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

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. :)

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).

Be careful while using Internet banking on IE.

Do u use Internet Explorer ?

Do u use interbet banking ?

Do u use some time Ctrl+C on ur banking account ?

Stop take a look and think .

We copy various data by Ctrl+C for pasting elsewhere. This copied data is stored in clipboard and is accessible from the net by a combination of Javascripts and ASP. So Do not keep sensitive data (like passwords, creditcard numbers, PIN etc.) in the clipboard while surfing the web. It is extremely easy to extract the text stored in the clipboard to steal your sensitive information.

Not ready to belive :- (Yes I know)
Here is POC (Proof of Concept)
Just try this:

1) Copy any text by Ctrl+C
2) Click the Link : Show POC
3) You will see the text you copied on the Screen which was
accessed by this web page.


Worried thinking what to do ?

One Solution for this problem is here. Forgot past, past is past. Or use FireFox. No No its not a Firefox advertisiment its just a suggesation. I know nothing is 100% secure but hidden flaws are not considered as flaws. Remember who got caugth is theif (simple). Some thing we have to trust. Or leave every thing write ur own browser. :)

Do the following . Dont be cynic on me , I am just helping U.

1. Go to internet options (of Internet Explorer) -> security
2. Press custom level
3. In the security settings, select disable under scripting head "Allow paste operations via script" If not able to find it out scroll down till end and go slowly to up.

Now the contents of your clipboard are safe. U can check it . How ?
Just click Show POC again simple.

:)

Different View Points.

Here is lots of words to say. I am in a very sad mood. Since from yesterday I am not able to decide weather its my right decision to join this organization or not. Slowly its making me sence that I am in wrong position and also on wrong place. People call this place a heaven on earth but slowly its becoming a hell for me.

But suddenly I received an very good mail from one of mine best friend. I am enclosing those words here too. Seems that I am not able to coup up with the changing environment or other thing is that the changed environment is not good. It might be right from both the perspective. Its much more like the discussion of half filled glass betweens two drinker. Both of them are right at their place. One is saying that its half empty because he does not want to share any more. Another is saying that its half filled because he wants to take sip from that glass. Now its difficult to say who is right. Both are correct at their point of view.

In more depth Imagine you're in London's Heathrow Airport. While you're waiting for your flight, you notice a kiosk selling shortbread cookies. You buy a box, put them in your traveling bag and then you patiently search for an available seat so you can sit down and enjoy your cookies.Finally you find a seat next to a gentleman. You reach down into your traveling bag and pull out your box of shortbread cookies.

As you do so, you notice that the gentleman starts watching you intensely. He stares as you open the box and his eyes follow your hand as you pick up the cookie and bring it to your mouth. Just then he reaches over and takes one of your cookies from the box, and eats it! You're more than a little surprised at this. Actually, you're at a loss for words. Not only does he take one cookie, but he alternates with you. For every one cookie you take, he takes one.

Now, what's your immediate impression of this guy? Crazy? Greedy? He's got some nerve?! Can you imagine the words you might use to describe this man to your associates back at the office? Meanwhile, you both continue eating the cookies until there's just one left. To your surprise, the man reaches over and takes it. But then he does something unexpected. He breaks it in half, and gives half to you. After he's finished with his half he gets up, and without a word, he leaves. You think to yourself, "Did this really happen?" You're left sitting there dumbfounded and still hungry. So you go back to the kiosk and buy another box of cookies. You then return to your seat and begin opening your new box of cookies when you glance down into your traveling bag. Sitting there in your bag is your original box of ookies -- still unopened.

Only then do you realize that when you reached down earlier, you had reached into the other man's bag, and grabbed his box of cookies by mistake. Now what do you think of the man? Generous? Tolerant? You've just experienced a profound paradigm shift. You're seeing things from a new point of view. Is it time to change your point of view?

Now, think of this story as it relates to your life . Seeing things from a new point of view can be very enlightening. Think outside the box. Don't settle for the status quo. Be open to suggestions. Things may not be what they seem.

Secure Connectivity through SSH

First Two Para for only those who know what kind of work we are doing currently other people may not be able to understand what I am saying. If it so please leave first two para.
Since from when I am working in this project I am searching some appropriate solution for establishing the secure connection on internet. From very first day I am not able to understand the solution which looks totally ugly and stupid for me (file transfer over https connection). Ultimately I am able to do the thing which I wanted to do. This happened because on of my friend as me for some thing through the news group and I analyzed that its good for me.
Because when ever I suggest some thing good the question always comes we can not go against the clients sec policy. And in that term its seems good solution. Although I am still not able to use this solution (Because we can not go against the client sec policies where ssh is allowed still ....)but might be it help u people.

SSH is an extremely useful tool in that it allows you to do many things in a secure fashion that you might not otherwise be able to do. One of the things SSH allows you to do is to set up a reverse encrypted tunnel for data transfer. Typically, when you initiate an SSH tunnel, you forward a port on the local machine to a remote machine which can allow you to connect to an insecure service in a secure way, such as POP3 or IMAP. However, you can also do the reverse. You can forward a port on the remote machine to the local machine while still initiating the tunnel from the local machine.

This is useful if you have a service on the remote end that you want to have connected to something on the local machine, but you don't wish to open up your firewall or have SSH private keys stored on the remote machine. By using a reverse tunnel, you maintain all of the control on the local machine. An example which I took is for forwarding logging messages; by setting up a reverse SSH tunnel, you can have a logger on the remote system send logs to the local system (i.e., syslog-ng).

To set up the reverse tunnel, use:

$ ssh -nNT -R 1100:local.keekar.com:1100 remote.keekar.com


Let me explain what this does. Is initiate a connection to remote.keekar.com and forwards TCP port 1100 on remote.keekar.com to TCP port 1100 on local.keekar.com.
The "-n" option tells ssh to associate standard input with /dev/null,
"-N" tells ssh to just set up the tunnel and not to prepare a command stream, and "-T" tells ssh not to allocate a pseudo-tty on the remote system.

These options are useful because all that is desired is the tunnel and no actual commands will be sent through the tunnel, unlike a normal SSH login session.

The "-R" option tells ssh to set up the tunnel as a reverse tunnel.

Now, if anything connects to port 1100 on the remote system, it will be transparently forwarded to port 1100 on the local system.

Please dont forgot to send me ur views abt this approach.

Automated FTP File Transfer from Unix

Hi KK,

You can use this document to script an FTP file transfer. The basic idea is shown here.

ftp -i -v -n ftp.keekar.com  (redirector} end_ftp

user keekar mypassword
binary
lcd /scripts/download
cd /scripts
get auto_ftp_xfer.ksh
bye

END_FTP 

Scheduling FTP to FTP Server in Windows

This example will use built-in features of Windows, so no additional software is needed. One feature is the "Scheduled Tasks" Control Panel and the other is the executable program FTP.EXE.

