Golumolu's Blogs

Technology & Vendor considerations for companies on Social Media

ajadmin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:38:42 +0000

In recent months, there has been an increasing media attention on social networking sites; and how this impacts business, compliance, security and so on. Some staggering statistics (which I reference later in this article) have been thrown in to demonstrate the crazy adoption rates of the social media.

Social media, it appears, is here to stay and companies are now understanding that it’s not about blocking access now, but realizing that controlling and enabling access is the way forward.. It would sound naive to assume leadership teams in companies haven’t yet begun this process, some still block access, others are engaging with vendors that help manage and control the use of social media, and some are just giving it some more time. So in this post, I don’t focus too much on the statistics or impact of social media but look at the next steps for companies who understand the need to manage social media.

There are several aspects for CIOs/Head of IT departments to consider while evaluating policies for social media as well as for evaluating solutions to manage social media usage in the network.

Compliance Considerations

FINRA in their recent webinar indicated that companies will not be given a compliance grace period because Social Media technology is new and evolving. FINRA has asked companies to not allow usage of Social Media if they cannot supervise it or the social media site does not support archival. Bottom line - Companies must retain, archive and retrieve to be compliant.

If you are in a regulated industry, such as the financial services sector, you need to consider tools that either allow you to block access to unsanctioned social media and/or invest in a solution that allows you to monitor, archive and review content posted through social media.

Read the full article here - http://blog.facetime.com/2010/02/social-media-impacts-business.html

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Racial attacks in Australia; Enough is enough.

ajadmin — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:19:34 +0000

The consistency with which attacks are happening in Australia against Indians and Indian symbols is very alarming. It started with a few racial attacks; a lot of noise being made in the media; things die down a bit; and in the last few days the attacks have resumed and with renewed vigor. More people attacked, and the list now includes religious places also. There was a gurudwara that was set on fire today.

Where is all this headed to? Will we continue to see S.M.Krishna condemning the attacks, Australian government saying there is no proof to indicate the attacks were racially motivated; while the attacks keep happening?

The BJP government is right in demanding PM’s personal intervention in this issue. We have given sufficient time for the Australian government to act and control these attacks. And Bal Thackeray’s statement that Indians should not play Australians in cricket seems right. How can we play with a country where our brothers are being attacked; our religious places targeted? We similarly need to step up the protests in various different ways.

Enough is enough. We need to make more noise and take concrete steps instead of just making diplomatic statements.

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Grand celebration of Ramana Jayanti at Ramanasramam

ajadmin — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 09:04:03 +0000

Ramana Jayanti (birthday) was celebrated on the 1st of January this year (2010). Its a great treat for Ramana Devotees to be part of the celebrations. This time the crowd was even more because of the pournami (Full moon day) falling on the same day and there are thousands of devotees who do the girivalam (going round the Arunachala Hill) also visit Ramanasramam.

Its wonderful for a devotee to be present at Ramanasramam and enjoy the vibrations of the special day. There are several pujas, grand alankaram (decoration) of the shiva lingam, free meals served for whoever visits the Ashram and so on.

Shown below are some moments captured -

Program schedule for the occasion

Ramana Jayanti Program 2010

Grand Alankaaram of the Lingam

Ramana Jayanti Lingam Alankaaram

Telangana, Gorkhaland, Purvanchal..how many more?

ajadmin — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:00:54 +0000

Congress has messed up the situation big time with the resolution to initiate the process of creating the state of Telangana. Now this is a golden opportunity for many other politicians, with their most selfish ambitions, to demand for separate states at their whims and fancies.

The proof is in the recent developments. Take for instance the following demands -
a. Demand for Gorkhaland in Darjeeling
b. Mayawati asks for Bundelkhand and Paschimanchal states
c. In a second letter to PM, Mayawati asks for Poorvanchal!

The list is totally 10 if you include older demands (which are likely to be renewed) like Coorg, Mithilanchal in Bihar, Saurashtra in Gujarat, Bhojpur state comprising areas of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Chhattisgarh.

