Once LDAP is installed you have, at your fingertips, plenty of tools to add, edit, and delete data on that server. One of those tools is critical to keeping data current. That tool is ldapmodify. In this article I am going to show you how to use this tool to modify an entry in an LDAP server.

Command basics

The ldapmodify command isn’t exactly like all other commands. Instead of just running a single command and being done with it, you issue the command, do you work, and then escape out of the command. The actual modification of the data doesn’t happen until you escape the command. The sequence goes like this:

1. Issue the ldapmodify command (with appropriate options).
2. Inform ldapmodify what you are modifying.
3. Modify your data.
4. Escape with CTRL-d.
5. ldapmodify will make the changes.

Yes, it does seem like a fairly complex process…and yes it is a complex, but a very necessary process.

Let’s take a look at the actual process. As an example I am going to modify the gecos entry of an already existing directory entry. The gecos entry is a general information field that can be used for just about anything). Let’s have some fun and change the gecos entry for user scooper and indicate that Sheldon Cooper is a Theoretical Physicist at Caltech University. We’ll assume the gecos entry only contains the information “Sheldon Cooper” and the LDAP server’s is on 192.168.1.10 and the full dc is wallen.local. Here is the actual process for this task:

Issue the command:

ldapmodify -h localhost -x -W -D "cn=admin,dc=wallen,dc=local"

It will now seem like the command is stuck. It’s actually just waiting for input. The input will look like this (hit Enter after each line):

dn: uid=scooper,ou=People,dc=wallen,dc=local
changetype: modify
replace: gecos
gecos: Theoretical Physicist, Caltech University

Once you have completed entering this text, hit Enter, and then hit CTRL-d to escape the command and then you should see something like:

modifying entry "uid=scooper,ou=People,dc=wallen,dc=local"

Now if you issue the ldapsearch command you will see the changes made. The ldapsearch command would look something like:

ldapsearch -x -b "dc=wallen,dc=local" -s sub "objectclass=*"

You should see Sheldon’s listing like this:

# scooper, People, wallen.local
dn: uid=scooper,ou=People,dc=wallen,dc=local
uid: scooper
cn: Sheldon Cooper
objectClass: account
objectClass: posixAccount
objectClass: top
loginShell: /bin/bash
uidNumber: 500
gidNumber: 120
homeDirectory: /home/scooper
gecos: Theoretical Physicist Caltech University

You now have modified the entry. Of course you aren’t limited to the gecos entry. You can actually modify any entry you want using the same technique.

Final thoughts

Hopefully LDAP is getting easier and easier for you. You can now add and modify entries. We will keep digging and eventually you will have the LDAP basics mastered.

© Jack Wallen for gHacks Technology News, 2010. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us, digg, facebook, reddit, twitter
Post tags: Directory Server, LDAP, ldapsearch

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The program displays different options on the startup window, and in three other tabs. In the drive security tab it is possible to hide drives from the computer, lock drives and disallow autorun for specific drive letters. Autorun can also be disabled for drive types, with individual options available for USB Flash Disk / floppy disk, hdd hard disk drives, CD and DVD drives and RAM disks.

It is for instance possible to hide drive a from being displayed in Windows, especially if that drive is not even available in the operating system. Note, Windows 7 does that automatically as it hides drives without medium automatically.

drive security

The drive substitution tab offers to set drive letters to folders of the operating system with the option to perform the operation on every start of the system. It performs the same operation as the subst command line tool.

disk management

Drive monitoring supposedly allows a user to monitor selected drives. This threw some error messages on our Windows 7 64-bit test system. It may be incompatible with 64-bit systems and work fine with 32-bit systems. We had to kill the Drive-Thru process though because the monitoring could not be stopped, even though the controls to cancel and stop were displayed on the screen.

The final tab offers several features on one page. It can be used to configure drive labels and icons, display drive related information, convert drives to the NTFS file format, define if and how the drive letter shall be displayed, enable write protection for removable drives and select the drives that are accessible in drive explorer on the computer desktop.

Drive-Thru is an interesting portable program for Windows, that can aid the user in configuring various drive related settings. We would recommend to stay away from the drive monitoring feature though, as it seems to be buggy at this time. There are other programs that work better and without errors. (via JKWebTalks)

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First those that are implemented directly in a game, then third party software that uses client and server communication, and finally software that requires only a client.

RaidCall belongs to the third group, as users only need to install the client software to use the voice communication software. That’s different from comparable solutions such as Teamspeak or Ventrilo which both require a server running the server software before they can be used.

RaidCall clients communicate directly with a master server that transfers the data to the connected clients. Because of this, it supports up to 1000 clients per channel. The number of clients per server is however limited to 30 at this moment. It can be increased by inviting new users. Each new user increases the limit by one.

raidcall

Users can log in anonymously to start chatting right away, or create a free account which is required to create a free Raidcall server and use the friend’s list for basic social networking features.

