CA Clarity (Niku) - LDAP Search Filter

You gotta take additional precaution steps when performing LDAP synchronization in Clarity because as of Clarity 7.5.3 FP5 it is not possible or legitimate to remove users from Clarity. You can only lock them or make them inactive.

There are 2 Java Job that comes with Clarity aims for LDAP synchronization.
First is "LDAP - Synchronize New and Changed Users" use to add/update user profile.
Second "LDAP - Synchronize Obsolete Users" use to inactivate user profile if the user already removed from the LDAP server.

"Search Filter" field in the NSA security settings define the condition to filter the list of users to be synchronized for both jobs.

The syntax of the Search Filter is compliant to the LDAP query syntax that you issue to the LDAP server.

For example, assuming your LDAP server has an attribute named "SamAccountName" (Clearly, my example is on AD) and you would like to obtain only the user that has "Eddy" in the attribute value, you can define such a filter like below

SamAccountName=*Eddy*

This will bring over users and inactivate users that meet the above criteria.

If you need to define multiple criteria, then you need to use a syntax similar to below:

&(SamAccountName=*Eddy*)(Email=*@hotmail.com)

The filter will then only filter on users that has "Eddy" in their account name and email ends with @hotmail.com. the & symbol indicate "AND" logical operator.

Note: The attributes in your LDAP server might not be the same like mine.
Note: You need to restart Clarity services to make the Search Filter effective

Warning: Based on my experience Just got reply from CA Support, the LDAP Remove User job only affect Clarity users who are "Active". User with "Lock" status are not affected. This is by design.


To test your LDAP synchronization, you might need to remove the records from CMN_DIRECTORY_SERVERS table manually to reset the Last Synchronization Date.

The Oscar of Environment By Time

It's being years since I last enjoyed a workless and relaxing vacation. I still remember how beautiful was (Ya, I heard there are some modern construction works in progress" the seaside and underwater corals. What's that place called.... O yes, Redang Island in Malaysia.

Anyway, my point is that THE environment stipulate what kind of nature and personality we are. It is THE environment that decide the existence of certain species and extinction of another. Can you see how important is our environment to us? The more important matter is how do we create or preserve a better environment to our next generations. This task is not as simple as you think it can be. There are people with ridiculous greed that aims to demolish our mother nature to create their own personal wealth. Damn these mortals.

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An Excerpt from Time.

Friday, Jun. 22, 2007 By CAROLYN SAYRE




South China Karst
Picture By:Jim Thorsell / IUCN


Preserving the world's truly great places has never been easy, often because it's hard to determine just what they are. One person's verdant grassland might be another's development site; where you see a mountain range, someone else might see a coal vein. Sorting out such matters can become impossible — especially when the debates take place across borders, as preservationists in one country plead with another not to burn a grassland or dam a river or tear down a thousand-year-old temple.

That's where the World Heritage Committee comes in. Officially established by the United Nations in 1972 as part of the Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, the committee meets once a year to choose the world's natural or human-made wonders in the greatest need of protection and assigning them to a sort of endangered-species list that makes them eligible for international stewardship and restoration funds. In the 35 years since the heritage list was established, 830 sites have been designated, including the Statue of Liberty, the Great Wall of China and Mount Kenya National Park in Africa. From June 23 to July 2, the committee will be meeting again, this time in Christchurch, New Zealand, to consider 45 new sites nominated by 39 countries as candidates to be placed under the U.N.'s protective wing.

The idea for a World Heritage List was hatched in the late 1950s, when the ancient Abu Simbel temples in Egypt were being threatened by a small dam. Frustrated by the Egyptian government's lack of action to protect the ancient buildings, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), launched a worldwide campaign that saved the temples by relocating them to higher ground. Today, the process is a good deal more official than that — almost like the Oscars of the environment. Any country is eligible to send in a list of nominees for protection. The candidates are then independently evaluated by two organizations — World Conservation Union and the International Council on Monuments and Sites — which in turn make a recommendation to the World Heritage Committee. That body votes on which sites will become new members; last year, 18 were accepted. "It really is a democratic process," says Christian Manhart, chief of communication, education and partnerships at the World Heritage Center in Paris.

