Keeping on my Toes – Mac to Linux and back

I love my MacBook Pro more than I love my motorcycle. There I said it. When I don’t get a chance to ride my motorcycle I get cranky and irritable, but when I don’t know where my computer is…death to all. The only thing that exceeds my love of Mac is my love of Linux. The reason I began using Apple products was from the consulting days of my life. I needed a machine that when I opened the lid, turned on, and began doing what I told it to do. Linux does this just spiffy, but the problem is I am fiddgity. My work machine was in a constant state of subversion dumps and compiles. A new kernel patch set? Sure why not. GIT Release of GNOME looking spiffy, download away. The problem is that when you live on the edge it is sharp. Bleeding edge releases in Linux made my laptops constant compiling machines. I tinker and therefore I Mac. ...

December 27, 2008 · 3 min · Nick

Similarities between Santa and System Administrators

__Santa is bearded, corpulent, and dresses funny. __ __When you ask Santa for something, the odds of receiving what you wanted are infinitesimal. __ __Santa seldom answers your mail. __ __When you ask Santa where he gets all the stuff he’s got, he says, “Elves make it for me.” __ __Santa doesn’t care about your deadlines. __ __Your parents ascribed supernatural powers to Santa, but did all the work themselves. __ ...

December 25, 2008 · 1 min · Nick

FIPS 140-2 Open Source SSL/IPSEC – Thanks Red Hat!

I always keep my eyes on what modules are undergoing FIPS validation. Here is an email sent to my teams… A shortcoming of open source has always been the lack of validated security modules. Red Hat has recognized this shortcoming and submitted their products and libraries for FIPS validation. As we move to more secure enterprise solutions it will be important to remain aware of these products as to lean on them in our products. Using validated products removes the need to take a hit during C&A or seek waivers. Just a friendly FYI from your IA Architect: ...

December 22, 2008 · 2 min · Nick

Move from Physical to Virtual with CloneZilla

Just a side note for when I forget how I fixed this… When using CloneZilla you can capture server images and redeploy them unless there are hardware differences. To fix issues with hardware changes between physical server hardware and VMware here are my fix actions: Windows 2003 Enterprise Change the hard drive to IDE from SCSI. Windows will blue screen when you boot after image deployment since it cannot find the drive to boot from. You will get the error: 0x0000007b After booting windows 2003 you can then install the BusLogic or LSI SCSI drivers Red Hat Linux 5 Boot with the first CD of the install set and instead of an install, use linux rescue. Once booted chroot /mnt/sysimage Blank out the /etc/modprobe.conf mv /boot/initrd-2.6.18-20.el5.img /boot/initrd-2.6.18-20.el5.img.orig mkinitrd /boot/initrd-2.6.18-20.el5.img 2.6.18-20.el5 reboot Windows XP Change the hard drive to IDE from SCSI. Windows XP in the default install does not include the two SCSI adapters VMware supports, BusLogic or LSI Logic. During the CloneZilla restore you are given a few options. The ones to select to ensure a successful MBR restore are: -t1 -j1 These settings will allow you to move your physical clonezilla images to vmware.

December 17, 2008 · 1 min · Nick

Machiavellian Leadership

Contents 1 Defense and Military 2 Reputation of a Prince 3 Generosity vs. Parsimony 4 Cruelty vs. Mercy 5 Avoiding contempt and hatred 6 Gaining Honors 7 Nobles and Staff 8 Avoiding Flatterers 9 Fortune 10 Share this: The past few weeks my read of choice before bed is The Prince, by Niccolò Machiavelli. While the book speaks volumes to the monarchy of yesteryear, the implications for a “Prince” like myself are astronomical. The book has had a direct impact on my leadership outlook and helped me to better understand roles. Forgot the cheese and focus on a classic. The book is a chapter-by-chapter breakdown on leadership principles for Princes of the post-Roman empire. Machiavelli does a wonderful job showcasing both sides of a coin. For example Machiavelli correctly points out that a leader must strike a balance between cruelty and mercy. A leader cannot be totally loved and respected and likewise cannot be totally hated and respected. This same chapter discusses the implications of the people loving or hating you and assassination. A very inclusive chapter. As with all principles it is important to take them in small doses. A modern day leader can lean upon the ideals portrayed but not engulf them. My teams would certainly be opposed to my hanging them to deal with disgruntled employees. Or maybe I am just a weak modern leader, a good hanging never hurt anyone. ...

November 28, 2008 · 8 min · Nick