- Blind-sysadmins - lists.hodgsonfamily.org

AVG2012, thumb drives and read only
by David Mehler 01 Nov '12

01 Nov '12

Hello, I don't know how this happened but I was given a thumb drive some while back that had been read read only and unformattable. The partition type as reported by windows was raw. It had been in a 7 box that had AVG standard 2012 on it and somehow AVG apparently made it in to a recovery drive, in doing so the user could not reformat it which is how I got it. What I did was loaded up a Linux virtual machine, ran fdisk on it, wiped the partition, recreated it, the partition showed up under Linux fdisk as HPFS/NTFS/Xfat the latter I had not heard of, I then disconnected and reconnected to the host box, and formatted. It works fine now. In case anyone else has seen this hope this helps. Dave.

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PRTG Enterprise
by Barry Toner 31 Oct '12

31 Oct '12

Hi folks, I'm not long started a new job. As part of my role my manager would like me to monitor network traffic. More in-terms of being pro-active than for any specific task at the moment. He has provided me a link to the monitoring software they are using. I know he is open to suggestions if there's a more accessible solution for someone with a screen reader. Do any of you have experience with using PRTG Enterprise? The Web UI isn't bad until you get to the monitoring stuff, then it's nice red/green ticks and so forth to say if things are running happy or not. So, er yeah, sorry can't access that information and there's no text I can find to get the same information. I'm just about to poke around it's settings and documentation to see if there's another way I can get a more text-based view of things. There's also a Desktop client I can download but I'd imagine that'll be pretty pictures as well. Hey ho I'll havea look at it just in case. What network monitoring software are you guys using? BTW I believe this has an IOS app so that's another avenue I can look at. Barry Toner ICT Assistant ICT Department Clanmil Housing Northern Whig House 3 Waring Street Belfast BT1 2DX Tel: 02890 876000 Fax: 02890 876001

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newegg's shuttle barebones systems?
by David Mehler 31 Oct '12

31 Oct '12

Hello, Has anyone bought any of these barebones systems from newegg? If so, what did you think pro conn of them? Thanks. Dave.

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PRTG Enterprise
by Barry Toner 30 Oct '12

30 Oct '12

Hi folks, I'm not long started a new job. As part of my role my manager would like me to monitor network traffic. More in-terms of being pro-active than for any specific task at the moment. He has provided me a link to the monitoring software they are using. I know he is open to suggestions if there's a more accessible solution for someone with a screen reader. Do any of you have experience with using PRTG Enterprise? The Web UI isn't bad until you get to the monitoring stuff, then it's nice red/green ticks and so forth to say if things are running happy or not. So, er yeah, sorry can't access that information and there's no text I can find to get the same information. I'm just about to poke around it's settings and documentation to see if there's another way I can get a more text-based view of things. There's also a Desktop client I can download but I'd imagine that'll be pretty pictures as well. Hey ho I'll havea look at it just in case. What network monitoring software are you guys using? BTW I believe this has an IOS app so that's another avenue I can look at. Barry Toner ICT Assistant ICT Department Clanmil Housing Northern Whig House 3 Waring Street Belfast BT1 2DX Tel: 02890 876000 Fax: 02890 876001

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linux admin question, ssh restricting a user
by David Mehler 14 Oct '12

14 Oct '12

Hello, I've got a Linux Admin question. I'm running a server and want to allow a user to manage a pair of web sites. Previously this was done with ftp, specifically pure-ftpd server. I want to get away from ftp finally. My standard users connect to the box via ssh. I have disabled password authentication for ssh in favor of public key authentication. My first chalenge is I don't want this user to be able to access the filesystem when connected. I was thinking a sftp chroot. He uses Dreamweaver MX2004 to do his web sites, I should mention there are two of them located in /srv/site1/public_html and /srv/site2/public_html for ilustrative purposes. He also doesn't have a public/private key and I wouldn't want him to have one. That issue was easy, I did a Match Group in sshd and in that block enabled password authentication. As that user I have connected and it does work, a public key is not needed to connect. The second issue sftp chroot is proving to be a problem. I've got the two site locations and neither sym links nor hard links will work. This is where I'm stuck. If anyone has any ideas I'd appreciate them. Thanks. Dave.

