ONMS.Net

AARTO Website Hacked

2013-04-24T22:24:00.003+02:00

Imagine visiting your website only to find someone you've never met and probably never will took the time to deface it. This is definitely one of the top 10 things an IT administrator never wants to see but exactly what happened to the website of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences in South Africa.

Googling for "rEd X was here" clearly shows many sites with similar carnage, results count here was well over 161 000 on Google and the seemed to be mostly wordpress based sites. With such a high count the chances are very good that this is some script being run which checks if a site is vulnerable to a specific wordpress bug or flaw.

Additionally the website is accompanied by the following song on youtube, loaded in the background and played automagically to the user: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptZ1wo3JsPc

Additionally the code contained some interesting javascript to disable the context menu, key down, and mouse down actions on the page:

<body oncontextmenu="return false" onkeydown="return false" onmousedown="return false">

Interestingly enough the name used for some of the files included within the page contain the name "ondhokarer_rajputra" which seems to point to 1 user on google (which has listened to the song above recently), and 1 facebook user, both seem to be based in Bangladesh. Could this be the hacker?

Compiling GCC 4.8.0 on Linux

2013-04-21T00:37:00.001+02:00

Ever wondered how to compile gcc? I recently required a feature in a version of gcc that wasn't readily available as a package on my distribution, so as I love source compiling in Linux, the recipe is below:

wget http://www.onmsfiles.com/gcc/gcc-4.8.0/gcc-4.8.0.tar.gz
tar xvzf gcc-4.8.0.tar.gz
cd gcc-4.8.0
./contrib/download_prerequisites
./configure --prefix=/opt/gcc480
make
make install

You can limit the languages by gcc by adding the --enable-languages flag to the configure command eg. --enable-languages=c,c++

Additionally it's quite a beast to compile, so if you have a more than one processor available you may want to add flags to your make to speed up the process.

What, I need "premium" support?

2013-04-11T10:57:00.002+02:00

I notice more and more start-up companies that I do business with are offering various levels of support, ie. the more your willing to pay the faster they may answer. I find this to be such a flawed concept... you purchase their paid service (open source is clearly different) at a profit to the company, I feel it's their duty to provide free decent support - after all it's their service!

Think about it, how often do you really call on support? I mostly do when things go wrong and depending on how good the service is this might be less than once a year, I've had services run for more than 3 years without having to call on a support team once! The majority of places offering a service to you offer free support, some of the support is absolutely excellent at helping you out and do so with a smile, one major example being hosting companies like Burst, Softlayer, Leaseweb, etc

Waiting for days for a "free" support (if even available) reply not only turns frustration into anger it makes customers want to find an alternative, a company who cares about them and will even pay more for the product if it means supports readily available. Truth be told I've worked in support, yes it becomes busy but their is simply no reason not to assist people in a timely manner (if you can't - get more staff or check why your getting so many requests) or at the very least provide proper communication for them to know whats happening behind the scene's.

As I write this I'm waiting on a support ticket answer, one part of my site is down and it's been days, why purchase a support plan when it'll just make them rich when I don't use it for the majority of the time... almost feels like they stretch it out to entice you to purchase support, it feels like time to find an alternative! *update* I found an alternative (sms messaging API with free "premium" support) and implemented their API in less time than the 4 days support took to respond with what was a question leading to another 4 day wait... they (and a popular cloud based security provider) have lost all my feature revenue, might not be much but combined with all the clients they lose in a competitive environment due to this, pretty sure it'll hurt in the long run!

Google Street view in Fukushima ghost town!

2013-03-28T12:31:00.001+02:00

Google Street View has announce the addition of new images within the exclusion zone in Japan. You can easily view the official Google site here. The images are truly revealing and show the insane impact the Earthquake and Tsunami had on the area.

I found some interesting technology while looking at the new images, it looks like a solar powered sensor system of some kind. I suspect it's a Geiger Counter with a nice display on it with the value it reading, would love to hear from anyone with more insight into what it could be?

Street View of the image below in Namie, Fukushima, Japan

Technology in South Africa

2013-03-08T09:33:00.004+02:00

In Africa we get to deal with all sorts of natural events that really don't work to well with IT equipment, personally lightning damage has cost me the most over the years even with protection devices often in place...

