On doing some reading, this can be alleviated by mounting the share using cifs rather than smbfs. On the client machines we have created a folder in media called N (mkdir /media/N), then mounted using the following:

mount -t cifs //10.204.6.5/N /media/N -o username=<username>,password=<password>,rw,iocharset=utf8,nobrl,nounix,sfu,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777

note the nounix option – this prevents the file locks from causing problems within OpenOffice.  The sfu option preserves the date and time modifcation values.

Following this I ran evolution from the command line – the output of which was:

e-data-server-ui-Message: Unable to find password(s) in keyring (Keyring reports: No matching results)
e-data-server-ui-Message: Key file does not have group ‘Passwords-Exchange’

I checked available keys in my keychain and the correct keys were there – along with appropriate passwords….

The I stumbled across the following bug report:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/evolution-exchange/+bug/207723

Where I found this comment from Timothy Alexander:

“Something that worked for me was clearing the “mailbox name” under exchange settings, and reauthenticating on that page. The auth went through fine, and it filled out the mailbox again (exactly the same way) but after a restart of evolution it worked fine.”

I tried removing the mailbox name and clicking authenticate, was greeted with the usual errors, but following a restart of evolution it worked!

Finally, Evolution is behaving as you might expect it to when connecting to an Exchange server – the improvements are immense, both in stability and functionality.

The OpenChange site is here for more information:

http://www.openchange.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

Hopefully this will be an end to using a buggy interface and the all to frequent crashes, along with the curse of occasional missing mail items.  I’ve only been using it for a day, but already I’m loving it!

http://www.techcentral.ie/article.aspx?id=12375

I can’t believe that there are many people out there who haven’t yet patched their DNS servers……but it’s worth checking on the Doxpara site (http://www.doxpara.com/)

…that is, of course unless you’re DNS has been hijacked and you are being sent to a spoofed doxpara site

Still bad news for those running Mac DNS servers as Apple still haven’t released a patch, although apparently the Bind team have stated that the BSD version of the patch can be ported….

Further info here:

http://xforce.iss.net/xforce/xfdb/35575

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/

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.

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).

I’ve just installed GLPI as a trouble ticketing system to assist with management of workflow and to track recurring faults.  It’s an open-source, web based tool that uses apache, php and mysql to track issues and produce good quality reports.

It seems extremely stable in trials so far, but I will keep on using for the next few weeks before I roll out to users in our organisation for fault reporting.

Available from here: http://www.glpi-project.org/spip.php?lang=en

The next find was a tool called OCS Inventory.  It’s another web/mysql app that is used for asset management.  The useful thing about this tool is that it uses an agent installed as a service on workstations that can be deployed using a login script.  This then updates the server on workstation boot with an abundance of information about the workstation, such as hardware info, serial number, installed software, installed printers, logged on user, etc

This has turned into a real time-saver for me! It’s available for download from http://www.ocsinventory-ng.org/

At the moment I use a KVM switch to swap between the 2 desktops I use (one is XP the other Ubuntu Hardy Beta).  I spend about 99% of my day in Ubuntu, but can’t escape windows completely….this means 2 machines under the desk – which at best is not very environmentally sound, and at worst is downright inconvenient.

The solution? well a virtualised copy of Windows running on the Linux box is the obvious solution, but what about all the apps and data accumulated on the Windows machine over the last x years…..this may seem like a small concern, but it would take a LONG time to reinstall these apps – because of the custom nature of them they are heavy on configuration time, and while they could be installed, it would be a pain in the backside….

Along come the nice people at VMWare though with the Vmware Converter (http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/) a tool that simply installs and then allows you to convert a physical install of an OS into a Virtual OS that can then be opened in VMware Workstation, Server or Player!

While it is designed to allow for the virtualisation of server environments this is the perfect solution for the likes of myself who still need to use Windows apps, that aren’t Wine compatible but REALLY want to ditch the spare Windows machine sat under the desk…

It’s worth clarifying that sending an email is the digital equivalent of sending a postcard….anyone, on any number of the hops between the sender and the recipient, could read the contents of that email with relative ease, in the same way that if you sent a postcard, anyone en route between the sender and the recipient who handles that card could read the contents.  Worse yet, there are methods of spoofing (pretending to be) the recipient mail server – causing all emails that are destined for the recipient to be captured then forwarded on without the recipient even knowing that this has happened….

There are methods of securing email, however – one of these is worth noting as a free solution – GNUPG http://www.gnupg.org/ and it is worth considering if you need to send any information that you feel is sensitive.  GNUPG can be used for digital signing of emails (proving that the email is really from you) and also for the encryption of emails using a private key pair.

There are resources on the use of GNUPG on the site, and it can be used on a variety of platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac) etc.