paste bin

25 Handy Tools To Paste And Share Your Code Snippets

 Posted in Freebies 811 days ago • Written by: Srikanth AD

Pastebins are web applications that allow users to upload snippets of text, usually samples of source code, for public viewing. They are used very often in IRC channels, social networking sites, blogs etc. Users can paste source codes in a pastebin and share the URL for others to view.
You can find a vast number of pastebins on the World Wide Web. Most of them have a common set of features. But some of them have added features that are better than the others. We bring you some of the best pastebin tools so that you can select the one that best suits your needs.

1. CodeTidy – This pastebin allows you to paste any snippets of text to a URL and easily share it with your friends. It also enables you to encrypt the code with a password so as to keep your code private. In addition to this, it also provides archiving and syntax highlighting.

2. Ideone – Ideone is not just a patebin but also an online compiler and debugging tool. It allows you to compile and run the code online. It supports more than 40 programming languages. It also provides easy sharing features, archiving & syntax highlighting. However, it does not support password encryption.

3. Pastebin.com – Pastebin.com enables you to host your texts and codes on dedicated servers for easy sharing. In addition to this, it enables you to determine the expiration date of the code, provides syntax highlighting & archiving and automatically assigns sub-domains. This pastebin too does not support password encryption.

4. Mystic Paste – Mystic Paste is an open source pastebin that enables easy sharing of your codes. It allows you to post your code on twitter and also comment on other pastes. It also provides multiple plugins and 3rd party tools.

5. TinyPaste – TinyPaste enables you to easily host your text & codes and also earn money from your pastes. It pays you for every unique user that visits your paste. It enables password encryption, syntax highlighting, archiving and also sub-domains. It also enables you to compile the code. TinyPaste provides an API and certain 3rd party tools.

6. Paste HTML – Paste HTML enables you to paste HTML code, Plain text as well as Markdown. It can be used as an anonymous web host to host HTML pages. This pastebin is specially designed for HTML codes.

7. codepad – codepad is an online compiler that enables you to run your code as well as share it with your friends. It provides syntax highlighting and also enables you to keep your code private. However, it does not support password encryption. It currently supports 13 major programming languages.

8. MathBin – MathBin enables you to quickly post mathematical equations. It uses simple LaTeX formatting to render your equation as images. This tool comes in handy for quickly posting mathematics and physics problems for others to view.

9. Snipplr – Snipplr is a public source code repository that enables you to store and share your code snippets. It allows syntax highlighting as well as archiving. You must register with Snipplr to start pasting your code snippets.

10. Code Upload – Code Upload is a free and open source pastebin to share your code with others. Some of it’s features include syntax highlighting, archiving and password protection.
11. PASTE – PASTE enables you to paste your source codes and general debugging text. It allows you to specify the expiration time for the code and also set password for your pastes.

12. Gist – GitHub – Gist is a simple way to share snippets and pastes with others. Among its various features are syntax highlighting, archiving, private pastes etc. All Gists (pastes) are automatically versioned, forkable and usable as a git repository.

13. Codetrunk – Codetrunk is an open source snippet sharing tool. Codetrunk enables syntax highlighting, commenting, revising and archiving. It automatically creates sub-domains for each pastes (trunks).

14. PasteSite – PasteSite enables you to submit snippets of code which can then be viewed from the website with syntax highlighting. PasteSite enables you to keep your pastes private and also protect it with a password. It also enables you to sign up so as to keep track and also delete your pastes.

15. pzt.me – pzt.me is a multi-purpose pastebin for sharing snippets of text, images, videos and URL’s over miscellaneous sharing and micro blogging media. It enables you to embed videos from popular video streaming sites like YouTube, DailyMotion,Vimeo etc. It can also be used as a URL shortener.
16. Snipt.org – Snipt provides you an easy way to share your source code on micro blogging sites like twitter. Some of it’s features include syntax highlighting, archiving and private snipts. Snipt Box enables you to retrieve your snipts by simply using your twitter username.

17. Clippy – Clippy is a free NoPaste service that provides you with various features such as password protection, syntax highlighting, antispam filters and sub-domains. It currently supports more than 50 programming languages.
18. bin.z80.us – This is an extremely basic implementation of a pastebin. It is very simple and easy-to-use. The interface contains only a text box and a paste button.

19. dpaste – dpaste is a tool for quickly sharing pieces of code with multiple people. It was originally created by Django programmers to use on the #django IRC channel. It provides syntax highlighting and archiving. However, it supports only a few programming languages.

20. Slexy – Slexy is a powerful and slick pastebin designed with the user in mind. It allows you to add tabs within pastes, save preferences and paste via CLI/terminal (using PastebinIt). It also enables you to set the paste expiration, highlight the code syntax and make your pastes private.

21. Paste-It – Paste-It is a simple and easy-to-use pastebin. Some of it’s features are private pastes, paste expiration time and syntax highlighting. It also provides Firefox and Chrome plugins for easy pasting.

22. PasteBin.BJETDesign.com – This is another simple and easy-to-use pastebin. It is similar to bin.z80.us. It has a simple interface. However, this pastebin provides an additional feature of syntax highlighting compared to bin.80.us.

23. YourPaste – YourPaste enables you to paste texts, quotes and programming codes. It enables you to highlight the code syntax, make private posts and also set the expiration time.
24. pastebin.ca – pastebin.ca is an open source pastebin tool. It enables you to paste and share your code easily. Some of it’s features include code syntax highlighting, archiving, password protection and sub-domains. It also enables you to set the expiration time and comment on pastes.
25. Pastie – Pastie is another pastebin with the most common pastebin features like syntax highlighting, archiving and private posts. It supports most of the major programming languages.

