This document will discribe the info regarding ink level for HP-Printer  in  Ubuntu.

Please follow the following steps :-

1. Connect your HP printer to your computer using USB or Parallel cable.
2. Make sure your printer is powered ON.
3. Open the HP Device Manager by entering the following command in a console/terminal.

                                  # hp-toolbox

4.  Click your HP printer in the left panel and then click on the                      ”Supplies” tab.

5.  Here it will show information about Ink Level of your HP-Printer                cartridge.

Trouble shotting for above steps :-

While running the hp-toolbox command if you get the following error

error: PyQt not installed. GUI not available. Exiting

so just go to synaptic by running synaptic command on terminal & install the python-qt3 package.

Then run apt-get update command on terminal , then run again the hp-toolbox command. It will shurely work.

Thanking You

Systems Team

Magnet Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

www.magnettechnologies.com

Do you know the fact that Roughly 130 billion spam emails are sent, worldwide, per day, accounting for roughly 70% of global emailing activity.

To combat this many  projects were launched of which SPAMHAUS became a famous one .  What the Spamhaus Team do is that they finds the source IP of spams ,from which SPAM has originated. Be it be a dynamic IP , or a static IP at user end  , or a servers  IP that sends or relays spam and ,adds it to the  their realtime Database of IPs who are source of spams  , known as The Spamhaus Block List (SBL) .

Most of the mail servers around the world  check   the IP details in the  mails that are coming to them from outside with this IP list from SBL to ensure that they are not receiving any spams .   Bingo here comes the problem!!!! . Due to the fact the most of us these days use dynamic IPs for connecting to internet . chances are more that this IP might have been already in any blacklist . and then what happens if you send a mail to a server that  uses the SBL list to filter spam mails , you are caught …the  server  just rejects all mails from this IP  .

Another interesting inference made was the fact that if you are using a Windows based Operating System without a Strong Anti virus and updated virus definitions you can be a source of SPAMs without even you knowing it. There are many known viruses that sends spam over an internet session  . And the dynamic IP that you use on this internet session  gets listed in SBL or other Blackisting projects lists. So the next person who will be using this IP will be the prey  .

Please check this link , this was a post made by some one in 2007

http://www.manishsingh.com/archives/2007/08/mtnl_isp_blackl.html

So guess what might be the scenario now in 2009 . I doubt the ISPS here are still unaware of this . Recently when We made a call to Tata Indicom over this issue it was shocking when they told they don’t know What a blacklist is .

THE TEMPORARY CURE

But for an immediate resolution from the server end following actions can be performed. Ask the user having  problem sending mails to provide  us for his public IP, it can be obtained from http://ipchicken.com . and add it to

1 . vi /etc/rblwhitelist

2  /etc/skipsmtpcheckhosts

This was what we used to do but  the previous week we had an issue a client was accessing mails directly from webmail . we did both these steps but the person was not able to login , instead she was getting a prompt your IP has been blacklisted . We  checked further  and found the interesting file , Thanks to Vishal Sir  for helping us at this point , We found another important file on the server

etc/spamhaus.http.whitelist

Added her IP to this list and she could immediately login . Later we made a request to SPAMHAUS Team to whitelist the IP and they whitelisted it .

While you are sending mails from outlook e.t.c the issue can be over ridden in

another manner , turn on SMTP Authentication  .

Now How Does This Helps and how done  ?

SMTP Authentication is required when sending email out via most major ISP mail servers and most corporate mail servers. It is simply a username/password system which permits authenticated e-mail senders, just like most other computer accounts require authentication.

If you do not have SMTP Authentication turned on in your email software (Outlook, Entourage, Eudora, Apple Mail, etc.) you run the risk that the mail server will not recognize that you are a legitimate customer.

If the mail server is using spam filters (such as Spamhaus’ PBL or XBL) it may refuse to take your email, because it thinks you are a stranger and your dynamic IP address is probably on Spamhaus’ PBL list of dynamic IP addresses which mail servers should not accept mail from unless the sender is authorized to use that mail server.

