The Comms Room

Ward

07:01

I don't get it... we have people doing thousands of reviews of low-quality posts, but hardly anyone voting to close. The vote-to-close review task is a vast improvement over the "Improve or Close" chat, I can't figure out why everyone isn't using it...

Iain

I think people are starting at the top ... I've seen a couple of people say when we're finished with LQ we can move on to close

Michael Hampton

In that case, randomize the order they're displayed in.

Iain

@MichaelHampton at the rate people are going, LQ will be done by Monday

Michael Hampton

Oh good, maybe I'll be to 3k by then :)

Iain

@LucasKauffman STOP

Lucas Kauffman

07:09

mornin

@Iain ?

Iain

all of those dead links that I checked are working

Lucas Kauffman

what? I get a warning here that it's an adult website from blogspot

Journeyman Geek

@Ward: it was the other way around on SU. We polished off the VTCs first, and are still getting warmed up on LQ

Iain

No, you get a warning saying that it may contain ... material. If you click ok you get to the blog and don't see the warning again

Lucas Kauffman

let me fire up a proxy

@Iain oh, fscking, just decline em all then -_-

@Iain I've fucked up really well there, sorry :(

Iain

07:19

@LucasKauffman moar coffee required :)

Bart De Vos

Morning :)

Ward

@JourneymanGeek Why didn't you run for mod on SU?

Other sites' elections are chock-full of angst and amusment, e.g. these two from English Language and Usage:

english.stackexchange.com/election/2#post-75670

english.stackexchange.com/election/2#post-75673

The comments on both are entertaining.

Journeyman Geek

@Ward: Too many good candidates. Easier to let a few win, than getting a hit on all of them ;p

I'm standing in the next one, most likely

@Ward: SU had one person stand on the platform of 'I'm cute xoxoxoxoxo', and one more person who had been recently suspended stand.

And SIX candidates i thought i were good

sadly both the lower repped candidates didn't make it to the primaries, a lot of our cleanups are done by 5-6Kers

Bart De Vos

07:44

The things some people ask :D

0

Q: Installing a sound card on a Virtual Private Server

Can anyone help a noob install a sound card on a virtual private server?

Lucas Kauffman

@BartDeVos yea I read that one too

Iain

@BartDeVos solved :)

Bart De Vos

@Iain Thanks :D

BTW pat on the back to all of you

nice work in the /review

Lucas Kauffman

We are not done yet!

we still have vote to close to do, which is going to be a real pain :(

Bart De Vos

Last weekend it was 6-7k, now we are down to 1.5k

pauska

07:50

many of them are old questions that were asked before DBA etc popped up

afaik, we're not supposed to migrate them over

Iain

Definitely don't migrate old stuff

Journeyman Geek

@BartDeVos: I'd really like to see someone do that

Bart De Vos

08:22

That google fiber is nice

fiber.google.com/plans/residential

Lucas Kauffman

@BartDeVos imagine that here in Belgium, Telenet and Belgacom would loose so many customers

Lucas Kauffman

08:35

1337 questions need review <-- l33t

Cold T

08:47

morning, afternoon, evening all! hope everyone looking forward to the weekend!

Roomey

08:57

Happy system administrators appreciation day!

5

Has anyone actually been appreciated by the way? I was dropping hints all morning, and all I got was someone offering to make me a coffee.

Which they didn't.

Cold T

lol no such thing exist in some of these workplace unfortunately

SmallClanger

Morning all

@BartDeVos Planning on moving to Kansas any time soon? :)

Bart De Vos

@SmallClanger No, Sorry

I like Belgium :D

Lucas Kauffman

we should petition for google to do some tests in BE as well

Bart De Vos

09:14

True

SmallClanger

Thanks Sophos. Well done for blocking access to a site with a dodgy trojan on it, but crashing my browser in order to do it was a bit harsh...

lsiunsuex

10:14

systems admin day! neowin.net/news/its-system-administrator-appreciation-day-today

ewwhite

Woot!

Dan

Morning all

Lucas Kauffman

@Dan a kiss for you too!

@ewwhite and you!

Dan

Does anyone have a proven utility that can from USB that'll reset the Admin password on Server 2008 R2?

