Once in a Blue Moon in August

The term Blue Moon refers to the second full moon in a single calendar month. The first full moon was on 2nd Aug 2012 The second full moon will occur tomorrow the Friday, 31st Aug 2012, a rare spectrum happening once in 3 years. Doesn't mean the moon is blue it would be the normal FULL MOON. 

However, as per NASA's email alert I received earlier this morning I thought of writing it down here what I knew. It could be either Blue Full Moon or the normal lighter red Full Moon which occurs only once in a blue moon. 

With the caveat in mind, A True Blue-Moon can happen with a rare disaster. As a catastrophic result of forest fire or volcanic eruption which could throw plumes of smoke where the atmosphere could get more aerosols which scatters blue light can cause the Moon turn blue..   sounds absurd? This also can happen once in a blue moon, indeed..!

As a matter of scientific fact; the SKY remains blue and the RED BALL 'sun' spurns from yellow to red - The pattern of color spectrum and its scattering wavelengths forms so.

During sunrise and sunset Blue and associated spectrum of colors are scattered by the molecules in the atmosphere more than the visible red light which has a wavelength (lambda) of 650 nanometer.

So the lambda of colors and the aerosol scattering affect makes the natural formation of scenery..! its all about, 'once in a Blue Moon' twin sister of 'Harvest Moon' or the 'Wine Moon' AND cousins of 'Wolf Moon, 'Snow Moon', 'Worm Moon', 'Pink Moon', 'Flower Moon',  'Strawberry Moon', 'Buck Moon', 'Sturgeon Moon', 'Hunters Moon', 'Beaver Moon' and 'Cold Moon'.

Send me the pictures whoever grabs the best FULL MOON. Good Luck..!

Will Air-India recover its scorn and opprobrium with the arrival of Boeing 787 Dreamliner?

Let's hope Air-India's new Boeing 787 Dreamliner is the paradigm of a class airliner and an eye-opener for expats..! We have enough time to decide the fate of another 27 by 2016.

787 design highlights

Chak de Air-India

India's first 787 Dreamliner to arrive today

warm wishes to you on Onam..!

നന്മയുടെയും സമൃദ്ധിയുടെയും ഒരു ഓണക്കാലം കൂടി..

Irrespective of caste, creed or relegion, almost all Malayali home celebrate Onam, the biggest festival of Kerala.

all about Onam

battles are lost, technologies never lose

The Apple iphone monopoly and blame game will prevail as long as legacy and patent remains. However think tanks should not forget - to achieve a greater technology revolution, monopoly syndrome should be eradicated.  

Of late, I heard the news Samsung Electronics shares tumbling day-by-day, wiping $12bn off the South Korean giant's market value, as Apple Inc's sweeping legal victory in their US patent battle. A US jury found Samsung had copied critical features of the hugely popular iPhone and iPad and awarded Apple $1.05bn in damages in the most closely watched patent trial in years. 

When you share the knowledge more inventions creep up rapidly. Apple had themselves got some of their ideas for their GUI from Xerox. So neither Apple nor Macintosh were the first to create Graphic User Interfaces with a desktop style. All companies use ideas from other companies and try to develop them and bring out their own variations. That is not necessarily stealing. This is how technology advances and inventions bloom.
By and large, i-phone customers and global community has already accepted to adapt new technology no matter it be Apple i-phone or Samsung phablet. As a layman, what's wrong if I get a Samsung product with better, stable and more reliable feature with a cheaper and branded price? 

Best of my Photography

Best of my Photography at Rinith Flickr Slide Show

Fraudulent Job Posting

Another Sample Fake JOB offer email: IT's FUN READING THOUGH..!

DEAR,SHARMITH,

THE HIGH COMMISSION TOOK SEVERAL SCRUTINISATION OVER THE DOCUMENTS WE HAVE HERE IN OUR OFFICE. YOU HAVE NOTHING TO SPEND EXCEPT YOUR VISA PROCESSING FEES IS 25,500 INDIARUPEES ONLY, WHOSE HAVE GOTTEN THEIR RECOMMENDATION TO US FROM ANY UNITED KINGDOM ORGANIZATION OR COMPANY. SUCH CANDIDATE VISA PROCESS DO NOT REQUIRE INTERVIEW BECAUSE THE INTERVIEW CONCEPT HAVE BEEN COVERED UP BY THE COMPANY/ORGANIZATION CONCERN OVER THERE IN UNITED KINGDOM. BE REALIST THAT YOU SHOULD COME ALONG WITH THE FOLLOWING :

