Christopher Jackson's

hacks, thoughts, and utter ramblings.

Stopping OSX Snow Leopard VPN From Nagging You for Password Each Connect.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard adds support for Cisco IPSec VPN connections – that is, plain IPSec with XAuth authentication and mode_cfg.

That makes it two layers of authentication: first, Machine Authentication with a password (Shared Secret) or an X509 certificate. Then a traditional username-password pair for XAuth, both of which you can enter and save in the Account Name and Password fields respectively when you set up the connection. Trouble is, even though you entered your password and it is apparently saved in the keychain properly, Mac OS X keeps nagging you to manually enter the password every time you connect. Turns out this is a just bug with a simple fix.

Open the Keychain Access Application, select the System keychain and find your saved XAuth password entry in the list. Its Kind field will say IPSec XAuth Password. Open it, then on the Access Control tab click the Plus button to add another application. The file we need to select, /usr/libexec/configd, resides in a hidden folder. To navigate there, press Command-Shift-G, enter /usr/libexec, then pick configd in the dialog. Save your changes and that’s it – your saved password should now work.

Removing Norton Antivirus From Mac (Code 10)

Go to the following site and download the uninstaller script.
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/ent-security.nsf/docid/2007661309063498

The script will remove norton and all files associated with it, also getting rid of the pesky code 10 error.

Downloading File for the Impatient. (Win Xp)

For those who are impatient and click open instead of save file when using webmail, angel, or the like and then find themselves clueless as to where there file has gone…

Firefox:
C:Documents and Settingsyour_user_nameLocal SettingsTempyour_file.name

Internet Explorer:
C:Documents and Settingsyour_user_nameLocal SettingsTemporary Internet FilesContent.IE5some_random_foleryour_file.name

Don’t make the same mistake twice. Save your documents instead of just opening them. This will guarantee they don’t end up in a temporary folder.

List All Ubuntu Users.

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sudo awk -F":" '{ print "Linux_name: " $1 "ttFull_Name: " $5 }' /etc/passwd

Installing Broadcom BCM43XX on Ubuntu

1) Since you don’t have wireless drivers I’m assuming that you don’t have access to the internet on your linux machine, so on another machine download the appropriate ndiswrapper deb files from the following link:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/Ndiswrapper

2) Place those deb files on a USB drive and install them on your linux box. Opening them in a file browser and double clicking them will launch them.

3) Once those are installed, run the following commands in a terminal:

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$ndiswrapper -i /[driver directory]/bcmwl5a.inf
$ndiswrapper -m (I got an error in this one but it worked anyway)
$ndiswrapper -ma

4) Now we need to edit the following file by typing the following command:

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$sudo vi /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper

You need to add the following two lines at the end of this file.

Line 1
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alias pci:v000014E4d000043XXsv*sd*bc*sc*i* ndiswrapper
*NOTE* replace the XX with the model number of your card for instance (replace 43XX with 4306)

Line 2
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alias eth1 ndiswrapper

Save and Quit vi.
6) Now we need to load the wireless driver run the following command:
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modprobe ndiswrapper

7) Restart the machine your wireless card should now be active.

Installing MacPorts on Snow Leopard

Run the following commands in terminal: 
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svn co http://svn.macports.org/repository/macports/trunk/base/ macports-svn
cd macports-svn
./configure && make && sudo make install;
sudo port -v selfupdate

Trac Installed on 1&1 *COMPLETED*

I was able to get trac up and running after multiple failures.
My setup consisted of a git repository and trac info is being stored in a MySQL database.

1) ssh into your 1and1 account.
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mkdir install_files
cd install_files
wget http://ftp.edgewall.com/pub/trac/Trac-0.11.5.tar.gz
tar xzvf Trac-0.11.5.tar.gz
cd Trac-0.11.5
python setup.py install --prefix=$HOME/bin/python
Now trac is installed. Next we will setup a specific instance of trac for a project.

