Install Ubuntu Desktop 22.04 LTS on a PC with existing windows 10 – dual boot

This tutorial will show the simple steps of installing the latest version of Ubuntu – Ubuntu Desktop 22.04 LTS. Here we present the more advanced setup installation when you have already had installed operating systems, so this installation will add Ubuntu 22.04 LTS to one existing operating system – Microsoft Windows 10 Professional. So there we have 2 hard disks in the system – one is NVME, the other one is an SSD. The installation uses the first disk – “sda” in this case. The SSD has two partitions, which are going to be removed, and a new disk layout will be used for the Ubuntu installation with three partitions – efi, swap and root parititions.
Ubuntu Desktop 22.04 LTS comes with the following software:

  • Xorg X server – 1.22.1.1
  • GNOME (the GUI) – 42.0
  • linux kernel – 5.15.0
  • linux-firmware – 20220329.git681281e4
  • QT – 5.13.3 and 6.2.4
  • libc – 2.35
  • gnu gcc – 9.4.0, 10.3.0, 11.2.0 and 12-20220302
  • coreutils – 8.32
  • python2.7 (possible to install) – 2.7.18
  • python3 (default) – 3.10.4
  • perl – 5.34.0
  • apt – 2.4.5
  • cups – 2.4.1

We used the following ISO for the installation process – Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish):

https://releases.ubuntu.com/22.04/ubuntu-22.04-desktop-amd64.iso

It is a LIVE image so you can try it before installing it. The easiest way is just to download the image and burn it to a DVD disk and then follow the installation below:

SCREENSHOT 1) Boot from the DVD or USB flash drive to install the Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.

main menu
UEFI DVD boot install

Keep on reading!

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Installation of base Ubuntu server 22.04 LTS

This tutorial will show you the simple steps of installing a modern Linux Distribution – Ubuntu server 22.04 LTS edition. Following most of the default options during the setup configuration for simplicity. The installation wizard is very much the same as the Ubuntu server 20.04 LTS – Minimal installation of Ubuntu server 20.04 LTS

Here are some basic data from the default installation setup settings:

  1. Installed packages – ~617 occupying 2.3G of space.
  2. 3 partitions when using automatic patition layout – boot efi, boot and root.
  3. ext4 used for the root parition.

The Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS comes and updates to the following Linux packages:

  • Linux kernel : 5.15.
  • Python : 3.10.4
  • GLibc : 2.35
  • OpenSSL : 3.0.2
  • systemd : 249.11

The most interesting is the version of OpenSSL 3.x in an LTS (Long Term Support) release, which should be pretty stable to be included. Here is more detailed overview of the installed software – Software and technical overview of Ubuntu server 22.04 LTS

We used the following ISO for the installation process – Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (jammy jellyfish):

http://releases.ubuntu.com/jammy/ubuntu-22.04-live-server-amd64.iso

SCREENSHOT 1) Boot from the disk or USB – whatever you made after downloading the ISO file from Ubuntu’s official source.

On the image here the DVD is used to boot in UEFI mode installation.

main menu
boot uefi dvd

Keep on reading!

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MPEG-DASH and ClearKey, CENC drm encryption with Nginx, bento4 and dashjs under CentOS 8

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate a simple and plain example of ClearKey DRM encryption using a DASH stream.
Usually, the ClearKey is used only for testing the encryption key and the DRM setup, because the decrypting key is transferred in a plain text to the browser. In simple DRM words, the key is transferred in plain text, and the handle of the decryption is not in some proprietary module such as CMD – Content Decryption Modules. The CMD is a proprietary module in the browsers or the players, which works like a black box when handling the decryption key. The most popular DRMs are Google’s Widevine, Apple’s Fireplay, and Microsoft PlayReady, which work through a proprietary module – CMD (Content Decryption Modules) in the browser (or the OS and player).
All the three DRMs work basically in a similar way:

  • There is a (encryption) key and a (encryption) keyID, which purpose is to identify the (encryption) key.
  • The video file is encrypted with the key and it includes the keyID.
  • The client needs to have the appropriate CMD (Content Decryption Modules) to decrypt the video.
  • The clients receive a license from a license server, which is encrypted data for the CDM on how to decrypt the video identified by the keyID. In fact, the client sends the keyID and receives the proper license (i.e. license binary data) for this keyID. That’s why keyID is included in the encrypted video. Bare in mind, the CMD is proprietary Content Decryption Module offered by the creator of the DRM – Google, Apple, Microsoft or another and it lives in the browser (OS or player). All popular browsers support at least one of the proprietary DRMs.

