One of the reasons I switched to MySQL instead of using the built in phonebook was because the numbers weren’t matching the ones in the internal phonebook. The built in phonebook only allows numbers so international numbers with + or numbers with hyphens cannot be matched to phonebook entries. Using a user defined database and query will solve these problems.

Setup MySQL

We need a schema and a table to store the phonebook and I’d suggest a new user with at least SELECT privileges. The script below creates a schema called freepbx and a table called phonebook:
--
-- Create schema freepbx
--

CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS freepbx;
USE freepbx;

--
-- Definition of table `freepbx`.`phonebook`
--

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `freepbx`.`phonebook`;
CREATE TABLE `freepbx`.`phonebook` (
`name` varchar(50) NOT NULL,
`number` varchar(20) NOT NULL,
`phone` varchar(10) DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`name`,`number`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;
phonebook.zip

The table contains 3 fields:

• name – The name of the number
• number – The matching phone number
• phone – The type of phone number E.g mob

Add Contacts

Run the following query to insert new contacts in the phonebook:
insert freepbx.phonebook (name, number, phone) values ('Danny','123456','mob');
Replace Danny, 123456. mob with your own values. The name and number (the first 2 items in the values) are required and the phone (‘mob in the example) is optional. When omitting the phone field run the following query instead:
insert freepbx.phonebook (name, number) values ('Danny','123456');
The name and number combined must be unique otherwise it won’t create an entry in the database. See below for how it will be displayed on the phone / reports.

The Siemens S68H which comes with the Siemens Gigaset 685IP will display all the caller ID if it fits on the display but the text will “just go off the screen” if it does not, only display the first part of the name. The number is always displayed below the caller ID where possible.

Setup FreePBX

Log into FreePBX and go to Tools Setup (tab) > Inbound Call Control > CallerID Lookup Sources Click the Add CID Lookup Source button to add a new phonebook directory. Select MySQL from the Source type This will change the require informations on the page. Enter the following information:

Source Description: MySQL
Source type: MySQL
Cache results: yes [tick]
Host: [server address]
Database: freepbx
Query: SELECT CONCAT(name, IF(phone IS NOT NULL,CONCAT(' (', phone, ')'), '')) as cid FROM phonebook WHERE number like '[NUMBER]'
Username: [username]
Password: [password]

Source description can be any name and it will be used a reference in other settings. The Host will typically be localhost unless the MySQL database is installed on a different machine.

The query will show Danny (mob) if the phone field is populated. The brackets are automatically inserted. If the phone field is empty (NULL in the database) it will just show the name Danny

Press the Submit Changes button to save the new caller ID look up.

Go to Setup (tab) > Inbound Call Control > Inbound Routes and select an inbound route which will use the new phonebook. Under the CID Lookup Source section select the phonebook called MySQL (or what ever it was named in the Source description) in the Source dropdown.

Press the Submit button to save the change and repeat for all other inbound routes which will use the MySQL phonebook.

Apply the changes for all the settings to take hold.

Summary

Having MySQL as a source makes it a lot more flexible and customizable. Also it can be linked to an existing directory. More technical knowledge is required to manage the contacts but that comes with the flexibility.

Setup MySQL CallerID Lookup Source on FreePBX

Related posts:

1. Enabling Remote Access To MySQL
2. MySQL Tuning
3. Linksys SPA3102 And FreePBX On Ubuntu 10.04

1. Create a new disk which is larger than the original
2. Attach it to the VM
3. Download Gparted Live CD ISO file from http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php
4. “Insert” the CD into the virtual machine by selecting the Gparted Live ISO file downloaded in the previous step
5. Boot the VM and select to boot from CD
6. Follow the onscreen prompt to boot Gparted Live in X (GUI) mode
7. Gparted should start after it has booted. Note the disks path of the small (source) and larger (destination) drives
8. Enter the following command to copy from one drive to the other:dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb where /dev/sda is the source and /dev/sdb is the destination. This will take a while to finish
9. Refresh Gparted and the new drive will have partitions and data matching the old drive
10. Move and resize the partitions
11. Double click on the Exit button on the desktop and select Shutdown
12. Go back to the Storage settings for the VM and re-arrange the disk SATA port in the Attributes section.
13. Change the SATA port so that the new drive is on the port the old drive was on. This requires assigning the old drive to a third port, change the new drive to the old port and change the old drive port to the old new drive port
14. Save the changes and boot the VM

If any of the partitions were deleted and re-created the UUID needs to be updated. See Replace /dev/xxx With UUID

Ensure the new disk boots before detaching the old drive.

increase size of virtual disk

Related posts:

1. Formatting A Floppy Disk In Linux
2. VirtualBox With Ubuntu Quick Review
3. Ubuntu LVM2 – Smart Storage

Software and services for password manager have been around for a long time. I was skeptical about using such products because I thought it was leaving “all your eggs in one basket”. Loose your key file and / or password, goodbye to your box of login details. It also have it’s advantages too. For example it can automatically populate a log in form and if it has a password generator, it will (mostly) always be more secure than one that is written down or remembered from a dictionary word(s).

I decided to try such services after all the news around Sony’s PSN fiasco and even more services such as EA and Code Masters break in.

Scope

For my first venture into using such software I decided to limit the use to my non-essential accounts such as forums and casual websites which require a password. If I loose the password for such sites I can reset them and more importantly not care (as much) if I loose them.

What’s On Offer?