2) Set up an instance of a trac project.
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trac-admin $HOME/path_to_your_site/project.trac initenv
You will be asked a bunch of questions regarding your project settings. Name your project whatever you want.
The connection string for MySQL will be:
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mysql://dbuser:dbpass@localhost/dbname
The repository type is:
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git
The path to repository is:
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$HOME/path_to_your_repo/project.git
3) We will now need to set up trac for our web server, this allows people to access trac via the internet.
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cd $HOME/your_website_docs/trac/
trac-admin $HOME/your_website_docs/trac/project deploy ./share
4) Next you will need to create a index.cgi file . Paste the following into it.
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#!/bin/bash
export HOME="your_home_path"
export TRAC_ENV="$HOME/your_website_docs/trac/project.trac"
export TRAC_ENV_INDEX_TEMPLATE="$HOME/your_website_docs/trac/share/htdocs"
export PATH=$HOME/bin/python/bin:$PATH
exec $HOME/your_website_docs/trac/share/cgi-bin/trac.cgi
5) Next we will need to create a index.fcgi file. Paste the following into it.
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#!/bin/bash
export HOME="$HOME"
export TRAC_ENV="$HOME/path_to_trac/project.trac"
export PYTHONPATH="$HOME/bin/python/lib/python2.6/site-packages"
export PATH="$HOME/bin/python/bin:$PATH"
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="$HOME/bin/lib"
exec $HOME/path_to_trac/share/cgi-bin/trac.fcgi
6) chmod 755 on both the files you just created

7) Next we will need to make a .htacccess file.
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cd $HOME/path_to_your_project
touch .htaccess
vi .htaccess
Paste the following into that file.
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DirectoryIndex index.cgi
Options ExecCGI FollowSymLinks
<ifModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.cgi/$1 [L]
</IfModule>
8 ) chmod 755 on the files in ……/trac/share/cgi-bin/

9) Add the following to the trac.ini file under the appropriate sections
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[components]
tracext.git.* = enabled
[trac]
htdocs_location = /trac/share/htdocs/common/
10) Create a link to the needed content files. Path to your trac directory then:
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mkdir resources
ln -s ./share/htdocs/ ./resources/common
11) Pat yourself on the back. You should now have a working TRAC install.

Error 442 Cisco VPN

If you receive this error in vista. Stop and disable the Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) service. To do this go to Control Panel -> Computer Administration -> Services.

Once you have completed the above step, try logging onto the VPN. If it works. Continue by disabling internet sharing on the wireless adapter. You can do this by going to Control Panel -> Networking -> Network & Sharing Center -> Network Adapters. Right click your wireless network adapter and go to properties. Click the Sharing tab. Uncheck the box “Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s network connection.”

You should be all set.

Windows 7 VPN

Connecting to Wireless via Windows 7
1. On the Start Menu, select Control Panel.
2. Select Network and Internet.
3. Select Network Sharing Center.
4. Select Set Up New Connection or Network.
5. Select Use My Internet Connection.
6. Select I will set up an internet connection later.
7. Input the following two pieces of information:
a. Internet Address: mobility.hbg.psu.edu
b. Destination Name: PennStateVPN
8. Input the users Penn State Access ID and password. Then select Create.
9. Do Not select Connect Now. Select Close (lower right hand corner) instead.
10. Back under the Network and Sharing Center, select Change Adapter Settings.
11. Right click on the PennStateVPN connection and select Properties and Security.
12. Under the Security tab, choose Advanced and select Settings.
13. Data encryption should be set to Require encryption.
14. Allow only the following protocols:
a. Unencrypted password (PAP)
b. Microsoft CHAP
15. Select OK.
16. Select the Networking tab.
17. At the top under Type of VPN, choose the pull down option L2TP IPsec VPN.
18. Select IPsec Setting.
19. Select Use preshared key for authentication, and insert pennstate as the Key:
20. Select OK twice.
21. Back Under your network connections, right click the pennstate connection and create a short cut to the desktop. Be sure to close all the networking related windows.
22. Connecting via wireless. Select the pennstate wireless network from the available wireless networks in the lower left-hand corner.
23. Double click on the pennstate connection on the desktop.
24. Insert your Penn State Access ID and password, and select connect.
*IMPORTANT NOTE* On some machines, you may need to run services.msc and find the service “IKE and AuthIP IPSec Keying Modules”. This service must be Started and set to Automatic for the VPN solution to work properly.

Phishing Email Being Sent Around Lately.

Tell all students to disregard the below email as it is a phishing scheme to try and get sensitive user information from students. From: “ITS HELP DESK” Date: October 19, 2009 1:22:14 PM EDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Maintenance & Upgrade on Webmail Account
Reply-To: helpxdesk@mail2helpdesk.com

–
Attn. Webmail Users,

Maintenance & Upgrade on Webmail Account

This is to notify you that we are making some vital maintenance on your
webmail account During this process you might have login problems in
signing into your webmail account, but to prevent this you have to confirm
your account immediately after you receive this notification.

To confirm and to keep your Webmail account active during and after this
process, please reply to this message with the below account
information’s. Failure to do this might cause a permanent deactivation of
your Webmail account from our database to creat more space for on coming
subscribers.

To confirm your account, send your webmail account Details stating:

Userid:
Password:
Verify Password:

Your account shall remain active after you have successfully confirmed
your account details.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

Regards,
ITS Help Desk