Archive for the ‘linux’ Category

Proxying all Linux Traffic – set web access for Ubuntu behind a proxy


2010
10.22

So that it’s documented… I’m using port 8080 as the default port as the likelyhood of your upstream proxy being on 8080 is high – else, typical proxy ports are, of course, 80, 800 (transpartent), 8000, 3128 (squid)

To force your server to force web traffic via a proxy, just two quick things to set – in /etc/environment, export one (or two) variables: (more…)

Search and view gzip’d files


2010
10.21

You knew it already – but I keep forgetting – the power of zgrep and zcat both of which behave as their z-less counterparts.

So, to search a gzip’d file, you can simply zgrep <term> <filename.gz>, or to cat/view it, zcat <filename.gz>

Good to come back to in case of impending forgetfulness…

Intel Gigabit Ethernet Card on an old kernel?


2010
10.21

For self-reference, mainly:

For the Intel Corporation 82574L Gigabit Network Connection on an old kernel that doesn’t have the drivers compiled into it – get the driver and

make install

it on the platform you’re on, and to be sure (if it doesn’t get done for you) to copy to /lib/modules/2.4.36/kernel/drivers/net/ (your kernel may vary, this is an example only) (more…)

Search all files for TEXT in bash


2010
08.09

To find all files by file name containing THE TEXT I SEEK:

grep -lir "THE TEXT I SEEK" *

(more…)

End of life for Ubuntu versions


2010
07.12

In the story relating to release upgrades for Ubuntu, below the end-of-life table for the Ubutu Releases from the Ubuntu Wiki – just to have it all in one place; I’m only including the LTS (long-term support) editions, as these should be the only ones deployed on live production systems. In the meantime, Maverick Meerkat is due in October 2010, supported for 2 years. (more…)

Symbolic links in Windows


2010
06.28

Windows Vista and 7, if not before, allow symbolic links — mklink is your command-line friend!

Creates a symbolic link. (more...)

Secure SSH Tunneling – at no extra cost


2010
06.19

Assuming you have a Windows machine and you interact with Linux boxen at any stage, chances are high that you have used and interacted with PuTTY at one stage or another. That beautiful, less than 2 sec, 444K download of a tool (currently at version 0.60 beta) allows you to SSH, COM-direct, RSH, Telnet etc from the desktop. Both examples below relate to MySQL port tunneling.

SSH Tunnels using the Bash command line

Running on a proper machine (or even a Windows with Cygwin or a Mac Terminal) allows you to quickly tunnel a session to a remote server: (more…)

WordPress 3.0 is out!


2010
06.17

Just a quick note – remember to upgrade now! But you knew that already! :)

218 people helped fixing the 1217 bugs, with a new default theme called Twenty Ten and a whole lot more.
(more…)

Samba cheat sheet – Ubuntu


2010
06.02

Samba. Whopping goodness. Here are a few notes that help in the setup – from user creation, to directory settings etc

This blog post contains a few lessons learnt and thus by extension a migration plan from a Windows file server to a Samba-based one running on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. I look at users, system vs smbpasswd user creation and linking (set that up in Webmin before you start, as well as for groups), share setups, general permissions and some very basic troubleshooting (as there weren’t many troubles, just headaches.) (more…)

Install Webmin on Ubuntu


2010
05.31

Just a quick note (as I keep forgetting, and a cut-and-paste solution is a quicker time to market) – but you knew that already. Installing Webmin is quite simple (download directly, or from the mirrors). Currently, 1.510-2 is the latest version – check on www.webmin.com for further details. As an aside, the book Webmin Kompakt – by Holger Reibold – is available for download!

So here’s a simple step-by-step: (more…)

Security Summit 2010 Wrap-Up


2010
05.14

So the Security Summit 2010 has come to an end. Featuring speakers such as Moxie Marlinspike, Joe Grand and Jeremiah Grossman (again), it’s a pity to say that there wasn’t much new that was presented. With repeated concerns about input- and output-validation, as the OWASP Top 10 for 2010 highlight and were used as a repeated example, and a call for a holistic approach to a company’s security posture, the idea of making the thought (and practice) of security part of the organisation’s culture came through over and over again. (more…)

Ubuntu Lucid Lynx (10.04) LTS is out


2010
04.29

They’ve passed their RC status and have moved into full Long-Term Release for Ubuntu Lucid Lynx — local mirrors are still showing the RC version, but it’s out!

What’s new?

  • F-Spot replaces the GIMP
  • PiTiVi video editor added
  • GNOME 2.30
  • New themes: Ambiance and Radiance
  • New wallpaper
  • Linux kernel 2.6.32
  • New nVidia hardware driver
  • Gwibber social media application
  • Faster boot time, with a different look and feel on the bootsplash screen
  • Ubuntu One adds contacts and bookmark sharing
  • Ubuntu One music store integrated into Ryhthmbox
  • Ubuntu Software Center 2.0

I’ve only played with the 10.04 Server edition so far, and the faster boot time is definately a big win (though some regressive network driver support still needed to be ironed out – hopefully sorted for the final release…)

Yay!!! Well done, guys!! Thanks for a new, even more sparkly LTS!

