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• Oracle Database Upcoming Event dates to know

  - by mandy.ho

  February may be a short month, but it's not short of exciting Oracle events. From information packed "Real Performance Days" to participation in one of the biggest IT Security events - look out for Oracle Database and let us know if you are there with us! Feb 13-18, 2011 - Las Vegas, NV TDWI World Conference Series Join Oracle in highlighting Exadata x2-2 and x2-8, along with Oracle Business Intelligence, Enterprise Performance management and Data Warehousing solutions. Oracle will be presenting a workshop - Oracle Data Integration: Best-of-Breed Solutions for the Enterprise Wednesday, February 16, 2011 7p.m - 9p.m Glen Goodrich, Director of Product Management Christophe Dupupet, Director of Product Management, Data Integration http://events.tdwi.org/events/las-vegas-world-conference-2011/sessions/session-list.aspx Feb 14-17, 2011 - Barcelona, Spain Mobile World Congress MWC is an event where Oracle showcases the near complete breadth and depth of value that our Communications Industry strategy and Hardware and Software Solutions can deliver. Oracle supports Communications Service Providers today and delivers platforms and flexibility primed for the future. Oracle will have a two story Pavilion, along with an Oracle Java and Embedded Solutions Center - App Planet. The Exhibition times are Monday, 14th February 09.00 - 19.00 Tuesday, 15th February 09.00 - 19.00 Wednesday, 16th February 09.00 - 19.00 Thursday, 17th February 09.00 - 16.00 Have questions? Meet with Oracle Sales representatives at the Oracle Café. Open every day from 9am to 17:00pm. http://eventreg.oracle.com/webapps/events/ns/EventsDetail.jsp?p_eventId=109912&src=6973382&src=6973382&Act=4 Feb 14-18, 2011 - San Francisco, CA RSA Conference As the world's most complete, open, integrated business software and hardware systems provider, Oracle can uniquely safeguard your information throughout its entire lifecycle. Learn more by attending these sessions: Cloud Computing: A Brave New World for Security and Privacy (CLD-201) Wednesday, February 16 at 8:30 a.m. Databases Under Attack - Securing Heterogeneous Database Infrastructures (DAS-301) Thursday, February 17, 2011 at 8:30 a.m. Seven Steps to Protecting Databases (DAS-402) Friday, February 18 at 10:10 a.m. RSA Conference Attendees will also have the opportunity to meet with Oracle Security Solution experts, see live product demos and more by visiting booth # 1559. Hours: Monday, February 14, 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m., Tuesday, February 15, 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. - 6:00p.m., Wednesday, February 16, 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m., and Thursday, February 17, 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. http://eventreg.oracle.com/webapps/events/ns/EventsDetail.jsp?p_eventId=127657&src=6967733&src=6967733&Act=12 Feb 21-25, 2011 - Various Locations IOUG Presents - A Day of Real World Performance with Tom Kyte, Andrew Holdsworth and Graham Wood These Oracle experts will debate, discuss and delineate the best practices for designing hardware architectures, deploying Oracle databases, and developing applications that deliver the fastest possible performance for your business.Topics are covered in a conversational format - with all three chiming in where appropriate. Each presenter has their own screen projector to demonstrate their individual points to the participants. Customers will have the opportunity to get their specific performance/tuning questions answered and learn how to balance all the different environmental requirements for their applications to improve performance. Register today for the following dates and locations • February 21 in San Diego, CA • February 22 in Los Angeles, CA • February 23 in Seattle, WA • February 25 in Phoenix, AZ http://www.ioug.org/tabid/194/Default.aspx Feb 8-24 - Various Oracle Enterprise Cloud Summit This series of full-day events with cloud experts, sharing real-world best practices, reference architectures and more continues during the month of February. Attend the Oracle Enterprise Cloud Summit to learn how to: • Build a state-of-the-art cloud architecture • Leverage your existing IT investments • Optimize your IT management processes Whether you are considering a move to cloud computing or have already adopted a cloud model, this event offers you the insights you need to take full advantage of cloud computing. Check below to see if the event is coming to a city near you. http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/events/cloud-events-214342.html

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• Standards Corner: Preventing Pervasive Monitoring

  - by independentid

   Phil Hunt is an active member of multiple industry standards groups and committees and has spearheaded discussions, creation and ratifications of industry standards including the Kantara Identity Governance Framework, among others. Being an active voice in the industry standards development world, we have invited him to share his discussions, thoughts, news & updates, and discuss use cases, implementation success stories (and even failures) around industry standards on this monthly column. Author: Phil Hunt On Wednesday night, I watched NBC’s interview of Edward Snowden. The past year has been tumultuous one in the IT security industry. There has been some amazing revelations about the activities of governments around the world; and, we have had several instances of major security bugs in key security libraries: Apple's ‘gotofail’ bug  the OpenSSL Heartbleed bug, not to mention Java’s zero day bug, and others. Snowden’s information showed the IT industry has been underestimating the need for security, and highlighted a general trend of lax use of TLS and poorly implemented security on the Internet. This did not go unnoticed in the standards community and in particular the IETF. Last November, the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) met in Vancouver Canada, where the issue of “Internet Hardening” was discussed in a plenary session. Presentations were given by Bruce Schneier, Brian Carpenter,  and Stephen Farrell describing the problem, the work done so far, and potential IETF activities to address the problem pervasive monitoring. At the end of the presentation, the IETF called for consensus on the issue. If you know engineers, you know that it takes a while for a large group to arrive at a consensus and this group numbered approximately 3000. When asked if the IETF should respond to pervasive surveillance attacks? There was an overwhelming response for ‘Yes'. When it came to 'No', the room echoed in silence. This was just the first of several consensus questions that were each overwhelmingly in favour of response. This is the equivalent of a unanimous opinion for the IETF. Since the meeting, the IETF has followed through with the recent publication of a new “best practices” document on Pervasive Monitoring (RFC 7258). This document is extremely sensitive in its approach and separates the politics of monitoring from the technical ones. Pervasive Monitoring (PM) is widespread (and often covert) surveillance through intrusive gathering of protocol artefacts, including application content, or protocol metadata such as headers. Active or passive wiretaps and traffic analysis, (e.g., correlation, timing or measuring packet sizes), or subverting the cryptographic keys used to secure protocols can also be used as part of pervasive monitoring. PM is distinguished by being indiscriminate and very large scale, rather than by introducing new types of technical compromise. The IETF community's technical assessment is that PM is an attack on the privacy of Internet users and organisations. The IETF community has expressed strong agreement that PM is an attack that needs to be mitigated where possible, via the design of protocols that make PM significantly more expensive or infeasible. Pervasive monitoring was discussed at the technical plenary of the November 2013 IETF meeting [IETF88Plenary] and then through extensive exchanges on IETF mailing lists. This document records the IETF community's consensus and establishes the technical nature of PM. The draft goes on to further qualify what it means by “attack”, clarifying that  The term is used here to refer to behavior that subverts the intent of communicating parties without the agreement of those parties. An attack may change the content of the communication, record the content or external characteristics of the communication, or through correlation with other communication events, reveal information the parties did not intend to be revealed. It may also have other effects that similarly subvert the intent of a communicator.  The past year has shown that Internet specification authors need to put more emphasis into information security and integrity. The year also showed that specifications are not good enough. The implementations of security and protocol specifications have to be of high quality and superior testing. I’m proud to say Oracle has been a strong proponent of this, having already established its own secure coding practices. 

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• Is Cloud Security Holding Back Social SaaS?

  - by Mike Stiles

  The true promise of social data co-mingling with enterprise data to influence and inform social marketing (all marketing really) lives in cloud computing. The cloud brings processing power, services, speed and cost savings the likes of which few organizations could ever put into action on their own. So why wouldn’t anyone jump into SaaS (Software as a Service) with both feet? Cloud security. Being concerned about security is proper and healthy. That just means you’re a responsible operator. Whether it’s protecting your customers’ data or trying to stay off the radar of regulatory agencies, you have plenty of reasons to make sure you’re as protected from hacking, theft and loss as you can possibly be. But you also have plenty of reasons to not let security concerns freeze you in your tracks, preventing you from innovating, moving the socially-enabled enterprise forward, and keeping up with competitors who may not be as skittish regarding SaaS technology adoption. Over half of organizations are transferring sensitive or confidential data to the cloud, an increase of 10% over last year. With the roles and responsibilities of CMO’s, CIO’s and other C’s changing, the first thing you should probably determine is who should take point on analyzing cloud software options, providers, and policies. An oft-quoted Ponemon Institute study found 36% of businesses don’t have a cloud security policy at all. So that’s as good a place to start as any. What applications and data are you comfortable housing in the cloud? Do you have a classification system for data that clearly spells out where data types can go and how they can be used? Who, both internally and at the cloud provider, will function as admins? What are the different levels of admin clearance? Will your security policies and procedures sync up with those of your cloud provider? The key is verifiable trust. Trust in cloud security is actually going up. 1/3 of organizations polled say it’s the cloud provider who should be responsible for data protection. And when you look specifically at SaaS providers, that expectation goes up to 60%. 57% “strongly agree” or “agree” there’s more confidence in cloud providers’ ability to protect data. In fact, some businesses bypass the “verifiable” part of verifiable trust. Just over half have no idea what their cloud provider does to protect data. And yet, according to the “Private Cloud Vision vs. Reality” InformationWeek Report, 82% of organizations say security/data privacy are one of the main reasons they’re still holding the public cloud at arm’s length. That’s going to be a tough position to maintain, because just as social is rapidly changing the face of marketing, big data is rapidly changing the face of enterprise IT. Netflix, who’s particularly big on the benefits of the cloud, says, "We're systematically disassembling the corporate IT components." An enterprise can never realize the full power of big data, nor get the full potential value out of it, if it’s unwilling to enable the integrations and dataset connections necessary in the cloud. Because integration is called for to reduce fragmentation, a standardized platform makes a lot of sense. With multiple components crafted to work together, you’re maximizing scalability, optimization, cost effectiveness, and yes security and identity management benefits. You can see how the incentive is there for cloud companies to develop and add ever-improving security features, making cloud computing an eventual far safer bet than traditional IT. @mikestilesPhoto: stock.xchng

