Write your own update center module

An Update Center module can be an addon module or an archive module. For an archive type module, the addons.* interfaces need not be implemented. Let's take a closer look at the addon module.

For starters, you can read my earlier blogs on creating and testing UC addon modules...

For addon modules, you need to look at the Configurator and Installer APIs.... Here's the package tree.

Hope this will get you excited enough and started on your own module! Send me your comments.

Posted at 02:15PM Sep 21, 2007 by Manveen Kaur in Sun  |  Comments[0]

Testing your Update Center module

Before you "host" your module on a server for others to download, it would be wise to test it out yourself.

This blog describes how you can test your update center module locally on your GlassFish container through the updatetool client. Hopefully you already know how to create and package your update center module.

Here's what you do to "host" the module on your local running instance of GlassFish. Updatetool is available from GlassFish v2 onwards.

1. Copy your final module jar to be tested into GF_V2_HOME/domains/domain1/docroot. This enables it to be accessible from http://localhost:8080/module.jar
2. Copy GF_V2_HOME/updatecenter/registry/glassfish/server.xml to GF_V2_HOME/domains/domain1/docroot. Let's call it update_center.xml. Doing this will enable it to be accessible from http://localhost:8080/update_center.xml.
3. Edit update_center.xml to have a single entry for the module. Add appropriate values for module codenamebase="my.package" distribution="http://localhost:8080/roller_module.jar". The module type should be "ADDON_INSTALLER".
   Don't worry about getting the exact numbers for downloadsize etc. for now.
4. Edit GF_v2_HOME/updatecenter/config/config.xml.
   For the catalog name='glassfish' change the url to url='http://localhost:8080/update_center.xml'
5. Run GF_V2_HOME/updatecenter/bin/updatetool and choose your module.

Trivia: Did you know that a Netbeans module or .nbm extension is just a fancy name for a .jar?

Important contact information: If you are interested in hosting your application on GlassFish Update Center repository, do touch base with the GlassFish Update Center team at: dev@updatecenter.dev.java.net and they'll be happy to work with you.

Posted at 12:10PM Jun 19, 2007 by Manveen Kaur in Sun  |  Comments[0]

Sun ranked in 2007 world's most ethical companies

As part of the 2007 Word’s Most Ethical Companies analysis, Ethisphere Council researchers interviewed dozens and dozens of companies in great depth about their compliance and ethics activities.

Sun Microsystems Inc. proudly stands in the Computers and Semiconductors section in 2007 World's Most Ethical Companies

Now that's something to be really proud of!

Posted at 11:17AM May 25, 2007 by Manveen Kaur in Sun  |  Comments[0]

The greenest computer company under the Sun

What makes Sun Microsystems Inc. the greenest computer company under the Sun?

As an example, Sun's UltraSPARC server processors are the most energy-efficient on the market. In California, companies can now even get rebates from utility Pacific Gas & Electric merely by switching from other servers to Sun's!

Sun's green evangelist, Dave Douglas, vice president for eco-responsibility at Sun Microsystems, says Sun recycles an amazing 99.7 percent of returned product materials in California!

Sun's Project Blackbox provides highly efficient datacenter space that can be placed near abundant and environmentally friendly energy sources.

Here's more on how green means business.

Go Green!

Posted at 11:04AM May 25, 2007 by Manveen Kaur in Sun  |  Comments[0]

Debugging attempting to create a new user

After installing Roller, I tried to actually start using it. So from the main page I clicked on "New User Registration Page" to create my first user.

How could that be? I was sure I had followed all the steps meticulously. What could have gone wrong? :(

May be I was not thinking straight. I decided to call it a day and think about the problem while driving back home. Next morning, I came back and decided to do the most obvious thing- look at the logs under $CATALINA_HOME/logs/roller.log. The answer was right there. I had not set the value of search.index.dir in my roller-custom.properties, and hence the Roller app wasn't coming up properly.

Voila! Success!
Roller was pleased, and so was I!

I kept trying to browse different forums to get an answer -- but the answer was all along right there - in the roller logs!

Posted at 11:25AM May 22, 2007 by Manveen Kaur in Sun  |  Comments[0]