PMAS 3.1 beta
Tonight I downloaded the kit for the anti-spam gateway – it’s a beta but I’m quite confident it works fine so I installed it – and didnt purge the files of i’t so I could get back fast if needed, the previous version is still close at hand so if required, even without that possibility getting back is easy (though it may take some time).
As far as I can determine so far (it’s been installed just an hour ago 🙂 ) there is one glitch in the user interface: It warns that javascript and cookies need to be enabled, as an error. You still get the menu. However, any action requires you to login again – and this time, it succeeds.
The point is, though, I DO have cookies enabled, and allow javascript.
(I may need to do some post-installation: copy the index.html file to another location. That’s for tomorrow)
I had one problem displaying a quanrantained message; It should pop-up in a separate window but it didn’t, though PMAS seemed to think it did. It did show up when I opened it in a new tab. When I tried to reproduce it, it failed to reproduce and popped up the way I expected.
There was a problem when accessing any local site, and I was afraid something had broken. I cannot tell what it might have been, but this version of PMAS carries a small, basic webserver and it might be that that one caused these problems. There was no problem after a few minutes.
To be determined later on. For the next days, it _should_ behave like the old one.
For the license (expireing 08-Sep-2008) I already got myself new VMS licences that I need for it, but I’ll wait for the new PMAS license – I have 4 more weeks.
Domain problems
This is strange.
My local domain is a subdomain of grootersnet.nl: intra.grootersnet.nl. For future use, I also created a zone “grootersnet.local” in my local DNS, and both names can be “dig”ged in the server (I kept to the most important part and de-personalized the addresses):
$ dig diana.grootersnet.local
; <<>> DiG 9.3.1 <<>> diana.grootersnet.local
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;diana.grootersnet.local. IN A
;; ANSWER SECTION:
diana.grootersnet.local. 3600 IN A aaa.bbb.ccc.2
;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
grootersnet.local. 3600 IN NS DNS.grootersnet.local.
$ dig diana.intra.grootersnet.nl
; <<>> DiG 9.3.1 <<>> diana.intra.grootersnet.nl
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;diana.intra.grootersnet.nl. IN A
;; ANSWER SECTION:
diana.intra.grootersnet.nl. 10800 IN A aaa.bbb.ccc.2
;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
intra.grootersnet.nl. 10800 IN NS diana.intra.grootersnet.nl.
but the grootersnet.local nodes do not appear in the TCPIP SHO HOST command:
$ tcpip sho host
LOCAL database
Host address Host name
aaa.bbb.ccc.2 DIANA.INTRA.GROOTERSNET.NL, DIANA, diana,
aaa.bbb.ccc.2 WWW.INTRA.GROOTERSNET.NL, DIANA.GROOTERSNET.LOCAL
127.0.0.1 LOCALHOST
BIND database
Server: 127.0.0.1 LOCALHOST
Host address Host name
aaa.bbb.ccc.205 aphrodite.INTRA.GROOTERSNET.NL
aaa.bbb.ccc.193 athene.INTRA.GROOTERSNET.NL
aaa.bbb.ccc.33 cerberus.INTRA.GROOTERSNET.NL
aaa.bbb.ccc.200 clalpha.INTRA.GROOTERSNET.NL
aaa.bbb.ccc.4 daphne.INTRA.GROOTERSNET.NL
aaa.bbb.ccc.192 demeter.INTRA.GROOTERSNET.NL
aaa.bbb.ccc.2 diana.INTRA.GROOTERSNET.NL
aaa.bbb.ccc.3 dido.INTRA.GROOTERSNET.NL
aaa.bbb.ccc.251 HP2100TN.INTRA.GROOTERSNET.NL
aaa.bbb.ccc.193 iona.INTRA.GROOTERSNET.NL
aaa.bbb.ccc.213 irene.INTRA.GROOTERSNET.NL
aaa.bbb.ccc.201 maya.INTRA.GROOTERSNET.NL
aaa.bbb.ccc.202 muze.INTRA.GROOTERSNET.NL
aaa.bbb.ccc.198 perse.INTRA.GROOTERSNET.NL
aaa.bbb.ccc.201 ubuntu.INTRA.GROOTERSNET.NL
though I would expect them. However, since diana is defined to be in the intra.grootersnet.nl domain, it could well be that this limits the search in the DNS database.
It was weird, though, that Outlook on Irene – the system in the living room – could not translate diana.intra.grootersnet.nl, but did recognized diana.grootersnet.local. nslookup did translate both, but ping only got the grootersnet.local address and failed to resolve diana.intra.grootersnet.nl.
Changing the SMTP and POP services to reside on diana.grooternet.local solved the Outlook problem, but it still puzzles me. Even more where no other system seems to have that problem.
Ubuntu desktop and external monitor
Maya – the Ubuntu desktop installation on the old laptop – has an ATI-based graphics card, and that is know to be, well, problematic, since ATI did not reveal data on the chipset. One of the problems I have is that at startup, the Ubunto logo and progress bar are shown on the external monitor only and not on the laptop screen, but once Gnome starts, the external monitor turns black and drops to standby, and the Gnome desktop is shown on the laptop’s LCD screen only. And I want it on the monitor.
I found an article on the Ubuntu site that discusses the ATI card and some of it’s problems and that also showed how to get the image on the external terminal. Attempting that solution caused an error message of a file missing (I didn’t write it down…) and the XWindows environment starts in a low-res setting allowing some settings to be changed. It allows 800×600 @60Hz at most, where the video terminal can handle 1600×1200@85… Keeping that low-res works – for that session, and it revereses to a knwon state – the one I want to get rid of….
So that is still a matter of concern.