Teach Yourself How to Code - From life hacker

Programmer 101: Teach Yourself How to Code

You've always wanted to learn how to build software yourself—or just whip up an occasional script—but never knew where to start. Luckily, the web is full of free resources that can turn you into a programmer in no time.
Since the invention of the internet, programmers have been using it to discuss software development techniques, publish tutorials, and share code samples for others to learn from and use online. If you're curious about how to become a programmer, you can get off to a running start using tons of great free web-based tutorials and resources.

First Things First: Don't Get Hung Up on Choosing a Language

A common pitfall for beginners is getting stuck figuring out which programming language is best to learn first. There are a lot of opinions out there, but there's no one "best" language. Here's the thing: In the end, language doesn't matter THAT much. Understanding data and control structures and design patterns does matter very much. Every language—even a simple scripting language—will have elements that you'll use in other languages as well and will help you learn. In classes I took to get my degree in Computer Science, I programmed in Pascal, Assembly, and C—languages I never actually got paid to program in professionally. I taught myself every language I've used in my career, reusing concepts I already knew, and referring to documentation and books to learn its syntax. So, don't get hung up on what language to learn first. Pick the kind of development you want to do, and just get started using one that works.
There are several different kinds of software development you can do for various platforms, from the web to your desktop to your smartphone to a command line. In this article, we'll outline some of our favorite starter tutorials and resources for teaching yourself how to program for each major platform. We're going to assume you're a savvy user, but a newb when it comes to wrangling code snippets, so we'll keep things at the beginner level. Even just following through a beginner programming tutorial, you'll be happy to see how far you can get.

Desktop Scripting

The easiest way to try your hand at programming for your Windows or Mac desktop is to start with a scripting or macro program like AutoHotkey (for Windows) or Automator (for Mac). Right now hardcore coders throughout the Lifehacker readership are yelling at their monitors, saying that AHK or AppleScript are not "real" programming. That may be true—technically these types of tools just do high-level scripting. But for those new to programming who just want to get their feet wet, automating actions on their desktop, these free tools are a fantastic way to start—and you'd be surprised at how much you can do with them.
For example, Adam developed the standalone Windows application we all know and love, Texter, using AutoHotkey, so this scripting language is capable of far more than just small-scale automation projects. To get started with AutoHotkey, check out Adam's tutorial on how to turn any action into a keyboard shortcut using AutoHotkey. (Then, check out the source code for Texter to see the innards of a full-fledged AHK-based Windows application.)

Web Development

Instead of being bound to specific programming languages and the look and feel of a particular operating system, you can put your killer application in the browser and run it in the cloud, as a webapp. Welcome to the wonderful world of web development.
HTML and CSS: The first thing you need to know to build any web site is HTML (the page markup that makes up web pages) and CSS (the style information that makes that markup look pretty). HTML and CSS are not true programming languages—they're just page structure and style information. However, you should be able to author simple HTML and CSS by hand before you begin building web applications, because a web page is the frontend to every webapp. This HTML tutorial is a good place to start.
JavaScript: Now that you can lay out a static web page with HTML and CSS, things get fun—because it's time to learn JavaScript. JavaScript is the programming language of the web browser, the magic that makes dynamic in-page effects go. JavaScript is also the stuff of bookmarklets, Greasemonkey user scripts, and Ajax, so it's the key to making all sorts of web goodies. Start learning JavaScript here.
Server-side scripting: Once you're good at making things happen inside a web page, you're going to need to put some dynamic server action behind it—and for that, you'll need to move into a server-side scripting language, like PHP, Python, Perl, or Ruby. For example, to make a web-based contact form that sends an email somewhere based on what a user entered, a server-side script is required. Scripting languages like PHP can talk to a database on your web server as well, so if you want to make a site where users can log in and store information, that's the way to go. Excellent web development site Webmonkey is full of tutorials for various web programming languages. See their PHP Tutorial for Beginners. When you're ready, check out how to use PHP to talk to a database in WebMonkey's PHP and MySQL tutorial. PHP's online documentation and function reference is the best on the web. Each entry (like this one on the strlen function) includes user comments at the bottom which are often as helpful as the documentation itself. (I happen to be partial to PHP, but there are plenty of other server-side scripting languages you might decide to go with instead.)
Web frameworks: Over the years, web developers have had to solve and resolve the same problems and rewrite similar code to build dynamic web sites. To avoid making everyone reinvent the wheel for every new web development project, some programmers have come up with development frameworks that do some repetitive work for you. The popular Ruby on Rails framework, for example, takes the Ruby programming language and offers a web-specific structure for getting common web application tasks done. In fact, Adam used Rails to build his first serious (and impressive!) web application, MixTape.me. Here's his take on how to build a web site from scratch with no experience. Other popular web development frameworks include CakePHP (for PHP programmers), Django (for Python programmers), and jQuery (for JavaScript).
Web APIs: An API (Application programming interface) is a programmatic way for different pieces of software to talk to one another. For example, if you want to put a dynamic map on your web site, you want to use a Google Map instead of building your own custom map. The Google Maps API makes it easy to programmatically include a map in a page with JavaScript. Almost every modern web service you know and love has an API that lets you include data and widgets from it in your application, like Twitter, Facebook, Google Docs, Google Maps, and the list goes on. Integrating other webapps into your web application via API's is the final frontier of rich web development. Every good, major web service API offers thorough documentation and some sort of quick start guide to try it out (here's Twitter's, for example). Go crazy.

Command Line Scripting

If you want to write a program that takes textual or file input and outputs something useful, the command line is the right place to do it. While the command line isn't as sexy or good-looking as a webapp or desktop app, for rapid development of quick scripts that automate processes, you can't beat it.
Several scripting languages that work on a Linux-based web server also work at the command line, like Perl, Python, and PHP—so learning one of those baddies makes you conversant in two contexts. My path never took me too far down the Perl road, but I taught myself Python using the excellent and free online book, Dive into Python.

