Computers, Networks, Programming - by Taylor Made Networks

A couple of very useful web tools

2011-04-03T21:23:00.000-06:00

http://premailer.dialect.ca/
premailer is a great tool for converting html code into mail formatted as html.
Tips: Use outlook express to send html emails.
Create a new message, then click insert, text from file, select the html file.
A div with a background image will not display in gmail web viewer but it does display on iphone email. So use a normal img tag, and test with various email clients.

http://www.dotemplate.com/
dotemplate.com is very cool for creating a quick css template for a web site.

Cisco access point wireless configuration snippet

2010-09-23T15:49:00.005-06:00

I always forget one of these commands when setting up a simple wireless configuration on a cisco access point.

conf t
dot11 ssid temp
   authentication open
   authentication key-management wpa
   guest-mode
   wpa-psk ascii tempkey1
!
.....
interface Dot11Radio0
encryption mode ciphers aes-ccm
ssid temp
!

I am always looking to enable dhcp also.
Here is how you do it, although I think I have memorized it now.

ip dhcp pool test
  network 192.168.2.0 255.255.255.0
!

Windows Command Line to show members of a local group

2010-09-14T10:45:00.001-06:00

net localgroup <Group>

Pretty simple, but I only use this once every six months and I forget the command.
Maybe posting this will help me remember.

Changed the template today and added syntax highlights

2010-06-20T23:43:00.002-06:00

I added some highlighting to my previous post using the code from this link.
Thanks cyberack!
http://www.cyberack.com/2007/07/adding-syntax-highlighter-to-blogger.html

Win32::ODBC bug in Windows 7

2010-06-20T23:29:00.003-06:00

I keep getting the following error when trying to run a script that uses an access database as the backend.

ConfigDSN(): Could not add temporary DSN[911] []
"Illegal use of reserved characters []{}(),?*!@;"

The script is installed via Cava Packager and a custom Inno Setup script.
By default it gets installed into the Program Files (x86) folder of windows 7.

This is the line I am having problems with, which is trying to add a DSN for the Database.


Win32::ODBC::ConfigDSN(ODBC_ADD_DSN, $DriverType,("DSN=$DSN", "Description=Win32 ODBC DSN for Perl", "DBQ=$Dir\\$DBase", "DEFAULTDIR=$Dir", "UID=", "PWD=")) or die "ConfigDSN(): Could not add temporary DSN" . Win32::ODBC::Error();

The problem wasn't obvious at first, until I realized the $Dir variable contained the text 'Program Files (x86)'.
And the Win32::ODBC module apparently has a problem with the () around the x86 of this folder.

To resolve the problem I decided to just change the default location of the Inno Setup script from {pf} the environement variable for program files and instead hard coded it as C:\Program Files.

As always, Enjoy!

Find operating system version in perl

2010-06-18T22:53:00.003-06:00


my $osname = Win32::GetOSName();
my ( $osvername, $major, $minor, $id ) = Win32::GetOSVersion();

print "osname: $osname\n";
print "osvername: $osvername\n";
print "major: $major\n";
print "minor: $minor\n";
print "id: $id\n";

Commands to become undetectable on Windows NT/W2K/XP

2010-06-18T22:49:00.002-06:00

I was looking for this a while back but didn't end up trying it out.

I have forgotten the source, but I wanted to post it just in case.

NOTE: You are at your own risk if you follow these instructions. Editing your registry is DANGEROUS and should be done with extreme caution. Follow these steps at your OWN risk.

Get your device's hex value. ('snort -W' works for this)

open Regedt32

Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\
Interfaces\{XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX}

Select the network card you wish to setup as the monitoring interface (this will be the {XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX} value).

Set IPAddress:REG_MULTI_SZ: to null (Double click on the string, delete data in the Multi-String Editor, then click OK)

Set SubnetMask:REG_MULTI_SZ: to null (Double click on the string, delete data in the Multi-String Editor, then click OK)

Set DefaultGateway:REG_MULTI_SZ: to null (Double click on the string, delete data in the Multi-String Editor, then click OK)

Close the Registry Editor, your changes will be saved automatically.

In a command prompt, run 'ipconfig' to verify the interface does not have an IP bound to it.

