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• DCVS + hosting for a startup commercial multiplatform phone app

  - by AG

  I'm in lean startup mode, working on a simple phone app that will be published initially as a iThingy app and an Android app with, possibly, Blackberry and Symbian versions to follow. I'm about to go from no repository to needing a central repository that up to 4 very part-time resources will be sharing. Two of us have no version control background, one has used Subversion, and I've used most of the major centralized VCS systems. I'm not going to be pushing the technical limitations of any VCS for a long time; I'm sure that any of the major systems would work fine. And the hosting accounts I've looked at seem reasonable. So I'm really focussed on minimizing the downside risks. That is, I'd like to find a stable setup that is easy to learn in general, easy to use from Windows/Eclipse, and won't paint me into any obvious corners for the next 12 months or so. A quick search of the web had led me to consider the following pairs of DVCS and hosting service, with what I think I'm hearing as their strengths and weaknesses (for my purposes): Bazaar/Launchpad -- My initial choice since I need to get more familiar with this pair for the Google Summer of Code mentoring I'm doing. But, whatever the technical merits, a non-starter for me because they are purely open source, no private repositories plans to purchase that I can see. Git/GitHub -- Git: Fast, light, ultimately flexible, but relatively less Windows friendly, Eclipse plugin (eGit) available but relatively young, GitHub: widely used, pricing is fine Mercurial/BitBucket -- Mercurial: a little less flexible, a little more Windows friendly, Eclipse plugin seems a bit more mature, BitBucket: widely used, pricing is fine, includes a wiki and an issue tracker that we might be able to use instead of something like BaseCamp, at least for a while. Mercurial/BitBucket seem like the winning pair so far for my particular situation; at least two of us are definitely going to be working mostly from Eclipse on Windows and reducing my own learning curve is a priority. ;-) But I have two specific questions: 1) Am I wrong about Bazaar/Launchpad and is there a viable, secure way to use them for proprietary code? 2) Any reason to think that the Mecurial/Bitbucket pair will end up being a headache for my Mac developer, soon, or for Blackberry or Symbian developers a little later? ag

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• Normalizing Item Names & Synonyms

  - by RabidFire

  Consider an e-commerce application with multiple stores. Each store owner can edit the item catalog of his store. My current database schema is as follows: item_names: id | name | description | picture | common(BOOL) items: id | item_name_id | picture | price | description | picture item_synonyms: id | item_name_id | name | error(BOOL) Notes: error indicates a wrong spelling (eg. "Ericson"). description and picture of the item_names table are "globals" that can optionally be overridden by "local" description and picture fields of the items table (in case the store owner wants to supply a different picture for an item). common helps separate unique item names ("Jimmy Joe's Cheese Pizza" from "Cheese Pizza") I think the bright side of this schema is: Optimized searching & Handling Synonyms: I can query the item_names & item_synonyms tables using name LIKE %QUERY% and obtain the list of item_name_ids that need to be joined with the items table. (Examples of synonyms: "Sony Ericsson", "Sony Ericson", "X10", "X 10") Autocompletion: Again, a simple query to the item_names table. I can avoid the usage of DISTINCT and it minimizes number of variations ("Sony Ericsson Xperia™ X10", "Sony Ericsson - Xperia X10", "Xperia X10, Sony Ericsson") The down side would be: Overhead: When inserting an item, I query item_names to see if this name already exists. If not, I create a new entry. When deleting an item, I count the number of entries with the same name. If this is the only item with that name, I delete the entry from the item_names table (just to keep things clean; accounts for possible erroneous submissions). And updating is the combination of both. Weird Item Names: Store owners sometimes use sentences like "Harry Potter 1, 2 Books + CDs + Magic Hat". There's something off about having so much overhead to accommodate cases like this. This would perhaps be the prime reason I'm tempted to go for a schema like this: items: id | name | picture | price | description | picture (... with item_names and item_synonyms as utility tables that I could query) Is there a better schema you would suggested? Should item names be normalized for autocomplete? Is this probably what Facebook does for "School", "City" entries? Is the first schema or the second better/optimal for search? Thanks in advance! References: (1) Is normalizing a person's name going too far?, (2) Avoiding DISTINCT

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• Cross-site request forgery protections: Where do I put all these lines?

  - by brilliant

  Hello, I was looking for a python code that would be able to log in from "Google App Engine" to some of my accounts on some websites (like yahoo or eBay) and was given this code: import urllib, urllib2, cookielib url = "https://login.yahoo.com/config/login?" form_data = {'login' : 'my-login-here', 'passwd' : 'my-password-here'} jar = cookielib.CookieJar() opener = urllib2.build_opener(urllib2.HTTPCookieProcessor(jar)) form_data = urllib.urlencode(form_data) # data returned from this pages contains redirection resp = opener.open(url, form_data) # yahoo redirects to http://my.yahoo.com, so lets go there instead resp = opener.open('http://mail.yahoo.com') print resp.read() Unfortunately, this code didn't work, so I asked another question here and one supporter among other things said this: "You send MD5 hash and not plain password. Also you'd have to play along with all kinds of CSRF protections etc. that they're implementing. Look: <input type="hidden" name=".tries" value="1"> <input type="hidden" name=".src" value="ym"> <input type="hidden" name=".md5" value=""> <input type="hidden" name=".hash" value=""> <input type="hidden" name=".js" value=""> <input type="hidden" name=".last" value=""> <input type="hidden" name="promo" value=""> <input type="hidden" name=".intl" value="us"> <input type="hidden" name=".bypass" value=""> <input type="hidden" name=".partner" value=""> <input type="hidden" name=".u" value="bd5tdpd5rf2pg"> <input type="hidden" name=".v" value="0"> <input type="hidden" name=".challenge" value="5qUiIPGVFzRZ2BHhvtdGXoehfiOj"> <input type="hidden" name=".yplus" value=""> <input type="hidden" name=".emailCode" value=""> <input type="hidden" name="pkg" value=""> <input type="hidden" name="stepid" value=""> <input type="hidden" name=".ev" value=""> <input type="hidden" name="hasMsgr" value="0"> <input type="hidden" name=".chkP" value="Y"> <input type="hidden" name=".done" value="http://mail.yahoo.com"> <input type="hidden" name=".pd" value="ym_ver=0&c=&ivt=&sg="> I am not quite sure where he got all these lines from and where in my code I am supposed to add them. Do You have any idea? I know I was supposed to ask him this question first, and I did, but he never returned, so I decided to ask a separate question here.

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• SQL Server architecture guidance

  - by Liam

  Hi, We are designing a new version of our existing product on a new schema. Its an internal web application with possibly 100 concurrent users (max)This will run on a SQL Server 2008 database. On of the discussion items recently is whether we should have a single database of split the database for performance reasons across 2 separate databases. The database could grow anywhere from 50-100GB over 5 years. We are Developers and not DBAs so it would be nice to get some general guidance. [I know the answer is not simple as it depends on the schema, archiving policy, amount of data etc. ] Option 1 Single Main Database [This is my preferred option]. The plan would be to have all the tables in a single database and possibly to use file groups and partitioning to separate the data if required across multiple disks. [Use schema if appropriate]. This should deal with the performance concerns One of the comments wrt this was that the a single server instance would still be processing this data so there would still be a processing bottle neck. For reporting we could have a separate reporting DB but this is still being discussed. Option 2 Split the database into 2 separate databases DB1 - Customers, Accounts, Customer resources etc DB2 - This would contain the bulk of the data [i.e. Vehicle tracking data, financial transaction tables etc]. These tables would typically contain a lot of data. [It could reside on a separate server if required] This plan would involve keeping the main data in a smaller database [DB1] and retaining the [mainly] read only transaction type data in a separate DB [DB2]. The UI would mainly read from DB1 and thus be more responsive. [I'm aware that this option makes it harder for Referential Integrity to be enforced.] Points for consideration As we are at the design stage we can at least make proper use of indexes to deal performance issues so thats why option 1 to me is attractive and its more of a standard approach. For both options we are considering implementing an archiving database. Apologies for the long Question. In summary the question is 1 DB or 2? Thanks in advance, Liam

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• .NET Extension Objects with XSLT -- how to iterate over a collection?

  - by Pandincus

  Help me, Stackoverflow! I have a simple .NET 3.5 console app that reads some data and sends emails. I'm representing the email format in an XSLT stylesheet so that we can easily change the wording of the email without needing to recompile the app. We're using Extension Objects to pass data to the XSLT when we apply the transformation: <xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt" exclude-result-prefixes="msxsl" xmlns:EmailNotification="ext:EmailNotification"> -- this way, we can have statements like: <p> Dear <xsl:value-of select="EmailNotification:get_FullName()" />: </p> The above works fine. I pass the object via code like this (some irrelevant code omitted for brevity): // purely an example structure public struct EmailNotification { public string FullName { get; set; } } // Somewhere in some method ... var notification = new Notification("John Smith"); // ... XsltArgumentList xslArgs = new XsltArgumentList(); xslArgs.AddExtensionObject("ext:EmailNotification", notification); // ... // The part where it breaks! (This is where we do the transformation) xslt.Transform(fakeXMLDocument.CreateNavigator(), xslArgs, XmlWriter.Create(transformedXMLString)); So, all of the above code works. However, I wanted to get a little fancy (always my downfall) and pass a collection, so that I could do something like this: <p>The following accounts need to be verified:</p> <xsl:for-each select="EmailNotification:get_SomeCollection()"> <ul> <li> <xsl:value-of select="@SomeAttribute" /> </li> </ul> <xsl:for-each> When I pass the collection in the extension object and attempt to transform, I get the following error: "Extension function parameters or return values which have Clr type 'String[]' are not supported." or List, or IEnumerable, or whatever I try to pass in. So, my questions are: How can I pass in a collection to my XSLT? What do I put for the xsl:value-of select="" inside the xsl:for-each ? Is what I am trying to do impossible?

