The Year of the Geek

So, very odd things are happening. First, our DNS server is not taking updates for some reason, unless Poly isn’t sending updates for some reason. Either way, on my network, the site does not work, on any other network, it’s fine now. Second, the site that was originally setup was not working of course, but I decided to do some trickery. I wanted to see if the system was actually working properly, or if it was actually the WordPress install. I switched the working virtual host home directory with the Word Press one, and lo-and-behold, it didn’t work. I just uploaded a fresh WordPress install to the proper directory, and it’s now a working site!

Turns out it was NOT Leopard server, but the WordPress configuration. So let this be a lesson, always start fresh if you can.

As I wrote before, I use Apple servers at work and most times I enjoy using them. I feel that the operating system is very stable (I happen to use 10.4.1 and 10.5.5) and very customizable, and i also feel that the hardware is very good. It’s very rare that I see the CPUs being pegged or the memory getting drained somehow.

Our secondary server, POW, the server that this site is currently hosted on hosts a few different domains. Recently, I have been setting up things for our new HCI and Games lab here at BXMC. They wanted a site so they made one in WordPress with my recommendation. Now I need to move it to the server with a better domain than pow.idmi.poly.edu/~chrisdimauro/wordpress. I was instructed to use socialgamelab.bxmc.poly.edu (the bxmc is due to the expected change in all of our domains soon). I call up my guy at IS and he tells me it’s done. Excellent for me.

Now the task of setting up another virtual host on POW. Normally this is a CLI job with lots of files and configuration but not with Server Admin (SA); SA gives you a really nice GUI for editing many server features. One can completely configure and maintain their server without ever using CLI by using SA. More complex set-ups will have difficulty at times while only using SA.

This is what you’re presented with after opening SA, a very nice looking summary of your server and it’s running processes.

Now, I want to add a new website to this server using a name-based virtual host. So I’ll select ‘Web’ from the left side list of active services, and begin to edit this:

That’s a very simple, straight-forward form for a website. I filled out all of the appropriate information, pointed everything to the proper directory, and save. I restart apache, and try the site after a few (i needed to wait for it to replicate to the external dns servers). After a short wait, I test the site. I am directed to the main site, pow.idmi.poly.edu. Something is not working on my end, I don’t think virtual hosting is working properly. So I test one of our other virtual hosts on the server, and that works. I compare the two, both are the same 100%. Now it’s time to bring out the CLI and go deeper into the config files.

Apparently Leopard server uses different configuration for virtual hosts and apache in general. It breaks up each virtual host config file into numbered .conf files. Apache’s httpd.conf just includes the directory and any .conf files that are inside of that directory. Sure, this looks nice, it’s pretty clean and easy to edit sites, but it’s a pain when researching help, I am literally stuck with Apple only help (to a good extent). I find the appropriate file (nicely named 0005_[ip]_socialgamelab.bxmc.poly.edu.conf) and look into the file. I compare it with the working virtual hosts .conf file and find, they’re also the same.

Now I begin to ask myself things like “Why?” and “What?” but at the same time begin to wonder how Leopard Server is messing this up. The site loads properly if I direct the browser to it’s long directory, but still only gives me the main site if I use the new virtual host name.

I am still in the process of working on getting this to work. I have a list made up of how I am going to resolve this. I think I will update as I go through the list.

1. Comb the internet for help, this includes Apple discussion forums, and of course Google.
2. Change the bxmc to idmi. This could be conflicting on our network which is still using idmi for everything else.
3. Call Apple Support. When you buy Apple server products, like every other server retailer, you get support. We have support for our recently purchased Mac OS 10.5 Server, I will utilize this to it’s fullest extent.
4. Replace the entire apache configuration with a default configuration from another system that works. Last resort because I really do not want to re-configure the webserver.

Covering the List

1. I have been searching the internet and Apple discussion boards for hours (before I wrote this post). I found one issue with domain aliases using an (*) in place of a real alias, but nothing that fixed the problem yet.
2. IS has changed it to IDMI a little while ago, I’m waiting for it to update. Let’s hope this is the last step.

