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LogCheck for Sendmail / Linux?
While I'm trying to sort out my server problems, I'm also battling with spammers trying to use my server for a relay. Unfortunately for them, it's closed so they're just spamming away at a brick wall.
This is, however, generating REAMS of log entries.
I need to start blocking the spammer's IP address (refuse connection), but am having real difficulty with sorting the Log. Every entry is recorded in chronological order, but in fact many processes run for days attempting delivery to bounced non-existent addresses.
I've tried sorting the file in Excel by JOB number, and that at least has grouped processes together. But now it's difficult to find the connection which triggered the process in the first place.
What I really need is a good log analyzer which can track and thread processes. I hear there's something called "Logcheck" for Linux, which e-mails log reports to the admin account each day.
Does anyone know where I can get this, or if there are better / smarter log analysers out there?
Cheers
This is, however, generating REAMS of log entries.
I need to start blocking the spammer's IP address (refuse connection), but am having real difficulty with sorting the Log. Every entry is recorded in chronological order, but in fact many processes run for days attempting delivery to bounced non-existent addresses.
I've tried sorting the file in Excel by JOB number, and that at least has grouped processes together. But now it's difficult to find the connection which triggered the process in the first place.
What I really need is a good log analyzer which can track and thread processes. I hear there's something called "Logcheck" for Linux, which e-mails log reports to the admin account each day.
Does anyone know where I can get this, or if there are better / smarter log analysers out there?
Cheers
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I turned off that log feature in Linux. It produced vast reams of stuff that I didn't want. It would send it to me when I logged on - "You have mail!" just before the StartX screen kicked in, so if I ignored it for a couple of seconds it disappeared anyway. There is probably a way to pick up that mail at a more helpful time, but I stopped looking before I found it.
Can you turn up the security a notch on your router, so that the spammers don't even register on the PC? If Shields Up! says it's fully stealthed, they should get bored and go away after a while. Mine's like that, and I now have the log turned off.
I turn on the router's log once in a while, just to check, and there's usually either nothing or just a couple of "pings".
Can you turn up the security a notch on your router, so that the spammers don't even register on the PC? If Shields Up! says it's fully stealthed, they should get bored and go away after a while. Mine's like that, and I now have the log turned off.
I turn on the router's log once in a while, just to check, and there's usually either nothing or just a couple of "pings".
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I don't want to stop anyone (or other mailservers) connecting to it. I need to receive the (genuine) mail they want to send me! But I do want to block those IPs who are trying to spam the server, and for that I need to be able to analyze the logs a bit better than I can at the moment.
(I'll be pointing it to the spamcop blacklist soon too - when I figure out how!!!)
Plastic PPRuNer
http://www.freeos.com/articles/3540/
"You can download Logcheck from http://www.psionic.com and go for the download URL. Get the latest sources. At the time of writing the article, Logcheck was in version 1.1.1. A point to be noted out here; while you can download Logcheck as a non root user, you would have to login as root while installing as Logcheck prefers to install its scripts, binaries and other configuration files to directories owned by root.
Step 1
Untarring the sources is the first step towards [blah, blah blah]
Good luck!
Ooops! That psionic url leads to Cisco. But Logcheck is still available on Sourceforge at http://sourceforge.net/projects/logcheck
"You can download Logcheck from http://www.psionic.com and go for the download URL. Get the latest sources. At the time of writing the article, Logcheck was in version 1.1.1. A point to be noted out here; while you can download Logcheck as a non root user, you would have to login as root while installing as Logcheck prefers to install its scripts, binaries and other configuration files to directories owned by root.
Step 1
Untarring the sources is the first step towards [blah, blah blah]
Good luck!
Ooops! That psionic url leads to Cisco. But Logcheck is still available on Sourceforge at http://sourceforge.net/projects/logcheck
Last edited by Mac the Knife; 2nd Sep 2006 at 21:29. Reason: Wrong url
Plastic PPRuNer
Puppy Linux
Puppy Linux - http://www.puppylinux.org - is a slick smooth fast mini-distro that's designed to run off a live CD or USB key. Interestingly, it can also run off a rewritable CD/DVD and keep stuff there! Or it can store your personal data on a Windows partition.
I installed it to the harddrive of an old 233 PII with 256Mb memory I have lying around and it's bloody impressive! Very fast, really pretty and very capable!
