Spider’s Webs @ Tabur West

During January of each year, shooting spider’s web at Bukit Tabur is very rewarding, at least to my experience. Some articles I found through Google explains that arachnid likes to spin web when the weather is not too wet and not too dry. If that were right, this explained why, because January is post-rainy season in Malaysia.

ISO 200 | 1/250 | f5

In order to capture dew on the web (like the one above), you have to get up early in the morning (before sunrise), and hike up to Bukit Tabur. You will generally find these orb-weavers and their spiral-shaped web lying around small bushes and tree branches. I would not recommend a tripod when shooting webby as they are prone to movement even of a slight wind. It’s even more difficult if you want to narrow the depth of field to isolate the background.

Another good tip when shooting spider’s web is to use manual focus. After you have pre-focused your subject, you may want to move back and forth a little bit to get the perfect focus before clicking the shutter button. If you are lucky, you may sometime find a web with it’s owner resting in the center! This might be your catch of the day.

ISO 200 | 1/250 | f3.8

Typically when you are shooting these silky webs, you may want to adjust your shooting angle or composition so that the background is darker. This will create a contrast for your subject to stand out in the shot. If you got a macro lens, use it to focus close up and fill the frame. The result will be surprising!

Hiking Tabur East

It has been quite some time since my last hiking experience. We are conquering a rocky quartz hill, located north-eastern of Kuala Lumpur (At the foot of Taman Melawati). It is also the location of Klang Gate Reservoir, sit in between the quartz ridge, documented as the world longest (From The Charm of Klang Gate). On top of the ridge, you can see clearly the dam and its surrounding forest. The beginning journey is not easy, you have to climb up muddy slope, pass through jungle, and before you reach the peak, is the quartzy surface that you need to go though. If you are planning a trip there, make sure you gear up properly, a hiking shoe with good grip, hiking glove and cap (depends on individual), plenty of water, clothes for changing after the hike, towel, and most importantly camera!

View Klang Gate Entrance in a larger map

Bukit Tabur (Tabur Hill) is a popular hiking place in Kuala Lumpur. However, not many are aware that there are actually 2 trails at Bukit Tabur. The more popular one is the west trail, and the less known one is the east trail.

Tips for MCTS WSS 3.0 Configuration

I took the 70-631 exam last 2 weeks and frankly speaking, it was not too hard. Just to share some tips here for the exam:

  1. Study every chapter presented in the MOC 5403: Implementing Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint® Services 3.0.
  2. Get to know the skills being measured in this exam, so that you know roughly what kind of questions will be tested.
  3. Google for “70-631” and go through every sites returned on the first result page, you might find useful sample questions.
  4. There are some technical questions regarding configuring SSL and NLB for WSS 3.0, which are not found in the MOC.

Good luck everyone!

Troubleshooting WSS 3.0 Search Service

I recently installed WSS 3.0 using server farm mode: with SQL Server 2005 Express preinstalled. I created a site collection on a new Web Application, setting up the search service, and when I clicked on the search button, I got the following error message on the result page:

“The search request was unable to connect to the Search Service”

Another click on the search button, I got the following error message:

“Your search cannot be completed because of a service error”

A peek on the Application Event Log shows the following logs description:

“Query machine ‘SERVERNAME’ has been taken out of rotation due to this error: Access is denied.”
“Retry of query machine ‘SERVERNAME’ has failed with error: Access is denied.”

After googling around I found some suggestion to use Administrator account for the Sharepoint Application Pool (which turns out workable!), but somehow I think is not a proper setting. A further studies on the Internet suggest me to do the following:

  1. Create 2 new domain accounts under WSS_WPG, I called it Wssreader and Wsspooler.
  2. Change Application Pool to run under Wsspooler. (Central Administration > Operations > Service Accounts)
  3. Change Web Application’s IIS Authentication Settings to use NTLM, if you are using Kerboros previously. (Central Administration > Application Management > Authentication Providers > Select Web Application > Default Zone)
  4. Reconfigure WSS Search Service and Content Crawler to run under Wssreader, I recommend stop the service, drop the previous search database, and start the service again to let WSS auto-configure the SQL Permission for Wssreader. (Central Administration > Operations > Services on Server > WSSSS)
  5. Finally reconfigure content database for search service. (Central Administration > Application Management > Content Databases > Search Server)

If things still doesn’t work out, you can always relies on Application Event Log to help you make necessary troubleshooting. Most commonly is your Application Pool account do not have sufficient permission to access, execute and select into your content database. Just fire up your SQL Management Studio and start making changes to the security schema of your content database. However, I am suspecting Kerboros Authentication do not work well with the search service configured under farm setting (or probably SQL Server Express). Good Luck!