Installing LAMP for Web Development

Recently I started on building a social networking platform to experiment on Open Social and Off the shelf products that allow users to create their own social networking websites.

Looking around the landscape, I found every body is using Linux,Apache,MySQL,PHP as their choice platform, language and tools. So I downloaded Ubuntu 9.04 and planned to install my social networking website using LAMP infrastructure on Ubuntu. Later I plan to move the website to production on a dedicated server with a hosting company.

Install OS

I wanted this to be easy and without much effort. I also did not want to partition my drive and do install etc, so I went ahead and downloaded a already configured Vmware Ubuntu 9.04 appliance from Vmware marketplace. I also downloaded a Vmware Player to run the appliance. I installed both software on my windows XP Platform and I had a running Ubuntu OS in my box in half an hour. The cool thing about the appliance I downloaded was that it already had the vmware tools in-built into it. This made sharing files between my Windows box and the Guest Ubuntu OS so easy.When you start Ubuntu OS in the player, you go to the menu tab and under VM tools select and assign a directory from your local hard drive for sharing, after that you can see that directory like any other mounted drive in Ubuntu OS.

Install IDE

I decided to use Netbeans as my PHP development platform as I had used netbeans for some of my JAVA projects. I downloaded the latest netbeans IDE from Java site and installed it. Please do not install netbeans from Ubuntu Package Manager as it does not install the latest version of Netbeans IDE. Also you have a choice to install only PHP or JAVA in netbeans IDE. I downloaded the complete package. Before installing netbeans do not forget to install the Java components. Open a terminal window in Ubuntu and do the following

# sudo apt-get install sun-java6-bin sun-java6-jdk

# sudo apt-get install sun-java6-plugin

Then type in the terminal

# which java

# which javac

If you get correct answers for these queries you are ready to install the netbeans IDE.

Install Database and Web Server

Installing LAMP stack in Ubuntu was very easy. Just follow the steps outlined in this Netbeans PHP Link. Now that the stack is installed you need a tool to administer the databse. I installed PHPMYADMIN to do the task.Ubuntu package manager has PHPMYADMIN already in it. So just open a termial window and type,

# apt-get install phpmyadmin

and that should take care of it. Once the Stack has been installed and configured properly you are ready to start working on your social networking website.

I had some hiccups on the way to my install.

I forgot my MySQL admin password and so wanted to reset the root access. I followed the following steps to reset the root pass word

Step # 1: Stop the MySQL server process.

# sudo /etc/init.d/mysql stop

Step # 2: Start the MySQL (mysqld) server/daemon process with the --skip-grant-tables option so that it will not prompt for password

# sudo mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables &

Step # 3: Connect to mysql server as the root user

# sudo mysql -u root

Step # 4: Inside mysql cmd client, Setup new root password

mysql> use mysql;

mysql> update user set password=PASSWORD("NEW-ROOT-PASSWORD") where User='root';

mysql> flush privileges;

mysql> quit

Step # 5: Exit and restart MySQL server

# /etc/init.d/mysql stop

# /etc/init.d/mysql start

# mysql -u root -p

I found I had problems with my Vmtools drive share. I was not seeing my shared Windows Drive anymore on the Guest Ubuntu OS. 

The normal automatic updates that are done in the Ubuntu OS package manager had overwritten kernel files and due to this the vmtools host-guest file system driver which enables drive sharing is no more loaded. If you find this condition do the following,go to a terminal window and type

# sudo vmware-config-tools.pl -d

and if for any reason you find your Vmtools broken in your OS do the following,

# wget http://chrysaor.info/scripts/ubuntu904vmtools.sh
# sudo bash ./ubuntu904vmtools.sh

Error - 'Connection for controluser as defined in your configuration failed'
at the bottom of phpmyadmin login page.
After much search, I did the following to correct the problem.Go to a terminal window and type

# cd /usr/share/doc/phpmyadmin/examples/

# sudo guzip create_tables.sql.gz

# sudo gunzip create_tables.sql.gz

# mysql -u root -p < create_tables.sql

Now open the file config-db.php by typing

# gksudo gedit /etc/phpmyadmin/config-db.php

Check the values of contents of the following variables

$dbuser='phpmyadmin';

$dbpass='xxxxxxx';

Finally, Log in as root at http://localhost/phpmyadmin and create a user name phpmyadmin that can connect from localhost then add add at least SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE privileges to the newly created phpmyadmindb for the user phpmyadmin using the password identified from /etc/phpmyadmin/config-db.php. After this logout and login and you will see the error mesaage no more.

This concludes my efforts to setup a Platform for installing and developing my Social Networking website. In my next post I will write about my research and its conclusion on choosing a open source social networking platform for my web business.

Self Introduction and Elevator Pitch for Starters.

