Networks & System Administration

Intrusion Detection and Prevention Using OSSEC

2010-08-31T02:20:00.000-07:00

What is OSSEC?
According to OSSEC "It is an Open Source Host-based Intrusion Detection System. It performs log analysis, file integrity checking, policy monitoring, rootkit detection, real-time alerting and active response."

Installation on Debian Server
I installed on Debian .6.24-19-server, already running web service.
Install environment
Make sure you have compiler e.g gcc or cc and 'make' already installed in your system, otherwise you will get error message and abort the installation process.

root@www:/usr/local/src/ossec-hids-2.4.1# apt-get install gcc

Dwonload the latest build from www.ossec.net website

Extract into folder and start installation
imran@web:~/ossec-hids-2.4.1$ tar -zxvf ossec-hids-2.4.1.tar.gz
imran@web:~/ossec-hids-2.4.1$ cd ossec-hids-2.4.1/

Run the installation script;

root@web:~/ossec-hids-2.4.1# ./install.sh
** Para instalação em português, escolha [br].
** 要使用中文进行安装, 请选择 [cn].
** Fur eine deutsche Installation wohlen Sie [de].
** Για εγκατάσταση στα Ελληνικά, επιλέξτε [el].
** For installation in English, choose [en].
** Para instalar en Español , eliga [es].
** Pour une installation en français, choisissez [fr]
** Per l'installazione in Italiano, scegli [it].
** 日本語でインストールします．選択して下さい．[jp].
** Voor installatie in het Nederlands, kies [nl].
** Aby instalować w języku Polskim, wybierz [pl].
** Для инструкций по установке на русском ,введите [ru].
** Za instalaciju na srpskom, izaberi [sr].
** Türkçe kurulum için seçin [tr].
(en/br/cn/de/el/es/fr/it/jp/nl/pl/ru/sr/tr) [en]: en

-- Press ENTER to continue or Ctrl-C to abort. --
1- What kind of installation do you want (server, agent, local or help)? local

- Local installation chosen.

2- Setting up the installation environment.

- Choose where to install the OSSEC HIDS [/var/ossec]: /var/ossec

- Installation will be made at /var/ossec .

3- Configuring the OSSEC HIDS.

3.1- Do you want e-mail notification? (y/n) [y]: y
- What's your e-mail address? imran@pingcom.net

- We found your SMTP server as: ASPMX4.GOOGLEMAIL.COM.
- Do you want to use it? (y/n) [y]: y

--- Using SMTP server: ASPMX4.GOOGLEMAIL.COM.

3.2- Do you want to run the integrity check daemon? (y/n) [y]: y

- Running syscheck (integrity check daemon).

3.3- Do you want to run the rootkit detection engine? (y/n) [y]: y

- Running rootcheck (rootkit detection).

3.4- Active response allows you to execute a specific
command based on the events received. For example,
you can block an IP address or disable access for
a specific user.
More information at:
http://www.ossec.net/en/manual.html#active-response

- Do you want to enable active response? (y/n) [y]: y

- Active response enabled.

- By default, we can enable the host-deny and the
firewall-drop responses. The first one will add
a host to the /etc/hosts.deny and the second one
will block the host on iptables (if linux) or on
ipfilter (if Solaris, FreeBSD or NetBSD).
- They can be used to stop SSHD brute force scans,
portscans and some other forms of attacks. You can
also add them to block on snort events, for example.

- Do you want to enable the firewall-drop response? (y/n) [y]: y

- firewall-drop enabled (local) for levels >= 6

- Default white list for the active response:
- xx.xx.xx.xx
- xx.xx.xx.xx

- Do you want to add more IPs to the white list? (y/n)? [n]: y
- IPs (space separated): xx.xx.xx.xx

3.6- Setting the configuration to analyze the following logs:
-- /var/log/messages
-- /var/log/auth.log
-- /var/log/syslog
-- /var/log/mail.info
-- /var/log/dpkg.log
-- /var/log/apache2/error.log (apache log)
-- /var/log/apache2/access.log (apache log)

- If you want to monitor any other file, just change
the ossec.conf and add a new localfile entry.
Any questions about the configuration can be answered
by visiting us online at http://www.ossec.net .

--- Press ENTER to continue ---

Error
Error Making os_xml
make: *** [all] Error 1

Error 0x5.
Building error. Unable to finish the installation.

Solution for above Error
root@web:# apt-get install libc6-dev

- System is Debian (Ubuntu or derivative).
- Init script modified to start OSSEC HIDS during boot.

- Configuration finished properly.

--- Press ENTER to finish (maybe more information below). ---

Configuration File is stored at
root@web:# nano /var/ossec/etc/ossec.conf
It contains the configrations

How to Start

root@web:#/var/ossec/bin/ossec-control start

How to Stop

root@web:#/var/ossec/bin/ossec-control stop

References:
http://www.ossec.net/main/manual/manual-installation
http://newyork.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=905034

Intrusion Detection Service in IPCOP

2010-08-25T07:50:00.000-07:00

Intrusion Detection was stopped in my IPCoP, version 1.4.1, a while a go, I tried to start them all three through GUI but Got message fail to start.
I loged in in console of Ipcop.
I checked the existing version of snort, which was older than latest.

root@firewall:/etc/snort/rules # snort --version
snort: unrecognized option `--version'

,,_ -*> Snort! <*-
o" )~ Version 2.6.1.5 (Build 59)
'''' By Martin Roesch & The Snort Team: http://www.snort.org/team.html
(C) Copyright 1998-2007 Sourcefire Inc., et al.

And when tried to start the snort using this command

root@firewall:~ # snort -c /etc/snort/snort.conf -l /var/log/snort/

I got error that there is error in line # 38 in exploit.rules file located in /etc/snort/rules/ folder.
When I tried to comment the line it gives error on line#39.

Solution
Replace the existing rules folder with working one.
For that I installed the latest snort in my laptop, and check the version.
imran@imran-laptop~ $ sudo apt-get install snort-mysql
imran@imran-laptop~ $ snort --version

,,_ -*> Snort! <*-
o" )~ Version 2.8.5.2 (Build 121)
'''' By Martin Roesch & The Snort Team: http://www.snort.org/snort/snort-team
Copyright (C) 1998-2009 Sourcefire, Inc., et al.
Using PCRE version: 7.8 2008-09-05

and copied the rules folder in to IPcop
imran@imran-laptop~ $ scp '-P 22' exploit.rules root@10.10.0.1:/root

Then I make .tar of existing rules folder in IPCoP

root@firewall:/etc/snort/rules # tar -cvf rules.tar .

and replaced the one copied from my laptop and changed the permission to user nobody:nobody

root@firewall:/etc/snort/rules # chown -R nobody:nobody rules

Now IP cop has new rules list, although these rules were from new version of Snort 2.8.6
When I restarted snort again from console with above command, this time no error and it started straight away.
Then I can start and stop from GUI successfully.

MyCRM Connector Tool for Google Calendar Error

2010-05-19T03:51:00.000-07:00

After installation of "MyCRM Connector Tool", followed the procedure described in manual.
The test machine shows successful result when configured Google calander under My Account.
But production CRM gives following error.

"Fatal error: Call to undefined function curl_init() in /home/path/googlecal/MyCurl.php on line 32"

The solution is install php5-curl libraries.
root@server:~# sudo apt-get install curl libcurl3
root@server:~# sudo apt-get install php5-curl
root@server:~# apt-get install php5

I also restarted the mysql server and apache2 just for precaution, not necessary.

Recheck settings after entering my Google email address it worked.
Got this message.

****** Get events from meetings
Synced successfully.
****** Get events from calls
Synced successfully.
****** Get events from tasks
Synced successfully.

Daily Backup Using RSYNC

2010-02-12T11:52:00.000-08:00

Using these steps your system backup automatically using rsync.

Step 1: Generate a Public Key using ssh-keygen at Host machine.

root@home:~# ssh-keygen -t rsa
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/root/.ssh/id_rsa):
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /root/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
19:44:5f:1c:92:27:26:25:9b:13:df:dc:89:71:f0:c1 root@home

Step 2: Insert the key to authorized_key at host machine
root@home:~# cd /root/.ssh/
root@home:/root/.ssh# ls
id_rsa id_rsa.pub known_hosts
root@home:/root/.ssh# cp id_rsa.pub authorized_keys
root@home:/root/.ssh# ls
authorized_keys id_rsa id_rsa.pub known_hosts
root@home:/root/.ssh#

Step 3: Copy the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file to the remote(back) machine
As the backup machine storing backup of several machines, authorized_keys file already exits, just copy the line whole string from ~/.ssh/authorized_keys from host machine and append to the file at backup machine.

Step 4: Change permission of ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file, if needed.

#chmod 644 /.ssh/authorized_keys

Step 5: Create a script e.g backup and place in /etc/cron.daily/ and change permission to execute.

This will backup the whole machine, you can add specific files instead of /

#!/bin/sh
#
# backup
#
DEST=root@backup.yourdomain.com
RSYNC="rsync -aqP --delete -e ssh"

dpkg -l | cut -d' ' -f3 > /etc/deblist

$RSYNC / $DEST:/var/backups/.

(Optional)Step6: Change the time of /cron.daily from /etc/crontab file
So that your machines start syncing different time.

/etc/crontab
# m h dom mon dow user command
17 * * * * root cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly
30 4 * * * root test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.daily )
47 6 * * 7 root test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.weekly )
52 6 1 * * root test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.monthly )
#

Readings
http://www.scrounge.org/linux/rsync.html

Cloning SugarCRM

2010-01-11T04:25:00.000-08:00

Step 1: Clone the sugarcrm Directory
There is a script "CopySugarFile.sh", see script also in bottom.
Running the Script, remember you have to provide the paths both source directory and clone directory.

root@imran:~# ./sugarclone
Missing First Argument:
Syntax: copySugarFiles.sh /var/www/html/FROM_SUGAR_DIR /var/www/html/TO_SUGAR_DIR
exited with status -1

root@imran:~# ./sugarclone /var/www/sugar /var/www/clone
Compressing /var/www/sugar Sugar and saving to /home/imran/sugarFilesFromBackup201001111322.tgz
Compressing /var/www/clone Sugar and saving to /home/imran/sugarFilesToBackup201001111322.tgz
tar: Cowardly refusing to create an empty archive
Try `tar --help' or `tar --usage' for more information.
Extracting the /var/www/sugar Sugar tgz to /var/www/clone Sugar directory
Script complete.

Step2: Clone the Database

First Create a new database for Cloning e.g clone
Export the sugarcrm database using PHPMyAdmin tool e.g sugarcrm.sql
Import the sugarcrm.sql data into clone database.

root@imran:/srv/mysql# mysql -u root -p
Enter password:
Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 15595
Server version: 5.1.37-1ubuntu5 (Ubuntu)
Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.
mysql> create database clone
-> ;
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.18 sec)
mysql> GRANT ALL ON clone.* TO clone@localhost IDENTIFIED BY "clone";
Query OK, 0 rows affected (1.24 sec)
mysql>

Script

#!/bin/bash
# copySugarFiles.sh

exitcode=0
# insert the path to your production directory here to ensure nobody copies to it by mistake
blockdirprefix="/path/to/production/directory"

if [ -z "$1" ]
then
     echo -e "\nMissing First Argument:"
exitcode=-1;
elif [ "$1" = "--help" ] || [ "$1" = "-h" ]
then
exitcode=1;
elif [ -z "$2" ]
then
     echo -e "\nMissing Second Argument:"
exitcode=-2;
elif [ "$#" != "2" ] && [ "$#" != "3" ]
then
echo -e "\nInvalid number of arguments:"
exitcode=-3;
elif [ ! -d "$1" ]
then
echo -e "\nThe directory $1 doesn't exist."
exitcode=-7;
elif [ ! -d "$2" ]
then
echo -e "\nThe directory $2 doesn't exist:"
exitcode=-8;
elif [ "$1" = "$2" ]
then
echo -e "\nThe 'from' directory must be different than the 'to' directory:"
exitcode=-4;
# this checks that the blockdirprefix above is not being copied to
elif [ "${2:0:${#blockdirprefix}}" = "${blockdirprefix:0:${#blockdirprefix}}" ] && [ "$3" != "iamsure" ]
then
echo -e "\nCan't copy to production ($blockdirprefix) without third parameter of \"iamsure\""
exitcode=-10;
fi

if [ "$exitcode" -lt "0" ]
then
echo -e "Syntax: copySugarFiles.sh /var/www/html/FROM_SUGAR_DIR /var/www/html/TO_SUGAR_DIR\nexited with status $exitcode\n"
exit $exitcode;
elif [ "$exitcode" -gt "0" ]
then
echo -e "The first parameter should be the sugar directory you are copying from."
echo -e "The second parameter should be the sugar directory you are copying to."
echo -e "\nThis script will skip the following directories and files:"
echo -e "./cache\n./custom\n./config.php\n./config_override.php\n./*.log*"
exit $exitcode;
fi

date=$(date +%Y%m%d%H%M);

# Backing up the from sugar directory and saving to the user's home directory
echo -e "\nCompressing $1 Sugar and saving to $HOME/sugarFilesFromBackup$date.tgz\n"
cd "$1"
filelist=$(find . -maxdepth 1 ! -name "." ! -name "cache" ! -name "custom" ! -name "config.php" ! -name "config_override.php" ! -name "*.log*" -exec echo "{}" \;)
tarcommand="tar cfz $HOME/sugarFilesFromBackup$date.tgz $filelist"
$tarcommand;

# Backing up the from sugar directory and saving to the user's home directory
echo -e "\nCompressing $2 Sugar and saving to $HOME/sugarFilesToBackup$date.tgz\n"
cd "$2"
filelist=$(find . -maxdepth 1 ! -name "." ! -name "cache" ! -name "custom" ! -name "config.php" ! -name "config_override.php" ! -name "*.log*" -exec echo "{}" \;)
tarcommand="tar cfz $HOME/sugarFilesToBackup$date.tgz $filelist"
$tarcommand;

cd "$HOME"
# Extracting the from sugar directory to the to sugar directory
echo -e "\nExtracting the $1 Sugar tgz to $2 Sugar directory\n"
cp $HOME/sugarFilesFromBackup$date.tgz "$2"
cd "$2"
tarcommand="tar xf ./sugarFilesFromBackup$date.tgz"
$tarcommand;
rm "./sugarFilesFromBackup$date.tgz"

echo -e "\nScript complete."
exit 0

Readings
Cloning SugarCRM document
Exporting data using PHPMyAdmin

SugarCRM Changing Max file Upload Limit

2010-01-08T06:14:00.000-08:00

In sugar while uploading a file as attachment to e.g Marketing->Accounts->youraccount->Create Note or Attachment.
I tried to upload a file size 20M, it did not attached and no error message as well. Here is to fix this.After doing the following changes, performance of site also improves.

Step 1: Change in SugarCRM
Go to Admin->System Settings->Advanced
change Maximum upload size e.g 41943040 (40M) default was 3000000 (3M)

Step 2: Change in php.ini file
Login to your server hosting the site,
Go to /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini and change the following, Max, limit 40M

       post_max_size = 40M
   upload_max_size = 40M

   max_execution_time = 1000
   max_input_time = 60
   memory_limit = 128M

imran@venus:/var/www/sugar$ sudo nano /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
; Resource Limits ;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

max_execution_time = 100 ; Maximum execution time of each script, in seconds, 30s default
max_input_time = 60 ; Maximum amount of time each script may spend parsing request data
;max_input_nesting_level = 64 ; Maximum input variable nesting level
memory_limit = 128M ; Maximum amount of memory a script may consume (16MB), change to 50M, 50M defau$

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
; Data Handling ;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;

; Maximum size of POST data that PHP will accept, 8M default
post_max_size = 40M

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
; File Uploads ;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

; Maximum allowed size for uploaded files. change sizd 2M to 10M, 10M default
upload_max_filesize = 40M

Save the file and exit.

Step 3: Restart the apache2 web server
imran@venus:/var/www/sugar$ sudo nano /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini

Step 4: Test the upload Limit
Go to Marketing->Accounts->youraccount->Create Note or Attachment.
and attach a file e.g 20 M, it should be attached now.

NFS on Debian/Ubuntu

2009-11-20T04:22:00.000-08:00

Installation of NFS on server

Considering how powerful NFS is and the flexibility it gives you it is amazingly simple to set up. I expected it to be on a par with setting up Samba which can be a complete nightmare. Typically when setting up Samba one would use Swat or another configuration tool. With NFS set us is as easy as entering the paths you want exported into /etc/exports and making sure the correct packages are installed.

There are two implementations of NFS one runs in kernel space (nfs-kernel-server) the other in user space (nfs-user-server). The kernel space implementation is faster and more stable but if something goes wrong it could bring your box down. In reality the kernel space NFS implementation very rarely fails. I have been running it for years (and on at least one occasion for 150 days straight) and have had it fail only a couple of times. The times it did fail it simply needed restarting. In fact the only way I have even managed to get it to make a noise is when I had a box with a network card that was on the way out. The port on the card was bad which caused it to repeatedly drop and re-aquire the network sometimes several times a minute. After a few hours of that NFS would sometimes start to refuse new connections.

As well as the server you will need portmap. Fortunately if you chose NFS when you first installed the server you will have all the required packages already installed, configured and running.

One important point to remember when setting up NFS is to make sure that the user id (uid) of the user on the server matches the uid of the user on the local machine. NFS has no way of mapping "fred" on the local machine to "fred" on the server other than by relying on the uids being the same. Typically when you create a user the uid given is just the next one available but you can specify it explicitly.

Once you have made the required entries in /etc/exports you need to tell the NFS server about them. Typically I restart all three required utilities (portmap, nfs-kernel-server and nfs-common) as it is generally the best way to make sure everything is working correctly. See the section below on restarting NFS.

Step 0: Installation of NFS-server and NFS-client
Server:
# apt-get install nfs-kernel-server nfs-common portmap
Client
apt-get install nfs-common portmap

Step 1: Export directories on server
At server machine, export the directory in /etc/export file
# /etc/exports: the access control list for filesystems which may be exported
# to NFS clients. See exports(5).
/home 192.168.0.0/26(rw,sync)

Step 2: Restarting NFS on server

nfs-server:/samba#/etc/init.d/portmap start
nfs-server:/samba#/etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server start
nfs-server:/samba#/etc/init.d/nfs-common start

Verify NFS is runnning
nfs-server:/samba# rpcinfo -p
  program vers proto   port
   100000    2   tcp    111  portmapper
   100000    2   udp    111  portmapper
   100004    2   udp    878  ypserv
   100004    1   udp    878  ypserv
   100004    2   tcp    881  ypserv
   100004    1   tcp    881  ypserv
   100009    1   udp    880  yppasswdd
600100069    1   udp    883  fypxfrd
600100069    1   tcp    885  fypxfrd
   100007    2   udp    892  ypbind
   100007    1   udp    892  ypbind
   100007    2   tcp    895  ypbind
   100007    1   tcp    895  ypbind
   100003    2   udp   2049  nfs
   100003    3   udp   2049  nfs
   100021    1   udp  32868  nlockmgr
   100021    3   udp  32868  nlockmgr
   100021    4   udp  32868  nlockmgr
   100005    1   udp    709  mountd
   100005    1   tcp    712  mountd
   100005    2   udp    709  mountd
   100005    2   tcp    712  mountd
   100005    3   udp    709  mountd
   100005    3   tcp    712  mountd
   100024    1   udp  32869  status
   100024    1   tcp  58711  status

Step3: Mounting NFS drives on Client
Add location with drive and options.

