So, I was trying to run Webrick server for my Rails project on my work PC, and I got this error:

=> Booting Mongrel (use ‘script/server webrick’ to force WEBrick)
=> Rails 2.1.1 application starting on http://0.0.0.0:3000
=> Call with -d to detach
=> Ctrl-C to shutdown server
** Starting Mongrel listening at 0.0.0.0:3000
Exiting
c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/lib/mongrel/tcphack.rb:
12:in `initialize_without_backlog’: Only one usage of each socket address (protocol/network address/port) is normally permitted. – bind(2) (Errno::EADDRINUSE)
from c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/lib/mongrel/tcphack.rb:12:in initialize’
from c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/lib/mongrel.rb:93:in `new’ from c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/lib/mongrel.rb:93:in `initialize’
from c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/lib/mongrel/configurator.rb:139:in new’
from c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/lib/mongrel/configurator.rb:139:in `listener’
from c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/bin/mongrel_rails:99:in `cloaker_’
from c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/lib/mongrel/configurator.rb:50:in `call’
from c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/lib/mongrel/configurator.rb:50:in `initialize’
… 14 levels…
from C:/Dev/Rails/ringleys/vendor/rails/railties/lib/commands/server.rb:
39
from c:/ruby/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:27:in `gem_original_require’
from c:/ruby/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:27:in `require’
from script/server:3

I’ve never seen this error before, and looking at the error message and the stack trace, it just didn’t make any sense. Moreover, if I run this same project on my Mac, it works fine. No what ? Off to Goggle then …
Which sent me the this article on the RoR Wiki.

Reading from that article, and I quote:

Today I realized the culprit is Microsoft Firewall Client (an ISA firewall client which is installed on Windows machines on certain corporate networks). Try disabling the firewall client, via right-clicking the taskbar icon, then restarting Webrick. Disabling the firewall client seems to release the port, allowing Webrick to start normally.

had made me realise about something that had been the bane of me with this work PC, it’s the frecking Juniper’s Netscreen Remote !  It’s this piece of VPN Tunneling software that allows me to connect to our company network when I’m working from home.  Well, I didn’t think that I could disable this, cause I needed it.  So I did the second best solution.

I ran the Webrick server on other port other than 3000 !

Something in the line of :

ruby script/server -p 3001

et voila! It worked.

Hope this helps !

I’ve been doing a lot of LINQ works at the moment, and naturally database schema changes quite regularly.  Table fields added, deleted or changed, etc. So far the only way I know to refresh my dbml file is by deleting the table from the designer and drag a new one back from the server explorer.  Obviously after a few of this excercise, I got really annoyed, and started thinking to myself “I can’t believe that Microsoft didn’t think about how to make this operation easier”.  But looking around for this ‘Refresh’ button on Visual Studio was proven to be a waste of time, it just simply doesn’t exist !

Still with curiosity and determination to find a better way, I scoured the Internet to look for a definitive answer, just in case I missed something.

To short answer to the above question is a resounding NO. Cor Blimey !

There is an alternative though, but only if you want to pay for it :)  On some of the forums where this question was asked, there always this guy who keep promoting his add-in for Visual Studio 2008 which apparently does exactly what we need.

I still can’t believe that Microsoft would missed such an important thing.  Oh .. well … it is Microsoft after all.