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Geoffrey Chapman

Oracle 12c - Pluggable databases.

oracle
Larry Ellison at the Oracle OpenWorld conference earlier this week, provided the information that the forthcoming Oracle Database 12c (the c standing for ‘cloud’) will  feature a radical new architecture called pluggable databases.

Currently a server running an Oracle database has an individual set of server processes.  Adding a second database to the server adds additional processes for the second database.  Pluggable databases will allow multiple databases to run under one copy, or instance, of the Oracle database software, a feature he called "multitenancy."

As the name implies, pluggable databases allow multiple tenant databases to run under one copy of Oracle 12c.  An arbitrary number of up to 250 user databases, can be run under the new architecture, and the architecture could probably support more. The new database is reportedly compatible with older Oracle databases.

This change in architecture brings a number of benefits that Oracle touted through the week, including improved efficiency, stronger security and easier upgrades.

However there are a few challenges for database administrators especially in the area of allocation computational resources. How will the new workload characteristics of running multiple databases on a single server be determined. The characteristics of the optimum size of a server, in reference to memory and storage space, may also/will need to be reconsidered.

Interesting times lay ahead.  Oracle Database 12c is set for availability in 2013.

Tags:
cloud database Oracle
Geoffrey Chapman

Microsoft IE Bug


Microsoft has released details of a method users of Internet Explorer can use to secure their computers from a recently discovered exploit allowing malicious code to run on a PC.

Microsoft has admitted to the bug, which it says hurts Internet Explorer versions 6 through 9, but leaves IE 10 alone. The flaw is described as follows:

A remote code execution vulnerability exists in the way that Internet Explorer accesses an object that has been deleted or has not been properly allocated. The vulnerability may corrupt memory in a way that could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user within Internet Explorer. An attacker could host a specially crafted website that is designed to exploit this vulnerability through Internet Explorer and then convince a user to view the website.

The remedy is detailed in Security Advisory 2757760, where it says that there's no outright fix for the issue at present, but that users can work around the threat by deploying the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET), described as "... a utility that helps prevent vulnerabilities in software from successfully being exploited by applying in-box mitigations such as DEP to applications configured in EMET."

Tags:
security browser
Geoffrey Chapman

Web Site access blocked by Bad Behavior

I have written this blog after a recent incident when a legitimate user was trying to access our website. It is based on our experiences and that of other users of the software.

The user was obviously a little peeved but after working through the problem we obtained a resolution although there is still some doubt as to the exact cause.

Bad Behavior claims to be one of the Internet's most trusted solutions for helping to prevent link spam and other malicious activity, from well-known sites to the smallest blogs. Bad Behavior complements other link spam solutions by acting as a gatekeeper, preventing spammers from ever delivering their junk, and in many cases, from ever reading your site in the first place.

Users identified as being suspect are presented with a message that we configure such as "Your IP address is exhibiting behaviour similar to that of spammers, hackers or other undesirable visitors".

There are a reasonably comprehensive set of log entries and inspection of these often gives a clue as to why the user has been identified as ‘suspect’.

If the denied_reason says, “I know you and I don’t like you, dirty spammer,” then this means that the IP address has been previously identified and is being temporarily blocked, and another entry will have the real reason for the block.

One common denied_reason says, “Required header ‘Accept’ missing,”. In this situation the user should check to ensure that they are not using a proxy server, personal firewall, or any other software that may be interfering with their Web browsing. These types of software, if not configured properly, will cause this problem. Bypass the proxy (when possible) and try again.

If the denied_reason contains a long string of “Aaaaaaaaaaaaa,” says “User-Agent … prohibited,” or contains “Banned proxy server” and the user is not using a proxy server, this is an indication that the user’s computer has most likely been infected with a virus or Trojan horse which is sending comment and referrer spam. The computer should be cleaned before trying again.

If the denied_reason contains anything else, one may well find that the reason for the block is made obvious by the reason given. For instance, if there is a fake User-Agent string, Bad Behavior may detect this and cause the block. The solution In this case would be to correct the User-Agent string.

Geoffrey Chapman

Website Anti-Spam


A recent comment requested some additional anti-spam option in our Issue Tracker component. That triggered much though on a topic that obviously impact all website and their components, be it blogs, commenting systems etc.

There are a number of different parts to preventing spam on a website and this is to expand upon our own particular take on the subject.

Spam is one of the many problem that face web sites today. It is basically the proverbial ‘pain in the neck’ and if not handled correctly can be very time consuming. How often have you viewed web sites where there are totally unrelated comments /registrations/ forums posts which has to make one think about the site’s reputation and credibility.

Our site is not immune to this problem and the source is not restricted to any specific country although there does seem to be a preponderance from locations such as Turkey, China, Russian Federation and more recently Ukraine and Brazil.

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Tags:
website Tools SPAM sh404sef security joomla components Akeeba
Geoffrey Chapman

New Releases Oracle SQL*Developer * SQL*Developer Modeller

Having been busy recently I nearly missed the recent announcement of Oracle SQL*Developer 3.2.0.09.30 and SQL*Developer Data Modeller 3.1.2 (704).

Both available on Oracle Technet.

Tags:
Oracle developers DBA
Geoffrey Chapman

Oracle Goldengate


I was talking with a colleague the other day about Oracle Goldengate and it was strange that I saw this article which describes the recent release. Having used the product and its ‘relation’ Streams, it was interesting to catch up on the recent changes.

Tags:
DBA Oracle
Geoffrey Chapman

Reuters News Agency hacked -- AGAIN


News agency Reuters has been hacked for the third time in a month. This is beginning to become a habit. If this continues one must begin to wonder how much reliance one can place in any of their articles.

Geoffrey Chapman

Windows 7 Updates August 2012 Problems


Having experienced a few problems with the latest set of Windows 7 Updates for August 2012 I thought I would create this post to possibly assist others.

Firstly the problem seems to only impact 64 bit versions of windows, since 32bit seems to work successfully.

The problem manifests itself as a ‘Failure to apply updates’ following the forced reboot, causing it to fall back to the created restore point.

The cause seems to be fix KB2647753 which can be applied upon its own but not in combination with the others.

Up to 12 updates may be required depending upon the system being updated, but the solution appears to be to select KB2647753 and install it on its own, and then following the reboot (which showed a message about updating the registry) to install all of the other updates as one set. This does require a few reboots but all the updates do get applied successfully.

If like me you tend to update several machines at the same time and start off an update on one machine before starting it in another etc., before returning to the first machine, it is easy to miss he failure message which doesn't stay on the screen for very long. The first one notices is when the machines require updates to be applied a second or possibly a third time. Very annoying.

Tags:
Windows 7 updates
Geoffrey Chapman

Amazon and Apple close security hole.


Amazon has closed a security hole discovered following the earlier journalists security hack earlier this week. On Tuesday, Amazon handed down to its customer service department a policy change that no longer allows people to call in and change account settings, such as credit cards or email addresses associated with its user accounts.



Apple has also suspended its policy of allowing over the phone AppleID password resets.


The journalists actual report is here.

Tags:
Privacy security
Geoffrey Chapman

Dangers of having your data in the cloud.

iCloud logo
 This article describes how a US journalist was cut off from his entire digital life by attackers who tricked Apple support into re-setting his iCloud account.

If does illustrate very clearly just how much we trust we place in the cloud provider irrespective of who they are, when we put any of our data into the cloud. There is a lot to be said for the ‘old’ fashioned method running your own systems and ensuring they are backed up securely.

Tags:
social security
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