@LucasKauffman xx

lsiunsuex

no kiss for me ? :(

Lucas Kauffman

10:24

@lsiunsuex and you too ofcourse

@Dan depends how updated your W2KR2 is :p

Dan

@LucasKauffman It's SP1

To be honest, it's no biggy - it's a fresh install and I must have mistyped. I'll just flatten it if I have no suggestions in a bit :D

Bart De Vos

@LucasKauffman Everything OK? :D

Lucas Kauffman

@Dan you can either do it with a windows disk and a shell, but that's like 10 commands

some people recommend this: recoverlostpassword.com/products/…

@BartDeVos and a kiss for you too on this special day!

Dan

@LucasKauffman Yeah, annoyingly I don't have any bootable Windows media

Lucas Kauffman

PXE?

Dan

10:28

@LucasKauffman Nope. I installed using HP SmartStart which will read raw Windows files

Lucas Kauffman

meh just reinstall

not worth the hassle

Dan

You're right - though saying that, you haven't seen how frigging awkward it is to get to the back of the server with the USB key :D

ewwhite

Are people still installing physical Windows servers?

Lucas Kauffman

trust me I have -_-

@ewwhite you have to run HyperV from somewhere

ewwhite

Ahh... <-- VMWare

Dan

10:30

@ewwhite Trust me, this wouldn't work virtualised ;)

Bart De Vos

VMWare all the things here

Lucas Kauffman

and people still recommend it for DB servers

Dan

(Well it might, but it'd be a pointless exercise)

Bart De Vos

But de recently got a new client that 'doesn't believe' in virtualization.

Lucas Kauffman

for raw p0w4h

Bart De Vos

10:31

All our DB-clusters are virtual

Don't get why we should do them bare-metal...

If the hardware dies, you're boned, not when you're on virtual machine, just failover. Done.

Dan

Well these two servers are going to be provisioning servers for 300 virtual desktops. Even if VMWare was fine performance wise, we're limited on NICs for streaming, you couldn't share the estate, it costs more money and it's highly available by design anyway.

So yeah, I still install physical machines ;)

ewwhite

10GbE, fool!

Maybe not :)

Dan

@ewwhite We normally do, actually, but not in this case. It's an upgrade of some old kit, so no £££ for that

Lucas Kauffman

@BartDeVos I had a talk about it from the Univesitary Hospital here in Leuven, they did all their DB on bare metal, but always had a mirror running

Bart De Vos

Waste of resources imo

Lucas Kauffman

10:34

mmm idk, they had tons of data that needed constant querieing

I think they had about 1.2 PB

Bart De Vos

That's not bad :D

Lucas Kauffman

apperently they store almost all data from every single flemish hospital

they have 2 DC's on the premisses

Dan

REDUNDANT ROM ERROR: Primary ROM invalid. sigh

ewwhite

on HP?

Dan

@ewwhite Yeah

Lucas Kauffman

10:43

mmm I think all sysadmins should shut down the network by time X unless they received a piece of cake

Dan

Looks like ROMPAQ failed. I'm a bit nervous now - it's booted onto the backup ROM fine, and ROMPAQ should fix it, but obviously it also broke it the first time

ewwhite

I used to send a mass email announcing the day... and a link to thinkgeek.com

Dan

Flashed 5 other blades with no drama, though

Here goes!

Lucas Kauffman

I shall find you an appropriate song

Dan

Jeez, it's slower than before - I'm properly nervous now, I need this blade!

ewwhite

10:46

You can back out and use the previous rom..

How are you running the BIOS update?

Dan

@ewwhite ROMPAQ ISO over iLO - as I've done for the others

(And most that I ever do)

ewwhite

Oh, not from the OS?

Dan

Nah

Lucas Kauffman

►

ewwhite

Anyone here use/administer Squirrelmail?

Dan

10:48

@LucasKauffman I dare not click and upset the careful balance of the machine. Like the old days when the screensaver would fuck up a CD burn!

Bart De Vos

Roundcube over here

Dan

@ewwhite I've used it briefly, but found it a bit shite

ewwhite

Oh, it's terrible.

Apparently, I have a client who's grown attached to it.

Lucas Kauffman

@ewwhite I used it once as a backup when roundcube was broken as a tempfix, but it's old and ugly

Dan

@ewwhite Unlucky

ewwhite

10:49

This is the place where they were cleaning out old mail users... and ran userdel -r tomcat a couple of days ago.

