Extract the zip the open the virtual appliance on VMWare Workstation. The default settings are fine but you will need to go to Edit\Virtual Network Editor menu option and bridge the network card you are planning to use for Squid.

In this example I am using a WiFi network card for my 2nd internet connection.

Virtual Network Editor Settings

Now you can run the virtual appliance and everything should be working fine. Do an ifconfig and ping something to make sure you have internet access.

Testing the connection

The default port for squid is 3128 so fire up your browser (firefox in this example) and set the proxy settings. In this example the IP address of the proxy server is 192.168.2.8 (as shown in ifconfig)

Firefox Settings

As you can see in the following screenshot I can upload my HD video on youtube using my main internet connection (which takes all my bandwidth) and use the other one for everything else.

Testing the Proxy

You can also edit /etc/squid/squid.conf and make any changes you want (DNS Servers, Authentication etc).  By default in this distribution ad-blocking is enabled. If you experience any problems with some websites you can edit the /etc/squid/adsblock.txt file.

Another cool idea is to install webmin to manage your proxy easier instead of editing the .conf file.

apt-get install wget
cd /home/user
mkdir webmin
wget http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/webadmin/webmin_1.490_all.deb
apt-get install perl
dpkg -i webmin_1.490_all.deb
apt-get -f install

Then you will be able to log into webmin using https://<server_ip>:10000

I know this isn’t a step-by-step guide so if you face any problems or if you think that I forgot something just let me know.

PS. The root password is “vmroot”. You should change that after your first log-in.

After finishing with the client installation you will have to create a .muttrc in your home directory and then just copy and paste the following sample (as simple as possible) configuration:

account-hook imap://gmail/ “set

set imap_user = “username@domain”
set imap_pass = “password”

set smtp_url = “smtp://username@domain@smtp.gmail.com:587/”

set smtp_pass = “password”
set from = “username@domain”
set realname = “yourfullnamegoeshere”

set folder = “imaps://imap.gmail.com:993″
set spoolfile = “+INBOX”
set postponed=”+[Gmail]/Drafts”

set header_cache=~/.mutt/cache/headers
set message_cachedir=~/.mutt/cache/bodies
set certificate_file=~/.mutt/certificates

set move = no
set timeout=15
auto_view text/html

Your outgoing email will be saved in your [Gmail]/Sent folder automatically so there is no need to add the set copy parameter.

That’s all. You can now run mutt and access your google apps account.

The above service no longer works.

I received the following email from Tim Westergren (founder of Pandora) this morning. It states clearly that Pandora will stop streaming to the UK as of January the 15th.

hi, it’s Tim,

This is an email I hoped I would never have to send.

As you probably know, in July of 2007 we had to block usage of Pandora outside the U.S. because of the lack of a viable license structure for Internet radio streaming in other countries. It was a terrible day. We did however hold out some hope that a solution might exist for the UK, so we left it unblocked as we worked diligently with the rights organizations to negotiate an economically workable license fee.

After over a year of trying, this has proved impossible. Both the PPL (which represents the record labels) and the MCPS/PRS Alliance (which represents music publishers) have demanded per track performance minima rates which are far too high to allow ad supported radio to operate and so, hugely disappointing and depressing to us as it is, we have to block the last territory outside of the US.

Based upon the IP address from which you recently visited Pandora, it appears that you are listening from the UK. If you are, in fact, listening from the US, and are denied access from Pandora on or after January 15th please contact Pandora Support: pandora-support@pandora.com.

It continues to astound me and the rest of the team here that the industry is not working more constructively to support the growth of services that introduce listeners to new music and that are totally supportive of paying fair royalties to the creators of music. I don’t often say such things, but the course being charted by the labels and publishers and their representative organizations is nothing short of disastrous for artists whom they purport to represent – and by that I mean both well known and indie artists. The only consequence of failing to support companies like Pandora that are attempting to build a sustainable radio business for the future will be the continued explosion of piracy, the continued constriction of opportunities for working musicians, and a worsening drought of new music for fans. As a former working musician myself, I find it very troubling.

We have been told to sign these totally unworkable license rates or switch off, non-negotiable…so that is what we are doing. Streaming illegally is just not in our DNA, and we have to take the threats of legal action seriously. Lest you think this is solely an international problem, you should know that we are also fighting for our survival here in the US, in the face of a crushing increase in web radio royalty rates, which if left unchanged, would mean the end of Pandora.

We know what an epicenter of musical creativity and fan support the UK has always been, which makes the prospect of not being able to launch there and having to block our first listeners all the more upsetting for us.

We know there is a lot of support from listeners and artists in the UK for Pandora and remain hopeful that at some point we’ll get beyond this. We’re going to keep fighting for a fair and workable rate structure that will allow us to bring Pandora back to you. We’ll be sure to let you know if Pandora becomes available in the UK. There may well come a day when we need to make a direct appeal for your support to move for governmental intervention as we have in the US. In the meantime, we have no choice but to turn off service to the UK.

Pandora will stop streaming to the UK as of January 15th, 2008.

Again, on behalf of all of us at Pandora, I’m very, very sorry.

-Tim Westergren

(Pandora founder)

This is a one-time account message

I suppose people from the UK will still be able to access Pandora using the method I described in my previous post.