--YOUR ORIGINAL INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT

--THE VISA PROCESSING FEE 25,500 INDIARUPEES

--THE PRINTOUT OF THE ATTACHED VISA FORM WILL BE FILL BY YOU

-- TWO PASSPORT PHOTO GRAPH

WE WILL LIKE TO INFORM YOU THAT YOUR VISA PROCESSING WILL BE PREPARED BEFORE THE DATE OF CONVENIENCES AND WE WILL BE EXPECTING TO RECEIVE YOU AT THE UNITED KINGDOM HIGH COMMISSION SO THAT WE CAN STAMP YOUR PASSPORT AS THE HIGH COMMISSION IN CHARGE OF YOUR VISA STAMP.

WE HAD DELIBERATELY ISSUE OUT THE VISA FORM PAGE 1 AND VISA FORM PAGE 8 BECAUSE THEY ARE THE INFORMATION NEEDED TO COMPLETE THE PROCESS. HOTEL COMPANY HAS GIVEN PROPER INFORMATION CONCERNING THE REQUIRE INTERVIEW FOR THE PROCESS DUE TO THE COMPANY RECOMMENDATION ON YOUR 

BEHALF. THE VISA FORM DOCUMENT IS ATTACHED TO THIS MAIL AND YOU SHOULD FILL IT AND BRING ALONG WITH YOUR ORIGINAL INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT WHEN COMING DOWN TO THE UNITED KINGDOM HIGH COMMISSION. IMMEDIATELY YOU READY FOR YOUR VISA PAYMENT GIVE ME CALL I WE SEND INFORMATION DETAIL TO YOU 

TO DEPOSIT THE MONEY CASH HIS NOT ACCEPTED IN OFFICE YOU WE SEND YOUR PAYMENT SLIP WITH YOUR VISA FORM TOGETHER YOU WE BRING IT DOWN TO BRITISH HIGH COMMISSION OFFICE.

REGARDS,

(THE CONSULAR UKHC)

CALL ME TO THIS NUMBER 00919167031459.

another FRAUD sample which goes like this:

"Hello, kindly fill your visa application form with scan copy of your passport and send it back to this mail as soon as possible then after fill the visa application form, i will tel you know how to pay your visa fee, also your visa fess have to be made throgh bank and cash is not accepted in the office, so as to further your process.your visa will be ready within 10days and invitation letter will be send to you then you will come with your original passport and your payment slip to the office.

From british highcommission
call me now."

another email communication.... 

From: LINKBRITE HOTEL [mailto:hrd@linkbritehotel.com]         
Sent: None
Subject: Re: Regarding paymnt of visa

its not possible for us to pay for your visa fees in your country,if you are real interested to work with us kindly pay for your visa fees in your country and get your visa on time. thanks

also refer other FRAUD posting.. and 

sample fraud job letter

Some recruitment advertisements fraudulently use the Company name and logo. These advertisements offer fake employment opportunities and ask for personal information and/or payments in advance for hire.

Please be aware that none of the Companies, its affiliates, and its accredited recruitment agencies, charge candidates any fees whatsoever at any part of the recruitment process.

Think twice and proceed. Act positively repent never..!

Important Warning: Fraudulent Job Posting

Some recruitment advertisements fraudulently use the Company name and logo. These advertisements offer fake employment opportunities and ask for personal information and/or payments in advance for hire.

Please be aware that none of the Companies, its affiliates, and its accredited recruitment agencies, charge candidates any fees whatsoever at any part of the recruitment process.

Let me share a recent fraud email my cousin received and was about to tumble would he have not approached me.

The FRAUD job offer from Link Brite Hotel, UK simply states the following:

LINK BRITE HOTEL

78 Park Terrace, East

Kilbride, Glasgow, South

Lanarkshire G73 5BN,

United Kingdom.

www.linkbritehotel.com

hrd@linkbritehotel.com

TEL: +448719156473

APPOINTMENT LETTER

Ref/No:-CH/UK12/69

Date :-24 /08/2012

With reference to your application and subsequent online interview, we are pleased to offer you employment in Link Brite Hotel, United Kingdom.

The employment is subject to the following terms and conditions:

1. DESIGNATION: FRONT OFFICE ASSISTANT.

2. CONTRACT PERIOD: The Contract will be valid for a period of two years from the date of joining and is extendable after the completion of two years.