Restore Network Icon in Vista

2010-06-18T22:43:00.001-06:00

> run 'regedit.exe'

> goto key 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings
\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion \TrayNotify'

> delete keys 'IconStreams' & 'PastIconsStream'

> start task manager, go to processes and kill explorer.exe

> go to applications in the task manager, hit new task and type
'explorer.exe'

> explorer will now reboot and your icons should return.

Perl Tkx Thread request demo

2010-05-08T19:48:00.003-06:00


#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use warnings;
use threads;
use threads::Shared;
use Tkx;

#Create shared variables
my $child_finished_flag: shared = 0;
my $child_request_flag: shared = 0;

#Create child thread
my $ChildThread = threads->create( \&child_thread );
$ChildThread->detach();

#Create Tkx mainwindow
my $mw = Tkx::widget->new(".");
my $frame2 = $mw -> new_ttk__frame(-borderwidth => 2);
$frame2->g_pack(-anchor => 'nw', -padx => '10', -pady => '10');

#create progressbar and button widgets
my $progressbar = $frame2->new_ttk__progressbar(-orient => 'horizontal', -length => 200, -mode => 'determinate');
my $button = $frame2->new_ttk__button(-text => "Process Request", -style => "Bold.TButton", -state => 'normal', -width => '15', -command => [\&process_request] );
$button->g_grid(-row=>1, -column=>1, -columnspan=>2, -padx=>10, -pady=>5);
$progressbar->g_grid(-row=>2, -column=>1, -columnspan=>2, -padx=>10, -pady=>5);

#Initiate Tkx Listener
Tkx::MainLoop();

sub process_request {
 $progressbar->start();
 $child_request_flag = 1;
 & check_status_1;
}

sub check_status_1 {
 Tkx::after(500, sub {
  if ($child_finished_flag == 1) {
   $progressbar->stop();
    #Reset flags
    $child_finished_flag = 0;
    $child_request_flag = 0;
    print "child_request finished\n";
   }
  else {
   & check_status_2;
   print "child_request processing\n";
  }
 });
}

 

sub check_status_2 {
 Tkx::after(500, sub {
  & check_status_1;                                          
 });
}

sub child_thread {
 while (1) {
  sleep 2;
  if ($child_request_flag == 1) {
   print "begin child_request\n";
   ## backtick command here
   my @ping=`ping www.yahoo.com`;
   open (CONFIG, '>ping_result.txt');

   foreach my $pingtext (@ping) {
    print CONFIG $pingtext;
   }
   close (CONFIG);
   $child_finished_flag=1;
  }
  else {print "waiting for child_request\n";}
 }
}

Use Gargoyle Firmware to implement whitelist filtering on wrt

2010-05-08T19:41:00.002-06:00

Access Restrictions on Gargoyle firmware make a great tool for restricting specific hosts from accessing any web pages except those specified in this whitelist.
http://www.gargoyle-router.com/

YouTube Video Conversion

2010-04-02T22:47:00.003-06:00

First get the 1 click FireFox Addon at this link: 1-Click Addon

Restart Firefox

Download the mp4 file using the 1-Click Addon

Then download and install WinFF from this link: WinFF.org
It is very straight forward and worked great for converting the mp4 to a wmv file.

Handbrake works great for conversion to an iphone compatible format if you prefer.

VLC fails to create multicast group on router

2010-03-13T22:00:00.003-07:00

The Time To Live is set to 1 by default in the newer versions of videolan client, therefore multicast doesn't work properly.

In the gui this can be overridden by adding the ttl field as shown below:

Before:
:sout=#duplicate{dst=display,dst=std{access=udp,dst=239.1.1.1:1234}}
After:
:sout=#duplicate{dst=display,dst=std{access=udp{ttl=10},dst=239.1.1.1:1234}}

Or from the command line:
vlc.exe -vvv c:\video\filename.avi --sout udp:239.1.1.1:1234 --ttl 12

Use GIMP to edit EPS files on windows.

2010-02-10T10:34:00.001-07:00

Install GIMP or GIMP Portable.

Go to the Ghostscript project page on Sourceforge http://sourceforge.net/projects/ghostscript/

Download one of the prepared Windows distributions, such as gs870w32.exe

Start the executable and follow the instructions for the installation procedure.

Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.

Click the Advanced tab.

