I've decided to disable my email server on my FREESCO. The level of SPAM has reached close to 100% level , so what's the point of keeping the server online? Due to my (now) challenged hardware, the load on the machine was way too high, and for what?
This decision will result in my webmaster email no longer working.
############################## Changes in v0.4.5 ############################## Released 3/30/2014
Repaired a bug in the firewall from v0.4.4 that prevented dial-up routers from routing traffic correctly.
Repaired a bug in the login 'profile' script that caused the 'UID' environment variable not to be set. Also added the 'GID' environment variable.
Repaired a bug in the 'pkg' package command that prevented the packages list from being updated properly.
Repaired a bug in the setup that did not allow the use of the 'p' key on floppy installs to install the 'ext2' package from the menu.
Repaired the SSH server to allow 'root' logins when enabled on a live CD or when booted with USB or through a PXE network install.
Repaired a bug in the netmond binary that prevented more than seven IP entries from being shown on screen 6. Currently up to 15 can now be seen on screen 6 and an almost unlimited amount will show in the log file in /var/netmon.log or in the control panel when viewing the network monitor.
Added 'dhcping' to help diagnose DHCP issues on any subnet.
Added a second option in the 'setsite' script to set the package download URL manually if the auto selected site is not wanted.
Added the -E flag to the DNS server so that reverse lookups resolve to the fully qualified domain name for the local network.
Added the 'alc' option into the access restriction file. This allows cross communication between defined IP's or subnets when general communication has been 'untrusted' for security on multiple local subnets. So a shared printer or an administrative computer can be given access to other internal subnets.
Added the 'bsp' and 'asp' options into the restrict.cfg access control file. These two options allow control over service ports and stand for 'Ban Service Port' and 'Allow Service Port'. So if you have a non standard service or a port forward that you want to control access to. These two options facilitate the control and can optionally have time and day restrictions included as well.
Added a registration prompt for new systems. This prompt simply asks for a registration name and sends the name and FREESCO version number to the home URL configured on the system. This prompt is NOT intended as an inconvenience to users, but rather a way to track the number of users of the current system. There is no name checking or personal information needed as this information is only used for counting users.
Added 'ftpblock' to the main system and it is used when the FTP server is enabled. This script monitors FTP logins and blocks failed login attempts after the configured number of failed attempts is reached. The block time is also configured in minutes. This script prevents brute force user:password attacks on the FTP server from internal and external sources. Once an IP address is banned the client no longer has access to any FREESCO service until the block time has been reached.
Added 'sshblock' to the main system and it is used when the SSH server is enabled. This script monitors SSH logins and blocks failed logins after 5 failed attempts. The block time is configured in minutes. This script prevents brute force user:password attacks on the SSH server from internal and external sources. Once an IP address is banned the client no longer has access to any FREESCO service until the block time has been reached.
Added a patch to the SSH server (Dropbear) so that empty passwords are allowed using the '-G' server flag. This is beneficial in testing environments and where security is of no concern.
Added the 'filedate' script that is capable of displaying any file date information such as day of week, month in Abbreviated or two digit number format, day, year and time a file was last modified. It is also capable of delineating the fields with or without spaces or any deliminator you choose. It can also create a number capable of being used in other scripting to compare file dates to determine what file is newer than another or the age of a file.
Added the ability to create new FREESCO floppies from within the setup on hard drive installs. To enable this feature, just copy the 'freesco.[version]' file to the /pkg/freesco directory of your system or install one of the disk image packages.
Added freedns.afraid.org to the dynamic DNS client, this is a completely free service. Also removed everydns because the service no longer exists.
Added the ability to create home directories for FTP user accounts the same as normal users.
Added some error checking into the ext2 package so if a hard drive is not found on the system, the user is prompted to abort the install. Also added the 'x' exit option to most questions so the user can exit the install at any point.
Added the NFS file system and NFS support into the mount command so that remote NFS servers can have a directory mounted on FREESCO.
Added the inetd (Internet service daemon) super-server daemon. This daemon is required to run the tftp server and it can be configured to run other servers as well.
Added the tftpd server. This server is required in order to run a PXE server on FREESCO and be able to network boot local machines or software.