I was considering what I believe to be the two popular solutions: LastPass and KeePass. They do the same thing but their implementation is very different. LastPass is a Software As A Service (Saas) where everything is stored in the cloud. It is accessible online and using browser plugins and as an App on phones. The mobile editions are not free compared to the browser versions but it is cheap. Recently LastPass was compromised and shows what the dangers of trusting sensitive information to third parties or service outage.

KeePass on the other hand is a local client which also have plugins for various browsers. I opted for this solution and decided to manage the distribution of the password database externally. KeePass is not as well integrated as LastPass but at least I know who and where my password DB is. KeePass is open source and there are currently no cost to use the software.

Both solutions are cross platform and offer mobile clients.

Distributing KeePass

KeePass uses a .db file to store the database of passwords. Multiple databases and therefore files can be created in any accessible locations. This makes it very easy to send or use a file sharing service. I chose Dropbox as my preferred service. Sending a file makes it vulnerable because it can be intercepted. In this case (and for any single point of entry / failure) use a strong password for your KeePass databases. I also recommend using a keyfile / password combination.

Setup

KeePass needs to be installed and a new database needs to be created. Go to http://keepass.info/ and download the latest version. I chose 2.x branch. Follow the on-screen prompts to install the program. Start the program and proceed to create a new database. This will prompt to save the database as a file. Save it in the Dropbox folder so that it is synchronized. It may also prompt to save the key file if chosen to use a key file. I’d recommend not saving this to Dropbox and manually copying it to other locations / devices as this will not change like the password database will. Also this is needed every time to log into the database.

Browser Support

There are plugins for web browsers which will link to the KeePass database. Using the plugins allow the web browser to automatically enter username and passwords and prompt to save login details. I tried KeeFox with Firefox which worked but in order for KeeFox to work KeePass also had to be running which meant you had to type in the password everytime you started Firefox. You don’t have to login but it meant KeeFox wouldn’t have access to the login details. Also you could save your password so you don’t have to enter it when KeePass started but I felt that neglected the point of using a password manager. It’s a balance of convenience versus security.

Limitations

One problem I had encountered was integration with native software. Whilst the browser is supported fairly well, there are no hooks or integration with desktop software. One restriction I hit was logging into a web service within a game e.g Windows Live, EA, etc. It meant I had to minimize (and hope it did not crash), find and copy the password to clipboard and switch back in good time before KeePass wiped the clipboard. What made it worse was some games (like Mass Effect 2) did not allow pasting of passwords! The automatic typing of the password which was aimed at passwords on webpages or when a dialogue box appears doesn’t always work within the game. I would suspect this is the same for all applications.

Corruption

I received the error message above which means I am totally locked out of my password database!

Summary

Whilst I’m still cynical about password managers I can see it being a valuable tool. My main concern is putting “all your eggs in one basket” so to speak but at the same time cannot remember a 64bit password. The final straw came when my key file stopped working and I uninstalled it. I believe 2 factor authentication is the way forward.

Sony PSN hack is only the 4th largest data breach of all time

LastPass melts down and leaves many users (hopefully, temporarily) stranded without their passwords

Related posts:

1. MythWeb Database Access Denied
2. Enabling Remote Access To MySQL
3. Think Post Problem

sipgate provides a SIP trunk which can be used to make or receive calls. It has one of the best cost value I have seen because there are no line rentals, a local number can be selected within the UK or have a premium non-geographic number. The price of calls are also cheaper than my current teleco (Virgin Media).

Register

I missed this opportunity but before registering ensure you can perform tests within 15 minutes of signing up. Sipgate allows free calls for testing after verifying your email address. With this in mind continue to setup FreePBX before signing up to gain maximum number of time for testing!

FreePBX Setup

Navigate and login to the FreePBX administration page. Go to Setup (tab) > Basic (heading) > Trunks > Add SIP Trunk to set up the Trunk. Enter the following information in the relevant fields whilst leaving the rest default if not mentioned:

Trunk Name: sipgate
Outbound CallerID:[Outgoing telephone]
CID Options: Allow Any CID
Maximum Channels: 1

Outgoing Settings

Trunk Name: sipgate
PEER Details:
username=[SIP-ID]
type=peer
secret=[SIP password]
qualify=yes
nat=yes
insecure=very
host=sipgate.co.uk
fromuser=[SIP-ID]
fromdomain=sipgate.co.uk
dtmfmode=rfc2833
context=from-trunk
canreinvite=no
disallow=all
allow=gsm&ulaw&alaw

Incoming Settings: [Clear all fields]
Register String: [SIP-ID]:[SIP password]@sipgate.co.uk/[SIP-ID]

Trunk name for both sections are required but can be named differently but for this example it’s called sipgate. The fields which have brackets around them “[]” means this comes from sipgate and requires going to sipgate’s settings page to get it. For now enter some random number and it can be replaced later. If you have been following my guide then continue configure the rest below otherwise scroll down.

Click Submit Changes button to save the trunk.

Next is to add an inbound route by going to Setup (tab) > Inbound Call Control (heading) > Inbound Routes

The page will have a blank form ready to accept a new inbound route. Enter the following:

Description: sipgate
DID Number: [SIP-ID]
Set Destination: [set extension]

The description is again a personal choice, the [SIP-ID] is on the sipgate website. Just like before enter a random number for now and it can be changed later. The destination should be the device or devices it should ring.

Press the submit button to save the inbound route.

