floyd's random thoughts

Disabling pfsync0 pseudo-interface on FreeBSD

2011-12-06T12:47:00.000+02:00

Often on FreeBSD servers you can see the pfsync0 pseudo-interface up:

[root@bsd ~]# ifconfig
...(skipped)
pfsync0: flags=0<> mtu 2020
 syncpeer: 224.0.0.240 maxupd: 128

Unless you are running a pf firewall with redundancy, you won't need this,
moreover on CPanel/WHM enabled servers, Cpanel sometimes tries to assign this multicast ip to a domain/customer.

You can safely disable it by adding:

pfsync_enable="NO"

to /etc/rc.conf

Canon EOS500 and Zenit TTL, shooting on film

2011-08-23T12:32:00.000+03:00

Since some time ago, I started shooting on film,
two different cameras, a Zenit TTL with an Industar 61 L 3 lens, and also a Canon EOS 500 (or Canon Rebel X-S in US)
While still looking for a good and cheap film scanner, I'm using my old Wolverine F2D scanner.
First picture, taken with the Zenit on ISO100 film:

And 2nd, with the Canon on ISO200, Helios 44 M-4 Lens:

Jawa 650 Classic - left handlebar controls - wiring diagram and schematics

2011-08-08T13:35:00.000+03:00

I'm the happy owner of a Jawa 650 Classic motorcycle, and as the title says - here's the wiring diagram and schematics for the left handlebar controls. Unfortunately I had to replace them and had to rewire all the cables since the new controls were a little different and had a different wiring and connection plug than the stock ones.

Yamaha Virago XV125

2011-07-25T14:48:00.001+03:00

I'm finally selling my bike... Not that I really want to, since it's very nice and durable, but because I have a more powerful one...
New chain+sprockets, new spark plugs. Almost new air and oil filters.

Macro butterfly

2011-07-06T15:27:00.000+03:00

Butterfly. Post-processed in GIMP

Magellan Naviroad 1324 GPS settings for Navitel

2011-07-05T15:12:00.000+03:00

Using softbutton and a few hacks to the .xml files on the device, I was able to start Navitel on this GPS.
Initially it came with US, Canada and Puerto Rico maps only, and I couldn't find any good maps for Eastern Europe, so I decided I should run some alternate navigation app on it, as it is basically a Windows CE device.

I also tried running MioPocket on it, with some degree of success, but it is not what I want... too bloated with different apps, and pretty slow also. I agree, MioPocket allows me to use the gps as a book reader, media player, but I need it just to do it's job as a gps, nothing more.

To be able to use the GPS, in Navitel's settings we must specify: Com port: COM7, Protocol: NMEA, Baud rate: 56700.

More on this topic later, I am trying to configure the device to start Navitel automatically at boot, and also to be able to shut it down by using the power button.

Good morning 2

2011-06-08T23:13:00.000+03:00

Good morning

2011-06-07T08:28:00.004+03:00

Good morning

Foo Fighters. Wasting Light Live from 606

2011-05-04T13:57:00.001+03:00

Nice recording, great way to find they are still recording, composing, and giving it all to the fans!

simple named.conf for a caching nameserver on Slackware-current

2011-04-06T11:51:00.000+03:00

You can control which networks/IPs can recursively access this nameserver by 'tweaking' the 'localnet' and 'remote-rec' ACLs

// /etc/named.conf
acl     localnet { 192.168.2.0/24; 127.0.0.1; };
acl     remote-rec { 1.2.3.4; };
options {
        directory "/var/named";
        /*
         * If there is a firewall between you and nameservers you want
         * to talk to, you might need to uncomment the query-source
         * directive below.  Previous versions of BIND always asked
         * questions using port 53, but BIND 8.1 uses an unprivileged
         * port by default.
         */
        // query-source address * port 53;
        allow-recursion { localnet; remote-rec; };
};
// 
// a caching only nameserver config
// 
zone "." IN {
        type hint;
        file "caching-example/named.root";
};

zone "localhost" IN {
        type master;
        file "caching-example/localhost.zone";
        allow-update { none; };
};

zone "0.0.127.in-addr.arpa" IN {
        type master;
        file "caching-example/named.local";
        allow-update { none; };
};

Oldschool cassette

2010-12-22T11:26:00.000+02:00

Rupere.md NEW YEAR si RUPERE AWARDS offline

2010-12-21T00:37:00.002+02:00

Evenimentul anului ;)
Rupere.md NEW YEAR si RUPERE AWARDS offline

Traditionalul NEW YEAR RUPERE.MD offline

Anul acesta ne-am schimbat locatia!
Tot aici se vor acorda premiile RUPERE AWARDS 2010

Ne vom intalni in carne si oase, fara chat-uri si forum-uri online, vom putea sa comunicam face2face, vom participa la concursuri, ne vom face de cap, vom ciocni un pahar de vin/bere/altceva cu lumea

ADUCETI CHITARILE/FLAUTELE/Orice alt instrument CU VOI!

Sunt si propuneri de mini-evenimente creative, eventual chiar jam-session, in dependenta de preferintele voastre

Ce vrem noi de la acest offline...
- Oameni nebuni, nenormali si neformali,
- Distractie, dispozitie buna
- Cat mai mult Pozitifff ;)

Barul ne poate pune la dispozitie:
- Bere
- Vin
- Ceva mai tare
- Ceai, cafea,
...si desigur...
Renumitele placinte de la Orpheus :)

Te asteptam, trimite invitatia la toti ruperistii/nonconformistii

cunoscuti!

Mai mult despre eveniment - pe forum
http://rupere.md/forum/index.php?topic=72316.60

Harta:

Film to digital conversion using a camera and Gimp

2010-12-15T13:30:00.000+02:00

First try :)
Already tired of my cheap film scanner, that does level adjustment, color balance on it's own, based on some unknown measurements...
I'm trying to shoot the film with a digital camera and then invert it in some graphics processing software (as an open-source fan, I'm using Gimp)
Once I get the right way of doing it - I'll be posting the complete process.
The main problem is in removing the Orange/Brown tint from the negative film, I'm trying to do it by using a custom white balance setting.

Here are the steps I'm taking now:

put the film between two perfectly clean and transparent surfaces (e.g glass)
put this 'assembly' on top of a completely matte surface (thin white plastic), which is placed on top of some white light
find a portion of the film which is completely exposed (transparent), and use it as a sample for setting a custom WB (white balance) on the digital camera (the camera should be placed on a stand btw)
take a photo of the picture on the film
open it in Gimp, crop the image (cut away all the unneeded borders), Colors->Invert, Colors->Levels (adjust them to your liking)

Sample picture below:

If you know a better way to do it - I would be glad to know.

Evening sky

2010-12-08T12:05:00.001+02:00

Another one...

The City 2

2010-12-07T03:56:00.001+02:00

Another one, trying to obtain HDR-similar effects

The City

2010-12-07T03:15:00.001+02:00

Experimenting with my camera and The Gimp

BEMOL Cup 2010, film photos

2010-10-26T23:17:00.000+03:00

Cateva poze facute pe film (Fuji Superia 200)
Din pacate scannerul de film pe care il folosesc lasa de dorit, dar au iesit destul de interesante. "Vintage" :)
Aproape toate pozele sunt facute cu filtre UV si PL, doar ca scannerul 'ajusteaza' culorile de capul lui, si de cele mai multe ori aiurea

following your steps

2010-09-21T01:55:00.000+03:00

the photographer

2010-09-21T01:30:00.001+03:00

Чайка-3 (Chaika-3) revisited :)

2010-09-20T01:27:00.000+03:00

Cateva poze facute cu aparatul mentionat mai devreme. Pozele nu se doresc a fi artistice, le-am facut destul de rapid ca sa pot sa termin filmul mai repede, sa developez si sa vad ce iese din asta.

