In the very begining of the post, lets learn what PHP is exactly.

So, Wikipedia says ( and I add that I agree with her :

PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor is a widely used, general-purpose scripting language that was originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document. As a general-purpose programming language, PHP code is processed by an interpreter application in command-line mode performing desired operating system operations and producing program output on its standard output channel. It may also function as a graphical application. PHP is available as a processor for most modern web servers and as standalone interpreter on most operating systems and computing platforms.

PHP was originally created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1995 and has been in continuous development ever since. The main implementation of PHP is now produced by The PHP Group and serves as the de facto standard for PHP as there is no formal specification.PHP is free software released under the PHP License.

So, now when we know what PHP is, lets check the basic PHP syntax:

<?php
    echo "Hello World";
   /* echo("Hello World"); works as well, although echo isn't a
    function (it's a language construct). In some cases, such
    as when multiple parameters are passed to echo, parameters
    cannot be enclosed in parentheses */
?>

You can find out more about the PHP project on www.php.net.

In this case, I will use Windows Web Platform Installer to install PHP on my machine. By going on this link you can use the installer to install PHP on your machine (same link is also used in the video).

Check out the video ( dont forget to put it in full screen mode :

So, now when you’re all full of excitement and thinking “LOL, installing PHP is extra easy, everyone could do it” ….NAH!!! and the host says: You lost

First, lets check it the PHP is working at all on our server. Yes, we could use the above stated syntax, but that just isnt fun . To get some detailed info on our PHP lets use this command:

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

Lets navigate to c:\inetpub\wwwroot\ and create a file called “phptest.php” . We will do that by clicking with the right mouse click , New – Text Document.  We will call it phptest.php.

Inside the document we will paste the above piece of code, save it and hold your fingers .

Point your browser to your server address, and to the phptest.php file.

If everything went smoothly you should see a page like this:

If you see the page that means that the PHP on our server is working properly.

Now, lets have some fun with security issues in PHP.

First of all, we have to check the php.ini file which is located in C:\Program Files (x86)\PHP\php.ini  . Lets open it with Notepad.

Most of the option are explained in the file itself, so we will skip them. Focus will be only on the most important ones.

One of the interesting lines is this :

; – magic_quotes_gpc = Off         [Performance]

As we can see, that option is commented out and DISABLED, and its best to leave it like that since its been deprecated in PHP 5.3.X .

Second option is:

register_globals = Off –

LEAVE THAT TURNED OFF. If you have clients who have ancient applications, tell them to rewrite them .  More about the discussion on using register globals can be found on this link

Third one that should be disabled is :

allow_url_fopen = On

Standard setting in the instllation is “On”, which is bad and wrong for many reasons . This setting should be turned of because of cross site scripting and security holes in lots of CMS/Forum scripts. When fopen is turned on, a potential attacker has an oportunity to use some security hole in your application to include his own file and gain access over your entire account. I really think you dont want that

But, never fear , alternative is here .Tell your customers or yourself to use curl for fetching remote content.

Standard fopen function should be replaced with a curl function :

Fopen function

    <?
    $result = fopen($url,r);
    ?>

Curl function

<?
$ch = curl_init($url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);
$result = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
?>

Next very important setting is :

disable_functions =

By standard, its empty…

Here are some of the most common functions to be disabled : system, exec, shell_exec, passthru, set_time_limit, error_log, ini_alter, dl, pfsockopen, openlog, syslog, readlink, symlink, link, leak, fsockopen, popen, escapeshellcmd, apache_child_terminate apache_get_modules, apache_get_version, apache_getenv, apache_note,apache_setenv,virtual

Google a bit to find what these functions do, but for an example, I would disable the “exec” command ( among others) , but you find out why
( hint : net user /add useraccountname mypassword )

When you’re done setting the php.ini file, all you need to do is restart IIS server and thats it.

Next step is to install some PHP based application and admire your work.

Ofcourse, this is a very fast tutorial on installing PHP . Configuration of it is the trickiest part and you should use the official php site and google to help you with it!

Cheers, Alesandro

One of the things you want to avoid when deploying an ASP.NET application into production is to accidentally (or deliberately) leave the <compilation debug=”true”/> switch on within the application’s web.config file.

Doing so causes a number of non-optimal things to happen including:

1) The compilation of ASP.NET pages takes longer (since some batch optimizations are disabled)

2) Code can execute slower (since some additional debug paths are enabled)

3) Much more memory is used within the application at runtime

4) Scripts and images downloaded from the WebResources.axd handler are not cached

This last point is particularly important, since it means that all client-javascript libraries and static images that are deployed via WebResources.axd will be continually downloaded by clients on each page view request and not cached locally within the browser.  This can slow down the user experience quite a bit for things like Atlas, controls like TreeView/Menu/Validators, and any other third-party control or custom code that deploys client resources.  Note that the reason why these resources are not cached when debug is set to true is so that developers don’t have to continually flush their browser cache and restart it every-time they make a change to a resource handler (our assumption is that when you have debug=true set you are in active development on your site).

