BOE XIR2 cmsdbsetup failure on Oracle10g

If you use Unix, and need to migrate your Business objects CMS from one database to another database, you will probably use the cmsdbsetup.sh script. This script migrates and manages your database connection in a Unix environment using Business Objects Enterprise (BOE).

In my case I am Using Solaris 9, and have Oracle 10g databases and client files for use by BOE.

When running the cmsdbsetup.sh script you get the following error pertaining to clntsh:

           Business Objects 

Current CMS Data Source: DBNAME 

err: Error: Failed to get cluster name.
err: Error description: Unable to load clntsh 

select (Select a Data Source)
reinitialize (Recreate the current Data Source)
copy (Copy data from another Data Source)
changecluster (Change current cluster name)
selectaudit (Select an Auditing Data Source) 

[select(6)/reinitialize(5)/copy(4)/changecluster(3)/selectaudit(2)/back(1)/quit(0)]
----------------------------------------------------------

This error “Unable to load clntsh” refers to the libclntsh.so library used by the Oracle client. Since BOE runs as 32bit, the 32bit Oracle client libraries should be accessible by the user running BOE.

If you are running a 64 bit Unix and a 64bit Oracle install check that the environment for the user running BOE (user that will run the CMS) has the 32bit libraries in the path:
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:$ORACLE_HOME/lib:$ORACLE_HOME/lib32

Then check that either the user is a member of the Oracle dba Unix group or everyone has permissions to access the 32bit libraries under Oracle 10g:

su - oracle
chmod o+rx $ORACLE_HOME/lib32/*

Feel free to leave any comments if you need help with this.

Bootcamp 3.0 fixes WinXP BSOD for Multitouch Trackpad

Apple released Bootcamp 2.1 with OS 10.5, which allows you to dual boot to Windows XP/Vista on your Mac.
Subsequenet to that release, there was a driver update for the Multitouch trackpad which was suppose to improve souble tapping, etc. However it caused a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) the moment you double tapped, courtesy of applemtp.sys.

Many people sent suggestions to Apple to fix this, but it seemed to be falling on deaf ears.

Little did we know that Apple were releasing a new version of the touchpad driver included with Bootcamp 3.0 on the Snow Leopard install DVD.

I’ve updated my Bootcamp to 3.0, and indeed the applemtp.sys driver version has increased to 2.1.2.112. The FAQ for the Snow Leopard update states that Bootcamp 3.0 has:

“Improved tap-to-click support – The ability to tap the track pad to click the mouse button is now supported on all Mac portables that run Boot Camp.”

In my tests, so far, there has been no more crashes. I get to use double finger right click tap, and the track pad responsiveness that I got in the older buggy driver is back as well.

Thanks Apple. No more BSOD.

Snow Leopard: WWAN using Merlin XU870 ExpressCard

This is the same issue I’ve posted on a couple of forums. It’s seemed detailed enough to be a blog post, so here it is. Under 10.5.8 (Leopard) I was successfully using my Merlin XU870 ExpressCard (supplied by ISP) with Three Broadband (3) in Australia. I did not use the 3 drivers, but used the Leopard WWAN built-in to connect. There was never an issue as Leopard detected the card as a “Novatel Wireless HSDPA Modem”, and I configured the Network Advanced settings for 3 postpaid services as:

• Vendor: Novatel Wireless Inc.
• Model: GSM
• APN: 3netaccess
• CID: 1

I installed Snow Leopard as an Upgrade (not a fresh install) after having a CCC backup and a Time machine backup in place.

When I plugged in my 3 expresscard, 10.6 detects the card, initialises and populates the WWAN icon with “Telstra 3G: Not Configured”.

It detects the card as a “Novatel Wireless HSDPA Modem”, and automatically configures the Network Advanced settings of the card, as shown:

The question is: Why is the APN telstra.datapack setup as default?

I am able to change the APN to 3netaccess, which results in a successful connection to 3:
Wed Sep 2 15:38:25 2009 : Initializing phone: ATE0V1&F&D2&C1S0=0
Wed Sep 2 15:38:25 2009 : Initializing PDP context: AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","3netaccess"
Wed Sep 2 15:38:25 2009 : Initializing with secondary command: AT$NWPDN=0
Wed Sep 2 15:38:25 2009 : Dialing: ATD*99***1#
Wed Sep 2 15:38:25 2009 : Waiting for connection
Wed Sep 2 15:38:25 2009 : Connection established
Wed Sep 2 15:38:28 2009 : Serial connection established.
Wed Sep 2 15:38:28 2009 : Using interface ppp0
Wed Sep 2 15:38:28 2009 : Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/cu.wwan
Wed Sep 2 15:38:32 2009 : Could not determine remote IP address: defaulting to 10.64.***.***
Wed Sep 2 15:38:32 2009 : local IP address 115.130.***.***
Wed Sep 2 15:38:32 2009 : remote IP address 10.64.***.***
Wed Sep 2 15:38:32 2009 : primary DNS address 202.124.68.182
Wed Sep 2 15:38:32 2009 : secondary DNS address 202.124.65.22

The annoying thing is the WWAN menu still shows Telstra when connected.


