tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65107312029448878642024-03-06T19:33:51.675-08:00WebAdaptions.com BlogAll things web and technology related. Focus on search engine positioning, marketing, and optimization.Vincent Vacationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02980990508267348882noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6510731202944887864.post-78196171472370919402020-02-05T20:11:00.000-08:002020-04-16T13:32:22.695-07:00Fowl Cay - Exumas, Bahamas. The Ultimate Destination<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC0isNcbgXE3-1CW3AM3CFw7-22vvQ1A779DGWx1D5Kh3zwBP9IBlEl0CUks3pvaL9bEvugum1Y1LNM8TObcbPkD2oCY6Ts78FXJ1rZ9PxXip7MZ5D789HBfVYosi-ursJQMhNuZIN77Gd/s1600/fowlcay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC0isNcbgXE3-1CW3AM3CFw7-22vvQ1A779DGWx1D5Kh3zwBP9IBlEl0CUks3pvaL9bEvugum1Y1LNM8TObcbPkD2oCY6Ts78FXJ1rZ9PxXip7MZ5D789HBfVYosi-ursJQMhNuZIN77Gd/s320/fowlcay.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Read more at <a href="http://fowlcay.com/" target="_blank">fowlcay.com</a>. The most exclusive Sandals resort. Book this and other travel with Vincent Vacations, <a href="https://www.vincentvacations.com/">https://www.vincentvacations.com</a>. </div>
<div>
<br />
Located
just an hour and a half of Ft. Lauderdale, and 30 minutes from Nassau.
Land in Staniel Cay airstrip, 1.25 miles away and then take a boat to
Fowl Cay - 7 minute boat ride around the southwest point of Big Major.
<br />
<br />
Provided with your own boat and unlimited gas for exploring the islands. A golf cart is also included. Get one of the Fowl Cay chefs to pack you a lunch and head out to explore the islands in the morning. Kitchen in your villa is stocked full and included in the price. What you catch with your provided fishing gear can be cooked up by the chef on Fowl Cay.</div>
<div>
<br />
The area surrounding Fowl Cay is made up of 365 tiny islands and cays, stretching across more than 120 miles of the Exumas.</div>
Look forward to exploring underwater wrecks and grottos.</div>
Feed wild nurse sharks and sting rays at Compass Cay.</div>
Visit "Big Major Spot", where the only inhabitants are swimming pigs</div>
Check out Staniel Cay Yacht Club for happy hour</div>
Sand bars of Gaulin Cay</div>
limestone-coral cliffs</div>
You catch it, and they will cook it</div>
<br />
<b>To the north of Fowl Cay</b><br />
Drift snorkel reef of little halls - look for the spotted eagle ray family</div>
Snorkel the aquarium at the Exuma cays "land and sea bark"</div>
Picnic at Rachel's bubble bath</div>
Snorkel the cave at rocky dundas</div>
Feed and swim with the sharks at Compass Cay</div>
Snorkel over Yonder Cay Reef</div>
Look for starfish at Twins Cays</div>
Stop for ice cream at Sampson Cay Marina<br />
<br clear="all" />
<div>
<b>To the south of Fowl Cay</b></div>
<div>
Explore staniel cay<br />
Snorkel the cave at Thunderball</div>
<div>
Feed the pigs at big major<br />
Picnic at sandy cay</div>
<div>
Conch bites and kaliks at staniel cay yacht club</div>
<div>
Drive to farmers for conch salad at Terry's <br />
Feed the iguanas on Guana Cay</div>
Dive on a sunken plane by Staniel Cay<br />
<br />
Central Exuma is home to Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park - http://www.exumapark.org/. Vincent Vacationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02980990508267348882noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6510731202944887864.post-62071123090407288302014-01-09T15:40:00.000-08:002014-01-09T15:48:58.480-08:00How to Post JIRA Issue Using C#/SharePoint/asp.netUsing the JIRA web service API, you can use the POST REST method and submit an issue to a project. <br />
<br />
View fields available in your environment when creating an <u>Improvement</u> type issue with project name <u>PRJT</u>:<br />
<br />
https://<b>xxx</b>.jira.com/rest/api/2/issue/createmeta?projectKeys=<u>PRJT</u>&issuetypeNames=<u>Improvement</u>&expand=projects.issuetypes.fields <br />
Make sure and replace <b>xxx</b> and/or the domain with your JIRA instance. This will show you all fields that can be managed through the web service.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Create asp.net 4.5 Console Application Project in Visual Studio 2012.<br />
<br />
Download NuGet Packages:<br />
<ul>
<li>Json.NET</li>
<li>Microsoft ASP.NET Web API 2 Client</li>
<li>Microsoft HTTP Client Libraries</li>
</ul>
<code class="html plain"><br /></code>
<br />
Here is the C# code:<code class="html plain"><br /></code>
<br />
