All I know is that my cat (Tux of course) loves to watch the movie Cats and Dogs, even though the cats get beat in the end. He literally stares at the TV. That's the most attention he's paid to anyone thing since the 7 double rolls of Cottenelle he dismantled in the bathroom. Talk about a huge pile of fluff. No piece was bigger than say 1.5 x 1.5 inches. He was curled up in the middle of it, waiting to get his ass beat I think...
Get the degree. You don't neccessarily have to have it but the HR people like it and it will keep people (like you parents) from bitching at you all the time. Believe me, I'm there right now. I'm a netadmin with certs but an incomplete degree. You also don't want to miss the college experience. It's worth it. I recommend getting an engineering degree. A EE can go anywhere and do almost any technical job. A CS changes from day to day. While your in college, you can probably get student sysadmin work with the college IT group. That's a nice stepping stone. Good luck.
Telstra is a blackhat and some DNS blacklists will list every Telstra netblock until they get their shit together. I personally don't wait for a large DNS blacklist to list spam-supporting ISPs. I blacklist them on my MTAs myself. Broadwing is my favorite example of this in action. I've blacklisted every single IP they own. I blacklisted/19s or bigger at a time and didn't hesitate doing it. If my experiences with Telstra become similar, I'll do the same to them. I choose not to communicate with spam-supporters. Sometimes listing an entire provider is the only way to make them extract their heads from their asses (which happen to be so far up there that the lumps in their throats are their noses). Pressure from their customers is the only way to affect them.
has to do with the support. $950 for a server is a lot as far as I'm concerned. That's half the cost of a basic server (or there abouts, maybe not an Apple). They should offer a basic extended HW warranty. Then offer a support plan. If they really want to get into the professional server business, they need to expand their options a bit I think. Our Enterasys networking HW options are numerous. There are probably 30 options to choose from. That said, I like the box. Nice looks. Good specs. I'd buy one. I wish they'd make a really cheap one though.
Sorry, this didn't actually get written in numbered step like the Subject implied. A storm wsa fast approaching and I didn't have to time organize it.
Something I don't think I mentioned is that once you have shown the suits the data and have their support, you need a very strong AUP. Require every single student (and a parent) to sign it. Make sure it prohibits the kind of activity that you want banned from the network (don't attack after-hours gaming or you'll create a big disturbence in the force). Require them to sign it before they get their local account. Also write up one for the teachers that prohibit certain things like streaming radio stations (spinner.com). Add wording to the AUP that outlines their responsibilities for the students in their class that are using the computers for their work. This is the policy making that you need the suits support on. Good luck
By far the most important thing you can do is get the administration on your side. They can be absolute idiots (most are) but you still need them to believe what you tell them. You'll need their support for $$ and for creating new policies. This is the most important step. Without their support, you'll be pissing into gail-force winds wearing white pants.
Once you have their support, analyze and gather data. Get proof of how much network bandwidth is being consumed by non-educational applications. A good sniffer can do this for you. I'm an old school Mac user. I use Etherpeek for this task. It's cheaper than most other sniffers. You could also see if a peer school could assist you if they have already purchased a sniffer. That would save you some cash up front. Gather the data. Graph the results (suits are usually illiterate so you'll need nice pretty graphs). In your initial report, don't list specific people. K-12 school politics run rampant. If some jackass teacher thinks you're infringing on their "rights", they'll run screaming to their KNEA rep (or whatever it's named in your state). Then you'll lose you suits' support. Keep it personel neutral unless they ask for it. Present to the suits how much this non-educational software is costing the school district in the form of bandwidth and how it's affecting educational uses of the network. Find horror stories of what allowing the students to access porn, warez, and other things like that have cost other schools. Throw in a bit of security preaching too. Show them the effects of lack of security (defaced websites, compromised personal information, grade altering, etc..). Demonstrate a few of the apps for these people. Show them how to find a copy of Photoshop on the 'Net. Then show them how much it costs in a magazine. Toss is a little threatening material about the bastards that threaten to sue you if you don't let them install their auditing software. BSA, IIRC. Show the suits how you can save money by eliminating the non-educational uses of the I1 bandwidth (don't attack local traffic, just 'Net traffic). Emphasize the use of cheaper (read: free) alternatives like Linux for firewalls. Remember, money counts right now. Money, security, etc.. should do the trick. Good luck!
