Back in December Uhuru Software and Tier 3 released two different forks of Cloud Foundry that enabled .NET Support. I wasn’t sure which I wanted to use, since I had some serious Cloud Foundry work I was about to dive into, so I’ve picked them apart to determine how each works. This is what I’ve found so far.
That covers the basic links to the downloads, community, and other points of presence, now it is time to dig into some of the differences I’ve found. First though, I got a good environment setup to test each of the forks, from within the same Cloud Foundry Environment! So this is how I’ve set this up… Setting up the Virtual Machines w/ VMware Fusion I suspect, you could tangibly do this with some other virtualization software, but VMware is probably the easiest to use and setup on OS-X & Windows. I haven’t tried this on Linux so there’s another space I’d have to give it a go. Using ESX I also suspect this would also be extremely easy to setup. It’s up to you, but I’m doing all of this with VMware Fusion. The environment I’m using for this comparison consists of the following virtual images:
I setup the Uhuru Instances using the instructions available from Uhuru Software here.
Setting up Some Controllers
So the first thing I did was dive into setting up a controller, or actually two, because I wanted to have an Iron Foundry Environment and a Uhuru Software Environment. After that I’d then try to mix and match them and figure out differences or conflicts. The instructions listed under the “Uhuru Instances” has information regarding setup of a controller for the Uhuru Software Environment, which is what I followed. It is also a good idea to get setup with Putty or ready with SSH for usage of Cloud Foundry, Uhuru Software, and Iron Foundry.
This is pretty cool. A minute and a half time lapse of a data center build out in Colorado. It’s kind of interesting, in a hardware hacker geek kind of way. 🙂
While at OSCON 2011 I spoke to a Phil Robb, Bryan Gartner, and Terri Molini with HP. Phil is heading up the Open Source Program Office for HP, which we spoke about.
Context and Clarity: I knew HP was involved in cloud computing to some degree, know they make tons of devices, hardware, printers, and know they are involved in open source. Beyond that I did not know too much about any particular aspect of HP, nor have I ever worked for them. So if I swoon in response to any of their products or open source efforts don’t think I’m just being a shill, because if you know me, you know better! With that, let’s hit on this discussion and exploration of HP.
The first BIG thing that HP announced, that we all learned about at once via OSCON is HP’s signing up to support the OpenStack Project! This is pretty big news, as OpenStack is a big deal for future Cloud Computing Development focuses on enabling a company versus locking them into a single provider. For those that don’t know much about OpenStack, I’ll be publishing a Spotlight on OpenStack in the near future!
Cloud Computing, Not Just OpenStack
During our conversation, one of the things I really wanted to know about was HP’s efforts around cloud computing without any specific focus. I wanted to know where they are headed, what their plans are, and how they’re currently involved. Of course many of those questions can be answered just by looking at HP’s signing on with OpenStack! Me being the curious type, I wanted more though.
Phil laid out the focus for me with a great quote, “Open Source & Mobile is exceedingly important, and we’re right there with cloud technologies as well.” As our conversation progressed it is evident that HP has many current inroads they’re making into cloud computing. Some of those include Linux (of course that’s a no brainer! :)), the LinuxCOE, and other deployment and management software.
Talking to Phil, Bryan, and some other HP Devs and Evangelists we discussed the various approachs HP is taking to get people “cloud enabled”. Their approach is open, as one might expect, and encompasses a wide breadth of capabilities. One of the approaches they have is the distribution of virtual images, regardless of your virtualization software. They’ve worked to provide additional ways to expand and distribute images as necessary.
Web OS, Webkit, and V8
HP also contributes or works with several technologies within the JavaScript Tech Stack including Node.js, V8, and Webkit. They also use these tools extensively in putting together solutions for WebOS or other tool stacks internally. I’m always stoked to hear about more companies and individuals stepping in and contributing even more to Node.js, V8, and that whole echelon of server side js technology.
Other tools, technologies and efforts they’re actively contributing to in some way or another include jQuery, PhoneGap Applications, and others. HP reviews several thousands projects monthly and makes decisions to get involved or contribute in other ways.
Summary
HP is a major contributor of several major open source projects. They contribute actively and are involved actively, making a positive impact to the community and projects themselves. HP’s ongoing efforts with cloud computing is continuing to grow, and with the recent boarding of the OpenStack train they’re in line to make some major steps into the cloud computing world. Overall, I’m impressed, to HP & the teams there, keep up the good work. You guys and gals are kicking ass!
