I am using cloud-init to run some startup scripts for my instances in terraform. What is really annoying is that if one line on your cloud-init script is incorrect, the script doesn't run at all. I had to manually remove lines one by one to find suspect lines. As I create more cloud-init scripts, I run into more issues.

An alternative would be calling cloud-init to run a bash script, but I have had issues getting this to work in v12. It works fine in v11. Cloud-init is generally cross platform which is an advantage. You can essentially use the same script with any flavor of linux including Ubuntu, CentOS and Amazon. So I would like to figure out how to better troubleshoot and write cloud-init scripts.

Although getting bash scripts working properly in v12 would be nice. All the examples I am seeing are in v11 and they dont seem to work in v12.

@Alex-Jones said in Windows 2019 Slower Than Windows 2012 R2:

https://community.nodebb.org/topic/11484/nodebb-now-with-gif-support

I will probably get that privilege revoked. I tend to abuse gifs.

@DustinB3403 said in Windows 2019 Slower Than Windows 2012 R2:

@IRJ said in Windows 2019 Slower Than Windows 2012 R2:

@DustinB3403 said in Windows 2019 Slower Than Windows 2012 R2:

@IRJ said in Windows 2019 Slower Than Windows 2012 R2:

@DustinB3403 said in Windows 2019 Slower Than Windows 2012 R2:

SMBv1 is disabled by default and it could be causing this kind of issue. Being this is a legacy program, that would be where I would look at. Enabling SMBv1 on this 2019 VM and see if the performance issue is addressed.

SMBv2 is supposed to be a bit faster than SMBv1.

Yeah, it is, but the clients have to communicate to the server, realize the server no longer supports SMB1, and then connect via SMB2 or SMB3 if the server supports it.

This is also affected by the "Access" style client/server which may only operate with SMB1 in mind.

With this logic, you should then be disabling SMBv1 on the clients. That is even if your clients still have SMBv1 enabled. They would mean someone hasn't been paying much attention to vulnerabilities over the past 2 years.

Scott migrated a legacy application from 2012 to 2019. That's 7 years of change. Assuming the customer didn't actually update the client software, which was likely developed with SMB1 only in mind.

But I get the argument, in this case I think the client has caused more problems than the protocols used.

I just dont think turning SMBv1 is even a consideration anymore in 2019.

Hoping to do some more testing this week and updated you @stacksofplates

I think this may be as good of time as any to discuss limiting spam. It's something I haven't really done before other than on WordPress sites which offer many ways to do this.

What are some unobtrusive things that can decrease spams?

Is captcha still effective?

@flaxking said in Custom web apps for SMB:

I was thinking about getting into creating custom web apps on the side for SMB, but I'm wondering what you guys think about the market. If I was running an SMB, I would think this is critical in order to keep a competitive edge. But my experience, SMBs drift towards cookie cutter solutions that are trying to be sold to all of their competitors too.

Yeah most remain SMB because they DONT keep their edge

@scottalanmiller said in Custom web apps for SMB:

@Pete-S said in Custom web apps for SMB:

Now, 50 hours that is a very small project. So your potential customers should be willing to spend at the very least $5K and often much more.

Tiny. Figure 200 hours for the smallest real work project and likely more like 1,200. And that's just to get into production!

50 hours would be more like branding or customization. Not really a build. This is the kind of hours you would expect to have after buying a works out of the box product, but have minor customization for your needs.

It sounds like they probably don't know how much space they need. Somebody probably told them storage is cheap and they threw out some insane number. They are likely doing something very wrong to need that much storage.

Can you get some clarity of why they think they need that much storage? How much storage are they currently using?

I would like to make one of my github projects public, but I want to hide a few files. I know that is easy enough to do with .gitignore . In this case, I would like to have configuration files with default values shown on the project for anyone to clone. However, I want my versions to be custom.

Is this solution to create a default file, sync, then add to .gitignore or do I need to do something else?

I guess another question, is there a way to eat my cake and have it, too? I would like be able to sync this config files for myself somehow. Can I maybe make a private branch and somehow push all changes except those files to my public branch?

@Skyetel said in Ad blockers Advice:

Hey All,

I wanted to ask your opinion for something we are discussing internally.

We are having a problem with users who have ad blockers in place with our portal. There are 3 principle problems:

1. Recording Errors - our portal and sign up app are both javascript applications. This means when you log into our portal, the Javascript for our portal is downloaded into the cache of your browser and runs as a local application (this makes our app feel snappy). It then interacts with a remote PHP API. Right now, when a user gets an error in that javascript, we log it. However, when that error happens with users who are using ad blockers, we are unable to log it and so we cannot fix it.

2. Unexpected Bugs - Users who have ad blockers in place may experience bugs that other users won't. This is because Ad Blockers are a little aggressive in what elements they are blocking. This is especially true of any attribute of our portal that has any form of analytics. For example - we use a lot of heat mapping to understand how big we should make buttons, how readable text is, etc. If we build an element that does not have a failback to support ad blockers, that button won't load.