After finishing all the above steps I was able to listen to my favourite radio stations. My next goal is to access BBC’s iPlayer from Greece.

If you have any questions please feel free to post a comment.

It also means that the Windows 2000/2003 certificate authority web enrollment pages will not allow Vista and Longhorn clients to enroll a certificate. What you will have to do is replace your Windows 2003 CA web certificate pages with the ones from Longhorn. Those can be found in the Longhorn beta VHD provided by Microsoft. More information about this can be found here.

Here is a javascript code example on how to use CERTENROLL.

<%
‘ Certificate Enrollment Example
‘ Dimitris Giakoumakis 2007

‘ Browser detection. Use CertEnroll if Windows Longhorn/Vista
Dim sBrowser

sBrowser = Request.ServerVariables(“HTTP_USER_AGENT”)
If 0 InStr(sBrowser, “Windows NT”) Then
numChar = InStr(Mid(sBrowser, InStr(sBrowser, “Windows NT”)+11), “.”)-1
If CInt(Mid(sBrowser, InStr(sBrowser, “Windows NT”)+11,numChar)) >= 6 Then
bLongHorn = True
End If
End If

If bLongHorn = True Then
%>

// Distinguished name variables
// for more RDN keys refer to http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa377051.asp
var sCN = “GR”; // Common name
var sO = “Organisation”; // Organisation name
var sOU = “OrganisationUnit”; // Organisational Unit
var sL = “Locality”; // Locality
var sS = “Attika”; // State
var sC = “GR”; // Country
var sCertificate = null;

sDistinguishedName = “c=” + sC + “;o=” + sO + “;ou=” + sOU + “;cn=” + “Dimitris Giakoumakis;”;

// Initialization of the ActiveX component
var classFactory = new ActiveXObject(“X509Enrollment.CX509EnrollmentWebClassFactory”);

// Declaration of the objects
var objEnroll = classFactory.CreateObject(“X509Enrollment.CX509Enrollment”);
var objPrivateKey = classFactory.CreateObject(“X509Enrollment.CX509PrivateKey”);
var objRequest = classFactory.CreateObject(“X509Enrollment.CX509CertificateRequestPkcs10″);
var objDN = classFactory.CreateObject(“X509Enrollment.CX500DistinguishedName”);

// Specify the name of the cryptographic provider.
objPrivateKey.ProviderName = “Microsoft Enhanced RSA and AES Cryptographic Provider”;

// X509PrivateKeyUsageFlags
// Specify a value that identifies the specific purpose for which a private key can be used.
//
// typedef enum {
// XCN_NCRYPT_ALLOW_USAGES_NONE = 0,
// XCN_NCRYPT_ALLOW_DECRYPT_FLAG = 0×1,
// XCN_NCRYPT_ALLOW_SIGNING_FLAG = 0×2,
// XCN_NCRYPT_ALLOW_KEY_AGREEMENT_FLAG = 0×4,
// XCN_NCRYPT_ALLOW_ALL_USAGES = 0xffffff
// } X509PrivateKeyUsageFlags;
objPrivateKey.KeySpec = “1″;

// X509ProviderType
// Specification of the cryptographic standards and algorithms
//
// typedef enum X509ProviderType {
// XCN_PROV_NONE = 0,
// XCN_PROV_RSA_FULL = 1,
// XCN_PROV_RSA_SIG = 2,
// XCN_PROV_DSS = 3,
// XCN_PROV_FORTEZZA = 4,
// XCN_PROV_MS_EXCHANGE = 5,
// XCN_PROV_SSL = 6,
// XCN_PROV_RSA_SCHANNEL = 12,
// XCN_PROV_DSS_DH = 13,
// XCN_PROV_EC_ECDSA_SIG = 14,
// XCN_PROV_EC_ECNRA_SIG = 15,
// XCN_PROV_EC_ECDSA_FULL = 16,
// XCN_PROV_EC_ECNRA_FULL = 17,
// XCN_PROV_DH_SCHANNEL = 18,
// XCN_PROV_SPYRUS_LYNKS = 20,
// XCN_PROV_RNG = 21,
// XCN_PROV_INTEL_SEC = 22,
// XCN_PROV_REPLACE_OWF = 23,
// XCN_PROV_RSA_AES = 24
// } X509ProviderType;
objPrivateKey.ProviderType = “24″;

// Initialization of the certificate request by using an IX509PrivateKey (objPravateKey)
objRequest.InitializeFromPrivateKey(1, objPrivateKey, “”);

// Initializing the X.500 distinguished name
objDN.Encode(sDistinguishedName, 0);

// Specifing the X.500 distinguished name using the Subject property of IX509CertificateRequestPkcs10
objRequest.Subject = objDN;

// Initializing the enrollment object (objEnroll) using the existing certificate request object.
objEnroll.InitializeFromRequest(objRequest);

// Retrieving the encoded certificate request object
sCertificate = objEnroll.CreateRequest(1);

document.write(sCertificate);

For more information refer to the certificate enrollment API at MSDN.

If you have any questions please feel free to post a comment.

Here you will find a variety of interesting stuff that vary from information security news to web development, new technologies, gadgets, cool software and hacks. Enjoy!