Geeky Ramblings

You can disable the ipv6 module by adding or changing /etc/modprobe.conf:

alias net-pf-10 off

After a reboot it should be gone.

Note: I only know that this works with Fedora Core 2 and higher.

[tags]Linux, IPV6, networking[/tags]

Well, I did it … and, so far (knock wood), it’s working ok.

What I did was: Upgrade my Redhat Linux 8.0 system to Fedora Core 4.

Last time I tried this it went horribly wrong … there was some kind of problem with the system that caused all available memory to be eaten up like it was going out of style … and then it started chewing on the swap space … to the extent that there was no memory and no swap space available.

To add insult to the injury … my backup procedure wasn’t as solid as I had hoped.

The end result was that my system was down for about 2 days while I recovered manually.

This time, however, I had a absolutely fool proof backup plan.

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As you might suspect, I’m subscribed to a large number of mailing lists (most of which I host myself).

One of the problems with mailing lists is that, if you use a singe email address for all your list subscriptions, there isn’t an easy way to file individual list messages based on the list name.

The other day, however, I found a rather handy procmail recipe that helps with that work…
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I use Vandyke’s SecureCRT to access my linux machines. Due to the recent increase in the number of attempts to break-in to my systems via SSH, I decided it was high time I switched to using public/private key authentication instead of simply password.

I had devil of time figuring out how to get the public key generated by SecureCRT into OpenSSH’s authorized_keys2 file.

After digging through the SecureCRT help file for a bit I finally found the command (it was pretty obvious, had I read further).

cd .ssh
ssh-keygen -X -f Identity.pub >> authorized_keys2

Now I just have to figure out a way to keep my public keys with me whenever I might have need to access my systems without a system I work on normally.

This weekend was supposed to be a nice quiet, calm, time… I had planned to spend it getting some files organized in the two filing cabinets I purchased from MKS (getting rid of old stuff in anticipation of our move to new digs).

Friday was the company holiday party … it’s always been enjoyable … even if I don’t like dancing (Ginny ends up dragging me onto the dance floor a few times). This time, unfortunately, Ginny’s dinner didn’t agree with her… so we headed home early.

Once home, I made sure Ginny was comfortable … and went downstairs to dink around with the computers.

I then made my fatal error.

I decided to upgrade the main linux system to Fedora Core 3. I figured it would be fairly straight forward to upgrade from Redhat 8 to FC3.
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I got a new server … it’s a Dell PowerEdge 420SC … I’ve named it Gondor.

I originally tried to install Fedora Core 3 on it via NFS mount, booting from a compact flash disk, but it didn’t take. Not sure why.

So I burned the CD’s and installed from there. Worked like a champ.

I think I screwed up the Dell diagnostic partition though … or the master boot record. I’ll have to play around with that.

I’m going to slowly migrate stuff over to the new server … it’s not going to be an easy pick-up and drop-off like it was with the last server migration.

Had a minor emergency today … my main linux machine completely hung up (for no apparent reason at the time).

My first indication that a problem was a foot was when Ginny asked me if there were any problems with our internet connection.

I didn’t think so, but I checked … I could get to DSLReports without a problem … I was even able to run a speed test (with respectable results).

Ginny told me she wasn’t able to get to her blog. So I went over to the actual machines and checked out TheShire to see if something was wrong. Something was. I wasn’t able to logon as root.
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Redhat has released Fedora Core 3!

As a service to those who read this blog (and others), I am providing copies of the i386 version of the Fedora Core 3 DVD for the nominal fee of $5 (covers media and postage).
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I’ve been the recipeint of a number of SSH scans recently … they seem to be testing a few accounts for obvious vulnerabilities.

Kasia has some good pointers for securing SSH against this kind of attack.

Not my words … my friend Jim’s.

He pointed me to an article in TechWorld where they obviously omitted a small part of Darl’s statement (the obvious omission is in brackets) …

When people say SCO is just a litigation company, it really bugs me, [and I'll sue the pants off of anyone who disagrees with me!]
- Darl McBride, CEO of SCO

Of course, the statement that got me was:

McBride also made clear his overriding goal – the destruction of the free software movement: “Wait until the SCO battles are over and let’s see if it’s free or not.” McBride has repeatedly said in the past that free software stifles innovation and harms the IT industry because companies can’t produce great products without any financial return. He continued to rant: “Keep your eye on the [court] filings. Over the coming year, one of the things that you’re going to see is that Big Blue has got big problems.”

Jim comment “that means destruction of the constitutional right of freedom of assembly” … and my only thought was that “People like McBride are against concepts of freedom … they want all the power themselves.”.

I guess McBride (and SCO) is a ‘corporate darwinist’ … he belives in survival of the fittest … ‘course cockroaches have survived for millions of years too.