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Sausage Sizzler - Stress Testing |
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| Editorial September 25, 2002 |
G'Day Sizzlers!
I was completing some subscription management after last weeks issue and I was thrilled to find that we have a subscriber from Papa Johns! Ok half of you have never heard of this pizza chain, and neither had I until I got to the USA, however if I ever have the money I am going to buy the master franchise for Australia. Or at least my own store wherever I am living. Just to tie this into the nature of this newsletter, did you know you can even order a pizza over the Internet now? Great for those of use with high speed connections or those who don't want to get offline to dial the local store! (http://www.papajohns.com)
I am always happy to get feedback from readers, whether it be good or bad. Well it appears that a lot of you do not agree with the way we are taking the dog character. As we listen to our customers, I am going to have to sit down with Orion and have a chat with him. A compromise is in order.
For those of you who are branding experts we are trying to reinforce the Sausage as our brand, while keeping HotDog as the fun sideline character just so the world knows we have a light-hearted side as well.
Well this week we add to the development and test environment theme, with a SuperTool that will come in handy and more of Bram's series on setting up a development machine.
Keep on sizzling!
Nathan Allan
Sausage Sizzler Editor
editor@sausage.com
Hardware needs : Setting up a local development environment
Last week, I introduced what I do with a local development server and why.
This week I will be going over hardware requirements. The hardware range includes both a decent broadband-capable router as well as a computer to be the server. I have zero experience with Windows servers by choice and will be focusing almost entirely on Unix/Linux based systems.
Stepping back for a moment, when firewalls for home users first became popular, many ideas were floated as to which means was best. Was it better to have a software firewall on your PC or was it better to have a PC that acted as the gateway, sharing the connection after acting as a sometimes speed-sucking firewall?
Well, for anyone that chose the PC route, a solid, inexpensive firewall could be assembled using an old 486 and Linux. Linux is a very light, non-load intensive OS. Not that this means it is less powerful. It is!
Development environment needs vary greatly. If your company is using Vignette, your development environment may be as large and resource hungry as your live server environment. They can also be quite simple, like the one I have here, in my front closet, on a LAN, connected to the outside world via DSL.
A development server is not meant to carry a huge load. In most cases it doesn't need to have a super fast processor with gobs of RAM. My server here is actually a Gateway tower. When my old company let someone go, we decided to make that machine a development machine. This machine houses an Athol Thunderbird 700 and only 128MB RAM. It can take up to 786MB. One day I may actually double the 128MB to 256. It currently has but one 15GB HDD. I was thinking of adding a second drive in case I need the space.
This system is running Trustix 1.5, a derivation of Linux. It's also running PHP, MySQL, Perl 5.x, Apache, and a few other goodies. With Virtual Hosting, I'm currently hosting 4 different domains on that machine. They are actually domains for development but still domains.
Because Linux runs so lightly and is not a major resource hog, the PC come Server is a great tool. A machine with less of a processor and more RAM would do just as well. The same processor with more RAM would be a rocket.
One huge advantage of using a Unix/Linux based machine over Windows is resource usage. Imagine a machine running not only Windows 2000 Pro or Windows 2000 Server, but also IIS. Windows machines typically can use as much RAM as they are given. Windows 2000 and up make great use of large amounts of RAM. Needing or not needing so much RAM can make a huge difference in the kind of server you can get or build for development.
As always, if you have questions or comments, post them in the forums or send them to me.
Next week, for those of you with high speed connections, I'll be discussing the choice of a router, which is better (in my opinion). Why? The why will tie in to later discussions.
Please write with questions, comments and suggestions:
http://www.sizzlerforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=882
Discuss your experiences with Bram
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Web Roller 1.3 2000/XP US$99
http://www.webapplicationstesting.com/
So you need to stress test your web based applications. How are you going to do it? Well here is one little app that can help you.
Web Roller is a load testing tool that provides the functions necessary to test and evaluate your web based applications. It works by creating a script that will generate test data that will stress test your applications.
It then generates reports and graphs
that
will allow you to evaluate how well your application holds up.
Features include:
- Performance, load, stress and functional testing
- Rich embedded abilities of dynamic test data generation
- Accurate and realistic user simulation
- More load from less hardware
- Supports all standards
- Internet security features
- Comprehensive test reports and charts
- Intuitive user interface
This is an intelligent way to make certain your applications are ready for a real world, live test!
Review by Nathan
Peak-A-Who?
Last week I had the opportunity to present a sneak peak at a few ideas for the new HotDog mascot / logo element. The reviews range from loathsome to idea-filled or passion inspiring.
One of my favorite things about Sausage Software has been their never-ending direct involvement with its customers. This past week many of you posted your comments, thoughts, and strong feelings with regard to the new dog icon.
For those of you that might not have checked it out yet, now is your chance. Take part in the passion that will help shape the next mascot. Look at it this way: When was the last time Microsoft held an open forum on the design or feature list of one of its products?
Sausage Software is inviting all of you to come take part in their future.
Just do it!
http://www.sizzlerforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=846
Review by Bram
Tools of the Trade
In the world of design, the hoity-toity focus is on expensive brand-name software. Many of the expensive ones do lots of great things, justifying their high cost. Likewise, many of those people that use the high-end products do so because they might be too embarrassed to have to one day admit to using a lower cost product, even if it may do the same, or even better, than the hoity-toity more costly application.
Some people may be huge fans of Adobe products while others may favor Macromedia while others may favor a variety of other brands. (When it comes to HTML editors, we all of course, favor HotDog.)
Between us, I think it comes down to what makes each of us most productive. On the other hand, when it comes to sharing original files, it helps to be using similar, same or compatible software.
Is there such a thing as a standard? In the magazine printing world, the standard is a MAC that uses any variety of Adobe products as well as Quark Xpress for layout.
There are lots of designers and programmers that visit the forums and read the newsletter regularly.
What do you consider to be THE standard and why? Fill us all in:
http://www.sizzlerforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=881
Discuss with Bram
PHP Tutorials
http://www.vtc.com/php.htm?ppc
A little bit of a side step this week for the Dynamic Tip, as I have had a lot of people ask me how to learn PHP. Not being an expert myself, I had a look around to see what I could find out there.
The VTC Online University offers a course that is taught using a series of QuickTime videos. It is broken down into logical chapters, that step through theory and practical lessons. In all there are 70 movies lasting a total of nine and a half hours.
As a sample the first three chapters are available for free on the site. The cost for the full course is via subscription of US$25 per month. This subscription gives you access to all of the Online University courses.
Review by Nathan
To read the Sizzler Forums you do not need to be a member.
However to take full advantage of this resource it will only take
you a few seconds to sign up!
- Go to: http://www.sizzlerforums.com
- Read the information and click on the REGISTER button
- Fill out the form
- You will receive an email that you simply reply to
- Hey presto! Your a fully fledged Sizzler Forums member!
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