A lot of emails I get are with regards to deploying JAuthTools and Microsoft Active Directory (AD). AD doesn’t make things easy for users in the LDAP interface: its case sensitive, has everything in capitals, disallows anonymous searching (though users can bind anonymously and see,well, nothing) and has an interesting default layout (e.g. CN=Users instead of OU=Users). By default Joomla! 1.0.x doesn’t have the ability to log items which is a function of the system (e.g. there are very few functions that run purely in the ‘background’) which makes it hard to diagnose things that are going wrong. There is a small tool I use called JLogger which is basically a mambot API loader and a component to view the logs. Its pretty primitive and I haven’t ‘released’ it because it hasn’t had anywhere enough work done on it (it is available via Subversion, zip files together to create installable packages) but it was one of the first step towards diagnostic tools, and this is another step.

Recently I released JDiagnostic, a tech demo of a tool that I hope will evolve into a launching pad for a wide range of useful tools, tests and diagnostics. At present it solves the above stated problem: MSAD integration. Its a step by step wizard configurator for Active Directory, with tests along the way. At the end it configures the LDAP SSI and Joomla! LDAP mambots with as much details as it can (what you’ve supplied) leaving you hopefully with a consistent and working Active Directory setup, without the pain of having to read through logs to see what is happening.

You can check out JDiagnostic on the Pasamio’s Projects FRS page.

Last night I was doing some work and I wanted to do some more research and knew that I had some files on the subject already on my hard drive, but I wanted to see what else was out there. As it happened Google didn’t really turn up much interesting beyond the obligatory Wikipedia article, but Google Desktop Search turned up a direct link to one of my local resources. Doing so saved me from using Spotlight to do the same thing. But that isn’t the only app indexing my hard drive, Quicksilver (my preferred app launcher) also runs in the background check the hard drive for new and interesting files that it can index and add to its database so that when I search for an application all I need to do is type its name and hit enter.

So my Mac has three different indexing tools: Google Desktop Search, Spotlight and Quicksilver. This is in contrast to my work PC (Windows XP) which has Google Desktop Search and Windows Indexing Service (which does poorly on large itemsets such as the contents of your hard drive…most of the useful items I find using this tool is not what I wanted originally but something else thrown up in the list for some reason, completely irrelevant, but interesting to read. There is another tool I use, RockIt Launcher, which is a Quicksilver equivalent for Windows except its catalog is limited in scope and usefulness, plus it has to be manually reindexed.

Linux by comparison seems quite poor, really only having Beagle desktop search, but that would discount the other options available. For example I do a few things differently on this platform: I launch terminals using my function keys (alt-f5 to f12 is bound to local and remote terminals (via ssh)) which means I get access to those applications. alt-f2 brings up the Linux equivalent of the ‘run’ dialog, except with completion. This is my equivalent for Quicksilver as I usually know the app name (as with quicksilver) to launch it. The last app launch/search is the deskbar I have on my lower panel, which has a list of commands run through it (could be desktop search, dictionary or app launch) so I can click that to quickly get to applications or type in the text box to get feature almost identical to Quicksilver. The last app launch point is my ‘drawers’. These are little panels that extend down with Quick Launch icons. They’re grouped so if I’m doing a particular task I know which drawer to go to so that I can launch multiple similar applictions. iIts also handy for eclipse, which has the same name but is three different installs.

So for me, my main use of search is application launching and occaisionally going to find the file I want. Mac has lead the way on the desktop, Google provides another awesome solution, Beagle is very nicely integrated into GNOME and now that Vista has (finally) shipped a few months ago it has search built in. So finally everything is getting indexed, making things easier to find for those of us who have too much information.

So I thought I’d start out with something I think is pretty cool: with a few tweaks you can fully integrate your LDAP system into Joomla! authentication system. Frontend and backend. Thats right you can use LDAP Tools to authenticate your users, and you can even plug it into JACLPlus or similar if you’re using that in your corporate environment. So I reckon thats pretty cool, but what if you don’t have an LDAP server to begin with?

Well, I’m glad you asked that question, because I’ve got it covered as well! I’ve written up a simple starters guide on how to get an LDAP server up and running and get Joomla! authenticating into it. Its mostly step by step and I’ve tested it out running Debian and Mac OS X 10.4 with the standard OpenLDAP instances that ship with those environments. Not only that but when you complete the tutorial theres a sample configuration for both Joomla! 1.0 and 1.5 so you can get up and running easily!

Lastly I’ve released 1.0.3 of JAuthTools for Joomla! 1.0 which adds support for LDAP powered administrator login (previously it relied on caching your password from the front end), a small refactoring of authentication options and some fixes in the XML files for missing or short descriptions. As always this is tested against Microsoft Active Directory, OpenLDAP and Novell eDirectory to see if they work and there are samples of known good set ups for those environments.

So you’ve read all of this and you’re wondering where you can the information from so heres the answer: for JAuthTools 1.0.3 you can go to the File Release Section on Joomla!Code, for the sample guides, the alterations required to the Joomla! Core to get back end login and much more documentation you can check it out at the JAuthTools wiki.

So what are you waiting for? Good luck! 🙂

So this is my new blog. Its a WordPress site as you can probably gather. I haven’t done much to customize it though I must admit I’m a fan of the default template anyway.

Stay tuned to read some of my experiences with technology and the world.

Sam