:  nfs  0 0

# Mounts from other hosts

nfs-server:/home           /home           nfs     rw,rsize=32768,wsize=32768,hard,intr,async      0       2


Mount also on command line
client:/# mount -t nfs nfs-server:/home /home

Verification of mounting the drive.
On Client verify the mount point

client:/# df -h
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1             2.8G  2.1G  578M  79% /
tmpfs                 126M     0  126M   0% /lib/init/rw
udev                   10M   52K   10M   1% /dev
tmpfs                 126M     0  126M   0% /dev/shm
nfs-server:/home         123G  105G   12G  90% /home

Reference
http://www.crazysquirrel.com/computing/debian/servers/nfs.jspx
http://www.debianhelp.co.uk/nfs.htm

Upgrading Subversion in Ubuntu 9.10 server

2009-11-09T04:00:00.000-08:00

Step 1:Install the subversion
apt-get install subversion libapache2-svn

Step 2: Create the repository

svnadmin create /svn

Configuration
Edit the directory
/etc/apache2/mods-enabled/dav_svn.conf

# Uncomment this to enable the repository,
DAV svn
# Set this to the path to your repository
SVNPath /svn
# Uncomment the following 3 lines to enable Basic Authentication
AuthType Basic
AuthName “Subversion Repository”
AuthUserFile /etc/apache2/dav_svn.passwd

Require valid-user

Save and exit the file

Creation of user
htpasswd -cm /etc/apache2/dav_svn.passwd imran
New password:
Re-type new password:
Adding password for user imran

Enable ssl (if required)
#a2enmod ssl

This will enable the ssl if you have problem to set it.

Migration
Export by :Dumping the existing repository
root@jupiter:/svn# svnadmin dump svn > reposdump.dmp
Import by:
root@saturn:/srv# svnadmin load srv-jupiter < /home/imran/reposdump.dmp

Intrusion Detection (Snort) fixation in IPCOP Firewall 1.4.21

2009-11-03T02:22:00.000-08:00

After installing the IPcop got the following error messages

When running update the Error is:
HTTP::Response=HASH(0x82a3c14)->code registered md5
When running download the Error is:
HTTP::Response=HASH(0x82a3c68)->code

The reason is that now snort.org publish rules now on current branch that are no more compatible with snort-2.6.1.5
We have manually add the current branch, to - date it is 2. You can find on snort if you have your account on snort.org under My Account-->My Oinkcodes along with the code (You must have account at snort to access code and use snort in IPCOP).

Here is a solution, it is a manual fixation in the code.

Open the /usr/local/bin/snortrules.pl in and editor.
root@firewall:/etc/snort # nano /usr/local/bin/snortrules.pl
Change the value to 2.8 at line no 55.
my $rulesbranch="2.8"; # version should match snort branch version

Save the change.
Remember you must have to add the oink code in IPCOP--> Services-->INTRUSION DETECTION.
Save-Apply-Refresh update list-Download Rullset.

It should work, no update rull-set failure or MD5 checksum error.

https://www.snort.org/
http://www.howtoforge.com/perfect_linux_firewall_ipcop

Wireless Chanel list in Ubuntu

2009-09-25T01:46:00.000-07:00

Step 1: Install/Enable your Wireless Card

Step 2: Scan the media using 'iwlist scan'
root@imran-laptop:~/Desktop# iwlist scan
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.
eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.
wlan0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:1B:11:5A:BC:48
Channel:1
Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)
Quality=43/70 Signal level=-67 dBm
Encryption key:on
ESSID:"pingcom"
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s
Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s
36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Mode:Master
Extra:tsf=000008f601582180
Extra: Last beacon: 2732ms ago
IE: Unknown: 000770696E67636F6D
IE: Unknown: 010482848B96
IE: Unknown: 030101
IE: Unknown: 2A0100
IE: Unknown: 32088C129824B048606C
IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (2) : TKIP CCMP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
IE: WPA Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (2) : TKIP CCMP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
IE: Unknown: DD180050F2020101000003A4000027A4000042435E0062322F00
IE: Unknown: DD1E00904C334E101FFFFF000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
IE: Unknown: DD1A00904C340105070000000F000000000000000000000000000000
IE: Unknown: 2D1A4E101FFFFF000000000000000000000000000004000000000000
IE: Unknown: 3D160105030000000F000000000000000000000000000000
Cell 02 - Address: 00:19:5B:47:45:E5
Channel:2
Frequency:2.417 GHz (Channel 2)
Quality=57/70 Signal level=-53 dBm
Encryption key:on
ESSID:"Owera-Guest"
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
12 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
Bit Rates:9 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Mode:Master
Extra:tsf=000000079c93363a
Extra: Last beacon: 2776ms ago
IE: Unknown: 000B4F776572612D4775657374
IE: Unknown: 010882848B960C183048
IE: Unknown: 030102
IE: Unknown: 2A0100
IE: Unknown: 32041224606C
IE: WPA Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (2) : TKIP CCMP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
IE: Unknown: DD0900037F01010006FF7F
IE: Unknown: DD0C00037F020101000002A34000

.
.
.

Step3: Change permission of script to execute , Script is at the bottom.
root@imran-laptop:~/Desktop# chmod -R +x wiscan.pl

Step 4: Run the Script
root@imran-laptop:~/Desktop# ./wiscan.pl
+ --- + ------------------------------ + ------- + -------- + --- + ------ + --------- + ---------------------- + ----------------- +
| # | Name | Quality | Sig Lvl | Enc | Enc T. | Auth T. | Channel | AP MAC |
+ --- + ------------------------------ + ------- + -------- + --- + ------ + --------- + ---------------------- + ----------------- +
| 1 | "pingcom" | 55/70 | -55 dBm | on | WPA v1 | PSK | 2.412 GHz (Channel 1) | 00:1B:11:5A:BC:48 |
| 2 | "Owera-Guest" | 57/70 | -53 dBm | on | WPA v1 | PSK | 2.417 GHz (Channel 2) | 00:19:5B:47:45:E5 |
| 3 | "Difi-Gjestenett" | 50/70 | -60 dBm | off | WEP | N/A | 2.412 GHz (Channel 1) | 00:13:F7:CA:25:D9 |
| 4 | "DVG-5802S" | 53/70 | -57 dBm | on | WPA v1 | PSK | 2.427 GHz (Channel 4) | 06:21:94:00:54:D4 |
| 5 | "Difi-Gjestenett" | 38/70 | -72 dBm | off | WEP | N/A | 2.437 GHz (Channel 6) | 00:13:F7:CA:25:D4 |
| 6 | "ft-test" | 53/70 | -57 dBm | on | WPA v1 | PSK | 2.447 GHz (Channel 8) | 0E:21:94:00:54:D4 |
| 7 | "Einar Aaland's Network" | 44/70 | -66 dBm | on | WPA v1 | PSK | 2.457 GHz (Channel 10) | 00:1F:5B:88:54:13 |
| 8 | "ap2" | 43/70 | -67 dBm | on | WEP | N/A | 2.422 GHz (Channel 3) | 00:19:5B:47:65:F3 |
| 9 | "pingcom" | 43/70 | -67 dBm | on | WPA v1 | PSK | 2.432 GHz (Channel 5) | 00:1B:11:5C:82:01 |
| 10 | "Difi_Adm" | 31/70 | -79 dBm | on | WPA v1 | 802.1x | 5.54 GHz (Channel 108) | 00:24:C4:F9:16:3F |
| 11 | "Difi_Adm" | 32/70 | -78 dBm | on | WPA v1 | 802.1x | 2.437 GHz (Channel 6) | 00:24:C4:F9:16:30 |
+ --- + ------------------------------ + ------- + -------- + --- + ------ + --------- + ---------------------- + ----------------- +

Her is the script, this is written by Timothy Mills, downloaded from Internet, thanks to Timothy Mills, we just did some changes to have MAC addresses or APs. You can copy this and save it as 'wiscan.pl' and change permission to execute..
#!/usr/bin/perl
#############################################################################
# Author: Timothy Mills
# Date : 8 - 4 - 08
# File : wiscan.pl
#
# wiscan.pl takes the output of 'iwlist scan' and makes it in an easier
# to read format for those of us who still deal with the terminal :)
#############################################################################

helpCheck();

#Run the command and suppress error output
$iwlistOut = `iwlist scan 2> /dev/null`;

@myLines = split("\n", $iwlistOut);
@cellArr = [];

printHeading();
printFin("#", "Name", "Quality","Sig Lvl", "Enc", "Enc T.", "Auth T.", "Channel", "AP MAC");
printHeading();

$currNum = 0;
varInit();

foreach (@myLines)
{
if ($_ =~ "Cell [0-9][0-9]")
{
if ($currNum > 0)
{
printFin($currNum, $name, $quality, $sigLvl, $enc, $encType,
$authType, $chn, $mac);

varInit();
}
$currNum++;
}

$cellArr[$currNum] = $cellArr[$currNum]."$_"."\n";

if ($_ =~ "ESSID")
{
handleName($_);
}
elsif($_ =~ "Frequency")
{
handleChn($_);
}
elsif($_ =~ "Address:")
{
handleMAC($_);
}

elsif($_ =~ "Encryption key")
{
handleKey($_);
}
elsif($_ =~ "Quality=[0-9]+/[0-9]+")
{
handleQuality($_);
}
elsif($_ =~ "IE: WPA .+ [0-9]")
{
handleEncType($_);
}
elsif($_ =~ "Authentication Suites")
{
handleAuthType($_);
}

}

if ($currNum > 0)
{
printFin($currNum, $name, $quality, $sigLvl, $enc, $encType, $authType, $chn, $mac);
printHeading();
}
else
{
print("No scan results :'( \n");
}

if (scalar @ARGV == 1)
{
$myNum = ($ARGV[0] =~ "[0-9]+");

print $cellArr[$ARGV[0]] if($myNum && ($ARGV[0]>0 && $ARGV[0] <= $currNum)); } sub helpCheck () { foreach(@ARGV) { helpMsg() if ($_ =~ "--help"); } if (scalar @ARGV == 1 && !($ARGV[0] =~ "[0-9]+")) { helpMsg(); } elsif (scalar @ARGV > 1)
{
helpMsg();
}
}

sub helpMsg ()
{
printf("Usage: wiscan.pl [network number] \n\n");
printf("wiscan is used to make the output of 'iwlist scan' be more readable"
."\n");

printf("from within a terminal. By using the optional argument you may \n");
printf("get the full output for a network from 'iwlist scan'\n\n");

printf("EXAMPLES: \n");
printf("1: ./wiscan.pl -- Lists all wireless networks within range\n");
printf("2: ./wiscan.pl 2 -- Shows full output for second wireless network entry \n in the output of wiscan.pl\n");

exit(0);
}

sub printFin()
{
printf("| %-3s | %-30s | %-7s | %-8s | %-3s | %-6s | %-9s | %-22s | %-17s |\n", $_[0],
$_[1], $_[2], $_[3], $_[4], $_[5], $_[6], $_[7],$_[8]);
}

sub printHeading()
{
printf("+ %-3s + %-30s + %-7s + %-8s + %-3s + %-6s + %-9s + %-22s + %-17s +",
"---", "------------------------------", "-------", "--------", "---", "------", "---------","----------------------","-----------------");

printf("\n");
}

sub varInit()
{
$name = "";
$quality = "";
$sigLvl = "";
$enc = "";
$chn = "";
$mac = "";
$encType = "WEP";
$authType = "N/A";
}

sub handleEncType ()
{
$encType = "WPA v".($_ =~ ".*[0-9]");
}

sub handleQuality ()
{
$qual = $_[0];

@qualArr = split(" ", $qual);

$quality = (split("=", $qualArr[0]))[1];
$sigLvl = (split("=", $qualArr[2]))[1]." dBm";
}

sub handleChn ()
{
$chn = (split(":", $_[0]))[1];
}

sub handleMAC ()
{
$mac = (split(": ", $_[0]))[1];
}

sub handleKey ()
{
$enc = (split(":", $_[0]))[1];
}

sub handleName ()
{
$name = (split(":", $_[0]))[1];
}

sub handleAuthType ()
{
$authType = (split(" ", $_[0]))[4];
}

DHCP-RELAY Agent in Ubunt 8.04 hardy

2009-09-15T05:28:00.000-07:00

I am using I386 Machine with fresh install of ubuntu 8.04 Server and two interfaces.
eth0----Internet
eth2----use to listen dhcp request

Step 1: Install the dhcp3-package
First add following in /etc/apt/sources.list
root@ubuntu:~# nano /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hardy-security main universe

add and exit,then
root@ubuntu:~# apt-get install dhcp3-relay
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
dhcp3-relay
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 7 not upgraded.
Need to get 103kB of archives.
After this operation, 274kB of additional disk space will be used.

During Installation it will ask you,
a) DHCP server IP address e.g your dhcp server address and
b) Interface which you will listen for dhcp requests e.g eth2.

Step 2: Enable forwarding.
root@ubuntu:~# echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
root@ubuntu:~# echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_syncookies
root@ubuntu:~# echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts

Step 3: Testing

Attach cable on eth2 to a pc and wait for responce

Setup ITERATIVE DNS in Ubuntu 8.04 Server

2009-09-10T04:35:00.000-07:00

Step 1: Fresh Install the Ubuntu server with option of DNS server during installation or you can install DNS latter in step 2.

Step 2: Install DNS if not installed before
root@ins# apt-get install bind9

Step 3: Edit /etc/bind/named.conf.options to disable recursion.

By default the recursion is enables(yes), you can add /uncomment the follwoing line in option field.

//recursion yes; //default
recursion no;

root@ins:/etc/bind# nano named.conf.options

options {
directory "/var/cache/bind";

// 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 and later use an unprivileged
// port by default.

// query-source address * port 53;

// If your ISP provided one or more IP addresses for stable
// nameservers, you probably want to use them as forwarders.
// Uncomment the following block, and insert the addresses replacing
// the all-0's placeholder.

// forwarders {
// 0.0.0.0;
// };

recursion no;
auth-nxdomain no; # conform to RFC1035
listen-on-v6 { any; };
};

Step 4: Restart the bind
root@ins:/etc/bind# /etc/init.d/bind9 restart

Step 5: Testing

You can run wireshark in your machine and try to ping a host e.g ping www.google.com

In trace you will see the response from dns server, expand the Domain Name System, Flags and Authoritative Server list can be seen.

iRED Mail Installation on Ubuntu Server 8.04

2009-09-09T02:25:00.000-07:00

Installation of useful tools.

root@redmail:~# apt-get install acl wget dialog

Copy following to /etc/apt/sources.list
root@redmail:~# nano /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/lidaobing/iredmail-804/ubuntu hardy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/lidaobing/iredmail-804/ubuntu hardy main

Add key, you can replace your key, I used this "61270A939E324B12" and update.

root@redmail:~#apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 61270A939E324B12
Executing: gpg --ignore-time-conflict --no-options --no-default-keyring --secret-keyring /etc/apt/secring.gpg --trustdb-name /etc/apt/trustdb.gpg --keyring /etc/apt/trusted.gpg --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 61270A939E324B12
gpg: requesting key 9E324B12 from hkp server keyserver.ubuntu.com
gpg: key 9E324B12: public key "Launchpad PPA for LI Daobing" imported
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg: imported: 1 (RSA: 1)
root@redmail:~# apt-get update

Add mount option 'acl' in /etc/fstab
which contains '/etc/' directory if it doesn't there yet. Copy it as a new line, and comment the old one, add 'acl' like below.

# /dev/sda1
UUID=63b655fe-5959-46bc-b9db-09ad2d746b78 /               ext3    relatime,errors=remount-ro 0       1

Note: It seems you don't need to add this 'acl' option in /etc/fstab if you use VPS which hosted by OpenVZ, because you can't edit /etc/fstab file, and it already supports acl.

Remount the mount point which contains '/etc/' directory. e.g. '/':

root@iredmail:/var/tmp/iRedMail-0.5.0# mount -o remount,rw,acl /

Download the package " iRedMail-0.5.0.tar.bz2 " from
http://code.google.com/p/iredmail/downloads/list
and move it to /var/tmp directory.
#cd /var/tmp
#tar -xvf iRedMail-0.5.0.tar.bz2
#cd iRedMail-0.5.0/pkgs

Run the script get_all.sh

This will fetch the required packages from source, please make sure that your Internet is working ok.

root@redmail:/var/tmp/iRedMail-0.5.0/pkgs# bash get_all.sh
<> Creating necessary directories ...
<> ==================== Fetching Source Tarballs ====================
<> * 1/16: http://www.iredmail.org/apt/misc/postfixadmin-2.2.1.1.tar.gz
<> * 2/16: http://www.iredmail.org/apt/misc/phpMyAdmin-2.11.9.5-all-languages.tar.bz2
<> * 3/16: http://www.iredmail.org/apt/misc/roundcubemail-0.2.1.tar.gz
<> * 4/16: http://www.iredmail.org/apt/misc/phpldapadmin-1.1.0.7.tar.gz
<> * 5/16: http://www.iredmail.org/apt/misc/squirrelmail-1.4.19.tar.bz2
<> * 6/16: http://www.iredmail.org/apt/misc/change_ldappass-2.2-1.4.0.tar.gz
<> * 7/16: http://www.iredmail.org/apt/misc/change_sqlpass-3.3-1.2.tar.gz
<> * 8/16: http://www.iredmail.org/apt/misc/compatibility-2.0.14-1.0.tar.gz
<> * 9/16: http://www.iredmail.org/apt/misc/check_quota-2.2-1.4.0.tar.gz
<> * 10/16: http://www.iredmail.org/apt/misc/select_language-1.1-1.4.0.tar.gz
<> * 11/16: http://www.iredmail.org/apt/misc/autosubscribe-1.1-1.4.2.tar.gz
<> * 12/16: http://www.iredmail.org/apt/misc/email_footer-0.5-1.4.2.tar.gz
<> * 13/16: http://www.iredmail.org/apt/misc/login_auto-1.1-1.2.tar.gz
<> * 14/16: http://www.iredmail.org/apt/misc/avelsieve-1.0.1.tar.gz
<> * 15/16: http://www.iredmail.org/apt/misc/all_locales-1.4.13-20071220.tar.gz
<> * 16/16: http://www.iredmail.org/apt/misc/add_address-1.0.1-1.4.0.tar.gz
<> Validate Packages via md5sum ... [ OK ]
<> Checking necessary command/package: dialog/dialog ...
<> Checking necessary command/package: setfacl/acl ...
********************************************************
* All tasks had been finished Successfully. Next step:
*
* # cd ..
* # bash iRedMail.sh
*
********************************************************

Make Sure devcot is installted
root@redmail:/var/tmp/iRedMail-0.5.0/pkgs# apt-cache policy dovecot-common dovecot-pop3d dovecot-imapd | grep 'Candidate'
Candidate: 1:1.1.11-0ubuntu4~hardy2
Candidate: 1:1.1.11-0ubuntu4~hardy2
Candidate: 1:1.1.11-0ubuntu4~hardy2

Start Installation
root@redmail:/var/tmp/iRedMail-0.5.0# bash iRedMail.sh

It will ask question about path of directory, options, etc.... press next next and Y at the end.

It will installed every thing you need with options you select.

Component	URL	Access via HTTP	Access via HTTPS
Roundcube webmail	http://your_server/mail/ (or /webmail, /roundcube)	YES	YES
SquirrelMail webmail	http://your_server/squirrelmail/ (or /squirrel)	YES	YES
PostfixAdmin	https://your_server/postfixadmin/	NO	YES
phpMyAdmin	https://your_server/phpmyadmin/ (or /mysql)	NO	YES
phpLDAPAdmin	https://your_server/ldap/ (or /phpldapadmin)	NO	YES
Awstats	https://your_server/awstats/awstats.pl	NO	YES

Now you can login and send your first mail to any other account for testing.

References
http://code.google.com/p/iredmail/wiki/Installation_on_Debian
http://code.google.com/p/iredmail/downloads/list
http://code.google.com/p/iredmail/wiki/Admin_Guide
http://code.google.com/p/iredmail/wiki/DNS_SPF
http://code.google.com/p/iredmail/wiki/DNS_DKIM

How to make Ubuntu/Debian as a router

2009-09-01T06:58:00.000-07:00

Here is your Ubuntu serve box with two interfaces,
eth0-------------Internet
eth2-------------Internal
Note: Your Internet is running using eth0.
Step1: Install DHCP Server

#apt-get install dhcp3-server

Step 2: Configure the DHCP server

Edit the /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf file and add your domain, dns, ip range and other options.

option domain-name "oslohosting.com";
option domain-name-servers ns1.yourdns.com, xx.xx.xx.xx;
#
# Internal network
#
subnet 192.168.50.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
range 192.168.50.100 192.168.50.200;
option broadcast-address 192.168.50.255;
option routers 192.168.50.1;
default-lease-time 600;
max-lease-time 7200;
}

Step 3: Configure the Internal interface (eth2) with static IP.
Edit the /etc/network/interfaces file and add following

iface eth2 inet static
address 192.168.50.1
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.50.0
broadcast 192.168.50.255
gateway 192.168.50.1

Step 4: Restart network and verify the eth2 interface's IP.

