Archive for August, 2007
Wireless Keyring Password – Never Enter it Again
Aug 30th
When you enter a router WEP, or PSK, you can create a keyring password, so that your router password is automatically store and retreived when necessary. The only drawback is that you will have to enter your keyring password each time you login. To automatically use your GDM login password as your keyring password you can do the following: sudo apt-get install libpam-keyring Then edit your GDM configuration file: sudo gedit /etc/pam.d/gdm Your going to want to add at the bottom of the file: @include common-pamkeyring Then delete your existing keyrings. The next time you login, you are going to have to re-enter your rother WPA/PSK password, and when you set the keyring password, just use the same password that you use to login to your GDM account. Now when you login via the GDM you will automatically unlock your keyring and connect to the wireless network. Note that if your have set up automatic GDM login, you may have to disable it, setup the wireless, then re-enable it. Otherwise cheers to automatic login 
Best Backup Methods
Aug 29th
There are four primary locations for backups, of which each one has aspects to consider: 1) Backup on the same hard drive, and the same partition. This method of backup is functional for limited purposes; but for backups where security, and integrity, are important you will want to choose one of the next three methods. 2) Backup on the same hard drive, and a different partition. This method has increasing integrity potential. It will exist on a separate partition, therefore the integrity of the disk space, that is occupied by the other partition, cannot effect the integrity of your backups. Because your backups will still be on the same disk, integrity cab be breached upon failure of the hard drives mechanical, or electrical components. If you want to prepare for an potential threat, you can choose from one of the following methods. 3) Backup on another computer. This can be achieved via SSH, FTP, or another other method of file transfer. Because your backups will be on a completely different computer, the integrity of your main computers hard drive will have no impact on the integrity of your backups. While this is by far the most convenient method available, and it is increasingly practical as compared to method one and two, the most secure method is not storing your backups on magnetic hard drives altogether. 4) Because magnetic hard drives are suscecptible to magnetic energy, and a de-gaussing loop can obliterate data, the most secure method of backup storage is solid state or optical media; SSDs, Flash, CD, DVD, ect….. Cheers
Websites on Static or Dynamic IP
Aug 29th
You can host a website whether you have a static or dynamic IP. For instance, I have Time Warner Road Runner, and they provide dynamic IPs, but my dynamic IP hasen’t changed in two years or so. This makes things extremely easy. An even if they change the IP, considering the time between changes, I can easily update my DNS records to point to the new IP. With a static IP address there is no issues. You will always have the same exact IP address as long as you pay the bills 
There are cool services, like dyndns.org, that provide software to automatically update DNS records using information retrieved from your router. This service comes in handy when the dynamic IP changes frequently. Overall a website can be hosted, on the internet, from any computer independent of the dynamic or static state of your IP address.
Wine Versus a VirtualBox OS
Aug 28th
Wine is an implementation, of core Windows components, on Linux. It allows the native running, of certain Windows applications, on Linux. It is extremely limited to the more mainstream applications, and while it does indeed work perfectly for a wide variety of powerful windows programs, there are other Windows programs that require, for instance, the .net framework. Windows applications, that require additional components that are proprietary to the Windows platform, will not be able to run utilizing Wine. In such an instance your best course of action is to install Windows inside of a free VirtualBox OS. A VirtualBox OS, with Windows Installed, is completely indistinguishable from a real Windows installation on an actual hard disk partition. I use such a setup for programs that require the Windows .net framework, and Windows Media Player
Server Port Requirements – How to – Free Scan
Aug 28th
To determine if your router, or software firewall, has certain ports open you can scan using the popular online McAfee based FREE port scanner. http://probe.hackerwatch.org/probe/probe.asp For the Record Web Server (Apache) = Port 80 Dovecot (IMAP) = Port 143 Sendmail = Port 25 SSH = 22 FTP = Port 21 and a random data port. The random data port can be configured to be static. VNC = Port 5900 DNS = Port 53
Debian Versus Ubuntu With Regard to VirtualBox
Aug 28th
VirtualBox works on both distributions flawlessly. Although I have observed faster, and less memory intensive, performance on Ubuntu. It may be the result of Ubuntu utilizing a more recent Kernel, but none the less given rates of Linux progress, I would expect the next version of Debian to be simply jaw dropping. I guess the same can be said for the next version of Ubuntu; Gutsy Gibbon.