Using aliases to forward incoming mail on Ubuntu
Posted by Wes in 
I only need to do this every couple years when I renew an SSL certificate and they want to verify domain ownership by sending to some non-standard address like ssladmin@example.com.
So, here’s how:
Edit the virtual alias file:
(sudo) vi /etc/postfix/virtual
Add your alias and the address(es) it forwards to:
ssladmin@example.com realemail@example.com contact@example.com sales@gmail.com,support@gmail.com
Reload the postfix virtual table:
postmap /etc/postfix/virtual
Also make sure you have following line in /etc/postfix/main.cf file:
virtual_alias_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/virtual
If you didn’t have that and you just added it, reload all of postfix:
service postfix reload
Remove all those .DS_Store files
I don’t like committing .DS_Store files into my projects, so here’s an easy way to remove them:
Run this from your project folder:
# Recursively erase all .DS_Store files in this folder and below
find . -name \.DS_Store -exec rm -v {} \;
Also, you can prevent the DS_Store files from being created. Run this from the Terminal:
defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores true
Mac OS X: find the program running on a port
Sometimes, there’s a program running on a port and you don’t know what it is. How do you find out?
Tools we love
We spend a lot of time on our computers, so we spend a lot of time trying out new tools. Here are some of our favorites:
Backblaze
Backblaze backs your computer up, offsite, automatically.
Killer features:
- Protect from your computer crashing
- Restore a file you accidentally delete or change
- Offsite storage
- Unlimited space
- Can encrypt your data if you need/want to
- Locate My Computer, if your computer is lost or stolen, backblaze can help you track it down
Cost:
- $5 per month per computer
- $50 per year per computer
Dropbox
Dropbox synchronizes files across multiple computers.
Killer features:
- Keep folders in synch across multiple computers. No more emailing files to yourself
- Share folders with other people. For instance, I shared a folder with my bookkeeper to put receipts into, we have a shared folder for work projects, you can share folders with clients to transfer files back and forth
- Public folder. If you want to send a big file to someone and can’t email it, you can put the file in your dropbox public folder. That uploads it and you can send a link to the person and they can download it from the dropbox server.
- Mini backup. Files in here are available from the dropbox website, so in a pinch you can login to the Dropbox website and get that presentation you forgot.
Cost:
- Free, can store up to 2GB
- $10/month for 50GB storage
- $20/month for 100GB storage
Godaddy: Common name my.domain.com is already present in a current certificate
When submitting a CSR for creating a new SSL certificate on godaddy.com I received this error:
Common name my.domain.com is already present in a current certificate
For those searching for a quick answer: you need to renew the other certificate or get it revoked.
I took this site over from another developer, so I didn’t have access to the SSL account that he used to purchase the certificate.
My first call to general support told me I would have to prove an interest in the domain name, either through knowing the account login or some other method, like altering a DNS record or something. He bounced me to SSL support for future help.
Called godaddy SSL support (480-505-8852) and they said:
The current certificate needs to be revoked, so current owner of domain needs to get involved. I asked if the DNS option was a possibility, because trying to get an email to a no-longer-there contact’s email address sent on to me reliably could be problematic.
After talking to a supervisor, I gave them my email address and they sent me an email:
We need to validate your domain access or control.
Your domain’s WHOIS record does not present a valid registrant and/or administrative email address, you will need to complete domain control verification.
There are several alternative methods you can choose from below to complete domain control verification.
This is a special code for you to use when completing one of the two methods below: abc123
Domain Zone Control
Access your domain name’s DNS control panel and create a CNAME using the special code as the hostname. The points-to address does not matter. CNAME = abc123.mydomain.com
Website Control Validation
Create a webpage on your root domain using the special code above. Example: your domain name is mydomain.com and if the code is abc123 , you would create a webpage named abc123.html and upload it to the root domain so it resolves as mydomain.com/abc123.html. You must use html as the page extension.
************************************************
The webpage will also need to contain the special code in the body. We will not accept a blank page.
************************************************
I replied to that email after setting up the CNAME and making sure it worked.
I waited the requested 15 minutes and called back in to get a status update. The customer service rep grabbed a supervisor and they submitted it and I got on with my SSL request.
