So, you've got a few (or more) Unix boxes (Linux, *BSD, whatever) running on your network that provide nontrivial services for your network, cutomers, or users. You and maybe one other administrator are actually learned Unix idols. The rest? Well, let's just say Unix isn't their bag. They were raised on another OS and really don't have the desire to learn a real one (they're not dumb, they just don't do Unix). Let's call them AOSAs (Another OS Admins).

There will come a time (when you're not present) when an AOSA will need to reboot one of these boxes because it is not fucntioning properly (however unlikely). A reboot may fix the problem, but what went wrong? What was broken? Often, certain information helpful to understanding what "broke" and how to prevent it from happening again is lost during a reboot. If only the AOSA could have saved a few stats before rebooting...

Another adventure you'll get to experience is the O'dark 30 telephone call. Considering the AOSA has no Unix experience, you'll more than likely have to drive in to your office as you'd go crazy trying to walk an AOSA through CLI commands over the telephone. Wonderful!?!?

Never fear. There is a way to help yourself and the AOSA in both of these situations and many more just like them. Enter pdmenu.

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I added a new section, called Pubs & Blurbs, that I'll be using to publish HOWTOs, reviews, and miscellaneous blurbs. I've only posted one document (HOWTO: OWA 2000 Front-end SSL Proxy with Apache), but I'll be adding more as time passes.

Click here [http://3cx.org/static/pages/index] to view the Pubs & Blurbs page or use the menu item to the left.

If you'd like to contribute anything, contact me at kir@3cx.org.

Yeah. I looked for it. It's not hard to find. Three letters should get you to a download in 5 - 10 minutes: I R C.

So far this appears to be getting downplayed by the mainstream press. This is a BIG DEAL. "A leak of any portion 'could dramatically increase the probability that new zero-day vulnerabilities will be found,' said Alan Paller, director of research at the SANS Institute, a security training group based in Bethesda." (The Washington Post - Friday, February 13, 2004)

Think about it for a second. 660 MEGABYTES of source code -- That is a lot! The reported size of the complete Windoze 2000 source code is around 40GB, but 660MB is still a CD full of code. So many exploits were found without access to ANY code. Now, a CD worth is floating around out there for anyone to download. Ouch!?

Of course, the open source community will never ever have this problem. Leaked source code... humph!

UPDATE (17 Feb 2004):

It appears an exploit for Internet Explorer 5 (and Outlook Express) based on the leaked Win2K source code has been released. That didn't take long. Luckily, it's for IE5, which, as the Google Zeitgist says, is one of the least uses browsers on the net.



Read on for the Washington Post article.

Slashdot has a nice discussion about this here.

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Tried it. Hated it. Deleted all evidence that it was ever on my system. [Sorry Steve!]

Nothing has really changed since the original. Oh wait... you can dodge... sort of. And there are vehicles, but what FPS worth its salt doesn't have vehicles.

I think BattleField 1942 (with or without the Desert Combat mod) may have altered my perception of what are good and bad games.

A friend pointed me to this site a couple of days ago. He said it was a text-based, online, cock fighting game. At first glance, I thought, "WTF is this? Some even lower level of geekdom? [The lowest being Hentai (Japanese pornographic anime).]" He really seemed to be enjoying the site, so I gave it a more thorough perusal. It's weird. It's sophomoric. It's addicting as hell.

Now... this won't peak everyone's interest, but I think many of you who visit 3cx (all four of you) may enjoy it as a breaktime distraction. It's free; only takes a minute to register; and is easy to understand. Oh yeah... and you can gamble (not with real money, but with CORN!)!

So, give it try. Use the link below and I'll get a referral bonus.

BattleWang

nuff said... HE HE HE