VMWare WhiteBox - Desktop and ESXi Server all in One PC

I was recently on the market for a new Desktop, I wanted a powerfull machine but on a budget, and also had the ability of becoming as ESXi host (aka ESXi whitebox).

So I started looking at AMD CPUs because of the lower price, I had always heard that Intel was the way to go for vitualization, but I soon found out that the AMD CPUs where very virtualization friendly suporting even the most advanced features, tha are normally only found on Intel’s high end Desktop CPUs or server CPUs.

One of these advanced features is:

• AMD-Vi - Directed Path I/O / IOMMU / Passthrough

that only found on Intel on non "k" series i5, i7 (high end Deskop), and xeon CPUs (server). On intel this features it’s called:

• VT-d - Directed Path I/O / IOMMU / Passthrough

This feature allows you to pass real hardware (PCI hardware), like a grafics card to a VM, so you can have for example a VM using your GPU directly and being displayed on you monitor like it was a real Desktop.

So If you can pass to the VM the following real hardware to the VM:

• USB Ports (Keyboard/Mouse)
• Grafics Card
• Sound Card

you have yourself a VM working as a Real Desktop, while having a ESXi host, where you can run aditional VMs.

To do this you also need a MOTHERBOARD that suports it, I thought this was going to be quite hard, but once again I found that this was well suported on many AMD motherboards like the ones based on the 970 chipset, which are really cheap mother boards.

Aditionally you also need a GRAFICS CARD that is supported on IOMMU, I found that AMD/ATI grafics cards are very easily suported even the really cheap ones (like mine AMD R5 230 or my older ATI 5540) as for NVIDIA only very high end cards support it:

• https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Multi-headed-VMWare-Gaming-Setup-564/

Cards that work
AMD Radeon R9 280   
AMD Radeon R7 250   
AMD Radeon HD 7970   
NVIDIA Quadro K2000

Cards that don't work
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti
NVIDIA GeForce 660 Ti
NVIDIA GeForce 560
AMD Radeon R9 295x2

You can find a list of hardware that suports IOMMU here:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IOMMU-supporting_hardware

I found that gamers have been using this to make multiple gaming desktops out of only one computer with multiple grafics cards,as you can see at:

• https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Multi-headed-VMWare-Gaming-Setup-564/

Index

• My Whitebox (for Passthrough / IOMMU)
• Downloading ESXi and Getting the Free License Key
• Making The ESXi Installer Flash Drive
• BIOS - Configuring The BIOS for Virtualization and IOMMU (Passthrough)
• ESXi – Instalation
• ESXi - Configuring The ESXi Management Network (Static IP)
• ESXi – Adding a Data Storage (aka VMs Storage Disk)
• ESXi - Passthrough (IOMMU) Configuration
• ESXi – HDs Passthrough (Mapping Physical HDs to Virtual)
• Desktop VM - Installing Windows with Passthrough
• Desktop VM - Adding Real HDDs (Virtual Representation)
• Desktop VM - Configuring AutoStart
• Desktop VM - Making The Desktop Hole Again
• ESXi - Adding The Free ESXi License

 

My Whitebox (for Passthrough / IOMMU)

After some research I bougth the following:

• 1x ASROCK 970A-G/3.1 SKT AM3+             
• 1x AMD FX-8350 4.0 GHz Vishera 8-Core Black Edition
• 1x ASUS RADEON R5 230 Silent 2GB GDDR3
• 1x Intel 8492MT PRO/1000MT Dual Port Server (PCI)

At the time I didn’t had confirmation that the my specific:

• CPU
• Motherboard
• Grafics cards

worked with IOMMU/Passthrough, but they worked perfectly.I found it amazing that all this hardware from less expensive/alternative brands all worked without a problem.

The only thing that didn’t work on VMWare ESXi was the integrated NIC on my motherboard (Realtek Chipset), and you need a NIC that is supported on VMWare ESXi otherwise It will not install, so I bougth the:

• Intel 8492MT PRO/1000MT Dual Port Server (PCI) – 14$ on ebay

previously I used a desktop NIC that I already had:

• Intel 8390MT PRO/1000MT Desktop Adapter (PCI) – 10$ on ebay

this NIC gives a warning when instaling of ESXi about unsuported hardware but It let’s you install and it works perfectly (on VMware ESXi 6.0.0 Update2), but you should buy the first because it’s a server NIC and it will probably will be suported for more time on ESXi.

