Bunker Hollow

Ubuntu 10.04 FTP Server Configuration with PROFTPD

Matt Williamson — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 15:24:21 GMT

Ahh yes, I’m really starting to love Linux. My Ubuntu server is shaping up nicely and with the addition of an FTP service it’s doing just about everything my Windows server did, but for free. I chose proftpd over vsftpd because I read Webmin supports proftpd out of the box. I haven’t installed Webmin yet, but it’s on the list! Maybe I’ll even have time to get to it today, since installing proftpd was so easy.

Installing & Configuring PROFTPD FTP Service on Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx

# Install proftpd
sudo apt-get install proftpd

# During installation you can choose to install as an inetd service,
# or a standalone server.  I read and followed the advice of installing
# as an inetd service since I won't have many users.

# Backup the configuration file incase you mess something up!
sudo cp /etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf /etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf.original

# Open the config for edit
sudo nano /etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf

# Change your server name to whatever you like
ServerName "whatever.mydomain.com"

# Uncomment the line to restrict users to their home directory
DefaultRoot ~

# Uncomment the large block of commented code at the end of the
# config to enable anonymous user access
<Anonymous ~ftp>
  ...
</Anonymous>

# Save your changes and then restart the service
sudo service proftpd restart

# You can modify your welcome message at
sudo nano /home/ftp/welcome.msg

# And you can put a custom message in any folder to have it
# displayed when accessed
sudo nano /home/johndoe/.message

# That's it!  Connect from any FTP client.  Be careful of your file permissions
# if you decide to create custom FTP users and change there home directories
# to a fileshare or something.

Ubuntu 10.04 Samba File Share Configuration

Matt Williamson — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 04:43:12 GMT

Installation and configuration is straight-forward, but permissions took me a while to figure out. This tutorial will configure Samba file-shares for access from any Windows, Mac, or Linux client.

Note: If you’re attempting to share files from a USB, Firewire, eSata, or RAID device, you need to be sure that device will be mounted on startup.

Installing & Configuring Samba Shares on Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx

Install Samba:

sudo apt-get install samba

Add “Samba User” & password for initial user (the user you setup during Ubuntu installation), I’ve been using identical names & passwords for Ubuntu and Samba users:

sudo smbpasswd -a matt

Create any other local users who will have file share access:
Create “Samba Users” and passwords for those users as well:

sudo smbpassword -a joe

Add all of these users to the SambaShare user group:
Backup the original Samba config incase you mess something up:

sudo cp /etc/samba/smb.conf /etc/samba/smb.conf.original

Open your Samba config for edit:

sudo gedit /etc/samba/smb.conf

Enable User Authentication in your Samba config:

security = user

Define your Workgroup in Samba config (although I’m leaving mine as the default WORKGROUP):

workgroup = WORKGROUP

Define your file-shares at the bottom of the file:

[Public]
comment = Public Files
path = /media/Data/Public
browseable = yes
guest ok = yes
read only = no
force user = matt

[Share]
comment = Shared Files
path = /media/Data/Share
browseable = yes
guest ok = yes
read only = yes
force user = matt

[Personal]
comment = Personal Files
path = /media/Data/Personal
browseable = yes
guest ok = no
read only = no
valid users = matt alex

[Matt]
comment = Matt's Files
path = /media/Data/Private/Matt
browseable = yes
guest ok = no
read only = no
valid users = matt

[Alex]
comment = Alex's Files
path = /media/Data/Private/Alex
browseable = yes
guest ok = no
read only = no
valid users = alex

Save changes.

Restart the Samba service after any changes to the config:

sudo service smbd restart

Configure file-permissions:

If any parent folder of any share is lacking rights to access that folder, the connection will fail.
Since I’m starting out I’m keeping things simple. All of the users I’ll use for share access are a member of the SambaShare group so I’ve assigned every share folder + all of it’s parent folders to the group SambaShare with “Create and delete files” folder access (read/write/execute… rwx). For example, I have a share called Matt located at /media/Data/Private/Matt. My smb.conf only allows the user matt access, but the file-permissions for the Data, Private, and Matt folders are defined as:
Keep in mind the consequences of these settings, if any user in the SambaShare group sits down at the server and logs in, they will have full rights to all of these folders (even though you’ve defined different rights in your smb.conf above).

