Arun Gupta, Miles to go ...

Sambar/Dosa, Biryani & GlassFish

I'll be spending some time with partners in Bangalore office next week (Feb 25, 26). Then I'll be speaking at Sun Tech Days Hyderabad (Feb 27, 28) and finally coordinating GlassFish Day (Feb 29). Of course, my overarching theme is to talk about GlassFish. But these two cities are also known for their local cuisines.

For those who don't know, Hyderabad and Bangalore are metropolitan cities in two different states in southern portion of India. Other than more popularly known as the hubs of IT in India, they are also known for Sambar/Dosa and Biryani respectively. I'm certainly looking forward to feast on the local cuisines.

The GlassFish Day agenda is pretty compelling with interesting topics like High Availability and Clustering and Performance Tuning. And then there are talks by our partners on Java CAPS and NetBeans/GlassFish Tooling. We hope to share our knowledge with you and learn from your wisdom and experience. And there are a wider variety of GlassFish sessions in the Tech Days as listed here.

Anybody for Dosa or Biryani together ?

Any restaurant recommendations ?

Technorati: conf glassfish glassfishday suntechdays dosa biryani bangalore hyderabad

Posted by Arun Gupta in General  |  Comments[4]

Lunar Eclipse in Pictures - San Jose, Feb 20, 2008

We observed the last Lunar Eclipse of this decade and I captured in pictures.

Posted by Arun Gupta in photography  |  Comments[6]

TOTD #28: Getting Started with Rails 2.0 Scaffold

Rails 2.0 changes the way Scaffold works. This blog walks you through the steps to create a simple CRUD application using Scaffold in Rails 2.0.

1. Download & Install JRuby 1.1 RC2.
2. Install Rails using the following command:
   
   jruby -S gem install rails
3. Create a new Rails app using the following command:
   
   cd samples; mkdir rails; cd rails
jruby -S rails books -d mysql
4. Start MySQL server in a different shell using the following command:
   
   sudo /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqld_safe --console
5. Creat the database using the following command:
   
   cd books
jruby -S rake db:create

   This creates the database defined by RAILS_ENV (Development is default). Here are some other new database-related commands:
   
   

   db:create:all	Create all the databases (_Development, _Test, _Production)
   db:drop	Drops your database
   db:reset	Drop and Re-create your database, including migrations

6. Generate a scaffold using the following command:
   
jruby script/generate scaffold book title:string author:string isbn:string description:text
   
   The output of the command looks like:
   
      exists  app/models/
      exists  app/controllers/
      exists  app/helpers/
      create  app/views/books
      exists  app/views/layouts/
      exists  test/functional/
      exists  test/unit/
      create  app/views/books/index.html.erb
      create  app/views/books/show.html.erb
      create  app/views/books/new.html.erb
      create  app/views/books/edit.html.erb
      create  app/views/layouts/books.html.erb
      create  public/stylesheets/scaffold.css
  dependency  model
      exists    app/models/
      exists    test/unit/
      exists    test/fixtures/
      create    app/models/book.rb
      create    test/unit/book_test.rb
      create    test/fixtures/books.yml
      create    db/migrate
      create    db/migrate/001_create_books.rb
      create  app/controllers/books_controller.rb
      create  test/functional/books_controller_test.rb
      create  app/helpers/books_helper.rb
      route  map.resources :books
   
   There is no need to create the model explicitly as was the case in previous version of Rails. This creates the "db/migrate/001_create_books.rb" migration which looks like:
   
   class CreateBooks < ActiveRecord::Migration
  def self.up
    create_table :books do |t|
      t.string :title
      t.string :author
      t.string :isbn
      t.text :description

      t.timestamps
    end
  end

  def self.down
    drop_table :books
  end
end
7. Create the database tables using the following command:
   
   jruby -S rake db:migrate
8. Deploy the application on WEBrick using the following command:
   
jruby script/server
   
   The application is now available at "http://localhost:3000/books" and looks like:
   
   
   
9. Click on "New book" to see a page as shown below (with values entered):
   
   
   Click on Create button. After 2 entries have been entered, it looks like as shown below:
   
   

Posted by Arun Gupta in web2.0  |  Comments[5]

Screencast #23: Social Software for GlassFish - Blogging, Tagging & Content Rating

Social Software for GlassFish provides an integrated suite of Blogging, Tagging and Content Rating on GlassFish. More details about this suite are available here. This screencast explains how this integrated suite of software can be easily downloaded using GlassFish Update Center, how different components are seamlessly integrated and can be used. Enjoy it here! More screencasts focused on each individual topic are available here.

