Video review for "Hands-on Application Development with ASP.NET Core and Angular"

This video from Packt explains step by step how to build a sample application in Angular and ASP.NET Core.  The video is targeted to developers who have some working knowledge of development in this workspace. 

The video is broken down into sections:

Section 1: Getting Started
Section 2: Preparing Data Models and Database
Section 3: Building the APIs
Section 4: Angular Components Setup
Section 5: Angular Services
Section 6: Order Service Setup
Section 7: Finalizing the App

As the titles hint, the sample application is an 'orders' app.  The user is guided through the construction from tools setup to testing.

Each section is further divided into segments (usually 3 of them), each about 5 minutes long.  I found this an excellent setup, as each video is long enough to provide the necessary content but not so long that my attention started to wander. 

Raihan Taher (the instructor) spoke clearly and at a reasonable pace.  One small complaint:  viewing the series in a browser, I didn't find any speed controls to speed up or slow down the presentation.  I really like learning by video, but I like it best when I can control the pace.

The entire video shows the instructor's desktop, with accompanying instructions "now we do this, then this, then this..." so the user gets to see every step along the way as the sample application is built.  There is little in the way of 'overview' material, so the viewer is given practically no high-level information about Angular or ASP.NET.  The result: You may not understand why you are doing something, but you are given instructions on how to do it successfully, at least in one situation.

Watching this video is a lot like getting on-the-job training from a competent co-worker.  You are given everything you need to build a simple application.  (If you want to understand how you built it, or how to build something a little different, you will have to do some further study.)  This seems fine to me, this is an excellent springboard to Angular/ASP.NET development.  Once the user has followed this course, they are adequately prepared to begin the learning journey.

As a further benefit, this video makes use of Visual Studio Code, an excellent free IDE.  The instructor provides plenty of nice usage tips, these are valuable on their own.

If you're looking to get started with Angular on ASP.NET, I would recommend this video.

Happy viewing!



The video can be found here

Book Review for 'Hands-On Cloud Development with Wildfly'

This is a nice book that gives a high-level explanation of a multitude of tools used in modern cloud development. 

The book starts with a history of Enterprise Java Development, then turns to Wildfly Swarm.  Swarm is the JBoss equivalent of Spring Boot, allowing developers to choose the Java components required ala carte instead of coming packaged in an all-in-one application server.

The next stop is at Arquillian, which makes unit-testing of Enterprise Java applications practical. 

In all of these cases, the depth of instruction is restrained.  You aren't given enough material to master the topics, just enough to run a working example.  This is good technique for a book that targets a wide tech footprint.

The next chapter introduces cloud computing and Red Hat's OpenShift container operating framework.  This chapter covers a lot of territory, introducing  hot topics like Docker and Kubernetes along the way.  If you aren't yet caught up in cloud development, this chapter will be very valuable for you.

The next few chapters cover some necessary topics for cloud computing, namely storage and networking.  Invaluable also.

The book next moves on to Jenkins, token-based security (as used in cloud solutions) and some application development sugar (in the form of Hystrix.  At the time of this review, Hystrix is under assailment from other tools and looks like it may not be the long-term winner.)

The final chapter makes some predictions about possible future directions.

All things considered, this is a book with a very ambitious tech footprint.  It does a pretty good job of covering all of the above (some pretty important topics) while giving the reader a fair amount of hands-on practical experience.

For coders on the front-side of the cloud computing slope, I'd recommend this book.  It's a shortcut to contemporary development knowledge.




The book can be found here and here.

Happy coding!

Going to DevNation this year? Come see my talk!

It'll be a fun one!

Here's the DevNation blog link.

Book Review for "Mastering Embedded Linux Programming"

Book Review for "Mastering Embedded Linux Programming"

Are you interested in Embedded Programming?  Are you a Linux programmer interested in expanding your horizons?  If so, this book might be one you'd be interested in.

Packt Publishing categorizes books by depth, this one is in the 'Mastering' category.  That means the book does not teach to a beginning level, the author can assume the reader has the fundamentals developed already.  If you are new to Linux programming, this is probably not going to be an easy read for you.

