Fixing Wireless Networks and Ndiswrapper

Step 1: Check that the hardware drivers are loaded. It should be seen when you do ifconfig
# ifconfig -a

Step 2: If the above do not show up eth0 or wlan0, then
# lspci -v

Step 3: Install NdisWrapper from distro
# yum install ndiswapper

Step 4: For more information on cards supported by which drivers, go to
http://burnthesorbonne.com/?page_id=32

Step 4: Place the inf file in the /lib/firmware
# ndiswrapper -i /lib/firmware/xxx.inf

Step 5: Check it is working and will list the drivers available to
# ndiswapper -l

Step 6: Load the Module
# modprobe -v ndiswrapper

Step 7: Up the wlan
# ifconfig wlan0 up

Using Ganglia Status Client - gstat

Ganglia Status Client (gstat) connects with a Ganglia Monitoring Daemon (gmond) and output. It is a clean command line tool

To see all the gstat Options
# gstat --help

Shows CPU utilization for running jobs
# gstat -al1

For more inforamtion See Ganglia Toolkit

Fsniper

Fsniper is a tool that watches for new or modified files and executes commands on the basis of the file name critieria. The tools can also respond to MIME types (MP3, mpeg etc).

After downloading the source from the project homepage
# ./configure
# ./make
# ./make install

Create the configuration file at your home folder in .config folder
# ~/.config/fsniper/config file

Copy the example.conf from source folder and modify it.

For more information, see Fsniper Project Homepage

Understanding ldconfig

ldconfig creates the necessary links and cache to the most recent shared libraries found in the directories specified on the command line, in the file /etc/ld.so.conf (Taken from man pages)

I was having issues having the latest changes to my pathing reflected after updating my .bashrc. The old variable path was still showing us. Until I added the path on to /etc/ld.so.conf and run /sbin/ldconfig. The new path was reflected.

Commands to find out who are logged on

Simple but useful command to know who logged on to your systems

Tool 1: w - Show who is logged on and what they are doing
# w

Tool 2: who - Show who is logged on
# who
# who -q (All login name and count number of user logged on)

Tool 3: last - show listing of last logged in users
# last

Tool 4: uptime - Tell how long the system has been running
# uptime

Intel® Optimized LINPACK Benchmark for Linux OS

This blog entry is taken from Intel(R) Math Kernel Library for the LINUX* OS User's Guide. This document comes when you download and install the Math Kernel Library.

To download, see Intel® Math Kernel Library – LINPACK Download

Intel® Optimized LINPACK Benchmark is a generalization of the LINPACK 1000 benchmark.
It solves a dense (real*8) system of linear equations (Ax=b), measures the amount of
time it takes to factor and solve the system, converts that time into a performance rate, and tests the results for accuracy. The generalization is in the number of equations (N) it can solve, which is not limited to 1000. It uses partial pivoting to assure the accuracy of the results.

Intel is providing optimized versions of the LINPACK benchmarks to make it easier than using HPL for you to obtain high LINPACK benchmark results on your systems based on genuine Intel® processors. Use this package to benchmark your SMP machine.



1. Running the Software
To Run pre-determined sample problem sizes on a give system
# ./runme_xeon32 OR
#./runme_xeon64
To run problem for other problem sizes, you can use and amend liniput_xeon32, and liniputxeon64. However each input file requires the following amount of memory:

• lininput_xeon32 2GB
• lininput_xeon64 16GB

2. Known Limitation

• Intel LINPACK Benchmark is threaded to effectively use multiple processors. In multi-processor systems, best performance will be obtained with Hyper-Threading Technology turned off.
• If an incomplete data input file is given, binaries may either hang or fault

IBM Cool Blue (Read-Door Exchanger) Shine

IBM Cool Blue Shines in Vendor ‘Chill Off’

IBM’s Cool Blue Rear Door Heat eXchanger liquid cooling unit earned bragging rights in a head-to-head vendor “chill off” that tested the energy efficiency of vendor cooling products in the same data center environment.

Lyx - For superior Latex Documents

LyX is a document processor that encourages an approach to writing based on the structure of your documents (WYSIWYM) and not simply their appearance (WYSIWYG).

LyX combines the power and flexibility of TeX/LaTeX with the ease of use of a graphical interface. This results in world-class support for creation of mathematical content (via a fully integrated equation editor) and structured documents like academic articles, theses, and books.

To install Lyx, first ensure that you have RPMForge Repository. The download is quite big, approximately 67M

# yum install lyx

Personal PBS

Personal PBS 10.0, a free turney application that leverages multi-core CPU Technology to easily transform any Desktop Computer into a minature compute farm or cluster system.

See Personal PBS Website

Personal PBS helped to turn normal fesktop into a minature compute farm, allowing you to access the added power of today's multi-core desktops by queuing up and running complex job in the background, using idle compute cycles, wothout interfering with your normal activities.