ClearKey is like the proprietary DRM schemes, but without the CMD (Content Decryption Modules).

The “org.w3.clearkey” Key System uses plain-text clear (unencrypted) key(s) to decrypt the source. No additional client-side content protection is required.

So, in general, there is no need for a license server when using ClearKey DRM.
Of course, an additional attempt to hide the plain-text key could be made using an extension to the client’s player such as javascript modules and etc. In general, it is perceived this approach to be less secure, because it is much easier to debug the javascript code on the client side. More on ClearKey – https://www.w3.org/TR/encrypted-media/#clear-key

Here are all the steps from the server till the client to use ClearKey.

STEP 1) Download and install bento4 software.

bento4 is an open source toolkit for manipulating some of the most common video formats – MP4 and DASH/HLS/CMAF media. The download page is https://www.bento4.com/downloads/ and the Linux binary for latest stable version: https://www.bok.net/Bento4/binaries/Bento4-SDK-1-6-0-639.x86_64-unknown-linux.zip. There is also a source code snapshot link.
Download the famous blender video for the demostration: https://download.blender.org/demo/movies/BBB/bbb_sunflower_1080p_30fps_normal.mp4
Download and unpack the binary Bento4-SDK-1-6-0-639.x86_64-unknown-linux.zip.
Keep on reading!

Install newer version of python 3.10 under CentOS 8

At present, the default version of python under CentOS 8 is Python 3.6.8, which is 6 years old. More and more python software needs newer versions, so it is a vital for pretty stable Linux distro to have an easy way to install newer programming languages like python!
Using Conda it is really easy to manage different environments for different python versions!

Conda is an open source package management system and environment management system that runs on Windows, macOS and Linux.

More on Conda – Installing conda command line in various systems with miniconda and create a simple python environment and all Conda tags – https://ahelpme.com/category/software/anaconda/. This article is not intended to introduce the reader with Conda, but to show how easy is to install the newer version of python 3.10 under CentOS 8 and it is easy because of using the Conda package management system!

To summarize, the purpose is to have a user with python 3.10. The user can be an ordinary or administrative one or even root.
Using this method older or newer versions of python may be installed on the same machine (at the same time).

STEP 1) Install the latest Miniconda3

The installation is easy and for more details check out the first link above.
Keep on reading!

How to run QEMU full virtualization with MacVTap networking using NetworkManager under CentOS 8

In addition to the previously presented article on the subject Howto do QEMU full virtualization with MacVTap networking this one shows how to run a QEMU virtual machine with a MAcVTap device in bridge mode on the host server configured only by using the NetworkManager cli – nmcli.

It is worth mentioning the MacVTap is a virtual bridge, which will make the host and the guest device show up directly on the host switch. So when using QEMU, the guest virtualized system will be as if it is connected to the host switch with one limitation – the host and guest cannot communicate with each other. The IPs of the host won’t be reachable from the guest, so NAT (masquerade) between the host and guest is not possible with this setup. Still, if the NAT server is on another server or a real IP is planned for the guest, MacVTap is the right functionality to use with the QEMU guest system.

Summary

  1. Add MacVTap device in bridge mode with name macvtap0.
  2. Install QEMU.
  3. Create QEMU local disk.
  4. Run a QEMU virtual server.