Texas - impresii

2010-08-04T09:27:00.000+03:00

Ne aflam de cateva saptamani in Texas, mai exact in Plano (o "periferie" a Dallas-ului, da, se numeste la fel cu vestitul serial, de asemeni locul unde a fost asasinat Kennedy...)

Impresii pe scurt:
- Foarte (FOARTE) cald, desi din cate am inteles, in Chisinau e cam la fel in ultimele 2 saptamani
- Daca esti fara un automobil - mai bine nu iesi din casa, in Plano practic nu exista trotuare (!!!) Adica, exista oarecum, dar se termina la fel de brusc cum se incep. in mijlocul gazonului. La fel, distantele intre oficii/magazine/hoteluri/baruri sunt foarte mari, comparativ cu ce suntem noi obisnuiti
- Americanii iubesc masinile mari (au noroc de faptul ca benzina e mai ieftina decat in Europa)
- Bere buna (presupun ca e comun pentru tot US-ul)
- Lumea din US e de o amabilitate placuta, dar uneori prea exagerata (nu imi place cand vad zambete prea fortate)
- Fara card de credit/debit e greu sa te descurci (cel mai banal exemplu: nu poti inchiria un automobil)
- Plano e un oras destul de mare (~ 250000 locuitori), dar regiunea in care stam noi e construita recent, doar oficii si hoteluri
- Twin Peaks (bar) e un placut, unde poti gusta bere buna (produsa pe loc) si unde iti poti 'clati' ochii cu chelnerite simpatice :)
- Cat nu ar fi de straniu, imi e dor de Moldova, asa ciudata cum e ea...

... to be continued ...

using multimedia keys in fluxbox

2010-07-06T10:44:00.000+03:00

To be able to control the mixer/pcm volume with the multimedia keys on your keyboard/notebook while using the fluxbox window manager, just add the following lines to your ~/.fluxbox/keys :

None XF86AudioLowerVolume :ExecCommand amixer -q set Master 5%- unmute
None XF86AudioMute :ExecCommand amixer -q set Master toggle
None XF86AudioRaiseVolume :ExecCommand amixer -q set Master 5%+ unmute

and restart or 'reconfigure' fluxbox (you can do it from the main fluxbox menu).
Enjoy

Чайка-3 (Chaika-3) half-frame film camera

2010-07-06T01:57:00.000+03:00

A trecut ceva timp de la ultimul post, m-am decis sa incep sa scriu si in romana.
Prin colectia de aparate foto vechi de acasa - am dat de un Чайка-3 sovietic (Чайка - se traduce ca "Pescarus" :)). Straniu faptul ca este si un film in ea, care sta acolo de cel putin 3-4 ani. Imediat cum termin de expus tot filmul - ma apuc de restaurarea aparatului.
Pentru cei interesati - voi posta o serie de poze facute cu acest aparat, plus o mica descriere, inclusiv a procesului de 'restaurare' :)

(Poza e luata de aici: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marblebutterfly/3088963605/)

My Peavey combo amp

2009-12-26T02:56:00.003+02:00

A few pictures of my Peavey BACKSTAGE 2 guitar combo, with 'Transtube'. Sounds great, and at 10 Watts - I must turn the volume down to 10% or less to avoid being killed by the neighbors :)

Installing Slackware Linux on an EeePC 701 by PXE

2009-12-14T23:13:00.002+02:00

Just a few notes on this matter.
I've used my notebook (running slackware 13.0 too) as a pxe server to install slackware on my Asus EeePC 701.

- Install dhcpd

slackpkg install dhcp

- Sample dhcpd config:

floyd[~]$ cat /etc/dhcpd.conf 
# dhcpd.conf
#
# Configuration file for ISC dhcpd (see 'man dhcpd.conf')
#

option domain-name "eulinux.org";
authoritative;
default-lease-time 600;
max-lease-time 7200;
log-facility local7;
ddns-update-style none;

allow bootp;
option tftp-server-name "10.0.0.1";
next-server 10.0.0.1;

subnet 10.0.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
    option domain-name "eulinux.org";
    option broadcast-address 10.0.0.255;
    option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
    option domain-name-servers 192.168.2.1;
    option routers 10.0.0.1;
    range dynamic-bootp 10.0.0.50 10.0.0.100;
    use-host-decl-names on;
    if substring (option vendor-class-identifier, 0, 9) = "PXEClient" {
 filename "/slackware-13/pxelinux.0";
    }
}

- Mount the slackware 13.0 .iso to some folder, and copy a few files

root[floyd]# mount -o ro,loop -t iso9660 ~/iso/slackware-13.0-install-dvd.iso /mnt/slack/
root[floyd]# mkdir -p /tftpboot/slackware-13/
root[floyd]# cp /usr/lib/syslinux/pxelinux.0 /tftpboot/slackware-13/
root[floyd]# cp /mnt/slack/isolinux/message.txt /tftpboot/slackware-13/
root[floyd]# cp /mnt/slack/isolinux/f2.txt /tftpboot/slackware-13/
root[floyd]# cp -a /mnt/slack/kernels/ /tftpboot/slackware-13/
root[floyd]# cp -a /mnt/slack/usb-and-pxe-installers/pxelinux.cfg_default /tftpboot/slackware-13/pxelinux.cfg/default
root[floyd]# cp -a /mnt/slack/isolinux/initrd.img /tftpboot/slackware-13/

- Sample pxe loader config (/tftpboot/slackware-13/pxelinux.cfg/default):

default hugesmp.s
prompt 1
timeout 1200
display message.txt
F1 message.txt
F2 f2.txt
label huge.s
  kernel kernels/huge.s/bzImage
  append initrd=initrd.img load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw SLACK_KERNEL=huge.s
label hugesmp.s
  kernel kernels/hugesmp.s/bzImage
  append initrd=initrd.img load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw SLACK_KERNEL=hugesmp.s
label speakup.s
  kernel kernels/speakup.s/bzImage
  append initrd=initrd.img load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw SLACK_KERNEL=speakup.s

- Also we must export /mnt/slack/ directory by nfs:

echo "/mnt/memory 192.168.2.0/24(ro,all_squash) 10.0.0.0/24(ro,all_squash)" >> /etc/exports

- Start up dhcpd, start your eeepc, press as the system boots, and choose the pxe boot option.
- The rest is fairly simple, usual slackware install, except that when selecting the source, you will choose "NFS" over "CD/DVD"

Have fun!

