kjarrett

Hi all, Looking to ramp up my knowledge about log files. I've downloaded a log from one of my TCH sites and have it open in Wordpad. I can see some things I understand, but there's so much data, how do you make sense of it? Anything to look for specifically? I'm most interested in knowing if there have been any attacks on my site in the recent past. Will the logs help me understand this? Thanks in advance. -kj-

These errors have started popping up on our website (http://www.ncs-nj.org). We had a problem yesterday that was resolved with this fix: http://noc.postnuke.com/tracker/index.php?...p_id=5&atid=101 I don't think the issues are related but who knows? We've never gotten these errors before. I am trying to determine the cause. Has anyone encountered them? I am going to post on/search the PostNuke forums as well - just want to check in here first. Thanks. -kj-

Hard to believe this happened to someone else so long ago. This took our site down yesterday. Here's the fix: http://noc.postnuke.com/tracker/index.php?...p_id=5&atid=101 Just in case it happens to anyone else. -kj-

I just noticed that the latest Google Toolbar has a built in spell-checker. You are right, this is an issue for our base image, and we use Altiris (it's great). Dedicated hosting isn't going to help us, as you can see above, aspell was removed, so we'll need another solution, client-side for sure. -kj-

Well, spend some time checking out the control panels/database entries to see how it's working, and, prepare to be AMAZED... -kj-

We're talking a K-8 school here, guys, with many students blogging ... not my own individual blog. Rolling out a client-side solution to 400+ desktops is no easy task. I understand the limitations of a server-side solution and so for now I'll just have the kids compose their posts in Word and paste into the blog window. Thanks anyhew, -kj-

Actually Wordpress' default spam countermeasures are pretty decent. I had good results with those and Kitten's Spaminator up until I tried Bad Behavior (awesome) and SK2 (also amazing). Those two are proving unbeatable. -kj-

Akogo, Did you get anywhere with this? I've been wanting to do the same thing but haven't had much success. -kj-

Using Wordpress 1.5.2, need a spell checker, found this: http://www.coldforged.org/archives/2004/12...-for-wordpress/ Supposed to be the best out there. It requires an open source Unix executable called aspell: http://aspell.sourceforge.net/ see also http://aspell.sourceforge.net/man-html/Ins...html#Installing I chatted with Tech Support and was told it was available for dedicated accounts but not for shared accounts. I need this feature to enable spell checking for the blogs we run at my school: http://www.ncs-tech.org/?page_id=336 Is there no other option for Wordpress spelling plugins? And is this a definite no? Would anyone else here benefit from a WP spell check plugin? TIA, -kj-

I had this same problem. Was hit by comment spam, and was getting notices several days later for comments I'd already nuked. I just installed Bad Behavior and Spam Karma 2, and life is good, but I was wondering why my emails were showing up late. Guess I was not the only one. -kj-

Guys, Wordpress 1.5+ has built-in features that kill comment spammers dead. It's all in the options section. Go to www.wordpress.org and the forums will explain anything you need to know. I also use Kitten's Spaminator with GREAT results. For a while I was getting spam all the time. Now, it's been weeks since I've seen one hit. No reason to run away from blogging - if you're using Wordpress. Enjoy! -kj-

Disregard ... seems in fact to be a Wordpress issue: http://wordpress.org/support/topic.php?id=16310 Thanks, -kj-

Ever since DST (I think) my blog does not report the correct time unless I set it to GMT -4 I have always used GMT -5 (Eastern Time) and have never had to change it until now. Anyone encounter this? Liz P. checked the servers and I'm told they are fine. TIA, -kj-

Thanks all. So subdomains are the answer. No problem enforcing the AUP. I'm the district webmaster and the whole reason we want to move our teachers' sites off personal servers onto ours, where we have direct access and control. If need be, we'll buy more space. -kj-

Hello, we host our school web page at TCH: http://ncs-nj.org. I want to give my teachers the ability to upload and manage their own web pages. I already have a directory called "teachers" on our web server and have been uploading files given to me on CD. I want to let teachers FTP the files themselves but I want them to have their own username/password and not be able to see anything other than the teachers folder. Some may want to use Frontpage as well. Is this possible? Thanks! -kj-

Yep. What he said. So far so good. -kj-

I must have, but, I could never figure it out. :-) -kj-

I was using SK previously. Was OK, and killed comments well, but I couldn't figure out how to stop getting emailed and asked to "approve comments" that it had killed. Kitten's Spaminator is SO simple, SO easy, and SO powerful, I don't think there is any comparsion. One thing is certain, if SK is working for you, don't change! -kj-