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linux admin question, ssh restricting a user
by David Mehler 14 Oct '12

14 Oct '12

Hello, I've got a Linux Admin question. I'm running a server and want to allow a user to manage a pair of web sites. Previously this was done with ftp, specifically pure-ftpd server. I want to get away from ftp finally. My standard users connect to the box via ssh. I have disabled password authentication for ssh in favor of public key authentication. My first chalenge is I don't want this user to be able to access the filesystem when connected. I was thinking a sftp chroot. He uses Dreamweaver MX2004 to do his web sites, I should mention there are two of them located in /srv/site1/public_html and /srv/site2/public_html for ilustrative purposes. He also doesn't have a public/private key and I wouldn't want him to have one. That issue was easy, I did a Match Group in sshd and in that block enabled password authentication. As that user I have connected and it does work, a public key is not needed to connect. The second issue sftp chroot is proving to be a problem. I've got the two site locations and neither sym links nor hard links will work. This is where I'm stuck. If anyone has any ideas I'd appreciate them. Thanks. Dave.

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connect remotely
by Ibraam Wahib 11 Oct '12

11 Oct '12

dears may u able to help me n performing this task.. i need to configure computer remotely I might need to copy file from my pc to the another machine and install utilities. so, which program is useful for this task? and any tutorials for it will be thankful. note: both computers running windows os. many thanks for your support. ibraam

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reactivating xp home
by David Mehler 04 Oct '12

04 Oct '12

Hello, I've got a machine here that had it's copy of xp home reinstalled. Let me emphasize this is a legally purchased valid disk and with a key. Now it's screaming about activation. It's been activated before once. When I try to activate it now it's saying that xp home is no longer available. This is not going to be welcome to the system's owner, who does not want to go 7 at this time. Is there a painless way I can get this system activated so I can use windows update? I'm needing to get MSE on it. Thanks. Dave.

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Helpdesk tracking
by Barry Toner 03 Oct '12

03 Oct '12

Hi folks, I'm due to start a IT Support role in a couple of weeks. The company is yet to go through ITIL v3 or a similar best practice solution. ERGO, there's no SLA's *screams, laughs*. We've also currently no Heldesk software. * miss-spelt on purpose* Would any of you have suggestions how I can track my own jobs until such time? I thought of a simple Spreadsheet, but I'd really like alerts. Is there an online solution I can use or something else you think you might do if in a similar position? Currently it appears whoever shouts the loudest and longest gets there job done. BTW. I will be helping to implement ITIL, but until such time I need something to help me and ultimately the rest of the team out. Cheers, Barry.

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reactivating xp home
by David Mehler 02 Oct '12

02 Oct '12

Hello, I've got a machine here that had it's copy of xp home reinstalled. Let me emphasize this is a legally purchased valid disk and with a key. Now it's screaming about activation. It's been activated before once. When I try to activate it now it's saying that xp home is no longer available. This is not going to be welcome to the system's owner, who does not want to go 7 at this time. Is there a painless way I can get this system activated so I can use windows update? I'm needing to get MSE on it. Thanks. Dave.

1 0

Helpdesk tracking
by Barry Toner 02 Oct '12

02 Oct '12

Hi folks, I'm due to start a IT Support role in a couple of weeks. The company is yet to go through ITIL v3 or a similar best practice solution. ERGO, there's no SLA's *screams, laughs*. We've also currently no Heldesk software. * miss-spelt on purpose* Would any of you have suggestions how I can track my own jobs until such time? I thought of a simple Spreadsheet, but I'd really like alerts. Is there an online solution I can use or something else you think you might do if in a similar position? Currently it appears whoever shouts the loudest and longest gets there job done. BTW. I will be helping to implement ITIL, but until such time I need something to help me and ultimately the rest of the team out. Cheers, Barry.