<br /><code class="html plain">using System;<br />using System.Collections.Generic;<br />using System.Linq;<br />using System.Net.Http;<br />using System.Net.Http.Headers;<br />using System.Text;<br />using System.Threading.Tasks;<br />using Newtonsoft.Json;<br /><br /><br />namespace ConsoleApplication5<br />{<br /> public class Issue<br /> {<br /> public Fields fields { get; set; }<br /> public Issue()<br /> {<br /> fields = new Fields();<br /> }<br /> }<br /><br /> public class Fields<br /> {<br /> public Project project { get; set; }<br /> public string summary { get; set; }<br /> public string description { get; set; }<br /> public IssueType issuetype { get; set; }<br /> public Fields()<br /> {<br /> project = new Project();<br /> issuetype = new IssueType();<br /> }<br /> }<br /><br /> public class Project<br /> {<br /> public string key { get; set; }<br /> }<br /><br /> public class IssueType<br /> {<br /> public string name { get; set; }<br /> }<br /> <br /> class Program<br /> {<br /> static void Main(string[] args)<br /> {<br /> <br /> var data = new Issue();<br /> data.fields.project.key = "PRJT";<br /> data.fields.summary = "test";<br /> data.fields.description = "test";<br /> data.fields.issuetype.name = "Improvement";<br /> <br /> string postUrl = "https://xxx.jira.com/rest/api/latest/";<br /><br /> System.Net.Http.HttpClient client = new System.Net.Http.HttpClient();<br /><br /> client.BaseAddress = new System.Uri(postUrl);<br /> byte[] cred = UTF8Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("user:password");<br /> client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization = new System.Net.Http.Headers.AuthenticationHeaderValue("Basic", Convert.ToBase64String(cred));<br /> client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Add(new System.Net.Http.Headers.MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("application/json"));<br /><br /> System.Net.Http.Formatting.MediaTypeFormatter jsonFormatter = new System.Net.Http.Formatting.JsonMediaTypeFormatter();<br /><br /> //System.Net.Http.HttpContent content = new System.Net.Http.ObjectContent<string>(data, jsonFormatter);<br /> System.Net.Http.HttpContent content = new System.Net.Http.ObjectContent<Issue>(data, jsonFormatter);<br /> System.Net.Http.HttpResponseMessage response = client.PostAsync("issue", content).Result;<br /> <br /> if (response.IsSuccessStatusCode)<br /> {<br /> string result = response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result;<br /> Console.Write(result);<br /> }<br /> else<br /> {<br /> Console.Write(response.StatusCode.ToString());<br /> Console.ReadLine();<br /> }<br /><br /> }<br /> }<br />}</code><br />
<code class="html plain"><br /></code>Vincent Vacationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02980990508267348882noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6510731202944887864.post-59591676887745850532014-01-04T09:20:00.002-08:002014-01-04T09:20:38.931-08:00Google AdWords Pay Per Click Advertising - Setup and Ongoing ManagementWebAdaptions.com handles Google AdWords setup and ongoing management. <br /><br />Get the most out of pay per click marketing by using our Google AdWords service. We can ensure your campaigns, ad groups, keywords and other opportunities are developing the most impressions and clicks, resulting in new business for your company.<br /><br />WebAdaptions.com can perform the following services.<br /><br /><b>Keyword planning</b><br />
-Get search engine keyword ideas and traffic estimates which will best result in new customers. We can help outline competitive bids and budgets to use in your campaigns<br /><br /><b>Add new keywords to get your ads in front of more potential customers</b><br />
-Adding additional, relevant keywords to your keyword list can help you reach people who are interested in what your business offers but may not currently be seeing your ads.<br /><br /><b>Manage your daily budgets to keep ads running on the busiest days.</b><br />
-Your campaigns are limited by their daily budgets, preventing your ads from showing as often as they could. Raising your budget can help make sure you don't lose out on potential customers<br /><br /><b>Create and manage first page bids to ensure your ads show on the first page of search results in the sponsored section.</b><br />
-More than 9 out of 10 clicks occur on the front page of search engine results.<br /><br /><b>Raise your bids to show your ads more often than your competition.</b><br />
-Raising and managing your ongoing bid level can increase your impression share. This means your ads can show more often than other advertisers' ads that are competing for the same traffic.<br /><br /><b>Add new keywords to get your ads in front of potential customers.</b><br />
-Adding relevant keywords to your keyword list can help you reach people who are interested in what your business offers but may not currently be seeing your ads.<br /><br /><b>Add sitelinks to ads to better target customers and get people to specific pages on your site.</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">-Sitelinks help you get them to what they're looking for – in just one click.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<br /><b>Increase clickthrough rates</b><br />-Optimize existing ads to increase clickthrough rates using new pay per click optimization opportunities.<br />Vincent Vacationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02980990508267348882noreply@blogger.com48tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6510731202944887864.post-83868260092393886432014-01-03T12:18:00.001-08:002014-01-03T19:54:23.562-08:00How to install and configure Adobe PDF iFilter 9 for SharePoint 2010How to install and configure Adobe PDF iFilter 9 for SharePoint 2010<br />
<br />
If you're following the knowledge base guide on the microsoft support site, you will notice it leaves off a few details.<br />
