Root Access

Bob

12:59 AM

.

Bob

2:17 AM

crap, anyone running Windows DNS servers, update ASAP

Journeyman Geek

Why would anyone? :P

Bob

@JourneymanGeek pretty common

Ben N

ADDS needs DNS to be set up and the easiest way to do that is to use the built-in DNS role

Bob

at the very least as part of domain controllers, and lots of people use it on public internet too

bwDraco

@Bob They should have been updated yesterday, on Patch Tuesday.

Bob

2:26 AM

@bwDraco Just about no one updates servers on the day patches come out.

Unless there's something very critical, you'd normally schedule downtime, etc..

bwDraco

:P

Horn OK Please

3:20 AM

I think the charger that came with my 15" MBP isn't able to put out a full 87W. Odd. I put another 87W charger that looks identical (including the printed label) on my MBP and it doesn't really discharge appreciably

so, false alarm about the MBP and more like "there's a non-zero chance Apple might ship you a defective charger" ?

bwDraco

@HornOKPlease I'd recommend using a Kill A Watt meter.

I know there are going to be some losses so the reading will be higher than the actual power delivered to the computer, but if it's substantially below 90-100W under full load, you may have a defective AC adapter.

Horn OK Please

I keep meaning to buy one of those

and a thermal sensor too :P

bwDraco

@HornOKPlease What kind? A non-contact IR thermometer, thermocouple probe, or a thermal imager?

Horn OK Please

thermal imager, like a FLIR for my iPhone

bwDraco

@HornOKPlease amazon.com/FLIR-ONE-Thermal-Imaging-Camera/dp/B0716WZW12

(or amazon.com/Seek-Thermal-CompactPRO-iOS/dp/B079M92NX6)

I have a standalone Seek RevealPRO thermal imager: grainger.com/product/49ZA24

(FYI, any thermal imager capable of more than 9 Hz is export-controlled and cannot be exported to most countries outside the US)

Oct 12 '17 at 2:11, by bwDraco

On Seek RevealPRO export controls... the ECCN is 6A003b.4.b. Per the EAR, export control reasons NS2, RS2, AT1, and UN (covering fully-embargoed countries like DPRK) apply (see country table). (I am not a lawyer; consult a qualified attorney for specific legal advice.)

> Subject to U.S. EAR Export Regulations

(shown on the boot splash and engraved near the lens on the back of the RevealPRO)

sierraolympic.com/images/uploads/documents/ExportChart_rev1.pdf

(restrictions shown for the 30 Hz, 320x240 models apply to all thermal imagers with a resolution of 110,592 pixels (equivalent to 384x288) or less and a frame rate of >9 Hz to 30 Hz)

Actually... up to 60 Hz.

Summary of export controls for thermal imagers: sierraolympic.com/images/uploads/documents/ExportChart_rev1.pdf – Restrictions shown for the 320x240 models (30 Hz or 60 Hz) apply to all thermal imagers with a resolution of 110,592 pixels (equivalent to 384x288) or less and a frame rate of >9 Hz to 60 Hz. Thermal imagers that exceed these limits are subject to more stringent controls. (I am not a lawyer; consult a qualified attorney for specific legal advice.)

Bob

3:50 AM

@bwDraco "most countries" != "western-friendly countries" which covers probably 80% of this room

bwDraco

...I forgot the specifics :P

(had to look it up)

Bob

though India/Singapore seem to need a licence... blech

bwDraco

4:09 AM

Hmm... the RevealPRO uses a 12-micron microbolometer.

And it seems that 12-micron sensors are subject to additional export controls but I'm having trouble finding information about this.

I don't quite see any regulations specifying a pixel pitch. It's mainly resolution and frame rate that determines the export regulations.

As long as it's an uncooled microbolometer and not something more exotic.

Whatever. Enough legal research.

In any case, if you plan on taking a thermal imager capable of more than 9 Hz frame rate or 640x480 resolution out of the US, you might want to check with a lawyer before you proceed.