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Remote support solutions
by Barry Toner 01 Oct '12

01 Oct '12

Hi, I've just accepted a job that will require me to do some RS. I'd like some feedback on solutions people are using with screen readers. If you can give me a couple of paragraphs on what you're using and how (roughly), it's implemented. I'm talking high level, I'm not asking you to write me a tutorial. Also any pro's cons. The ones I've heard of but have no experience or any technicians views on them yet, are installing JFW/Win Eyes on a Citrix Server, the company has and owns their Citrix server so this may be an option. The other is Remote Incident Manager (RIM) http://t.co/6oLmlWqt I'm working in the UK, so our government Access To Work may be an option to help fund the latter solution, if it's cleaner, less performance issues, eg dicy audio than the Citrix stuff. Cheers, Barry.

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drivers help
by David Mehler 30 Sep '12

30 Sep '12

Hi, Do any of you have older or driver archives? I've just spent an hour looking for drivers for a motherboard and getting nowhere. It's an MSI board, the model number so far as I was told was RX480m4 or RX482m4 I think from the google results I've seen is it's an AMD 939 chipset. I need motherboard chipset, and onboard audio. If anyone has them I'd appreciate it, I'll keep trying google. Thanks. Dave.

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drivers help
by David Mehler 30 Sep '12

30 Sep '12

Hi, Do any of you have older or driver archives? I've just spent an hour looking for drivers for a motherboard and getting nowhere. It's an MSI board, the model number so far as I was told was RX480m4 or RX482m4 I think from the google results I've seen is it's an AMD 939 chipset. I need motherboard chipset, and onboard audio. If anyone has them I'd appreciate it, I'll keep trying google. Thanks. Dave.

1 0

Remote support solutions
by Barry Toner 29 Sep '12

29 Sep '12

Hi, I've just accepted a job that will require me to do some RS. I'd like some feedback on solutions people are using with screen readers. If you can give me a couple of paragraphs on what you're using and how (roughly), it's implemented. I'm talking high level, I'm not asking you to write me a tutorial. Also any pro's cons. The ones I've heard of but have no experience or any technicians views on them yet, are installing JFW/Win Eyes on a Citrix Server, the company has and owns their Citrix server so this may be an option. The other is Remote Incident Manager (RIM) http://t.co/6oLmlWqt I'm working in the UK, so our government Access To Work may be an option to help fund the latter solution, if it's cleaner, less performance issues, eg dicy audio than the Citrix stuff. Cheers, Barry.

1 0

boot a 64 bit machine with a 32 bit iso?
by David Mehler 29 Sep '12

29 Sep '12

Hello, Does anyone know what would happen, if I'll have a ploom of smoke, if I try to boot a 64 bit machine with a 32 bit iso? I've got a machine that came in and can't remember if it's a 32 bit or 64 bit system. It's running xp home and it does have an Athlon64 processor in it single core. I need to back it up prior to reinstalling it, and was wanting to use grml for that, without knowing if it's 32 or 64 bit I didn't want it to have issues. Thanks. Dave.

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boot a 64 bit machine with a 32 bit iso?
by David Mehler 28 Sep '12

28 Sep '12

Hello, Does anyone know what would happen, if I'll have a ploom of smoke, if I try to boot a 64 bit machine with a 32 bit iso? I've got a machine that came in and can't remember if it's a 32 bit or 64 bit system. It's running xp home and it does have an Athlon64 processor in it single core. I need to back it up prior to reinstalling it, and was wanting to use grml for that, without knowing if it's 32 or 64 bit I didn't want it to have issues. Thanks. Dave.

1 0

out of hours notifications?
by Ryan Shugart 28 Sep '12

28 Sep '12

Hi: I was wondering what procedures you all used for out of hours critical monitoring alerts? For example, say a server you're responsible for goes down at 2:30 Sunday morning, how do you get notified? My company currently has a rotating company phone that goes around the department and gets text messages for every down system. The person on call is then responsible for finding the responsible person and waking them up to inform them of the problem. The system we're going to will involve pages going direct to our phones for systems we're responsible for. I'm personally thinking that will be better because right now being on call is far from a fun experience, and its rare you get a good night's sleep. In otherwords, our environment is just getting too big for one person to manage after hours alerts, and with pages going to each of us, its felt we can handle them better since we'll know our own systems. Thoughts, does anyone use a different approach? Thanks. Ryan

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out of hours notifications?
by Ryan Shugart 28 Sep '12

