Jechnical Targon

Ultimate Guide To Dropbox Referrals

2011-01-05T11:12:00.001-04:00

I've had a Dropbox account now for several years. It's been invaluable for sharing files with family and friends and it keeps important files of my synchronized between the several workstations that rule my life. A regular free account with Dropbox will give you 2 gigabytes. However, they also allow for referrals. For each user that you refer the service to, and they sign up, you receive an additional 250 megabytes of storage up to a maximum of 8 gigabytes. Of course, if you really like their service than you could also fork out $10/month for their 50GB service or $20/month for their 100GB service. Also, some people might not think of this as the most 'honest' thing to do. However, I introduced our sales team to the service over a year ago and I got them all 50GB accounts. So, if you like the service than you should seriously consider purchasing it. However, for the rest of us I have compiled a list of steps on how to upgrade your Dropbox to the maximum amount of GB in the fastest way possible. without further adieu:

go to trashmail.net
create free account (register)
set up as many referrals as you need (click the add button over and over)
the default # forwards (2) should be enough. Click SAVE!!
double click each email name (first part) and copy it into a text file (notepad, etc)
type @trashmail.net and copy/paste it to all the ones so you have a line separated list of emails ie:
               jijaijsdf@trashmail.net
               kjeafka@trashmail.net
               ijafjlwe@trashmail.net
               ...and so on and so forth...
copy all the addresses we just made in your textfile
log into your dropbox account
click the account link at the top right of the page
go to the "Referral Status" tab
at bottom click "Invite More People To Join Dropbox"
paste all the email addresses into the big text box at bottom labelled "or invite email addresses"
click "Send Invites"
check your email
click each referral link in your email... open each one of them in their own tab
go through each tab and type in a dummy first, last name and choose the SAME PASSWORD for each account (the same password will make it easier to remember)
refresh your referal status page in your own dropbox account (will require you to re-login)
all referrals should now have the status "joined"
download and install Oracles Virtualbox HERE
download an iso of Ubuntu (32bit) HERE
in Virtualbox click "New", then "Next", enter a dummy name, select "Linux" as the OS, select "Ubuntu" if not already selected.
click madly through all the next's and finishes
TIP: on my workstation I found that I could go through the process the fastest if I created 4 at a time... depending on your processor and memory you may be able to create more or less
now that you have 4 (or some number) of VM's created click on each one in sequence and select "Start"
click "Next" and then select your ubuntu .iso. Click "Next" and "Finish"
drag the one you just did to some other area of your screen so that when you finish you'll have them all spread out and easily accessible (this is because you'll be going back and forth between them several times while things are downloading, installing, etc)
do the same thing with the next 3
now you have all 4 (or x) VM's in front of you. Click "Try Ubuntu" for each of them. This is important because we don't want to install the OS... we just want to boot from the ISO and then later discard them.
once Ubuntu loads you will want to do this for each VM you have in front of you:

open firefox
go to dropbox.com
click "Download Dropbox"
select the 32bit Ubuntu .deb
click "Save File" when prompted
doubleclick the .deb file directly from the Firefox Downloads window
click "Install" in the Package Installer when it pops up
wait for Dropbox's "Update Information" window to pop up, click "Start Dropbox"
Click "OK" on the next window that pops up telling you you have to download their daemon. At this point it will take about a minute for the daemon to download. This is a good opportunity to move to the next VM in sequence.
Eventually Dropbox will start up and ask you if you already have an account. Select "I already have a Dropbox account"
Enter one of the @trashmail.net accounts with the password you used with all the accounts
Click "Forward", then click "Skip Tour", then click "Finish".
At this point you should be 250MB richer
Click the X button at the top right of the VirtualBox VM window to close the VM. Select "Power Off" and click "OK"

Once you have ensured that you have the additional space from a referral you can right-click the VM listed in the main Virtual Box list box and select "Delete"

There you have it. Without a doubt the absolute fastest way to beef up your Dropbox account to the maximum amount of gigabytes through the referral process! They're always increasing the limit so enjoy!

TikTok And LunaTik / Griffin Slap-Style: Multi-Touch iPod Nano Watch Kits

2010-11-22T18:44:00.000-04:00

Several days ago I came across a great design for a watch housing that accepts an iPod Nano into the face. It's refreshing to a design such as this which effectively extends the functionality of an already useful piece of technology. I may not have considered the iPod Nano for purchase but I must say that after seeing this watch strap / housing I would definitely put it up for consideration.

You can view the original video / website here.

Now that's not the only iPod Nano watch kit accessory out. Griffin, a well known iPod accessory manufacturer, has a watch kit referred to as a slap-style watch. It's made of silicone with a memory metal strap and works just like old slap bracelets of the 90's:

They're both great ideas and I'm looking forward to seeing new and interesting designs in the future. If you come across any please feel free to post your thoughts in the comments section.