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• The Healthy Tension That Mobility Creates

  - by Kathryn Perry

  A guest post by Hernan Capdevila, Vice President, Oracle Fusion Apps In my previous post, I talked about the value of the mobile revolution on businesses and workers. Now let me put on a different hat and view the world from the IT department and the IT leader’s viewpoint. The IT leader has different concerns – around privacy, potential liability of information leakage, and intellectual property protection. These concerns and the leader’s goals create a healthy tension with the users. For example, effective device management becomes a must have for the IT leader, especially if you look at the Android ecosystem as an example. There are benefits to the Android strategy, but there are also drawbacks, such as uniformity – in device management, in operating systems, and in the application taxonomy and capabilities. Whereas, if you compare Android to iOS, Apple's operating system, iOS is more unified, more streamlined, and easier to manage. In either case, this is where mobile device management in the cloud makes good sense. I don't think IT departments should be hosting device management and managing that complexity. It should be a cloud service and I predict it's going to be key for our customers. A New Focus for IT Departments So where does that leave the IT departments? I think their futures are in governance, which is a more strategic play than a tactical one. Device management is tactical and it's the “now” topic. But the mobile phenomenon, if you will, is going to drive significant change in terms of how IT plans, hosts, and deploys enterprise applications. For example, opening up enterprise applications for mobile users presents some challenges unless you deploy more complicated network topologies, such as virtual private networks and threat protection technology. If you really want employees to be mobile you need to remove those kinds of barriers. But I don’t think IT departments want to wrestle with exposing their private enterprise data centers and being responsible for hosted business applications – applications in a sense that they’re making vulnerable to the public world. This opens up a significant need and a significant driver for cloud applications. However, it's not just about taking away the complexity – it's also about taking away the responsibility. Why should every business have to carry the responsibility and figure out all the nuts and bolts of how to protect themselves in this public, mobile world? When you use apps in the cloud, either your vendor or your hosting partner should have figured all that out. They need to assure the business that they are adhering to all sorts of security and compliance regulations so users can be connected and have access to information anywhere anytime. More Ideas and Better Service What’s more interesting is the world of possibilities that the connected, cloud-based world enables. I believe that the one-size-fits-all, uber-best practices, lowest-common denominator-like capabilities will go away. IT will now be able to solve very specific business challenges for the different corporate functions it serves. In this new world, IT will play a key role in enabling different organizations within a company to be best in class and delivering greater value to the line of business managers. IT will actually help to differentiate. Net result is a more agile workforce and business because each department is getting work done its own way.

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• Head in the Clouds

  - by Tony Davis

  We're just past the second anniversary of the launch of Windows Azure. A couple of years' experience with Azure in the industry has provided some obvious success stories, but has deflated some of the initial marketing hyperbole. As a general principle, Azure seems to work well in providing a Service-Oriented Architecture for services in enterprises that suffer wide fluctuations in demand. Instead of being obliged to provide hardware sufficient for the occasional peaks in demand, one can hire capacity only when it is needed, and the cost of hosting an application is no longer a capital cost. It enables companies to avoid having to scale out hardware for peak periods only to see it underused for the rest of the time. A customer-facing application such as a concert ticketing system, which suffers high demand in short, predictable bursts of activity, is a great example of an application that would work well in Azure. However, moving existing applications to Azure isn't something to be done on impulse. Unless your application is .NET-based, and consists of 'stateless' components that communicate via queues, you are probably in for a lot of redevelopment work. It makes most sense for IT departments who are already deep in this .NET mindset, and who also want 'grown-up' methods of staging, testing, and deployment. Azure fits well with this culture and offers, as a bonus, good Visual Studio integration. The most-commonly stated barrier to porting these applications to Azure is the problem of reconciling the use of the cloud with legislation for data privacy and security. Putting databases in the cloud is a sticky issue for many and impossible for some due to compliance and security issues, the need for direct control over data, and so on. In the face of feedback from the early adopters of Azure, Microsoft has broadened the architectural choices to cater for a wide range of requirements. As well as SQL Azure Database (SAD) and Azure storage, the unstructured 'BLOB and Entity-Attribute-Value' NoSQL storage alternative (which equates more closely with folders and files than a database), Windows Azure offers a wide range of storage options including use of services such as oData: developers who are programming for Windows Azure can simply choose the one most appropriate for their needs. Secondly, and crucially, the Windows Azure architecture allows you the freedom to produce hybrid applications, where only those parts that need cloud-based hosting are deployed to Azure, whereas those parts that must unavoidably be hosted in a corporate datacenter can stay there. By using a hybrid architecture, it will seldom, if ever, be necessary to move an entire application to the cloud, along with personal and financial data. For example that we could port to Azure only put those parts of our ticketing application that capture and process tickets orders. Once an order is captured, the financial side can be processed in our own data center. In short, Windows Azure seems to be a very effective way of providing services that are subject to wide but predictable fluctuations in demand. Have you come to the same conclusions, or do you think I've got it wrong? If you've had experience with Azure, would you recommend it? It would be great to hear from you. Cheers, Tony.

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• Oracle????????(2012?10?)

  - by Steve He(???)

    Oracle Support Training Oracle ???????????,????????????,??????,?????Oracle??????????,????????????????????????????????Oracle???????????? ???? ?? ?? ?? ?? ???? ?? Support Best Practices (formerly WEWS) ???? ?? 10?24? 15:00 ?? Get Proactive Resolve - Finding Answers Fast ???? ?? 10?25? 15:00 ?? MOS - Configuration Manager ???? ?? 10?30? 15:00 ?? ?????? My Oracle Support ??????????????????????,??? world clock.??????? Oracle ?????????????,??? note 603505.1 ????????????,??????????????(Mandarin)?????? Internet Explorer ??? My Oracle Support ????????????????? ?? ?? ?? ?? Creating Customer Value ???? ?? ?? Oracle Support Basics ???? ?? ?? An Introduction to My Oracle Support ???? ?? ?? Service Request Management ???? ?? ?? Customer User Administration ???? ?? ?? Managing Favorite ???? ?? ?? Quick Search ???? ?? ?? Hot Topic Email ???? ?? ?? Patch and Update ???? ?? ?? Site Alert ???? ?? ?? Search and Browse Features in My Oracle Support ???? ?? ?? Why Use Configuration Manager In The My Oracle Support ???? ?? ?? Enterprise Manager 11g and My Oracle Support ???? ?? ?? Oracle Collaborative Support ???? ?? ?? How to Escalate a Service Request within Oracle Support ???? ?? ?? ????????,?? Support Training Community ?????????? Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Contact Us | Legal Notices and Terms of Use | Privacy Statement

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• Oracle????????(2012?11?)

  - by Steve He(???)

    Oracle Support Training Oracle ???????????,????????????,??????,?????Oracle??????????,????????????????????????????????Oracle???????????? ???? ?? ?? ?? ?? ???? ?? Support Best Practices (formerly WEWS) ???? ?? 11?13? 15:00 ?? EBS - Support Diagnostics Tools ???? ?? 11?15? 15:00 ?? OSWatcher Black Box: How to improve performance and monitor your system automatically ???? ?? 11?15? 15:00 ?? MOS - Configuration Manager ???? ?? 11?20? 15:00 ?? Get Proactive Resolve - Answers Generic ???? ?? 11?22? 15:00 ?? MOS - Communities ???? ?? 11?27? 15:00 ?? ?????? My Oracle Support ??????????????????????,??? world clock.??????? Oracle ?????????????,??? note 603505.1 ????????????,??????????????(Mandarin)?????? Internet Explorer ??? My Oracle Support ????????????????? ?? ?? ?? ?? Creating Customer Value ???? ?? ?? Oracle Support Basics ???? ?? ?? An Introduction to My Oracle Support ???? ?? ?? Service Request Management ???? ?? ?? Customer User Administration ???? ?? ?? Managing Favorite ???? ?? ?? Quick Search ???? ?? ?? Hot Topic Email ???? ?? ?? Patch and Update ???? ?? ?? Site Alert ???? ?? ?? Search and Browse Features in My Oracle Support ???? ?? ?? Why Use Configuration Manager In The My Oracle Support ???? ?? ?? Enterprise Manager 11g and My Oracle Support ???? ?? ?? Oracle Collaborative Support ???? ?? ?? How to Escalate a Service Request within Oracle Support ???? ?? ?? ????????,?? Support Training Community ?????????? Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Contact Us | Legal Notices and Terms of Use | Privacy Statement

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• Oracle????????(2012?7?)

