BRIDGING MODE FOR VERIZON WESTELL A90

If you want to turn the internal crap off on a Verizon Westell A90
(also 7500) modem so that you can use it with an existing wireless router...

Login to the unit with admin:password, you will be asked to change
the password right away... make it admin:admin or whatever..

Choose WIRELESS SETTINGS and disable it.

Choose MY NETWORK... NETWORK CONNECTIONS... under ACTION click
the icon to edit DSL BROADBAND CONNECTION... change the VC1 CONFIGURATION settings for PROTOCOL and BRIDGE MODE both to "BRIDGE". This will probably reset the modem.

Choose MY NETWORK... NETWORK CONNECTIONS... LAN... then uncheck
ENABLE DHCP SERVER.

After you hit apply, connect the existing network router WAN port to
the E1-UPLINK port on the A90. You are done. The INTERNET light on the modem will now be dark as an indication it is in bridging mode.

Dont forget to configure your router to use PPPoE using the main
account username and password.

Auto login with Debian Linux using GDM

Simply goto SYSTEM... ADMINISTRATION... LOGIN WINDOW...
SECURITY tab...

Then click ENABLE AUTOMATIC LOGIN and choose a user to login as.

http://www.go2linux.org/how_to_enable_autologin_on_debian_ubuntu_gnome

Setting up a Static Interface in Debian

To configure a static IP in debian you must edit the file /etc/network/interfaces and modify the following section...

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

To this... assuming interface eth0 is what you want...

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.10
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.1.0
broadcast 192.168.1.255
gateway 192.168.1.1

Also edit your /etc/hosts and insert similar to
the following to configure the IP to your hostname...

192.168.1.10 hostname hostname.full.qual.domain

Working with RANCID - Cisco Config Differ

For those of you with a need for backup of your network devices (such as routers and switches) and if you have absolutely no budget (but alot of time) then you may want to consider RANCID by Shrubbery Networks (available at http://www.shrubbery.net/rancid/). It is an open-source product that runs on Linux or Solaris.

I installed RANCID on top of Fedora 11, and was able to finally get it to work. The major problem I had with this package is the absolutely AWFUL documentation provided... you really have to sift through the readme to get what the hell they are trying to say. Even some of the better install tutorials were either out of date or not well written for the admin who just wants a simple step-by-step guide.

So, I compiled a word doc with the steps I took to configure Rancid for my work environment. You may grab it at the link provided...

http://www.njcomputerguys.com/rancid.doc

Hopefully it will save some people from pulling their hair out.

UPDATE - administrator Steve Smith contributed his experience working
with Rancid on Fedora 15...

http://njcomputerguys.com/RancidConfigFedora15.doc

SHUTDOWN button in Vista and Win7

One of the most ridiculous things Microsoft did with Vista
and Windows 7 was the idea of having the shutdown button
and start menu shutdown selection both default to SLEEP.

This has caused enormous frustration for users who actually
want to do a hard reset of their computers to clear a
problem... as SLEEP only puts them back to the point they
started.

Change this by adjusting power options in control panel.
Select the power mode you are currently using, choose
advanced selections, and change the settings for POWER
BUTTONS AND LID, POWER BUTTON ACTION to choose SHUTDOWN.

Wireless B and security

If you have a wireless B router and enable security, you may have
an issue with stability of your connections. In these instances,
I would suggest disabling security or replacing the router.

I found this issue with older B Linksys and Netgear routers.

Fedora Graphical/Text interface

To switch between text and graphical login just edit the
/etc/inittab file...

and change the line " id:X:initdefault: "
where X is the runlevel (5 for graphical, 3 for text)

If at the console prompt already, just use "init X"
to boot the correct runlevel.