hackyourworld.com

Every geek should have at least a few tips or tricks that they don’t have to reference documentation or google for, here’s a few of my favorites that I use daily.

1) SSH Tunnels – Each and every time I’ve used this to cut half the time off a task I remember just how great SSH is.

When to use: Anytime you need internal access to a remote network. Or perhaps your company filters your internet usage and you need to check your gmail, this allows you to TUNNEL to your internet back at the house and ask it to do all the talking for you.

Example: I’m working from home, but I really need to access a ‘local’ resource on the remote network, it could be something as simple as connecting to the router on-site that doesn’t have remote access setup.

Howto Linux: If you’re a linux user, use the “-D” option with your standard ssh command. IE: ssh -l username -D 54321 sub.domain.com

Howto Windows: Get PuTTY. You’ll likely want to save this configuration so, open PuTTY, type in the hostname, give the session a name, on the left hand panel navigate to Connection->SSH->Tunnels. Under “Add New Forwarded Port” pick a port number, I like to use something high in the range, 54321 or you can pick your own. There are two rows of radio buttons, on the top choose “Dynamic” and leave the other as “Auto”, click “Add”. Now before connecting, on the left hand panel goto Sessions and click “Save”, now click “Open”

Utilizing the tunnel: What this essentially does is creates a secure SOCKS proxy for you to use. In Firefox, goto Preferences->Advanced->Network->Settings and set the SOCKS proxy address to “127.0.0.1″, that’s right, localhost (but don’t use ‘localhost’), then enter the port you chose earlier. Click “Ok” and you’re now surfing securely through SSH.

2) Converting movies to pocket size (linux only):
I have a simple Creative Zen 8GB Mp3 Player, it was cheap and works exactly as expected. It plays video of the same quality popular cell phones use, occasionally I want to watch a TV episode so I pieced together a simple little alias to make it quick and painless, you’ll need mencoder for this, if your on debian/ubuntu it’s as simple as ‘apt-get install mencoder’

Code (I put in ~/.bashrc): alias encode=’mencoder -ovc xvid -oac mp3lame -vf scale=320:240 -xvidencopts fixed_quant=4 -o ${args[0]} ${args[1]}’

Usage: encode outputFile.avi /path/to/file/to/convert.flv|avi|mpg

3) Using axel for super fast downloads
Situation: You’re remotely connected to a server you adminster, you’re crunched for time and need to download a file, maybe an ISO or perhaps a service pack, but you need it fast. You have no problem finding links to get it, but which do you use, which will be faster? The solution, grab 3 or 4 of those links and use axel.

Usage: axel -n X url1 url2 url3…
Replacing ‘X’ with the number of connections you want to use, passing as many URLs in as you’d like. In most cases, 3 or 4 seem to be enough to max out my 2MB/s.

Well, a lot has changed since the last time I posted anything here.  The biggest thing, getting married, new job, and even a new host.  Being married is great, the job is in the IT field, and the host is hostgator.com.  Funny story about switching host.

I signed up a few days ago, got the welcome email, and since I use zoneedit.com to manage the DNS (we’ll get to this later) I was in no hurry to get the DNS moved over.  I check my email last night and find an email from the hosting company saying I may be in violation of the TOS!  What?  I’m thinking I don’t even have a website there yet since I hadn’t switched the DNS, so I give them a call (mind you, they’re available 24/7 by phone via 1-800, very cool).  A guy picks up after waiting only a moment or so, again very cool, I explain the situation and ask how I could possibly be breaking the TOS before even have a website there.  The guy on the phone takes a moment to look up everything and understand what’s going on, they’ve flag it as a hacker web site.  “Really…. why?” I ask.  Of course at this point in my head I repeat the domain name, OH!  I think I understand now, so I suggest the guy on the phone visits the site to have a look for himself, which he directs to someone who can actually make the call.  We make small talk on the phone while we wait for the “reviewers”, the guy is very nice and rather knowledgeable, again very cool, he actually visits the site himself while we’re waiting and recognizes asterisk and x10!  After a few minutes the reviewers decided it was okay and instantly my account was reinstated, sweet..  This whole host switch was motivated by the terrible support and poor quality of totalchoicehosting.com, which I had been with for quite a few years, while other hosts improved over the years my host added nothing and kept the prices the same.  Just a small comparision:

TotalChoice: 2.4 gigs space
80 gb a month transfer
no ssh
5$ a month

Gatorhost: 600gb
6000 gb a month transfer
SSH!
8$ a month

So even if I would have bumped up to the 8.95$ plan with totalchoice the space went up to 3gb and transfer to 140gb a month, and still no ssh, still way less than I’m getting and already and
the support with hostgator has been great!

Now to get back to zoneedit.com.  This company has been around for quite some time now, I think I’ve been with them at least 8 or 9 years now, for free.  They offer a DNS service that rivals anything you’ve ever used.  The site may not look like much, but they let you manage up to 5 free “zones”, or domains.  So when you buy a new domain name, you use the nameservers they give you and they let you manage your dns settings, but heres the catch, it’s nearly INSTANT, anyone who ever has changed host knows that in the 24-72 hours after changing your website can be all out of sorts.  Not only do your changes take effect very quickly, you can add sub-domains that point to different ips, or even point something like foo.hackyourworld.com to google.com without the viewer even seeing the google.com.  If you find yourself wanting more control over your domain name, this is the ticket!

With all the changes I am planning on making this more regular, topics for the future will likely include bash, testing web pages, using ssh for demonstrations and opening your garage door by bluetooth proximity.  Hope you enjoy.

A few months ago I started using Asterisk@home to provide my home phone. I started as any geek does, no instructions manuals, no books, just google and a burnt CD. The install was easier than installing the latest copy of Ubuntu, just a few keystrokes and the clunker PC was formatted and it’s 233 mhz processor was useful once again!

I started knowing very little about the whole VOIP process, I knew that it involved the internet, phones, and RJ-45. My first setup was a little bit different than the current running server. I had one Ma-bell line coming in the house that the fiancé did not want to give up without a little confidence this “magical” phone system would work. My first impressions about the whole setup was:

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