Migration Round-Up

<p>Whew. The migration really went pretty well. Widget chats on queues were working by 9am Saturday. SMS, Google Talk, and Twitter gateways followed a bit later on Saturday. The remaining IM gateways came back Sunday morning. We believe that all of the pieces of the system are available. Load looks very good!<div><br /></div><div>There is one thing about gateways you may need to know about: for now, you can only have one gateway on any given protocol on any single queue. Example: on one queue, you can have one AIM gateway, one Yahoo! gateway, one Meebo Me gateway, etc... You cannot have two AIM gateways on one queue currently. If you need to have more than one gateway on a given protocol, create additional queues, add your extra gateways, and assign the desired librarians. Or just chill out for two days while Eric fixes it. </div><div><br /></div><div>This happened because when we migrated to the EC2, we found that our previous family of libpurple gateways were consuming far too many resources because of a bug involving updated versions of two core OS libraries. So, we switched our libpurple family gateways over to use the <a href="http://spectrum.im/">Spectrum XMPP transport</a>, which runs far more efficiently. This just needs a bit more tweaking so that it will support multiple gateways of the same protocol per queue.</div><div><br /></div><div>Other than that, we believe things are in good shape. Please let us know if you find bugs. We'll continue to use the <a href="http://twitter.com/libraryh3lp">Twitter feed</a> to communicate issues as the week begins.</div></p>

Whew. The migration really went pretty well. Widget chats on queues were working by 9am Saturday. SMS, Google Talk, and Twitter gateways ...

Migration to new host Saturday morning, Feb 13

<p>Heads-up.<div><br /></div><div>In an effort to increase system stability, we will be moving LibraryH3lp to a <a href="http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/">new host</a> this coming Saturday morning, Feb 13, 2010. Saturday mornings (we're in the Eastern time zone) are <b>very </b>low-use.</div><div><br /></div><div>While we can't provide an exact time frame, we expect the server to be completely unavailable for up to 1 or 2 hours as we migrate data. </div><div><br /></div><div>We have already completed the work with the DNS, which means that the step with the most potential for causing lengthy server unavailability is done. </div><div><br /></div><div>As previously discussed on our <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/libraryh3lp">support group</a>, in order to prevent embedded LibraryH3lp content from slowing down loading of your web pages in times of server outages, you can move the javascript to the very end of your web page. Ideally, this is right before the close body tag of your document. All the details, and a way to test your code, are <a href="http://libraryh3lp.com/docs/test-blackhole.html">here, in the docs</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now, why are we moving? We've recently experienced a few failures completely beyond our control, coupled with some pretty poor communication from our hosting service. We can accept that a hardware failure can happen at any time, on any system. But we expect this kind of failure to be... rare. No one has made anything quite like LibraryH3lp before; we work hard to make this thing as stable as possible, even while we're building it and creating new features. It's no fun to put so much work into this system and get let down by the infrastructure that we (you) are paying for.</div><div><div><br /></div><div>As always, we'll post system status updates as we go on our <a href="http://twitter.com/libraryh3lp">Twitter feed</a>. If you want to get notices of activity on the Twitter feed over email, SMS, or some other format, check out <a href="http://notify.me/">notify.me</a>.</div><div><br /></div></div><div>We do apologize for the inconvenience. We'll do everything we can to make this migration as quick and painless as possible.</div></p>

Heads-up. In an effort to increase system stability, we will be moving LibraryH3lp to a new host this coming Saturday morning, Feb 13, 2010...

New Gateways: Twitter and Google Talk via Google Apps

<p><div>Two new gateways! Well, one new and one upgraded.</div><ul><li>Twitter. Every once in awhile, someone asks about Twitter integration. We tried this before with a gateway that worked via direct messages, but it proved too cumbersome in practice as direct messages require reciprocal following. The new one released today works on <b>mentions </b>(@username messages). The setup is like any other LibraryH3lp gateway.<br /><br />Your librarians can identify these messages when they arrive because they'll start with @username. Librarians can simply reply to these; they do not need to start the message with @ since the gateway will take care of this. The next version of the librarian's webchat client will provide a character countdown for twitter messages.</li></ul><ul><li>Second, Google Apps. Google Talk for Google Apps users works with our standard Google Talk gateway now. For your username, use your <b>full</b> address. Example: my.name@myschool.edu. The gateway will take care of the rest.</li></ul><div><div><div>All code available on <a href="http://github.com/esessoms">github</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Enjoy!</div><div><br /></div></div></div></p>

Two new gateways! Well, one new and one upgraded. Twitter. Every once in awhile, someone asks about Twitter integration. We tried this be...

