For the past few weeks I've been working on a strange issue from my Time Warner cable connection at home. There were two symptoms: a long delay of roughly 30 seconds when trying to open a web page on my company's webserver, and a similar delay when connecting to my office via secure shell (ssh).
I soon found out that some of my coworkers see the same problem, but only those that have Time Warner cable at home—but not all of those that have Time Warner see the long delay.
Many theories were thrown out about what was happening: a DNS issue, a firewall, some kind of faulty caching proxy server, etc., most of which were ruled out because we didn't see the same problem from all locations and that I could reproduce the problem on two separate servers. Watching the webserver's logfile showed no entries for the 30 seconds I waited and then all of a sudden the log was populated and my page loaded quickly.
Examining the differences between the clients with and without the problem, I noticed that those that behaved as expected had working reverse-DNS entries, while those that had trouble returned an error when I queried for their reverse DNS address.
So as a test, I disabled reverse-DNS on my SSH server at my office and BAM—the delay was gone!
Continuing the experiment, I added a record for my home IP address on my server's /etc/hosts file. Just like that, I was loading pages at full speed with no delays.
When I query for a reverse-DNS resolution of my home IP address, Time Warner's server returns an error. Contacting them to have them fix their broken DNS server has been an awful experience, starting with "Let's reboot your router first."
Since I expect this to never be resolved, and since I run my own DNS servers anyway, I started adding in-addr.arpa zones for the broken ranges of DHCP addresses. While this will work for me, it's a hack at best and I would rather get the issue fixed. Unfortunately it's out of my hands.
So Time Warner, surprise me. Fix it up, or un-configure the range of addresses even! Don't just leave it broken.
If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I've been learning the Dvorak keyboard layout over the last couple of weeks. Yesterday I switched my main work computer over to use Dvorak and although I'm typing slow now, I'm getting better. I also have some empathy for people that can't type, as my typing speed is now quite slow.
- Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day everyone! #
- I love this lychee soda bottle warning: don't remove marble to prevent injury: http://twitpic.com/2q47ne #
- My inner 12 year old thinks it's awesome my adult self bought this card game: http://twitpic.com/2q6jgd #
- Just bought some fantastic chocolate in Lake Oswego at Bernard Callebaut Chocolates #
- At Five Guys Burgers and Fries. Hope it's as good as the hype! #
- Powell's Books has some great stuff, including the "rolling in her grave" Jane Austen horror section http://twitpic.com/2qf8kn #
- TLC's Little Chocolatiers isn't about small chocolate shops, it's about midgets making chocolate. Epic find. #
- Bring on the new Chuck! #
- Hello Hood River. Hello place I used to work that is torn down and rebuilt now. http://twitpic.com/2qo9qt #
- It was Zooey (my niece), in the kitchen, with the chocolate corn dog. #clue http://twitpic.com/2qrtpe #
- Texted a pic of a dead squirrel to my brother today. Don't worry, I didn't kill it. #itsaguything ps lemme know if you want the pic.. #
- Still trying to get caught up at work. No time to do everything in just one day... #
- I had no idea @theodorebell (Ted Bell) is on Twitter! If you like spy novels, his Hawke series is excellent. I still need the new one... #
- Well, sort of on Twitter, anyway. It doesn't look like he's posted recently. I also really liked his younger-audience Nick of Time book. #
- Love is Blindness by U2 was playing and Lorien told her friend it was Pink Floyd. The shame! #
- Then she mixed up Division Bell with Dark Side of the Moon. I didn't know what to say. #
- Assembled and installed two new shelves. Repaired automatic cat box. Installed new soap/etc rack in the shower. Now: dinner! #
- Turning off reverse DNS lookup solved my 20-30 second delay issue connecting to my SSH server at the office! #
- This is exactly why people here make fun of Chinese names: http://twitpic.com/2rk8so #
- Just passed my 6th hour of learning #Dvorak Having to catch up after a week off. Still a few more letters to learn, too. #
I drove home from Portland today with several hundred pounds of loot. About as much as my car would carry. On our first day there we managed to hit all the big places we wanted to visit: Bob's Red Mill, Powell's City of Books, and IKEA. We stocked up on grains from Bob's, 50 pounds of flour, 25 pound bags of Scottish oatmeal, coconut granola, cream of wheat, and 10 grain cereal. We also picked up a dozen or so of the small 1 pound bags of things like black currants, coconut flour, wheat gluten, potato flour, sea salt, muesli, etc.
