Especially in case of errors it makes sense to write the current data into the log, so that the errors are easier to trace.
In a generic logging solution these logs could easily contain personal, identity or otherwise sensitive information.
In flowground, How long are these logs stored? and should i be concerned about the sensitivity of the data that is logged?
Currently flowground uses a maximum disk-space oriented approach to limit the maximum number of logs to be stored.
We currently plan to change that to a time-based approach, something between 3 to 5 days maximum.
Do you have a preference concerning the maximum number of days #Stephan Häußler?
Related
I'm trying to collect and update data using the Business Information API.
In order to get the API Calls to work, I'm only trying to get information from my business by using "Get-requests". However when calling several methods, I keep receiving the following errors:
"Quota exceeded for quota metric 'Requests' and limit 'Requests per minute' ".
Both in the Postman-calls or the OAuth 2.0 Playground (which in my eyes: should be a sandbox, ready for testing - very frustrating…).
When I look for my quota in the API settings: I'm not even able to change the requests per minute other than '0'. This makes it really hard to test/use the API.
I can't even find out which categories there are for a business location…
For your information: I've already asked for increase of the quota using the forms. But it seems google isn't really responsive in this matter.
Can this be solved?
The API shall be used to update a group of 50 (or more) locations, this instead of bulk-editing with a csv-file.
Any help would be welcome.
Thanks in advance,
Kind Regards,
Seppe
If the quota approval form was ignored, you might still have a chance via the API support (https://support.google.com/business/contact/api_default).
They might be reluctant to grant you a quota if your maximum location count is this low though - the API is designed for larger use cases.
Is it documented anywhere that it's meant for larger users? I got approved being very clear it was only for a handful of locations.
BUT even though I got approved and have access there are 3 specific quotas (all per-minute) that are set to zero, even though I have tonnes of allowance for all the non-per-minute quotas. Seems like a bug to me.
I can make 10000 "Update Location requests per day" but zero per minute.
This is my very first question and I hope it's well explained and so I can find an answer.
I work at the website project for a delivery company that has all the data in an Oracle9i server.
Most of the web user just want to know when they're going to get their package but I'm sure there's also robots that query that info several times a day to update their systems.
I'm working on a code to stop those robots (asking for a captcha after the 3rd query in 15min, for example) because we have some web services they can use to query all the data in bulk.
Now, my problem is that peak hours 12.00-14.00 the database starts to answer very slowly.
Here is some data I've parsed from the web application. I don't have logs at this level for the web services, but there was also a lot of queries there.
It shows the timestamp when I request a connection from the datasource, the Integer.toHexString(connection.hashCode()), the name of the datasource, the timestamp when I close the connection and the difference between both timestamps.
Most of the time the queries end in less than a second but yesterday I had this strange delay for more than 2minutes.
Is there some kind of maximun number of connections allowed on the database so when it surpass that limit the database queues my query for sometime before trying again?
Thanks in advance.
Is there some kind of maximun number of connections allowed on the databas
Yes.
SESSIONS is one of the basic initialization parameters and
specifies the maximum number of sessions that can be created in the
system. Because every login requires a session, this parameter
effectively determines the maximum number of concurrent users in the
system.
The default value is derived from the PROCESSES parameter (1.5 times this plus 22); therefore if you didn't change the PROCESSES parameter (default 100) the maximum number of sessions to your database will be 172.
You can determine the value by querying V$PARAMETER:
SQL> select value
2 from v$parameter
3 where name = 'sessions';
VALUE
--------------------------------
480
so when it surpass that limit the database queues my query for sometime before trying again?
No.
When you attempt to exceed the value of the SESSIONS parameter the exception ORA-00018: maximum number of sessions exceeded will be raised.
Something may well be queuing your query but it will be within your own code and not specified by Oracle.
It sounds as though you should find out more information. If not at the maximum number of sessions then you need to capture the query that's taking a long time and profile it; this would, I think, be the more likely scenario. If you're at the maximum number of sessions then you need to look at your (companies) code to determine what's happening.
You haven't really explained anything about your application but it sounds as though you're opening a session (or more) per user. You might want to reconsider whether this is the correct approach.
