XModem Flash Recovery of new c3560, c3560e, c3750, c3750e, etc...

Right at the moment I'm sitting in one of our wireclosets, watching an c3750 (hopefully) recovering its mind to its old function and behavior - through an XModem transfer of its current IOS. Because of an power failure on our campus the unit actually "bricked" - the flash system became corrupted and the unit did end up in the ROMMON Mode "switch:".

Thats pretty bad - but not as bad as we couldn't fix it.

1. Connect to the console port with the usual settings of 9600 Baud, 8 Bit, No Control, 1 Parity.

2. Power up the switch and hold the mode button until it comes to the ROMMON - and yeah, if you did delete the IOS or your switch is bricked like mine, it does come to this point by its own - no need to do that.

3. Before doing anything, check the file system with fsck flash: - if that gives error you should really format the flash - as it is corrupted and theres no need in flashing it a second time - because the new IOS will become bricked as well (I figured that out myself some minutes ago...). So if you don't have any important data like an non-saved config on that flash, erase it with format flash: and reboot the switch with reset. Test again with fsck, if there are still errors: Forget the switch, send it to Cisco. If not, we're going on with our mission:

4. set BAUD 115200
After that you will see nice looking stuff. Set your console to 115200 BAUD as well. Its important to do that as the download of the IOS will take 2-4 hours otherwise. But don't forget to set it back after everything is done with set BAUD 9600

5. flash_init
init the flash

6. load_helper
does load the helper. sometimes useful.

7. copy xmodem: flash:IOSFILENAME
That will start the xmodem download. In Tera Term, klick File, Transfer, Xmodem, Sene and choose the IOS binary. Yes, important: Not an tar File, only the IOS bin.

8. The Download begins, that will take 20 Minutes or so... Some sweet time, but as we know it could be really worse. So kick back, do something useful - like writing this tutorial ;-)...

9. Its done. Enter boot and it will boot. If not its bricked. Don't forget to set back with set BAUD 9600

Cisco AP1231 Autonomous LWAPP to Auto Downgrade

Downgrading an LWAPP Cisco Access Point which was used with this Wirless Controll System can be very time consuming. Can. Doesn't need to. Cisco did some nice stuff to make life easier: An auto "downgrade" function. To use this you need to get following:

- Tftpd32 Server or similar tftp Server
- An autonomous IOS File for your Access Point (i.e. for the 1231 the file c1200-k9w7-tar.123-8.JEC.tar)

1. Setup your tftpserver and give it an ip out of the range 10.0.0.2 - 10.0.0.30 with the Subnetmask 255.0.0.0
2. Copy the IOS File to the tftpserver root, mostly called tftpboot in Linux
3. Rename the file from - for example c1200-k9w7-tar.123-8.JEC.tar to c1200-k9w7-tar.default
4. Plug in the Ethernet Port on your Access Point (direct Connection from PC to AP needs an Crossover Cable!), connect the AP also to the serial console if you want.
5. Press and hold the "Mode" Button on the AP and plug in power.
6. Wait until the orange blinking middle led turns solid red (ca. 30 sec) and then release the "Mode" Button
7. The AP will start downloading the firmware and reflash itself. DO NOT TURN IT OFF OR KILL THE CONNECTION!

[Asterisk] Part 2: Installation, Configuration of an Askozia PBX and getting it working with Snom 360

- Download and burn the latest 1.0 Release as PC Live ISO (www.askozia.com,i.e. pbx-cdrom-1.0.3.iso, 30 MB)
- Insert and boot from in your target PC
( You could now already use this as live running Askozia Version - but we're going to install it onto the HDD )
- Just choose option "Install to Harddrive", choose the HDD you want to install onto and accept the questions, warning that your Data will be erased.
- Reboot and remove the CD from the drive.
- Choose Option 2 and set IP, Subnet (default 24), Gateway, DNS, choose wheter you want to go back to http or use ssl encrytpted https
- Go to your PC and enter http://ipoftheaskoziapbx or https://ipoftheaskoziapbx depending on your reacion to the last installation step.
- The default login data is admin, askozia
- Go to the General Setup, change Username, Password and other Settings you would like and save.
- Go to Voicemail, enter an E-Mail Account (username, pw, email, smtp server) you would like to use for the Voice Mail feature. Save the configuration and enter your own E-Mail Adress in "Test E-Mail" and press E-Mail Me - if that does work, you got Voicemail working.
- Go to Interfaces, change the Interface settings to your like and add ISDN or Analog Interface if you got such.
- Now your basic installation is done, go to reboot and restart your system.

