KevDate 10232008

You may be wondering where I have been. In August I started working on my MBA. If all goes well by August 2010 I will have one more item checked off my bucket list. :-)

We have encountered a minor glitch with the public Firefox browser. It has to do with the Gecko Runtime environment or XULRunner that Firefox is built on. I am looking into a fix for this and will publish it as soon as it is tested. In the meantime the quickest work around for our public Firefox problem is to use Internet Explorer; worse case kick off a rebuild.

That about covers things for now.

Thanks fo stopping by.

Public Firefox Add-ons 07112008 part II

Maria researched some search tools for us to add to Firefox. They are really easy to add. We just add them to the searchplugins folder. We narrowed them down to the following:

ACPL Catalog
Google
Yahoo
Amazon.com
Answers.com
Wikipedia
Webster

All we need to do is copy the the xml files for the plugins to:
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins
Just like we added the ACPL Catalog for the staff application object.

The only add-on that will be available for the public is Print Preview 0.7.1.4. This allows us to add Print Preview along with Print to the toolbar.

Progress so far:
As of today the snapshot was made of the Firefox install. The snAppShot folder was named Public _Firefox. The folder was copied to the working directory on the server. The initial application object was completed and our documentation file for Public_Firefox was update. An install of Firefox along with the search plugins and print preview was set up on another computer. This will be used for a template as the applicatoin object is modifieid.

Public Firefox 07112008

I am thinking aloud so to speak., but if you have anything to add let me know. Also if you think I am going about this the wrong way let me know too.

OK. So I have been thinking about this and I tried tinkering with the User.js configuration file for Firefox and I can't get everything to go. I am going to try this. Make a snapshot for the public of Firefox. Add firfox.exe to RPM so it will launch on a public machine. Then use another computer to set up Firefox, using the menu editor add-on, to lock it down. Add the search tools and other plugins/settings as desired.

Now I have the application object and a template to work from. Next is just a matter of copying files from the template to the application object. Then editing the appropriate configuration file. This should point firefox to the add-ons and extensions that I copied over from the template (other computer).

I had a more user friendly theme I wanted to use but that may be trickier to set up than getting the other add-ons to work. So the theme will be the last obstacle. If it doesn't work that is no big deal. Oh the name of the theme is Office if you wanted to check it out: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4561

I use it and thought it would a good choice for the public.

The goal is to lock down Firefox in much the same way Internet Explorer already is. And to make sure all the plugins are functioning.

The list of add-ons, search tools, and plugins to be posted soon.

Firefox 070108

Sent email informing staff of Firefox upgrade. Included instructions on how to export and import bookmarks, if needed. Next step is to begin tweaking Firefox for public deployment.

One note:
Proxy setting for the browser is set to No Proxy by default. This needs to be changed to auto detect. To do this I had to edit the All.js file. It is located at:
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\greprefs\all.js
I reviewed the filedef.txt and All.js is 105.fil. I edited the following statement in the 105.fil (All.js) file:
Changed pref("network.proxy.type", 0);
To
pref("network.proxy.type"' 4);
and saved changes to the working directory. Note 0 = No Proxy and 4 = Auto detect

Firefox 062508

I.
Firefox 3 deploys OK to a computer that has Firefox 1.0.6
installed. Firefox 3 deploys OK to a computer with no
previous version of Firefox installed. Firefox 3 fails when
deploying to a staff computer that was upgraded to Firefox 2.X.

It looks like the cleanup utility for Firefox 2.X left a few
files behind that conflict with Firefox 3. Removing these
files allowed the Firefox 3 to distribute and launch without
failure.

• xpicleanup.exe
• xpistub.dll
• xpcom_compat.dll
• xpcom_core.dll

II.
Upgrading Firefox from 1.0.6 to a newer version places a
shortcut on the desktop. Clicking on this shortcut causes
firefox 3. tofail. The application object places a shortcut on
the desktop. Removing the shortcut generated when the user
upgrades from 1.0.6 will eliminate this problem. The
shortcut is found in C:\Documents And Setting\ All Users\Desktop

III.
Firefox 3 was deployed to ITS staff. Deployment seems to have
gone well. I think instructions to staff on how to back up and restore book marks may be necessary. They should also know that some extensions may not work in 3.0 due to the developers not having an update for 3.0 yet.

Next step is to discuss staff deployment in our meeting. I am
looking at a July 2nd staff deployment. Then we will start working
on a package for the public.

Firefox 062408

Crash Reporter Error: Couldn't Read Configuration.

Firefox 062308

The staff object is 75% complete. Friday was a learning experience for Maria. A step was overlooked and the scan caught it. I tried tweaking the application object but that didn't work. To keep it from becoming an exercise in futility I decided I would start from square one. Today I made another snAPPShot and recreated the application object. I included the catalog search and set the default homepage to ACPL.

The application distributed flawlessly onto a computer with no previous Firefox browser installed. It also went well on top of our old Firefox browser (Firefox 1.0.6). Speed bump is Firefox 2.X. When distributing the application to a computer with Firefox 2.X I get a cannot read configuration error. I have looked at a clean install of 3.0 vs 2.x. With 1.06 I had to manipulate the registry. These settings carried through with 2.x. However, I don't think they are needed for 3.0.

More testing is needed and I am not confident the answer is in the registry. I did finally get it to install over 2.x on my computer but I think it was a fluke. I will see on Tuesday.

One problem is that I created the first Firefox object so staff could update it. So there may be many flavors of Firefox out there. Not a wise choice as I look back on it now. But I am hoping I am, once again, overlooking the obvious, making a mountain out of a mole hill. If someone writes a book about how the main character does it the hard way. That character would be me.

