Trying to set up an Umbraco installation, using a Windows Server 2008 + SQL Server Express AMI on Amazon EC2, I kept getting Error number 18456 when trying to log in as ‘sa’ with the SQL Server Management Studio. This is the log of the error:

===================================
Cannot connect to IP-0AD1A3A5\SQLEXPRESS.
===================================
Login failed for user 'sa'. (.Net SqlClient Data Provider)
------------------------------
For help, click: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?ProdName=Microsoft+SQL+Server&EvtSrc=MSSQLServer&EvtID=18456&LinkId=20476
------------------------------
Server Name: IP-0AD1A3A5\SQLEXPRESS
Error Number: 18456
Severity: 14
State: 1
Line Number: 65536


The stacktrace wasn’t helpful, since it basically showed exceptions being thrown when trying to login.

What made it bizarre was that I could look at the database if I logged into SQL Server Management Studio using Windows Authentication.

These are all the things I checked:

• Server Manager -> Configuration -> Services -> SQL Server, SQL Server Browser, started
• SQL Server Management Studio -> Security Login -> sa -> Properties -> Status -> Login, enabled
• SQL Server Management Studio -> Security Login -> sa -> Properties -> General -> enter a new password
• SQL Server Configuration Manager -> SQL Server Network Configuration -> Protocols for SQLEXXPRESS -> TCPIP, enabled
• Windows Firewall -> Inbound Rules -> SQL Server Inbound, enabled

At this point, it might be obvious you what I did wrong: SQL Server Database Engine is set to Windows Authentication mode when it should be set to SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode. To fix this:

• SQL Server Management Studio -> Properties -> Security -> select SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode
• Restart database server

Then you can login as ‘sa’. Wohoo!

Update: Video changed.

I ran into an interesting Mac OS X Perl issue the other day. Since @runlevelmedia hosts websites for clients, its a good idea to have a backup strategy. Hoping and prayer is not really strategy.

We have been working on updating our backup plan to make it more efficient. Basically, the script could be run from different machines, so we have multiple copies as a starting point.

Testing out the script on my Macbook threw me for a surprise. Apparently, I mostly use the basic Perl modules pre-installed with Mac OS X and I’d never run across any issues.

jeebus:~ nali$ ./backup.pl --config testconfig.ini
Can't locate Config/IniFiles.pm in @INC (@INC contains: /Library/Perl/Updates/5.10.0 /System/Library/Perl/5.10.0/darwin-thread-multi-2level /System/Library/Perl/5.10.0 /Library/Perl/5.10.0/darwin-thread-multi-2level /Library/Perl/5.10.0 /Network/Library/Perl/5.10.0/darwin-thread-multi-2level /Network/Library/Perl/5.10.0 /Network/Library/Perl /System/Library/Perl/Extras/5.10.0/darwin-thread-multi-2level /System/Library/Perl/Extras/5.10.0 .) at ./backup.pl line 3.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at ./backup.pl line 3.

(Yes, my Macbook name is jeebus). Quick Googling found people complaining about the Perl version installed by Mac OS X. The problem is that its not the best idea to yank out the pre-installed version because a lot of apps and systems related processes expects it all work in a certain way. One example I saw was how iTunes used a string comparison behavior that got changed in the more recent versions of Perl. So lots of folks end up installing a bunch of different versions of Perl, which is beyond confusing and unmanageable.

Turns the following command makes it pretty easy to install specific CPAN modules:
sudo perl -MCPAN -e 'install Config::IniFiles'

Another option is to kick off a CPAN shell and install that way:
sudo perl -MCPAN -e 'shell'
Terminal does not support AddHistory.
cpan shell -- CPAN exploration and modules installation (v1.9205)
ReadLine support available (maybe install Bundle::CPAN or Bundle::CPANxxl?)
cpan[1]> install Config::IniFiles
CPAN: Storable loaded ok (v2.18)
Going to read /Users/nali/.cpan/Metadata
....


That’s it!

Frankly, if you are ever in Central Florida, and need a break from screaming kids or just a couple hours of down time, visit the Harry P. Leu Gardens. Its in downtown Orlando, away from all the tourist traps. Its quiet and serene.

