Thursday, June 26, 2014

Rifle River Recreation Area

So the wife and I stayed at the Scaup Lake cabin, at RRR Area and I must say the trip was horrible.  Ok I need to explain that.. the weather was awful.  The entire three days and two nights it was overcast and drizzly.  Plus it seemed as though the deep south had shipped a large crate of humidity up there. then there were the mosquitoes... BIG ones and they were everywhere.

The lakes and the wood themselves are VERY pretty, very scenic and the Scaup cabin area was extremely quiet.  If the weather had been better it would have been awesome.

The cabin was very clean, and very cool (like temp-wise inside) plus cool in just.. cool.  It's not a CCC-era cabin, much newer but still nice.  Double-paned Anderson windows, an extremely heavy butcher-block style dinner table and nice wooden chairs.  The bunk beds however, were lacking in solid construction.. or maybe at one point in time they were structurally sound.  Anyone but a child sleeping up top would be dangerous to the lower occupant.




Thursday, June 19, 2014

Mysterious duplicate Contacts on iPhone

So I've had this nagging issue for the past couple of years now and I guess I never really pursued it very far.  My last company phone was a Blackberry Z10 and I loved it.
Anyway I had a major issue with duplicate contact entries.. and by duplicate I mean some would have 18, others 3.  It varied by that much!

The only accounts I had tied to any phone was my Gmail and my corporate Exchange and neither of those listed many of these weird contact entries in their address or contact lists.  I ignored it often, cussed it other times and today I discovered the reason:  Outlook Suggested Contacts.

By default everytime you email someone from Outlook that does not have an existing contact entry in either your GAL or a local Contact Group/list Outlook automatically creates one under the 'Suggested Contacts'.  So in Outlook if you click on Address Book"

Then Suggested Contacts:

You'll undoubtedly see a TON of entries, most of which you won't give a care about having as a contact.  Hell I had Craigslist randomized addresses in mine.  So do disable such a nonsensical thing, click on File then Options then Contacts:



Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Exchange 2010 - Relaying Externally

Ran into this issue earlier today.. a few weeks ago while working with our DBA in getting internal relaying setup for some Oracle servers I must've broke the external relaying they also performed but since that is just an occasional thing it was missed.. until today.

So in order to configure a Receive Connector for External relaying you must run the following command via the EMC:

Get-ReceiveConnector "External Relay" | Add-ADPermission -User "NT AUTHORITY\ANONYMOUS LOGON" -ExtendedRights "ms-Exch-SMTP-Accept-Any-Recipient"

So create your Connector choosing Custom, clear out all the checkboxes under Authentication then Finish.  Once created run the above command and you're golden Pony Boy.

Utilizing Amazon Glacier to store archived data Part 3

After upgrading to the Pro version of FastGlacier it now averages 8 threads when uploading data, much, MUCH faster now.

WOOT!

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Creating new address lists in Exchange for non-employees

So the company I work for has a rather unique AD structure.  For whatever reason we do not use the default containers Users, or Computers.  Someone years before me thought that was too insensitive or whatever.. we have People and Machines.  Funny no?
But we also have containers or OU's for Vendors, Customers, Reps, Dealers, ASAs and Distributors.  Now I'm seeing all these user objects.. because they access an externally hosted website that uses AD authentication, and wonder why there are not address lists for these so Customer Service or Sales can contact them a little easier.

So here we go.. Mail-Enabling in bulk.  I've exported all those OU's out to a tab-delimited CSV, re-arranged the columns to include only Name and ExternalAddress.

get-User -OrganizationalUnit 'domain.com/people/customers' | Export-CSV c:\users\bhart\customers.csv

import-csv "c:\users\bhart\customers.csv" |  foreach-object {Enable-MailUser -identity $_.Name -ExternalEmailAddress $_.ExternalAddress}

And BOOM 

The 100+ user objects are now mail enabled.. well except for the few objects without an ExternalEmailAddress variable, but you get the idea.

Now I just need to go through this process on the remaining 4 other OU's.

Utilizing Amazon Glacier to store archived data Part 2

Finally got managerial approval and signed up for it yesterday.  Here in MI at my site we have a 6x6mb internet pipe, I was able to upload 1.2gb in roughly 1.5hours.  I chose to use FastGlacier, the free version.  Honestly the speed I think could be much better, it seems the free version is locked to only two threads and any large upload is broken up into 16mb chunks.