Where are we heading to? Isnt the Govt of India responsible for keeping the country united and not keep making divisions like this?

Can the political system get any worse? Is making separate states the only way to solve problems like some regions being neglected or under-developed?

Wake up, India. We are being projected to be the next super-power; look at the way India’s economy was referenced in terms of how we weathered the recession when some of the biggest economies collapsed - and here we are here busy dividing up the country into smaller pieces.

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Google AdSense is the best!

ajadmin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:33:55 +0000

If you are looking for making some revenue by displaying ads on your website, Google AdSense is the right choice for you.

Like many others, I have a website that is new and has sometimes less than 500 hits per month. I had heard a lot about Google AdSense and how people have made decent amount of money by displaying ads on their website. I started off with applying for an AdSense account; but it was rejected because Google doesnt approve accounts for (specifically Indian & chinese) websites that are less than 6 months old.

Meanwhile, I wanted to sign up with some affiliate. Thats when I learnt that AdBrite is the best alternative to AdSense. I signed up with them and I could display ads in about 2 days. One thing that I noticed with AdBrite is that many of the times I didnt see the Ads displayed. And hence the click rate was low and the revenue was hardly seen. The Ads were also very generic in nature and not contextual.

It was about 6 months since my website was registered. So I reapplied for an AdSense account and it was approved this time. Note - While appying for AdSense account, make sure to provide the Address, Phone number details as was provided when you registered the website. Google is particular about this.

I am now displaying Ads from Google AdSense. This one is beyond any sort of comparison. AdSense displays ads in just a few minutes of you signing up. I was very impressed with the quality of Ads. The Ads would exactly match the content of the website. Now, thats what I call Contextual Advertising. And guess what - I made same amount of revenue (which was small anyway, given the low traffic to my website) in 2weeks with AdSense as compared to what I had made with AdBrite in 6 months. Now I am confident that the revenue will further go up if I add more quality content to the website.

I am impressed, excited and look forward to a fruitful relationship with Google AdSense affiliate program.

Easy,fast,economical way to create a website

For God’s sake, lets not waste food

landmark — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:26:49 +0000

Food - in abundance for some, cant afford two square meals a day for some.
Food - taken for granted for some, cant afford to take for granted even the next meal for some.

Such diversity with the fundamental ingredient required to keep a man alive. Then, does it gets it due respect? Or do some people even think that it deserves that? Take a look at some facts. Let me also add this disclaimer here that I am not against any kind of tradition, I respect them; but wastage of food is something to think about.

1. In India, it’s a tradition in weddings to shower bride and groom with rice grains. After the tradition, I am sure these are swept away. Say we use only 1 kg of rice per wedding, we have thousands of weddings each year. It could have fed so many hungry people.
Alternative - Why not use ‘CONFETTIS’ ? or colourful thermocol balls?
2. In Switzerland, there is an old tradition of carving the Turnips and making Lanterns out of it.
This happens typically in November , and TONS and TONS of turnips are carved, kids make beautiful lamps and there is a procession in the evening in every street.
First, you grow turnips, remove the pulp inside - throw the pulp, carve the outer turnip to make lamps, end of the day just throw! what a waste?
3. Florida - Yearly even; Throwing the oranges at each other.
4. Spain - Yearly event; Tomatoes thrown at each other, crushed etc..
5. India - Dasheera , Big festival, ‘TONS’ of White pumpkin crushed
6. India - Got a new new vehicle, congratulations - crush 4 lemons for all the 4 wheels of the car…belief is that there will be no accidents.. hey comeon.. just drive carefully. Please do your poojas, but don’t waste food items.

PLEASE -There is another world, where people simply can’t afford even sometimes one meal a day.
Can we not do our part? Can we not teach some of these things to our children, so atleast the next generation is more aware and does its part?