I own an iPod. To be more precise I actually own a 3rd Generation iPod; if you don’t know what kind that is, check it out on Wikipedia. It’s the first iPod to have a dock, the only iPod for have 4 light up buttons, lined on the top, and the iPod with the worst battery life, period. It also uses firewire to charge and sync, no USB charging on this guy.

My iPod is 40GB, and I’ve never filled it. But I love my iPod, I love how it looks, and I used to love how rugged it was. It’s been through a lot, here’s a run down of stuff:

• 3 batteries, all replaced by me
• 1 headphone connector
• dropped on asphalt and stepped on accidentally
• dropped in a sink full of water (not by me)
• dropped several times from my pocket to the ground
• sat on
• banged about

I bought it in 2003, when it was new, from eBay for $300. It has lasted me 5 long years, and now the battery is dying again (it only holds about an hour charge). I’ve finally given in and decided to buy a new one.

When looking, I decided to get another iPod, just because I like them, and I’m very impressed with my iPods durability. I decided to get a refurb from Apple. It’s the “previous generation”, basically meaning they don’t make it anymore. It’s 80GB, black, and $100 cheaper than the new ones. Of course I got Applecare for the additional $59. Worth it.

I am anxiously waiting for it to arrive from California now. I’m hoping that this new iPod gives me the same amount of life that my 3rd gen has given me. I of course will not be doing away with the 3rd gen, it’ll still be used for files and backups until something else on it dies (the hard drive or the port).

So, in this post I shall thank you 3rd Generation iPod. You’ve given me countless hours of entertainment, you’ve been around through my entire college career, and I know you’ll always be around somewhere for me.

As I’ve said on here before, I like using newer Web 2.0 technologies. With that in mind, I have tried many different content management systems for various sites. Recently I was given the task to re-design the PolyBOTS website from it’s old hard-coded design (which was also designed by me) which replaced a former Front Page design that I will never mention here again. Though the second design looked alright, it wasn’t good for updating news or adding anything spectacular. We had no CMS, so I hand coded everything in Dreamweaver which made it annoying, so no updates were ever made.

Picking a CMS was a task in itself. I figured that they needed something simple, functional, and can be built on if needed. First we looked at Joomla!. Joomla! is a very nice CMS with a lot of functionality, but proved to be very difficult to work with and customize for us. Not to mention it was a little power hungry for the old server; P3 800, 384MB ram, Mandriva Linux. So we scrapped that almost immediately. I then started learning about Drupal.

Drupal is an open-source CMS with so much built in functionality that you really don’t need too many plugins or add-ons to make it nice. It’s got a huge user base, and even at Poly there are so many people that use and know it that it would be like having live support. I installed drupal 5.7 on the server and the PolyBOTS webmaster and I started to design the site with a theme we downloaded and heavily modified. The site started to take shape but there were still some major issues with caching and CSS. After disabling that, the site would just not look like it was supposed to look, mainly because of trying to fix the theme template files. We also found it difficult to integrate the image gallery with drupal (integration was easy, making it look good was not). This past Friday, however, I got completely fed up and decided to go for WordPress.

By now you know WordPress; this site is run off it. A few reasons for sticking to WordPress; first, it’s lightweight and functional; second, there is excellent support and a lot of add-ons and plugins out there for it; third, I actually know the coding enough that I can edit things to make them look and act the way I want them to. I also chose it because it’s simple enough for what they need but if they really want to add something, it can usually be added as a plugin.

This whole re-design helped me learn a lot about CMS’s and site design in general. A few major things:

• Don’t use a heavy CMS for a light project
• Make sure you know how to edit the code just in case you need something to do something else
• Get a CMS with good support
• Use a CMS that can use plug-ins and other add-ons
• Test out a few systems before settling on one

So, check out their new site with the link above, let me know what you think about it. Also, let me know if anyone has any other tips for re-designing small sites. It’s always helpful to hear what other people have to say.

I just came across this on The Unofficial Apple Weblog site.

This is such a cool idea, especially since I find it very difficult to type on an iPhone or iPod Touch.