O&B is now an Authorized Google Apps Reseller Partner

Google has formally recognized and authorized Orange and Bronze Software Labs to be its Google Apps Reseller Partner here in the Philippines this May 2010.

This has been in progress since the Q4 of 2009, when Google has been starting to penetrate the market of hosted mail services, particularly here in the Asia-Pacific region. It targets companies who are looking into alternatives on upgrading their current Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes (with Exchange 2010 just officially released on Nov. 2009) and following a growing trend where companies are outsourcing some IT-related services that they use.

In a nutshell, Google Apps Premier Edition is Google's business solution for communication and collaboration for the corporate setting. Quoting a portion from the Google Apps Official website, "Google's web-based messaging and collaboration apps require no hardware or software and need minimal administration, creating tremendous time and cost savings for businesses.", which is basically it's main selling point... reduced cost but still a powerful tool for your business. To know more about Google Apps Premier Edition, visit the product's homepage.

For those interested, most especially companies here in the Philippines, do not hesitate to forward your questions or inquiries to this email address. If you wish to know more information about Orange and Bronze and other services that are offered, visit their website.

PLDT WeRoam Dongle and Linux (Ubuntu)

I was able to test out a PLDT WeRoam dongle at our office, and to those familiar Linux users out there, there isn't a default configuration avaiable to use the PLDT dongle. The closest configuration is the one saved for Smart Bro.

The configuration that I used to make it work are the following:

• APN: weroamplan
• username: pldt@weroam
• password: pldt
• number to dial: *99#
• authentication method: PAP (or sometimes CHAP)
• allow BSD data, Deflate data and Header data compression
  
• IPV4 Settings: automatic PPP address only, add 8.8.8.8 (GoogleDNS) as your DNS server.
  

The performance if you might ask... it is pretty quick and somewhat reliable (in my case it works like a charm in the Makati area). This setting works like a charm, especially the addition of GoogleDNS (really, PLDT's own DNS suck big-time).

As for those who are having troubles configuring their dongles to work, might I suggest to search over my previous blog posts on some of the guides I have written for it.

Using Apt-Mirror with Debian/Ubuntu netbooting

Just want to share my experiences in configuring your own local apt-mirror to use with netboot installation methods of Debian/Ubuntu. I did this setup in a Debian Lenny 32bit Server inside a VM instance.

First off, the main packages that you do need to install onto your server are...

For your netboot:
# apt-get install tftpd-hpa dhcp3-server

The DHCP server is optional if your network already have a separate machine that handles that since we could use that...

For your apt-mirror and sharing it:
# apt-get install apt-mirror apache2

The first thing that you initially have to do is add something to the configuration file of your DHCP server. Apart from the basic configurations in defining your intended subnet, there is a few additional configurations to be added specifically for your netbooting. You have to add a few lines inside your /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf that will handle redirection of those requesting an IP address and are in PXE booting mode. Below is a sample that needs to be added inside your subnet declaration.

#this is what is inside my DHCP server conf file
subnet 10.10.0.0 netmask 255.255.0.0
{
range 10.10.1.1 10.10.1.199;
option broadcast-address 10.10.255.255;
option router 10.10.1.254;
allow unknown-clients;
#this is what I added for the netboot
next-server (URL or IP of netboot server);
filename "pxelinux.0";
}

Afterwards, you need to edit your /etc/apt/mirror.list to point to the desired mirror server ubuntu/debian resources that you want to copy or mirror. The contents and format of mirror.list is quite similar to what is contained on your /etc/apt/sources.list. There is only one more important detail that needs to be added, which is a "main/debian-installer" and "restricted/debian-installer". To do this, just add an additional entry of a source in your mirror.list that looks something like below, just change the values accordingly to what you intend (if debian or ubuntu and what distro version).

#my sample here is something for Ubuntu Karmic mirror
deb http://(URL of external mirror site)/ubuntu karmic main restricted
deb http://(URL of external mirror site)/ubuntu karmic main/debian-installer restricted/debian-installer
clean http://(URL of external mirror site)

Upon doing this, do a "sudo apt-mirror" so that it will start fetching the packages and such into your local mirror server. For the sample I shown a while ago, it was around 6.7 GB worth of packages, therefore be mindful of the storage capacity of your server and your bandwidth. This will definitely take some time, so let's configure the other stuff you need.

