Category: Ipv6

Disaster preparation 101 — Data backup

Paul

In this one I will talk about Disaster, it happens to all of us from time to time. A fire, a earthquake, a stolen laptop or any number of ways. So what happens to your data, is it stored on the laptop? Is it important very sensitive data? Could you get fired if you lost that data?

[ad#ad2-right]These are all questions you must ask yourself when you have laptop. How do you backup your data or even do you have a backup? Having seen this with my own clients, I must wonder if there are people out there who just don’t care. I had a client the other day who gotten a virus and this was a really mean virus. Deleted some very important files when you tried to clean the virus out. She called me in a panic because she couldn’t load up windows? I asked if she had any backups, she said “what’s a backup” . So I sat there discussing this with the client for over 20 minutes. Finally she started to understand, she said she had the OEM Backup DVD but nothing else. She also said she needed help with getting data off the computer. I told her that I would be able to come the next day and I was lucky the virus didn’t do anything else to her data. We were able to retrieve the data from her system. That is where I start my rant , Why would anyone not have backup of there most important data?

So How do you backup your data? This is controversial and somewhat depends on how much people want to spend to keep there data safe and not loose pictures or music. There are several ways to do it, each way has it’s pitfalls or short comings and requires a little more effort:

Kinds of Backup

Hard Medium – DVD, CD, External Hard drive

Although,  The hard medium is usually used that doesn’t mean you can have a backup other than hard.   Here are some ways to back up on the internet.

Internet Medium:

  • Jungle Disk — Provides online storage through the Amazon s3 service.   Only pay for what you use.   It works well with most Operating system.  I’ve used it on Vista so it is really nice.

  • Carbonite Online backup –Another good Online storage.

  • Some Other Online backup — Here a list from Amazon to better help you find the type of software that you might need.

These are just a few options, if you want to look for other you can.  The important thing to do is BACKUP because if you need some data that gets wiped or destroyed.  You will be kicking yourself for not backing up.

Is IPv6 a Problem or is it still in Beta?

Paul


Due to the high volume of people, I have thought of how best to go about describing my issue with my DSL router and why I”ve disabled IPv6!!!   First off, I have a VISTA Premium System, with an OEM license.  That isn’t nothing new.  The problem is that if I use IPv6, I would constantly get no internet.  I would always get local but not Internet.  I didn’t know why until recently, and that was IPv6.  It isn’t to say I don’t stop getting this.  I still do but it is less of the problem.  I could re-install the system and see if that fixes the problem.

Would that fix the problem?

Yes it probably would if it is a driver issue.  I say it isn’t because if it was a driver issue I could just downgrade to an earlier driver, which there is none.  I am going to guess that no one has done any new drivers for the IPv6 Since Vista came out.  I don’t know why but with my DSL it has been an issue when I was on my cable.  I recently switched, I had no problems.

Could it be my DSL Provider?

It is also a probability.  I do know like any DNS providers with the latest scare.  Is your DNS Safe?  I talked about DNS cache Poisoning and how to fix it. I talked about OpenDNS.  I have been using OpenDNS since I’ve gotten DSL and if it was an DNS issue, I’ve read reports that Open DNS has never had this type of issue.  So it can’t be my DNS although, there is always a chance the DSL provider could be having problems with the IPv6 Protocol.  Check out Failing to plan is planning to fail post about this same type of issue.

Could I have a bad DSL Modem?

Let’s just say this, If it is the modem then that would be a problem.  You try telling you provider that you are having problems with IPv6.  I am sure they would be scratching there heads like what is that and how do you know?  So I would love to flash the DSL modem with the latest software but for some reason I can’t find any updates.  It’s a Westell 325W and I looked and can’t find anything!!  I could see if I couldn’t find a Linux distro to flash into but I am not that good at this stuff.  So If you know how to fix that problem.  By all means tell me.

Could I use a AYIYA tunnel to fix this?

The only problem I see with this that it would slow me down even more.  I only have so much bandwitdth to worry about.   Having to Tunnel this through a service would hinder me.  So I can’t think of any reason why I would want to slow me down.  I am really not concerned with IPv6 because when they do go into being required, they should have this fixed.  Will they fix the problem soon, I hope but I hold no definite answers on that one!!