Dan

"Flash programming completed successfully" - feels good right now, let's brave the reboot!

ewwhite

(also an e-commerce server)

So I had to piece things back together... but some Squirrelmail module/plugin now fails to load/

Client writes... Sorry to be a pain, but our ENTIRE Sales Department is leaving on a retreat in the morning and need to place out of office messages. Any suggestions?

Dan

@ewwhite :S

ewwhite

and the Squirrelmail plugin that isn't loading is the out-of-office reply plugin.

which makes me think... why do people use out-of-office messages?

Isn't that bad email usage?

Dan

@ewwhite Not really sure I agree. A customer will presume I'll read my e-mail at least a couple of times a day and reply within a few days. If I'm going to be away for weeks, it's only fair to tell them that they need to contact someone else

ewwhite

10:54

Weeks, yes... but in the US, people are tethered to their computers/phones...

Dan

@ewwhite I agree that there's the issue of people expecting responses within hours and getting pissy when they don't getit

I don't set out of offices if I'm away for a couple of days

ewwhite

I'm assuming this is just a weekend retreat.

Dan

@ewwhite Ah, I didn't really know the meaning. I presumed a week away

ewwhite

I always thought that OOO messages were a pain. Especially with crappy mail solutions. Mail-loops and all..

With Exchange, it's much smoother...

Dan

I like how Outlook integrates to give you an OOO before you've even sent the mail!

Internally, of course

ewwhite

10:56

But I've managed a lot of mail systems. I'd see people placing OOO messages for the weekend. Seems excessive.

Oh, that's very nice.

Amith KK

Hello ServerFaultians

Chopper3

Infant in the house - no swearing, pony-porn or stabler stories ok

Dan

@ewwhite Haha yeah, I wouldn't set it for the weekend. It's the very fucking definition of "not being at work". Just like I don't have to explain to people I won't be answering my corporate mobile

@Chopper3 No point in being here, then

ewwhite

So I've been trying to fix this Squirrelmail issue...

and found a thread online about the module error... The tone of the developer is ridiculous! It's worth a read.

Amith KK

@Chopper3 lol

I have a small python problem :P

Chopper3

11:02

@ewwhite friend of tomtom?

@AmithKK see the words "The Comms Room" up there?

ewwhite

"Please do not top-post. When you are asked to read the mailing list
posting guidelines, please do."

@Chopper3 Easily... grouchy.

Amith KK

Ok :D

Lucas Kauffman

@AmithKK I do know python, if your question isn't overly broad I'll give it a shot

but be warned if it's too broad you will be burned alive!

Amith KK

pastebin.com/bC2KRJXK

Not broad

That's my code

And the last line.. uh does not seem to work

I'm trying to download a file from a cookie-enabled site, and I'm not sure how to "pass the cookie" to get the file

Lucas Kauffman

@AmithKK no experience with that part of python, better take it to stackoverlfow

Amith KK

11:06

I already did

1

Q: Login using Python in basic HTML form

Possible Duplicate: Python: How do you login to a page and view the resulting page in a browser? I wanted to know how I can perform login's on pages like http://www.deshabhimani.com/signin.php which has a php-based login prompt using python. This form is used to login to http://www.des...

python login

and it got closed

ewwhite

@chopper3 - what's the easiest way to enable EVC on a 2-host VMWare cluster?

One system is a 5500-series, the other is 5600...

Amith KK

To the IRC!

cya

Chopper3

@ewwhite Nehalem/i7 mode

ewwhite

Right... but I added one host to the cluster...

Chopper3

@ewwhite shit - you mean they're allready working

ewwhite

11:09

but can't get the other one in...

yep.

Chicken/Egg

Chopper3

yeah, this is a ball-ache

is it not set at all right now?

ewwhite

It probably means getting everything down, unregistering vcenter and moving it all

Chopper3

no unregistering now, but you may need to shutdown every VM yes

ewwhite

I enabled EVC on the cluster... but only moved one host (a 5500) into the cluster

Chopper3

ah ok, what mode? i7?

ewwhite

11:10

yeah, i7

Chopper3

got a low-priority/care VM you could try moving into it?

ewwhite

Oh, I've moved a couple.

that works

except for the powered-on VMs on the 5600 host

there's no way to set the mode at a VM or host level, is there?