3. REMUNERATION & PERQUISITES

3.1 Remuneration Salary: £ 4,600 pounds per month

3.2 Housing Facility: Suitable & comfortable accommodation will be given to you

3.3 Telephone Expenses: Mobile allowance will be given to you

3.4 Medical Allowance: Medical reimbursement will be given as per the company rules and regulations.

3.5 Transport: Outside the city the transport allowance will be given to you for official purpose.

3.6 Settlement Allowance: £2000 Pounds & two months upfront salary on joining will be given.

Continue…

Private & Confidential / Job Appoint Letter / Link Brite Hotel London (UK) REMUNERATION & PERQUISITES

3.7 Annual leave : Annual Leave of one calendar month for each complete year of employment will be allowed to you. This may be accumulated for two years and availed together. Leave encashment may also be permitted a management discretion

3.8 Leave Passage: Return air passage, airfare for economic class will be paid for you, and your family (wife/husband and two children under the age of 18 years old).

3.9 Joining Expenses: You and your family (wife and husband with two children up to the age of 18 years old) will be entitled to economy class air ticket.

3.10 Visa Expenses : You have to bear the visa expenses only.

3.11 Bonus: Bonus may be payable at management discretion.

3.12 Education Expenses: School Fees up to £5000 Pounds for two children up to the age of 18 years old per annum of actual whichever is will be entitlement for your children. Expenses on uniform, books, etc., will be borne by you.

4. WORKING HOURS: You are required to work 9(Nine) hours daily (30 Min( 2-breaks) and 40 (Forty) Hours per week. The working days is from Monday to Friday, training period working can be extended to Saturday.

--

--

10. COMPENSATION: In case you resign or otherwise wish to leave the service of the company before completing one full year of service under any circumstances whatsoever you shall compensate the company for:

(a) Joining expenses incurred by the company on you and

(b) Three month's salary (Salary that will be retained up to two years as security and after successful completion of two years shall be reimbursed).

With this contract, any previous contracts signed by you with us or with any of our group of companies in United Kingdom or with any of our representatives to be treated as null and void.

If you accept all the Terms and Conditions, kindly sign the offer letter and send it back

to us as a token of your acceptance Offer. And you have to Contact Consular in charge your visa processing.

Mr. Wood Mark _____________________________

Appointing Authority Signature of Applicant

Link Brite Hotel,

United Kingdom.

Private & Confidential / Job Appoint Letter / Link Brite Hotel London (UK)

IT IS FRAUD..! 

Telephone numbers might change.. it's a chain of people routed automatically either somewhere in CHINA or elsewhere.

TEL: +448719156473

00919167031459

The first response to the above number will state that "we are in a meeting and will call us back".

Additionally, the fraud group would ask the selected candidate to cover visa charges which none of the reputed companies would ask for.

Think about it or down to the earth. Act now repent never..!

also refer sample fraud job offer letter

Recruitment Fraud

Its a scam, no ifs, ands, or buts!

Any Email You Receive From Camouflaged company domain offering you a job on day one is a Fraud!

Any Email You Receive From Someone You Don't Personally Know Offering You Money Is a Scam!

Any Email You Receive From Someone You Don't Know Using A Free Email Address Is A Scam!

Before you accept a job, always check the authenticity of the email address as well as of the company. Check the company website and give preferably a call to the reception desk to know more about the company and about the person who offered you the job. Also preferably ask a local friend abroad to check the whereabouts of such company whether it exists or not.

There are other scam email you might receive from reputed Banks who asks you to respond back to provide your account related information and to change your account password which in no case should be accepted or responded back. A possible backdoor attack or a key logger would be activated to steal your passwords. So simply delete such emails without any doubt.

click here to view Sample fraud job offer letter from LINKBRITE HOTEL UK

Quick Response Code

What is QR Code and how to generate it?

Of late it has been seen that the mumbo-jumbo i-phone users are preferring to read the latest news updates/ articles on the move. Yes, it is indeed a telepathic transformation of hardcoded contents at your finger tips..!

The QR Code: The process of reading information has been made even simpler when you see a QR Code in a magazine. Just scan and read it, that simple it is.

QR Code abbreviated form of Quick Response Code is a type of matrix barcode initially designed and confined for the automotive industry.

Structure of a QR code, highlighting functional elements

It was designed to allow its contents to be decoded at stunning high speed.

The QR code is detected as a 2-dimensional digital image by a semiconductor image sensor and is then digitally analyzed by a programmed processor. The processor locates the three distinctive squares at the corners of the image, and normalizes image size, orientation, and angle of viewing, with the aid of a smaller square near the fourth corner. The small dots are then converted to binary numbers and validity checked with an error-correcting code.