Read a few more links below related to this -

http://www.mamalisa.com/blog/the-turnip-fair-in-switzerland-marked-by-thousands-of-lanterns-made-out-of-turnips/

http://www.andreagrant.org/zuerich/turnip.html

http://www.sa-venues.com/events/kwazulu-natal-event-description.php?id=896

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OCS Front-End service stopped with service-specific error 3286842403 (0xC3E93C23), due to Windows update KB974571

Asit — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:24:13 +0000

[Short url for this article - http://doiop.com/ocsFE_issue]

I am sure you must be facing this issue suddenly in your OCS production environment. This is quite interesting. I’m just sharing my experience. It’s also quite funny that Microsoft releases ‘Security updates’ and ends up bringing down a production server. One of the Windows security update KB974571 has broken OCS R2; that’s why OCS Front-End service Stopped.

My OCS Server, LiveMeeting; Group Chat environment was working fine until Yesterday. But Today when i have tried to login to OCS, I was not able to login. Then i checked for my OCS Server; found that all of the OCS Services are in started state except OCS Front-End service.
I tried to restart my OCS FE, but i ended with the following service specific error 3286842403 (0xC3E93C23).

Log Name: System
Source: Service Control Manager
Date: 10/15/2009 11:22:54 AM
Event ID: 7024
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: FTI-360-VM1.ima64.com
Description:
The Office Communications Server Front-End service terminated with service-specific error 3286842403 (0xC3E93C23).
Event Xml:

7024
0
2
0
0
0×80000000000000

54887

System
FTI-360-VM1.ima64.com

Office Communications Server Front-End
3286842403 (0xC3E93C23)

I was just clueless for a moment. I was not ready to accept that something has gone wrong with my OCS Server as nobody has access rights; also it was working fine till late night yesterday. I did not know how to proceed from there for a moment.

I took a dip breath; then restarted my system. But still the same issue was there.
Then i started thinking what might went wrong in last 8 hours. Suddenly i thought let me check for updates happened in my system last night.

Then after half an hour I figure it out, that One of the Windows security update KB974571 has broken OCS R2; that’s why OCS Front-End service Stopped.

I removed this Windows update & restarted my OCS Front End Service.
Then it worked fine for me.

It’s a bug in windows update….. They have managed bring down a critical product service with the release of a windows update.

This could happen for LCS & OCS R1 deployments also.

Please also note of another complexity that affects end users -

Auto-upgrades are enabled on end user desktops as well. Security Update KB974571 will be applied on end user desktops. Hence users will not be able to login to OCS though the FE Server is up, after removing the offending update from the FE Server.

But the users without this Security update will be able to login to OCS. To address this issue, end users too need to uninstall this update from their desktops. This is applicable for LCS as well.

Photos, videos from Ramanasram visit September 2009

ajadmin — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:01:12 +0000

Main Entrance of Ramana Ashram

We made one more much awaited trip to Thiruvannamalai in the month of September, 2009; one our favorite spiritual getaways for the long weekends. I made sure to click more snaps this time as well as some videos to put it up on the blog.

As usual, the highlight of the trip was the spiritual experience. Its like going back to a place where you have always belonged. So obviously we all were feeling very sad as we were nearing the date to return. Though we were to return on Monday (which was the last holiday in the long weekend), we postponed departure to the next day. We started early morning on Tuesday so we can reach Bangalore in time so I can make it to my office in time.

Another special aspect about this trip was going there during Navarathri. Everyday there was a special pooja. Goddess Parvathi’s idol was installed in the temple after oorkolam and the decoration was very grand. There were musical concerts arranged within the ashram premises on each of the days of the Navarathri. Some very well known artists performed.

Of course, the trip is not complete without visiting skandashram. My elder daughter loves to go to Skandashram. Its a 35 to 40 minute trek on the Hill and my 7 year old daughter does it with ease. Just keep chanting Ramana’s name and you dont realize anything.

Outside view of Skandashram

A typical schedule when we visit Ramanashram.

