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NewsVac: News from around the Web
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From Live Mesh to the Open Mesh
1 week, 5 days ago
Marc Canter has written a series of blog posts outlining the issues, constructs, technologies, and standards required to build out an"open mesh." -
Cisco:networking is hot again
1 week, 6 days ago
NAC, Trustsec, PCI, Linux and more are all on the table as Cisco VP outlines the network giant's strategy moving forward. -
Why we should care about the spectrum debate
2 months, 1 week ago
The debate of who should manage the wireless spectrum and whether it should be open is key to the future of mobile and personal computing, experts say. -
Muni Wi-Fi's second chance
2 months, 1 week ago
Wi-Fi networks can work with a little tweaking, a new study finds. -
IPv6 and IPv4 - big trouble coming, and soon
2 months, 3 weeks ago
You'll know that most of the Internet runs on IP version 4, the first cut of the Internet Protocol to see widespread use. It was standardised in 1981; for the past twenty five years or so, it's underpinned the beyond-massive expansion of the Internet. -
AT&T to crush copyrighted network packets
4 months ago
"AT&T says it's time to start filtering copyrighted content at the network level. During a panel discussion at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), The New York Times reports, the communications giant joined Microsoft and NBC Universal in arguing that internet service providers - like AT&T itself - should be sniffing your networks packets and blocking anything that copyright holders don't traveling over the wire." -
IPv6 Set for Root Adoption?
4 months, 1 week ago
IPv6 adoption has a key adoption deadline looming this year, but is still facing plenty of barriers to adoption. Key among them is this: IPv6 address information is not included in most of the root DNS servers that power the Internet. This makes IPv6 to IPv6 connections a difficult proposition. -
Book review: Linux Networking Cookbook
4 months, 4 weeks ago
"Linux networking cookbook is a book for both a seasoned and new Linux network administrator. It includes valuable time saving recipes, tools and related resources. The book is written in clear and concise style with tons of examples and working code .... " -
Open source NAC, but only with commercial support
5 months ago
"If you work for a university where you have a large pool of talented, but cheap, labor (interns), then an open source project might make sense because you have people who can manage and maintain the system..." -
Squeeze maximum usage out of your network resources
7 months, 3 weeks ago
If you have UNIX-based programming experience, then you've probably worried at some point about enhancing your network throughput. In this article, learn some useful techniques to squeeze the most out of your bandwidth, and get a big performance boost with some of the methods described here. -
Un-plugged rant: GNU/Linux and wireless
7 months, 3 weeks ago
"Sometimes I just gotta wonder about GNU/Linux and wi-fi...Maybe you can help .... " -
Linux-based SLUG spawns highly hackable NAS
8 months, 1 week ago
"Cisco's consumer products division is shipping a successor to the Linux-based NSLU2 (aka 'SLUG') consumer NAS (network-attached storage) appliance, one of the most-hacked devices ever..." -
Chrooted SSH/SFTP tutorial for Debian Etch
8 months, 1 week ago
"This tutorial describes two ways how to give users chrooted SSH access..." -
Install and configure Network Information Service +
8 months, 2 weeks ago
"NIS+ is a network-wide naming and administration service that works on a client-server model. The server maintains all the details of the users and clients in a central database. In this article, get step-by-step instructions on how to install, configure, and administer NIS+ .... " -
FCC rejects free Wi-Fi startup's spectrum plans
8 months, 2 weeks ago
"A Silicon Valley startup that sought permission to build a "free, family-friendly" wireless Internet service on a stretch of unused radio spectrum has been shot down by federal regulators .... " - More News
Linux.com : Networking
Keeping your SSH connections alive with autossh
With autossh, you can monitor your SSH connections and restart them if they stop sending traffic or SSH exits abnormally. This makes autossh perfect for keeping secure port forwarding available.
What can you do with a second Ethernet port?
Purchase a new PC or motherboard soon, and the chances are good that it will come with two built-in network interfaces -- either two Ethernet jacks or one Ethernet and one Wi-Fi. Tossing in a second adapter is an inexpensive way for the manufacturer to add another bullet point to the product description -- but what exactly are you supposed to do with it? If you are running Linux, you have several alternatives.
Control and keep an eye on many VNC sessions at once
With vncthumbnailviewer you can see many VNC desktops at once and jump in to control any of them with a double click. vncthumbnailviewer acts like many VNC clients, so it can help you monitor many VNC servers.
Commercial KVM-based virtual desktop program arrives
KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine), Linux's own baked-in virtualization program, has been gaining popularity. Now, Qumranet, the company behind KVM, is releasing a commercial virtual desktop called Solid ICE based on KVM technology.
Rt2x00 project for wireless nearing success
If you use wireless networking in GNU/Linux with native drivers, then chances are that you benefit from work done by the Rt2x00 project. You may use the MadWifi Atheros drivers with OpenHal, or drivers for the Realtek RTL8180 chipset, but most likely you use one of the drivers developed by the Rt2x00 for Ralink chipsets. In the nearly four years since the project began, its work has moved from having a reputation for bugginess to the point where some of its drivers are now part of the latest Linux kernels. Recently, Linux.com talked to three of the lead developers on the project about where Rt2x00 has been and where it is going.
Creating a VPN with tinc
With tinc you can create a virtual private network (VPN) that lets you communicate between two machines over an insecure network such as the Internet with all of your traffic encrypted between the hosts on your virtual network.