RWhoisd, indexer issue on Linux

2009-12-05T11:12:00.003+02:00

Getting `sort...` errors when running rwhois_indexer on Linux? (I was experiencing this on CentOS 5)

[root@server html]# /usr/local/rwhoisd/bin/rwhois_indexer -c /usr/local/rwhoisd/etc/rwhoisd.conf -v -A 203.23.23.0/22 -C network -s txt
sort: open failed: +4: No such file or directory
error: sort failed: Success
warning: could not delete temporary index file '': Success
warning: could not delete temporary index file '': Success
indexing failed

This is caused by the parameters used by the indexer when using the `sort` command.
In mkdb/index.c:

#ifdef NEW_STYLE_BIN_SORT
#define SORT_COMMAND "sort -o %s -k 5,5 -k 4,4n -t : %s"
#else
#define SORT_COMMAND "sort -o %s +4 +3 -t : %s "
#endif

Just add before those lines:

#define NEW_STYLE_BIN_SORT

Run a

make clean && make && make install

Nirvana - Seasons in the Sun - Kurt Cobain on drums! :)

2009-11-21T20:49:00.002+02:00

Easily converting your .flac files to .mp3 format

2009-10-17T09:11:00.005+03:00

flac2mp3 is a tool to convert potentially large sets of FLAC audio files into the MP3 audio format. It is implemented as a bash shell script, and should run on any Unix-like operating system.
You can get it at: bytemonkey.org
You'll have to install FLAC and LAME on your linux box, on debian/ubuntu this is easily done with

apt-get install lame flac

After you download flac2mp3 and untar it somewhere, run the script, feeding it with the source and destination directories:

/path/to/flac2mp3 /home/music/JimiHendrix_Experience/ /home/music/mp3/JimiHendrix_Experience/

Stresstesting IMAP clients

2009-10-07T00:48:00.003+03:00

Just found an interesting article about IMAP clients comparison:
http://www.hackvalue.nl/en/article/64/stresstesting_imap_clients

Personally I'm using claws-mail, with 4 mail accounts, one of which has more than 250000 messages.

Migrating to it from thunderbird was fairly easy, I've converted my thunderbird filters to claws' format, using http://www.claws-mail.org/tools/claws-mail-thunderbird-filters-convertor.tar.gz
(See http://www.claws-mail.org/tools.php)

my ~/.fluxbox/keys

2009-10-07T00:45:00.000+03:00

!mouse actions added by fluxbox-update_configs
OnTitlebar Mouse2 :StartTabbing

!mouse actions added by fluxbox-update_configs
OnTitlebar Double Mouse1 :Shade
OnTitlebar Mouse3 :WindowMenu

!mouse actions added by fluxbox-update_configs
OnWindow Mod1 Mouse1 :MacroCmd {Raise} {Focus} {StartMoving}
OnWindow Mod1 Mouse3 :MacroCmd {Raise} {Focus} {StartResizing BottomRight}

!mouse actions added by fluxbox-update_configs
OnToolbar Mouse4 :NextWorkspace
OnToolbar Mouse5 :PrevWorkspace

!mouse actions added by fluxbox-update_configs
OnDesktop Mouse1 :hideMenus
OnDesktop Mouse2 :workspaceMenu
OnDesktop Mouse3 :rootMenu
OnDesktop Mouse4 :nextWorkspace
OnDesktop Mouse5 :prevWorkspace

Mod1 Tab :NextWindow
Mod1 Shift Tab :PrevWindow
Control F1 :Workspace 1
Control F2 :Workspace 2
Control F3 :Workspace 3
Control F4 :Workspace 4
Control F5 :Workspace 5
Control F6 :Workspace 6
Control F7 :Workspace 7
Control F8 :Workspace 8
Control F9 :Workspace 9
Control F10 :Workspace 10
Control F11 :Workspace 11
Control F12 :Workspace 12
Mod1 F2 :ExecCommand fbrun
Mod4 m :RootMenu
Mod4 r :ExecCommand urxvt
Mod4 a :ExecCommand aterm
Mod4 x :ExecCommand mousepad
Mod4 t :ExecCommand konsole
Mod4 f :ExecCommand firefox
Mod4 m :ExecCommand mozilla
Mod4 g :ExecCommand gimp
Mod4 y :ExecCommand thunar
Mod1 F4 :Close
Mod4 F1 :ToggleDecor
Mod4 F2 :MaximizeWindow
Mod4 l :ExecCommand xlock

DIY: New saddle for your bike

2009-09-20T22:06:00.009+03:00

The "leather" on the bike saddle was all worn off, so i had two options:

buy a new saddle
"fix" the existing one

For this, I used two pieces of jeans fabric, and some glue
First, take the saddle off your bike

Take all the parts away

Remove the leather, it could be glued to the saddle, so you will have to use some scissors or a knife

Use a felt-tip pen to draw the approximate shape of the leather to the fabric you are going to use for the saddle,

Cut the fabric according to the needed shape, apply the glue on the seat's margins

Glue the fabric to the plastic saddle, and allow the glue to dry for half an hour (or more, depending on the glue you have used.
After that, you should cut the excess of fabric, and maybe apply some more glue at the sharp corners.

Mount the top part to the saddle, add all the parts back (nuts, bolts, etc)

Mount the seat back on the bike

That'd be all :)

exim + dovecot + clamav + postfixadmin

2009-09-14T23:20:00.004+03:00

Ok, here we go...

I needed to quickly configure a mailserver, initially - for a single domain (but probably will host more later).

I am using exim over the last two years, I don't like qmail because it's very old, and to add some new feature to it - requires patching it. BTW, did you ever try reading qmail's logs? :D
I don't like postfix, but this is probably because I didn't use it too often.

Also, as an Imap/POP3 server, I do like dovecot, easy to configure, yet very comfortable to use, and also quite stable.
Adding domains/users manually isn't too much fun, we need some sort of web interface too, to manage virtual domains, mailboxes, aliases.

Prerequisites:
- apache
- php
- mysql

I will leave this as an exercise to the reader :)

All this setup was done on a CentOS 5.3 system, so I'll give examples using yum to install the packages (on Fedora/RedHat you could use the same yum, on Debian/Ubuntu - use aptitude or apt-get)

First of all, create a MySQL database to store all the settings:

mysql> CREATE DATABASE vexim;
mysql> GRANT ALL ON vexim.* to vexim@localhost identified by 'kieHeed3ailuph8b';

Next, download the latest postfixadmin tarball from http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/postfixadmin/postfixadmin/postfixadmin-2.2.1.1/postfixadmin-2.2.1.1.tar.gz, and unpack it to /var/www/html/mailadmin/

Adjust: /var/www/html/mailadmin/config.inc.php, more exactly, the following section:

...
// Database Config
// mysql = MySQL 3.23 and 4.0
// mysqli = MySQL 4.1
// pgsql = PostgreSQL
$CONF['database_type'] = 'mysql';
$CONF['database_host'] = 'localhost';
$CONF['database_user'] = 'vexim';
$CONF['database_password'] = 'kieHeed3ailuph8b';
$CONF['database_name'] = 'vexim';
$CONF['database_prefix'] = '';
...

We will need clamd installed, in order to enable virus checks in exim.
Debian/Ubuntu have this in the base repositories, CentOS - doesn't.
We can use the rpmforge packages, see http://dag.wieers.com/rpm/FAQ.php#B2 on how to add the rpmforge repositories to your system.

Install clamd:

[root@server #] yum install clamd

Adjust the following parameters in clamd settings:

#In /etc/clamd.conf:
...
User exim
...
#In /etc/freshclam.conf:
...
DatabaseOwner exim
...