Chopper3

ok, well if that works (for the moment at least), just move/restart the VMs into the new cluster, then when you get to zero VMs on the 56xx just adding it into the cluster should work then let DRS spread around

No, you can flag-mask VMs but that's no fun - edit - even that really needs a VM reboot

ewwhite

Hmm... I'll play with it.

I didn't think the 5500 to 5600 differences were so great

Chopper3

AES-NI's the main one

always remember that because I upgraded my ZXTMs to x5690's with openssl 1.0e to support it

ewwhite

11:18

@chopper3 I think Ethabelle wants to talk to you.

She was asking for resources on streaming content.

Chopper3

Isn't she someone's alt?

ewwhite

No, she's real :)

Chopper3

huh...fancy that, ok

ewwhite

But this was on Facebook, so I pointed her to your profile.

Chopper3

@Ethabelle - ping me about streaming ok

I don't have a FB account???

ewwhite

11:20

Your SF profile

Chopper3

ah, k

Lucas Kauffman

you guys read about that privilege escalation bug in Windows, Xen and FreeBSD?

Dan

@LucasKauffman No, but how can it be the same bug in all 3?

Chopper3

I was thinking just that same thought

Lucas Kauffman

aha! they all had a bad implementation for an intel instruction on x64

Dan

11:30

@LucasKauffman Interesting!! Got a link?

Lucas Kauffman

kb.cert.org/vuls/id/649219

with xen paravirt it was even possible to break out of the vm apperently

Dan

"A ring3 attacker may be able to specifically craft a stack frame to be executed by ring0 (kernel) after a general protection exception (#GP). The fault will be handled before the stack switch, which means the exception handler will be run at ring0 with an attacker's chosen RSP causing a privilege escalation."

I think what that paragraph says is "Son, you're out of your depth. Maybe when you're older, eh?"

tombull89

@Dan what to do in that situation? smile and nod.

and now...

Time to root my phone, I think.

Dan

@tombull89 Excellent - what's the phone?

tombull89

@Dan Sony Ericsson Arc - currently on Android 2.3.4

Get rid of some of the crapware, install some new stuff.

lsiunsuex

11:46

back in the day, we didn't have root apps. we had to exploit a flaw in iOS via ssh and modify the raw system files. The sweat that overcomes you when you think you just bricked your 1st gen iPhone that you paid $600 - it was riveting.

Lucas Kauffman

@lsiunsuex back in the day we were doing this with XDA developers guides for windows mobile

lsiunsuex

12:02

i had a xda - with the stylus - forget the brand :(

god, where did that phone go? wonder if i sold it.

trying to tether a windows laptop over infrared to my nokia 9500 communicator to use edge over tmobile, sitting in a friends garage

Lucas Kauffman

my first smartphone was a Qtek

Chopper3

@lsiunsuex I have an O2 XDA, one form of N 95xx and a SE P900 too - then the iphone came out - phew

I meant to type 'had', not 'have' - I didn't hang onto that crap - oh and I had a Windows Mobile 5.x thing too - painful

lsiunsuex

12:19

my uncles friend got into cell phone sales right when they became popular. now he owns 5 or 6 shops in orlando florida - easily a millionaire - if i was born a decade earlier, the things i could have done

Lucas Kauffman

WM was a real pain

lsiunsuex

should say, right when they took off. land lines for consumers are basically dead in my opinion

Lucas Kauffman

even on the most powerful phones it was slugish

lsiunsuex

thats the one

people think its tough typing on a touch screen while driving. try doing it with a stylus haha

Lucas Kauffman

I doubt most people use their phone while driving...

lsiunsuex

12:30

i like to think i'm a pretty exceptional driver but i do on occasion hold a full conversation over text with a client while smoking in the other hand doing about 70mph down the highway :)

Dan

@lsiunsuex That's not a good thing

Lucas Kauffman

it's all fun and games until you kill someone because you reacted that 1 second too late

Dan

Anyone got any Windows software (Standalone ideally) that'll generate an MD5 or a SHA hash of a 50GB file in a reasonable time?

I've got one at the moment, but it takes an age

Chris S

@tombull89 Before spending too much time rooting and mucking around make sure you can't just unlock the bootloader and load a custom ROM. It's pretty common for a ROM to be available that's stock + root and a a few common utilities. Makes "rooting" a phone stupidly simple.