  - by user763198

    Oracle Support Training Oracle ???????????,????????????,??????,?????Oracle??????????,????????????????????????????????Oracle???????????? ???? ?? ?? ?? ?? ???? ?? My Oracle Support Basics ???? ?? 7?12? 15:00 ?? Working Effectively with Support ???? ?? 7?19? 15:00 ?? EBS - R12 Support Diagnostics Tools EBS?? ?? 7?26? 15:00 ?? ?????? My Oracle Support ??????????????????????,??? world clock.??????? Oracle ?????????????,??? note 603505.1 ????????????,??????????????(Mandarin)?????? Internet Explorer ??? My Oracle Support ????????????????? ?? ?? ?? ?? Creating Customer Value ???? ?? ?? Oracle Support Basics ???? ?? ?? An Introduction to My Oracle Support ???? ?? ?? Service Request Management ???? ?? ?? Customer User Administration ???? ?? ?? Managing Favorite ???? ?? ?? Hot Topic Email ???? ?? ?? Quick Search ???? ?? ?? Patch and Update ???? ?? ?? Site Alert ???? ?? ?? Search and Browse Features in My Oracle Support ???? ?? ?? Why Use Configuration Manager In The My Oracle Support ???? ?? ?? Enterprise Manager 11g and My Oracle Support ???? ?? ?? Oracle Collaborative Support ???? ?? ?? How to Escalate a Service Request within Oracle Support ???? ?? ?? ????????,?? Support Training Community ?????????? Copyright © 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Contact Us | Legal Notices and Terms of Use | Privacy Statement

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• Unable to set up SSL support for Apache 2 on Debian

  - by Francesco

  I am trying to set up ssl support for Apache 2 on Debian. Versions are: Debian GNU/Linux 6.0 apache2 2.2.16-6+squeeze1 I followed a lot of how-tos for days but I couldn't make it work. Here are my steps and configuration files (ServerName and DocumentRoot are changed for privacy, in case tell me): # mkdir /etc/apache2/ssl # openssl req $@ -new -x509 -days 365 -nodes -out /etc/apache2/apache.pem -keyout /etc/apache2/apache.pem at this point I've a doubt about permissions on apache.pem, at this step they are -rw-r--r-- 1 root root Maybe it has to belong to www-data? Then I enable ssl-mod with # a2enmod ssl # /etc/init.d/apache2 restart I modify /etc/apache2/sites-available/default-ssl in this way (I put port 8080 because I need port 443 for another purpose): <VirtualHost *:8080> SSLEngine on SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/ssl/apache.pem SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/apache2/ssl/apache.pem ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost DocumentRoot /var/www <Directory /> Options Indexes FollowSymLinks AllowOverride All </Directory> <Directory /var/www/> Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews AllowOverride All Order allow,deny allow from all </Directory> ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /usr/lib/cgi-bin/ <Directory "/usr/lib/cgi-bin"> AllowOverride None Options +ExecCGI -MultiViews +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch Order allow,deny Allow from all </Directory> ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log # Possible values include: debug, info, notice, warn, error, crit, # alert, emerg. LogLevel warn CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined Alias /doc/ "/usr/share/doc/" <Directory "/usr/share/doc/"> Options Indexes MultiViews FollowSymLinks AllowOverride None Order deny,allow Deny from all Allow from 127.0.0.0/255.0.0.0 ::1/128 </Directory> </VirtualHost> <VirtualHost *:8080> DocumentRoot /home/user1/public_html/ ServerName first.server.org # Other directives here </VirtualHost> <VirtualHost *:8080> DocumentRoot /home/user2/public_html/ ServerName second.server.org # Other directives here </VirtualHost> I have to point out that the same configuration works on http (it is a copy of /etc/apache2/sites-available/default with some differences - port and ssl support). My /etc/apache2/ports.conf is the following: # If you just change the port or add more ports here, you will likely also # have to change the VirtualHost statement in # /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default # This is also true if you have upgraded from before 2.2.9-3 (i.e. from # Debian etch). See /usr/share/doc/apache2.2-common/NEWS.Debian.gz and # README.Debian.gz #NameVirtualHost *:80 Listen 80 <IfModule mod_ssl.c> # If you add NameVirtualHost *:443 here, you will also have to change # the VirtualHost statement in /etc/apache2/sites-available/default-ssl # to <VirtualHost *:443> # Server Name Indication for SSL named virtual hosts is currently not # supported by MSIE on Windows XP. #NameVirtualHost *:8080 Listen 8080 </IfModule> <IfModule mod_gnutls.c> Listen 8080 </IfModule> Any suggestion? Thanks

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• How to debug Ubuntu/Cisco VPN issues

  - by Joe Casadonte

  I'm trying to connect an Ubuntu laptop (9.10) with some kind of Cisco VPN device; I don't know what's on the other end, and I'm not likely to find out exactly what. I know my company allows VPN from Linux clients because they provide one that I cannot get to install (it fails to compile). I've had the most luck with the network-manager-vpnc package, however I can't figure out what's failing. When I try to connect, I get this message from libnotify: The VPN connection 'XXX' failed. which is not very helpful. I've scoured the system logs and all I can find is this: Dec 27 12:57:45 jcasadon-lap NetworkManager: <info> Starting VPN service 'org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.vpnc'... Dec 27 12:57:45 jcasadon-lap NetworkManager: <info> VPN service 'org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.vpnc' started (org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.vpnc), PID 2672 Dec 27 12:57:45 jcasadon-lap NetworkManager: <info> VPN service 'org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.vpnc' just appeared, activating connections Dec 27 12:58:00 jcasadon-lap NetworkManager: <info> VPN plugin state changed: 3 Dec 27 12:58:00 jcasadon-lap NetworkManager: <info> VPN connection 'AmericasEast' (Connect) reply received. Dec 27 12:58:00 jcasadon-lap NetworkManager: SCPlugin-Ifupdown: devices added (path: /sys/devices/virtual/net/tun0, iface: tun0) Dec 27 12:58:00 jcasadon-lap kernel: [ 6144.529002] tun0: Disabled Privacy Extensions Dec 27 12:58:00 jcasadon-lap NetworkManager: SCPlugin-Ifupdown: device added (path: /sys/devices/virtual/net/tun0, iface: tun0): no ifupdown configuration found. Dec 27 12:58:15 jcasadon-lap NetworkManager: SCPlugin-Ifupdown: devices removed (path: /sys/devices/virtual/net/tun0, iface: tun0) Dec 27 12:58:15 jcasadon-lap NetworkManager: <info> VPN plugin failed: 1 Dec 27 12:58:15 jcasadon-lap NetworkManager: <info> VPN plugin state changed: 6 Dec 27 12:58:15 jcasadon-lap NetworkManager: <info> VPN plugin state change reason: 0 Dec 27 12:58:15 jcasadon-lap NetworkManager: <WARN> connection_state_changed(): Could not process the request because no VPN connection was active. Dec 27 12:58:15 jcasadon-lap NetworkManager: <info> (wlan0): writing resolv.conf to /sbin/resolvconf Dec 27 12:58:15 jcasadon-lap NetworkManager: <info> Policy set 'Northbound Train' (wlan0) as default for routing and DNS. Dec 27 12:58:27 jcasadon-lap NetworkManager: <debug> [1261936707.002971] ensure_killed(): waiting for vpn service pid 2672 to exit Dec 27 12:58:27 jcasadon-lap NetworkManager: <debug> [1261936707.003175] ensure_killed(): vpn service pid 2672 cleaned up I have no idea where to go from here. Tomorrow I'll ask the IT/IS guys if there's anything they can tell me from their end, but I don't know if they'll be able to tell me anything. Any ideas? Thanks!

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• Secure ldap problem

  - by neverland

  I have tried to config my openldap to have secure connection by using openssl on Debian5. By the way, I got trouble during the below command. ldap:/etc/ldap# slapd -h 'ldap:// ldaps://' -d1 >>> slap_listener(ldaps://) connection_get(15): got connid=7 connection_read(15): checking for input on id=7 connection_get(15): got connid=7 connection_read(15): checking for input on id=7 connection_get(15): got connid=7 connection_read(15): checking for input on id=7 connection_get(15): got connid=7 connection_read(15): checking for input on id=7 connection_read(15): unable to get TLS client DN, error=49 id=7 connection_get(15): got connid=7 connection_read(15): checking for input on id=7 ber_get_next ber_get_next on fd 15 failed errno=0 (Success) connection_closing: readying conn=7 sd=15 for close connection_close: conn=7 sd=15 Then I have search for "unable to get TLS client DN, error=49 id=7" but it seems no where has a good solution to this yet. Please help. Thanks # Well, I try to fix something to get it work but now I got this ldap:~# slapd -d 256 -f /etc/openldap/slapd.conf @(#) $OpenLDAP: slapd 2.4.11 (Nov 26 2009 09:17:06) $ root@SD6-Casa:/tmp/buildd/openldap-2.4.11/debian/build/servers/slapd could not stat config file "/etc/openldap/slapd.conf": No such file or directory (2) slapd stopped. connections_destroy: nothing to destroy. What should I do now? log : ldap:~# /etc/init.d/slapd start Starting OpenLDAP: slapd - failed. The operation failed but no output was produced. For hints on what went wrong please refer to the system's logfiles (e.g. /var/log/syslog) or try running the daemon in Debug mode like via "slapd -d 16383" (warning: this will create copious output). Below, you can find the command line options used by this script to run slapd. Do not forget to specify those options if you want to look to debugging output: slapd -h 'ldaps:///' -g openldap -u openldap -f /etc/ldap/slapd.conf ldap:~# tail /var/log/messages Feb 8 16:53:27 ldap kernel: [ 123.582757] intel8x0_measure_ac97_clock: measured 57614 usecs Feb 8 16:53:27 ldap kernel: [ 123.582801] intel8x0: measured clock 172041 rejected Feb 8 16:53:27 ldap kernel: [ 123.582825] intel8x0: clocking to 48000 Feb 8 16:53:27 ldap kernel: [ 131.469687] Adding 240932k swap on /dev/hda5. Priority:-1 extents:1 across:240932k Feb 8 16:53:27 ldap kernel: [ 133.432131] EXT3 FS on hda1, internal journal Feb 8 16:53:27 ldap kernel: [ 135.478218] loop: module loaded Feb 8 16:53:27 ldap kernel: [ 141.348104] eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex Feb 8 16:53:27 ldap rsyslogd: [origin software="rsyslogd" swVersion="3.18.6" x-pid="1705" x-info="http://www.rsyslog.com"] restart Feb 8 16:53:34 ldap kernel: [ 159.217171] NET: Registered protocol family 10 Feb 8 16:53:34 ldap kernel: [ 159.220083] lo: Disabled Privacy Extensions