Add an outbound route so that FreePBX can make calls via sipgate:
Setup (tab) > Basic (heading) > Outbound Routes

Route Name: sipgate
Dial Patterns that will use this Route:

prefix: 8
pattern match: .

Trunk Sequence for Matched Routes: sipgate

Route name is customizable and so is the dial pattern but the above is similar to the default “dial 9 for outside line” except this is set to 8. This override is required when adding credit to sipgate account for making outbound calls. Alternatively use a sip client to connect to sipgate. The trunk sequence should include the sipgate trunk created at the top of this section.

Submit the changes to save.

If you have not listened to what I have said and you have already signed up to sipgate.co.uk then apply the settings and your ready to test/use.

NAT

Ports that needs to be opened are:

• SIP: 5060 (UDP)

I also had to disable SIP ALG in my Netgear WNDR3700 router. This is located in WAN Setup > NAT Filtering and checking the Disable SIP ALG. Without doing this you may not hear the caller.

Register Part 2

Go to http://www.sipgate.co.uk and sign up. The password for accessing the site will be different to the one used Once complete and your email is verified login to sipgate and click on Settings on the top right of the screen. It should be under your full name. The Overview tab will contain all the information needed.

Go back and enter the details in FreePBX, submit the changes and apply the changes for the settings to take hold.

Payment

Adding credit for the first time to the account is simple if the system worked. Just like a topup it asks for amount to credit the account, payment details and security code… The security code can be obtained by calling the number 10200. This number can only be called from sipgate. A good way to weed out robots. The problem was I rang the number but there was no sound on the call. The call was definitely answered and I could hear and talk when receiving calls.

I even tried opening ports and tried using the STUN server to connect to sipgate but I still had the same issue. It turned out this was a NAT/Firewall issue which blocked incoming voice data which was solved in the NAT section. After configuring it correctly I got through to the automated number and entered the security number. Before I fixed it I used Paypal instead which did not require a security number.

Summary

sipgate is a very affordable SIP trunk compared to other services I have seen including Skype (for SIP/ Connect) which require a monthly fee similar to a monthly line rental charge.

The call rates are also fairly cheap and also provides emergency call locations to emergency services. You can pick the locale of the phone number which is a nice option to masque or provide friends and relatives a local number.

http://www.sipgate.co.uk

Related posts:

1. Adding Outgoing Skype For SIP To FreePBX
2. Linksys SPA3102 And FreePBX On Ubuntu 10.04
3. FreePBX MySQL Caller Lookup Source

I was looking for a replacement to Dropbox after the EULA / T&C changes and found SpiderOak to be a very attractive alternative. It’s a backup and folder sharing / sync software which runs on all 3 major platforms (Windows, Mac and Linux). In this article I will compare the differences between Dropbox and SpiderOak.

Signup

Registering for an account was fairly simply. Not much different to other sites around today. Entering the usual details of username, password and email address with a confirmation email after. The service provides 2GB for free which is the same as Dropbox but there is no possibility of extending this without paying. Dropbox has a referral feature which adds 250mb to your account. I have accumulated a few referrals in my time so I have more than the 2GB space but I use less than this currently (but close to the limit).

Dropbox only required a login for each client to access the same account but SpiderOak required more.

Desktop Software

The user interface is not as user friendly as Dropbox but it is also a lot more powerful. Consider SpiderOak a power user tool. It splits items up by category of what you want it to do. There are:

• Status – What SpiderOak is currently doing on the machine
• Backup – Used to manage backup of local directories
• View – Look at items in the “cloud” (backups). The browser also includes revision of each file if multiple backups exist
• Sync – Allow backups to be synchronized across multiple devices
• Share – Allow other people access to files or upload to your SpiderOak

Starting with the Status tab, there are multiple tabs within this page. The first one is overview. This is a good indicator as to what is happening with the 3 main features of Spideroak: Backup, Sync and Share. There are small details within each status such as how many files are currently being upload and the remaining amount in backup, Number of “Syncers” in Sync and the number of sharers in Share. Moving to the Queue sub tab within the Status page shows the files that are waiting to be processed.
Actions
Logs show what happened in the past such as files being uploaded and downloaded, shared or sync’d and Stats just gives a summary of what the program has done.

Unlike Dropbox where a directory is placed on your computer where everything is sync SpiderOak uses the more traditional method of allowing users to choose the folders to be uploaded. This is the job of the Backup tab.

The View tab shows a list of files in a tree node structure similar to Microsoft Windows classic sidebar view. It’s quick and efficient but does not allow multiselect (to delete multiple backup files for example) nor any preview of the file. The view also shows the amount of space free and used by the backup in graphic form (where as the Status page show it in numeric format).

Sync allows multiple computers to share and keep files up to date with each other. This is the core of what Dropbox does.

SpiderOak also allows users to share access to other users. The difference with SpiderOak is that they allow other uses to login without a passwork. Also the public area is designated by yourself instead of SpiderOak where as Dropbox have public folders where files are shared and stored.

Initial Upload

As with any online backup systems there largest and longest part of process is the initial upload of the files. Fortunately SpiderOak compresses the files prior to upload making this process quicker. Dropbox does not do this making the initial upload longer. For some reason after every upload the files took a long to in the “finalizing” stage. Even if the file size was marked as 0 bytes? This occurred through the time I was using it.

Subsequent Uploads

Updating existing files for both services are fairly similar. Whilst Dropbox doesn’t compress the files to be uploaded it does upload only the changed bytes.

