Remotely unlock a full disk encrypted Fedora 40 server

What I have been doing in 2020 and before doesn’t seem to work anymore, ence it is time to publish a new episode of the saga: how to remotely unlock a full disk encrypted Linux machine. dracut-sshd still works perfectly even though the surroundings changed a bit. First step is instructing dracut to add dracut-sshd into initramfs: $ sudo dnf install dracut dracut-network openssh $ git clone https://github.com/gsauthof/dracut-sshd.git $ cd dracut-sshd $ sudo cp -ri 46sshd /usr/lib/dracut/modules.d Configure grub to instruct dracut to add networking to initramfs: …

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Remotely unlock a full disk encrypted Fedora 33 server

Last year I blogged on how to remotely unlock a full disk encrypted Fedora/CentOS server. The software I used, dracut-crypt-ssh, is not supported anymore and stopped working for me on Fedora 32 and 33. A quick DDG search pointed me in the right direction and made me find a similar software that accomplishes the same task: dracut-sshd. $ sudo dnf install dracut dracut-network openssh libblkid-devel gcc $ git clone https://github.com/gsauthof/dracut-sshd.git $ cd dracut-sshd $ sudo cp -ri 46sshd /usr/lib/dracut/modules.d After compiling and installing dracut-crypt-ssh configure grub to instruct dracut to add networking to initramfs: …

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XMPP audio and video calls

Ejabberd has supported STUN/TURN for quite some time now, this in conjunction with client support can be used to implement one on one audio and video calls. Since version 2.8.0 Conversations Android client added audio and video call functionality by leveraging on STUN/TURN and XEP-0215. The rest of the XMPP world is following the route opened by them, so I expect to see IOS and regular computer XMPP clients to finally implement these new features too in the upcoming months. Enabling audio and video calls in Ejabberd is actually pretty simple. Provided you have installed the latest release (version 20.04), edit ejabberd.yml: …

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Disable head parking Western Digital drives

Most Western Digital hard drives’ firmware let the heads park themselves after a certain amount of seconds in case the disk is not actively performing any operation. This might be useful to keep power consumption under control but is actually harmful for disks that run 24/7 (WD Red for example). Luckily there is a way to disable head parking, this can be done directly from Linux using a tool called idle3ctl. …

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Remotely unlock a full disk encrypted Fedora/CentOS server

The idea here is to be able to power on and unlock a remote Full Disk Encrypted (FDE from now on) server. I will leave the how “remotely power on” to the reader to figure out and focus on the other part. The easiest way to accomplish it is by using a program called: dracut-crypt-ssh. $ yum install dropbear dracut dracut-network openssh libblkid-devel gcc $ git clone https://github.com/dracut-crypt-ssh/dracut-crypt-ssh.git $ cd dracut-crypt-ssh $ ./configure $ make $ sudo make install After compiling and installing dracut-crypt-ssh configure grub to instruct dracut to add networking to initramfs: …

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Resize QCOW2 disk image

QCOW2 disk images can be easily grown using libvirt command line utils. Unfortunately it isn’t possible to grow QCOW2 images in-place or online. First of all, power off the virtual machine, grow the file and make a copy of it: $ qemu-img resize image.qcow2 +200G $ cp image.qcow2 image-new.qcow2 Identify the specific partion you intend to grow: $ virt-filesystems -a image.qcow2 -l Name Type VFS Label Size Parent /dev/sda1 filesystem ext4 - 536870912 - /dev/sda3 filesystem xfs - 45885612000 - Expand the actual partition: …

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Nginx and XMPP over TLS

XMPP over TLS (formerly XEP-0368) is a clever mechanism that allows users to connect to a XMPP server from networks that restrict outgoing traffic only to specific ports; this block is circumvent by routing XMPP traffic via port TCP 443. If the server hosts only a XMPP server setting up XMPP over TLS is pretty easy, just instruct the server to listen on port 443. If the server also runs a webserver which is listening on port 443 things are a bit more complicated; luckily Nginx provides a way to manage XMPP traffic and redirect it to the XMPP server. …

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Remote encrypted backup with iSCSI and LUKS2

