United Blogs

Virtusa Sailing Weekend

karen — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 19:19:00 GMT

Friday 15^th June :- We have chartered a yacht “Jasper” a Dufour 36’ from Hamble Point Yacht Charters. My Crew arrived, Lisa, Andrew, Shanaka, Priya, Fabian, Thetsue and Jamie.

Once everyone was ready we slip the mooring from Hamble Point and headed over to Cowes, “The Folly Inn”. Although there was wind, I decide that it is best to go over under engine as most of the crew had never been on a boat before. We planed to eat in the Folly but we were running out of time. Then just past the chain ferry in Cowes we spotted the dolphin, now we really weren’t going to make it for food. We turned around and everyone was very taken with him. Eventually we made it onto “The Follly” pontoon. Even if the ferryman thought we were not going to fit… Some of us headed into the pub, Lisa and Fabian decided to stay and Dolphin spot, he had followed us up the river. We had a drink in the Folly and ordered a Take Away, took it back to the boat, later everyone eventually crashed for the night.

Sunday: - We were all woken at 07:00 to the sound of really heavy rain, everyone thinking the same we all went back to sleep until the sun came out. Up again at 08:30 the boat on our inside wanted to head out at 09:30 so while breakfast was being cooked I took us off the mooring and hovered around the harbor. Jamie then took over and had a little fun playing with the boat handling. Once everyone had finished there breakfast and “Mummy” Lisa had cleared up we were ready to head out and see how everyone was going to get on today. The winds had died down and the point of sail over to Beaulieu River was much more comfortable for everyone. The sun was out and everyone was smiling. We arrived at Beaulieu River at high water and managed to sail into the mouth of the river. The skipper on the boat in front of us lost his hat over board and being nice we practiced a MOB for his hat, he seemed very pleased. We motored up the rest of the river to Buckler’s Hard, were dinner was prepared and we sat in the sun eating on deck with a glass of wine, very different from yesterday. Leaving Beaulieu River we were heading back into the Hamble for our final sail, with a little assistance with the engine against the tide. In Southampton water we managed our final sail of sorts down wind right into the mouth of the Hamble. Our weekend finishing with Jamie parking us perfectly in the berth. We had made it through the day and everyone was still smiling.

Sailing time again

karen — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 14:51:00 GMT

I took my first week’s course in the UK in the middle of May; weather was great boat full of Comp crew and our first day out was a F7. Not the best weather to teach comp crew but it was a great sail. The following day I managed to teach the rest of the stuff needed and everyone finished the course on a high.

Teaching in Greece …

I jumped on the plane and headed for Athens; flying with Olympic airways the plane was 2 hours delayed leaving Heathrow, which then meant I had missed the last ferry to Egina. I grab a hotel for the evening and tried to get the first ferry out to Poros, they we both full but I eventually made it to the Island. I was met by Ian the chief instructor and was thrown in at the deep end and took over teaching some of his guys to come alongside. It’s been some time since I’ve had to do this with someone watching me, it was funny. I then stayed with the boat and joined his crew for the trip back to Egina. Ian kindly pointed lost of things out along the way. I then spent the next few days planning the route I was goring o take my crew on. Of course there was lots of nice food and drink in between this.

Sunday 3^rd June My crew arrived, 2 English guys and one Spanish. After a safety brief we headed out to get to know each other over some more nice food and drink.

Monday 4^th June Slipped our lines and headed for Poros, the weather had turned a little for the worse and the sky was very overcast. We headed out under motor to a place called Russian bay were we stopped for lunch. After lunch the sea breeze picked up and it was time to play on the approach to Poros. With full sails up we spent a good couple of hours just tacking and jibing up and down the approach. Around 18:00 we dropped anchor and med moored in Poros. That evening was spent again finding nice food and drink.

Tuesday 5^th June We were woken early to the sound of thunder and very heavy rain. I think we all thought sailing in Greece was going to be warm, at this point I felt like I was back in the UK J the rain stopped just as we were ready to go, and we moved the boat to enable us to fill up with water. Poros has a very nasty sewerage pipe in one of the mooring and we picked it J we left Poros heading for Ermioni. The skies were very overcast but it wasn’t raining, however within 20mins of us leaving Poros I had my first seasick crew (Stuart) as he was starting to feel really bad I decided to try and find us somewhere to stop for lunch. The only option open to us was very rough, we stayed there for about 45 mins, just long enough for everyone to eat some food. As we headed away the rest of my crew went down with seasickness. The wind had picked up and we just about managed to get the sails up before they all fell asleep. Her I am at the helm and all the crew fast asleep. Within hours they were all feeling much better and with the wind still up we had a nice play before we turned around and came alongside in Ermioini and again headed out for the food and drink.

Wednesday 6^th June Tonight is going to be our night sail, so the plan was to find a nice stop to spend the afternoon and head back out early evening. We managed to sail and found a nice little bay and with the sun now shining we had a nice lunch and went in for a little swim, I say little as the water was very cold. That evening we were ready for our sail and headed out, our destination was Porto Heli. The winds were really light and we ended up under engine for nearly the whole sail. The trip in was really nice, the navigational lights a few and far between however the ferries and the water taxis are in abundance. We finally made it to Porto Heli at around midnight and everyone really enjoyed the trip (no seasickness) dropped anchor and moored in the only stop left. This time we had to cook our own food, which we washed down with probably the worst bottle of wine I’ve ever had.

Thursday 7^th June This morning we woke to a glorious blue skies, this was more like it… Today we were heading back for Poros, this was to be our longest distance. We decided to eat lunch on the move but as we were making good time we called into Idra on the way back as we wanted to come into Poros as the sun was going down. Idra is a lovely little place, with the only means of transport being donkeys. Once back at Poros we moored up, this turning into a bit of an effort as there were a few charter boats next to us. We dropped anchor and were told that we had dropped on someone’s chain, I told them this won’t be a problem and that we would get off it in the morning. The boat next to us managed to mess up there anchor and had to leave and try again. At this point we left to find nice food again and drink again.

Friday 8^th June The boat that we had “laid” our anchor on had left, then it was our turn. The boat that messes up there anchor last night had laid their anchor on ours… Our only option was leave the anchor down and park again, I asked the boat next to us if they could give us some more chain, the answer was “No”, I then asked if they were leaving , “No” was the reply. Nothing like helpful people... My only option was just to go for it, and if we rip up there anchor so be it. With a little effort we were free, off we motored (no wind) for our last leg of our journey, stopping for the last swim along the way. Back in Agina, more food and drink …

Saturday 8^th June Flying Dolphin, Taxi, Flight and then back home…

Bonfire Weekend

karen — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 10:18:00 GMT

Well with everyone getting set to spend the weekend watching fireworks and being huddled around a nice warm fire, I have charter a yacht and plan take my family for a trip around the solent...

My crew, Julie [my mum], Jamie and Ed [my brother]

We picked the boat up from the Hamble on Friday night. I had charter a little 30' Feeling from Hamble School of Yachting. My mum was a little late in getting down there so we decided to stay in the Hamble that night and head out in the morning, as the weather had suddenly gone cool I think this was a wise move. Overnight it dropped to around -3 and waking in the morning and walking along the pontoons with all the mist and frozen boats it confirmed that we made the right choice the night before.

