Tech

I recently purchased a first-generation NAS adapter from Addonics, which lets me hook up an external drive to our network without requiring a workstation or server.  I connected it to a Seagate FreeAgent 1T drive, at a total cost of around $125.

The combination worked fine from Windows, except that files copied to the NAS drive always got a new date / time stamp.  Addonics tech support was no help, basically saying that there was no way around that.   In fact, reloading the firmware with an update from a rival vendor actually did fix this issue.  See Cheap NAS Solution for some additional information on this.

The bigger problem is the fact that I can’t access this drive from FreeBSD using Samba.  Other Windows shares mount fine,  and can be used without issue.  If I mount this drive however, whenever I issue any bulk file copy, the NAS Adapter locks up.  I have to power-cycle the adapter to get the drive back on line.

I’m running FreeBSD 7.0 on a Dell Dimension workstation.  Updating to the latest Samba port did not help.  Searching through the web did not reveal any others with precisely this problem, so I’m stuck at this point.

I plan to re-load this workstation with the latest stable version of FreeBSD in the near future.  Maybe that will help.  The device is supposed to support Linux via Samba, so technically should work equally well on FreeBSD, but I wonder.  I suppose I’ll try my daughter’s Ubuntu-running laptop and see how it works.

In the mean time, accessing the NAS storage via the built-in FTP service works fine from FreeBSD, so I can still transfer files back and forth.  Any other suggestions are entirely welcome.

Updated 03/15/2010 – added information from Flint Journal article

Ron Fonger, a writer for the Flint Journal and the guy who broke the story about Genesee County entering the competition to woo Google for their announced high-speed fiber-optics network, phoned me yesterday.  He’d  apparently come across this blog much the same way I found his story – a Google search for information on Genesee County’s involvement.  We chatted about some of the benefits Genesee County might reap if Google were to choose to invest in their experimental network here, and what some of the obstacles are to making that happen.  Ron is writing a follow-up story which should appear on mlive.com tonight, and in the Sunday edition of the Flint Journal.  (Online Version Here)

One thing Ron told me was about a website called Flint Area Broadband, which is an attempt to raise awareness of Genesee County’s initiative to attract Google to our area, and to call for community support.  I took a look at the site, and I posted a message with my own thoughts on why we would be the best place for Google (mirroring what I said in my initial post on the subject).  My message is currently awaiting moderation.

The site does not seem to have any official sponsorship from civic or community leaders.  It is registered to Paul Knific, a successful Flint-area entrepreneur.  The site is new, and obviously still under construction (note – as of 3/15/10 the site appears more complete), so it could be that Paul will be the official outlet of information for the County’s involvement.  Or maybe he’s just impatient, waiting for some official buzz about the project, and decided to take the initiative to get community support.  In any case, I applaud the site and hope it gains some momentum for the Flint area.

In a related story, the Associated Press has reported the Governor Granholm met with Google leadership this week to encourage them to put their new network in Michigan.  No details were given as to whether Her Honor expressed any preference for potential locations within Michigan.  One can only hope that Genesee County was mentioned favorably if she did.

I can’t say for sure if I had anything to do with it, but I’ve been trying to drum up awareness of Google’s intent to build experimental fiber networks in one or more comunities for about 3 weeks now (see Genesee County Should Host Google’s Experimental Broadband Network and it’s follow-up).  While I never received any replies, I see that there has been an announcement that we’re finally throwing our hat into the ring.

The Mayor of Topeka, Kansas has temporarily renamed his city “Google, the Fiber Optics Capitol.”  Duluth, Minnesota’s mayor jumped into Lake Superior.  Other cities have facebook pages.  All to drum up awareness and community support for their efforts to get Google’s attention.

So far Genesee County hasn’t announced any publicity stunts, but hopefully with the mayor, the board of commissioners, and “several institutions or municipalities, including Genesee County government,” we’re putting together an attractive proposal.  Lord knows we can use the positive impact Google could make on our community.

Fake anti-virus programs, rogue security software, extortion-ware – whatever you want to call it, this kind of malware is still prevalent.  They usually start with some pop-up message warning you that your system is infected and offering some free download to clean your computer.  Generally, no matter what you choose, if you click on it at all, it installs a worm or virus.  After that, this malicious software will peform a fake scan, and report all sorts of nasty infections, none of which your PC will actually have.  The program will try to convince you to pay for an “upgrade” which will clean all these reported nasties out.  From beginning to end, the whole ordeal is a scam designed to steal your money.

I’ve put together a short guide, showing how to spot and avoid these scams, links to ways to remove them, and where to report them if you become a victim.  Please check out How to Protect Yourself Against Scareware, on Associated Content.   For more in-depth analysis of scareware, see this article from Viruslist.

