Friday, April 29, 2016

Replacing TM Malaysia provided router for Unifi service

If you plan to replace the router provided by TM Malaysia with your own router, you have to ensure that the replacement router has the option to choose TM Unifi as the ISP or at least allow you to configure the WAN interface with a VLAN tag.

Below is how you can replace the router with a Linux based router for internet access, which is tagged to VLAN 500.

1. Create the VLAN interface 


Run the following command to create a VLAN interface.  Replace the x with your actual interface eg eth0, which will then make the VLAN interface as 'eth0.500'. The '.' is an indication that it is a VLAN interface.

[root@router ~]# vi /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-x.500

Enter the following details

DEVICE=eth0.500
TYPE="VLAN"
ONBOOT="yes"
BOOTPROTO="none"
VLAN="yes"

2. Create the PPP interface


Run the following command to create the PPP interface

[root@router ~]# vi /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ppp0

Enter the following details. Remember to change as needed.

DEVICE=ppp0
TYPE="xDSL"
USERCTL="no"
BOOTPROTO="dialup"
NAME="DSLppp0"
ONBOOT="yes"
PIDFILE="/var/run/pppoe-ppp0.pid"
FIREWALL="NONE"
PING="."
PPPOE_TIMEOUT="80"
LCP_FAILURE="5"
LCP_INTERVAL="20"
CLAMPMSS="1412"
CONNECT_POLL="6"
CONNECT_TIMEOUT="80"
DEFROUTE="yes"
SYNCHRONOUS="no"
ETH="eth0.500"
PROVIDER="DSLppp0"
PEERDNS="yes"
USER="yourusername@unifibiz"

3. Create the PPP password files


Create the password files with the following command, one for CHAP and and one for PAP


[root@router ~]# vi /etc/ppp/chap-secrets

[root@router ~]# vi /etc/ppp/pap-secrets


Enter your username and password as provided by TM for both files.


"yourusername@unifibiz" * "password" *

4. You can now start the PPP interface

[root@router ~]# ifup ppp0


5. Check if the connection is successful


You can check if the connection is successful by running the following command. If the connection is successful, the ppp0 will be up and obtained an IP address

[root@router ~]# ifconfig ppp0
ppp0      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
          inet addr:x.x.x.x  P-t-P:x.x.x.x  Mask:255.255.255.255
          UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST  MTU:1492  Metric:1
          RX packets:908071 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:397529 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:3
          RX bytes:1039747302 (991.5 MiB)  TX bytes:91079309 (86.8 MiB)




Wednesday, April 27, 2016

How to detect a scam email?

If you received a notification from 'PayPal' on some irregularities with your account, don't be so quick to follow what was asked of you because it is most likely a scam

There are several ways to detect a scam. Some are very easy, like the one shown below, while some needs a bit more work.

1. Bad grammar 


Noticed how the word 'noticed' was spelled 'noticied'? Apparently a lot of scammers do not come from the English speaking part of the world.

2. Fake sender


The sender is not from @paypal.com but from @outlook.com. PayPal and all these organisation has their own domain. They will not use any other email domains.

3. Fake link. 


If you hover of the 'Login PayPal', you can see at the bottom showing the actual link which is not pointing to PayPal.



4. Fake URL


If you click on the link, it will bring you to the actual URL and as you can see, it is not paypal.com but pcypal.com, which is clearly bogus.







Monday, April 18, 2016

Cisco VPN Client v5.x on Windows 10

To install Cisco VPN client v5.x on Windows 10, follow the following steps

1. Launch the MSI not the EXE

2. Install DNE which you can obtain here else you will get errors while installing.

3. Once you have successfully installed the VPN client, you will need to edit the registry else you will get error while trying to connect


Friday, April 8, 2016

10 Things To Consider When Choosing A HDB Unit

The following considerations do not factor in future financial gain as part of the investment made, although it most likely do contribute to a rise in the value of the units chosen.

1. Choose the town and constituency

Base your choice on what it practical as you will have stay put for a minimum of 5 years, unless you plan to invest.

One practical choice is to stay near your parents. If you are in good terms with them, it will come in handy when you start your own family as you sure do need all the help you can get.

Towns will have different constituencies so choose one that you fancy. Some may choose to stay where there are wet markets while others prefer a shopping center etc.

2. Near a train station

The reason is obvious - convenience, because not only it will be easier to commute daily to work, most amenities like supermarkets and eateries will usually be built around a train station too. It will also make it easier for others to visit, especially if you have a close knit family or friends.

It does not have to exactly in front of the train station. Anything within 500 m radius is good enough. In fact being too near an above ground train station, especially near the tracks, just mean more noise. Train service end near midnight, so do take note. 

3. Near a bus top


If the unit is no where near a train station, then choose a unit that is maximum two blocks away from the nearest bus stop. After having to make transfers from trains, the last thing you want to do is to have to walk a distance especially after a long day. This is also important if you have old folks with walking difficulties and young kids heading home on their own.

Covered walkways from the block to the bus stop will be a plus. However, try finding a unit not facing the bus stop or the road to avoid noise.