Saturday 4th November So up nice and early we headed out of the hamble and then headed west. There wasn't too much wind but the sun was shining and it was turning into a lovely day. We did manage to get the sails up and take a really slow sail (thankfully with the tide) as mum had a habit of going in circles...towards Beaulieu River. Due to the tides we couldn't stay in the river for lunch so we just headed up the river for a quick look, with the river being like a millpond it was a good idea to make the bacon sandwiches. We headed out of the river and off to the Needles, the sun was still shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

Past Yarmouth the wind died and we put the engine on, my mum found that she really like sitting up at the mast and there she sat unit we reached the needles. As soon as the tide turned we turned around and headed back towards Yarmouth where we were going to spend the night. Luckly we managed to get a walk ashore pontoon and made it in time for the showers. For food that night we went to Salty’s and this has to be the best food I’ve ever had on the Isle of Wight.

Sunday 5th November We were woken to the sound of foghorns from the Yarmouth Lymington Ferry. Up on deck we had a look around, not much to see really as it was thick fog. Due to the tide we had to make a move and start heading back towards Cowes. From the look on my Mums face I’m sure she didn’t think this was a good idea… So with Jamie at the helm we headed out of Yarmouth Harbour more by feel than by sight. Are we were unable to see more than two feet in front of us we were under engine and doing everything with navigation. Which was a nice little lesson for my crew, however I’m sure my mum still wasn’t convinced we should have been there. So with Ed as a look out and Jamie at the helm we found our way back to Cowes.

By the time we reached cowes the weather had changed and the fog had lifted. We decided to have lunch in Osborne Bay so we tried to fight the turning tide towards the bay this again so a nice little practice as the tide was so strong it took as a long to time get to the bay. We dropped anchor in the bay and had a nice lunch on deck, watching some mad woman on another boat going for a swim… It was now time to head back to the hamble, the wind had picked put and we had a lovely little sail across the solent. Although the weather was colder than we would have liked we had a great weekend and I think my crew enjoyed themselves, maybe we will do it again next year .

Mariage de M. et de Mme Chatards

karen — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 09:29:00 GMT

My cousin Chiara and Xavier were getting married. So we headed over to Limoges (France). The weather when we left the UK was nice, when we arrived in France it was pouring down with rain, and they think it always rains in the UK... The evening the women attended the Hen night and the guys attended the Stag do. At around 23:30 we called it a day and headed back to the hotel. Expecting the guy’s to be finished too… but they were still partying over the road from the hotel, so off we went to join them. They looked like they were having fun, when we turned up the groom was dressed in a frog suit. So the night final came to an end at 02:30.

The day of the wedding. In true French fashion the wedding started but about an hour and a half late. The French wedding is performed by the Mayor and as he didn’t speak English therefore they had a translator. The whole thing was very well done and was very funny.

We then walked to the evening venue and again things are done slightly different than the uk. Everyone is invited to the Mayor part and then all invited back to the evening venue. Where they provide light snacks canapés and champagne for everyone then at 21:00 the remaining guests stay for the evening event. This was a great six course meal, I have to say I haven’t eaten such great food at a wedding even it was fantastic. The band started at 01:00 and I think desert was severed at 02:00. as you can image this was by this time very hazy to me as we had now been drinking since the afternoon.

The day after the wedding

After a very late night we headed back to the venue to help tidy, but we were too late. So we just arrived in time for the champange, wine and more nice food. We had a very pleasant afternoon then we said ours goodbyes. Next we headed of to see other family who were staying in a villa in the countryside, after a very cold swim some more nice food oh and lots more wine we headed back to the hotel.

The Ionian

karen — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 11:00:00 GMT

It was time for an annual summer holiday. This year Jamie and I were going to share it with my brother and his partner, Ed and Sarah. We booked a bareboat charter with nautilus from Lefkas. We were going to spend the week island hoping.

Day 1 (Sunday) Gatwick – Lefkas- Nydri
The holiday started with a very early flight from Gatwick, everything went like clockwork. We left home at 02:00 and arrived at Lefkas Marina at 11:30 (local time) our yacht (Wenna) was ready early so we headed down and settled in. Off to the supermarket to stock up for the week. This we later discovered was where we made a little error. In Greece all the supermarkets are shut on a Sunday, so the ones that are open are expensive and don’t have the best selection. Next time we will definitely not buy as much before hand and buy it along the way. But after last years sailing in Turkey where we didn’t see another supermarket in the whole week I thought it was a good idea to stock up. Food all stowed away we were off into Lefkas to start or holiday with a few beers and some lunch. After planning our route we decided to set sail. With my crew being very new to this (there first time on a yacht) we headed south under engine. We only cover about 5 miles and found ourselves a lovely place called Nydri to drop anchor and spend the night. After a very long day we were asleep almost as the sun went down.

Day 2 (Monday) Nydri – Sivota
Up for our first morning, we were swinging on an anchor all night so there were no boats around us. We had a nice breakfast and then stowed everything and headed to find somewhere to swim and have lunch. We found which looked like a nice spot to drop anchor for lunch. The only problem was it wasn’t that good. We tried 4 times to get the anchor to hold, which in the end it did. Then we jumped off and went for a swim, as it wasn’t too sheltered we kept getting caught in the current and looking up and the boat was miles away. But it was still nice the sea was so clear and refreshing. After lunch the wind had picked up so we set off under full sails heading for Sivota. We thought we were going to be quiet late but managed to find a nice little place against the quay. We were helped with our lines by the taverna owner which made us decide where we were going to eat. It was a lovely evening and good food, Ed was really impressed as the guy gave us free drinks. As our boat was right next the table we went back and had another drink sitting on deck.

Day 3 (Tuesday) Sivota – Fiskardo
Breakfast on deck, with the wasps! Then we were off to try another island Cephalonia. But before that we need to find somewhere nice to swim and have lunch. We picked a little bay south of Lefkas just around the corner from Vasailiki. This time we managed to put a shoreline on and get nice and close to the rocks. It was nicely shelter which made the swimming really nice for everyone. We even managed to spot a bright orange starfish in among all the urchins. After a nice lunch we headed of and put the sails up. What started of as a really gentle breeze ended up with a great sail over to Fiskardo (Cephalonia) we even managed to put a reef in. We found a great little spot on the quay at Fiskardo we were all just winding down on deck when we came across our only really rude people on the trip. They spotted a three foot gap at the side of out boat and decide they would squeeze there 34’ yacht into it. It was a very tight fit and it resulted in everyone moving and getting very annoyed with them. So time to leave them to it and grab a beer. We found a great place to have diner I can’t remember the name but it was the furthest taverna around to the right on the quay. They were really friendly and the food was great. They also managed to impress Ed as this time we ended up with a fee desert

Day 4 (Wednesday) Fiskardo – Agia Eufimia
Up for another breakfast with the wasps! I headed out to get the fresh bread and more provisions. After last nights Greek deserts set me of, the bakers had some great baklava, I couldn’t resist. We slipped our lines again and off to find more places to swim. With Sarah at the helm we motored over the first bay we could find. As we were early there wasn’t anyone about, we thought that maybe it wasn’t that nice a place, It took as a little while to get the anchor down and the shoreline on. But once that was all done we had a great swim with loads to see. We were going to have lunch on the go but all of a sudden loads of boats started to come into the bay. What entertainment, watching them try and anchor. Most of them just didn’t have a clue, a couple of them dropped the anchor and while it was still dropping they put it full in astern I thought god I hope there anchor hold or they are going to end up running aground on the beach. Of to catch the wind, we have a great sail down to Eufimia. We were now still on Cephalonia but in the south in a much bigger place. We found one of the remaining spots to moor, it just happened to be outside the local Karaoke bar! We could see straight away this wasn’t the nicest place we have stayed. We struggle to pick our place to eat but we settle for the busy one. We ordered the worse bottle of wine I have ever tasted, but the lady was nice enough to change it. Then Ed’s dinner turned up, he order fish with garlic sauce. It turned up with what looked like mash potato it was pure garlic, very strange. Good job we had our baklava to eat from the morning. Back at the boat it got worse, trying to sleep to the Karaoke…