Astroturfing is the practice of creating fake grass-roots organizations to sway public opinion.  According to freepress.net, “Astroturf groups fighting media reform manufacture the impression of public opposition to issues like Net Neutrality to sway policy makers and the media. What these groups won’t tell you is that they’re bought and paid for by the phone and cable industry.”

One recent example of astroturfing cited in Wikipedia includes several self-proclaimed seniors groups, whose biggest contributor is the pharmaceutical industry.  Another is the “Save Our Species Alliance”, which calls itself a grass-roots organization but is actually a front group for wealthy cattle and timber interests.

For the past several years, the telecommunications and media giants have engaged in some pretty shady practices, including astroturfing, in order to obfuscate the so-called Net Neutrality, or Internet Neutrality debate.  Click on the interactive control to the right of the text (couresy of freepress.org) to learn more about how much these companies are spending in order to convince the public and our lawmakers that net neutrality is a bad thing.

Last week I mentioned that I was trying to raise awareness in Genesee County of Google’s interest in building a high-speed fiber network.  I had sent out several emails, mostly to members of the Genesee Regional Chamber of Commerce (GRCC) and the Genesee FreeNet.  Not having received any responses as yet, today I placed a call to Keith Edwards, Senior Development Director of Economic Development of the GRCC.  Mr. Edwards informed me that they are indeed aware of Google’s intent, and were planning on meeting Monday to discuss this.  Apparently he did not receive my email, but said someone in their IT department had brought it to their attention.

Hopefully we’ll see something come of this.  Maybe I’ll call him back after Monday to see how things are going.

Google is seeking one or more communities in which to develop an experimental broadband high-speed fiber network. Google is interested in hearing from state, county, and municipal agencies in order to determine where to develop this network.  I’ve been trying to raise community awareness of this for several days.  So far, I don’t think I’m getting through to anybody.

Below is a copy of an email I’ve been sending to community leaders.  On February 16th I sent it to the Michigan Works Association, The Genesee County Board of Commissioners, the Genesee FreeNet, and the Economic Development arm of the Genesee Regional Chamber of Commerce.  I also placed a call to the Genesee FreeNet (of which I’m a charter member) to make sure they got the email.

The message to the Regional Chamber of Commerce was to a generic office email address, and it bounced as undeliverable.  So the next day I sent the same email to various office-holders of that organization, including the CEO and 3 vice presidents of economic development.

At the time of this writing (evening of February 19th) I have received no reply.  I intend to send out more emails, and to follow some of these up with phone calls.

The letter:

Greetings from a hopeful Genesee County citizen. This email is meant to bring awareness to the fact that Google is seeking one or more communities in which to develop an experimental broadband high-speed fiber network. Google is interested in hearing from state, county, and municipal agencies in order to determine where to develop this network.

I believe Genesee County is the ideal place for Google to build out this infrastructure. Not only do we have the talent and drive to help Google achieve its goals, but we understand the economic and cultural importance of a connected community. For example, we founded the Genesee FreeNet over 15 years ago, and it still exists because of the knowledge and generosity of its volunteers and members.

I know there have been efforts by insightful groups of people to develop community-wide broadband access in the past. Perhaps this initiative from Google can serve as a springboard toward realizing that worthy goal.  Time is unfortunately short. Google is asking for input between now and March 26th before making its decision. Please visit the site, watch the short video and read the introduction Google has prepared. We then need to bring to bear all powers of persuasion possible, to convince Google of the wisdom of investing in Genesee County.

Google Fiber for Communities:

http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi

–
Joe Poniatowski
Charter Member, Genesee FreeNet

If you can think of anyone else who can help make Genesee County the site of an exciting new model of high-speed interconnectivity, either pass this information on to them or send me their contact information and I’ll do it.

Encrypting with TrueCrypt

In an earlier post I wrote about some of the free encryption options for PC users.  One of the products I talked about was TrueCrypt, and others agree with me that it is a good option for data encryption.  I decided to take it a step further, and wrote a How-To article using TrueCrypt.  It’s a pretty detailed beginner’s guide to creating encrypted volumes on a Windows PC.  Performing the same operations in Linux wouldn’t be that different, since the interfaces are very similar.

Free Virtualization Options

One of my Suite101 articles covers the Benefits of Virtualization on PCs.  The benefits are summarized here:

• Run Alternative Operating Systems
• Safer Internet Browsing and Banking
• Software Testing on VMs
• Customized VMs for Multiple Users
• Snapshots for Easy Backup and Restore

Again deciding that an easy to follow beginner’s guide was warranted, I wrote a Tutorial for getting Linux running in a Virtual Machine on Windows, using VirtualBox.