I opened up an outdoor router that stopped working a while back last week, the router itself was in a water proof outdoor enclosure to keep it safe. I was amazed to find that a wasp's had used the board to build a nest and the family had luckly moved on before I stuck my hand into the enclosure, definitely a new find for me on a circuit board.

Upon closer inspection I found a small network cable hole no longer in use which must have been how the wasp got in.

Raspberry Pi and Real Time Clock DS1307

2013-03-08T09:07:00.001+02:00

The Raspberry Pi doesn't have a real-time clock (RTC) buit-in, the reason seems to be to keep it as affordable as possible. In most cases this won't make a difference, once the Pi can reach the Internet it simply updates the time from one of the time servers in the pool (perhaps mine ;-)

The problem comes in with being offline for whatever reason but still requiring the time to always be accurate (or very close) for certain applications, such as business transaction handling etc

The easiest answer being to add a RTC to the Pi using the GPIO pins, I used the Adafruit kit (soldering required) for the Arduino boards as a local retailer had stock of it by some miracle.

Basically if you have the kit from Adafruit or something similar the below may help you (at your own risk, ;-), the circuit isn't very complicated but you need to remember not to add the the two 2.2KΩ resistors in this kit for it to work on the Pi.

Additionally you can insert the capacitor and crystal any direction you want, the chip half moon needs to match with the board (see my board and RTC in the picture above)

Pins:
1. VCC output needs to be connected to the 5.0V pin number 2 of the Pi
2. GND output needs to be connected to the GND pin number 6 of the Pi
3. SDA output needs to be connected to the SDA0 pin number 3 of the Pi
4. SCL output needs to be connected to the SCL0 pin number 5 of the Pi

You can view the pin layout on the Pi on hobbytronics.co.uk

Notes:
1. You can skip the SQW (square-wave output) as it won't be used in this configuration.
2. Will keep time for 5 years but may gain or lose as much as 2 seconds per day
3. accurate and temperature compensated chip - DS3231 or NXP PCF2127AT

I use Raspbian 2013-02-09-wheezy-raspbian.img on my Pi so these instructions may differ on your setup or version of Raspbian, all the commands assume root user, remember sudo before the command if required:

Install the required tools to do testing:

1. apt-get update
2. apt-get install i2ctools

Testing your RTC from Linux:

1. Run the command: modprobe i2c-dev; modprobe i2c-bcm2708; modprobe rtc-ds1307
2. Run: echo ds1307 0x68 > /sys/class/i2c-adapter/i2c-1/new_device
3. Run: i2cdetect -y 1
4. You should see a 68 appear under row 8 column 60, if not the RTC may not be connected properly or something may be wrong on the RTC/Pi board.
5. The hwclock command should output a date (may be very inaccurate)

Ensure your Pi's time is correct and set it if need be, then you need to sync the time to your RTC by running: hwclock -w

hwclock -r should now return the correct time from your RTC

Add the following to your /etc/rc.local to sync your systems software time to the time your RTC has:

modprobe i2c-dev
modprobe i2c-bcm2708
modprobe rtc-ds1307
echo ds1307 0x68 > /sys/class/i2c-adapter/i2c-1/new_device
hwclock -s

Once the Pi goes online the time sync will simply update this for you to the most accurate time.

Good Luck and Enjoy!

Yubico YubiKey Review

2013-03-07T22:46:00.001+02:00

I recently received the YubiKey I ordered and couldn't wait to try it out!

Basically the YubiKey is used in two-factor authentication and generates a one-time password when you touch the gold disc.

The device is physically sturdy (I tried to bend it but it didn't budge at all) and appears to the OS as a normal keyboard it can easily be used on pretty much any system.

The only problem being you can easily insert it the wrong way up into a USB port (I did, you usually only get this right once and there's no damage except the bit of lost ego), you should see the gold disc after inserting the device and a green light should shine from the hole in the gold disc.

Using a service like LastPass.com allows you to secure your password database with the YubiKey, additionally many other sites allow you to use the YubiKey with standard authentication methods. This effectively ensures your account remains secure even if the username and password has fallen into the wrong hands.

