If you want to run Geekbench 4 on a linux server, this is how to install and run it.
Note that you need to have a working internet connection on the server.
You can run it as root or as any other user.

Let's start from the home directory and put the files there.
cd

Download the files from geekbench.com:
(change version number if needed for latest version)
wget http://cdn.geekbench.com/Geekbench-4.3.3-Linux.tar.gz

Extract the downloaded files:
tar -zxvf Geekbench-4.3.3-Linux.tar.gz

Go to the extracted folder:
cd Geekbench-4.3.3-Linux

Run the test in tryout mode, results are uploaded automatically:
./geekbench_x86_64

After a few minutes the test is completed and you'll see a link to a webpage which is unique for each test.

Upload succeeded. Visit the following link and view your results online:
https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/1234567

Just enter the link in any browser and you'll see the results of the test.

@dbeato said in NVMe and RAID?:

One of the first Dell Servers with Hotswap NVME was the R7415 so yeah
https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/povw/poweredge-r7415

Not sure what others have seen.

The newer ones have a 5 in the model number, so R7515, R6515 etc.
That's the ones you want to buy. AMD Epyc 2 Rome CPUs.

Dual sockets models are R7525, R6525 etc.

And to make this complete: 6 is 1U and 7 is 2U. R7515, R6515 etc.

@jasgot said in Macbook Air for College:

Daughter wants a Mac laptop for college. Any suggestions?

Yes, take her to the store and buy the one she wants.

Buying an Apple product is not a technical issue that needs to be figured out. It's an emotional issue. Like a Gucci bag.

If you have a RAID controller with 8 ports, you can connect up to 8 SAS/SATA drives directly to the RAID controller. That's fine but if you for instance have a server with say 36 drive bays you would need a 36 port RAID controller. Those are hard or maybe even impossible to find.

Well, here is where the SAS expander comes into play. It will work somewhat like a network switch but for SAS/SATA ports.

The SAS expander IC can be integrated directly on the backplane of the drive bays or it can be a standalone card or PCIe card. These are often used when you have more than 8 drive bays and even more so when you have 16 or more drive bays.

It allows you to expand the number of drives the RAID controller is able to connect to. It's transparent to the user because the RAID cards have integrated support for SAS expanders. This is also true of HBAs (Host Bus Adapters).

The only drawback is that the maximum transfer rate is, as always, limited by the PCIe link to the RAID controller card but also by the SAS connections from the RAID controller to the SAS expander. In real life though these bottlenecks are seldom bottlenecks as it's uncommon to read from all drives at the same time and drives are also often slower, especially when using HDDs.

SAS expanders are also used heavily in external JBOD chassis which are expander chassis for drive bays that you connect to a server so you can attach more drives than fits in the standard enclosure, aka Direct Attached Storage DAS. In that case the SAS expander sits inside the JBOD chassis.

@hobbit666 said in How to Secure a Website at Home:

Why not GitHub or GitLab for free?

That was part of the etc 😁😁😁😁
Also I thought GitHub was more for storing scripts and opensource stuff.

It's not generic hosting of websites as you don't have control like you would on a normal webserver.

It's simplified hosting and the github/gitlab pages was initially intended to complement the projects on there. So it would be easy to make a html website from the git repositories, for instance for documentation.

Since you can store any files on gitlab/github you could of course also use the pages for any type of static website.

Here is how to get started in the simplest way possible:
https://guides.github.com/features/pages/

Good to know about WoeUSB.

If you have windows available, rufus is an easy tool to make bootable USB drives.
Doesn't need to be installed and it's fast.
https://rufus.akeo.ie/

But in all honesty it's very easy to make a bootable windows installer USB drive manually. Just make a primary bootable FAT32 partition on the USB drive and copy the files from the ISO onto it. Done.

You can copy more files onto the drive, for instance drivers or other software. If you do that, it makes sense to make a dd image of the entire thing when you're done. That way you can easily write a new USB drive with your custom files on it.

First, ransomware is big business run by organized crime. I think about 19 billion dollar per year industry.

