Create and burn an ISO p_w_picpath

This will copy the cd or DVD sector for sector. Without conv=notrunc, the p_w_picpath will be smaller if there is less content on the cd. See below and the dd examples.

# dd if=/dev/hdc of=/tmp/mycd.iso bs=2048 conv=notrunc
Use mkisofs to create a CD/DVD p_w_picpath from files in a directory. To overcome the file names restrictions: -r enables the Rock Ridge extensions common to UNIX systems, -J enables Joliet extensions used by Microsoft systems. -L allows ISO9660 filenames to begin with a period.

# mkisofs -J -L -r -V TITLE -o p_w_picpathfile.iso /path/to/dir
On FreeBSD, mkisofs is found in the ports in sysutils/cdrtools.
Burn a CD/DVD ISO p_w_picpath

FreeBSD

FreeBSD does not enable DMA on ATAPI drives by default. DMA is enabled with the sysctl command and the arguments below, or with /boot/loader.conf with the following entries:

hw.ata.ata_dma="1"
hw.ata.atapi_dma="1"

Use burncd with an ATAPI device (burncd is part of the base system) and cdrecord (in sysutils/cdrtools) with a SCSI drive.

# burncd -f /dev/acd0 data p_w_picpathfile.iso fixate      # For ATAPI drive
# cdrecord -scanbus                  # To find the burner device (like 1,0,0)
# cdrecord dev=1,0,0 p_w_picpathfile.iso

Linux

Also use cdrecord with Linux as described above. Additionally it is possible to use the native ATAPI interface which is found with:

# cdrecord dev=ATAPI -scanbus
And burn the CD/DVD as above.
dvd+rw-tools

The dvd+rw-tools package (FreeBSD: ports/sysutils/dvd+rw-tools) can do it all and includes growisofs to burn CDs or DVDs. The examples refer to the dvd device as /dev/dvd which could be a symlink to /dev/scd0 (typical scsi on Linux) or /dev/cd0 (typical FreeBSD) or /dev/rcd0c (typical NetBSD/OpenBSD character SCSI) or /dev/rdsk/c0t1d0s2 (Solaris example of a character SCSI/ATAPI CD-ROM device). There is a nice documentation with examples on the FreeBSD handbook chapter 18.7http://www.freebsd.org/handbook/creating-dvds.html.

                       # -dvd-compat closes the disk
# growisofs -dvd-compat -Z /dev/dvd=p_w_picpathfile.iso     # Burn existing iso p_w_picpath
# growisofs -dvd-compat -Z /dev/dvd -J -R /p/to/data  # Burn directly

Convert a Nero .nrg file to .iso

Nero simply adds a 300Kb header to a normal iso p_w_picpath. This can be trimmed with dd.

# dd bs=1k if=p_w_picpathfile.nrg of=p_w_picpathfile.iso skip=300
Convert a bin/cue p_w_picpath to .iso

The little bchunk programhttp://freshmeat.net/projects/bchunk/ can do this. It is in the FreeBSD ports in sysutils/bchunk.

# bchunk p_w_picpathfile.bin p_w_picpathfile.cue p_w_picpathfile.iso

Create a file based p_w_picpath

For example a partition of 1GB using the file /usr/vdisk.img. Here we use the vnode 0, but it could also be 1.
FreeBSD

# dd if=/dev/random of=/usr/vdisk.img bs=1K count=1M
# mdconfig -a -t vnode -f /usr/vdisk.img -u 0         # Creates device /dev/md1
# bsdlabel -w /dev/md0
# newfs /dev/md0c
# mount /dev/md0c /mnt
# umount /mnt; mdconfig -d -u 0; rm /usr/vdisk.img    # Cleanup the md device

The file based p_w_picpath can be automatically mounted during boot with an entry in /etc/rc.conf and /etc/fstab. Test your setup with # /etc/rc.d/mdconfig start (first delete the md0 device with # mdconfig -d -u 0).
Note however that this automatic setup will only work if the file p_w_picpath is NOT on the root partition. The reason is that the /etc/rc.d/mdconfig script is executed very early during boot and the root partition is still read-only. Images located outside the root partition will be mounted later with the script /etc/rc.d/mdconfig2.
/boot/loader.conf:

md_load="YES"
/etc/rc.conf:

# mdconfig_md0="-t vnode -f /usr/vdisk.img"          # /usr is not on the root partition
/etc/fstab: (The 0 0 at the end is important, it tell fsck to ignore this device, as is does not exist yet)

/dev/md0                /usr/vdisk      ufs     rw              0       0
It is also possible to increase the size of the p_w_picpath afterward, say for example 300 MB larger.

# umount /mnt; mdconfig -d -u 0
# dd if=/dev/zero bs=1m count=300 >> /usr/vdisk.img
# mdconfig -a -t vnode -f /usr/vdisk.img -u 0
# growfs /dev/md0
# mount /dev/md0c /mnt                                # File partition is now 300 MB larger

Linux

# dd if=/dev/zero of=/usr/vdisk.img bs=1024k count=1024
# mkfs.ext3 /usr/vdisk.img
# mount -o loop /usr/vdisk.img /mnt
# umount /mnt; rm /usr/vdisk.img                      # Cleanup

Linux with losetup

/dev/zero is much faster than urandom, but less secure for encryption.

