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Exit Script if sudo password not entered
by steve-ALUG＠hst.me.uk 11 Jun '13

11 Jun '13

Hi geniuses! I have a few scripts with several commands prefixed by sudo. I often mistype my password, as it's complex, and, if I mistype it 3 times, I want the script to exit, rather than continue on to the next line and ask for the password again. Is there a recommended way of doing this? I've googled & thought. One example I've seen asks for the password via zenity, then passes it through to a sudo line which does something like sudo cat /dev/nul >dev/nul and then checks if it failed - if it fails it displays a message and quits. See: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2052976&page=2 Another alternative I dreamt up whilst reading another webpage was: sudo echo || { echo 'Login Failed'; exit; } Is there a recommended/preferred/suggested/best way of doing this? Cheers Steve

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[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 13th June
by Viperfang 10 Jun '13

10 Jun '13

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Hello Norwich Aluggers, Our monthly ALUG Norwich social meeting will be held this Thursday, 13th June at The Coach and Horses (82 Thorpe Road, Norwich, NR1 1BA). The meeting officially starts at 8pm, although some people may arrive earlier. More information on those people can be found on the list and the IRC channel. If you are unsure if you will recognise us then make yourself and your intent to attend known by either posting on list or visiting us on IRC so we can look out for you rather than hiding in the corner. Optionally you could ask at the bar if they know where the geeky computer weirdos are and they'll point you in the right direction (seriously!). Another possibility is look for heaps of electronics on a table that may possibly look like movie props that would used for detonating explosives. Feel free to bring electronics/laptops/gadgets to the meet, you will by no means be alone. Ben Bewick aka Viperfang NB: This mail is automated, please refer to the usual sources for more information. ALUG Contact Details: Website : http://www.alug.org.uk/ IRC : #alug on irc.alug.org.uk List : http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo Twitter : http://twitter.com/anglianlug Identica: TBA Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2381613902 ----- Send discussion replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk (Reply-To set) Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

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Why are some of my ports appearing in a port scan?
by steve-alug＠hst.me.uk 10 Jun '13

10 Jun '13

Hi folks. I'm confused. Every now and again, I use Shields UP! at grc.com to check that there's unexpectedly open ports on my system. I checked last night and I found 2 open ports, 5 closed ports and all the rest were "stealth" ports. The 2 open ports I was expecting. Stealth ports mean simply that they don't reply in any shape or form to the outside world. I expect, and usually get, all my ports except for the two open ones to appear as "stealthy". I don't understand why I'm now getting 5 closed ports showing up. I have a cable modem that's configured to do NAT for me. It has 3 port forwarding rules, each for single tcp ports. (One of these rules is outside the range usually scanned for by SheildsUp, that's why it's not included in the count of open ports) I don't forward any port ranges. I don't have a DMZ. UPnP is disabled. The ports that are appearing as closed are: 135, 137, 138, 139, 445 I turned off my server's smbd service and rescanned, and I got 135, 137, 138, 445 i.e. port 139 disappeared. So it does seem that services running on the server directly affect ports that are being shown as closed on the router, despite there being no port forwarding rule for them to get past the router onto the server. 135 DCOM Service Control Manager 137 NetBIOS Name Service 138 NETBIOS Datagram Service 139 NETBIOS Session Service 445 Microsoft Directory Services I've just used NetScan on my mobile, (whilst not connected to wifi), and scanning my public IP address I got two expected ports open, and also 80 HTTP 110 POP 143 Internet Message Access I tried with a different mobile app (Port Scan) and I got 1 of the expected ports listed as open, and 80 HTTP 110 POP 143 Internet Message Access 8080 Alternate HTTP I tried with an on-line port scanner, http://nmap.online-domain-tools.com/, and I got only the two expected ports open. I've just tried rerunning GRC's Shields up and now it reports the two expected open ports and also just 137 and 138 as closed. I'm rather confused as to what's going on. Anyone got any ideas? Regards Steve

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Can someone check this site?
by Ted.Harding＠wlandres.net 09 Jun '13

09 Jun '13

Greetings all! I am having trouble connecting to http://oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com which just hangs indefinitely for me. A traceroute traceroute oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com proceeds reasonably rapidly down to step 11, which is where it hangs: 10 * 178.236.0.58 (178.236.0.58) 59.452 ms 178.236.3.129 (178.236.3.129) 64.219 ms 11 ec2-79-125-0-77.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com (79.125.0.77) 57.412 ms ec2-79-125-0-73.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com (79.125.0.73) 68.999 ms ec2-79-125-0-5.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com (79.125.0.5) 57.819 ms 12 * * * This may be a problem to do with routing via my ISP's DNS lookups. The ISP in question is zen.co.uk. The server 178.236.0.58 at the preceding step (10) is (from whois): inetnum: 178.236.0.0 - 178.236.7.255 netname: IE-AMAZON descr: Amazon Data Services Ireland Any comments? With thanks, Ted. ------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding(a)wlandres.net> Date: 09-Jun-2013 Time: 13:26:17 This message was sent by XFMail -------------------------------------------------

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Scripted FTP downloads
by Mark Rogers 08 Jun '13

08 Jun '13

This is basically a follow-on from my last question, now that the VPN is working... I need to download a set of backup files from a (Windows) server, deleting all but the newest from the server once successfully downloaded. In other words: - Download all files (re-starting any previously failed downloads and skipping files I already have in full) - Delete all files from the server that are older than X days The script will run daily. Files vary in size from a few K to a couple of GB (hence the need to remove old files from the server and to avoid re-downloading files I already have). I looked at lftp which has a "mirror" command that can be scripted and that is able to delete files, but it isn't working quite as expected. (We set it to download all files older than 2 days, deleting on success, then to download all files (no age limit) without deletion. That works fine, but the following day it skips the files it already has and doesn't delete the ones that are now older than 2 days from the server.) Suggestions? As it's a Windows server I don't have control of it unfortunately has to be FTP, although if there's a really clever solution that would work with some tweaks[*] on the Windows box I'll put them forward. [*]Wiping Windows and installing Linux doesn't count as a "tweak" :-( -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

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Re: [ALUG] Android headache
by Bev Nicolson 08 Jun '13

08 Jun '13

D'oh. Sorry Steve. Bev. On 7 June 2013 18:13, Bev Nicolson <lumos60(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> Do I have this right: When you switch the phone on, you're getting a >> message saying that there is a voicemail message for you. You have since >> disabled the voicemail service, but you're still getting the message? > > Yes, that's it. > >> If so, to remove the message, you will have to do something like this: >> Go to Settings menu. >> Select Call. >> Click on "Clear Voice Notification." > >> >> Options like this (but possibly with slightly different names) have been >> around for a while, > > And guess what? I don't have that option. :¬/ I had a long > conversation with Orange and there are two options. I either go for a > factory reset (would rather not) or (from Googling earlier) reactivate > voicemail and send myself a message, which I then delete. Thanks > though. > >> >>> Like I say, if this is totally off topic, be kind about saying so. Ta. > >> Well.... Android is Linux (for some value of is) >> > Indeed. Shame it isn't more so. An Ubuntu phone perhaps...

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Android headache
by Bev Nicolson 07 Jun '13

07 Jun '13

I'm not sure if this will be horribly off topic. If so, be gentle about pointing that out but you lot are more techie than me so you may have an answer to this. Phone is Android Gingerbread. Theoretically it has no voicemail service now but, along with others (I have googled and followed what advice I could) the notification still comes up when I switch it on. I rang my provider yesterday and they deleted the voicemail message for me but it's still there today. Points to note: I cannot listen to it because I have no idea what my pin number is so I couldn't delete it for myself. I have no phone app anywhere to remove. Any ideas? Like I say, if this is totally off topic, be kind about saying so. Ta. Bev.

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Maintaining a PPTP connection on Ubuntu Server
by Mark Rogers 06 Jun '13

06 Jun '13

I have an Ubuntu Server (headless) box, which needs to establish a PPTP connection (as client) to a PPTP server elsewhere. The box's sole purpose is to connect to the VPN, and download files for backup purposes. So keeping the VPN connection up is important. After an afternoon Googling all I've come up with are several dozen ways to skin the same cat, and the cat is feeling a bit unloved. So any recommendations? Mark -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

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More ftp
by Anthony Anson 05 Jun '13

05 Jun '13

Support@ asks: > Do you know what your public IP address is? Do you have a fixed IP > address? I'm in the Tea House in Naardge, so haven't access to my hard copy crib(s) - I don't *think* my IP address is fixed, BICBW. I can't discover anything on this box (MSi Wind Notebook running Mint) which will tell me - I'm sure there is, but I've never had to look. Can I ask the terminal, and if I can, what would the magic formula be? (Pretty please...) -- Tony http://www.girolle.co.uk/

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UPnP vunerability
by steve-ALUG＠hst.me.uk 05 Jun '13

05 Jun '13

Hi all, I came across this and thought I'd better spread it, in case it may affect you. This show http://twit.tv/show/security-now/389 pointed out that someone has discovered that there is a UPnP vulnerability in a large number of routers out there. Basically, UPnP allows devices to configure your router for you, and discover what services are available on the network. UPnP has its flaws, but is reasonably safe if confined within your local area network. Unfortunately, a bunch of routers expose UPnP to the public internet. There is a possibility that if you have one of these routers, a hacker could use UPnP to discover what's on your network, and connect to it, and compromise it. There's an easy way to check. Go to https://www.grc.com/default.htm Click on the link for Shields up (3/4 of the way down the page) Click on the proceed button. Then click on the GRC's Instant UPnP Exposure Test button. This will scan your system. If you see the message "THE EQUIPMENT AT THE TARGET IP ADDRESS DID NOT RESPOND TO OUR UPnP PROBES! (That's good news!)" Then you're ok. If it doesn't say that, then try disabling UPnP on your router, and try again. I personally always disable UPnP - however, I don't have anything that needs it, e.g. XBox games. HTH Steve

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