James Stull

Checking Systems for Meltdown & Spectre Vulnerabilities

2018-01-13T23:35:00.002-05:00

On Wednesday, January 3rd 2018 Google Project Zero and Intel Security announced Spectre (CVE-2017-5715) & Meltdown (CVE-2017-5754). They affect all Operating Systems running on most industry processors regardless if it's physical or virtual. If you want more information about the vulnerabilities and how they can be exploited be sure to review the links in the reference section at the end of this blog post.

Microsoft Security Response Center released a handy Powershell module tool called SpeculationControl that you can use to verify if any of your Windows systems are vulnerable to these exploits.

If you have Powershell 5.x (which you should) then you can easily install the Powershell module just as you would any other module.

Install-Module -Name SpeculationControl

The module only has a single command in it called Get-SpeculationControlSettings. When you run this command it will verify and provide an easy to read summary for you that is color coded and even provides suggestions for you to improve your security. On a side note, understand that in order for this to run successfully you will need to change your execution policy to bypass or remote signed.

The command is pretty limited. In fact, it has absolutely no options to it at all. So the question is, how can you run it against remote systems? I found a couple great posts just on this topic. Mike Robbins wrote a blog post with a quick and easy way to do just that. Simply put Powershell Remoting allows you the flexibility to run commands/functions against any computer you wish. In Mike's example, he shows a very simple method to call the command to run against a single remote system. Just change $PC_Name to whatever computer name you want to run the command against.

Invoke-Command -ComputerName $PC_Name &{function:Get-SpeculationControlSettings}

As is, you could easily build on this and use Get-ADObject or Get-ADComputer to pull computers from AD and feed it's output to this command by putting it in a for loop. However, Ralph Kyttle wrote a handy guide that went a step farther and can provide you with a nice CSV report on all remote systems you run this against. If you have several systems you need to check, this is a great way to do so.

What if you run Linux? While I have not run a check against my Linux systems, I did find a handy tool on GitHub that seems legit and allows you to verify your Linux Servers.

References

https://meltdownattack.com/
https://blog.barkly.com/meltdown-spectre-patches-list-windows-update-help
https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/what-are-meltdown-and-spectre-heres-what-you-need-know

How to Generate a CSR without IIS or OpenSSL in Windows

2017-12-06T00:17:00.000-05:00

Sometimes you need a public certificate for an application such as a Web Application Proxy, ADFS, or some other application. Most of the time certificates are created for web servers so the most popularly known way to generate a CSR is through IIS or OpenSSL. However, you may not have an IIS server available and don't want to go through the headache of installing IIS or OpenSSL just to generate a CSR to get your certificate. Thankfully, you don't need either to generate a CSR. You actually can do this a number of ways.

Option 1 - 3rd Party Utility

You have a couple simple to use options that you can use to generate a CSR quickly and easily. The first is you can use a free utility offered by DigiCert. This utility can do a lot more than just generate a CSR and you can use it with any Certificate Service. The benefit of this tool is it's all GUI based so very easy to use for Jr Sysadmins.

Option 2 - MMC

Open the Certificates snap-in in MMC and select the Computer Account. Then go under the Personal --> Certificates panel, right-click on the blank space and follow All Tasks --> Advanced Operations --> Create Custom Request’ to open the “Certificate Enrollment” wizard. Follow the wizard to generate your CSR.

Option 3 - CertReq.exe

Windows has a built-in utility called Certreq that is very easy to use and accepts a simple configuration file. The configuration file you customize with your own settings for your server FQDN, Organizational Unit, Organization, City, State, & country. Then run the command:

certreq -new request_config.inf csr.txt

Here is a configuration template with all the details and notes in it you need to easily use.

Option 4 - Powershell

You can easily find scripts to generate CSR's through Powershell if you search github.

What is GatherNetworkInfo.vbs?

2017-11-25T21:52:00.000-05:00

Ever since Windows 7, Microsoft has installed a vbs script in the %systemroot%\System32 directory called GatherNetworkInfo.vbs. This script makes quick work when you need to gather information about a system and the network it's attached to. Because it's a default part of Windows, signed by Microsoft, and in the system path it's a tool you always know is there. However, as with any tool, it can be handy to both Sysadmin and Red Teamer, or abused by attackers needing a quick way to learn more about your network.