Click Environment variables

Set the GS_PROG environment variable to the full file name of the gswin32c binary (e.g. C:\gs\gsX.YY\bin\gswin32c.exe).

Open GIMP and open the EPS file.

jquery blockUI bug with internet explorer

2010-01-21T17:44:00.003-07:00

When using jquery plugin blockUI if the user doesn't move the mouse after the control returns the cursor will continue to spin.
This is documented on the following post:
http://old.nabble.com/-blockUI--IE:-Cursor-still-displays-hourglass-symbol-after-unblocking-td25593484s27240.html
Here is the fix.
Edit the jquery.blockUI.js file
After line 379 add the line below.
Line 379: els = $('.blockUI', el);
Add this line: els[1].style.cursor = 'default';

It depends on what version of blockUI.js you have, but here is what I ended up using around line 390.

 var els;
 if (full) // crazy selector to handle odd field errors in ie6/7
  els = $('body').children().filter('.blockUI').add('body > .blockUI');
 else
  els = $('.blockUI', el);
  if ($.browser.msie && els[1] !== undefined) {
   els[1].style.cursor = 'default';
  }

How to save credentials for mapped network drives

2009-11-30T07:51:00.002-07:00

I always forget the exact syntax for this, so I decided to post this to the blog.

net use z: \\server\share /savecred /persistent:yes

If needed this command will then prompt for the username and then the password.

Vista Network Icon will not display - how to fix this problem

2009-11-19T23:00:00.001-07:00

In order to restore the Network Icon, you must clear the tray icon history.
To do this, follow these steps:
run 'regedit.exe'
go to key 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify'
delete keys 'IconStreams' & 'PastIconsStream'
start task manager, go to processes and kill explorer.exe
go to applications in the task manager, hit new task and type 'explorer.exe'
explorer will restart and your network icon should return.

Set the font size for the jquery datepicker widget

2009-11-19T22:52:00.001-07:00

You can force the size change by modifying this line in your custom css file.

Replace the following line:

.ui-datepicker { width: 17em; padding: .2em .2em 0;}

With this:

.ui-datepicker { width: 17em; padding: .2em .2em 0; font-size: 12px !important;}

The "!important;" tag tells it to override the body tag.

Automatic File Copier

2009-11-18T06:00:00.003-07:00

I needed a solution that would automatically copy all the images from my pentax camera to an external hard drive.
So I came up with this perl script.
I only wanted it to attempt to copy the files if both external devices were attached, so it uses the line if (-d $source_dir and –d $dest_dir) to check for this.
Once the files are copied, it waits for three minutes (180 seconds) and starts looping again.


#! /usr/local/bin/perl

use strict;           

use warnings;

use File::Copy;

 

my $source_file;

my $source_dir='f:/dcim/100pentx';

my $dest_dir='g:/';

my $source;

my $dest;

my $status=0;

 

 

################# main_loop ####################

while (1)

{

&finddir;

print "status:$status:\n";

©files if $status == 1;

sleep 10 if $status == 0;

}

 

sub finddir

{

if (-d $source_dir and -d $dest_dir)

                {

                print "Found Directories\n";

                $status=1;

                }

else

                {

                print "Could not find source or destination";

                $status=0;

                }

}

 

sub copyfiles

{

opendir (DIR, "$source_dir") or warn "Couldn't open directory, $!";

while ($source_file = readdir DIR)

                {

                next if $source_file!~/\w/;

                print "$source_file\n";

                $source = "$source_dir/$source_file";

                $dest = "$dest_dir/$source_file";

                copy($source, $dest) or warn "File cannot be copied.";

                }

closedir DIR;

sleep 180;

}

#################################################

Jabra SP700 - How to enable pairing mode

2009-10-29T16:59:00.000-06:00

In case of unsuccessful pairing, put the Jabra SP700 into pairing
mode manually:
- M ake sure the speakerphone is off.
- Press and hold the answer/end button until you hear the voice
announcement “Pairing Mode” and the Bluetooth Status Icon
will flash constantly

Setting up Remote Desktop with custom ports

2009-10-21T20:03:00.002-06:00

http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/article.php/3802226

With Vista things are a bit different.
See the following links:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306759
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/turn-on-remote-desktop-in-windows-vista/
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Open-a-port-in-Windows-Firewall

Frigidaire FEF365ASK Electronic control module

2009-10-12T09:47:00.002-06:00

During normal cooking on bake we heard a loud pop from behind the
stove. The stove top still worked, but the bake and broil elements
will not get hot.

