I have a FON router which allow anyone to connect to Intenet via my network connection. I like the openess and idea behind FON but I do not want to get in trouble if someone do bad things and using my network connection.

One solution is to connect the FON accesspoint to a separate network segment and let all traffic from that network go through TOR, the onion router. 

Another feature is when I want to be anonymous on Internet I plugin my computer to that network segment.

Setup

I use OpenBSD as my firewall and the first step is to download, compile and configure TOR. I downloaded the tarball from https://www.torproject.org and used the normal procedure:

# wget https://www.torproject.org/dist/tor-0.2.2.35.tar.gz

# tar xzvf tor-0.2.2.35.tar.gz 

# cd tor-0.2.2.35                                                                                                                                                                

# ./configure&&make&&make install

Configure pf

I use a specific ethernet interface, fxp0, which will route all traffic into tor. 

--cut from /etc/pf.conf--

#Tor traffic

tor_if ="fxp0"

# Tor's TransPort

trans_port = "9040"

pass in quick on $tor_if inet proto udp to port domain rdr-to 127.0.0.1 port 5300 

pass in quick on $tor_if inet proto { tcp udp } to !($tor_if) rdr-to 127.0.0.1 port $trans_port

--end cut--

Configure tor

# cat /usr/local/etc/tor/torrc

VirtualAddrNetwork 10.192.0.0/10

AutomapHostsOnResolve 1

TransPort 9040

DNSPort 5300

Log notice syslog

#Log debug stderr

RunAsDaemon 1

Note: I know that best practice is to let the tor process run as non root user. That requires read access to /dev/pf and I did not bother to get it working.

Dhcpd config

I assume that a OpenBSD sysadmin knows how to setup dhcpd so I will just show the config addon I did to /etc/dhcpd.conf.

shared-network tor-net {

        option  domain-name "it-slav-tor-net";

        option  domain-name-servers 10.1.2.1;

        option  ntp-servers 10.1.2.1;

        subnet 10.1.2.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {

                option routers 10.1.2.1;

                range 10.1.2.100 10.1.2.200;

        }

The ip-adress of the fxp0 interface is 10.1.2.1

Start tor

# /usr/local/bin/tor

Jan 10 20:52:48.880 [notice] Tor v0.2.2.35 (git-b04388f9e7546a9f). This is experimental software. Do not rely on it for strong anonymity. (Running on OpenBSD i386)

Jan 10 20:52:48.885 [warn] It's a little hard to tell, but you seem to have Libevent 1.4.0-beta header files, whereas you have linked against Libevent 1.4.14b-stable.  This will probably make Tor crash.

Jan 10 20:52:48.886 [notice] Initialized libevent version 1.4.14b-stable using method kqueue. Good.

Jan 10 20:52:48.886 [notice] Opening Socks listener on 127.0.0.1:9050

Jan 10 20:52:48.887 [notice] Opening Transparent pf/netfilter listener on 127.0.0.1:9040

Jan 10 20:52:48.887 [notice] Opening DNS listener on 127.0.0.1:5300

Final step

Plugin your fon router and enjoy!

Links

The hints to this article was found at:

•  https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/TheOnionRouter/TransparentProxy 

It really annoyed me that the iowait at the cpu on the Dom 0 system was approximatly 50% when the 4 virtual system was doing more or less nothing.

I showed my earlier blogpost about VM virtualization to our sysadmin at op5. He gave me a couple of more hints that really make a big difference, the best part is that they are real simple to implement.

I also noticed that I forgot some parts in the previous article that was obvius to me.

#1 use virtio drivers if possible

This is probably the single most important step to get the most out of the hardware.

When the virtual systems wants to communicate with the hardware it uses drivers, if the drivers are simulating hardware to give a service to the virtual operating system it adds alot of overhed. A simple example:

• The virtual system wants to access the disk
• The virtual system communicates via the driver to the hardware
• The hardware is not real hardware, it is emulated hardware in sofware 
• The software that emulates the hardware sends the I/O to the Dom 0 virtualization engine
• The Virtualization engine verifies that the access is ok, translate it to real hardware call via its driver
• The hardware do the operation and send the result back up via all the steps to the virtual operating system

All this transalations and software calls take alot of resources from the machine.

By using virtual drivers, so that there is no need to emulate hardware, many of the steps can be skipped or done with much less penalty. However not all operating system have virtio drivers.

#2 load the virtio modules in Dom 0

This is a real god hint I got from our sysadmin, load the virtual drivers in the Dom 0 system asweell. According to him, the virtual drivers in the Dom 0 and Dom U:s communicate and makes the I/O much more effective. I have not found any information about this at any place so I was sceptical but I tried it.

# modprobe virtio_balloon
# modprobe virtio_blk
# modprobe virtio_net
# modprobe virtio_pci

The virtual systems need to be rebooted as far as I know before the loaded drivers will have any effect.

At first no change at all, but after few hours I noticed that CPU idle raized and the iowait went from at least 50% down to below 5%.

A nice graph, created by op5 Monitor showing the difference:

I loaded the virtual drivers approximately 4 pm, and it took until 10 pm before the performance boost showed up.

The correct way of making sure that the drivers are loaded directly would be to remake the kernel but I'm lazy so I have just added the module load to /etc/rc.local

Conclusions

It is always important to monitor systems. When doing changes it is not possible know if the changes do have any impact if you do not monitor and follow up how and if the changes does anything.

My former statement that KVM is not mature is more true then I have thought. The knowledge how to tune and maintain KVM systems seems to be like black art where the knowledge is not documented and well spread. I have read the RedHat virtualization and I have not found anything about that the virtual drivers should be loaded on the Dom0 system.

If there is anyone out there that has some documentation or more hints, please send me the link or comment this blogpost.

Links:

• RedHat virtualization doc
• op5 Monitor that monitor and creates nice graphs
• check_cpu_stats Nagios plugin to monitor cpustat

As an it slave, I have the same problems as most datacenters:

• Running out of space because of more and more machines get into the datacenter
• Overheating
• Powerconsumption

Added to the "normal" datacenter problems, I also have to deal with:

• Wife acceptance
• Noice, my neighbours has complained about the noice outside my basement.

To address this issues I will run a consolidation project to get fewer machines by using virtualization. As virtualization engine, KVM is choosed.

This article will describe some pitfalls I run into and how I solved them.

KVM plattform

KVM seems to be the future for virtualization within the Linux area since Xen has done some mistakes.

As I have good experience of running CentOS and has KVM included I decided to use CentOS as the plattform for my virtualization.

Issues

Bridge network

To let the virtual boxes has full access to the network you need create a network bridge, it is rather straightforward and well documented so I will skip this part. I used the documentation on Red Hat customer support. Why KVM requires a bridge instead of a normal NIC is another question

Snapshots

One handy feature with virtualization is that the virtual systems can be one big fat file at the physical host, this gives the possibility to make full backups without turning the system down a.k.a snapshots.

However to get snapshot to work the filetype must be qcow2 and raw is the default format.

It is possible to convert from raw to qcow2 format by running the command:

qemu-img convert -f raw -O qcow2 <virtualhost>.img <virtualhost>.img.qcow2

Remember to turn of your virtual system by running:

virsh shutdown <virtualhost>

After the conversion:

virsh edit <virtualhost>

modify the type and path, i.e.

      <driver name='qemu' type='qcow2' cache='none'/>
      <source file='/var/lib/libvirt/images/web.img.qcow2'/>

Start your virtual system:

virsh start <virtualhost>

Take a snapshot with:

qemu-img snapshot -c <snapshotname> <virtualhost>.img.preallc.qcow2

To create a full image of your snapshot you need to compile a more resent version of qemu-img then shipped with CentOS 6.2, I download a later version and compiled it from here, i renamed the new to qemu.img2 and copied it to /usr/local/bin

qemu-img2 convert -p -f qcow2 -O qcow2 -s <snapshotname> <virtualhost>.img.preallc.qcow2 <targetpath>

Beware: This command can use all your resources and may affect all your virtual systems, use nice and ionice to prevent it.

Disk I/O

After installing just a few virtual system I noticed that my physical host got alot of I/O wait, it can be seen by using tools like top.

To monitor this I installed the nagios plugins:

• check disk io, can be found here
• check cpu stats, can be found here
• check_libvirt, developed by op5 and an Howto

However it seems like that though my virtual systems did more or less nothing they caused alot of disk I/O on the physical system.

I did some investigations and read quite many articles, fiddled and tested. The following is what worked for me in my setup.

#1 Change disk scheduler

The disk scheduler can be changed on runtime by modify the file:

/sys/block/sda/queue/scheduler

to see what scheduler you use now:

cat /sys/block/sda/queue/scheduler

Change sda to the device you have.

The scheduler that worked best for me is deadline

echo deadline > /sys/block/sda/queue/scheduler

#2 Mount with noatime

A feature in Unix and other Unixlike systems like Linux is that it normaly stores when a file is accessed. So one read always produce a write and if you are using raid like morroring this get worse, one reade always generate several writes. This creates alot of overhead for a feature soldom used.

So change /etc/fstab so it will mount the file systems with noatime.
An axample:

UUID=a290aa4b-635c-45fa-b144-1fbef90b3735 /                       ext4    defaults,noatime        1 1

#3 Preallocation disk images

A real boost that is hidden in the featureset and not shown in the virtualmachine gui is using preallocation disk images. They cannot be created from the GUI so I install the virtual machine, turn it of and convert it afterwards.

qemu-img convert -f qcow2 -O qcow2 -o preallocation=metadata <virtualhost>.img.qcow2 <virtualhost>.img.preallc.qcow2

Change the path to new image name by editing the virtual machine settings

virsh edit <virtualhost>

Conclusions

In my opinion it seems like KVM is still a little bit immature or at least the tools to handle it. Maybe it would be a good idea to have one linux distro focusing on beeing the best platform for virtualization.