Connect to your shares from any client.

Ubuntu 10.04 Automatically Mount Drives on Boot with FSTAB

Matt Williamson — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 15:53:00 GMT

If you’re connecting USB, Firewire, eSATA or even internal RAID array devices to your Ubuntu machine you should note that they aren’t actually mounted on boot. This can be confusing…

If you connect a device while the computer is running, the device will appear on the desktop and it has been mounted.
If devices are connected before the computer is running, they will not appear on the desktop once the computer has started and they have not been mounted. However, if you open “My Computer” you’ll see your devices and as soon as you double click one to access it, it will be mounted.
If a device’s mount status is in question, right-click the device and you’ll see a Mount or an Un-Mount option.

This is all well and good until you start setting up services that use these devices and always expect them to be mounted, whether the computer is rebooted or not. This would include file-sharing services (Samba), FTP, etc. The FSTAB file allows you to define which devices mount on startup, and where.

Things to Note

Note that these instructions require running and modifying system files and services. This requires root permission, which is why commands must be proceeded by sudo.
Note the fstab file is located at /etc/fstab.
Remember linux is case-sensitive, watch your paths!

Un-Mount Device

Reboot the computer and do not access the device, or…
Determine the location of your device:
```
sudo fdisk -l
```
Un-mount one of two ways…
- … by device location (modify as needed):
```
sudo umount /dev/sdb1
```
- … by mount point location (modify as needed):
```
sudo umount /media/Data
```

Mount Device on Startup by Modifying the FSTAB File

Create a directory to use as your device’s mount point:
```
sudo mkdir /media/Data
```
Make a copy of the original fstab file incase you mess something up:
```
sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.original
```
Determine the UUID of the device you’d like to mount:
```
sudo blkid
```
Open fstab for edit one of two ways…
- … in GUI with Gedit:
```
sudo gedit /etc/fstab
```
- … in terminal with Nano:
```
sudo nano /etc/fstab
```
Add the following lines to the end of your fstab file (modify as needed):

# Adding my RAID array so that it's mounted on startup.
UUID=78d85398-d179-4640-bb1b-f770ba90abb1 /media/Data ext4 defaults 0 0

# Alternatively, you could add the device using the location
# like you may see with your existing fstab entries,
# but UUID is the safest way to go.
# You would just replace the UUID with the location, like so:
# /dev/sdb1 /media/Data ext4 relatime,noexec 0 2

Save changes and reboot. You’ll now see the Data device mounted and sitting on your desktop when you login!

Synchronizing Notes in Gmail (Google Apps)

Matt Williamson — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 01:55:00 GMT

There are two tips I just learned about Gmail:

You can pepper your email address with dots and you will receive the mail as usual (us.e..r.n.a.m.e@gmail.com goes right to username@gmail.com). Tested this and it doesn't work... just can't believe everything you read!
You can append +anything to your address and you will receive that email as well (username+whatever@gmail.com gets sent to username@gmail.com).

Using the Gmail Plus Addressing trick, I can sync "notes" between my inbox and my mobile using ActiveSync:

Create a new label in Gmail called 'Notes'. Labels will appear as folders from a mobile device connected via ActiveSync.
Create a new filter. For any email address to username+notes@gmail.com, skip the inbox and apply the 'Notes' label.
Setup a contact called 'Notes' (username+notes@gmail.com), and any email sent there will appear in your 'Notes' folder in Gmail or on your phone.

Rack Mounted Servers & Accessories For Sale

Matt Williamson — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 21:49:00 GMT

Hoboken NJ, pickup only. Please contact me here or call me at (347) 687-6277. I’m going to hold off on selling individual items for a couple of weeks because I’d prefer to sell the whole lot in one shot.