I added support for the YubiKey into my project at ONMS.Net, basically Yubico provides you with code to access their API, the code has multiple Yubico servers defined which it uses to check the one-time passwords using their servers. The first 12 characters of the one-time password remain the same as the tokens public ID, more information on the technical side is available here >>

Some companies already using YubiKey >>

SABERTOOTH Z77

2013-03-07T22:06:00.002+02:00

Once again I was privilege to the unboxing of another great product, this time round the ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77.

Through the years I have encountered many different motherboards but none compared to this one... just holding the board in your hands you quickly feel a difference, it feels rock solid and almost like something you would like to find running a tank for the USA on some foreign desolate piece of ground.

With graphical BIOS, an easy way to upgrade the BIOS (even without the CPU or DRAM installed), advanced electrostatic discharge protection (they even have a chip for that), advanced thermal features, and even military grade component testing - this board is ready for the future!

The 36 awards ASUS received for the Z77 indicates a truly warm reception into the global market. Personally I would love to see the nice features of the Z77 spread and become a standard for all motherboard manufacturers.

For details on the board take a look on the Asus website >>

CloudFlare you disappoint me...

2013-03-02T10:01:00.002+02:00

I found CloudFlare.com a while ago and was temped to give it a try as it really looked like an awesome service to have for my visitors.

So last night I paid my $20 for a pro account and changed the DNS over, what followed was pure disappointment instead of what I though would be a smooth transition... Failed SSL and a site that loaded slower than usual:

My site uses SSL as many others do, after changing the DNS to cloudflare and waiting for hours the domains SSL certificate remains untrusted and not only untrusted but the details show show shared with a bunch of porn sites (bet my Google ranking loves that connection, same cert and IP as cerdaxxx.com)

Accepting the untrusted certificate did allow my site to load, except on the first load half of the images didn't load, with two refreshes they finally were all there. In addition to that the site was much slower than usual and not faster.

For a service claiming to work out of the box I hit a brick wall, one which caused my site to be unavailable for hours and hours with a support request simply stating "Awaiting assignment to a support agent"

Update: After waiting two days for support on the pro account I received a reply from their support. Claiming "The SSL does work although possibly not as immediate as anticipated." and it takes a few minutes.

Sorry to say but more than 6 hours after the change the certificate was still not correct, really not great if your aim is too keep your domain online... Additionally taking 2 days per message for support to respond is pretty bad in an online world.

How do I explain to a customer their site is down, it's a CloudFlare setup issue, I'm waiting for support which may take days depending on how many higher paying customers flood the few support people available for a request... simply not a viable option.

ONMS Session Manager Finished

2013-02-15T00:38:00.000+02:00

I just finished the session manager for onms.net, take a look at the screenshot above!

Some features:
1. Terminate a session
2. Logout from your session
3. View the last 10 sessions and there details
4. Display includes OTP logged in sessions, ie. any Yubikey/Google Authenticator

Heart Rate Monitoring

2013-01-24T09:32:00.002+02:00

I saw the Neptune Pine making headlines today, I was waiting for smart watch to surface! The Neptune Pine runs Leaf OS (derived from Android) and has a heart rate monitor built-in which is great news!

Recently two athletes lost their lives during a local endurance race... I was pondering the idea of a 3G device to send heart rate updates to www.onms.net which will allow for instant alerts to be generated in case something goes wrong... I'll add a heart rate monitoring feature to the Android app client for this soon!

Essentially a nice spec smart phone can now be on your wrist, check the specs out at: http://www.neptunepine.com/tech-specs.html

Unboxing Intel Extreme Board DZ77RE-75K

2013-01-22T13:47:00.002+02:00

Hidden inside a plain brown paper box we discovered the beautiful Intel Extreme Desktop Board DZ77RE-75K. John (my uncle) ordered the board after doing a lot of research into the perfect board for his new gaming PC. Truth be told I was impressed with the amount of features Intel has included in this board, some are included below:

1. 1 x LGA1155 CPU Socket
2. 4 DIMM slots with max 32GB DDR3
3. Onboard graphics with HDMI out

Additional details of this board are on the Intel Ark, click here to view them...

Included in the box was all the usual, ie. backplates and specifications sticker however this board also comes with a very slick looking mouse pad and a module which provides bluetooth and wifi!

