Diary of a Network Geek

At least in Australia it is!

But, that’s a good thing!! According to this article on Australian IT, the Australian welfare agency, Centrelink, has set up an internal Linux laboratory to research the potential cost savings or performance improvements that open source software might deliver. Now, this might not seem like much, but I think it’s a great step toward Linux getting into more government agencies. The more Linux replaces Micro$oft, the better, in my mind. So, you go, Tux!

Oh, God, how I hate interviewing…

But, it’s a requirement for change, so I do it. Well, both interviews I had this week went well. The first was with a search firm and was on Tuesday. It was fairly standard. They mainly had found someone with all the right buzzwords on his resume. (That was me, incidentally.) They ran me through the standard questions about where I’d been, what I’d done and why I was looking to leave. Then, they gave me the info about the job, as they understood it. And, too, they let me know about the environment and the person I was interviewing with, so I could guage my answers and so on. Standard stuff.

The second interview was with the actual job and was yesterday afternoon. I met with three people in IT. One was the person who I’d actually report to and the other two were people I’d interface with. One of them was a manager who was originally from Scotland and he was a hoot. He had a bit of an accent, but was easily understandable and was full of life and fun. Really, all the people there seemed really happy and in fairly good moods. I can’t say where it is just yet, but it’s an oil-related business that deals with ocean-based vessels and platforms. Very interesting stuff. And, their main headquarters are just a few miles away. My commute would be like 5 minutes, or less. Pretty good for Houston.
There is a bit of travel involved, and there would probably be international travel, which could be fun. But, they’re pretty tight on salary, so we’ll see what my headhunter can do for me. Of course, my resume reads like their job description and I know that the headhunter had someone in from San Antonio, so I think they might be flexible. I mean, how many guys can there be in Houston that have 10+ years experience with Novell and have Linux experience, too? Not many.

In any case, I think I made a favorable impression, so now it’s a waiting game. I’ll keep you posted!

Oy, where to begin…

First of all, you may have noticed that the blog has been a little quiet this week. In fact, it’s been several days since there’s been a real post. Okay, there are several reasons for that.
Chief among those reasons is some personal family stuff that caused a bit of chaos around the house. It’s rather delicate, so I won’t get into it, other than to say, it’s a reminder that kids are like the ocean. You’re never sure what’s coming on the next wave and don’t turn your back on it, because the riptide can suck you under. But, that being said, the problem is being resolved, so, no worries.
The next thing is all the outsourcing rumours at work. I know, I know, I haven’t mentioned this before, but only because it hasn’t been out in the open. Now that it is, I feel okay with talking about it. There’s nothing solid yet, but today, HP is in talking to people about their job and how they do it. Sounds to me like they’re getting ready to make it happen, though the official word is that nothing is set in stone. Yet. Anyway, folks were talking about their “meeting with the Bobs” all day yesterday. Me, I’m just looking for the guy with the red Swingline. (Oh, wait, that’s me!)
So, the last thing is that I’m not going to be the last rat on the ship, for a change, and I’m out there looking. And, in fact, I have an interview with a “placement agency” today and, most likely, a job interview through them tomorrow. A Novell position with Linux. Less than 5 minutes from the house. That could be cool.

Well, I’ll keep y’all posted.

This might not seem like much…

But, this could be a really big deal to people tied to Oracle. According to this article on eWeek.com, MySQL is going after the enterprise with a SQL database that is scalable to clusters. Now, if you’re not a database geek, that might not mean much, but, take my word for it, it’s a big deal.
What this means, basically, is that there’s now an Open Source SQL database that could rival Oracle. Databases at a discount. Oh, and Novell licenses MySQL, which they send out with all their product. (Or, at least they did the last time I installed anything.)

But, is that news?

Well, it was newsworthy enough for Australian IT to do this article on it. It seems there was a survey done and, in general, CIOs aren’t paying much heed to SCO’s claims. In fact, according to the study, which was done in Australia, SCO has generated quite a bit of enmity with their antics. Gee, what a surprise, eh? Anyway, although it doesn’t seem to be all that big a deal anymore, the folks “down under” are going ahead with their plans for Linux roll-outs. And, I have to admit, I don’t hear too many people quaking in their boots here in the States, either. Somehow, I just don’t see any of this saving SCO. I really think their case is going to backfire on them totally.
Well, only time will tell, I guess.

Novell is getting right on it!

