Roachys Weblog

It seems whenever we order a new Blackberry handset there is some form of failure - services aren’t fully applied or done in a timely fashion resulting in the Blackberry being out of sync or not accepting all services.  I’ve documented the steps here that can be used to get the 8310 Curve working:

1) Ensure the service provider has enabled all services on the device - this is the most common problem for me….

2) Ensure that GPRS is functioning correctly.  The GPRS text at the top right hand sign should be in CAPS

3) Go to Options -> Mobile Network ->Data Services and ensure that Data services are switched on.

4) Go to Advanced Options ->Host Routing Table.  There should be a list of Routes.  select the top route and click “Register Now”

5) Set up an email address at O2email.co.uk

6) Go into the EMail setup wizard on the handset and create a user account.  This is a container for the email address.

7) When all steps are complete, if the handset is still not receiving email, log into the o2email.co.uk website from a PC browser.  Send a new service book.

Hope this helps someone….

I keep on finding and losing bookmarks of good base64 encoding and decoding sites, so thought I’d link to one here:

http://makcoder.sourceforge.net/demo/base64.php

Useful when trying to test SMTP-Auth on a mailserver and needing to encode usernames and passwords!

We’re just trialling the Blackberry Professional software here, but with a change of heart as to the test user attempted to delete the user to re-add another.  Unfortunately although the Blackberry Professional Software allows you to delete users, it didn’t successfully purge the user from the database.  This meant that we couldn’t add an alternative user (the software comes with 1 user licence to trial with).

The solution is to manually remove the user from the database.  This can be done using the OSQL command line utility.

osql -E SERVERNAME\DATABASESERVERNAME
1>use BESMgmt
2>select DisplayName from UserConfig
3>go

This will show the DisplayName of the user.  For the sake of this document, we’ll call the user “testuser”.

To delete the user, then enter:

1>use BESMgmt
2>delete from UserConfig where DisplayName=“testuser”
3>go

1>exit

That should remove the user.  On checking within the Blackberry Professional software there is now no longer a user, releasing the licence.

Firefox 3 is now well and truly into it’s beta phase, and one of the headline features is the way that it handles invalid SSL certificates.

I first noticed this when building a test environment to trial a few different web-based CRM systems, and I’ve got to say that there are some big pluses to this.

SSL certificates are cheap now and really for any commercial site out there, there should be no excuses for not using a real certificate.  Windows Vista has proved that if you present users with a dialogue box enough times they will just habitually click through without second consideration, thus making them vulnerable to a plethora of security woes.  This is a big security step forward and will hopefully encourage businesses out there to pull their socks up when it comes to using valid certificates (the biggie is likely to be the ability to use self signed SSL certs in Exchange/OWA!)

There is a method of bypassing this (if needed for testing purposes).  For example, I am wanting to test a site in a lab environment, therefore my vulnerability to man-in-the-middle attacks is absolutely zero….

You can go to Preferences->Advanced Preferences->Encryption->View Certificates->Add Exception and then get and approve the certificate for your server…

Commentary with the Firefox developers is available here: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=431827

….and a good explaination of the reasoning behind the fix here:

http://blog.johnath.com/index.php/2007/10/11/todo-break-internet/

Had a real problem with documents in OpenOffice opening in Read Only mode.  As per advice on loads of sites, I selected the section and went into the Format Menu and unchecked the “protected” checkbox

This, unfortunately had no effect, and the status bar still said the document was “read-only”.

This was driving me nuts until I found the following on Ubuntu Launchpad:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/openoffice.org/+bug/215420

It turns out the error is due to the Table of Contents that I had earlier in the document - the read-only status of the TOC propagates to the rest of the document.

By going into the Insert-Index and tables and removing the check for “Protected Against Manual Changes”, then the document then becomes writeable!

Problem solved.

Well, the time has come to say goodbye to Ubuntu.  It’s been a fun relationship, but alas it’s time for it to end.  That’s not to say that the problem I have is with Ubuntu - it’s actually with a variety of circumstances that have caused me a MAJOR headache.