 

Downloading ESXi and Getting the Free License Key

In order to download the ESXi Hypervisor (aka vSphere), just go to:

• https://my.vmware.com/en/web/vmware/evalcenter?p=free-esxi6

if you don’t have an account you have to register. After being registered, login:

the ESXi you are going to download is the same as the paid version, the only diference is the license, we are going to use the free license wich is more limited.

You can use ESXi without the license for 60 days, during this period you all the features on ESXi available to you.

After the trial period you must enter a license, so you need to save this free license for later (or just come to this site again):

Download the most recent ESXi ISO installer image which the time I’m writing this post is vSphere 6.0.0 Update 2:

 

Making The ESXi Installer Flash Drive

Now that you have the image, you can either burn it on a CD (wich is very old school), or you can convert it to an USB PEN Drive wich is what I’m going to show here.

Get Rufus, which is probably the simplest tool to make bootable USB Pen Drives from ISOs:

• https://rufus.akeo.ie/

Open it, select you USB Pen Drive, select “ISO Image” and then select the ESXi ISO, and press Start.

 

 

BIOS - Configuring The BIOS for Virtualization and IOMMU

(Passthrough)

The BIOS config is specific to my motherboard (ASROCK 970A-G/3.1), but basically you just have to enable all the virtualization features you can find.

In my mother board you have the specific option to enable IOMMU, but I have seen other motherboards that suport IOMMU where you don’t have the specific option, and you just enable the virtualization extensions.

Enabling IOMMU (Directed Path I/O aka Passthrough)

Enabling the Normal Virtualization Extensions

Selecting the Boot Pen

The Blue Flash Drive (Verbatin) is my ESXi installer (it’s the boot flash drive I made with Rufus), and the Yellow (Kingston) is where I’m going to install the ESXi (aka vSphere), but you can install it on a normal hard drive.

I used a USB because ESXi wipes repartitions de disk where It is installed making it unusable for almost anything else while It only occupies 2-3 GB wich fits well in a Flash Drive.

On usage is to use it as a Datastore, but that is not recommended, because when you install a new version it wipes the hole drive and when it upgrade It the is always the possibility off something going wrong.

 

 

ESXi – Instalation

Now that we have the boot pen selected as the first boot option, lets start installing VMWare ESXi (aka vSphere)

VMware ESXi Installer Booting

Selecting the Instalation Hard Drive

Here you select where you want to install ESXi, in my case I’m going to install it on another USB Pen Drive (Yellow – Kingston), because ESXi will wipe you target disk (see repartition warning bellow).

Starting the Instalation Process

If you already had a previous ESXi on the target instalation disk you could Upgrade it.

Selecting the Keyboard Layout

Setting the root Password

Warning – Your Disk Will Be Repartitioned

This is a very important warning and it’s the main reason for me to install ESXi on a USB Pen Drive. What is going to happen is that you disk will repartitioned, which will make you loose all the data that where on the previous partitions.

Installing ESXi…

Instalation Done

Reboot to Boot the Installed VMWare ESXi

Here is where I remove the instalallation Pen Drive (Blue – Verbatin), and leave the target Pen Drive (Yellow – Kingston), in order to boot from my second boot option (Yellow – Kingston).

You can always go to your BIOS and select the disk where you installed VMWare ESXi, as the first boot option.

The Newly Installed ESXi Booting

This looks a lot like the instalation process boot.

In my case this is my Yellow Pen Drive Booting (Kingston)

Boot Done

At this stage the boot is done and VMWare ESXi, as gained it’s network configuration via DHCP, and you can already access it, the link is the one shown on the image, in my case:

• http//192.168.1.5

In the next step we are going to make the network config static so it doesn’t change over time.

 

ESXi - Configuring The ESXi Management Network (Static IP)

You can leave you network config via DHCP but each time you reboot you migth get a different IP, wich will prevent you from accessing your ESXi server (aka ESXi host)

Management IP Configuration via DHCP (default)

Let’s Access the Management Network IP Configuration

Let’s Change it to Static

Let’s Define the Static Management IP

It assumes taht the static IP is the same IP that it got via DHCP but you can change It, and you probably should, for now I’m mantaining the same IP.

 

 

ESXi – Adding a Data Storage (aka VMs Storage Disk)

Now let’s start using ESXi, for that you just input your ESXi Host IP on a browser, and you will see the following page:

 

Up until know we only had the vSphere Client for Windows, now you also use a webpage (VMWare Host Client), that looks like this:

all the new feature are being implement in this webpage, which I found to be super intuitive, but because it’s only available in recent updates of versions 5.5 and 6.0, I’m going to use the vSphere Client for Windows because It’s available in all the versions.