What does it gather?

When researching a feature in Windows you typically can find a Microsoft Docs, Technet article, or even an MVP blog post about it. However, in this case, I couldn't find anything. I did, however, find a blog post back in 2011 by Alex Verboon discussing this script. He referenced this 2010 Sans Whitepaper (PDF Link) that briefly discussed this script on page 9 and summarized what it does down to this:

The script’s voluminous output would be quite useful to a pen tester or an attacker doing reconnaissance. Amongst other things, it includes:

CPU type, installed memory and BIOS version
OS version and patches applied
Current username and domain
Details on installed network adapters
DNS settings and cache contents
ARP cache contents
Windows file shares
Windows firewall configuration and rules

That in and of itself is a good summary of the output. Outside of this, I found it also dumps:

Event logs such as Application, Firewall, System & others
Services and their status
Battery Report
Installed Drivers
Windows Features Information
Output from GPResult for applied GPO settings
And much more

All of this output is saved in %systemroot%\System32\config.

If you look at this script you can quickly tell to get this information it simply runs several commands and WMI queries. It's actually pretty straight forward. Also, it's important to note that you don't need Admin rights to run the script. While you may not get all output if you run as a normal user account, but you can still get a ton of info about the system and network.

Passwords - Managing the Chaos

2017-11-18T20:52:00.000-05:00

Passwords are something that we all have and cannot avoid if we have a digital life. Every device we own and work with asks for one such as our laptops, phones, and tablets. Nearly every website we visit demands we create one. At work, you have, not only your computer, but business applications, network devices, and a myriad of other systems/applications that require passwords. Passwords are the virtual keys we need to unlock and secure everything we own and use in our virtual lives. We need them.

Unfortunately, it's also because of their widespread use we hate them. The average person has nearly 30 logins to keep track of. I have over 50 that I use and that doesn't include what I have at work. Because of this growth, many have gotten sloppy and use the same password over and over for multiple services. Many times they will use simple dictionary based words or names of children, birthdates, or other things that are easy for attackers to find and research from their victim's social media posts. But who can blame them when they have so many accounts?

Unfortunately many have learned the hard way why this is a major mistake. About every day we learn that accounts are "hacked" or a company is breached. Add this to the common practice of reusing simple passwords across accounts you can imagine how large of an issue this can be.

Trying to find a Solution

Because of these issues, many have tried touting that a passwordless world would be more secure. They have looked to alternative solutions such as biometrics (fingerprint readers or eye scanners), face recognition, access tokens, or other far more complex systems to replace password-based authentication. However, all of these cost far more to implement due to special hardware, software, and/or licensing requirements. It's because of these issues adoption of these technologies are limited.

Another way websites have tried to solve this issue is by setting up single authentication. We see "Login with $socialmedia Account" everywhere. However, there are issues and concerns with this too. For example, if you log in with your social media account, should it be compromised, you now have multiple systems the attacker can exploit. The other issue is most of these sites want you to use your social media so they have access to your account and what you post leading to privacy concerns. With this in mind, I strongly recommend you review your accounts and what apps have access to them annually and remove anything you don't use or are unfamiliar with.

Lets face it, password-based authentication isn't going away. It's very simple system to implement because its a core feature of every OS and application system. However the question still remains, how do we manage all these accounts in a secure way?

Password Managers

Password Managers are applications that make managing accounts easy. They provide an easy to manage way to assign randomly generated, complex, and strong passwords for your accounts. They also make it easy to share passwords with IT teams, your family, etc. They do all this securely because they keep all your credentials encrypted. Essentially making it so you only have to remember a single password that in turn unlocks access to all your accounts.

While the mentality of "I don't want all my eggs in one basket" may be going off in your head right now, keep in mind this password manager is something you want to add additional layers of security to. We will be talking about that in our next section. For now, keep in mind that with all the accounts we have to manage both personally and professionally Password Managers are a requirement. Because you can have them assign unique random passwords to each account you have then should a website or application become compromised then its isolated to just that one service.

If you don't have a Password Manager I strongly encourage you to find one that works for you. There are many to choose from both paid for commercial and OpenSource free solutions. It doesn't matter what solution you want to go with, just find one.

