Problem making a Data Base Backup with the sp_BackupDataBase procedure - advantage-database-server

hope you all are O.k!
I have this problem with the sp_BackupDateBase procedure.
According with the Advantage documentation, I can make a Backup of my Data base,
passing a UNC destination path as a parameter.
Supposing that my local machine has the IP Address 201.0.0.87, my procedure looks like this
EXECUTE PROCEDURE sp_BackupDatabase(‘\201.0.0.87\Shared\Backup’,NULL);
When I execute it, everything is just fine, and the Backup is made succesfully.
The question is: Can I make a backup, passing the IP Addres of another machine? Is this possible?
If the answer was yes, then here's my real problem.
If I pass the IP of another machine, which has granted to every user all the write-read rights, when I execute
the procedure, I get the following error message:
poQuery: Error 7200: AQE Error: State = HY000; NativeError = 7040; [Anywhere Solutions][Advantage SQL][ASA] File creation error:
Verify the specified path and file name is correct and that no other users have the file open
What should I do to make the procedure works under this conditions?
It's important to mention that both machines are in the same Work Group.
Really hope that you can help me, and if there's a doubt, feel free to ask me anything that can make this even clearer.
Thanks in advanced.

The question is: Can I make a backup,
passing the IP Addres of another
machine? Is this possible?
If I understand your question, the answer is no. sp_BackupDatabase will not back up files to a remote machine in the sense that it will connect to that machine and "send" the backup image to it (e.g., via TCP/IP). Rather, it copies table contents to a the given path using the target location as a file path.
However, if the Advantage Database Server service has access to the path as a network share, then it will make the backup on the remote machine. The online backup overview discusses this idea.
You will likely need to make sure the Advantage service can access network shares. This KB item discusses it.

Related

How I can share my application docker image or container without code access to others [duplicate]

I am about to decide on programming language for the project.
The requirements are that some of customers want to run application on isolated servers without external internet access.
To do that I need to distribute application to them and cannot use SaaS approach running on, for example, my cloud (what I'd prefer to do...).
The problem is that if I decide to use Python for developing this, I would need to provide customer with easy readable code which is not really what I'd like to do (of course, I know about all that "do you really need to protect your source code" kind of questions but it's out of scope for now).
One of my colleagues told me about Docker. I can find dozen of answers about Docker container security. Problem is all that is about protecting (isolating) host from code running in container.
What I need is to know if the Python source code in the Docker Image and running in Docker Container is secured from access - can user in some way (doesn't need to be easy) access that Python code?
I know I can't protect everything, I know it is possible to decompile/crack everything. I just want to know the answer just to decide whether the way to access my code inside Docker is hard enough that I can take the risk.
Docker images are an open and documented "application packaging" format. There are countless ways to inspect the image contents, including all of the python source code shipped inside of them.
Running applications inside of a container provides isolation from the application escaping the container to access the host. They do not protect you from users on the host inspecting what is occurring inside of the container.
Python programs are distributed as source code. If it can run on a client machine, then the code is readable on that machine. A docker container only contains the application and its libraries, external binaries and files, not a full OS. As the security can only be managed at OS level (or through encryption) and as the OS is under client control, the client can read any file on the docker container, including your Python source.
If you really want to go that way, you should consider providing a full Virtual Machine to your client. In that case, the VM contains a full OS with its account based security (administrative account passwords on the VM can be different from those of the host). Is is far from still waters, because it means that the client will be enable to setup or adapt networking on the VM among other problems...
And you should be aware the the client security officer could emit a strong NO when it comes to running a non controlled VM on their network. I would never accept it.
Anyway, as the client has full access to the VM, really securing it will be hard if ever possible (disable booting from an additional device may even not be possible). It is admitted in security that if the attacker has physical access, you have lost.
TL/DR: It in not the expected answer but just don't. It you sell your solution you will have a legal contract with your customer, and that kind of problem should be handled at a legal level, not a technical one. You can try, and I have even given you a hint, but IMHO the risks are higher than the gain.
I know that´s been more than 3 years, but... looking for the same kind of solution I think that including compiled python code -not your source code- inside the container would be a challenging trial for someone trying to access your valuable source code.
If you run pyinstaller --onefile yourscript.py you will get a compiled single file that can be run as an executable. I have only tested it in Raspberry, but as far as I know it´s the same for, say, Windows.
Of course anything can be reverse engineered, but hopefully it won´t be worth the effort to the regular end user.
I think it could be a solution as using a "container" to protect our code from the person we wouldn't let them access. the problem is docker is not a secure container. As the root of the host machine has the most powerful control of the Docker container, we don't have any method to protect the root from accessing inside of the container.
I just have some ideas about a secure container:
Build a container with init file like docker file, a password must be set when the container is created;
once the container is built, we have to use a password to access inside, including
reading\copy\modify files
all the files stored on the host machine should be encypt。
no "retrieve password" or “--skip-grant-” mode is offered. that means nobody can
access the data inside the container if u lost the password.
If we have a trustable container where we can run tomcat or Django server, code obfuscation will not be necessary.