Day 5 (Thursday) Agia Eufimia – Kioni
Breakfast again with the wasps! For a change there was wind this morning so we headed out as soon as possible. Put the sails up and had a great little sail, but as we rounded the head land of Ithika the wind died totally so on came the engine. Everywhere we thought of to stop and have lunch and a swim seemed crowded so we decided to just keep plodding on to our nights stop. But being under engine and having no wind it was just too hot. Ed was asleep down below, so we just stopped the engine about 7 miles offshore in 200 meters of depth and the three of us dived in. At this point my brother woke and threw the tender over and we had a great 30 mins playing around. With the engine back on we headed into Kioni. This was a nice little place and there was a great little spot that we could drop anchor and not be too close to other boats. Once we were all tied up we decided that even though it was a harbour the sea was so clear we had to swim. Ed’s took the guardrails off the bow and we were back to attempts at diving. We had a lovely meal as the sun was setting. It was a nice little place to stay, only all night we seemed to get loads of wash from the passing ferries.

Day 6 (Friday) Kioni – Kalamos
Having had enough of the wasps, oh and me flicking one at Sarah, which stung her we decided we would slip our lines and eat breakfast on the move. So we were on our way, Sarah had prepared loads of nice fruit and breakfast was all laid up on deck. Just as we were eating I knocked the table, which then collapsed. What a mess, but the worse was the lid was off the honey, sticky mess opps! The wind was very light in the morning so we mostly motored to Kalamos and headed for a little place on the south east coast, can’t remember the name. It was a deserted town which was ruined in the earthquake, the only thing that remains in tacked was the church which the locals come back to every Sunday. It was very busy but we managed to find somewhere to drop anchor. Jamie was at the helm and was having a go at parking, he was doing a really good job and all that was needed was Ed to swim the line shore. Just about to go he slipped and split his toe (an excuse I think) because he could see that it wasn’t very nice. It was the worse place we have stopped it was really dirty with lots of rubbish in the water. With the wind picking up we were of to Kalamos under full sails. Jamie was going to park us again this evening. We managed to get right to the entrance under sails, even though Jamie was getting really nervous. But he did a great job even thought someone on the shore was trying to tell him what to do, I wouldn’t have minded if the guy on the shore knew what he was talking about. We were helped with our lines by a guy called George. Who I have later found out owns pretty much the whole place. That night we sat watching a great sunset eating mezze, not a bad way to spend your time.

Day 7 (Saturday) Kalamos – Lefkas
Last day… Not stopping for breakfast we were up dressed and slipped our lines early. We knew there were loads of crossed anchors and we wanted to head out before all the commotion kicked off. Another breakfast on the move, the sea was like a millpond but somehow with the full sails up we managed to find a little bit of wind. I also was very careful not to knock the table. After breakfast we found a little more wind and were heading around the top of the island. For lunch we were going to a place called little Vathi on Meganisi. It was a quite little place with a bar. There were loads of fish around the boat so we started feeding them while Sarah was swimming. Then Ed decide to go in he headed away from the boat stopped looked up and his eye we really wide, I’ve never seen him move so fast. He pushed past Sarah and got to the boat and said "I don’t know what I saw but it was BIG!". Then he wouldn’t go back is, wuss. So it was time to go back the wind was great so full sails and off we went. We were enjoying the sailing so much we sort of forgot the time and realised that we were very late back. We made it back just in time for fuel. We moored up and headed out once again in Lefkas for some food and drink.

Day 8 (Sunday) Lefkas – Gatwich
We handed the boat over, with my list of defects. There were a few little things wrong with the boat which were very annoying. But I think you seem to find these thing all over the place. However 2 of the things that were wrong I found to be slightly dangerous. The stove wouldn’t stay alight from day one, I was told by Yannis the man in charge to wedge a fork in it … We also had no seat at the back of the cockpit, which as we were all adults it didn’t matter but if we had children on the boat I would not be happy. But the handover went smoothly. We then had a few hours to kill in Lefkas. Then off to the airport, which in Excel airways true fashion ended up being an extra couple of hours to kill as they delayed the plane… As there was a traverna over the road from the airport and it was only a couple of hours it wasn’t too bad. All in all I think the 4 of us had a great time. I’m sure and I hope we will do it again soon.

The past Year!

karen — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 10:21:00 GMT

Well it’s been a very long time since my last post, I thought I’d write a little update of what been happening with me since my last post.

As always I’ve been keeping up with the holidays, we went to Vail, Colorado skiing at New Year, which was awesome. Then in January we headed to Austria skiing for the weekend with friends. This was an insight into skiing in Europe again. We stayed in lovely little place Lech

In March we headed over to St Lucia for a family 60^th birthday. What a nice place and if you love bananas you’ll fit well in… they even make ketchup out of it, which as bad as it sounds taster really nice.

But then in April the weather changed and it was just warm enough for me to sail in the UK again. I started teaching Start Yachting, Comp Crew and Day Skipper I had weeks and weekend booked through April, May and June. I have to say I love it, you meet some great people and come across some great situations. On one course I managed to start the course with an engine fire and end the weekend by letting one of the students run aground. So a fun packed few days. Last month I taught my first Ladies only week, which I thought was a great success. I also taught my first own boat tuition which again I really enjoyed and would like to do more of.

However the sailing industry seems to be very last minute and I decided I needed a little stability for a few months. So after all this time I’m back in the world of I.T. it’s strange but for now I’m enjoying it. I’m still teaching at the weekends which could be part of why I’m enjoying it, another reason could be that I’m now working for my own company Techsail Ltd.. However like I said sailing is very last minute so just as I get my first longer term contact in I.T. the Sailing work starts to roll in...

What makes a good framework?

james — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 13:52:00 GMT

One of the things that I commonly see in my job as a development consultant is customers that spend a great deal of time and effort on building frameworks for their development projects. Martin¹ and I were chatting about this the other day and based on our experience the average framework seems to have the following requirements:

It should be expensive and time consuming to build
It should be come with little or no useful guidance, only minutely detailed API reference
It should ensure that any product built on it contains a large number of bugs and performance issues
It should be configurable to the n^th degree preferably allowing the location of object instance creation to be changed at runtime

I could probably go on, but you get the idea. Often the reason cited for needing a framework is to enable the product to be developed by "stupid" developers by using "smart" developers to create an environment in which the "stupid" developers can't hurt themselves with the sharp stuff. Now I daresay there are instances where this has worked and there are also some excellent general purpose frameworks around, but the majority of examples that I see do not fall into either of these categories (and often, it seems, you can switch "smart" and "dumb").