The problem lay within Debian and the OpenSSL project.  It seems that the package maintainers for Debian fixed a bug in OpenSSL without passing the fix upstream to the OpenSSL maintainers to check.  This fix has resulted in a major insecurity in a vast number of packages that depend on OpenSSL for any distribution that sits downstream of Debian.

http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/20801/

While there is now an official resolution for this problem, it’s shaken my confidence in the way the Debian package maintainers apply bugfixes in their haste to get new releases out the door.

For those interested, the official resolution page on the Debian site is here.

Bear in mind that I run 5 Ubuntu machines (desktops and servers, work and home) each running some of the affected programs…..it’s a phenomenal headache for me.  Now picture those with hundreds (even thousands) of servers and workstations.   I can’t begin to imagine the trauma they are going through….

It’s because of this break of confidence that I have decided to cease using Ubuntu.  If the Debian package maintainers have disregarded policy in order to add value to their distribution in this case, where else have they fixed issues that may or may not have significant consequences…

I’ve played with Fedora previously - quite liked it as a distro, but preferred the user friendliness of Ubuntu - easy to use, but with all the benefits associated with most other Linux distributions.  I could do a Ubuntu install in 15 minutes that would be suitable for most people, with full hardware support - but for more intensive server applications, all the boxes were ticked too.

So, I’m now in the process of my Fedora migration….starting with this laptop.

Bit of an awkward fix, unfortunately, as this involves having access to a Windows/Outlook setup, but to add a Public folder that exists on Exchange, it needs to be bookmarked as a favourite for Evolution to pick it up.

For example, we use a public folder for shared (company-wide) contacts here.  To add the folder I just log onto my account on a Windows machine, then added that public folder as a favourite.

After logging out of evolution and back in, I could then see these “public” contacts under the contact folder (CTRL+2).

For roaming users who need to connect to services where there is no available WiFi, this is a useful solution.

We use an unlimited data plan with O2 which also has advantages - no further costs for users using the Blackberry as a GPRS modem!

1 - Ensure latest version of Blackberry Desktop Software is installed.

2 - Connect the Blackberry and check that under Device Manager->USB Devices that the Blackberry is listed (if it is not installed correctly, reinstall drivers from:

C:\program files\common files\research in motion\Drivers

3 - In Device Manager, under ports, you should see an RIM Virtual Serial Port - if not install from the location above.

4 - Next, add a modem in Control panel (using a Standard 33.6 modem). Connect to the virtual serial port listed in step 3.

5 - Under the advanced tab for the modem we just added in the extra initialisation commands box type:

+cgdcont=1,”IP”,”mobile.o2.co.uk”

…assuming o2 is your mobile carrier!

Now set up a new dialup connection using this modem.  Username and password have no significance, just set the phone number to dial as:

*99#

Uncheck the box that says “make this the default internet connection”

Ok,  so I must have not been paying attention for the last few months…..but apparently the nice Mr Reznor has released a couple of albums under a CC licence….

http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/8267

This is a pretty bold step forward for the music industry…..

This error occurs when trying to view Public Folders in the Exchange System manager when he SSL certificate name differs between the FQDN and the local server name.  The Exchange System Manager will not allow you to view the public folders as it believes the folder name to be incorrect.

This can be resolved using a front-end, back-end scenario, but what if you are stuck with a single Exchange server (ie. SBS) in your environment?

On following a few blogs and sites, the solution seems to be to remove SSL requirement for that particular folder in the IIS Manager.  This didn’t work for me though - and I found a lot of people out there with unresoved issues on Experts Exchange etc.

The end solution was to use the ADSIEdit utility to manually stop the Exchange System Manager from using SSL.

The steps are as follows:

1) Install the ADSIEdit Utility (one of the Windows Server 2003 Support tools) from your SBS2003 CD (CD2) using suptools.msi

2) Run a Microsoft Management console (Start->Run->MMC)

3) Open the ADSIedit.msc (browse to the Support Tools folder)

4) Browse through to

Configuration > Services >  Microsoft Exchange > Domain Name > Administrative Groups >     First Administrative Group > Servers > Servername > Protocols > HTTP > 1 > Exadmin

5) Right click msExchSecureBindings, and click Properties

6) Highlight :443: and click Remove

7) Click OK Restart the Exchange System Attendant and the IIS Admin service

Exchange system manager will now no longer try to use SSL when connecting to the service.