Using Sun Update Connection with the CLI on Solaris 10
30 Oct 2005 06:54 PM / Filed in: I.T.
Sun has made available (for free) the Sun Update Connection software to help system administrators keep their Solaris 10 systems up-to-date.
I consider Sun Update Connection from the point of view of a system administrator that needs to apply patches to a server with no graphical environment. That means I will only show how to use Sun Update Connection using the CLI (Command-Line Interface). This method makes usage of a subset of Sun Update Connection known as Sun Update Manager. This tiny guide is not intended to replace the official instructions from Sun but rather supplements them. I found them confusing at times so if you need a quick start for using Sun Update Connection, read on. You can later on read the full instructions on Sun's website.
Sun Update Connection is not integrated by default with Solaris 10 but according to C|Net News.com, this should be fixed in the next global update to Solaris 10, expected by the end of this year. You will need to download and install it separately. The installations instructions are rather clear and the installation is pretty much straightforward.
Once the installation is over, you will need to register your machine with Sun to be able to use Sun Update Connection, using your Sun Online Account (free registration). It should be noted that if you don't have a valid Sun Service Plan, you may only download security fixes and hardware drivers.
To register a system, you need to create a registration profile file. This file contains the data necessary to process your system's registration with Sun as shown by the following example:
userName=ichigo
password=shinigami
hostName=hollow
subscriptionKey=
portalEnabled=false
proxyHostName=
proxyPort=
proxyUserName=
proxyPassword=
This will register the system which hostname is hollow using the Sun Online Account ichigo which password is shinigami. This user has no Sun Service Plan so the subscriptionKey parameter is left empty. If you are going to register your system using a proxy, you will need to fill the 4 last parameters in the above example.
The registration profile must be owned by root and its permissions set to 0400 or 0600. This file must be fed to the sconadm command as shown below:
# /usr/sbin/sconadm register -a -r /tmp/registrationprofile.properties
For more details about the registration process, read the Registration Guide.
Once registered, you will be able to analyze your system, retrieve a list of updates and apply them automatically using the smpatch command:
# smpatch analyze
# smpatch update
For more information about the smpatch command, please refer to the manual page available upon Sun Update Connection installation.
Sun Update Connection 1.0.1, the latest version available as of this writing, has a few limitations/quirks:
• It is incompatible with containers, a major feature of Solaris 10. I hope this limitation will cease to exist in future versions since containers (also known as zones) are essential for system administrators who want to make good use of their hardware capabilities and optimize system usage from a performance and security standpoints.
• You can't install patches requiring interactivity.
• the analysis step performed by smpatch doesn't seem to be working correctly. It will keep displaying a list of updates even if they are not applicable to your configuration. To reproduce this issue, try to analyze, update then analyze once more using smpatch. A feature or a bug?
I consider Sun Update Connection from the point of view of a system administrator that needs to apply patches to a server with no graphical environment. That means I will only show how to use Sun Update Connection using the CLI (Command-Line Interface). This method makes usage of a subset of Sun Update Connection known as Sun Update Manager. This tiny guide is not intended to replace the official instructions from Sun but rather supplements them. I found them confusing at times so if you need a quick start for using Sun Update Connection, read on. You can later on read the full instructions on Sun's website.
Sun Update Connection is not integrated by default with Solaris 10 but according to C|Net News.com, this should be fixed in the next global update to Solaris 10, expected by the end of this year. You will need to download and install it separately. The installations instructions are rather clear and the installation is pretty much straightforward.
Once the installation is over, you will need to register your machine with Sun to be able to use Sun Update Connection, using your Sun Online Account (free registration). It should be noted that if you don't have a valid Sun Service Plan, you may only download security fixes and hardware drivers.
To register a system, you need to create a registration profile file. This file contains the data necessary to process your system's registration with Sun as shown by the following example:
userName=ichigo
password=shinigami
hostName=hollow
subscriptionKey=
portalEnabled=false
proxyHostName=
proxyPort=
proxyUserName=
proxyPassword=
This will register the system which hostname is hollow using the Sun Online Account ichigo which password is shinigami. This user has no Sun Service Plan so the subscriptionKey parameter is left empty. If you are going to register your system using a proxy, you will need to fill the 4 last parameters in the above example.
The registration profile must be owned by root and its permissions set to 0400 or 0600. This file must be fed to the sconadm command as shown below:
# /usr/sbin/sconadm register -a -r /tmp/registrationprofile.properties
For more details about the registration process, read the Registration Guide.
Once registered, you will be able to analyze your system, retrieve a list of updates and apply them automatically using the smpatch command:
# smpatch analyze
# smpatch update
For more information about the smpatch command, please refer to the manual page available upon Sun Update Connection installation.
Sun Update Connection 1.0.1, the latest version available as of this writing, has a few limitations/quirks:
• It is incompatible with containers, a major feature of Solaris 10. I hope this limitation will cease to exist in future versions since containers (also known as zones) are essential for system administrators who want to make good use of their hardware capabilities and optimize system usage from a performance and security standpoints.
• You can't install patches requiring interactivity.
• the analysis step performed by smpatch doesn't seem to be working correctly. It will keep displaying a list of updates even if they are not applicable to your configuration. To reproduce this issue, try to analyze, update then analyze once more using smpatch. A feature or a bug?
|
Pandora, excellent experience for music lovers
30 Oct 2005 03:26 PM / Filed in: Music
Playlistmag.com published an article about Pandora, a music service created by the Music Genome Project. It is is a personalized online radio service. It allows you to submit a song or an artist name and it creates a stream of music of other similar songs according to many musical criteria. That way, you may discover artists you've never heard of before. You can create as many streams (or personalized radio stations) as you want. To use the service, you only need a browser and a Flash player. The streams use a bitrate of 128Kbps, which is fine by me.
Pandora is subscription-based (36 USD per year) and you can try it out for free for 10 hours. And according to the online FAQ, they have 300.000 songs from 10.000 artists so far in all genres save for Classical and World (Too bad for a World music lover such as me).
After reading the article, I decided to try this service out and I was surprised of how good it is! To test it, I created two online radio stations.
For the first radio station I decided to play the "wild-guessing" card and let Pandora find similar music to Nada Surf, a Pop/Rock band I discovered lately. I barely know Nada Surf and I cannot think of similar bands on top of my head. The only thing I really know is that I love Nada Surf's latest album, the only one I have. Would Pandora find similar music and make me discover other great bands?
After listening to approx. 10 songs, I skipped only one of the tracks. Pandora offers the possibility to skip music and by clicking on the song icon, you can say that you "don't like it" and it'll skip automatically. This is excellent "accuracy" and I discovered a few bands I've never heard of in the process.
For the second radio station I chose Dave Koz, one of the best Smooth Jazz saxophonists I know. His latest album, Saxophonic, was featured in the Oct'05 edition of Wonderful Songs. I love Smooth Jazz and I know several artists in this genre. I decided again to listen to 10 songs. The first one was Honey-Dipped by Dave Koz himself, featured in Saxophonic. While listening to this song, I though of Gerald Albright, another great saxophonist and very much to my surprise, Pandora "thought" of the same thing as the second track was from this artist! And the next 8 tracks were similarly good. Again, I discovered other artists I didn't know.
During these tests, I discovered a minor quirk of the service. While you can pause the stream and listen to it later, you can't go back to where you left it if you start playing another stream in the meantime. But as I said, this is a minor issue.
When you click on the track icon a menu opens up that will let you buy the album from iTunes Music Store or Amazon. You can also create a new station from one of the tracks. And you can also email your stream to a friend so she can share the music with you.
If you are on the lookout for some great music and artists that you've never heard of, then Pandora is definitely worth the 36 USD/year. It is just too bad they don't have World Music but hopefully, they will add songs from this genre soonish.
Pandora is subscription-based (36 USD per year) and you can try it out for free for 10 hours. And according to the online FAQ, they have 300.000 songs from 10.000 artists so far in all genres save for Classical and World (Too bad for a World music lover such as me).
After reading the article, I decided to try this service out and I was surprised of how good it is! To test it, I created two online radio stations.
For the first radio station I decided to play the "wild-guessing" card and let Pandora find similar music to Nada Surf, a Pop/Rock band I discovered lately. I barely know Nada Surf and I cannot think of similar bands on top of my head. The only thing I really know is that I love Nada Surf's latest album, the only one I have. Would Pandora find similar music and make me discover other great bands?
After listening to approx. 10 songs, I skipped only one of the tracks. Pandora offers the possibility to skip music and by clicking on the song icon, you can say that you "don't like it" and it'll skip automatically. This is excellent "accuracy" and I discovered a few bands I've never heard of in the process.
