From Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu Tue Feb 11 06:52:40 2014 From: Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu (Michael Paoli) Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2014 06:52:40 -0800 Subject: [buug] BALUG meeting 2014-02-18: Michael Paoli on LUKS (drive encryption); & other BALUG news Message-ID: <20140211065240.5936521lb8u7vkmw@webmail.rawbw.com> BALUG meeting 2014-02-18: Michael Paoli on LUKS (drive encryption); & other BALUG news ------------------------------ items, details further below: 2014-02-18: Michael Paoli on LUKS (drive encryption) giveaways (CDs/DVDs, ...) volunteering to help BALUG (and add to your experience & resume!) Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/BALUG_org ------------------------------ For our February 2014-02-18 BALUG meeting, we're proud to present: Michael Paoli on Linux Unified Key Setup (LUKS)[1]. LUKS has now been available for Linux for years, is commonly used for drive encryption, is recognized by the kernel, and is well supported by most major Linux distributions, including at time of installation, making drive encryption on Linux very conveniently available. In this talk/presentation, Michael Paoli will give an overview of LUKS, including why one would want to use it, at least basic features and usage, and demonstration on multiple Linux distributions. About our presenter Michael Paoli: Michael has in excess of a decade of experience in both Linux and Unix systems administration, including work in quite secure environments and much practical security knowledge and expertise. He's also been making practical use of LUKS for years, and has been quite involved in various Linux, Unix, Open Source and related User Groups in the Bay Area for many years now. 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LUKS So, if you'd like to join us please RSVP to: rsvp at balug.org **Why RSVP??** Well, don't worry we won't turn you away, but the RSVPs really help BALUG and the Four Seas Restaurant plan the meal and meeting, and with sufficient attendance, they also help ensure that we'll be able to eat upstairs in the private banquet room. Meeting Details... 6:30pm Tuesday, February 18th, 2014 2014-02-18 Four Seas Restaurant http://www.fourseasr.com/ 731 Grant Ave. San Francisco, CA 94108 Easy PARKING: Portsmouth Square Garage at 733 Kearny: http://www.sfpsg.com/ Cost: The meetings are always free, but for dinner, for your gift of $13 cash, we give you a gift of dinner - joining us for a yummy family-style Chinese dinner - tax and tip included (your gift also helps in our patronizing the restaurant venue). ------------------------------ We typically have various giveaway items at BALUG meetings. We'll likely have at least the below plus additional items. CDs/DVDs/ISOs, etc. - have a peek here: http://www.wiki.balug.org/wiki/doku.php?id=balug:cds_and_images_etc We may also be able to "burn" images per request or copy to USB flash, etc. Donations of blank or +-RW media, USB flash, or funding thereof, also appreciated. See the above URL for details (and the inventory (qty.) of what we specifically have "burned" and available on-hand does also frequently change). ------------------------------ volunteering to help BALUG (and add to your resume/experience) Not only can you do useful and cool stuff volunteering to help BALUG, but it can also be a way to gain useful and practical experience, and could also be something to add to or round out one's resume. There a quite a variety of opportunities to help BALUG. Come talk to us at a meeting and/or drop us a note at: balug-contact at balug.org These opportunities may include, among other possibilities: o assist on speaker coordination/procurement, etc. o assist on publicity o chief/assistant cat herder o Linux Systems Administration (e.g. do/assist/learn, with/under some quite experienced and skilled Linux systems administrators). o webmaster, assistant webmaster, designer, graphic artist o archivist/history/retrieval/etc. o and other various/miscellaneous tasks BALUG "ought" to be doing or would be good to do (feel free to suggest ideas!) ------------------------------ Twitter - you can also follow BALUG on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/BALUG_org ------------------------------ Feedback on our publicity/announcements (e.g. contacts or lists where we should get our information out that we're not presently reaching, or things we should