Mikmorg's Tech Blog

Shorewall Local Device Address List

Michael Morgan — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 23:57:14 GMT

If anyone uses shorewall for their firewall needs, and uses a dynamic IP, then this is definitely the most useful tidbit ever. This grabs a list of addresses bound to the local host with ipv4 devices (ipv6 can be added by replacing inet with inet6). This comma-separated list is then stored in the $SELF variable which can be used in rule columns such as Original Destination. All you have to do is add this line to the params file.


SELF=$(ifconfig | sed -n 's/.*inet addr:\\([^ ]*\\).*/\\1/gp' | sed ':a;N;s/\\n/,/;ta')

Simply restarting shorewall will rerun this... so you can cue a re-parse by adding 'service shorewall restart' to your network init, or your dhcp renewal script.

Really, it is useful for more than shorewall... but it is why I use it :).

RedHat/Fedora/CentOS: Display Running Services

Michael Morgan — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 22:49:43 GMT

This is a quick lil one-liner to display which services are running currently versus which are running by default. It is helpful when you have a server running for a while, and you need to restart but you forgot which services you've manually started.


vimdiff <(for i in /etc/init.d/*; do echo -n "$i "; $i status 2>/dev/null | grep -c running; done | egrep -v '0$' | cut -d' ' -f1 | cut -d/ -f4) <(chkconfig --list | awk '{ print $1, $7}' | sed -n '/5:on/p' | cut -d' ' -f1)

It takes a while to come up with the report, but it isn't something you'd run often anyway... The right side of the screen shows the default services, and the left side shows the currently running services.

Using mercurial's hgweb.cgi and hgwebdir.cgi with thttpd

Michael Morgan — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:18:13 GMT

I figured I'd share this gem to get hgwebdir.cgi working with thttpd, as I needed this for a light user-space server for a while. I don't use it anymore, but people are more than welcome to try this out to get hgwebdir.cgi working with thttpd. Just stick the following lines of python in the cgi file, before the call to WSGIServer, making sure that SCRIPT_NAME points to the appropriate location of the file itself.


import os
os.environ["SCRIPT_NAME"] = '/cgi-bin/hgwebdir.cgi'
os.environ["REQUEST_URI"] = os.environ["SCRIPT_NAME"]
if os.environ.has_key("PATH_INFO"):
   os.environ["REQUEST_URI"] += os.environ["PATH_INFO"]
if os.environ.has_key("QUERY_STRING"):
   os.environ["REQUEST_URI"] += "?" + os.environ["QUERY_STRING"]

Settling down in my new home

Michael Morgan — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 22:14:01 GMT

I have time to write today, as I'm home sick :(. Anyway, I'm very excited to have finally made the big move to Chicago. I purchased a condo in Lakeview at the very end of my last semester in college, and have been moved in since January. It has been a long time since I've posted, mainly because so many huge changes have been made, it has been impossible to keep up with.

The Chicago area is great. I use public transportation every day and thank God for the fact that I don't rely on using a car; especially as this dollar keeps weakening, bringing gas prices up to unrealistic numbers. I'm in a great area, within walking distance to nearly everything.

My job is a half hour away, in the loop. The trip isn't nearly as bad as it sounds, however. I can almost always read or use my laptop on the way there and back; which really makes time fly.

I finally have a roommate as of this month; although for a short period of time. I plan on getting another roommate in a few months; hopefully someone I know. I still need to rent out my parking spaces though!

Anyway, things are looking up. My job is incredible, along with the people I work with and the perks. I actually feel like I'm missing out being home sick.

Downtime possibly justified...

Michael Morgan — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 04:10:15 GMT

For whom it may concern,

I have recently upgraded my server, including web, e-mail, etc. This action has been brought about due to a broken motherboard, and many other sever reasons for needing a new system.

The new machine is not completely set up yet, but e-mail and webspace should be working. If anyone finds any new problems using their services, please let me know!

I realize this is generally off-blog-topic, but it needs to be said somewhere. I have had _MANY_ things going on in my life that I would have loved to blog about, but honestly, I haven't had the time! I hope to start blogging again soon.

Thanks,
Mike

AI Interest Piqued (yet again...)

Michael Morgan — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:04:53 GMT

I have had an off & on interest in many, many different aspects of technology (most specifically electrical engineering and computer science), but I find myself coming back around to AI. I've always been absolutely fascinated by the human mind, and the biomimetics derived from the mind in many technical fields. Therefore, I will most likely be re-scratching a long-lived itch of mine, regurgitating a bunch of information as I go on my blog.

For now, I am finishing my CS degree and planning a very busy next two months. However, I will be taking some reading materials with me wherever I go (like I always do), except this time the topic will be artificial intelligence. I also find this area at the very least partially useful for my upcoming career in automated trading.

Googling for 'artificial intelligence programming' has already brought up some great resources I plan to browse through, especially to get book reviews. Please, if anyone has any tips, post comments! I read them greatfully :).

