VPN

VPN and servers can be confusing, I am still confused by them today. Below are some notes that I have gathered.

VPN

If you ever have an issue with a connection one of the common places to check is your resolv.conf file.

How?

In your terminal with your editor of choice open resolv.conf, if you do not have this file the editor will automatically create it.

You will want to add the name-server of the site you're trying to reach. Example: nameserver 172.X.XX.X.X

When not needed feel free to comment it out. Example: #nameserver 172.X.XX.X.X

The system wont read it. Once you have made this change, you will want to make sure that in your VPN client you go to the configuration settings and select something manual along the lines of "allow changes manually to network changes".

## External HardDrive When you have to move files, for example a tarball you need to execute the following command: tar -cvfz [NAME OF TARBALL].tar.gz [DESIRED LOCATION OF FILE]

Connecting To Servers

Working on systems will have you ssh'ing into several machines. At times you will have to copy over tarballs from one machine into yours or your desired external storage device.

For this you will use the scp command. In some cases your machine will not have a direct path to your key when you must list it out the command is as follows: scp -p 443 -i [PATH TO KEY] This command lists the port also to copy and where the key is to connect to the server.

An example of copying contents from one server to an external hard drive would be: scp -p 443 -i ~/.ssh/[CERTIFICATE LOCATION] USERNAME@SEVERNAME:[LOCATION OF TARBALL][LOCATION WHERE YOU WANT IT COPIED]

If you're lost on where to find the file path to your external drive (if thats where you want to push documents)

Mac: Open the Disk Utility in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder, click on the partition, choose Info, and look at the disk identifier. Example: `Volumes/"My Passport for Mac"

Linux: To be continued

Windows: if you click on computer, then click the external drive in question, at the top of the window it will show you the path. Example: `C: Users\sunflowerno0b\USB

Yes, this is very unique and its not commonly found, normally you indicate the scp command connect to the server and location of where you want to contents copied.

2FA Reset for OpenVPN

VPNs allow for secure access to certain sites for your systems team. For example some teams may need only internal members to access your git. Authentication to these VPN protected sites normally include:

• ssl certificate
• username & password
• MFA

When MFA needs to be rest, you should always look at the documentation. To rest the 2FA for a specific user using OpenVPN:

• ssh into the VPN (1XX.XX.XXX.XX)
• go into the root directory cd /
• run find / | grep sacli
• cd into the scripts folder
• run sudo ./scali -- user [USERNAME] --KEY "prop_google_auth" -- value "false" UserProPut

Note that this will disable the google authenticator for the specific user.

• run sudo ./sacli -- user[USERNAME] -- lock 0 Google AuthLock this will reset the Google Authenticator for the user to rescan upon signing in again.

Further options can be explored here

VPN & LDAP

When configuring VPN that will use your teams LDAP it is best practices for the username to match the LDAP profile when creating the user in admin.

Should a user lose or replace phone