To fix this, you need to turn on “SMTP Authentication”, here’s how:

In Microsoft Outlook & Outlook Express:

Start Outlook 2000 or Outlook Express. From the menu, select Tools, then Accounts. Click once on the appropriate account from the Mail tab. Select Properties. From the account properties dialog box, choose the Servers tab. Put a check in the box for “My server requires authentication”. Click on the “Settings” button. In the ‘Outgoing Mail Server’ dialog box, make sure “Use same settings as my incoming mail server” is selected. Press “OK”. Back at the “Properties”, click “Apply”, then “OK”. Click “OK” to close out of all dialog boxes.

In Eudora:

Open Eudora, pull down the Tools menu and select “Options…” to display the Options window. Select the “Getting Started” category on the left-hand side. Select the “Allow authentication” check box and click “OK”.

In Apple Mail:

Open Apple Mail. Click on the “Mail” menu in the top menu bar. Click on Preferences, Click on Accounts. Click on the account that you want to modify. Click on Account Information. Click on the “Server Settings…” button. In the pulldown list next to “Authentication:”, select “Password”. Enter your user name and email password (the same ones you use to retrieve your POP or IMAP email). Click on OK. Close the Preferences window by clicking on the X in the upper left hand corner of the window.

In Agent:

Tools >> Servers and Accounts >> Outbound Email Server
Connection: TLS if available
Login Method: Username and password
Advanced Settings: Port: 587

Thanks,

Alan

Systems Team

After allowing remote login access from gdmsetup or from System Menu –> Administration –> login window  and then logout the gdm is stopped working.
It shows “Animated  circle mouse with dark background” no login screen.
No error  in gdm log.

Solution

The problem is because of value inside the daemon section in gdm.conf-custom configuration file.
Steps to remove value from gdm configuration file.

–> Open Terminal

–> Type    vi /etc/gdm/gdm.conf-custom

–> The value  inside the [daemon] section is

” GtkModulesList=gail:atk-bridge:/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/modules/libkeymouselistener:/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/modules/libdwellmouselistener
AddGtkModules=true ”

–> Remove the value from [daemon] section

–> Save and Quit

–> Then  Stop and Start the gdm service.

Enjoy.

Thank You,
Nishit Shah

Hackfest @ Magnet

Venue - Kandivali

Week - Dec: 3rd week

Time - 12 pm - 1 pm

We received Hackfest event invitation on Monday 22nd Dec 08, the event was new to most Magneteers. Nirav & Kartik initiated all preparations. Nirav and Vishal gave the background and details about the event. It was going to be an interesting event as it was not just technical crowd puller but even non technical participants were involved.

Participants were given freedom of choice in terms of the task they would take up, The best part was task could be anything that would interest you, something that was on your wishlist or something that was not part of your daily task, they could also do it in pair or individually. Everyday one could take up new task or it could be a single task for 2-3 days together as well.

What we did different this time was that we interacted with all teams & took their feedback as to what would they like to do in the Hackfest. Based on that, we created tasks for different teams & in total, we had a pool of around 200 tasks, technical & non-technical both. That’s what was liked most by people. They simply picked up tasks & used to start working.

1hour everyday, fixed time for all, everyone consciously would work on their tasks or hobbies like painting, programming, hacking, research and development and many more.

One more interesting thing was there were awards for the best work.

Those 5 days was full of fun, learning, feeling of achievement. It was indeed a heartfelt “HackFEAST”.

At the end, the feedback was that people want this hackfest to continue. Some said they wouldn’t mind participating in a 2-day hackfest as well.

This sounds foolish, when you have a linux PC why you need to do all this. Yes, But this happens in most of the organisations in mumbai who are running linux on their Desktops or Servers.

So Here’s a small post on the Tools, utilities and commands to find the Hardware info without the need to shutdown the PC and open up the cabinet.