Sit in the Butterfly Garden and watch them dancing away. Check out all the beautiful roses and camellias.

Well, you know what that leads to, right?

Video podcasting of course!

This is basically @nicdev, @dmustafic, @joshcaza, and me (@iamtherealnick) babbling about web development related topics for an hour:

Enjoy and remember to visit webdevfools.com for the latest episodes.

While I’ll embed the videos here now and then, they will all get posted at nickandjosh.com.

Shiva:

Flow 2:

Bokeh:

cosmosition:

Endeavour Lifts Off by NASA:

Lets backtrack a bit here. Towards the beginning of the year, I set my New Years resolutions, just like everyone else. One of my resolutions was to try to help out in the community. I wanted to join an organization that was interested in giving a helping hand. So I decided to look into the big 3 organizations everyone has heard of: Lions Club, Kiwanis, and Rotary Club. I had done Key Club in high school, and wanted something different, so Kiwanis was out (nothing wrong with Kiwanis of course, but I wanted to put myself more out there).

So I googled ‘Atlanta Lions Club’ and up came the Atlanta Lions Club. Well, that was easy.

I emailed Scott Rogers, the club president, and he invited me to their next meeting. A few days later, I walked into one of the rooms at the Capital City Club and met lots of awesome folks. Scott and I talked a few days later, trying to figure out how I wanted to be involved.

Vision is a huge focus for Lions Clubs (no pun intended). This goes back to Hellen Keller challenging Lions Clubs to be “knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness.” This is a topic I can empathize with. Since I wear contacts most of the time, not many folks see me with my honkin’ thick glasses at night or on the weekends. Without contacts or glasses, I can’t tell how many fingers you are holding up if they were a foot from my face.

My biggest fear is not being able to see.

So I want to get involved in anything sight-related. One awesome cause is the Georgia Lions Lighthouse Foundation. The Lighthouse provides eye exams and glasses to folks who can’t afford them. You can donate old glasses (usable or broken) to the Lighthouse.

One of the biggest fundraising events for the Lighthouse is the Night of Spectacles. While the event has a silent auction for raising money, the fun part is a design competition of making dresses that incorporate donated broken glasses. This year, the Night of Spectacles is being held April 22nd, at the Mason Murer Gallery.

The Lighthouse is raising money to open a new 4,450 square feet facility in Decatur. With so many people needing their services, this will allow more people to volunteer, and most importantly, more people to be helped.

And oh yeah, overhead at the Lighthouse is 6%, meaning for every dollar you donate, 94 cents goes directly to their programs!

I’m hoping to help out at the screenings that the Lighthouse holds all over the state.

Members of the Atlanta Lions Club get together once a month and volunteer at The Pantry.  The Pantry provides food to anyone in need. It isn’t limited to homeless individuals. Imagine anyone who has lost their job and can’t make ends meet. The wife and I trekked down there earlier this month to help out. Unfortunately, it was closed because of the insane snowstorm that hit the southeast. But we plan on making it out there once a month to help out.

The Atlanta Lions Club will also be helping out at the American Diabetes Association EXPO/Atlanta on March 27th with free screenings.

Either way, I’m happy to be part of such a great organization. I’m happy that I’ll have the chance to help.

I’m proud to be a Lion.

]]> http://iamtherealnick.com/atlanta-lions-club-member/feed/ 0 http://iamtherealnick.com/pics-from-garyvee-book-signing-in-atlanta-w-runlevelmedia-joshcaza/ http://iamtherealnick.com/pics-from-garyvee-book-signing-in-atlanta-w-runlevelmedia-joshcaza/#comments Sat, 06 Feb 2010 05:29:40 +0000 nick http://iamtherealnick.wordpress.com/2010/02/06/pics-from-garyvee-book-signing-in-atlanta-w-runlevelmedia-joshcaza/ Josh Chase and I headed to Cost Plus World Market for Gary Vaynerchuk’s book signing of Crush It!, to represent Run Level Media. Had a great time!

