Re: [Nolug] Often overlooked technique for that extra bit of added security

From: Andrew S. Johnson <andy_at_asjohnson.com>
Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2003 19:34:37 -0600
Message-Id: <200301111934.37989.andy@asjohnson.com>

On Saturday 11 January 2003 05:59 pm, Ron Johnson wrote:
> On Sat, 2003-01-11 at 14:48, Andrew S. Johnson wrote:
> > On Saturday 11 January 2003 11:00 am, Ron Johnson wrote:
> > > On Sat, 2003-01-11 at 08:57, Andrew S. Johnson wrote:
> > > > On Saturday 11 January 2003 12:10 am, Ron Johnson wrote:
> > > > > On Fri, 2003-01-10 at 22:59, Andrew S. Johnson wrote:
> > > > > > On Friday 10 January 2003 10:47 pm, Ron Johnson wrote:
> > > > > > > On Fri, 2003-01-10 at 22:08, Andrew S. Johnson wrote:
> > > > > > > > On Friday 10 January 2003 08:03 pm, Ron Johnson wrote:
> [snip]
> >
> > Of course. It runs, I just don't have it configured to do much right now,
> > since I can't load enough on it to replace the 486 I'm currently using as
> > my server. If the on-board IDE controller worked, I could just take the 5
> > gig IDE drive that is currently /home and put it in the Alpha, copy over
> > a few files from /etc, and I'd be done. It could probably use more RAM
> > too. It has 96 MB, and it uses 72-pin FPM, so I need to round up some
> > more of that too.
>
> I didn't know the AS400 had any IDE connectors. The web "spec sheet"
> doesn't mention them.

It doesn't mention them because it (there is only one) is not enabled when
the motherboard has an Alpha daughtercard in it. There are some programs,
for which I have the source (http://www.asjohnson.com/pub/alpha-dqdriver/)
that enables this in VMS after boot. I don't know if this has been ported
to Linux. The other problem is that the PnP BIOS assigns IRQ 14 to one
of the ethernet cards, so this would complicate IDE considerably.

>
> [snip]
> > > Bummer, dude. You could have booted off the HSZ[45]0. And the HSZ50
> > > can take 18GB (and maybe 36GB) disks... Of course, does Linux
> > > understand the HSZ? Or does it's firmware just transparently show
> > > a very big SCSI disk to Linux? That's my understanding of how it
> > > works in VMS (The One True OS).
> >
> > This is how it worked in Windoze, so I'd guess that Linux would be the same.
> > My recollection of the HSZ was that it was really slow, and for less than
> > $90 I should be able to get a new IDE-RAID controller that would be much
> > faster.
>
> "You" must not have put enough cache RAM in them. Stuffed with cache,
> they blaze.
>
> We've got an AlphaServer 4100 w/ a couple of HSZ50s, and it really
> smokes doing IO intensive operations.

We had plenty o'RAM. I still think they suck compared to a MegaRAID card.

>
> [snip]
> > > Does your company still use Alphas? (OSF/1?)
> >
> > We have one or two left, and they run VMS. The one I have was bought
>
> Woo hoo! I thought the last VMS users left the region when when the
> company I work for moved it's development shop to DC...
>
> Where do you work?
>
> > for Windoze NT. Our Oracle databases are the only production Linux boxes
>
> Hey!!! Billg & all of his paid shills ("independent" analysts") say
> that Linux isn't ready yet. Besides, Windows' TCO is lower! Haven't
> you heard?

Heard what? Eh?

>
> So, you *MUST* take the database off Linux and put them on SQL Server.
> You must!!!

Actually, my prod Oracle database was on RH 6.2 for the last 2.5 years.
Last month I migrated it from a Dell dual 800 w/2 gigs o'RAM to a Dell quad
1400 w/4 gigs o'RAM and RHAS 2.1, with 14 15k RPM drives set up with
RAID 10. Dell wouldn't have been my first choice, but I'm not a bean counter,
so I have to get what they'll let me have based on lease rates. Anyway, it
sucks a lot less than the last one, and it hardly sucked at all. I think I rebooted
it three times, all because of hardware problems. I'm hoping I can go the whole
three year lease on the new one without rebooting. That would be over
1000 days.

We used SQL Server once. Once.

Andy

>
> > we have right now. Once we have corporate support aggrement in place
> > (do not go there, it's not so that I will feel warm and fuzzy), we may get to
> > have Linux in a few more places.
>
> PHBs???
>
> --
> +------------------------------------------------------------+
> | Ron Johnson, Jr. mailto:ron.l.johnson@cox.net |
> | Jefferson, LA USA http://members.cox.net/ron.l.johnson |
> | |
> | "Basically, I got on the plane with a bomb. Basically, I |
> | tried to ignite it. Basically, yeah, I intended to damage |
> | the plane." |
> | RICHARD REID, who tried to blow up American Airlines |
> | Flight 63 |
> +------------------------------------------------------------+
>
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Received on 01/11/03

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