# dd if=/dev/urandom of=/usr/vdisk.img bs=1024k count=1024
# losetup /dev/loop0 /usr/vdisk.img                   # Creates and associates /dev/loop0
# mkfs.ext3 /dev/loop0
# mount /dev/loop0 /mnt
# losetup -a                                          # Check used loops
# umount /mnt
# losetup -d /dev/loop0                               # Detach
# rm /usr/vdisk.img

Create a memory file system

A memory based file system is very fast for heavy IO application. How to create a 64 MB partition mounted on /memdisk:
FreeBSD

# mount_mfs -o rw -s 64M md /memdisk
# umount /memdisk; mdconfig -d -u 0                   # Cleanup the md device
md     /memdisk     mfs     rw,-s64M    0   0         # /etc/fstab entry

Linux

# mount -t tmpfs -osize=64m tmpfs /memdisk

Disk performance

Read and write a 1 GB file on partition ad4s3c (/home)

# time dd if=/dev/ad4s3c of=/dev/null bs=1024k count=1000
# time dd if=/dev/zero bs=1024k count=1000 of=/home/1Gb.file
# hdparm -tT /dev/hda      # Linux only

Network

Routing | Additional IP | Change MAC | Ports | Firewall | IP Forward | NAT | DNS | DHCP | Traffic | QoS | NIS | Netcat
Debugging (See also Traffic analysis)
Linux

# ethtool eth0              # Show the ethernet status (replaces mii-diag)
# ethtool -s eth0 speed 100 duplex full # Force 100Mbit Full duplex
# ethtool -s eth0 autoneg off # Disable auto negotiation
# ethtool -p eth1           # Blink the ethernet led - very useful when supported
# ip link show              # Display all interfaces on Linux (similar to ifconfig)
# ip link set eth0 up       # Bring device up (or down). Same as "ifconfig eth0 up"
# ip addr show              # Display all IP addresses on Linux (similar to ifconfig)
# ip neigh show             # Similar to arp -a

Other OSes

# ifconfig fxp0             # Check the "media" field on FreeBSD
# arp -a                    # Check the router (or host) ARP entry (all OS)
# ping cb.vu                # The first thing to try...
# traceroute cb.vu          # Print the route path to destination
# ifconfig fxp0 media 100baseTX mediaopt full-duplex # 100Mbit full duplex (FreeBSD)
# netstat -s                # System-wide statistics for each network protocol

Additional commands which are not always installed per default but easy to find:

# arping 192.168.16.254     # Ping on ethernet layer
# tcptraceroute -f 5 cb.vu  # uses tcp instead of icmp to trace through firewalls

Routing

Print routing table

# route -n                  # Linux or use "ip route"
# netstat -rn               # Linux, BSD and UNIX
# route print               # Windows

Add and delete a route

FreeBSD

# route add 212.117.0.0/16 192.168.1.1
# route delete 212.117.0.0/16
# route add default 192.168.1.1

Add the route permanently in /etc/rc.conf

static_routes="myroute"
route_myroute="-net 212.117.0.0/16 192.168.1.1"

Linux

# route add -net 192.168.20.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 gw 192.168.16.254
# ip route add 192.168.20.0/24 via 192.168.16.254       # same as above with ip route
# route add -net 192.168.20.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 dev eth0
# route add default gw 192.168.51.254
# ip route add default via 192.168.51.254 dev eth0      # same as above with ip route
# route delete -net 192.168.20.0 netmask 255.255.255.0

Solaris

# route add -net 192.168.20.0 -netmask 255.255.255.0 192.168.16.254
# route add default 192.168.51.254 1                    # 1 = hops to the next gateway
# route change default 192.168.50.254 1

Permanent entries are set in entry in /etc/defaultrouter.
Windows

# Route add 192.168.50.0 mask 255.255.255.0 192.168.51.253
# Route add 0.0.0.0 mask 0.0.0.0 192.168.51.254
Use add -p to make the route persistent.
Configure additional IP addresses

Linux

# ifconfig eth0 192.168.50.254 netmask 255.255.255.0       # First IP
# ifconfig eth0:0 192.168.51.254 netmask 255.255.255.0     # Second IP
# ip addr add 192.168.50.254/24 dev eth0                   # Equivalent ip commands
# ip addr add 192.168.51.254/24 dev eth0 label eth0:1

FreeBSD

# ifconfig fxp0 inet 192.168.50.254/24                     # First IP
# ifconfig fxp0 alias 192.168.51.254 netmask 255.255.255.0 # Second IP
# ifconfig fxp0 -alias 192.168.51.254                      # Remove second IP alias

Permanent entries in /etc/rc.conf

ifconfig_fxp0="inet 192.168.50.254  netmask 255.255.255.0"
ifconfig_fxp0_alias0="192.168.51.254 netmask 255.255.255.0"

Solaris

Check the settings with ifconfig -a

# ifconfig hme0 plumb                                      # Enable the network card
# ifconfig hme0 192.168.50.254 netmask 255.255.255.0 up    # First IP
# ifconfig hme0:1 192.168.51.254 netmask 255.255.255.0 up  # Second IP

Change MAC address

Normally you have to bring the interface down before the change. Don't tell me why you want to change the MAC address...

