WWWalker's Groupware and Devops

Groupware Links | Devops Links


See also Portals | Data Integration | Networks | Mobile | Map Mashups | Disaster Recovery | IBM | Library Consulting | Project Management



Devops

Open Source Integration and Devops

see also Disaster Devops

We have integrated group sites to add these features:

We have imported high volumes of data using devops:

I have setup CI/CD pipelines in Gitlab for Drupal unit testing and Cisco DEVCOR.

Web Services

Mail Servers, File Sharing, Collaboration, Training, Support - Office365

We can provide a range of IT and Web development services that tie together many business needs such as data sharing, email and Web collaboration tools. Below are examples of what we can offer over the internet or even onsite. Many of these are backend or backoffice (IT support role) needs that small businesses don't have the time or money to have inhouse so need to outsource to the likes of us. Although we specialize in Linux and FreeBSD, we know many people only use Windows or Mac and we can work with these other systems too to get the best outcome for their business.

We are experts in interoperability which allows many systems to talk to each other without having to replace them but instead sharing data seemlessly between them.

In May-June 2013, we trained in Office 365, a cloud-based version of Microsoft Office, SharePoint, Exchange and Lync (chat).

Forums, Chats, Social Networks and Trading Sites

We can setup online forums and chats so users can share problems and solutions, or in this Web 2.0 world, form or interact with social networks! We have also setup online newsletter blasts to subscribers of trade organisations and trading sites for placing ads and taking orders for various communities of online sellers, buyers and brokers in competition to eBay.

eBay Seller Assistance

We can setup eBay auction items for sellers by finding images, improving the quality of the data for the products and setting up PayPal and shipping and postage - an exercise in logistics and supply chain management!

In June 2018, not finding URL of customer's store stopped us from setting up images on store as I could not get basic communication right with novice.

Facebook and Twitter Seller Assistance

We can assist a customer to use Facebook or Twitter to optimise marketing and reach of their content by being a ghost writer.

Online Training

We can tailor online training to your business or groups' needs. In 1998, we created curriculum and conducted online training for Web indexing and Linux using the Web and online chat, before most universities had done this!

Technical

Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) Middleware Ecommerce Integration

In November 2011, we are moving towards integrating mainframe systems with the internet such as ecommerce using WSO2 open source Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) middleware. This will be for large companies and government departments. We will use enterprise level open source ecommerce packages, messaging systems and development frameworks in cloud services.

Help Desks and Bug Tracking Systems (see Project Management)

Help Desks and Bug Tracking Systems can be setup using databases and open source software on the Internet to cut support costs and improve product service and quality. There is a heap of overlap with project management in help desks and bug tracking systems - one is the developers and other is the customers. When the 2 halves work together the quicker turnaround of bugs and better quality of software management solves a lot of technical headaches and builds up the business instead of eroding value through high support costs. We use it ourselves and it goes straight to the bottom line. In 2010, this is called devops.

Document Interchange, Data Cleaning and Data Integration

We can program in OpenXML or Open Document Format to allow documents to be read and written by many different programs and operating systems. Some applications we have developed include MYOB records interchange, billing information and PDF generation on the fly for an online trading site.

Using Linux bash awk scripts, we imported 1 million rows of text data (patents from many different sources and dubious quality) into a MySQL database which can then be searched and munged (reformatted and cleaned) to meet requirements in a very complex mixed data environment. We can do this because we are qualified information managers and can get all the meta data (data about data) right and completely reformat the data without having to corrupt it or do hideous programming. We deliver smart data management. We were the only one of 5 developers to be able to achieve this goal with limited hardware at our disposal.

Linux and Windows Interoperability

The user need never know that the server that is delivering and saving their data is actually running Linux. Windows will just see a Windows share that they can connect to. Linux has better reliability and can mimic Windows to such a degree that user's copy of Windows can work perfectly without having to have Windows running on the Server. This is the power of a network that is operating system agnostic.