Everything can be compromised in different ways. There is just no way to protect your data 100% and to think otherwise is just naive.

We have chosen to go with tape as our last line of defense. Once you take it offline there is no way it can be remotely compromised. We believe that is enough to be able to recover from most attacks and the cost is reasonable.

Integrity of files

If you want to check the integrity of a bunch of files you can do it with md5deep, which can be thought of as a recursive version of md5sum. It was initially designed for forensic work.

If a file has the same hash as another file they are identical. If you save the md5 hash of a file and later recheck it, you can be sure the file hasn't been changed, corrupted or tampered with.

Installation on Debian

You'll find it in the package md5deep.

apt install md5deep

Inside the package you'll also find sha256deep and some other good stuff. Use sha256deep instead if you want to use sha256 hash. It's better and actually more secure than md5 but might be slower. You use it in the exact the same way though.

Besides linux it's also available on other OSs such as Windows, MacOS. You can build it from source too. https://github.com/jessek/hashdeep

Create MD5 signatures

md5deep -rl /check_this_dir/* > files.md5

This will create a text file (files.md5) with the md5 hash of all files (*) in the "/check_this_dir" directory.

Check MD5 signatures

md5deep -rlX files.md5 /check_this_dir/*

It will return the files that don't match. So if any file has been changed, it will show up.

Common Options

-r is to go into subdirectories as well
-l is to use local paths instead of absolute paths
-X is to do check the signatures

-e is if you want to see the progress while it's working.

Find more info on basic usage with examples here:
http://md5deep.sourceforge.net/start-md5deep.html#basic

Example

Let's check that our files in /boot and it's sub-directories stays intact.

First let's create an md5 file that we will compare with.

md5deep -r /boot/ > boot.md5

Let's verify the files have not been tampered with.

md5deep -rX boot.md5 /boot/ 

If a file or several files has been changed it will return the file and the new hash (exit code 1).
If all is good it will not return anything (exit code 0).

Maybe stop using USB drives for things they aren't designed for?

It looks like we've been down this road before.
https://mangolassi.it/topic/20070/so-xen-server-gave-me-an-error-what-do-i-do

A small SSD would do better. Something with write endurance and something that is designed to attached 24/7 in a hot environment.

If you don't have drive bays or don't want to waste them, use satadom.

Maybe I'm alone but on the top of my list:

1. Only use Microsoft as a last resort when all other options have been explored.
2. If you get paid by the hour disregard #1.

@dustinb3403 said in O365: KUDOS:

@irj said in O365: KUDOS:

@dustinb3403 said in O365: KUDOS:

@gjacobse said in O365: KUDOS:

@stacksofplates

I am not certain, but I think they would like to stay in the O365 realm. Though, I will make note of that...

What ever happened to just sending a company wide "Thanks Karen" emails?

Why does a project like this even exist?

Kudos are a big part of many companies, and it's not hard to imagine why. Many companies will actually pay some bonuses or gift cards for kudos. A $50 visa gift card is an investment well spent when you have someone busting their ass. I have been on the kudos side and when you get a small token of thanks beyond a "Karen" email it means alot.

Sure, but sending out a Kudos through some specific application has nothing to do with the reward aspect that you're discussing, and wasn't at all a part of what I was discussing in my post that you opt'd to downvote.

This is specifically the delivery of an announcement, email has a very good delivery record. Why use something else for the announcement?

Someone from HR or wherever will still deliver the reward in person for that employee busting their ass.

The reason for kudos is because the companies are after enhancing employee engagement. They do it by instant gratification, recognition, awards, likes etc.

Think of it as a game. When you break the high score you'd want everyone to know.
That's why you see badges, awards and gamification in every kind of service nowadays. This is the same thing.

That's why just sending an email manually doesn't give you the maximum employee engagement. So that's a reason to look for something more elaborate.

@jimmy9008 said in Vagrant/DHCP problem:

Upon rebooting, should the VM poll the DHCP server to see if the IP that was assigned moments ago is still available? Or, as the lease is longer will the VM just use it as it still has a lease?

It should ask the dhcp server again.