Part I - Creating the FTP script
FTP scripts automate the process of using FTP servers like ftp.keekar.com. The script file is just a list of FTP commands saved in a standard text file.

1. Open Notepad
2. Copy and paste this template script into the new Notepad document:

open ftp.keekar.com
username
password
prompt
passive
cd files/backup_directory_name/
lcd "C:\Path of local directory to backup"
mput *.*
bye

3. Replace username on line 2 with your ftp server username.
4. Replace password on line 3 with your ftp server password.
5. Replace backup_directory_name in line 6 with the name of directory in your ftp server to which you wish to your files.
6. Replace "C:\Path of local directory to backup" in line 7 with the path to the directory on your local computer that contains the files you wish to backup. As shown in the example, you will need to enclose the entire directory path in quotes if it contains any spaces. A typical path may look like:
"C:\Documents and Settings\JohnDoe\My Documents"
7. Replace *.* in line 7 with a list of files you wish to backup (within the directory you just specified in step 6). If you leave line 7 unchanged, all files contained in the directory will be uploaded. Please note that the contents of any further subdirectories will not be included.
8. Save the FTP script and exit Notepad. A good name and location for it might be:
C:\keekar_backup_script.txt
9. If you are interested to do binary transfer then introduce bin prior to mput.

Part II - Scheduling the script to run at certain times

1. Open the "Scheduled Tasks" Control Panel.
2. Chose "New > Scheduled Task" from the "File" menu.
3. Type a name for the task. A good name might be: Keekar Backup
4. Double-click the new task.
5. In the field labeled "Run:" type:
C:\WINNT\system32\FTP.EXE –s:C:\keekar_backup_script.txt
(If you choose a different name or location for your FTP script is step 8 of Part I, you'll need to replace C:\keekar_backup_script.txt with the full path to the script.)
6. In the field labeled "Start in:" type:
C:\WINNT\system32
7. Click the "Schedule" tab.
8. To schedule the backup to occur every day at midnight, you would set the drop-down menu labeled "Schedule Task:" to Daily, and the field labeled "Start Time:" to 12:00 AM.
9. Once you have choosen your schedule, click the "Okay" button.
10. Close the "Scheduled Tasks" Control Panel.

If you know little bit about the batch scripting then u can perform lots of other things too. Like checks for files availability, monitoring the time taken by each transfer etc.

Serial Device Administration in Solaris

Terms
DCE – Data communications equipment: modems
DTE – Data terminal equipment: the serial ports on terminals & computers
Note: In RS-232 standard, DTE uses pin 2 to transmit data & pin 3 to receive, DCE does the reverse.
RS-232 standard – a standard for the function of the (up to) 25 pins found on serial connections.
serial port – a port that uses RS-232 standard (Solaris 7 systems have serial ports a & b [/dev/term/a & /dev/term/b])
modem – converts digital data to & from electrical analog signals
null modem cable – allows two DTE devices to communicate via serial ports
data carrier detect – connection established (RS-232 pin 8)
port monitor program – monitors RS-232 circuits on it’s serial ports and provides info to applications

Modem Access Modes - Three Configurations

• Inbound – answers incoming calls
• Oubound – makes outgoing calls
• Bidirectional – both answers incoming and makes outgoing calls

Service Access Facility - SAF

SAF provides services for serial ports & network connections. Under the SAF, systems may access services using a variety of port monitors, including ttymon, the listener, and port monitors written expressly for a user's application.

SAF consists of two levels: the top administrative level is concerned with port monitor administration, the lower level with service administration.

SAF Terms:

service- a service is a process that is started, these processes monitor & setup connections using serial ports & network interfaces.

port - an externally seen access point on a system, a port may be an incoming phone line, serial port, etc.

Service Access Controller – sac – the controlling process (the upper-level program of SAF), starts & controls the lower-level SAF programs (port monitors)

• sac daemon is started in /etc/inittab (system levels 2, 3 & 4)
• reads: /etc/saf/_sysconfig the sac configuration file
• reads: /etc/saf/_sactab lists port monitors to start

Port Monitors – manage & monitor ports (lower-level SAF program), port monitors are processes that are responsible for monitoring a set of incoming ports on a machine.

• A port monitor's major purpose is to detect incoming service requests and to dispatch them appropriately.
• Some examples of port management are setting the line speed on incoming phone connections, binding an appropriate network address, reinitializing the port when the service terminates, outputting a prompt, etc.
• A port monitor's administrative file is named /var/saf/pmtag/_pmtab (where pmtag is the tag of the port monitor); _pmtab is maintained by the pmadm command in conjunction with a port monitor specific administrative command (ie ttyadm for ttymon, nlsadmin for listen)

Port Monitors:

• ttymon – monitors serial ports, connects a specified service to a port, uses /etc/ttydefs for communications settings (baud rate, etc.). {Default tag is zsmon}
• listen – network listener daemon, this process ``listens'' to a network for service requests, accepts requests when they arrive, and invokes servers in response to those service requests. {Default tag is tcp}
  

SAF Commands

• sacadm – admin command for the SAC (add, remove, start, stop port monitors)·
• pmadm –admin command for the Port Monitors (add, remove, enable, disable services) (modifies _pmtab file)
• ttyadm – formats ttymon data for the pmadm & sacadm commands
• nlsadmin – formats listener data for the pmadm & sacadm commands

Admintool

1. Select Browse -> Serial Ports
2. Click on the port
3. Select Edit -> Modify
4. For Template select Terminal – Hardwired
5. Select the baud rate
6. Modify the name in the Terminal Type field if desired (terminfo entry)
7. Click on OK

Adding Bidirectional Modem

1. Select Browse -> Serial Ports
2. Click on the port
3. Select Edit -> Modify
4. For Template select Modem – Bidirectional
5. Select the baud rate
6. Modify the name in the Terminal Type field if desired (terminfo entry)
   

Tip Commands

• The tip utility establishes a full-duplex terminal connection to a remote host.Once the connection is established, a remote session using tip behaves like an interactivesession on a local terminal.
• Typed characters are normally transmitted directly to the remote machine (which does the echoing as well).
• Escape commands starting with a tilde (~) can be used to perform some functions (like drop connection, file copy, BREAK, etc.)
• Uses /etc/remote file which contains entries describing remote systems & line speeds used by tip.
• Configured by the .tiprc file in the user’s home directory which is read when tip command is used.