For the second radio station I chose Dave Koz, one of the best Smooth Jazz saxophonists I know. His latest album, Saxophonic, was featured in the Oct'05 edition of Wonderful Songs. I love Smooth Jazz and I know several artists in this genre. I decided again to listen to 10 songs. The first one was Honey-Dipped by Dave Koz himself, featured in Saxophonic. While listening to this song, I though of Gerald Albright, another great saxophonist and very much to my surprise, Pandora "thought" of the same thing as the second track was from this artist! And the next 8 tracks were similarly good. Again, I discovered other artists I didn't know.
During these tests, I discovered a minor quirk of the service. While you can pause the stream and listen to it later, you can't go back to where you left it if you start playing another stream in the meantime. But as I said, this is a minor issue.
When you click on the track icon a menu opens up that will let you buy the album from iTunes Music Store or Amazon. You can also create a new station from one of the tracks. And you can also email your stream to a friend so she can share the music with you.
If you are on the lookout for some great music and artists that you've never heard of, then Pandora is definitely worth the 36 USD/year. It is just too bad they don't have World Music but hopefully, they will add songs from this genre soonish.
Wonderful Songs, Nov'05
24 Oct 2005 04:30 PM / Filed in: Music
Welcome to the fourth edition of Wonderful Songs, my monthly blog entry outlining ten exceptional songs I listened to during the past month.
Folk music seems to have regained tremendous support and a whole new generation of extremely talented artists are blossoming in these areas. Cripple Crow, Devendra Banhart's latest album, is an excellent Folk record and I really had a hard time picking a single song from it for Wonderful Songs. I also included an entry from The Rolling Stones's A Bigger Bang, an extremely good Rock album. I just keep wondering what fuels these guys. I greatly respect their artistic work and achievements.
This month, we also have Electronica, World, Jazz, Soul and Reggae entries.
I made a small enhancement to improve readability for eMusic subscribers: Look for the Available from eMusic link right next to the album name. Clicking on this link will lead you to the eMusic web page of the specified album. The album images are still clickable and link to Amazon (.com or .fr in general depending on the album's availability on this or that site). And before you ask, I have no interest whatsoever in linking to Amazon save for the practical side. The blogging software I use has a special Amazon tool that allow me to retrieve the album covers in a snap.
[Reggae] Natty Supper, The Chantells
From the album Children of Jah (1977-1979). Available from eMusic
Let's start right away with a very nice Reggae song and a tragic story. The Chantells is a Jamaican Reggae Band of the second half of the '70s. Children of Jah is a collection of the major songs they made from 1977 to 1979 and Natty Supper is my favorite one. It has the typical dub of most Reggae songs of this era and the singer's voice reminds a lot of The Gladiators, a huge Reggae band that will certainly make one or several entries in upcoming editions of Wonderful Songs. So far so good, but what's so tragic? Well the band disbanded in 1979 when the members were accused of herb smuggling and some of them even went to jail. But the story doesn't end until Sam Bramwell, the lead singer who made some solo recordings afterwards was shot to death by the cops after committing armed robery. So much for Jah's message.
[World] What Silence Said, Susheela Raman
From the album Music For Crocodiles
What a voice! What an excellent blending of cultures and influences! Susheela Raman is a wonderful artist that I've been following rather closely since Salt Rain, her debut and highly regarded album. Love Trap, her second album was, sadly, not as good as the previous one. In fact, save for one or two songs, I didn't like at all and I was dubious whether to buy Music For Crocodiles, her latest album, or not. After listening to it a single time, I no longer doubted. This album is excellent. I so much like it that I went to her Paris concert at La Maroquinerie. There were very strong feelings carried by her wonderful voice. What Silence Said, the opening song, is very nice. I particularly enjoy the mixture of Susheela's voice with Tablas and Violins. Keep up the excellent Susheela, and please, no more Love Traps. And as my dear friend Mitch puts it, "we are all Crocodiles"!
[Electronica] Lilian, Depeche Mode
From the album Playing The Angel
I started listening to Depeche Mode's music 20 years ago, in 1985. Many Martin Gore's compositions, when blended with Dave Gahan's voice, reach something deep inside of me; something I cannot define even though most of their music has no warmth in it and leave a taste of steel. The 80s sound of Playing The Angel, one of their best albums so far, is extremely good. The band members are not friends anymore. According to Les Inrockuptibles, a French culture magazine, they barely speak to each other. But this bad situation doesn't seem to affect their musical skills. Just listen to Playing The Angel and its many gems to see the power of the Depeche Mode machine! Lillian is my favorite song so far. Gahan's voice seems electronically modified in a pleasant fashion and it strides accross the lyrics with a beautiful tone full of complaints.
[Soul] The High Road, Bettye Lavette
From the album I've Got My Own Hell To Raise. Available from eMusic
Bettye Lavette's career is full of missed opportunities but it stops here and now with the release of the excellent I've Got My Own Hell to Raise. Bettye's voice is awesome. Doubt not, she is a Great Singer. Want a proof? Listen to The High Road. It's a very nice Southern Soul song or, should I say, standard. Very moving.
[Smooth Jazz] Ready To Hang, Wayman Tisdale
From the album Hang Time
Wayman Tisdale is a former Basketball player turned Smooth Jazz bass musician. His previous albums are OK but Hang Time is excellent. His bass is powerful and gives a very nice funky touch to the Smooth Jazz songs. Ready To Hang is the opening song and it carries the same feeling as the album's cover: Wayman enjoys making music a lot! I had a hard time getting the album. It was not available on the major music stores in France (FNAC, Amazon.fr) and my used records favorite shop, Jussieu Music, didn't have it as well. Neither did iTunes Music Store France. So I ended up ordering it from the US and the package was lost in transit. So they sent me a second one that arrived more than one month ago after the initial order. Sometimes, even if you are ready to hang, you just can't do it ;-)
[Folk] Santa Maria Da Feira, Devendra Banhart
From the album Cripple Crow. Available from eMusic
Devendra Banhart has been gifted with an incredible voice that may stamp your ears forever. I can't define it. You gotta hear it. And either you will love it or hate it. There's no middleground. Since I listened to it barely one year ago, I've become a huge fan of Devendra's music but my wife hates it. While his previous albums are your typical Folk albums with the single guitar-voice duo, Devendra Banhart invited many more instruments (and friends) on Cripple Crow. He also sings a few songs in Spanish, one of which is Santa Maria Da Feira. This song is very smooth and relaxing and I love its "minimalistic" approach.
[Electronica] Aftermath, Tahiti 80
From the album A Piece Of Sunshine. Available from eMusic
A Piece of Sunshine is the fourth record released by the French band Tahiti 80 for Minty Fresh. If you like light and refreshing Electronica sound, consider getting the album. In my opinion, it's their best album so far. Aftermath is one of the most refreshing of the lot and Xavier Boyer's voice is relaxing and enjoyable.
[Rock] It Won't Take Long, The Rolling Stones
From the album A Bigger Bang
After eight years and the excellent Bridges to Babylon, The Rolling Stones released two months A Bigger Bang. The Rolling Stones are often dubbed the World's Greatest Rock'n'Roll band and they deserve it. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ron Wood treat us to great music. Save for Ron Wood (58), all the members are past their sixties and they have been on the scene since 1961! Yes, that's 44 years. Almost half a century and they still have what it takes to preserve their name and majesty. They have extraordinary energy. Before listening to the music, you can tell that just from the album's title. Pure Rock, Blues and Ballads... A Bigger Bang in all regards. It Won't Take Long shows how well these guys play together and how they master their art. After an awesome guitar opening from Mr. Richards, Mick Jagger enters the song scene with backing from Charlie Watts' awesome drums play and Ron Wood answering to Richards. When I listen to this masterpiece, only one word comes to mind: RESPECT.
[Fusion Jazz] Farandole (L'Arlesienne Suite No. 2), Bob James
From the album Two. Available from eMusic
I discovered Bob James, a Jazz keyboardist, through Fourplay. Fourplay is one of my favorite Smooth Jazz bands. Besides Bob James, the members are Nathan East, Harvey Mason and Larry Carlton who replaced Lee Ritenour in 1997. I saw them in live in Tokyo, Japan, back in 1998 and as far as I can tell, it was an awesome concert. But until recently, I hadn't listened to James' early records which, by the way, are very good if you happen to love Fusion Jazz with a very 70s touch. Farandole (L'Arlesienne Suite No. 2), released in 1975, is James' take on L'arlésienne from 19th century French Composer Georges Bizet (who is also behind the Carmen Opera). It has a very smooth and nice tone. It reminds of many different things ranging from Space Opera Japanese Anime Cobra to Starsky & Hutch.