Enable Two Factor Authentication (2FA)

Many vendors now support what is called Two Factor Authentication or 2FA for short. This is a simple system that greatly increases the security of your accounts. After you type in your password the application or service will ask for an additional form of proof you are actually you. This may be in the form of an SMS message, application popup on your phone/tablet, email, or the use of hardware such as a smart card or Yubikey. This way should someone get your password then they still wouldn't be able to access your account because they would need additional proof they are you.

Don't wait, enable 2FA immediately. Especially on your important accounts such as your personal email, financial, Password Manager, shopping, social media, and all other sites that are critical or may have a sensitive or financial impact to you should they be compromised. Many vendors now support 2FA and can provide you different 2FA options that you can choose from.

An important note on 2FA that you need to be aware of. I don't encourage you to use 2FA using SMS. This is because your cell phone number can easily be spoofed or stolen.

Passwords that Make Sense

Passwords do not need to be difficult. In the past, it was always recommended to use alphanumeric with special characters and to keep it relatively short so you can remember it and to change it regularly. The bad part about that is, these passwords are a pain to remember. Ask anyone working helpdesk and you will quickly find the #1 ticket request they get is for password resets.

The best passwords are both long and easy to remember. I usually recommend phrases or random words that you can easily associate together. You never want to use anything such as birthdays, pet or family member names, or anything else commonly posted to social media because these are easily guessed and found by attackers.

To better understand, I'll let this xkcd comic better explain.

Getting Started with Learning Linux

2016-02-06T12:17:00.000-05:00

This article also posted in the Spiceworks Community.

Introduction

Linux is constantly growing in popularity. Anymore, its almost a requirement in IT to know at least something about Linux or BSD. Even the most Microsoft Windows centric company has at least 1 Linux box, either as a network appliance or hardware made for a specific roll. Even if your job roll has nothing to do with Linux, having a basic understanding will help you in your IT career.

This how-to is built for the first time user of Linux. Following this guide will help you make the right decisions to get you started in the right direction. Be sure to check the reference links at the bottom of this how-to article for more information.

Home Lab

If you have not already done so, build yourself a home lab. This lab will be the basis to help you get started. The nice part about having a home lab is you can do whatever you want and you don't have to worry about damaging anything in a production environment.

Don't get hung up on what hardware you need. Just get something! Yes it would be great to setup a full 42U rack in your garage, populate with Servers and network gear. But if you're like me, you don't have the funds for that.

A home lab can be anything from a spare desktop to laptop. Start with something cheap and basic. You can always add onto it later.

If you really want to go cheap, buy yourself a Raspberry Pi. You can pickup a Zero for as little as $5. Remember, you don't need much to learn Linux.

What if you don't have any spare hardware? Go ahead and install Virtual Box on your computer. You can always install Linux on your desktop/laptop virtually.

For more ideas on what you can do in a home lab and where to find hardware deals, check out my how-to "IT Pro Education: Build a Home Lab". Link to this how-to is listed under the References.

Choosing a Distro: Advise

Starting off everyone pretty much gets hung up on Linux right here. Choosing a Linux Distribution. They know they want to learn Linux, but they don't know where to start. So they do a Google search and learn that their are these things called "distros". Unlike Windows or Mac, their is no single OS, their are all kinds of different Linux types out there! And they are all different! Where should you start?

First and formost don't let this stop you. Don't get hung up on picking one. If you search the community you will find all kinds of different questions such as: What Linux distro should I use for ______? Or What is the best Linux distro for _______? Forget distros. Thats right, forget about them. They don't really matter! Yes they all are different, but you are just starting out so they don't matter to you! Don't let trying to pick one stop you or hold you up.

Why should choosing a distro not matter? You learn one, you learn them all. Yes they are all a little different, but thats just it. They are a little different. Think of it this way... You know how to drive a car right? Because you know how to drive a car you can drive any make or model car. Doesn't matter who built it. They are all similar enough you can get in one and drive. Yeah it may take you a minute to figure out how to use the cruise control, but that doesn't stop you from driving. Linux is very similar. You learn one Linux distro you really learn them all, or at least you are good enough to get around and use any distro. All you need to do is learn that distro's particulars to become proficient at it.

To sum up this step, remember this:
Don't get hung up on picking. Just dig in and learn!