Added the 'tuxhunter' game. This is a very simple game where you track down and wound or kill an innocent penguin. But FREESCO would never be complete without a game that is fun and challenging to play and to challenge others to beat your score. This game keeps your score and if you choose, you can upload your score to the FREESCO web site and see how you compare with other users world wide. This feature is built into the web control panel to display the top 58 scores either locally or globally as well as within the game.
Added "calc", a simple command line calculator that can save your work or print it as well. Hey if it's good enough for Microsoft it is good enough for FREESCO.
Changed the control panel output for the logs so that they are in ascending order instead of descending, which is the actual text file log format.
Changed the system logging facility to no longer print out duplicated messages as "Last message repeated X number of times". Instead each message is printed as it is sent from the client. This change makes automated processing of the logs much more accurate when checking for specific messages and how many times they appear in the logs.
Changed the web control panel. Improved a number of sections of the web control panel to improve the ease of making changes. Notably the static DHCP lease, port forwarding and user menu sections.
Changed the admin and root user name change and password section of the advanced setup to be more robust and to include some extra error checking to prevent issues with the password file.
Changed the kernel in v0.4.5. This means that loose_udp is no longer enabled by default and some specific hardware may require the kernel to be changed to one of the 0.4.3 or 0.4.4 kernels to get a full cone NAT router instead of a port restricted NAT as it is now by default.
Specifications VIA Apollo PLE133 Chipset Bridge VT82535 ACPI Audio VT82C686 AC97 Rev 40 Ethernet VT6102 Rhine-II REv 51 VGA Trident Cyberblade/i1 Rev 6A Host & PCI Bride VT8601 ISA Bridge VT8231 Busmaster IDE VT82586 Prcessor: Centaur VIA Samuel 2 Stepping 03 550 MHz
In addition I've replaced the hard disk with a 120 Gb SSD, resulting in a completely silent box without moving parts!
After cloning the old hard disk with Ghost, no problems there, the FREESCO kernel produced a kernel oops.
It looked like the FDD driver might be the culprit, this PC doesn't have one (!) so Lewis kernels site came to the rescue. After replacing the kernel with a 'nofd' type, the box came to life! Only thing I had to do was to add the Via Rhine II driver from the modules new-net and off we go!
Quote:
[root@Freesco] cat /proc/cpuinfo processor : 0 cpu : 686 model : C6 vendor_id : CentaurHauls stepping : 3 fdiv_bug : no hlt_bug : no f00f_bug : no fpu : yes fpu_exception : yes cpuid : yes wp : yes flags : fpu de tsc msr mtrr pge mmx bogomips : 183.09
The power consumption is way way down, so that goal seems to be achieved, but regrettably also the performance of the web site isn't what is used to be. Oh well...
The day I've dreaded has finally come, my FREESCO is no longer my main router/firewall!
My FREESCO is now "degraded" to a mere web server, hosting several web sites.
Several packages will stop working, because the FREESCO is no longer monitoring the main internet connection and is no longer acting as router for my LAN.
I guess all things must at some point end to make room for new things.
It has been a little over a year since 0.4.3 was released and it is now time to release 0.4.4 on SourceForge. http://freesco.sourceforge.net/ There has been numerous changes and improvements to the system and here is the list of what has changed.
Quote:
############################## Changes in v0.4.4 ############################## Released 2/5/2012
Repaired a bug in the smtpclient -A attach option that required and extra argument to the flag that did not need any arguments.
Repaired a logging bug in the dyndns script that caused the name "dyndns" not to be displayed.
Repaired a firewall problem that allowed access to servers on PPP Internet connections when the server was set in secure mode. This bug was introduced in 0.4.3 in the firewall only mode option.
Repaired a bug in the mv2hd command that caused other language definitions for control characters not to work.
Repaired a bug in the rc_net script that used the wrong 'restart' command when another language was in use other than English.
Repaired the 'pkg' command so that when downloading files or installing kernels "Installation aborted" is not displayed on exit.
Repaired a bug in the live.cfg creation scripting that would sometimes loose some of the data in the file due to more than one instance trying to write to the file at the same time.
Repaired a bug in the setup that did not show server security accurately when enabled in secure mode and using an alternate language using different control characters was being used. This was strictly a visual repair.
Changed the kernel to use a 'full cone NAT'. This change required enabling the 'loose UDP masquerading' option in the kernel source. Without this option enabled the firewall is a 'port restricted NAT' and inhibits some particular applications from wanting to run behind FREESCO.