#/etc/init.d/network restart

check ip by ifconfig eth2, it will have 192.168.50.1 ip, if not please restart the interface/netwrok service, you can also restart your machine if it is not in production environment.

Step 5: Restart the DHCP server.

#/etc/init.d/dhcp3-server restart

If every thing is ok, it should run successfully,
Note: If your interface does not have any IP it might give error and does not restart, first configure you internal interface.

Step 6: Test the DHCP server.

connect the cable on interface eth2 and other side to your second pc, you will get the IP from 192.168.50.x range.
Open the syslog messeges with
#tail -f /var/log/syslog
of your debian box, it will also notify with leased ip and detail of requested machine.

Step 7: Enable forwarding

# cat /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
0

# echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward

or open the file manually and uncomment

# nano /etc/sysctl.conf

net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1

Step 8: Add IPTABLES rule for NAT

Type following at command line

#iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE

Step 9: Final Testing

Your second Pc attached to LAN have internal ip, ping to www.google.com, it should get reply, if not review and trouble shoot carefully.

imran@imran-laptop:~$ ping www.google.com
PING www.l.google.com (74.125.77.103) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from ew-in-f103.google.com (74.125.77.103): icmp_seq=1 ttl=52 time=30.7 ms
64 bytes from ew-in-f103.google.com (74.125.77.103): icmp_seq=2 ttl=52 time=30.2 ms
64 bytes from ew-in-f103.google.com (74.125.77.103): icmp_seq=3 ttl=52 time=30.3 ms
^C
--- www.l.google.com ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 2003ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 30.298/30.451/30.729/0.242 ms

Huraaaa!

Network+ Cram Sheet

2009-08-06T06:01:00.000-07:00

MEDIA AND TOPOLOGIES

Peer-to-peer networks are useful for only relatively small networks. They are often used in small offices or home environments.
Client/server networks, also called server-centric networks, have clients and servers. Servers pro video centralized administration, data storage, and security. The client system requests data from the server and displays the data to the end user.
The bus network topology is also known as a linear bus because the computers in such a network are linked together using a single cable called a trunk, or backbone.
If a terminator on a bus network is loose, data communications might be disrupted. Any other break in the cable will cause the entire network segment to fail.
In a start configuration, all devices on the network connect to a central devices, and this central devices creates a single point of failure on the network.
In the ring topology, the network layout forms a complete ring. computers connect to the network cable directly or. more commonly, through a specialized network device.
Breaking the loop of a ring network disrupts the entire network.
The mesh topology requires each computer on the network to be individually connected to every other device. This configuration provides maximum reliability and redundancy for the network.
Wireless networks use centralized device known as wireless access point (WAP).
802.2, the LLC sublayer, defines specifications for the Logical Link Control (LLC) sublayer in the 802 standard series.
802.3 defines the carrier-sense multiple-access with collision detection (CSMA/CD) media access method used in Ethernet networks. This is the most popular networking standard used today.
802.5 defines Token Ring networking.
802.11 defines standards for wireless LAN communication.
Many factors cause EMI, including computer monitors and fluorescent lighting fixtures.
Copper-based media are prone to EMI whereas fiber-optic cable is resistant to it.
Data signals may also be subjected to something commonly referred to a crosstalk. which occurs when signals from two cables, or from wires within a single cable, interfere with each other.
The weakening of data signals as they traverse the media is referred to a attenuation.
Half-duplex mode allows each device to both transmit ans receive, but only on of these processes can occur at a time.
Full-duplex mode allow devices to receive and transmit simultaneously. A100 Mbps network card in full-duplex mode can operate at 200Mbps.

CABLES AND CONNECTIONS

Thin coax is only .25 inches in diameter and has a maximum cable length of 185 meters (600 feet approx.)
Thick coax networks use a device called a tap to connect a smaller cable to the thick coax back-bone. This coax has a 500-meter cable length.
Attachment unit interface AUI ports are network interface ports that are often associated with thick coax (10Base5) networks. The AUI port is a 15-pin socket to which a transceiver is connected.
SC and ST connectors are associated with fiber cabling. ST connectors offer a twist-type attachment and SC connectors are push-on connectors.
RJ-45 connectors are used with UTP cable.

10BASEX, 100BASEX, AND 1000BASEX

10Base2, sometimes called Thinnet or Thin Ethernet, is the 802.3 specification for a network that uses thin coaxial cable (that is , RG-58 cable).
10Base2 specifies a maximum speed of 10Mbps ans uses BNC barrel and BNC T connectors to connect the cable and computers. At the physical ends of each cable segment, a 50-ohm terminator absorbs the signal, thus preventing signal reflection.
The 10Base2 standard specifies a limit of 185 meters per segment (600 feet approx.)

NETWORK DEVICES

Token Ring Networks use special devices called multi-station access units MSAUs to create the network.
A straight-through cable is used to connect systems to the switch or hub using the MDI-X ports.
In a crossover cable, Wires 1 and 3 Wires 2 and 6(1326) are crossed.
Bridges are used to divide networks and thus reduce the amount of traffic on each network.
RIP is distance vector dynamic routing protocol for both TCP and IPX.
A MAC address is 6-byte(48bits) hexadecimal address that lets a NIC be uniquely identified on the network. The first three bytes (00:D0:59) represent to manufacturer, last three are Universal LAN MAC address, which makes interface unique.

Mapping network devices to the OSI model:

HUB-------Physical (Layer 1)
SWITCH--Data-Link (Layer 2)
BRIDGE--Data-Link (Layer 2)
ROUTER-Network (Layer 3)
NIC--------Data-Link (Layer 2)

OSI MODEL

As data is passed up or down through the OSI model structure, headers are added,encapsulation (going down) or removed,de-capsulation (going up), at each layer.
The Application Layer provides access to the network for applications and certain end-user functions. It displays incoming information and prepares outgoing information for network access.
The Presentation Layer converts data from the Application Layer into a format that can be sent over the network. It converts data from the Session Layer into a format that can be understood by the Application Layer. It also handles encryption and decryption of data and provides compression and decompression functionalities.
The Session Layer synchronizes the data exchange between applications on separate devices. It handles error detection and notification to the peer layer on the other device.
The Transport layer establishes, maintain, and breaks connections between two devices. It determines the ordering and priorities of data. It also performs error checking and verification and handles retransmissions, if necessary.
The Network Layer provides mechanisms for the routing of data between devices across single or multiple network segments and handles the discovery of destination systems and addressing.
The Data-Link Layer has two distinct sub-layers: LLC and MAC. It performs error detection and handling for the transmitted signals. It also defines the method by which the medium is accessed and defines hardware addressing through the MAC sublayer.
The Physical Layer defines the physical structure of the network. It also defines voltage/signal rates and the physical connection method, as well as the physical topology.

PROTOCOLS

CLASS A uses first octet for network rest three for hosts. Class B uses two octet for Network and 2 for hosts and Class C uses first three for network and last 1 for hosts.
Class A from 1 to 126 with default subnet 255.0.0.0.
Class B from 128 to 191 with default subnet mask 255.255.0.0.
Class C from 192 to 223 with default subnet mask of 255.255.255.0.
The 127 network ID is reserved for local loopback.
Application protocol maps to the application presentation, and session layers of OSI model. Application protocols include AFT,FTP,TFTP,NCP and SNMP.
Transport protocols map to the Transport layer of the OSI model and are responsible for transporting data across the network. Transport protocols include ATP, NetBEUI, SPX, TCP and UDP.
The NetBEUI protocol uses names as addresses.
Network protocols are responsible for providing the addressing and routing information. Network protocols include IP. IPX and DP.
The TCP/IP protocol suite is used by all major operating systems and is route-able protocol.
IPX/SPX protocol is associated with NetWare network and is route-able.
NETBEUI is used on Windows networks and is not route-able.
DHCP/BOOTP automatically assign IP addressing information.
DNS resolves host names to IP addresses.
NAT/ICS translates private network addresses into public network address.
WINS resolves NetBIOS names to IP addresses.
SNMP provides network management facilities on TCP/IP based networks.
In a network that does not use DHCP, you need to watch for duplicate IP addresses that prevent a user from logging onto the network.
Class A address uses only the first octet to represent the network portion.

REMOTE ACCESS AND SECURITY PROTOCOLS

The underlying technologies that enable the RAS process are dial-up protocols such as PPP and SLIP.
SLIP also does not provide error checking or packet addressing, so it can be used only in serial communications.
PPP provides several security enhancements compared to SLIP. The most important of these is the encryption of user names and password during the authentication process.
ICA protocol allows client systems to access and run application on a server, using the resources of the server, with only the user interface, key-strokes, an mouse movement being transferred between the client and server computers.
IPSec is designed to encrypt data during communication between two computers. IPSec operates at the Network layer of the OSI model and provides security for protocols that operate at higher layers.
SSL is a security protocol used on the Internet. Secure Web site URLs defing with https:// instead of http://. HTTPS connections require a browser to establish a secure connection. Secure SSL connections for Web pages are made through port 443 by default.
The security tokens used in Kerberos are knows as tickets.

RAID AND BACKUPS

RAID 0 offers no fault tolerance and improves I/O performance. It requires a minimum of two disks.
RAID 1, disk mirroring provides fault tolerance and requires two hard disks. Seprate disk controllers can be used as disk duplexing.
RAID 5, disk striping with distributed parity requires a minimum of three disks. The total size of a single disk being used for parity calculation.
In a full back all data is backed up. Full backups do not use the archive bit but do clear it.
Incremental backups back up all data that has changed since the last full or incremental backup. Uses and clears the archive bit.
Differential backups backup all data since the last differential backup. They use the archive bit but do not clear it.

VLAN AND NAS

VLANs are used to segment networks. This is often done for oranization of security puposes.
NAS is usedto offload data storage from traditional file servers. NAS devices are connected directly to the network and use the SMB and NFS application protocols.

CLIENT CONNECTIVITY

To log on to a NetWare server, you might need a username, password, tree, and context.
Unix and Linux use the Network File System (NFS) protocol to provide file sharing capibilites between computers.
SECURITY: PHYSICAL, LOGICAL PASSWORDS AND FIREWALLS
A password that uses eight case-sensitive characters with letters, numbers and special characters often makes a strong password.
Windows 2000 permissions include full control, modify, read and execute list folder contents read and write.
When a user can't access files that other users can, verify that correct permissions are set.
A firewall is a system or group of systems that controls the flow of traffic between two networks. A firewall often provides such services as NAT, proxy services and packet filtering.
A proxy server allows Internet access to be controlled. Having a centralized point of access allows for a great deal of contrl over the use of Internet.

NETWORK SUPPORT

You can PING the IP address of the local loop-back adapter by using the command ping 127.0.0.1.If this command is successful, you know that the TCP/IP protocol suite is installed correctly on you system and functioning.
tracert reports the amount of time it takes to reach each router in the path. It is useful tool for isolating bottlenecks in a network. ARP is the part of the TCP/IP suite whose function is to resolve IP
MEDIA TOOLS AND LEAD
addresses to the MAC address.
ARP operates at the Network layer of the OSI.
netstat is used to view both inbound and outbound TCP/IP network connections.
nbtstat is used to display protocol and statistical information for NetBIOS over TCP/IP connections.
ipconfig(Windows)/ifconfig(Linux) shows the IP configiguration information of all NICs instaled.
ipconfig /all is used to display detailed TCP/IP configuration information.
ipconfig /renew is used to refresh the IP.
When looking for client connectivity problems using ipconfig, you should ensure that the gateway is correctly set.
winipcfg is Windows95,98,Me equibalent of ipconfig command.
nslookup command is TCP/IP diagnostic tool used to troubleshoot DNS problems.

MEDIA TOOLS AND LEAD

A wire crimer is a tool that you use to attach media connectors to the ends of cables.
Media testers, also called cable testers are used to test wheter a cable is working properly.
An optical cable tester performs the same basic function as a wire media tester, but on optical media.
The hardware loopback tests the outgoing signals of a device such as a network card.
If the LED on a network card is constantly lit, you might have chattering network card.

Common Networking Terms and Qustions

2009-08-06T03:45:00.000-07:00

1. What are 10Base2, 10Base5 and 10BaseT Ethernet LANs
10Base2—An Ethernet term meaning a maximum transfer rate of 10 Megabits per second that uses baseband signaling, with a contiguous cable segment length of 100 meters and a maximum of 2 segments.
10Base5—An Ethernet term meaning a maximum transfer rate of 10 Megabits per second that uses baseband google_protectAndRun("ads_core.google_render_ad", google_handleError, google_render_ad); signaling, with 5 continuous segments not exceeding 100meters per segment.
10BaseT—An Ethernet term meaning a maximum transfer rate of 10 Megabits per second that uses baseband signaling and twisted pair cabling.

2. Explain the difference between an unspecified passive open and a fully specified passive open
An unspecified passive open has the server waiting for a connection request from a client. A fully specified passive open has the server waiting for a connection from a pecific client.

3. Explain the function of Transmission Control Block
A TCB is a complex data structure that contains a considerable amount of information about each connection.

4. Explain a Management Information Base (MIB)
A Management Information Base is part of every SNMP-managed device. Each SNMP agent has the MIB database that contains information about the device's status, its erformance, connections, and configuration. The MIB is queried by SNMP.

5. Explain anonymous FTP and why would you use it
Anonymous FTP enables users to connect to a host without using a valid login and password. Usually, anonymous FTP uses a login called anonymous or guest, with the assword usually requesting the user's ID for tracking purposes only. Anonymous FTP is used to enable a large number of users to access files on the host without having to go to the trouble of setting up logins for them all. Anonymous FTP systems usually have strict controls over the areas an anonymous user can access.

6. Explain a pseudo tty
A pseudo tty or false terminal enables external machines to connect through Telnet or rlogin. Without a pseudo tty, no connection can take place.

7. Explain REX
What advantage does REX offer other similar utilities

8. What does the Mount protocol do
The Mount protocol returns a file handle and the name of the file system in which a requested file resides. The message is sent to the client from the server after reception of a client's request.

9. Explain External Data Representation
External Data Representation is a method of encoding data within an RPC message, used to ensure that the data is not system-dependent.
10. Explain the Network Time Protocol ?

11. BOOTP helps a diskless workstation boot. How does it get a message to the network looking for its IP address and the location of its operating system boot files
BOOTP sends a UDP message with a subnetwork broadcast address and waits for a reply from a server that gives it the IP address. The same message might contain the name of the machine that has the boot files on it. If the boot image location is not specified, the workstation sends another UDP message to query the server.

12. Explain a DNS resource record
A resource record is an entry in a name server's database. There are several types of resource records used, including name-to-address resolution nformation. Resource records are maintained as ASCII files.

13. What protocol is used by DNS name servers
DNS uses UDP for communication between servers. It is a better choice than TCP because of the improved speed a connectionless protocol offers. Of course, transmission reliability suffers with UDP.

14. Explain the difference between interior and exterior neighbor gateways
Interior gateways connect LANs of one organization, whereas exterior gateways connect the organization to the outside world.

15. Explain the HELLO protocol used for
The HELLO protocol uses time instead of distance to determine optimal routing. It is an alternative to the Routing Information Protocol.

16. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the three types of routing tables
The three types of routing tables are fixed, dynamic, and fixed central. The fixed table must be manually modified every time there is a change. A dynamic table changes its information based on network traffic, reducing the amount of manual maintenance. A fixed central table lets a manager modify only one table, which is then read by other devices. The fixed central table reduces the need to update each machine's table, as with the fixed table. Usually a dynamic table causes the fewest problems for a network
administrator, although the table's contents can change without the administrator being aware of the change.

17. Explain a TCP connection table

18. Explain source route
It is a sequence of IP addresses identifying the route a datagram must follow. A source route may
optionally be included in an IP datagram header.

19. Explain RIP (Routing Information Protocol)
It is a simple protocol used to exchange information between router.

20. Explain SLIP (Serial Line Interface Protocol)
It is a very simple protocol used for transmission of IP datagrams across a serial line.

21. Explain Proxy ARP
It is using a router to answer ARP requests. This will be done when the originating host believes that a destination is local, when in fact is lies beyond router.
22. Explain OSPF
It is an Internet routing protocol that scales well, can route traffic along multiple paths, and uses knowledge of an Internet's topology to make accurate routing decisions.

23. Explain Kerberos
It is an authentication service developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Kerberos uses encryption to prevent intruders from discovering passwords and gaining unauthorized access to files.

24. Explain a Multi-homed Host
It is a host that has a multiple network interfaces and that requires multiple IP addresses is called as a Multi-homed Host.

25. Explain NVT (Network Virtual Terminal)
It is a set of rules defining a very simple virtual terminal interaction. The NVT is used in the start of a Telnet session.
26. Explain Gateway-to-Gateway protocol
It is a protocol formerly used to exchange routing information between Internet core routers.

27. Explain BGP (Border Gateway Protocol)
It is a protocol used to advertise the set of networks that can be reached with in an autonomous system. BGP enables this information to be shared with the autonomous system. This is newer than EGP (Exterior Gateway Protocol).
28. Explain autonomous system
It is a collection of routers under the control of a single administrative authority and that uses a common Interior Gateway Protocol.

29. Explain EGP (Exterior Gateway Protocol)
It is the protocol the routers in neighboring autonomous systems use to identify the set of networks that can be reached
within or via each autonomous system.

30. Explain IGP (Interior Gateway Protocol)
It is any routing protocol used within an autonomous system.

31. Explain Mail Gateway
It is a system that performs a protocol translation between different electronic mail delivery protocols.

32. Explain wide-mouth frog
Wide-mouth frog is the simplest known key distribution center (KDC) authentication protocol.

33. What are Digrams and Trigrams
The most common two letter combinations are called as digrams. e.g. th, in, er, re and an. The most common three letter combinations are called as trigrams. e.g. the, ing, and, and ion.
34. Explain silly window syndrome
It is a problem that can ruin TCP performance. This problem occurs when data are passed to the sending TCP entity in large blocks, but an interactive application on the receiving side reads 1 byte at a time.
35. Explain region
When hierarchical routing is used, the routers are divided into what we call regions, with each router knowing all the details about how to route packets to destinations within its own region, but knowing nothing about the internal structure of other regions.
36. Explain multicast routing
Sending a message to a group is called multicasting, and its routing algorithm is called multicast routing.
37. Explain traffic shaping
One of the main causes of congestion is that traffic is often busy. If hosts could be made to transmit at a uniform rate, congestion would be less common. Another open loop method to help manage congestion is forcing the packet to be transmitted at a more predictable rate. This is called traffic shaping.
38. Explain packet filter
Packet filter is a standard router equipped with some extra functionality. The extra functionality allows every incoming or outgoing packet to be inspected. Packets meeting some criterion are forwarded normally. Those that fail the test are dropped.
39. Explain virtual path
Along any transmission path from a given source to a given destination, a group of virtual circuits can be grouped together into what is called path.
40. Explain virtual channel
Virtual channel is normally a connection from one source to one destination, although multicast connections are also permitted. The other name for virtual channel is virtual circuit.
41. Explain logical link control
One of two sublayers of the data link layer of OSI reference model, as defined by the IEEE 802 standard. This sublayer is responsible for maintaining the link between computers when they are sending data across the physical network connection.
42. Why should you care about the OSI Reference Model
It provides a framework for discussing network operations and design.
43. Explain the difference between routable and non- routable protocols
Routable protocols can work with a router and can be used to build large networks. Non-Routable protocols are designed to work on small, local networks and cannot be used with a router
44. Explain MAU
In token Ring , hub is called Multistation Access Unit(MAU).
45. Explain 5-4-3 rule
In a Ethernet network, between any two points on the network, there can be no more than five network segments or four repeaters, and of those five segments only three of segments can be populated.
46. Explain the difference between TFTP and FTP application layer protocols
The Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) allows a local host to obtain files from a remote host but does not provide reliability or security. It uses the fundamental packet delivery services offered by UDP.
The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is the standard mechanism provided by TCP / IP for copying a file from one host to another. It uses the services offered by TCP and so is reliable and secure. It establishes two connections (virtual circuits) between the hosts, one for data transfer and another for control information.
47. Explain the range of addresses in the classes of internet addresses
Class A 0.0.0.0 - 127.255.255.255
Class B 128.0.0.0 - 191.255.255.255
Class C 192.0.0.0 - 223.255.255.255
Class D 224.0.0.0 - 239.255.255.255
Class E 240.0.0.0 - 247.255.255.255

48. Explain the minimum and maximum length of the header in the TCP segment and IP datagram
The header should have a minimum length of 20 bytes and can have a maximum length of 60 bytes.
49. Explain difference between ARP and RARP
The address resolution protocol (ARP) is used to associate the 32 bit IP address with the 48 bit physical address, used by a host or a router to find the physical address of another host on its network by sending a ARP query packet that includes the IP address of the receiver. The reverse address resolution protocol (RARP) allows a host to discover its Internet address when it knows only its physical address.
50. Explain ICMP
ICMP is Internet Control Message Protocol, a network layer protocol of the TCP/IP suite used by hosts and gateways to send notification of datagram problems back to the sender. It uses the echo test / reply to test whether a destination is reachable and responding. It also handles both control and error messages.
51. What are the data units at different layers of the TCP / IP protocol suite
The data unit created at the application layer is called a message, at the transport layer the data unit created is called either a segment or an user datagram, at the network layer the data unit created is called the datagram, at the data link layer the datagram is encapsulated in to a frame and
finally transmitted as signals along the transmission media.

