Author Archives: john

Practical Zabbix examples

Posted on May 4, 2020 by john | 8 views

Intro I share some Zabbix items I’ve had to create which I find useful. Convert DateAndTime SNMP output to human-readable format Of course this is not very Zabbix-specific, as long as yuo realize that Zabbix prodices the outer skin of … Continue reading →

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The IT Detective Agency: large packets dropped by firewall, but logs show OK

Posted on May 1, 2020 by john | 5 views

Intro All of a sudden one day I could not access the GUI of one my security appliances. It had only worked yesterday. CLI access kind of worked – until it didn’t. It was the standby part of a cluster … Continue reading →

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Linux shell script to cut a packet trace every 10 minutes on Checkpoint firewall

Posted on May 1, 2020 by john | 7 views

Intro Scripts are normally not worth sharing because they are so easy to construct. This one illustrates several different concepts so may be of interest to someone else besides myself: packet trace utility in Checkpoint firewall Gaia send Ctrl-C interrupt … Continue reading →

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What is BGP hijacking?

Posted on April 20, 2020 by john | 14 views

Intro I just learned of this really clear explanation of BGP hijacking, including interactive links, and what can be done to improve the current situation, namely, implement RPKI. I guess this weighs on me lately after I learned about another … Continue reading →

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Trying to upgrade WordPress brings a thicket of problems

Posted on April 13, 2020 by john | 17 views

Intro Wordpress tells me to upgrade to version 5.4. But when I try it says nope, your version of php is too old. Now admittedly, I’m running on an ancient CentOS server, now at version 6.10, which I set up … Continue reading →

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Examining certificates over explicit proxy with openssl

Posted on April 3, 2020 by john | 10 views

Intro This is pretty esoteric, but I’ve personally been waiting for this for a long time. It seems that beginning with openssl 1.1, the s_client sub-menu has had support for a proxy setting. Until then it was basically impossible to … Continue reading →

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3d printing a part for my deck

Posted on April 1, 2020 by john | 16 views

Intro The end pieces of the pergola above my deck kept blowing off. I finally lost track of them and decided to 3D print a replacement to keep my skills fresh. I will use this as an opportunity to review … Continue reading →

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Quick Tip: Powershell command to unblock a firewall port when running Windows Defender

Posted on March 10, 2020 by john | 14 views

Setup I decided to run an X Server on my Windows 10 laptop. I only need it for Cognos gateway configuration, but when you need it, you need it. Of course an X Server listens on port 6000, so hosts … Continue reading →

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What’s Next In 3D Printing?

Posted on February 12, 2020 by john | 26 views

In a lot of ways, the last few years have seen 3D printing “going mainstream,” so to speak. People are no longer astonished by the sheer capabilities of the technology, and we’re getting more accustomed to seeing stories about one … Continue reading →

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Network utilities for Windows

Posted on January 30, 2020 by john | 30 views

Intro Today I came across a simple but useful tool which runs on Windows systems that will help determine if a remote host is listening on a particular port. I wanted to share that information. The details PortQry is attractive … Continue reading →

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