3. Non Reproducible Problems - this is probably the biggest issue we are having. When a user experiences a bug that we cannot reproduce, its excruciating for both our customer and our support department. Each ad blocker works differently, and have their own standards to work around. So while one element will work for one user, it may not work for the other simply because they have different ad blockers.

Because of these three problems, we are considering creating a pop up that either asks users to disable their ad blockers or won't let them continue until they do. We don't want our users to be discouraged from using our portal obviously... but we're also not serving any ads either.

I'm curious what you guys think. Should we create a warning? let users have a poor experience? force users to whitelist us?

Creating a warning is probably best approach. I don't think the user should be forced, but a pop-up saying certain features won't work and they could have unexpected behavior across the board.

Maybe I am just sick and tired of installing basic shit whenever I am on a minimal install, but here are some of reasons behind why I question if minimals are really any better.

Configuration Drift
This is the big one for me. With a full install, you get most of the tools you need for troubleshooting and doing various tasks across the board. With minimal systems you need to add packages one by one as you need them. Which means your image could vary quite a bit from system to system.

Troubleshooting
This takes longer as every set of servers has a different set of tools, and many times needed tools are missing

Patching
Vetting patches becomes more difficult because of the configuration drift.

@Romo said in Are Minimal installs really better?:

Wouldn't you just either keep an image with only the stuff you require and deploy that or just use config management to get the default minimal install to you what you require as well?

Creating a base image with everything you need is the actual solution here. The problem is how effectively can you do it.

@DustinB3403 said in Jared - OBS:

@IRJ said in Jared - OBS:

I am not the almighty @JaredBusch

Then why are you replying

Why aren't you using a pm?

HIPAA is so lax that the only real solution is to throw it out and replace it with something decent like in the EU. EU is definitely the leader in privacy.

@JaredBusch said in You cannot fix stupid vendors:

Instead you simply refuse to purchase form them when possible. When not possible, you do the absolute minimum required to implement and keep any change documented in order to prevent stupid shit they do from coming back on IT.

This is where it is nice to have policies in place that only allow secure apps to be deployed that meet a a defined criteria. This policy is then signed by CEO and CTO. So when they want the software, you show them it doesnt meet the policy they signed and is it creates unnecessary risk

@scottalanmiller said in You cannot fix stupid vendors:

@IRJ said in You cannot fix stupid vendors:

@JaredBusch said in You cannot fix stupid vendors:

Instead you simply refuse to purchase form them when possible. When not possible, you do the absolute minimum required to implement and keep any change documented in order to prevent stupid shit they do from coming back on IT.

This is where it is nice to have policies in place that only allow secure apps to be deployed that meet a a defined criteria. This policy is then signed by CEO and CTO. So when they want the software, you show them it doesnt meet the policy they signed and is it creates unnecessary risk

Great idea.

Another thing to write on the policy is that if there are any exceptions to this they must be signed off and documented. You will find out how quickly the c levels or even directors will not want to sign anything off and accept responsibility for the risk.

For IaaS, using a tool like terraform can help you transition from one platform to another as terraform is compatible with many cloud hosts.

@PhlipElder said in AWS Catastrophic Data Loss:

For another, as mentioned above, how many folks know how to set up any cloud?

That's why the cloud guys make the :money_bag: :money_bag: :money_bag: :money_bag:

Cloud isn't even that difficult. Most could learn the basic concepts in an hour or two.

@FATeknollogee said in AWS Catastrophic Data Loss:

@PhlipElder said in AWS Catastrophic Data Loss:

@IRJ said in AWS Catastrophic Data Loss:

For IaaS, using a tool like terraform can help you transition from one platform to another as terraform is compatible with many cloud hosts.

I feel like I'm back in the early 2000s when Microsoft released Small Business Server 2000 then Small Business Server 2003 with the business owner DIY message. We got a lot of calls as a result of that messaging over the years.

Then, there was the mess created by the "IT Consultant" that didn't know their butt from a hole in the ground. We cleaned up a lot of those over the years.

At least in the above cases we could work with some sort of box to get their data on a roll.

Today, that possibility is virtually nil.

That is, the business owner being knowledgeable enough to navigate the spaghetti of cloud services setup to get to a point where they are secure and backed up for one. For another, as mentioned above, how many folks know how to set up any cloud?

Then, toss into the mix the message about speed and agility and we have a deadly mix beyond the SBS messaging and failures in that we're talking orders of magnitude more folks losing their businesses as a result of one big FUBAR.

Ever been on the back of a bike holding a case of beer while the "driver" hit 200+ KPH? I have. Once. And lived to never, ever, ever, trust an arse like that again.

The powerful power of marketing
Cloud = :couple_with_heart: :kissing_face_with_smiling_eyes: :kissing_cat_face_with_closed_eyes:

Your understanding of cloud is quite exquisite