OIT SysCore

Our mail virus scanners check for new McAffee DAT updates quite frequently. However, when there is a new virus outbreak, you'll probably find that the production DAT files available won't catch it. McAffee has "beta" dat files available, and we typically use these in these instances.

As "afsadmin", do the following:


# cd /afs/.umbc.edu/sun4x_58/usr/av/lib
# wget http://download.nai.com/products/mcafee-avert/beta_packages/unix_betadat.tar

note, that if there are other "beta dat" tar files in your directory, there'll be a number tacked to the end of the tar (e.g. unix_betadat.tar.2), so untar the appropriate file in the next step

# tar -xvf unix_betadat.tar
# vos release sun4x_58.av


That's it.

Ok, so it's this virus that's mutating at an alarming rate. It's that one that tells you that your account is being suspended.

Anyhow, I wrote up some rules that should atleast get the thing caught as Spam, so it won't be as annoying.

This page has moved to the Wiki

As some folks may have noticed, myUMBC has had issues on two separate occasions recently. Of course, Murphy's Law dictates that these problems must always occur after hours, and on evenings when I (as the primary developer) am out and unable to get to a computer to check it out. Anyhow..... we think the cause has been identified and are working on a permanent fix.

We keep track of what is the current semester in LDAP for apps that need it don't have to expend any effort. At the time of this writing, the most important thing that relies on this being correct is the authorization to use the SGI lab machines.

It's kept as a referral ('ref') entry:
dn: umbcsemester=current,ou=Courses,o=umbc.edu
objectclass: top
objectclass: referral
objectclass: umbcCourseSem
ref: ldap:///umbcSemester=200506,ou=Courses,o=umbc.edu

Refs are slightly annoying to work with, so if you should ever need to do so here are the commands you need:
(Both commands take -h <host> -p <port> -D <bind_dn> -w <password>)

Search:
ldapsearch -b "umbcsemester=current,ou=Courses,o=umbc.edu" -M -s base "objectclass=*"

Modify:
ldapmodify -M
dn: umbcSemester=current,ou=Courses,o=umbc.edu
objectclass: top
objectclass: referral
objectclass: umbcCourseSem
umbcsemester: current
ref: ldap:///umbcSemester=200506,ou=Courses,o=umbc.edu

Today, MATLAB + SIMULINK was upgraded from R14 Service Pack 1 to R14 Service Pack 2 (R14.2).

Many modules were upgraded in the process and license access to a few more were added.

You may run the new MATLAB but executing /usr/local/bin/matlab from any GL machine or Linux workstation in the OIT labs. MATLAB users elsewhere on campus will also benefit from the new license.

We've set up a Jabber server @umbc. It's in TESTING, not production, so there will probably be some changes, downtimes, all that fun stuff.

However, if you'd like to use it, feel free.

Jabber ID: username@umbc.edu
Password: Your MyUMBC/Kerberos Password
Connect Server: jabber.umbc.edu

Choose "Use TLS Encryption" in your client. If you don't, you won't be allowed to authenticate. "old style" straight SSL is currently disabled, because I can't seem to get it authenticating for some reason.

We're configured with appropriate message routing, so you can chat with folks in other Jabber realms.

When we go "production" with this service, we'll be mucking with the Jabber ID portion of the system. You might have to "choose" your JabberID from MyUMBC before you use Jabber for the first time, or something like that. We'll let ya know...

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This is UMBC's internal CA certificate, currently just used internally, but not for long.

Our blackboard systems will be down for several minutes on 6/21 in the early AM. I will be applying several patches.

The patches scheduled for the blackboard server on 6/21 did not complete
before 8:00am. The patchwork was resumed 6:30am today 6/22 and was completed around 7:30.

This information has moved to the Wiki

console.umbc.edu now has console-line level access control.


console-b9 S7 chambord auto dept #b9-7 B9 laura 2850


The new field after the "auto/noauto" flags, is a comma-delimited list of
"groups" that can access this console. Users still have to "sudo" to use console,
however, their access is restricted to the /var/console/bin/console program.

The groups are defined in the /var/console/etc/groups file -- it is simply a list of group names, followed by a colon, then a comma separated list of group members.

To all ya'll console server users:

In the past week, there have been some significant changes going on with the console server, so here's a quick update, and what to expect in the ensuing couple of weeks.

(read more!)

Updating the BIOS and Service Processor (SP) software on a Sun V20z is a procedure that so far has been poorly documented by Sun. I'll cover how to update the BIOS and the the SP software.

Read on...