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January 2003 Archives

January 3, 2003

Administration Notes

  • Finally getting around to migrating webmail off of HTTP to HTTPS only. Never figured out what the problem with IE was, but I've been testing it out again over the past few days, and haven't seen the problem resurface. Hopefully it's gone. As part of the SSL migration, I generated a new Enfusion Group Certification Authority certificate which I've used to sign all of my other SSL certificates (www, webmail, smtp-auth, and mail). It's fairly easy to import the EGCA certificate into IE and have all of the other certificates signed by it trusted. I've put the certificate up for download here.
  • Additionally, got around to setting up an HTTPS site for www.enfusion-group.com, which houses the change password page, primarily. Since it's not possible to do name-based virtual hosts over SSL, I had to move webmail to another IP address, and reconfigure apache.
  • Anthony's been testing out the new smtp-auth server which allows relaying based on SMTP AUTH PLAIN/LOGIN over TLS only. A bit quirky, but we got it working this morning with Eudora, and I've tested with Outlook.
  • Other upgrades: courier-imap, vpopmail and Gallery.
  • I've also been working on setting up better monitoring for all of the servers and services that are running at enfusion-group. I've setup mon in the meantime, and written a new custom alert that sends alerts and messages to an IRC channel.

    • Posted by Adrian Chung on January 3, 2003 5:44 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

    January 4, 2003

    Administration Notes - continued

  • Upgraded qmail-scanner so that mail is now scanned using a daemonized version of Trend Anti-Virus, trophie, and SpamAssassin's spamd. This means that all inbound mail is now scanned for viruses (more quickly) and SPAM probability.
  • Finally got around to fixing up the serial console on gambit. mgetty was running before for serial console logins, but the kernel and boot loader weren't using the serial console. That's been fixed now, and tested out over a reboot to upgrade the kernel on gambit.

    • Posted by Adrian Chung on January 4, 2003 5:21 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

    January 28, 2003

    How much is the bottom line worth?

  • It'll be a long time before the technology sector regains investor confidence and returns to profitability. Spoken from a mind that is far from knowledgeable in the area, maybe it will just be a long time before tech companies manage to restore their employee's confidence. It still amazes me that companies delude themselves into thinking that the bottom line -- profit, and more so, greed, are the most important assets in a corporate portfolio. Enron collapsed in a huge scandalous mess, only to be followed by an even more shocking exit by Worldcom. At the time, I'd thought companies must really be re-evaluating their strategies to hunker down for the long term. Then last week, the SEC begins investigations into whether executives (including the CEO) at ATI have been involved in insider trading schemes. The list of questionable practices goes on. Obviously, at least for some companies, the bottom line is still that important.
  • So while executives focus on manipulating their balance sheets, making some extra cash for themselves, taking home a wealth of non-taxable benefits and driving their stock prices back up again, hundreds of employees do what they do, day in, day out... They're happy to have jobs, and look around at the number of people who can't find work because the economy's in rough shape. They don't get raises, they don't get bonuses, they put in extra hours, often lack recognition and most of all, they don't complain, because there's a line up of qualified people who want their job. How wonderful for the large company who can now take their sacrifices and increase their bottom line.
  • Every tech company is suffering. Profits are down, share holders are angry, and no one's buying. But there is something that can be done. Take an interest in your employees. Their happiness, their education, their motivation. Realize the fact that your employees are the reason you exist, you're not just doing them a favour, they *are* the company you've built.
  • I'm a firm believer that a happy, motivated employee is the key to getting the tech sector back on its way. The old fashioned, honest way, through hard work, creativity, and good ideas.
  • Soon there will be American troops on our soil, North American missile defences staged across Canada, and soon, it seems we'll all be dreaming the American dream as well.

    • Posted by Adrian Chung on January 28, 2003 12:17 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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    About January 2003

    This page contains all entries posted to adrian's home in January 2003. They are listed from oldest to newest.

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