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2293357<br />
<br />
In a multi server farm, the Adobe iFilter 9 64-bit software is installed only on the server hosting indexing services. For example, if you have a 3 server farm with one application server, and 2 web front ends, the application server will most likely be hosting the search, indexing, and crawling services. <br />
<br />
To verify where the indexing service is hosted, got to Central Administration > Search Service Application: Search Administration. You can get here from Central Administration by clicking > Application Management > Manage Service Applications > Search Service Application. In the main content area, scroll to the bottom to the section with the heading "Search Application Topology". In this section you can view the server name which is hosting the search application administration component, crawl component, and index partition query component.<br />
<br />
Step #2, #6, #7 to #12 should be completed on the server(s) hosting the index service and not on any web front ends.<br />
<br />
Step #3, #4 are completed on all web front ends and do not need to be completed on the server hosting the index service. These steps relate to creating and registering the pdf icon for rendering in search result pages which is served through web front ends.<br />
<br />
Most other steps will be completed in Central Administrator directly.Vincent Vacationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02980990508267348882noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6510731202944887864.post-990158089240776992014-01-02T13:20:00.001-08:002014-01-06T09:17:27.295-08:00SharePoint 2010 CU, Hotfix, Service Pack Upgrade Guide<b><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Before CUs</span></b><br />
<ul>
<li>Backup web.configs of all IIS sites, all root for each application. These are most often changed during updates. If there are any customizations made make sure you have a backup.</li>
<li>Poweroff all SharePoint
servers before any virtual machine or other server snapshots, take powered off snapshot, then turn servers
back on. Make sure this is done before CUs begin. Completely powering off server before snapshot will ensure no changes are active while backup is taking place. This will also stop connections to the back-end database so no configuration, content changes, or other changes are occurring.</li>
</ul>
If you are planning to take SharePoint down for a major change, here
is what I suggest to simplify this for everyone and to prevent database
blocking:<br />
<ul>
<li>SharePoint Admin – Take the SharePoint WFE’s down stopping all connections to SQL Server.</li>
<li>DBAs – Disable all backups jobs that would be scheduled to run during the upgrade then perform a Full backup.</li>
<li>SharePoint Admin – Do your upgrade and verify that everything is successful. Bring the WFE’s back online.</li>
<li>DBAs – Re-enable our automated backup jobs.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<b><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Applying Latest CU</span></b><br />
As
a result of the new packaging, it is no longer necessary to install the
SharePoint Foundation cumulative update and then install the SharePoint
Server cumulative update. On the SharePoint 2010 Microsoft Download
Updates page, moving forward just pick and install the update for
SharePoint Server 2010.<br />
Make sure you are logged in to each server with the service account used to install SharePoint.<br />
Farm Setup / Farm Admin.<br />
<br />
To
install the updates you will need to download the latest software
update from the Microsoft Updates for SharePoint 2010 Products page.<br />
<a class="external-link" href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/ff800847.aspx" rel="nofollow">http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/ff800847.aspx</a><br />
<ul>
<li>Once
the zipped software update is available on all servers in the farm, use
the self extractor to unzip the file and unzip the files where you can
find their location. Then open the exe file that was unzipped.</li>
<li>Install the SharePoint Server update on the Central Administration Server. Reboot if prompted to do so.</li>
<li>Install the SharePoint Server update on the other servers in the farm. Reboot if prompted to do so.</li>
</ul>
<br />
Do
not run the Post Setup Product Configuration Wizard immediately after
the installation in a server farm. If installation of CUs are not
completed on all servers, once we try to run the PSConfig wizard it will
detect that and it won’t continue. So make sure that all servers are
installed with the CU hotfix exe before running PSConfig.<br />
<br />
Run the SharePoint 2010 Products Configuration Wizard on the Central Administration server.<br />
<br />
The following services will be reset:<br />
<ul>
<li>Internet Information Services</li>
<li>SharePoint Administration Service V4</li>
<li>SharePoint Timer Service V4 </li>
</ul>
<div style="margin-left: 30.0px;">
</div>
Run
the SharePoint 2010 Products Configuration Wizard on the other farm
servers. You can verify the updates on all servers in the farm by
checking Central Admin > Upgrade and Migration > Upgrade Status.