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• Secure ldap problem

  - by neverland

  Hi there, I have tried to config my openldap to have secure connection by using openssl on Debian5. By the way, I got trouble during the below command. ldap:/etc/ldap# slapd -h 'ldap:// ldaps://' -d1 >>> slap_listener(ldaps://) connection_get(15): got connid=7 connection_read(15): checking for input on id=7 connection_get(15): got connid=7 connection_read(15): checking for input on id=7 connection_get(15): got connid=7 connection_read(15): checking for input on id=7 connection_get(15): got connid=7 connection_read(15): checking for input on id=7 connection_read(15): unable to get TLS client DN, error=49 id=7 connection_get(15): got connid=7 connection_read(15): checking for input on id=7 ber_get_next ber_get_next on fd 15 failed errno=0 (Success) connection_closing: readying conn=7 sd=15 for close connection_close: conn=7 sd=15 Then I have search for "unable to get TLS client DN, error=49 id=7" but it seems no where has a good solution to this yet. Please help. Thanks # Well, I try to fix something to get it work but now I got this ldap:~# slapd -d 256 -f /etc/openldap/slapd.conf @(#) $OpenLDAP: slapd 2.4.11 (Nov 26 2009 09:17:06) $ root@SD6-Casa:/tmp/buildd/openldap-2.4.11/debian/build/servers/slapd could not stat config file "/etc/openldap/slapd.conf": No such file or directory (2) slapd stopped. connections_destroy: nothing to destroy. What should I do now? log : ldap:~# /etc/init.d/slapd start Starting OpenLDAP: slapd - failed. The operation failed but no output was produced. For hints on what went wrong please refer to the system's logfiles (e.g. /var/log/syslog) or try running the daemon in Debug mode like via "slapd -d 16383" (warning: this will create copious output). Below, you can find the command line options used by this script to run slapd. Do not forget to specify those options if you want to look to debugging output: slapd -h 'ldaps:///' -g openldap -u openldap -f /etc/ldap/slapd.conf ldap:~# tail /var/log/messages Feb 8 16:53:27 ldap kernel: [ 123.582757] intel8x0_measure_ac97_clock: measured 57614 usecs Feb 8 16:53:27 ldap kernel: [ 123.582801] intel8x0: measured clock 172041 rejected Feb 8 16:53:27 ldap kernel: [ 123.582825] intel8x0: clocking to 48000 Feb 8 16:53:27 ldap kernel: [ 131.469687] Adding 240932k swap on /dev/hda5. Priority:-1 extents:1 across:240932k Feb 8 16:53:27 ldap kernel: [ 133.432131] EXT3 FS on hda1, internal journal Feb 8 16:53:27 ldap kernel: [ 135.478218] loop: module loaded Feb 8 16:53:27 ldap kernel: [ 141.348104] eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex Feb 8 16:53:27 ldap rsyslogd: [origin software="rsyslogd" swVersion="3.18.6" x-pid="1705" x-info="http://www.rsyslog.com"] restart Feb 8 16:53:34 ldap kernel: [ 159.217171] NET: Registered protocol family 10 Feb 8 16:53:34 ldap kernel: [ 159.220083] lo: Disabled Privacy Extensions

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• OpenSSH does not accept public key?

  - by Bob

  I've been trying to solve this for a while, but I'm admittedly quite stumped. I just started up a new server and was setting up OpenSSH to use key-based SSH logins, but I've run into quite a dilemma. All the guides are relatively similar, and I was following them closely (despite having done this once before). I triple checked my work to see if I would notice some obvious screw up - but nothing is apparent. As far as I can tell, I haven't done anything wrong (and I've checked very closely). If it's any help, on my end I'm using Cygwin and the server is running Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS. Anyways, here is the output (I've removed/censored some parts for privacy (primarily anything with my name, website, or its IP address), but I can assure you that nothing is wrong there): $ ssh user@host -v OpenSSH_5.9p1, OpenSSL 0.9.8r 8 Feb 2011 debug1: Connecting to host [ipaddress] port 22. debug1: Connection established. debug1: identity file /home/user/.ssh/id_rsa type 1 debug1: identity file /home/user/.ssh/id_rsa-cert type -1 debug1: identity file /home/user/.ssh/id_dsa type -1 debug1: identity file /home/user/.ssh/id_dsa-cert type -1 debug1: identity file /home/user/.ssh/id_ecdsa type -1 debug1: identity file /home/user/.ssh/id_ecdsa-cert type -1 debug1: Remote protocol version 2.0, remote software version OpenSSH_5.9p1 Debian-5ubuntu1 debug1: match: OpenSSH_5.9p1 Debian-5ubuntu1 pat OpenSSH* debug1: Enabling compatibility mode for protocol 2.0 debug1: Local version string SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_5.9 debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT sent debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT received debug1: kex: server->client aes128-ctr hmac-md5 none debug1: kex: client->server aes128-ctr hmac-md5 none debug1: sending SSH2_MSG_KEX_ECDH_INIT debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_ECDH_REPLY debug1: Server host key: ECDSA 24:68:c3:d8:13:f8:61:94:f2:95:34:d1:e2:6d:e7:d7 debug1: Host 'host' is known and matches the ECDSA host key. debug1: Found key in /home/user/.ssh/known_hosts:2 debug1: ssh_ecdsa_verify: signature correct debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS sent debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS received debug1: Roaming not allowed by server debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_REQUEST sent debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_ACCEPT received debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey debug1: Next authentication method: publickey debug1: Offering RSA public key: /home/user/.ssh/id_rsa debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey debug1: Trying private key: /home/user/.ssh/id_dsa debug1: Trying private key: /home/user/.ssh/id_ecdsa debug1: No more authentication methods to try. Permission denied (publickey). What can I do to resolve my problem?

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• Dovecot, Postfix, Postfixadmin - can't send/receive mail

  - by Jack

  I am setting up a mail server: Dovecot and Postfix with MySQL support and Postfixadmin. Spend literally all day trying to figure it out, but I'm still unable to neither send nor receive any emails. To my knowledge, I have configured everything correctly, so either there is another problem, or my knowledge isn't good enough. Here is what I get when I use "echo test | mail [email protected]:" Jul 11 00:41:07 server postfix/pickup[17999]: 5B0D32AE1B: uid=0 from= Jul 11 00:41:07 server postfix/cleanup[19444]: 5B0D32AE1B: message-id=<[email protected] Jul 11 00:41:07 server postfix/qmgr[18513]: 5B0D32AE1B: from=, size=329, nrcpt=1 (queue active) Jul 11 00:41:12 server postfix/smtp[19448]: 5B0D32AE1B: to=, relay=none, delay=5.3, delays=0.1/0.01/5.2/0, dsn=4.4.3, status=deferred (Host or domain name not found. Name service error for name=dsa.com type=MX: Host not found, try again) *@mail.asd.com is changed for privacy reasons, same goes for [email protected]. *The bold text is where it, for some reason, prints out dsa.com - even though I haven't found it anywhere in the files which I've edited during the installation, nor my DNS is .com in the first place. Here is what I get when I try to send out an email from Postfix Admin interface: Jul 11 00:49:08 server postfix/smtpd[19479]: connect from localhost[127.0.0.1] Jul 11 00:49:08 server postfix/trivial-rewrite[19484]: warning: do not list domain asd.com in BOTH mydestination and virtual_mailbox_domains Jul 11 00:49:08 server postfix/smtpd[19479]: 4F7892AE1E: client=localhost[127.0.0.1] Jul 11 00:49:08 server postfix/cleanup[19487]: 4F7892AE1E: message-id=<[email protected] Jul 11 00:49:08 server postfix/qmgr[18513]: 4F7892AE1E: from=, size=317, nrcpt=1 (queue active) Jul 11 00:49:08 server postfix/smtpd[19479]: disconnect from localhost[127.0.0.1] Jul 11 00:49:10 server postfix/smtpd[19492]: connect from localhost[127.0.0.1] Jul 11 00:49:10 server postfix/trivial-rewrite[19484]: warning: do not list domain asd.com in BOTH mydestination and virtual_mailbox_domains Jul 11 00:49:10 server postfix/smtpd[19492]: 743AE2AE1F: client=localhost[127.0.0.1] Jul 11 00:49:10 server postfix/cleanup[19487]: 743AE2AE1F: message-id=<[email protected] Jul 11 00:49:10 server postfix/qmgr[18513]: 743AE2AE1F: from=, size=772, nrcpt=1 (queue active) Jul 11 00:49:10 server postfix/smtpd[19492]: disconnect from localhost[127.0.0.1] Jul 11 00:49:10 server amavis[13437]: (13437-11) Passed CLEAN, LOCAL [127.0.0.1] - , Message-ID: <[email protected], mail_id: 86+KQY93ANel, Hits: -0.002, size: 317, queued_as: 743AE2AE1F, 2145 ms Jul 11 00:49:10 server postfix/smtp[19489]: 4F7892AE1E: to=, relay=127.0.0.1[127.0.0.1]:10024, delay=2.3, delays=0.17/0.01/0/2.1, dsn=2.0.0, status=sent (250 2.0.0 from MTA([127.0.0.1]:10025): 250 2.0.0 Ok: queued as 743AE2AE1F) Jul 11 00:49:10 server postfix/qmgr[18513]: 4F7892AE1E: removed I really don't know what might be the problem... If you need to know something, feel free to ask and I'll clarify something.

