Linux and Open Source Blog

Monthly Archives: January 2008

Intrusion Detection: Snort, Base, MySQL, and Apache2 On Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon)

Posted on by Posted in applications/software, guides, how to, howtoforge, security .

This tutorial is based on another howto written by DevilMan, however I didn’t like the idea of manually compiling every package or the use of a GUI to get the software installed. This howto will work on a Gutsy Server or Gutsy desktop. With that said some of this howto is a direct copy from the original.

In this tutorial I will describe how to install and configure Snort (an intrusion detection system (IDS)) from source, BASE (Basic Analysis and Security Engine), MySQL, and Apache2 on Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon). Snort will assist you in monitoring your network and alert you about possible threats. Snort will output its log files to a MySQL database which BASE will use to display a graphical interface in a web browser.

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The Long Awaited KDE 4 is Finally Here

Posted on by Posted in desktop environments, kde, news .

On 11th January 2008, the KDE Community released the fourth major version of the K Desktop Environment. This release marks the beginning of the KDE 4 era.

After five long months of development, the most expected project of 2007, KDE 4, has finally seen the light today! KDE 4 is the next generation of the popular K Desktop Environment, which seeks to fulfill the need for a powerful yet easy-to-use desktop, for both personal and enterprise computing. KDE project’s goal for the 4.0 release is to put the foundations in place for future innovations on the FREE desktop.

The KDE Community is thrilled to announce the immediate availability of KDE 4.0. This significant release marks both the end of the long and intensive development cycle leading up to KDE 4.0 and the beginning of the KDE 4 era.

The KDE 4 Desktop has gained some major new capabilities. The Plasma desktop shell offers a new desktop interface, including panel, menu and widgets on the desktop as well as a dashboard function. KWin, the KDE Window manager, now supports advanced graphical effects to ease interaction with your windows.

NEW with KDE 4:

  • Plasma, the brand new desktop shell and panel, is an amazing piece of technology that makes your KDE experience better than ever. Its role is to offer, to the end-users, an efficient and ergonomic access to their desktop.
  • The window manager of KDE 4, KWin, comes now with Solid (a sophisticated hardware API) and Phonon (a multimedia framework) and with some amazing desktop effects.
  • All known KDE applications, such as Konqueror, which is the default file manager and web browser, KGet, KColorPaint, Konsole, Kopete, SuperKaramba, are now greatly improved and I’ll bet you will not even recognize some of them
  • As an alternative file manager, Dolphin is included for those of you who have already been using it.
  • and tonnes of more new and cool features .

Lots of KDE Applications have seen improvements as well. Visual updates through vector-based artwork, changes in the underlying libraries, user interface enhancements, new features, even new applications — you name it, KDE 4.0 has it. Okular, the new document viewer and Dolphin, the new file manager are only two applications that leverage KDE 4.0’s new technologies.

The Oxygen Artwork team provides a breath of fresh air on the desktop. Nearly all the user-visible parts of the KDE desktop and applications have been given a facelift. Beauty and consistency are two of the basic concepts behind Oxygen.

KDE 4.0 Visual Guide:

The KDE 4.0 Desktop and applications deserve a closer look. The pages below provide an overview of KDE 4.0 and give some examples of its associated applications. Screenshots of many components are included. Be aware that this is just a small sample of what KDE 4.0 offers you.

The Desktop: Plasma, KRunner, KickOff and KWin
Applications: Dolphin, Okular, Gwenview, System Settings and Konsole
Educational Applications: Kalzium, Parley, Marble, Blinken, KStars and KTouch
Games: KGoldrunner, KFourInLine, LSkat, KJumpingCube, KSudoku and Konquest

Full Announcement

Related reviews and blog posts from around the net:

Being the real first release, be patient and don’t expect everything to work flawlessly. This build will still need some tweakings and bug fixing, once the Linux and other KDE DE users start reporting back to developers. KDE users who require mission-critical robustness and the full feature set of the KDE 3.5.x series should probably wait until KDE 4.1 before making the transition.