Adjust permissions/ownership:

[root@server #] chown -R exim:exim /var/log/clamav/
[root@server #] chown -R exim:exim /var/clamav/

Now on to exim, dovecot and postfixadmin.
Install exim and dovecot from repositories,

[root@server #] yum install dovecot exim
[root@server #] mv /etc/exim/exim.conf /etc/exim/exim.conf-orig
[root@server #] mv /etc/dovecot.conf /etc/dovecot.conf-orig

Sample config used for exim, this doesn't include spam filtering, or rbl checks, but this can be easily added:
===============================

primary_hostname = mail.eulinux.org
hide mysql_servers = localhost/vexim/vexim/kieHeed3ailuph8b

domainlist local_domains = ${lookup mysql{SELECT `domain` \
                            FROM `domain` WHERE \
                            `domain`='${quote_mysql:$domain}' AND \
                            `active`='1'}}

domainlist relay_to_domains = ${lookup mysql{SELECT `domain` \
                            FROM `domain` WHERE \
                            `domain`='${quote_mysql:$domain}' AND \
                            `active`='1'}}

hostlist   relay_from_hosts = localhost:127.0.0.0/8:192.168.0.0/16  #add the hosts from which you allow relaying here

acl_smtp_rcpt = acl_check_rcpt
acl_smtp_data = acl_check_data

av_scanner = clamd:/var/run/clamav/clamd.sock

# spamd_address = 127.0.0.1 783

qualify_domain = mail.playlainc.com
qualify_recipient = mail.playlainc.com
allow_domain_literals = false
exim_user = exim
exim_group = exim
never_users = root
rfc1413_query_timeout = 0s

sender_unqualified_hosts = +relay_from_hosts
recipient_unqualified_hosts = +relay_from_hosts

ignore_bounce_errors_after = 45m
timeout_frozen_after = 15d
helo_accept_junk_hosts = 192.168.0.0/16
auto_thaw = 1h
smtp_banner = "$primary_hostname, ESMTP EXIM $version_number"
smtp_accept_max = 50
smtp_accept_max_per_connection = 25
smtp_connect_backlog = 30
smtp_accept_max_per_host = 20
split_spool_directory = true
remote_max_parallel = 15
return_size_limit = 70k
message_size_limit = 64M
helo_allow_chars = _
smtp_enforce_sync = true

log_selector = \
    +all_parents \
    +connection_reject \
    +incoming_interface \
    +lost_incoming_connection \
    +received_sender \
    +received_recipients \
    +smtp_confirmation \
    +smtp_syntax_error \
    +smtp_protocol_error \
    -queue_run

syslog_timestamp = no

begin acl

acl_check_rcpt:
  accept  hosts = :
  deny    message       = "incorrect symbol in address"
          domains       = +local_domains
          local_parts   = ^[.] : ^.*[@%!/|]

  deny    message       = "incorrect symbol in address"
          domains       = !+local_domains
          local_parts   = ^[./|] : ^.*[@%!] : ^.*/\\.\\./

  accept  local_parts   = postmaster
          domains       = +local_domains

  deny    message       = "HELO/EHLO required by SMTP RFC"
          condition     = ${if eq{$sender_helo_name}{}{yes}{no}}

  accept  authenticated = *

  deny    message       = "Your IP in HELO - access denied!"
          hosts         =  * : !+relay_from_hosts : !81-196.lissyara.su
          condition     = ${if eq{$sender_helo_name}\
    {$sender_host_address}{true}{false}}

  deny    condition     = ${if eq{$sender_helo_name}\
    {$interface_address}{yes}{no}}
          hosts         = !127.0.0.1 : !localhost : *
          message       = "My IP in your HELO! Access denied!"

  deny    condition     = ${if match{$sender_helo_name}\
    {\N^\d+$\N}{yes}{no}}
          hosts         = !127.0.0.1 : !localhost : *
          message       = "Incorrect HELO string"

# filter spammers from dynamic ips
  deny    message       = "your hostname is bad (adsl, poll, ppp & etc)."
          condition     = ${if match{$sender_host_name} \
                               {adsl|dialup|pool|peer|dhcp} \
                               {yes}{no}}

  warn
        set acl_m0 = 30s
  warn
        hosts = +relay_from_hosts:4.3.2.1/32:192.168.0.0/16 #disable waits for 'friendly' hosts
        set acl_m0 = 0s
  warn
        logwrite = Delay $acl_m0 for $sender_host_name \
[$sender_host_address] with HELO=$sender_helo_name. Mail \
from $sender_address to $local_part@$domain.
        delay = $acl_m0

                          
  accept  domains       = +local_domains
          endpass
          message       = "No such user"
          verify        = recipient

  accept  domains       = +relay_to_domains
          endpass
          message       = "i don't know how to relay to this address"
          verify        = recipient

#  deny    message       = "you in blacklist - $dnslist_domain \n $dnslist_text"
#          dnslists      = opm.blitzed.org : \
#                          cbl.abuseat.org : \
#                          bl.csma.biz 

  accept  hosts         = +relay_from_hosts

  deny    message       = "Homo hominus lupus est"

acl_check_data:

  # check for viruses
  deny malware = *
  message = "Your message contains viruses: $malware_name"

  # if needed - add spam filtering here

  # permit everything else
  accept

begin routers

dnslookup:
  driver = dnslookup
  domains = ! +local_domains
  transport = remote_smtp
  ignore_target_hosts = 0.0.0.0 : 127.0.0.0/8
  no_more

system_aliases:
    driver      = redirect
    allow_fail
    allow_defer
    data = ${lookup mysql{SELECT `goto` FROM `alias` WHERE \
            `address`='${quote_mysql:$local_part@$domain}' OR \
                `address`='${quote_mysql:@$domain}'}}

dovecot_user:
  driver = accept
  condition = ${lookup mysql{SELECT `goto` FROM \
  `alias` WHERE \
  `address`='${quote_mysql:$local_part@$domain}' OR \
  `address`='${quote_mysql:@$domain}'}{yes}{no}}
  transport = dovecot_delivery

begin transports

remote_smtp:
  driver = smtp
  interface = 4.3.2.1 #your public ip address, if it's the main server ip - you could skip this parameter. if it's an alias- it must be specified in clear


dovecot_delivery:
  driver = pipe
  command = /usr/libexec/dovecot/deliver -d $local_part@$domain
  message_prefix =
  message_suffix =
  delivery_date_add
  envelope_to_add
  return_path_add
  log_output
  user = exim

address_pipe:
  driver = pipe
  return_output

address_reply:
  driver = autoreply

begin retry

*                    *       F,2h,15m; G,16h,1h,1.5; F,4d,6h

begin rewrite

begin authenticators

auth_plain:
  driver = plaintext
  public_name = PLAIN
  server_condition = ${lookup mysql{SELECT `username` FROM \
                     `mailbox` WHERE `username` = \
                     '${quote_mysql:$auth2}' AND `password` = \
                     '${quote_mysql:$auth3}'}{yes}{no}}
  server_prompts = :
  server_set_id = $auth2

auth_login:
  driver = plaintext
  public_name = LOGIN
  server_condition = ${lookup mysql{SELECT `username` FROM \
                     `mailbox` WHERE `username` = \
                     '${quote_mysql:$auth1}' AND `password` = \
                     '${quote_mysql:$auth2}'}{yes}{no}}
  server_prompts = Username:: : Password::
  server_set_id = $auth1

auth_cram_md5:
  driver = cram_md5
  public_name = CRAM-MD5
  server_secret = ${lookup mysql{SELECT `password` FROM \
                        `mailbox` WHERE `username` \
                        = '${quote_mysql:$auth1}'}{$value}fail}
  server_set_id = $auth2

