Extract data from .dbk backup of Sony Xperia

Sometimes it happens that restoring from a .dbk backup fails (especially after flashing a custom ROM). You can extract data like contacts, messages etc from .dbk file as follows:

1. Locate .dbk file. If you took backup using Sony PC Companion, Default backup folder is C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\Sony\Sony PC Companion\Phone backups .
2. Copy .dbk file to Desktop.
3. Rename .dbk to .zip. Say Original file be XYZ.dbk , Rename to XYZ.zip
4. Extract using any unzip softwares ( Eg: WinRAR, 7zip etc)

5. In Extracted contents, See "Applications" Folder. Inside it, Each data type will have separate folders. To Extract contacts, Go inside "com.sonyericsson.android.contactsimport" folder and copy "fullbackupdata" file to Desktop. This is the compressed archive of all contacts.

6. This "fullbackupdata" can be extracted using restoreData.jar . Download jar file from https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4IK3kVRTwmtQkROa2s4aGx1VWc/edit. Keep jar file in same folder as "fullbackupdata". NOTE: If you cannot find restoreData.jar file at this link, Just Google it.
7. Now run jar file. It will output a restore.tar file. Note: To run .jar file you should be having JAVA installed.
8. This tar file can be extracted using any Unzip programs ( WinRAR, 7zip etc) . Inside you can find the full_backup_vcard.vcf VCard File which can be imported into phone contacts. Note: For importing to Phone, Copy this file to your sdcard. In phone, Go to Contacts -> import/export -> Import from storage

Credits

Johannes Deml and Nikolay Elenkov

Enabling SSH and block Telnet in Cisco Routers/Switches

SSH protocol encrypts the traffic between client and server in a remote session. So for network security purpose, we should enable only SSH access to networking devices.

Before enabling SSH, make sure we configured hostname and domain name properly. This will be used to store the name of the RSA key pair generated.  All the configurations are to be done in Global config mode.

hostname Router1
ip domain name ds.myorganization.in

Change hostname and 'ds.myorganization.in' domain name to your organization domain name. Now generate the RSA keys for SSH

crypto key generate rsa

This will ask the number of bits required for modulus function. Default is 512 bits but if we want to enable SSH version 2, bits should be more than 768. So, better keep 1024 bits.

Setting up a Syslog server in Ubuntu for Cisco routers/switches

Configuration to be done in Ubuntu server

RSYSLOG is the default logging utility in Ubuntu. Main configuration file for rsyslog is /etc/rsyslog.conf. Make sure that there is a line as follows in the rsyslog.conf file.

$IncludeConfig /etc/rsyslog.d/*.conf

Now make a new file (say cisco.conf) in /etc/rsyslog.d directory.
Add these line to cisco.conf

local7.*    /var/log/cisco/cisco.log

This means that all syslog messages with facility (or tag) as local7 (Local7 is the default tag on all syslog messages from cisco devices) should be logged to cisco.log file at /var/log/cisco directory. So create a folder named cisco at /var/log and a blank document cisco.log inside that folder.
Now just restart rsyslog daemon using the command

sudo service rsyslog restart

Configuration to be done in Cisco device

In the Cisco router/switch whose logs are to be logged in the syslog server, configure the following :

logging Ubuntu_Server_IP

For example,

logging 192.168.2.1

Now all the logs from Cisco device will be logged to Syslog server in the Ubuntu machine. You can see the logs at System Log viewer by opening /var/log/cisco/cisco.log

Show running-config as read-only in Cisco routers without using AAA with TACACS+ and RADIUS

Sometimes it happens that we have to provide read only access to the running configuration of routers to someone who has a lower privilege. Cisco defines privilege level 15 as full access privileged EXEC mode and privilege level 1 as the normal user exec mode. In between levels are not defined by default. We can use privilege command to move commands from one privilege level to another.


commands:

privilege exec all level 10 show running-config

alias exec shrun show running-config view full

username hdesk privilege 10 secret hdesk@1234

Explanation:

1. Move show running-config command to a privilege level 10
2. But to view the running configuration, instead of show running-config, we have to type complete show running-config view full. So let's create a alias named shrun. This is optional.
3. Now create a user with the privilege level 10. This user will be now able to see running configuration using the alias command shrun .

Linking Outlook.com or Windows Live Hotmail with Microsoft Outlook 2010

Say you have to link your Outlook.com mail lisa@contoso.com ( See more about Contoso ) with Microsoft Outlook 2010 64 bit.

First of all, Download the hotmail connector for Outlook at http://www.microsoft.com/en-in/download/details.aspx?id=21305 (for 32 bit) Or  http://www.microsoft.com/en-in/download/details.aspx?id=24677 (for 64 bit).

Now double click the downloaded exe file ( named as OutlookConnector.exe ) to install it.

Now configure Outlook.com mail in outlook as you configure any other mails. See the steps below:

Setting up wireless ad-hoc computer to computer network in Windows 8

 In earlier versions of Windows, It was easy to create ad-hoc network to share your internet connection with another computer or mobile through WiFi. In Windows 8 , there is no direct way to make ad-hoc network.

1. Geeky way:
   Use netsh wlan commands to setup a new network, and share your internet using Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)
• Go to cmd . Right click and Run as administrator.

• Type the following command
  netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=network_name key=password_here
  For example:
  netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=HOMEWIFI key=password1234
  (Note: Password should be minimum of 8 characters. )