This will indicate each server in the farm and its upgrade status (if
psconfig completed successfully or not).<br />
<br />
Navigate to
Central Administration -> System Settings -> Servers in Farm and
check that the Configuration database version matches the cumulative
update you’ve just installed. Next, check the status on each server in
the farm is “No Action Required”. Any server with “Upgrade available”
will need to have the SharePoint 2010 Products Configuration Wizard run
on it.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>After CUs</u></b><br />
Use a diff tool like TortoiseSVN diff tool, run a diff compare based on old backed
up version of web.configs with new. Check all servers, all IIS sites,
and all root web.configs of each application.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Failures in CUs</span></b><br />
Best
place to look to get an idea of errors, go to Upgrade Status in Central
Admin under Central Admin > Upgrade and Migration > Check Upgrade
Status. Click on the failed status. Scroll down to the log file area
and open the upgrade log file location on the failed server (for
example: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server
Extensions\14\LOGS\Upgrade-20131121-132055-403.log). Search file
for [error] string. Most errors will relate to missing feature Ids - The
feature is referenced in the database but is not installed on the
current farm.<br />
If errors reported related to missing feature IDs,
use FeatureAdmin from codeplex tool to find faulty features and
RemoveFeatureID.ps1 script to remove faulty
features. Change the content database and the GUID in the last command.<br />
<br />
4 sources for viewing log failures. First three in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\LOGS<br />
<ol>
<li>Upgrade log (Upgrade-...log)</li>
<li>error
.log file shown at the end of PSConfigUI (PSCDiagnostics_...log) -
example location: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web
Server
Extensions\14\LOGS\PSCDiagnostics_11_5_2013_14_37_28_700_646345897.log</li>
<li>Main 14 hive logs (Look in main APP server ...log)</li>
<li>IIS application logs (%SystemDrive%\inetpub\logs\LogFiles)</li>
</ol>
If
any failures are seen, make sure each application in IIS is started and
running. Sometimes a failure occurs and all sites are stopped.<br />
If
you fix changes from error logs and try to run PSConfigUI.exe again, it
will only run through repair steps (first prompt will mention repair
instead of upgrade). Need to force upgrade by going to PSconifg.exe
directory on server then use one of the commands below based on need.<br />
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\BIN<br />
<br />
<u><b>PSCONFIG References</b></u><br />
Command line reference:<br />
<a class="external-link" href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263093%28v=office.14%29.aspx" rel="nofollow">http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263093%28v=office.14%29.aspx</a><br />
<br />
PSConfig.exe -cmd upgrade -inplace b2b -force -cmd applicationcontent -install -cmd installfeatures<br />
OR <br />
<pre class="prettyprint prettyprinted"><span class="pln">psconfig </span><span class="pun">-</span><span class="pln">cmd upgrade </span><span class="pun">-</span><span class="pln">inplace b2b </span><span class="pun">-</span><span class="pln">wait</span></pre>
<pre class="prettyprint prettyprinted"><span class="pln"> </span></pre>
<div style="margin-left: 30.0px;">
<i>[-inplace <v2v|b2b>]</i></div>
<div style="margin-left: 30.0px;">
If specified, the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard will perform an in-place upgrade. If <i>v2v</i> is specified, an in-place version to version upgrade is performed. If <i>b2b</i> is specified, an in-place build to build upgrade is performed.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Configuring SharePoint Products - Additional Information and Steps<br /><br />Steps listed below of configuration tasks run during SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard<br /><br />Step 1 : Initiating Sharepoint Product and Technologies wizard<br />Step 2 : Initiating upgrade sequence<br />Step 3 : Installing Help collections<br />Step 4 : Configuring Security Roles<br />Step 5 : Securing SharePoint Resources<br />Step 6 : Registering SharePoint services<br />-Installing services and proxies<br />Step 7 : Registering SharePoint features<br />Step 8 : Installing the application content files<br />Step 9 : Updating SharePoint Products<br />-This is the process that should take the longest amount of time on the application server in the farm. The farm is being upgraded in the timer service process.<br />Step 10 : Finalizing the SP Products configuration<br /><br />After Products Configuration Wizard successfull install, go to central administration web site to continue configuration. </div>
Vincent Vacationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02980990508267348882noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6510731202944887864.post-46103395083906416812013-12-28T20:22:00.000-08:002014-01-03T19:55:06.149-08:00Search Engine Positioning Techniques - Unique Page TitlesTo ensure search engine visibility and traffic, make sure every page on your web site features a unique page title. The page title is found in HTML at the very top of the page code, in the head section. You will notice the title of the html page below is highlighted "Title of the document." <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsgmPEkCKHunvUBzBWzYEohx8Pejr66TTz0sCiUT9OMpcoSiqX50Er3WJ5DvY-3ZVTKv_LVk4vi7tY4ju3jccOWUQShEJiNvP5OQ5ebG7ca38oOyg6RYv0aXBSFwJeWFX9wQasZ9gyUyBr/s1600/Untitled2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsgmPEkCKHunvUBzBWzYEohx8Pejr66TTz0sCiUT9OMpcoSiqX50Er3WJ5DvY-3ZVTKv_LVk4vi7tY4ju3jccOWUQShEJiNvP5OQ5ebG7ca38oOyg6RYv0aXBSFwJeWFX9wQasZ9gyUyBr/s1600/Untitled2.png" /></a></div>
<br />
If you would like to maximize your results in search engines, create unique and accurate page titles. The title should contain a short description of what your site is about. It is like the headline of a newspaper article.<br />
<br />