This is from the standard https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2131 :

When clients should use DHCP

A client SHOULD use DHCP to reacquire or verify its IP address and network parameters whenever the local network parameters may have changed; e.g., at system boot time or after a disconnection from the local network, as the local network configuration may change without the client's or user's knowledge.

If a client has knowledge of a previous network address and is unable to contact a local DHCP server, the client may continue to use the previous network address until the lease for that address expires. If the lease expires before the client can contact a DHCP server, the client must immediately discontinue use of the previous network address and may inform local users of the problem.

@jimmy9008 said in Vagrant/DHCP problem:

@pete-s said in Vagrant/DHCP problem:

@jimmy9008 said in Vagrant/DHCP problem:

Hi folks,

Long post...

So, we have a DevOps colleague who has setup automation with Vagrant to one of our Hyper-V hosts. I am not familiar Vagrant at all, but the allows his code to build VMs on one of our Hyper-V hosts. I am trying to rule out DHCP being the issue.

Most of the time the VMs are made successfully and get a DHCP address. Every once in a while, one of the automated VM fail to get a DHCP IP (well, they actually don't). (from being generated new)

We setup Wireshark to capture traffic for one of these failed events. When this fails I can see:

1 - the broadcast from the mac of the VM asking for any DHCP servers on the subnet
2 - the DHCP offer with the MAC of the client and the IP available
3 - the actual DHCP request from the client MAC with the IP which is available from step 2
4 - the DHCP Ack from the DHCP server confirming allocation complete

I have checked the DHCP server and can see the record. Correct IP, MAC, and a machine name. Now, at this point I believe the entire flow has been successful. Now, this is where it goes wrong.

I connect to his VM in Hyper-V and login with the password he gave and type ipconfig /all
I get no IP, no subnet, but I do see DHCP = Yes, Gateway and DNS servers. I now type 'hostname', and the hostname is different to what is in DHCP!

What I suspect:

1. Vagrant makes the machine, it boots, gets an IP and is written to DHCP
2. At some point, the code written gets the VM to change its host name and the VM reboots
3. The VM (with its new name) asks DHCP server for the same IP
4. DHCP server refuses as the hostname does not match the IP in its records
5. Vagrant VM is left in a stage having no IP

Does this sound reasonable? I assumed if this were the case though that the DHCP server would send a NACK or something refusing the IP renewal/request, but do not see the traffic in Wireshark.

If I restart the VM or do ipconfig /renew, it does get the correct IP, and DHCP updates with the new name of the machine.
This once in a while happens to his Linux VM and his Windows Server VM which are made via Vagrant, leading me to believe the issue is Vagrant.

The fact DHCP has a record of the IP, Name and MAC of the host before name change makes me think the issue is with Vagrant/his code rather than DHCP server.

Cheers

You might be confused by the hostname without it being a problem.

Normally it's the DHCP client that tells the server it's hostname in the DHCPREQUEST package.

So the hostname is set in the OS during installation and it's communicated to the DHCP server. The DHCP server stores this information in it's lease table. The hostname and IP can then be communicated from the DHCP server to DNS as well.

But it's also possible for the DHCP client to change the OS hostname based on a hostname the DHCP server sends - usually when having static DHCP reservations.

It's however not a requirement for the dhcp client to sends its hostname to the dhcp server and it's not a requirement that the dhcp client changes the hostname based on the hostname the DHCP server provided either. These are options that can be enabled or not.

Whatever the setup is, you can have the hostname inside the VM and the hostname on DHCP/DNS be different without anything being wrong.

I think you're on the right track using wireshark to figure out what is happening. I would have a close look on the MAC addresses to see what VM is doing what.

I don't know Vagrant but I don't see any reason for the DHCP server to supply a hostname to the VM when Vagrant is perfectly capable of setting the VMs hostname itself.

I would have a look at the DHCP server settings. Are you for instance using static reservations and are you setting hostnames from the DHCP server?