[World] Dery, Salif Keita
From the album M'Bemba
Three years after the release of Moffou, one of the best Afro-pop records I've ever listened to (Yamore still gives me the chills), Salif Keita is back at it again. While not as good as Moffou in my opinion, M'Bemba is still worth buying. Dery is a very smooth song featuring very nice sounding African instruments.
Folk music seems to have regained tremendous support and a whole new generation of extremely talented artists are blossoming in these areas. Cripple Crow, Devendra Banhart's latest album, is an excellent Folk record and I really had a hard time picking a single song from it for Wonderful Songs. I also included an entry from The Rolling Stones's A Bigger Bang, an extremely good Rock album. I just keep wondering what fuels these guys. I greatly respect their artistic work and achievements.
This month, we also have Electronica, World, Jazz, Soul and Reggae entries.
I made a small enhancement to improve readability for eMusic subscribers: Look for the Available from eMusic link right next to the album name. Clicking on this link will lead you to the eMusic web page of the specified album. The album images are still clickable and link to Amazon (.com or .fr in general depending on the album's availability on this or that site). And before you ask, I have no interest whatsoever in linking to Amazon save for the practical side. The blogging software I use has a special Amazon tool that allow me to retrieve the album covers in a snap.
[Reggae] Natty Supper, The Chantells
From the album Children of Jah (1977-1979). Available from eMusic
Let's start right away with a very nice Reggae song and a tragic story. The Chantells is a Jamaican Reggae Band of the second half of the '70s. Children of Jah is a collection of the major songs they made from 1977 to 1979 and Natty Supper is my favorite one. It has the typical dub of most Reggae songs of this era and the singer's voice reminds a lot of The Gladiators, a huge Reggae band that will certainly make one or several entries in upcoming editions of Wonderful Songs. So far so good, but what's so tragic? Well the band disbanded in 1979 when the members were accused of herb smuggling and some of them even went to jail. But the story doesn't end until Sam Bramwell, the lead singer who made some solo recordings afterwards was shot to death by the cops after committing armed robery. So much for Jah's message.
[World] What Silence Said, Susheela Raman
From the album Music For Crocodiles
What a voice! What an excellent blending of cultures and influences! Susheela Raman is a wonderful artist that I've been following rather closely since Salt Rain, her debut and highly regarded album. Love Trap, her second album was, sadly, not as good as the previous one. In fact, save for one or two songs, I didn't like at all and I was dubious whether to buy Music For Crocodiles, her latest album, or not. After listening to it a single time, I no longer doubted. This album is excellent. I so much like it that I went to her Paris concert at La Maroquinerie. There were very strong feelings carried by her wonderful voice. What Silence Said, the opening song, is very nice. I particularly enjoy the mixture of Susheela's voice with Tablas and Violins. Keep up the excellent Susheela, and please, no more Love Traps. And as my dear friend Mitch puts it, "we are all Crocodiles"!
[Electronica] Lilian, Depeche Mode
From the album Playing The Angel
I started listening to Depeche Mode's music 20 years ago, in 1985. Many Martin Gore's compositions, when blended with Dave Gahan's voice, reach something deep inside of me; something I cannot define even though most of their music has no warmth in it and leave a taste of steel. The 80s sound of Playing The Angel, one of their best albums so far, is extremely good. The band members are not friends anymore. According to Les Inrockuptibles, a French culture magazine, they barely speak to each other. But this bad situation doesn't seem to affect their musical skills. Just listen to Playing The Angel and its many gems to see the power of the Depeche Mode machine! Lillian is my favorite song so far. Gahan's voice seems electronically modified in a pleasant fashion and it strides accross the lyrics with a beautiful tone full of complaints.
[Soul] The High Road, Bettye Lavette
From the album I've Got My Own Hell To Raise. Available from eMusic
Bettye Lavette's career is full of missed opportunities but it stops here and now with the release of the excellent I've Got My Own Hell to Raise. Bettye's voice is awesome. Doubt not, she is a Great Singer. Want a proof? Listen to The High Road. It's a very nice Southern Soul song or, should I say, standard. Very moving.
[Smooth Jazz] Ready To Hang, Wayman Tisdale
From the album Hang Time
Wayman Tisdale is a former Basketball player turned Smooth Jazz bass musician. His previous albums are OK but Hang Time is excellent. His bass is powerful and gives a very nice funky touch to the Smooth Jazz songs. Ready To Hang is the opening song and it carries the same feeling as the album's cover: Wayman enjoys making music a lot! I had a hard time getting the album. It was not available on the major music stores in France (FNAC, Amazon.fr) and my used records favorite shop, Jussieu Music, didn't have it as well. Neither did iTunes Music Store France. So I ended up ordering it from the US and the package was lost in transit. So they sent me a second one that arrived more than one month ago after the initial order. Sometimes, even if you are ready to hang, you just can't do it ;-)
[Folk] Santa Maria Da Feira, Devendra Banhart
From the album Cripple Crow. Available from eMusic
Devendra Banhart has been gifted with an incredible voice that may stamp your ears forever. I can't define it. You gotta hear it. And either you will love it or hate it. There's no middleground. Since I listened to it barely one year ago, I've become a huge fan of Devendra's music but my wife hates it. While his previous albums are your typical Folk albums with the single guitar-voice duo, Devendra Banhart invited many more instruments (and friends) on Cripple Crow. He also sings a few songs in Spanish, one of which is Santa Maria Da Feira. This song is very smooth and relaxing and I love its "minimalistic" approach.
[Electronica] Aftermath, Tahiti 80
From the album A Piece Of Sunshine. Available from eMusic
A Piece of Sunshine is the fourth record released by the French band Tahiti 80 for Minty Fresh. If you like light and refreshing Electronica sound, consider getting the album. In my opinion, it's their best album so far. Aftermath is one of the most refreshing of the lot and Xavier Boyer's voice is relaxing and enjoyable.
[Rock] It Won't Take Long, The Rolling Stones
From the album A Bigger Bang
After eight years and the excellent Bridges to Babylon, The Rolling Stones released two months A Bigger Bang. The Rolling Stones are often dubbed the World's Greatest Rock'n'Roll band and they deserve it. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ron Wood treat us to great music. Save for Ron Wood (58), all the members are past their sixties and they have been on the scene since 1961! Yes, that's 44 years. Almost half a century and they still have what it takes to preserve their name and majesty. They have extraordinary energy. Before listening to the music, you can tell that just from the album's title. Pure Rock, Blues and Ballads... A Bigger Bang in all regards. It Won't Take Long shows how well these guys play together and how they master their art. After an awesome guitar opening from Mr. Richards, Mick Jagger enters the song scene with backing from Charlie Watts' awesome drums play and Ron Wood answering to Richards. When I listen to this masterpiece, only one word comes to mind: RESPECT.
[Fusion Jazz] Farandole (L'Arlesienne Suite No. 2), Bob James
From the album Two. Available from eMusic
I discovered Bob James, a Jazz keyboardist, through Fourplay. Fourplay is one of my favorite Smooth Jazz bands. Besides Bob James, the members are Nathan East, Harvey Mason and Larry Carlton who replaced Lee Ritenour in 1997. I saw them in live in Tokyo, Japan, back in 1998 and as far as I can tell, it was an awesome concert. But until recently, I hadn't listened to James' early records which, by the way, are very good if you happen to love Fusion Jazz with a very 70s touch. Farandole (L'Arlesienne Suite No. 2), released in 1975, is James' take on L'arlésienne from 19th century French Composer Georges Bizet (who is also behind the Carmen Opera). It has a very smooth and nice tone. It reminds of many different things ranging from Space Opera Japanese Anime Cobra to Starsky & Hutch.
[World] Dery, Salif Keita
From the album M'Bemba
Three years after the release of Moffou, one of the best Afro-pop records I've ever listened to (Yamore still gives me the chills), Salif Keita is back at it again. While not as good as Moffou in my opinion, M'Bemba is still worth buying. Dery is a very smooth song featuring very nice sounding African instruments.
Life Hackers, the art of interruption studies
20 Oct 2005 04:55 PM / Filed in: I.T.
The New York Times has published a very interesting article (- free - registration required) about people called Life Hackers studying how one can get all of the benefits from interruptions in the workplace - interruptions being often important and needed - without their downsides.
