Google Authenticator + OpenVPN Access Server versus Traditional RSA Token + UTM Device

nbeam published 11 years ago in OpenVPN, VPN. Tags: , , , ,

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Most UTM (unified threat management) Firewall devices worth their price tag include a VPN server as part of the mix. In my experience, a UTM is an excellent choice for a small office and/or most smaller enterprises as several of the higher-end devices scale quite far. For a larger, corporate network though, while a UTM (or two or three) might be part of the security mix, larger dedicated components often make more sense.

That being said, if you have a UTM, and it includes a VPN solution, you may be considering taking advantage of this for remote network access. While I wouldn’t necessarily advise against doing this, before going to far down that road I would tell you to look into deploying OpenVPN Access Server instead with Google Authenticator. Here is why…
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Drupal – PathAuto – Making User Friendly Profile URLs

nbeam published 11 years ago in Drupal, Web Administration. Tags: , , , ,

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If you are running a drupal 7 (and perhaps other versions) site, and your site has a bunch of users, you may want to listen up.

You have probably noticed that your User profile URL’s always point to the UID number (user id), which isn’t particularly user friendly.

So pathing currently looks something like this:

www.mycooldrupasite.com/user/257

And this actually goes to John Hancock’s profile page… But you would never know that based on the URL. This is fine, if your site/web application really isn’t dependent on users being able to easily find other user’s profile pages. However, if you DO need to let your users easily find other users profiles, one of the things you should look into is URL Aliasing the profile page URL. URL Aliasing… what’s that you ask?

Aliasing simply means giving the same page or node on your site an alternate URL path (often a more user friendly one than what drupal auto-generates). So in this brief write-up I am going to talk about how to change John Hancock’s profile page from:

www.mycooldrupasite.com/user/257

to

www.mycooldrupasite.com/users/jhancock

–or– if you prefer

www.mycooldrupasite.com/users/john-hancock

Let’s dive in…
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Drupal – Views Megarow – Tokens – How-To

nbeam published 11 years ago in Drupal, Web Administration. Tags: , , ,

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After pulling my hair out for sometime as my Google-Fu was weak and apparently no one else has written a straightforward walk-through, I finally figured out how to get the Drupal Views Megarow module working for me. This article makes some basic assumptions about your knowledge of Drupal.

1. You are familiar with using “Views”
2. You have turned on Clean URLS for your site
3. You are working with Drupal 7

If you can answer “yes” to the first two items above, then that means you probably aren’t brand new to Drupal Administration.

Okay… first, what is Views Megarow and why is it going to transform your Web Application and thrill your users?
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OpenFire + Microsoft Active Directory + Security = Awesome Enterprise Instant Messenger

nbeam published 11 years ago in Database Administration, Domain Administration, IM Administration, Linux, Microsoft, MySQL, OpenFire, Ubuntu, Web Administration. Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

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Here is the scenario – You are an IT Admin for a business that is large enough or handles data of a particular type such that you have to worry about security more than the average Joe. Furthermore, you get audited from time to time. However, people want an IM (Instant Messenger) solution and… they want to be able to talk to their friends on AIM and ICQ and Yahoo, etc… and management rather than just killing the idea says “Fine… Mrs. IT Person – you go figure it out…”

After a bit of digging via the worlds most useful IT Encyclopedia — GOOGLE — you discover there are a Myriad of option for IM — but the list narrows as you start realizing that most don’t meet the following security and operational requirements:

  • No File Sharing
  • All messages must be audited and stored for XYZ period of time
  • All messages must be encrypted/secure from eavesdropping
  • You users must login using their already corporately managed Microsoft Active Directory Credentials
  • Your users want access to AIM, ICQ, etc… which also must be audited if they are using these accounts from work
  • Your users want access to corporate IM from their mobile device

That is an exhausting list. Luckily, there is one solution out there that is incredibly slick… AND it meets all of these requirements… AND… it just so happens to be COMPLETELY FREE.

Enter OpenFire Chat Server – it is going to make you look like an IT Superhero to your colleagues and to the budgeting department (you, know, if those folks actually pay attention to IT :)… more and more they do these days.) Yes, it runs on Linux. But it is very lightweight, and if you are in a Microsoft environment and have an under worked server with a decent amount of storage and some extra ram (running at least Server 2008 R2), you can convert that machine into a Hyper-V host and build your Chat server in virtual at little or no direct cost. You can also use old or cheap hardware if your organization just isn’t ready to virtualize something. This is worth jumping on the Linux bus for :).

If you still aren’t fully persuaded, OpenFire does have a Windows Distribution now available. Based on the experience I have had in the past with running software developed on Linux, for Linux then ported to Windows… I suggest you stick with Linux. It might be absolutely fine on Windows (I didn’t try it), but my general experience with getting other Linux-ported software to run on Windows has not been pleasant.

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