In this tough economy everybody should consider themselves as a free agent  and brand effectively to sell themselves. As a job seeker recently out of job, I had some hard lessons on that.  One of the most important things I learned recently as a free agent is the value of self introduction and the importance of branding.

In business school my Marketing Professor talked at length on the art of positioning and why it important for products and people alike and I have to agree with him 100% on that based on my recent experiences. The idea of positioning is to provide a powerful proposition and give us a chance to stand out.

One of the great read on personal branding is an article by Tom Peters in fastcompany.com titled "The Brand Called You" which provides a powerful argument on why we should be thinking about branding ourselves.

All of us would have encountered the need to introduce ourselves effectively at one or other times. Entrepreneurs are mandated to do this for their product and it is called an elevator pitch and we need the same pitch abiut us as individuals to promote ourselves. Some call it "tell me about you".

I found the need for a proper self introduction becomes all the more important when you are a free agent either looking for a job or starting your own company. This is especially true in these times where you are doing both at the same time.

In my quest for looking for help on my elevator pitch for my business and self introduction for myself , One of my favorite is the method given by Frank Furness which is short and to the point.

I found a great self pitch needs to couple with a great delivery to make an impact. Similarly I also found the need to adjust the pitch according to the medium of delivery.

Pitch for direct contact:
You are really in the Mythical Elevator with your next big opportunity in front of you. In that situation the following are to be done.

• Make good Eye contact.
• Exhibit Correct Body language -No stiffness, No fidgeting, No folding of hands, No adjusting Lapel Pins etc.
• Be relaxed, Be Excited, Convey Confidence and Articulate with your Hands and Eyes.

If you scour the web you will see most of the videos, even the ones that is rated very highly in techcrunch.com in my opinion really lack the excitement factor. If you are not excited about what you are saying how can we expect our listener to get excited about what we say. One way I found to increase the pep in delivery is by creating a story board with fictional characters on your product or self and practice reading the story in front of your family and friends.

Recital - How you deliver:

• No pausing for long time: If you pause too much you sound hesitant.
• No staccato bursts: if you go non stop you may sound nervous.
• One of the thing I observed in numerous videos out on the web on elevator pitch is they have an initial bold recital of their name and company …. Followed by a subdued recital of the main points ….then ending with a rapid fire delivery of remaining stuff to maintain the 60 second time limit and some sounded just flat.
• I suggest the delivery should be level with correct emphasis on points that you want the listener to take away after the pitch.One way to achieve this is by limiting passive statements in your pitch and use action verbs. Practice by highlighting those zones of emphasis you have in your positioning statement and reciting them with different intonations until you get what you want.
• Limit to 60 seconds - This is the most important rule of the pitch. The average attention span we have is around 6 seconds so we have the impossible task of stretching 6 seconds to 60 seconds anything beyond that should be approached very cautiously.

Pitching via Phone:

• Recital - The same rule as direct contact applies here and the pause management becomes much more important. If you pause too much the listener at the other end is left wondering about your message. Sometimes they respond to the pause with their own questions that cuts short the much practiced pitch..
• Clarity of tone:Human ears are tuned to hear signals in the frequency range 20 HZ to 20,000Hz. A telephone converts sound waves into electromagnetic waves of the same frequency. A filter in the telephone system, accepts frequency in the range 200Hz to 3500 Hz. The other frequencies are filtered out. What this means is, In telephone conversations your voice sounds flat to your listener. We need to keep this in mind when we pitch over the telephone.
• Limit to 45 seconds.The other thing I found is the pitch needs to be shorter than the direct contact pitch. Since there is no eye contact in a telephone conversation you lose the ability to grab the attention of the listener for a longer time. So the pitch needs to be short and to the point.

Pitch thru email:

• This is basically a self introduction through writing. I could not find much information on this on the web, but recently I attended a professional networking event and in that they gave a form to fill out for self introduction. I found it very helpful to use as a template for self introduction through email. The basic format is ,
• My Name is _______________ and I have _______ years of experience in _________ (industry). Most Recently I was ___________ (position) with ___________ entity, where I was _____________________ (significant accomplishments)
  
• After doing the above you need to tweak the following based on whom your corresponding and for what reason.
  
• At present I am _____________________ (what you do now) with ______________ entity (doing, managing, leading, making) ______________________ (hook statement to get the reader's attention).
  
• A small self description of interests and skill sets that is specific to the email respondent no more than two lines. Adding Hyperlinks to this to showcase any achievements is a great advantage of pitching through email.
  

The Final thing I learnt is Practice, Practice, and Practice. I am still practicing and not yet satisfied with my performance.

• Links
  1. How to Craft a Killer Elevator Pitch That Will Land You Big Business
     
  2. http://ideashare.my/razlan/posts/31-Elevator-Speech-Pitch-as-explained-by-Frank-Furness
  3. http://networkingeventfinders.com/elevator-speech-challenge/category/training-examples/elevator-pitch-how-tos/