HP ProLiant DL585 G2 Rack-Mounted Server - $1200
(2x) Dual-Core AMD Opteron 8216 64-bit 2.4GHz Processors
19GB ECC DDR2 Memory
(6x) Gigabit Ethernet Ports
Smart Array P400 RAID Controller
(2x) HP 160GB 7200RPM SAS Hot-swappable Harddrives
(4x) HP 320GB 7200RPM SAS Hot-swappable Harddrives
Internal USB port, great for VMWare ESX/ESXi thumb drive
Slim DVD Drive
View detailed hardware report
HP ProLiant DL585 G1 Rack-Mounted Server - $600
(2x) AMD Opteron 850 64-bit 2.4GHz Processors
16GB ECC DDR2 Memory
(8x) Gigabit Ethernet Ports
Smart Array 5i RAID Controller
(4x) Compaq 36.4GB 15,000RPM SCSI Hot-swappable Harddrives
Slim CD Drive
View detailed hardware report
HP StorageWorks MSA20 Rack-Mounted Modular Smart Array - $500
(12x) 3.5” SATA Drive Bays
(12x) 3.5” Filler Trays
Additional backup power supplies/controller card
Compaq 42U Black Server Rack - $300
68”H x 23.5”W x 32”D
All metal, solid construction, great condition
Mesh doors for air-flow
Lockable doors, keys included
3 shelves
Roller wheels on bottom
Miscellaneous Accessories - $200
15” NEC LCD Flat-Panel VGA Monitor
Keyboard/Mouse
Compaq 8-Port VGA KVM Switch + Cables
(2x) 11-Plug Rack-Mounted Power Strips
Several Hotswappable Harddrives and Enclosures

Everything all-together for $2500.

TMG 2010 FTP Client Error – Access is Denied

Matt Williamson — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 04:24:11 GMT

I just realized that while I’m behind my Threat Management Gateway (TMG 2010 formerly ISA) I can’t upload/write/save/delete files on an external FTP site! I can connect using FileZilla without any problem, but as soon as I tried to upload something I’d receive the following errors in the log:

Status:	Resolving address of xxxxxxx
Status:	Connecting to xxxxxxxxx...
Status:	Connection established, waiting for welcome message...
Response:	220-Microsoft FTP Service
Response:	220 Winhost.com FTP
Command:	USER xxxxx.
Response:	331 Password required for xxxxxx.
Command:	PASS **********
Response:	230-Welcome
Response:	230 User logged in.
Command:	OPTS UTF8 ON
Response:	550 Access is denied.
Status:	Connected
Status:	Starting upload of C:\Users\matt\Desktop\TESTFILE.txt
Command:	CWD /xxxxxxxxx
Response:	250 CWD command successful.
Command:	PWD
Response:	257 "/xxxxxxx" is current directory.
Command:	TYPE A
Response:	200 Type set to A.
Command:	PASV
Response:	227 Entering Passive Mode (xxxxxxx,223).
Command:	STOR TESTFILE.txt
Response:	550 Access is denied.
Error:	Critical file transfer error

Naturally I checked my TMG firewall log before contacting my host’s support team, but no error of any kind shows in the TMG logs. I was convinced it was my host so I actually changed hosting providers only to encounter the same thing. AHHH!

I finally found the solution. If, and only if, you add a firewall rule that involves the FTP protocol, then a magical new menu item appears in the right-click context menu called Configure FTP. By default, the value is set to Read-Only, uncheck that and you’ll be good to go.

Poorly done if you ask me. There should be a warning in the logs or some kind of alert telling you there are new configuration menus if you create certain types of rules (why wouldn’t this be on the Action Pane?).

Installing Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010

Matt Williamson — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 04:11:40 GMT

Server Installation

Take a look at the online readme file for supported operating systems and hardware requirements. I’m running a Windows Server 2008 R2 virtual machine with 1GB of RAM.
Install Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2. Alternatively, you can skip this step and have the TFS Configuration Tool install SQL Server Express or use an existing remote server.
Choose the appropriate architecture folder (TFS-x64 or TFS-x86) from the installation disc and run setup.exe.
I’m choosing to install everything on a single box, but larger deployments can install the Team Foundation Server, Server Proxy, and Build Service features on separate machines.
Reboot.
Run Team Foundation Server 2010 Configuration Tool. Configuration will launch automatically at the end of installation if the checkbox is selected, or, you can launch the Team Foundation Server Administrative Console and choose Configure Installed Features.

Server Configuration

I’m choosing the Standard Single Server configuration since SQL Server is installed on the same machine. If I wanted the configuration wizard to install SQL Express I could choose Basic, or Advanced to connect to a remote SQL server.
Create and assign a new user account for TFS to use for accessing SharePoint and Reporting Services.
Complete installation and view the results.