If becoming a Unix ninja is one of your programmer goals, you absolutely must get good at shell scripting with bash. Bash is the command line scripting language of a *nix environment, and it can do everything from help you set up automated backups of your database and files to building out a full-fledged application with user interaction. Without any experience writing bash scripts beyond a dozen lines, I wound up developing a full-on personal to-do list manager in bash, Todo.txt CLI.

Add-ons

Nowadays, modern webapps and browsers are extensible with with bits of software that bolt onto them and add features. Add-on development is gaining in popularity as more developers look at existing software, like Firefox or WordPress, and think "But if only it could do THIS..."
You can do a whole lot in any web browser with just a mastery of HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. Bookmarklets, Greasemonkey user scripts, and Stylish user styles are created with the same bits of code that make regular web pages, so they're worth learning even if you just want to tweak an existing site with a small snippet of code.
More advanced browser add-ons, like Firefox extensions, let you do more. Developing Firefox extensions, for example, requires that you're conversant in JavaScript and XML (markup that's similar to HTML, but way more strict in format). Back in 2007 I ran down how to build a Firefox extension, a skill I picked up after I stumbled upon a free tutorial.
Many free and well-loved web applications offer an extension framework as well, like WordPress and MediaWiki. Both of those apps are written in PHP, so comfort with PHP is a prerequisite for getting started. Here's how to write a plug-in for WordPress. Developers who want to ride the cutting edge of Google Wave can get started writing gadgets and bots in HTML, JavaScript, Java, and Python. I wrote my first Wave bot following this quick start tutorial in one afternoon.

Web Development for the Desktop

The best part about getting started programming in one context is when you can take those skills and apply them elsewhere. Learning web development first is a great way to start because now there are ways to put those skills to work on desktop applications, too. For example, Adobe AIR is a cross-platform run-time environment that lets you build your app once and release it to run on the desktop for every operating system AIR runs on. AIR apps are written in HTML, Flash, or Flex, so it lets you apply your web development skills in a desktop context. AIR is a great option for deploying desktop apps like one of our top 10 apps worth installing Adobe AIR for.

Mobile App Development

Mobile applications like the ones you run on your iPhone or Android smartphone are all the rage right now, so you may have dreams of striking it rich in the iTunes App Store with the next killer app. However, for the new coder, diving headfirst into mobile development can be a rough learning curve, since it requires comfort with advanced programming languages like Java and Objective C. However, it's worth checking out what iPhone and Android development looks like. Check out this simple iPhone application development example to get a taste of what iPhone developers do. Android apps are written in Java, and here's a friendly video tutorial of what building a "Hello Android" application workflow looks like.

Patience, Elbow Grease, Trial and Error

Good coders are a special breed of persistent problem-solvers who are addicted to the small victories that come along a long path of trial and error. Learning how to program is very rewarding, but it can also be a frustrating and solitary experience. If you can, get a buddy to work with you along the way. Getting really good at programming, like anything else, is a matter of sticking with it, trying things out, and getting experience as you go.
This article is just one self-taught programmer's top-of-mind recommendations for beginners. Experienced programmers: What did I miss? No matter your skill level, add your thoughts and recommendations for beginners to the comments.
Gina Trapani, Lifehacker's founding editor, thinks the best programmers are self-taught. Her weekly feature, Smarterware, appears every Wednesday on Lifehacker. Subscribe to the Smarterware tag feed to get new installments in your newsreader.

xcopy

copy only update files :

xcopy * /s /e /c /d /i /y /r /h

s - subdirectory
e - skip error
c - continous
d - only id source date is newer
i -
y - force yes

How to Compile ‘n’ Execute/Run C/C++ program in Ubuntu 12.04

How to Compile ‘n’ Execute/Run C/C++ program in Ubuntu 12.04

Posted: 20 Aug 2012 10:16 AM PDT

Now a Days, Ubuntu is one of the most popular OS among programmers (not only nerds but also the beginners who just entered into the programming world) but for a beginner Ubuntu user coming from Windows may feel some problem in programming with Ubuntu.
On Windows they use nice GUI based IDE, but in Ubuntu things are little different. In Ubuntu it’s better to use Terminal (specially for the beginners), instead of GUI based IDEs such as Eclipse, Netbeans etc for compiling programs. In fact, the command line approach is much easier and efficient, due to the powerful shell such as bash, zsh etc.
So, in this post – you will learn - how to compile and execute (run) C/C++ programs in Ubuntu 12.04 (Precise Pangolin)/12.10(Quantal Quetzal) or other Linux distributions such as Linux Mint 13 (Maya). You don’t need to install any extra applications or tools other than the compiler. The default text editor – gedit will work fine for source code editing (unless you have a preferred source editor such as Emacs, Vim, Nano, Kate or something else).

#1. Install the C/C++ Compiler

First make sure that you have GCC (GNU Compiler Collection, for C language) and G++ (for C++ language) installed on your system. If not, then install it by typing the following commands on Terminal -
For C

sudo apt-get install gcc

For C++

sudo apt-get install g++

#2. Write the Program (Source Code)

Open gedit and write the following lines of code (it’s a simple program that contains one print line and one comment, just for explanation purpose) -

#include

void main()
{
	printf("Hello! Human!\n");
	/* Do something more if you want */
}

Then save the file as hello_human.c on your Home Directory (~). If you ae writing a c++ program, then give it the extension as .cpp (and of course you will also have to change the command accordingly during compilation)

#3. Compile it

The command structure is :

gcc source_file_name.c -o executable_file_name

if leave the -o option (name of the output file) then by default a.out will be created as the executable output file.
To execute the above example program, open a terminal and type -

cd ~
gcc hello_human.c -o hello_human

[In case of C++, just replace gcc with g++, rest of the things are same, e.g g++ source_file.cpp -o executable_file]

#4. Execute It

On Terminal, type (from the same directory where you have the executable file, in this case, it’s Home Directory(~) ) -
First make the script executable (sometimes, it may not be necessary)

chmod +x hello_human

Then run the program using the command -

./hello_human

Now you should get the output -

Hello! Human!

