Posts

• Feb 21, 2022

  Install MacFuse and `sshfs` on macOS Monterey

  MacFUSE, a FUSE module for macOS, has been around in various forms for quite some time. It seems that each time Apple releases a new OS version, there are challenges in getting MacFuse installed. This is simply the latest iteration with MacFUSE (4.2.4) on macOS Monterey (12.2.1) on an Apple M1 (Max) chipset, plus a bit on using it with sshfs.

• Sep 18, 2020

  Generate Non-contiguous subuid/subgid Maps for Rootless Podman

  We are migrating all our use of docker to podman for our shared servers, mostly to take advantage of the great support for rootless podman. I recently wanted to find a way to stop adding individual users to the /etc/subuid and /etc/subgid maps, as well as make all the maps be the same across systems to be able to attribute ownership for residual files created in containers on a networked (distributed ceph) file system. Also, we have a federated IdM setup, so no users are created locally each server, so it has to be globally maintained and handle non-contiguous user-id ranges. Since we already use Ansible to do our configuration, this was easy.

• Sep 18, 2020

  Add Bitwise Operations to Ansible/Jinja2

  I just ran into a reason to have a bitwise shift in an Ansible / Jinja2 template. No problem, this is a thing already, right? Nope. In fact, bitwise operations in Jinja have been dismissed since 2013. WTF?

• Feb 11, 2020

  Self-Signed TLS Certs v. Chrome on MacOS Catalina

  Chrome on MacOS Catalina is especially persnickety when it comes to (self-signed) certificates, due in part, I believe, to Apple’s new certificate requirements for macOS 10.15 (Catalina) and iOS 13.

• Feb 7, 2020

  Enable SSH Key Authentication for Dell CMC or iDRAC

  Dell’s embedded systems controllers, both the iDRAC and CMC (chassis management controller), are very useful, if utterly cryptic, tools for remote management. Life with them can become slightly easier if you know how to import your ssh public keys for authentication, thus avoiding yet-another-password-prompt.

• Dec 16, 2019

  Serial Console under FreeBSD

  Having previously setup serial console access for Linux systems, here’s a recipe to do this for FreeBSD as well.

• Jul 15, 2019

  Booting XEN on Ubuntu via Grub with UEFI

  If you have Ubuntu 18.04 (or possibly even 16.x or earlier) and are trying to boot a XEN kernel using GRUB2[.efi] on a UEFI system, you will likely run into “blank screen/hanging” problems as others have found (e.g. here and here).

• Apr 17, 2019

  Convert org-mode to markdown

  I’m sure this is going to seem trivial, but I spent way too much time looking for a way to convert my emacs org-mode notes into (github flavored) markdown.

• Jan 15, 2019

  Remap MS Ergonomic Keyboard "Application/Submenu" Key on Mac OS X

  Some keyboards geared towards Windows have useless keys for a Mac. Can they be remapped?

• Dec 13, 2018

  Automatically retrieve password for Ansible's `become_pass` from external password store

  Just learning Ansible, I quickly became tired of repeatedly typing my remote user password to allow ansible[-playbook] to become root on the remote system via sudo. Wanting something secure too. Too much to ask?

• Nov 2, 2017

  Upgrade Ubiquiti UniFi AP-AC-Pro to mitigate KRACK

  In the vein of “this should be easy…“, I thought I’d share a story of wasted time.

• May 22, 2017

  Configure pfSense bridge over multiple NICs as LAN

  pfSense doesn’t seem to have a simple “bridge-all-NICs” option. Really?

• May 17, 2017

  Command-line or script access to One-Time-Secret

  I’ve been playing with OneTimeSecret, and wanted bash scripted access to it. I had to write it myself.

• Feb 13, 2017

  MacBook Pro USB-C to Dual-Link DVI (DVI-DL)

  So, you’ve got a nice large 30” display (e.g. Apple 30” Cinema Display or Dell 3007WFP ) that can render 2560x1600 @ 60 Hz, but it has a Dual-Link DVI connector. And, you have a nice new MacBook Pro 2016 with only USB-C connectors. You might think it would be easy to connect, Right?

• Feb 6, 2017

  Using dd to rescue data from failing drive

  So, you’ve ignored those S.M.A.R.T. errors for a while now, haven’t you. Now you realize that there might actually be something going wrong with your hard drive. You try to naively copy data off, but it fails. But, no worries, there is an option to dd that can help you get most of the data off:

• Jan 17, 2017

  Local / domain-specific DNS resolvers on Mac OS X

  Got VMs? Have local servers at home? Connecting to a VPN? Want to do ALL at the same time and still be able to use typical DNS name resolution to reach the local domain hosts and your VMs? Doing this from a Mac?

• Dec 15, 2016

  SSH Key Auth on Dell PowerConnect Switches

  Today, I tried to setup ssh public keys on my Dell PowerConnect Switches, figuring that good key authentication should be more secure and easier than simple password auth, right? Clearly someone is in the camp of fallor ergo sum on this one, and I suppose it might be me.

• Jan 31, 2004

  SSH Auto-Proxy Script

  If you’ve ever added a ProxyCommand directive to your ssh config file, but you are on a portable computer only need that directive sometimes.

• Jan 30, 2004

  SSH through HTTP Proxy

  Here’s a hack showing how to tunnel ssh through an http-proxy server without any server-side modifications.

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