Choosing a Distro

OK, now that I just told you to pay no attention to distros, now I'm going to tell you the opposite. [troll face] Seriously... yes it does matter what distro you pick, but only because as you learn Linux you will find that you like one over another. Its features, its commands, etc may factor in to what you personally like to use, how you learn, or even what you want to learn. Just remember my point from before: Don't get hung up on picking! Just dig in and learn.

Now that we got that out of the way. First know their are some core distros. From these pretty much all other distributions come from in some way shape or form. Those include Red Hat, Debian, Slackware, Gentoo, and Linux From Scratch. You may want to start with one of these.

So the question is... How do I pick what distro to start with?

Before you move on, I suggest you answer these two questions:
1. What do you want to learn?
2. How do you want to learn it?

The reason you ask yourself those questions is because knowing the answer will help you know how best to proceed in what and how you learn.

For example...
1. What do you want to learn? - I want to know the basics of Linux.
2. How do you want to learn it? - I just want to install it and poke around. I don't want to have to troubleshoot anything and I don't want to mess with the command line.

If these are your answers then you probably want to start simple and use a distro that does most everything for you. If so, I suggest you look at these:
Fedora Core
Ubuntu or Mint

These are very end user desktop oriented distributions. They can be powerful and used as servers too (I wouldn't recommend) but they make getting into Linux very easy since they do most the work for you, and they look really nice with their fancy GUIs.

However lets say you answer those questions like this:
1. What do you want to learn? - I want to know how Linux works, I want to know every in and out about it.
2. How do you want to learn it? - I want to build everything myself so I know how it all works.

If so then I suggest you consider using one of these:
Gentoo
Linux from Scratch
Slackware

Now that I gave you some ideas here are some popular distributions and what they are well known for:

-- Centos (Red Hat) --
I highly suggest this is where you start. Most companies use Red Hat, so using Centos is a great place to start and use since its a clone of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. If you have an interest in becoming a Linux Sysadmin this is the distro for you because of this. Also Red Hat has many certifications that you can take to help you get started professionally. Due to Red Hat's popularity in the corporate world, many compare other distros to it. Centos is a very solid OS and follows (many times creates!) most Linux standards. Has a great community behind it.

-- Gentoo --
One of my personal favorite distros. You will build your own system from scratch, including your kernel. Great way to learn the in and out of Linux, especially if you want to be a Linux Sysadmin. Has a great community behind it. Be ready to spend your time on this, however, since you are compiling everything yourself. However you may or may not want to learn from this distro since it takes Linux into almost the BSD world because of how it works. Not a bad thing, just different from Linux standards.

-- Linux from Scratch --
If you really want to dig your heels into Linux, then this is it. You literally get to download and build everything yourself. You cannot get more basic than this. You may want to punch a hole in the wall due to frustration, but after spending hours building your very first Linux distribution and successfully installing it you will feel like you just beat the biggest challenge life can throw at you. I don't recommend unless you really want to learn Linux deeply and you like learning the hardest most time consuming way possible.

-- Debian --
Very stable OS and some companies use it. Debian has been around for a very long time. Its focus is on stability so when you install it you will think you just installed an older OS (because you did). Not knocking this distro, many swear by it. Its a good one to start with, especially if you have older hardware. Note that you can install newer features if you want to. This is a good one to learn from since it follows (and creates) many Linux standards.

-- Ubuntu --
Many small businesses use Ubuntu. Not because of any technology reasons, but because Ubuntu's popularity in the desktop market. Many people really like it and it does have a good community behind it. I do NOT suggest you learn from Ubuntu. Reason I say this is because Ubuntu does its own thing very different from Linux standards that may build bad habbits in the future if you want to ever become a Linux Sysadmin. But if you want something easy to install and use, this (or Mint) may be the best one for you.

Still confused on what you should try? Download Centos and get started. Why didn't I just say that in the beginning? Well, because Linux is all about choice. Its diversification is what makes Linux so powerful, and that is something you should know and understand.

Lets get Learning Resources

Their are several online resources that you can leverage. Both paid and free courses are available. I linked a couple of free online courses I found that can help you get started.

If you want to pay for an online training course their are many available. Companies such as Plural Sight, Linux Academy, & CBT Nuggets just to name a few have great courses that you can leverage.

You can also start by getting a book. Here are a few titles that are my personal favorites:
Running Linux
Think Unix
Unix and Linux System Administration Handbook

I highly suggest you search the internet. Their are many great free books that you can download online.