That's all the farther I had to read. Anything beyond that is pointless. Flowgo is spam and nothing more. I block every single piece of flowgo netspace I can find. I also use the flowgoaway.com DNS blacklist. Block flowgo and you'll be a much happier mail admin.
Unfortunately Dwonis, we keep having to say it. I get really frustrated when some user thinks we're filtering their mail for them and they want me to stop. I always reply with the same piece of information. I tell them how many pieces of spam I've filtered from reaching their inbox since the beginning of the year. That always works. You'd be surprised how many there are per person. Oddly enough I've been using this same account for years and post it everywhere. I only get a tiny handful. The spammer's must have a "don't fsck with these people" list of something.;)
Actually in practice I've found the DUL to get the least amount of hits of all of them. Now it does it's job well every so often when a massive amount of direct-to-mx spam hits us, but it's usually fairly low in comparison. As an example, here's my breakdown this week for the provider I consult with:
.....
Well I was going to post our counts for you but the Slashdot Lameness filter decided I shouldn't bother.
For us the RSS always gets more hits. I've never used the RBL or any of the other so I can't compare to the other MAPS lists.
PS, It's worth noting that the Slashdot "Lameness filter" is an absolute piece of shit. Whoever wrote it should be flogged with old Sparc keyboards. Thanks for giving us a list of "junk characters" asshole. Feedback is a wonderful thing isn't, dick?
This isn't in response to the actual article. This is in response to the comments made about the DUL stopping CmdrTaco from mailing one of the slash coders. It really pisses me off when some dumb son of a bitch thinks they have the right to directly send an email from their dialup account. People seem to think that their providers MTA is there for looks. People don't understand that a significant amount of spam can be blocked by only allowing one providers MTA to talk to another. Frankly I think there should be a mandatory MTA registration process like there is for DNS servers. You must register your MTA before you can mail. This would require valid abuse contact information and things of that nature. The 'Net isn't meant to be plug and play. I block 100,000 pieces of spam per week at an ISP I consult with (give or take usually 10k depending on the time of year). I use 6 different DNS blacklists and a lengthy Sendmail access list of spamming domains and netblocks to do this for me. About 2 years ago the DUL was blocking by far the most spam of all the blacklists (for me). Then raping of open relays became really popular and the hits on the RSS rose dramatically. Now the DUL gets on average about 3000 hits per week. Every so often that number will sharply increase because some spammer decided to direct-to-MX spam us. Well we're one of many providers that doesn't take that shit. Hence the DUL. I'm getting sick of ranting here, so I'm done.
...with Apple on this one. I don't think they should have completely canned OS 9 yet. I think they could have announced that there would be no further feature upgrades (leaving the room for massive fsckup fixing upgrades if needed). But they should have still committed to some support of it, like in Classic Mode. Honestly I really really really hate OS X. It has the potential to be cool. For a new user or a M$ convert, it probably is cool. It's not for me. I'm a Classic Mac & Linux guru; I know Solaris pretty well. I can jack with Irix and make it do what I need. Mac OS X is nothing like any of the above, including the Classic Mac. It's soo damned weird! It has BSD underpinnings clouded by all the shit Apple did to it to make it look unique (and it does). The GUI doesn't even resemble the Classic Mac GUI. They lost all the good points about the Mac GUI. Nothing confuses me more (expect perhaps women) than Mac OS X. 10.2 had better make OS X more Mac-like or I'll be switching to Linux.
