[announce] NYC*BUG Tonight: FreeBSD High Availability

[NYC*BUG Announcements]

NYC*BUG Meeting Tonight & May

BSDCan Is Coming

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April 06, 2011
BSD High Availability

6:45 PM, Suspenders Restaurant backroom
111 Broadway in Manhattan
http://www.suspendersbar.com/

The BSD High Availability (HA) suite has some very handy and powerful 
features. However, as with all systems, there are certain considerations 
to be made when rolling out a HA implementation. This talk will focus on 
the security considerations when rolling out a BSD HA implementation.

The talk will cover the following:

* An explanation of the BSD HA environment (CARP, pfsync, sasyncd)

* How these components, specifically CARP, function at a lower level

* Current and potential attacks against the HA environment, including 
some demos

* Security considerations when rolling out a HA implementation and 
applicable work-arounds

* Ideas on how to improve the security and flexibility of the BSD HA 
tool suite

Speaker Biography

Sam hails from a small country in the middle of nowhere called New 
Zealand, where people live in mud huts and rub sticks together to 
produce fire. When not foraging for berries and miscellaneous woodland 
creatures, Sam works for Lateral Security as a security consultant (a 
more CEO-friendly word for hacker) where he breaks into systems for a 
living. Previous to that, he spent several years in programming and 
system administration roles. He caught the BSD bug many years ago when 
his friend enlightened him to the fact that he too could have a solid 
block cursor at the terminal.

NOTE: Sam is visiting New York this week, and offered to give this 
presentation.  It was great timing, as this was proposed as a useful 
meeting topic recently.

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May 04, 2011
The Unix Method of Development Management

6:45 PM, Suspenders Restaurant backroom
111 Broadway in Manhattan

The Unix approach has been summarized in many ways, but most simply it`s 
about a certain method in simplicity, portability and interoperability. 
Jamming a square peg into a round hole it`s not.

The chapter entitled Basics of the Unix Philosophy in The Art of Unix 
Programming provides more comprehensive explanations.

Take that approach and look at development projects with dozens of 
programmers in whatever language.

How is the Unix method relevant? How do Unix principles aid in 
structuring and coordinating software development, even for, say, Java 
developers?

William Baxter argues that the Unix methods and principles are the most 
useful set of tools for directing developers, even more so when bad 
habits need to be relearned for the goal of creating good code.

Speaker Biography

William Baxter, a senior developer with decades of experience leading 
programming projects, will discuss the process of managing developers 
and their projects.

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Are you going to BSDCan?  Talk@ is a great place to coordinate 
transportation with other NYCBUG members.