There are times when an email based workflow gets really difficult. One of those times is when discussing projects related to spam and malware detection. noahm@debian.org host stravinsky.debian.org [2001:41b8:202:deb::311:108] SMTP error from remote mail server after end of data: 550-malware detected: Sanesecurity.Phishing.Fake.30934.1.UNOFFICIAL: 550 message rejected submit@bugs.debian.org host stravinsky.debian.org [2001:41b8:202:deb::311:108] SMTP error from remote mail server after end of data: 550-malware detected: Sanesecurity.Phishing.Fake.30934.1.UNOFFICIAL: 550 message rejected This was, in fact, a false positive.

When a Debian cloud VM boots, it typically runs cloud-init at various points in the boot process. Each invocation can perform certain operations based on the host’s static configuration passed by the user, typically either through a well known link-local network service or an attached iso9660 drive image. Some of the cloud-init steps execute before the network comes up, and others at a couple of different points after the network is up.

A coworker asked recently about how people use VMs locally for dev work, so I figured I’d take a few minutes to write up a bit about what I do. There are many use cases for local virtual machines in software development and testing. They’re self-contained, meaning you can make a mess of them without impacting your day-to-day computing environment. They can run different distributions, kernels, and even entirely different operating systems from the one you use regularly.

Have you ever wondered what a security probe of a computer sounded like? I’d guess probably not, because on the face of it that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. But there was a time when I could very clearly discern the sound of a computer being scanned. It sounded like a small mechanical heart beat: Click-click… click-click… click-click… Prior to 2010, I had a computer under my desk with what at the time were not unheard-of properties: Its storage was based on a stack of spinning metal platters (a now-antiquated device known as a “hard drive”), and it had a publicly routable IPv4 address with an unfiltered connection to the Internet.

Join Microsoft to celebrate Debian 8 at LinuxFest Northwest

minas.morgul.net is the hub of much of my digital life. It also provides services for quite a few friends, ranging from backup DNS to mailing lists and IRC. It lives in a datacenter 3000 miles away from where I live, with conditioned power, climate control, etc. It’s got redundant power supplies, RAID disks, remote console, and most of the other stuff you’d expect from a machine that’s supposed to be up and running non-stop.