The author leads the reader through selection of the necessary tools, then launches into the nitty-gritty low-level material an embedded coder will need.  Bootloaders, kernel details, working with a root file filesystem and device drivers are all discussed.  There are chapters on the Linux init/systemd mechanisms, processes and threads, and memory management.  Development issues are GDB, profiling and tracing are provided.  The final chapter is about real-time programming.

This is a big book, nearly 400 pages.  The material is clearly presented, the explanations are understandable.  The author clearly has deep expertise in the subject matter and is good about sharing the knowledge.

The verdict?  If you are interested in programming embedded devices for Linux, this book probably has a place in your library.




The book can be found here.

Happy coding!

Book Review for "Learning OpenStack" by Packt Publishing

Book review for "Learning OpenStack" by Packt Publishing

I'm going to jump right to the conclusion for those in a hurry: If you are new to OpenStack and seek a book that lays out very clearly how to get up and running, this book is for you.  It's clear, concise and informative.  The components of OpenStack are briefly, but adequately described.  It's a good book.

If you haven't heard of OpenStack before:  OpenStack is an open-source software platform for cloud-computing, mostly deployed as an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS).  It's backed by many major industry players.  This book is aimed at the entry-level OpenStack user.

The contents, roughly:

Chapter 1 describes why an orchestrator is necessary in a good cloud environment.  It compares OpenStack services to AWS equivalents, lists dependencies between components, and outlines a 4 node sample.  It also lists the various components of OpenStack and lists what they do.  As you'll see, these components are then covered in detail in the chapters that immediately rollow.

Chapter 2 covers Keystone, the Authentication and Authorization component.

Chapter 3 - Data storage with Swift, Glance and Cinder

Chapter 4 - Nova cloud fabric controller

Chapter 5 - Networking with Neutron

Chapter 6 - The OpenShift Portal. 

Chapter 7 - Using Openstack.  This includes adding users, making a project, mapping users to roles, adding a network and adding vms.  It provides an outline of how everything works (which services are called, for which purpose) as OpenStack operates.

Chapter 8 - Building on the cloud with Heat and Ceilometer.  Heat is an orchestration engine, it can be scripted.  Ceilometer is a metering system that collects usage statistics, it can be used for billing.

Chapter 9 - Titled "Looking ahead", it compares OpenStack offerings from different vendors, lists pros and cons of each.

There is an appendix, it compares different release versions of OpenStack.  Installation and Configuration tips for different versions.

The book is adequately illustrated.  Diagrams are simple and convey good information about the major components of OpenStack.

The book provides very plain step-by-step instructions on how to install and configure OpenStack, without being too dry. 

All things considered, I'd call this book a very good resource for those learning to use OpenStack.

The book can be found here.

Happy Cloud computing!

Book Review for "Hybrid Cloud Management with Red Hat CloudForms"

'CloudForms' is Red Hat's tooling for cloud management.  The product provides simple and intuitive web UIs for setting up a hybrid cloud and running it. 

A hybrid cloud is made up of public and private components.  This book explains the various components you will need to work with, and how they are manipulated through the UI.  Examples:  'Cloud Providers' would include Amazon EC2 and OpenStack.  A 'Virtualization Provider' would be VMWare.  These concepts are explained, and you are given instructions how to set up and maintain your cloud environment.

The book takes you from installation, through configuration, and into maintenance of the environment.  You are shown how to provision machine instances from the framework you have configured.  You are given instructions on how machine lifecycles can be managed through hooks, and how automation can be introduced. 

Cloud Forms provides Policies, Events and Actions as a means of maintaining the working environment, these are explained.  You are given tips on monitoring your cloud.  There is a chapter on optimization of your hybrid cloud, and lastly you are informed about the APIs (REST and SOAP) provided by Cloud Forms.

Overall, this book is clear and informative.  I wish it had a little more conceptual information about some of the described constructs, but this is a small nit.  There are plenty of screen shots, the book makes it clear how you are to accomplish various tasks.  The layout is well-organized, the chapters are presented in a logical order.

What's the verdict?  If you have reasonable linux administration skills and you wish to begin configuring a hybrid cloud, this book will be a good place to start. 

The book can be found here.

Happy Cloud Hopping!

