August 2005 - main

Gigabit Woes
by Chris Glover 31 Aug '05

31 Aug '05

Hi, Here's one for the networking gurus on this list :-) At work we are intending on using a Linux machine running snort as an IDS (much cheaper than the Cisco alternative) with two gigabit nics. We have been doing some throughput tests, and are not convinced this will work, these tests were without installing snort. Our test setup is as follows:- ----------- ---------- ----------- - Windows - - Linux - - Windows - - 2003 srv------- ------- 2003 srv- ----------- --------- ----------- 10.128.30.2 eth0 10.128.30.1 10.128.32.2 eth1 10.128.32.1 All machines have gigabit NICS, and are connected via a Foundry gigabit switch. The Linux machine we used was an HP Proliant 3.0 GHz Dual Xeon with twin onboard Broadcom NICs using the tigon driver. We had the linux machine configured as a basic router.The linux machine was running knoppix, booted into textonly mode, with nics manually configured (ie only bash and the kernel running, and no iptables). We were doing the tests using netperf. We had applied the tweaks to the NICs from this site http://www.enterpriseitplanet.com/networking/features/article.php/3497796 If we put the two windows machines onto the same subnet, and using the "Network Utilisation" graph in Task Manger showed we were running at 85-90% util. When we had the linux machine acting as a router between the two machines, this dropped to 35% util. Admittedly this probably isn't the best method. Using netperf between the windows and linux machine, again gave 85-90% util. This was with both windows machines sending data to both nics of the linux machine at the same time. We cant understand how the throughput can more than half, when sending between the two windows machines via the linux machine. This system is going to go on a very busy network, so speed is essential. We had tried the above test with a DELL single processor Xeon with onboard Intel and PCI Realtek gig-nics, and got very similar results. All tests were done with Knoppix 3.9 (2.6.11 kernel). On the production system we'll probably be using Redhat Enterprise. Anyone got any ideas? Are we missing something in the config? Many Thanks Chris -- Chris ---------------------------------- E Mail: chris(a)glovercc.plus.com SIP: 84411389(a)voiptalk.org IAXTEL: 17003366726

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X Windows programming question
by Chris Green 31 Aug '05

31 Aug '05

I'm playing with an existing X application program, modifying things to suit my requirements. Most things I seem to have fathomed out OK but I want the ability to change some window properties (it has only one window) 'on the fly'. Initially I just want to toggle one property when the right button (button 3) is clicked. I can catch the button event OK, that's not a problem. I then call XChangeProperty() to change the property. But what do I need to do to get the window redisplayed having called XChangeProperty() ? -- Chris Green (chris(a)areti.co.uk) "Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence."

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re: DNS searching
by David Noble 30 Aug '05

30 Aug '05

Cheers, managed to do it- in the end, it turned out the dns server addresses were hidden in a very obscure menu on my d-link router ;) Thanks, Dave

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DNS search
by David Noble 30 Aug '05

30 Aug '05

Hi, On Suse 9.1, how can i find out the DNS servers if my router doesn't tell me? Is there some sort of daemon/configuration script that can be run? Thank you very much, David Noble

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[ALUG Announce]WS Free Info Infrastructures, London, 1-2 October
by MJ Ray 30 Aug '05

30 Aug '05

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Rufus Pollock <rufus.pollock(a)okfn.org> wrote: > ~ For Redistribution Far and Wide ~ > > On the first weekend of October (1st and 2nd) the World Summit on Free > Information Infrastructures (http://www.wsfii.org/) is taking place in > London. This event will bring together individuals and groups from > across the world working on projects such as free wireless networking, > free of copyright mapping and open hardware. A provisional programme is > available here: > > http://www.wsfii.org/programme.html > > The event is open to all but we encourage you to register because space > is limited. A small entrance fee of £10 is planned to help pay for costs > but concessions are available. You can register via: > http://www.wsfii.org/register.php ----- Send discussion replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk (Reply-To set) Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

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Weekly IRC reminder
by Brett Parker 29 Aug '05

29 Aug '05

This is the automated ALUG IRC meeting reminder sent to remind you that there is an IRC meeting tonight (Monday) at 8.00pm. The meeting takes place on the irc server irc.alug.org.uk in the #alug channel. Most IRC clients should allow you to get there with the commands "/server irc.alug.org.uk" and "/join #alug". Popular IRC clients include tkirc, bitchx, xchat and EPIC on Unix, and Mirc under windows. Here are some links to help you get started with irc. Unix http://www.xchat.org/ http://freshmeat.net/ http://www.epicsol.org/ Windows http://www.mirc.com (loads of help with irc for newbies!)