Sync

One disadvantage of SpiderOak is the the lack of LAN Sync. This greatly increases the speed of synchronization because the files are transfer over the network instead of out through the Internet and back again.

I encountered a server error 500 when I was adding a device which was running on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. It quit automatically but when I went to add it again the device had been added to the list. I then had to go back and select reinstalling device so that I could select the device from a list instead creating one. There was about 1-2 minutes while it was doing a 10 step process but eventually loaded the normal SpiderOak interface.

Once the second computer was up and running I had to set up a new backup directory. This directory would be where files are synchronized to. I used my Dropbox directory as a test. I disabled Dropbox on both computers but ensuring they were both synchronized. Once that was done my Windows computer already had a backup set up of the directory and everything was uploaded. When I tried to add the second Linux computer’s Dropbox directory it kept complaining I didn’t have enough space and kept popping up with a message to buy more space. I thought the “advanced de-duplication” would see it was the same directory with the same stuff in it as the Windows computer! Alas it didn’t. To get it to work I renamed the Dropbox directory and created an empty folder, added it to be backed up and then I was able to select the 2 Dropbox directories from each computer for synchronizing.

Couple hours later and it has managed to create the folders on the second computer but still no files. This is unacceptable!

Pricing

As of 13/09/2011

• 2GB – Free
• 100GB – $10 per month or $100 per year for each 100GB

In comparison Dropbox charges $9.99 per month for 50GB which makes SpiderOak cheaper.

Summary

Security perspective it’s great but the trade off for that is recovery. The version backup is a major bonus but again the trade off is space. The latter isn’t an issue because you can turn off versioning to keep the space down.

The biggest issue I had with it was the Sync. The fact that adding the second computer’s directory as a backup with existing files in it causes it to spontaneously show the popup is unacceptable. Whilst I believe the merge tool was built for this situation I think it’s a flawed model. Also the time it took to Sync the files across was too slow. It was during peak time so my bandwidth was throttled by Virgin Media it should at least start to synchronize files across. In the end I gave up and went back to Dropbox.

Dropbox vs. the Alternatives: Which Online Syncing Service Is Right for You?

Related posts:

1. Sync Mozilla Thunderbird Using Dropbox
2. Microsoft FolderShare & iTunes Doesn’t Work
3. Dropbox Causes Duplicate Folders In Mozilla Thunderbird

It seems security was not high on the agenda when FreePBX was initially developed and the developers had built some default and backdoors into a system for easy access. Whilst I think this is a terrible idea, it doesn’t seem like the project has ever cleansed it of all of these developer friendly holes (turned security issues). The article on Nerd Vittles gives a full account of the issue and the username:passwords that were used during the development. They are as follows:

admin:admin
admin:password
admin:passworm
maint:admin
maint:maint
maint:password
maint:passworm
wwwadmin:password
wwwadmin:wwwadmin
wwwadmin:admin
asteriskuser:eLaStIx.asteriskuser.2oo7

The above format is username:password and to test them just go to the administration page of FreePBX http://[server]/admin e.g http://www.dannytsang.co.uk/admin

I do not 100% agree with the starting from scratch with a fresh install because some people may have taken extra precautions (such as myself) so fixing the issue won’t be as bad as stated. There’s also a security primer on the same site which will help with securing FreePBX. The problem is the article doesn’t specifically state how to fix it except to change the default passwords? How? Also the post could go through or link how to backup the existing install so that it’s not 100% lose. I’m not complaining but more like constructive criticism because I’m in that boat.

Some of the techniques to secure web servers and Ubuntu (if FreePBX is running on Ubuntu) will apply to FreePBX and I may post more articles to help secure FreePBX.

News: FreePBX/Asterisk Security Flaw

FreePBX Backdoor Passwords Pose Asterisk Security Threat

Avoiding the $100,000 Phone Bill: A Primer on Asterisk Security

Apache 2 Hardening Tips

Related posts:

1. Remove Ubuntu Keyring Password
2. Remote Extension In FreePBX
3. FreePBX – Common Voicemail Box

To add an Identi.ca account, go to the settings (spanner icon in the top right corner) and Accounts. Click on the Add New Account button. The bottom half of the window will show all the types of accounts that can be added to TweetDeck. Select Twitter and enter the Identi.ca username and password in the “Twitter” username and password field. Click on the Advanced Options link below the password field to reveal more options. In the Twitter Base URL text box, enter http://identi.ca/index.php/api/ and check the details by clicking on the Verify Details button. This will either add or show an error if the details are incorrect. Lastly, save the settings.

How To Use TweetDeck With Identi.ca [w/ Adobe Air Ubuntu Installation Instructions]

Related posts:

1. Bypass Blocked Websites Using SSH Proxy
2. FreePBX MySQL Caller Lookup Source
3. Remove Ubuntu Keyring Password

The package in Ubuntu does not use the standard dos2unix command and instead are:

• fromdos – same as dos2unix
• todos – same as unix2dos

This tool seems to be missing in version 10.04 and onwards.

dos2unix missing (Ubuntu 10.04)

Related posts:

1. WordPress Thumbnail Generation Greyed Out
2. Installing Ubuntu 8.10 From USB Stick
3. Ubuntu Server 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) To 8.04 (Hardy Herring)

It’s been a while since I have used a “stable” software which almost made me tear my hair out! As good as the concept of Synergy is the execution could have been better. All credit to the software and it’s contributors/team for making it usable.

