Why is a Racoon nibbling on my Macintosh?

Benjamin Schollnick2 Comments

I think I need to start to put some Racoon feeders out, because I keep hearing some odd noises…  Coming from the console….

10/8/09 6:48:56 PM racoon[240] IKE Packet: receive success. (Responder, Aggressive-Mode message 1).
10/8/09 6:48:56 PM racoon[240] IKE Packet: transmit success. (Responder, Aggressive-Mode message 2).
10/8/09 6:48:56 PM racoon[240] IKEv1 Phase1 AUTH: success. (Responder, Aggressive-Mode Message 3).
10/8/09 6:48:56 PM racoon[240] IKE Packet: receive success. (Responder, Aggressive-Mode message 3).
10/8/09 6:48:56 PM racoon[240] IKEv1 Phase1 Responder: success. (Responder, Aggressive-Mode).
10/8/09 6:49:01 PM racoon[240] IKE Packet: transmit success. (Information message).
10/8/09 6:49:01 PM racoon[240] IKEv1 Information-Notice: transmitCom success. (Delete ISAKMP-SA).
10/8/09 6:48:56 PM	racoon[240]	IKE Packet: receive success. (Responder,
     Aggressive-Mode message 1).
10/8/09 6:48:56 PM	racoon[240]	IKE Packet: transmit success. (Responder,
     Aggressive-Mode message 2).
10/8/09 6:48:56 PM	racoon[240]	IKEv1 Phase1 AUTH: success. (Responder,
     Aggressive-Mode Message 3).
10/8/09 6:48:56 PM	racoon[240]	IKE Packet: receive success. (Responder,
     Aggressive-Mode message 3).
10/8/09 6:48:56 PM	racoon[240]	IKEv1 Phase1 Responder: success. (Responder,
     Aggressive-Mode).
10/8/09 6:49:01 PM	racoon[240]	IKE Packet: transmit success. (Information message).
10/8/09 6:49:01 PM	racoon[240]	IKEv1 Information-Notice: transmit success. (Delete ISAKMP-SA).

From my understanding, see the manual page below, racoon is a daemon responsible for managing the IKE protocol.

NAME
     racoon -- IKE (ISAKMP/Oakley) key management daemon
SYNOPSIS
     racoon [-46BdFLv] [-f configfile] [-l logfile] [-P isakmp-natt-port] [-p isakmp-port]
DESCRIPTION
     racoon speaks the IKE (ISAKMP/Oakley) key management protocol, to establish security associations with
     other hosts.  The SPD (Security Policy Database) in the kernel usually triggers racoon.  racoon usually
     sends all informational messages, warnings and error messages to syslogd(8) with the facility
     LOG_DAEMON and the priority LOG_INFO.  Debugging messages are sent with the priority LOG_DEBUG.  You
     should configure syslog.conf(5) appropriately to see these messages.
From my understanding, see the manual page below, racoon is a daemon responsible for managing the IKE protocol.  The IKE protocol use a key exchange method to setup a shared session secret, from which the security keys are derived from.  

Timing issues with 2412U insteon powerlinc modem

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

Folks,
One small issue that I have seen with the 2412U is that receiving modules may lockup if you turn on/off the same device too quickly.  I have my X10 Chime plugged into a ApplianceLinc (firmware revision 2.8), since my 2414U lost X10 functionality. (Please note, that this loss of X10 functionality is a known issue, at least PerceptiveAutomation knows of it.  I don\’t know if SmartHome recognizes this as an issue.)
But, I had to tweak the timing on the ApplianceLinc, because if I turn it on, and then rapidly turn it off, the device seemingly becomes stuck in the off (or on) position, and silently fails if you change it\’s state.
Do I consider this an 2412U issue?  Not really.  I believe that the ApplianceLinc\’s firmware is the root issue, and that the speed of the 2412U just exposes this issue.  I have tested this with ApplianceLinc\’s running firmware v2.8 & v3.2.
Does anyone have a firmware that is higher?  Or seen any other issues?

Prevent Non-Admin users from Changing Wireless networks

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

By default, in Mac OS X Leopard, any user can adjust the wireless network settings and connect to any available network. This may be convenient for most situations, but many users might wish to restrict non-administrator users from changing these settings.
Users should follow these steps:

  1. Log in as an administrator and go to the \”Network\” system preferences.
  2. Select the AirPort interface and click the \”Advanced\” button.
  3. In the AirPort tab, use the plus (+) or minus (-) buttons to add or remove wireless networks, only adding desired networks to the list.
  4. Uncheck \”Remember any network this computer has joined\”
  5. Check both \”Disconnect from wireless networks when logging out\”
  6. Check \”Require Administrator password to control AirPort\”.
  7. Click \”OK\” to save changes.
  8. With the advanced options closed and the AirPort interface still selected, uncheck \”Ask to join new networks\”.
  9. Click \”Apply\” to save changes.

