Add Routes To Ubuntu Server

Routes (non-default ones) can be added to the platform by using the interfaces configurations file.

Just add the following to the interface configuration:

up route add -net <destination_network> netmask <netmask> gw <gateway_address>

Example:

$ cat /etc/network/interfaces
# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
auto ens160
iface ens160 inet static
        address 192.168.168.1
        netmask 255.255.255.0
        network 192.168.168.0
        broadcast 192.168.168.255
        gateway 192.168.168.254
        # dns-* options are implemented by the resolvconf package, if installed
        dns-nameservers 192.168.0.1
        dns-search mydomain.com
        up route add -net 172.16.16.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 gw 192.168.168.30
Posted on September 15, 2017 by Willem and filed under Linux, Tips'n Tricks and tagged Linux Ubuntu Route.

Reset Apple macOS Spotlight

The macOS Spotlight service might loose its touch. E.g. when some applications or documents won't show up when you <CMD><SPACE> them. Reason could be that the service or its database got corrupt for some reason.

The following 4 commands will reset the Spotlight service and database. So after you issue those commands the PC/laptop will be re-indexed (which could take a while).

sudo mdutil -a -i off
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist
sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist
sudo mdutil -a -i on

Now, wait a bit, and everything should be back to normal.

Happy Spotlighting.

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Willem and filed under Apple, Operating Systems, Tips'n Tricks and tagged spotlight macOS.

E-Mail Spam Prevention

E-mail spam is still annoying as hell. Especially when someone else is sending e-mail on your behalf, and even more annoying if your e-mail address is used for phishing purposes.

From a protocol (SMTP) perspective, there's not much that can be done. SPAM wasn't something they thought of when they developed it in the early 80's. But there are several enhancements that can be used to prevent others by abusing your e-mail (domain). These enhancements are:

  • Sender Policy Framework (SPF)
  • Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM)
  • Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC)
Read more …
Posted on May 10, 2017 by Willem.

Think Tank Retrospective 7 with Macbook Pro 13" (late 2016)

Screen Shot 2017-04-04 at 11.12.23.PNG

The Think Tank Retrospective 7 camera bag holds an iPad, 11" Macbook Air or something similar according to the specifications. But the new Macbook Pro 13" (from late 2016), also fits (like a glove) in the back compartment of the bag.

It does take some effort in inserting the Macbook Pro for the first time. Especially if the bag is brand new. But after inserting it a couple of times, the fabric loosens a bit and it becomes easier to insert and extract the laptop from the compartment.

NOTE: There might be some scratching involved on the laptop over time while opening opening and closing the zipper (because of the 'fits-like-a-glove' thing).

Posted on April 4, 2017 by Willem and filed under Photography, Review, Gear, Tips'n Tricks and tagged Think Tank Retrospective 7 Macbook Pro.

Juniper SRX and DHCP Client Challenge

A couple of years ago I wrote a post about a dual ISP config with a Juniper SRX firewall. At the time I ran into some challenges regarding the DHCP client functionality of the SRX. For some reason it couldn't get a lease from the Ziggo ISP DHCP servers. Any other DHCP server on my local network worked just fine. Since I created a work-around at the time (by using an additional NAT router and static IP addresses) I didn't give it much thought.... Until last week.

Last week I ran into a networking challenge that kinda freaked me out. For some reason my Apple TV wouldn't connect to my NAS, but it could connect to the Internet. For some reason my Apple TV got a public IP address while it was located on my internal network. The public IP address was completely unknown to me. So, WTF was giving my Apple TV a public IP address?

Read more …
Posted on February 13, 2017 by Willem and filed under Internet, Security, Tips'n Tricks, Junos and tagged Juniper SRX DHCP TTL.

Configure NGINX as a Secure Reverse Proxy

NGINX (pronounced as engine-x) is a versatile (reverse) proxy service for Linux which can be used for many purposes. This post gives a relative small and easy example that I use at home for accessing insecure web services in my home. These are:

  • Domoticz
    Free and opensource Domotica software
  • SabNZBd
    Free and opensource software for downloading binaries from usenet. Available for multiple operating systems
  • Sonarr
    (former NZBDrone) is a so-called PVR (personal video recorder) for Usenet users, which checks multiple RSS feeds (also called Indexer) for new episodes of the shows you're following.

These services run on different platforms and are not protected by username/password or encryption. Something that's not done if you want to access this over the Internet.
To get secure access to these services you might want to use a VPN solution into your home, but you can also achieve this by using a reverse proxy that 'protects' these services.

I run my NGINX reverse proxy on Ubuntu Linux, but it will also run on the average Raspberry Pi.

Read more …
Posted on January 29, 2017 by Willem and filed under Internet, Security, Tips'n Tricks and tagged nginx reverse proxy ssl authentication domoticz sonarr SabNZBd.

Installing Python Matplotlib On MacOS Sierra

I recently 'upgraded' to MacOS Sierra (Apple's latest Operating System) by doing a clean install. This resulted in a couple of challenges, including some software that could not be installed, and for which I had to find some alternatives.

Another issue I ran into is that some Python3 scripts with matplotlib wouldn't run, because matplotlib wouldn't install correctly.
I could 'pip' all I wanted, but the result was always:

$ pip3 install matplotlib
[...]
The following required packages can not be built: freetype

Some googling pointed me to some articles that freetype is/was a part of the XQuartz (X11) software that's no longer (pre)installed on MacOS Sierra. And in the past I have always upgraded my OS. The times that I did a clean install on this machine.... Must have been ages ago.

After some frustrating hours of trying to get this 'freetype' thing installed, I ran into an article on yantonov.com which solved my issue finally.

First I installed 'homebrew'.

$ /usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

After that I installed pkg-config and freetype:

$ brew install pkg-config
[...]

$ brew install freetype
[...]

And finally, I was able to successfully install matplotlib:

$ pip3 install matplotlib
Posted on January 11, 2017 by Willem and filed under Annoying, Apple, Operating Systems, Programming, Tips'n Tricks and tagged matplotlib homebrew brew freetype MacOS Sierra python.

Internet of Things (IoT) and Ransomware

Unfortunately, and no matter how funny the cartoon may be, this may be what the future is going to bring us if we're not careful.

Below are some of the online appliances (just random picks from Google):

The only item I couldn't find was the Internet-connected broom. But I guess that won't take long. The other items can all be bought with some sort of Internet connectivity, and are therefore potential vulnerable for abuse.

Posted on October 10, 2016 by Willem and filed under Annoying, Gadgets, Hardware, Internet, Security and tagged ransomware IoT Internet of Things.