The idea here is to have a LUKS2 encrypted volume stored on a remote server that allows authenticated clients to load and decrypt the data without letting the server know what is being written, read and stored. Keep in mind that this solution is not 100% bulletproof, you still kind of have to trust the backup server because a malicious entity might take multiple snapshots of the encrypted iSCSI LUN and try to crack the encryption. …

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Generate a secure SSH key

In Fedora, CentOS and probably many other Linux distros ssh-keygen; still defaults to RSA 2048. People have not yet realized that the newer, and also faster, elliptic curve cryptography is available; even between my peers I still see that many of them are using old and insecure RSA based keys. Since SSH clients support multiple keys transitioning to newer keys can be painless: create a new elliptic curve key; do not delete the old RSA key; once you login into a server swap the old key with the new one. Generating a new secure SSH key is pretty simple, just open a terminal and run: ssh-keygen -o -a 256 -t ed25519

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Configure apcupsd on CentOS

Apcupsd is a powerful daemon that can be used to manage APC UPS, add epel repositories and run: $ yum install apcupsd To configure apcupsd edit the following file: cat /etc/apcupsd/apcupsd.conf" --- ## apcupsd.conf v1.1 ## # # for apcupsd release 3.14.14 (31 May 2016) - redhat # # "apcupsd" POSIX config file # # Note that the apcupsd daemon must be restarted in order for changes to # this configuration file to become active. # # # ========= General configuration parameters ============ # # UPSNAME xxx # Use this to give your UPS a name in log files and such. This # is particulary useful if you have multiple UPSes. This does not # set the EEPROM. It should be 8 characters or less. UPSNAME apcups # UPSCABLE <cable> # Defines the type of cable connecting the UPS to your computer. # # Possible generic choices for <cable> are: # simple, smart, ether, usb # # Or a specific cable model number may be used: # 940-0119A, 940-0127A, 940-0128A, 940-0020B, # 940-0020C, 940-0023A, 940-0024B, 940-0024C, # 940-1524C, 940-0024G, 940-0095A, 940-0095B, # 940-0095C, 940-0625A, M-04-02-2000 # UPSCABLE usb # To get apcupsd to work, in addition to defining the cable # above, you must also define a UPSTYPE, which corresponds to # the type of UPS you have (see the Description for more details). # You must also specify a DEVICE, sometimes referred to as a port. # For USB UPSes, please leave the DEVICE directive blank. For # other UPS types, you must specify an appropriate port or address. # # UPSTYPE DEVICE Description # apcsmart /dev/tty** Newer serial character device, appropriate for # SmartUPS models using a serial cable (not USB). # # usb <BLANK> Most new UPSes are USB. A blank DEVICE # setting enables autodetection, which is # the best choice for most installations. # # net hostname:port Network link to a master apcupsd through apcupsd's # Network Information Server. This is used if the # UPS powering your computer is connected to a # different computer for monitoring. # # snmp hostname:port:vendor:community # SNMP network link to an SNMP-enabled UPS device. # Hostname is the ip address or hostname of the UPS # on the network. Vendor can be can be "APC" or # "APC_NOTRAP". "APC_NOTRAP" will disable SNMP trap # catching; you usually want "APC". Port is usually # 161. Community is usually "private". # # netsnmp hostname:port:vendor:community # OBSOLETE # Same as SNMP above but requires use of the # net-snmp library. Unless you have a specific need # for this old driver, you should use 'snmp' instead. # # dumb /dev/tty** Old serial character device for use with # simple-signaling UPSes. # # pcnet ipaddr:username:passphrase:port # PowerChute Network Shutdown protocol which can be # used as an alternative to SNMP with the AP9617 # family of smart slot cards. ipaddr is the IP # address of the UPS management card. username and # passphrase are the credentials for which the card # has been configured. port is the port number on # which to listen for messages from the UPS, normally # 3052. If this parameter is empty or missing, the # default of 3052 will be used. # # modbus /dev/tty** Serial device for use with newest SmartUPS models # supporting the MODBUS protocol. # modbus <BLANK> Leave the DEVICE setting blank for MODBUS over USB # or set to the serial number of the UPS to ensure # that apcupsd binds to