Websphere MQ

Pettavaithalai

2009-08-30T01:14:00.000-07:00

TIBCO Origins and IT Services

2009-08-24T22:45:00.002-07:00

Origins

TIBCO is an indirect successor to Teknekron Software Systems, Inc. Teknekron was formed in 1983,[3] and produced a software product it called The Information Bus (TIB),[4] which included as a substantial application the processing of stock quotes. In 1994, Teknekron was acquired by Reuters,[5][6] but was spun out as a separate company in 1994, named Tibco, after the TIB product.[7] In January 1997 Tibco Software Inc. was established as a separate entity to create and market software for integration of business applications outside the financial services sector. Reuters retained Tibco Finance to create and market software solutions for the financial services sector. In July 1999, Tibco went public on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker symbol TIBX.

[edit] Greg the Architect
Greg Opening Sequence

Starting in 2007, Tibco promoted video and print ads starring an action figure called "Greg the Architect."[8] Since launching, the videos have been mentioned in numerous industry blogs, including the Wall Street Journal[9][10].

The campaign won an IAC Award (Internet Advertising Competition) in March 2007[11]. They were then honored with the BtoB Best Award for Best Online Campaign from BtoB Magazine[12]. "Greg" also won a Stevie Award for Best Corporate Film or Video in the Public Relations category at the 2007 American Business Awards[13].

Greg the Architect has been used in print as a comic strip in many industry magazines covering SOA and BPM. The campaign was also written about in a book from Harvard Business Press entitled Groundswell[14] concerning marketing using social technology. In a blog written by the authors of Groundswell, Greg parodies himself[15].

[edit] IT Services

IT Services companies who use Tibco to develop solutions

* CIBER
* Cognizant Technology Solutions
* EDS
* Capgemini
* Neoris
* TCS
* INFOSYS
* Accenture
* IBM
* Satyam
* MphasiS
* UST Global Inc
* HCL
* Wipro
* Patni Computer Systems
* Sierra Atlantic
* Larsen and Toubro
* Reliance Communications
* Tech Mahindra
* Logica
* MindTree
* CSC

TIBCO Software

2009-08-24T22:45:00.001-07:00

TIBCO Software Inc. is a global company that develops integration software for companies including those in the energy, manufacturing, retail, healthcare, and financial services industries. Its headquarters is in Palo Alto, California, with offices in North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and South America. [1] The company's major commercial competitors are IBM[2], Oracle Corporation, and SAP AG.

In addition, TIBCO offers the message-oriented middleware products Rendezvous and SmartSockets (from Talarian acquisition).

Features new to Windows 7

2009-08-04T22:33:00.000-07:00

New and changed features

Features new to Windows 7

The new Action Center which replaces Windows Security Center

Windows 7 includes a number of new features, such as advances in touch and handwriting recognition, support for virtual hard disks, improved performance on multi-core processors,[32][33][34][35] improved boot performance, DirectAccess, and kernel improvements. Windows 7 adds support for systems using multiple heterogeneous graphics cards from different vendors (Heterogeneous Multi-adapter), a new version of Windows Media Center,[36] a Gadget for Windows Media Center, improved media features, the XPS Essentials Pack and Windows PowerShell being included, and a redesigned Calculator with multiline capabilities including Programmer and Statistics modes along with unit conversion. Many new items have been added to the Control Panel, including ClearType Text Tuner, Display Color Calibration Wizard, Gadgets, Recovery, Troubleshooting, Workspaces Center, Location and Other Sensors, Credential Manager, Biometric Devices, System Icons, and Display.[37] Windows Security Center has been renamed to Windows Action Center (Windows Health Center and Windows Solution Center in earlier builds) which encompasses both security and maintenance of the computer. The default setting for User Account Control in Windows 7 has been criticized for allowing untrusted software to be launched with elevated privileges by exploiting a trusted application.[38] Microsoft's Windows kernel engineer Mark Russinovich acknowledged the problem, but noted that there are other vulnerabilities that do not rely on the new setting.[39]

The taskbar has seen the biggest visual changes, where the Quick Launch toolbar has been replaced with pinning applications to the taskbar. Buttons for pinned applications are integrated with the task buttons. These buttons also enable the Jump Lists feature to allow easy access to common tasks.[40] The revamped taskbar also allows the reordering of taskbar buttons. To the far right of the system clock is a small rectangular button that serves as the Show desktop icon. This button is part of the new feature in Windows 7 called Aero Peek. Hovering over this button makes all visible windows transparent for a quick look at the desktop.[41] In touch-enabled displays such as touch screens, tablet PCs, etc., this button is slightly wider to accommodate being pressed with a finger.[42] Clicking this button minimizes all windows, and clicking it a second time restores them. Additionally, there is a feature named Aero Snap, that automatically maximizes a window when it is dragged to either the top or left/right edges of the screen.[43] This also allows users to snap documents or files on either side of the screen to compare them. When a user moves windows that are maximized, the system restores their previous state automatically. This functionality is also accomplished with keyboard shortcuts. Unlike in Windows Vista, window borders and the taskbar do not turn opaque when a window is maximized with Windows Aero applied. Instead, they remain transparent.
The Windows 7 taskbar, with the Desktop Window Manager disabled.

For developers, Windows 7 includes a new networking API with support for building SOAP-based web services in native code (as opposed to .NET based WCF web services),[44] new features to shorten application install times, reduced UAC prompts, simplified development of installation packages,[45] and improved globalization support through a new Extended Linguistic Services API.[46] At WinHEC 2008 Microsoft announced that color depths of 30-bit and 48-bit would be supported in Windows 7 along with the wide color gamut scRGB (which for HDMI 1.3 can be converted and output as xvYCC). The video modes supported in Windows 7 are 16-bit sRGB, 24-bit sRGB, 30-bit sRGB, 30-bit with extended color gamut sRGB, and 48-bit scRGB.[47][48] Microsoft is also implementing better support for Solid State Drives[49], including the new TRIM command, and Windows 7 will be able to identify a Solid State Drive uniquely.

