Map Remote Servers into the Space of the Local Apache Server with Authentication on Ubuntu

1. delete symbolic link of the default proxy.conf

sudo rm /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/proxy.conf

2. make another copy of proxy.conf in the same folder, mods-enabled

sudo cp /etc/apache2/mods-available/proxy.conf /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/proxy.conf

3. edit it

sudo vi /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/proxy.conf
--

ProxyVia On

ProxyPass /mirror/ http://address:port/
ProxyPassReverse /mirror/ http://address:port/

<Location /motion/>
AuthName "TITLE"
AuthType Basic
AuthUserFile /var/www/.htpasswd
require valid-user
</Location>

# ProxyPass causes a local request for the http://localhost/mirror/ to be internally converted into a proxy request to http://address:port/
# ProxyPassReverse provides location header on http adjusting which redirects http://localhost/mirror/sub/ to http://address:port/sub/ also

4. generate apache password file, /var/www/.htpasswd

sudo htpasswd -c /var/www/.htpasswd username


Set up a Webcam Security System on Ubuntu

1. plug your webcam into usb slot, some useful commands to diagnose hardware information

dmesg # print bootup messages
lsusb # list usb devices

2. install motion, the package provide motion detection for webcam or netcam

sudo apt-get install motion

3. modify configuration file

sudo vi /etc/motion/motion.conf
--
.
.
# Image width (pixels). Valid range: Camera dependent, default: 352
width 640

# Image height (pixels). Valid range: Camera dependent, default: 288
height 480
.
.
# The mini-http server listens to this port for requests (default: 0 = disabled)
webcam_port 8081
.
.
# Restrict webcam connections to localhost only (default: on)
webcam_localhost on
.
.

4. according to the above settings, you can watch live webcam only from localhost. i would to like to access it from anywhere with authentication, so i pick up mod_proxy to satisfy my needs

sudo cp /etc/apache2/mods-available/proxy.conf /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/proxy.conf
sudo ln -s /etc/apache2/mods-available/proxy.load /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/proxy.load
sudo ln -s /etc/apache2/mods-available/proxy_http.load /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/proxy_http.load

5. map internal web pages to main apache web server

<IfModule mod_proxy.c>
ProxyRequests Off
<Proxy *>
AddDefaultCharset off
Order deny,allow
Allow from all
AuthName "Live Webcam Server"
AuthType Basic
AuthUserFile /var/www/.htpasswd
require valid-user
</Proxy>
ProxyVia On
ProxyPass /motion http://localhost:8081
</IfModule>

to understand all parameters, please refer to http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/mod/mod_proxy.html

6. create a password file for the username

sudo htpasswd -c /var/www/.htpasswd username

7. nobody can access .htpasswd through http request just because of this section in /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

#
# The following lines prevent .htaccess and .htpasswd files from being
# viewed by Web clients.
#
<Files ~ "^\.ht">
Order allow,deny
Deny from all
</Files>


Set up a Tor relay node on Ubuntu

1. verify that your clock is set correctly

2. install tor

sudo apt-get install tor

3. make sure to define at least Nickname and the listening port, ORPort

sudo vi /etc/tor/torrc

--
.
.
SocksPort 9050 # what port to open for local application connections
SocksListenAddress 127.0.0.1 # accept connections only from localhost
.
Nickname ididnteditheconfig
.
RelayBandwidthRate 20 KBytes # Throttle traffic to 100KB/s (800Kbps)
RelayBandwidthBurst 40 KBytes # But allow bursts up to 200KB/s (1600Kbps)
.
ORPort 9001
.
.

5. restart tor to reload config

sudo /etc/init.d/tor restart

4. add this line to privoxy configuration file /etc/privoxy/config

forward-socks4a / localhost:9050 .

it means tor listens socks4a on port 9050
In the SOCKS 4A protocol, the DNS resolution of the target hostname happens on the SOCKS server, while in SOCKS 4 it happens locally.

5. according the default setting in /etc/privoxy/config

listen-address 127.0.0.1:8118

port 8118 should be used as http proxy

6. when your browser is set with privoxy proxy, you can check this website to verify

https://torcheck.xenobite.eu/


7. when you check log file, /var/log/tor/log
you may notice the warning message

MMM ddd hh:mm:ss.xxx [warn] Your application (using socks4 to port 80) is giving Tor only an IP address. Applications that do DNS resolves themselves may leak information. Consider using Socks4A (e.g. via privoxy or socat) instead. For more information, please see http://wiki.noreply.org/noreply/TheOnionRouter/TorFAQ#SOCKSAndDNS.