To read QR code, you need a QR code scanner app on your smartphone. Lots of QR Code scanner is already available under Android store. Google Goggles and NeoReader are free apps that work great on Android, Windows Phone and iOS devices. I'm using ixMAT Scanner with my Samsung Galaxy Note. You can scan either Barcode or QR Code from any store and search and benchmark the product price online.

QR Code can be generated online for free. One of which is at http://www.qrstuff.com/ , process of creating  is self-explanatory.

Scan this QR Code to see this information on your mobile devices.

The Scholars International School: Website Launch

The Scholars International School: Logo Launch

TSIS, approved by the Ministry of Education, State of Qatar, is a distinctive co-educational Indian School with an international perspective following the CBSE syllabus.

Traffic Awareness Campaign

Save your Life..!

Hang up your Mobile while driving, there is someone waiting back home..!

Is that the destiny to heaven? Beware of Road Signs..!

Happy Independence Day

be proud of being an Indian... India is a land of raw resources where mission impossible haps to possible..

...lets make a revolutionary leap... lets support non-violence and non-corruption India

Vande Mataram

Latest Virus: An exaggerated version of state-sponsored threat

latest virus threat dubbed as "Gauss" was forecasted by Kaspersky Lab and is an exaggerated version of state-sponsored threat. ref

as per latest crawling headlines depiction "A new cyber surveillance virus has been found in the Middle East that can spy on financial transactions, e-mail and social networking activity, according to a leading computer security firm, Kaspersky Lab. Gauss virus may also be capable of attacking critical infrastructure and was built in the same laboratories as Stuxnet". 

..don't get panicked.. make sure your enterprise level anti-virus orchestrator consoles does a regular and real-time coverage for the enterprise systems and is a licensed copy. the rest the men behind the scenes will safeguard your systems. Systems personnel should also make sure latest windows and OS updates are patched regularly.

McAfee has protection in DAT 6800 release.

read about recent Flame threat 

Hyper-V Client Display Resolution and Installation of Integration Services on VM

1600x1200 is the limit. RDP is your only option to exceed those dimensions.

Make sure after the OS is set up, you have installed the integration services. Tips: Remove Windows Server 2008 installation DVD from VM DVD drive by selcting Media >> DVD Drive >> Eject 

Then select  Action >> Insert Integration Services Setup Disk

Restart the system after completing the installation of Integration Services.

After successful setup of Integration Services:

*You could use mouse to work with VM through "Virtual Machine Connection".

*VM must allow network connectivity as NIC drivers were installed.

*and some typical Hyper-V Windows services running in the guest OS:

Change the display resolution before connecting RDC

click the options

and select the required resolution and then connect to the client. If 1024x768 is selected then client screen resolution will be also the same.

  

check the screen resolution now

if resolution 800x600 is selected the client screen resolution would be 800x600.

This may be the recommended screen resolution for some of the applications to get correct output. So this is how you adjust the resolution of client vm.

Important Checklist to Install SQL Server 2008 R2 Failover Cluster on Windows 2008 R2 Failover Cluster

   

Preparing server from scrap.. lemme prepare the checklist first..

in a nutshell...

1. Configure RAID – for OS redundancy make sure disks are on raid 1 or 5 selection.
2. Install Windows Server 2008 R2 Ent Edn.
3. Register OS online
4. Install latest patches including SP1 available at the moment.
5. Change the windows updates schedule.. Change settings and choose download updates but let me choose whether to install them. This way it would be a controlled restart.
6. Join node to domain
7. Install Anti-Virus
8. If using SAN Storage to present the storage disks to the server you may need to download and install HP MPIO Full Featured DSM for P6x00 family for Disk Arrays. This will present the EVA 4400 SAN Storage Disk to the Server. Or use free iscsi storage initiators see this one.  Present it to the server. Format (ntfs) the newly created disk drives. Total 4 drives preferably. i) for Quorum (max 1GB enough),  ii) for MSDTC (max 1GB enough), iii) for Log Volume, iv) for Data Volume.
9. Create a cluster account and add to domain admin group.
10. Node1: Add Features Failover Clustering
11. Go to network connections and disable not in use network adapters. Select detailed view and disable netbios on heartbeat network of each nodes. Go to network properties>>ipv4 properties>>advanced>>wins>>disable NetBIOS over TCP/IP.
12. Node1&2: Add Application Server Role  and Distributed Incoming Remote and Outgoing Remote Transaction Role and .net framework 3.5.1 feature from Server Manager.. if required make sure non-http activation is selected which is used for WCF activation.
13. Refer Security considerations before & after SQL Server Installation
14. SQL 2008 R2 – proceed with system configuration checker
15. Avoid SQL server setup run from remote share.. copy the ISO image locally and run the setup. installation will be faster this way. if required download ISO magic disc for accessing ISO images.
16. Install SQL, option: New SQL server failover cluster installation .. Point Data Drive to S.. Point Log Drive to L: If skipped you can do this at a later stage from
17. Add mix mode authentication..
18. Setup preferred Cluster Node to the more powerful server (say cluster node 1 has more memory, so make it as the preferred owner).
19. Group Policy inclusion.. refer automatic restart of service accounts i) Log on as a batch job, ii) Log on as a service, iii) Act as part of the operating system
20. Present disable non present network drivers.
21. Enable windows firewall and include only required tcp port
22. Install SQL to the second node. .option: add node to a SQL server failover cluster
23. Segregate SQL service account  and include the domain service account credentials for each service. note that passwords are changed once in 3 months (production servers only) or based on companies IT policy. 
24. If you want SQL named instance on this failover cluster then at this point select the option 1 from SQL setup: "new installation or add features to an existing installation".  At command prompt type ssms (for SQL 2008 onwards) or sqlwb (for SQL 2005) and check the connections. You may remotely check the connection by typing "telnet servername port" (default 1433).
25. Finally remove internet access from SQL server to minimize external threats.