Examples:

Using device: tip /dev/term/b
Using hostname: tip dbserver
Using phone #: tip 703-855-5555

/etc/remote has descriptions of remote hosts such as serial port to use, baud rate, modem settings,& phone number.
/etc/phones if the phone number in the /etc/remote file is an @ symbol, tip uses the /etc/phones file which associates hostnames with a phone number. Each phone number found for a system is tried until either a connection is established, or an end of file is reached

Format of lines: system-name phone-number

Zuerich-2005

This article I am publishing very late. Although I tried to publish earlier. But because of some problem I am not able to do so. This is related to my travel to Switzerland. Zurich an important journey of my life might be a milestone. I will keep on incrementing some of my thoughts in this article.

I started my Journey on 12 th of April 2005 for Zurich my flight is scheduled for Munich at early morning I am not able to recall the exact time for the same. So we all decided (me my brother and one of my friend Rajesh Jain) that we will spend some time at theater and we all watch Movie at center stage (Its in Noida Atta Market) because its very difficult for me to get waked up so early so its better that we will not sleep to catch my flight. Hence we all watched movie so called LUCKY- No time for Love. Movie is very beautifully picturised all the locations where its pictures is also quite attractive. But unfortunately we r able to manage last three tickets of that movie. (Ah how lucky I am). And it’s on first row J. This is the first time I am experiencing the Cinema from front Row. Jain and me laughed that what a movie because at the startup (Text on screen) when we tried to cover right hand left hand is skipped and when we tried to cover right hand left hand is skipped. The complete movie costs us approx 250 bugs per person. Hence I am thinking at that moment what a stupidity is that because after spending almost 1000 bugs still we have watch movie like tennis play (By keep on rotating my head left and right.). What a co incidence that at my earlier visit to US again we three watched movie at that time its Rajesh Jain his wife and of course me it’s quite a heavy rainy day and we went to watch movie because we already purchased an tickets for that so decided that we will go to movie by Riksha (Man driven Three tire cycle having sitting capacity of two person excluding rikshaw driver).

After movie we went back to my home and a light chat between us. Then we all reached at airport. That’s the first time when I have seen water in my younger brother eyes due to emotions. I don’t know what’s in his mind at that time but it’s really an ever-memorable time for me.

Most of the things I forgot till date but still trying to recollect all the beautiful observations that I am able to made. There is one instance in COOP (an retail chain in Switzerland) after collecting all of the e items, which I needed for a week I was in a queue. Suddenly I observer some lady having trouble in both legs is also standing in a queue. Queue is of almost 3 to 4 people, I thought that I should give her a preference because might be she is in pain (I am able to feel that pain because just three months before I also had an accident). I am not able to understand their language neither able to explain any thing to them .So I requested her that she can go first (all facial and body expressions), But suddenly what I observed that she says “NO NO OK”, and after a short interval “MERCY” that’s what I am able to understand. So that’s the sprit in her. Initially I thought that she is telling me “don’t get mercy on me” because her voice is very loud.

I feel that I am doing some thing wrong. But later on get to know that mercy means thanks in French. In that small conversation I understood with her facial expression that “I am ok in how and where I am” Its Ur kindness but I didn’t need Ur help? Don’t feel pretty abt me. That’s a really courageous effort. Then after that instance I thought why our people r always looking for help, why we cant do our things our self’s.

There is another instance that I had today i.e. on 9^th June 2005 and I recollected it too. But currently I forgot. I will let u know about this later on.

Goldeneye Bungee Jump

Before I could start my article please read the following info first.

http://uk.geocities.com/osfuk/osf/golden.html

http://breaking.tcm.ie/2002/11/17/story77136.html

http://www.trekking.ch/eng/bungy/info_007.asp

Friends after viewing my published pictures lots of my friend ask me share my experiences. At the time of jump after Jump before jump etc.

So here is my experience.

I am planning for such an adventurous event since from very long almost it’s a dream of mime since from last one year when I enjoyed the jump in Six Flag of Chicago. So as soon as I reached at Switzerland. One of my organization representative asked me what I like to do here and my first answer is that I would like to do Bungee Jump. Then we talk abt some thing related to my country (India) and his curtsey he gifted me an map of Switzerland and explained me what all places r good to go (to see). Like to record his name here because I have a very weak memory very frequently I forgot most of the things. Till date I remember his name it’s really a great thing. He is “Rolf Schlegel” president of INVICO CAPITAL CORPORATION AG (2005).

Hi Rolf if u didn’t like Ur name to be mentioned on my blog please let me know I will remove it from here but yes THAX a lot.

This event is organized by one of my colleague Naveen Kumar and he coordinated every thing. It’s long planning almost in a month. He also tried to collect few more friends to participate in event but unfortunately failed. I am always in loop in his mail. Initially I tried to read some of the mails. But most of the people refused to participate in event and giving lots of comments and Internet reviews which slightly demoralize me. There after without informing him I set a rule in my outlook. As soon as my Outlook receive any mail related to bungee it automatically get deleted because I didnt like to read all those silly and discouraging articles. (Sorry Naveen!)

So he created a beautiful plan and conveyed a traveling plan to me. We have to reach at Diga Verzasca dam, which is almost 4 HRS from out leaving place. Naveen is accompanied by Bharathi (another colleague of mine) and I am coming with my friend Ravi (That’s an interesting story how and where we became friends I will share it later on.) Hence we all decided that we would be meeting at meeting point at Zurich Railway station till yesterday I am not aware what is called meeting point.

Its an hectic day for me to wake up so early get ready and reach to Station to catch train of 7:15 AM but still I tried and left home at 6.42 AM to catch the tram. Oh I missed the tram because I am 1 Min Late. But its my bad luck. On Sunday here tram frequency is not so good next tram is at 6.59 and its almost 16 MIN journey means that train already gone. But still I didn’t give up and thought that lets try. At station I run towards platform number 2 but stopped at board and found that train described in the travel plan is not going from platform No. 2 but its already left from platform no 18. (Bull shit yes its same bull shit which u have seen in Black) I move toward meeting point. no one there except for Ravi (I didn’t expected that he will be there because on cell I informed him that catch the train I will also reach over there might be in some other compartment) he says to me next train is at 7.45 to Bellinzona. we r now in train for Bellinzona but again due to some technical problem train is again delayed by 15 MIN. Mean while I received an call from Naveen and he says that ok we will meet at Bellinzona. Our train is fast train, so calculation of ours says that we will reach over there in the interval of 15 MIN. It seems to be oky.

Some how we reached at Bellinzona. As soon as we reached to stop I again received a missed call from Naveen. I called him back and he said that we left for Locarno from Bellinzona now you have to catch the train of 11.40 AM to Locarno and get down at Teanero (Oh no this is not expected with them ! they did it again) But god knows how I am expecting it ; its again.
Now I am little bit angry and decided that OKAY I will not call them again and we will directly go to the spot. Hence we opted another train at 10.20 AM and reached at Teanero exactly at 10.40 AM.

