Advogato blog for Killerbees

We're hiring

Wed, 9 Jul 2008 21:05:36 GMT

Business Analysts, PHP developers and an online marketeer, apply here
And join me here: :-)

Mysql Federated tables and Oracle Database links

Fri, 4 Jul 2008 21:07:34 GMT

Taking time out from the Big Migration job to share this with you, and before you say anything *I Know* this is old news, but forgive me because I've been away from MySQL for 4 years, and just because you know this doesn't mean that there aren't other "late adopters" like me out there.

Over the past few weeks I've come across quite a few posts on the net from folks who wanted to use oracle style links between MySQL databases (I don't need to, I just spoted a theme). Researching the storage engines in Mysql 5 (we're upgrading as well as migrating) it seems there is now an answer in the form of the Federated storage engine.

The article also provided me an answer for the perennial problem of needing several instances of MySQL in dev and test, often for exactly the task currently at hand, migrating from one version to another, that answer is the mysql sandbox. Neat. Its a shame that I've already set up my dev environment, I'd like to play with that.

Sony Bricks PS3's

Thu, 3 Jul 2008 21:06:35 GMT

Sam, who sits opposite me at work, tells me that the latest firmware update for the PS3 was bricking boxes yesterday until they recalled it. Her better half didn't manage to download it in time, lucky for them.

Apparently calls to Sony support (in the uk at least) were met with the response "we'll come and collect it".

I guess my nearest and dearest were actually saving me a headache when the didn't buy me one.

You can read a bit about it here.

Run your web applications on Google's infrastructure.

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:17:30 GMT

Google App Engine enables developers to build web applications on the same scalable systems that power our own applications.

Apache httpd

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 21:09:27 GMT

I'll admit straight away here that SELinux was news to me 6mths ago when I installed Centos5 (RHEL5 equivalent) for the first time. Since then I've found out a little, mainly because I had to.

SELinux lurks like a rake in the grass and whangs you on the noggin just when you're 100% sure you know what you're doing.

For example SELinux was the culprit when a pretty simple perl DBI script wasn't allowed to connect to a remote database when run as a CGI script, but the same script worked fine as a shell script. And the error was no more than an unhelpful and inscruitable "Can't create TCP/IP socket (13)".

Its been a real pain, so here are two things you may wish to read...

When pain strikes reach for: How to Disable SELinux turning it off is a sure fire way to find out if it really is an SELinux problem.

Then when you want to turn it back on again read this: Apache and SELinux to find out how to configure it to allow httpd to do some things without opening the door to everything.

For your listening pleasure...

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:14:55 GMT

Why? Because I can.

Another year older... another ASF board elected...

Thu, 5 Jun 2008 21:15:00 GMT

It hardly seems like a year since the ASF elected the board and here we are again.
The new board is a healthy mix of dedicated people from all walks of the foundation and looks like this:

Bertrand Delacretaz
Justin Erenkrantz
J. Aaron Farr
Jim Jagielski
Geir Magnusson Jr.
William A. Rowe, Jr.
Sam Ruby
Henning Schmiedehausen
Greg Stein

Botched Security Lifetime Achievement Award

Wed, 21 May 2008 23:11:33 GMT

I wasn't going to add my 2c to the debate rumbling behind the OpenSSL defect, (summarised nicely here) Plenty of knowledgeable folks have raked over those coals already.

But then I came across this story, I don't know how old it is, Hardworking Locksmith In Prisons and it struck me that the OpenSSL problem was essentially the opposite of the locksmiths one.

On the one hand we have a security technology which was compromised because its secrets weren't known and understood well enough, and on the other we have a security technology who's flaw is that it relies to a large extent on practitioners keeping secrets.

So the award goes jointly to the guys who compromised OpenSSL without knowing what they were doing, and the guys who compromise our homes and offices just because they do.

I'm still not sure whether I'm happier to rely on knowledge or ignorance for my security though.

Using Apache2 as a reverse proxy

Thu, 15 May 2008 03:15:49 GMT

It was years since I'd done this, and I'd forgotten everything about it but niq's article gets it all across nice and concise.

Microsoft iPod Carton

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:13:12 GMT

Its old, but I only saw it the other day, and I laughed..
(If you can't see the video, perhaps you're reading this on a feed reader, click this link to you tube.)