The credentials you provided during SQL Server 2008 installation are invalid

When providing service accounts and passwords you might encounter one of the following error messages, which prevents you from continuing the installation:

- The credentials you provided for the SQL Server Agent service are invalid. To continue, provide a valid account and password for the SQL Server Agent service.

- The specified credentials for the SQL Server service are not valid. To continue, provide a valid account and password for the SQL Server service.

Solution: you may select NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM and proceed. Later you can change the SQL service account with a dedicated domain service account meant for starting the service.

you can also provide the account with specific roles, like local admin, domain user/ admin based on org. and application specific requirement.

Recommendation:

Automatic restart of Service Accounts

Always make sure that if you are using domain account for running the SQL service, that account needs to be part of following 3 main resultant policies (you might have to do this from AD Group Policy to automatically reflect to the joined servers):

i) Log on as a batch job

ii) Log on as a service

iii) Act as part of the operating system

This will make sure that the account with which the SQL services run are automatically started after each system reboot.

Pre-requisites for SQL 2008 R2 Failover Cluster setup: MSDTC Setup

Microsoft Distribution Transaction Cordinator  setup process:

now proceed with SQL system configuration checker on node 1.

make sure the system configuration checker gets a clean result.

now proceed with New SQL Server failover cluster installation.

recommended website (windows server tutorials and education: winsrvtuts) which explains everything

Windows server 2008 R2 Failover Clustering - explained streaming video

SQL Enterprise Edition Failover Cluster installation on Windows Server 2008 R2 Failover Cluster reference on streaming media which I liked the most

SQL 2008 pre-requisites: Determine and Set the Primary NIC on a Windows 2008 Server

NIC Binding is the order at which windows loads the NIC's at boot up and takes the first one as a primary NIC.

How to Determine and Set the Primary NIC on a Windows 2008 Server

1. Open Network Connections. You may also type shortcut ncpa.cpl from command prompt to open network connection.
2. Press ALT key (dont hold, another list of menus will show up) Click advanced then click Advanced Settings
3. Click the adapters and bindings tab, then under connections, click the connection you want to modify
4. under the binding for connection, you can move the protocol up or down for the connection you have selected at the top

Validation errors while installing SQL 2008 R2 on Node 2 Cluster

The errors what I encountered while validating on SQL node 2.

Before I proceed with Node 2 installation, windows 2008 failover cluster perfectly does the failover transitions. SQL Node 1 installation successfully installed.

available online resources while proceeding to SQL node 2 (analysis service graph)

MSDTC path.

"

Validating cluster resource SQL Server (GP_PROD).

This resource is configured to run in a separate monitor. By default, resources are configured to run in a shared monitor. This setting can be changed manually to keep it from affecting or being affected by other resources. It can also be set automatically by the failover cluster. If a resource fails it will be restarted in a separate monitor to try to reduce the impact on other resources if it fails again. This value can be changed by opening the resource properties and selecting the 'Advanced Policies' tab. There is a check-box 'run this resource in a separate Resource Monitor'.

"

However the over all result showed, "Testing has completed successfully. The configuration appears to be suitable for clustering. However, you should review the report because it may contain warnings which you should address to attain the highest availability".

This warning message goes off after installing the SQL 2008 R2 on node second.