We will assume the following:

• You have a working setup with Debian 6 (32 or 64 bit doesn’t matter) with internet connection
• A CF card of minimum 1GB is connected to you computer, device name is /dev/sdb

Partitioning and formatting the flash card
Create a single partition on the flash card and put an ext2 filesystem on it. Don’t forget to erase any existing partitions first. Afterwards, mount the newly create filesystem. Note that we are using an Ext2 filesystem. Using a journaled filesystem such as Ext3 is not a good idea, as this creates extra wear on your flash card.

fdisk /dev/sdb
mkfs.ext2 /dev/sdb1
mkdir /mnt/cf
mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/cf

Loading a basic debian system on the CF 

debootstrap --arch i386 squeeze /mnt/cf http://ftp.debian.org/debian

Mount special filesystems and chroot

mount -t proc none /mnt/cf/proc
mount -t sysfs none /mnt/cf/sys
mount -o bind /dev /mnt/cf/dev/
LC_ALL=C chroot /mnt/cf /bin/bash
mount devpts /dev/pts -t devpts

Filesystems
In order to minimize wear on the flash card, noatime was added to the mount options. This prevents the filesystem from updating access times. The tmpfs memory filesystem was used for some of the folders, basically for the same reason (minimize wear). The CF will be /dev/sda once installed in the Alix. Edit the file /etc/fstab :

proc /proc proc noatime,defaults 0 0
/dev/sda1 / ext2 noatime,defaults 0 1
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs noatime,defaults 0 0
tmpfs /var/tmp tmpfs noatime,defaults 0 0
tmpfs /var/run tmpfs noatime,defaults 0 0
tmpfs /var/log tmpfs noatime,defaults 0 0
tmpfs /var/lock tmpfs noatime,defaults 0 0

Network configuration
Edit the file /etc/network/interfaces. The example below will configure one of the network interfaces with IP address 192.168.1.250. Feel free to edit these values for your specific situation.

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
   address 192.168.1.250
   netmask 255.255.255.0

Serial console
Disable TTYs and put a getty on the serial console. Edit the file /etc/inittab :

#1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty1
#2:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty2
#3:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty3
#4:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty4
#5:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty5
#6:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty6

T0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 38400 vt100

Grub: preparations
Install the grub package on the CF and create the file menu.lst, which will be used later on. Don’t configure grub at this stage.

apt-get install grub
cp /usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/* /boot/grub

Create /boot/grub/menu.lst (flash card will be sda on Alix):

default 0
timeout 5

serial --unit=0 --speed=38400 --word=8 --parity=no --stop=1
terminal --timeout=5 serial console

title Debian
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1 ro console=ttyS0,38400n8
initrd /boot/initrd.img

Install the kernel
We will install a 486 kernel, as this seems to be the best option for the CPU present in the Alix. More information about this can be found via the links at the bottom of this post.

apt-get install linux-image-486

Final customizations
Change the root password:

passwd root

Install the SSH server daemon. You can skip this skip if console access via serial connection is sufficient.

apt-get install openssh-server

Disable udev network interface rules:

rm /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules
chmod 444 /lib/udev/write_net_rules

Configure the locale to en_US.UTF-8:

apt-get install locales
dpkg-reconfigure locales

Create the file setlocale.sh in /etc/profile.d, with the following contents:

#!/bin/bash
export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8

Final steps before booting the Alix

umount /dev/pts

Exit the chroot & umount special filesystems:

exit
umount /mnt/cf/proc
umount /mnt/cf/sys
umount /mnt/cf/dev/

Install grub in the MBR & umount the flash card:

grub-install --no-floppy --root-directory=/mnt/cf /dev/sdb
umount /mnt/cf

Ready… Set… GO…
Install the flash card in the Alix at this point, and power up the machine. Hook up a serial cable to see what’s happening. Set serial terminal to 38400baud 8n1. You should see some output from the BIOS, followed by a message from GRUB that it is loading. After a few moments, you’ll see a login prompt. At this point, you can’t see any output from the kernel. We’ll change this now.

Login with the root user and the password you picked in one of the previous steps. Next, edit the file /etc/default/grub :

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="console=ttyS0,38400n8"
GRUB_TERMINAL=serial
GRUB_SERIAL_COMMAND="serial --speed=38400 --unit=0 --word=8 --parity=no --stop=1"

Now run:

update-grub

Reboot the Alix. You should now see a nice bootmenu and all kernel-output.