Internet Spades, Internet Backgammon and Internet Checkers, which were removed from Windows Vista, were restored in Windows 7. Windows 7 will include Internet Explorer 8 and Windows Media Player 12.
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: Windows 7 will allow users to disable Internet Explorer

Users will also be able to disable many more Windows components than was possible in Windows Vista. New additions to this list of components include Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center, Windows Search, and the Windows Gadget Platform.[50] Windows 7 includes 13 additional sound schemes, entitled Afternoon, Calligraphy, Characters, Cityscape, Delta, Festival, Garden, Heritage, Landscape, Quirky, Raga, Savanna, and Sonata.[51] A new version of Virtual PC, Windows Virtual PC Beta is available for Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions.[52] It allows multiple Windows environments, including Windows XP Mode, to run on the same machine, requiring the use of Intel VT-x or AMD-V. Windows XP Mode runs Windows XP in a virtual machine and redirects displayed applications running in Windows XP to the Windows 7 desktop.[53] Furthermore Windows 7 supports the mounting of a virtual hard disk (VHD) as a normal data storage, and the bootloader delivered with Windows 7 can boot the Windows system from a VHD.[54] The Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) of Windows 7 is also enhanced to support real-time multimedia application including video playback and 3D games. That means that Direct X 10 can be used in a remote desktop environment.[55] The three application limit will be removed from Windows 7 Starter.[56]

Development of Windows 7

2009-08-04T22:32:00.000-07:00

Development

Development of Windows 7

Originally, a version of Windows codenamed Blackcomb was planned as the successor to Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Major features were planned for Blackcomb, including an emphasis on searching and querying data and an advanced storage system named WinFS to enable such scenarios. However, an interim, minor release, codenamed "Longhorn" was announced for 2003, delaying the development of Blackcomb.[10] By the middle of 2003, however, Longhorn had acquired some of the features originally intended for Blackcomb. After three major viruses exploited flaws in Windows operating systems within a short time period in 2003, Microsoft changed its development priorities, putting some of Longhorn's major development work on hold while developing new service packs for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Development of Longhorn (Windows Vista) was also "reset," or delayed, in August 2004. A number of features were cut from Longhorn.[11]

Blackcomb was renamed Vienna in early 2006,[12] and again to Windows 7 in 2007.[13] In 2008, it was announced that Windows 7 would also be the official name of the operating system.[14][15]

The first external release to select Microsoft partners came in January 2008 with Milestone 1, build 6519.[16] At PDC 2008, Microsoft demonstrated Windows 7 with its reworked taskbar. Copies of Windows 7 build 6801 were distributed out at the end of the conference, but the demonstrated taskbar was disabled in this build.

On December 27, 2008, Windows 7 Beta was leaked onto the Internet via BitTorrent.[17] According to a performance test by ZDNet,[18] Windows 7 Beta beat both Windows XP and Vista in several key areas, including boot and shut down time, working with files such as loading documents; other areas did not beat XP, including PC Pro benchmarks for typical office activities and video-editing, remain identical to Vista and slower than XP.[19] On January 7, 2009, the 64-bit version of the Windows 7 Beta (build 7000) was leaked onto the web, with some torrents being infected with a trojan.[20][21] At CES 2009, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced the Windows 7 Beta, build 7000, had been made available for download to MSDN and TechNet subscribers in the format of an ISO image.[22] The Beta was to be publicly released January 9, 2009. Initially, Microsoft planned for the download to be made available to 2.5 million people on January 9. However, access to the downloads was delayed due to high traffic.[23] The download limit was also extended, initially until January 24, then again to February 10. People who did not complete downloading the beta had two extra days to complete the download. After February 12, unfinished downloads became unable to complete. Users can still obtain product keys from Microsoft to activate their copy of Windows 7 Beta. Users can still download Windows 7 via the Microsoft Connect program. The beta will expire on August 1, 2009, with shutdowns every two hours starting July 1, 2009. The release candidate, build 7100, has been available for MSDN and TechNet subscribers and Connect Program participants since April 30 and became available to the general public on May 5, 2009. It has also been leaked onto the Internet via BitTorrent.[24] The release candidate is available in five languages and will expire on June 1, 2010, with shutdowns every two hours starting March 1, 2010.[25] Microsoft has stated that Windows 7 will be released to the general public on October 22, 2009 and to Technet subscribers on August 6, 2009.[26] Microsoft announced that Windows 7, along with Windows Server 2008 R2 were released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009. Windows 7 RTM is build 7600.16385 which was compiled on July 13, 2009, and was declared the final RTM build after passing all Microsoft's tests internally.[3]

Goals

Bill Gates, in an interview with Newsweek, suggested that the next version of Windows would "be more user-centric".[27] Gates later said that Windows 7 will also focus on performance improvements.[28] Steven Sinofsky later expanded on this point, explaining in the Engineering Windows 7 blog that the company was using a variety of new tracing tools to measure the performance of many areas of the operating system on an ongoing basis, to help locate inefficient code paths and to help prevent performance regressions.[29]

Senior Vice President Bill Veghte stated that Windows Vista users migrating to Windows 7 would not find the kind of device compatibility issues they encountered migrating from Windows XP.[30] Speaking about Windows 7 on October 16, 2008, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer confirmed compatibility between Vista and Windows 7,[31] indicating that Windows 7 will be a refined version of Windows Vista.[31]

Windows 7

2009-08-04T22:31:00.001-07:00

Windows 7 (formerly codenamed Blackcomb and Vienna) is an upcoming version of Microsoft Windows, a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs and media center PCs.[2] Windows 7 was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009,[3] with general retail availability set for October 22, 2009,[4] less than three years after the release of its predecessor, Windows Vista. Windows 7's server counterpart, Windows Server 2008 R2, is slated for release at the same time.