Remember I had you install apache2? We're going to need this to make your apt-mirror visible and can be shared over the network easily. What we only need to do, as a quick configure, is to make a soft-link of your apt-mirror sources file directory (/var/spool/apt-mirror/mirror/) into the default directory of apache2 (/var/www/). Below is a sample on the command to do this.

#if you are making a debian apt-mirror
sudo ln -s /var/spool/apt-mirror/mirror/(URL of external mirror site)/debian /var/www/debian
#if you are making an ubuntu apt-mirror
sudo ln -s /var/spool/apt-mirror/mirror/(URL of external mirror site)/ubuntu /var/www/ubuntu

Afterwards, run your apache2 server and try to view it with your browser (localhost/ubuntu or localhost/debian). You should see a directory on display that somewhat contains packages and stuff that is being fetched by your apt-mirror.

Now we configure your TFTPBOOT. First off, we need to edit your /etc/default/tftpd-hpa file. Try to mimic the settings shown below.

#defaults of the tftpd-hpa with RUN_DAEMON set to YES
RUN_DAEMON=yes
OPTIONS="-l -s /var/lib/tftpboot"

The directory /var/lib/tftpboot is the default directory where your intended netboot images will be placed. You are free to change this value but just be mindful of the needed permissions or ownership of the file or directory as it might be cause some trouble. You can copy into this directory the netboot files of either Ubuntu or Debian. The images that you need can be downloaded here for Debian and here for Ubuntu. In some cases, the default directory doesn't exist so you might need to mkdir one.

After you have placed a netboot image, we then try to run it by...

# /etc/init.d/tftpd-hpa start

To check if it is working, try to boot-up a PC (of course with PXE network booting capabilities) that is connected to your network. If that PC boots up to a network installation menu of the distro that you pasted in your tftpboot directory, it means that things are working for your netboot.

To check if your apt-mirror is working and sharing, during your netboot installation it will ask for a mirror site, you should select the topmost option from the list which gives you a way to manually define the mirror URL. Just type in the IP address of your mirror server and press enter for the defaults of the remaining questions related to it. if it proceeds to the next step of your installation, it is therefore working.

One problem that I encountered while configuring my apt-mirror is that the "debian-installer" is missing, and possible reasons for this is not being included in the /etc/apt/mirror.list or the selected URL site being mirrored doesn't have that resources. Changing the sources and re-run the apt-mirror should do the job.

Some sources I used in making this are listed below. Credits to the writers of the guides.

• http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/478
• http://www.howtoforge.org/local_debian_ubuntu_mirror
  

Hope my guide helps some of you guys out there.

Netboot linux installation solutions

Over these past few days, I have been looking and conducting trials on the various forms of massive or volume based formatting of some of our desktops with linux-based distributions. Since I have the network infrastructure resources at the office (where I work in) at my "diligent" disposal to use, an obvious solution is creating a system that will catch network boot (netboot) requests.

Some few months ago, I have been taught on using DRBL together with Clonezilla for "mass-producing" thin-client units for one of the office's projects. I was planning to integrate this service onto our network but somehow having trouble in configuring it's DHCP server to cooperate or simply use the one already present and implemented on our gateway server. I also partially abandoned the cloning idea because you are basically limited to cloning.

With some discussions done with my peers at the office, this side-project is once again up and running about, but this time I'm experimenting the use of tftpboot and FAI-server. Basically, my current objective is to create a server (a small VM instance) that will handle any lookup for a boot loader. Right now, I have been able to set up a Debian Lenny server with tftpboot installed and configured our gateway/DHCP server to point into that server for pxeboot image request (not sure on how this is called). To test, I stored a generic (available) netboot image of a Debian and Ubuntu Karmic installer that will be thrown into the target desktop PC. So far it is working but of course I still need to figure our a way of optimizing it.

The next steps that I am trying to undertake is studying how to then set it up with FAI (fully automated install). Things are still a bit fuzzy on how to implement this; from what I read, I still have to prep-up a nfs partition or such that will store the images and scripts I plan to install.

Maybe next time... if I have some free time... I could make a detailed blog on configuring each of those features I did mention.