So what makes a good framework? Firstly I should preface this description with the assumption that I am talking about .NET Framework applications. So in this case I think that a framework should really be little more than some utility code (I can think of some common examples that I might post later) and guidance on how to use the .NET Framework to achieve a particular class of task in a consistent manner. 'Consistent manner' here is defined as the pattern(s) that an architect/designer has chosen as being optimal for a given situation having made decisions about the potential tradeoffs involved.

What a good framework isn't is a large, super-configurable behemoth that mandates that developers have to write code in a particular way and enables anyone with notepad and a basic knowledge of XML to render all of the assumptions made during the development of the code invalid.

References:

Martin Parry - http://www.cooboogler.co.uk

MSBuild task for .NET assembly versioning (part 1)

james — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 09:19:00 GMT

I have been looking at the build process for Visual Studio 2005 projects recently and this obviously includes playing with MSBuild. Firstly it's great to finally have a robust, extensible build tool that doesn't have to rely on Visual Studio but I'll let others wax lyrical on the benefits of MSBuild. Instead I'd like to take a minute to jot down some thoughts on the task I have just built.

I wanted to create a taks that would manage the version stamps on the assemblies in my solution. The currently accepted wisdom for managing versions says that assembly version ('AV' from now on) should be used as the externally facing indication of the version of your product and that file version ('FV' from now on) should be used both for internal identification of exactly what build of an assembly you are working with and also to distinguish external releases that are compatible (service packs for example).

So I suggest the following logic should be applied in when building a new version of your assemblies during the normal development cycle:

If the AV Major/Minor is greater than the FV Major/Minor, change the FV Major/Minor to match the AV and set FV Build/Revision to 0. Actually in theory this should never happen unless someone has messed up the FV.
If the AV and FV Major/Minors match and this is the first build of the day, increment the Build and set the Revision to 0.
If the AV and FV Major/Minors match and this is not the first build of the day, increment the Revision.

When you get to Release Candidate ('RC') status for an external build then things change a bit. It is now time to freeze the Build and update the AV accordingly. From this point until the release ships, the revision on both the AV and FV should be incremented together. After the build ships the source tree is branched, the AV and FV Major/Minor should be reset to the next version of the product, the Build/Revision should be reset to 0 and the normal development cycle resumes.

In the meantime, some maintenance may be required on a released version of the product. The changes should be made in the correct branch of the source tree whilst the AV is kept constant. The FV Build/Revision will continue to increment as per the normal development cycle, but the RC version freeze is ignored this time so that the AV remains the same for the service pack as for the original release. The patched assemblies can be identified by their FV. Now this assumes that you don't actually make a breaking change to the service pack, if you do that then it would probably be better to increment the AV Build, but I haven't specifically handled that particular scenario in my task.

I will post my MSBuild completed task once I have ironed out the wrinkles...

Blog guilt

james — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 09:16:00 GMT

Oh dear - this blog is showing serious signs of neglect. Not only is there a lack of content recently, I am also overrun with feedback-weed. Kind of reminds me of the 'red-weed' in War of the Worlds (which we watched recently, pretty dire by the way).

So does anyone have some .Text compatible T-SQL that will get rid of all of the Poker and Viagra ads that plague me? Any contributions welcome...

Cruising Instructor

karen — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 07:58:00 GMT

Well as you can see it's been some time since my last post. I have been fairly busy over the last few months. Since completing my Yachtmaster I have been away sailing in Turkey for a week with friends, which was awesome. I also took the plunge and decided to complete what I had set out to do a year ago and take my Cruising Instructor Exam. I am delighted to say that last month I passed so now I am a fully qualified Cruising Instructor. So the reason for my post is that a few weeks ago I took my first course out on the water.

I was asked by Hamble School of Yachting to teach a Start Yachting course from Friday to Sunday for people that have never been on a yacht before. Being my first course it was quite daunting but at least it didn't seem to show to the clients! I had 3 students who were very keen so on Friday evening I motored them over to Cowes.

Leaving the Hamble the weather was great; it was warm and the sea was nice and calm. This was going to be a great introduction to being out at night on a boat, I though. Well halfway over to Cowes the wind picked up to a force 7 and the sea state changed for the worse; we had waves breaking over the bow of the boat and soaking the person at the helm (me!) After about 2 hours we arrive at the Folly Inn - just in time for last orders, which the students were very pleased about. That evening the wind continued to strengthen and was gusting down the river making it a very choppy night. The next morning we spent a fair bit of time in the river getting them used to getting on and off the boat, even letting one of them come alongside. We then headed out for what turned out to be a fantastic sail; we had a little of everything out there, from force 7 to force 4, rain clouds and sun. We spent 6 hours sailing and learning various things about rules of the road and basic points of sail. We spent that evening in Haslar marina, where we found a nice quite little bar. The following day we headed back towards the hamble, again a wonderful sail it was a nice force 5 out there - lots of boats and things going on. We arrived back at the Mercury Marine at 15:00 and cleaned the boat. On saying goodbye to the students I was made aware that they had had a wonderful weekend, they even mentioned coming back for another course, but only if I would be their instructor! So for my first weekend had finished on a complete high. So much so that I'm going to do it again next week.

Yachtmaster

karen — Mon, 04 Jul 2005 21:26:00 GMT

Well it's been sometime since my last post, but I thought I would update everyone with my latest achievement.

A couple of weeks ago I took my Yachtmaster and to my surprise I passed...

The preparatory course took place over 12 days. The five of us: Lucy, Sarah, John, me and John Roe (the instructor) spent a great 10 days practicing various things. The weather in the Solent was a little cooler than I’ve been used to in Oz but for the UK it wasn't bad. That was until the day of the exam. We were due to start our exam at 20:30 on Wednesday and we woke on the morning of the exam to strong winds and heavy rain. We still had lots of things to practice so we suffered the weather and headed out getting back to Cowes at 18:00 - just enough time for a shower and some food. At 20:30 we were all on back on the boat and ready to go. The examiner joined us and at that point there was no going back. The winds were getting stronger but at least the rain had stopped. We headed out of Cowes and off to the Hamble, Lucy having the misfortune to go first. It was a very stressful few hours for us all but eventually we arrived at the Hamble. By now everyone was very tired but there was no time for a rest; Sarah now had to take us back to Cowes. It was another very stressful time and after arriving in Cowes at around 04:00, you can imagine that we couldn't wait to sleep.

The following morning we were up at 07:00 and ready to head out of Cowes by 08:00. John was the skipper this morning and the winds were the same as the previous day - still at force 7. Just to make things better, half way though Johns passage the fog set in. After stopping in Newtown river for lunch I knew it was my turn. I took us out of Newtown and sailed onto anchor, then to Lymington in the fog, with a nice MOB in the middle. After sailing up the river into Lymington I had to take us to Yarmouth, which should have been very straight-forward however someone had sunk a house boat right in the entrance the week before so we had to take a slightly strange course. I successfully moored up for tea in Yarmouth and I could relax a little. It was over to Sarah; she was taking us on from here. The fog was now very bad and we could hardly see half a mile. Sarah took us over to Beaulieu river and from there Lucy took us back to Cowes. By now it was getting very late - I think we got back into Cowes at about 21:30. It was at this point that I was told I had passed, which I was very happy about to say the least. I have to say it is the strangest thing I have ever done; it's certainly unlike any other exam I can remember taking. The best I can do is to compare it to a really long driving test but without some of your senses. I say this because I was sailing with a crew that all knew each other well and sailed together as a good team, but during the exam the teamwork is really compromised by how much help the crew can offer to the skipper. I can imagine that if things were not going too well on your skippered passage, it could feel quite lonely.

