Emnaz Blog

ClearOS: another ebox platform alternative

2010-08-06T09:13:00.000+08:00

ClearOS is a powerful network and gateway server designed for small organizations and distributed environments. Though ClearOS comes with an extensive list of features and integrated services, the solution is easy to configure thanks to the intuitive web-based interface.

ClearOS is reincarnation of Clarkconnect that based on Centos 5.2, same as SMEServer. Centos itself is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

So if you like Red Hat you can use ClearOS or SMEServer, or RHEL itself ofcourse :) But for Ubuntu minded ebox still best choice.

Ebox 2.0

2010-08-06T08:59:00.000+08:00

eBox Platform Development Team announced today that the eBox Platform 2.0 release will be delayed until September 1st. The decision was taken last Friday evening, after studying the different options and concluding that in order to release more stable version of the product, more time was needed for testing and improvements.

The first installer CD of eBox Platform 1.5 (beta version of eBox Platform 2.0) was released for testing and feedback on the 26th of July. As mentioned in the announcement, the development of eBox Platform 2.0 has now finished and the development team is now fully centered on testing and bugfixing the software. Moreover, during this stabilization period we are also dedicating time for optimizing the software to improve the performance and reduce the installation time. The aim of dedicating all August for these purposes is to guarantee that the next major release of eBox Platform will be the most stable release ever.

What's coming in 2.0

New base: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
New graphical installer
Easy disaster recovery
Thin Clients server
FTP server
Webserver with HTTPS support
Improved software management
Autoconfiguration wizards

SME Server New Release

2010-08-06T08:47:00.000+08:00

The SME Server development team is pleased to announce the release of SME Server 7.5.1 This is a patch release for SME 7.5 to resolve problems seen by some VPN users, and other minor fixes. The release should be obtained from your closest mirror, see http://wiki.contribs.org/SME_Server:Download

SME Server Version 8 will be the next major version of SME Server, and will involve upgrading the base to CentOS 5. SME Server 8.0beta5 is based on CentOS 5.4. A copy of the latest CD image can be downloaded here.
SME Server is the leading Linux distribution for small and medium enterprises.

ebox platform : SMEServer alternative?

2009-10-02T11:12:00.000+08:00

"eBox Platform is a unified network server that offers easy and efficient computer network administration for SMBs. It can act as a Gateway, an Infrastructure Manager, a Unified Threat Manager, an Office Server, a Unified Communication Server or a combination of them. These functionalities are tightly integrated, automating most tasks, avoiding mistakes and saving time for system administrators."

I'm looking for SMEServer alternative that based on Ubuntu. Ebox-platform look promise, it's based on Ubuntu 8.04 LTS. Ebox is a web framework used to manager server application configuration.Ebox writen using perl.

Windows Server vs Linux Server

2009-07-30T12:46:00.002+08:00

Microsoft compare RedHat Linux with Windows Server 2008

Do you believe it?

Enable Vim syntax highlighting on Ubuntu 8.04

2009-07-29T10:45:00.005+08:00

Ubuntu 8.04 by default include vim-tiny only that did not support syntax highlighting, so we need install "vim".

sudo apt-get install vim

Open file /etc/vim/vimrc and uncomment line

syntax on

or create file .vimrc on our home directory.

 echo 'syntax on' >> ~/.vimrc

Install GNOME on SME Server 7.4

2009-06-18T19:47:00.015+08:00

GNOME by default is not included on SME Server 7.4. Install GNOME is easy.
Enable group on base and updates repository.

