workaround for slow shared folders in Virtualbox 3.x

Happy 2010 fair readers !  I hope that all is well with you and yours.  Let’s get right to business : Virtualbox has a feature that allows you to access the host OS’s file system from the guest OS (shared folders), which is super useful, but not exactly perfectly implemented.  In particular, there are known, [...]

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how to deal with broken time zones during a CentOS 5.3 kickstart

Hello again fair readers !  Today’s quick tip concerns the problem with missing time zones when deploying CentOS 5.3 (and some of the more recent Fedoras) in a kickstart environment.  It’s a known problem, and unfortunately, since the source of the problem (an incomplete time zone data file) lies deep in the heart of the [...]

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load balancing, or, « how i learned to love a piranha »

Hello again, everybody !  Today i thought that we’d take a look at a fun and useful topic of interest to many system administrators : load balancing & redundancy.  Now, i know, it doesn’t sound too exciting – but trust me, once you get your first mini-cluster set up, you’ll never look at service management [...]

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it’s coming !

Hi all ! I’m currently working on a new Howto regarding Load Balancing. It’s gonna be a good one, complete with graphical charts and everything – so stay tuned !

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where to specify ethtool options in Fedora

Hi everybody – here’s a super-quick update for you concerning « ethtool », and how to use it to set options in Fedora properly.  Ethtool is a great little tool that can be used to configure all manner of network interface related settings – notably the speed and duplex of a card – on the [...]

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(complex) partitioning in kickstart

Bonjour my geeky friends ! :)  As you are likely aware, it is now summer-time here in the northern hemisphere, and thus, i’ve been spending as much time away from the computer as possible.  That said, it’s been a long time, i shouldn’t have left you, without a strong beat to step to.
Now, if you’re [...]

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getting Dia to give you a pdf

Hello again !  Today’s quick tip concerns a software package called Dia, which is an open source tool (available for both Windows and Linux, as it goes) used to make diagrams, flowcharts, network maps, and so forth.  It has its own file format (.dia), which is (obviously?) useful for saving the projects you’re working on, [...]

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pohmelfs pt. 2, return of pohmelfs !

Hello again fair readers.  Today i’m going to re-visit POHMELFS, which i introduced in an earlier blog post.  I received a comment on that post which basically asked for more information on some of the more interesting (read : advanced) features of POHMELFS, such as distributed storage, and the like.  Well, today is the day [...]

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setting the from address in GNU mail

Today i’m going to address a question that comes up again and again on the various Linux help forums and mailing lists (in one form or another) :
« How do i set the From address when using mail ? »
Of course, « mail » in this case refers to that most basic of all Linux [...]

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pohmelfs update

Hello again ! You may be wondering when the next update in the POHMELFS series is coming – well, rest assured that i’m working on it even as you read this, and that it will be worth the wait.
Remember that we’re working with Staging-level code, and that sometimes things don’t always go as well [...]

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