Arg. Ok. Thanks. -kj-

Thanks for the replies gentlemen. I am not using SpamKarma, though I once was. I deleted everything in the blog folders when installing/upgrading to 1.5 Strayhorn. I did open a ticket, though for now I have dealt with the comment spam issue, thanks to the most delicous and highly lethal plugin, Kitten's Spaminator. Kills comment spam DEAD. I never even see the posts, though I am enjoying all my notification emails coming to my mailbox: [http://www.kevin-jarrett.net/blog] Spaminator: Spammer caught! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee! TAKE THAT YOU SCUM SUCKING COMMENT SPAM LOWLIFE!!! I'll turn off the email notifications eventually, but, they're just too much fun to watch!!! BWWWWAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAHAHAHAAA!!! -kj- p.s. Yes, it's the little things that make life worth living. ;-)

I've had this problem for a while but thought it was something I had done that would go away when I upgraded to 1.5 ... nope. I am trying to update the options page for my blog to include entries for my comment blacklist. When I do I get this: >>> Not Acceptable An appropriate representation of the requested resource /blog/wp-admin/options.php could not be found on this server. Apache/1.3.33 Server at www.kevin-jarrett.net Port 80 <<< Someone on the Wordpress Support forums who happens to have their blog hosted here @ TCH wrote this: >>> I've encountered the same thorny problem. What happens is that the hosting company decided to use something like mod_security to deflect possible spam-tainted data before it reaches the Apache server. Problem is, when people have a list of ban words and try to update WP's options (../wp-admin/options.php), mod_security sees that list and thinks it's spam-tainted. This occurs even when you're not trying to change the blacklisted words, because the form sends out all the data including the list. Deleting the list should solve the problem but at the cost of bloggers not having control over what to ban. <<< Can anyone help? I'd hate to have to move my three domains (including the one for my school) but this is not acceptable. I need to be able to update this page. I've checked the permissions and they're ok, tried several alternatives, nothing helped. Thanks, kj

I know enough PHP and MySQL to be dangerous and have configured a few PHP-based blogs on my accounts here. I'd like to get this software installed: http://www.theospi.org/ and can't make heads or tails out of these directions. WTF is Tomcat? Do we have it here at TCH? Can anyone help? Thanks, kj >>>>> Guide for getting OSP 1.5 up and running Software requirements * tomcat 4.1.18+ (we've done some limited testing on tomcat 5, without any issue) * java 1.4.1+ * access to mysql, oracle, or postgresql database Introduction Setup can now be completely performed from the web interface. No more modifying config files, and running ant tasks. The web interface will create your database connection, create your tables, allow you to configure common properties, manage users, and more. Follow these instructions * copy the portfolio.war into the $TOMCAT_HOME/webapps directory * copy your database driver into $TOMCAT_HOME/common/lib o The database driver is a JAR file located somewhere in your database directory hierarchy, or available for download from your database vendor o Oracle: Typically this is at $ORACLE_HOME/jdbc/lib/ojdbc14.jar or similar o MySQL: You can download the my SQL driver at http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/j/3.0.html * start tomcat * point a browser to http://localhost:8080/portfolio * login with admin/admin * goto admin menu/database * setup your database properties o For Oracle: Database Class Name: oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver; JDBC URL: jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521:foliotst (if the database is named "foliotst" and lives on your local machine) * after database properties validate, create tables * restart tomcat * logon again with admin/admin * goto admin menu/authentication * select 'Database' authentication type * check validate, click submit * goto admin menu/properties * configure properties, validate, and submit * goto admin menu/add user, create a user with user type of admin * restart tomcat * relogon with user you created in step 16, admin/admin will not work anymore You are done. Notes The database connection pool is no longer setup in tomcat's server.xml. Following the process above will create a $TOMCAT_HOME/webapps/portfolio.xml file with the portfolio context definition automatically. The context definition includes the database connection pool properties. Do not include a portfolio context in your server.xml you will have problems. If you are using tomcat 5, the context file will be created as $TOMCAT_HOME/conf/Catalina/localhost/portfolio.xml While you can still use the 'db' ant task to create and populate the database, using the web interface will save you the pain of having to create db-type-mappings in your dbloader.xml. The web interface reads the properties from your driver and does this all for you.

Beauty! Thanks.

Hi all, I've used FormMail before (just not on TCH). I've managed to get a form built (http://www.kevin-jarrett.net/ncs-tech/request-template.htm) and the script installed & configured ... the prog is executing (thanks Rick), but I'm getting this error now: Application Error An error has occurred in the program Invalid [] range "þƒ¿¿¿¾€-3" in transliteration operator at formmail.pl line 569. Pasting the code into Excel to get line numbers, I see this as the code in question (full routine quoted, complete script attached): if ($secure) { # Allow no unusual characters and impose a length limit. We # need to allow extended ASCII characters because they can # occur in non-English names. $realname =~ tr# a-zA-Z0-9_\-,./'\200-377##dc; $realname = substr $realname, 0, 128; } else { # Be as generous as possible without opening any known or # strongly suspected relaying holes. $realname =~ tr#()\\#{}/#; } Specifically, line 569 is "$realname =~ tr# a-zA-Z0-9_\-,./'\200-377##dc;" Can anyone tell me what's wrong? I am using the TCH version of FormMail. Should I use Matt Wright's instead? TIA, -kj-