# db yum_repositories setprop base EnableGroups yes
# db yum_repositories setprop updates EnableGroups yes

Update yum configuration

# expand-template /etc/yum.smerepos.d/sme-base.repo

Then install GNOME ( repo base was not enabled by default so we manually enable )

# yum -y --enablerepo=base groupinstall gnome-desktop

Add symbolic links for X Font Server

# ln -s /etc/init.d/xfs /etc/rc7.d/S38xfs

Add X Font Server service to database

# config set xfs service status enabled

GNOME Display Manager(gdm) will complaint about profile.Open file /etc/profile.d/e-smith-lib_compspec.sh and replace dash (-) with underscore (_) on

_esmith_signal-event ()
_esmith_expand-template ()

Add custom template for inittab

# mkdir -p /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/inittab
echo 'x:7:respawn:/etc/X11/prefdm -nodaemon' > /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/inittab/99xwindows

Update inittab

# expand-template /etc/inittab

Set default desktop to GNOME

# echo 'DESKTOP=GNOME' > /etc/sysconfig/desktop
# echo 'DISPLAYMANAGER=GNOME' >> /etc/sysconfig/desktop

Download and install modified redhat graphical boot package from here

# wget http://besme.googlecode.com/files/rhgb-0.14.1-10.el4.sme.i386.rpm
# yum localinstall rhgb-0.14.1-10.el4.sme.i386.rpm

Modify file /etc/grub.conf, add option quiet and rhgb

default=1
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/smeserver.xpm.gz
foreground 000000
background 4E95D3
hiddenmenu
title SME Server (2.6.9-78.0.8.ELsmp)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-78.0.8.ELsmp ro root=/dev/main/root quiet rhgb
initrd /initrd-2.6.9-78.0.8.ELsmp.img
title SME Server-up (2.6.9-78.0.8.EL)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-78.0.8.EL ro root=/dev/main/root quiet rhgb
initrd /initrd-2.6.9-78.0.8.EL.img

Reboot system

# signal-event reboot

VirtualBox cannot acces the kernel driver

2009-06-18T19:37:00.004+08:00

I got this problem when reinstall VirtualBox. The problem solved with running VirtualBox installer again and select repair.

VirtualBox is a general-purpose full virtualizer for x86 hardware. Targeted at server, desktop and embedded use, it is now the only professional-quality virtualization solution that is also Open Source Software.

Install Apache Tomcat on SME Server

2009-06-08T14:18:00.005+08:00

Follow this post to install Sun JDK and this post to add jpackage-5 repository
And than for install apache tomcat just type

# yum install tomcat6 tomcat6-admin-webapps tomcat6-webapps

Install Apache Ant on SME Server

2009-06-08T14:00:00.005+08:00

Install Sun JDK first. Follow this post.After Sun JDK installed completely we can start install Ant. Add this repositories for new version of Apache Ant

# db yum_repositories set jpackage-5-generic repository \
Name 'JPackage 5.0 (free), generic' \
MirrorList 'http://www.jpackage.org/mirrorlist.php?dist=generic&type=free&release=5.0' \
GPGCheck yes \
Visible yes \
status enabled

# db yum_repositories set jpackage-5-rhel repository \
Name 'JPackage (free) for Red Hat Enterprise Linux $releasever' \
MirrorList 'http://www.jpackage.org/mirrorlist.php?dist=redhat-el-$releasever&type=free&release=5.0' \
GPGCheck yes \
status enabled

# expand-template /etc/yum.smerepos.d/sme-base.repo

Install Apache Ant

# yum install ant

Sun Java for SME Server 7.4

2009-06-08T09:44:00.007+08:00

Add jpackage GPG key to system.

# rpm --import http://www.jpackage.org/jpackage.asc

Add jpackage repositories to database

# db yum_repositories set jpackage-generic repository \
Name 'JPackage (free), generic' \
MirrorList 'http://www.jpackage.org/mirrorlist.php?dist=generic&type=free&release=1.7' \
GPGCheck yes \
Visible yes \
status enabled

# db yum_repositories set jpackage-rhel repository \
Name 'JPackage (free) for Red Hat Enterprise Linux $releasever' \
MirrorList 'http://www.jpackage.org/mirrorlist.php?dist=redhat-el-$releasever&type=free&release=1.7' \
GPGCheck yes \
status enabled

# db yum_repositories set jpackage-generic-nonfree repository \
Name 'JPackage (non-free), generic' \
MirrorList 'http://www.jpackage.org/jpackage_generic_nonfree_1.7.txt' \
GPGCheck yes \
status enabled

# expand-template /etc/yum.smerepos.d/sme-base.repo

Install jpackage-utils package

# yum install jpackage-utils

Download and install java-1.6.0-sun from here

# wget http://mirrors.dotsrc.org/jpackage/1.7/generic/SRPMS.non-free/java-1.6.0-sun-1.6.0.11-1jpp.nosrc.rpm
# rpm -ivh java-1.6.0-sun-1.6.0.11-1jpp.nosrc.rpm

Get my updated specs file from here and put it in /usr/src/redhat/SPECS.

