September 2006 - Posts
[Via Mark Harrison]
Calling all developers who loved Google Map, try debugging this bug found in Google Map.
[Source]
If you are having problems starting / configuring a workflow in you MOSS Beta2TR setup, run the following command. It should help solve the problem.
stsadm.exe -o reconvertallformtemplates
Many people missed this step when they upgrade their MOSS setup. So be sure to run the command.
Why?
Well, MOSS supports a farm configuration, where you can add new servers into the farm to meet specific needs as the company needs changes. Eg. When a company sets up an intranet portal using MOSS, the usage might be low, hence two server setup (MOSS and SQL) is used. But as company grows and gain lots of knowledge among its staff, and would like to start a Knowledge Management Initiative, new servers can be set up and added into the farm to handle increased Web-Frontend or Search workload.
It won't be a nice experience if you need to sync the settings between the servers whenever a change takes place. Hence MOSS has a timer service that synchronises the changes between different server in the farm. So if you need to change the application pool credentials, use the central admin to effect the change.
A few months back, Softwaremaker asked me a question, "Am I happy?". And that triggered a series of events that never in my career happened before to me. Already stressed with house matters and marriage preparation, I am put under more pressure as it is a first time I have to choose between two jobs that I like. Company A offers me a chance to become an architect, while company B offeres me a chance to make a difference in the portal team.
Lots of things to consider, and while company B has been in my radar ever since I graduated from Polytechnic, the fact that opportunity in company A is very rare, and the chance to work with Softwaremaker really ease some of the worries I had with regards to company A.
After much consideration, I have decided to bite the bullet and accepted the offer from company A, and not look back. Went to purchase a powerful desktop even though I shouldn't have as there are other needs to meet, so that I can spend my two weeks break, learning the new features of MOSS that came out after Beta 1TR, and get ready for a new job.
Early this week, I met up with Softwaremaker, and he broke the news to me that he is leaving the company. I think my face got the word "Shock" printed all over my face. He started assuring me that I will do well in company A, and we will still get lots of chances to work together.
Softwaremaker, I've said this in my wedding, that I'm very grateful for all the advices and guidance you have given me in the past. And I am even more grateful of the things you have done for me, with regards to this career move. No words can express my gratidude to you. And I'm looking forward to the future!
In my previous post, I mentioned that I bought a new desktop with Intel Core2Duo with 4gb ram, and was facing some trouble with the DVD Drive. Went back to Sim Lim and got the motherboard changed, but it didn't solve the problem. In fact, I spent more than an hour three, trying to troubleshoot why the bios detect 3gb of ram instead of 4, which the other uncle showed me when I bought the system. The poor chap went to get another motherboard and another set of ram to test, still the same thing happen.
Well, the guy didn't know that he needs to enable some memory mapping thing in the bios. After enabling that, the system finally detected 4gb ram, and he keep saying, he learnt a new thing that day! But that didn't solve the DVD drive problem. Went home disappointed and worried. Softwaremaker has been telling me the windows xp x64 support is pretty bad, with lots of missing drivers, and program (no xbox connect for x64. :( ) Decided to heed his advice and wait for Vista x64, and not fix the DVD-Rom problem by just making ISO for each cd / dvd I need to use.
Using my ThinkPad, I tried to make an ISO for my windows XP, but had problem... Now I know what is causing the problem... It is bad media... :( But why did a bad media killed the dvd drive, as I am unable to read a good disc after the I/O error.
Oh well, went on the set up virtual server R2, and four virtual machines. First one is the domain controller, with 256 mb ram. Second is the sql server with 512 mb ram. Third one is the MOSS server with 1.5gb ram, while the fourth is an XP for me to download stuff (like anime). I thought this set up would utilise the CPU processor, but hmm... The processor utilisation seldom hit above 50%!
Can't wait to get my MOSS setup running and see if it is as slow as it is in the office... Can't wait to see Virtual Server SP1 too, and see if VTI will really boost the performance.
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Office 2007 B2TR has already been released for some time. As usual, I've been waiting eagerly to upgrade my own installation as I've been using Office 2007 B2 for my production environment ever since it has been released, much faster than some of the MSFTs I've been working with in projects. (It is funny sometimes when I send proposal to them, and they request that I change the format as they have not deployed Office 2007 yet.)
Though mine is probably an isolated case, as my laptop is always mistreated by me, you guys that are upgrading should consider making a backup applying the B2TR patch. The patch works great generally, except it killed my word. I couldn't open any word documents, even those that I created using B2TR, and the best thing is after uninstalling Office 2007, I can't reinstall. A quick check in add / remove programs reveals that the Office 2007 installation is corrupted.
I went home that day, and formatted my laptop as I desperately need a working Word to finish up a final report for a project which involves migration of Lotus Notes application to InfoPath 2007. I will try the patch again, after I get my back-up done. :)
[UPDATE]
Just when I'm re-establishing my RSS feeds, I came across this post that explains why the above happened. Just when I'm getting more and more pissed with Symantec, especially when the installation breaks if you move their shortcuts in the start menu!
My blog has been very quiet. Was so busy with work and personal stuff, as I had to handle 4 concurrent projects as well as my house renovation and wedding. Thank God that I managed to get 2 of the projects wrapped up early August, my house in livable condition as well as my wedding went by without much hiccups. Many feels that wedding opens up a new chapter in life. Mine can never be true, especially when a new job awaits me a month later. :)
I have learnt a lot of stuff during the few months in the pressure cooker. The most important thing I've learn is, it doesn't pay AT ALL to help local bosses finish up the mountain of work, sacrificing personal time. Better learn it now than later, as the price you pay for the mistake will probably be much much higher when the little ones start running about in the house.
Well, the miserable experience in working in such an environment is about to end. I'm taking two weeks break to dive deeper into MOSS, infopath and workflow. To help me with my learning, after 6 years, I've finally bought a new Intel 6600 core 2 duo with 4 gb ram, and set up my first 64-bit machine! Though I'm still having problems with my cd-rom, which always seems to give me I/O problems, I'm almost set!
In the next few weeks, I'll be posting photos of my wedding, video of the whole ceremony if anyone is interested, and entries about what I've learnt during this break.