Ubuntu Mount HFS +

HFS Volumes can be mounted on a linux system, here's the instructions for ubuntu (12.04 LTS):

First, make sure that you have hfsprogs installed. Example installation command:

sudo apt-get install hfsprogs 

Next, mount or remount the HFS+ drive; commands need to be as follows:

sudo mount -t hfsplus -o force,rw /dev/sdx# /media/mntpoint 

or

sudo mount -t hfsplus -o remount,force,rw /mount/point 

Finally, if the drive was improperly unmounted or has otherwise become partially corrupted run fsck.hfsplus (provided here by Jayson) as such:

sudo fsck.hfsplus /dev/sdx#

Mounting an OSX SMB Share on Linux

I got bit by this recently, and so sticking it here for when I forget next time ;)

Depending on the version of OSX you might have to specify different security settings:

mount.cifs //server_ip/share_name /mount_point -o username=osx_user,noexec,nounix,sec=ntlm,no perm,rw

This generally works, but you might need to change sec to sec=ntlmssp

example

First create the mount point if it doesn't exist:

sudo mkdir /mnt/Public

Then mount it:

sudo mount.cifs //192.168.1.1/Public /mnt/Public -o username=admin,noexec,nounix,sec=ntlm,no perm,rw

To unmount it:

sudo unmount /mnt/Public

SMTP Authentication with Archiware PresStore

As there are issues with sending reports from PresStore to mail servers  that require smtp authentication, I've created a script based on another script by Heinz Tschabitscher that will do this.

You will need php and pear installed on the server, but obviously this means it will work on Windows, linux and OSX.

Check to see if you have pear installed

$ pear version

If you don’t have it installed, you will need to install pear,

OSX 10.9 ( might work for other versions as well )

cd /usr/lib/php
sudo php ./install-pear-nozlib.phar
edit /etc/php.ini and add /usr/lib/php/pear to the include paths

Others

see here for info:

http://pear.php.net/manual/en/installation.getting.php

Check to see if the Mail Class is Installed

pear list-files Mail

If you don’t get anything then install it !

sudo pear install mail

You will also need Net_SMTP

sudo pear install Net_SMTP

Install the Scripts

Download the scripts and install them on the server, i normally create a folder called /scripts on the root of the drive and put them in there, just remember where you put them as you will need the path later!

Configure the Scripts

Edit the smtp_conf.php file and configure the relevant info:

$host = "mail.example.com";

$username = "user";

$password = "password";

$default_from="server@example.com";

$host = smtp server

$username = account to auth with

$password = account password

$default_from = from account to use if none is specified by the call ( ie presstore !)

Configure PresStore

Edit the client settings in PresStore and specify the external script as the mail sender:

Edit the user settings and specify the email address to send to:

Test It

Click apply and the click the Send Test email button, if all is well you will get an email!

If not, check the php error log. This will either be the log file set in php.ini, the apache error log, or the system log depending on your configuration!

ps_smtpauth.php

smtp_conf.php

Resourcespace Plugins

After lots of testing, the ldapauth and view_in_finder plugins have now been incorporated into release 4.6 of the main Resourcespace code.

View In Finder Plugin - New Version

I've updated the view in finder plugin to give the option to respect the access permissions.

If you tick the new check box and set the restrict permissions in group management in team centre, the plugin will now check to see if the user has download access to the resource, and will only display the plugin if they are allowed to download.

You can get the new version here:

View In Finder 2

OSX 10.6.8 Weird Network Problem

OK, so I've had this problem for some time on two Mac Book Pro's.
When I put them to sleep by closing the lid, and then wake them up by opening the lid, all GUI networking stops working and doesn't work until the machine is restarted.

So tonight this annoyed me too much and I decided to investigate.
This is the diagnosis I've done so far.. it points to mDNS, surprise surprise! They are both running 10.6.8 and have had all firmware updates etc applied. Although they were manufactured about a year apart, they both have Broadcom 57765-B0 network cards.

The logs show this:

Mar 14 23:12:43  com.apple.SystemStarter[36]: 2012-03-14 23:12:43,366  INFO [RuntimeAnalysisMonitor] [] - Memory Analysis (runtime)>> Allocated: 29256 kb >> Free: 9270 kb >> Max: 126912 kb
Mar 14 23:12:43  mDNSResponder[43]: *** process 43 exceeded 500 log message per second limit  -  remaining messages this second discarded ***
Mar 14 23:12:47: --- last message repeated 2 times ---
Mar 14 23:12:46  mDNSResponder[43]: ERROR: mDNSPlatformReadTCP - recv 74 got CLOSED 435000 times
Mar 14 23:12:46 com.apple.SystemStarter[36]: 2012-03-14 23:12:46,885  INFO [RuntimeAnalysisMonitor] [] - Memory Analysis (runtime)>> Allocated: 63424 kb >> Free: 40257 kb >> Max: 63424 kb
Mar 14 23:12:46  com.apple.SystemStarter[36]: 2012-03-14 23:12:46,978  INFO [Live Status Collector thread] [] - Cleaning all expired Live Status messages
Mar 14 23:12:47 mDNSResponder[43]: *** process 43 exceeded 500 log message per second limit  -  remaining messages this second discarded ***
Mar 14 23:12:54: --- last message repeated 6 times ---
Mar 14 23:12:54  iChatAgent[349]: [Warning] IMDServiceSession <AIMServiceSession: 0x100123700>: Want to connect to slogin.oscar.aol.com, but it is NOT up
Mar 14 23:12:54  mDNSResponder[43]: *** process 43 exceeded 500 log message per second limit  -  remaining messages this second discarded ***

But the following tests work:

nslookup www.bbc.co.uk
Server: 192.168.3.19
Address: 192.168.3.19#53

Non-authoritative answer:
www.bbc.co.uk canonical name = www.bbc.net.uk.
Name: www.bbc.net.uk
Address: 212.58.244.71

telnet 212.58.244.71 80
Trying 212.58.244.71...
Connected to 212.58.244.71.
Escape character is '^]'.
quit
HTTP/1.0 400 Bad request
Content-Type: text/html

<h2>Client sent a bad request.</h2>
Connection closed by foreign host.


Now.. this shows that networking is up, and we can connect to port 80 on a webserver, ie we can surf the web.... 
But everything in the GUI fails to connect to networking.. ARD, afp, web, mail, ical etc.

The solution is to force quit the mDNSResponder either from the command line with:

sudo killall mDNSResponder

or to select the mDNSResponder process in Activity Monitor and force quit it.

Because it's managed by launchd it will automatically relaunch, and when it does networking is instantly restored.

I haven't yet worked out why it goes wrong, but at least I know where the problem is...

Next step is to diagnose the wake up process!

Long time no update

When I started this blog I intended to update it regularly like I guess most people who start blogs do!
However, it's been a busy couple of months and I haven't posted anything, which I view as somewhat of a failure on my part.

This doesn't mean I haven't had anything to blog about, just not enough time given other commitments to actually sit down and write stuff. It sometimes amazes me when I think about how much time people must spend writing blogs!

So what I have been up to?
For a start, a lot of time has been spent on house maintenance. It's amazing how many things you can find wrong with a 200 year old house when you start looking! Staircases about to fall down, leaking baths, dodgy electrical installations, the list goes on.
I now have a new moral to this... don't start looking!

From the tech side, I've been doing a lot of stuff with Cat DV recently, and some more with ResourceSpace, so I'll try and get round to adding content very soon.

Hopefully the house renovations are on hold for a while, but you never know what's round the corner.