52. Explain Project 802
It is a project started by IEEE to set standards that enable intercommunication between equipment from a variety of manufacturers. It is a way for specifying functions of the physical layer, the data link layer and to some extent the network layer to allow for interconnectivity of major LAN protocols.
It consists of the following:
802.1 is an internetworking standard for compatibility of different LANs and MANs across protocols.
802.2 Logical link control (LLC) is the upper sublayer of the data link layer which is non-architecture-specific, that is remains the same for all IEEE-defined LANs.
Media access control (MAC) is the lower sublayer of the data link layer that contains some distinct modules each carrying proprietary information specific to the LAN product being used. The modules are Ethernet LAN (802.3), Token ring LAN (802.4), Token bus LAN (802.5).
802.6 is distributed queue dual bus (DQDB) designed to be used in MANs.
53. Explain Bandwidth
Every line has an upper limit and a lower limit on the frequency of signals it can carry. This limited range is called the bandwidth.
54. Difference between bit rate and baud rate.
Bit rate is the number of bits transmitted during one second whereas baud rate refers to the number of signal units per second that are required to represent those bits. baud rate = bit rate / N where N is no-of-bits represented by each signal shift.
55. Explain MAC address
The address for a device as it is identified at the Media Access Control (MAC) layer in the network architecture. MAC address is usually stored in ROM on the network adapter card and is unique.

56. Explain attenuation
The degeneration of a signal over distance on a network cable is called attenuation.

57. Explain cladding
A layer of a glass surrounding the center fiber of glass inside a fiber-optic cable.

58. Explain RAID
A method for providing fault tolerance by using multiple hard disk drives.

59. Explain NETBIOS and NETBEUI
NETBIOS is a programming interface that allows I/O requests to be sent to and received from a remote computer and it hides the networking hardware from applications. NETBEUI is NetBIOS extended user interface. A transport protocol designed by microsoft and IBM for the use on small subnets.

60. Explain redirector
Redirector is software that intercepts file or prints I/O requests and translates them into network requests. This comes under presentation layer.
61. Explain Beaconing
The process that allows a network to self-repair networks problems. The stations on the network notify the other stations on the ring when they are not receiving the transmissions. Beaconing is used in Token ring and FDDI networks.
62. Explain terminal emulation, in which layer it comes
Telnet is also called as terminal emulation. It belongs to application layer.

63. Explain frame relay, in which layer it comes
Frame relay is a packet switching technology. It will operate in the data link layer.

64. What do you meant by "triple X" in Networks
The function of PAD (Packet Assembler Disassembler) is described in a document known as X.3. The standard protocol has been defined between the terminal and the PAD, called X.28; another standard protocol exists between hte PAD and the network, called X.29. Together, these three recommendations are often called "triple X"
65. Explain SAP
Series of interface points that allow other computers to communicate with the other layers of network protocol stack.

66. Explain subnet
A generic term for section of a large networks usually separated by a bridge or router.

67. Explain Brouter
Hybrid devices that combine the features of both bridges and routers.

68. How Gateway is different from Routers
A gateway operates at the upper levels of the OSI model and translates information between two completely different network architectures or data formats.

69. What are the different type of networking / internetworking devices
Repeater: Also called a regenerator, it is an electronic device that operates only at physical layer. It receives the signal in the network before it becomes weak, regenerates the original bit pattern and puts the refreshed copy back in to the link.
Bridges: These operate both in the physical and data link layers of LANs of same type. They divide a larger network in to smaller segments. They contain logic that allow them to keep the traffic for each segment separate and thus are repeaters that relay a frame only the side of the segment containing the intended recipent and control congestion.
Routers: They relay packets among multiple interconnected networks (i.e. LANs of different type). They operate in the physical, data link and network layers. They contain software that enable them to determine which of the several possible paths is the best for a particular transmission.
Gateways:
They relay packets among networks that have different protocols (e.g. between a LAN and a WAN). They accept a packet formatted for one protocol and convert it to a packet formatted for another protocol before forwarding it. They operate in all seven layers of the OSI model.
70. Explain mesh network
A network in which there are multiple network links between computers to provide multiple paths for data to travel.
71. Explain passive topology
When the computers on the network simply listen and receive the signal, they are referred to as passive because they don’t amplify the signal in any way. Example for passive topology - linear bus.

72. What are the important topologies for networks
BUS topology: :in this each computer is directly connected to primary network cable in a single line.
Advantages: Inexpensive, easy to install, simple to understand, easy to extend.
STAR topology: In this all computers are connected using a central hub.
Advantages: Can be inexpensive, easy to install and reconfigure and easy to trouble shoot physical problems.
RING topology:In this all computers are connected in loop.
Advantages: ll computers have equal access to network media, installation can be simple, and signal does not degrade as much as
in other topologies because each computer regenerates it.

73. What are major types of networks and explain
Peer-to-peer network, computers can act as both servers sharing resources and as clients using the resources.
Server-based networks provide centralized control of network resources and rely on server computers to provide security and network administration

74. Explain Protocol Data Unit
The data unit in the LLC level is called the protocol data unit (PDU). The PDU contains of four fields a destination service access point (DSAP), a source service access point (SSAP), a control field and an information field. DSAP, SSAP are addresses used by the LLC to identify the protocol stacks on the receiving and sending machines that are generating and using the data. The control field specifies whether the PDU frame is a information frame (I - frame) or a supervisory frame (S - frame) or a
unnumbered frame (U - frame).
75. Explain difference between baseband and broadband transmission
In a baseband transmission, the entire bandwidth of the cable is consumed by a single signal. In broadband transmission, signals are sent on multiple frequencies, allowing multiple signals to be sent simultaneously.
76. What are the possible ways of data exchange
(i) Simplex (ii) Half-duplex (iii) Full-duplex.

77. What are the types of Transmission media
Signals are usually transmitted over some transmission media that are broadly classified in to two categories.
Guided Media:
These are those that provide a conduit from one device to another that include twisted-pair, coaxial cable and fiber-optic cable. A signal traveling along any of these media is directed and is contained by the physical limits of the medium. Twisted-pair and coaxial cable use metallic that accept
and transport signals in the form of electrical current. Optical fiber is a glass or plastic cable that accepts and transports signals in the form of light.
Unguided Media:
This is the wireless media that transport electromagnetic waves without using a physical conductor. Signals are broadcast either through air. This is done through radio communication, satellite communication and cellular telephony.
78. Explain point-to-point protocol
A communications protocol used to connect computers to remote networking services including Internet service providers.

79. What are the two types of transmission technology available
(i) Broadcast and (ii) point-to-point

80. Difference between the communication and transmission.
Transmission is a physical movement of information and concern issues like bit polarity, synchronization, clock etc. Communication means the meaning full exchange of information between two communication media.

Courtesy: http://www.pdftutorials.com/

Testing and Quality Assurance

2009-08-06T03:43:00.002-07:00

What is Testing?
The process of exercising software to verify that it satisfies specified requirements and to detect errors.
The process of analyzing a software item to detect the differences between existing and required conditions (that is, bugs), and to evaluate the features of the software item (Ref. IEEE Std 829).
The process of operating a system or component under specified conditions, observing or recording the results, and making an evaluation of some aspect of the system or component.
What is Test Automation? It is the same as Automated Testing.

What is Acceptance Testing?
Testing conducted to enable a user/customer to determine whether to accept a software product. Normally performed to validate the software meets a set of agreed acceptance criteria.

What is Accessibility Testing?

Verifying a product is accessible to the people having disabilities (deaf, blind, mentally disabled etc.).

What is Ad Hoc Testing?
A testing phase where the tester tries to 'break' the system by randomly trying the system's functionality. Can include negative testing as well. See also Monkey Testing.

What is Agile Testing?
Testing practice for projects using agile methodologies, treating development as the customer of testing and emphasizing a test-first design paradigm. See also Test Driven Development.

What is Application Binary Interface (ABI)?
A specification defining requirements for portability of applications in binary forms across defferent system platforms and environments.

What is Application Programming Interface (API)?
A formalized set of software calls and routines that can be referenced by an application program in order to access supporting system or network services.

What is Automated Software Quality (ASQ)?
The use of software tools, such as automated testing tools, to improve software quality.

What is Automated Testing?
Testing employing software tools which execute tests without manual intervention. Can be applied in GUI, performance, API, etc. testing.
The use of software to control the execution of tests, the comparison of actual outcomes to predicted outcomes, the setting up of test preconditions, and other test control and test reporting functions.
What is Backus-Naur Form?
A metalanguage used to formally describe the syntax of a language.

What is Basic Block?
A sequence of one or more consecutive, executable statements containing no branches.

What is Basis Path Testing?
A white box test case design technique that uses the algorithmic flow of the program to design tests.

What is Basis Set?
The set of tests derived using basis path testing.

What is Baseline?
The point at which some deliverable produced during the software engineering process is put under formal change control.
What you will do during the first day of job?
What would you like to do five years from now?

Tell me about the worst boss you've ever had.

What are your greatest weaknesses?

What are your strengths?

What is a successful product?

What do you like about Windows?

What is good code?

What are basic, core, practices for a QA specialist?

What do you like about QA?

What has not worked well in your previous QA experience and what would you change?

How you will begin to improve the QA process?

What is the difference between QA and QC?

What is UML and how to use it for testing?
What is Beta Testing?

Testing of a rerelease of a software product conducted by customers.

What is Binary Portability Testing?
Testing an executable application for portability across system platforms and environments, usually for conformation to an ABI specification.

What is Black Box Testing?
Testing based on an analysis of the specification of a piece of software without reference to its internal workings. The goal is to test how well the component conforms to the published requirements for the component.

What is Bottom Up Testing?
An approach to integration testing where the lowest level components are tested first, then used to facilitate the testing of higher level components. The process is repeated until the component at the top of the hierarchy is tested.

What is Boundary Testing?
Test which focus on the boundary or limit conditions of the software being tested. (Some of these tests are stress tests).
What is Bug?
A fault in a program which causes the program to perform in an unintended or unanticipated manner.

What is Boundary Value Analysis?
BVA is similar to Equivalence Partitioning but focuses on "corner cases" or values that are usually out of range as defined by the specification. his means that if a function expects all values in range of negative 100 to positive 1000, test inputs would include negative 101 and positive 1001.

What is Branch Testing?
Testing in which all branches in the program source code are tested at least once.

What is Breadth Testing?
A test suite that exercises the full functionality of a product but does not test features in detail.

What is CAST?
Computer Aided Software Testing.
What is CMMI?
What do you like about computers?

Do you have a favourite QA book? More than one? Which ones? And why.

What is the responsibility of programmers vs QA?

What are the properties of a good requirement?

Ho to do test if we have minimal or no documentation about the product?

What are all the basic elements in a defect report?

Is an "A fast database retrieval rate" a testable requirement?

What is software quality assurance?

What is the value of a testing group? How do you justify your work and budget?

What is the role of the test group vis-à-vis documentation, tech support, and so forth?

How much interaction with users should testers have, and why?

How should you learn about problems discovered in the field, and what should you learn from those problems?

What are the roles of glass-box and black-box testing tools?

What issues come up in test automation, and how do you manage them?
What is Capture/Replay Tool?
A test tool that records test input as it is sent to the software under test. The input cases stored can then be used to reproduce the test at a later time. Most commonly applied to GUI test tools.

What is CMM?
The Capability Maturity Model for Software (CMM or SW-CMM) is a model for judging the maturity of the software processes of an organization and for identifying the key practices that are required to increase the maturity of these processes.

What is Cause Effect Graph?
A graphical representation of inputs and the associated outputs effects which can be used to design test cases.

What is Code Complete?
Phase of development where functionality is implemented in entirety; bug fixes are all that are left. All functions found in the Functional Specifications have been implemented.

What is Code Coverage?
An analysis method that determines which parts of the software have been executed (covered) by the test case suite and which parts have not been executed and therefore may require additional attention.
What is Code Inspection?
A formal testing technique where the programmer reviews source code with a group who ask questions analyzing the program logic, analyzing the code with respect to a checklist of historically common programming errors, and analyzing its compliance with coding standards.

What is Code Walkthrough?
A formal testing technique where source code is traced by a group with a small set of test cases, while the state of program variables is manually monitored, to analyze the programmer's logic and assumptions.

What is Coding?
The generation of source code.

What is Compatibility Testing?
Testing whether software is compatible with other elements of a system with which it should operate, e.g. browsers, Operating Systems, or hardware.
What is Component?
A minimal software item for which a separate specification is available.

What is Component Testing?
See the question what is Unit Testing.

What is Concurrency Testing?
Multi-user testing geared towards determining the effects of accessing the same application code, module or database records. Identifies and measures the level of locking, deadlocking and use of single-threaded code and locking semaphores.

What is Conformance Testing?
The process of testing that an implementation conforms to the specification on which it is based. Usually applied to testing conformance to a formal standard.

What is Context Driven Testing?
The context-driven school of software testing is flavor of Agile Testing that advocates continuous and creative evaluation of testing opportunities in light of the potential information revealed and the value of that information to the organization right now.

What development model should programmers and the test group use?

How do you get programmers to build testability support into their code?

What is the role of a bug tracking system?

What are the key challenges of testing?

Have you ever completely tested any part of a product? How?

Have you done exploratory or specification-driven testing?

Should every business test its software the same way?

Discuss the economics of automation and the role of metrics in testing.

Describe components of a typical test plan, such as tools for interactive products and for database products, as well as cause-and-effect graphs and data-flow diagrams.

When have you had to focus on data intergrity?

What are some of the typical bugs you encountered in your last assignment?

How do you prioritize testing tasks within a project?

How do you develop a test plan and schedule? Describe bottom-up and top-down approaches.

When should you begin test planning?

When should you begin testing?

What is Conversion Testing?
Testing of programs or procedures used to convert data from existing systems for use in replacement systems.

What is Cyclomatic Complexity?
A measure of the logical complexity of an algorithm, used in white-box testing.

What is Data Dictionary?
A database that contains definitions of all data items defined during analysis.

What is Data Flow Diagram?
A modeling notation that represents a functional decomposition of a system.

What is Data Driven Testing?
Testing in which the action of a test case is parameterized by externally defined data values, maintained as a file or spreadsheet. A common technique in Automated Testing.

What is Debugging?
The process of finding and removing the causes of software failures.

What is Defect?
Nonconformance to requirements or functional / program specification

What is Dependency Testing?
Examines an application's requirements for pre-existing software, initial states and configuration in order to maintain proper functionality.

What is Depth Testing?
A test that exercises a feature of a product in full detail.

What is Dynamic Testing?
Testing software through executing it. See also Static Testing.

What is Emulator?
A device, computer program, or system that accepts the same inputs and produces the same outputs as a given system.

What is Endurance Testing?
Checks for memory leaks or other problems that may occur with prolonged execution.

What is End-to-End testing?
Testing a complete application environment in a situation that mimics real-world use, such as interacting with a database, using network communications, or interacting with other hardware, applications, or systems if appropriate.

What is Equivalence Class?
A portion of a component's input or output domains for which the component's behaviour is assumed to be the same from the component's specification.

What is Equivalence Partitioning?
A test case design technique for a component in which test cases are designed to execute representatives from equivalence classes.

What is Exhaustive Testing?
Testing which covers all combinations of input values and preconditions for an element of the software under test.
What is Functional Decomposition?
A technique used during planning, analysis and design; creates a functional hierarchy for the software.

What is Functional Specification?
A document that describes in detail the characteristics of the product with regard to its intended features.

What is Functional Testing?
Testing the features and operational behavior of a product to ensure they correspond to its specifications.
Testing that ignores the internal mechanism of a system or component and focuses solely on the outputs generated in response to selected inputs and execution conditions.
See also What is Black Box Testing.

What is Glass Box Testing?
A synonym for White Box Testing.

Do you know of metrics that help you estimate the size of the testing effort?
How do you scope out the size of the testing effort?

How many hours a week should a tester work?

How should your staff be managed? How about your overtime?

How do you estimate staff requirements?

What do you do (with the project tasks) when the schedule fails?

How do you handle conflict with programmers?

How do you know when the product is tested well enough?

What characteristics would you seek in a candidate for test-group manager?

What do you think the role of test-group manager should be? Relative to senior management? Relative to other technical groups in the company? Relative to your staff?

How do your characteristics compare to the profile of the ideal manager that you just described?

How does your preferred work style work with the ideal test-manager role that you just described? What is different between the way you work and the role you described?

Who should you hire in a testing group and why?
What is Gorilla Testing?
Testing one particular module, functionality heavily.

What is Gray Box Testing?
A combination of Black Box and White Box testing methodologies? testing a piece of software against its specification but using some knowledge of its internal workings.

What is High Order Tests?
Black-box tests conducted once the software has been integrated.

What is Independent Test Group (ITG)?
A group of people whose primary responsibility is software testing,

What is Inspection?
A group review quality improvement process for written material. It consists of two aspects; product (document itself) improvement and process improvement (of both document production and inspection).
What is Integration Testing?
Testing of combined parts of an application to determine if they function together correctly. Usually performed after unit and functional testing. This type of testing is especially relevant to client/server and distributed systems.

What is Installation Testing?
Confirms that the application under test recovers from expected or unexpected events without loss of data or functionality. Events can include shortage of disk space, unexpected loss of communication, or power out conditions.

What is Load Testing?
See performance testing.

What is Localization Testing?
This term refers to making software specifically designed for a specific locality.

What is Loop Testing?
A white box testing technique that exercises program loops.
What is Metric?
A standard of measurement. Software metrics are the statistics describing the structure or content of a program. A metric should be a real objective measurement of something such as number of bugs per lines of code.

What is Monkey Testing?
Testing a system or an Application on the fly, i.e just few tests here and there to ensure the system or an application does not crash out.

What is Negative Testing?
Testing aimed at showing software does not work. Also known as "test to fail". See also Positive Testing.

What is Path Testing?
Testing in which all paths in the program source code are tested at least once.

What is Performance Testing?
Testing conducted to evaluate the compliance of a system or component with specified performance requirements. Often this is performed using an automated test tool to simulate large number of users. Also know as "Load Testing".

What is Positive Testing?
Testing aimed at showing software works. Also known as "test to pass". See also Negative Testing.

What is Quality Assurance?
All those planned or systematic actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that a product or service is of the type and quality needed and expected by the customer.

