Hello.  We're a little late this week.

	Well, it was a pretty disappointing week overall.  Server
crashes, software delays.  We can only hope the next week goes a little
better.

The server crashes...
	While adding the second web server, we upgraded both servers from
Linux kernel 2.2.2 to 2.2.5.  The decision was a combination of seeing
updates to several drivers we use and rumored security issues on the early
2.2 kernels.  No excuses -- that was a bad idea.
	Needless to say, those driver updates broke more than they fixed.
Not that we should have messed with undertested drivers on a heavily
loaded box in the first place.  Especially since 2.2.2 was quite stable.
So web2 was downgraded to 2.2.2 on Saturday. Assuming web2 remains stable,
web1 will be downgraded this weekend.
	As an aside, we later confirmed that the security expolit was in
.0 and .1, but corrected in .2.

It gets worse, though...
	In addition, the IP swapping we used to route traffic to another
server doesn't really work.  It works within the network, but our ISPs
router refuses to make the adjustment, so traffic is not rerouted
properly.
	So, we will be investing in hardware watchdogs to reboot the
servers if they stop responding.  That will take the downtime down to
about 15 minutes.  That's not great, but certainly an improvement.

Cast your vote...
	As those of you stopping by the member's site may have noticed,
the voting booth is now working.  You can head to
http://members.emulationworld.com/voting.html for details on adding that
to your site.
	I have received a number of suggestions for programs people would
like to see added (keep 'em coming).  I decided to throw them all into a
poll on the member's site and let you decide the next project.

New features?
	I have now received requests for SQL and ASP capabilities (1
request each at the moment).  If I receive additional requests, I will
probably install them on the ftp server for testing.  Due to the security
issues they create, they will probably stay on the ftp server (or some
other server) even if we decide to keep them.

Just a reminder...
	If you choose to install custom CGIs, you are responsible for
them.  This means if they break, do not expect anyone else to fix them.
If/when I have the time, I am usually more than willing to help.  I would
not recommend depending on that availibility, however.
	The exception to this is if the program compromises security or
reliability.  In those cases, the program will be nuked.  If the problem
continues, the program's owner will be next.

Our first FAQ...
   Why doesn't the web server see [directory] when I can see it in FTP?
	After catching more than a few snoopers, we have removed
automatic directory listing from the web server.  That means if you enter
the URL of a directory, rather than a file, the web server will look for
an index.shtml, index.html, and/or index.htm within that directory.  If
it can not find any of those, it reports back that no such file was found.
	Now, this only means it could not find any of those three files.
It still sees that directory and, if you give it a specific file name, it
can even access files inside that directory.  If the URL only gives the
directory, that directory must have an index file or they will get a 404
error.

I guess that does it this week.  Stay tuned!
	-- Brian
	   System Administrator, Emulation World