A Tangled Web

http://blogs.sun.com/mwhite/date/20090616 Tuesday June 16, 2009

Bimota BB1 Paint Job

Well, finally I'm getting around to posting an update about the BB1. About 2 months ago I picked up the bodywork with its final decal application and clearcoat. A you can see from the pics, it looks great! Thanks to Andrew at BodyMold in Australia for providing the great decal replicas (and a spare set to boot). And thanks again to Frank at FZ Restoration for the excellent paint job.

Fuel tank Tail / Seat / Faux tank cover

Fairing

So now I just have to reassemble everything and it's ready to go. I installed the tank and tried to start the bike, but to no avail. It seemed that no fuel was getting into the carbs even though I could hear the fuel pump running. So, I had to remove the tank again, and I connected some clear vinyl tubing to all of the outlets on the pump assembly to test the fuel pump. I ran the tubing back into the tank filler neck and connected the fuel pump leads to a battery. The pump is working fine, I can see the fuel flowing through the tubing. So, I have some more troubleshooting ahead of me :-(

There are a few other minor issues to deal with. One is the front turn signals. For some reason, the ones that were on the bike don't flash correctly. I've tested with turn signals from another bike and they work fine, proving that it's not a wiring or flasher issue. So, I'll try to find some other signals that look decent and work correctly. Ideally, I'd like to return to mirrors with integrated turn signals, like the original. But the original mirrors are unavailable, so I will have to find something else that fits. With so many bikes now that have mirror-integrated turn signals, I should be able to find something that looks good, and I'll have Frank paint whatever I get to match the silver of the upper fairing.

I'm growing quite anxious to get this bike finished and back out on the street so I can enjoy it properly!

GlassFish ESB v2.1 Released

After several months of work, GlassFish ESB v2.1 has been released! We offer a big thanks to all who contributed, including those who tested GlassFish ESB and provided feedback through the issue tracker or on the mailing lists. As with GlassFish ESB v2, commercial support for GlassFish ESB v2.1 is available from Sun Microsystems (Sun GlassFish Enterprise Service Bus). You can download GlassFish ESB v2.1 from the OpenESB downloads page or from sun.com.

One of the big new features in GlassFish ESB v2.1 is full official support for clustering for all GlassFish ESB components. The GlassFish ESB installer now also includes the IEP SE and Scheduler BC. Several enhancements were made to the BPEL SE, File BC, FTP BC, HTTP BC, JMS BC and LDAP BC (see the release notes for details ). GlassFish ESB v2.1 has been upgraded to work with and include the latest NetBeans 6.5.1 IDE and the latest GlassFish v2.1 application server. Also new in v2.1 is that the runtime is now supported on AIX 5.3. A great number of issues (427 runtime issues and 218 design time issues) are addressed in this release.

Here is list of some of the new features and functionality in GlassFish ESB v2.1:

  • Support for GlassFish clustering in all components

  • Intelligent Event Processor (IEP) Service Engine – Available in v2.1 with Platinum level support. Enables complex event processing (CEP) and event stream processing (ESP) using the Continuous Query Language (CQL)

  • Scheduler Binding Component – Provides scheduling capabilities for initiating JBI services and allows you to schedule triggers to launch other JBI components.

  • New Systems Support:
    • NetBeans IDE 6.5.1
    • GlassFish Enterprise Server 2.1
    • OpenSolaris 2008.11
    • Red Hat Linux AS 5 (32 and 64 bit)
    • IBM AIX 5L 5.3 (OS: 64 bit; JVM: 32 bit) (runtime support only)

  • BPEL Service Engine
    • Support for validate activities
    • The ability to add JavaScript code to a business process as an activity

  • File Binding Component
    • Configurable options for on-demand reads that allow you to remove a file resource after it has been read.
    • The ability to specify polling file names using Java regular expression-based file name patterns. This is supported through a new file:message attribute named fileNameIsRegex. Note that regex is not supported for output files.
    • The ability to specify a directory location for lock files rather than the location being relative to the fileDirectory property. This is supported through a new file:address attribute named persistenceBaseLoc.

  • FTP Binding Component
    • The ability to specify a directory location for lock files using a new ftp:address attribute named baseLocation.

  • HTTP Binding Component
    • Support for basic authentication using OpenSSO Enterprise 8.