Firefox 061908

Yippy!! Firefox 3.0 has been released. Maria found the file we need to configure. browserconfig.properties. Editing this file will allow us to set the default home page to the library's. I also showed Maria ho to locate that file in the snapshot folder for the application.

We use the snAppShot utility from ZenWorks Desktop Management to make an image of the application we are going to distribute to our workstations. As the package is created source files for the application are saved with the .fil extension (ex: 1.fil, 2.fil and so on). When distributed, the Application Launcher uses the .fil files to install the applications.

To find how snAPPShot packaged the source files we need to look at the filedef.txt file in the snAPPShot folder. In this case it is Firefox3_RC2. The filedef.txt file contains the file definition, or index of the source files for a specific application object. The file we need to edit is browserconfig.properties. Which turns out to be 3.fil. After the file is edited and saved future distributions of Firefox3_RC2 will default to the library's home page rather than the Mozilla Firefox start page.

This is the browserconfig .properties file before editing:
browser.startup.homepage=http://en-US.start2.mozilla.com/firefox?
client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official
browser.startup.homepage_reset=http://en-US.start2.mozilla.com/firefox?
client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official

Here is how we are going to edit 3.fil (browserconfig.properties):
browser.startup.homepage=http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/
browser.startup.homepage_reset=http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/

filedef.txt for Firefox3_RC2:
1.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\AccessibleMarshal.dll
2.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\blocklist.xml
3.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\browserconfig.properties
4.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\crashreporter.exe
5.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
6.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\freebl3.chk
7.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\freebl3.dll
8.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\install.log
9.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\js3250.dll
10.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\LICENSE
11.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\mozcrt19.dll
12.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\nspr4.dll
13.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\nss3.dll
14.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\nssckbi.dll
15.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\nssdbm3.dll
16.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\nssutil3.dll
17.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\old-homepage-default.properties
18.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plc4.dll
19.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plds4.dll
20.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\README.txt
21.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\smime3.dll
22.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\softokn3.chk
23.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\softokn3.dll
24.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\sqlite3.dll
25.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\ssl3.dll
26.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\updater.exe
27.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\xpcom.dll
28.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\xul.dll
29.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\chrome\browser.jar
30.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\chrome\browser.manifest
31.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\chrome\classic.jar
32.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\chrome\classic.manifest
33.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\chrome\comm.jar
34.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\chrome\comm.manifest
35.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\chrome\en-US.jar
36.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\chrome\en-US.manifest
37.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\chrome\pippki.jar
38.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\chrome\pippki.manifest
39.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\chrome\reporter.jar
40.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\chrome\reporter.manifest
41.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\chrome\toolkit.jar
42.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\chrome\toolkit.manifest
43.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\aboutRobots.js
44.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\browser.xpt
45.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\browserdirprovider.dll
46.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\brwsrcmp.dll
47.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\FeedConverter.js
48.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\FeedProcessor.js
49.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\FeedWriter.js
50.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\fuelApplication.js
51.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\jsconsole-clhandler.js
52.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsAddonRepository.js
53.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsBlocklistService.js
54.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsBrowserContentHandler.js
55.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsBrowserGlue.js
56.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsContentDispatchChooser.js
57.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsContentPrefService.js
58.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsDefaultCLH.js
59.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsDownloadManagerUI.js
60.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsExtensionManager.js
61.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsHandlerService.js
62.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsHelperAppDlg.js
63.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsLivemarkService.js
64.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsLoginInfo.js
65.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsLoginManager.js
66.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsLoginManagerPrompter.js
67.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsMicrosummaryService.js
68.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsPlacesTransactionsService.js
69.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsPostUpdateWin.js
70.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsProxyAutoConfig.js
71.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsSafebrowsingApplication.js
72.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsSearchService.js
73.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsSearchSuggestions.js
74.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsSessionStartup.js
75.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsSessionStore.js
76.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsSetDefaultBrowser.js
77.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsSidebar.js
78.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsTaggingService.js
79.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsTryToClose.js
80.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsUpdateService.js
81.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsUrlClassifierLib.js
82.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsUrlClassifierListManager.js
83.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsURLFormatter.js
84.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\nsWebHandlerApp.js
85.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\pluginGlue.js
86.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\storage-Legacy.js
87.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\txEXSLTRegExFunctions.js
88.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\WebContentConverter.js
89.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\defaults\autoconfig\platform.js
90.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\defaults\autoconfig\prefcalls.js
91.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\defaults\pref\channel-prefs.js
92.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\defaults\pref\firefox-branding.js
93.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\defaults\pref\firefox-l10n.js
94.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\defaults\pref\firefox.js
95.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\defaults\pref\reporter.js
96.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\defaults\profile\bookmarks.html
97.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\defaults\profile\localstore.rdf
98.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\defaults\profile\mimeTypes.rdf
99.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\defaults\profile\prefs.js
100.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\defaults\profile\chrome\userChrome-example.css
101.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\defaults\profile\chrome\userContent-example.css
102.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\dictionaries\en-US.aff
103.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\dictionaries\en-US.dic
104.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\extensions\{972ce4c6-7e08-4474-a285-3208198ce6fd}\install.rdf
105.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\greprefs\all.js
106.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\greprefs\security-prefs.js
107.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\greprefs\xpinstall.js
108.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\modules\debug.js
109.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\modules\distribution.js
110.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\modules\DownloadUtils.jsm
111.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\modules\ISO8601DateUtils.jsm
112.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\modules\JSON.jsm
113.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\modules\Microformats.js
114.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\modules\PluralForm.jsm
115.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\modules\utils.js
116.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\modules\XPCOMUtils.jsm
117.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plugins\npnul32.dll
118.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\arrow.gif
119.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\arrowd.gif
120.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\broken-image.gif
121.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\charsetalias.properties
122.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\charsetData.properties
123.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\contenteditable.css
124.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\designmode.css
125.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\EditorOverride.css
126.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\forms.css
127.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\grabber.gif
128.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\hiddenWindow.html
129.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\html.css
130.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\langGroups.properties
131.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\language.properties
132.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\loading-image.gif
133.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\mathml.css
134.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\quirk.css
135.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\svg.css
136.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\table-add-column-after-active.gif
137.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\table-add-column-after-hover.gif
138.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\table-add-column-after.gif
139.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\table-add-column-before-active.gif
140.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\table-add-column-before-hover.gif
141.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\table-add-column-before.gif
142.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\table-add-row-after-active.gif
143.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\table-add-row-after-hover.gif
144.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\table-add-row-after.gif
145.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\table-add-row-before-active.gif
146.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\table-add-row-before-hover.gif
147.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\table-add-row-before.gif
148.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\table-remove-column-active.gif
149.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\table-remove-column-hover.gif
150.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\table-remove-column.gif
151.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\table-remove-row-active.gif
152.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\table-remove-row-hover.gif
153.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\table-remove-row.gif
154.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\ua.css
155.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\viewsource.css
156.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\wincharset.properties
157.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\dtd\mathml.dtd
158.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\dtd\xhtml11.dtd
159.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\entityTables\html40Latin1.properties
160.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\entityTables\html40Special.properties
161.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\entityTables\html40Symbols.properties
162.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\entityTables\htmlEntityVersions.properties
163.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\entityTables\mathml20.properties
164.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\entityTables\transliterate.properties
165.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\fonts\mathfont.properties
166.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\fonts\mathfontStandardSymbolsL.properties
167.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\fonts\mathfontSTIXNonUnicode.properties
168.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\fonts\mathfontSTIXSize1.properties
169.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\fonts\mathfontSymbol.properties
170.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\fonts\mathfontUnicode.properties
171.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\res\html\folder.png
172.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins\amazondotcom.xml
173.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins\answers.xml
174.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins\creativecommons.xml
175.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins\eBay.xml
176.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins\google.xml
177.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins\wikipedia.xml
178.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins\yahoo.xml
179.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\uninstall\helper.exe
180.fil=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\uninstall\uninstall.log
181.fil=C:\WINDOWS\system32\wbem\Repository\FS\INDEX.MAP
182.fil=C:\WINDOWS\system32\wbem\Repository\FS\MAPPING.VER
183.fil=C:\WINDOWS\system32\wbem\Repository\FS\MAPPING2.MAP
184.fil=C:\WINDOWS\system32\wbem\Repository\FS\OBJECTS.MAP