Now, on to dovecot:

#File: /etc/dovecot.conf
base_dir = /var/run/dovecot/
protocols = imap pop3

listen = *
disable_plaintext_auth = no
shutdown_clients = yes
log_timestamp = "%b %d %H:%M:%S "
syslog_facility = mail
ssl_disable = yes

login_dir = /var/run/dovecot/login
login_chroot = no

login_process_size = 64
login_process_per_connection = yes
login_processes_count = 3
login_max_processes_count = 128
login_max_connections = 256
login_greeting = Dovecot ready man.
login_log_format_elements = user=<%u> method=%m rip=%r lip=%l %c
login_log_format = %$: %s
mail_location = maildir:~/home/vmail/%d/%n

first_valid_uid=93
last_valid_uid=0

protocol imap {
  mail_plugins = quota imap_quota
  imap_client_workarounds = outlook-idle netscape-eoh tb-extra-mailbox-sep
}
 
protocol pop3 {
  pop3_uidl_format = %08Xu%08Xv
  pop3_client_workarounds = outlook-no-nuls oe-ns-eoh
}

protocol lda {
  postmaster_address = admin@eulinux.org
  auth_socket_path = /var/run/dovecot/auth-master
}

auth default {
  mechanisms = plain
  passdb pam {
  }

  passdb sql {
    args = /etc/dovecot-mysql.conf
  }

  userdb passwd {
  }

  userdb sql {
    args = /etc/dovecot-mysql.conf
  }
  user = root
  socket listen {
    master {
      path = /var/run/dovecot/auth-master
      mode = 0660
      user = exim
      group = exim
    }
  }
}

dict {
}

plugin {
}

#File: /etc/dovecot-mysql.conf
driver = mysql
connect = host=localhost dbname=vexim user=vexim password=kieHeed3ailuph8b
default_pass_scheme = CRYPT
password_query = SELECT `username` as `user`, `password` FROM  `mailbox` WHERE `username` = '%n@%d' AND `active`='1'
user_query = SELECT "" AS `home`, 93 AS `uid`, 93 AS `gid` FROM `mailbox` WHERE `username` = '%n@%d' AND `active`='1'

Now, start the services:

for srv in exim dovecot clamd; 
do
 service ${srv} start
done

Access your postfixadmin configuration file at:
http://hostname/mailadmin/setup.php

You should see a list of 'OK' messages.

The setup.php script will attempt to create the database structure
(or upgrade it if you're coming from a previous version).

Assuming everything is OK you can create the admin user using the form displayed.

Once you submit the form, all that's left to do is to delete "setup.php"

That seems to be all! ;)

If you notice any errors or have any questions on this - please comment

Iptraf with bonding support

2009-05-29T12:55:00.002+03:00

Default iptraf build that comes with RedHat or CentOS does not support bondX interfaces, or vlan (ethX.Y) interfaces,
however there's a version on bugzilla.redhat.com that does support it.
More details:
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=441081
Also, for you the lazy ones out there, quick install procedure (done on CentOS5 x86_64) :

#remove current iptraf version
root@host ~# yum remove iptraf
root@host ~# wget "https://bugzilla.redhat.com/attachment.cgi?id=304745" -O iptraf-3.0.0-6.el5.src.rpm
root@host ~# rpmbuild --rebuild iptraf-3.0.0-6.el5.src.rpm
root@host ~# rpm -Uvh /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/x86_64/iptraf-3.0.0-6.x86_64.rpm

Ready to go.
If there's no `rpmbuild` command, install rpm-build, and also you'll have to add some packages like `ncurses-devel`

Detecting Conficker with nmap

2009-04-01T16:13:00.001+03:00

As the Conficker worm is vastly discussed and getting a lot of attention, latest nmap version can detect it, won't post here how, here's the direct link to the resource:

http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=7252

Restoring the MBR on RHEL/CentOS servers

2009-03-16T13:08:00.003+02:00

It happens that the MBR is getting bad (after os updates/power failures, etc)
We can restore it in a few minutes if we have a RHEL/CentOS install CD at hand, or if we have a PXE server nearby.

Boot the system from the install cd,
at the boot prompt choose:

text rescue

After booting the rescue system, perform the following commands (actually only the chroot and grub-install may be needed, but sometimes the rescue system does not see all devices under the mounted system tree):

chroot /mnt/sysimage
mount -t proc proc /proc
mount -t sysfs sysfs /sys
mount -t tmpfs tmpfs /dev
mkdir dev/pts
mount -t devpts devpts /dev/pts
/sbin/udevstart
/sbin/grub-install hd0
quit
quit

The system will reboot, and hopefully all will work right away.
If it doesn't - you will need to dig further :)
P.S - Don't sue me if these commands do some nasty things to your server ;)

Quick shell script to convert ifcfg-ethX-rangeY to ifcfg-ethX:Y format

2009-03-04T16:47:00.001+02:00

Quick shell script to convert ifcfg-ethX-rangeY to ifcfg-ethX:Y format:

for i in `ls ifcfg-eth1-range*`; 
do
. ./$i
D1=`echo $IPADDR_START|cut -d. -f4`;
D2=`echo $IPADDR_END|cut -d. -f4`;
D=`expr $D2 - $D1`;
echo $D;
S=`echo $IPADDR_START|cut -d. -f1,2,3`;
for j in `seq 0 $D`;
do
echo "DEVICE=eth1:`expr $j + $CLONENUM_START`
BOOTPROTO=static
ONBOOT=yes
IPADDR=$S.`expr $D1 + $j`
NETMASK=$NETMASK" > ifcfg-eth1:`expr $j + $CLONENUM_START`;
done
done

Freebsd php-fpm fastcgi server init script

2009-01-29T12:54:00.000+02:00


#!/bin/sh

# PROVIDE: phpfpm
# KEYWORD: shutdown

#
# Add the following lines to /etc/rc.conf to enable php-fpm:
#
#phpfpm_enable="YES"
#
#

. /etc/rc.subr

name=phpfpm
rcvar=`set_rcvar`

command="/usr/local/sbin/php-fpm"
command_args=""
pidfile=/usr/local/logs/php-fpm.pid
required_files=/usr/local/etc/php-fpm.conf

# set defaults

phpfpm_enable=${phpfpm_enable:-"NO"}

start_cmd="phpfpm_start"
stop_cmd="phpfpm_stop"
restart_cmd="phpfpm_restart"

phpfpm_start()
{
 if [ -f ${pidfile} ]
 then
  echo "php-fpm already running!"
  exit 1;
 fi
 echo "Starting php-fpm server..."
 /usr/local/bin/php-cgi --fpm
}
phpfpm_stop()
{
 if [ ! -f ${pidfile} ]
 then
  echo "${name} is not running or pidfile not found!";
  exit 1;
 fi
 echo "stopping ${name}..."
 kill -SIGQUIT `cat ${pidfile}`
} 
phpfpm_restart()
{
        if [ ! -f ${pidfile} ]
        then
                echo "${name} is not running or pidfile not found!";
                exit 1;
        fi
 echo "sending SIGUSR2 to php-fpm master"
        kill -SIGUSR2 `cat ${pidfile}`
}

load_rc_config ${name}
run_rc_command "$1"

How to check SpamAssassin version

2009-01-21T12:51:00.001+02:00

Quick one-liner for checking spamassassin version:

[root@server ~]# perl -MMail::SpamAssassin -e 'print $Mail::SpamAssassin::VERSION;'
3.002004

OpenSUSE developers announced csync

2009-01-13T05:15:00.002+02:00

Andreas Schneider has unleashed the first public release candidate of csync 0.42, which is now available as source from the csync Web site, or via one-click for openSUSE 11.0 and 11.1.