As of 2014, the page title needs to be less than 70 characters in length. Anything beyond this, search engines in general will not index, cut short, and will ignore. The page title of your home page is what shows in search engine result pages as the link to your web site.<br />
<br />
In the example of MixerTrucks.com, the page title of the indexed home page is "Used Concrete Mixer Trucks and Cement Equipment For Sale." You can see in the search engine result page, the title appears in the first line of the result.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0kzK-FI_35klLXwkNFvP5fYUzHhNZQFOC8gXu1a7D64AcO_2jDgn2D98g_LuvF3_GPBqoRxW4TWM46Vm9IPlby7LMCrJmjfP8ZoG3bbX88lGUmaR4_Xa7BMuEOrec0LCI-1ey9orETNUI/s1600/Untitled.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="64" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0kzK-FI_35klLXwkNFvP5fYUzHhNZQFOC8gXu1a7D64AcO_2jDgn2D98g_LuvF3_GPBqoRxW4TWM46Vm9IPlby7LMCrJmjfP8ZoG3bbX88lGUmaR4_Xa7BMuEOrec0LCI-1ey9orETNUI/s320/Untitled.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Ensure the page title is accurate - make sure the page title has relation to the content on that page and the meta description used on that page. Do not fill your title with keywords. The title should be a natural sentence that summarizes the information available on that page. <br />
<br />
Many sites feature the name of the site on the home page, followed by the most popular phrases which need to be indexed by search engines. As an example of a common home page title, "Freddy's Football Cards - Buy Cards, Football News, Card Prices."<br />
<br />
The title of the page is read and indexed not only by search engines, but users as well. As with all web site marketing, base your search engine optimization decisions first and foremost on what's best for the visitors of your web site.<br />
<br />
Before you begin making changes which will affect the search engine marketing campaign and optimazation of your web site and ultimately the traffic you receive, make sure you are reviewing your ratings in analytic reports and webmaster tools. This will ensure the optomization tweaks are creating measurable improvements which can easily be reviewed over time.<br />
<br />Vincent Vacationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02980990508267348882noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6510731202944887864.post-8468937819076382622013-01-06T13:07:00.002-08:002014-01-03T19:55:21.289-08:00Gaining More Visitors to Your Web SiteSome of the stats you need to increase to gain more visitors to your site include raising the number of search engine indexes, social engagements, and search engine backlinks.<br />
<br />
<b>Search engine indexes</b><br />
You should have a high number of search engine indexes. This means a high number of Google indexed pages, Yahoo indexed pages, Bing indexed pages, etc. <br />
<br />
<b>Social engagements</b><br />
High number of facebook shares, twitter counts (tweets), digg stories, reddit stories, etc.<br />
<br />
<b>Search engine Backlinks</b><br />
You need several backlinks from Google, Bing, Alexa, and other sites.<br />
<br />
<b>In Addition</b><br />
Ensure your web site is w3c compliant and meets web standards. This will enable search engine bots to readily access and index the content available on your site.Vincent Vacationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02980990508267348882noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6510731202944887864.post-73821927705054934042012-11-15T15:31:00.004-08:002014-01-03T19:55:37.156-08:00Beta Exam 70-331, Core Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013Thoughts after taking the Beta Exam 70-331, Core Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013.<br />
<br />
To receive the MCSE SharePoint certification, you will
need to pass the MCSA Windows Server 2012 certification, then pass
70-331 (Core Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint server 2013) and 70-332
(Advanced Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013). The new
solutions expert path requires the Windows Server 2012 cert.<br />
<br />
You can count on answering questions covering other core technologies that SharePoint depends on. Techs like:<br />
<ul>
<li>Active Directory</li>
<li>SQL Server 2008 R2 and later</li>
<li>Internet Information Services (IIS)</li>
<li>Windows Server 2008 R2 and later</li>
</ul>
<br />
Even
though this is the recommendation, I noticed most of the questions were
focused on the latest techs and not past versions. So things like
Windows Server 2012, SQL Server 2012, etc.<br />
<br />
Questions centered
around designing a SharePoint topology based on reading an overview of a
case study for a company. Planning security, installing and
configuring the SharePoint Farm (in some cases, integrating multiple
farms were mentioned for an enterprise). Creating and configuring web
applications and site collections, and maintaining a core SharePoint
environment.<br />
<br />
Items mentioned below were covered on the beta exam.<br />
<br />
Alternate access mappings. How it's used, why it's needed.<br />
Ins and outs of configuring search services.<br />
Various powershell commands - how to gain reference to a service and store in variable, then modify the service. Many basic powershell tasks like this.<br />
Setting up various farms based on unique requirements - 3 case studies covering different companies and technical requirements. Some have an issue and you are required to know the steps to fix. Some of the issues related to clustered database configuration issues (active, passive, witness server - moving a failing service to another database), search issues, workflow server, how to set up separate apps domain for apps store use.<br />
Config Search results based on doc creation dates - on all searches only return docs between certain dates.<br />
Various questions related to configuration of SharePoint with Office 365<br />
Authentication questions related to when and how to use SAML, oAuth, Claims, Kerberos, etc.<br />
Know in what situations you would use psconfig or farm wizard, based on the type of configuration change that's needed.<br />