The plan for Friday the 20th is to make the changes to the source file and test the distribution of it. Next we will Install Firefox 3.0 and take a look at it. Once we are ready, Maria is going to make the snAPPShot for Firefox3.0 for the staff. We should be able to complete all of it Friday.

We had issues with RC2 installing on top of previous versions of Firefox. If these problems are resolved with 3.0 we can push it down for ITS to test. Otherwise we will need to work on an uninstaller for previous versions. My fingers are crossed and if things go well ITS will have it distributed to their workstations next week for testing. The following week we should be able to deploy to all staff.

We are still looking into .msi installation options too.

Firefox 061708

The ACPL Catalog Search plug-in works and has been configured as part of the application object. I have updated the documentation and you can see the code there. Maria has been tasked to research the file we need to edit so the default home page is set to http://www.acpl.lib.in.us. RC3 has been released and the plan is for Maria to take our RC2 notes and create and application object for RC3 this Friday.

One major hurdle is figuring how to uninstall previous version of Firefox. So far we keep running into issues deploying the RC's on top of previous versions. Once this is resolved we can deploy to staff.

The public will take some time to lock down and configure. At least we do not have to fuss with previous versions. Things look good for us and I am happy with the progress.

Firefox 061308

I love learning new things. Seriously. Knowledge is power. Here is the error message we get when trying to launch Firefox.
XULRunner: Couldn't read application.ini

In order to solve this problem we need to know what XULRunner is. According to Wikipedia XULRunner is a runtime environment developed by the Mozilla Foundation that provides a common back-end for XUL applications, like Firefox. The current stable release is 1.8. According to the Mozilla Wiki , XULRunner continues to improve on the Mozilla 1.9 codebase. Firefox 3 is built on top of a "private" XULRunner, i.e. XULRunner is installed in the Firefox application directory. The Firefox 3 executable has a -app switch to load a different XULRunner application.

On Windows, XULRunner does not yet have a built-in installation solution; app developers should use pre-existing solutions for a native Windows installer. The installed files should be arranged in the following directory structure:

§ installdir/

§ application.ini

§ components/

§ ... components which are part of the application

§ chrome/

§ ... chrome which is part of the application

§ ... additional application files such as icons, etc

§ myapplicationname.exe (This is the "stub executable"... you should copy and rename this file from xulrunner-stub.exe in your XULRunner installation.)

§ xulrunner/

§ ... copy xulrunner/ to this directory

At this point I have a few concerns. Could the fact that we didn't uninstall our current version of Firefox be the cause of this? Is there a conflict between the current XULRunner and the "private" XULRunner packaged with Firefox3?

I reviewed the Known Issues of RC2, and the first bullet states, "Installing Firefox 2 in the same directory in which Firefox 3 has been installed may result in Firefox 2 being unstable."

Maria and I checked and we cannot locate the application.ini file. Next I want to associate the application object to a user that does not pick up Firefox 1.0.6. If RC2 distributes and launches OK then we will need to create an uninstaller for 1.0.6. This could be tricky because we allowed staff users to upgrade to Firefox 2.X.

