March 2006 - Posts

Secret Server 1.1 makes the Daily Grind
Tuesday, March 28, 2006 1:03 PM

Mike Gunderloy, one of our early adopters, has added our Secret Server 1.1 release to the Daily Grind today!  This is a huge compliment from a guru in tools, development and the developer community.  Thanks Mike!

If you don't know about the Daily Grind, read all about it here.

 

Jonathan Cogley is the CEO and founder of thycotic, a .NET consulting company and ISV in Washington DC.  thycotic has just released Thycotic Secret Server which is a secure web-based solution to both "Where is my Hotmail password?" and "Who has the password for our domain name?".  Secret Server is the leader in secret management and sharing within companies and teams.

Feeling your users pain (and release notes for Secret Server 1.1)
Monday, March 27, 2006 11:44 AM

It is a wonderful feeling to ship software - it has been a long hard slog to get this round of features complete.  Especially while juggling our developers across various projects and client work.  This is also a welcome release as we get to use all the new features in our own company Secret Server instance. 

It is also a relief to finally get rid of those few really annoying bugs that I deal with everyday.  The process of dogfooding your own application really makes you feel the users pain - there was a funny (although silly) movie at PDC last year of Microsoft installing pain delivery mechanisms for their developers - then every time a user got an error - the user would feel the "pain").  Even though the movie was silly, it did get the point across.  Often it is difficult to feel that pain since the application is in a business domain that just isn't relevant to you (I remember building a very specific and technical sewer management system for an English county years ago and I didn't even live in that county nor install sewers!).

How do organizations deal with dogfooding when the business domain is not relevant to the developers?  A strict quality assurance process that allows testers to inflict the "pain" on the developers?

Enough rambling, here is the laundry list of all the things taking up our time over the last few months ...

(If you don't have Secret Server yet, get it here)

Release Notes for 1.1

* Support Microsoft Access as a file-based database option
* Add import capability for CSV files (wizard)
* Email notification of secret changes
* Add support for Windows Authentication when using Microsoft SQL Server
* Streamline the secret sharing process to reduce the number of clicks
* Copy to Clipboard must be supported in FireFox (develop new FireFox plugin)
* Add Installation notes to installer
* Implement masking password fields on secret add and secret edit based on user preference
* Generate password feature
* Change Installer to be more of a wizard than a checklist
* Current user should not get notification of secret update
* Ensure that all Secret Server binaries are obfuscated for improved application security
* Installer always reports access denied on write access screen
* Installer: Allow the user to add a first user if there are no users and no secrets in the system.
* Session timeout causes error during upgrade
* SmtpMessageTransport needs to be added.
* GetSecretViewUrl needs a proper url location
* Add Email Address to user maintenance screens
* Add a new column to the SecretAudit screen to show notes
* Add two new options to Tools screen
* Mailto links should also send the SS version
* Add current secret name to secret screens - sharing, history, etc
* Configuration should be added to the toolbar
* Add password strength to ChangePassword screen
* User Edit should not allow you to make edit that would cause system to become dead
* Solve SecretView error on .NET Framework 2.0
* Usernames must be unique

Secret Server 1.1 is out ... go and get it!
Monday, March 27, 2006 2:31 AM

I haven't blogged in a few weeks but I have a few good reasons.  Client projects with tight deadlines, the final push for our second big release of Thycotic Secret Server and also holding back on the irresistable urge to talk about features that aren't released yet (not much of a marketing person, huh?).  We have listened to feedback and added several features as requested by users.  One of the biggest new features - new support for Microsoft Access - which means that you DO NOT have to use Microsoft SQL Server to use Thycotic Secret Server anymore!  We also have a new built-in import tool that accepts CSV format so you can easily import your AnyPassword or Keepass secrets to try it out with no risk.

Watch this space for more snippets of new features, some details on the future roadmap and much more Secret Server yumminess.

POP QUIZ:

Where does your development team keep its passwords?

  • Password-protected Microsoft Excel file
  • A magical piece of paper on someone's desk
  • Post it notes
  • On the whiteboard
  • What passwords?

What are you waiting for????  GO GET IT!
**  http://thesecretserver.com  **  Secret Server 1.1

 

Jonathan Cogley is the CEO and founder of thycotic, a .NET consulting company and ISV in Washington DC.  thycotic has just released Thycotic Secret Server which is a secure web-based solution to both "Where is my Hotmail password?" and "Who has the password for our domain name?".  Secret Server is the leader in secret management and sharing within companies and teams.

Last minute presentation: Pair Programming in Fairfax with the Potomac Area FoxPro Users Group
Wednesday, March 01, 2006 12:53 PM

Unfortunately the speaker for March is unable to make it so I have been asked if I would present this month instead of later this year.  I will be presented on Pair Programming at the Potomax Area FoxPro Users Group on Thursday 2nd March 2006 in Fairfax, VA (I have presented this topic in the past).  Directions here.

Pair Programming is something we practice on a daily basis and have done so for a few years now.  We have tried lots of different layouts and techniques to maximize productivity and developer satisfaction.  If you are looking to start pair programming or are experimenting with different approaches then this session is for you!

The last presentation on Pair Programming gave some interesting results from the exercises for the audience - I want to see what results we get from this presentation and summarize all the results and publish them here.

Stop by to join in the discussion, eat pizza and get a chance to win a free Secret Server license.

 

Jonathan Cogley is the CEO and founder of thycotic, a .NET consulting company and ISV in Washington DC.  thycotic has just released Thycotic Secret Server which is a secure web-based solution to both "Where is my Hotmail password?" and "Who has the password for our domain name?".  Secret Server is the leader in secret management and sharing within companies and teams.

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