As can be seen below I had to purchase a new module to repair the stove.

How to fix: Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file.

2009-08-26T20:39:00.004-06:00

After some group policy changes I was getting this error upon trying to install various applications which I had copied from a network share.

But after clicking the Unblock button above the problem was resolved.

How to install RRDs module for RRDTool in perl on Win32

2009-08-26T15:52:00.002-06:00

Install Activestate Perl: http://www.activestate.com/activeperl/

Direct link: http://downloads.activestate.com/ActivePerl/Windows/5.10/ActivePerl-5.10.1.1006-MSWin32-x86-291086.msi

Download the rrdtool zip file for windows

Find it here: http://oss.oetiker.ch/rrdtool/pub/?M=D

Direct link: http://oss.oetiker.ch/rrdtool/pub/rrdtool-1.2.30-win32-perl510.zip

Unzip to a temp folder

Open a command prompt and change to the following directory

C:\Temp\rrdtool-1.2.30-win32-perl510\data\rrd2\rrdtool-1.2.30\bindings\perl-shared>

Type ppm install RRDs.ppd

Good to go!

How to Create a dynamic DSN for Win32::ODBC database

2009-08-18T23:27:00.002-06:00


#! c:\perl\bin\perl
use Win32::ODBC;

$DriverType = "Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)";
$DSN = "Win32 ODBC --MS_Access--";
$Dir = "c:\\perl";
$DBase = "myDB.mdb";

Win32::ODBC::ConfigDSN(ODBC_ADD_DSN, $DriverType,("DSN=$DSN", "Description=DSN for Perl", "DBQ=$Dir\\$DBase", "DEFAULTDIR=$Dir", "UID=", "PWD=")) or die "ConfigDSN(): Could not add temporary DSN" . Win32::ODBC::Error();
$db=new Win32::ODBC($DSN) or die "couldn't ODBC $DSN ", Win32::ODBC::Error(), "\n";
$query = "select * from table";
!$db->Sql($query) or die "query $query failed ", $db->Error(), "\n";

while($db->FetchRow())
    {
    my %Data = $db->DataHash();
    foreach my $key(keys(%Data))
        {
        print $key," -> ",$Data{$key};
        }
    }

Win32::ODBC::ConfigDSN(ODBC_REMOVE_DSN, $DriverType, "DSN=$DSN") or die "ConfigDSN(): Could not remove temporary DSN ", Win32::ODBC::Error();

How to redeem iTunes app codes from an iPhone or iPod touch.

2009-08-17T12:46:00.002-06:00

This one is real easy, but not obvious at first.
Open the app store, then under the featured apps scroll to the very
bottom.
Tap on the redeem app.
It will ask for your iTunes code and your apple account password.
It will install the app, have fun!

How to fix blogger errors trying to add rss feed

2009-08-16T21:10:00.003-06:00

I have a blog that I am trying to add as an RSS feed to google reader, however when I click the rss link it gives me this error: User does not have permission to read this blog.

Through some trial and error I found a fix for this problem.

It occurs when the blogger permissions tab is set to allow only authors to read the blog, I am an author, I'm the admin also, but I still cannot add the rss feed.
I believe this is a security concern and cannot be fixed, but as a workaround, temporarily set the Blog Readers permission to anybody, then add the rss feed to your rss reader, then reset the permissions to only authors.

Works great!

Automatically fill in a PDF form with a perl script

2009-08-16T20:33:00.004-06:00

I am using perl version 5.10, and I installed CAM::PDF (version 1.52) by using ppm.


#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use CAM::PDF;

my $infile  = input.pdf';
my $outfile = output.pdf';
my $pdf     = CAM::PDF->new($infile) or die 'error';
my @FIELDS  = $pdf->getFormFieldList();

foreach my $field ( @FIELDS ) {
    if ($field =~ /^c/) {
        my $ff_obj    = $pdf->getFormField($field);
        $ff_obj->{value}->{value}->{AS}->{value} = 'Yes';  #This line sets a check in the checkbox fields
    }

    else {
        $pdf->fillFormFields($field => $field);  #This line sets the value of the field to the field name.
    }
}
$pdf->cleanoutput($outfile);

It seems that on adobe 1.6 files with interactive forms some of the coding is lost and when the output file is opened there is an error stating “this document enabled extended features in adobe reader. the document has been changed”

This seems to be due to incompatibilities in the version of CAM::PDF.

