Author: syl
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Announcing pam_dnsbl: A Lightweight PAM Module for DNSBL-Based SSH Access Control
Not very long ago, I didn’t see any benefit to having Pluggable Authentication Modules on a Linux system. The configurations can be difficult to understand, and arguably easy to get wrong so that services that use it don’t behave as intended. Time passes, and Pluggable Authentication Modules remain in Linux, thankfully with improved default configurations,…
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Maintaining Aging Storage Infrastructure: Patching the HighPoint RocketRAID 640L Driver for Linux 6.15+
Keeping older, highly capable RAID hardware out of landfills and keeping it securely supported on modern, stable Linux kernels is exactly why the open-source ecosystem shines. If you are running these controllers, read on to find how I managed to get its device driver compiled on newer Linux kernels.
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Cfengine: Automating Configuration Management in Complex, Mixed Environments
When your environment spans physical bare-metal servers, virtual hypervisors, and a wandering fleet of employee laptops, you need a deterministic, ultra-lightweight tool to enforce a strict local security baseline once systems are online.
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Worthwhile Reading: Protecting GitHub Repos From Malicious Clones
I’ve been on a bit of a mission lately. I’ve undertaken to learn to use some of the tools that I initially paid only minor attention to, as they were introduced to solve certain problems (sometimes long) after I (or in some cases, colleagues and I) solved the same using custom in-house tools. See also…
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Embracing Innovation: Why Open Source Software Is a Game-Changer
The landscape of enterprise software is buzzing with possibilities, andopen source solutions are real contenders. With a rich history anchored incollaboration and creativity, open source software isn’t just for techhobbyists: it’s a powerful toolkit for organizations of any size, fromambitious startups to global enterprises. Rediscovering Community and Creativity Remember the thrill of joining user groups,…
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Fun With Find
I was deploying a second copy of an application on a system the other day, for ongoing development purposes, and I kept running into issues that seemed like I must have had some file permissions wrong. The installations are (purposely) not identical, but rather close except for a few extensions in each case. None of…
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A little personal insight
I’m normally not an early adopter of new technologies. I tend to think of this as a good thing, but every once in a while, I’m inclined to wonder about that. If I phrase it as “I’m not into fads,” or “I don’t jump on bandwagons,” certainly these sound like good things, but “I’m not…