This is great if your e-mail server allows relaying (if it does, you are crazy) or if you want to go edit configuration files on your mail server to allow relaying from certain hosts.  If you have a well configured mail server like the one at my organization, SMTP Authentication is enabled for all e-mails accounts that need to send through the server.  You can get XenServer to use SMTP auth as well, you just have to add a few lines to a configuration file to each server in the pool.  If you have a lot of servers, you WILL want to script this.

XenServer (we are talking Citrix here btw, not opensource Xen) uses sSMTP to send mail.  There are two extremely basic configuration files in /etc/ssmtp — only one of which you need to deal with.  With your favorite text editor, open /etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf from the command line on your server and add or modify the following lines:

authUser=<receiving e-mail address>
authPass=<password for e-mail>
mailhub=<your mail server>

If your mail server supports it, you can also add these two options:

authMethod=cram-md5
useSTARTTLS=YES

That’s it! Save the file and copy it to all servers in the pool.  Pool notifications will now be sent using SMTP authentication to whatever server you specify.  Maybe Citrix will get their head out of their asses on this one eventually but until then…

1. My son loves to play Guitar Hero III (I know, I know, “Frets on Fire”, but he’s particular)

2. I can watch HDTV with my TV tuner in Vista (and this won’t be a problem with Kernel 2.26)

Today I decided to boot into Vista so I could watch some TV.  That was over an hour ago.  First, Vista wanted to update.  I had rearranged my hard drive layout a couple weeks ago so it decided to re-detect all my hard drives as well.  Once the update process –that took 30 minutes — finished, I had to reboot, install pre-shutdown updates then I had to wait for post-boot “update configuration” to finish.  Once I got to the desktop it decided that my sound should only come out of my USB headphones which was fine, but annoying.

I have become a full-fledged Windows hater.  It’s bloated, can’t detect the simplest of hardware without a driver disk and the constant reboots for software/driver updates is stuck in the 1990′s.  If it wouldn’t devastate my son to lose Windows I would format the spare HD and use it to hold something useful — like maybe a oepnSUSE partition?

I am a Linux crusader trying to convert the masses.  If you somehow stumbled across this and you are thinking about switching to Linux but the command line scares you, start off with some of the more user friendly distros like Ubuntu, Fedora Core, or openSUSE.  Use it for one month.  I promise you can do EVERYTHING in Linux that you can do in Windows (and you can usually do it 10x faster not to mention you don’t have to spend a penny on software)

Get one of the distro’s here:

Ubuntu

Fedora Core

openSUSE

Let me start by saying that there are default replies for a reason.  Certain information, as trivial as it may seem, is often very necessary to help solve your problem.  For example, here are a few common “issues” I see at work that elicit a default response:

• “My e-mail isn’t working.”
• “I can’t login.”
• “My site isn’t showing up.”
• “My site is broken.”
• “FTP won’t work.”

That’s it.  A customer submits a ticket and that is all the information I get.   It makes my head boil.  I reply with what we call a “pre-def” (predefined response) asking for more information which includes a list of specific questions related to the issue.  If the customer did actually provide some information, like what mail or FTP client they are using, their domain name, or – god forbid – a way to replicate the issue, I kindly remove those parts of the pre-def to not make them repeat the same thing (unless I’m in a bad mood).

If you want to avoid these “pre-def” responses I suggest the following for any type of tech support ticket (web hosting or not):

Provide as much information as possible, including but not limited to:

• Operating system and version you are using
• Browser type and version, if applicable
• Mail client and version, if applicable (Outlooks comes in so many flavors)
• A ULR to replicate the issue, if applicable
• Any error messages that you encountered – copy them exactly, including the error codes
• A way to create or replicate the error
• A time-frame, ex. it always happens, sometimes happens, etc.
• Your IP address (http://ipfinder.us works great)
• Any username(s) or password(s) needed to replicate (change to a temporary one if it makes you feel more comfortable)
• Location, if applicable (connecting from an office or workplace can cause all sorts of problems)

Basically, the more information you provide, the more time tech support can spend fixing your problem and not having to wait for more information from you.  Most tech support people are more than happy to help you but you have to throw them a bone first!

“Classic” Symptoms of Carpal Tunnel

• Tingling and numbness in your thumb, index and middle finger.
• Aching in the forearm which can radiate to the shoulder and clumsiness or weak grip.

“Other” Symptoms of Carpal Tunnel

• Tingling in all fingers
• Tingling only in the thumb or the middle finger
• Aching and pain in the hand
• Radiating pain to the shoulder or back.

If I stretched it a bit I supposed I could have made my symptoms meed a few of these criteria but in reality I had the following:

• Pain in the pinky finger (mostly the right hand)
• Pain in the wrist (mostly on the right side)
• The pain would increase as the day progressed
• My pink would become “non-responsive” — it just wouldn’t work

I decided to consult my father who has worked in sports medicine for the past 30 years and has dealt with more repetitive-motion injuries than anyone I know.  He asked me a few questions and had me do a few self-tests.  He was almost certain that, based on the symptoms, it couldn’t be carpal-tunnel.  Instead he believed it was tendonitis (inflamed tendons).  He warned that tendonitis would not get better unless I used my hands as little as possible.  Knowing that wasn’t an option he recommended that I go to CVS and buy a hand/wrist brace that kept my hands “still” as much as possible.

