Allan Willems Joergensen - OnDemand

nowhere.dk is being migrated to Tumblr. This means you may encounter broken links, pictures and layout.

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Random desktop background from command line

As mentioned in my previous post i synchronize my wallpaper folder between my desktop computers.

While the are various ways of setting a random desktop background (XFCE - which I use - has this built in), I've had to conclude it's just easier from the command line.

In XFCE it is not possible to do this from cron it seems, so I made a script which is run at start-up:

#!/bin/bash IFS=' ' DIR="$HOME/etc/wallpaper" # Uncomment based on desktop environment # XFCE: #SET="/usr/bin/xfconf-query -c xfce4-desktop -p /backdrop/screen0/monitor0/image-path -s " #SET2="/usr/bin/xfconf-query -c xfce4-desktop -p /backdrop/screen0/monitor0/image-style -s 5 " # GNOME2 #SET="gconftool-2 --type=string --set /desktop/gnome/background/picture_filename " #SET2="gconftool-2 --type=string --set /desktop/gnome/background/picture_options zoom" # GNOME/Unity #SET="gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background picture-uri file://" #SET2="gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background picture-options zoom" # Generic - uses feh #SET="feh --bg-fill " #SET2="" while true do PIC=$(ls $DIR/*.* | shuf -n1) ${SET}$PIC ${SET2} # Sets image style to zoom sleep 120 done

In order to make the script run at start-up, create the file $HOME/.config/autostart/wallpaper.desktop

[Desktop Entry] Encoding=UTF-8 Version=0.9.4 Type=Application Name=Rotate bg Comment= Exec=/home/alj/bin/setwallpaper.sh StartupNotify=false Terminal=false Hidden=false

If you are not using a desktop environment like GNOME or XFCE, add the script to .xsession.

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Desktop wallpapers

My collection - Enjoy.

(This is the same folder I use for randomized backgrounds on my computers)

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Using OpenWRT to change Chromecast's DNS resolvers

Chromecast may be smart and handy but annoyingly Google have decided to force it to use it's own nameservers as resolvers (which is a pain when the local resolver is configured to allow clients to use US Netflix, Hulu and the like).

If you are running a OpenWRT based router, you are in luck

Custom  In the web-interface, go to Network → Firewall → Custom Rules and add these lines (I'm using Unlocator - adjust to your local setup)

iptables -t nat -I PREROUTING 1 -d 8.8.8.8 -j DNAT --to-destination 50.112.186.233 iptables -t nat -I PREROUTING 2 -d 8.8.4.4 -j DNAT --to-destination 50.112.143.40

The rules could probably be added to prerouting_rule but it was easier to just add them as the first prerouting rules.

Save and either reboot the router or ssh into it and run the above commands.

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Wake on WAN using OpenWRT 12.09

If you have the need to wake up machines on your local LAN from the outside, there are a few steps you need to take to get it working with OpenWRT (12.09)

Select an unused IP address (which you are certain will never, ever be used). I will be using 192.168.1.254 in the following

Log into OpenWRT and go to System → Startup → Local Startup (the text input at the bottom of the page) and add this line above exit 0: ip neigh add 192.168.1.254 lladdr ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff nud permanent dev br-la

Save

Go to System → Software and verify the package ip is installed. If not, do so.

Go to Network → Firewall → Port forwards and add a new rule like this:

(select custom to enter the internal IP address).

Save and apply

Reboot the router

That's it. Now wake on lan should work from the WAN (Internet) as well.

This is what it looks like in the WoL Wake On Lan Wan Android app:

(via)

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Installing and running Copy.com agent on a headless (Ubuntu/Debian) Linux

I've started to use copy.com instead of services like Dropbox, SpiderOak and similar.

Why? Because it's fast (unlike Dropbox), it's simple (unlike SpiderOak) and it's able to run on all major platforms (Windows, OSX, Android, iOS and Linux, both graphical and console. Both are native Linux application).

This article explains how to install the agent on Linux - more specifically how to run the console agent on a Ubuntu-derived distribution.

Download the Agent $ curl -O https://copy.com/install/linux/Copy.tgz (or wget --no-check-certificate https://copy.com/install/linux/Copy.tgz)

Extract it somewhere, in your homedir for instance $ tar zxvf Copy.tgz -C $HOME

Create the needed directories $ mkdir $HOME/.copy $HOME/Copy

Run the client by hand generate the required config $ $HOME/copy/x86_64/CopyConsole -r=$HOME/Copy -u=<copy.com user> --data=$HOME/.copy -debug Enter copy.com password and press enter when done

Create a init script for the copy.com agent (/etc/init.d/copy)

