Press "Enter" to skip to content

Month: January 2009

Xbox Live Open NAT Using pf on OpenBSD

Published January 6, 2009

Detailed photo of the word 'Strict.' from the Xbox 360 Network Test which insists that my network setup is restrictive.

It’s done. My Xbox 360 is now working properly via NAT talking through the Trashwall and using WOW! service.

After getting my previously mentioned pf problem on Trashwall sorted out I tested out the Xbox 360 to see if the network test for Xbox Live would pass. Guess what? It didn’t, continuing to insist that my NAT type is strict.

A bit more research (and information which seems to come from this post at Russ’s Blog) indicates that the Xbox Live uses the following classifications for NAT:

Strict: Symmetric NAT.
Moderate: Cone shaped NAT with port filtering or with UPnP turned off.
Open: Cone shaped NAT with no port filtering or with UPnP turned on.

Cone and symmetric NAT descriptions are formalized in RFC3489, and a bit more digging brought up this general how-to for using OpenBSD’s pf, indicating that the static-port directive on a NAT rule (described here in the POOL OPTIONS section of the pf.conf(5) man page) makes OpenBSD do cone-shaped NAT.

So, overall, what did it take to fix it? Well, it was actually three things:

· I switched to Wide Open West for data service, which gave me three IPs.
· While the whole house was NATted through one of the IPs, the Xbox 360 alone has been bidirectionally NATted through another.
·The magic static-port option on the NAT line for the Xbox 360.

Without a second IP I wouldn’t have been able to forward all ports inbound, which without a UPnP daemon (which didn’t go well before) would have resulted only a NAT setting of Moderate.

All of this has been documented in the updated version of the article on the Trashwall, my home’s a firewall / NAT device / switch / whatever built out of an unwanted PowerMac G4.

(In case you didn’t notice, this photo does a good job illustrating the wire in a aperture grill, such as the one here on an Sony KD-34XBR970 CRT HDTV. If you’d like to see the original without the no sign, here’s the small version and here it is at full res.)

4 Comments

binat on OpenBSD’s pf Confuses Me

Published January 6, 2009

UPDATED: This is fixed. See the bottom of the post.

With the move to Wide Open West for data service at home I now have up to three IPs available, all assigned via DHCP. In order to best use them and work around the Xbox Live problems I was having I wanted to do the following:

– Assign one IP to one interface, and NAT everything through it, like normal.
– Assign a second IP to a second interface, and use binat to have my Xbox 360 to basically have its own public connection. (Sort of like being in the DMZ on a Linksys box.)
– Leave the third IP alone for times when I want a non-firewalled connection.

While I have this set up, it doesn’t seem to be working. Here’s my current configuration. If anyone can tell me what I’m doing wrong or offer suggestions, please do so:

Continue readingbinat on OpenBSD’s pf Confuses Me
Leave a Comment

Eviscerated Bear

Published January 4, 2009

Danielle gave Roxie this stuffed bear before she left for Flordia. Roxie spent much of this week playing with it and removing the squeaker and stuffing. This is how it ended up.

One of Roxie’s favorite past times is removing the innards (squeakers, fluff, etc) from stuffed animals. She only plays with those she is given, but once she has one she quickly sets into it. Throughout the week I’d find her taking the toy and pressing it into my hand trying to get me to play with her or watching her lay behind me pulling out hunks of fluff from a new-found inside passage.

Oh, and the crusty look to the fur? Yep, dried dog slobber.

Leave a Comment

Bad BA6110 in x0xb0x #888

Published January 4, 2009

BA6110 (IC15B) in x0xb0x #888, wetted with alcohol for readability. I believe that the buffer in it is causing the x0xb0x not to work properly.

I’d previously posted about how x0xb0x #888 was generating no audio after powerup, and with Roxie now gone I had time to start digging into what was wrong.

I’d already known that the power supply, digital half (sequencer), DAC, and VCO were working fine, so I set to work tracing things back through the schematic from the headphone out. Eventually I found that I was able to see a waveform on the first half of the BA6110, after the op-amp (pins 6 and 7) but before the buffer. I didn’t see anything after the buffer (pin 8).

So, I think I have a bad BA6110, which is one of the rare / hard to find parts in the x0xb0x. This is just what I was afraid of.

Being typically paranoid of my own work I double-checked soldering, checked for shorts, and all the other normal things like that, but I really think the problem is with the buffer.

