From: ibuprofin@painkiller.example.tld.invalid   
      
   On Tue, 05 Feb 2013, in the Usenet newsgroup alt.os.linux.mandriva, in article   
   , Adam wrote:   
      
   >Moe Trin wrote:   
      
   >> Had you gotten a flu shot, or is that disallowed?   
      
   >I got one about October, but I think this is a respiratory infection.   
   >Despite last week's antibiotics, I'm still sick.  Postponing   
   >everything possible.  Well, regular appointment with neph/PCP is this   
   >Friday.   
      
   Agree with TJ - see the doctor as this shouldn't be hanging about for   
   so long.   
      
   >It's Verizon's customized Westell 327A, and I'm pretty sure it can't   
   >do that (but OTOH I can manage this situation without it).   
      
   See Jim's response.  The reason I'm suggesting setting helot for a   
   DHCP wireless setup is that would be the way it's operated away from   
   home, and you wouldn't have to have extra hoops to jump through.   
      
   >This router is meant for home users who may not know much, and fewer   
   >settings means fewer ways to screw it up and fewer calls to tech   
   >support.   
      
   They'll still find a way to do so.   
      
   >So it's switching.  I have a mental image of miniature Strowger   
   >equipment within the router clacking away furiously.   
      
   Given the speed of the packets, that's one VERY fast Strowger.  Using   
   switches usually results in a substantial network transfer speed   
   improvement.  The original 10Base5 Ethernet design had all systems   
   sharing a single (coax) wire. Physical constraints limited it to 1024   
   systems on a wire (under special conditions) and those hosts should   
   not be trying to talk very much, as they couldn't get a CHANCE to.   
   Where I was working in California in 1985, our setup had a maximum of   
   about 350 hosts on each subnet. In 1990, we reworked the coax physical   
   layout and added Kalpana EtherSwitch devices (an early Ethernet switch   
   design) and splitting things so that no more than 25 hosts were on   
   each segment, with routers and file servers having their own segments.   
   Typical file transfer speeds went up by a factor of five because each   
   host had less traffic from others to contend with.   
      
   >Why does the router have 239.255.255.250 in its own table of routing   
   >rules?   
      
   >[adam@stolid ~]$ ping 239.255.255.250   
   >PING 239.255.255.250 (239.255.255.250) 56(84) bytes of data.   
   >64 bytes from 192.168.1.13: icmp_req=1 ttl=64 time=0.647 ms   
      
   No idea why it should be responding. 239.255.0.0/16 is a locally   
   assigned range (RFC2365), meaning the local administrator assigns   
   it, but it shouldn't be forwarded.   But do remember that a ping   
   which is ICMP merely indicates that it has an IP stack listening.   
   It doesn't speak about what other protocols (TCP, UDP, IGMP, etc.)   
   and services might be running.   
      
   >>> I want all the other systems to have connectivity even if stolid   
   >>> isn't available.   
      
   >> /etc/resolv.conf  - have it point to the name servers you want to   
   >> use.   
      
   >Unless I start messing with the contents of   
   >/etc/resolvconf/resolv.conf.d/* , Mandriva creates /etc/resolv.conf   
   >from the DNS1 and DNS2 entries in ifcfg-eth0 or ifcfg-wlan0   
   >(whichever was most recently used).   
      
   I'd set the DNS1 and DNS2 entries in those ifcfg-* files appropriately.   
   For helot, the wireless setup should get the DNS server data from the   
   DHCP server.   
      
   >[adam@stolid ~]$ cat /etc/nsswitch.conf | grep hosts   
   >hosts:           mdns4_minimal files nis dns wins mdns4   
   >[adam@stolid ~]$   
      
   >whatever that may mean.   
      
   Oh, I just LOVE the lack of documentation by the klowns at the Avahi   
   project.   The "mdns4_minimal" says to try to use Avahi to resolve   
   a request if the IPv4 hostname ends in ".local" or is 169.254.0.0/16.   
   The "mdns4" does the same thing, but isn't restricted to .local or   
   that /16 which makes Avahi an even bigger security hole.  You're not   
   using Avahi, so those two can be removed.  For what it's worth, there   
   is also a "mdns6_minimal" and "mdns6" which works the same way for   
   IPv6, and a b0rken "mdns_minimal" and "mdns" that might do both IPv4   
   and IPv6 if the applications worked as Lennart Poettering thinks   
   proper (they don't - big surprise).  The "nis" says to try to use NIS   
   version 2 to resolve IPs and/or hostnames - and you're not running   
   that either, so that can also be removed.  The "wins" is for Samba to   
   do windoze name service - also not needed.  Thus, the line could be   
   shortened to the traditional "hosts:   files dns" which says to try   
   looking in the /etc/hosts, and if not found, try DNS (as configured   
   by /etc/resolv.conf).  Note that this does NOT apply to nameserver   
   query tools like dig, dnsquery, host or nslookup which ONLY query the   
   nameservers listed in /etc/resolv.conf, and ignore Avahi, NIS, the   
   /etc/nsswitch.conf and /etc/hosts files and most everything else.   
      
   >I don't understand it but I'd expect "dns" to be at one end or the   
   >other on that line.   
      
   [fermi ~]$ whatis nsswitch.conf   
   nsswitch.conf   (5)  - System Databases and Name Service Switch   
           configuration file   
   [fermi ~]$   
      
   The traditional line noted above should be adequate.  What that line   
   now means is "try Avahi (restricted), then try /etc/hosts, then NISv2,   
   then DNS, then Windoze name service, and finally Avahi (unrestricted)   
   again".  Minor waste of time and CPU cycles for each resolver query.   
      
   >>> make each system its own DNS.   
      
   >> Not sure it would be worth the effort.  [...] so you're not gaining   
   >> much by running a part-time server.   
      
   >Okay, that'll save a little work.  "eris" and helot are only up when   
   >needed.   
      
   Configuring a resolving DNS server shouldn't be that much work (maybe   
   a half dozen files to set up), but if they aren't running continuously   
   to build up cache data, they only work around your ISP's nameservers   
   being slow or down.   
      
   >One small advantage of using VZ's own DNS is that I can legitimately   
   >complain if there are problems, since I'm paying for those (as part   
   >of my DSL service).   
      
   and get the hell-desk person to then ask when you last rebooted...   
      
   >> On stolid, you've got to set up the the daemon for the inkjet.   
      
   [printing]   
      
   >Meaning cupsd?   
      
   Yeah, but the distro-supplied helper should make that painless.   
      
   >> You can then set the firewall on stolid to accept connections from   
   >> 192.168.1.x and the inkjet becomes just another network printer.   
      
   >Hadn't thought of that, but then I seldom use the inkjet.  Mainly for   
   >photos, or quick 1-2 page printouts.   
      
   It's just another option.  We use the LJ5 very infrequently, and the   
   old Epson dot-matrix is slow and noisy.  Actually, I noticed WalMart   
   was selling an HP inkjet for $19.95, and that is less than the price   
   of the cartridges.  Hello, King Gilette Marketing - how can I...   
      
   >> Distribution dependent.   
      
   >Oh boy.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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