We’ve just upgraded one of our Helix servers to the latest version (V14). The latest update includes support for streaming H264 video to Flash players via RTMP as well as the bonus of streaming to iPhones. Unfortunately the latest Flash player update breaks RTMP streaming. After much head scratching, I finally gave in and contacted Real who provided a quick fix.

To re-enable Flash streaming add the following lines to your rmserver.cfg


<list Name="RTMP">
<list Name="Scheme2>
<list Name="Versions">
<var v1="0x80000702"/>
</list>
</list>
</list>


For a number of years the resolution and dimensions of our monitors have been increasing. This has been a godsend to many, especially the development community, affording us the space for our ever bloating development tools. But as the resolutions increased, we’ve found that many of our users, (a uni) struggle to take advantage of these resolutions due to their failing eyesight. They understandably continue to use resolutions that displays text at a comfortable size. So we still see resolutions of 800 x 600 on a 17″ monitor, or 1024 x 768 on larger monitors. Instead of crisp native text they get text ‘blurry’ anti-aliased text on their lovely new LCD monitors

With the arrival of the iPhone 4, with it’s hyped ‘retina display’ I think we may finally have seen the end to the resolution race and the start of the pixel density race. I’ve been waiting for many years for this shift to happen and today I managed to get hold of what I personally believe is a product that demonstrated the future of screen technology, the iPhone 4.

The new screen on the iPhone is absolutely gorgeous. It’s simply the most stunning screen I’ve every used. (and I have a Apple cinema monitor at work). Below are some comparison photos taken of my iPhone 3G and iPhone 4 screens.

I’ve not labelled the images because the difference between the two screens is obvious.

The new screen is amazing. Text in email is almost book resolution with the subtleties of the typeface design clear to see.

Several operating systems now have some level of support for resolution independent rendering. Hopefully Apple’s approach to increasing screen resolution finds it’s way into the monitors we use. So that for non developers the extra resolution doesn’t make text smaller, but makes text clearer and so improves the accessibility of the applications we develop. When you factor in the role of tablets such as the iPad and touch interfaces in general, and as these form factors start to become more standardised, will our thinking as ‘web developers’ switch from pixels and screen resolutions, back to the physicality of the content and measurements such as mm’s, dpi, point sizes?

One example I’ve seen recently, were resolution independence would help,  is a new student system that’s currently being implemented. The admin side is built with Oracle forms. The developer built these forms for one resolution. But many staff have monitor resolutions much higher than the forms were designed for. So instead of the forms filling their screen, the text gets smaller and the grey space, bigger. On a resolution independent screen, the form would be exactly the size the developer has specified.

So for me this is an interesting move by Apple and one I feel’s long overdue and it could lead to some interesting changes to the way we create content.

Addendum: My initial impressions of the new iPhone.

• It’s an iPhone. It’s runs the same software. It’s an iPhone.
• It looks lovely. It’s looks as good, if not better than the iPhone 2G.
• It feels solid. The buttons feel much more solid and the stainless steel sides feel good to hold
• The brief FaceTime test we’ve run, was excellent. Much better than any 3G video I’ve tried (but last time I tried was pre-iPhone).
• The camera is much improved. (compared to the 3G)
• It’s fast – iPad fast
• The display.
• It’s worth the upgrade from the 3G. Though if you’re under contract, it’s probably not worth upgrading from the 3GS

Some shinny photos

After OSX 10.6.3 was released the sync services between iCal and Entourage went a little screwy. Many calendar entries were flagged as conflicts (usually items with invites) but the sync service wouldn’t allow them to be merged. Since I have several Macs connected into my Exchange account, multiple entries started to appear. The solution was to switch off Entourage’s iCal sync, delete the Entourage calendar from iCal and then re-enable syncing so that a new calendar is created.

Although I had fixed my work Mac and my main Mac at home, on my old laptop, I’d been ignoring the conflicts. However, the warning message were starting to get annoying so I decided to re-sync the calendars. However, I forgot to switch of the Exchange/iCal sync option before deleting the calendar from iCal and before I knew it, Entourage synced all deletions to Exchange.