What is Quality audit?
A systematic and independent examination to determine whether quality activities and related results comply with planned arrangements and whether these arrangements are implemented effectively and are suitable to achieve objectives.

What is Quality Circle?
A group of individuals with related interests that meet at regular intervals to consider problems or other matters related to the quality of outputs of a process and to the correction of problems or to the improvement of quality.

What is Quality Control?
The operational techniques and the activities used to fulfill and verify requirements of quality.

What is Quality Management?
That aspect of the overall management function that determines and implements the quality policy.

What is Quality Policy?
The overall intentions and direction of an organization as regards quality as formally expressed by top management.

What is Quality System?
The organizational structure, responsibilities, procedures, processes, and resources for implementing quality management.

What is Race Condition?
A cause of concurrency problems. Multiple accesses to a shared resource, at least one of which is a write, with no mechanism used by either to moderate simultaneous access.

What is Ramp Testing?
Continuously raising an input signal until the system breaks down.

What is Recovery Testing?
Confirms that the program recovers from expected or unexpected events without loss of data or functionality. Events can include shortage of disk space, unexpected loss of communication, or power out conditions.

What is Regression Testing?
Retesting a previously tested program following modification to ensure that faults have not been introduced or uncovered as a result of the changes made.

What is Release Candidate?
A pre-release version, which contains the desired functionality of the final version, but which needs to be tested for bugs (which ideally should be removed before the final version is released).

What is Sanity Testing?
Brief test of major functional elements of a piece of software to determine if its basically operational. See also Smoke Testing.

What is Scalability Testing?
Performance testing focused on ensuring the application under test gracefully handles increases in work load.
What is the role of metrics in comparing staff performance in human resources management?
How do you estimate staff requirements?

What do you do (with the project staff) when the schedule fails?

Describe some staff conflicts youÂ’ve handled.

Why did you ever become involved in QA/testing?

What is the difference between testing and Quality Assurance?

What was a problem you had in your previous assignment (testing if possible)? How did you resolve it?

What are two of your strengths that you will bring to our QA/testing team?

What do you like most about Quality Assurance/Testing?

What do you like least about Quality Assurance/Testing?

What is the Waterfall Development Method and do you agree with all the steps?

What is the V-Model Development Method and do you agree with this model?

What is Security Testing?
Testing which confirms that the program can restrict access to authorized personnel and that the authorized personnel can access the functions available to their security level.

What is Smoke Testing?
A quick-and-dirty test that the major functions of a piece of software work. Originated in the hardware testing practice of turning on a new piece of hardware for the first time and considering it a success if it does not catch on fire.

What is Soak Testing?
Running a system at high load for a prolonged period of time. For example, running several times more transactions in an entire day (or night) than would be expected in a busy day, to identify and performance problems that appear after a large number of transactions have been executed.

What is Software Requirements Specification?
A deliverable that describes all data, functional and behavioral requirements, all constraints, and all validation requirements for software/

What is Software Testing?
A set of activities conducted with the intent of finding errors in software.

What is Static Analysis?
Analysis of a program carried out without executing the program.

What is Static Analyzer?
A tool that carries out static analysis.

What is Static Testing?
Analysis of a program carried out without executing the program.

What is Storage Testing?
Testing that verifies the program under test stores data files in the correct directories and that it reserves sufficient space to prevent unexpected termination resulting from lack of space. This is external storage as opposed to internal storage.

What is Stress Testing?
Testing conducted to evaluate a system or component at or beyond the limits of its specified requirements to determine the load under which it fails and how. Often this is performance testing using a very high level of simulated load.

What is Structural Testing?
Testing based on an analysis of internal workings and structure of a piece of software. See also White Box Testing.

What is System Testing?
Testing that attempts to discover defects that are properties of the entire system rather than of its individual components.

What is Testability?
The degree to which a system or component facilitates the establishment of test criteria and the performance of tests to determine whether those criteria have been met.

What is Test Bed?
An execution environment configured for testing. May consist of specific hardware, OS, network topology, configuration of the product under test, other application or system software, etc. The Test Plan for a project should enumerated the test beds(s) to be used.
What is Test Case?
Test Case is a commonly used term for a specific test. This is usually the smallest unit of testing. A Test Case will consist of information such as requirements testing, test steps, verification steps, prerequisites, outputs, test environment, etc.
A set of inputs, execution preconditions, and expected outcomes developed for a particular objective, such as to exercise a particular program path or to verify compliance with a specific requirement.
Test Driven Development? Testing methodology associated with Agile Programming in which every chunk of code is covered by unit tests, which must all pass all the time, in an effort to eliminate unit-level and regression bugs during development. Practitioners of TDD write a lot of tests, i.e. an equal number of lines of test code to the size of the production code.

What is Test Driver?
A program or test tool used to execute a tests. Also known as a Test Harness.

What is Test Environment?
The hardware and software environment in which tests will be run, and any other software with which the software under test interacts when under test including stubs and test drivers.

What is Test First Design?
Test-first design is one of the mandatory practices of Extreme Programming (XP).It requires that programmers do not write any production code until they have first written a unit test.
What is a "Good Tester"?

Could you tell me two things you did in your previous assignment (QA/Testing related hopefully) that you are proud of?

List 5 words that best describe your strengths.

What are two of your weaknesses?

What methodologies have you used to develop test cases?

In an application currently in production, one module of code is being modified. Is it necessary to re- test the whole application or is it enough to just test functionality associated with that module?

How do you go about going into a new organization? How do you assimilate?

Define the following and explain their usefulness:change management, Configuration Management, Version Control, and Defect Tracking.

What is ISO 9000? Have you ever been in an ISO shop?

When are you done testing?

What is the difference between a test strategy and a test plan?

What is ISO 9003? Why is it important
What is Test Harness?
A program or test tool used to execute a tests. Also known as a Test Driver.

What is Test Plan?
A document describing the scope, approach, resources, and schedule of intended testing activities. It identifies test items, the features to be tested, the testing tasks, who will do each task, and any risks requiring contingency planning. Ref IEEE Std 829.

What is Test Procedure?
A document providing detailed instructions for the execution of one or more test cases.

What is Test Script?
Commonly used to refer to the instructions for a particular test that will be carried out by an automated test tool.

What is Test Specification?
A document specifying the test approach for a software feature or combination or features and the inputs, predicted results and execution conditions for the associated tests.
What is Test Suite?
A collection of tests used to validate the behavior of a product. The scope of a Test Suite varies from organization to organization. There may be several Test Suites for a particular product for example. In most cases however a Test Suite is a high level concept, grouping together hundreds or thousands of tests related by what they are intended to test.

What is Test Tools?
Computer programs used in the testing of a system, a component of the system, or its documentation.

What is Thread Testing?
A variation of top-down testing where the progressive integration of components follows the implementation of subsets of the requirements, as opposed to the integration of components by successively lower levels.

What is Top Down Testing?
An approach to integration testing where the component at the top of the component hierarchy is tested first, with lower level components being simulated by stubs. Tested components are then used to test lower level components. The process is repeated until the lowest level components have been tested.
What is Total Quality Management?
A company commitment to develop a process that achieves high quality product and customer satisfaction.

What is Traceability Matrix?
A document showing the relationship between Test Requirements and Test Cases.

What is Usability Testing?
Testing the ease with which users can learn and use a product.

What is Use Case?
The specification of tests that are conducted from the end-user perspective. Use cases tend to focus on operating software as an end-user would conduct their day-to-day activities.

What is Unit Testing?
Testing of individual software components.
What is Validation?
The process of evaluating software at the end of the software development process to ensure compliance with software requirements. The techniques for validation is testing, inspection and reviewing
What is Verification?
The process of determining whether of not the products of a given phase of the software development cycle meet the implementation steps and can be traced to the incoming objectives established during the previous phase. The techniques for verification are testing, inspection and reviewing.
What is Volume Testing?
Testing which confirms that any values that may become large over time (such as accumulated counts, logs, and data files), can be accommodated by the program and will not cause the program to stop working or degrade its operation in any manner.

What is Walkthrough?
A review of requirements, designs or code characterized by the author of the material under review guiding the progression of the review.
What is White Box Testing?
Testing based on an analysis of internal workings and structure of a piece of software. Includes techniques such as Branch Testing and Path Testing. Also known as Structural Testing and Glass Box Testing. Contrast with Black Box Testing.

What is Workflow Testing?
Scripted end-to-end testing which duplicates specific workflows which are expected to be utilized by the end-user.
What are ISO standards? Why are they important?
What is IEEE 829? (This standard is important for Software Test Documentation-Why?)

What is IEEE? Why is it important?

Do you support automated testing? Why?

We have a testing assignment that is time-driven. Do you think automated tests are the best solution?

What is your experience with change control? Our development team has only 10 members. Do you think managing change is such a big deal for us?

Are reusable test cases a big plus of automated testing and explain why.

Can you build a good audit trail using Compuware's QACenter products. Explain why.

How important is Change Management in today's computing environments?

Do you think tools are required for managing change. Explain and please list some tools/practices which can help you managing change.

We believe in ad-hoc software processes for projects. Do you agree with this? Please explain your answer.

When is a good time for system testing?
Are regression tests required or do you feel there is a better use for resources?

Our software designers use UML for modeling applications. Based on their use cases, we would like to plan a test strategy. Do you agree with this approach or would this mean more effort for the testers.

Tell me about a difficult time you had at work and how you worked through it.

Give me an example of something you tried at work but did not work out so you had to go at things another way.

How can one file compare future dated output files from a program which has change, against the baseline run which used current date for input. The client does not want to mask dates on the output files to allow compares

Test Automation
What automating testing tools are you familiar with?
How did you use automating testing tools in your job?

Describe some problem that you had with automating testing tool.

How do you plan test automation?

Can test automation improve test effectiveness?

What is data - driven automation?

What are the main attributes of test automation?

Does automation replace manual testing?

How will you choose a tool for test automation?

How you will evaluate the tool for test automation?

What are main benefits of test automation?

What could go wrong with test automation?

How you will describe testing activities?

What testing activities you may want to automate?

Networking+ Acronyms

2009-08-06T03:43:00.001-07:00

NETWORK+ ACRONYMS

AAA Authentication Authorization and Accounting
ACL Access Control List
ADF Automatic Document Feeder
ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
AES Advanced Encryption Standard
AEP American Electric Power
AFP AppleTalk Filing Protocol
AH Authentication Header
AM Amplitude Modulation
AMI Alternate Mark Inversion
APIPA Automatic Private Internet Protocol Addressing
ARIN American Registry for Internet Numbers
ARP Address Resolution Protocol
ASP Application Service Provider
ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode
BDF Building Distribution Frame
BERT Bit-Error Rate Test
BGP Border Gateway Protocol
BNC British Naval Connector / Bayonet Niell-Concelman
BootP Boot Protocol /Bootstrap Protocol
BPDU Bridge Protocol Data Unit
BRI Basic Rate Interface
CHAP Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol
CIDR Classless inter domain routing
CNAME Canonical Name
CRAM-MD5 Challenge-Response Authentication Mechanism – Message Digest 5
CSMA / CA Carrier Sense Multiple Access / Collision Avoidance
CSMA / CD Carrier Sense Multiple Access / Collision Detection
CSU Channel Service Unit
dB decibels
DHCP Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
DLC Data Link Control
DMZ Demilitarized Zone
DNS Domain Name Service / Domain Name Server / Domain Name System
DOCSIS Data-Over-Cable Service Interface Specification
DoS Denial of Service
DDoS Distributed Denial of Service
DSL Digital Subscriber Line
DSU Data Service Unit
DWDM Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing
E1 E-Carrier Level 1
EAP Extensible Authentication Protocol
EGP Exterior Gateway Protocol
EIGRP Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol
EMI Electromagnetic Interference
ESD Electrostatic Discharge
ESSID Enhanced Service Set Identifier
ESP Encapsulated security packets
FDDI Fiber Distributed Data Interface
FDM Frequency Division Multiplexing
FHSS Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum
FM Frequency Modulation
FQDN Fully Qualified Domain Name / Fully Qualified Distinguished Name
FTP File Transfer Protocol
GBIC Gigabit Interface Converter
Gbps Giga bits per second
HDLC High-Level Data Link Control
HSRP Hot Standby Router Protocol
HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol
HTTPS Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure
Hz Hertz
IANA Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
ICA Independent Computer Architecture
ICANN Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
ICMP Internet Control Message Protocol
ICS Internet Connection Sharing
IDF Intermediate Distribution Frame
IDS Intrusion Detection System
IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
IGMP Internet Group Multicast Protocol
IGP Interior Gateway Protocol
IIS Internet Information Services
IKE Internet Key Exchange
IMAP4 Internet Message Access Protocol version 4
InterNIC Internet Network Information Center
IP Internet Protocol
IPS Intrusion Prevention System
IPSec Internet Protocol Security
IPv4 Internet Protocol version 4
IPv6 Internet Protocol version 6
IPX Internetwork Packet Exchange
ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network
IS-IS Intermediate System - Intermediate system
ISP Internet Service Provider
IT Information Technology
Kbps Kilobits per second
L2F Layer 2 Forwarding
L2TP Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol
LACP Link aggregation control protocol
LAN Local Area Network
LC Local Connector
LDAP Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
LEC Local Exchange Carrier
LED Light Emitting Diode
LLC Logical Link Control
LPR Line Printer Request
MAC Media Access Control / Medium Access Control
Mbps Megabits per second
MBps Megabytes per second
MDF Main Distribution Frame
MDI Media Dependent Interface
MDIX Media Dependent Interface Crossover
MIB Management Information Base
MMF Multimode Fiber
MPLS Multi-Protocol Label Switching
MS-CHAP Microsoft Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol
MT-RJ Mechanical Transfer-Registered Jack
MX Mail Exchanger
NAC Network Access Control
NAT Network Address Translation
NCP Network Control Protocol
NetBEUI Network Basic Input / Output Extended User Interface
NetBIOS Network Basic Input / Output System
NFS Network File Service
NIC Network Interface Card
nm Nanometer
NNTP Network News Transport Protocol
NTP Network Time Protocol
NWLINK Microsoft IPX/SPX Protocol
OCx Optical Carrier
OS Operating Systems
OSI Open Systems Interconnect
OSPF Open Shortest Path First
OTDR Optical Time Domain Reflectometer
PAP Password Authentication Protocol
PAT Port Address Translation
PC Personal Computer
PKI Public Key Infrastructure
PoE Power over Ethernet
POP3 Post Office Protocol version 3
POTS Plain Old Telephone System
PPP Point-to-Point Protocol
PPPoE Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet
PPTP Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol
PRI Primary Rate Interface
PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network
PVC Permanent Virtual Circuit
QoS Quality of Service
RADIUS Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service
RARP Reverse Address Resolution Protocol
RAS Remote Access Service
RDP Remote Desktop Protocol
RFI Radio Frequency Interface
RG Radio Guide
RIP Routing Internet Protocol
RJ Registered Jack
RSA Rivest, Shamir, Adelman
RSH Remote Shell
RTP Real Time Protocol
SC Standard Connector / Subscriber Connector
SCP Secure Copy Protocol
SDSL Symmetrical Digital Subscriber Line
SFTP Secure File Transfer Protocol
SIP Session Initiation Protocol
SLIP Serial Line Internet Protocol
SMF Single Mode Fiber
SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
SNAT Static Network Address Translation
SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol
SOA Start of Authority
SOHO Small Office / Home Office
SONET Synchronous Optical Network
SPS Standby Power Supply
SPX Sequenced Packet Exchange
SSH Secure Shell
SSID Service Set Identifier
SSL Secure Sockets Layer
ST Straight Tip
STP Shielded Twisted Pair
T1 T-Carrier Level 1
TA Terminal Adaptor
TACACS+ Terminal Access Control Access Control System+
TCP Transmission Control Protocol
TCP / IP Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol
tcsh Turbo C shell
TDM Time Division Multiplexing
TDR Time Domain Reflectometer
Telco Telephone Company
TFTP Trivial File Transfer Protocol
TKIP Temporal Key Integrity Protocol
TLS Transport Layer Security
TTL Time to Live
UDP User Datagram Protocol
UNC Universal Naming Convention
UPS Uninterruptible Power Supply
URL Uniform Resource Locator
USB Universal Serial Bus
UTP Unshielded Twisted Pair
VDSL Variable Digital Subscriber Line
VLAN Virtual Local Area Network
VNC Virtual Network Connection
VoIP Voice over IP
VPN Virtual Private Network
VTP Virtual Trunk Protocol
WAN Wide Area Network
WAP Wireless Application Protocol / Wireless Access Point
WEP Wired Equivalent Privacy
WINS Window Internet Name Service
WPA Wi-Fi Protected Access
www World Wide Web
X.25 CCITT Packet Switching Protocol
XML eXtensible Markup Language
XDSL Extended Digital Subscriber Line
Zeroconf Zero Configuration

Setting reverse DNS in Bind in Debian

2009-06-09T05:47:00.000-07:00

If you have a simple DNS setting without Reverse DNS, this might help you to setup.

Step 1: Add Reverse zone entery in /etc/bind/named.conf
// add local zone definitions here

zone "0.168.192.in-addr.arpa" {
type master;
file "/etc/bind/yourdomain.rev";

zone "yourdomain.com" {
type master;
file "/etc/bind/yourdomain.com";
allow-query { any; };

Step 2: Create the /etc/bind/yourdomain.rev file

$TTL 3000
@ IN SOA ns.yourdomain.com. postmaster.yourdomain.com. (
1312 ; Serial
300 ; Refresh
150 ; Retry
4W ; Expire
1H ) ; Negative Cache TTL

;
; NS
;

IN NS ns.yourdomain.com.

1 IN PTR www.yourdomain.com.
2 IN PTR mail.yourdomain.com.

Step 3: Reload the configuration
/etc/init.d/bind force-reload

Step 4: Test the Reverse lookup
before doing that make sure your DNS is right one in /etc/resolve.conf file,

#dnslookup
> mail.yourdomain.com
Server: 192.168.0.1
Address: 192.168.0.1#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: mail.yourdomain.com
Address: 192.168.0.2
> 192.168.0.2
Server: 192.168.0.1
Address: 192.168.0.1#53

2.0.168.192.in-addr.arpa name = mail.yourdomain.com.

http://www.debuntu.org/2006/08/05/85-how-to-setting-up-a-dns-zone-with-bind9/2

Allow TFTP traffic Through IPCOP Firewall

2009-06-09T01:22:00.000-07:00

It is weired that IPCOP block the tftp traffic from external server to internal. In order to work properly we have to add rule manually in the /etc/rc.d/

imran@imran-laptop:~$ ssh root@192.168.0.1 -p 222
root@10.47.0.1's password:
Last login: Mon Jun 8 16:21:12 2009 from imran-laptop.owera.com
root@firewall:~ # nano /etc/rc.d/rc.network

## add following for TFTP traffic

modprobe ip_conntrack_tftp
modprobe ip_nat_tftp

Reboot the Firewall to take effect or enter the above command in command line.

Further Info:

http://keystoneit.wordpress.com/2007/11/25/tftp-through-ipcop-or-other-iptables-firewalls/

Increase the responce time/improve performace of GNOME Desktop in Ubunu

2009-05-14T05:38:00.000-07:00

Metacity will give the user less feedback by using wireframes, avoiding animations, or other means. This is a significant reduction in usability for many users, but may allow legacy applications to continue working, and may also be a useful tradeoff for terminal servers. However, the wireframe feature is disabled when accessibility is on.

Step 1: Open the Configuration Editor

Alt+F2 then type gconf-editor

Step2: Go to apps->metacity->general

Step3: Check (true) to reduced_resource.

This will increase the response time, you will notice the difference.

