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steercom:2008-04

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SLUUG Steering Committee Minutes - April 2008

NOTE: Minutes posted on the wiki are always unofficial. Schedules for upcoming presentations are always tentative. (Some more tentative than others!)

Location

Saint Louis Bread Company,
(at Old Olive and Olive),
10550 Old Olive Street Road,
Creve Coeur, MO 63141

Date and Time

  • Wednesday, April 2, 2008
  • 6:30 pm - 8:05 pm

Attendees

  • Carl Fitch
  • Craig Buchek
  • Stan Reichardt
  • Gary Meyer

Secretary Report

  • Printed out minutes from Steering Committee meetings through March.

Treasurer Report

  • Balance: $1,174.72 as of 1/31/08
  • Carl gave money collected for memberships to the Treasurer.
  • Carl - Turn in cash drawer funds to treasurer.
  • Carl - Cancel credit card processing. (In progress – need to fax them a 2nd letter.)
  • Craig - Submit receipt for voice recorder.
  • Gary - Turn in receipt for domain registration.
  • Open issues:
    • New IRS reporting requirement
      • We will (likely) have to file a form 990-EZ for the 2007 tax year.
      • Need response from Rich McClennan.
      • Any other advisory resources available?
    • Lee - Follow up drafting reply to Wash U.
    • Final bill from Wash U. - need to complete reply

Attendance Report

  • Some numbers:
Meeting Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar
Steercom 5 4 3 5 7 4 5 5 No 6 3 6 2 4
SLACC 6 7 ? ? 8 6 10 7 5 8 4 7 4 (4)
1st LDAP xx 5 6 7 6 No No No No ? No 4 No No
SLUUG 12 23 22 18 16 27 36 21 24 25 20 14 12 23
Solaris 4 No 18 15 6 8 No 11 No 5 No 13 No 6
2nd LDAP xx 6 5 5 6 No No (6) 7 No 3 ? No No
STLLUG 12 14 18 23 20 31 31 23 19 25 20 17 No 16
HZWLUG 7 9 8 9 No 11 11 10 10 15 9 10 11 14
Security No No 7 9 No 6 No No No No No No No No
STCLUG 10 10 6 ? 8 11 17 10 11 No 11 9 11 3
  • No - indicates no meeting.
  • () - Numbers in parentheses are head count.
  • ? - Question mark indicates attendance not taken or sheet missing.
  • xx - attendance numbers not yet recorded.
  • Attendance seems to be down, which is not unusual for the winter months.
  • Scott Granneman drew in quite a crowd with such short notice.
    • Attendance found out by ANNOUNCE mailing, not by viewing SLUUG home page.

Mailing List Report

  • Some current mailing list subscriber numbers (approximate):
List May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr
ANNOUNCE 917 925 900 915 885 877 877 866 857 856 853 854
DISCUSS 184 190 188 190 190 192 192 185 185 185 186 1??
STEERCOM 32 32 33 32 32 32 32 32 31 31 31 ??
SYSADMIN xx xx 18 18 18 17 17 17 17 17 17 ??
  • We have migrated all lists from Majordomo on Michelob to MailMan on Bud.
  • Blocking of mailing list attachments not completely configured yet.
  • ANNOUNCE mailing list.
    • Still no volunteer editor to do a Quarterly or monthly newsletter.

Meeting Review and Comments

March 2008

     March 2008     
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
                   1
 2  3  4  5  6  7  8
 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 31               

SLACC - March 6

  • Linux Configuration Workshop - No presentation.

SLUUG - March 12

  • BASE: Importing/Exporting Data Between Spreadsheets and Databases by Lee Lammert
    • Good.
  • MAIN: What Every Nerd Needs To Know by Scott Granneman
    • Voice recording was not done.
    • Very good. Good to have a less technical presentation once in a while.
  • CANCELED: iSCSI by Erich Schark of Alliance Systems (via Craig)
    • Canceled on Monday due to operational issues.

Solaris - March 18

  • TOPIC: Virtualization by Bob Netherton and Jeff Logullo
    • Covered xVM (Solaris-based Xen) and VirtualBox (bought by Sun February 7).
    • Excellent. Tag teamed w Jeff doing VirtualBox.
    • Hoping to have this reprised at a SLUUG general meeting.

