Happy New Year!!

Well it has been far too long since I graced the pages of my blog, or updated my photo gallery.  Well that is about to change (at least I hope).

On the photo front, I've broken down and have a new laptop (a Dell XPS), and most importantly Adobe PhotoShop and Adobe Ligthroom.  Let me start off with saying Lightroom rocks. No knock to gimp and dcraw, but I never quite got the juju for messing with RAW files on my FreeBSD boxes. Additionally not have any real colour management has been an issue.  Now that I've been shooting RAW and comparing to the JPEG output, it's making me kick my ass that I didn't shoot RAW all the time.  To use a photographer pun

Now I've seen the light!!

Citrix 2k3 Tuning Changes.

After much work, here are some common Citrix 2k3 tuning changes I often make:


HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\TCPIP\Parameters

• DWORD MaxUserPort and set to 65534 (new entry)
• DWORD TcpWindowSize and set to 65535
• DWORD MaxFreeTcbs and set to 72000 (new entry)
• DWORD MaxHashTableSize and set to 65536 (new entry)
• DWORD TcpTimedWaitDelay and set to 60 (new entry)
• DWORD KeepAliveTime 300000 (new entry)
• DWORD KeepAliveInterval 1000 (new entry)
• DWORD TcpMaxDataRetransmissions 10 (new entry)
• DWORD NumTcbTablePartitions 4 *<numcpu> (new entry)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\TCPIP\Parameters\Interfaces\{OID}

• DWORD TcpAckFrequency 13 for gigE 5 for FE (new entry)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Citrix\XTEConfig

• DWord MaxThreads 255 (new entry)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Current Control Set\Control\File System

• DWORD SecondLevelDataCache <CPU CACHE SIZE> (new entry)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

• DWORD DisablePagingExecutive 1
• DWORD SecondLevelDataCache <CPU CACHE SIZE>
• DWORD IoPageLockLimit 65536 (new value)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\7.0\FeatureLockdown

• DWORD BEFIPrintMe 0
• DWORD bPurchaseAcro 0
• DWORD bUpdater 0
• DWORD bRegisterProduct 0
• DWORD bShowAdsAllow 0

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\7.0\AdobeViewer

• DWORD EULA 0

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\7.0\Updater

• DWORD bShowAutoUpdateConfDialog 0
• DWORD bShowNotifDialog 0
• DWORD iUpdateFrequency 0

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\7.0\Originals

• DWORD bDisplaySplash 0

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main

• DWORD Force Offscreen Composition 1

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Common

• DWORD QMEnable 0

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters

• DWORD IRPStackSize 15 (new value)
• DWORD SizReqBuf 32768 (new value)
• DWORD MaxMpxCt 1024 (new value)
• DWORD MaxWorkItems 4096 (new value)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Lanman\WorkStation\Paramters

• DWORD UtilizeNTCaching 0 (new value)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinSatations\ICA-tcp\UserOveride\Control Panel\Desktop

• "AutoEndTasks" ="1"
• "MenuShowDelay"=10"
• "CursorBlinkRate"="-1"
• "DragFullWindows"="0"
• "WaitToKillAppTimeout"="20000"
• "SmoothScroll" = dword:0
• "Wallpaper" = "<advaniswall paper>"

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinSatations\ICA-tcp\UserOveride\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics

• "MinAnimate"="0"

(NOTE these could also be RDP-tcp)
HEKY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

• REG_SZ AlwaysUnloadDLL 1

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop

• REG_SZ MenuShowDelay 10

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main

• DWORD "Force Offscreen Composition" 1 (new value)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ICABrowser\Parameters

• REG_SZ DisabledTcpAddress <IPADDR OF INTERFACE TO DISABLE> (new value)

From some of the following:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q120642/
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q158474/
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324270/en-us
http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServer/en/library/db56b4d4-a351-40d5-b6b1-998e9f6f41c91033.mspx?mfr=true
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/interopmigration/unix/sfu/perfnfs.mspx#EWF

Useful Postgres Queries

Getting a list of dbnames

/usr/local/bin/psql -q -t -A -h -d template1 -c "SELECT datname FROM pg_database WHERE datname not in ('template0','template1')"

Getting a list of name spaces for a given DB

/usr/local/bin/psql -q -t -A -h -d < DB > -c " select schemaname from pg_tables where schemaname not in ('pg_catalog','information_schema') group by schemaname"

Getting a list of tables (including name spaces)

/usr/local/bin/psql -q -t -A -h -d < DB > --field-separator "." -c "select schemaname,tablename from pg_tables where schemaname not in ('pg_catalog','information_schema')"

Getting a list of locks on the DB server (from within a psql prompt)

SELECT procpid, usename ,datname, (now() - query_start) as age, c.relname , l.mode, l.granted FROM pg_stat_activity a LEFT OUTER JOIN pg_locks l ON (a.procpid = l.pid) LEFT OUTER JOIN pg_class c ON (l.relation = c.oid);

Looking at what is connected to a given Database name (from within a psql prompt)

select * from pg_stat_activity where datname='< DB >';

DON'T TAKE ME IF I DON'T WANT TO GO

After Mr. and Mrs. Fenton retired, Mrs. Fenton insisted her husband accompany her on her trips to Wal-Mart.  Unfortunately, Mr. Fenton was like most men--he found shopping boring and preferred to get in and get out. Equally unfortunately, Mrs. Fenton was like most women--she loved to browse.  One day Mrs. Fenton received the following letter from her local Wal-Mart.
Dear Mrs. Fenton,
Over the past six months, your husband has been causing quite a commotion in our store.   We cannot tolerate this behavior and may be forced to ban both of you from the store.  Our complaints against Mr. Fenton are listed below and are documented by our video surveillance cameras.

June 15: Took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in people's carts when they weren't looking.
July 2: Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.
July 7: Made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the women's restroom.
July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official voice, "Code 3 in Housewares. Get on it right away.
August 4: Went to the Service Desk and tried to put a bag of M&M's on layaway.
September 14: Moved a "CAUTION - WET FLOOR" sign to a carpeted area.
September 15: Set up a tent in the camping department and told other shoppers he'd invite them in if they would bring pillows and blankets from the bedding department.
September 23: When a clerk asked if they could help him he began crying and screamed, "Why can't you people just leave me alone?"
October 4: Looked right into the security camera and used it as a mirror while he picked his nose.
November 10: While handling guns in the hunting department, he asked the clerk where the antidepressants were.
December 3: Darted around the store suspiciously while loudly humming the " Mission Impossible" theme.
December 6: In the auto department, he practiced his "Madonna look" by using different sizes of funnels.
December 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed through, yelled "PICK ME! PICK ME!"And last, but not least.
December 23: Went into a fitting room, shut the door, waited awhile, then yelled very loudly, "Hey! There's no toilet paper in here!"

Regards,
WalMart

The Nasty Bits:

Just powered though Anthony Bourdain The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps, and Bones. It's a colection of odds and sods from his other writings.  If you like Anthony's schtick from his various TV shows, then this might give you a chuckle.

More Later....
G