Surgeons Net Blog (including sysadmin's ramblings)

Target Google AdSense even more by rating your content

2009-01-25T12:22:00.005Z

There is a nice article on AdSense published recently on DevShed. For my own note I had no idea you could direct what content you wanted Google to concentrate on for displaying relevant ads.

Put the main content inside these comment tags:

And things you want ignored inside:

Firefox 3 sesson restore

2008-11-17T22:59:00.002Z

Not sure why but firefox seemed to lose it's session restore feature for me. Maybe something to do with having tab mix plus installed prior to the 2 -> 3 upgrade.

Anyhow here is how to restore session saving.

Enter about:config in the address bar and say yes to the behave yourself warning!

Search down for "browser.sessionstore.resume_session_once" and change the setting to true.

and restart ...

That's it.

Clamav with Qmail-Scanner

2008-06-04T13:49:00.001+01:00

Probably the best article on getting clamav to work with Qmail Scanner

http://qmail.jms1.net/clamav/qmail-scanner.shtml

WEBSITES DOWN DUE TO FIRE AT SERVER HOST

2008-06-02T08:54:00.002+01:00

Unfortunately there has been an fire at the main data center where our servers are hosted and hence the websites and email are down.

The server company are expecting to starting bringing servers back online this evening, but it may be tomorrow morning before the network is fully restored.

Thank you for your patience.

Just a reminder of a great x-platform SVN client

2008-04-26T20:21:00.000+01:00

http://rapidsvn.tigris.org/

Setting up a subversion server Redhat CentOS

2008-02-21T23:48:00.002Z

First some useful reference links:

http://www.tgharold.com/techblog/labels/SubVersion.shtml
http://www.daniel-skinner.co.uk/setup-subversion-and-trac-on-centos-5/06/01/2008
http://www.subversionary.org/howto/setting-up-a-server-on-fedora-core-4

A Script to do the plesk directory permisson setup

2008-02-17T20:03:00.002Z

I have previously posted about changes to the plesk httpdocs directory to get it to work well with Joomla. This is a little bash script I knocked up to do the job. Just pass the username as param 1


#!/bin/bash

# First check that this is a valid username
grep "^${1}:" /etc/passwd > /dev/null 2>&1
if [ "$?" -ne "0" ]; then
  echo "Sorry, cannot find user ${1} in /etc/passwd or you didn't supply a username"
  echo "Usage: ${0} "

  exit 1
fi

userdir=`grep "^${1}:" /etc/passwd | cut -d: -f6`

if [ -d ${userdir} ] ; then
 echo "Changing to directory ${userdir}"
 cd ${userdir} && chown -R ${1}:psacln httpdocs && chmod -R g+w httpdocs && find httpdocs -type d -exec chmod g+s {} \; && /etc/init.d/httpd reload
fi

Monitoring all apache virtual hosts on plesk with logwatch

2008-02-16T16:00:00.009Z

The standard Plesk install has logwatch setup to just monitor the default httpd log, i.e /var/www/httpd/*

This is miss most things as the log file output of all the virtual hosts are not parsed. So I made a little bash script to create a load of new logwatch conf files to parse all my virtual host logfiles too. You will need to run this script each time a new domain is created. A know there is a Plesk way to run custom scripts on events, but I'll leave that for another day.


#!/bin/bash

##
## Script to create conf files and script links on a Plesk
## server that monitor all the apache log files 
##
## Visit blog.surgeons.org.uk for updates

## Location of the virtual hosts directories
vhost_root=/var/www/vhosts/

## Various logwatch directories
dir_services="/etc/logwatch/conf/services"
dir_logfiles="/etc/logwatch/conf/logfiles"
dir_scripts="/etc/logwatch/scripts/services"
http_script="/usr/share/logwatch/scripts/services/http"

## Now iter over each directory
for domain in $( ls -Ichroot -Idefault $vhost_root ); do
if [ -d "${vhost_root}${domain}" ]
then
 echo "Making services logwatch enteries for ${domain}"
 domain_us=`echo $domain | tr . _`
 (
 cat <<-END_OF_SERVICES_CONF        