Yubico YubiKey

2013-01-20T11:58:00.000+02:00

I ordered a YubiKey last night to play with, while waiting for shipping etc I started looking for details on the API and images to use on my site I was interested in how much I found by just surfing... Nothing of immediate concern but for a company who's business is security one would expect them to be extremely security conscious, yet so far:

1 version behind on Apache release and display version details, server OS details etc

The wiki server is also a few versions behind. In addition the MediaWiki version used is 1.12.0 while version 1.20.2 is the latest... quite a few versions ago...

Have a directory listing enabled on another server:

The static content sync script contents with nice details in... Hi Jas?

The servers mentioned above and the main site also have ssh open to the world:

Makes me wonder what other things are open, behind in versions and how secure the "YubiKey OTP Validation server" really is?

I'll post more when I received the key, looks like a very cool device with amazing possibilities, they might just need a new sys admin!

bwm-ng csv fields

2013-01-18T11:17:00.002+02:00

Needed to check bandwidth usage on a server today using a script, thought of running bwm-ng, it might be time for them to change the ng to nng - new next generation as it does need some work...

To generate csv: bwm-ng -I wlan0 -o csv -c 1 -T rate

The fields it produces are hidden in some "README" not readily available as it's with the source code, anyhow the details of the fields:

Unix Timestamp
Interface Name
Bytes Out
Bytes In
Bytes Total
Packets Out
Packets In
Packets Total
Errors Out
Errors In

Fields are split by ; character but this can be changed using the -C option...

Receipt printer udev rules

2013-01-17T20:31:00.002+02:00

We use the Epson and DigiPOS line of receipt printers for most of our retail customers as both use similar lingo and could possibly be the most reliable printers I've ever encountered (Epson being the best in my opinion but more expensive).

The printers work perfectly in Linux except for when they are plugged out and back in, often due to the permissions changing and not allowing direct access to the device from a normal user access, a chmod 666 /dev/usb/lp0 usually fixes this for the time being.

To add a udev rule to always have a eg. 666 mode on the device:

lsusb <- run lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0525:a700 Netchip Technology, Inc. << The printer in my case
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 04f2:b272 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd Lenovo EasyCamera
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0489:e00d Foxconn / Hon Hai
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 0bda:0139 Realtek Semiconductor Corp.

Open /etc/udev/rules.d/15-printers.rules and add the line:
SUBSYSTEM=="usb",ATTR{idVendor}=="0525",ATTR{idProduct}=="a700",SYMLINK+="printer",MODE="0666"

Make sure to change the idVendor and idProduct to the lsusb values eg. 0525:a700 in my case, ie. 0525 being vendor ID and a700 being product ID.

Reload the rules (you can also: restart udev):

udevadm control --reload-rules

Amazing e-mail sending rates...

2013-01-16T23:54:00.001+02:00

We sent out over 10,000 e-mail's recently and pushed to get the maximum amount out in the shortest amount of time, we managed to push 35.79 Mbps or 4.47MB/s in bandwidth usage, not to bad, effectively delivering 9 mails every second to a remote server even with all the different SPAM (not that this was) filtering techniques found in the wild!

Why Linux simply rules!

2013-01-03T21:16:00.000+02:00

I often encounter Windows users than love to spew hate toward Linux although they themselves often think it's an application you can install, isn't graphical at all, is dead for the desktop, can't run more than one CPU at a time, is only used for servers, or doesn't follow standards - what a joke!

So to all those people, here is a blog entry just for you... Linux powers 850K new Android devices per day, most of 700K new televisions purchased per day, 8 out of every 10 financial trade, 9 out 10 world's supercomputers, the $10B CERN large Large Hadron Collider, Lockheed Martin's Nuclear Submarine, Japanese high speed train, and the US air traffic control system.

Most website are powered by servers running Linux and opensource, these sites include Google, Twitter, Facebook, Wikipedia, Travelocity and Amazon. In actual fact in recent years 8000 developers from 800 companies have contributed to the Linux Kernel. Red Hat (a billion dollar company) just focuses on Linux for business, both server and desktop, same goes for Novell with SuSE.

Linux has a few full GUI desktops to choose from and thousands of applications, including the ability to run many windows applications. So who uses Linux as a desktop? Google has 10K, City of Munich 14K, IC bank of China changing to Linux in 20K branches, Czech Post 12K, France's police dept to have 90K by 2015, Macedonia Education has 180K, Germany students with 550K, Novell 5.5K+, Peugeot 20K, DreamWorks has 1K, FNB Bank (the most innovative Bank in 2012) run 12K, to name but a few...