Team Project Configuration & Administration

Launch Visual Studio using the administrator account you used during installation and select Project Management as the default environment settings.
Connect to the newly created TFS server.
Create a new Team Project. I left all the defaults and I used a project name without spaces so that the SharePoint site that’s created doesn’t end up having a funky URL.
Give users permission to the project.

Client Configuration

I have Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate installed on a Windows 7 Ultimate workstation.
Connect to the TFS server.
Once connected, your non-admin users will probably encounter a red X on the Documents and Reports items as shown below. To resolve this problem read this post on how to give users permission to the SharePoint and SQL Report Services.

TFS 2010 Fix Red X on Documents and Reports

Matt Williamson — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 04:06:05 GMT

After installing and configuring Team Foundation Server 2010 and a new Team Project, you’ll probably find that your non-administrator users will see red X’s on the Documents and Reports items when connected:

Fix Documents Red X – Give Users Permission to SharePoint Services

As an administrator, browse to http://tfs:8080/tfs/web/ –> Project Portal –> Site Actions –> Site Settings –> People and Groups –> New –> Add Users.

Fix Reports Red X – Give Users Permission to SQL Reports Services

As an administrator, browse to http://tfs/Reports –> Folder Settings –> Security –> New Role Assignment.

Refresh the user’s TFS connection and those pesky red Xs should be gone.

VB.NET ‘Application’ is not a member of ‘My’ Error

Matt Williamson — Tue, 18 May 2010 19:14:41 GMT

I’m re-organizing projects within a solution and I’m just cutting and pasting code files all over the place like some sort of mad man. Not surprisingly, I had to change the Inherits attribute of any markup I had cut/copied from another project to resolve all the build errors. Now, being a C# guy I thought I’d be done at this point, but not with Visual Basic! The compiler was complaining that:

Thanks to Karl Everest King’s post, I found out that at some point the project file causing the problem (projectName.vbproj) had it’s <MyType> property automatically changed to an error throwing value:

From a text-editor other than Visual Studio, change that value Custom to Windows (very odd considering its a web app) and save. If your solution was still open, VS will detect the modified file, you’ll reload it, and then you’ll compile successfully.

Configure Windows 7 Remote Server Administration & Management for Server 2008 R2

Matt Williamson — Sat, 08 May 2010 17:17:36 GMT

Setup Server Manager Remote Management on Servers

On each Windows Server 2008 R2 computer you’d like to manage remotely, Server Manager –> Configure Server Manager Remote Management:

Setup Remote Server Administration on Clients

Download and install Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 or Windows Vista.
After installation, enable the tools in Control Panel –> Programs –> Turn Windows Features On or Off:
Run Administrative Tools –> Server Manager and connect to your server. If you receive the following error then the user account doesn’t have administrative permission on the server you’ve specified:

You can easily run Server Manager as a different user (one that is an administrator on the destination box) by Shift + Right Click –> Run As Different User…

Note to self: I couldn’t connect to any of my perimeter (DMZ) servers. I’m not sure if it’s because they’re not on the domain or because they’re on a different subnet. I’m leaning towards the former since I logged all the traffic from the LAN to the DMZ while trying to establish a remote Server Manager connection and nothing showed up. Maybe by default Group Policy forbids remote server management for non-domain machines?

Outlook 2010 upgrade from 2007 “Cannot resolve recipient”

Matt Williamson — Thu, 06 May 2010 04:01:14 GMT

Last night I uninstalled Microsoft Office 2007 and just now I installed Office 2010. After rebooting, I opened Outlook and everything seemed fine. Then I tried to reply to an email and I received the following error:

“The operation failed. The messaging interfaces have returned an unknown error. If the problem persists, restart Outlook. Cannot resolve recipient.”

I’m not sure what caused the problem, but I resolved it by:

Removing my local mail profile. Control Panel –> Mail –> Show Profiles… –> Remove.
Rebooting all Exchange Servers. An MBX, CAS, and Edge server in my case.
Restarting my client machine.
Setting up Outlook. Outlook will first ask for a profile name, which I called “Outlook”. During the Exchange Setup Wizard it asked me to restart Outlook, which I did, and it then connected without an issue. It downloaded all of my email etc, and I then replied to a message without any error.