But Internet Guru always seemed arrogant. I've worked in Internet startups, I've worked on huge web platforms, but calling myself Internet Guru just seemed pretentious. Tessa Horehled's blog post How To Identify A New Media Douchebag just made it worse, because she was right. I definitely don't know it all, and Guru made it seem like I did.

So I talked to the wife about this. To paraphrase her response "Ummm, you are a geek. Call yourself an Internet Geek."

Now I don't feel like a prick when handing out my shiny new business cards.

While we have done plenty of video podcasts before, this is going to be an experiment from the ground up. The whole site will be perpetually under construction as we try out new tools and new ways of doing media distribution. Live streaming and BackNoise will be integrated so we can connect directly to viewers.

It will all be fun!

Leave us some feedback on what you think.

Awesome badges. Whoever designed them did a great job.

Chris Brogan has a post about doing things for free and how you should charge for certain services.

Offering free services can definitely be tricky. Honestly, the only time you should do it is if it isn’t going to offer you headaches. Its ok that Twitter is free, each new user doesn’t require any additional work for Twitter (ok, a million additional users might cause the fail whale, but thats a different problem).

Providing free services when it requires time and labor, especially for a one person shop or a small business, can be an exercise in futility. If you are giving free classes to a whole bunch of people, great. One person vs 10 people in a class situation probably doesn’t matter.

From my own experience, when you offer something from free, clients the world. If you are doing pro bono work for a client, it is critical to clearly define what services you will be providing for free. At least if you don’t want your hair going white! Treat the client just like a paying client. If you have a development or process cycle, do it with the free clients as well.

Don’t sell yourself short.

Enjoy.

Television networks have depended on Nielsen ratings for a long time. Nielsen breaks down how many people are watching what show and demographics of the viewers. Nielsen has been collecting data since 1950. Similarly, radio stations, newspapers, and other print media can provide detailed breakdowns of listeners and readership. Advertisers can get similar data from popular websites who are looking to sell space on their sites.

The old model is about broadcasting to hopefully the right people and getting them interested in products. That doesn’t work with social media. Its all about relationships. Building relationship, cultivating relationships, interacting with clients, potential clients.

The onus falls on the marketer to start creating organic growth.

So how?

Sean Carton, over at Clickz, has a great article called A Social Media Strategy Checklist. Its a great starting point for everyone, especially for folks wondering what the right questions are. To kick off any social media strategy, these questions need to be answered:

1. What are we trying to accomplish?
2. Why social media?
3. What kind of social media will help us best achieve our goals?
4. Are we prepared to let go of control of our brand, at least a little?
5. What will we do to encourage participation?
6. Who will maintain our social media presence?
7. Do we have the resources to keep this up, or will this be a short campaign?
8. How does engaging use rs via social media integrate into our overall marketing/communications strategy?
9. How do we measure success? What constitutes failure?
10. What will we do less of if we’re spending resources on social media?

The question of what resources to dedicate to social media (#7 above) is interesting. Attending New Media Atlanta conference recently, Newell-Rubbermaid was involved in a panel discussion. An audience member asked what kind of resources Rubbermaid puts towards social media. The response: 50% of one full-time employee and 2 interns. Rubbermaid has a market cap of $4.2B. Its hard to believe such a well known brand, whose bottom-line is tied to consumer confidence in its brand, would not provide more resources to its public face. Still, Rubbermaid clearly understands the value of their online presence and social media and has plans for expansion.

The panel also discussed ROI (part of #9 above). The usual metrics of measuring views, followers, comments, or subscribers don’t apply well if the product is purchased from retailers. Rubbermaid said the only form of marketing they could successfully measure was of the in-store variety. Chris Brogan, who was the keynote for the New Media Atlanta conference, said the only ROI that mattered was specific dollar amounts. Show spending X amounts of dollars on social media will lead to Y dollars in savings.

It is important to remember that having concrete answers for all the above questions may not be possible. Knowing why and how are basic questions and can’t be pushed to the back burner. Without answers to them, no viable strategy can be created. The ROI question is tricky and there is no consensus, but Brogan’s assertion that providing a dollar value can be a good starting point.