Jan-Piet Mens

What company might this ad be referring to?

The only "world-renowned" software company I know of in or around Redmond, does the "other" OS. Makes one wonder…

I've finally found time to look into the crashes that we've had with a "secondary" OpenLDAP installation. I'd reported that we were experiencing sporadic crashes (sometimes once a month, sometimes three times a day).

The first thing I did was to upgrade OpenLDAP to the newest version in the 2.3 branch (don't feel like going to 2.4 at this moment), so I installed 2.3.42, and quickly switched running processes, without anyone noticing.

It then occurred to me to really check which version of BDB slapd was using. (I had of course installed BDB from source, with Oracle's patches.)

Oh.

fuser says the shared object is not the one I expected, which probably is the reason for the crashes.

I've restarted slapd with the correct shared library, and all is quiet. So far.

We've been given the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) for my upcoming book, Alternative DNS Servers: the number is 978-0-9544529-9-5.

I've completed the last work on the appendixes (appendices); quite a long explanation of (Open)LDAP, including installation of Symas' offering, and a sexy little explanation on how you can use MySQL User Defined Functions to tweak your back-end DNS databases. (I believe many an administrator will enjoy that.)

The book is progressing very well. I'm currently working on the index. Parts of that are easy because I can automate them, others are more difficult.

I'll keep you posted.

Howard Chu of Symas wrote, that he

decided it was time that the
OpenLDAP Project had its own Java implementation of an LDAP server.

Read more here.

Our friends at Symas are great. They have generously set up a Web site for readers of my upcoming book, where readers will be able to download a working package of Symas OpenLDAP (the product formerly known as Connexitor Directory Services.)

Readers who want to set up one of the DNS servers with an LDAP back-end, will be able to do so with the least possible bit of hassle and concentrate on getting their DNS server working.

Very much appreciated, guys!

The first thing I recommend you do when you want to write a (technical) book is to find a publisher who doesn't force you to use MS-whatsit (or any other what you see is perhaps what you get system) to write your manuscript. Tell those that do to go take a hike, and continue looking for one that will allow, perhaps even encourage, you to use a text formatting system like LaTeX.

The next step, macroize everything. In case that isn't a word, what I mean is that you convert any reoccurring terms to macros. It is a bit of a pain at first, but it pays off. So, instead of using, say

LDAP

in your text, you use a macro and write

\LDAP

(note the backslash). After you've written the main content, you get to the irky bit: creating an index. Here is where the macroization pays off. If you did it well to start with, creating half the index is fully automated with the LaTeX tools. For example, in the PowerDNS chapter I use

\pdnsky{launch}

whenever I discuss the launch command. By altering that macro definition, I automatically create index entries that look like:

launch, PowerDNS, 123
...
PowerDNS directives
  launch, 123

Of course, there is still plenty to do, because you don't (well, at least I don't) just want a keyword index, but rather a concept index.

Not that I've finished my book yet, not by far, but let me tell you that using good tools means getting there in half the time!

Anyone that actually tries to use AD very heavily is going to be in for a huge disappointment in terms of stability, reliability, and performance. It will be an easy decision to switch to OpenLDAP.

More>

I've
kept
this
quiet
until now, but since I'm approaching a point at which I can smell a "product", I might as well spill the beans: I'm writing a book.

It started off like this:

but I'm quickly approaching the 500-page mark, much to my astonishment.

I've always wanted to write a book but never thought I'd be able to create more than about fifty pages on a single topic. After chatting to a publisher last Summer, I worked up an outline that I started to like, and it has been uphill since then. It is a hell of a lot of work, but I am greatly enjoying it. At least until the moment when my copy editor takes it all to pieces.

I'm writing about alternative DNS servers, very much concentrating on services provided by programs other than vanilla BIND, although I do discuss two special instances of it.

As soon as I'm prepared to do so, I'll post a Table of Contents. It would be a bit premature now, as I'm still fiddling with the order of Chapters, etc.

Yep: I'm writing a book.