# ifconfig eth0 down
# ifconfig eth0 hw ether 00:01:02:03:04:05      # Linux
# ifconfig fxp0 link 00:01:02:03:04:05          # FreeBSD
# ifconfig hme0 ether 00:01:02:03:04:05         # Solaris
# sudo ifconfig en0 ether 00:01:02:03:04:05     # Mac OS X Tiger
# sudo ifconfig en0 lladdr 00:01:02:03:04:05    # Mac OS X Leopard

Many tools exist for Windows. For example etherchangehttp://ntsecurity.nu/toolbox/etherchange. Or look for "Mac Makeup", "smac".
Ports in use

Listening open ports:

# netstat -an | grep LISTEN
# lsof -i                  # Linux list all Internet connections
# socklist                 # Linux display list of open sockets
# sockstat -4              # FreeBSD application listing
# netstat -anp --udp --tcp | grep LISTEN        # Linux
# netstat -tup             # List active connections to/from system (Linux)
# netstat -tupl            # List listening ports from system (Linux)
# netstat -ano             # Windows

Firewall

Check if a firewall is running (typical configuration only):
Linux

# iptables -L -n -v                  # For status
Open the iptables firewall
# iptables -P INPUT       ACCEPT     # Open everything
# iptables -P FORWARD     ACCEPT
# iptables -P OUTPUT      ACCEPT
# iptables -Z                        # Zero the packet and byte counters in all chains
# iptables -F                        # Flush all chains
# iptables -X                        # Delete all chains

FreeBSD

# ipfw show                          # For status
# ipfw list 65535 # if answer is "65535 deny ip from any to any" the fw is disabled
# sysctl net.inet.ip.fw.enable=0     # Disable
# sysctl net.inet.ip.fw.enable=1     # Enable

IP Forward for routing

Linux

Check and then enable IP forward with:

# cat /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward  # Check IP forward 0=off, 1=on
# echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward

or edit /etc/sysctl.conf with:

net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1
FreeBSD

Check and enable with:

# sysctl net.inet.ip.forwarding      # Check IP forward 0=off, 1=on
# sysctl net.inet.ip.forwarding=1
# sysctl net.inet.ip.fastforwarding=1    # For dedicated router or firewall
Permanent with entry in /etc/rc.conf:
gateway_enable="YES"                 # Set to YES if this host will be a gateway.

Solaris

# ndd -set /dev/ip ip_forwarding 1   # Set IP forward 0=off, 1=on

NAT Network Address Translation

Linux

# iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE    # to activate NAT
# iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p tcp -d 78.31.70.238 --dport 20022 -j DNAT /
--to 192.168.16.44:22           # Port forward 20022 to internal IP port ssh
# iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p tcp -d 78.31.70.238 --dport 993:995 -j DNAT /
--to 192.168.16.254:993-995     # Port forward of range 993-995
# ip route flush cache
# iptables -L -t nat            # Check NAT status

Delete the port forward with -D instead of -A. The program netstat-nathttp://tweegy.nl/projects/netstat-nat is very useful to track connections (it uses /proc/net/ip_conntrack or /proc/net/nf_conntrack).

# netstat-nat -n                # show all connections with IPs
FreeBSD

# natd -s -m -u -dynamic -f /etc/natd.conf -n fxp0
Or edit /etc/rc.conf with:
firewall_enable="YES"           # Set to YES to enable firewall functionality
firewall_type="open"            # Firewall type (see /etc/rc.firewall)
natd_enable="YES"               # Enable natd (if firewall_enable == YES).
natd_interface="tun0"           # Public interface or IP address to use.
natd_flags="-s -m -u -dynamic -f /etc/natd.conf"

Port forward with:

# cat /etc/natd.conf
same_ports yes
use_sockets yes
unregistered_only
# redirect_port tcp insideIP:2300-2399 3300-3399  # port range
redirect_port udp 192.168.51.103:7777 7777

DNS

On Unix the DNS entries are valid for all interfaces and are stored in /etc/resolv.conf. The domain to which the host belongs is also stored in this file. A minimal configuration is:

nameserver 78.31.70.238
search sleepyowl.net intern.lab
domain sleepyowl.net

Check the system domain name with:

# hostname -d                        # Same as dnsdomainname
Windows

On Windows the DNS are configured per interface. To display the configured DNS and to flush the DNS cache use:

# ipconfig /?                        # Display help
# ipconfig /all                      # See all information including DNS

Flush DNS

Flush the OS DNS cache, some application using their own cache (e.g. Firefox) and will be unaffected.

# /etc/init.d/nscd restart           # Restart nscd if used - Linux/BSD/Solaris
# lookupd -flushcache                # OS X Tiger
# dscacheutil -flushcache            # OS X Leopard and newer
# ipconfig /flushdns                 # Windows

Forward queries

Dig is you friend to test the DNS settings. For example the public DNS server 213.133.105.2 ns.second-ns.de can be used for testing. See from which server the client receives the answer (simplified answer).

# dig sleepyowl.net
sleepyowl.net.          600     IN      A       78.31.70.238
;; SERVER: 192.168.51.254#53(192.168.51.254)

The router 192.168.51.254 answered and the response is the A entry. Any entry can be queried and the DNS server can be selected with @:

# dig MX google.com
# dig @127.0.0.1 NS sun.com          # To test the local server
# dig @204.97.212.10 NS MX heise.de  # Query an external server
# dig AXFR @ns1.xname.org cb.vu      # Get the full zone (zone transfer)

The program host is also powerful.

# host -t MX cb.vu                   # Get the mail MX entry
# host -t NS -T sun.com              # Get the NS record over a TCP connection
# host -a sleepyowl.net              # Get everything

Reverse queries

Find the name belonging to an IP address (in-addr.arpa.). This can be done with dig, host and nslookup:

# dig -x 78.31.70.238
# host 78.31.70.238
# nslookup 78.31.70.238

/etc/hosts

Single hosts can be configured in the file /etc/hosts instead of running named locally to resolve the hostname queries. The format is simple, for example:

78.31.70.238   sleepyowl.net   sleepyowl
The priority between hosts and a dns query, that is the name resolution order, can be configured in /etc/nsswitch.conf AND /etc/host.conf. The file also exists on Windows, it is usually in:

C:/WINDOWS/SYSTEM32/DRIVERS/ETC
DHCP

Linux

Some distributions (SuSE) use dhcpcd as client. The default interface is eth0.