Lots of variants available, I used PuppyOffice (fat at 120MB download) which has OpenOffice2 included and it really is remarkably good.
Give it a whirl! Standard Puppy is only a 70Mb download.
Plastic PPRuNer
You have to create a Puppy boot CD first (download an .iso and burn it as as .iso). Boot from it and checkout the Install section, there should be one to install to USB key. Remember to set your machine to try and boot from USB first in the BIOS.
There's a guide at - http://www.apcstart.com/usb/puppy/
There's a guide at - http://www.apcstart.com/usb/puppy/
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This help page might be of assistance:
My PC can't boot from USB|CD
http://www.puppylinux.com/boot2pup.htm
Posted at the same time as Mac.
My PC can't boot from USB|CD
http://www.puppylinux.com/boot2pup.htm
Posted at the same time as Mac.
Plastic PPRuNer
Just to add...
Puppy Linux Dummies Guide
http://tmxxine.com/Wikka/wikka.php?wakka=PuppyLinux
and the wiki
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/HowToUsePuppy
I think Puppy is great fun and very clever. My Pup is rapidly morphing into a dog!
Tip: Unless you're familiar with iptables don't turn the firewall on if you're on a local network (otherwise it's fine). I found getting SAMBA to work over a firewall quite difficult.
Puppy Linux Dummies Guide
http://tmxxine.com/Wikka/wikka.php?wakka=PuppyLinux
and the wiki
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/HowToUsePuppy
I think Puppy is great fun and very clever. My Pup is rapidly morphing into a dog!
Tip: Unless you're familiar with iptables don't turn the firewall on if you're on a local network (otherwise it's fine). I found getting SAMBA to work over a firewall quite difficult.
Plastic PPRuNer
IE for Linux
From the Inquirer - http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34625
"A BRAZILIAN web designer got tired of having to boot Windows to see how web pages looked in IE, so he coded a little script allowing anyone to download, install and run IE on Linux.
...Sérgio Lopes, a 21 years old web designer and Linux user from Brazil, decided to make it easy for non-techies to install and run the Windows version of the Vole's web browser effortlessly.
That's how 'IEs4Linux' was born, a script that 'automagically' downloads and installs not one but the last three release versions of Internet Explorer -6.0, 5.5 SP2, and 5.0- on any 32-bit linux desktop with the wine core libraries in place. The installer program by Lopes -released under a GPL licence- relies on 'wine' and a third party utility dubbed 'cabextract' to decompress the windows archives downloaded from Microsoft's site. The IEs4Linux program is at version 2.0 after a long beta testing period that spanned from April to August."
I think IE is an awful browser but some sites are hard-coded to IE and unusable with anything else. Personally, I don't bother and we successfully lobbied my bank to make it's website and transactions W3C compatible so that other browsers could use 'em
Rather than going the IE for Linux route we should pressurise websites to conform to W3C standards!
But Rome wasn't built in a day.
"The program's author advises: "Please, don’t use any of these IEs to navigate!! Get Firefox instead". And I agree, the last thing the web needs is for broken sites to remain broken and IE only. But while we bug forever the worst lazy webmasters to fix their web sites for cross-platform, web standards compliance, IEs4Linux is a beautiful way to avoid booting Windows or the bloat of dealing with a complete Windows virtual machine on something like VMWare. "
Get IE 4 Linux at http://www.tatanka.com.br/ies4linux/index-en.html
Mac
"A BRAZILIAN web designer got tired of having to boot Windows to see how web pages looked in IE, so he coded a little script allowing anyone to download, install and run IE on Linux.
...Sérgio Lopes, a 21 years old web designer and Linux user from Brazil, decided to make it easy for non-techies to install and run the Windows version of the Vole's web browser effortlessly.
That's how 'IEs4Linux' was born, a script that 'automagically' downloads and installs not one but the last three release versions of Internet Explorer -6.0, 5.5 SP2, and 5.0- on any 32-bit linux desktop with the wine core libraries in place. The installer program by Lopes -released under a GPL licence- relies on 'wine' and a third party utility dubbed 'cabextract' to decompress the windows archives downloaded from Microsoft's site. The IEs4Linux program is at version 2.0 after a long beta testing period that spanned from April to August."
I think IE is an awful browser but some sites are hard-coded to IE and unusable with anything else. Personally, I don't bother and we successfully lobbied my bank to make it's website and transactions W3C compatible so that other browsers could use 'em
Rather than going the IE for Linux route we should pressurise websites to conform to W3C standards!