Book Review for "Mastering Apache Maven 3"

There's been a 'build tool' war in the Java community for many years.  On one side are fans of Ant, the original Java script-and-build toolkit.  On the other side are users of Maven, a newer kit with an emphasis on dependency management and a predefined lifecycle.  The battle has been waged fiercely for quite a while.

It looks to me as if the Maven side has taken the upper hand.  I try to be pragmatic about such things, but must admit that I have had some difficult times with Maven.  For simple projects (based on examples from the internet, called archetypes) it's a great tool.  But Maven is a two-edged sword:  For every simple archetype I've benefited from, I've had a more complicated project that caused me some problem that required hours of research to solve or at least the rebuilding of my local repository.  Maven can be somewhat mysterious at inopportune times.

Maven also has a giant appetite for artifacts it pulls from the internet.  Pull any Maven-based open source project onto your machine some time and kick off a build cycle.  If it's any kind of project at all, you'll be horrified by the number or things Maven fetches from the internet.  (Ant most likely would have referred to a /lib directory that had everything cached for you.  But there are pros and cons to this.) 

Given this situation, I was delighted to lay hands on a copy of "Mastering Apache Maven 3" so I could learn more about this build monster.  I was not disappointed.

The book covers a lot of ground.  You are given knowledge of how the build cycle works and definitions for all the involved terminology ("Mojo", "plugin", "phase", "lifecycle", "assembly", etc.)  Different chapters are devoted to some of the things I always thought would be cool to understand:  Writing plugins, associating them with a given part of the build cycle, writing my own archetype, setting up a Nexus repository, etc. It turns out Maven is really a framework for running arbitrary code plugins-- cool!  Pretty much every question I had about Maven is at least touched upon in this book.  The author gives us decent examples of not only how to configure Maven, but also how to extend it.  I thought this was excellent.

If the book has a shortcoming, it would be that it's a little low on illustrations.   Reading page after page about a build tool (with accompanying configuration XML!) can be tedious.  Just a few stick drawings or sequence diagrams would have gone a long way towards helping the reader get immediate context about what is being discussed. That's about the only harsh criticism I have for this book.  For the most part, it's a very good book and will no doubt be one I'll reach for on occasion as I battle Maven in my day-to-day duties.

To summarize:

• Who would I recommend this book for?  
• Any enterprise Java developer.  
• Is it a great book?  
• It's not a page turner, but it's likely to be a treasured resource.  
• Will it stay relevant for long?  
• Given the length of the Ant/Maven battle, I'd guess a very long time.  
  

I consider this book a welcome addition to my tech library.

The book can be found here. 

Happy Building!

Your $20 Gift to your future self

Hello Readers,

Merry Christmas to you and your family, and a very Happy 2015!

Have you decided to give yourself a gift?  How about a gift for you in 2015?  I've got a suggestion.

Pick 4 e-books for only $20 from Packt Publishing between now and January 6.  You won't find an ebook any cheaper than that!

You don't have to pick 4.  Every book is only $5.

There's a ton of subjects.   Pick a few you work with every day, and a few that just sound 'fun'. 

The link to the whole deal is here.

Happy Holidays!

Book Review for "Mastering Java Server Faces 2.2"

Book Review for "Mastering Java Server Faces 2.2"



Quick Version:  This book contains a lot of advice distilled from a wide range of JSF usages.  It's a big book and offers a lot of ideas that will be valuable to the JSF practitioner.  There is more intermediate-to-advanced material than there is low-level, so if you're just starting out this might not be the right book for you.  Experienced JSF users will find this a good resource.

This is a big book (nearly 550 pages) and it offers lots of good advice for JSF users.  The chapter titles are as follows:

1.  Dynamic Access to JSF Application Data through Expression Language (EL 3.0)
2.  Communication in JSF
3.  JSF Scopes – Lifespan and Use in Managed Beans Communication
4.  JSF Configurations Using XML Files and Annotations – Part 1
5.  JSF Configurations Using XML Files and Annotations – Part 2
6.  Working with Tabular Data
7.  JSF and AJAX
8.  JSF 2.2 – HTML5 and Upload
9.  JSF State Management
10. JSF Custom Components
11. JSF 2.2 Resource Library Contracts – Themes
12. Facelets Templating
Appendix - The JSF Life Cycle

The author makes occasional mention of different JSF implementations (PrimeFaces, MyFaces, Mojarra) which might be of value to users that are familiar to one implementation or the other.  There is some introductory material (the chapters on data access, configuration, the Life Cycle, etc.) but these are not presented in an order that provides a comprehensive overview at the start of the book.