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• mysql - combining columns and tables

  - by Phil Jackson

  Hi, I'm not much of a SQL man so I'm seeking help for this one. I have a site where I have a database for all accounts and whatnot, and another for storing actions that the user has done on the site. Each user has their own table but I want to combine the data of each user group ( all users that are "linked together" ) and order that data in the time the actions took place. Heres what I have; <?php $query = "SELECT `TALKING_TO` FROM `nnn_instant_messaging` WHERE `AUTHOR` = '" . DISPLAY_NAME . "' AND `TALKING_TO` != ''"; $query = mysql_query( $query, $CON ) or die( "_error_ " . mysql_error()); if( mysql_num_rows( $query ) != 0 ) { $table_str = ""; $select_ref_clause = "( "; $select_time_stamp_clause = "( "; while( $row = mysql_fetch_array( $query ) ) { $table_str .= "`actvbiz_networks`.`" . $row['TALKING_TO'] . "`, "; $select_ref_clause .= "`actvbiz_networks`.`" . $row['TALKING_TO'] . ".REF`, "; $select_time_stamp_clause .= "`actvbiz_networks`.`" . $row['TALKING_TO'] . ".TIME_STAMP`, "; } $table_str = $table_str . "`actvbiz_networks`.`" . DISPLAY_NAME . "`"; $select_ref_clause = substr($select_ref_clause, 0, -2) . ") AS `REF`, "; $select_time_stamp_clause = substr($select_time_stamp_clause, 0, -2) . " ) AS `TIME_STAMP`"; }else{ $table_str = "`actvbiz_networks`.`" . DISPLAY_NAME . "`"; $select_ref_clause = "`REF`, "; $select_time_stamp_clause = "`TIME_STAMP`"; } $where_clause = $select_ref_clause . $select_time_stamp_clause; $query = "SELECT " . $where_clause . " FROM " . $table_str . " ORDER BY TIME_STAMP"; die($query); $query = mysql_query( $query, $CON ) or die( "_error_ " . mysql_error()); if( mysql_num_rows( $query ) != 0 ) { }else{ ?> <p>Currently no actions have taken place in your network.</p> <?php } ?> The code above returns the sql statement: SELECT ( `actvbiz_networks`.`john_doe.REF`, `actvbiz_networks`.`Emmalene_Jackson.REF`) AS `REF`, ( `actvbiz_networks`.`john_doe.TIME_STAMP`, `actvbiz_networks`.`Emmalene_Jackson.TIME_STAMP` ) AS `TIME_STAMP` FROM `actvbiz_networks`.`john_doe`, `actvbiz_networks`.`Emmalene_Jackson`, `actvbiz_networks`.`act_web_designs` ORDER BY TIME_STAMP I really am learning on my feet with SQL. Its not the PHP I have a problem with ( I can quite happly code away with PHP ) I'ts just help with the SQL statement. Any help much appreciated, REgards, Phil

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• How to page multiple data sets in ASP.NET MVC

  - by REA_ANDREW

  On a single view I will have three sets of paged data. Which means for each model I will have The Objects The Page Index The Page Size My initial thought was for example: public class PagedModel<T> where T:class { public IList<T> Objects { get; set; } public int ModelPageIndex { get; set; } public int ModelPageSize { get; set; } } Then having a model which is to be supplied to the action as for example: public class TypesViewModel { public PagedModel<ObjectA> Types1 { get; set; } public PagedModel<ObjectB> Typed2 { get; set; } public PagedModel<ObjectC> Types3 { get; set; } } So if I then for example have the Index view inherit from the type: System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage<uk.co.andrewrea.forum.Web.Models.TypesViewModel> Now my initial aciton method for the index is simply: public ActionResult Index() { var forDisplayPurposes = new TypesViewModel(); return View(forDisplayPurposes); } If I then want to page, it is here where I am struggling to decide which action to take. Lets say that I select the next page of the Types2 PageModel. What should the action look like for this in order to return the new view showing the second page of the Types2 PageModel I was thinking possibly to duplicate the action but use it with POST [AcceptVerbs(HttpVerbs.Post)] public ActionResult Index(TypesViewModel model) { return View(model); } Is this a good way to approach it. I understand there is always Session, but I was just wondering how such a thing is achieved currently out there. If any best methods have been mutually accepted and things. So simply, one page with multiple paged models. How to persist the data for each using a wrapper model. Which way should you pass in the model and which way should you page the data, i.e. Form Post Lastly, I have seen the routes take this into account i.e. {controller}/{action}/{id}/{pageindex}/{pagesize} but this only accounts for one model and I do not really wwant to repeat the pagesize and pageindex values for the number of models I have inside the wrapper model. Thanks for your time!! Andrew

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• How should I handle the case in which a username is already in use?

  - by idealmachine

  I'm a JavaScript programmer and new to PHP and MySQL (want to get into server-side coding). Because I'm trying to learn PHP by building a simple online game (more specifically, correspondence chess), I'm starting by implementing a simple user accounts system. Of course, user registration comes first. What are the best practices for: How I should handle the (likely) possibility that when a user tries to register, the username he has chosen is already in use, particularly when it comes to function return values?($result === true is rather ugly, and I'm not sure whether checking the MySQL error code is the best way to do it either) How to cleanly handle varying page titles?($gPageTitle = '...'; require_once 'bgsheader.php'; is also rather ugly) Anything else I'm doing wrong? In some ways, PHP is rather different from JavaScript... Here is a (rather large) excerpt of the code I have written so far. Note that this is a work in progress and is missing security checks that I will add as my next step. function addUser( $username, $password ) { global $gDB, $gPasswordSalt; $stmt = $gDB->prepare( 'INSERT INTO user(user_name, user_password, user_registration) VALUES(?, ?, NOW())' ); $stmt || trigger_error( 'Failed to prepare statement: ' . htmlspecialchars( $gDB->error ) ); $hashedPassword = hash_hmac( 'sha256', $password, $gPasswordSalt, true ); $stmt->bind_param( 'ss', $username, $hashedPassword ); if( $stmt->execute() ) { return true; } elseif( $stmt->errno == 1062) { return 'exists'; } else { trigger_error( 'Failed to execute statement: ' . htmlspecialchars( $stmt->error ) ); } } $username = $_REQUEST['username']; $password = $_REQUEST['password']; $result = addUser( $username, $password ); if( $result === true ) { $gPageTitle = 'Registration successful'; require_once 'bgsheader.php'; echo '<p>You have successfully registered as ' . htmlspecialchars( $username ) . ' on this site.</p>'; } elseif( $result == 'exists' ) { $gPageTitle = 'Username already taken'; require_once 'bgsheader.php'; echo '<p>Someone is already using the username you have chosen. Please try using another one instead.'; } else { trigger_error('This should never happen'); } require_once 'bgsfooter.php';

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• Send invitation to any user of google chats (is it possible?)

  - by Gizzo

  Hi I try to realize simple code on perl which should just get/send messages from/to gtalk accounts. I use Net::XMPP::* modules. All works just fine for users, who are my friends (in my "buddy" list). But i can't send message to unknown user. I know, that for this case i must send an invitation first, but Net::XMPP::* don't provide this possibility. There is only one way to invite person - construct my own xml according to "XEP-0155 Stanza Session Negotiation" protocol. But this doesn't work correct. When i send xml to server, it returns error "service-unavailable". I send: <message to='[email protected]'> <sxde xmlns='http://jabber.org/protocol/sxde' xmlns:sxde='http://jabber.org/protocol/sxde#metadata' session='0AEF4278DC4B6577' id='b'> <negotiation> <invitation> <feature var='http://jabber.org/protocol/whiteboard' /> </invitation> </negotiation> </sxde> </message> before my message. ANSWER: <message from='' to='[email protected]/TALKCDDCCE63' type='error'> <sxde id='b' session='0AEF4278DC4B6577' xmlns='http://jabber.org/protocol/sxde' xmlns:sxde='http://jabber.org/protocol/sxde#metadata'> <negotiation> <invitation> <feature var='http://jabber.org/protocol/whiteboard'/> </invitation> </negotiation> </sxde> <nos:x value='disabled' xmlns:nos='google:nosave'/> <arc:record otr='false' xmlns:arc='http://jabber.org/protocol/archive'/> <error code='503' type='cancel'> <service-unavailable xmlns='urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:xmpp-stanzas'/> </error> </message> Maybe i lost smth or should send another info before (or after..) ? Or maybe there are another way to send message without any invitation? Thanks in advance

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• Authenticating users in iPhone app

  - by Myron

  I'm developing an HTTP api for our web application. Initially, the primary consumer of the API will be an iPhone app we're developing, but I'm designing this with future uses in mind (such as mobile apps for other platforms). I'm trying to decide on the best way to authenticate users so they can access their accounts from the iPhone. I've got a design that I think works well, but I'm no security expert, so I figured it would be good to ask for feedback here. The design of the user authentication has 3 primary goals: Good user experience: We want to allow users to enter their credentials once, and remain logged in indefinitely, until they explicitly log out. I would have considered OAuth if not for the fact that the experience from an iPhone app is pretty awful, from what I've heard (i.e. it launches the login form in Safari, then tells the user to return to the app when authentication succeeds). No need to store the user creds with the app: I always hate the idea of having the user's password stored in either plain text or symmetrically encrypted anywhere, so I don't want the app to have to store the password to pass it to the API for future API requests. Security: We definitely don't need the intense security of a banking app, but I'd obviously like this to be secure. Overall, the API is REST-inspired (i.e. treating URLs as resources, and using the HTTP methods and status codes semantically). Each request to the API must include two custom HTTP headers: an API Key (unique to each client app) and a unique device ID. The API requires all requests to be made using HTTPS, so that the headers and body are encrypted. My plan is to have an api_sessions table in my database. It has a unique constraint on the API key and unique device ID (so that a device may only be logged into a single user account through a given app) as well as a foreign key to the users table. The API will have a login endpoint, which receives the username/password and, if they match an account, logs the user in, creating an api_sessions record for the given API key and device id. Future API requests will look up the api_session using the API key and device id, and, if a record is found, treat the request as being logged in under the user account referenced by the api_session record. There will also be a logout API endpoint, which deletes the record from the api_sessions table. Does anyone see any obvious security holes in this?

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• Linux fsck.ext3 says "Device or resource busy" although I did not mount the disk.