STLLUG - March 20

  • TOPIC: WINE by Ed Howland
    • Excellent. Lots of hands-on demonstration.
    • Formal presentation extended to Nick and Elena's.
    • Audio recording posted to web site.
    • Started about 30 minutes late.

HZWLUG - March 25

  • TOPIC: Usually determined by attendees
    • Talked about various topics.

STCLUG - March 27

  • TOPIC: Discussion of future topics by Mark Sims

Presentation Schedule

April 2008

     April 2008     
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
       1  2  3  4  5
 6  7  8  9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30         

SLACC - April 3

  • Linux Configuration Workshop - No presentation.

SLUUG - April 9

  • BASE: File Links: Over-easy or Well-done by Carl Fitch
  • MAIN: Mac OS X Leopard by Don Benne (via Gary)

Solaris - April 15

  • TOPIC: TBD

STLLUG - April 17

  • TOPIC: VirtualBox by Jeff Logullo (TENTATIVE, via Gary)

EPC Sale - April 19

  • We plan to have some of our people there to show off GNU/Linux.

HZWLUG - April 22

  • TOPIC: Usually determined by attendees.
  • OPTION 1: Patitions.
  • OPTION 2: Exploring the /etc directory.
  • OPTION 3: Anything else.

STCLUG - April 24

  • TOPIC: Hard Drive Duplication by Carl Fitch

May 2008

      May 2008      
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
             1  2  3
 4  5  6  7  8  9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31

SLACC - May 1

  • Linux Configuration Workshop - No presentation.

SLUUG - May 14

  • NOTE: Back to back meetings
  • BASE: Last.FM by Ed Howland (TENTATIVE, via Gary)
  • MAIN: MythTV by Jason Clark (TENTATIVE, via Craig)
  • BACKUP CHOICE: Encryption by Mike May from SLU (via Gary)

STLLUG - May 15

  • NOTE: Back to back meetings
  • TOPIC: MythTV by Jason Clark (TENTATIVE, via Craig)

Solaris - May 20

  • TOPIC: TBD

STCLUG - May 22

  • TOPIC: TBD

HZWLUG - May 27

  • TOPIC: Usually determined by attendees
  • POTENTIAL TOPIC: Exploring the /bin directory.

Potential Future Topics

  • GIMP by Scott Nesler.
  • Encryption by Mike May S.J., Prof @ SLU, Chair Math/CS dept (via Gary)
  • Stoneware webOS and Desktop Virtualization by Jack Loane (via Carl/Craig/e-mail)
  • iSCSI
  • EnterpriseDB (packaged version of PostgreSQL) (via Carl)
    • Would be a video-conference, so requires solving the logistics
  • Who is the Spencer Lecture speaker @ UMSL?
  • Mac OS X Leopard by Don Benne (via Gary)
    • Previously presented at GAMUG In-Depth SIG
  • VirtualBox (& xVM (Zen)) by Jeff Logullo? (via Gary)
  • Status of Sun Solaris by Jeff Logullo (via Gary)
  • Versioning filenames (snapshots?) in ZFS by Jeff Logullo? Jeff Muse? (via Gary)
  • New release of ZFS " " " " " " "
  • Project Indiana, a new package mngmnt system ala apt/dpkg by Jeff Logullo? Jeff Muse? (via Gary)
  • Belenix & otherlive CD's based on Open Solaris by Jeff Logullo? Jeff Muse? (via Gary)
  • Cell phone issues by Don Ellis (via Gary)
    • Grand Central service,
    • 2 GB mem chip upgrades,
    • Free calling by automatically routing thru WiFi,
    • 4 band phones,
  • APV (Advance POWER Virtualization) Overview by John Hodge
  • Demo/Using Scribus by Stan Reichardt
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (RHEL 5)- still looking for volunteer
  • Untangle Gateway Platform (instead of CentOS Linux) by Tim Dreste (via Stan R)
  • AIX 6 - due out later this year (about November, IBM via John Hodge)
  • Building a modern kernel by Ed Howland
  • Using git by Ed Howland
  • Remotely presented (video conferencing) topics
  • Qt/KDE (TrollTech sales rep, via Craig)
  • Linux(xBSD, etc) on Wireless (Suggested by Ed Howland)
    • Part 1: Theory and operation of wireless networks.
      • The 802.11 stack (relevant protocols).
      • Descriptions of terms, expansion of alphabet soup.
      • Security (WEP, WPA, WPA2)
      • Network types (ad-hoc, infrastrucure).
      • Modes (ad-hoc, managed, master, monitor).
      • Packet Types (management, data frames, beacons, probes).
    • Part 2: Practical Linux Wireless configuration.
      • Cards, compatibility.
      • NDISWrapper and native (devicescape stack).
      • Drivers
      • Tools (using wpa_supplicant).
      • Network Monitor.
  • Status of BSD by Randy? John? (via Gary?)
  • Wireshark sniffing by ??? @ Savvis (via Clarence?).
  • Last.fm, Amarok,…free music downloads by Ed Howland (via Gary)