Wassenaar Arrangement

The Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies is a multilateral export control regime (MECR) with 42 participating states including many former Comecon (Warsaw Pact) countries. The Wassenaar Arrangement was established to contribute to regional and international security and stability by promoting transparency and greater responsibility in transfers of conventional arms and dual-use goods and technologies, thus preventing destabilizing accumulations. Participating states seek, through their national policies, to ensure that transfers of these...

^ Generally, thermal imagers of up to 60 Hz and 111,000 pixels can be exported to these countries.

rahuldottech

4:27 AM

EUGH MTP SUCKS FOR TRANFERS

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Bob

5:03 AM

rahuldottech

@Bob Have fun waiting at the station for 8.948209 years

I'll... be out of college by then?

Horn OK Please

@Bob I like that it's so accurate that after all that time they know the train will arrive exactly 47 minutes into the 78,440th hour

rahuldottech

5:20 AM

Oh yeah, the guy without a daddy has daddy issues. Explain that logic. Hmph.

Horn OK Please

?

rahuldottech

@HornOKPlease lol, just a relatable quote from Jake Peralta

bwDraco

5:50 AM

theverge.com/2018/12/8/18131745/…

Not the best source... but worth a read.

(source document (CC BY-ND 4.0, so feel free to share))

Michael Frank

7:00 AM

@rahuldottech TIL that Bhutan has a policy that you must be happy, is this true?!

rahuldottech

7:23 AM

@MichaelFrank Not a policy, but people here are apparently the happiest in the world

(no, really)

Also, only country to have a negative carbon footprint

> GNH has been devised by Bhutan as an alternative indicator for GDP as a tool to measure progress or development. The level of GNH for an individual and for Bhutan as a country are determined through measures in nine domains.

GNH = Gross National Happiness

Horn OK Please

7:53 AM

LOL

digitaltrends.com/computing/…

if there's any truth to that, that's absolute gold

why not just bundle Chrome with Windows then! :P

bwDraco

@HornOKPlease Microsoft can still tune the code to optimize for battery life (the primary argument in favor of EdgeHTML). Chromium is permissively licensed.

I'm still on Firefox, but the battery life is terribad, far worse than Chrome, let alone Edge.

@rahuldottech Wow.

Anyhoo, good night y'all.

bertieb

8:21 AM

Time-appropriate greeting to y'all

bwDraco

8:43 AM

reddit.com/r/LifeProTips/comments/a5n5f1/…

Having some trouble sleeping :p

I actually have firsthand experience with this:

Apr 8 at 16:48, by bwDraco

Speaking of routers... one of my more distant uncles (who doesn't speak English) asked me to downgrade Internet service he was overpaying for. When we got to his house, it was obvious that his equipment simply cannot support the speeds he's paying for. I just saved him $20 a month.

rahuldottech

@bwDraco Hey, I pinged you a couple days ago for some help with choosing a raid controlled, dunno if you saw. Can you please take a look? You'd be ding me a solid.

Bob

@rahuldottech Wait. Why do you want a raid controller?

hardware raid has fallen out of fashion

rahuldottech

@Bob For... my PC?

Bob

@rahuldottech use software raid

bwDraco

2 days ago, by rahuldottech

@bwDraco details of raid controller: https://www.eiratek.com/product/pci-e-2-port-sata-iii-raid-controller-card/

rahuldottech

8:46 AM

@Bob Not supported by bitlocker

Also, dunno if you can boot off a software raid

Bob

or, better yet, don't use raid

just take backups

bwDraco

I can't do much digging right now.

Bob

raid is only good for always-on availability and worse than backups in every other way

rahuldottech

@bwDraco Whenever, I have a few weeks before I order

Bob

if you can live with the bit of downtime to restore backups, don't bother with raid

rahuldottech

8:48 AM

@Bob worse how?

