VERR_GENERAL_FAILURE importing Oracle SOA Pre-built VM

I downloaded and tried to import the pre-built VM for SOA on VirtualBox (in my 64bits Win 7 laptop), and I found this error: Could not create the clone medium (VERR_GENERAL_FAILURE).

After googling and finding nothing useful, I cheked the MD5 sum of the downloaded files. One was incorrect. I downloaded it again and the VM worked without problems.

I never before bothered cheking the MD5 sums, but I guess I'll do it from now.

Blackberry Curve 8250 + Gmail without filtered and archived messages

I was given a Blackberry Curve 8520 from my employer (ouch :-( ). I configured my Gmail account using the wizard (which supposedly now is using the "enhanced plug-in"), which only ask you for Username and Password.

In my Gmail account I receive lots of email and I have several filters; the mayority of them apply a label to the message and "archive" the message (Skip the Inbox). I don't want to receive those last messages in my Blackberry but I couldn't find a way to do it. I guess it's related to the IMAP usage of the Blackberry. Moreover, I had visual notificacitions for those archived messages but they didn't appear in the corresponding mailbox but did appear in the main general mailbox. I just want to receive the messages that I see in my Inbox in the Web.

What I did was delete the previously created Gmail accounts and create others with the following procedure:

• Setup → Email settings → Add → Other
• In E-mail address put a wrong address...for example xxx@ggggmail.com (I couldn't find a way to directly enter manually the mail settings)
• In password enter whatever you want
• Press Next. You'll see an error. Now you have the option to "provide the settings"...follow this link
• Email type: POP/IMAP
• Email address: correct the prevously entered address with your real Gmail adress (can be an Gmail Apps or for your domain adress)
• Password: your real password
• Email server: pop.gmail.com
• Username: the same Email Address

I guess this way I'll lost some functionality of the enhanced plug-in or IMAP protocol, but I just need the basic funcionality of receiving the most important mails (my inbox).

You have to enable POP in your Gmail settings.

UPDATE: I have just seen the Manage Labes section in Gmail, has options to show or not labels in IMAP, so I'll try IMAP again.

UPDATE: trying IMAP was a pain. At first try, it failed to configure saying I had to activate IMAP to "All Mail". I did it and I ended up receiving all the email I automatically archived through filters, which I didn't want to see in my Inbox. It seems that even if I manually configure IMAP, it ends using the Enhanced Gmail Plugin which mess up everithing.

UPDATE: I'll try removing the Enhanced Gmail Plugin using CrackUtil.

Getting started with Microsoft Biztalk 2010 (from 0)

I'm not from the Microsoft world. I have worked with ESB and BPEL products from the Java side (Websphere Process Server and ESB and Oracle SOA Suite) and now I "want" to try Biztalk. I know some C#. These are the steps I'm following.

Installation:

To install Microsoft Biztalk using a Virtual Machine with Windows Server 2008 in your 64 bit computer, follow this steps:

1. Download and install Oracle VirtualBox here 
2. Download Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 trial here 
3. Download SQL Server 2008 R2 trial here (follow the "Download SQL Server 2008 R2 Eval X86 Executable (1.31 Gb)" link). I don't know if you can use SQL Server 2008 R2 Express (the free edition).
4. Download Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate trial here. You can't use Visual Studio Express to develope on Biztalk.
5. Download Biztalk Server 2010 Developer Edition here (or you can also download the 120 days trial here)
6. Get a Office 2007 or Office 2010 installer (only if you want to try BAM).
7. Create a Virtual Machine for Windows Server 2008 in Oracle VirtualBox.
8. Install Windows Server 2008 R2 on the Virtual Machine (next, next, next)
9. Download the Biztalk installation guide (Installing BizTalk Server 2010 on Windows Server 2008 R2 and 2008.docx) here.
10. Install Visual Studio, SQL Server, Office Excel and Biztalk 2010 on Windows Server 2008 following the guide (is easy to follw).
11. Start learning, you have 180 days left :(

Basic documentation

• BizTalk Server Developer Center

Related blog posts

• BizTalk Server 2010 Exam : How to prepare?

Classloading issues when working with Procrun and Prunsrv (Apache Commons Daemon)

I was trying to configure a standalone Java program to run as a Windows service (an standalone Web service client using Axis2) using Apache Commons Daemon.

I used a great post by Christopher Pierce as guide: http://blog.platinumsolutions.com/node/234

The program ran OK when I launched it from the command line console, but when I tried to run it as a Windows service with exactly the same configuration (jvm, classpath, etc.), the program failed with errors like these:

for Java 6:

java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError
at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
at java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:169)
at javax.xml.ws.spi.FactoryFinder.safeLoadClass(FactoryFinder.java:148)
at javax.xml.ws.spi.FactoryFinder.newInstance(FactoryFinder.java:30)
at javax.xml.ws.spi.FactoryFinder.find(FactoryFinder.java:128)
at javax.xml.ws.spi.Provider.provider(Provider.java:83)
at javax.xml.ws.Service.init(Service.java:56)
at javax.xml.ws.Service.create(Service.java:691)
at ...
Caused by: javax.xml.ws.WebServiceException: Error creating JAXBContext for W3CEndpointReference.
at com.sun.xml.internal.ws.spi.ProviderImpl$2.run(ProviderImpl.java:211)
at com.sun.xml.internal.ws.spi.ProviderImpl$2.run(ProviderImpl.java:206)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at com.sun.xml.internal.ws.spi.ProviderImpl.getEPRJaxbContext(ProviderImpl.java:206)
at com.sun.xml.internal.ws.spi.ProviderImpl.clinit(ProviderImpl.java:77)
... 13 more
Caused by: javax.xml.bind.JAXBException
- with linked exception:
[java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com/sun/xml/bind/v2/ContextFactory]
at javax.xml.bind.ContextFinder.newInstance(ContextFinder.java:187)
at javax.xml.bind.ContextFinder.find(ContextFinder.java:363)
at javax.xml.bind.JAXBContext.newInstance(JAXBContext.java:574)
at javax.xml.bind.JAXBContext.newInstance(JAXBContext.java:522)
at com.sun.xml.internal.ws.spi.ProviderImpl$2.run(ProviderImpl.java:209)
... 17 more
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com/sun/xml/bind/v2/ContextFactory
at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
at java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:169)
at javax.xml.bind.ContextFinder.safeLoadClass(ContextFinder.java:479)
at javax.xml.bind.ContextFinder.newInstance(ContextFinder.java:185)
... 21 more
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: Could not initialize class com.sun.xml.internal.ws.spi.ProviderImpl
at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
at java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:169)
at javax.xml.ws.spi.FactoryFinder.safeLoadClass(FactoryFinder.java:148)
at javax.xml.ws.spi.FactoryFinder.newInstance(FactoryFinder.java:30)
at javax.xml.ws.spi.FactoryFinder.find(FactoryFinder.java:128)
at javax.xml.ws.spi.Provider.provider(Provider.java:83)
at javax.xml.ws.Service.init(Service.java:56)
at javax.xml.ws.Service.create(Service.java:691)
at ...

for Java 5:

java.lang.NullPointerException
at org.apache.axis2.jaxws.catalog.impl.OASISCatalogManager.determineFileName(OASISCatalogManager.java:124)
at org.apache.axis2.jaxws.catalog.impl.OASISCatalogManager.init(OASISCatalogManager.java:80)
at org.apache.axis2.jaxws.description.impl.ServiceDescriptionImpl.init(ServiceDescriptionImpl.java:165)
at org.apache.axis2.jaxws.description.impl.ServiceDescriptionImpl.init(ServiceDescriptionImpl.java:141)
at org.apache.axis2.jaxws.description.impl.DescriptionFactoryImpl.createServiceDescription(DescriptionFactoryImpl.java:129)
at org.apache.axis2.jaxws.description.impl.DescriptionFactoryImpl.createServiceDescription(DescriptionFactoryImpl.java:76)
at org.apache.axis2.jaxws.description.DescriptionFactory.createServiceDescription(DescriptionFactory.java:75)
at org.apache.axis2.jaxws.spi.ServiceDelegate.init(ServiceDelegate.java:208)
at org.apache.axis2.jaxws.spi.Provider.createServiceDelegate(Provider.java:59)
at javax.xml.ws.Service.init(Service.java:36)
at javax.xml.ws.Service.create(Service.java:120)
at ...

After some hours of searching, I found this bug:
Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader() == null when the program is runned by Prunsrv

I checked my program and this was the cause of my problem:

Running from Command line:

21/07/2010 12:44:05,281 - this.getClass().getClassLoader(): sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader@e39a3e
21/07/2010 12:44:05,281 - Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader(): sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader@e39a3e

Running as service with Procrun:

21/07/2010 12:44:29,359 - this.getClass().getClassLoader(): sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader@11b86e7
21/07/2010 12:44:29,359 - Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader(): null

I applied the workaround described there, and my service is now working OK.

ClassLoader defaultClassLoader = APISalidaServicioWindows.class.getClassLoader();
Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(defaultClassLoader)

The configuration of the current configured Procrun Windows services can be edited/visualized in this Windows registry location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Apache Software Foundation/Procrun 2.0/(service name)/Parameters

Unicode Java codes for spanish characters

0x00E1 225 LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH ACUTE á
0x00E9 233 LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH ACUTE é
0x00ED 237 LATIN SMALL LETTER I WITH ACUTE í
0x00F3 243 LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH ACUTE ó
0x00FA 250 LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH ACUTE ú
0x00F1 241 LATIN SMALL LETTER N WITH TILDE ñ
0x00C1 193 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH ACUTE Á
0x00C9 201 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E WITH ACUTE É
0x00CD 205 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I WITH ACUTE Í
0x00D3 211 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH ACUTE Ó
0x00DA 218 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U WITH ACUTE Ú
0x00D1 209 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER N WITH TILDE Ñ

Java:

á - \u00E1
é - \u00E9
í - \u00ED
ó - \u00F3
ú - \u00FA
Á - \u00C1
É - \u00C9
Í - \u00CD
Ó - \u00D3
Ú - \u00DA
ñ - \u00F1
Ñ - \u00D1

"Java Dump" and "Heap Dump" Java triggering in IBM JVM

com.ibm.jvm.Dump.JavaDump()
com.ibm.jvm.Dump.HeapDump()

Enable unsecured JMX monitoring in IBM JDK 5

The same for Sun JDK...

-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false