Printing From 64-bit Windows 7 To 32-bit Windows Server

2010-11-22T13:59:00.000-04:00

Having recently installed Windows 7 (64-bit) on my work-workstation I ran into the issue of not being able to add printers hosted by 32-bit Windows Servers (most notably, Windows Server 2003). Eventually I figured out how to do it and thought that I would post my methods here so that others can avoid the headache that consumed me. So here is my method of printing from Windows 7 64-bit to a 32-bit Windows print server (should be the same for 64-bit Vista):

ensure you have the proper printer driver installed on your Windows 7 box (if using HP printers see blurb at bottom)
goto printers and devices, add new printer
select local printer
use existing port (LPT1)
select proper print driver
click next throughout rest of process
name the printer how you'd like it to be displayed.
let it install...
select "do not share"
when finished, right click and select "Printer Properties"
goto ports tab, click "Add port..."
select "Local Port" and then click "New Port..."
type in the exact network address for the printer. ie: \printserver01\hplaserj
click OK, then click close
ensure the new port is selected and click Apply, then close
test printer. If it doesn't work than you may have an incorrect or incompatible print driver installed

Also, if you're trying to connect to HP printers I have found the HP Universal PCL6 driver to work remarkably well. You can download them HERE and select it when at the step: select proper print driver.

How To Get 8 Gigabytes Of Online Storage With Dropbox For FREE - THE FASTEST WAY POSSIBLE

2010-11-19T13:27:00.000-04:00

I've had a Dropbox account now for several years. It's been invaluable for sharing files with family and friends and it keeps important files of my synchronized between the several workstations that rule my life. A regular free account with Dropbox will give you 2 gigabytes. However, they also allow for referrals. For each user that you refer the service to, and they sign up, you receive an additional 250 megabytes of storage up to a maximum of 8 gigabytes. Of course, if you really like their service than you could also fork out $10/month for their 50GB service or $20/month for their 100GB service. Also, some people might not think of this as the most 'honest' thing to do. However, I introduced our sales team to the service over a year ago and I got them all 50GB accounts. So, if you like the service than you should seriously consider purchasing it. However, for the rest of us I have compiled a list of steps on how to upgrade your Dropbox to 8GB the fastest way possible. without further adieu:

go to trashmail.net
create free account (register)
set up as many referrals as you need (click the add button over and over)
the default # forwards (2) should be enough. Click SAVE!!
double click each email name (first part) and copy it into a text file (notepad, etc)
type @trashmail.net and copy/paste it to all the ones so you have a line separated list of emails ie:
               jijaijsdf@trashmail.net
               kjeafka@trashmail.net
               ijafjlwe@trashmail.net
               ...and so on and so forth...
copy all the addresses we just made in your textfile
log into your dropbox account
click the account link at the top right of the page
go to the "Referral Status" tab
at bottom click "Invite More People To Join Dropbox"
paste all the email addresses into the big text box at bottom labelled "or invite email addresses"
click "Send Invites"
check your email
click each referral link in your email... open each one of them in their own tab
go through each tab and type in a dummy first, last name and choose the SAME PASSWORD for each account (the same password will make it easier to remember)
refresh your referal status page in your own dropbox account (will require you to re-login)
all referrals should now have the status "joined"
download and install Oracles Virtualbox HERE
download an iso of Ubuntu (32bit) HERE
in Virtualbox click "New", then "Next", enter a dummy name, select "Linux" as the OS, select "Ubuntu" if not already selected.
click madly through all the next's and finishes
TIP: on my workstation I found that I could go through the process the fastest if I created 4 at a time... depending on your processor and memory you may be able to create more or less
now that you have 4 (or some number) of VM's created click on each one in sequence and select "Start"
click "Next" and then select your ubuntu .iso. Click "Next" and "Finish"
drag the one you just did to some other area of your screen so that when you finish you'll have them all spread out and easily accessible (this is because you'll be going back and forth between them several times while things are downloading, installing, etc)
do the same thing with the next 3
now you have all 4 (or x) VM's in front of you. Click "Try Ubuntu" for each of them. This is important because we don't want to install the OS... we just want to boot from the ISO and then later discard them.
once Ubuntu loads you will want to do this for each VM you have in front of you:

open firefox
go to dropbox.com
click "Download Dropbox"
select the 32bit Ubuntu .deb
click "Save File" when prompted
doubleclick the .deb file directly from the Firefox Downloads window
click "Install" in the Package Installer when it pops up
wait for Dropbox's "Update Information" window to pop up, click "Start Dropbox"
Click "OK" on the next window that pops up telling you you have to download their daemon. At this point it will take about a minute for the daemon to download. This is a good opportunity to move to the next VM in sequence.
Eventually Dropbox will start up and ask you if you already have an account. Select "I already have a Dropbox account"
Enter one of the @trashmail.net accounts with the password you used with all the accounts
Click "Forward", then click "Skip Tour", then click "Finish".
At this point you should be 250MB richer
Click the X button at the top right of the VirtualBox VM window to close the VM. Select "Power Off" and click "OK"

Once you have ensured that you have the additional space from a referral you can right-click the VM listed in the main Virtual Box list box and select "Delete"

There you have it. Without a doubt the absolute fastest way to beef up your Dropbox account to 8 gigabytes! Enjoy!

Enabling the Windows 7 Telnet Client

2010-11-18T15:36:00.004-04:00

About a week ago I decided to install Windows 7 Ultimate on my work-workstation. The reason being that there was a nice little Hyper-V Snap-In that was only available for Windows 7 / Server 2008. Yes, it was finally time to turn in XP.