I am convinced that I can get even more bang for the bucks out of my installation if I learn how to tweak it even more, so if you have any hints, do not hesitate to contact me. Preferably as a comment to this blogpost.

Referenses:

• op5 Monitor, a nagios based enterprise monitor tool to monitor my environment
• check_libvirt, a nagios plugin done by op5 to monitor KVM
• check_diskio, a nagios plugin to monitor disk I/O
• check_cpu_stats, a nagios plugin to monitor cpu usage rather detailed
• Another blogpost which helped me
• KVM performance improvements and optimizations – Red Hat presentation

I have a long time looked at Telldus Tellstick that can control wall-plug socket recievers and other devices. Finally I got my hands on one that my collegue wanted to sell.

This article will describe how to get it up and running on a x86_64 CentOS 6 box, the procedure would be the same on RHEL or Feodora and similiar on other Linux distributions. Unfortunatly the only distribution that has pre-made packages is Ubuntu so I will describe howto download the source code, compile it and get the amazing Telldus Tellstick up and running.

Kudos to Telldus that has understood the power of OpenSource and opened up the device to let third-part  vendors make solutions based on the device.

Installation

Install packages needed for the compilation

yum install gcc gcc-c++ autoconf automake cmake

Libconfuse is needed: 

wget http://pkgs.repoforge.org/libconfuse/libconfuse-2.6-2.el6.rf.x86_64.rpm

wget http://pkgs.repoforge.org/libconfuse/libconfuse-devel-2.6-2.el6.rf.x86_64.rpm

Install libconfuse:

rpm -Uvh libconfuse-*

warning: libconfuse-2.6-2.el6.rf.x86_64.rpm: Header V3 DSA/SHA1 Signature, key ID 6b8d79e6: NOKEY

Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]

   1:libconfuse             ########################################### [ 50%]

   2:libconfuse-devel       ########################################### [100%]

Download, configure, compile, and install the Tellstick package from Telldus 

Configure

Useful links:

• Telldus
• Different Telldus Tellsticks
• Supported devices

As a monitoring fanatic, I think that have mirrored disk without monitor the mirror is worse then not have a redundant disk system at all. If you think that you are safe and you are not, is worse then be aware of a risk and calculate with it.

This article will describe how I did monitoring my FreeNAS system mirrored disks status using Nagios or op5 Monitoring. I assume basic knowledge of Nagios or op5 Monitor and that a Nagios agent is installed.

Demarcation

This article will focus on GEOM raid monitoring. Of cource all important services should be monitored, like HTTP, CIFS, SMB, disk space, CPU Load, memory usage and so on. However that is basic monitoring knowledge and there is alot of documentation on the net howto achive that.

Monitor the GEOM mirror

The most interesting part is to monitor the GEOM mirror to make sure that that the raid1 is working. 

After some googleing I found check_geom, downloaded it and put it in /usr/local/libexec/nagios/ where the other plugins are located.

Add a line to /etc/nrpe.cfg

command[check_geom_mirror]=/usr/local/libexec/nagios/check_geom mirror

and test from Nagios/op5 Monitor host:

# ./check_nrpe -H fnas -c check_geom_mirror
OK mirror  - mirror/2TBmirror0 COMPLETE { ad6 , ad4 }

It works!
 

Configure Nagios or op5 Monitor

In /opt/monitor/etc/services.cfg at the op5 Monitor host

# service 'Disk Raid Mirrors'
define service{
    use                            default-service
    host_name                      fnas
    service_description            Disk Raid Mirrors
    check_command                  check_nrpe!check_geom_mirror
    contact_groups                 it-slav_mail,it-slav_jabber
    }

The result

I tested unplugging the SATA cabel to one of the mirrored disk and after a couple of minutes I got an Critical notification that my disk mirror is broken, I plugged SATA cabel and got a Warning:

After a couple of hours the mirror was OK.

Useful links:

• Previous article describing howto install nagios or op5 Monitor agent on FreeNAS
• op5, an Enterprise Monitor product company
• op5 Monitor, Enterprise Monitoring based on opensource
• Nagios, an excellent opensource monitor tool
• FreeNAS, very capable NAS based on FreeBSD

My old NAS built on top of CentOS has some performence issues and the disks are quit old now. The hardware is leftovers that is approx 8 years old and not highend at that time either. The disks age has worried my for a time and I would like to have higher redunduncy with raid1/mirrored disks.

After some research I decided to run my new NAS on FreeNAS, which has all the features I use, like: CIFS, NFS, FTP, SSH, Rsync, Unison, iSCSI and also easy administration and disk management.

This article will describe how I did setup Nagios or op5 Monitoring on my FreeNAS system. I assume basic knowledge of Nagios or op5 Monitor.

Installing nrpe

Nrpe is the agent that nagios and op5 Monitor uses to monitor a system from the inside.

From the webgui add group nagios and user nagios. User nagios should be a meber of group nagios.

 freenas:~# pkg_add -r nrpe2
Fetching ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-7.3-release/Latest/nrpe2.tbz... Done.
Fetching ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-7.3-release/All/perl-5.10.1.tbz... Done.
Removing stale symlinks from /usr/bin...
    Skipping /usr/bin/perl
    Skipping /usr/bin/perl5
Done.
Creating various symlinks in /usr/bin...
    Symlinking /usr/local/bin/perl5.10.1 to /usr/bin/perl
    Symlinking /usr/local/bin/perl5.10.1 to /usr/bin/perl5
Done.
cd: can't cd to /usr/include
Cleaning up /etc/make.conf... Done.
Spamming /etc/make.conf... Done.
Cleaning up /etc/manpath.config... Done.
Spamming /etc/manpath.config... Done.
Fetching ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-7.3-release/All/libiconv-1.13.1_1.tbz... Done.
Fetching ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-7.3-release/All/gettext-0.17_1.tbz... Done.
Fetching ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-7.3-release/All/nagios-plugins-1.4.14,1.tbz... Done.
You already have a "nagios" group, so I will use it.
You already have a "nagios" user, so I will use it.

**********************************************************************
 

freenas:~# cp /usr/local/etc/nrpe.cfg-sample /etc/nrpe.cfg

I changed the allowed_hosts line and added my op5 Monitor host.

So the nagios agent works.

Links

• op5, an Enterprise Monitor product company
• op5 Monitor, Enterprise Monitoring based on opensource
• Nagios, an excellent opensource monitor tool
• FreeNAS, very capable NAS based on FreeBSD

The widget keeps track of how many times the word "moln" appear on idg.se webpage and displays it in a easy view in The Tactical Overview.

Screenshoots from the different modes:

Links:

• op5 Sandbox with a live cloud widget online, registration is necessary
• Ninja, the new and inovative nagios gui
• Widget exchange area

Kudos to op5 support that has created this excellent widget 

It is very handy to have a temprobe attached to network devices like a Wlan router, if OpenWRT is installed it is easy to use 1-wire devices. By using this method it is possible to create wireless temperature probes that uses Wlan.

Install

root@OpenWrt:~# opkg install owserver owfs         
 

Using

root@OpenWrt:~# owserver -u -C --usb_regulartime -p 3001

root@OpenWrt:~# mkdir /mnt/1-wire         


root@OpenWrt:~# owfs -s localhost:3001 -m /mnt/1-wire

root@OpenWrt:/mnt/1-wire/10.87507C010800# ls /mnt/1-wire/
10.87507C010800  81.543A2A000000  alarm            bus.0            settings         simultaneous     statistics       structure        system           uncached

It works!         
 

To make sure that owserver starts when the router is rebooted, add to /etc/rc.local


/usr/bin/owserver -u -C --usb_regulartime -p 3001

Firewall

My op5 Monitor/Nagios system is on the Wan side of the OpeWRT box so I need to open the firewall to port 3001.

Add to /etc/config/firewall

#1-wire ok on Wan
config rule
    option src        wan
    option dest_port    3001
    option target        ACCEPT
    option proto        tcp
 

Result

To gather the data from 1-wire I use op5 Monitor and my Nagios plugin check_1-wiretemp, the result can be seen below

Links

• OpenWrt
• owfs
• op5 Monitor

It is real simple, just add to following to /etc/config/firewall:

#open ssh on wan interface
config rule               
        option src              wan
        option dest_port        22
        option target           ACCEPT    
        option proto            tcp 

And restart the firewall:

#/etc/init.d/firewall restart

After struggeling with my Linksys WRT-160NL to get OpenWRT stable I finally gave up. It ended upp with DD-WRT instead. Unfortunatly DD-WRT do not have the functionality I want like:

-rndis device so I could use my Android phone to connect to Internet

-1-wire device support

-Nagios agent

The solution was to buy another device where OpenWRT support is working better with USB and Gigabit interfaces. After some research I found TP-Link TL-WR1043ND for approx 50€.

Unpacking

The TL-WR1043ND package is good looking and has a printed GPL license included, that is impressive.

The basic installation with TP-LINK installed firware was easy and stright forward with all information you need in a simple "Quick installation Guide". No need for installing software on a windows machine to be able to access you new device. I think Cisco/Linksys has something to learn.

Installing OpenWRT

Find the Firmware upgrade menu and upload this firmware. It worked perfectly well and seems very stable. A positive suprise is that the WLAN seems to reach longer then the WRT 160NL.