4. Near a car park

For those who drive, this is a must. After being stuck in jams, the last thing you want to do is to walk a distance from the car park to the block. Imagine when it rains and there are no covered walkways and you realise you forgot your house key in the car!

Even if you do not drive, visitors will thank you and will not grumble behind your back. However, do not choose a unit where most bedrooms are facing the car park as the noise from the vehicles in the car park, especially MSCP, can be unbearable at night.

5. Near the expressways


For drivers, being near the expressway means shorter time needed to get home and avoid all those annoying traffic lights.

Even if you do not drive, you may take cab rides or a lift from a colleague. With your block far away from the expressways, especially with many traffic lights in between simply means longer cab ride and not to mention higher fares too!

Again, do not choose a unit where the bedrooms are facing the expressways for a good night sleep.

6. Not facing an empty plot of land with unknown plan

Getting a unit facing an empty plot of land may sound like a good idea with unblocks views as one of the advantages but it is also risky unless you are sure of what the future of the empty plot will be.

You can check what is in plan for that empty plot of land at URA website. Just zoom in to the block you fancy and see the plan for that empty plot of land. If it is coloured green, it means a future park so you are safe. If it shows a figure like '3.0' etc, it means there will be high rise residential so have to decide if that will be OK or not.


7. Not facing afternoon sun


The reason is simple. You are most probably home only at night. With the afternoon sun hitting your bedroom walls, it will take some time before the heat within the rooms dissipates. It may mean more use of the air conditioners that will end up with higher bills.

The morning sun however is not so bad. At least it has about 5-6 hours in the afternoon to cool down.



8. Near the lift


You may find this strange but being near the lift means convenience even though there may be more human traffic. With a unit far away from the lift, having to go through numerous neighbours' doors can end up with disagreement etc, especially if you have a neighbour from hell! Not to mention if you have kids with strollers being blocked by your neighbours who treat the common corridor as an extension of their storage space.

Being near the lift will not cause you to dread having to go in and out of the house in case you forgot something in the car or forgotten to buy something from the shop.

9. Some outdoor space


Having some outdoor space instead of none will mean a lot, especially if the entrance to the unit is along the common corridor. You will need some space to place your footwear etc especially when you have a gathering.

10. Internal Layout


Layout matters. It has to be functional for you. For example, some prefer a bomb shelter in the kitchen which they can transform into a pantry while others prefer it to be near the entrance to serve as a store room.

Analyse your daily movement in your current house and see if there are any part of it that requires change but unable to be done due to the layout. For example, you may have old folks who now have to travel far to reach the bathroom in the kitchen. Take this opportunity to correct them with the new unit by choosing a unit with bathrooms near the rooms to make it easier for them.

Simple WPAD script for direct connection to anything local

Below is a simple wpad script to let users have direct connection to anything local and the rest through proxy. You can continue to add statements but remember to add the corresponding brackets and the start and end.

Explanation

isPlainHostName(host) - the destination hostname. Any plain hostname (without FQDN) will be going direct

isInNet(myIpAddress() - the source address. This may be a local network where you do not want the users to use the proxy.

isInNet(host) - the destination address. The three shown are all the private address
function FindProxyForURL(url, host)
{
if (((((isPlainHostName(host) ||
dnsDomainIs(host, ".yourlocaldomain.com") ||
isInNet(myIpAddress(), "x.x.x.x", "m.m.m.m") ||
isInNet(host, "10.0.0.0", "255.0.0.0") ||
isInNet(host, "172.16.0.0", "255.240.0.0") ||
isInNet(host, "192.168.0.0", "255.255.0.0"))))))
return "DIRECT";
else return "PROXY your-proxy-server-ip:3128";
}

Monday, April 4, 2016

ClearOS 7 - Webconfig OpenVPN page returning error

If your ClearOS webconfig OpenVPN page is returning error, be it the app configuration page or the user certificate page URL below

https://server:81/app/openvpn
https://server:81/app/user_certificates

then most probably you have renamed or created a different configuration file name other than the default filename which are client.conf and client-tcp,conf

If you would like to custom name the configuration files, you will have to edit the file

/usr/clearos/apps/openvpn/libraries/OpenVPN.php

and edit the line below to suit your configuration filename

 const FILE_CLIENTS_CONFIG = '/etc/openvpn/your-config-filename.conf';




What you need to know about 10GBe home broadband

More ISPs are offering 10 Gbps fiber home broadband at pretty affordable prices ($189-$199) but before you sign up, the following are what you need to take note of

1. Most networking products like routers, desktops and notebooks currently support only up to 1 Gbps therefore if you do not upgrade them, 1 Gbps will the maximum speed you will be getting.

2. While you can upgrade your desktop by buying a 10Gbe NIC like the Intel X540 series, you can't do so with your notebook or routers

3. There are very limited number of routers that do support 10Gbe WAN port and they are very very expensive.

So until most end user products make 10 Gbps mainstream, it is not really advisable to sign up now. Price will also be much lower later as compared to what is available now.