Once a place is inscribed on the list, it not only benefits from the media attention and tourist revenue that such notoriety can bring, it also becomes eligible for a piece of UNESCO's preservation fund. In 2001, the world recoiled when the Taliban destroyed two 6th century, 150-ft. statues of Buddha carved into the mountainside in the Bamiyan Valley in Afghanistan. Since it was inscribed on the list, the site has received more than $4 million to help with reconstruction and to hire a sculptor to re-carve some of the damaged stone. "Countries are under a lot of pressure to get on the list, because of the funding," says Manhart. The photo gallery below includes pictures of some of the sites being considered for protection this year. Browse through, vote for your favorites and take a minute while doing so to contemplate what the world would be like without its most remarkable — and destructible — places.


Check out the Nominees. Click HERE

IBM DB2 HADR Example

Here is an HADR configuration example that I did when preparing for my DBA certification. It has being awhile when I performed these steps, so bear with me if there are any mistakes or errors in the description.

DB2(R) high availability disaster recovery (HADR) is a data replication feature that provides a high availability solution for both partial and complete site failures. HADR protects against data loss by replicating data changes from a source database, called the primary, to a target database, called the standby.

This practice assumes two DB2 instances, named DB2INST1 and DB2INST2 resides in the same physical machine.

For configuring HADR, you will need few pieces of information.

Update DB2 Registry Profile
DB2 Communication Protocol (DB2COMM)

Update Each Instance DBM Configuration
DB2 TCPIP Listening Port (SVCENAME)

Update Primary DB Archical Logging Configuration
Log Pages During Index Rebuild (LOGINDEXBUILD)
Index Creation Time (INDEXREC)
Retain Log (LOGRETAIN)

Update Each DB HADR Configuration
Local IP Address (HADR_LOCAL_HOST)
Local Service Name/Port (HADR_LOCAL_SVC)
Remote IP Address (HADR_REMOTE_HOST)
Remote Service Name/Port (HADR_REMOTE_SVC)
Remote DB2 Instance Name (HADR_REMOTE_INST)
Synchronization Mode (HADR_SYNCMODE)

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For the intent of all purposes, I installed a fresh copy of DB2 ESE version 9 and chooose NOT to create the default DB2 instance. Windows environment is assumed.


Step 1: Create 2 DB2 Instances

Open up an instance of DB2 Command Window by typing "db2cmd" in Run dialog.

Create Instance 1 by typing "db2icrt DB2INST1"

Create Instance 1 by typing "db2icrt DB2INST2"


Step 2: Configure Instance 1

Type the following commands:

SET DB2INSTANCE=DB2INST1
db2set DB2COMM=tcpip
db2 update dbm cfg using SVCENAME 41001
db2start


Note: The TCPIP service port for this instance is 41001

Step 3: Configure Instance 2

Type the following commands:

SET DB2INSTANCE=DB2INST2
db2set DB2COMM=tcpip
db2 update dbm cfg using SVCENAME 42001
db2start

Note: The TCPIP service port for this instance is 42001


Step 4: Create the Primary DB in Instance 1

Type the following commands:

SET DB2INSTANCE=DB2INST1
db2 create db BANKFRS
db2 update db cfg for BANKFRS using LOGINDEXBUILD on
db2 update db cfg for BANKFRS using INDEXREC RESTART
db2 update db cfg for BANKFRS using LOGRETAIN on

Note: This step will turn the DB into archival logging mode


Step 5: Create a backup of Primary DB

Type the following commands:

db2 BACKUP DB BANKFRS TO C:\TEMP

Note: This step will backup the BANKFRS db into C:\TEMP


Step 6: Restore the backup BANKFRS as Standby database

Type the following commands:

SET DB2INSTANCE=DB2INST2
db2 RESTORE DB BANKFRS FROM C:\TEMP

Note: This step will restore the database as BANKFRS in the second DB2 instance and place it into roll forward pending state.