Looking at the WWAN system file:
cd /System/Library/Extensions/IOSerialFamily.kext/\
Contents/PlugIns/AppleWWANSupport.kext/Contents/\
Resources/
less countryCodes.plist
it has only Telstra, Optus and Vodafone carriers listed. I think this could be the cause of the default APN being populated in the Advanced settings. I can’t find where the “Telstra 3G” in the WWAN menu item is coming from though.

I’d appreciate if anyone can give their thoughts on how to fix this.

PHP5 Zip Support on OpenBSD 4.5

This is a cheat sheet on getting PHP5 on OpenBSD to have zip support. I needed this to get CiviCRM to work with Joomla.

First off install some require packages, including the zziplib package:

export PKG_PATH=http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/OpenBSD/4.5/packages/i386/
pkg_add -v zziplib
pkg_add -v autoconf-2.62

Now download and extract the PECL zip package:

mkdir /usr/local/src/
cd /usr/local/src/
wget http://pecl.php.net/get/zip
tar zxvf zip
cd zip-1.10.2/

Compile PECL zip, making sure you set your correct autoconf to use:

export AUTOCONF_VERSION=2.62
phpize
./configure
make
make install

Finally setup php5 and restart httpd:

cat << EOF >> /var/www/conf/php.ini
extension=zip.so
EOF
sudo apachectl stop
sudo apachectl start


Of course, this will go stale over time as new releases and versions come out, so YMMV.

Google iPhone Application roundup

Todays post is a 2009 midyear round up of the status of the Google Mobile applications: Latitude, Voice, Docs, Mail, Maps and Reader. My focus is on the iPhone mobile platform.

• Google Latitude

  Google Latitude is their location and status message product. The application up until now has been available on other phone platforms such as Android, but lacking on iPhone.

  In the mean time, iPhone users have had to look elsewhere. There are other similar products that perform locational “check-ins” and integrate with services such as Twitter. Brightkite is an example of a well written locational application.

  Google had actually written a Latitude application for iPhone, but it was rejected. Apple were concerned that it was too similar to the Maps app shipped with iPhone.

  Google decided to go ahead and rewrite Latitude as a webapp for the iPhone. It was announced late July 2009, and can be accessed from the Google mobile home page or by using the Google Mobile application.

• Google Voice

  The recent controversy with the rejected Google Voice application hangs in the air. This week David Pogue (via Mashable) blogged about Google rewriting their rejected application as a webapp, much the same as Latitude now runs.

  If they get this stood up, this will be the next step in the move from the old school to the new, being VOIP. With Skype possibly on the way out by 2010, Google may fill the void – albeit with many more functions than a simple VOIP application.

  For the time being, there is no iPhone capability for Google Voice.

• Google Docs

  Google docs is currently accessible on the iPhone from Google as a mobile web application.

  The current limitation with the mobile web application is that it is view only, and does not allow sharing of your documents. To perform all the functions you need to use a full browser

• Google Mail

  The iPhone has you covered when it comes to mail. You can either use the built in email application to access Gmail via IMAP, or access the mobile web Gmail. The mobile web Gmail is full featured, and makes use of iPhone/AJAX specific web features to give you an almost dedicated app like experience.

  On the other hand, the benefit of using the built in Mail is offline reading/composing and excellent integration the the iPhone V3 cut/copy/paste features; even for photos and voice memos.

• Google Maps

  Google maps is one of the core applications of the iPhone and iPod line. It comes pre-installed from Apple. The quality of this application has increased with the current V3 firmware providing outstanding features.

• Google Reader

  There is no native application for Google reader. But don’t let this stop you. A couple of avenues are available.

  The mobile web application for reader is as mature as Google’s mobile Gmail. It allows you to perform almost all the features that the full web based reader does, and it makes use of the iPhone safari features.

  If you want something Application based – a new alternative is emerging. The NetNewsWire/FeedDaemon product suite is an RSS reader from NewsGator for the Mac/Windows platforms, respectively. They have a dedicated iPhone application that syncs with the desktop products. NewsGator recently announced that their Beta desktop products now sync with Google Reader, and that an update to their iPhone app is on the way. This solution will allow synchronisation of RSS feeds and unread item status across your Desktop and Google reader, but the dedicated iPhone app is not out yet. You can watch for their iPhone announcement from @newsgator on Twitter, or at their blog.

You can download the Google Mobile application from the iTunes store.