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{ Category Archives } Linux

Linux news and information.

Aptitude Madness

I always use the “-R” or “–without-recommends”, and this is why: root@yin:~# aptitude install virtinst The following NEW packages will be installed: acl{a} colord{a} consolekit{a} dconf-gsettings-backend{a} dconf-service{a} fontconfig{a} fontconfig-config{a} hicolor-icon-theme{a} libatk1.0-0{a} libatk1.0-data{a} libcairo-gobject2{a} libcairo2{a} libck-connector0{a} libcolord1{a} libcups2{a} libdatrie1{a} libdbus-glib-1-2{a} libdconf0{a} libdrm-intel1{a} libdrm-nouveau1a{a} libdrm-radeon1{a} libdrm2{a} libexif12{a} libfdt1{a} libfile-copy-recursive-perl{a} libfontconfig1{a} libgd2-xpm{a} libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0{a} libgdk-pixbuf2.0-common{a} libgl1-mesa-dri{a} libgl1-mesa-glx{a} libglapi-mesa{a} libgphoto2-2{a} [...]

2012 06 14 Debian
Ubuntu Comments (6)

Zombie Proccess- What They Are and How To Handle Them

First off, a zombie process isn’t really a process. At least it’s not executing anymore. A zombie process is more of a “state”, and that state is “defunct”. However, we typically refer to them as “zombie processes”, so I’ll stick with convention here. Second, a zombie process on a Unix system is a child process [...]

2012 04 27 Comments (0)

Install ZFS on Debian GNU/Linux

Table of Contents Zpool Administration Install ZFS on Debian GNU/Linux VDEVs RAIDZ The ZFS Intent Log (ZIL) The Adjustable Replacement Cache (ARC) Exporting and Importing Storage Pools Scrub and Resilver Getting and Setting Properties Best Practices and Caveats ZFS Administration Copy-on-write Creating Filesystems Compression and Deduplication Snapshots and Clones Sending and Receiving Filesystems ZVOLs iSCSI, [...]

2012 04 17 Debian
Ubuntu
ZFS Comments (42)

Mount Raw Images

Just recently, I needed to mount a KVM raw image file, because it was depending on a network mount that was no longer accessible, and any attempts to interact with the boot process failed. So, rather than booting off a live CD, or some other medium, I decided to mount the raw image file. After [...]

2012 04 16 Ubuntu Comments (4)

A Note About Removing Files With find(1)

I’ve seen on the internet, and elsewhere, that when there are too many arguments for rm(1) to handle, that the following command will suffice: % find /path -exec rm -rf {} \; While certainly functional, it’s not optimal. If there are thousands of files (as is often the case at my job), this command is [...]

2011 12 20 Scripting Comments (6)

Use Your SSH Client To Help Prevent Stupid Mistakes

I have chosen the path of system administration for my career. It’s been very rewarding, and I really love my job. However, there are times when I make stupid mistakes that cost others money. I’m sure we’ve all been there. It’s stressful, embarrassing and can really shake you up, if you mistake is bad enough. [...]

2011 09 06 Scripting Comments (13)

My Tmux Hardstatus Theme

Recently, I’ve made the switch from GNU Screen to Tmux for my remote terminal multiplexor. I still prefer GNU Screen for serial connections, however (something the Tmux developers don’t seem to think is important). So, when getting it setup, I wanted my hardstatus line to imitate my GNU Screen hardstatus line as closely as possible. [...]

2011 08 31 irssi
Scripting Comments (2)

I Am Going To OLF

I will be attending the Ohio Linux Fest this September (in about two weeks) giving a talk on “Password Theory and Breaking Encrypted Filesystems”. The talk covers some theory on what exactly makes a “secure password”, including some mathematics, entropy, random number generators, shadowed passwords, salts, rainbow tables and cryptographic hashes. I end the talk [...]

2011 08 25 Comments (0)

OpenSSH Best Practices

This post comes from Matt Taggart, who put together a document about the best practices for using OpenSSH. A lot of the points brought up in that document rang the bells of common sense, and are so good, it’s worth blogging about in hopes that the points mentioned therein reach as many as possible. I’ve [...]

2011 07 22 Cryptology
Security Comments (7)

Why Unix Is Superior

Quick post, outlining what I think makes the Unix family of operating systems superior, including “unix-like” operating systems such as GNU/Linux, BSD, and others. Of course, the list isn’t exhaustive- it’s just something I threw together in 10 minutes. The motivation of the post was a discussion in ##unix on Freenode. The command line interface. [...]

2011 03 27 Debian
Ubuntu Comments (10)

Newsbeuter, Mutt and Google

I just discovered Newsbeuter supports synchronization with Google Reader. Not only your read/unread feed items, but you can also share and star items in Newsbeuter as you can in the Google Reader interface. This blog post is documenting how. Further, by using Buzz, you can also comment on your shared items, and others. I’ll cover [...]

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2010 08 31 General Comments (8)

Cloning Debian System Packages

Just over the past couple of weeks, I have done a few Debian GNU/Linux installations for various people, including myself. I am a minimalist. I like to have installed on my system only exactly what I specify. However, I’m also a realist, and know that Debian has likely chosen sane defaults in the installer when [...]

2010 08 19 Debian
Ubuntu Comments (8)

Using Symantec NetBackp With A Fedora 12 Live CD

At work, we use Symantec NetBackup for all our full and incremental backups to tape. With currently about 100 servers in operation, and roughly 300+ virtual development environments on the horizon using RHEV, NetBackup and Bare Metal Restore, also from Symantec, will be crucial in our operations. Recently, we had some virtual servers take a [...]

2010 06 17 Comments (0)

Connecting To Serial Null Modems With GNU Screen

The motivation for this post, actually, is that I had heard of the BSD-licensed tmux. I’ve heard it’s far more configurable than GNU screen and lighter on resources. So, I thought I’d install it on my Debian machine, and give it a quick test drive. The first thing I wanted to test, was not attaching [...]

2010 03 23 Debian Comments (12)

How Travelers Can Protect Their Data

I used to travel quite extensively around the country, and even had the opportunity to leave the country and go abroad. My laptop was always with me. As a result, I was very concerned for the integrity and safety of my data. As such, I took the necessary precautions that travelers can take when their [...]

2010 01 03 Laptops
Security Comments (18)