I know HTC devices you can unlock the bootloader on them, flash CWM, then load whatever ROM without ever rooting or even s-off (though s-off makes some things easier). I believe many other manufacturers have a similar deal.

Cold T

@Dan would cain and abel do the trick for u?

Dan

12:45

@ColdT Wow, been a long time since I heard that. Not sure I'll be able to get it through the filtering here

SmallClanger

@dan I guess cygwin+md5sum not up to the job?

Dan

@SmallClanger Nah, don't want to be installing stuff

It's okay, I'll wait :D

Lucas Kauffman

0

A: Does Suse 9 support FAT32 file system?

see man on "mount"

rofl at comment

TheCleaner

@ Lucas - nice!

Chris S

@Dan 2brightsparks.com/onclick/hoc.html <- Does about 100MBps for me... YMMV.

Dan

12:58

@ChrisS Brilliant, thanks

Chris S

The free version does MD5, SHA1, and CRC32... If you need other hashes the paid version has like 6 more. It's freeware too, not nagware or trialware.

Dan

Nope, MD5 and SHA1 are plenty. Just need to verify file copies, is all

Chopper3

Owww - slipknot best-of/live out - that's my afternoon's musical accompaniment sorted

Dan

@Chopper3 I saw them when I was 16. I don't remember much, though - I was too busy smoking weed and being groomed by a 35 year old Scottish bird. Really wish I'd ran with that, now, but I was going through my exceptionally idiotic "no sex before marriage" phase

SmallClanger

@Chopper3 Never thought you'd be a mosher.

Chopper3

13:09

did she not rape you then? I had the same thing during a De La Soul gig

@SmallClanger Oh I like lots of noisy stuff

Lucas Kauffman

@Dan that's very different than what most 16 year olds would say

Dan

@Chopper3 No, she didn't!

@LucasKauffman Yes, I know this and I'll regret those couple of years forever!

Lucas Kauffman

she didn't ask if she could try and play your bagpipe?

Dan

@LucasKauffman She asked if I wanted to go to her tent (It was a festival) and 'chill out'. I was stupid, and I did not :(

Lucas Kauffman

@Dan was she pretty?

cause if that had been ur first experience it wuld have sucked anyways no?

Dan

13:12

@LucasKauffman Well, I think she was, but at 16 most things with tits are hot

Lucas Kauffman

lol :p

Dan

Still, back to slipknot

SmallClanger

I read somewhere that in pure biological terms, the best sex you'll get is between a 17-year old boy and a 36-year old woman.

Dan

@SmallClanger I guess that explains the "female teacher" fetish

SmallClanger

Something about hormones, apparently.

lsiunsuex

13:23

so there is a reason i've always had a thing for older women

/me goes to a bar tonight dressed as in highschool using a fake id to pick up cougars

Stack Exchange

Standalone Sysadmin: Columbus, Ohio SysAdmin Day Event: 2012

posted on July 27, 2012 by Matt Simmons

So tonight is my last night in Columbus before I move to Boston. And today is System Administrator Appreciation Day. I could be at home helping my wife and her parents finish the packing and cleaning process...but it's SysAdmin Appreciation Day...choices. So tonight, at 6:30pm, I'm going to be at The Winking Lizard on Bethel [...]

Chris S

@SmallClanger While that may be true, relationships generally work best when the guy is 2 to 4 years older than the girl.

Chopper3

My wife's the best part of ten years older than me, I was only 21 when she and I got together

lsiunsuex

the wife and i are 2 and 1/2 years apart. we want to kill each other most of the time

Chris S

@lsiunsuex Who's older?

lsiunsuex

13:29

i am - 32 and 30

Chopper3

really? we've literally never had a single argument is 22 years together

Chris S

@Chopper3 You're mostly crazy, so I can only imagine who you married. =]

lsiunsuex

hahahaha, we have an argument once or twice a week

SmallClanger

I'm 14 months older than my wife and we get on really well. @ChrisS is right (Yay Science!)

Chopper3

@ChrisS remember a company called 'ComputerLand' (from the 80's)? she was their CFO, retired in '95 for the kids

lsiunsuex

13:31

we're almost identical - music, shopping tastes, food, where to go on vacation, what to eat, etc... which is why we argue i think. we're to similar. both first born in our families, both inteligent

Scott Pack

Happy Appreciation day. Fuckers.