Now our MS site has a much lower upload, I believe they're hovering around 2mb on the upswing and since they have the vast majority of the data to upload I am about to purchase the full FastGlacier and I'll report back on the performance differences.

But aside from the performance, which yes is obviously one of the most important aspects of the application.  The gui itself is very nice.. easy to navigate and understand.  Being able to add multiple accounts, view all vaults and manipulate your vaulted data is very well laid out and accessible.  I really like this program so far!

Friday, June 13, 2014

AD/PowerShell - "Directory Object Not Found"

I ran into this error (it's not the first time either) when attempting to get-aduser with a searchbase containing an LDAP string.

get-aduser : Directory object not found

The reason for this is that instead of using ou=orgunit,dc=domain,dc=com you should substitute cn for ou.  So it'd be

get-aduser -searchbase "cn=users,dc=domain,dc=com"


Thursday, June 12, 2014

AD - Changing CompanyName in bulk with Powershell

While waiting for a new AddressList in Exchange to update I realized that there are at least 3 different variations of our Company Name in user objects that should only be one.  Granted they all mean the same thing however it's not perfect and I demand perfection!

Get-ADUser -SearchBase "ou=employees,ou=people,dc=domain,dc=com" -filter *

Gives me a nice list of every single user object in that OU, but now I need to pipe that output into a Set-ADUser cmdlet.

Get-ADUser -SearchBase "ou=employees,ou=people,dc=domain,dc=com" -filter * | Set-ADUser -company "ABC Widgets, Inc" 

And BOOM.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Exchange 2010 - Find database sizes..

Every Exchange admin and even non-admins will need to know how big their db's are at some point.  Here's the command needed to do that:



Exchange 2010 - Corrupted SystemMailbox, FederatedEmail mailbox, etc

We had an issue recently where our customers Exchange 2010 servers arbitrations mailboxes had become corrupt and were giving the below errors when running “Get-mailbox –arbitration

WARNING: The object SystemMailbox{e0dc1c29-89c3-4034-b678-e6c29d823ed9} has been corrupted, and it’s in
an inconsistent state. The following validation errors happened:
WARNING: Database is mandatory on UserMailbox.
WARNING: Database is mandatory on UserMailbox.

image

To resolve this we had to run through the following steps
  • Open AD Users and Computers
  • Expand the Domain go to users OU
  • Find the following accounts and delete them
    • “SystemMailbox{e0dc1c29-89c3-4034-b678-e6c29d823ed9}”
    • “FederatedEmail.4c1f4d8b-8179-4148-93bf-00a95fa1e042”
    • “SystemMailbox{1f05a927-****-****-****-*******}” (Make a note of the Guid of previous system mailbox as it varies on every enviroment)
  • Open Command prompt navigate to your Exchange Setup files and run setup.com /preparead
  • Open the Exchange Management Shell and run the below
    • Enable-Mailbox –Arbitration –Identity “FederatedEmail.4c1f4d8b-8179-4148-93bf-00a95fa1e042”
    • Enable-Mailbox –Arbitration –Identity “SystemMailbox{e0dc1c29-89c3-4034-b678-e6c29d823ed9}”
    • Enable-Mailbox –Arbitration –Identity “SystemMailbox{1f05a927-****-****-****-*******}” (Remember to change *** to your Guid)
    • Set-Mailbox –Arbitration –Identity “SystemMailbox{e0dc1c29-89c3-4034-b678-e6c29d823ed9}” –DisplayName “Microsoft Exchange”
    • Set-Mailbox –Arbitration –Identity “FederatedEmail.4c1f4d8b-8179-4148-93bf-00a95fa1e042” –ProhibitSendQuota 1MB
Your arbitration mailboxes should now be fine, run Get-Mailbox –arbitration to confirm and all should appear with no errors Smile

Monday, June 9, 2014

Exchange 2010 OWA certificate, Part 2

Ok now that you've created your certificate request file and submitted it to your 3rd party SSL cert provider of choice you will have been emailed your .cer file.

Find your request in the certificate list in the EMC

Right click the request and choose Complete Pending request

Find the .cer file you copied to your Exchange server
Then click on Complete.  Now once your certificate is listed in the certificate field, you will then right-click on it and select Assign Services and choose the services you will want, (For OWA you will need at least SMTP and IIS but most likely IMAP and POP as well)
And finally, Assign them..