The studies have found some interesting facts. For example, once you are interrupted it takes 25 minutes to switch back to the original task at hand. The studies, which are far from complete, also shows how computer display size might play a central role in productivity increase.
The article also gives some good hints (that are surprisingly lo-tech!) about how to manage interruptions.
The studies have found some interesting facts. For example, once you are interrupted it takes 25 minutes to switch back to the original task at hand. The studies, which are far from complete, also shows how computer display size might play a central role in productivity increase.
The article also gives some good hints (that are surprisingly lo-tech!) about how to manage interruptions.
OpenBSD fête ses 10 ans
19 Oct 2005 09:51 AM / Filed in: I.T.
Le projet OpenBSD, auquel je participe depuis 5 ans, fêtait hier ses 10 ans. Le processus de développement adopté par le projet est plus évolutionnaire que révolutionnaire. Mais que de révolutions en sécurité informatique durant ces 10 ans d'existence !
La version 3.8, prévue le 1er Novembre prochain, continue la lignée d'évolutions/révolutions sécurité et qualité.
Bon anniversaire OpenBSD, et longue vie !
La version 3.8, prévue le 1er Novembre prochain, continue la lignée d'évolutions/révolutions sécurité et qualité.
Bon anniversaire OpenBSD, et longue vie !
H5N1, plus fort tu meurs !
13 Oct 2005 10:16 AM / Filed in: Misc
Les nouvelles catastrophiques, qui vous donnent mal au ventre, qui vous font maudire votre modernité ou haïr le voisin pour ce qu'il vous fait subir, continuent de pleuvoir sur le H5N1, virus version KFC, qui saute du poulet voire du canard vers nos chétifs corps humains tellement fragiles. H5N1, virus au doux nom (et je ne parle même pas des souches), qui nous fait tellement peur car il aurait tué une soixantaine de personnes en Asie et des millions de volatiles. C'est vrai, il ne sait pas encore bien sauter d'une espèce à une autre mais bon il apprend. C'est qu'il est malin l'animal. Et si jamais il y arrive, alors là il faut s'attendre au pire ! En attendant continuez à acheter le journal ou à fournir du temps disponible de votre cerveau à la télé. Comme vous l'aviez fait à l'époque du HIV ou du prion de la maladie de la vache folle. Je dis bien époque car comme on ne les voit plus dans les médias - allez, un jour par an à l'occasion de la journée mondiale du Sida ou tous les jours au supermarché dans le logo qui vous rassure quant à l'origine de votre belle pièce de viande - on peut supposer qu'ils ne font peu ou plus de victimes.
Ah vous ne savez-pas ce qu'est le H5N1 ? Vous aussi, vous vivez dans une cave et sélectionnez soigneusement vos lectures histoire de vous convaincre que le monde n'est pas si pourri que ça ? Ah mais attendez, en lecteur avisé qui n'a pas de temps disponible de cerveau à donner à qui que ce soit, vous devez certainement lire National Geographic, cette superbe revue qui vous fait découvrir des endroits merveilleux et des paysages hallucinants de beauté (oui, oui c'est sur Terre. On ne croirait pas en lisant les quotidiens). Dommage, le numéro d'octobre est plein d'espoir lui aussi : la fin du pétrole, un petit clin d'oeil aux Français avec la bataille de Trafalgar histoire d'enfoncer le clou après Paris qui perd les Jeux Olympiques (pensez temps disponible) face à Londres, les éléphants thaïlandais maltraités dont l'avenir est fort incertain, et bien sûr un superbe dossier avec de belles photos à l'appui de H5N1, Monsieur Grippe Aviaire.
Pas d'inquiétude pour les Français. L'institut Pasteur est là et le gouvernement veille au grain. Il paraît que la France a acheté des vaccins pour un quart de la population (l'Histoire nous dira peut-être pour quel quart). Sauf que le vaccin en question a donné des résultats satisfaisants (le communiquant aguerri aura compris "mouais ... ça peut aller") ... mais H5N1 change souvement de déguisement et le vaccin n'est pas capable de repérer tous les déguisements. Hahaha, je vous sentais partir d'un pas rassuré mais non mais non ! Restez encore un peu.
Vous allez voir, au bout d'un moment vous allez vous y faire. Comme pour tout d'ailleurs. Loin derrière sont vos craintes concernant le H7N7 (si si, ça existe vraiment), Ebola, le HIV (on a réussi à bien l'exporter celui-là comme nos déchets nucléaires et autres monstruosités vers la poubelle du Monde), notre prion préféré, etc. etc. etc. Mais bon, il faut pas vous sentir en sécurité et, Business is Business : il faut continuer à vendre du média et du temps disponible du cerveau.
S'il fait comme le Sida, le H5N1 fera la une un temps après avoir tué peut-être quelques millions de personnes (une broutille parmi les 5 ou 6 milliards que nous sommes) et bien plus de volailles (Si on faisait ça avec les virus informatiques ... J'ose même pas imaginer les conséquences) et pouf ! Plus de nouvelles, bonnes nouvelles comme on dit. Les végétariens vont encore crier au meutre quand ils verront toutes ces bêtes se faire massacrer. Qui prend les paris sur le super-entrepreneur qui va s'occuper de ces volailles et résoudre en même temps les problèmes de famine en Afrique (ah, vous saviez pas pour le Darfour ? C'est vrai que le Tsunami est plus touchant) quitte à refiler un petit extra à ces pauvres gens ?
En tant que virus numéro 1, il faut mériter sa place n'est-ce pas ? On ne va quand même pas laisser le H5N1 nous la prendre si facilement.
Pour finir sur une note d'espoir, il paraît que le H5N1 a pris des billets pour la Roumanie et la Turquie histoire de tâter le terrain. D'aucuns croient que c'est en fait un agent du fisc de Dame Nature. Selon les rumeurs qui courent, l'espèce humaine n'aurait pas payé ses impôts même après moultes lettres de semonce. Il faut donc faire des prélèvements à la source histoire d'équilibrer un peu la dette. Dame Nature n'est pas aussi gentille que le FMI.
je suis sorti trop longtemps de ma cave. J'y retourne de suite. Je compte sur vous pour me tenir au courant.
Ah vous ne savez-pas ce qu'est le H5N1 ? Vous aussi, vous vivez dans une cave et sélectionnez soigneusement vos lectures histoire de vous convaincre que le monde n'est pas si pourri que ça ? Ah mais attendez, en lecteur avisé qui n'a pas de temps disponible de cerveau à donner à qui que ce soit, vous devez certainement lire National Geographic, cette superbe revue qui vous fait découvrir des endroits merveilleux et des paysages hallucinants de beauté (oui, oui c'est sur Terre. On ne croirait pas en lisant les quotidiens). Dommage, le numéro d'octobre est plein d'espoir lui aussi : la fin du pétrole, un petit clin d'oeil aux Français avec la bataille de Trafalgar histoire d'enfoncer le clou après Paris qui perd les Jeux Olympiques (pensez temps disponible) face à Londres, les éléphants thaïlandais maltraités dont l'avenir est fort incertain, et bien sûr un superbe dossier avec de belles photos à l'appui de H5N1, Monsieur Grippe Aviaire.
Pas d'inquiétude pour les Français. L'institut Pasteur est là et le gouvernement veille au grain. Il paraît que la France a acheté des vaccins pour un quart de la population (l'Histoire nous dira peut-être pour quel quart). Sauf que le vaccin en question a donné des résultats satisfaisants (le communiquant aguerri aura compris "mouais ... ça peut aller") ... mais H5N1 change souvement de déguisement et le vaccin n'est pas capable de repérer tous les déguisements. Hahaha, je vous sentais partir d'un pas rassuré mais non mais non ! Restez encore un peu.
Vous allez voir, au bout d'un moment vous allez vous y faire. Comme pour tout d'ailleurs. Loin derrière sont vos craintes concernant le H7N7 (si si, ça existe vraiment), Ebola, le HIV (on a réussi à bien l'exporter celui-là comme nos déchets nucléaires et autres monstruosités vers la poubelle du Monde), notre prion préféré, etc. etc. etc. Mais bon, il faut pas vous sentir en sécurité et, Business is Business : il faut continuer à vendre du média et du temps disponible du cerveau.