But Rome wasn't built in a day.
"The program's author advises: "Please, don’t use any of these IEs to navigate!! Get Firefox instead". And I agree, the last thing the web needs is for broken sites to remain broken and IE only. But while we bug forever the worst lazy webmasters to fix their web sites for cross-platform, web standards compliance, IEs4Linux is a beautiful way to avoid booting Windows or the bloat of dealing with a complete Windows virtual machine on something like VMWare. "
Get IE 4 Linux at http://www.tatanka.com.br/ies4linux/index-en.html
Mac
'nough said
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Good info Mac, Thanks 4 that.
As an aside I'm currently adding Google Maps to a couple of my sites - guess which browser had trouble displaying the location pins after I tested it successfully in Firefox, Opera and even Netscape?
As an aside I'm currently adding Google Maps to a couple of my sites - guess which browser had trouble displaying the location pins after I tested it successfully in Firefox, Opera and even Netscape?
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Free Linux Distro
Hey. I want to install a copy of Linux on my Laptop, i only have a copy of the old RH8 and a copy of SUSE 8.?. I dont want to pay, so i am looking for a freebie. Whats out there? I am going to be using Linux more for development use. I want it more or less just for C Code, as i am doing this at Uni. Ideally i want Solaris, but i cant get it to install on my laptop, keeps saying Hardware not recognised and reboots, cant find a way around it. anyways, any advice would be grateful. Thanks...
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You could always pay for something. Then:
(1) There's a fair chance it will actually work.
(2) If it doesn't work you've got someone to complain to.
(3) Programmers will continue to write new software, so you'll actually have some software to use.
Some people seem to be incapable of understanding that programmers have mortgages to pay and children to feed just like anyone else - why should their work, uniquely, be expected to be given away for nothing???
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I needed a free Unix distro to host a Mail server and Ubuntu is working fine for me 
Had problems installing from the "Live CD" onto an older PC (didn't have sufficient memory to install from the GUI) but the "Altenate CD" (which uses a text base GUI during installation) worked fine.
RC
Had problems installing from the "Live CD" onto an older PC (didn't have sufficient memory to install from the GUI) but the "Altenate CD" (which uses a text base GUI during installation) worked fine.
RC
Plastic PPRuNer
Urrr... Linux IS free
Linux (or GNU/Linux if you want to be picky) as an operating system is distributed under the Gnu Public Licence (v2) - which means that the software (and source code)is free and open. You can use is, copy it, pass it on and pretty much do whatever you like with it (especially mess around with it). If you make changes and then distribute it then you must (under the terms of the GPL), pass on (by including the source code of) any improvements or modifications you make.
Here is the GPL - http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html - quite simple and worth reading.
There are hundreds of "versions" of Linux available for free on the Web - most belong to a few main families like Red Hat, SuSE, Debian etc.
There are thousands of free applications available for download on the Web - anything from office suites to CD burners to compilers to nuclear physics. Most of them are open-source.
There are also a smaller number of non-free applications which are closed-source. These are mostly very specialised apps. - you're free to use these under Linux if you want.
If you distribute Linux you can charge whatever you like for it, $1,000,000 if you want, but there are plenty of free versions so you may not have many takers! You can charge for the CD's, support and documentation, but not the software.
The boxed versions that SuSe, Red Hat and the rest make their money from include support, guides, and documentation.
I'd junk your old Red Hat and SuSe 8 (they're way out of date) and try out a recent release.
I'd suggest Mepis Linux - http://www.mepis.org/ or Kubuntu - http://www.kubuntu.org/
Yes, there is life after Microsoft - and considering the drastic licence terms of Vista (only two installs and then you have to buy a new copy, pervasive digital rights management, no virtual machine installations, restrictions restrictions restrictions, etc.) now's the time to switch.
Linux (or GNU/Linux if you want to be picky) as an operating system is distributed under the Gnu Public Licence (v2) - which means that the software (and source code)is free and open. You can use is, copy it, pass it on and pretty much do whatever you like with it (especially mess around with it). If you make changes and then distribute it then you must (under the terms of the GPL), pass on (by including the source code of) any improvements or modifications you make.
Here is the GPL - http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html - quite simple and worth reading.
There are hundreds of "versions" of Linux available for free on the Web - most belong to a few main families like Red Hat, SuSE, Debian etc.
