February 2007 - Roundtable

127.0.0.1 -> a web page
by Montana Quiring 27 Feb '07

27 Feb '07

I am playing around with the idea of putting a hosts file on the the computers I look after that points a lot of sites to 127.0.0.1 (i.e. http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm ) I've been testing it on my computer and it seems to work well, except it would be nice if it would display a custom page (stored locally), instead of the default "Unable to connect"(FF), or "The page cannot be displayed" (IE). I know there are som shell script type web servers for linux but this would need to be a Windows app. I don't want to potentially create more insecurity (from installing a full web server). Any suggestions? -Montana

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Another new firmware for WRT54G
by John Lange 26 Feb '07

26 Feb '07

I have not tried this myself. If anyone does please provide feedback. http://www.polarcloud.com/tomato John

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March Linux Journal features Asterisk
by Bill Reid 21 Feb '07

21 Feb '07

The March Linux Journal has a few articles on Asterisk including one by Sean Wallberg on VoIP and NAT. Congrats Sean on getting your article published. -- Bill

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Shaw Internet stops working for an hour or so
by Bill Reid 21 Feb '07

21 Feb '07

I am seeing a problem with Shaw Business Internet that has me puzzled. I have a Linux server connected to the Shaw DOCSIS cable modem. It has been running without problems until Shaw did some "network upgrades" on Jan 11. Since then the Internet goes away for 1-2 hours every day or so. Initially I thought it was Shaw's problem and they sent techs out twice. They adjusted the signal levels but the problem still persisted. Power cycling the modem does not get the interface working. Doing a network restart on Linux does get it going again. The box has two interfaces and the problem only occurs with the Internet interface. I have swapped the interface without any change. The network interfaces also use different drivers. When the interface is down Shaw can still connect to the modem. It would appear that the stopping and starting of the interface is a Linux issue. I remember a discussion on the list a while ago about a similar problem with the thought that it was related to Shaw's DHCP server. I am using a static IP so maybe the problem is something else. The symptoms would suggest that some network activity is causing the Ethernet to shut down. How it gets going again is not clear. There are no messages in syslog when the interface stops or starts. My next thing to try is to use something like a Linksys router. -- Bill

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The mass storage menagerie
by Montana Quiring 19 Feb '07

19 Feb '07

>From the recent discussion about flash storage some may find this informative: http://www.cieonline.co.uk/cie2/articlen.asp?pid=1486&id=15807 -Montana

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Re: [RndTbl] help! data recovery
by Dan Martin 18 Feb '07

18 Feb '07

Thanks so much Colin! Exactly what I needed - PhotoRec is gleaning files off the memory card right now ... There have been times in the past when I could have used TestDisk to fix my corrupted Partition Tables. Downloaded it as well. Colin Stanners wrote: >http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec GPL. > > > > -- -Dan Dr. Dan Martin, MD, CCFP, BSc, BCSc (Hon) GP Hospital Practitioner Computer Science grad student ummar143(a)cc.umanitoba.ca (204) 831-1746 answering machine always on

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Fluendo -- link
by Scott Balneaves 18 Feb '07

18 Feb '07

Hello all! For people who were interested at the Toodlesday meeting: http://www.fluendo.com/press/releases/PR-2007-01.html The link to the web store's in there. By the way, what was the name of the bootable distro that did the hard drive wipe? Cheers! Scott -- Scott L. Balneaves | "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die Systems Department | even the undertaker will be sorry." Legal Aid Manitoba | -- Mark Twain, "Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar"

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[Fwd: ISC Bulletin #1]
by John Lange 16 Feb '07