Create an Sip Account and connect Snom 360
- Login to your Askozia again
- Choose Phones and click on "Add Sip"
- Enter the needed Information:
- Extension is your phone number
- Caller ID is the Name of the personal behind that number
- Password is needed to secure the SIP Account
- Voicemail is the E-Mail Adress of the Person, so Askozia can send you a) missed call notifications, b) your Mailbox Entrys as wav
- You need to activate for a) "send missed call notifications" as well
- Choose your Language
- And you may enter an Description and Advanced Settings if you want
- Press Save

- Login to your Snom 360
- Choose Identity 1 (i.e.)
- Enter the needed Information:
- Identity active: on
- Displayname you can choose to your like - maybe Sip Askozia
- Account is the Extension / Phone Number
- Password is the Sip Password
- Registrar is the IP of your Askozia PBX
- Press Save and Re-Register
- Enter your Password again on the Snom 360 and press the "Check Mark" button

Now you're done and can phone. Just enter the number of the other SIP Phone and press "Check Mark" to start calling.

Conferencing:
Under Services, Conferencing you got an Conference Room in the Askozia. On default calling number 2663 will get you there and you can conference with other Sip Users

Applications:
Under Dialplan, Applications you can call 3 Applications. 00003246 - Echo Test, 00009253 - WakeMe (an Wake Up Call Manager), 000064554 (1000Hz Test Tone)

Call Groups:
Under Dialplan, Call Groups you can set Call Groups (one Extension does ring multiple Phones)

Interfaces:
Under Interfaces you can change Interface settings - i.e. configure an ISDN Interface like an AMV Fritz Card ISDN which is recognized in Askozia Stable 1.0.3

Providers:
Under Accounts, Providers you may add an Sipgate Account i.e. to the PBX

Phones:
Under Accounts, Phones you can change Phone settings and add Provider Accounts to the Phone

[Asterisk] Part 1: Basics and Choosing the right OS

Finally the time has come for our first VoIP or Voice over IP Project. The final goal of this project shall be to integrate an Software Asterisk VoIP System into an already existing PBX / ISDN Enviroment, allowing Users on Analog and ISDN Phones to recieve and send VoIP Calls by using the Asterisk Gateway - and vice versa. An good starting point is the most famous open source Voice PBX, called Asterisk. Asterisk is aviable in many flavors and colors: As commandline on little OpenWRT enabled Routers to an Highpowered Cluster Solution running ten thousands of phones at the same time - beeing managable via an nice looking Webinterface and Batch Files.

As an starting point, myself and Co Worker Sebastian picked out the three most popular releases and integrations of the Asterisk server:

- AsteriskNoW! ( http://www.asterisk.org/asterisknow/ )
AsteriskNow is an development of dignium which does also develop Asterisk.
Uses CentOS.

- trixbox ( http://www.trixbox.org/ )
Trixbox is an PBX which has been build for business use and therefor has many options and special settings.
Uses CentOS.

- Askozia ( http://www.askozia.com/ )
Askozia is using the same system the m0n0wall and FreeNAS Appliances are build upon and is therefor very small and very lightweight.
Uses FreeBSD / m0n0wall / FreeNAS System.

AS for the test systems, we did decide to put all three Systems on real world servers, the first two ones because of their quite heavy weight resource needs onto 2 identical Tyan Tomcat Servers, powered by Pentium 4, 3 GhZ, 1 GB of Ram and an Sata Raid Controller, Mirroring the 160 GB Drive (Raid 1) to a second HDD. We got two 1 Gbit NICs and other stuff.