I arrived, just after the keynote, because I was being lame on this Monday. Sounds like it was a great keynote with some great people speaking.
The first thing I did was get my directions straight for where all the rooms and expo area is. Once I did that I headed to Playful Explorations of Public and Personal Data that Andrew Turner was giving. His presentation showed some great information and data for or from GeoIQ, Geocommons, and others. The areas in which data can be used to overlay crime, friendly or unfriendly areas based on that, where there are dogs, coffee shops, and what can be derived.
I did notice though that a lot of the data is at a very high level. Leaders can make decisions on this kind of data, but it is dangerous making decision based on one or two of these data points. Leaders need to truly understand events and triggers at a macro level also. At the end of the session Andrew actually hit on the note that users of this data must be careful in what they correlate.
by adronbh If you’re at #oscon / #oscond head NOW to C123 to see @gleicon‘s talk on “Architectural Anti-Patterns for Data Handling”. There’s lulz + win
Presented by Tom Hughes-Croucher (Joyent). Learn how to build scalable Internet applications with Node.js, the event-driven server-side JavaScript framework. You’ll see how Node.js solves many scaling and speed problems that weigh down other web application frameworks.
This is the first session I lined up for myself. I’ve been on a Node.js kick lately and have still found myself not having much time to work with the technology. However, having a clearcut session dedicated to the topic, and tomorrow is Node.js day, I’m pretty stoked to really get to using the technology hard core!
Tom did a good job with this session, with a bit of lively retort thrown in here and there. The session covered installation, the basic apps that are displayed on the Node.js Site, and then into additional exercises that got us all running the bits like pros (ok, like total newbs I’m sure). The session was a decent pace, it gave me time to work through the exercises and also wrap up coverage of the 1st day of the conference. However, I’m still going to have to sit down and go through the exercises again and actually determine what Node is actually doing. There are some interesting going ons behind the scenes that I know I’ve missed, but sure will pick them up ASAP with a quick review. 🙂
Day Number One Summary
This is my first full size OSS Conference I’ve attended. I did attend OS Bridge, which was similar, but this one has a large price tag to it. So expectations are different. Overall I’ve been very happy so far. The Swag is awesome, the sessions have been good, and the Node.js Intro was very informative and taught me a few things I didn’t know. The one thing I regrest, is that I can’t attend more of the sessions. This however tends to be the problem with any conference that is worth the time! I’m looking forward to day two, for now, I’m off to socialize and try to do a few non-computer related things.
Keeping Up With the Conference
To keep up with today’s events, and ongoing events during the Conference follow/search the Twitter feed with the #oscon for the main conference, #osconj for the Java Track, and #oscond for the Big Data Track!
Did I get enough of the acronyms and key words in the header? It looks like soup! :O
This is a somewhat messy project to build a prototype layer around SQL Server. The reason for this, shockingly, is to allow for a SQL Server to be used by frameworks and systems that normally don’t or can’t access the database directly. In my particular scenario we’re working on getting Ruby on Rails running with JRuby in a Windows Environment. Because we will need to utilize a lot of SQL Server Databases, it seemed like a great idea to build out a layer over the SQL Server (or Servers) so that a Ruby on Rails Web App, ASP.NET MVC, or even a PHP or pure Javascript Application could access the data in the database. What better way to do that then to create a RESTful Web Services Facade over the database.
Some of you might be thinking “Why not use RIA Services?!?!?! Are you mad!!” Well, there is a big problem, RIA Services doesn’t work against SQL 2000 or SQL 2005, which is the database technology that this particular requirement dictated. Well, now that you have context, I’ll dig straight in to what I did building this prototype out.
Kick Out a SQL Server Database Project
I need some data, and a database, with just some of the standard junk you’d expect in a production database. One of the best ways to throw together a database in a really short amount of time, with data, is to use a SQL Server Database Project.
New Database Project (Click for larger image)
You might see this and think, “But you said that the facade is against a SQL Server 2000 or 2005 database!” Well, it is, but to get a database running locally and have this project type work, I’m using my local SQL Server 2008 Express installation. However, I’m limiting myself to data types primarily available to SQL Server 2000 and 2005. So no worries, this works just fine against those archaic databases. 😛
First I ran the following script to create the database and some sample tables with various data types.