In 2009 Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer indicated that Linux had a greater desktop market share than Mac, stating that in recent years Linux had "certainly increased its share somewhat". Just under a third of all Dell netbook sales in 2009 had Linux installed.

That is an insane amount of business powered by Linux, at the end of the day using what works and being able to change with technology will highlight those IT people worth their weight in gold!

Linux developers also follow international standards like the RFC documents, if this was not the case Linux would have been an isolated and limited operating system, something it definitely isn't. Linux often has to even adapted to accept non-standard methods simply enforced by other companies.

Some other devices which run Linux you might be using/interact with: ATM machines, Kiosks, Slot machines, ADSL/Cable modems, Traffic Lights, Carrier Class Network Equipment, VoIP Phones, IP CCTV cameras, car computers/radios, fridges, and many many more!

All stats are from places like wikipedia and other trusted sources, if you find a wrong figure or want something added to the above please let me know...

Water Damage Indicator

2013-01-02T16:27:00.001+02:00

It took a device or two being sent in to a local service provider only to be told they wouldn't repair it due to the phone being water damaged... this was quite unfair though as phone we took in had a software related bug and required new firmware, the water damage just got them out of any obligation.

With all the years in IT the chances are that you've washed or wet something electronic, left it to dry and found it to be working perfectly!

We were lucky enough to find out with the last visit they disclosed how they knew it came in contact with water, the answer being a seemingly insignificant tiny white dot. When it comes in contact with water it quickly changes, I found one on my 3G dongle and decided to peel it off and feed it some water (pictures below). It may very well be worth your time to check for the dot before taking your device in for a service...

Raspberry Pi - New 512MB memory model B revision 2

2013-01-02T16:08:00.001+02:00

After months of waiting for my Rasperry Pi to arrive I was pleasantly surprised to find it waiting at the post office today...

I ordered a model B but with all the waiting it was upgraded to the 512 MB version (model B revision 2), which is great news as it was one of the low points I experienced with the original model B.

The 512MB memory upgrade allows for easier running of Android ICS (I'll give it a try and report back soon).

The CPU however is still lacking and also requires an upgrade, combined with how easily the IO saturation point is reached and the often I was able to crash the Pi doing mundane tasks makes me continue to look for alternatives like the Hackberry A10.

The size of the board is also exactly the same and fits nicely into the official Raspberry Pi case. The case itself looks very nice and finishes the Pi off perfectly while also making it a much easier to handle!

ONMS.Net - Update on progress

2012-12-30T17:47:00.003+02:00

I managed to do some work on The NOC at ONMS.Net with all the holidays in december. Above is an example of a graph showing the speed of a fan within the server hosting the application, imagine being able to track every minute or second of a specific device/object/event and keep that information for the future or take immediate action when something goes wrong... it amazes me to have the ability to monitor things so closely, pretty cool!

We need to be able to handle a maximum of 2.5 million updates per key though for every month, definitely time for some additional server power!

NGINX fpm-php 504 Gateway Time-out

2012-12-29T12:02:00.004+02:00

I recently encountered the 504 error on NGINX due to a php script fetching data from a slow database server, after 60 seconds of runtime the execution simply timed out... I tried all the suggested solutions I found on forums but they didn't seem to work, the solution that worked here:

Within nginx.conf under the location section and under the server section add the lines starting with fastcgi below:

server {
location ~ .php$ {
fastcgi_connect_timeout 60;
fastcgi_send_timeout 180;
fastcgi_read_timeout 300;

The timeout values above are all in seconds and may need some tweaking, also remember to check the max_execution_time setting in php.ini if not set within the script itself to extend the default php execution timeout. Remember to restart nginx to load the changes made to your nginx.conf

