Configuring MantisBT

Once you're done Installing MantisBT, the web interface is available.  However, in order to create/reset user accounts, you need to have email configured so emails can be sent out.  I did the following:

vi /opt/mantisbt-1.2.11/config_defaults_inc.php
search for "g_smtp_host"
change the following settings (I used one of my existing email accounts):

    $g_phpMailer_method = PHPMAILER_METHOD_SMTP;
    $g_smtp_host = 'smtp.example.com';
    $g_smtp_username = 'account@mailserver.com';
    $g_smtp_password = 'THIS_IS_CLEAR_TEXT';
    $g_smtp_connection_mode = 'ssl';
    $g_smtp_port = 465;

At this point, I was able to send email to my account and get logged in with an account other than the default administrator account.

While MantisBT did well at the install, the configuration interface leaves a few things to be desired.  First, there are settings beyond getting the system to use the web server or database that cannot be configured in the web gui.  Secondly, while all of the possible settings are well documented, grep is your friend; there is no clear indication where they are located.

Total score for ease of administrative configuration: 3/10
Major failing: unable to edit full config from the web interface.

Installing MantisBT

from a fresh CentOS 6 install (don't forget yum -y update and a reboot), run the following commands:

1. cd /tmp
2. wget http://sourceforge.net/projects/mantisbt/files/mantis-stable/1.2.11/mantisbt-1.2.11.tar.gz/download
3. wget http://sourceforge.net/projects/mantisbt/files/mantis-stable/1.2.11/mantisbt-1.2.11.tar.gz.digests/download
4. md5sum -c mantisbt-1.2.11.tar.gz.digests
5. tar -xzf mantisbt-1.2.11.tar.gz
6. mv mantisbt-1.2.11/ /opt/mantisbt-1.2.11
7. chown -R apache:apache /opt/mantisbt-1.2.11
8. ls -n /opt/mantisbt-1.2.11/ /var/www/html/mantisbt
9. yum -y install httpd mysql mysql-server php php-mysql
10. vi /etc/php.ini
11. change line 946 to match:
• date.timezone = "America/New_York" (should match cat /etc/sysconfig/clock output)
12. chkconfig httpd on
13. chkconfig mysqld on
14. service httpd start
15. service mysqld start
16. mysqladmin -u root password 'newPassword'
17. mysqladmin -u root -p -h localhost.localdomain password 'newPassword' (enter newPassword from above when prompted)
18. iptables -I INPUT 5 -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT
19. iptables -I INPUT 6 -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 443 -j ACCEPT
20. now open your browser, and point it to:
• http://yourServerOrIPHere/mantisbt/admin/install.php
21. add newPassword from above in the password field
22. click the "Install" button.

Total time with Cobbler from PXE boot to creating your first project: ~20 - 25 mins.  This includes the time to install the OS from scratch, update it, reboot, and go through the commands above manually.  For those interested in specs, this was run on my setup.

Once you're done here, you'll want to start Configuring MantisBT.

Total score for ease of install: 8/10

Setting up SNMP on OSX 10 Xserve via SSH

setting up snmpd on MAC Server OS X via ssh

verify /usr/sbin/snmpd exists
 ls /usr/sbin/snmpd

verify /usr/share/snmp/snmpd.conf exists
 ls /usr/share/snmp/snmpd.conf

if snmpd.conf doesn't exist, run:
 /usr/bin/snmpconf -i (-i is required to write the file to the correct location)

    set the following options:
 
 default = all
 1 (snmpd.conf)
 1 (access control setup)
  3 v1/2c ro community name
   <ro_community>
  f
 4 (Agent operating mode)
  2 (system user agent runs as)
   root
  f
 5 (system information setup)
  1 (physical location of system)
   <system_location>
  f
 6 (trap destinations)
  2 (v2c trap receiver)
   <monitoring_system_ipaddr>
   [ENTER]
   [ENTER]
  3 (v2c inform receiver)
   <monitoring_system_ipaddr>
   [ENTER]
   [ENTER]
  5 (default trap sink community)
   <ro_community>
  f
 f
    q


starting snmpd:
 /usr/sbin/snmpd

restart snmpd:
 kill -HUP <pid>

finally, to make sure it runs at boot time:
=======================================================================================
from: http://scott.wallace.sh/2009/12/04/enabling-snmp-in-mac-os-x-10-6-snow-leopard/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Under Snow Leopard there is a slight change to the way services are enabled.
-w       Overrides the Disabled key and sets it to false. In previous versions, this
         option would modify the configuration file. Now the state of the Disabled key
         is stored elsewhere on-disk.

