Windows Server 2003

I just got back from a Windows Server 2003 launch event and I was wondering if you (jeff) are going to take advantage of the new features windows server 2003 has to offer? I was very impressed with the numbers they reported and the overall product. Just thought I would start a tech thread every now and then...

------------------
Webmaster Digital-Ignorance.com

I heard Jeff was currently working on a new build of CB that will run on a Powermac duel G4 running OSX server ;)

------------------
James Draeger
-Mac Fanboy busy teasing Jeff
*** This post was edited by Draegs 5/7/2003 8:00:41 PM ***

Yeah, Draegs, that'll happen.

Actually, I'm going to change hosting arrangements this fall to reduce cost, at which time I will run the site on a Win 2k3 box.

I've used it for development since beta 2 (when it was still called "Whistler") and even then it was remarkable how crash-proof it was. I couldn't kill it despite running various stress tests. Also impressive was the fact that everything is locked down and/or not installed by default. In fact, even anonymous Web site access is off by default (which screwed me up until I realized it).

Our launch event here in Cleveland is Tuesday.

------------------
Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Sillynonsense.com
"Pray that your country undergoes recovery!" - KMFDM

Speaking of security, I am looking to create a small "family" website using a "spare" machine and a static IP from my cable provider...how should I secure the server (2000 Server)?

------------------
--George H
---Superman the ride...coming to a SF park near you soon...
Currency tracking experiment... http://www.wheresgeorge.com (Referring to The "George" on the $1 bill - Not Me)

I'd first check to see if your ISP allows you to use port 80....

------------------
CBClub member #30 and #364 (renewal)

Yeah, what Joe said. Aside from that, if you can still get Tiny Personal Firewall for free, set up its rules to block everything but allow port 80 in and out on the local machine.

------------------
Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Sillynonsense.com
"Pray that your country undergoes recovery!" - KMFDM

Coasterbuzz on a Windows server, that is a very scary thought. I hope your right about it being crash proof. It is hard to trust that type of name with the past history of crashing alot.

------------------
Chris Knight
Be sure to download my latest NL Wooden Looping Coaster creation Dream Blast. Updated for NL 1.3!

Sawblade5,
I'll give you 3 guesses what OS CoasterBuzz is running on right now (and stability obviously is not a problem).

I'm a Java/J2EE guy, but .Net has peaked my interest (C# specifically). I might tackle a .Net project in the near future.

Jerry

------------------
Pinball and Coasters...Any Questions?

.Net has, and continues to, change my life. If you are a Java guy, you'll feel right at home in the .Net world (if you don't mind getting Visual Studio or one of the language-specific IDE's). If you ignore all the nonsense benchmarks and such, .Net's real advantage is its Web presentation layer (ASP .Net). Not only is it totally discreet from the other tiers, it makes a world of difference in the amount of HTML you need to write. Though I haven't used it, its XSLT is pretty sweet as well.

CoasterBuzz has run on a Windows server since it started. Don't let the ".htm" in the URI's of this site fool you... this site is 100% .Net. I haven't rebooted it in about 50 days, and even then, the last time I did it was for a patch (something you allegedly won't need to do on 2k3). This has been a very stable server platform for years, and no matter how much you want to hate the evil empire, it's true.

I get really excited abour writing .Net code (I use C#). While there have been many broad subject books, there are a lot of specific one that have come out in the last six months or so. I've picked up one for writing ASP .Net server controls, threading, performance tweaking and network programming, and dare I say I've never felt so empowered to do anything I can think of. I've been toying with the idea of writing an e-mail server just because I think I can!

------------------
Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Sillynonsense.com
"Pray that your country undergoes recovery!" - KMFDM

From what I've read, C# is very similiar to Java, so it should be an easy transition.

I think you've pushed me over the cliff, Jeff. I might have to purchase a copy of VS.Net sooner than I thought..

------------------
Pinball and Coasters...Any Questions?

I actually started learning C# and Java at the same time and never had a problem with either of them. In fact, they are pretty similar, but unfortunately I had to temporarily drop C# due to lack of time (Java's what they teach in school). I'll agree with Jeff that .NET's big advantage is ASP.NET. While JSP is certainly helpful, it certainly can't beat ASP.NET's web controls. Fortunately Sun's got something in the works, but until then I'll just have to use my custom tags that mimic ASP.NET tags. :(

I'm not one to blindly attack Microsoft just because I use Java and UNIX/Linux, because I'm honestly not in the position to do so. Truthfully, I'd love to know Java and .NET by the time I graduate.

