Packt Celebrates 2000th title with Buy One, Get One Free Promotion

Wow!  Packt Publishing put the first book to print in 2004 and reached the 1000 book mark 8 years later.  Now, just 3 years later, they're at the 2000 book mark!

Congratulations to all my friends at Packt.

For the rest of us, it's a great opportunity to stock up on ebooks-- they're offering a Buy One, Get One Free promotion from now 'till the 26th of March.

Get more details here:  http://bit.ly/1j26nPN

Happy Reading!

Video course review: "JBoss EAP Configuration, Deployment, and Administration"

I've just completed my first ever 'Video Course' from Packt Publishing, "JBoss EAP Configuration, Deployment, and Administration".  This post is my review of that course.





What's the format/What should you expect?
If you're like me, you've never tried one of these before and might be wondering what to expect.  You can opt to receive the content streamed straight to your browser or through a downloadable zip file.  I tried a sample via streaming, but decided to go with the zip download for best pause/rewind control. 

You unpack the .zip file in a local directory, then open an 'index.html' file in your browser.  You are presented with a navigable carousel that lets you choose which 'chapter' you want to view.  (Full list below, with my notes.)   Each 'chapter' is composed of several topic videos, usually 5 minutes or less in duration.

The narrator is Jason Shepherd, an experienced JBoss Support Engineer.  (Disclosure:  I work with Jason, albeit in a different time zone.  He lives in Australia, and as such sometimes receives support cases my team is working on at the end of the day in North America.  Red Hat does a great job of handling cases 24x7 this way.  I pledge not to let this affect my review.)  As far as narration goes, Jason has a pleasant, even-toned Australian voice.  The narrative is properly paced and everything is easy to understand.

Within each chapter are several topics.  The video for each topic contains a briskly paced narrative and matching visuals.  There are screen views, pointers to documentation, and the occasional diagram.  I found them to be paced about right and illustrated adequately.

So, what about the content?  Below are the 'Chapters', with a few notes above them:

    * * This chapter covers basics of JBoss since EAP 6 / JBoss AS 7.  If you are new to 'domain mode', this will be valuable. * *
    Standalone versus Domain Mode [16:10 minutes]
        Running in Standalone Mode
        Running in Domain Mode
        Deploying an Application in Standalone Mode
        Deploying an Application in Domain Mode
        Sharing a Configuration in Domain Mode

    * * Fundamental tasks for JBoss users. * *
    Adding and Configuring Databases and Message Queues and Using Them from Your Application [21:04 minutes]
        Setting up a Database in JBoss Using the Console
        Adding a Datasource Using the Command Line Interface (CLI)
        Adding an XADatasource Using the Configuration File
        Connecting to a Database
        Configuring Database Pooling
        Adding a Messaging Queue Using the Management Console
        Connecting to Messaging Queues


    * * JVM tips are very good for any user.  Non-JBoss users will find value here, too.  Knowledge of this type is what moves a user from intermediate to advanced.  It will be of long-term value. You are also shown how to use some very useful 3rd-party open source tools. * *
    Configuring the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) for Troubleshooting and Diagnostics [23:19 minutes]
        Selecting a Garbage Collection Strategy
        Gathering Java Virtual Machine Diagnostics
        How and When to Capture a Java Thread Dump
        How to Analyze Garbage Collection Logging
        Analyzing Java Thread Dumps
        Analyzing a Java Heap Dump

    * * Good for enterprise users. * *
    Clustering and Load Balancing for Web Applications [16:11 minutes]
        Clustering in Standalone Mode
        Cluster in Domain Mode
        Set Up mod_cluster on JBoss to Connect to the Load Balancer
        JBoss Messaging in a Cluster

    * * Very useful information.  Class loading problems can be baffling for the unitiated, this chapter gives many good tips and clear explanations of how to control things. * *
    Classloading with JBoss Modules [13:27 minutes]
        Introduction to JBoss Modules for Classloading
        Implicit Module Dependencies
        Including and Excluding Dependencies Using Metadata
        Classloading in an EAR File

    * * Useful for Enterprise JBoss users. * *
    Deploying Applications [15:35 minutes]
        Improve Performance with Asynchronous Servlets
        Encrypt Client-to-Server communication with Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
        Use the Java Authentication and Authorization Service in JBoss (JAAS)
        Securing Passwords in JBoss

    * * Great productivity tips.  If you use JBoss, you'll want to understand these topics. * *
    Building and Testing Application with Maven and JBoss Tools [8:51 minutes]
        Installing the JBoss Tools plugin for Eclipse
        Build and Deploy an Application to JBoss Using Maven
        Deploying Using JBoss Tools
        Running a Test suite in Arquillian
        Anatomy of an Arquillian Test Case

    * * Great for developers, operations, etc.  Understanding logging options can be very helpful. * *
    Configuring the Application Server Logging [13:50 minutes]
        Setting the Logging Verbosity for the Entire Server
        Setting the Logging Verbosity for Parts of the Server or Application
        Improving the Logging Performance using the Async Handler
        Rolling the Server.log File by Size
        Use Logging Configuration in Your application


So there we have it.  The price is reasonable, the content valuable.  If you are a JBoss user (especially if your shop is using it in production), you will want to see these videos.

The video can be found here.

Happy viewing!