Howto on

Dual Time Machine Wielding Backups!

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 11:08:49 +0000

Contents

0.1 The Ingredients:
0.2 Secret Magic Scripts:
0.3 Letting the Penguins talk to the Fruit:
0.4 Convince the Mac its right at home:
0.5 Location, Location, Location:

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<a href="#Share_this"><span class="toc_number toc_depth_1">1</span> Share this:</a>
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With the purchase of the Apple Thunderbolt Display my Air now has a jumbo-frame enabled ethernet port at its disposal. My current backup strategy is to utilize an encrypted external USB laptop drive while on the road and to just rsync the latest backup when I get home. This has been working great for a year straight (saved my greasy bacon when the airlines forgot my bag) but I figured it was time to reevaluate with my fancy monitor in the mix.

Why is my /dev/sda missing?!?!

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 17:09:41 +0000

I am in the midst of testing some of the latest Linux kernels and realized that my old kernel config was wiped. In my desire to finish the build I forgot to select a VERY important option if you are using dm-crypt and LUKS. If you cannot access your /boot then there is no way to upgrade your kernel. Chicken and egg issue. Another issue maybe that you lost your /dev/sda1 or other nodes due to udev overtaking. Here is the fix in the situation:

Tor != VPN – A Simple Explanation

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 10:17:34 +0000

Shameless exploit of meme I know...

I can’t take it anymore! I lurk on irc.freenode.net and /r/netsec and have seen a few too many mornings now that some person is safe, they used Tor. There is a big misunderstanding in what Tor actually does and protects. Here is my log in the fire to help explain the technology. Lets start with the basics…

Configuring OpenBSD svnd for Encrypted Volumes

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 13:04:58 +0000

I have covered just about everything possible for drive encryption in OpenBSD. My last post is on using the least recommended option for encrypted volumes. It is slower, unsupported, and unfortunately the best option for seamless operations :) The best way to think about svnd is if you have used truecrypt, it is very similar in that you create an image rather than actually encrypting the entire partition. Using some fancy linking and auto mounts you can use it for hosting your /home /tmp and others. The instructions are below, but unlike the last howto it assumes your system is already installed. This is because svnd does not require you to modify the system prior to /install and can be a good security implementation to use if you are already up and running:

Sony Vaio P788K Ubuntu 9.10 Load

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:48:32 +0000

Ubuntu 9.10 is the last usable version of Linux for use with the GMA500 craptasic video card. As it stands today I cannot recommend using Linux full-time on the laptop. As a hardcore linux geek that saddens me in my heart. Hopefully with the release of the “new” drivers we will be good to all switchback to a big boy OS. Thanks to Jakob Westhoff for his notes on the Vaio X which helped a good bit here. Notes below:

Install Windows 7 to active Verizon Gobi Modem and Firmware

Install GMA 500 Graphics driver

wget http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1338581/Gma500/scripts/poulsbo.sh && sh ./poulsbo.sh
add mem=2000 /etc/default/grub
update-grub
After reboot dpkg-reconfigure psb-kernel-source

Edit /etc/apt/sources.list to include universe and multiverse

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

reboot

Update system to include SSD optimizations

Install sony-laptop-zseries module

http://www.logic.at/people/preining/software/
sudo -i
mkdir -p /usr/share/sony-laptop
Extract np5 into directory
ln -sf ../share/sony-laptop/sony-laptop-zseries-0.9np5 /usr/src/sony-laptop-zseries-0.9np5
dkms add -m sony-laptop-zseries -v 0.9np5
/etc/init.d/dkms_autoinstaller start
vi /etc/modules

Turn on WWAN hardware

mkdir /lib/firmware/gobi
Copy files from:
- C:\Program Files\Qualcomm\Images\Sony\1\AMSS.mbn
- C:\Program Files\Qualcomm\Images\Sony\1\Apps.mbn
- C:\Program Files\Qualcomm\Images\Sony\1\UQCN.mbn
- to /lib/firmware/gobi