###########################################################################
# Configuration file for $domain http filter         
# See blog.surgeons.org.uk for updates         ###########################################################################
Title = "httpd - $domain"

# Which logfile group...
LogFile = http_$domain_us
END_OF_SERVICES_CONF ) > ${dir_services}/http_${domain_us}.conf


 echo "Making logfiles logwatch entries for ${domain}"
 (
 cat <<-END_OF_LOGFILES_CONF
########################################################
#   Define log file group for http_$domain_us
#   See blog.surgeons.org.uk for updates
#######################################################
LogFile = /var/www/vhosts/$domain/statistics/logs/access_log
LogFile = /var/www/vhosts/$domain/statistics/logs/access_log.processed
LogFile = /var/www/vhosts/$domain/statistics/logs/access_ssl_log
LogFile = /var/www/vhosts/$domain/statistics/logs/access_ssl_log.processed

# If the archives are searched, here is one or more line
# (optionally containing wildcards) that tell where they are...
# If you use a "-" in naming add that as well -mgt

Archive = /var/www/vhosts/$domain/statistics/logs/access_log.processed.?.gz
Archive = /var/www/vhosts/$domain/statistics/logs/access_ssl__log.processed.?.gz         

# Expand the repeats (actually just removes them now)
*ExpandRepeats

# Keep only the lines in the proper date range...
*ApplyhttpDate
END_OF_LOGFILES_CONF ) > ${dir_logfiles}/http_${domain_us}.conf


## Make the script links
echo "Creating script link for ${domain}"
ln -s ${http_script} ${dir_scripts}/http_${domain_us}

fi

done

Suhosin PHP hardening

2008-02-15T15:57:00.001Z

A PHP hardening (security patch) worth checking out

http://www.hardened-php.net/suhosin/index.html

Disabling mod_security 2 for individual directories

2008-02-13T22:06:00.006Z

I ran into some trouble with mod_security falsely blocking my joomla administrator pages.

The old method of disabling mod_security by placing a SecFilterEngine Off SecFilterScanPOST Off in a .htaccess doesn't work anymore. This doesn't seem to be clear in the docs and I only found this info in a mod-sec mailing post.

So the rules now need to go directly into the apache conf files.

I have most sites hosted on a plesk server. In plesk you can add to the virtual host config inside a vhost.conf file found in "/var/www/vhosts/<domain.com>/conf/vhost.conf".
Create or edit this file and enter:


<location>
SecRuleEngine Off
</location>

Apply the vhost changes if a new vhost file with:
/usr/local/psa/admin/bin/websrvmng -v -a

And reload the httpd server with:
service httpd restart

Better still disable specific rules with
SecRuleRemoveById _rule_id_

Instead of the sledgehammer SecRuleEngine Off

Joomla installation on Plesk server, getting permissions right

2008-02-12T16:11:00.005Z

Installing Joomla on a Plesk server has it's problems with permissions. I think this gives a nice solution. The original inspiration comes from the rackerhacker article.

The steps are:

Add the ‘apache’ user to the ‘psacln’ group by editing /etc/group

i.e. psacln:x:_hidden(dont actually change this field!)_:apache

Change the current directory permissions with:
cd /home/httpd/vhosts/[domain.com] chown -R [username]:psacln httpdocs chmod -R g+w httpdocs find httpdocs -type d -exec chmod g+s {} \;
This set the setuid bit on each of the directories

Reload the apache settings with /etc/init.d/httpd reload

If you are using proftp to upload files or the new joomla 1.5 ftp layer then change the umask for proftpd by editing ‘/etc/proftpd.conf’ to read Umask 002

Otherwise change the umask that php uses. The easiest, but I guess least elegant way is to add the line <?php umask (0002); ?> to the top of the administrator template index.php file. In Joomla 1.5 this is "administrator/templates/khepri/index.php"

Three cheers for vodafone, 3G on linux

2008-02-04T17:04:00.000Z

I have to say three cheers to vodafone. I have previously posted about not being able to use my 3G USB modem with Ubuntu. Well vodafone do offer a GUI that works under linux for connecting using their 3G USB modem.