Some info that are required by the Desktop admins or the Hardware admins to keep an inventory of the system or for any other purpose :-

The Processor model, type, its frequency, max speed, cache, etc.
RAM
HDD
Motherboard model, chipset, serial no., etc
Soundcard
NetworkCard

Tools :-

1) dmidecode - standardized description of a PC hardware including characteristics such as BIOS serial number and hardware connectors
2) hardinfo - displays information about your hardware and operating system
3) hwinfo - information about the hardware installed on a system
4) sysinfo - displays computer and system information
5) sysutils :- procinfo
6) lspci
7) lshw

Tool 1:-

dmidecode :- you can find many detailed info about the hardware.
# dmidecode -t smbios (will give you all the valid keywords to find the system information)

# dmidecode -t smbios
Invalid type keyword: smbios
Valid type keywords are:
bios
system
baseboard
chassis
processor
memory
cache
connector
slot

# dmidecode -t bios (will give the complete bios information including vendor, release date, and what all things are supported by the Bios

# dmidecode -t processor (will give the info about the CPU vendor, model, capacity, speed, voltage, clock, cache)

# dmidecode -t slot (will give the info of the no. of PCI slots)

Tool 2 :-

hardinfo :- One of the Best GUI utlities to find the complete hardware information. You get each and eery detail about your PC, your CPU, RAM, HDD, OS and others. it only lacks a little in giving the exact info about the CPU.

Tool 3 :-

hwinfo :- A small utility, but may not be that useful for any linux admin as it gives very detailed info with some hexadecial info.

# hwinfo –short

will give the hardware info in very short and linux admins may find this info of some use.

Tool 4 :-

sysinfo :- Again a small GUI utility, But you may find it very useful as it gives out lot of info about your HW that will be required to the sysadmins

It can display Linux distribution release, GNOME version, Kernel version, Gcc version, Xorg version, hostname, CPU: Vendor identification, model name, frequency, level2 cache, bogomips, model numbers, flags, Memory: Total system memory RAM, free memory, swap space total & free, cached, active, inactive memory, Storage: IDE interface, all IDE devices(disks, cd/dvd roms), SCSI devices, Hardware: motherboard, graphic card, sound card, network devices.

Thats still a lot of info for a sys admin

Tool 5 :-

procinfo - provides info that it has gathered from the /proc directory, what i found useful in it was the Bootup info, it shows the Time and Date when the system was booted, rest there were many other info such as irq, swap, user, nice.

# procinfo

Tool 6 :-

lspci - utility for displaying information about all PCI buses in the system and all devices connected to them

I found the following below commands useful.

# lspci -v

# lspci -nn

Tool 7 :-

lshw :- Another small but a very useful utility, as is found, when i ran the following command :

# lshw

It gave a lot of hardware info, i liked the below command :

# lshw -short

it showed me my motherboard model no., processor, amount of RAM and it also dispalyed that i am using 2 x 1 GB RAM’s, the no. of PCI slots, the USB ports, no. of ethernet cards and ports and its vendors, The amount of HDD and the partitions i have created.



These are some of the tools that i have found and tried, would like to hear from you guys reading this stuff, if you have found some tools, commands or utilities which helped you out.
Feel free to post comments or write to us at:

sos[AT]magnet-i[DOT]com.

Thank You
Systems Team

Kuler’s main purpose is to allow the designer to quickly view various themes & color combinations that go with each other. It also allows users to create their own themes, where in they would specify various color combinations. These themes are then tagged so they are searchable.

An important thing is that you can search via color codes too like #FF0000. It would also allow you to create your own theme from some existing theme.

And on top of all, it also has an AIR version. So makes life a bit more easier.

This would immensely benefit to our designers. Check it out at: http://kuler.adobe.com/

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is not free, and its also used for business.Red Hat Linux, assembled by the company Red Hat, was a popular Linux based operating system.
Red Hat Linux 1.0 was released on November 3, 1994. It was originally called “Red Hat Commercial Linux”[2] It is the first Linux distribution to use the packaging system, the RPM Package Manager as its packaging format, and over time has served as the starting point for several other distributions, such as Mandriva Linux and Yellow Dog Linux.