# wget http://besme.googlecode.com/files/java-1_6_0-sun.spec
# mv java-1_6_0-sun.spec /usr/src/redhat/SPECS/java-1.6.0-sun.spec

Get latest Sun JDK from here or old release from here. Pick 32-bit linux (the only type I tested) get the linux non-RPM version. Put the downloaded '.bin' file to /usr/src/redhat/SOURCES

# mv jdk-6u14-linux-i586.bin /usr/src/redhat/SOURCES/

Rebuild RPM

# rpmbuild -bb /usr/src/redhat/SPECS/java-1.6.0-sun.spec

Install packages

# yum localinstall /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i586/java-1.6.0-sun-*.rpm

Now, make sure that this new version of Java is set to be the default with:

# /usr/sbin/alternatives --config java

Install PostgreSQL 8.3 on SME Server 7.4

2009-06-04T12:03:00.012+08:00

Download PostgreSQL PGDG RPMs for CentOS - Yum Repository Configuration

# wget http://yum.pgsqlrpms.org/reporpms/8.3/pgdg-centos-8.3-6.noarch.rpm

Install it

# yum localinstall pgdg-centos-8.3-6.noarch.rpm

Import RPM GPG key

# rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-PGDG

Modify db yum_repositories

# /sbin/e-smith/db yum_repositories set pgdg83 repository \
Name 'PostgreSQL 8.3 $releasever - $basearch' \
BaseURL 'http://yum.pgsqlrpms.org/8.3/redhat/rhel-$releasever-$basearch' \
EnableGroups yes \
GPGCheck yes \
Visible yes \
status enabled

Exclude postgres from base

# db yum_repositories setprop updates Exclude 'kernel, kernel-smp, kernel-xenU, mkinitrd, mdadm, initscripts, postgresql*'

Exclude postgres from update

# db yum_repositories setprop base Exclude 'kernel,kernel-smp, kernel-xenU,mkinitrd, mdadm, initscripts, postgresql*'

Update yum config

# signal-event yum-modify

Install PostgreSQL

# yum install postgresql postgresql-server postgresql-contrib

Initialize postgres database

# /etc/init.d/postgresql initdb

Start postgresql

# /etc/init.d/postgresql start

Create template directories

# mkdir -p /etc/e-smith/templates/var/lib/pgsql/data
# mkdir -p /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/var/lib/pgsql/data

Copy config files to template directories

# cp /var/lib/pgsql/data/*.conf /etc/e-smith/templates/var/lib/pgsql/data
# cp /var/lib/pgsql/data/*.conf /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/var/lib/pgsql/data

Now login as postgres user:

# su postgres

Then access to superuser database, set a password and exit.

bash-3.00$ psql -U postgres -d template1
Welcome to psql 8.3.7, the PostgreSQL interactive terminal.

Type:  \copyright for distribution terms
\h for help with SQL commands
\? for help with psql commands
\g or terminate with semicolon to execute query
\q to quit
template1=# alter role postgres with password 'postgres';
ALTER ROLE
template1=# \q
bash-3.00$ exit

Edit the file /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/var/lib/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf remove # and change the following settings:

password_encryption = on
listen_addresses = 'localhost'

Edit the file /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/var/lib/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf and change the following settings:

local    all   all                    md5
host     all   all    127.0.0.1/32    md5
host     all   all    ::1/128         md5

and add at the end:

host    all    all    0.0.0.0 255.255.255.255  reject

Be sure to add an extra white line at the end.

