MV2120 and 5150 ssh user update

So I had to reboot my MV and found it was a bit of a pain to re-establish the ssh users. So the quick way to fix the problem after a reboot is as follows.

When you go to edit the /etc/passwd you will see something like this
joeuser:x:502:502:Linux User,,,:/:/bin/nologin

You will need to edit it so it looks more like this.
joeuser:x:502:502:Linux User,,,/:/share/1000/joeuser:/bin/sh

Not like in the original post over here. (Original joeuser:x:502:502:Linux User,,,:/share/1000/joeuser:/bin/sh) notice the extra / in User,,,/:/share

I have updated the original post as of 4/27/09 to fix the problem.

Once you have done that you will need to set the password for the user using the following command.

passwd username (username being the users password you want to set.)

Sorry for the mess up.

Use The MV2120/5150 as a proxy......well more like a Secure Gateway

Have you ever had problem of not being able to access one of your favorite websites when your on public Wifi?
Have you ever needed to access something personal on public Wifi but didnt trust passing your personal information through it?

If you said yes....well I'v got some good news for you.

If you have remote access to your MediaVault you can tunnel all your web browsing through ssh.

A few Needed Things
ssh (Should be on most Linux Distros) For windows go here
If you use the windows version of ssh you only need to install the client. If ssh should fail check your firewall.

A proxy addon for Firefox called FoxyProxy

Install
If you install ssh on a windows machine, you will only need the client.
Install FoxyProxy with Firefox

If you already ssh into you vault remotely this will be cake! I will explain how to do this with Firefox.

So lets begin!

Configure Firefox
Once FoxyProxy is installed, do the following:

Open FoxyProxy in Firefox. Tools-FoxyProxy-Options

Click on the "Proxies" tab.
Highlight the Default proxy that is listed and click the "EditSelection" button

Click on the "Manual Proxy Configuration"
In the "Host Name" field enter "localhost" with out the ""
Set the port to "8080"
Place a check box in the "SOCKS proxy?"

Click "ok"
Click on the "Global Settings" Tab
Under "Miscellaneous" click on "Use SOCKS proxy for DNS lookups"

Click "Close"

Run SSH
I will be using the default ports for the proxy and ssh in this example
(To start ssh on a windows machine open a cmd and type the command below)
(If you have problems, you may need to be in the path of ssh and then execute the command below)
"cd C:\Program Files\OpenSSH\bin"

ssh -D 8080 -p 22 root@IP or URL

Note: ip is the external IP address of your router. URL would be for services like dyndns.

What the above command does is:
ssh runs ssh
-D is to set the local port (So we are setting the local port to 8080 in this example.)
-p 22 is telling ssh what port to use on the remote machine. (22 is the default port for ssh.)

If you have port forwarding on your router, you could set it to 2200 and have the router forward all traffic on that port to the vault on 22. That would make it a little more secure....kinda. With this set up your command would look like this ssh -D 8080 -p 2200 root@ip or url

Once your logged in the ssh session minimise the ssh window.

Lets test it out!
To enable your new HP MV proxy right click on "FoxyProxy" in the tray of firefox and select "Use proxy "Default" for all URLs"
To dissable the proxy right click on "FoxyProxy" in the tray of firefox and select "Completlely disable FoxyProxy"

Cool And Sexy!!! The PICO-ITX

For anyone out there looking for a cool little computer...you should check this out.


The Pico is a low powered, full computer with all the bells and whistles. Dont believe me....check out the Specs.

Processor	VIA 1 GHz C7
Chipset	VIA VX700
System Memory	1 DDR2 533 SO-DIMM Up to 1GB memory size
VGA	Integrated VIA UniChrome ProII 3D/2D AGP Graphics with MPEG-2/MPEG-4 and WMV9 Video Decoding Accelerator
Expansion Slots	None
Onboard IDE	ATA 133 (2.0 mm 44-pin pin header)
Onboard Serial ATA	1 SATA connector
Onboard LAN	VIA VT6106S 10/100
Onboard Audio	VIA VT1708A HD audio codec
Onboard TV Out	Optional VT1625M add-on card (not included)
Back Panel I/O	1 LAN port 1 VGA port
Onboard I/O Connectors	1 USB 2.0 pin header for 4 additional USB ports 1 RS-232 COM pin header 1 LVDS/DVI pin header 1 Multimedia connector; supports TV-out, Video Capture Port, and LPC interfaces 1 PS2 mouse/keyboard pin header 1 Fan pin header 1 Audio connector: line-out, line-in, mic-in, S/PDIF-in, & 7.1 channel audio output 1 Pico-ITX power connector
BIOS	Award BIOS 4/8Mb flash memory
System Monitoring & Management	CPU temperature monitoring, Watchdog timer, Wake on LAN, Keyboard power on, Timer power on System power management AC power failure recovery
Operating Temperature	0° ~ 50°C
Operating Humidity	0% ~ 95% (relative humidity; non-condensing)
Form Factor	Pico-ITX (10cm x 7.2cm)
Includes	ATA 133 flat cable USB pin header cable with 4 USB 2.0 ports & screws Ribbon power cable 1 PS2 mouse & keyboard cable 1 RS-232 COM port cable & screws 1 DVI cable Driver/utility CD

You really need to see one up close to appreciate it.
For any one interested in getting one of these bad boys, check out LogicSupply. They can set you up!

