cygweb

I just published the Python app for my day job that I mentioned I would be working on. It turned out quite a bit differently than I thought it would.

The goal: grab events from our Active Directory domain controllers from around the world and parse them against our network subnet information (specifically, what building a subnet is deployed in) to provide a list of IP subnets that should be added to Active Directory and assigned to a site.

The tools: one slightly dangerous CS grad, ActivePython, Winbatch, Sysinternal's PSLogList, and a W2K3 server.

The method:

• Put PSLogList on each DC along with a shell script that is scheduled to run it weekly. The command used: psloglist -s -d 14 -i 5778 > c:\5778logs.csv outputs the last 14 days' 5778 events with comma-separated values and puts them in a text file. PSLogList can remotely query servers, however its performance over WAN links is much slower than just running it locally and copying over the results.
• Wrote a Winbatch script that gets a list of all the current AD DCs, and attempts to find and copy down their CSV files. After it's done, it puts them all together into a single CSV file.
• Wrote a Python script that reads in a CSV file with network subnet information (network address, subnet mask, and building info are used) and then iterates through each 5778 event, associating a network subnet to each referenced client's IP address. I used a bit of brute force to calculate the correct subnet. Our network has a lot of variety, with plenty of subnetted Class B and C subnets, so this calculation takes awhile for the thousands of 5778 events that are being parsed. There are probably more elegant ways of doing this, so this part of the process will improve over time. (The Python script I wrote is in the extended entry.) The script outputs a formatted text file that includes information about every unassigned subnet.
• Created a shell script to wrap this all up and run weekly after the runs of the DCs' scheduled PSLogList jobs.

Based on the latest news, we probably won't see an American release of Porcupine Tree's upcoming album "Deadwing" until April 16th. However, a little birdy (one guess as to who - if he wants to be named, all he has to do is comment) has shared some tracks with me (some of them apparently non-album tracks, and new to me). The stuff is great. I'm still listening to "In Absentia" and its related non-album material quite regularly, and haven't really taken it upon myself to delve into the PT back catalog beyond "Stupid Dream" yet. I have a feeling that after DW comes out, the back catalog will have to wait a little longer. ;) I'll be surprised if neither "Shallow" or "Lazarus" garner mainstream attention.

When your hosting provider's tech support sends a strongly-, but garbly-, worded email saying that this is the second warning that you are using a shell script to run mt-comments.cgi on a listening port in violation of the terms of service, but you aren't, do you:

a) Change your mt-comments.cgi script to something slightly more obscure?
b) Export all of your MT entries?
c) Think about moving off of MT, even though you like it and have a paid license for it?
d) Think about that migration to another provider (perhaps one more friendly/knowledgeable regarding MT) you're going to do in the fall anyways because you're too cheap to pay the regular rate for the free 3-year hosting plan whose metrics are now a bit outdated?
e) All of the above?

I just did a) and I'm trying to do b), but not all of my stuff is coming out. Good night!

Yes, Drama (1980), Track 1, "Machine Messiah":

Hold me, Machine Messiah
And show me
The strength of your singular eye

So, they got the spelling a slightly wrong... big deal! ;)

I can't even understand half the lyrics, but the Deadwing non-album track "So Called Friend" is my favorite new PT.

Via Lessig: I'm checking out the winners of the CC "Fine Art of Sampling" contest. Normally I'm not much into techno, but this is some interesting sounding stuff.

My favorite so far is My Fair Hiphop (Challenge Mix). It combines elements of my two favorite Wired CD songs.

Some good news came in via the Dream Theater "Under A Cyber Moon" e-mail newsletter: Jordan Rudess will be onstage with Steven Wilson and Aviv Geffen for the US Blackfield shows! There are some pretty integral keyboard parts on the Blackfield album, so this is very welcome to me. Looking even more forward to the show now - only a few days to go!

From UACM:

Jordan Rudess joins Blackfield for acoustic shows

Jordan Rudess will be appearing on keyboards with the band, BLACKFIELD in their east coast acoustic shows next week. BLACKFIELD is the brain child of Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree and Israeli singer/songwriter, Aviv Geffen.

A note from Jordan:

"BLACKFIELD's music is very melodic rock. When I heard this beautiful album I wrote a note of appreciation to my buddy, Steven Wilson. He told me the group was playing acoustic in New York. I had a vision of joining them on keys and now the vision has turned into reality and I'm programming like mad and learning the tunes. Hope to see you all next week."

Another fantasy football blogger, Dr. Soos, is podcasting. His current FantasySacs podcast features his analysis of the first week of free agent moves in the NFL. Check it out.

I enjoyed the first episode of Blind Justice. With all those ads ABC ran, I felt like I'd already seen half the episode going in, but they managed to tell much of the backstory by reference. It opened the 40+ minutes up to a pretty decent plot for a pilot. I really thought Dunbar carrying a gun was going to bug me, but they (actor Ron Eldard and the writers) made it seem plausible enough to accept. The show is fiction, after all, but it's based on an interesting concept.

I'll definitely keep watching. I'm already trained to go to ABC on Tuesdays at 10. ;)

The trip to Don's went pretty quickly (about 3 hours 10 minutes) and we've already begun the geeking out. We received and hooked up Don's new HDTV and were checking out Gran Turismo 4's 1080i mode - pretty nice! Now we're off to dinner and Blackfield!

This post marks my first Mac experience in over 10 years. Mac OS X is not bad at all! (And thanks to Firefox!)

Tonight at the Canal Room, Don and I had the pleasure of checking out a stripped-down version of Blackfield, featuring Steven Wilson, Aviv Geffen, and Jordan Rudess. This was definitely a show I'll remember for a while. Besides the fact that we were at the edge of stage left (mostly Aviv's domain), the unique renditions of the songs that were played made for an energetic show.

We estimated at least 300 people were present for the concert, and most appeared to be knowledgable fans of the album. There was plenty of singing along (especially by yours truly), even though the Blackfield album was only recently released in the US. Like us, many probably heard of the album via a previous interest in Steven or Aviv. It was released about a year ago in Israel, and a few months after that in Europe.

The show was about 1.5 hours and featured seven songs from the album, the non-album track "Feel So Low", and some of Steven Wilson's originals and cover tunes (including his rendition of Alanis Morrisette's "Thank You"). Aviv also introduced the song "Miss You" as coming on "the next Blackfield album". Bring it on!

After the show, we hung around and got to meet Steven and Aviv briefly and thank them for the great album and show. Don purchased the vinyl version of the album, had it signed by both gentlemen, and I took his snapshot with each of them. (I was too shy to get my photo taken with them, and also didn't want to impose!)

This experience reminds me of why I love club shows so much. Thanks to Don for the invite; I hope we'll be able to catch one of the upcoming Porcupine Tree shows (featuring the full Blackfield band lineup opening?) together as well!

Link: Don's take on the show.

We're currently enjoying Yesspeak on the new HDTV. It's in anamorphic widescreen. Cool.

I got back home from Long Island at about mid-afternoon yesterday. Thanks to Don and Naomi for once again having me over for a few days! Don and I recorded a podcast on Friday that I should have up here by tonight.

Besides the normal chores today, I'm hanging a new lamp fixture in the foyer that Melissa bought while I was gone. Its wrought-iron finish and detail is a far cry from the "el cheapo" lamp that the builders supplied. I would've posted before and after pictures but it's not worth it. ;) I'll probably throw up a picture once it's all done. It's a nice looking fixture.

18.9MB 64kbps 22KHz Stereo MP3 41m 25s (Torrent courtesy of Prodigem.)
18.9MB 64kbps 22KHz Stereo MP3 41m 25s

Recorded at Don's place, we talk about the Blackfield NYC show and some of our shared history.

Links:

• DonBecker.org
• Blackfield

Credits:

• Recorded, edited, mixed and mastered by me.
• Music: "One Big Holiday" by My Morning Jacket and "My Fair Lady" by David Byrne from the Wired CD.

As I'm approaching my fourth year of CMS-based blogging (first Squishdot, then Movable Type), I've been thinking about some site redesign and a little refocus. Here are some of the changes I'm considering:

• Wider layout, with a three columns on the front page and two columns on the archive pages.
• More feed-powered content; for example, syndication of my del.icio.us feed and my Amazon-based current recommendations list as sidebar-based link blogs. (Both those lists are pretty new and I'm just starting to populate them.)
• Slightly larger fonts, different than the default MT fonts. I'm thinking of going with a seriffed font, but we'll see.
• Trying to harness the potential of Google AdSense without using up too much real estate.
• Focusing more on my core interests (music and its intersection with existing and new technologies, football) than before, but still keeping this a personal blog. I think the link blog will help with this.
• Changing the default MT comments layout significantly, especially with respect to the Gravatar support. I've seen others do a nice job with that.
• Going back and cleaning up a lot of the old content. Recategorizing would help here.

That's enough on the plate for now, I think. Have a suggestion? Please post it.

Today Manolas Handmade Soaps participated in the Central Dauphin Band Boosters' annual craft show. This was our first one (our third show overall), and it was the first to be held in the new high school. That's a very nice facility. The hosts were helpful; it was great to do an indoor craft show for once. This show was the most organized one we've been a part of yet. Even though we didn't sell as much product as we had planned to, we'll definitely apply to return next year.

Our neighbor behind us, Kit Summers, was selling his salsa and he offered a trade for some soap. It was worth every bite; his mild salsa is very flavorful. Check it out if you get a chance.

Scot Hacker speaks thoughtfully about his experiences trying to fight MT comment spam. He's dealt with it first-hand as a multi-blog MT host. I did turn off unregistered commenters for a while when TypeKey came out, but then turned them back on when MT 3.1 and MT-Blacklist 2 came out, not realizing that MTBL would need the resources it does to filter out a comment spam storm.

Seeing as comment spammers are the reason why I've received nastygrams from my host, I will probably follow Scot's lead and require TypeKey authentication. Scot's the first person outside of Six Apart that I've read who had such a thorough dissection of the problem and the steps needed to combat it. I'm only dealing with a single blog here (MHS doesn't allow comments - yet), but I'm getting spammed often enough that it's gotten to be a real annoyance cleaning up.

After having niche uses for two different 32MB USB thumb drives I'd received from vendors, I knew at some point I'd want to get one of the larger ones for easily hauling around podcasts and other transient multimedia. I finally pulled the trigger and got the 512MB Cruzer Micro from Sandisk. I haven't checked out any of the included software yet, but I did transfer 256MB of MP3s to it in under a minute, so I know it works and is fast. Recommended.

Thanks to some vendors, my family and I are going to enjoy the Hershey Bears game tonight; they're playing the Portland Pirates. This'll be my first live hockey game in years.

Our MHS swag from Cafepress has arrived! It looks great!

I wonder how often the sitting president misses the annual Easter Egg Roll.

Thanks to a quick invite from Ross, I'm checking out Yahoo's new blogging service, 360°. If I know you and you'd like an invite, please feel free to email me.

I think I've converted everything over to my new, wider layout. Enjoy.