ODBC.ini update did not work

After running the same database for quite some time for a rails application, we finally had to change the database in odbc.ini to point to the new server. Alas we changed the odbc.ini file, shut down the old database and relaunched the application. Expecting the application to immediately start talking to the database on reboot (since we just changed an IP) we were surprised to find that the application was not connecting to the database anymore.

The rails application was connecting to SQL Server as detailed in this previous post using ODBC and FreeTDS.
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Simple Setup of SSL on Apache with mod_ssl and OpenSSL

This is a very simple way of setting up Apache with SSL from a trusted Certificate Authority(CA), just follow these steps and you will have it running in no time. I am assuming you have all the prerequisites installed, Apache with mod_ssl enabled and OpenSSL. I add the following to the server configuration (either httpd.conf or apache2.conf) so it knows to listen on port 443, you can do this in the virtual host file if you wish:

<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
NameVirtualHost *:443
</IfModule>

The next thing you will want to do is create an RSA key for your server. There are 2 ways to do this you can do it so that Apache will require a password at startup/restart, or you can do it without this added encryption. If you choose not to use encryption, you should make sure you protect this key as much as possible! Rename domainname with your actual domain name you want to secure.
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Setting Up Ubuntu for Rails Development

These are a the procedures we use to setup a PC or VM for development of a ruby on rails application.

First things first, get your install software ready.  These instructions are based on the Hardy Heron version of Ubuntu (8.04).

Install the base OS and then fire up the terminal so you can copy and paste the following commands. 

So once you have the base installed, make sure your distribution is up to date:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

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Easy Way to Change Ubuntu Usernames

If you want to change your Ubuntu user name, a very fast way to do so is via the command line.

Just type the following:

sudo usermod -l newname currentname

For more options, just type man usermod

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Rails and Microsoft Sql Server

So you want to connect your rails application to Microsoft SQL Server. The following instructions will take you through setting this up quite simply. This setup is on a a Ubuntu 8.04 server connecting to SQL Server 2000 (we will use the Northwind sample database). The first thing you need to do is install the following gems:

$ gem install dbi --version 0.4.0
$ gem install dbd-odbc --version 0.2.4
$ gem install rails-sqlserver-2000-2005-adapter -s http://gems.github.com

More info can be found on the sqlserver adapter gem development page. This is just the first step. Read the rest of this entry »