Click here for Part 1

Exchange 2010 OWA certificate, part 1

Ok so you are setting up a new Exchange 2010 server and you plan on offering the employees webmail or Outlook Web Access.  To do so you will need a 3rd party signed SSL certificate.

So step 1: You need to generate a certificate request using the wizard in Exch 2010 i.e. New Exchange Certificate from the EMC

Next leave wildcard empty..

Next you will select the services you want assigned to this certificate


Set or select your cert domains


Enter in your Org, OU, Location information


Select a location and name of the .req file


And finally, click New to create the certificate request file.




Click here for Part 2

DNS Resolution Performance

DNS or Domain Name System, has been around almost since the advent of the internet. It's much like a phone book for the web, it tells us the ip addresses for specific hosts.  Hostnames are user friendly.. IP's not so much, so it's a highly important and highly visual service.

As such it's been the target of many attacks over the years, from DNS Poisoning to Spoofing.  It is a big juicy apple on the tree of hack targets.

But this post is not about DNS security.. it's about performance and a slow DNS server can make your entire web experience feel like a slug.  What you need is to benchmark a number of DNS servers, what you need to use to accomplish that is: GRC DNS Benchmark

I've ran this little utility at home and at work and you can and will get varied responses, but in my case by and large Google DNS performance or resolves faster than even my own ISP.

I'd implore everyone to give this a shot, and I bet you a doughnut your 'internet will feel faster'.

*Obviously this will not affect gaming or streaming media, but most other activities it cannot hurt.

Replaced both leaf spring packs on my truck this weekend.. what a PITA.

I've got a 2000 GMC Sierra extended cab, 4x4.  It's lived it's whole life in Michigan so it's quite rusted underneath.  since I've had it I've been concerned about the lean to the drivers side, what most call the 'Chevy Lean'.  Usually caused by the driver and the gas tank weight.
A couple months ago I searched Car-part.com and found a salvage yard nearby with a set of spring packs for 475.  Too cheap to pass up, so I drove up to Clare and bought them.  They were removed from a 2007 Crew Cab Z71 1500, so much newer than mine and hopefully would serve as nice replacements.

So starting Friday afternoon, I got the tires off, the frame jacked up and the passenger side pack mostly removed.  Turns out the bolt in the shackle bushing/bolt was seized up due to 'rust welding'.  So off to Home Depot for some new Sawzall blades, which worked...ok, I guess.  I went through 4 blades cutting that one side because I couldn't get enough of a gap and wound up having to cut through the steel bushing core then the bolt itself.  That process alone took several hours.

But by mid-day saturday I had it cut off and the pack removed.  Seeing as how I just cut one bolt I figured I might cut another so I hit a local hardware store and bought new Grade 8, 9/16th x 5" bolts (and like an idiot forgot about nuts).  Using the new bolt and (even luckier) the shackle that was left on the new spring I got the passenger side mounted up by Saturday evening.  Before dark I was also able to get the rear half of the driver spring pack unbolted but I ran into an issue getting the front bolt out because it's inserted from the inside out.  So in order to remove it you;d have to drop the gas tank.  Screw that!

Sunday morning I cut that bolt off and got the pack removed completely.  Now on the driver spring pack I had yet another shackle issue where the top rear bolt was seized up.  I thought about cutting it off too but then I'd still have a non-functioning shackle.  So I hit Google and came up with nothing, no one in town has my OEM shackles in stock.  So I decided to go with some 'lowering' shackles from Autozone.  They lower the rear by about 1.5 inches, which in my mind would be fine because my truck would sit level now.  However if they dropped any further than that, because I wouldnt want to go through this process again, I'd opt for a helper spring to bring the rear back up to where it was.
But all in all I'm fine with the results, provided i got rid of the 'Chevy Lean'.. I haven't found a good level place to park and eyeball yet :(

Oh also it feels like the truck rides a little smoother now, I'd think logically because I got rid of those two sized up bushings.

For anyone contemplating replacing their spring packs I offer these pearls of wisdom:

Remove the spare tire
Remove the receiver hitch
Remove the rear bumper
If at all possible remove the bed

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Exchange 2010 - System Attendant/AD Topology services will not start.