Yay, KDE 4 is here :)

How to Secure Linux laptops for maximum security

Posted on by Posted in desktop & laptop pc, linux.com, security .

Laptop and notebooks are being stolen at an ever-increasing rate. In 2004, Safeware Insurance which sells computer insurance, estimated 600,000 laptop and notebooks a year were being stolen. In 2006 an estimated 750,000 were being swiped, according to Absolute Software a company that makes computer tracking products — and does not support Linux. LoJack For Laptops, another computer tracing company — which also does not support Linux — says FBI statistics show 2 million laptop and notebook computers were stolen in the US in a recent year. While the figures may not agree in detail, they all show that laptop and notebook theft is a major problem — and if you’re not careful, your Linux laptop might be next.

While you can find dozens of products to secure Windows laptops, security products for Linux laptops are scarcer — but they do exist. We found a range of products and fixes ranging from security patches for the operating system to encryption to the equivalent of computer bicycle locks which can help keep your Linux laptop or notebook safe.

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Keep Internet junk content away with content filters

Posted on by Posted in guides, internet/web, linux.com, tips .

Each day, I come across someone on the blogosphere complaining about the design of a Web site. Some don’t like screaming text, others don’t like banners, and still others hate ads. My pet peeves include pop-ups and unwanted JavaScript and cookies. Removing such junk can speed up your Internet connection, since you’re no longer wasting bandwidth downloading data you find useless. Here are some tools you can use to filter the content a Web site renders to you.

Privoxy

Privoxy is a standalone application full of impressive features. It’s a breeze to install. Its default settings are ideal for most users. Fedora and Ubuntu users can respectively install it with the commands yum install privoxy and sudo apt-get install privoxy, or you can grab the source tarball and install it with the commands ./configure, make, make install. Once installed, Privoxy will bind to localhost (127.0.0.1) at port 8118. You can choose a different port and network interface during the manual installation, or specify it under section 4.1 of the /etc/privoxy/config file.

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Install and Set Up Subversion And Trac As Virtual Hosts On An Ubuntu Linux Server

Posted on by Posted in guides, how to, servers, tutorials .

This howto outlines the process by which one can set up the Subversion version control system, and have it work in tandem with Trac, the project manager for software development projects, on a server running Ubuntu (or possibly Debian). It is brought to you by Openject Consulting.

Setting up Subversion

For detailed information on this, including alternate setups, have a look at Version Control with Subversion.

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Nice and Useful OpenOffice.org extensions

Posted on by Posted in applications/software, office suites .

Apparently, the only thing that stopped developers from creating useful OpenOffice.org extensions was the lack of a place to publish them. With the launch of the OpenOffice.org Extension Repository, the number of extensions listed there has shot up, and there are no signs of a slowdown. Although quantity doesn’t always mean quality, the repository already offers a few nifty extensions that can expand the functionality of OpenOffice.org and make your work more efficient.

Bookmarks Menu

On the face of it, the Bookmarks Menu just adds bookmarks to documents, but dig deeper and you’ll discover that this extension can do much more. Once you’ve installed the Bookmarks Menu, it appears only in the Tools -> Add-Ons menu. To add the Bookmarks menu to the main toolbar, choose the Bookmark Menu item and press OK. By default, the menu contains two items: Bookmark This Document and Edit Bookmarks. The former allows you to quickly bookmark the currently opened document, so you don’t have to navigate to the desired document every time you want to open it. Of course, you can use the Recent Documents feature to do that, but it has some limitations: it can hold only up to 10 entries and you can’t sort the entries. More importantly, the Bookmarks Menu can bookmark not only documents but also macros and shell commands, and you can do this in just a few clicks.

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Perfect Server Series: CentOS 4.6 Server Setup: LAMP, Email, DNS, FTP, ISPConfig

Posted on by Posted in applications/software, guides, servers, tutorials .