Fast forward to today: I was looking into some mail NDR's being delivered to my Administrator account. To figure out who was to blame I opened a command-prompt and tried to launch the Windows telnet client to connect to their mail-server and interpret their EHLO response. However, the response I received was this:

'telnet' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

Well, it turns out that by default the telnet client is not installed. However, it only takes a few steps in order to make it available and the installation disc is not needed. Those steps are:

Open the Control Panel (through start menu or Run Command: control)
Open the Programs and Features item
Select "Turn Windows features on or off" item on the left-hand side of the window
Check the Telnet client box
Click OK

Once that's completed you will need to reboot and will have access to the Windows Telnet client once more.

Finally Moved To Green Power Thanks To Bullfrog Power

2010-11-11T10:08:00.005-04:00

Today we received an email informing us that we are now running on Bullfrog green electricity. In case you haven't heard of Bullfrog Power you should go check out their website here.

A quick explanation about how this works. Basically, it's quite expensive to transition to green / renewable power. Investment in PV panels would require a large up-front cost, a solar hot-water system would be somewhat less, and a wind power setup would likely cost the most (I'm just guessing). So, for the 99% of us that do not have the capital to fund such a venture there is an alternative.

Bullfrog invests heavily in green electricity generation: wind and low-impact hydro. In their own words:

"Bullfrog's green electricity comes exclusively from wind and low-impact hydro facilities that meet or exceed Environment Canada's EcoLogoM standard for renewable electricity."

How it works is Bullfrog monitors your electricity consumption and injects the amount of electricity you use back into your local electrical power grid. In my case this would be Bullfrog injecting power in the Nova Scotia power grid.

After reading that you might counter, "If that's the case than aren't you still in essence working off of Nova Scotia's dirty coal electricity?" The answer is, most likely, however, because Bullfrog injects green electricity back into my local grid my local power producer's production goes down. They don't have to burn as much coal because they're receiving energy from another source. Now, a single household may not make a significant impact on their local producers production... but a hundred homes? A thousand? It's easy to see how this could really make an impact.

Billing works nearly the same as before. We'll still be receiving our regular power bill from our regular energy producer and on top of that we'll be receiving a bill from Bullfrog Power. However, the additional cost is very minimal. Our bi-monthly power bills are in the range of $80 (somewhere in the range of 500-600 kWh). In our area Bullfrog Power charges 2 cents per kWh. A simple calculation reveals that we'll be receiving a bill from Bullfrog for 10-12 dollars, a small pittance for moving to renewable power.

For more information check out http://www.bullfrogpower.com or Google for renewable energy alternatives in your locale.

Update 1: Thanks to Bullfrog Power for the clarification. Currently they do not invest directly in Nova Scotia so all power injected into the NS grid is sourced from wind and low-impact hydro facilities in New Brunswick and PEI. Thanks for the comment and keep up the great work!

How to move Ubuntu's Window Buttons Back To The Right

2010-11-11T09:49:00.006-04:00

With the beta release of Ubuntu 10.04 the window buttons (maximize, minimize, and close) were moved, very OS X-like, to the left hand side. I do own a Macbook, however Ubuntu is my OS of choice at home and I work mainly with various Microsoft OS's in my day job so it's fair to say I am quite used to having these buttons on the right hand side.

Luckily, as with any other aspect of a Linux operating system, you can easily put these buttons back to the right-hand side if you like. The easiest way of accomplishing this is through gconf-editor or rather the Gnome Configuration Editor.

To launch the editor:

Press Alt-F2 (this will bring up a run-menu)
type in: gconf-editor and press enter or click run

Now you will see the Gnome Configuration Editor load on screen. To navigate to the proper configuration entry:

expand apps
then expand metacity
then click on general

In the right hand list you should see an entry called: button_layout. Double-clicking this entry will open up a screen and allow you to modify its value. Do this and enter the following string in the value text box:

menu:maximize,minimize,close

Once completed click OK.

Immediately you should see the window buttons move to the right side of every window.

You should also note that you can change the order of the button_layout values if you so choose. Customization is just one of the many benefits of a Linux OS.

Good luck!

Why you shouldn't buy bottled water

2010-10-18T11:18:00.006-03:00

Today I came across a fantastic video exposing how absolutely horrific bottled water is. It is something that I have known myself for many years; the chemicals, the carbon cost - but that I nonetheless found very informative! I thought the short was marvelously composed and hope many people watch it and abide by it. Me? I'm a tap water junkie!

Don't forget, March 11th is Bottled Water Free Day!

http://www.bottledwaterfreeday.ca/

Streaming Video From Linux to iPhone

2010-10-13T14:22:00.005-03:00

This is a previous post of mine but I thought I would re-add it with some new labels to help out folks who are interested in streaming video from their Linux box to their iPhone. Here's the blog post:

I've recently started using my Dell Latitude E6500 exclusively which is great news for the fiance as she prefers the Macbook. One thing I was curious about was migrating my Air Video server from the Macbook to Ubuntu.

If you haven't already heard about Air Video, it's an iPod Touch / iPhone / iPad app with a backend server component that allows for the streaming of video from your computer to your touch/phone/pad. It supports an impressive array of codecs and can either convert on the fly or convert and store to your device. It costs $2.99 (CDN) and is probably the most worthwhile app I have come across. I even read a post where a person was able to transcode 720P on a 1.6GHz Athalon (64?). To make things even better you can stream outside of your LAN over 3G or wifi. I was successful in getting this working on the Macbook but have not yet tried running under Wine. I will update this post when I have time to test this functionality.