Logging In…

Check Install this certificate and press Ignore:

Now we are in ESXI for the first time… Hurray…

Now let’s add a Datastorage, wich is a disk formated with the VMFS filesystem, where you are store the Virtual Machines.

Select the HD you want to use as a Datastore:

Normally people use a dedicated disk as a Datastore, as shown bellow, but you can use a disk with partitions on It, for that just leave some empty space and chose the “Use free space”’option:

chose the size from the available space:

And that’s it, you know have a Datastore to store your Virtual Machines

 

ESXi - Passthrough (IOMMU) Configuration

First you need to check if you hardware has Passthrough (IOMMU) suport, for that on the vSphere Client, just go to Summary, and check the DirectPath I/O, if you harware suports it it will say “Supported”, like in the picture bellow.

Now that we need to define the hardware that will be available for the virtual machines via passthrough (Grafics Card / USB Ports / Sound Card, etc).

Go to “Advanced Settings”":

Select “Configure Passthrough”

Now you have a list of all the hardware that is compatible with Passthrough (I migth take some trial error to find out what each entry represents), in my case you have:

• SATA II / III Disks Controller (all Sata II or III HardDrives)
• AMD Grafics Card 1 - ASUS RADEON R5 230
• AMD Grafics Card 2 - ATI 5540 (you don’t need a second grafics card)
• USB 3.1 Controller (all USB 3.1 Ports)
• Intel NIC
• USB 3 Controller (all USB 3 Ports)
• Onboard RealTek NIC

Some of the things that weren’t compatible in my case where

• Sata I Hard Drives
• USB 2 Ports
• Sound Card

Select the hardware that you want to passthrough to the Desktop VM, I selected:

• AMD Grafics Card 1 - ASUS RADEON R5 230
• USB 3.1 Controller (all USB 3.1 Ports)
• USB 3 Controller (all USB 3 Ports)

Once selected you have to reboot the ESXI Host in order to make the selection efective:

Now you can start assigning hardware to your VMs.

 

 

ESXi – HDs Passthrough (Mapping Physical HDs to Virtual)

You can passthrough you hard drives, the problem is that you either pass all or none, wich means that you will probably pass the disk with the Datastore (where we have the VMs), leaving you without any VMs.

The alternative solution I found was to map the real hard drives that I wanted onto a virtual representation that I can add to VMs.

First Step – Gaining Access to the ESXI CLI via SSH

Activating the ESXi shell

Activating the SSH access

Restarting the agent

 

 

Second Step – Mapping the Physical HDs onto the Virtual Representations

Connect to the ESXi server via SSH

identify the disks that you want to map to a virtual disk,

ls -al /vmfs/devices/disks

and save their names:

t10.ATA_____Hitachi_HDS721010CLA332_______________________JP2911HD0825KC    
t10.ATA_____WDC_WD10EAVS2D22D7B0__________________________WD2DWCAU45211463
t10.ATA_____WDC_WD15EADS2D11P8B2__________________________WD2DWMAVU3518099

Identify the Datastore where you want to save the virtual representations of the physical disks

ls -al /vmfs/volumes/

I created the folder “Physical_HDs”, to store the virtual representations of the physical disks

Now we create the virtual representations of the physical disks using the following command:

vmkfstools -r <source-physical-disk> <destination-virtual-disk>

in my case:

vmkfstools -r  /vmfs/devices/disks/t10.ATA_____Hitachi_HDS721010CLA332_______________________JP2911HD0825KC     /vmfs/volumes/DS1_SSD/Physical_HDs/DISK1.vmdk

vmkfstools -r  /vmfs/devices/disks/t10.ATA_____WDC_WD10EAVS2D22D7B0__________________________WD2DWCAU45211463 /vmfs/volumes/DS1_SSD/Physical_HDs/DISK2.vmdk

vmkfstools -r  /vmfs/devices/disks/t10.ATA_____WDC_WD15EADS2D11P8B2__________________________WD2DWMAVU3518099 /vmfs/volumes/DS1_SSD/Physical_HDs/DISK3.vmdk

Let’s check that the virtual disks where created:

ls -al /vmfs/volumes/DS1_SSD/Physical_HDs

After we install the Desktop VM we are going to add these virtual disks that represent the physical disks to the Desktop VM.

 

Desktop VM - Installing Windows with Passthrough

Let’s create the virtual machine that will become our Desktop.

This will be a VM with real hardware assingned to it, that will look and fell like a real desktop.

