Creating a VPN with tinc

Another interesting application for tinc is connecting your laptop to a Wi-Fi router at home. You might already be using WPA2 to ensure that only valid hosts can connect and communicate with your Wi-Fi router, but you might not be able to assign a fixed address to the laptop when it is connected over Wi-Fi. So if you want to connect to an SSH daemon on the laptop itself or access an NFS share on the laptop, you have to play guessing games as to which IP address the Wi-Fi router has given the laptop this time. Running tinc on the laptop and a server at home removes the guessing game -- just connect to the laptop's VPN IP address.

tinc allows you to create many VPNs per machine and bring up each one individually. The only kernel-side functionality that tinc requires is the universal TUN/TAP driver, which is likely to be available as a kernel module in your distribution's kernel package. To see if the kernel module is available, execute modprobe tun as root and check dmesg. You should see a message mentioning the TUN/TAP driver, and you will have a /dev/net/tun device. If you don't have it, you will have to compile a kernel to get it.

Packages for tinc are available for Fedora 7 but not for 8 at the moment. Ubuntu Gutsy universe has a tinc package. OpenSUSE users can use the open build system one-click install. To build from sources you will need to install the lzo, openssl, and zlib development packages or configure will fail. When building from sources you might want to set the prefix and various other paths explicitly with a command like ./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var .

Configuring Fvwm in OpenBSD ... and a philosophical look at the OS itself

I've been using OpenBSD for a few months now, and one of the problems I've had is the inability to find the master configuration file for .fvwmrc. I've read the man page for fvwm but didnt' read it closely enough. The answer was there all the time.

I've grown quite fond of the Fvwm window manager. These days I prefer it to Fluxbox, even, and I have OpenBSD to thank for introducing me to it. (Note: I didn't have the same feeling about Twm, the default window manager in FreeBSD. Even though Fvwm is based on Twm, the former is way, way better than the latter.)

I, for the life of me, couldn't find the master Fvwm configuration file. As the man page said, the .fvwmrc file in the user's home directory is the first place Fvwm looks for its configuration file. That enables every user on the system to have his or her own customized desktop. If ~/.fvwmrc is not present, then the window manager looks in /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fvwm/ for a configuration file.

Here's where I didn't read closely.

I plainly see system.fvwm2rc, system.fvwm2rc-sample-1 and system.fvwm2rc-sample-2. Changes made in any of these three do not change the default Fvwm configuration. Copying any of these three into your home directory as .fvwmrc does provide a usable Fvwm configuration file, but they're all radically different than the default version, which I prefer for a number of reasons; the people rolling OpenBSD out for us are very good at what they do.

But where -- WHERE? -- is the master Fvwm configuration file? Read the man page more carefully:

During initialization, fvwm will search for a configura- tion file which describes key and button bindings, and a few other things. The format of these files will be described later. First, fvwm will search for a file named .fvwmrc in the user's home directory, then in ${sysconfdir} (typically /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fvwm). Fail- ing that, it will look for system.fvwmrc in ${sysconfdir} for system-wide defaults. If that file is not found, fvwm will be basically useless.

And pay particular attention to this part (emphasis mine): First, fvwm will search for a file named .fvwmrc in the user's home directory, then in ${sysconfdir} (typically /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fvwm).

I always did a standard ls command while in /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fvwm. That didn't give me the dot-files. Doing ls -a shows the dot-files, too, and I see that there is a file called .fvwmrc in /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fvwm/.

Problem solved.

Command Line Ticketing System

As I have said before life at the terminal is a joy. I constantly struggle with keeping myself organized. I actually work pretty well keeping most things in my head. But one of these days I’m going to fall down and hit my head and forget everything. So try and try again to keep myself organized and documented do I. I was recently pointed to TicGit its a ticketing system that is meant to integrate right into your repository. Well I’m not a developer but I can see the benefit for a terminal todo list and general ticketing for myself as well as my little script repository that is actually maintained in git. Well ok maybe maintained is a bit strong of a word. Anyway on to the good stuff.
This is how I got ticgit installed and working for mysef.

sudo aptitude install git-core rubygems rake
sudo gem update --system
sudo gem install git
git clone git://github.com/schacon/ticgit.git ticgit.git
cd ticgit.git
rake
sudo gem install pkg/ticgit-0.2.0.gem
cd

Not to bad eh? Well we are not quite done. ticgit needs a git repository so if your going to use this for a simple todo list you need to go ahead and get a git repo setup for it.
view plaincopy to clipboardprint?

mkdir ticgit
cd ticgit
git init
echo 'please use ti command to view the todos' | tee readme.txt
git add readme.txt
git commit -m 'initial commit'

Mandriva Linux 2008.1 - The Blooming Spring

Eee PC-Friendly Spring From Mandriva S.A.