I’ve found an easy way to restore all deleted calendars. My solution requires a second Mac but I suspect that the solution will work if you’re restoring the calendar from a local backup. First switch off your network connection and then open Entourage. Backup your Exchange calendar to your ‘local calendar’. The easiest way is to use the ‘All Events’ option to select all calendar entries and move them into your ‘Local Calendar’. You can then reconnect to your network and sync with Exchange. Once the sync is complete, copy back all entries into your Exchange calendar and re-sync.

I was unable to attend this year’s Lotusphere. As a customer and not a beta testing Business Partner, I was hoping to gain an insight into where Lotus’ products, especially Domino, are heading. Although there was some information it wasn’t as detailed as Lotusphere’s sessions. So the day didn’t really fulfil it’s my need. Here’s my impressions for what they’re worth.

The good

• The morning’s keynote sessions were good especially the demo of a slick looking ‘Project Vulcan’.
• Lotus appear to be close to having a consistent product catalogue with the OneUI being adopted across the product range along with similar design pattern
• The venue.
• Wifi that worked.
• Organisation was generally very good.
• Sessions being streamed live. Please can we have this for Lotusphere next year?
• Regular tweets from Lotus staff.

The Bad

• To much focus on collaboration so there was a lot of duplication between sessions.
• Lack of technical briefing on where technologies are heading, such as the IBM led Domino and Designer sessions they hold at Lotusphere.
• The labs could be improved
• Lack of experts on hand. (I guess I’ve been spoilt by Lotusphere)
• Chris Crummey expecting us Brits to ‘woop’.
• Too many ‘suits’. In my opinion, Lotus has an image problem. We need to attract good graduates to use Lotus tech. Any good undergrad attending the day would have ran a mile straight into the arms of companies such as Google.
• iPads. I can’t have one for another month so stop tempting me.

The Excellent

• Chris Crummey was excellent. Very enthusiastic about Lotus tech and he demoed  a very slick looking Project Vulcan
• Brian Cox’s closing session. A very good and passionate speaker.

How could it be improved next year?

• More parallel sessions
• Selected ‘best of’ sessions from development strands of Lotusphere
• Move the date closer to Lotusphere.

Last year I blogged about a permissions issue with Domino 7 running in a Solaris zone.  Domino’s own ID file’s permissions are reset so only root has access rights. This stops the server from executing it’s own code. The problem also effects other files modified by the HTTP task such as DTF files, cgi-bin, and even the web logs. The problem is still effecting us but we’ve discovered a way to alleviate our problems so our solution may help anyone suffering similar problems.

Background

Traditionally we’ve been very careful with our hardware updates, always making single changes at a time. However last year, strategic decisions to consolidated hardware and move towards greener server rooms meant that we had to move our Domino systems from dedicated servers with their own disk arrays to services hosted on Sun Enterprise servers along with moving our data on a SAN. Due to circumstances out of everyone’s control, the original plan to gradually move step by step to the new consolidated approach had to be moved to a very aggressive timetable (i.e. Everything done at once). At this time our servers were also moved from Solaris 9 to 10 and moved into Zones, as per our current Solaris virtualisation policy.

For me this was too many changes at once and even now I am still certain the change to using Zones is part of the underlying cause of our problems.

‘Identifying’ the problem

We reported the problem to Lotus last summer. Since then we’ve been back and forth between Lotus and Sun to identify where the issue lies, regularly updating our systems to record  more debugging information.

Since we’ve been unable to generate the problem on demand,  it’s often weeks before we could update Lotus with further data. But recently the issues increased to such an extent that the problem was occurring several times a day to both user-facing servers (where previously it was once a month to only one server). As the problems increased, we started to ‘poke and hope’ trying every idea possible while planning both moves to Domino 8.x and de-zoning one server.