Examples are well constructed and consistent in the way they are put together.  For any particular goal (i.e. making some tabular data, working with a template, using AJAX, etc.) the user will most likely find a clean set of code artifacts that illustrate things in a comprehensible way.  Wording that differently-- the examples are minimal and easy to understand.

The book has a fair number of illustrations, but these mostly reflect renderings of JSF pages.  Conceptual illustrations are provided, but not in great abundance.  I give the book fair marks for this, but not outstanding.  IMHO a few more high-level illustrations would have been beneficial.  (In the author's defense, it's possible some were left out to keep the book as lean as possible.  As it stands, it's already a big book.)

The author does a good job of explaining how to exploit features of JSF to accomplish tasks of interest for a JSF developer.  The author speaks in a clear and direct manner, lending confidence to the suggested remedies for various situations.  I believe this book will be a good reference for the JSF coder. 

Packt uses a visual icon (it looks like a pencil and a few sheets of paper) to indicate warnings or important notes.  These are generously provided throughout the book.  I found use of this highlighting aid to be judiciously used-- not too much, not too little.

All things considered I found this book to be a solid reference for JSF topics and informative in it's description of new JSF features.  For the intermediate-to-advanced JSF user it should prove to be a valuable resource.

The book can be found here.

Happy Reading and Rendering!

The $36 investment that just might get you to the next level

Being a code-slinger pays pretty well, especially if you're in the mid-to-upper ranks.  But how do you get there, and once you're there, how do you maintain your proficiency?

First, there is no substitute for in-the-trenches hand to hand warfare.  You've got to be slinging code, reading logs, and configuring things on a pretty frequent basis or you're going to lose your edge.  Don't get me wrong-- basic concepts will always apply.  But to keep up with the whiz kids, you'd better keep your hands at least a little dirty or you're going to be playing some catch-up later.

Probably the best second line of defense is a constant stream of good reading materials (and nowadays instructional videos).  A good book is a means for someone to share their hard-earned experience with you, and to put it someplace where you just have to run along and scoop it up.  You don't have to go through all the brain sweat, you just leverage the hard work someone else has already done.  This post is about this topic.

One of the drawbacks to using tech books to keep yourself professionally sharp is the cost factor.  Good tech books can easily run $50 or more, and that goes a bit outside my naturally cheap comfort zone.  But today, I've got good news for you.  You can get six (yes, that's right, 6) tech books or videos for a paltry $36.  That's a SUPER price.

The books are available as part of Packt Publishing's special running through October 2nd.  The link is here.

Packt is known for fairly priced books, but this is extreme.  Here's the breakdown:

• Any 1 or 2 eBooks/Videos – $10 each
• Any 3 to 5 eBooks/Videos – $8 each
• Any 6 or more eBooks/Videos – $6 each

If I were stocking my bookshelf, I'd go for the 6-for-36 deal.  If you're skittish, I'll offer some known winners:

Oracle JRockit:  The Definitive Guide.   600 pages of in-depth Java stuff.  Read my review here.

Java EE 6 with GlassFish Application Server  An oldie but a goodie, it explains the whole JEE stack.  Now a little dated (and I'd prefer it written for JBoss), but much of it still applies.  The author is a good one.  Here's my review.

WildFly Performance Tuning Swinging the pendulum towards some newer stuff, here's a solid performance tuning book on WildFly.  Here's what I thought about it.

JBoss EAP Configuration, Deployment and Administration  Don't feel much like reading?  That's ok, here's a nice video you can just kick back and watch.

Learn HTML5 By Creating Fun Games Ok, I haven't actually read this one yet.  But I've got it ordered, just because it looks fun!  There are other game-writing books at Packt, too.  For $6, I'll give it a read!

Oodles of others  There are lots of interesting books on Node.JS, Angular, Karaf, Microsoft Programming, Oracle topics, some old SOA, lots of other JBoss books, etc.  For $36, you get 6 choices! 

