Getting Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 to talk to Microsoft SQL Server 2008
Problem: Visual Studio 2005 complains, Database schema could not be retrieved for this connection. Please make sure the connection settings are correct and that the database is online. This server version is not supported. You must have Microsoft SQL Server…
Deny access to .svn directories with IIS
The problem: I like using Subversion to deploy web content to production servers. I check in everything while I’m working on the development copy, then check out onto the server when it’s ready. Subversion creates a .svn directory contain readable…
Symfony log management with `logrotate` on Linux
It sucks when server disks fill up. I have Nagios set up to notify me well before it’s a problem, but it happens annoyingly frequently, and it’s always the same cause: log files. Symfony’s production environments don’t create logs, but…

MCPD .NET Web Self-Paced Training Kit time estimate summary
So I have to get a certification to progress in my job, and it needs to involve Microsoft .NET. OK. So I’m working through the MCPD (Microsoft Certified Professional Developer) .NET web development training kit, available at Amazon, Barnes and…
Making a symfony plug-in for visual theme and custom errors
I manage a growing number of symfony-based Intranet apps that share a common look-and-feel. I use the same stylesheet and images on them all, and it I am nervous every time I make Yet Another Copy of the same files,…

More Secure AND More Convenient: Secure Shell keys and agents everywhere you go
As security increases, convenience tends to decrease. But in this case we gain some of both. CONCEPTS Problem 1: Brute force SSH attackers I recently made a Linux machine accessible by port 22 from the Internet, so I could remotely…
WordPress plugin to make code samples prettier
I’ve always had a weakness for “preferences”. I spent hours going through all the available preference panes on the first Mac I had access to (an SE II I think, ca. 1989), tweaking this and that to get it to…
Completely custom Symfony error pages
For every Symfony project I work on, I eventually want to get rid of the tasteful brown error pages with the Symfony logo on them and install my own, so the users don’t get weirded out and somehow start thinking…
LDAP powered by MySQL on RHEL5
Background We need a quick-and-dirty LDAP server with basically a list of usernames and passwords to point Cisco ACS gear at, in order to provide people with limited-time authentication tokens to a wireless network. I need to populate that with…