do differently): publicity-feedback at balug.org ------------------------------ From Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu Wed Feb 19 21:13:42 2014 From: Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu (Michael Paoli) Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2014 21:13:42 -0800 Subject: [buug] Books for BUUG and ... Message-ID: <20140219211342.15555t0mn9h466o8@webmail.rawbw.com> I've got some books to distribute to some user groups - including BUUG. These are review copies from Pearson Education (they'd of course quite appreciate if you write a review - especially on Amazon.com for the particular title and edition). Anyway, books - first of all, I received comp codes for electronic versions of these - see below section references/excerpts/(slightly redacted): ----- Forwarded message from @pearson.com ----- Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2014 13:44:14 -0500 From: @pearson.com> Subject: ((download codes)): Linux User Group // Jan '14 Publisher Offer- New Releases from Addison-Wesley, Prentice Hall & SAMS To: "Michael Paoli" Hi Michael, thanks for sharing your thought process on what would be best for you to receive. I've placed your UPS Ground order for the paper copies and below are single-user codes for each book/video along with corresponding user download **instructions. --New 7th Edition, "A Practical Guide to Fedora and **Red Hat** Enterprise Linux" by Mark Sobell (Pearson/Prentice Hall Professional); http://www.informit.com/store/practical-guide-to-fedora-and-red-hat-enterprise-linux-9780133477436 User #1 Code: User #2 Code: -- (Digital-only VIDEO) "*Linux System Administration LiveLessons*" presented by Ben Whaley (Pearson/Prentice Hall Professional); http://www.informit.com/store/linux-system-administration-livelessons-video-training-9780133551310 User #1 Code: User #2 Code: --"Unleashed: 2014 Edition" by Matthew Helmke (Pearson/SAMS); http://www.informit.com/store/ubuntu-unleashed-2014-edition-covering-13.10-and-14-9780672336935 User #1 Code: User #2 Code: **USER INSTRUCTIONS for InformIT Product Downloads: Please create a user account on our publisher site, InformIT ( informit.com/join) Log into InformIT and on your Account page, find the "Digital Product Voucher" box in the right column. Enter this code and click Submit. (The product and download link will display under "Digital Purchases".) ----- End forwarded message ----- I've also got shipment coming which I'm hoping I'll be able to receive before the BUUG meeting tomorrow, and if so I'll likely bring some title(s) from that shipment. That shipment likely includes some or all of these titles: references/excerpts/(slightly redacted): ----- Forwarded message from heather.fox at pearson.com ----- Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 17:14:34 -0500 From: @pearson.com> Subject: Linux User Group // Jan '14 Publisher Offer- New Releases from Addison-Wesley, Prentice Hall & SAMS To: "Michael Paoli" Hello LUG Leader, I hope your 2014 is off to an excellent start! I'm writing now to offer review copies of relevant new products for the benefit of your Linux User Group. NEW RELEASE OFFERS (we also have new titles on web dev topics including JavaScript, jQuery, HTML & CSS- please let me know if these would likewise interest your group): -- (PRINT bundled with DVD) New 7th Edition, "*A Practical Guide to Fedora and **Red Hat** Enterprise Linux"* by Mark Sobell (Pearson/Prentice Hall Professional, Jan. 2014, ISBN 9780133477436 ); *Summary: In this comprehensive guide, one of the world's leading Linux experts brings together all the knowledge and real-world insights needed to master and succeed with today's versions of Fedora or Red Hat Enterprise Linux (coverage of Fedora 19 and RHEL 7 (beta). Best-selling author Mark Sobell explains Linux clearly and effectively, focusing on skills readers actually need as a user, programmer, or administrator. In 29 chapters, he teaches how to install and configure Linux from the accompanying DVD (Fedora 19), navigate its graphical user interface, provide file/printer sharing, configure network servers, secure Linux desktops and networks, work with the command line, administer Linux efficiently, and automate administration using Python and *bash*. Publisher page: http://www.informit.com/store/practical-guide-to-fedora-and-red-hat-enterprise-linux-9780133477436; Custom Excerpt: http://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com/images/9780133477436/samplepages/9780133477436_Sobell_web_sample_chapter.pdf -- (PRINT bundled with DVD) "*Ubuntu **Unleashed: 2014 Edition*" by Matthew Helmke (Pearson/SAMS, Nov. 2013, ISBN 9780672336935); *Summary: This latest edition covers Ubuntu 13.10 and the forthcoming 14.04, and is bundled with a DVD containing Ubuntu 13.10. Author Matt Helmke exhaustively covers installation, configuration, productivity, multimedia, development, system administration, server operations, networking, virtualization, security, DevOps, and more. Helmke served from 2006 to 2011 on the Ubuntu Forum Council, providing leadership and oversight of the Ubuntu Forums, and has written about Ubuntu for several magazines and websites, as well as being the lead author of "The Official Ubuntu Book". Publisher page: http://www.informit.com/store/ubuntu-unleashed-2014-edition-covering-13.10-and-14-9780672336935 Sample Chapters: "Introduction" & Chp #9, "Managing Software": http://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com/images/9780672336935/samplepages/0672336936.pdf -- (VIDEO) "*Linux System Administration LiveLessons*" presented by Ben Whaley (Pearson/Prentice Hall Professional, Dec. 2013, ISBN 9780133551310); *Summary: Ben Whaley provides novice Linux users with 5+ hours of step-by-step training covering essential system administration responsibilities and skills. The content comprises (9) video lessons featuring command-line examples and conceptual discussion. The video tutorials offer practical advice for real world system administration, such as encouraging the use of shell shortcuts and automation to reduce tedious manual tasks and improve administrative efficiency. Ben is a co-author of the *UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook (*a latter edition of the original classic Evi Nemeth text) He has been managing Linux systems since 1999 and is a Red Hat Certified Engineer. Publisher page inc. sample clips: http://www.informit.com/store/linux-system-administration-livelessons-video-training-9780133551310 -- (PRINT) "*The Technical and Social History of Software Engineering*" by Capers Jones (Pearson/Addison-Wesley Professional, Dec. 2013, ISBN 9780321903426); *Summary: Pioneering practitioner Capers Jones has written the definitive history of this world-changing industry. Drawing on several decades as a leading researcher and innovator, he illuminates the field's broad sweep of progress and its many eras of invention. Decade by decade, Jones examines trends, companies, winners, losers, new technologies, productivity/quality issues, methods, tools, languages, risks, and more. Inspired by Paul Starr's Pulitzer Prize-winning *The Social Transformation of American Medicine*, Jones' new book is a tour de force-a compelling read for anyone who wants to understand how software became what it is today. Publisher page: http://www.informit.com/store/technical-and-social-history-of-software-engineering-9780321903426; Sample Chapter #1: "Prelude: Computing from Ancient Times to the Modern Era": http://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com/images/9780321903426/samplepages/0321903420.pdf ----- End forwarded message ----- So yes, I likely expect to receive shipment tomorrow containing at least some of the above: references/excerpts/(slightly redacted): ----- Forwarded message from @ups.com ----- Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2014 09:04:19 -0500 (EST) From: "UPS My Choice" Subject: UPS My Choice Delivery Alert To: michael.paoli at cal.berkeley.edu Your shipment(s) listed below is scheduled for delivery tomorrow. Scheduled Delivery Date: Thursday, 02/20/2014 If the scheduled delivery needs to be changed, select the Tracking Number below or log on to ups.com to request a delivery change (e.g. reschedule or reroute) from the tracking detail. Shipment 1 Tracking Number: Shipper: PEARSON EDUCATION Delivery Commitment: by End of Day UPS Service: UPS Ground ----- End forwarded message ----- From Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu Thu Feb 20 18:27:15 2014 From: Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu (Michael Paoli) Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2014 18:27:15 -0800 Subject: [buug] Books for BUUG and ... In-Reply-To: <20140219211342.15555t0mn9h466o8@webmail.rawbw.com> References: <20140219211342.15555t0mn9h466o8@webmail.rawbw.com> Message-ID: <20140220182715.20881mkv20qgvm3o@webmail.rawbw.com> And