There are thousands of free applications available for download on the Web - anything from office suites to CD burners to compilers to nuclear physics. Most of them are open-source.
There are also a smaller number of non-free applications which are closed-source. These are mostly very specialised apps. - you're free to use these under Linux if you want.
If you distribute Linux you can charge whatever you like for it, $1,000,000 if you want, but there are plenty of free versions so you may not have many takers! You can charge for the CD's, support and documentation, but not the software.
The boxed versions that SuSe, Red Hat and the rest make their money from include support, guides, and documentation.
I'd junk your old Red Hat and SuSe 8 (they're way out of date) and try out a recent release.
I'd suggest Mepis Linux - http://www.mepis.org/ or Kubuntu - http://www.kubuntu.org/
Yes, there is life after Microsoft - and considering the drastic licence terms of Vista (only two installs and then you have to buy a new copy, pervasive digital rights management, no virtual machine installations, restrictions restrictions restrictions, etc.) now's the time to switch.
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I've been dabbling with Linux, on an old PC, for a couple of years. It is indeed free (or most versions are).
The one I get on best with is Fedora. I paid something, not a lot, for the CDs of it. I think I could have downloaded it for free, but for the size of the download it wasn't worth the faffing.
I've also installed Debian (excellent, but on my machine it's not as stable as Fedora), SuSe v 10.1 (OK), Ubuntu (bit restricted), and Knoppix (really a "run from CD" package).
The enormous plus of Debian is Kpackage - an installer that will download a complete list of all software available for Debian, and install what you choose for you. It's quite amazing what's available for Debian! The installation process is pretty much fully automatic - all that nonsense of compiling, building, testing, etc before installing is gone.
There is a similar package for Fedora, called Yum (or Yumex if you want a GUI version), but mine doesn't show anything like as much stuff as does Kpackage.
With Linux and Grub (or any of the alternatives) you can have as many versions (aka distros) of Linux as you like (and as you have hard drive partitions). You can boot to whichever one you want to use today. If you put your mail etc folders on a separate partition, you can use the same mail/data folders regardless of which distro you are running.
Once Win XP ceases to do the job, and Vista tries to make those silly restrictions, I'll be a Linux bunny.
The one I get on best with is Fedora. I paid something, not a lot, for the CDs of it. I think I could have downloaded it for free, but for the size of the download it wasn't worth the faffing.
I've also installed Debian (excellent, but on my machine it's not as stable as Fedora), SuSe v 10.1 (OK), Ubuntu (bit restricted), and Knoppix (really a "run from CD" package).
The enormous plus of Debian is Kpackage - an installer that will download a complete list of all software available for Debian, and install what you choose for you. It's quite amazing what's available for Debian! The installation process is pretty much fully automatic - all that nonsense of compiling, building, testing, etc before installing is gone.
There is a similar package for Fedora, called Yum (or Yumex if you want a GUI version), but mine doesn't show anything like as much stuff as does Kpackage.
With Linux and Grub (or any of the alternatives) you can have as many versions (aka distros) of Linux as you like (and as you have hard drive partitions). You can boot to whichever one you want to use today. If you put your mail etc folders on a separate partition, you can use the same mail/data folders regardless of which distro you are running.
Once Win XP ceases to do the job, and Vista tries to make those silly restrictions, I'll be a Linux bunny.
Plastic PPRuNer
Ho ho! Just spotted Gertude the Wombat's post - popped in while I was writing.
I wouldn't take too much notice of Gertrude if I were you planecrazy - she's a Bill Gates fanboi troll who always emerges to badmouth Linux when the subject comes up.
Hey Gertrude, does it occur to you that poor old planecrazy is probably trying to install Solaris for SPARC on an x86 platform? No wonder the poor chap isn't having much luck!
(1) There's a fair chance it will actually work.
It works for most of the servers on the Internet and for millions of home users and businesses. Don't be so silly.
(2) If it doesn't work you've got someone to complain to.
Well, you can always join in a forum or send a bug-report to the author(s) - you've got a lot better chance of getting an answer than emailing Micro$haft - ROTFL!
(3) Programmers will continue to write new software, so you'll actually have some software to use.
Even sillier. New apps for Linux are being released a lot faster than new apps for Windows. At least the Linux APIs are free and open, which certainly isn't the case for MS. Bugs get fixed within days and released apps are regularly improved and updated. What planet are you living on?
