Friday, September 23, 2005

SSH On Cisco Router

Last week we had and very peculiar requirement and requirement is like that in our Indian datacenter some engineers are trying to enable HDV (High density voice module) for voice call routing with our existing EPBAX. I am helping them too from different continent itself. But unfortunately I am not able to access that router on our dedicated MPLS circuit. But from my hotel room I am able to access that router because one of its interface is also connected to internet. And its my requirement to access router till time its not get configured properly because I am also doing lots or R&D on that . Suddenly after one day some one raised an security concern because I am accessing that router through telnet session (Means clear text password transfer on internet) Very dangerous man. And then research started to enable the SSH on router too ASAP. Although with small effort its started working . Enclosed steps evolved.

Configure Host Name

Router(config)# hostname Keekar-Router
Keekar-Router(config)#

Configure a domain name on your router using the ip domain-name command.

Keekar-Router(config)# ip domain-name keekar.com
Keekar-Router(config)#

Then, create an RSA encryption key pair for the router to use for authentication and encryption of the SSH data.

Keekar-Router(config)# crypto key generate rsa
The name for the keys will be: Keekar-Router.keekar.com

Choose the size of the key modulus in the range of 360 to 2048 for your General Purpose Keys. Choosing a key modulus greater than 512 may take a few minutes.

How many bits in the modulus [512]: 768
% Generating 768 bit RSA keys ...[OK]

Keekar-Router(config)#
*Mar 1 00:17:13.337: %SSH-5-ENABLED: SSH 1.5 has been enabled
Keekar-Router(config)#

As you can see from this example, after the system generates the key, you'll receive a message that it has automatically enabled SSH 1.5 on the router.
What is this SSH 1.5 ? (We are wondering)
Then got to know CISCO call SSH1 --> SSH 1.5. Its quite funny Yes I know . :) Imagine 1.5 Man, In palce of Willian-2 , William-1.5 . OK thats enough concentrate.
If the system has enabled support for both SSH1 and SSH2, this message would say SSH 1.99. :)) (Sorry buddy I am not able to control my self.
If the system has only enabled support for SSH2, the message would say SSH 2.0.

You can also configure SSH settings if you choose. To do so, use the ip ssh command with which ever parameters you choose to set. (Different IOS versions have different
options because they support different versions of SSH.) Here's an example:

Keekar-Router(config)# ip ssh ?
authentication-retries Specify number of authentication retries
Port Starting (or only) port number to listen
on
Rsa Configure RSA keypair name for SSH
source-interface Specify interface for source address in SSH
connections
time-out Specify SSH time-out interval

Keekar-Router(config)# ip ssh

Configuring optional SSH settings completes the process of configuring SSH on the router. Now, let's take a look at showing the SSH status.
To view the status of SSH, you can use the following commands:

* Use show ip ssh to view SSH settings.
* Use show ssh to view SSH connections.

Here's an example:

Keekar-Router# show ip ssh
SSH Enabled - version 1.5
Authentication timeout: 120 secs; Authentication retries: 3
Keekar-Router# show ssh
%No SSH server connections running.
Keekar-Router#

SSH debug commands are also available by using the debug ip ssh command.

You can use a device's built-in SSH client to connect to other SSH servers. The Privileged Mode command is ssh. Here's an example:

Keekar-Router# ssh ?
-c Select encryption algorithm
-l Log in using this username
-o Specify options
-p Connect to this port
WORD IP address or hostname of a remote system

Keekar-Router# ssh




Saturday, September 17, 2005

Indians are terrible at prevention, but terrific in crisis management

Although below mentioned words are not of mine its of Anita (columnist for Outlook) . But I am highly impressed what she captured, Its reallay a marvelous. I am reading some articles abt the political, social and economics of India and this article came across. Enclosed same for u because I know if I add URL u might hesitate to read.