  - by matnagel

  I am running an ubuntu 8.04 server instance with a 8GB virtual disk on vmware 1.0.9. For disk maintenance I made a copy of the virtual disk (by making a copy of the 2 vmdk files of sda on the stopped vm on the host) and added it to the original vm. Now this vm has it's original virtual disk sda plus a 1:1 copy (sdd). There are 2 additional disk sdb and sdc which I ignore.) I would expect sdb not to be mounted when I start the vm. So I try tp do a ext2 fsck on sdd from the running vm, but it reports fsck reported that sdb was mounted. $ sudo fsck.ext3 -b 8193 /dev/sdd e2fsck 1.40.8 (13-Mar-2008) fsck.ext3: Device or resource busy while trying to open /dev/sdd Filesystem mounted or opened exclusively by another program? The "mount" command does not tell me sdd is mounted: $ sudo mount /dev/sda1 on / type ext3 (rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro) proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev) /sys on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev) varrun on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,mode=0755) varlock on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,mode=1777) udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755) devshm on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw) devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620) /dev/sdc1 on /mnt/r1 type ext3 (rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro) /dev/sdb1 on /mnt/k1 type ext3 (rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro) securityfs on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw) When I ignore the warning and continue the fsck, it reported many errors. How do I get this under control? Is there a better way to figure out if sdd is mounted? Or how is it "busy? How to unmount it then? How to prevent ubuntu from automatically mounting. Or is there something else I am missing? Also from /var/log/syslog I cannot see it is mounted, this is the last part of the startup sequence: kernel: [ 14.229494] ACPI: Power Button (FF) [PWRF] kernel: [ 14.230326] ACPI: AC Adapter [ACAD] (on-line) kernel: [ 14.460136] input: PC Speaker as /devices/platform/pcspkr/input/input3 kernel: [ 14.639366] udev: renamed network interface eth0 to eth1 kernel: [ 14.670187] eth1: link up kernel: [ 16.329607] input: ImPS/2 Generic Wheel Mouse as /devices/platform/i8042/serio1/ kernel: [ 16.367540] parport_pc 00:08: reported by Plug and Play ACPI kernel: [ 16.367670] parport0: PC-style at 0x378, irq 7 [PCSPP,TRISTATE] kernel: [ 19.425637] NET: Registered protocol family 10 kernel: [ 19.437550] lo: Disabled Privacy Extensions kernel: [ 24.328857] loop: module loaded kernel: [ 24.449293] lp0: using parport0 (interrupt-driven). kernel: [ 26.075499] EXT3 FS on sda1, internal journal kernel: [ 28.380299] kjournald starting. Commit interval 5 seconds kernel: [ 28.381706] EXT3 FS on sdc1, internal journal kernel: [ 28.381747] EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. kernel: [ 28.444867] kjournald starting. Commit interval 5 seconds kernel: [ 28.445436] EXT3 FS on sdb1, internal journal kernel: [ 28.445444] EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. kernel: [ 31.309766] eth1: no IPv6 routers present kernel: [ 35.054268] ip_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team mysqld_safe[4367]: started mysqld[4370]: 100124 14:40:21 InnoDB: Started; log sequence number 0 10130914 mysqld[4370]: 100124 14:40:21 [Note] /usr/sbin/mysqld: ready for connections. mysqld[4370]: Version: '5.0.51a-3ubuntu5.4' socket: '/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock' port: 3 /etc/mysql/debian-start[4417]: Upgrading MySQL tables if necessary. /etc/mysql/debian-start[4422]: Looking for 'mysql' in: /usr/bin/mysql /etc/mysql/debian-start[4422]: Looking for 'mysqlcheck' in: /usr/bin/mysqlcheck /etc/mysql/debian-start[4422]: This installation of MySQL is already upgraded to 5.0.51a, u /etc/mysql/debian-start[4436]: Checking for insecure root accounts. /etc/mysql/debian-start[4444]: Checking for crashed MySQL tables.

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• AdPrep logs show an LDAP error

  - by Omar

  What I am trying to do is transition our domain from Server 2003 Enterprise x32 to Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64. Here is what I have done thus far. The 2003 server is a physical machine, the 2008 server is a virtual machine Built a virtual machine that has Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 and joined it to the domain as a domain member On the 2003 DC, Raised Domain Functional Level and Forest Functional Level to Windows Server 2003 On the 2003 DC, went into the registry and navigated to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NTDS\Parameters and verified that the Schema Version is 30 On the 2003 DC, inserted the Windows Server 2008 Enterprise x32 Edition to copy over the adprep folder. This version is the only one that seemed to work On the 2003 DC, opened command prompt and went to adprep directory and ran adprep /forestprep , adprep /domainprep , and adprep /domainprep /gpprep On the 2008 server, Installed the Active Directory Domain Services role from Server Manager On the 2003 DC, went into the registry and navigated to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NTDS\Parameters and verified that the Schema Version is now 44 When I go to run dcpromo on the 2008 server, I get a message that says: "To install a domain controller into this Active Directory forest, you must first prepare using adprep /forestprep" I went back to the 2003 DC server and went through the adprep logs and I came across this: Adprep was unable to modify the security descriptor on object CN=DomainControllerAuthentication,CN=Certificate Templates,CN=Public Key Services,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=xeroxtoledo,DC=com. [Status/Consequence] ADPREP was unable to merge the existing security descriptor with the new access control entry (ACE). [User Action] Check the log file ADPrep.log in the C:\WINDOWS\debug\adprep\logs\20100327143517 directory for more information. Adprep encountered an LDAP error. *Error code: 0x20. Server extended error code: 0x208d, Server error message: 0000208D: NameErr: DSID-031001CD, problem 2001 (NO_OBJECT), data 0, best match of: 'CN=Certificate Templates,CN=Public Key Services,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=xeroxtoledo,DC=com* In fact, I got three of these errors. The LDAP error is consistent with all three, but the top part where it says "Adprep was unable to modify the security descriptor on object" are different. They are the following: CN=DomainControllerAuthentication,CN=Certificate Templates,CN=Public Key Services,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=xeroxtoledo,DC=com. CN=DirectoryEmailReplication,CN=Certificate Templates,CN=Public Key Services,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=xeroxtoledo,DC=com. CN=KerberosAuthentication,CN=Certificate Templates,CN=Public Key Services,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=xeroxtoledo,DC=com. The credentials I am using on the 2008 server when running dcpromo is my domain account. My account is part of the domain and enterprise admin groups. I've tried various quick fixes that I've came across through Google searches that include: Disabling AntiVirus on current DCs Pointing DNS on PDC to point to itself Changing the Schema Update Allowed key to 1 and tried rerunning adprep - when rerunning adprep, told me that Forest-wide information has already been updated Disabled Windows Firewall on the Server 2008 box On the 2003 DC, went to Domain Controller Security Policy Local Policies User Rights Assignment and added Domain Admins to the Enable computer and user accounts to be trusted for delegation policy setting Both our PDC and BDC are Global Catalog Servers. Not sure if this matters or not I ran the command netdom query fsmo and verified that the FSMO role holder is the current 2003 PDC I ran dcdiag /v on the 2003 PDC and the only thing that failed was Services. Dnscache Service is stopped on the PDC I even went as far as deleting the virtual machine and recreating it from scratch - no avail... Help :(

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• How do you handle authentication across domains?

  - by William Ratcliff

  I'm trying to save users of our services from having to have multiple accounts/passwords. I'm in a large organization and there's one group that handles part of user authentication for users who are from outside the facility (primarily for administrative functions). They store a secure cookie to establish a session and communicate only via HTTPS via the browser. Sessions expire either through: 1) explicit logout of the user 2) Inactivity 3) Browser closes My team is trying to write a web application to help users analyze data that they've taken (or are currently taking) while at our facility. We need to determine if a user is 1) authenticated 2) Some identifier for that user so we can store state for them (what analysis they are working on, etc.) So, the problem is how do you authenticate across domains (the authentication server for the other application lives in a border region between public and private--we will live in the public region). We have come up with some scenarios and I'd like advice about what is best practice, or if there is one we haven't considered. Let's start with the case where the user is authenticated with the authentication server. 1) The authentication server leaves a public cookie in the browser with their primary key for a user. If this is deemed sensitive, they encrypt it on their server and we have the key to decrypt it on our server. When the user visits our site, we check for this public cookie. We extract the user_id and use a public api for the authentication server to request if the user is logged in. If they are, they send us a response with: response={ userid :we can then map this to our own user ids. If necessary, we can request additional information such as email-address/display name once (to notify them if long running jobs are done, or to share results with other people, like with google_docs). account_is_active:Make sure that the account is still valid session_is_active: Is their session still active? If we query this for a valid user, this will have a side effect that we will reset the last_time_session_activated value and thus prolong their session with the authentication server last_time_session_activated: let us know how much time they have left ip_address_session_started_from:make sure the person at our site is coming from the same ip as they started the session at } Given this response, we either accept them as authenticated and move on with our app, or redirect them to the login page for the authentication server (question: if we give an encrypted portion of the response (signed by us) with the page to redirect them to, do we open any gaping security holes in the authentication server)? The flaw that we've found with this is that if the user visits evilsite.com and they look at the session cookie and send a query to the public api of the authentication server, they can keep the session alive and if our original user leaves the machine without logging out, then the next user will be able to access their session (this was possible before, but having the session alive eternally makes this worse). 2) The authentication server redirects all requests made to our domain to us and we send responses back through them to the user. Essentially, they act as a proxy. The advantage of this is that we can handshake with the authentication server, so it's safe to be trusted with the email address/name of the user and they don't have to reenter it So, if the user tries to go to: authentication_site/mysite_page1 they are redirected to mysite. Which would you choose, or is there a better way? The goal is to minimize the "Yet Another Password/Yet another username" problem... Thanks!!!!