Our thinking has always been that either the HTTP task is the cause of the problem or the Novell Identify Management Driver, that updates the address book. Initially the problem only affected the server IDM was connect to so this was our first culprit. When the problems started to occur on a server which did not have IDM, our thinking started to move toward the HTTP task, especially since our backup server does not have HTTP running and the problem has never occurred. Although our two live servers usually have 1000 concurrent users during office hours, the problem often occurred late evening when there’s less user activity. So whatever the cause of the problem was, it wasn’t easy to identify and we couldn’t trace the problem to any particular user activity.

During our ‘crisis’ week, we poked around the system typing to find anything that would alleviate our problems.

As we poked around the system and our own code, we realised a number of our agents have seasonal patterns that matched the increase in server issues. These heavily used agents, such as an agent that issues exam results, logged user’s actions and the data to text logs.

As part of our ‘poke and hope’ plan, we switched off all HTTP agent text file logging. Since then the problems have not reoccurred within our reboot periods (we reboot each server once a week). I have since intentionally brought a live server down using a text logging agent. However, after further testing against our development servers, the cause of the issue appears to be more complex than it first appears. Despite hammering our test servers using jmeter and the same agents, we rarely replicate the issue. So the actual issue is more complex than a simple bug in text logging code, there’s a more complicated interaction occuring. But switching off the code seem to reduce the likelihood of the ‘stars aligning’.

The text logging uses the standard method for opening files

fileNum% = FreeFile()
Open filename For Output As fileNum%
Print #fileNum%, strOutputString
Close #filenum%

So there’s nothing unusual about the code

Although the  problem is still sitting with Lotus, they’re still unable to identify what’s causing the problem. However the early indications are that the changes we’ve made have significantly reduced the number of occasions the permissions issue occurs.

We use the Domino redirect [url] to direct to users to different web pages.

One of our systems handles the Athens devolved authentication used many by UK Universities to provide access to journal subscriptions to students off-campus.

Athens basically works by a set of redirects and can be used by users either pre journal search or post. If they choose not to pre-authenticate. When a user accesses a journal they’re directed to Athen’s login page. They can then identify their host institution. At this point a series of redirects takes place.

Basically Athens sends a long URL to a Java agent on Domino. This url has a long MD5 session hash and information to pass back to Athens so that it can then direct the user to the correct page on publisher’s website.

We process the hash, validate it and then using a private key create a new hash that includes information about the user such as a unique id number and any permission sets that apply to them.

Today, it stopped working.

A publisher recently restructured their website and this created much longer url hashes. (2200 characters long)

Every time the agent was called from the Athens, Domino generated a http error – ‘Buffer Overflow’.

After some debugging. We identified that the error was generated by the in-built Domino redirect. It appears that there is a 2048 character limit on Java redirects.

The solution is simple to implement. You just need to return url string as part of the header via the http ‘Location’. But it’s odd that Domino will accept 4kb’s long URLs but less for redirects.

Technote: ‘Buffer Overflow Exception’ error using URL redirection with a string longer than 2048

We use a Google Search Appliance to index our Domino websites. We use Google’s OneBox module to execute FT searches to return results from a database we don’t want Google to index (basically 80,000 journal records we don’t want to be counted against our license total).

Yesterday we upgraded our Search Appliance to the latest version of Google’s software (6.2.0.G14). About an hour after switching it on, one of our Domino servers was hit by a sustained denial of service. The Agent called by the Google OneBox module had saturated all our HTTP threads. The Google box was making continuous requests to the search agent at a rate of nearly 200,000 per hour. The odd thing was, Google’s OneBox module passes across the end-user’s IP address as part of the search query and all requests were coming from 216.239.43.1 – a Google IP address.

It appears that there’s a known issue with the OneBox module that can cause this. (Bug report #2368523). Google immediately applied the patch, and after an hour the requests had stopped.

If you intend to upgrade to 6.2. I suggest you remove all OneBox modules from your front-ends before upgrading

So related to this problem, I find it easy to create a DOS on a Domino server. Calling any agent that takes a second to return results continuously creates a DOS (it might simply be a case of holding F5). Our server’s are set up as per Lotus’s recommendations. But does anyone have any tips for optimising the Domino http stack (Solaris) to avoid DOS?

