QEMU Sandboxing for dummies

DevConf is an annual conference that takes place in Brno, Czech Republic. This year I applied for a talk to go over my work that I develop since mid 2012: Security on QEMU/KVM Virtual Machines using SECCOMP. Since then I became the maintainer of this feature on QEMU and released the second and better version not long ago. On this post you'll find the slides and the full video of the presentation.

QEMU Sandboxing for dummies de Eduardo Otubo

So here we go, very first experience lecturing in English, what a catastrophe! In my defense the audience was very peculiar, not only the guy that very started libseccomp was there, but my manager and the director of the department as well. Anxiety apart, I think it was an outstanding experience, would do it again in the future. :-)

GSM bridge between two raspbx hosts

Disclaimer: I know there's a lot of options on the market for free long distance calls like Skype, Viber, WhatsApp and so on. The goal of this personal project was all along to come up with a proof of concept that actually works, study something different other than my actual job and, why not, have some fun :) BUT, yes, there's one single use case that this setup will be useful: You're in the middle of nowhere, no internet connection and you need to call someone in the other side of the planet but you don't want to pay a long distance call: BINGO!

Disclaimer2: For this tutorial you'll have to be prepared for Asterisk terminologies like trunks and channels. If you're not familiar with this vocabulary, please take a quick look at this documentation.

Description of the environment: The server1 is placed on the Brazilian side. It's a Raspberry Pi model B that runs an asterisk-modded-for-raspberry-pi distro called raspbx. Attached to it there's an USB GSM dongle with a SIM card for the local Brazilian operator. In the same network of my server1 there's a Cisco PAP2t Internet Phone Adapter and, attached to it, a regular land line telephone. The same setup is duplicated on the German side, except that the Raspberry Pi is model B+.

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

What it does: This is the list of features that this project performs right now:

1. Someone in Brazil calls my Brazilian number, the dongle1 answers the call, redirects to an IAX2 trunk directly to server2. The server2 takes this incoming call and uses the dongle2 to place a new call to my german cellphone. The other way is still pinned to a single phone -- like, call my dongle2 to reach a single number in Brazilian side -- but improvements are coming.
2. Someone uses phone1 on Brazilian side to call extension phone2 on German side (and vice-versa) like a regular landline phone.
3. Someone uses phone1 or phone2 to reach my german cellphone.

Ok, so LET'S DO IT!!

I'm gonna skip the PAP2t configuration because I think it's too much. This is only needed if you want to use land line telephones, it's not required for the GSM bridge. If anyone is interested in doing that, please leave a comment and I'll write a new post only for that configuration.

Important note: All the configuration explained from now on is identical on both servers.

1. Install raspbx on your RPi's SD card. Also take a time to read through the raspbx documentation, which is very useful
2. Use the script install-dongle (built-in inside raspbx) to install your dongle on your RPi. Important notes regarding problems I got:
1. There's a list of GSM dongles that are tested with voice, SMS and USSD. I bought the Huawei E160;
2. I had to unlock the voice feature with DC-Unlocker for Windows;
3. Plug your dongle and only after that plug your RPi power. If you try to plug your dongle while the RPi turned on, you may experience your RPi to reboot due to power consumption failures;
4. If your RPi starts rebooting it's because it can't handle the gsm dongle power consumption, in this case, use a proper powered USB hub. I bought the D-Link Dub-H7
5. Find out the IMEI and the IMSI code of your dongle and set the correct values under /etc/asterisk/dongle.conf because /dev/ttyUSB1 or /dev/ttyUSB2 may change;
3. Before you start configuring raspbx itself, it's important that you have both sides with network configured properly with static IPs and (in my case) DynDNS. I didn't want to open too many ports on the routers on both sides so I just setup an OpenVPN vpn; 
4. Setup a new custom trunk for your dongle under Connectivity → Trunks → Add Custom Trunk and set these values:
   
   Trunk Name: to-my-cellphone
   Outbound CallerID: Your SIM card number with country code (with a plus sign at the beginning)
   Custom Dial String: dongle/dongle0/$OUTNUM$
   
   Note: This is the trunk that will actually place the inbound calls to your personal telephone.
   