It’s really a very small station like in India we have lots of (but yes its neat and clean). This spot located in between Italy and Switzerland. Its much more like border. We Tried to find out the bus stop; its little bit difficult for us because any how we just started to manage with German language and this place is totally an Italian speaking. I thought that here they have only three or four language and we r facing so difficulty how when these tourist reached to India r able to manage because we have 22 Official language and almost 40,000 dialogs. Here at lease they have symmetry in alphabets (A-Z) in all language but we have all together different lipi/scripts too. (To know more abt the Indian scripts and letter representation see http://www.ntu.edu.sg/home2001/b5423950/bharathilipi/.

And in complete locality no one is available except for one couple and a kid with whom we could inquire some thing. Suddenly I observed that the lady on other side of platform waved a hands (By their looks they looks like Indians) I also waved my hands and observed that the guy with the lady is coming towards us. Little bit shocked in the place where no one looks to each other why he is coming to us, then thought that might be they r also tourist. But no its an curtsey of the guy he crossed the platform to just help us. He is also from India. Then he explained us how to read the timetable and then suggested us that go to LOCARNO and take bus from there to Verzasca. We (me and Ravi followed him). In just a journey of 20 MINS he explained abt their self. He is from Kerla settled in Teanero since from 1999 but his wife is setteled there since from 1992. They both r working in old people shelter home. His wife is nurse. Then he asked us from which part of India u people r Ravi relpied from Selma, Tamil Nadu I replied from Central India.

‘Oh Hindi speaking `(In a very depressed voice). I feel very bad abt it. Why he said like that it’s our national language? Might be they having some feeling abt the Hindi speaking people. That’s the unity in diversity (Of incredible India and Indians too) we feel alltogether that we r Indian but still divided. Might be my perceptions r wrong? Now I recall the name of guy he is Sebastian

Seems to be that u gets board now (but I usually pen down like that and here sharing some pages of my diary so u have to bear with me).

OK. Myself and Ravi both reached to Locarno. There he said to me call Ur colleagues because they r already in Locarno. Might be we will go together. I called Naveen and finally we met. Now we all are together. Naveen took some travel plan from Zurich so he suggested that we will go back to Teanero (All of us has whole day travel pass so there is problem of ticket) Again struggle to find out the appropriate bus stand according to the travel plan we walked together for almost 2 KM and finally result is null. Again travel plan meshed up every thing.

Now we decided to hire a CAB to reach to the spot. Finally we reached to the spot.As soon as we reached to the spot I observed it’s a beautiful place. And again a photographer comes up in all of ours body photo session started till time the event coordinators reached. If u like to see the photographs use this link GO TO PHOTO -----------à.

I explained every thing, which is coming in my mind on that day. So now u can think off lots of things r going on my mind before Jump. In a very small head thousands of things. NO time to THINK abt Jump.

Yes I forgot some thing. That’s a wonderful bread omelet by Ravi. He prepared bread omelet for all of us. It’s very hard to wake up in the morning and prepare some thing. Yes its really very delicious after a very long time I had an omelet in Indian style.

Event coordinators reached at the spot exactly at 2.00 PM. Then we signed non-disclaimer document and other details in form. Naveen opted to jump first and we decided that we would take a break in between us so that we can capture each other.

Now he is dressed up and took a small training. Its time to jump. Bharathi said her heartbeat is increased. Finally he jumped but at the time of jump he closed his eyes. I observed some other peoples too. And started thinking how is going to be my jump. At that time I was thinking off how I will jump. Finally I also finished off the training session. And went to the jumping platform. Yes prior to that Naveen informed me that at the time of jump he is little bit nervous but there after he enjoyed his flight/lift. He is little bit angry on himself because he didn’t enjoyed his third bump and conveyed me that Mukesh do not make a same mistake which he has done.

Before jump the jump coordinators asked me have u done such thing ever before. I replied Yes, Where? At USA Chicago, Oh from Tower? Yes almost like that. So u enjoyed that jump? Yes. Now u r going to enjoy more here. Ok Hopefully.

Then he said that r u from India? Yes. He replied, we had also organized an event for some Bollywood bond movie. What is it Hollywood or Bollywood. They replied its Bollywood. But in Bollywood there is no bond movie. They informed me that its two-year back and the movie team spent almost Two months on that spot. They tried to recall actor name and movie name too. But unfortunately failed.

If any one already seen that bond movie of Bollywood please let me know. :)
I am interested to know which movie is that.

Finally its time to jump. As soon as I reached to the corner coordinators said to me that while jumping look at Ur friends. They all had very good camera so it’s going to be very beautiful event capture. Till this time I didn’t see down. But as soon as I took a look of down there it’s really a daring. Its almost 550 Mts depth and u can just imagine how its looks. Little bit depressed that what will be happened if rope get breaks down? Then thought that noting I will be looking like small ant to my friends. Yes also they said to me that jump towards urs friend. Then photographs will be more beautiful. Might be they r saying this because if u see down u will get depressed? But I am thinking what will be happed if I strike towards wall. Means if I jump with my full power (Superman) :) then might be I will hit dam wall. But still I can try and thought that I will apply little thrust.

Finally Jumped. Till today I am not aware how I am looking at the time of jump depressed, enjoying, charming etc. Because till this time I have seen only my stills, which is not captured appropriately specially from, jump onwards. So I am waiting to see the video shot at that time. It’s recorded with two cam coders.

When I am freely falling toward down I tried to see all over their but frames r going so fast. But yes I still remember the moment its blazing and fabulous. Suddenly I started moving towards upward that’s again fabulous. It’s almost three or four bumps, which I enjoyed. Then I tried to see down over their hanging reverse. Its terrifying and decided I will see only towards upward. Yes its lovely tried to see my friends but failed they r so far from me. Then waived my hands and expected that they will capture it.

Finally a voice reached to me OK. Now as per training I used the rope to make me up and straight and used defined hook to hook me up in the yellow marked strap expected that now I am in sleeping position and will enjoying the hanging in air till the crane hook will not come. Hence I left the rope but suddenly something wrong I am again reverse. Every thing is inverted. Why hook didn’t worked.

And also feel that the belts at my legs r slipping. At this point I became little bit nervous. Because first of all hook didn’t worked, Second leg belt is slipping so what will be happen if belt slipped completely. Third hanging reverse and seeing 330 Mts down is really a horrible. Now thinking why crane hook is not coming. And observed that the hook is coming towards me. Then thought to be on safer side use our hands and be sitting position then I have at least some more support. Hence did same. As soon as crane hook reached to me I hooked myself. And then all fear and nervousness gone. In air itself again I started thinking weather these people have captured event properly or not. Because still cam is in hands of Bharathi who is not that much familiar with photography.

