How to create keys with easy-rsa without a password prompt.

To create a new set of keys for OpenVPN using Easy-RSA, we firstly need to clean our environment and get ready for the build. $ ./easyrsa init-pki$ ./easyrsa init-pki Now we need to build the certificate authority. $ ./easyrsa build-ca nopass   Note: using Easy-RSA configuration from: ./vars Generating a 2048 bit RSA private key … Read more

Add a fancy progress bar to the apt command on Linux.

To add a fancy progress bar to the apt command on Linux, edit this file: /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/99progressbar and add the line below. Dpkg::Progress-Fancy "1";Dpkg::Progress-Fancy "1"; Save the file and when you next install software with the apt command, you will get a fancy progress bar at the bottom of the screen. This is a very nice … Read more

Get information about your computer hardware with Linux.

Get information about installed hardware with these commands This command will print the make and model of your motherboard. jason@eyjafjallajkull:~$ sudo dmidecode -t baseboard [sudo] password for jason: # dmidecode 2.12 SMBIOS 2.4 present.   Handle 0x0002, DMI type 2, 8 bytes Base Board Information Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. Product Name: H55-USB3 Version: x.x … Read more

Change your MAC address on Linux with the command line.

To change your MAC address in Linux, you just need to issue these few commands, and then re-run dhcp or reconfigure the interface. This works for both wired and wireless cards. Bring down the interface. jason@eyjafjallajkull:~$ sudo ifconfig eth0 down [sudo] password for jason:jason@eyjafjallajkull:~$ sudo ifconfig eth0 down [sudo] password for jason: Set a new … Read more

Adding an IP address to the management interface for a Cisco switch.

Adding an IP address to the management interface of a Cisco switch allows connection over an Ethernet connection to manage the switch configuration. Firstly, switch to privileged exec mode. tyrion>en tyrion#tyrion>en tyrion# Then enter the configure terminal command to configure terminal settings. tyrion#configure terminaltyrion#configure terminal Now we are configuring settings for vlan 99. tyrion(config)#interface vlan … Read more

List all of your IP addresses using the ip command.

The ip command will list all of your ip addresses when combined with the grep command to look for all inet words. This is a very useful one-liner. ubuntu ~/Documents $ ip a | grep "inet " inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo inet 172.31.20.16/20 brd 172.31.31.255 scope global eth0 inet 10.8.0.1 peer 10.8.0.2/32 scope global … Read more

New GTK themes for 2015. Make Linux look awesome.

More awesome GTK themes and wallpapers for 2015. Gnome themes. Ceti-2: http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Ceti-2+-+Theme?content=167528. Plane GTK 3.6: http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Plane-Gtk3.6?content=156309. Ultra-Flat: http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Ultra-Flat?content=167473. Malys-Unisex: http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/malys+-+uniSEX+?content=149602. Cinnamon themes. Zukitwo: http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Zukitwo-Cinnamon?content=161734. New Minty: http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/New-Minty?content=161698. Icon themes. Evolvere icon theme: http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Evolvere+Icon+theme?content=164338. Wallpapers. Dead space wallpaper, creepy monster: http://4walled.cc/show-1364323. Giant world engine eating a planet: http://4walled.cc/show-1348020. Very cold looking planet with a misty atmosphere: … Read more

Calculate subnets with the Linux command line and sipcalc.

The sipcalc utility for Linux is used to calculate subnets for IP addresses. The below example shows a /26 address and the available IP addresses and number of network nodes in the subnet. This is a good way to calculate the network mask if the network administrator requires this information to input it into a … Read more

How to get information about logins on your Linux system.

Reading information about logins on a Linux system is very useful when you are running a Linux machine. The last command will print information about the last logins on a Linux system. ubuntu ~ $ last ubuntu pts/0 ip-10-8-0-6.ap-s Sun Apr 19 10:25 still logged in   wtmp begins Sun Apr 19 10:25:42 2015ubuntu ~ … Read more

Linux desktop has not changed much in ten years.

Gnome Flashback Linux desktop.

The Linux desktop has really not changed much in ten years of development. There are the new Gnome Shell and Unity desktops, but simpler alternatives like Gnome flashback are available that emulate the look of the classic two toolbar Gnome desktop environment. This desktop pictured above is the Fedora Core Linux distribution. This is the … Read more

How to get information about your Linux services with systemd.

The systemd init system may be used to get information about your running services. Here I am getting information about the openvpn service. jason@eyjafjallajkull:~$ systemctl -a status openvpn.service ● openvpn.service – LSB: Openvpn VPN service Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/openvpn) Active: active (running) since Mon 2015-04-13 14:57:18 AEST; 5h 2min ago Docs: man:systemd-sysv-generator(8) CGroup: /system.slice/openvpn.service └─1719 /usr/sbin/openvpn … Read more

How to get the routing table of your network with Windows and Linux.

Showing the routing table in Linux is very useful when you are required to get information about a network. This is the output when retrieving the routing table in Windows 7. C:\Users\jason>route PRINT =========================================================================== Interface List 16…00 ff f0 18 9a f5 ……TAP-Windows Adapter V9 13…00 13 46 3a 02 83 ……Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast … Read more

Another way to get the IP address of your machine with the arp command.

This command will lookup the network adapter that you are using and return the gateway IP address. jason@eyjafjallajkull:~$ arp -n | grep : | awk ‘{print $1}’ 10.10.0.1jason@eyjafjallajkull:~$ arp -n | grep : | awk ‘{print $1}’ 10.10.0.1 This looks for the : character that is in the MAC address like this. jason@Yog-Sothoth:~$ arp -n … Read more

Universal archive unpacker script for Linux. Easily unpack any archive with the terminal.

The unp script for Linux is a script that will detect what the archive is and call the appropriate program to handle it. This is a very useful script for the command line user. In the example below I am unpacking a zip file. jason@eyjafjallajkull:~/Downloads$ unp northwind.sql_.zip Archive: northwind.sql_.zip inflating: northwind.sqljason@eyjafjallajkull:~/Downloads$ unp northwind.sql_.zip Archive: northwind.sql_.zip … Read more