  • LDAP Binding Component
    • Support for using connection pools.

  • JMS Binding Component
    • Support for multiple queues with WebSphere Message Queue.

Fuji Milestone 6 and New Demo

Lots of new features are now available in OpenESB v3 (Project Fuji), our exciting new OSGi-based technology which is the next-generation SOA integration platform. We have wrapped up Milestone 6, which is available on the Downloads page.

Ed Wong has written a nice demo application that showcases some of the new things in Milestones 5 and 6. Watch this screencast to see it in action! We also have some short screencasts that show off the latest features on our Screencasts and Demos page. Check it out!

See my blog about Milestone 5 for some information about what was new in that milestone. Here are some of the new things in Milestone 6:

  • Felix Runtime upgraded to version 1.8.0

  • Enhanced Enterprise Integration Patterns
    • Content Based Router now allows dynamic routing rule configuration through the Fuji command line interface
    • Aggregate now supports the use of Java code
    • Split now supports XML namespaces

  • New / Enhanced Service Types
    • S3 - (new) supports deployment to the Amazon S3 cloud environment
    • Java - (new) supports POJOs as services
    • REST - (enhanced) now supports SSL connections

  • GlassFish v3 Support
    • Fuji server can run on the GlassFish v3 OSGi runtime
    • A Fuji distribution bundled with GlassFish v3 is now available from the downloads page
    • Deployment of Fuji applications is supported (no support yet for combined Java EE / Fuji applications)

  • Aspects (configurable interceptors) can now be injected dynamically using the Fuji command line interface

  • Fuji Command Line Interface (CLI)
    • CLI now available in Equinox as well as Felix
    • New commands for managing custom EIPs
    • New commands for managing dynamically created aspects

  • Web UI Enhancements
    • Java service type
    • AWS S3 service type, a prototype that we hope to make into a more generic way to interface with services running in a Cloud
    • Real-time message flow monitoring/debugging
    • Support for use of an external subversion repository for storing artifacts
    • Support for editing external configuration of EIPs, external artifacts for services
    • New "view IFL" icon in toolbar allows viewing the generated IFL
    • Last-edited message flow remembered on restart, pull-down menu for selecting other previously edited message flows

  • NetBeans IDE Enhancements
    • Support for starting Fuji server in debug mode, allows debugging Java code, including interceptors
    • Allow editing of service configuration files from IFL editor by prompting to generate artifacts if they haven't already been generated
    • Support for editing interceptor configuration from the Fuji server manager

http://blogs.sun.com/mwhite/date/20090528 Thursday May 28, 2009

GlassFish ESB v2.1 Release Candidate Now Available

The release candidate build of GlassFish ESB v2.1, the next release of our GlassFish ESB offering, is now available for download from the OpenESB downloads page. Go to the heading "GlassFish ESB v2.1 Release Candidate 2" for the download link and instructions. This build is planned to be the final build that will become the GA release, planned for release in mid-June. 

http://blogs.sun.com/mwhite/date/20090527 Wednesday May 27, 2009

JavaOne 2009

JavaOne 2009 is almost here! We have a ton of stuff going on and you can read all about the technical sessions, BOFs, Hands-On-Labs, and Pavilion pods on our wiki page. We'll be showcasing and demonstrating GlassFish ESB v2.1, OpenESB v3 (Project Fuji), Intelligent Event Processing, and Master Data Management, among others. Be sure to check out our unconference on Sunday from 1pm to 7pm, where you can talk to some of the OpenESB developers.

http://blogs.sun.com/mwhite/date/20090421 Tuesday April 21, 2009

Fuji Milestone 5 Now Available

We continue to push forward on Project Fuji, our exciting new OSGi-based technology which will become the next-generation SOA integration platform, GlassFish ESB v3. We have just released Milestone 5, which you can download from the Downloads page. For detailed information and instructions for installing and using Milestone 5, see the Milestone 5 wiki page.

Because I never blogged about Milestone 4, I'll cover a little about that as well. Here are some of the new things in Milestones 5 and 4:

  • New Enterprise Integration Patterns
    • Routing Slip (Milestone 5)
    • Scatter Gather (Milestone 5)
    • Content Based Router (Milestone 4)
    • Wire Tap (Milestone 4)

  • New Service Types
    • REST (Milestone 5)
    • Email (Milestone 5)
    • Scheduler (Milestone 4)

  • Aspects (configurable interceptors)
    • Policy Aspect (Milestone 5)
    • Logging Aspect (Milestone 4)

  • New Eclipse tooling (Milestone 5)

  • Lots of enhancements to NetBeans and Web tooling

Some of the new features can be seen in this 2-part screencast created by Kirill.

