This is a summary with some additional information added in; it's long because it includes a substantial number of resources that I find useful when working with Sun/Unix/etc. systems and products. I included those because I grumped about people NOT using such resources; I figured it was only fair to make sure everyone knew what at least some of them are. No doubt there are many others which I could have included; I hope nobody will take offense at my omission of their favorites. [ I should probably submit this material for review as a possible addition to the FAQ. ] Overall ------- 36 letters received, 26 agreed, 1 disagreed, 2 were unintelligible, and 7 were generated by broken autoresponders that failed to discriminate between personal traffic and list traffic. (List: Steve Norton, Stefan Pohl, Joseph Ryals, Duevel Juergen, Paul Talbot, Jim Mcvey, Jason K. Kruse. Fix your autoresponders please, folks.) The general sentiment seems to be that the problem isn't the level of questions; after all, some simple questions may have complex answers. The problem is the failure of [some] questioners to undertake even rudimentary research to solve the problem(s), combined with very poor descriptions of the problem(s). This is bad for them (because they will never develop these skills), bad for their employers (same reason) and bad for us (because it's a waste of our collective time). So: RTFM, RTFFAQ, RTFarchives, RTFGoogle, and so on, FIRST. If the problem remains, then take the time to compose a cogent description of the problem (with things like version numbers, log messages, etc.) so that anyone inclined to help actually CAN help. And after all the responses have stopped coming in, take the time to write a summary which really IS a summary and explains, in detail, exactly what you did, what worked, what didn't work, etc. And to everyone who already does these things -- and there are obviously a fair number of people who do -- THANK YOU, and I apologize for wasting your time with a message that you don't need to hear. Did it do any good? ------------------- Well, I certainly *hoped* that it would, but it's hard to say: the last several days' mail have brought more messages from people who clearly didn't spend any time at all trying to help themselves. This morning brought three more non-summaries, from lazy, selfish people who were certainly willing to ask the members of the list for help but were unwilling to make the small effort required to prepare a proper summary for the benefit of everyone else. Miscellaneous ------------- - Nobody offered me a job as a BOFH. Bummer. - One recently-departed list member explained to me that "I guess you were born from a sun of bitch family." I corrected the epithet as part of my long-term continuing-education program in proper flame technique, so perhaps at least some small good will come of this. - Several people mentioned one of my other pet peeves vis-a-vis this list: the inclusion of corporate-mandated boilerplate that reads something like... "This communication is private and is intended for the recipient only. If you are not the intended blah blah blah". Such boilerplate is worthless -- it's completely unenforceable. In addition, messages sent here are being sent to a PUBLIC mailing list which is PUBLICLY archived, so it's ridiculous to include it anyway. So please, turn it off. RESOURCES --------- And now the resources; these are the ones that *I* find useful, which may not be the same as the ones *you* find useful. Web sites --------- Search <a href="http://www.google.com/">Google</a> <a href="http://www.alltheweb.com/">AllTheWeb</a> <a href="http://www.archive.org/">InternetArchive</a> <a href="http://dmoz.org/">DMOZ</a> Sun <a href="http://sunsolve.sun.com/">SunSolve</a> <a href="http://www.sunhelp.org/">SunHelp</a> <a href="http://www.sunfreeware.com/">SunFreeware</a> <a href="http://www.sunstuff.org/">Sunstuff</a> <a href="http://www.solariscentral.org/">SolarisCentral</a> Unix <a href="http://www.ugu.com/">UnixGuru</a> <a href="http://www.stokely.com/">Stokely</a> <a href="http://www.unixreview.com/">UnixReview</a> <a href="http://www.geek-girl.com/unix.html">ReferenceDesk</a> <a href="http://www.unixpower.org/">UnixPower</a> Software <a href="http://www.openssh.com/">OpenSSH</a> <a href="http://www.isc.org/products/BIND/bind9.html">BIND</a> <a href="http://www.sendmail.org/">Sendmail</a> <a href="http://www.apache.org/">Apache</a> <a href="http://www.list.org/">Mailman</a> <a href="http://www.proftpd.org/">ProFTPD</a> <a href="http://www.eudora.com/qpopper/">QPopper</a> <a href="http://www.mutt.org/">mutt</a> Security <a href="http://www.securityfocus.com/">SecurityFocus</a> <a href="http://www.cs.purdue.edu:80/coast/archive/">COAST</a> <a href="http://www.first.org/">FIRST</a> <a href="http://www.cert.org/">CERT</a> <a href="http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/">CIAC</a> <a href="http://csrc.ncsl.nist.gov/">NIST</a> <a href="http://www.sans.org/">SANS</a> <a