Author: Andrew

A Father, Photographer and Computer Geek living in Chester County (PA).

My Photo Journal of images taken in Chester and Lancaster Counties, including Covered Bridges, Barns, Nature, Fine Art and Events. Images can also be found on VisitPA.com and ExplorePATrails.com.

Categories
Information Networking

OpenDNS and Comcast DHCP/DNS issues

Couple of weeks ago, I got knocked off the internet, and it took me awhile to figure out what when wrong.

Background –
I’m working with a new client and their application requires a high speed network to do what they want to do. So I finally had an excuse to purchase 1GB network equipment upgrade: a Network switch and a Network NIC.

I installed the switch and NIC without issue, and proceeded to “clean out” my Server.

I literally pulled all cables and took the machine out to the garage and used an air compressor to dust the beast out.

After the major dusting, in which clouds of dust escaped from the open garage, I also removed several unused PCI cards, and finally put things back together, and got the internal network running, but could not connect to the internet.

Issues –
I could connect to all my internal machines, but I could not connect from any machine out via Name.

Oddly, I could “ping” outside servers by IP address, but could not by Name, even when directly connected to the cable modem.

A couple of times, after hard resetting the cable modem and firewall/router, there would be access for a while, or be deathly slow.

Resolution –
I had to shut down shutdown the network, except for the main server.

Opened DNS manager and cleared any and all DNS caches, along with stopping and starting the server, and a reboot or two for good measure.

Then directly connected the main server to the “cable modem” via wired ethernet.

I changed the Server’s static IP address to be on the same sub-net as the cable modem (192.168.100.1).

Connect to OpenDNS, and delete the old IP information, and setup new IP information.

Reconfig the server back to it’s original IP range, connect firewall/router to modem, and reconnect to OpenDNS.

Finds –

I went through all my settings, machine by machine, flushed caches, renewed IP, reset WinSock, etc.

  • Comcast has 1 hour DHCP address renewal
    • Seems that when I had my server down for cleaning, it missed a DHCP “conversation” and my external IP changed.
  • OpenDNS
    • Was using my Old IP address and for some reason would not resolve IPs to Name.

Lessons Learned –
Since I originally ran into this issue, it has happen one more time, but I immediately connected the server to the cable modem, reestablished OpenDNS connectivity, and moved ethernet cables back. (Estimated time: 10 minutes vs. Hours of Troubleshooting)

I have also downloaded and installed the OpenDNS agent, and is running all the time.

– Andrew
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Categories
Adobe Software

Attack on Adobe Illustrator (.eps) files

Rather obscure way to get into a system, but none the less..

If you use Adobe Illustrator (.eps), then you might want to take a look at this…

Apparently, a Bad Person could alter an Illustrator EPS file in such a way that the Bad Person could gain access to your computer.

Adobe is still investigating and plans to have a patch shortly.

– Andrew
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Categories
Information Reference

OpenDNS and GoogleDNS

This is a rehash of a Facebook conversation from earlier today….

Originally, I posted a link to “Google Public DNS offers speed, few features” in which I made the comments that this could get interesting, and ended up doing a quick DNS description:

“DNS is a foundation level services that helps run the internet. Every device on the internet has a unique IP number that usually takes the form of [74.125.53.100]. Since humans are not that good with remembering numbers, we add names, such as google.com… What DNS does is translate backwards and forwards of IP Numbers [74.125.53.100] to Human Name [google.com]. Think of DNS as a Yellow & White pages phonebook for the internet.”

“When one connects to the internet from home or at work, that device uses DNS to find “stuff” for you. If you have an ISP (Comcast, Verizon, etc.) they give you their DNS Server addresses, which is fine for most folks, but with a little bit of techo-tink, one can access Open Public DNS servers that are usually faster then an ISPs, so your access is a bit faster.”

“Setting up your account is primary, but once done, the basics are that you need to access your router/firewall and change the DNS servers that they are “pointed to”. Some routers offer away to add more the two (2) entries. If this is possible, make your Open Public DNS servers the Top priority in the list.”

As a reference:

OpenDNS
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

Google Public DNS
8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4

– Andrew
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Categories
Events Halloween Holidays Photo Journal Photography

2009 Halloween Carving Party

What an amazing year for pumpkin carving!

There were several new faces, and the competition was high!

Ya gotta start some where!

Let the carving begin!

Let the carving begin!

Pumpkin Brains removed…

Pumpkin Lava 01 (2009)

Pumpkin Lava 01 (2009)

This year, we even had a few carvers, that went all out!

Carved Halloween Pumpkins Glowing at Night

Carved Halloween Pumpkins Glowing at Night

Here is a little more detail

Carved Halloween Pumpkins Glowing at Night (Detail 01)

Carved Halloween Pumpkins Glowing at Night (Detail 01)

and here is my favorite! Thanks Cory!

Halloween Pumpkin Party 037 (2009)

Halloween Pumpkin Party 037 (2009)

Great job everyone!

and see you next year!

– Andrew
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Categories
Chester County Covered Bridges Flickr Photo Journal Photography Photostream Projects Software

Bartram Covered Bridge (1860)

Bartram Covered Bridge (1860)

Newtown Square, Chester Count [38-15-17]

Built in 1860, Bartram Covered Bridge is located just off of Goshen Road about 2½ miles West of Route 252 in Newtown Square, Chester County PA.

It is not recommended to park on the side of Goshen Road itself, because many people drive to fast in this section of the road, but there is some road side parking available on Boot Road.

I had been driving past this bridge for years and never stopped to doing anything about it, until today.

The beautiful late “Indian Summer” weather, combined with the cold nights have cause a very vibrant and colorful Fall foliage surrounding the bridge.

The bridge crosses over Crum Creek, and there is a small area for kids to run around, or a blanket picnic, as well as a few benches and rocks to sit on.

When you approach the bridge from the park area, you will notice the free-standing main bridge information plaque. As you get closer to the bridge, the next sign that you will see attached to the bridge, is National Register of Historic Places plaque.

Bartram Covered Bridge – Main Sign
Bartram Covered Bridge – Main Sign
Bartram Covered Bridge – NRHP plaque
Bartram Covered Bridge – NRHP plaque

One can not walk into the middle of the bridge, because there are metal security bars covering both entrance ways from top to bottom, but as you look more closely through the bars, you can see some holiday string lights attached to the long side walls.

Bartram-Goshen Covered Bridge (Long Exterior View) (Fall)
Bartram-Goshen Covered Bridge (Long Exterior View) (Fall)

This picture was taken on the opposite side of Crum Creek from where you can park, and to reach it, you have to walk around the bridge, and into the woods, then down by the water.

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Tech Talk

All images were taken with a Canon XTi on a Bogen (Model 3020) tripod with a Canon Remote Switch RS-60E3, using the native 16-bit Camera Raw (cr2) format. The ISO Speed was set to 100.

Images were then transferred to a Microsoft Windows XP (SP-3) based computer and converted into Adobe DNG format, with additional processing done with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.

Updates

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