Tech tools Tech Tools Professional users are always searching for an edge. Whether you work with Linux as a webmaster, programmer, system administrator, or secu- rity consultant, you know the best solution depends on finding the right tool for the job. We thought you might be interested in the following new products and updates.
Astaro Command Center 2.1 Windows and Solaris have been fixed in Released the current version, there continue to be Astaro Command Center 2.1 Central issues with warnings and a few other Management Utility, a free platform for bugs. the central management of multiple Go to http://askmonty.org/wiki/index. Astaro installations, can be used by all php/Main_Page to learn more, to try out Astaro partners to oversee multiple MariaDB, and, if so moved, to contribute Astaro installations and offer managed to its further development. security services. Version 2.1 has the ability to share global definitions across What Is the Titan Updated SUSE Appliance multiple organizations, saving time by Framework? Toolkit for ISVs letting managed security service provid- Titan is an open source JavaScript web The SUSE Appliance Program by Novell ers push configuration objects to multi- framework built on jQuery and boasts of just became a better, faster, and easier ple locations. being the easiest, smallest, and fastest way for ISVs (Independent Software The Astaro Command Center 2.1 is web framework you’ve ever experi- Vendors) to build their own software ap- available at no cost to all Astaro partners enced. If you already are reasonably well pliances with applications running on who provide multiple managed security versed in JavaScript and jQuery, it takes top of SUSE Linux. SUSE Studio online installations, as well as to end users who no time at all to learn how Titan works. is completely stable and is now updated have multiple Astaro installations de- Titan interfaces with JSON, letting you on a weekly basis. The frequency of the ployed across several locations. For more put JSON data into HTML elements online service updates outstrips both information and to download Astaro using either JavaScript or CSS Class the on-premises and on-site versions, Command Center 2.1, visit http://www. Names. It also has the ability to query which are still regularly updated but astaro.com/. the server using REST methods to re- can’t match the speed of SUSE Studio trieve JSON data. Titan doesn’t require online. Get MariaDB 5.1.42 you to use the Titan interface; rather, it The “dark side” of SUSE Studio is that MariaDB 5.1.42 is a new branch of the lets you use whatever interface you cre- the local installation still must be provi- MySQL database and is the first final re- ate in HTML. sioned on bare-metal servers because lease of this database. Based on MySQL Titan is free to all and available now. the app doesn’t run in a virtualized en- 5.1.42 and XtraDB 1.0.6-9, MariaDB To read the full description and view vironment. However, although SUSE works just like MySQL, including all of some instructional videos, visit http:// Studio doesn’t run in a local virtual plat- the common commands, interfaces, li- code.drewwilson.com/entry/ form, it can still produce virtual images braries, and APIs. titan‑an‑introduction. for deployment. Also, given the appar- MariaDB can be installed from bina- ent advantages of SUSE Studio online, ries, Debian .deb files, or source.Com- the SUSE Lifecycle Management Server munity testing is encouraged and, (SLMS), which is used to manage soft- although bugs ware licenses and entitlements as well involving as distribute software patches, is only available via the on-premises solution. If any of this has attracted your atten- tion, you can find out much more at http://www.novell.com/partners/ technology/isv/appliance/.
