Date: 05/17/07     Keywords: technology, database, linux

My company is looking for an audit tool which will help us track down hardware, e.g. when someone says "do we have a spare dual core PC kicking around?" we could search a database (updated daily?) of specs including when those machines were last used.

It's easy enough (in theory) to keep track of PC specs and where they were deployed but the hard part is finding out if they're actually being used - not that any of us hoard hardware :)

We have ~200 Windows machines (mostly XP or 2003 Server, but some NT4 and a few Vista installs recently) plus a few Linux (Red Hat and SUSE) servers in one site; we do maintain a couple of subnets, but the tool wouldn't have to span them (we could run it separately on each net if need be).

The tool doesn't have to be freeware but personally I'm a big fan of open source; it would, of course, have to be malware-free and be able to interrogate Windows machines (the Linux boxes would be a bonus but not essential). We're not going the extra step of trying to physically locate the hardware - that would require too much technology (i.e. money), and it won't hurt the techies to do a little legwork. :)

Any recommendations?

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/itprofessionals/56836.html

Date: 05/01/07     Keywords: linux

I am being asked to configure and develop n end-to-end SNMP monitoring solution.

I have used tools to monitor syslog and SNMP from devices, but never servers.  I am not even sure where to start.

I am expected to have all of our Cisco devices, Linux servers, Windows servers and Novell servers configured and reporting to a central console that performs notifications based on the message.

Does anyone here have any good resources on configuring a server to report event, errors, logs, etc via snmp?

Thanks in advance.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/itprofessionals/56740.html

Date: 04/30/07     Keywords: no keywords

I have been tasked with an evaluation of CiscoWorks and whether it meets the needs of our organization laid out by our director.

If there are any of you that know CiscoWorks that can address these issues, it would be much appreciated.'

• SNMP
• Can it process SNMP traps from other servers and devices and provide notification of the events?
• QoS
• What is needed to manage device level QoS using CiscoWorks and is it efficient and reliable
• IOS Updates
• Can we push out updates as well as backup and restore configurations?
• Statistics
• Is there the ability to check switch and/or port level statistics that we do now via shell access?
• Inventory
• Is there a way to maintain a fully dynamic and updated inventory in CiscoWorks.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/itprofessionals/56408.html

Date: 04/16/07     Keywords: asp, security, spyware, spam, microsoft

Debate the Future at the 17th annual Computers Freedom and Privacy
Conference, 1-4 May 2007 at the Hilton Bonaventure Hotel in
Montreal, Quebec. WWW.CFP2007.ORG

CFP is the conference where the inventors and innovators on the Internet
met the industry, the regulators, and the creative community to talk about
the new freedoms the net brought. Free speech, censorship, filtering
spam, crypto controls, business security, dataveillance, were all meat
for the all-night debates that took place at this annual gathering.

There has never been a greater need to talk about these issues. This
year's agenda is packed with plenaries and breakout sessions, and Birds
of a Feather sessions that look at all aspects of the growing threats
and opportunities for autonomy in cyberspace.

Featured Speakers

* Whitfield Diffie Sun Microsystems
* Ron Rivest MIT
* Simon Davies Privacy International
* Michael Geist University of Ottawa
* Bruce Schneier BT Counterpane
* Kim Cameron Microsoft

* 1 full day workshop * 8 half day tutorials * Topics include: * ID
Management * Digital Divide * Surveillance * Stalking * Wiretap * War
on drugs * Digital Millenium Copyright Act * Charter rights * RFIDs *
Spyware * No Fly lists * Traffic analysis * Airline Passenger Data *
Health Information * Censorship * Data Retention * Forensics * Security
Information Management

All this and lots more! Watch the program at www.cfp2007.org

Simultaneous Translation throughout plenary sessions

*Discounts for Students and ACM Members*

Stephanie Perrin
Chair CFP2007
forge@ca.inter.net

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/itprofessionals/56274.html

Date: 04/12/07     Keywords: technology, linux

O'Reilly is doing a new certification/training system called the O'Reilly School of Technology at http://oreillyschool.com/courses/

They are offering a Linux section which might be interesting, with the cost around $400.00. Looks like you might be able to get real credits for them at some universities.

Thoughts?

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/itprofessionals/56020.html

Date: 04/11/07     Keywords: no keywords

The CIO at my company recently approached me asking for ways to encrypt ALL data going out over our WAN/between our branch locations. We have recently migrated from a frame relay network to a Metro Ethernet/MPLS combo allowing our remote branches to communicate directly with each other, bypassing the corporate hub. I am looking for something that would allow me to dynamically create IPSEC tunnels between all of my locations on the WAN.