Thanks for the edit vape.
I've also found the real problem.
I had the method that asks for a connection to the datasource synchronized and it caused locks while requesting connections at peak hours. I've had it removed and everything is working fine.
How can I make a 30-day trial for my application? I need to allow users to use an application only 30 days. How to count these days?
I keep the first and the last date in registry. But if to change a system time - no protection will be. I need to count these 30 days.
You could probably come up with a system that requires an internet connection, but without something that the user can't tamper with, I don't see a solution.
Any solutions that rely on an untrusted element (an element of the protection that is under the user's control) is critically weak.
The simplest way I can think of to protect against the user moving the clock back is to limit the total number of launches.
However, attempts to limit the number of launches requires persistence -- saving data to the disk, perhaps encrypting and storing a modified version of your activation data file -
Imagine that you count one of the 30 days as "used up" once the app has been launched, on a unique occasion, even when the same date is re-used. In order to avoid using up more than 1 "activation time day" when launched, the user must allow your software to re-save its activation file each time it runs.
To block that approach, the user needs only to keep the apparent date from changing, plus they must either prevent you from storing anything to disk; or they can simply track and record your changes and reverse them out, either using a monitoring process, or using VMWare snapshots. About VMWare snapshots, you can do nothing. The virtual machine's disk is not under your control.
You can protect your app of users setting the clock back simply by storing in the registry the date of last execution.
Each time the app is started you need to do the following:
Check current date (as reported by the system clock) against the stored last execution date and, if current date is earlier than the last execution one, consider that the trial period has expired (or whatever you prefer).
If the previous check is ok, save the current date in the registry and continue execution.
As WarrenP says, any technique storing information locally can be easily circumvented using VMware snapshots.
And anyone, including those who check via internet, can be skipped via assembler level hacking.
Here's a discussion on Shareware trial enforcement with Delphi:
Best Shareware lock for Delphi Win32
Along with discussions on various 3rd-party solutions, techniques for DIY, etc..
IMO, DIY is feasible if your app produces data that the user will want to keep around, then you can simply embed a copy of the usage/day counter in the database in such a way that they can't wipe it without destroying their data. I also like watermarking (printing "trial" on reports, etc..), escalating nag severity, but I do not recommend or condone "drop-dead" crippling until WAY past the expiration data. I also like to measure "days of actual use", instead of using a calendar.
Registry manipulation works, and many of the 3rd-party protectors use it. But you need to be stealthy, and keep backups in several locations simultaneously.
You should also consider having separate trial and registered versions. But also consider that pirates will buy the registered version with a stolen card, and put it on Rapidshare, BitTorrent, etc..
Also note that elaborate defenses lead to support headaches. Sometimes PCs crash and the clock gets set backwards. They install new harware. PCs get rebuilt, restored from backup, etc.. If a user is running a debugger, he may be a software developer, not a pirate. If your app looks like it has been patched, it may be an overly-aggressive antivirus. And at any time, a shoddy patch for Windows may cause your program to think that it's being attacked, hacked, or reverse-engineered. You have been warned...
Encrypt a date and store it in registry the best way to do it is that date to be stored by the installer itself and if the date doesn't exist the application should quit.
There is an open source project (which was a commercial product before):
TurboPower OnGuard is a library to create demo versions of your Borland Delphi & C++Builder applications. Create demo versions that are time-limited, feature-limited, limited to a certain number of uses, or limited to a certain # of concurrent network users.
I have not checked which Delphi versions are supported.
For this kind of "protection" and some others, I have used TmxProtector (open source) from MaxComponents in the past with good results. From the link provided:
The TmxProtector is a software protection component. It was designed
for quick implementation of application protection functions. You can
create time-trial and password protected applications. You can set the
maximum number of execution, and it can work with registration keys as
well.
This compoment uses very simple encryption to store the expiration date in the registry and it provides some simple detection for tampering on the system date.
It sounds like you need to store the date the last registry entry was written. Then inside your program, test if the current date is less than the date last registry entry was made. If true display a message that the trial period has expired and the program must be purchased.
