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How to install and configure various software on Debian. Step by step.

Contents

Keywords: Debian GNU Linux, Manual, How To, How-To, howto, Installation, Configuration, Easy, From Windows XP to Debian, Wireless WPA2, fax, Documentation, MoinMoin Wiki, Linux, servers, Windows, Windows NT, ?HowTo, vmware, vmwaretools, vmware tools, vm, tool, AMD64, 64 bit

Debian Services

FTP Server

Install

Install Ftp Server ("Very secure ftp server")

aptitude update aptitude install vsftpd

Ftp server has been installed

Configure

Now configure your server
Edit /etc/vsftpd.conf

vi /etc/vsftpd.conf

[Optional] Disable Anonymous account by finding the line that says anonymous_enable=YES and make it

anonymous_enable=NO

[Optional] Allow Write access (upload access). Find and uncomment the following line:

write_enable=YES

[Optional] Add you banner when people log in. Find and uncomment this #ftpd_banner=Welcome to blah FTP service. line and make it:

ftpd_banner=Welcome to example.com FTP service. Enjoy.

[Optional] Allow local users to log in. Uncomment the following line:

local_enable=YES

VMware Server On Debian

A very good how-to which didn't require from me any additional configuration to install vmware on Debian and then Windows XP as a guest OS is here:

http://lucasmanual.com/out/Debian-vmware-windows-xp.jpg

See VMware article.

VMware Kernel Upgrade

On an upgrade when your kernel has been updated you need to download the kernel headers and reconfigure vmware.

aptitude update aptitude install linux-headers-$(uname -r) /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl

VMware on amd64

In order to install vmware on amd64 you have to install few extra libs:

aptitude install linux-headers-`uname -r` libx11-6 libx11-dev x-window-system-core x-window-system xspecs libxtst6 psmisc build-essential ia32-libs

Debian Configuration

Change from dhcp to static ip

edit /etc/network/interfaces
comment the line that says "iface eth0 inet dhcp" and below type:

iface eth0 inet static [tab]address 192.168.1.200 [tab]network 192.168.1.0 [tab]netmask 255.255.255.0 [tab]broadcast 192.168.1.255 [tab]gateway 192.168.1.1 [tab]dns-nameservers 192.168.1.1

Your file should look like:

#iface eth0 inet dhcp iface eth0 inet static  address 192.168.1.200  network 192.168.1.0  dns-nameservers 192.168.1.1  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.1.255  gateway 192.168.1.1

iface eth0 inet static  address 192.168.5.200  network 192.168.5.0  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.5.255  gateway 192.168.5.254  dns-nameservers 192.168.5.254

Subversion

Svn is a software that manages any type of data. It monitors its changes, lets you update them, and if something went wrong you can go back to previous version with no problems.
Let's install it on Debian:

apt-cache search svn aptitude install subversion

Subversion is installed
The story goes like this: I have a project I am working on. It is located at

/home/lucas/my_best_project

This folder includes

/home/lucas/my_best_project/trunk/install.c /home/lucas/my_best_project/trunk/readme.txt

I keep my working files in trunk. I want it in subversion now!
We need to tell subversion where it can store its repositories:
It will be in

/usr/local/src/

Now create repository directory:

svnadmin create /usr/local/src/my_best_project

Now I am going to import my_best_project to svn

svn import /home/lucas/my_best_project file:///usr/local/src/my_best_project -m "initial import"

Folder /home/lucas/my_best_project is not important anymore. SVN is not concerned what you are going to do with it.
Now we need to start working with subversion and we do that by creating a folder where we can work on my best project with subversion. It will be in /home/lucas/new_folder/ We need to go to that folder. And from that folder we issue command:

svn checkout file:///usr/local/src/my_best_project

Now it created

/home/lucas/new_folder/my_best_project

This folder contains files I kept in a trunk. I can now work on it and let svn take care the version tracking.
Optional, you could use subversion over ssh. You need to install subversion on your computer and then:

svn co svn+ssh://your.remote-server.com/usr/local/src/my_best_project

Done. Now its time to make that tool great.