Unlike its predecessor, which introduced a large number of new features, Windows 7 is intended to be a more focused, incremental upgrade to the Windows line, with the goal of being fully compatible with applications and hardware with which Windows Vista is already compatible.[5] Presentations given by the company in 2008 focused on multi-touch support, a redesigned Windows Shell with a new taskbar, a home networking system called HomeGroup,[6] and performance improvements. Some applications that have been included with prior releases of Microsoft Windows, including Windows Calendar, Windows Mail, Windows Movie Maker, and Windows Photo Gallery, will not be included in Windows 7;[7][8] some will instead be offered separately as part of the free Windows Live Essentials suite.[9]

SAP Products

2009-07-20T20:38:00.000-07:00

SAP's products focus on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). The company's main product is SAP ERP. The current version is SAP ERP 6.0 and is part of the SAP Business Suite. Its previous name was called R/3. The "R" of SAP R/3 stood for realtime - even though it is not a realtime solution. The number 3 related to the 3-tier architecture: database, application server and client (SAPgui). R/2, which ran on a Mainframe architecture, was the predecessor of R/3. Before R/2 came System RF, later dubbed R/1.

SAP ERP is one of five enterprise applications in SAP's Business Suite. The other four applications are:

* customer relationship management (CRM) - helps companies acquire and retain customers, gain marketing and customer insight
* product lifecycle management (PLM) - helps manufacturers with product-related information
* supply chain management (SCM) - helps companies with the process of resourcing its manufacturing and service processes
* supplier relationship management (SRM) - enables companies to procure from suppliers

Other major product offerings include: the NetWeaver platform, Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) solutions, Duet (joint offering with Microsoft), Performance Management solutions and RFID. SAP offers SOA capabilities (calling it Enterprise SOA) in the form of web services that are wrapped around its applications.

While its original products were typically used by Fortune 500 companies[citation needed], SAP is now also actively targeting small and medium sized enterprises (SME) with its SAP Business One and SAP Business All-in-One.
On 19 September 2007 SAP announced a new product named SAP Business ByDesign. SAP Business ByDesign is a Software as a Service (SaaS) offering, and provides a fully integrated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution, On Demand. SAP Business ByDesign was previously known under the code name "A1S".[22]

SAP officials say there are over 100,600 SAP installations serving more than 41,200 companies in more than 25 industries in more than 120 countries.[23]

But SAP has also in general been criticized for their One-size-fits-all product strategies implying that it now covers such a large scope that it has become a hindrance for company mergers and acquisitions.[citation needed]

SAP History

2009-07-20T20:35:00.000-07:00

SAP was founded in 1972 as Systemanalyse und Programmentwicklung ("System Analysis and Program Development")[2] by five former IBM engineers in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg (Dietmar Hopp, Hans-Werner Hector, Hasso Plattner, Klaus E. Tschira, and Claus Wellenreuther).[3]

As part of the Xerox exit strategy from the computer industry, Xerox retained IBM to migrate their business systems to IBM technology. As part of IBM's compensation for the migration, IBM acquired the SDS/SAPE software, reportedly for a contract credit of $80,000. The SAPE software was given by IBM to the founding ex-IBM employees in exchange for founding stock provided to IBM, reportedly 8%. Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was SAP's first ever customer in 1972.[4]

The acronym was later changed to stand for Systeme, Anwendungen und Produkte in der Datenverarbeitung ("Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing").

In 1976, "SAP GmbH" was founded and the following year, it moved its headquarters to Walldorf. SAP AG became the company's official name after the 2005 annual general meeting (AG is short for Aktiengesellschaft).

In August 1988, SAP GmbH transferred into SAP AG (a corporation by German law), and public trading started November 4. Shares are listed on the Frankfurt and Stuttgart stock exchanges.[3]

Four of the founding members -- Hopp, Plattner, Tschira and Hector -- form the executive board. In 1995, SAP was included in the German stock index DAX. On 22 September 2003, SAP was included in the Dow Jones STOXX 50.[5] In 1991, Prof. Dr. Henning Kagermann joined the board; Dr. Peter Zencke became a board member in 1993.[6] Claus Heinrich,[7] and Gerhard Oswald [8] have been members of the SAP Executive Board since 1996. Two years later, in 1998, the first change at the helm took place. Dietmar Hopp and Klaus Tschira moved to the supervisory board and Dietmar Hopp was appointed Chairman of the supervisory board. Henning Kagermann was appointed as Co-Chairman and CEO of SAP next to Hasso Plattner. Werner Brandt joined SAP in 2001 as a member of the SAP Executive Board and Chief Financial Officer.[9] Léo Apotheker has been a member of the SAP Executive Board and president of Global Customer Solutions & Operations since 2002, was appointed Deputy CEO in 2007, and then became co-CEO alongside Kagermann in 2008.

Henning Kagermann became the sole CEO of SAP in 2003.[10] In February 2007, his contract was extended until 2009. After continuous disputes over the responsibility of the development organization, Shai Agassi, a member of the executive board who had been named as a potential successor to Kagermann, left the organization.[11] In April 2008, along with the announcement of Leo Apotheker as co-CEO, the SAP supervisory board also appointed to the SAP Executive Board, three new members, effective 1 July 2008: Corporate Officers Erwin Gunst, Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe.[12]. With the retirement of Henning in May 2009, Leo has taken over as the sole CEO.

Storage sharing

2009-06-11T05:54:00.000-07:00

Storage sharing

Historically, data centers first created "islands" of SCSI disk arrays. Each island was dedicated to an application, and visible as a number of "virtual hard drives" (i.e. LUNs). Essentially, a SAN connects storage islands together using a high-speed network, thus allowing all applications to access all disks.

