Re: [orca-list] could You do somethink to enable Visually impaired towork like a server administrators for ISP companyes?

["Darragh Ó Héiligh" <lists digitaldarragh com>]

Michael,

 

A few things that I do with any server I have to take ownership of are:

set up a small script to check the status of sshd and networking.  if their stopped then they should be restarted again.  this hardly uses any of the systems resources at all and it's better to have that running in the background every few minutes than being in the horrible situation where you've just had to do something with the network and for some reason it's gone down.

 

I also do the usual of disabling root access via SSH and ensure no one can access the server via SSH  unless they have a private key file.  of course though,, there's no way of completely securing a server.

 

Even if you don't have a screen reader installed, it's helpful to have ESpeak there. At minimum you can pass the tail output of an error log to it if your standing at the server to get synthesized speech feedback. 

 

Darragh

www.digitaldarragh.com

 

2008/8/13 Michael Whapples <mwhapples aim com>

I would agree generally with what Darragh said, but I have a couple of
questions/extra comments, find these below.

On Tue, 2008-08-12 at 07:05 +0100, Darragh wrote:
> Janusz,
>
>
>
> The beauty of Linux is that no matter what you want to do, there's
> always a lot of packages that will do it for you.  Same goes for
> administration within the context of an ISP or hosting provider.

I would just like to add, generally the software for services (eg. http
web server, etc) can be entirely configured using text files, so none of
them should be inaccessible.

>
>
>
> I've recently set up a machine to serve mail via webmail, Pop3S, Imap
> and webmail, ftp, http and https, a proxy and file sharing via
> samba.

You've certainly got more experience regarding servers here, all I have
set up before have generally been things for personal use at home (eg. I
have set up my desktop before to act as a router to my internet
connection, ssh, etc), as my work is as a developer, so the nearest I
have got for my work is using tomcat on my machine to test j2ee stuff.

>
> A few packages that I used for this were: procmail, for organizing
> mail, fetchmail for receiving mail, postfix for providing the
> connectors plus it helped managed the maildir format well and
> squirrelmail for providing a webmail access method to peoples
> mailboxes.  I also used webmin for remote web based account
> administration.  For http and https I used the old reliable Apache,
> for the proxy I used squid with the sarg package handling the
> reporting really well.  There are a few other packages running in the
> background also however I've not had to touch that server in a few
> months now as it's up time is flawless.
>
> One important thing to note is this machine is running OpenSuSE 10.3
> with no graphical environment.  It has no screen and a keyboard is
> only attached when something goes really wrong.   Generally, when I
> want or need to do something with it I access it from another box via
> SSH.

I was going to say, do servers have things like gnome installed? I
wouldn't have thought so, in which case things like brltty, speakup,
yasr ,etc might be more suited if you actually need to use the server. I
also thought it might be set so that you don't use the machine itself
directly, but use it remotely via SSH, and only go to the server when
physical access is actually required (eg. for hardware issues).

>
> This in my experience would be the best way of administering a remote
> or a local server.  Even at work, where each rack of servers has a
> console, we rairly go near the server rooms.  Mainly because their
> very cold but also, it's rair that a server should be rebooted so
> everything can be done remotely.

It is quite surprising how sometimes you can forget whether you are
working with a remote machine when using a fast connection (particularly
with speakup or another text console screen reader), it really does
behave as you would expect when sitting in front of the actual machine.
The only things you have to be careful of are altering anything which
may affect your connection and loose it without SSH restarting
automatically.

Michael Whapples

>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Darragh Ó Héiligh
>
> Experienced Web development, Linux / Windows Workstation and server
> support, Assistive technology support and consultancy.
>
> Website:  http://www.digitaldarragh.com
>
>
>
> From: orca-list-bounces gnome org [mailto:orca-list-bounces gnome org]
> On Behalf Of Mgr. Janusz Chmiel
> Sent: 11 August 2008 20:46
> To: Orca-list gnome org
> Subject: [orca-list] could You do somethink to enable Visually
> impaired towork like a server administrators for ISP companyes?
>
>
>
> Dear developers of Orca,
>
>
>
>     I would like to emphasize one big remarkable aspect of Your
> ammazing project, Opensource Screen Reader, which can access Gnome
> applications. This remarkable aspect is, that because Linux operating
> system can be obtained free of charge, and because Orca is opensource
> and freely awailable, it can mean, that many visually impaired users
> can use their computers for their job. I would like to start a little
> professional discussion, if there is some chance, that experienced
> visually impaired people could work like a server administrators for
> Internet service providing companyes. For companyes, which are
> providing access to The Internet by using various technology such as
> ADSL, cable, ETC. I think, that somebody could theoretically try to
> found out, which Linux distributions are used by server administrators
> for managing connections to The Internet. If those applications are
> working in The terminal Window, for example, applications, which are
> used by ISP companyes to monitor ADSL modems, applications, which can
> for example restart cable modem remotely, applications, which are used
> to monitor The status of connection of A specific ISP customer. I
> think, that Java Sun company are doing really ammazing project, which
> can have significant role in The complex process, which enables
> visually impaired users to use their computers for a job purposes.
> Because Orca is very stable Screen Reader, I AM very nicely surprised
> by it. I Am aware, that my topic is may be not good topic to write
> about it in to this mailing list, but I would like to start a little
> discussion about possibility to enable visually impaired users to work
> like fully valuable server administrators for ISP companyes.
>
>
>
>     If somebody is having experience, which applications are used in
> The ISP companyes for network and server administration, I would like
> to know somethink about it. Eventhough I did not study informatic, and
> I Am not experienced server administrator. I would like to start this
> little discussion for users, who would want to work like a server
> administrators.
>
>
>
>     Eventhough I Am not experienced professional, my opinion is, that
> developers of Screen Reader, who would like to help in this field is
> to develope algorithms, which are able to watch for several
> dynamically changing areas of active screen. The main development
> complex task is I think to develope algorithms, which could inform
> visually impaired users, if some area on The Screen has changed or no.
> If yes, internal cursor could automatically jump to The field, which
> has been changed. Because tone is much more faster than speech, user
> could define which tones would Orca or other Screen reader to play, if
> specific area of screen has changed. Because it is inpossible to
> monitor too many areas of A screen, which are constantly changed, user
> should choose The most important of those areas. Nex complex task is
> to develope those algorithms so those algorithms would not to comsume
> too many system resources, because system resources is important
> factor for ISP companyes. I Am aware, that I Am writing somethink like
> a science fiction, because it is probably inpossible to make somethink
> like ofscreen model of active application like DCM compatible Screen
> readers in Windows environment. But I would like to know, if there is
> some chance to make functions, which could enable visually impaired
> users to work like a server administrator. I think, that this topic
> could be interesting for experienced professional in some of
> remarkable conferences, which are focused on Screen Readers in Linux.
> But it is only my personal opinion. May be, that many of us could
> think, that I AM writing about non interesting topic. If so, I Am very
> sorry.
>
>
>
> Thank you very much, that You read my E-mail. And I AM very sorry to
> all of us, who are suffering because of my pour English grammar. I
> will do my best to improve my grammar and spelling.
>
>
>
> The kindness regards.
>
>
>
> Janusz Chmiel
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>