Restrict user from accessing code inside docker [duplicate]

I am about to decide on programming language for the project.
The requirements are that some of customers want to run application on isolated servers without external internet access.
To do that I need to distribute application to them and cannot use SaaS approach running on, for example, my cloud (what I'd prefer to do...).
The problem is that if I decide to use Python for developing this, I would need to provide customer with easy readable code which is not really what I'd like to do (of course, I know about all that "do you really need to protect your source code" kind of questions but it's out of scope for now).
One of my colleagues told me about Docker. I can find dozen of answers about Docker container security. Problem is all that is about protecting (isolating) host from code running in container.
What I need is to know if the Python source code in the Docker Image and running in Docker Container is secured from access - can user in some way (doesn't need to be easy) access that Python code?
I know I can't protect everything, I know it is possible to decompile/crack everything. I just want to know the answer just to decide whether the way to access my code inside Docker is hard enough that I can take the risk.
Docker images are an open and documented "application packaging" format. There are countless ways to inspect the image contents, including all of the python source code shipped inside of them.
Running applications inside of a container provides isolation from the application escaping the container to access the host. They do not protect you from users on the host inspecting what is occurring inside of the container.
Python programs are distributed as source code. If it can run on a client machine, then the code is readable on that machine. A docker container only contains the application and its libraries, external binaries and files, not a full OS. As the security can only be managed at OS level (or through encryption) and as the OS is under client control, the client can read any file on the docker container, including your Python source.
If you really want to go that way, you should consider providing a full Virtual Machine to your client. In that case, the VM contains a full OS with its account based security (administrative account passwords on the VM can be different from those of the host). Is is far from still waters, because it means that the client will be enable to setup or adapt networking on the VM among other problems...
And you should be aware the the client security officer could emit a strong NO when it comes to running a non controlled VM on their network. I would never accept it.
Anyway, as the client has full access to the VM, really securing it will be hard if ever possible (disable booting from an additional device may even not be possible). It is admitted in security that if the attacker has physical access, you have lost.
TL/DR: It in not the expected answer but just don't. It you sell your solution you will have a legal contract with your customer, and that kind of problem should be handled at a legal level, not a technical one. You can try, and I have even given you a hint, but IMHO the risks are higher than the gain.
I know that´s been more than 3 years, but... looking for the same kind of solution I think that including compiled python code -not your source code- inside the container would be a challenging trial for someone trying to access your valuable source code.
If you run pyinstaller --onefile yourscript.py you will get a compiled single file that can be run as an executable. I have only tested it in Raspberry, but as far as I know it´s the same for, say, Windows.
Of course anything can be reverse engineered, but hopefully it won´t be worth the effort to the regular end user.
I think it could be a solution as using a "container" to protect our code from the person we wouldn't let them access. the problem is docker is not a secure container. As the root of the host machine has the most powerful control of the Docker container, we don't have any method to protect the root from accessing inside of the container.
I just have some ideas about a secure container:
Build a container with init file like docker file, a password must be set when the container is created;
once the container is built, we have to use a password to access inside, including
reading\copy\modify files
all the files stored on the host machine should be encypt。
no "retrieve password" or “--skip-grant-” mode is offered. that means nobody can
access the data inside the container if u lost the password.
If we have a trustable container where we can run tomcat or Django server, code obfuscation will not be necessary.

How can I change the rabbitmq persist message location on Windows?

For our system we mark important messages with the delivery mode = 2, and are sending them on durable exchanges and queue's. The problem is that rabbitmq is being hosted on a docker container, and if that container goes down, the messages that have been persisted are lost upon container restart.
I want to know if there is a way to change the location of the persistence of messages to a mounted volume instead of the container-backed disk, and if so how. I also currently cant figure out where the messages are actually being persisted right now, and so finding to config for that is definitely a start, I'm just not sure where this is set as I cant find anything related to mnesia, and that seems to be a default for some people. This change to location could be at runtime or not, it is unimportant to me.
Also for help, try to keep in mind that all of this is very new to me so I'm not the most educated on how this system functions in all of its glory, so simple explanations will help a good deal more than those with unnecessarily complex solutions. Let me know if I can provide any other helpful info.
It's right here in the RabbitMQ documentation.
Create the /etc/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-env.conf file with the following contents to change the persistent data location:
MNESIA_DIR=/path/to/mounted/volume
Note that the RABBITMQ_ prefix is not necessary for variables defined in rabbitmq-env.conf
NOTE: the RabbitMQ team monitors the rabbitmq-users mailing list and only sometimes answers questions on StackOverflow.

