24 January 2005

Open Technology in Local Government with Anthony Fortenberry

One of the most important trends in government is the migration to free / open source software (F/OSS). However, at the local government level there are substantial barriers to innovation. Anthony Fortenberry will discuss the open source initiatives at the City of Northglenn, difficulties encountered, and his strategy for accelerating adoption of F/OSS in city and county government.

Anthony Fortenberry joined the City of Northglenn in 2002 as the Director of Technology. In 2004, he founded Open Solutions For Government (ogov.org), a non-profit organization providing education and technology in the public interest. He is currently Executive Director of ogov.org, and a strategic adviser to the City Manager and Council at Northglenn.

28 February 2005

A Linux Security Sampler with Kevin Fenzi

There are a number of new and exciting developments in Security in Linux, as well as tried and true systems and tactics. In this talk we will touch on some of the new Security developments out there (selinux, vpns, etc) and also go over some of the best things you can do to secure your networks and machines from threats (ssh, firewalls, updates, etc). Kevin's slides are here (PDF).

Kevin has been working with Linux since 1995. He is the Co-Author of the Linux-Security-HOWTO. In 1999 he started building the KRUD distribution. Since 1999 he has been working for tummy.com doing Linux consulting and System Administration.

28 March 2005

Introduction to Cryptography with Jed Baer

Interested in how cryptography works, and how it can benefit you? Jed will present an overview and demonstration of cryptography, using the Gnu Privacy Guard suite of crypto tools.

Jed is an IT veteran who started working in the computing industry in 1982. His expertise ranges from programming to database development to system administration. His interest in cryptography stems from a keen sense of individual rights, including privacy. Presentation slides (500K Impress)

25 April 2005

Taking back your mailbox: Anti-Spam with Linux, with Sean Reifschneider

The Unsolicited Commercial E-mail problem won't really be solved until it's viewed as the attack on the Internet that it is. In the meantime, there are many different techniques for blocking these unwanted messages. In this presentation, Sean Reifschneider of tummy.com, ltd. will discuss some of the more common techniques, their benefits and drawbacks, and give some real-world examples of how they can be used.

Sean Reifschneider is a Member of Techhnical Staff for tummy.com, ltd., where he develops and supports Linux-based solutions for clients. Sean has been using Unix since the mid 80's and Linux since 1994, both professionally and personally.

23 May 2005

LPI-101 Exam review with Crawford Rainwater

This will be an overview of the LPI (Linux Professional Institute) exam process along with a review of the LPI-101 exam objectives in preparation for the upcoming Linux Cert-Fest being offer by LPI-US tentatively at the next CLUE InstallFest in August. For more on the LPI Certification please visit www.lpi.org.

Crawford Rainwater is the CEO of Linux Etc. and holds the Linux+, LCP, LPIC-1, and RHCT Linux certifications. He has been consulting in the information technology field for the past nine years, with Linux being his main focus for the past five. He holds a Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado, and a Bachelors of Engineering in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, and Mathematics from Vanderbilt University.

27 June 2005

vPostMaster: A Postfix Mail Server, with Sean Reifschneider

There are many tools out there which, when combined, result in an extremely nice e-mail server for handling virtual e-mail domains. Gone are the days when you can just set up an SMTP server and hook it up to some mailboxes with POP. Todays mail server needs to handle IMAP, SMTP AUTH, Webmail, encryption, anti-spam, anti-virus, and more. vPostMaster is an easy-to-install yet comprehensive e-mail server. The installation and administration will be demonstrated, followed by a "behind the scenes" view of the mechanisms within Postfix which are used to make it all happen. Sean Reifschneider of tummy.com, ltd. will demonstrate the results, and then dive into a technical discussion of Postfix policy filters and transports which make it happen.

Sean Reifschneider is a Member of Techhnical Staff for tummy.com, ltd., where he develops and supports Linux-based solutions for clients. Sean has been using Unix since the mid 80's and Linux since 1994, both professionally and personally.

25 July 2005

Topic: LPI-102 Exam review with Crawford Rainwater

This will be an overview of the LPI (Linux Professional Institute) exam process along with a review of the LPI-102 exam objectives in preparation for the upcoming Linux Cert-Fest being offer by LPI-US tentatively at the next CLUE InstallFest in August. For more on the LPI Certification please visit www.lpi.org.

Crawford Rainwater is the CEO of Linux Etc. and holds the Linux+, LCP, LPIC-1, and RHCT Linux certifications. He has been consulting in the information technology field for the past nine years, with Linux being his main focus for the past five. He holds a Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado, and a Bachelors of Engineering in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, and Mathematics from Vanderbilt University.

22 August 2005

Topic: Monitoring, Responding and Disaster Recovery Network Maintenance with Nagios — David Rudder

Reducing downtime and system errors is critical to the success of a network administrator. This speech will introduce the concept of automated monitoring, talk about some of the features and lacks of popular monitoring packages, and give a detailed overview of the Nagios monitoring package. Nagios is an open source software package that competes with many expensive commercial monitoring packages. Presentation Slides (95K Impress)

David Rudder is the President of Reliable Response, LLC, a maker of IT notification software. He's been using Linux and maintaining Linux networks since 1995. He's the author of the 1st revision of the Linux Firewalling and Proxy Server HOWTO, circa 1996, and has been involved in various Linux users groups and online communities since. David has been using Nagios for almost 2 years with commercial and personal networks.

26 September 2005

Topic: Hacking Society

What is a Hacking Society?

The goal of the Hacking Society is to foster geek community-building through the shared experience of hacking. Of course, by "hacking", I mean the more historic meaning of working on interesting projects (Jargon File "hack" entry, sense 6). Not the "script kiddies trying to compromise boxes" meaning which has become what most people think of in relation to the term. The WikiPedia also has a good definition of the word Hacker.

Do you have a little hacking project that could use some input from like-minded CLUE-bies? Then bring it up to the CLUE-North meeting this month.

24 October 2005

Topic: Asterisk Voice-Over-IP with Dale Laushman and Eric Alexander from The Uptime Group

With the burgeoning demand for VOIP phone service, Asterisk is the hottest thing in open source software. Asterisk is a complete software-based PBX that runs on Linux, BSD and MacOSX and provides all of the features you would expect from a PBX and more. Asterisk can interoperate with almost all standards-based telephony equipment using relatively inexpensive hardware.

We have implemented the software in local businesses, and now we're going to show you how to configure your own Asterisk system to eliminate sales calls during dinner. Yes, we are trained professionals, but YOU CAN DO THIS AT HOME! Learn how to set up Asterisk step-by-step with a proven selection of operating systems and packages. Presentation (PDF 118K)

The Uptime Group is your Denver/Boulder outsourced information technology department. From computer networking to phone systems to ongoing maintenance and support, we deliver the most cost-effective, reliable and secure IT solutions by innovatively integrating the best of traditional and Linux/open-source software with existing systems "where it makes sense."

28 November 2005

Topic: Mini FixFest and Hacking Society combo

With the recent InstallFest on Saturday, 19 November we figured there might be some minor bugs and issues that folks would like to have some help with. So with that in mind there will be some folks present to help assist others in some minor repair and/or enhancement work on your Linux systems.