Maria uninstalled both versions of Firefox and deleted the installation folder. She then manually installed RC2. Firefox 3 RC2 launched OK. We searched for the application.ini file and it was where it is supposed to be in the target folder. C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox. We looked at the application files from the snapshot and don't see the application.ini file in the application object for RC2.

I Manually added application.ini to the application object for RC2. Bumped up the version number and deployed it without any problems.

At this point there is a prompt to import settings from Internet Explorer or not. We chose not to. Then you are asked if you want to make Firefox your default browser. We chose to do this. Two tabs are now available one for the Firefox 3 RC2 Welcome screen and the other is the Mozilla Firefox Start Page. This is a great place to stop for today. We will probably continue to test the deployment of the object before we make anymore changes. The final package for the staff should be straight forward without any prompts. RC2 does have issues with previous add-ons working. This should be considered if we were to deploy RC2 for staff familiarity.

The deployment packages will default to the ACPL home page and I would like to see if we can add our catalog to the search bar.

Firefox 061108

Application object was created using the snapshot of Firefox3_RC2. Distribution of the application object seems to be a success. However their is a failure with a missing .ini file. We compared both Firefox 1.0.6 and RC2 application objects and made a couple minor changes. Most notable was not defining the target path. This has been corrected and we still have issues. We haven't scheduled anymore time this week to work on it. At the least I will review the error message and maybe do some research on it Friday afternoon. Otherwise, we time scheduled Tuesday.

Firefox 061008

Today Maria and I installed RC2. Primarily to see what the installation options were. We opted to go with the custom installation. This is what I did when I made the snapshot for Firefox 1.0.6. We documented the steps for the install so we had them for when we make the snapshot. We are going to deploy 3.0 using ZenWorks. We will need to make a snapshot of the application so we can customize the application object for deployment. I figure RC2 would be a good place for us to start. Primarily so Maria can see what goes into making an application object. We were able to create the snapshot and copied the AOT folder to the network for replication. Wednesday we will create the application object and begin to modify it. I also hope to get the notes from Tuesday completed and saved online.

My goal is to work with Maria on developing the staff application object. I think after we have completed one for RC2 and the final release of Firefox 3.0 she should be in good shape to make the snapshot for the public on her own. As far is modifying that application object, we will both need to work on that together. I anticipate collaborating with other ITS staff as we progress with the public application object as well.

Firefox 060508

Maria is going to work with me on this project. This will give her a chance to see how an application object is made. We are going to meet Friday and go over the project. I am thinking the first application object we tackle would be for staff. This way they will be familiar with the application before we push it out to the public.

We are installing RC2 today. Over the next two weeks we will get familiar with the program and start to research how we are going to make the application objects. A rough outline for the project is already in MS PRoject. When we develop a more defined outline we will update it.

Firefox 3 Project

I am going to start researching the deployment of Firefox 3 for both staff and public computers. Right now Release Candidate 1 (RC1) is out. This is a version of the browser that still has bugs in it and they released it for testers and other users to get a look see and to report any bugs. I read on a blog this morning that they will be releasing RC2 soon. I don't know official that blog was so I didn't post the link. But I think they are planning on having the final release of Firefox 3 out by July.

I am going to take the release candidate and start to get familiar with it. I am also going to look at what Add-ons if any we may want to package with the public deployment. So if you know of anything useful four the library patron feel free to let me know. This would include links to other sites about how other libraries plan on using the new Firefox 3.

The public package will be very restricted. Like we have Internet Explorer configured. The staff package will be a straight forward installation. Staff who are familiar with Firefox will have full access to make any configuration changes to the browser as they wish. Like Firefox 1.0.6 is now. I did hear Sean mention that Firefox has tan Internet Explorer viewer Add-on. I may include that with the staff package. As for now it is all in the planning stages.

One thing I want to do with this blog is use it as a diary of my Firefox 3 Project. So feel free to comment on anything you see. Don't forget to let me know of things you feel might be of interest for each package (staff/public). First thing that comes to mind is the skin. Should we use the new one or keep it more of the classical Firefox. I am not sure what options we have. I do know that some add-ons that work on Firefox 2 do not work on Firefox 3. yet. It will be a little slow going at first. I hope to have it all ready for deployment by the end of the third quarter.

This should be fun!!!
:-)


Here are some notable links I have found so far:
http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2008/05/08/using-firefox-on-our-public-computers
http://instructionwiki.org/Firefox
http://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox3
RC Download page

Vista MAC Vent

OK I have had it!

Now it was fun a while ago. The whole PC MAC thing. I found them to be very funny. Many youtube stars have been born because of the PC v MAC ads. We even did a couple here at the ACPL. But I saw one last night that just made my blood pressure boil. No not the one with the Cheerleaders. I can understand how they would end up cheering about how MAC is no. 1 and PC is no. 2. I mean what can you expect from a bunch of girls whose only purpose is to jump around and look cute. ;-)

The ad that has me all riled up is the one where PC is essentially singing the tear in my beer song because he thinks Vista sucks. Well here is the deal. If PC took a little time to learn how to use Vista he wouldn't have any problems. Oh, by the way, glitches, did PC go out and download the latest Windows Updates. No! If he had maybe he wouldn't have any glitches. By the way, did PC upgrade to Vista without checking to see if he was built or certified to run Vista. You know their is a reason for that.

Now I agree, Vista isn't the best thing to have for the end user in a business environment. It isn't as user friendly as Microsoft would like us to believe. And WE are all happy with Windows XP running all our productivity software. But PC stop your whining because it is falling on deaf ears. MAC users are perfectly happy with what they have. Face it PC, until you take the time to learn how to use what you have you will always be crying the blues. But for sakes alive STOP BUTCHERING COUNTRY MUSIC!!!