Incredible - 6.28 years and rebooted 12 times

2012-12-20T00:21:00.001+02:00

Our one server hosted with Hetzner is a recycled one purchased on the Hetzner market. It naturally runs Linux and uses two Samsung drives in a software RAID config. I was amazed to see a power cycle count of 12 on drives with a total runtime of 6.28 years so far, the statistics for both drives:

root@onms ~ # smartctl --all /dev/sda
smartctl 5.41 2011-06-09 r3365 [i686-linux-3.2.0-24-generic-pae] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-11 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     SAMSUNG SpinPoint P80 SD
Device Model:     SAMSUNG HD160JJ
Serial Number:    S08HJ10L455334
Firmware Version: ZM100-41
User Capacity:    160,041,885,696 bytes [160 GB]
Sector Size:      512 bytes logical/physical
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   7
ATA Standard is: ATA/ATAPI-7 T13 1532D revision 4a
Local Time is:    Wed Dec 19 23:12:39 2012 CET
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x02)    Offline data collection activity
                    was completed without error.
                    Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status:      (   0)    The previous self-test routine completed
                    without error or no self-test has ever
                    been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection:         ( 3677) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities:             (0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
                    Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
                    Suspend Offline collection upon new
                    command.
                    Offline surface scan supported.
                    Self-test supported.
                    No Conveyance Self-test supported.
                    Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003)    Saves SMART data before entering
                    power-saving mode.
                    Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01)    Error logging supported.
                    General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time:     (   1) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time:     ( 61) minutes.
SCT capabilities:            (0x003f)    SCT Status supported.
                    SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
                    SCT Feature Control supported.
                    SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000f   100   100   051    Pre-fail Always       -       6
3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0007   100   100   025    Pre-fail Always       -       5760
4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       12
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   253   253   010    Pre-fail Always       -       0
7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000f   253   253   051    Pre-fail Always       -       0
8 Seek_Time_Performance   0x0025   253   253   015    Pre-fail Offline      -       0
9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       55101
10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0033   253   253   051    Pre-fail Always       -       0
11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0012   253   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       12
187 Reported_Uncorrect      0x0032   253   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       196608
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022   118   070   000    Old_age   Always       -       40
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   118   070   000    Old_age   Always       -       40
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered 0x001a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       115166123
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   253   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012   253   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0030   253   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x003e   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x000a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
201 Soft_Read_Error_Rate    0x000a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
202 Data_Address_Mark_Errs 0x0032   253   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num Test_Description    Status                  Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error
# 1 Extended offline    Completed without error       00%     49333         -
# 2 Extended offline    Completed without error       00%     49277         -

Note: selective self-test log revision number (0) not 1 implies that no selective self-test has ever been run
SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 0
Note: revision number not 1 implies that no selective self-test has ever been run
SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0 Not_testing
    2        0        0 Not_testing
    3        0        0 Not_testing
    4        0        0 Not_testing
    5        0        0 Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

root@onms ~ # smartctl --all /dev/sdb
smartctl 5.41 2011-06-09 r3365 [i686-linux-3.2.0-24-generic-pae] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-11 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     SAMSUNG SpinPoint P80 SD
Device Model:     SAMSUNG HD160JJ
Serial Number:    S08HJ10L455779
Firmware Version: ZM100-41
User Capacity:    160,041,885,696 bytes [160 GB]
Sector Size:      512 bytes logical/physical
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   7
ATA Standard is: ATA/ATAPI-7 T13 1532D revision 4a
Local Time is:    Wed Dec 19 23:13:28 2012 CET
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x02)    Offline data collection activity
                    was completed without error.
                    Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status:      (   0)    The previous self-test routine completed
                    without error or no self-test has ever
                    been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection:         ( 3699) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities:             (0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
                    Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
                    Suspend Offline collection upon new
                    command.
                    Offline surface scan supported.
                    Self-test supported.
                    No Conveyance Self-test supported.
                    Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003)    Saves SMART data before entering
                    power-saving mode.
                    Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01)    Error logging supported.
                    General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time:     (   1) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time:     ( 61) minutes.
SCT capabilities:            (0x003f)    SCT Status supported.
                    SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
                    SCT Feature Control supported.
                    SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000f   100   100   051    Pre-fail Always       -       7
3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0007   100   100   025    Pre-fail Always       -       5632
4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       12
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   253   253   010    Pre-fail Always       -       0
7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000f   253   253   051    Pre-fail Always       -       0
8 Seek_Time_Performance   0x0025   253   253   015    Pre-fail Offline      -       0
9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       55099
10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0033   253   253   051    Pre-fail Always       -       0
11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0012   253   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       12
187 Reported_Uncorrect      0x0032   253   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022   130   076   000    Old_age   Always       -       36
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   130   076   000    Old_age   Always       -       36
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered 0x001a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       109023062
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   253   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012   253   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0030   253   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x003e   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x000a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
201 Soft_Read_Error_Rate    0x000a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
202 Data_Address_Mark_Errs 0x0032   253   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num Test_Description    Status                  Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error
# 1 Extended offline    Completed without error       00%     49331         -
# 2 Extended offline    Completed without error       00%     49276         -