A completely closed source docker container

I was wondering if it is possible to offer Docker images, but not allow any access to the internals of the built containers. Basically, the user of the container images can use the services they provide, but can't dig into any of the code within the containers.
Call it a way to obfuscate the source code, but also offer a service (the software) to someone on the basis of the container, instead of offering the software itself. Something like "Container as a Service", but with the main advantage that the developer can use these container(s) for local development too, but with no access to the underlying code within the containers.
My first thinking is, the controller of the Docker instances controls everything down to root access. So no, it isn't possible. But, I am new to Docker and am not aware of all of its possibilities.
Is this idea in any way possible?
An obfuscation-based only solution would not be enough, as "Encrypted and secure docker containers" details.
You would need full control of the host your containers are running in order to prevent any "poking". And that is not the case in your scenario, where a developer does have access to the host (ie his/her local development machine) where said container would run.
What is done sometimes is to have some piece of "core" code to run on a remote location (remote server, usb device), in a way that the external piece of code on the one hand can do some client authentication but also and more importantly run some business core code in order to guarantee that the externally located code "has" to be executed to have the things done. If it were only some check that is not actually core code, a cracker could just override it and avoid calling it on the client side. But if the code is actually required to be run and its not then the software won't be able to finish its processing. Of course there is an overhead for all of this, both in complexity and probably computation times, but that's one way you could deploy something that will unfailingly be required to contact your server/external device.
Regards,
Eduardo

Delphi - Folder Synchronization over network

I have an application that connects to a database and can be used in multi-user mode, whereby multiple computers can connect the the same database server to view and modify data. One of the clients is always designated to be the 'Master' client. This master also receives text information from either RS232 or UDP input and logs this data every second to a text file on the local machine.
My issue is that the other clients need to access this data from the Master client. I am just wondering the best and most efficient way to proceed to solve this problem. I am considering two options:
Write a folder synchronize class to synchronize the folder on the remote (Master) computer with the folder on the local (client) computer. This would be a threaded, buffered file copying routine.
Implement a client/server so that the Master computer can serve this data to any client that connects and requests the data. The master would send the file over TCP/UDP to the requesting client.
The solution will have to take the following into account:
a. The log files are being written to every second. It must avoid any potential file locking issues.
b. The copying routine should only copy files that have been modified at a later date than the ones already on the client machine.
c. Be as efficient as possible
d. All machines are on a LAN
e. The synchronization need only be performed, say, every 10 minutes or so.
f. The amount of data is only in the order of ~50MB, but once the initial (first) sync is complete, then the amount of data to transfer would only be in the order of ~1MB. This will increase in the future
Which would be the better method to use? What are the pros/cons? I have also seen the Fast File Copy post which i am considering using.
If you use a database, why the "master" writes data to a text file instead of to the database, if those data needs to be shared?
Why invent the wheel? Use rsync instead. Package for windows: cwrsync.
For example, on the Master machine install rsync server, and on the client machines install rsync clients or simply drop files in your project directory. Whenever needed your application on a client machine shall execute rsync.exe requesting to synchronize necessary files from the server.
In order to copy open files you will need to setup Windows Volume Shadow Copy service. Here's a very detailed description on how the Master machine can be setup to allow copying of open files using Windows Volume Shadow Copy.
Write a web service interface, so that the clients an connect to the server and pull new data as needed. Or, you could write it as a subscribe/push mechanism so that clients connect to the server, "subscribe", and then the server pushes all new content to the registered clients. Clients would need to fully sync (get all changes since last sync) when registering, in case they were offline when updates occurred.
Both solutions would work just fine on the LAN, the choice is yours. You might want to also consider those issues related to the technology you choose:
Deployment flexibility. Using file shares and file copy requires file sharing to work, and all LAN users might gain access to the log files.
Longer term plans: File shares are only good on the local network, while IP based solutions work over routed networks, including Internet.
The file-based solution would be significantly easier to implement compared to the IP solution.

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