Configure Linux Bind to Answer Active Directory Services

Ever wonder how to mix and match Linux and Windows in the same network environment? Here's a quick DNS entry using BIND (DNS Server) on Linux to interact with Microsoft's Active Directory. Works like a charm. Following needs to be added on your zone file:

_ldap._tcp.DOMAIN.COM. SRV 0 0 389 DCHOSTNAME.DOMAIN.COM.
_kerberos._tcp.DOMAIN.COM. SRV 0 0 88 DCHOSTNAME.DOMAIN.COM.
_ldap._tcp.dc._msdcs.DOMAIN.COM. SRV 0 0 389 DCHOSTNAME.DOMAIN.COM.
_kerberos._tcp.dc._msdcs.DOMAIN.COM. SRV 0 0 88 DCHOSTNAME.DOMAIN.COM.

Do schools kill creativity?

Ever since I heard Sir Ken Robinson spoke during our Company's Staff Assembly, his words stucked in my head. Aside from having a great sense o humor, he speak very eloquently. He said "the reason why we don't get the best out of people, is because we've been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers.

In his thoughts about Bringing on the Learning Revolution he said:

Current systems of education are based on the manufacturing principles of linearity, conformity and standardization. The evidence is everywhere that they are failing too many students and teachers alike. A primary reason is that human development is not linear and standardized, it is organic and diverse. People, as opposed to products, have hopes and aspirations, feelings and purposes. Education is a personal process. What and how young people are taught have to engage their energies, imaginations and their different ways of learning.

I myself hates standardization and rigid rules which I think stifles innovation. Watch it for your self and you may agree.

Patient Care

I spent my weekend working to improve patient care through the use of technology in a foreign land. I hope I would have a chance to make it useful where it needed the most...back home.

My NBA starters and De Niro

Though it was raining at times, it's a great weekend after all.  Met with Maya (after 30 years) and her friend, caught up with my laundry, clean the house (just some parts of it). But my weekend was mostly spent watching the NBA All Stars (wearing my Dwight Howard jerseys) with the kids. We love basketball (it's ironic we are in a city without an NBA team). Of course I provided the food and Deirdre provided interesting NBA trivia.

One question Deirdre asked me, "If you get a chance to pick for starting line up, who would it be?". I said, Dwight Howard definitely would be patrolling the center. Charles Barkley will be a strong presence at the block, Larry Bird will be raining those threes,  Michael Jordan taking the one on one situation and finally Steve Nash dishing pin point passes and playing the pick-and-roll with either Barkley or Howard for the Jam!

Of course it's just a fantasy... now back to reality, the game is over, the West won over the East. Though I voted for Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant got his 4th All Star MVP award.  It's back to work tomorrow, but before i turned off the TV, I chanced upon this classic scene from Robert De Niro pretending to shoot the TV (with Jackson Browne's Late for the sky song) in the movie Taxi Driver.

Song for Adam

I could not understand why today, I was just listening to Song For Adam over and over as I was driving to work.

The song spoke of death (suicide) of a Jackson Browne's friend.  Quite an irony on valentine's day. I finally realize that the song is a metaphor or even an allegory of love that was lost.

These days...

I just heard it's valentines day. How could I missed it? It's easy...it's the last thing I'm concerned with at this point. Although it may be worth thinking back the time I may have forgotten to do. But then again as Jackson Browne said " I had a lover, it's so hard to risk another these days".

it's all about the cloud

I just finished the re-launching of abrenian.com after so many attempts. Instead of the traditional hosting environment, I decide to use amazon ec2 cloud for my platform using an ubuntu cloud image.

abrenian.com has been continuously running since 2002. Since then, there were many transformation as far as the underlying technology.


The site is now running wordpress, which started as primarily a blogging software but now considered as a full blown Content Management System. The email system is completely hosted by google apps.

It sounds expensive you think? Not really. Consider this...google apps is free, wordpress is free. Although amazon ec2 is pay as you go, it's less expensive than the more traditional hosting. Plus I can run other web applications on the same server image.

who can beat the cloud?

who's lucky?

Josh got a new car. The salesman asked me why I should buy him this sporty Nissan 350z. Quite simple. He deserves it.  Plus, there's only one reason for me why I work hard.  To give them everything I didn't had a chance to have when I was at their age. The salesman says he's lucky. I said no I am lucky.

Now if I can only come up with more to replace my aging Toyota Camry. But then again, I can wait.

Ubiquitous "SmartPhones"

My current cellphone carrier Verizon announced that the iPhone will be available next month. I am not about to get crazy and switch back to iPhone. I am just worried that Verizon will suffer the fate of AT&T for too many drop calls.

SmartPhones are becoming ubiquitous and I am about to get sick of it. Much like hearing this song over and over at some point in the 80's.

A Friend?

A friend is someone you share a deep personal (emotional) relationship. An acquaintance is more of a superficial (on the surface) relationship.  Just because you see a person everyday (e.g. co-worker) or went to the same school does not necessary make that person your friend. But Acquaintance can lead to friendship or more.

Do you think the person you call a friend now is really your friend? or Acquaintance?

Sometimes...

Josh would brew the perfect coffee in the morning. Deirdre would entertain me with her K-Drama. Nadire would give me a kiss whenever I make her dinner. Bell would just tweet.

But there are times, I wish I have someone to count on. Like making decisions for me. Pick up a nice tie or just simply be there when I feel exhausted. I wish I could have someone to pick up the slack...sometimes...

What happened in 1982?

How many of us know that in 1982, Michael Jackson's "The Thriller" album was release and went on to be the biggest selling album in history? or The Time magazine person of the year was a computer? Or do any one ever recall the Tylenol scare which we popularly called "pataylynol"? Probably not too many of us. Maybe if we were globally wired then, we would have know more about world event.

1982 was the year when i finished high school. Undoubtedly, I would never forget about pimples, adolescent love (or love triangle), psychological maturity or immaturity and hormonal imbalance.  And what about intellectual and physical rivalries? The list goes on...

1982 will forever be a part of my life with either good or bad memories to boot. It was the time when I started to either dream for the future or simply refuse to grow up.

read more of this at ericbringas.blogspot.com

Back and Forth

Having two major role in my everyday life sometimes make me get confused. An impatient tech guy by day and a trying hard cook by night. At times it's the other way around. I feel like a pendulum swinging from left to right endlessly until someone forcefully stop it.

Am back

As they always say. Something you love is a hard habit to break. Blogging is a hard habit to break.