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• Centos 5.5 [Read-only file system] issue after rebooting

  - by canu johann

  I have a virtual server under centos 5.5 (hosted by a japanese company called sakura ) Since yesterday, connection through ssh couldn't be established. I've contacted support center who told me to restart VS from the control panel. After restarting, I got the message below Connected to domain wwwxxxxxx.sakura.ne.jp Escape character is ^] [ OK ] Setting hostname localhost.localdomain: [ OK ] Setting up Logical Volume Management: No volume groups found [ OK ] Checking filesystems Checking all file systems. [/sbin/fsck.ext4 (1) -- /] fsck.ext4 -a /dev/vda3 / contains a file system with errors, check forced. /: Inodes that were part of a corrupted orphan linked list found. /: UNEXPECTED INCONSISTENCY; RUN fsck MANUALLY. (i.e., without -a or -p options) @@cat: /proc/self/attr/current: Invalid argument Welcome to CentOS Starting udev: @[ OK ] Setting hostname localhost.localdomain: [ OK ] Setting up Logical Volume Management: No volume groups found [ OK ] Checking filesystems Checking all file systems. [/sbin/fsck.ext4 (1) -- /] fsck.ext4 -a /dev/vda3 / contains a file system with errors, check forced. /: Inodes that were part of a corrupted orphan linked list found. /: UNEXPECTED INCONSISTENCY; RUN fsck MANUALLY. (i.e., without -a or -p options) [FAILED] *** An error occurred during the file system check. *** Dropping you to a shell; the system will reboot *** when you leave the shell. *** Warning -- SELinux is active *** Disabling security enforcement for system recovery. *** Run 'setenforce 1' to reenable. /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit: line 53: /selinux/enforce: Read-only file system Give root password for maintenance (or type Control-D to continue): bash: cannot set terminal process group (-1): Inappropriate ioctl for device bash: no job control in this shell bash: cannot create temp file for here-document: Read-only file system bash: cannot create temp file for here-document: Read-only file system bash: cannot create temp file for here-document: Read-only file system bash: cannot create temp file for here-document: Read-only file system bash: cannot create temp file for here-document: Read-only file system bash: cannot create temp file for here-document: Read-only file system bash: cannot create temp file for here-document: Read-only file system bash: cannot create temp file for here-document: Read-only file system bash: cannot create temp file for here-document: Read-only file system bash: cannot create temp file for here-document: Read-only file system (Repair filesystem) 1 # setenforce 1 setenforce: SELinux is disabled (Repair filesystem) 2 # echo 1 (Repair filesystem) 4 # /etc/init.d/sshd status openssh-daemon is stopped (Repair filesystem) 5 # /etc/init.d/sshd start Starting sshd: NET: Registered protocol family 10 lo: Disabled Privacy Extensions touch: cannot touch `/var/lock/subsys/sshd': Read-only file system (Repair filesystem) 6 # sudo /etc/init.d/sshd start sudo: sorry, you must have a tty to run sudo (Repair filesystem) 7 # I have 4 site in production and I need to restart the server quickly (SSH + HTTPD ,...). Thank you for your time.

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• Virtual Private Hosting DNS configuration

  - by Ciel

  I did a great deal of reading here before posting this because I didn't want to post a duplicate - but I'm on a bit of a deadline and getting frustrated, so here goes... I very, very, very sincerely apologize if this is long winded or hard to read. Please - please just ask for any information or clarification and I will give it as quickly as I possibly can. This has become very frustrating to me and this is the last place I know to turn. I have no experience with setting up DNS, no experience with nameservers, and no peers to go to for help. So this is kind of my last ditch effort. The task of setting up a private server has, through circumstances beyond my control, fallen into my lap. I own a domain (hereafter referred to as yyy.com) and have always used shared hosting - I buy a package and just point it to the domain nameservers they give me. It's always been simple. yyy.com is registered with network solutions Now I have purchased a Virtual Private Hosting package from GoDaddy.com - and it comes with Plesk 11. I have no earthly idea how to begin to get the right nameserver for yyy.com. I have gone through the instructions and have wound up exceedingly frustrated. I have 2 IP addresses from GoDaddy for the server. This is what I have so far, and I cannot tell if it is working (Since propogation takes so long, it is extremely hard to test for me) IP 1 : XX.XX.XX.XX IP 2 : YY.YY.YY.YY (obviously hidden for privacy) Now after going through the documentation setup and waiting a few days, this is the setup I have - and so far it does not appear to be working. Host Record type Value XX.XX.XX.XX / 24 PTR yyy.com. yyy.com. NS ns1.yyy.com. yyy.com. A XX.XX.XX.XX yyy.com. MX (10) mail.yyy.com. ftp.yyy.com. CNAME yyy.com. ipv4.yyy.com. A XX.XX.XX.XX mail.yyy.com. A XX.XX.XX.XX mssql.yyy.com. A XX.XX.XX.XX ns1.yyy.com. A XX.XX.XX.XX ns2.yyy.com. A YY.YY.YY.YY webmail.yyy.com. A XX.XX.XX.XX www.yyy.com. CNAME yyy.com. yyy.com is pointing to both ns1.yyy.com and ns2.yyy.com Can anyone give me some assistance here? This is a learning experience for me and days of documentation have left me very confused.

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• Spotlight Infinite Indexing issue (external data drive)

  - by Manca Weeks

  This is an external drive, formerly a boot drive which is now in use only to access music files (sibelius, audio, midi, live, logic etc.) without transferring the data into a new boot system, partly because of the issue I am about to describe, but mostly because the majority of the data is mainly there for archival purposes. The user is a composer and prominent musician and needs to be able to rehash the data at will. I have tried several things - here is a list: - make complete filesystem clone with antonio diaz's ddrescue - run Disk Warrior on copy, repair whatever errors occurred - wipe out all ACLs on entire drive - set all permissions to the same value - wide open 777 - remove any system data (applications, system files, including hidden files to the best of my knowledge) by selecting only non-system/app data and using Carbon Copy Cloner to put only the data of interest onto a newly formatted drive - transfer data to newly formatted drive folder by folder, resetting the spotlight index in between adding each to observe for issues (interesting here is that no issues occurred except for in Documents folder - when I transferred only the Documents folder to a newly formatted drive on its own - no trouble. It appears almost as thought it may not be the content but the quantity or specific combination of data that results in problems) - use DataRescue to transfer the data to yet another newly formatted drive to expose any missed hidden files Between each of the above steps I stopped Spotlight (search for anything beginning with md in Activity Monitor - All Processes and quitting it), deleted the .Spotlight-V100 directory from the affected drive. Restart Splotlight indexing by adding drive to Spotlight privacy list and removing it. In each case the same issue occurs - Spotlight begins indexing normally (or so it seems), then the index estimated time increases, usually to 4 hours remaining. This is where it gets stuck and continues to predict 4 hours remaining but never finishes. Sometimes I can't eject the drive and have to quit the md.. processes from Activity Monitor to be able to eject the drive without Force Eject. Once I disconnect the drive after the 4 hours remaining situation - if I reattach it, Spotlight forever estimates remaining time and never gets going again. So there it is. It is apparently not a filesystem issue, not a permissions issue and not tied to any particular piece of hardware or protocol (used USB and FW drives). I have tried this on several machines (3 to be precise) and in 10.5.8 and 10.6.5. Simply disabling Spotlight on this volume is not an option because the owner has no clue where things are as the data on the volume dates back to music projects and compositions from 2003 and before. He needs to be able to query for results. Anyone got any ideas? Thanks, M

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• Why am I unable to send an attachment with Outlook via SMTP that I am able to send via Gmail / Google Apps?