A few questions relate to upgrading from a 2010 farm to 2013. What steps would you take if it was a database upgrade or upgrade based on CUs. Upgrade site collection process, know powershell script behind upgrade. For example, need to test if upgrade can complete before performing upgrade. Know my sites upgrade process.<br />
Assorted end-user permission questions. Know the differences to Contribute, Full Control, Read-Only, Inheritance, etc.<br />
Setting.up blob storage external to SQL- use external hard drive like SAN, etc. How is this done, what steps are needed in SQL, apps server, central admin, etc. to accomplish this? What is the benefit to this outside of storing large files in SQL.<br />
My site configuration how to change what news a user is subscribed to and which users this user follows. Know how to do this as an admin in central admin.<br />
Test would show a screen shot of an area of central admin with a list of links in that area and ask what to click on in central admin to config or setup X.<br />
<br />
How to setup auth for ad fs, kerberos, ntlm, oauth when to use sts. How to config authentication between servers.<br />
<br />
How to add additional site collections and sites<br />
Config aam, DNS cnames, etc. when to do this and how, related details. How to setup domain, subdomain, etc.<br />
<br />
After viewing network tracing details, answer which port is used for central admin, front end site, https based site, etc. for a typical company.<br />
<br />
How to communicate between separate farms - passing users and authentication, etc.<br />
<br />
Two way and one way forest trust settings<br />
Allow users on domain 1 access to collection a and b but users on domain 2 access only to collection a. How this would be configured in a farm.<br />
<br />
Form based authentication<br />
Steps to allow outside vendors access to site or collection that aren't a part of domain<br />
Adding to visitors group with read-only access, setting up aam for the extranet, etc.<br />
<br />
Know details covering sts oauth saml.<br />
<br />
Configure email storage on library and incoming email / email address to be used with library.<br />
<br />
Step by step how to limit all users from purchasing and installing apps.<br />
<br />
Design focus on information architecture<br />
Plan managed site structures<br />
Plan term sets<br />
Plan information management policies<br />
Design keywords, synonyms, best bets, and managed properties<br />
Design an intersite navigational taxonomy<br />
Design site columns and content types<br />
<br />
Know basic design behind a logical architecture<br />
Know the hierarchy to a farm > web applications > explicit managed paths / sites wildcard managed paths > top-level sites > child sites. Know web application > site collection - How to create a site collection based on an existing web app or
create a web app and then create a site collection within that
application.<br />
<br />
From requirements, be able to plan web applications and application pools, software boundaries, content databases, host-header named site collections, and plan zones and altername access mappings. Be able to describe the process to map incoming requests to a web application. Link translation and publish to internet.<br />
<br />
Study steps behind designing a physical architecture. Storage architecture, configure basic request management, define individual server requirements, define service topologies, plan server load balancing, plan a network infrastructure.<br />
<br />
Know basic hardware and software requirements behind SQL database server and SharePoint with web server or application server in a three-tier farm and beyond. Know minimum hardware requirements for SQL database including small and medium deployments, RAM, and hard disk space requirements.<br />
<br />
Front-end application server requirements, including prerequisites for software. Things like .net framework 4.5, Microsoft WCF Data Services 5.0, MSIPC, WIF 1.0, CU Package 1 for Microsoft AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server (KB 2671763), etc.<br />
<br />
Know browsers supported, for example, IE 6 & 7 are no longer supported.<br />
<br />
Request management. how to control handling of incoming requests, how this plays in to network load balancing, rule configuration behind request management, status if off by default, and scoped at the web application level. Request management used to configure rules to perform the denial of potentially harmful requests from entering a SharePoint farm, route good requests to an available server, and you can manually optimize performance.<br />
<br />
Know what's new with service applications. New service applications available like Machine Translation service, work management and app management. Several service applications derecated or changed, like search, MMS, office web apps and web analytics. MMS is now more robust, tags now have properties, and the navigation is term-based. Request management architecture and configuration is included, as well as creating routing rules in PowerShell.<br />
<br />
Office 365 planning with SharePoint online is a large part of the exam.<br />
<br />
Authentication default is claims - know how to plan and configure authentication, identity federation, configure claims provider, connections to access control service.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
This covers pretty much everything I could remember after taking the beta exam.<br />
<br />
<br />
Sections of the exam:<br />
<br />
<u>Core Solutions Exam</u><br />
<br />
Design a sharepoint topology 20-25%<br />
Plan security 20-25%<br />
install and configure sharepoint farms 20-25%<br />
create and configure web applications and site collections 15-20%<br />
maintain a core sharepoint environment 15-20%<br />
<br />
<br />
<u>Advanced Solutions Exam</u><br />
<br />
Plan business continuity management 20-25%<br />
plan sharepoint environment 15-20%<br />
upgrade and migrate sharepoint environment 20-25%<br />
create and configure service applications 20-25%<br />
manage sharepoint solutions, BI, and systems integration 15-20%<br />
<br />
