I was recently made aware of this keyboard layout. I must say that it does seem a lot more efficient, however, the learning curve is quite tough to overcome at the beginning. I will attempt to become proficient with this technique in 30 days, to prove my mental resilience.

More information here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_Simplified_Keyboard
http://www.mit.edu/~jcb/Dvorak/

At this time, I have decided not to pursue the certification.  The reason is simply because of time and because, after weighing the options, I believe putting my 100% time and effort into my doctorate will result in a higher ROI (Return On Investment) in the long run.

So I tested the settings using two virtual servers to created the gateway, and it works.  It takes some playing with, but it will eventually work after following all the instructions.

So after the testing, I decided that today will be the day that I set up the box for my home network.
I connected the gateway in between my Comcast Cable Router and my Wireless DLink router (without
doing anything at the console) because I assumed I would be able to get to it via SSH since I knew the
IP of my modem.  Funny enough, my IP must have changed this morning or something’s up, because
I can’t get to the damn thing.  So I’ve been sitting here contemplating what happened.  I’m going to have to wait until the weekend and take the time to do it all in one shot.

Either way, the moral of the story is… don’t do that.   For this project I would definitely set it up while on premises, even if that’s through SSH.  Once it’s set up, then throw it in a closet and remote into it.

Not ground breaking stuff, but a nice lesson I learned.

A new project to add to my list of projects is a fitness tracker utilizing ASP.NET (VB.NET) and AJAX.

The general functionality of the application is as follows:

• Track excercise (duration, intensity, etc)
• Track diet (foods, portions, calories, etc)
• Reporting Features (up to date graphs of calories, etc)
• Body fat evaluator
• Weight tracker
• Diet, fitness and weight planner

More to come…

I found this great article regarding using SelfSSL (Self Signed Certificates).  The original document can be found here.  Virtual Server can be found here.

I followed the very easy instructions and it ran great.  Here is a shorter version of the directions and the links to get everything you need:

1. Download and install IIS 6.0 Resource kit: here
2. Open the IIS Manager (Start > Run > inetmgr), open the properties of the Virtual Server website (usually the 2nd one) (right click > Properties)
3. Change the SSL port to 1024 (default VS port) and change the TCP port to 1020 (or any other port number) > Apply
4. Open a command promt (Start > Run > cmd) and go to the SelfSSL director (/program files/iis resources/selfssl) and run the following command > selfssl /N:CN=<FQDN>/K:1024 /V:730 /S:2 /P:1024
   1. Where <FQDN> is the website domain name (ie. steve-oh.com, yahoo.com, etc) and /S:2 means the second site on the server.
5. Now browse to the Virtual Server website and install the certificate and you’re done!

Now you have a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) connection from any remote computer to your server at 1028 bit encryption, so you can rest easy when logging in over the internet.

So I set up a Virtual Private Network (VPN) for remote access to my home.  It was a lot easier than I had anticipated as it only took about 35 minutes.  However, there are some things to note about my implementation.

1. PPTP was used (instead of L2TP/IPSec) due to the simplicity
2. ISA 2004 was used to create the VPN
3. Windows 2003 Server VPN services were installed before VPN creation
4. I am currently using Microsoft Vista Business Edition as the VPN client.  Windows XP has not been tested.

The directions downloaded here were quite long, so I can only assume (and reasonably so) that the VPN I have set up is very basic and is not the ultimate in security.  I actually only used some of Chapter 4 (about ~68% of it) to get it established and connected.  I verified connectivity and everything is working beautifully.  One thing, when I initially connected I was unable to hit the internet or anything else and I noticed that the default gateway for the VPN was set to 0.0.0.0  After a bit of research I had to set the VPN to not use the Default Gateway of the VPN, and then everything worked like a dream.

My next task is utilize the increased security of L2TP/IPSec and use the certificates.

