March 2007 - KCLUG

FreeBSD Security Audting
by Scott Oertel 13 Mar '07

13 Mar '07

Does anyone here have experience using the built in Security Auditing feature provided with 6.x releases of FreeBSD? I'm working on configuring it just perfect so that it doesn't log too much nonsense, but I can still possibly see security breaches. Does anyone have any config examples they're using in production? -SO

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Preferred Linux Flavor for Web Server?
by RtX 12 Mar '07

12 Mar '07

OK, so now I'm gonna setup a web server on this Compaq Proliant 3000. I anticipate running Apache2, mysql, ssh, ftp, samba, and possibly Teamspeak on it. System specs are: Dual Pentium-II 400 Mhz 896MB Ram 28GB RAID 5 Storage (7 drives) What flavor of Linux would you run on it? Mainly I'm looking for someone with experience running Linux on this machine but opinions are welcome as well. -- RtX... Ty Unes - Overland Park, Ks. riverty(a)gmail.com

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Proliant 3000 Server
by RtX 12 Mar '07

12 Mar '07

I have a Compaq Proliant 3000 Server. It is a dual Pentium II 400 with 7 SCSI drives. I am trying to get this server setup with some flavor of Linux (I haven't decided which yet) but am having trouble setting up the disk array. Maybe I'm really off base but I'm going off of other setups where I would configure the RAID array before installing the OS. I have downloaded and created the Compaq SmartStart 5.5 CD and seems to boot and do what it's supposed to do. However, when I try to run the Array Configuration Utility, it bombs. I have tried to run this utility from the CD. It requests that I put the ACU disk into drive A, then states that it will reboot the system to boot off of this floppy. OK. Reboot and I get non-system disk everytime. I have created the disks (2 total) 3 or 4 times to no avail. These disks are simply not bootable. The option to run the ACU from the system partition is not an option. So I'm left with either I have a bunch of bad floppies, a broken system, or I just don't understand what I'm doing. I guess it's possible that one HAS to create the array after the installation of an OS. Could this be? Am I supposed to create the array AFTER OS installation? Am I missing a step? -- RtX... Ty Unes - Overland Park, Ks. riverty(a)gmail.com

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Re: Metis
by Jared 12 Mar '07

12 Mar '07

> The original rant remains standing: On a philosophical level, > virtual machine layers limit the geek. Some geeks like that. > This one prefers freedom. > > I think I'm the complete opposite. I love the fact that > VMWare/QEmu/etc.. are coming along and creating a virtual machine where > I don't have to worry about hardware compatibility anymore. I'd like to > eventually have preconfigured/pretuned virtual machines that are > specific to a job function become the norm. This makes server > migrations, turn-ups, turn-downs, etc.. far easier imho. But this is > coming from a SysAdmin, not a programmer, so that may be the difference. Hmmm. Hadn't thought of this angle. Compelling reason for a virtual layer. Good point. -Jared

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Sendmail Help request
by Jeffrey McCright 11 Mar '07

11 Mar '07

All, I have the following system configuration: Generic White box computer Intel Celeron 466mhz processor 256 MB RAM 20 GB PATA Hard Drive ZyXEK U-1496e External Data/Fax/Voice Modem Realtek 10/100 nic Red Hat Linux 9 Sendmail v 8.12 Before I go further, I have NO desire to update or upgrade any hardware, software, or OS in this system! All devices are working properly. I am using vocp to auto answer my voice modem, take messages, encode those messages into OGG formatted attachments and attempting to use sendmail to send my messages to my hotmail or gmail accounts. Everything works great until I try to send my messages to an external mailserver. In other words, my messages can be accessed from my local mail account whe I send them to say root(a)localhost.localdomain, but when I try to mail to jmccright(a)hotmail.com, my messages bounce. I know absolutely nothing about sendmail and I am using a default configuration of Sendmail. What am I missing? Is there some change I need to make to my /etc/mail/sendmail.cf file to allow me to send to external mailservers? Thanks in advance for any help you can provide, Jeffrey A. McCright, A+ jmccright(a)hotmail.com jeff.mccright(a)gmail.com _________________________________________________________________ Mortgage rates as low as 4.625% - Refinance $150,000 loan for $579 a month. Intro*Terms https://www2.nextag.com/goto.jsp?product=100000035&url=%2fst.jsp&tm=y&searc…

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Rackmount drawer
by cragos＠gmail.com 10 Mar '07

10 Mar '07

Does anyone have an old rackmountable drawer you could part with? At my last job I had an old more-yellow-than-beige shelf with XT keyboard that would have been perfect for a project I have coming up. It's a personal project, and I'm a poor person, so I can't part with much more than $20. Many thanks, Sean Crago/MrZaius

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Re: Speeding up a machine
by cragos＠gmail.com 10 Mar '07

10 Mar '07

>In the sense that my Chevy and an armored personnel carrier both serve >the purpose of transporting people. Comparing CMD.EXE and Konsole isn't anything like comparing a Chevy and an APC. It's more like comparing a tiny Hyundai's engine and Hummer chassis. It really doesn't make sense. CMD.exe/Command.com are shells, like, but greatly inferior to, bash/ksh/etc. It's possible to write a Konsole like tabbed application that would allow you to manage multiple instances of CMD in one window, or, if you're anything like me, cygwin's bash. >There is so much stuff I can do at a Bourne or Korn prompt > (much less bash) that in Windows would require a VB script > or a compiled binary to do the same thing. Speaking of cygwin, there's no reason you can't port those scripts over, nearly verbatim, to Windows. perl, bash, korn, python, et al are available in Windows as well, and they work great. -Sean Crago/MrZaius