Project homepage: http://www.csync.org/

This tool looks like a promising alternative to unison, which was written in ocaml, while csync is written in C

Did not have time to test it yet, but as soon as it proves that is working ok - i plan to replace unison with it.

RDP through a ssh tunnel

2009-01-13T04:54:00.005+02:00

How to access RDP if firewall is closed down, and access to server is restricted to a few ips:

ssh user@allowed.server.com -L 3389:windows.server.com:3389
rdesktop -uadministrator -pp455w0rd localhost

That's it! Secure encrypted rdesktop session :)

Parallels decided to drop qmail?

2009-01-01T20:44:00.003+02:00

While installing latest Parallels Plesk version (9.0), noticed an unusual option :) :

  Different mailservers
16. (*) Qmail mailserver
17. ( ) Postfix mailserver

Could this be true, that Parallels finally decided to drop Qmail?
Now don't get me wrong, but qmail wasn't updated for 10 years already, and any additional feature requires a patch...
And.. did you ever try to read qmail's logs? :)

2009 will be a second longer | Happy new year!

2009-01-01T17:14:00.004+02:00

Found a confirmation of this in my system logs:

Jan  1 01:59:59 (none) kernel: Clock: inserting leap second 23:59:60 UTC

:)

Btw,


 _________________
( Happy new Year! )
 -----------------
     \   ^__^
      \  (oo)\_______
         (__)\       )\/\
             ||----w |
             ||     ||

Icewarp Merak mail server not working behind a smtp relay

2008-12-24T09:24:00.005+02:00

Just migrated an email server to a dedicated server at GoDaddy, and according to their policies, 25 TCP port is blocked "to prevent spam", and they force us to use their smtp relay for mail delivery.

After properly configuring all delivery related settings, server still could not send emails.

A quick look in smtp logs:

SYSTEM          [087C] 23:03:41 Client session ***   1 569 00:00:00 INCOMPLETE-SESSION ESZ92941
SYSTEM          [0BE8] 23:07:55 Client session ***   1 569 00:00:00 INCOMPLETE-SESSION ESZ92941

Strange.
Turned on debugging:

SYSTEM          [04C4] 23:42:26 Client session Message id ESO58526 item 200812232342260002.tm$
SYSTEM          [04C4] 23:42:26 Client session Connecting to 'smtprelay.server.net'
SYSTEM          [04C4] 23:44:26 Client session Could not connect to 'smtprelay.server.net(0.0.0.0)'

This "0.0.0.0" looked strange to me, it seems there was some issues with dns.
After a little digging in Merak's settings, it appears that actually the mail server does not use system default resolvers, and uses it's own.

Just adjusted dns settings in System>Internet Connection>Dns, it started to work like a charm

Installing SVN server on FreeBSD

2008-12-18T00:46:00.003+02:00

Quick installation of SVN on FreeBSD, access by svn:// protocol

portinstall subversion
mkdir /home/svn-repo
pw user add -n svn -u 3690 -d /home/svn-repo
chown svn:svn /home/svn-repo/
chsh -s /bin/false svn

Add to /etc/rc.conf:

svnserve_enable="YES"
svnserve_data="/home/svn-repo"
svnserve_user="svn"
svnserve_group="svn"

Start the server itself:

/usr/local/etc/rc.d/svnserve start

Also, remember to open port 3690 in firewall, if you are using one

vsftpd - chroot users to their homedir

2008-11-30T17:54:00.003+02:00

Open vsftpd configuration file - /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf

nano /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf

Make sure following line exists (and uncommented):

chroot_local_user=YES

Save and close the file. Restart vsftpd.

/etc/init.d/vsftpd restart

ScribeFire

2008-11-30T03:16:00.000+02:00

Installed ScribeFire, a nice blog editor running as a firefox add-on, pretty impressed, now it's easier to post dirrectly from my browser, no need to login to blogger for this ;)

Using remote logging on a dd-wrt enabled Linksys wrt54g

2008-09-16T01:34:00.007+03:00

On the machine you want to log to (i have a slackware one):
root[floyd]# nano /etc/rc.d/rc.syslog
replace:

echo -n "/usr/sbin/syslogd"
/usr/sbin/syslogd

with:

echo -n "/usr/sbin/syslogd -r "
/usr/sbin/syslogd -r

root[floyd]# /etc/rc.d/rc.syslog restart
Starting sysklogd daemons:  /usr/sbin/syslogd -r /usr/sbin/klogd -c 3 -x
root[floyd]#

After that, all you have to do is:
Login to dd-wrt (e.g. http://192.168.2.1/ - please replace with actual IP fof your wireless router )
Go to Services -> System Log -> Syslogd -> Enable
Also specify the IP address of the logging server.

On the logging server itself, remember to put some kind of filtering, to prevent any other device to log to it.
I'd go for iptables.

MySQL master-master replication

2008-09-03T10:38:00.003+03:00

A quick howto for setting up mysql master-master replication (of course IP adresses and passwords are fake :)
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/server-system-variables.html

Used variables:
- server-id: The server ID. This value is set by the --server-id option. It is used for replication to enable master and slave servers to identify themselves uniquely.

- auto_increment_increment and auto_increment_offset are intended for use with master-to-master replication, and can be used to control the operation of AUTO_INCREMENT columns. Both variables can be set globally or locally, and each can assume an integer value between 1 and 65,535 inclusive. Setting the value of either of these two variables to 0 causes its value to be set to 1 instead. Attempting to set the value of either of these two variables to an integer greater than 65,535 or less than 0 causes its value to be set to 65,535 instead. Attempting to set the value of auto_increment_increment or auto_increment_offset to a non-integer value gives rise to an error, and the actual value of the variable remains unchanged.
These two variables affect AUTO_INCREMENT column behavior as follows:

One thing that is missing from the above, is how to deal with auto-increments so that you do not get collisions if you add data to both masters at the same time. There is an easy way to deal with this if you are using MySQL 5.0.2 or above.
In the my.cnf file on server1 add:

auto_increment_increment=2
auto_increment_offset=1

In the my.cnf file on server2 add:

auto_increment_increment=2
auto_increment_offset=2

This will make the auto-increment on server1 go, 1,3,5,7,9,etc... and on server2 go, 2,4,6,8,etc... thereby preventing collisions.