From Powell's we bought a couple of shopping bags full of books. We mostly buy used, so it's not as expensive as it sounds. IKEA provided two new DVD shelves (we are running out of room on our existing ones), and a few random parts I can hack together to make a good shower rack to hold shampoo, soap, etc. We also picked up a table for Lorien's uncle.
Aside from that, we bought some dry egg noodles at Costco (they stopped carrying them at our Costco in Cd'A!), some chocolate from Bernard Callebaut Chocolates (very tasty), and a couple of bags of assorted goodies from Trader Joe's. We also found some of our favorite Finnish licorice treats we didn't think we'd see outside of Finland at the World Market store near my mom's (score!) along with a couple of 4-packs of root beer I've never seen before.
All in all, it was a fun trip. I just wish it wasn't such a long drive…
- Looks like Portland for a long weekend! #
- I look at it and all I see is Centipede. (@brentbutt)http://yfrog.com/2pjcflj #
- Just got a bag of @projectsugru in the mail. Invented by Jane, apparently http://twitpic.com/2o7pg5 #
- Sure, now that she's GONE you want to be her parents... http://bit.ly/b5Czt4 #
- Getting a haircut, because the fro is still out of style.. #
- Haircut is done. I know, my life is one thrilling adventure after the other. Getting pizza now! #
- Added three more keys to #Dvorak lessons, just 10 letters left and some odd punctuation. 31 WPM 1.7% error rate. Looking good
# - I am willing to bet YOUR computer doesn't have one of these http://twitpic.com/2orkto #
- Added two more letters to the #Dvorak lesson, speed still 30 WPM. Took Qwerty test, did 75WPM. This will soon change. #
- Leaving for Portland in 10 minutes. Trying to work up the excitement for a 6 hour road trip. #
- Made it to Portland. Long drive is over #
- Un buh lievable. Just ate 214 points in the worst hand of Mexican train dominoes of my life #
- Best way to get around Portland: not driving! #max http://twitpic.com/2pbvoa #
- Our buzzer for food at Lloyd Center http://twitpic.com/2pcos9 #
- At my favorite place in the world, Powell's City of Books. Which, for a bookstore, has a respectable @sjgames selection. #
- If you know me well, you know my question: do you think this erases polar bears? http://twitpic.com/2pnmna #
- Keep rolling sister, keep rolling. http://twitpic.com/2pnn77 #
- A Portland oddity: http://twitpic.com/2pnnob #
- I think this is the place @wilw is always talking about when he visits Portland. I really should spend some time @ http://twitpic.com/2pno3c #
- Going to have lunch at Wei Wei's pan asian eatery. Not sure what to expect, but hopes aren't too high anyway #
- At the Bagdad theater waiting for Eoin Colfer to get some books signed #
- The food at Wei Wei's was okay, nothing stellar, but their restroom had ass gaskets! http://twitpic.com/2pqr5o #
- Made a beautiful loaf of sourdough today, and two ugly wheat loaves. http://yfrog.com/j6x1tsj #
- My stapler just ran out of staples. This hardly ever happens, as evidenced by the cobwebs on my box of staples. #
- ooooo http://yfrog.com/jub0qvj #
- Dear Time Warner cable: Thanks for nothing, as soon as I find another Internet service provider I'm gone. Die in a fire. -Jake #
- One reboot in 270 days, I suppose that's not *too* bad... #whyIuseLinux #
- I am really liking this new samsung phone! #
- My boss has phone envy, and he has an iPhone 4! #androidFTW #
- I would pay real Earth money for these: http://zero-lives.blogspot.com/2010/09/bumper-sticker.html (via @wilw) #
- Woohoo! Just received the latest @HeidiTalbot CD, The Last Star, autographed, direct from Edinburgh! #
- Took a couple of days off from #Dvorak but just did 28 WPM. Time to move on to the next lesson. #
- Had super delicious homemade chicken noodle soup for lunch. #
- The Cisco 881W has been deployed. Will post more details about the process later. #
- One of my favorite treats from Taiwan http://twitpic.com/2n5b0q #
- Going to get a hamburger for dinner #
- Half of the alphabet learned on the #Dvorak layout. 31 wpm with 2% error rate. Total learning time now is just over four hours. #
I just wrote up a long page about how I configured a Cisco 881W router to fetch an external DHCP address from my Internet provider, serve internal DHCP to my clients, and set up a wireless network with WPA encryption.