# dhcpcd -n eth0           # Trigger a renew (does not always work)
# dhcpcd -k eth0           # release and shutdown

The lease with the full information is stored in:

/var/lib/dhcpcd/dhcpcd-eth0.info
FreeBSD

FreeBSD (and Debian) uses dhclient. To configure an interface (for example bge0) run:

# dhclient bge0
The lease with the full information is stored in:

/var/db/dhclient.leases.bge0
Use

/etc/dhclient.conf
to prepend options or force different options:

# cat /etc/dhclient.conf
interface "rl0" {
    prepend domain-name-servers 127.0.0.1;
    default domain-name "sleepyowl.net";
    supersede domain-name "sleepyowl.net";
}

Windows

The dhcp lease can be renewed with ipconfig:

# ipconfig /renew          # renew all adapters
# ipconfig /renew LAN      # renew the adapter named "LAN"
# ipconfig /release WLAN   # release the adapter named "WLAN"

Yes it is a good idea to rename you adapter with simple names!
Traffic analysis

Bmonhttp://people.suug.ch/~tgr/bmon/ is a small console bandwidth monitor and can display the flow on different interfaces.
Sniff with tcpdump

# tcpdump -nl -i bge0 not port ssh and src /(192.168.16.121 or 192.168.16.54/)
# tcpdump -n -i eth1 net 192.168.16.121           # select to/from a single IP
# tcpdump -n -i eth1 net 192.168.16.0/24          # select traffic to/from a network
# tcpdump -l > dump && tail -f dump               # Buffered output
# tcpdump -i rl0 -w traffic.rl0                   # Write traffic headers in binary file
# tcpdump -i rl0 -s 0 -w traffic.rl0              # Write traffic + payload in binary file
# tcpdump -r traffic.rl0                          # Read from file (also for ethereal
# tcpdump port 80                                 # The two classic commands
# tcpdump host google.com
# tcpdump -i eth0 -X port /(110 or 143/)          # Check if pop or imap is secure
# tcpdump -n -i eth0 icmp                         # Only catch pings
# tcpdump -i eth0 -s 0 -A port 80 | grep GET      # -s 0 for full packet -A for ASCII

Additional important options:

    * -A     Print each packets in clear text (without header)
    * -X     Print packets in hex and ASCII
    * -l     Make stdout line buffered
    * -D     Print all interfaces available


On Windows use windump from www.winpcap.org. Use windump -D to list the interfaces.
Scan with nmap

Nmaphttp://insecure.org/nmap/ is a port scanner with OS detection, it is usually installed on most distributions and is also available for Windows. If you don't scan your servers, hackers do it for you...

# nmap cb.vu               # scans all reserved TCP ports on the host
# nmap -sP 192.168.16.0/24 # Find out which IP are used and by which host on 0/24
# nmap -sS -sV -O cb.vu    # Do a stealth SYN scan with version and OS detection
PORT      STATE  SERVICE             VERSION
22/tcp    open   ssh                 OpenSSH 3.8.1p1 FreeBSD-20060930 (protocol 2.0)
25/tcp    open   smtp                Sendmail smtpd 8.13.6/8.13.6
80/tcp    open   http                Apache httpd 2.0.59 ((FreeBSD) DAV/2 PHP/4.
[...]
Running: FreeBSD 5.X
Uptime 33.120 days (since Fri Aug 31 11:41:04 2007)

Other non standard but useful tools are hping (www.hping.org) an IP packet assembler/analyzer and fping (fping.sourceforge.net). fping can check multiple hosts in a round-robin fashion.
Traffic control (QoS)

Traffic control manages the queuing, policing, scheduling, and other traffic parameters for a network. The following examples are simple practical uses of the Linux and FreeBSD capabilities to better use the available bandwidth.
Limit upload

DSL or cable modems have a long queue to improve the upload throughput. However filling the queue with a fast device (e.g. ethernet) will dramatically decrease the interactivity. It is therefore useful to limit the device upload rate to match the physical capacity of the modem, this should greatly improve the interactivity. Set to about 90% of the modem maximal (cable) speed.
Linux

For a 512 Kbit upload modem.

# tc qdisc add dev eth0 root tbf rate 480kbit latency 50ms burst 1540
# tc -s qdisc ls dev eth0                         # Status
# tc qdisc del dev eth0 root                      # Delete the queue
# tc qdisc change dev eth0 root tbf rate 220kbit latency 50ms burst 1540

FreeBSD

FreeBSD uses the dummynet traffic shaper which is configured with ipfw. Pipes are used to set limits the bandwidth in units of [K|M]{bit/s|Byte/s}, 0 means unlimited bandwidth. Using the same pipe number will reconfigure it. For example limit the upload bandwidth to 500 Kbit.

# kldload dummynet                                # load the module if necessary
# ipfw pipe 1 config bw 500Kbit/s                 # create a pipe with limited bandwidth
# ipfw add pipe 1 ip from me to any               # divert the full upload into the pipe

Quality of service

Linux

Priority queuing with tc to optimize VoIP. See the full example on voip-info.org or www.howtoforge.com. Suppose VoIP uses udp on ports 10000:11024 and device eth0 (could also be ppp0 or so). The following commands define the QoS to three queues and force the VoIP traffic to queue 1 with QoS 0x1e (all bits set). The default traffic flows into queue 3 and QoS Minimize-Delay flows into queue 2.

