So I posted a snapshot export script on here a long time ago, and it wasn't really correct. It created an overlay disk of a backing store and exported the backing store. Red Hat doesn't include the most up to date version of QEMU, so they can push RHEV. RHEL/CentOS 7 only comes with QEMU 1.5, and for live snapshots you need at least 2.0. So if you ad the oVirt repos you can get the newest version with the package qemu-kvm-rhev, or use Fedora server. Here's a script I wrote to take a live external snapshot and compress it to a location. I used my normal template with the interactive function. vmLocation is the location of your VMs. I usually keep mine in the same area. I should add full paths for everything, but I'm lazy this evening. I'll add them later. I also need to add some error handling but this is a rough start if anyone needs to use it.

#!/bin/bash


vmLocation="/data/VMs"

today=$(date +%m-%d-%Y)



#Script functions
function script_help () {
  echo "
      Usage: $(basename $0) [options] dom-name snap-name save-location disk-name

          -i   Ineractive mode

          -h   this help text

          dom-name        Name of domain to take snapshot of

          snap-name       Name of snapshot

          save-location   location to copy snapshot to

          disk-name       Name of disk in VM

      Example:
        $(basename $0) bind-server bind-snap01 /export/snaps/ vda"

  exit ${1:-0}
}

function interactive_snap () {

  echo "Domain name"
  read name

  echo "Snapshot name"
  read snap

  echo "Location to save snap"
  read location

  echo "Disk name"
  read disk

  virsh dumpxml $name > $location/$name.xml

  diskPath=$(virsh domblklist $name | grep -i $disk | awk '{ print $2 }')

  virsh snapshot-create-as --domain $name $snap --diskspec $disk,file=$vmLocation/$snap.qcow2 --disk-only --atomic

  tar -czvf $location/$snap-$today.tar.gz $diskPath

  virsh blockcommit $name $disk --active --verbose --pivot

  rm -f $vmLocation/$snap.qcow2

  virsh snapshot-delete --metadata $name $snap

  exit ${1:-0}

}

function argument_snap () {

  virsh dumpxml $name > $location/$name.xml

  diskPath=$(virsh domblklist $name | grep -i $disk | awk '{ print $2 }')

  virsh snapshot-create-as --domain $name $snap --diskspec $disk,file=$vmLocation/$snap.qcow2 --disk-only --atomic

  tar -czvf $location/$snap-$today.tar.gz $diskPath

  virsh blockcommit $name $disk --active --verbose --pivot

  rm -f $vmLocation/$snap.qcow2

  virsh snapshot-delete --metadata $name $snap

  exit ${1:-0}



}

#Show help if no arguments or options are passed
[[ ! "$*" ]] && script_help 1
OPTIND=1


#Read command line options
while getopts "ih" opt; do
    case "$opt" in
      i) interactive_snap ;;
      h) script_help ;;
      \?) script_help 1 ;;
    esac
done
shift $(($OPTIND-1));

#Run argument function
name=$1
snap=$2
location=$3
disk=$4
argument_snap

Well it's official now. I start on Monday as a senior systems engineer with Curtiss-Wright.

So I have a dynamic DNS service for my ERL, but it's not in my actual domain. So I made a small script that updates my CloudFlare DNS from my ERL with their API. There is a cron job that just runs this script every 5 minutes.

#!/bin/bash

key="your-api-key"
zoneID="your-zone-id"
email="[email protected]"
recordID="record-id-to-update"
recordName="newrecord.yourdomain.com"
ip=$(ifconfig eth0 | grep "inet addr:" | cut -d: -f2 | awk '{ print $1 }')

curl -X PUT "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/$zoneID/dns_records/$recordID" \
     -H "X-Auth-Email: $email" \
     -H "X-Auth-Key: $key" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     --data '{"type":"A","name":"'"$recordName"'","content":"'"$ip"'","ttl":120,"proxied":false}' -k

You do have to get the record id from the API. I haven't found a way to get it through the web interface. So that means you have to create the record initially, either through the API or the web interface (or use an existing one). Once you have the ID, just paste it in the variable.

Guys I have a server I'm running to display a slideshow of my cats. It has to run 28/8/368. Downtime is not an option, I can't not see my cat's pictures. I need 40 TB of storage in RAID 0 for ultra redundancy and my budget is some change I found in the parking lot. Can anyone help me?

