This little process, a total of two lines, took way to long to figure out. First, we convert the VMware avi (VMnc format) to the Microsoft avi format. mencoder -of avi -ovc lavc movie.avi -o movie2.avi Next, we convert the Microsoft avi format to FLV format. ffmpeg -i movie2.avi -r 12 -b 100 movie.flv You can play around with the -r switch (rate per second) and the -b switch (bitrate). But, if those get larger, so does your FLV file.

I am still in Atlanta, spending time with my sisters. One of them has just married, which is why I came to visit. One of my sisters is raising twins and a four-year-old, so I have been helping wherever possible. Time with family has been good. Last night, I drove one of my sister’s friends to the MARTA station so she could continue to the airport. On the way home, however, I became slightly lost. There were not many turns, but the distance was considerable. My sister’s directions included an uncertain street name, while my mother’s map had the wrong address circled, albeit one that seemed consistent with the directions. Eventually, I found my way home, ate some good food, and fell asleep.

If you search for my name in quotation marks, you will quickly realise that I’m an advocate of open-source software and Linux. Just look through my site. Since my background is business-oriented, my choice of software or systems ultimately depends not on whether it is open source, but on what provides the best fit, including ROI and total cost of ownership. With that said, I thought I would share an ironic situation.

Status: ✅ After consulting several vendors in Kuala Lumpur, I was able to get the right Cisco with the right IOS. One of their technicians came and installed it, and that night I hooked it up to our VPN. The connection remained reasonably stable, and another remote office was connected to the company intranet.

Information is power, or so many of us think. As an I.T. administrator, no matter what the level, it is of my opinion that knowing what your network is doing is important. This includes regular operation, what it could do in the event of a disaster, or when it is just slightly not functioning. Editor’s note: This 2006 post describes an old monitoring workflow at a high level. Identifying details are intentionally omitted or obscured.

Status: ✅ One of the greatest benefits, in my opinion, of Cisco routers is the ability to generate netflows. In a lot of ways, I would prefer to do this than implement some appliance (say, using ntop). The ability to analyse the amount of traffic becomes extremely valuable. Not only can one measure the amount of traffic, but the type of traffic that is being generated through the network. Using a similar configuration, I setup all four Ciscos to export netflows that stream back to a server in the States. I decided to use nfdump as a collector. After the dumps are collected, it is simple to setup nfsen to parse and analyse the received flows. It even allows you to generate really pretty graphs.

The following is a Quick n’ Dirty method at implementing a very simple firewall. Depending on your server, first locate iptables: [root@vps /]# which iptables Create a whitelist (ignored by firewall) or blacklist (packet dropped) if you wish: [root@vps /]# vi /usr/local/etc/whitelist.txt And/Or… [root@vps /]# vi /usr/local/etc/blacklist.txt In each file, add each IP per line, for instance: 4.2.2.2 66.35.15.20 Then put the following in /etc/init.d/firewall.sh, and edit to fit your needs:

Today was another beautiful day. I woke at around 8:00 to catch the airport bus, but the 10:00 service I needed for my 1:15 flight was full. Taxi drivers immediately offered alternatives. Although taxis were inexpensive, I preferred a cheaper route. I took a boat taxi down the Chao Phraya River to the central terminal for 13 baht, followed by the Skytrain and a transfer at Siam station, and soon arrived at Hua Lamphong railway station.

It is 10:53 p.m., and I have just returned from Thailand. “What?” you may ask. Yes, Thailand. Ten days. I know I haven’t written much lately - anything lately - but what follows are a few stories from our most recent adventure. As my previous entry explains, I am working and living in Taipei. However, because I am going to my sister’s wedding, I am unable to attend school this term, which means I cannot hold a visa. I therefore had to leave the country from August 4 to August 12. So where did I decide to go?

Today is my birthday, and it was slightly disappointing to spend the first part of it on a bus. I can normally sleep anywhere, and although I slept for much of the journey, I never became comfortable. Eventually, I arrived in Bangkok and made my way to Khaosan Road, a popular area for backpackers. I find my companion’s fascination with night markets and bazaars highly entertaining. To borrow a line from Karl Marx, if religion is the opiate of the masses, then markets must be hers. Even supermarkets qualify.