Links

• https://mseiwald.at/doc/alix/installation
• http://kristof.vanhertum.be/?p=3
• http://wiki.soekris.info/Installing_Ubuntu_7.04_Server_via_debootstrap
• http://www.twam.info/hardware/chost-i586-vs-i486-on-amd-geode-lx

Operating system and packages
The setup was built using Ubuntu 10.04 server, using the following packages:

• Router Advertisements: RADVD (available via ubuntu package manager)
• DNS64: TOTD (available via ubuntu package manager)
• NAT64: TAYGA (available here as a package)
• DHCPv6: WIDE-DHCPV6-SERVER (available via ubuntu package manager)

Interfaces & prefixes
The following interfaces & prefixes were used (replace values by your own where needed):

• Assigned IPv6 subnet: 4000:0:0::/48
• LAN IPv6 subnet : 4000:0:0:1::/64
• LAN interface: eth4
• IPv4 Internet interface: eth0
• NAT64 tunnel interface: nat64
• 6to4 NAT range: 4000:0:0:2:EEEE::/96 (should be within your own subnet)
• GW IP: 4000:0:0:1::1/64
• An Internet based DNS server with IP 99.99.99.99

RADVD & DHCPv6 configuration
RADVD will take care of sending Router Advertisements to the clients, enabling SLAAC (Stateless Address Auto-configuration). Is should be configured like this (/etc/radvd.conf):

interface eth4
{
    AdvSendAdvert on;
    AdvManagedFlag off;     //stateless autoconfiguration
    AdvOtherConfigFlag on;  //clients get extra parameters via DHCPv6
    MaxRtrAdvInterval 10;   //resend RA @ random times, max 10sec delay
    prefix 4000:0:0:1::/64  //announce prefix to clients
    {
        AdvOnLink on;
        AdvAutonomous on;
    };
    RDNSS 4000:0:0:1::1
    {
    };
};

While the RDNSS messages are sufficient for some operating systems like iOS and Linux (with extra rdnssd packages), others need their DNS via DHCPv6 (such as Windows 7). Mac OS X doesn’t listen to any of them and needs a manual DNS configuration.
The DHCPv6 configuration is rather simple. Put the following line in /etc/wide-dhcpv6/dhcp6s.conf:

option domain-name-servers 4000:0:0:1::1;

DNS64: TOTD
The TOTD package is a DNS64 + forwarding daemon (it doesn’t handle DNS itself):

• If an AAAA request is made for a hostname that has AAAA records, the original AAAA record is returned
• If an AAAA request is made for a hostname that only has an A record, TOTD will translate the original A record (holding an IPv4 address) into an IPv6 record, using the prefix configured in its configuration file (/etc/totd.conf) :

forwarder 99.99.99.99 port 53   //forward DNS requests to this server
prefix 4000:0:0:2:EEEE::        //this prefix is used for translation
port 53

NAT64: TAYGA
The TAYGA package takes care of the NAT64 process. Whenever DNS64 returns a translated address to a client, it connects to the newly generated IPv6 address through its default GW. The GW itself sends the package to his nat64 tunnel interface which is managed by the TAYGA daemon. The daemon creates a mapping between the IPv6 address of the client computer and an IPv4 address of the private address range, as configured. As a last step, the IPv6 address as returned by DNS64 is translated back to the original IPv4 address and sent out to the Internet, using normal NAT44.
This is how it’s configured:
Create the following configuration file (/etc/tayga.conf):

tun-device nat64              //name of the NAT64 tunnel device
ipv4-addr 172.16.254.1        //IP address of the remote tunnel endpoint
prefix 4000:0:0:2:EEEE::/96   //IPv6 prefix of translated IPv4 addresses
dynamic-pool 172.16.254.0/24  //pool for mapping IPv6 client <-> IPv4

Next, let TAYGA create the tunnel device and add the necessary IP addresses & routes:

tayga --mktun                               //create tunnel devices
ip link set nat64 up
ip addr add 172.16.0.1 dev nat64            //local endpoint of the tunnel
ip addr add 4000:0:0:1::1 dev nat64         //same IP as GW
ip route add 172.16.254.0/24 dev nat64      //send through tunnel
ip route add 4000:0:0:2:EEEE::/96 dev nat64 //send through tunnel
tayga -d

(or use /etc/init.d/tayga start – the -d option gives some debugging information)

