Video Tutorials for SysAdmins

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A VPN (virtual private network) is a private, encrypted network that traverses a public network (such Internet). This is a way of giving remote users access to local network resources as if they were themselves local.

X.509 is an industry-standard format for SSL certificates.

In this video I will show how to setup a VPN server with X.509 certificate-based authentication using OpenVPN which secure authentication and encryption functions relies on OpenSSL. Also, in tutorial will be shown how to connect to this VPN server from Linux and Windows machines.

Video tutorial consists from 6 parts:
Part 1. Configure OpenSSL (11:09 min)
Part 2. Generate certificates and keys for VPN server, Linux and Windows clients (10:24 min)
Part 3. Install and configure VPN (10:44 min)
Part 4. Connecting to VPN server from Linux host (08:30 min)
Part 5. Connecting to VPN server from Windows host (07:56 min)
Part 6. Testing VPN Connectivity (01:25 min)

Installation steps.
Part 1. Configure OpenSSL
SSL is based on public-key cryptography where each party has two key: one public and one private. Private key is used to sign data digitally then you send it, and to decrypt data that have been sent to you. Public key is used to verify data that have been signed and sent to you, and to encrypt data that you will send.
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SNMP is a communication specification that defines how management information is exchanged between network management applications and management agents.

Cacti is a resource monitoring software. It uses RRDtool to store data and the data is used create graphs. It also comes with fast poller to collect data from different resources simultaneously and has many user management features. The interface and management is very userfriendly that even a layman can get it working with less effort.

This video is about how to monitor Linux and Windows hosts with SNMP (2c version)  Cacti. Video tutorial consists from 4 parts:

Part 1. Setup snmpd on Linux host (3:00 min)
Part 2. Setup snmp service on Windows host (3:01 min)
Part 3. Setup Cacti (5:29 min)
Part 4. Graphing Linux and Windows hosts (5:14 min)

Installation steps.
Part 1. Setup snmpd on Linux host:

1. Enable diskio MIB module for net-analyzer/net-snmp to enable to graph I/O statistics:

echo net-analyzer/net-snmp diskio > /etc/portage/package.use

2. Install snmpd:

emerge -av net-snmp

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