Here are some ideas on how to deal with clock changes during the trial period:
Save both the date of first and the date of the last program start. If the date of the last program start is greater than the current date, then the user has moved the clock back. I simply increase a day and save the new date as the date of last start. You can of course decide to just end the trial.
To try to defeat trial bypass programs (RunAsDate for example) which run your application by setting the date and time to a specific value, you can instead of getting the date via the usual Delphi way (Date, Now), get, for example, the last modification date of NTUSER.DAT.
Save your trial data on two separate locations, either two registry locations, or file and registry. This way even if the user deletes one of the trial data locations, you'll still have a backup one to use.
If you keep your trial info in registry, the registry could be deleted by the user. Evey one expects to find the registration info there.
There is one place where the user might not think to look into: your own app (EXE file). Put an ANSI string constant (MUST by ansi/ascii or other 1 byte string, static array, etc) into your program, like 'xyxyxyxyxyxy'. Compile your app. Open your complied app with a hex editor. Search for that string. Now your program could use that area to store the trial info into itself.
Use this method in conjunction with others: store your info in registry also, on disk, etc.
Anyway, the best would be to get the registration info from your server.
The big drawback: 1. The server must be ALWAYS online! 2. The user must be connected to internet (when it uses your app).
Also use a Delphi license management library to help you encrypt the license info and generate a string-based key that you can send to your customers upon registration.
Anyway, whatever you send to your server needs to be based on the hardware fingerprint of that computer. Otherwise your license key will leak out on some warez website and everyone will be able to use that key. But if the key is hardware-based it would be useless if it is leaked on Internet.
Just remember: don't over do it! There is no such thing as unbreakable software protection. Microsoft could not do it!
As the thread pointed to mentioned, I encourage you to look into WinLicense: http://www.oreans.com.
I've been using it for quite some time and it handles trial periods quite well. It also handles licensing, customer lists, etc.
Tom
I have a site with several pages for each company and I want to show how their page is performing in terms of number of people coming to this profile.
We have already made sure that bots are excluded.
Currently, we are recording each hit in a DB with either insert (for the first request in a day to a profile) or update (for the following requests in a day to a profile). But, given that requests have gone from few thousands per days to tens of thousands per day, these inserts/updates are causing major performance issues.
Assuming no JS solution, what will be the best way to handle this?
I am using Ruby on Rails, MySQL, Memcache, Apache, HaProxy for running overall show.
Any help will be much appreciated.
Thx
http://www.scribd.com/doc/49575/Scaling-Rails-Presentation-From-Scribd-Launch
you should start reading from slide 17.
i think the performance isnt a problem, if it's possible to build solution like this for website as big as scribd.
Here are 4 ways to address this, from easy estimates to complex and accurate:
Track only a percentage (10% or 1%) of users, then multiply to get an estimate of the count.
After the first 50 counts for a given page, start updating the count 1/13th of the time by a count of 13. This helps if it's a few page doing many counts while keeping small counts accurate. (use 13 as it's hard to notice that the incr isn't 1).
Save exact counts in a cache layer like memcache or local server memory and save them all to disk when they hit 10 counts or have been in the cache for a certain amount of time.
Build a separate counting layer that 1) always has the current count available in memory, 2) persists the count to it's own tables/database, 3) has calls that adjust both places
I'm looking to add a 14-Day trial limit to my software. The program has been written in Delphi 7.
Any help would be much appreciated.
You could try Turbopower OnGuard. This is now opensource.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/tponguard/
There are several tricks you can use, but none of them 100% fail save.
You can use some kind of licensing mechanism.
You can store the setup time somewhere hidden in the registry.
You can store the setup time in a file (possibly an executable file or dll).
You can store the IP address in a central database and check each time if the 14 days are passed (you need a internet connection for that).
You can create a file (for example a dll) dynamically on your server and have the installer retreive that file. (Be sure to log the IP so a second attempt will not be possible).
But I think the best way, is to give trial versions with limited functionality. For example: No printing, no save of project, or only small projects can be saved.
That way you avoid the hassle and possible clients can take the time to evaluate your project.
