Building The Net

Microsoft training, where the fear begins.

A recent blog story from Daily Finance tells of leaked slides from Microsoft’s Expert Zone training class used to train Best Buy employees, contains out and out lies regarding security and compatibility comparisons between Windows 7 and Linux. For many Linux advocates, this is equivalent to a smoking gun in regards to Microsoft’s unethical methods of promoting it’s products. They point to the fact that Microsoft uses it’s technical training and certification programs to spread false information. WELL DUH!

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Open Source Good, Microsoft Bad…

This seems to be the cry of the hard core Linux and open source community in regards to the next release of Windows. Currently, most of the Linux camps are gearing up for all out war. Being a Linux and Open Source geek, I understand why we all seem to be bracing ourselves for a battle, but I think we might be going over the edge a bit on this one.

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This can’t be right. It’s going to cost $1000.00 just for software?

I must admit, this is quite a surprise, even for me. While pricing a PC for a client, I was shocked when I calculated the total cost of the software that they are required to use for their business.

The cost of software is one of those things that most business owners understand, but very few employees grasp. While there are open source alternatives available for these software packages, chances are that the client will elect to purchase this software, but as always, I’ll sure give him the option to try something different.

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Who’s really behind the idea.

First off, let me be clear that this was not my idea. I was told about this whole concept by Mike Rubel @ Cal Tech. He’s the rocket scientist behind this whole idea. Now that we have our “Credit Where Credit is Due” portion out of the way, let’s get into the whole rsync backup concept.

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Linux Firewall Presentation Notes…

Here are the notes regarding what I covered in my presentation to the Simi Conejo Linux User Group. The actual presentation covered these subjects in more detail then I was able to fit in here, but you should get the general idea of the concepts covered by reading this all the way through. If you would like me to present this presentation for your organization or group, please contact me via email.

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How to build a Linux Firewall… Join us and Learn!

I will be speaking at the Simi Conejo Linux Users Group (SCLug) on August 15th 2009.

I will be demonstrating how to setup a Linux based PC with multiple network interfaces to act as a firewall. The presentation will cover the following topics:

1. Linux as a stateful firewall.
2. Using policy based routing to select between multiple  routes.
3. Performing source and destination network address translation.
4. Performing load balancing between multiple internet connections.

I plan to start with a base Debian install, and take the group step by step through setting up NAT for both static and DHCP internet connections. I’ll then move to setting up a second internet connection, and demonstrate the use of policy routing to choose an outbound route for different types of connections. Once we’ve covered policy routing, I”ll finish up with session based load balancing across both connections.

If you are going to be in the East Ventura County area on the 15th, I encourage you to join us!

The presentation will be held at the Simi Valley YMCA at 2:00PM on August 15th, 2009.

I look forward to seeing you there!

— Stu

Using Regular Expressions (RegEx) on the command line.

Questions about regular expressions come up at the Lug meetings on a regular basis. Here are some examples of regex commands I use all the time. Hope you find them useful.

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Where is the Autostart folder?

Looks like yet another change in KDE that messes with 3.5 users… Seems someone decided that the Autostart folder was a bad idea. This after having the Autostart folder in every KDE release I can remember.

Well, it seems that KDE 4 has adopted the same type of startup program control that Gnome has used for years.

A quick example.

Ok, let’s say that you want to start, oh I don’t know… Let’s say you want to start Krellm at login. here are the steps:

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Microsoft submits thousands of lines of code for inclusion in the Linux Kernel.

Yep, you’re not seeing things. On July 20, 2009 at OSCON, Microsoft announced their submission of three drivers to the Linux kernel. These drivers are licensed under the GPL2, and according to the group that handles such submissions, they have met all criteria for the drivers to be excepted in to the main line kernel.

At first glance, it would appear that all that screaming and jumping around that Ballmer is famous for managed to cause him to burst a blood vessel in his brain, but after reading the stories surrounding the submission, it turns out that this is no act of charity by Microsoft.

Why would Microsoft want to help Linux?

The short answer here is that they aren’t helping Linux, they are submitting code that’s sole goal is to make Linux run better under the Microsoft Virtualization platform. The drivers submitted are to allow Linux to work with Microsoft’s hypervisor. This will give Microsoft an advantage over competing virtualization platforms such as VMWare.

So, if this will give Microsoft an advantage, why would Linux except the code?

Most of the people I know, are asking why the kernel project would even consider accepting the code? Well, because Microsoft played by the open source rules, that’s why. Unlike Microsoft, the open source community sets guidelines to protect from discrimination. Unlike corporate models that favor certain groups over others when it comes to code or driver submission, most open source projects have a more down to earth approach. Check out what the rules are for submitting drivers to the Linux kernel, and you’ll understand why.

So, even though Microsoft’s intentions are not what I would consider angelic, as long as they meet the requirements for inclusion, they get to play on our field as well.

— Stu

Notes From My KVM (Kernel Virtual Machine) Talk.

First of all, thanks to all who attended the SCLug meeting on Saturday. I had fun talking with everyone there.

I wanted to follow up with some written examples of the KVM command lines I demonstrated at the meeting. I know I seemed to go over this stuff kind of fast, so I wanted to elaborate a bit in text.

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