Several months ago, I installed the latest and greatest version of Apache web server. In addition, I installed PHP and MySQL. Well, I found that effort a little trickier to tackle on my box. Fortunately, an acquaintance recommended using XAMPP from Apache Friends.

I found XAMPP easy to install, a time saver, and to use - just download, extract and start.

Available for the following platforms:

XAMPP for Linux
The distribution for Linux systems (tested for SuSE, RedHat, Mandrake and Debian) contains: Apache, MySQL, PHP & PEAR, Perl, ProFTPD, phpMyAdmin, OpenSSL, GD, Freetype2, libjpeg, libpng, gdbm, zlib, expat, Sablotron, libxml, Ming, Webalizer, pdf class, ncurses, mod_perl, FreeTDS, gettext, mcrypt, mhash, eAccelerator, SQLite and IMAP C-Client.

XAMPP for Windows
The distribution for Windows 98, NT, 2000, 2003, XP and Vista. This version contains: Apache, MySQL, PHP + PEAR, Perl, mod_php, mod_perl, mod_ssl, OpenSSL, phpMyAdmin, Webalizer, Mercury Mail Transport System for Win32 and NetWare Systems v3.32, Ming, JpGraph, FileZilla FTP Server, mcrypt, eAccelerator, SQLite, and WEB-DAV + mod_auth_mysql.

XAMPP for Mac OS X
The distribution for Mac OS X contains: Apache, MySQL, PHP & PEAR, SQLite, Perl, ProFTPD, phpMyAdmin, OpenSSL, GD, Freetype2, libjpeg, libpng, zlib, Ming, Webalizer, mod_perl, eAccelerator, phpSQLiteAdmin.
WARNING: This version of XAMPP is still in the first steps of development. Use at you own risk!

XAMPP for Solaris
The distribution for Solaris (developed and tested with Solaris 8, tested with Solaris 9) contains: Apache, MySQL, PHP & PEAR, Perl, ProFTPD, phpMyAdmin, OpenSSL, Freetype2, libjpeg, libpng, zlib, expat, Ming, Webalizer, pdf class.
WARNING: This version of XAMPP is still in the first steps of development. Use at you own risk!

Here is the download link for XAMPP and it is free of charge.

More exciting new webinars in May for anyone using Spring.

• On May 21st, 2008 Rob Harrop will present an Introduction to SpringSource Application Platform which will show developers how to get started using the completely module-based Java application server that is redefining how enterprise Java is run.
• On May 28th, 2008 Jared Rodriguez, CTO and Founder of SkywaySoftware, will present Model Centric Design and Development for Spring which will discuss how developers can use Skyway Builder to modify/customize existing Spring applications quickly and accurately.

Sign up for these and other interesting events at the webinar page where you can also watch archived recordings of  previous webinars. 

Ask any DBA what are his top priorities for backup of MySQL. Chances are that hot backup and recovery to a specific point-in-time (or transaction) will be on top of everybody?s list.

The recovery to any point-in-time has been always an ultimate goal for data protection. Traditional backup solutions allow recovering only to a point in time when the last backup took place, e.g. last night. A lot of new data could be created and lost since that last backup. That is why in the last several years many vendors have been working on Continuous Data Protection (CDP).

Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) defines Continuous Data Protection (CDP) as “a class of mechanisms that continuously capture or track data modifications enabling recovery to previous points in time”.

ZRM 2.2 enables CDP by using LVM, VxFS, VSS, ZFS and NetApp snapshots in conjunction with MySQL transaction logs. When doing a recovery to a particular point in time, ZRM reads data from the snapshot and then replays MySQL transaction log from that point forward. This enables almost instantaneous point-in-time recovery.

For each point in time T, ZRM creates a snapshot that includes a MySQL binary log. To recover MySQL database to a specific Recovery Point Objective (RPO) between T2 and T3, ZRM reads data from snapshot T2 and replays transactions from binlog T3 up to RPO providing the user with point-in-time recovery. To enable instantaneous recovery snapshots are stored where the database files are, for example, on the same NetApp filer.

Since real life recoveries are performed under stressful conditions, we designed our product to simplify your life and ensure successful recovery:

• With a single click you can initiate point-in-time recovery that reads data from the snapshot and replays transactions so you get your database back in time.
• Our unified recovery mechanism allows the very same recovery workflow not just for snapshots, but for all other backup methods such as logical and raw backup. The unified recovery works even with third party data extraction utilities for MySQL such as InnoDB HotBackup.
• ZRM allows recovery to any point in time for multiple MySQL servers in the organization. MySQL servers could have different storage engines and run on different operating systems and all backup and recovery operations are centrally managed by ZRM.

