I have written this script to implement in a installer script to wait until the agent is registered in de ZenWorks Server.

Dim WshShell, oExec, strText, strId, strName, strStream
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

Set oExec = WshShell.Exec("zac sl")

Do While oExec.StdOut.AtEndOfStream <> True
strStream = trim(oExec.StdOut.ReadLine)

Select Case left(strStream,3)
Case "The"
If strstream = "The current security location is unknown." Then
strStatus = "No Location"
End If
Case "Id:"
strStatus = "Current Security Location:"
strId = strStream
Case "Nam"
strName= strStream
End Select

Loop

If strStatus = "Current Security Location:" Then
strText = strStatus & vbcrlf & strId & vbcrlf & strName
Else
strText = "The current security location is unknown."
End If

wscript.echo strText

More Console commands for Zenworks11 can be found here:
http://www.novell.com/documentation/zenworks11/pdfdoc/zen11_utils/zen11_utils.pdf

The system works like this:

• A critical event is triggered on the monitoring server
• The monitoring server sends an e-mail to the administrators sms mailbox
• The SMS Gateway checks the sms mailboxes of every sms mailbox if there is a mail the smsgateway will send the e-mail as sms to the administrators mobile phone.

This system worked very well until a couple of months ago ….
The old software stopped to check the mailboxes and we had to manually restart the soft to get it working again for some hours when it stopped again. Not a good solution for an alert system.

So we needed a new system …

First of all the hardware. It’s time to replace that old nokia 3310 with a com dataconnection cable with something new preferably USB. For some mobile users we have some Vodafone USB Sticks. I checked it out and it is sms send capable. (For further reference the usb stick is a Huawei K3715)

NOw the Software: since we are living in a time of financial crisis and budget cuts I looked for a opensource solution and found one.

In fact I found multiple but the most common are kannel and SMS Server Tools.
Here is the info from the sites:

apt-get upgrade
apt-get update

apt-get install smstools

invoke-rc.d smstools start

tail -f /var/log/messages

lsusb

udevadm info -q all -n /dev/ttyUSB0
udevadm info -q all -n /dev/ttyUSB1
udevadm info -q all -n /dev/ttyUSB2

nano /etc/smsd.conf

#
# /etc/smsd.conf
#
# Description: Main configuration file for the smsd
#

devices = GSM1
outgoing = /var/spool/sms/outgoing
checked = /var/spool/sms/checked
incoming = /var/spool/sms/incoming
logfile = /var/log/smstools/smsd.log
infofile = /var/run/smstools/smsd.working
pidfile = /var/run/smstools/smsd.pid
outgoing = /var/spool/sms/outgoing
checked = /var/spool/sms/checked
failed = /var/spool/sms/failed
incoming = /var/spool/sms/incoming
sent = /var/spool/sms/sent
stats = /var/log/smstools/smsd_stats
receive_before_send = no
autosplit = 3

[GSM1]
init = AT+CPMS="ME","ME","ME"
device = /dev/ttyUSB1
incoming = yes
pin = 1111
baudrate = 19200

invoke-rc.d smstools restart

To: <number>
This is a text message.

On the prompt enter:

export http_proxy="http://<proxy server hostname>:<port>/" 

Replace <proxy server hostname> with the hostname of the proxyserver (eg: mickey.localdomain.local)
Replace <port> with the port the proxy uses (most common is port 8080)

If you need to login to your proxy use:

export http_proxy="http://<user>:<password>@<proxy server hostname>:<port>/" 

Replace <username> with your username
Replace <password> with your password

You can also set a proxy for ftp, gopher and wais
Here are some examples:

http_proxy="http://your.proxy.server:8080/";   export http_proxy
ftp_proxy="http://your.proxy.server:8080/";    export ftp_proxy
gopher_proxy="http://your.proxy.server:8080/"; export gopher_proxy
wais_proxy="http://your.proxy.server:8080/";   export wais_proxy

If you need to connect to host without connecting through the proxy you can use the no_proxy variable
eg:

export no_proxy="192.168.0.1,localdomain"

This will set an exception for 192.168.0.1 and the local domain named:localdomain

After a logoff or reboot the settings you just did will be forgotten to solve this you can enter the commands in the file /etc/profile.

Another way is to put everything in a script and run that script at login.