Cisco's DMVPN solution seems to fit what we want, but I'm wondering if anyone else offers a similar solution.


x-posted

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/itprofessionals/55698.html

Date: 03/30/07     Keywords: web, yahoo

Does anyone have any recommendations for a corporate environment?

free is great, but paid is acceptable..

a) filtering by transparent proxy. only certain users have full access, some have restricted access to specific websites.
b) blocking of msn,yahoo, aol, skype etc (preferably also by specific users).

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/itprofessionals/55417.html

Date: 03/25/07     Keywords: html, asp, security

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032201882.html?sub=AR

My National Security Letter Gag Order

Friday, March 23, 2007; Page A17

It is the policy of The Washington Post not to publish anonymous pieces. In this case, an exception has been made because the author -- who would have preferred to be named -- is legally prohibited from disclosing his or her identity in connection with receipt of a national security letter. The Post confirmed the legitimacy of this submission by verifying it with the author's attorney and by reviewing publicly available court documents.


The Justice Department's inspector general revealed on March 9 that the FBI has been systematically abusing one of the most controversial provisions of the USA Patriot Act: the expanded power to issue "national security letters." It no doubt surprised most Americans to learn that between 2003 and 2005 the FBI issued more than 140,000 specific demands under this provision -- demands issued without a showing of probable cause or prior judicial approval -- to obtain potentially sensitive information about U.S. citizens and residents. It did not, however, come as any surprise to me.


Three years ago, I received a national security letter (NSL) in my capacity as the president of a small Internet access and consulting business. The letter ordered me to provide sensitive information about one of my clients. There was no indication that a judge had reviewed or approved the letter, and it turned out that none had. The letter came with a gag provision that prohibited me from telling anyone, including my client, that the FBI was seeking this information. Based on the context of the demand -- a context that the FBI still won't let me discuss publicly -- I suspected that the FBI was abusing its power and that the letter sought information to which the FBI was not entitled.

Rather than turn over the information, I contacted lawyers at the American Civil Liberties Union, and in April 2004 I filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the NSL power. I never released the information the FBI sought, and last November the FBI decided that it no longer needs the information anyway. But the FBI still hasn't abandoned the gag order that prevents me from disclosing my experience and concerns with the law or the national security letter that was served on my company. In fact, the government will return to court in the next few weeks to defend the gag orders that are imposed on recipients of these letters.

Living under the gag order has been stressful and surreal. Under the threat of criminal prosecution, I must hide all aspects of my involvement in the case -- including the mere fact that I received an NSL -- from my colleagues, my family and my friends. When I meet with my attorneys I cannot tell my girlfriend where I am going or where I have been. I hide any papers related to the case in a place where she will not look. When clients and friends ask me whether I am the one challenging the constitutionality of the NSL statute, I have no choice but to look them in the eye and lie.

I resent being conscripted as a secret informer for the government and being made to mislead those who are close to me, especially because I have doubts about the legitimacy of the underlying investigation.

The inspector general's report makes clear that NSL gag orders have had even more pernicious effects. Without the gag orders issued on recipients of the letters, it is doubtful that the FBI would have been able to abuse the NSL power the way that it did. Some recipients would have spoken out about perceived abuses, and the FBI's actions would have been subject to some degree of public scrutiny. To be sure, not all recipients would have spoken out; the inspector general's report suggests that large telecom companies have been all too willing to share sensitive data with the agency -- in at least one case, a telecom company gave the FBI even more information than it asked for. But some recipients would have called attention to abuses, and some abuse would have been deterred.

I found it particularly difficult to be silent about my concerns while Congress was debating the reauthorization of the Patriot Act in 2005 and early 2006. If I hadn't been under a gag order, I would have contacted members of Congress to discuss my experiences and to advocate changes in the law. The inspector general's report confirms that Congress lacked a complete picture of the problem during a critical time: Even though the NSL statute requires the director of the FBI to fully inform members of the House and Senate about all requests issued under the statute, the FBI significantly underrepresented the number of NSL requests in 2003, 2004 and 2005, according to the report.

I recognize that there may sometimes be a need for secrecy in certain national security investigations. But I've now been under a broad gag order for three years, and other NSL recipients have been silenced for even longer. At some point -- a point we passed long ago -- the secrecy itself becomes a threat to our democracy. In the wake of the recent revelations, I believe more strongly than ever that the secrecy surrounding the government's use of the national security letters power is unwarranted and dangerous. I hope that Congress will at last recognize the same thing.

jwz

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/itprofessionals/55214.html

Date: 03/20/07     Keywords: hosting

Hey all,

Does anyone have a good recommendation for IMAP hosting? I do not need a huge number of accounts, however reliability is job one!

Thanks in advance!

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/itprofessionals/54607.html

Date: 03/15/07     Keywords: no keywords

I just bought the Maxtor Shared Storage II 1TB and realised that it doesn't support active directory.

basically, what i want is each user in my organisation has their own folder eg: \\maxtor\users\%username% as configured under active directory/home directory.

the problem of course is that permissions cannot be assigned. ie: if I used \\myserver\users\%username% where myserver is a harddisk in any of my domain computers, permissions will be given so that the active directory user has full access to his folder and no user has access to other user folder (unless explicitly added).