Conclusion

The TP-LINK TL-WR1043ND seems to be a good Wlan router that has a good support for OpenWRT, with USB, Gigabit ethernetinterfaces and good Wlan range.

Background

I have a need of GPS tag my digital photos. Unfortunatly a GPS device to my camera costs approx 230 Eur. In my humble opinion I think that is way of, especially considering that with some software in the camera any standard USB GPS reciever would do the job. They cost approx 40 Eur.

I have an Android phone where there is tons of apps that could create a GPS log whenever I want to, however it drains the battery in just a couple of hours. I want to track my routes at least a whole day without the need to charge.

The solution is to buy a GPS logger and after some research I found Ventus GPS Route Logger G730, and it looked like it would work with Linux.

This article will describe my experience making the G730 Ventus GPS Route Logger and Linux.

Using skytraq

According to webpages skytraq can be used to create GPX tracks from the G730 Logger.

Unfortunatly the skytraq software are not in the Ubuntu repos so I had to download and install it manually. It is downloadable from  http://code.google.com/p/skytraq-datalogger/

It is out of the scope for this article how to compile and fullfill the requirements needs.

When the GPS Logger is attached the following will show up in /var/log/messages:

Jan 15 14:13:08 it-slav kernel: [21689.101101] usb 6-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 3
Jan 15 14:13:09 it-slav kernel: [21689.316181] usb 6-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Jan 15 14:13:09 it-slav kernel: [21689.319138] pl2303 6-2:1.0: pl2303 converter detected
Jan 15 14:13:09 it-slav kernel: [21689.332192] usb 6-2: pl2303 converter now attached to ttyUSB0

So now we can communicate with the GPS Logger:

peter@it-slav:~/dl/skytraq/skytraq-datalogger-0.5-1$ ./skytraq-datalogger --info
kernel version: 1.4.8 -- ODM version: 1.8.22 -- revision: 2008-10-23
log_wr_ptr:      28626
total sectors:   510
sectors left:    506
max time:        3600 s
min time:        1 s
max distance:    1000 m
min distance:    0 m
max speed:       1000 km/h
min speed:       0 km/h
datalog enable:  1
log fifo mode:   1
AGPS enabled:    0
AGPS data left:  none
baud-rate:       38400 bps

Get the gpx file:

./skytraq-datalogger --dump >20110310.gpx

And now a gpx file named 20110310.gpx is created.

Setup

There is a possibility to conifigure the behvior of the GPS logger with skytraq, however it is possible to configure more parameters in the Ventus G730 so to fully configure I had to install the windows software that come with the logger.

The configuration is rather strange, there is a possibilty to log per time, over a certain speed and distance for the following:

• General
• Walking
• Car
• Bicycle

How the device knows what type of vehicle I use for traveling and if the General settings override the others is undocumented.

Problems

Most of the time when trying to communicate with the logger it gives this message:

peter@it-slav:~/dl/skytraq/skytraq-datalogger-0.5-1$ ./skytraq-datalogger --info
No response from datalogger.

And after a few seconds it works again. Sometimes unplugging the device and connect it again helps. The behavior is very stochastic and some patience will help:)

The logger can be used as a GPS recever and the output is in standard NMEA format that GPSd understand. So if you want to use it together with your favorite GPS software it works. However my experience is that if you want to dump the output from the G730 Logger the GPS output must be turned of:

./skytraq-datalogger --set-output-off

Suggestion

I suggest that Ventus should open the specification howto communicat with the device so third part software could use the device. To hide that type of information do not provide any advantage, rather the opposite.

I wrote an email to them and the correspondence can be seen below. I hope this blog post will make Ventus change their mind.

–cut–

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Sv: Ventus g730
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2011 13:25:49 +0800
From: <support@ventusdesign.com>
To: Peter Andersson <peter@it-slav.net>
CC: Ventus <info@ventusdesign.com>

> Hi
>
> I have just bought a Ventus g730 GPS Logger and I have some feedback.
> Before buying the device I made sure that it fullfilled my requriements:
> -Works with linux
> (http://www.petrilopia.net/wordpress/hardware/ventus-gps-route-logger-g730-linux/)
> -Create gpx files
> -Battery that last at least 12 hours
>
> Unfortunately you have have taken a strange decision and do not support
> Linux. However according to several forums the G730 is compatible with
> http://code.google.com/p/skytraq-datalogger/
> After fiddling with the device I found that the skytraq-datalogger
> sometimes works and sometimes does not. And I probably will return the
> device to the store if I cannot get it to work better with an open and
> free operating system.
>
> My recommendations to you are:
> 1-Provide an open specification how to access the data in the device
> 2-Modify the http://code.google.com/p/skytraq-datalogger/ software so it
> works with G730 and provide the code change to the team behind
> skytraq-datalogger, and also provide the software on you website.
>
> By following these simple steps (especially #1) you will sell a-lot of
> more devices to the people that prefer open and freedom.
>
> Best regards
> Peter Andersson
> peter@it-slav.net
 

As everybody knows, the answer is 42.

Today is the date 101010, translate that binary number to decimal, you get 42.

When I was preparing a presentation about what op5 is doing and our contribution to the community, I went to ideas.nagios.org. When I browsed the list of the biggest issues with Nagios I found out that op5 has packaged and solved them all in op5 Monitor. I encourage everyone to take a peak at the list and judge for them self what platform you want to use for your enterprise monitoring solution.

1. Nagios Clusters

op5 has developed Merlin (Module for Effortless and Redundant and Loadbalanced Infrastructure with Nagios). It provides the possibility to have a redundant or/and loadbalanced solution using Nagios. It also provides a scalable database backend for Ninja and Nagvis, take a peak at Merlin webpage.

2. Performance Graphing

In op5 Monitor op5 has added pnp4nagios that graphs more or less any check that gives a numerical value back.

3. New Status Map

We provide a new statusmap, it is a part of Nagvis project and called Automap. op5 has contributed to Nagvis by adding support for Merlin database backend and GoogleMaps integration

4. Better Interface

op5 has created a new PHP based interface that makes you proud of your monitor solution, called Ninja. Ninja stands for Nagios is now Just Awesome, it looks so good so you can show it to your manager:-) Take a peak at Ninja webpage.

We had a naming competition at op5 my suggestion to call it Yang, Yet Another Nagios Gui, did not get so many votes so the name become Ninja.

5. Configuration

Any one that has tried to configure Nagios by hand has thought bad thoughts. It is cumbersome and in the begining it makes even a skilled Unix admin frustrated. op5 has developed a web based configuration tool named Nacoma. It is included in op5 Monitor.

6. SLA reports

op5 has got alot of feedback from the customers and one issue was better reports, we have created two reports: availability and SLA report. Both of them can be scheduled and looks god compared to the reports in Nagios, they are included in Ninja

 
7. More members in core team

Well, this is something that op5 cannot controll, however, Andreas Ericsson one of op5s core developers are a member og Nagios steering board.

8. SNMP Trap receiver

This is something op5 is working on right now, we have today created a prototype together with a customer and depending of the outcome of that project we will know better when it will be available to the market.

9. UI-Improvment

op5s solution to this issue is Ninja, a better, nicer, scalable, database backend gui to Nagios.

10. Nagios Dashboard

A newTactical Overview with widgets or Nagvis, all included in Ninja

Links

• ideas.nagios.org http://ideas.nagios.org
• Nagios http://www.nagios.org
• op5 http://www.op5.com
• op5 Monitor http://www.op5.com/op5/products/network-monitor
• Ninja http://www.op5.org/community/plugin-inventory/op5-projects/ninja
• Merlin http://www.op5.org/community/plugin-inventory/op5-projects/merlin
• Nagvis http://www.nagvis.org/
• pnp4nagios http://docs.pnp4nagios.org/

I have found one way of still doing geeky things combined with vacation. That is update OpenStreetmap. Take a peak at my updates at:

• http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=56.4476895332336&lon=14.0158939361572&zoom=14
• http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=56.4213931560516&lon=14.0284895896912&zoom=14
• http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=60.1418289542198&lon=15.4323390126228&zoom=17

Openstreetmap is wikipedia for maps, and like wikipedia it is dependent of that people will update with correct data. One thing that fascinates me is that openstreetmap is extremly detailed in some areas. Probably a geek lives nearby.

When the earthquake hit Haiti, OpenStreetmaps was used by rescuers because all other maps was inaccurate. Alot of volunteers helped keeping the maps updated.

If you want to participate in the project, the process is simple:

1. Get an GPS reciever that can generate gpx tracks, I use my Android
2. Turn on the GPS and walk, run or bicycle around and gather GPS tracks
3. Upload the gpx to openstreetmap.org
4. Tag the roads, buildings and whatever you found

 To get started, read the beginners guide at Openstreetmap.

I wanted to use a 3G dongle with a twin SIM card as my Internet connection when I’m traveling. I have earlier decribed howto share the Internet connection and make it more flexible by using an OpenWRT router with USB interface as a bridge between Wlan and 3G/GPRS provided internet.

Unfortunatly Tele2s support personel cannot keep track of the unlogical rules among their different subscriptions so they fouled my to buy a twincard to my regular subscription and use that for data. After a couple of more calls to Tele2, including that they listened to a recording of when I ordered the twincard I have to give up that track because it was not possible. The twincard only works for phone calls, not data connections and especially not when I had a flatrate subscription on my master SIM card.

After some investigation I came to the conclusion that I have to use my Regular phone, a HTC Desire with Android as my connection to internet.

Unfortunatly the work done with getting the USB 3G dongle was a waste of time.

