My Ubuntu 11.10 Server: a work in progress.

December 10, 2011 Leave a comment

Up and running again, this time I used Ubuntu 11.10 and this tutorial. I am a little on the fence about ISP Config but the server set up works alright. The hesitation regarding the ISP Config 3 is the documentation costs 5 euros or you must subscribe to sourceforge. I dont ike these types of shady sales tactics. Its like a mechanic replacing your oil for free and then charging you $50.00 for the oil filter. Or like when Cox cable gets you all set up for free HBO but doesn’t tell you that its only free for 90 days, at the end of that 90 days the full price is $45 a month.  This is OK I choose the cheaper more time consuming and difficult route. I choose to just figure it out on my own, with the pay to play documentation.  I will probably have many posts in the future about this learning experience. For now I present just a couple of quick tips. Instead of invoking init.d scripts which have been converted to upstart jobs:

instead of

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Use 

sudo service apache2 restart

or sudo service ssh restart

Y

The tutorial for ISPconfig 3 is in depth and very well put together, even if you have very little experience with Linux, you can copy and paste the commands using favorite Terminal Emulator and an ssh connection to the remote host. Also using multiple monitors helps the ease of reading the instructions and the output from the terminal.

There is an initial problem with squirrel mail log in, I have yet to explore the issue, but I will at a further date and I will post.

My Ubuntu server is behind a Smooth wall express firewall “smoothie” which provides the dns and DHCP for my internal lan. Acompanied by a couple of netgear switches, and I have a rock solid LAN, for dirt cheap. I just used an old Compag presario, upgraded the ram to 512 mb, picked up a few nic cards for 4.99 each, because a firewall has to have more than one network interface. Once the hardware was ready I just followed the official installation guide. Installation was simple and painless.You can follow the two hyper links to the installation guides.

First I logged into my smoothie admin portal by typing 192.168.1.1.:81 then I navigate to Services>static dns

Next you just input the ip address of the server you would like to access, then a short memorable name, check enabled and click add

thats it now try it out.

,

static dns entries

Open up your faviorite web browser: type the shortname you chose for me it looks like this

check out the url. This makes things super quick. this only works in your home lan obviously you cannot just go to the internet cafe and access your home vpn with your static dns entry. for that you can use something like no-ip or any other dynamic dns.

This makes it incredibly easy for ssh access or sftp access which I use frequently.

Hope this might help someone out and I will post more about the dynamic dns set up I use at a later date.

* in reguards to the ISPconfig “Copyright © 2011 Falko Timme
All Rights Reserved. “

Filed under bsd, firewall, How To, internet, Security, Tech, Technology, web Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hisaces.com DOWN, rebuilding network infrastucture.

November 22, 2011 Leave a comment

I am currently implementing a new firewall into my network, and removing nat redundancy. This was slowing down my network and causes service outages. I now use a single DHCP server. and have converted my routers to basic switches.

The web/email server will now sit behind the firewall, and all traffic will flow through a dedicated linux firewall I built:

  • Processor: 800 mhz AMD
  • Ram: 512 MB
  • Hard Drive: 250 G
  • Network Cards: 2x gigabyte
  • Operating system: SmoothWall Express

The processor is a little much for a home network application.  the ram on the other hand could use a bit of an upgrade. I have qos, snort, and the web proxy enabled and I am already at 40% load on the 512mb of ram. Thats average load, and it spikes under high traffic.

The hard drive I just yanked out of another box and thats why its way over the top.

After switching the ClearOS box to standalone and putting on the switch behind the smoothwall. I quickly did a bandwidth speed test at speedtest.net and was pleased with the results.

  • ClearOS – down 17mbps, up 4.3 mbps
  • Smoothwall -  down 22 mbps, up 5.4mbps

THe ClearOS server will still be utilized and now that I have broken down all the NAT walls I managed to get a data transfer rate of 10 megabytes per second down from the ClearOS server. great for backing up and sharing files at home.

That isn’t too great but for a simple cable connection thats pretty good. I have alot more testing to do but so far this configuration should be good.

Filed under Uncategorized

www.hisaces.com

November 14, 2011 Leave a comment

Check it out I am hosting my own domain over at hisaces.com, I have a free email service. Everything is hosted on a Linux server, with postfix mail server and horde web mail.  ssl secure. If you want to know more Email me.

Filed under Uncategorized

ClearOS Enterprise Version 5.2 for home security: a simple review.

November 13, 2011 2 Comments

ClearOS 5.1 formerly known as Clarkconnect.

I downloaded Clear OS from here and used this page as a reference for the installation. The installation was extremely straight forward. I’ve used ipcop, pfsense, gibraltar, debian. Currently I have been using ClearOS  for the last 10 days, I found about Clear OS linux distribution at this site. If you are interested in using a Linux or BSD distribution for home security, there are many options available. Most options offer similar functionality and a web based user interface from which to administer your firewall. I will not be going over the features of the other firewalls that I mentioned if you would like a comparison look here. If you selected the previous link, you would find that iptables (base of Linux firewalls)  is number one for many reason. For the average user ease of use is important, if you are not to familiar with linux, firewall Lrules, networking then iptables might go right over your head. Don’t get me wrong you should be somewhat familiar with Red hat Linux, networking security, and yum package management to use ClearOS.  So since they are all similar and use iptables (Linux), why am I using ClearOS?

