Almost three quarters of companies and public-sector organisations across nine European countries might not recover all of their data if they suffer an IT failure according to a new report released by the IT group EMC.  For the survey a total of 1,750 European companies and organisations were quizzed across the UK,  France, Germany, Italy, [...]

Virtualisation specialist zInstall have previously impressed with their products that include utilities to capture an existing Windows XP, Vista or any other operating system installation and allowing you to boot from it on any other computer from an external hard drive or suitably-sized USB pen drive.  This software meant you could take all of your [...]

If you’re a network administrator, chances are at some point you may need to set up a number of different networks on your IP range. In order to do this, you will need to know how to create different subnets. There are two main things to remember when trying to calculate subnets. The first is [...]

Virtualisation is the way forward, there’s absolutely no doubt about this.  It all began as a way of saving money, and saving the planet, by running two or more operating systems, each with their own specific tasks to perform on the same server hardware.  It’s not a new concept either, the now legendary VMWare was [...]

This article is the fourth and final part of a series on the basics of network troubleshooting. The tools covered in the previous articles (ping, ipconfig, tracert and pathping) will be combined into a troubleshooting method. This guide will teach you valuable steps in finding where a problem is on a network connection. One of [...]

This article is the third in a series of the basics of network troubleshooting. So far ping and ipconfig have been covered. Now tracert and pathping, which are similar commands, will be covered. While this is a basic tutorial, there are some intermediate tips and topics included. The focus will be on Windows based systems [...]

We presently use application managers such as the Active Directory for the verification process while using the access credentials for various Windows Applications and other local network web applications. But as the environment portal changed from the local to external web based SaaS applications the managers like the Active Directory were inefficient as they became [...]

This article is the first in a series delving into the basics of network troubleshooting. It covers what tools to use and how to use them. While this is a basic tutorial, there are some advanced tips and topics included. The focus will be on Windows based systems (with a tip or two for others). [...]

These days, there is one piece of networking equipment that has become much more common: the router. Many of them actually have the same IP (Internet Protocol) number, 192.168.1.1, and for an interesting reason. Every website, router, and computer has an IP address. It is how computers uniquely identify themselves on a network or on [...]

I do a lot of remote work throughout the day and to make those connections I use different tools. Between LogMeIn and TeamViewer I have remote support covered. But when I need to connect to a machine such as a Terminal Server, where do I turn? Generally speaking I turn to the Linux tool Terminal [...]

There are so many reasons why a VPN Server makes perfect sense. For one, anyone with the credentials and the address can then gain access to the internal network from an external source. This enables users to work remotely and still have access to resources they wouldn’t otherwise have access to. There are obviously plenty [...]

I use Twitter for a lot of things. One is to help promote my writing (both my fiction and technical writing). Because promotion seems like a 24/7 job, it is critical that the tools I use be easily accessible, low maintenance, and can run all day without causing any undo stress on my system. I have [...]

If you are a fan of modern Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu, that offer incredibly simple ways to share folders with workgroup computers, you will be happy to know the same feature can be added to Bodhi Linux (my new favorite Linux distribution.) Although adding this feature isn’t exactly automatic (or, some would argue, user-friendly), [...]

One of the applications I use most often is the wget tool. You don’t realize how useful this tool is until you’ve used and then needed it but not had it available. Wget is, for all intent and purpose, a non-interactive web downloader that allows the user to, from the command line, download files without [...]

With my on-going search for making my life ever-easier, I have turned to using smaller applications to keep my readers and fans informed. This can get to be an overwhelming problem when you are tweeting, facebooking, blogging, and – oh yeah – writing. So instead of adding to my already-large collection of tabs in Chromium [...]

As a writer of ebooks I have to constantly be promoting my works. There are three main ways to do this for free: Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr. Of the three, Tumblr allows me to be the most flexible in what I post as well as allows more people to see what I’m posting. But I [...]

If you have a need to manage MySQL databases, you know that learning the syntax for the various MySQL tools can be a real nightmare. Fortunately there are tools out there that make this job far more easy. But of the web-based tools, which are easiest? You might have given phpMyAdmin a try, but found [...]