Google Apps... an overview...

Hello! I've been meaning to post something about this, just finding the right (free) time to do so...

To those who doesn't know, Google is starting to campaign more in providing services in the business market, in particular their mail and other web-based services. Google then put all those services into what they call Google Apps.

Google Apps basically is a stream-lined way of managing mail and site services for your domain. The basic services integrated into Google Apps are Gmail, Gtalk, Google Calendars, Google Docs, and Google Sites. To put it simply, Google Apps is somewhat a mail-hosting service for your domain, with a lot more of services to offer.

The main difference of Google Apps with other mail-hosting services available, as well as compared to having your own mail-client server, is the accessibility of it simply through the internet and the integration of all those features together that can be of great use in communication and sharing of various information.

You can easily share and collaborate the work with your co-workers with the help of the services that Google Apps provide like calendar schedules, documents and such amongst the employees or members within that subscribed domain. At the same time, this can easily be managed by their IT personnel because it all boils down to just management of accounts and restriction policies for each employees. No need to maintain a troublesome actual server because Google will take care of it with you, with a 99.9% SLA and 24/7 mail or contact support in case of difficulties.

There is of course a free version of Google Apps, called the standard edition, and you only need a domain in order to register for one (either you have your own domain that doesn't have mail exchange settings, or you could buy one from Google if you don't have one). It provides all the basic features that you and your group will need with a limited number of user accounts that can be created. The mail has the typical 7+ GB storage similar to the regular Gmail, and the typical features goes for the other services.

However, if you need more user accounts and to utilize it more to suit your company's need, like mail filtering and larger storage capacities, purchasing the premier edition is the way to go. Upon purchasing the premier edition, you will gain a mail storage upgrade to 25GB, additional option to create resources (rooms, projectors, etc) that can be assigned in the entries managed through Google Calendar, Postini mail-filtering services, enabling of API functionality, LDAP and RADIUS authentication redirection for those who have existing systems that manage user authentication, synchronization features with Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange. There are still other features that you will gain upon purchasing the premier edition.

To interested parties located within the Philippines, the office where I am currently working provides services in helping interested parties in planning, purchasing and managing their Google Apps premier edition. Just visit our website to check out our company or contact us here if you wish to ask any question with regards to Google Apps services for your company.

For more info on what is Google Apps, visit Google's website for this here.

Intel HDA sound issue for Ubuntu Karmic Koala

Hello! It has been a long time since I posted something here on this thread of mine... just want to share this to those who are having troubles with enabling the sound on their machines upon installation of Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala with Intel HDA hardwares... I went through this trouble because I updated using a beta version hehehe!

First off, try to determine first the model or chipset of your audio hardware by means of checking it out on...

$ aplay -l

Then, edit the alsa-base.conf file as a super-user with a text editor of your choice... in my case it was vi...

$ sudo vi /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

Add the following line, maybe at the end of the file...

options snd-hda-intel model=

The model list is listed at this site... it's is the reference site I used to fix mine. Just to share, my unit is a Lenovo Y410, so it has the ALC262 chipset... in the list, I used the "lenovo-3000" as the value.

Also, if there is still trouble, might I suggest to comment-out this line... (just add a sharp "#" on the front)

#options snd-hda-intel power_save=10

Hope this helps to those in need.

Guitar Hero 5 works with Rock Band instruments for Wii

A few weeks ago, I bought a Rock Band 2 Band-set... Guitar, Drums, and Mic... for my Wii console. For reference, my Wii is a modified US version with a Wii-Key installed. My Rock Band 2 copy is of course original since it came with the bundle. I thought at first I made a bad move buying a Rock Band bundle and not a Guitar Hero instrument bundle to ensure that I could use the same instruments for the upcoming Guitar Hero 5.

Well, after "purchasing" a copy of Guitar Hero 5 (game only)... I gambled on just trying the Rock Band instruments just for kicks before I purchase a Guitar Hero guitar. Turns out, the wireless guitar and wireless drum set actually works! Cool!!!

My office-mate has a Rock Band 1 instrument bundle, I'm pretty much guessing it will also work with Guitar Hero 5... Woot!

That's about it I guess... I'm off to band session... nyahahaha!