Squid Proxy Server 3: Getting Started

In this article by Kulbir Saini, author of Squid Proxy Server 3 Beginners Guide, we will have a look at how proxy servers and web caching works in general. We will proceed to download the correct Squid package for our operating system, based on the system requirements that we learned about in the Preface. We will learn how to compile and build additional Squid features. We will also learn the advantages of compiling Squid manually from the source over using a pre-compiled binary package.

In the final section, we will learn how to install Squid from a compiled source binary package, using popular package managers. Installation is a crucial part in getting started with Squid. Sometimes, we need to compile Squid with custom flags, depending on the environment requirements.

Squid Proxy Server: Fine Tuning to Achieve Better Performance

Whether you only run one site, or are in charge of a whole network, Squid is an invaluable tool which improves performance immeasurably. Caching and performance optimization usually requires a lot of work on the developer's part, but Squid does all that for you. In this article we will learn to fine-tune our cache to achieve a better HIT ratio to save bandwidth and reduce the average page load time.

In this article by Kulbir Saini, author of Squid Proxy Server 3 Beginners Guide, we will take a look at the following:

• Cache peers or neighbors
• Caching the web documents in the main memory and hard disk
• Tuning Squid to enhance bandwidth savings and reduce latency

SSIS Applications using SQL Azure

Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services 2008 (SSIS) is a full service Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) program tightly integrated with SQL Server 2008 with a Rapid Application Development (RAD) user interface. Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services 2008(SSRS) is a third generation reporting program that is also tightly integrated with SQL Server 2008, which hosts the Report Server providing full support with a web service frontend for a variety of reporting needs—from web-based reporting to embedded reporting.

In this article by Jayaram Krishnaswamy, author of Microsoft SQL Azure Enterprise Application Development, we will be leveraging SSIS, SSRS, and the tools used to address ETL processes, and Report authoring with SQL Azure as the source of data. We will be looking at the following data-related items in some detail:

• Moving a MySQL database to SQL Azure database
• Creating a report using SQL Azure as data source
• Accessing SQL Azure from Report Builder 3.0

Start Ad Serving with OpenX- A Sequel

Read Start Ad Serving with OpenX here.

Starting Up Tomcat 6: Part 1

In this two-part article by Damodar Chetty, we look at how a Tomcat instance can be started using either the standard script-based mechanism or the alternative Run/Debug configuration. We look at the various class loader hierarchies that are set up during the initialization process. We also look at how the Apache Commons Digester library provides a convenient way of converting an XML file into a Java object graph. We end this article with an example of a web application that is deployed into our Tomcat instance.

Starting with Gradle

Gradle is a tool for build automation. With Gradle, we can automate the compiling, testing, packaging, and deployment of our software or other types of projects. Gradle is flexible but has sensible defaults for most projects. This means we can rely on the defaults, if we don't want something special, but can still use the flexibility to adapt a build to certain custom needs.

This article by Hubert Klein Ikkink, author of Gradle Effective Implementation Guide introduces Gradle and explains how to install Gradle.

Gradle is already used by big open source projects, such as Spring, Hibernate, and Grails. Enterprise companies such as LinkedIn also use Gradle.

Sticky Features for your Blog Network with WordPress MU 2.8: Part 1

One trap that many web site owners fall into is spending lots of time pulling in traffic but not offering anything to encourage visitors to return. This leads to a rather self-defeating cycle where the site owner is forced to constantly promote their site to keep bringing in the same number of visitors, eating up valuable time that could be spent improving the site in other ways.

Fortunately, a little time invested during the early days of building a site can pay off very well in terms of encouraging repeat visitors. In this article by Lesley Harrison, we will:

• Learn what is meant by making a site "sticky"
• Look at ways to build conversations with visitors through comments and contact forms
• Make our visitors feel like they are part of a community with gravatars, polls, and welcome messages
• Find out how to encourage visitors to subscribe to the site, and keep them coming back

Storing Planning Data in IBM Cognos: D-Cube (Part 1)

In this two-part article by Ned Riaz, Jason Edwards, and Rich Babaran, we will discuss how data is stored in IBM Cognos Planning Analyst. We will begin by defining the D-Cube and explaining the things that you need to think about before creating the D-Cube. We will discuss the importance of the order of dimensions in enforcing calculation and format priorities. We will show you how you can view the multiple slices of the cube and how you can save a selection of the cube as a separate object. We will explain how you can restructure the dimensions of the cube by adding, deleting, substituting, and reordering dimensions. We will cover some of the important functions available with the D-Cube, including global formatting, exporting, and other options that can make it easier for you to work with the program. We will illustrate how you can use data entry commands that will enable you to enter data, execute mathematical operations, or set restrictions for a cell, a range of cells, or the entire cube. Finally, we will cover Breakback—a powerful feature that allows you to cascade changes throughout the cube simply by making the change to a calculated item.

Story Management with PHP-Nuke

In the previous article of the series by Douglas Paterson, author of Building Websites with PHP-Nuke, shows how to manage visitors to your site, how to create users, explore the Your Account module, which is the user's private 'space', and set up other administrators to perform limited administrative tasks on the site.

In this article which is the sixth article of the article series, we will cover the following, paying attention to both the administrator and visitor points of view when required:

• An overview of stories and the story publication process
• Organizing stories into topics and categories
• Adding and editing stories
• Understanding comment moderation
• Managing stories
• The different modules that let you access stories
• Creating polls and surveys
• Syndicating your news with the backend.php file