More Linux Permissions

If you need to set folders to 755 and files to 644

sudo chmod -R 644 * ; sudo chmod -R ugo+X *

Vmware - eth0 removed after cloning or moving from Workstation to Esxi

I recently setup a Bitnami WordPress on a local copy of Vmware workstation. This was fine for testing, but I then needed to deploy in a production environment, specifically on Esxi 4.x. The convert ran fine and the VM moved over, but when booting eth0 was not available and hence the stack was inaccessible.
It appears that something happens to the net rules during the conversion process. In order to remove saved rules, just rename the following file and reboot to restore eth0:

sudo mv /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules.old

Then perform a reboot:

sudo shutdown -r now

and all should be fine....

Onyx for Mac

If you need to tinker with your Mac, clear logs or caches etc. Rather than sudo'ing in Terminal, give Onyx a try, seems pretty good for a free application.
http://www.titanium.free.fr/

Exchange 2010 public folders

If you are trying to replicate content from 2007 to 2010, prepare for some pain. It just doesn't seem to work very consistently.
From Exchange Management Shell on 2007, go to the Exchange/Scripts folder and run:


.\AddReplicaToPFRecursive.ps1 –server my2007server –TopPublicFolder “\” –ServertoAdd 
my2010server


This should add all the folder structure to the new 2010 PF database.
Once this is done, run the following to kick the process:

Get-publicfolder –identity “\” –recurse |update-publicfolder –server my2007server

You can check on the progress by running the Exchange Management Shell on 2010 and running:

Get-publicfolderstatistics

You might have to keep kicking it though as sometimes it just stops working.

Thunderbolt and others

Take a trip over to Tested - http://www.tested.com/ - to check out all the stuff they pull apart! Also got a feature on new Intel Thunderbolt tech, which looks good.
MO

New MacBook Pros

Well, I'm now sold on Macs. Got myself an iMac and I actually get work done now, instead of booting up and fixing a Windows problem every time. Still use Win 7 though as its not too bad, but OSX seems to always do the job.
http://www.apple.com/uk/macbookpro/
There is also a nice crossover with Linux, so it satisfies the geek in me...

Other useful linux commands - act 3

iwconfig - check wireless setup

dmesg - query a USB device, plug it in a type this command

lspci - chipset interrogation

lsusb - as above

Configure Open SSH securely

Modify config in /etc/ssh or ssh_config to disable support for legacy protocols. Look for the 'Protocol 2,1' line and remove the ver 1 protocol.
Also set 'PermitRootLogin no' and 'MaxAuthTries 3'


After the changes have been made run:
service ssh restart

View attack activity by looking at /var/log/auth. If you see a particular IP that keeps attacking, put an entry in /etc/hosts.deny

You can automate this process by installing the DenyHosts package. Edit it's config in /etc/denyhosts.conf and change DENY_THRESHOLD_INVALID from 5 to 2

Enhanced GUI nmap

Try Zenmap, usually in your distros repository

Quick port scan of a machine

nmap

Not installed by default on Ubuntu or Mint, use:

sudo apt-get install nmap

Change hostname in linux

Using suitable privelages, navigate to /etc and edit the following files, replacing the default name with your desired machine name. Prefereably the FQDN.

/etc/hosts
/etc/hostname