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Connecting Blue Dragon server to Mysql on Ubuntu

After installing Blue Dragon server cfml (ColdFusion) is up and running for free, now the only problem is due to licensing

Installing Blue Dragon Server on Ubuntu 7.10

I read an instresting article by

Running Windows Xp on Ubuntu Linux

After installing linux successfully I now have just one problem, how on earth am I going to to test my work on internet

Rails install defaults to sql light...

i'm not positive it wasn't something in my build, but it appears that the default of rails is to use sql light, obviously

Rails installation errors...

When trying to install Ruby on Rails i was please by the excellent tutorials provided by

Take a ride on the Ruby Railroad...

..if you pass go, collect $200 dollars!

Since I had so much fun learning Coldfusion, I figure why not take a

Switching to Linux

I've been wanting to switch to linux of quite some time now, but never made the jump for various reasons. First it always

Connecting Blue Dragon server to Mysql on Ubuntu

04/05/2008

After installing Blue Dragon server cfml (ColdFusion) is up and running for free, now the only problem is due to licensing issues Blue Dragon's beautifull free server does not ship with connectors to MySql. This needless to say is a problem in our free developement paradigm. After much reading on the New Atlanta and Mysql sites the simpliest solution seems to be to install the MySQL Driver for Server JX and J2EE editions even though I am running the standard server distribution. The other option is entire too complicated in my humble opinion.

So the steps were simply to download the connector here.

Next we unpack the file with: 

sudo tar xvf FILENAME.tar.gz

Now I downloaded the source and the binary, since I only need the binar the '.jar' file, I need to copy it to the blue dragon lib directory and then rename it to mysql.jar. Now this is directly from the New Atlanta instuctions so I blindly follow and assume the 'rename' command will work... only to run into this beautifull error: 

Bareword "mysql" not allowed while "strict subs" in use at (eval 1) line 1.

After much googling I discover that in unix systems 'rename' is only used for bulk renaming of files with perl. So you simply need to move the file as a new name and this essentially renames the file: 

mv -R oldname newname

Finally armed with the correct commands the folling should get us rolling again with mysql: 

sudo mv /PATH_TO_BINARY_FILE/mysql-connector-java-5.1.6-bin.jar mysql.jar

Sure enough I restarted the Blue Dragon server, logged into the administrator and verified the mysql datasource with out any problems.

Installing Blue Dragon Server on Ubuntu 7.10

04/02/2008

I read an instresting article by Neil Middleton on the variety of options when it comes to deploying coldfusion, or actually cfml. Neil points out the crucial point that actual coldfusion is a product of adobe, however cfml is not held under any know copywrites. This said his article is a nice overview of the many options we have as "cfml" developers for deploying, including free!!

After some additional reading I decided on New Atlanta's Blue Dragon server. With the imminent release of the blue dragon server completely open-source I figure it will be a good direction to go for my deployment needs. The server itself is currently free from deployment as well as production so it is already an appealing option.

I am currently running on an ubuntu 7.10 server distribution. Now the New Atlanta site does not list it as supported, but ubuntu seems to run everything beautifully so lets give it a try.

First download the Blue Dragon server. The download is extremely small and should take minutes. After its finished, simply run the following commands in the terminal:

Simply change the permissons on the .sh file that is downloaded: 

sudo chmod 744 BlueDragron_Installer.sh

This run the installer with this command: 

sudo ./BlueDragon_Installer.sh

Then change to the install directory (this is the default location, if you chose another location you will need to use that path instead.) 

cd /usr/local/NewAtlanta/{BlueDragon_Version)/bin

Once in the install/bin directory this command starts the server: 

sudo ./StartBlueDragon.sh

and stopping with: 

sudo ./StopBlueDragon.sh

You should now be up and running!

You can test your install on the following: http://localhost:8080/

Don't be alarmed by the following error: 

UnsatisfiedLinkError invoking CFXNativeLib method

You will notice that the rest of the script runs, as well as BlueDragon's excellent debugger code at the bottom. It was only the cfx tags that failed. If you only need it to run cfml for free (duh!) then simply comment out those two tags and you should be up and running error free!