Note: If you roll forward the BANKFRS now, you will not be able to initialize it as the standby database.


Step 7: Configure the HADR settings for the Primary DB in DB2INST1

Type the following commands:

SET DB2INSTANCE=DB2INST1
db2 update alternate server for database BANKFRS using hostname localhost port 42001
db2 update db cfg for BANKFRS using hadr_local_host localhost
db2 update db cfg for BANKFRS using hadr_local_svc 41005
db2 update db cfg for BANKFRS using hadr_remote_host localhost
db2 update db cfg for BANKFRS using hadr_remote_svc 42005
db2 update db cfg for BANKFRS using hadr_remote_inst DB2INST2
db2 update db cfg for BANKFRS using hadr_syncmode SYNC
db2 update db cfg for BANKFRS using hadr_timeout 120

Note: Primary BANKFRS HADR service port will be 41005.
Note: Standby BANKFRS HADR service port will be 42005.
Warning: You cannot use the Instance TCPIP port (SVCENAME) or next port number (SVCENAME+1) as the HADR service port. This is by design.


Step 7: Configure the HADR settings for the Primary DB in DB2INST1

Type the following commands:

SET DB2INSTANCE=DB2INST1
db2 update alternate server for database BANKFRS using hostname localhost port 41001
db2 update db cfg for BANKFRS using hadr_local_host localhost
db2 update db cfg for BANKFRS using hadr_local_svc 42005
db2 update db cfg for BANKFRS using hadr_remote_host localhost
db2 update db cfg for BANKFRS using hadr_remote_svc 41005
db2 update db cfg for BANKFRS using hadr_remote_inst DB2INST1
db2 update db cfg for BANKFRS using hadr_syncmode SYNC
db2 update db cfg for vusing hadr_timeout 120

Note: Primary BANKFRS HADR service port will be 41005.
Note: Standby BANKFRS HADR service port will be 42005.
Warning: You cannot use the Instance TCPIP port (SVCENAME) or next port number (SVCENAME+1) as the HADR service port. This is by design.

---

Now, you are ready to test the configuration.


Step 8: Start HADR on Standby DB IN DB2INST2

SET DB2INSTANCE=DB2INST2
db2 START HADR ON DB BANKFRS AS STANDBY


Step 9: Start HADR on Primary DB IN DB2INST1

SET DB2INSTANCE=DB2INST1
db2 START HADR ON DB BANKFRS AS PRIMARY


Step 10: Take over the Primary Role to Standby Instance

SET DB2INSTANCE=DB2INST2
db2 TAKEOVER HADR ON DB BANKFRS


Step 11: Take back the Primary Role from Standby Instance

SET DB2INSTANCE=DB2INST1
db2 TAKEOVER HADR ON DB BANKFRS

Step 12: Stop the HADR service on Primary DB

SET DB2INSTANCE=DB2INST1
db2 STOP HADR ON DB BANKFRS


Step 13: Stop the HADR service on Standby DB

SET DB2INSTANCE=DB2INST2
db2 deactivate db BANKFRS
db2 STOP HADR ON DN BANKFRS



General Notes:

You can invoke the HADR wizard from the DB2 Control Center by right clicking on the specific database and select "High Availability and Disaster Recovery" -> Setup

You can monitor the HADR status on the database by using the database snapshot monitor. "db2 get snapshot for database on BANKFRS"

Temasek plans sale of its 3 power gencos by 2009

Review:

Potential buyers includes TNB (Malaysia), YTLPower (Malaysia), Intergen (US) and Tokyo Eletrical (Japan).

YTL Power strong presence in regional operations and its' piled up cash reserves are very encouraging in acquiring the power plants.

