Starting at 8pm on Thursday, January 27th, we'll begin patching all our user-facing Ubuntu Linux systems and services. We expect the individual downtimes to be short. CS systems, such as the quizors and ada/babbage, will see their downtime closer to 9pm.
THE STASH FILE SERVER IS NOW BACK IN SERVICE. Users should be able to access their stashes again. Some active stashes were migrated to temporary locations before the downtime. Any migrated stashes will experience a downtime after this work to move it back. We will be contacting those stash owners to schedule the downtime. If [...]
We will be making a slight home directory permissions change for all users on our systems. The end result will lock down access to user home directories so that only the owner of the account can access the files. We expect this to only affect a very small minority of users who have specifically opened [...]
Dealing with SSH Host Key Changes The CAT periodically updates the SSH host keys on its servers for security purposes, which can result in users seeing an error message similar to below when attempting to connect with an MCECS Linux system. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @ WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED! @ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ IT IS POSSIBLE THAT [...]
If you are a user of the following Linux systems, read on: linux.cecs.pdx.edu ruby.cecs.pdx.edu rita.cecs.pdx.edu At about noon on Monday, August 2nd, 2021, we will be changing the SSH keys on the Linux computers listed above. Anyone who has been logging into these systems on a regular basis will be greeted with a verbose “host [...]
In an attempt to modernize our SSH infrastructure, we’ve made some changes to SSH keys on our Linux computers. We’ve disabled DSA host keys, and enabled new ECDSA and ED25519 host keys. This process took a few days, and during that time a few hosts had their keys changed. If you are experiencing problems trying [...]
As seen in recent headlines, institutionally targeted ransomware attacks are on the rise. The initial entry for these attackers seem to use many of the same techniques that we have seen in the past so it is becoming very important, as frequent computer users, to keep our guard up. This is particularly important for faculty, [...]
Virtual Network Computing, or VNC, allows you to create a remote graphical session on another computer . You will be able to observe a remote Linux desktop environment and interact with it using the mouse and keyboard from your own computer. Using VNC is attractive to many Linux users because you can temporarily disconnect from [...]
Recently, web site maintainers in MCECS have been receiving phishing emails disguised as complaints about the misuse of copyrighted images on their sites. The emails are often submitted through a contact form or to published contact email addresses. They often have a title that looks like: You have no legal rights to use my images [...]
Web Servers and File Permissions In order to create webpages using your MCECS account, it is important to know how web servers and file permissions work in a Linux environment. This guide is intended for novice Linux users and gives a brief overview of: How Web Servers Work File Permissions in Linux Changing Permissions [...]