Nagios issues, duh.

I went to go pull up the Nagios web interface yesterday and to my surprise received a "Error: Could not read object configuration data!". Troubleshooting here we come!

First things first, check the process

 # /etc/init.d/nagios status  
 nagios is stopped  

Not running? Odd. ok, start it up

 # /etc/init.d/nagios start  
 nagios is stopped  
 Configuration validation failed              [FAILED]  

Hmm.

 # /usr/bin/nagios -v /etc/nagios/nagios.cfg  
 Checking...  
  Total Warnings: 0  
 Total Errors:  0  
 Things look okay - No serious problems were detected during the pre-flight check  

So, I checked the log files and they are all from past dates, including nothing from the last day or so.

 # cat /var/log/nagios/nagios.log | perl -pe 's/(\d+)/localtime($1)/e' | less  

Nifty perl script there to fix the dates, but it's not mine, just a web snippet.


 I was stumped. Then I had a thought, SELinux errors...

 # getenforce  
 Enforcing

Ok, 

 # setenforce permissive 

and give it another shot,

 # /etc/init.d/nagios start  
 nagios is stopped  
 Starting nagios:                      [ OK ]  

As they say on Afrotechmods,

A lot of folks disable SELinux in their environments as it can get rather complicated. However, for this issue I was able to dig up this post regarding setting up a new type definition for Nagios, but haven't yet tried it myself.

http://fportase.wordpress.com/selinux-policies/nagios-and-rhel-5-xx-and-6-xx-working-with-selinux-enabled/

Python and My Summer Schedule

With the RHCSA finished up I am digging in no Python before moving on to the RHCE. Plus, I have a few months before my VMWare ICM (v.5) class, which begins at the end of August.

The first class I'm taking is Zed Shaw's Learn Python The Hard Way. It is essentially a book containing some 50+ exercises for learning Python. I came across the course on Udemy back around the end of 2011 and haven't had a chance to start the class until now. The Udemy course has Q&As with Shaw and videos detailing the exercises in the book. The course starts out very basic using Python 2.x and covering such things as printing text and doing mathematics. Also, the course is setup to be a "learn by doing" course with many items not explained. You are, however, instructed to look these items up and Mr. Shaw seems ready to anser questions at a moments notice. I've given myself about a month to blow through the course and do all the exercises a few times.




SecurityTube Python Scripting Expert from Vivek Ramachandran on Vimeo.



In July I will begin the Securitytube Python Scripting Expert (Spse) Course And Certification which seems to jump into more in depth Python topics with an infosec focus. That should take me through the end of July when I'm tentatively planning to take the SPSE exam.

After that August will have arrived. I'll begin studying for the RHCE exam then and come late August my VMware ICM class will begin. The ICM course is one night, weekly, but I have 2 other courses as well. So,  hopefully I will have some additional time to study for the RHCE durring the initial few months of classes.

Notes from the Net 2012 06 14

Finished up the RHCSA. On to the SecurityTube Python Scripting Expert course.

This months notes:

Routing:
The IP Routing Process - Step-by-Step Analysis
http://www.firewall.cx/networking-topics/routing/181-routing-process.html?goback=.gde_123120_member_110099489


Tools:
Smoke ping

http://oss.oetiker.ch/smokeping/doc/smokeping_install.en.html

Cloud Performance Analysis (Large Scale)
http://dsl-wiki.cs.uchicago.edu/index.php/Cloud_Performance_Analysis_%28Large_Scale%29

RT: Request Tracker
http://bestpractical.com/rt/

Keypass Password Safe
http://keepass.info/index.html

Top 5 (mostly free) tools for monitoring bandwidth
http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/222989-top-5-mostly-free-tools-for-monitoring-bandwidth


Productivity:
Some really great tools for time management (inc. a typing app, location tracking, email organization, etc.) :
http://www.inc.com/ilya-pozin/time-management-tips-how-to-save-an-hour-every-day.html


Linux:
Tuning your system with Tuned
http://servicesblog.redhat.com/2012/04/16/tuning-your-system-with-tuned/

Intro to Linux Shared Libraries
http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2012/06/linux-shared-libraries/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheGeekStuff+%28The+Geek+Stuff%29

Linux tgtadm: Setup iSCSI Target ( SAN )
http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/howto-setup-linux-iscsi-target-sanwith-tgt.html

SELinux tutorial
http://hackinglinux.blogspot.com/2007/05/selinux-tutorial.html

15 Examples To Master Linux Command Line History
http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2008/08/15-examples-to-master-linux-command-line-history/


Windows:
Reading HFS+ drives on Windows (this is the Windows driver):
http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?s=95be5f9ff95000712b712472950e730e&showtopic=183351&view=findpost&p=1769690

New Windows 8 Task Manager
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/10/13/the-windows-8-task-manager.aspx

Active Directory 70-640 Free Video Course
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBBA04BF566F0E0D6

 
Clustering:
dealing with HPC (Beowolf) clusters
http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=1242501


Storage:
ISCSI vs. Fibre Channel SANs
http://www.cuttedge.com/files/iscsi_vs_fiberchannel_explain.pdf

Dell SAN training
www.amazon.com/Dark-Side-Moon-Experience-Remaster/dp/B005NNUKF4/ref=tmm_msc_title_0

SNIA SAN foundation training
http://www.angelbc.com/snia/snia_buy2_EW.html

Quantum StorageCare Learning
http://www.quantum.com/ServiceandSupport/StorageCareLearning/Catalog/Index.aspx

EMC Information Storage and Management v2 (ISM v2) FAQs
https://community.emc.com/docs/DOC-16510


Education, Career, & Certification:
Realtime Nexus Digital Library (a free resource for IT Pros)
http://nexus.realtimepublishers.com/

How to land a cybersecurity job
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/050312-cybersecurity-tips-258931.html

Leaving Tracks and Collusion

Collusion is a plug in for Mozilla Firefox. It tracks and graphs what's leaving tracking cookies on your system while browsing the web. It does a good job at representing the connection between all the sites that track your online browsing and the fact that everything you do on the web is tracked by someone, whether that be for profit or not.

Who you think is tracking you:

Who is actually tracking you:

There was a Ted Talk introduction done by Gary Kovacs CEO of the Mozilla Corp., called "Tracking the trackers." Have a look:

 

Interesting food for thought regarding what you do online.