Escaping usernames during RADIUS accounting

Today I encountered a problem in my FreeRADIUS setup. Usernames can be sent to my RADIUS servers as a simple username (e.g. jonathan) or with a realm prepended (e.g. DOMAINjonathan). When a username with a realm gets sent to a RADIUS authentication server that is doing MSCHAP, the domain is automatically stripped and you neverContinue reading “Escaping usernames during RADIUS accounting”

Upgrading samba breaks it

I have a samba fileserver which has been happily running for a couple of years with identical config but on different versions of samba, and on Fedora and CentOS. The latest incarnation was running samba 3.2.11. But the other day, my samba package was upgraded to 3.4.1 Samba shares on the server immediately stopped workingContinue reading “Upgrading samba breaks it”

SSH tunnelling to your home network

SSH tunelling is no big secret, and there are loads of guides out there that explain how it is done in generic terms. This guide is slightly different, as it explains how to tunnel to hosts that are not publicly addressable. For example, if you have a Linux server as your home network gateway thenContinue reading “SSH tunnelling to your home network”

Configuring sendmail to use a Smart Host

Chances are if you have a Linux server in your home, you’ll want it to be able to send you emails, e.g. its daily logwatch or the output from cron jobs. But most ISPs block SMTP so you can’t directly send emails from your server to wherever they need to go, which is what theContinue reading “Configuring sendmail to use a Smart Host”

Federated tables in MySQL

Yesterday at work I had the need to create a federated table in MySQL. I read about the federated engine and thought I had it sussed. I noted: Beginning with MySQL 5.1.26, the FEDERATED storage engine is not enabled by default in the running server; to enable FEDERATED, you must start the MySQL server binaryContinue reading “Federated tables in MySQL”

An easy way to generate an iptables config

This is a +1 for Easy Firewall Generator for iptables. Of course any self-respecting sysadmin should be able to set up iptables, but sometimes starting off can be tricky. So I use the this website, which lets you define the basics using a handful of checkboxes, and it generates a script that configures your computer’sContinue reading “An easy way to generate an iptables config”

Resetting the BIOS on an EeePC 701

This evening, my other half’s Eee 701 broke. Whenever she turned it on, the green power LED and blue wireless LED came on, stayed on, and nothing else happened. The screen backlight didn’t come on, no power was supplied to the USB ports and the fan did not start to spin. I tried the usualContinue reading “Resetting the BIOS on an EeePC 701”

Google calendar

I decided that I need to sort out the way I do my personal calendaring. Currently I only use my phone’s built-in calendar. I nearly always have my phone with me, but it’s a bit of a pain to enter stuff on when I’m sat at a computer anyway, and carrying all that information solelyContinue reading “Google calendar”