Install gcc compiler

yast2 -i gcc

Install kernel headers

yast2 -i kernel-source

Mount the cdrom drive.
(In the vmware client select the virtual machine, select guest and select install vmware tools)

Make sure you have mounted the VMware tools virtual cd from the host before moving on.

mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/

Extract VMware tools to the tmp directory:

tar -C /tmp -zxvf /mnt/VMwareTools-x.x.x.tar.gz

Unmount the virtual cd:

umount /mnt

Make sure you run the following command from the Console, don’t try to run it using SSH because the network will be restarted and the installation will fail.

cd /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib
./vmware-install.pl

Accept the defaults for every question. Make sure you’re located inside the vmware-tools-distrib folder when executing the vmware-install.pl script or the installation will fail.

If during the setup you didn’t let the vmware-config-tools script run, run it:

/usr/bin/vmware-config-tools.pl

To finish the installation and start the virtual machine with VMware tools installed, reboot the virtual machine:

reboot

apt-get install binutils cpp gcc make psmisc linux-headers-$(uname -r) libglib2.0-0

Mount the cdrom drive. Make sure you have mounted the VMware tools virtual cd from the host before moving on.

mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/

Extract VMware tools to the tmp directory:

tar -C /tmp -zxvf /mnt/VMwareTools-x.x.x.tar.gz

Unmount the virtual cd:

umount /mnt

Make sure you run the following command from the Console, don’t try to run it using SSH because the network will be restarted and the installation will fail.

cd /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib
./vmware-install.pl

Accept the defaults for every question. Make sure you’re located inside the vmware-tools-distrib folder when executing the vmware-install.pl script or the installation will fail.

If during the setup you didn’t let the vmware-config-tools script run, run it:

/usr/bin/vmware-config-tools.pl

To finish the installation and start the virtual machine with VMware tools installed, reboot the virtual machine:

reboot

Hi guys,

I’m sorry for the long downtime.
I had to move my hosting to another provider and didn’t go as well as I thought it would :-S

One tip for you all do an export of you’re wordpress from time to time.
Now I had to rebuild my wordpress site from scratch with some sql imports for the content and file transfers for the photo’s, documents, plugins and themes.

But enough said the site is back up and I have a new post coming up …

Set dtmConvertedDate = CreateObject("WbemScripting.SWbemDateTime")

strComputer = "."
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _
    & "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")

Set colOperatingSystems = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
    ("Select * from Win32_OperatingSystem")

For Each objOperatingSystem in colOperatingSystems
    Wscript.Echo "Boot Device: " & objOperatingSystem.BootDevice
    Wscript.Echo "Build Number: " & objOperatingSystem.BuildNumber
    Wscript.Echo "Build Type: " & objOperatingSystem.BuildType
    Wscript.Echo "Caption: " & objOperatingSystem.Caption
    Wscript.Echo "Code Set: " & objOperatingSystem.CodeSet
    Wscript.Echo "Country Code: " & objOperatingSystem.CountryCode
    Wscript.Echo "Debug: " & objOperatingSystem.Debug
    Wscript.Echo "Encryption Level: " & objOperatingSystem.EncryptionLevel
    dtmConvertedDate.Value = objOperatingSystem.InstallDate
    dtmInstallDate = dtmConvertedDate.GetVarDate
    Wscript.Echo "Install Date: " & dtmInstallDate
    Wscript.Echo "Licensed Users: " & _
        objOperatingSystem.NumberOfLicensedUsers
    Wscript.Echo "Organization: " & objOperatingSystem.Organization
    Wscript.Echo "OS Language: " & objOperatingSystem.OSLanguage
    Wscript.Echo "OS Product Suite: " & objOperatingSystem.OSProductSuite
    Wscript.Echo "OS Type: " & objOperatingSystem.OSType
    Wscript.Echo "Primary: " & objOperatingSystem.Primary
    Wscript.Echo "Registered User: " & objOperatingSystem.RegisteredUser
    Wscript.Echo "Serial Number: " & objOperatingSystem.SerialNumber
    Wscript.Echo "Version: " & objOperatingSystem.Version
Next

Detect 32-bit or 64-bit Windows

There are 2 options here

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

OsType = WshShell.RegRead("HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment\PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE")

If OsType = "x86" then
wscript.echo & "Windows 32bit system detected"
elseif OsType = "AMD64" then
wscript.echo & "Windows 64bit system detected"
end if

A simpler and more correcter way would be

wscript.echo GetObject("winmgmts:root\cimv2:Win32_Processor='cpu0'").AddressWidth