Some CDP solutions capture all writes to the database effectively duplicating what a binary log is designed to do. Why re-invent the wheel and waste computing resources? ZRM is integrated with MySQL on a deeper level than any other backup solution. That allows us to provide very efficient CDP solution with almost instantaneous point-in-time recovery.

——
Dmitri Joukovski

After reviewing statistics for my topsite blog directory, I observed traffic from a website that uses redirects and frames to exploit my website with questionable advertisements (porn). Here is the format: http://????????.com/go/?/301??/http://www.topbloglists.com. I inserted the "?" as substitutes.

Obviously, I felt my site was being hijacked and I was miffed. But this was not the first time this happened to me.

Approximately two months ago, I emailed the webmaster three times requesting their members NOT be allowed to employ links that use frames to create banner-like ads above my pages. I never received a response to my emails, but the activity did stop until today.

Luckily, I found this script to deal with the issue. Place it within the . Here is the script's source along with a post on questionable linking.

SpringSource is pleased to offer a number of Spring Framework and AOP training events in the upcoming period, delivered by the people who build and sustain the Spring Framework. For full details, please visit the main training information page. Here is a summary of some of the upcoming courses and venues:

• USA and Canada
• Core Spring: May 13th - 16th, Washington (Dulles)
• Core Spring: May 20th - 23rd, New York, NY
• Core Spring: June 3rd - 6th, San Diego, CA
  
• Core Spring: June 10th - 13th, Boston, MA
• Core Spring: June 17th - 20th, Chicago, IL
• Core-AOP: June 24th - 25th, New York, NY
• Core Spring: June 24th - 27th, Vancouver, Canada
  
• Core Spring: June 24th - 27th, Minneapolis, MN
  
• Core Spring: July 8th - 11th, Columbia, MD
• Core Spring: July 15th - 18th, San Jose, CA
  
• Core Spring: July 22nd - 25th, Ottawa, Canada
  
• Core Spring: July 22nd - 25th, New York, NY
• Core Spring: July 29th - August 1st, Seattle, WA

• Europe & Middle East
  
• Core Spring: May 13th - 16th, Rome, Italy
• Beginning Enterprise Java Development: May 20th - 23, London, UK
• Core Web Services: May 20th - 21st, Stockholm, Sweden
• Core Spring .NET: May 21st - 23rd, London, UK
• Core Web Services: May 22nd - 23rd, Paris, France
  
• Core Spring: May 27th - 30th, Zurich, Switzerland
  
• Core Spring: May 27th - 30th, Istanbul, Turkey
  
• Core Spring: May 27th - 30th, London, UK
• Core Spring: June 3rd - 6th, Amsterdam, NL
• Core AOP: June 3rd - 6th, London, UK
• Core Spring: June 10th - 13th, London, UK
• Beginning Enterprise Java Development: June 10th - 13th, Paris, France
  
• Core Spring .NET: June 18th - 20th, Paris, France
• Core Spring: June 24th - 27th, London, UK
  
• Beginning Enterprise Java Development: June 24th - 27th, London, UK
• Core Spring: July 1st - 4th, Paris, France
  
• Core Spring: July 15th - 18th, London, UK
  
• Core Spring: July 15th - 18th, Munich, Germany
• Core Web Services: July 24th - 25th, London, UK
• Core Spring .NET: July 30th - August 1st, London, UK

• Australia/Asia/Other
  
• Core Spring: May 19th - 22nd, Sydney, Australia
• Core Spring: May 27th - 30th, Wellington, New Zealand
  
• Core Spring: May 27th - 30th, Melbourne, Australia
• Core Spring: June 10th - 13th, Canberra, Australia
  
• Core Web Services: June 5th - 6th, Sydney, Australia
• Core Spring: June 23rd - 26th, Brisbane, Australia
• Core Web Services: June 26th - 27th, Wellington, New Zealand
• Core Spring: July 1st - 4th - Hong Kong
• Core Web Services: July 10th - 11th, Hong Kong
• Core Spring: July 15th - 18th, Singapore
• Core Web Services: July 24th - 25th, Bangalore, India
  
• Core Spring: July 29 - August 1st, Bangalore, India
  

... plus others

Dear Spring community,
We are pleased to announce that Spring Batch 1.0.1.RELEASE has been released!

Downloads | Site | Changelog

This release focuses on bug-fixes and improvements in documentation.

The Horizon Interactive Awards winners were announced over the past weekend. Over 1,000 sites were reviewed in this competition for creativity and originality, overall design, technical merit, effectiveness and user experience. Several Drupal-powered sites, developed by studio:module and pingVision were among the winners.

read more

Dear Spring community,

I'm pleased to announce that Spring Web Services 1.5.1 has been released!

Downloads | Site | Changelog | Announcement