Diary of a Network Geek

Just a random collection of thoughts.
Earlier this week, Frank Gorshin, the original “Riddler” died. He was always my favorite character. So wild, so creative, and always the mad genius who seemed one step ahead of the Batman. Yet, somehow, the writers always managed to make him trip up in the end. Never did figure that part out. And, interestingly enough, the Batman cartoon, which is the only reason I wake up before noon on Saturdays, featured a new villian today. You guessed it, the Riddler. He was good, but, he was no Frank Gorshin.

Thanks to a faithful reader, BleuCube, I took a quiz this morning. (My apologies, incidentally, for not spelling your site’s name correctly all this time! My very English oriented mind simply “corrected” the exotic French spelling on the fly.)

You scored as Cultural Creative. Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational. Cultural Creative 94% Idealist 75% Romanticist 56% Postmodernist 56% Existentialist 50% Fundamentalist 38% Materialist 31% Modernist 6%

What is Your World View? (corrected…again)
created with QuizFarm.com

And, finally, in security geek news, there’s a new version of nmap. The new version is not only faster, but uses a less invasive technique for scanning networks that leaves no trace. In other words, for you WinDoze admins who leave IIS out on the network, exposed, this bad boy can do a port scan on your network and you wouldn’t know it by reading the logs. Oh, but good news for you, there is a WinDoze version, so you can test your own network and try to plug the holes. If you can manage it between applying patchs, fixes and anti-virus updates. I’m so glad we’ll be moving to Linux soon at my office!

Well, it’s time to go play with my dog. It’s a nice sunny day here in Houston, and the grass seed I planted is starting to grow, so I’m off to water, feed the fish, and play some fetch with Hilda. Maybe I can finally get her to drop the ball when she brings it back…

I usually just take my coffee strong and black.
Generally, I’m baffled by the fancy coffee shops and their selections of various sizes, flavors, additives and Italian nomenclature. I’m more of a diner kind of guy, not a “café” type of person. But, I do like a good cappuccino and, I have to admit, Starbucks specialty iced drinks are very good. I especially like their Frappacinos and DoubleShots. That being said, however, I’ve always been terrified of going into an actual Starbucks store and ordering a coffee. So many options, so many decisions, and so many ways to make a mistake and look like an uncultured goon. Thankfully, there’s help for the fancy coffee impaired: Starbucks Drinks Simplified.
This Jim-dandy site has all the answers to your embarassing Starbucks questions. At least, it had all the answers to MY embarassing Starbucks questions! Now, if I can just get over my social anxiety, I might just get myself out to a Starbucks for coffee. I wonder if I could bring Hilda? (My dog, not a new girlfriend.) Maybe if they had an open-air café…
Well, while I dream of meeting the future Mrs. Network Geek with Hilda, I’m off to get some regular, black coffee.

You, on the other hand, should click on the Fun Friday link and find out more about how to order a Venti Caramel Macchiato Half-Caf with a Ristretto, Upside Down. Yes, you can actually order that. I think.

Advice from your Uncle Jim:
"My obligation is to do the right thing. The rest is in God's hands."
   --Martin Luther King

No, not me. I’ve never been.
Nor is it any of my friends, so you all can breathe a sigh of relief, I haven’t ratted any of you out. No, it’s Frank “Frankie Breeze” Calabrese who, according to this article on ABC7Chicago.com, has been ratted out by his own son, Frank Junior, and his brother, Nick. And, he’s not outside now, though he was supposed to get out next year. Now, that has got to be hard time, being turned in by your own kid and brother.
I mention this because I actually met Mr. Calabrese when I was a kid. I call him “Mister”, incidentally, because I call anyone who can kill me, or have me killed by just pointing at me, “Mister”. My dad did business with one of his fronts, a place called FCL Graphics. They were printers and undercut everyone else in the greater Chicago area when my dad needed printing done for a company he managed. We went to a Christmas party there once and I met the whole gang, if you’ll pardon the pun. (Incidentally, the picture in the link is nothing like I remember Mr. Calabrese. It must have been taken in the late 40’s, when he was just getting his start.) He seemed like a nice, older gentleman. A sort of grandfatherly figure. But, I shook hands with him. I must have been all of eight or nine. Old enough to remember it, but not old enough that it’s a really clear memory. Actually, he’s responsible for my interest in origami. He owned the license on a couple of origami books and he sent some home with my dad once. I’m been folding paper cranes ever since.
I got to that news story by way of this article on Slate about “mobster” nicknames, but this story caught my attention, because he’s almost never in the news. The only other time I remember seeing him in the news was when he got caught back in 1995 or 1996, long after my father had stopped using his business. We were all a little surprised at the time, but, in retrospect, it does make sense. How else could he afford to charge such low prices. I mean, they were just criminal…

Advice from your Uncle Jim:
"The only difference between saints and sinners is that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future."
   --Oscar Wilde

Well, I survived the daytrip to New Orleans.
Barely. Not that the flight was bad, because my boss is actually an excellent pilot and the weather was good. In fact, it was better than most commercial flights I’ve taken, except for the fact that I felt like I couldn’t take a nap. I learned a long time ago to work hard while I was on-site and sleep on the plane.
No, the problem was the “little” problem I thought I was going to fix. See, what I thought was a little problem with some spam e-mail turned into virus hell. Of course, I prepared for that and I brought a copy of our Symantec Corporate Anti-Virus to install. No problem, right? Wrong. When I installed it an old version of Norton Anti-Virus was still installed and the resulting conflict led to the dreaded Blue Screen of Death on the server. Not good. So, I finally get that worked out and discover that the machines are all in a workgroup. None of them sign into the Domain on the server. That meant going from machine to machine and installing the anti-virus program by hand on each one, which, of course, I did. All day long, until about 6:00pm when a break in the weather sent us scooting home.
We got in about 8:30pm, which got me to my door at about 9:15pm, or so to find a puppy with her little legs crossed! I sent a friend who has a key, in case of emergencies, over to let her out, but she was afraid of him and wouldn’t do anything. Silly dog. Just like always, she’s daddy’s girl and wouldn’t do anything for anyone but him. Gotta’ admire that loyalty, even if it’s a little co-dependant.

