Category Archives: system administration

Running Asterisk in the cloud with Amazon EC2

I have been sitting on a half post for a while now on setting up Asterisk on EC2 and then this past week someone else came out with a post on how to install Asterisk from scratch on EC2. I figured I would wrap up what I have since I take the path of installing Asterisk on VirtualBox first then converting that disk image to an AMI as I outlined a few weeks ago when I got serious about testing out the Asterisk on EC2 concept.

Reading over the comments on the Voxilla post you will see some concern about how cost effective putting Asterisk on EC2 would be. Even if the cost is an issue for normal use I think Asterisk on EC2 could work for bursts of outgoing calls or even temporary conferencing systems. Part of what I wanted to do was find the least resistant path to getting started so I went with Trixbox since it has a lot of tools pre-installed and support for Gizmo5 that was very easy to set up. The key with Gizmo5 is that it is cheap, works with Asterisk via SIP and you can have incoming calls for free from a land line so it is easy to test cheaply.

Continue reading

Using scrub to destroy a hard drive

Recently I had a hard drive failure that pushed me into getting a little NAS device that I could back up to S3 easily. After consolidating a lot of data to the NAS I was left with a few old hard drives that I needed to do something with as well as some existing hard drives that I've collected over the years. Some of the drives I have are from family members that I have recycled computers for but kept the hard drives out of fear that personal data might still be on them. At the same time this was happening I read an article claiming that a single drive wipe protects data.

Continue reading

How to transfer a Linux image from VirtualBox to Xen

There have been times recently when I wanted to pull a VirtualBox Linux instance I had into Xen. I kept thinking it had to be fairly easy but I kept putting off trying it until recently when I ran into something I wanted to install from a CD image into an Amazon EC2 AMI. It turns out the main hurdle in transferring an image is lack of documentation.

Continue reading

Automounting Amazon EBS volumes on EC2 instances

I've been using S3 to store semi-transient information like log files from EC2 nodes in the past but recently decided to give Amazon's Elastic Block Store (EBS) a try instead. I quickly realized a downside to using EBS in that there is no mechanism for auto-attach and mounting volumes when an AMI is launched. This is probably something Amazon will fix at some point and allow you to launch a given AMI with an attached EBS volume but until then you need some way of doing it yourself. The following is a simple way of using ruby to make it happen.

Continue reading

4 pet care tips to help you keep your dog happy & healthy

To keep your dog healthy, you need to address their emotional and physical needs consistently. Your pup will need grooming, nutrition, food, shelter, and water. You also have to take into account your dog’s health. In this article, we explore some of the top pet care tips for your dog to help keep them happy and healthy.

High-Quality Nutrition

Your dog should have high-quality nutrition, whether at home or in pet daycare. You should avoid commercial foods that use meat by-products or fillers. Such additives will cut down the diet’s nutritional value. The food should contain the basic elements of nutrients that a dog needs. That includes carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, proteins, minerals, and water. If you’re taking your pup for pet daycare, you should inform the boarding service of any special diet requirements.

Quality Grooming for Your Dog

Keeping your pup’s coat clean is one of the essential elements of their physical and mental well-being. Depending on their type of coat, their fur will have to be trimmed from time to time for good hygiene. Long coats can irritate your dog, and if their coat is around their face and eyes it can block their line of vision.

You should also ensure you trim their nails to keep them from growing long and uncomfortable. Be careful not to cut the inner part, as this can be painful for your pooch. If you don’t have the time, you can find a local pet care service to assist you with their grooming. For more professional tips visit https://www.petfriendlybox.com/products/purrs-advance-for-cats.

Provide Exercise

Exercise is beneficial for your pup’s physical and psychological health. Without it, your dog may show signs of restlessness like barking, digging, or chewing. It is especially important for 70% of apartment renters’ who own pets to constantly walk their dogs as they may not have a yard where the dog can run around. Different dogs have varying exercise requirements so be sure to talk to your vet about your dog’s exercise needs.

When you take your pup to a pet daycare, ensure they have adequate provision for exercise for the breed. Local dog boarding services can offer playtime and daily walks to keep your pet healthy. It can be a convenient solution when you don’t have time to care for your furry friend.

Visit a Veterinarian

A veterinarian can advise you on different aspects of taking care of your pup. Your pet may need vaccinations, and a professional is in the best position to educate you on what’s required to keep your dog healthy. A veterinarian will evaluate your dog’s health and may provide vaccinations, treatments, and check-ups. They can also give you advice on grooming as well as pet daycare.

Your dog needs routine attention every day in the form of exercise and socialization. However, it can be tricky to give your dog the regular exercise and socialization they need to be happy and healthy. After all, you need to work. Fortunately, pet daycares can provide your dog with the regular exercise they need. To learn more about our pet daycare services, contact Eastern Shore Pet Resort today.

PowerDNS Makes Custom DNS Backends Easy

I ran into PowerDNS recently when I needed to find a DNS server that would allow me to produce custom responses to domain queries. I needed to have a request for a DNS entry return a different IP depending on some factors in a database and I needed that data to always be accurate (not cached locally). I found that PowerDNS allows for a lot of customization and I ended up using its piped backend for dynamic queries feature.

With this level of customization you can do things like write your own DNS black list, track who is making DNS requests, give out IP addresses based on a servers availability or use geographic information to return a different IP.

Continue reading

FreeRADIUS with Oracle

I recently needed to find a RADIUS server for use in a project where I could stick profile data into Oracle. I remembered seeing FreeRADIUS a while back so I checked to see if it was active and supported Oracle. Sure enough it did. It was a little tricky to set up because some of the documentation is out of sync with the latest version so here is what you need to know to get it working.

Continue reading

Examples of why netcat is still useful

I recently got a new work PC and was worried that stuck somewhere in the 40G hard drive of the old PC was something I would one day need. The new PC had 300G of space so I figured I would just copy the entire drive over and keep it forever. This isn't the most difficult task in the world and I actually started out using ssh to transfer the image.

Continue reading