Synergy is a software that allows more than one machine share a keyboard and mouse. Just like having multiple monitors the mouse cursor will scroll off the edge of one computer say the desktop and onto the other like a laptop.

Features

The best way to describe Synergy is the pictures from their website:

The software is cross platform so the keyboard and mouse can be shared with Windows, Linux and Mac computer all at the same time. In this post however I will be setting it up with 2 Windows machines.

Synergy also can share clipboards too so copying from computer A can be pasted on computer B.

The software uses the server-client model so the computer with the keyboard and mouse that is to be shared runs as the server and all remaining computers are classed as clients. If a client has a connected keyboard and mouse, it can still operate them independently of the server but the client keyboard and mouse cannot control the server – it’s a one way thing.

I will be using the Synergy setup as the example where The server is in the middle and 2 clients are either side of it.

Windows Server

Download and install the Synergy software. At the time I opted for the stable version which was 1.3.6. There are 32 and 64 bit versions so install the correct one for server. Clients can have different bit version to the software and vice-versa.

Once installed, start the software and a very basic window should appear. Change the selection option from Use another computer’s shared keyboard and mouse (client) to Share this computer’s keyboard and mouse (server).

Click on the Configure… button to open up a new dialogue box. This window sets the computers (monitors really) and their orientation. First, add the server computer to top list using the + button. It is recommended the Screen Name should be the same as the computer name found in (My) Computer > (right click) Properties and the Computer name: is the name of the computer.

Leave Aliases as blank (empty).

Leave Options as all unticked and only tick them if there are issues with the stated keys.

Leave Modifiers as is or change according to preference. This may be useful for different operating systems.

Dead Corners prevents the cursor from jumping from one screen to the next. This may happen when using features such as expose on the Mac where moving the mouse to a designated corner will trigger something. Leave this unticked for now.

The next step is to link the computers together. This tells Synergy how the computers are positioned and which computer to go to when the mouse moves to the edge. It can be confusing at first but it means the screens can be linked in a series or in a circle. Always leaving the % of the screen unless the screens are very different. Working from left to right Select right, Client1, Server in the dropdown boxes. The line should read something along the lines of “of the right (part of the screen) of Client1 goes to Server“ so the right edge on Client one links to the Server. Click the + button below to add the link and ready for a new link.

Add the following to join the server to client1, server to client2 and client 2 to server (see above screenshot).

Click OK to close the dialogue box.

Click on the Advanced… button. This is where you specify which screen belongs to this computer. In this case the screen name should be Server. Either change or note down the Port and ensure it is open on the computer. Click OK to save and close.

Next is to register the program to start automatically by clicking on the AutoStart… button. Read and chose the relevant startup option preferred. I would leave it turned off for now because enabling it stopped it from working. It can be uninstalled but it does required Synergy to be restarted (don’t know why it can’t start the server). Close the dialogue box after.

Don’t bother with Test because it was broken I tried it. Go straight to Start button and the server is up and running if there is the Synergy icon in the tray.

Windows Client

Startup Synergy but this time leave it on User another computer’s shared keyboard and mouse (client) and enter the IP or computer name of the server machine.

Click on the Advanced… button and enter the screen associated with the client. So on Client 1 enter Client1 and Client 2 should be Client2.

Next click Start and it should be connected to the server!

Limitations

It’s mainly nice to have features but it’s still worth noting that:

• Clipboard can only share text. I tried images to files but it did not work.
• Dragging files from one screen/computer to another fails. It prevents the cursor from jumping screens whilst dragging something.
• Synergy doesn’t work when the computer is locked. I don’t have a problem with this limitation on security grounds. This also applies to the first login of each computer.
• High system usage / process freezes prevents the mouse from moving to the other computers. This is reasonable limitation because Synergy does not have enough resources to process the mouse move.
• Network Dependent – If the network is down, then the software will not be able to communicate with each other. This may also apply to unstable networks.

Problems

The UI can be confusing. For example I created a link for a computer, pressed the + button to add another and then OK’d it only to find it does not added it to the list unless you press the + button. Trying to remove a computer screen from the list caused Synergy to crash only to find it restoring to the last successful state. I am now confused as to how to remove them! Also the computer the aliases must match the ones typed on the server or it will error out.

A major issue I had with it was the Test function. Every time I tried it, it would either crash or complain it could not connect depending if it was the server or client. This made me go round and round trying different things only to find pressing start on client and server just worked (more or less).

It still prints out a message stating it’s a unstable software even though I’m using the stable version listed their site (64bit only maybe?).

I have noticed a problem where the clipboard is not being passed back and forth at times. Also the scroll wheel only works intermittently (more often not) which is very frustrating!

On Windows 7 client, the cursor centers to the middle of the screen. In a full screen application such as Windows Media Player, the cursor stays hidden.

It’s an understatement to say there are polish needed. Currently it works for what I need and hopefully it will improve over time.

Summary

The motion is very smooth and seamless. The basic functionality is there but can be improved. It’s a good solution for controller 2 or more computers via one keyboard and mouse. The best part of it is the cross platform even if I do not use it.

Synergy

How to Control Multiple Computers with a Single Keyboard and Mouse

Synergy Troubleshooting

Related posts:

1. Logitech G15 and MX Revolution
2. Numpad not working under Gnome
3. Keyboard

I recently upgraded FreePBX from 2.7.1 to 2.8 and from 2.8 to 2.9 the upgrade went OK except for a minor problem where the symbolic link is broken. Whilst this did not cause any problems in terms of the functionality or the workings of the system, it would be nice to solve the problem which appears in the dashboard.