Sorry. I wrote a lot. The DHCP server is not controlling the hostname of the client VM in any way.
What I meant was vagrant creates a VM with a vNIC, and a hostname called say 'vagrant-123', it boots, gets DHCP successfully, talks to the vagrant server/control/source (I'm not sure how that works). That orchestration 'thing' rolls out whatever is needed to the VM, then changes its name to say 'DevEnv15'.
Changing its host name makes it reboot. At that point, it sometimes no longer has its DHCP address. DHCP lists the original name.

Upon ipconfig renew, the VM gets its IP back.

Okay. Well, if you have a standard dhcp server and are not using static reservations, then the hostname has no influence on dhcp. It's the MAC address that determines what IP you are given.

If you want to check for the same VM doing several attempts at dhcp you should look for the same MAC address in wireshark. It highly unlikely that Vagrant changes the mac address after the VM has been created.

@eddiejennings said in Multiple Virtual Disks and Application Performance:

On a system where you had different physical disks, I could see this making sense, and I suspect this guide was written assuming just that -- different physical disks. However, if you're in a virtualized environment, where your VM storage is all on the same device, I don't see where the benefit would be.

I agree that it was written thinking about the performance on separate physical arrays/disk drives.

There might be some benefit to different virtual disks/volumes in a virtualized environment if you could mix thin / thick provisioning or have different filesystems and the drives, optimized for the job at hand.

@jimmy9008 said in Vagrant/DHCP problem:

Hi folks,

Long post...

So, we have a DevOps colleague who has setup automation with Vagrant to one of our Hyper-V hosts. I am not familiar Vagrant at all, but the allows his code to build VMs on one of our Hyper-V hosts. I am trying to rule out DHCP being the issue.

Most of the time the VMs are made successfully and get a DHCP address. Every once in a while, one of the automated VM fail to get a DHCP IP (well, they actually don't). (from being generated new)

We setup Wireshark to capture traffic for one of these failed events. When this fails I can see:

1 - the broadcast from the mac of the VM asking for any DHCP servers on the subnet
2 - the DHCP offer with the MAC of the client and the IP available
3 - the actual DHCP request from the client MAC with the IP which is available from step 2
4 - the DHCP Ack from the DHCP server confirming allocation complete

I have checked the DHCP server and can see the record. Correct IP, MAC, and a machine name. Now, at this point I believe the entire flow has been successful. Now, this is where it goes wrong.

I connect to his VM in Hyper-V and login with the password he gave and type ipconfig /all
I get no IP, no subnet, but I do see DHCP = Yes, Gateway and DNS servers. I now type 'hostname', and the hostname is different to what is in DHCP!

What I suspect:

1. Vagrant makes the machine, it boots, gets an IP and is written to DHCP
2. At some point, the code written gets the VM to change its host name and the VM reboots
3. The VM (with its new name) asks DHCP server for the same IP
4. DHCP server refuses as the hostname does not match the IP in its records
5. Vagrant VM is left in a stage having no IP

Does this sound reasonable? I assumed if this were the case though that the DHCP server would send a NACK or something refusing the IP renewal/request, but do not see the traffic in Wireshark.

If I restart the VM or do ipconfig /renew, it does get the correct IP, and DHCP updates with the new name of the machine.
This once in a while happens to his Linux VM and his Windows Server VM which are made via Vagrant, leading me to believe the issue is Vagrant.

The fact DHCP has a record of the IP, Name and MAC of the host before name change makes me think the issue is with Vagrant/his code rather than DHCP server.

Cheers

You might be confused by the hostname without it being a problem.

Normally it's the DHCP client that tells the server it's hostname in the DHCPREQUEST package.

So the hostname is set in the OS during installation and it's communicated to the DHCP server. The DHCP server stores this information in it's lease table. The hostname and IP can then be communicated from the DHCP server to DNS as well.

But it's also possible for the DHCP client to change the OS hostname based on a hostname the DHCP server sends - usually when having static DHCP reservations.

It's however not a requirement for the dhcp client to sends its hostname to the dhcp server and it's not a requirement that the dhcp client changes the hostname based on the hostname the DHCP server provided either. These are options that can be enabled or not.

Whatever the setup is, you can have the hostname inside the VM and the hostname on DHCP/DNS be different without anything being wrong.