However it should be noted that all the power plants in this context already reached their output capacity and thus their revenues are capped within a forecasted range. The buyers will focus on the ROI instead.

I call a BUY on YTLPower on a target price of RM3.00, a potential 25% upside based on the closing price of RM2.39 yesterday.

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By Audrey Tan, Assistant Money Editor

Temasek Holdings will sell its three power generation companies (gencos) over the next 12 to 18 months in the biggest sale of Singapore's power assets since the liberalisation of the domestic energy market.

The three gencos - PowerSeraya, Senoko Power and Tuas Power - together account for 80 per cent of Singapore's power-generating capacity.

Each of the three gencos is worth about $2 billion, market estimates suggest.
All three companies are profitable, and both local and foreign potential buyers have expressed interest in buying the companies.

Temasek said in a statement yesterday that it was now 'timely' to sell its stakes.
Mr Wong Kim Yin, Temasek managing director of investments, said: 'We have seen a lot of interest from potential buyers since last year. At the same time, the Singapore economy is poised to grow strongly over the next few years.

'The conditions are conducive for the divestment of the gencos.'
Temasek is still open on how it will sell the three companies.
However, it is more inclined to sell them through a tender process, rather than through a public listing as some market watchers had expected.

It is also likely to sell the companies one at a time, rather than all at once.
A direct sale through a tender means that Temasek would not have to hold any residual stake in the gencos, which it may have to if it listed the companies.

'A straightforward sale through a tender will better meet the objectives of creating a liberalised electricity market in an orderly fashion,' Temasek said.
There is no limit on foreign ownership of the companies, although there are restrictions on the three gencos holding stakes in each other.

This long-anticipated sale comes after years of progressive steps to liberalise Singapore's previously state-dominated energy market.

Tuas Power was carved out of the Public Utilities Board in 1995, and Senoko Power and PowerSeraya from Singapore Power in 2001.

Ownership was transferred to Temasek, on the understanding that it would eventually sell all three companies.

The aim was to introduce competition into the contestable parts of the energy market, such as retail and power generation.

Privately owned gencos should support a competitive market that can expect more players as Singapore's power needs grow, the Government said when announcing the changes in 2000.
Besides the three Temasek-owned gencos, the other gencos in the market are SembCorp Cogen and Keppel Merlimau Cogen.

United States-owned Island Power is also building a $1 billion power station on Jurong Island.
However, its project has been delayed for years as it has been unable to bring in its own gas supply through the Sumatra-Singapore gas pipeline.

But recent amendments to the Gas Act gave the regulator, the Energy Market Authority, the power to open the national gas pipeline grid to all players.

Temasek yesterday also pointed to this regulatory change as a reason for the timing of its divestment.

The regulatory framework governing competitive wholesale supply of gas and power is now complete, it said.

'These developments have set the stage for a competitive, yet stable, power generation market to operate in Singapore,' Mr Wong added.

Over the past few years, Temasek has organised the gencos into three independent firms, each with its own board and management, he said.

Market watchers say that because the gencos have operated independently of each other, a change of ownership should not affect electricity prices.

Latest publicly available data shows that in its last financial year, PowerSeraya made a $129.7 million profit. It has a licensed capacity of 3,100MW and offers retail services through a subsidiary, Seraya Energy.

Profits for Senoko Power were $131 million in its last financial year. The genco has generation assets totalling 3,300MW and has a retail arm, Senoko Energy Supply.

Tuas Power, which owns assets totalling 2,670MW, made $177.2 million in profits in its latest financial year. It also has a retail arm, Tuas Power Supply.

Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse are the financial advisers for the divestment, which is expected to begin in the second half of this year.

The entire process should be completed by the end of next year or early 2009.

Separately, the union that represents workers in the three gencos has put out a reassurance.
In a statement late last night, the Union of Power and Gas Employees said it recently concluded collective agreements with the gencos that will be binding on the new owners for the next three years.