PreReq

An OpenWRT router with a working USB interface and a rndis enabled modem, I use a HTC Desire.

Installation

root@WRT160NL:~# opkg install kmod-usb-net-rndis

I also installed some USB packages, probably not all of them are necessery:

root@WRT160NL:~#opkg install kmod-ar9170 kmod-usb-acm kmod-usb-core kmod-usb-ohci kmod-usb-serial comgt
kmod-usb-serial-option kmod-usb-storage kmod-usb-uhci kmod-usb2  usb-switch

Add the following to /etc/config/network

config 'interface' 'usb0'
    option 'name' 'usb0'
    option 'proto' 'dhcp'
    option 'ifname' 'usb0'
    option 'defaultroute' '0'
    option 'peerdns' '0'
 

Use the same firewall rules with your 3G connection as your normal WLAN, add the yellow marked line to /etc/config/firewall:

config 'zone'
    option 'name' 'wan'
    option 'input' 'REJECT'
    option 'output' 'ACCEPT'
    option 'forward' 'REJECT'
    option 'masq' '1'
    option 'mtu_fix' '1'
    option 'network' 'wan usb0 ppp0'

Do a reboot
 

Test

To use your new connection, run ifup

root@WRT160NL:~# ifup usb0
udhcpc (v1.15.3) started
root@OpenWrt:~# Sending discover...
Sending select for 192.168.100.100...
Lease of 192.168.100.100 obtained, lease time 864000
udhcpc: ifconfig usb0 192.168.100.100 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast +
udhcpc: setting default routers: 192.168.100.254
udhcpc: setting dns servers: 192.168.100.254

root@WRT160NL:~# ping www.google.com
PING www.google.com (74.125.39.104): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 74.125.39.104: seq=0 ttl=51 time=371.025 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.39.104: seq=1 ttl=51 time=388.617 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.39.104: seq=2 ttl=51 time=316.767 ms
^C
--- www.google.com ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 3 packets received, 25% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 316.767/358.803/388.617 ms

Shutdown the connection with ifdown

root@WRT160NL:~# ifdown usb0

Background

After waiting for the Hummingbird release for the LaFonera 2.0G a long time and discussed with the Fon support team when 3G dongles will work, I gave up and installed OpenWRT on my LaFonera 2.0G router.

I’m sorry FON, you have a cool idea and nice routers but your unlogical approach to the users and communtity, finally got me to install plain OpenWRT instead.

Installation

After alot of googling and testing and downloading, reading and so on, I finally run into a guide that worked for me.

Most of the descriptions and howto assumes that the RedBoot will accept to download a new firmware via TFTP, this is true with the early releases of 2.0G , but the one sold now do not have this feature.

The trick is to install a firmware that allows changing the RedBoot partition of the memory, change the RedBoot parttion and install OpenWRT via TFTP.

The guide is unfortunatly in French, but google translate helped me to translate it to English.

The pitfalls I run into is to reboot the device several timesafter installing the hacked version of FON firmware: FON2202_2.2.5.0_Flipper_RedBootC_VoteGOP.image

The only difference is that I used a later version of OpenWRT. I used Backfire 10.03 instead of Kamikaze 8.9.1

After succesfully installed my new Linksys WRT160NL with OpenWrt, the next step is to configure it. As the summer is approaching and my need for Internet access in our summer cottage will arrise. The summer cottage is in the middle of nowhere so it would be handy to put a USB dongle and the Wlan router in the spot with best 3G field strength and use the WiFi to connect several computers to the router and Internet.

The 3G USB modem is a Huawei modem I bought for 20 EUR and unlocked using this guide.

I found an excellent guide describing excactly what I wanted todo but it did not work 100% in my environment so I will describe what I did to get it running. Read the guide to get background and deeper explanation of how things are done. This guide assumes that you have read the guide, basic knowledge of OpenWRT, howto edit files in a Linux environment and so on.

Installation

The USB hardware and the modem need some extra packages to be installed. I installed the following:

root@WRT160NL:~#opkg install kmod-ar9170 kmod-usb-acm kmod-usb-core kmod-usb-ohci kmod-usb-serial comgt
kmod-usb-serial-option kmod-usb-storage kmod-usb-uhci kmod-usb2  usb-switch

Probably not all of them are necessery but during my tests and fiddeling these are the ones I installed.

Configuration

Create /etc/modules.d/60-usb-serial:

usbserial vendor=0x12d1 product=0x1446
 

The vendor and product parameters can be found by attaching the 3G modem and run:

root@WRT160NL:~# cat /proc/bus/usb/devices

T:  Bus=01 Lev=00 Prnt=00 Port=00 Cnt=00 Dev#=  1 Spd=480 MxCh= 1
B:  Alloc=  0/800 us ( 0%), #Int=  0, #Iso=  0
D:  Ver= 2.00 Cls=09(hub  ) Sub=00 Prot=01 MxPS=64 #Cfgs=  1
P:  Vendor=1d6b ProdID=0002 Rev= 2.06
S:  Manufacturer=Linux 2.6.32.10 ehci_hcd
S:  Product=Atheros AR91xx built-in EHCI controller
S:  SerialNumber=ar71xx-ehci
C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=e0 MxPwr=  0mA
I:* If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=09(hub  ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=hub
E:  Ad=81(I) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS=   4 Ivl=256ms

T:  Bus=01 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=00 Cnt=01 Dev#=  2 Spd=480 MxCh= 0
D:  Ver= 2.00 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=64 #Cfgs=  1
P:  Vendor=12d1 ProdID=1446 Rev= 0.00
S:  Manufacturer=HUAWEI Technology
S:  Product=HUAWEI Mobile
C:* #Ifs= 2 Cfg#= 1 Atr=e0 MxPwr=500mA
I:* If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=08(stor.) Sub=06 Prot=50 Driver=usbserial_generic
E:  Ad=81(I) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 512 Ivl=0ms
E:  Ad=01(O) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 512 Ivl=0ms
I:* If#= 1 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=08(stor.) Sub=06 Prot=50 Driver=usbserial_generic
E:  Ad=02(O) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 512 Ivl=0ms
E:  Ad=82(I) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 512 Ivl=0ms
 

The parameters are marked in yellow above.

The next step is to configure usb switch. Create /etc/usb-modeswitch.conf

########################################################
# Huawei E270+  (HSPA+ modem)

DefaultVendor= 0x12d1
DefaultProduct=0x1446

TargetVendor=  0x12d1
TargetProductList="1001,1406,140c,14ac"

CheckSuccess=20

MessageContent="55534243123456780000000000000011060000000000000000000000000000"

I have no clue of the syntax but I copied it from my Ubuntu machine /etc/usb_modeswitch.d/12d1:1446 and it works:-)

Add the following to /etc/config/network

config 'interface' 'ppp0'
    option 'ifname' 'ppp0'
    option 'proto' '3g'
    option 'device' '/dev/ttyUSB0'
    option 'apn' 'internet.tele2.se'
    option 'pincode' '1234'

The pincode is obvious, the apn is local and given by your local operator. It is handy to configure it to work in Ubuntu and then look at the configuration Ubuntu creates.
 

The firewall rules need to be updated and I added ppp0 to the wan section in /etc/config/firewall

config 'zone'
    option 'name' 'wan'
    option 'input' 'REJECT'
    option 'output' 'ACCEPT'
    option 'forward' 'REJECT'
    option 'masq' '1'
    option 'mtu_fix' '1'
    option 'network' 'wan ppp0'

To make the change to take effect run:

root@WRT160NL:~# /etc/init.d/firewall restart
 

Start it

Attach the modem and run:

root@WRT160NL:~# usb_modeswitch

Looking for target devices ...
 No devices in target mode or class found
Looking for default devices ...
 Found default devices (1)
Accessing device 002 on bus 001 ...
Using endpoints 0x01 (out) and 0x81 (in)
Inquiring device details; driver will be detached ...
Looking for active driver ...
 OK, driver found ("usbserial_generic")
 OK, driver "usbserial_generic" detached

SCSI inquiry data (for identification)
-------------------------
  Vendor String: HUAWEI 
   Model String: Mass Storage   
Revision String: 2.31
-------------------------

USB description data (for identification)
-------------------------
Manufacturer: HUAWEI Technology
     Product: HUAWEI Mobile
  Serial No.: not provided
-------------------------
Setting up communication with interface 0 ...
Trying to send the message to endpoint 0x01 ...
 OK, message successfully sent
 Device is gone, skipping any further commands

Checking for mode switch (max. 20 times, once per second) ...
 Original device is gone already, not checking
 Searching for target devices ...
 Searching for target devices ...
 Searching for target devices ...
 Searching for target devices ...
 Searching for target devices ...
 Found correct target device

Mode switch succeeded. Bye.
 

logread should now give something similiar to:

Jun 12 17:29:11 WRT160NL user.info kernel: generic ttyUSB0: generic converter now disconnected from ttyUSB0
Jun 12 17:29:11 WRT160NL user.info kernel: usbserial_generic 1-1:1.0: device disconnected
Jun 12 17:29:11 WRT160NL user.warn kernel: usb 1-1: usbfs: process 1345 (usb_modeswitch) did not claim interface 0 before use
Jun 12 17:29:11 WRT160NL user.info kernel: usb 1-1: USB disconnect, address 2
Jun 12 17:29:11 WRT160NL user.info kernel: generic ttyUSB1: generic converter now disconnected from ttyUSB1
Jun 12 17:29:11 WRT160NL user.info kernel: usbserial_generic 1-1:1.1: device disconnected
Jun 12 17:29:16 WRT160NL user.info kernel: usb 1-1: new high speed USB device using ar71xx-ehci and address 3
Jun 12 17:29:16 WRT160NL user.info kernel: usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Jun 12 17:29:16 WRT160NL user.info kernel: option 1-1:1.0: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
Jun 12 17:29:16 WRT160NL user.info kernel: usb 1-1: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB0
Jun 12 17:29:16 WRT160NL user.info kernel: option 1-1:1.1: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
Jun 12 17:29:16 WRT160NL user.info kernel: usb 1-1: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB1
Jun 12 17:29:16 WRT160NL user.info kernel: option 1-1:1.2: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
Jun 12 17:29:16 WRT160NL user.info kernel: usb 1-1: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB2
Jun 12 17:29:16 WRT160NL user.info kernel: scsi3 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Jun 12 17:29:16 WRT160NL user.debug kernel: usb-storage: device found at 3
Jun 12 17:29:16 WRT160NL user.debug kernel: usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
Jun 12 17:29:16 WRT160NL user.info kernel: scsi4 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Jun 12 17:29:16 WRT160NL user.debug kernel: usb-storage: device found at 3
Jun 12 17:29:16 WRT160NL user.debug kernel: usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
Jun 12 17:29:21 WRT160NL user.notice kernel: scsi 3:0:0:0: CD-ROM            HUAWEI   Mass Storage     2.31 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
Jun 12 17:29:21 WRT160NL user.debug kernel: usb-storage: device scan complete
Jun 12 17:29:21 WRT160NL user.notice kernel: scsi 4:0:0:0: Direct-Access     HUAWEI   SD Storage       2.31 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
Jun 12 17:29:21 WRT160NL user.notice kernel: sd 4:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI removable disk
Jun 12 17:29:21 WRT160NL user.debug kernel: usb-storage: device scan complete
 

Using it

To start using your new configuration:

root@WRT160NL:~# ifup ppp0
SIM ready
PIN set successfully

And now ping a host on Internet

root@WRT160NL:~# ping ftp.sunet.se
PING ftp.sunet.se (194.71.11.69): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 194.71.11.69: seq=0 ttl=55 time=119.351 ms
64 bytes from 194.71.11.69: seq=1 ttl=55 time=88.978 ms
64 bytes from 194.71.11.69: seq=2 ttl=55 time=88.751 ms
64 bytes from 194.71.11.69: seq=3 ttl=55 time=88.484 ms
64 bytes from 194.71.11.69: seq=4 ttl=55 time=128.257 ms
^C
--- ftp.sunet.se ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 88.484/102.764/128.257 ms
 

Stop your connection:

root@WRT160NL:~# ifdown ppp0

Useful links

• http://josefsson.org/openwrt/dongle.html The excellent guide that I used as a platform, read it!
• OpenWrt, Linuxbased firmware for routers

Background

After getting fedup with the bad fon support I decided to give a new wireless router a try. After browsing internet and openwrt forums I thought that a Linksys WRT160NL would fulfill my requirements:

The requrements are:

• N
• 3G USB dongle
• Cheap

Packing up

The installation from Linksys is crap, a CD comes with the product and if you want to configure it you need to install software from the CD. The only supported operating systems are windows or Mac, I run linux.

I skipped the CD and connected my Linux box with a ethernet cable to the router. I tried to connect to http://192.168.1.1 and got a login screen.

After some googling I found that the default login was blank and the password admin.

I managed to configure my new router after logging in. I do not now the purpose of the CD, real stupid.

Install OpenWRT

I read the instructions to get OpenWRT on my Linksys WRT160NL and tried the "OEM easy installation". According to the instruction openwrt-ar71xx-wrt160nl-squashfs.bin is the image to install. Unfortunatly I get an errormessage " Firmware Upgrade Failed!"

I upgraded the firmware to the latest Linksys firmware and after that tried the OpenWRT firmware with the same error message.

After some bad language and alot of googling I found a bug reported that the version I tried to install always gives that message when installed from the Linksys webgui.

So I tried the Beta version instead and finally I success message.

I telneted to 192.168.1.1 and run passwd to change my password.

ssh to 192.168.1.

run:

root@OpenWrt:~# opkg update

root@OpenWrt:~# opkg install kmod-ath9k

root@OpenWrt:~# opkg install  hostapd

And start configure.

Update BETA to stable version

It was a annoying feeling to run beta when a stable version existed.

I used the luci webgui to update the firmware to the stable version and it looked alright. I managed to log in both with ssh and webgui.

But when I tried to install a new package it gave me an error message that there was no free disk, sigh!

I installed the BETA version and it worked, tried RC3 and the same problem with no free disk.

After some bad language and a lot of fiddeling I updated to the stable with the checkbox "Keep configuration files" unchecked and this time it works flawless.

Follow the guidlines above to change root password, update the software package list, install wlansupport, WAP support  and start configure.

A succefull login below:

peter@peter-laptop:~$ ssh -l root 192.168.1.1
root@192.168.1.1's password:

BusyBox v1.15.3 (2010-04-06 03:14:11 CEST) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

  _______                     ________        __
 |       |.-----.-----.-----.|  |  |  |.----.|  |_
 |   -   ||  _  |  -__|     ||  |  |  ||   _||   _|
 |_______||   __|_____|__|__||________||__|  |____|
          |__| W I R E L E S S   F R E E D O M
 Backfire (10.03, r20728) --------------------------
  * 1/3 shot Kahlua    In a shot glass, layer Kahlua
  * 1/3 shot Bailey's  on the bottom, then Bailey's,
  * 1/3 shot Vodka     then Vodka.
 ---------------------------------------------------

root@WRT160NL:~# uname -a
Linux WRT160NL 2.6.32.10 #20 Tue Apr 6 15:01:26 CEST 2010 mips GNU/Linux

- OpenBSD 4.7 RELEASED -------------------------------------------------

May 19, 2010.

We are pleased to announce the official release of OpenBSD 4.7.
This is our 27th release on CD-ROM (and 28th via FTP).  We remain
proud of OpenBSD's record of more than ten years with only two remote
holes in the default install.

As in our previous releases, 4.7 provides significant improvements,
including new features, in nearly all areas of the system:

 - New/extended platforms:
    o OpenBSD/alpha
      o Added support for the DS15/DS25/ES45.
    o OpenBSD/loongson
      New platform for systems based on the Loongson 2E and 2F MIPS-compatible
      processors. Supported machines include:
      o Lemote Fuloong 2F mini-PC
      o Lemote Lynloong all-in-one-PC
      o Lemote Yeeloong netbook (8.9" and 10.1" models)
      o EMTEC Gdium Liberty 1000 netbook
    o OpenBSD/sgi
      o Added support for multi-node SGI Origin systems, in M mode.
      o Added support for the SGI Origin 350, Onyx 350, Onyx 4 and
        Tezro systems.
      o Added SMP support on the SGI Octane.
      o Support for many more onboard devices on Octane and Origin systems.
    o OpenBSD/socppc
      o Added support for the RouterBOARD RB600A.
    o OpenBSD/sparc64
      o Preliminary support for running OpenBSD in a guest domain on top of
        an OpenBSD control domain on sun4v machines.

 - Improved hardware support, including:
    o Revamped SCSI midlayer and improved driver support.
    o UDF 2.5 and 2.6 (HDDVD and Blu-ray) disks support.
    o Added mpath(4), a driver that steals paths to scsi devices if they could
      be available via multiple paths and then made available via mpath(4).
    o New aibs(4) driver for ASUSTeK AI Booster hardware monitoring.
    o New uthum(4) driver for the TEMPerHUM USB temperature and humidity
      sensors.
    o New utrh(4) driver for USBRH temperature and humidity sensors.
    o New uyurex(4) driver for the Maywa-denki & KAYAC YUREX twitch/jiggle of
      knee sensor.
    o New urndis(4) driver for remote NDIS Ethernet over USB devices (phones).
    o New xf86-video-wsudl(4) Xorg driver for USB DisplayLink devices
      supported by udl(4).
    o New mpii(4) driver for LSI Logic Fusion MPT Message Passing Interface II
      based SAS 2 controllers.
    o New athn(4) driver for Atheros IEEE 802.11a/g/n wireless network devices.
    o New alc(4) driver for Atheros AR8131/AR8132 10/100/Gigabit Ethernet
      devices.
    o New lisa(4) driver for STMicroelectronics LIS331DL MEMS motion sensors.
    o New gcu(4) driver for Intel EP80579 Global Configuration Unit.
    o New lom(4) driver for LOMLite and LOMLite2 as found on many of Sun's
      UltraSPARC-IIi servers.
    o New vsw(4) driver for virtual switches on sun4v machines.
    o New vds(4) driver for virtual disk servers on sun4v machines.
    o Support for EP80579 integrated Ethernet and ICH9 M V has been added
      to em(4).
    o Support for 82599 and SFP+ 82598 devices has been added to ix(4).
    o Support for the Sun GigabitEthernet SBus Adapter 1.0/1.1 has been
      added to ti(4).
    o Support for SBus variants of the QLogic Fibre Channel host adapters
      has been added to isp(4).
    o Support for SBus variants of the Sun Gigabit Ethernet has been added
      to gem(4).
    o Support for Intel WiFi Link 1000 and Intel Centrino
      Advanced-N 6200/Ultimate-N 6300 has been added to iwn(4).
    o Support for Ralink RT3572 based 802.11n devices has been added to run(4).
    o VIA Tremor 5.1, M-Audio Revolution 5.1 cards has been added to envy(4).
    o New uhts(4) driver for USB HID touchscreens.
    o Improved touchscreen support in the xf86-input-ws(4) Xorg driver and
      improved calibration using the new device properties from Xinput.
    o Support for ON CAT6095 and ON CAT34TS02 temperature sensors added
      to sdtemp(4).
    o Several improvements and bug fixes to existing Ethernet drivers,
      including em(4), re(4), ti(4) and vge(4).
    o Support for the PIC PCI-X controller added to the SGI xbridge(4) driver.
    o Support for the onboard Fast Ethernet interface found on SGI Octane
      and many SGI Origin family systems, iec(4).
    o Support for more SGI input and video devices on Octane and Origin
      systems, with iockbc(4), impact(4), and odyssey(4).
    o Improved PCI resource allocation; more hardware left unconfigured by
      the machine's firmware (including hotplugged hardware) should work now.
    o Support for recording/full-duplex added to mavb(4).
    o Improved support for USB audio devices in uaudio(4).
    o Improved support for bwi(4) devices on strict-alignment architectures
      like armish.
    o Eliminate usage of SCSI tagged queueing mechanisms other than simple
      queuing, thus avoiding incorrect implementations on various disk devices.
    o Eliminate spurious dhclient(8) error messages when the specified
      interface does not exist.
    o Eliminate spurious softraid(4) error messages for removable devices
      without media.