yes, did receive the print books today, qty. 2 each of: Ubuntu Unleashed: 2014 Edition A Practical Guide to Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux The Technical and Social History of Software Engineering details on those books, electronic publications, etc. further below, and the above print books I received today I'll bring one of each to this evening's BUUG meeting. > From: "Michael Paoli" > Subject: Books for BUUG and ... > Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2014 21:13:42 -0800 > I've got some books to distribute to some user groups - including BUUG. > These are review copies from Pearson Education (they'd of course quite > appreciate if you write a review - especially on Amazon.com for the > particular title and edition). > > Anyway, books - first of all, I received comp codes for electronic > versions of these - see below section > > references/excerpts/(slightly redacted): > ----- Forwarded message from @pearson.com ----- > Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2014 13:44:14 -0500 > From: @pearson.com> > Subject: ((download codes)): Linux User Group // Jan '14 Publisher > Offer- New Releases from Addison-Wesley, Prentice Hall & SAMS > To: "Michael Paoli" > > Hi Michael, thanks for sharing your thought process on what would be best > for you to receive. I've placed your UPS Ground order for the paper copies > and below are single-user codes for each book/video along with > corresponding user download **instructions. > > --New 7th Edition, "A Practical Guide to Fedora and **Red Hat** Enterprise > Linux" by Mark Sobell (Pearson/Prentice Hall > Professional); > http://www.informit.com/store/practical-guide-to-fedora-and-red-hat-enterprise-linux-9780133477436 > User #1 Code: > User #2 Code: > > -- (Digital-only VIDEO) "*Linux System Administration LiveLessons*" > presented by Ben Whaley > (Pearson/Prentice Hall Professional); > http://www.informit.com/store/linux-system-administration-livelessons-video-training-9780133551310 > User #1 Code: > User #2 Code: > > --"Unleashed: 2014 Edition" by Matthew Helmke (Pearson/SAMS); > http://www.informit.com/store/ubuntu-unleashed-2014-edition-covering-13.10-and-14-9780672336935 > User #1 Code: > User #2 Code: > > **USER INSTRUCTIONS for InformIT Product Downloads: > > Please create a user account on our publisher site, InformIT ( > informit.com/join) Log into InformIT and on your Account page, find the > "Digital Product Voucher" box in the right column. Enter this code and > click Submit. (The product and download link will display under "Digital > Purchases".) > ----- End forwarded message ----- > > I've also got shipment coming which I'm hoping I'll be able to > receive before the BUUG meeting tomorrow, and if so I'll likely > bring some title(s) from that shipment. That shipment likely includes > some or all of these titles: > > references/excerpts/(slightly redacted): > ----- Forwarded message from heather.fox at pearson.com ----- > Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 17:14:34 -0500 > From: @pearson.com> > Subject: Linux User Group // Jan '14 Publisher Offer- New Releases > from Addison-Wesley, Prentice Hall & SAMS > To: "Michael Paoli" > > Hello LUG Leader, I hope your 2014 is off to an excellent start! > > I'm writing now to offer review copies of relevant new products for the > benefit of your Linux User Group. > > NEW RELEASE OFFERS (we also have new titles on web dev topics including > JavaScript, jQuery, HTML & CSS- please let me know if these would likewise > interest your group): > > -- (PRINT bundled with DVD) New 7th Edition, "*A Practical Guide to Fedora > and **Red Hat** Enterprise Linux"* by Mark Sobell (Pearson/Prentice Hall > Professional, Jan. 2014, ISBN > 9780133477436 > ); *Summary: In this comprehensive guide, one of the world's leading Linux > experts brings together all the knowledge and real-world insights needed to > master and succeed with today's versions of Fedora or Red Hat Enterprise > Linux (coverage of Fedora 19 and RHEL 7 (beta). Best-selling author Mark > Sobell explains Linux clearly and effectively, focusing on skills readers > actually need as a user, programmer, or administrator. In 29 chapters, he > teaches how to install and configure Linux from the accompanying DVD > (Fedora 19), navigate its graphical user interface, provide file/printer > sharing, configure network servers, secure Linux desktops and networks, > work with the command