It works fine under older versions of pdf files.

Using system commands in perl executable causes console window to popup

2009-08-10T22:54:00.004-06:00

After converting a perl program to an executable file using perl2exe or pp (PAR Packer) under windows I had a problem arise.
I was using a system call to print an html file from a tkx based perl program.
All was great until I tried to compile with the -gui command in order to prevent the console window from showing while processing the program.
Which worked well except when the user initiated a print job.
A console window would popup and would not go away until the user clicked ok in the print dialog.
After hours of searching I found this solution, very simple, just add the following code to the perl script and recompile to exe.



Win32::SetChildShowWindow(0) if defined &Win32::SetChildShowWindow;



See the source for this solution here. 
Thanks Activestate!

Perl Printing in Windows

2009-08-10T08:07:00.007-06:00

In order to print a document from a perl based program the easiest option I have found is to save the document by printing to a File Handle, then run a system command to print the document.

This method is great for dynamically creating a formatted HTML document, saving it to a file by printing to the File Handle, then calling the system command below to print the html document.

system('rundll32.exe %SystemRoot%\system32\mshtml.dll,PrintHTML "file://c:\perl\myfile.html"');
This command will open the printer dialog so the user can select a printer and other options.

Thanks to Rob's site for showing me how to use the rundll32 command.

Using the system command creates a problem when trying to run a console free application, however I will address this in another post.

RRDTool wireless client tracking

2009-08-04T23:12:00.007-06:00

Here is a sample of one of the tools I have recently built.
This graph is queried from a web based form which allows searching of access points by building, client, SSID, etc. The graph type is selectable and dynamically built based upon the user input to the form. It allows selection of various time frames for the graph including the sample above showing the previous month.
Also, the web form allows to display multiple client signal levels overlaid on the same line graph.
(I will have to grab a sample of this for another post.)
I haven't seen any RRDTool graphs quite like this that give a visual representation of wireless client movement from AP to AP, so I thought it would be nice to post this as a sample of the possibilities presented by the amazing RRDTool.
Thanks Tobi!

First Post - Thanks to All

2009-08-04T22:25:00.006-06:00

For years I have managed a large Campus Network as a lead Network Engineer and I have specialized in creating and managing a custom network management server.
Along the way I have become certified as a MCSE, CCNP, CWNA, A+, Security+, and Network+.
I have been a Cisco Certified Network Professional since April of 2000.
I have been the lead engineer for various projects including IP Video utilizing Cisco IPTV, VBrick and Optibase multicast solutions. I have been involved in the acquisition and operations of Tandberg Video Teleconferencing solutions, and various other IP Video and Voice services.
Also I have developed a custom database repository and web based management platform which includes front end interfaces for many NMS tools and utilities including VOIP asset tracking, Wireless client reports, communication closet databases, UPS graphical statistics, dynamic network uplink utilization charts and weathermaps, and various other tools.
Our campus includes over 25,000 users, 1200 network devices and over 50,000 network interfaces. Our network control center has utilized a wide array of third party network management solutions including Cisco Works, SNMPc, HP Openview and others, however we continue to find that there is a major gap that needs to be filled by custom NMS software.
Along the way I have been self-taught in various programming languages mostly based around Perl on Windows Servers(due to security restrictions), SNMP, SQL, RRDTool, HTML and CSS.
In treading this path I have learned many things with the help of Google and the community of web based tutorials, wikis, forums, and the open source community. I have run into many problems and struggles but I have usually discovered the solutions, sometime with a simple search, but also at times a long hard battle. I have typically documented my findings in a notepad, through a saved document, or just in my head. Well as I get older and my filing system gets more and more cluttered I find it harder to recall this information at the time it is needed. Therefore I am starting this blog as a repository for the lessons I have learned. This will be a needed resource that I can return to for reference, but also I am hoping that I can save some frustration of others out there traveling down the roads of computer frustration!
Drop me a line or comment if this has been of any assistance to you.
And thanks to all those who have contributed to my progress through this crazy world of Information Technology and Communications.
Thanks,
Matt