Thursday, April 16, 2009

pfSense vs. Vyatta

I recently installed pfsense at work to replace an aging smoothwall 2.0 firewall/transparent proxy. I like the use of FreeBSD as the underlying engine of pfSense. The add-on packages are relatively easy to install, except snort IDS has a few problems that are supposedly fixed in an upcoming version 1.2.3. You have the ability to enable SSH on the firewall, so you can use a command line to configure the firewall or just use the web interface.

I ran across another firewall/transparent proxy/IDS called Vyatta. I am currently testing out the features. At first glance, its seems to have a few more features than pfSense. You have the ability to use a web interface or a series of command line scripts that interact with the 2.6.x Linux kernel.

I am still do not have a determination of which I like better or which performs better on a given set of hardware restrictions.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Sugar CRM Installation Warning

If you come across the following error during a SugarCRM installation

"Errors have been detected during compatibility check. In order for your SugarCRM Installation to function properly, please take the proper steps to address the issues listed below and either press the recheck button, or try installing again.

ComponentStatus
Writable Modules Sub-Directories and FilesWarning: Not Writable
Please fix the following module directories and the files under them before proceeding:
/modules/ModuleBuilder/tpls"


And you know that you have made everything "Writable" then you need to check for to hidden files that may not have been changed to writable.

Under the /modules/ModuleBuilder/tpls/ look for the following files:
.tmp_studioRelationship.tpl
.tmp_studioRelationshipsExt.tpl

These files have to be writable also or the installation will never proceed. I have seen posts on the SugarCRM forums that state these must be run as the user the webserver runs as but this is not the case. Just chmod 777 on these two files and all wil be good.

Creating a Service on Windows XP or Windows Server 2003

To create a custom service on Windows:
  1. Start>Run>CMD (get to a command prompt or CLI for short)
  2. sc is the command to create the service
example service creation format

sc \\server create "MSSQL$ACT7" binPath= "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL$ACT7\Binn\sqlservr.exe -sACT7" DisplayName= "MSSQL$ACT7" depend= "SQLAgent$ACT7"

This will create a custom SQL Server example for an ACT database.

Updating FreeBSD

To update FreeBSD you need to run a few commands to update a running server

  1. freebsd-update fetch
  2. freebsd-update install
To upgrade FreeBSD to the latest version: (currently 7.1)
  1. freebsd-update -r 7.1-RELEASE upgrade

To figure out what version of FreeBSD you are using do this

uname -a

FreeBSD freebsd.example.com 7.0-RELEASE FreeBSD 7.0-RELEASE #0: Sun Feb 24 19:59:52 UTC 2008 root@logan.cse.buffalo.edu:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC i386

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Shutdown Remote Windows Computer Using CLI

By going to "Start>Run" and enter "cmd" Press OK, you can get a DOS prompt from which you can remotely reboot another computer on your network.

C:\>shutdown /r /f /m \\192.168.0.1 /t 0 /d p:0:0

From the shutdown help menu:

Usage: shutdown [/i | /l | /s | /r | /g | /a | /p | /h | /e] [/f]
    [/m \\computer][/t xxx][/d [p|u:]xx:yy [/c "comment"]]

    No args    Display help. This is the same as typing /?.
    /?         Display help. This is the same as not typing any options.
    /i         Display the graphical user interface (GUI).
               This must be the first option.
    /l         Log off. This cannot be used with /m or /d options.
    /s         Shutdown the computer.
    /r         Shutdown and restart the computer.
    /g         Shutdown and restart the computer. After the system is
               rebooted, restart any registered applications.
    /a         Abort a system shutdown.
               This can only be used during the time-out period.
    /p         Turn off the local computer with no time-out or warning.
               Can be used with /d and /f options.
    /h         Hibernate the local computer.
               Can be used with the /f option.
    /e         Document the reason for an unexpected shutdown of a computer.
    /m \\computer Specify the target computer.
    /t xxx     Set the time-out period before shutdown to xxx seconds.
               The valid range is 0-600, with a default of 30.
               Using /t xxx implies the /f option.
    /c "comment" Comment on the reason for the restart or shutdown.
               Maximum of 512 characters allowed.
    /f         Force running applications to close without forewarning users.
               /f is automatically set when used in conjunction with /t xxx.
    /d [p|u:]xx:yy  Provide the reason for the restart or shutdown.
               p indicates that the restart or shutdown is planned.
               u indicates that the reason is user defined.
                 if neither p nor u is specified the restart or shutdown is unplanned.
               xx is the major reason number (positive integer less than 256).
               yy is the minor reason number (positive integer less than 65536).

Reasons on this computer:
(E = Expected U = Unexpected P = planned, C = customer defined)
Type    Major   Minor   Title

U 0       0       Other (Unplanned)
E 0       0       Other (Unplanned)
E P 0       0       Other (Planned)
U 0       5       Other Failure: System Unresponsive
E       1       1       Hardware: Maintenance (Unplanned)
E P     1       1       Hardware: Maintenance (Planned)
E       1       2       Hardware: Installation (Unplanned)
E P     1       2       Hardware: Installation (Planned)
P     2       3       Operating System: Upgrade (Planned)
E       2       4       Operating System: Reconfiguration (Unplanned)
E P     2       4       Operating System: Reconfiguration (Planned)
P     2       16      Operating System: Service pack (Planned)
       2       17      Operating System: Hot fix (Unplanned)
P     2       17      Operating System: Hot fix (Planned)
         2       18      Operating System: Security fix (Unplanned)
P     2       18      Operating System: Security fix (Planned)
E       4       1       Application: Maintenance (Unplanned)
E P     4       1       Application: Maintenance (Planned)
E P     4       2       Application: Installation (Planned)
E       4       5       Application: Unresponsive
E       4       6       Application: Unstable
U       5       15      System Failure: Stop error
E       5       19      Security issue
U       5       19      Security issue
E P     5       19      Security issue
E       5       20      Loss of network connectivity (Unplanned)
U       6       11      Power Failure: Cord Unplugged
U       6       12      Power Failure: Environment
P     7       0       Legacy API shutdown

Saturday, September 13, 2008

3D Max Design Animation Test

Below is a first pass run at rendering/animating w/ 3D Max Design 2009 using an FBX file exported from Revit 2009.


Autodesk 3D Max Design 2009 + Backburner

Sometimes we experience backburner failing to restart or load a job monitor has waiting, so we use PStools to run a batch file that will restart backburner on all the computers in the office.

Example.

\\server\share\pstools\psservice.exe \\computername1 -u administrator -p password restart BACKBURNER_SRV_200

Add this to a .bat file and away you go, use a different line for each computer.