Cox Crow

Exit Loop

Troubleshooting Windows 2000 systems gets loopy. To take one example, suppose you are having trouble determining where your IPSEC configuration is incorrect. Since the idiots overworked programmers at Microsoft don't make it easy possible to log filter actions, let's ask Google for the answer. Google says, Microsoft knows. They say, netdiag /test:ipsec /debug.

And here's where the problems continue.

netdiag says, "[FATAL] Failed to get system information of this machine." That's helpful. Luckily, Google says, ah-ha! Turns out that netdiag wants the Remote Registry Service. Good sysadmins that we are, we've already locked down our box and disabled the Remote Registry Service, so fat lot of good that does us.

At which point we write a scathing note to one Mr. Gates suggesting certain abnormal uses of certain appendages.

3:36:50 PM # Google It!
categories: Dear Microsoft, System Administration

The First 31 Years of the Internet [via Boing Boing Blog via Oblomovka]:

* Maybe we need to pay people NOT to develop new protocols.

Yeah, I can do that.

I'd like to know the story behind this bullet:

ISO OSI threatened to replace TCP/IP

1:19:09 PM #

I don't think Apple will move to the x86 chipset. Why? Mostly for the same reasons they haven't done so already. If they do move away from the PowerPC, they are more likely to use Transmeta's Crusoe.

Intel chips are too hot.

12:37:50 PM #
categories: Industry, Low-Hanging Fruit

What Grove Giveth, Gates Taketh Away

Phil Wolff amplifies Bob Lewis's assessment that work in IT will be more often sent overseas or replaced by technology.

Some in the sysadmin side of this field fail to share their knowledge. They see this as job security, making them irreplaceable. Others like products, often from a certain Redmond-based company, that require a lot of hand-holding, patching, and jury-rigging. They see this as job security, making them irreplaceable. Others like regulation. They see this as job security, making them irreplaceable.

I think there's more than enough to go around, so why make it harder for yourself?

As for moving production overseas, the same things hinder that movement that keep commuters on the trains into New York City.

12:04:52 PM # Google It!
categories: Industry

Who let the lawyers out?

The EULA for Microsoft Windows 2000 SP3 contains a CYA clause.

The OS Product or OS Components contain components that enable and facilitate the use of certain Internet-based services. You acknowledge and agree that Microsoft may automatically check the version of the OS Product and/or its components that you are utilizing and may provide upgrades or fixes to the OS Product that will be automatically downloaded to your computer.

The default behavior for Automatic Updates is to download the files automatically, but to notify the user before installing. You can change this to install automatically. This clause indemnifies Microsoft in the case that their software might have a few bugs in it.

Martha, do you think we should install this "Heap Overrun in HTR Chunked Encoding Could Enable Web Server Compromise" thing?

However, the validity of shrink-wrap licenses is still an open question.

11:06:52 AM # Google It!
categories: Law, System Administration