Testing POP3 and IMAP servers from the command line in CMD or bash


2010
04.25

It’s quite simple, really: POP3 (Exchange, dovecot etc) you know, IMAP (Exchange, dovecot, courier etc) you know — so this is just a recap, right? You know how to telnet into the machine — in Vista or Windows 7, you may need to install it separately using “Add/Remove Programs”, or just use Putty in Telnet mode…  otherwise, apt-get install telnet if it’s not on your machine (or yum install telnet)

POP3:

telnet SERVER 110 (more...)

co.za and whois.co.za updates on server recovery


2010
04.09

They’ve been working hard! Well done!! :)

FunctionStatusComments
CAPTCHA whoisNot affectedhttp://captcha.coza.net.za
Port 43 whoisNot affectedwhois://whois.coza.net.za
Primary DatabaseNot affected
Name ServersNot affectedCO.ZA zone integrity unaffected
Incoming and Outgoing emailNot affectedApplications queuing on incoming mail server
RT Ticket systemNot affected
NetworkPartially affected – FixedRedundant link restored
Main web siteAffected – Fixedhttp://www.coza.net.za
Web whoisAffected – Fixedhttp://www.coza.net.za/whois.shtml
Registration Engine (Updates, New, Deletions)Proceeeding NormallyBacklog processed – transactions being processed in real time

Currently processing queued applications

Final data sync, Final testing ETA afternoon of 8th

New machine commissioned, OS Installed Restoring historic data
Payment Processingprocessing backlogCommencing on the 9th – ETA of backlog completion 11th

Processing of Suspension/Deletions suspended until complete
Online VISA/Mastercard paymentsIn progressETA 9th

Processing of Suspension/Deletions suspended until complete

If you’re itching for those GNU apps from Linux on Windows…


2010
04.09

You’re stuck on a Windows box. But you don’t want to install MinGW32? Can’t dual-boot to run Ubuntu or Debian on your Windows machine for some for that GNU happiness that sed, groff, wget, whois and all those happy apps bring with it? (more…)

KnowledgeTree 3.7.0.2 reinstallation site startup failure (SOLVED)


2010
03.21

OpenOffice.org startup failures, indexing issues and other niggles forced me to re-install KnowledgeTree 3.7.0.2 Commercial Edition (the same holds true for the Community Edition) more than once during setup. I was met with this delicious error notification which killed all further activity on the site (and prevented the startup of /setup/wizard/, control.php, browse.php, login.php — well, everything, really):

Warning: include_once(DB/.php) [function.include-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /usr/share/knowledgetree/thirdparty/pear/DB.php on line 371

Warning: include_once() [function.include]: Failed opening ‘DB/.php’ for inclusion (include_path=’/usr/share/knowledgetree/search2:/usr/share/knowledgetree/ktapi:/usr/share/knowledgetree/thirdparty/xmlrpc-2.2/lib:/usr/share/knowledgetree/thirdparty/simpletest:/usr/share/knowledgetree/thirdparty/Smarty:/usr/share/knowledgetree/thirdparty/pear:/usr/share/knowledgetree/thirdparty/ZendFramework/library:.:/usr/local/zend/share/ZendFramework/library:/usr/local/zend/share/pear:/usr/share/knowledgetree/thirdparty/pear’) in /usr/share/knowledgetree/thirdparty/pear/DB.php on line 371

Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /usr/share/knowledgetree/thirdparty/pear/DB.php:371) in /usr/share/knowledgetree/config/dmsDefaults.php on line 299 (more…)

KnowledgeTree 3.7.0.2 – OpenOffice startup script (SOLVED)


2010
03.21

Having repeatedly received the error that OpenOffice.org is not running on the standard installation of KnowledgeTree 3.7.0.2 Commercial Edition (the same holds true for the Community Edition), further investigation was necessary. The key area of investigation must focus on the dmsctl.sh file, particularly from line 47 onwards, but more of that further down below. This is on Ubuntu (9.10 Server).

First, do a few quick checks:

  1. Is the process running? Anywhere?
    Check whether OpenOffice.org is actually running, using a simple netstat -pant| grep 8100 — as the default installation is running with a headless OpenOffice.org on port 8100. You should see something like:

    tcp  0 0 127.0.0.1:8100 0.0.0.0:*  LISTEN  9655/soffice.bin

    For the fix in question, it wasn’t giving any results on this check (sudo the commands where required, but you knew that already), which means that it’s not running properly. Also,

    ps -aux | grep soffice

    gave no results, indicating non-functioning backend software.
    (more…)

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS now in beta


2010
03.20

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (beta) now out...

Ubuntu 10.04 went beta yesterday afternoon, with downloads at http://releases.ubuntu.com/10.04/, otherwise from the download mirrorsLucid Lynx, as it’s called, enjoys LTS support (ie 5 years out the box).

This version promises as a better (and faster) boot experience, new themes, version 2.6.32 as the Linux kernel, Firefox as default browser — with default browser page changed to Yahoo! (that’s new!) nVidia hardware support using open source drivers has improved, and a whack of new features for the Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud have been included. (more…)