   
5. Setup a new IAX2 trunk under Connectivity → Trunks → Add IAX2 Trunk and set these values:
   
   General Settings:
   Trunk Name: Something that would remember the incoming connection from the other server
   Outbound CallerID: Your personal phone number
   
   Outgoing Settings:
   Trunk Name: (same as above, I also used the same name and it's ok)
   
   host=static IP under vpn of the remote server
   username=any username
   secret=any password
   type=friend
   trunk=yes
   qualify=yes
   qualifyfreqok=25000
   tos=0x18
   
   
   Note: The IAX2 trunk is responsible for redirecting calls from this server to the other.
   
   
6. Setup a new inbound route under Connectivity → Inbound Routes → Add Incoming Route:
   
   DID Number: Your SIM card number with country code (with a plus sign at the beginning)
   CallerID Number: Your personal cell phone number
   Set Destinations: Trunk and your recently created IAX2 trunk.
   Note: This is the route responsible to redirect an inbound call on your local dongle over the IAX2 trunk and then to your remote server.
   

If you noticed any omitted fields in the above configurations, it's because I didn't fill with anything or it's not important. I also did some extra work on Claning the SIM card memory for SMS every once in a while, I set a static IP for the OpenVPN so each server can always see each other, an additional service to check my credit balance every month and so and so forth. If you also want details like that please let me know in the comments :-) 

That's it! You did it! If you need more help setting up anything else please let me know in the comments of this post. Good luck and have fun! :-)

Enjoy old SNES games on your Xoom using PS3 controller

(image from eu, android)

Yes, that exactly what you read. Now you can play SNES games on your Motorola Xoom using your PS3 controller over bluetooth. Also, this tutorial is an adaptation from an article at Eu, Android and it's intended to be used on Ubuntu only, if you need to use the other OS, please check the original. The Linux specific information is from a cached ubuntu wiki, so I'll copy & paste the relevant part here in case it expire in the future. Right, so cut the crap and let's play! :-)

Needless to say, you must have proper root access on your device - details for brazilians here.

1. Install Sixaxis Compatibility Checker, open the application, give root permissions and then a popup message will be shown telling you if your device is supported or not (hopefully yes).
   
   
2. Install required libs:
   $ sudo apt-get install libusb-dev libusb-0.1-4
   
   
3. Download sixpair.c (original also hosted at the ubuntu wiki, I did a copy on my github)
   
   
4. Compile it:
   $ gcc -o sixpair sixpair.c -lusb
   
   
   Before running sixpair, you'll need the bluetooth mac addr of your Xoom. The easy way to get it is installing Sixaxis Controller - don't worry, you'll need the app anyway to use the controller. The app will display a message "Local Bluetooth Adderss" with the bluetooth mac addr you'll need.
   
   
5. Run sixpair with the Motorola Xoom bluetooth mac addrs you just got as a parameter:
   $ ./sixpair 41:f4:89:6d:41:73
   
   
6. Open the Sixaxis Controller and follow the onscreen instructions - important note: You'll might need to reboot your Xoom to make it work (I had to)

 NOW I WANNA PLAY!

easy... almost there

Install a neat SNES emulator, I choosed Snes9x EX. Now you have to configure your controller to map the keys the emulator uses: Go to Sixaxis Controller -> Menu -> Preferences -> Input Mapping -> 1st Controller mappings. Since I am using Snes9x EX, I set my mapping like this:

• square: A
• triangle: S
• circle: X
• cross: Z
• left: Q
• right: W
• select: SPACE
• start: ENTER
• power: HOME

This way, for example, Snes9x EX will understand that when you press square you're actually pressing A which means the Y button on a normal SNES controller. Yes, I know, confusing as hell, but works.