Operating systems still view a SAN as a collection of LUNs, and usually maintain their own file systems on them. These local file systems, which cannot be shared among multiple operating systems/hosts, are the most reliable and most widely used. If two independent local file systems resided on a shared LUN, they would be unaware of this fact, would have no means of cache synchronization and eventually would corrupt each other. Thus, sharing data between computers through a SAN requires advanced solutions, such as SAN file systems or clustered computing. Despite such issues, SANs help to increase storage capacity utilization, since multiple servers share the storage space on the disk arrays. The common application of a SAN is for the use of transactionally accessed data that require high-speed block-level access to the hard drives such as email servers, databases, and high usage file servers.

In contrast, NAS allows many computers to access the same file system over the network and synchronizes their accesses. Lately, the introduction of NAS heads allowed easy conversion of SAN storage to NAS.

DAS vs NAS vs SAN

Organization

[edit] SAN-NAS hybrid

Despite the differences between NAS and SAN, it is possible to create solutions that include both technologies, as shown in the diagram.
Hybrid using DAS, NAS and SAN technologies.

Network types

2009-06-11T05:53:00.000-07:00

Network types

Most storage networks use the SCSI protocol for communication between servers and disk drive devices. They do not use SCSI low-level physical interface (e.g. cables), however, as its bus topology is unsuitable for networking. A mapping layer to other low-level protocols is used to form a network:

* ATA over Ethernet (AoE), mapping of ATA over Ethernet,
* Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP), the most prominent one, is mapping of SCSI over Fibre Channel (FC),
* Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE),
* mapping of FICON over FC, used by mainframe computers,
* HyperSCSI, mapping of SCSI over Ethernet,
* iFCP[1] or SANoIP[2] mapping of FCP over IP.
* iSCSI Extensions for RDMA (iSER), mapping of iSCSI over InfiniBand (IB),
* iSCSI, mapping of SCSI over TCP/IP

What is SAN?

2009-06-11T05:52:00.000-07:00

storage area network (SAN) is an architecture to attach remote computer storage devices (such as disk arrays, tape libraries, and optical jukeboxes) to servers in such a way that the devices appear as locally attached to the operating system. Although the cost and complexity of SANs are dropping, they are still uncommon outside larger enterprises.

Network attached storage (NAS), in contrast to SAN, uses file-based protocols such as NFS or SMB/CIFS where it is clear that the storage is remote, and computers request a portion of an abstract file rather than a disk block.

IELTS Band Scale

2009-05-30T07:54:00.001-07:00

Band Scale

IELTS is scored on a nine band scale, with each band corresponding to a specified competence in English.Overall Band Scores are reported to the nearest whole or half band.

For the avoidance of doubt, the following rounding convention applies; if the average across the four skills ends in .25, it is rounded up to the next half band, and if it ends in .75, it is rounded up to the next whole band.

The nine bands are described as follows:

[edit] 9 Expert User

Has full command of the language: appropriate, accurate and fluent with complete understanding. It is very hard to attain this score.

[edit] 8 Very Good User

Has fully operational command of the language with only occasional unsystematic inaccuracies and inappropriacies. Handles complex detailed argumentation well.

[edit] 7 Good User

Has operational command of the language, though with occasional inaccuracies, inappropriateness and misunderstandings in some situations. Generally handles complex language well and understands detailed reasoning.

[edit] 6 Competent User

Has generally effective command of the language despite some inaccuracies, inappropriacies and misunderstandings. Can use and understand fairly complex language, particularly in familiar situations.

[edit] 5 Modest User

Has a partial command of the language, coping with overall meaning in most situations, though is likely to make many mistakes. The candidate should be able to handle communication in his or her own field.

[edit] 4 Limited User

Basic competence is limited to familiar situations. Has frequent problems in using complex language.

[edit] 3 Extremely Limited User

Conveys and understands only general meaning in very familiar situations. Frequent breakdowns in communication occur.

[edit] 2 Intermittent User

No real communication is possible except for the most basic information using isolated words or short formulae in familiar situations and to meet immediate needs. Has great difficulty understanding spoken and written English.

[edit] 1 Non User

Essentially has no ability to use the language beyond possibly a few isolated words.

[edit] 0 Did not attempt the test

No assessable information provided.

IELTS Test Structure

2009-05-30T07:52:00.000-07:00

IELTS Test Structure

All candidates must complete four Modules - Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking - to obtain a Band, which is shown on an IELTS Test Report Form (TRF). All candidates take the same Listening and Speaking Modules, while the Reading and Writing Modules differ depending on whether the candidate is taking the Academic or General Training Versions of the Test.

The total test duration is around 2 hours and 45 minutes for Listening, Reading and Writing modules.
Listening: 40 minutes, 30 minutes for which a recording is played centrally and additional 10 minutes for transferring answers onto the OMR answer sheet.
Reading: 60 minutes.
Writing: 60 minutes.
(n.b. No additional time is given for transfer of answers in Reading and Writing modules)

The first three modules - Listening, Reading and Writing (always in that order) - are completed in one day, and in fact are taken with no break in between. The Speaking Module may be taken, at the discretion of the test centre, in the period seven days before or after the other Modules.

The tests are designed to cover the full range of ability from non-user to expert user.

What is IELTS?

2009-05-30T07:47:00.000-07:00

IELTS (pronounced /ˈaı.ɛlts/), or 'International English Language Testing System', is an international standardised test of English language proficiency. It is jointly managed by University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations, the British Council and IDP Education Australia, and was established in 1989.

There are two versions of the IELTS: the Academic Version and the General Training Version:

* The Academic Version is intended for those who want to enroll in universities and other institutions of higher education and for professionals such as medical doctors and nurses who want to study or practice in an English-speaking country.
* The General Training Version is intended for those planning to undertake non-academic training or to gain work experience, or for immigration purposes.

