2006 Nov 05 - Sun

Definitive Dictionary on HTML and CSS coding:

Index DOT Html

[/Personal/SoftwareDevelopment/HTML] permanent link

What Is it Like

Well, Bermuda, that is. But I should take one step back yet. I had to go back to my paperwork to see just how long I've been here in Bermuda. Ah, yes. My rent contract came up for renewal back this June. So ... a few more calculations, and it turns out I was here off and on from the beginning of 2004, and settled in full time during June 2004. Almost three years. Three very fast years.

I must say a bit too much work. Although I have tried to fit in some International One Design (IOD) sailing in while I can. My up-coming new years resolution will be to last a full season without getting socked in with work.

I lived in St. Thomas, USVI for a year and half before arriving here. Now if I could bring their winter time weather to Bermuda, I think I would be in Nirvana.

In Bermuada, I'm living on North Shore road. It provides a great view of the ocean on every ride into work. When ever I happen to leave the island and come back, I take the taxi ride back from the airport. I have to pinch myself every time. There is nothing like coming back home to paradise. No four line highways here. Not a one.

And by living on North Shore, I have two or three routes home, and none of them have traffic congestion. Well, yes, I did do that on purpose. Fortunately, I was here for a while to get an idea of where good places were, and what to look out for when renting a place.

Anyway, enough for now. More later.

[/Personal/Bermuda/Personal] permanent link

Master Shaper Installation Introduction

Mastershaper is a composite tool designed to filter and control ip traffic of all types. It is composed of five primary tools: a specially compiled 2.6 kernel, l7-filter, iptables, ipp2p, and mastershaper. This document walks through the integration and configuration of each of these tools.

The installation is based upon the Debian Etch 2 installation with Apache 2.

Make sure you've got the latest and most appropriate kernel for your machine, by using the appropriate base build documentation.

Install tools:

apt-get install yaird
apt-get install kernel-package libncurses5-dev fakeroot wget bzip2
cd /usr/src
tar -xjf linux-source-2.6.15.tar.bz2
cd linux-source-2.6.15
make menuconfig
  general: append version info 

In the menu, load the alternate configuration file from /boot/config-2.6.15-1-686, or which ever is appropriate for the kernel you have loaded. Make any appropriate adjustments to the configuration. Exit the menu. By leaving all defaults as they were, you can rebuld the kernel in its default configuration. We'll then make further modifications.

make-kpkg clean fakeroot make-kpkg --initrd --revision=mastershaper.1.0 kernel_image
cd ..
dpkg -i linux-image-2.6.15_mastershaper.1.0_i386.deb
reboot

When the image comes back up (you may need to manully select the new image, as well as update /boot/grup.menu.lst), run 'uname -a' to check the build date to confirm it is your new basic rebuild.

Obtain and install the l7-filter and related patches:

cd /usr/src
wget http://internap.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/l7-filter/netfilter-layer7-v2.2.tar.gz
tar -zxvf netfilter-layer7-v2.2.tar.gz
cd linux-source-2.6.15
patch -p1 < ../netfilter-layer7-v2.2/kernel-2.6.13-2.6.16-layer7-2.2.patch

After patching the kernel, install the patterns:

cd /usr/src 
wget http://internap.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/l7-filter/l7-protocols-2006-06-03.tar.gz
tar -zxvf l7-protocols-2006-06-03.tar.gz
cd l7-protocols-2006-06-03
make install

Some changes are required to iptables before compiling the kernel.

apt-get remove iptables
cd /usr/src
ncftp ftp://ftp.netfilter.org/
  cd pub/iptables
  bin
  get iptables-1.3.5.tar.bz2
  exit
bzip2 -d iptables-1.3.5.tar.bz2
tar -xvf iptables-1.3.5.tar
cd iptables-1.3.5
patch -p1 < ../netfilter-layer7-v2.2/iptables-layer7-2.2.patch
chmod +x extensions/.layer7-test
cd /usr/src
ncftp ftp://ftp.netfilter.org/
  cd pub/patch-o-matic-ng/snapshot
  bin
  get patch-o-matic-ng-20060626.tar.bz2
  exit
tar -xjvf patch-o-matic-ng-20040621.tar.bz2
cd patch-o-matic-ng-20060626
export KERNEL_DIR=/usr/src/linux-source-2.6.15
export IPTABLES_DIR=/usr/src/iptables-1.3.5
./runme extra
  ** add the 'time', 'ipp2p', 'route' modules
cd ../iptables-1.3.5
make KERNEL_DIR=/usr/src/linux-source-2.6.15
make install KERNEL_DIR=/usr/src/linux-source-2.6.15