I have seen nothing else like this guide on the Internet, probably because Cisco consultants jealously guard their secrets to justify their extremely high hourly rates. Time for a change…
I almost had to reformat a Windows 7 machine today that wouldn't recognize the primary drive or the copy of Windows installed on it. Running the repair option from the DVD saw the secondary drive and gave me no option to fix the master boot record. Opening a command prompt (again, using the Repair section of the DVD) defaulted to the D: drive, but allowed me to change to C: and view files just fine.
So my first though was to fdisk /mbr the thing, but fdisk is no longer part of Windows. That gave me a sad. Fortunately, there's a new alternative: bootsect /nt60 c: /mbr
Running that and rebooting took me right back to the installed operating system, so saving itself from a pending reformat.
- Today is @FrankConniff's birthday. Aside from #MST3K he also did some work on #InvaderZim Happy birthday, TV's Frank! #
- Surely, this code will *never* need more than a char[32]... #sarcasm #
- Swordfish on brown rice for dinner. I like swordfish. I HATE brown rice. Terrible tasting stuff.. #
- Sad face. I just removed the @woot podcast from my podcatcher. No more week-daily silly songs. It's a weekly video now. #
- Attempting to learn the Dvorak layout. #
- Wife just called about an upcoming ABBA tribute band concert. I hesitated and said "oh joy." She laughed and told her mom "told you so." #
- Going to try out the Samsung Captivate phone on AT&T. Amazon Wireless has an upgrade for only $79. It's $199 at the AT&T store. #
- Up to 28 WPM on home row keys, 98.1% accuracy. #dvorak #
- Haha! Nice background! (@KevinGilmartin)http://yfrog.com/jm3uftj #
- Nigel thought my bagpipe music (current @FootStompin podcast) was "MIDI music." That poor, poor soul... #
- #Dvorak lesson added the dash, 'd', dot, greater-than, and underscore "-d._>" today. Slowed down a bit, but old drills at 30wpm 1.8% error. #
- I scored 116. How'd you do? http://prolix-app.com/play/#ntsosaahptdleene #
- Just finished watching the creepiness that is Coraline. Wife says if I have weird dreams it's my own fault. #
- My pigu is sore from all the sitting I've done today. The Cisco 881W is looking better though. It is now bent to my will. Next up: wireless #
- Epic. My new phone shipped out 11 days before previously specified. Should be here Tuesday, unless UPS delivers on Monday (US Holiday) #
- The Cisco 881W's wireless AP is now up and running. Some testing is needed, then securing. Then deploying. I'm ahead of schedule! #
- Downgraded Cisco's horrible 12.4.21(a)JA1 IOS (factory-installed) to 12.4.10(b)JDA3 fixes many problems. In case that keeps you up nights... #
This article about connecting to a Cisco router with minicom just helped me solve a nasty problem I've been having.
PS. The default IP address of a Cisco 881W router is 10.10.10.1 with a netmask of 255.255.255.248 (or /29), and the usable range of IP addresses for that setup is 10.10.10.1 to 10.10.10.6.
I got these weird spam comments in my moderation queue recently:
Since I got two of these, I can't say they're terribly original, but at least it's honest spam…
Okay, let's see. Build a squirt gun from a sprinkler valve, PVC, and a couple of 9v batteries. That was fun.
I started learning the Dvorak layout. It's something I've been meaning to do for a long time. I'm using Master Key and am very happy with it. If you need a typing tutor program, check it out. It runs on Windows or on a Mac.
My liver is fine. Probably because I'm a teetotaler.
I'm working on deploying a Cisco 881W wireless router at home to test some VPN and routing ideas from work. When it's up, I'll have the biggest wireless router on the block, and the ability to launch multiple SSIDs and name them things like MakeTheBarkingStop and ShutYourStupidDogsUp. No reason, really.