Select the Datastore where you want to store the VM:

Select the VM OS:

Select the type of virtual NIC (select the E1000 wich emulates a Intel 82545EM Gigabit Ethernet NIC, wich is a very widely suported real NIC), for more information on NICs check the following link:

• https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1001805

Create the VM virtual Hard Disk, where you will install the OS

Add the real hardware to the VM:

Now add the hardware that you want to passthrough,

my selection:

• AMD Grafics Card 1 - ASUS RADEON R5 230
• USB 3.1 Controller (all USB 3.1 Ports)
• USB 3 Controller (all USB 3 Ports)
• Onboard RealTek NIC (I selected it but I will be using the virtual interface)

The real hardware are the devices in bold (New PCI Device ….):

Now open the console that will show the VM

Start the VM…

Select the OS ISO

And after “Operating System not found” press enter one or more times to boot the ISO

Now that the ISO is booting let’s install Windows (in this case Windows 7, but I have also done this with Windows 10).

For the GPU Passthrough to work on the first try, it’s very important that you install VMWare Tools before installing the Graphics Card driver (real grafics card -- real drivers from the vendor)

\

Now that VMWare Tools are installed let’s install the Graffics Card drivers:

In the process of installing the Grafics Card drivers the Passthrough started working, and showing the VM on my Desktop Screen.

 

 

Desktop VM - Adding Real HDDs (Virtual Representation)

Now that we have the Desktop VM with Passthrough let’s add the virtual representation of the physical HDs, that we created before at:

• ESXi – HDDs Passthrough (Mapping Physical HDs to Virtual)

Press Add..

Select Hard Drive

Select the option to add an existing disk

Find the virtual disks (I put mine at /vmfs/volumes/DS1_SSD/Physical_HDs)

add them to them Desktop VM, one by one:

it should look like this (the bold entries are the new HDs):

Power the Desktop VM and validate that you physical HDs now show up on the VM:

 

Desktop VM - Configuring AutoStart

Because we want the Desktop VM to be our main Destktop computer we need that it starts automatically with the ESXi Host, otherwise you need another PC just to start the Desktop VM.

To make the Desktop VM start automatically select “Virtual Machine Startup/Shutdown” and “Properties”:

Activate the Auto Start

And configure it like this:

next time you ESXi Host starts, so will the Desktop VM, giving you a desktop to use and manage ESXi.

 

Desktop VM - Making The Desktop Hole Again

At this point I had a fully operation desktop, but there where some things that I coludn’t Passthrough to the Desktop VM as refered before:

• Sata I Hard Drives
• USB 2 Ports
• Sound Card

the first item I solved by mapping the physical HDs onto their virtual representations and adding them to the VM as existing virtual disks:

• ESXi – HDs Passthrough (Mapping Physical HDs to Virtual)
• Desktop VM - Adding Real HDDs (Virtual Representation)

to compensate the loss of the USB 2 Ports I bougth this card with four USB 3.0 ports on eBay for about 7 USD:

USB 3.0 4-Port Host To PCI-E PCI Card Express
Expansion Card Adapter Speed 5Gbps

these where fully compatible with Passthrough.

Or you can try to attach USB 1 and 2 devices (not ports as above), just follow this tutorial:

• https://youtu.be/1D2tNp2Q1kA

As for the Sound Card I bouth on eBay this usb sound card for about 1 USD, and connected it to a USB 3.0 port:

USB 2.0 to 3D Mic Speaker Audio Headset
Sound Card Adapter 5.1 for PC Laptop E0

 

but If you want a good usb sound (made in USA) card you should definitely go for this:

 

Sabrent USB External Stereo Sound Adapter

For Windows And Mac. Plug And Play No

It’s about 18 USD on ebay.

And that’s it, now my Desktop is hole again, nothing is missing…

 

 

ESXi - Adding The Free ESXi License

So far I have been doing things with the 60 days trial, this allows you to use all the feautures in VMWare ESXi, which we dont’t need for what we have done here.

The Free License that we saved when we downloaded the ESXi ISO at:

• Downloading ESXi and Getting the Free License Key

is enough.

If you want to stop the trial and make you ESXi fully licensed with the Free License, go to
Configuration >> Licensed Features >> Edit

As you can see now the Licensed Features list now is much smaller:

 

Related Links

• https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Multi-headed-VMWare-Gaming-Setup-564/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IOMMU-supporting_hardware
• https://my.vmware.com/en/web/vmware/evalcenter?p=free-esxi6
• https://rufus.akeo.ie/
• https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1001805
• http://thehomeserverblog.com/esxi-lab-specs/

Linux - Wifi Configuration (Detailed)

This guide was tested with Dapper Drake, Feisty Fawn, Gutsy Gibbon, and Hardy Heron.

