March 2010 - Roundtable

My MySQL battle
by Raymond J. Henry 16 Mar '10

16 Mar '10

OK, I've come to the conclusion that I'm doing something wrong, but can't for the life of me figure out what it is. Going over and over and over documentation, I must be interpreting something wrong, because I think I'm doing what it says. I'm setting up a new box with CentOS. Installed MySQL, and it's running. Now I get to setting the password. Here's the issue. I start with: mysqladmin -u root password SQLROOTPASSWD. No problem Then I try: mysqladmin -h myserver.mydomain.com -u root password SQLROOTPASSWD. This is where things go South. I get the response mysqladmin: connect to server at '(my server)' failed "Access denied for user 'root'@'192.168.1.160' (using password: NO)' I'm at a loss. Hours of fighting with this, and I'm nowhere... Help?

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RAID controller opinions?
by Raymond J. Henry 16 Mar '10

16 Mar '10

Anyone have experience with the 3Ware 9650SE? Good? Bad? Indifferent? Thanks.. - Ray

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NAS box
by Montana Quiring 15 Mar '10

15 Mar '10

Hello, Looking for a recommendation of a NAS box that I can install my own Linux distro on. (i.e. not a proprietary firmware based NAS). I'll probably install either CentOS or UbuntuServer on it. I would like it to have two or three hot swap bays. It doesn't have to be an all-in-one solution, even just a decent case/MoBo combo you have used would be fine. Does that make sense? -Montana Blog and Aggregation Site: http://montanaquiring.info iPhone/Touch Apps I have bought: http://appshopper.com/feed/user/antikx/myapps

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SheevaPlug
by Brock Wolfe 15 Mar '10

15 Mar '10

Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend this meeting. Were there any web links or on-line presentations made available? March 9, 2010: Marvell SheevaPlug This month, Kevin McGregor presented a "show and tell" of the Marvell SheevaPlug, a Linux-based computer which fits in a power adapter. With a 1.2 GHz ARM CPU, RAM, flash memory, gigabit Ethernet, USB and more, all at under 7 watts, this small device has enormous possibilities! Kevin talked about his particular experience with the SheevaPlug and his planned use for it. Thanks Brock

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Re: [RndTbl] firewall/router in a VM
by Adam Thompson 15 Mar '10

15 Mar '10

<soapbox> That's because we don't, collectively, think about hardware. And we don't think about hardware being buggy. And we especially don't think about "hardware" having inherent security flaws. (OK, yes, the security folks who crossed over *into* IT do. They aren't auditors, for better or worse.) A Cisco router is "software" enough (and has had enough bugs :-) that it crosses into our conscious awareness regarding security, but their switches? Nah. Mature product, all hardware (despite running an OS), no bugs. Either works or it doesn't. Bullshit. Show me a hardware-accelerated device and I can show you half a dozen ways it could fail unnoticed, (potentially) compromising security as it goes. Notice that we install local firewalls on every PC but don't use ECC memory to guard against random bit errors. (I do, BTW - even on my PC. It's one small part of why I don't have a laptop.) A HERF gun is a better DoS tool than any virus or worm, by several objective measurements. The entire IT industry has its head stuck up... you know where, in so many different ways. Yet, this isn't surprising. Humans want instant gratification, a free ride, and the illusion of control. Those things are all way easier with software than with hardware. (Contemplate the difference between "soft" and "hard", if you will, for a moment.) Do I expect this to change any time before the heat death of the universe? No. But I sure wish auditors took a wider view of the world. "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." - Hanlon's Razor (among other attributions) </soapbox> -Adam

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RAID controller trouble
by Robert Dyck 15 Mar '10

15 Mar '10

I have a client having trouble with her RAID controller. She reports that she keeps getting an error on boot that her raid set is out of synchronization. It takes close to an hour just to boot when this happens. When I've looked at it the problem did not occur, but this can happen with intermittent problems. I ran hard drive diagnostics, CPU, motherboard, RAM, and everything works fine. I have a hard drive controller diagnostic from Seagate, but it isn't designed for RAID. Her motherboard is an Asus K8V, I think it's K8V-MX, she has 2 SATA hard drives mirrored, and she runs Windows XP. I have mentioned that she may have to replace her motherboard, but I don't want to tell her she has to do this unless I can confirm it is necessary. If she replaced the motherboard and the problem continues, I would hear about it! Thanks, Rob Dyck

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Fwd: SSV '10 Call for Papers Now Available
by Gilbert E. Detillieux 12 Mar '10