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Download qcserial and extract to <a href="file:///usr/src/">/usr/src/</a> <ul>
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<a href="http://westhoffswelt.de/data/blog/vaiox_gobi2000/qcserial_with_gobi2000_support.tar.gz">http://westhoffswelt.de/data/blog/vaiox_gobi2000/qcserial_with_gobi2000_support.tar.gz</a>
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cd <a href="file:///usr/src/qcserial">/usr/src/qcserial</a>
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make
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make install
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echo &#8220;qcserial&#8221; >>/etc/modules
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</ul>
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Download gobi loader for Linux and extract to <a href="file:///usr/src">/usr/src</a> <ul>
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<a href="http://westhoffswelt.de/data/blog/vaiox_gobi2000/gobi_loader_with_gobi2000_support.tar.gz">http://westhoffswelt.de/data/blog/vaiox_gobi2000/gobi_loader_with_gobi2000_support.tar.gz</a>
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make
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make install
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Enable Suspend

Install PSB fix in /etc/pm/sleep.d/99_psb_fix
Touch /etc/pm/sleep.d/98smart-kernel-video
Install USB Wakeup fix for QCSerial Gobi issue in /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/00usbsleep

Enable console framebuffer

Edit /etc/default/grub
set gfxmode=1024×768
- You can do the full 1600×768, but on the console I prefer larger fonts

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Edit <a href="file:///etc/grub.d/00_header">/etc/grub.d/00_header</a> <ul>
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if loadfont `make_system_path_relative_to_its_root ${GRUB_FONT_PATH}` ; then
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set gfxmode=${GRUB_GFXMODE}
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set gfxpayload=keep
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</ul>
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IT HAS TO GO UNDER &#8220;set gfxmode&#8230;&#8221;
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Enable scroll trackpoint

sudo vi /etc/hal/fdi/policy/mouse-wheel.fdi

Install RFkill Applet to disable radios

http://www.logic.at/people/preining/software/rfkill-applet-0.6.tar.gz
Execute with the following installer: rfkill install.sh
Reboot and add to panel

Internal Mic Fix

sudo apt-get install linux-backports-modules-alsa-2.6.31-20-generic
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ricotz/unstable
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Edit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf
Add at the bottom of the file
- options snd-hda-intel model=toshiba-s06 power_save=10 power_save_controller=N

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On Sound Preferences change Profile to Analog Stereo Duplex
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Turn speaker volume up HIGH
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Lexmark Drivers for Ubuntu/Debian

Tue, 05 May 2009 02:18:17 +0000

Lexmark provides subpar Linux drivers for any distro, but Ubuntu/Debian is horrible. At work we moved from HP Printers to Lexmark. The situation reminds me of ATI hardware in the late-90’s, great hardware and crappy drivers. I converted the Red Hat RPM for Debian based systems. Attached below:

To install sudo dpkg -i drivers-lexprtdrv_552-2_i386.deb

Error in Service Module

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:34:59 +0000

If you are on a OpenSuSE or SuSE SLES/SLED machine and have recently mounted /var to a new parition, you might get the following error:

“Error in service module”

If it keeps you from logging in, boot single user and touch /var/log/lastlog as root

Fix for Songbird showing songs still on iPod

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 19:24:28 +0000

I formatted my iPod recently and noticed that Songbird still thought the Library had media on it. Loading up a factory restore didn’t help. To clear the iPod cache here is the location:

In the profiles directory you will see a db folder. Remove all iPod* folders and restart Songbird. Now the Library will show the blankness that is your iPod.

Move from Physical to Virtual with CloneZilla

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:44:29 +0000

Just a side note for when I forget how I fixed this…

When using CloneZilla you can capture server images and redeploy them unless there are hardware differences. To fix issues with hardware changes between physical server hardware and VMware here are my fix actions:

Windows 2003 Enterprise
- Change the hard drive to IDE from SCSI. Windows will blue screen when you boot after image deployment since it cannot find the drive to boot from. You will get the error: 0x0000007b
- After booting windows 2003 you can then install the BusLogic or LSI SCSI drivers
Red Hat Linux 5
- Boot with the first CD of the install set and instead of an install, use linux rescue.
- Once booted chroot /mnt/sysimage
- Blank out the /etc/modprobe.conf
- mv /boot/initrd-2.6.18-20.el5.img /boot/initrd-2.6.18-20.el5.img.orig
- mkinitrd /boot/initrd-2.6.18-20.el5.img 2.6.18-20.el5
- reboot
Windows XP
- Change the hard drive to IDE from SCSI. Windows XP in the default install does not include the two SCSI adapters VMware supports, BusLogic or LSI Logic.
- During the CloneZilla restore you are given a few options. The ones to select to ensure a successful MBR restore are:
  - -t1
  - -j1

These settings will allow you to move your physical clonezilla images to vmware.

