Active Directory integration in Linux and OSX

Likewise has a really impressive free product that lets Linux and OSX users integrate into an Active Directory environment very easily. In fact with linux I think it’s easier than with Windows!

In ubuntu you can install the likewise-open-gui package. For OSX you can download the installer package from the likewise.com website and follow the 10 minute setup guide.

IPCOP traffic shaping for simple, effective qos

Using the default traffic shaper works really well for simple qos needs. Set your defined rtp ports (e.g. udp 3000 and 3001) and udp 5060 and udp 4569 as high priority. Add any offending traffic (e.g. gotomeeting at udp 8200) as low or medium. Takes about 5 minutes and works like a charm!

VMWare ESXi working on a Dell Optiplex GX280

It is pretty easy to get VMWare ESX installable working on a GX280. Boot from a CD burned from the ISO, and hit tab at the first prompt.

Add  nocheckCPUIDlimit  as a boot option. Here is the whole string:

mboot.c32 vmkernel.gz nocheckCPUIDlimit — binmod.tgz — ienviron.tgz — cim.tgz — oem.tgz — license.tgz — install.tgz

Proceed with the install.

When the system reboots, you will get an error message about the CPUID. The boot option needs to be changed again on the installed system.

Boot from a linux livecd (I used Ubuntu 8.04 desktop), and navigate to the “HYPERVISOR1″ partition. Edit boot.txt

Add the boot option there are well:

kernelopt=nocheckCPUIDlimit

Reboot and it should start right up.

Then connect to the server with VMWare Infrastructure Client

Click on the server name, then the Configuration tab, and advanced settings.

Click on VMKernel and uncheck the VMKernel.Boot.checkCPUIDlimt checkbox, and hit OK.

Now you can reboot it in the future without problems.

adding bluetooth mouse to ubuntu

As of ubuntu 8.04, the gnome bluetooth utility does not work by itself to enable a bluetooth mouse.

Here are the steps I had to go through to get my razer pro|click mobile working with my eee pc running eee ubuntu 8.04:
push the button on the bottom of the mouse

sudo hidd –search
Copy the mac address
sudo nano /etc/bluetooth/hcid.conf

add this at the bottom, replacing MOUSE_ADDR with device mac address:

device MOUSE_ADDR {
name “Bluetooth Mouse”;
}

save and exit file

/etc/init.d/bluetooth restart

sudo hidd –search

spokenword.org – excellent RSS tool

SpokenWord.org is a website which takes shared web content into a new paradigm. It allows you to make a custom rss feed that is a conglomeration of feeds, which can be based on your own feeds, published feeds, or others’ spokenword custom feeds. I see it making podcasting truly useful for me.

The whole thing is really a database that links content from many places, runs it through filters, and spits out just what you want. It is amazing.

Dell Precision 4300 Suspend resolved with Ubuntu 8.04

I’ve had hibernate working from day one, but suspend never quite worked properly. With a few tweaks that I found on this page, I have it suspending on shutting the lid and resuming on open. It takes a little longer than I’d prefer to resume, but it is fine.

Thunderbird/Lightning and Evolution calendars on Scalix

Scalix 11.4 has fully functional CALDAV, which enables Thunderbird/Lightning and Evolution users to enjoy server based calendar functionality previously limited to Scalix Web Client and Outlook users. It works extremely well, and is really not too difficult to set up.

TB/TB-2008-01-CALDAV – Scalix Wiki

Upgrading Scalix to a new server OS.

As part of our recent infrastructure upgrade, we moved our mail server to a a new OS, on a new virtual machine. We also upgraded to the newest enterprise version of Scalix: from Scalix 10.0 on Fedora Core 5 to Scalix 11.4 on CentOS 5.2.

Here are what we determined would have been the optimum way to perform the upgrade.

Change ip address of old machine, and reboot.

Stop Scalix on old machine (omshut)

Set IP and hostname on new machine to match old machine’s settings. Test forward and reverse dns to make sure it is all consistent.

Install Scalix package on new machine, and make sure it it does not throw any errors.

Stop Scalix on new machine (omshut) Inbound and outbound mail will stop at this point.

Rename or move message store on new machine, to make room for the old message store. (mv /var/opt/scalix/sx /var/opt/scalix/sx.bak)

Copy message store from old machine to new one (I used rsync) This takes the longest time of anything.

run ompatchom to fixup the message store for the new version.

Ubuntu wifi drivers for Dell Vostro A860

A regular system update within Ubuntu 8.04 broke the wifi drivers a Dell Vostro A860. Here’s all it took to get it going again:

Code:

mkdir ~/tmp
cd ~/tmp

Download madwifi hal driver:

Code:

wget http://snapshots.madwifi.org/madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current.tar.gz

… and extract it:

Code:

tar zxvf http://snapshots.madwifi.org/madwifi...current.tar.gz

Go into source directory:

Code:

cd madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3861-20080903/

… and run:

Code:

make
sudo make install
sudo reboot

From the bottom of this post.

Jabra BT3030 as a headset in Ubuntu Linux (8.04)

These instructions worked great for me with Audacious on my Ubuntu laptop with built-in bluetooth. I got a new bluetooth headset (Jabra BT3030) that works well for music and as a phone headset.