It is generally acknowledged that the reading and writing tests for the Academic Version are more difficult than those for the General Training Version, due to the differences in the level of intellectual and academic rigour between the two versions.

IELTS is accepted by most Australian, British, Canadian, Irish, New Zealand and South African academic institutions, over 2,000 academic institutions in the United States, and various professional organisations. It is also a requirement for immigration to Australia and Canada. This has been criticised in Canada, because the English accents employed in the Listening section of the IELTS are far removed from typical Canadian accents.

An IELTS result or Test Report Form (TRF - see below) is valid for two years.

In 2007, IELTS tested over a million candidates in a single 12-month period for the first time ever, making it the world's most popular English language test for higher education and immigration.[1]

What is TOEFL?

2009-05-13T06:20:00.000-07:00

The Test of English as a Foreign Language (or TOEFL, pronounced "toe-full")
evaluates the ability of an individual to use and understand English in an academic setting. It is an admission requirement for non-native English speakers at many English-speaking colleges and universities.

Additionally, institutions such as government agencies, licensing bodies, businesses, or scholarship programs may require this test. A TOEFL score is valid for two years and then will no longer be officially reported since a candidate's language proficiency could have significantly changed since the date of the test. Colleges and universities usually consider only the most recent TOEFL score.

The TOEFL test is a registered trademark of Educational Testing Service (ETS) and is administered worldwide. The test was first administered in 1964 and has since been taken by more than 23 million students.

Policies governing the TOEFL program are formulated with advice from a 16-member board. Board members are affiliated with undergraduate and graduate schools, 2-year institutions and public or private agencies with an interest in international education. Other members are specialists in the field of English as a foreign or second language.

The TOEFL Committee of Examiners is composed of 12 specialists in linguistics, language testing, teaching or research. Its main responsibility is to advise on TOEFL test content. The committee helps ensure the test is a valid measure of English language proficiency reflecting current trends and methodologies.

TOEFL Paper-Based Test

2009-05-13T06:18:00.001-07:00

Paper-Based Test

In areas where the iBT and CBT are not available, a paper-based test (PBT) is given. Because test takers cannot register at the testing center on the test date, they must register in advance using the registration form provided in the Supplemental Paper TOEFL Bulletin. They should register in advance of the given deadlines to ensure a place because the test centers have limited seating and may fill up early. Tests are administered only several times each year.

The PBT tests essentially the same skills as the CBT, albeit with some differences, noticeably the number of questions (which is higher in the PBT) and the score scales. The test lasts 4 hours more or less. Students can take the test as many times as they wish. However, colleges and universities usually consider only the most recent score.

1. Listening (30–40 minutes)

It consists of three parts. The first one contains 30 questions about short conversations. The second part has 8 questions about longer conversations. The last part asks 12 questions about lectures or talks.

2. Structure and Written Expression (25 minutes)

This part has 15 exercises of completing sentences correctly and 25 exercises of identifying errors.

3. Reading Comprehension (55 minutes)

It has 50 questions about reading passages.

4. Writing (30 minutes)

One essay with 250-300 words in average

TOEFL Internet-Based Test

2009-05-13T06:17:00.000-07:00

Internet-Based Test

Since its introduction in late 2005, the Internet-Based test (iBT) has progressively replaced both the computer-based (CBT) and paper-based (PBT) tests. The iBT has been introduced in phases, with the United States, Canada, France, Germany, and Italy in 2005 and the rest of the world in 2006, with test centers added regularly.

Although the demand for test seats was very high, and candidates had to wait for months, it is now possible to take the test within one to four weeks in most countries.[1] The four-hour test consists of four sections, each measuring mainly one of the basic language skills (although some tasks may require multiple skills) focusing on language used in an academic, higher-education environment. Note-taking is allowed during the iBT. The test cannot be taken more than once a week.

1. Reading

This module determines proficiency in understanding intellectual reading issues. The Reading module contains questions about 3 to 5 long passages. The passages are chosen from the academic topics, which are found in undergraduate university textbooks.

2. Listening

This module determines proficiency in understanding spoken English as it is used in colleges and universities. The listening module consists of 6 comprehensive passages. Two passages will be conversations between students, and the other four will be academic lectures or discussions. Students have to understand the conversations and answer the corresponding questions.

3. Speaking

This module determines proficiency with speaking in English. The speaking module consists of 6 tasks: two independent tasks and four integrated tasks. In the independent tasks, students have to answer opinion questions concerning academic life. In two of the integrated tasks, students have to read a passage, listen to a passage, and speak about how the ideas in the two passages are related. In the other two integrated tasks, students have to listen to long passages, review them and speak about the information in the passages.

4. Writing

This module determines proficiency with writing in English that is pertinent for colleges and universities assignments. The writing module consists of two tasks: one independent task where students have to read an academic passage, listen to an academic passage and write their reviews about the two passages, and another integrated task where students have to write an essay.

Task iBT Approx. time
READING 3 passages and 39 questions 60 minutes
LISTENING 6 passages and 34 questions 50 minutes
SPEAKING 6 tasks and 6 questions 20 minutes
WRITING 2 tasks and 2 questions 55 minutes

At least one of the sections of the test will include extra, uncounted material. Educational Testing Service includes extra material to try out material for future tests. If the test taker is given a longer section, he must work hard on all of the materials because he does not know which material counts and which material is extra. For example, if there are four reading passages instead of three, three of the passages will count and one of the passages will not be counted. It is possible that the uncounted passage could be any of the four passages.