Encryption and Virtualization for Configuration Management

Both of these technologies can play an important role in config management.  Configuration files containing server information, passwords, etc. are often necessary in the deployment of applications.  Leaving them in plain-text is an invitation for disaster.  Sooner or later, someone who shouldn’t will see the information and gain unauthorized access.  This doesn’t even have to be someone with malicious intent in order to be dangerous.  Some of the worst mis-haps in the tech industry have been caused by well-meaning employees who had more access than their role and expertise warranted.

Virtualization too has it’s advantages for a configuration manager.  If you can create VMs to represent the target servers and workstations, then you can develop, test, and tweak your deployment methods – particularly with respect to automation – without risking any real environment.

These ideas and articles just scratch the surface of the usefulness of encryption and virtualization.  The latter, especially, has a lot to offer in the workplace, including disaster recovery, remote control, backup and restore, etc.   Both technologies can increase the security and reliability of configuration management practices.

One common objection people cite when discussing a switch from Windows to GNU/Linux (or FreeBSD, OpenBSD, etc.) is the fact that none of their programs work there. They’ve been led to believe that the programs they’re using are the only ones they can use, usually because of a work or school requirement.  Sometimes, they just don’t want to have to learn to use new software.  The fact is, most of the free software available for Linux also runs on Windows.  Another point is the fact that most of the productivity / office software available for free can import and export files usable by Microsoft Office, or offer even higher degrees of compatibility.

To ease the transition from Windows to Linux, users can start implementing the open-source alternatives to commercial software while staying within the Windows operating system.  As they master each piece of software, they can adopt the next one, until they’ve completely weaned themselves from the commercial variants. [click to continue...]

I previously reported that I had become a contributing writer on Suite 101. For my first article, I decided to summarize some of the Best Free Encryption options available for computer users.  I covered the pros and cons of Encrypting File System (EFS), TrueCrypt, and GnuPG.  Here’s the quick rundown:

• EFS: OK for Windows users who aren’t using a home / basic edition of Windows.  Can’t encrypt on removable devices.
• TrueCrypt: Good for encrypting not only sections of the hard drive (or entire partitions), but also removable media like thumb drives, CDs, etc.  Encrypted emails possible, but not ideal.
• GnuPG: Best for end-to-end encryption of data at rest and in transit (via email or IM).  Most complex to set up, but messages can only be decrypted and read by the intended recipient.

For download links and full details, please check out the entire article.

What is hosted email security?

Hosted (outsourced) email security is a service offered by 3rd party providers which handles the scanning of inbound (and sometimes outbound) email messages. Following the trend toward SaaS (Software as a Service), or “Cloud Computing” as it is becoming known, hosted email services handle such things as spam filtering, virus and other crimeware removal, phishing protection, etc.

Recent Growth and Projections

The last several months have seen spending on outsourced email hosting and security grow at the substantial rate, primarily among small to medium sized businesses. The growth rate within larger corporations (greater than 2500 users) is smaller but also increasing measurably. According to IDC, The Radicati Group, and other analysts, these growth rates should continue to accelerate over the next few years, exceeding an estimated $2 billion by 2012. This represents a 40% growth in the number of seats over today’s figures.

Already, about 5% of SMB users are utilizing hosted email security solutions, a figure expected to grow to 9% over the next few years.

Advantages to SMBs – Reasons for Growth

A variety of reasons are cited by researchers and subscribers for outsourcing email security, but the main ones are:

• Lower Network Resource Requirements: Spam entering a company’s network incurs bandwidth and storage costs, even if it’s caught in spam filters. Outsourced spam filtering solutions only allow legitimate email to enter the network.
• Fewer Maintenance Costs: The costs of acquiring, configuring, and keeping spam filters up to date can be extensive for in-house solutions, especially when you include the cost of the admin’s time.
• Malware Protection: While an outsourced solution shouldn’t replace in-house virus scanners, keeping up with the latest threats becomes the burden of the solution provider for email. These companies often employ up-to-the-minute malware updates and multiple scanning engines.
• Business Continuity: Should a company’s own network fail or become compromised, the external service provider can queue their mail for a period of time, until their Disaster Recovery Plan is executed (you do have a DR Plan, right?).

Reservations

Not everyone is jumping on the bandwagon. The biggest concern expressed by potential customers is the perceived security and reliability of the service providers’ network. However, research done by NetworkWold indicates that many of these providers maintain infrastructures more robust and secure than that of most of the enterprises they serve. Another issue is the concern for the safety of confidential information being in the hands of an external agency, which is why most subscribers only use these services for inbound email, even though some providers offer outbound filtering as well.