'Workers' interests under the existing terms and conditions of the collective agreements will thus be safeguarded in the event of any sale,' it said, adding that if there were to be any layoffs, the union will ensure that workers are compensated fairly.

Malaysia urged to expand Islamic Banking to Bosnia

Malaysia urged to expand Islamic Banking to Bosnia

By CHOI TUCK WO

SARAJEVO: Malaysia has been urged to expand its Islamic banking to Bosnia and Herzegovina due to the rising interest in such products and services, according to the countrys first Islamic bank CEO.

Amer Bukvic of Bosna Bank International made an impassioned plea to Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to encourage Malaysian banks to capitalise on their expertise in Islamic financial banking and invest here.

He said Europes big financial groups were slowly moving towards that direction but they did not have the expertise and experience compared with Malaysia.

"And this is where Malaysia has the edge. You should move fast to benefit from the increasing interest in Islamic banking," he said when elaborating on his question to the Prime Minister during the Malaysia-Bosnia and Herzegovina Business Forum on Thursday.

Apart from Islamic banking, issues ranging from as diverse as terrorism and barter trade to halal and mineral water and health spa products were raised during Abdullahs dialogue with more than 700 Malaysian and Bosnian businessmen and captains of industry.

Bukvic said Malaysia was, in fact, indirectly represented in the country as his bank was established by the Islamic Development Bank of which the Malaysian government was among the owners.

However, he said, Malaysian banks should expand directly to the Bosnian market since it had a well established Islamic financial system covering banking, insurance, Takaful and other products.

The Malaysian Prime Minister, Dato Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, right,shakes hands with his Bosnian counterpart Nikola Spiric,left, during his visit to Bosnian capital of Sarajevo on Thursday. (AP Photo/Hidajet Delic) He noted that there were 34 European banks in Bosnia and Herzegovina, all of which were making huge profits as the financial sector was well regulated..

Their investments are in excess of one billion euros as the top few banks alone are worth around 100 million euros each, said Bukvic, who is an alumni of the International Islamic University in Petaling Jaya.

He added the state faculty was establishing an MBA in Islamic finance due to the rising interest in such products.

In his response earlier, Abdullah urged the Malaysian delegation to take note of Bukvics remarks about the prospects of expanding Islamic banking services to the country.

The prime minister stressed that Islamic banking was not exclusively for Muslims but for non-Muslims too.

He added that Malaysias commercial and foreign banks had Islamic windows while some Islamic banks specifically set up by businessmen or banks from the Middle East were doing very well.

Their support, he added, came not only from Muslims but non-Muslims as well as they wanted to take advantage of the Islamic banking and financial services.

Part 1: Mapping Stock Market Trend to Human Capital Issues

It is this seasonal period during the year that a large population of workers suffers from some degree of procrastination again. When I traced into the root of this potential mental disease and I strongly believe that the source of the problem lies in the fact the working environment itself is procrastinating at a seasonal basis. May be I should rephrase it as "at a cyclical basis".

If I'm able to plot the factors for this scenario, I shall get a graph similar to how our financial stock market behaves.

Bearish trend versus Bullish trend and the stagnant "Cold War" period.

A typical characteristic that determines the emergent of bearish trend (And I'm saying a huge big black bear), is the price moves down steadily that lasts for months even years, with some intermittent technical rebound. Metaphorically, we as a bunch of employees experiencing the same bearish nature when working in an environment which's not stimulating and where job responsibilities generalized to the effect of flattening your morale. We're experiencing "technical rebound" too when given slight workload relief, provided with better salary, company sponsored vacation or others which I think just to patch up your marginal spiritual break down.

Generalization is another issue, thought I'm personally not against it. The logic is simple, generalize at microscopic level can be beneficial but at a macroscopic, the direction can cause a havoc to the company reputation, human capital and to the country's GDP (Haha, Am I sounds too exaggerated now?). I can't really imagine when Intel starts to sell lingerie and cosmetics, instead of focusing in making use of silicones. WHAT? Lingerie made from silicon? Don't be silly.