STEP 1) Add MacVTap device in bridge mode with name macvtap0

[root@srv ~]# nmcli connection add type macvlan dev enp0s3 mode bridge tap yes ifname macvtap0 con-name macvtap0 ip4 0.0.0.0/24
Connection 'macvtap0' (7a5ef04c-ea98-4642-ac5d-4239f715f631) successfully added.
[root@srv ~]# nmcli con
NAME      UUID                                  TYPE      DEVICE   
enp0s3    09497bbf-da59-42b7-a72c-d69369760b36  ethernet  enp0s3   
macvtap0  7a5ef04c-ea98-4642-ac5d-4239f715f631  macvlan   macvtap0

First, create a MacVTap device with the name macvtap0 in bridge mode with the network interface enp0s3 a and a connection with the name macvtap0. The IP is set to manual mode.
More detailed information on how to create and add MacVTap device with the NetworkManager here – Create MacVTap device using NetworkManager nmcli under CentOS 8

STEP 2) Install QEMU.

Install the QEMU virtual tools under CentOS 8 Stream. At present, the QEMU version is 6.2, which is pretty new.
Keep on reading!

Create MacVTap device using NetworkManager nmcli under CentOS 8

In continuation of NetworkManager management with nmcli, here is a quick Linux console tip for users like CentOS 8 (or all distributions, which use the NetworkManager for managing the networking). How to create a virtualized bridge device MacVTap device with the NetworkManager nmcli command utility, which will preserve all the configuration over reboots. 

nmcli connection add type macvlan dev enp0s3 mode bridge tap yes ifname macvtap0 con-name macvtap0 ip4 0.0.0.0/24

The line above creates a virtualized bridged interface and a connection with the name macvtap0. The MAcVTap device with the name macvtap0 is in bridge mode with the physical network interface enp0s3 with manual IP setting. If the IP is not included a DHCP option will be used as default.

There is one big limitation – there is no link between the enp0s3 and macvtap0. When used macvtap0 could receive packets from the network through the enp0s3, but there is no direct link between the two network devices. In simple words, when used in a virtualized environment in a virtual machine the virtual machine may have access to the network shared with the enp0s3, but the virtual machine cannot communicate with the IPs of the enp0s3!

Typically, this is used to make both the guest and the host show up directly on the switch that the host is connected to.

Linux Virtualization, https://virt.kernelnewbies.org/MacVTap

Initial state, only one connection in NetworkManager.

The main server connection with name enp0s3 using the same name network interface enp0s3:

[root@srv ~]# nmcli con
NAME    UUID                                  TYPE      DEVICE 
enp0s3  09497bbf-da59-42b7-a72c-d69369760b36  ethernet  enp0s3
[root@srv ~]# nmcli 
enp0s3: connected to enp0s3
        "Intel 82540EM"
        ethernet (e1000), 08:00:27:03:C9:2E, hw, mtu 1500
        ip4 default
        inet4 192.168.0.20/24
        route4 192.168.0.0/24 metric 100
        route4 0.0.0.0/0 via 192.168.0.1 metric 100
        inet6 fe80::a00:27ff:fe03:c92e/64
        route6 fe80::/64 metric 100

lo: unmanaged
        "lo"
        loopback (unknown), 00:00:00:00:00:00, sw, mtu 65536

DNS configuration:
        servers: 8.8.8.8 1.1.1.1
        interface: enp0s3

Use "nmcli device show" to get complete information about known devices and
"nmcli connection show" to get an overview on active connection profiles.

Consult nmcli(1) and nmcli-examples(7) manual pages for complete usage details.

Add the MacVTap device with the name macvlan0

[root@srv ~]# nmcli connection add type macvlan dev enp0s3 mode bridge tap yes ifname macvtap0 con-name macvtap0 ip4 0.0.0.0/24
Connection 'macvtap0' (7a5ef04c-ea98-4642-ac5d-4239f715f631) successfully added.

A MacVTap device, a network connection, and a link are established. The name of the MacVTap device and the network connection is macvtap0.

Keep on reading!

Software and technical details of Fedora Server 35 including cockpit screenshots

This article is for those of you who do not want to install a whole new operating system only to discover some technical details about the default installation like disk layout, packages included, software versions, and so on. Here we are going to review in several sections what is like to have a default installation of Fedora Server 35 using a real not virtual machine!
The kernel is 5.14.10 it detects successfully the Threadripper 1950X AMD and the system is stable (we booted in UEFI mode).
The installation procedure uses default options for all installation setups – Minimal network installation of Fedora 35 Server.
Installed packages are 604 occupying 1.7G space:. Note, this is Fedora Server Install, not minimal install. The server install includes the web console – cockpit version 254.