The translated (IPv4) packets will be sent to the default GW for IPv4 connectivity. The only thing left is to translate the source address (the local IPv4 endpoint address of the nat64 tunnel) to the public IPv4 address of your internet interface. This is done with IPTABLES:

iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE
iptables -A FORWARD -i eth0 -o nat64
                    -m state --state RELATED,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A FORWARD -i nat64 -o eth0 -j ACCEPT

IP Forwarding
If you haven’t done so already, turn on IP forwarding on the gateway:

echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/all/forwarding
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv6/conf/all/forwarding

(can also be done via sysctl commands etc…)

Debugging

• To check if the DNS64 is working correctly, try doing some nslookup’s (or dig). Hostnames that normally do not return an AAAA record should now return a “fake” one with a value within the configured range. If that’s not happening, first check your /etc/resolv.conf on your local machine to see if it points to the correct server
• NAT64 problems can be checked by running tcpdump on your gateway, especially on the nat64 tunnel interface

That’s what this posting is about, I bought myself a little USB hub from DealExtreme, this one to be exact.

After more then a month of waiting (yes, you have to be patient sometimes), it finally arrived today !

Here’s a speed test of the little thing, using an USB stick directly on the USB port of a Fujitsu-Siemens Lifebook E4010 and the same stick, plugged into the USB hub – the result : no speed lost at all !

Stick directly on USB port :

/dev/sdb1:
Timing cached reads:   800 MB in  2.00 seconds = 400.03 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads:   58 MB in  3.10 seconds =  18.68 MB/sec

And plugged into the USB hub :

/dev/sdb1:
Timing cached reads:   800 MB in  2.00 seconds = 399.99 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads:   58 MB in  3.10 seconds =  18.69 MB/sec

Result : /me happy !

Here’s how you can accomplish it :

First of all, open the administration pages of the router, and then :

• Click on Advanced Settings and next on Network Interfaces
• In the column Interface Name, click on LAN Bridge
• On the Connection Properties page, click on the Settings button, at the bottom of the page
• On the Configure Connection page, look for the text IP Address Distribution and click on it
• You are now on the IP Address Distribution page, click on the Connection List button
• You can now edit already existing dynamic leases and change them to static ones or you can add new static leases.

Good luck !

No worries, no need to create a new group – just exclude the necessary user(s) from accessing SharePoint :

Go to SharePoint Central Administration :

• Click Application Management
• Click Policy for Web Application
• Click Add Users
• Select the Web Application you want to deny users access to
• Click Next
• In the users box, put the AD user or  group you want to deny access to
• Check the box next to Deny All – Has no access
• Click Finish

ALL DONE !

Source :

http://fnoja.blogspot.com/2008/05/excluding-and-ad-group-from-site.html

I successfully configured Time Machine backup to a Lacie 1TB Ethernet Disk following this guide. The only thing I did different was not specifying the “megabytes”-parameter with the hdiutil command because it didn’t seem necessary to me.

We needed an extra card reader, so I got myself a hama USB 2.0 Card Reader 35 in 1 for EUR 9,99.

Back at home, I did some tests with big files and a 2GB CF card and immediately noticed the speed difference. To be sure it wasn’t just a “new is better”-feeling, I fired up Xbench on my MacBook, which gave the following result – both with a Sandisk Extreme III 2GB CF card.

old reader from eBay :

Disk Test	4.69
	Sequential	5.39
		Uncached Write	4.90	3.01 MB/sec [4K blocks]
		Uncached Write	4.95	2.80 MB/sec [256K blocks]
		Uncached Read	6.35	1.86 MB/sec [4K blocks]
		Uncached Read	5.58	2.81 MB/sec [256K blocks]
	Random	4.15
		Uncached Write	1.31	0.14 MB/sec [4K blocks]
		Uncached Write	7.84	2.51 MB/sec [256K blocks]
		Uncached Read	231.89	1.64 MB/sec [4K blocks]
		Uncached Read	15.11	2.80 MB/sec [256K blocks]

hama card reader :

Disk Test	7.96
	Sequential	24.63
		Uncached Write	25.00	15.35 MB/sec [4K blocks]
		Uncached Write	26.69	15.10 MB/sec [256K blocks]
		Uncached Read	17.00	4.97 MB/sec [4K blocks]
		Uncached Read	38.32	19.26 MB/sec [256K blocks]
	Random	4.75
		Uncached Write	1.29	0.14 MB/sec [4K blocks]
		Uncached Write	18.91	6.06 MB/sec [256K blocks]
		Uncached Read	534.45	3.79 MB/sec [4K blocks]
		Uncached Read	100.92	18.73 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Conclusion : save a lot of time, get a decent card reader