 - New tools:
    o newfs_ext2fs(8) for creating ext2 filesystems.
    o mkuboot(8) for creating U-Boot boot loader images.
    o midicat(1) MIDI server allowing MIDI programs to communicate
    o POSIX-compliant fuser(1) to identify process IDs holding a file open

 - Filesystem midlayer improvements:
    o Dynamic Buffer Cache now supported to a max size set with sysctl
      kern.bufcachepercent
    o Dynamic VFS name cache rewrite, now uses Red/Black trees instead of
      linked lists.
    o Numerous NFS client stability fixes.
    o Fix FAT32 mounting.
    o Fix cd9660 directory handling to eliminate looping and random
      truncation of directory entries.
    o Fix various internal locking problems with cd9660, udf, msdosfs
      and ffs file systems.

 - pf(4) improvements:
    o nat-to, rdr-to, binat-to options replace the nat, rdr and binat
      translation rules.
      changes for more info.
    o The route-to, reply-to, dup-to and fastroute options in pf.conf
      move to filteropts.
    o pf(4) can now translate packets between different routing domains.
    o Added -S and -L options to pfctl(8) to store and load pf state table
      from a file.
    o Added support for IPV4 and IPv6 divert sockets.

 - OpenBGPD, OpenOSPFD and other routing daemon improvements:
    o Update capability code in bgpd(8) to follow RFC 5492.
    o BGP MPLS VPN (RFC 4364) support added to the bgpd RIB.
    o In bgpd(8), implement the RFC4486 BGP Cease Notification
      Message subcodes.
    o It is now possible to enable/disable specific BGP capabilities.
    o Update bgpctl(8) irrfilter to support IPv6 and 4-byte AS numbers.
    o Minimal router-dead-time of 1 second and sub-second hello intervals
      added to ospfd(8). Additionally it is now possible to specify
      sub-second SPF timers for faster route fail-over.
    o ospf6d(8) is now installed by default. The RIB can be synced with
      the kernel routing table now. Support for AS-ext LSA has been added.
      This is still work-in-progress but testing is highly appreciated.
    o ldpd -- the MPLS label distribution protocol daemon -- is now
      installed by default. A custom kernel with option MPLS is needed
      to use it.

 - Generic network stack improvements:
    o brconfig is now integrated into ifconfig(8)
    o Added vether(4), a virtual Ethernet device.
    o Two bugs in IPsec/HMAC-SHA2 were fixed, resulting in an incompatibility
      with the HMAC-SHA-256/384/512 hash algorithms with previous versions
      of OpenBSD and other IPsec implementations sharing the bugs.
    o In dhcpd(8), echo back the Relay Agent Information option if present,
      and add support for the ipsec-tunnel hardware type.
    o Make dhcrelay(8) pick up the routing domain from the specified interface
      and use that rdomain for relaying the packets to the server.
    o Added support in dhcrelay(8) for RFC3046 "DHCP-over-ipsec".
    o Make the tcpdump(8) BGP OPEN capability parser RFC 5492 compliant.
    o Added an exec command to route(8) to run a process and its children
      in a specified routing domain.
    o ifconfig(8) now deals with more than 64 alias addresses.
    o Various fixes to mbuf defragmenting and mbuf chain copying
      improve reliability.

 - Assorted improvements:
    o malloc(3) now has an S flag to turn on the options that help debugging
      and improve security.
    o Updated terminfo(3) database and ncurses(3) library.
    o Added support for lazy binding in ld.so(1) on hppa.
    o Added POSIX silent check option (-C) to sort(1).
    o Added POSIX extended regular expression support to sed(1) (-E option).
    o Added GNU-compatible macro prefix option (-P) to m4(1).
    o Make it possible to specify a port in resolv.conf(5).
    o Improved FILE locking support in stdio(3).
    o Added SO_SNDTIMEO and SO_RCVTIMEO support in pthreads(3).
    o cdio(1) no longer prints bogus information if no TOC is found on
      the disk.
    o New -v flag causes cdio(1) to print profile and feature information.
    o whois(1) no longer attempts to keep the memory of 6Bone alive.
    o Added per-application MIDI-controlled volume knob to aucat(1)
    o Added MMC and MTC support to aucat(1) making possible MIDI-to-audio
      synchronization.
    o Added mio_open(3) interface to access hardware and software MIDI ports
    o Many memory leaks found by parfait and eliminated.
    o Make handling of floppy disk disklabels more reliable by properly
      initializing starting label.

 - Install/Upgrade process changes:
    o Take more care to ensure all filesystems are umount'ed when restarting
      an install or upgrade.
    o If no possible root disk is found, keep checking until one appears.
    o The default ftp directory for -stable is now the release directory
      instead of the snapshot directory.
    o Selection of TZ during installs is no longer confused by
      trailing slashes.
    o If /etc/X11 is found during upgrades, add the X sets to the list
      of default sets to install.

 - OpenSSH 5.5:
    o New features:
      o SSH protocol 1 is disabled by default.
      o Remove the libsectok/OpenSC-based smartcard code and add support
        for PKCS#11 tokens.
      o Add support for certificate authentication of users and hosts
        using a new, minimal OpenSSH certificate format (not X.509).
      o Added a 'netcat mode' to ssh(1).
      o Add the ability to revoke keys in sshd(8) and ssh(1).
      o Rewrite the ssh(1) multiplexing support to support non-blocking
        operation of the mux master.
      o Add a 'read-only' mode to sftp-server(8) that disables open in
        write mode and all other fs-modifying protocol methods. (bz#430)
      o Allow setting an explicit umask on the sftp-server(8) commandline
        to override whatever default the user has. (bz#1229)
      o Many improvements to the sftp(1) client.
      o New RSA keys will be generated with a public exponent of 65537
        instead of the previous value 35.
      o Passphrase-protected SSH protocol 2 private keys are now protected
        with AES-128 instead of 3DES.
    o The following significant bugs have been fixed in this release:
      o Fixed a minor information leak of environment variables specified in
        authorized_keys if an attacker happens to know the public key in use.
      o When using ChrootDirectory, make sure we test for the existence of
        the user's shell inside the chroot and not outside. (bz#1679)
      o Cache user and group name lookups in sftp-server using
        user_from_[ug]id(3) to improve performance on hosts where these
        operations are slow. (bz#1495)
      o Fix problem that prevented passphrase reading from being interrupted
        in some circumstances. (bz#1590)
      o Ignore and log any Protocol 1 keys where the claimed size is not
        equal to the actual size.
      o Make HostBased authentication work with a ProxyCommand. (bz#1569)
      o Avoid run-time failures when specifying hostkeys via a relative path
        by prepending the current working directory in these cases. (bz#1290)
      o Do not prompt for a passphrase if we fail to open a keyfile, and log
        the reason why the open failed to debug. (bz#1693)
      o Document that the PubkeyAuthentication directive is allowed in a
        sshd_config(5) Match block. (bz#1577)
      o When converting keys, truncate key comments at 72 chars as per
        RFC4716. (bz#1630)
      o Do not allow logins if /etc/nologin exists but is not readable by
        the user logging in.
      o Output a debug log if sshd(8) can't open an existing
        authorized_keys. (bz#1694)
      o Quell tc[gs]etattr(3) warnings when forcing a tty (ssh -tt), since
        we usually don't actually have a tty to read/set. (bz#1686)
      o Prevent sftp(1) from crashing when given a "-" without a command;
        also, allow whitespace to follow a "-". (bz#1691)
      o After sshd(8) receives a SIGHUP, ignore subsequent HUPs while
        sshd(8) re-execs itself; prevents two HUPs in quick succession
        from resulting in sshd(8) dying. (bz#1692)
      o Clarify in sshd_config(5) that StrictModes does not apply to
        ChrootDirectory; permissions and ownership are always checked
        when chrooting. (bz#1532)
      o Set close-on-exec on various descriptors so they don't get leaked
        to child processes. (bz#1643)
      o Fix very rare race condition in x11/agent channel allocation
      o Fix incorrect exit status when multiplexing and channel ID 0 is
        recycled. (bz#1570)
      o Fail with an error when an attempt is made to connect to a server
        with ForceCommand=internal-sftp with a shell session. (bz#1606)
      o Warn but do not fail if stat(2)ing the subsystem binary
        fails. (bz#1599)
      o Change "Connecting to host..." message to "Connected to host." and
        delay it until after the sftp protocol connection has been
        established. (bz#1588)
      o Use the HostKeyAlias rather than the hostname specified on the
        commandline when prompting for passwords. (bz#1039)
      o Correct off-by-one in percent_expand(). (bz#1607)
      o Fix passing of empty options from scp(1) and sftp(1) to the
        underlying ssh(1); also add support for the stop option "--".
      o Fix an incorrect magic number and typo in PROTOCOL. (bz#1688)
      o Don't escape backslashes when displaying the SSH2 banner. (bz#1533)
      o Don't unnecessarily dup() the in and out fds for
        sftp-server(8). (bz#1566)
      o Force use of the correct hash function for random-art signature
        display. (bz#1611)
      o Do not fall back to adding keys without constraints when the agent
        refuses the constrained add request. (bz#1612)
      o Fix a race condition in ssh-agent(1) that could result in a wedged
        or spinning agent. (bz#1633)
      o Flush stdio before exec() to ensure that everything has made it out
        before the streams go away. (bz#1596)
      o Set FD_CLOEXEC on in/out sockets in sshd(8). (bz#1706)