How to setup new Harddisk on LINUX

Here's a quick tutorial on how to setup new harddisk on linux taken from "Adding a Hard Disk in LINUX" by Erik Rodriguez

Step 1: First check after the Harddisk is installed, can it found under /dev/sdb or /dev/sdc. If yes. This means that the new HDD device has been detected

Step 2: Set up the Partition
# fdisk /dev/sdb

Step 2a: Go to Fdisk menu

Command (m for help): m
Command action
a   toggle a bootable flag
b   edit bsd disklabel
c   toggle the dos compatibility flag
d   delete a partition
l   list known partition types
m   print this menu
n   add a new partition
o   create a new empty DOS partition table
p   print the partition table
q   quit without saving changes
s   create a new empty Sun disklabel
t   change a partition's system id
u   change display/entry units
v   verify the partition table
w   write table to disk and exit
x   extra functionality (experts only)

Command (m for help):

Step 2b: Print Existing Partition

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sdb: 50.0 GB, 50019202560 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 6081 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot    Start       End    Blocks   Id  System

Command (m for help):

Step 2c: Create New Partition

Command (m for help): n
Command action
e   extended
p   primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First cylinder (1-6081, default 1): 1
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-6081, default 6081): 6081

Command (m for help)

Step 2d: Check the the print Partition Specification which we have entered.

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sdb: 50.0 GB, 50019202560 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 6081 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot    Start       End    Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1             1      6081  48845601   83  Linux

Command (m for help): 

Step 2e: Finalise the Partition

Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.

Step 3: Format the Disk
# mkfs -t ext3 /dev/sdb1

mke2fs 1.32 (09-Nov-2002)
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
6111232 inodes, 12211400 blocks
610570 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
373 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
16384 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
     32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208,
     4096000, 7962624, 11239424

Writing inode tables: done                         
Creating journal (8192 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

This filesystem will be automatically checked every 38 mounts or

180 days, whichever comes first.  Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.

Step 4: Mount the File System
# mount /dev/sdb1 /home1 (assuming /home1 has been created)

qdel: Server could not connect to MOM

If you encounter this error "qdel: Server could not connect to MOM" and you are using OpenPBS or PBS Pro, your users might encounter a problem where you are unable to kill the job.

Usually the error above there is a problem on pbs_mom on the compute node.

Step 1: Check the Queue and check the node that the jobs lands on

# qstat -a (for summary)
# qstat -n (You will see where the nodes the job lands)

Step 2: Try to kill as cluster administrator.

# qdel 

*If you are not able to delete the job somehow
Step 3: Try restarting PBS Mom on the client

# service pbs_mom restart

Step 4: If Step 3 is not workable, it might be due to connection issues or hardware problems
Try

# ssh compute_node_1

If you cannot, you have to remote KVM into the server to take a look

Agedu - Combing Files with Agedu

Agedu is a toolkits that help system administrators or users to help identify old files, and hence to delete them. Although like most administrator, we often use
# du -s. But du only tells you what is big and not what's too big

Step 1: To begin with, start getting the source packager from Agedu
# tar -zxvf agedu-rversion.tar.gz
#./configure
#make
#make install

Step 2: Scan the directory you want agedu to catalogue
# ./agedu --scan /directory
#./agedu --web
(A URL: 127.164.xxx.xxx:xxxxx). You can copy and paste the links on the LINUX Web Browser and you have it.

For more information, you can also see Agedu Man Page

FileLight - Visualise Disk Usage on computer

Filelight creates an interactive map of concentric, segmented rings that help visualise disk usage on your computer.

I tried on CentOS 5.2. Just make sure you have RPMForge repository.

# yum install filelight

Similarly, The Debian Derivative should have this package. I tried on Linux Mint 6

# apt-get install filelight

Creating Packages with CheckInstall

Usually when we build source, we will usually use the familiar
# ./configure
# ./make
#./make install

However, you may want use CheckInstall as it first build a package (*.rpm or *.deb) and then install them. It thus also has the benefit of uninstalling later. If you are using Redhat derivative, you should find the package build in /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/

So with Checkinstall, the install procedure will be
#./configure
#./make
#./check install
OR
# ./configure && make && checkinstall

Notes:

• CheckInstall Official Website
• Tutorial on CheckInstall "How to use Checkinstall on RedHat"
  

Good NIS How-To Tutorials

Linux NIS (YP) Server and Tools is an excellent repository of How-To and FAQ on NIS

Festival - Text to Speech Synthesis Software

Festival is a fun text to speech sysnthesis software. You can make LINUX greet you or your users. Users will be rather intrigued....Ha Ha

Step 1: Install Festival
# yum install festival

Step 2: Make Festival talk from the keyboard
# echo "Hello World." festival --tts

Step 3: Make Festival talk from the text file
# festival --tts filename.txt

Interesting Tutorials

• "Festival: Linux Text-To-Speech Tutorial and Demo" by Xeno Cafe
• The Festival Speech Synthesis System (Offical Website)

How to Install CentOS PXE server

A good and comprehensive article on How to install CentOS PXE Server by shirwablog.com

10 Essential Tricks for System Administrators

This excellent article is taken from IBM Lazy Linux: 10 essential tricks for system administrators. The opening phrase is indeed interesting.