MQ Best Practices

2009-05-01T04:24:00.000-07:00

* when installing MQ Server, do install MQ Client also. It is very useful to connect to remote sites.
* naming convention (MD00, GG24-4469 and MD04)

See Intercommunication manual for suggested naming conventions
o queue name max length = 48 chars (all MQ objects, except ...)
o channel name max length = 20 chars

* use ReplyToQ/ReplyToQMgr fields
* use REPLY type in response message
* use triggering if possible. Use TRIGGER FIRST. TRIGGER EVERY only if needed. Avoid TRIGGER DEPTH.
* do not use persistence if possible
* copy Message_Id into Correl_Id field to correlate response to request
* request a Report if your message is rejected or expires.
* know the default queue manager and verify it exists - used by runmqsc -w
* MQ & clustering :
o define a Qmgr to be exclusively FR1 and another Qmgr to be FR2
o use 2 (and no more) Full Repositories
o make sure both FRs have a Cluster Sender Channel to the other FR
* MQ under HACMP :
o use virtual IP in "IPADDR( )" at listener definition
o use separated disks for Data & Log - better performance
o if cluster is used, place FR's on HACMP machines
* MQ for MB :
o increase LOG size, as default MQ log for Windows is not enough to deploy a 500KB bar file
o increase CM 2 BK channel message length; otherwise flows wont be deployed. Easiest way is: immediately after creating the queue manager, ALTER the MAXMSGL attribute of SYSTEM.DEFAULT.LOCAL.QUEUE, SYSTEM.DEF.SENDER, SYSTEM.DEF.RECEIVER, SYSTEM.DEF.CLUSSDR, and SYSTEM.DEF.CLUSRCVR. Even better: have a script to create queue managers for MB that does log size and MAXMSGL automatically.

IBM Websphere MQ Tools

2009-05-01T04:23:00.000-07:00

MQ tools

Tool / file name Purpose
amqsaicq.c Create a local queue using the MQ Administration Interface (MQAI)
amqsaiem.c Event monitor using the MQ Admin Interface (MQAI)
amqsailq.c Inquire the current depth of all local queues using MQAI
amqsaxe0.c ApiExit which traces MQAPI calls
amqsbcg0.c Browse messages, text and header (use amqsgbr for text only)
amqsblst.c Bandwidth and connectivity tester
amqscnxc.c Client connection information on MQCONNX
amqsecha.c Echo messages to reply to queue (triggered program) (sent by amqsreq, maybe)
amqsgbr0.c Browse messages, text only (use amqsbcg for text and header)
amqsget0.c Get a message
amqsgrma.c Get reference messages from a queue. Checks that the objects, identified in the messages, exist
amqsinqa.c MQINQ sample (triggered program)
amqsldpc.c Look up the MQ host name, channel name and queue name in an LDAP directory + MQPUT
amqsmon0.c Get an statistics or accounting message
amqsprma.c Create a reference message
amqsptl0.c Put messages to a list of queues
amqsput0.c Put a message
amqsqrma.c Channel message exit program to process reference messages
amqsreq0.c Put request messages to a queue, and show the reply message (sent by amqsecha, maybe)
amqsseta.c MQSET sample (triggered program)
amqsspin.c SSPI Channel Exit routines (Security)
amqsstop.c Inquire on all the connections for a selected process and request them to be stopped
amqstrg0.c Trigger monitor - read an initiation queue, and start the program associated with trigger message
amqstxgx.c Get transaction for Tuxedo
amqstxpx.c Put transaction for Tuxedo
amqstxsx.c Server for Tuxedo
amqsvfc0.c Skeleton of a Data Conversion exit
amqswlm0.c CLWL exit that chooses a destination QMgr
amqsxae0.c Sample Encina program
amqsxrma.c Channel message exit to process reference messages
amquregn.c Dump MQ values from Registry (NT)
amqzscgn.c CICS GLobal User Exit (GLUE) program for the CICS Task termination user exit (UE014015)
amqzscin.c XA switch program for CICS XA Initialisation

IBM Websphere MQ Features

2009-04-25T22:52:00.000-07:00

WebSphere MQ provides assured one-time delivery of messages across a wide variety of platforms. The product emphasizes reliability and robustness of message traffic, and ensures that a message should never be lost if MQ is appropriately configured.

It needs to be remembered that a message in the context of MQ has no implication other than a gathering of data. MQ is very generalized and can be used as a robust substitute for many forms of intercommunication. For example, it can be used to implement reliable delivery of large files as a substitute for FTP.

MQ provides application designers a mechanism to achieve non-time-dependent architecture. Messages can be sent from one application to another, regardless of whether the applications are running at the same time. If a message receiver application is not running when a sender sends it a message, the queue manager will hold the message until the receiver asks for it. Ordering of all messages is preserved, by default this is in FIFO Order of receipt at the local queue within priority of the message.

It provides a means for transforming data between different architectures and protocols, such as Big Endian to Little Endian, or EBCDIC to ASCII. This is accomplished through the use of message data "exits". Exits are compiled applications which run on the queue manager host, and are executed by the WebSphere MQ software at the time data transformation is needed.

WebSphere MQ allows receipt of messages to "trigger" other applications to run, and thus provides the framework for a message driven architecture.

It implements the JMS standard API, and also has its own proprietary API, known as the Message Queuing Interface.

Unlike email, MQ itself is responsible for determining the destination of messages by the definition of queues, so processing of sent messages can be moved to a different application at a different destination. MQ provides a robust routing architecture, allowing messages to be routed via alternative paths around a network of MQ managers. MQ can be implemented as a cluster, where multiple MQ implementations share the processing of messages to allow higher performance and load balancing.

IBM Websphere MQ History

2009-04-25T22:50:00.000-07:00

Developed in Scotland, Telecommunications Access Method (TCAM) came along in 1971 with the birth of TSO. It supported asynchronous messaging, as with MQ. TCAM 3.0 added in reusable disk message queues for recovery soon thereafter, as with MQ. A high-level PL/I program could be used to access TRANSIENT datasets (dynamic message queues). Reading a message from a transient dataset resulted in that message is removed from the queue, as with a non-browse READ with MQ. With the advent of computers, IBM saw an opportunity to apply new technology to the need for message switching. In the early 1960s, IBM marketed computer-like devices, such as the 7740 and 7750 message switching systems.

