Steps to Allow Access

1. Open the SQL Server Configuration Management application, 1) start SQL Services and set to start automatically, 2) start SQL Browser and set to start automatically; these are not started or set to start automatically when a new AMI instance is launched
2. While in the SQL Server Configuration Management application, go to the node, Network Protocols and find the Dynamic TCP port under the IP ALL section. Make note of the port to be used later.
3. Open the same following ports in the Windows Firewall:
   1. TCP <dynamicport> (from step #2)
   2. UDP <1434> (for the SQL Browser Service)
4. In the EC2 AWS Security Group of the server add the following ports:
   1. TCP <dynamicport> (from step #2)
   2. UDP <1434> (for the SQL Browser Service)
5. Turn off EC2 server hostname naming from the EC2 Administration Services application, rename the server according to your own server naming standards in the Computer | Properties panel, restart the box

Accessing the Server through SSMS

It’s important to note that there are four different ways to access the EC2 AWS SQL Server box from your local machine. To connect to a SQL Server Instance it’s necessary to use the name of the server and the port. If a default instance is setup, then the port, by default is TCP 1433, but this is not the case with EC2 AWS AMI servers.

The standard method to attach to the database server from an application or SSMS is “[<servername>][<ip>][\<instance>][,<port>]”

1. In order to use <servername>, you need to have some form of DNS setup, which is done automatically for an EC2, or you have done through Elastic IPs and your own DNS server (like GoDaddy). If you don’t have DNS, use the <ip> or <elasticip>
2. To access the <instance>, the SQL Browser Service must be started and the UDP 1434 port open in AWS Security Group and the Windows Firewall.

Examples

“aws.dns.server.name” comes from the properties of the EC2 instance properties. “ec2sqlexpress” is an example name of the SQL Server Instance. Using the IP must be the IP as provided through a VPC or the Elastic IP (not part of this tutorial). The port is represented as an example 411xx is not a real number, it must be what you find in the SQL Server Configuration Application.

• Example 1 using DNS and SQL Browser Service: “aws.dns.server.name\ec2sqlexpress”
• Example 2 using DNS and port: “aws.dns.server.name,411xx”
• Example 3 using IP (VPC) or Elastic IP and SQL Browser Service: “50.234.x.x\ec2sqlexpress”
• Example 4 using IP (VPC) or Elastic IP and port: “50.234.x.x,411xx”

Other Considerations

There have been some statements that SQL Server can’t run on a micro. Well, that can be true for the big SQL editions like Standard or Enterprise, and my considerations would be 2048 (my recommendation) to start.

As for another topic, I’m always pinning my CPU’s and my RAM at certain values.

For another topic, I’m always pinning my CPU’s and my RAM at certain values, because all too many times do I find problems with keeping the default installation settings. This is to say that the default installation uses all CPUs and all RAM. I will put turn on CPU affinity and take out 10% of the CPUs, if you have 10 cores, I remove 1 or 2 for the OS and Networking services and other support activities to run. The same goes for RAM.

At SnapJag.com, we host our photos at Zenfolio for others to see which includes great features like password protection, themes, referral codes, ordering, and especially with great speed to upload, view, and print. You can also take advantage of this service. Sign up and use the code above to receive your discount.

We have scoured the internet for the best option to host, post, and sell photos. Having looked at SmugMug, Flickr, and many others, which all have great benefits, none other is as equal to Zenfolio. The features at Zenfolio are amazing compared to others. The interface is fantastic. It’s all around a great platform. We have the Premium plan and love it.

“Is it worth it?”, absolutely!

Use this code when you sign up and I will receive a referring bonus.

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Go here to subscribe, type in your details, part way through the registration, enter the above code, and you’ll immediately receive a discount.

The best part about it is this, you can start right off with a full subscription and $10 off, or take a test run (trial) for 14 days, and then use the code for your discount. It’s a great deal. No hype, no over selling from me, just a straight-forward good deal!

My wife and I had the great opportunity to visit the Wise Guy’s Comedy Club in West Valley City, Utah on May 10, 2010, to see the acclaimed John Moyer. He is a renowned comedian, actor, screenwriter, director, and is fantastically funny.

