The error: "bind error: strong authentication not supported" when setting up SSL replication is misleading. If you have serverAuth set, consider this note:
Note Replication over SSL requires ServerClientAuth Secure mode.
After getting my line back, I got around to reporting another fault to Exetel. I thought that from the tests that I'd done and my mrtg latency graphs that my local exchange (Warilla) was underprovisioned in terms of Optus' (Exetel's DSLAM provider) backhaul bandwidth. The biggest affect this has on me is that BF2 is unplayable during "peak" hours (usually when I want to play) but fine after peak hours. This probably had something to do with me losing interest in it lately.
After spending countless hours (ok, I reckon at least 20 is realistic) over several weeks I was finally able to get them to get Optus to acknowledge that they were in fact underprovisioned. Small satisfaction to know I was right all along, but a month ago they told me Optus would not provision more bandwidth until at least February. Pretty lame, but nothing I (or Exetel) can do about it. Optus sucks.
:( our phone line has developed a problem and there is an extremely bad crackling noise on it. If you are trying to contact us then mobiles are the best bet since voice is unintelligible.
Surprisingly, ADSL is still syncing albeit at 1-3M rather than the usual 8M, with SNR down to 4-8 instead of around 15dB. It's funny that you can't make a telephone call but can get better than dial up speeds. Plenty of packet loss too meaning our 'net is extremely flakey.
This morning I isolated all our phone equipment to make sure the fault wasn't on our premises so I'm sure of that.
Our phone provider is Exetel, who are reselling an Optus Wire Line service, of which the 'last mile' is owned and managed by Tel$tra. This means I don't have high hopes of it getting fixed anytime soon - I can only hope that someone else in the street has the same problem and is a Tel$tra customer and that our line gets fixed at the same time. In any case a fault has been logged with Exetel and we'll see what happens...
I thought I'd make a list of the software I regularly use - at least on a daily basis. It will be interesting to look back on this list in a few years and see how things change.
My main server is a AMD AthlonXP 2800+, which used to be my main desktop. In fact, my main server has always been my main desktop in a former life - slightly out of date but well specced for what it needs to do. Anyway, it's called "pug" an it runs Linux. To be specific, it runs Debian. Years ago it ran Red-Hat 4, then 7, after which time I got sick of where Red-Hat was headed. Debian is a great platform because the "stable" branch is always stable, while the "testing" branch contains the newer software. I generally run with stable, but with a few packages from testing where I need the newer version for features. Upgrades to new releases don't require you to go through some whacky CD installation procedure but rather "just work" with minimal fuss. There are a myriad of packages for Debian, probably more so than any other distro (excluding Debian derivatives like Ubuntu).
I connect to pug with OpenSSH because it is secure. I have tons of port forwards, reverse port forwards, and also make extensive use of it's inbuilt SOCKS proxy. Tunnels everywhere. I manage a few connections with autossh. It's cool to find a piece of software that fits your needs just as you'd imagined it would need to. I also use the keychain script which is another bit of code I was going to write but found already existed better than I imagined it.
I use screen for all my login shells meaning I can always reconnect and keep working where I left off. I don't know how people can admin systems without it. At home I keep an IRC session running, my mail open and a tail of several log files. At work I keep open connections to frequently used systems, and mailboxes. I use less as my pager because well, less is more but better.
I read all my personal email with Mutt because it is much quicker than GUI equivalents and means I can access it from anywhere and it is fast. On rare occasions I'll use Mozilla Thunderbird from my desktop or work machine if I want to view graphical attachments.
I run my own SMTP email server using Exim4 along with Spamassassin to keep my inbox somewhat clean. I reject probable spam at SMTP time and regularly report spam to Vipul's Razor. I also use Courier-IMAP so that I can access my mail with Thunderbird (and so that Cass can access her email too).
I use Pidgin for Instant Messaging (MSN, Jabber/XMPP, and Sametime) and have used it since it was Gaim v0.7. Pidgin is another piece of software that "just works" does what it needs to do in a clean way and does it well. For IRC, when not using Pidgin I'm always logged in on pug with irssi which is pretty cool software, if only for the fact you can upgrade the software without losing your IRC connections!
I use rsync a lot, since discovering it a few years ago at work, for just about everything. This includes copying, backup and remote backup of critical files. At work it is invaluable for copying databases etc. across slow pipes. At home it is invaluable because BackupPC, the software I use to backup all my machines is based on it. BackupPC lets me efficiently keep a second copy of all my data and automates backups so that I hardly ever need to intervene. Incidently, I run it on "baky" which is my desktop-2, server-1th class of hardware, again running Debian.