Just a few months ago, Novell bought SuSE, the leading LINUX company in Europe. Well, now they’ve announced that they’re going to be letting loose some new versions of their distro. At least, according to this article on Wired News, they are. Frankly, all I can say is “Horay!!” I really hope Novell follows through on what they’ve started here. I know they have a whole section of their website dedicated to the Novell\Linux intersection.
I really, really like the idea of running Novell products on a Linux kernel. For instance, I can’t think of a better sounding e-mail solution for corporate envrionments than GroupWise on Linux. (Okay, I’m a little biased, but still….) I mean, this just sounds like a bulletproof setup to me. None of the hassles of Exchange/Outlook bugs, exploits, viruses or worms and the reliability of Linux. C’mon, let’s face it, Unix-based servers so very rarely crash that it’s almost a non-issue.
Now, if someone would just offer me a Novell job where they’re starting to use Linux…. Ah, well, a guy can dream, right?

Open Source Government!

I wish it were the US government, but at least Australia believes in the Open Source movement. According to this article on AustralianIT, areas of the Australian government are “encouraging” Open Source pilots where possible. Apparently, in an effort to save money and reduce future hidden costs, officials have gotten behind the idea that Open Source may, in fact be better. Well, at least they’re comparing closed-source options to Open Source options on a fairly regular basis. It’s a start, at least, in the right direciton.
I sure hope they’re finding solutions out there!

I knew SCO and Micro$oft were in it together!

First, this article on AustalianIT added to the suspicions of the Open Source community regarding MicroSoft’s involvement in the campaign against Linux. I’d, personally, had always wondered if Chairman Gates hadn’t been encouraging SCO to pursue this very unwise course of legal action against Linux users. Well, guess what? Just yesterday, AustralianIT confirmed that there is, in fact, a link between SCO and Micro$oft!
Is it really paranoia when they are all out to get you? Micro$oft has been trying to kill Linux since it became a “blip” on the media radar, so it stands to reason that they’d help SCO down the path they took. Free enterprise, indeed. But, you know, I didn’t see any of this in the American press. Hmm, I wonder why that is?

Some tools for thought for security auditors…

Some time ago, I speculated on what a network “rescue” kit should contain. Well, the other day, I was cleaning up around the house and found an old copy of Information Security that had an article about security audits. They included a sidebar of suggested tools for performing an audit.
Some of them were fairly obvious: ping, traceroute(tracert), nslookup, and grep. Then they listed several free tools that were, well, a little bit more “robust”:
First, there was Nmap, which is an OS fingerprinting tool that is well-known to the Linux community.
Next, there was Crack, which is a well-known password cracker, as well as John the Ripper. There were two that I was not familiar with, namely which is apparently a BIND version checker. (That can be good to know, considering how many pesky security problems have been found with old versions of BIND/) And, finaly, ghba.c, which is a tool for extracting machine names and IP addresses for a class B or C subnet. (Those last two are actually links to source code that has to be compiled before it can be run.)

The article went on to talk about several commercial and Open Source scanners that check for security vulnerabilities. I won’t bother to mention the commercial ones, since they have big advertising budgets. But, I will list off the high-powered open source tools. I’m familiar with the first one, Nessus which has gotten very good reviews in several Linux magazines. The second one is a relative of SATAN, which got press right about the same time Linux really started to get going, Security Auditor’s Research Assistant (aka SARA). I’ve just started hearing about the next one, Whisker, which scans for CGI script vulnerabilities. That’s a nice one to know if you do as much CGI stuff as I have lately! And, finally, Hping2, which I’ve never heard of but seems to be a generic port scanner.

In any case, my point is that there are lots of tools out there that don’t cost a thing, but time, to use in your pursuit of a more secure environment. And, if you’re just reading this wonderint what a security audit is, or why it should be done, it looks like it’s time to get out there and start reading! (I’d start with a free subscription to Information Security magazine.) Happy hunting!

Yet another “legal action” from SCO.

Man, when the decision finally comes down from judge that these guys were wrong, and I firmly believe that it will, they’re going to be hip-deep in lawsuits from people trying to recoup their “licensing fees”. Yet, according to this article on Australian IT, they’re still at it! Now, it seems, they’re bringing suit against not only Autozone, but Daimler-Chrysler “to enforce the contract points agreed to by our end users,” according to Darl McBride, SCO’s chief executive. I just can’t believe that they don’t see how stupid this is. I guess because some folks actually paid their questionably legal licensing fees, they figure they can just keep rolling over everyone else. Frankly, I can’t imagine who’s doing business with them anymore. Oh, wait, maybe that’s the problem! No one was doing business with them, so they had to raise revenue, and…. Duh! I guess I get confused when people do things that seem willfully wrong, for lack of a better word. I guess it’s the Polly Anna in me. Oh, well, at least it generates some press for Linux. There’s no such thing as bad publicity, right?