Improved Mobile Widget

<p><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Today we pushed out a mobile-specific version of our widget. Our default widget has worked with iPhone/iPod touch since the beginning, but the new one has been designed specifically for mobile devices. We've tested it heavily in the default browser on our Android phone.<div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427877050405546562" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglGrSpdSjjBbA27xIBY18Sgw5f3UP09K4W4fRJi-s3ddpqG6vLsHnVwJSCUfPAwMZCr9WwR5vdsdxC3b7XSTeuy_pXXfXaPCktu7BFlmHY0GxBOWJXtPKxhlG1VL4J5ZvjCY7p0mPHgfY/s320/mobile-ss.png" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 256px; height: 320px;" /></div><div><br /></div><div>The new, mobile-specific widget is prefaced with <b>m.</b>, like this:</div><div><br /></div><div>http://m.libraryh3lp.com/chat/queue@chat.libraryh3lp.com</div><div><br /></div><div>As with regular LibraryH3lp widgets, you can deck out the appearance of your mobile widget nearly any way you'd like. The easiest thing will be to use the Widget Designer in the admin site to create a custom skin using your preferred colors, title, etc... Then, after you generate the code, look for the raw widget URL (as above) and place the m. at the beginning. Of course, you can also customize your widget by hand if you prefer, as described in the Widget Customization section in the <a href="http://libraryh3lp.com/docs/">docs</a> (the default mobile CSS is <a href="http://libraryh3lp.com/css/mobile.css">here</a>).</div><div><br /></div><div>Mobile technologies offer more flexibility for people on the go. Busy people like your patrons probably already IM you or text you from their phones; our IM and SMS gateways make answering those questions easier. Now, they can chat you more easily from your mobile website. And if you're so inclined, you can even staff your service from your phone now that librarians can use any XMPP client at all. (Please don't LibraryH3lp and drive.) Have fun!</div></div></p>

Today we pushed out a mobile-specific version of our widget. Our default widget has worked with iPhone/iPod touch since the beginning, but ...

Android SMS Gateway Updated

<p>We just pushed a new version of our Android SMS Gateway out to the Android Market.<br /><br />The gateway has been reworked to perform better under various network conditions. It also has a great deal of delivery verification code to ensure that messages get to their recipients.<br /><br />The user interface has also been changed to provide better feedback about the status of the gateway.<br /><br />If you're currently using this application, your phone should let you know that an update is available. <b>You will need to reconfigure your gateway on the LibraryH3lp admin site: delete your old gateway and create a new one. </b>We plan to leave the old gateway running for about a week, and we will email all current users to make sure they're aware of the change.<br /><br /><div>Details for getting it up and running are in our Google Docs Presentation:</div><div><br /><iframe src="http://docs.google.com/present/embed?id=ddgrrvb8_167ckjscghf&interval=5" frameborder="0" width="410" height="342"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>If you prefer text instructions, here is a brief outline (the presentation is more complete):</div><div><ul><li>Search the Android Market for <b>My Customer Cloud </b>and install the application on your phone.</li><li>Start the My Customer Cloud SMS Gateway app on the phone and press the MENU button. The MENU button appearance may vary depending on the phone, but it not the same as the HOME button.</li><li>Select Libraryh3lp, Refchatter, or My Customer Cloud, depending on which system you're using.</li><li>Pick <b>Settings</b>.</li><li>Provide the name of the queue you will use for this gateway in the Admin site.</li><li>Click the <b>green checkmark</b> to have the app start automatically when the phone boots.</li><li>Click the phone's <b>back button</b> to return to the main LibraryH3lp SMS Gateway app screen.</li><li>Press the MENU button and select <b>Password</b>.</li><li>The password is unique to your phone and cannot be changed. Any 0's are zero's.</li><li>Go to the LibraryH3lp Admin site and navigate to your chosen queue. </li><li>Add a new Android SMS gateway and give it the password from the phone. You will not be able to change the username in the gateway. That is normal.</li><li>On your phone, return to the main LibraryH3lp SMS Gateway app screen and press <b>Start</b>.</li><li>When the app indicates it is <b>running</b>, you can send your first test SMS message to the phone.</li></ul><div>Please let us know of questions! Current users, let us know if you can't make the change in a week's time.</div></div></p>

We just pushed a new version of our Android SMS Gateway out to the Android Market. The gateway has been reworked to perform better under var...