So, while there is no Linux native port of the application it works very well under Wine, a free software application that aims to allow Unix-like computer operating systems to execute programs written for Microsoft Windows. The steps to running Air Server via Wine are:

Install Wine: search for Wine in Synaptics software manager, check 'Wine' and click Apply.
Download and install Bonjour for Windows: download Bonjour here, then right-click the exe file and open with Wine. Otherwise you can run the command: /> wine BonjourSetup.exe from the command line.
Download and Install Java JRE: download latest JRE here, be sure to choose the Windows Install Offline version. Again run this program in Wine via right-click context menu or /> wine.exe from the command line.
Download and Install Air Video Server: you can download the latest stable version here. However, at the time of this post there was a bug where Air Video would report that the version of Bonjour installed was not the latest version. Fortunately, there is ample developer support of Air Video and a fix was released (2.2.6 Beta2) which you can download here. Depending on the age of this post you will probably wish to use the latest public version.

The only difference I have found running Air Video on Linux was that you had to specify the IP address of your server, Air Video was not able to discover it on it's own, but this is hardly a problem as you only have to do it once... unless you're using DHCP in which case you might want to assign yourself a static IP.

So, do yourself a favor and purchase Air Video. You will not be disappointed!

Update 1: I've successfully tested transcoding a 1080P .m2ts on the fly and it actually works quite well. You'd probably want to let the video buffer for a bit if you were to watch something of great length. Needless to say (but I'm going to say it anyways!), truly impressive!

Update 2: Recently I received an error running with Air Video version 2.2.6 Beta2. I had thought I had turned Apple's Bonjour Print Service auto-update feature (?) off but regardless it began halting Air Video Server saying that there was a newer version of Bonjour available online and to click "OK" to go to automatically be taken to the latest version. Unfortunately the latest version does not resolve the issue. Fortunately, upgrading Air Video Server to version 2.2.7-Update1 fixed the issue entirely so if you're hesitant don't worry, In Method seems to be consistent in the outstanding quality of their product. Update today!

Update 3: I've also tested this how-to under Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx) and it performs wonderfully. Please follow the instructions above and you will have no problems whatsoever.

Eco-Friendly Hair Gel - an alternative to chemical gels and waxes

2010-07-12T11:30:00.008-03:00

Several years ago I did a road trip to Florida with some friends. It was my first time traveling the the United States but it wouldn't be my last.

During this trip I ran out of my usual hair gel (or putty... I don't recall the brand I was using at the time). I needed something fast but I'm fairly picky about what I put in my hair. I'm not keen on the oily, greasy feeling that accompanies hair wax and putty products and I don't like my hair to be as stiff as a board which you get with mouse or hair-sprays. I also had a pretty nasty sunburn at the time and had bought a bottle of Fruit of the Earth's pure Aloe Vera gel. Imagine my surprise when my lack of hair wax combined with my lobster-red sunburn compelled me to wipe the excess aloe vera gel on my hands through my hair. From that day forward I have not used a hair product other than pure aloe vera in my hair. I mean, it's aloe vera! It's a natural plant product and it is leaps and bounds beyond any other hair product. It's cost-effective / cheap and it has one ingredient. In terms of usage it gives you the utmost control. If you want hard spikey hair just squirt out a tablespoon into your palm and style it as you would gel. If you want something with a little hold but not stiff then wet your hands thoroughly and mix in a little less aloe vera gel. By changing the water / aloe ratio you can create any type of hold you want.

There are also some other benefits that come with using aloe vera as a hair product. These are:

fixibility - yes, that's right. Aloe vera gel is very fixable. So, if that young child hops up and decides to mess up your hair.. no worries! Just wet your hands and run them through your hair. The cured gel turns back to liquid and you're back to square one. It's endlessly fixable!
removal - have you ever tried to rinse out wax or putty from your hair? Unless you're using shampoo then you're basically out of luck. It just doesn't come out. Aloe vera on the other hand rinses out no problem. And best of all it actually moisturizes your hair. Try it! When you're done for the day and you hop in the shower you will be amazed at how soft your hair is.
non-flaky - aloe vera is non-flaky. For instance, imagine you used a generous amount to throw your hair up into some serious spikes or a mow-hawk even. Then later on you felt like taming it down a bit. Run your hands through your hair several times and voila! Your hair will be soft and manageable once again.

So don't delay, go out and buy a bottle of aloe vera and give this a try. I have also tried it straight from the plant and it works just as good! Unfortunately my latitude prevents me from being able to grow my own but I will always have a bottle or two on hand. Good luck and please feel free to post comments on your findings!

