Suzanne and I went down to the river by Deeside Halt on Saturday and then onwards to Carrog. 37901 “Mirrlees Pioneer” was on driver experience runnings, while both D8142 (Class 20) and 7822 Foxcot Manor were on service runs.
Some pics of our adventure are above and the rest in the Gallery.
The following day I was inside 37901s engine room as well as having a tour of the innards of 25313. Brilliant but hot day on the diesels.
After trying to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux v5, grub (bootloader) wasn’t letting me back into my Windows partition…..so after 3 or 4 hours trying to sort the bootloader out I decided to reinstall Windows and sort an install of SuSE OSS 10.2 at the same time.
After installing the SuSE, I haven’t really touched the Windows install to even install drivers! Ive just been so happy with this SuSE install that Ive been busy customizing it and installing software.
Ive already got OpenOffice and Firefox pre-installed. I downloaded aMSN (Linux version of MSN Messenger), Thunderbird, few plugins for Firefox, minicom (Linux version of Hyper Terminal) and now I’m working on V.NET/C#.NET complier!!
My Damn ISP (Internet Service Provider) cut me off over the Easter Holidays, so I had to wait 4 days until I could speak to somebody to sort it out!!
Got it sorted now - even after my Cisco ADSL Router playing about!
For my Networking, Level 3 BSc module Dr Vic Grout asked to research and write a paper on Access Control List (ACL) Optimization.
You will need a PDF Viewer to open and read it.
Comments welcome.
I finally upgraded my blog to Word Press version 2.0!
Had a few interesting posts on the previous blog, If I can get the individual SQL entries from the backup then I may add them back on here.
Id finally had enough of all the spam I was getting and hope that upgrading and adding a new plugin or two would fit it…..now we shall see!
gareth
PS. Before anybody asks why I didn’t just upgrade, this template wouldn’t of liked it so that’s why 
After many hours of fun, which also included locking myself out of my own server!
Ive finally got my home network working correctly again!
Ive also got IIS and Apache with PHP 5.2.0 working. IIS is listening on port 80, while Apache on port 8080.
Unfortunatley Ive had to keep the “Double NAT”, which I had planned to get rid of but couldant.
This is my setup:
Firewall OS: IPCop 1.4.11
Firewall Services: Web Proxy, VPN, Gateay/Firewall, Cron Server, IDS, NTP.
Server OS: Microsoft Server 2003 Standard SP1
Server Services: Apache2, IIS, MySQL, Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, FTP.
Network Diagram
Domain Login Scripts - Popup Window
Ive found this nice little VBS login script which will create a new internet browser window and show the user what its doing!
This script maps 3 network drives, renames them to something tidy and a printer before exiting. This is what the logged in user sees before the window closes nicely.
Logon Script v1.0 25/12/2006
Member of DOMAIN USERS...
M: Mapping Music Drive...
M: [username] Music Drive Mapped…
S: Mapping Stored Applications Drive…
S: Stored Applications Drive Mapped…
U: Map Home Drive…
U: [username] Home Drive Mapped…
U: Mapped Home Drive Done…
Added Default Printer - \\[servername]\[printername]
FINISHED!…
I may release the code for this but since this isn’t my original code I will have to ask the original owners permission first. One problem Ive found with this so far is, if an error occurs during the execution of the VBS script the whole script stalls. But when coded correctly it awsome!
Thank You
Its about time that I sort out my current network as Exchange 2003 which is running on the main server doesn’t like it at all and the firewall - ISA 2004 which was then upgraded to ISA 2006, because it “was playing up” - is still playing up!
Whats Going
Whats Staying
Whats NEW
The Network Diagram
Timescale: 6-10 hours maximum
Which Linux Firewall Distro shall I run on the firewall box? I have the choices of:
I’m also going to rack mount a few bits of Compaq hardware into the 38U rack unit I have in my bedroom back home…..yes a 38U Rack Unit 
lol
EDIT: Sorry its a 40U Rack and not a 38U as I first thought!
As per usual I don’t really get to relax at Christmas but instead I’m doing uni work!
Assignments to be in:
08/01/2007 - Application Development 3 (PhoneExchange Object Oriented Programming in C#.NET).
22/01/2007 - Programming 3 (OOP Game in C#.NET)
22/01/07 - Prepare partial seminar on “Recent Advances in Storage and Transfer” and write a 2500-3000 word essay according to “IEEE Transactions/Journal Style” on the topic by the end of March 2007.
Wont be drinking much over Christmas then I guess!
But I’m planning on re-designing the network at home over Christmas which will see the removal of the mail server and replace the current firewall with a hardware firewall running a Linux Distro.
Since 2nd November, 2006 I officially had my Foundation Degree in Computer Networks from North East Wales Institute of Higher Education (NEWI) which is part of the University of Wales.
So Im now Gareth O. Evans FdSc…..FdSc being Foundation Science.
But since September 2006, I started my third year in NEWI on my BSc (Hons) in Computer Networks which I shall complete (fingers crossed) in August/September 2006…..BUT I hope to go on to do a PGCE (Teacher Training) to gain the ability to teach in Colleges (16-18) and Universities (18+).