1. Get up at 5am
2. Meditation at the meditation hall between 5:30-6:30am
3. Witness early morning poojas at the Ramana shrine.
4. Breakfast at 7am
5. Relax, Read at Ramana Library or visit Skandashram
6. Lunch at 11:30am
7. Relax till 2pm
8. Read books in the library or at your room or attend the book reading session in Tamil/English at the shrine
9. Tea at 4pm
10. Visit the book shop within the ashram
11. Poojas, attend the daily Parayanam (chants)
12. Dinner at 7:30pm
13. Spend some more time at the temple
14. To bed at 8:30pm

More Snaps

View of Arunachala temple from skandashram

View of the sacred Arunachala Hill from Ramanasramam

Outside view of Ramana Shrine

Inside view of Ramana shrine

Narayana seva (feeding the poor) at Ramanasram

Dining hall for guests

View of cottage in Ramanasram

Here’s a video

Match Schedule - Yonex Sunrise BWF World Badminton Championships 2009

ajadmin — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:06:06 +0000

For the list of matches (match list) in the World Badminton championship 2009 being held at Hyderabad, click on this link. Click on the date icons on top to get the list of the matches for the particular day.

I could not find this list on any other website. I am trying to get some videos for the matches as well.

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Unable to upload files in OCS Group Chat

Asit — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:29:00 +0000

If you are a regular user of OCSR2 Group chat, you will find this ever interesting. Have you ever tried File transfer ( i.e. Upload / Download ) in OCS Chat room?. If you say yes, then you must be facing the issue with file transfer; I am sure you are unable to upload the file. You must be getting either one the following errors during File Upload in OCS Chat room.

i) A file transfer error occured.Server was unable to process request.—> Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

ii) A file transfer error occured.System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapException: Server was unable to process request; System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
at Microsoft.Rtc.Chat.MgcCommon.Logging.ParlanoLogger.get_IsInfoEnabled()
at Microsoft.Rtc.Internal.Chat.Server.MGCWebService.Provider.ConfigureEverytime()
at Microsoft.Rtc.Internal.Chat.Server.MGCWebService.MGCWebService..ctor()
—End of inner exception stack trace—

I would say it’s a MS bug & just ask me why? Here is the answer. I just want to share this, which may helpful for all.

Case -1

1.OCS Group Chat Web Service ( i.e. MGCWebService ) is responsible for File Upload & Download.
2.Go to run & type “inetmgr” in OCS GC machine & you will find this website is running under Local Computer (i.e. AS-64b-VM1) –> Web Sites –> Default Web Site –> MGCWebService.
3.Right Click on MGCWebService & then go to Properties –> Directory Security –> Authentication and Access Control –> Edit
4.You will get the user name as “IUSR_MCName” (i.e. IUSR_AS-64B-VM1) & this is member of the Guests group of the local machine.

Case -2

1.When we configure OCS Group Chat Web Service we provide a share folder to specify the “Root directory used to store files that are uploaded to any instance of the Web service”.
2.This shared folder name can be found once we open the GC Server Config Tool à File Repository tab.
3.Now go to the properties of the File Repository folder (i.e. \\AS-64b-VM1\GCCWebService ) & check for NTFS permissions (Security Tab) of this File Repository folder.
4.You will find that Guests group is not present in its Access Control List, but the MGCWebService account needs Full Permission (Read / Write) on this File Repository folder, inorder to file upload happens.
5.Hence you need to choose one domain account that is having Full Permission for this folder. Additionally this account should be member of RTCComponentUniversalServices as the account needs to access the file repository as well as Message Queuing.
6.You can say OCS GC Channel service account OR OCS Group Chat Admin service account are the right candidate for this are they are natively ready with all these permissions.

Case -3

1.Now you need to change the user name from “IUSR_MCName” (i.e. IUSR_AS-64B-VM1) to OCS GC Channel service account ( i.e. 64AS\GCManage ).
2.Also change the password accordingly w.r.t this new account.
3.Make sure that Enable Anonymous Access check box is selected under Authentication Methods dialog box.
4.Now reboot the OCS Group Chat Server
5.Try file upload after the server is up & ENJOY with File Transfer. Finally you are able to make it work.