When I need to write stuff, it's usually in Perl5 because I like it so much. I find it much easier to get small things done in Perl than C or C++, and it lives on every old box at work. I took a look at Python but never liked the idea that it was whitespace dependent (I've used computers for 20 years so it's hard to break old habits, such as the whitespace is unimportant mantra). I also don't really see anything it adds over Perl. The fact that it is harder to get running on older unices (because it is younger) means it is less important to me. However some of the software I really like is written in Python.
For even simpler stuff and day to day use, I use ksh because when I started UNIX at work, the dinosaurs rightly pointed out that ksh is the most standard and can be found on just about any UNIX system. Besides, csh sucks hard. For editing I use vi or vim if available because again, the dinosaurs rightly pointed out that if you can vi you can do anything! (incidently I used to use MicroEmacs on the Amiga - yuck!)
I've started using Mercurial for revision control (I used to use plain old RCS). Mercurial happens to be written in Python and I chose it because it looks nicer than git and the documentation is well written. I didn't like the monotone database idea and am scared of anything written in Haskell like Darcs.
sheesh this is going to be long... have you fallen asleep yet?
I look after a few websites and have built a few Internet Commerce sites (like when Cass started Scrap Pile or when I recently did Country Scrapbooking's website. My web server of choice is Apache2 because well, it's the best and most available (apparently lighttpd is good for performance but that's not a concern I have).
We picked Zen-Cart because I'd tried Os-commerce and found it lacking. Luckily Zen-Cart went in the right direction and did pretty much everything needed right out of the box. Customising the templates to look nice is the hardest part because I'm not really great at graphical web design.
I use the e107 cms for the Southern Crane web site, having proven itself on the old .:sGc:. clan website and then again for the Team Phoenix web site. Again it does everything right out of the box and I've even written a few plug-ins for the TP site (which I will host the source for via Mercurial hgwebdir soon).
Neither Zen-Cart or e107 would exist without PHP, the Perl-like web scripting language. It trips me up sometimes when I get confused about what I can do in PHP vs. what I can do in Perl, but I guess that's because I don't do PHP very frequently. One of the e107 plug-ins I mentioned earlier is written in PHP and also a lot of tinkering is done inside Zen Cart. (OK, Zen-Cart and e107 would probably exist without PHP, they would just be written in many more lines of Perl.)
Neither Zen-Cart or e107 would exist without MySQL as the database engine. (OK, they would exist, just using Postgres ;) ). I got into MySQL when one of the Battlefield 1942 stats tracking bits of software used it (years ago, when I admin-ed a BF1942 server for Swiftel). Since then it's popped up just about everywhere - we use it a lot at work, especially for our wiki. I used to be scared of databases (strange I know since we use Oracle and DB2 at work) but MySQL becoming popular has helped remove some of that fear.
still awake?...
The web sites I've done have used both Coppermine and Gallery2.0. Coppermine is good because it integrated well with phpbb which I've used for forums, and with zen cart, but Gallery has much nicer default themes and presentation.
This blog is run on Pyblosxom because I really liked the idea of flat file storage, so looked at blosxom (written in Perl) but found it not as well maintained or supported as Pyblosxom (written in Python). So the choice was easy and I'm really happy with it. I don't need to worry about any special backups or losing it if some corporation suddenly disappears or changes it's mind.
Now that you have fallen asleep I can admit to using WindowsXP on my Desktop machine aka. "Teapot". I only do it because the games I'm addicted to: BF1942, BF2, and Frontlines: Fuel of War are Windows only (well, they will run on wine/cedega but as soon as you play online/multi-player you will get kicked because of Punkbuster (anti-cheat) which expects you are running on Windows). I also used Windows95 before I saw the light and we have always used it at work, so it's something I'm familiar with. Now that Cass has her own laptop I will eventually dual-boot and use Debian primarily, and Windows for my gaming fix.
So being stuck with Winblows, I make the most of it. I would be lost without Cygwin, which surprisingly has extremely up to date ports of UNIX software for Windows. I especially use rxvt for terminal emulation (including a "dos-box" aka. "command-prompt"). Cygwin is the only real way to get OpenSSH and Rsyncd running well on Windows (for BackupPC remember, and general remote access). Thankfully, Cygwin and all it's packages are truly free.