We started the night with ordering great food offered, meeting a few of the entertainers, club talent, and club employees. A very friendly place that attributes to a fun, comfortable atmosphere. The food was great, and we then sat back as we were thoroughly entertained by four comedians, and then the special, main entertainer, John Moyer.

His jokes were funny, modern, and very relevant to today’s world and culture. We met with John after and talked about great experiences and fun adventures. If you get a chance to see John Moyer, visit his website at http://www.johnmoyer.com or his facebook at http://www.facebook.com/johnemoyer.

Regarding the name change, people are always up in arms about change and there are two sides of the coin on this; some like the corporate names and some would rather have them stay the name originally given to it. Some like the corporate names because the venue has better exposer, recongnition, and support; however, it can lead the venu to appear to be a big franchise amidst the community and looking more corporate. Taking on a private, neighborhood name makes the venue blend into the neighborhood with a style and ”close to home” ownership of a personal, private, and community owned event center.

Which is better? Promoting and advertising a corporate business entity receiving corporate backing, name, and brand recognition. Or promoting a community, neighborhood, and family event center, with a risk of greater attention.

This also means that I have a new title, as “The Head Photographer of The Maverik Center”.

The source code is:

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    <td style="padding:0px;border-style:none;padding-right:2px;" nowrap>
      <span style="font-size:11px;">Progress:</span>
    </td>
    <td style="padding:0px;border-style:none;width:100%;">
      <div style="width:99%;border:1px solid #cccccc;padding:1px;height:6px;">
        <div style="width:15%;background:green;height:6px;"></div>
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    <td style="padding:0px;border-style:none;padding-left:5px;font-size:10px;">8%</td>
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Why wouldn’t someone read the manual on how to care for a car to know how it works? Because everyone wants to have the satisfaction that they got in the car, ran it, and never had to look at the manual! Yet, you didn’t know you had to do maintenance, where that maintenance should take place and at what intervals. Well, this is where best practices come in. Don’t try and drive your car and let the engine churn without knowing how to best care for it.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/bb671430.aspx

This is a must see so you get a head on your fast track before time ticks away. Jason Hiner from TechRepublic provides a small clip that reviews these top challenges in this career path.

Zipping capabilities are limited in these free OS versions. For example, it isn’t permitted to set password on the zip file, so make sure you don’t send sensitive information through the internet or to other people. It’s also not permitted to adjust how much compression is applied, or making an EXE version (for decompressing on a system that doesn’t have Zip capabilities). In order to get zipping with passwords and other enhanced features, you will still need to resort to purchasing an application, for the Mac, it can be StuffIt Pro; for Windows, it can be WinZip. There are other free utilities that that offer enhanced features for free, like from 7-Zip or WinRAR.

What is a Zip file?

Zip files are a way to take many files on a disk, bundle them into a single file and apply compression to them to shrink the final resulting files into a smaller result than the sum of the total set of files being package/zipped/compressed. The files are made of the original files represented in a compressed format. Many operating systems have built-in Zipping or compression capabilities now, so you won’t have to buy an application for simple compressing/bundling tasks.

In simple terms, if you have a lot of the same letters and numbers in a document, Zipping the document would count how many duplicates there are, where they are located, and take them how, thus compressing the document. The document is not readable in the compressed format, but it can then be “unzipped” and the document will be reconstructed to it’s original form with all the duplicate letters, numbers, and other characters.

The files that don’t compress well are JPG photo files and other formats that already in a “compressed” format. It does still mean thought that you can “package” or “bundle” your files using Zip even though the compression may not reduce the file size. This is particularly important when you want to send one file to someone. For example, you have 50 new photos you’ve taken of a place you visited, you want to send those to someone, zip them up in to one “zip package” file. This eliminates sending all 50 files. The compression won’t be good, so the file will be large, so watch out for that. But you can still send the single file.

How Do I Zip Files?

This can be accomplished the same way on either Mac or Windows:

1. Pick a set of files, or a folder that contains the files to package/compress
2. On Windows, right-click and “Send To | Compressed (Zipped) Folder”
3. On Mac, right-click or ctrl+left-click and choose “Compress Files”

A single file will be created with all original files packaged and compressed and bundled into it for storage, email delivery, or thumb-drive transport.