Geek Projects – Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP, DNS A Linux Sysadmin

April 29, 2008

Installing djbdns dnscache on FreeBSD 6

Filed under: DNS — Matt @ 3:52 pm

djbdns is a DNS server package that was created in response to BIND’s history of security holes. Whenever I setup a Linux or FreeBSD DNS server, I try to use djbdns rather than BIND. Here’s how to setup a DNS caching server using FreeBSD 6.x and djbdns’s dnscache mode. The following commands should be run with root, su or sudo:

  1. Install the djbdns port, and its dependencies.

    2. cd /usr/ports/dns/djbdns
    make install clean
    rehash

  2. Enable the supervise service, which is used to start djbdns.

    3. echo 'svscan_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf
    mkdir /var/service
    usr/local/etc/rc.d/svscan.sh start

  3. Create djbdns’s cache and log accounts.

    4. pw useradd Gdnscache -d /nonexistent -s /sbin/nologin
    pw useradd Gdnslog -d /nonexistent -s /sbin/nologin

  4. Configure djbdns as a DNS caching server. In the examples below, 192.168.0.1 is the IP address of the interface that the djbdns DNS caching server will run on, and 192.168.0/24 is the network that I want to allow to access the server. Subsitute in the appropriate IPs and range(s) for your network.

    5. dnscache-conf Gdnscache Gdnslog /usr/local/etc/dnscache 192.168.0.1
    ln -s /usr/local/etc/dnscache /var/service
    touch /var/service/dnscache/root/ip/192.168.0
    /usr/local/etc/rc.d/svscan.sh restart

Sources:

April 28, 2008

How to disable EVDO on a Motorola e815 with Verizon Wireless / Page Plus

Filed under: Wireless — Matt @ 11:56 am

EVDO can shorten your Motorola e815’s battery life. Since Page Plus, my cell provider doesn’t support EVDO, I disabled it on my unlocked e815 with the following procedure:

Enable Test Mode

  1. Quickly press the Menu (top-center) key, then 073887*.
  2. Enter your security code when prompted. By default, this will be 000000. If you aren’t prompted for your security code, go back to step 1. You probably didn’t type the sequence in fast enough.
  3. Scroll down to “Test Mode”, and press Select, then Enable.
  4. Press Exit to go back to the main screen.

Disable EVDO

  1. Press the Menu key followed quickly by the Left Soft Key (top left key).
  2. Press the Left Soft Key until you see “HDR Pref” and “HDR Hybr” (around 5 times).
  3. Scroll up to “HDR Hybr”, and change its value to CDMA by pressing the Right Soft Key.
  4. Scroll up to “HDR Pref”, and change its value to Off by pressing the Right Soft Key.
  5. Press the Left Soft Key to select Exit.
  6. Press the End button to go back to the main screen.

Disable Test Mode

  1. Quickly press the Menu (top-center) key, then 073887*.
  2. Enter your security code when prompted. By default, this will be 000000. If you aren’t prompted for your security code, go back to step 1. You probably didn’t type the sequence in fast enough.
  3. Scroll down to “Test Mode”, and press Select, then Disable.
  4. Press Exit to go back to the main screen.

April 24, 2008

Printing to a Cannon ImageRunner 5075 from Microsoft Word 97

Filed under: Systems Administration — Matt @ 1:34 pm

One of my customers recently had a Canon ImageRunner 5075 coper/printer/fax unit installed in their office. Everything seemed to be working until someone tried to print a document in Microsoft Word 97. It seems that Microsoft Word 97 didn’t like the new printer. It would crash every time someone went to File -> Print, and selected the Canon printer, but strangely enough, it printed just fine if the Canon IR 5075 was set as the default, and they just clicked on the Print icon.

None of the other printers caused Microsoft Word 97, or any of the other Microsoft Office 97 apps to crash. As a workaround while I tracked down the problem, I asked them to print their word documents as PDFs, then print the PDFs to the Canon ImageRunner 5075.

Needless to say, that kludge wasn’t a good long term solution for the printing problems.What I found was that Microsoft Word 97, and the rest of Microsoft Office 97 for that matter didn’t like Canon’s UFR (Ultra Fast Rendering) drivers. I found a PCL 6 driver for the ImageRunner 5075 on Canon’s website, switched to it, and the crashes ceased.

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