#!/bin/sh ### BEGIN INIT INFO # Provides: CopyAgent # Required-Start: $local_fs $network # Required-Stop: $local_fs # Default-Start: 2 3 4 5 # Default-Stop: 0 1 6 # Short-Description: CopyAgent # Description: CopyConsole (Copy cloud storage by Barracuda) service ### END INIT INFO RUN_AS="myUser" HOME=`grep $RUN_AS /etc/passwd | cut -d":" -f6` CC="$HOME/copy/x86_64/CopyConsole" start() { echo "Starting CopyConsole..." if [ -x $CC ]; then start-stop-daemon -b -o -c $RUN_AS -S -u $RUN_AS -x $CC -- -daemon fi } stop() { echo "Stopping CopyConsole..." if [ -x $CC ]; then start-stop-daemon -o -c $RUN_AS -K -u $RUN_AS -x $CC fi } status() { dbpid=`pgrep -u $RUN_AS CopyConsole` if [ -z $dbpid ] ; then echo "CopyConsole for user $RUN_AS: not running." else echo "CopyConsole for user $RUN_AS: running (pid $dbpid)" fi } case "$1" in start) start ;; stop) stop ;; restart|reload|force-reload) stop start ;; status) status ;; *) echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/copyconsole {start|stop|reload|force-reload|restart|status}" exit 1 esac exit 0

Start the client $ sudo service copy start

Enable autostart $ sudo update-rc.d copy defaults

Your agent should now be syncing to The Cloud.

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You Know You Grew Up on Disney Movies If… [babble]

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ROBOTS OR DINOSAURS?

Robots!

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nowhere.dk moves to Tumblr

I've decided to move nowhere.dk from a self-hosted Wordpress to Tumblr.

The move has not been without problems - Right now none of the old links are working as I cannot get redirect pages to work as intended, I do apologize and promise to get it fixed as soon as possible.

Old comments are also missing, they will be imported to Disqus as soon as I get the redirect issue solved. And there's still some layout cleanup to be done.

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nowhere.dk outage 2013-03-03

Nowhere.dk (the entire domain) was offline today from 09:47 to 10:46 UTC follwing a major outage at Cloudflare.com. Points to Cloudflare.com for releasing a full incident report.

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IPv6 with tunnelbroker.net, ChicagoVPS and Ubuntu

I have recently moved my hosting to a couple of VPSes at ChicagoVPS and wanted to use IPv6 (via tunnelbroker.net) ChicagoVPS uses OpenVZ which presents a couple of problems $ ifconfig sit0 sit0: error fetching interface information: Device not found $ sudo modprobe ipv6 FATAL: Module ipv6 not found. It turns out, this is a fairly common problem though OpenVZ is supposed to support IPv6. Luckily, someone made a small userland program (tb-tun, which “tunnels” IPv6 tunnels through a TUN/TAP device.

Server IPv4 Address - This is the IPv4 address of the Tunnelbroker gateway Client IPv4 Address - This is the IPv4 address of your server Client IPv6 Address - This is the IPv6 address of your server (for the tunnel end-point) Routed /64 - This is your network

Next, you need to ensure your iptables configuration allows incoming encapsulated IPv6 traffic (protocol 41). Since ufw is a PITA to get to work on OpenVZ, I’m using iptables-persistant, which simply means adding one line to /etc/iptables-persistent/rules.v4 # IPv6 tunnel -A INPUT -p 41 -s -j ACCEPT You also need to secure your server on IPv6, /etc/iptables-persistent/rules.v6 *filter -A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT -A INPUT -m state --state RELATED,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT # Allow ping -A INPUT -p ipv6-icmp -j ACCEPT -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -j ACCEPT -A INPUT -j DROP -A FORWARD -j DROP COMMIT Apply the new rules $ sudo service iptables-persistent reload Finally, you are ready to set up your tunnel in /etc/network/interfaces auto tb iface tb inet6 manual pre-up setsid /usr/local/sbin/tb_userspace tb sit > /dev/null & up ifconfig tb up post-up ifconfig tb inet6 add /64 post-up ifconfig tb inet6 add :1/64 post-up ifconfig tb mtu 1480 post-up route -A inet6 add ::/0 dev tb post-up netstat -rn6 | grep -q venet0 && route -A inet6 del ::/0 dev venet0 down ifconfig tb down post-down route -A inet6 del ::/0 dev tb post-down killall tb_userspace In my setup it looks like this: auto tb iface tb inet6 manual pre-up setsid /usr/local/sbin/tb_userspace tb 209.51.181.2 192.210.137.214 sit > /dev/null & up ifconfig tb up post-up ifconfig tb inet6 add 2001:470:1f10:74b::2/64 post-up ifconfig tb inet6 add 2001:470:1f11:74b::1:1/64 post-up ifconfig tb mtu 1480 post-up route -A inet6 add ::/0 dev tb post-up netstat -rn6 | grep -q venet0 && route -A inet6 del ::/0 dev venet0 down ifconfig tb down post-down route -A inet6 del ::/0 dev tb post-down killall tb_userspace Now, I just have one question (Actually I know, and understand, why. It’s still annoying though)