Since it appears that very few people take wireless security seriously, I'd like to come up with my first HOWTO and explain how I was able to configure a secure home network using WPA2, the latest encryption & authentication standard. There are also other types of configuration (WPA1, mixed mode, LEAP, PEAP, DHCP, etc.) shown in the appendix. Feedback is much appreciated.

Common stumbling blocks - Make sure that:

1. Ethernet cable is unplugged.
2. No firewall & configuration tool is running (e.g. Firestarter).
3. MAC filtering is disabled.
4. NetworkManager, Wifi-Radar & similar wireless configuration tools are disabled/turned off and not in use.
5. Some cards/drivers (e.g. Madwifi) do not support WPA2 (AES). Try WPA1 (TKIP) if WPA2 secured connections fail.
6. RTxxx (Ralink) drivers do not support this approach. Either install "ndiswrapper" replacing Serialmonkey's driver or visit this site.
7. Turn off "roaming" if you repeatedly fail to establish a connection.

My Requirements:
1. WPA2 / RSN
2. AES / CCMP
3. Hidden ESSID (no broadcast)
4. Static IP (because I use port forwarding & firewall, etc.)
5. Pre-shared key (no EAP)
If you want to know more about WPA / RSN & 802.11i security specification, I recommend this site.

Now let's get started:

0. Install "wpa-supplicant":

sudo apt-get install wpasupplicant

1. Verify that your network device ("wlan0"?) is working & your wireless network is detected:

iwconfig

iwlist scan

Your network device & wireless network should appear here.

2. Open "/etc/network/interfaces":

sudo gedit /etc/network/interfaces

The content should look similar to this:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp

3. Now replace the last 2 lines with the following using your own network settings (the sequence in which the lines appear is crucial):

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet static
address 192.168.168.40
gateway 192.168.168.230
dns-nameservers 192.168.168.230
netmask 255.255.255.0
wpa-driver wext
wpa-ssid <your_essid>
wpa-ap-scan 2
wpa-proto RSN
wpa-pairwise CCMP
wpa-group CCMP
wpa-key-mgmt WPA-PSK
wpa-psk <your_hex_key> [IMPORTANT: See "WPA-PSK key generation"]

• auto wlan0:
  Your network interface (e.g. wlan0, eth1, rausb0, ra0, etc.).
• iface wlan0 inet static:
  Self-explanatory... I am using a Static IP instead of DHCP. "iface wlan0" must correspond to your network interface (see above).
• address, netmask, [..], dns-nameservers:
  Also self-explanatory... Be aware that "broadcast" needs to end with ".255" for negotiation with the router. These lines need to be according to your own (static) network settings. For DHCP see further below.
• wpa-driver:
  That's the wpa-driver for your card ('wext' is a generic driver that is applicable when using "ndiswrapper"). Leave it as it is. Other drivers are:

hostap = Host AP driver (Intersil Prism2/2.5/3)
atmel = ATMEL AT76C5XXx (USB, PCMCIA)
wext = Linux wireless extensions (generic)
madwifi = Atheros
wired = wpa_supplicant wired Ethernet driver

• wpa-ssid:
  Your network's ESSID (no quotes "").
• wpa-ap-scan:
  "1" = Broadcast of ESSID.
  "2" = Hidden broadcast of ESSID.
• wpa-proto:
  "RSN" = WPA(2)
  "WPA" = WPA(1)
• wpa-pairwise & wpa-group:
  "CCMP" = AES cipher as part of WPA(2) standard.
  "TKIP" = TKIP cipher as part of WPA(1) standard.
• wpa-key-mgmt:
  "WPA-PSK" = Authentication via pre-shared key (see 'key generation' further below).
  "WPA-EAP" = Authentication via enterprise authentication server.

 

VERY IMPORTANT ("WPA PSK Key Generation"):
Now convert your WPA ASCII password using the following command:

wpa_passphrase <your_essid> <your_ascii_key>

Resulting in an output like...

network={
ssid="test"
#psk="12345678"
psk=fe727aa8b64ac9b3f54c72432da14faed933ea511ecab1 5bbc6c52e7522f709a
}

Copy the "hex_key" (next to "psk=...") and replace <your_hex_key> in the "interfaces" files with it. Then save the file and restart your network:

sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

You should be connecting to your router now... However, I figured that a restart is sometimes necessary so that's what I usually do (I know this sounds a bit clumsy - see post #2 for startup script).