# tc qdisc add dev eth0 root handle 1: prio priomap 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0
# tc qdisc add dev eth0 parent 1:1 handle 10: sfq
# tc qdisc add dev eth0 parent 1:2 handle 20: sfq
# tc qdisc add dev eth0 parent 1:3 handle 30: sfq
# tc filter add dev eth0 protocol ip parent 1: prio 1 u32 /
  match ip dport 10000 0x3C00 flowid 1:1          # use server port range
  match ip dst 123.23.0.1 flowid 1:1              # or/and use server IP

Status and remove with

# tc -s qdisc ls dev eth0                         # queue status
# tc qdisc del dev eth0 root                      # delete all QoS

Calculate port range and mask

The tc filter defines the port range with port and mask which you have to calculate. Find the 2^N ending of the port range, deduce the range and convert to HEX. This is your mask. Example for 10000 -> 11024, the range is 1024.

# 2^13 (8192) < 10000 < 2^14 (16384)              # ending is 2^14 = 16384
# echo "obase=16;(2^14)-1024" | bc                # mask is 0x3C00

FreeBSD

The max link bandwidth is 500Kbit/s and we define 3 queues with priority 100:10:1 for VoIP:ssh:all the rest.

# ipfw pipe 1 config bw 500Kbit/s
# ipfw queue 1 config pipe 1 weight 100
# ipfw queue 2 config pipe 1 weight 10
# ipfw queue 3 config pipe 1 weight 1
# ipfw add 10 queue 1 proto udp dst-port 10000-11024
# ipfw add 11 queue 1 proto udp dst-ip 123.23.0.1 # or/and use server IP
# ipfw add 20 queue 2 dsp-port ssh
# ipfw add 30 queue 3 from me to any              # all the rest

Status and remove with

# ipfw list                                       # rules status
# ipfw pipe list                                  # pipe status
# ipfw flush                                      # deletes all rules but default

NIS Debugging

Some commands which should work on a well configured NIS client:

# ypwhich                  # get the connected NIS server name
# domainname               # The NIS domain name as configured
# ypcat group              # should display the group from the NIS server
# cd /var/yp && make       # Rebuild the yp database
# rpcinfo -p servername    # Report RPC services of the server

Is ypbind running?

# ps auxww | grep ypbind
/usr/sbin/ypbind -s -m -S servername1,servername2    # FreeBSD
/usr/sbin/ypbind           # Linux
# yppoll passwd.byname
Map passwd.byname has order number 1190635041. Mon Sep 24 13:57:21 2007
The master server is servername.domain.net.

Linux

# cat /etc/yp.conf
ypserver servername
domain domain.net broadcast

Netcat

Netcathttp://netcat.sourceforge.net (nc) is better known as the "network Swiss Army Knife", it can manipulate, create or read/write TCP/IP connections. Here some useful examples, there are many more on the net, for example g-loaded.eu[...]http://www.g-loaded.eu/2006/11/06/netcat-a-couple-of-useful-examples and herehttp://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2007/08/07/few-useful-netcat-tricks.
You might need to use the command netcat instead of nc. Also see the similar command socat.
File transfer

Copy a large folder over a raw tcp connection. The transfer is very quick (no protocol overhead) and you don't need to mess up with NFS or SMB or FTP or so, simply make the file available on the server, and get it from the client. Here 192.168.1.1 is the server IP address.

server# tar -cf - -C VIDEO_TS . | nc -l -p 4444         # Serve tar folder on port 4444
client# nc 192.168.1.1 4444 | tar xpf - -C VIDEO_TS     # Pull the file on port 4444
server# cat largefile | nc -l 5678                      # Server a single file
client# nc 192.168.1.1 5678 > largefile                 # Pull the single file
server# dd if=/dev/da0 | nc -l 4444                     # Server partition p_w_picpath
client# nc 192.168.1.1 4444 | dd of=/dev/da0            # Pull partition to clone
client# nc 192.168.1.1 4444 | dd of=da0.img             # Pull partition to file

Other hacks

Specially here, you must know what you are doing.
Remote shell

Option -e only on the Windows version? Or use nc 1.10.

# nc -lp 4444 -e /bin/bash                        # Provide a remote shell (server backdoor)
# nc -lp 4444 -e cmd.exe                          # remote shell for Windows

Emergency web server

Serve a single file on port 80 in a loop.

# while true; do nc -l -p 80 < unixtoolbox.xhtml; done

Chat

Alice and Bob can chat over a simple TCP socket. The text is transferred with the enter key.

alice# nc -lp 4444
bob  # nc 192.168.1.1 4444


SSH SCP

Public key | Fingerprint | SCP | Tunneling
Public key authentication
Connect to a host without password using public key authentication. The idea is to append your public key to the authorized_keys2 file on the remote host. For this example let's connect host-client to host-server, the key is generated on the client. With cygwin you might have to create your home directoy and the .ssh directory with # mkdir -p /home/USER/.ssh

    * Use ssh-keygen to generate a key pair. ~/.ssh/id_dsa is the private key, ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub is the public key.
    * Copy only the public key to the server and append it to the file ~/.ssh/authorized_keys2 on your home on the server.