Posted by Arun Gupta in web2.0  |  Comments[8]

Bought a new treadmill - Ironman Envision

Finally bought a Treadmill - Ironman Envision!

I must say it's turning out to be a great so far (in around 2 weeks) and I'm able to run regularly in spite of rain/chill in the morning. And moreover I can tune my workouts to the desired intensity. If you are in that market, it's a big jungle out there - Treadmills range anywhere from $258.71 (Unbranded) to $5899 (True Fitness Excel 9.0) and probably more expensive ones as well. Here are some tips I found handy in order to buy a treadmill for home usage:

• Things to consider when buying a home treadmill
• Treadmill Buyers Guide
• Buying a Home Treadmill
• So you want to buy a treadmill ?

Here is the 3-step process I followed:

1. Identify the need - What purpose will the Treadmill serve ?
1. What will a typical running week look like ? How many miles ?
2. How many runners will use it ? - Just yourself, or spouse as well or may be a buddy or neighbor. Always plan for a little extra cause it may end up getting used if it's in home :)
   
3. What is the weight of the biggest runner ? - Treadmills can handle certain normal weight reasonably well. You may as well need more professional support if you are above that weight limit anyway ;-)
   
2. Identify the model (within your budget). This is the most difficult step but if you've done the first step diligently, then this is much easier. This is mostly done by checking the online reviews at some of the websites mentioned below:
1. Treadmill Doctor
1. Best Buy Treadmill (classified by budget) - here, here, here, here, 
2. Treadmill Adviser
3. Treadmill Tips
4. Treadmill Ratings, Reviews & Comparisons
5. Treadmill Comparison Charts
6. Just Treadmill Reviews
7. Treadmill Resource Center
3. Run on the exact Treadmill model (that you intend to buy) in a store. Even though this step is important before spending a high 3-figure or low 4-figure $$ but it may not be possible all times (for example in my case). Then you rely on online reviews & return policy of the store.

Post a question in Runners World Forum if you have any doubts or clarifications or seeking particular model comparison.

Here are some of the joys of this machine:

• The installation was really smooth with well guided instructions. It took me around 90 minutes from opening the box to get the machine running. The first nut took some time and then it was seamless.
• The speed and incline controls on handle bars are really useful.
• One-touch speed and incline controls are very useful too.
• MP3 input keeps you occupied for some time but it takes some experimenting to figure out how exactly it works. Still need to hook up my TV.

The maximum distance I ran on this machine so far is 5 miles/40 minutes and it has behaved well! In all, I've spent approx 5 hours on this machine feeling happy. Few things that I don't like:

• Once the Stop button is hit, all the meters are reset to 0. A summary of results would be useful.
• The speakers are not powerful enough, especially at higher speed the music is barely audible.
• If the security key is detached, the belt comes to a sudden stop. This could be dangerous if you are running at a high speed.

Technorati: running treadmill ironman envision

Posted by Arun Gupta in Running  |  Comments[23]

GlassFish v3 gem on JRuby 1.1 RC2

JRuby 1.1 RC2 was released earlier today an GlassFish v3 gem works like a charm on it :)

Read the complete announcement here. The key features of RC2 are:

1. 260 issues resolved
2. Large IO refactoring
3. Less memory than previous release
1. Control total number of JIT'd methods
2. Support a JIT cache between runtimes to return permgen
3. 50-70% reduction in generated methods

1. Download JRuby 1.1 RC2. 
2. Install Rails and create a simple Rails application as described in TOTD #24.
3. Install GlassFish v3 gem using the command as shown below:
   
   bin/jruby -S gem install glassfish             
JRuby limited openssl loaded. gem install jruby-openssl for full support.
http://wiki.jruby.org/wiki/JRuby_Builtin_OpenSSL
Successfully installed glassfish-0.1.1-universal-java
1 gem installed
4. And now the simple application can be easily deployed on GlassFish gem as:
   
   jruby -S glassfish_rails hello
   
   Notice this command needs to be given from the parent directory of the application. The Applcation environment is as shown below:
   
   
   
   and the application output looks like exactly as expected:
   
   

Posted by Arun Gupta in web2.0  |  Comments[2]

3 steps for successful GlassFish Deployment

There are 3 simple steps for a successful GlassFish enterprise deployment - Download, Register, Subscribe. This blog describes what and why of each step. It particularly highlights the several unique benefits available to you in each step.