Audio Editor

best audio, mp3 - cutter, converter, editor, merger - mp3 editing, extracting softwares

1. Cutter, Editor, Merger:

Install, mp3 splt, mp3 wrap using,

$ sudo apt-get install mp3wrap mp3splt

a) To Split:

Put the mp3 files in home folder, and execute the following command in the terminal. 

$ mp3splt filename.mp3 00.00 01.23 03.20

Now the file will splitted to two halves.

First Half, from 00:00 to 01:23 and

Second half, from 01:23 to 03:20

b) To merge or to join: 

$ mp3wrap merged_filename.mp3 filename1.mp3 filename2.mp3

That is all :-)

2. Audio Extractor & Sound Converter:

           Using this we can even extract the audio from a video file. :-)

a) Install, 'Sound Converter' from Ubuntu Software Center.

b) File -> Choose Add file or Add folder.

c) Edit -> Preferences, Choose the Format, Quality you want.

d) Then Press Convert

Audacity:

 It is a sophisticated audio editor. Using this we record and we can add effects  to audio files.

Jokosher Audio Editor:

         Using this We can create a new Music file, by mixing audio and instrument files separately.

.

antiwpa

Activate Windows XP Pro, Home, MCE, Server 2003, Server 2003 R2 etc (AntiWPA)

Only use this method for the following conditions

1. You do not want to mess with Current License of your Windows by using OEMBIOS Changer
2. You do not have the proper knowledge, or are scared to do so
3. You do not want to or like to mod the BIOS
4. You do not have a SLP String in your BIOS or you do not want to add one
5. You are installing Windows XP on a Virual Machine
6. You have SLP String which is not supported by your Windows XP version or you are unable to find a SLP String on Internet

Instructions

1. Downoad the following file AntiWPA
2. Extract the contents of the zip file to a folder
3. Run AntiWPA.cmd
4. Press Enter
5. Reboot

What does this tool do ?

This tool not only Activates your Windows but also make your Windows Genuine


Validate Windows to see if it is Genuine or not

In order to confirm whether its genuine or not!

1. Goto this site Windows Genuine Validation
2. Right click the Info Bar and select Install ActiveX Control
3. When the Internet Explorer Security warning dialog appears, click Install.

After few seconds you will receive a message saying Windows is Genuine


Important Note

Its true that this tool Activates Windows and makes it Genuine.
But the antiwpa.dll file which the tool injects is detected by most of the antivirus as Trojon/Hacktool

Here are the result from VirusTotal

AhnLab-V3 - 2011.05.27.01 - 2011.05.27 - Win-Trojan/Xema.variant
AntiVir - 7.11.8.160 - 2011.05.27 - -
Antiy-AVL - 2.0.3.7 - 2011.05.27 - Trojan/win32.agent.gen
Avast - 4.8.1351.0 - 2011.05.27 - -
Avast5 - 5.0.677.0 - 2011.05.27 - -
AVG - 10.0.0.1190 - 2011.05.27 - HackTool.GEC
BitDefender - 7.2 - 2011.05.27 - -
CAT-QuickHeal - 11.00 - 2011.05.27 - HackTool.Wpakill (Not a Virus)
ClamAV - 0.97.0.0 - 2011.05.27 - Trojan.Agent-130251
Commtouch - 5.3.2.6 - 2011.05.26 - W32/Wpakill
Comodo - 8857 - 2011.05.27 - TrojWare.Win32.HackTool.Wpakill.~A
DrWeb - 5.0.2.03300 - 2011.05.27 - Tool.Wpakill.1
eSafe - 7.0.17.0 - 2011.05.26 - Win32.Banker
eTrust-Vet - 36.1.8352 - 2011.05.27 - Win32/AntiWPA.A
F-Prot - 4.6.2.117 - 2011.05.26 - W32/Wpakill
F-Secure - 9.0.16440.0 - 2011.05.27 - -
Fortinet - 4.2.257.0 - 2011.05.27 - HackerTool/WpaKill
GData - 22 - 2011.05.27 - -
Ikarus - T3.1.1.104.0 - 2011.05.27 - HackTool.Win32.Wpakill
Jiangmin - 13.0.900 - 2011.05.26 - -
K7AntiVirus - 9.104.4726 - 2011.05.26 - Trojan
Kaspersky - 9.0.0.837 - 2011.05.27 - -
McAfee - 5.400.0.1158 - 2011.05.27 - Generic PUP.x
McAfee-GW-Edition - 2010.1D - 2011.05.27 - Generic PUP.x
Microsoft - 1.6903 - 2011.05.27 - HackTool:Win32/Wpakill
NOD32 - 6158 - 2011.05.27 - Win32/HackTool.WpaKill.C
Norman - 6.07.07 - 2011.05.26 - Hacktool.VH
nProtect - 2011-05-27.01 - 2011.05.27 - Trojan/W32.HackTool.5376
Panda - 10.0.3.5 - 2011.05.27 - HackTool/WpaKill
PCTools - 7.0.3.5 - 2011.05.19 - Hacktool.Generic
Prevx - 3.0 - 2011.05.27 - -
Rising - 23.59.04.03 - 2011.05.27 - Trojan.Win32.Generic.1233C747
Sophos - 4.65.0 - 2011.05.27 - Troj/Antiwpa-B
SUPERAntiSpyware - 4.40.0.1006 - 2011.05.27 - Trojan.Agent/CDesc[Generic]
Symantec - 20111.1.0.186 - 2011.05.27 - Hacktool
TheHacker - 6.7.0.1.211 - 2011.05.27 - -
TrendMicro - 9.200.0.1012 - 2011.05.27 - HKTL_WPAKILL
TrendMicro-HouseCall - 9.200.0.1012 - 2011.05.27 - HKTL_WPAKILL
VBA32 - 3.12.16.0 - 2011.05.27 - -
VIPRE - 9404 - 2011.05.27 - Trojan.Win32.Generic!BT
ViRobot - 2011.5.27.4482 - 2011.05.27 - Trojan.Win32.Agent.5376.B
VirusBuster - 13.6.372.0 - 2011.05.26 - HackTool.Wpakill!ExKXRGPUXEQ

