Archive for category How-to
Elasticsearch backup strategies
Hello again! Today we’re going to talk about backup strategies for Elasticsearch. One popular way to make backups of ES requires the use of separate ES node, while another relies entirely on the underlying file system of a given set of ES nodes. The ES-based approach: Bring up an independent (receiving) ES node on a [...]
how to use the Distributed Numeric Assignment (DNA) plug-in in 389 Directory Server
Hello everybody ! Today’s post is about the Distributed Numeric Assignment (or « DNA » ) plug-in for the 389 Directory Server (also known as the Fedora, Red Hat, and CentOS Directory Servers). Although this plug-in has existed for quite some, there isn’t a whole lot of documentation about how to implement it in a [...]
CPAN RPMs in RHEL / CentOS : generation, conflict, and solutions
Hello all ! Today we’re going to take a look at a somewhat obscure problem that – once encountered – can cause nothing but headaches for a system administrator. The problem relates to conflicts in CPAN RPM packages, and what can be done to work around the issue. If you’ve made it this far, i’m [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
(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 [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]