Ok so sometimes you might run into an issue where either the System Attendant or the AD Topology or both services will not start.  Typically this can be caused by 1 of 2 reasons:

A. The server is being disallowed from accessing AD
B. The server cannot reach AD

Here's a list of the most common fixes:

1. Verify your DNS records for Exchange, and DC's
2. Disable any firewalls on your Global Catalog server
make sure your Sites in AD are configured correctly and that the sites can talk to each other
3. check to make sure the security groups Exchange Domain Servers and Exchange Enterprise Servers still exist in ADUC
4. Verify the server hosting your GC is up and accessible
5. Ping your GC from Exchange
6. Make sure AD replication is working correctly

7. Make sure the NTFS perms on the Exchange folder on your Exchange server is still set to allow full access to System and Administrators


Exchange 2010 - Troubleshooting 'Delivery is Delayed' auto-replies..

So sometimes you try to email a person and you get a response back saying that delivery of your email has been delayed but that the server will keep trying to X amount of time.  Don;t worry.. it happens to everyone from time to time.
The list of possible causes are numerous.. everything from RBLs, DNS issues to high latency on someones internet pipe.

Below are some things you can do to help figure out where the problem lies:

I always verify the message left my queue via the Queue Viewer
Next would be checking the Message Tracking Logs, that can be handled a number of ways.  You could check it via /ECP (Exchange Control Panel) or via powershell (my favorite).  Try out the following commands:

Get-MessageTrackingLog -ResultSize "Unlimited" -Recipients "[recipient's address]"
Get-MessageTrackingLog -ResultSize "Unlimited" -Sender "[sender's address]"
Get-MessageTrackingLog -ResultSize "Unlimited" -Start "[date/time]" -End "[date/time]"


There are tons of variances to that cmdlet, you can even pipe the output to a .txt or .csv if so desired.  Which is very helpful when sifting through hundreds of lines of log.

Next is DNS.. sometimes a delay can be caused by a DNS resolution issue.  Verify your mail server can successfully ping and nslookup the target of their MX record.

Speaking of MX records.. another good tip is to verify that you nor them are listed on any RBLs.  I prefer MXToolbox myself, check their Blacklist tab and enter their domain name or SMTP ip address if you know it.  While you are there be sure to sign up for their free RBL monitor.  Once a month you get an email showing the RBL status of a single domain.  I've been using their service for over 4 years now, it's nice to know where your domain stands with regards to the MANY RBLs out in the wild.

Lastly verify all is good with your server at https://www.testexchangeconnectivity.com/

Satellite radio for business...

My plant manager comes to me last week wanting to get sat radio out in our plant area.  We're a manufacturing facility and being in Michigan it's got a large Union presence.  We currently have a DirectTV receiver piped into the paging amp and teh Union controls which stations they get to listen to out on the floor.

After chatting with customer support, looks like we'll be buying the Onyx PLus with Home kit and the outdoor antenna kit.  The unit comes with a 3.5mm to RCA adapter so all I have to do is re-use the existing left/right RCA to single RCA adapter and we're set.

http://shop.siriusxm.com/xm/ctl10600/cp49759/si6424141/cl1/siriusxm_onyx_plus_with_home_kit

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Zenoss, monitor disk IO on AIX

Trying to setup a device collector or a template to monitor disk IO under AIX.  Massive Googling done and I found http://forums.cacti.net/viewtopic.php?t=19040 however since SNMP is working.. I'm unsure as to what this extended info might give me.  What I did find however was a Zenpack http://wiki.zenoss.org/ZenPack:Oracle_Database_(Community) however it requires the Oracle client.  So I've tried the 11g linux_64 client.. however the 'runInstaller' refused to work I think because I had no X-server on this server. So I'm about to try version 12.1.

Version 12.1 full client did not work either, I do not have another box running CentOS with a gui to generate a response file.  So basically since all I needed was SQLPlus and tnsping I following the outline here: http://pfierens.wordpress.com/2011/07/07/adding-tnsping-to-the-instant-client-11-2/ keeping with the 12.1 Instant Client I installed already and used WinSCP to move the tnsping binary and the 'mesg' directory over.


