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WhoLockedMe vs. NET FILE
Don't get me wrong, if you are not comfortable with the command line and a GUI is your proverbial "cup o' tea" please continue (or call your sys admin/consultant). This is just additional use of resources, registry entries, and mess. My thoughts, personally.
Now, for those sys admins out there that prefer the command line you already know this so I apologize if today's "tech tip" seems a yawn.
NET FILE
The next time you wonder where your file locks are use the command and enter:
NET FILE
from a command line (and these days you could use PowerShell ... hint hint) and get a list of your files with(out) locks, who owns the lock(s), and their ID. It is important to note their ID.
Why should you care?
Well we have many applications out there that if there is a lock on a key file, log, or executable, they will fail causing the application to fault. Further investigation will find a lock on a file. May people will instead reboot a server, dismount a share, or just outright blame an application. Though sometimes these work these solutions are extremely disruptful to a production environment.
So instead, at a command line I use:
NET FILE (ID) /close
Now you know why it was important to know the ID's of those locking a file.
Added caveat, if after a close the NET FILE shows a user continually locking on the file, have them reboot. more than likely they have an open connection such as an explorer window open to the folder/file in question.
Hope this helps!
Unable to Open SharePoint Central Admin Site
This was a fun issue. I've seen it before when setting up SharePoint WSS3.0 but, sadly, I forgot.
So you will find a lot of various postings on this and they will lead you all around in various directions.
HOWEVER ...
Provided you are working with a "vanilla" install (as it were) you will find one funny omission that just futzes (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/futz) with your time...
Make sure that you go to the IIS Manger>Application Pools>StsAdminAppPool (and repeat for StsAppPool1)>right click>properties>identity tab
Now, if you have not defined the username/password you can use a Predefined of Local System ... but the default of "Network Service" is more than likely why you are actually having a problem.
When I change the predefined to "Local System">Apply>stopped the app pool and start it back up ... now go to your SharePoint Central Admin Site ...
Viola!
Hope this helps someone else as well.
2012 World Backup Day
Today is World Backup Day.
Trying to raise awareness about backing up all your devices on this day.
When was the last time you backed up your tablet or phone, switch or router configs? Servers, pc's and laptops, etc?
Well if you need help I hear the folks at www.Brady-Liu.com would be happy to help you out!
(I hear you can even hit the support button and open a ticket!)
St. Baldrick's and Zachary S.
What I found sad was that the expected goal is just $50.00.
Would you mind going to his link here:
http://www.stbaldricks.org/
and show him that not only does such an amazing young man have support but that we truly appriciate his efforts on behalf of the children this charity benefits? What do you say? Think you can float a few bucks?
Respectfully,
Mike
MSN Live Hotmail Down
If you are experiancing trouble with MSN Live Hotmail check here as well: http://downrightnow.com/hotmail
GoDaddy Email Down
Seems this has been most of this morning. I have already received calls from those using their service; please be patient as they are working to resolve the issue.
Now, on a personal note: This is the second time in all the years I have been with GoDaddy that I have had an issue with a downed service/server with GoDaddy since I started with them in 1999. Pretty good track record over 12 years I'd say. Yes I recommend them for my clients as well.
Valentine's Day 2012 in Dallas, Texas
So you live in the Dallas area but you don't know what is going on in the area today.
You often wonder what is up in town but "hope" to find something good to do during those special moments.
Some of you are still trying to plan last minute Valentine's Day events ... even if you just feel like this is a crazy Hallmark Holiday, you want to shoot cupid out of the sky to have the final laugh, or this is just Single's Awareness Day...
... May I suggest you go take a look and follow some advice from my friends Saucy Minx and Cheeky Monkey? http://www.saucyminx.org
Enjoy!
String Theory Continued - Black Hole Entropy
What is black hole entropy?
Two important thermodynamic quantities are temperature and entropy. Temperature we all know from our fevers, weather reports and ovens. Entropy however is foreign to everyday life for most people.
Suppose we have a box filled with gas of some type of molecule called M. The temperature of that gas in that box tells us the average kinetic energy of those vibrating molecules of gas. Each molecule as a quantum particle has quantized energy states, and if we understand the quantum theory of those molecules, theorists can count up the available quantum microstates of those molecules and get some number. The entropy is the logarithm of that number.
When it was discovered that black holes can decay by quantum processes, it was also discovered that black holes seem to have the thermodynamic properties of temperature and entropy. The temperature of the black hole is inversely proportional to its mass, so the black hole gets hotter and hotter as it decays.
The entropy of a black hole is one fourth of the area of the event horizon, so the entropy gets smaller and smaller as the black hole decays and the event horizon area becomes smaller and smaller.
But until string theory there was not a clear relation between quantum microstates of a quantum theory and this supposed black hole entropy.
Black holes and branes in string theory
A black hole is an object that is described by a spacetime geometry that is a solution to the Einstein equation. In string theory at large distance scales, solutions to the Einstein equation are only modified by very small corrections. But it has been discovered through string duality relations that spacetime geometry is not a fundamental concept in string theory, and at small distance scales or when the forces are very strong, there is an alternate description of the same physical system that appears to be very different.
A special type of black hole that is very important in string theory is called a BPS black hole. A BPS black hole has both charge (electric and/or magnetic) and mass, and the mass and the charges satisfy an equality that leads to unbroken supersymmetry in the spacetime near the black hole. This supersymmetry is very important because it results in the disappearance of messy quantum corrections, so that precise answers about the physics near the black hole horizon can be found by simple calculations.
In the previous section we learned that string theories contain objects called p-branes and D-branes. Since a point can be thought of as a zero-brane, a natural generalization of a black hole is a black p-brane. And there are also BPS black p-branes.
But there's also a relationship between black p-branes and D-branes. At large values of the charge, spacetime geometry is a good description of of a black p-brane system. But when the charge is small, the system can be described by a bunch of weakly interacting D-branes.
In this weakly coupled D-brane limit, with the BPS condition satisfied, it is possible to calculate the number of available quantum states. This answer depends on the charges of the D-branes in the system.
When we go back to the geometrical limit of the equivalent black hole of p-brane system with the same charges and masses, we find that the entropy of the D-brane system matches the entropy as calculated from the black hole or p-brane event horizon area.
This was a fantastic result for string theory. But can we now say that D-branes provide the fundamental quantum microstates of a black hole that underlie black hole thermodynamics? The D-brane calculation is only easily performed for the supersymmetric BPS black objects. Most black holes in the Universe probably have very little if any electric or magnetic charge, and are very far from being BPS objects. It's still a challenge to compute the black hole entropy for such an object using D-branes.
HOSTS File and Windows 7/Vista
Really.
That's what some of you are saying right now. You would not believe how often I hear this complaint. It's like ... well ... Really. You can't search your answer out? You work in this field for how long and you didn't know this ...
Ok, enough of the ranting, let's get to it.
You are not going to be able to browse to your HOSTS file (located in: %systemroot%\windows\system32\drivers\etc) and open, edit and then save your changes. You have to have run the notepad option as an administrator.
So ... how do we get there?
Start>Programs>Accessories>(right click on) Notepad>Select "Run as Administrator"
NOW ....
Make your changes
File
Save
Viola!
BACK TO WORK YOU!!!