Jonathan's blog

My home server seems to have developed a problem where its internal-facing network card “jams up”. It still keeps its IP address and everything looks normal, but in actual fact no traffic passes through it, cutting all my LAN hosts off from the Internet.

Restarting iptables, network services or anything else doesn’t help. The only cure I’ve found is to reboot the whole box.

This is OK if I’m using the computer at the time, but a pain if it breaks overnight or while I’m out, as things like my folding@home client, Vista Media Centre TV listings and overnight BitTorrent downloads need Internet access.

So I wrote this bash script to periodically check if it’s broken, and reboot if it is. The only gotcha is that it tests if the interface is working by pinging another LAN host. This is by no means a concrete test!

#!/bin/bash
HOST=192.168.0.10
if ! ping -c 1 -w 5 "$HOST" &>/dev/null ; then
logger ZEUS REBOOT
/sbin/init 6
fi

My requirements

When I built this computer back in January, I had carefully considered the RAID storage configuration. My requirements were basically:

• Must dual boot Fedora and some flavour of Windows (unfortunately)
• Fedora must have a redundant /home partition, as it holds my most important data
• Windows must have a fast Media (aka /home) partition for my audio work
• Would also be nice to have redundant OS partitions

The initial plan

So I decided to buy a pair of identical 320GB disks for the OS, a set of three 640GB disks for my media. My new motherboard had 4 SATA ports on an ICH10R controller, and 2 SATA ports on some other SATA controller.

It seemed best to set up a fakeraid RAID5 array across the 3 media disks in the ICH10R controller, and to let the OSs do their own thing on the 2 OS disks.

I split both of the OS disks in half to allow Linux software RAID1 (mirroring) across both of its RAID partitions, which would be mounted as /. The two partitions showed up to Windows as C: and D:. It is not possible to use Windows software RAID (aka Dynamic Disks) on a Windows boot partition so I installed Windows on C: and used D: for Program Files.

I created a RAID5 array across the 3 disks using the ICH10R RAID BIOS. Booting into Windows, it was immediately spotted so I cut the device in half and created drive J: for my media. Sorted – it was fast and worked nicely.

No such luck with Fedora 10 (the latest relkease at the time I built this PC). Anaconda, the Fedora installer, was not able to see the RAID partition – it only saw the three separate disks. Try as I might, I could not get round this. Kind of a showstopper.

Onto plan B

I figured that I could avoid using the ICH10R fakeraid by keeping the disks as 3 separate disks, cutting each in half and using three halves for Linux software RAID, and 3 halves for Windows Dynamic Disks. No such luck – Windows is only able to use a whole disk as a Dynamic Disk, and wasn’t able to share it with Linux. Bugger.

What I ended up with

Given that Windows and Linux cannot share a RAID array, whether it be software or pseudo-hardware, my only choice was to somehow divide up the disks.

The two OS disks were fine as they were; Windows was not using RAID but rather a more manual approach to having two disks (OS on C: and Program Files on D:).

Eventually I decided to give Windows two of the media disks and use them in a RAID0 (striped) Dynamic Disk for performance. This still gives approximately the performance of a 3-disk RAID5 array, but without the redunancy. I get around this by not keeping anything permanently on the RAID0 array. It is only used as a cache/buffer during audio work, and the audio files are primarily stored on my server via the network.

This left just a single disk for Fedora’s /home partition. It doesn’t tick the box of having redunandcy, but thanks to my hourly backup script this is less essential.

This diagram shows my current sub-optimal setup. Click for a bigger version. Windows partitions are in red and Linux in blue.

My partition setup

The future

Since setting up this PC, I happened across a blog post that seems to be the answer to my prayers. It’s a bit hacky, but it’s the only documented way I have seen of getting a dual-boot system to share an ICH10R array.

Next time I can be bothered to reinstall both OSs, I will write about it here.

A matter brought to my attention just a few minutes ago – visibility of personal data in WHOIS info.

I registered the domain jonathangazeley.com with No-IP. It worked, and I thought nothing more of it. But this morning one of my colleagues received a personalised scam and it seems likely that the scammers retrieved his personal information from WHOIS.

