PFSense Installation on XenServer

PFSense Installation notes, how to install from scratch on a XenServer:

To install Pfsense on Xenserver you have to disable all of the network interfaces, the boot from the ISO and enter install mode by typing 'I' during the 10 seconds it prompts you.  If you don't disable the NIC's it will hang at 38% on the install.  

Then finish the install and enable the 2 interfaces and removed the mounted CD and reboot.

NOTE: You will not be able to connect to the web configurator via the wan interface or ping it, it is disabled by default.   You will have to start by using the LAN interface.

Brother Printer Toner Reset 9320CW

How to reset Brother 9320CW toner
1. With power on, open the toner access main door (You will get a “door open” message in the LCD.)
2. Hit the “Clear/Back” button and… ta-dah!!! you go right to the “Toner Reset Menu”
3. Using the up ^ Down > “Search” arrow buttons, you can then scroll through reset options for each of the printer’s [4] toner cartridges!
Code: K. = black; C. = cyan; M. = magenta and Y. = yellow
4. For each for these cartridges, there is the option to reset for STD (standard?) or STR (high yield?). I selected STD for all toners.
5. Using the number keypad, select option #1 for RESET.
6. Hit the “Clear/Back” button to get out of the menu, close door and all toners are working like new ones.
then your original toners are continuing to work.

How to disable Sirius XM Timeout

If you're like me and listen to the Sirius XM online radio 24/7, then the 90 minute streaming timeout really gets annoying.  We'll I've got the solution for you.  I have done this in Chrome and Firefox and it works great.

In summary to disable the streaming timeout you need to disable the JavaScript (JS) on the page after you have started the streaming session.  It won't work if you disable JS before logging in because it requires JS to log in.

I recommend using Chrome because the Extension from this location does a great job of disabling the java only on the Sirius XM tab and other tabs can continue to use JS.

The other option if you don't like Chrome is to use the QuickJava add-on in Firefox.  Some downfalls I have seen with this is that it diables JavaScript in all tabs, and it goes on to disable JS in your other Firefox installations if you have the QuickJava Add-On installed there and enable Sync in your Firefox browser.  To use this plugin you have to make sure you go to View --> Toolbars --> Add-on Bar then you can click on the JS at the bottom of the Firefox page.

Dyndns Standard SMTP Service not working

All,
I experienced an issue this morning with my dyndns service.  I use them to send all of my email from my exchange server to external recipients.  It appears they forgot to renew their certificate on the their receivers.  These are the errors that I'm receiving on both exchange servers that I manage.

451 4.4.0 Primary target IP address responded with: "454 4.7.5 Certificate validation failure."

I also so in my logs event 11005 that stated this: Unable to validate the TLS certificate of the smart host for the connector MailHop Outbound. The certificate validation error for the certificate is CertificateExpired. If the problem persists, contact the administrator of the smart host to resolve the problem.

So I came to the conclusion that DynDNS forgot to renew their cert. Oops!

I notified them and they stated this:
I have received and acknowledged your concern regarding messages not being able to be sent through our outbound.mailhop.org server or generating a certificate-related error message.
At this time, Dyn is aware of a couple of our servers experiencing issues with their certificates and we are working towards a resolution of this issue.

To temporarily alleviate the issue, we kindly ask that you retry sending your messages with TLS turned off in your mail client. We will post an update to our status.dyn-inc.com site as soon as the issue has been resolved.

That said, if you are managing SBS 2008 or Exchange 2007 here is how to disable TLS quickly:

Just uncheck the "Basic Authentication over TLS" and viola!

Let me know if  you  have any issues with this.

-Spader

UPDATE 10-07-11: I am still having issues with my Exchange 2007 server, but the other server that I support which is exchange 2003 started working at 8:46am on the same day that the issues started 10-3-11.

I definitely which they would figure out how to be compatiable with exchange 2007, I'm sure many people are running this and having issues.  Here is the error message that I'm receiving on my exchange 2007 server (SBS 2008):

Log Name:      Application
Source:        MSExchangeTransport
Date:          10/7/2011 7:47:58 AM
Event ID:      11005
Task Category: MessageSecurity
Level:         Error
Description:
Unable to validate the TLS certificate of the smart host for the connector MailHop Outbound. The certificate validation error for the certificate is UntrustedRoot. If the problem persists, contact the administrator of the smart host to resolve the problem.

It looks like they are either using a self signed certificate or used a certificate authority that is not in the SBS 2008 trusted root CA list.

PLEASE fix DynDNS, I would like to enable my encryption!
-Spader

UPDATE 10-19-11: I randomly checked to see if DynDNS has fix their issue today and finally was able to send messages using encryption.  Thank you for finally fixing your issue DynDNS.  We are finally back to normal!
-Spader

Where's that sound coming from???

Learned today that it's not good to set the wireless Access Point on top of the computer amplifier.

I searched everywhere looking for power cables over the speaker wires then I finally figured out it was the AP sitting on top of the bass\amplifier under my desk.

Immediate satisfaction :)

First Post

So I figured that I would start putting some of my thoughts down in the interwebs.... So people can search and read items that I think is necessary to post for all to read.

I can guarantee only one thing, I will not post things that everyone cares about.

Here are the topic's that interest me that I see myself posting on this blog:

1. Life Hacks - Anything to make your life easier
2. Cool products - Anything that people should consider for themselves
3. Stupid things - Things that I make no sense and should be abolished
4. Security related items - Seeing that my career is in the computer security realm

Enjoy!

-Ben