href="http://www.insecure.org/">Insecure</a> <a href="http://www.antionline.com/">AntiOnline</a> <a href="http://www.atstake.com/">@stake</a> <a href="http://www.whitehats.com/">WhiteHats</a> Spam <a href="http://www.spamhaus.org/">SpamHaus</a> <a href="http://www.spews.org/">SPEWS</a> <a href="http://www.rfc-ignorant.org/">RFC-Ignorant</a> <a href="http://www.spamfaq.net/">SpamFAQ</a> <a href="http://relays.osirusoft.com/cgi-bin/rbcheck.cgi">OsiruSoft</a> <a href="http://groups.google.com/groups?safe=off&group=news.admin.net-abuse.email">NANAE</a> <a href="http://spam.abuse.net/">AbuseNet</a> <a href="http://combat.uxn.com/">Combat</a> <a href="http://www.openrbl.org/">OpenRBL</a> <a href="http://cluelessmailers.org/">CluelessMailers</a> Browsers <a href="http://www.mozilla.org/">Mozilla</a> <a href="http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firebird/">Firebird</a> <a href="http://www.w3.org/Amaya/">Amaya</a> <a href="http://dillo.auriga.wearlab.de/">Dillo</a> <a href="http://http.cs.berkeley.edu/~phelps/Multivalent/">Multivalent</a> <a href="http://w3m.sourceforge.net/">w3m</a> <a href="http://artax.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~mikulas/links/">Links</a> <a href="http://www.opera.com/">Opera</a> Code <a href="http://freshmeat.net/">FreshMeat</a> <a href="http://www.sourceforge.net/">SourceForge</a> <a href="http://www.devshed.com/">DevShed</a> <a href="http://www.perl.com/">Perl</a> <a href="http://www.python.org/">Python</a> <a href="http://www.php.net/">PHP</a> <a href="http://www.xml.com/">XML</a> <a href="http://www.perl.com/CPAN">CPAN</a> Domains <a href="http://www.arin.net/tools/whois_help.html">ARIN whois</a> <a href="http://www.geektools.com/cgi-bin/proxy.cgi">GEEKTOOLS whois</a> <a href="http://www.completewhois.com/">Elan.Net 'Complete Whois'</a> Internet <a href="http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph/">Netcraft 'Site Running'</a> <a href="http://www.internethealthreport.com/">Internet Health</a> <a href="http://internettrafficreport.com/">Internet Traffic</a> <a href="http://www.internetweather.com/">Internet Weather</a> Reference <a href="http://www.faqs.org/">FAQs/RFCs</a> <a href="http://www.refdesk.com/">RefDesk</a> <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/computer/vcl/">Virtual Computer Library</a> Mailing lists ------------- Each list has the RFC 2142-style subscription/unsubscription address listed. DO NOT send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to the entire list. I recommend avoiding all mailing lists hosted by either Topica or Yahoo due to their very long track records of providing spam support services. ------------- Sun sunhelp: sunhelp-request@sunhelp.org sun-rescue: rescue-request@sunhelp.org suns-at-home: Suns-at-Home-Request@net-kitchen.com focus-sun: focus-sun-subscribe@lists.securityfocus.com isp-solaris: join-isp-solaris@isp-solaris.com solaris-packages-announce: solaris-packages-announce-request@franklin.oit.unc.edu Web apache-announce: announce-subscribe@apache.org apache-httpd-announce: announce-subscribe@httpd.apache.org apache-httpd-users: users-subscribe@httpd.apache.org curl-announce curl-announce-request@lists.sourceforge.net jakarta-announce: announcements-subscribe@jakarta.apache.org w3c-announce: w3c-announce-request@w3.org xml-announce: announcements-subscribe@xml.apache.org DNS bind9-users: bind9-users-request@isc.org bind-announce: bind-announce-request@isc.org bind-users: bind-users-request@isc.org isp-dns: join-isp-dns@isp-dns.com Security bugtraq: bugtraq-subscribe@lists.securityfocus.com cauce-announce: cauce-announce-request@lists.cauce.org cert-advisory: majordomo@cert.org firewalls: firewalls-request@isc.org firewalls: firewalls-subscribe@lists.securityfocus.com firewall-wizards: firewall-wizards-request@honor.icsalabs.com gnupg-announce: gnupg-announce-request@gnupg.org netfilter-announce: netfilter-announce-request@lists.netfilter.org openssl-announce: majordomo@openssl.org snort-announce: snort-announce-request@lists.sourceforge.net Mail courier-announce: courier-announce-request@lists.sourceforge.net fetchmail-announce: fetchmail-announce-request@ccil.org sendmail-announce: majordomo@lists.sendmail.org hypermail-announce: majordomo@landfield.com mailman-announce: mailman-announce-request@python.org majordomo-announce: majordomo@greatcircle.com mutt-announce: majordomo@mutt.org postfix-announce: majordomo@postfix.org procmail: procmail-request@Informatik.RWTH-Aachen.DE qpopper-announce: qpopper-announce-request@rohan.qualcomm.com spamassassin-announce: spamassassin-announce-request@lists.sourceforge.net razor-announce: razor-announce-request@lists.sourceforge.net Other amanda-announce: amanda-announce-request@amanda.org gimp-announce: gimp-announce-request@lists.xcf.berkeley.edu gnome-announce: gnome-announce-list-request@gnome.org htdig-announce: htdig-announce-request@lists.sourceforge.net ietf-announce: ietf-announce-request@ietf.org iptraf-announce: majordomo@seul.org isp-unix: join-isp-unix@isp-unix.com kde-announce: kde-announce-request@kde.org mrtg-announce: mrtg-announce-request@list.ee.ethz.ch mysql-announce: announce-subscribe@lists.mysql.com proftp-user: proftpd-users-request@proftpd.org rsync-announce: rsync-announce-request@lists.samba.org tcpdump-announce: majordomo@tcpdump.org top-announce: majordomo@groupsys.com Usenet newsgroups ----------------- Note that Google groups archives all/nearly all of these. ----------------- Sun comp.sys.sun.admin comp.sys.sun.announce comp.sys.sun.apps comp.sys.sun.hardware comp.sys.sun.misc comp.sys.sun.wanted comp.unix.solaris Unix comp.unix.admin comp.unix.internals comp.unix.large comp.unix.misc comp.unix.programmer comp.unix.shell Web comp.infosystems.www.servers.unix comp.text.xml Languages comp.lang.awk comp.lang.java.announce comp.lang.perl.announce comp.lang.php comp.lang.python.announce comp.lang.tcl.announce Networking comp.dcom.sys.cisco comp.protocols.dns.std comp.protocols.tcp-ip comp.protocols.tcp-ip.domains Security comp.security.announce comp.security.firewalls comp.security.misc comp.security.ssh comp.security.unix X comp.windows.x comp.windows.x.announce comp.windows.x.apps Usenet News news.admin.announce news.admin.technical news.software.nntp Other comp.text.pdf comp.mail.sendmail gnu.announce misc.forsale.computers.workstation news.answers Programs -------- I've found a number of open-source programs to be very handy in diagnosing Sun problems. Here's the list of what I keep around most of the time: analog arpwatch curl ethereal ipaudit ipgrab iptraf isoqlog lslk lsof <--- There is at least one question a week on Sun-Managers to which this is the answer. It's also mentioned in the FAQ. You should probably just go get it, install it, and RTFM. nmap ntop patch procmail recode rman rsync screen source-highlight sysinfo tcpdump tcpreplay tcpslice traceroute uudeview w3m whatmask which Some of these are available from sunfreeware.com, already built for you. You can easily find the rest via Google, Freshmeat, or other resources. Logs ---- Solaris/SunOS writes lots of logs; so do various daemons and servers. Many of these have variable levels of logging built into them, which can be very useful. RTFM to find out how to enable those more detailed logs. Manuals ------- The manuals which came with your system and/or are installed on your disks and/or are sitting on your CDROMs and/or are available from docs.sun.com make excellent reading. My suggestion for a starting point would be read all of the man pages in section 1, i.e. the entire contents of /usr/share/*man1*. Even if you don't understand all of it, or don't remember much of it, going through there at least once will help you later. If you repeat this exercise every six months you'll find that by about the fourth time through most of it makes some kind of sense. And get used to using "man -k". Install the rest of the documentation as well -- it doesn't take up much disk space, and if it's there, you'll use it. Well, you SHOULD use it. Source ------ "Use the source. Luke!" The source code for many programs is readily available. (In fact, the source code for the entire OS is available if you're in the right place and willing to sign an agreement, etc.) But even if you're not, the sources for commonly-used programs like sendmail, postfix, Apache httpd, BIND, and so on are all freely available. Get them. Use them. A lot of problems can be solved by grep'ing the source for the error message and reading the code found in its vicinity. Still more can be found by throwing in a printf() and recompiling. That means being able to read (mostly) C, shell (Bourne, C, Korn) and probably some perl. It's also helpful to be able to at least fumble through C++, awk, sed, python, tcl/tk, php and Java. Books/bookstores ---------------- There are NUMEROUS books on Sun systems admin, and on related areas (Unix, TCP/IP, web servers, DNS, sendmail, etc.). I'd recommend pretty much the entire O'Reilly catalog, as well as the Nemeth et.al. system admin book, Cockcroft's volume on performance tuning, TCP/IP Illustrated by Stevens, Bach's book on the design of Unix, and the firewalls book by Cheswick & Bellovin. The O'Reilly pocket guides are cheap, easy to carry around, and often have enough info to get you by lots of problems -- I've been walking around with the HTTP one for a while because I have frequent need to check the response codes. They're not a substitute for the full-length books, but they're darn handy and they'll fit in your laptop case. I'd also recommend checking Powells (powells.com) which has a huge selection of new, sale, and used books. I strongly prefer them over Amazon because (a) their customer service is superb and (b) unlike Amazon, they're not spammers. _______________________________________________ sunmanagers mailing list sunmanagers@sunmanagers.org http://www.sunmanagers.org/mailman/listinfo/sunmanagersReceived on Fri Jun 20 08:48:44 2003
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