Stargate Universe – Air

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

The Pilot episode(s) of StarGate Universe are now available from iTunes for Free….
\’When their hidden base comes under attack, a band of civilians and military personnel escape through a Stargate on an ancient ship headed into deep space. Now, these survivors must figure out a way to get back to Earth, while also providing themselves with the most basic of needs – food, water and air.\’ — iTunes Store

Part 1
During an official visit by Senator Armstrong (CHRIS MCDONALD), his assistant Chloe (ELYSE LEVESQUE), and Eli Wallace (DAVID BLUE), a recently recruited gaming genius, to Icarus, a secret off-world military base, the base falls under a full force attack leaving Colonel Everett Young (LOUIS FERREIRA) with no choice but to retreat. He orders an evacuation to Earth. However, a last minute maneuver by scientist Dr. Nicholas Rush (ROBERT CARLYLE) thrusts the escapees headlong into his experiment, which transports everyone to deep space.
Download for Free!

Part 2
The survivors arrive on an uninhabited ship floating billions of light years away from Earth. Panic spreads throughout the group and Col. Young, who was severely injured during the escape, transfers command to Lt. Matthew Scott (BRIAN J. SMITH), before lapsing into unconsciousness. Teams led by Dr. Rush and Sgt. Greer (JAMIL WALKER SMITH) try to make sense of the situation, while Lt. Tamara Johansen (ALAINA HUFFMAN), a medic who was days away from leaving the program, is thrust into the role of chief medical officer. After secretly contacting the Home World Command using communications stones – a device which allows the swapping of consciousness between bodies across vast distances – Dr. Rush claims that he has been placed in charge by General ONeill (RICHARD DEAN ANDERSON) and there is no hope of returning to Earth. When the ships air supply systems begin to fail, his theories are challenged by Eli. As the crisis deepens, divisions emerge between those who want to attempt a return to Earth, including human resources executive Camille Wray (MING-NA), and those who want to remain aboard the Destiny.
Download for Free!

Is partitioning hard drives on Mac OS X recommended or advisable?

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

Is partitioning hard drives on Mac OS X recommended or advisable?  (Based off a Super User submission)
There is certainly no problem with creating another partition for your user data (aka home folder). In fact, this is a very common thing to do on *nix based operating systems.
In fact, with Leopard & Snow Leopard, it is as simple as opening System Preferences, going to the Accounts Preference Panel, and choosing Advanced Options.  Relocate your User directory, and reboot…
But is it necessary?  No.  What about backing up the user data?  On the Macintosh, if you need to reinstall the OS, you do not necessarily need to lose your user data, and applications.  The normal installs & upgrades, will leave your data and applications intact.  The only time when your data is in danger of being lost is if you do a Erase & Insall.  The Install & Archive, or simply install, will leave everything intact.
But still, backing up all your data on OS X is as simple as copying your Home directory, which shouldn\’t take long to do and restore. Do you really need to go through the hassle of partitioning  if it is only for a once-off occurrence?
Anytime you partition your drive, ask yourself, what happens in two years when I run low on disk space?  When you partition the drive, your making it virtually impossible to repartition it later.  Both partitions have to have free space, to allow you even consider resizing the partitions, and often it\’s unlikely that Free space will be in the right sections of the hard drive partitions.
The concept of seperating \”user\” space, and Operating System space has existed for a long time, but didn\’t become popular in the mainstream until Windows NT, and Windows 2000 arrived.  Even then, in the Windows world, often it\’s not usable in the this pure form.
Instead, you had hard core gamers, that would create a \”main windows\” partition, and create a secondary partition that contained their backup image, the current set of drivers, the installers for their games, and applications, and possibly their user \”data\”…  After all, with Windows, you have to restore the OS, and applications, since the registry has to be preserved.  You can\’t just restore a game, or application, without the proper registry settings…

The iPhone & IpodTouch and ActiveSync!

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

I was just asked what ActiveSync flags that the iPhone supports…  What am I a mobile phone expert?  No, not really, but I certainly know where to find the information…
The iPhone Enterprise Deployment Guide is freely available from Apple ( http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/Enterprise_Deployment_Guide.pdf ) [See pages 8-10], and covers what is and isn’t supported by the iPhone:
iPhone and iPod touch support the following versions of Microsoft Exchange:

  • Exchange ActiveSync for Exchange Server (EAS) 2003 Service Pack 2
  • Exchange ActiveSync for Exchange Server (EAS) 2007


For support of Exchange 2007 policies and features, Service Pack 1 is required.
Supported Exchange ActiveSync Policie s
The following Exchange policies are supported:

  • Enforcepasswordondevice
  • Minimum password length
  • Maximumfailedpasswordattempts
  • Requirebothnumbersandletters
  • Inactivity time in minutes


The following Exchange 2007 policies are also supported:

  • Alloworprohibitsimplepassword
  • Passwordexpiration
  • Password history
  • Policy refresh interval
  • Minimumnumberofcomplexcharactersinpassword
  • Requiremanualsyncingwhileroaming
  • Allowcamera
  • Requiredeviceencryption


For a description of each policy, refer to your Exchange ActiveSync documentation.
The Exchange policy to require device encryption (RequireDeviceEncryption) is supported on iPhone 3GS, and on iPod touch (Fall 2009 models with 32 GB or more). iPhone, iPhone 3G, and other iPod touch models do not support device encryption and will not connect to an Exchange Server that requires it.
If you enable the policy “Require Both Numbers and Letters” on Exchange 2003, or the policy “Require Alphanumeric Password” on Exchange 2007, the user must enter an iPhone passcode that contains at least one complex character.  The value specified by the inactivity time policy (MaxInactivityTimeDeviceLock or AEFrequencyValue) is used to set the maximum value that users can select in both Settings > General > Auto-Lock and Settings > General > Passcode Lock > Require Passcode.
Remote Wipe
You can remotely wipe the contents of an iPhone or iPod touch. Doing so removes all data and configuration information from the device, then the device is securely erased and restored to original, factory settings.
Important: On iPhone and iPhone 3G, wiping overwrites the data on the device and can take approximately one hour for each 8 GB of device capacity. Connect the device to a power supply before wiping. If the device turns off due to low power, the wiping process resumes when the device is connected to power. On iPhone 3GS, wiping removes the encryption key to the data (which is encrypted using 256-bit AES encryption) and occurs instantaneously.
With Exchange Server 2007, you can initiate a remote wipe using the Exchange Management Console, Outlook Web Access, or the Exchange ActiveSync Mobile Administration Web Tool.
With Exchange Server 2003, you can initiate a remote wipe using the Exchange ActiveSync Mobile Administration Web Tool.
Users can also wipe a device in their possession by choosing “Erase All Content and Settings” from the Reset menu in General settings. Devices can also be configured to automatically initiate a wipe after several failed passcode attempts.

If you recover a device that was wiped because it was be lost, use iTunes to restore it using the device’s latest backup.
Microsoft Direct Push
The Exchange server delivers email, contacts, and calendar events to iPhone automatically if a cellular or Wi-Fi data connection is available. iPod touch doesn’t have a cellular connection, so it receives push notifications only when it’s active and connected to a Wi-Fi network.
Microsoft Exchange Autodiscovery

The Autodiscover service of Exchange Server 2007 is supported. When you’re manually configuring an iPhone or iPod touch, Autodiscover uses your email address and password to automatically determine the correct Exchange server information. For information about enabling the Autodiscover service,
see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc539114.aspx.

Microsoft Exchange Global Address List

iPhone and iPod touch retrieve contact information from your company’s Exchange server corporate directory. You can access the directory when searching in Contacts, and it’s automatically accessed for completing email addresses as you enter them.

Additional Supported Exchange ActiveSync Features

In addition to the features and capabilities already described, iPhone supports:

  • Creatingcalendarinvitations.

WithMicrosoftExchange2007,youcanalsoviewthe status of replies to your invitations.

  • SettingFree,Busy,Tentative,orOutofOfficestatusforyourcalendarevents.
  • Searching mail messages on the server. Requires Microsoft Exchange 2007.
  • ExchangeActiveSyncclientcertificate-basedauthentication.


Unsupported Exchange ActiveSync Features
Not all Exchange features are supported, including, for example:

  • Folder management
  • Opening links in email to documents stored on SharePoint servers
  • Tasksynchronization
  • Setting an “out of office” autoreply message
  • Flagging messages for follow-up



VMware: Team Fusion: VMware Fusion 2.0.6 Update Now Available

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

VMware Fusion 2.0.6 Update Now Available
VMware Fusion 2.0.6 is a free update for all VMware Fusion 1.x and VMware Fusion 2.x users. You can download the bits here.
VMware Fusion 2.0.6 fixes multiple issues when running VMware Fusion 2.0.x on Mac OS X Snow Leopard (32-bit kernel mode), including:

  • Mouse losing focus on Snow Leopard hosts
  • Driverless printing fails after an upgrade install of Leopard or Snow Leopard Software Update
  • VMware Fusion 2 claims to be unlicensed after upgrading to Snow Leopard
  • Slow 3D graphics on Macs with NVIDIA graphics cards running Snow Leopard
  • And much more!

Read the Release Notes for more details.
via VMware: Team Fusion: VMware Fusion 2.0.6 Update Now Available.