<br />Vincent Vacationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02980990508267348882noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6510731202944887864.post-86756131729304336852012-11-04T14:49:00.001-08:002014-01-03T19:55:47.717-08:00Search Engine Marketing through Back LinksIf you are interested in gaining new business through your company web site, you need back links. The number of back links to your site determine the authority of your site in search engines. The more back links you have from high quality, highly ranked web sites, typically the higher you will rank in search engines or the more fertile your site will become for high rankings. Several other factors impact your organic placement on search engine results pages, like content, optimization of keywords and phrases and more, but anyone can add back links to their site. Make sure you are listed at the following sites. They are free, have a long reputation with major search engines, and will impact your search engine marketing campaign.<br />
<br />
dexknows.com<br />
manta.com<br />
yellowpages.com<br />
citysearch.com<br />
angieslist.com<br />
merchantcircle.com<br />
yelp.com<br />
oodle.com<br />
switchboard.com<br />
superpages.com<br />
whitepages.com<br />
dmoz.org<br />
local.yahoo.com<br />
showmelocal.com<br />
ziplocal.com<br />
facebook.com - create a business page<br />
yellowpages.aol.com<br />
chamberofcommerce.com<br />
findthecompany.com<br />
linkedin.com - create a page<br />
pintrest.com - for the right type of business<br />
company.com<br />
google maps<br />
mapquest<br />
foursquare<br />
hopstop<br />
co-pilot<br />
local.com<br />
hotfrog.com<br />
yext.com<br />
prweb.com<br />
bing.com - bing local<br />
google.com - google places<br />
citysquares.com<br />
localeze.com<br />
kudzu.com<br />
littlewebdirectory.com<br />
jayde.com<br />
worldsiteindex.com<br />
thebigbrain.com<br />
somuch.com<br />
info-listings.com<br />
vlib.org<br />
truelocal.com<br />
supermedia.com<br />
justdial.com<br />
listyourself.net<br />
askme.com<br />
http://www.hitwebdirectory.com/<br />
http://www.freeprwebdirectory.com/<br />
http://www.linkaddurl.com/<br />
http://www.web-master-directory.com/<br />
http://www.placeyourlinks.com/<br />
http://www.link1directory.com/<br />
everbestlinks.com<br />
fastseodirectory.com<br />
free-link-directory.info<br />
freesitedir.info<br />
freesubmissiondirectoryy.com<br />
globalweblisting.com<br />
haikudirectory.com<br />
kickoffdirectory.com<br />
lavafind.com<br />
<br />
<br />
There are literally 1000s available, but this will get you started.Vincent Vacationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02980990508267348882noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6510731202944887864.post-40024327542806246282012-08-23T16:30:00.003-07:002012-08-25T09:32:51.644-07:00id Game Engine Source CodeThe first 3D first-person shooter (FPS) game is generally accepted to be Castle
Wolfenstein 3D (1992). Written by id Software of Texas for the PC platform, this
game led the game industry in a new and exciting direction.
<br /><br />
First-person games are typically some of the most technologically challenging to build. They aim to provide their players with the illusion of being immersed in a detailed, hyperrealistic world. It is not surprising that many of the game industry’s big technological innovations arose out of the games in this genre. Some of the complexities in FPS style games often include managing binary space partitioning (BSP) trees, portal-based rendering systems, frustum cull (i.e., removing objects
that the camera cannot "see" to improve rendering time), spatial subdivision data structures, dynamic lighting systems and more.
<br /><br />
Outdoor FPS games use other kinds of rendering optimizations such as
occlusion culling, or an offline sectorization of the game world with manual
or automated specification of which target sectors are visible from each source
sector.
<br /><br />
Digging into this technology, you can find the source code to Quake I, II, III, Doom, Wolfenstein and more id based games are freely available. The original Quake engines are reasonably well architected and “clean” (although they are of course a bit outdated and written entirely in C). These code bases serve as great examples of how industrial-strength game engines are built. The full source code to several id games are available on github at <a href="https://github.com/id-Software">https://github.com/id-Software</a><br />
<br />
You can actually build the code using Microsoft Visual Studio and run the game under the debugger using the real game assets from the disk. This can be incredibly instructive. You can set break points, run the game, and then analyze how the engine
actually works by stepping through the code.
<br /><br />
For a nice overview of the FPS genre, see
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-person_shooter">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-person_shooter</a>Vincent Vacationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02980990508267348882noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6510731202944887864.post-40228086411349002082012-08-14T22:44:00.000-07:002012-08-14T22:45:51.718-07:00Prelude in E Minor - ChopinPrelude in E Minor for Piano, Op. 28, No. 4 (1839), by Frederic Chopin<br />
<br />
A quintessential miniature classical brood. Dissonance and agitation abound in this prelude. This is Dracula's or trampula's theme song. Most of the long notes are accompanied by a different dissonant chord below; which causes a continued change in color as the singular long note in prominence is held above. Small movements of the left hand cause a striking sentiment. The espressivo - expected fast rhythm, sad melody, and acceleration are further filled with expectancy of resolve by brief pauses throughout the piece. Tension is finally released in the three solemn chords of the closing cadence. <br />
<br />
It's like an E-minor mine car ride, spiraling out of control sitting on questionable tracks. The quickening 'dunk dunk' of the railroad ties assisting the acceleration of the duple meter into the depths of the unknown. The miner finds himself trying to find the e-brake, but it is preluded.<br />
<br />