server1:

mysql> GRANT REPLICATION SLAVE ON *.* TO 'server2'@'67.15.239.12' IDENTIFIED BY 'Sho6ra5aedoh';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)mysql> CREATE DATABASE testdb;
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

server2:

mysql> GRANT REPLICATION SLAVE ON *.* TO 'server1'@'67.15.239.11' IDENTIFIED BY 'Sho6ra5aedoh';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
mysql> CREATE DATABASE testdb;
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

server1:/etc/my.cnf

[mysqld]
server-id = 1
replicate-same-server-id = 0
auto-increment-increment = 2
auto-increment-offset = 1

master-host = 67.15.239.12
master-user = server1
master-password = Sho6ra5aedoh
master-connect-retry = 60
replicate-do-db = testdb

log-bin = /var/lib/mysql/mysql-bin.log
binlog-do-db = testdb

relay-log = /var/lib/mysql/slave-relay.log
relay-log-index = /var/lib/mysql/slave-relay-log.index

expire_logs_days        = 10
max_binlog_size         = 500M

server2:/etc/my.cnf

[mysqld]
server-id = 2
replicate-same-server-id = 0
auto-increment-increment = 2
auto-increment-offset = 2

master-host = 67.15.239.11
master-user = server2
master-password = Sho6ra5aedoh
master-connect-retry = 60
replicate-do-db = testdb

log-bin = /var/lib/mysql/mysql-bin.log
binlog-do-db = testdb

relay-log = /var/lib/mysql/slave-relay.log
relay-log-index = /var/lib/mysql/slave-relay-log.index

expire_logs_days        = 10
max_binlog_size         = 500M

Run:

server2:

mysql> stop slave;
mysql> CHANGE MASTER TO MASTER_HOST='67.15.239.11' , MASTER_USER='server2', MASTER_PASSWORD='Sho6ra5aedoh',MASTER_LOG_FILE='mysql-bin.000001', MASTER_LOG_POS=98;
mysql> start slave;
mysql> show slave status \G
mysql> show master status;

server1:


mysql> STOP SLAVE;
mysql> CHANGE MASTER TO MASTER_HOST='67.15.239.12' , MASTER_USER='server1', MASTER_PASSWORD='Sho6ra5aedoh',MASTER_LOG_FILE='mysql-bin.000001', MASTER_LOG_POS=98;
mysql> start slave;
mysql> show master status;
mysql> show slave status \G

GNS3 install on ubuntu/debian

2008-06-10T20:38:00.002+03:00

Follow the instructions on
http://gpl.code.de/oswiki/GplcodedeApt
then just run

apt-get install gns3

Virtual Exim + Dovecot

2008-06-02T17:31:00.003+03:00

Am integrat vexim (http://silverwraith.com/vexim/) cu dovecot pe debian lenny/sid , un howto in curand.
De asemeni, intentionez sa modific/adaptez Password Change plugin pentru squirrelmail.

Attansic L2 100Mbit Ethernet Adapter on Debian Lenny

2008-05-26T18:48:00.003+03:00

It appears Attansic was recently bought by Atheros.
However, getting it to work on GNU/Debian Lenny is as simple as:

apt-get install atl2-modules-2.6-686
modprobe atl2

And here it is:


root@gw # ifconfig eth1
eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:1e:8c:18:88:a6
         BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
         RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
         TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
         collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
         RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
         Memory:dffc0000-e0000000

Setting up MadWifi on a Samsung r20 laptop, running Zenwalk as an os

2008-03-25T17:21:00.005+02:00

I always liked the Slackware distribution, everything (well, almost) is really simple and straightforwar. For some time i'm using Zenwalk, a slackware-based distro, on my laptop.

At some point, i needed to connect to a nearby access point, and fortunately this samsung r20 has built-in an Atheros wireless adapter.

At bootup, the kernel reports it as:
ath_pci: wifi0: Atheros 5424/2424: mem=0xd0200000, irq=19

After some "googling" around, I've found this really nice guide,
http://wiki.zenwalk.org/index.php?title=Madwifi-ng_(Atheros)

In a couple of steps, my wifi interface is ready to use:

root[~]# netpkg kernelheaders
root[~]# svn checkout http://svn.madwifi.org/madwifi/trunk madwifi-ng
root[~]# cd madwifi-ng/
root[madwifi-ng]# make
root[madwifi-ng]# make install
root[madwifi-ng]# modprobe ath_pci

It seems like all is ok, a quick check:

root[madwifi-ng]# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wifi0     no wireless extensions.

ath0      IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:""  Nickname:"slash"
         Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated
         Bit Rate:0 kb/s   Tx-Power:17 dBm   Sensitivity=1/1
         Retry:off   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
         Encryption key:off
         Power Management:off
         Link Quality=0/70  Signal level=-92 dBm  Noise level=-92 dBm
         Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
         Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

Adding the module to be loaded at boot:

root[madwifi-ng]# echo "/sbin/modprobe ath_pci" >> /etc/rc.d/rc.modules

Zakang ZX410 CDMA phone on linux, connect to the Internet with it

2008-02-19T21:04:00.009+02:00

Few days ago I bought a brand-new Zakang ZX-400 phone, from a local CDMA Operator, Unite
Also, I have opted for a monthly subscription, including unlimited internet access.
The main issue is that they provide drivers/instructions for WinXP/2000, and I'm not going to use Windows just because of this :)

Ok, I plugged it in...

kernel: cdc_acm 1-1:1.0: ttyACM0: USB ACM device kernel: usbcore: registered new driver cdc_acm kernel: drivers/usb/class/cdc-acm.c: v0.25:USB Abstract Control Model driver for USB modems and ISDN adapters

It looks like a standard acm modem.
Let's try to use it with wvdial

apt-get install wvdial
nano /etc/wvdial.conf
---------------------------
[Dialer Defaults]
Phone =
Username =
Password =
New PPPD = yes

[Dialer unite]
Modem = /dev/ttyACM0
Baud = 230400
Phone = #777
Init1 = ATZ
Stupid Mode = 1
Dial Command = ATDT
Username = net
Password = rapido
PPPD Options = crtcts multilink usepeerdns lock defaultroute

Then start it:

wvdial unite

After a few debugging messages, the connection is up! ;)

Updating Slackware, part 2

2007-12-09T18:20:00.001+02:00

Well, as i said in previous post, Updating Slackware
I took the following steps:
Adjusted /etc/slapt-get/slapt-getrc to point to the newer release:


...
SOURCE=http://slackware.perespim.ru/pub/slackware-10.2/
...

After that, i did the following:

slapt-get --dist-upgrade --ignore-excludes --download-only
slapt-get --install kernel --no-upgrade
slapt-get --dist-upgrade --ignore-excludes

And adjusted /etc/lilo.conf to point to the new kernel

After a reboot, all is up and running.
Also, previously this machine was rebooting itself after 20-25 hours of work.
Now it has a 3 days uptime already :)

Updating Slackware

2007-11-25T08:42:00.000+02:00

I have an old router/gateway, still running Slackware 10.0, and since i can't afford more than 5-10min downtime on that box, i'll have to find a reliable way to upgrade "on-the-fly" the os to a newer release.

Afaik, there are a lot of folks that managed to update slack to a new release, using either swaret or slapt-get. Either way, i plan to upgrade to 10.2 first, then try to upgrade to 11.0

Well, slack isn't Debian, and this procedure will surely give me some headaches.
If you have any experience with upgrading Slackware, please leave me a note/comment/whatever.