Advice from your Uncle Jim:
"Good habits are not made on birthdays, nor Christian character at the New Year. The workshop of character is everyday life. The uneventful and commonplace hour is where the battle is lost or won."

Actually, I think it’s a prop plane, but, you get the idea.
Well, the boss told me we’re off to the New Orleans office tomorrow to work out some of their computer issues. Mainly, it seems like they need to get their anti-virus software automatic update more, er, automated. And, of course, they need to get all their machines cleaned of spyware. And, while I’m there, I’ll do a bit of inventory. Since they seem to have a Windows 2000 server, I have a script that claims it will gather all the information on all the machines in the domain. We’ll see. If it works, I’ll post about that tomorrow.
So, it’s off to bed with me, since it’s an early morning tomorrow flying with the boss. Oh, didn’t I mention? The boss has his own plane. I’ll be flying in a single-engine prop plane and my boss is the pilot.
Pray for me.

Advice from your Uncle Jim:
"I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after."
   --Ernest Hemingway

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, Copyright 1952.

Advice from your Uncle Jim:
"The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time."
   --Abraham Lincoln

I LOVE Friday the Thirteenth!
Why? Well, mainly because I’m perverse and everyone else seems to distrust it. Also, over the years, I’ve complained about my bad luck so often that I used to say the only time I had good luck was when everyone else had bad luck. So, Friday the Thirteenth, became one of my “lucky” days. Not sure how this one will turn out, but I’m hoping for the best!
Oh, and here’s a link to why everyone else is afraid of Friday the Thirteenth.

Hey, why not click that link. After all, what else could go wrong today?

Advice from your Uncle Jim:
"Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned."
   --Peter Marshall

I’m starting to feel like the Grim Reaper again…
So, one of the guys a level above me in the food-chain at work starts asking me some cagey questions this morning before lunch. I start to get nervous, thinking that they expected me to have the server migrated by now or something crazy like that. But, no, when I get back from lunch he asks me to disable the accounts of the guy who used to do my full-time job part-time. He’s no longer with the company. Ah-ha! Suddenly all those questions Tuesday about security and security concerns make sense. I still need to address some of them in the long-term, though. Things like having actual names for user names and forced password rotation. Little details like that…
Yeah, I’m working with a blank slate here in regards to an IT infrastructure. Sure, it’s a pretty messy blank slate, but still, there’s no where to go but up and I get to steer the IT boat, so to speak. Not a bad gig, if you can get it. Especially if you can get it without selling your soul or relying on nepotisim. Though, I have to admit, if I had a rich dad who could get me a cushy gig with little or no effort on my part, I wouldn’t kick about it! (Too bad he’s happily retired.)

I love Dr. Suess, but all he did was inspire the title.
I have two concerns this week: Linux servers and security. I’ve installed a test RedHat server and configured Samba on it, so now I can start testing how the accounting system will run from a mapped Linux drive. And, I’ll be testing the custom, in-house app that gives us our competitive edge. I’ve got server spec to get to the boss, when he’s in the office again, but I’m still waiting on pricing for a Linux-based backup system. It was actually much easier to get setup than I thought it would be. Though security may be an issue, since, essentially, Samba emulates Windows sharing on a Linux platform.
Security is my second issue. There’s a basic firewall in place on the router, but I don’t think that’s enough, especially if we want to block “adult” sites. And, since we do actually have a policy against that sort of thing, we do. So, eventually, I need to get that all spec-ed out and installed, too. And tested. Yeah, a little scan against our outside link would be interesting to look at, especially if I do it before and after. Ah, well, that’s down the line. First, I have to get the server upgraded.
Oh, and I still need to evaluate Novell’s Open Server on Linux before I decide which way to go for an OS on the new server. I know I want to avoid a Microsoft product, if at all possible. Frankly, it looks like it should be a real possibility. It all depends on how testing goes this week, so we’ll see. That and getting a CD burner at the office so I can burn the demo ISOs and install them.
Then, there are all the “little” projects that everyone keeps bringing me, not to mention all the nice G4s and assorted Macintrash… Ah, the work of a one-person IT department is never done. But, somehow, having easily defined goals makes the work more fulfilling. I know where I’m going and how I’m going to get there, so it’s all okay.
(The Suess book, by the way, was One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and a childhood favorite.)

Test your skills!
Well, since it’s hacking IIS 6, I’m not sure how much of a “challenge” it will be, but, still, the “Hack IIS 6 Contest” sounds like a bit of fun. The goal, obviously, is to crack a publicly available Internet Information Server 6 that the contest organizers have setup. They claim to have set it up as they would expect the “average” Windows Admin would have configured it. The goal is a simple defacement or the reading of a “hidden” document. The prize is an XBOX.
If I had more time, it might be fun. Of course, I’m not really a hacker, nor have I ever claimed to be a hacker. My “skillz” are so out of date that the last time I did any “security testing” was back in the days of the BBS. Remember those? Ah, the good old days… And, to be honest, even then I was little more than a clever script-kiddie. (On the other hand, there have been those who accused Kevin Mitnic of being little more than a well-connected, persistent, script-kiddie, too, so I guess I’m in good company!) But, for you young’uns that might be a little bit more spry than Old Man River, it could be a fun challenge.
The contest runs through June 8, 2005.