Windows Server 2008 R2 FTP and Firewall Setup

Matt Williamson — Mon, 03 May 2010 02:57:50 GMT

Install the Web Server role with the IIS Management Console and FTP Server role services:
Create a new FTP Site:
Setup the site with the default bindings and choose Allow SSL if you don’t plan on deploying a certificate:
Configure user permissions and basic or anonymous permission. If your server is connected to your domain you can specify domain users, otherwise they must be local user accounts:
Finally you’ll have to configure your server’s firewall rules to allow access. Personally, I think Microsoft’s done a great job up until this point… it’s a shame it couldn’t last. Disregard any existing FTP firewall rules; although they should be enabled, they don’t actually allow access! Run Allow a Program Through Windows Firewall and grant access to C:\Windows\System32\svchost.exe

Is IIS 7 Missing the .NET 3.0 and 3.5 Frameworks?

Matt Williamson — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 16:38:22 GMT

I downloaded the .NET 3 and 3.5 Frameworks and then attempted to install them on my Windows Server 2008 R2 web server, but I was told I must install them through the Server Manager –> Features menu. So I did:

After rebooting, I launched Internet Information Services to create a new .NET 3.5 AppPool but… where is it?

During some research I was reminded that the 3.0 and 3.5 frameworks were actually additions to .NET 2.0, and not entirely new frameworks themselves. Oh how easily I forget. So if you’ve installed .NET 3.5.1, you should choose the .NET Framework v2.0.50727 to run any 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, or 3.5.1 applications.

If you install the .NET 4.0 Framework, that appears separately as shown.

TMG 2010 PPTP VPN Setup and Configuration

Matt Williamson — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:35:28 GMT

Microsoft’s Threat Management Gateway 2010 allows administrators to configure secure virtual private network connections from external clients in a variety of ways. Using the Remote Access Policy (VPN) settings, clients can connect via PPTP, L2TP/IPsec, and the new & impressive SSTP protocol. Unfortunately I only have a single external IP address and the HTTPS protocol is already bound to my RemoteApp server so I won’t be able to enable SSTP. This tutorial will show how to enable PPTP remote access.

Configure Address Assignment Method

All of my existing TMG Networks (Internal, Perimeter, ext) are using 172.16.0.xxx – 172.16.3.xxx, so I’ve given VPN clients the 172.16.4.xxx subnet.
Enable VPN Client Access
Specify Windows Users
Verify VPN Properties
Verify Remote Access Configuration
View Firewall Policy for the VPN Clients Network

As you can see I’ve selected All Outbound Traffic just to get this thing up and running but I’ll tighten it up later. The significance of these rules is threefold:

A – Allow VPN clients to the localhost so they can resolve DNS names correctly.
B – Allow VPN Clients to the LAN so they can access internal resources (the whole point of VPN).
C – Allow VPN Clients to the External network so they can access the internet, otherwise you won’t be able to browse while connected.
View Network Rules
Configure Quarantine (Optional)



When I tried to enable Quarantine, TMG issued the following warning. Sounds like clients may need the Forefront TMG client installed or they’ll be quarantined indefinitely. I’ll just leave it disabled for now.

That’s it! Now you should be able to securely connect to your network from anywhere!

How To Assemble a Stackable Wire Letter Tray

Matt Williamson — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 00:44:41 GMT

This post may seem silly, but without a picture of what these two trays and four posts should look like it could be an awfully long time before it’s put back together; it took me longer than I care to admit. It's also a lot easier with some help, four hands are better than two.

Enable TrixBox Call Record/Monitor On Demand

Matt Williamson — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 02:26:13 GMT

Check that the In-Call Asterisk Toggle Call Recording Feature Code is set to *1 and it’s enabled (PBX –> PBX Settings –> Feature Codes):
Check that extensions are set to Record On Demand (PBX –> PBX Settings –> Extensions –> Your Extension):
Add recording to Asterisk Dial Command Options in PBX –> PBX Settings –> General Settings –> Dialing Options. You can hover over to view details. Add both w and W so you’re able to record incoming and outgoing calls. FYI, the person on the other end is also able to activate recording if they know how.
Extend the Feature Timeout to 2000ms. By default it’s 500ms, not quite enough time for most users to press multiple keys. Add featuredigittimeout=2000 to PBX –> Config File Editor –> features_general_custom.conf:
Reboot, and then test it out by pressing * 1 during a call (after connected, won’t work while ringing). Recordings can then be accessed through each extension’s User Portal, in the Call Monitor section instead of the Voicemail section:

References:

Add DVD Cover Art to Windows Media Center 7 and Xbox 360 Extender

Matt Williamson — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 04:39:58 GMT

I’ve spent a lot of time ripping my DVDs to a digital format I can play practically anywhere, and they do. I only wish that instead of the movie library menu looking like this…

… it looked like this…!