File info:

MD5: 98c332990684cd9f113fbd495841c6fa
SHA1: b42d4f6996759cd5ec6b5de89f1ef1f3a40e7084
SHA256: ef09a3c84e4d30dd8e2bca084fc88f45bd79c0c83cf55651f8 0a03e44298a8bc
File size: 5376 bytes
Scan date: 2011-05-27 13:55:52 (UTC)

If you want to see the actual link, it is here VirusTotal Results


How to overcome it ?

The simplest solution to overcome the above problem is to add antiwpa.dll file in your Antivirus exceptions.
Meaning, the Antivirus software will never scan the file in future.

Upgrading a Home Network to a Small Business System Using pfSense

[ Share this article ]

Share this page via Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

inShare

[ Send this article ]

[ Save this article ]

by Matt Williamson | September 2009 | Open Source

In this article by Matt Williamson, we will learn how to upgrade a home network to a small business system using pfSense in a step by step manner. We will begin right from the basic concepts of networking to the actual implementation of the upgrade.
I believe the most significant leap in understanding networking comes from learning how to turn a simple home network into a full-featured small business environment.  Surprisingly, I’ve never come across a plain-language tutorial on how to do just that.  However, I’ve learned a great deal throughout my career so far and today, I intend to write the article I wish I had found several years ago.

Prerequisites

1. Cable/DSL/FIOS Modem—Any internet connection device that has Ethernet out will do.
2. Wireless Router or Switch—Either will do. Be sure to read the next section for clarification.
3. Firewall Computer —The key to a business type environment is a dedicated hardware firewall.  We’ll be using pfSense, and if you check the hardware requirements you’ll see that an older machine will do nicely.  Any machine to be configured as a firewall requires a minimum of two Ethernet ports.
4. Client Computer—A laptop or desktop computer to be used as a client.  Windows or Linux will both work, but I’ll only be referencing Windows commands in this tutorial.
5. Disable All Security Software on All Client Machines—Make sure you disable Windows Firewall and any other security software you may have.  This introduces an added level of software security that will only hang you up while you’re trying to establish that your hardware firewall is working correctly.

Network Device Clarification

It’s very important to understand the similarities and differences between the core types of networking equipment.  The following should shed some light on the subject, in order of simplest to most complex:

1. Network Interface Card—Every type of wired networking device has at least 1 NIC, with 1 Ethernet port. A NIC can have multiple Ethernet ports. Each Ethernet port has a unique MAC address.
2. Cross-Over Cable—A crossover cable is sometimes needed to connect two network devices together without a switch. This may be the case if you’re using older hardware, and you want to connect a single client computer to your firewall computer. Most of the newer hardware “autosenses” regular and crossover cables so both will work automatically, but if you’re not receiving a signal or seeing any flashing lights then try using a crossover cable.
3. Switch—A switch adds more ports to your network and eliminates the need for a crossover cable. A typical 8-port switch will have 1 Ethernet cable running to the firewall, and the other 7 cables running to clients or other network devices.  It’s important to remember that it doesn’t matter which cable goes in to which port, they are all the same.
4. Router—A router provides an interface between two (or more) networks and will also usually act as a DHCP server. That's why on a router you have a special WAN port for that huge network we call the internet, and then a port for your internal Local Area Network (LAN). As a DHCP server, it’s responsible for automatically assigning an IP address to any device connected to the LAN and then it routes all traffic between both networks.
5. Wireless Access Point—A wireless access point (WAP) is simply a wireless switch. When you connect to one, it’s the same as if you would have plugged your computer into a switch.
6. "Wireless Router"—I have put this item in quotes because it’s important to understand that this type of device that most of us own is usually a combination of all the devices above. It has built-in NICs with Ethernet ports. It auto-senses crossover connections so they are never an issue. It routes traffic from that special WAN (usually labeled “Internet”) port to other ports for you to use as a LAN. Those 4 other ports are all for the same single subnet (your LAN) so that means it’s actually a 4-port switch. Additionally, those antennas provide WAP functionality.

Acronym Reference

1. WAN—Wide Area Network. Also known as the internet.
2. LAN—Local Area Network. Your internal network, also known as your domain or your intranet.
3. DMZ—De-Militarized Zone. A fancy name for just another type of internal network just like your LAN. The difference is, using firewall rules you prevent any traffic that comes into your DMZ subnet from going to your LAN subnet, for security purposes. This is where you would host a web server or FTP server, a place where anyone on the internet can access certain things without having access to your private LAN devices.
4. DHCP—A type of service that automatically hands out IP addresses. Many types of network devices are configurable as DHCP servers.
5. WAP—Wireless Access Point.  Essentially, a wireless switch.
6. NIC—Network Interface Card.

