Having recently deployed a handful of Ubuntu Linux systems for proxies and other roles I wanted to join them to Active Directory for Single Signon. Nobody wants to remember lots of different passwords, lets face it.

I came across a product called Likewise, the free open-source version is available in the standard Ubuntu repositories. Here’s a quick guide for how to get up and running with likewise-open.

Firstly, install Likewise.

$ sudo aptitude install likewise-open

Continue reading…

I spent some time earlier automating the backups of our appliance configuration to a restricted network share and thought I’d share a simple batch script to backup the configuration from multiple Juniper Netscreen (ScreenOS) firewalls.

@echo off
REM ================================================================
REM CONFIGURATION INFO
REM ================================================================
set USERNAME=backupAccount
set PASSWORD=superSecretPassword
set CFGFILE=BackupList.txt
set DESTDIR=C:\Backups\

REM ================================================================
REM STOP CHANGING HERE OR YOU'LL BREAK SOMETHING
REM ================================================================
SET TIMESTAMP=%date:~-4,4%.%date:~-7,2%.%date:~-10,2%
for /F "tokens=1,2 delims=," %%A in (%CFGFILE%) do (
	IF NOT EXIST "%DESTDIR%%TIMESTAMP%" mkdir "%DESTDIR%%TIMESTAMP%"
	pscp -q -scp -pw %PASSWORD% %USERNAME%@%%B:ns_sys_config "%DESTDIR%%TIMESTAMP%\%%A.cfg"
)

The above will read the details of the firewalls from a CSV file (BackupList.txt) in hostname,ip address format. PSCP is then used to SCP the configuration from the firewall to the location specified in DESTDIR.

You’ll need to make sure SSH + SCP is enabled on your firewalls and that pscp is in the same directory as the script. You can find the latest version of Putty and PSCP here.

I recently received a copy of PACKT publishings new book titled Cacti 0.8 Network Monitoring. You can grab yourself a copy of the same chapter here.

Facts

• 8 Chapters, 116 pages with an RRP of $34.99 US / £31.99 UK
• The book is aimed at anyone who wants to manage a network using Cacti. No previous Cacti or Linux experience is needed

Pros

• The book is ideal for someone who has never used a Linux or Cacti system before. It’s an ideal introduction to Cacti.
• The instructions and illustrations are clear and concise, with no room for misinterpretation
• Provides a good introduction to data, host and graph templates and how to use them.

Cons

• The book is filled with poor sentence structure and typos. Given that PACKT had someone review the writing and correct mistakes, this is a real shame.
• The book makes frequent and consistent spelling mistakes. For example, the book constantly refers to Tobi Oetiker as Tobi Oeticker
• The first 46 pages (of 116) cover what SNMP and rrdtool are and how to install Cacti. Given the book is so short, this seems a waste when a simple aptitude install cacti would have covered it.
• 10 pages on user management really is a waste. If you can’t figure out how to create a user on your own you really shouldn’t be setting up the network monitoring system for your organization.

Conclusion

I’m in two minds about this book. On the one hand it’s full of typos and poor English. It doesn’t go into much depth in the areas I wanted it to (Cacti XML Queries and data templates) but spends a long time on simple tasks (installing and basic configuration). On the positive side the book does provide a good introduction to SNMP and how to get started with Cacti.

All considered I think the book is suitable for someone who is looking at implementing Cacti but shouldn’t be considered a complete guide. One to avoid if endless typos are likely to get on your nerves.