EDIT: If you build a mechanism to check against roling back the clock. Be sure to build in a margin, else the program will be locked if you travel back to an other timezone. Or put the clock back in wintertime. I think a margin of 25 hour will cover everything. (And to be at the save side, you can build in a limit else, the user can roll back the time each day.).
But the best way to keep paying customers, is giving good support. I discontinue products if the service is bad.
One of the things you need to guard against with a time-limited application is users' rolling their calendar back so the application still works. One way around this is to store in your hidden registry place (or wherever) a timestamp whenever the application is started up. If the current date/time is ever earlier than the last timestamp recorded by your app, that means the user has rolled the calendar back and you should disable the application.
Time-limitation is a real pain, though, both for the programmer and the user. It's also not a great marketing idea: why go to the trouble of distributing promotional material (which is what your trial version is) that has an expiration date? It would be like a company mailing out advertisements on paper designed to disintegrate after two weeks.
If your trial version is functionally crippled instead, you might still get sales out of it even months or years later.
You can find the similar question here.
On general note i find time restriction much more useful than functionality restriction. As i explained in the comment to Gamecat post
something to be aware of when performing any of these checks. That the date is never GREATER than 14 days from the date you entered in either direction. A common method around most of these types of limits is to set the date a few years in advance, install and run your software, then set the date back to the current time. If you are hard coded to die 14 days from the original start date, then the user has a few years to try your software. Checking the other direction also gives the user at most 28 days.
I have used Armadillo, Asprotect and Winlicense. Both Armadillo and Asprotect have had serious problems, such as being considered viruses/trojans by some AVs, incompatibility problems, etc.
I haven't used Winlicense enough to have much of an opinion, but support is pretty great.
Obviously both are more complete solutions than what you are asking for - they include protection, licensing, keys, etc.
As mentioned by others, sometimes limiting a feature or adding a watermark is the best option. I've added a watermark to one of my programs (STGThumb) and sales went up about 400%...
I would recommend making a trial serial number with timestamp and force user to enter it into software when its installed. You can even automate it by calling server side page after setup is done.
Timestamp in trial serial key allows you to extend their trial if needed.
In addition you can count backwards to avoid user from changing year when installing:
e.g. if you have 14 days trial generated at 15.11.2008 (server time), you can check that locate date must be greater than 1.11.2008 or less than 24.11.2008 always when serial is used or entered.
You can use a professional tool as SoftwareShield.
I use it in our apps and it provides several licence's models, including timelimited demo.
I created my own key generater (separate program for creating keys). The key values are stored in a binary file with the same name as my program, just a different ext. Example: myprogram.key
I store:
Name
Email
RegType (REG, TRIAL)
RegDate
FirstRun (0 OR 1)
The program looks for the file. If it is not there, it throws a message to the user and closes. The key file generator writes the values in encrypted strings which are then written using the built in stream routines.
I create a TRIAL Key that i distribute with the program. If someone registers, i then create them an official REG key.
Anway, if they are running my program, it first looks for the key file. if found, it checks the reg type, if its a regitered version, then the program loads, and the registration info is displayed. I also store a regdate, which i compare with the day the program runs and - if the regdate is greater than or equal to todays date, the user get sprompted to re-register.
If it finds that the key file stores a RegType of TRIAL, then the date they first ran it is stored in the keyfile, and the flag first run is set to 1. They can then use it for 14 days. Each time they run the program, the date stored is compared with the running date.
Very simple process to write. Is it fool proof? NO, nothing is! I have had great success with my app. Its not wide known, so there are no hackers lookijng to hack it.
The best would be to get the registration info from your server.
The big drawback: 1. The server must be ALWAYS online! 2. The user must be connected to internet (when it uses your app).
To get you started you can use a Delphi license management library to help you encrypt the license info and generate a string-based key that you can send to your customers upon registration. There are quite few libraries out there.
Anyway, whatever you send to your server needs to be based on the hardware fingerprint of that computer. Otherwise your license key will leak out on some warez website and everyone will be able to use that key. But if the key is hardware-based it would be useless if it is leaked on Internet.
And don't over do it! There is no such thing as unbreakable software protection. If Microsoft could not do it, you will not do it. Concentrate on adding nice features to your app instead of creating a bullet proof protection system (which is not possible).