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200901.16
Amazon S3
Very cool service. I updated beeets to pull all images from images.beeets.com, an S3 bucket. Also, all css files now go through /css/css.php/file.css which rewrites
url(/images/...)
to
url(http://images.beeets.com/images/...)
And guess what, it all works. I had some bad experiences with the S3Fox firefox plugin in the past, but it's since been updated and I've been using it regularly.
Also, using S3.php, all profile images now go directly onto images.beeets.com. Wicked.
So what does this mean? A few things:
- Less bandwidth & work - beeets will spend more time serving HTML, CSS, and JS than images.
- Safer - We were backing up profile images to S3 indirectly before, but the chances of S3 going down VS our hosting are slim.
- Worse image caching - Before, I had .htaccess controlling all the caching for static files. I liked it that way. S3 doesn't do this very well at all. Apparently it's configurable, but I don't know how...any ideas?
All in all, it should be better for beeets. Maybe we'll actually let users have images bigger than 10x10 now ;)
Thumbs up to S3 (and probably all other Amazon web services).
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200901.16
Linode VPS
I gotta say, even though Linode is the first provider I've had a VPS through, they kick ass.
Their control panel is boss, and adding units is apparently very easy (haven't messed with it quite yet). I'm excited to have beeets on there.
Having full control of the environment (and the fact that it's Slackware!!) gives me a boner. I'm on there tinkering too much. I almost hope the site never gets big, because once it does I can't fuck with it anymore (or I'll have to have a test machine, I guess).
Anyway, there's not enough positive information about these guys on the net. It was between them and Slicehost, but I ended up going with Linode because they were a) a bit cheaper, and b) not as "hip." I tend to shy away from trendy companies.
Good work, Linode. Keep it up. Oh yeah, and thanks for offering Slack ;)
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Wow. You'd think it would be easy. In fact, it should have been. Compile a module, load it from apache. Recompile PHP with --enable-fastcgi...oh wait, I already had it in there (always thinking ahead!!). Change some apache settings.
Right? Yeah, right. It took two days. I can't even really remember why. The biggest problem was that running make && make install in the mod_fastcgi source was NOT yielding a 'mod_fastcgi.so' as the documentation PROMISED! In fact, it installed mod_fastcgi.la instead, a highly useless file.
So how did the master get out of this bind? Beats me, try asking him. As for me, I had to run 'ld -Bshareable *.o -o mod_fastcgi.so' which is mentioned in some document from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
Let me interject and say that the information on the FastCGI website is "not very well documented."
Day 2. I figured, what's the point of FastCGI if it's not set up to connect to a remote App server? Maybe I don't HAVE an external server set up, but we can pretend. Well that's another nightmare. There's a good external FastCGI guide written about it, and guess what it worked. Not really a nightmare at all, come to think of it. Quite pleasant.
All in all, shouldn't have taken 2 days =P (I'm a tinkerer)...but fuck it, I have FastCGI now, ready to connect to all those App servers I have churning away in the background (one day).
In all the excitement, I also compiled and installed the apache worker-MPM. A few tests with ab didn't really show any noticeable difference. But threads are cool, right?
Next up: figure out how to configure Apache to pass all requests ending in .php (whether the file exists on the web server or not) to our "app" server. Is this possible?
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200901.14
IIS and PHP
So tonight I helped a client set up PHP5 on IIS 7 using MSSQL 2005. These things always work great in theory but judging my my use of the word "theory" in italics, you can probably guess that things weren't so smooth in practice.
The client was smart enough to get FastCGI working through IIS...something I would have probably rolled over on. From then on, it was an upward battle getting a simple PHP prototype project going.
In the later versions of PHP 5, it would seem that all mssql_* functions have...been... removed? There is an ntwdblib.dll that needs to be replaced to play nicely with mssql 2005...but it doesn't exist in the latest releases. How strange. I ended up reverting to 5.2.5, making me a not-so-bleeding-edge pushover :'(. It's cool though.
Then MSSQL doesn't accept normal logins, only windows ones, and it's bloomin' impossible finding out how to change that.
One thing Microsoft seems to have actually done right is release a rewrite module (much like mod_rewrite) that you don't have to frickin' pay for, which is nice. On a side note, I really hated Windows Server 2008. It's like Vista in every way, except that the design is slightly different, somewhat. Sorry, MS, but get your shit together plz, kkthxbai.
Anyway, we got everything going. What a pain in the ass though!
If you're wondering, I'm more of a Unix guy ;). And yes, I have used a computer before.
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200901.10
Project timing with To Do List
So, being in the service industry, one has to keep track of time. In my case, when I'm programming, I have to keep track of how many hours something is taking, and be able to organize all of my tasks.