Be sure to check the reference section of this how-to. Their are several links I added to help you get started.

Project Ideas & Learning Tips

Now that you have your distro downloaded and you are starting to learn your way around your Linux system you may be asking yourself a question. Now what?

Come up with some projects. Give yourself a task to help you learn.

Create a File Server
Build a web server
Setup a Game server such as Minecraft
Host a Photo Album
Build a Media Server for your movies and/or music

I also suggest you replace your desktop by installing Linux. If you do this then it forces you to learn Linux and what Open Source software is available. Using it daily is a great way to learn.

Lastly don't skip over the Terminal. The terminal is the real power behind Linux. If you know how to navigate and work in the system on the command line you can do this on any Linux/BSD system. This is especially true on servers since they typically never have a GUI interface. I highly suggest you learn the command line and get used to using it. You will find its a valuable tool.

Join a Linux User Grou (LUG)

Another great way to learn is you can join your local Linux Users group. Typically you will find your local LUG and when they meet by just searching for them.

And don't forget to ask around in your local Spicecorp. You may find that some in your group have Linux experience and can help you learn.

Conclusion

I hope this how-to helps you get started and gives you ideas on what and how you can reach your Linux learning goals.

If you get stuck be sure to ask questions here in the community. Don't forget to search the internet too. Many times you can solve your issue just by doing some searching.

Have fun learning!

References

Spicecorps
Spiceworks Community Linux Group
Learn Linux the Hard Way
Free Learning Linux Course by IBM
The Linux Documentation Project
CBT Nuggets
Plural Sight
Linux Academy
Book -- UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook
Book -- Think Unix
Book -- Running Linux
VirtualBox
Raspberry Pi
DistroWatch
Free Linux Training Courses
Free Linux Training
The Complete Beginners Guide to Linux
Linux Distro Timeline
IT Pro Education: Build a Home Lab

Linux Foundation 2012

2012-12-13T21:51:00.000-05:00

Awesome video about Linux adoption over the past year.

How-to: Fix a Drive Suffering from an Identity Crisis

2011-03-23T13:32:00.000-04:00

This is a short how-to I wrote on spiceworks on how to fix a drive that forgot what size it is.

http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/show/2043

Using ntfsclone to Image Clients

2011-02-05T23:42:00.000-05:00

Here is a how-to I wrote on Spiceworks on how to use ntfsclone to image Windows based systems:

http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/show/1751

The Sysprep How-To

2011-02-05T23:41:00.000-05:00

Here is a how-to I wrote on Spiceworks about Sysprep:

http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/show/1752

How to Configure Trusted Sites in Internet Explorer via Group Policy

2010-12-06T19:06:00.000-05:00

Microsoft didn't exactly make configuring Trusted Sites in Group Policy (GPO) a straight forward thing. Thankfully this simple how-to will get you off the ground getting Trusted Sites configured quickly and easily.

First either create a GPO and link it to the desired OU or edit an existing where you have the computer(s) located in Active Directory you want to have this setting.

NOTE: the fewer GPO's you have the better. Try to always keep GPO's stacked on top of eachother and don't duplicate settings. This will help cut down on configuration issues and the time it takes for a user to login.

Now in the GPO you're editing go to Computer Configuration –> Administrative Tools –> Windows Components –> Internet Explorer –> Internet Control Panel –> Security Page and then double click to the zone assignment list in the right pane.

Next you want to Enable then click on the "Show..." button.

Now all you need to do is add all your URL's you want to this list and specify what zone you want them configured for. The top field is for the URL, the second field requires a number to specify what zone to place the URL in. In our case we want the URL in the Trusted Zone so we would place a number "2" in this field. Here are all the numbers and what zones they represent.

1. Intranet zone – sites on your local network.
2. Trusted Sites zone – sites that have been added to your trusted sites.
3. Internet zone – sites that are on the Internet.
4. Restricted Sites zone – sites that have been specifically added to your restricted sites.

After you update you can either wait 15 minutes for the Policy to go into effect or force via reboot or run the gpupdate command.