So, to enable the SNMP daemon correctly:
$ sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.net-snmp.snmpd.plist
=======================================================================================

Making X work on RHEL/CEntOS 5 after VMWare P2V Import

Used the VMWare Standalone Converter running on my local machine to import a RHEL/CEntOS 5 Linux system, and afterward, was greeted with the following (this is cli, the gui had it's own errors):

-----snip-----
[root@qa01 ~]# startx
xauth:  creating new authority file /root/.serverauth.9175
xauth:  creating new authority file /root/.Xauthority
xauth:  creating new authority file /root/.Xauthority


X Window System Version 7.1.1
Release Date: 12 May 2006
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0, Release 7.1.1
Build Operating System: Linux 2.6.18-164.6.1.el5 x86_64 Red Hat, Inc.
Current Operating System: Linux qa01.localdomain 2.6.18-164.11.1.el5 #1 SMP Wed Jan 6 13:26:04 EST 2010 x86_64
Build Date: 16 November 2009
Build ID: xorg-x11-server 1.1.1-48.67.el5_4.1
        Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
        to make sure that you have the latest version.
Module Loader present
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
        (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
        (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Fri May 20 12:28:27 2011
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
(EE) No devices detected.

Fatal server error:
no screens found
XIO:  fatal IO error 104 (Connection reset by peer) on X server ":0.0"
      after 0 requests (0 known processed) with 0 events remaining.
[root@qa01 ~]#
-----snip-----


Some digging online led me to http://www.vmware.com/pdf/osp_install_guide.pdf

I realize it probably makes more sense to add the yum repo, but since I was in a hurry, I just pulled the files manually and did a local install.  The files I needed are listed below:

Files are located at: http://packages.vmware.com/tools/esx/4.1/rhel5/x86_64/

IMPORTANT!!! BUILD NUMBERS ARE CRITICAL!!!
      Make sure you get the build number for your version of VMWare and Guest OS

   vmware-tools-nox-8.3.2-257589.el5.x86_64.rpm

   vmware-tools-8.3.2-257589.el5.x86_64.rpm
   vmware-tools-common-8.3.2-257589.el5.x86_64.rpm

   vmware-open-vm-tools-8.3.2-257589.el5.x86_64.rpm
   vmware-open-vm-tools-common-8.3.2-257589.el5.x86_64.rpm
   vmware-open-vm-tools-nox-8.3.2-257589.el5.x86_64.rpm
   vmware-open-vm-tools-xorg-utilities-8.3.2-257589.el5.x86_64.rpm
   vmware-open-vm-tools-kmod-8.3.2-257589.el5.x86_64.rpm
   vmware-open-vm-tools-xorg-drv-mouse-12.6.4.0-0.257589.el5.x86_64.rpm
   vmware-open-vm-tools-xorg-drv-display-10.16.7.0-0.257589.el5.x86_64.rpm

Commands as follows:

wget http://packages.vmware.com/tools/esx/4.1/rhel5/x86_64/<package_name>
    (yes, this has to be done for each rpm)

wget http://packages.vmware.com/tools/keys/VMWARE-PACKAGING-GPG-RSA-KEY.pub

rpm --import VMWARE-PACKAGING-GPG-RSA-KEY.pub (this saves you from the --no-gpg-check)

yum localinstall <big_list_of_all_rpms_use_tab_complete>


So, now that you're done with all that, it's time to reboot.  Yes, this is needed (remember that kmod rpm you just installed?).  After the reboot, everything works with X just fine.

And now things work virtually like they did before.  (=

Setting up OpenFiler 2.3 for VMWare ESXi storage

so I'm looking to set up openfiler as a storage backend for VMWare ESXi, just wanted to include some notes here, since the examples I've found in the forums isn't what I wanted to set up (disk sizes were fairly small).