How much can you improve network throughput with a high-end NIC?
What sort of impact can you expect from switching a machine from the Gigabit Ethernet NIC that come on its motherboard to a higher-end Intel desktop NIC? I benchmarked two common gigabit NICs found on motherboards against two Intel PCIe desktop gigabit NICs, targeting the specific purpose of accessing an NFS share over the network. The short version: throughput for sequential read/write operations didn't improve much, but latency was much better, allowing anything that needs a network round trip, like create, delete, and seek, to work much faster.
Hunting for wireless networking solutions
While most basic hardware support for GNU/Linux is improving constantly, wireless support remains dismal. Few manufacturers make an effort to support the operating system, or to publicize what support they have. Moreover, the components of wireless devices change so fast that one version of a device may offer support while a second version doesn't -- even though both versions share the same model number. And if, in addition to functionality, you also want a device with free drivers and no reliance on proprietary firmware, your choices are even more limited. Fortunately, no matter what your preferences, online resources exist to help you find the card that's right for you or get your existing wireless network adapter to work with Linux.
Ask Linux.com
Got a question about Linux or free and open source software? You've come to the right place. In the left column of every page, directly below the Distributions link, you'll find a link labeled "Get Linux help" that will take you to the Linux.com discussion forums -- your best bet for getting Linux-related troubleshooting and advice, whether the issue involves hardware, software, or neither. Here are some examples of threads from recent days -- some with answers, and some still looking for solutions.
Multifunction copiers in a Linux network
In many organizations, copiers get little respect. Often relegated to a break room or storage closet, they are underutilized and underappreciated, and get no attention from the IT department. Yet, multifunction copiers can play a critical role in reducing operating costs and become a hub for document processing.
Using siproxd to allow VoIP through a firewall
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a popular open standard for implementing Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone calls. Siproxd is a SIP proxy server that can help you with network connectivity issues for SIP clients behind firewalls.
PHP Shell, for secure remote access when SSH isn't available
Many companies offer LAMP hosting, but some of the cheaper LAMP providers do not allow SSH access, reserving that feature for higher-paying customers. Without SSH you may think you'll have trouble executing commands on the hosted server. Not so -- PHP Shell allows execution of some commands without having SSH access to the LAMP server.
Set up a virtual FTP server with pam-mysql
Setting up a virtual File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server with a database back end offers many benefits. By using a database, you can store a large number of users centrally, so it's easy to manage. It offers more security than traditional Unix OS authentication methods, because virtual users can access only the FTP server's resources, not the OS's. You can use the many Web tools that are available to easily install, configure, and manage the database back end. A virtual FTP server also supports some special characters, such as @, that FTP itself doesn't support, which can come in handy if, for example, your company uses its employees' email addresses for identity purposes.
In latest release, Nmap looks better than ever
December's release of Nmap 4.50 marked the popular port-scanning tool's tenth anniversary. The 4.50 release includes Zenmap, a cross-platform GUI front end for Nmap which includes a command creation wizard, a scripting engine, and a host of other improvements. Zenmap makes it easier than ever to use Nmap.
PacketProtector turns SOHO router into security powerhouse
PacketProtector is an embedded Linux distribution based on OpenWRT, the first popular distribution designed to run on a number of wireless routers commonly found in SOHO settings. Like X-Wrt, which we reviewed earlier this year, PacketProtector extends OpenWrt by offering additional functionality to enhance network security right out of the box.
iptables as a replacement for commercial enterprise firewalls
With IT budgets getting tighter, managers need to trim costs. Service contracts are expensive for any technology; firewalls are no exception. Netfilter, the project that provides the packet filtering program iptables, is a free firewall alternative. While it lacks the service contract of commercial solutions and a pretty interfaces to make firewall modification easy, it has solid performance, performs effectively at firewalling, and allows for add-on functionality to enhance its reporting and response functions.
Integrating Ubuntu with a Windows-based network is harder than it should be
I've been using and advocating free software for around six years. When studying and then working as a freelance writer, migrating an office seemed so simple -- draw up a list of comparable programs and, over a reasonable period, move your staff across. But over the past few weeks I've been trying to use Ubuntu Gutsy on my desktop PC in a Windows-based office, and whilst most things work just fine, it's far from the seamless integration I was hoping for.
Linux traffic analysis, quick and simple
Full-featured traffic analyzers for Linux systems such as ntop and vnstat are widely available, but sometimes you just want a simple program that gives you fast, basic information about the amount of traffic going in and out of the hosts on your network. Darkstat, a packet sniffer that runs as a background process, fills that role. It gathers statistics about network usage and displays them over HTTP.
CLI Magic: Quick and easy backup with lftp
No matter what Linux distribution you are using, chances are you'll find more than one graphical FTP client in its repositories, but if you are looking for a powerful command-line FTP tool, your best bet is lftp. Of course, you can always use the good old ftp command, but lftp takes the task of managing files and directories using the FTP protocol to a new level. To see what I mean, let's use lftp to write a script that creates a local backup copy of a Web site.
Linux distro or network traffic cop? It's both!
IPCop is a specialized Linux distribution whose sole purpose is to safeguard the computers and networks it is installed on. The distro proudly claims, "The Bad Packets Stop Here!" I recently installed IPCop 1.4.16 on my SOHO LAN, and found that it accomplishes what it sets out to do.