STL Small Business Expo

  • March 18, 11:00 - 6:00
  • St. Charles Convention Center
  • We were in booth 801.
  • Volunteers: Gary McKee, Lee Lammert, Carl Fitch, Stan Reichardt
  • Lots of people stopped by – busy corner.
  • Not sure it's worth our time, money, and effort.

Sponsorships

  • New Sponsor -
  • Have the current paying sponsors been asked to renew (with payment)?
    • Gary - Ask Ajilon about continuing $200 sponsorship.
    • Craig - Ask S3 - Strategic Staffing Solutions (follow up)
  • Potential sponsors
    • Sun - Jeff Logullo
    • IBM - (John Hodge may have a contact)
    • Red Hat - Clark Smith (Craig to follow up)
    • VMware - Matt Skipton
  • Some old information has:
    • Annual sponsorship as $200 for Businesses and
    • $300 for Large Enterprise Corporations. This amount show on sluuginfo.pdf (18 April 2007) handout.
    • The $300 amount not viable, so sponsorships are $200.
    • Stan will purge any $300 amount from web site and forms.
  • We should review them once or twice annually and establish an end date on recognition.
  • We in fact recognize multiple entities as sponsors due to community support or services in kind.
    • EPC - STLLUG Installfest, STL BusExpo hardware use & handout printing support, SLUUG discount.
    • Computers & Things - STLLUG Installfests, STCLUG projector & STL BusExpo printing support.
    • Graybar - SLUUG general meeting site.
    • Hostirian - New server hosting.
    • K&S Pritchard Enterprises - Hosted STLLUG web pages thru to Spring 2007.
    • O'Reilly - discount book arrangement (now moot - suggest removing).
    • Law Offices of Rich McLennen - legal services as needed.
    • UMSL-MicroLabs - The St. Louis Security Group meeting lab area.
    • Omnitec - has been providing services in kind commensurate with other sponsors.
  • Need sign about sponsoring our group for booth/table display at meetings and trade shows.
  • More effort should be directed to find new sponsors.
    • No effort means no more new sponsors.

Server Admin

  • Mail was temporarily blocked when /var hit 100%
  • Stan R. moved large backup file to /spare directory.

Server Intrusion and Rebuild

  • Craig updated changes to build documentation.
    • Based on rebuild of March 2.

Server Migration Project

  • Work left to do:
    • Make sure docs are up to date.
      • Add documentation telling users how to configure mail clients to use Bud.
      • Started documenting client email configurations, to help users migrate.
      • See users and mail_setup pages.
    • Craig - Work on finishing server builds.
      • Document changes to PAM to correct MAIL variable. (Craig)
      • More security, for SSH and otherwise.
      • Get offsite backups working. (Mike)
      • Publish SSH host keys on web page.
      • Standardize/regularize user accounts (IDs, password expirations). (Mike)
  • Other work to do:
    • Better web site management tools
  • Craig will get together with Mike and/or Carl to work on tasks in next coming weeks.