Videogame character

james — Tue, 31 May 2005 12:24:00 GMT

I am a Thrust-ship.

I am small and tricky - where you think I am, I probably am not. I can work very fast, but I tend to go about things in a round about way, which often leaves me effectively standing still. I hate rocks. Bloody rocks. What Video Game Character Are You?

Unusual motorcycle

james — Thu, 19 May 2005 13:55:00 GMT

Driving on a dual carriageway somewhere around Cambridge the other day I am sure that something very like this came past me on a low loader travelling in the opposite direction.

Forza motorsport

james — Tue, 17 May 2005 15:13:00 GMT

I am up in one of our offices in Cambridge on a workshop a the moment. In the main foyer, there is a pod demonstrating a new Xbox game, Forza motorsport. It seems to be a really good game (not that I am any kind of expert you understand) but what makes this installation particularly cool is that there is a (undocumented, I think) feature that allows Forza to use up to four extra Xbox units as rendering engines (communicating over the network) and here they have it configured with three screens that wrap around you showing the view to the sides as well as dead ahead. Obviously the input in this case is via a sterring wheel and a set of pedals, but there is also a racing seat that is fitted with actuators to feedback bumps and crashes.

Awesome! I just need to get the finance director to sign off two more Xboxes and three LCD screens...

Surf Camp

karen — Tue, 10 May 2005 15:14:00 GMT

9th – 13th April - Surf Camp

We were up very early to catch the bus for our week ahead. We had booked onto a surf safari which was going to teach us to surf as we headed down the east coast from Byron Bay to Sydney. There were 11 of us on the course Rachel, Lucy, Marc, Freddie, Karin, Jamie, Nick, Alicia, Jork , myself and a French guy I can’t remember his name. Our first lesson was at a beach was just south of Byron called tweed heads the instructors (who were very typically Australia surf dudes) Dillon and Tyler took us through the first steps of how to stand up. We then spent the next 2 hours trying this and much to our surprise we actually managed to handle the surfing in the white water. I even stood up for a split second but the water was only up to my knees :-). We headed back to the bus for a very well earned lunch and then off again to another beach, we had just enough time to practice what we had learnt in the morning before the sun went down. That night we were supposed to camp but we were told that we were going to be put up in a room at a local pub, as you can imagine this was a much better option for me and actually the pub and the rooms were really nice. After a great barbie in the pub grounds we finished the evening off with more drinking and playing pool. The following four days followed the same pattern, we spent the mornings and the afternoons at different beaches trying to surf. The evenings were spent in what they called Surf Camp, which was some sort of resort in the middle of nowhere. There was a pool and a tennis court and more Mosquitoes than you ever want to see. It was a very strange place, we were told it used to be a swingers club but I’m not sure I believed this. However the place was like something out of the 70’s so it could be true. The second day we were taught how to surf unbroken waves, Rachel and I were the first to go I stood up for a split second and was so excited I fell off. I then got nailed by the following 4 waves breaking on my head. I decided I would sit the big waves out and spent the rest of my days playing in the white stuff again. Moonie (one of the instructors) did make me take another unbroken wave later that week, this one I managed to ride all the way to the beach so I was fairly happy. The week ended with a friendly surf comp and then we were all dropped off in Sydney.

Noosa

karen — Tue, 10 May 2005 14:31:00 GMT

5th April - Noosa

We said goodbye to David and Huw and caught a bus heading for Noosa, Rachel was staying with family but was going to meet us in Noosa in a couple of days. We arrived in Noosa and booked ourselves into the YHA which was in the nicer side of town than the other hostels and just a short walk to the beach. The weather was rather wet so we decide to have a stole around the town, it is in no way a backpackers town which was a pleasant change. That evening we stayed in the Hostel and had welcome drinks and were told of the things to do, one of which was walk in the National Park which is what we decided to do for the following morning.

6th April - Noosa

Up at a reasonable time and off for a little walk along the coast though the National Park, as we were walking I spotted my first wild Koala sitting in a tree. The walk took us around some amazing surfing beaches where we stood and watched the young and the old make this look very easy. We decided maybe we should have a go and went back and hired a board from the hostel. Well it’s not easy but it was very entertaining, Anna, Lucy and I showed the people on Noosa beach how not to surf. Lucy was trying to blame the missing fin on our board for her not being able to go in a straight line, so I decided to have a go at fixing it. Like an idiot I was using a letherman knife and slipped, resulting in me spending most of that afternoon in the Medicare center having stitches in my finger. Well that put and end to our surfing so to ease the pain of my finger we thought it was a good idea to spend the rest of the afternoon in a wine bar. That evening we headed out to a place called Gympie Terrance for a really nice Thai meal.

7th -8th April - Noosa to Brisbane

We were woken to more rain, we waited for this to stop before the three of us headed to the beach, we were only there for about an hour before we met up with Rachel. We walked around the town a little more and found ourselves somewhere nice to eat before we caught our bus to Brisbane. We booked ourselves into a nice hostel in Brisbane and then headed for a walk around the city, walking over to the southbank which I find a really nice place. We ended up back in the heart of the city for a meal and a bottle of wine. The following morning everybody had things to do so we arranged to meet up in time to catch the bus to Byron Bay. The bus took about 3 and half hours so we arrive in Byron after dark. We were staying in the YHA where we met back up with Huw, David and also managed to meet up with James and another Hugh. We spent a very pleasant evening spent drinking and catching up with the other guys.

Fraser Island

karen — Wed, 27 Apr 2005 01:22:00 GMT

30th March - Rockhampton to Rollstone

After picking up our hire car in Rockhampton we met up with Huw and set off on our road trip to Hervey Bay. Our first stop was to be Carnarvon Gorge which was supposed to be nice. Unfortunately the drive took far longer we had been told and we arrived just as the park was shutting. We did manage to fit in a short walk but it started to rain. There didn't seem to be anywhere to stay in the area around the park so we decided to head back the way we had come and try to find somewhere to stay in a place called Rollstone. The drive back turned out to be entertaining, what with the rain falling on the unsealed road which made driving very tricky and further obstacles of frogs, emus, cattle and the odd kangaroo. Eventually we arrived at Rollstone, an outback town with a pub, cafe and caravan park only to be told that there were no vacancies. We did manage to talk the caravan park man into letting us stay in some rooms that were housed in a structure that looked as if it had been made from cargo containers. Then it was time to head to the local pub for some food, drink and a few games of pool.

31st March - Rollstone to Bunderburg

The following morning we were up early and heading south towards a place called 1770. 1770 is supposed to be the first landing point of Captain James Cook in, you guessed it, 1770. It's a really nice little place which is joined with another small town called Agnes Water, which looks like it’s going to be a very exclusive place to have a holiday home in the next few years. From Agnes Water we headed further south to a place just north of Bunderburg called Mon Repos. We had been told to stop there to see baby turtles hatch and make their way to the sea. Actually this was slightly disappointing because although we did see the turtles hatch, they were then rounded up and taken down to the sea later by sanctuary staff. That evening we travelled on to Bunderburg and stayed in what has to be the worst place I’ve booked in Australia. It was the City Backpackers in Bunderburg but it felt more like a triad refugee camp. I guess the only good thing about our stay was that we discovered a new drink called 'Dark & Stormy' which is Bundy rum and Bundy ginger beer. We sampled several that evening, just to make sure we liked it, before heading back to camp triad.