I checked my own WHOIS data and was shocked (although not really surprised) to see my personal data appear before my eyes. My name, home address, mobile phone number and email address were all included. This is bad news, as anyone can get hold of this information – such as scammers, spammers, legitimate (but annoying) marketing, or even real-life criminals who want to know where I live.

Fortunately No-IP offers a private registration option for $9.95/year. I immediately purchased this option and now my WHOIS data shows nothing except my name.

I urge anyone who has registered a domain to check their own WHOIS data and take appropriate steps if necessary. It’s easy in Linux:

[jonathan@poseidon ~]$ whois jonathangazeley.com
[Querying whois.verisign-grs.com]
[Redirected to whois.no-ip.com]
[Querying whois.no-ip.com]
[whois.no-ip.com]
NOTICE: Access to No-IP.com WHOIS information is provided to assist persons in determining the contents of a domain name registration record in the No-IP.com registrar database. The data in this record is provided by No-IP.com for informational purposes only, and No-Ip.com does not guarantee its accuracy.  This service is intended only for query-based access.  You agree that you will use this data only for lawful purposes and that, under no circumstances will you use this data to: (a) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission by e-mail, telephone, or facsimile of mass unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations to entities other than the data recipient's own existing customers; or (b) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes that send queries or data to the systems of Registry Operator or any ICANN-Accredited Registrar, except as reasonably necessary to register domain names or modify existing registrations.  All rights reserved. Public Interest Registry reserves the right to modify these terms at any time. By submitting this query, you agree to abide by this policy.

Domain Name: JONATHANGAZELEY.COM
Created On: 02-May-2008 10:53:42 UTC
Last Updated On: 02-May-2008 10:53:42 UTC
Expiration Date: 02-May-2010 10:53:41 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar: Vitalwerks Internet Solutions, LLC / No-IP.com
Registrant Name: Gazeley, Jonathan
Registrant Organization:
Registrant Street1: ATTN: jonathangazeley.com, c/o No-IP.com Registration Privacy
Registrant Street2: P.O. Box 19083
Registrant City: Reno
Registrant State/Province: NV
Registrant Postal Code: 89511
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.7758531883
Registrant FAX:
Registrant Email: 1a37bda6b1603338-250851@privacy.no-ip.com
Admin Name: Gazeley, Jonathan
Admin Street1: ATTN: jonathangazeley.com, c/o No-IP.com Registration Privacy
Admin Street2: P.O. Box 19083
Admin City: Reno
Admin State/Province: NV
Admin Postal Code: 89511
Admin Country: US
Admin Phone: +1.7758531883
Admin FAX:
Admin Email: 1a37bda6b1603338-250851@privacy.no-ip.com

Name Server: NS2.NO-IP.COM
Name Server: NS1.NO-IP.COM
Name Server: NS3.NO-IP.COM
Name Server: NS4.NO-IP.COM
Name Server: NS5.NO-IP.COM

As you can see, all of this data (except my name, of course) now belongs to No-IP. Problem solved!

This week I’ve been reading Lance Armstrong‘s autobiography – It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life.

Yes, I know it was published in 2000. You’d think that a cycling fan such as myself would have read it by now, but I never got round to it.

However, I can strongly recommend the book. As the title suggests, it’s not about about cycling (although cycling is mentioned a lot, naturally). This book is about beating cancer and it really is an inspirational piece.

It’s also particularly important to me as I inherited it recently from my grandfather – a massive cycling fan and keen cyclist who died from cancer last year.

Well I never! From an advert on Hotmail I was linked to this page which proclaims that MSN Messenger (more recently known as Windows Live Messenger) is 10 years old. I would have guessed it was older than that.

I can’t remember precisely when I first used MSN Messenger but I’m fairly sure it was in 1999. I don’t remember it being brand spanking new, though. All my friends were using it and I thought it had been around for a while.

I used to use the Messenger Plus addon to add features that the client neglected to include.

Of course, since switching fully to Linux I’ve used gAIM (now Pidgin), and I have to say it meets my needs perfectly, especially as I also have contacts on AIM now.

Who knows what developments we will see in online communication over the next decade. There’s lots of hype around videophones and that kind of thing, but the technology is already available and hardly used. I just don’t think it’s as practical.

