February 2010
6 posts
Lack of Posts
Guys I am doing a data center migration. I will be MIA as I have been for the next few weeks. If I get time I will post some IT ramblings soon.
SB
4 tags
Cars and IT
My car was broken into last night. Every single loose coin was stolen in my car. My LED flashlight was also stolen. A few nice items in the car were not taken which was a relief. Also, every document in my glove compartment was examined. The documents stacked in a strangely neat pile on my passenger side seat.
This event has a lot of similarities to IT security. I’ll draw a few...
Proactive Hardware Monitoring
AUTOMATE!
Importance of Quality Documentation
I am going through this tutorial and I am very impressed by the quality of this documentation.
http://www.offensive-security.com/metasploit-unleashed/
It got me to think about creating my own personal documentation in such a robust way that any user with enough experience could flawlessly execute what I am documenting. I think that this style of documentation (how-to) would be especially...
1 tag
Age
You are as old as you think you are. The minute you start to tell yourself you are old, you become old. Stay young by believing in yourself, your motivation, and your desire to live long without sacrifice.
SB
4 tags
No posts on Mondays?
I can say that it’s not a case of the Mondays. I can also say that it isn’t because I am busy playing Starcraft or I am being lazy. It’s something every security or network admin can relate to.
Mondays are always filled with a surplus of issues. People hold of asking questions on Weekends, things silently fail when people aren’t around. You get the drift.
I’ve...
January 2010
9 posts
Friday Reflection: Data vs. Information vs....
I was listening to NPR this morning and someone was intermediately using data and information. These are two separate terms and it’s beneficial to really understand the difference between them.
Data is facts or descriptions of facts. That is it!
Information is data plus meaning. There is something there with information, it might not be organized yet but it’s there!
Knowledge is...
Ldap Vs. Winbindd
I’ll make this post short and sweet. Go LDAP! I am not liking a lot of things about running windbind/kerberos. For one, its ugly!
User accounts look like this:
DOMAIN+bob
I added a default domain to my /etc/samba/smb.conf file:
[code] winbind use default domain = true [/code]
Now user accounts look like this:
bob
Okay that is nice, but what about UID/GID?
id bsus
uid=10173(bsus)...
Sharing is caring: Samba (unfinished)
In this how-to, I will show you how to take your Linux box, export a share, and modify its contents using Windows.
Background
I was asked to export some data from a host which has connectivity to an iSCSI LUN. Since the Windows hosts don’t have connectivity to the iSCSI LUN , the Linux box will export this share via NFS and use Samba/Kerberos to allow windows users to see it.
Caveats
...
4 tags
iPAD
Seems to me to be a huge iPod Touch.
Manual Audit Runner
I wrote this script to do the following. It logs into X number of servers you define in a configuration file, and pulls some general system info. I find this useful if I’m trying to get a better picture of a host(s) that don’t have robust monitoring already done.
This is crude and needs some tweaking. I recommend having an admin user account with SSH keys that has normal user +...
Constant Changes
I try to dedicate 1 hour a day to reading trends, tutorials how-to’s, etc. I am currently enrolled in the Masters of Computer Science program at DePaul university. I attend conferences and workshops. I invest a lot of time in knowing what is happening, and sharpening my tools and skills as often as possible.
For one, when I started consulting 4 years ago, I had clients running Fedora...
5 tags
DHCP and loops
Me: Damn, I can’t seem to get a DHCP address!
I’ve been having all sorts of weirdness with DHCP the last few days. Been working on some automation magic, and I can’t seem to get an address.
So I crawl under the desk at my client to see where my cables go:
Crazy. That’s all I can say. CRAZZZZZY. Some previous consultant for some weird reason, had 2 switches plugged...
4 tags
Automation
I am a HUGE proponent of automation. Absolutely huge. I nicknamed myself “The Automator” when I was working at Argonne. Anything that I had to do more than a few times, I scripted. Any standard that I can document and execute, I do just that.
Automation can play a big role in SMB because it can greatly reduce overhead and increase efficiency. It creates repeatable methods for...
1 tag