Mount Windows Share

You need to have smbfs installed. If you don't do this:

aptitude update aptitude install smbfs

To mount Windows share drive you need to create a folder:

mkdir somefolder

As root or with root privileges ("su root" or "sudo")

mount -t smbfs -o username=administrator,password=password //windowsservername/folder /home/lucas/somefolder

If you don't want the password to show up you could do

mount -t smbfs -o username=administrator //windowsservername/folder /home/lucas/somefolder

[Optional] You can replace administrator with your username. You can also replace windowsservername with ip address //192.168.1.10/folder ....

Add a network card

See if your card is in a list.

lspci -v

Add a network card by a hardware number. Replace 00:00:..:00 with your hardware number. It should be 16 characters.

ifconfig eth1 hw ether 00:00:..:00 uo

Power Users

Sudo

If sudo command is not installed, install it.

aptitude update aptitude install sudo

Then run visudo

visudo

Copy root ALL=(ALL) ALL and paste it right below. Then change root to your user name on the pasted line.

yourusername ALL=(ALL) ALL

Disable ssh root access

Edit the sshd_config file

vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config

On a line where you see "Permit root login" change it to no

PermitRootLogin no

Restart or reload ssh

/etc/init.d/ssh force-reload

This will prevent other users from trying to get guess your password. 100s of lines on your system that look:

Security Events =-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Feb 5 07:21:15 localhost sshd[8586]: Failed password for root from xx.xx.xx.xx port 60618 ssh2 Feb 5 07:21:15 localhost sshd[8588]: Failed password for root from xx.xx.xx.xx port 60637 ssh2

AWStats on Debian

Install AWStats

apt update apt install awstats

Configure the apache2 for awstats - copy configuration file for apache2.

cp /usr/share/doc/awstats/examples/apache.conf /etc/apache2/conf-available/awstats.conf

Then edit /etc/awstats/awstats.conf file and make sure the file contains (double check the log file path)

LogFile="/var/log/apache2/access.log" SiteDomain="mysite.org" LogFormat=1

Enable awstats and reload apache

a2enconf awstats service apache2 restart

Generate stats

awstats -update

And visit:

http://localhost/cgi-bin/awstats.pl?config=awstat.conf or http://www.mysite.com/cgi-bin/awstats.pl?config=awstat.conf [Optional]

To make it easier to remember the address you can edit /etc/apache2/conf-available/awstats.conf and add this line.

RedirectMatch ^/logs /cgi-bin/awstats.pl?config=awstat.conf

Now you can access the awstats statistics by going to

http://www.mysite.com/logs

Done.

unixODBC

Install odbc, and mssql drivers (tdsodbc)

aptitude update aptitude install tdsodbc unixodbc

Create a driver template.

vi /etc/freetds/tds.driver.template

Inside add :

[TDS] Description = FreeTDS Driver for Linux & MSSQL on Win32 Driver = /usr/lib/odbc/libtdsodbc.so Setup = /usr/lib/odbc/libtdsS.so

Now dsn file:

vi /etc/freetds/tds.dsn.template

And inside add:

[DSN_NAME] Description = Descripton of you DSN connection. Driver = TDS Trace = No Database = DefaultDatabase [replace with your database name] Server = mysqlserver.inter.net [replace with your SQL server's host,ip] Port = 1433 [replace with the port that SQL is listening on]

OR If you are using mssql with multiple instances and dynamic port allocation you can use the following:

[SQLServer2008] Description = Production Server Driver = TDS Trace = No Server = servername\instance_name TDS_Version = 8.0

Now run this command to add your driver to unixodbc

odbcinst -i -d -f /etc/freetds/tds.driver.template

Now you add dsn. You have 2 options.
Add system DSN for all users

odbcinst -i -s -l -f /etc/freetds/tds.dsn.template

Add dsn to a user your are running a command on:

odbcinst -i -s -f /etc/freetds/tds.dsn.template

Now test your connection:

isql -v DSN_NAME username password

You should get something like

********************************************** * unixODBC - isql * ********************************************** * Syntax * * * . . . more .

