Frequently Asked Questions
Contents
- How do I update this FAQ?
- What is our IP address?
- Where is the stuff from KFS?
- What am I allowed to do?
- What do I get for my 100 quid setup and 10 quid a month?
- What level of service is guaranteed?
- What happens if we make a profit?
- What happens if we make a loss?
- Why OurShack?
- Why dog.ourshack.com? Why cat?
- What is the difference between ourshack.com, .org and .net?
- What am I allowed to do?
- How do I use POP mail securely?
- How do I do FTP to/from Ourshack?
FAQ List
How do I update this FAQ?
-
Assuming you're already registered as an OurShack member
then do 'su - shackweb' and read the
the '/home/shackweb/websrc/README' file.
What is our IP address?
-
We have a /28 subnet.
Noteable addresses include:
- 212.74.28.145 - Our gateway
- 212.74.28.146 - Roxen webserver
- 212.74.28.147 - Nameserver and webmail service
- 212.74.28.148 - smtp and pop3 server
- 212.74.28.149 - reserved for ssh on any port
- 212.74.28.150 - stable apache server
- 212.74.28.151 - wobbly apache server (with PHP)
- 212.74.28.152 - kitez.com DNS based search engine
- 121.74.28.153 - cat, the new server
- 121.74.28.154 through 159 - reserved for expansion
- 212.74.28.160 - broadcast
Where is the stuff from KFS?
-
Andrew has it at the moment. It's on a drive, but not mounted
in any machine.
What am I allowed to do?
-
Basically, anything that doesn't upset other folk. Here is an
list of examples of things that would upset people:
- Anything that attracts lots of bandwidth (porn, warez)
- Anything anti-social (spam, cracking tools)
- Anything that attracts attacks revenge attacks on us
What do I get for my 100 quid setup and 10 quid a month?
-
A "share" of the service. There is no definition of what a share
is, but members are requested to take out multiple shares as
they feel appropriate.
What level of service is guaranteed?
-
None.
What happens if we make a profit?
-
It gets ploughed back into the project. We'll likely get more
disk, more bandwidth or another server - whatever seems
appropriate. As the project grows, we get better value for our
money...
What happens if we make a loss?
-
The members have shared responsibility for keeping the service going.
We have not had to go begging yet indeed members have been generous
in paying extra for improved service).
Why OurShack?
-
We spent a while trying to find a domain name for the
project. This is difficult because all the good names are
taken... "OurShack" was Oliver Smith's idea.
- The inference of community
- The inference of a "home from home" on the net
- The mis-parsing "OursHack.com"
- The similarity to the ham-radio "shack"
- The anagrams: "sour hack", "sack hour", "our hacks"
-
Note:
Why dog.ourshack.com? Why cat?
"dog" was Shona Beattie's first word. It's pronounced "gog" and applies to anything that is furry, with 4 legs, including dogs, cats and teddy bears.
"cat" was agreed for the second server by consensus.
What is the difference between ourshack.com, .org and .net?
- OurShack.com is the shopfront for the project itself
- OurShack.org is to give away domains to members, eg: www.member.ourshack.org
- OurShack.net is for ummm... we're not sure yet
What am I allowed to do?
-
Basically, anything that doesn't upset other folk. Here is an
list of examples of things that would upset people:
- Anything that attracts lots of bandwidth (porn, warez)
- Anything anti-social (spam, cracking tools)
- Anything that attracts revenge attacks on us
How do I use POP mail securely?
- TeraTerm -> Setup -> SSH Forwarding -> Add
- Forward local port/pop3/to remote machine/pop3.ourshack.com/pop3
- OK -> ADD
- Forward local port/smtp/to remote machine/smtp.ourshack.com/smtp
- OK -> OK -> Setup -> Save Setup
- teraterm.ini [I just save it in my default config]
If you are registered on the Cyrus IMAP/POP mailstore then you can use IMAP or POP over SSL (or TLS). This encrypts the traffic, so it is harder for people to see your mail and passwords.
If your mail client will not handle SSL or TLS than the only way to secure the traffic is by tunnelling through SSH using TeraTerm or PuTTY.
Here is a way to tunnel POP securely through SSH on Teraterm (so that you don't send your password across the net in clear)
How do I do FTP to/from Ourshack?
-
You don't. FTP is insecure because it uses passwords sent in
cleartext. We can't tunnel it through ssh through the firewall
without opening tins of worms that we would rather keep canned.
Yes, Virginia, we know about PASV.
Go to Google, search for putty, then use pscp