Red Hat’s Features:
Red Hat Linux introduced a graphical installer called Anaconda, intended to be easy to use for novices, and which has since been adopted by some other Linux distributions. It also introduced a built-in tool called Lokkit for configuring the firewall capabilities.

 It uses .rpm package called Red Hat Package Manager.

Definition rpm: The RPM Package Manager (RPM) is a powerful command linedriven package management system capable of installing, uninstalling, verifying, querying, and updating software packages. Each software package consists of an archive of files along with information about the package like its version, a description, etc.

Now What is yum? yum, also called Yellow dog Updater Modified, is a Linux utility which is use to install RPM packages/Binary Files (.rpm files). You can use yum with the following options.

Installing packages(.rpm):- To install any .rpm packages follow these command.

# yum install packagename

  # rpm -ivh packagename.rpm

Networking

etworking Files are that files by which system get connected in the Network.

By editing these files system will be get connected in Network.

 To set IP Address

# system-config-network

  or in the below file:

# cat /etc/sysconfig/network-scipts/ifcfg-eth0

To set gateway

# system-config-network

or in the below file:

# cat /etc/sysconfig/network

To set DNS

 #cat /etc/resolv.conf

To set hostname

# hostname yourcomputerName

# cat /etc/sysconfig/network

Booting Files

# cat /boot/grub/grub.confAbout grub.conf :- Grub Conf is a Gnome2 based GRUB configuration editor. It provides an easy to use interface allowing effortless modification of OS’s and the flexibility to configure the most obscure options. Designed to require minimal user interaction while providing tools for the most adventurous user.

To see the version of Operating System:

# cat /etc/redhat-release

To on services permanently:

# chkconfig servicename on

                                                                 Ubuntu Ubuntu is an operating system, like windows.Ubuntu is a Linux distribution that starts with the breadth of Debian and adds regular releases (every six months), a clear focus on the user and usability (it should “Just Work”, TM) and a commitment to security updates with 18 months of support for every release. Ubuntu ships with the latest Gnome release as well as a selection of server and desktop software that makes for a comfortable desktop experience off a single installation CD.

Ubuntu uses the.deb apt package:- Ubuntu uses .deb package for package installation as like .rpm of Red Hat.

Ubuntu also uses apt-get package installer to install packages by using command mode.
To install package Graphically, synaptic package manager.

Installing Packages (.deb)

# apt-get install packagename

# dpkg -i packagename.deb

To install packages Graphically by synaptic:

System -> Administrator -> Synaptic Package Manager

Networking

Some files to get connected system in Network.To set IP Address & Gatway

# cat /etc/network/interfaces

To set DNS

# cat /etc/resolv.conf

To set hostname

# cat /etc/hostname

Powered by ScribeFire.

Apache on Red Hat Linux

 Intoduction Of  Apache

Apache is the name of the software that allows you to run a web service.Apache is very popular and provides access to most web sites on the internet.Apache complies with the Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP).

Apache is a Application which works on HTTP protocol.

Configuration of Apache(HTTP) on Red Hat

First install http package with the help of yum.

# yum install http*

Then go on configuration file

# vi /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

here come to bottom of file & edit these lines to create a web site

#NameVirtualHost *
#
#<virtual hosts *>
# ServerAdmin webmaster@dummy-host.example.com
# DocumentRoot /www/docs/dummy-host.example.com
# ServerName dummy-host.example.com
# ErrorLog logs/dummy-host.example.com-error_log
# CustomLog logs/dummy-host.example.com-access_log common
</virtual hosts>

In first line at the place of * add the IP Address of your machine on which you are creating apache.

In second line ServerAdmin give Email ID, this will help you when http will give any problem.
Here http will send message on this Email ID.It will be help full for system admin to solve the
problem.

Now DocumentRoot:-

DocumentRoot is a (folder) that is stored on your host’s servers and that is designated for holding web pages. When someone else looks at your web site, this is the location they will be accessing.