*** Revoking read-permission from ‘others' ***

sudo chmod o=-r /etc/network/interfaces

 

*** Revoking read-permission from 'others' ***
*** Sample configuration WPA2 & DHCP, ESSID broadcast enabled ***

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wpa-driver wext
wpa-ssid <your_essid>
wpa-ap-scan 1
wpa-proto RSN
wpa-pairwise CCMP
wpa-group CCMP
wpa-key-mgmt WPA-PSK
wpa-psk <your_hex_key> [IMPORTANT: See "WPA-PSK key generation"]

 

*** Sample configuration WPA2 & DHCP, ESSID broadcast enabled ***
*** Sample configuration WPA1 & DHCP, ESSID broadcast enabled ***

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wpa-driver wext
wpa-ssid <your_essid>
wpa-ap-scan 1
wpa-proto WPA
wpa-pairwise TKIP
wpa-group TKIP
wpa-key-mgmt WPA-PSK
wpa-psk <your_hex_key> [IMPORTANT: See "WPA-PSK key generation"]

 

*** Sample configuration WPA1 & DHCP, ESSID broadcast enabled ***
*** Sample configuration mixed mode (WPA1, WPA2) & DHCP, ESSID broadcast ***

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wpa-driver wext
wpa-ssid <your_essid>
wpa-ap-scan 1
wpa-proto WPA RSN
wpa-pairwise TKIP CCMP
wpa-group TKIP CCMP
wpa-key-mgmt WPA-PSK
wpa-psk <your_hex_key> [IMPORTANT: See "WPA-PSK key generation"]

 

*** Sample configuration mixed mode (WPA1, WPA2) & DHCP, ESSID broadcast*****
*** Sample conf. LEAP, WEP, DHCP, ESSID broadcast ***

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wpa-driver wext
wpa-ssid <your_essid>
wpa-ap-scan 1
wpa-eap LEAP
wpa-key-mgmt IEEE8021X
wpa-identity <your_user_name>
wpa-password <your_password>

 

*** Sample conf. LEAP, WEP, DHCP, ESSID broadcast ***
*** Sample conf. PEAP, AES, DHCP, ESSID broadcast ***

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wpa-driver wext
wpa-ssid <your_essid>
wpa-ap-scan 1
wpa-proto RSN
wpa-pairwise CCMP
wpa-group CCMP
wpa-eap PEAP
wpa-key-mgmt WPA-EAP
wpa-identity <your_identity>
wpa-password <your_password>

 

*** Sample conf. PEAP, AES, DHCP, ESSID broadcast ***
*** Sample conf. TTLS, WEP, DHCP, ESSID broadcast ***

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wpa-driver wext
wpa-ssid <your_essid>
wpa-ap-scan 1
wpa-eap TTLS
wpa-key-mgmt IEEE8021X
wpa-anonymous-identity <anonymous_identity>
wpa-identity <your_identity>
wpa-password <your_password>
wpa-phase2 auth=PAP [Also: CHAP, MSCHAP, MSCHAPV2]

 

*** Sample conf. TTLS, WEP, DHCP, ESSID broadcast ***
*** NOT TESTED: Sample conf. EAP-FAST, WPA1/WPA2, DHCP, ESSID broadcast ***

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wpa-driver wext
wpa-ssid <your_essid>
wpa-ap-scan 1
wpa-proto RSN WPA
wpa-pairwise CCMP TKIP
wpa-group CCMP TKIP
wpa-key-mgmt WPA-EAP
wpa-eap FAST
wpa-identity <your_user_name>
wpa-password <your_password>
wpa-phase1 fast_provisioning=1
wpa-pac-file /path/to/eap-pac-file

 

*** NOT TESTED: Sample conf. EAP-FAST, WPA1/WPA2, DHCP, ESSID broadcast ****
***Tested adapters***

1. Linksys WUSB54G V4 (ndiswrapper; wpa-driver = wext)
2. Intel IPW2200 (Linux driver; wpa-driver = wext)
3. Linksys WPC54G (ndiswrapper; wpa-driver = wext)
4. D-Link WNA-2330 (Linux driver; wpa-driver = madwifi)
5. Linksys WMP54G V2 (ndiswrapper; wpa-driver = wext)
6. D-Link WDA-2320 (Linux driver; wpa-driver = madwifi)
7. Netgear WPN311 (Linux driver; wpa-driver = wext)
8. Netgear WG511v2 (ndiswrapper; wpa-driver = wext)

 

*** Tested adapters ***
*** Post this if you are stumped ***

# route
# iwconfig
# sudo iwlist scan
# sudo lshw -C network
# sudo cat /etc/network/interfaces
# sudo ifdown -v <your_interface>
# sudo ifup -v <your_interface>