[sourcecode language=”sql”]
DROP DATABASE SomeExistingOrMigratedDatabase
GO
CREATE DATABASE SomeExistingOrMigratedDatabase
GO
USE SomeExistingOrMigratedDatabase
GO
IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.foreign_keys WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[FK_Person_Village]’) AND parent_object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[Person]’))
ALTER TABLE [dbo].[Person] DROP CONSTRAINT [FK_Person_Village]
GO
IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.objects WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[Person]’) AND type in (N’U’))
DROP TABLE [dbo].[Person]
GO
IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.objects WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[SomeFlatDenormalizedDataTable]’) AND type in (N’U’))
DROP TABLE [dbo].[SomeFlatDenormalizedDataTable]
GO
IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.objects WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[Village]’) AND type in (N’U’))
DROP TABLE [dbo].[Village]
GO
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.objects WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[Village]’) AND type in (N’U’))
BEGIN
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Village](
[Id] [uniqueidentifier] NOT NULL,
[Village] [nvarchar](50) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS NULL,
CONSTRAINT [PK_Village] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED
(
[Id] ASC
)WITH (PAD_INDEX = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS = ON)
)
END
GO
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.objects WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[SomeFlatDenormalizedDataTable]’) AND type in (N’U’))
BEGIN
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[SomeFlatDenormalizedDataTable](
[Id] [uniqueidentifier] NOT NULL,
[StarzDate] [datetime] NOT NULL,
[Numerals] [int] NULL,
[Numberals] [int] NULL,
[Monies] [decimal](14, 4) NOT NULL,
[Day] [int] NOT NULL,
[Month] [int] NOT NULL,
[Year] [int] NOT NULL,
[BigNonsense] [ntext] COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS NULL,
[Flotsam] [float] NULL,
[Jetsam] [float] NULL,
[SmallishText] [nvarchar](50) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS NULL,
[BiggishText] [nvarchar](2999) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS NULL,
CONSTRAINT [PK_SomeFlatDenormalizedDataTable] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED
(
[Id] ASC
)WITH (PAD_INDEX = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS = ON)
)
END
GO
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.objects WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[Person]’) AND type in (N’U’))
BEGIN
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Person](
[Id] [uniqueidentifier] NOT NULL,
[Name] [nvarchar](50) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS NOT NULL,
[DateOfBirth] [datetime] NOT NULL,
[VillageId] [uniqueidentifier] NULL,
CONSTRAINT [PK_Person] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED
(
[Id] ASC
)WITH (PAD_INDEX = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS = ON)
)
END
GO
IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.foreign_keys WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[FK_Person_Village]’) AND parent_object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[Person]’))
ALTER TABLE [dbo].[Person] WITH CHECK ADD CONSTRAINT [FK_Person_Village] FOREIGN KEY([VillageId])
REFERENCES [dbo].[Village] ([Id])
GO
IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.foreign_keys WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[FK_Person_Village]’) AND parent_object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[Person]’))
ALTER TABLE [dbo].[Person] CHECK CONSTRAINT [FK_Person_Village]
[/sourcecode]
Once the database and tables are created, import the database into the database project. To do this select the “Import Database Objects and Settings…” by right clicking the context menu on the Database Project.
Import Database Objects and Settings...
Select the database just created and click on start. Once the script generation is done, navigate into the project directories and you will see the following scripts have been created.
Generated Scripts (click for larger image)
Next create a new data generation plan in the Data Generation Plans folder (notice I already cheated and have one in the above image).
Creating a Data Generation Plan
Open up the file this creates (I called mine BuildSomeData.dgen). In the file, note I selected the relationship between the Village and People Tables, and set the ratio to 60:1. When you change the data in the Village table it then automatically updates how much data will be generated for the People Table.
Data Generation Plan
When all that is done, hit F5, select the database and the data will be generated. That gets us a database with data to use as an existing source. From here I’ll jump into creating the actual Facade Layer.
NOTES: Once you generate data, depending on how much you decided to generate, you may want to see how big your database is by using the sp_dbhelp stored procedure. I am however, unsure which versions of SQL Server this stored procedure is available in.
Setting up the Virtual Machines w/ VMware Fusion I suspect, you could tangibly do this with some other virtualization software, but VMware is probably the easiest to use and setup on OS-X & Windows. I haven’t tried this on Linux so there’s another space I’d have to give it a go. Using ESX I also suspect this would also be extremely easy to setup. It’s up to you, but I’m doing all of this with VMware Fusion. The environment I’m using for this comparison consists of the following virtual images:
While at 
The first BIG thing that HP announced, that we all learned about at once via OSCON is HP’s signing up to support the 
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