Build the kernel again:

fakeroot make-kpkg --initrd --revision=mastershaper.1.1 kernel_image

MasterShaper is the web site front end for controlling and monitoring the kernel tools just installed.

apt-get install mysql-server

Create the database and assign privileges:

mysql
  create database shaper;
  grant all privileges on shaper.* to 'shaper'@'localhost' identified by 'shaper' with grant option;
  exit

Download and install MasterShaper:

cd /usr/src
wget http://www.mastershaper.org/mastershaper_0.44.tar.bz2
tar -xjvf mastershaper_0.44.tar.bz2
cd MasterShaper-0.44
mkdir /var/www/shaper
cp -R htdocs/* /var/www/shaper/
chown -R www-data.www-data /var/www/shaper
cd /usr/src

Install some libraries:

apt-get install iproute
apt-get install libphp-jpgraph
apt-get install php-pear
apt-get install sudo
apt-get install php-db
apt-get install php4-mysql
apt-get install libphp-phplayersmenu
pear install DB Net_IPv4
cd /var/www/shaper
ln -s /usr/share/php/libphp-phplayersmenu phplayersmenu
ln -s /usr/share/jpgraph jpgraph

To get help on the IPP2P IPTables plugin:

iptables -m ipp2p --help

To run the GUI:

http://localhost/shaper

On the first configuration screen, iptables should be set to '/usr/local/sbin/iptables'.

MasterShaper documentation can be found at:

http://www.mastershaper.org/index.php/Main_Page

[/OpenSource/Debian/MasterShaper] permanent link

Configuring Wireless on Cisco 871W with SDM

This was not a pleasant experience. No wonder I like CLI over GUI interfaces. With a command line, I get feedback as to what I'm doing wrong. With Cisco's SDM, it has some rudimentary user-interface checks before performing a post. On the other end, if you haven't put something into the UI correctly, at least for the wireless config pages, you don't even get a 'hey dummy' message, it just plain ignores you. No feedback, no hints, no nothing.

I simply wanted to get my wireless bit bridged to the vlan bit. The first step is to select the setting in SDM GUI to bridge the wireless with the wired. This will create the normal BVI interface. No problem there. After that, you go into the wireless configuration web pages. I simply wanted to get a WPA-PSK (Pre-Shared Key) into the unit. There is no obvious way to accomplish that task.

I ended up taking a configuration from a 1230 wireless access point, massaged it a bit, and dropped it into the 871. Which yields another beef: there are variations in how wireless is configured in a 1230 vs the 871. In the 871, the ssid and authentication stuff is in the 'interface Dot11Radio0' section. In the 1230, it is outside. Cutting and pasting therefore is not quite so simple.

So, after hours of diddling with the GUI, I did the following in a few minutes with the CLI:

interface Dot11Radio0
 no ip address
 !
 encryption vlan 1 mode ciphers tkip
 !
 ssid my ssid
    vlan 1
    authentication open
    authentication key-management wpa
    guest-mode
    wpa-psk ascii mywpapsk
 !
 speed basic-1.0 basic-2.0 basic-5.5 basic-6.0 basic-9.0 basic-11.0 basic-12.0 basic-18.0 basic-24.0 basic-36.0 basic-48.0 basic-54.0
 station-role root
 l2-filter bridge-group-acl
 no cdp enable
!
interface Dot11Radio0.1
 encapsulation dot1Q 1 native
 no cdp enable
 bridge-group 1
 bridge-group 1 subscriber-loop-control
 bridge-group 1 spanning-disabled
 bridge-group 1 port-protected
 bridge-group 1 block-unknown-source
 no bridge-group 1 source-learning
 no bridge-group 1 unicast-flooding
!
interface Vlan1
 description Wired Network
 no ip address
 ip virtual-reassembly
 ip route-cache flow
 load-interval 30
 fair-queue
 bridge-group 1
!
interface BVI1
 description $ES_LAN$
 ip address 10.10.10.254 255.255.255.0
 ip nat inside
 ip virtual-reassembly
 ip tcp adjust-mss 1452

[/Cisco] permanent link

Phone Serial Numbers

Cisco doesn't store their phone serial numbers anywhere. So, for companies wishing to obtain SmartNet for their installed base of telephones, there aren't too many ready ways of obtaining those serial numbers, from a first time perspective.

