Category Archives: Web Development

Open Source Statistics

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I have been using google analytics for some time now (Urchin), but the truth is, although it is very very nice, i lack control.

What amuses me is how good an open source alternative piwik (piwik.org) is.

And all of the stuff PIWIK offers, they still consider it new and incomplete, that is strange, it does everything i ever asked for from google’s own analytics.

Anyway, once i use it for a while, i am thinking of making the hosted service available to the public, on the condition that it can be modified to become a distributed system that is scalable :)

Multi Disk MySQL

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For performance reasons, separating DBs to Multiple hard disks can be beneficial

In Linux, when you want to include a directory for a database, you add a symbolic link ( Using the ln -s targetdir command), in Windows, there are no symbolic links, and Windows Shortcuts ( Via right click create shortcut ) don’t work

The truth is, MySQL enables Symbolic Links in Windows by default, but you have to do it the MySQL way

MySQL is a file based database engine, you should be able to see a folder for every database run by your database engine, Now to move one of those DBs to a different directory or hard drive, you just copy it to the new destination and create a file db_name.sym then, within that plain text file, you can add D:datadb_name where D:datadb_name is the folder containing the MySQL files.

You should be good to go if you have moved the directory of the database to d:data, but if you copied it, the copy in the original MySQL data directory will be used

You are done, Now you should experience the extra performance of combining disks, the closest it gets without RAID and a reformat, surely this is assuming the DBs are used evenly

But there are other reasons why you may want to do this, one of which is, when you want to compile all user data in a directory, So DBs that person creates using your server management software puts all that person’s software in one place so that when he or she requests a backup, you know what to send him/her

Enjoy

Godaddy Wild West Domains API Script

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So, for some reason i had to write a functional script that talks (PHP Via SOAP) to Wild West Domains API for domain registration and other services (For fully branded website), And i was wondering if there is enough interest so that i improve it and sell it.

Things that come to my mind

1- This could hurt Domain Reseller Direct, where people get a Turnkey Domain reseller account in addition to PHP tools to customize there websites (we add free scripts for them, and they can install them on there website or we install the scripts for them) i am not sure it is legal to tell you the details ! (I never thought i would ever have to say that), but that’s the system, what can (or should i say Can’t) i say.

2- If i was to charge for the script, i think it would end up being sold for $500 a copy, that won’t make me much money, but when i put effort into scripts, i like to maximize there use, either to make money or to give away, but again it is a loosing deal and i know it in advance.

3- To allow people to use the script, i have to create extra modules for paypal, 2CO, and other credit card gateways, this is an easy but tedious task, Do i have the time for this ?

4- I know many people want such a script, but Wild West Domains / GoDaddy API is not a complete API, it does require some pages to run off there servers, and basically that puts us back to the solution we are offering at Domain Reseller Direct, but at a much higher cost.

I really want to hear your thoughts on this, and if you are going to comment, please tell me if you would be interested in such a script so i can have that data to process with my “Handy capped business logic”

Awaiting your response

The future of the web

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What’s all this stuff about personal computing moving online, people saying, keep your old computer, the internet is moving online and all you need is a browser.

First, for the coming 10 years, i don’t think the world can take an explosion in internet traffic, YouTube and similar video websites are killing speed on most ISPs, Peer To Peer much lesser harm but still burdening the wires, and oh, not to forget Binary Executable downloads and net installs of operating systems that happen with every virtual machine, Seriously, fiber optics will not save you if you want a complete install of Debian on every virtual machine you run.

To make things more interesting, People will not stop buying top notch computers, they love owning the greatest computers and will continue to do so, there graphics card is more important than there fridge, and astonishingly, they love to see it work, Don’t you just hate it when your computer goes to sleep for having nothing to do ?

People want there files on there hard drives, that will never change, they may want a copy at google or some other cloud empire, but they want the official latest copy on a hard drive in there computer.

This may not include everyone, but it is true for the most people i know, I am predicting against everyone else and i have a firm belief the common predictions of the future of personal computing are not realistic.

So, now i am the great psychologist, not really, but i have probed for long enough, and this is what i got

My Video requires a good processor to play, Online video is not how i like to see my favorite cartoons (And i doubt PIXAR would put it online), i want to see detail, i want to see what PIXAR wanted me to see and so do they.

So, if you are worried or hoping that the internet will become the PC, rest assured, this will not happen soon.

What about google docs and other stuff, they will exist, and probably expand, but they will never replace much of why you would buy a good PC that has multiple cores that can run your beloved Compize or AERO, people buy vista for that stuff, so they will keep buying good computers.

Giving away Sub Domains in Web2

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Today, a friend asked me how to setup his server so that he can give away Sub Domain names under his domain to people who want to use his PHP application, he was asking all sort of stuff like how does he rewrite apache config files and all this stuff, i can see how he is imagining the system but this is not the smart way to do it really.

All you need is a dedicated IP address, a hosting account that is accessible by its IP address, and you are good, why take the long route.

It is the simpler more flexible way, and it is the only sensible way i think, So i made a little tutorial to show him how here, now all i need to do is call him up and tell him to visit my blog for the answer :)

Let me pick a fancy name for this

Dynamic Sub Domain Allocation, what u waiting for, click it