You're probably all too right. UU.net or Sprintpink will sign them up, no questions asked. Frankly I'd prefer they pick the most spam-friendly provider known to man. Broadwing.net. If they did sign with Broadwing, it would save me a lot of trouble. I block every single one of Broadwing's netblocks with a vengenance. Many Tier-1 providers have a bad habit of signing up spammers. Speculation runs rampant but many believe that the top tier providers don't have the abuse desk resources to deal with their non-threatening customers. When I say non-threatening I mean everyone that isn't DoSing people.
That sounds reasonable. I'll probably give this a try. I don't know anyone with a PS2 so I can't give one a whirl. I've heard they're pretty nice. I also heard something about a mod chip to play burnt games. Sounds good to. Thanks for the input!
I hardly think we can blame Apple for this. Sure they don't have a Linux version of Quicktime yet. But think about it. Does anyone else have a Linux version of *their* media player? Does Real or M$? What about Vivo? I hardly think we can blame Apple for not wanting to spend the resources on a port just yet. Resellers are starting to ship Linux on desktops now. Give the world a chance to catch up.
Also if Sorenson did breach the contract then they should be sued. I see no room for anyone to bitch given what little we know.
Sounds plausible. However I've had deja vu instances that I actually remembered before the actual event. Most of the time you dream it or whatever and seem to forget about it until the event happens again and you experience deja vu. I've actually remembered my intial forseeing of an event prior to the deja vu. I didn't know in advance that that moment would be a deja vu moment but I did remember what was being talked about in the deja vu moment prior to it happening. That's happened only a couple of times and each was really weird.
I've jokingly said for a while now that buy the time I can afford a PS2, I should just wait for the PS3. Would it be advisable to wait for the PS3 now or would the PS2 still be a wothwhile buy?
...deja vu? If this is proof of at least a limited amount of ESP then I whole heartedly believe in ESP because I've experienced deja vu dozens of times throughout my life. As far as aliens go, I think my thoughts are best summed up by a quote from a movie: "If it's just us, then it sure seems like an awful waste of space."
Slashdot Mirror
What, no one wants to host a party in Kansas? Fine! I'll drink for all of you!
Excuse me, but when has it ever been "un-American" to make some bigger, better, faster, and cheaper?
All I know is that my cat (Tux of course) loves to watch the movie Cats and Dogs, even though the cats get beat in the end. He literally stares at the TV. That's the most attention he's paid to anyone thing since the 7 double rolls of Cottenelle he dismantled in the bathroom. Talk about a huge pile of fluff. No piece was bigger than say 1.5 x 1.5 inches. He was curled up in the middle of it, waiting to get his ass beat I think...
Can you imagine a cluster of these? I have a feeling it would resemble the store window of an exotic accessory store: boots, bags, hat bands.... :)
...because there are only 323 posts on /. about it. Stupid judgical rulings get more respone than that.
Get the degree. You don't neccessarily have to have it but the HR people like it and it will keep people (like you parents) from bitching at you all the time. Believe me, I'm there right now. I'm a netadmin with certs but an incomplete degree. You also don't want to miss the college experience. It's worth it. I recommend getting an engineering degree. A EE can go anywhere and do almost any technical job. A CS changes from day to day. While your in college, you can probably get student sysadmin work with the college IT group. That's a nice stepping stone. Good luck.
Telstra is a blackhat and some DNS blacklists will list every Telstra netblock until they get their shit together. I personally don't wait for a large DNS blacklist to list spam-supporting ISPs. I blacklist them on my MTAs myself. Broadwing is my favorite example of this in action. I've blacklisted every single IP they own. I blacklisted /19s or bigger at a time and didn't hesitate doing it. If my experiences with Telstra become similar, I'll do the same to them. I choose not to communicate with spam-supporters. Sometimes listing an entire provider is the only way to make them extract their heads from their asses (which happen to be so far up there that the lumps in their throats are their noses). Pressure from their customers is the only way to affect them.
has to do with the support. $950 for a server is a lot as far as I'm concerned. That's half the cost of a basic server (or there abouts, maybe not an Apple). They should offer a basic extended HW warranty. Then offer a support plan. If they really want to get into the professional server business, they need to expand their options a bit I think. Our Enterasys networking HW options are numerous. There are probably 30 options to choose from. That said, I like the box. Nice looks. Good specs. I'd buy one. I wish they'd make a really cheap one though.
