M&S Consulting - Solutions Consultants Training

Check Point VPN – SSL Network Extender – Windows 7 or Windows 2008 64-bit

ashok.aggarwal — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:33:15 +0000

If you come across an issue where your Check Point VPN SSL Network Extender (SNEX) fails to initiatize (as seen below), try downloading a new version of the Check Point client made to work with Windows 7 and Windows 2008 64-bit.

The client you want to download is SNX R71 HFA 1 with support for Windows 7 (msi) and you can click here for the readme.

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Oracle Identity Management vs. Oracle Identity and Access Management

ashok.aggarwal — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:27:41 +0000

Many of our customers get hung up on the terminology for Oracle’s Identity and Access Management offerings, and perhaps rightfully so. There are more names and acronyms given to these products as there are people implementing them.

Following is a quick breakdown of the latest version of both 1) Oracle Identity Management and 2) Oracle Identity and Access Management from the technical perspective of downloading and installing the products (as opposed to product packaging/licensing). When you speak with an identity management implementation partner like M&S Consulting, you will want to use the below terminology to ensure everyone is on the same page.

Oracle Identity Management 11g R1 (11.1.1.5.0) – Released May 6, 2011

Oracle Internet Directory 11g R1 (11.1.1.5.0)
Oracle Directory Integration Platform 11g R1 (11.1.1.5.0)
Oracle Virtual Directory 11g R1 (11.1.1.5.0)
Oracle Directory Services Manager 11g R1 (11.1.1.5.0)
Oracle Identity Federation 11g R1 (11.1.1.5.0)

Oracle Identity and Access Management (11.1.1.5.0) – Released May 23, 2011

Oracle Identity Manager 11g R1 (11.1.1.5.0)
Oracle Identity Manager Connectors 11g
Oracle Access Manager Server 11g R1 (11.1.1.5.0)
Oracle Access Manager WebGate 11g R1 (11.1.1.5.0)
Oracle Adaptive Access Manager 11 gR1 (11.1.1.5.0)
Oracle Security Token Service 11g R1 (11.1.1.5.0)
Oracle Entitlements Server 11g R1 (11.1.1.5.0)
Oracle Entitlements Server Security Module11g R1 (11.1.1.5.0)
Oracle Identity Navigator 11g R1(11.1.1.5.0)

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Edit Environment Variables in Windows – Quick Screenshot Steps

ashok.aggarwal — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 13:23:25 +0000

I have been asked this question so many times that I thought I might as well post a proper screenshot with all the steps (starting with the “Start” button) for how to get to your system environment variables in Windows. I used Windows 7, but intentionally followed similar steps to those I have followed in other Windows environments like XP and Vista:

A quicker way to do this in Windows 7 specifically is to simply begin typing “environment variables” in the Start > Search bar as shown below:

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Oracle 12c!?

ashok.aggarwal — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 00:11:36 +0000

Many people do not know that Oracle versions represent something more than just an incremented number. People have been saying 8i, 9i, 10g, and 11g for years, conditioning their brains to forget even asking what the meaning or thought is behind the *letter* at the end of the version number, just as many people commonly use other technology acronyms so commonly while forgetting their expanded versions, like TCP, AJAX, SOAP, and so on.

So, as Oracle may set to announce new versions and releases of big products in the coming week, we turn our sights to the version 12 release? I have been saying for months that my best guess for this will be 12c, where the “c” stands for Cloud (or maybe Collaboration, though I feel more strongly about the intention being “Cloud”). By the way, the “i” stood for Internet while the “g” stood for Grid.

We’ll keep you posted as we get the official word, but remember where you heard the 12c (for Cloud) prediction.

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Oracle Books – Packt Publishing

ashok.aggarwal — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 13:25:23 +0000

Packt Publishing, the company that published the WebCenter Book that M&S Consulting’s E2.0 team co-authored, has just launched an Oracle focused version of its new online library platform: PacktLib.

Aimed at all Oracle professionals, the Oracle book library is a low-cost, cloud-based resource that you can access anywhere whether in the office, on the move, or at a client’s site.

Access all Packt’s Oracle books (50+) for less than $120 per year! That’s just couple of bucks per book.
Get hold of high value information on the Oracle Database, Oracle Middleware, Oracle Applications, and more.
Read content on your PC, Laptop, iPad, or mobile device.
Copy, Paste, Bookmark, and Print information – as needed.
Get access to all the new Oracle books as they are published! There will be more than 20 in the next 12 months alone.

Click to see all Packt’s Oracle Books. Also, enjoy a special M&S Consulting discount (10% off) by entering the code: oraclib10 when you sign up to the Packt Oracle Book Library.

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Oracle OpenWorld 2011 — Come See Us!

ashok.aggarwal — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 16:03:51 +0000

We’ll head out to yet another Oracle OpenWorld even this year. Drop us a line and come see us October 2-6 in San Francisco!

If you haven’t already, click the below image to register!

As usual, it’s going to be fun…and if you haven’t already heard, this year’s Appreciation Event features Sting as well as Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers!

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Top 10 excuses why ADF has a slow(er than Oracle and organizations desire) uptake

ashok.aggarwal — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 17:27:35 +0000

So many of these are related, that I decided to simply list them in no specific order:

“The technology changes/improves too rapidly, and I have fears of 1) ‘will what I am doing become old-school soon’ and 2) ‘is a new/better way of doing going to be released within a few months’.”
“The documentation is daunting.”
“The suggested pre-requisites and structured learning programs seem to change every few months.”
“I have spent considerable time and money hiring smart coders that don’t take to 4GL development as readily.”
“Code generating technologies have some negative connotations when it comes to code cleanliness, efficiency, and performance.”
“There are ‘too many’ choices. Just show me the right way and the best practice.”
“Deeper customization required to fit my specific implementation needs are much less 4GL and have a steeper development learning curve.”
“There aren’t enough ‘experts’ readily available in the market that really know what they’re doing that would drive my ability to hire resources for low-to-medium cost, schedule a rapid delivery (ramp up, implement, deliver, support), or ensure what is being done is being done the ‘right way’.”
“ADF is an end-to-end framework, so I need resources that understand the entire stack to be on the same page about the approach we are taking.”
“This is nothing like anything I have worked with before.”

All this said, Oracle ADF is a core technology that any “Oracle shop” needs to seriously consider investing in at this point as Oracle itself continues to invest further in this as the baseline for both Fusion Middleware and Fusion Applications.

Knowing what organizations are facing with ADF helps us stay one step ahead of ensuring we can help you get to where you need to be, so contact us to find out more about how we can help.

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Bigmon Cloud Monitoring Saved My Site

ashok.aggarwal — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 19:00:08 +0000

Over the years, the M&S Consulting site has grown quite a bit. We have hundreds of blog articles and have retired more pages of content than are currently active. By introducing Bigmon Cloud into our environment, we realized — to our surprise — that our site was one of the slower loading sites when compared to other sites we have built, either for internal project or customers.

By using Bigmon metrics reporting and trending, we were able to test mechanisms for speeding up the site and moving performance into a place we felt was acceptable. Then, we were able to set new thresholds in Bigmon to ensure that we are notified when/if the site begins to perform in a manner that is less than optimal. Following are some of the Bigmon charts you will see that drive home the success of our updates as well as the value of Bigmon Cloud. You will see that we were able to address the performance issues immediately and the results are trending in slices of 2 hours, 1 day, and 1 week. Results have been consistent.

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