 - Over 5,800 ports, major robustness and speed improvements in package tools.
 - Many pre-built packages for each architecture:
    o i386: 5951
    o sparc64: 5745
    o alpha: 5641
    o sh: 768
    o amd64: 5879
    o powerpc: 5785
    o sparc: 4053
    o arm: 3711
    o hppa: 5500
    o vax: 1785
    o mips64: 3690
    o mips64el: 4316

 - Some highlights:
    o Gnome 2.28.2.
    o KDE 3.5.10.
    o Xfce 4.6.1.
    o MySQL 5.1.42.
    o PostgreSQL 8.4.2.
    o Postfix 2.6.5.
    o OpenLDAP 2.3.43.
    o Mozilla Firefox 3.0.18 and 3.5.8.
    o Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0.0.23.
    o OpenOffice.org 3.1.1.
    o Emacs 21.4 and 22.3
    o Vim 7.2.267.
    o PHP 5.2.12.
    o Python 2.4.6, 2.5.4 and 2.6.3.
    o Ruby 1.8.6.369.

 - As usual, steady improvements in manual pages and other documentation.

 - The system includes the following major components from outside suppliers:
    o Xenocara (based on X.Org 7.4 with xserver 1.6.5 + patches,
      freetype 2.3.9, fontconfig 2.6.0, Mesa 7.4.2, xterm 250 and more)
    o Gcc 2.95.3 (+ patches) and 3.3.5 (+ patches)
    o Perl 5.10.1 (+ patches)
    o Our improved and secured version of Apache 1.3, with SSL/TLS
      and DSO support
    o OpenSSL 0.9.8k (+ patches)
    o Groff 1.15
    o Sendmail 8.14.3, with libmilter
    o Bind 9.4.2-P2 (+ patches)
    o Lynx 2.8.6rel.5 with HTTPS and IPv6 support (+ patches)
    o Sudo 1.7.2
    o Ncurses 5.7
    o Latest KAME IPv6
    o Heimdal 0.7.2 (+ patches)
    o Arla 0.35.7
    o Binutils 2.15 (+ patches)
    o Gdb 6.3 (+ patches)

If you'd like to see a list of what has changed between OpenBSD 4.6
and 4.7, look at

        http://www.OpenBSD.org/plus47.html

Even though the list is a summary of the most important changes
made to OpenBSD, it still is a very very long list.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
- SECURITY AND ERRATA --------------------------------------------------

We provide patches for known security threats and other important
issues discovered after each CD release.  As usual, between the
creation of the OpenBSD 4.7 FTP/CD-ROM binaries and the actual 4.7
release date, our team found and fixed some new reliability problems
(note: most are minor and in subsystems that are not enabled by
default).  Our continued research into security means we will find
new security problems -- and we always provide patches as soon as
possible.  Therefore, we advise regular visits to

        http://www.OpenBSD.org/security.html
and
	http://www.OpenBSD.org/errata.html

Security patch announcements are sent to the security-announce@OpenBSD.org
mailing list.  For information on OpenBSD mailing lists, please see:

	http://www.OpenBSD.org/mail.html

------------------------------------------------------------------------
- CD-ROM SALES ---------------------------------------------------------

OpenBSD 4.7 is also available on CD-ROM.  The 3-CD set costs $50 CDN and
is available via mail order and from a number of contacts around the
world.  The set includes a colourful booklet which carefully explains the
installation of OpenBSD.  A new set of cute little stickers is also
included (sorry, but our FTP mirror sites do not support STP, the Sticker
Transfer Protocol).  As an added bonus, the second CD contains an audio
track, a song entitled "I'm still here".  MP3 and OGG versions of
the audio track can be found on the first CD.

Lyrics (and an explanation) for the songs may be found at:

    http://www.OpenBSD.org/lyrics.html#47

Profits from CD sales are the primary income source for the OpenBSD
project -- in essence selling these CD-ROM units ensures that OpenBSD
will continue to make another release six months from now.

The OpenBSD 4.7 CD-ROMs are bootable on the following four platforms:

  o i386
  o amd64
  o macppc
  o sparc64

(Other platforms must boot from floppy, network, or other method).

For more information on ordering CD-ROMs, see:

        http://www.OpenBSD.org/orders.html

The above web page lists a number of places where OpenBSD CD-ROMs
can be purchased from.  For our default mail order, go directly to:

        https://https.OpenBSD.org/cgi-bin/order

All of our developers strongly urge you to buy a CD-ROM and support
our future efforts.  Additionally, donations to the project are
highly appreciated, as described in more detail at:

        http://www.OpenBSD.org/goals.html#funding

------------------------------------------------------------------------
- OPENBSD FOUNDATION ---------------------------------------------------

For those unable to make their contributions as straightforward gifts,
the OpenBSD Foundation (http://www.openbsdfoundation.org) is a Canadian
not-for-profit corporation that can accept larger contributions and
issue receipts.  In some situations, their receipt may qualify as a
business expense writeoff, so this is certainly a consideration for
some organizations or businesses.  There may also be exposure benefits
since the Foundation may be interested in participating in press releases.
In turn, the Foundation then uses these contributions to assist OpenBSD's
infrastructure needs.  Contact the foundation directors at
directors@openbsdfoundation.org for more information.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
- T-SHIRT SALES --------------------------------------------------------

The OpenBSD distribution companies also sell tshirts and polo shirts.
And our users like them too.  We have a variety of shirts available,
with the new and old designs, from our web ordering system at, as
described above.

The OpenBSD 4.7 t-shirts are available now.  We also sell our older
shirts, as well as a selection of OpenSSH t-shirts.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
- FTP INSTALLS ---------------------------------------------------------

If you choose not to buy an OpenBSD CD-ROM, OpenBSD can be easily
installed via FTP.  Typically you need a single small piece of boot
media (e.g., a boot floppy) and then the rest of the files can be
installed from a number of locations, including directly off the
Internet.  Follow this simple set of instructions to ensure that
you find all of the documentation you will need while performing
an install via FTP.  With the CD-ROMs, the necessary documentation
is easier to find.

1) Read either of the following two files for a list of ftp
   mirrors which provide OpenBSD, then choose one near you:

        http://www.OpenBSD.org/ftp.html
        ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.7/ftplist

   As of May 19, 2010, the following ftp mirror sites have the 4.7 release:

	ftp://ftp.eu.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.7/	Stockholm, Sweden
	ftp://ftp.bytemine.net/pub/OpenBSD/4.7/         Oldenburg, Germany
	ftp://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/OpenBSD/4.7/     Brisbane, Australia
	ftp://ftp.wu-wien.ac.at/pub/OpenBSD/4.7/        Vienna, Austria
	ftp://ftp.usa.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.7/	CO, USA
	ftp://ftp5.usa.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.7/	CA, USA
	ftp://obsd.cec.mtu.edu/pub/OpenBSD/4.7/         Michigan, USA

	The release is also available at the master site:

	ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.7/	        Alberta, Canada

	However it is strongly suggested you use a mirror.

   Other mirror sites may take a day or two to update.

2) Connect to that ftp mirror site and go into the directory
   pub/OpenBSD/4.7/ which contains these files and directories.
   This is a list of what you will see:

        ANNOUNCEMENT     armish/          mvme68k/         sparc64/
        Changelogs/      ftplist          mvme88k/         src.tar.gz
        HARDWARE         hp300/           packages/        sys.tar.gz
        PACKAGES         hppa/            ports.tar.gz     tools/
        PORTS            i386/            root.mail        vax/
        README           landisk/         sgi/             xenocara.tar.gz
        alpha/           mac68k/          socppc/          zaurus/
        amd64/           macppc/          sparc/

   It is quite likely that you will want at LEAST the following
   files which apply to all the architectures OpenBSD supports.

        README          - generic README
        HARDWARE        - list of hardware we support
        PORTS           - description of our "ports" tree
        PACKAGES        - description of pre-compiled packages
        root.mail       - a copy of root's mail at initial login.
			  (This is really worthwhile reading).

3) Read the README file.  It is short, and a quick read will make
   sure you understand what else you need to fetch.

