| A little foreword |
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How it all started….It all started with my new phone – Cingular 8125, I got all excited – wow, I can read emails, browse the internet, and manage servers from mobile device… Yeah, right. Internet, well, yes; emails – corporate emails ok, hotmail not so ok.
And to manage servers (particularly SQL Servers) - wew...not an easy task.
The part that worried me was – how would I support corporate environment if am I away (working for a very small company has many benefits,
and having a big IT department is not one of them. So, every time I look in the mirror, I see our complete IT department). And “The Search For Perfect Mobile Management Tool" started! …And shortly ended.
Apart from connecting via VPN and using Terminal Services, I found only two mobile management tools “out there” to enable me supporting servers (and especially SQL Servers) when I am away – Id*ra (795$ per instance for SQL Mobile – ouch! ouch!) and Idok*orro (245$ per server – not bad).
They all require connecting via VPN to corporate LAN. Didn’t like that idea…
Thus, I thought, shall I create one of my own? Why not! And after a shot of B12 given me at
Clarity MediSpa to boost my immune system, I began!
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Part I - Planning |
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And with this “The Mobile Management Tool Development” began.
I had the following application in mind (in the order of priorities):
- Quick to develop.
- Without using VPN (means host “something” on the public IP – scary).
- Allows to manage SQL Server(s) from mobile device.
- Allows to run SQL queries from mobile device.
- Fast (well, kind of fast) and responsive (as much as device allows).
- Small.
- Stable. If it crumbles – should save some information to event log on the server/text file on the client.
- Allows me to connect to different servers.
Luckily, Microsoft came to the rescue with its Visual Studio and ability to develop for PocketPC devices.
My plan was – build classic “client-server” application using web services hosted on IIS/.NET and make
it secure with SSL and Windows authentication.
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Part II - Simple Prototype for mobile management tool |
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First, I had to develop some kind of “prototype” to see how “feasible” the development will be (according to #1 of my plan).
Being more familiar with Visual Basic, I developed quick web service that outputs server time:
Public Function ServerTime(ByRef ServerTimeValue As String, _
ByRef ErrorInfo As String) As Boolean
Try
Dim ToDebugSetting As String = System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings.Get("DebugMode")
Dim ToDebug As Boolean = (ToDebugSetting <> "")
ErrorInfo = ""
ServerTimeValue = System.DateTime.Now.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy") & " " & System.DateTime.Now.ToString("HH:mm:ss")
If ToDebug Then
oCon.UpdateIncomingStatus("Server Time [" & ServerTimeValue & "]", EventLogEntryType.Information)
End If
Return True
Catch ex As Exception
ServerTime = ""
ErrorInfo = ex.Message
Return False
End Try
End Function
And on the client side (i.e. mobile device):
Friend Function RunServerTest(ByRef ServerTime As String, ByRef ErrorInfo As String) As Boolean
Try
ErrorInfo = ""
If objSQLWebServiceManager.ServerTime(ServerTime, _
ErrorInfo) Then
If ErrorInfo <> "" Or ServerTime = "" Then Return False
Return True
Else
Return False
End If
Catch ex As Exception
ErrorInfo = ex.Message
'MessageBox.Show(ex.ToString, "RunServerTest")
If m_LogErrorToFile Then LogError("RunServerTest():" & ex.ToString)
Return False
End Try
End Function
* where objSQLWebServiceManager is an instance of web service:
objSQLWebServiceManager = New siccolo.Siccolo()
Built, put it on the device, boom, worked.
So, as we can see Web Services is quickly finding its way into major system integration development efforts.
In back office and legacy systems alike,
Web Servicess has become a main focus in providing mechanisms to make data move more freely between and across long-closed boundaries.
An entire industry has joined forces and pushes forward in overcoming both technical hurdles such as security and market specific hurdles such as the need of standardized message formats.
While these efforts continue, an entirely different market is rapidly maturing: the mobile devices, software and services market.
Very interesting solution options arise in the cross section, where Web Services meets mobility.
The Microsoft® Windows® .NET Compact Framework opens up the world of Web Services to Pocket PCs, and the wireless nature of Pocket PCs opens up the world of mobility to Web Services.
This means that new fuel is added to the expansion of the XML-based Web Services provider market.
In this article, we will see a Siccolo Pocket PC project that combines Web Services into powerful SQL Server Mobile Management Tool!
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Part III - Securing Mobile To Server Communication |
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Then, came the question – how can I secure the “communication”?
There're two:
- SSL - provides message integrity and security - set web to require secure channel and 128 bit encryption
- and Web server (IIS) provides Basic and Integrated authentication (plus Digest and Certificate)
(...you can also encrypt in-and-out messages between server and client using .NET System.Security.Cryptography)
And again Microsoft to the rescue – using “Integrated Windows Authentication” (if you have .NET CF 2.0) or “Basic Authentication” (if you have .NET CF 1.0).
It was very simple to integrate authentication into the mobile client :
Dim objNetworkCredential As System.Net.NetworkCredential = _
New System.Net.NetworkCredential(NetworkUserName, _
NetworkUserPwd, _
NetworkDomain)
objSQLWebServiceManager = New siccolo.Siccolo()
objSQLWebServiceManager.Credentials = objNetworkCredential
objSQLWebServiceManager.PreAuthenticate = True
after credentials are set, make the call away. Easy.
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 Continue to (II)
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Questions? Suggestions? Concerns? - email me to siccolo_mobile_management@yahoo.com
Greg Dubinovsky © 2006-2007