Tue, 24 Nov 2009
- An Aussie
- Living in Frankfurt am Main (well, Klein-Karben actually, but who would know where that is?)
- Working in IT, network operations.
[2009/11/24 / meta permanent link]
Running RANCID on top of BZR and with multihop
Long time, no write. Been busy moving countries, as you do.
Started a new job too. Been setting up RANCID and wanted to pull together all the pieces here:
- RANCID
- Let's start in the obvious place, www.shrubbery.net/rancid/. I prefer
my own, slightly different, expansion of the acronym. Really Awesome Network
ConfIg Differ. If you are not backing up or versioning the configuration
of your networking equipment you really should take a look at it.
- Patches for RANCID to use BZR
- RANCID only offers CVS and SVN support out of the box. I've been using BZR for a while and strongly prefer it.
Thankfully someone has provided patches to
add BZR support.
- Patches for RANCID to do multihop
- One of the other things I needed to add was support to reach a device via
another device. I used the instructions from here
and the updated patch from here.
My config looks a little something like
add user HOSTNAME {USER} add password HOSTNAME {PASSWORD} add autoenable HOSTNAME 1 add method HOSTNAME usercmd add usercmd HOSTNAME {/usr/local/rancid/bin/clogin} {VIA_HOSTNAME} add usercmd_chat HOSTNAME {#} {telnet IP_ADDRESS\r} {User Access Verification} {}Note that the host we are going via is already defined so we can reuse it's clogin details to reach it (though I did need to provide the full path to clogin). - Loggerhead
- To serve the BZR repo via a web interface I turned to Loggerhead. The only issue I have is trying to hide the RANCID log directory because I am serving it as a "directory of branches" straight out of rancid/var.
[2009/11/24 / tech / software permanent link]
Mon, 20 Apr 2009
Series of Scalability Articles by Haytham El-fadeel
As the title says...
Art of scalability (1) - Scalability principles
Art of scalability (2) - Scalability guidelines part 1
Art of scalability (3) - Scalability guidelines part 2
Art of scalability (4) - Scalability guidelines part 3
[2009/04/20 / tech / internet permanent link]
Thu, 05 Feb 2009
Bernadette McMenamin applying the spin, again...
Australian IT is carrying a blog
post by Bernadette McMenamin which is just full of mis-representation and
spin.
One of the most horrendous developments that we have experienced in the last 15
years is the dramatic explosion in the global trade of child sexual abuse
images on the internet.
No one really knows the true quantities because it is mostly traded via peer to
peer and over encrypted networks. And none of these channels will be addressed
by the proposed filter. Ref: http://libertus.net/censor/ispfiltering-au-govplan.html#s_stats
76 per cent would change to an ISP that blocked child pornography
There are ISPs that provide filtered access already, yet their market share is
not overly large so while the polls track the sentiment it doesn't appear to
flow through to action. Markets respond to demand, it's clearly not there. Ref:
http://libertus.net/censor/ispfiltering-au-govplan.html#s_10
Law enforcement and education are also key strategies and prominent in the Federal Government's Safe internet Policy.
So why is the AFP budget for this going down and not up? Ref: http://libertus.net/censor/ispfiltering-au-govplan.html#s_38
Hundreds of millions of dollars is already being spent on law enforcement which
is commendable but this only addresses the problem after the abuse has
occurred.
ISP filtering has the same problem.
Critics of this new scheme have argued that ISP filtering of child sexual abuse
images simply will not work. However these filters are actually working very
effectively in Scandinavian countries and in the UK as well as in recent trials
in New Zealand.
None of these examples is representative of what the ALP is proposing. Ref: http://libertus.net/censor/ispfiltering-au-govplan.html#s_6
Critics have also argued that ISP filtering will be costly and slow down the
internet. Again based on overseas experience this is not the case.
The New Zealand trial is not equivalent to what the ALP is proposing. Nor does
it refute the view that the filtering will slow access speeds.
My argument is that how can blocking illegal material (which should not be
produced or stored in the first place) be censorship?
And many, if not all, would agree with you. But the ALP is proposing to block
prohibited material not all of which is illegal. Ref: http://libertus.net/censor/ispfiltering-au-govplan.html#s_21
Having said that I remain open minded as I hope the critics of the scheme will
wait until the trials have been independently conducted to decide on whether
Australia should take this leap into ISP filtering.
I think we're all keen to see the results of the trials. Just have to wait till
they are completed... ...any
minute now...
[2009/02/05 / tech / internet permanent link]
Thu, 25 Dec 2008
Links of the Day: December 25, 2008
Gapingvoid: Guy with office job
Gapingvoid: Small shitty moment