I have been using the brace for five days now and the results are dramatic.  My hands feel 100% better.  The moral of the story: Don’t jump to the worst possible conclusion…talk to a health professional and get the real scoop.  A $10 brace might fix the problem!

Note: I am not a health professional and this post is not meant to diagnose anything!  If you are experiencing hand pain please consult a health professional for an official diagnosis.

• Approximately 300 posts
• Over 100,000 visits
• Digg Front Page Article (which accounts for half of the above number)
• Lots of friends made (even met a few of them)
• Interviews with some of the top bloggers

Future plans:

• Ramp up the posting schedule, I’ve been slacking lately
• New design (possibly)
• More “5 Questions With” interviews

Thanks for reading and I hope you keep coming back!

I used to make sure my computer always had the “newest and best” hardware and was on a 6-8 month upgrade cycle but I have come to the conclusion that unless you have money to burn, there is no point. Most of what I use my computer for is done through a browser or secure shell and the rest is word-processing, instant messaging and iTunes. I use a 2 year old laptop running Linux to write most of what you read here and although a bit slower, I can do everything I can on my desktop.

If you are thinking about buying a new computer think really hard about what you will be using it for. You will probably spend most of your time looking at a browser window, sending e-mail and watching You Tube. 98% of you will be able to get everything you need out of a $600 [insert favorite manufacturer here] computer.

Don’t waste your money on the latest and greatest…you will probably be getting a new one in 2 years anyway. I would much rather spend money on a good monitor (wide-screens are a godsend) and a nice set of speakers.

Why all this security?  No, I don’t have government secrets but assuming you know all of the passwords (an no, they aren’t all the same) you would able to access all of my work stuff.  My “work stuff” is my life and since my laptop is basically a grab-and-go piece of hardware (a small Dell Inspiron 700m) I want to make sure that if I were ever to be stolen it would basically be useless to the person who nabbed it – at least without a complete format of the hard drive and new OS installation.  I even have the BIOS password protected and the hard-drive set to the first boot device so getting a new OS installed wouldn’t be a simple process.

I don’t go so far as to encrypt my entire hard-drive because like I said, I’m not harboring government secrets, but unlike the government officials that have let their laptops “disappear” I would be willing to bet if they took even half the security measures I did the rate of data-loss due to lost laptops would drop dramatically.

How far do you take your computer security?

Although there are hundreds of distributions they can be separated into four main categories based on the way packages are managed (or are not managed) in each.

1. RPM Based

RPM (Red Hat Package Manager) based distributions are the mostly widely used. They account for approximately 50% of total Linux distributions (unverified source). Some of the more popular RPM distributions are: Red Hat, Fedora, CentOS, Mandrake and SUSE. For more information on what RPM is and can do, see the Wikipedia article on RMP.

2. Debian

Debian based package management is handled by a powerful software tool called “apt” (Advanced Packaging Tool) Without digging too deep into apt, in short, it handles “.deb” files, installs and configures them. A simple command like apt-get install kde would install the entire KDE window management program and configure it for my system. Some of the more popular Debian distro’s are Debian (the original), Ubuntu, Knoppix and Linspire.

3. tar.gz based

G-zipped tar-balls are used as the primary installation source for installing and upgrading packages on some Linux distro’s. Managing a system using this type of installation source is usually reserved for advanced users. Although a package manager is used (generally pkgtool) it doesn’t check for dependencies. If you want to install software that needs other software to make it work, the system administrator is responsible for making sure the required dependencies are installed. The most popular distribution of this type is Slackware.

4. Source (all packages are complied from source code)

Linux distro’s that compile packages from source are often used by only the most “hardcore” users that want to control every aspect of system configuration and installation. The benefit is complete system control but the downside the time it takes to install packages. Because each package is installed from source code it has to be complied before it can be used. If you want to become a Linux expert (or already are one) then source code-type Linux distro’s are the best way to go. The most popular source-code based Linux distribution is Gentoo. See my previous post on Linux from Scratch if this sounds like something you would like to tackle.

The e-mail was legitimate – depending on how you look at it.

I went to the site, signed up, and decided to import my contacts from G-Mail. It works the same way MySpace or Facebook does, it checks to see if any of your contacts are already members and then links you with them automatically. Unfortunately I didn’t read the fine print – neither did Hugh. When I entered my info for G-Mail, Quechup decided to send and invite to EVERYONE of my G-Mail contacts. In G-Mail, every person you have ever sent an e-mail to is in your list. I’m guessing many hundreds of people had a Quechup invite in their Inbox from me. I didn’t know until it was WAY too late. The following day I awoke to several e-mails from people asking who I was and why I sent them an invite. I also had e-mails from friends saying they had signed up. It’s been two days since I spammed everyone and I am still trying to clear up the entire mess.

If any of you reading this got an invite, please disregard it. I didn’t mean to send it to all of you.

Beware of Quechup. They received an extremely disgruntled e-mail from me that contained more than one four-letter word. Quechup may be a fine social networking site but their underhanded tactics to gain new members is unethical. I’ll never know because I will never be going back to the site.

Mashable covered the story on the 2nd of this month.  Too bad I didn’t check my RSS reader that day.

This picture explains half the problems that I get called to fix.