------------------
Joe Cernelli
Webmaster, Kennywood Boulevard
Phantom's Revenge Count: 106

I also work with java and c#/asp.net - What drew me to asp.net was that you can use c# with it. I love being able to write my apps and then transition to writing my website with no change. However due to money (cant afford server with w2k or w2k3) I cannot run my site with asp.net. I just like cernelli have to use java more because it is what my college is using for the main CS courses. The windows launch event sparked my interest in .net even more and I think ill find myself using .net alot in the future.

------------------
Webmaster Digital-Ignorance.com

Just remember... you can get the language-specific IDE's for under a hundred bucks. I don't know what features are missing compared to Visual Studio .Net, but I can't imagine there are very many that would be show stoppers.

------------------
Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Sillynonsense.com
"Pray that your country undergoes recovery!" - KMFDM

I am one of the true converts to .NET. I really hate to admit it but Microsoft has really cleaned up a lot in the last few years. The XP platform is actually quite stable and from what I hear 2003 Server continues in that tradition.

As far as .NET goes, they really took a lot of the limitations in ASP and addressed them in ASP.NET. I am currently migrating our companies patient care website into .NET and I am already seeing massive performance gains and much better organized and managable code (that and the fact that debugging ASP.NET pages with VS 7 is a snap).

As a C++ programmer I was a bit leary to learn C#, instead thinking I would just do managed C++. I had done some Java in the past and thought it was a good language but was missing some things that C++ had so I never really kept up with it. Well when I gave C# a chance I was not disappointed, but rather pleasantly suprised. C# is really a combonation of the best parts of C++ and the best parts of JAVA, and taking away the nasty parts of C++ like pointers (you can use then actually, but your code will be compiled as unmanaged, and if you need pointers you arent writing tight code)

Bottom line is .NET rulez!!!
------------------
Bob Hansen
Resident Airtime Whore

I really need to check out C#. I'm a C++ developer (currently on Linux for hardcore networking stuff, no fancy HTML front-ends here, thank you...) first, with some Java, including JSP. C# intrigues me.

My personal site is PHP and MySQL because it's what my host, JTan, provides. I've also done C, Perl, assembly (Motorola 680x0 and Intel 80x86 back in the pre-Pentium days), even (gasp!) VB and Pascal. One job had me using this bastardized Windows language that looked vaguely like Smalltalk, but wasn't.

The right tool for the right jobn (except for that Smalltalk wanna-be, which was the wrong tool but was in place before I got there ;) ). And it sure looks like Server 2003 and .Net are the right tools.

------------------
--Greg, aka Oat Boy
My page
"I can't believe I just left a nuclear weapon in an elevator." -- Farscape

I guess my surprise is that we finally have a well-evolved language that sits on top of a framework and class library that performs insanely well. The code that runs CoasterBuzz is hardly optimized or tweaked in any fashion. In the interest of saving time, I didn't even use any stored procedures!

There was an interesting "versus" discussion (you know how I loath those) on Builder.com about the validity of PHP as a language, and as you might suspect it was like a holy war. The acceptance of .Net and Java is quickly dividing the Web development community into two classes of code monkeys, and you can guess which is better suited to building the big, scaleable stuff.

------------------
Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Sillynonsense.com
"Pray that your country undergoes recovery!" - KMFDM

---

Jeff said:
The acceptance of .Net and Java is quickly dividing the Web development community into two classes of code monkeys, and you can guess which is better suited to building the big, scaleable stuff.

---

Why PHP of course. :)

------------------
SFNE Central v5- Online Six Flags New England Resource

Wow soon Jeff could be charging for everyone to have @coasterbuzz.com email addresses if Jeff decides he wants to write an email server program

------------------
Im from Kansas, boy do we need some roller coasters in Kansas.

Funny you should mention that. The problem is that I'd need to get my hands on the spammer IP databases to filter out all of the crap, and I haven't actually looked into where I can get those.

SFNE Freak: You can bet I wouldn't hire any PHP, ASP, CF or Perl folks in the enterprise. ;)

------------------
Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Sillynonsense.com
"Pray that your country undergoes recovery!" - KMFDM

I love the fact that .Net gives you so much easy access to everything you want to do. Networking, web services, Server/User controls. The Data and Exception Application Block download are really sweet too. They saved us a ton of time (and weekends_ in development at our company.

Make my life at work alot easier these days.