I can't even create a hidden share.

Would anyone have any suggestions, or do I just go ahead and hope that no one smart enough to figure out they can see everyone elses files by going to \\maxtor\users

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/itprofessionals/54500.html

Date: 03/05/07     Keywords: php, html

hello y'all

i need to convert html(php actually) to multi-page PDF files.

ive tried FPDF but that also shows your HTML tags.

anyone got any tips ?

(X-posted to some tech/php related communities)

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/itprofessionals/54088.html

Date: 03/05/07     Keywords: no keywords

I was wondering if anyone on this community is a computer teacher. I’m a Network Systems Coordinator at a local hospital in New Orleans. I’ve been working at my job for almost 3 years now. I have my associate’s degree. I know I should go back to school to get my bachelors. My job is very demanding. I was looking to change careers but I love what I do. So I was thinking about teaching computers instead. Maybe at a vocational college, junior college or university. I was wondering exactly what I would need in order to teach. I never really looked into it before until now. Bachelors? Masters? Teaching certificate? Additional teaching classes?

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/itprofessionals/53884.html

Date: 03/02/07     Keywords: database, asp, sql, web, google

Hi! I'm currently making a website for a school project using ASP.NET and SQL and it has a registration form. How do I keep the registered entries unique like say...make sure no two people get the same login name? My 'loginname' variable in my database is data type nvarchar(50). I've tried google and some other sites but I don't think I'm getting the keywords correctly.

Thanks for your time!

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/itprofessionals/53657.html

Date: 03/01/07     Keywords: php, asp

Hi everyone!

Do you know where to get a function reference or another manual for ASP?

I know I can get it for PHP there:
http://www.php.net/download-docs.php
and I am looking for something like that for ASP.

Thanks.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/itprofessionals/53297.html

Date: 02/22/07     Keywords: software, virus, antivirus, spam

I'm looking for anti-malware solutions (antivirus, antispam, etc) which are 100% compatible with Exchange Server 2007.

So far I haven't found any vendors that fit my requirements. Everybody says they're completely compatible with 2003, but they simply don't say anything about 2007.

I'm interested primarily in an appliance (e.g., Barracuda's Spam Firewalls), but am also considering software solutions which go on the Exchange server itself.

Can anyone offer suggestions?

Right now I'm faced with setting up a new Exchange Server 2003 organization and then upgrading to 2007 when the anti-malware offerings become a bit more mature. I'd prefer to avoid that and go straight to 2007 if I could.

(x-posted)

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/itprofessionals/53107.html

Date: 02/22/07     Keywords: no keywords

(do any of you work with nortel contivity's?

i'm having a lot of problems with our ces 1700dv and i wanted to know if anyone else had similar issues.)

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/itprofessionals/52899.html

Date: 02/21/07     Keywords: mysql, database, sql, postgresql, web, hosting

I used to work in web hosting and domain registration and the like. But I've been out of it for the last 2 and half years focusing on backup and disaster recovery. Anyway, does anyone know of a "good" hosting and domain registration service? I know from experience that a lot of these companies will milk you for every dollar they can and you need to have a company that is on the up and up. Has anyone had good experience with a particular company?
The site will be a small specialty site. No commerce or what have you, but we will need email, and about 10 MB of space. This will be a business but should not have a lot of traffic. 10 hits per day average. If possibly, I would like to have the ability to do database (MySQL or PostgreSQL) and shell access but that is not a requirement.

Thank you in advance for any help.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/itprofessionals/52421.html

Date: 02/19/07     Keywords: linux, microsoft

Hi!

I have over 9 years of Microsoft operating system experience and I want to expand! I have NO experience with Linux and from what I've seen so far it's a pineapple to Microsoft's apple (pardon the pun). Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I might approach learning Linux? Any good n00b suggestions? I know I can learn it, I figured it couldn't hurt to ask!

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/itprofessionals/51989.html

Date: 02/19/07     Keywords: php, rss, web

Hello! I would like to provide new project for webmasters and php-developers scriptmafia.org
You can read rss-translation in LiveJournal scriptmafia

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/itprofessionals/51864.html

Date: 02/16/07     Keywords: software

I'm currently working on a project that involves a photography studio!

• They're on their 3rd TB of data
  
• I want to get them away from those stupid RAID 1 enclosures that offer them 1tb of data storage
  
• They have some backup scheme in place, but it involves cds.
  
• They just hired a re-toucher guy, and hes going to use gobs and gobs of storage. (they only have 2 other employees, the owner and an assistant)
  
• They don't want to spend a fortune.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/itprofessionals/51468.html