Ubuntu For Free

SSH Denied Even Though The Keys Are Authorized

admin — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:23:14 +0000

I recently had to reinstall one of my servers. It was a pain. I didn’t have the partitions correct, so I lost my web install, and I hate how Ubuntu does not let us put /etc on a separate partition because of init. I struggled for a while with being forced to enter a password when using ssh connections to the re-installed. The output of ssh -vvv user@host indicated the keys were found and authorized, so I was stumped. I asked the North Texas Linux Users Group for some assistance and the first reply pointed me in the right direction. It turns out it was caused by incorrect permissions on my ssh files. To resolve, I used

cd ~ chmod go-w .ssh .ssh/authorized_key*

Upgrade from Gutsy to Hardy

admin — Wed, 21 May 2008 19:50:26 +0000

I have admittedly put it off for way too long. The recent OpenSSL Vulnerability with weak keys prompted me to change that on one of my systems. I was forced to use dist-upgrade when OpenSSL would not update, leaving me to continuously recreating weak keys. While I normally update packages using the command line, I was hesitant of using the GUI for Adept Manager. My previous attempts with dist-upgrade have all been failures (From Edgy to Feisty to Gutsy…) so I was not really expecting a smoothe transition. I used the GUI Adept Manager because it was the recommended method per the Kubuntu Hardy Heron upgrade documentation. Adept immediately gave me an error and closed the first time I tried. I rebooted and tried again with the same error. I kept trying, and it finally decided it would do it…and it did it well. I rebooted and I was almost unable to tell any difference. I did notice I had the new wallpaper available, but otherwise, OpenSSL let me create new, uncompromised keys… and that was what was important to me. It was so painless, I felt brave and tried it on another server. This time, no error message, and it upgraded just as easily. I still have one workstation remaining on Gutsy, a laptop that I don’t have any pressing need to update. The slow server took about two hours to update, and the faster one took about one hour.

The OpenSSL Vulnerability

admin — Tue, 20 May 2008 14:00:21 +0000

I recently established my network to use SSH connections. My three Ubuntu systems I discovered were using weak keys that had been generated using the flawed packages. If you haven’t been paying attention, Canonical issued USN-612-1 on 5/13/2008. If you’re using keys that have been generated since September 2006, it’s likely that you need to regenerate all keys. If you have any doubts, I encourage you to regenerate all keys. It will affect any key used that was generated on a compromised system. The biggest trouble for me was getting OpenSSL and OpenSSH-server packages to update. I used the ssh-copy-id command to make it the process easy for me.

Webmin is my new favorite admin ninja tool

admin — Sat, 17 May 2008 00:57:45 +0000

I have been struggling for some time with finding a way of properly managing my network, from a easy to use, fast interface. I’m pretty much set in stone that a web solution was what I was looking for. I found it in a tool called Webmin. You can download it from http://www.webmin.com. It’s built on PHP and allows the user to completely administer a system from remote. It has user-programmable modules, so it can be used to configure anything. I especially appreciate the Custom Commands, because it allows me to establish custom buttons that edit specific files. I’m able to use it to manage packages, shares, users, mail, files, apache, mysql, samba, and a whole lot more. To me, the best part of it is I can configure everything in a comfortable interface, from an application that suits my environment, my web browser. The list of available modules is massive! Practically one for every purpose.

My Useful In Folder Script

admin — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 03:55:25 +0000

Having been a long time user of 4DOS in my pre-win95 days, I had developed some batch files and/or aliases that I were quite handy in that environment. Switching to another operating system that’s more flexible with the command line, I’ve re-implemented some of those batch files and aliases. Here’s one of my favorites, and while it’s pretty simple, I use it all the time. It switches to a folder using the pushd command, executes your chosen command, and then uses popd to switch back to the original folder. It has no error checking of it’s own and it has no instructions. I did it in this fashion to keep it as light and quick as possible.

#!/bin/bash ## In Folder script by Joshua Kersey ## http://www.forwardyouth.com/ubuntu pushd "$1" "$2" popd

Let me know if you’ve got any suggestions for improvement.

Updates for KDE4 Reveal Fewer Crashes and The Same Big Problems

admin — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 19:53:11 +0000

There’s been many updates to KDE4, and while spending another day with KDE4 yesterday, I was relieved to find many of the segfaults and KDE crash errors had been resolved. I was disappointed to not be able to find any way of saving my session for KDE4, other than it saving my previous session. I use Manually saved sessions because of convenience and consistency on all my workstations and servers. I was also still unable to lock my workstation.

Kubuntu 8.04 Beta Hardy Heron Is Now Available

admin — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 01:35:47 +0000

It’s officially released, the Beta that is. Get your copy from : http://releases.ubuntu.com/releases/kubuntu/8.04

Kubuntu Update Hardy Alpha 6

admin — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:56:12 +0000

It has been a month since I last wrote about Kubuntu, and there have been some promising updates. First, the update to Hardy Alpha 6 puts us one milestone closer to the first beta release. While today is supposed to be the Beta Release, I’m still awaiting for an announcement on the official home page. Currently there are two different LiveCD’s for HA6. One with KDE3.5 and another with KDE4.

Changing AutoAction for Media Types in KDE

admin — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 04:09:13 +0000

I recently made the mistake of auto-selecting the wrong action when I inserted a new blank DVD while at the same time telling it to not prompt me again. It really caused havoc when creating multiple copies in k3b. Fortunately the IRC channel was very helpful and NickPresta answered my query. To change these kind of actions, you can launch kcontrol by using alt->f2, typing kcontrol, selecting peripherals and then the storage and media subcategory. Here, use the drop down to select the proper media type… notice the scroll list. Highlight the action you want to do automatically, and then click the toggle as AutoAction. It worked great for me.

Fix for problems with suspend and hibernate

admin — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 02:37:38 +0000

I’ve recently learned that many issues related to suspend and hibernate are directly related to the video drivers. Even when not using the restricted drivers, often laptops still don’t correct handle suspend, hibernate, and resumes for both. I’ve written about my problems with suspend and hibernate in the past, and I’ve recently received help from the Dell Ubuntu Project and they’ve confirmed my bug report . Fortunately the provided an easy fix, even if it is unsupported. The Envy program correctly installs the most current version of the nVidia driver for my laptop and then suspend and hibernate worked after rebooting.