line, administer Linux efficiently, and automate > administration using Python and *bash*. Publisher page: > http://www.informit.com/store/practical-guide-to-fedora-and-red-hat-enterprise-linux-9780133477436; Custom > Excerpt: > http://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com/images/9780133477436/samplepages/9780133477436_Sobell_web_sample_chapter.pdf > > -- (PRINT bundled with DVD) "*Ubuntu **Unleashed: 2014 Edition*" by Matthew > Helmke (Pearson/SAMS, Nov. 2013, ISBN 9780672336935); *Summary: This latest > edition covers Ubuntu 13.10 and the forthcoming 14.04, and is bundled with > a DVD containing Ubuntu 13.10. Author Matt Helmke exhaustively covers > installation, configuration, productivity, multimedia, development, system > administration, server operations, networking, virtualization, security, > DevOps, and more. Helmke served from 2006 to 2011 on the Ubuntu Forum > Council, providing leadership and oversight of the Ubuntu Forums, and has > written about Ubuntu for several magazines and websites, as well as being > the lead author of "The Official Ubuntu Book". Publisher page: > http://www.informit.com/store/ubuntu-unleashed-2014-edition-covering-13.10-and-14-9780672336935 > Sample Chapters: "Introduction" & Chp #9, "Managing Software": > http://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com/images/9780672336935/samplepages/0672336936.pdf > > -- (VIDEO) "*Linux System Administration LiveLessons*" presented by > Ben Whaley > (Pearson/Prentice Hall Professional, Dec. 2013, ISBN 9780133551310); > *Summary: Ben Whaley provides novice Linux users with 5+ hours of > step-by-step training covering essential system administration > responsibilities and skills. The content comprises (9) video lessons > featuring command-line examples and conceptual discussion. The video > tutorials offer practical advice for real world system administration, such > as encouraging the use of shell shortcuts and automation to reduce tedious > manual tasks and improve administrative efficiency. Ben is a co-author of > the *UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook (*a latter edition of > the original classic Evi Nemeth text) He has been managing Linux systems > since 1999 and is a Red Hat Certified Engineer. Publisher page inc. sample > clips: > http://www.informit.com/store/linux-system-administration-livelessons-video-training-9780133551310 > > -- (PRINT) "*The Technical and Social History of Software Engineering*" by > Capers Jones (Pearson/Addison-Wesley Professional, Dec. 2013, ISBN > 9780321903426); *Summary: Pioneering practitioner Capers Jones has written > the definitive history of this world-changing industry. Drawing on several > decades as a leading researcher and innovator, he illuminates the field's > broad sweep of progress and its many eras of invention. Decade by decade, > Jones examines trends, companies, winners, losers, new technologies, > productivity/quality issues, methods, tools, languages, risks, and more. > Inspired by Paul Starr's Pulitzer Prize-winning *The Social Transformation > of American Medicine*, Jones' new book is a tour de force-a compelling read > for anyone who wants to understand how software became what it is today. > Publisher page: > http://www.informit.com/store/technical-and-social-history-of-software-engineering-9780321903426; > Sample Chapter #1: "Prelude: Computing from Ancient Times to the Modern > Era": > http://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com/images/9780321903426/samplepages/0321903420.pdf > ----- End forwarded message ----- > > So yes, I likely expect to receive shipment tomorrow containing at least > some of the above: > references/excerpts/(slightly redacted): > ----- Forwarded message from @ups.com ----- > Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2014 09:04:19 -0500 (EST) > From: "UPS My Choice" > Subject: UPS My Choice Delivery Alert > To: michael.paoli at cal.berkeley.edu > > Your shipment(s) listed below is scheduled for delivery tomorrow. > > Scheduled Delivery Date: Thursday, 02/20/2014 > > If the scheduled delivery needs to be changed, select the Tracking > Number below or log on to ups.com to request a delivery change (e.g. > reschedule or reroute) from the tracking detail. > > Shipment 1 > Tracking Number: > Shipper: PEARSON EDUCATION > > Delivery Commitment: by End of Day > UPS Service: UPS Ground > ----- End forwarded message ----- From Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu Fri Feb 28 07:00:26 2014 From: Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu (Michael Paoli) Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2014 07:00:26 -0800 Subject: [buug] semi-random example of DNS, etc. troubleshooting (www.meetup.com., etc.) Message-ID: <20140228070026.25073bit39fgt3sw@webmail.rawbw.com> So, random example of some DNS (etc.) troubleshooting, and what *not* to do with your production DNS (at least if you can avoid it! - not always possible in some circumstances). So, yesterday, 2014-02-27, a bit after noon, I notice some issues accessing www.meetup.com. and secure.meetup.com. I figure it might be issue with the proxy/firewall stuff at work, so I figure I'll check again later where I don't have anything potentially mucking about with my general access to The Internet. So, many hours later, I check from home ... still not working, dig a little deeper. What am I finding in DNS - and likely many other DNS servers doing the appropriate expected caching? $ dig -t A www.meetup.com. +noall +answer | grep '^[ ]*[^ ;]' www.meetup.com. 208 IN A 38.123.132.30 $ and test connectivity with that: $ nc -z 38.123.132.30 80 || echo FAILED FAILED $ It doesn't work. Also use of traceroute with options and option arguments -n -T -p 80 didn't show anything particularly interesting (never got much of a response beyond about 1st hop or so, and never connected). So, I do a trace on DNS, to see if results are rather consistent - and alas, quite different: $ dig -t A www.meetup.com. +trace | grep '^[ ]*[^ ;]' | fgrep www.meetup.com. www.meetup.com. 300 IN A 190.93.246.143 www.meetup.com. 300 IN A 141.101.114.144 www.meetup.com. 300 IN A 190.93.244.143 www.meetup.com. 300 IN A 190.93.247.143 www.meetup.com. 300 IN A 190.93.245.143 $ But do those IP addresses work for TCP connections on port 80? $ (for a in 190.93.246.143 141.101.114.144 190.93.244.143 190.93.247.143 190.93.245.143; do nc -z "$a" 80 || echo FALIED; done) $ Yes, they all connected, no errors on any of them. So, why/where are we getting different DNS data from cached and not? Our cached NS records: $ dig -t NS meetup.com. +noall +answer | grep '^[ ]*[^ ;]' meetup.com. 5793 IN NS ns4.p06.dynect.net. meetup.com. 5793 IN NS ns3.p06.dynect.net. meetup.com. 5793 IN NS ns1.p06.dynect.net. meetup.com. 5793 IN NS ns2.p06.dynect.net. $ What about uncached? $ dig -t NS meetup.com. +trace +noall +answer | grep '^[ ]*[^ ;]' | fgrep meetup.com meetup.com. 86400 IN NS tom.ns.cloudflare.com. meetup.com. 86400 IN NS lisa.ns.cloudflare.com. $ A very different set of results. @what are the com. NS records? (these also change quite infrequently) $ dig -t NS com. +noall +answer | grep '^[ ]*[^ ;]' com. 159466 IN NS b.gtld-servers.net. com. 159466 IN NS j.gtld-servers.net. com. 159466 IN NS i.gtld-servers.net. com. 159466 IN NS l.gtld-servers.net. com. 159466 IN NS a.gtld-servers.net. com. 159466 IN NS d.gtld-servers.net. com. 159466 IN NS h.gtld-servers.net. com. 159466 IN NS m.gtld-servers.net. com. 159466 IN NS g.gtld-servers.net. com. 159466 IN NS k.gtld-servers.net. com. 159466 IN NS c.gtld-servers.net. com. 159466 IN NS f.gtld-servers.net. com. 159466 IN NS e.gtld-servers.net. $ $ let's see what one of those has to say about NS for meetup.com. $ dig @e.gtld-servers.net. -t NS meetup.com. +noall +answer +authority +comment | sed -ne '/^;; A/{;p;d;};/^[^;]/p' ;; AUTHORITY SECTION: meetup.com. 172800 IN NS tom.ns.cloudflare.com. meetup.com. 172800 IN NS lisa.ns.cloudflare.com. $ most particularly note the TTL of 172800 seconds (== 48 hours) TTLs of Authority records for NS of subdomains directly under com. also very rarely change - so those have probably been TTLs of 48 hours, for a very long time. So, almost certainly the change has occurred within the past 48 hours. So, would appear meetup.com. quite recently changed their NS servers, however the older NS servers give A records to IPs for www.meetup.com. that no longer work - and these haven't yet expired from cache. So that means that for many, meetup.com has broken their service for possibly as long as up to 48 hours for many users. Do we see other corroborating evidence of such a recent change? $ 2>&1 whois -H meetup.com | fgrep -i -e 'Name Server' -e 'Updated Date:' Name Server: LISA.NS.CLOUDFLARE.COM Name Server: TOM.NS.CLOUDFLARE.COM Updated Date: 27-feb-2014 Updated Date: 2014-02-27T14:12:40-0800 Name Server: lisa.ns.cloudflare.com Name Server: tom.ns.cloudflare.com $ Yes - looks like they updated it 2014-02-27 If I take no manual explicit action, when should it be "all better"? $ dig -t NS meetup.com. +noall +answer | grep '^[ ]*[^ ;]' meetup.com. 4179 IN NS ns3.p06.dynect.net. meetup.com. 4179 IN NS ns1.p06.dynect.net. meetup.com. 4179 IN NS ns4.p06.dynect.net. meetup.com. 4179 IN NS ns2.p06.dynect.net. $ In another 4179 seconds, when the apparently no longer usefully functional for [www.]meetup.com. NS records expire. At any point after that, queries for data in/under meetup.com. will have to go back up to com. NS server, and will pick up the updated authority records, and follow that and find and get the updated NS records, and then all will be fine again. Doing a wee bit 'o searching, appears I'm not the only one having run into meetup.com's booboo today, e.g. searching Twitter.com.: Anna Brown #@mediagirl Is there a DNS outage today? http://meetup.com and http://statcounter.com are both down. 12:45 PM - 27 Feb 2014 Now, ... not sure exactly what issues meetup.com was dealing with, but if they could've switched their NS servers more than 48 hours in advance of the old IPs and old service no longer working, they would have avoided all disruptions of service. But in not having managed to do that (perhaps there was unexpected failure of the old IPs/service?), they caused at least some disruptions. And it's not with their power (or anyone else's) to flush out the older DNS cached data ahead of the TTL values it's already existed under. And, something over 4179 seconds later, we now have: $ dig -t NS meetup.com. +noall +answer | grep '^[ ]*[^ ;]' meetup.com. 86400 IN NS lisa.ns.cloudflare.com. meetup.com. 86400 IN NS tom.ns.cloudflare.com. $ Sweet, ... lets see if that all looks good now ... $ dig -t A www.meetup.com. +noall +answer | grep '^[ ]*[^ ;]' www.meetup.com. 300 IN A 190.93.244.143 www.meetup.com. 300 IN A 190.93.245.143 www.meetup.com. 300 IN A 190.93.246.143 www.meetup.com. 300 IN A 190.93.247.143 www.meetup.com. 300 IN A 141.101.114.144 $ (for a in 190.93.244.143 190.93.245.143 190.93.246.143 190.93.247.143; do nc -z "$a" 80 || echo FALIED; done) $ dig -t A secure.meetup.com. +noall +answer | grep '^[ ]*[^ ;]' secure.meetup.com. 300 IN A 190.93.246.143 secure.meetup.com. 300 IN A 190.93.247.143 secure.meetup.com. 300 IN A 141.101.114.144 secure.meetup.com. 300 IN A 190.93.244.143 secure.meetup.com. 300 IN A 190.93.245.143 $ (for a in 190.93.246.143 190.93.247.143 141.101.114.144 190.93.244.143; do nc -z "$a" 443 || echo FALIED; done) $ All that looks good, ... and the acid test - try using site with browser from same client host ... Well, no longer a DNS issue anyway, ... but they still are having issues: Website is offline No cached version of this page is available. Error 522 Ray ID: 103d8d1171de0295 Connection timed out You Browser Working San Jose CloudFlare Working www.meetup.com Host Error What happened? The initial connection between CloudFlare's network and the origin web server timed out. As a result, the web page can not be displayed. What can I do? If you're a visitor of this website: Please try again in a few minutes. If you're the owner of this website: Contact your hosting provider letting them know your web server is not completing requests. An Error 522 means that the request was able to connect to your web server, but that the request didn't finish. The most likely cause is that something on your server is hogging resources. Additional troubleshooting information here. Following the link at the end: https://support.cloudflare.com/hc/en-us/articles/200171906-Error-522 Gives some general details about the 522 error that they're reporting, but without any specifics about exactly why (e.g. DNS name used or attempted, IP address(es) used or attempted, port, response or timeout or whatever) ... so, something for meetup.com to figure out between themselves and their service provider (apparently cloudflare.com). doing some searches ... Google ... Google News ... Twitter ...: Jonathan Carter #@jonathanrcarter 4h @Register_com Also we are slowly coming back up with our DNS requests. http://meetup.com had a ddos yesterday - could be linked Collapse Reply Retweet Favorite More 1:02 AM - 28 Feb 2014 Hmmmm, possibly related? But seems likely unrelated - at least to the DNS issue seen earlier - though it might explain why http://www.meetup.com/ is still effectively down (serves up a hosted error page). In any