S'il fait comme le Sida, le H5N1 fera la une un temps après avoir tué peut-être quelques millions de personnes (une broutille parmi les 5 ou 6 milliards que nous sommes) et bien plus de volailles (Si on faisait ça avec les virus informatiques ... J'ose même pas imaginer les conséquences) et pouf ! Plus de nouvelles, bonnes nouvelles comme on dit. Les végétariens vont encore crier au meutre quand ils verront toutes ces bêtes se faire massacrer. Qui prend les paris sur le super-entrepreneur qui va s'occuper de ces volailles et résoudre en même temps les problèmes de famine en Afrique (ah, vous saviez pas pour le Darfour ? C'est vrai que le Tsunami est plus touchant) quitte à refiler un petit extra à ces pauvres gens ?
En tant que virus numéro 1, il faut mériter sa place n'est-ce pas ? On ne va quand même pas laisser le H5N1 nous la prendre si facilement.
Pour finir sur une note d'espoir, il paraît que le H5N1 a pris des billets pour la Roumanie et la Turquie histoire de tâter le terrain. D'aucuns croient que c'est en fait un agent du fisc de Dame Nature. Selon les rumeurs qui courent, l'espèce humaine n'aurait pas payé ses impôts même après moultes lettres de semonce. Il faut donc faire des prélèvements à la source histoire d'équilibrer un peu la dette. Dame Nature n'est pas aussi gentille que le FMI.
je suis sorti trop longtemps de ma cave. J'y retourne de suite. Je compte sur vous pour me tenir au courant.
Did the long night with Solaris 10 pay off?
13 Oct 2005 02:34 AM / Filed in: I.T.
Sorry, the saner part of me didn't take control for long. Just after I finished brushing my teeth and preparing to go to bed, the insidious Geek Inside took over and drove me to the xterm. So did the installation finished during these few minutes?
Oct 13 02:16:46 rope reboot: rebooted by root
Oct 13 02:16:47 rope syslogd: going down on signal 15
syncing file systems... done
rebooting...
Resetting ...
Sun Ultra 5/10 UPA/PCI (UltraSPARC-IIi 440MHz), No Keyboard
OpenBoot 3.27, 512 MB (50 ns) memory installed, Serial #12935339.
Ethernet address 8:0:20:c5:60:ab, Host ID: 80c560ab.
Rebooting with command: boot
Boot device: /pci@1f,0/pci@1,1/ide@3/disk@0,0:a File and args:
SunOS Release 5.10 Version Generic 64-bit
Copyright 1983-2005 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Use is subject to license terms.
Configuring devices.
Hostname: rope
WARNING: /pci@1f,0/pci@1,1/ide@3/dad@2,0 (dad0):
corrupt label - wrong magic number
Loading smf(5) service descriptions: 2/2
checking ufs filesystems
/dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s5: is logging.
/dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s7: is logging.
rope console login:
Great! It works! And the corrupt label error is insignificant since I didn't format my second drive (dad@2,0).
So before R.E.A.L.L.Y. going to bed, here are the lessons I learned tonight :
1. You can use any pen to write on any book (so-called low-tech). If you can't make it by yourself, think CD-R brands, burning speeds, and CD-ROM readers (particularly LG ones).
2. Depending on your needs, some operating systems are easier to install than others. OpenBSD can be installed on sparc64 very quickly. Other sparc64 open source operating systems such as Debian can also be installed much quicker than Solaris 10 that took me more than 5 hours and 4 total attempts to install (not all due to Solaris 10 to be honest). I repeat: it depends on your needs and what you are looking for out-of-the-box.
3. Use fresh or low-level formatted disks whenever possible.
4. Check the media. Check the media. Check the media.
5. There should be a way to see what media works with which drive. Looking for ideas? See 1.
6. Staying awake at insane hours become more difficult as I'm getting older. I agree, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this one out.
Night everyone.
Oct 13 02:16:46 rope reboot: rebooted by root
Oct 13 02:16:47 rope syslogd: going down on signal 15
syncing file systems... done
rebooting...
Resetting ...
Sun Ultra 5/10 UPA/PCI (UltraSPARC-IIi 440MHz), No Keyboard
OpenBoot 3.27, 512 MB (50 ns) memory installed, Serial #12935339.
Ethernet address 8:0:20:c5:60:ab, Host ID: 80c560ab.
Rebooting with command: boot
Boot device: /pci@1f,0/pci@1,1/ide@3/disk@0,0:a File and args:
SunOS Release 5.10 Version Generic 64-bit
Copyright 1983-2005 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Use is subject to license terms.
Configuring devices.
Hostname: rope
WARNING: /pci@1f,0/pci@1,1/ide@3/dad@2,0 (dad0):
corrupt label - wrong magic number
Loading smf(5) service descriptions: 2/2
checking ufs filesystems
/dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s5: is logging.
/dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s7: is logging.
rope console login:
Great! It works! And the corrupt label error is insignificant since I didn't format my second drive (dad@2,0).
So before R.E.A.L.L.Y. going to bed, here are the lessons I learned tonight :
1. You can use any pen to write on any book (so-called low-tech). If you can't make it by yourself, think CD-R brands, burning speeds, and CD-ROM readers (particularly LG ones).
2. Depending on your needs, some operating systems are easier to install than others. OpenBSD can be installed on sparc64 very quickly. Other sparc64 open source operating systems such as Debian can also be installed much quicker than Solaris 10 that took me more than 5 hours and 4 total attempts to install (not all due to Solaris 10 to be honest). I repeat: it depends on your needs and what you are looking for out-of-the-box.
3. Use fresh or low-level formatted disks whenever possible.
4. Check the media. Check the media. Check the media.
5. There should be a way to see what media works with which drive. Looking for ideas? See 1.
6. Staying awake at insane hours become more difficult as I'm getting older. I agree, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this one out.
Night everyone.
A Long Night With Solaris 10
13 Oct 2005 02:11 AM / Filed in: I.T.
The time has come for me to get serious about testing and getting acquainted with the new release of Sun's operating system: Solaris 10. As a security consultant who he is also fond of Unix-like and Linux systems, I need to use this operating system for two main reasons:
1. See how different it is from Solaris 8, the latest release of Solaris I've been using from both a security perspective and an administration one. I am curious to see how nice or bad the new features of Solaris 10 are (DTrace, zones, and SMF mainly).
2. Try to harden it reasonably.
To install Solaris 10, I either need a sparc64 or an amd64 supported box. Budget being what it is, I don't have the financial resources to buy a brand new machine just for the sake of playing with an operating system. I don't have any personal need to put it in production. My current FreeBSD, OpenBSD and Mac OS X systems already fit the bill very nicely. I just want to update my skill set and see how secure I can make Solaris be. Wait a minute! What's collecting dust under one of the desks? Oh! that's the venerable rope (as in "rope to hang yourself with, anytime, anywhere!").
rope is an Ultra 10 equipped with an UltraSPARC II-i 440Mhz, 512MB of RAM, 2 IDE harddrives (30Go and 80Go) and a PCI SCSI adapter. It served me well during many months as a DNS, file and backup server under OpenBSD. It was retired after I bought a Dell server with much more disk space (which is of course running OpenBSD). But can it be loaded with Solaris 10? Well, according to the documentation I read, no problem! So let's try.
After connecting a serial cable, a network cable, and the power cable, I inserted the Solaris 10 disc 1 in the CD-ROM drive and here you go: boot cdrom in the OpenBoot Prompt. Damn, it doesn't work. the cdrom alias is not mapped correctly (I installed OpenBSD on it from the network without ever using the CD-ROM drive). I summon nvalias for help and there you go! Enter Solaris 10 installation.
As you may know, Ultra 10 is far from being a work horse. Even during its time (it was released in '97 or '98 IIRC), and due to its IDE bus (among other things), it was not considered a fast machine. Time to go fetch a coffee...
When I came back I was welcomed with Solaris 10 asking me what language do I want for installation, what kind of terminal I have, what type of installation I 'd like to perform, network data etc. etc. It is pretty much the same as the Solaris 8 installer. For this first attempt, I got as far as the point where it starts loading the installation media (just before the file system layout). And it hanged there, timing out on the CD-ROM drive (which was working perfectly just a few moments ago). Did rope collect too much dust? Time for cleaning and checking everything.
Armed with my B&D electrical screwdriver, an invertible air duster and a contact cleaner and lubricant, I opened the box, cleaned it and checked every single cable I could lay my hand on, particularly the IDE and power cables. I also removed extra cards I don't need at the moment (the PCI SCSI and modem cards).
Time for a second attempt. But, for extra security, I used the probe-ide OBP command which worked just fine. Great! then let's boot cdrom. For this second attempt, it stopped exactly at the same point. Can't be the cables, so it must be either the lame LG CD-ROM drive that comes by default with Ultra 10s, the installation media I burned from the official Sun ISO or a combination of it. After much investigation (the night starts stretching a little bit beyond my initial estimates), it was clear that the LG CD-ROM doesn't play well with Verbatim CD-Rs burned at 48x speed.