Note: selective self-test log revision number (0) not 1 implies that no selective self-test has ever been run
SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 0
Note: revision number not 1 implies that no selective self-test has ever been run
SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0 Not_testing
    2        0        0 Not_testing
    3        0        0 Not_testing
    4        0        0 Not_testing
    5        0        0 Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

root@onms ~ #

Intel SSD 520 series unboxing

2012-12-04T23:22:00.000+02:00

I had the opportunity to help unbox an Intel SSD 520 series drive recently and being the the first SSD drive I physically encountered I was very excited to view it from every angle... In the years before SSD geeks quite quickly encountered new drive types in systems, servers, etc - SSD however seems to be coming in at a much slower pace, one reason I suspect is simply the cost of the drives being in my view to much!

The Intel SSD drives are still quite expensive and hard to source from large local suppliers, especially when looking for a specific model. Overall I was amazed at how much less the drive itself weighs, especially when compared to it's spindle driven brothers already in field.

Intel has always been one of my favourite brands, the drive seems to be packed with Intel branded chips as can be seen in some online teardowns. The drive comes with an amazing 5 year warranty, which alone is simply awesome considering previous solid state drive longevity being well rubbish.

The SSD connects to your system using SATA and runs at 6Gb/s, this drive's performance does not disappoint, my uncle (the owner of this baby) has noticed a definite increase in performance. In addition Intel has also developed software allowing users of their SSD to monitor the drive's statistics in depth! I would love to get a busy database server running off of one of these drives to really give it a run for it's money!

The only con so far... Intel needs to do a better finishing job on the back of the drive, not that it matters beyond cosmetic but it does give a bit of a "why the hell did I pay so much and they couldn't take time to finish the back properly" feeling...

Cooler Master Storm Trooper

2012-11-20T19:29:00.001+02:00

My uncle (in the picture to the left), recently purchased the Cooler Master Storm Trooper (http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?product_id=3054) enclosure while at a local gaming expo.

The Storm Trooper is by no means a small tower, it looks and feels mean (and ain't light either)! I was truly impressed with the engineering and thought that has gone into the design, from a special rubber handle to being able to change the orientation your drive bays...

With 8 fans built in and special factory made holes for water cooling, cooling in this tower should never become a problem.

The advanced dust filters in multiple locations also ensure your enclosure stays as dust free as possible.

The 9 bays for 5.25" drives provide able space for the majority or users/gamers. The 5.25" bays can also be converted into 3.5" and 2.5" drive bays.

The Storm Trooper supports Micro-ATX, ATX, and XL-ATX motherboard sizes and also comes with 2 x USB 3.0 - overall the Storm Trooper is one of the best enclosures I've encountered to date. It reminds me of the large sturdy Intel server towers, built to last!

Hey MIT mind giving back some IP addresses?

2012-11-20T17:59:00.003+02:00

While playing around with RADB and whois on Linux, one of the addresses I randomly made up produced the result:

route:         18.0.0.0/8
descr:         Massachusetts Institute of Technology
               1 Amherst Street
               Cambridge
               MA 02139, USA
origin:        AS3
member-of:     RS-COMM_NSFNET
mnt-by:        MAINT-AS3
changed:       nsfnet-admin@merit.edu 19950118
source:        RADB

I've heard of many educational institutes having received huge IP allocations, with the majority of the IP addresses simply not being used... This seems to have happened quite often in the days long before IPv4 address exhaustion.

So now the question begs to be asked... if I need to provide reasons to service providers to obtain a small subnet of addresses, what reason could there be to continue allowing such huge allocations from even existing? The powers that be should challenge MIT to prove their complete usage of a /8 or lose the right to use the block, simply said the Internet needs the additional addresses...