One interesting feature of Raidcall is the ability to display an overlay control window whenever it is needed. Raidcall uses less resources than Teamspeak, the only other voice communication software we had installed on our test server. The software used about 27 Megabytes of RAM while running on the 64-bit test system, compared to the 40 Megabytes of Teamspeak.

The audio quality was okay. One negative aspect compared to Teamspeak was the missing option to change the audio codec, to accommodate for lower or higher bandwidth groups.

RaidCall is an interesting alternative, considering that it does not require a rented or hosted server to communicate in groups. The voice communication software is available for download at the developer site.

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That was a huge problem for users who came to rely on the program’s functionality in previous Windows editions. Finally, after a year of inactivity, Paul Accisano decided to continue the project. The main goal of the project is to make QTTabBar compatible with Windows 7.

The recently released alpha 4 of QTTabBar 1.5 already works under Windows 7, and while it is still an alpha version with bugs that need to be sorted out it works reasonably well already.

The program is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system. It automatically offers to kill and restart the explorer.exe process after installation. Users who do not want to do that need to restart the computer, or log off and on again to see the changes.

Windows 7 users need to enable the tabbar by clicking on View > Toolbars > QTTabBar.

qttabbar

This displays tabs in Windows Explorer. Folders can be opened in tabs by dragging and dropping them into the tabbar. It is then possible to switch between tabs with the mouse.

A right-click on a tab displays a context menu with various options, including the ability to lock tabs, create groups, close and clone tabs, copy the path and to change the tab order.

The Explorer plugin works reasonably well, it does however have a few bugs that need to be sorted out. Saving files for instance did display “file does not exist” warnings after the process, even though the files have been saved properly in the location. The error messages went away after uninstalling QTTabBar, and appeared again after installing it for a second time.

QTTabBar in its current form needs some work done. The developer however has achieved several milestones so far, with the most important one being compatibility with the Windows 7 operating system. The program can once again become a must have for many Windows users, if the bugs are sorted out. Lets wait for the beta and final versions before a verdict on that though.

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Post tags: explorer++, qttabbar, windows explorer tabs, windows software, windows-explorer

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One of the most annoying problems of Steam, is the inability to select custom installation folders for Steam games. All games that are downloaded and installed via Steam are installed in the same folder on the same hard drive.

This can be problematic, as even the biggest hard drives eventually run out of space. Many Steam users help themselves by uninstalling games to free up space on their hard drive, before installing new ones on the system.

Moving Steam to a different hard drive can be another effective option, especially if the other hard drive offers more space than the old one.

Steam itself offers no direct option to move the steam folder to another hard drive. It is however possible to do just that with some manual work. The same workaround can also be used to move Steam to another computer.

Lets assume that the Steam folder is currently located on drive c:, which does not have enough space anymore to store all the Steam games. Drive e: is a new hard drive with lots of free space.

To move Steam from c: to e: perform the following five steps:

• Close Steam, make sure the client is completely closed.
• Locate the SteamApps folder on the c: drive, it is located in Steam > Steamapps, usually in Program Files or Program Files (x86).
• Move the entire folder from drive c: to e: root
• Uninstall Steam completely after the games and files have been moved to the new drive.
• Reboot your computer once
• Install Steam again, this time on drive e:
• Move the Steamapps folder into Steam folder.
• Start Steam. The client will automatically recognize the games in the Steamapps folder and make them available again.

That’s how the Steam folder is moved to another drive or computer. Let me know if you are interested in a tutorial on how to move individual Steam games to another drive.

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Most antivirus rescue disks are supplied in the disk ISO format and need to be burned to CD or DVD. Kaspersky recently started to offer the Kaspersky USB Rescue Disk Maker which, as the name suggests, can create a bootable rescue disk on an USB flash drive.

Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10 is designed to scan and disinfect x86 and x64-compatible computers that have been infected. The application should be used when the infection is so severe that it is impossible to disinfect the computer using anti-virus applications or malware removal utilities (such as Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool) running under the operating system.

Two downloads are necessary to create the bootable Kaspersky USB Rescue Disk:

• The most recent ISO image of Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10 [link]
• The Kaspersky USB Rescue Disk Maker [link]

The USB device needs to use the FAT16 or FAT32 file system, and not NTFS.

To create the bootable USB rescue disk do the following:

• Install Kaspersky USB Rescue Disk Maker on the PC.
• Browse to the ISO image of the Kaspersky Rescue Disk in the program interface after startup, and select one of the connected USB devices. This device will be used to create the bootable rescue disk.

kaspersky usb rescue disk

A click on Start copies the relevant files from the ISO image to the USB drive.

It is important to test the USB rescue device at least once, to make sure that it will work in emergencies. It is usually necessary to enable booting from removable devices in the BIOS, so that the boot process picks up the USB rescue disk before the actual operating system(s) on the hard drive.

Kaspersky’s Rescue Disk can be used to disinfect systems that have been rendered unbootable by a virus and in scenarios where it is not possible to disinfect the virus while the operating system is running.

It is naturally also possible to burn the ISO image to CD or DVD, if that is preferred.

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An automated solution can be beneficial to the user, as it offers to change to a different network profile in seconds.