So I decided to try with another media and burning at a slow speed. Third attempt. Great! the LG CD-ROM drive seems to play fine with this new media. It'd have been great to include some media checking utility like the one included with some Linux distros or am I asking too much? Right, Solaris seasoned administrators use Jumpstart. But hey, AFAIK you need another Solaris box for that. Can't avoid my LG darling. For this third attempt, I got past the "loading installation media" sequence and reached the filesystem layout part. After telling the installer that I don't want to preserve any existing data on my disks, it asked me to choose one of my two harddrives to host Solaris 10. So c0t0d0s0 or c0t2d0s0? Wait a sec, wait a sec...either my coffee was not too strong or it was way too strong. Solaris only sees 8GB of space on each! Hey, these harddrives are 30GB and 80GB. Oh no! Don't tell me that you have the stupid 8GB limitation with IDE disks. I thought this belonged to the long-forgotten Solaris 2.6 time. Time for some investigation (good night honey, can't come to bed at the moment. Gotta have a word with this Solaris guy).
Given that the disks were labeled using OpenBSD and that both operating systems use a BSD-style layout (overlap and such), I need to zero out the disk labels before going any further. Sigh. Is this a modern operating system we are talking about? Or my Ultra 10 is just too old? The best way I could do that (at least at this time of night where my brain is kind of slow after a busy working day) is to boot from an OpenBSD installation CD-ROM, escape to the shell and use dd and /dev/zero on the overlaps. As almost everything with OpenBSD, it works just fine.
Fourth attempt. Got past the layout. We are making progress here. The installer sees the real capacity of my harddrives. CD 1 finished. Asking for CD 2. Installation in progress. Hope in the horizon.... I might go to bed soonish. Oops! I should have kept my brain shut :
Oct 13 00:34:14 rope scsi: Sense Key: Media Error
Oct 13 00:34:14 rope scsi: ASC: 0x11 (L-EC uncorrectable error), ASCQ: 0x5, FRU: 0x0
Oct 13 00:34:21 rope scsi: WARNING: /pci@1f,0/pci@1,1/ide@3/sd@3,0 (sd1):
Oct 13 00:34:21 rope Error for Command: read(10) Error Level: Retryable
Oct 13 00:34:21 rope scsi: Requested Block: 321510 Error Block: 321510
Oct 13 00:34:21 rope scsi: Vendor: LG Serial Number:
Oct 13 00:34:21 rope scsi: Sense Key: Media Error
Oct 13 00:34:21 rope scsi: ASC: 0x11 (L-EC uncorrectable error), ASCQ: 0x5, FRU: 0x0
[....]
Are you kidding me? OK. I am fed up with this. Guess what's the first thing I will do in the next few days before my fifth attempt? Throw away that stupid LG CD-ROM drive and put a real CD-ROM drive in this box.
And if Sun people are reading this, how about a media checker or advice on what brand to use and speed for burning your ISOs to make them work with your legacy machines? Oh right, no business incentive to do that. You are not as nuts as the OpenBSD people to support old cruft.
Off to bed, hopefully not having bad dreams starring Solaris 10 and Sun hardware. Oh wait! I just got a look at my xterm to shutdown the box properly (a BREAK and a power-off are your friends) and what do I see ? Can't describe it :
Please specify the media from which you will install Solaris 10 Software 3 for
SPARC Platforms.
Did the LG drive "sensed" my anger? Good! Maybe no fifth attempt after all. Let's load CD 3. Instead of starring blankly at the progress bar showing slow progress (well you could do that if you are really bored. I'm not), I decided to update my Mac OS X with the latest updates after Apple's last announcement. iTunes 6 after releasing iTunes 5 only one month ago and important bugfixes for QuickTime. Well, where our Solaris 10 fourth attempt is heading?
Please specify the media from which you will install Solaris 10 Software 4 for
SPARC Platforms.
Yes!, that's 4. Here goes the dreaded (regress) progress bar again. Damn, my cable broadband connection just went down in the middle of the updates for my Mac OS X. My first name, Saad, means luck in Arabic. No such thing as luck tonight. Time to switch to my backup ADSL connection and restart the update process on the Mac.
Letter to my bed:
My dear bed, I hope you are not angry. I would be more than happy to come and let you show me around through the land of Morpheus but I have a small problem (nothing to worry about, really!) with this Solaris guy. I am not on some tight schedule or something like that but well. he is challenging me! And even though I know I'm gonna be really tired in a few hours (it's 1:28 AM and the progress bar for CD 4 is only at 25% percent and there is still the Companion CD to install) when I will need to go to work, I just want to get over with this.
Sincerly yours (after the Solaris guy gets done with me that is)
Saad
*yawn*. 1:53 AM. CD 4 installation finished. Companion CD installation starting. It contains many pieces of open source software that I might not need such as ProFTPD, Squid, GD, ... But as one of my goals is to test the new Solaris Software Update to keep my system up-to-date, I would also like to see if these additional software is supported as well and the kind of reactivity I can expect from Sun when it comes to plugging security holes contained in these applications.
My sane self is taking over. I am going to crash into my bed andtomorrow in a few hours, when I wake up before going to work I'll check to see if everything went fine.
1. See how different it is from Solaris 8, the latest release of Solaris I've been using from both a security perspective and an administration one. I am curious to see how nice or bad the new features of Solaris 10 are (DTrace, zones, and SMF mainly).
2. Try to harden it reasonably.
To install Solaris 10, I either need a sparc64 or an amd64 supported box. Budget being what it is, I don't have the financial resources to buy a brand new machine just for the sake of playing with an operating system. I don't have any personal need to put it in production. My current FreeBSD, OpenBSD and Mac OS X systems already fit the bill very nicely. I just want to update my skill set and see how secure I can make Solaris be. Wait a minute! What's collecting dust under one of the desks? Oh! that's the venerable rope (as in "rope to hang yourself with, anytime, anywhere!").
rope is an Ultra 10 equipped with an UltraSPARC II-i 440Mhz, 512MB of RAM, 2 IDE harddrives (30Go and 80Go) and a PCI SCSI adapter. It served me well during many months as a DNS, file and backup server under OpenBSD. It was retired after I bought a Dell server with much more disk space (which is of course running OpenBSD). But can it be loaded with Solaris 10? Well, according to the documentation I read, no problem! So let's try.
After connecting a serial cable, a network cable, and the power cable, I inserted the Solaris 10 disc 1 in the CD-ROM drive and here you go: boot cdrom in the OpenBoot Prompt. Damn, it doesn't work. the cdrom alias is not mapped correctly (I installed OpenBSD on it from the network without ever using the CD-ROM drive). I summon nvalias for help and there you go! Enter Solaris 10 installation.
As you may know, Ultra 10 is far from being a work horse. Even during its time (it was released in '97 or '98 IIRC), and due to its IDE bus (among other things), it was not considered a fast machine. Time to go fetch a coffee...
When I came back I was welcomed with Solaris 10 asking me what language do I want for installation, what kind of terminal I have, what type of installation I 'd like to perform, network data etc. etc. It is pretty much the same as the Solaris 8 installer. For this first attempt, I got as far as the point where it starts loading the installation media (just before the file system layout). And it hanged there, timing out on the CD-ROM drive (which was working perfectly just a few moments ago). Did rope collect too much dust? Time for cleaning and checking everything.
Armed with my B&D electrical screwdriver, an invertible air duster and a contact cleaner and lubricant, I opened the box, cleaned it and checked every single cable I could lay my hand on, particularly the IDE and power cables. I also removed extra cards I don't need at the moment (the PCI SCSI and modem cards).
Time for a second attempt. But, for extra security, I used the probe-ide OBP command which worked just fine. Great! then let's boot cdrom. For this second attempt, it stopped exactly at the same point. Can't be the cables, so it must be either the lame LG CD-ROM drive that comes by default with Ultra 10s, the installation media I burned from the official Sun ISO or a combination of it. After much investigation (the night starts stretching a little bit beyond my initial estimates), it was clear that the LG CD-ROM doesn't play well with Verbatim CD-Rs burned at 48x speed.