Freddy was in a serious mood in writing this tune. One cannot listen to the prelude without feeling the intensity of emotion behind the piece. It is short, dialing in at around 2 minutes, yet full of possibilities for interpretation.Vincent Vacationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02980990508267348882noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6510731202944887864.post-86083143929989660182012-08-14T20:51:00.002-07:002012-08-14T22:47:30.392-07:00Hagia Sophia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikBydCn_xn0hRJ2g-yxtL1ZucX1V6583m3Zyju9-zxYlO5u5TvRpWMiRfesZ1TT0OB7VKReXKCKu4SdVGFc6997fgD5hmubEbczpFD36nedPbp92pKL4nOwFu6gQ64gael9qy_A4QqNC31/s1600/instanbul.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikBydCn_xn0hRJ2g-yxtL1ZucX1V6583m3Zyju9-zxYlO5u5TvRpWMiRfesZ1TT0OB7VKReXKCKu4SdVGFc6997fgD5hmubEbczpFD36nedPbp92pKL4nOwFu6gQ64gael9qy_A4QqNC31/s320/instanbul.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table><tbody>
<tr><td valign="top">This looks like something straight out of a movie set. Now that I know better, when I think of Istanbul, I will think of this place. Originally built in the 6th century, the Hagia Sophia, formerly known as a Christian basilica, is now a museum. As a side note, I would museum the heck out of this place. Until recently, well, 1520 to be exact, it served as the largest cathedral in the world. <br />
<br />
When you think of Byzantine architecture, think of this place. As related to placing the style in time, it may be better referred to as, pre-Neo-Byzantine architecture. It straddles the Bosphorus, one of the world's busiest waterways in northwestern Turkey. If you were wondering, Bosphorus does not make up 1% of your total body weight like phosphorus does.<br />
<br />
Not to be confused with the Hagia Sophia Church, of Sofia, Bulgaria, construction was completed in only 5 years! And everyone knows Bulgarians are lazy, so their Hagia was rumored to have taken just over 104 years to build. <br />
<br />
Clearly, this would make the list of the world's greatest buildings. It would fall right in line above the Portland Building.</td><td valign="top"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBBRzma143I1stVgMSIffz0kPUSXVY6dTZZZiBS5iPMMcwLrs1Dby0bthl9o34Y4LpNTHX8gn9xxKS-ZNAkjEN8Mg7DUV74oENmhT3_IyaPCDN3vKFpobG3j_61umjA6tdmJVSvhoqrBcl/s1600/instanbul2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBBRzma143I1stVgMSIffz0kPUSXVY6dTZZZiBS5iPMMcwLrs1Dby0bthl9o34Y4LpNTHX8gn9xxKS-ZNAkjEN8Mg7DUV74oENmhT3_IyaPCDN3vKFpobG3j_61umjA6tdmJVSvhoqrBcl/s320/instanbul2.jpg" width="131" /></a>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="clear: both;">
</div>
Vincent Vacationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02980990508267348882noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6510731202944887864.post-37609482586226444622012-08-12T21:55:00.000-07:002012-08-21T05:47:42.376-07:00The FirebirdThe Firebird, Scene 2 (1910 version) by Igor Stravinsky (1882 - 1971).<br />
<br />
Originally written to accompany a ballet by the same name. This roughly three minute piece is the final scene of the work. It repeats one melody over and over, creating contrast through changes of dynamics, tone color, and rhythm. The most beautiful creation of music I have heard in the shortest duration - using repeated segments, increasing grandeur, and finally, leading to a brilliant concluding section.<br />
<br />
The Firebird, in Slavic folklore, is known as a bringer of both blessings and doom to its captor. The strings around duration 1:30, accent very softly, in a random chromatic aberration, almost out of key with the tonal center of the piece. This seems to bring a taste of doom to the listener. The strings quickly crescendo, a hard timpani hit is heard, and we are back into the main rich and expressive theme.<br />
<br />
You can absorb the magical sense of the song, in a verse from A Winter's Journey, by Yakov Polonsky, which inspired The Firebird ballet:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
And in my dreams I see myself on a wolf's back<br />
Riding along a forest path<br />
To do battle with a sorcerer-tsar <br />
In that land where a princess sits under lock and key,<br />
Pining behind massive walls.<br />
There gardens surround a palace all of glass;<br />
There Firebirds sing by night<br />
And peck at golden fruit.</blockquote>
<br />
Reading into the work, we learn during this scene the hero triumphs and becomes engaged to a princess. The slow triumph is heard. A skillful crescendo creates spirit as instruments are added to the piece. The melody is repeated at higher and higher pitches. Use of dynamics ranging the entire gamut, from pianissimo to fortissimo, can be heard. The repeated effect is further outlined by the timbre of each instrument. A critical listener can hear English horns, oboes, french horns, harps, piccolos and more. This tone color contributes to continuity; as it is easier to recognize the return of the melody when the same instruments repeat the main theme.<br />
<br />
What an excellent piece of music.Vincent Vacationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02980990508267348882noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6510731202944887864.post-22165769582708913252011-08-30T14:31:00.000-07:002011-09-01T05:57:36.171-07:00ScrumNow that the company I work for was purchased by <a href="http://geoilandgas.com">GE Oil & Gas</a>, it's interesting to see another company purchased by GE that was involved in the history of Scrum. <a href="http://www.gehealthcare.com/company/pressroom/releases/pr_release_10389.html">IDX</a>, now GE Medical, had much influence in getting Scrum off the ground in large team environments.<div>
<br /></div><div>There's a great article by Scrum community member Bob Martin, entitled "<a href="http://www.scrumalliance.org/articles/300-the-land-that-scrum-forgot">The Land that Scrum Forgot</a>". It examines the “mess” that a Scrum team can sometimes create and how eXtreme Programming can solve this kind of issue when it arises.</div>
<br />Vincent Vacationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02980990508267348882noreply@blogger.com1