It’s a probe that tracks the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for a Comtrend DSL modem. I was having problems with disconnections overnight. With this probe, I was able to tell my ISP when I was having troubles.
The probe runs a Python program to connect to the DSL modem’s web interface, retrieves the stats from the page, and formats the data in the Status Window. Here’s what it looks like:
I have created a new forum and mailing list about InterMapper. It’s a place for InterMapper customers and others to talk about using InterMapper, IM Flows, the Layer2 facility, creating and requesting new probes, etc.
Note: This forum is not sponsored or affiliated with HelpSystems, the makers of InterMapper, in any way. It’s just a fan site – please enjoy the forums!
PS The InterMapper Discussions use the Discourse forum platform. What a great piece of software! It’s easy to set up, looks great, and incorporates all the slick technologies that you’d expect from a product written in this decade…
Update: August 2015 I decommissioned the forum because it appeared that HelpSystems was establishing their own forum.
Is that forum working? Should I re-establish this forum? Let me know… Thanks!
For all who’ve been following the teaser… The TrimCharts program is now available. TrimCharts is an add-on program for InterMapper that decreases the size of the Chart Data folder. It has the following benefits:
It speeds up startup because InterMapper doesn’t have to scan huge Chart Data files;
It reduces the amount of disk space consumed by InterMapper (the Chart Data folder on long-running installations can consume tens of gigabytes);
It makes chart data appear faster in RemoteAccess.
I’ve been working on an add-on to InterMapper that I think will be quite useful. Check back in the new year to learn more. (Or send me an e-mail to find out sooner…)
Update 31Jan2015: Check out the TrimCharts program to make your Chart Data smaller, and speed up InterMapper.
I mentioned a couple items in the Security Monitoring webinar today:
The Heartbleed bug arose from a reasonable-sounding feature request. The client could send periodic “heart beat” requests to the server to see if the connection is still alive. But it was implemented very badly, leading to the Heartbleed bug.
How bad was it? Bruce Schneier’s blog leads with this sentence, “Heartbleed is a catastrophic bug in OpenSSL.” Read the remainder at Schneier on Security: Heartbleed The official Heartbleed site also gives good information.
The best explanation for non-techies of the Heartbleed bug comes (as always) from XCKD
Please contact me if you would be interested in a version of the “Check SSL Certificate” probe that can run on Windows. I will collect these requests to judge the interest in the probe.
Do you know when your SSL certificate expires for critical services, such as your public web server or the on-line store? Are you sure that someone’s aware of the cutoff date?
The Check SSL Certificate probe for InterMapper will continually check a web server’s SSL certificate, and give you a warning when the expiration date is less than 30 days away, or go to critical when it’s less than 10 days away. The probe runs every six hours, so it won’t tax your server.
Expand the archive, and copy the check_ssl_cert file from the archive to the top level of the InterMapper Settings/Tools folder.
Ensure that the check_ssl_cert file is executable (chmod +x check_ssl_cert)
Use File -> Import Probe… to import the InterMapper probe
Add a device to your map with IP address/DNS name of your SSL server.
The probe will query the SSL server and examine its certificate.
Note: The Nagios plugin only works on Linux, Unix or OSX that can execute a /bin/sh command. If you would like a Windows version of this probe, please contact me
You’ve all heard about the Heartbleed bug in OpenSSL that leaves a lot of information in the open, even private keys for web servers. This catastrophe has been well described in the Heartbleed website and loads of other places.
There is advice on the SANS site for patching the software, and a Heartbleed test site for servers that are on the public internet.
If you have an internal HTTPS server (or if you want to check all your HTTPS servers), you might be interested in the InterMapper Probe I created that checks a web server for vulnerability to the Heartbleed bug.
Download and import the Check Heartbleed probe into your InterMapper server
Add one or more web servers to a map
Set Probe… and select Servers-Standard/HTTP & HTTPS/Check Heartbleed
The Check Heartbleed probe may take a while to run as it tests all four versions of encryption. You may need to set the Timeout and response time thresholds to 15 seconds to allow it to complete.
The default Version parameter is set to -1: This checks all versions of the TLS (v1.0, v1.1, v1.2) to look for vulnerabilities. You may also enter a version of 0, 1, or 2 to test only TLS v1.0, v1.1, or v1.2, respectively.
Test Cases
The server at https://cloudflarechallenge.com:443 is intentionally vulnerable to Heartbleed
All major HTTPS sites either never were vulnerable, or have been patched.
I have made the Check Heartbleed Probe for InterMapper available at no cost, under the Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license.
Cheers!
Updated: 12Jun2014 – added screen shot, minor edits to Status Window
On Wednesday 16 April, Pat Cameron and I will be presenting an “InterMapper Probes” webinar. We’ll describe what you can do with InterMapper’s probes – software plugins that test a piece of gear – and how they can help you learn what’s happening on your network.
I recently participated in two hackathons in Boston.
Last weekend, I was on the InforMED team that won second prize at the MIT H@ckfest for the IT CIO track for a system that allows first responders to scan a tag (RFID, QR Code, etc.) to get a facesheet of critical care information for a patient. This project also won a $1000 prize from Care Innovations, an Intel GE joint venture.
In January, I was a member of the team that won the “Most Likely to Succeed” award at the MedStart Hackathon at Tufts Medical School. Our four-member team (Bryan Bordeaux, Michelle Qi, Elaine Wu, and I) produced a tool that helps a primary care physician by listing recommended screenings for patients.