Using ISA 2004 made it a lot easier than I anticipated.  Below is the list of the actual steps I took, generalized of course:

1. Install Remote Access / VPN role on Server 2003
2. Enable VPN connections through ISA 2004]
3. Create access rules allow VPN users to connect to the internal network
4. Enable Dial-in access to VPN user accounts
   1. I wasn’t sure this was going to work as I do not have an Active Directory environment, but it was of no concern.  Instead of accessing the user properties via the Active Directory Users and Computers MMC snap-in, you simply go to Computer Management and edit the same option on the local user’s properties.
5. Test it!

I’m currently on the track to earn two masters degrees (Information Security and Computer Science) and a doctorate in Computer Science.  Well, I’ve decided that I would like to earn a certification as well.  There are a few reasons for my choice, but the main reasons are 1) programming is my passion, 2) I have web programming experience and would like to validate it with a certification, 3) the potential work oppurtunities will increase with the certification, and 4) I chose this certification as opposed to an MCSA or MCSE because it only requires 2 exams and because I feel that the experiences I already have can validate my Network Administrator experience.

The certification is the Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS), particularly the MCTS: .NET Framework 2.0 Web Applications using VB.NET.  My initial goal was to earn it within 6 months from today as I continue my traditional education, however, since the books I purchased won’t be here until the end of August and the other at the end of December.  The two books I ordered from Amazon are the much awaited books byAmit Kalani.

“MCTS 70-536 Exam Prep: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Foundation Exam (Exam Cram 2)”
Amit Kalani; Hardcover; $40.79

“MCTS 70-528 Exam Prep: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Web-based Client Development Exam (Exam Cram 2)”
Amit Kalani; Paperback; $40.79

So my goal has evolved to 6 months from the reciept of the first book should be arriving at the end of August, and at 3 months per exam that gives me from Sept - Nov for the first and Dec - Feb for the second, all while I continue schooling.

This will be interesting… I will keep you updated!

My current project list is as follows:

• Unix Firewall / Gateway (using FreeBSD)
  • The Guide I will be using can be found here.  If I have time I’m going to write my own since this one is rather long.
• Microsoft ISA Firewall / Gateway (using ISA 2004 and Server 2003) (7/17/2007) - Removed
• VPN Tunnel to allow remote access (using ISA 2004)  *done*
  • Guides: here and here
• AJAX / ASP.NET shopping cart (7/1/2007)
• ASP.NET / AJAX Fitness Tracker (7/1/2007)
• Content Management System for this website
• Encrypt Virtual Server Traffic *done*
  • Use SSL for transmission of all data, including initial log-in

That’s about it for now.  If you have any suggestions as to functionality, How-To’s, or any comments, please let me know!

So I was looking at an ex-coworker of mine’s website (he does web development consulting) and I saw a project he had created which was a photo gallery.  Now, it’s serves it’s purpose, and it’s pretty quick (pretty efficient) but it’s just ugly as hell and doesn’t really do much.  That might have been it’s purpose, and while I love the bare-minimum approach to creating web applications to allow for a more professional and functional application, it was a bit too plan.  So what I am considering doing, as my first personal project for this half of the year, is create a photo album that utilizes JavaScript, ASP.NET and AJAX.  The latter being the challenge because I do not know how to code is AJAX.

Now this photo album / gallery is going to be able to be plug and play with only a few things to configure.  Similarly, I want to build in the functionality of simply FTPing images to a folder and having the application load them in.  That would be a much quicker way of uploading images.  The only opensource app I’ve seen to possess this functionality is Coppermine Photo Gallery, which is pretty good, but the uploading of images one at a time is not a desirable trait.

More to come…

I’ve been working on my new personal website for quite awhile now (2 weeks) and have finally resolved the domain issues that took the site offline for about a week.

I’ve been toying with the idea of the necessity of having a blog and a website, and have decided on the following: the blog will be used for works in progress, notes and thoughts, and non-concrete things.  The website, however, will be used for final reporting and putting projects and thoughts ‘on the books’.  That way there’s a use and purpose for both.

 I hope you enjoy the website and visit it often.  I will try to updat it regularly, which will probably be once every 2 days as I populate it, and then once every few days thereafter.