That link again is here.

Happy browsing! 

Book Review for "Wildfly Performance Tuning" by Packt Publishing

Book Review for "Wildfly Performance Tuning" by Packt Publishing





This book focuses on the latest iteration of the JBoss JEE server, Wildfly.  Like many performance books, it offers advice that applies to performance in general, JEE specifically, and a particular technology (Wildfly) especially.

The first three chapters deal with methodology for performance tuning, tools of the trade (especially open source tools), and JVM tuning.  The first chapter contains material that will be largely familiar to anyone who's done much tuning in the past, but is good for those who are new to the discipline.  The second chapter outlines tools that will likewise be familiar to most experienced tuners.  There are some good tips here.  The third chapter explains JVM tuning, advice of this type seems to have a very limited shelf life.  Combined, these three chapters make for a good background for Java tuning.

The next six chapters deal with Wildfly.  They introduce the server in general, then specifically address EJBs, Persistence/JPA, Web Container (Undertow), Web Applications and Web Services (to include REST), and JMS.  These chapters include some really good expert-level tips.  If you are a user of Wildfly (or the product version, Red Hat's EAP) then these chapters alone will probably make the book a worthwhile purchase.  There's some good advice here for users of other JEE servers, but the real value here is for JBoss users.

Note:  Wildfly is the 'upstream' version of the JBoss JEE server.  After this server has undergone community testing and feedback, it will then enter the 'Productization' phase where Red Hat professional developers and QE testers iterate over the codebase before packaging it for commercial use.  For this reason, this book is a good look 'forward' for Red Hat JBoss EAP users.  The tips and descriptions in these six chapters describe the near future for EAP users, the present for Wildfly users.

The final chapter covers Wildfly clustering.  Like the previous Wildfly-centric chapters, there is some introductory material that will help the new user to understand the purpose of the feature and how it is used.  After that, tips specific to performance tuning are given.

I thought the book was very strong from a technical standpoint.  Users of Wildfly (future EAP) will be quite pleased with the insights the authors bring.  The advice is solid.

IMHO, the book could have used more illustration in the middle chapters.  The authors offered some good technical advice about Wildfly, and conversations of this type almost always benefit from coarse-grained illustrations that assure the reader they are grasping the concepts presented.  This fault isn't found throughout the book-- for instance, the clustering chapter is generously illustrated.  Maybe the authors were short on space, the book is over 300 pages as it is. 

All things considered, I'd recommend this book for any Wildfly / EAP user.  Users of other JEE servers (WebSphere, WebLogic) might consider it, but won't get the same bang for the buck.  Users of JEE in general should benefit strongly from the first chapters with incremental value added over the final chapters.

The book can be found here.

Happy (Performant) reading!

Now under review: Wildfly Performance Tuning

Wildfly Performance Tuning by Packt Publishing

 

JEE fans know there is a big difference between the 'old' JBoss application server and the latest.  The upstream community project is now called 'WildFly', and it's the subject of the newest Performance Tuning book from Packt.

I'm reading this book now-- watch for a review here soon.

In the meanwhile, if you'd like a look at the book you can find it here.

Packt Publishing Celebrates 10 years and $400,000 given away

Packt Publishing Celebrates 10 years and $400,000 given away.

This year marks 10 years that Packt Publishing has been publishing books and videos, often the best source for commercial books on Open Source technologies.   For users of many great Open Source projects, Packt has been the 'friendly' version of documentation-- allowing faster ramp-up at a reasonable cost.

Not only that-- Packt has proven their friendship with the Open Source community by giving $400,000 through their Open Source Project Royalty program.  That alone deserves some a big round of applause!

Do you have a new tech stack you'd like a headstart on?  For a limited time (through July 5) you can treat yourself to *any* eBook or eVideo for $10.  Something else to celebrate about!

More details are available at this link.

Congratulations, Packt.  Here's to the next 10!

Video review: "Software Architecture Fundamentals Part 1 Understanding the Basics"

Review for "Software Architecture Fundamentals, part 1  Understanding the Basics"
By Neal Ford, Mark Richards
Published by O'Reilly




This video series covers architectural issues.  The videos are presented as a small room lecture, headed by Neal Ford and Mark Richards.  (I hadn't heard of Richards before, Ford I knew from the software conference speaking circuit.)  The subjects covered are listed below.