Troubleshooting

If you can not connect it is probable that your database is listening on a different port.
Try this:

telnet myserver 1433

You should see something like:

Trying 10.3.3.10... Connected to myserver. Escape character is '^]'.

type quit to exit. Replace 1433 with a port number, replace myserver with your servers name.

If you still get connection refused try telnet from Windows and see if you get same answer.

Apt Preferences

As of October 1st 2007 apt installs recomended packages as well.
If you would like to view packages from other distrubutions, (testing, unstable)
Create a file

vi /etc/apt/preferences

And inside put these lines. Change the Pin-Priority to reflect your default install.
If you are using Debian testing make sure testing has the bigger number.
This file will install only from the highest pin but it will show you if the package is available in testing or unstable

Package: * Pin: release a=stable Pin-Priority: 600 Package: * Pin: release a=testing Pin-Priority: 450 Package: * Pin: release a=unstable Pin-Priority: 400

Now add testing and unstable to /etc/apt/source.list by coping and paste deb and deb-src lines and change stable to testing, and then again stable to unstable.
Update list

aptitude update

Debian User Configuration

Change default editor

Install your editor
Example:

aptitude update aptitude install vim

Run configuration change

update-alternatives --config editor

From a list pick your editor. And you are done.

Change default pdf viewer

Install your pdf viewer
Click right mouse button on a pdf file
Change: 'Properties -> Open with' to your favorite pdf viewer.

Check installed browser plugins

Input "about:plugins" into URL of browser

Laptop and Debian

Authenticate with wpa using PSK TKIP

Install wpasupplicant

aptitude update aptitude install wpasupplicant

Open /etc/network/interfaces

vi /etc/network/interfaces

If you see "iface eth2..." add the following lines, but change ssid and password:

iface eth2 inet dhcp wpa-ssid thisismynetworkname wpa-psk thisismypassword

Exit, and now type:

ifup eth2

Done. If you want you your wireless card to connect each time you boot your computer add this above "iface eth2.."

auto eth2

Done. [Optional](see the WPA page for status on wpa support in Debian)

Intel Graphic card - Higher resolution

Not required for DebianLenny and later releases. Support is included within xserver-xorg-video-intel.

Install 915resolution

aptitude install 915resolution

See what resolutions are available

915resolution -l

If the resolution you desire is not listed you will need to dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg and add new resolutions.
For example (using mode 5c (1920x1440):

sudo 915resolution 5c 1280 800 24

Troubleshooting

SSH terminal connection timeout

If you get an error:

Read from remote host example.com: Connection reset by peer Connection to example.com closed

Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config and add:

ClientAliveInterval 150

Dynamic MMap ran out of room

If you see an error like:

Reading package lists... Error! E: Dynamic MMap ran out of room E: Error occurred while processing vlc (NewVersion1)

apt-get update -o APT::Cache-Limit=25165824

Useful Debian Programs

Digital Camera

* Digikam, for all your digital camera needs

aptitude update aptitude install digikam

Players and Viewers

How to Remote connect to Windows

You can connect to Microsoft Windows Remote Connection via rdesktop
Install rdesktop

aptitude update aptitude install rdesktop

Then you can start rdesktop or from a command line

rdesktop ip.add.re.ss

rdesktop remoteconnection.example.com

CategorySoftware | CategoryRedundant

Manual-Howto

Debian Services

FTP Server

Install

Configure

VMware Server On Debian

VMware Kernel Upgrade

VMware on amd64

Debian Configuration

Change from dhcp to static ip

Subversion

Mount Windows Share

Add a network card

Power Users

Sudo

Disable ssh root access

AWStats on Debian

unixODBC

Troubleshooting

Apt Preferences

Debian User Configuration

Change default editor

Change default pdf viewer

Check installed browser plugins

Laptop and Debian

Authenticate with wpa using PSK TKIP

Intel Graphic card - Higher resolution

Troubleshooting

SSH terminal connection timeout

Dynamic MMap ran out of room

Useful Debian Programs

Digital Camera

Players and Viewers

How to Remote connect to Windows