Using Likewise-Open to join Ubuntu to a Windows Active Directory Domain

2010-07-08T09:20:00.006-03:00

The Active Directory domain I manage during the day is composed mainly of Windows workstations and servers but the versatility and sheer usefulness of a Linux workstation cannot be disregarded. I have successfully integrated several Linux machines into my AD network and thought I would write a quick article outlining the several important steps involved in doing so. My reasons for this are because while there is plenty of information on the web outlining how to do this I found no concise all-in-one-place writeup. With these instructions it should only take you 10 minutes at most to join your Ubuntu 10.04 workstation to your Microsoft Active Directory domain. So, without any further chatter here are the instructions:

install Ubuntu 10.04 workstation (you could also install the server variant easilly enough and use the Likewise-Open domainjoin-cli tool instead of the gui).
first off, set up your networking (this configuration is for a static ip on a class C network):
sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces

and be sure to fill out the following information:

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 10.0.0.200 (this is the desired workstation ip address)
gateway 10.0.0.10 (this is your network gateway address)
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 10.0.0.0
broadcast 10.0.0.255 (network broadcast address)
the next step is to configure your network proxy. Using the gui you can do this by:

System, Preferences, Network Proxy Preferences
set it to 'manual proxy config'
set your http proxy (mine is my gateway, or 10.0.0.10 port 8080
the next step is to install Likewise-Open. I recommend downloading the latest stable version. In order to download you'll have to register and have a url emailed to you. However, you can click HERE if you'd like to skip that step as the url is publically available. Be sure to download the GUI tool if you so desire. I will give instructions for using both the CLI and GUI tool.
the next, and most important, step is to modify your nsswitch.conf, or name service switch, file. You can edit this file by issueing the terminal command: sudo nano /etc/nsswitch.conf . Here is how you should have it set up:
passed: compat winbind lsass
group: compat winbind lsass
shadow: compat winbind
hosts: files dns winbind mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] mdns4
networks: files
protocols: db files
services: db files
ethers: db files
rpc: db files
netgroup: nis
once this is completed you will want to restart your machines networking. You can do this by issuing the terminal command: sudo /etc/init.d/network restart
the last step is to use either the gui or cli tool to join your AD domain. From the command line you can issue the command:

sudo domainjoin-cli join example.com Administrator

Where example.com is the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of your domain and Administrator is the name of the AD user account with sufficient permissions to join a machine to the domain.
to perform this last step by means of the GUI execute the following line from your terminal command line: sudo domainjoin-gui
this will load the gui tool. The information you will need to fill out is:
- the name of the computer you are attempting to join (eg: MyComputer)
- your FQDN (eg: example.com, or example.local)
- and press join. You will then be presented with a new dialog asking for the Windows AD account name and password that has sufficient priviledges to join the domain.

And that's it. If you found this post helpful be sure to leave a comment. If you have any suggestions please do not hesitate to do the same. Thanks for reading.

Ubuntu: How to Join a Windows Active Directory Domain Using Likewise-Open

2010-06-16T14:56:00.008-03:00

I'm currently working on replacing Backup Exec 11D (our current backup solution) with Bacula. To do that I needed to build a Linux box with a PCI-E SAS controller to connect to my new Dell PowerVault 124T. I choose Ubuntu mainly for the community support available and went with the new 10.04 Lucid Lynx. The next step was joining this Ubuntu machine to the Windows Active Directory domain in order to be able to access, and back up from, the AD network.

There are several ways to join a linux box to a Windows Active Directory domain. Some of these are as follows:

Kerberos plus LDAP - a lower level method where Linux is set up to use Active Directory's underlying protocols yourself.
Samba - the standard for joining Linux to a Windows domain.
Microsoft Windows Services for Unix - includes options for serving usernames to Linux / UNIX via NIS and for synchronizing passwords to Linux / UNIX machines. This option is powerful but complex.
Likewise - Likewise in a nutshell is Samba-in-a-box. It's easier to configure than a full-fledged Samba installation but offers less control. Likewise Open, which I'll be using, is free of charge. Their enterprise product, Likewise Enterprise, adds features to manage Linux via Group Policy. I'll be focusing primarily on Likewise - Open.

First, ensure that Likewise-Open is not installed on your Ubuntu workstation. If it is remove it and all dependencies via the Synaptic Package Manager. You can enter "likewise" in the search bar and you should easily be able to see all Likewise packages that are installed. If you prefer to do it via the command line you can go here for a list of CLI package management commands.

Once you have removed (if necessary) all Likewise packages you should go here and download the latest stable release of Likewise-Open, both agent and DomainJoin-GUI tool. This download page is actually pretty useful as it allows you to download both packages without having to sign up by email, validate said email, receive download link, etc.

Once you have both packages downloaded you will need to make them executable. You can do this via your terminal using the chmod command:

navigate to the directory where your packages lie
run the command: chmod +x Likewise*

Once completed you can install them again using the terminal as follows (your package name may vary):

sudo ./LikewiseIdentityServiceOpen-5.3.0.7788-linux-i386-deb-installer

Follow through the basic installation procedures. Then install the next:

sudo ./LikewiseDomainJoinGui-5.3.0.7788-linux-i386-deb-installer

Again follow through the basic installation procedure. Once completed you will want to run the domainjoin tool (from the command line) with:

sudo domainjoin-gui

This will launch the domain join GUI. The pieces of information you will need are: machine name (entered by default), fully qualified domain name (FQDN, e.g.: mydomain.local or mydomain.com). You will then be prompted for a domain account, and password, with Domain Administrator priviledges. Once entered you will have successfully joined your Windows domain!