Coming from QuickBooks timer, I knew something better had to exist. I was getting ready to buckle down and build it in .NET if I had to. I searched for days to find something useful. I finally did.
ToDoList by Abstract Spoon has had everything I've needed so far. I can keep track of everything I'm doing in a hierarchical list (tasks and sub-tasks, or projects and tasks) and TIME everything. I can also add in comments for all items.
This keeps client invoicing accurate and simple. Plus, it's free. Can't fucking beat that.
I tried a few items that sort of did what I want, including a few web interfaces which I was weary of (my work is MY business), but ToDoList takes the cake.
Normally I wouldn't sponsor something like this, but I think they did a really great job. It has a lot of features (like list sharing) I'll hopefully never have to use, but it's awesome.
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A frenzy broke out in a Pasadena Walmart this morning when the corporate office announced that from now on, all employees will receive breaks at the same time, instead of in shifts. The excited workers mobbed together and all ran to the break room at once, injuring two and killing a 28 year-old female shopper.
"We heard the news and got so excited," one employee said. "Everything happened so fast. I mean, I know we killed someone but come on...there are 6 billion people in this world. What's one?! Plus, you know, break time..."
"Really? We trampled someone to death?" asked another employee. The attitude seemed to be the same amongst everyone. Either they didn't know or didn't care.
"I can't believe it," said Lily Person, sister of the trampled corpse. "It's one thing if you or me do it, but Walmart workers aren't even real people. Someone should trample one of them and see how they like it!" Lily ranted for an hour before we got sick of the sound of her voice.
"Sorry," said the CEO of Walmart, issuing a general apology, before leaving the press conference. Walmart's general statement is that it probably won't happen again, as "Stampede Safety" will now be a mandatory employee training requirement.
In an act of immeasurable kindness, Walmart has offered the bereaved family a 5% discount on all merchandise at their stores (offered in limited stores only, discount expires after 30 days of issuance, subject to change without notice).
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200901.05
Donut Shop to receive financial bailout
With the economy getting increasingly depressed, and the country feeling more anxious and desperate every day, there remains only one thing between our current state and complete chaos.
Donuts. Be they round, square, creme-filled or just little spheres covered in sugar, they hold together the very fabric of our society. Not only is this common knowledge, it has been scientifically proven by many recent studies.
The U.S. government, knowing the importance of donuts, passed a bill today that would help a local shopkeeper in Brownsville, Kentucky stay in business. The bill passed by congress details a $14 trillion bail-out package for the shop in exchange for 2% equity in the company.
"I couldn't be happier," proclaimed Rick Thomson, shop owner, enjoying his new beach house in Hawaii. "I'm finally starting to realize how important the government is. It's good to finally see our tax dollars at work." Rick had been running his shop "The Donut Gutter" for over 5 years before the financial crisis hit. When bankruptcy looked like the only option, he petitioned congress for help.
"Well, we got his letter and immediately made it a first national priority," said Congressman Piotto. "People think small businesses are a dime a dozen, but they are actually more important than big businesses! This is because of the trickle-up theory of economics. Just think how many other local businesses Mr. Thomas will now stimulate. And because the government owns 2% of his company, we made a lot of money! 2% of 14 trillion is $280 billion. It's a win-win." Piotto is also first-advisor to the national treasurer.
Since Rick's business was bailed-out, over 200,000 other companies from around the country are petitioning for congressional aid. A recent study showed a 90% growth in the rate of companies needing a government bail-out. The study failed to conclude the reason for this, but a follow-up study is planned for 2011.
"It's just not fair," said CEO of GM as he stomped his foot and frowned. "Nobody cares about big business anymore. We never got a bail-out, even though we've been selling the same cars for what's probably been hundreds of years!"
One thing is for sure, we owe everything our country stands for to Rick Thomas, a brave man who fought bankruptcy, a hurting economy, and big business all for his right to $14 trillion in tax dollars.
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Lyon Bros. Enterprises, LLC is my brother's and mine business. We started it back in December in an attempt to head up our product-line officially. So far everything is going great. It's a web development company and our main focus is product development, though you wouldn't know it by looking at the number of client projects we've gotten in the past few weeks.
Seems like once we went official, all this great stuff started happening. We're going to be doing some big projects. Jeffrey is going to be in school full time and can't devote much time, so that leaves me. I'll be doing lots of work and making lots of money. Sounds good to me.
In all the glory, we forgot about our baby, beeets, which is still closed beta and waiting for love. We're planning on opening the doors and doing a marketing boom hopefully sometime this week. Exciting stuff.
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