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• Useful Command-line Commands on Windows

  - by Sung Meister

  The aim for this Wiki is to promote using a command to open up commonly used applications without having to go through many mouse clicks - thus saving time on monitoring and troubleshooting Windows machines. Answer entries need to specify Application name Commands Screenshot (Optional) Shortcut to commands && - Command Chaining %SYSTEMROOT%\System32\rcimlby.exe -LaunchRA - Remote Assistance (Windows XP) appwiz.cpl - Programs and Features (Formerly Known as "Add or Remove Programs") appwiz.cpl @,2 - Turn Windows Features On and Off (Add/Remove Windows Components pane) arp - Displays and modifies the IP-to-Physical address translation tables used by address resolution protocol (ARP) at - Schedule tasks either locally or remotely without using Scheduled Tasks bootsect.exe - Updates the master boot code for hard disk partitions to switch between BOOTMGR and NTLDR cacls - Change Access Control List (ACL) permissions on a directory, its subcontents, or files calc - Calculator chkdsk - Check/Fix the disk surface for physical errors or bad sectors cipher - Displays or alters the encryption of directories [files] on NTFS partitions cleanmgr.exe - Disk Cleanup clip - Redirects output of command line tools to the Windows clipboard cls - clear the command line screen cmd /k - Run command with command extensions enabled color - Sets the default console foreground and background colors in console command.com - Default Operating System Shell compmgmt.msc - Computer Management control.exe /name Microsoft.NetworkAndSharingCenter - Network and Sharing Center control keyboard - Keyboard Properties control mouse(or main.cpl) - Mouse Properties control sysdm.cpl,@0,3 - Advanced Tab of the System Properties dialog control userpasswords2 - Opens the classic User Accounts dialog desk.cpl - opens the display properties devmgmt.msc - Device Manager diskmgmt.msc - Disk Management diskpart - Disk management from the command line dsa.msc - Opens active directory users and computers dsquery - Finds any objects in the directory according to criteria dxdiag - DirectX Diagnostic Tool eventvwr - Windows Event Log (Event Viewer) explorer . - Open explorer with the current folder selected. explorer /e, . - Open explorer, with folder tree, with current folder selected. F7 - View command history find - Searches for a text string in a file or files findstr - Find a string in a file firewall.cpl - Opens the Windows Firewall settings fsmgmt.msc - Shared Folders fsutil - Perform tasks related to FAT and NTFS file systems ftp - Transfers files to and from a computer running an FTP server service getmac - Shows the mac address(es) of your network adapter(s) gpedit.msc - Group Policy Editor gpresult - Displays the Resultant Set of Policy (RSoP) information for a target user and computer httpcfg.exe - HTTP Configuration Utility iisreset - To restart IIS InetMgr.exe - Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager 7 InetMgr6.exe - Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager 6 intl.cpl - Regional and Language Options ipconfig - Internet protocol configuration lusrmgr.msc - Local Users and Groups Administrator msconfig - System Configuration notepad - Notepad? ;) mmsys.cpl - Sound/Recording/Playback properties mode - Configure system devices more - Displays one screen of output at a time mrt - Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool mstsc.exe - Remote Desktop Connection nbstat - displays protocol statistics and current TCP/IP connections using NBT ncpa.cpl - Network Connections netsh - Display or modify the network configuration of a computer that is currently running netstat - Network Statistics net statistics - Check computer up time net stop - Stops a running service. net use - Connects a computer to or disconnects a computer from a shared resource, or displays information about computer connections odbcad32.exe - ODBC Data Source Administrator pathping - A traceroute that collects detailed packet loss stats perfmon - Opens Reliability and Performance Monitor ping - Determine whether a remote computer is accessible over the network powercfg.cpl - Power management control panel applet quser - Display information about user sessions on a terminal server qwinsta - See disconnected remote desktop sessions reg.exe - Console Registry Tool for Windows regedit - Registry Editor rasdial - Connects to a VPN or a dialup network robocopy - Backup/Restore/Copy large amounts of files reliably rsop.msc - Resultant Set of Policy (shows the combined effect of all group policies active on the current system/login) runas - Run specific tools and programs with different permissions than the user's current logon provides sc - Manage anything you want to do with services. schtasks - Enables an administrator to create, delete, query, change, run and end scheduled tasks on a local or remote system. secpol.msc - Local Security Settings services.msc - Services control panel set - Displays, sets, or removes cmd.exe environment variables. set DIRCMD - Preset dir parameter in cmd.exe start - Starts a separate window to run a specified program or command start. - opens the current directory in the Windows Explorer. shutdown.exe - Shutdown or Reboot a local/remote machine subst.exe - Associates a path with a drive letter, including local drives systeminfo -Displays a comprehensive information about the system taskkill - terminate tasks by process id (PID) or image name tasklist.exe - List Processes on local or a remote machine taskmgr.exe - Task Manager telephon.cpl - Telephone and Modem properties timedate.cpl - Date and Time title - Change the title of the CMD window you have open tracert - Trace route wmic - Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line winver.exe - Find Windows Version wscui.cpl - Windows Security Center wuauclt.exe - Windows Update AutoUpdate Client

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• Sharepoint AD imported users are becomming sporadically corrupted, causing us to have to create a new account

  - by TrevJen

  Sharepoint 2007 MOSS with AD imported users. All servers are 2008. ***UPDATE More details in testing. This Sharepoint is in an AD Child domain (clients.mycompany.local), which is sub to the root of the AD tree (mycompany.local). The user is in the parent tree (as are half of the other functional users. I have elevated the user rights to Domain. In looking at the logs, it seems that the Sharepoint server is trying to authenticate them by querying the DC for the clients domain (which is the way it normally works and still works for all existing identically configured users). I think if I could force it to authenticate up to the top domain DC then it would be ok?? I have around 50 users, over the past 2 months, I have had a handful of the users suddenly unable to login to Sharepoint. When they login, they either get a blank screen or they are repropmted. These users are using accounts that have been used for many months, sometimes the problem originates with a password change. In all cases, the users account works on every other Active Directory authenticated resource (domain, exchange, LDAP). In the most recent case, last night I was forced deleted a user ("John smith") because of corruption. The orifinal account name was jsmith. I deleted him from active directory, then deleted him from the profile list in Sharepoint Shared Services. I could not find a way to delete him from the Sharepoint user list, but I reran the import after recreating his account (renamed it too just to be sure to "smithj"). At first, this did not wor, the user could still access all other resources but Sharepoint. then, some 30 minutes later it inexplicably started working. This morning, the user changed passwords, which immediatly broke the login on Sharepoint again. Logs by request from matt b Office SharePoint Server Date: 4/13/2010 2:00:00 PM Event ID: 7888 Task Category: Office Server General Level: Error Keywords: Classic User: N/A Computer: nb-portal-01.clients.netboundary.local Description: A runtime exception was detected. Details follow. Message: Access is denied. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070005 (E_ACCESSDENIED)) – TrevJen 19 hours ago Techinal Details: System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Access is denied. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070005 (E_ACCESSDENIED)) at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPGlobal.HandleUnauthorizedAccessException(UnauthorizedAccessException ex) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequest.UpdateField(String bstrUrl, String bstrListName, String bstrXML) at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPField.UpdateCore(Boolean bToggleSealed) – TrevJen 19 hours ago at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPField.Update() at Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.SiteSynchronizer.UserSynchronizer.PushSchemaToList(Boolean& bAddedColumn) at Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.SiteSynchronizer.UserSynchronizer.SynchFull() at Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.SiteSynchronizer.Synch() at Microsoft.Office.Server.Diagnostics.FirstChanceHandler.ExceptionFilter(Boolean fRethrowException, TryBlock tryBlock, FilterBlock filter, CatchBlock catchBlock, FinallyBlock finallyBlock) – TrevJen 19 hours ago Log Name: Application Source: Office SharePoint Server Date: 4/13/2010 2:00:00 PM Event ID: 5553 Task Category: User Profiles Level: Error Keywords: Classic User: N/A Computer: nb-portal-01.clients.netboundary.local Description: failure trying to synch site 6fea15e2-0899-4c19-9016-44d77834c018 for ContentDB b2002b0b-3d4c-411a-8c4f-3d047ca9322c WebApp 3aff7051-455d-4a70-a377-5b1c36df618e. Exception message was Access is denied. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070005 (E_ACCESSDENIED)). – TrevJen 18 hours ago

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• UFW as an active service on Ubuntu

  - by lamcro

  Every time I restart my computer, and check the status of the UFW firewall (sudo ufw status), it is disabled, even if I then enable and restart it. I tried putting sudo ufw enable as one of the startup applications but it asks for the sudo password every time I log on, and I'm guessing it does not protect anyone else who logs on my computer. How can I setup ufw so it is activated when I turn on my computer, and protects all accounts? Update I just tried /etc/init.d/ufw start, and it activated the firewall. Then I restarted the computer, and again it was disabled. content of /etc/ufw/ufw.conf # /etc/ufw/ufw.conf # # set to yes to start on boot ENABLED=yes # set to one of 'off', 'low', 'medium', 'high' LOGLEVEL=full content of /etc/default/ufw # /etc/default/ufw # # Set to yes to apply rules to support IPv6 (no means only IPv6 on loopback # accepted). You will need to 'disable' and then 'enable' the firewall for # the changes to take affect. IPV6=no # Set the default input policy to ACCEPT, ACCEPT_NO_TRACK, DROP, or REJECT. # ACCEPT enables connection tracking for NEW inbound packets on the INPUT # chain, whereas ACCEPT_NO_TRACK does not use connection tracking. Please note # that if you change this you will most likely want to adjust your rules. DEFAULT_INPUT_POLICY="DROP" # Set the default output policy to ACCEPT, ACCEPT_NO_TRACK, DROP, or REJECT. # ACCEPT enables connection tracking for NEW outbound packets on the OUTPUT # chain, whereas ACCEPT_NO_TRACK does not use connection tracking. Please note # that if you change this you will most likely want to adjust your rules. DEFAULT_OUTPUT_POLICY="ACCEPT" # Set the default forward policy to ACCEPT, DROP or REJECT. Please note that # if you change this you will most likely want to adjust your rules DEFAULT_FORWARD_POLICY="DROP" # Set the default application policy to ACCEPT, DROP, REJECT or SKIP. Please # note that setting this to ACCEPT may be a security risk. See 'man ufw' for # details DEFAULT_APPLICATION_POLICY="SKIP" # By default, ufw only touches its own chains. Set this to 'yes' to have ufw # manage the built-in chains too. Warning: setting this to 'yes' will break # non-ufw managed firewall rules MANAGE_BUILTINS=no # # IPT backend # # only enable if using iptables backend IPT_SYSCTL=/etc/ufw/sysctl.conf # extra connection tracking modules to load IPT_MODULES="nf_conntrack_ftp nf_nat_ftp nf_conntrack_irc nf_nat_irc" Update Followed your advise and ran update-rc.d with no luck. lester@mcgrath-pc:~$ sudo update-rc.d ufw defaults update-rc.d: warning: /etc/init.d/ufw missing LSB information update-rc.d: see <http://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts> Adding system startup for /etc/init.d/ufw ... /etc/rc0.d/K20ufw -> ../init.d/ufw /etc/rc1.d/K20ufw -> ../init.d/ufw /etc/rc6.d/K20ufw -> ../init.d/ufw /etc/rc2.d/S20ufw -> ../init.d/ufw /etc/rc3.d/S20ufw -> ../init.d/ufw /etc/rc4.d/S20ufw -> ../init.d/ufw /etc/rc5.d/S20ufw -> ../init.d/ufw lester@mcgrath-pc:~$ ls -l /etc/rc?.d/*ufw lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 2009-12-20 20:34 /etc/rc0.d/K20ufw -> ../init.d/ufw lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 2009-12-20 20:34 /etc/rc1.d/K20ufw -> ../init.d/ufw lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 2009-12-20 20:34 /etc/rc2.d/S20ufw -> ../init.d/ufw lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 2009-12-20 20:34 /etc/rc3.d/S20ufw -> ../init.d/ufw lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 2009-12-20 20:34 /etc/rc4.d/S20ufw -> ../init.d/ufw lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 2009-12-20 20:34 /etc/rc5.d/S20ufw -> ../init.d/ufw lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 2009-12-20 20:34 /etc/rc6.d/K20ufw -> ../init.d/ufw

