Myside's Spew

HOWTO: Securely Setup an NTP (The Network Time Protocol) Server - Simplified

myside — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 02:15:02 -0500

This documentation assumes you have a compiled and installed NTP server version of 4.2.6 or newer.

NTP is a protocol designed to synchronize the clocks of computers over a network. NTP version 3 is an internet draft standard, formalized in RFC 1305. NTP version 4 is a significant revision of the NTP standard, and is the current development version, but has not been formalized in an RFC. Simple NTP (SNTP) version 4 is described in RFC 2030. - [source]

The first two steps to begin the installation is to setup a NTP log file and a statsdir which will hold the servers log messages and time computations acquired from external stratum time servers. Here is an example of the first two lines in a ntp.conf (/etc/ntp.conf) file:

logfile /var/log/ntpd
statsdir /var/log/ntpstats/

When compiling by source, you may create the log file by issuing the command "touch /var/log/ntpd" and create the directory which will hold your NTPD statistics such as peer communications with the command "mkdir /var/log/ntpstats".

Now we want to keep good track of NTP server communication to better help your server synchronize its internal time clock. We will add the following four lines for this:

statistics loopstats peerstats clockstats
filegen loopstats file loopstats type day enable
filegen peerstats file peerstats type day enable
filegen clockstats file clockstats type day enable

Next we will list the NTP servers you would like to communicate with in order to synchronize your system's time in conjunction with. These servers should only be used on a proven and sturdy machine:

server time.nist.gov
server time-a.nist.gov
server time-b.nist.gov
server utcnist.colorado.edu
server utcnist2.colorado.edu

At this point you will want to secure your NTP server. To do so we will start by denying all traffic in or out of this communication medium:

restrict default ignore

Now in order to negotiate synchronization to the time servers listed above, you will want to allow your server permission to query these hosts by resolving the IP addresses and granting query actions:

# time.nist.gov
restrict 192.43.244.18 mask 255.255.255.245 nomodify notrap noquery
# time-a.nist.gov
restrict 129.6.15.28 mask 255.255.255.245 nomodify notrap noquery
# time-b.nist.gov
restrict 129.6.15.29 mask 255.255.255.245 nomodify notrap noquery
# utcnist.colorado.edu
restrict 128.138.140.44 mask 255.255.255.245 nomodify notrap noquery
# utcnist2.colorado.edu
restrict 128.138.188.172 mask 255.255.255.245 nomodify notrap noquery

In order to allow local or remote hosts access to your time server after it has been properly synced to your correct time, you may add the following rule to respond to queries, with this example, on a class C network:

restrict 192.168.1.0 mask 255.255.255.0 nomodify notrap

Most importantly, do not forget to assign your drift file and directory:

driftfile /var/lib/ntp/drift

You may create this using: "mkdir /var/lib/ntp; touch /var/lib/ntp/drift". Note that if you decide to run NTPD under a non root user, this directory must have full write access to your alternative username, as with the ntpd and statsdir file and directory mentioned above.

I will touch on two ntpd command switches that may come in usefull.

The "-g" switch will allow your NTPD process to continue running if your internal time clock is off by more than 1000 seconds. If this switch is not present and your time is stewed & spewed, the process will die. The "-I eth0" switch, as an example, allows you to bind NTPD to a physical network interface. The interface may be eth0, eth1, lo, etc.

The configuration above should get you headed in the right direction to set up a network time server and client.

Verbatim SOHO NAS (96436) Firmware Update

myside — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 09:10:32 -0500

In relation to [Verbatim 500GB SOHO NAS (96436) Reviewed] I was able to find a firmware update from a competing company with the version 2.3.2.IB.2.RS.1. The firmware download page for the IB-NAS1000/2000 product, which will install successfully with the Verbatim 500GB SOHO NAS (96436) is located [here].

Using this firmware release also allows you to install an internet radio stream ripper, an ssh server using dropbear, and a UPnP media server called Twonky Server. These additional applications are available from the link listed for the firmware.

You should note however that you will need general Unix skills and make a modification to the Twonky Server init script to start up this server. The UPnP server is not a current version, however purchasing a license is still possible as Twonky considers this build a very stable and functional version. You will have a free 30 day trial. Once you start Twonky Server through SSH, its interface will be available on port 9000.

Twonky, including dropbear (SSH server) and the Internet stream ripper is installed by using an applications directory in your public share to place the installers and in addition you will need to do a clean reboot for finalization of the applications. Do read the instructions thoroughly so you don't kill your NAS.