You should find your administrator here: http://localhost:8080/bluedragon/admin.cfm

You might have some permissions issues running your scripts, if so simply: 

chmod -R 775 /usr/local/NewAtlanta/{BlueDragon_Version)/wwwroot

Now we are have hit the ground running with free coldfusion or um.. cfml! and soon to be open-source!

Running Windows Xp on Ubuntu Linux

04/01/2008

After installing linux successfully I now have just one problem, how on earth am I going to to test my work on internet exloper?

It looks like the linux commuunity has given us two options, virtualization or using wine to run IE on linux natively. It seems the latter has patchy support at best, while the former seems to have a broad support base and even commercal backing in some instances. I have decided on running vmware. Basically without dual booting my machine I can simply install vmware and create a virtual machine that runs inside a window in linux. Essentially every time good'ol windows chooses to crap out and blue screen I can simply close the window and restart! Its that simple.

If you are running Ubuntu linux fortune has smiled upon you, because vmware is now in the repositories so getting windows xp up and running have never been easier.

All you need is the following:

  • Ubuntu Edgy, Dapper or Breezy or later.
  • A Windows (XP) Installation CD & Key
  • Internet Connection (+- 100 Megabyte file download)

I am running Ubuntu Gutsy 7.10 on my machine so I will walk through those painless few steps. If you are running another version you will find an amazing guid here.

First you need to have the "partner" repositories enabled. To do this simple run the following in your terminal of choice: 

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Scroll down about three quarters of the page and make sure the following two lines are uncommented: 

deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu gutsy partner
deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu gutsy partner

After saving and closing gedit you will need to install the vmware server. You can easliy do this by running the following in the termial: 

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install vmware-server

While this is getting the packages and installing them you will need a serial number which can be obtained free for charge buy registering here. At some point the vmware install will ask you for confirm a few things, just answer yes and proceed.

Don't be confused when it loads an installer screen in your teminal and asked you to click ok. You will need to click the right arrow key once or twice and the curser should move over the ok link, and simply click and you will be on your way. Should this screen ever give you problems simply click right arrow a few times and your curser should find its way down to the ok options. (this one was a little confusing at first.)

Once the vmware is installed it is time to install windows xp!

  • Insert your Windows (XP) CD into your CDROM drive
  • Open the VMware Server Console (should be under applications => system tools)
  • select 'Create a new virtual machine'
  • => Next => Next => Select Windows Xp (or whatever Windows versions you want to install )
  • Next => Enter a name and select a location for the Virtual Machine File (It contains the virtual harddisk, so it needs quite some space, min 2 GB, but I would recommend 8+ GB )
  • Next => Select Network type. I am using NAT it seems the simplist to set up.
  • Next => Choose the size for the Virtual Disk and set other preferences
  • Next => Finish

Now we can start the newly made virtual machine and the install of Windows!

  • Start the virtual machine
  • It should auto-detect your Windows install CD and will start the installation! If it won't boot from the CD, stop the virtual machine and check/change the preferences for the virtual machine regarding the CD drive
  • Enjoy the installation and the freedom to use Ubuntu while installing

You will need to click inside the window to enteract with the windows installer. This will lock your mouse inside of the virtual windows, to free your mouse and contiune using ubuntu while it is installing simply click ctr + alt and your free!

Once you have booted safely into windows for the first time, I highly suggest installing the vmware tools, located in the vmware server. simply click and it should open a installer screen in the virtual windows enviornment.

Enjoy your virtual windows!

Rails install defaults to sql light...

03/25/2008

i'm not positive it wasn't something in my build, but it appears that the default of rails is to use sql light, obviously not mysql so to fix this problem i have to add the following to the rails site creation: 

rails -d mysql NAME_OF_APP

i'm sure i can reinstall to default to mysql, but adding seven characters to the rails app creation is not a big deal.

Rails installation errors...

03/24/2008

When trying to install Ruby on Rails i was please by the excellent tutorials provided by hive logic. For the most part i found the rather lengthy install process for OS 10.4 Tiger easy to follow, however not everything went according to plan.