National Adoption Awareness Month

Michael Morgan — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 22:54:25 GMT

As a tribute to my sister Amy, and anyone else out there who has adopted, I am temporarily changing my site's color to purple. I have a 'thing' for adoption, personally.. I'd much rather see children in need being taken care of than more children not taken care of. I realize that not everyone can afford adoption, but in my humble opinion, if you can, you should :).

OK, that ends my adoption rant. I just wanted to explain the new color. :)

D-Day: 12/13/2007 10:00:00 EST

Michael Morgan — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 23:33:08 GMT

Ever look at your calendar and say... "Holy $&*#" ???

This is my feeling as I stare at this approaching date. This is when my last final ends. I plan to move to Chicago, buy Christmas presents, go to Mexico, and start my job in 30-some days after this hour. Live will be BUSY! But.. I can't wait.

There are so many good things about my plans, that I completely overlook the cold, windy Chicago weather which I face. Blech!

The other major consideration I'm making is whether or not to have a vehicle. The best plan would be to find groceries, etc. inside walking distance from my Condo, such that a car becomes completely unnecessary. This, and I don't wish to pay for parking!!! I'd rather use that money to pay for my scary mortgage that I'm planning for...

So, if anyone has any experience living in Chicago, with or without a vehicle, I'm up for hearing your stories :). I want advise before I find a place that doesn't have a parking spot :/.

pNFS: What they beat me to...

Michael Morgan — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 21:00:07 GMT

A few of you already know this, but I worked on a research project called DMDR last year at Purdue, under Dr. Kihong Park. It was an awesome experience. I highly recommend doing some sort of research project if you're an undergrad.

This story is about a project I discovered in the latest ACM Queue journal, which highlighted some "futuristic" technologies in distributed file systems. As I was reading about them, I found an article on pNFS. This made me cry. Tears of steel. Why? Because it turns out that they did what I wanted to do, and approached in my research!!!

If anyone is interested in DFS technology, pNFS is definitely worth checking out. If not because I wanted to do it, then because it is potentially extremely useful for a corporation. I may join this project someday...

If you're bored, check out my whitepaper, and then read the ACM article. The best part is that I originally wanted to do my project as an extension of NFS (just like them), but determined the ramp-up would be way too much for a semester project... Ahhh!

Oh well, maybe someday my project will be in the ACM journal instead ;).

The Job Front - Fin

Michael Morgan — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 19:53:28 GMT

As of a few hours ago, I have verbally accepted the offer from Allston. Therefore, I am also planning to move to Chicago, and will being my job on Jan 21, 2008. I will be spending the week before that in Mexico, as a 'fair well' party for collegiate life.

I plan to investigate future opportunities outside of the financial business eventually, but at least for now, I go where the money is :). I can't deny that I'd enjoy learning the financial business and being somewhat successful in it, either.. Plus, I can go to London in a few years; yay :).

I apologize to anyone expecting technology info in this blog, lately. I plan to really start making interesting posts next year, after things calm down. For now, I'm not even concerning myself with extra-curricular research, so my blog wouldn't be very exciting if I tried to update it accordingly.

Welcoming Owen Gates

Michael Morgan — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 05:44:26 GMT

I would officially like to welcome a new friend by redundant proxy into the world. Please give a warm welcome to Owen Gates :). This ultra-cute baby was recently birthed on Thursday, Oct. 25, 2007. The lucky newlywed (as of Sept. '06) couple would happen to be my best friends, Brad and Theresa Gates (aka. Wud and Chri).

So to all of you in the gaming world, your fate is sealed to doom in the next 12 years. And to all of you in the software engineering world, prepare to submit to your new leader. Bred and raised by two ultra-geniuses, this boy is destined for perfection. Bow down, n00bs; all your base are belong to him now.

Edit: Check out the new Owen Photo Gallery :).

The Job Front - Coming to a Conclusion...

Michael Morgan — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 05:11:44 GMT

After my bout at FOSScamp, I realized my destiny. I have been presented with on offer from Allston Trading as a software engineer, and have found it impossible not to accept. For at least the first few years following my elongated education, I currently plan to work in the finance industry in the field of automated trading. Why? Two reasons. One is obvious, the other is the vast experience and challenges which will inevitably present themselves.

Ok, ok.. I'll give you a third reason. Google turned me down :(. After about 6-7 interviews, and even more e-mails and conversations, it was finally decided for me. And yes, I was slightly distraught (P155$ off). However.. I think there was a good reason that I might not be able to account for, as this turn of events has brought me geographically (MUCH) closer to my family. Plus, there is apparently a high chance that in a few years, Allston will request that I move to London; something I had given thought about (hi Mary ;) for a while now.

P.S. A possible fourth reason is the free food and massages.. but I will not openly admit it off-line ;).

P.P.S. Please do not ask me what question stumped me on the last Google interview. I will not say, as it is quite embarrassing for any CS major and makes me look like a n00b, as the l33t spell it.

I loathe the thought of speaking with my former manager (from Dell) over dinner tomorrow to tell him the news. However, I do plan to make a move towards OSS in the future, after college. There is plenty of room for me to collaborate with my old teammates and newly-found cohorts from Dell and Canonical through this planned experience :).