Added full system support for virtual interfaces. This also includes DHCP for virtual networks and interfaces so that more than one subnet can be supported on a single interface.
Added a system test at boot time so the system can automatically adjust the configuration language from any previous language to the currently installed default language.
Added a new language section into the setup to make converting the system to a different language an easy operation.
Added the ability to change the smtp port into the individual mail client configuration files.
Added gzip to compress files
Added tar create to make tarballs of files and directories.
Added wput as an FTP client suitable for uploading backup files and directories for network backups. Which is a planned new feature on a future release of FREESCO.
Added a new auto patching mechanism. This mechanism checks for system patches every two weeks and auto installs them if enabled. This new feature does not check for updates at every boot and requires two weeks of uptime before it will activate when enabled.
Added boot CD support into the system. Also added a new ISO image of FREESCO to make creating a boot-able CD easier. This version has all available PCI drivers installed on the disk to make the initial CD boot a running system with minimal services running. It is also possible to re-master this image to be a live system capable of running in any mode by copying the running /etc directory to the CD.
Added DHCP static IP and IP range support for virtual interfaces and networks.
Added wol v0.2.0 to the base system binaries. This allows for all wake-on-lan enabled computers to be started remotely.
Added a control panel 'wol' section that displays all internal machines connected using DHCP and allows the user to wake any of them up remotely with two clicks of a mouse button.
Added IP address monitoring capabilities into the netmon binary. Using this new feature allows current bandwidth usage and tracking any any internal IP address. The resulting information can be seen on screen 6 and in the control panel under the 'network' function. To add or remove IP addresses in 'netmon' just use 'netmon -e' to edit the configuration file.
Added clearing of bandwidth usage for the netmon binary. Using the new 'netmon' binary all that is required is to use 'netmon -r' to reset all of the data fields for bandwidth usage.
Added the boot time Romanian language translation into the system so that the base system commands before the drive is mounted will show correctly in Romanian when defined as the default language. Thanks to 'Casian Colcher' for this translation.
Added client logging. This option will log the current name and/or IP address of every client that connects to FREESCO when 'client logging' is enabled. It also logs the MAC address time and date of there last connection. To keep this log on a permanent basis to survive reboots just enable 'save system logs'.
Changed the netmon binary to correctly calculate the receive data for virtual interfaces. Thanks to 'justdave' for the new code and countless hours of work.
Freesco v0.4.3 has just been released. Along with a lot of changes and bug fixes Freesco now supports software raid with the addition of a third party kernel that can be installed easily. To download the latest version go to http://freesco.sourceforge.net/
Quote:
Here is a list of the changes to v0.4.3
############################## Changes in v0.4.3 ############################## Released 1/16/2011
Removed debugging option from the dhcp server script and setup, which can not work.
Repaired the dyndns noip client to activate the updated hosts. Previously the IP would update but during the update process the account was not re activated.
Repaired bug in the commonfn script that caused the web control panel User/add option not to function properly.
Repaired a typo in the language file for the default editor which was shown as /bin/edt and should have been /sbin/edt
Repaired the dynamic DNS NO-IP client to work with their new update protocol.
Repaired the firewall status color coding in the addon package menu firewall enable/disable section of the setup.
Repaired some network routing problems in the rc_net script when the firewall is disabled.
Repaired firewall logging issue that caused the firewall to fail when firewall logging was disabled.
Repaired 'cp /boot/kbd/*' error during system backups.
Repaired PXE and USB installs so that the correct version of FREESCO is installed on the hard drive during a move2hd command.
Repaired a bug in the setup that prevented changing the default package download URL.
Repaired a bug in the rc_dns script that caused internal host names and dynamic DNS entries not not to be resolved by the system when the DNS server was disabled.
Repaired a bug in the diagnostic sound system that caused a bogus log entry for sounds being disabled due to a time restriction when the sounds were disabled.
Repaired the setup firewall enable/disable section so that colors of enabled and disabled firewall rules for packages is displayed correctly.
Repaired some minor language bugs for synctime and crontab. This bug caused any non English control character set not to work correctly.
Repaired the dyndns client so that IP updates are registered correctly. Previously the dyndns.org client would register a success IP update even when the router was offline.