The test node for the Askozia is an Pentium 2 MMX, 500 MhZ, 64 MB Ram, 8 GB Hdd. 1 100 Mbit NIC and an AMV Fritz Card.

After extensiv tests of the systems we came to choose two favorites:
- Askozia
Because of its very lightweight, very simple configuration and low impact even on the tiny system
Downside: Not many options, shell access only with additional packages, limited expert options

- trixbox
For beeing very powerful and posessing many options.
Downside: Hardware hungry, VERY much options

Having these said we did shut down the two big servers and concentrated on the low end HP Desktop running Askozia. For beeing able to connect to an ISDN PBX we needed support for the AMV Fritz Card. Luckily we found this support included in the stable 1.0.3 release. The current 2.0.0 beta does NOT run with AVM and does not even recognize the Card. I wrote an report on the Forum and the admin did quickly reply to this, I'm waiting for an fix of the problem and therefor continued the work with the 1.0.3. Actually including Voicemail, two Sipphones, Conference Room and such is so easy that anyone can do it within less than 5 Minutes. But first things first - in the Installation How To.

Snom 360 Update and Password Reset

WARNING, this is ONLY for Users on an Snom 360 with Firmware Revision 6.X.
If you got an different Revision the steps could be different.
Check out the Snom Wiki in that case ( http://wiki.snom.com/Firmware ).
Basically we just do reflash the Firmware with the same Revision again to erase data and passwords and unlock the Phone.
Than we do an automatic update to the latest release.

- Download the latest Snom 360 Firmware from the Snom Website for your Revision ( http://wiki.snom.com/Firmware/V6/Latest_Release )
- Download tftpd32 or an similar tftp Server
- Rename the Firmware to snom360.bin and upload it to the root Directory of the tftp Server
- Plug in the Network Port and Power to the Snom
- As the message "To Update by TFTP: Press Any Key" appears, press any key on the phone
- Enter valid IP Data for the Phone. Always press Next. I.e. the IP, the Subnet, the Gateway, DNS and the IP of your tfp Server.
- As you're finished, it will ask for this again and again, press Check Mark right beside the big X Button. The tfp Download will start. Don't unplug the phone during the Firmware Update. The Phone will automatically reboot after the flash is done.
- After this flash we have reset all data - including the passwords, so we now can press the Help Button on the phone and get the ip adress of the phone, connect to it by using an HTML Browser. But before you access the website, you need to enter the Administrative mode of the phone, otherwise you won't be able to set any setting or update the phone. So press the Settings Button and press "Administrative Mode" - password is 0000 on default. Press Check Mark to accept. Now access the Website.
- To update to version 7 Firmware (the latest Firmware, experimental) you need to go to the Advanced Tab, scroll down to Update. Set the Update Policy to "Update automatically" and the Setting URL to "http://provisioning.snom.com/update6to7/update_once.php". Press Save and Reboot, Accept with Yes. The Phone will Reboot.
- After the reboot, the phone will access the internet and check automatically for an update, download it and start flashing. It will reboot serval times, don't power it off until its done. It should take something like 10 Minutes or more, depending on your Internet connection. If it doesn't reboot anymore and does show the normal menu for longer than half an minute you can consider it ok.
- You can now create Identitys (Profiles) for your Sip / VoIP Accounts and reregister them via the Webinterface.

[EEE901/1000] Use Windows XP Bluetooth-Stack on Asus 901/1000

- Deactivate Bluetooth in the Asus-Tray-Utility
- Open C:\WINDOWS\INF\BTH.INF with the Editor.
- Look for:
[Manufacturer]
%Microsoft%=Microsoft
ALPS=ALPS, NT.5.1
Belkin=Belkin, NT.5.1
...

- Now add "Asus=ASUS, NT.5.1". It should look like this:
[Manufacturer]
%Microsoft%=Microsoft
ALPS=ALPS, NT.5.1
Asus=ASUS, NT.5.1
Belkin=Belkin, NT.5.1
...