On a more technical level, we integrate Linux and Microsoft Windows servers, systems and files via XML and common file-sharing protocols such as Samba. Data is seamlessly read and indexed from Windows on Linux for easy access via Web-based software (Software as a Service or Web services e.g. Google Apps) which is independent of operating system. In other words, the Linux server is transparent to the Windows machine and the Windows user can use Linux data and vice versa opening whole new areas of collaboration between Linux and Windows users without having to have versions of software specific to an operating system to allow access to shared data. This is called open systems and allows for interoperability, the heaven for users, as it stops lock-in by vendors and gives users choice.

Some examples: Open-Xchange (mail server), Samba (fileshare)

Connection Sharing and Firewall Programming

Users on a LAN can share a connection via a proxy setup by us to block attacks and reduce data transfer costs. We have programmed the proxy firewall with Python to allow the sysop to manage what users can see for schools internet connections.

Identity Management and Single Sign On (SSO)

We setup or develop portals with single sign on so users don't have to continually remember usernames and passwords for different sections of the same site.

In 2022, OAUTH is used for SSO with logins for Google, Facebook and Twitter being used to login to third party sites.

Standard Business Reporting (SBR)

We can integrate with government and business services using Standard Business Reporting (SBR) Web services and mygovid (AUSKey was decommissioned as of 4/21).

Vendor Portals

Poor Microsoft Partner Portal

Since June 2013, Microsoft Partner Portal:

By June 2015 they have:

As of December 2019, Windows Phone was decommissioned due to big losses for Microsoft.

Microsoft Certification Site Bugs

Prometric, where people sit Microsoft tests, has a bug in its site that brings up another person's details when a person logs in. I complained in June 2013 but in November 2013 Prometric has not fixed this. A person takes pot luck if when they login their own details are listed not someone else's. Microsoft will not change vendors to Certiport to create some competition. Its a monopology.

By December 2014, Microsoft changed Certified Practice Test Provider company to Pearson VUE.

Social Media, Marketing and CRMs (Customer Relationship Management)

Social Engineering: Email Harvesting via Social Networks

Women fake falling in love with men on social network sites, then ask for the man's email address which they then harvest. This includes vk.com. Sometimes men fake being a woman with fake pictures of beautiful women to grab the unsuspecting man's email and network connections. Usually the fake person will be from the wrong country for that site e.g. Ghana on netlog.com or USA from vk.com.

New connections with 1000s of connections are just out to harvest emails and get even more connections like a virus. The best thing is to block or blacklist them or refuse to connect to them. Some form of ID is needed like a digital certificate or driver's licence to prove they are who they say they are. It is not wise to connect to someone with no profile. Many will have very little or no profile. Avoid these connections or you will be ripped off.

Do due diligence before trusting these connections.

Linkedin and Facebook groups are also a source of spammers or spruikers trying to sell SEO or Web services.

Twitter has 1000s of fake followers who try to get the person to follow them back so they can sell that list to someone to make money. Twitter has services to allow people to force followers to verify themselves using CAPTCHA to make sure they are not bots. Bots search for keywords on Tweets which they use to follow expecting the person to follow back so they can blast them with sales pitches or spam. It is a racket. People can make their tweets private so only their friends see them and spammers cannot harvest them via search engines but they lose interconnections.

Emails of ostensibly women with beautiful pictures are used to lure people to reply and divulge their emails so they can harvest them and sell them on the blackmarket which are they then sold by the million to people by the very list they are selling.

In December 2012, spammers recruit data entry clerks via freelancer.com and elance.com to enter text for CAPTCHA codes so they can program bots to login and steal details. freelancer.com does not filter for fraud so requires freelancers to dob in dodgey operators.

Spammers use email forwarding pipes to change email headers to impersonate people.

Indian and Pakistani developers are 50% the cost of a Western developer so the low morals developer creates more spamming systems. We will not stoop to this level.

It is all a big racket for poor countries to make money off the internet.


Quotes

Contact us if you want a pricing on doing integration of groupware or devops for you.


Groupware Links

Devops Tool Links


Created: 23 Jan 2006 13:26
Last Updated: 24 Jan 2023 17:20


WWWalker Web Development Introduction