Expand template:

# expand-template /var/lib/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf
# expand-template /var/lib/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf

Restart with new settings:

# /etc/init.d/postgresql stop
# /etc/init.d/postgresql start

and add the symlinks to start automatically:

# ln -s /etc/init.d/postgresql /etc/rc.d/rc7.d/S56postgresql

Add postgresql to configuration database

# config set postgresql service status enabled

Reference:

http://wiki.contribs.org/Postgres

DNS Server dengan BIND

2009-04-12T20:37:00.011+08:00

Instalasi BIND

#apt-get install bind9 dnsutils

Edit file /etc/bind/named.conf
Tambahkan zone domain :

zone "emnaz.org" {
type master;
file "/etc/bind/db.emnaz.org";
};

Zone untuk reverse :

zone "4.168.192.in-addr.arpa" {
type master;
file "/etc/bind/db.4.168.192";
};

Gunakan file /etc/bind/db.empty untuk contoh

# cd /etc/bind/
# cp db.empty db.emnaz.org

Edit file db.emnaz.org
nama domain: emnaz.org, email info ke: admin@emnaz.org.

@       IN      SOA     emnaz.org. admin.emnaz.org. (
               1         ; Serial
          604800         ; Refresh
           86400         ; Retry
         2419200         ; Expire
           86400 )       ; Negative Cache TTL
;
@       IN      NS      ns1.emnaz.org.
emnaz.org.      IN      MX      10      mail.emnaz.org.

emnaz.org.      IN      A       192.168.4.146
mail            IN      A       192.168.4.146
pc1             IN      A       192.168.4.1

www             IN      CNAME   emnaz.org.

Reverse zone

# cp db.empty db.4.168.192

Edit file db.4.168.192

@       IN      SOA     emnaz.org. admin.emnaz.org. (
               1         ; Serial
          604800         ; Refresh
           86400         ; Retry
         2419200         ; Expire
           86400 )       ; Negative Cache TTL
;
IN      NS      ns1.emnaz.org.

146     IN      PTR     ns1.emnaz.org.
1       IN      PTR     pc1.emnaz.org.

Edit /etc/resolv.conf

nameserver 127.0.0.1

Test query

#dig mail.emnaz.org
; <<>> DiG 9.5.1-P1 <<>> mail.emnaz.org
;; global options:  printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 46362 
;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0      

;; QUESTION SECTION:   
;mail.emnaz.org.                        IN      A      

;; ANSWER SECTION:   
mail.emnaz.org.         86400   IN      A       192.168.4.146      

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:   
emnaz.org.              86400   IN      NS      ns1.emnaz.org.      

;; Query time: 0 msec   
;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1)   
;; WHEN: Sun Apr 12 14:02:33 2009   
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 66

Reverse zone test

# dig -x 192.168.4.1

; <<>> DiG 9.5.1-P1 <<>> -x 192.168.4.1
;; global options:  printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 63254   
;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0      

;; QUESTION SECTION:   
;1.4.168.192.in-addr.arpa.      IN      PTR      

;; ANSWER SECTION:   
1.4.168.192.in-addr.arpa. 86400 IN      PTR     pc1.emnaz.org.      

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:   
4.168.192.in-addr.arpa. 86400   IN      NS      ns1.emnaz.org.      

;; Query time: 0 msec   
;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1)   
;; WHEN: Sun Apr 12 14:04:20 2009   
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 87

Links:
Ubuntu DNS Server

IP Kalkulator

2009-04-12T19:35:00.007+08:00

ipcalc adalah alat bantu untuk mencari alamat broadcast, network dan host berdasarkan alamat ip dan netmask.