Finally reached to the platform back from air to earth. I tried to find out why hook didn’t work and observed, there is two holes in the strap, which is marked with yellow tape. One is at leg side and another is at chest. I used the leg one while in air not able to identify the chest one.

Before my jump I observed that lots of European kids r watching their hands before jump putting their hands straight in air. Yes they r trying to see the fear in them. So I also thought that lets see after jump is it fear in me or not and observed its straight and not vibrating. I am happy. Prior to my jump I observed lots of jumper. Till time we r there only three girls dare to dive. Out of which two jumped very beautifully and they r them self very beautiful. Out of which one in small blue shots and gray T-Shirt and looking very pretty too.

But as soon as I reached to Ravi he replied, man u didn’t given any pose to photograph. (Yes u r right it’s modeling in air.) And also said that Naveen has given a beautiful poses.

Onoooooooooooooo!

I replied have u captured or not. He replied yes but its not good. Oh. But its ok at least some thing is there.

Then we booked again a CAB for Teanero and reached station. Then to Bellinzona then to Lugano without wasting time because Ravi said that in Lugano there is a miniature Swiss in some museum. Reached at Lugano and tried to find out museum finally not able to find it. Hence decided to go towards Lugano lake. And again photo session started. Then with small toy train took a look of complete city.

Whole day gone. Again back to Zurich with three hrs journey in train (Inter Country which runs from Italy) As soon as I reached back to home I realized that after Jump I forgot the dive.

That’s it. Now nothing more to share. Bye for a while.

:) :) :)

Key legal concerns of IT managers

It's not enough that you keep your IT department running smoothly and effectively, delivering value to your organization and staying responsive to the needs of those you support. You also have to make sure that your staff members don't make any legal missteps and that you don't fall into any traps yourself. That includes keeping the workplace harassment-free, avoiding risky job interview questions, maintaining proper documentation on problematic employees you may wind up firing, and following correct protocol . This roundup of information examines some of the trickier IT manager responsibilities that often aren't clearly spelled out.

IT infrastructure head is responsible for most of the aspects in the IT organizations. After complete six months of my resignation I am enquired by Anti Forgery Wing of EFGH Police for some information. Some of them are generic but some are very specific. Hence I am enclosing the samples of such questions which is asked to me. Trust It will help all the security guys to incorporate some of the standard in their procedure and policies. Documentation has key role in the security.


 What was the security system pertaining to software developed by company?
Who was the team incharge of software XYZ?

 Whether there was any facility of writing copings, burning the software or any data in any format in the company. If yes, now it was possible, who were having such facilities?

 Who was the incharge of IT Wing and to whom he was reported for his day to day work.

1. How many times CDs were burned of the said software. Whether any written permission was required for the same. In whom presence the same, were burnt and for what purposes. In whom custody the same were kept. From where the above said record can be available at present.
2. Whether there was any stock register/ record maintained at company for the property of company software as well as other corporeal property. What was the procedure to obtain the said goods from stock, if required to anyone?
3. Name the persons in whom custody the whole stock of the company was kept?
4. Whether any CDs of the source code of XYZ were handed over to ABCD. If yes, for what purpose and when. Whether he had returned the same or not. Who had permitted for the same? Whether any written letter was given to him to return the same.
5. What was the system of company functioning of day-to-day work, engaged in the development to the said software? Where the day-to-day work was kept.
6. Whether ABCD has knowledge of the security codes of the source codes or not?
7. Whether the same were easily accessible to him or not.
8. Whether company had detected/found ABCD, in the activity of copies of the software XYZ or other intellectual property of the company.
9. Whether company has given any Laptop to his employees or not? If yes, what was the configuration and for what purpose of the same was given.
10. What was procedure of the installation of the software XYZ in USA. Whether the same was transferred on the format of CD/Hard Disc or otherwise.
11. If any buy was notice at the time of installation how the same was removed.
12. Whether ABCD had asked for any confidential data code pertaining to said software. If yes, for what purpose? Whether any written submission or approval was held in this regard.
13. Whether you had came to know about any incident in which company detected/found ABCDfor stealing/copying the software or otherwise.
14. How many total numbers of CDs were prepared of the said software. In whom custody the same were kept. Whether the same were according to the stock registered maintained at office at the time of leaving having the company.
15. Whether any entry was made in record at the time of taking the same or not.
16. Who was the authority or whom orders were required to get any information pertaining to said software.
17. Whether ABCD was technically capable to handle/charge/to make alteration in the source code version of the said software.
18. What type of a person is ABCD. Whether you had detected any slackness was in his working, during the period of March to June 2004. Whether any curtailment was notices in the responsibilities or work of Mr. ABCD or he was entrusted addition work.
19. Whether you had visited USA for installation purpose of the said software. If yes who were your other associates. Who was the incharge. Whether you had noticed slackness was in the work of the Mr. ABCD , whether Mr. ABCD was carried laptop of not. If yes, for what purposes the same was given to him.
20. Whether Mr. ABCD had desktop or not.
21. What was the security system pertaining to the stock of company.
22. As per your personal knowledge for what purpose Mr. Naik was called for in MLNOPQRS. Whether his visit was official or personal. Whether any presentation was held in this regard.
23. Whether you have heard any instance in which you found that Mr. ABCD had misappropriated/misuse the said software after his personal benefit.
24. Whether you have heard, any legal action was initiated against the any former employee of the company after his leaving the company.
25. Whether the alleged software was given to any employee as CD format or not for verification purpose.
26. What was the system procedure by which any modification in the said software if required?
27. Any other information, which can assist in the investigation.

Solaris System Time Zone For IST

.
This is a problem faced by many Indian Solaris Administrators. Even though I also faced same problem. It's very critical when it comes to the exact time computation. Plays a very important role in the security administration too. At the time of installation there isn't any option for setting the time zone to IST, we need to specify the time zone in terms of GMT+(ie. offset from GMT). That too GMT+5.30 Hrs is not possible, we need to either select GMT+5 or GMT+6. The actual problem starts here.
The only way is first install the OS and then do some changes. But even for that to happen our "Indian Standard Time" zone information is not readily available in the “/usr/share/lib/zoneinfo".
So follow the following steps.

1) As a root execute the following command.
#zic /usr/share/lib/zoneinfo/asia (or)

#zic src/asia

This command (Zone Information Compiler) compiles the zone info present in the file called "asia" and creates a directory called "/usr/share/lib/zoneinfo/Asia" under which there are files which contain the zone info of different Asian zones. "Calcutta" is what we need.

2)Edit /etc/TIMEZONE file and set the TZ variable to "Asia/Calcutta" and reboot the system.
Now if u issue the command date u should b able to see the date in IST.