1st April - Bunderburg to Hervey Bay

Another early morning start and more driving, south to Hervey Bay. At Hervey Bay we met up with David and another friend of Rachel's, Anna. We had booked a self drive 4x4 trip to Fraser Island which started the following day, so we spent the afternoon preparing for the trip. After eating and drinking at our accomodation, Koala's hostel, we turned in for the night.

2nd April - Fraser Island, Day One

We were up at 05:30 to collect our van and equipment and after a little help with our packing we were ready to go. As we came off the ferry on Fraser Island, we were introduced to 4x4 country straight away. The only way around the island is by sand tracks or the east coast beach. It was decided that we should head over to the east coast so we could use the 75 miles of beach to head north, and this meant that everyone could have a go at driving on the sand. Anna has to get the prize for the best driving as she forgot to slow down crossing Eli Creek (a fairly large river). With a big bang we dropped into the creek and with another bang we came out the other side, water pouring through the windows. We decided that this was a good time to stop and a group of us walked up the creek, jumped in and let the flow of water carry us back to the beach. We spent the rest of the afternoon just lazing around on the beach waiting for the tide to change so we could continue north (the rental agreement forbids driving through salt water). That night we set up camp on the beach and as it was Lucy's birthday we celebrated with a bottle of bubbly and a potato full of sparklers (it would have been too hot to bring a cake with us). Another 4x4 group stopped and pitched their tents next to ours and we spent the evening playing drinking games together.

3rd April - Fraser Island, Day Two

We were all up with the sun the following morning and after a breakfast cooked on the barbie we headed for a place called Champagne Pools, where the waves break over the top of the pools creating champagne like bubbles over the surface of the water. We headed up to Indian Head to see the tiger sharks swimming in the sea, after which it was time for another swim. There are too many sharks in the sea around Fraser Island to swim safely in it, so you have to find a lake to swim in. We chose Lake Mackenzie, stopping by an old shipwreck on the way to have lunch where a dingo decided to join us. We arrived at Lake Mackenzie as the sun was setting - it was amazing as I’ve never seen such clear water (this is because it is filtered through the sand). The fact that the sun had set, making it a little chilly, didn’t stop David swimming. That night we again set up camp on the beach and after another sandy meal and a few drinks we retired to our tents.

4th April - Fraser Island, Day Three

Up early again and off to find another lake. We had all agreed on Lake Wabby, however we must have taken a few wrong roads getting there and it took far longer than planned. When we eventually turned up it was good fun; the lake is right next to a huge sand dune and you can run down the dune and dive in the (somewhat green) water. Our time here was limited as we had to head back to catch the ferry. On arriving back in Hervey Bay we had to unload the van and try to de-sand everything. The sand on Fraser Island is amazing - white and extremely fine - but like all sand it gets everywhere and after three days I had had enough of it. That evening we all stayed in the same hostel, went out for a nice meal and had a few too many to drink.

Easter on the farm in Myella

karen — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 07:46:00 GMT

Day one

We were collected from our hostel at 06:30 and then had an hour and a half drive of about 120km west from Rockhampton to the farm. We arrived just in time for breakfast and being Easter the place was buzzing. Straight away we were introduced to the lifestyle of the next few days as we were shown how to cook our own breakfast on the open fire. Rachel was so excited she just didn't know what to do first. In the end, the decision was made for us as we were taken for our motorcycle lesson. After an hour or so we were finished and it meant that we could just get on the bikes and shoot off around the farm. Next it was horse riding and it was Lucy's turn to get really excited. We headed off on our horses, stopping to play games so we would feel more confident. Unfortunately this backfired on me as the horse I was riding, Ginger, decided he would take off and I still have no idea how I managed to stay on. It was decided that this would be a good point for me to change horse, so I mounted Jack. It didn't take too long for me to upset Jack too; to be honest I think that horses just don't like me. After a very tasty (and large) lunch we had a short swim before Rachel and me followed the farm owner on our motorbikes on a hunt for scorpions. This was a challenging ride over very rough and red soil, but we did find some scorpions so it was worth it. After this we headed off again on the bikes to see the sunset over the outback. Fantastic - we even got to see the 'roos bouncing across the horizon. The ride back was followed by more eating and a very early night, as we were all exhausted.

Day two - and for one day only, please welcome our very special guest speaker Lucy Smith!
Up early again at 06:30 as we were intending to milk the cows. Instead we went horse riding, Rachel and Karen had the same horses as before and I changed to a bigger one called Lancelot. Rachel was still very excited about the whole thing and did some very convincing rodeo impressions! Rachel and Karen also learnt to canter much to everyone's amusement, Karen so much so that she was laughing too much to ride a straight line and almost rode into me! After an eventful ride we went back to the farm and helped prepare lunch of pumpkin soup, pasta salad and cold beef. We then learnt to crack whips (which was very painful) and lasso. That afternoon we went for another swim and I was stupidiy convinced to go on a motorbike ride across the paddocks to see the sunset. It was a disaster from the start (I broke the bike) but somehow I managed to wheelie 100m down the road and almost crashed into Rachel. I survied and didn't fall off but Karen who had witnessed the whole thing amost died of laughter. The rest of the ride to the sunset was uneventful and the sunset itself was beautiful, but unfortunately no 'roos this time. Karen demonstrated her 'way' with animals again by chasing the cattle. On the way home however I managed to do another wheelie, completely by accident, towards barbed wire fence at which point I fell off, grazing my arm and hurting my knee. That night we played cards with the owner's grandchildren, had too much for supper (including chocolate sponge) and then turned in for another early night.

Day three
Yet another early start to milk the cows. Rachel and I were really on for this but Lucy seemed somewhat less enthusiastic. I now know why - it's not very nice. After this we went off for another ride and this time Rachel changed horse, unfortunately Jack, my horse, took a dislike to Tojo, Rachel's horse, and tried to bite and kick it - a lot. This time Lucy learnt to ride cowboy style, but frankly Rachel and I were just pleased not to fall off. Back to the farm for a welcome lunch (wew were really working up an appetite what with all the exercise) and then another swim. The rest of the afternoon was spent reading and napping in the sun. We were taken back to our hostel that evening and found a very intersting local place to go and eat. Then, you guessed it, off for an early night.

We all agreed that it was a great three days and if you are ever in the area it is well worth a look at Myella.