ALL XMPP/Jabber clients now suitable: core routing system upgraded

<p>This morning we released an upgraded version of the routing system. This change means that now, there is a even more flexibility in client choice for staffing LibraryH3lp queues. In fact, you can use any XMPP (Jabber) client that will connect to LibraryH3lp, which should be all of them. <div><br /></div><div>If you've been waiting to upgrade Pidgin, try the new Adium beta, or use the Meebo.com website, it's fine to go ahead now.<div><div><div><br /></div><div>For the most part, this change is transparent and simply makes the routing system more robust. Previously, we relied on librarians' Jabber clients sending "gone" to terminate chats. This sometimes caused problems with patrons getting "stuck" talking to a librarian who wasn't there anymore, if that librarian had been using an unsupported client. This is no longer the case. You can <a href="http://libraryh3lp.com/docs/routing-and-gone.html">read all the technical details in our docs</a> if desired.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div><div>One change that staff need to be aware of involves <b>Away </b>and <b>Do Not Disturb (Busy)</b> statuses. These statuses can be very helpful in the case of a librarian who already has all the chats they can handle, or who is trying to wrap up their shift without taking on any new chats. Prior to today's change, both statuses behaved the same way, as described below for DND/Busy. Now:</div><div><ul><li><b>Do Not Disturb (Busy)</b> status allows a librarian to continue working with any active chats from queues. They will not receive new chats.<br /></li><li><b>Away</b> status re-routes active chats from queues to other librarians with Available status on the queue. </li></ul></div></div><div>Think of it this way: use Away if you are going away from your desk to go to lunch, take a break, etc... Use Do Not Disturb/Busy if you are busy with your current chats and don't want to receive any new ones.</div></div></div></div></div></p>

This morning we released an upgraded version of the routing system. This change means that now, there is a even more flexibility in client ...

Admin site tweaks; HTTPS widgets; and Meebo/Adium news

<p>Gosh, it's been a long time since our last blog post! This Fall, we were kept pretty busy with growing the system to keep pace with all-time-high levels of usage. We're happy that those efforts have been successful and things are currently stable and scale well. Several news items:<div><ul><li>Over the holidays, we pushed out an updated version of the Admin site. The main user-visible change is that now, you can resize the upper and lower panes in the Users, Queues, and Gateways panel. Previously, longer lists of gateways could be cut off on netbooks and lower-resolution wide screen displays. This should no longer be an issue. Long lists of users are also easier to manage, and the drag-and-drop functionality in Tree View is improved. Behind the scenes, the admin site underwent major code changes that make it easier to manage and update. Please let us know if you find bugs.</li><li>By popular request over on the <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/libraryh3lp">group</a>, secure widgets are working now, so anyone looking to integrate an embedded widget in a secure site (such as Illiad) should no longer be thwarted by mixed-content warnings in Internet Explorer.</li><strike><li>Now, the less-good news. As hopefully everyone <a href="http://libraryh3lp.blogspot.com/2009/09/pidgin-26x-houston-we-have-problem.html">knows</a>, recent versions of Pidgin no longer implement a part of the XMPP specification we need in order to properly end chats. We will eventually have a plugin to fix this problem in Pidgin. Additionally, the problem recently spread to Meebo, since it uses libpurple, the core part of Pidgin. Sadly, Meebo really is not a good choice for staffing LibraryH3lp queues at this time.</strike> In better news, we already have a handle on a solution that should allow Meebo and any Jabber client, even those that don't implement the needed chat state notification, to be suitable for monitoring queues. We'll update here when that is available. <strike>This problem will also spread to Adium when they publicly release version 1.4, so please do not upgrade to that version until we have our new solution in place.</strike> [edited 1/10/2010 because the upgraded routing is in place now, and <b>all</b> XMPP clients can now be used.] </li><li>[edited 1/1/2010 to clarify: Meebo Me gateways still work fine. The problem is with using the meebo.com website as the librarians' client for staffing the service.]</li></ul>We wish you all a very happy New Year!</div><div><br /></div></p>

Gosh, it's been a long time since our last blog post! This Fall, we were kept pretty busy with growing the system to keep pace with all...