Well it’s pretty easy to do. To display album art images for movies, set Windows Media Center 7 to monitor a local or network folder, let’s call it DVD. Within DVD, each movie must be located in it’s own subfolder:

Within each movie folder, add the picture you want to be displayed as the cover art and name it folder.jpg.

Notice above that my DVD is actually a single mpg file. If, instead, you had a VIDEO_TS folder full of .vob files that would also work, but only in Media Center. Your Xbox360 (or any other extender I’m guessing) would fail to stream the DVD, which is the main reason I put the effort into transcoding each movie to an .mpg (it’s also a lot easier to double click and play from almost any device, but you lose the Chapter Selection and bonus features).

The other file which you’ll notice above is a My Movies plugin metadata xml file. You could locate your cover art manually, or you can have My Movies do the work for you. It’ll also download all of the information about the movie (synopsis, rating, cast, crew, etc) and display it in a nice menu available from Media Center itself or through any extender. And it’s free.

Add Code Syntax Highlighting to Community Server 2007

Matt Williamson — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 02:25:00 GMT

I’ll keep this post short and sweet since it’s almost time to eat! Download Alex Gorbatchev’s SyntaxHighlighter and extract the files to the root of your website in a folder called syntaxhighlighter, so that the paths of the three folders will be:

/syntaxhighlighter/scripts
/syntaxhighlighter/src
/syntaxhighlighter/styles

Now you need to add the following code to the HTML header section of any page that will display the formatted code syntax. In Community Server we can add code to the header of every page on the site by inserting it into the Raw Header field.

Add the following code…

<!-- SYNTAX HIGHLIGHTER -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="/syntaxhighlighter/scripts/shCore.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/syntaxhighlighter/scripts/shBrushBash.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/syntaxhighlighter/scripts/shBrushCpp.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/syntaxhighlighter/scripts/shBrushCSharp.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/syntaxhighlighter/scripts/shBrushCss.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/syntaxhighlighter/scripts/shBrushDelphi.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/syntaxhighlighter/scripts/shBrushDiff.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/syntaxhighlighter/scripts/shBrushGroovy.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/syntaxhighlighter/scripts/shBrushJava.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/syntaxhighlighter/scripts/shBrushJScript.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/syntaxhighlighter/scripts/shBrushPhp.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/syntaxhighlighter/scripts/shBrushPlain.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/syntaxhighlighter/scripts/shBrushPython.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/syntaxhighlighter/scripts/shBrushRuby.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/syntaxhighlighter/scripts/shBrushScala.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/syntaxhighlighter/scripts/shBrushSql.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/syntaxhighlighter/scripts/shBrushVb.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/syntaxhighlighter/scripts/shBrushXml.js"></script>
<link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="/syntaxhighlighter/styles/shCore.css"/>
<link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="/syntaxhighlighter/styles/shThemeDefault.css"/>
<script type="text/javascript">
	SyntaxHighlighter.config.clipboardSwf = '/syntaxhighlighter/scripts/clipboard.swf';
	SyntaxHighlighter.all();
</script>

… to the headers of your website files. Login as an administrator and browse to Control Panel –> Administration –> Settings –> Site Name & Description –> Raw Header.

Now if you format blocks of HTML code using the correct tags, the syntax will be highlighted. Give it a try with Windows Live Writer and the Syntax Highlighter plugin.

Windows Live Writer and Community Server 2007

Matt Williamson — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:16:00 GMT

On the advice of some colleagues I’ve installed Windows Live Writer, an offline editor that’s compatible with most blog services. Setup was a breeze…

… and here I am writing my first blog post. The editor tried to get fancy by downloading my theme, but it just doesn’t look right so I’ve unchecked the View –> Edit using theme option.