As root, execute the following:
#TZ=Asia/Calcutta
#export TZ

What needed to know for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance

.
Here is the list of questions that, according to Ernst and Young, need to be answered in order to gauge a company's compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley act.

1) How are off-balance-sheet transactions and commitments tracked and reported?
2) Are payments to the external auditing firm monitored through the transactional flags on purchase orders, check requests, or other means within the system?
3) Are rolling forecasts deployed throughout the business (business unit, product line, functional levels)?
4) How many tools are used in the forecasting process? The budgeting process?
5) Do the reporting systems trace back to the general ledgers?
6) Is cash flow from operations and generally-accepted-accounting-principles (GAAP) cash flow automatically calculated?
7) Are key measures (drivers of financial results) delivered to operational manager's desktops daily, weekly, monthly?
8) Are tax reporting systems integrated with the company's consolidation system?
9) Are consolidation and reporting activities performed on spreadsheets?
10) Do transactional reporting systems have agent-based alerts?
11) How are manual entries identified and approved?
12) How much time is spent compiling data and the financial statements versus analyzing the data?
13) How many top-level adjustments are made in the consolidation process?
14) Are reporting activities performed on spreadsheets?
15) How often is control documentation updated for new changes to the internal controls (transactional and financial statement)?
16) Are controls in place to ensure that any off-balance-sheet items are properly approved?
17) Do reporting systems flag reserves and other estimated accounts?
18) Have the systems been updated to identify new responsibilities under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act?
19) Are earnings forecasts tied to predictive models?
20) Do you forecast your business on cash flow drivers?
21) Are variance between the forecast and actual results reviewed and causes identified?
22) How long is the process to develop forecasts? Budgets?
23) Is there a significant difference between financial statements depending on timing, function, or system?
24) Are standard charts of accounts used across the company?
25) How long does it take the company to get the results of operations?
26) What procedures are in place by the company to detect and prevent fraud?
27) Has the company identified high risk areas where fraud may occur and developed controls to prevent this from occurring?
28) Are the following categories of non-financial drivers measured: Leadership, communication, brand equity, reputation, networks/alliances, technology, human capital, culture, innovation, intellectual capital, or adaptability?
29) Do sales systems flag quarter-end sales volumes over selected limits?
30) How long does it take to develop ad hoc reports?
31) Do you model the sensitivity of your off-balance-sheet commitments (swap agreements, foreign exchange risk, purchase commitments, etc.)? How often?
32) Does the company have the ability to determine the profitability by using "what if" scenarios?
33) Have financial models been created for all high-risk operations, programs, etc.?
34) How long does it take to create the management package?
35) Does each operating unit have a financial model for the key drivers of its business?
36) Are documents backed up periodically to ensure significant reports and information are maintained?
37) Does the company have a retention policy for electronic information?
38) Are internal control reviews incorporated into all new system implementations (financial and non-financial)?
39) How often do you back up your data?
40) What controls are in place over record retention to avoid tampering with the data?
41) What best describes your IT capabilities related to financial transaction processing in your company?
42) How many control weakness/changes have there been to the financial statements controls (including in the authorization of transactions, safeguarding assets, maintaining records and over the reconciliation process) in the past year?
43) How many different systems are involved in the financial statement development process?
44) Are IRS and other data retention requirements being met?
45) Is your starting point for your tax return GAAP-audited financial statements?
46) Are there flags in place to alert key resources of specific transactions taking place in the company?
47) Does the company review its transactions for unusual entries?
48) What controls are in place to detect wire/mail?

Part 2 Journeys of March 2005

In March itself some more interesting Journey's I had one is from 12th March to 15th March. On my last return journey from Bhopal I met one advocate with other travel mate. All travel mates are having different occupation one is from Bombay a businessman going to H.P. to take call for moving his production unit to himanchal pradesh. One is advocate coming to Delhi for a university case. One is in hospitality business working for Unitech and of course me in IT field. In this journey most of us are technocrats some are using technology.
Interesting this advocate is once again my travel mate just after 4 days when I am travelling from Delhi to Bhopal. It’s a very rare co-incident which will be happening in our life.
In this journeys our discussion start with the expectance and performance of Indian Cricket Team. One of them is saying that this time Indian team will win the match and series too because Indian team is best. I have on the contrary other view; Indian team is not best but the players of Indian team are best, Who never play for team. Every one is playing individually. That’s true because we Indian when in country like to maintain our individuality not only in sports but its every where that’s why in every field Indians (countrymen) are the best and leaders but not the India (country). Could we survive with this attitude? Also these days what I feel is that Indians are like “Zeros” 0 who does not having any recognition itself; but if they will be after some number they will add a huge value. But why this number which has to be followed is not among us like Gandhi ???
Can any one help me to find the reason why such kind of thinking comes in my mind.

Linux resources

 
Find and bind key sequences in bash
 
Learn how to use keyboard function keys within bash, or any other shell, by binding the key sequences to a particular shell command.
Most keyboards today come with an extra row of function keys at the top of the keyboard. These function keys can be customized and used within bash, or any other shell, by binding the key sequences to a command in the shell. Some keys may be intercepted by the window manager or the terminal program, such as konsole or gnome-terminal. You can retain those key bindings and use unassigned keys inside the shell, or you can reconfigured them to use a certain key in the shell instead.
To obtain the key sequence from a function key, use the read command. The following is an example of pressing the [F12] key:
$ read
^[[24~
Note that different keyboards will produce different key sequences, and modifiers to the function keys (such as [Ctrl][F12] or [Shift][F12]) will produce other sequences as well.
The next step is to bind that key sequence to a particular shell command. For example, you can bind [F12] to the "history-search-backward" shell command:
$ bind '"\e[24~": history-search-backward'
Make sure you write the key sequence as \e[24~ rather than ^[[24~. This is because the ^[ sequence is equivalent to the [Esc] key, which is represented by \e in the shell. So, for instance, if the key sequence was ^[[OP the resulting bind code to use would be \e[OP.
Not only does the bind command bind function keys, but you can also use bind to map key sequences (such as [Esc][P] or [Esc][Q]) by writing the bind key code as \ep and \eq respectively.
For a list of shell commands that you can use, examine the /etc/inputrc file.
 
