I was having a dickens of a time, trying to force a browser make the user save the file, instead of trying to stream it. Here’s how to do it.

The original article is here.

1. in the directory where the file is located, we need to create a .htaccess file. So using the editor of your choice, create a filed name .htaccess (yes the period in front is important! It’s a hidden file.)


AddType application/octet-stream .wma


2. Now change the permissions on the file. Read and Write for the owner, and Read access for everyone else.


sudo chmod 640 .htaccess


it should like like:

-rw-rw—- 1 nwayno nwayno 38 2010-07-25 20:48 .htaccess

3. Restart the ftp server. If it’s standalone mode:


sudo service vsftpd restart


If vsftpd runs under xinetd (like I do), it will get the changes automatically since each new ftp session is a new process. (thanks Joe!)

4. Now when you try to ftp the file, such as:

ftp://servername/directory/filename.ext
(substitute your own information)

You will be prompted to save the file, instead of trying to stream it.

Thanks Loni

I have a 1 t/b back up drive, which is a USB drive.

However, the device names seem to change automagically.

Power interruptions, or even things like Virtual Box will cause the drive to dismount and re-mount, changing the device name, and causing havoc elsewhere for things like my music and ftp site which are stored on this device.

So, what’s the easy way to fix this? Well thanks to Loni, here’s what we did:

1. Change directory so we can get information by UUID. (Universally Unique Identifier)


cd /dev/disk/by-uuid


2. Look at the UUID’s in the system:


ls -l


You will get output that looks like this:

@Homer:/dev/disk/by-uuid$ ls -l
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 2010-07-08 00:21 14ff50b3-49c0-4dbb-a392-55fb94a7730f -> ../../sdb2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 2010-07-07 17:21 5ed81b0d-ae9a-41b1-b4c7-02b500b94bea -> ../../sda5
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 2010-07-07 17:21 92569F58569F3C43 -> ../../sda1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 2010-07-07 17:21 949CA48C9CA46A86 -> ../../sda3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 2010-07-07 17:21 c07c1084-ff98-49dc-87c7-672651dc4d2e -> ../../sda4
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 2010-07-08 00:21 FC1268B212687414 -> ../../sdb1

4. Now let’s edit the Linux file structure table, fstab

Note any thing with a # in it is a comment does not need to be coded!


cd /etc


5. First let’s backup the file in case we make mistake (always have a path back to the way it was, before you messed it up!) More complete details are here.


sudo cp fstab fstab.bkup


6. Now edit the file:


sudo nano fstab


OR


gksudo gedit fstab # use gedit


7. add the following similar lines:


UUID=14ff50b3-49c0-4dbb-a392-55fb94a7730f /waynobfd ext4 rw 0 0
#
UUID=FC1268B212687414 /waynontfs ntfs rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096 0 0


The first line above, mounts an ext4 partition by UUID (from the information we obtained before) and gives it the mount point of /waynobfd (previously created with the mkdir command.)

The second line above mounts an ntfs partition, called waynontfs. Handy for use with Windows.

By using UUID, if the device changes due to things like VirtualBox or maybe a power hiccup that affects the drive, though the device may change, the mount point will always be correct.

End of Problems! Thanks Loni!

THANKS LONI!

How to do — Certificate Based Authentication

1. Go into .ssh directory

cd ~/.ssh

2. create a file config with your favourite editor:

Host simpsons.com dohnuts
User homer
hostname simpsons.com
port 12345


The first line Host, identifies the domain, and the machine in that domain we which to reach.

The second line User, is the username on the host machine. In this case, homer

The third line, is the hostname.

The forth line is the port (usally 22, but for security reasons, we changed it from the default)

3. now do:

ssh-keygen

return on all of the prompts (i.e. take all the defaults)

It will look like this:

ssh-keygen
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/bart/.ssh/id_rsa):
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /home/bart/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /home/bart/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
12:34:56 and so on.
The key’s randomart image is:
+–[ RSA 2048]—-+

4. Enter the following to copy the certificate to the machine:

ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub dohnuts

You will get output that looks like:

:~/.ssh$ ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub saturn
The authenticity of host ‘[simpsons.com]:12345 ([12.34.56.153]:12345)’ can’t be established.
RSA key fingerprint is ab:59:27:8a.

Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? Yes
Warning: Permanently added ‘[simpsons.com]:12345,[12.34.56.153]:12345′ (RSA) to the list of known hosts.

Now try logging into the machine, with “ssh ‘dohnuts’”, and check in:

.ssh/authorized_keys

to make sure we haven’t added extra keys that you weren’t expecting.

5. Now login, using your password to complete.

6. in the future you would type:

ssh dohnuts

Look Ma, no password!