I'd rather have a Polo than a T. I could wear that to work then.
Something I don't think I mentioned is that once you have shown the suits the data and have their support, you need a very strong AUP. Require every single student (and a parent) to sign it. Make sure it prohibits the kind of activity that you want banned from the network (don't attack after-hours gaming or you'll create a big disturbence in the force). Require them to sign it before they get their local account. Also write up one for the teachers that prohibit certain things like streaming radio stations (spinner.com). Add wording to the AUP that outlines their responsibilities for the students in their class that are using the computers for their work. This is the policy making that you need the suits support on. Good luck
Has anyone figured out the TCP/IP specifics of the spyware? I'd like to figure out if I can block the spyware and not Kazaa from my campus network.
Once you have their support, analyze and gather data. Get proof of how much network bandwidth is being consumed by non-educational applications. A good sniffer can do this for you. I'm an old school Mac user. I use Etherpeek for this task. It's cheaper than most other sniffers. You could also see if a peer school could assist you if they have already purchased a sniffer. That would save you some cash up front. Gather the data. Graph the results (suits are usually illiterate so you'll need nice pretty graphs). In your initial report, don't list specific people. K-12 school politics run rampant. If some jackass teacher thinks you're infringing on their "rights", they'll run screaming to their KNEA rep (or whatever it's named in your state). Then you'll lose you suits' support. Keep it personel neutral unless they ask for it. Present to the suits how much this non-educational software is costing the school district in the form of bandwidth and how it's affecting educational uses of the network. Find horror stories of what allowing the students to access porn, warez, and other things like that have cost other schools. Throw in a bit of security preaching too. Show them the effects of lack of security (defaced websites, compromised personal information, grade altering, etc..). Demonstrate a few of the apps for these people. Show them how to find a copy of Photoshop on the 'Net. Then show them how much it costs in a magazine. Toss is a little threatening material about the bastards that threaten to sue you if you don't let them install their auditing software. BSA, IIRC. Show the suits how you can save money by eliminating the non-educational uses of the I1 bandwidth (don't attack local traffic, just 'Net traffic). Emphasize the use of cheaper (read: free) alternatives like Linux for firewalls. Remember, money counts right now. Money, security, etc.. should do the trick. Good luck!
Problem is, Flowgo/eUniverse has numerous blocks scattered all over the place. Big pain in the ass to coordinate that mass bitch-slapping.
...that new-fangled Oracle License.
That's all the farther I had to read. Anything beyond that is pointless. Flowgo is spam and nothing more. I block every single piece of flowgo netspace I can find. I also use the flowgoaway.com DNS blacklist. Block flowgo and you'll be a much happier mail admin.
Unfortunately Dwonis, we keep having to say it. I get really frustrated when some user thinks we're filtering their mail for them and they want me to stop. I always reply with the same piece of information. I tell them how many pieces of spam I've filtered from reaching their inbox since the beginning of the year. That always works. You'd be surprised how many there are per person. Oddly enough I've been using this same account for years and post it everywhere. I only get a tiny handful. The spammer's must have a "don't fsck with these people" list of something. ;)
Well I was going to post our counts for you but the Slashdot Lameness filter decided I shouldn't bother. For us the RSS always gets more hits. I've never used the RBL or any of the other so I can't compare to the other MAPS lists.