Leave a Comment

Wide Open West Physical Installation

Published January 4, 2009

New junction box installed on the outside of my condo when Wide Open West service was installed. I think the installer did a good job.

Last Monday I had Wide Open West CATV and internet service installed. The installer was a nice guy, did just what I wanted, and did a good job putting the new junction box on the outside of the house. As requested he left the Comcast line going into the house, replaced the old splitter, and let me take care of the data side of things (very basic to set up; no Comcastic walled garden crap), and had an MCard for the TiVo.

The only problem I had is that he wasn’t familiar with setting up TiVos and forgot to check for reception of HD channels. A phone call to WOW! service after he left got those turned on and everything was set.

Thus far I’ve been mostly happy with the data service. Tests at DSLReports.com have shown that I can achieve the claimed 15Mbps downstream and 2Mbps upstream quite regularly. Everything has been much faster in real use as well, and uploads to my photo gallery are far, far faster now.

I intend to write up a more technical description of how I like the service, including how I intend to use the three IPs (DHCP assigned) that I’m allocated as part of the service, but that will have to come later. For now I’ve got some other projects to wrap up.

Leave a Comment

Roxie Go Home

Published January 4, 2009

Roxie standing in the back of Danielle's dad's car as Danielle was about to drive her back home.

After a bit over a week here it’s time for Roxie to go back home. Danielle arrived here last night right as I returned from Brian’s birthday party, and after some gift returning / shopping stuff she left today with Roxie in the back of the car.

Leave a Comment

Roxie Wants Snuggles

Published January 3, 2009

Roxie laying her head on my leg after my friend Brian left. She wanted me to pet her.

Here, have yet another photo of Roxie, this time with her leaning strongly against my leg wanting me to pet her. One can even see the line down her back caused by her sleeping inverted, leaning against the couch a few minutes earlier. And the nose. The nose!

(For what it’s worth, she’s now laying with her head between the bike wheels seen there chewing on the remains of a rawhide from earlier in the week. She tends to eat all but 1″ of them, then leaves that bit laying around until I won’t give her a new one.)

Leave a Comment

Thirsty Puppy

Published January 2, 2009

Given the option, Roxie will drink out of bathroom sinks.

Normally Roxie drinks out of her water bowl, but given the option she’ll also gladly drink out of bathroom sink faucets. When doing so she doesn’t lick the tap, she just laps heartily at the stream of water.

Leave a Comment

The Business of Being Born

Published January 1, 2009

Poster from the film The Business of Being Born.

I just finished watching The Business of Being Born. Despite what the trailer (which will automatically start playing if you visit The Business of Being Born’s website) seems to imply, this film was about modern day midwifery. Sure, the film does touch on the idea that the dramatic rise in number of Caesarean section births is a product of hospitals being more focused on getting women in and out as quickly (and as profitably) as possible, but that strike me as the focus.

Leave a Comment

D.I.S.S. Is All Clean

Published January 1, 2009

Oury grip on the Bianchi D.I.S.S. after cleaning the bike and re-fitting them with isopropyl alcohol. Hopefully they will stay in place.

I spent a good part of yesterday and today disassembling and reassembling the Bianchi D.I.S.S. that I acquired on Monday. While it looked pretty good to begin with, the drivetrain (save for the chain) was actually pretty dirty. There was also a bunch of black dirt (chain lube / dirt gunk) hiding all over the frame and drivetrain. So, I took pretty much the whole bike apart, cleaned everything, then put it back together. (Here’s a photo of the shiny clean crankset, chainring, and chain.)

This included torquing everything to spec, re-seating the tires (with logos aligned, of course!), flipping the stem cap around so the logo faces the right way up, re-fitting the Oury grips, adjusting the brake levers, and all the other niggling things that are part of putting a bike together. The grips were fitted by first cleaning them, rinsing them with alcohol (99% isopropyl), then wetting them with alcohol and sliding them on. They appear to be drying nicely, although I’ve read that it may be best to fit them with either rubber cement or a spray adhesive. If this doesn’t hold, I’ll try another method.

It’s now all ready for riding, I just have to wait for a bit less ice on the ground and I’ll be able to ride. This bike might also be perfect for trying out the On-One Mary Bar which Bob loaned to me a few months back.

Leave a Comment