4) Next, go into the directory that applies to your architecture,
   for example, i386.  This is a list of what you will see:

	INSTALL.i386    cd47.iso        floppyB47.fs    pxeboot*
	INSTALL.linux   cdboot*         floppyC47.fs    xbase47.tgz
	MD5             cdbr*           game47.tgz      xetc47.tgz
	base47.tgz      cdemu47.iso     index.txt       xfont47.tgz
	bsd*            comp47.tgz      install47.iso   xserv47.tgz
	bsd.mp*         etc47.tgz       man47.tgz       xshare47.tgz
	bsd.rd*         floppy47.fs     misc47.tgz

   If you are new to OpenBSD, fetch _at least_ the file INSTALL.i386
   and the appropriate floppy*.fs or install47.iso files.  Consult the
   INSTALL.i386 file if you don't know which of the floppy images
   you need (or simply fetch all of them).

   If you use the install47.iso file (roughly 200MB in size), then you
   do not need the various *.tgz files since they are contained on that
   one-step ISO-format install CD.

5) If you are an expert, follow the instructions in the file called
   README; otherwise, use the more complete instructions in the
   file called INSTALL.i386.  INSTALL.i386 may tell you that you
   need to fetch other files.

6) Just in case, take a peek at:

        http://www.OpenBSD.org/errata.html

   This is the page where we talk about the mistakes we made while
   creating the 4.7 release, or the significant bugs we fixed
   post-release which we think our users should have fixes for.
   Patches and workarounds are clearly described there.

Note: If you end up needing to write a raw floppy using Windows,
      you can use "fdimage.exe" located in the pub/OpenBSD/4.7/tools
      directory to do so.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
- X.ORG FOR MOST ARCHITECTURES -----------------------------------------

X.Org has been integrated more closely into the system.  This release
contains X.Org 7.4.  Most of our architectures ship with X.Org, including
amd64, sparc, sparc64 and macppc.  During installation, you can install
X.Org quite easily.  Be sure to try out xdm(1) and see how we have
customized it for OpenBSD.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
- PORTS TREE -----------------------------------------------------------

The OpenBSD ports tree contains automated instructions for building
third party software.  The software has been verified to build and
run on the various OpenBSD architectures.  The 4.7 ports collection,
including many of the distribution files, is included on the 3-CD
set.  Please see the PORTS file for more information.

Note: some of the most popular ports, e.g., the Apache web server
and several X applications, come standard with OpenBSD.  Also, many
popular ports have been pre-compiled for those who do not desire
to build their own binaries (see BINARY PACKAGES, below).

------------------------------------------------------------------------
- BINARY PACKAGES WE PROVIDE -------------------------------------------

A large number of binary packages are provided.  Please see the PACKAGES
file (ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.7/PACKAGES) for more details.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
- SYSTEM SOURCE CODE ---------------------------------------------------

The CD-ROMs contain source code for all the subsystems explained
above, and the README (ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.7/README)
file explains how to deal with these source files.  For those who
are doing an FTP install, the source code for all four subsystems
can be found in the pub/OpenBSD/4.7/ directory:

        xenocara.tar.gz     ports.tar.gz   src.tar.gz     sys.tar.gz

------------------------------------------------------------------------
- THANKS ---------------------------------------------------------------

Ports tree and package building by Jasper Lievisse Adriaanse, Michael Erdely,
Simon Bertrang, Stuart Henderson, Antoine Jacoutot, Robert Nagy,
Nikolay Sturm, and Christian Weisgerber.  System builds by Theo de Raadt,
Mark Kettenis, and Miod Vallat.  X11 builds by Todd Fries and Miod Vallat.
ISO-9660 filesystem layout by Theo de Raadt.

We would like to thank all of the people who sent in bug reports, bug
fixes, donation cheques, and hardware that we use.  We would also like
to thank those who pre-ordered the 4.7 CD-ROM or bought our previous
CD-ROMs.  Those who did not support us financially have still helped
us with our goal of improving the quality of the software.

Our developers are:

    Alexander Bluhm, Alexander Hall, Alexander von Gernler,
    Alexander Yurchenko, Alexandre Ratchov, Alexey Vatchenko,
    Anders Magnusson, Andreas Gunnarsson, Anil Madhavapeddy,
    Antoine Jacoutot, Ariane van der Steldt, Artur Grabowski,
    Austin Hook, Benoit Lecocq, Bernd Ahlers, Bob Beck, Bret Lambert,
    Can Erkin Acar, Chad Loder, Charles Longeau, Chris Kuethe,
    Christian Weisgerber, Claudio Jeker, Dale Rahn, Damien Bergamini,
    Damien Miller, Dariusz Swiderski, Darren Tucker,
    David Gwynne,  David Hill, David Krause, Edd Barrett, Eric Faurot,
    Esben Norby,  Fabien Romano, Federico G. Schwindt, Felix Kronlage,
    Gilles Chehade, Giovanni Bechis, Gordon Willem Klok,
    Henning Brauer, Ian Darwin, Igor Sobrado, Ingo Schwarze,
    Jacek Masiulaniec, Jacob Meuser, Jakob Schlyter, Janne Johansson,
    Jared Yanovich, Jason Dixon, Jason George, Jason McIntyre,
    Jason Meltzer, Jasper Lievisse Adriaanse, Jim Razmus II, Joel Sing,
    Joerg Goltermann, Johan Mson Lindman, Jolan Luff, Jonathan Armani,
    Jonathan Gray, Jordan Hargrave, Joshua Stein, Kenneth R Westerback,
    Kevin Lo, Kevin Steves, Kjell Wooding, Kurt Miller, Landry Breuil,
    Laurent Fanis, Marc Espie, Marco Peereboom, Marco Pfatschbacher,
    Marco S Hyman, Marcus Glocker, Marek Vasut, Mark Kettenis,
    Mark Uemura, Markus Friedl, Martin Reindl, Martynas Venckus,
    Mathieu Sauve-Frankel, Mats O Jansson, Matthias Kilian,
    Matthieu Herrb, Michael Erdely, Michael Knudsen, Michele Marchetto,
    Mike Larkin, Miod Vallat, Moritz Grimm, Moritz Jodeit,
    Nicholas Marriott, Nick Holland, Nikolay Sturm, Okan Demirmen,
    Oleg Safiullin, Otto Moerbeek, Owain Ainsworth, Paul de Weerd,
    Paul Irofti, Peter Hessler, Peter Stromberg, Peter Valchev,
    Philip Guenther, Pierre-Emmanuel Andre, Pierre-Yves Ritschard,
    Rainer Giedat, Reyk Floeter, Robert Nagy, Rui Reis,
    Ryan Thomas McBride, Simon Bertrang, Simon Perreault, Stefan Kempf,
    Stefan Sperling, Stephan A. Rickauer, Steven Mestdagh,
    Stuart Henderson, Takuya Asada, Ted Unangst, Theo de Raadt,
    Thordur I Bjornsson, Tobias Stoeckmann, Tobias Weingartner,
    Todd C. Miller, Todd Fries, Will Maier, William Yodlowsky,
    Xavier Santolaria, Yasuoka Masahiko, Yojiro Uo

I’m the happay owner of a Huawei E1750 modem and it is real easy to get it running in Ubuntu. This guide will probably work with many other 3G USB modems.

Just type from the command line:

sudo apt-get install usb-modeswitch

Plug in the modem

Go to the Network manager and enter your Mobile Broadband credentials and now it works!

With my new and fancy HTC Desire I wanted to look at my Nagios or op5 Monitor status. I have found two apps Nagroid and NagMonDroid.

NagMonDroid did I not get working, probably because op5 Monitor only uses https as protocol.

Nagroid works like a charm:

The configuration is rather straightforward:

I wanted to use the Android SDK on my Ubuntu machine, mainly to grab screenshoots but also to play around with it.

I followed the guidelines at this guide, but it did not work. DDM just show garbage as the device and when trying to get a screenshoot it complained with:

54:42 W/ddms: Unable to get frame buffer: device (????????????)
request rejected: insufficient permissions for device

After some googling i figured out that I had to hack my udev rules.

I added to /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules

SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0bb4", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0c87", MODE="0666"
 

and run

reload udev

The idVendor and  idProduct was found by running lsusb:

# lsusb
Bus 002 Device 011: ID 0bb4:0c87 High Tech Computer Corp. 

Now when starting DDM:

And I can take screenshoots:

For the first time I felt that this is more than a phone, for the first time calender integration works, for the first time I can use the builtin GPS, for the first time accessing the web with a phone works, for the first time downloaded software really works.

My favorite apps so far is:

• Nagroid, to be able to view my op5 Monitor status
• FONMaps, find hotspots for LaFoneras
• Car Cast, listen and download podcasts
• MapDroid, to use preloaded OpenStreetmaps and GPS without using any bandwidth. Perfect when abroad because of the crazy price of data roaming outside Sweden.
• HTC Facebook, read and post on facebook
• FON Access, automatically connect to FON hotspots when traveling.
• GPS Logger, logg tracks in gpx format that almost any GPS software understand
• Sipdroid, to connect to my Asterisk PBX using 3G or WiFi

Of  cource the device is not perfect, I miss:

• The phone must be ‘rooted’ to be real useful, why? Open the phone so the community and others can develop apps that are real useful. Vendor lock-in always sucks.
• IPSec VPN so I can connect to my IPSec based OpenBSD firewall. The IPSec implementation in the phone sucks.
• OpenVPN, there exists OpenVPN apps but to use the the phone must be ‘rooted’
• Bluetooth modem, it is not possible to use the phone as a modem using bluetooth
• Screenshots, the phone must be rooted or using the SDK to take screenshoots. Why?

I really hope that Google and/or HTC understand and use the power of the community to make the Android even more succesfull by open it even more.

I have not updated my blog lately because of heavy traveling. In Tuesday, after visiting GoOpen 2010, I took this picture at Gardemoen, Oslo. I was very lucky because my flight was DY3774

It seams like I was in luck and used an ash hole to get home:-)