Some issues you may encounter (as I did) are incomplete nsswitch.conf and resolv.conf files. Both of these can be found in ./etc/ Resolv.conf contains information that determines the operational parameters of the DNS resolver routines installed in the operating system. Nsswitch.conf is a system configuration file. You must ensure that your domain DNS servers have been added to resolv.conf. You can enter them in priority (1 per line). This is my file as an example:

nameserver 192.168.1.12
nameserver 192.168.1.13

In your nsswitch.conf file you will need to ensure that winbind and dns are entered properly like so:

# /etc/nsswitch.conf
#
# Example configuration of GNU Name Service Switch functionality.
# If you have the `glibc-doc-reference' and `info' packages installed, try:
# `info libc "Name Service Switch"' for information about this file.

passwd: compat winbind lsass
group: compat winbind lsass
shadow: compat winbind

hosts: files dns winbind mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] mdns4
networks: files

protocols: db files
services: db files
ethers: db files
rpc: db files

netgroup: nis

Enabling Remote Desktop on Windows Server 2008 R2

2010-05-20T13:27:00.011-03:00

Recently I've started upgrading some of our infrastructure here at work. The previous Network Administrator invested in a 1/2 dozen Super Micro servers which, until now, have played a critical role in my development, staging, and production environments. These servers are now getting to the ripe old age of 3 years and for the past 5 months I've been planning their replacement. One change in particular that I am only too happy to announce is our migration from towers to racks, Dell R710's to be exact.

These racks in particular have the following specs:

PowerEdge R710 with Chassis for Up to Six 3.5-Inch Hard Drives
1 DVD ROM, SATA, INTERNAL
1 72GB Memory (18x4GB), 800MHz Dual Ranked RDIMMs for 2 Processors, Optimized
1 E5520 Xeon Processor, 2.26GHz 8M Cache, Turbo, HT, 1066MHz Max Mem
1 PowerEdge R710 Heat Sinks for 2 Processors
1 E5520 Xeon Processor, 2.26GHz 8M Cache, Turbo, HT, 1066MHz Max Mem
1 High Output Power Supply Redundant, 870W
1 Sliding Ready Rails With CableManagement Arm
1 Dell Management Console
1 Dual-External-Port SAS 5/E HBAfor Power Vault MD3000, PCI Express
1 RAID 1 for H700, PERC 6/i, H200 or SAS 6/iR Controllers
1 146GB 15K RPM Serial-Attach SCSI 3Gbps 3.5in Hotplug Hard Drive
1 146GB 15K RPM Serial-Attach SCSI 3Gbps 3.5in Hotplug Hard Drive
1 Server Management License, 1 Server (Managed by SCE/SVMM)
1 Embedded Broadcom, GB Ethernet NICS with TOE
1 Dell Hardware Limited Warranty Plus On Site Service Initial Year
1 Pro Support for IT: Next Business Day Onsite Service After Problem Diagnosis, 3 Year Extended
1 Dell Hardware Limited Warranty Extended Year

I also purchased Dell's 24U rack cabinet (PDF) which is built like a tank. Very strong, very accessible, and with Dell's sliding rail system I was able to install my racks in 5 minutes a piece, by myself. However, I do recommend having a coworker/friend give you a hand. These racks generally weigh about 50+ lbs.

Now, once you haveWindows Server 2008 R2 installed and are up and running there are a few things you'll need to do in order to securely RDP into your new server. Firstly, by default Remote Desktop is disabled. To enable this:

run Server Manager, select Server Manager at left
select "Configure Remote Desktop" under the "Server Summary" section.
under Remote Desktop you'll want to select "Allow connections only from computers running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication (more secure)". Utilizing NLA will protect your server from denial-of-service (DOS) attacks since authentication will need to be completed before resources are consumed on the remote machine.

The next step is to modify your inbound firewall to allow for RDP sessions. To do this:

click Start, Control Panel
select "Check Firewall Status" from the System and Security options
select "Advanced Settings" on the left
select "Inbound Rules"
right-click and select enable for the following two rules: Remote Administration (RPC) and Remote Desktop (TCP-In). Without making these two changes you will be able to establish an RDP session but it will quickly be closed on you.
by default these rules are applied to both domain, public and private firewalls. If your server is part of a domain and you wish to restrict these exceptions to that domain (a good idea) simply right-click the rule, select properties, goto the Advanced tab and uncheck the profiles to which this rule will not apply. In my case I left only Domain checked off.

Now our server is properly configured and we can now do our work on our XP / Vista workstation which we will be connecting from. The first step is to ensure that we have an RDP client (mstsc.exe) which supports NLA. If you're running XP SP3 (highly reccomended) then you most likely have a usable client (6+). If not you can use Microsoft's KB hotfix to update your client. This hotfix can be found here.

Once the updated RDP client is installed we will need to make two registry changes. These changes only apply to Windows XP SP3 and can be found in this Microsoft KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/951608/

The changes are:

Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then press ENTER.
In the navigation pane, locate and then click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa
In the details pane, right-click Security Packages, and then click Modify.
In the Value data box, type tspkg. Leave any data that is specific to other SSPs, and then click OK.
In the navigation pane, locate and then click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders
In the details pane, right-click SecurityProviders, and then click Modify.
In the Value data box, type credssp.dll. Leave any data that is specific to other SSPs, and then click OK.
Exit Registry Editor.
Restart the computer.

Once this is done and your workstation is rebooted you should be able to successfully connect via RDP with NLA to your Windows 2008 R2 server.