By the way, my Vista experience is going pretty well. I am happy so far.

Vista Take II

Hi,

Here is my update to my Vistaaahhh post. I successfully installed the Novell Client and am able to log in to eDirectory and Active Directory. No problems. I have access to all my network resources. Well, except printing. I will need to add them manually. The Novell Client for Vista doesn't support NDPS. I also installed Microsoft Office 2003, along with Project and Visio. Including all necessary Microsoft updates. Seems to be running fine for me.

I will try and use my notebook more than usual to give it a good test. So far I am alright with it. I do wonder why though. Why the need for an upgrade to Vista? Personally I haven't found anything in Vista that I can't do in XP. Except for the addition of Chess Titans Now that would have been nice to have with XP. I like the transparent Windows, but they aren't that big of a deal to me. Better security, but other than that which is intended to protect you while on line. I do not need the rest. I am the only one who uses use my notebook.

Well that's about it for now. Oh, one more thing, but it is not totally Vista related. Why do some people get so emotional over a computer operating system? It is just a tool and a preference. Use what you like and if you can't well learn how to use what you have. They are no different than the tools you might have in your garage. I have one to remove and oil filter, another for sparkplugs, and so forth. Some I use to pry with, even though they weren't designed for it. Then when they break I have only myself too blame. People are like that with computer programs, operating systems included. Before you start worrying about how it wont do this or that. Maybe it wasn't designed to do this or that. I think half our frustration with technology is our inablitiy to learn what it is for and how to use it. We shouldn't be affraid to ask for some help.

Well that's it.

Thanks for stopping by!

My Rant

Hey,
I finally did it. I started a new blog that is going to list a bunch of my rants, venting, and things that make me go hmmm. Check it out and have fun!!!!!

Do We Take the Time?

I am on the ITS Help Desk and just had a call from a patron who was trying to watch a live TV stream from Access Fort Wayne. They were trying to watch (online) the Board of Public Works, Live. Scheduled for 9:00 am on Channel 58.

At first I was confused. Is there a live stream that isn't working and should I just transfer the caller to Access Fort Wayne? But wait, this goes out from our network so it could be an ITS problem. Being a bit bewildered, I spent some more time with him. I found out he was at the City of Fort Wayne's website and was looking at the schedule for Channel 58. I asked him to walk me through to where he encountered the problem. As I clicked through I ended up at Access Video On the Web. This page has a link to watch CityTV live streams from 1pm to 5pm. Problem solved!

This call made me think of some of the transfers we get. For example I had a call that was transferred because "the person is having trouble connecting". They were actually using their own Internet Service Provider to connect to an E-Resource and were being asked to authenticate to gain access. It was an E-Resource that is only available to users at a library branch or who use our dial up. Another call that I remember that was transferred had to do with a patrons library card account. Why ITS got the transfer beats me. Maybe staff entered our extension by mistake, or the caller asked for the Help Desk. We have several that address specific concerns. I ended up having to transfer the caller to the Circulation Department. These were all questions that could have been answered or appropriately transferred by staff who had the initial contact with the patron.

So what is my point? None really. I just noticed that when I took the time to fully understand what the patron was trying to do. I was then able to give them an appropriate answer. Thus, avoiding transferring them to someone else that would have eventually given them the same answer.

Comments are welcome. Please... be kind. :-)

Vistaaahhh

I installed Vista on my Dell notebook a while ago. All I use it for is to remote into my Desktop computer at Library Plaza. I also use it for Overdrive, WOWO streams (when I feel like listening to a bunch of wind bags hehe), and the occasional DVD from AMM. So I am not your typical user of Vista. Now my desktop has XP on it. That is another story. Power User babyyyyyyy!

All the default Windows drivers seem to work OK on my Dell Inspiron 8600. I recently had it refurbished. Seven days left on the warranty and Dell replaced the palm rest, touch pad, LCD and cover. The hard drive was replaced about a year ago. I also upgraded from a Gig of RAM to 2 GB.

What do I think of Vista? Well... I can't say. First I am learning where things are. It is a new OS so Microsoft had to go and change some things. Once I get all that figured out and more comfortable with the desktop environment I will let you know. I, for one, don't understand why they had to push out a new OS. Windows XPSP2 was fine. It runs all our software at work and all my games at home. So why the need? I will leave that answer up to you. I have my ideas but I am not going to go postal at the moment I did that yesterday on my health kick post.

Service Packs
Recently Microsoft pushed out a major service packs for their two main flavors of Windows. Vista SP1 and XPSP3. Here is my take. Service packs are good especially if they fix flaws in the system. As for the installation of Windows XPSP3 on my desktop computer at work. NOT! My system became a bit unstable. Fortunately I was able to uninstall it through Add/Remove Programs and things are back to normal. Now Vista was a 1800. Flawless installation for SP1 and my notebook seems to be doing just fine.

One thing I learned is that operating systems are essentially tools. It is a matter of preference and what you want to use them for that guides many of us to choose the one we use. In some cases its because one OS over another is already pre-installed from the factory. Professionally speaking, I do need to become better acquainted with Linux. That is for another day and post.

Right now Vista suits my notebook pretty good. As soon as I install more programs, or use it for more than a remote gateway so to speak, I will let you know how it goes.

Healthy Wellness Fitness and all that other Crap

You know, I am so tired of people giving medical advice. Especially about my health. What gets me more is many of these people don't even have a medical degree, let alone the medical background I have (Thank you Uncle Sam). Enough about me.