Now go and have fun :-D

FISL11 lectures presented, time to enjoy the party

Two lectures, two days, hard work and my nerves eating me alive. Not easy to speak on a such huge event like FISL. A lot of experience acquired but I am not planning to return to stage soon :) But of course, very happy to spread the word of two projects I like so much: Libvirt, which I've been working on for about two years, and DeltaCloud so young and so promissing! Here I post both of presentations. Thanks for all the comunity for the help :-)

And now time for a little fun. Watch some good lectures, get some free coffee and enjoy the cold weather :-)

Libvirt-0.8.2 is out. IBM pHyp driver now supports IVM and storage management

Libvirt-0.8.2 is finally out. New pHyp features are now available :-) I've been working hard for the last couple of weeks to finish all the support for the IVM, IBM Integrated Virtualization Manager. Now the phyp driver is able to manage both HMC/VIOs and IVM virtualized systems. Also, another big feature that is now available is the storage management. The whole stack of storage (pools and volumes) can now be managed with Libvirt.

I couldn't get to this without the help of Eric Blake (from Red Hat), helping reviewing my patches and Brian King (from IBM), helping me understand the whole world of IBM virtualization . Thank you, guys :)

Otubo at FISL 11: DeltaCloud and Libvirt on the way!

Great news from the south, my two lectures were approved for the next version of FISL, International Forum of Free Software (acronym is in pt_BR). Hoooray! \o/

I've submitted two papers for the congress. One lecture is about DeltaCloud: Many Clouds. One API. No Problem. And the other one will be about Libvirt: The virtualization library. I am counting with the help of both projects maintainers in order to get a great work for the projects.

Wish me luck, hope I can make a great presentation for you all.

See you there! :-)

How to connect a GPS phone to a Computer via bluetooth

A very quick post to show how these things work togheter. I connected a Nokia E71 GPS to my ThinkPad T61 running Ubuntu 9.04 Janty Jackalope using bluetooth connection. The initial idea was to use Google Earth as my main GPS screen while driving, but unfortunately I couldn't make it work *yet*.

Step 1) Going right to the point: First you need to be sure that you mobile phone exports the GPS service via bluetooth. And that's simple to get. First you must edit yout /etc/bluetooth/hcid.conf to look like this:

root@phoenix:/etc/bluetooth# cat hcid.conf
#
# HCI daemon configuration file.
#

# HCId options
options {
# Automatically initialize new devices
autoinit yes;

# Security Manager mode
# none - Security manager disabled
# auto - Use local PIN for incoming connections
# user - Always ask user for a PIN
#
security none;

# Pairing mode
# none - Pairing disabled
# multi - Allow pairing with already paired devices
# once - Pair once and deny successive attempts
pairing multi;

# PIN helper
#pin_helper /usr/bin/bluepin;

# D-Bus PIN helper
#dbus_pin_helper;
}

# Default settings for HCI devices
device {
# Local device name
# %d - device id
# %h - host name
name "otubotp";

# Local device class
class 0x3e0100;

# Default packet type
#pkt_type DH1,DM1,HV1;

# Inquiry and Page scan
iscan enable; pscan enable;

# Default link mode
# none - no specific policy
# accept - always accept incoming connections
# master - become master on incoming connections,
# deny role switch on outgoing connections
lm accept;

# Default link policy
# none - no specific policy
# rswitch - allow role switch
# hold - allow hold mode
# sniff - allow sniff mode
# park - allow park mode
lp rswitch,hold,sniff,park;

# Authentication and Encryption (Security Mode 3)
#auth enable;
#encrypt enable;
}


Step 2) Restart you bluetooth daemon:

root@phoenix:~# /etc/init.d/bluetooth restart
* Stopping bluetooth [ OK ]
* Starting bluetooth [ OK ]


Step 3) Turn on the bluetooth on your phone and get ready to scan devices:

root@phoenix:~# hcitool scan
Scanning ...
00:21:FE:xx:xx:xx mycellphone


Step 4) Then, check if your phone exports GPS data via bluetooth running sdptool. In this step you need to pay attention to the Service Names and to the channel they use. We're gonna use these informations later on.