12 Mar '10

FYI... -------- Original Message -------- Subject: SSV '10 Call for Papers Now Available Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:28:19 -0800 From: Lionel Garth Jones <lgj(a)usenix.org> To: info(a)muug.mb.ca, gedetil(a)muug.mb.ca On behalf of the 5th International Workshop on Systems Software Verification (SSV '10) program committee, we'd like to invite you to contribute papers that focus on finding real, applicable solutions to systems software verification problems. Paper registration and abstracts are due Friday, May 28, 2010, 11:59 p.m. Samoan time (UTC-11). Industrial-strength software analysis and verification has advanced in recent years through the introduction of model checking, automated and interactive theorem proving, and static analysis techniques, as well as correctness by design, correctness by contract, and model-driven development. However, many techniques are working under restrictive assumptions that are invalidated by complex embedded systems software such as operating system kernels, low-level device drivers, or microcontroller code. The aim of this workshop is to bring together researchers and developers from both academia and industry who are facing real software and real problems with the goal of finding real, applicable solutions. By "real" we mean problems such as time-to-market or reliability that the industry is facing. A real solution is one that is applicable to the problem in industry and not one that only applies to an abstract, academic, toy version of it. In this workshop we will discuss software analysis and development techniques and tools; this forum will serve as a platform to discuss open problems and future challenges in dealing with existing and upcoming systems-level code. Topics include but are not limited to: * Model checking * Automated and interactive theorem proving * Static analysis * Automated testing * Model-driven development * Embedded systems development * Programming languages * Verifying compilers * Software certification * Software tools * Experience reports Paper registration and abstracts are due Friday, May 28, 2010, 11:59 p.m. Samoan time (UTC-11). For more details on the submission process, please see the complete Call for Papers at: http://www.usenix.org/ssv10/cfpa/ SSV '10 will be held immediately following the 9th USENIX Symposium on Operating Systems Design and Implementation (OSDI '10), which will take place October 4-6, 2010. We look forward to receiving your submissions! Ralf Huuck, NICTA and University of New South Wales, Australia Gerwin Klein, NICTA and University of New South Wales, Australia Bastian Schlich, RWTH Aachen University, Germany SSV '10 Program Co-Chairs ssv10chairs(a)usenix.org P.S. We'd like to thank our sponsors NICTA and Microsoft Research for their support. --------------------------------- Call for Papers 5th International Workshop on Systems Software Verification October 6-7, 2010 Vancouver, BC, Canada http://www.usenix.org/ssv10/cfpa/ Paper registration and abstracts due: Friday, May 28, 2010, 11:59 p.m. Samoan time (UTC-11)

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Reminder - use "jobs@muug.mb.ca" for job-related postings
by Adam Thompson 11 Mar '10

11 Mar '10

This is just a reminder to please use the "jobs(a)muug.mb.ca" address for posting job announcements or similar messages. Some MUUG members have indicated in the past that they do NOT wish to see commercial traffic on the main roundtable(a)muug.mb.ca list. We set up the jobs(a)muug.mb.ca list to accommodate those who DO wish to see commercial traffic like that. We should perhaps do a better job of reminding people about this, since obviously not everyone knows about it (or remembers, anyway). Nonetheless, please use the jobs(a)muug.mb.ca list for job postings and similar messages. On the flip side, if you aren't subscribed to the jobs(a)muug.mb.ca mailing list yet and you don't mind seeing job postings, please do sign up. Details can be found, as always, at http://www.muug.mb.ca/maillists.html. Thank you, -Adam Thompson <athompso(a)muug.mb.ca>

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CentOS guru needed
by Raymond J. Henry 11 Mar '10

11 Mar '10

Looking for someone comfortable with CentOS to assist in building (software) a server and migrating data from existing server (also CentOS). It's not going to be a high-paying position, but there will be a few dollars to be had. If anyone is interested, please email me directly. Thanks, Ray rayhenry(a)autoclubs.ca

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OT: Soldering help
by Kevin McGregor 06 Mar '10

06 Mar '10

Sorry for the off-topic post, but I hope someone on this list can help me. I have a PCIe card which has a capacitor on it which I'd like to remove and re-install, but on the other side of the board -- it's in the way of something, and if the cap isn't moved, I can't use the board. It's not surface-mount, and the leads go right through the board so it should be possible. I tried unsoldering it myself, but my soldering iron wasn't hot enough... or something. I'm not experienced with soldering. I may have even damaged the cap, for all I know, so I may have to get a new one. It's cylindrical and appears to be 330pF, 16V. I have pictures, but I'm not sure if the Roundtable list allows attachments (I expect not). I can email them directly to any interested party. If any of you can help, please let me know! Thanks, Kevin

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