On to all this healthy talk. First off we all started to die the day we were born. Once you accept this fact life is good. You begin to realize the beauty and wonder of life. Second, no one really knows when they will die. If they do then maybe they should apply for a job as the Messiah. Once you accept this fact, you wont have to worry about other people and their health. In fact, you may begin to spend more time focusing on your own. The third thing is even the healthiest people die.

Shocker isn't it! How can this be? Simple... Life. In case you haven't noticed it, the human body can be very fragile. The smallest most undetected thing, or even something common in all of us could contribute to our early demise. A lot of people have blebs, they are like small blisters on your lungs. When one of these rupture it feels very painful and like the wind was knocked out of you. Doctors usually give patients something for the pain and bed rest. On rare occasions fluid can enter into the chest cavity and without proper treatment the person can die. We have also all heard stories of people dieing from heart problems that had previously been undetected. Marathon runner dies from stroke or something like that. You could also get into an accident and die from your injuries. So there, even the best and worse of us can pass on from any unknown reason. Why does one lifelong smoker live well into their 80's while another one in their 30's ends up with lung cancer and dies? Life.

Why we are so concerned with health bugs me. I think we should be concerned with quality or quantity. Yes, being healthy plays a role in all of this. But if you were to ask someone who is dieing prematurely they might be more concerned with quality than quantity. They know their life is being cut short and they are probably going to live as much of it as they can to the fullest of their ability. Someone else might have suffered a heart attack or some other health scare that causes them to reevaluate their life style and personal health. This person may be more concerned with quantity. The health scare was enough to make them realize that maybe they want to be around to see their kid graduate or get married. Maybe they just aren't ready to call it quits.

OK, I know I am rambling and venting. But I think if we all just took a moment to sit back, smell the coffee, and decide to live life. I think we would be happier. Just wake up and seize the day, live for that day as if it was the last day. Do you really want the last thing someone remembers about you, is how you ragged on them about their health? Would you feel superior if the person you ragged on died after you spoke to them? Did you ever consider that the coworker you are ragging on may feel that it contributes to a hostile workplace? You know they might. Maybe they just think it is just plain rude. Why can't you see past these things? Maybe they decided to let a few people in on their health issues not because they need or want your advice. Maybe it is so an EMT will know what to do for them in case the are incapacitated. People have died from being given meds that didn't mis well with what they were already taking.

Healthy talk is fine. I just would like us all to consider the other person's feelings before we start giving unsolicited advice.

Thanks for letting me rant!

Remember to smile and laugh, it is your greatest gift to give.

You know you lived in Fort Wayne too long when...

This collection is from an email my brother sent me. I haven't added to it. But I thought it would be fun to share it on this blog. Feel free to add to it. Just remember. Keep it family friendly.

1. You remember the Glenbrook Ice Rink.

2. You remember when the Indonesian Rain Forest opened.

3. You remember when I-69 was just two lanes.

4. You remember downtown before Headwaters Park.

5. You know what the Fury was and you remember that Master P played for them.

6. You remember the Coliseum before the expansion.

7. You remember when Science Central opened.

8. You remember Discovery Zone.

9. You remember when Kidz Crossing at Lawton Park opened.

10. You remember the Apple Orchard at Glenbrook.

11. You remember when the Roller Dome was THE place to be on Friday and Saturday nights.

12. You've been to Coney Island more times than you can count and you have no problems walking in through the back door.

13. You've gotten pissed because all of the good concerts are at Piere's before you're 21.

14. You remember when the Memorial Stadium opened.

15. You know you live in a city of 300,000 and yet the best thing to do at night for the under 21 crowd is to go to Wal-Mart, IHOP, or Steak n Shake.

16. You remember the days of the shitty movie theatres before Rave or Carmike.

17. You remember the tornado.

18. You remember South Side HS and North Side HS before the renovations.

19. You remember Southtown Mall.

20. You've been to Safety Village.

21. You've bowled at almost every bowling alley in FW.

22. You remember Putt Putt before the new 'themed' courses.

23. You remember the old food court at Glenbrook.

24. You remember when Neptune was cool.

25. You remember the time before Jefferson Point when Glenbrook was the only place to shop.

26. You remember when Neptune was called Colorblind.

27. You're friends with Third Frame on myspace and you don't even listen to rap.

28. You remember when Southtown had more than Footlocker, Sears, and the MCL cafeteria.

29. You remember when the TRF Midway was cool. And you didn't have to worry about getting shot.

30. You know what TRF stands for.

31. You remember when LazerX and Ultrazone opened.

32. You've thrown apples on Johnny Appleseed's grave.

33. You remember going to McMillan Health Center in elementary school.

34. You remember the all-nighters for girl scouts at Southtown.

35. You remember the times before Wal-Mart had supercenters...when you actually had to go to a grocery store.

36. You were ever on Happy's Place.

37. You remember listening to B106.3.

38. You remember the TRF Raft Race.

39. You remember when we actually had GOOD radio stations. (R.I.P. X102.3 and many others).

40. You went to Diamond Jims and still miss it.

41. You've eaten at Power's Hamburgers and still live to tell about it.

42. You've managed to cram yourself into Cindy's and not feel claustrophobic.

43. You remember when Hot 107.9 was Foxxy.

44. You remember the last time St. Mary's Church burned down.

45. You remember when Dupont Road was out in the middle of nowhere.

46. You remember the days before 4-69.

47. You remember the flea market next to Hillcrest Bowl.

48. You know the Wizards original mascot was actually a wizard...not some creepy dragon.

49. You knew about St. Francis College before the football team.

50. You don't technically live within city limits...yet you still have a Fort Wayne mailing address.

51. You remember when the first Meijer opened.

52. You remember watching Steve Shine on WFFT Fox 55.

53. You remember when Mike's Carwash at Glenbrook was full service.

54. You remember Froggy's Pad.

55. You remember the Trolley Restaurant on Wells St. next to where Edy's is now.

56. You've marched in the TRF parade for some reason or another.

57. You remember Penguin Point.

58. You're pretty much guaranteed to find a wooden nickel or two somewhere around your house.

59. You can name all the Halls Restaurants (including those that have closed) and know where they are located.

60. You remember when Lincoln was based in Fort Wayne.

61. You know that FWI was originally called Baer Field.

62. You remember when Keltch Pharmacy was it's own store, not a part of Scott's.

63. You've lost a small part of your soul by being employed with Scott's Food Stores.

64. You remember the Seyfert's factory on Hwy 3/Lima Rd.

65. You know that Best Buy was originally located where Borders is now on Coldwater Road, and that it was The Children's Palace before Best Buy.