Airlie Beach

karen — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 09:34:00 GMT

Airlie Beach

Well part two may have finished but my adventures continue. This week Rachel, Lucy and myself headed north to Airlie Beach. We managed to get some volunteer places as crew on Maxi Yachts for Soxsail. We all flew straight up from Sydney to a place called Proserpine, when we left Sydney it was raining and the temp had drop so we were happy when we landed to see the sun shining and the temp was in the 30's. As soon as we got to Airlie we headed to the office to find out which boats we were on and when we were going out. I was the first out on the Sunday morning on Boomerang, Rachel was on British Defender and out on Monday and Lucy was on Siska and also out on Monday. We stayed in a backpackers for that night and I was up and at the boat for 07:00 the following morning. After lots of loading of food and passengers we headed out into the Whitsunday Islands. Over the next few days we sailed around the islands and saw some amazing sights. The skipper took me out on the tender one morning into a little bay where I have never seem so many stingrays, while we were out there I spotted a shark which we ended up chasing it around the bay. When my three days were up we headed back to Airlie and back to another backpackers. When I got there I found that Lucy was very ill and therefore she couldn't continue with her trips, I decided for a change that I would take her next trip on Siska which was leaving the following morning. This was another early start but this trip seemed more organised and much more relaxed. I spent a wonderful two days on Siska with the Skipper Peter, deckhand Peter and hostie Mel. On my return we all decided we wouldn't do anymore trips although Lucy and myself had a great time on Siska however on my first trip on Boomerang I don't think I really fitted in with the crew getting high and pissed all day wasn't why I had come north. We all felt we would stay with Lucy while she recovered from her illness and enjoy ourselves. So the following day we planned our route down the coast this followed by spending the afternoon lazing in the lagoon. That evening being Good Friday we headed out for some food where we met two guys we were sharing a room with Dave and VJ and they joined us for food and we had a great evening. Saturday Morning we were out of Airlie beach on the Greyhound heading south to Rockhampton for our next adventure, we are going to spend three days on a home stay farm being 'Cow Girls.'

Windows Server 2003 - COM+ 1.5

james — Thu, 24 Mar 2005 10:42:00 GMT

COM+ 1.5 forms an integral part of Windows Server 2003 and has been much improved over the version that shipped with Windows 2000 Server. Features designed to increase the abilities (scalability, availability and manageability) of COM+ applications have been added.

COM+ Partitions
In this release, COM+ introduces support for COM+ partitions, a feature that allows multiple versions of COM+ applications to be installed and configured on the same machine. This feature can save cost and time-consuming effort of using multiple servers to manage different versions of an application or building services into the application to handle different versions of components. On a single machine, each partition acts, in effect, as a virtual server.

COM+ Services Without Components
With COM+ 1.5, you can use the services provided by COM+ without needing to build a component to contain the methods that call those services. This greatly benefits developers who do not normally use components but want to use COM+ services such as transactions or the COM+ Tracker. By using COM+ services without components, developers can avoid the overhead of creating a component that is used to access only the COM+ services that are required.

Application Recycling
Application recycling significantly increases the overall stability of COM+ applications. Because the performance of most applications can degrade over time due to factors such as memory leaks, reliance on third-party code, and non-scalable resource usage, COM+ application recycling provides a simple solution to gracefully shut down a process associated with an application and restart it.

Process Dumping
Troubleshooting applications in a production environment can be very difficult without disturbing the running processes. COM+ now provides a solution through its new process dump feature. This feature allows the system administrator to dump the entire state of a process without terminating it.

References:

Windows Server 2003 - Security

james — Thu, 24 Mar 2005 10:12:00 GMT

As part of its commitment to reliability security and dependable computing, Microsoft has reviewed every line of code underlying its Windows Server family as part of its enhanced effort to identify possible fail points and exploitable weaknesses.

Increased Web Server Security
The new basic security features of IIS 6.0 have already been discussed, but there are also some advanced security features in IIS 6.0 that include: selectable cryptographic services, advanced digest authentication, and configurable access control of processes.

SSL Client Authentication Improvements
In Windows Server 2003 the SSL session cache can be shared by multiple processes. This reduces the number of times a user has to re-authenticate with applications, and reduces CPU cycles on the application server. This leads to a performance improvement of over 35 percent when using the secure sockets layer (SSL).

Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM)
ADAM is an independent mode of Active Directory that provides dedicated directory services for applications. Although ADAM independently provides directory storage and access for applications, ADAM uses the same standard application programming interfaces (APIs) as Active Directory to manage and access the application data. The resulting conceptual and programming compatibility makes ADAM ideal for applications that require directory services, but do not require the complete infrastructure features of Active Directory. ADAM does not ship with Windows Server 2003 but it is available as a free download from Microsoft.

References:

Windows Server 2003 - IIS 6.0

james — Thu, 24 Mar 2005 09:56:00 GMT

IIS 6.0 is a ground up rewrite of the previous incarnation of IIS, version 5.0. IIS has been redesigned to improve aspects of all the main feature areas: reliability, availability, manageability, scalability and performance.

Fault-tolerant process architecture
The IIS 6.0 fault-tolerant process architecture isolates Web sites and applications into self-contained units called application pools. Application pools provide a convenient way to administer a set of Web sites and applications and increase reliability, because errors in one application pool cannot cause another application pool, or the server itself, to fail.

Health monitoring
IIS 6.0 periodically checks the status of an application pool with automatic restart on failure of the Web sites and applications within that application pool, increasing application availability. IIS 6.0 protects the server, and other applications, by automatically disabling Web sites and applications that fail too often within a short amount of time.

Automatic process recycling
IIS 6.0 automatically stops and restarts faulty Web sites and applications based on a flexible set of criteria, including CPU utilization and memory consumption, while queuing requests. IIS 6.0 also maintains the client TCP/IP connection when a worker process is being recycled, isolating Web services client applications from back-end Web application instability.

Rapid-fail protection
If an application fails too often within a short amount of time, IIS 6.0 will automatically disable it and return a "503 Service Unavailable" error message to any new or queued requests to the application. Custom actions, for example, a debugging action or administrator notification, can also be triggered. Rapid-fail protection can protect a Web server against denial of service attacks.

XML-based configuration file
The XML-formatted, plain text metabase in IIS 6.0 provides improved backup and restore capabilities for servers that experience critical failures. It also provides improved troubleshooting and metabase corruption recovery. Direct editing, using common text editing tools, provides greater manageability.

Edit-while-running
IIS 6.0 gives administrators the important capability to change the server configuration while the server continues running. For example, this feature can be used to add a new site, create virtual directories, or change the configuration of application pools and worker processes—all while IIS 6.0 continues to process requests—with no recompilation or restart required.

Command-line and script-based administration
IIS 6.0 administrators can use the Windows Server 2003 command-line to accomplish many common management tasks. With a single command, administrators can manage multiple local or remote computers. IIS 6.0 also features a complete scripting environment for automating common system administration tasks from the command-line without having to use a graphical user interface.

Support for WMI
IIS 6.0 provides full support for Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), giving Web administrators access to important system management data, such as performance counters and configuration files. The WMI interfaces, similar in nature to the Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI) that are still supported, are used in administration scripts and can also be used to modify the XML-based configuration metabase.

Server Consolidation
IIS 6.0 performance has increased dramatically over previous versions of the server, with a single server able to host many more sites and applications.

Site scalability
IIS 6.0 has improved the way the operating system uses internal resources. For example, IIS 6.0 does not pre-allocate resources at initialization time. Many more sites can be hosted on a single server running IIS 6.0, and a larger number of worker processes can be concurrently active. Starting up and shutting down a server is faster, compared with earlier versions of IIS. All of these improvements contribute to increased site scalability with IIS 6.0.

New kernel-mode driver, HTTP.sys
Windows Server 2003 introduces a new kernel-mode driver, HTTP protocol stack (HTTP.sys), for HTTP parsing and caching, providing increased scalability and performance. IIS 6.0 is built on top of HTTP.sys and is specifically tuned to increase Web server throughput.

Web gardens
IIS 6.0 worker process isolation mode also enables multiple worker processes to be configured to service requests for a given application pool, a configuration known as a Web garden.