Bob

@rahuldottech software corruption, ransomware, affect both drives.

you have no version history (accidental deletion)

you have no portability (if the controller dies, you're screwed)

rebuilds take forever (literally orders of magnitude longer than restoring backups)

rahuldottech

@Bob This is for my homeserver, I'm planning on deploying some stuff on it. I'll have a scheduled HDD backup, but I figured I'd have a raid 1 on the boot SSD?

Bob

most likely the cheapo controller will bottleneck performance

and don't even think about using a SSD with it

@rahuldottech NO. DON'T DO THAT. NOOOO.

bwDraco

css-spinners.com (via thesassway.com/projects/css-spinners)

Bob

cheapo raid without trim support on ssds is horrible

not to mention I bet it won't manage the full read/write speed of ssds with the crappy little cpu on it

rahuldottech

8:51 AM

@Bob Said it has SSD support

bwDraco

@rahuldottech What is the underlying hardware?

@rahuldottech Doesn't necessarily mean it supports RAID passthrough.

Bob

@bwDraco it's a ASM1061R

bwDraco

I mean, what chipset/motherboard?

Bob

@rahuldottech it "supports" SSDs in the same way my USB 2.0 to SATA adapter "supports" SSDs: horribly

rahuldottech

welp

@bwDraco gimme a min

bwDraco

8:52 AM

That's a very old RAID controller. It doesn't support TRIM.

Bob

It'll technically work. It'll just bottleneck performance and get worse as time goes on due to lack of TRIM.

@rahuldottech What kind of hardware is your server running? CPU & RAM?

Given the choice, if you really want disk mirror, I suggest zfs.

If it really must be Windows, use dynamic disks.

Avoid hardware RAID. Especially avoid cheap hardware RAID.

The whole "hardware RAID good" thinking is literally over a decade outdated

rahuldottech

@Bob @bwDraco It's a tower PC from a couple years ago, runs Win 8.1 Enterprise, i7, 4GB ram, but I plan on upgrading that

Bob

since modern CPUs would barely notice the extra load

bwDraco

Motherboard RAID is probably a better option.

Bob

@rahuldottech Yea, go ZFS (Linux) if you can, and run Windows in a KVM VM.

If you can't, try dynamic disks on Windows.

@bwDraco I'd also advise against Intel RST RAID, having run it for 7 years (and still running it now)

rahuldottech

8:55 AM

@bwDraco Dunno if it supports it. Is it common?

Bob

It chooses suboptimal sector sizes (poor performance)

@rahuldottech I'd honestly advise avoiding RAID entirely and just sticking with backups

Especially with SSDs, especially especially on SATA with consumer hardware

Because even always-on doesn't work properly: if a disk fails, it could very well lock up the entire system (blame SATA) before it times out a while later.

bwDraco

You could try Linux MD RAID. It's a well-proven and easy-to-manage software RAID solution. You can overlay the FS of your choice on top of it.

Bob

Decision tree:

* Backups :D :D
* Software RAID :|
** ZFS :)
** Windows dynamic disks :|
* Intel/mobo fakeraid :(
* Cheapo hardware raid D:

@bwDraco If you're going linux, just use zfs

no point faffing about with mdraid

bwDraco

ZFS is complicated and requires a lot more learning, and expansion is trickier (need to add whole zpools IIRC), but is robust against data corruption.

Bob

@bwDraco ...it doesn't require a lot more learning

remember, @rahuldottech doesn't feel the need to read whole books before trying something

you can honestly follow a tutorial and get zfs up and running in 2 hours with 0 prior experience, which is about as long as it'd take to mess around with mdraid anyway

probably less now that it's prepackaged for quite a few distros

bwDraco

9:03 AM

I'm talking about learning the commands and basics of the ZFS architecture.

Bob

as opposed to learning the commands and basics of mdraid architecture?

you don't need to learn "architecture" anyway

the commands, here, I'll tell you: zpool create and zfs create/list/destroy

that's all you need

bwDraco

@Bob ...and this is why I'm stuck. I'm a coward. But I digress.

Bob