Ok so it seems there's a bit of confusion for how this is set up. On CentOS and Fedora workstations you don't need to do this because it's installed by default. For the servers it's just as easy.

On CentOS just choose software and then virtualization host:

On Fedora under software choose headless virtualization:

That's literally all the steps needed to have a working KVM hypervisor. If you want a GUI to manage with then install Virt-Manager on your workstation:

dnf install virt-manager

or

yum install virt-manager

Then connect to your host:

Youtube Video

WD MyCloud. I hear they're easy to remote support.

@scottalanmiller said in Merits of Staying Long Term with a Job or Moving More Rapidly:

There are a lot of opinions on this subject. What do people think, what have you found? Should you lean towards sticking with one employer and staying for a long time and working your way up? (Linear job progression.) Or should you lean towards looking for external opportunities and moving to other companies (Lateral job progression?)

I think both have their place. If you are somewhere where you can stay for a while and move up that's awesome. Just don't get complacent so if you ever have to leave you can.

@dafyre said:

And Suddenly @scottalanmiller disappears for hours. Guess we can go back to the #wheressam feed again?

Carmen SAMdiego Hehe

If any of you use vagrant-libvirt and upgraded to Fedora 30 you might notice something strange. I finally figured it out after reviewing a pull request. Vagrant-libvirt was only using the user-session and not the default session even if you are in the libvirt group. So your networks wouldn't be available to the Vagrant boxes. Here's how to fix it:

Put the following in ~/.vagrant.d/Vagrantfile

Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
  config.vm.provider :libvirt do |libvirt|
    libvirt.qemu_use_session = false
  end
end

Now it should behave like it used to before Fedora 30.

@Dashrender said in Windows 11 versus 10:

@scottalanmiller said in Windows 11 versus 10:

@siringo said in Windows 11 versus 10:

I just hate these bloody upgrades or whatever you want to call them.

When I was younger it was exciting/interesting, now it's just a PITA.

I hate them because I know they will move or make you have to do something unimportant, that you have always done, be done differently. Where's notepad? Oh it's called Scribbler now. Where's Windows Explorer? Oh it's called File Finder.

Why do we have to learn new names for the same old crap.

Imagine doing that with cars. Press the accelerator, oh it's called the Make it faster button now!

I don't care about the new tech tricks and improvements, I just want to use my PC and get my work done so my day is as stress free as possible.

Old grumpy bastard complaining, yeah, probably. Don't worry, it'll happen to you.

Really only a Windows thing. They rename to distract from the lack of innovation.

my question is - do they need innovation? Other than performance improvements - is windows 10/11 any better than windows 7? performance is an under the hood thing...
This is a business tool - not some stupid home gadget - Windows doesn't need flashing lights.

Is this what people said when windows 95 came out and replaced 3.11? I don’t get the hate from people for changing the looks. As time goes on, people find better ways to interact with systems esp with touch screens being prevalent and the ever changing landscape of screen sizes.

@Dashrender said in Miscellaneous Tech News:

@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:

@Dashrender said in Miscellaneous Tech News:

@stacksofplates said in Miscellaneous Tech News:

For almost two years, Microsoft officials botched a key Windows defense, an unexplained lapse that left customers open to a malware infection technique that has been especially effective in recent months.

Microsoft officials have steadfastly asserted that Windows Update will automatically add new software drivers to a blocklist designed to thwart a well-known trick in the malware infection playbook. The malware technique—known as BYOVD, short for "bring your own vulnerable driver"—makes it easy for an attacker with administrative control to bypass Windows kernel protections. Rather than writing an exploit from scratch, the attacker simply installs any one of dozens of third-party drivers with known vulnerabilities. Then the attacker exploits those vulnerabilities to gain instant access to some of the most fortified regions of Windows.

It turns out, however, that Windows was not properly downloading and applying updates to the driver blocklist, leaving users vulnerable to new BYOVD attacks.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/10/how-a-microsoft-blunder-opened-millions-of-pcs-to-potent-malware-attacks/

OK that's definitely bad that they don't block it - but since you're an admin - why do you even care? the article says that the attacker is starting as a local admin.

Installers are typically local admins.

let me ask this another way.
Yes - it's bad that MS isn't blocking something they said they would.