There’s going to be a lot of comment on the iPad and it’s capabilities. I thought I’d take a look at it from a ‘Higher Education’ perspective.

The ‘tablet’ form factor is ideally suited to education. Ever since Microsoft released the first Tablet PC it’s been clear to many in education that this interface was the answer to many of our needs. Unfortunately, Windows and the applications it runs, has never fulfilled the promise. Maybe Apple can provide us with the answer.

The Student Perspective

Laptop usage in Universities has been growing exponentially. Most Universities provide students with access to a wide range of internet based systems and resources, such as email, learning environments, e-books, journals, videos, podcasts etc, along with the wireless infrastructure to enable students to use their own laptop throughout campus. So laptop usage at my University has increased significantly over the last few years.

My first reaction to the iPad was the device when combined with the iBook store and iTunesU, would make the product attractive to Education. But now I’ve had time to think about it, I’m not sure if Apple has developed a product that will (just now) make massive inroads into (UK) Higher Education.

From a design perspective, it looks like Apple have nailed the design. It looks fantastic and it’s core functionality looks great. I can imagine our students finding the portability and user interface perfect for daily use. Whether it’s taking notes in class, using it in group work or even as a data recorder in  a lab, the form factor and the instant access to research materials and our core systems through Safari is perfect in so many ways.

Photo by PoweredByLarios

But for me, there’s some killer issues that might stop wide-spread adoption.

Often students in the UK do not need to buy many books. Work for example, provides dozens of copies of ‘core texts’ and provides access to over 50,000 e-books. When students are required to buy texts, they shop around or buy second hand copies from students who studied last year. Apple appear to be positioning the device as the front-end to purchasable content. The iBook store will undoubtably be a massive success, but it’s design appears to be centred around content you intend to keep. Let’s face it, few students will find the ’4th Edition of Introduction to Thermodynamics’ such an exciting page turner that they will want to keep it. Many in education we’re hoping that Apple’s iBook store would adopt ‘micro payments’ allowing students to purchase just the chapters they need, or even ‘rent’ the book for short periods of time.

In terms of iTunesU, we’re not sure our students use it. There’s some fantastic content on iTunesU, but our academics are still quite traditional. Many still believe that they have to stand in front of a class imparting knowledge through a set of Powerpoint slides. Few as yet, would consider requiring students to consume iTunesU content outside of class so that they can concentrate on exploring ‘understanding’ during face to face time. We know that our lecturers are not unique. UK Higher Education has wasted millions on unused ‘reusable’ content. So I don’t think the ease of access to iTunesU will help sell the product.

iStore photo by Gizmodo

There’s also the issue that the iPad is not a ‘computer’. Many courses require specialist software, such as Photoshop, or CAD packages. Also since Microsoft has traditionally supported Universities with relatively cheap campus licenses, and students with cheap Office licenses, Office has been a core desktop application for over a decade. The iPad doesn’t support Office and I can’t see Microsoft developing an iPad version. There’s also the issue that students wouldn’t be able to access all the content we provide in ‘non Apple’ formats, such as Windows media, Real Video and Flash. So it’s likely a student would still require a laptop.

Although the base price seems reasonable, is it cheap enough for students to buy it alongside a laptop? Apple’s UK prices tend to be around $1.25 to a £. If that’s the case, the base product will cost £400. Students can get 15% discount (as can I – probably the biggest advantage of working at a Uni!). So the UK price to students will probably be around £340. Is this cheap enough to purchase as a second computer?

Staff Perspective

From a staff perspective, the iPad seems to be wide of the mark. All our academic staff have laptops so have the freedom to carry their work round with them. It’s unlikely that we would look to replace staff’s laptops with an iPad. But we already have a definite need for a good tablet, maybe in addition to their main laptop, because University staff have to mark assignments. Something as simple as marking paper submissions has proven to be significantly slower, when staff have to mark electronically. Last year we accepted over 80,000 electronic submissions, this year’s it’s likely to be double that amount. Within 5 years, I think all submissions will be electronic. So we’re desperate for a product with an interface that streamlines the marking workflow.