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• Connection Timed Out - Simple outbound Postfix for PHP Contact form

  - by BLaZuRE

  Alright, so I only got Postfix for a PHP contact form that will send email to a single . I only want it to send out mail to a single external address ([email protected]). I have domain sub1.sub2.domain.com. I installed Postfix out of the Ubuntu repo, with minimal config changes. I cannot get Postfix to send mail externally (though it succeeds for internal accounts, which is unnecessary). The email simply defers if I generate an email using PHP mail(). If I try to form my own in telnet, right after rcpt to: [email][email protected][/email], I get a postfix/smtpd[31606]: NOQUEUE: reject: RCPT from localhost[127.0.0.1]: 550 5.1.1 <[email protected]>: Recipient address rejected: example.com; from=<root@localhost> to=<[email protected]> proto=ESMTP helo=<localhost> when commenting out default_transport = error and relay_transport = error lines, I get the following: Jun 26 14:33:00 sub1 postfix/smtp[12191]: 2DA06F88206A: to=<[email protected]>, relay=none, delay=514, delays=409/0.01/105/0, dsn=4.4.1, status=deferred (connect to aspmx3.googlemail.com[74.125.127.27]:25: Connection timed out) Jun 26 14:36:36 sub1 postfix/smtp[12225]: connect to mta7.am0.yahoodns.net[98.139.175.224]:25: Connection timed out Jun 26 14:38:00 sub1 postfix/smtp[12225]: 22952F88208E: to=<[email protected]>, relay=none, delay=655, delays=550/0.01/105/0, dsn=4.4.1, status=deferred (connect to mta5.am0.yahoodns.net[67.195.168.230]:25: Connection timed out) My main.cf # See /usr/share/postfix/main.cf.dist for a commented, more complete version # Debian specific: Specifying a file name will cause the first # line of that file to be used as the name. The Debian default # is /etc/mailname. #myorigin = /etc/mailname smtpd_banner = $myhostname ESMTP $mail_name (Ubuntu) biff = no # appending .domain is the MUA's job. append_dot_mydomain = no # Uncomment the next line to generate "delayed mail" warnings #delay_warning_time = 4h readme_directory = no # TLS parameters smtpd_tls_cert_file=/etc/ssl/certs/ssl-cert-snakeoil.pem smtpd_tls_key_file=/etc/ssl/private/ssl-cert-snakeoil.key smtpd_use_tls=yes smtpd_tls_session_cache_database = btree:${data_directory}/smtpd_scache smtp_tls_session_cache_database = btree:${data_directory}/smtp_scache # See /usr/share/doc/postfix/TLS_README.gz in the postfix-doc package for # information on enabling SSL in the smtp client. myhostname = sub1.sub2.domain.com alias_maps = hash:/etc/aliases alias_database = hash:/etc/aliases myorigin = /etc/mailname mydestination = sub1.sub2.domain.com, localhost relayhost = mynetworks = 127.0.0.0/8 [::ffff:127.0.0.0]/104 [::1]/128 mailbox_size_limit = 0 recipient_delimiter = + inet_interfaces = all default_transport = error relay_transport = error Also, a dig sub1.sub2.domain.com MX returns: ; <<>> DiG 9.7.0-P1 <<>> sub1.sub2.domain.com MX ;; global options: +cmd ;; Got answer: ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 4853 ;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0 ;; QUESTION SECTION: ;sub1.sub2.domain.com. IN MX ;; AUTHORITY SECTION: sub2.domain.com. 600 IN SOA sub2.domain.com. sub5.domain.com. 2012062915 7200 600 1209600 600 ;; Query time: 0 msec ;; SERVER: x.x.x.x#53(x.x.x.x) ;; WHEN: Fri Jun 29 16:35:00 2012 ;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 84 lsof -i returns empty netstat -t -a | grep LISTEN returns tcp 0 0 localhost:mysql *:* LISTEN tcp 0 0 *:ftp *:* LISTEN tcp 0 0 *:ssh *:* LISTEN tcp 0 0 localhost:ipp *:* LISTEN tcp 0 0 *:smtp *:* LISTEN tcp6 0 0 [::]:netbios-ssn [::]:* LISTEN tcp6 0 0 [::]:www [::]:* LISTEN tcp6 0 0 [::]:ssh [::]:* LISTEN tcp6 0 0 localhost:ipp [::]:* LISTEN tcp6 0 0 [::]:microsoft-ds [::]:* LISTEN

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• Samba with Active Directory - shares are readonly, NT_STATUS_MEDIA_WRITE_PROTECTED

  - by froh42

  I've set a samba server that seems to work, all shares are seemingly exported as readonly, however. The machine is called "lx". When I'm on lx I can run the following command: froh@lx:~$ smbclient //lx/export -UAdministrator Enter Administrator's password: Domain=[CUSTOMER] OS=[Unix] Server=[Samba 3.5.4] smb: \> mkdir wrzlbrmpf NT_STATUS_MEDIA_WRITE_PROTECTED making remote directory \wrzlbrmpf smb: \> ls . D 0 Fri Dec 3 19:04:20 2010 .. D 0 Sun Nov 28 01:32:37 2010 zork D 0 Fri Dec 3 18:53:33 2010 bar D 0 Sun Nov 28 23:52:43 2010 ork 1 Fri Dec 3 18:53:02 2010 foo 1 Sun Nov 28 23:52:41 2010 gaga D 0 Fri Dec 3 19:04:20 2010 How can I troubleshoot this? What I did: First I set up a fresh install of Ubuntu 10.10 x64. Second I got kerberos working with the following krb5.conf file: [libdefaults] ticket_lifetime = 24000 clock_skew = 300 default_realm = CUSTOMER.LOCAL [realms] CUSTOMER.LOCAL = { kdc = SB4.customer.local:88 admin_server = SB4.customer.local:464 default_domain = CUSTOMER.LOCAL } [domain_realm] .customer.local = CUSTOMER.LOCAL customer.local = CUSTOMER.LOCAL #[login] # krb4_convert = true # krb4_get_tickets = false I also added winbind to group, passwd and shadow in nsswitch.conf. Seemingly Kerberos works: root@lx:~# net ads testjoin Join is OK root@lx:~# wbinfo -a 'Administrator%MYSECRETPASSWORD' plaintext password authentication succeeded challenge/response password authentication succeeded wbinfo -u and wbinfo -g also spit out a list of users and a list of groups respectiveley. I noted that domain accounts did NOT include a domain and they are in german (as on the SBS 2003 that is the domain server). So I get a "Domänenbenutzer" in wbinfo -u's output not a "CUSTOMER+Domain User" or something similar. I'm not sure anymore what I did to the PAM configuration, but here is what I currently have: root@lx:/etc/pam.d# cat samba @include common-auth @include common-account @include common-session-noninteractive root@lx:/etc/pam.d# grep -ve '^#' common-auth auth [success=3 default=ignore] pam_krb5.so minimum_uid=1000 auth [success=2 default=ignore] pam_unix.so nullok_secure try_first_pass auth [success=1 default=ignore] pam_winbind.so krb5_auth krb5_ccache_type=FILE cached_login try_first_pass auth requisite pam_deny.so auth required pam_permit.so root@lx:/etc/pam.d# grep -ve '^#' common-account account [success=2 new_authtok_reqd=done default=ignore] pam_unix.so account [success=1 new_authtok_reqd=done default=ignore] pam_winbind.so account requisite pam_deny.so account required pam_permit.so account required pam_krb5.so minimum_uid=1000 root@lx:/etc/pam.d# grep -ve '^#' common-session-noninteractive session [default=1] pam_permit.so session requisite pam_deny.so session required pam_permit.so session optional pam_krb5.so minimum_uid=1000 session required pam_unix.so session optional pam_winbind.so At some point I joined the linux box into the AD domain. After (manually) creating a home directory on the linux box I can log in using the Adminstrator user with the password taken from AD. Now I run samba with the following setup: [global] netbios name = LX realm = CUSTOMER.LOCAL workgroup = CUSTOMER security = ADS encrypt passwords = yes password server = 192.168.20.244 #IP des Domain Controllers os level = 0 socket options = TCP_NODELAY SO_RCVBUF=16384 SO_SNDBUF=16384 idmap uid = 10000-20000 idmap gid = 10000-20000 winbind enum users = Yes winbind enum groups = Yes preferred master = no winbind separator = + dns proxy = no wins proxy = no # client NTLMv2 auth = Yes log level = 2 logfile = /var/log/samba/log.smbd.%U template homedir = /home/%U template shell = /bin/bash [export] path = /mnt/sdc1/export read only = No public = Yes Currently I don't care whether export is exported to everyone or just one user, I want to see somebody WRITING to that directory before I start fiddling with the authentication settings. (Who may access it). As mentioned, accessing the share from smbclient results in this NT_STATUS_MEDIA_WRITE_PROTECTED . Accessing it from windows shows ACLs that look correct (The user may write) - but it does not work, I can only read files not write. The directory to be exported looks like this: root@lx:/etc/pam.d# ls -ld /mnt/ drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 2010-11-28 01:29 /mnt/ root@lx:/etc/pam.d# ls -ld /mnt/sdc1/ drwxr-xr-x 4 froh froh 4096 2010-11-28 01:32 /mnt/sdc1/ root@lx:/etc/pam.d# ls -ld /mnt/sdc1/export/ drwxrwxrwx+ 5 administrator domänen-admins 4096 2010-12-03 19:04 /mnt/sdc1/export/ root@lx:/etc/pam.d# getfacl /mnt/ getfacl: Entferne führende '/' von absoluten Pfadnamen # file: mnt/ # owner: root # group: root user::rwx group::r-x other::r-x root@lx:/etc/pam.d# getfacl /mnt/sdc1/ getfacl: Entferne führende '/' von absoluten Pfadnamen # file: mnt/sdc1/ # owner: froh # group: froh user::rwx group::r-x other::r-x root@lx:/etc/pam.d# getfacl /mnt/sdc1/export/ getfacl: Entferne führende '/' von absoluten Pfadnamen # file: mnt/sdc1/export/ # owner: administrator # group: domänen-admins user::rwx group::rwx group:domänen-admins:rwx mask::rwx other::rwx default:user::rwx default:group::rwx default:group:domänen-admins:rwx default:mask::rwx default:other::rwx My, oh my what am I overlooking? What am I to blind to see?