The next important bit took me all of lunch to figure out, but I finally got code syntax highlighting to work. My problem was properly installing the syntax highlighting files on my website. Adding the Syntax Highlighter 2.0 or PreCode Snippet plugins to Live Writer was the easy part, and the results are beautiful:

C# Code:

// Hello1.cs
public class Hello1
{
   public static void Main()
   {
      System.Console.WriteLine("Hello, World!");
   }
}

SQL Code:

-- SQL Select Example
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name operator value

HTML Code:

<!-- HTML Example -->
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Tutorial: HelloWorld</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>HelloWorld Tutorial</h1>
  </body>
</html>

Windows Live Writer has surpassed my checklist of features and I don’t think it’ll take long for it to become one of my most frequented apps, thanks for the tip guys!

Images publish correctly. - CHECK
Hyperlinks publish correctly. - CHECK
Text styles publish correctly. - CHECK
Code syntax highlighting publishes correctly. – CHECK!
BONUS – In the editor it appears that larger images were automatically reduced to a more manageable size and I’m assuming they will take you to the full size image if you click them. – CHECK!
BONUS – The editor has some fancy image border/effects options, it’d be great if these worked when published! – CHECK!

Add a Google AdSense Sidebar Item to Community Server 2007

Matt Williamson — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:14:00 GMT

The cost of hosting has finally caught up to me. The electricity bill has become a bit hard to swallow and I'm looking for every way to decrease consumption or increase revenue. Most of my environment is already virtual so, short of powering down in the evening (which I don't want to do because I get a lot of traffic from overseas in the off hours), there isn't much else I can do to cut costs. I think the best alternative is to bring in some advertising revenue to off-set the cost, so I've established my own Google AdSense account.

After submitting my application my site was approved in less than 24 hours and I was ready to create some ads and place them on my site. I should note Google didn't request any payment information (credit card numbers etc). The service is free to the host, as it should be. The only thing they need is a name and address of where to send the checks, very nice :)

I created a few ads of varying shapes and sizes (banners, skyscrapers, etc) and experimented with where to put them. As you can see in the sidebar to the right, I settled on a 300x250 pixel image only ad to appear at the top of every page on my site. Creating the ad was the easy part, adding it to this older version of CommunityServer took a little more work.

I added the following code:

<div class="CommonSidebarArea">
<div class="CommonSidebarRoundTop"><div class="r1"></div><div class="r2"></div><div class="r3"></div><div class="r4"></div></div>
<div class="CommonSidebarInnerArea">
<h4 class="CommonSidebarHeader">Sponsored Link</h4>
<center>
     <!-- INSERT ADSENSE CODE HERE -->
</center>
</div>
<div class="CommonSidebarRoundBottom"><div class="r1"></div><div class="r2"></div><div class="r3"></div><div class="r4"></div></div>
</div>

To each of the following pages, immediately after the <div class="CommonSidebar"> code:

\Themes\Blogs\Default\theme.master
\Themes\Default\Blogs\blogs.master
\Themes\Default\Common\home.aspx
\Themes\Default\Files\files.master
\Themes\Default\Forums\forums.master
\Themes\Default\Galleries\galleries.master
\Themes\Default\Galleries\gallerysidebar.ascx

I then had to specify a fixed width for my theme's sidebar. My fluid layout was cutting the advertisement off when the browser size was reduced.

Set the theme's sidebar to a fixed width of 320px (account 10px on each side for padding):

Login as admin, Control Panel -> Administration -> Settings -> Theme Configuration -> Sidebar Tab -> Set Width to 320 px.

So far so good. The only thing I noticed was that if you subscribed to me through an RSS/Atom feed, you wouldn't see the ad. I sure wouldn't want to leave those people out, and wouldn't you know it, Google has just the fix. My feeds were already set up through FeedBurner so adding AdSense for Feeds was an easy click or two. I only wish you could choose the ad size and shape. I'd much prefer a small centered banner over the large left-aligned block. Oh well.

That's it! Now sit back and watch the money... roll... stumble... or flat out crawl through the door :) Not a bad start for day one though, I'll take it.

Using Google Analytics with Community Server 2007

Matt Williamson — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:57:00 GMT

This blog exists on the free express version of Telligent's Community Server 2007 (3.1.31113.47 to be exact) and, since Reporting isn't available in the free edition, I've registered with Google Analytics to get a better grasp of my website's stats.