# ssh-keygen -t dsa -N ''
# cat ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub | ssh you@host-server "cat - >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys2"

Using the Windows client from ssh.com

The non commercial version of the ssh.com client can be downloaded the main ftp site: ftp.ssh.com/pub/ssh/. Keys generated by the ssh.com client need to be converted for the OpenSSH server. This can be done with the ssh-keygen command.

    * Create a key pair with the ssh.com client: Settings - User Authentication - Generate New....
    * I use Key type DSA; key length 2048.
    * Copy the public key generated by the ssh.com client to the server into the ~/.ssh folder.
    * The keys are in C:/Documents and Settings/%USERNAME%/Application Data/SSH/UserKeys.
    * Use the ssh-keygen command on the server to convert the key:

      # cd ~/.ssh
      # ssh-keygen -i -f keyfilename.pub >> authorized_keys2



Notice: We used a DSA key, RSA is also possible. The key is not protected by a password.
Using putty for Windows

Puttyhttp://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html is a simple and free ssh client for Windows.

    * Create a key pair with the puTTYgen program.
    * Save the public and private keys (for example into C:/Documents and Settings/%USERNAME%/.ssh).
    * Copy the public key to the server into the ~/.ssh folder:

      # scp .ssh/puttykey.pub root@192.168.51.254:.ssh/

    * Use the ssh-keygen command on the server to convert the key for OpenSSH:

      # cd ~/.ssh
      # ssh-keygen -i -f puttykey.pub >> authorized_keys2


    * Point the private key location in the putty settings: Connection - SSH - Auth


Check fingerprint

At the first login, ssh will ask if the unknown host with the fingerprint has to be stored in the known hosts. To avoid a man-in-the-middle attack the administrator of the server can send you the server fingerprint which is then compared on the first login. Use ssh-keygen -l to get the fingerprint (on the server):

# ssh-keygen -l -f /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key.pub      # For RSA key
2048 61:33:be:9b:ae:6c:36:31:fd:83:98:b7:99:2d:9f:cd /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key.pub
# ssh-keygen -l -f /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key.pub      # For DSA key (default)
2048 14:4a:aa:d9:73:25:46:6d:0a:48:35:c7:f4:16:d4:ee /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key.pub

Now the client connecting to this server can verify that he is connecting to the right server:

# ssh linda
The authenticity of host 'linda (192.168.16.54)' can't be established.
DSA key fingerprint is 14:4a:aa:d9:73:25:46:6d:0a:48:35:c7:f4:16:d4:ee.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes

Secure file transfer

Some simple commands:

# scp file.txt host-two:/tmp
# scp joe@host-two:/www/*.html /www/tmp
# scp -r joe@host-two:/www /www/tmp

In Konqueror or Midnight Commander it is possible to access a remote file system with the address fish://user@gate. However the implementation is very slow.
Furthermore it is possible to mount a remote folder with sshfs a file system client based on SCP. See fuse sshfshttp://fuse.sourceforge.net/sshfs.html.

ssh_exchange_identification: Connection closed by remote host
With this error try the following on the server:

echo 'SSHD: ALL' >> /etc/hosts.allow
/etc/init.d/sshd restart
Tunneling

SSH tunneling allows to forward or reverse forward a port over the SSH connection, thus securing the traffic and accessing ports which would otherwise be blocked. This only works with TCP. The general nomenclature for forward and reverse is (see also ssh and NAT example):

# ssh -L localport:desthost:destport user@gate  # desthost as seen from the gate
# ssh -R destport:desthost:localport user@gate  # forwards your localport to destination
    # desthost:localport as seen from the client initiating the tunnel
# ssh -X user@gate   # To force X forwarding

This will connect to gate and forward the local port to the host desthost:destport. Note desthost is the destination host as seen by the gate, so if the connection is to the gate, then desthost is localhost. More than one port forward is possible.
Direct forward on the gate

Let say we want to access the CVS (port 2401) and http (port 80) which are running on the gate. This is the simplest example, desthost is thus localhost, and we use the port 8080 locally instead of 80 so we don't need to be root. Once the ssh session is open, both services are accessible on the local ports.

# ssh -L 2401:localhost:2401 -L 8080:localhost:80 user@gate
Netbios and remote desktop forward to a second server

Let say a Windows smb server is behind the gate and is not running ssh. We need access to the smb share and also remote desktop to the server.

# ssh -L 139:smbserver:139 -L 3388:smbserver:3389 user@gate
The smb share can now be accessed with //127.0.0.1/, but only if the local share is disabled, because the local share is listening on port 139.
It is possible to keep the local share enabled, for this we need to create a new virtual device with a new IP address for the tunnel, the smb share will be connected over this address. Furthermore the local RDP is already listening on 3389, so we choose 3388. For this example let's use a virtual IP of 10.1.1.1.

    * With putty use Source port=10.1.1.1:139. It is possible to create multiple loop devices and tunnel. On Windows 2000, only putty worked for me. On Windows Vista also forward the port 445 in addition to the port 139. Also on Vista the patch KB942624 prevents the port 445 to be forwarded, so I had to uninstall this path in Vista.
    * With the ssh.com client, disable "Allow local connections only". Since ssh.com will bind to all addresses, only a single share can be connected.


Now create the loopback interface with IP 10.1.1.1:

    * # System->Control Panel->Add Hardware # Yes, Hardware is already connected # Add a new hardware device (at bottom).
    * # Install the hardware that I manually select # Network adapters # Microsoft , Microsoft Loopback Adapter.
    * Configure the IP address of the fake device to 10.1.1.1 mask 255.255.255.0, no gateway.
    * advanced->WINS, Enable LMHosts Lookup; Disable NetBIOS over TCP/IP.
    * # Enable Client for Microsoft Networks. # Disable File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks.