So, main thing to remember is that OpenFiler doesn't handle the automated partitioning of the hard drive you're installing it on.  Best info I've found on this (without purchasing the Manual) is on Greg Porter's Wiki.  He has much excellent info on Openfiler, and I would highly recommend reading through his info.  This list here is just intended to be a quick checklist of things that need to be done to get this set up.

really rough run-down:

1. Get disk set up in RAID 5 on Dell 2850 (or hardware of your choice), preferably in hardware RAID rather than software RAID.
2. Boot from Openfiler 2.3 install disk (x86_64 in this case.... what, you haven't downloaded it already? (=  )
3. Using Graphical install, manually partition the disk as follows:
       /boot : 100MB ext3, Fixed size, Force Primary
       / (root): 2048MB ext3, Fixed size, Force Primary
      swap : 2048MB swap, Fixed size, Force Primary
4. Finish install (time, root password, etc.)
5. update, update, update (I've had some issues with this from the webgui; however, per the last entry of this forum, using "conary updateall" from the command line worked just fine.)
6. see Greg Porter's Wiki about the iSCSI reboot issue to prevent your stores from vanishing from the network upon reboot.  Last thing you want is for your system to boot and your services to fail.

At this point, you should be able to log in to OpenFiler, configure your shares, and get rolling.

Configuring Alfresco 3.4 for AD SSO

My apologies if this is a bit rough, but I wanted to get this out due to the intense interest related to Alfresco.  Also, I would highly recommend setting up Alfresco like this from the beginning if you can, since it allows you to manage login from one database (fewer passwords for your users to remember, fewer systems for you to manage).

Goal: configure Alfresco 3.4 Community Edition to authenticate users as follows:

Internal users use SSO through Active Directory
External users authenticate against Active Directory (non-SSO)
Account info is synchronized with Active Directory

This information is based on http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Alfresco_Authentication_Subsystems

Also, I've done the standard install (everything) in the gui based installer available from Alfresco.org to a clean Centos 5.5 system

first, we have to update the authentication chain in alfresco-global.properties (see my previous post on this for location).  I added the following lines:

### Authentication Chain ###
authentication.chain=alfrescoNtlm1:alfrescoNtlm,passthru1:passthru,ldap1:ldap-ad
alfresco.authentication.authenticateCIFS=false
passthru.authentication.domain=<domain_name>
ldap-ad.authentication.active=false

remember, passthru.authentication.useLocalServer, passthru.authentication.domain and passthru.authentication.servers are mutually exclusive, so only enable one of them.


Multiple Auth Servers of the same type
---------------------------------------
If I was using two different servers with the same authentication type (ie: two different ldap servers; not possible with passthru!), we need to copy the .properties files from:
/opt/alfresco-3.4.c/tomcat/webapps/alfresco/WEB-INF/classes/alfresco/subsystems/Authentication/<auth_type>/<auth_type>.properties

to
/opt/alfresco-3.4.c/tomcat/shared/classes/alfresco/extension/subsystems/Authentication/<auth_type>/<auth_type_instance#>/<auth_type>.properties

you will need to create the directory tree below the extension subdiretory, starting with subsystems.  Remember, this is only required if you have two auth servers using the same auth type.  Check the Alfresco wiki if you aren't sure.
---------------------------------------


in looking at the ntlm-filter.properties files in the passthru and ldap-ad folders, I found that the settings of these systems was already configured for passthru to have SSO enabled.  Also, I found that if you have passthru and alfrescoNtlm set up, after an unsuccessful SSO login, the "backdoor" URL (http://<hostname_or_IP>:8080/alfresco/faces/jsp/login.jsp) will automatically display (at least in Firefox).  So this is actually as expected, since it fails through to the local login.  Don't know how this would look to the outside world, since I'm mainly using this on a company intranet right now.

So, to recap; after doing everything above, this is where I'm at:

Goal: configure Alfresco 3.4 Community Edition to authenticate users as follows:

Internal users use SSO through Active Directory - this is completed and working fine
External users authenticate against Active Directory (non-SSO) - this is completed as far as I can tell
Account info is synchronized with Active Directory - this isn't working right now, so I've missed some settings for this authentication type.  I suspect I may not have the OU/CN/DC settings correct for what AD wants to see.