Category Archives: it

Slow OpenSSH client connect in Lion (OSX 10.7)

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I reinstalled my trusty workhorse 13″ Macbook Pro recently (some buggy kernel extensions got the better of it).

Once I got the OS up and running again and data restored from backup, all ssh server connects from the Terminal had a 20 second delay upon initial connect.

Hmm – appareantly I had forgotten to backup some customization tricks from my last ssh config!

Putting the below lines in my ~/.ssh/config fixed the annoying connect delay:

Host *
GSSAPIAuthentication no
GSSAPIKeyExchange no
AddressFamily inet

I only use SSH private/public keys to authenticate to my remote servers, so no GSSAPI extensions were needed, the last line keeps the OpenSSH client from attempting a IPv6 connection to the remote host.

Heureka – no more delay and happy ssh’ing once again!

Mac monitoring app

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Being an operations geek, means I am always on the lookout for new ways of doing the all essential 3M ‘s success criteria of running IT systems, Monitoring, Metrics and Measurement.

Lithium is an OSX based monitoring app, that has so far eluded my watchful eye.

SNMP driven, with a PostgreSQL backend, native OSX console and a PHP backed web interface along with iPhone and upcoming iPad app frontends.

Apart from being a beautifully designed app, and at first glance, looking to be a flexible and useful network monitor, it also has one of the coolest features I never knew I needed, coverflowed RRD metric graphs, truly a thing of beauty!

I agree a lot

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Jon Pralls 85 operations rules to live by make so much sense they should be mandatory questions when interviewing potential new operations managers, hopefully replacing the by now very cliché “What happens when you type www.google.com into your browser address bar?”, that technical HR people, seem to think constitutes the ultimate in IT Operations knowledge.

I was always rather tempted to reply “You break the Internet?“