The file can be downloaded from vodafone's open source development site
Choose the .deb package for Ubuntu and it works like a dream!! The USB modem is automatically detected and all that is needed is the connection settings for the UK. So enter username=web, password=web and apn=internet

Well done to vodafone.

Starting VM tools automatically and hiding to systray

2008-01-24T20:18:00.000Z

This is nothing to do with surgery, but rather acting as an aide memoir for me:

After installing vmware tools in a linux guest it is nice for the tool box to start automatically. The way to do this is to add vmware-toolbox to the start-up application list usually found under Program->Settings->Sessions.

The command line is:
/usr/bin/vmware-toolbox --iconify
or /usr/bin/vmware-toolbox --minimize

Note that the usage string for vmware-toolbox lists --inconify as the option which is spelt wrong and doesn't work.

Better still the application can be minimized to the system tray using a little app called alltray. Alltray is in the universe repo for gutsy ubuntu and is installed with 'sudo apt-get install alltray' or go to http://alltray.sourceforge.net/

Then modify the above to:
alltray /usr/bin/vmware-toolbox --iconify
to get vmware-toolbox auto started and minimised to the systray.

Ubuntu disappointment

2008-01-08T16:31:00.000Z

Maybe the title is a bit strong, but the day count to requiring a windows boot is only 3. I use my laptop extensively away from home and so have one of those USB 3G modem things. I happen to be with vodafone but of course none of the mobile companies support linux for their 3G cards.

There are a number of pages suggesting ways to get the modem to work using pppd as basically the USB modem is recognised as a serial modem once plugged in. But none of them seemed to work for me and it messed up my normal networking. So it's back to windows when out and about ...

My Ubuntu Experiment

2008-01-05T22:06:00.000Z

Over the years I have attempted to move from a windows based system to a linux based. I have always used linux based servers, which gave fantastic reliability and one had an uptime of over 400 days. You try keeping a windows system up for that length of time without a reboot! But, and here is the big but, linux desktops have never been as easy to use or as reliable. I think that is until now.

Ubuntu claims to bring linux to the masses. I am not shy of compiling my own kernel / drivers or apps, but on my desktop system I would like things to just work. So when I buy a new printer and plug it in I don't need to spend hours searching for a driver and then spend hours installing it. I have tried Ubuntu in the past but the latest version has an impressive hardware compatibility list. So here goes ...

I am trying Ubuntu out on my sony vaio VGN-SZ1HP laptop. It has a 80GB drive and I have upgraded to 1.5Gb RAM. I am using a 7Gb partition to install Ubuntu on to. Yeap you read that right. On my XP drive the c:\Windows folder alone takes up 9.2Gb. The install is pretty straight forward and most of my hardware is recognised straight out of the box. This includes my wireless card which manged to find my home network without trouble. Ubuntu >7.04 includes the ipw3945 wireless card driver and so auto configures for this card. Hotkeys such as brightness / volume and mute work.

The webcam requires an additional driver which at present I can't find.

It comes with openoffice installed as standard. Which is a free to use office suite from Sun Microsystems. This allows me to open all my old word / excel and powerpoint files. And having installed the NTFS drivers I can access my windows data drive partition from Ubuntu. So no problems there.

Printer was the next thing. I have a HPC6180 All-in-one. CUPS comes with the "HP PhotoSmart C6100 Foomatic/hpijs (recommended)" printer driver which works just fine with this printer. Tried printing from OpenOffice Writer and printing a full colour photo from GIMP - no problems.

Scanner from the printer required installation of Xsane and this scans just fine too.

So far so good...