Processor affinity
Processor affinity, when set, enables IIS 6.0 worker processes to run on specific microprocessors or CPUs. Processor affinity can also be used with Web gardens that run on multiprocessor computers where clusters of CPUs have been dedicated to specific application pools.

Increased Security
IIS 6.0 is far more secure than IIS 4x or IIS 5x, with many new features designed to increase the security of the Web infrastructure. IIS 6.0 is also "locked down" out of the box with the strongest time-outs and content limits set by default.

Locked-down server
IIS 6.0 provides significantly improved security. To reduce the attack surface of systems, IIS 6.0 is not installed by default on Windows Server 2003—administrators must explicitly select and install it. IIS 6.0 ships in a locked-down state, serving only static content. Using the Web service extension node, Web site administrators can enable or disable IIS functionality based on the individual needs of the organization.

Web service extensions list
The default installation of IIS will not compile, execute, nor serve files with dynamic extensions. In order to have them served, each acceptable file extension must be added to the Web service extensions list. This requirement prevents anyone from calling a page with a dynamic extension that has not been secured.

Default low-privilege account
All IIS 6.0 worker processes—by default—run as Network Service user accounts, a new, built-in account type with limited operating system privileges, on Windows Server 2003. All ASP built-in functions always run as low-privileged accounts (anonymous user).

References:

Windows Server 2003 - Core enhancements

james — Thu, 24 Mar 2005 09:47:00 GMT

In the development for Windows Server 2003, much work was done to improve the scalability of the kernel (the core set of functionality that the entire operating system relies on). Detailed analysis, with both software and hardware tools on systems with up to 32 processors, resulted in the improvements being made in the following key areas:

Scheduling
Memory management
Kernel spinlocks
Heap
Processes, threads, handles, objects, and named pipes

Given that all other Windows application server components (such as Active Directory, IIS, COM+ etc) and all third party applications make use of these features extensively, the scalability and efficiency benefits are felt throughout the entire application environment. In addition to making great scalability improvements, the changes to the kernel have also had a large impact on performance of the operating system and this is a benefit that can be dramatic even on single processor machines. VeriTest, an independent test lab, has found that Windows Server 2003 outperforms Windows 2000 Server by a dramatic margin—typically performing two to three times faster on the same hardware.

Compared to Windows 2000 Server, Windows Server 2003 is:

Half as fast again as a file server.
Three times faster serving dynamic Web content.
Three times faster serving static Web content.
Three times faster performing LDAP operations.

(Averages taken between a single processor and an eight processor machine)

References:

Reasons to migrate to Windows Server 2003

james — Thu, 24 Mar 2005 09:37:00 GMT

I realise that this is a bit late for many people, but I have been helping one of my customers with a justification to move to Windows Server 2003 from Windows 2000 Server. It is specifically targeted at the main application that they develop which is a .NET Framework 1.1 based smart client app that talks, via Web Services, to a server side app also written for .NET 1.1 (this stores data in a set of SQL Server 2000 databases). I will post a series of articles extracted from this justification.

Please note: this is not an exhaustive list - it is simply the features that are of interest for this particular application.

But if you are going through a similar process at the moment it might be useful to paste this information into a document for the perusal of the powers that be.

Nine Day offshore

karen — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 05:42:00 GMT

Final chapter of Flying Fish Australia stage.

For our nine days offshore we were split into three boats:

Boat	Crew	Instructor
Panacea	James, Daniel, Jim, Jess, David and me	Roger
Let Loose	Rachel, Fiona, Lucy, Robin and Guy	Chris
First Fish	Sally, Huw, Mark, Tania, Trevor and Geoff	Stuart

Sydney - Newcastle (65 miles)
The skipper for this passage was David. At 16:30 all three boats headed out of Middle Harbour Yacht club on the first leg of our passage north. Panacea and the rest of the 'fleet' arrived in Newcastle at 06:30 the next morning.

Newcastle - Pittwater (60 miles)
This was my skippered passage. We left the Marina at around 07:30 with the leg predicted to take 9 hours. At 16:00 we arrvied in Refuge Bay where all three boats rafted up and stayed overnight.

Pittwater - Port Stephens (85 miles)
For this leg our skipper was James. We left Pittwater at 06:00 heading north again. This leg was due to take us 11 hours and we arrived at 17:30 where we again rafted up to make a quick turn around for the next leg which was going to take us to Coff's Harbour. We were due to leave at 22:00 however there was a storm hanging around and we decided to stay where we were and head out in the morning instead.

Port Stephens - Coff's Harbour(160 miles)
This time our skipper was Jim. We left at 04:00 and were looking forward to a 30 hour non stop sail into Coff's Harbour. As we headed out of the harbour there were storms all around us, the lightning was amazing. When the sun came up the storms were still around us and we even witnessed a water spout, right next to First Fish. After a long sail, we made it to Coff's Harbour at 11:00 and following a quick clean of the boat, it was time to explore the town.

Coff's Harbour
After a very welcome, and enjoyable, shower we went to 'Angie's A La Carte' bar and had lentil burgers! At precisely 15:00 we hit the yacth club bar and at 15:05 the first round of Tequillas was consumed whilst the ultimate pool contest got underway. Sally and I won, but Trev's spectacular performance most be noted! Sally was complemented on her 'puss in Dubarry boots' impression and Donald was much laughed at for doing the same. Donald - it just doesn't work without a mini skirt! At around 19:35 we were all so drunk we thought we should have some food at the bar and then ... carried on drinking. Jess and Rach met a dirty old Dutch man called Hank who they drunk some more Tequilla with. Eventually, at 00:08, we left - but even the trip back to the boat was eventful, as Rachel stole a blind man's sunglasses! Our instructors disappeared into the nightlife of Coff's town and were later spotted passed out on the pontoon. The next day we were inevitably hungover and decided a swim was in order. For some it was fantastic but Rach and Sal unfortunately got eaten by sea lice. We all visited the supermarket to stock up for the last few days and after an ice cream Fiona took Rach and I on a guided tour of Mutton Bird Island.

Coff's Harbour to Port Stephens (160 miles)
Daniel was the skipper for this leg. We left Coff's Harbour at 21:00 heading south. Port Stephens was reached at 22:00 where we anchored and a effected quick turn around.

Port Stephens - Pittwater (80 miles)
It was David's turn to take command after we slipped mooring at 23:30. We arrived in Pittwater at 12:00 and all boats rafted up again. The sun was shining and everyone decided it was time to swim. Not far from the boats was a beautiful little beach which was beckoning. We all decided to swim for it, the only problem was the infestation of jelly fish! Our Aussie skipper confirmed that they were harmless so we went for it. Some jumped, some dived, some belly flopped and some were pushed. We all arrived safely on the golden sand and stretched out. Time for lunch so back into the water to dodge the jellies! No-one was stung so it seems that our skipper was right. Lunch consisted of salad wraps, bacon and eggs and Sally even baked a cake! We all did some sunbathing then went out into Pittwater bay for a quick sail before mooring up in the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club for another well earned shower. After that it was off to the Newport Arms for food and a few drinks.

Pittwater - Sydney (20 miles)
Up early and ready to head back to Sydney. It was a still day with no wind in evidence, so we spent the 3 hours motoring to some tunes blaring out of the cockpit.

Well that's all folks - this part of the course is over. It's been a fantastic experience with a great bunch of people. To all of you I wish the very best in whatever your future brings.