"The best systems adminsitrators are set apart by their efficiency.........."

1. Trick 1: Unmounting the unresponsive DVD drive
2. Trick 2: Getting your screen back when it's hosed
3. Trick 3: Collaboration with screen
4. Trick 4: Getting back the root password
5. Trick 5: SSH back door
6. Trick 6: Remote VNC session through an SSH tunnel
7. Trick 7: Checking your bandwidth
8. Trick 8: Command-line scripting and utilities
9. Trick 9: Spying on the console
10. Trick 10: Random system information collection

Wow......

IBM Support for Network Attached Storage (NAS) & ISCSI

To download the support and patches from IBM for IBM NAS Product, go to Support for Network Attached Storage (NAS) & ISCSI

VIewing Logs

I used to just view logs by doing "less /var/log/messages". But here is a more efficient way of viewing logs.

To show error on the /var/log/messages
# grep error /var/log/messages OR
# grep error /var/log/messages less

If you wish to view the contents of log in real time
# tail -f /var/log/messages grep error

Installing Zenoss on CentOS 5

Zenoss is a Open Source Monitoring Tool which is gaining more converts around.

Download can be foundat http://www.zenoss.com/download/links
A good tutorial can be found from How-To-Linux Zenoss

Step 1: To get the RPM from sourceforge

# wget http://jaist.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/zenoss/zenoss-2.3.3.el5.i386.rpm

Step 2: Install the packages below you have not done so

# yum install mysql, mysql-server, net-snmp, net-snmp-utils

• Make sure the mysql root user password is blank and the database is running on the same machine. If not edit /opt/zenoss/bin/zenoss_init_pre file

Step 3: Install the Zenoss Package

# rpm -Uvh zenoss-2.3.3.el5.i386.rpm

Step 4: Enable the following ports in your firewall
8080 TCP - Web Interface
162 UDP - SNMP Trap
514 UDP - Syslog

Step 5: Make sure the mySQL Services start on reboot

# service mysqld start
# chkconfig --level 35 mysqld on

Step 6: Setup a minimum configuration file for net-snmp and start the service

# echo -community zenoss /etc/snmp/snmpd 
# snmpd start
# chkconfig --level 35 zenoss on

Step 7: Proceed to the Web Interface http://www.your_server_ip.com:8080/


Step 8: Go to Add Device
IP Address or hostname of the unit you wish to monitor
Class of Machine you are monitoring (/Server/Linux)
SNMP Community (zenoss for this example)

Open Source Client for Vmware View

Vmware has released a free LINUX Clients for Vmware View Desktop Solution. For more information, read Vmware View. To download the Vmware View Open Client

Building Open MPI* with the Intel® compilers

A good hands-on Tutorial from Intel on how to Build OpenMPI with Intel Compilers.
Building Open MPI* with the Intel Compilers

A few things to note:

1. Make sure your path to your Intel Compilers are path-ed already

Brief Technical Overview and Installation of Ganglia on Solaris

Tutorial from SUN on how to install Ganglia on Solaris "Brief Technical Overview and Installation of Ganglia on Solaris"

Error: Missing Dependency: rrdtool = 1.2.27-3.el5 is needed by package rrdtool-perl

When I'm installing Ganglia on my CentOS, I've did the following:
# yum install rrdtool ganglia ganglia-gmetad ganglia-gmond ganglia-web httpd php

However, instead I got the followings
# Error: Missing Dependency: rrdtool = 1.2.27-3.el5 is needed by package rrdtool-perl

To workaround this issue, I've installed in stages. I'm assuming you have installed RpmForge Repository

# yum install rrdtool-perl
# yum install ganglia ganglia-gmetad ganglia-gmond ganglia-web httpd php

ok. It works.

Booting to Single Mode for Centos LINUX

At the screen that says booting/using kernel xxx.xx.x (blue screen)
hit one of the arrow keys (quickly cuz you only have a few seconds to do this) and then a "e" (without the quote marks)

- and then use arrow keys to cursor down to the line that has rhgb quiet
at the end and delete those two words (rhgb quiet)

- and then type in place of those the word single

- hit enter key then the 'b" key to bootup into the single user text mode..