Outlook

As IT departments strive to cut costs while maintaining service levels, more will be looking at the ROI offered by outsourced security solutions.

Legendary writer and author Jerry Pournelle sent me an email! OK, so I’m a subscriber on his website and he sent it out to everybody, but still, I thought it was cool. The message was a warning about the fact that malicious hackers had compromised the online job boards and were selling their services to spammers and scam artists. Monster.com, hotjobs.com, and other mainstream job boards are affected. You can get the details here.

I became a fan of Jerry’s writing in the ’80s when he was a columnist for BYTE Magazine. This was back when magazines printed a lot of useful technical information, hacks, program listings, and electronics projects. A fellow programmer was a subscriber, and introduced me to the magazine, and particularly “Chaos Manor,” Jerry’s column. When BYTE was sold to another publisher, it’s format turned more to product reviews and coverage of the IT business industry. In other words, it became geared more for managers with IT budgets and less for programmers, hobbyists, and end users. Not long after that the magazine ceased publication altogether.

I missed Jerry’s anecdotal accounts of his struggles with technology. He did product reviews too, but always from the first-person perspective of a non-technical person (an author) actually trying to implement, rather than just cover, the products. His often humorous tales were always informative and entertaining. I was delighted when I discovered a year or so ago that Jerry was still writing his Chaos Manor Reviews, as well as Other Musings. I should have known that his talent and desire (need?) for self-expression would have steered him toward the online publishing world, and was chagrined that I hadn’t thought to search on his name sooner.

My home server, which acts as a development web server as well as a file and print server for the numerous PCs around my household, was running on SUSE Linux 10.0. This version of SUSE was the only one of its kind, before Novel re-branded the free version of the OS as OpenSUSE. It was getting increasingly difficult for me to get the updates for SUSE Linux 10.0, so I figured it was time to upgrade to something a little newer. Of course I was planning on loading OpenSUSE 10.3, the current stable release.

Looking for ultra-light linux for kids’ PC

About this time my kids’ old Window 98 PC seemed to be grinding down to a halt as they tried to get it to do more – IM, online games, etc. I tried a couple of small linux loads known for good performance on old hardware, like Puppy Linux and Damn Small Linux (DSL). While both of these are great distros, on this hardware Puppy Linux bogged down with too little memory, and DSL had problems with the USB wireless network adapter on that PC. I even put in an old 16 bit Intel NIC and spent a couple of evenings fishing CAT-5 cable through the attic and wall, but still had some problems with DSL recognizing it.

Someone Mentioned FreeBSD

On some forum (can’t recall where), someone mentioned FreeBSD as a viable option for old, slow hardware, so I decided to try it out on the kids’ PC. After some tweaking of the device hints to get it to use the old NIC, it worked great. Performance is acceptable for the hardware (300 mhz Pentium II), and it runs most Linux software in addition to native FreeBSD code. After some more online research about the relative strengths and weaknesses of FreeBSD vs. other BSDs vs. Linux, I decided to reload the server with FreeBSD. This server is built on a DELL Dimensions platform, with a 2 Gigahertz Intel processor and 256 Meg of memory. It has 2 internal hard drives, a 30 Gig Maxtor 6E030L0, and a 160 Gig Seagate ST3160215A (which came out of a failed external USB SimTech drive.

The Plan

Since the Seagate had a lot of unused space, I wanted to use part of it to back up stuff I wanted to save, but I also knew I would need some of it free for the FreeBSD installation. The trouble is, it was formatted as a ReiserFS file system, which FreeBSD can read but not write to. So the plan included steps to shrink that file system and leave enough unallocated space for FreeBSD to create usable storage. So the steps in general were:

1. Estimate space required to backup user data and development work.
2. Shrink the ReiserFS file system to create unallocated space on the disk, but leave enough on ReiserFS to accommodate the backup.
3. Change the partition sizes on the disk (shrinking the file system does not affect the underlying partition size).
4. Backup desired files.
5. Download FreeBSD and create installation CDs.
6. Install
7. Restore files and configure applications (samba, cups, apache, quanta Plus, etc.)

Next: Part 1 (coming soon): Using resize_reiserfs and cfdisk.

Several months ago I wrote an article for a Helium Marketplace publisher.  My submission was not selected, but I find that it is one of my more popular articles on Helium (definitely in the top 3), so I thought I’d share it here.  Please read How to find out what’s running on your PC (and why this is important).  Let me know how you like it.