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• Samba with Active Directory - shares are readonly, NT_STATUS_MEDIA_WRITE_PROTECTED

  - by froh42

  I've set a samba server that seems to work, all shares are seemingly exported as readonly, however. The machine is called "lx". When I'm on lx I can run the following command: froh@lx:~$ smbclient //lx/export -UAdministrator Enter Administrator's password: Domain=[CUSTOMER] OS=[Unix] Server=[Samba 3.5.4] smb: \> mkdir wrzlbrmpf NT_STATUS_MEDIA_WRITE_PROTECTED making remote directory \wrzlbrmpf smb: \> ls . D 0 Fri Dec 3 19:04:20 2010 .. D 0 Sun Nov 28 01:32:37 2010 zork D 0 Fri Dec 3 18:53:33 2010 bar D 0 Sun Nov 28 23:52:43 2010 ork 1 Fri Dec 3 18:53:02 2010 foo 1 Sun Nov 28 23:52:41 2010 gaga D 0 Fri Dec 3 19:04:20 2010 How can I troubleshoot this? What I did: First I set up a fresh install of Ubuntu 10.10 x64. Second I got kerberos working with the following krb5.conf file: [libdefaults] ticket_lifetime = 24000 clock_skew = 300 default_realm = CUSTOMER.LOCAL [realms] CUSTOMER.LOCAL = { kdc = SB4.customer.local:88 admin_server = SB4.customer.local:464 default_domain = CUSTOMER.LOCAL } [domain_realm] .customer.local = CUSTOMER.LOCAL customer.local = CUSTOMER.LOCAL #[login] # krb4_convert = true # krb4_get_tickets = false I also added winbind to group, passwd and shadow in nsswitch.conf. Seemingly Kerberos works: root@lx:~# net ads testjoin Join is OK root@lx:~# wbinfo -a 'Administrator%MYSECRETPASSWORD' plaintext password authentication succeeded challenge/response password authentication succeeded wbinfo -u and wbinfo -g also spit out a list of users and a list of groups respectiveley. I noted that domain accounts did NOT include a domain and they are in german (as on the SBS 2003 that is the domain server). So I get a "Domänenbenutzer" in wbinfo -u's output not a "CUSTOMER+Domain User" or something similar. I'm not sure anymore what I did to the PAM configuration, but here is what I currently have: root@lx:/etc/pam.d# cat samba @include common-auth @include common-account @include common-session-noninteractive root@lx:/etc/pam.d# grep -ve '^#' common-auth auth [success=3 default=ignore] pam_krb5.so minimum_uid=1000 auth [success=2 default=ignore] pam_unix.so nullok_secure try_first_pass auth [success=1 default=ignore] pam_winbind.so krb5_auth krb5_ccache_type=FILE cached_login try_first_pass auth requisite pam_deny.so auth required pam_permit.so root@lx:/etc/pam.d# grep -ve '^#' common-account account [success=2 new_authtok_reqd=done default=ignore] pam_unix.so account [success=1 new_authtok_reqd=done default=ignore] pam_winbind.so account requisite pam_deny.so account required pam_permit.so account required pam_krb5.so minimum_uid=1000 root@lx:/etc/pam.d# grep -ve '^#' common-session-noninteractive session [default=1] pam_permit.so session requisite pam_deny.so session required pam_permit.so session optional pam_krb5.so minimum_uid=1000 session required pam_unix.so session optional pam_winbind.so At some point I joined the linux box into the AD domain. After (manually) creating a home directory on the linux box I can log in using the Adminstrator user with the password taken from AD. Now I run samba with the following setup: [global] netbios name = LX realm = CUSTOMER.LOCAL workgroup = CUSTOMER security = ADS encrypt passwords = yes password server = 192.168.20.244 #IP des Domain Controllers os level = 0 socket options = TCP_NODELAY SO_RCVBUF=16384 SO_SNDBUF=16384 idmap uid = 10000-20000 idmap gid = 10000-20000 winbind enum users = Yes winbind enum groups = Yes preferred master = no winbind separator = + dns proxy = no wins proxy = no # client NTLMv2 auth = Yes log level = 2 logfile = /var/log/samba/log.smbd.%U template homedir = /home/%U template shell = /bin/bash [export] path = /mnt/sdc1/export read only = No public = Yes Currently I don't care whether export is exported to everyone or just one user, I want to see somebody WRITING to that directory before I start fiddling with the authentication settings. (Who may access it). As mentioned, accessing the share from smbclient results in this NT_STATUS_MEDIA_WRITE_PROTECTED . Accessing it from windows shows ACLs that look correct (The user may write) - but it does not work, I can only read files not write. The directory to be exported looks like this: root@lx:/etc/pam.d# ls -ld /mnt/ drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 2010-11-28 01:29 /mnt/ root@lx:/etc/pam.d# ls -ld /mnt/sdc1/ drwxr-xr-x 4 froh froh 4096 2010-11-28 01:32 /mnt/sdc1/ root@lx:/etc/pam.d# ls -ld /mnt/sdc1/export/ drwxrwxrwx+ 5 administrator domänen-admins 4096 2010-12-03 19:04 /mnt/sdc1/export/ root@lx:/etc/pam.d# getfacl /mnt/ getfacl: Entferne führende '/' von absoluten Pfadnamen # file: mnt/ # owner: root # group: root user::rwx group::r-x other::r-x root@lx:/etc/pam.d# getfacl /mnt/sdc1/ getfacl: Entferne führende '/' von absoluten Pfadnamen # file: mnt/sdc1/ # owner: froh # group: froh user::rwx group::r-x other::r-x root@lx:/etc/pam.d# getfacl /mnt/sdc1/export/ getfacl: Entferne führende '/' von absoluten Pfadnamen # file: mnt/sdc1/export/ # owner: administrator # group: domänen-admins user::rwx group::rwx group:domänen-admins:rwx mask::rwx other::rwx default:user::rwx default:group::rwx default:group:domänen-admins:rwx default:mask::rwx default:other::rwx My, oh my what am I overlooking? What am I to blind to see?

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• VPS 512 MB RAM with WordPressMU comes to consumes lots of memory

  - by CAPitalZ

  I have googled for days and gathered all optimization suggestions and tried. My sites are not getting any high hits. May be like 100 hits per day [all my sites combined]. Here are my specs I have 512 MB RAM VPS with burstable 1024 MB. Centos 5 32-bit & cPanel/WHM Apache 2.2 MySQL 5.0 PHP 5.3.2 Here is my Configs I have 2 WordPressMU production sites, and 1 test site my.cnf # The following options will be passed to all MySQL clients [client] #password = your_password port = 3306 socket = /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock # Here follows entries for some specific programs # The MySQL server [mysqld] port = 3306 socket = /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock skip-locking skip-bdb skip-innodb key_buffer = 16M max_allowed_packet = 1M table_cache = 64 sort_buffer_size = 512K net_buffer_length = 8K read_buffer_size = 256K read_rnd_buffer_size = 512K myisam_sort_buffer_size = 8M #CAPitalZ thread_cache_size=8 thread_concurrency=4 #query_cache_type=1 #query_cache_limit=1M query_cache_size=16M concurrent_insert=2 low_priority_updates=1 max_connections=50 tmp_table_size=16M max_heap_table_size=16M join_buffer_size=1M interactive_timeout=25 wait_timeout=1000 #connect_timout=10 not able to restart mysql max_connect_errors=10 # Don't listen on a TCP/IP port at all. This can be a security enhancement, # if all processes that need to connect to mysqld run on the same host. # All interaction with mysqld must be made via Unix sockets or named pipes. # Note that using this option without enabling named pipes on Windows # (via the "enable-named-pipe" option) will render mysqld useless! # skip-networking # Disable Federated by default skip-federated # Replication Master Server (default) # binary logging is required for replication log-bin=mysql-bin # required unique id between 1 and 2^32 - 1 # defaults to 1 if master-host is not set # but will not function as a master if omitted server-id = 1 [mysqld_safe] open_files_limit=8192 [mysqldump] quick max_allowed_packet = 16M [mysql] no-auto-rehash # Remove the next comment character if you are not familiar with SQL #safe-updates [isamchk] key_buffer = 20M sort_buffer_size = 20M read_buffer = 2M write_buffer = 2M [myisamchk] key_buffer = 20M sort_buffer_size = 20M read_buffer = 2M write_buffer = 2M [mysqlhotcopy] interactive-timeout httpd.conf I have unselected many modules and recompiled using EasyApache in WHM. Only have the following modules built Deflate Expires Fileprotect Imagemap MPM Prefork Version [default] EAccelerator for PHP Bcmath Calendar CurlSSL [I'm using Curl. But I don't have any https sites] Expat GD [for image cropping] Gettext Imap Mbregex [default] Mbstring [need both Mbregex and Mbstring for utf-8] Mysql of the system MySQL "Improved" extension. Sockets TTF (FreeType) [I'm using custom font] Zlib Under Global Configuration I only have FollowSymLinks enabled I Have TraceEnable, ServerSignature, FileETag OFF ServerTokens ProductOnly DirectoryIndex Priority has index.php as the first one I have removed Clamd [Clam Anti-virus] SpamAssasin is Off Under Tweak Settings Default catch-all/default address behavior for new accounts. This is set to "fail" All stats programs turned off I have eAccelerator installed and checked in phpinfo and its working [Pre VirtualHost Include under WHM] Timeout 20 KeepAlive On MaxKeepAliveRequests 200 KeepAliveTimeout 3 MinSpareServers 1 MaxSpareServers 3 StartServers 1 ServerLimit 50 MaxClients 50 MaxRequestsPerChild 4000 ExtendedStatus Off #ServerType standalone this throws error HostnameLookups Off <Directory "/"> AllowOverride None </Directory> My sites will take ages to load and WHM/CPanel will not even load. adadaa.com/ http://adadaa.net/ kadais.ca/ My average memory consumption is like 1000 MB! [yes always bursting] The process that consumes most CPU and also most memory is mysql But I also get like 15 httpd processes [when its bursting] I already got warning from cpuwatchcheck saying "While processing, the cpu has been maxed out for more than a 6 hour period. The current load/uptime line on the server at the time of this email is 07:00:37 up 11:30, 0 users, load average: 14.64, 16.79, 20.07" I don't know, I have tried switching these config values many different times, but nothing seems to work. Please show some light... Thanks

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• Network update solutions for a company of ~20 (5 local, 15 remote)?