Error Message

The title of the notification is “Symlink from modules failed” with the following body:
Error Symlink from modules failed retrieve_conf failed to sym link:
/etc/asterisk/sip_notify.conf
This can result in FATAL failures to your PBX. If the target file exists, the symlink will not occur and you should rename the target file to allow the automatic sym link to occur and remove this error, unless this is an intentional customization.

Other people have been getting other sym link errors other than sip_notify.conf but the technique should be the same.

The Fix

Take backup copy of the files mentioned:
$sudo cp /etc/asterisk/sip_notify.conf /etc/asterisk/sip_notify.conf.bak
Ensure the backup file have the same permission and ownership as the original.

Remove the original file:
$sudo rm /etc/asterisk/sip_notify.conf

Run retrieve_conf function again. This is triggered by the orange button at the top of the screen which appears when settings have changed but not applied yet. An easy to do this is to go into any of the settings and hit submit. For example Outbound Routes > [select a route] > Submit Changes button. Click on the Apply Configuration Changes button and there error should disappear. To confirm this has worked (because it does not appear all the time) list the directory to see if a new symlink with the same name as the one that was deleted before:
$sudo ls -l
This time it should have a -> to indicated it’s a symlink and point to another path E.g /etc/asterisk/sip_notify.conf -> /var/www/html/admin/modules/core/etc/sip_notify.conf

Symlink from modules failed on status screen after upgrade

Related posts:

1. Remote Extension In FreePBX
2. FreePBX – Common Voicemail Box
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Disable Directory Listings

First directive to change is to stop people browsing through files when a user types in a web address which leads to a folder.

Edit the file /etc/apache2/sites-available/default
changing default for the site config file.
$ sudo service apache2 restart
Find Indexes from the options under the Directory directive and add a subtract sign to disable the option. For example:
<Directory /var/www/>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
allow from all
</Directory>
Becomes
<Directory /var/www/>
Options -Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
allow from all
</Directory>

mod-evasive

As a last measure from a DDOS attach, Apache has a module which black lists IP addresses temporarily. The default rules are:

1. Requesting the same page more than a few times per second
2. Making more than 50 concurrent requests on the same child per second
3. Making any requests while temporarily blacklisted (on a blocking list)

$sudo apt-get install libapache2-mod-evasive

mod-security

Helps stop some injection and Server Side Includes (SSI) attacks:
$sudo apt-get install libapache2-mod-security2

Remove Server Signature & Information

Turn off server information such as version of Apache and HTTP header server information.

$vi /etc/apache2/conf.d/security

Find the following and change the values to Prod and Off
ServerTokens Prod
ServerSignature Off

Update Apache

Keep the software as up to date as possible. New version come out all the time with various fixes and security patches. Fortunately, Debian based systems such as Ubuntu makes this really easy:
$sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Last thing to do is to restart the server for the changes to take hold. Any mis-configuration should be reported when the server tries to start back up. It might be easier to restart after each change to make troubleshooting easier.

Below are some use case specific ways to enhance security. If the below changes breaks a site then revert the changes but for most home uses they can generally be turned off.

Disable SSI

Add a minus sign in front of Includes. E.g:
<Directory /var/www/>
Options -Indexes -Includes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
allow from all
</Directory>

Disable CGI

Add / modify ExecCGI in the directory directive:
<Directory /var/www/>
Options -Indexes -Includes -ExecCGI FollowSymLinks MultiViews
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
allow from all
</Directory>

Disable Symbolic Links

Remove / add a hyphen to FollowSymLinks to disable sym links (like shorts in Windows terms):
<Directory /var/www/>
Options -Indexes -Includes -ExecCGI -FollowSymLinks MultiViews
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
allow from all
</Directory>

Disable All Options

To remove all options above just remove all the options and add the word None
<Directory /var/www/>
Options None
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
allow from all
</Directory>

Almost Secure and Perfect Ubuntu Server

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Invalid command ‘Header’, perhaps misspelled or defined by a module not included in the server configuration

$sudo a2enmod headers to enable the headers module

$sudo service apache2 restart to restart the server for the module to take effect.

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Invalid command ‘ExpiresActive’, perhaps misspelled or defined by a module not included in the server configuration
…fail!

To fix it ensure the “expires” module is loaded:
$sudo a2enmod expires

Then restart Apache server
$sudo service apache2 restart

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First thing to do is install the script
$sudo apt-get install chkrootkit

Next run it:
$sudo chkrootkit
or redirect the output to a file
$sudo chkrootkit > rootkit.txt
That’s it!

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A problem I had encountered was navigating to the voicemail login page was blank. The page loaded successfully with just a white page. The cause is the ARI Framework module is not installed and to rectify it is as simple as downloading and installing the FreePBX ARI Framework module via the Admin page.

Recordings page is blank after update 2.9

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Following the official Cyanogenmod wiki page was ok till I got to the step about HBOOT. First time I clicked on the link to download the HBOOT drivers but didn’t actually read how to install the HBOOT driver. My mistake. I found theunlockr.com to have a video of most of the process so I managed to install HBOOT on my second try. My first try it detected the device but no driver was found (as expected) but when I updated the driver it failed. I unplugged it, took the battery out and back in again and tried again. This time the HBOOT driver detected the phone successfully. Not convinced it had worked I removed the driver using Windows device manager and went through the whole process again.