How to upgrade Fedora without downloading a new CD image

2010-12-04T19:37:00.000-05:00

Upgrading Fedora from one version to the next is very simple just follow these steps:

1. Make sure you backup all your data, just to be safe.

2. Make sure your system is up to date:

#yum update

3. Just in case, make sure you running the latest version of RPM and yum:

#yum update rpm
#yum update yum

4. Install the preupgrade package:

#yum install preupgrade

5. Run the preupgrade command:

#preupgrade

Enjoy!

OpenDNS & Dynamic IP Update

2010-09-09T22:06:00.000-04:00

In my last blog post I showed you how to configure your Linux No-IP dynamic DNS update. In this post we are going to take DNS a bit further and show you how to make your internet surfing not only faster, but safer.

OpenDNS is a free (or if you wish pay) service that gives you more control over your family's internet access. Their are several how-tos on the site for how to use it and set it up. Go ahead and setup a free account and it will immediately direct you to step by step documentation for setting up your home network to use it. Several benefits of why you should use OpenDNS include (but not limited to) faster speed since they cache sites, access controls to limit what sites you don't want to access, and history to see what and where your going on the internet.

After you setup your account you will need to setup your dynamic IP updater so your access rules and history is applied even if your IP address changes. To do this you first need to install ddclient:

# yum install ddclient

Then simply add the following text at the bottom of the /etc/ddclient.conf:

##
## OpenDNS.com account-configuration
##
use=web, web=whatismyip.org
server=updates.opendns.com
protocol=dyndns2
login=USERID
password=PASSWORD
opendns_network_label

Of course you will need to change the "USERID" and "PASSWORD" values to the ones you created for your OpenDNS login. Lastly be sure that the line at the top of the config file that says "ssl=yes" is uncommented. You do this by removing the "#" in front of it. Now save the config.

Your all done, simply start the service:

# service ddclient start

Then add it to your run levels:

# chkconfig ddclient --add
# chkconfig --levels 25 ddlcient on

If you want to make sure your ddclient is working like it is supposed to you can always check the process and check your logs. It should look something like this:

# ps -ef | grep ddclient
ddclient XXXX 1 0 20:43 ? 00:00:00 ddclient - sleeping for 270 seconds

OR you can run:

# service ddclient status
ddclient (pid XXXXX) is running...

To Check the log files:

# tail /var/log/messages
Sep 9 20:43:18 linux ddclient[XXXX]: SUCCESS: updating opendns_network_label: good: IP address set to XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX

Note 1: A few home routers have this capability in them. Check your routers documentation if you would rather run this on your router instead of your Linux computer.
Note 2: The ddclient has several capabilities that you should look into. If you look in your config file you will find that ddclient can update several dynamic IP services such as dynDNS (same as No-IP) and many more. You may wish to open a dynamic DNS account through one of the providers it supports so your only running one process instead of two.
Note 3: Their are ways around OpenDNS, such as changing the DNS servers of the PC your using. If you want to keep this from happening you can always block DNS requests through your Linux firewall server (this will be discussed in detail in future blog posts) or you can lock users out of the DNS configuration of your PC's (also will be discussed in future blog posts).

Setup No-IP Auto Update on Fedora 13

2010-08-31T22:48:00.000-04:00

Most home internet connections are provided with dynamic address assignment. This is very convenient for your ISP should they ever need to change IP addresses, however, its not so convenient for you if you like to access your home network remotely. Thankfully No-IP.com provides a free service that allows you to get around this issue.

No-IP provides dynamic DNS entries with free clients to update their servers. All you need to do is create an account, install their client to update their servers should your IP address change, and from time to time log into your account to keep it active. Then you can remotely connect to your computer via remote desktop, vnc, ssh, etc through a domain name of your choice.

To configure the client on Fedora 13 is very simple. Instead of downloading and manually compiling the client from source you can install it via rpm through yum:

#yum install noip

You will also find it if you do a search for "noip" in the "Add/Remove Software" application.

After the install is finished run the following command under sudo or as root:

# noip2 -C

Then enter your No-IP userid (your email address) and password and either accept the update interval or change it to a prefered value. The out put should look like this:

# noip2 -C

Auto configuration for Linux client of no-ip.com.

Please enter the login/email string for no-ip.com email@address.com
Please enter the password for user 'email@address.com' ************

Only one host [HOST.no-ip.org] is registered to this account.
It will be used.
Please enter an update interval:[30]
Do you wish to run something at successful update?[N] (y/N) N

New configuration file '/etc/no-ip2.conf' created.

