We use a Java class, accessed through Peoplecode housed in Peoplesoft’s Portal application, to change user passwords in LDAP. Currently, we’re running a SunOne LDAP server, whose rights were recently acquired by Oracle. A decision has been made to replace SunOne with Microsoft Active Directory. This change presented several challenges, but today I’ll mention specifically the obstacle I faced to reset AD passwords using Java.
Tools used
- Eclipse IDE
- AD Explorer
- AD Error codes
Hurdle #1: SSL libraries
The existing Java code for establishing a secure connection to SunOne uses older libraries from novell:
com.novell.ldap.LDAPConnection(new LDAPJSSESecureSocketFactory());
For some reason, I could not form an SSL connection to AD using this library. It wasn’t until I switched to JNDI that I was able to successfully bind to AD over SSL.
Hurdle #2: Resetting passwords
In AD, an error will be thrown if an attempt is made to perform a “restricted operation” without having the proper credentials or binding over SSL. Becoming familiar with the various error codes helped tremendously. Now to the gritty stuff…
SunOne and AD store passwords differently. From what I read/encountered with SunOne, a plain text password could be used to REPLACE the value in the userPassword attribute, and SunOne will take care of the encryption itself. This is not the case for AD. I spent plenty of time researching the web how to encrypt AD passwords before updating the UnicodePwd attribute. Fortunately, I came across a website that provided the source code to encrypt passwords in a manner that AD liked. Thanks Jeremy Morris!
UCF is heavily involved in upgrading their Peoplesoft Enterprise Portal from 9.0 to 9.1. See the notice on the CS&T departmental website for more information.
India has come up with the world’s cheapest “laptop“, a touchscreen computing device that costs $35 (£23).
India’s human resource development minister, Kapil Sibal, this week unveiled the low-cost computing device that is designed for students, saying his department had started talks with global manufacturers to start mass production.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/23/india-unveils-cheapest-laptop
Google is actively working on a way to bring internet content on demand to our televisions.
However, in my experience, one of the reasons why WebTV hasn’t taken off in the past is because the tools used to control the TV and computer are entirely different.
On a computer, I’m sitting comfortably at a desk with a keyboard and mouse that contours my seated position.
On the couch, I kick my feet up use one hand for the remote, and one hand holding a beverage. If there was a way to intuitively operate the TV without sitting in front of a keyboard or using voice commands, it would revolutionize the way we watch TV and potentially interact with all electronic devices.
One such way to manipulate the screen, hand free, and voice free (which I hate) is to use eye tracking devices. After a quick browse through the internet, I found at least one institution performing research on the matter.
It’s not hard for me see this working with new 3D TV technology hitting the shelves at electronic retailers. To get the 3D experience, the user must wear relatively comfortable 3D eye wear. Would it not be that hard to integrate eye tracking into the glasses? Only time will tell.
With the launch of my new blog should come the launch of new material. Well as you can see, there is much of that lacking.
I am excited to tell you that I’ve already begun writing up an article that shows a novice approach to developing your own blackberry applications. Stayed tuned for this, its nearing completion.