  - by cwd

  I have Google Apps installed and I have tried to set up Outlook 2007 to send messages via SMTP. I followed the guide, selecting what I believe are all the correct settings. Yes, I am using POP for incoming, that is intentional but I don't believe it should affect outgoing messages. When I log into gmail (google apps) for my company, I can send a message that has an 8MB attachment (pdf file, not zipped or anything) and it sends fine. However, when I send the same message in Outlook with that same 8mb attachment it fails. Why am I unable to send an attachment with Outlook via SMTP that I am able to send via Gmail / Google Apps? The message headers are (some info omitted for privacy): Technical details of permanent failure: Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the recipient domain. We recommend contacting the other email provider for further information about the cause of this error. The error that the other server returned was: 552 552 #5.3.4 message size exceeds limit (state 17). ----- Original message ----- DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=company.com; s=google; h=from:to:cc:references:in-reply-to:subject:date:message-id :mime-version:content-type:x-mailer:thread-index:content-language; bh=7d4i/Cbt0v0sY3zt5lN6y5CdvxjbRmTBG4AuBuMxtF4=; b=IJwwxuIEdg1E4zXuGjeDod+1w3RYBBCNzSsqpuX77ih36HSiq++s3ZCQXPeU9CIZVg K8JPJQu9xjivYYjrRaYwyeowLIu0GIdR2h4kKEkFM/GNC2RFF3VwVgj+gvi5eqVZIuWn osT5/VEm10IED6B54NPOtGMgFTci6a57zzVKE= X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=google.com; s=20120113; h=from:to:cc:references:in-reply-to:subject:date:message-id :mime-version:content-type:x-mailer:thread-index:content-language :x-gm-message-state; bh=7d4i/Cbt0v0sY3zt5lN6y5CdvxjbRmTBG4AuBuMxtF4=; b=LjTecjok5K71Bymp6tZqAL2XCz03hWROV1mTK8Vf2AeEJwtel9ACu9kE5jW5iJqckb upYKPzoqYLBwAPOzMb9asWoTAZPzC7LMG65eDUc2/ZEvGqXrZs3ziUxwhF4t169yRVuy /6nm/aAt5uPMLPdobxGTJ8ahOIku1Z3gW+OcvZ6ERk1Av/bvuln09vcnyJIrHGh7eK8n cbGVxmK0aecgSPgIj2NALbHkyuxwj+LEBRV6uiz3THDjxAiNfsO5UFjV59sD+lVSBT3z ThOGE8WEXRnKHuP3FuKXyeUxKBZ2CxpWJpvDuS9EsFkln7zkISYEsRA0nUA6GSGi2Z/n 8YUg== Received: by 10.60.169.197 with SMTP id ag5mr12254920oec.137.1351036287413; Tue, 23 Oct 2012 16:51:27 -0700 (PDT) References: Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2012 19:51:16 -0400 Message-ID: <003a01cdb179$4bb2ca60$e3185f20$@com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_003B_01CDB157.C4A12A60" X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook 12.0 Thread-Index: Ac2xVCHGxoC7DDOkQBK3JSXowHb0EQAEB7agAAA/YKAAAIGcQAAAngfQAABAAPAAAFe7gAAAadvw AALgvLA= Content-Language: en-us X-Gm-Message-State: ALoCoQniMq7Fnh+NlfoWjTJPvKWbkhEaftSaFo9ZVvtRpWufTmhlRDx1a9Jf+wmYcbRh896gygNr The company I am sending email to is a company that uses Google Apps for Teams. This is their apps admin login. Should I be worried about that message? My Settings On the Google apps side I have set my SPF record and set / verified my DKIM key. Here are my outlook settings: Why am I unable to send an attachment with Outlook via SMTP that I am able to send via Gmail / Google Apps?

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• cd Command Linux and Mystery Flags

  - by Jason R. Mick

  Platform: CentOS 6.2 Shell:tcsh I'm playing around with cd for a BASH script, and noticed the wondrous cd - option, but was left with many questions... Why the cd -? Isn't this redundant with cd ..? EDIT [As FatalError points out, these two commands don't do the same things... so the answer is "no"] Can you delve farther back into your history with - flag, a la in a browser? e.g. When I type cd -, it takes me to my previous directory, but then if I enter that command again, it takes me to the directory I just came from, creating a sort of loop. Is a shorthand for going back multiple levels supported?EDITI realize I can go back with cd .., but was hoping this could be a gateway to a less verbose deep back, e.g. cd -3 vs. cd ../../../ ... hopefully that clarifies what I'm asking....EDIT2As to the current feedback, while .. is a special directory, I don't see a reason why the built-in cd to the terminal couldn't use a shorthand for ../../ ... ../ e.g. cd ..5 or why the built-in also couldn't have a history (a la auto pushd/popd) that could be turned on and used like cd -3. I get that this could be somewhat of security/privacy risk, but I don't see how it's any worst than storing a command history, which most shells/terminals do. The manpage for cd, accessible via man cd and help cd (it's the same for either command), only lists -L and -P flags. However when I type in cd --help it outputs Usage: cd [-plvn][-|<dir>].. Am I right in assuming the other flags and the - (back) option are nonstandard? What are the -n and -v flags for? Both seem to take me back to my home directory, that's all I've been able to figure out via experimentation. A quick read on web resources [1][2] offered just the same sort of info that the man page did and didn't answer my questions. Note: The second Linux-centric resource above claimed cd only had two options (obviously not true in current CentOS) hence my assumption that this functionality could be non-standard.

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• Computer Networks UNISA - Chap 12 &ndash; Networking Security

  - by MarkPearl

  After reading this section you should be able to Identify security risks in LANs and WANs and design security policies that minimize risks Explain how physical security contributes to network security Discuss hardware and design based security techniques Understand methods of encryption such as SSL and IPSec, that can secure data in storage and in transit Describe how popular authentication protocols such as RADIUS< TACACS,Kerberos, PAP, CHAP, and MS-CHAP function Use network operating system techniques to provide basic security Understand wireless security protocols such as WEP, WPA and 802.11i Security Audits Before spending time and money on network security, examine your networks security risks – rate and prioritize risks. Different organizations have different levels of network security requirements. Security Risks Not all security breaches result from a manipulation of network technology – there are human factors that can play a role as well. The following categories are areas of considerations… Risks associated with People Risks associated with Transmission and Hardware Risks associated with Protocols and Software Risks associated with Internet Access An effective security policy A security policy identifies your security goals, risks, levels of authority, designated security coordinator and team members, responsibilities for each team member, and responsibilities for each employee. In addition it specifies how to address security breaches. It should not state exactly which hardware, software, architecture, or protocols will be used to ensure security, nor how hardware or software will be installed and configured. A security policy must address an organizations specific risks. to understand your risks, you should conduct a security audit that identifies vulnerabilities and rates both the severity of each threat and its likelihood of occurring. Security Policy Content Security policy content should… Policies for each category of security Explain to users what they can and cannot do and how these measures protect the networks security Should define what confidential means to the organization Response Policy A security policy should provide for a planned response in the event of a security breach. The response policy should identify the members of a response team, all of whom should clearly understand the the security policy, risks, and measures in place. Some of the roles concerned could include… Dispatcher – the person on call who first notices the breach Manager – the person who coordinates the resources necessary to solve the problem Technical Support Specialist – the person who focuses on solving the problem Public relations specialist – the person who acts as the official spokesperson for the organization Physical Security An important element in network security is restricting physical access to its components. There are various techniques for this including locking doors, security people at access points etc. You should identify the following… Which rooms contain critical systems or data and must be secured Through what means might intruders gain access to these rooms How and to what extent are authorized personnel granted access to these rooms Are authentication methods such as ID cards easy to forge etc. Security in Network Design The optimal way to prevent external security breaches from affecting you LAN is not to connect your LAN to the outside world at all. The next best protection is to restrict access at every point where your LAN connects to the rest of the world. Router Access List – can be used to filter or decline access to a portion of a network for certain devices. Intrusion Detection and Prevention While denying someone access to a section of the network is good, it is better to be able to detect when an attempt has been made and notify security personnel. This can be done using IDS (intrusion detection system) software. One drawback of IDS software is it can detect false positives – i.e. an authorized person who has forgotten his password attempts to logon. Firewalls A firewall is a specialized device, or a computer installed with specialized software, that selectively filters or blocks traffic between networks. A firewall typically involves a combination of hardware and software and may reside between two interconnected private networks. The simplest form of a firewall is a packet filtering firewall, which is a router that examines the header of every packet of data it receives to determine whether that type of packet is authorized to continue to its destination or not. Firewalls can block traffic in and out of a LAN. NOS (Network Operating System) Security Regardless of the operating system, generally every network administrator can implement basic security by restricting what users are authorized to do on a network. Some of the restrictions include things related to Logons – place, time of day, total time logged in, etc Passwords – length, characters used, etc Encryption Encryption is the use of an algorithm to scramble data into a format that can be read only by reversing the algorithm. The purpose of encryption is to keep information private. Many forms of encryption exist and new ways of cracking encryption are continually being invented. The following are some categories of encryption… Key Encryption PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) SSH (Secure Shell) SCP (Secure CoPy) SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) IPSec (Internet Protocol Security) For a detailed explanation on each section refer to pages 596 to 604 of textbook Authentication Protocols Authentication protocols are the rules that computers follow to accomplish authentication. Several types exist and the following are some of the common authentication protocols… RADIUS and TACACS PAP (Password Authentication Protocol) CHAP and MS-CHAP EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) 802.1x (EAPoL) Kerberos Wireless Network Security Wireless transmissions are particularly susceptible to eavesdropping. The following are two wireless network security protocols WEP WPA

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• Why Software Sucks...and What You Can Do About It – book review

