Month: March 2009

Life - Technology

Daylight Savings Time and Unix Cron

March 30, 2009 by 0 Comments

Until recently I was of the opinion that, in Ireland, when the clocks change in Spring and Autumn to account for Daylight Savings Time, they always do so at 2am. Having never given it too much thought over the years, I was surprised to find out last weekend that the time they actually change differs depending on whether the clocks are going forward (Spring) or backward (Autumn).

In Ireland, the clocks go forward one hour at 1am (in Spring) but when they go back again in Autumn, they actually do so at 2am. You can confirm this for yourself on the Greenwich Meantime site for Ireland.

There is an important lesson in this too for administrators of the Unix operating system. Never schedule an import cron task between the hours of 1:00am and 2:00am because if you do, it will not run on the weekend when DST comes into effect and it may be run twice on the weekend where DST ends.

General

Energy Efficiency Grant Scheme for Homes launched

March 25, 2009 by 2 Comments

The long-awaited grant scheme to help home owners make their homes more energy efficient will start accepting applications from today. The scheme is for improvements in home insulation and central heating systems and apparently has €50m in the pot.

To find out more, visit the Home Energy Savings Scheme section of the Sustainable Energy Ireland website, where you will also find a very good Homeowners FAQ section.

Source : RTE News

Technology

Securing MySQL databases (the short way)

March 23, 2009 by 0 Comments

If you have ever installed of MySQL on a *nix system, you may have come across the mysql_secure_installation script. It takes you through a number of interactive questions/steps that help you to increase the security of your MySQL installation, and is quite a useful script.

As we have a high deree of automation in our server environment, we decided to break this script down to its raw MySQL command, and in a nut shell, here is what it actually does behind the scenes (assuming you want to answer Yes to all of the questions it asks in interactive mode):

UPDATE mysql.user SET Password=PASSWORD('XXXX') WHERE User='root';
DELETE FROM mysql.user WHERE User='';
DELETE FROM mysql.user WHERE User='root' AND Host!='localhost';
DROP DATABASE test;
DELETE FROM mysql.db WHERE Db='test' OR Db='test\\_%';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Naturally, you should replace the XXXX in the first command with an appropriate password.

Technology

Skype launch new SIP-based service

March 23, 2009 by 0 Comments

Skype have announced a new service based on the SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) that is aimed at getting more small businesses into Internet telephony. The service allows VoIP services to be created using standard PBX setups that support SIP, reducing the need for additional hardware (i.e. PC) that most current Skype users face.

One surprising downside though is that it requires you to create a new Skype ID to use it. This is a rather curious requirement in my opinion and one that is sure to puzzle many.

Source: Wired

Life

Questions & Answers no more

March 11, 2009 by 0 Comments

After 21 years at the helm of the RTÉ current affairs programme, Questions & Answers, the presenter John Bowman has decided to call it a day (to focus on other projects).

For me this programme is famed for the appearances of the legend that is Willie O’Dea, who (it was once alleged) only ever seems to appear when the Fianna Fáil Government are knee-deep in controversy. There is no one quite like Willie to shout down every other panel member, no matter what the topic. One of my favourite quotes from him is, “Sure, sure, sure … the-the-the last time that crowd were in Government, they left the health service in rag order“  in reference to whether the current opposition could have any real impact on the heath service.

RTÉ did indicate that they are planning to unveil another current affairs programme to occupy the same slot but without John or Willie on board, will it be as entertaining? Only time will tell.

Source: RTE News