Default DocumentRoot is /var/www/html

Now we come to the ServerName:-

ServerName specifies a hostname and port number (matching the Listen directive) for the server. The ServerName does not need to match the machine’s actual hostname. For example, the Web server may be www.example.com, but the server’s hostname is actually foo.example.com. The value specified in ServerName must be a valid Domain Name Service (DNS) name that can be resolved by the system.

Example:- ServerName www.suraj.com

ErrorLog:- Log will be generated here regarding http adversities.

CustomLog:-

CustomLog identifies the log file and the log file format. In your Web server’s default configuration, CustomLog defines the log file in which accesses to your Web server are recorded: /var/log/httpd/access_log. You will need to know the location of this file if you want to generate any access-based server performance statistics for your Web server.

CustomLog also sets the log file format to common.

Note:- To edit these all line you will have to remove # to enables the lines.because lines are commented by hash(#).

By doing this editing & configuration in this file we can
host any web site.

Note:- if http is already installed you can omit the first line. Your web files will now be found in /var/www/

Consept Of Virtual Hosting

Virtual Hosting:- Virtual hosting means we can create two or more then two web sites on single server.

To enable virtual host enable the <NameVirtualHost *> line by removing the commenet hash(#).And give your ystem IP at the place of star(*).

Now you can create more web sites on single server.

Ubuntu

Installation and configuration of apache(http) in Red Hat & Ubuntu is some thing different,like commands,configuration files etc.

 Installation of apache in ubuntu 

 Installing package of Ubuntu is .deb

 apt-get:-

# apt-get install apache2

# apt-get install php5

# apt-get install libapache2-mod-php5

  Configure apache2

 Apache2 configuration file in Ubuntu is usually found in this location /etc/apache2/apache2.conf.

Apache is configured by placing directives in plain text configuration files. Apache2 ships with a virtual-host-friendly default configuration. It is configured with a single default virtual host.

If you wish to configure a new virtual host or site, copy /etc/apache2/sites-available/default file into the same directory with a new name. For example,
“sudo cp /etc/apache2/sites-available/default /etc/apache2/sites-available/mynewsite”

Edit the new file to configure the new site:

To start using New Virutal Host we have to modify at least two directives.
1. ServerName (Put your domain name here)
2. DocumentRoot (path to website)

The /etc/apache2/sites-available directory is not parsed by Apache2. Symbolic links in /etc/apache2/sites-enabled point to “available” sites. Use the a2ensite (Apache2 Enable Site) utility to create those symbolic links.

Change the directory to
“cd /etc/apache2/sites-enabled”
“sudo a2ensite mynewsite”
Similarly, the a2dissite utility should be used to disable sites.

We should be all set to run apache2 server in Ubuntu.
The above configuration will work only if certain modules are enabled. Usually the required modules are available in the default apache2 configuration file.

After do the configuration in file we will have to restart service to save configuration.

Restart apache service:

#/etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Note:- if apache is already installed you can omit the first line. Your web files will now be found in /var/www/

• A little tutorial on creating an SSl certificate, you can also generate your own self signed certificate:-

1)  The first step is to create your RSA Private Key. This key is a 4096 bit RSA key which is encrypted using Triple-DES and stored in a PEM format so that it is readable as ASCII text.

>> openssl genrsa -des3 -out domainname.com.key 4096

Once you run the above command, it will ask you to enter a Pass phrase for your domain key file.

2) Generating a CSR   (Certificate signing request)  :-

Once the private key is generated a Certificate Signing Request can be generated. The CSR is then used in one of two ways. Ideally, the CSR will be sent to a Certificate Authority, such as Thawte or Verisign who will verify the identity of the requestor and issue a signed certificate. or you can use it to create your own self signed certificate for intranets or for demo purpose.

These are the X.509 attributes of the certificate. One of the prompts will be for “Common Name (e.g., YOUR name)”. It is important that this field be filled in with the fully qualified domain name of the server to be protected by SSL. If the website to be protected will be https://domainname.com, then enter domainname.com at this prompt. If you want to create a so called “wildcard” certificate, which means the same certificate can be used on an unlimited number of subdomains, just enter an asterisk as the hostname, in our example that would be *.domainname.com.

