2002 05 23


                    LINUX NEWS
     Resources & Links From www.CramSession.com
              Thursday, May 23, 2002


TABLE OF CONTENTS

1) Sean’s Notes

2) Linux News

This Just In... Reuters to Offer Linux
"Our Software Sucks So Bad It Must Be Kept Secret"
QCumber Returns From Bootcamp
Are You A Linux Waif?

3) Linux Resources

VMWare: /tmp out of space?
An Introduction to Linux Scheduling
Conducting Virtual Meetings With Linux
Daemon Monitoring Daemons
IPTables Usage

4) App o’ the Week

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For information on how to advertise in this newsletter
please contact mailto:adsales@CramSession.com or visit
http://cramsession.com/marketing/default.asp

-------------------------
1) Sean's Notes
-------------------------

People who've been on this list for a little while will
probably remember that I've got a Linux gateway on my cable
modem connection. Handy little thing, does a bit of email
and web, in addition to providing gateway services for the
handful of computers I've got laying around.

The only snag is that sometimes there are problems, and
things need to be done from the command line.  Like today,
where my IP address was changed, and I had to renew my IP
address.  Hard to do when you're at work and the box isn't on
the 'Net anymore.  If I suspect something is wrong with the
connection, I've also got to take care of the basics before
calling tech support.  When I'm at work, this involves
calling my wife, walking her through all the commands, and
so forth.  What I'd like is a simple web interface she could
use that gives her relevant information, and the opportunity
to reset the network cards.  Failing that, she reads off
what's on the screen, and I'm able to call the support line.

Normally, this would be a job for some CGI.  I'm going to do
it a different way for two reasons:

1) Most of the commands will have to be executed as root, and
   doing it from a web server that runs as an unprivileged UID
   is just painful.

2) It's not as fun as the way I'm going to show you.

To accomplish this task, we're going to write a simple web
server. "What language?", you ask.  "Bourne shell, of course!"

The big thing we're going to rely on is xinetd.  Recall that
xinetd listens on the given port, and upon connection, calls
the appropriate program.  The input and output of the program
is converted to network calls, which means that our simple
shell script won't need to know anything about networking.

First, we've got to choose a port number.  "911" is
appropriate, so I'll add the following line to /etc/services
to map the service name to the port number.

diag	911/tcp		# diagnosis web server

Then, set up xinetd:

/etc/xinetd.d/diag:

service diag
{
	port	= 911
	socket_type	= stream
	wait 	= no
        only_from = 192.168.1.0/24,127.0.0.1
        bind = 192.168.1.10,127.0.0.1
	user	= root
	server	= /usr/sbin/911.sh
	log_on_failure	+= USERID
	disable = no
}

The only thing different about this one is that I've used
only_from as an IP based ACL, and "bind" to only bind this
port to my internal IP and to the loopback.  This will prevent
outside people from accessing our little web server.  Restart
xinetd to make the script take effect.

The "server" line above specifies the program that gets called
when a connection comes in.  So, without further ado, let's
edit /usr/sbin/911.sh:

----------CUT-------------
#!/bin/bash

# Read in the request

IN="blah"
while \[ -n "$IN" ]; do
        read IN
        # Strip EOL chars
        IN=`echo $IN | tr -d '\r'`
        echo $IN >> /tmp/webserver
done

# Push out the header
echo "HTTP/1.0 200 OK"
echo "Content-type: text/html"
echo
echo "<b>Here I am!</b>"

----------CUT-------------

The HTTP protocol is nice and simple.  The web server answers
the client's call.  The client sends headers, followed by a
blank line.  The server returns a response code, headers, a
blank line, and then the raw data.  The important header to
return is "Content-type", which lets the client know what's
coming.  In this case it's text/html (HTML), but it could
just as easily be an image (image/gif).

So, the first thing we do in the script is enter a loop.
Each go around the loop, we'll read in something to the IN
variable.  So that the first one goes through, we'll set it
to "blah".

Within the loop, read in one line from the input (read IN).
The line will also have an end of line character attached,
which has to be removed.  Anything within backticks (` `) is
executed by the shell, and replaced by the output.  In this
case, IN is assigned the result of "echo $IN | tr -d '\r'".
tr is the TRanslate command, -d means "delete the following
characters", specifically '\r', which is the end of line.
This is then dumped into /tmp/webserver for inspection.
In the event that the user gave us a blank line, $IN is zero
length, the -n (non zero length string) fails, and we know
we're done with the headers.

If all works out, you'll be able to hit

http://localhost:901/

and "Here I am!" should show up.  If not, is 911.sh
executable? (chmod +x 911.sh).  Is the /etc/xinetd.d/diag
file correct?

