Yeah, I blew it up. But it was fun!
Here’s my word to friendly scanners out there:
Why are you even spoofing the SIP User Agent Cisco-SIPGateway/IOS-12.x anyways? Because doing that will eventually get that UA added to a hot-list.
Of course, I can always do a fail2ban with FreeSWITCH, but seriously?
With the release of Samba 4, there’s now the possibility of running an Active Directory-compatible controller on most *nixes out there. Don’t get me wrong about the real Active Directory solution from Microsoft out there, it’s a great solution for larger enterprises, but for the others out there who are either too restricted in terms of budgeting or just don’t want to touch a Microsoft Windows Server for Active Directory; Samba 4 can be a good option.
Up until now, using a Samba 4 AD domain controller for a Microsoft Failover Cluster is almost next to impossible as the validation pages fail on this error:
An error occurred while executing the test.
There was an error initializing the network tests.
There was an error creating the server side agent (CPrepSrv).
Creating an instance of the COM component with CLSID {E1568352-586D-43E4-933F-8E6DC4DE317A} from the IClassFactory failed due to the following error: 80070721 A security package specific error occurred. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070721).
Fortunately there is a way to temporarily resolve this issue. That solution is to add any value to the servicePrincipalName attribute via ADSI Edit or the Active Directory Users and Computers MMC snap-in. (Sorry folks, can’t use Active Directory Administrative Center as Samba4 doesn’t currently emulate an AD DS Web Service server…). And yes the people at the Samba project are aware about this “bug” due to the way of a developer interpreting how the security should have been implemented. (Sorry Andrew, I didn’t mean to throw you under the bus 😉
After adding that attribute, you should be able to validate successfully and have a fully functional Hyper-V cluster for almost next to nothing. (Except the cost of a Windows 8 Pro license)
Edit: Apologies of me being a little ambiguous on “any value” to the servicePrincipleName attribute. What I really meant was setting a non-NULL value on servicePrincipalName on the user who’s performing the validation checks and forming the cluster, not the computer account of the cluster member.
Yes, thanks to the proliferation of the RTL-SDR project out there, you can have your own WeatherRadio receiver for less than $20! (Note these instructions are the 10,000 ft. view of what’s to be done. I’d assume that you have some RF experience before you even try this out.)
You’ll need the following materials:
Continue reading ““Build” your own WeatherRadio receiver for less than $20!”
Ever been in a situation where you have plenty of 16x DVD-R media but your laptop’s slimline DVD writer has a maximum write speed of 8x?
I’m sure you’ve been there. For most users having a DVD to write slower than usual is not a big deal if they’re just creating a DVD for an odd occasion or two. (I mean, with USB’s flash drives and hard drives with an storage capacity that’s about 210x of what a DVD can store, who even bothers with optical drives anymore?)
Continue reading “Getting faster optical media write speeds on your laptop (Well, sorta via iSCSI)”
We’ve all been there, having a network gear die on you prematurely for no reason or it starts to give into random packet loss or where the switch can’t seem to switch into a faster transmission speed for no apparent reason.
This was the culprit in my 8-port Netgear consumer gigabit switch:
Taking a closer look at the bulge, it does appear to be a capacitor that’s been blown. As always, I went out to my local electronic components store and bought new caps to replace the blown cap. This time specifically asking for low ESR and good quality capacitors made by a reputable company. They knew what I was talking about and handed them to me at $0.63 a pop in quantities of 5:
Yes, they are Panasonic FM series low ESR capacitors. From what I can comprehend on Google, it seems like these capacitors are quite popular with the Hi-Fi audio community because of the electrical characteristics.
Anyhow, a pair of 1000µF capacitors that blew and things started to go downhill from there. That bad capacitor costed them 30-50 cents less than the good quality one, but imagine if a bunch of customers claiming warranty or worse launching a class action lawsuit because of these faulty capacitors being on their board. They’d probably lose that 30-40 cents of savings per cap in the long run than actually realizing the cost savings.
Also, only having a 40W iron available doesn’t make things any better on removing the old and soldering in the new capacitors. What’s even worse is the solder they used is the new lead free stuff – yuck!