Agile Animal Inc.

SOAP is bloated and I hate dealing with it. I still have to do it. When dealing with consuming SOAP services from OS X I like to have a couple of items in my bag of tricks to get up and running: a SOAP Client and a way to do base64 decoding. This way I am able to test the service without writing any code. Too often I beat my head against my keyboard over a piece of code only to realize the service itself is the problem.

Here is the SOAP Client that I use: SOAP Client (what an original name!). It really does the trick, though. Point it at the SOAP service WSDL and you are off to the races. It allows you to pass in arguments and call different services. It does it all and returns the XML requested.

Once you have the XML often you will then need to decode a base64 encoded string. Base64 decoding is a bit trickier. Most of the time you can use openssl to decode on a Unix based platform but for some reason it doesn't seem to work for me. I have had to resort to the following perl script:

  #!/bin/sh
  # decode a Base64 encoded file, as a side effect of
  # openssl base64 handling (but without encryption)
  /usr/bin/perl -MMIME::Base64 -e 'print decode_base64(join("", <>))' < "$1" > "$2"

The script takes two arguments: and input file and an output file. I am not a "perl" kinda guy so the script is mostly stolen and probably can be hugely improved.

If your data is a base64 encoded string of gzipped data the next step is to toss the old ".gz" extension on the file and extract the contents using the OS or using gunzip.

Basic stuff really, but it is a pain to track down so I thought I would toss it all in one place.

The going rate for an Active-Sync enabled Microsoft Exchange account seems to be about $15/month. Some plans are a little more, others are a little less. If you need a couple of accounts it adds up really quick. And these days every dollar counts.

For about $34/month you can set up your own email server ($12/month for the software license, $22/month for the hosting). And for that price you get 10 email accounts that support:

• ActiveSync (Push email for devices like an iPhone or iPod Touch).
• Secure SMTP and IMAP. (BYO SSL Cert - I have a wildcard I use from RapidSSL, you can generate a self signed cert if you don’t.)
• Calendaring
• Open Source AntiSPAM and AntiVirus
• more details…

First you need to buy a license for Axigen Mobile Office. It is a yearly license and comes with ActiveSync - 99 Euros.

Then grab yourself a CloudServer from Mosso. I opted for a 512MB but you might be able to get away with a 256MB.

Once you have your CloudServer up and running and have download the latest Axigen installer you need to know a couple of things to help you on your way:

• You can’t use the installer. Dump out the package and install it by hand. You will need to add the 32-bit support modules for Ubuntu (if that is your distro of choice).
• You NEED a license code for push to work. Everything else works in trial mode.
• The license code will not show up till Monday if you order it on the weekend, so plan ahead.
• Mosso is still working on the interface for their DNS system. It should see improvements soon but for the time being you might want to transfer your domain to Hover and use theirs.

I have been using this for about a month now and I couldn’t be happier. The push email works exceptionally well and IMAP idle on the desktop is just as quick.

If you need step-by-step instructions - I do intend to post them soon - this might not be the thing for you.

But, if you need 3-10 ActiveSync accounts, you should think about this.

It is a great way to save some money and get a great solution in the process.

Shaw Cable has started offering DOCSIS 3.0 services to its customers in Saskatoon. (If you read my personal blog you already know this.)

The interesting part (besides the obvious "why Saskatoon" question) is that you practically need to claim to live there to get any sort of details on the service.

So here are the details for you curious folk:

•  100Mbps download
•  5Mbps upload
•  $249.95/month (ouch!)
•  400GB transfer cap

To be completely honest the price does seem a little high. The $199.95 price point would likely have served them better. Once you add phone service and tax you are looking at a $300 bill without cable.

This also makes the "Server Connect Package" a complete joke coming in at $299.95. It was overpriced regardless.

And just to be complete, last month Telus also upped their service speed to 15Mbps by introducing a High Speed Turbo plan for $50.95. Which at first glance looks to be the same as Shaw’s Extreme-I service. Just to be clear though, it is not: for Telus 15Mbps is as fast as possible and the Shaw service sustains 15Mbps with burst at rates up to 25Mbps.