Part 1: Building Fuji from scratch, simple "note taking" application example
Note that if you download the Milestone distribution you can skip the check-out and build steps.


Part 2: Expanding the application, EIPs, tour of the web composition

http://blogs.sun.com/mwhite/date/20090414 Tuesday April 14, 2009

GlassFish ESB v2.1 Milestone 2 Available

Today we announced the availability of the second milestone build of GlassFish ESB v2.1, the next release of our GlassFish ESB offering. This release is built on GlassFish v2.1 and NetBeans 6.5. Additional components, the IEP SE (Intelligent Event Processor) and the Scheduler BC, are included in this release. Note that due to the move to NetBeans 6.5, the design time modules for GlassFish ESB v2.1 will not work with GlassFish ESB v2, which was based on NetBeans 6.1. This milestone includes quite a few bug fixes.

You can download this milestone build from the OpenESB downloads page. Go to the heading "GlassFish ESB v2.1 Milestone 2" for the download link and instructions.

http://blogs.sun.com/mwhite/date/20090319 Thursday March 19, 2009

GlassFish ESB v2.1 Milestone 1 Available

Today we announced the availability of the first milestone build of GlassFish ESB v2.1, the next release of our GlassFish ESB offering. This release is built on GlassFish v2.1 and NetBeans 6.5. Additional components, the IEP SE (Intelligent Event Processor) and the Scheduler BC, are included in this release. Note that due to the move to NetBeans 6.5, the design time modules for GlassFish ESB v2.1 will not work with GlassFish ESB v2, which was based on NetBeans 6.1.

You can download this milestone build from the OpenESB downloads page. Go to the heading "GlassFish ESB v2.1 Milestone 1" for the download link and instructions.

http://blogs.sun.com/mwhite/date/20090219 Thursday February 19, 2009

How extreme can a motorcycle get?

Every now and then, someone decides to build a totally outrageous machine. I remember the guy in the UK who built a working 48-cylinder motorcycle by grafting 6 V-8 engines into a single power plant. I saw/heard a video clip of the bike actually being started up; it was a mechanical marvel, albeit completely impractical for any real use.

Well, enter German engineer Clemens F. Leonhardt, whose company, Leonhardt Manufacturing, has designed and built an absolute behemoth of a motorcycle, the Gunbus 410. Looking at the first two photos, it doesn't look that big, but scroll down to gain a proper perspective.

Get ready.....

A typical superbike-class sport bike has a 1000cc engine, which translates to 61 cubic inches. This baby is 410 cubic inches, or 6728cc's! The fuel-injected, 45 degree V-Twin engine runs through a 3 speed transmission with reverse and puts out 523 foot pounds of torque. The seat height is a reasonable 31.5 inches but overall length is an insane 136 inches. At 1433 pounds it might be a beast to handle. I'm still waiting to see a road test...


http://blogs.sun.com/mwhite/date/20090211 Wednesday February 11, 2009

GlassFish Portfolio with GlassFish ESB officially announced

On February 10, Sun Microsystems announced the GlassFish Portfolio (see here). With this announcement Sun has also announced commercial support options for GlassFish ESB, including a price list.

You can see the GlassFish ESB landing page for details: http://www.sun.com/glassfishesb.

Here's a news link on Yahoo! Finance that mentions some of our customers

http://blogs.sun.com/mwhite/date/20090210 Tuesday February 10, 2009

New article on Distributed JBI

My collegue Derek Frankforth has written a nice article about different ways to implement a distributed JBI system using OpenESB. The article is published on InfoQ here.  Anyone with an interest in using the features of OpenESB in a GlassFish cluster environment should read this article for some insights on how it all works. 

http://blogs.sun.com/mwhite/date/20090206 Friday February 06, 2009

Bimota BB1 Progress

Here's the latest update on my Bimota BB1. Frank emailed me pics of the painted bodywork today. One minor detail is wrong; the fuel tank is supposed to be half black. Hopefully that won't be too much of a hassle for him to correct. But the paint looks fantastic in the photos! He'll be sanding/applying decals/clear-coating soon, I just have to wait for the corrected left side decal to get here before he can start. Oh and here's some amazing news on the decals - Don from Scuderia called me yesterday and Bimota still has a few of the decals in stock. Of course the one they are missing is the one I need, but they said they could probably make another one. So hopefully we'll hear back from them quickly.