When <compilation debug=”false”/> is set, the WebResource.axd handler will automatically set a long cache policy on resources retrieved via it – so that the resource is only downloaded once to the client and cached there forever (it will also be cached on any intermediate proxy servers).  If you have Atlas installed for your application, it will also automatically compress the content from the WebResources.axd handler for you when <compilation debug=”false”/> is set – reducing the size of any client-script javascript library or static resource for you (and not requiring you to write any custom code or configure anything within IIS to get it).

What about binaries compiled with debug symbols?

One scenario that several people find very useful is to compile/pre-compile an application or associated class libraries with debug symbols so that more detailed stack trace and line error messages can be retrieved from it when errors occur.

The good news is that you can do this without having the have the <compilation debug=”true”/> switch enabled in production.  Specifically, you can use either a web deployment project or a web application project to pre-compile the code for your site with debug symbols, and then change the <compilation debug=”true”/> switch to false right before you deploy the application on the server.

The debug symbols and metadata in the compiled assemblies will increase the memory footprint of the application, but this can sometimes be an ok trade-off for more detailed error messages.

The <deployment retail=”true”/> Switch in Maching.config

If you are a server administrator and want to ensure that no one accidentally deploys an ASP.NET application in production with the <compilation debug=”true”/> switch enabled within the application’s web.config file, one trick you can use with ASP.NET V2.0 is to take advantage of the <deployment> section within your machine.config file.

Specifically, by setting this within your machine.config file:

<configuration>

<system.web>

<deployment retail=”true”/>

</system.web>

</configuration>

You will disable the <compilation debug=”true”/> switch, disable the ability to output trace output in a page, and turn off the ability to show detailed error messages remotely.  Note that these last two items are security best practices you really want to follow (otherwise hackers can learn a lot more about the internals of your application than you should show them).

Setting this switch to true is probably a best practice that any company with formal production servers should follow to ensure that an application always runs with the best possible performance and no security information leakages.  There isn’t a ton of documentation on this switch – but you can learn a little more about it here.

So, dear developers, keep on eye on debug state…it will make you and the server happier

ALL CREDITS OF THIS TEXT GO TO DOTNETPANEL BLOG!

Source : DotNetPanel Blog

Top Features

First, we need to have a query that will backup all databases to one folder… Well, here it is


DECLARE @name VARCHAR(50) -- database name
DECLARE @path VARCHAR(256) -- path for backup files
DECLARE @fileName VARCHAR(256) -- filename for backup
DECLARE @fileDate VARCHAR(20) -- used for file name
SET @path = 'E:\sqlbackups\' --path to the backup folder
SELECT @fileDate = CONVERT(VARCHAR(20),GETDATE(),112)
DECLARE db_cursor CURSOR FOR
SELECT name
FROM master.dbo.sysdatabases
WHERE name NOT IN ('tempdb')
OPEN db_cursor
FETCH NEXT FROM db_cursor INTO @name
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
SET @fileName = @path + @name + '_' + @fileDate + '.BAK'
BACKUP DATABASE @name TO DISK = @fileName
FETCH NEXT FROM db_cursor INTO @name
END
CLOSE db_cursor
DEALLOCATE db_cursor

This will backup everything except the “Temdb” database. So, lets take a look at the current state of our backup folder.

As we can see, only the backups from 21.11.2009 exist. So, what happens when we run the query using SQL Management Studio.

Here’s the query pasted in “New query window”.

Sooo…if everything went smoothly, we should get a message similar to this one :

Awesome! Now, lets take a look at our backup folder, are there any changes? Sure hope there is, because this post will totally suck if the backup didn’t complete

As we can see, this post will not suck after all Notice the new files, created on the 22.11.2009 . IT WORKS! All we have to do now is to automate the backup, so we don’t have to run the query everyday by hand.

We will do that using Task Scheduler (or Scheduled tasks in Windows 2003). We have to add a task to execute everyday in 3 AM.

The command we have to run is:

“C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\Binn\SQLCMD.EXE” -i “c:\pathtosqlquery\sqlbackup.sql”

Where “sqlbackup.sql” is the name of the file you have pasted the code mentioned before.

