Internet Connection Sharing–8hrs Troubled

I tried a little setup, I have 2 PCs, one is x4 and the other in Atom, the x4 and atom are connected via crossover cable. I use broadband and that is connected via a USB RJ45 adapter.   I tried to share internet between these PCs,  I did all the process correct at the first attempt itself, well the process is simple, both the PC are connected with private IP of 192.168.137.x series and then the internet lan adapter (lets call it Local Area Network 2 or Lan 2 for ease) is set to share with lan 1 like this:

In the above pic ‘home’ is the name of my lan 1 (private network).  Then why did it take 8hrs for such simple one.  The answer is not simple, I use Zone Alarm Firewall, but still it is not the problem because I added the private network 192168.137.x to Trusted Zone, which means any activity on that network is almost ignored or say PERMITTED.

The issue was that I was using Zone Alarm Free Version and to my shock I found that free version does not support the ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) .

So I thought why not to take a trail version of Zone Alarm Pro for 30 days so that mean while I can search for an alternative.   Again another punch ,  zone alarm products are upgraded constantly like any other good product life cycle, the  issue now is the new Pro version is 10 and it does not support ICS.

After thorough research and testing, found out that ICS can work is the Internet Zone is set to Medium Security, by default it is High, but by setting it to medium we can get the ICS working.  Also, by browsing the net came to know that medium security level is sufficiently enough for home purposes.

Finally, I got my ICS along with some security.

Is cloud only for Business Entities?

It is an ambiguous issue, because, take an example of Windows SkyDrive, it is on a cloud platform, it offer 25GB of free space even to clients who use its services for free, YouSendIt.Com offer 2Gb for free, in both the cases there is a service for the client and also for the enterprises. However, the use of these are very customer psychically customized, like you cannot upload any file above 50MB into Yousendit, and you need to pay them for it, you cannot download it more than 100 times, the limitations are growing or in other words control strategies are increasing. Hence, we cannot say now itself if cloud is for individual people on internet or is it for entities looking for futurist benefits. However there is a growth in that area too likes TeamViewer services that are completely free with professional options.

Stronghold 3

I played stronghold crusader 1 and its extreme version also, hence I know some of the goods and bad of the gameplay.  Also, I have good experience playing the pharaoh and Caesar series, i.e. I love playing the city building and strategy games 

About this version: Stronghold 3, I have to say that FIREFLY STUDIOS have done a great job, it is really worth while version to purchase.  I saw a lot of comments in gamers sites like Gamespot and IGN that the game is not as expected and is somewhat bad.  let me tell you, the issue was the game is a bit more tough than its stronghold extreme version, the difficulty does not like in army firstly, but it is challenging to satisfy the population/villagers, in older version, I can take the pop count to a 100 in few mins, but in this game this is lot lot lot hard.  I am writing this blog after playing the game for more than 4 hrs and I only reached a pop of 36 at max, it is that difficult .

Talking of the graphics and sound effects, the game is awesome, apart from few mouse related glitches.

Since I have experience with earlier versions of this game, I can play it easily, however for new ones, the game is very tough as the Learning Curve is 0 or less than 1 on a scale of 10, imagine playing the game of strategy without know how to use the buildings, options that interlink the pop growth etc.  If the company release a tutorial patch it would be excellent series to play on with.

Also, in earlier version a ring of red or green color would be on fire camp building, it would tell graphically the speed at which the villagers are leaving, however this option is not given in 3, I think the company must keep this in next versions at least.

Above is pic from Stronghold 1.  Below is pic from Stronghold 3

Expecting a stronghold version 4 to cover the above.  Final verdict, stronghold 3 is tough but a good game to play.

 

However, there are some funny stuff too like the WOLFs are able to climb the wooden towers using ladders and killing archers .

XBAP Use full or Not

Lets start this topic in a traditional way of taking on both side of parties positive and negative:

Positive:

XBAP or WPF web application is a great enhancement and is no way comparable to Silverlight. XBAP is lot more bigger and opportunistic than Silverlight.  XBAP is like building any other desktop application in WPF except that the app is published on web or even on a system by setup.  It is quite simple and easy to use.  Programmer can go for Full trust mode to access all the local client resources (with clients permission) else for with partial trust so that only certain basic functions like reading a file from client but not writing a file to client.  A lot of security options are given by default under Dot Net.

Negative:

XBAP is good in many ways, the main issue is with Microsoft on how it is promoting the technology.  The main drawback when compared to flash etc. is that XBAP applications are blocked in IE9 under default settings.

XBAP is best choice to serve the clients under the given conditions that if they enable the option to run XBAP in IE by changing the settings.  Following is the method for changing to desired settings in IE:

Open IE and go to Internet Options as illustrated:

 

Then, go to security tab and go for custom settings:

Then go for changing to desired setting to enable the XBAP to be available in IE as follow, the default option is disable, now it should be changed to enable as follows:

 

Thank you.

Saas

Software as a Service (SaaS) is the term coined in 2001 became popular in industry only during 2005. SaaS as a concept could be explained as below.

When business unit or client, for example “Tea Manufacturers Ltd” a tea powder manufacturing company wants to use a IT solution for handling the day to day Customers, Sales, Marketing, Production and Financial departments of their business, they would approach a software company, discuss their requirements and get a software developed. If another similar business model company says “Coffee Manufacturers Ltd” also wants similar software, then the Software Company can simple give the same code with little modification in titles.