As far as my thoughts on OSS work, I now plan to investigate ACPI (another post-FOSScamp revelation, thanks to Ben Collins), and welcome any assistance as to getting started in that area. I consider it a great opportunity for some challenging and interesting low-level hobby work (excuse the dichotomy), which may also foster this collaboration.

My only fear is that two 'challenging' interests (a job and hobby) may overwhelm me... but for now, lets consider it my long-term plan.

In summary, w00t for Allston!!! See you there, Luke :).

P.S. Any tips from Chicago-dwellers or alums are now welcome ;).

FOSScamp 2007

Michael Morgan — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 04:42:44 GMT

I was invited to join the FOSScamp conference in Boston this weekend, which is hosted by Canonical in support of their operating system, Ubuntu. This meeting is directly prior to the UDS meetings, which go on during the entire week for the Ubuntu developers. The purpose of this meeting was to get developers of related projects talking with each other, and for a Q/A session, basically.

I had a great time, myself. There were plenty of great projects presented, one of which just so happened to be DRU, my pet project from my Dell internship. You can see a news post about the event (including a blurb about my project :) at popey.com. I have to admit, going up against a simultaneously scheduled event on VMs for standardized testing operations kinda left me in the dust ;). I felt quite dwarfed by other presenters (rightfully so), such as Samba, OpenLDAP, and other giants :).

The best part of the whole day was the networking. This was my first OSS convention, and I made good use of it by formally introducing myself to some great people at Canonical, Red-Hat, and some other friendly co-presenters. It is always nice to put faces behind IRC names and phone calls :).

My attempt at getting a kernel developer position at Canonical flopped pretty quickly though ;). Honestly, I didn't come near the reqs ;). Some other day, maybe...

There is some other related news that I found out about DRU. Apparently, Dell has found a unified method for handling the process DRU was intended for (at Dell), so it is now officially an orphaned project. I will be taking up the slack most likely in January, by speaking with Colin Watson about merging DRU and their LiveCD generation system together. Lets hope that goes well...

Norwalk CT: Factset Interview fun

Michael Morgan — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 01:27:27 GMT

On a happier note than my last entry, I'm right here for tonight and tomorrow. Across the street is FactSet, my first second-phase interview. I find it entertaining that it is so close to Long Beach / New York. I'm interested as to what people think about the location...

Anyway, I'm going to sleep; I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow. Wish me luck!

A Solemn 'Goodbye,' for Jim Hawkins

Michael Morgan — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:17:51 GMT

Dear Jim,

Thanks for my first electronics kit. Turns out, I really got into electronics, and thanks to you, my career and goals got a jump-start. Thanks for being there for my Mother; eating lunch and dinner with her, and always lending her a hand. You were, after all, her favorite brother. Thank you for taking anyone skiing when they wanted, no matter what the weather. I won't forget learning to play pool with you when I was young. There are many other things I can thank you for, but most of all, thank you for taking good care of Josh. Your actions were not in vain.

We'll miss you, Jimbo, but we won't forget you. I'll keep working hard, and will not disappoint you. We will all take good care of your big sister for you - Amy, Christy, Mary and I. So just relax up there, and have a beer for me. You deserve to rest. Take care, and good bye for now, Uncle Jim.

Sincerely,
Mikey

The Job Front - Part 1

Michael Morgan — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 03:37:01 GMT

This may be the most anxiety filled three months of my life. Searching for a job, trying to get a decent career path in line, I feel overwhelmed constantly. My current aspirations include linux kernel platform engineer at Google, software developer at Allston Trading, FactSet, and a few others. The above are my 'big three,' which all coincidently include the lifestyle benefit of free lunch and breakfast every day. I obviously know what is most important in life.

Looking towards places to live, I'm searching for jobs outside of the midwest (with the exception of Allston in Chicago), including international. Wish me luck...

P.S. If you are an employer, my interests are in embedded, networking and communications, and kernel/driver level development :). Don't forget to read my resume at http://mdmsolutions.org/users/mikmorg !

OMG school 4 t3h win y0

Michael Morgan — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 18:59:27 GMT

Ok, I'm starting to feel desperation. Today begins the last and truly least semester of undergrad education for me, but yet I feel like I'm done already. I'm probably going to sit in on a CS class, thank God.. otherwise I'd go mad. I'm going to set off on my job search soon. Wish me luck!

Anyway, I am waiting on my bus, and it seems that I don't have any time left to chat. Later!

The Return to the Most Humble Abode

Michael Morgan — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 13:50:50 GMT

I'm back. OK, I've been back now for about a week. School starts in two days, and I'm completely unprepared. The good news is that I have hired help cleaning my apartment right now. You would understand why this is such good news if you saw what I moved in to find!!!

In other news, mother seems to be doing well. She had another treatment of chemotherapy a couple days ago. I'm glad to be back so that I can keep an eye on her.

Thanks, Amy and Ajay, for everything you guys did last week. It was very fun, and I'm sure that mom & dad loved that you were there.

In summation, once my fridge gets cleaned by my roommate on Monday, I'll be happy to move the beer from my mother's fridge.

Michael Morgan — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT