Nessus on Ubuntu

Getting Nessus running on Ubuntu is pretty easy but there is one anomaly - to get it registered in order to take advantage of the plug-ins.

Let me run through the entire process to get Nessus operational. You can install the client with the GUI installer (Add/Remove) and then add the daemon with:

sudo apt-get install nessusd

Then, create a nessus user (later used in the Nessus client):

sudo nessus-adduser

The daemon is started with:

sudo /etc/init.d/nessusd start

You can at this point fire-up the Nessus client and login to the localhost using the username and password you just created. After registering at the Nessus site will you get an email with information on how to activate the copy. The information on how to activate on a Linux machine doesn't work on Ubuntu and you basically need to exchange /opt/nessus/ to /usr/ in the command, so the CLI entry reads:

sudo /usr/bin/nessus-fetch --register XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX

You find detail info on this issue at an entry at Gouki’s blog.

You're now ready to go but be careful - this is a powerful tool and may break things. You should have permission before pointing it at systems.

Nessus also offers a commercial feed for $1,200 with additional features.

Microsoft Lauch Ad Service

The behemoth Microsoft is launching an ad service challenging Google. The name is AdCenter. Nothing new, not much creative thinking in Redmond - they couldn't even come up with a new kind of name. Microsoft will probably, as its habit, try to break into the market space by dumping the market one way or another and then act as predatory as a deranged wolf amongst a flock of sheep. It will not be pretty and there will be blod. But I don't think they will succeed this time. Google will be too much with superior technology and innovations.

Power Management with FC5 on ThinkPad R40

I had some problem with the power management. The charging didn't engage after having it unplugged but it charged when shutdown and unplugged. Running on AC was fine all along. However, problem solved by the advise from this german fellow and installing the laptop mode tools. I manually installed the scripts /etc/acpi/battery.sh, /etc/acpi/lid.sh, /etc/acpi/events/lid, /etc/acpi/events/ac_adapter at the former link and then grabbed the rpm from the latter.

FC5 Experiencies

Fedora 5 is running smooth on my ThinkPad. Some minor annoying bugs in Gnome seems to have vanished. Yes! Linux is inching closer to be a serious contender in all user segments. But still ways to go. Installing the wireless card was still a tricky matter requiring downloading and compiling a few items navigating a version compatibility issues.

Crank it up!

MIT is developing a cheap laptop that will not be for sale! Have you hear about the one laptop per child (olpc) project? It's an initiative that will provide a durable laptop to children in poor corners around the world. The laptop will of course run Open Source. No hard drive but a flash memory. Traditional power from an outlet can be supplemented by using a wind-up. The target cost for each machine is $100.

Microsoft Missing X-mas

Microsoft's delay of the new operating system Vista is certainly bad news for everybody with a stake, interest, or dependency of Windows products. Missing the holiday season is certainly bad timing. The good news is that there are alternatives - maybe more folks with give Apple's products a second look or maybe have a go at Linux on the desktop.

Fedora Core 5!

A new version of Fedora is available - time to explore. There is a whole lot of applications for the desktop in this release. My first system to upgrade is a ThinkPad (and I hope to find a little bonus and learn that the minor hw compatibility issues are taken care).

Handheld Microsoft

It's reported that Microsoft is planning a challenge Sony and Nintendo in handheld gaming devices. This device is also supposed to go after Apple's iPod dominance.

Well, they may fight it out with Sony and Nintendo and it's only natural to add some more functionality such as listening to music but the iPod business is a distinctly different market.

It's not quite as stupid as the Tablet PC but it will not work as intended.

The real challenge to the iPod business will come from combining iPod functionality in cell phones. That has already started and I am sure we'll see a whole lot more of that down the road.

DHS and Security

DHS is funding Open Source security initiative to harden major Open Source projects. Among other thing will code analysis using Coverity - which has a very impressive product.

Clustering

I have worked with load balancers from Coyote Point and it has been a very pleasant experience. Their systems have a good set of features but still easy to work with. The only issue I have spent any amount of time working on was to get the routing correct on the servers behind the load balancers.