Congratulations, your no-ip client is configured and running. You can verify it by running the following command:

# service noip status

The last thing you will need to setup is for the noip daemon (or service) to startup when you boot or restart your Linux box. Simply run the following two commands as root or under sudo to configure this:

# chkconfig noip --add
# chkconfig --levels 35 noip on

You can verify that this is successful by running the following command:

# chkconfig --list | grep noip

Your out put should look like this:

noip 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:off 5:on 6:off

Enjoy!
For more information about what these numbers mean click here.

The Known Universe

2009-12-18T23:43:00.000-05:00

An Easy way to Manage Disks and Volumes in Windows

2009-12-17T16:41:00.000-05:00

Ever heard of DISKPART? You have now. It's a very easy way to manage your disks in Windows 2000, XP, & 2003. It's a standard tool for XP and 2003 however if your running 2000 then you will need to download it. The links are at the bottom of this post.

This little command line utility is very easy to work with but powerful.

For example: lets say you added a disk to your RAID5 set and you want to add it to your current volume. Instead of taking the time to convert to dynamic disks which would lead to down time since the volume would need to be unmounted you can use diskpart to expand it. The way you do this is by running the diskpart command, type "list volume", then select the volume by typing "select volume N" N being the volume number, then type "extend" to extend to the max size or you can type "extend size=N" this time N represents the size in MB.

Diskpart does have some limitations but you will find it very helpful.

You can download diskpart here.
You can find more information about diskpart here.

How to move your MySQL Database

2009-11-27T11:03:00.000-05:00

I recently upgraded a server and installed a RAID5 set just to house the database running on that server. After a little research I found that it was really easy to move a MySQL database. Here is how you do it.

First off since I run CentOS this is going to be Red Hat/CentOS specific. However, you can use these methods on any distribution.

After you configure your RAID set or formatted your hard drive you want to move your MySQL database to you will need to mount it, lets say you mount it to /database and you already updated fstab.

If MySQL is running make sure you shut it down:
#/etc/rc.d/init.d/mysql stop
OR
#service mysql stop

Now unless you want to put your database in the root of /database you will want to create a sub-directory:
#mkdir /database/mysql

Copy your database files:
#cp -R /var/lib/mysql/ /database/mysql

Setup the correct permissions:
#chown -R mysql.mysql /database/mysql

Rename your old directory (or you can delete it):
#mv /var/lib/mysql/ /var/lib/mysql_OLD
OR
#rm -rf /var/lib/mysql

Update your my.cnf file with the path you moved your old database files to. You can either comment out the old lines or remove them:
[mysqld]
#datadir=/var/lib/mysql
datadir=/database/mysql
#socket=/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock
socket=/database/mysql/mysql.sock

If your running version 4 or older of mysql then you will also need to update your basedir, otherwise don't worry about this step:
#basedir=/var/lib
basedir=/database

Now all you need to do is start MySQL and your done. If for some reason it doesn't start check your /var/log/mysqld.log for the reason.

On a side note if you have any programs that are particular of the MySQL path, then you will probably want to setup a soft link BEFORE you start-up mysqld.
#ln -s /database/mysql/ /var/lib/mysql

And set the appropriate permissions for the link:
#chown mysql.mysql /var/lib/mysql

Create Your Own Home Brewed T1 Cable

2009-11-10T22:08:00.000-05:00

I'm currently supporting 2 sites that are about a mile apart. I've got a T1 that bridges the 2 networks together but I wanted some redundancy (not to mention a faster connection). So I decided to invest in a couple of Cisco 1300 wireless bridges which would give us a 54mb link. The problem was I wanted to test them, along with the routing, in a lab environment. I had a couple spare 2600's laying around so I connected them up and did some searching. After a while I came across this Cisco page that shows you how to make a loop back end both physically and logically for your router. This is great if you only want to test your CSU/DSU, but I wanted to actually make a T1 cable to test the routes to make sure they worked the way I needed them to before I applied them to the production network. So I yanked out a few feet of Cat5 and created a T1 cable that basically mirrored the loopback on both ends. It worked great and I had a full 1.544mb connection between the CSU/DSU's.

Here is a picture to show how I made it along with how to make a physical loopback T1: