Tuesday 19 April 2016

KODI on OpenElec / Raspberry Pi - unable to view TV shows via sftp

I encountered an issue recently where my main server that is the repository of all my TV recordings had been rebuilt. It was only after a bit of standard troubleshooting that I managed to figure out that the reason for being unable to connect was because the SSH key had changed.

When connecting from the Pi to the main server, I was hit with this error:

OpenELEC:~ # ssh -oPort=44 -l john 192.168.1.44
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@    WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED!     @
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING NASTY!
Someone could be eavesdropping on you right now (man-in-the-middle attack)!
It is also possible that a host key has just been changed.
The fingerprint for the ED25519 key sent by the remote host is
SHA256:long_spangly_key
Please contact your system administrator.
Add correct host key in /storage/.ssh/known_hosts to get rid of this message.
Offending ED25519 key in /storage/.ssh/known_hosts:1
ED25519 host key for [192.168.1.44]:44 has changed and you have requested strict checking.
Host key verification failed.


I edited the requisite file in /storage/.ssh/known_hosts and removed the offending key on line 1, using my trusty vi editor.

I attempted to connect again:


OpenELEC:~ # ssh -oPort=44 -l john 192.168.1.44
The authenticity of host '[192.168.1.44]:44 ([192.168.1.44]:44)' can't be established.
ECDSA key fingerprint is SHA256:long_spangly_key
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
Warning: Permanently added '[192.168.1.44]:44' (ECDSA) to the list of known hosts.
john@192.168.1.44's password:
Welcome to Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca (GNU/Linux 3.13.0-37-generic x86_64)

Welcome to Linux Mint
 * Documentation:  http://www.linuxmint.com
No mail.
Last login: Sat Apr 16 20:26:46 2016 from ch1-fw1-dip.uk.clara.net
$


Success!

I am now able to successfully browse all of my TV programs using ssh/sftp.

(NOTE -  key value in the above example has been obfuscated - long_spangly_key)

Thursday 14 April 2016

Webmin - themes

Webmin now has a new theme called 'Authentic'. It looks really good, is pleasant on the eye so what is there not to like about this?

SLOW

In a word, slow.

it's slower than a pig in treacle. I really like the look of this theme but the response times from my server when trying to perform simple actions via Webmin are simply too slow to be acceptable.

I've switched now to one of my 'old' favourites which was designed by Swell Technologies. You should be able to find it on the tinterweb as a .wbt file but if you have any trouble, I've uploaded it to my server - it's around 3Mb in size.