[root@srv ~]# dnf list installed|wc -l
604
[root@srv ~]# df -h /
Filesystem                      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/fedora_fedora-root   15G  1.4G   14G  10% /

Keep on reading!

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How to run QEMU full virtualization with bridged networking using NetworkManager under CentOS 8

In addition to the previously presented article on the subject Howto do QEMU full virtualization with bridged networking this one shows how to run a QEMU virtual machine with a bridge networking on the host server configured only by using the NetworkManager cli – nmcli.

It is worth mentioning the bridge interface presented in this article is a local bridge device for the server and no Internet addresses or real (or main or Internet-connected) network cards are bound to it. So no MAC addresses of slaved bridged devices will leave the server.
If a network bridge, which includes the Internet (main) server network device is needed, for example, to set real IPs in a virtual machine, there is another article on the bridge networking subject – Replace current interface configuration with a bridge device using nmcli (NetworkManager)

Summary

  1. Add bridge and TUN/TAP device.
  2. Install QEMU.
  3. Create QEMU local disk.
  4. Run a QEMU virtual server.

STEP 1) Add bridge and TUN/TAP device.

[root@srv ~]# nmcli connection add type bridge ifname br0 con-name br0 ipv4.method manual ipv4.addresses "192.168.0.1/24"
Connection 'br0' (ad6878c8-1e06-4af8-a81f-1eb39e761df8) successfully added.
[root@srv ~]# nmcli connection up br0
Connection successfully activated (master waiting for slaves) (D-Bus active path: /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/ActiveConnection/3)
[root@srv ~]# nmcli connection add type tun ifname tap0 con-name tap0 mode tap owner 0 ip4 0.0.0.0/24
Connection 'tap0' (dacee2be-a14b-4cf5-83d4-96d072a96725) successfully added.
[root@srv ~]# nmcli con add type bridge-slave ifname tap0 master br0
Connection 'bridge-slave-tap0' (66490382-b239-4eb2-ae1d-ee811e39596c) successfully added.
[root@srv ~]# nmcli con
NAME               UUID                                  TYPE      DEVICE 
System eno1        abf4c85b-57cc-4484-4fa9-b4a71689c359  ethernet  eno1   
br0                ad6878c8-1e06-4af8-a81f-1eb39e761df8  bridge    br0    
tap0               dacee2be-a14b-4cf5-83d4-96d072a96725  tun       tap0   
bridge-slave-tap0  66490382-b239-4eb2-ae1d-ee811e39596c  ethernet  --

First, a bridge device is added with manual IP. If the IP is skipped the bridge interface br0 would have DHCP enabled by default, which may not be the desired.
More detailed information on how to create and add TUN/TAP device with the NetworkManager here – Create bridge and add TUN/TAP device using NetworkManager nmcli under CentOS 8

STEP 2) Install QEMU.

Install the QEMU virtual tools under CentOS 8 Stream. At present, the QEMU version is 6.2, which is pretty new.
Keep on reading!

Create bridge and add TUN/TAP device using NetworkManager nmcli under CentOS 8

This article shows how to create a network bridge device and a TUN/TAP device, which then is added to the bridge. The CentOS 8 Stream is used along with the console NetworkManager program nmcli.
TUN/TAP devices are often used in the virtualization world as a link device between the host machine and the virtual machine.

This article is for the case when the bridge does not include the main network interface (Internet network interface and so on) of the server but is an additional device, which MAC and virtual machine MACs would not be exposed through the server’s main network interface.

If the server’s main network interface should be included in the bridge device, i.e. replace the main network interface with the bridge there is another article on the subject – Replace current interface configuration with a bridge device using nmcli (NetworkManager)

Device name are as follow:

  • br0 is the name of the network bridge.
  • 10.10.10.1 with mask /24 is the IP of the bridge device with name br0. Because the idea is to use the bridge only locally, a local interface is used. The IP is set manually.
  • tap0 is the name of TUN/TAP device.
  • enp0s3is the server’s main network connection. Not used in this howto.