16 Feb '07

Some on this list may find the following information interesting. Note that the root name servers are protected by "anycast" and they are crediting that with resisting the attack. John -------- Forwarded Message -------- > From: Sue Graves <Sue_Graves(a)isc.org> > To: bind-announce(a)isc.org > Subject: ISC Bulletin #1 > Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2007 19:49:41 -0800 > > This communication is intended for anyone interested in more information > on the DDoS attack of last week. > > As you are probably aware, there was an attack on several of the root > nameservers early Tuesday morning of last week. ISC operates > f.root.servers.net (F-root), one of the 13 root nameservers that was > targeted. The attack was a 'distributed denial of service' (DDoS) > attack, in which attackers tried to disable root DNS service by > overwhelming the network paths to the root servers with malicious > packets meant to pass as legitimate DNS traffic. Overall, root name > service as provided by F-root was not compromised. The distributed > F-root architecture includes a mix of global and local anycast nodes. > The global nodes and the local Asian nodes showed some degradation > during the first two hours, but others were unaffected. David Knight, of > ISC's Operations group, made a brief presentation at the North American > Network Operators' Group (NANOG) conference the next morning. The > slides, which include some technical detail on the attack, can be found > at: http://www.nanog.org/mtg-0702/presentations/knight.pdf > > ISC began using anycast in a single location in 1998. Wider deployment > began in Madrid in 2002. We're pleased to report that anycast worked > just as expected. Anycast deployment helped counter this attack by > fragmenting it into smaller pieces that were easier to deal with, as > well as isolating the effects into the area of greatest concentration of > sources of the attack. This left other regions far from the sources with > a completely unaltered service. Overall, the increase in aggregated > network bandwidth, CPU power and service capacity helped make this > attack non-disruptive for the Internet at large. > > As a customer of ISC, you are well aware of our software development > skills, however, you may not be aware of our additional expertise in DNS > operations. The F-root nameservers answer over 15,000 queries per second > globally. F is deployed at 40 sites in 32 different countries. Anycast > makes sense for us, it might make sense for you. You can learn more > about F-root at: http://www.isc.org/ops/f-root/. Specifics about > anycast can be found at: http://www.isc.org/pubs/tn/?tn=isc-tn-2003-1.html. > > You may not be aware that we offer secondary hosting on a best-effort > basis at no charge to many xxTLD's, ISC customers and non-profits. If > you're interested in learning more about whether anycast would be of > benefit in your network, or in our secondary hosting, please contact us > at info(a)isc.org. > > If you'd like to learn more about DNS issues on a global > scale, you should consider OARC (http://public.oarci.net/) ISC's OARC > (Operational Analysis and Research Center) played a key supportive role > during the attack. OARC facilitated a coordinated response via secure > real-time communications between root and top-level domain server > operators and other OARC members. > > Post-attack, OARC is using its infrastructure and working with members > to gain understanding of the attack's source and impact. This includes > uploading data using OARC's DSC and PCAP tools from affected server > operators to our NSF-funded 4TB data repository. From there it is > available for analysis by members and the research community, to gain > further understanding of the causes and how to prevent future such attacks. > > OARC membership and resources are open to all large-scale DNS operators, > implementers, active researchers and law enforcement agencies. OARC also > provides a number of tools and mailing lists open to DNS operators of > all types. Please contact OARC Programme Manager Keith Mitchell > <admin(a)oarc.isc.org> for more information.

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FON Wifi
by Bill Reid 07 Feb '07

07 Feb '07

I just found out about this at the Asterisk Users meeting. FON, the world's largest WIFI community, is celebrating their first birthday. They are giving away 10,000 free routers. http://www.fon.com/1yearold/ The routers allow you to share your Internet connection in a secure controlled way. You do need a userid/password to access the router. By sharing your Internet you have access to the 1,000s of routers arouind the world I ordered my yesterday. Not sure if the supply has run out. -- Bill

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Fwd: UG News--February is Web Design and Development Month at O'Reilly
by Shawn Wallbridge 07 Feb '07

07 Feb '07

> From: "Marsee Henon" <marsee(a)oreilly.com> > Date: February 7, 2007 11:56:09 AM PST (CA) > To: shawnw(a)muug.mb.ca > Subject: UG News--February is Web Design and Development Month at > O'Reilly > > Hi, > > Can you share the following with your members if you think they > might be interested? > > It's Web Design and Development Month here at O'Reilly and we just put > together a special resource page dedicated to web development > essentials > including books, PDF Short Cuts, articles, and author events: > http://www.oreilly.com/go/webdev > > > Don't forget your members can receive 35% off any of these titles when > they use discount code DSUG on our site. There's also free ground > shipping in the US on orders over $29.95. > > Happy FebWeb, > > Marsee > > ================================================================ > O'Reilly > 1005 Gravenstein Highway North > Sebastopol, CA 95472 > http://ug.oreilly.com/ http://ug.oreilly.com/creativemedia/ > ================================================================

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