Workstation configuration

2006-11-13T13:25:37Z

Xavier: /* Mac OS X Software for doing research */

== Network configuration ==
You should get a static IP from the system administrator. Your hostname will be the name of a famous scientist and the domain is ulb.ac.be. Other relevant addresses are:

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
|-
! Description
! IP address
|-
|
Gateway
|
164.15.10.254
|-
|
DNS1
|
164.15.59.200
|}

You might also need to add the following data, althoug many systems set it automatically:

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
|-
!Description
!Value
|-
|
Network
|
164.15.10.0
|-
|
Netmask
|
255.255.255.0
|-
|
Broadcast
|
164.15.10.255
|}

=== Wi-Fi network configuration ===
All IRIDIA lab is covered by a wireless network. To join it you should get the password from the system administrator. Relevant configuration data are:

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
|-
! Description !! Value
|-
|| Network name || dorigoextreme
|-
|| Radio mode || 802.11b/g Compatible
|-
|| Channel || 1
|-
|| Wireless Security Mode || 128bit WEP
|-
|| DNS Server || 164.15.59.200
|-
|| Distributed IPs || 10.0.2.2-200
|}

== Firewall configuration ==
Since the computers are available through direct connections from internet you should protect your machine with a firewall.
Linux provides an integrated mechanism for accepting or rejecting incoming packets.

If you want to setup a good firewall quickly, you may use the following link :
[http://easyfwgen.morizot.net/gen/ Firewall script generator]

'''How to generate the firewall script ?'''

Usually, the interface to internet is eth0. You can check your available interfaces
by typing (as root) :

''# ifconfig -a''

Most of the time, you wish to have an access to the computer, but you still want it
to be secure. The best is to disable any inbound service except SSH. The SSH connections
are encrypted so that you can safely access to the computer even if someone is tcpdumping
your connection.

For the moment, I don't know how to use the Fireparse format. If you know about it
just use it. Otherwise you'll have to take a look at the logs (''/var/log/syslog'') to
monitor the possible network problems or attacks.

Now that you have all the necessary informations, you can generate the firewall script.
Name this script ''iptables'', give it execution rights (''chmod u+x iptables'') and put it under the directory ''/etc/init.d/''.

Be aware that the script loads some iptables modules in your kernel. If you have recompiled your kernel then you
should ensure that the necessary modules are present. If you have statically linked the code to the kernel
then you should remove the modprobe commands in the firewall's script.

Now simply add a symbolic link in the runlevel 2 to this script by typing (as root) :

''# ln -s /etc/rc2.d/S12iptables /etc/init.d/iptables''

You should adapt the number 12 to your needs. The firewall must be run as early as possible.
For example if telnet services are run before it, an attack is still possible. Be careful about this.

If you want to understand more deeply iptables, you can check the following URLs :

[http://www.netfilter.org/ Iptables official website]

[http://iptables-tutorial.frozentux.net/iptables-tutorial.html Iptables tutorial and explanations]

[http://lea-linux.org/reseau/iptables.html Setting up a firewall using iptables (in french)]

== Printer configuration ==

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
|-
! Name
! URL
! Model
! Location
|-
|
Gutenberg
|
gutenberg.ulb.ac.be
|
HP4100
|
Office C.5.106A
|-
|
Meucci
|
meucci.ulb.ac.be
|
Ricoh Aficio 1027
|
Office C.5.106A
|-
|
EPSON_Stylus_Photo_1290
|
tinbergen.ulb.ac.be
|
EPSON Stylus Photo 1290
|
Office C.5.102A
|-
|}

'''Linux Install'''

# Install CUPS (Debian: apt-get install cup-sys).
# Run cups daemon
# Point printer at localhost:631
# Click on Printers tab. Click the button 'Add printer'
Use following configuration options
* Location and description: Ping Pong Room - Meucci OR Gutenberg
* Device: LPD/LPR Host or Printer
* Device URL: lpd://gutenberg.ulb.ac.be:515/lp OR lpd://meucci.ulb.ac.be:515/lp
* Model/Driver: Raw Queue

'''Windows XP Install'''

# Goto Printers->Add New Printer
# Select Network Printer
# Enter URL http://gutenberg.ulb.ac.be OR http://meucci.ulb.ac.be
<br>
<br>

== The IRIDIA and the ULB network ==
The IRIDIA system administrator can create an account on the local subnet for you, however, if you want to have access to some of the computer services of the university, you'll need an account on the university network as well. Ask the secretary for the forms and the process.