On the desktop, you will have the KDE 3.5.9, GNOME 2.22.0, Xfce 4.4.2 and IceWM 1.3.1 to choose from while under the hood the system is powered by Linux kernel 2.6.24.4, gcc 4.2.3, glibc 2.7, X.Org 7.3, compiz 0.7.2, etc. Popular applications which have been bundled in this 2008 Spring edition are OpenOffice.org 2.4.0, Firefox 2.0.0.13, Gimp 2.4.5, K3b 1.0.4, Amarok 1.4.8, Pidgin 2.4.1, MPlayer 1.0rc2, etc.

Mandriva Flash 2008 USB Key Review

Overview:Click here to listen to the text. Powered by ReadSpeaker

One of the great things about Linux is the ability to not only install it on your home desktop computer, but the ability to install it on a USB Key. Installing Linux on a USB Key makes it very mobile and today I am pleased to review a commercial version of Linux on USB key called Mandriva Flash 2008.

Mandriva Flash 2008 USB Key Review

Overview

USB Key Linux distributions seem to be the craze at the moment. With sites like pendrivelinux.com giving Linux users detailed instructions on how to install their favorite Linux distribution to a USB key one might think that there is no need for a commercial Linux distriobution to offer up a USB key. Well, Mandriva Linux has done just that for sometime now. Starting with their 2 gig USB release and now with their latest release of Mandriva Flash 2008 on a 4 gig USB key.

The Mandriva Flash 2008 4 gig USB Key is bundled on a Dane-Elec USB Key. It's sturdy construction and proven reliability makes Dane-Elec a good chioce for Mandriva to place their OS on.

Bootup

With any USB Key Linux distribution you must make sure that your computer can boot from a USB port. Our Intel based motherboard had the proper BIOS settings to allow this function to happen. But, Mandriva is one step ahead of us as usual and on the USB Key they have place a boot.iso which is a small sized ISO image that will allow one to boot from a computer that may not have the ability to boot from a USB port. This is a great feature and small enough ISO image to be placed on a business card sized CDR. For my purpose of review I was able to boot from USB port but I did test the boot.iso and had no problems booting into the Mandriva Flash 2008 OS.

Upon first boot I was given a few questions about size of USB key to allow Mandriva Flash 2008 to run in and Administration passwords and so on. Basically it took no time at all to have a working Mandriva Flash 2008 KDE 3.5 system. What is nice about running a Linux distribution from USB is the fact that you never leave any instances of being on the host computer behind you once you power down from the USB key. Also, Mandriva Flash 2008 allows the user to save any data to the USB key and basically running as if it were a hard drive on your home desktop system. All settings are saved for Firefox, Thunderbird and any other application that you may use while within the Mandriva Flash 2008 OS. One quick note: A Windows mobile versions of Firefox and Thunderbird are also loaded on the USB Key. One thing that did surprise this reviewer was the fact that Mandriva Flash 2008 not only saved your settings in the Linux side of these programs but also on the Windows side too. Making this a good all round tool to access your email and browse quickly from any computer without actually having to reboot. Kinda takes away from the Linux aspect of it all but handy just in case you are unable to boot an Internet Cafe computer in some far away country.

Software

Many great software packages are contained on the Mandriva Flash 2008 USB key. As mentioned above are Firefox and Thunderbird as well as OpenOffice. Basically every package that one may need to run Linux everyday. The KDE desktop enviroment has it's usual packages too. KDE runs without any problems and was fast as well as it looked great. When I first setup the USB Key I allowed Mandriva Flash 2008 to use the whole key for software package space. This allowed me to upgrade my software packages as well as add a few extras that were not included on the key. Upgrading as well as adding packages worked flawlessly on Mandriva Flash 2008 but please make sure you have enough space... :)

Conclusions

Mandriva Flash 2008 Mobile USB Key is a great extra tool to have in your Linux toolbox. Fun to use and easy to manage this key is a cut above the more open source versions of Linux on USB Key. Support from Mandriva is proven and available for all who purchase the key. Their forums are friendly and one always receives a quick response. Check out Mandriva.Com for more info on this USB key

Michael Perks
http://www.reviewlinux.com

Original link: http://www.reviewlinux.com/?m=sh...