  - by Margaret

  Hi all This is probably going to be a bit up in the air, because we're still in the "reaching towards solutions" phase, but I figured I'd see what you guys had to say. Plus I honestly know very little about systems and what is good and bad pratice. My organisation has always more or less worked on the concept of local machines; since it primarily employed contractors who were working from home, each of those people was largely responsible for their own machine and backup procedures and the like. We're now expanding, though we're still reasonably small (we're up to about 20 staff members). Most people still work remotely, but we have a central office where about five people are working. But we're getting large enough that we're starting to think it would be a good idea to have a central file server, and things like that - if someone gets hit by a bus, we want someone else to know where to look for the files to continue their work. A lot of the people who work for us remotely work on projects for other companies as well, so I don't want to force them to log in to our server whenever they're on a network. But I do want to make connection to be as painless as possible to do so, to improve utilisation. The other thing is that we're getting more people who would like to remote into the office server and do their work there. Our current remote connection application is an SSH install that allows people access to the network; the problem is, it's a black box to me, and I've never understood how to even connect to it (despite supposedly being de facto sysadmin). Thus far I've been able to bounce questions about how to get it working to the guy who does know it well, but he's leaving the company soon. So we probably need a solution for this that I actually understand. We were knocking around the idea of implementing a VPN with some form of remote desktop, and someone mentioned that this was largely a matter of purchasing a router capable of it; I'm not sure of the truth of that statement. This is what we have in the office: Two shiny new i7 servers, each running Windows Server 2008. Precise eventual layout is still being debated, a little, but the current suggestion is that one is primary database crunching, while the other is a warm backup of the databases, along with running Reporting Services. They currently have SQL Server 2008 installed on them, which is being connected to via the 'sa' account. We're hoping to make each person use their own account (preferably one tied to the 'central' password we set up, so we can use Windows Authentication). An older server, running XP Pro, that we are currently using as a test bed for a project that requires access to older versions of software. This machine is also being used to take backups, but I'm thinking of moving that functionality elsewhere. A spare desktop from a guy who left the company (XP Pro). We're thinking of bumping up the hard disk space and using it as the magical file server that's going to solve one particular everything. Assorted desktops, laptops, etc, at least one for each person in the office (mix of Win XP and Win 7; occasionally a person who normally works remotely might drop in to the office and bring a laptop bearing Vista, but it's pretty rare). All are set up as local user accounts at the moment; I don't know if it's the best arrangement. Purchasing more hardware is not a big problem, but we figure we might as well make use of what we've got first. Is Active Directory a big magic wand that's going to solve all the world's problems? Is there some other arrangement we should be looking to instead?

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• Backup, Migrate or Clone Failing CentOS 4 (LVM)

  - by Hegelworm

  I've been running a BlueQuartz CentOS 4 system (Nuonce.net distro) for a few years now and although the hard drive (Deskstar) has always been a bit noisy, on a few recent occasions I've heard it having trouble spinning up. Basically, I want to clone this drive to a similar sized one (80 Gig). I've spent many hours reading upon dd, dd_rescue, rsync, clonezilla and LVM mirroring yet the sheer number of options and nightmarish accounts has left me frozen - unable to make an informed decision as to how to start. I've made a few attempts. dd failed after about 2 hours, as, although the drives appeared to be identical on the surface (ATA Seagate Barracudas, Thai not Chinese), the destination drive is slightly smaller. My most recent attempt involved using a Debian CD to format the new drive and then rsync-ing everything over and editing the new drive's grub and fstab to reflect the changes. No joy here either as I hadn't chosen LVM when partitioning the destination drive and it wouldn't boot. As you can probably tell, I'm out of my depth here and a panic-invoking mixture of caution and frustration has prompted me to sign up here. The server itself, although not strictly a production environment, has a very specific installation of Festival, LAME and ffMpeg and provides the back-end for a Text-to-Speech jQuery plugin that I've built over the last 2 years. I'm also planning to rebuild the whole TTS system on Debian as the existing CentOS system still has PHP4 etc. For now though, I'd really like to just shift everything over to a new drive. As this is my first post, please feel free to lay any house rules on me that I might've overlooked; I've been hovering around StackOverflow for a while now but have only just signed up. Many thanks. Update: Thanks for your responses so far - it's much appreciated and makes me feel a little more confident when I can double-check things here. I had the idea of doing a fresh install of CentOS (from the original disk) on the new drive so the partitions and LVM were all set up correctly (after disconnecting my source drive to prevent painful mistakes). I then booted into rescue mode from the same CD, and, to avoid a conflicting label, changed the /boot partition's label using e2label to /bootnew. I then changed the VolGroup name using lvm vgrename from VolGroup00 to VolGroup001. I could then boot with both drives in. After mounting the new drive (via its VolGroup001 alias) into /newhd, I rsync-ed over everything I could to the new drive, using -avr switches and backslashes. Like mentioned here. I then disconnected my original source drive again, booted from the liveCD again, changed back the boot partition label from /bootnew to /boot using e2label and then renamed the VolGroup back to VolGroup00. I then rebooted and it went through the familiar start-up routine only to not find a host of files in proc, usr, lib, var etc. The boot did complete but there were lots of red 'FAILS'. I could log in with my existing creds, but the network was kaput, I couldn't startX (desktop GUI) and there were also a few (a lot) of error messages pertaining to iptables. Back to square one. I naively thought I'd nailed it. Shall I just buy a bigger hard drive and attempt the dd route? I've read that this can mess with LVM setups and there's the added risk of working on two unmounted drives at once with a low-level tool. Thanks again.

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• Week in Geek: LastPass Rescues Xmarks Edition

  - by Asian Angel

  This week we learned how to breathe new life into an aging Windows Mobile 6.x device, use filters in Photoshop, backup and move VirtualBox machines, use the BitDefender Rescue CD to clean an infected PC, and had fun setting up a pirates theme on our computers. Photo by _nash. Weekly Feature Do you love using the Faenza icon set on your Ubuntu system but feel that there are a few much needed icons missing (or you desire a different version of a particular icon)? Then you may want to take a look at the Faenza Variants icon pack. The icons are available in the following sizes: 16px, 22px, 32px, 48px and scalable sizes. Photo by Asian Angel. Faenza Variants Random Geek Links Another week with extra link goodness to help keep you on top of the news. Photo by Asian Angel. LastPass acquires Xmarks, premium service announced Xmarks announced that it has been acquired by LastPass, a cross-platform password management service. This also means that Xmarks is now in transition from a “free” to a “freemium” business model. WikiLeaks reappears on European Net domains WikiLeaks has re-emerged on a Swiss Internet domain followed by domains in Germany, Finland, and the Netherlands, sidestepping a move that had in effect taken the controversial site off the Internet. Iran: Yes, Stuxnet hurt our nuclear program The Stuxnet worm got some big play from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who acknowledged that the malware dinged his nuclear program. More Windows Rogues than Just AV – Fake Defragmenter Check Disk Don’t think for a second that rogues are limited to scareware, because as so-called products such as “System Defragmenter”, “Scan Disk” “Check Disk” prove, they’re not. Internet Explorer’s Protected Mode can be bypassed Researchers from Verizon Business have now described a way of bypassing Protected Mode in IE 7 and 8 in order to gain access to user accounts. Can you really see who viewed your Facebook profile? Rogue application spreads virally Once again, a rogue application is spreading virally between Facebook users pretending to offer you a way of seeing who has viewed your profile. More holes in Palm’s WebOS Researchers Orlando Barrera and Daniel Herrera, who both work for security firm SecTheory, have discovered a gaping security hole in Palm’s WebOS smartphone operating system. Next-gen banking Trojans hit APAC With the proliferation of banking Trojans, Web and smartphone users of online banking services have to be on constant alert to avoid falling prey to fraud schemes, warned Etay Maor, project manager for RSA Fraud Action. AVG update cripples 64-bit computers A signature update automatically deployed by the AVG virus scanner Thursday has crippled numerous computers. Article includes link to forums to fix computers affected after a restart. Congress moves to outlaw ‘mystery charges’ for Web shoppers Legislation that makes it illegal for Web merchants and so-called post-transaction marketers to charge credit cards without the card owners’ say-so came closer to becoming law this week. Ballmer Set to “Look Into” Windows Home Server Drive Extender Fiasco Tuesday’s announcement from Microsoft regarding the removal of Drive Extender from Windows Home Server has sent shock waves across the web. Google tweaks search recipe to ding scam artists Google has changed its search algorithm to penalize sites deemed to provide an “extremely poor user experience” following a New York Times story on a merchant who justified abusive behavior towards customers as a search-engine optimization tactic. Geek Video of the Week Watch as our two friends debate back and forth about the early adoption of new technology through multiple time periods (Stone Age to the far future). Will our reluctant friend finally succumb to the temptation? Photo by CollegeHumor. Early Adopters Through History Random TinyHacker Links Fix Issues in Windows 7 Using Reliability Monitor Learn how to analyze Windows 7 errors and then fix them using the built-in reliability monitor. Learn About IE Tab Groups Tab groups is a useful feature in IE 8. Here’s a detailed guide to what it is all about. Google’s Book Helps You Learn About Browsers and Web A cool new online book by the Google Chrome team on browsers and the web. TrustPort Internet Security 2011 – Good Security from a Less Known Provider TrustPort is not exactly a well-known provider of security solutions. At least not in the consumer space. This review tests in detail their latest offering. How the World is Using Cell phones An infographic showing the shocking demographics of cell phone use. Super User Questions See the great answers to these questions from Super User. I am unable to access my C drive. It says it is unable to display current owner. List of Windows special directories/shortcuts like ‘%TEMP%’ Is using multiple passes for wiping a disk really necessary? How can I view two files side by side in Notepad++ Is there any tool that automatically puts screenshots to my Dropbox? How-To Geek Weekly Article Recap Look through our hottest articles from this past week at How-To Geek. How to Create a Software RAID Array in Windows 7 9 Alternatives for Windows Home Server’s Drive Extender Why Doesn’t Disk Cleanup Delete Everything from the Temp Folder? Ask the Readers: How Much Do You Customize Your Operating System? How to Upload Really Large Files to SkyDrive, Dropbox, or Email One Year Ago on How-To Geek Enjoy reading through these awesome articles from one year ago. How To Upgrade from Vista to Windows 7 Home Premium Edition How To Fix No Aero Transparency in Windows 7 Troubleshoot Startup Problems with Startup Repair Tool in Windows 7 & Vista Rename the Guest Account in Windows 7 for Enhanced Security Disable Error Reporting in XP, Vista, and Windows 7 The Geek Note That wraps things up here for this week. Regardless of the weather wherever you may be, we hope that you have an opportunity to get outside and have some fun! Remember to keep sending those great tips in to us at [email protected]. Photo by Tony the Misfit. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC The How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop, Part 8: Filters Get the Complete Android Guide eBook for Only 99 Cents [Update: Expired] Improve Digital Photography by Calibrating Your Monitor The How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop, Part 7: Design and Typography How to Choose What to Back Up on Your Linux Home Server How To Harmonize Your Dual-Boot Setup for Windows and Ubuntu Hang in There Scrat! – Ice Age Wallpaper How Do You Know When You’ve Passed Geek and Headed to Nerd? On The Tip – A Lamborghini Theme for Chrome and Iron What if Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner were Human? [Video] Peaceful Winter Cabin Wallpaper Store Tabs for Later Viewing in Opera with Tab Vault