 
Apache
Analyze Apache logs with Analog
If you're looking for a useful log analysis program, check out Analog. This powerful, fast tool creates Web pages based on the analysis of Apache log files.
If your Linux vendor doesn't provide binary packages, you may have to download and install the program from source. After installation, create a configuration file that tells Analog what logs to read and where to place the output.
If installed via RPM or DEB, Analog will typically place a default configuration file in /etc/analog.cfg. Make a copy of this file, and customize it to fit your needs. Here are the essentials you need to set:
LOGFILE /var/log/httpd/access_log
HOSTNAME www.myhost.com
HOSTURL http://www.myhost.com
OUTFILE /var/www/html/logs/report.html
CHARTDIR /logs/images
LOCALCHARTDIR /var/www/html/logs/images
This tells Analog which log file to analyze, provides information on the host it's analyzing (i.e., hostname and URL), and indicates where to place the report file. (In this case, the resulting URL would be http://www.mysite.com/logs/report.html.) It also tells Analog where to write the image files for the charts that it creates.
Analog creates a very comprehensive output that includes a number of statistics, such as monthly page views, daily and hourly summaries of page requests, most used search requests to reach the site, and more.
For an up-to-date report, run Analog every day by using the following:
# analog -G +g/etc/myanalog.cfg
This assumes your customized configuration file is /etc/myanalog.cfg, and it tells Analog to use the specified configuration file instead of the default configuration file. This comes in handy if you've configured Apache to create log files for different virtual hosts and want a different report for each virtual host.

Storage Hardware and Terminology

iSCSI. Fibre Channel switch. TOE NIC. When do I need an "HBA" for storage and when can I just use a standard Ethernet adapter? In the world of storage, storage terms and concepts can serve to further muddy waters that are already somewhat unclear to many IT pros. After all, up until fairly recently, a storage area network was the purview of only large organizations with large IT budgets and specialized staff. Now, however, as more storage options become available to small- and medium-size businesses, discussion about this topic is starting to take place in these IT departments. In this article, I'll go over some of the terms and equipment related to different types of storage solutions to help you get a better understanding of these increasingly cost-effective ways to handle your storage needs.

Network Attached Storage

NAS systems are ones that connect directly to your network, but that do not generally provide block level communication with the host, making them unsuitable for most database and Exchange applications. A NAS system is really just a mondo file server running its own operating system and providing direct access to users. That is, users can directly access the files on the NAS device just like they access files on a file server. Each whole file is transferred between the NAS device and the requesting client.

NAS terminology

• NAS head: This is the part of the NAS to which clients connect. Behind the NAS head may lay hundreds or thousands of gigabytes of available storage, but clients need to access this space via the NAS head.
• NFS: NFS (Network File System) is one of the communications protocols usually supported by NAS heads for communication with network clients, particular those of the UNIX or Linux flavor, although NFS clients are available for just about any operating systems these days.
• CIFS (the protocol formerly known as SMB [Server Message Block]): CIFS (Common Internet File System), the protocol primarily responsible for file sharing communication with Windows (and Linux-based Samba) servers is another commonly supported protocol in most NAS heads. CIFS/SMB is used for communication with the NAS head by most Windows clients. Both NFS and CIFS use TCP/IP for their underlying communication.

Hardware and software needed to support NAS systems

One beauty of NAS systems is simplicity. If you have an existing Ethernet (Fast or Gigabit are the best choices here) network—and who doesn’t these days?—you can almost literally just pop a NAS head and storage on your network and be on your way. In short, the only equipment you need to support a NAS system in your environment is an Ethernet connection to the NAS head. For additional reliability, you might want to configure your NAS hardware with multiple connections, but at the end of the day, just typical Ethernet switch ports are all you need for a NAS system to work.

On the software side, you might need an NFS client on your Windows computers, or an SMB client (such as Samba) on your Linux computers to access the NAS system. However, this is only true if you're trying to access a NAS device that does not include support for your client operating system.

iSCSI-based Storage Area Networks

Compared to NAS and fibre channel-based SANs, iSCSI is the relative new kid on the block in the storage world, but due in no small part to its very low cost, has started to give fibre channel a serious run for its money. iSCSI storage networks are a complete technology—ranging from iSCSI drivers on your servers to storage hardware based on iSCSI standards. Unlike NAS systems, iSCSI SANs are perfect for database and Exchange applications due to the fact that iSCSI transmits block level data rather than complete files.

"Block level?," you might ask—and it's a really good question, particularly since storage vendors throw the term around pretty loosely. Block level communication means that data is transferred between the host and the client in chunks called blocks. Databases and Exchange servers depend on this type of communication (as opposed to the file level communication used by most NAS systems) in order to work properly. That said, some NAS vendors' devices are certified for use by databases and Exchange, but I don't generally recommend this configuration unless it's a last resort.

iSCSI terminology

Being somewhat new, the introduction of iSCSI to the marketplace has been accompanied by some new terminology.

• iSCSI: It might be nice to talk a little about the term iSCSI itself. You probably know about SCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface) and probably even use it on most of your servers. SCSI has long been known for its reliability and speed. iSCSI is simply the commands used by SCSI systems encapsulated inside TCP/IP – hence the 'i' in iSCSI. Put another way in some iSCSI documentation, iSCSI is a way for a storage initiator such as a server to send commands to a storage target such as array of disks. iSCSI "targets" don't even have to use SCSI disks. In fact, many of them use newer serial ATA (SATA) disks and translate the SCSI commands for use on these less expensive devices.
• iSCSI driver: An iSCSI driver attaches to a standard Ethernet adapter (usually of the gigabit variety) and facilitates communication with an iSCSI storage array. What does this mean for you? Most importantly, it means that you can start using the features of storage area network without having to buy expensive, specialized adapters for your servers. As long as your server has a gigabit Ethernet adapter, you can use iSCSI. If you do decide to use just an iSCSI driver (a lot of people who use iSCSI do use these), I recommend using a second gigabit Ethernet adapter in your server and create a separate network for storage communication. With today's overpowered dual- and quad-processor servers, this type of communication is almost always sufficient and you don't need to worry about TOE NICs (below).
• TOE (TCP Offload Engine) NIC: For servers that are under a very heavy load, the additional load required to encapsulate commands destined for the iSCSI target can be a killer. By some estimates, depending on what you're doing, you might eat up to 30% of your CPU with iSCSI overhead, although this is not very common. For instances in which this level of overhead is unacceptable, you can offload the work to a specialized NIC called a TOE NIC. As the name implies, a TOE NIC handles the encapsulation, thus freeing up the CPU for other tasks. I recommend serious testing before you invest in TOE NICs. Measure your server's CPU to see what amount of processing is dedicated to the encapsulation task for iSCSI.
• iSCSI initiator software: This is software that either comes with the host operating system and binds to a standard Ethernet NIC, or that resides on an iSCSI TOE adapter. The iSCSI initiator software is responsible for processing iSCSI commands and for managing the TCP/IP communications with an iSCSI storage array. Most modern operating systems include iSCSI initiator software at no additional charge. In a software-only scenario using the OS's iSCSI drivers and a standard Ethernet NIC, the host processor is responsible for translating iSCSI commands. These initiators work with just about any gigabit server NIC and are generally more than adequate with respect to performance. For older, slower servers, you might want to consider a hardware-based initiator such as a TOE NIC.
• iSCSI target: This can be any device with which your host communicates using iSCSI, including an iSCSI disk array or iSCSI-aware tape unit.