So I decided to try with another media and burning at a slow speed. Third attempt. Great! the LG CD-ROM drive seems to play fine with this new media. It'd have been great to include some media checking utility like the one included with some Linux distros or am I asking too much? Right, Solaris seasoned administrators use Jumpstart. But hey, AFAIK you need another Solaris box for that. Can't avoid my LG darling. For this third attempt, I got past the "loading installation media" sequence and reached the filesystem layout part. After telling the installer that I don't want to preserve any existing data on my disks, it asked me to choose one of my two harddrives to host Solaris 10. So c0t0d0s0 or c0t2d0s0? Wait a sec, wait a sec...either my coffee was not too strong or it was way too strong. Solaris only sees 8GB of space on each! Hey, these harddrives are 30GB and 80GB. Oh no! Don't tell me that you have the stupid 8GB limitation with IDE disks. I thought this belonged to the long-forgotten Solaris 2.6 time. Time for some investigation (good night honey, can't come to bed at the moment. Gotta have a word with this Solaris guy).
Given that the disks were labeled using OpenBSD and that both operating systems use a BSD-style layout (overlap and such), I need to zero out the disk labels before going any further. Sigh. Is this a modern operating system we are talking about? Or my Ultra 10 is just too old? The best way I could do that (at least at this time of night where my brain is kind of slow after a busy working day) is to boot from an OpenBSD installation CD-ROM, escape to the shell and use dd and /dev/zero on the overlaps. As almost everything with OpenBSD, it works just fine.
Fourth attempt. Got past the layout. We are making progress here. The installer sees the real capacity of my harddrives. CD 1 finished. Asking for CD 2. Installation in progress. Hope in the horizon.... I might go to bed soonish. Oops! I should have kept my brain shut :
Oct 13 00:34:14 rope scsi: Sense Key: Media Error
Oct 13 00:34:14 rope scsi: ASC: 0x11 (L-EC uncorrectable error), ASCQ: 0x5, FRU: 0x0
Oct 13 00:34:21 rope scsi: WARNING: /pci@1f,0/pci@1,1/ide@3/sd@3,0 (sd1):
Oct 13 00:34:21 rope Error for Command: read(10) Error Level: Retryable
Oct 13 00:34:21 rope scsi: Requested Block: 321510 Error Block: 321510
Oct 13 00:34:21 rope scsi: Vendor: LG Serial Number:
Oct 13 00:34:21 rope scsi: Sense Key: Media Error
Oct 13 00:34:21 rope scsi: ASC: 0x11 (L-EC uncorrectable error), ASCQ: 0x5, FRU: 0x0
[....]
Are you kidding me? OK. I am fed up with this. Guess what's the first thing I will do in the next few days before my fifth attempt? Throw away that stupid LG CD-ROM drive and put a real CD-ROM drive in this box.
And if Sun people are reading this, how about a media checker or advice on what brand to use and speed for burning your ISOs to make them work with your legacy machines? Oh right, no business incentive to do that. You are not as nuts as the OpenBSD people to support old cruft.
Off to bed, hopefully not having bad dreams starring Solaris 10 and Sun hardware. Oh wait! I just got a look at my xterm to shutdown the box properly (a BREAK and a power-off are your friends) and what do I see ? Can't describe it :
Please specify the media from which you will install Solaris 10 Software 3 for
SPARC Platforms.
Did the LG drive "sensed" my anger? Good! Maybe no fifth attempt after all. Let's load CD 3. Instead of starring blankly at the progress bar showing slow progress (well you could do that if you are really bored. I'm not), I decided to update my Mac OS X with the latest updates after Apple's last announcement. iTunes 6 after releasing iTunes 5 only one month ago and important bugfixes for QuickTime. Well, where our Solaris 10 fourth attempt is heading?
Please specify the media from which you will install Solaris 10 Software 4 for
SPARC Platforms.
Yes!, that's 4. Here goes the dreaded (regress) progress bar again. Damn, my cable broadband connection just went down in the middle of the updates for my Mac OS X. My first name, Saad, means luck in Arabic. No such thing as luck tonight. Time to switch to my backup ADSL connection and restart the update process on the Mac.
Letter to my bed:
My dear bed, I hope you are not angry. I would be more than happy to come and let you show me around through the land of Morpheus but I have a small problem (nothing to worry about, really!) with this Solaris guy. I am not on some tight schedule or something like that but well. he is challenging me! And even though I know I'm gonna be really tired in a few hours (it's 1:28 AM and the progress bar for CD 4 is only at 25% percent and there is still the Companion CD to install) when I will need to go to work, I just want to get over with this.
Sincerly yours (after the Solaris guy gets done with me that is)
Saad
*yawn*. 1:53 AM. CD 4 installation finished. Companion CD installation starting. It contains many pieces of open source software that I might not need such as ProFTPD, Squid, GD, ... But as one of my goals is to test the new Solaris Software Update to keep my system up-to-date, I would also like to see if these additional software is supported as well and the kind of reactivity I can expect from Sun when it comes to plugging security holes contained in these applications.
My sane self is taking over. I am going to crash into my bed and
Wonderful Songs, Oct'05
01 Oct 2005 10:07 PM / Filed in: Music
Welcome to the third edition of Wonderful Songs, my monthly blog entry outlining ten exceptional songs I listened to during the past month.
In this issue, I'd like to share with you some outstanding musical experiences. September was really an exceptional month for me on many aspects, including music. I have listened to flabbergasting Reggae, exceptional Smooth Jazz and some safe bet values. Of course, I've included entries for all these gems and more: Instrumental African music, Raï, Kirtans...
As a side note, whenever a song is available to download from eMusic, an online music service (subscription based, 50 free MP3s trial), I say so. eMusic is one of the cheapest (if not the cheapest) online music services. And their songs are DRM free! No wonder they have no Major in their catalogue but they have many many independent labels and many many excellent songs. I have a subscription at eMusic. But besides this, I have no relationship with them, commercial or otherwise. My only interest is in their DRM free stance, If you want to know more about DRM, see Electronic Frontier Foundation's A User's Guide to DRM in Online Music and Cory Doctorow's Digital Rights Management.
[World] Senegal-Mauritanie, Kaouding Cissoko
From the album Kora Revolution
Kaouding Cissoko was one of the greatest Kora players in the World (Kora is a harp-lute like instrument used extensively in Western Africa. Follow the link to Wikipedia for more information). While he contributed to numerous albums, Kora Revolution is his unique "solo" album. Overall, this album is very good for instrumental African music lovers. Senegal-Mauritanie is my favorite song on this album as it makes Kora stands out among the other instruments like no other song I've ever heard. It also carries a somehow melancholic note that I love.
[World] Radhe Shyam, Krishna Das
From the album Live On Earth
Krishna Das is an American singer performing kirtans which are Hindu devotional songs. Kirtans often consist of a few sentences repeated over and over. It might seem boring but it is far from that. Krishna Das has a very nice voice and the instruments used in Radhe Shyam are excellent. It brings a sense of internal harmony and I enjoy listening to it to relax. Live On Earth is, as you might have infered from the title, a live recording (2 CDs). The album is good but the songs are uneven in quality (CD 1 is better than CD 2 in my opinion). It is available to download from eMusic.
[Smooth Jazz] All I See Is You, Dave Koz
From the album Saxophonic
This is one of the best Smooth Jazz albums I've listened to over the last decade. Dave Koz is a great saxophonist and he shows it through the different kinds of songs included in Saxophonic. All I See Is You is my favorite because of its excellent, energy-filled, and very funky rhythm. Thank you Dave for this wonderful album. Believe it or not, it's soooo good that I listened almost exclusively to it in an infinite loop fashion during the last week.
[Smooth Jazz] Anytime, Anywhere, Chuck Loeb
From the album When I'm with you
This is another excellent Smooth Jazz album. Chuck Loeb is a multifaceted man: Guitarist, Composer, Arranger, Producer, Recording Artist... And if you need a proof for that, just listen to When I'm With You, a self-produced album published by Shanachie. It contains many hits such as Tropical, the second song of the album and Anytime, Anywhere, which has a super spacey feel to it.
[Hip-Hop] Be A Gentleman, 50 Cent
From the album Guess Who's Back
If you like Hip-Hop music, I'm sure you'll enjoy 50's Guess Who's Back. IMHO, this is his best album, even better than Get Rich Or Die Tryin. Simply because it's rougher on the edges (read: true to the Hip-Hop spirit) and less full of stunts-for-the-mainstream. Be A Gentleman is just one of the many very good songs that this album contains. Should have called this monthly entry Wonderful Albums heh. Be warned though, explicit lyrics are all over the album. It is available to download from eMusic.