Putting this together in an Html Application (HTA) makes:

<html>
<head>
<title>Outlook ReProfiling ...</title>

<HTA:APPLICATION
ID="objHTAOutlReProfiling"
APPLICATIONNAME="OutlReProfiling"
SCROLL="no"
SINGLEINSTANCE="yes"
WINDOWSTATE="maximize"
>
</head>

<style type="text/css">
div.centered{
display:block;
position:absolute;
top:5%;
left:10%;
width:80%;
}
</style>

<body>
<div id=DataAreaNL>
</div>
</doby>
<SCRIPT Language="VBScript">
Set dtmConvertedDate = CreateObject("WbemScripting.SWbemDateTime")

strComputer = "."
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _
& "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")

Set colOperatingSystems = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
("Select * from Win32_OperatingSystem")

For Each objOperatingSystem in colOperatingSystems
DataAreaNL.InnerHTML=DataAreaNL.InnerHTML &"Boot Device: " & objOperatingSystem.BootDevice & "<br>"
DataAreaNL.InnerHTML=DataAreaNL.InnerHTML &"Build Number: " & objOperatingSystem.BuildNumber & "<br>"
DataAreaNL.InnerHTML=DataAreaNL.InnerHTML &"Build Type: " & objOperatingSystem.BuildType & "<br>"
DataAreaNL.InnerHTML=DataAreaNL.InnerHTML &"Caption: " & objOperatingSystem.Caption & "<br>"
DataAreaNL.InnerHTML=DataAreaNL.InnerHTML &"Code Set: " & objOperatingSystem.CodeSet & "<br>"
DataAreaNL.InnerHTML=DataAreaNL.InnerHTML &"Country Code: " & objOperatingSystem.CountryCode & "<br>"
DataAreaNL.InnerHTML=DataAreaNL.InnerHTML &"Debug: " & objOperatingSystem.Debug & "<br>"
DataAreaNL.InnerHTML=DataAreaNL.InnerHTML &"Encryption Level: " & objOperatingSystem.EncryptionLevel & "<br>"
dtmConvertedDate.Value = objOperatingSystem.InstallDate
dtmInstallDate = dtmConvertedDate.GetVarDate
DataAreaNL.InnerHTML=DataAreaNL.InnerHTML &"Install Date: " & dtmInstallDate  & "<br>"
DataAreaNL.InnerHTML=DataAreaNL.InnerHTML &"Licensed Users: " & _
objOperatingSystem.NumberOfLicensedUsers & "<br>"
DataAreaNL.InnerHTML=DataAreaNL.InnerHTML &"Organization: " & objOperatingSystem.Organization & "<br>"
DataAreaNL.InnerHTML=DataAreaNL.InnerHTML &"OS Language: " & objOperatingSystem.OSLanguage & "<br>"
DataAreaNL.InnerHTML=DataAreaNL.InnerHTML &"OS Product Suite: " & objOperatingSystem.OSProductSuite & "<br>"
DataAreaNL.InnerHTML=DataAreaNL.InnerHTML &"OS Type: " & objOperatingSystem.OSType & "<br>"
DataAreaNL.InnerHTML=DataAreaNL.InnerHTML &"Primary: " & objOperatingSystem.Primary & "<br>"
DataAreaNL.InnerHTML=DataAreaNL.InnerHTML &"Registered User: " & objOperatingSystem.RegisteredUser & "<br>"
DataAreaNL.InnerHTML=DataAreaNL.InnerHTML &"Serial Number: " & objOperatingSystem.SerialNumber & "<br>"
DataAreaNL.InnerHTML=DataAreaNL.InnerHTML &"Version: " & objOperatingSystem.Version & "<br>"
Next

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

OsType = WshShell.RegRead("HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment\PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE")

If OsType = "x86" then
DataAreaNL.InnerHTML=DataAreaNL.InnerHTML & "Windows 32bit system detected" & "<BR>"
elseif OsType = "AMD64" then
DataAreaNL.InnerHTML=DataAreaNL.InnerHTML & "Windows 64bit system detected" & "<BR>"
end if

DataAreaNL.InnerHTML=DataAreaNL.InnerHTML & GetObject("winmgmts:root\cimv2:Win32_Processor='cpu0'").AddressWidth & "<BR>"

</SCRIPT>
</html>

More info about the arducopter (arduino based quadcopter)

http://code.google.com/p/arducopter/wiki/ArduCopter

I bought some parts to build a UAV quadcopter and some parts to start playing with arduino.