Here are a couple of pictures so you can see how to do it:

Now, click on “Create task”. That will click will start the task wizard. Enter the name of the task ( i.e “SQL Backups”.

After entering the name and choosing the option “Run wheneter user is logged on or not”, click on “Triggers”.

Click on “New”. It will bring up a new window

Choose the “Daily” option, and set the time when you want the task to run. I have set it to 3 AM .

ONE IMPORTANT THING!!! Dont forget to check the “Enable” checkbox , otherwise, you will end up scratching your head and cursing Microsoft and uncle Bill hehe.

After that, click on “Actions”, where we will define the program that should be runned… Click on “New”…

Paste this into the “Program/Script” box.

“C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\Binn\SQLCMD.EXE”

NOTE! – path to the “SQLCMD.exe” may be different on your system!!!

All that is left to do is to “Add arguments”

-i “c:\pathtosqlqueryfile\sqlbackup.sql”

Click on “OK”, enter the system password and thats it. Enjoy your daily backup.

HINT!!!! If you’re lazy like I am, you can use a powershell script to delete backup files older than X days. I have also covered that with a blog post. More info about that on this link.

Bye bye!

In this post we will cover the instalation of MySQL on a Windows 2008 R2 based server. The process is the same if you would have a Windows 2003 machine also.

At the beginning, lets see what MySQL is.

MySQL is a relational database management system (RDBMS)^. MySQL stands for “My Structured Query Language“. The program runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases.

The project has made its source code available under the terms of the GNU General Public License, as well as under a variety of proprietary agreements. MySQL is owned and sponsored by a single for-profit firm, the Swedish company MySQL AB, now a subsidiary of Sun Microsystems. As of 2009^[update] Oracle Corporation began the process of acquiring Sun Microsystems; Oracle holds the copyright to most of the MySQL codebase.

MySQL is often used in free software projects which require a full-featured database management system, such as WordPress, phpBB and other software built on the LAMP software stack. It is also used in very high-scale World Wide Web products including Wikipedia, Google and Facebook^.

Many web applications use MySQL as the database component of a LAMP software stack. Its popularity for use with web applications is closely tied to the popularity of PHP, which is often combined with MySQL.

So, what is the process of installing MySQL on a Windows machine? Well, it’s pretty straight forward so there is no need to write step-by-step tuturial..look at the video rather than reading

Dont forget to choose HD and the “full screen” option.

Song in the video is from Thievery Corporation. Song name is : Lebanese Blonde

Click on the picture and enjoy!

Note: open the link in Internet Explorer…there’s no sound in Firefox

In order to  install SQL 2008 Express, we have to download it first . Fire up your favorite browser and point it to http://www.microsoft.com/express/download/ . After that, find the box with the SQL 2008 Express, and click download.

On the next step you have the option to register with Microsoft or download the software without registration.  I will choose the “no registration part”.

In the new window, choose the version you would like to install. Personally, I will choose “Runtime with advanced services“. By clicking on install, Microsoft will ask to install the Microsoft Web Platform installer. If you dont have it installed, click on the picture to install it.

Choose “Run”, and after the download, again, choose “Run“. Wait for the installtion to finish and look at the top of the browser, a little bar will pop up and ask us if we want to run Active X control.  Make sure the publisher is “Microsoft Corporation”. Click on “Run“, and then on Allow.

Now, look at the video of the installation I have made for you. The video will show you the process of installing SQL Server 2008 Express.

After that, all you need to do is run the “SQL Server Configuration Manager” under “Configuration Tools” and configure it the way you want it.

BTW, the track used is La Noche by Coca & Villa .IT’s AWESOME!!!

Have fun…bye!

Requirements for running any OS in HyperV that will be stored on Iscsi server are:

1. Iscsi target, obviously

2.Iscsi initiator software ( bundled in Windows 2008 Server)

3. High speed network, atleast 1Gbit.

4. Drive that you connect to the HyperV machine MUST stay in offline mode.

5. Tons of time to configure it

Will you will be able to read more details about configuring OpenSolaris and ZFS on my collegaues blog : toic.org  – linux geek blog

So, like we already know, the disk on that we want to install the OS has to be offline  ( hint: disk2 ).

Next step is the creation of the virtual machine that will use the disk.  I have recorded that process, so you can see how simple it is .

All that you have to do is to install the OS…I didnt do that to the end in the video.

Tommorow we have planned to create a failover cluster with two Windows 2008 servers and see what will happen when one server suddenly get disconnected..ups

Bye, Alesandro

Big hello to the guys from www.bug.hr

Click on the HD button and put the video into full screen mode, so you can see all the details.

In the next post, I will show you how to install Microsoft SQL server 2008 Express .

Cheers!