 

*** Post this if you are stumped ***
*** Other useful commands ***

# Ubuntu version & kernel >> uname -a
# Root file access >> alt F2 then 'gksudo nautilus' in cli
# Get IP Address or Renew >> sudo dhclient wlan0 [or whatever your wl adapter is]
# Get wireless info >> iwconfig
# Get AP info >> iwlist scan
# Get wireless info >> iwlist (lots of options will list)
# Routes if wlan0 working >> route
# DNS resolving via eth1 >> cat /etc/resolv.conf
# List devices/modules >> lspci, lsusb, lshw, lsmod
# Restart network >> sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
# Boot messages >> dmesg
# Kill NWM >> sudo killall NetworkManager
# Events from your wl >> iwevent
# Restart all daemons >> sudo /etc/init.d/dbus restart
# Restart network >> sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

 

Taken From:

• https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=318539

Raspberry Pi – Media Server for Streaming (via DLNA)

 

Here I’m going to quickly show you how to set up you Raspberry Pi as a Media Server for Streaming via DLNA which is a protocol suported in many TVs, Windows PCs (Windows Media Player) and Android Devices (App: Media House).

## Install Mini DLNA ##
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install minidlna

## Mount The Media Disk ##
sudo mkdir /media/HD1
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/HD1

## Create The MiniDLNA DB Folder ##
sudo mkdir -p /opt/minidlna
sudo chmod 777 /opt/minidlna

## Edit The MiniDLNA Config File ##
sudo nano /etc/minidlan.conf

minidlna.conf - My Config
------------------------------------
media_dir=V,/media/HD1/Movies
#root_container=B,/media/HD1
network_interface=eth0
inotify=yes
friendly_name=HomePi
db_dir=/opt/minidlna

sudo service minidlna force-reload
sudo service minidlna restart

minidlna.conf – My Config Detailed
-------------------------------------------------------
#################################################
# Path to the directory you want scanned
# for media files.
#
# This option can be specified more than
# once if you want multiple directories
# scanned.
#
# If you want to restrict a media_dir to
# a specific content type, you can prepend
# the directory name with a letter representing
# the type (A, P or V),followed by a comma, as so:
#   * "A" for audio    (eg. media_dir=A,/media/HD1/music)
#   * "P" for pictures (eg. media_dir=P,/media/HD1/pictures)
#   * "V" for video    (eg. media_dir=V,/media/HD1/videos)
#   * "PV" for pictures and video
#  (eg. media_dir=PV,/media/HD1/digital_camera)
#################################################
media_dir=V,/media/HD1/Movies
NOTE: Use media_dir or root_container

#################################################
# Use a different container as the root
# of the directory tree presented to
# clients.
#
# The possible values are:
#   * "." - standard container
#   * "B" - "Browse Directory"
#   * "M" - "Music"
#   * "P" - "Pictures"
#   * "V" - "Video"
#   * Or, you can specify the ObjectID
#     of your desired root container
#     (eg. 1$F for Music/Playlists)
#
# If you specify "B" and the client
# device is audio-only then "Music/Folders"
# will be used as root.
###########################################
#root_container=B,/media/HD1

#################################################
# Network interface(s) to bind to
#(e.g. eth0), comma delimited.
#
# This option can be specified more than once.
#################################################
network_interface=eth0

#################################################
# Automatic discovery of new files
# in the media_dir directory.
#################################################
inotify=yes

#################################################
# Name that the DLNA server presents to clients.
# Defaults to "hostname: username".
#################################################
friendly_name=HomePi

#################################################
# Path to the directory that should
# hold the database and album art cache
#################################################
db_dir=/opt/minidlna
 
 
Now from you TV or other media device, like Android (use MediaHouse) you can stream
or download you media, with no config required on the clients, because these automatically
detect the DLNA server on the LAN.

Related Links

• http://thenewstack.io/building-a-media-server-with-a-raspberry-pi-for-streaming-music-to-a-galaxy-s5/
• http://raspisimon.dlinkddns.com/dlna.php
   
   

GRUB - Rescue BootLoader on a USB Flash Drive

My goal is to just have a GRUB bootloader (without a Linux instalation) on a USB Flash Drive to:

• Boot OS with Bootloaders without entering the BIOS
• Boot OS with Broken Boot Loaders
• Boot Linux Live CDs

 

Installing the GRUB Boot Loader

Run a live CD like Ubuntu, a boot i without installing it.

First list your disks in order to identify you USB Flash Drive

    sudo fdisk -l

if you have trouble identifying you USB Flash Drive just run the command above without the USB Flash Drive, the insert it and list again, compare the outputs, and the extra disk is you USB Flash Drive.

