My GOD is indeed Jehovah Jireh

I just received the reply from the Bursary Committee tonight, and I want to testify of GOD's providence. The burden on my parents will be very great if I study overseas, but GOD has shown through this bursary offer that HE will provide, and all I need to do is simply to follow HIS commands. I just pray that I would never fail to recognise GOD's faithfulness in my life, instead I would glorify HIM for HIS abundant blessings. I also pray that I'll trust HIM in every circumstance, and that I would be a faithful steward of the talents HE has entrusted to me. I am humbled by GOD's grace.

If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. Deuteronomy 28:1

sendmail, qmail, postfix, surgemail and whatnot

I've been exploring mail servers lately, and have come across the above terms, they are all mail servers... Just jotting down my findings in this entry for future reference.

I've been able to send my emails using some of smtp servers I've installed ( surgemail, and the IIS smtp server) through outlook, but whenever I try to send it through php using the mail function, the mail does not seem to get through even though it is free from any error messages. I'm not sure why, but I hope to resolve it so that I'd be able to send emails using php. I also intend, eventually, to be able to host email accounts on my mail server.

Other things I've learnt:
That "Qmail is a linux MTA and won't ever run on Windows.".
The origins of emails on howstuffworks.
I would also like to further explore surgemail.

I am now running the SMTP Server that comes with IIS, hoping to have a better understanding of how it works...

Enbarking on a Project

Yay! just got an assignment by pastor Cuixian! I have been tasked to create a room booking system, and I'm up to the challenge! one problem now will be to find out how to send mails using my web server. I have already devised a way to handle the room booking requests and approval, coding it would be challenging, but apart from the emailing part, I believe I have all the tools required to solve this problem using PHP and MySQL... Hopefully this system would eventually be implementable... If it happens, it'll be the first useful program I've written.

Using mcrypt functions

Setting up mcrypt was the easy part... Using their library functions proved to be much more tricky!

At first i seemed to have problems decrypting the encrypted data. For some reason, it randomly churns out gibberish... Then i managed to create a script that worked... But problems abounded when i tried to store the encrypted data in the contents of a cookie.

After some experimenting with scripts online, I found one that worked: here it is. I have not figured out their code yet, I'm just using it to achieve an end... Hopefully in time, I'd get down to figuring out exactly how it works.

mcrypt

Well, that's a php function to encrypt and decrypt data/strings... It took me a while to figure out how to use it. Turns out that you require the library to get it to work. this page was very helpful...

Yay! Successfully configured my router so that my server can be accessed from the www!

Just jotting this down just in case I forgot, and for the benifit of those who are having the same problem.

Ok, here's my background:
OS: Windows XP,
Server: Apache 2
Router: Linksys WRT54G

My problem was getting a webpage hosted on my webserver to be accessible online. After a lot of searching, I found the answer: you simply need to configure the router to forward requests to your computer. Here are the steps:
1) Configure your router by keying in it's IP address on your address bar. (The IP address can be either the Public or Private IP address). You can always find the public IP address from the linked site, or by typing (!IP) on msn msg :), and your router's Private IP address is usually 192.168.1.1 .
2) You will be prompted for the name and password. It is usually blank and admin respectively. You'll need some security features to configure such sensitive stuff.
3) Once you're in, you'll see the setup interface, access the 'applications and gaming' options. You'll see the words 'Port Forwarding'. Configure it according to the Private IP address of the computer your server is installed on (take note, this address will be reassigned by the router each time you restart the computer), and the Port. It has to be the same port which you configure Apache to listen to.

Now you're set! Your server can be viewed by anyone accessing your Public IP address!!!

Now I'll need to concern myself with the security issues :(

Effective Remedy for Oral Ulceration

Putting it simply: good treatment for mouth ulcers.

One thing that I hate most is mouth ulcers. Once, in the army, I triped during soc, over the 'step-up' bar, and fell face down into the sand and barb wire. I recieved lacerations to my lips and face and a lot of ulcers the mouth. The MO prescribed me a certain 'Trinolone Oral Paste', the packaging had Thai words on it, but it was very effective.

The chemical name for this drug is Triamcinolone acetonide, and apparently it is also some kind of hormone...

Just jotting this down just in case it comes in handy in future.

WooHoo!!! I've Successfully Installed Apache!!!

Finally, after ages of reconning, I've finally gotten Apache to work on my computer!!!

Thanks to HCH - His inspiration, which initiatiated this successful attempt at installing Apache;
and a VERY helpful webpage I found, which guides the Windows XP user on the exact configuration required to get php and cgi up and running, I have successfully configured Apache 2.0.53 to run on my computer!!!

I hope this sparks a rapid advancements in my understanding of server scripting like php and cgi... Time will tell, and this time i'm quite optimistic about it!!!

My life has just begun!!!!