So What Would You Do With It?

Car Project

There's a few projects I'd like to play around with in the near future. One being for my car!

LinuxIce/OpenIce is a nice little Disto made for cars. It has a lot of nice little features that would please any tech lover out there!

At one point I was involved with the project, but I had to stop due to life throwing a few speed bumps.

LinuxIce/OpenIce should run on the Pico fine, and the OS is a great in car solution for entertainment/GPS, and business.

If you are interested in the LinuxIce/OpenIce project, why don't ya join them....They are friendly bunch and very helpful. (they could always use a little help)
If you happen to stop by, tell them bazz/grumpy247 said hi!

I think the car project for me will have to take a backseat until VIA comes out with the Nano for the Pico. Ooohhh Yeahhhh!!

Home Entertainment System.

One other project I want to do, (and I have started a bit) is use the Pico for a Home entertainment system.

Using Ubuntu, Elisa, Wii remote, and the HP Media Vault makes this a nice solution for all your media needs.....(as long as it works)

I'll give you just a taste of what I have done so far....

I bought the Pico and the case over at LogicSupply.
A friend and I built the Wii sensor bar using this Howto.

BTW. The guy who helped me build the sensor bar would be interested in building these to sell if anyone is interested. If you are, just leave a comment.

The HP Media Vault runs FireFly, so media is streamed to the PICO. All this in theory is controllable with the wii remote.

I'm not going to write about this project too much, I just wanted to give you a taste of what I'm doing.....I'm sure you can see where it is going!



Thin-Client

One other project I've used these badboys on is the LTSP thin-clients project....they make awesome little thin-clients!

If you are looking for some thin-client solutions and a great community to give you a hand, look over here.

NOTE: Unfortunately I am no longer doing anything with LTSP; so I wont be much help.

Thats It For Now!

I highly suggest you play with a Pico if you can.
Very cool little Machines!

If you have an idea how you would use them, lets hear it!

Content and Storage With The HP MV2120/5150

Thought I'd take a few minutes to write about the HP MV2120/HP5150.



HP MediaVault 2120

Note: The HP MV2120 and MV5150 are the same hardware. The difference is the MV5150 comes with two 750G drives and software to do hard drive backups.

The HP2120 is a very sexy piece of hardware. Dont get me wrong functionality is the most important, but sexy is nice.

So What Can You Say About The MediaVaul?

Well.... Its a cool little machine. It uses very little energy, solid, and serves my needs.

So Whats Under The Hood?

It is capable of holding up to 4 Terabyte of storage non RAID, uses a 500 MHz ARM9 processor (so that is where the energy savings come in.) It runs the 2.6 Linux kernel, with 128 MB of Internal Memory.

Currently I am running a 1 Tera byte RAID1 MV2.

So What Can It Do?

Other the hold lots of media...
The MV2 runs something called firefly that enables it to stream music to iTunes and other music players. (It will also stream Videos, and Pictures)

The MV straight out of the box doesn't do to much (from a geek point of view). You can however install IPKG to install additional packages that add functionality. Its fairly hackable.

What's The MediaValt capable of:

Cheap storage
Stable
remote access through web interface
remote access and configuration via SSH
Photo Share
Streaming Media
RAID 1

What it is not:

Fast
bug free (there are a few bugs that still need to be worked out.)
A full bowen OS.....well depends how daring you are!
Rumor has it the MV2 is now able of run a full Debian OS. Check it out here and here
Enterprise hardware

So Why Did You Buy One?

Before I bought the MV2 I had 2 Linux servers running 24 7. One for my home, and the other was a backup system for the main server.

With the MV2 in hand I retired the 2 Linux servers. This helped me save time (Less administration) and money (Less energy).

The MV2 is nowheres near as fast as the Linux server per upload/download, but it does the job all the same.

So Whats Next?

In the somewhat near future theres a few hack projects that I'd like to do. It will require additional hardware and involve the MV2. I dont want to let the cat out of the bag yet, so I'll write about those when the time comes..

Here is a nice little review of the MV5150 with some screen shots of the web interface.