  - by DigiMortal

      How do our users see the products we are writing for them and how happy they are with our work? Are they able to get their work done without fighting with cool features and crashes or are they just switching off resistance part of their brain to survive our software? Yeah, the overall picture of software usability landscape is not very nice. Okay, it is not even nice. But, fortunately, Why Software Sucks...and What You Can Do About It by David S. Platt explains everything. Why Software Sucks… is book for software users but I consider it as a-must reading also for developers and specially for their managers whose politics often kills all usability topics as soon as they may appear. For managers usability is soft topic that can be manipulated the way it is best in current state of project. Although developers are not UI designers and usability experts they are still very often forced to deal with these topics and this is how usability problems start (of course, also designers are able to produce designs that are stupid and too hard to use for users, but this blog here is about development). I found this book to be very interesting and funny reading. It is not humor book but it explains you all so you remember later very well what you just read. It took me about three evenings to go through this book and I am still enjoying what I found and how author explains our weird young working field to end users. I suggest this book to all developers – while you are demanding your management to hire or outsource usability expert you are at least causing less pain to end users. So, go and buy this book, just like I did. And… they thanks to mr. Platt :) There is one book more I suggest you to read if you are interested in usability - Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition by Steve Krug. Editorial review from Amazon Today’s software sucks. There’s no other good way to say it. It’s unsafe, allowing criminal programs to creep through the Internet wires into our very bedrooms. It’s unreliable, crashing when we need it most, wiping out hours or days of work with no way to get it back. And it’s hard to use, requiring large amounts of head-banging to figure out the simplest operations. It’s no secret that software sucks. You know that from personal experience, whether you use computers for work or personal tasks. In this book, programming insider David Platt explains why that’s the case and, more importantly, why it doesn’t have to be that way. And he explains it in plain, jargon-free English that’s a joy to read, using real-world examples with which you’re already familiar. In the end, he suggests what you, as a typical user, without a technical background, can do about this sad state of our software—how you, as an informed consumer, don’t have to take the abuse that bad software dishes out. As you might expect from the book’s title, Dave’s expose is laced with humor—sometimes outrageous, but always dead on. You’ll laugh out loud as you recall incidents with your own software that made you cry. You’ll slap your thigh with the same hand that so often pounded your computer desk and wished it was a bad programmer’s face. But Dave hasn’t written this book just for laughs. He’s written it to give long-overdue voice to your own discovery—that software does, indeed, suck, but it shouldn’t. Table of contents Acknowledgments xiii Introduction Chapter 1: Who’re You Calling a Dummy? Where We Came From Why It Still Sucks Today Control versus Ease of Use I Don’t Care How Your Program Works A Bad Feature and a Good One Stopping the Proceedings with Idiocy Testing on Live Animals Where We Are and What You Can Do Chapter 2: Tangled in the Web Where We Came From How It Works Why It Still Sucks Today Client-Centered Design versus Server-Centered Design Where’s My Eye Opener? It’s Obvious—Not! Splash, Flash, and Animation Testing on Live Animals What You Can Do about It Chapter 3: Keep Me Safe The Way It Was Why It Sucks Today What Programmers Need to Know, but Don’t A Human Operation Budgeting for Hassles Users Are Lazy Social Engineering Last Word on Security What You Can Do Chapter 4: Who the Heck Are You? Where We Came From Why It Still Sucks Today Incompatible Requirements OK, So Now What? Chapter 5: Who’re You Looking At? Yes, They Know You Why It Sucks More Than Ever Today Users Don’t Know Where the Risks Are What They Know First Milk You with Cookies? Privacy Policy Nonsense Covering Your Tracks The Google Conundrum Solution Chapter 6: Ten Thousand Geeks, Crazed on Jolt Cola See Them in Their Native Habitat All These Geeks Who Speaks, and When, and about What Selling It The Next Generation of Geeks—Passing It On Chapter 7: Who Are These Crazy Bastards Anyway? Homo Logicus Testosterone Poisoning Control and Contentment Making Models Geeks and Jocks Jargon Brains and Constraints Seven Habits of Geeks Chapter 8: Microsoft: Can’t Live With ’Em and Can’t Live Without ’Em They Run the World Me and Them Where We Came From Why It Sucks Today Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don’t We Love to Hate Them Plus ça Change Growing-Up Pains What You Can Do about It The Last Word Chapter 9: Doing Something About It 1. Buy 2. Tell 3. Ridicule 4. Trust 5. Organize Epilogue About the Author

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• WP7 “Phantom Data” Source Possibly Revealed?

  - by Bil Simser

  Recently there’s been rumours floating around regarding “phantom” Windows Phone 7 data being magically sent and received on the latest WP7 phones. The news has mostly been floating around twitter so I didn’t pay it much attention. The BBC Technology News picked it up so I thought I would look more into it myself seeing that we have WP7 phones and maybe there was some truth to all this (and more importantly what was the cause). Full disclosure. I don’t have a lot of data points around this. This is from looking at a few phone logs, changing the configuration and looking back again after the change. I haven’t done a clean baseline test nor have I done testing with hundreds of phones. I leave the experience up to the reader to decide. So I went spelunking into the phone logs to see what was up. Most providers will show you data usage, at least on a daily basis. I lucked out with the provider and plan in that they provide hourly breakdowns. Here’s a snapshot from my usage throughout one night. Timestamp Data Usage 12:38:30 AM 2098 Kilobytes 1:30:30 AM 2 Kilobytes 2:38:30 AM 7118 Kilobytes 3:38:30 AM 6622 Kilobytes 4:38:30 AM 76 Kilobytes 5:38:30 AM 29 Kilobytes 6:38:30 AM 19 Kilobytes 7:38:30 AM 20 Kilobytes So a few observations from this data: Data seems to be collected on a regular basis. Looking at some other people phone logs, the times vary but it’s always hourly. There’s not a tremendous amount of data here (about 16 megabytes) but it seems like a lot for 7 hours The phone was connected to my home Wifi during this period Nothing was running and the phone was in a locked state Like I said, not a lot of data but it adds up. 16MB for 7 hours = about 50MB in a 24 hour period. That’s just plain old data being collected (somewhere, somehow) and not actual usage (Marketplace, Email, Browsing, etc.). Besides, when connected to a WiFi network you shouldn’t be charged data usage from your phone company (in theory, YMMV). After reviewing the logs I made a theory that the only thing that could possibly be sending data is the Feedback feature. With no other apps running under lock, what else could it be? In Windows 7 under your Settings the last option is Feedback. This sends feedback to Microsoft to “help improve Windows Phone”. On this page you have three options: Send feedback and use my cellular data connection Send feedback and (presumably) use my WiFi connection Don’t send feedback Knowing what I know about Microsoft, they do use the feedback data. For example some of the placement and inclusion of features in Office 2007 was based on that Feedback data that Office sends (assuming you had opted in). However in the Privacy Statement (it’s long but a good read at least once in your life), the Phone manual, and every other source I could look at there is no information about how much data it’s planning to send, just that it’s sending some data and that “some data charges with your carrier may apply”. Looking back at the logs, I have to wonder. 6MB at 3:30 and *then* 7MB the next hour. That’s a lot of information. And it adds up. 50MB in a 24 hour period X 30 days puts most people over a normal 1GB plan. And frankly why am I paying for a data plan only to have 80% of it chewed up by Microsoft, with no real benefit to me. If they included porn in the 50mb daily transfer I’d be okay with this, but I don’t see any new movies on my phone. So I turned it off. Set Feedback to disabled and wait. I waited. And waited. And generally didn’t use the phone if I could. The next day I went back to look at the data usage logs from the time period after turning the feedback mechanism off. Here are the results. Timestamp Data Usage 1:19:48 PM 0 Kilobytes 2:19:48 PM 0 Kilobytes 3:19:48 PM 0 Kilobytes 4:19:48 PM 678 Kilobytes (took a phone call) 5:19:48 PM 82 Kilobytes 6:19:48 PM 88 Kilobytes 7:20:30 PM 86 Kilobytes (guess they changed their reporting time) 8:20:30 PM 86 Kilobytes 9:20:30 PM 66 Kilobytes 10:20:30 PM 67 Kilobytes 11:20:30 PM 49 Kilobytes 12:20:30 AM 32 Kilobytes 1:20:30 AM 38 Kilobytes 2:20:31 AM 18 Kilobytes 3:20:31 AM 27 Kilobytes 4:20:31 AM 86 Kilobytes 5:20:31 AM 53 Kilobytes 6:20:31 AM 22 Kilobytes 7:22:15 AM 30 Kilobytes (another reporting time change) 8:22:15 AM 29 Kilobytes 9:22:15 AM 74 Kilobytes 10:22:15 AM 154 Kilobytes (phone call) 11:22:15 AM 12 Kilobytes 12:13:27 PM 49 Kilobytes 1:13:27 PM 197 Kilobytes (phone call) Quite a *drastic* change from what Feedback was turned on. I mean for a 24 hour period (sans 3 phone calls) I consumed about 1MB. Still quite a bit of transfer going on but at least it amounts to 30MB per month, not 30MB per day! Like I said this observation is neither scientific or conclusive. You decide what to do but frankly until Microsoft makes this data transfer exempt from your data plan (like that will happen) I would just turn Feedback off. YMMV.