PS, It's worth noting that the Slashdot "Lameness filter" is an absolute piece of shit. Whoever wrote it should be flogged with old Sparc keyboards. Thanks for giving us a list of "junk characters" asshole. Feedback is a wonderful thing isn't, dick?
This isn't in response to the actual article. This is in response to the comments made about the DUL stopping CmdrTaco from mailing one of the slash coders. It really pisses me off when some dumb son of a bitch thinks they have the right to directly send an email from their dialup account. People seem to think that their providers MTA is there for looks. People don't understand that a significant amount of spam can be blocked by only allowing one providers MTA to talk to another. Frankly I think there should be a mandatory MTA registration process like there is for DNS servers. You must register your MTA before you can mail. This would require valid abuse contact information and things of that nature. The 'Net isn't meant to be plug and play. I block 100,000 pieces of spam per week at an ISP I consult with (give or take usually 10k depending on the time of year). I use 6 different DNS blacklists and a lengthy Sendmail access list of spamming domains and netblocks to do this for me. About 2 years ago the DUL was blocking by far the most spam of all the blacklists (for me). Then raping of open relays became really popular and the hits on the RSS rose dramatically. Now the DUL gets on average about 3000 hits per week. Every so often that number will sharply increase because some spammer decided to direct-to-MX spam us. Well we're one of many providers that doesn't take that shit. Hence the DUL. I'm getting sick of ranting here, so I'm done.
...with Apple on this one. I don't think they should have completely canned OS 9 yet. I think they could have announced that there would be no further feature upgrades (leaving the room for massive fsckup fixing upgrades if needed). But they should have still committed to some support of it, like in Classic Mode. Honestly I really really really hate OS X. It has the potential to be cool. For a new user or a M$ convert, it probably is cool. It's not for me. I'm a Classic Mac & Linux guru; I know Solaris pretty well. I can jack with Irix and make it do what I need. Mac OS X is nothing like any of the above, including the Classic Mac. It's soo damned weird! It has BSD underpinnings clouded by all the shit Apple did to it to make it look unique (and it does). The GUI doesn't even resemble the Classic Mac GUI. They lost all the good points about the Mac GUI. Nothing confuses me more (expect perhaps women) than Mac OS X. 10.2 had better make OS X more Mac-like or I'll be switching to Linux.
You're probably all too right. UU.net or Sprintpink will sign them up, no questions asked. Frankly I'd prefer they pick the most spam-friendly provider known to man. Broadwing.net. If they did sign with Broadwing, it would save me a lot of trouble. I block every single one of Broadwing's netblocks with a vengenance. Many Tier-1 providers have a bad habit of signing up spammers. Speculation runs rampant but many believe that the top tier providers don't have the abuse desk resources to deal with their non-threatening customers. When I say non-threatening I mean everyone that isn't DoSing people.
That sounds reasonable. I'll probably give this a try. I don't know anyone with a PS2 so I can't give one a whirl. I've heard they're pretty nice. I also heard something about a mod chip to play burnt games. Sounds good to. Thanks for the input!
Also if Sorenson did breach the contract then they should be sued. I see no room for anyone to bitch given what little we know.
Sounds plausible. However I've had deja vu instances that I actually remembered before the actual event. Most of the time you dream it or whatever and seem to forget about it until the event happens again and you experience deja vu. I've actually remembered my intial forseeing of an event prior to the deja vu. I didn't know in advance that that moment would be a deja vu moment but I did remember what was being talked about in the deja vu moment prior to it happening. That's happened only a couple of times and each was really weird.
I've jokingly said for a while now that buy the time I can afford a PS2, I should just wait for the PS3. Would it be advisable to wait for the PS3 now or would the PS2 still be a wothwhile buy?
...deja vu? If this is proof of at least a limited amount of ESP then I whole heartedly believe in ESP because I've experienced deja vu dozens of times throughout my life. As far as aliens go, I think my thoughts are best summed up by a quote from a movie: "If it's just us, then it sure seems like an awful waste of space."