root@phoenix:~# sdptool browse 00:21:FE:F8:2F:E2
Browsing 00:21:FE:F8:2F:E2 ...
Service Name: AVRCP Target
Service Description: Audio Video Remote Control
Service Provider: Symbian Software Ltd.
Service RecHandle: 0x10000
Service Class ID List:
"AV Remote Target" (0x110c)
Protocol Descriptor List:
"L2CAP" (0x0100)
PSM: 23
"AVCTP" (0x0017)
uint16: 0x100
Profile Descriptor List:
"AV Remote" (0x110e)
Version: 0x0100

Service Name: Hands-Free Audio Gateway
Service RecHandle: 0x10004
Service Class ID List:
"Handsfree Audio Gateway" (0x111f)
"Generic Audio" (0x1203)
Protocol Descriptor List:
"L2CAP" (0x0100)
"RFCOMM" (0x0003)
Channel: 1
Language Base Attr List:
code_ISO639: 0x454e
encoding: 0x6a
base_offset: 0x100
Profile Descriptor List:
"Handsfree" (0x111e)
Version: 0x0105

Service Name: Headset Audio Gateway
Service RecHandle: 0x10005
Service Class ID List:
"Headset Audio Gateway" (0x1112)
"Generic Audio" (0x1203)
Protocol Descriptor List:
"L2CAP" (0x0100)
"RFCOMM" (0x0003)
Channel: 2
Language Base Attr List:
code_ISO639: 0x454e
encoding: 0x6a
base_offset: 0x100
Profile Descriptor List:
"Headset" (0x1108)
Version: 0x0100

Service Name: Audio Source
Service RecHandle: 0x10027
Service Class ID List:
"Audio Source" (0x110a)
Protocol Descriptor List:
"L2CAP" (0x0100)
PSM: 25
"AVDTP" (0x0019)
uint16: 0x100
Language Base Attr List:
code_ISO639: 0x454e
encoding: 0x6a
base_offset: 0x100
Profile Descriptor List:
"Advanced Audio" (0x110d)
Version: 0x0100

Service Name: AVRCP Controller
Service Description: Audio Video Remote Control
Service Provider: Symbian Software Ltd.
Service RecHandle: 0x10028
Service Class ID List:
"AV Remote" (0x110e)
Protocol Descriptor List:
"L2CAP" (0x0100)
PSM: 23
"AVCTP" (0x0017)
uint16: 0x100
Profile Descriptor List:
"AV Remote" (0x110e)
Version: 0x0100

Service Name: SyncMLClient
Service RecHandle: 0x10029
Service Class ID List:
UUID 128: 00000002-0000-1000-8000-0002ee000002
Protocol Descriptor List:
"L2CAP" (0x0100)
"RFCOMM" (0x0003)
Channel: 10
"OBEX" (0x0008)
Language Base Attr List:
code_ISO639: 0x454e
encoding: 0x6a
base_offset: 0x100
Profile Descriptor List:
"" (0x00000002-0000-1000-8000-0002ee000002)
Version: 0x0100

Service Name: OBEX File Transfer
Service RecHandle: 0x1002a
Service Class ID List:
"OBEX File Transfer" (0x1106)
Protocol Descriptor List:
"L2CAP" (0x0100)
"RFCOMM" (0x0003)
Channel: 11
"OBEX" (0x0008)
Language Base Attr List:
code_ISO639: 0x454e
encoding: 0x6a
base_offset: 0x100
Profile Descriptor List:
"OBEX File Transfer" (0x1106)
Version: 0x0100

Service Name: Nokia OBEX PC Suite Services
Service RecHandle: 0x1002b
Service Class ID List:
UUID 128: 00005005-0000-1000-8000-0002ee000001
Protocol Descriptor List:
"L2CAP" (0x0100)
"RFCOMM" (0x0003)
Channel: 12
"OBEX" (0x0008)
Language Base Attr List:
code_ISO639: 0x454e
encoding: 0x6a
base_offset: 0x100
Profile Descriptor List:
"" (0x00005005-0000-1000-8000-0002ee000001)
Version: 0x0100