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• How To Skip Commercials in Windows 7 Media Center

  - by DigitalGeekery

  If you use Windows 7 Media Center to record live TV, you’re probably interested in skipping through commercials. After all, a big reason to record programs is to avoid commercials, right? Today we focus on a fairly simple and free way to get you skipping commercials in no time. In Windows 7, the .wtv file format has replaced the dvr-ms file format used in previous versions of Media Center for Recorded TV. The .wtv file format, however, does not work very well with commercial skipping applications.  The Process Our first step will be to convert the recorded .wtv files to the previously used dvr-ms file format. This conversion will be done automatically by WtvWatcher. It’s important to note that this process deletes the original .wtv file after successfully converting to .dvr-ms. Next, we will use DVRMSToolBox with the DTB Addin to handle commercials skipping. This process does not “cut” or remove the commercials from the file. It merely skips the commercials during playback. WtvWatcher Download and install the WTVWatcher (link below). To install WtvWatcher, you’ll need to have Windows Installer 3.1 and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1. If you get the Publisher cannot be verified warning you can go ahead and click Install. We’ve completely tested this app and it contains no malware and runs successfully.   After installing, the WtvWatcher will pop up in the lower right corner of your screen. You will need to set the path to your Recorded TV directory. Click on the button for “Click here to set your recorded TV path…”   The WtvWatcher Preferences window will open…   …and you’ll be prompted to browse for your Recorded TV folder. If you did not change the default location at setup, it will be found at C:\Users\Public\Recorded TV. Click “OK” when finished. Click the “X” to close the Preferences screen. You should now see WtvWatcher begin to convert any existing WTV files.   The process should only take a few minutes per file. Note: If WtvWatcher detects an error during the conversion process, it will not delete the original WTV file.    You will probably want to run WtvWatcher on startup. This will allow WtvWatcher too constantly scan for new .wtv files to convert. There is no setting in the application to run on startup, so you’ll need to copy the WTV icon from your desktop into your Windows start menu “Startup” directory. To do so, click on Start > All Programs, right-click on Startup and click on Open all users. Drag and drop, or cut and paste, the WtvWatcher desktop shortcut into the Startup folder. DVRMSToolBox and DTBAddIn Next, we need to download and install the DVRMSToolBox and the DTBAddIn. These two pieces of software will do the actual commercial skipping. After downloading the DVRMSToolBox zip file, extract it and double-click the setup.exe file.  Click “Next” to begin the installation.   Unless DVRMSToolBox will only be used by Administrator accounts, check the “Modify File Permissions” box. Click “Next.” When you get to the Optional Components window, uncheck Download/Install ShowAnalyzer. We will not be using that application. When the installation is complete, click “Close.”    Next we need to install the DTBAddin. Unzip the download folder and run the appropriate .msi file for your system. It is available in 32 & 64 bit versions. Just double click on the file and take the default options. Click “Finish” when the install is completed. You will then be prompted to restart your computer. After your computer has restarted, open DVRMSToolBox settings by going to Start > All Programs, DVRMSToolBox, and click on DVRMStoMPEGSettings. On the MC Addin tab, make sure that Skip Commercials is checked. It should be by default.   On the Commercial Skip tab, make sure the Auto Skip option is selected. Click “Save.”   If you try to watch recorded TV before the file conversion and commercial indexing process is complete you’ll get the following message pop up in Media Center. If you click Yes, it will start indexing the commercials if WtvWatcher has already converted it to dvr-ms. Now you’re ready to kick back and watch your recorded tv without having to wait through those long commercial breaks. Conclusion The DVRMSToolBox is a powerful and complex application with a multitude of features and utilities. We’ve showed you a quick and easy way to get your Windows Media Center setup to skip commercials. This setup, like virtually all commercial skipping setups, is not perfect. You will occasionally find a commercial that doesn’t get skipped. Need help getting your Windows 7 PC configured for TV? Check out our previous tutorial on setting up live TV in Windows Media Center. Links Download WTV Watcher Download DVRMSToolBox Download DTBAddin Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Using Netflix Watchnow in Windows Vista Media Center (Gmedia)Increase Skip and Replay Intervals in Windows 7 Media CenterSchedule Updates for Windows Media CenterIntegrate Hulu Desktop and Windows Media Center in Windows 7Add Color Coding to Windows 7 Media Center Program Guide TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 PCmover Professional Make your Joomla & Drupal Sites Mobile with OSMOBI Integrate Twitter and Delicious and Make Life Easier Design Your Web Pages Using the Golden Ratio Worldwide Growth of the Internet How to Find Your Mac Address Use My TextTools to Edit and Organize Text

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• Remote Desktop to Your Azure Virtual Machine

  - by Shaun

  The Windows Azure Team had just published their new development portal this week and the SDK 1.3. Within this new release there are a lot of cool feature available. The one I’m looking forward to is Remote Desktop Access to your running Windows Azure Virtual Machine.   Configuration Remote Desktop Access It would be very simple to make the azure service enable the remote desktop access. First of all let’s create a new windows azure project from the Visual Studio. In this example I just created a normal MVC 2 web role without any modifications. Then we right-click the azure project node in the solution explorer window and select “Publish”. Then let’s select the “Deploy your Windows Azure project to Windows Azure” on the top radio button. And then select the credential, deployment service/slot, storage and label as susal. You must have the Management API Certificates uploaded to your Windows Azure account, and install the certification on you machine before in order to use this one-click deployment feature. If you are familiar with this dialog you will notice that there’s a linkage named “Configure Remote Desktop connections”. Here is where you need to make this service enable the remote desktop feature. After clicked this link we will set the configuration of the remote desktop access authorization information. There are 4 steps we need to do to configure our access. Certificates: We need either create or select a certificate file in order to encypt the access cerdenticals. In this example I will use the certificate file for my Management API. Username: The remote desktop user name to access the virtual machine. Password: The password for the access. Expiration: The access cerdentals would be expired after 1 month by default but we can amend here. After that we clicked the OK button to back to the publish dialog.   The next step is to back to the new windows azure portal and navigate to the hosted services list. I created a new hosted service and upload the certificate file onto this service. The user name and password access to the azure machine must be encrypted from the local machine, and then send to the windows azure platform, then decrypted on the azure side by the same file. This is why we need to upload the certificate file onto azure. We navigated to the “Hosted Services, Storage Accounts & CDN"” from the left panel and created a new hosted service named “SDK13” and selected the “Certificates” node. Then we clicked the “Add Certificates” button. Then we select the local certificate file and the password to install it into this azure service.   The final step would be back to our Visual Studio and in the pulish dialog just click the OK button. The Visual Studio will upload our package and the configuration into our service with the remote desktop settings.   Remote Desktop Access to Azure Virtual Machine All things had been done, let’s have a look back on the Windows Azure Development Portal. If I selected the web role that I had just published we can see on the toolbar there’s a section named “Remote Access”. In this section the Enable checkbox had been checked which means this role has the Remote Desktop Access feature enabled. If we want to modify the access cerdentals we can simply click the Configure button. Then we can update the user name, password, certificates and the expiration date.   Let’s select the instance node under the web role. In this case I just created one instance for demo. We can see that when we selected the instance node, the Connect button turned enabled. After clicked this button there will be a RDP file downloaded. This is a Remote Desctop configuration file that we can use to access to our azure virtual machine. Let’s download it to our local machine and execute. We input the user name and password we specified when we published our application to azure and then click OK. There might be some certificates warning dislog appeared. This is because the certificates we use to encryption is not signed by a trusted provider. Just select OK in these cases as we know the certificate is safty to us. Finally, the virtual machine of Windows Azure appeared.   A Quick Look into the Azure Virtual Machine Let’s just have a very quick look into our virtual machine. There are 3 disks available for us: C, D and E. Disk C: Store the local resource, diagnosis information, etc. Disk D: System disk which contains the OS, IIS, .NET Frameworks, etc. Disk E: Sotre our application code. The IIS which hosting our webiste on Azure. The IP configuration of the azure virtual machine.   Summary In this post I covered one of the new feature of the Azure SDK 1.3 – Remote Desktop Access. We can set the access per service and all of the instances of this service could be accessed through the remote desktop tool. With this feature we can deep into the virtual machines of our instances to see the inner information such as the system event, IIS log, system information, etc. But we should pay attention to modify the system settings. 2 reasons from what I know for now: 1. If we have more than one instances against our service we should ensure that all system settings we modifed are applied to all instances/virtual machines. Otherwise, as the machines are under the azure load balance proxy our application process may doesn’t work due to the defferent settings between the instances. 2. When the virtual machine encounted some problem and need to be translated to another physical machine all settings we made would be disappeared.   Hope this helps, Shaun All documents and related graphics, codes are provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind. Copyright © Shaun Ziyan Xu. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons License.

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