that particular unit # (helpful if you have more than one USB UPS). # UPSTYPE usb DEVICE # POLLTIME <int> # Interval (in seconds) at which apcupsd polls the UPS for status. This # setting applies both to directly-attached UPSes (UPSTYPE apcsmart, usb, # dumb) and networked UPSes (UPSTYPE net, snmp). Lowering this setting # will improve apcupsd's responsiveness to certain events at the cost of # higher CPU utilization. The default of 60 is appropriate for most # situations. POLLTIME 60 # LOCKFILE <path to lockfile> # Path for device lock file. This is the directory into which the lock file # will be written. The directory must already exist; apcupsd will not create # it. The actual name of the lock file is computed from DEVICE. # Not used on Win32. LOCKFILE /var/lock # SCRIPTDIR <path to script directory> # Directory in which apccontrol and event scripts are located. SCRIPTDIR /etc/apcupsd # PWRFAILDIR <path to powerfail directory> # Directory in which to write the powerfail flag file. This file # is created when apcupsd initiates a system shutdown and is # checked in the OS halt scripts to determine if a killpower # (turning off UPS output power) is required. PWRFAILDIR /etc/apcupsd # NOLOGINDIR <path to nologin directory> # Directory in which to write the nologin file. The existence # of this flag file tells the OS to disallow new logins. NOLOGINDIR /etc # # ======== Configuration parameters used during power failures ========== # # The ONBATTERYDELAY is the time in seconds from when a power failure # is detected until we react to it with an onbattery event. # # This means that, apccontrol will be called with the powerout argument # immediately when a power failure is detected. However, the # onbattery argument is passed to apccontrol only after the # ONBATTERYDELAY time. If you don't want to be annoyed by short # powerfailures, make sure that apccontrol powerout does nothing # i.e. comment out the wall. ONBATTERYDELAY 6 # # Note: BATTERYLEVEL, MINUTES, and TIMEOUT work in conjunction, so # the first that occurs will cause the initation of a shutdown. # # If during a power failure, the remaining battery percentage # (as reported by the UPS) is below or equal to BATTERYLEVEL, # apcupsd will initiate a system shutdown. BATTERYLEVEL 5 # If during a power failure, the remaining runtime in minutes # (as calculated internally by the UPS) is below or equal to MINUTES, # apcupsd, will initiate a system shutdown. MINUTES 10 # If during a power failure, the UPS has run on batteries for TIMEOUT # many seconds or longer, apcupsd will initiate a system shutdown. # A value of 0 disables this timer. # # Note, if you have a Smart UPS, you will most likely want to disable # this timer by setting it to zero. That way, you UPS will continue # on batteries until either the % charge remaing drops to or below BATTERYLEVEL, # or the remaining battery runtime drops to or below MINUTES. Of course, # if you are testing, setting this to 60 causes a quick system shutdown # if you pull the power plug. # If you have an older dumb UPS, you will want to set this to less than # the time you know you can run on batteries. TIMEOUT 60 # Time in seconds between annoying users to signoff prior to # system shutdown. 0 disables. #ANNOY 300 ANNOY 0 # Initial delay after power failure before warning users to get # off the system. #ANNOYDELAY 60 ANNOYDELAY 1 # The condition which determines when users are prevented from # logging in during a power failure. # NOLOGON <string> [ disable | timeout | percent | minutes | always ] NOLOGON disable # If KILLDELAY is non-zero, apcupsd will continue running after a # shutdown has been requested, and after the specified time in # seconds attempt to kill the power. This is for use on systems # where apcupsd cannot regain control after a shutdown. # KILLDELAY <seconds> 0 disables KILLDELAY 0 # # ==== Configuration statements for Network Information Server ==== # # NETSERVER [ on | off ] on enables, off disables the network # information server. If netstatus is on, a network information # server process will be started for serving the STATUS and # EVENT data over the network (used by CGI programs). NETSERVER on # NISIP <dotted notation ip address> # IP address on which NIS server will listen for incoming connections. # This is useful if your server is multi-homed (has more than one # network interface and IP address). Default value is 0.0.0.0 which # means any incoming request will be serviced. Alternatively, you can # configure this setting to any specific IP address of your server