Introduction
Architecture Soft Skills Part 1 
Continuous Delivery
Architecture Soft Skills Part 2
Understanding Large Codebases  
Architecting for Change  
Architecture Patterns Part 1  
Architecture Patterns Part 2  
Design Patterns
Architecture Anti-Patterns Part 1  
Architecture Anti-Patterns Part 2  
Tooling and Documentation 
Integration Architecture Fundamentals 
Enterprise Architecture Concepts and Fundamentals

Some of these are short (20 minutes or so), others can go over 40 minutes.  I used a video player that allowed me to control the speed of playback so I could go faster or slower depending on my perceived mastery of the topic.  I liked this.

Ford and Richards both spoke in a clear and straightforward manner.  It's obvious that both are experienced in the topic of software architecture, and they had plenty of valuable tips and insights.  For the most part, the conversations were interesting.  Each talk was accompanied by slideshow bullet points, these were always legible and well put together.  There was a live audience of a few people present at the taping, these people would occasionally ask a question of the speakers.  All things considered, the presentation is excellent.

The knowledge provided is mostly useful information.  A few times the speakers went into territory I consider a little unrealistic, but perhaps this is just my bias formed from years of working in fairly sedentary environments.  (Ford is well-known for lectures about polyglot programming, which I've always considered an immature move towards 'playing with new toys', but your mileage may vary.)   The parts of the lecture I discounted were few, so this should not be considered a harsh criticism.

The parts of the lecture I found most interesting were those that dealt with version control schemes, build techniques, and documentation.  I haven't seen a lot of other material about these topics, so I found the ideas presented of interest.  These parts weren't necessarily better than the others, just topics I found of interest.  I've been a certified architect for over a decade (and a practicing one before that), so I wasn't surprised by some of the other material.  That's not to say there was nothing to learn, just that not all of it was new to me.  What is new might differ for you, based on the career you've had.

At one point Richards claims there are 52 states in the USA, 2 more than proper but 6 less than counted by some politicians.  That's about the only egregeous error I've found in the series.

So, what's the verdict?  I consider these videos well worth the time spent watching.  I took notes on each chapter so I could improve my personal 'bag of tricks', leveraging the experience of these accomplished architects.  Given the high cost of experience, the price of this video series is a bargain.

 Happy Viewing!

Video Series Review: "Pentaho Reporting"

Do you sometimes have a need to produce reports?  I surely have!  No matter how technical my job, it seems I've always had a need to demonstrate trends, provide information, help sell some idea.  For all of these, reports are called for.  This review is about a tool that can help you when you need to write slick, professional reports.  That tool is Pentaho Reporting.

If you're like me, you may know Pentaho as the "Kettle company".  Kettle is an open source ETL engine, and it is very useful.  If you work with batch data, you probably ought to have a look at Kettle soon if you haven't done so already.  It really is slick.

This video series mostly involves the "Pentaho Reporting" tool, though.  The video series is broken up into 8 chapters, each composed of some number of sub-units (3 or 4 seems about average).  The runtime for each video is very reasonable, usually 5 minutes or a little longer.  The moderator's voice is pleasant and proper.  The pace of presentation seems about right.

The contents of each section are presented logically.  The highlights:

Lesson 1
Installation.  Opening, saving reports.  Making PDF, etc.
Making a report using a Wizard
Adding database drivers, defining a report from scratch (no wizard)
Customizing a report (headers, grouping, adding graphics, etc.)

Lesson 2
Setting up Eclipse/Tomcat.  Embedding a report in a servlet.  Embedding in a Swing app.  Compressed reports, writing reports through a Java API.


Lesson 3
Configuring the JDBC data sources
Configuring data sources for OLAP engines, XML, Pentaho Kettle, etc.

Lesson 4
Charts and illustrations

Lesson 5
Parameters in reports.  Limiting query results by parameter, specifying this parameter from the Java API. 
Functions and expressions.  Summarizing groups and making totals.  Showing page numbers in footers.

