
    WHERE command like ‘%restore%’
    AND estimated_completion_time > 0

I did notice that it says 100% complete but then the restore still takes about 20-30 seconds to finish, so be warned there. Also, if you are restoring a DB, the database name will be master (from what I have seen, it was a fresh restore). If you are just restoring logs, it will show you the database name of the database where the logs are restoring.

Take this and create a quick SSRS (Reporting Services) report. Or even better schedule this to run every 2 minutes or something and maybe once it sees some records, kick off a report, or make a cool little desktop app that has balloon popups and statuses, so as  DBA you can see what is going on with your restores. Maybe I will create that app one Saturday if am bored or something 🙂

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Random

T-Mobile Customer Service Phone Numbers – from T-mobile phone or Roaming

611 from your T-Mobile phone if you are in a T-mobile coverage area.

1-800-937-8997 otherwise (roaming)

🙂

Only reason I am blogging this is because I had a tough time finding it through Google even though it is on their contact us page (I think it should just show up in Google excerpt instead of me having to click!)

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Business Intelligence Geeky/Programming SQLServerPedia Syndication

SQL 2005 SSAS Deployment Wizard – Where Did My Roles Go?

Ok.. if you are using SSAS 2005 and using the deployment wizard (not using BIDS) – probably because you want to retain your partitions or something. But anyways, if you use it and choose the option to retain your roles, you will deploy, and no one will be able to get to your SSAS DB or Cubes. What gives?

See this link on Microsoft. Doesn’t make sense to me but I guess in Microsoft speak Retain roles and members really equals Screw up roles and members and leave you scratching your head.

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Life

Heading to St. Cloud Next Week

I will be up in St. Cloud starting tomorrow (Saturday Jan 26th) through Saturday Feb 2nd. Looking forward to seeing some old friends, seeing how the office is doing, and all that. Jeff Lee – we need to have a beer. I am at the Kelly Inn so lets meet up downtown, I probably will be out Saturday night for sure. My mobile is on the side of my blog, so txt me!

Oh yeah, and MN is colder than WI right now, yesssss!

 

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Random

Free Xbox 360 Live Game – Undertow

If you are a XBOX Live 360 Subscriber and you had issues over xmas break, get on the marketplace and download Undertow – its free, the full game. That is the gift you get for dealing with issues.. get on it!

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Geeky/Programming

HowTo: Get iSight Camera Working in Windows XP through Parallels 3.0 on MacBook

So, I use Pidgin for IM. It is like Trillian, but I like it better. No webcam support. I don’t webcam really, but I wondered today what I could use to webcam if I wanted to. I found a site, tokbox that lets you do just that, through the web – cool!

Anyway’s, It works fine on Vista with my webcam hooked up on my Dell, but I tried it on XP on Parallels on my MacBook and it couldn’t find a cam, WTF? So I did some digging and this is what I found, it will work, you just need to set it up!

In the MacBook, Parallels menu->Devices->USB->Built-In iSight which will enable it for use in XP..but no drivers. Here they are – iSight Drivers For Windows XP.

When going through the driver wizard in XP, point to the extracted drivers from that zip and it should work! Happy web camming! 🙂

BTW – I am on tokbox now (http://tokbox.com/ScaleOvenStove), so if you want to chat, audio/video, give me a "call". I haven’t tried it yet with anyone.

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