I think you're on the right track using wireshark to figure out what is happening. I would have a close look on the MAC addresses to see what VM is doing what.

I don't know Vagrant but I don't see any reason for the DHCP server to supply a hostname to the VM when Vagrant is perfectly capable of setting the VMs hostname itself.

I would have a look at the DHCP server settings. Are you for instance using static reservations and are you setting hostnames from the DHCP server?

@dustinb3403 said in Checking multiple Directories to confirm all files are identical:

@eddiejennings Yeah I was thinking of the same solution as well, my trouble is how would I get the system to not try and store everything to memory first and then write to file. . . .

Some of these customer requests are insane...

If you do the equivalent of md5sum with subdirectories you will get md5 sums of all files. A diff with produce the different files.
File size or directory size will not matter at all for this operation.

Get-FileHash seems to output multiple lines per file which is not good for this.

If you don't need hash to compare and just wanted to check filenames, file sizes and dates, maybe you should just do a directory listing for each tree and compare them. That would be very fast.

You could get dir to provide a one-file-per-line output, with the proper options.

@dashrender said in Need MS Access app re-written to something else.:

You're what - assuming IT just didn't mention to management that it needs yearly updates/etc? Well, if that's true, then some of the blame belongs to IT, but some is still on the manager/owner because they aren't considering their business holistically.

Yes, I'm assuming IT didn't mention it because they didn't think of it - as it's not immediately obvious to everyone.

If they did mention it and management decided against it, then it is what it is.

@dashrender said in Need MS Access app re-written to something else.:

@pete-s said in Need MS Access app re-written to something else.:

IT have no problem understanding the need for patching an OS, migrating to a new OS, upgrading old hardware etc, etc. But often fail to understand the need to do the same with everything custom built they manage.

So getting a bespoke solution is not a one-time project or a one-time expense. Software needs to be taken care of from the cradle to the grave. As the OS is updated, packages deprecated, frameworks have become obsolete, etc - the software needs to be updated as well. Even if no new functionally is added or removed.

This is also come of the consideration that goes in to selecting what technology to use.

Really? This is not an IT issue, but likely generally more a company/business issue. The chances that IT is what is preventing a rewrite are damned near zero - why do I say this - because it's not an IT spend, or at least shouldn't be viewed as an IT spend. This is a production spend - This solution is specific for something in production - no different than a million dollar printer is in a printing shop. They don't want to replace those printers anymore than they want to replace solutions like this OP is asking because production doesn't want to spend money on it.
It's likely that IT would LOVE to see this shit upgraded to modern solutions, making them possibly more reliable, or at least modernly fixable.

Who pays for it is an internal accounting problem.

It's IT that is responsible for making their internal customer understand that there needs to be yearly maintenance costs on their custom software. Just as you would have with any software licensing or service agreement. There is no technical difference between software that the company themselves have commissioned and software that is stock from Microsoft, Oracle, vmWare or whoever.

It's because IT fails at this, they end up with a mess after X number of years. Because each year the software will get more and more out of date. Eventually it will prevent IT from running the latest OS, or updating the database or similar.

And I'm not talking about big upgrades or complete changes to the functionality. I'm talking about maintenance - keeping it working the same while the OS is updated, the database is updated, the software library/APIs/frameworks/whatever are changed.

I'm sure that there are companies that have this figured out and understands that they of course are responsible for keeping their own software current. I just haven't seen it much except in situations where it happens naturally. For instance when new functions are added.

@hobbit666

This is the type of work that is easiest accomplish with a vector graphics design software.

A free open source solution easily available would be LibreOffice/OpenOffice Draw.

You could save the result in whatever format you want - pdf, tiff, png, jpeg etc.

@Dragon3303

What I do agree on is that @JasGot as IT is the right person to handle this for his customer (the end user).

What he needs to do is find a software firm or developer that want to look at it and give him a solution and a quote.

Given that this probably have to be tested on-site, I'd say it has to be someone local or close enough to travel. If it breaks and IT can't figure out what the problem is, they need to have someone that support the the application.