The IBM System/360 was announced in April 1964 and with it came communication access methods such as BTAM and QTAM (Basic and Queued Telecommunications Access Methods). In the late 1960s, still another communication access method became available and it was known as TCAM, the Telecommunications Access Method. TCAM offered its users a more advanced form of message switching or message routing. TCAM was widely accepted, especially in the financial and brokerage industries.

In the late 1960s, transaction management systems came into being, each trying to achieve a leadership position in the industry. Within IBM, CICS and IMS were chosen as strategic products to address the need for transaction management. Within both CICS and IMS, each had its version of message switching, IMS being a front-end queued system and CICS having its Transient Data facility as the possible basis for message switching.

CICS established itself as a popular transaction management system in the 1968-1971 timeframe, those users who had adopted TCAM for its message handling capabilities, now wanted a combined use of TCAM with CICS. In December 1971, IBM announced CICS support of TCAM as part of the CICS/OS-Standard product, to be delivered in December 1972. For interested customers, this enabled them to use TCAM for its message handling strengths and also have TCAM-connected terminals or computers interface with CICS online applications.

In January 1973, TCAM continued to be supported by CICS/OS-Standard Version 2.3. However, TCAM support was omitted from the initial release of CICS/VS, announced in February 1973 and delivered in June 1974. Needless to say, many CICS-TCAM customers were not happy with that product direction.

With considerable pressure from CICS-TCAM customers, the CICS support of TCAM was reinstated in the CICS/VS 1.1 product, as of September 1974. In addition to the previous DCB support, with this reinstatement of TCAM support, CICS began to support TCAM access via VTAM, also known as the ACB support. CICS TCAM ACB support was discontinued as of the CICS/ESA Version 3 product in 1990.

In 1992, IBM announced a new product family called WebSphere MQ. WebSphere MQ was to be the extension of TCAM functionality from IBM-only systems to all other platforms. WebSphere MQ had an architecture which enabled heterogeneous systems to communicate with each other (e.g. IBM, HP, Sun, Tandem, etc). WebSphere MQ can be used with CICS systems to send and receive data to/from any other MQ-eligible system. WebSphere MQ can be used to initiate work in a CICS system or a CICS transaction can initiate work in another CICS or non-CICS system.

WebSphere MQ now supports 80 different environments and has become the leading message switching/routing product in the industry.

IBM Websphere MQ Processes

2009-04-19T04:08:00.000-07:00

Processes

AMQMTRBN . amqhasmn.exe - the logger.
amqmsrvn.exe - COM server.
amqmtbrn.exe - . amqpcsea.exe - the command server.
amqrmppa.exe - channel process.
amqrrmfa.exe - repository process (for clusters).
amqsvc.exe - . amqxssvn.exe - shared memory server(s).
amqzdmaa.exe - deferred message processor.
amqzfuma.exe - OAM process.
amqzlaa0.exe - queue manager agents (LQM agents).
amqzllp0.exe - checkpoint processor.
amqzxma0.exe - processing controller.
runmqchi.exe - channel initiator. runmqlsr.exe - listener.

Description of MQ tasks :

When a queue manager is running, you see some or all of the following batch jobs running under the QMQM user profile in the MQ subsystem.
Job name Function AMQALMPX The checkpoint processor that periodically takes journal checkpoints. AMQCLMAA Non-threaded TCP/IP listener. AMQCRSTA TCP/IP-invoked channel responder. AMQCRS6B LU62 receiver channel and client connection (see note). AMQFCXBA Broker worker job. AMQPCSEA PCF command processor. Handles PCF and remote administration requests. AMQRMPPA Channel process pooling job. AMQRRMFA Repository manager for clusters. AMQZDMAA Deferred message handler. AMQZFUMA Object authority manager (OAM). AMQZLAA0 Queue manager agents that perform the bulk of the work for applications that connect to the queue manager using MQCNO_STANDARD_BINDING. AMQZLAS0

Queue manager agent. AMQZXMA0 The execution controller is the first job started by the queue manager. Deals with MQCONN requests. Starts agent processes to process MQ API calls. AMQZMGR0 Process controller. Used to start up and manage listeners and services. AMQZMUC0 Utility manager. Do critical utilities, as the journal chain manager. AMQZMUR0 Utility manager. Do critical utilities, as the journal chain manager. RUNMQBRK Broker control job. RUNMQCHI The channel initiator. RUNMQCHL Sender channel job that is started for each sender channel. RUNMQDLQ Dead letter queue handler. RUNMQLSR Threaded TCP/IP listener. RUNMQTRM Trigger monitor.

End the processes in the following order:
amqzmuc0 Critical process manager amqzxma0 Execution controller amqzfuma OAM process amqzlaa0 LQM agents amqzlsa0 LQM agents amqzmur0 Restartable process manager amqrmppa Process pooling process amqrrmfa The repository process (for clusters) amqzdmaa Deferred message processor amqpcsea The command server

What is Channel?

2009-04-19T03:58:00.000-07:00

A channel is a communication link used by distributed queue managers. There are two categories of channel in MQ:

Message channels, which are unidirectional, and transfer messages from one queue manager to another.

MQI channels, which are bidirectional, and transfer MQI calls from a MQ client to a queue manager, and responses from a queue manager to a MQ client.