Here are the pics:


http://blogs.sun.com/mwhite/date/20090204 Wednesday February 04, 2009

Nice article about GlassFish ESB v2

ALT DESCR

In his article on developer.com, Kevin Meeks makes an interesting observation: “…introducing Open Source tools into any organization can be quite challenging, but an unexpected ally arrived recently which has increased the attractiveness of that option: Budget Reductions”. The article describes his recent evaluation of a number of different Open Source projects for an enterprise architecture technology stack.

Having used GlassFish for the last 18 months, Kevin was “…extremely pleased with its stability as well as the quality of the admin console”, and he decided to take a close look at another product coming out of the GlassFish community: GlassFish ESB. Kevin looked at what’s available in the OpenESB community, the uptake of the community, the cost model, etc. and liked what he saw. He concludes: "There are significant developments underway in the GlassFish project community, and as your SOA/EA efforts may face tighter budget challenges, there is real value to be leveraged by considering the GlassFish Java EE Server and GlassFish ESB project as potential core components within your infrastructure. The excellent integration with NetBeans IDE simply adds to the value proposition."

Kevin's experience is illustrated by a nice tutorial that guides the reader through the entire process, from installation to creating and testing a simple composite application. This is an excellent article for anyone wanting to quickly become familiar with GlassFish ESB.

http://blogs.sun.com/mwhite/date/20090125 Sunday January 25, 2009

Bimota BB1 Repairs Underway

Finally, an update on my Bimota BB1: A couple of weeks after I posted about the accident, I was contacted by the driver's insurance company about the accident. As it turns out, she did have insurance, she just didn't give me the right information, and refused to respond to my phone messages. Long story short, the insurance folks agreed it was not my fault, and they are paying for the medical bills and the repairs to the bike.

Unlike repairs to a more current model actually sold in the US by dealerships, where you just drop the bike off at the dealership and let them do all the legwork, it was up to me to locate parts, decals, and a painter. The really difficult part was finding the original graphics decals. From the Bimota mail list that I'm on, I was able to find a company down in Australia that had made a decal set for a BB1 in the past. I got the decals in December and they're nearly perfect. One for the left side needs to be modified and remade, but I'm hoping someone local can do that for me. I was able to find a shift lever through through my friend Bob Steinbugler, a friend and Bimota dealer in Raleigh, NC. I discovered that the billet aluminum footpeg mount was slightly bent, so I will try to straighten that out by heating it and applying some mild force (i.e. carefully beating it with a hammer without denting the aluminum). The only non-stock cosmetic feature of the bike is that the original mirrors are gone and have been replaced with CRG bar-end mirrors (this was done before I owned the bike). I was able to find a replacement for the damaged left-side mirror online (CRG is down near Monterey).

A fellow customer at my local Aprilia/KTM/Bimota dealership (Scuderia West in San Francisco) referred me to a really reputable painter in Livermore, Frank Zucchi (FZ Restoration) and he's started the work. As of a couple of weeks ago, the bodywork had been stripped and prepped for priming. Now here's an example of excellent customer service: Frank emailed me a status update complete with photos of the work in process, totally of his own volition. How many places would bother to do that? Hopefully I'll get another update from him this week.

Here are a few pics of the prepped bodywork:


This is what the bike looks like without its bodywork. It's actually a really cool machine underneath the covers:

I'm hoping the bike will be ready to ride sometime in February. I'll post an update after the next stage of repairs.

http://blogs.sun.com/mwhite/date/20090120 Tuesday January 20, 2009

Business Rules Service Engine for OpenESB

Milan Fort has contributed a new Business Rules service engine to our community. It exposes a deployed ruleset as a stateless service within the JBI environment. It works with any JSR94-compliant rules engine and has been tested with Jess, Jamocha, and Drools. For more information see the following links:

Give it a try and let us know what you think. You can provide feedback on the OpenESB users mail list (users@open-esb.dev.java.net) or the forum view on Nabble.