PPPoE Server Under Ubuntu/Debian

2009-05-13T00:39:00.000-07:00

PPPoE Server Setup:
Operating System: Ubuntu Desktop(8.04)

1) Installation of Softwares:
Server Side
a) ppp
apt-get install ppp
b) pppoe
apt-get install pppoe
c) rp-pppoe (I used rp-pppoe-3.10.tar.gz)
RP PPPoE; can be obtained from,
http://www.roaringpenguin.com/products/pppoe
After download
Move it to some place e.g /var/tmp, unpack and change permission

root@pppoe:/var/tmp# mv /home/imran/Desktop/rp-pppoe-3.10.tar.gz /var/tmp/

root@pppoe:/var/tmp# tar -xvf rp-pppoe-3.10.tar.gz

root@pppoe:/var/tmp# chown imran:imran rp-pppoe-3.10

root@pppoe:/var/tmp# ls -l

total 220

drwxr-xr-x 8 imran imran   4096 2008-06-30 16:00 rp-pppoe-3.10

-rw-r--r-- 1 imran imran 215288 2009-10-19 10:31 rp-pppoe-3.10.tar.gz

root@pppoe:/var/tmp#

Open README file and go through it.There are 3 methods I shall go for first one, QuickStart method.

QUICKSTART Method: "If you're lucky, the "quickstart" method will work. After unpackingthe archive, become root and type"
root@pppoe:/var/tmp# cd rp-pppoe-3.10/
root@pppoe:/var/tmp/rp-pppoe-3.10# ./go

I got some gcc error, fixed it by installing "build-essential", This will install gcc and a some other files that need to build something from source.

sudo aptitude install build-essential

root@pppoe:/var/tmp/rp-pppoe-3.10# ./go

** Summary of what you entered **

Ethernet Interface: eth1
User name:          test
Activate-on-demand: No
Primary DNS:        82.196.201.43
Secondary DNS:      82.196.193.143
Firewalling:        NONE

>>> Accept these settings and adjust configuration files (y/n)? y
Adjusting /etc/ppp/pppoe.conf
Adjusting /etc/resolv.conf
 (But first backing it up to /etc/resolv.conf-bak)
Adjusting /etc/ppp/pap-secrets and /etc/ppp/chap-secrets
 (But first backing it up to /etc/ppp/pap-secrets-bak)
 (But first backing it up to /etc/ppp/chap-secrets-bak)

You will get messeg, "Congratulations, it should be all set up!"
Type 'pppoe-start' to bring up your PPPoE link and 'pppoe-stop' to bring
it down. Type 'pppoe-status' to see the link status.

Client Side :
# apt-get install pppoeconf

This will use to connect the pppoe server.

2) Configuration
Server side: Go the to /etc/ppp,

root@pppoe:/var/tmp# cd /etc/ppp
root@pppoe:/etc/ppp# ls
chap-secrets              ip-down.d    options          pppoe.conf-bak
chap-secrets-bak          ip-up        pap-secrets      pppoe_on_boot
firewall-masq             ip-up.d      pap-secrets-bak  pppoe-server-options
firewall-masq-3.10        ipv6-down    peers            pppoe-server-options-example
firewall-standalone       ipv6-down.d  plugins          pppoe-up
firewall-standalone-3.10  ipv6-up      pppoe.conf       resolv
ip-down                   ipv6-up.d    pppoe.conf-3.10
root@pppoe:/etc/ppp#

Many files, but interested are , pppoe-server-options, pppoe.conf, options,pap-secrets,chap-secrets
PAP is default authentication method, I let it.
root@pppoe:/etc/ppp# nano pap-secrets

#
# /etc/ppp/pap-secrets
#

# INBOUND connections

# Every regular user can use PPP and has to use passwords from /etc/passwd
*       hostname        ""      *

# UserIDs that cannot use PPP at all. Check your /etc/passwd and add any
# other accounts that should not be able to use pppd!
guest   hostname        "*"     -
master  hostname        "*"     -
root    hostname        "*"     -
support hostname        "*"     -
stats   hostname        "*"     -
# OUTBOUND connections

# Here you should add your userid password to connect to your providers via
# PAP. The * means that the password is to be used for ANY host you connect
# to. Thus you do not have to worry about the foreign machine name. Just
# replace password with your password.
# If you have different providers with different passwords then you better
# remove the following line.
#       *       password

"test"  *       "test"

You can change the authenticaion method from follwing file
root@pppoe:/etc/ppp# nano pppoe-server-options

# PPP options for the PPPoE server
# LIC: GPL
require-pap
#require-chap
login
lcp-echo-interval 10
lcp-echo-failure 2

a) Change following in /etc/ppp/options file, some to them already uncommented.
In case of chap as authentication, the file looks like
root@pppoe:/etc/ppp# nano chap-secrets


# Secrets for authentication using CHAP
# client        server  secret                  IP addresses

"test"          *        "test"         *
"test1"         *        "test"         *
"test2"         *       "test"          10.10.220.3
"test3"         *       "test"          10.10.220.4

Script that start the PPPoE server with NAT option
Create a script pppoe-up and chmod to 755.
root@pppoe:/etc/ppp# nano pppoe-up
root@pppoe:/etc/ppp# chmod 755 pppoe-up


#!/bin/bash
# ----------------------------------------------------

# Starts the PPPoE server and turns on NAT

# ----------------------------------------------------

# MAX is the maximum number of addresses your server

# is allowed to hand out.
PROV=pppoe
MAX=5

# BASE is the lowest IP address your server is allowed

# to hand out.

#BASE=192.168.1.238
#PLA=192.168.1.0/24

BASE=10.10.220.2
PLA=10.10.220.0/8

# NAT is the set of addresses which your server will

# NAT behind it. Other addresses behind your server

# WILL NOT be NATed.

#NAT=10.10.220.0/8

# MYIP is the public IP address of this server.

MYIP=10.10.220.1

##########################################

# Here is where the script actually starts executing.
##########################################

# Disable IP spoofing on the external interface.

#/sbin/iptables -A INPUT -i eth0 -s $NAT -j DROP

# Enable NAT for the private addresses we hand out.

#/sbin/iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -s $NAT -j $NAT --to-source $MYIP

# Launch the server.

/usr/sbin/pppoe-server pty -T 60 -I eth1 -L $MYIP -N $MAX -C $PROV -S $PROV -R $PLA

#echo "1" > "/proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward"

Client side
Install pppoeconf, which may be already installed.
apt-get install pppoeconf

Run the Server

Execute the pppoe-up script in server.
root@pppoe:/etc/ppp# ./pppoe-up

Connection of client
Run pppoeconf in client's console,
client# pppoeconf

It will search for pppoe server on ethernet server. Once it found on, in this case in eth0 it will prompt for user name: test and passwd: test

Testing and Troubleshooting
Open the /var/log/syslog in server and monitor,

da:72:54 (10.10.220.1) on eth1 using Service-Name ''

Oct 19 12:58:11 pppoe pppd[6248]: pppd 2.4.4 started by root, uid 0

Oct 19 12:58:11 pppoe pppd[6248]: Using interface ppp0

Oct 19 12:58:11 pppoe pppd[6248]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/pts/2

Oct 19 12:58:17 pppoe pppd[6248]: PAP peer authentication failed for test

Oct 19 12:58:17 pppoe pppd[6248]: Connection terminated.

Oct 19 12:58:17 pppoe pppoe[6250]: read (asyncReadFromPPP): Session 2: Input/output error

Oct 19 12:58:17 pppoe pppd[6248]: Exit.

Oct 19 12:58:17 pppoe pppoe-server[5908]: Session 2 closed for client 00:1e:37:da:72:54 (10.10.220.1) on eth1

Oct 19 12:58:17 pppoe pppoe-server[5908]: Sent PADT

There are some problems which need to fix
After fixing the issue, reconnect the client and monitor the log on server.
client# pppoeconf

Oct 19 13:19:18 pppoe pppd[8724]: pppd 2.4.4 started by root, uid 0
Oct 19 13:19:18 pppoe pppd[8724]: Using interface ppp0
Oct 19 13:19:18 pppoe pppd[8724]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/pts/2
Oct 19 13:19:21 pppoe pppd[8724]: Cannot determine ethernet address for proxy ARP
Oct 19 13:19:21 pppoe pppd[8724]: local  IP address 10.10.220.1
Oct 19 13:19:21 pppoe pppd[8724]: remote IP address 10.10.220.2

It setted up ultimatley, I spent some time, checking the script carefully, running and testing several times before it was fixed.

Final testing, Both client and server will get the ip and they are able to ping each other.

Server side
root@pppoe:/etc/ppp# ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:11:25:ed:fd:e2 
         inet addr:192.168.1.249  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
         inet6 addr: fe80::211:25ff:feed:fde2/64 Scope:Link
         UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
         RX packets:8943 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
         TX packets:3137 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
         collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
         RX bytes:4222424 (4.0 MB)  TX bytes:833756 (814.2 KB)
         Base address:0x4000 Memory:d0080000-d00a0000

eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:08:a1:be:1d:65 
         inet6 addr: fe80::208:a1ff:febe:1d65/64 Scope:Link
         UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
         RX packets:648 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
         TX packets:776 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
         collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
         RX bytes:39320 (38.3 KB)  TX bytes:50994 (49.7 KB)
         Interrupt:21 Base address:0x6000
eth1:avahi Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:08:a1:be:1d:65 
         inet addr:169.254.5.242  Bcast:169.254.255.255  Mask:255.255.0.0
         UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
         Interrupt:21 Base address:0x6000

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback 
         inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
         inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
         UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
         RX packets:2215 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
         TX packets:2215 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
         collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
         RX bytes:113003 (110.3 KB)  TX bytes:113003 (110.3 KB)

ppp0      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol  
          inet addr:10.10.220.1  P-t-P:10.10.220.2  Mask:255.255.255.255
          UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST  MTU:1492  Metric:1
          RX packets:12 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:3 
         RX bytes:724 (724.0 B)  TX bytes:382 (382.0 B)

Ping from srver to client

root@pppoe:/etc/ppp# ping 10.10.220.2
PING 10.10.220.2 (10.10.220.2) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 10.10.220.2: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.599 ms
64 bytes from 10.10.220.2: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.718 ms
64 bytes from 10.10.220.2: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=1.09 ms

Documentation:
http://roaringpenguin.com/products/pppoe
http://neworder.box.sk/newsread.php?newsid=18797
http://www.freeantennas.com/PPPoE-Server-HOWTO.html

How to enable/disable apache module in Debian/Ubuntu

2009-03-03T01:57:00.000-08:00

To enable any module e.g SSL use a2enmod command

root@fizaan:/etc/apache2# a2enmod
Which module would you like to enable?
Your choices are: actions alias asis auth_basic auth_digest authn_alias authn_anon authn_dbd authn_dbm authn_default authn_file authnz_ldap authz_dbm authz_default authz_groupfile authz_host authz_owner authz_user autoindex cache cern_meta cgid cgi charset_lite dav_fs dav dav_lock dbd deflate dir disk_cache dump_io env expires ext_filter file_cache filter headers ident imagemap include info ldap log_forensic mem_cache mime mime_magic negotiation php5 proxy_ajp proxy_balancer proxy_connect proxy_ftp proxy_http proxy rewrite setenvif speling ssl status substitute suexec unique_id userdir usertrack version vhost_alias
Module name? ssl
Module ssl installed; run /etc/init.d/apache2 force-reload to enable.

Reload the configuration
root@fizaan:/etc/apache2# /etc/init.d/apache2 force-reload
* Reloading web server config apache2root@fizaan:/etc/apache2#

Restart the apach2 web server

root@fizaan:/etc/apache2# /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

To Disable the module use a2dismod command

root@fizaan:/etc/apache2# a2dismod
Which module would you like to disable?
Your choices are: alias auth_basic authn_file authz_default authz_groupfile authz_host authz_user autoindex cgid dir env mime negotiation setenvif ssl status
Module name?

Rest of steps are same,force reload and restart apache2.

Testing Throughput of Gateway/CPE with Jperf

2009-02-25T02:20:00.000-08:00

Step 1: Setup Two PCs connected with your DUT (device under test), in this case your CPE.

PC1 is attached to LAN side and PC2 attached on WAN side

Step 2: Assign addresses to devices.

LAN side PC, PC1 will get the address from the DHCP server insed the DUT.
configure the stative IPs on

PC2: 10.10.10.100
WAN side of DUT 10.10.10.10

Step 3: Check and confirm the connectivity by pinging PC2 from PC1

Step 4: Run the Jperf Application on PC1 and PC2

PC2 will act as server, click the server option and run it

PC1 will act as client, enter the IP of server, 10.10.10.100 and run it.

You will see the LAN-WAN throtuput of your device.

References
http://code.google.com/p/xjperf/
http://openmaniak.com/iperf.php
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30408/235/
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30418/235/
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30388/235/

Network Monitoring using Nagios on Debian

2009-02-19T05:57:00.000-08:00

Step 1: Installation of Nagios

nagios:/etc/nagios#apt-get install nagios-text

Step 2: Configuration

EDIT /etc/nagios/contacts.cfg AND ADD FOLLOWING

define contact{
contact_name imran
alias imran
service_notification_period 24x7
host_notification_period 24x7
service_notification_options w,u,c,r
host_notification_options d,u,r
service_notification_commands notify-by-email
host_notification_commands host-notify-by-email
email imran@fizaan.com
}
EDIT /etc/nagios/contactgroups.cfg AND ADD FOLLOWING
define contactgroup{
contactgroup_name server-admin
alias Systems Administrators
members imran
}

EDIT /etc/nagios/hosts.cfg AND ADD YOUR HOSTS WHICH YOU WANT TO MONITOR
define host{
use generic-host
host_name www.fizaan.com
alias website
address 192.168.0.10
check_command check-host-alive
max_check_attempts 20
notification_interval 240
notification_period 24x7
notification_options d,u,r
}
define host{
use generic-host
host_name mail.fizaan.com
alias mail
address 192.168.0.20
check_command check-host-alive
max_check_attempts 20
notification_interval 240
notification_period 24x7
notification_options d,u,r
}
EDIT /etc/nagios/hostgroups.cfg AND ADD FOLLOWING

define hostgroup{
hostgroup_name Linux Servers
alias Servers
contact_groups server-admin
members www.fizaan.com,mail.fizaan.com
}

EDIT /etc/nagios/services AND ADD YOUR SERVICES, e.g
You cand define more than 1 service for each host.

# Service definition
define service{
use generic-service ; Name of service template to use

host_name mail.FIZAAN.com
service_description Total Processes
is_volatile 0
check_period 24x7
max_check_attempts 3
normal_check_interval 5
retry_check_interval 2
contact_groups server-admin
notification_interval 240
notification_period 24x7
notification_options w,u,c,r
check_command check_procs!150!200!RSZDT
}
# Service definition
define service{
use generic-service ; Name of service template to use

host_name www.fizaan.com
service_description HTTP
is_volatile 0
check_period 24x7
max_check_attempts 3
normal_check_interval 5
retry_check_interval 1
contact_groups server-admin
notification_interval 120
notification_period 24x7
notification_options w,u,c,r
check_command check_http
}

Step 3: Check the syntex error, if every thing ok, it will show following.

nagios:/etc/nagios# nagios -v /etc/nagios/nagios.cfg
.
.
Total Warnings: 0
Total Errors: 0

Things look okay - No serious problems were detected during the pre-flight check

Step 4: Restart the Nagios

nagios:/etc/nagios#/etc/init.d/nagios restart

Step 5: Open the Site and login

http://192.168.0.5/nagios/
or
http://nagios.fizaan.com/nagios/

username: nagiosadmin
password: provided during installation

Pluging Directory

Following are default plugins installed with Nagios.
nagios:/usr/lib/nagios# cd plugins/
nagios:/usr/lib/nagios/plugins# ls
check_apt check_file_age check_imap check_mrtgtraf check_oracle check_simap check_ups
check_breeze check_flexlm check-imap check_mysql check_overcr check_smtp check_users
check_by_ssh check_fping check_ircd check_mysql_query check_pgsql check_snmp check_wave
check_clamd check_ftp check_jabber check_nagios check_ping check_spop eventhandlers
check_dhcp check_game check_ldap check_nagios_db check_pop check_ssh negate
check_dig check_hpjd check_ldaps check_nntp check_procs check_ssmtp urlize
check_disk check_http check_load check_nntps check_radius check_swap utils.pm
check_disk_smb check_icmp check_log check_nt check_real check_tcp utils.sh
check_dns check_ifoperstatus check_mailq check_ntp check_rpc check_time
check_dummy check_ifstatus check_mrtg check_nwstat check_sensors check_udp
nagios:/usr/lib/nagios/plugins#

Note: Comment out the /etc/nagios/esclations.cfg file

Restoring Joomla Site Admin Password

2009-02-18T05:22:00.001-08:00

Step 1: Login the site using phpmyadmin

Step 2: Select the Database

You can find you data base name, user name and password on database from configuration.php file of joomla.

Step 3: Select the Users table "jos_users", on left side of panel from the database.

Step 4: Select the Browse in middle window and edit the user name Administration, id e.g 62 by clicking the edit mark "pencil" in this case.

Step 5: In the password field, insert this value "226776f356d7ecf58b60bab12a05d38f" (without quotes), this is hashed value of joomla, new password of admin user. Be careful do not change field type.

Step 6: Press Go, make sure the save option is selected in the bottom of window.

Congratulation you new password joomla is set.

Do not forget to change the password of admin when you login.

Installation of SSL Certificates (self signed) in Debian

2009-02-16T02:48:00.000-08:00

Step 1: Make sure that openssl is installad along with apache, otherwise

apt-get install openssl

Step 2: Install the self signed certificate

root@web:mkdir /etc/apach2/ssl
root@web:/etc/apache2/ssl# openssl req -new -x509 -days 365 -nodes -out /etc/apache2/ssl/certificate.pem -keyout /etc/apache2/ssl/certificate.pem

Generating a 1024 bit RSA private key
..............................++++++
.................................++++++
writing new private key to '/etc/apache2/ssl/certificate.pem'
-----
You are about to be asked to enter information that will be incorporated
into your certificate request.
What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name or a DN.
There are quite a few fields but you can leave some blank
For some fields there will be a default value,
If you enter '.', the field will be left blank.
-----
Country Name (2 letter code) [AU]:NO
State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]:Oslo
Locality Name (eg, city) []:Oslo
Organization Name (eg, company) [Internet Widgits Pty Ltd]:Fizaan
Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:IT
Common Name (eg, YOUR name) []:www.fizaan.com
Email Address []:postmaster@fizaan.com

root@web:/etc/apache2/ssl# ls
certificate.pem

Step 3: Provide path to certificate in apach2 configuration file /etc/apache2/sites-available/default

ServerAdmin postmaster@fizaan.com
ServerName www.fizaan.com
ServerAlias www
DocumentRoot /var/www/site
SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile ssl/certificate.pem

Ste 4: Restart the apache2 and test the site

root@web:/etc/init.d/apache2 stop
root@web:/etc/init.d/apache2 start

Open browser and visit the site name www.fizaan.com, view the certificate.
These certificate the good for demo site or intranet but for commercial you should buy.

Buying Certificate from Third party

Step 1: Provide your CSR

openssl req -nodes -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout myserver.key -out server.csr

Step 2: provide the details to third company e.g COMODO SSL, VeriSign

Step 3: After processing the third comapny shall give you back the file and place it in the path of ssl in apache2 virtualhost file.

References

http://www.debuntu.org/how-to-create-a-self-signed-certificate
https://secure.instantssl.com/products/SSLIdASignup1a
http://www.verisign.com/ssl/buy-ssl-certificates/

Installation of tasks (DNS, Print Server...)in Debian/Ubunt

2009-02-13T05:06:00.000-08:00

Installation

# sudo -s
Enter passwd
# tasksel

Redirecting URL Permanently in Apache

2009-02-12T07:20:00.000-08:00

Step 1: Install apache if not installed;

You must have apache installed and running.

apt-get install apache2

Step 2: Just add following lines to /etc/apache2/sites-available/default file,
NameVirtualHost *

ServerName domainname.com
ServerAlias www.domainname.com
Redirect permanent / http://www.newdomainname.com/

Where 192.168.0.1 is IP of machine running apache2,
servername is name of machine
Alias can the other name of the machine.
Redirct permanent will redirect to the new domain.