Exchange 2010 - Search for and Delete items from user's mailboxes administratively

Credit to Help.outlook.com/en-us/140/gg315525.aspx

You have to be assigned the following roles to search for and delete messages in users' mailboxes:
  • Mailbox Search   This role allows you to search for messages across multiple mailboxes in your organization. Administrators aren't assigned this role by default. To search multiple mailboxes, add yourself as a member of the Discovery Management role group. See Add or Remove Role Group Members.
  • Mailbox Import Export   This role allows you to delete messages from a user's mailbox. This role isn't assigned to administrators by default. To delete messages from users' mailboxes, add the Mailbox Import Export role to the Organization Management role group. See Edit Role Group Properties.
Collect information for the search query

You need to obtain and review a few copies of the infected or inappropriate message so you can create a search query that will find it.
Search and delete options

You can use the Search-Mailbox cmdlet with the DeleteContent parameter to search for and delete messages in one step. However, when you do this, you can't preview the search results or generate a log that records which messages were returned by the search. This means you won't know which messages were deleted.
A better option is to first run the Search-Mailbox cmdlet with the LogOnly parameter. This command generates a log that contains information about all the results that meet the search criteria but it doesn't delete the messages. This information is provided in a comma-separated value (CSV) file that is attached to an e-mail message sent to the mailbox and folder you define by using the TargetMailbox and TargetFolder parameters with the Search-Mailbox cmdlet. After you review the log, you can refine the search criteria and rerun a log-only search as needed, or run the search with the DeleteContent parameter.
A third option is to first copy the offending message before you delete it from the user's mailbox so you can access it later if necessary. Do this by including the TargetMailbox and TargetFolder parameters in the command that you run to delete the message.
Search for messages and log the search results

Let's walk through some examples of what you can do with the Search-Mailbox cmdlet. For a list of the message properties that you can include in the value for the SearchQuery parameter, see E-mail message properties to search.
Search a single mailbox

The following command searches a specific mailbox in your organization for messages with a specific value in the Subject line and then sends a message with the results to the target mailbox. Messages aren't deleted from the mailbox that is searched.

Search-Mailbox -Identity <name> -SearchQuery subject:"<verbatim subject line>" -TargetMailbox <name of mailbox> -TargetFolder <name of folder> -LogOnly -LogLevel Full
Example   The following command searches Pilar Pinilla's mailbox for messages that have the phraseDownload this file in the Subject field and logs the search results in the SearchLogs folder in the administrator's mailbox.

Search-Mailbox -Identity "Pillar Pinilla" -SearchQuery subject:"Download this file" -TargetMailbox Administrator -TargetFolder SearchLogs -LogOnly -LogLevel Full
Search all mailboxes

The following command searches all mailboxes in your organization for messages that have a specific file attached and then sends a message with the results to the target mailbox. Messages aren't deleted from the mailboxes searched.

Get-Mailbox -ResultSize unlimited | Search-Mailbox -SearchQuery attachment:<filename> -TargetMailbox <name of mailbox> -TargetFolder <name of folder> -LogOnly -LogLevel Full
Example   The following command searches all mailboxes for messages that have any type of attached file named Trojan and sends a log message to the administrator's mailbox.

Get-Mailbox -ResultSize unlimited | Search-Mailbox -SearchQuery attachment:trojan* -TargetMailbox Administrator -TargetFolder SearchLogs -LogOnly -LogLevel Full
Search for and delete messages

The following command searches all mailboxes and deletes any message that has specific text in the Subject line:

Get-Mailbox -ResultSize unlimited | Search-Mailbox -SearchQuery subject:<verbatim subject line> -DeleteContent
Example   The following command searches all the mailboxes for messages with the subject line Download this file, and then permanently deletes them.

Get-Mailbox -ResultSize unlimited | Search-Mailbox -SearchQuery subject:"Download this file" -DeleteContent
Important   Before you permanently delete messages, we recommend that you either use the LogOnlyparameter to generate a log of the messages found in the search before they're deleted, or copy the messages to another mailbox before deleting them from the source mailbox.
Copy a message before deleting it

The following command searches all mailboxes for any message that has specific text in the Subject line, copies the actual search results to a folder, and then deletes all the messages that meet the search criteria.

Get-Mailbox -ResultSize unlimited | Search-Mailbox -SearchQuery subject:<verbatim subject line> -TargetMailbox <name of mailbox> -TargetFolder <name of folder> -DeleteContent
Example   The following command searches all mailboxes for messages with the subject line Download this file, copies the search results to the DeletedMessages folder in the administrator's mailbox, and then permanently deletes the messages from users' mailboxes.

Get-Mailbox -ResultSize unlimited | Search-Mailbox -SearchQuery subject:"Download this file" -TargetMailbox Administrator -TargetFolder DeletedMessages -DeleteContent

E-mail message properties to search

The following table lists common message properties that you can include in the value for the SearchQueryparameter.