Turning our attention to /tmp/webserver, you can see what
the client sent.  Here's the first couple of lines of mine:

GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: 192.168.1.10:911
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:0.9.9) Gecko/20020513

That first line is the one we're interested in, since it
tells us what the client is requesting.  Hit

http://localhost:901/foo?something

and see what shows up in /tmp/webserver

GET /foo?something HTTP/1.1

There is no rule saying a file has to be there, so we'll
use this as a way to send commands to the web server.

Right before the "done" from the while loop, add the following

\[ -z $URL ] && URL=`echo $IN | awk '/^GET/ {print $2}'`

That's a mouthful!  Stuff between \[ ] means that you're
testing, in this case "-z $URL" means "Is $URL zero length?".
If that evaluates to "true", meaning we haven't assigned
anything else to it, then the code on the right hand side
of the && gets executed.

Again, we'll use backticks to transform the input line,
this time using AWK.  The general form of an AWK command is

/pattern/ { action }

This AWK says "If the string starts with GET, then output
the second column (the URL)".  Feel free to add "echo $URL"
to the end of your script, and try again:

Here I am! You accessed /foo?something

To make things easier, we're going to make two assumptions
about this little application.

1) The action we're specifying is an alphanumeric string,
   the tree is only one level deep.  In this case, the
   action is "foo".

2) The parameters, if any, are passed as a single string,
   not MIME encoded, and appear after the question mark.
   In this case, we're passing "something"

(Those that have programmed CGI will likely shudder at the
thought of encoding and decoding all those %XX in shell
script, so we'll avoid it entirely).

Right after the while loop to read the headers is finished
is where the URL will be split up.

ACTION=`echo $URL | awk -F \/ '{print $2}' | awk -F \? '{print $1'}`
PARAM=`echo $URL | awk -F \? '{print $2}'`

Please excuse the inelegance, it would have been a lot more
compact in PERL.  Passing -F to AWK specifies the delimiter
(normally it's space or tab).  Again, $N returns the N'th
column.  To get the action, awk strips off anything after
the first /, also removing the optional question mark.
The PARAM is simply anything after the question mark.

The rest is all downhill from here.  Now that we have an
action and an optional parameter, it's pretty easy to
execute the appropriate command.

case $ACTION in
        ping) /bin/ping -c 5 $PARAM | awk -F, '/packet loss/ {print $3}' ;;
        ifconfig) echo "<pre>"; /sbin/ifconfig -a; echo "</pre>" ;;
        reset) echo "<pre>"; /sbin/network restart; echo "</pre>" ;;
        \*) echo "Whatchew talkin' 'bout, Willis?"
esac

A case statement allows you to execute different actions
based on a single variable.  Here, if the action is ping,
we ping, only returning the packet loss stats.  If it's
ifconfig, then give 'em an ifconfig.  If it's reset, then
do that.  A bit of well placed HTML, and we have a menu.

The script, in it's entirety:


----------CUT-------------
#!/bin/bash

# Read in the request

IN="blah"
while \[ -n "$IN" ]; do
	read IN
	# Strip EOL chars
	IN=`echo $IN | tr -d '\r'`
	echo $IN >> /tmp/webserver
	\[ -z $URL ] && URL=`echo $IN | awk '/^GET/ {print $2}'`
done

ACTION=`echo $URL | awk -F \/ '{print $2}' | awk -F \? '{print $1'}`
PARAM=`echo $URL | awk -F \? '{print $2}'`
# Push out the header
echo "HTTP/1.0 200 OK"
echo "Content-type: text/html"
echo
echo "<b>Unauthorized users will be executed</b><br>"
echo "<a href=/ping?www.cramsession.com>Test remote connectivity</a><br>"
echo "<a href=/ifconfig>Interface Status</a><br>"
echo "<a href=/reset>Reset NICs</a>"

case $ACTION in
	ping) /bin/ping -c 5 $PARAM | awk -F, '/packet loss/ {print $3}' ;;
	ifconfig) echo "<pre>"; /sbin/ifconfig -a; echo "</pre>" ;;
	reset) echo "<pre>"; /sbin/network restart; echo "</pre>" ;;
	\*) echo "Whatchew talkin' 'bout, Willis?" ;; # default case
esac
----------CUT-------------

Not bad for 30 lines of shell script!

To summarize, we used xinetd to handle all the networking --
the input and output of our script goes directly to the web
browser.  The request from the browser was stripped apart,
which tells us the action the user wanted to perform, and any
optional parameters.  Depending on the action, the script runs
certain commands.  Security is handled by restricting who can
access the script.