Installing A Virtual Machine With Dell OEM Disks
If you’re willing to put in the effort (and assuming you’re legal), it could work, but I’d suggest using a retail license which avoids the caveats you’ll soon be reading about below:
First, some helpful information:
OEM Dell installation CDs depend on the SLP code in the Dell BIOS for activation. If the installation program can’t see the real bios, it can’t activate. With a commercially purchased installation CD this is not a problem as you have a COA that can be activated on line or by phone. OEM installation CDs cannot be activated on line, and since Dell is responsible for support of an OEM disk that was issued by Dell, Microsoft will not normally give you an activation key if you call them. You can try the phone method, of course, since so far as I can tell you are running only Windows XP Pro rather than both Vista and Windows XP. Once you explain what you are doing they might grant you an activation code.
If you are installing an OEM version onto a virtual machine, it will not activate as it cannot see the BIOS String of the real Dell machine. It is only seeing the Virtual BIOS which doesn’t have the SLP String to activate.
How to resolve this:
- Boot up XP Pro VM installation, and select the Telephone activation option for the XP activation.
- Call MS. Try to go on to speak to a representative to explain further.
- Here it’s important to explain exactly what you’re doing to the rep — Explain that you simply want to activate this one XP license, on the Dell with which it was purchased, but you are doing so in a virtual machine. They can quickly confirm why it’s not working, due to not seeing the real BIOS.
- You should end up transferred to the Product Key Team.
- Once connected with the Product Key Team, they should provide you with a new product key (after confirming you are installing XP on the Dell that it came with and installing just one instance) there are a couple more steps — after entering the new product key, give the new activation code to the rep, get the confirmation to enter in the activation screen; and with luck, success!
Ubuntu postfix error — postdrop: warning: unable to look up public/pickup: No such file or directory
I installed postfix and got this error:
postdrop: warning: unable to look up public/pickup: No such file or directory.
read more
XP password reset
Someone asked me to fix their computer, but they didn’t know any of the passwords for it. Short of formatting it, I didn’t really know what to do.
After some searching, I found the Offline NT Password & Registry Editor, Bootdisk / CD which worked perfectly.
- Download the CD image
- Burn to a CD
- Boot to the CD
- A small linux program runs
- Answer a few questions about what partition and the user(s) you need to clear and/or reset the password for
- Write your changes to the disk
You can also edit the registry if you need to hack some bad keys out of there, like spyware startup entries.
Super handy tool!
Installing SFTP on Windows 2003 Server
I needed to set up a quick FTP server on a Windows server. I don’t like opening FTP ports if I can help it, so I wanted to find a easy SFTP server. This one is great and super easy to set up:
http://www.coreftp.com/server/
You give it a username and password and a directory where the user should end up. Simple, but effective.
CoreFTP setup
Restore IMAP mail from local cache via Time Machine
I had a real scary moment last night. I was cleaning off my server and deleted the home directory for my databasically email account. I don’t host the website on that server, so I thought removing the home directory would be fine. However, I do host the mail on that server and it’s stored in the home directory.
I had Apple Mail.app running and connected to that mailbox. I didn’t really notice it until a few minutes later when a message came in on another account.
My work account was blank. Empty. Also, I had a nice exclamation point saying the account couldn’t be found.
Whoops. Oh hell.
I have my computer hooked to an external hard drive which I’m using as my Time Machine (the built-in Mac backup software) drive. I poked through the folders from an hour ago and found all my mail.
The mail is stored in ~/Library/Mail/, where each IMAP account has a folder called IMAP-user@host. This folder contains many folders with the .imapmbox extension.
Here’s how I restored my mailbox:
- Recreated my home directory and made sure that the email address still worked. You may want to set up a new account if you’re moving hosts or whatever. Get a working IMAP account up and running.
- Put the IMAP-user@host folder to my Desktop. Actually, I restored it from Time Machine and then copied it to the Desktop. I selected “Keep both” when doing the Time Machine restore which renamed my existing folder to end in “(original)”. I moved the restored folder to my Desktop and removed the “(original)”.
- Renamed each folders’ extension from .imapmbox to .mbox . Make sure you get any subfolders as well.
- Import the file: File > Import Mailboxes > Mail for Mac OS X
- Select the parent folder (IMAP-user@host) containing all your .mbox files.
- Your mail will be imported to a folder named Import inside the On My Mac folder.
- Drag your mail to your new/restored IMAP mailbox. I copied 5000 messages at a time without an issue.
Hopefully you never need this information.
If it helped you out or if you have any other information, please let me know in the comments.