poscribes

The following are demo versions or proofs of concept of the ideas outlined in a number of my scripts and projects contained within this site.

All of these web applications will be made Open Source during 2010 and the source code will be made available on this site, in addition to which a forum will be established for the exchange of ideas in support of future enhancements to these projects either by myself or the Open Source community at large.

Stay tuned for this release!

1). Multi or Two Factor Authentication Demo
This solution provides a web-based two-factor or multi-factor (something you know plus something you have) proof of concept using a very low-tech solution much stronger than the traditional token-based variants. Further details are available on the demo site.

2). Dinofile - Secure File Server
This solution provides a web-based secure file transfer and storage system where files are transmitted over SSL and stored in an encrypted (256-bit AES) format on a non web accessible partition.

3). Ad Serving Solution
This solution provides for an Advertisement Serving solution similar in operation to that provided by the largest online agencies.

Well, after quite some time we are now back in business.

I'm sure many of you who have commented are wondering (after such a long hiatus) as to when the second half of the MySQL Replication for Windows post was coming, if at all! Do not fret, it will be coming soon. In order to prep the post I need to rebuild some test systems so please bear with me.

All I can say is this past 12-months has been a hectic and very trying time both personally and professionally and now with some light at the end of the tunnel I feel I will have the time and inclination to once again create content for this site.

In establishing a high-availability web application you need to consider multiple levels of availability and redundancy.

In this first installment discussing MySQL replication I am referring to omni-directional replication. In my follow-up on the subject, next week, we will be covering bi-directional replication or creating what is otherwise known as multi-master replication, and yes I am doing this on Microsoft Windows.

Here is a listing of the scripts and other items I have created.

Please feel free to download these FREE scripts and use them as appropriate. The only thing that I ask is that you leave the link back to this site for statistical purposes.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope the items below are as helpful to you as they were to me.

Enjoy!

7-Zip Help File
The 7-Zip help file containing all of the relevent syntax for use of 7-Zip at the command line.

Webalizer Log Merge Script
Script for combining numerous log files that have been rotated on a daily basis so that they may be parsed by the Webalizer Statistics Application to produce statistic reports.

Over the past several weeks/months I have been collecting together the components necessary to update and enhance the hardware supporting this and several other websites that I maintain from my home.

The original configuration in a self-hosted model was that of a single PC. This thankfully was replaced by better hardware a couple of years ago that could be best described as powerful desktops or low-grade, non-redundant, server equipment.

Well today I am pleased to announce that through a little begging, a little borrowing and a little scavenging I have established not only a redundant configuration in terms of multiple web servers but also a load-balanced and highly available configuration.

Here's a quick overview of the setup as it stands now.

[Click Image To Enlarge] Home Network Diagram

As you can see there are now two web servers and two database servers. A little overkill for the current setup maybe; but enough room to grow for the foreseeable future too. Like I said earlier this is not the only website that I am hosting on this system but it is the one that currently draws the most attention and the most traffic.

Here are few pictures of the equipment in operation. Some of it is not the newest server technology but the systems run strong, offer RAID capability and in the case of the two newer servers redundant power also.

[Click Image To Enlarge] The used rack is a little more aesthetically pleasing than the previous open wire rack	[Click Image To Enlarge] Wiring mostly in place, just a little tidy up to do.
[Click Image To Enlarge] Intake fan at bottom aids cooling as does spacing somewhat	[Click Image To Enlarge] Separate switches for separate internet connections
[Click Image To Enlarge] Extractor fan to remove excess heat. First fan had worn bearing hence the clipped wires	[Click Image To Enlarge] Foam aids sound suppression but also heat build up

My next step will be to establish some kind of round-robin DNS setup that permits fail over, albeit slightly delayed between the two types of internet connectivity that I have.

Over the next week or so I hope to provide examples of how I have established the load-balancing and replication using the Microsoft Windows Operating System.

Yes, that's right I am using Windoze!

Why not Linux I hear you cry? It's the perfect LAMP configuration! This is true, but I wanted to try something a little, well unconventional by todays standards.

That said, in all likelihood upgrades or additional equipment will involve Linux, although I'm hearing good things about Windows 2008, so I'm gonna have to try it somewhere, maybe here!