* WAN’s, LAN’s  and DMZ’s are all the same type of Ethernet network.  They all use the same hardware and work in the same way.  They are just given special names to differentiate how these networks are used.

Part 1 – Understanding your Existing Home Network

The diagram above is very typical of home networks. Study the diagram carefully and note the following key points of interest:

1. The wireless router can connect clients wirelessly using its built-in WAP.
2. The wireless router can connect wired clients using its built-in 4-port switch.
3. While not noticeable in the diagram, those wired clients could be connected via crossover cable (as long as the client’s NIC’s also support "autosensing").
4. And again, while not noticeable, the wireless router is likely configured as a DHCP server and will automatically hand out (and keep track of) IP addresses for each client that connects to it.

Unfortunately, this diagram fails to illustrate the importance of subnets. Also referred to as interfaces, subnets are the keystones of understanding how to take your network to the next level:

This illustration highlights a few more key benefits and limitations of a typical home network:

1. The wireless router is the central piece of the network.
2. The wireless router provides a ton of functionality for a single network device.  It’s a router, autosensing switch, WAP, DHCP server and most even have very limited firewall functionality (allow/block IP’s, website filtering, port-forwarding, etc).
3. The wireless router is limited to two interfaces, the WAN and the LAN.

So how do we resolve these limitations? How do we bump our network up a notch? We replace that wireless router with a serious hardware firewall. We take an old computer we have laying around and we turn it into router on steroids. Enter pfSense.

Part 2 – Creating a Small Business Network

Now that we thoroughly understand what we’ve already got, let’s take a look at what we want to create:

As you can see in the diagram above, our dedicated firewall is the centerpiece of our small business network.  Any firewall requires a minimum of two different interfaces, which means it requires a minimum of two NICs.  It should be obvious that the network illustrated above has four, but we’ll only be using two for this tutorial.

---

Books from Packt

Cacti 0.8 Network Monitoring

FreePBX 2.5 Powerful Telephony Solutions

Building Enterprise Ready Telephony Systems with sipXecs 4.0

Asterisk 1.4 – the Professional’s Guide

ASP.NET 3.5 CMS Development

Choosing an Open Source CMS: Beginner's Guide

3D Game Development with Microsoft Silverlight 3: Beginner's Guide

Magento: Beginner's Guide

---

Choosing Dedicated Firewall/Router Software

We’ll be using pfSense during this tutorial, but there are a variety of options to choose from:

1. pfSense
2. M0n0wall
3. Microsoft ISA Server
4. Smoothwall
5. IPCop

Building a Dedicated Firewall Box

Regardless of which software you choose, be sure to check the minimum requirements and throughput considerations before ordering any new hardware. Chances are you’ll be in good shape using old hardware, as you’ll see by the pfSense documentation below:

1. pfSense Minimum Hardware Requirements
2. pfSense Throughput Considerations

Remember, you need at least 2 NICs (WAN and LAN) and then more for any additional interfaces you plan on building.

Installing pfSense

You must first decide on what type of pfSense installation you’ll use— Embedded or LiveCD/Harddrive.  The embedded version is meant to be installed on a compact flash card and the entire image is configured specially to reduce the amount of writes to the disk (since flash media expires faster the more times it’s written to).  The LiveCD/Harddive version is meant for a regular old computer.  You'll boot to the CD where pfSense will run live with an option to install to the hard drive on the main menu.
Many "appliance" type machines (see Soekris or Recommend Vendors) will use the embedded version and most desktop machines will use the LiveCD/Hardware.  However, with the right adapters, an appliance can use a hard drive and a desktop can use a flash disk.
Once you've decided on which type of installation you'll use, refer to the detailed installation instructions here:

• http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Installing_pfSense
• http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/HOWTO_Install_pfSense

Assigning Network Interfaces

From the main menu, choose the option to assign your network interfaces. Each NIC will be assigned an interface alias, something like "fxp1", which you’ll then assign to your logical interfaces (WAN, LAN, etc).  You may have to scroll up through the pfSense output to find the list of your aliases.  Once you’ve found them, assign your WAN, LAN and any optional interfaces.

Connecting Components

Connect your cable modem to the Ethernet port you think is associated with the alias you just created and assigned. Hit enter to refresh the screen and you should see some indication (a spinning star) of which interface is trying to obtain an IP.  Make sure you connect your modem to the WAN interface.
Next, connect your LAN devices. If you have more than 1 client, then connect using a switch; otherwise connect directly (remember, that might require a crossover cable).
Connect any devices you have for any additional interfaces you may have created.

Connecting to the pfSense Web Interface

Once you’ve installed pfSense, you must connect to the web interface through your LAN gateway from a client computer.  The main menu will tell you your LAN’s gateway IP (most likely 192.168.1.1). So using this, you can connect to the LAN interface Ethernet port directly from a client computer  (you might need a crossover cable). You can also do the same using a switch and then browse to the gateway IP address.  You should be prompted for a username and password which defaults to:

• Username: admin
• Password: pfsense

Configuring the WAN Interface

1. From the Interfaces drop down menu choose WAN.
2. Most ISP’s (Comcast, Optimum Online) have their customers obtain their IP via DHCP request.  If that’s the case, then leave type as DHCP and you should be done.  Otherwise, you may have to choose another connection type and possibly input some credentials.
3. Once you’ve configured your WAN, make sure you Save/Apply all settings and then check the Status -> Interfaces-> menu to make sure you’re obtaining a public IP address.  I’ve noticed this can sometimes take a few minutes, and sometimes it’s necessary to completely reboot your system.