Network Connectivity and Vista’s TCP/IPV6

Paul1 Reply

So I’ve been having problems with Vista and Network Connectivity.  I’ve got a DSL modem that would from time to time just drop connection to the internet or at least I thought it was that.  So I’d check the modem everytime this happenes.  It would say I was connected to to the network but not be on internet.  I went searching and found this really good forum discussion on Verizon and DSL.  After reading all there was people were talking about the IPv6 protocol was the main culprit.  So I figured I’d see what happens when I disabled the IPv6 Protocol from my system.  It worked no more connectivity issues.

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How do I disable the IPv6 Protocol?

In order to fix this problem you have to do some simples steps.  Here is how I fixed it.   Right Click > Select “Network and Sharing Center” > “View Status” for either Wireless or LAN. > Properities

It will be here that you must do something important to get this to work right.  You will have to uncheck the  Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6).  If you have both wireless and Lan.  You will have to do it for both of them.  There must be a problem with IPv6 because after doing this my system hasn’t lost connectivity and this is wireless.  You should also reboot your system to make sure it takes into account.  Uncheck it then press ‘OK’ and reboot.  After that you will be smooth sailing.  Although this is easy it is essential to note not all DSL modems are the same and it can be several reasons why it would be doing that for you but for me.  It was the fact that IPv6 isn’t fully developed and from what I hear from people it won’t be available for several years so right now in time, it isn’t any thing I can use right now.

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When are they expect to start using IPv6?

According to all I hear in the nextr 5 to 10 years at the earliest but some people estimate longer more on the lines of 15 to 20 years.  It will take a lot of work to make it available to all.  It has to be part of the whole internet.  It will take millions of dollars for it to be deployed.  If you have any ideas on how to get this to work on vista.  Leave a comment to better help others figure how to fix this.

Does your DNS still have flaws?

Paul

Late the week, I’ve had some concern with the DNS flaws with my ISP.  So I’ve change to another DNS.  So I went and did a test at:

Doxpara

So what does this mean when it says I might be at risk?

Very simple, your DNS provider is not randomizing the ports.  I’ll get to that in a bit.

What is DNS?

The DNS is like a big Phonebook to where you tell it who you want to call, in this case go, and it finds the numbers and takes you there.  It’s like telling a cab driver where you want to visit, just like telling the cab driver to come to my site.  When you enter http://www.paulstechtalk.com into your browser, your telling DNS to go fetch the ip and direct your connection to this site.

So how can I fix this flaw?

Simple, You will need to direct yourself to OpenDNS.  Has Fixed the flaw to help protect you.  How do you use it?  You will tell your system to direct all the DNS queries through that then your ISP DNS.

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So by using the openDNS, you will be bypassing the DNS flaws that you might of have. If you want to use that DNS server go to there website and it tells you step by step on how to do it with your own system.

The Nice thing about OpenDNS is they have so many features,  You can prevent phishing, adult sites, Domain blocking, and much more.  If you use this, you can prevent you kids from getting on the sites that you don’t want them to get on.  It lets you have control over what you want to do.  I recommend people to use OpenDNS.

What’s the DNS flaw?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNS_cache_poisoning

I can’t explain it but maybe this can.  If you want to diqus this in the community you can go to:

Technology Community Page


Use OpenDNS


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Vendors worried Vista IPv6 too slippery for managed networks

Paul

Researchers have raised new questions about the security of Vista’s IPv6 implementation. James Hoagland from Symantec and Suresh Krishnan from Ericsson wrote an Internet-Draft that calls attention to the Teredo protocol and the fact that many firewalls don’t understand this protocol, and therefore can’t inspect the packets embedded within it.

Teredo is Vista’s last resort to connect to the IPv6 Internet. First, Vista looks for an IPv6 router on the local LAN. If so, the router will provide the Vista machine with IPv6 addresses and “native” (not tunneled) connectivity. If there is no IPv6 router, but the Vista machine has a public IPv4 address (i.e., not one from the 10-net or any of the other private address ranges from RFC 1918), it uses the 6to4 tunneling mechanism that embeds IPv6 packets in IPv4 packets. However, 6to4 can’t create IPv6 addresses from a private IPv4 address. Teredo, the third mechanism, is able to do this, so if you’re behind a network address translator (NAT) then Vista uses Teredo.

[Via Arstechnica]

Go read the full article on this little development with the IPv6 and Vista Machines. I know it worries me!!