20 GIS & Geocaching Must Have Software Applications

myside — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:45:21 -0500

[GPX Downloader] Firefox addon to save information such as coordinates, description, hints and logs into a GPX file that can be sent to your GPS unit.

[Minimap Sidebar] Firefox Addon: The Minimap Addon gives you a suite of built-in maps and mapping tools for your web browser. Drag and Drop addresses or address links you find on web pages to view their location in the Map Sidebar, or by manually adding locations. Preview addresses from within any webpage using the Map Panel and get larger scale maps with the Map Tab. Import/Export KML, GPX, minimap xml file, CSV (export only). View traffic Info, drag and drop KML files, local search, Google, Yahoo! and Live Local directions, view in Google Earth, Tagzania, Platial, Geourl and many more. Address/Location points are stored locally for later use. Geodiscovery reveals geoURLís or geotags as you browse, with microformat support available in Firefox 3 (Adr and Geo).

[CacheMate] CacheMate™ is a database for tracking GPS cache hunts. You can store information about caches or benchmarks, decode hints, and transfer data to and from other software and devices. - Palm OS, Pocket PC, Windows Smartphone, Google Android

[Cache Stats] If you like to keep tabs on your geocaching statistics, you'll love CacheStats. How has your find rate been holding up over the years? What are your longest streaks? Want to see what it will take to reach your end-of-year goal? CacheStats analyzes your "My Finds" pocket query to find out all this and more.

[BASICgps] Free Geocaching application for Windows Mobile.

[CacheBerry] CacheBerry (GPX) – Geocaching Specific - BlackBerry Shareware: View, search & manage Pocket Queries/GPX files.

[Plucker] Plucker is an offline Web and free eBook reader for Palm OS® based handheld devices, Windows Mobile (PocketPC) devices and other handheld PDAs. Plucker contains POSIX tools, scripts and "conduits" which work on UNIX, Linux, Microsoft Windows and Apple OS X. These let you decide exactly what part of the World Wide Web you'd like to convert for reading on your PDA. These web pages are then processed, compressed, and transferred to the PDA for viewing by the Plucker viewer.

[iSilo] iSilo™ is a highly versatile document / ebook reader available on more platforms than any other reader. The supported platforms include iPhone/iPod touch, Android™, BlackBerry® Touch, BlackBerry®, Palm OS®, Pocket PC, Windows Mobile Smartphone, Symbian S60 3rd Edition, Symbian Series 60, Symbian UIQ 3, Symbian UIQ, Symbian Series 80, and Windows® CE Handheld PC handhelds, as well as for Windows® and Mac OS X computers. You can find thousands of ready-made documents downloadable immediately for reading with iSilo™ or you can create your own documents from HTML content using iSiloX.

[Cetus GPS] (LOC) - Free PalmOS application that interfaces with your GPS through a serial port (or connected GPS). It can read waypoint files in LOC format.

[GPXView] (GPX) - Donateware application for managing GPX files on PocketPC 2002 or later.

[Geocache Navigator] Geocache GPS software by Trimble

[Viking] (GPX) - A free/open source program to manage GPS data. You can import and plot tracks and waypoints, show Terraserver maps under it, add coordinate lines, make new tracks, waypoints, and more.

[GPS Manager] (GPX) - A graphical manager of GPS data that makes possible the preparation, inspection and manipulation of GPS data in a friendly environment. GPSMan supports communication and real-time logging with Garmin, Lowrance and Magellan receivers and accepts real-time logging information in NMEA 0183 from any GPS receiver. GPSMan can also be used in command mode (with no graphical interface)

[MapSend Lite] (GPX/LOC) is a free application from Magellan that now has built-in geocaching functionality.

[GSAK] (GPX/LOC) - All in one application that allows you to manage GPX/LOC files, upload to your GPS, and convert to various other formats. Uses GPSBabel as the back end.

[GPSBabel] (GPX/LOC/KML) - A free console-based application for converting LOC and GPX to various other formats. Source code available.

[GPX Spinner] (GPX) - Geocaching Specific - Shareware application that can convert GPX files to iSilo and Plucker format.

[Google Earth] (GPX/KML) - Google Earth can overlay the travels of trackable items on geocaching.com. Google Earth also uses GPS Babel to allow Premium Members the ability to drag a Pocket Query GPX file on to the application to overlay geocaches.

[EasyGPS] (GPX/LOC) - A free application for managing both LOC and GPX file types

[ClayJar Watcher] (GPX) - Geocaching Specific - Freeware application that helps you manage your Pocket Query GPX files