Once that was done I moved onto the next step which was to start the unrevoked 3 process. Again I ran into an issue here too. I enabled USB Debugging as per the instructions and plugged the phone in whilst the unrevoked programme was running and waiting for device however it stayed on the screen. The video on theunlockr.com mentions this and said to try closing and re-openning unrevoked 3 program. I still had the same problem.

I noticed the device manager wasn’t picking up the phone so I closed unrevoked, installed HTC Sync software and removed HTC sync but left the other 2 bits of software it had installed with HTC sync. I started unrevoked and plugged the phone in and this time it worked!

Next problem – endless reboot. The phone stays on the HTC screen and suddently goes blank and shows the HTC screen again. Everytime it does it, it vibrates just like starting the phone from a cold boot. Luckily I took a backup using Clockwordmod so I took the battery out and put it back in again, turned the phone on with the volume down button pressed and went to recovery mode and restored from my backup which fixed the issue. I also believe I could have went straight to flash the Cyanogenmod would work too but I didn’t have to go down this root.

Finally the last problem which I cannot resolve is the old versions of Google Apps. I noticed the Google Market Place was still using the old version 1.82 instead of 2.x (2.12 at the time of writing). Looking around the web it seems that I am fortunate not to have the other problem which is where it Force Closes a lot of the time. In light of this I decided to leave it alone if it means it doesn’t crash.

HTC Desire (GSM): Full Update Guide

How To: Root the HTC Desire (Unrevoked Method) (Updated 1.18.11)

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The two cordless phones that we have were fine till we moved into a house. The two phones suddenly became too far from room to room. It was time again to look for a phone which was scalable and with Asterisk / FreePBX setup and working, it was time to look for a new home phone to accompany the existing ones and work with Asterisk.

Hardware

After purchasing the Motorola MotoLivn D812 two handset I was not very happy with the ergonomics nor the initiative of the device although it did help me setup FreePBX with SPA 3102.

A damning limitation with the current setup is if one handset is active e.g listening to voicemail the other handset cannot make another call e.g to it’s own voicemail or to and outside line.

I then looked for a phone that was capable of traditional landlines and VOIP which the Siemens Gigaset does.

The box label stated the 1 handset package that I bought was made around 2007 where as the two other handsets I brought were made in 2009. Between the three there was no noticeable physical difference between the newer and older handset. They all function the same and only the software configuration was different.

Battery

The battery life on the handsets were impressive! The instructions say to cycle the power at least once before use so I changed all three up and started an intercom call between two of them. Four hours later and only one out of approximately four bars went. I left it to discharge over night.

Functions

The phone has a mail feature which (annoyingly) flashes red on the key for voicemail / missed calls. I have set the device up so that when you select the voicemail message it dials the voicemail number. One of the best thing about this phone is that it syncs across all handsets so if the red blink for a missed call / voicemail appears, it will show for all handsets. If you view the missed call or listen to the voicemail so that there are no unread entries, all the other handsets would eventually sync and pick up that it has been read and the LED won’t flash on all of them. A small but nice feature compared to the Motorola handset which you had to go to each handset and acknowledge the missed calls one by one.

Over time the red flash has become really annoying because it constantly flashes even if you acknowledge there’s an unread voicemail. There is an option to turn the red light off but then there is no clear indicator that there was a missed call or a voicemail.

Due to the hybrid setup of my house if the call was picked up on the old Motorola handsets, the Siemens thinks the call was missed and vice versa. This is a given problem because there is no way to notify one or the other if the handset stopped ringing because it was picked up or the caller hung up. Hopefully moving to a single system it will resolve this.

The display can be set to keep the back light lit up. This is nice if your using the clock as a screensaver. The screensaver can be set to a picture, clock or live information such as weather, stock ticker, etc. A feature you don’t see on all phones. The phone has very small amount of memory to allows users to put their own pictures to be used as screensaver as well as phonebook etc using the provided software. I have not tested this as I would use Asterisk / FreePBX to manage all the caller ID information.

Configuration

I had trouble with accessing the online webpage which was like a router where you can change the settings of the phone/base station. I tried everything networking related to get it to work but gave up trying to access it on the computer. It was only when I used a handset and went to check for updates which it found and downloaded did it fix the problem.

685IP Integration With FreePBX

At first the settings page had some different labels to what I was use to. For example the Domain address I left blank at first because I wasn’t running it in a domain but only to find it was to the PBX host server.

Besides that fact it was very simple to set up with FreePBX.

FreePBX Settings

Create one extension for each handset that you have connected to the Gigaset. This allows each handset to be recognised as an individual handset and are the steps described below. An alternative is to create one extension for all the handsets however if one handset is in use the others may be unavailable which is not desirable.

1. Navigate to the FreePBX Administrator’s web page. Log in as if required
2. Click on Extensions under the basic category on the left hand side menu.
3. Click on the Add Extensions from the right hand side menu.
4. Select Generic SIP Device from the Device dropdown menu.
5. Click Submit button.
6. Ensure the settings are similar to the settings below:



7. Change the following fields to suite your system / preference:
1. User Extension – The internal number to be assigned to the handset.
2. Display Name – The name which will appear on the handset from an internal call e.g Handset 1 calls Handset 2 where Handset 2 will see the display name.
3. secret – The password for the handset when registering with Asterisk/FreePBX.
4. Voicemail – Enable or disable and setting any other details related to voiccemail.
8. Click Submit button to save the extension.
9. Repeat above steps till all handset extensions have been created.
10. Apply the changes to make it take effect.