Web browser wise the choice is simple: Firefox. I've used it since it was called Netscape Navigator, then Mozilla, then, Phoenix, then Firebird etc. I hate using IE... hate hate hate. I've used Lynx when in text mode and to get out of trouble, and also wget, but nothing beats a telnet to port 80 ;)
At work we need to use MS Office but at home I use Open Office which does everything I need it to. It's cool that OO is now good enough to be a complete replacement for home users. Now for their open format to become standard...
I pretty much live with one or more Putty sessions open, either to work boxes or to pug. It's so much easier to do things in a terminal window and Putty does it well. Over time just about every feature I've wanted and even some I didn't know I needed have made it in to Putty. I also use pagent to manage my in memory ssh keys. If I was stuck on a deserted island with only one piece of software with me I would want it to be Putty.
For remote access, I use TightVNC server and viewer because it suits my needs best. It's pretty reliable and seems to be the best performing and most compatible.
Lastly, I do use some free software under windows that is closed source. Firstly there is Metapad which is a lightweight notepad replacement, which I have been using for years. Next is PSPad which is a great IDE/editor for windows. I use it because it is fast. Maybe I should ditch both and use vim? nah.
Daemon Tools is useful, but I could live without it. I use it so that I don't need to bother with having the game CD/DVD's in the drive because they will get wrecked by little fingers.
For anti-virus I use AVG because if you run Windows then you need anti-virus. I should try Clamwin one day.
For graphics I use the GIMP because it is open source, but I do admit to using Photo$hop when I get frustrated with not knowing or not being able to do something in the GIMP. I should be strong but sometimes the GIMP is just painful. I've used Inkscape for vector graphics before, but when Greg did the Southern Crane logo in Corel Draw I borrowed a copy and installed it and admittedly it is quite good. I really should learn more Gimp-Fu.
That's all for now, if you've made it this far then you are indeed a sad person. Like I said at the start, this is the software I use on a mostly daily basis. It's all stuff that I'm happy with and comfortable using, but like everything software will evolve, there will be new things, and some old things will still remain.
Here's a little something I was working on last month in my spare time:
Channel: Other Games Lounge ( MMO/RPG )
+-----------------------------+----------+--------+----------+--------+------+
| Nick | Privs | Flags | Time | Idle | Ping |
+-----------------------------+----------+--------+----------+--------+------+
| Jakes2142 | R | | 5h 45m | 19m | 35 |
| MXfLy | R SA | | 4h 56m | 1s | 68 |
| Bob | R | | 1h 25m | 16s | 48 |
| urbanninja | R | | 2h 55m | 5s | 80 |
+-----------------------------+----------+--------+----------+--------+------+
Channel: CS:S Lounge
+-----------------------------+----------+--------+----------+--------+------+
| Nick | Privs | Flags | Time | Idle | Ping |
+-----------------------------+----------+--------+----------+--------+------+
| 5fold.capped | R SA CA | | 4h 37m | 13s | 74 |
| (yogi) YoGi | R CA | | 28s | 12s | 35 |
+-----------------------------+----------+--------+----------+--------+------+
Channel: Team Phoenix
+-----------------------------+----------+--------+----------+--------+------+
| Nick | Privs | Flags | Time | Idle | Ping |
+-----------------------------+----------+--------+----------+--------+------+
| Farmy | R CA | | 3h 18m | 2m | 35 |
| Artanis | R SA | | 40m | 0s | 23 |
| Shiftydingo | R | | 1h 47m | 1m | 29 |
+-----------------------------+----------+--------+----------+--------+------+
Channel: Away Room
+-----------------------------+----------+--------+----------+--------+------+
| Nick | Privs | Flags | Time | Idle | Ping |
+-----------------------------+----------+--------+----------+--------+------+
| (dex) Dex | R SA | | 3h 48m | 36m | 63 |
+-----------------------------+----------+--------+----------+--------+------+
Channel: COD 4 Lounge
+-----------------------------+----------+--------+----------+--------+------+
| Nick | Privs | Flags | Time | Idle | Ping |
+-----------------------------+----------+--------+----------+--------+------+
| Mone | R SA CA | | 4m | 1m | 34 |
| C0M3D14N | R SA CA | | 4h 48m | 2m | 595 |
+-----------------------------+----------+--------+----------+--------+------+
You can also do a query on a single channel.
Now to IRC-bot-ify the thing so people in the Team Phoenix IRC channel can query TS whenever they like. Will post the code soon-ish.