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Re: [ALUG] Multi-card reader
by Brett Parker 26 Aug '05

26 Aug '05

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Chris Walker <chris_linux(a)wymondham.demon.co.uk> wrote: > On Wed 23 Mar, Brett Parker wrote: > > > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > > Hash: SHA1 > > > > <snip /> > > Chris Walker <chris_linux(a)wymondham.demon.co.uk> wrote: > > > This has 4 slots in it too but I'm failing at the first hurdle. Trying > > > the command above gives me 'bash: modprobe: command not found'. > > > > Ahhh! I may have neglected to say that they need to be run as root, as > > it's loading kernel modules... > > > > I'm *assuming* that Mandrake has modprobe, it's part of the usual base > > system, so it should have. > > Ah. I missed that vital step. OK. Done that and now, having the steps you > gave me earlier, I now have loads of new icons on the desktop. > > I'll have a crack at editing the fstab file now to see if I can get it to do > all this automatically on boot up now. > > I appreciate both your help and that from Chris Glover. You'll probably want to add the modules to the /etc/modules file (or that's where I'd add them on a debian system, anyways... *goes look it up for Mandrake...*) OK - for Mandrake it appears that the file is /etc/modules.conf, and it'll be a line something like: probeall ehci-hcd usb-storage that you need to add, or expand the probeall line to include them. Then the modules should get automagically loaded on boot. Thanks, - -- Brett Parker web: http://www.sommitrealweird.co.uk/ email: iDunno(a)sommitrealweird.co.uk -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.0 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFCQYPlEh8oWxevnjQRAhZsAKDOTBJEh0gaGyHEeDz1bnMuVZZi0QCfbqRN xLL3iWeKsawO+NOjr0rdGP4= =qyPP -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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3gp files
by Ten 23 Aug '05

23 Aug '05

I wonder if anyone has any ideas on this.. The 3gp video files produced by my phone (or, for that matter, any other phone I have access to) are not so readily accessible through media players as I'd hoped. Some 3gp files can be played by mpeg4 stuff, but phone-shot ones are without sound. Now usually, this sort of thing is a matter of being told "ah, everybody uses package X", but I can't find much in google. I have progressed through several levels of the inferno, past xine, even into the dark and shady lands of RealPlayer(shudder)'s 3gp support, and have now reached the truly gutwrenching depths of running Microsoft's Windows Media Player (shudder still more). All the files work perfectly in WMP, which is consequently associated with 3gp files on our machines for pragmatism's sake. This, is not a desirable state of affairs. ...Help, anyone? There are 10 types of people in this world -those who understand binary, and those who don't.

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A strange filesystem - er - thing!
by Barry Samuels 23 Aug '05

23 Aug '05

Sorry - did it again - forgot to set my correct email identity for the list so I'm sending it again. Apologies for any duplication. I wanted to try the K3b DVD Ripping/Encoding option. The 'Help' says: "First step is to choose the title/movie you want to rip. For this click on the drive icon of your DVD-Drive. You will now see a list that shows the content of the DVD with all movie sequence. The longest movie sequence (usually the main movie) is automatically selected. Right click on the title and choose copy." So I did that. Then it says: "In the following dialog enter the destination directory in the first line. The second and third will be filled out automatically. Don't change these paths." There wasn't a following dialogue and it immediately started filling my Home partition which I didn't want so I killed K3b. It still went on writing to the Home partition until it was full. I determined to delete whatever file it had written to the partition except that there wasn't one. Even KDirStat wouldn't acknowledge that the partition was full, saying that it was 66% used, and didn't show any large files - hidden or otherewise. 'df' and 'di' showed the partition as 100% used. In the end the only way I managed to cure it was to reboot when things went back to normal. Does anyone have any idea where the space went - how can it be used but not show anything using it? Regards to all Barry Samuels http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk The Unofficial Guide to Great Britain

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Using Real VNC Free edition & Personal edition on Linux/XP
by David Simon Cooper 23 Aug '05

23 Aug '05

Hello folks, I am promoting remote desktop access for support services to a couple of small companies I am working for. I can use the linux VNC client to connect to the XP machines and help them when they have problems, I tested it at home and it works great, I am setting up their on site firewall to use static real IP addresses from the ISP and to do the routing etc, I have this sorted. I am recommending the Free Edition of VNC (I will ensure the company makes a donation to the developers for each licence) because it is simple and fast. I have a few questions you may be able to answer: a) Free edition - The password challenge response is encrypted using DES but all other traffic is not. I will not be sending any critical data over the link but how is the data represented? I am guessing it does not send the text that is visible on the screen on the remote system as plain text etc rather that it uses some kind of framing technology. If I am seeing all of the data on their screen I take it that their VNC server is not sending all of the data as is back to me. b) Personal edition - I could buy them this version as it is only about £15 per licence and it does support full encryption but I am concerned about the speed (I am 120 miles away) and it does not have a Linux version which means I would either have to use an XP machine to provide support, I could instead buy the over-the-top enterprise edition or settle for the unencrypted Free Edition. I have considered the security implications. To make things safer with the Free Edition I could just put an icon on their desktop and ask them to run the user mode app whenever they want me to connect, this would mean the server is only running when they want stuff fixed, they could close it when stuff is done, very safe. I would of course have the "ask for permission" option enabled on VNC for security reasons. Do you folks have any views on this? Cheers David Cooper

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