CentOS 4.6 Server Setup: LAMP, Email, DNS, FTP, ISPConfig (a.k.a. The Perfect Server)

Version 1.0
Author: Falko Timme <ft [at] falkotimme [dot] com>
Last edited 12/17/2007

This tutorial shows how to set up a CentOS 4.6 based server that offers all services needed by ISPs and web hosters: Apache web server (SSL-capable), Postfix mail server with SMTP-AUTH and TLS, BIND DNS server, Proftpd FTP server, MySQL server, Dovecot POP3/IMAP, Quota, Firewall, etc. This tutorial is written for the 32-bit version of CentOS 4.6, but should apply to the 64-bit version with very little modifications as well.

I will use the following software:

  • Web Server: Apache 2.0.x
  • Database Server: MySQL 4.1
  • Mail Server: Postfix
  • DNS Server: BIND9 (chrooted!)
  • FTP Server: proftpd
  • POP3/IMAP server: dovecot
  • Webalizer for web site statistics

In the end you should have a system that works reliably, and if you like you can install the free webhosting control panel ISPConfig (i.e., ISPConfig runs on it out of the box).

I want to say first that this is not the only way of setting up such a system. There are many ways of achieving this goal but this is the way I take. I do not issue any guarantee that this will work for you!

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Enlightenment on Ubuntu

Posted on by Posted in debian/ubuntu based, desktop environments, review/preview/tests .

Many Linux distributions try to be visually appealing. Some use Beryl-Compiz for cool 3-D effects on resource-laden boxes, while others turn to desktops like Enligtenment for a little bit of gloss at the expense of functionality. Geubuntu is a new distro that combines the best of those two worlds, equipping Enlightenment with bits from GNOME and Xfce on top of Ubuntu.

Geubuntu 7.10 “Luna Nuova” is only the second release of the distro, which seems to trace Ubuntu’s release cycle. As the version number suggests, Geubuntu 7.10 is based on Ubuntu 7.10, from which it borrows the kernel and user conveniences like the restricted-drivers management utility.

Geubuntu is an installable live CD, but it can also be installed on top of an existing Ubuntu distro by installing specific packages from the Geubuntu mirror. Currently there’s only a 32-bit ISO available. To run Geubuntu on 64-bit hardware you’ll have to take the longer route of first installing a 64-bit version of Ubuntu and then getting Geubuntu packages that are compiled for 64-bit platforms.

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Configure OpenLDAP + Samba Domain Controller On Ubuntu 7.10

Posted on by Posted in debian/ubuntu based, guides, how to, howtoforge .

Preface

This document is a step by step guide for configuring Ubuntu 7.10 as a Samba Domain Controller with an LDAP backend (OpenLDAP). The point is to configure a server that can be comparable, from a central authentication point of view, to a Windows Server 2003 Domain Controller. The end result will be a server with an LDAP directory for storing user, group, and computer accounts. A Windows XP Professional SP2 workstation will be able to join the domain once properly configured. Please note that you do not have a fully comparable Windows domain controller at this time. Do not kid yourself, this guide only gets you a server with LDAP authentication. Of course this can be expanded to include slave servers to spread out authentication over multiple networks. Please also note that it took me approximately two and a half weeks to compile this information and get it working. The same functionality can be had in Windows in less than four hours (and this includes operating system installation). In my humble opinion the open source community will need to work on this side of Linux in order for it to be a true alternative to Windows.

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Howto – Securing Joomla! installations

Posted on by Posted in applications/software, cms/portals, guides, how to, security .

Joomla! is a well-known content management system, mature enough to be used by thousands of amateur and professional Web portals. Installation is a breeze and consists of six click-next steps. However, a default Joomla! installation is not necessarily a secure one, so let’s see how we can protect our portal from potential attackers.

The first rule of security when it comes to Joomla! is “update frequently,” because whenever a new version comes out, it usually comprises several user-reported bug and security fixes. If your host allows it, use PHP5 instead of PHP4, because it’s more advanced and offers better security.

Once your site is ready to be launched, make sure to set your configuration.php file to read-only — a critical step that most users neglect. Change file and directory permissions — chmod 644 for files and chmod 755 for folders — but be sure to keep temporary and cache directories writable, lest you get a site error.

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