Thanks!

Ati released a new version of the Radeon Proprietary drivers package

2007-11-18T09:58:00.002+02:00

A few days ago i've noticed ati has released version 8.42.3 of it's proprietary drivers package for radeon, http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/linux/linux-radeon.html

I was using previously the 8.40.* version on my Samsung R20 Notebook running Debian Etch, that has an integrated Ati radeon Xpress 1250. First time I have installed
the drivers package I had to manually compile the kernel module (fglrx) as the ati auto-installer failed at some point when trying to install it.

After getting the latest 8.42.3 version, i was pleasantly impressed that it worked out-of-the box.
Quick install:

[~] # wget https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/9206/0/www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/ati-driver-installer-8.42.3-x86.x86_64.run
[~] # chmod +x ati-driver-installer-8.42.3-x86.x86_64.run
[~] # ./ati-driver-installer-8.42.3-x86.x86_64.run
[~] # aticonfig --initial

Well, to my surprise it automagically compiled the kernel module and after restarting the X server, i was running the new version already.

Quick test:

[~] # fglrxinfo
[~] # fgl_glxgears

Using vnstat for simple traffic accounting

2007-10-13T09:49:00.002+03:00

vnStat is a network traffic monitor for Linux that keeps a log of daily network traffic for the selected interface(s). vnStat isn't a packet sniffer. The traffic information is analyzed from the /proc -filesystem, so vnStat can be used without root permissions. However at least a 2.2.x kernel is required.

Quick install guide (I have set it up on a Slackware 10.0 box):

[user@host] $  wget http://humdi.net/vnstat/vnstat-1.4.tar.gz
[user@host] $  tar zxvf vnstat-1.4.tar.gz
[user@host] $  cd vnstat-1.4
[user@host] $  make
[user@host] $ su
Password:
[root@host] # checkinstall (or "make install" on most systems)
#create databases for NICs
[root@host] # vnstat -u -i eth0
[root@host] # vnstat -u -i eth1
[root@host] # crontab -e

Add the following entry in the crontab:

*/5 * * * * /usr/bin/vnstat -u

Install the frontend:

[root@host] # cd /var/www/htdocs
[root@host] # wget -O vnstat_php_frontend-1.3.tar.gz http://www.sqweek.com/sqweek/files/vnstat_php_frontend-1.3.tar.gz
[root@host] # tar zxvf vnstat_php_frontend-1.3.tar.gz
[root@host] # mv vnstat_php_frontend-1.3 vnstat

Edit vnstat/config.php and adjust the following lines to your preference:

  $iface_list = array('eth0', 'eth1');                                                                                             
  $iface_title['eth0'] = 'Extern';                                                                                                 
  $iface_title['eth1'] = 'Intern';                                                                                                 
  $vnstat_bin = '/usr/bin/vnstat';

That's all, assuming apache is properly configured with php enabled, you can access the interface at http://your-domain.com/vnstat/
Remember to protect it with some http authentication if you don't want the whole world to be able to access it :)
Btw, here's a screenshot:

Running network device backups with RANCID on FreeBSD

2007-09-14T17:03:00.002+03:00

A useful utility for backing-up network devices configuration i have recently stumbled upon is RANCID, (Really Awesome New Cisco confIg Differ) which allows for backup automation. It also allows for keeping a history of changes done to devices' configuration, using either CVS or SVN, also all changes can be automatically submitted to a mailing list.

Here's how I have installed/configured on a FreeBSD box:

[root@box]# portinstall rancid
[root@box]# nano /usr/local/etc/rancid/rancid.conf

Example config:
-------------


TERM=network;export TERM
umask 027
TMPDIR=/tmp; export TMPDIR
BASEDIR=/backup/network; export BASEDIR
PATH=/usr/local/libexec/rancid/:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin; export PATH
CVSROOT=$BASEDIR/CVS; export CVSROOT
LOGDIR=$BASEDIR/logs; export LOGDIR
OLDTIME=4; export OLDTIME
LIST_OF_GROUPS="mydevices"

-------------

[root@box]# mkdir -p /backups/network
[root@box]# chown rancid:rancid /backups/network
[root@box]# su - rancid
[rancid@box]$ /usr/local/bin/rancid-cvs
[rancid@box]$ nano /backup/network/mydevices/router.db
#router:type:state:comment
switch01.mydomain.com:cisco:up
switch02.mydomain.com:cisco:up
switch03.mydomain.com:cisco:up
switch04.mydomain.com:hp:down:out of service
--------------
[rancid@box]$ nano /home/rancid/.cloginrc
add method * telnet ssh
add noenable switch05.mydomain.com
add password switch01.mydomain.com kFO3i2bJ60 w3oybRioS2
add password switch02.mydomain.com kFO3i2bJ60 w3oybRioS2
add password switch03.mydomain.com kFO3i2bJ60 w3oybRioS2
add password switch04.mydomain.com kFO3i2bJ60 w3oybRioS2
add password switch05.mydomain.com kFO3i2bJ60 w3oybRioS2
add user *.mydomain.com alien
add user switch05.mydomain.com admin

[root@box]#  chmod 600 /home/rancid/.cloginrc

-------------
How to check before scheduling & running backups:

[rancid@box]$ /usr/local/libexec/rancid/clogin switch01.mydomain.com
switch01.mydomain.com
spawn telnet switch01.mydomain.com
Trying 192.168.10.53...
Connected to switch01.mydomain.com.
Escape character is '^]'.


User Access Verification

Username: Kerberos:     No default realm defined for Kerberos!
remsys
Password:

switch01>enable
Password:
switch01#

---------------
This is it, rancid has logged in to switch01.mydomain.com and left you at the switch's console.

To start backups manually run:
[rancid@box]$ /usr/local/bin/rancid-run

Also, add this to rancid's cron:

[rancid@box]$ crontab -e
#run backups
1 */3 * * * /usr/local/bin/rancid-run
#clean up old logs
50 23 * * * /usr/bin/find /backup/network/mydevices/logs -type f -mtime +14 -exec rm {} \;

You can find your network devices' backups in /backup/network/mydevices/configs

Using mod_evasive for dos attack prevention

2007-09-07T18:25:00.001+03:00

A quick solution for blocking dos attacks can be mod_evasive
Installing mod_evasive on an apache2 web server:

# mkdir -p /root/tmp
# cd /root/tmp
# wget http://www.zdziarski.com/projects/mod_evasive/mod_evasive_1.10.1.tar.gz
# tar zxvf mod_evasive_1.10.1.tar.gz
# cd mod_evasive
# apxs -cia mod_evasive20.c

then, in /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf add the following lines and restart apache:

<IfModule mod_evasive20.c>
 DOSHashTableSize 3097
 DOSPageCount 5
 DOSSiteCount 20
 DOSPageInterval 1
 DOSSiteInterval 1
 DOSBlockingPeriod 10
</IfModule>

remember to modify DOS* directives to suit your needs.

first post

2007-09-02T17:14:00.000+03:00

Yep, this is the first post on this blog, welcome to all of you :)

On these pages you will be able to read my posts on my systems administrator position and also some news/notes from the IT world.

I hope real soon i will manage to find some spare time and publish a few notes on subjects that i am interested in.

Also I'd be glad to hear any feedback / comments from you!

Thanks, and see you soon.