Step 3: Restart the apache

/etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Step 4: Test the site

References
http://www.yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/ApacheRedirect.html

Installation of Spamassassin in Exim4 Debian

2009-01-17T15:31:00.000-08:00

Step 1: Add following to /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://volatile.debian.net/debian-volatile sarge/volatile main contrib

Step 2: Install Spamassassin via apt-get

apt-get install spamassassin

Step 3: Enable spamassassin

edit /etc/default/spamassassin and enable spamd

Installation or updating using CPAN

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Mail::SpamAssassin
reload CPAN
quit

Restart the spamassassin

/etc/init.d/spamassassin restart

Check the version of spamassassin -V

Updating the rules

sa-update -D

Tuning the Spamassassin

/etc/mai/spamassassin/local.cf

# These should be safe assumptions and allow for simple visual sifting
# without risking lost emails.

required_hits 4.0
report_safe 1
rewrite_header Subject *****[SPAM](_SCORE_)*****
use_bayes 1
auto_learn 1
ok_locales en

Useful Links

http://koivi.com/exim4-config/
http://www.linuxsupport.org.uk/sa/index.html

Installation of Virtual Box in Ubuntu 8.10

2009-01-17T15:06:00.000-08:00

Installation

Step 1: Add following address in /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian intrepid non-free

Step 2: Add public key

wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/sun_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Step 3: Update and Install necessery package

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install dkms

Step 4: Install the virtual box

sudo apt-get install virtualbox-2.1

It will start the to install and will add the network interfaces.

Open the Virtual Machine Application and create the machines.

Securing System with DenyHost package

2008-12-31T14:51:00.000-08:00

Denyhost is a package which is exellent for blocking brute forc ssh attacks.
It is also easy to install and manage.

Installation

apt-get install denyhosts

Configuration:

Default configuration are pretty good but you can tune the basic.

/etc/denyhosts.conf

It reads the logs and add those IPs which try to break in /etc/hosts.deny

You can add your IP/valid IP or with your domain.
/etc/hosts.allow

sshd: yourdomain.com 192.168.0.1

Start/stop service

/etc/init.d/denyhosts stop

/etc/init.d/denyhosts start

Purging denyhost

denyhosts --purge

The /etc/rc3.d contains the denyhost which start on run time.

LDAP server on Debian ETCH

2008-11-05T06:47:00.000-08:00

INSTALLATION
apt-get install slapd ldap-utils libldap-2.4-2 libdb4.6

During installion it will ask you questions like passwd or domain name (it did not ask my installation)
Administrator password: password
Confirm password: password

CONFIGURATION
Client side : (Remember same system is serving as client and server.)
Edit /et/ldap/ldap.conf

BASE dc=fizaan, dc=com
#URI ldap://ldap.example.com ldap://ldap-master.example.com:666
URI ldap://10.0.2.15

#SIZELIMIT 12
#TIMELIMIT 15
#DEREF never

Server Configuration

These Schemas by default are included, if not make sure they are included.
# Schema and objectClass definitions
include /etc/ldap/schema/core.schema
include /etc/ldap/schema/cosine.schema
include /etc/ldap/schema/nis.schema
include /etc/ldap/schema/inetorgperson.schema

Change the log level from 0 to 256

loglevel 256

Data base, you can change if you want different. I m using default.

database bdb

Your domain name, be default
# The base of your directory in database #1
suffix "dc=fizaan,dc=com"

rootdn you will use to access the ldap server, the passwd I changed using slappasswd
# rootdn directive for specifying a superuser on the database. This is needed
# for syncrepl.
rootdn "cn=admin,dc=fizaan,dc=com"
rootpw {MD5}gdyb21LQTcIANtvYMT7QVQ==

Index options, I added index uid eq, you can add more e.g index gid eq
index objectClass eq
index uid eq

CHANGING OWNERSHIP AND RESTART OF SERVER.

sudo invoke-rc.d slapd stop
sudo slapindex
sudo chown openldap:openldap /var/lib/ldap/*
sudo invoke-rc.d slapd start

TESTING LDAP SERVER
type ldapsearch -x, it will show you all ldap entries.

ldap:/home/imran# ldapsearch -x
# extended LDIF
#
# LDAPv3
# base <> with scope subtree
# filter: (objectclass=*)
# requesting: ALL
#

# fizaan.com
dn: dc=fizaan,dc=com
objectClass: top
objectClass: dcObject
objectClass: organization
o: fizaan.com
dc: fizaan
.
.

CREATING BASIC DIRECTORY STRUCTURE

Create a file /var/tmp/ou.ldif with these, it will add two organizational unit under you top level domain, add by following command.

ldap:/home/imran# slapadd -c -v -l /var/tmp/ou.ldif

dn: ou=People,dc=fizaan,dc=com
ou: People
objectClass: organizationalUnit

dn: ou=Group,dc=fizaan,dc=com
ou: Group
objectClass: organizationalUnit

CREATION OF USERS/POPULATING DIRECTORY

Create a file with following information, of users and add it with this command
ldap:/home/imran# ldapadd -c -x -D cn=admin,dc=fizaan,dc=com -W -f /var/tmp/user1.ldi

dn: cn=aanish,ou=group,dc=fizaan,dc=com
cn: aanish
gidNumber: 20002
objectClass: top
objectClass: posixGroup

dn: uid=aanish,ou=people,dc=fizaan,dc=com
uid:aanish
uidNumber: 20002
gidNumber: 20002
cn:Aanish
sn:Imran
objectClass: top
objectClass: person
objectClass: posixAccount
objectClass: shadowAccount
loginShell: /bin/bash
homeDirectory: /home/aanish

TESTING OF ADDED USERS
ldap:/home/imran# ldapsearch -x uid=aanish
# extended LDIF
#
# LDAPv3
# base <> with scope subtree
# filter: uid=aanish
# requesting: ALL
#

# aanish, people, fizaan.com
dn: uid=aanish,ou=people,dc=fizaan,dc=com
uid: aanish
uidNumber: 20002
gidNumber: 20002
cn: Aanish
sn: Imran
objectClass: top
objectClass: person
objectClass: posixAccount
objectClass: shadowAccount
loginShell: /bin/bash
homeDirectory: /home/aanish

# search result
search: 2
result: 0 Success

# numResponses: 2
# numEntries: 1
ldap:/home/imran#

CLIENT TOOL
1) luma
apt-get install luma
after installation, on command prompt type luma, it will be started.
First add you ldap server by clicking Setting, Edit serve list and ADD, give IP address of your server. After adding the server give the authentication credentials.
(see above Fig1)

2) phpldapadmin is a web based Graphical tool, you can install very easily
apt-get install phpldapadmin

In browser write address of server and login with credential
User :cn=admin,dc=fizaan,dc=com
Passwd:1234
(see above Fig2)

Reference
Ldap Install
Debian ldap

Window 2003 Termianl Server Installation, Configuration and Maintenance

2008-10-12T05:26:00.001-07:00

Server End:
Installation
During Installain of Windows 2003 Server, Terminal srver installs by default, no need to install again.

Configuration
Step 1:Share Remoter Desktop Connection by sharing this folser: C:\Windows\system32\clients\tsclient\win32 to access folser and copy in their system.
Step 2: Give permission to user e.g imran by Right click on win32 folder, click propterties, select Security tab and click add, enter user name: imran (this user should already be created in server machine) under enter Object name
Step 3: Allow remote users to access remotely by Enabling Remote access.
Step 4: Right click on My computer, Click Properties, select Enable Remoter Desktop in this computer.

client Side:
Step 1: If your client is Windows XP: Click start, All programmes, Accesseries and then Open Remote Desktop Connection
Step 2: Write IP of terminal server e.g 192.168.1.102
Step 3: Give user name and password, this usre name and passward should be permit
Step 4: This will open the Terminal to you

Note: Default mode (Administrative) only allow 2 users to access.

Changing Remote Administrative to Applicatoin user
Server Side
Step 1: Open Add/remove programs from Control panel
Step 2: Open Add/remove Windows components, check the terminal serve after opening the window
Step 3: Click next, this will start installain, privide Windows 2003 serve CD.
Step 4: Finish and restart the machine.

Managing the Terminal Server by opeing the Terminal service Manager
and
To manage Terminal Services Protoclo Configuratoin RDP, open Terminal Service Configuration from Administrative tools

Window 2003 DFS Server Installation, Configuration and Maintenance

2008-10-12T02:38:00.000-07:00

Server Side:
Installation:

In windows 2003 Installatin, DFS is installed by default, no need to install again.

Configuration:
Client Side:
Step 1: Make a filder e.g c:\DFS-client1
Step 2: Share the folder and set the permissin.

Server Side:
Step 1: Make a folder and share it, e.g C:\root
Step 2: Open Distributed File System from Administrative Tools
Step 3: Right click on Distributed file systme, Click New Root, a wizard will start, click Next.
Step 4: If you have Domain, select Domain root, if WORKGROUP then Stand-alone root , I am using stand-alone root, click Next.
Step 5: Write Server name or IP e.g 192.168.1.102, click Next
Step 6: Now give the root name, shared folder made in first step on srver e.g root and Finish the wizard.
Step 7: After finish right click on \\TEST03-SERVER\root and click New Link
Step 8: Name of Link for client1 e.g 192.168.1.104, select the path to shared folder by click on Browse, Entire Network, Microsoft Windows Network, Workgroup, 2003-client select DFS-client1, press ok, Finsih
Step 9: Repeat the same steps for other clients.

Window 2003 FTP Server Installation, Configuration and Maintenance

2008-10-10T20:13:00.000-07:00

Server Side

You server must have IIS and static IP
InstallationStep 1:
Step 1: Open add/remove programs from Control panel
Step 2: Click add/remove windows components,
Step 3: Select Application Server, select Internet Information Server (IIS), click details, check FTP along with default checks.
Step 4: This will start installation wizard, provide 2003 cd, during install.

Configuration
Step 1: Open IIS from Administrative Tools
Step 2: Right click on FTP Sites, click New FTP Site..
Step 3: Wizard will start, Next, wirte Description e.g ftp server, Next
Step 4: Select IP e.g 192.168.1.102, port 21 (default), Next
Step 5: FTP user usolation, check Isolate users, Next
Step 6: FTP sites home Directory, browse, select drive e.g C, click Make New Folder, cheate folder e.g FTP, ok
Step 7: Allow file permission Read, Write (if you want to give write rights), finish
Client Side
Step 1: Open browser and write serve IP ftp://192.168.1.102
Step 2: Provide credentials if required
Step 3: Browse and use

Window 2003 Web Server (IIS) Installation, Configuration and Maintenance

2008-10-09T14:30:00.000-07:00

Server End
Pre-request
DNS in your networkd.
Domain in your network.
Static IP configured in server where you are going to install IIS.
Make a folder e.g C:/web in you server and store page inded.html

Installation
Step 1: Open control add/remove programs, click add/remove Windows components
Step 2: Select Application services, click details
Step 3: Check Internet Information Services
Step 4: Click ok then Next

Configuratoin

Step 1: Open IIS from administrative tools
Step 2: Right click on Web sites, click New site...
Step 3: Wizard will start, next, description e.g my web site, next
4tep 4: Give IP: 192.168.1.102, prot 80 default, header www.fizaan.com
Step 6: Browser the path to we directory e.g web
Step 7: Set the web site permission, next and finish.
Step 8: Expand the web sites folder left side and right click on websites click propterties
Step 9: Click the Documents tab, move up default page index.html to top
Step 10: Ok

Client Side
Step 1: Set the DNS to Your DNS server 192.168.1.102
Step 2: Open the browser and write www.yhaoo.com
Step 3: This will open the page
Step 10:

Window 2003 DHCP Server Installation, Configuration and Maintenance

2008-10-08T18:24:00.000-07:00

Installation
You server should have static IP on it.

Step 1: Click add/remove windows components in add/remove progmrams in Control panel
Step 2: Select Networking Services, dlick details,
Step 3: check only Dynamic Host configuration Prptocol (DHCP), OK, Next, This will start installation
Step 4: Finsih

Configuration

Step 1: Open DHCP from Administrative Tools
Step 2: Right Expand Computer name e.g Test03-server, click New Scope
Step 3: Write name of scope e.g fizaan-dhcp and Descrition
Step 4: Enter Start IP: e.g 192.168.1.150 and End IP: e.g 192.168.1.250, Subnet mask Length: 24 and mask: 255.255.255.0, Next
Step 5: Skip Add Exclusions, Next, Lease Duration change default 8 days to 1, press Next
Step 6: Configure options now, press Next, Give Router IP of your Network: 192.168.1.1
Step 7: Give Domain Name: fizaan.com, DNS server IP:192.168.1.102, WINS server IP: 192.168.1.104
Step 8: Activate scope, select Yes I wan to activate this scope now, Press Next

Your DHCP server is ready now

Client side Steps
Open properties of client network card, put on get IP automatic and release old by writing ipconfig /rlease on dos prompt.

Changing/Writing later DNS,WINS and Router IP

Step 1: Open DHCP from Administrative Tools and expand the Scope tree folder
Step 2: Right click on Server options and Click Configure options (same can be done via scope options)
Step 3: From General tab select different options check Router IP, WINS, DNS and give respective IP
Step 4: Click apply and ok

Window 2003 WINS Server Installation, Configuration and Maintenance

2008-10-08T16:43:00.000-07:00

Installation

Step 1: Open add/remove Windows by selecting add/remove programes in Control Panel
Step 2: Select Networking Service, click details
Step 3: Check Windows Internet Name Server
Step 4: Click Ok, Next

Configuration

Step 1: Open WINS from Administrative tools and expand Computer Name e.g TEST03-SERVER (192.168.1.102)
Step 2: Right Click on Active Registration then select Display
Step 3: From new window, Click Record Types (3rd Tab), Click Clear All
Step 4: Select only those tecord which you want to display, Click Find now

Back up WINS Database
Step 1: In WINS, right Click on computer name and select properties
Step 2: In General tab, click browse, select driver, make new folder e.g WINS backup, press OK.
Step 3: Right click again on computer name and click backu, it will take the backup

Restore WINS backup
Step 1: Stop WINS service by right click on Computer name in WINS, all taks then Stop, this will put red cross on WINS (cannot find WINS server)
Step 2: After stop, right click on computer name agian in WINS, click Restore Database
Step 3: Provide path and click ok

WINS Replication

Step 1: Install WINS on 2nd Computer in the same way did in frist.
Step 2: Open WINS from Administrative Tools, select computer name
Step 3: Right click on Replication Partner, select New Replication partner
Step 4: In pop-up windows give the IP or name of 2nd WINS e.g 192.168.1.104
Step 5: Select the Replication partner in right windows, right click on it
Step 6: Start push Replication, check Start for this partner only, press ok, ok
Step 7: Start pull Replication,
Step 8: FOLLOW SAME STEPS ON WINS SERVER 2 AT 192.168.1.104

Window 2003 Secondary DNS Server/Taking Backup of Primary to Secondary DNS

2008-10-07T15:06:00.000-07:00

Primary DNSWe have already installed Primary DNS on 192.168.1.102, see Windows 2003 DNS Installation and Configuratoin tutorial.

Secondary DNS/ Backup DNS
Installation and Configuration on Secondary DNS

Step 1: Set the static IP e.g 192.168.1.104, insert Windows 2003 CD into CD rom
Step 2: Open Windows components from Add Remove Programe in Controll Pannel
Step 3: Select Networking Services, click Details, check only on Domain Name Systme DNS, Click Next, This will Install DNS.
Step 4: After install open DNS, expand computer Name, right click on Forward Lookup Zone, right click, Click New Zone
Step 5: Wizard will start, Next, Select Secondary Zone type, Next
Step 6: Enter zone name, fizaan.com, Next
Step 7: Write Master DNS IP here it is 192.168.1.102, add, Next, Finish
Further Steps on Primary/Master DNS
Step 8: Open DNS and expand Forward Lookup Zones
Step 9: Select Zone name e.g fizaan.com, right click select properties
Step 10:Select Zone Transfer, check Only to the following servers,
Step 11:write Secondary DNS/backup DNS IP e.g 192.168.1.104, press, Add, apply and Ok

Verification: on Secondary/Backup, open DNS, expand computer name right click on zone e.g fizaan.com, slect Transfer from Master, This will transfer the reconds.

Windows 2003 Active Directory Removel

2008-10-07T13:27:00.000-07:00

Server Side

Step 1: Click Start,Run, write dcpromo
Step 2: A wizard will start, click Next
Step 3: Check This server is the last domain controoler in the domain on Removel Active Directory page, click Next
Step 4: click yes on do you want to coninue
Step 5: On Application Directory Partitons page, click Next to remove all partitions
Step 6: Check Delete all application directory partitions on this domain controller, Next
Step 7: Give root passwd and click Next, It will start to remove, If you face any error re-do the all above steps
Step 8: click Finish and Restart the computer
Step 9: Remove suffix domain name e.g fizaan and restart again

Disjoin the Domain on client

Step 1: Right click on My Computer, click properties
Step 2: Click Computer Name, then change button and Select Workgroup and write WORKGROUP
Step 3: Restart the computer

Windows 2003 DNS Installation, Configuration

2008-10-06T18:10:00.000-07:00

Installation: Server Side

Step 1: Insert Windows 2003 CD into cd rom
Step 2: Open control pannel: first open my computer then click control panel
Step 3: Open add/remove program then open add/remove windows compnent
Step 4: Select Networking services, click detain button, check Domain Name System DNS
Step 5: Press OK, this will install the DNS, press Finish

Configuration Server Side
Creation of Forward Lookup zone
Step 1: Open DNS from Administrative Tools
Step 2: Click-right on Forward Lookup Zones, then New Zone
Step 3: Wizard will start, click Next, Select Primary Zone, Next
Step 4: Write Zone name e.g fizaan.com
Step 5: Zone File name, no need to change fizaan.com.dns, click Next
Step 6: Select Allow Dynamic updates both secure and non secure, Next, finish the Wizard
Step 7: click fizaan.com folder in right side window,
Step 8: Double Click on Namer Server Type
Step 9: Click on add button, write FQDN e.g fizaan.com and IP of a DNS Server, it same machine 192.168.1.102
Step 10: Apply and Ok

Creation of New host Record in zone
Step 1: Right click on Zone name e.g oslo.com, right click on right side windows
Step 2: Click New Host(A)
Step 3: Write Name e.g www, then IP address: 192.168.1.102 (same machine also have web server)
Step 4: Add host, host have been created successfuly, this installed the host record.

Making Reverse Look-up zone
Step 1: open DNS and expand, select Reverse Lookup zone, right click New Zone
Step 2: Wizard will start, select Primary zone, Next
Step 3: Enter Network ID: 192.168.1, Next
Step 4: Leave the Revere lookup zone name as it is,1.168.192.in-addr.arpa.dns, Next
Step 5: Select Allow both nonsecure and secure dynamic updates, Next, finish
After that Create the POINTER RECORD in it
Step 6: Expand Reverse lookup zones, click 192.168.1.x.Subnet
Step 7: Right click on right side window and select New Pointer(PTR)
Step 8: Enter Host IP e.g 102 and host name test03-server.fizaan.com in my case.
Step 9: Press Ok

Client Side

Check/change the DNS to newly installed DNS 192.168.1.102

Step 1: click start, run, write nslookup
Step 2: write the zone name e.g > oslo.com
Step 3: It will give the Name: oslo.com and Address: 192.168.1.102
Step 4: now write the name of Web server e.g > www.oslo.com
Step 5: It will/should give Name: www.oslo.com Address: 192.168.1.102

Windows 2003 Users and Group Managment in Active Directory

2008-10-03T19:14:00.000-07:00

Creation of Users and Groups

Step 1: Open Active Directory users and Computer, for that click start,
Administrative Tools
Step 2: Expand domain name, fizaan, right click on user, click new user
Step 3: Fill credentials of user in open windows
Step 4: Provide good password, 2003 has some policy of choosing password
Step 5: Click finish
Step 6: Login from client using this user/pasword, remember choose the domain FIZAAN, in login window

Creation of Group
Step 1: Open Active Directory users and Computer, for that click start,
Administrative Tools
Step 2: Expand domain name, fizaan, right click on user, click new group

Step 3: Provide the group name, scope and Type. press OK

Adding members in Group
Step 1: Right click on group name and properties
Step 2: Click member tab, add button, write user name aanish, you can fine users by clicking Advance
Step 3: Click Ok

Setting user login time and selected Computer
Step 1: Right click on user name then click properties
Step 1: Click Account tab, Logon hours, select the time
Step 1: for setting selected computer, on account tab, click Logon To and select the computer by writting it's name.