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iptables on a ChicagoVPS (OpenVZ) VPS

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Wake on LAN from WAN with a TP-Link router

If you have a computer on your local network you want to wake from the Internet and you have a TP-Link router (in this case a TL-WDR4300) you are in luck

First, create a “virtual server” (or port forwarding) in which we forward an arbitrary port to port 9 at the IP address of the machine you wish to turn on (Go to Forwarding → Add New): If you test as this point, it will work. But at a later point it will not. This is because the MAC address of the machine you wish wake will be flushed from the router’s ARP table. The way to fix this is a bit illogical but it works. With the machine in questioned turned on, go to IP & MAC binding → ARP List, find the entry you need and click “Load” Now, go to IP & MAC binding → Binding settings and tick of “Bind” for the entry of your machine (also make sure ARP binding is enabled) and then press save. You should now be able to wake your machine from anywhere in the world, using an online service or a client on your smartphone. I am aware of the potential problems of allowing this kind of traffic into my local network but since a malicious person would need to know both the external port and MAC address of the internal machine and is only able to start up my machine, I’m not too worried. If you worry, add a password to your wake on lan configuration.

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Damn you, Google!

First post in a long time - Don't worry, I haven't been abducted by aliens from Omicron Persei 8 So today, Felicia Day launched her new personal show called the The Flog. Since I enjoyed this first episode immensely I decided it was time to extend my use of Youtube and subscribe to the channel (user?) Geek & Sundry. To the *sshats at Google: Why, oh why, do you punish me for using Google Apps? What's the problem, you ask? Well, the problem wasn't like it used to be (where I simply couldn't log on to Youtube, unlike other services it didn't give me the opportunity to switch to my non-apps Google account. So I had to log out from Apps account. Log in to my Google account, do whatever on Youtube and the log back into my Apps account - After logging of the Google Account, otherwise Google services would choose that as default). No, I was presented with a message telling, Youtube access hadn't been enabled by my administrator. Easy peasy. I would just go to the domain control panel in Google Apps and enable. Right? Wrong. After remembering where the services are (that's "Organization & Users" -> "Services" for future reference) I couldn't find any Youtube. Turns out, I'm in the wrong country. This is the fix:

On the Dashboard, select "Try Google Apps for Business Free"

On the next page, select "Country/Region: United States" and click "Begin Free Trial"

Now, a checkout window appear. Simply close it

Go to "Organization & Users" -> "Services" in your Apps control panel

Enable Youtube services

Wait five minutes

Log on to Youtube using your Google Apps account

In the end, it all worked out. And who can stay mad after watching @feliciaday in "The Flog"; @wilw and @grantimihara battle for (Small) World domination in "Table Top" - And last but least, a new video from @TheGuild called "I'm The One That's Cool". Oh, and this tweet.

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May you have a fortuitous New Year

Live long and prosper!

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Installing Cisco VPN Client on Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot)

As always with a new Ubuntu release comes the problem of getting Cisco's VPN client to install (and no, using vpnc instead is not really an option since the VPN concentrator doesn't play nice and drops the connection from time to time) The problem this time is the kernel version of Ubuntu 11.10 - The new 3.0 series kernel. I've made a patch which will make the kernel module compile and install on the 3.0 kernel. If you have the vanilla Linux client, you still need the patches here - If the installation/compile fails, make sure you have installed all relevant patches as will as the packages needed to install (ia32-libs build-essential linux-headers-`uname -r`).

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Running Symantec Veritas Cluster Manager on Ubuntu

At some point Veritas has release the Cluster Manager (Java Console) for Linux. Of course, Linux means Red Hat (and other RPM based flavours). Luckily it isn’t too hard making it work on Ubuntu (and friends). First, get the software - This requires a SymAccount. And no, I will not send you the software Now, prepare your Ubuntu box

$ sudo apt-get install alien fakeroot

And finally convert and install the package

$ fakeroot alien -c VCS_Cluster_Manager_Java_Console_5.1_for_Linux.rpm $ sudo dpkg -i vrtscscm_5.1.00.20-1_all.deb

Now, from a terminal or otherwise (ALT-F2 in various Ubuntus) run

$ /opt/VRTSvcs/bin/hagui

Or create a desktop entry for the Cluster Manager to put it in the menu Create the file ~/.local/share/applications/hagui.desktop

[Desktop Entry] Version=1.0 Name=Veritas Cluster Manager GenericName=Veritas Cluster Manager Comment=Manage Veritas clusters Exec=/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/hagui Terminal=false Icon=ClusterManager Type=Application Categories=System

Copy ClusterManager.png to ~/.icons