The integration is simple. Login as an administrator and browse to Control Panel -> Administration -> Settings -> Site Name & Description.

Add the Google Analytics code to the Raw Header section to make it available for every page on your site.

After the Raw Header has been applied, log back in to Google Analytics and you should see the Status of your Website Profile has changed from Unavailable to Processing. Once processing is finished (mine took an entire day), you'll see your status has changed to Receiving Data and your website's statistics will be available! I'm looking forward to checking these stats in a month to see how they compare to the estimates I've seen on Alexa and StatBrain.

Allow Applications to Send Email Through Exchange 2010

Matt Williamson — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 23:06:00 GMT

The applications running on my web server need the ability to send internal and external email. The following steps for creating an email relay receive connector will allow email to be sent from the specified IP address without any type of authentication.

Create a new receive connector called "Email Relay". Server Configuration -> Hub Transport -> New Receive Connector...
Leave the default receive settings and specify your FQDN for this connector:
Specify the IP addresses of any servers which will be allowed to send mail:
Edit the properties of the newly created Email Relay to configure its Permission Groups and Authentication:
Allow Exchange Servers to use the Email Relay send connector. Permission Groups Tab -> Check Exchange Servers.
Specify that connections have already been authenticated, allowing anonymous access. Authentication Tab -> Externally Secured (for example, with IPSec).
That's It! Now you can specify an SMTP server for your applications to send internal and external mail.

References:

Office 2007 in a Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Services) Environment

Matt Williamson — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:22:00 GMT

I installed Office 2007 Ultimate on my RDS (formerly TS) server, just as I've done with all the other apps I like to access remotely. I installed the updates and service packs, but each time I tried launching any application (Word, Excel, Outlook) I encountered the following error:

This feature is not available. For more information, contact your system administrator.

I finally realized this message was code for This product isn't supported in a Remote App environment! I browsed around MSDN a bit and found that a different version of Office had a Volume Activation key. Installing that version of Office, Office Professional 2007, with the available Office 2007 Suites VA1.0 key worked like a charm.

So remember to check for a Volume Activation license key, similar to the following screenshot, if installing an MSDN application as a RemoteApp.

iPhone 3GS Update 3.1.3 App Problems

Matt Williamson — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:03:00 GMT

I got an iPhone today for my birthday and it's been great except for my little update problem. After installing a bunch of apps I got around to installing iTunes on my computer and syncing it up. It prompted me to install the latest iPhone code, version 3.1.3, which I did. Unfortunately, after doing so, none of the apps I installed would work:

Facebook
Tweetdeck
Twitpict
VNC
Pandora
Flashlight
Weather Channel

Clicking any of these apps would flash the opening sequence and then return me right back to the home screen. I figured I'd try reinstalling them. Thankfully, that fixed the issue.

To remove them, I had to press and hold an app icon until they all began to shake and the red X's appeared. Tapping the red X removes the icon, which I did for each one. I then went back to the app store and installed them all over again. Annoying yes, but shame on me for not updating the OS first.

I wonder... will this happen with every update?

Getting Started with Ubuntu 9.10 on a Thinkpad T61p

Matt Williamson — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 01:44:00 GMT

I'm dual booting Windows 7 Ultimate x64 and Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) x64 on a Lenovo Thinkpad T61p laptop. I installed Windows first, then Ubuntu, and then updated the boot loader to default back to Windows. The following list describes getting Ubuntu up and running, which was surprisingly easy.

Get the latest updates. System -> Administration -> Update Manager.
After reboot it was obvious there were problems with the display driver. The screen was choppy and flickered but luckily it was usable. I browsed to System -> Administration -> Hardware Drivers and was pleased to see a few Nvidia graphics drivers waiting to be installed. After installation and a reboot, video playback has been crystal clear.
Verify software sources are correct. The top 4 sources should be checked. System -> Administration -> Software Sources.
Reload the Synaptic Package Manager. If you don't do this, you may encounter problems when trying to locate and download packages through the package manager or the Ubuntu Software Center. System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager.
Install the Ubuntu Restricted Extras package. Applications -> Ubuntu Software Center and search for restricted.