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• Big Data – Role of Cloud Computing in Big Data – Day 11 of 21

  - by Pinal Dave

  In yesterday’s blog post we learned the importance of the NewSQL. In this article we will understand the role of Cloud in Big Data Story What is Cloud? Cloud is the biggest buzzword around from last few years. Everyone knows about the Cloud and it is extremely well defined online. In this article we will discuss cloud in the context of the Big Data. Cloud computing is a method of providing a shared computing resources to the application which requires dynamic resources. These resources include applications, computing, storage, networking, development and various deployment platforms. The fundamentals of the cloud computing are that it shares pretty much share all the resources and deliver to end users as a service.  Examples of the Cloud Computing and Big Data are Google and Amazon.com. Both have fantastic Big Data offering with the help of the cloud. We will discuss this later in this blog post. There are two different Cloud Deployment Models: 1) The Public Cloud and 2) The Private Cloud Public Cloud Public Cloud is the cloud infrastructure build by commercial providers (Amazon, Rackspace etc.) creates a highly scalable data center that hides the complex infrastructure from the consumer and provides various services. Private Cloud Private Cloud is the cloud infrastructure build by a single organization where they are managing highly scalable data center internally. Here is the quick comparison between Public Cloud and Private Cloud from Wikipedia:   Public Cloud Private Cloud Initial cost Typically zero Typically high Running cost Unpredictable Unpredictable Customization Impossible Possible Privacy No (Host has access to the data Yes Single sign-on Impossible Possible Scaling up Easy while within defined limits Laborious but no limits Hybrid Cloud Hybrid Cloud is the cloud infrastructure build with the composition of two or more clouds like public and private cloud. Hybrid cloud gives best of the both the world as it combines multiple cloud deployment models together. Cloud and Big Data – Common Characteristics There are many characteristics of the Cloud Architecture and Cloud Computing which are also essentially important for Big Data as well. They highly overlap and at many places it just makes sense to use the power of both the architecture and build a highly scalable framework. Here is the list of all the characteristics of cloud computing important in Big Data Scalability Elasticity Ad-hoc Resource Pooling Low Cost to Setup Infastructure Pay on Use or Pay as you Go Highly Available Leading Big Data Cloud Providers There are many players in Big Data Cloud but we will list a few of the known players in this list. Amazon Amazon is arguably the most popular Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provider. The history of how Amazon started in this business is very interesting. They started out with a massive infrastructure to support their own business. Gradually they figured out that their own resources are underutilized most of the time. They decided to get the maximum out of the resources they have and hence  they launched their Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) service in 2006. Their products have evolved a lot recently and now it is one of their primary business besides their retail selling. Amazon also offers Big Data services understand Amazon Web Services. Here is the list of the included services: Amazon Elastic MapReduce – It processes very high volumes of data Amazon DynammoDB – It is fully managed NoSQL (Not Only SQL) database service Amazon Simple Storage Services (S3) – A web-scale service designed to store and accommodate any amount of data Amazon High Performance Computing – It provides low-tenancy tuned high performance computing cluster Amazon RedShift – It is petabyte scale data warehousing service Google Though Google is known for Search Engine, we all know that it is much more than that. Google Compute Engine – It offers secure, flexible computing from energy efficient data centers Google Big Query – It allows SQL-like queries to run against large datasets Google Prediction API – It is a cloud based machine learning tool Other Players Besides Amazon and Google we also have other players in the Big Data market as well. Microsoft is also attempting Big Data with the Cloud with Microsoft Azure. Additionally Rackspace and NASA together have initiated OpenStack. The goal of Openstack is to provide a massively scaled, multitenant cloud that can run on any hardware. Thing to Watch The cloud based solutions provides a great integration with the Big Data’s story as well it is very economical to implement as well. However, there are few things one should be very careful when deploying Big Data on cloud solutions. Here is a list of a few things to watch: Data Integrity Initial Cost Recurring Cost Performance Data Access Security Location Compliance Every company have different approaches to Big Data and have different rules and regulations. Based on various factors, one can implement their own custom Big Data solution on a cloud. Tomorrow In tomorrow’s blog post we will discuss about various Operational Databases supporting Big Data. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: Big Data, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL

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• Spolskism or Twitterism: A Doctor writes...

  - by Phil Factor

  "I never realized I had a problem. I just 'twittered' because it was a social thing to do. All my mates were doing it. It made me feel good to have 'followers'; it bolstered my self-esteem. Of course, you don't think of the long-term effects on your work and on the way you think. There's no denying that it impairs your judgment…" Yes, this story is typical. Hundreds of people are waking up to the long term effects of twittering, and seeking help. Dave, who wishes to remain anonymous, told our reporter… "I started using Twitter at work. Just a few minutes now and then, throughout the day. A lot of my colleagues were doing it and I thought 'Well, that's cool; it must be part of what I should be doing at work'. Soon, I was avidly reading every twitter that came my way, and counting the minutes between my own twitters. I tried to kid myself that it was all about professional development and getting other people to help you with work-related problems, but in truth I had become addicted to the buzz of the social network. The worse thing was that it made me seem busy even when I was really just frittering my time away. Inevitably, I started to get behind with my real work." Experts have identified the syndrome and given it a name: 'Twitterism', sometimes referred to as 'Spolskism', after the person who first drew attention to the pernicious damage to well-being that the practice caused, and who had the courage to take the pledge of rejecting it. According to one expert… "The occasional Twitter does little harm to the participant, and can be an adaptive way of dealing with stress. Unfortunately, it rarely stops there. The addictive qualities of the practice have put a strain on the caring professions who are faced with a flood of people making that first bold step to seeking help". Dave is one of those now seeking help for his addiction… "I had lost touch with reality. Even though I twittered my work colleagues constantly, I found I actually spoke to them less and less. Even when out socializing, I would frequently disengage from the conversation, in order to twitter. I stopped blogging. I stopped responding to emails; the only way to reach me was through the world of Twitter. Unfortunately, my denial about the harm that twittering was doing to me, my friends, and my work-colleagues was so strong that I truly couldn't see that I had a problem." Like other addictions, the help and support of others who are 'taking the cure' is important. There is a common bond between those who have 'been through hell and back' and are once more able to experience the joys of actually conversing and socializing, rather than the false comfort of solitary 'twittering'. Complete abstinence is essential to the cure. Most of those who risk even an occasional twitter face a headlong slide back into 'binge' twittering. Tom, another twitterer who has managed to kick the habit explains… "My twittering addiction now seems more like a bad dream. You get to work, and switch on the PC. You say to yourself, just open up the browser, just for a minute, just to see what people are saying on Twitter. The next thing you know, half the day has gone by. The worst thing is that when you're addicted, you get good at covering up the habit; I spent so much time looking at the screen and typing on the keyboard, people just assumed I was working hard.I know that I must never forget what it was like then, and what it's like now that I've kicked the habit. I now have more time for productive work and a real social life." Like many addictions, Spolskism has its most detrimental effects on family, friends and workmates, rather than the addict. So often nowadays, we hear the sad stories of Twitter-Widows; tales of long lonely evenings spent whilst their partners are engrossed in their twittering into their 'mobiles' or indulging in their solitary spolskistic habits in privacy, under cover of 'having to do work at home'. Workmates suffer too, when the addicts even take their laptops or mobiles into meetings in order to 'twitter' with their fellow obsessives, even stooping to complain to their followers how boring the meeting is. No; The best advice is to leave twittering to the birds. You know it makes sense.

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• Financial Management: Why Move to the Cloud?

  - by Kathryn Perry

  A guest post by Terrance Wampler, Vice President, Financials Product Strategy, Oracle I’ve spent my career designing and developing financial management systems, most of it at Oracle. Every single day I either meet with our customers or talk to them on the phone. The time is usually spent discussing various business challenges facing CFOs and Controllers, who are running Oracle’s Financials. Lately, we’ve been talking a lot about cloud computing and whether it makes sense for finance to go to the cloud. Here are some pros and cons that might help you make that decision. Let’s start with the benefits of cloud solutions. The first is savings. With cloud services, you pay only for those commodities that you use. That makes you feel like you're getting better value for your money. Plus, you can preserve your cash for your core business and you can get a better matching of expenses and revenues. So, at the top of the list is lower total cost of ownership. The second point has to do with optimization. With cloud services, you’ll need less IT infrastructure so you can optimize your IT resources for better-value, higher-end projects. This also leads to greater financial visibility, where there's a clear cost for the set of services or features replaced by cloud services. And, the last benefit is what I call acceleration. You can save money by speeding up the initialization and deployment of the project. You don't have to deal with IT infrastructure and you can start implementing right away. We did a quick survey of about 70 CFOs at the CFO Summit last month in New York City. We asked them why they were looking at cloud services, and not necessarily just for financials. The No. 1 response was perceived lower cost of ownership. But of course there are risks to consider. The first thing most people think about in the cloud is security and ownership of data. So, will your data really be safe? Can you meet your own privacy policy requirements? Do you really want your private financial data exposed? Do you trust the provider? Is what you see really your data? Do you own it or is it managed by someone else? Security is a big concern that comes with an emotional component. The next thing in the risk category is reliability. Is the provider proven? You’re taking what you have control over – for example, standards and policies and internal service level agreements – away from your IT department and giving it to someone else. Will you still be able to adapt to shifts in your business? Will the provider be able to grow with your business effectively? Reliability means having a provider that can give you the service infrastructure that you need. And then there’s performance, which has two components in terms of risk. Going forward, will the provider be able to scale the infrastructure or service level if you have new employees or new businesses? And second, will the price you negotiate and the rate you lock in cover additional costs and rising service fees? Another piece is cost. What happens if you don't get the service level you want? What if you end the service? What happens, if after a few years, you send the service out for bid and change service? Can you move your data? Can you move the applications? Do the integrations work? These are cost components people don’t always take into account. And, the final piece is the business case. The perception is that you can get started really quickly with cloud. It has a perceived lower cost of total ownership and it feels cool because it's cloud. But do you have a good business case for moving to the cloud? Your total cost of ownership is over three years; then you’ll renew it, so your TCO is six years. Have you compared that to other internal services that you’re offering? You might already have product that you can run this new business or division on. In that same survey at the CFO Summit, the execs thought the biggest perceived risks were security of data, ability to move data back, and the ability to create a business case to actually justify the risks. So that’s the list of pros and cons. Not to leave you hanging, I will do another post on how to balance these pros and cons and make the right decision for your business.

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