Unfortunately the S685IP does not handle outgoing calls like the Sipura 3102 does. This means making calls must be configured in the Gigaset page.

Siemens Gigaset Base Station Settings

With FreePBX setup and ready for the new handsets, configure the handsets to use the newly created extensions.

1. Navigate to the Simens Gigaset webpage.
2. Login to gain access to the configuration pages.
3. Go to the Settings tab/
4. Click on Telephony > Connections from the tree menu on the left where it will list up to 6 phones.
5. Edit each phone in turn that will be / is connected to the base station.
6. Click on Show Advanced Settings to see all the settings and for each phone changing the following information:
1. Connection Name or Number – Display name that appears on the handset when it’s on standby
2. Authentication Name – Set it the User Extension from the FreePBX setup.
3. Authentication password –
4. Username – Set it the User Extension from the FreePBX setup.
5. Domain – IP Address of FreePBX server
6. Proxy server address – IP Address of FreePBX server
7. Registrar server port – IP Address of FreePBX server
8. Outbound proxy – IP Address of FreePBX server
9. Save the changes



7. It is also advised to disable the voicemail service on the Siemens Gigaset if your using FreePBX and set the voicemail dialling number:
1. Go to the Gigaset web page, login and go to the Settings tab.
2. Select Telephony > Network Mailbox
3. For each handset enter the voicemail number (default is *97)
4. Save the settings.

Limitation

The phone is really good but like everything there are limitations.

The one big lack of functionality is the incoming PSTN fixed line and ability to pass it to a PBX. If the unit was used as a standalone without a PBX then it would more than what a “normal” consumer would need.

Summary

This is an exceptional phone package which may be over kill for low to mid consumers but definitely worth considering for mid-high to high end consumers to even small businesses.

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I have been using Dropbox to sync my mail across multiple computers (I’m old school using POP protocol) which has been working great.

Recently I received an email from Dropbox saying I was running out of space on my free 2GB account. I found that my Mozilla Thunderbird profile which contained mainly my emails were taking up about 1.1 GB of hard disk / Dropbox space.

Compacting Folders

According to the Mozillazine article compacting folders reduces the size of the files used to hold email and email information. What happens is when an email is “deleted” it is actually hidden from the user but remains in file and is “marked for deletion”. Moving files also does the same thing. It creates a copy of the email in the respective “folder” in Mozilla Thunderbird and hides the original email in the previous folder. This means the size of the files related to email gets bigger and bigger.

The reasoning for this behaviour is reasonable. If a user deletes or moves emails in quick succession it makes it quicker to hide something than it is to physically remove / update a file on a hard disk. All email programs does this. The difference between Thunderbird and other email clients is that Thunderbird does not have automatic folder compacting set to run automatically.

How To Compact A Folder

If the folder you wish to compact have a lot of emails or have not been compacted before then it is best to back up your profile before doing so.

Whilst it’s good practice to have a backup compacting folders may take a while to complete and if anything wrong occurs it may corrupt the folder. The profile to back up is found in Tools > Account Settings...
Select Local Folders in the left hand side and the profile path can be found in Local directory field.

If multiple local accounts are used each one should be backed up before bulk compacting.

• Open Mozilla Thunderbird.
• Select the folder to compact
• Right click on the folder
• Select Compact
• Select OK to any dialogues which may appear.

To do all the folders the above steps needs to be performed on all folders or set up automatic compacting.

Automatic Compact

Mozilla Thunderbird supports automatic compacting based on size of a folder.

• Tools > Options…
• Advanced category
• Network & Disc Space tab
• Tick Compact folders when it will save over n kb when n is the number of space it will save. I have set this to 50 MB
• Click OK

Compacting folders

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In VirtualBox however this is not easy to do. There is no GUI option to clone or copy a snapshot or virtual hard drive in VDI format.

A simple copy and pasting of the .vdi file DOES NOT WORK!

Alas command line to the rescue! Using VBoxManage command it can clone a VDI file and can be easily added to the Virtual Media Manager and to be used in place or in another VM. As long as the setup is similar to the original VM it should work.

First thing I had to do was add VBoxMange.exe to the Windows path. To do this locate the VirtualBox install directory. By default this is installed to C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox
Copy the path to clipboard and open up System Properties: Right Click My Computer > Properties > Advanced system settings

Go to the Advanced tab and click on Environment Variables… button. A new window should pop up. In the System variables list, find, select and press Edit… button for a variable called Path. Append a semi-colon and then paste / type the path to the VirtualBox install directory e.g C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox Click OK to all opened windows to save and exit.

Open a command prompt Start Menu > Run Type cmd and click the OK button. The familiar DOS looking window appears. Navigate to where the .vdi file to be cloned and run the following command:
VBoxManage clonevdi "[name of vdi].vdi" "[name of new vdi].vdi"
Replace [name of vdi].vdi with the VDI file name of the original file and [name of new vdi].vdi with the new file name.
For example:
VBoxManage clonevdi "Linux2.6.vdi" "TestLinux2.6.vdi"
Press enter to execute the command and wait for it to complete the copy.

When it finishes go back / start up VirtualBox and go to the media manager File > Virtual Media Manager and select the Hard Disks tab. Click the Add button and locate the cloned .vdi file. All that’s left now is to create a new VM with similar settings to the previous VM e.g if it’s a Windows XP ensure it is set to Windows XP in the new VM and select the new Hard drive in the existing drive drop down box.

VBoxManage not working

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