Running Air Video Server on Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty) under Wine

2010-04-12T11:11:00.010-03:00

Install Wine: search for Wine in Synaptics software manager, check 'Wine' and click Apply.
Download and install Bonjour for Windows: download Bonjour here, then right-click the exe file and open with Wine. Otherwise you can run the command: /> wine BonjourSetup.exe from the command line.
Download and Install Java JRE: download latest JRE here, be sure to choose the Windows Install Offline version. Again run this program in Wine via right-click context menu or /> wine .exe from the command line.
Download and Install Air Video Server: you can download the latest stable version here. However, at the time of this post there was a bug where Air Video would report that the version of Bonjour installed was not the latest version. Fortunately, there is ample developer support of Air Video and a fix was released (2.2.6 Beta2) which you can download here. Depending on the age of this post you will probably wish to use the latest public version.

Configuring HTTPS on ISA Server 2006 and IIS 6

2010-03-30T21:43:00.004-03:00

Late last week I was asked to configure our company web services to be available over https, or rather hypertext transfer protocol secure. Seeing as how we don't deal with sensitive information or payment transactions I had never purchased a certificate before. I had set up on of my Windows Server 2003 boxes as a certificate authority and had just created my own certificates. This is fine for publishing Outlook Web Access but now that clients were going to be using it I needed to implement a solution that didn't throw up red flags everywhere.

To begin this work I decided to configure HTTPS access for one of my test environments. I found a few certificate authorities who offer free SSL certificates:Comodo and RapidSSL are two. To get your free certificate you must first generate an SSL CSR, or rather an SSL Certificate Signing Request.

To generate a CSR within IIS6:

go to Internet Services Manager
expand until you find the website which you wish to secure
right-click the website and select Properties
navigate to the Directory Security tab
click the Server Certificate button which will then present you with the Web Server Certificate Wizard
click next, ensure Create a New Certificate is selected and click again next
ensure Prepare the request now, but send it later is selected and click next
enter a name for the certificate and set bit length to at least 2048 - (the Certificate Authority Browser Forum requires a minimum of 2048-bit keys for end entity certificates that expire after 31 December 2010.)
click next, enter your organization name and organization unit name (I used my company name and 'web') and click next again
now enter the common name for your site. In my case I entered our test site in the notation: test.mydomain.com, click next
fill in your country, state/province, and city information. This will all be visible in your certificate. Click next
finally, specify the file name that you want your CSR to be written to. Click next, next again and then finally finish.

When you sign up for your free (or not) certificate you will be asked to provide your CSR. Open the text file you specified in the last step, copy its contents to your clipboard and paste them in the textbox provided. Continue along and you will eventually end up with your certificate.

Once you have your certificate you will need to install it in order to use it. Remember, you have to install the certificate on the server from which the CSR was generated. In my example I had to install it in IIS6 on the same server I had begun with. To complete the installation you will have to:

open IIS
find and right-click the website which you generated the CSR for, select Properties
click the Directory Security tab
click the Server Certificate button
click next, select Process the pending request and install the certificate and click next
click the browse button. If the "files of type" extension doesn't match the format which your CA provided then change it to "All files *.*" and proceed to locate your certificate and click open. If done correctly your certificate should be installed. If you get an error you may need to have your CA export your certificate in a different format, readable by IIS6.

Now, because all traffic passes through our firewall (ISA Server 2006) I had to install the certificate there as well. There are three steps to accomplishing this. The first is exporting the certificate we just installed, the second is installing the certificate on the ISA server and the third is registering the certificate within the web listener object itself.

To export the certificate from IIS6, you will:

open IIS
right-click your website and select Properties
click the Directory Security tab
click the View Certificate button
select the Details tab
click the Copy to File button in the bottom right corner, this will now start the certificate export wizard
click Next
select “Yes, export the private key”
select “Personal Information Exchange” and check “Include all certificates” and “Enable strong protection”, click Next
create a password for your export and click next
enter a file name and click next and then click finish

To install the certificate on the ISA server, you will perform the following while logged on to the firewall server:

click start, run, enter “mmc” and click enter
go to File, Add/Remove Snap-In
Click the Add... button
select Certificates and press Add
Select Computer Account and press Next
Select Local Computer and press Finish
close the Add Standalone Snap-In window
click OK and we should be back to our mmc console
expand Certificates, Personal, and then right-click the Certificates folder and select “All Tasks” and then “Import...”. You will then be presented by the Certificate Import Wizard
press Next
specify the file name or Browse and then click Next
select “Place all certificates in the following store”, set your store to Personal click Next and click Finish.

Now we've imported our certificate into our ISA Server and we're ready to configure our web listener to use it for all HTTPS sessions handled by that web listener. While still logged on to our firewall server we do this by:

opening ISA Server Management
go to Firewall Policy
open the right-hand side task pane and select the Toolbox tab
select the Network Objects pane
expand Web Listeners
right-click the web listener you will be using and select properties
select the Connections tab and make sure that “Enable SSL (HTTPS) connections on port: (default 443)” is checked off or ISA will ignore all HTTPS requests on this listener
navigate to the Certificates tab and select “Use a single certificate for this Web Listener”. Then click “Select Certificate...”
You should now see the certificate we just imported listed among the available certificates on this machine account. Highlight it and press the Select button to use it
Click the OK button to complete the configuration operation
click Apply on the ISA Server Management header to apply the configuration changes you have just made. Ensure that you add a description so that you can easily roll back changes if need be

At this point you should now be able to navigate to your web site via HTTPS. If you do not have a lock icon or you receive a message saying the connection is not secure you may want to ensure that all script links are also using HTTPS.