I HAD to reboot for this to work. Now connect to the smb share with //10.1.1.1 and remote desktop to 10.1.1.1:3388.
Debug

If it is not working:

    * Are the ports forwarded: netstat -an? Look at 0.0.0.0:139 or 10.1.1.1:139
    * Does telnet 10.1.1.1 139 connect?
    * You need the checkbox "Local ports accept connections from other hosts".
    * Is "File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks" disabled on the loopback interface?


Connect two clients behind NAT

Suppose two clients are behind a NAT gateway and client cliadmin has to connect to client cliuser (the destination), both can login to the gate with ssh and are running Linux with sshd. You don't need root access anywhere as long as the ports on gate are above 1024. We use 2022 on gate. Also since the gate is used locally, the option GatewayPorts is not necessary.
On client cliuser (from destination to gate):

# ssh -R 2022:localhost:22 user@gate            # forwards client 22 to gate:2022
On client cliadmin (from host to gate):

# ssh -L 3022:localhost:2022 admin@gate         # forwards client 3022 to gate:2022
Now the admin can connect directly to the client cliuser with:

# ssh -p 3022 admin@localhost                   # local:3022 -> gate:2022 -> client:22
Connect to VNC behind NAT

Suppose a Windows client with VNC listening on port 5900 has to be accessed from behind NAT. On client cliwin to gate:

# ssh -R 15900:localhost:5900 user@gate
On client cliadmin (from host to gate):

# ssh -L 5900:localhost:15900 admin@gate
Now the admin can connect directly to the client VNC with:

# vncconnect -display :0 localhost
Dig a multi-hop ssh tunnel

Suppose you can not reach a server directly with ssh, but only via multiple intermediate hosts (for example because of routing issues). Sometimes it is still necessary to get a direct client - server connection, for example to copy files with scp, or forward other ports like smb or vnc. One way to do this is to chain tunnels together to forward a port to the server along the hops. This "carrier" port only reaches its final destination on the last connection to the server.
Suppose we want to forward the ssh port from a client to a server over two hops. Once the tunnel is build, it is possible to connect to the server directly from the client (and also add an other port forward).
Create tunnel in one shell

client -> host1 -> host2 -> server and dig tunnel 5678

client># ssh -L5678:localhost:5678 host1        # 5678 is an arbitrary port for the tunnel
host_1># ssh -L5678:localhost:5678 host2        # chain 5678 from host1 to host2
host_2># ssh -L5678:localhost:22 server         # end the tunnel on port 22 on the server

Use tunnel with an other shell

client -> server using tunnel 5678

# ssh -p 5678 localhost                         # connect directly from client to  server
# scp -P 5678 myfile localhost:/tmp/            # or copy a file directly using the tunnel
# rsync -e 'ssh -p 5678' myfile localhost:/tmp/ # or rsync a file directly to the server

Autoconnect and keep alive script

I use variations of the following script to keep a machine reacheable over a reverse ssh tunnel. The connection is automatically rebuilt if closed. You can add multiple -L or -R tunnels on one line.

#!/bin/sh
COMMAND="ssh -N -f -g -R 3022:localhost:22 colin@cb.vu"
pgrep -f -x "$COMMAND" > /dev/null 2>&1 || $COMMAND
exit 0


1 * * * * colin /home/colin/port_forward.sh     # crontab entry (here hourly)

××× with SSH
As of version 4.3, OpenSSH can use the tun/tap device to encrypt a tunnel. This is very similar to other TLS based ××× solutions like Open×××. One advantage with SSH is that there is no need to install and configure additional software. Additionally the tunnel uses the SSH authentication like pre shared keys. The drawback is that the encapsulation is done over TCP which might result in poor performance on a slow link. Also the tunnel is relying on a single (fragile) TCP connection. This technique is very useful for a quick IP based ××× setup. There is no limitation as with the single TCP port forward, all layer 3/4 protocols like ICMP, TCP/UDP, etc. are forwarded over the ×××. In any case, the following options are needed in the sshd_conf file:

PermitRootLogin yes
PermitTunnel yes

Single P2P connection

Here we are connecting two hosts, hclient and hserver with a peer to peer tunnel. The connection is started from hclient to hserver and is done as root. The tunnel end points are 10.0.1.1 (server) and 10.0.1.2 (client) and we create a device tun5 (this could also be an other number). The procedure is very simple:

    * Connect with SSH using the tunnel option -w
    * Configure the IP addresses of the tunnel. Once on the server and once on the client.


Connect to the server

Connection started on the client and commands are executed on the server.
Server is on Linux

cli># ssh -w5:5 root@hserver
srv># ifconfig tun5 10.0.1.1 netmask 255.255.255.252   # Executed on the server shell

Server is on FreeBSD

cli># ssh -w5:5 root@hserver
srv># ifconfig tun5 10.0.1.1 10.0.1.2                  # Executed on the server shell

Configure the client

Commands executed on the client:

cli># ifconfig tun5 10.0.1.2 netmask 255.255.255.252   # Client is on Linux
cli># ifconfig tun5 10.0.1.2 10.0.1.1                  # Client is on FreeBSD

The two hosts are now connected and can transparently communicate with any layer 3/4 protocol using the tunnel IP addresses.
Connect two networks

In addition to the p2p setup above, it is more useful to connect two private networks with an SSH ××× using two gates. Suppose for the example, netA is 192.168.51.0/24 and netB 192.168.16.0/24. The procedure is similar as above, we only need to add the routing. NAT must be activated on the private interface only if the gates are not the same as the default gateway of their network.
192.168.51.0/24 (netA)|gateA <-> gateB|192.168.16.0/24 (netB)

    * Connect with SSH using the tunnel option -w.
    * Configure the IP addresses of the tunnel. Once on the server and once on the client.
    * Add the routing for the two networks.
    * If necessary, activate NAT on the private interface of the gate.