Here are some pictures of the unpacking:

Now still waiting for my quadcopter parts ….

The purpose of a slave name server is to share the load with the master server, or handle the entire load if the master server is down. A slave name server loads its data over the network from another name server usually the master name server, but it can load from another slave name server too.
This process is called a zone transfer.

For the installation of a slave dns we need a second virtual machine:

• 1 vCPU
• 512 MB Ram
• Harddisk – 10GB
• Network to your operational lan (ip: 172.30.1.3)
• OS SLES 11 (64-bit)

options {
     # The directory statement defines the name server's working directory
     directory "/var/lib/named";
     # Write dump and statistics file to the log subdirectory.    
     # The pathenames are relative to the chroot jail.

     # Defines the absolute path where BIND dumps the database (cache)   
     # in response to a rndc dumpdb.
     dump-file "/var/log/named_dump.db";
     # File-name to which data will be written when the command rndc
     # stats is issued.
     statistics-file "/var/log/named.stats";
     # The forwarders record contains a list of servers to which queries
     # should be forwarded.  Enable this line and modify the IP address to
     # your provider's name server.  Up to three servers may be listed.

     # The listen-on-v6 record enables or disables listening on IPv6  
     # interfaces.  Allowed values are 'any' and 'none' or a list of addresses.
     listen-on-v6 { any; };
     # If notify is set to yes (default), notify messages are sent to other
     # name servers when the the zone data is changed.  Instead of setting
     # a global 'notify' statement in the 'options' section, a separate
     # 'notify' can be added to each zone definition.
     notify no;
     # version specifies the string that will be returned to a version.
     # bind query when using the chaos class only. We tend to use it in
     # all named.conf files to avoid giving out a version number such that
     # an attacker can exploit known version-specific weaknesses.
     version "Biolizards DNS server"; };

# The following zone definitions don't need any modification.  The first one
# is the definition of the root name servers.  The second one defines
# localhost while the third defines the reverse lookup for localhost.
zone "." in { type hint; file "root.hint"; }; zone "localhost" in { type master; file "localhost.zone"; }; zone "0.0.127.in-addr.arpa" in { type master; file "127.0.0.zone"; };
# Include the meta include file generated by createNamedConfInclude.  This
# includes all files as configured in NAMED_CONF_INCLUDE_FILES from
# /etc/sysconfig/named
include "/etc/named.conf.include";

Now before we go on we need to modify the configuration on our masterdns
We need to allow our slavedns to download the zone file from the masterdns
Open the file /etc/named.conf.include for editing on the masterdns

DNSMaster:~ # vi /etc/named.conf.include

Modify the content by adding
allow-transfer { 172.30.1.3; };
to each zone config  where 172.30.1.3 is the Ip address from our slavedns

zone "biolizards.local" in {
 type master;
 file "master/biolizards.local.zone";
 allow-transfer {172.30.1.3;};
}; 

zone "30.172.in-addr.arpa" in {
 type master;
 file "master/172.30.zone";
 allow-transfer {172.30.1.3;};
};

Don’t forget to load the new configuration

By a reload
DNSMaster:~ # service named reload

or a restart of the named service
DNSMaster:~ # service named restart

Now that the masterdns is configured to allow the slave to download the zone files, we can further configure  the slavedns. Let’s configure the zone files:

DNSSlave:~ # vi /etc/named.conf.include

Insert the following content:

zone "biolizards.local" in {
 type slave;
 file "slave/biolizards.local.zone";
 masters { 172.30.1.2; };
}; 

zone "30.172.in-addr.arpa" in {
 type slave;
 file "slave/172.30.zone";
 masters { 172.30.1.2; };
};

Note that we changed the type to slave and the file location to the slave directory.
We also added the line masters { 172.30.1.2; };
Witch will tell the named service who the master dns server is for this zone.

Don’t forget to modify the rights for he working directory and sub-folder/files
DNSSlave:~ # chown named.named /var/lib/named/ -R

and to add the named service to the different runlevels
DNSSlave:~ # chkconfig –add named

Now we are ready to start the named service.
DNSSlave:~ # service named start

Once the slave server has been started you can check the /var/lib/named/slave directory and you should notice the new files called “biolizards.local.zone” and “172.30.zone”  which have been transfered from the master server.

Check the syslog for any errors