MySQL Backups Using ZRM For MySQL 2.0

Zmanda Recovery Manager (ZRM) for MySQL simplifies life of a database administrator who needs an easy to use yet flexible and robust backup and recovery solution for MySQL server. Significant features are:

* Schedule full and incremental logical or raw backups of your MySQL database
* Centralized backup management
* Perform backup that is the best match for your storage engine and your MySQL configuration
* Get e-mail notification about status of your backups
* Monitor and obtain reports about your backups (including RSS feeds)
* Verify your backup images
* Compress and encrypt your backup images
* Implement Site or Application specific backup policies
* Recover database easily to any point in time or to any particular database event
* Custom plugins to tailor MySQL backups to your environment
* MySQL backup using Linux LVM and Solaris ZFS snapshots

Release 2.0 of the community project was released last week. It can be downloaded from Zmanda downloads page. It supports all Linux and Solaris distributions. The documentation is available on ZRM wiki. ZRM forums can be used to get questions answered about the project.

Install SNV85 DomU at Xen 3.2 CentOS 5.1 or Ubuntu 7.10 Dom0 (64-bit) per Jurgen Keil

Nevada build 85 is the first SNV build implementing Xen 3.1.2 bits. It's well known that straight forward attempt to install SNV85 DomU at Xen 3.2 Linux Dom0 immediately
crashes due to broken by Xen 3.2 backward compatibility.
Recently at xen-discuss forum@opensolaris.org Jurgen Keil suggested workaround for this issue providing owners of build 85 option to load SNV85 DomU and patch DomU's kernel , turning it permanently into running shape at Xen 3.2 Linux Dom0 (64-bit). Note , that Sun patch is scheduled for build 87 and might take 3-4 weeks waiting for ISO image availibilty at sdn.com. Jurgen also wrote, that he didn't have Xen 3.2 Linux Dom0 (64-bit) to perform testing. That is what , actually, was done by me for CentOS 5.1 and Ubuntu 7.10 Desktop. Installations differs due to CentOS 5.1 doesn't allow to use "pygrub" and requires coping of patched kernel from DomU to Dom0.
Brief description for both procedures follows bellow.

1. Install at Xen 3.2 CentOS 51. Dom0 (64-bit)

*********************
Installation profile
*********************
[root@ServerRHL51 vm]# cat snv85.install
name = "Solaris85pvm"
vcpus = 1
memory = "1024"
kernel = "/usr/lib/xen-solaris/unix-85"
ramdisk = "/usr/lib/xen-solaris/x86.miniroot-85"
extra = "/platform/i86xpv/kernel/amd64/unix -kd - nowin -B install_media=cdrom"
disk = ['file:/usr/lib/xen-solaris/snv85.iso,6:cdrom,r','phy:/dev/sdb7,0,w']
vif = ['bridge=eth2']
on_shutdown = "destroy"
on_reboot = "destroy"
on_crash = "destroy"

At start up at kmdb prompt do:-

Using config file "./snv85.conf".
Started domain Solaris85pvm
Loading kmdb...

Welcome to kmdb
Loaded modules: [ unix krtld genunix ]
[0]> gnttab_init 0xce/W 403
gnttab_init 0xce: 0x3 = 0x403
[0]> :c
v3.2.1-rc1-pre chgset 'Wed Mar 05 16:49:33 2008  0000 16805:28e0d4a37bb4'
SunOS Release 5.11 Version snv_85 64-bit
Copyright 1983-2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Use is subject to license terms.
  

Now change profile for runtime

****************
Runtime profile
****************
name = "Solaris85pvm"
vcpus = 1
memory = "1024"
kernel = "/usr/lib/xen-solaris/unix-85"
ramdisk = "/usr/lib/xen-solaris/x86.miniroot-85"
extra = "/platform/i86xpv/kernel/amd64/unix -kd"
disk = ['phy:/dev/sdb7,0,w']
vif = ['bridge=eth2']
root="/dev/dsk/c0d0s0"
on_shutdown = "destroy"
on_reboot = "destroy"
on_crash = "destroy"
 

Repeat same actions at kmdb prompt and when DomU gets loaded,
patch kernel and copy it to Dom0 :-