A tidbit I'd also like to add is about ISA's web listener's. Each listener can only use a single certificate, and listeners cannot overlap IP addresses. It's very important to know this prior to developing your HTTPS strategy in order to minimize headaches. It was for this reason alone that I decided to purchase a wildcard certificate since I had 4 sub-domains to secure. If you have multiple sub-domains and there is the possibility of more in the future you should seriously consider purchasing one. If you did purchase a wildcard certificate than you should modify the steps when generating your CSR. Instead of writing your common name in the notation of: test.mydomain.com you will write: *.mydomain.com. This is the only difference. Good luck and thanks for reading!

Ps: I'll include the pricing information I gathered prior to doing the work myself. Based on cost and the fact that each of these products is virtually identical, I recommended Go Daddy.

Go Daddy: $199 / yr; $358 / 2yr; - unlimited add. server licenses
Digicert: $495 / yr, $890 / 2yr unlimited add. server licenses
RapidSSL: $796 / yr; $995 / 2yr add. server licenses fees figured in
Thawte: ~$2,000 / yr; ~$3,400 / 2yr add. server licenses fees figured in
GeoTrust: ~$2,500 / yr; ~$3,300 / 2yr add. server licenses fees figured in
Global Sign: $849 / yr; $1528 / 2yr - most likely additional fees for server licensing
TrustCenter: $840 / yr; $1,471.53 / 2yr - most likely additional fees for server licensing
StartCom: $49.90 / 2yr – does not appear to be any additional licensing fees
Verisign: Prices not listed but Verisign will cost more than any other listed here.

How To: Dell Latitude E6500 Dual-Boot - Linux / Windows XP

2010-03-22T19:11:00.000-03:00

6 months ago I inherited a Dell Latitude E6500 from a sales person in my office. It has since become my home workstation / travel notebook. This was a relief because up until this time I had been using a Dell Mini 9 running Dell's Ubuntu Netbook Remix loaded with version 8.04 (Hardy Heron). That Mini 9 now lives exclusivly in my server room as a portable diagnostics tool. Combined with a hub or port mirroring on one of my Dell PowerConnect switches, it truly is a tool among tools.

When I received the E6500 it was bloated with Dell's 'complementary' software, by 'complementary' I mean 'garbage', and performance was atrocious. With only 80GB of storage I picked up a new Western Digital Scorpio 2.5” 500GB SATA drive and started from scratch. I opted to build a dual-boot Ubuntu / XP system. I decided to load Windows XP on it because this is afterall a piece of work hardware and the network I currently manage at the Win2003 functional level. However, I'm not new to Linux and understand the advantages it has over Windows. For starters, software! There are literally oodles of open-source, free software available for Linux. It makes my head spin, there is so much. And with Canonical's Synaptic Package Manager, if you can use Windows Explorer... you can install software on Ubuntu. I'm getting slightly off-topic but I'll try to remember to do a future post on the Ludities Guide to Installing Ubuntu.

At any rate, I found the easiest way to go about building a dual-boot Windows / Linux system was to install Windows first. Windows has a very particular bootloader and the installation process tends to stomp on the entire hard drive. When you install Windows don't bother with planning your partitions, simply let Windows use the entire disk and complete your XP installation. Once you're done pop in your Ubuntu 9.04 Live CD and reboot. When prompted to boot from CD, press a key and follow the installation instructions displayed on-screen. When you get to the point where must choose how to partition your disk, select the Manually edit partition table option. You should see your NTFS (or whatever filesystem you chose for your Windows install) partition taking up the entire drive. Right-click this partition and select “Resize”. You will now be able to move the slider back and forth to select the appropriate amount of space for your Linux installation. In my instance I took half of the available drive, so approximatly 250GB. I also kept my partitions simple by not creating a separate Home partition although you may wish to do this differently. I created my Linux Swap partition at 10GB using the rule “Double your RAM” and then created my main Root partition at 240GB. I chose ext4 (or Fourth Extended File System) as my Root partition file system, as opposed to ext3 or many others. For more information regarding ext4 you should read the wiki entry for it. Once you have your partitions laid out simply apply the changes and continue on with the installation. Jaunty Jackalope (9.04) installed device drivers for everything save my nVidia Quadro NVS160 video card. A generic open-source drive was used, a very useable one I might add, but I needed to take full advantage of my hardware in order to have Compiz Fusion perform as good as possible. If you purchased your E6500 with standard video than you will not have to bother with this step.

Welcome to Jecnical Targon!

2010-03-22T16:51:00.000-03:00

Hi there and welcome to Jecnical Targon, a technology blog with a twist!

Throughout my work-and-play life I've come across many things which I believe would be of interest to someone (yourself, perhaps) and after much procrastination have organized my thoughts and actions into what you are reading right now.

Topics which I hope to cover included technology, green-living, and everything to do with recycling. However, my day job as a System's Administrator will undoubtedly enter in to the mix. After-all, while I'm a nature loving eco-freak on one hand... on the other rests my iPhone. So don't worry! There will be lots of content from both sides and not just potato-powered computers!

And last but certainly NOT the least... thanks for reading!