Download - The first step for any successful enterprise deployment is to download GlassFish - the best open source Application Server (see What's the big deal about GlassFish ?). You can download, develop and deploy your applications on GlassFish completely FREE.

• All the major releases like GlassFish v2, minor releases like GlassFish v2 UR1 and nightly builds are available.
• Each build is accompanied by excellent tutorials, tech tips, blogs and comprehensive documentation.
• Get your questions answered by the community via GlassFish Forum or user lists.
• Use Update Center to add new functionalty or update existing binaries.

Register - After GlassFish is downloaded and installed, you can easily register your instance by providing an email address. You can register by following these instructions.

• Access to aggregate contents like tech tips, bugs fixed, latest news and promotions.

Subscribe - Once your application is deployed and you need quality support in maintaining it then it's strongly recommended to buy the subscription. You can purchase the subscription here.

• Ability to escalate bugs for an out of cycle patch or engineering attention
• Low risk, tested fixes and features for mission critical deployments
  
• Enterprise level production support SLA - Standard, Premium or Premium Plus. Ensures 4 hour response for any question for Standard and Live Transfer for Premium and Premium Plus.
• Indemnification for both parties
• Live person technical support
• Proactive to Sun Alerts and Notifications
• Access to Sun Knowledge Base

Sun provides support for GlassFish through our distribution Sun Java System Application Server 9.1 (SJSAS 9.1). So if you have already downloaded then go ahead and register. If you have already registered and ready for deployment then download SJSAS 9.1 and buy a subscription. And be confident of your enterprise applications!

Technorati: glassfish appserver javaee deployment enterprise download register subscribe

Posted by Arun Gupta in General  |  Comments[3]

TOTD #27: Configurable Multiple Ruby Platforms in NetBeans 6.1 M1

NetBeans 6.1 M1 is now available. Download here!

There are several features in M1. But the feature I liked the most is storing multiple Ruby/JRuby runtime configurations in the IDE. In NetBeans 6.0 only one Ruby platform could be configured and stored. So if you have to change to another Ruby environment then you have to edit the values in the IDE. 6.1 M1 allows to configure and store multiple Ruby/JRuby runtimes. Click on "Tools", "Ruby Platforms" and you are presented with the following window:

I've already added JRuby 1.0.3 as an additional platform. And then you can choose the Ruby/JRuby runtime when creating the Rails application as shown below:

Please leave suggestions on other TOTD that you'd like to see. A complete archive is available here.

Posted by Arun Gupta in web2.0  |  Comments[4]

GlassFish v3 Gem - 0.1.1 available

Pramod released an updated version 0.1.1 of the JRuby GlassFish v3 gem.

What's New ? - Mainly alignment with Rails convention

1. The name of the gem is changed from "GlassFish" to "glassfish".
2. The default port number is 3000.
3. Applications are deployed at root context ("/"). So the default application is now deployed "http://localhost:3000/home/index" instead of "http://localhost:8080/temp/home/index".

1. The number of concurrent requests can now be set using a command-line argument (instead of "-J-Djruby.runtime"). So 2 Rails instances can be created using the following command:
   
   jruby -S glassfish_rails temp -n 2
2. Rails instances are created in parallel to improve the startup time of the gem.

Posted by Arun Gupta in web2.0  |  Comments[7]

TOTD #26: Overriding Database Defaults in Rails 2.0.2

A Rails 2.0.2 application configures SQLite3 database by default. This requires you to have SQLlite3 database running and also have the corresponding database adapter installed. Even this is part of the Leopard (Mac OS 10.5+) development kit but this needs extra configuration on non-Leopard machines.

One of the guiding principles of Rails is Convention-over-Configuration. So there are couple of ways you can override this default:

1. Generate the Rails app by specifying the database of your choice. So if you want to use MySQL as the default database, then generate the application as:
   
   jruby -S rails -d mysql myapp
   
   This is assuming you are using JRuby for generating your Rails application.
2. If you want to use Rails without a database, remove ActiveRecord framework by editing "config/environment.rb" and adding the line:
   
   config.frameworks -= [ :active_record ]
   
   Alternatively you can uncomment line 21 in "environment.rb" and remove other frameworks from inside the parentheses.

Please leave suggestions on other TOTD that you'd like to see. A complete archive is available here.

Posted by Arun Gupta in web2.0  |  Comments[5]