What about the "Cold War" period? It is difficult for an employer to identify employees that are in such a period. From the surface, everything is normal. They worked long hour, delivering tasks as promised, seldom get sick and blah blah. Ok fine, some of them might show certain level of performance degradation but that doesn't represent the entire population. What's behind the scene is the fact that they are staying for some personal reasons which might attributed to monetary and comfort of environment. I understand that it is arguable that "monetary and comfort of environment" are the main reasons that retains people but realistically only for a short term. Soon or later the need for self actualization, career interest, spiritual enrichment and all sorts of "funny" excuses will start to emerge to overhaul your good old dream as perfect employer. This phenomenon happens all around the globe.

Visionary employers will and should do their best to create a strategic "golden crossover" for individuals in bearish trend or cold war period. The importance of this preventive measure is to reduce the likelihood that other individuals which are enjoying bullish trend being affected by their counterpart peers.

A crossover involving a security's short-term moving average (such as 15-day moving average) breaking above its long-term moving average (such as 50-day moving average) or resistance level.

To be continued.

Passed IBM DB2 Certification Exam 701

Officially I didn't hold a full time job as DBA in any of my previous employments, however this doesn't stop me from getting one or two DBA certifications, because my hunger for knowledge and piss off with some moments where intricacy of DB technical details hinder my architecting and design process.

Besides all the formal knowledge and information I acquainted, one of the most important experience is to further understand the scope, responsibility and difficulties that real DBA faced in their daily operational routines and when application development needs conflicted with the interest of maintaining corporate data policy and security auditing.

In the enterprise application paradigm, the only way a solution architect can architect a better solution is to completely understood and blend every piece of the jigsaw puzzle together into a coherent whole, in the right way.

That's my motivation. Now let me share my preparation process.

1.) Read up the IBM DB2 701 Preparation Materials from IBM

Nothing much to say here.

2.) Read up DB2® Universal Database™ v8 for Linux®, UNIX®, and Windows® Database Administration Certification Guide, by George Baklarz, Bill Wong

You can opt to skip the last part regarding Application Development, even though no harm for you to take a look into it. That part is more relevant when you were taking exam 703.

3.) Do at least one project dealing with DB2 DBMS

4.) Do your own exploration and experiments with some of the concepts in the materials like HADR, Roll Forward and etc.

5.) Get enough coffee and sleeps. Trade off between these 2 important constraints :-)


Lastly, I'd like you to know that DB2 V9 series of examination is already available and you should jump on the bandwagon of V9 if your company or projects are using it or potentially will. I sticked to V8 because that's the one bundled together with IBM DBW DWE V9.1 and I dealt with that version of DB2 the most.

P/S: I got a 100% score in this exam. Cheers. I finally revenged on my 98% score in exam 700. :EVIL:

DB2 Infinite Active Log Space

In DB2, when a database is created, 3 log files are allocated. They are known as primary log files. In Linux/Unix environment, they will be 1000 * 4K pages for each log file by default, whereas in Windows it is 250 * 4k pages.

By default, up to two secondary log files will be created if needed, and their size will equal that of each primary log file used. However, the total number of secondary log files allowed is also configurable (via the logsecond database configuration parameter).

You might think you can avoid running out of log space by configuring a database to use a large number of secondary log files. However, the maximum number of secondary log files allowed is 254. If the size of your log files is relatively small, you can still run out of log space quickly when transaction workloads become heavy. You should avoid allocating a large number of secondary log files, if possible, because performance is affected each time a log file has to be allocated. Ideally, you should allocate enough primary log files to handle most situations, then use just enough secondary log files to handle peak times in transaction workloads. If you're concerned about running out of log space and want to avoid allocating a large number of secondary log files, you can configure a database to use what is known as infinite logging. To enable infinite logging, simply set the database configuration parameters userexit and logsecond to YES and -1, respectively.