How to Install and Configure MRTG on Ubuntu Server 12.04

This post will describe how to install and configure Tobi Oetiker’s MRTG (Multi Router Traffic Grapher) on your Ubuntu home server. Once configured, you’ll be able to use it to monitor the traffic in and out of your home network using the SNMP capability in your network’s gateway\router. MRTG generates static HTML pages containing PNG images which provide a visual representation of this traffic. MRTG typically produces daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly graphs. MRTG is written in perl and works on Unix/Linux as well as Windows. MRTG is free software licensed under the GNU GPL.

Software versions used in this post were as follows:

Ubuntu Server v12.04 x64 LTS)

mrtg_2.17.3-2ubuntu1_amd64.deb

Download and Install

First, download and install MRTG:

sudo apt-get install mrtg

If this is the first time installing MRTG on your server you’ll likely be presented with the following message. Answering “Yes” means that the default configuration file will be installed with permissions set at 640. Answering “No” means that the permissions are set at 644. In this example we’re going to accept the default Yes. No worries though, if you select No the steps in this tutorial will still work.

How to Setup Chroot SFTP in Linux (Allow Only SFTP, not SSH)

If you want to setup an account on your system that will be used only to transfer files (and not to ssh to the system), you should setup SFTP Chroot Jail as explained in this article.

In a typical sftp scenario (when chroot sftp is not setup), if you use sftp, you can see root’s file as shown below.

If you want to give sftp access on your system to outside vendors to transfer files, you should not use standard sftp. Instead, you should setup Chroot SFTP Jail as explained below.

Non-Chroot SFTP Environment

In the following example (a typical sftp environment), abc can sftp to the system, and view /etc folder and download the files from there.

# sftp abc@xcessl0gycs.com
abc@xcessl0gycs's password:
sftp> pwd
Remote working directory: /home/abc

20+ .htaccess Hacks Every Web Developer Should Know About

Apache's .htaccess(hypertext access) configuration file can be a very powerful tool in a web developer's toolkit if used properly. It can be found in the webroot of your server and can be easily edited using any text editor. In this article I'm going to show you 20 .htaccess hacks and how to use them.

Before I start with this article I'd like to start by saying that abusing the .htaccess file will hurt the performance of your website. The .htaccess file should only be used if you have no other way to achieve certain things.

Make sure to back up your current .htaccess file before applying any of the following hacks.

1. Prevent Hotlinking

Tired of people using your bandwidth by putting the images hosted on your server on their website? Add the following code at the bottom of your .htaccess file to prevent hotlinking.

1	Options +FollowSymlinks

2	#Protect against hotlinking

3	RewriteEngine On

4	RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$

5	RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www.)?domainname.com/ [nc]

6	RewriteRule .*.(gif|jpg|png)$http://domainname.com/img/stop_stealing_bandwidth.gif[nc]

NOTE: The following article explains better methods to "prevent" hotlinking:
Link building secrets by Maurizio Petrone

How to Enable and Disable Root Login in Ubuntu 12.04 TLS

We have recently installed Ubuntu 12.10 Desktop and Ubuntu 12.10 Server, we have nowhere asked to supply root password during installation. Generally in Linux, root user does exist and we need to supply root password during installation. By default root account is disabled in Ubuntu Linux because of security reason and you cannot login as root user directly or su - (Switch User) to become a root. You need to add sudo (superuser do) before actual command if you want to run all administrative commands and you need to supply your password when prompts for password.

Sudo is allowed user to become superuser for temporary to run superuser administrative tasks.

During installation only allow to create new user which has no root ( aka super user) privileges. But same user is allowed to execute sudo commands. Configuring sudo access for users, need to configure /etc/sudoers.

We’ll be covering the usage of SUDO and also we are going to show you tips & tricks to become root user.

Passive-interface command behavior in RIP, EIGRP & OSPF

Passive-interface command is used in all routing protocols to disable sending updates out from a specific interface. However the command behavior varies from o­ne protocol to another.

In RIP this command will disable sending multicast updates via a specific interface but will allow listening to incoming updates from other RIP speaking neighbors.

This simply means that the router will still be able to receive updates o­n that passive interface and use them in the routing table.

In EIGRP the passive-interface command stops sending outgoing hello packets, hence the router can not form any neighbor relationship via the passive interface. This behavior stops both outgoing and incoming routing updates.

In OSPF the passive-interface has a similar behavior to EIGRP. The command suppresses hello packets and hence neighbor relationships.

Explain Intrusion detection system (IDS)?? Types OF IDS...

An intrusion detection system (IDS) is a device or software application that monitors network or system activities for malicious activities or policy violations and produces reports to a Management Station. Some systems may attempt to stop an intrusion attempt but this is neither required nor expected of a monitoring system. Intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDPS) are primarily focused on identifying possible incidents, logging information about them, and reporting attempts. In addition, organizations use IDPSes for other purposes, such as identifying problems with security policies, documenting existing threats and deterring individuals from violating security policies. IDPSes have become a necessary addition to the security infrastructure of nearly every organization.

IDPSes typically record information related to observed events, notify security administrators of important observed events, and produce reports. Many IDPSes can also respond to a detected threat by attempting to prevent it from succeeding. They use several response techniques, which involve the IDPS stopping the attack itself, changing the security environment (e.g. reconfiguring a firewall), or changing the attack's content.

EBOOK - Installation And Configuration of R.S.A enVision

                                

"The Right Choice for Compliance and Security Success!". The RSA enVision platform provides collection, alerting and analysis of log data that enables organizations to simplify compliance and quickly respond to high-risk security events. The RSA enVision 3-in-1 platform offers an effective Security and Information Event Management (SIEM) and log management solution, capable of collecting and analyzing large amounts of data in real-time, from any event source and in computing environments of any size. RSA enVision is easily scalable - eliminating the need for filtering and to deploy agents.