Chris S

@Chopper3 Sorry, I was a kid in the 80s. Didn't get my first computer until the early 90s (if you count a Vic20 as a computer) and didn't get online until 1994.

SmallClanger

@ScottPack Shut up and fix my computer, bitch.

Chopper3

My wife and I used to be very different but have become quite similar, I tend to be a bit more adventurous than her now (music, film, food etc.) but we've always got on very well, best mates first and foremost really

Scott Pack

@SmallClanger You want Support Services. They're on the 3rd floor.

Chopper3

13:32

@ChrisS '77 was my first machine - wow

Chris S

I was slow getting into things too as my parents worked in fields completely unrelated to computers, nobody around to learn anything from. I learned most things by breaking and fixing.

Lucas Kauffman

I didn't get my own first computer to fiddle with until I was 16

first linux when I was 18

lsiunsuex

@ChrisS same here although dad introduced me to computers and bought me my first one, hes a mechanical engineer

Lucas Kauffman

we did have an old IBM with 3.11

Scott Pack

I still sigh wistfully over the Amiga 1000. What a fantastic piece of machinery that was.

SmallClanger

13:36

<- Amstrad CPC 6128 for Christmas in 84.

Chris S

Looking back on it now, I can't believe my parents bought a computer that cost $1200 way back then... Nobody in the family knew anything about computers, there's absolutely no way they could have imagined it'd lead me to career like it did.

Dan

@Chopper3 My fiancee is just under 7 years older than me. Most chilled relationship ever

Chopper3

nice innit

Tom O'Connor

@Dan For some reason, I only parsed up to the word following the integer, and was horrified until my eyes caught up.

Dan

@TomO'Connor Hahah, thanks..

@Chopper3 Sure is

Chris S

13:41

My wife is almost exactly 3 years younger than me. We get along quite well, though we both enjoy teasing each other over our shortcomings.

Adrian

Mornin' gents.

@Dan Exactly. My GF is 10 older than I am. Most of the women in this town under the age of 40 are so self-absorbed that they can't hold a conversation about anything but themselves.

Lucas Kauffman

@Adrian I went for experience too! but only 3 years

Dan

@ChrisS It's how you use it dude, not the length

2

MDMarra

Is it just me or is LanDesk really fucking clunky?

Adrian

My GF is into outdoorsy stuff and new music styles, so I had no idea she was that much older though. I figured she was maybe 3-4 older than I was until we started comparing music that was current while we were in high school.

Lucas Kauffman

13:53

Gents we are under 1000 posts to review

Adrian

@MDMarra All Ticketing Systems suck. Though I guess all the extra features gives it more things to suck at.

Dan

@Adrian Yeah, most people presume Jane and I are the same age

MDMarra

@Adrian This is more software deployment, reporting, etc

jscott

Thought LanDesk did some kinda config mgmt?

MDMarra

We don't use the ticketing module

jscott

13:55

Ah, gotcha.

Adrian

@MDMarra Yep. More things to suck at.

MDMarra

I'm trying to write queries to see how many licenses of X are deployed, what the OS breakdown is, etc

And I just want to write it directly against the SQL database

When your query builder is so bad that I'd rather query the DB directly, then your product has failed

jscott

For reasons I'll never understand, an old version of Symantec AV, stored the "password-protected uninstall" in the reg key HKLM\Software\Intel\LanDesk\... -- We never even used LanDesk though.

Adrian

No shit, our Facilities Manager threatened to go to the Board of Directors if we switched away from Bugzilla for our IT & Janitorial/Maintenance Ticketing. He's been doing Facilities for 26 years and he said he's not seen a better ticketing system for his stuff.

MDMarra

@jscott It seems like a tool that was really awesome before WDS/SCCM/SCOM was a thing

And now it's got so much momentum here that no one wants to get rid of it

Adrian

13:57

Sadly, I just tried out the 4.x version of Bugzilla. I could discern no major advances since we installed in at 2.x in 2002.

MDMarra

even though the MS stack is cheaper and more capable

Lucas Kauffman

whatabout Trac?

jscott

@MDMarra Does MS have a ticketing system? Yeah, I know, "Google it".

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