The setup is started from gateA in netA.
Connect from gateA to gateB

Connection is started from gateA and commands are executed on gateB.
gateB is on Linux

gateA># ssh -w5:5 root@gateB
gateB># ifconfig tun5 10.0.1.1 netmask 255.255.255.252 # Executed on the gateB shell
gateB># route add -net 192.168.51.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 dev tun5
gateB># echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward        # Only needed if not default gw
gateB># iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE

gateB is on FreeBSD

gateA># ssh -w5:5 root@gateB                          # Creates the tun5 devices
gateB># ifconfig tun5 10.0.1.1 10.0.1.2               # Executed on the gateB shell
gateB># route add 192.168.51.0/24 10.0.1.2
gateB># sysctl net.inet.ip.forwarding=1               # Only needed if not default gw
gateB># natd -s -m -u -dynamic -n fxp0                # see NAT
gateA># sysctl net.inet.ip.fw.enable=1

Configure gateA

Commands executed on gateA:
gateA is on Linux

gateA># ifconfig tun5 10.0.1.2 netmask 255.255.255.252
gateA># route add -net 192.168.16.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 dev tun5
gateA># echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
gateA># iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE

gateA is on FreeBSD

gateA># ifconfig tun5 10.0.1.2 10.0.1.1
gateA># route add 192.168.16.0/24 10.0.1.2
gateA># sysctl net.inet.ip.forwarding=1
gateA># natd -s -m -u -dynamic -n fxp0                # see NAT
gateA># sysctl net.inet.ip.fw.enable=1

The two private networks are now transparently connected via the SSH ×××. The IP forward and NAT settings are only necessary if the gates are not the default gateways. In this case the clients would not know where to forward the response, and nat must be activated.

RSYNC
Rsync can almost completely replace cp and scp, furthermore interrupted transfers are efficiently restarted. A trailing slash (and the absence thereof) has different meanings, the man page is good... Here some examples:
Copy the directories with full content:

# rsync -a /home/colin/ /backup/colin/                # "archive" mode. e.g keep the same
# rsync -a /var/ /var_bak/
# rsync -aR --delete-during /home/user/ /backup/      # use relative (see below)

Same as before but over the network and with compression. Rsync uses SSH for the transport per default and will use the ssh key if they are set. Use ":" as with SCP. A typical remote copy:

# rsync -axSRzv /home/user/ user@server:/backup/user/ # Copy to remote
# rsync -a 'user@server:My/ Documents' My/ Documents  # Quote AND escape spaces for the remote shell
Exclude any directory tmp within /home/user/ and keep the relative folders hierarchy, that is the remote directory will have the structure /backup/home/user/. This is typically used for backups.

# rsync -azR --exclude=tmp/ /home/user/ user@server:/backup/
Use port 20022 for the ssh connection:

# rsync -az -e 'ssh -p 20022' /home/colin/ user@server:/backup/colin/
Using the rsync daemon (used with "::") is much faster, but not encrypted over ssh. The location of /backup is defined by the configuration in /etc/rsyncd.conf. The variable RSYNC_PASSWORD can be set to avoid the need to enter the password manually.

# rsync -axSRz /home/ ruser@hostname::rmodule/backup/
# rsync -axSRz ruser@hostname::rmodule/backup/ /home/    # To copy back

Some important options:

    * -a, --archive       archive mode; same as -rlptgoD (no -H)
    * -r, --recursive       recurse into directories
    * -R, --relative       use relative path names
    * -H, --hard-links       preserve hard links
    * -S, --sparse       handle sparse files efficiently
    * -x, --one-file-system       don't cross file system boundaries
    * --exclude=PATTERN       exclude files matching PATTERN
    * --delete-during       receiver deletes during xfer, not before
    * --delete-after       receiver deletes after transfer, not before


Rsync on Windows

Rsync is available for Windows through cygwin or as stand-alone packaged in cwrsynchttp://sourceforge.net/projects/sereds. This is very convenient for automated backups. Install one of them (not both) and add the path to the Windows system variables: # Control Panel -> System -> tab Advanced, button Environment Variables. Edit the "Path" system variable and add the full path to the installed rsync, e.g. C:/Program Files/cwRsync/bin or C:/cygwin/bin. This way the commands rsync and ssh are available in a Windows command shell.
Public key authentication

Rsync is automatically tunneled over SSH and thus uses the SSH authentication on the server. Automatic backups have to avoid a user interaction, for this the SSH public key authentication can be used and the rsync command will run without a password.
All the following commands are executed within a Windows console. In a console (Start -> Run -> cmd) create and upload the key as described in SSH, change "user" and "server" as appropriate. If the file authorized_keys2 does not exist yet, simply copy id_dsa.pub to authorized_keys2 and upload it.

# ssh-keygen -t dsa -N ''                   # Creates a public and a private key
# rsync user@server:.ssh/authorized_keys2 . # Copy the file locally from the server
# cat id_dsa.pub >> authorized_keys2        # Or use an editor to add the key
# rsync authorized_keys2 user@server:.ssh/  # Copy the file back to the server
# del authorized_keys2                      # Remove the local copy