DNS Report update

Michael Dale

Too many times have I seen websites that have DNS hosted on one box. Cpanel has been one of the main culprits with its highly dodgy way of mapping two ip addresses to one box and then having NS1.example.com and NS2.example.com.


The main problem with doing this is email. Just say your server goes offline, any email going to your server will be automatically dropped (and not stored in a mail queue) as the address cannot be found through DNS.

DNS Report a great site for checking all dns issues has recently been upgraded to detect this fault. Very useful.

New Server

Michael Dale

We've finally got all the hardware ready and setup for the new server:

• Dual Althon MP 1800+


• 2gb ECC DDR Ram


• 3x80gb SATA in Raid 5 for boot, off a HighPoint 1640


• 3x300gb SATA in Raid 5 for data, off a RaidCore 4852

So yeah. Our new file/mail/sharepoint server!

IPsecuritas VPN Client

Michael Dale

The IPsecuritas website is back online with two new versions (A Universal Version of 2 and a new Beta 3 version).


IPsecuritas is a great free VPN Client for the Mac and is what we use to connect them to our Netscreen VPN.


Unfortunately their website not longer works (is gone?) and it has become hard to get the the software.


I've decided to mirror Version 3b6. This version seems to the latest out. It is a Universal Binary and although in beta, is very stable on my macbook.

Click here to download

Setting up a dial-up VPN to connect to a Netscreen

Michael Dale

I've been getting lots of hits to the post about a site to site VPN setup with a netscreen. So I've decided to do one for a dial-up VPN user connecting to a netscreen.


A dial-up user is anyone who needs access into the network and has a dynamic ip address. We don't wish to be able to access them (the dial-up user) from within the network. This is how we setup most connections at work. This allows people to access file shares and outlook (without the need to setup RPC over HTTP).

Background

• Netscreen 5GT running ScreenOS 5.4.0r1 (Should be the same process for any netscreen running ScreenOS 5.x)


• Netscreen Remote 8.7 (The Windows VPN client)


• Local Network (the one in which the vpn users want to access) of 10.0.0.0/22 (10.0.0.0 - 10.0.3.255)


• External Address of 59.167.253.89

Setting up the Netscreen

1) First we need to create a user. This can be found in Objects -> Users -> Local (Note: Follow the screen shot below, you don't need a password here, you do need the IKE User info though)



So we have our user, Test.User

2) Create Phase 1 of the VPN tunnel. This can be found in VPNs -> AutoKey Advanced -> Gateway (Note: Security level is set to custom, password for VPN is entered here, Outgoing interface is your untrust interface).




3) Now we'll modify the advanced settings. Click Advanced (Note: We're using DES and MD5 here. Mode is set to Aggressive)




Now click return and okay to save your settings.


4) Now we'll create the Phase 2 information. This can be found in VPNs -> AutoKey IKE (Note: Security level is set to custom, Remote Gateway is set to "Test.UserP1")




5) Now we'll modify the advanced settings. Click Advanced (Note: We're using DES and MD5 here. Replay Protection is on)




Now click return and okay to save your settings.


6) Now we'll need to create a policy. This will go from untrust to trust. This can be found in Policies.




Click new (Note: Source Address is Any-IPv4 or just Any if IPv6 is disabled, Destination Address is your local subnet, tunnel the connection though the VPN user "Test.UserP2")




Now the Netscreen has been setup.

Setting up Netscreen Remote

1) Open the policy editor in Netscreen Remote




2) Create a new connection (Note: Type in the remote subnet details and set the secure gateway to your netscreens external address)




3) Now we'll setup the login details (Note: The Certificate is None, The ID Type is Domain Name and the value is "Test.User")




4) Now click Pre-Shared Key (Note: Type in the password you used when setting up the connection in the netscreen)




5) Now we'll set the connection to aggressive (Note: Enable PFS, DH is Group 2 and Enable Replay Dection)




6) Now we'll setup the Phase 1 details (Note: We're using DES and MD5 here. SA Life is 28800 seconds)




7) Now we'll setup the Phase 2 details (Note: The SA Life here is 3600 Seconds)




8) Save the settings and Test!


That should be all you need to do.

Notes

• The VPN may not work behind some NAT routers. You can try turning on NAT-T within the netscreen, although I find it doesn't normally work (newer versions such as 5.4 and 6.x seem to work just fine).


• Make sure the details in the Netscreen and Netscreen Remote Match (i.e Phase 1 policies etc)


• You can check the logs from both Netscreen and Netscreen Remote


• You cannot connect to the VPN while within the local subnet


• Netscreen Remote should be disabled when you're directly connected to the network


• Only traffic for the subnet is passed over the VPN.

phpBB 3 BETA 1

Michael Dale

phpBB 3 BETA 1 has finally been released. I should try it out some time.

Macbook running hot

Michael Dale

My macbook has been running great. Although every now and then it seems to get pretty hot. I check activity monitor to find that both of the cores are running at about 50% load each. Yet no process seems to be taking up anywhere near that much (even combined). I've tracked it down to "Windows Sharing". For some reason, maybe samba has gone crazy or something, but switching off Windows Sharing seems to bring it right back down to a normal temperature. Once you've turned off Windows Sharing you can turn it back on and have no issues. It mainly seems to happen after coming out of sleep. I'll have to try and track down the main reason to the problem. Some software bug somewhere (this is on 10.4.6). I didn't have this problem on my g4 ibook. Although this is really the only problem with my macbook, and it is very minor.

macBook

Michael Dale

Ordered Monday night, was delivered about 1pm today. Awesome! Cannot wait to get home! ;)

Akismet

Michael Dale

I've just added support to my blog for Akismet through the use of this php class. I'm currently waiting on my API key before I enable it.

Spam

Michael Dale

Looks like some spam is finally getting past my spam filter. I'm going to look into adding support for this

trackback spam

Michael Dale

I've been getting my fair share of trackback spam in the last month or so. I've decided to disable trackbacks for the time being. Unfortunately I cannot use my spamblock code on them (which works great for normal comments).