At this point I thought I would play a DVD in the background whilst doing mundane tasks like securing the install and tweaking the firewall. I suppose all the good stuff had to end somewhere. Unfortunately, DVDs are scrambled and in theory only authorised persons can descramble them. This means Ubuntu can not include the drivers to decode commercial DVDs. A quick google search suggests that it is not necessarily an easy fix, so I'll leave that one for the mo.

At present I can't get hibernate to work either, so you'll hear about those when I have them figured out.

I am starting a count of the days until I have to boot up the windows partition again and I'll keep you posted ...

RCSI Dublin Research Position

2007-10-02T22:38:00.000+01:00

A position has become available at the National Surgical Training Centre, RCSI, Dublin for a research fellow. Broadly speaking, the research project is about the application of virtual reality simulation to surgical training.

This research is with a view to earning an MD degree. It would be ideal for a trainee awaiting a HST position in general surgery.

Read the full job specification.

Best Evidence

2007-09-04T19:27:00.000+01:00

The first in a series of articles describing the best evidence around for various medical treatment options.

Best Evidence at Surgeons Net

Some news updates

2007-07-31T10:23:00.000+01:00

There is a job transfer scheme that has been put in place for people that are able to organise a swap between regions. I.e. if there is someone who for good reason wants to work in your assigned region and you want to go to their's then a region transfer can occur.

More info on the Surgeons Net main site

Also the RCS Eng president as released a letter addressing us with the latest on MTAS, surgical outcome data and the EWTD

Read the full letter on the main Surgeons Net site

The Tooke Inquiry

2007-05-21T21:03:00.000+01:00

Go and visit the Tooke MMC inquiry website to make your voice heard about MMC. This is an independent inquiry and it is important that we make our views heard.

MTAS security breach story breaks

2007-04-25T19:15:00.000+01:00

Channel Four News has just broken the story on a massive security breach on the MTAS website. It seems that some clever bod over at MTAS IT thought he / she could get away creating a secret URL for the download of information from the MTAS site. Security by obscurity as it's known. This URL however, it seems became public knowledge!

The data contained names, addresses and phone numbers. But also included sexual orientation and details of criminal records and references!!

I can not understand why anyone would need to have a download of all this data available, but if you are going to do that then using such a poor security model is madness.

Unfortunately, this kind of ineptitude is just the sort of thing we see daily in the NHS and is why I think the organisation fails. Lets just hope that none of this information got into the wrong hands.

New Gastro-oesophageal reflux tutorial

2007-04-23T20:11:00.000+01:00

I have just posted a new tutorial to our site on gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. It has been written my a upper GI consultant surgeon called Mr Menezes from Ashford and St Peter's Hospital.

We have also recently started designing and hosting websites for surgeons and his site is the first. Take a look at the Gallstone and Relux Clinic Site and if you are interested in having a site designed then get in touch.

Eponymous Surgery

2007-04-23T14:49:00.001+01:00

We have posted a new article on eponymous surgical signs and symptoms. Always useful to some of these for bonus marks.

If you have any others to add then please contribute.

RCSEng President statement on transitional training posts

2007-04-05T16:33:00.000+01:00

The president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and Wales has released a statement following the meeting of the review group on MTAS with regard to surgeons. He says that it has been agreed that there needs to be special consideration for surgical trainees and that a transition post arangement will be put in place.

http://www.surgeons.org.uk/latest-news/bernard-ribeiro-rcseng-president-statement-on-mtas-review-ou.html?Itemid=2

The ludicrous nature of choose and book

2007-04-02T11:27:00.000+01:00

I had a good one in clinic today.

A patient was being seen by a different speciality at a hospital 20 miles down the road and they diagnose a hernia. Firstly, they have to refer him back to his GP to get an out-patient appointment with a general surgeon. When the gentleman gets to his GP the choose and book system doesn't list his local hospital! So believe it or not he can't "choose" his local hospital 6 miles from his home and he ends up with us.

This is clearly nonsense for the patient, but I also wonder what the carbon footprint of this is?

National Director of MTAS resigns

2007-03-31T01:37:00.000+01:00

The national director of MTAS has resigned. Read the full text of his letter.