ssh key validation

Well, the vacation wasn't as long as I feared. It looks like its back, albeit not full force, but I do feel like writing code again. I guess I just needed to take a break.

At work I support an e-commerce system for a major, world-wide bank. When clients are renewing their keys (SSH, PGP, SSL), they must meet certain criteria in order to be accepted and put into the clients setup(s).

One of the more recent criteria changes is the requirement that all keys be of length 2048 or greater. That's easy to verify with SSL and PGP keys, but what about SSH? The group that is verifying the keys does not have access to a system where openssl is installed and thus, is at a loss for SSH key validation. That is where my development bug kicked in again. I quickly whipped up a Perl script that validates the length of the ssh keys and tells them if they are acceptable or not.

After talking with my boss about how to get it to the group that does the official verifications, it was decided that he would try to get funding for a project (internally) to put it up on our intranet so the group can readily access and us it. Quite exciting for me really as I have not had any of my code hosted like that internally at this company and I am loving the idea.

I am just glad that I could so quickly produce a tool for my group to use for the verifications in the mean time. Happy Holidays, everyone!

Have you seen my development bug?

I know, it sounds like a strange title for a blog post, but believe it or not its a bit true. I seem to have misplaced and/or lost my development bug. The yearning and wanting to just sit down and code seems to have departed my psyche, leaving me with not much of an inkling at all to write code, let alone think about writing it.

Its really strange because only a year ago I remember sitting her all gungho, writing bits of code and having a blast, yet now, I just don't want to. I have seen plenty of people lose the geek bugs for whatever it was they were good at and even changed careers completely. I could never understand HOW that could happen, but I guess you never do until it happens to you.

I am sure its not forever. I tend to spend a lot of time in front of the computer, sometimes verging on an inordinate amount at times, especially when work calls and I am also working on a coding project. Please don't get the idea that I have lost all my geekiness, its not so. It is just the bug that made me want to code that has taken a vacation.

Also, don't think that this means you cannot ping me with geeky questions, as that is also not true. I am still quite open to helping people out. Yes, this even means if its coding related. Just because the coding bug has left the body for a short time doesn't mean I am incapable. I am more than happy to still help those in need of assistance.

I will still be posting here, and the posts will still be geeky, but it may be a short time before you see anything with code in it. Maybe it I will surprise now and then, but who knows. I do ask that you don't desert me just because I am taking a sabbatical from coding.

To give you a gift, here is an pretty good beginner tutorial on Perl. Not too bad really. Enjoy!