case, http://www.meetup.com/ and https://secure.meetup.com/login/ show highly similar hosted page errors. Let's see what else we can see on Twitter: *Lots* of buzz about "meetup.com" being down: https://twitter.com/search?q=meetup.com%20down Also, fair amount of buzz on that about no tech news having picked it up yet, and of meetup.com apparently being under DDoS attack (though I can't say I've yet spotted the claims of alleged/reported DDoS attacks being reported from a necessarily reliable and/or authoritative source ... yet). Still spotting nothing relevant on Google News searches - tried "meetup.com" long with relevant terms, etc.: down OR ddos OR dns OR cloudflare ... still nothing ... yet Internet Storm Center https://isc.sans.edu/ Nothing especially noteworthy at present Cloudflare itself? Presently shows all good for today and yesterday, http://www.cloudflare.com/system-status shows all good most recent 6 days including today, except a pair of issues in two non-US locations on 2014-02-25. Cloudeflare shows some CloudFlareStatus tweets in the last couple days, but nothing that immediately appears to be relevant to meetup.com. Checking a bit more on searches ... found: https://twitter.com/intent/user?screen_name=Meetup So, ... does appear meetup.com claims to be and likely is under DDoS attack. And some bits there would also explain the recent DNS changes, notably: Meetup @Meetup We are implementing a solution, but can't yet publish a time estimate of when Meetup services will be available globally. about 13 hours ago and more recently: Meetup @Meetup Meetup is still under a DDoS attack. Our team is fighting back, but unfortunately, we're still seeing intermittent outages. about 2 hours ago Looks like this was Meetup's first tweet on the matter: Meetup Support #@meetup_support 22h Meetup is down for the moment. Our team is working on fixing it right now. Sorry for the inconvenience! 7:44 AM - 27 Feb 2014 So, in brief summary, looks like meetup.com. had issues, presumably from DDoS attack. They did some (disruptive) DNS changes to attempt to fix the issue (apparently use or change content delivery providers (CDN)) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_delivery_network ... but that appears to not yet suffice - even after the DNS issues corrected themselves over time (max 48 hours to pick up changes due to TTL on authority records for meetup.com. NS records - had they done or been able to also change some other records on the older NS server, that might have possibly reduced the time for the DNS issue, but not necessarily all that much, and until issue with (apparently new) CDN provider (between then and meetup.com) is worked out, the DNS being "all better" still wasn't enough to get them effectively up and running again). So, why still down? Guestimate, CDN & DDoS - CDN can typically very well withstand DDoS. However, CDN also has to talk to back-end ("origin") servers for the hosted site - if those aren't protected from attack, and/or if the CDN is being access in ways that most or all traffic must be passed back to origin site (e.g. things that can't be cached, such as submitting updates to a page - e.g. add comment) - then the DDoS attack impacts may be mostly passed through back to origin site, overwhelming those. Anyway, maybe when it's "all better now", Meetup.com will have a nice technical write-up of it somewhere. From itz at buug.org Fri Feb 28 23:55:23 2014 From: itz at buug.org (Ian Zimmerman) Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2014 23:55:23 -0800 Subject: [buug] semi-random example of DNS, etc. troubleshooting (www.meetup.com., etc.) In-Reply-To: <20140228070026.25073bit39fgt3sw@webmail.rawbw.com> References: <20140228070026.25073bit39fgt3sw@webmail.rawbw.com> Message-ID: <20140228235523.7b94c94b.itz@buug.org> On Fri, 28 Feb 2014 07:00:26 -0800 "Michael Paoli" wrote: Michael> So, random example of some DNS (etc.) troubleshooting, and what Michael> *not* to do with your production DNS (at least if you can avoid Michael> it! - not always possible in some circumstances). Interestingly, we had various other problems that seemed like they could be stale DNS records, through yesterday and today. Wondering if the DOS is wider. Maybe Ukraine - related :-/ -- Please *no* private copies of mailing list or newsgroup messages. gpg public key: 2048R/984A8AE4 fingerprint: 7953 ADA1 0E8E AB57 FB79 FFD2 360A 88B2 984A 8AE4 Funny pic: http://bit.ly/ZNE2MX