To put it simply it looks good, the webui during install and after located at https://system.clearos.lan:81 is easy to use, and it makes sense. I like the scalability of the install, adding server functionality or keeping it simple for more security. The install process was quick and painless.  Using common Linux names for the interfaces just makes things easy. Other distros implement color branding for interfaces, which just complicates things I think. If you are familiar with eth0 being your default Ethernet connection then why change it, right? It does NAT 1:!, DHCP, DNS. It has it all. Also because it is geared toward the corporate market and has that “enterprise” branding it is well documented. There is a whole host of How to’s out there which is why I didn’t make. It also has server functionality, Dynamic DNS service with domain hosting.

Based on CentOS and Redhat Linux, ClearOS falls under the GNU license.

In my set up the OS is utilized as a gateway, securing my various Linux and Windows clients. I have played around with the flexshare server, web server, smtp server, and others. They all work and are really easy to set up. It also has mysql for database, and uses phpmyadmin ui to administer that. I did some testing and I DO NOT suggest using your primary gateway firewall as a web server… From a security stand point its like an invitation for disaster. It will basically all direct connecting from the web into your lan… be careful.  Luckily Clear OS has a standalone feature allowing the user to deploy the OS as a linux server, which utilizes Apache 2.2, Samba, postfix, and several other well known server apps. Now things are not all good. Also for increased security clearOS implements snort detection and ip blocking which I like. The logging is extensive and very easy to use making trouble shooting a breeze.

The “enterprise” after Clear OS has its downside there are many “updates” available for the installed software. Unfortunately these updates are not free you must purchase them from Clear. Also the domain hosting which only allows you to use the Clear connect dyndns. A domain costs 25$ a year when you can get an identical domain from other providers for half the price. Either way if you are not worried about domain hosting and server functionality then ClearOS may be for you, I am planning on setting up a stand alone ClearOS server behind a ClearOS gateway and firewall.

Filed under bsd, firewall, internet, Security, Tech, Technology, web Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

Blue Water, an excellent seafood market and grill.

November 12, 2011 Leave a comment

Today the family and I were down in San Diego visiting Sea World the kids didn’t enjoy it as much as we had anticipated. We felt that we needed to re-coup the seemingly hopeless trip to SD and do something enjoyable. Arlene and I LOVE food and restaurants, I am a bit of a cook my self and she is amazing in the kitchen. We both enjoy fresh organic ingredients, bold flavors and well seasoned food. Not overly salty or sweet, just a good balance. With that being said we wanted to check out Blue Water.

Arlene and I had high expectations after seeing this place on Diners, Drive ins, and Dives on the food network. I assume this place was categorized as a dive. I am not so sure iit was clean had a lovely patio enclosed with vines and other greenery to add to the ambiance. The line was long, but that was to be expected with the reviews this placed received. The service was a tad slow but I have always let the food speak for a restaurant before the employees. In this case the food was done RIGHT! I ordered the seared Ahi Tuna tacos, and my wife got the daily special which was locally caught white sea bass.  The lovely lady behind the counter was friendly and honest. I initially ordered four tacos assuming they were your standard “food truck” style or Rubios bar and grill style fish tacos. The courteous matron of the sea behind the register allowed my wife to order mouth watering Sea bass and then politely told us that we had just ordered 2 lbs of fish each! “Really”! I exclaimed, “better make that two tacos instead of 4″ I then thanked her for not allowing us to buy way too much food. (in heinz site, I would like some more tacos right now.)  After that brief encounter and decent ordering experience. We wait.

45 minutes have passed since we walked through the door, no food. Got a table and it was dirty, no one cleaned it. This was aggravating but I kept a cool head because they were really busy and in the middle of what looked like a shift change. My wife left to take the kids outside, because they were getting cranky and I sat and waited for only a few more minutes.

They called my name, got it to go, and hurried out to try these new and exciting tacos. It was almost like Christmas as I unwrapped the ten-foil to expose two healthy looking tacos smothered in coleslaw, on a corn tortilla. These two tacos took up the whole plate, and the seared Ahi tuna inside could barely be contained by the tortilla. I am talking a 1/4 lb Ahi tuna steak seared to perfection, complemented by the garlic, butter sauce. I thought to myself “this is unheard of, an actual tuna steak in a taco!” it was a thing of beauty. The texture and color of the tuna was superb. I dove in and devoured the first taco without saying a word. The second one I noticed the slightly acidic and salty sauce on the coleslaw that complimented the fish so well. I will tell you this place is doing it right and for 10.00$ for the two tacos, you cant beat it.

As we finished up the tacos and my wife shot a huge grin at me and we both agreed these were the best fish tacos we have ever eaten. We drove home with full bellies, forgetting all about how the day started.

Filed under Food, Restaurant Review Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Distance Between Thoughts and Actions: an introduction to this blog and its editor.

November 6, 2011 Leave a comment

I will be collecting thoughts and stories and keeping them on this blog. I like to read other peoples informative stories and “how tos”  so when I come across something that I think Is informative amd related to tech, psychology, news, family. My wife will be covering the family section, she is a child care professional, and she owns Snug Harbor For Kids.

I am a father of two, active duty U.S. Marine, and a student at Palomar College. I’m majoring in Computer Information Systems and I am interested in philosophy and psychology. I also enjoy writing which is why I created this blog. Please enjoy constructive criticism is welcome.

The posts to follow will be based on my experiences and interests in the following categories and sub categories:

Technology:  Linux, Windows, GNU, java

Psycology: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Travel: Where I’ve been and where I want to go.

Family: FCC, Camp Pendleton Ca,

Social networking
twitter
facebook

gmail : jthrash84@gmail.com

Filed under Child Care, Food, Tech

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