[Reggae] King Without a Crown, Matisyahu
From the album Live at Stubb's
When I first listened to this song, I never imagined the man behind it. Though I got hints through the lyrics that the guy was more on the Bible side than on the Jah/Rastafarai one, I never thought he was a ... Hasidic Jew. And you have probably never heard about Hasidic Reggae. As astounding or crazy as it may sound, well ... it's true. Moreover, this is one of the best Reggae songs I've ever heard in my whole life (for the record, I am a huge Reggae fan). Here is a link to a video of the live performance (requires Flash MX, alternate formats here). If you are a serious Reggae fan, you want to get this album as soon as possible. It is A.W.E.S.O.M.E. It is available on eMusic.
[World] Simplicity, Karma Sutra
From the album Prana
Karma Sutra is the name of a musical project undertaken by Preston Kilk with East Indian vocalist Mona Jethmalani. Prana
is an excellent mixture of two worlds: traditional Indian vocals and occidental song structures. While the album encompasses many styles and genres, Simplicity is where Mona's voice stands out and blends perfectly with the "electro" body of the song. The other songs are very cool too. Consider getting the album from eMusic.
[World] Ana Mazel, Cheb Mami
From the album Prince of Rai
Cheb Mami is one of the best Raï singers in the World. His voice is wonderful. As I pointed out on a previous blog entry, Prince of Rai is one of his early recordings. It's not that I dislike his recent work but it sounds kind of too Westernish to my ears. Ana Mazel is a very famous song that most people from Maghreb of my generation know. When I was in Morocco, it used to be played during weddings and parties. I rediscovered it last month (I left Morocco in '97) so that's why I'm including it. The album is available on eMusic.
[Folk] America, Tracy Chapman
From the album Where you live
This is my favorite song in Tracy Chapman's latest album. It has a very nice folk beat and Tracy's voice is always as great as it was on her widely acclaimed self-titled album with unforgettable songs such as Talking About Revolution and Fast Car. This song carries strong feelings with it and you can feel it in the integration of Tracy's voice with the instruments.
[Rock] Kashmir, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant
From the album No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded
After listening to the symphonic version of Kashmir performed by the London Symphonic Orchestra, which I included in Wonderful Songs Sept'05, I decided to relisten to my albums of Led Zep'. As surprisingly as it may sound, I realized I didn't own No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded. I recall listening to it back in '94-'95. At this time I was still living in Morocco and the Moroccan TV had a special feature with Page and Plant since they invited musicians from Marrakesh for this live performance. And what performance it was! On this version of Kashmir, they don't only have a symphonic orchestra playing but also an egyptian one. In a bit more than 12 minutes, Page and Plant treat us to very good Rock music full of oriental instruments.
In this issue, I'd like to share with you some outstanding musical experiences. September was really an exceptional month for me on many aspects, including music. I have listened to flabbergasting Reggae, exceptional Smooth Jazz and some safe bet values. Of course, I've included entries for all these gems and more: Instrumental African music, Raï, Kirtans...
As a side note, whenever a song is available to download from eMusic, an online music service (subscription based, 50 free MP3s trial), I say so. eMusic is one of the cheapest (if not the cheapest) online music services. And their songs are DRM free! No wonder they have no Major in their catalogue but they have many many independent labels and many many excellent songs. I have a subscription at eMusic. But besides this, I have no relationship with them, commercial or otherwise. My only interest is in their DRM free stance, If you want to know more about DRM, see Electronic Frontier Foundation's A User's Guide to DRM in Online Music and Cory Doctorow's Digital Rights Management.
[World] Senegal-Mauritanie, Kaouding Cissoko
From the album Kora Revolution
Kaouding Cissoko was one of the greatest Kora players in the World (Kora is a harp-lute like instrument used extensively in Western Africa. Follow the link to Wikipedia for more information). While he contributed to numerous albums, Kora Revolution is his unique "solo" album. Overall, this album is very good for instrumental African music lovers. Senegal-Mauritanie is my favorite song on this album as it makes Kora stands out among the other instruments like no other song I've ever heard. It also carries a somehow melancholic note that I love.
[World] Radhe Shyam, Krishna Das
From the album Live On Earth
Krishna Das is an American singer performing kirtans which are Hindu devotional songs. Kirtans often consist of a few sentences repeated over and over. It might seem boring but it is far from that. Krishna Das has a very nice voice and the instruments used in Radhe Shyam are excellent. It brings a sense of internal harmony and I enjoy listening to it to relax. Live On Earth is, as you might have infered from the title, a live recording (2 CDs). The album is good but the songs are uneven in quality (CD 1 is better than CD 2 in my opinion). It is available to download from eMusic.
[Smooth Jazz] All I See Is You, Dave Koz
From the album Saxophonic
This is one of the best Smooth Jazz albums I've listened to over the last decade. Dave Koz is a great saxophonist and he shows it through the different kinds of songs included in Saxophonic. All I See Is You is my favorite because of its excellent, energy-filled, and very funky rhythm. Thank you Dave for this wonderful album. Believe it or not, it's soooo good that I listened almost exclusively to it in an infinite loop fashion during the last week.
[Smooth Jazz] Anytime, Anywhere, Chuck Loeb
From the album When I'm with you
This is another excellent Smooth Jazz album. Chuck Loeb is a multifaceted man: Guitarist, Composer, Arranger, Producer, Recording Artist... And if you need a proof for that, just listen to When I'm With You, a self-produced album published by Shanachie. It contains many hits such as Tropical, the second song of the album and Anytime, Anywhere, which has a super spacey feel to it.
[Hip-Hop] Be A Gentleman, 50 Cent
From the album Guess Who's Back
If you like Hip-Hop music, I'm sure you'll enjoy 50's Guess Who's Back. IMHO, this is his best album, even better than Get Rich Or Die Tryin. Simply because it's rougher on the edges (read: true to the Hip-Hop spirit) and less full of stunts-for-the-mainstream. Be A Gentleman is just one of the many very good songs that this album contains. Should have called this monthly entry Wonderful Albums heh. Be warned though, explicit lyrics are all over the album. It is available to download from eMusic.
[Reggae] King Without a Crown, Matisyahu
From the album Live at Stubb's
When I first listened to this song, I never imagined the man behind it. Though I got hints through the lyrics that the guy was more on the Bible side than on the Jah/Rastafarai one, I never thought he was a ... Hasidic Jew. And you have probably never heard about Hasidic Reggae. As astounding or crazy as it may sound, well ... it's true. Moreover, this is one of the best Reggae songs I've ever heard in my whole life (for the record, I am a huge Reggae fan). Here is a link to a video of the live performance (requires Flash MX, alternate formats here). If you are a serious Reggae fan, you want to get this album as soon as possible. It is A.W.E.S.O.M.E. It is available on eMusic.
[World] Simplicity, Karma Sutra
From the album Prana
Karma Sutra is the name of a musical project undertaken by Preston Kilk with East Indian vocalist Mona Jethmalani. Prana
is an excellent mixture of two worlds: traditional Indian vocals and occidental song structures. While the album encompasses many styles and genres, Simplicity is where Mona's voice stands out and blends perfectly with the "electro" body of the song. The other songs are very cool too. Consider getting the album from eMusic.
[World] Ana Mazel, Cheb Mami
From the album Prince of Rai
Cheb Mami is one of the best Raï singers in the World. His voice is wonderful. As I pointed out on a previous blog entry, Prince of Rai is one of his early recordings. It's not that I dislike his recent work but it sounds kind of too Westernish to my ears. Ana Mazel is a very famous song that most people from Maghreb of my generation know. When I was in Morocco, it used to be played during weddings and parties. I rediscovered it last month (I left Morocco in '97) so that's why I'm including it. The album is available on eMusic.
[Folk] America, Tracy Chapman
From the album Where you live
This is my favorite song in Tracy Chapman's latest album. It has a very nice folk beat and Tracy's voice is always as great as it was on her widely acclaimed self-titled album with unforgettable songs such as Talking About Revolution and Fast Car. This song carries strong feelings with it and you can feel it in the integration of Tracy's voice with the instruments.
[Rock] Kashmir, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant
From the album No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded
After listening to the symphonic version of Kashmir performed by the London Symphonic Orchestra, which I included in Wonderful Songs Sept'05, I decided to relisten to my albums of Led Zep'. As surprisingly as it may sound, I realized I didn't own No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded. I recall listening to it back in '94-'95. At this time I was still living in Morocco and the Moroccan TV had a special feature with Page and Plant since they invited musicians from Marrakesh for this live performance. And what performance it was! On this version of Kashmir, they don't only have a symphonic orchestra playing but also an egyptian one. In a bit more than 12 minutes, Page and Plant treat us to very good Rock music full of oriental instruments.