Service Name: SyncML DM Client
Service RecHandle: 0x1002c
Service Class ID List:
UUID 128: 00000004-0000-1000-8000-0002ee000002
Protocol Descriptor List:
"L2CAP" (0x0100)
"RFCOMM" (0x0003)
Channel: 13
"OBEX" (0x0008)
Language Base Attr List:
code_ISO639: 0x454e
encoding: 0x6a
base_offset: 0x100
Profile Descriptor List:
"" (0x00000004-0000-1000-8000-0002ee000002)
Version: 0x0100

Service Name: Nokia SyncML Server
Service RecHandle: 0x1002e
Service Class ID List:
UUID 128: 00005601-0000-1000-8000-0002ee000001
Protocol Descriptor List:
"L2CAP" (0x0100)
"RFCOMM" (0x0003)
Channel: 14
"OBEX" (0x0008)
Language Base Attr List:
code_ISO639: 0x454e
encoding: 0x6a
base_offset: 0x100
Profile Descriptor List:
"" (0x00005601-0000-1000-8000-0002ee000001)
Version: 0x0100

Service RecHandle: 0x1002f
Protocol Descriptor List:
"L2CAP" (0x0100)
"RFCOMM" (0x0003)
Channel: 3

Service Name: Dial-Up Networking
Service RecHandle: 0x10030
Service Class ID List:
"Dialup Networking" (0x1103)
Protocol Descriptor List:
"L2CAP" (0x0100)
"RFCOMM" (0x0003)
Channel: 4
Language Base Attr List:
code_ISO639: 0x454e
encoding: 0x6a
base_offset: 0x100
Profile Descriptor List:
"Dialup Networking" (0x1103)
Version: 0x0100

Service Name: OBEX Object Push
Service RecHandle: 0x10031
Service Class ID List:
"OBEX Object Push" (0x1105)
Protocol Descriptor List:
"L2CAP" (0x0100)
"RFCOMM" (0x0003)
Channel: 9
"OBEX" (0x0008)
Language Base Attr List:
code_ISO639: 0x454e
encoding: 0x6a
base_offset: 0x100
Profile Descriptor List:
"OBEX Object Push" (0x1105)
Version: 0x0100

Service Name: Imaging
Service RecHandle: 0x10032
Service Class ID List:
"Imaging Responder" (0x111b)
Protocol Descriptor List:
"L2CAP" (0x0100)
"RFCOMM" (0x0003)
Channel: 15
"OBEX" (0x0008)
Language Base Attr List:
code_ISO639: 0x454e
encoding: 0x6a
base_offset: 0x100
Profile Descriptor List:
"Imaging" (0x111a)
Version: 0x0100

Service Name: SIM Access
Service RecHandle: 0x10033
Service Class ID List:
"SIM Access" (0x112d)
"Generic Telephony" (0x1204)
Protocol Descriptor List:
"L2CAP" (0x0100)
"RFCOMM" (0x0003)
Channel: 8
Language Base Attr List:
code_ISO639: 0x454e
encoding: 0x6a
base_offset: 0x100
Profile Descriptor List:
"SIM Access" (0x112d)
Version: 0x0101

All you need to check on this huge amount of data is something telling that you phone exports the GPS information. In the above example there is no such thing. If your phone DOES support this information go to step 5. Otherwise, install this strategic application for Symbian: ExtGSP. This little tricky app will do all the messy thing for you exporting all the GPS data over the bluetooth connection. Then re-run the sdptool command again to check. In the end you will find additional information about ExtGPS:

Service Name: Symarctic ExtGPS
Service Description: Share phone's built-in GPS module via Bluetooth
Service Provider: Symarctic Solutions
Service RecHandle: 0x10034
Service Class ID List:
"Serial Port" (0x1101)
Protocol Descriptor List:
"L2CAP" (0x0100)
"RFCOMM" (0x0003)
Channel: 5
Language Base Attr List:
code_ISO639: 0x656e
encoding: 0x6a
base_offset: 0x100


Step 5) Then, edit your /etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf and make it look like this:

root@phoenix:~# cat /etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf
rfcomm4 {
bind yes;
device 00:21:FE:F8:2F:E2;
channel 5;
comment "Serial Port";
}


Step 6) Once configured (and ExtGPS running on your phone) you will now open a communication channel and bind it to a local device like this:

root@phoenix:~# rfcomm connect 4
Connected /dev/rfcomm4 to 00:21:FE:F8:2F:E2 on channel 5
Press CTRL-C for hangup


Step 7) Now there's a bunch of GPS information being written on /dev/rfcomm4. In order to make a good use of it, we should grad all these information, and parse it with gpsd:

root@phoenix:~# gpsd -N /dev/rfcomm4
(-N means not to daemonize it, to see all the debug info.)