- Now look for "[Zeevo.NT.5.1]". It should look like this:
[Zeevo.NT.5.1]
Zeevo Bluetooth Solution= BthUsb, USB\Vid_0b7a&Pid_07d0&Rev_0126
Zeevo Bluetooth Solution= BthUsb, USB\Vid_0b7a&Pid_07d0&Rev_0133

- Beneath it, add following:
[Asus.NT.5.1]
Asus BT-253= BthUsb, USB\VID_0B05&PID_B700

- Result:
[Zeevo.NT.5.1]
Zeevo Bluetooth Solution=                        BthUsb, USB\Vid_0b7a&Pid_07d0&Rev_0126
Zeevo Bluetooth Solution=                        BthUsb, USB\Vid_0b7a&Pid_07d0&Rev_0133
[Asus.NT.5.1]
Asus BT-253=                        BthUsb, USB\VID_0B05&PID_B700

- Save and leave the editor
- Now it depends wheter you did install the Widcomm Software or wheter you start with an fresh Win XP Installation

With Widcomm-Software:
- Activate Bluetooth in the Asus-Tray-Utility, Bluetooth Symbol should be white
- Go to System, Software and remove Widcomm-Bluetooth-Software
- At the end, system want that you deactivate Bluetooth - do that via the Tray Utility
- Than, it wants to reboot - DON'T do that.
- Activate Bluetooth again in the Asus-Tray-Utility
- Windows should start installing its own Bluetooth Stack
- Reboot after that, you're done

Without Widcomm-Software:
- Just activate Activate Bluetooth in the Asus-Tray-Utility and it should start installing
- If not, go to the Hardware Manager and "search for changed Hardware"

Internal Notes:
C:\WINDOWS\INF\BTH.INF
rundll32.exe bthprops.cpl,,BluetoothAuthenticationAgent
bthprops.cpl

I found it btw in an german forum and did roughly translate it, because I found it very useful as I only use Bluetooth for s25@once with my Handy.

Windows 2000 / XP Password Special

So, you logged out of Windows and need to get your password back? Thats for what this little collection is for.

Lets say you need to "crack" an Windows 2000 / XP Password. For i.e. login data. Then you should go for Ophcrack: http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/

If you just want to login into Windows 2000 / XP / Linux etc. without using or cracking the password with admin rights, go for konboot: http://www.piotrbania.com/all/kon-boot/

And should you stumble across the problem of having forgotten your network drive passwords and login but still have access to Windows and got these pw saved, use Nir Soft Network Password Recovery: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/network_password_recovery.html

Be advised ONLY to use these programs if they come from the orginal website as other websites do add keyloggers and other nice stuff to them. And only use these tools if you own the pc or have the rights to - check your local law!

Quick'n Dirty Moodle Learning Platform Setup

Download and Install TurnKey LAMP (Vmware Appliance)
http://www.turnkeylinux.org/redir.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fswitch.dl.sourceforge.net%2Fproject%2Fturnkeylinux%2Fturnkey-lamp%2F2009.10-hardy-x86%2Fturnkey-lamp-2009.10-hardy-x86.zip

go to http://IP

go to Webmin (https://IP:12321)
change root pw
change root pw in mysql
create mysql table utf8-unicode "moodle"
mkdir /var/moodledata
chown nobody /var/moodledata
chmod 777 /var/moodledata

root@lamp:/var# apt-get update
root@lamp:/var# apt-get install wget
root@lamp:/var# apt-get install php5-gd
root@lamp:/var# apt-get install php5-curl
root@lamp:/var# apt-get install php5-xmlrpc

cd /var/www
wget http://download.moodle.org/download.php/direct/stable19/moodle-weekly-19.zip
unzip moodle-weekly-19.zip

Access http://ip/moodle

(create config.php in /var/www/moodle)

change pwd,
user admin, pw admin

upload user.csv as iso8859-1 (if you're using öüä!) batch import

setting up firewall
setting up nat
setting up dyndns server for dyndns adress

with phpmyadmin moodle`.`mdl_mnet_host` change to:
Bearbeiten Löschen 1 0 http://DYNDNSADRESS/moodle CORRECTDNSADRESS.COM 0 0 0 0 0 0 NULL 1

$ apt-cache search php | grep gd
php5-gd - GD module for php5

[ESXi 3.5] Dell Optiplex G620 ESXi 3.5 U5 & Problems with Ubuntu 9.10 and Vmware Tools

So, we happend to get an new ESXi 3.5 Server, using an Dell Optiplex G620 for that.