"Some people seem to be incapable of understanding that programmers have mortgages to pay and children to feed just like anyone else - why should their work, uniquely, be expected to be given away for nothing???"
Plenty of programmers make a good living writing in-house Linux software for businesses or working for the big Linux houses. Some of the code is released under the GPL so that others can use it, improve it and pass it on. Some of them tinker with GNU or kernel code for fun. You are, as always, labouring under massive misapprehensions about open-source software.
Gertrude believes that there should be only one software company in the world, that will write all our apps., tell us what to do and what to think and collect all our money. I prefer to have my nose somewhere less odoriferous....
I wouldn't take too much notice of Gertrude if I were you planecrazy - she's a Bill Gates fanboi troll who always emerges to badmouth Linux when the subject comes up.
Hey Gertrude, does it occur to you that poor old planecrazy is probably trying to install Solaris for SPARC on an x86 platform? No wonder the poor chap isn't having much luck!
(1) There's a fair chance it will actually work.
It works for most of the servers on the Internet and for millions of home users and businesses. Don't be so silly.
(2) If it doesn't work you've got someone to complain to.
Well, you can always join in a forum or send a bug-report to the author(s) - you've got a lot better chance of getting an answer than emailing Micro$haft - ROTFL!
(3) Programmers will continue to write new software, so you'll actually have some software to use.
Even sillier. New apps for Linux are being released a lot faster than new apps for Windows. At least the Linux APIs are free and open, which certainly isn't the case for MS. Bugs get fixed within days and released apps are regularly improved and updated. What planet are you living on?
"Some people seem to be incapable of understanding that programmers have mortgages to pay and children to feed just like anyone else - why should their work, uniquely, be expected to be given away for nothing???"
Plenty of programmers make a good living writing in-house Linux software for businesses or working for the big Linux houses. Some of the code is released under the GPL so that others can use it, improve it and pass it on. Some of them tinker with GNU or kernel code for fun. You are, as always, labouring under massive misapprehensions about open-source software.
Gertrude believes that there should be only one software company in the world, that will write all our apps., tell us what to do and what to think and collect all our money. I prefer to have my nose somewhere less odoriferous....
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Thanks for all the posts, have been loads of help. Mac, you are half way right with Solaris, i did have the Spark version, but that wouldnt run at all. I got the X86 and giving me hardware issue, not so sure if its due to been a laptop?
I am also finding very few reasons to stick with M$ now. All i need is FS2004, and i am considering just scrapping that now FSX looks like its just got a graphics makeover and going for X-plane.
I just downloaded Freespire, seems pretty good, i got a demo of a Windows Emu from Linspire and it run FS pretty well, and a funny thing is, it costs less that a copy of Windows, i am pretty sure though it would have some drawbacks?
Thanks again anyway, i am going to try figure out Solaris as thats what my Uni is running and i wanted it to be the same, but if not, looks like Fedora is my pic. Thanks again...
I am also finding very few reasons to stick with M$ now. All i need is FS2004, and i am considering just scrapping that now FSX looks like its just got a graphics makeover and going for X-plane.
I just downloaded Freespire, seems pretty good, i got a demo of a Windows Emu from Linspire and it run FS pretty well, and a funny thing is, it costs less that a copy of Windows, i am pretty sure though it would have some drawbacks?
Thanks again anyway, i am going to try figure out Solaris as thats what my Uni is running and i wanted it to be the same, but if not, looks like Fedora is my pic. Thanks again...
Plastic PPRuNer
Solaris on a laptop CAN be done, but be prepared for a long hard struggle.
It seems that the difficulties with some laptops are near insuperable, so it depends on what laptop you have. Solaris, true to it's orgins, only understands a limited range of hardware.
Google for "solaris laptop" - lots of hits - http://www.bolthole.com/solaris/x86-laptops.html is a starter.
I got Solaris booting successfully on an Intel-based x86 desktop and then, I confess, lost interest.
Good luck!
It seems that the difficulties with some laptops are near insuperable, so it depends on what laptop you have. Solaris, true to it's orgins, only understands a limited range of hardware.
Google for "solaris laptop" - lots of hits - http://www.bolthole.com/solaris/x86-laptops.html is a starter.
I got Solaris booting successfully on an Intel-based x86 desktop and then, I confess, lost interest.
Good luck!