What's next? Now we have all the setup ready: Cellphone with GPS up and running, exporting information via bluetooth (using ExtGPS), connected and writing information on a local device, and a daemon grabing and parsing all the information. Good! We just need a client program to enjoy the show:

Step 8) You can use a bunch of client programs, I've tested two of them: Xgps and GpsDrive.
Xpgs is a very simple program just to make sure things are working fine. It shows the position of satelites, the current position and so on. Here is a print screen:

GPSDrive is more Google-Earth-like, you may track you path during a travel, check the map and so on:

Well, that's it. Hope you enjoy :)

Libvirt now supports IBM Power Hypervisors

Yeah, that's it: Yesterday the my first patch were pushed into the main tree of Libvirt's repo. It will be available in the next version, libvirt-0.7.0[1], scheduled to be released in the end of this month. This lib now has the power[2], to manage IBM Power Hypervisors through HMC/VIOS and IVM :)

Libvirt is a library that creates an abstraction layer by exporting a generic API above a virtualization system. You can create your own virt-manager-like software using libvirt and you'll be able to manage most sorts of virtualization systems. It started to be used only with Xen, but many other drivers were made other different systems: KVM, Openvz, VMWare, VirtualBox and so on.

My job at LTC is to design and implement a driver that could manage both HMC/VIOS and IVM systems. This is the first version, a lot of features are planned to be done. Wait for more news :)

[1] - Also known as "double-o-seven release".

[2] - This joke has no effect in portuguese.

Why do people still download mp3?

This should be a fast-post at anywhere else, but since this is an almost-technical-matter I'll write this post here. I promise it will take more than 140 chars. :)

These days we've been in touch with that p2p crap more than ever. Cybercrimes, PirateBay, Peter Sunde and all that shit surrounding copyrights. I am not discussing this, they're right! We should be able to share midia and content freely at internet... But the point I wanna get is not that.

(picture by: hooverdust)

I was watching MTV Brazil yesterday and I came across an interview where some guy (it doesn't matter the name) points that the trends (oh, the trends) are going to a completely different way: The streaming media. Yes, that's it. Websites like last.fm are overwriting the P2P concept. "Yeah! End of the problem!" you might think - as I thought as well. But two seconds later I realized that this is bullshit. Understand, while our mp3 players and car players doesn't play streaming media, we will still have P2P ruling our connections. Ok, going a little bit deep inside this matter, just think about the infrastructure we would need to have our iPods playing streaming media. This is enough complications for a single post. :)

And just another thought: When I BUY media, I want to do whatever I want with it. Play at my computer (fuck DRM!), play at my cellphone, play in my car driving to work... God, streaming media don't make any sense at all to me.

FISL is not as it used to be

meta: I started posting in english and I did not loose any readers, thank you guys ;)

Here in Brazil we have a worldwide free software conference called FISL - Forum Internacional de Software Livre (Free Software International Forum, in english). This is the first time I will be able to attend this conference and I am already facing some bad news. It's all about the way lectures were aproved, too may questions surrounding the methods on how topics were choosed (link in pt_br). Some complaining about the lack of technical lectures and other claiming for more political ones. So, here is what I think:

• Technical stuff we may learn at home freaking out night away at the computer.
• Nerd events like this are just great to improve your social skills - yes we need this! Meeting new people, new free softwares iniciatives and so on.

But, int he other hand...

• There is no reson to talk about "Why free software is good" or "Why Python?". Comon guys, we can do better! Let's think a bit ahead.

While we don't find a way to put these things together in equilibrium we could just avoid some topics that had already been presented in the past. This could be a good start :)