My USB Flash Drive is “sdb1” (b=second HD | 1=first partition), now let’s make a folder to mount the usb flash drive (my Flash Drive was formated with the ext4 filesystem), and mount it:

    sudo mkdir /mnt/USB
    sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/USB

Now let’s just install the the bootloader

    sudo grub-install --force --removable --boot-directory=/mnt/USB/boot /dev/sdb

boot code goes on /dev/sdb and grub files on /mnt/USB/boot.

 

Set Up the Grub Configuration FIle

Now just create/edit the grub config file

    nano /mnt/USB/boot/grub/grub.cfg

and input the following configuration:

grub.cfg
_____________________________________________

set timeout=10
set default=0

menuentry "#### Boot OS with Bootloaders without entering the BIOS ####" {set root=(hd1)}

menuentry "HD0 (First HD – This USB Flash Drive)" {
set root=(hd0)
chainloader +1
}

menuentry "HD1 (Second HD)" {
set root=(hd1)
chainloader +1
}

menuentry "HD2 (Third HD)" {
set root=(hd2)
chainloader +1
}

menuentry "HD3 (Fourth HD)" {
set root=(hd3)
chainloader +1
}

 

menuentry "#### Boot OS with Broken Boot Loaders ####" {set root=(hd1)}

menuentry "Ubuntu 16.04 (HD1 - First HD)"  {

    insmod part_msdos
    insmod ext2
    set root=(hd1,msdos1)

    echo 'Loading Linux Kernel...'
    linux /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-24-generic root=/dev/sda1
       
    echo 'Loading Initial Ramdisk ...'
    initrd /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-24-generic
    boot
}

menuentry "Windows XP/7/10 (HD1 - First HD)"  {

    insmod part_msdos
    insmod ntfs
    set root=(hd1,msdos1)

    drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
    chainloader +1
}

 

menuentry "#### Boot Linux Live CDs ####" {set root=(hd1)}
   
menuentry "Ubuntu 16.04 ISO (On This USB PEN Drive)" {

    set isofile="/ubuntu-16.04-desktop-amd64.iso"
    loopback loop (hd0,msdos1)$isofile
    linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz.efi boot=casper iso-scan/filename=$isofile noprompt noeject
    initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
}

This is what it looks like:

You migth need to adjust some things if you have more disks, partitions or diferent linux distro. To make it easyer I have put the things you migth need to change in bold.

The above config was for the following setup

• One USB Flash Drive (with Grub Installed)
  • hd0,msdos1 - First HD | First Partition – MBR Geometry
  • This is was my USB Flash Drive
• One Hard Drive for OS
  • hd1,msdos1 – Second HD | First Partition – MBR Geometry
  • This is the Disk with the OS

If you have trouble Identifying you disks and partion you can press ‘c’, on the grub menu, to get the GRUB command line and run “ls” :

this was very hepfull, specially identifying the the name for the MBR partitions aka “msdos” .

Related Links

• http://www.pendrivelinux.com/install-grub2-on-usb-from-ubuntu-linux/
• https://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/html_node/Chain_002dloading.html
• http://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2014/04/install-grub-customizer-ubuntu-1404/

Windows – SSH SOCKS Proxy

If you have a Raspberry Pi or any Linux machine at home, you can use it as an SSH Proxy with the help of SSH and exit to the Internet via you home conection/IP.

Some of the advantages are:

• Privacy (SSH Traffic is Encrypted)
• Bypassing Local Security Policies (Access Blocked Services)

no aditional configuration needed on the SSH server

You only need to forward port 22 on your internet router to the linux host on your LAN (no aditional configuration needed on youre Linux SSH server).

Now that you have port 22 forwarded to you Linux in you home Lan, from somewhere on the Internet setup an Dynamic SSH Tunnel on Putty like show bellow (replace the 98.125.80.38  with your own Public IP):

The tunnel will remain working as long this Putty windows is open:

Now on your Browser (or any other aplication that supports it) you must configure the Socks Proxy to point to the local end of the Dynamic SSH Tunnel, and that’s it.

Now all your browser’s traffic will be sent to the local port 8080 wich SSH wil tunnel it to you home where it will exit via you linux machine.

Here I show how to set up the Socks Proxy on IE (Internet Explorer).

Tools > Internet Options > Connections > LAN Settings > Proxy Server > Advanced

You can go on your browser to:

• http://whatismyipaddress.com/

to confirm see Public IP and confirm from wich connection you entering the internet