Instalasi ipcalc:

#apt-get install ipcalc

Contoh:

#ipcalc 192.168.100.4/24
Address:   192.168.100.4        11000000.10101000.01100100. 00000100
Netmask:   255.255.255.0 = 24   11111111.11111111.11111111. 00000000
Wildcard:  0.0.0.255            00000000.00000000.00000000. 11111111

Network:   192.168.100.0/24     11000000.10101000.01100100. 00000000
HostMin:   192.168.100.1        11000000.10101000.01100100. 00000001
HostMax:   192.168.100.254      11000000.10101000.01100100. 11111110
Broadcast: 192.168.100.255      11000000.10101000.01100100. 11111111
Hosts/Net: 254                   Class C, Private Internet

Menghitung subnet:

# ipcalc 192.168.100.4 255.255.255.0 255.255.255.128
Address:   192.168.100.4        11000000.10101000.01100100. 00000100
Netmask:   255.255.255.0 = 24   11111111.11111111.11111111. 00000000
Wildcard:  0.0.0.255            00000000.00000000.00000000. 11111111
=>
Network:   192.168.100.0/24     11000000.10101000.01100100. 00000000
HostMin:   192.168.100.1        11000000.10101000.01100100. 00000001
HostMax:   192.168.100.254      11000000.10101000.01100100. 11111110
Broadcast: 192.168.100.255      11000000.10101000.01100100. 11111111
Hosts/Net: 254                   Class C, Private Internet

Subnets after transition from /24 to /25

Netmask:   255.255.255.128 = 25 11111111.11111111.11111111.1 0000000
Wildcard:  0.0.0.127            00000000.00000000.00000000.0 1111111

1.
Network:   192.168.100.0/25     11000000.10101000.01100100.0 0000000
HostMin:   192.168.100.1        11000000.10101000.01100100.0 0000001
HostMax:   192.168.100.126      11000000.10101000.01100100.0 1111110
Broadcast: 192.168.100.127      11000000.10101000.01100100.0 1111111
Hosts/Net: 126                   Class C, Private Internet

2.
Network:   192.168.100.128/25   11000000.10101000.01100100.1 0000000
HostMin:   192.168.100.129      11000000.10101000.01100100.1 0000001
HostMax:   192.168.100.254      11000000.10101000.01100100.1 1111110
Broadcast: 192.168.100.255      11000000.10101000.01100100.1 1111111
Hosts/Net: 126                   Class C, Private Internet

Subnets:   2
Hosts:     252

Link:
ipcalc

DHCP Server

2009-04-12T18:59:00.009+08:00

Instal dhcp3 server

# apt-get install dhcp3-server

Edit file konfigurasi di /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf.
Setting default domain untuk client:

option domain-name "emnaz.org";

Setting default name server:

option domain-name-servers 192.168.4.253, 192.168.4.252;

Alokasikan alamat IP dan gateway (router) :

subnet 192.168.4.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
range 192.168.4.100 192.168.4.250;
option routers 192.168.4.254;
}

Mengalokasikan IP khusus untuk MAC address tertentu

host www {
hardware ethernet 00:0D:87:B3:AE:A6;
fixed-address 192.168.4.6;
}

Aktifkan konfigurasi:

# /etc/init.d/dhcp3-server restart

Kalau ada pesan kesalahan periksa:

# tail /var/log/syslog | grep dhcpd

Links:
Debian DHCP Server

Postfix - Courier - Squirrelmail di Debian Linux

2009-04-01T18:25:00.008+08:00

Instalasi postfix,courier dan squirrelmail

# apt-get install postfix courier-imap courier-pop squirrelmail

Konfigurasikan postfix supaya format mailbox-nya menggunakan Maildir

# postconf -e "home_mailbox = Maildir/"
# postconf -e "mailbox_command ="

Mengaktifkan konfigurasi baru postfix

# /etc/init.d/postfix reload

Membuat direktori Maildir di pengguna

# cd /home/emnaz
# maildirmake Maildir
# chown -R emnaz.emnaz Maildir

Supaya setiap pengguna baru otomatis mempunyai direktori Maildir:

# cd /etc/skel
# maildirmake Maildir

Edit konfigurasi imap_server_type squirrelmail di file /etc/squirrelmail/config.php menjadi courier

$imap_server_type = 'courier';

Buat symbolic link file konfigurasi /etc/squirrelmail/apache.conf

# ln -s /etc/squirrelmail/apache.conf /etc/apache2/conf.d/squirrelmail.conf

Aktifkan konfigurasi apache

# /etc/init.d/apache2 reload

Buka squirrelmail di http://alamat-server/squirrelmail

Link:
Debian Mail Server