Starting From Politics :
In fact, nationalism is one of the biggest growth industries in India, one that is guaranteed to stymie, if not wreck, genuine economic progress. In the last decade, the rise of Hindu nationalism has become a growing nightmare for India's Muslims and Christians. At the heart of this ideology is the belief that today's Muslims should be punished for historical wrongs perpetrated by medieval Muslim invaders and conquerors. The worst Hindu-Muslim rioting and looting happened in the western state of Gujarat in 2002, when Hindu mobs killed and maimed thousands of innocent Muslim civilians, including pregnant women and children, avenging another ghastly incident in which Muslim criminals roasted alive 58 Hindu pilgrims in a train. If unchecked, nationalism will also take its toll on the dangerous Kashmir dispute that bedevils relations between the nuclear-capable neighbors India and Pakistan. The two countries have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, engaged in another low-level conflict in 1998, and come to the brink of another in 2002, prevented mainly through diplomatic intervention by the U.S. The situation is exacerbated by politicians who polarize Hindus and Muslims before elections in order to garner Hindu or Muslim votes -- with Hindus constituting 82% of the population, Hindu nationalism clearly has a better chance of winning the electoral stakes. The battle for votes may be won through this diabolical strategy of dividing communities, but the opportunity for India to achieve her true destiny as a stable, prosperous giant in the 21st century will be lost.

Bill Clinton once said: "India remains a battleground for every single conflict the world has to win." Certainly India copes with massive problems -- mounting corruption, joblessness, judicial bottlenecks with few convictions and delays of up to 20 years for delivering justice, AIDS, acute water shortages, poverty, disease, environmental degradation, unbearable overcrowding in metropolitan cities, crises of governance, sectarian violence, and terrorism. India adds one Australia to itself every year -- 18 million people. The rural poor (who form the majority) see children as an economic resource, the only security net for old age, and high child-mortality rates necessitate the need for more than one or two. Apart from India's huge natural growth rate, an estimated one to two million poor Bangladeshis slip into India every year in search of work.

Besides all the problem it is really a miracle that India has not collapsed, but this is a country of remarkable stamina. The trouble is, India does not act until a crisis is full-blown. Indians are terrible at prevention, but terrific in crisis management. (Comparable example is of Bombay flood and Switizerland flood and katrina in US) As it looms closer -- like the imminent judicial collapse -- it is exasperating and frightening to see citizens and authorities insouciantly lurch towards the abyss. But once they reach the precipice, Indians are adept at pulling back quickly and effectively. They don't descend into chaos because they are adaptable and resilient. For if disparity is India's weakness, diversity and courage are her strengths. India has a strong network of grass-roots-level institutions, NGOs, and activists that form a kind of coral reef, erecting little barriers on which political and economic onslaughts falter, such as the recent attempts to build an industrial belt around the Taj Mahal that, once exposed in the media, were shelved. These onslaughts come from an array of "threats" -- from local politicians to multinational corporations. Nobody can ride roughshod over India. Nobody can fool Indians. Foreigners may be smooth-talking, willing to bribe, have fancy degrees, and speak English with a beautiful accent. But they can neither arm-twist nor hoodwink Indians. The shenanigans of Enron were exposed first in India. India stood firm amid the Enron-orchestrated swirl of accusations of being difficult, corrupt, untrustworthy. All of which is true. But it was equally true of Enron. Eventually, it was Enron that went bust.

When they cannot do it their way and according to their schedule, politicians rail against the bureaucrats, trade unionists, judges, journalists, and NGOs. But this defensive "coral reef" is what has saved India from sliding precipitously to economic ruin. The pace of Indian economic reforms was widely attacked as too slow by the IMF and World Bank. And yet Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001 and a former chief economist for the World Bank, now admits that India's caution and slow, deliberate steps are precisely what saved the nation from the catastrophic meltdowns and flights of capital that befell Asian and Latin American countries.

India has always been a giant and will continue to be a giant. But she will move at her own pace. She is not an Asian tiger. She is more like a stately Indian elephant. No one can whip or crack her into a run. If you try, the stubborn elephant will dig in her heels and refuse to budge. No power on earth can then force her to move. The desire for change and movement must come from within. India will move, but she will be slow, ponderous, circuitous. Progress will come, but it will come in measured steps, not in leaps and bounds. There is no point arguing whether this is good or bad. It is good and bad. And it is many things in between.

After all, this is India. And we are Indians. :)

Monday, September 12, 2005

Does India need dictator ?


Does India need dictator ?

Its a very long time after which I enclosing my writeup . But yes like to get ur comments to present my views in much more creative way.