Website Library

  • Stan R. and Ted P.
  • Stan uploaded several older presentations.
    • WINE by Ed Howland (audio)
    • Update on SCO vs. IBM Lawsuit by Benjamin White (2006)
    • sudo not su by Stanford Baldwin
  • No more other presentation uploads yet.

SLACC as a SIG

  • Noel asked that we allow current email users to keep their SLACC.com email addresses.
  • The registration is paid up until 2009.
  • Carl - follow up with Noel about transferring the domain to us.

Membership (and Shell Accounts)

  • Membership drive
    • Need to print out name tags.
      • Omnitec will print them out and bring to SLUUG meeting.
  • Cafe Press merchandise
    • Carl has money from purchases – needs to turn into treasurer.
    • Stan to add CafePress link to SLUUG web site when we get info.
    • Stan to link new membership page into SLUUG web site.
  • It was suggested that we use Scott Nesler's logos.
    • We should ask Scott.
    • We should post the choices to STEERCOM for voting to make it official.

An Ubuntu Group

    • Craig to follow up again.
    • EPC would like to hold the meetings.
      • Open 9-2 on weekends, close at 6 on weekdays.
      • Talk to Tony Lavasco and Frank Polston if we need to follow up.

Security Group

  • Has not had a meeting in the past x months.
    • Clarence has had conflicts.
    • Other leaders have not been responsive.
  • Steering Committee has declared the group "in hiatus".
    • Stan has updated web site with the new status.
  • Gary will start a thread on DISCUSS.
    • Asking for location and leadership.

Manage The Group

  • Lee suggested we create a Rails app on Bud to manage the group.
    • Member data - payments, expirations, etc.
    • Sponsors - expirations, etc.
    • Attendance
    • STL Ruby Group is writing a similar application.
      • RAMS - Rails Association Management System
      • We should leverage that, and guide it to our needs
    • Scott Nesler has built an app for attendance
      • Stan has plugged data into it for the year
      • Not sure if the app fits any of our other needs

Other Old Business

  • LDAP group
    • Need to restart
    • Suggested session(s) to "recap" (by Rich S?)
    • Needed to get LDAP implemented on servers

New Business

  • Structure/timing/flow of the meetings
    • Need to leave enough time for "off-line interaction".
    • Plan on tutorials being planned for ~20 mins.
    • Main presentations should plan for ~1 hour (1.5 hours at STLLUG)
  • Geek lunches.
    • Only 2 people showed up at downtown meeting
    • Lots of people at the Olive meeting, but location was too noisy
    • Possible confusion with having 2 meetings at the same time
    • Should these meetings count as official SLUUG meetings?
      • For the moment, no – keep them informal.
      • We should support them, announce them, etc.

Blue Sky

  • Does calling/phoning "old attendees" encourage them to come to meetings? Does e-mailing them?

Follow-up and Action Items

  • Carl, Lee - Need to print out name tags for paying members.
  • Jeff - Seek assistance from AIX gurus (Barry, John, Mike, Gary) to see if we want to set up his box.
  • Barry - Follow up w/ John Hodge about a presentation in the near future.
  • Barry, John - Talk to Rich Seibel and Dave Mills about AIX hardware they have.
  • Lee, Barry - Get someone from IBM to talk about POWER6, AIX 6.0, etc.
  • Craig - Follow up w/ Jason Clark about doing back-to-back nights in May.
  • Craig - Follow up w/ Ubuntu LoCo person.
  • Craig - Email Clark Smith @ Red Hat about getting someone to present on RHEL5, and $200 sponsorship.
  • Craig - Email Jim Leingang @ S3 about $200 sponsorship.
  • Stan - Add CafePress link to SLUUG web site (http://cafepress.com/sluug).
  • Stan - Link new membership page into SLUUG web site.
  • Gary - Prepare Sun E250 for potential use.
  • Everyone - Talk to someone about coming to meetings.
  • Everyone - Talk to someone about sponsorships.
  • Everyone - Talk to someone about giving a presentation.
steercom/2008-04.1207516001.txt.gz · Last modified: 2008/04/06 16:06 by 24.107.98.225