>>  openssl req -new -key domainname.com.key -out domainname.com.csr

Once the above command is run, it will ask you the following set of questions :

Enter pass phrase for domainname.com.key:
You are about to be asked to enter information that will be incorporated
into your certificate request.
What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name or a DN.
There are quite a few fields but you can leave some blank
For some fields there will be a default value,
If you enter ‘.’, the field will be left blank.
—–
Country Name (2 letter code) [AU]:
State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]:
Locality Name (eg, city) []:
Organization Name (eg, company) [Internet Widgits Pty Ltd]:
Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:
Common Name (eg, YOUR name) []:
Email Address []:

Please enter the following ‘extra’ attributes
to be sent with your certificate request
A challenge password []:
An optional company name []:

3) Removing the Pass phrase from the key :-

One unfortunate side-effect of the pass-phrased private key is that Apache will ask for the pass-phrase each time the web server is started. Obviously this is not necessarily convenient as someone will not always be around to type in the pass-phrase, such as after a reboot or crash. mod_ssl includes the ability to use an external program in place of the built-in pass-phrase dialog, however, this is not necessarily the most secure option either. It is possible to remove the Triple-DES encryption from the key, thereby no longer needing to type in a pass-phrase. If the private key is no longer encrypted, it is critical that this file only be readable by the root user! If your system is ever compromised and a third party obtains your unencrypted private key, the corresponding certificate will need to be revoked. With that being said, use the following command to remove the pass-phrase from the key:

>> cat domainname.com.key >domainname.com.key.orig

>> openssl rsa -in domainname.com.key -out domainname.com.key

* Once you have geerated the csr file , you can provide the csr  file which you can send to the certificate authority like thawte or verizon for verification and they will verify and issue the signed certificate which you can apply on your domain in apache you can also use the certificate for your smtp, pop , imap and ftp.  You can also have a free signed certificate from  http://cacert.org, they will verify and issue you the signed certificate.

If you want to generate your own self signed certificate to use in an intranet or for demo, then move ahead to the next step :

4) Generating a Self-signed certificate :

This temporary certificate will generate an error in the client browser to the effect that the signing certificate authority is unknown and not trusted.

>>  openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in domainname.com.csr -signkey domainname.com.key -out domainname.com.crt

Now you have generated your own self signed certificate, you need to have the mod_ssl module in your Apache.

You need to make entries  in your apache config file too enable the website to be working with https://

it would httpd.conf  or apache.conf file depending upon the Linux distributing you are using.

Also you can refer to the following blogs and sites which were helpful for me to knoe about the ssl and also able to intall the ssl certificate for my website :

www.yatblog.com/2007/02/27/how-to-create-a-ssl-certificate/

www.tc.umn.edu/~brams006/selfsign.html

www.geotrusteurope.com/support/csr/csr_apache.htm

And for any one trying to install apache with SSL on a ubuntu gutsy or fiesty like i was trying to, refer to the following URL :

help.ubuntu.com/community/forum/server/apache2/SSL

Hope this little article was helpful.

Thank you

Systems Team

Problem

I installed kalyway 10.5.2 and it installed, and went through the setup process with no problem.

Upon  reboot, got the error “no bootable device – insert boot disk” message.

Solution

Boot up the Kalyway install DVD again

• Under the “Utilities” menu, open “Terminal”.
• Issue “diskutil list”. My hard disk showed up as /dev/disk0, and my install partition is /dev/disk0s2
• Issue “diskutil unmount /dev/disk0”
• Issue “fdisk –e /dev/disk0”
• Issue “f2”, where 2 comes from “/dev/disk0s2”. The response back is “Partition 2 marked active”.
• Issue “write”. The response back is “Writing MBR at offset 0.”
• Issue “quit”. Fdisk exits.

Quit the Terminal program and Quit the installer.

Reboot your machine

Enjoy.

Thank You,

System Team