66. You remember the time before Spiece was an athletic fieldhouse.

67. You know where Kittle's is even though you never shop there.

68. You know that our Pizza Huts are way better than anything outside of Dick Freeland's franchise (aka Fort Wayne and the surrounding area).

69. You remember the days before the coffee house craze (I.E. Higher Grounds, Firefly, Starbucks, etc).

70. You remember when the Citilink buses were PTC.

71. You remember when Win Moses was mayor.

72. You remember the Fort Wayne Flames (soccer).

73. You went to FWCS or East Allen.

74. You remember the downtown library before the renovation, and that it was temporarily located next to the Lincoln Museum.

75. You know what St. Francis' campus looked like before the renovations and expansions.

76. You ever took an art class at St. Francis.

77. You remember Showbiz Pizza before Chuck E. Cheese.

78. You've ever had a birthday party or attended one at the Roller Dome (north or south).

79. You remember Roller Dome North before they renovated it. (And you were sad the little hiding area by the DJ stand was taken away).

80. You remember Tilt at Glenbrook.

81. You remember when Coventry 13 was the main movie theater.

82. You remember Denny's on Lima Road.

83. You remember when Z102.3 and 96.3 the Edge existed.

84. You remember when our area code was 219.

85. You've drank out of the lion shaped water fountain at the Zoo.

86. You've eaten at Atz's ice cream shop.

87. It doesn't bother you in the least that a road will change names 3 or 4 times in the course of driving across town.

88. You know about Harry Baals Drive.

89. You remember the GTE Tower.

90. You've eaten at Willie's.

91. You remember Damon's and the fact that the place was cursed. (A couple fires, the tornado, etc. They finally closed for good after the tornado).

92. You were a member of the cookie club at Scott's.

93. Even if you know Scott's was generally overpriced, you're still pissed Kroger bought them out.

94. You remember Georgetown before the renovation.

95. You remember when there was more than one Big Boy.

96. You remember when the 14/69 automall was built.

97. You remember Rogers grocery.

98. You remember Cub Foods.

99. You remember when Amtrak stopped in Fort Wayne.

100. You've stayed the night at the Old Fort.

101. You remember the Dinos Alive! exhibit.

102. You love Croaky the Frog at the zoo.

103. You know that Lutheran Hospital used to be located downtown.

104. You remember when Jennie Garth was 90210 came to Southtown Mall.

105. You've tested the rumors about Devil's Hollow at night.

106. Your family used to go to Old Country Buffet all the time.

107. You know that the tv was invented here by Philo T. Farnsworth.

108. You remember when the ACPL summer reading program actually had good prizes.

109. You've gone sledding down the huge hills at Franke Park and Shoaff Park.

110. You remember Furrows behind Southtown.

111. You've ridden on the BMX track.

112. You've had your picture taken while sitting in the joey pouch at the zoo.

113. You remember listening to Charlie Butcher on 97.3 WMEE.

114. You know that the Detroit Pistons used to be the Fort Wayne Pistons.

115. You know that Fort Wayne had a team in the Women's Baseball League (the Daisies).

116. You remember when Chi Chi's was still in business.

117. You remember Taco Cabana.

118. You remember Mr. Bulkies in the mall.

119. You remember the Children's Place in the mall having the little slide and stuff at the back of the store.

120. You remember Engineer John's Naptime theater with Gumby & Pokey.

121. You took swimming lessons at the Sands or the Greber-Haus Hotel
122. You remember when FM 97.3 WMEE was AM 1380 "Magic Mee"
123. You could point out the "World Famous WOWO Fire escape" downtown. (or even know what it was!!)
124. You ever "wandered" around the Old Centlivre Brewery...especially at night!
125. You went to a Free concert at the National Guard Armory an Clinton Street
126. You remember when the Dodge dealer was next to the National Guard Armory

127. You remember Hook's Drug stores.

Wellness @ ITS

ITS is taking a proactive approach to promoting Health & Wellness. Four from ITS have either served on, or are currently on the ACPL Wellness Committee. So it wasn't hard for us to begin a discussion about Health & Wellness during a staff meeting. One of the things we discussed is trying to find healthier things to snack on. Vi came up with the idea that we could try this within our department.

Next thing you know we had a healthy snack bar. Healthy items like granola bars, fruit, and bottled water are for sale for 25 cents. We are actually making a profit and plan to use the proceeds to treat the entire department to a "healthy" lunch at the end of the year.

For some it may just be more convenient than healthy. For those of us who use the computer lab, on the first floor, as a temporary office it can become healthy. In order to take advantage of our snack bar I have to walk upstairs. Not a big workout. But in the long run there are pay offs. One, I am getting more exercise than going to the vending machines in the break room on the first floor. Two, I am saving money. The vending machines have 20oz of bottled water for a buck. We sell 16oz for a quarter.

The other thing we did was a "Healthy" recipe exchange and carry in. All the departments at the Data Center participated in this. It was a really neat thing and you can read my write up about this on the ACPL Wellness blog.