NetCon Manager is a basic program for the job. It can be used to create different network profiles like the previously reviewed TCP Profiles Manager. Basic in this regard means that it only offers a basic set of parameters per profile.

The supported parameters include the local IP address, subnet mask, gateway and DNS servers. It is in this regard inferior to Quick Config which offers to change additional settings such as the hosts file, computer name, workgroup and domain memberships or the default system printer.

New profiles can be created, deleted and activated in the main interface of the program. Each profile uses the aforementioned values.A comfortable option is the ability to load the current configuration for the active network connection, which can save some typing.

To change the network settings the user would either have to click on the change network settings button in the program interface, or right-click on the system tray icon of the program and pick the desired network profile from the list of all available profiles.

Netcon Manager can be configured to run at Windows system start. The free program may prove useful for some users. An overview of the program’s features and options is available at the developer website.

© Martin for gHacks Technology News, 2010. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us, digg, facebook, reddit, twitter
Post tags: netcon manager, network, network connection, network profiles, windows software

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The picture looks different when individual browser versions are analyzed. Internet Explorer 8 gained 1.03%, the most in market share in the month of August 2010. Both Internet Explorer 7 (-0.79%) and Internet Explorer 6 (-0.82%) have lost market share considerably. Firefox 3.6 gained 0.65% and Chrome 6 gained 0.29%.

Those browsers had the biggest market share in August according to NetMarketshare, a company that tracks share statistics for Internet technologies.

The statistics of Statcounter show a similar trend, albeit with different numbers. The Internet Explorer market share dropped by 1.34% but still sits comfortably at 51.34%.

browser market share august 2010

The Firefox web browser managed to gain 0.40% of market share in August 2010, and ended up with a market share of 31.095. Chrome was the big winner that month breaking the 10% barrier for the first time. Statcounter recorded a market share of 10.76%, a gain of 0.88% over the last month.

Both Opera and Safari remained stable at 1.9% respectively 4.2% market share.

The trends of the last months continue. Internet Explorer 6 and 7 are dropped by users, while Internet Explorer 8 and Google Chrome manage to gain that market share. It is likely that this trend will continue for some time. The release of Internet Explorer 9 and Firefox 4 are most likely to break that pattern.

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Post tags: browser market share, firefox, google chrome, internet-explorer, market share, web browser

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But first things first. Download Squad’s Lee Mathews was the first to report that the stable version of Google Chrome made the jump to version 6. That’s a milestone for the browser that just turned two today as well.

Chrome stable users now have access to new features such as browser data syncing, or autofill, next to better content settings for plugins and scripting languages.

The release is a security release as well, fixing more than a dozen different security vulnerabilities in the browser, of which seven received a severity rating of high.

Chrome users are asked to upgrade their web browser as soon as possible to protect the browser from possible exploits.

It does not look that rosy for the upcoming Firefox 4 version that is currently in development. According to Softpedia information the developers have decided to remove features from the release to meet the deadline.

The first feature that was axed was the new account manager which was introduced back in April 2010. But the removal of the account manager may not be the only casualty to meet the deadline. At risk are silent updates on Windows, the Inspector and Web Console.

Feature freeze of Firefox 4 was initially planed for Firefox 4 Beta 5, but has since then been postponed to September 10th.

Firefox 4 will still offer several improvements over Firefox 3. It is however disappointing that at least one feature has been removed from the browser release.

What’s your take on this browser development? Let us know in the comments.

© Martin for gHacks Technology News, 2010. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us, digg, facebook, reddit, twitter
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Ping allows them to follow friends and artists, and everyone will be able to post information including images, videos or music.

ITunes Ping feels a lot like Facebook in this regard. It requires a valid Apple ID and needs to be activated after the installation of iTunes 10 before it can be used.

Ping offers some interesting features, including custom top ten lists based on the listening habits of a user’s friends. The software will be available as an app on iPhone and iPod touch so that users can interact with the network from their mobile devices as well.

itunes ping

itunes ping friends

But iTunes Ping is just one of the new features in iTunes 10. TV show rentals are now available for 99 cents per episode. The shows are commercial free, come in HD, and are available for 48 hours in a 30 day period after renting the show. The shows can be watched on PC, Mac, Apple TV and iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.

Additional features worth mentioning are improved syncing, which shows a capacity bar for devices connected to the computer, Apple TV support and AirPlay support so that AirPlay capable devices can connect to iTunes.

In other news, iTunes 10 is still one of the programs with the most active background processes after installation. The new version will automatically start AppleMobileDeviceHelper.exe, distnoted.exe and iTunesHelper.exe as permanent background processes:

The iTuneshelper.exe process can be removed from startup in msconfig or any other startup manager. The remaining background processes are triggered by services, specifically Apple Mobile Device and iPod Service.

Apple iTunes 10 can be downloaded from the official Apple website.

© Martin for gHacks Technology News, 2010. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us, digg, facebook, reddit, twitter
Post tags: apple, apple itunes, itunes, itunes 10, itunes ping

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