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Re: Metis
by Jared 10 Mar '07

10 Mar '07

>> The whole virtual machine concept implies that you are not >> to be trusted as a developer. You are expected to trust >> the language vendor more than your own programming skills. > This isn't the concept of the virtual machine. After all, > it's really just a extremely CISC CPU intended to be > emulated. It's not part of the language. I understand this. I still resist the notion of any limitation between a programming language and the machine, because it is a dangerous trend to limit the developer from full, assembler-level access to all hardware. Otherwise you incrementally stunt his abilities, and that is sad. I am thinking about development fifty+ years in the future, when these issues are more mature, and from that perspective, the Java approach is incrementally more and more limiting to the developer. >> Java has cross-platform merits, but clearly, it was designed by the >> marketing department, not by the geek squad. > Java has cross-platform merits not because of the virtual machine, > but because of its extensive standard library giving abstractions > for most of what people need to do. C and C++ can be generally > cross-platform, provided you only use the standard library, but > their stdlibs don't cover as much ground. Qt, on the other hand, > builds on C++ and replaces its standard library with one that is > more flexible and has a broader range of support, including the > QtGui module which provides for graphical interfaces. Java does have cross-platform merits because of the virtual machine. Your observations on libraries are keen, but are not the only reason that Java has cross-platform merits. We're both right: I quote from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-platform. As previously noted, the Java platform is an exception to the general rule that an operating system is a software platform. The Java language provides a virtual machine, or a "virtual CPU" which runs all of the code that is written for the language. This enables the same executable binary to run on all systems which support the Java software, through the Java Virtual Machine. Java executables do not run directly on the operating system; that is, neither Windows nor Linux execute Java programs directly. Instead, a special computer program called the JVM, or Java Virtual Machine, is run by the operating system, which in turn runs the Java program. Again, I'm fine with Java as a language, if only the virtual layer could be removed. >> If you can't crash a server, and crash it big with buggy >> inline assembler, how are you ever going to learn grace >> under pressure, which is a necessary component of any >> responsible world domination plan? ;) > You can't, or at least shouldn't be able to, crash a server > with mere userland code. In most cases, you can't provided > the server has been setup properly (eg, limiting forks to > prevent forkbombs). The logic behind "limiting forks" is a good idea for beginners. But it is incrementalism in the wrong direction, not toward freedom, and it removes useful tinkering ground from mature developers. Do not think that all geeks will always have the freedoms they take for granted today. Classlines are already being drawn. Be wise. Stake a claim in the ruling class because you understand the underlying issues. Not far in the future, kernels will be considered "finished" and stable, because hierarchical power structures will have consolidated around them, and will prevent innovation, which is a pattern easily measured by studying the social dynamics of any large religion: Initial Freedom followed by incremental imprisonment of its own followers, until they are killing each other over absolutely trivial issues. We must recognize we are building the foundations of a future which will not always be as free as it is now -- unless we look at these deeper issues and their long term consequences. I prefer the geek to have full ability to crash the box -- and the wisdom and ethics not to do so; not a firewall of technology preventing him, but a firewall of ethics. It's like the logic behind the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution. You seem to prefer removing power from the geek by limiting him, rather than relying upon the reputation economy to inspire geeks to do better, which is more perilous, but better in the end. The original rant remains standing: On a philosophical level, virtual machine layers limit the geek. Some geeks like that. This one prefers freedom. -Jared

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FC4 and tzdata
by Jon Moss 09 Mar '07

09 Mar '07

Since I've been up to my eyeballs in Microsoft DST issues at work, I thought I'd take a breather and make sure that my Linux servers were okay with the upcoming change. I was pleased to note that my oldest server (running FC2) was fine. My newer server, running FC4, had a problem. After reviewing many different blogs and postings, I thought I had it figured out but now I've completely messed up the Central Time Zone files in /usr/share/zoneinfo/America such that I no longer have data for the Central Time Zone. :) I've set the server to use America/New_York (copied it over /etc/localtime) so I'm at least running in the Easter Time Zone. I would like to re-install or re-update the tzdata RPM package, but it won't let me because it's already installed (and I can't uninstall it because glibc depends on it). How can I force it to re-install? Also, since the Fedoral Legacy Project has shutdown my yum no longer functions or doesn't have a repository it can access. Any ideas on how I can get connected to one of the mirrors? Thanks a bunch, Jon Moss ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for earth-friendly autos? Browse Top Cars by "Green Rating" at Yahoo! Autos' Green Center. http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/

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Fwd: [KULUA] Perl development opportunity
by djgoku＠gmail.com 09 Mar '07

09 Mar '07

Begin forwarded message: > From: "John Heryer" <jheryer(a)gmail.com> > Date: March 8, 2007 12:02:54 PM CST > To: kulua-l(a)googlegroups.com > Subject: [KULUA] Perl development opportunity > Reply-To: kulua-l(a)googlegroups.com > > We have a perl developer opportunity available, details can be found: > http://www.amuniversal.com/amu/Perl_Developer.htm

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