There are two types of MQI channel : server-connection and client-connection.
MQ 6.0, "Application Programming Guide", SC34-6595-01, page 45 [65/601]
The definition of each end of a message channel can be one of the following types:
Sender
Receiver
Server
Requester
Cluster sender
Cluster receiver
Do not confuse message channels with MQI channels. There are two types of MQI channel : server-connection and client-connection.
A message channel is defined using one of these types defined at one end, and a compatible type at the other end. Possible combinations are:
Sender - Receiver
Requester - Server
Requester - Sender (callback)
Server - Receiver (server is used as a sender)
Client-connection with Server-connection
Cluster sender-cluster receiver
MQ v 6.0, "Intercommunication", SC34-6587, page 8 [30/573].
Server / Requester use
Supose we have this environment, where firewall prevents QM2 to start a normal Sender-Receiver channel from QM2.TO.QM1, but not TCP connections from QM1 to QM2.
.-----. .---. .-----. QM1 <===== F <======= QM2 .-----. .---. .-----. We shall use a SERVER channel at QM2 and a REQUESTER channel at QM1. In this way, the data can flow from QM2 to QM1, and the channel is started from QM1. SVRCONN A server connection channel object defines the name of a channel that a client can use to connect to a queue manager and the attributes of the MCA that hosts that connection. CLNTCONN This is different to all other channel types, because it is never used by the queue manager itself. Instead, an entry is added to a client channel definition table (CCDT) file, which can be distributed to other machines and used by client applications to configure their MCAs. How to start A channel can be caused to start transmitting messages in one of four ways. It can be: Started by an operator (not receiver, cluster-receiver or server-connection channels). Triggered from the transmission queue (sender, and fully-qualified server channels only). You will need to prepare the necessary objects for triggering channels. Started from an application program (not receiver, cluster-receiver or server-connection channels). Started remotely from the network by a sender, cluster-sender, requester, server, or client-connection channel. Receiver, cluster-receiver and possibly server and requester channel transmissions, are started this way; so are server-connection channels. The channels themselves must already be started (that is, enabled). In Windows systems, start a listener as a background process at the receiver end of each channel. On the source queue manager, type: runmqlsr -t TCP -m source.queue.manager On the target queue manager, type: runmqlsr -t TCP -m target.queue.manager Then start the channels, again as background processes: On the source queue manager, type: runmqchl -c source.to.target -m source.queue.manager On the target queue manager, type: runmqchl -c target.to.source -m target.queue.manager System Administration, page 63 [87 of 567]
Auto-Magic
If you want the first message put in the queue DESA4 to start the associated transmit channel DESA3.DESA4, then define the queue this way :
def ql(DESA4) usage(xmitq) maxmsgl(104857600) + trigger TRIGTYPE(EVERY) TRIGDPTH(1) + trigdata(DESA3.DESA4) + /* channel name */ initq(SYSTEM.CHANNEL.INITQ) replace /* mandatory */
The TrigData attribute must contain the name of the channel to be triggered. The InitQ must be SYSTEM.CHANNEL.INITQ

Oracle Fusion Middleware Components

2009-04-12T06:24:00.001-07:00

Oracle Fusion Middleware Components

Enterprise Application Server
Weblogic Server
Oracle Application Server
Integration & Process Management
BPEL Process Manager
Business Activity Monitoring
Business Rules
Enterprise Connectivity (Adapters)
Enterprise Messaging Service
Enterprise Service Bus
Oracle Application server B2B
Service Registry
Web Services Manager
Development Tools
Application Development Framework
JDeveloper
SOA Suite
TopLink
Forms Services
Developer Suite
Business Intelligence
Business Intelligence 10g[7]
Business Activity Monitoring
Discoverer
Data Hubs
BI Publisher
Reports Services
Systems Management
Enterprise Manager 10g
Web Services Manager
User Interaction
Beehive
Collaboration Suite
Portal
Oracle Webcenter
Real-Time Collaboration
Unified Messaging
Workspaces
Content Management
Web content management
Records management
Enterprise search
Digital asset management
Email archiving
Identity management
Identity Management
Enterprise Single sign-on
Identity Manager
Oracle Access Manager
Oracle Adaptive Access Manager
Grid Infrastructure
Services Registry
Application Server Security

ORACLE Middleware

2009-04-12T06:06:00.000-07:00

Oracle Fusion Middleware (OFM) is a portfolio of software products, produced by Oracle, that spans multiple services, including J2EE and developer tools, integration services, business intelligence, collaboration, and content management. OFM is based on open standards such as BPEL, SOAP, XML and JMS.[1] Many of the products included under the Oracle Fusion Middleware banner are not themselves middleware products, Fusion Middleware essentially being a rebranding of many of Oracle's products outside of their core database and applications software offerings. According to Oracle, by 2006 over 30,000 organizations were Fusion Middleware customers, including over 35 of the world's 50 largest companies and more than 750 of the BusinessWeek Global 1000, with OFM also supported by 7,500 partners.[2]

Oracle Fusion Middleware is designed to support development, deployment, and management of Service-Oriented Architecture. It includes what Oracle calls "Hot-Pluggable" architecture, which allows users to leverage existing investments in applications and systems from other software vendors such as IBM, Microsoft, and SAP AG.[3] Oracle will also leverage what is called configurable network computing, (CNC) techology that it got from its combined PeopleSoft and JDEdwards acquisition in 2005. Oracle Fusion Applications are under development based on Oracle Fusion Middleware.

HP, in order to provide standards-based software to assist with business process automation, have incorporated OFM into their Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) portfolio.[4]

In January 2008, Oracle Universal Content Management won InfoWorld's Technology of the Year award for "Best Enterprise Content Manager", with Oracle SOA Suite also winning the award for "Best Enterprise Service Bus".[5]

In 2007, Gartner said "OFM has reached a degree of completeness that puts it on par with, and in some cases ahead of, competing software stacks", reporting revenue from the suite of over $1bn US during FY06, estimating the revenue from the genuinely middleware aspects at $740M.[6]