The next time something happens to my cable modem, I don't
have to walk my wife through the command line.  In the
browser she's already got open, I can have her do all the
troubleshooting I need.


Long live the Penguin,

Sean
mailto:swalberg@cramsession.com


-------------------------
2) Linux News
-------------------------

---------------------------------------
This Just In... Reuters to Offer Linux
---------------------------------------
"News and information provider Reuters Group Plc said on
Thursday it would offer customers the alternative of running
its market-data delivery system on Linux, in a bet that
banks and brokerages will shift trading to the upstart Linux
software." The announcement includes a mention that they'll
be enlisting the help of Red Hat and HP/Compaq.

http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=technologynews&Story
ID3874


---------------------------------------------------
"Our Software Sucks So Bad It Must Be Kept Secret"
---------------------------------------------------
Well, that's not exactly what was said, but it's a good
summary. Microsoft is now claiming that any move to open up
their APIs or software would harm national security. I don't
know where to begin on this one.

http://www.eweek.com/article/0,3658,s%253D701%2526a%253D26875,00.as
p


------------------------------
QCumber Returns From Bootcamp
------------------------------
No, he hasn't joined the Army! Cramsession employee QCumber
took The Training Camp's seven day Linux bootcamp, and came
back a lean, mean, Linux using machine (and he's certified to
prove it). Thinking of some intense Linux training? Maybe this
is the choice for you.

http://infocenter.cramsession.com/TechLibrary/GetHtml.asp?ID88


---------------------
Are You A Linux Waif?
---------------------
Are you living with a Linux user? Here are some signs that
you might be affected by someone else's Linux habits.

http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sidX68


-------------------------
3) Linux Resources
-------------------------

---------------------------
VMWare: /tmp out of space?
---------------------------
If you're like me, your disks are partitioned, and programs
don't have the luxury of storing several hundred megs in /tmp.
Normally, this isn't a problem except for VMWare. Here's how
to get it to use temporary space in the directory of your
choosing.

http://www.vmware.com/support/linux/troubleshooting/disk_mem_ts_lin
ux.html


------------------------------------
An Introduction to Linux Scheduling
------------------------------------
It's the scheduler's job to dole out time on the CPU to all
the processes you've got running. It's really an interesting
part of the OS, since there are many tradeoffs that have to
be made for efficient operation. This article goes through
some of the basics of task scheduling in Linux.

http://www.monolinux.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid8


---------------------------------------
Conducting Virtual Meetings With Linux
---------------------------------------
What happens when a simple conference call can't handle your
needs? Need to share slides or a desktop? Allow hundreds of
people to listen in? This series of articles looks at how it
can be done under Linux.

http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/4199/1/


-------------------
Daemon Monitoring Daemons
-------------------
This is a good explanation of a common technique where
programs on a system watch over other processes. If Apache
died in the middle of the night, wouldn't you rather have
your computer try starting it up again than be paged? Daemon
Monitoring Daemons will help you out.

http://linux.oreillynet.com/pub/a/linux/2002/05/09/sysadminguide.ht
ml


-------------------
IPTables Usage
-------------------
This article is about NAT and the IPTables features in the
2.4 kernel. The author makes use of some interesting
features, such as filtering on the content of the packet.
Well worth a read.

http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sidX39


-------------------------
4) App o' the Week
-------------------------
This week's App is another game. I remember having an Air
Traffic Controller game for DOS some time ago that was very
addictive. Can't find it any more, but this game seems to be
quite close.

http://airtraffic.sourceforge.net/

-------------------------
(C) 2002 BrainBuzz.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
-------------------------
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-------------------------
                        LINUX NEWS
         Resources & Links From www.CramSession.com
                 Thursday, May 30, 2002
-------------------------

-----------------
TABLE OF CONTENTS
-----------------

1) Sean's Notes

2) Linux News

	Setting Up Hacker "Tripwires"

3) Linux Resources

	Ximian CDs to Include Star Office
	Linux vs SUN... Round N
	Distros To Join Forces Against Red Hat
	Linux Networks Much Cheaper Than Windows
	X Clients, Servers, and Desktops, Oh My!

4) App o' the Week


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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~






For information on how to advertise in this newsletter
please contact mailto:adsales@CramSession.com or visit
http://cramsession.com/marketing/default.asp

-------------------------
1) Sean's Notes
-------------------------

Many admins are good about turning off the services that they
don't need, so that script kiddies don't take over their
computer a scant six hours after it is first plugged into the
Internet. Somewhat fewer make use of ipchains/iptables, and TCP
wrappers, to only allow trusted hosts to connect. Fewer yet
monitor for updates to software, and apply them (this latter
number is likely getting better now that distros are getting
better about notifying users). However, protecting your
computer is only half the security equation. We spend so much
time preparing for the inevitable attack that we forget to make
a plan to deal with those that are successful.

Periodic auditing goes a long way toward ensuring that you
haven't been the victim of a successful attack. The same
auditing procedures are also helpful in determining the extent
of the attack.

One program that is a lifesaver when it comes to auditing is
Tripwire (http://www.tripwire.org/). Tripwire takes a snapshot
of your system by storing checksums of critical files. If
anything about those files changes, it'll be flagged the next
time you run a check.

If your distribution doesn't include Tripwire, you can get it
from the link above.

The basic steps in using Tripwire are:

1. Set up your keys and files you want to monitor
2. Initialize the database
3. Periodically check for changes
4. Update database with approved changes, or act on unapproved ones

The last point bears mentioning -- Tripwire only tells you that
files have changed, it's up to you to figure out if it was a
legitimate change or not. If it was, Tripwire has the facilities
to update the main database.

When you install Tripwire, it gives you a shell script called
"twinstall.sh" (check /etc/tripwire/). When you run it, the
first thing it will do is prompt you (twice) to enter a
password for your site. After that, it prompts you to enter a
local keyfile passphrase (twice again). The difference between
them will soon be apparent. Make 'em difficult to guess. At
least 8 characters, use numbers and capitals too! Then, write
them down, and keep them in a safe place. If you read what it
spits out carefully, it suggests that you delete the two .txt
files (twcfg.txt and twpol.txt). You can do so safely; we'll
see soon how to retrieve them.

By default, Tripwire comes with a comprehensive list of files
that it monitors, so we'll jump over to initializing the
database.

# tripwire --init

Your system will get quite busy for a few minutes as tripwire
goes through your system and calculates checksums for the files
(checksums are one way functions, such that if you change any
of the input, such as the file, the output changes. Since a
checksum is usually around 20 bytes, it's a lot easier to store
than a copy of the file itself)

If you look in /var/lib/tripwire, you'll see a .twd file in
there. That's your Trip Wire Database. Between that, and the
files in /etc/tripwire, you've got a snapshot of your database.

Time to run our first check of the system:

# tripwire --check

The report that gets spit out is quite comprehensive. For
example, I ran the following:

# cd /sbin
# cp hdparm hdparm.tmp
# echo a >>hdparm

That made a copy of hdparm, and then modified the original to
have an 'a' at the end.  Look what Tripwire found:

----------------------------------------------------------------
Rule Name: User binaries (/sbin)
Severity Level: 66
----------------------------------------------------------------

Added:
"/sbin/hdparm.tmp"

Modified:
"/sbin"

----------------------------------------------------------------
Rule Name: File System and Disk Administraton Programs (/sbin/hdparm)
Severity Level: 100
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Modified:
"/sbin/hdparm"

There's no fooling Tripwire!

You'll also notice that a lot of files were missing. That's the
trouble of going with defaults. The policy file is what tells
Tripwire what it's supposed to check. However, we erased the
plaintext version after running twconfig.sh, which means we'll
have to retrieve it first:

# twadmin --print-polfile > twpol.txt
# vi twpol.txt
# twadmin --create-polfile twpol.txt
Please enter your site passphrase:
Wrote policy file: /etc/tripwire/tw.pol

"twadmin" is used to manage policy files and the like.
--print-polfile prints the current policy to STDOUT, which I've
redirected to twpol.txt. Second line, I edit it to remove the
lines I don't want, or to add more. Then, I create the new
policy file. You'll notice I'm being prompted for the site
password -- all configuration files are signed by the site key,
so that no one can alter the list without your knowledge. By
contrast, the local key is used whenever you need to make
changes to the database. If a cracker were to think he were
smart by modifying the database, that change would be noticed.
Again, there's no fooling Tripwire!

If you want to update the policy and the database at one go,
you can use

# tripwire --update-policy twpol.txt

instead of the last step. Otherwise, reinitialize the database
with --init.

After the --check, you'll see that /var/lib/tripwire/report has
a .twr (Trip Wire Report) file in there. In order to update the
database, we'll need that.

# tripwire --update --twrfile \
  /var/lib/tripwire/report/FILENAME.twr

You'll be presented with a copy of the report, along with

\[X]

next to every change. If the X is left there, the change will
will be written to the database once you exit the editor (and
provide your local password, of course). Take it out, and it
won't be written to the database.  Simple, eh?

Even though the complex system of signing databases and
configuration files will prevent against tampering, it doesn't
help the files from being deleted by a frustrated cracker.
Sure, you know you've been hacked, but you still don't know
what was changed. Therefore, keep a copy of all your keys on
a CD. Keep another copy of the database somewhere in case the
signature doesn't check out.

Using Tripwire is an effective way of making sure nothing has
been changed without your knowledge. Run the check every so
often (Red Hat puts it as a daily cron job).

Red Hat also gives some good instructions on how to use Tripwire:

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-7.3-Manual/ref-guide/c
h-tripwire.html

Security is all about diligence. Some time spent at the onset
can save you a lot of time later on.

Long live the Penguin,

Sean
mailto:swalberg@cramsession.com


-------------------------
2) Linux News
-------------------------

---------------------------------
Ximian CDs to Include Star Office
---------------------------------
For a mere $60, you'll be able to get a CD with both Ximian
GNOME, and Star Office. This is part of a recent partnership
announced earlier by Ximian and SUN. Solaris users also will
find that Ximian Connector will soon be available, allowing
you to connect to an Exchange 2000 server from your SUN
workstation.

http://ximian.com/about_us/press_center/press_releases/soffice_6.ht
ml


-----------------------
Linux vs SUN... Round N
-----------------------
I'm always interested in the way that the Linux community
interacts with the commercial heavyweights such as SUN.
Dr. Tormasov for SWSoft has responded to SUN propaganda
earlier, and his latest letter is incisive.

http://www.sw-soft.com/en/news/id%2c1111


--------------------------------------
Distros To Join Forces Against Red Hat
--------------------------------------
We're expecting that today Caldera, Conectiva, SuSE and
Turbolinux will announce that they're joining up forces to
work on a single distribution that can hopefully compete
against Red Hat. I'm not exactly thrilled by this, as SuSE
might come out on the short end of the stick. I'll be
looking forward to seeing the final announcement.

http://newsforge.com/newsforge/02/05/29/138258.shtml?tid=3
http://www.eweek.com/article/0,3658,sp1&a'405,00.asp


----------------------------------------
Linux Networks Much Cheaper Than Windows
----------------------------------------
"The study (which looked at purchasing and operating costs)
aimed to benchmark TCO for an organisation with 250 users,
over three years. The costing models included staff costs,
application licences, maintaining servers and workstations
and networking, as well as miscellaneous systems costs."

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/5/25148.html


-------------------------
3) Linux Resources
-------------------------

----------------------------------------
X Clients, Servers, and Desktops, Oh My!
----------------------------------------
One of the things I've always found confusing about X-Windows
is the relationship between clients, servers, window managers,
desktop environments, and whatever else is needed to make it
all work. Here's a great explanation, along with other useful
stuff such as how to change your desktop environment... or is
that window manager?

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-7.2-Manual/ref-guide/s
1-x-clients.html


-------------------------------
Cramsession Security Newsletter
-------------------------------
Security has always been a great topic, which is why I'm
happy to see that Cramsession (the guys that bring you this
newsletter) have started up a security newsletter. First
issue has already gone out, so subscribe before you miss any
more!

http://newsletters.cramsession.com/signup/default.asp


----------------------
Need Some Case Studies
----------------------
Linux guru and frequent poster "linux_boy" has posted his
list of case studies and industry reports dealing with Linux.
Quite a bit of stuff here!

http://boards.cramsession.com/boards/vbm.asp?mV3625


----------------------------------
K-12 Linux Terminal Server Project
----------------------------------
Here's some great information on how one school used the
K-12 LTSP to cut costs and increase productivity in their
computer labs. Information on costs and other functionality
can be found here.

http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/reports/4216/2/


-------------------
Linux and Aviation
-------------------
"This document is intended to provide pointers to software
packages that run under the Linux operating system and are
useful to private, commercial, or military pilots. The
ultimate goal is to enable pilots to use the Linux operating
system for all their aviation related computing needs,
totally eliminating the need for other operating systems.
I want to encourage pilots who are already using Linux to
contribute to this document, either by providing pointers to
existing software, or by writing new applications for Linux."

http://ibiblio.org/fplan/Aviation-HOWTO/Aviation-HOWTO.html


-------------------------
4) App o' the week
-------------------------
lbnamed is a name server written in perl. The difference is
that instead of reading from static files, requests can be
handled by perl code. For example, you might normally do
round robin DNS for a web farm. With lbnamed, you could have
it always return the server that has the lowest load average.

http://www.stanford.edu/~riepel/lbnamed/

-------------------------
(C) 2002 BrainBuzz.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
-------------------------
-------------------------

         This message is from CramSession.com.

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