Properly Rebooting Your Network

When obtaining IP addresses for the first time, and during other substantial network reconfigurations, you may find it necessary to reset your network.  The proper way to do that is as follows:

1. Turn off and disconnect every device from its power source. Wait 1 minute.
2. Reconnect your modem; wait for the lights to display a proper connection. Wait 1 minute.
3. Turn on your firewall. Wait for it to boot completely.
4. Turn on any other network devices (WAP’s, switches, etc) and wait for them to boot completely.
5. Turn on client machines.

Configuring the LAN Interface

By default, your LAN interface will be configured as 192.168.1.1/24. This means that your gateway (web interface) is 192.168.1.1 and your usable IP range is 192.168.1.1-192.168.1.254. This is known as a C Network Class.
If you’d like a larger range of IP’s, try a B Network Class of 172.16.0.1/16. This will give you a usable IP range of 172.16.0.1-172.16.255.254. This means your web interface IP will be 172.168.0.1!
The largest type of private network is a C Network Class.  10.0.0.1/8 gives you a usable IP range of 10.0.01-10.255.255.254. This means that your web interface IP will be 10.0.0.1!

Configuring Optional Interfaces

Any additional interfaces can be configured similarly to the LAN. You choose a gateway interface (which becomes the pfSense web access IP) and then you apply a subnet mask to specify the range of allowed IPs.  If you’ve been using the defaults and you are setting up an optional DMZ interface, then you’ll likely specify it to be 192.168.2.1/24. This will give you a range of 192.168.2.1-192.168.2.254.

More on Subnet Masks

A handy subnet calculator is available here—subnet-calculator, but for the most part you should just remember that:

• 24 means 255.255.255.xxx
• 16 means 255.255.xxx.xxx
• 8 means 255.xxx.xxx.xxx

Part 3: An Alias, NAT, Firewall Rule Walkthrough

Now that your firewall is running and you’ve gotten the major interface configuration out of the way, it’s time to create the custom rules that will define your network.  I find the best way to learn is by example, so the following is a complete walkthrough on how to forward Remote Desktop traffic to your client computer so that you can access that machine from anywhere.

Create an Alias

Although optional, it’s best to create an alias for each IP address, port, or range of ports you’ll be using in any of your firewall rules.  In this case, I’ll only create an alias for our client computer’s IP address since the pfSense includes a built-in alias for the Microsoft Remote Desktop (RDP) port (as well as other common ports):

• Firewall -> Aliases -> Add new alias.
• Name: Computer01
  Type: Host(s)
  IP: 192.168.1.101

Now we can reference the Computer01 alias in all of our NAT or Firewall rules.  Any box with a RED background can accept an Alias value.

Create a Static IP Mapping

Using pfSense’s built-in DHCP server, we will assign static mappings to all of our machines.  This allows our clients to remain configured as DHCP, but will guarantee they receive the same IP address each time they connect which is absolutely necessary if any of our rules are to perform correctly.

1. Status -> DHCP Leases.
2. Locate the Computer01 lease and click the + button to create a static mapping.
3. IP Address: 192.168.1.101 (SAME AS ALIAS!) Hostname: Computer01 (for simplicity all of my computer names match my alias names, but there’s no reason they can’t differ if you want them to).
4. Save and apply changes.
5. Disconnect and reconnect Computer01’s network connection.  From now on it will always receive the same 192.168.1.101 IP address, so now we can create rules for it.

Create a NAT (Port Forward) Rule

NAT rules go hand-in-hand with firewall rules.  NAT rules provide the redirection (this traffic goes where) while firewall rules provide access (allow/deny this traffic here).  So what we want to do is tell our system that all RDP traffic should be forwarded to our Computer01 machine.

1. Firewall -> NAT -> Port Forward Tab -> Add new mapping (+ button)
2. External Port Range – MS RDP
   NAT IP – Computer01
   Local Port – MS RDP
   Leave Auto-Add firewall rule checked!

So we just told our firewall to take all WAN TCP traffic coming in on port MS RDP (3389), and forward it to Computer01 (192.168.1.101) on port MS RDP (3389).  What's nice is, we haven't hard coded any values, if the IP address of Computer01 changes in the future, we simply change the alias and all rules will work correctly.

Analyze the Firewall Rule Created Automatically

Let’s take a look at the firewall rule pfSense created for us automatically. Firewall -> Rules -> WAN tab.  You’ll notice there are two, the first is a default and should never be changed while the second is the one we created for our NAT mapping. Reading the rule aloud should sound like:

 ALLOW traffic from ANY IP on ANY PORT access to COMPUTER01 on port MSRDP.

The one point of confusion may be why are we allowing traffic FROM ANY PORT? You have to remember that you’ll never know what port another computer is connecting FROM.  For example, when you browse to Google you’re requesting their port 80 traffic from, let’s say, your local computer’s port 65235.  Then your next request to Yahoo might be on port 51123. The point is, it’s up to your computer and you just never know what it’ll be.

Test It Out!

Now, from a public computer at the library or your office maybe, open Remote Desktop and type in your public IP address.  If Computer01 has Remote Desktop connections enabled and all security software is disabled, you’ll connect right to it!  Simply repeat these steps for all your other traffic. Enjoy!

Summary

In this article, we have learnt how to upgrade a home network to a small business system using pfSense.

About the Author :

Matt Williamson

Solving problem with NAT

Case: Solving problem with NAT

Special NAT configuration with pfSense

1. The problem and solution

We have a WEB server installed on our LAN side. The IP of this WEB server is hard coded on a software on all PCs.
We must give access from Internet to this server and need to move it on a DMZ.
We physically move the server and give him a new IP address from the DMZ subnet.
And for solve the ‘hard coded’ IP on all our PC software, we ‘simulate’ its presence with NAT.