Windows Tablet PCs provide almost everything we require. But because of a number of small problems, they just don’t work. For example, I’ve not found a single member of staff who likes the software keyboard on Windows. So of most our staff use ‘hybrid’ laptop/tablet PCs. These tend to be underpowered, with poor battery life and awful ergonomics. So staff end up being tied to a desk. There’s also the issue that applications are rarely design to work with a touch based interface, so tend to be difficult to use when you are using a Tablet PC.

It’s clear the interface or iPad is excellent. It was designed from the ground up as touch based operating system. The ergonomics of the product look almost perfect. The size and weight should allow staff to use the product almost anywhere. As always with Apple products, the screen looks fantastic. So staff should be able to sit and mark where ever is convenient.

Photo by Gizmodo

It looks like iLife has also been revamped with ‘touch’ as the main interface. But the lack of pen interface is disappointing. I’ve always thought that a pen based interface eases the transition of staff from paper to electronic. But I’m starting to think that this may not actually be needed. The iPad’s software keyboard looks fantastic and most iPhone users quickly adjust to typing on it’s tiny keyboard, so the iPad’s big virtual keyboard shouldn’t be a problem. Most staff use the pen to add comments next to student’s mistakes and  the iPhone’s cut and paste mechanism demonstrates how easy it is to highlight sections with your finger. So adding inline comments should be pretty easy.

Photo from Gizmodo

But there’s one core feature that the first generation iPad is missing – the web camera. Audio visual feedback is becoming a common method for staff to provide richer, personalised feedback to students. Being unable to record video limits how staff could use the iPad and it seem like Apple have intentionally tried to minimise the ‘first gen’ cost. I would expect a camera to appear on the second generation product.

So it’s a bit of a mixed bag really. I’m not sure it will appeal to students and the first gen iPad seems to be missing some core features for use by our staff.

I read a comment earlier that the iPad doesn’t know what it wants to be and although I can see their point, I don’t think it’s true. Yes, it appears like it might be targeted at business and education but I think Apple have a very clear idea of what they want the product to do. They want it to kill off the Kindle and for it to be a consumer device that acts as a front end to their increasing range of stores. To make it easier for consumers to have instant access to digital content, content that Apple control the distribution of. If it finds a place in business or education, then that will be a bonus

A hands-on video from Engadget

Mobile Roadie looks like an interesting service that helps people create iPhone apps.It appears to be aimed towards bands, but it’s just been used for ‘Le Web‘ conference. (Supports Twitter, uSteam, Comments, News etc).

Via TechCruch

I grew up in Middlesbrough, a small town in the North East of England. It’s one of those ‘salt of the earth’ towns. To outsiders it doesn’t appear to have much going for it. But in general the people are brilliant and they have a pride in the area that you don’t find in many of the more affluent areas of the UK.

Teesside in 1900

Like many industrial parts of the UK, it’s been in decline since the 60s, as successive governments have stood by and watch it’s industries die. Teesside was built on steel, shipbuilding, and petrochemicals, and had a rich industrial heritage for example steel from Teesside has been used in construction throughout the world. (Sydney Harbour Bridge is built with Teesside steel and even the new Wembley Arch is Teesside steel).

Wembley Arch

Today a critical blow has been struck against the area. Corus ‘mothballed’ their steel plant at Redcar ending 150 years of Teesside steel production. Closing a plant that until a bunch of useless bankers caused a world recession, was profitable making high quality specialist steel, but now is yet another one of their victims.

Many on Teesside rightly feel that they should be bailed out. They didn’t cause the recession and unlike the banks, used to make real money for the country. Also Teesside, unlike the South of England, did not experience many of the benefits of the ‘boom’ times of the last 30 years. The only new businesses on Teesside have been shops and call centres. So while the government is happy to bail out those that created the problem, 1700 honest hardworking Teessiders now face a bleak New Year. This cannot be right.