NetBackup with RHEL5 – CentOS IPTables

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:39:43 +0000

First you need to open the iptables firewall settings:

## NetBackup Client Firewall Ports

iptables -D RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -j REJECT –reject-with icmp-host-prohibited

iptables -A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -m state –state NEW -p tcp –dport bpcd-j ACCEPT –src

iptables -A RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -j REJECT –reject-with icmp-host-prohibited

/etc/init.d/iptables restart

Multipath and Redhat Linux 5

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 10:30:51 +0000

As many of you know, multipath was finally integrated into Redhat Linux with the 5 series. This is great when you have multipath enabled during an install as you will see /dev/mapper/mpath0, but what happens post install when you attach new LUN? Here is the howto for what happens behind the scenes during a RHEL install:

After the filer has attached and presented the new LUN reboot the machine allowing for the HBA card to recognize them
Post-reboot login and verify with the drivers are present with the correct capacity: dmesg | grep sd
Next we need the WWID for the new path. For this example assume that sdh is one of our newly presented multipath drives: scsi_id -gus /block/sdh
Copy this output down and have it ready to input into a config file. I recommend pipping or copying down the results withing GNOME/vim
Edit the /etc/multipath.conf with your editor of choice and look for the blacklist exception list. You will see a WWID “923847089123908u2389” already listed. Copy that line and replace the “218934708912374” with the output of command #3
Reboot the box
After the reboot login and cd /dev/mapper and verify that there is a newly listed mpath1. If this is not the case stop what you are doing and wash-rinse-repeat steps 1-6
If there is a mpath1 we need to create a new partition. Since Linux sees the device as a new block, use fdisk as you would with any other drive: fdisk /dev/mapper/mpath1
Since the drive is freshly paritioned you will need to reboot to allow the kernel to recognize the new parition table.
Post reboot we can create a filesystem. I am going to assume you created one parition and are going to use ext3: mkfs.ext3 /dev/mapper/mpath1p1
Next edit your /etc/fstab and point the new drive to a path you want the new mapping mounted to: /dev/mapper/mpath1p1 /storage ext3 defaults 1 1
For the next portion I will operate under the assumption you are attaching more storage to your /opt directory for a new commercial install. As root drop to run level 2: init 2 This is the lowest run level where the / filesystem is mounted r/w and multipathd is running
We will move /opt as it is current substatianted to /opt2: mv /opt /opt2
Create the mount for the SAN LUN: mkdir /opt
Mount the LUN: mount /opt <–read from the /etc/fstab entry
Now we sync the directories with rsync: rsync -avh /opt2/* /opt I recommend holding onto the /opt2 until everything is tested after a reboot
Done!

PPC Linux

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:09:50 +0000

Why Linux and which one? Let me take a second to review:

Debian Stable 4.0 – Too old! You can’t expect me to be spoiled on my x86 architecture with the latest GNOME and Firefox and then jump back to Debian stable

Debian Testing “Lenny” – Too new! The kernel is a step ahead of the Mac-On-Linux folks and therefore negates my ability to still run MacOS in Linux. Also had a heck of a time with my 6200 Nvidia Card in framebuffer.

Xgrid and Multiplatform Clients

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 08:34:04 +0000

This allows you to setup a Xgrid controller without mac server edition. What is nifty is that the clients can run on other platforms such as Linux and Windows. So with the simplicity of mac you can run a cluster at the house. Here is the link for windows/linux clients:

http://unu.novajo.ca/simple/archives/000026.html

Check out HOWTO’s

Wed, 24 May 2006 06:29:03 +0000

I have started to centralize all my tutorials and howto’s I have written over the years. Take a look and let me know what you think!

HOWTO’s!!!!!!