But does that make the situation any worse than it would really be if they did?

the attacker already has local admin - why would they need to install a driver that has vulnerabilities when they already have full local admin control - what advantage do they get they didn't already have?

Because they’re mostly things like automated installs. It’s not like someone is sitting at the keyboard as a bad actor. It’s an email with an attachment for a doc that when Sally opens it installs a valid signed driver that is vulnerable.

For almost two years, Microsoft officials botched a key Windows defense, an unexplained lapse that left customers open to a malware infection technique that has been especially effective in recent months.

Microsoft officials have steadfastly asserted that Windows Update will automatically add new software drivers to a blocklist designed to thwart a well-known trick in the malware infection playbook. The malware technique—known as BYOVD, short for "bring your own vulnerable driver"—makes it easy for an attacker with administrative control to bypass Windows kernel protections. Rather than writing an exploit from scratch, the attacker simply installs any one of dozens of third-party drivers with known vulnerabilities. Then the attacker exploits those vulnerabilities to gain instant access to some of the most fortified regions of Windows.

It turns out, however, that Windows was not properly downloading and applying updates to the driver blocklist, leaving users vulnerable to new BYOVD attacks.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/10/how-a-microsoft-blunder-opened-millions-of-pcs-to-potent-malware-attacks/

tmux is really the closest thing I know of, but it won't save to disk or survive a reboot.

@Dashrender said in wifi for unmanaged devices:

We have a corporate WiFi and a guest WiFi network.

The owners keep asking to put their personal phones on the corporate WiFi - The only thing this could gain them is access to the printers to print from their phones, but it's not something they have ever done.

Am I just dieing on a hill for no reason wanting them to put their personal devices on the guest WiFi?

Flip the ssid names and tell them you did it

I bought some refurbished Dell micro form factors (like an Optiplex 7090 micro) and they worked pretty well.

@gjacobse said in PS ISE: Unsaved Projects:

@scottalanmiller said in PS ISE: Unsaved Projects:

@stacksofplates said in PS ISE: Unsaved Projects:

This is what Git is for. Why not just use something like VSCode and have a repo for your powershell stuff?

This is what I was thinking. Who needs to save code today, your GIT servers will handle that automatically.

I'll admit - I've not looked at Git - yet I think I have an account.

As for setting up a Git Server? Yea,.. I don't know anything about those - or if one would be permitted in our environment. I happy just having the ability to run PS as I am... and in some cases like the totally vain PS I'm starting now couldn't ever be published to 'public'

If you can’t use hosted solutions for whatever reasons you can just use a box with git installed and push to that. You don’t need a full setup like GitLab or GitHub.

There are other options also: Gitea, Gogs, etc.

@pmoncho said in PS ISE: Unsaved Projects:

@stacksofplates said in PS ISE: Unsaved Projects:

This is what Git is for. Why not just use something like VSCode and have a repo for your powershell stuff?

Github or Gitlab? Does it matter for simple powershell scripts?

For what he's doing it doesn't matter.

GitLab has a lot more features for groups, I like their CI/CD better, and some other niceties. However, in this case it doesn't matter.

This is what Git is for. Why not just use something like VSCode and have a repo for your powershell stuff?

@travisdh1 said in Eero Inquiry:

@scottalanmiller said in Eero Inquiry:

@stacksofplates said in Eero Inquiry:

@Dashrender said in Eero Inquiry:

@dbeato said in Eero Inquiry:

@WrCombs You cannot hide your SSIDs on Eero. You also have a limit of your Main SSID and Guest Network. It is geared for Home and really small environments.

https://support.eero.com/hc/en-us/articles/214588166-Why-can-t-I-hide-my-network-SSID-with-eero-

Why Eero over Ubiquiti? Business versus consumer. Does the pro version have APs with wired connections?

Prob because management is much easier. I ditched my APs and edgerouter for a single Amplifi which I can update and control from my phone. My mom has a Deco setup and it works very similarly and is great as well.

Easier if you do it yourself. But if you have a support company, I think the Unifi is easier. The Eeros always made for a lot of extra work when we had to deal with them.

At a former job, we had an Amplifi system that caused ~8 hours of un-needed billable time. If it would have been a UniFi system, we could have fixed it without the site visits.

Yeah idk. Mine’s been running for probably a year and a half now and it’s been fine. I have the remote management enabled and can do everything from anywhere.