== Mail configuration ==
Assuming that you have an account on both the local and the university network the mail settings are as follows:

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
|-
! Service
! URL
|-
|
SMTP
|
smtp.ulb.ac.be
|-
|
Iridia POP
|
iridia.ulb.ac.be
|-
|
Iridia IMAP
|
iridia.ulb.ac.be
|-
|
ULB POP
|
pop.ulb.ac.be
|-
|
ULB IMAP
|
pop.ulb.ac.be
|}

The SMTP server does not require authentication. The POP and IMAP services of ULB accept unsecure connections (no SSL). The POP and IMAP servers of Iridia require secure connections (with SSL).

There are also web interfaces available to read the email if you can not connect to the above servers via POP or IMAP:

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
|-
!SERVER
!URL
|-
|
ULB
|
[https://wwwdev.ulb.ac.be/webmail2/webmail.php https://wwwdev.ulb.ac.be/webmail2/webmail.php]
|-
|
IRIDIA
|
[https://iridia.ulb.ac.be/squirrelmail/ https://iridia.ulb.ac.be/squirrelmail/]
|}

== See also ==
[[Software HOWTOs]]

== For Mac OS X users ==
In order to help Mac OS X users staying updated for what concerne security issues with their systems we suggest to subscribe to the following mailing list:

[http://lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/security-announce Security-announce -- product security notifications and announcements from Apple]

=== Mac OS X Software for doing research ===
Here you can find a list of softwares that you might want to check out:

* LaTeX
[http://www.tug.org/mactex/ MacTeX.dmg package - Easy-to-Install Package, which contains a complete and up to date TeX system from Gerben Weirda's gwTeX redistribution]
Free

[http://www.uoregon.edu/~koch/texshop/ TexShop - graphical front-end for TeX]
Free, GPL

[http://bibdesk.sourceforge.net/ BibDesk - graphical BibTeX-bibliography manager for mac OS]
Free, BSD-license

[http://ktd.club.fr/programmation/latexit_en.php LaTeXiT - small utility to quickly typeset LaTeX equation obtaining PDF images]
Free

* Statistical analysis
[http://mirrors.dotsrc.org/cran/bin/macosx/ R.app - Cocoa-based GUI for Mac OS X that was introduced in R 2.0]
Free, GPL

* Secure Shell
[http://rsug.itd.umich.edu/software/fugu/ Fugu - Mac OS X SFTP, SCP and SSH Frontend]
Free, BSD-license

[http://projects.tynsoe.org/en/stm/index.php SSH Tunnel Manager - front-end for the ssh command when used to open tunnels between two hosts]
Free

* Version Control System
[http://metissian.com/projects/macosx/subversion/ Subversion Client with SSL and JavaHL Bindings - Binary Package]
Free
[http://landau.ulb.ac.be/~mmanfrin/media/mov/intro_to_subversion.mov (QuickTime movie with introduction to Subversion)]

* System utilities
[http://www.end.com/BSP/ BSP - customize the Spotlight search results with your own categories]
Creative Commons, Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5

[http://www.cs.haifa.ac.il/%7Eshuly/unison/ Unison - cross platform file synchronization software - Binary Package]
Free, GPL

===Setting up OS X as a Scientific Programming Environment===
[http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~salathe/osx_unix/ Great little article in setting up a scientific programming environment on OS X]

[http://www.macresearch.org/a_few_tips_for_linux_switchers A few tips for Linux switchers]

===Project management on Mac OS X===
[http://www.merlin2.net/ Merlin 2]
Commercial
([http://www.macresearch.org/review_merlin_2 Review of the program by MacResearch.org])

===Performance Optimization on Mac OS X===
[http://landau.ulb.ac.be/~mmanfrin/media/pdf/Optimization_Tutorial.pdf WWDC 2004 - Optimization Tutorial]

[http://landau.ulb.ac.be/~mmanfrin/media/pdf/409.pdf WWDC 2005 - Performance Analysis of Your Memory Code]

IridiaWiki - User contributions [en]

Workstation configuration