While setting up a new Cisco SG550X switch, I was trying to import the TLS certificate for the web interface. It is possible to do this via the web interface, but I have had bad experiences with trying this on oh-so-many SG300s, so I immediately went the way I know works there:

config
crypto certificate 1 import
[paste private key into SSH window]
[public key]
[certificate]

Then enter a period to finish.

Unfortunately the SSH session froze after a few lines of the private key. I let it time out, then tried again, with the same result.

It later worked via the serial console, but with the same behavior where the input stops after 5-10 lines. On the serial link, this probably is an effect of missing flow control; the advantage over the SSH situation is that the session remains responsive and you can just drop in the next chunk.

Imagine my surprise when a while later, I wanted to backup the configuration:

copy startup-config tftp://tftp
Must be valid URL or reserved keyword

Oops. Apparently the period, which was the next character in the host name, is now an Enter key. Huh?

It worked normally on the serial console, but the prospect of not getting usable SSH sessions to the thing until I could find a window to restart it was not very inviting.

The cause of the problem is somewhat obvious in hindsight. Apparently Cisco uses a budget SSH server on the switch that essentially only has one session, and the crypto certificate 1 import put that server into a mode where the period is an Enter key.

Fix: Enter the import mode again, then immediately “period out”.

https://community.cisco.com/t5/small-business-switches/sg550x-ssh-treats-period-as-enter/m-p/3704290

Sagt mal, träume ich oder hat VMware wirklich ein Kontaktformular, über das man abfragen kann, wer bei ihnen Kunde ist?

PS: Nein, möglicherweise nicht. Da kommen auch Unternehmen, von denen ich mir ziemlich sicher bin, daß sie keine VMware-Umgebung haben. Dann ist das vielleicht “nur” ein Frontend zu einer Liste aller Firmen dieser Welt.

It’s not RICO!

A surprising claim from CNN:

This week the experimental Airbus Perlan Mission II pressurized glider got there by silently riding atmospheric pressure waves. And then it kept going – smashing the record for human flight in a winged aircraft by reaching more than 76,000 feet.

The SR-71 pilots might disagree with that record.

Perhaps CNN is talking about the record for unpowered aircraft, or for subsonic flight? Getting enough air into any turbine at such an altitude requires supersonic speed, doesn’t it?

“Customers are required to take no action.”

For some reason, this arrant nonsense is permitted in English (cf. “All that is gold does not glitter”). It should clearly be “customers are not required to take any action” or “customers need not take any action”.

Also man fühlt sich ja schon irgendwie zumindest semiprofessionell, wenn man ein Problem mit einer (teilweise selbstgebauten) RS232 hat, der Vermutung unterliegt, sie beim teilweisen Selbstbauen gänzlich demoliert zu haben, und anstatt lange herumzuprobieren gleich das Oszilloskop aus dem Schrank holt.

Note to self: Muß das mit den Nullmodemkabeln irgendwann mal lernen.

Q: Why didn’t John Williams win the 1993 Academy Award for Best Original Score for “Jurassic Park”?

A: Because he won it for “Schindler’s List”.

“West Midlands Trains informed RAIB on 23 April 2018 that London Midland had, in addition to the above actions arising from the urgent safety advice, taken the following actions in response to the recommendation:

[…]

• enhanced the consideration of passenger behaviour in its risk assessment”

Enhanced the degree to which they consider their passengers stupid and borderline suicidal, that is.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safety-digest-072018-bushey/passenger-trapped-in-train-doors-and-dragged-at-bushey-station-26-march-2018

My new genuine 'strayan imitation GoT doorstop.

#bobcatinabox

Der bayerische Verwaltungsgerichtshof hat schon vor einiger Zeit die Staatsregierung dazu verurteilt, in München für die Einhaltung der Schadstoffgrenzwerte zu sorgen. Die tut aber nix.

In der Zwischenzeit hat der VGH auch mal ein paar vernachlässigbar geringe Zwangsgelder festgesetzt, die die Regierung dann auch gezahlt hat (effektiv an sich selbst!), ohne sich ansonsten feststellbar beeindrucken zu lassen.

Jetzt ist dem VGH offenbar ein wenig der Kragen eng, und er trägt sich mit dem Gedanken, beim EuGH anzufragen, ob man denn gegebenenfalls auch Politiker und höhere Verwaltungschargen ein bißchen hinter Gitter schicken könnte, um sie zu mehr, äh, Compliance mit Gerichtsentscheidungen zu ermuntern.

https://www.br.de/nachrichten/scheiss-seo-immer,R1rFm7W