Windows 2003 Active Directory Installation and Configuration

2008-10-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

Windows 2003 Server: Installation
You computer is connected to switch and get ip from DHCP server or static
Step 1: Click start,Run,enter dcpromo
Step 2: Click next and next again
Step 3: Select the Domain controller for your domain, click next
Step 4: Select Domain in New forest and Next
Step 5: Write FQDN e.g fizaan.com, click Next
Step 6: Netbion name FIZAN, click next
Step 7: Click next on Database and log folder, leave the default
Step 8: Shared system Volume Folder, leave it default and click Next
Step 9: Select Install and configure the DNS on the computer and cleck Next
Step 10:Permission Compatible with Pre Windows.... and click Next
Step 11:Restore mode Password, leave it blank click Next
Step 12:Summary page, view and click Next
Step 13:It will ask the Windows 2003 Server CD
Step 14:End of Active Directory Installation wizard, press Finish
Step 15:Restart the computer

Windows 2003 client: Configuration
This computer is in same network in server and have IP.
Step 1: Right click on My computer icon and click properties
Step 2: click Computer Name and change button
Step 3: Select the Domain, write fizaan, click OK
Step 4: Prompt for user name and password, provide(I did not mention in above server installation)
Step 5: There will be message prompt " Welcome to the Fizaan domain", press ok
Step 6: Restart the computer

How to setup TFTP server on Debian

2008-09-16T03:29:00.000-07:00

Step 1: Installation of tftpd package (server) and client
aptitude install tftpd
aptitude install tftp

Step 2: Creating Directory and setting permission
mkdir /tftpboot
chmod 777 /tftpboot
chown imran.imran /tftpboot

Step 3: Checking and editing(if required) the /etc/inetd.conf
Correct the location of director from /srv/tftp to /tftpboot

tftp dgram udp wait nobody /usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/sbin/in.tftpd /tftpboot

Don't forget to restart.
It is is tricky to restart the tftpd, you have to restart inetd, but in Debian it is openbsd-inetd
cd /etc/init.d
./openbsd-inetd restart

Step 4: Testing
Type following
tftp 127.0.0.1
tftp>

Step 5: Security
you can edit /etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts.deny for restriction.

That's it.

Further doc

http://www.debianhelp.co.uk/tftp.htm
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2003/06/05/FreeBSD_Basics.html

How to Setup Central Syslog server in Debian Etch

2008-09-08T07:51:00.000-07:00

As it is installed in debian in OS installation.

Step 1: Stop Sysllog server.
/etc/init.d/sysklogd stop

Step 2: Start remote acception
edit /etc/default/syslogd

change SYSLOGD="" to "-r"

Step 3: Create a file to log remote log messages (optional)

edit /etc/sylogd.conf
*.*;auth,authpriv.none to
*.*;auth,authpriv,local0.none
append at the end the path to file
local0.* -/var/log/sxlog

Step 4: Restart the syslog server
/etc/init.d/sysklogd start

a meesage with "remote reception" by doing tail -f /var/log/messages confirms.

Setp 5: Test by viewing the file
cat /var/log/sxlog

Further info
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Setting-Up-a-Central-Syslog-Server-44063.shtml

Installation and Configuration of Joomla CMS! on Debian ETCH

2008-08-26T06:28:00.000-07:00

Step 1: Install the LAMP server and also phpmyadmin
See my blogpost "Installation of LAMP on Debian"
#aptitude install phpmyadmin

Step 2: Download Lattest version of Joomla e.g
dwonload from following location
http://linux.softpedia.com/progDownload/Joomla-Download-5739.html

Step 3: make directory under /var/www/joomla and decompress joomla
mkdir /var/www/joomla
cd /var/www/joomla
tar -xvf var/www/Joomla_1.5.6-Stable-Full_Package.tar.gz

Step 4: Create Database in MySQL

#mysqladmin -u root -p create Joomla
mysql -u root -p
mysql>GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON Joomla.* TO Joomla@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'Joomla';
mysql>flush privileges;
mysql>quit

Step 5: Change ownership and priviliges of /var/www/joomla
chown www-data.www-data /var/www/joomla
chmod 777 /var/www/joomla

Notw: Rechange this mode to normal after installation.

Step 6: Begin installattion
http://192.168.100.10/joomla
This will start the wizard, answer the questions, in check list try to eliminate missing components (in red color) and also remember following;
Database Name:Joomla
Database User:Joomla
Password:Joomla
Admin passowrd: you will enter at the end.

At the end this will ask to remove the installation directory.

Further information

http://www.craigschurr.com/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=16
http://www.linux-vashi.blogspot.com/2008/02/how-to-install-joomla-on-debian-etch_12.html

Import and Export mysql database in Debian using phpmyadmin

2008-08-26T04:07:00.000-07:00

Step 1: Install phpmyadmin

aptitude install phpmyadmin

Step 2: Login to phpmyadmin

https://192.168.100.1/phpmyadmin/
Default user: root
Enter root password.

Step 3: Export Database

After log in, click Export
In EXPORT menue select your database
e.g joomla
Select format under Select All/Unselect All
e.g SQL (by default)
Click Save as file e.g jooml
Press Go (botton right)
Save it to your local hard disk

Step 4: Import Database

Press Import after log in to phpmyadmin in other machine.
select the file under Location of the text file,
Leave every thing by default and
Press Go
This will import the mysql database.

Recover MYSQL root password in Debian

2008-08-25T10:41:00.000-07:00

Step # 1 : Stop mysql service

# /etc/init.d/mysql stop

Step # 2: Start to MySQL server without password

# mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables &

Step # 3: Connect to mysql server using mysql client:

# mysql -u root

mysql>
Step # 4: Setup new MySQL root user password

mysql> use mysql;
mysql> update user set password=PASSWORD("imran") where User='root';
mysql> flush privileges;
mysql> quit

Step # 5: Stop MySQL Server:

# /etc/init.d/mysql stop

Step # 6: Start MySQL server

# /etc/init.d/mysql start

Step # 7: Test it
# mysql -u root -p

Installation of LAMP on Debian

2008-08-25T05:26:00.000-07:00

Step 1) Installation of Apache and PHP4

aptitude install apache2 php4 libapache2-mod-php4

Step 2) Installation of MySQL Server

aptitude install mysql-server mysql-client php4-mysql

change of MYSQL root Pasword
mysql -u root
mysql> USE mysql;
mysql> UPDATE user SET Password=PASSWORD('new-password') WHERE user='root';
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

step 3) Installation of PhpMyAdmin

aptitude install phpmyadmin

Edit /etc/apache2/apach2.conf:
append at the end
Include /etc/phpmyadmin/apache.conf

Testing

http://domainname.com/phpmyadmin/

Login using mysql root and create users.

Further docs
http://www.howtoforge.com/ubuntu_debian_lamp_server

Installing and configuring DHCP on Debian

2008-08-25T05:21:00.000-07:00

Step 1: Install DHCP package

aptitude install dhcp3-server

Step 2: Configure DHCP package

option domain-name "domain.com";
option domain-name-servers 10.0.0.2, 193.10.10.10;
option routers 10.0.0.1;
default-lease-time 3600;
subnet 10.0.0.0 netmask 255.0.0.0 {
arrange 10.0.0.100 10.0.0.254;

#OPTIONS
#if you want to assign IP based on MAC address
host imran {
hardware ethernet 00:50:BA:82:DE:63;
fixed-address 10.10.10.10;
}
}

Step 3: Restart

/etc/init.d/dhcp3-server restart

Further Docs

http://www.debianhelp.co.uk/dhcp.htm

Useful Linux commands

2008-08-25T02:28:00.000-07:00

Adding user name and password in authentication file in Apache2

root@jupiter:/etc/apache2# htpasswd /etc/apache2/intranet.passwd halvard

This will append the MD5 password with user in file.

Installation of Java on Ubuntu

root@imran-desktop:~# sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin sun-java6-fonts
root@imran-desktop:~# java -version
java version "1.6.0_16"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_16-b01)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 14.2-b01, mixed mode, sharing)

Check directory size

du -hs /home/imran/

How to check all installed packaged and version of a specific installed package

dpkg -s apache2
dpkg --list |more

How to Zip and unzipp

#aptitude install zip unzip
zip imran.zip file1 file2 file3
Then you can extract the original files like this:
unzip imran.zip

How to copy files/directory in Debian using rsync and scp over network

2008-08-21T01:40:00.000-07:00

1) Network copying using rsync

Step 1: Install rsync on both machines
aptitude install rsync

Step 2: Edit of /etc/default/rsync on both machines
RSYNC_ENABLE=false
to
RSYNC_ENABLE=true

Step 3: Restart rsync on both machines
/etc/init.d/rsync restart

Step 4: Start copy from machine1 to machine2
rsync -e ssh -avz /home/imran 192.168.100.10:/media/usbdisk/imran
options
a: archive mode perserver file permission
v: verbose
z: compress (this will reduce time)
This will prompt for password, enter password, you will see
building file list..

Backup using Rsync
Make script and place it under /etc/cron.daily.
Generate and copy the key

ssh-keygen -t dsa,
and press Enter when prompted for a passphrase. After the key is created, use
ssh-copy-id -i .ssh/id_dsa.pub root@remote.host.com

to copy the public key to the remote host.

(Note: this presume that SSH is installed with key transfer)

2) Network copying using scp

scp -Cr /home/imran 192.168.100.10:/media/usbdisk

r:recursvly copying
C:exncrytpion 3DES default.
Don't use this method if directory contails too many files.

Further reading:
http://www.crucialp.com/resources/tutorials/server-administration/how-to-copy-files-across-a-network-internet-in-unix-linux-redhat-debian-freebsd-scp-tar-rsync-secure-network-copy.php

ENABLE AUTHENTICATION ON DEBIAN APACHE WEB SERVER

2008-08-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

Step by Step Guide;

Step 1 Enable Digest Authentication
This authentication does not supported by default
#a2enmod auth_digest

Step 2 Set up user/password/realm
htdigest -c /var/www/munin/.htpasswd munin username
munin is realm and username is username.
supply "username" user password,

Step 3 Making Authentication required
go back to /etc/apache2/sites-available/monitoring.

Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride None
#authentification
AuthType Digest
AuthName "munin"
AuthDigestFile /var/www/munin/.htpasswd
#people using apache 2.2 will use instead:
#AuthUserFile /var/www/munin/.htpasswd
require valid-user

Step 4 Reload apache configuration
#apache2ctl -t
Syntax OK
$/etc/init.d/apache2 force-reload

Step 5 Tesing and Running
Now, go to http://monitoring.example.com with your browser. A box should prompt you for a username and password. Supply the one you define above and you should be given access to munin statistics.

Monitoring Linux (Debain) Network With Munin

2008-08-16T07:58:00.000-07:00

It requires following packages;

• Web Server e.g apache
• Munin Server
• Munin Clients
• Measuring temperature using smartmontools
• Munin Windows plugins
• Documentation and further Reading

WEB SERVER e.g APACHE

Linux Apach2 for debian
#apt-get install apache2-mpm-prefork
Run the script “apache2-ssl-certificate” i.e
# apache2-ssl-certificate

MUNIN ON SERVER

#apt-get install munin munin-node
Edit Configuration
/etc/munin/munin.conf

# a simple host tree
[localhost.localdomain]
address 127.0.0.1
use_node_name yes

[machine1.domain.com]
address xx.xxx.xxx.xx
use_node_name yes

[machine2.domain.com]
address xx.xxx.xxx.xx
use_node_name yes
##please write ip on xx

MUNIN ON CLIENTS
Instlal it in each client
#apt-get install munin-node

change configuration
/etc/munin/munin-node.conf

Edit Configuration on each Client Machine
Client 1 machine1.domain.com
#
# Example config-file for munin-node
#
log_level 4
log_file /var/log/munin/munin-node.log
port 4949
pid_file /var/run/munin/munin-node.pid
background 1
setseid 1
# Which port to bind to;
host *
host 127.0.0.1
host xx.xxx.xxx.xx
## xx server IP
user root
group root
setsid yes
allow ^127\.0\.0\.1$
allow ^xx\.xxx\.xxx\.xx$
Testing
browse under http://ipaddress/munin
Examples can be found here: http://www.linpro.no/projects/munin/example/
If you have any problems you need to check the log files of munin located at /var/
log/munin directory

MEASURING TEMPERATURE USING SMARTMONTOOLS

1.#apt-get install smartmontools
which is apparently needed by munin's hddtemp_smartctl plugin ;
2. and ln -s /usr/share/munin/plugins/hddtemp_smartctl /etc/munin/plugins/hddtemp_smartctl
.. which 'activates' the plugin ;
3. and /etc/init.d/munin-node restart to apply these changes.

WINDOWS PLUGIN
http://www.jory.info/#downloads_muninnode
http://munin.projects.linpro.no/wiki/HowToMonitorWindows
http://www.debuntu.org/book/export/html/134

DOCUMENTATION AND FURTHER READING
http://www.debianhelp.co.uk/munin.htm
http://www.debianhelp.co.uk/munin.htm

Mounting External USB Disk on Debian

2008-08-14T11:42:00.000-07:00

After plugin USB, see any activity
tail -f /var/log/syslog

if nothing about usb mass storage, check reasons. If "no loadable modules!", your old Kernel does not support USB, you might need to upgrade it (depending upon hardware of machine) in my case it was the Via CPU which is not a
full-blown 686.
Then install the new kernel
apt-get install linux-image-2.6.18-4-486

After that config the lilo or grub in our case it was lilo:
edit /etc/lilo.conf
default=2.6.18

Then restart the machine.

check activity and see syslog (see up command)
Kernal find the disk
Aug 14 20:05:11 neptune kernel: usb-storage: device found at 3
Aug 14 20:05:11 neptune kernel: usb-storage: waiting for device to
settle before scanning
Aug 14 20:05:16 neptune kernel: Vendor: ATA Model: SAMSUNG
HD321KJ Rev: CP10
Aug 14 20:05:16 neptune kernel: Type: Direct-Access
ANSI SCSI revision: 05
Aug 14 20:05:16 neptune kernel: SCSI device sda: 625142448 512-byte hdwr
sectors (320073 MB)
Aug 14 20:05:16 neptune kernel: sda: Write Protect is off
Aug 14 20:05:16 neptune kernel: sda: Mode Sense: 00 00 00 00
Aug 14 20:05:16 neptune kernel: sda: assuming drive cache: write through
Aug 14 20:05:16 neptune kernel: SCSI device sda: 625142448 512-byte hdwr
sectors (320073 MB)
Aug 14 20:05:16 neptune kernel: sda: Write Protect is off
Aug 14 20:05:16 neptune kernel: sda: Mode Sense: 00 00 00 00
Aug 14 20:05:16 neptune kernel: sda: assuming drive cache: write through
Aug 14 20:05:16 neptune kernel: sda: sda1 sda2 sda3 sda4
Aug 14 20:05:16 neptune kernel: sd 1:0:0:0: Attached scsi disk sda
Aug 14 20:05:16 neptune kernel: usb-storage: device scan complete

This means that the device was inserted into the kernel as /dev/sda.

From the bottom of the log, you see that the device has four partitions.
(sda1, sda2, sda3, sda4) If you don't know what filesystems they
contain, you can make mount autodetect by:

mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/media

When you finish your work, unmount this can corrupt the file system.

umont /mnt/media

Thanks Fredrik Gratte, from Owera As

Squirrelmail Web Client Installatin and Configuration on Debian

2008-08-12T06:37:00.000-07:00

Following things are involved.

MAIL SERVER 'Exim4'
INSTALLATION OF PACKAGES
CONFIGURATION
FURTHER DOCUMENTATION

MAIL SERVER:
We are already running EXIM4, as our mail mail server on a different machine and network with folloing IMAP and SMTP

Imap.domain.com
Smtp.domain.com

No need to install it from scracth.

INSTALLATION OF PACKAGES:
A) Web server Apache with ssl support
Install apache2: apt-get install apach2
install ssl certificate: apt-get install ssl-cert
generate certificate: openssl req $@ -new -x509 -days 365 -nodes -out /etc/apache2/apache.pem -keyout /etc/apache2/apache.pem

country name: NO
state name: Oslo
locality name: Oslo
organizaion name: yourcompany
organizatinal unit: IT
common name: webmail
email addres: youremail@yourdomain.com

B) PHP4 (php5 has some problems)
PHP4 Installation: apt-get install php4

C) UW IMAP
Installation of uw-imapd: apt-get install uw-imapd

D) Squirrelmail
Squirrelmail Installation: apt-get install squirelmail
you can also download from this location and install,
http://www.squirrelmail.org/download.php

CONFIGURATION:

Apache WebServer

chmod 600 /etc/apache2/apache.pem
Enabling SSL Support
a2enmod ssl
Module ssl installed; run /etc/init.d/apache2 force-reload to enable.
Configuring SSL support
Edit /etc/apache2/ports.conf
Listen 443

Edit /etc/apache2/sites-available/default.conf
NameVirtualHost *:443
ServerAdmin webmaster@owera.com
ServerName webmail.owera.com
SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/apache.pem
DocumentRoot /var/squirrelmail/www/

.
.
Restart apache2
/etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Squirrelmail configuration
After downloading, create directory and unpack
mkdir /var/squirrelmail
cd /var/squirrelmail
mkdir data attachment www
chown -R www-data.www-data /ver/squirrelmail/
chgrp www-data data attachment
chmod 0730 data attachment
tar --bzip2 -xvf /usr/local/src/downloads/squirrelmail-1.4.5.tar.bz2
mv squirrelmail-1.4.5 www
cd www/config
cp -p config_default.php config.php

Edit config.php
Change this to your organization's name.
$org_name = 'YOUR_ORGANIZATION';
Change this to the title you would like shown on the SquirrelMail web page.
$org_title = 'YOUR_TITLE $version';
Change this to the mail domain that is being served by SquirrelMail.
$domain = 'YOUR_MAIL_DOMAIN.com';
Define your SMTP server. This is the name of the server running the Postfix MTA for your mail domain. If Postfix is running on the same server as SquirrelMail then this would be 'localhost'. If it is another server then enter 'SERVERNAME.com'.
$smtpServerAddress = 'localhost';
Define your IMAP server. We always have SquirrelMail running on the same server as IMAP so this will always be 'localhost'.
$imapServerAddress = 'localhost';
Define the IMAP server type. The IMAP package in EnGarde Secure Community 3.0 is 'Washington University' so use 'wu' here.
$imap_server_type = 'wu';
.
.
DOCUMENTATION:

http://www.squirrelmail.org/docs/admin/admin-3.html#ss3.1
http://www.flatmtn.com/computer/Linux-Squirrelmail.html
http://www.engardelinux.org/doc/howtos/install-squirrelmail/install-squirrelmail/config-edit.shtml
http://www.flatmtn.com/computer/Linux-EmailServer.html

Who is behind killing of Benzir Bhutoo?

2007-12-27T06:04:00.001-08:00

There are many questions in minds of about the killing of Benzir Bhutto. Who killed her, Pakistan military agencies? or Taliban/Alqaida? or America or any other? I think the answer lies who will get the most benefit.
Let's take the first suspect, Mushraf will get the following benefits, extend his rule to country and make more money from inside as well as from foreign on the name of "war on terror". The military will use some of this money to strength itself while rest will go in same pockets where it used to went. The other reason which let us to think is an email and Text messages from Benzir, in which he directly blame Musharf and military.
The second suspect are Taliban/Alqaida, the benifit they can get is an image of a powerful authority who can do any thing in the country, which can result some settlement with government in Tribal, Swat areas. On other hand they will loss their support not only from rest of Pakistan but also from Tribal areas I don't think they are so idiot to divert the people's anger to ward them.
The third suspect is America. America has eye on the nuclear weapons of Pakistan so he will like to have the control if the country goes toward civil war, as current situation seems. For this he already had done exercise.
The exact answer will never be revealed, we have to make guesses. what ever it is, it was a planned and might be above mentioned forces made it combine?