Hello there... I'm still here

Yes, yes, I know!
Its been so long here. The craziness in this industry isn't funny. Some days I'm spent researching and configuring, other days are more analytical. Well, I'm still here and I've got this!
I'm installing Oracle on Ubuntu 😧😧😧
It has given me few sleepless nights because it keeps looking for a zipped directory! Well, I'm working on it and I'll try to share any tips. For now, I've got to run. Please don't quit on me, I'll be right back with more juice :)

My next adventure

Prior to this post, I've been working on configuring an HSM for generating secure keys that are FIPS compliant, owing to the nature of my job and the calibre of clients the company has.
I'll update the information regarding the HSM, I've lost track of what I've done because I've been extremely busy fixing lots of bugs from security systems to program codes.

Today I'm working on moving files securely when a folder on one of our AWS servers has been updated. I'll need this file moved to another server in a different AWS location and a different machine. Technically, from Linux to Windows.
I got to know of a python package that could do this job, I'll need to write a script and run a cron job every week to ensure that no file is missed.

So my first and only hassle at present is with Paramiko package.
It's a bit weird on how to install in linux.
If you have similar issues visit: http://www.paramiko.org/installing.html

Afterwards, if you use centos, you should do this: yum install python-paramiko

And that's it, your script should run okay. Please comment on any ideas you may have encountered while trying out new things, I want to learn from you!

Installing Force.com CLI

I have spent the better part of my morning, laying flat on my back, my head propped on my pillow, while I tried resolving the Salesforce logs issue.
The biggest hurdle was installing force.com cli on Fedora machine. There aren't a lot of help around the internet. It was a real struggle!!
I'm grateful to God that my morning can be very meaningful as I found a very useful article to help.

Step 1
Install node js on Fedora
yum install nodejs

Step 2
Install force cli using node js
npm install force-cli

("you may want to create the force directory in /usr/bin before going on with step 2")
 

Before I leave work, I've got some progress to share

So, like you all know, I've been in this pond of Salesforce logs pull to S3. It has been an amazing and heartbreaking adventure.
So far, I've been able to get through using curl scripts and finally with python.
I found a helpful git script that I modified to mine, if you can find it, it's called ELF.

I successfully got Salesforce logs onto my VM, the next hurdle was to upload to S3. So far not much is automated (that's for another day).
I successfully got SF logs automated to S3 from my VM. I setup a cron job for this but I'm still working my way out with lambda function (I guess because it sounds way too mathematical I have slightly given up on it but I'll work hard to get a victory :) ).

That's my day in brief, after turning up at work way past midday. It's time to finally go home and get ready for tomorrow. A new day, fresh start, fresh tasks and more hurdles to accomplish great things!

Solution 1 - Problems I encountered in my quest 'moving logs to S3'

IMPORTANT!!!
This is a continuation of my previous post.

Installing Heroku in Kali:
This was my biggest hurdle. I couldn't get this installed in Kali Linux (I am still a novice in Cyber security - pen testing and R.E that's why I'm a researcher). I tried to find all the help I could get everywhere to get Heroku working.

Warning:
If you are doing this and you use mv /source /dest/lib.... don't do this!!! It doesn't install this way
You'll need to do this: /usr/local/lib/heroku/install

Helpful resource

Ways to move Salesforce Monitoring logs from Shield to S3

In one of my previous posts, I did mention how I was struggling with the reality of moving logs from Salesforce shield to Amazon S3.
After so many attempts at Googling and random research coupled with disturbing my manager about my findings, I came across something quite useful, I think.

Solution 1:
Shield logs are in Heroku, so I created a Heroku account to move my logs there using a free plugin, then from the plugin to S3 (the plugin integrates nicely with S3). Heroku however has failed to work as it should but we are getting there.

Solution 2 from my Manager:
User cURL script, download the logs to the desktop and upload to S3 (I will try it if 1 doesn't work)

Solution 3:
I found that I could use Python script to pull it through to S3 directly but lambda function on AWS is a bit awry for me (maybe not the right word but that would do).

My mistake with Salesforce

I never fully understood the consequences of refreshing your Salesforce sandbox or production.
I learnt that this week and tried everything under the sun to get away with it without affecting customers of my organisation.
Oh well, I learnt well. I found out that it is possible to discard a refresh only when the refresh has gone through (that long wait of panic!). Everything on the staging Sandbox remains the same, thank God!

For you to know:

If you don't already know, when the sandbox refresh is done --> Quickfind --> sandboxes --> discard

The discard option will be next to the activate option after the refresh has gone through. DO NOT ACTIVATE if you don't intend losing data especially if you do not intend copying information from your production to your staging or whatever sandbox.