28 Sep '12

Hi: I was wondering what procedures you all used for out of hours critical monitoring alerts? For example, say a server you're responsible for goes down at 2:30 Sunday morning, how do you get notified? My company currently has a rotating company phone that goes around the department and gets text messages for every down system. The person on call is then responsible for finding the responsible person and waking them up to inform them of the problem. The system we're going to will involve pages going direct to our phones for systems we're responsible for. I'm personally thinking that will be better because right now being on call is far from a fun experience, and its rare you get a good night's sleep. In otherwords, our environment is just getting too big for one person to manage after hours alerts, and with pages going to each of us, its felt we can handle them better since we'll know our own systems. Thoughts, does anyone use a different approach? Thanks. Ryan

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Powershell Script Execution over VPN via iPhone
by Alex Coleman 27 Sep '12

27 Sep '12

Can anyone advise as to whether or not it is possible to work with powershell scripts directly over a VPN connection, using an iPhone and voiceOver?

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issue with a former raid drive
by David Mehler 21 Sep '12

21 Sep '12

Hello, I've got a dimension 3100 Dell that has 2 SATA drives in it that use to be raided. Long story short the data recovery partition was removed or more likely not copied over when the drives were upgraded, so control+f11 won't work. I'm trying to get the drives to boot. It's like I'm dealing with two separate windows installs, one from each drive. The strange thing is if I connect either drive, or both I get an error about no boot device found. To get this machine to boot I have to put in a bootable OS install CD which asks me to hit a key to boot from it. If I don't and just let the boot sequence go through on it's own the drive boots, but it won't without the bootable disk. I am assuming that the drive is not bootable? This is definitely confusing and I'd appreciate any suggestions. Thanks. Dave.

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issue with a former raid drive
by David Mehler 20 Sep '12

20 Sep '12

Hello, I've got a dimension 3100 Dell that has 2 SATA drives in it that use to be raided. Long story short the data recovery partition was removed or more likely not copied over when the drives were upgraded, so control+f11 won't work. I'm trying to get the drives to boot. It's like I'm dealing with two separate windows installs, one from each drive. The strange thing is if I connect either drive, or both I get an error about no boot device found. To get this machine to boot I have to put in a bootable OS install CD which asks me to hit a key to boot from it. If I don't and just let the boot sequence go through on it's own the drive boots, but it won't without the bootable disk. I am assuming that the drive is not bootable? This is definitely confusing and I'd appreciate any suggestions. Thanks. Dave.

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recommendations for ssh client & jaws 13
by John Heim 18 Sep '12

18 Sep '12

I wonder if anyone has a recommendation for an ssh client that works well with jaws 13. I've been using openssh for Windows for years and it has served me well except for a couple of things. There has always been a problem in that jaws speaks the keys as you enter your password. Anybody nearby can hear your password. A problem with jaws 13 is that as you type something at the command prompt after connecting, jaws reads the entire line with each keystroke. Older versions of jaws didn't do that. There is probably some way to fix it but I don't know enough about jaws scripting to know. I tried putty but the jaws scripts I've found won't compile. I'm guessing they're not compatible with jaws 13. Any other suggestions? I was wondering if anyone has a recommendation for

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Jaws performing worse on some sites now?
by Andrew Hodgson 18 Sep '12

18 Sep '12

Hi, What do people think about JFW behaving worse on some websites now, especially those that use rich content like some administration websites? I didn't upgrade to IE9 for ages, because I couldn't use the Jaws cursor very much in IE9, and used it a lot on some company sites I needed to interact with a lot. I think the problem is that Jaws tries to cope with the rich elements of the site, whereas with older browsers, these didn't get handled as well, so we could use our own methods to work with the content we have. Discuss. Andrew.

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Jaws performing worse on some sites now?
by Andrew Hodgson 18 Sep '12

18 Sep '12

Hi, What do people think about JFW behaving worse on some websites now, especially those that use rich content like some administration websites? I didn't upgrade to IE9 for ages, because I couldn't use the Jaws cursor very much in IE9, and used it a lot on some company sites I needed to interact with a lot. I think the problem is that Jaws tries to cope with the rich elements of the site, whereas with older browsers, these didn't get handled as well, so we could use our own methods to work with the content we have. Discuss. Andrew.

1 0