DVD to iso image

Suppose I have a DVD of FC10, how can I convert it into an iso image and then burn more DVD. The way to do it is to "dd if=/dev/hdc of=/home/FC-10.iso".

No doubt I need to use the above skill several times a year. Pretty practical and simple to understand if you have tried dd before. Of course, if I have two DVD read/write drives, I can do a read from one drive and then write to another. But that straight forward way of getting things done is not what I want.

Grub failure in FC10

Yesterday, I tried to upgrade a server from FC9 to FC10. The upgrade process was ok. However, grub did not boot up. Some hints from searching redhat suggested to use FC9 dvd to rescue. The steps are as follows:

- Boot with FC9 DVD, select rescue mode
- chroot /mnt/sysimage
- grub-install /dev/sda
- reboot again to fix the problem

It worked and the grub was rescued.

I have to memorize these steps. The same problem might happen again when I upgrade FC10 to FC11.

monitor the progress of dd

I have to use Helix to clone a hard disk by dd. As usual, the format is:

#dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/hdc

However, no progress can be monitored.

I open another terminal window and by means of top, I find the PID of dd. Next,

#kill -SIGUSR1 pid

Now switching back to the terminal that is running dd, the progress of how many bytes have been written on the destination drive is disclosed.

man toilet

The most interesting command in Unix/Linux is "toilet". If I want to check the usage, I will interrogate by manual page. This gives another funny combination of "man toilet".

Of course, we don't have such funny things in Windows.

facebook passed 300 million users

Congratulation to Facebook

Facebook founder Mark Zukerberg said that facebook has got 300 million users. In addition, facebook starts to make money ahead of schedule. Profit can be seen in 2010.

For sure, facebook is the world biggest social networking platform.

Global IPv6 routing table passed 2000 prefixes

According to Hurricane Electric, the global IPv6 routing table has passed 2000 IPv6 prefixes. This shows a steady growth in the deployment of IPv6 backbones.

Other useful data about IPv6 infrastructure are as follows :

- There are now over 1500 IPv6 glue records in the TLD zone files. The
addition of IPv6 glue records at the TLD level is a good gauge of
hosting infrastructure IPv6 growth, since it indicates operational
commitment on the part of individual nameserver operators.

- Top Level Domains (TLDs): 280, TLDs with IPv6 nameservers: 223, Percentage of TLDs with IPv6 nameservers: 79.6%

- TLDs with nameservers with IPv6 glue in the root zone: 170, Percentage of TLDs that have nameservers with IPv6 glue in the root zone: 60.7%

I do have two domain names with IPv6 glue records at the .com TLD. My contribution is therefore 2 /1500 or 0.13 %.

Email scam

For almost 3 years, I have not received any email scam. Then, this week, I received one.

******** Quote ********
From: kone_musa1@cantv.net

Dear Friend (Being A Foreigner),

With your Profile today I am satisfied that you have an understanding of the need for absolute secrecy in this pending project, hence my firm belief that I can count on your total support and confidentiality.

I am Mr Kone Musa, A staff of one of the commercial bank in COTE D'IVOIRE.I am pleased to get across to you for a very urgent and profitable business proposal, though I don't know you neither have I seen you before but my confidence was reposed on you.A contract file worth ( US$6.350.000) Dollars with the name has been noticed lying waste in our contract and account department.Please Get back to me for more information.

Thanks

From Kone Musa

******* End of Quote ********

Google Sorry Page

Two days ago, I was frustrated to see the following page from Google.



My PC is free of viruses, malware or spyware. Most important of all, I am human. Why Google stop me from using the service.

WEP deadline

Version 1.2 of the PCI Data Security Standard mandates that no new WEP networks can be installed after March 31, 2009, and all existing WEP installations must be decommissioned by June 30, 2010. Today, wireless networks are widely used in stores and retail operations, but not all are secured. The WEP deadline is definitely an important milestone for the the information security industry.