Hopefully other departments and branches will take a look at what we have tried and give it a go themselves.

My Websense Overview

I have been working with Heidi to upgrade our Websense software. With everything we had going on we're several versions behind. Heidi was initially working on this herself. But she has so many other projects that require a lot of her time we decided to add an additional person to help her. At first I was a bit overwhelmed. There are two main components to Websense. Well three, I can't forget the software. First you have the Linux server. This is where we install the filtering software. It IS the nuts and bolts of the whole system. Then we have a Windows server that hosts the Manager. This provides a GUI that makes it somewhat easy to configure all our clients. Each client has to be configured individually. We devide them into specific groups but in some case we need to manage each individual account. For example the override. This must be changed on each account.

Anyhow, I was overwhelmed because of the daunting task of having to learn an OS I never really use. Linux. Yes, I am a Windows Weenie. But I can make a Windows box sing. Well, I was running into some problems with the Linux part. We need to make an incremental upgrade on a test system so we can essential copy our config files over to the new Linux server that will have the current version of Websense installed. Sounds easy enough. Maybe if I knew Linux better. Heidi had some time and she took her test server and installed the Linux portion on it. Then I took an old server and installed the Windows Server 2000, SQL server, and the Websense Manager. We basically mirrored our production system. One catch I couldn't get the Explorer software to acknowledge the Websense database. Bad credentials. I exchanged several email with Websense support. Nothing seems to work. On the last email exchange they recommended performing the incremental upgrade on the test system. Don't worry about my database authentication. Because the program itself is different once we upgrade to 6.3.1. That's all I needed, a little nudge (or as Gen. Patton would say it "a swift kick in the...") and off we went. Heidi and I were able to get the test system upgraded to the current version of Websense.

Next we had problems filtering on the test system. Instead of using our actual proxy server we used the proxy server Heidi had on her test system. We could see we were filtering but were not all that certain it was due to the test system or because the production system caught it. But we could see we were running through the test proxy.

We talked to Tim and made plans to take one of our proxy servers out of the loop so we could use it for testing. At this point Heidi then performed a clean install of Websense 6.3.1 on the new Linux server. She spent the rest of the day trying to clean up some problems she encountered with the proxy server Tim freed up for us. Bless her heart, I know she other things to work on, but she pent the entire day getting it fixed. Honestly, once you toss in that proxy server and my lack on knowledge with Linux, I would have been in over my head.

As of right now we are back to having to perform the incremental upgrade on the test system. This is due in part to the steps Heidi had to take to get the Proxy server online. Currently the test system mirrors the production system. By the end of this Monday the test system will be up to Websense 6.3.1 and I will have copied all our config files over to the new Linux server. Tuesday we will do some housekeeping and then on Wednesday we will begin testing at the Data Center.

So what did I get out of all this. A greater appreciation for what my colleagues know and do. I know more about Linux than I did before I started working on this project. I definitely know more about Websense. I have more knowledge of how our network functions. Most of all this project was a confidence builder for me. In most cases if you don't fix the small problems now they grow to be bigger ones. In this case I felt I needed to fix the authentication problem before we continued with the upgrade. Normally I would have proceeded with the upgrade. Knowing that if it was still broke I would have to start back at square one. This was new territory for me and I was playing it safe. I wasted a couple weeks of my time playing it safe. Had I just gone ahead with the upgrades on the test system we might already have the production system upgraded by now. It was a confidence builder and I know I am a better technician for it.

Thoughts

Well it has been awhile since I posted. I did delete a post in case you were wondering. I can do that. It's my blog. No one commented on it and I thought it may have been in poor taste. I feel better now that it is gone.

I am dabbling with the idea of creating a new blog. Two actually. This one specifically for posting ITS things. Change the name of it from Eclectic Thoughts to ACPL IT Guy. I will use it for an ad hoc place to comment on projects I am working on or thoughts I might have to improve my work flow. A place to rant about such things as 'My PCRes Hell'. But keep it upbeat and silly.

Now the two new ones would be a bit more opinionated. Not that this blog isn't. One would focus on my political opinions. I would allow anonymous posting. As long as everyone was respectful. I mean if you can't express your opinion with respect toward anyone who may read or hear them, then maybe they shouldn't be expressed. That will be the motto for that site. It will still be a lot of rambling and hoopla over little stuff.

The second new one would be more personal. A place where friends and family can go to see what I may be up too. I warn you though. I may end up making me out to be 5'11, 165lbs, with an athletic build. A self made millionaire by day and ladies man by night. HA! now if that wouldn't be a load of you know what. See just trying to have fun.

Life should be fun. As adults we forget to have fun. Fun for us is going out and tossin' back a few cold ones. Catching whatever game is on TV, and spending time with your girl (wink wink).

Then one day you sit back and realize your not having fun, or at least you thought you were having fun. I mean the beer is good, your team is on a winning streak, and your madly in love with your girl and the sex is great. But there's something missing. You know what it is. Play. We adults have forgotten how to play. Why can't we find time in our daily routine to play and have fun. Get silly. Laugh just for the sake of laughing. WOW! Call me silly, a dork, immature, or whatever derogatory word that comes to mind. But try it. Lock yourself in your office, or when you get home go out to the garage. Put a big smile on your face and just start laughing. Laugh like you never had before. Like it was going to be the last time you get to laugh, forever. DO IT. IT'S FUN! Besides, you will thank yourself for it.

Then go out and play. Play like you were a kid again. You may look like 40 and feel like 80, but who in this world said you couldn't play like you were 7 again? NO ONE that's who.

So go my grasshoppers, laugh, play, and have fun. Life is beautiful!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by.