 

PropertyExampleSearch results
Attachments
attachment:annualreport.ppt
Messages that have an attachment that is named annualreport.ppt. The use of attachment:annualreport or attachment:annual* returns the same results as using the full name of the attachment.
Cc
cc:"gurinder singh"
cc:gurinders
cc: gurinders@fineartschool.edu
Messages with Gurinder Singh in the Cc field
From
from:"Max Stevens"
from:maxs
from:maxs@contoso.com
Messages sent by Max Stevens
Sent
sent:10/19/2010
Messages that were sent on October 19, 2010
Subject
subject:"Quarterly Financials"
Messages that contain the exact phrase "Quarterly Financials" in the subject line
To
to:"Judy Lew"
to:judyl
to:judyl@contoso.com
Messages sent to Judy Lew

Iphones not able to send attachments via Exchange activesync

So you've got an in-house Exchange 2010 environment, and you either support BYOB or your corp uses Iphones for it's employees.  You might run into an issue where your Iphone users cannot send attachments from their phones.  This problem and solution is explained here: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/exchange/en-US/52f58b47-b95e-4f44-bb4e-6bd8b1b4eb94/iphone-sending-attachment-problems
But the quick answer is that your 'uploadreadaheadsize' is set too low.  Remedy this by using the following command on your Exchange server:

C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe set config -section:system.webServer/serverRuntime /uploadReadAheadSize:"xxxxx" /commit:apphost

C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe set config "Default Web Site" -section:system.webServer/ServerRuntime /uploadReadAheadSize:"xxxxx" /commit:apphost

*xxxxx meaning the size in bytes that you want to allow


After you run those two restart IIS and you are good to go.  BTW the default size allowed is 48kb which is basically no attachment lol.


Top 10 Mailboxes by size in Exchange 2010

Powershell:

Top 100 mailboxes by totalitemsize exported to .CSV

Get-Mailbox -ResultSize Unlimited | Get-MailboxStatistics | Sort-Object TotalItemSize -Descending | Select-Object DisplayName,TotalItemSize -First 100 | Export-CSV top100mailboxes.csv


Top 30 mailboxes by totalitemsize

Get-Mailbox -ResultSize Unlimited | Get-MailboxStatistics | Sort-Object TotalItemSize -Descending | Select-Object DisplayName,TotalItemSize -First 30

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Exchange 2010 database volume running out of disk space

So while tweaking some Zenoss settings on my Exchange server in Jackson I discovered that the db vol was 96.8% full.

So going through ADUC, under our Disabled Users OU.. sorting by the Description field which contains the time/date of disabling... I am exporting mailboxes out to .psts with fingers crossed hoping that i'll be able to free up enough space to get us out of the red.








After the new full backup job I'll post the same cmdlet results for comparison.

Utilizing Amazon Glacier to store archived data on an Enterprise level.

In my environment here, like many other businesses I'm sure, we save terminated employees data indefinitely.  I have a process where we move the User folder, then export the mailbox into a PST and move both into a file share.  Well that folder has grown to a little over 600GB so far and it's very rarely accessed.
Glacier, I believe, would be the perfect home for this data.  Freeing up that much space on a file server for under $10 per month is WELL worth it to me.

My biggest question is the upload time... I've read horror stories on how slow the upload can be.  Granted there are a thousand different variables that can and will affect that time.  All we can do is try it out and see.

I'd love to hear any stories from others.. please feel free to comment.

Monday, June 2, 2014

Golden Sebright chicks..

So two of the bantam chicks we bought from Tractor Supply this year I've identified as Golden Sebrights.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebright_(chicken)

Apparently Sebrights are one of the few true bantam breeds, which means they have no corresponding larger version.  We appear to have a male and a female because the bantams were straight-run only.  They both are very flighty and have learned how to run up one of the angled support beams for my gates and hope either out of the pens into the yard or into the duck pen.



CentOS, locate and updatedb

I found out that hard way that CentOS 5.4 does not come with the commands 'locate' and 'updatedb' installed by default.  I have to say that I don't see the logic in that, but if you need them (like I did) do this:

sudo yum install mlocate
sudo /etc/cron.daily/mlocate.cron

The first line will install the commands 'locate' and 'updatedb', the second will add a daily cron job to run updatedb daily.

Enjoy!