Here are all the commands to create a bridge, create a TUN/TAP device and add it to the bridge, and then activate the bridge‘s link.

nmcli connection add type bridge ifname br0 con-name br0 ipv4.method manual ipv4.addresses "10.10.10.1/24"
nmcli con up br0
nmcli connection add type tun ifname tap0 con-name tap0 mode tap owner 0 ip4 0.0.0.0/24
nmcli con add type bridge-slave ifname tap0 master br0

Here are the steps with much more details and information including all the command output.
The networking before any reconfiguration:

[root@srv ~]# nmcli
enp0s3: connected to enp0s3
        "Intel 82540EM"
        ethernet (e1000), 08:00:27:03:C9:2E, hw, mtu 1500
        ip4 default
        inet4 192.168.0.20/24
        route4 192.168.0.0/24 metric 100
        route4 0.0.0.0/0 via 192.168.0.1 metric 100
        inet6 fe80::a00:27ff:fe03:c92e/64
        route6 fe80::/64 metric 100

lo: unmanaged
        "lo"
        loopback (unknown), 00:00:00:00:00:00, sw, mtu 65536

DNS configuration:
        servers: 8.8.8.8 1.1.1.1
        interface: enp0s3

Use "nmcli device show" to get complete information about known devices and
"nmcli connection show" to get an overview on active connection profiles.

Consult nmcli(1) and nmcli-examples(7) manual pages for complete usage details.
[root@srv ~]# nmcli con
NAME    UUID                                  TYPE      DEVICE 
enp0s3  09497bbf-da59-42b7-a72c-d69369760b36  ethernet  enp0s3

Keep on reading!

Show deleted partitions in use with blockdev –report

blockdev Linux command could show sector and size information for deleted partitions, which are still in use (i.e. mounted).
Deleting partitions in use their characters’ devices under /dev are preserved till the partitions are released from use and the kernel reloads the new partition table.
So before rebooting or releasing the deleted partitions blockdev may be used to report useful information for future recovery:

Delete the partitions with parted by just overwriting the partition table with empty one, for example:

[root@srv ~]# parted /dev/sda
GNU Parted 3.1
Using /dev/sda
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted) p
Model: ATA Crucial_CT500MX2 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number  Start   End     Size    Type      File system  Flags
 1      1049kB  34.3GB  34.3GB  primary                boot, raid
 2      34.4GB  34.9GB  537MB   primary                raid
 3      34.9GB  67.1GB  32.2GB  primary                raid
 4      67.1GB  500GB   433GB   extended               lba
 5      67.1GB  500GB   433GB   logical                raid
(parted) mklabel msdos
Warning: The existing disk label on /dev/sda will be destroyed and all data on this disk will be lost. Do you want to continue?
Yes/No? Yes
Error: Partition(s) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 on /dev/sda have been written, but we have been unable to inform the kernel of the change, probably because
it/they are in use.  As a result, the old partition(s) will remain in use.  You should reboot now before making further changes.
Ignore/Cancel? Cancel
(parted) p
Model: ATA Crucial_CT500MX2 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start  End  Size  Type  File system  Flags

(parted) q

First, print the partition table, then delete all partitions by setting an empty new partition table!

Use blockdev to show the deleted partitions information.

[root@srv ~]# blockdev --report /dev/sda1 /dev/sda2 /dev/sda3 /dev/sda4 /dev/sdb5
RO    RA   SSZ   BSZ   StartSec            Size   Device
rw   512   512  4096       2048     34359738368   /dev/sda1
rw   512   512  4096   67110912       536870912   /dev/sda2
rw   512   512  4096   68159488     32212254720   /dev/sda3
blockdev: cannot open /dev/sda4: No such file or directory.
rw   256   512  4096  131076096    432862658560   /dev/sdb5

The partitions, which are not in use, are removed from the kernel structures, so no information is available with blockdev. Their characters’ devices under /dev/ are removed, too.

The information such as the size of the partitions and the start sectors may be used to recover the partitions manually with fdisk, sfdisk, sgdisk or parted or even testdisk – testdisk official site. In fact, testdisk is the recommended way.