Hardware and software needed to support iSCSI systems

I've already gone over most of the items you need to support an iSCSI infrastructure. The really great part about iSCSI is that implementation is fairly inexpensive since you probably have everything you need, except the disks. On the server side, new versions of Windows, Linux, UNIX, and NetWare all include iSCSI initiators, and with today's really fast servers, iSCSI overhead using a standard NIC is negligible on all but the most loaded servers. Beyond the host, to interconnect your servers and storage devices, all you need is a standard gigabit Ethernet switch on a network separate from your client communications. I recommend a separate network for two reasons: (1) when you separate client traffic and storage traffic, overall storage network performance stays high; and (2) since you probably don't want your clients directly accessing storage except via the server, you can help to secure your storage network by keeping it separate from your primary network. Last, but certainly not least, you need iSCSI targets—namely a storage array—with which to work.

Fibre Channel-based Storage Area Networks

The granddaddy of storage networks, Fibre Channel-based storage remains the strongest player in the networked storage market, although iSCSI has quickly become a formidable competitor. Like iSCSI, FC SANs transfer data at the block level making FC SANs more than suitable for database applications and Exchange rollouts. Also like iSCSI, FC uses its own terminology and introduces some new technology to the IT infrastructure.

FC SANs have long enjoyed their position as the respected top-tier in storage architecture mainly due to their reliability, performance, and ability to protect their data.

Although iSCSI has become a fierce competitor in some markets, the future for FC still looks good with plans to increase speeds from the current standard of 2Gbps to 4Gbps, although the jury is out on how much of an impact this really will have on overall performance due to other limitations in storage.

iSCSI terminology and required hardware

FC-based SANs brought a slew of terminology to the forefront of the minds of storage experts. I'm not going to go over every term here, but will provide you with the ones that are important to know when you're comparing storage solutions. I'm combining the sections on terminology and hardware for this topic since they are both pretty much the same.

• HBA (Host Bus Adapter): An FC HBA is server hardware that enables communication with FC storage hardware. In most cases, the term HBA is coupled with an FC solution, but some vendors also refer to iSCSI TOE NICs as HBA, so just watch what you're reading. An FC HBA is generally an add-on card that utilizes a PCI slot.
• FC switch: FC SANs use specialized equipment, including the switch interconnects between the hosts and the storage. If you're new to the storage game, prepare for a jaw drop when you see the price tags associated with FC switches! They're expensive and usually use GBICs so you can pick the kind of connectors you want to use. You can connect FC switches together to expand your overall storage fabric to support thousands of nodes.
• Node: A node is any device connected to a fibre channel switch, be it a server, a storage system, or a tape drive.
• Adaptec and other suppliers have offloaded the TCP/IP processing by adding dedicated TOEs (TCP/IP Offload Engines) to their Ethernet cards used for storage networks. But these are more expensive than ordinary Ethernet NICs and so the price advantage of iSCSI SANs compared to Fibre Channel SANs is reduced.
• Intel sees an opportunity here and aims to add data set copying to its server chipsets and network controllers via I/O AT. This will be done in parallel to the TCP/IP processing taking place in the server CPU thus speeding up the overall data transmission time. In effect iSCSI commands and data moving are done simultaneously with Intel network controller memory being directly accessed.

BDS Unix BIND

BIND is a DNS server package that's had a rather spotty history when it comes to security. However, despite these limitations, there are few alternatives for serving up DNS data that are as feature-rich as BIND.

If you just need to serve up DNS data without support for zone transfers, keys, and other features that BIND offers, using something like D.J. Bernstein's djbdns package may be sufficient. But if you need some of the more robust features that only BIND offers, you might as well learn a few things you can do to better secure your setup.

First, configure BIND not to report its version number. This can stop passive scanners from identifying the version of BIND you're using.

This trick doesn't really secure BIND as much as it obfuscates things a bit. You can do this by editing the named.conf file, as shown below:

options {
version "Not available";
}

You can also restrict which hosts can perform zone transfers. BIND configurations typically have no restrictions for performing a zone transfer, which can lead to providing unwanted data to potential attackers.

You can also set this restriction using the named.conf file. Here's an example:

options {
allow-transfer { 192.168.5.10; };
}

This restricts zone transfers to 192.168.5.10, which would be your secondary DNS server. You can also use Transaction Signatures (TSIG) to more securely perform zone transfers.

You should also disable recursive queries, which prevents your DNS server from being vulnerable to spoofing attacks. Add the following to the named.conf file:

options {
fetch-glue no;
recursion no;
}

Finally, you may also want to consider running BIND in a chrooted environment as a nonprivileged user. (BIND's documentation discusses how to do this.)

By running BIND in a chroot, you're locking it into a special section of your system where it can't interact with the rest of the system, minimizing the damage potentially caused by an attacker who successfully exploits it.

Solaris 10 Routing

The key thing is in your routeadm output. By default in Solaris 10 IP forwarding and routing are off.

To enable IPv4 forwarding, as you have, you can set
#routeadm -e ipv4-forwarding

To enable routing, use
#routeadm -e ipv4-routing

To make your changes take effect and start the routing daemon, use
#routeadm -u

Use the same commands (with ipv6) to enable the IPv6 routing and forwarding.

These changes persist across a reboot.
This should take care of your problem.

Learn the many uses of netcat

Often referred to as the "Swiss Army Knife of networking," netcat is a tool that administrators can use to read and write TCP or UDP data across the network. In addition, it's extremely useful for network debugging and testing.

Netcat offers several interesting uses. For example, you can make it listen to a particular port and run a program. To do so, use the following:

$ netcat -v -l -p 10111 -e "/bin/cat /etc/motd"

This tells netcat to listen to port 10111. When there's a connection, it tells netcat to execute "/bin/cat /etc/motd," which essentially displays the contents of /etc/motd and exits.

You can also set up netcat on a machine to listen for incoming connections and run it on a remote machine to connect to the local machine and serve up a bash shell. For example, on a local machine with an IP address of 192.168.5.10, you would use the following:

$ netcat -v -l -p 10111

On the remote machine, you would use:

$ netcat 192.168.5.10 10111 -e /bin/bash

This tells the netcat instance on the remote machine to connect to the netcat instance listening on 192.168.5.10 and serve up a bash shell from the remote machine, which will then be available on the local machine. Using the netcat instance on 192.168.5.10, you can execute shell commands on the remote host.

To perform some Web debugging, you could use something like the following:

$ netcat www.website.com 80

Then, enter typical HTTP commands to get the unaltered output (e.g., "GET / HTTP 1.0").