Such kind of activates are desktop solutions, where the client need to do the follow:

1. Select computer with decent configuration to be capable of running the designed software.
2. Have as many of those selected PCs as required per employee strength.
3. Get an IT administrator to maintain the security of the data in the company.
4. Take risk for maintenance and protection of database that belongs to the said software.
5. Wait for assistance from the software company in case of any bug or crash.
6. Many more complications as versions in software increase.
7. Software integration via various means of communication like mobile etc. is a cost born by one company alone.

In situations like the above, SaaS can be seen as GOD; SaaS is where the software company builds one solution like CRM with internet as medium and gives various user logins to the companies, the companies only need the following:

1. A small configuration computer with basic internet access
2. Many of such PCs for the employees.

And the rest of the earlier burdens are born by the software vendor only like:

1. Vendor is responsible for data security
2. Responsible for software uptime
3. Responsible for speedy access or no delay from there end.
4. Hefty infrastructure.

This is also a very good method to make revenue constant for a period rather than getting it for one sale.

Routing IPv6 on Windows Server 2008 R2

Software Routing with Windows Server 2008 R2

If in a company there are many small networks, then going for a hardware router might not be feasible or the process looks complicated at wires management, hence one can use a software router when not any additional features are required. For this a system with windows server 2008 or its R2 variant as a workgroup pc is required. In this testing we are connecting 2 networks using virtual machines and using IPv6 as IP addresses version. Following is the configuration:

Router is the server name which acts as a routing device, it has two LAN cards.

Following is the LAN configuration of PC on LAN1:

Tracert command helps is getting the PC name and the list of routers the packets are passing through. Here we are only using it to see the pc name. The ping to LAN 2 client is not working here.

Following is the LAN configuration of PC on LAN2:

Router PC has 2 LAN cards to support connection to LAN networks and there details are as follows:

Summary of configuration is as follows:

Following are the steps required to add a server role:

Open server manager and right click on roles and select new role option

A brief description on wizard is given:

Check Network Policy and Access Services role and click next:

A brief intro to the role and is description is given:

Select the Routing and indeed a box appeared saying that Routing requires Routing and Remote Access Services, hence both of them get checked as they are inter dependent modules.

Message box showing required services:

Confirmation of checked modules to get installed:

Installation progress:

Installation confirmation message:

Service Configuration

Go to start>Programs>Administrative Tools>Routing and Remote Access or this this could also be accessed from the server manager or by run command “rrasmgmt.msc”

Since we installed the routing service but haven’t configured it, the service is stopped and hence looks as follows:

Right click on Router and select Configure option as follows:

The following wizard pop up with a brief gist:

Select custom configuration as we are only going for routing:

Check LAN routing:

Click finish on the window:

A message box pop up asking to start the service, well here it is our choice and we can go for starting it:

Starting process:

Configuring IPv6 Routing

Let’s see on how to configure the IPv6 routing:

We can see the available interfaces with the Unique Local IPv6 and Link Local IPv6 Addresses as depicted above. Then right click on Static Routes under IPv6 and click new router:

The fill in the details of the which network ID to connect with this network ID (as in gateway) for lan1 and lan2

The finished process looks something like this:

Assign the respective gateway details for both the test clients as follows:

Client on Lan1:

Client on Lan2

And then the ping from the lan1 client to lan2 client works like a charm as follows:

Ping from lan1 client:

Ping from lan2 client:

Routing complete

Diversion

Earlier, when I had only 40GB HDD, I was not much familiar with PC and programs on its, so the only thing I did then was to play games but I would say starting to learn PC with games a good way.

later after 2 yrs I brought my 250 HDD, I have to agree, it is like a big HDD back then, then I started to use all kind of softwares on my AMD Athalon 1700+ processor with 512MB ram.

Till recent times I was only with 750GB HDD on total and I used to spend most of my time on softwares like Visual Studios and expression Web etc, recently I got myself a 2TB Seagate GoFlex HDD external, I habe to agree my mistake, the mistake is not getting it, but getting it made me capable of storing 100s of high quality movies on it, and hence I started to watch movies and less of programs.

In recent times only I found that I started to waste my time on PC with movies unlike old times making use of PC to its fullest extent, of course as an MBA student I need not use all those softwares .

Corporate

If it is to me, I would define the way of the CORPORATE organizations in the following pattern:

 

Customer:  Could you please ignore the late payment fine of Rs.600 on my Card for paying late by 6hrs please

Employee:  Sir, I am eager to help you sir, but…..

Customer:  Please understand

Employee: Yes Sir, even I will help, but the problem is that the computer does not accept it, I am limited by computer software.

 

The situation in corporates is almost like the above, the employees are only there to translate the computer to the customer, that too because not all customers are educated.   If customers are educated, the corporates would definitely remove there employees in front end and only let the computers handle the work.

I thought I can’t See

I never expected to use my PC Process usage beyond 50% anytime after I bought my AMD PHENOM 2 X4 945 3.GhZ,   I think I was wrong.

I used adobe premier today for making a watermark on friends video, and suddenly to my excitement, I found that CPU process is consumed a lot, I played games of various kinds and graphics from Old Classics to the new Modern Warfare, but never saw PC CPU toll, it is truly remarkable that video encoding uses more CPU even though I have ATI RADEON HD 4670 1Gb cards from XFX.