If you are looking for a VPN solution for your Linux machine or network you have more than likely examined such solutions as OpenVPN. Many of the Linux VPN solutions require complex, time consuming set ups that can drive the new user crazy. Fortunately there are other solutions that do not require extensive knowledge of [...]

If you are a fan of Pandora Music and a user of Linux you know that Linux is a bit behind in the app space for this service. There are only a few possible clients and, until now, those clients simply were not options. The official Pandora client, due to flash issues, could bring your [...]

As most of you know, Samba allows your Linux machine to work with Windows machines (and vice versa). Without Samba Linux would be locked in an unable to play nicely on heterogeneous networks. So what most Linux users do is install Samba to allow file/folder sharing and network browsing. Typically speaking, Samba is very easy to install [...]

By default, a Ubuntu desktop with Samba installed will be a member of the Windows workgroup named WORKGROUP. Because that machine is a member of WORKGROUP, you would think you could browse and connect to other machines on the same network by hostname. That is not the case. Instead you would still have to locate [...]

Server OSes, such as CentOS, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and SUSE Linux Enterprise do not enjoy the same simplicity as does the modern Linux desktop when it comes to issues like sharing out directories (even though they share the same default desktops). You can see how easy it is to share out folders in my [...]

CentOS might well be one of the finest Linux distributions for a server environment. It is basically a mimic of Red Hat Enterprise Linux without the proprietary software and the price attached to it. With that in mind, it makes perfect sense to set CentOS up as your go-to Web server. It’s reliable, it’s stable, [...]

The task of joining Linux to a Windows domain can be a challenge. I have covered it before here (see my article “Join a Ubuntu machine to a Windows domain“), but many users have had issues with Likewise Open either not being able to join or not being able to reliably remain joined. Naturally, if [...]

I want to preface this article by saying I am not, in any way advocating spying on your users. With that said, there are times (and reasons) why you might need to see what images are being viewed on your network. Whether it be an end user who is viewing content that goes against specific [...]

I recently covered a great LAN file sharing tool called Giver (see my article “Easily share files on LAN with fellow Ubuntu users using Giver“). I wanted to take that idea a little further and cover a similar tool that allows you to chat with fellow users on your LAN WITHOUT have to add them [...]

Have you ever just wanted to quickly hand a file off to a fellow user on a LAN without having to resort to using an email client or shared folder? Wouldn’t it be nice to just click on a username, send them a file, and have their desktop automatically notify them that the file has [...]

There are reasons why you would want to view a web site off line. Say, for example, you know you are on the go and do not always have access to a network connection, yet you want to be up to date on the latest news. Or you are a developer working on a site [...]

Recently I’ve done a number of articles covering the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) which range from installation, adding entries, to full-blown GUI management tools (See LDAP content on Ghacks for more information). If you’re in the dark about LDAP is an application protocol that allows the querying and modifying of directory services data implemented on IP networks. Basically [...]

Okay, so we’ve been dealing with LDAP a bit here on Ghacks, but mostly we’ve look at GUI tools (check out LDAP content on Ghacks). All of the GUI tools are good, but nothing beats the command line for pure control and power. And what’s best, once you have LDAP installed, you have all the [...]

So lately I’ve been covering some pretty sweet LDAP tools. You’ve seen “Manage your LDAP data with phpLDAPAdmin“, “Access and manage your LDAP data with Luma“, and “Set up an LDAP server on Fedora“. Although the last entry showed you how to get a server up and running with the 389 Directory Server GUI, none [...]

The search for the perfect LDAP management tool has brought me around to a tool that is very similar to that of phpMyAdmin (for coverage of this tool, see my article “Install phpmyadmin for easy MySQL administration“). Both of these tools are web-based administration tools for tasks that many find too complex to do via [...]

I have recently been dealing with LDAP and attempting to find easier solutions for this often daunting task. If you’ve ever had to try to set up and manage an LDAP server, you know exactly what I am talking about. Although installing and setting up an LDAP server is a challenging task, even more so [...]

LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) is one of the more complicated setups for a Linux machine. LDAP is to Linux what Active Directory is to Window. And if you have a lot of users on a network, which log into various machines, you will want something like LDAP in order to retain all of their [...]

I do a lot of work with Linux servers. Many of those servers are either web or mail that require the use of a signed certificate for authentication. In some of these cases a CA authorized certificate is necessary. In other cases though a self-signed certificate can be used. I can generate a self-signed certificate [...]

Some time ago I did a series on the Postfix email server here on Ghacks (see the Postfix content on Ghacks for more information). Hopefully you found this outstanding mail server as easy to set up and maintain as I do. But you might have noticed a bit of a challenge using your smtp server [...]

The portable software Lockout Fixer is a helpful program for system administrators that aids them in troubleshooting domain account lockouts. The application works similar to Microsoft’s own tool Lockoutstatus.exe with the exception that it adds features to the troubleshooting process to streamline it. Lockout Fixer for instance allows the administrator to view the audit failure [...]

Do you administer Linux machines? Or do you just need the ability to remotely connect to your Linux machines from other Linux machines? If so, are you looking for an easy solution for this task? There is one, if you are a fan of the GNOME desktop. Vinagre is a remote desktop tool with plenty [...]

I have been bragging to everyone how user-friendly Fedora has become with it’s most recent release for a while now. Some people are prone to believe me and some are not. No matter where you stand, if you have any experience with Linux, you know there are certain aspects that can be a bit of [...]

There are a number of reasons why you would want to restrict network access. You run a cafe with web access or you have young or teenage children and you want them to only be able to use the network at certain times. Their are certainly tools out there to do this on a PC-by-PC [...]

For any open source advocate, one of the biggest needs is an Exchange-like server. There are plenty of them available, some of them offer less-than enough features to really be viable. Some of them offer plenty of features but are insanely difficult to install. And then there’s Zarafa. Zarafa is an open source collaborative software [...]

In a recent article I introduced to the Ghacks readers the latest release from Fedora (see “Fedoras Lucky 13“). In this article I mentioned a number of features that helped to make Fedora one of the more user friendly Linux distributions available today.  One of the reasons this is so is the inclusion of some [...]

If you’ve been around Linux long enough you know there are many ways to secure your box. What you may or may not know is that a number of those means are simply front-ends for the all-mighty iptables tool. IPtables is a very powerful, complicated system which can control packet traffic on your system. It [...]

In my last article I showed you how to save a partition from a drive to a local image file using the Partimage tool (see my article “Copy partitions on your system with Partimage“). And although (as a reader did point out) Partimage is limited by not supporting ext4 file systems, it still has plenty [...]

A long time ago, in order to scan your Samba shares, you used a tool called LinNeighborhood. That tool was essential if you wanted your Linux box to be able to see any Windows shares (unless you were brave enough to know the command line equivalents. Well years have passed and LinNeighborhood is now pyNeighborhood. [...]

Are you tired of that pesky GNOME keyring reminder popping up everywhere you go? You know what it does right? The GNOME keyring manager manages passwords for things like ftp connections, email password logins, wireless network authentication, and much more. Typically this is set up encrypted – by default this is the case with the [...]

If you’ve followed my recent text editor series you will have noticed I included a text editor that is also a collaborative tool (see my article “Kobby: KDE collaborative text editor“). In that article I mentioned that Kobby can work with the GNOME equivalent Gobby. But to do so they need a server running. The [...]

I had been hoping to accomplish this for some time now. At work we work under a Windows domain and I have a Ubuntu test machine that I have been hoping to join to that domain. Finally, thanks to Likewise-Open5, it happened. And, believe it or not, it’s not all that difficult. Oh sure you [...]

As promised (in my article “How do I find my network information in Linux?“) I am going to introduce you to the netstat command. This command is a very useful tool for discovering networking information such as routing tables, network connections, interface statistics, masquerade connections, and multicast memberships. But it’s not quite as simple to [...]

Taking a cue from Martin’s helpful article (see “How do I find my IP Address“) I thought it would be a good idea to offer the same information for the Linux operating system. But with Linux there is one issue to get around – that of the number of different tools available to use to [...]