Sometimes I do write Something

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Steps to connect to SQL Express Remotely

Sunday, January 18, 2015 0 comments

Problem: How to connect to SQL Express Remotely in same network (say. corporate network)

I have used SQLCMD to check whether I am able to access the SQL Express server on remote machine.

Steps to execute:

SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)

Open SSMS , Right click on SQLExpress to open properties of the SQL Server.

Click on Connections. Make sure in Remote server connections, Allow remote connections to this server is checked.

SQL Server Configuration Manager

Open SQL Server Configuration Manager, Click on SQL Server Network Configuration - Protocols for SQLEXPRESS

Make sure TCP/IP is enabled.

Open Properties of TCP/IP (Double Click)

Check if TCP Dynamic Ports is empty not even 0. Put value of TCP Port as 1433.

Start SQL Server Browser service

Open properties windows of SQL Server Browser

Click on service, and select Start Mode to Automatic.

Now Right click on SQL Server Browser Service and Click Start.

Windows Firewall

Go to Control Panel - System and Security - Windows Firewall. Click on Advanced settings

Windows with title "Windows Firewall with Advanced Security" will appear like below:

Create rule for UDP (Port 1434)

Click on "Inbound Rules" and then Click on "New Rule...".

Below window will appear. Select Port and Click Next

Select UDP and In Specific local ports fill value 1434

Click on Finish.

Similarly create rule for TCP Port(1433)

Create a rule for SQL Server Browser.

See steps below:

Now we should be able to connect to SQL Express remotely.

Some Useful Command Prompt Tricks

Thursday, September 18, 2014 0 comments

Hi, I have compiled a list of commands and tricks which I learnt on the go while working. I thought it may be useful to others also :)

1. While working on a command prompt from long time , use key F7 to see visually a list of command history. It's very useful to me to easily navigate to command required by pressing up and down key.

Yes , you can directly use up and down key also to do this, but I feel just going to last few commands it's ok but when command history is longer then F7 helps a lot.

Setting an ALIAS in Windows Command Line

Monday, September 15, 2014 2 comments

I work mostly on Windows nowadays and spend a good amount of time with Windows Command Prompt. Now there are some commands , some common locations which I usually use or switch to.

I tried looking on internet and browsing through couple of stackoverflow articles and finally this is how I solved my problem.

We can use doskey (try doskey /? to read more) for solving this problem. Common syntax to use is :

doskey macroname = macrodefinition

Non Persistent Way

Use Case:

I need to frequently go to say C:\Users directory so in general I have to type cd /d C:\Users everytime. This could be a little more pain if the directory paths are very big and not so simple like C:\Users.

Open Command Prompt and type

DOSKEY users = cd /d C:\Users

So next time whenever you need to change current directory to C:\Users just type users. It will change your current directory to C:\Users.

If you have a big list of such aliases , then you can even same all the commands in a single
bat file say (env.bat) and just use the following command to use all the alias stored in that file.

cmd /k PATH_TO_BAT_FILE

Example of a sample BAT file with aliases.

How to use :

But the big problem with this approach is that you need to do these steps everytime you open command prompt So let's see how to do this thing a one time Persistent way.

Persistent Way

Here also you need to create the bat file which will contain all the alias and doskey related information as explained above.

You need to do the following steps:

Run the ‘regedit’ command to fire up the registry editor and add the following data:

Key: HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Command Processor
Value: AutoRun
Type: REG_EXPAND_SZ
Data: PATH_TO_BAT_FILE_WITH_ALIAS_INFO

Note:
If you want to add arguments to the commands used for alias then you can use $* at the end.

Example:
python3=C:\Python31\python31.exe $*

If you want to see list of macros defined then use doskey /macros. It will print all the doskey macros.

References: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753867.aspx

Welcome Amazon to India.E-commerce competition gets more competitive now

Wednesday, June 05, 2013 amazon, e-commerce 0 comments

World's largest online retailer Amazon entered the Indian e-commerce industry with online market place amazon.in. Just now it has started with Books and Movies & TV with additional categories like mobiles,cameras will be coming soon.

Some of the perks given by amazon to Indian users are :

Image Source : amazon.in

The site is just now designed as a market place that provides facility for transactions between buyers and sellers.Restrictions on foreign direct investment (FDI) policies have prevented Amazon to sell directly to Indian customers.

With 24 X 7 customer support some features to attract Indian customers were secure payments 30 days return but I think the most think which we attract Book lovers is no minimum fee for free delivery.

I though they might have also included the gift card feature and Hence I would be able to use my global Amazon gift card balance in Indian site but hard luck, no such feature as of now . But Hopes alive and expect to receive great offers from the biggest online retailer to attract customers from its rivalries like flipkart,snapdeal.

But as an Indian I would request Indian users to still use domestic companies :)

Chrome : We need a master password

Tuesday, June 04, 2013 Chrome, security 0 comments

"I feel so NAKED and EXPOSED when it comes to Chrome's password savings ability" - comment on google product forum.

I am one of the million users whose first task is to install Google Chrome after installing Windows. It's fast and reliable but one thing which prevents me from making it my default browser is Lack of master password facility.Its highly needed feature which people have been demanding from long time.

I was getting bored at home and so I decided to look up at people comments over this issue and It was fun. I found many better alternatives, frustrations and feedback from chrome users.

The first destination was obviously Google Product Forum

One person I think from Google suggested to Lock the computer but that was not the best answer I had thought of . Yup more down votes than up.

LOL ... reading down the comments what you can easily make out is When a post has more down votes the person is trying to praise google's decision to not having master password.

We love Google Chrome but lack of master password is making most of the users to shift to Mozilla Firefox.One the google responses in not having a master password is due to KEY LOGGER, once master password is compromised all other password are compromised too.

At the end of the day, it's an option you can choose to exercise or ignore.

Chrome Extension : Page Monitor

Monday, August 27, 2012 Chrome extension 0 comments

Today I was searching for a extension so that I could be notified of new notices on my college's training and placement site . I started my usual business of Googling . Very quickly I found a chrome extension Page Monitor which I found to serve my purpose very efficiently .

You can set many features like rate at which pages which pages should be checked for update
whether you want desktop notification , sound alert and many more .