Lesson 6
Subreports and Cross-tab reports (i.e. a report that shows totals by month). 
How to enable this experimental feature.
 
Lesson 7
Java API to capture events (with a listener), links and mouse events.
HTML reports with interactive links, firing interactive javascript, tying formulas to a button, manipulating the HTML DOM.

Lesson 8
Using Pentaho Reporting with Pentaho Business Itelligence Server.
Setting up the server.  Managing users, roles, scheduling reports.  Setting up automatic emailing of scheduled rpts.
Pentaho Data Integration ('Kettle').  Setting up a small Transformation that kicks off a Reporting job.  Including the Transformation in a Job.  Running the Job both from the IDE and command line.

Does that sound like a lot?  It is a lot to learn!  But fortunately, much of it is intuitive once you see the general way of doing things.  I built some reports along the way, to validate my understanding of what I was seeing.  It's easy once you get going!  Pentaho Reporting also seems like a very capable tool.

So, what's the end verdict?  I highly recommend this video series to anyone tasked with writing reports.  It really does make learning the tool easy, and the video series can be used as a reference if you're already going with Pentaho Reporting.  Watching the videos is painless and relatively quick.  It's hard to think of a downside for this series.

The videos can be found here.

Happy Reporting!

Now in Review: "Pentaho Reporting" video series

Hello Readers,

I had a good experience with my previous JBoss instructional video review, so I'll be following that one up with another video.

This one is another great open source product, Pentaho Reporting.  The series is from Packt, it can be found at this link.

I'll give it a view and should have a review soon.

Happy Coding!

Rick

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!

Now Under Review: Video Series on JBoss EAP

Readers of this blog are used to finding book reviews for programming materials here.  Today I am trying something new-- a technical video review.




The video series is over some familiar territory-- JBoss EAP Configuration, Administration and Deployment.  I've started watching today and should have a review out in the near future.

Watch this space for my impression of this medium soon.

The Video can be found here.

Book Review for "JBoss EAP6 High Availability"

JEE servers are all about "Enterprise" functionality.  A big part of the value proposition is High Availability, meaning you can harden your servers so a failure won't deprive your clients of the ability to make use of your services.  This book covers High Availability for the most recent version of Red Hat's commercial server, EAP 6.

The book is written in a very clear, well-illustrated manner that explains very plainly how to achieve load balancing and failover with EAP 6.  The early chapters explain how to obtain and set up the JBoss App Server, which is advantageous if you haven't looked at the server lately.  (It underwent a major re-write since the old 'heavy server' days.)  The methods used to deploy applications have changed too, so these are also explained.

The third chapter is where clustering begins.  This leads us to the only demerit apparent for this book:  it's scope is constrained to web-tier clustering.  (This means other clustering aspects, like messaging clustering and EJB clustering go undescribed.)  The coverage it provides within it's scope is outstanding.  You are given very explicit (and easy to understand) instructions on how to test and validate your cluster.

Web-tier clustering means you need a load balancer, and this book covers two of these well.  Both of these are hosted in Apache httpd, so it is also covered from acquisition, compilation, configuration and validation points of view.  (To repeat that:  if you know absolutely nothing about httpd, this book will show you how to get it, compile it, and run it.)  Once httpd is in place, you are given detailed coverage of mod_jk and mod_cluster, two load balancers that plug into httpd.  Both are described simply and thoroughly.

There are two chapters for SSL, these again give you everything you need from A to Z.  The author describes certificates, how they are used, how you can produce one, and how to configure your cluster to use it.  Your efforts are validated through use of tools like WireShark (naturally, we are shown how to use WireShark to do this.)  There isn't much left for the user to wonder about-- thorough, well-illustrated coverage is the order of the day.

The final chapter of the book describes JEE applications that are built for clustering.  Not much exciting here, JEE makes it pretty easy.

The book has a good number of illustrations.  These are simple and clear, exactly the kind of thing a knowledgeable colleague might sketch on a whiteboard.  Except the lines are all perfect.

The final verdict?  This is a really good book.  The author has a knack for explaining things clearly and directly.  If you wish to cluster web applications on JBoss EAP 6, this book should be on your shelf.

The book can be found here.

Happy Clustering!