When i attempted to install rails from ruby gems i ran into this lovely error 

ERROR:  While executing gem ... (Gem::GemNotFoundException)
    Could not find rails (> 0) in the repository

Needless to say this part was left out of the tutorial, and not one mention in the comments, so off to google i go searching for our answer.

Luckily i was not the first, and it appears that the gem cache has caused our lovely error and needs to be cleared..or erased.

Thanks to the army of robots i found this solution: 

gem env
#which will give you something like this:
RubyGems Environment:
  - VERSION: 0.9.2 (0.9.2)
  - INSTALLATION DIRECTORY: /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8
  - GEM PATH:
     - /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8
  - REMOTE SOURCES:
     - http://gems.rubyforge.org

Grab the install directory, and then do the following: 

rm -f /PATH/TO/GEM/PATH/FROM/ABOVE/source_cache

The do an update: 

gem update --system #for gems 0.8.X or lower
gem update #for 0.9.0 or newer. This is not documented ANYWHERE.

Now for others this worked..but the Ruby Railroad was much like the early trans-continential expiditions and full of "fun".

So more googling, and i discover that their is another cach stored in: 

~/.gem/source_cache

So i delete that as well, and still no love...mhmm

Back to google and down the in the comments of this blog i find a bit of gold: 

%gem cleanup
%sudo gem update

Now finally the gem install rails works!!!

Everything else seems to install just fine, thanks again to hive logic for the instructions. Now creating my first application....wait rails 2.0 needs gems 0.8.4 and i have 1.8.2, how can this be, why would gems install a version of rails that it doesn't run with hmmm, its telling me to run "gem update-system" ...well the good thing about that is it kicks out the same error that started this issue, and after running the update and erasing the cache again, i'm back digging through google and i find this beautiful article here, which telling me i need to do the following instead: 

If you have a recent version of RubyGems (0.8.5 or later), then all
you need to do is:

$ gem update --system (you might need to be admin/root)

(Note: You may have to run the command twice if you have any previosly
installed rubygems-update gems).

If you have an older version of RubyGems installed, then you can still
do it in two steps:

$ gem install rubygems-update (again, might need to be admin/root)
$ update_rubygems (... here too)

mhmm if only gems itself new this i would have avoided lots of googling.

in any event, i am now up and running ruby on rails locally on my mac with tiger 10.4 and only left with a minor headache. much love to the folks at the other end of all of my google searches.

Take a ride on the Ruby Railroad...

03/23/2008

..if you pass go, collect $200 dollars!

Since I had so much fun learning Coldfusion, I figure why not take a stab at Ruby on Rails. Its gained quite a lot of press in recent months..or well years now and I think it might not be just another flash in the pan as I once thought.

Touted as the answer to web development, simple easy to use, have applications up and running in minutes, not hours or days..I have to see this for myself.

Switching to Linux

03/15/2008

I've been wanting to switch to linux of quite some time now, but never made the jump for various reasons. First it always seemed to difficult to do even the simplist task, i would have to break out of my conditioned GUI ways and do some dreaded command line entries (oh the agony!). Second, what about all my software I develope with, will linux support all the tools needed? Third and most importantly how will I test my code in internet explorer! Even after years of standards advocacy buy countless individuals and organizations more than half the market is still viewing the web in IE 6! Needless to say this is far from a standards complient browser, however as developers we numb to the pains of cross-browser compatablitiy and accepted our fate, well at least for the next few years as IE 6 dies out.

So I have been pleasently surprized to find that linux has grown leaps and bounds in usability. Now with a little effort, and some good old googling we can easily install all we need on linux. After trying several distributions I have found ubuntu to be extreamly user friendly, and frankly easy so use.

After a quik vist to the ubuntu site, a free downloadable copy can be found and easliy burned and a quik restart and we are rolling. Simply click on the install icon when the GUI boots up and follow the simple install screens until violla installed and quik restart and we are now runnning ubuntu linux!

Though I may seem to have been overly simplified, i assure you it is just that easy to get the OS installed and running.