One Step Closer To Normal

After some (more) tinkering with the server box (NS), I’ve managed to get some other weirdnesses fixed. Most of these are minor in nature and have to do with the boot order and boot processes. I’ve managed to get the ftp daemon working (without much trouble) and accessible for ‘trusted’ hosts as I input into the firewall rules.

I also made a relatively major fix on both server boxen. It seems that RedHat 9 (and 8, which I never used) now ship with unicode support (for international fonts/distribution) by default. While the majority of things are unaffected by this, there are several things I do which are affected. Occasionally, there will be random strange characters in man pages, when logged in through the console, terminal session colors are really dark, etc. After finding the neat fix for this problem and applying it, things are much better. Much like the mini HOWTO explains, I really have no use for international support (or anything non-English in nature)…so this feature is just a PITA (Pain In The Ass) for me.

I also finally got regular www access straightened out, at least from the outside. NS now has the old ‘web front’ it had under RH 7.3. I made some minor changes when moving it over, but the whole point of the two pages is to let people know that I don’t provide shell hosting…and also limit active services.

While I was on this kick, I finally got DICTD working…locally. The client software was always working, but I needed to get the server side installed, which it now is. I also found some neat freedict.org translation dictionaries which are cool. Anyway, I got all that stuff set up, and it’s working beautifully.

I also took time to get NTP working the way it should. NS is not only the router box, it’s also the DNS and NTP box. As it turns out, something got messed up with the transition between versions, namely with the configuration. NS was getting the right time from the upsream time server, but wasn’t letting my network clients synchronize to it. This has also been fixed now.

As a final ‘server note’ today, I’ve added some new rules to iptables after watching the log files for a few days. Mostly in regards to random services…but it’s a little more robust because of it.

Network Topology Diagram Complete

I’ve been messing with MacDraft again recently…and have completed the home network topology diagram. It outlines where each vital piece of equipment is connected, how it’s connected (e.g. speed), and the order in which packets must flow (if you follow arrows) to get from any given machine to the Internet and vice versa.

Perhaps in the near future (next week, or whenever I fire up the Mac again) I will get an image version handy (I’ve only got it on printed paper) to put up in a good place.

Building Plans…

As I noted above, I had the Mac in operation this morning. In addition to finishing the topology diagram, I used MacDraft to quick draw up my plans for the soon-to-be-constructed table piece for the printer/server stand. I’m planning on being near my table saw later this week (from Tuesday through Thursday), and hope to get a chance to make the simple table.

As it currently stands, there are to modular tables I built (on the order of two years ago now) on top of each other, forming a shelf unit. In the bottom part is my hub, file cabinet, and Mac cart (where I also keep the scanner). On the first tabletop (at 30″ above the floor) is our small TV for the back room and the Mac monitor. On the second tabletop (~50″ above the floor) are the two printers — the LaserJet and PhotoSmart. This has been inconvenient since I purchased the new laser printer last fall. But I’ve not had time to fix this problem.

With the addition of the second server, I need more room, plain and simple. The fix is to leave the lower table as-is. Both servers will now be in the place of the Mac cart. The second tabletop will be cut back (about 6-8+”) from its existing position, making it look a little more roomy in here, and just working out better aesthetically. The second tabletop will now house the TV and PhotoSmart printer. The first tabletop will house the Mac monitor and keyboards/mice for the two servers and Mac.

So, now I need a new place to store the Mac, scanner, UPS units, and laser printer. The solution is to build a side table (fit into the corner next to the existing stand) which has shelves on it (and has only one level). The laser printer will be at a much better level (only 30″) for use, and will also be tucked into the corner…a little more out of the way than it currently is. The scanner cart will now be placed under this table, and the Mac will be moved to a stationary platform underneath the main table surface. I’ve designed it with room for the UPS units that need to be in that vicinity, and there should even be room to spare.

But anyway, this building project is actually going to get underway! The worst part about it all is moving all the equipment!

This post was upgraded to the MZ Online Blog on 8/20/07