To install ESXi 3.5 U5 onto that Desktop Machine, you NEED to upgrade to Bios A11 and Shutdown CPU Limit ID - and do the Install in SATA Normal Mode (not Compability!). You also need to use the Tipps to install to an IDE Drive (so changing TYPE_IDE to TYPE_ISCSI in the TargetFilter.py) - than it will work flawlessly... (As long as you get the Bios updated, we had the "orignial" A01 Bios and it refused to use an Boot CD for the Update (did load but then always did disable Keyboard - you couldn't enter anything...). We solved the Problem by using an REAL Floppy Disk... Yeah, was hard to get one. That worked! Ah and by the way, the ESXi install did load then, but the Keyboard got Stuck again - we plugged in an USB Keyboard and that one worked, the PS2 didn't wanted to.. well, it always an Adventure setting up ESXi on non-listed Hardware - especially with Dell Bios ;-)...

So - the other Problem is the new and very cool Ubuntu 9.10 - which we did install on the ESXi with latest Software Upgraded. Both Ubuntu 9.10 and ESXi 3.5 U5 (and latest Update by Infrastructure Update Client...). So Problem was: You installed everything, installed VMWare Tools and everything worked - rebooted and your Network was fried... Actually non DNS Lookup did work at all - and everything else neither. DHCP and such worked but it looked like something on the "Hardware" (lol?) / Kernel Level screwed up.

My Co Worker Sebastian came up with one Post, giving an Solution to the Problem:

Unplug the Network from your Ubuntu (by going into the Infrastructure Client, choose Settings of the Machine, choose the NICs and unklick both "Connected" Buttons, press Enter)

sudo rmmod pcnet32
sudo rmmod vmxnet
sudo modprobe vmxnet

Replug the Network

And now it works again!

.....until the next reboot.... T_T'''... >.<'

So.. no final solution here but NOT installing VMWare Tools.

And thats my recommandation after the 5th reinstall of Ubuntu.

Will try again on the next Ubuntu and ESXi Upgrade.

Remote Desktop with XDMCP on Ubuntu 9.10

To access the unsecured(!) Remote Desktop of an Ubuntu 9.10 installation, you need following:

First, install the openssh-server:

sudo apt-get install openssh-server

Then, you need to enable the XDMCP Server.

That became a bit tricky on that Installation, as the "Point 'n Click" enabling has been removed.

Dunno why. So, thats how it works. First we copy over the "empty" custom.conf for gdm:

sudo cp /usr/share/doc/gdm/examples/custom.conf /etc/gdm/

Then we edit it:

sudo vi /etc/gdm/custom.conf

It should look like this in the end:

# GDM configuration storage

[xdmcp]
Enable=true
DisplaysPerHost=2

[chooser]

[security]

[debug]

After that, we need to restart gdm:

sudo restart gdm

And thats it, the XDMCP is running. To access it on Windows i.E., you have to download Xming ( http://sourceforge.net/projects/xming/ )

Download and install the Windows Client, start the XLaunch Tool. Choose One window, Next, Open Session via XDMCP, Next, Enter the IP of the Ubuntu Server under "Connect to Host" and Press Next, Press Next, Save the Config were you want to have it and Finish.

Thats it, an X Window with the Login to your Server will open. Please bare in mind that this XDMCP Session is NOT encrypted. You should Tunnel it via SSH...

// Big Parts were taken from http://www.peppertop.com/blog/?p=690