2. Configuration of pfSense

Step 1 : Creating a Virtual IP

Create the Virtual IP of this server under menu Firewall=> Virtual IP Add a new Virtual IP with these options :

• Type : Proxy ARP (for pfSense response to ARP request to this IP)
• Interface : LAN (It’s the interface where is the virtual server)
• IP address : 192.168.1.10 (It the virtual IP of this server)

Step 2 : Create the NAT port forward rules

Now we will create a ‘port forward rule’ Firewall => NAT => Port forward Add a new rules with theses options :

• Interface : LAN (It’s the interface where your PC came from)
• External address : Select the previously created Virtual IP « 192.168.1.10 »
• Protocol : TCP
• External port range : HTTP (it’s the port used by PC for acces to the web server)
• NAT IP : 192.168.2.10 (it’s the real IP address of the server in the DMZ)
• Local port : HTTP (it’s the real TCP port where the web server)
• Uncheck: Auto-add a firewall rules to permit traffic through this NAT rule (because, by default, all traffic is authorized from LAN interface to DMZ)

Linux Demilitarized Zone

Linux Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) Ethernet Interface Requirements and Configuration

by Vivek Gite on December 15, 2007 · 25 comments· last updated at January 2, 2008

Q. Can you tell me more about Linux Demilitarized Zone and Ethernet Interface Card Requirements for typical DMZ implementation? How can a rule be set to route traffic to certain machines on a DMZ for HTTP or SMTP?
A. Demilitarized zone, used to secure an internal network from external access. You can use Linux firewall to create DMZ easily. There are many different ways to design a network with a DMZ. The basic method is to use a single Linux firewall with 3 Ethernet cards. The following simple example discusses DMZ setup and forwarding public traffic to internal servers.

Sample Example DMZ Setup

Consider the following DMZ host with 3 NIC:
[a] eth0 with 192.168.1.1 private IP address - Internal LAN ~ Desktop system
[b] eth1 with 202.54.1.1 public IP address - WAN connected to ISP router
[c] eth2 with 192.168.2.1 private IP address - DMZ connected to Mail / Web / DNS and other private servers

(Fig 01: A typical Linux based DMZ setup [ Image modified from Wikipedia article] )

Routing traffic between public and DMZ server

To set a rule for routing all incoming SMTP requests to a dedicated Mail server at IP address 192.168.2.2 and port 25, network address translation (NAT) calls a PREROUTING table to forward the packets to the proper destination.
This can be done with appropriate IPTABLES firewall rule to route traffic between LAN to DMZ and public interface to DMZ. For example, all incoming mail traffic from internet (202.54.1.1) can be send to DMZ mail server (192.168.2.2) with the following iptables prerouting rule (assuming default DROP all firewall policy):

### end init firewall .. Start DMZ stuff ####
# forward traffic between DMZ and LAN
iptables -A FORWARD -i eth0 -o eth2 -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A FORWARD -i eth2 -o eth0 -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
# forward traffic between DMZ and WAN servers SMTP, Mail etc
iptables -A FORWARD -i eth2 -o eth1 -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A FORWARD -i eth1 -o eth2 -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
# Route incoming SMTP (port 25 ) traffic to DMZ server 192.168.2.2
iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p tcp -i eth1 -d 202.54.1.1 --dport 25 -j DNAT --to-destination 192.168.2.2
# Route incoming HTTP (port 80 ) traffic to DMZ server load balancer IP 192.168.2.3
iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p tcp -i eth1 -d 202.54.1.1 --dport 80 -j DNAT --to-destination 192.168.2.3
# Route incoming HTTPS (port 443 ) traffic to DMZ server reverse load balancer IP 192.168.2.4
iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p tcp -i eth1 -d 202.54.1.1 --dport 443 -j DNAT --to-destination 192.168.2.4
### End DMZ .. Add other rules ###

Where,

• -i eth1 : Wan network interface
• -d 202.54.1.1 : Wan public IP address
• --dport 25 : SMTP Traffic
• -j DNAT : DNAT target used set the destination address of the packet with --to-destination
• --to-destination 192.168.2.2: Mail server ip address (private IP)

Multi port redirection

You can also use multiport iptables module to matches a set of source or destination ports. Up to 15 ports can be specified. For example, route incoming HTTP (port 80 ) and HTTPS ( port 443) traffic to WAN server load balancer IP 192.168.2.3:

iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p tcp -i eth1 -d 202.54.1.1 -m multiport --dport 80,443 -j DNAT --to-destination 192.168.2.3

Pitfalls

Above design has few pitfalls:

1. Single point of failure - The firewall becomes a single point of failure for the network.
2. Hardware - The firewall Host must be able to handle all of the traffic going to the DMZ as well as the internal network.

Linux / BSD Firewall Distros

If you find above discussion little hard to digest, I suggest getting a Linux / BSD distribution which aims to provide a simple-to-manage firewall appliance based on PC hardware to setup DMZ and gateways:

• IPCop
• Shorewall
• PfSense (FreeBSD based)

Further readings:

• Wes Sonnenreich. Building Linux And Openbsd Firewalls. - A step-by-step guide to bulding a commercial-grade firewall with open source software.
• Eric Maiwald. Network Security: A Beginner's Guide. Second Edition. - It gives a brief overview of most of the security related topics, perhaps one of the best books to start with.
• Michael Rash. Linux Firewalls: Attack Detection and Response with iptables, psad, and fwsnort [ILLUSTRATED] - Linux Firewalls discusses the technical details of the iptables firewall and the Netfilter framework that are built into the Linux kernel, and it explains how they provide strong filtering, Network Address Translation (NAT), state tracking, and application layer inspection capabilities that rival many commercial tools. You'll learn how to deploy iptables as an IDS with psad and fwsnort and how to build a strong, passive authentication layer around iptables with fwknop.

Updated for accuracy.