and # NIS will listen for connections only on that interface. Use the # loopback address (127.0.0.1) to accept connections only from the # local machine. NISIP 127.0.0.1 # NISPORT <port> default is 3551 as registered with the IANA # port to use for sending STATUS and EVENTS data over the network. # It is not used unless NETSERVER is on. If you change this port, # you will need to change the corresponding value in the cgi directory # and rebuild the cgi programs. NISPORT 3551 # If you want the last few EVENTS to be available over the network # by the network information server, you must define an EVENTSFILE. EVENTSFILE /var/log/apcupsd.events # EVENTSFILEMAX <kilobytes> # By default, the size of the EVENTSFILE will be not be allowed to exceed # 10 kilobytes. When the file grows beyond this limit, older EVENTS will # be removed from the beginning of the file (first in first out). The # parameter EVENTSFILEMAX can be set to a different kilobyte value, or set # to zero to allow the EVENTSFILE to grow without limit. EVENTSFILEMAX 10 # # ========== Configuration statements used if sharing ============= # a UPS with more than one machine # # Remaining items are for ShareUPS (APC expansion card) ONLY # # UPSCLASS [ standalone | shareslave | sharemaster ] # Normally standalone unless you share an UPS using an APC ShareUPS # card. UPSCLASS standalone # UPSMODE [ disable | share ] # Normally disable unless you share an UPS using an APC ShareUPS card. UPSMODE disable # # ===== Configuration statements to control apcupsd system logging ======== # # Time interval in seconds between writing the STATUS file; 0 disables STATTIME 0 # Location of STATUS file (written to only if STATTIME is non-zero) STATFILE /var/log/apcupsd.status # LOGSTATS [ on | off ] on enables, off disables # Note! This generates a lot of output, so if # you turn this on, be sure that the # file defined in syslog.conf for LOG_NOTICE is a named pipe. # You probably do not want this on. LOGSTATS off # Time interval in seconds between writing the DATA records to # the log file. 0 disables. DATATIME 0 # FACILITY defines the logging facility (class) for logging to syslog. # If not specified, it defaults to "daemon". This is useful # if you want to separate the data logged by apcupsd from other # programs. #FACILITY DAEMON # # ========== Configuration statements used in updating the UPS EPROM ========= # # # These statements are used only by apctest when choosing "Set EEPROM with conf # file values" from the EEPROM menu. THESE STATEMENTS HAVE NO EFFECT ON APCUPSD. # # UPS name, max 8 characters #UPSNAME UPS_IDEN # Battery date - 8 characters #BATTDATE mm/dd/yy # Sensitivity to line voltage quality (H cause faster transfer to batteries) # SENSITIVITY H M L (default = H) #SENSITIVITY H # UPS delay after power return (seconds) # WAKEUP 000 060 180 300 (default = 0) #WAKEUP 60 # UPS Grace period after request to power off (seconds) # SLEEP 020 180 300 600 (default = 20) #SLEEP 180 # Low line voltage causing transfer to batteries # The permitted values depend on your model as defined by last letter # of FIRMWARE or APCMODEL. Some representative values are: # D 106 103 100 097 # M 177 172 168 182 # A 092 090 088 086 # I 208 204 200 196 (default = 0 => not valid) #LOTRANSFER 208 # High line voltage causing transfer to batteries # The permitted values depend on your model as defined by last letter # of FIRMWARE or APCMODEL. Some representative values are: # D 127 130 133 136 # M 229 234 239 224 # A 108 110 112 114 # I 253 257 261 265 (default = 0 => not valid) #HITRANSFER 253 # Battery charge needed to restore power # RETURNCHARGE 00 15 50 90 (default = 15) #RETURNCHARGE 15 # Alarm delay # 0 = zero delay after pwr fail, T = power fail + 30 sec, L = low battery, N = never # BEEPSTATE 0 T L N (default = 0) #BEEPSTATE T # Low battery warning delay in minutes # LOWBATT 02 05 07 10 (default = 02) #LOWBATT 2 # UPS Output voltage when running on batteries # The permitted values depend on your model as defined by last letter # of FIRMWARE or APCMODEL. Some representative values are: # D 115 # M 208 # A 100 # I 230 240 220 225 (default = 0 => not valid) #OUTPUTVOLTS 230 # Self test interval in hours 336=2 weeks, 168=1 week, ON=at power on # SELFTEST 336 168 ON OFF (default = 336) #SELFTEST 336 The configuration I use is pretty simple, basically shutdown the server if the power is down for more than one minute. ANNOY flag is also disabled (set to 0) because I do not need it on headless servers.

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