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Get Firefox for Mobile Now Try Out Terminator The good news is that the mobile ver- 0.90 Alpha 1 sion of the Firefox web browser has been The purpose of the Terminator released. The bad news is that, as of this project is to produce an efficient writing, it’s only available on Nokia’s method of filling a large area of Maemo5 platform. That means if you screen space on your computer with own a Nokia N810 or N900 smartphone, terminals, letting the user access multi- you have the good fortune to be able to ple terminals in one window, and using install and use Firefox for Mobile. All Pandora FMS 3.0 Is Here keybindings to switch between them. It’s other mobile users aren’t so lucky … yet. Pandora FMS, or Flexible Monitoring definitely a work in progress, and, as of Firefox for optimized Windows Mobile System, is an open source monitoring the last report, items such as directional devices has an Alpha 4 version available utility designed to watch all of the hard- navigation, drag and drop, and some for download, but don’t expect to experi- ware devices, applications, and operat- command-line options still weren’t ence full Firefox functionality if you de- ing systems functioning in your infra- working. Instructions for installing the cide to take it for a test drive on your structure. It can then alert you via SMS required software are available on the Samsung Omnia II or HTC Touch Pro. If to a wide range of problems, such as a author’s site, and installation and config- you are looking forward to eventually memory leak on a server, a network in- uration seem to be optimized for Ubuntu using Firefox on your Blackberry or terface that is down, and even a website (Debian). It’s not much to write home iPhone, I’m sorry to say that Firefox has that has been defaced. It also monitors about yet, but worth keeping an eye on. no plans to develop for those mobile movement of values in the NASDAQ new Go to http://www.webupd8.org/2010/01/ platforms. However, Android users can technology market. try‑new‑terminator‑090‑alpha‑1.html for look forward to using Firefox eventually, Pandora FMS 3.0 now supports the full details. although no information about develop- CentOS, Debian, SUSE, and Ubuntu. ment or release is available yet. Pandora also continues to offer support HAST Project Ready to Test Firefox mobile development is a dy- for AIX, Solaris, and Windows Server Recently the freebsd.org forums an- namically changing landscape. To learn 2003. An ISO installer and a VMware nounced that HAST, a method for pro- more, go to http://www.mozilla.com/ image are available, as well as updated viding storage that is filesystem and ap- en‑US/mobile/. documentation in both English and plication independent, is now available Spanish. for testing. HAST operates on the block OS Hardening Tool You’ll find all you need to know about level, so it is transparent to devices and Supports Novell SUSE Pandora at http://pandorafms.org/index. applications, and information is ac- Speaking of Novell SUSE, Trusted Com- php?lang=en. cessed as if the /dev/hast/ directory were puter Solutions (TCS) has just released the same as a raw disk or partition. an updated version of its automated Op- By the Light of the Silvery The current release of HAST was an- erating System (OS) hardening tool, Se- Moonlight 3.0 nounced on the FreeBSD forums and at curity Blanket, and now supports Novell As you probably know, Microsoft’s Sil- the FreeBSD Foundation blog: http:// SUSE, OpenSUSE, and Fedora 11, as well verlight project has an open source freebsdfoundation.blogspot.com/2010/ as continuing support for Red Hat Enter- shadow in the form of Moonlight. A pre- 02/hast‑project‑is‑complete.html. HAST is prise Linux (RHEL), Oracle Enterprise view of Moonlight 3.0 is now available available for download via SVN at Linux, and Solaris. for early testing. Actually, release notes http://svn.freebsd.org/ viewvc/base? This latest version of Security Blanket for previews 1 and 2 have been pub- view=revision&revision=204076. offers role-based access control (RBAC) lished online with an empty space on and a Java-based administration console. mono-project.com’s Moonlight preview NameBench Speeds Up the With a name like “Security Blanket,” it’s page for preview 3. Internet probably not a surprise that RBAC has By the time you read this, the Winter One way to speed up your Internet expe- advanced security, which is attributable Olympics will be over, but preview 2 rience is with NameBench, an applica- to its ability to allow users to perform comes with Olympics support, working tion that will search for and compare the operations specific to their particular well on the NBC Olympics site. A num- various DNS servers in your area. You roles. ber of memory leaks have also been can then edit your connection settings Security Blanket’s Java-based adminis- fixed, and effects such as the blur effect, and configure the IP address of the fast- tration console is touted as more flexible DropShadow, and ShaderEffects have est local DNS server on your computer. and intuitive, and the new Profile been implemented. NameBench is available as a free down- Builder tool allows easier implementa- XPIs for both 32- and 64-bit versions load from code.google.com and can be tion and management for users who of Linux are available, but the source installed on Linux, Mac OS X, and Win- need to develop their own customized code for the preview releases can be dows. You can work with NameBench security policies. checked out only from SVN rather than either in the GUI or at the command Security Blanket is available now. For being available in TAR files. Go to http:// line. Find out more and download pricing and more information, go to www.mono‑project.com/Moonlight/ NameBench at http://code.google.com/p/ http://www.trustedcs.com/. Preview to see the latest Moonlight. namebench/.
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