Repaired a bug in the diagnostic sound section of the setup that prevented kernel, lease and login example sounds to be played during setup or when the -f flag is used using the "play" command.
Repaired a bug in the extended debug logging for pppd in high speed PPPoE and PPtP connections.
Changed the arpf binary into shell script. The functions are still identical to the original binary, but it takes a lot less disk space.
Changed all of the built in network card drivers to reduce code size. This process involved using the older kernel modules and updating their card support along with removing almost all of the debugging code
Added software raid0145 and linear support into the kernel source and into the system shut down process. To enable software raid a third party raid enabled kernel must be installed.
Added the 'test' binary and '[' into the system for better scripting support. Which now includes all of the standard option flags.
Added settings information to the setup -> system settings menu main display.
Added extra logging information for the LPD server so it displays feed and raw queue information in the main system logs at startup and on tty5.
Added a firewall only mode to the rc_masq script so that NAT can be disabled and still maintain firewall rules for service ports and any other specific exclusions needed.
Added a automatic restart of the ppp monitoring script any time a new IP address is received. This resolves any problems with the script using an inaccurate IP address for testing connectivity.
Added the French language into the main boot system translation variables. Thanks to Dorian48 for the translation
Added the Portuguese language into the main boot system translation variables. Thanks to py2cac for the translation
Added a manual option to the 'setsite' command. This option allows the user not to have to wait for package mirror timing and package listing downloads from all available mirrors. Of course this also means that only the packages from that single URL will be available for installation.
Added the 'version' command. This command lists the FREESCO version and the kernel version along with when the kernel was compiled.
Added local port redirect into the restrict.cfg. This allows for any internal client to be redirected from an external URL to a local server port. This can be used in conjunction with other restrict commands at the same time.
Removed the ident server. This server is used a lot and never configured. This server serves no purpose in almost all router configurations. So the disk space it used is better served as free space on the floppy. However for those who do actually want or need this server, it has now been made into an add on package.
Added the Dutch language translation into the system. Thanks to Dingetje and Thasaidon for accomplishing this for the FREESCO community.
Added the ability to make and use special language files or even just make minor changes to language files and put them in the /boot/language/ directory and they will overwrite the built in language files or replace specific pre-made alternate language files.
Added the gigabit rtl8169 network card driver into the base system. This driver supports the D-Link DGE-528T and Netgear GA-311 network cards along with newer rtl8110 and rtl8111 chip sets. Thanks to Erik Janp for repairing the driver.
Added local forwarding to an external IP in the restrict.cfg. This allows the restrict.cfg to control local access to specific external IP address and optionally include time/day restrictions as well for those sites.
Added the "raidmon" script into the ext2 package. This script monitors the raid status if software raid is enabled and the ext2 package installed. The script outputs warnings into the log and uses a special built in sound to ensure the raid system is always fully functional. When enabled the special sound is played in the setup in the diagnostic sound section of the setup.
Added the wakelan 0.2.1 source into busybox and included it in the main system. This aloows remote computers to be started without the need for an add-on package.
Added new variables for the TCP FIN and UDP masquerade timeouts in the rc_masq script. This makes it possible to set shorter timeouts for masquerading and eliminating the need to manually change these values when needed. This is an advanced option and most users will never need to adjust these values.
Repaired bug in the move2hd command on FAT hard drive installs when using the "overwrite" option that prevented the system from recognizing the correct version.
Repaired bug in the keyboard map loader that caused map files to fail loading.
Repaired bug in the newly added 0.4.1 patching mechanism that caused the wrong text to be displayed at boot time when patches were installed on the system.
Recompiled the thttpd web server to use the same file names and directory structure as the Apache web server. This change will eliminate any confusion between the two different web servers when using custom error web pages. The new directory and file name for custom web pages is /www/error/401.html, which is now identical with the Apache web server and the file name corresponds to the web page error.
Added the boot time Spanish language translation into the system so that the base system commands before the drive is mounted will show correctly in Spanish when defined as the default language. There is also now a Spanish language translation for the system. A big thanks to René Guzmán Gil (Hitio) for making this translation. The Spanish language translation is included in the modules-042.zip.
Updated the modules-042.zip file with the latest time zone information. This should make the necessary adjustments for the recently changed daylight savings dates and times so the FREESCO adjusts the time correctly when using a time zone file rather than the static offset.
, so what's the point of keeping the server online?