Last thrusday I met an Srilankan guy on road. I am actually going as usual but suddenly I hear some words of my familiar language . Its not very clear to me because I had an ear buds of my portable music box on my ears. I stoped and removed my ear buds: just shocked that that guy is taking to me only and important to mind that he is taking to me in Hindi. Then we chat for a while and in that small introduction he said to me can u speak in Hindi because he is taking to me in Hindi and I am replying to him in English . Its not like that I didn't speak or like to talk in Hindi but its long time and now I have shortage of word in my vocabulary that's why I am not able to speak conveniently in Hindi. He started parsing India for so many things.

Thats amazing experience and analysis which I did on my self and realized that the environment help u alot for command over any language . When I am in India I had same feeling when I tried to speak to any one in English but here I had same feeling in my own language. Might be I got diverted to the point . This chap has his mouth totally red like most of the people in India due to Gutka or PAAN . He described that he finished some part of his formal education in india and here also he is studying and part time worked in restorant .Thing to notice for me is that this fellow is almost of 35 years and still a student .

Friday again I had an lunch with one of my colleague at McDonald. Their again we had discussion abt our country . He is elder to me but his views about country is completely negative and he said that our leaders fought for independences unnecessarily. According to his views bruisers has done great job and we are developed nation if we are ruled by them . Unnecessarily our leaders( named one ) demanded for independence and they got it too without vision. Even though he is not ready to accept that India is country prior to Independence. Its very bad that what ever he studied and where ever he studied does not tell him that India is country since from Mahabarata age although that is known as BHARAT VARSH (Named on the name of ruler Bharath) After that great Ashoka tried to make it united and this phenomenon is followed by some to mugal emperors too.

According to him we had poverty and illiteracy today because of independence . I am not aware weather he is right or I am right . I only learned and heard that the ancient Indian greatness . Neither I have seen the Britsh rule. Although I agree that the railways and some big bridges are created by Britsh but for such small thing how much heavy amount we paid . If India is so much backward then why till 1800 century world is fascinated abt India. Take example of Alexender, Mohammad Tuglaq or any other invaders. I am not aware abt the facts but I received one presentation which state that .

India was the richest country on Earth until the time of the British in the early 17th Century

Robert Clove’s personal wealth amassed from the blunder of Bengal during 1750’s was estimated at around £401,102.
It has been estimated that the total amount of treasure that the British looted from India had already reached £1,000,000,000 (£billion) by 1901. Taking into consideration interest rates and inflation this would be worth close to $1,000,000,000,000 ($trillion) in real-terms today.

On the top of all these britishers killed our knowledge society. Why I am saying this because its proved that scientifically we are much more advance till 1700 BC some of the examples are
  • India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta. The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.
  • Aryabhatta was the first to explain spherical shape, size ,diameter, rotation and correct speed of Earth in 499 AD.
  • The World's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. Students from all over the World studied more than 60 subjects.
  • The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
  • Sanskrit is considered the mother of all higher languages. Sanskrit is the most precise, and therefore suitable language for computer software - a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987.
  • Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans. Charaka, the father of medicine consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.
  • Today Ayurveda is fast regaining its rightful place in civilization.
  • Christopher Columbus was attracted India's wealth and was looking for route to India when he discovered the American continent by mistake.
  • The art of Navigation was born in the river Sindh 6000 years ago. The word ‘Navigation’ is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also derived from Sanskrit 'Nou'.
  • In Siddhanta Siromani (Bhuvanakosam 6) Bhaskaracharya II described about gravity of earth about 400 years before Sir Isaac Newton. He also had some clear notions on differential calculus, and the Theory of Continued Fraction.

Can u not think that for such a small things we paid a very heavy amount to British. Ultimately our discussion closed on the point that currently Indian does not deserve the democracy and country should be ruled by some dictators to stablise our country. I am also agreed on that part and if am dictator I will try to find people having such views and through away from the our country. Our country need a cleaning now. Every thing has to be cleaned its politics , corruption , thoughts or such personalities who are what they are because of country itself and not ready to accept it.

And I am not able to understand why such people are not ready to accept what we achived so far, but only crib abt what we are not able to do till date. And if some foregin national like our country then why not our country mens. Does some day will come when I can see that our own country men feel proud to be Indian like me (but yes facts and stats are essential).