In my opinion, IM‘s biggest rival is Facebook (among other social networks), which has completely changed the way friends, family and casual acquaintances keep in touch. It seems to have taken a slice out of personal email, and out of IM.

One thing that often annoys me, particularly in my line of work in IT is the frequent muddling-up of the words deprecated and depreciated.

According to Wiktionary…

Depreciate

Verb

1. (intransitive) To reduce in value over time.
2. (transitive) To belittle

Deprecate

Verb

1. (formal) to express disapproval of.
2. (computing) to recommend against use of.
3. (archaic) to pray against.

So when a module or feature of a computer program is outdated and has been replaced by a new one, it is deprecated.

For a while now I’ve been using a service called last.fm. Basically it (a program called a scrobbler) monitors what music I listen to and compiles statistics. I only do it because I find statistics interesting, and often I surprise myself that I’ve listened to lots of an artist that I never really considered one of my favourites, for example.

last.fm can also recommend other music you might like, based on your taste which it works out from what you’ve listened to recently. I don’t bother with this because I don’t like being told what to do

last.fm is free to join and the scrobbler will run on many platforms. I currently scrobble on:

• Rhythmbox running on Fedora at home
• Windows Media Center running on Vista at home
• iTunes on Mac OS X at work

Of course, as with every similar site, there is a widget you can embed into your website, Facebook page, etc, etc. So here’s mine.

If you’re really interested in seeing more of my musical history, my Music Profile has many more views. You can even compare your musical tastes to mine!

No, really. I’m not interested in comparing tastes or building a network of friends, and I don’t expect you to find my history interesting. I just scrobble because I find my personal results interesting. Give it a go; you might too.

I recently bought (and blogged about) an O2 mobile broadband USB stick.

As I was on a camping holiday in a remote part of Pembrokeshire last week, I decided to take my Eee and the USB modem, just to see how it would work. I was aware that there would be no HSDPA coverage, since I had checked the coverage map before I left.

UK cellular network coverage

	2G
	3G
	HSDPA

Three give the following summary of the different connection types:

• 2G network: gives you voice, text and picture messaging services
• 3G network: gives you all of the above, plus video calling and the internet on your mobile
• HSDPA network (Mobile Broadband): gives you all 2G and 3G services, plus high-speed internet access on your mobile and with your dongle (USB modem)

When I connected to the network in rural Pembrokeshire, I was not surprised to find that I only got a 2G connection. The dongle’s LED was green, and according to Huawei:

• Green - a GPRS data service is established
• Dark Blue - a UMTS data service is established
• Light Blue - a HSDPA data service is established

But what surprised me most was the latency in the connection. Pinging www.google.com gave responses between 4 seconds and 35 seconds! This of course makes web browsing totally unusable.

So my advice to anyone who is thinking of getting a USB 3G modem is to make sure your target areas are covered, and don’t expect it to work outside cities.

I was just looking through some old (circa 1998) backups to see which ones were safe to throw away. I came across a text file containing some monophonic ringtones that have to be typed out on a Nokia phone! I don’t remember downloading them but presumably I obtained them for my Nokia 5210^[1].

Of course 1999 wasn’t that long ago but I’d totally forgotten that ringtones ever existed in such an inconvenient format. I bet today’s children wouldn’t believe it, either.

Darude: Sandstorm
D2(1/16) D2(1/16) D2(1/16) D2(1/16) D2(1/8) D2(1/16) D2(1/16) D2(1/16) D2(1/16) D2(1/16) D2(1/16) D2(1/16) D2(1/8) G2(1/16) G2(1/16) G2(1/16) G2(1/16) G2(1/16) G2(1/16) G2(1/8) F2(1/16) F2(1/16) F2(1/16) F2(1/16) F2(1/16) F2(1/16) F2(1/8) C2(1/8) D2(1/16) D2(1/16) D2(1/16) D2(1/16) D2(1/16) F2(1/8)

^[1] Incidentally, this handset is still going strong and used daily by my dad! He has no need for a colour screen; he sees in monochrome.

Perhaps this is just my layman’s perspective, but this doesn’t seem like a terribly safe way to use a hedge trimmer…

Asking for trouble