To help one customer out of a bind, I did a couple of very quick and dirty scripts to scan the network for phone devices. I know it works for 7912's, 7940's, 7960's, 7970's and ATA adaptors.

I didn't realize until later that instead of scanning the human readable pages, I could have scanned the xml pages for the information. Oh, well. That will be for the next version.

To operate, you'll need a Perl interpreter and a couple of libraries off CPAN. Then edit findphones.pl and supply the ip address ranges you'd like to scan. Run the script and send STDOUT to a file.

Then run the file through filterphone.pl to get a model number and serial number list.

Cisco's CP-7935 and CP-7936 conference phone serial numbers are simply their mac addresses, which is easy to pull out of Callmanager.

[/Cisco] permanent link

Flavour Bugs

Well they aren't flavour bugs per-se. They are more like misunderstandings. Well, not that either. The word will come to me. My issue is that I have the two flavours: .blog and .article. Each with their own foot and head pieces. Now I have to figure out how to meld the two into one so that I don't have to update code in two different places when ever I make adjustments to the web site.

Looks like 'ln -s foot.blog foot.article' fixes that little conundrum.

[/OpenSource/blosxom] permanent link

Blosxom WriteBacks

So far, Blosxom has behaved quite nicely. It is amazing how such a compact application can effectively do so much. One addition I've wanted to add in order to make this site a two way street is WriteBacks. There were a few items in the Blosxom Plugin Registry, but have been a bit uncertain as to the reliability of the code, as it really hasn't been updated in quite some time. I finally did come across a link to Kevin Scaldeferri's Blog, from the Blosxom User Group Blog. He has a plugin, with recent updates which provides WriteGack capability.

During the installation process, there are a number of things needing doing. One is that you need the flavours from Rael's Original WriteBack Plugin. Don't install the plugin, just the flavour files. Then install Kevin's plugin. There are some configurations in the file you'll need to perform.

The trick with this is that you don't want all the comment submissions to happen on your main blog page, which will happen if you put the various bits in your default story.flavour. Instead, create two flavours, I call the default flavour 'blog', and the secondary flavour 'article'. In 'story.blog', along with the standard permanent link, you place the writeback count.

In story.article, you put the form to be posted. This draws the submission form only when viewing a single article. Use the supplied foot.writeback for inspiration. Also, in story.article, you place the code to view the writebacks. Use story.writeback for inspiration.

Be sure to make the various variable updates in the writeback plugin, and you should be good to go, but for some formatting and alignment issues you may want to tune.

[/OpenSource/blosxom] permanent link

Blosxom Categories

I installed Todd Larason's Categories Plugin, and I'd say it is another very easy winner. I used the 'breadcrumbs' version rather than the heavily indented and space consuming 'categories' version.

With this, I've reached my goal of a functioning Blog with navigation, advertising, and writebacks. For the targetback thing I havn't quite figured out how it works or what it does. Perhaps some one could 'writeback' and let me know how it works, and what I should do with it.

[/OpenSource/blosxom] permanent link

Blosxom Calendar

I installed Todd Larason's Calendar, changed a value in the config file to turn off caching, put two lines of code in my story.flavour file, and presto, calendars. I wish all software were this easy.

I see he is using MovableType now. I've flirted with trying that a couple of times. I haven't quite had to go quite that far yet. We'll see what happens with my next project: showing a list of categories. If I can get that going, then I think I've covered most of the basic features of a Blog site, and will want for little else. Famous last words.

[/OpenSource/blosxom] permanent link

HTML Escape Codes

• For the < type &lt;
• For the > type &gt;
• For the © type &copy;
• For the & type &amp;
• For the " type &quot;

[/Personal/SoftwareDevelopment/HTML] permanent link