I don't run hosted monitoring as a service, I just happen to do some monitoring for a few (local) people, in exchange for money.

Setting up some new tests today I realised my monitoring software had an embarassingly bad bug:

• The IMAP probe would connect to an IMAP/IMAPS server.
• Optionally it would login with a username & password.
  • Thus it could test the service was functional

Unfortunately the IMAP probe would never logout after determining success/failure, which would lead to errors from the remote host after a few consecutive runs:

 dovecot: imap-login: Maximum number of connections from user+IP exceeded
          (mail_max_userip_connections=10)

Oops. Anyway that bug was fixed promptly once it manifested itself, and it also gained the ability to validate SMTP authentication as a result of a customer user-request.

Otherwise I think things have been mixed recently:

• I updated the webserver of Charlie Stross
• Did more geekery with hardware.
  • Purchased a nicely packaged ePaper + battery + charger device, via a link in an email discussion.
  • Which has been fun to experiment with, based on my previous work with ePaper
• Had a fun time in a sauna, on a boat.
  • Ate at a, frankly, stunning restaurant in a converted water-tower Ravintola Haikaranpesä
  • There were also other water-sports at Laguuni.
• Reported yet another security issue in an online PDF generator/converter
  • If you read a remote URL and convert the contents to PDF then be damn sure you don't let people submit file:///etc/passwd.
  • I've talked about this previously.
• Made plaited bread for the first time.
  • It didn't suck.

(Hosted monitoring is interesting; many people will give you ping/HTTP-fetch monitoring. If you want to remotely test your email service? Far far far fewer options. I guess firewalls get involved if you're testing self-hosted services, rather than cloud-based stuff. But still an interesting niche. Feel free to tell me your budget ;)

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