Hills I Will Die On : Hill 001 : Either

The word either, means one or the other of two possibilities, and explicitly not both. 

When did each /var/log/messages file start logging ?

Getting an idea of when each /var/log/messages file, compressed or not, first started. Printing the first line of each file.

for logfile in /var/log/messages*
do  
   if [[ $logfile == *.bz2 ]]
   then 
      echo -ne "$logfile\t" 
      bzcat $logfile | head -1 
   else
      echo -ne "$logfile\t"
      cat $logfile | head -1
   fi
done

Print snmp Engine ID on FreeBSD / statseeker Appliance

ssh into the system. Statseeker has a default account of statseeker. Password should be known to you:

You can run the following command to print the local Engine ID for snmpv3 so you can set up Informs from other systems to be sent to statseeker. e.g. VMware ESXi.

bsnmpwalk 1.3.6.1.6.3.10.2.1.1

Windows Update Failing with 80243004 - Weird, but fixed

All credit to Pete and his well crafted screenshot series solution:
http://www.petenetlive.com/KB/Article/0000643.htm

I had to "untick" the box he mentions, but the solution is both weird and bang on the money. I had noticed that my Taskbar had a lot of empty space in it, and when I moused over it, it shrank. I honestly thought it couldn't be related...I was wrong.

Google Drive + Group Permissions + New Users = FAIL!

Below is a question and response from Google's Enterprise Support regarding bad behaviour with Groups and Google Drive permissions.  The long and short of it is that if you are newly added to an existing Group, you won't be able to find any of the documents that that Group's members have access to.

You need to be sent the exact link to each of the documents. Being unable to browse the items you have been given access to, is a complete fail when it comes to a system of files and group based permissions.

Imagine if you had permissions to all the files in an SMB (Windows) Share, but when you opened the share, you could see nothing. Bad and Wrong it seems: ( http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/B/Bad-and-Wrong.html )

Google Apps users Beware...

-------------------------

Case: ########
Subject: Files shared to group don't appear

A series of folders/files were shared in Drive to a given group. I joined the organisation recently and was added to the group's membership.

The files do not appear in Drive, and nor can I search for them. If I am sent a link directly to the file, then I can work/access as normal. Even after accessing the file, it doesn't appear in my Drive.

If the group is removed from the file/folder and then readded, I can see the newly shared items. The issue it seems is that the enumeration is not taking place to members added to this group after it has been applied to an item previously.

Is this expected behaviour, or is something amiss?

Thanks,

----------------------

Thank you for your message and the information provided.
This is expected behavior for newly added users to a group.
However there are a few options I can offer you as a workaround.

1. You can search the file by opening advanced search and choose ‘Search domain.com’ at the bottom using the drop down arrow of the search box.
Once you find the file, it will appear under "All Items." Then you can simply move it to your Drive.
2. Access it by URL & the file/folder will appear under "All Items."
3. Change the sharing permission and then switch back to the original sharing permission.
4. And finally what you've already done - delete and re-add the group.

I hope this will be helpful. Please let me know if you have any other question and I'll be more than happy to answer.

Have a great day!

Kind regards,

#####
Google Enterprise Support

Windows Deployment Services and setting PXE to "Respond to all client computers (known and unknown)." gives Access Denied

Quick and dirty hints to fix this:

1. Open ADSIEdit.msc , connect to the Default Domain.
2. Browse to the Computer Account of the WDS Server. It will have a Child Object. The user that runs the WDS Console needs Full Access permissions to this Child Object. 
3. Right click and choose properties. 
4. Select the Security/Permissions tab and add the user/group in. Set them to have Full Permissions.
5. Log out of the WDS Server and log back in again. 
6. AD replication may delay the result of this, but you should now no longer have Access Denied.

Raspbian, CUPS, and Long Passwords

There is a strange phenomenon I encountered when attempting to add a local printer to our little Raspberry Pi's Raspbian GNU/Linux installation. In order to log in to the CUPS interface, by default a user must be a member of lpadmin to do all the bizzo in CUPS Administration. I added the user to this group, but could not log in to the web interface. It kept coming back as if I'd typed my password wrong.

Turns out that there is something in the authentication procedure, [could be the Midori browser, could be cupsd, could be something else,] that means you can't have a long password and successfully log in to the web interface of CUPS. By long, I mean something like 35 chars. It's a passphrase.

Have fun!

SQL 2008 R2 - Specify Port Number

If you want to firewall your SQL 2008 R2 instance, you will need to specify a port number for it to listen on. If you don't, it will be a different port each time the instance is restarted. So any firewall rule specifying a port number will need to be changed. Not practical.

Microsofts instructions on how to change this are here...but they have missed quite an important step, based on the default configuration of SQL 2008 R2:
 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms177440%28v=sql.105%29.aspx

In SQL Server Configuration Manager | SQL Server Network Configuration | Protocols for | TCP/IP (Properties) | Protocol (Tab)

You need to set the Listen All to No. Otherwise any changes you make on the IP Addresses tab will not take effect. Only the settings under IPAll in the IP Address tab will make any difference.

They also don't tell you what the Active and Enabled fields do on the IP Addresses tab. Click the help button and it will explain it. Basically Active is looking at the OS to see if the IP address is actually in use. Enabled is something you set, it decides if this IP Address will listen at all. Make sure you Set Enabled to Yes on the ones you want to listen on.

Unity 2D and Sticky Edges

Got frustrated when my mouse cursor clung to the divide between my two monitory is Twin View with an nVidia card on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

Answer here:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/109338/how-do-i-disable-mouse-magnet-on-middle-edge-with-multi-monitors

VirtualBox and Unity in Ubuntu 11.10 CTRL-ALT-Right

If you use Ubuntu and VirtualBox, and need to flick between workspaces, you need to press the Host Key, which key this is mapped to, is set in VirtualBox itself. I've got a Sun Microsystems keyboard, so I use the "compose" key.

I think the default on most keyboards is Right-CTRL. Press this once, then press CTRL-ALT-Right / Left / Up / Down

Everyone's a winner!

My Mum's Blackberry and Apple Crumble

Ingredients / Shopping List:
Metric

• Flour (Plain, S/R, or Wholemeal) - 110g
• Butter (or Stork Margerine.) - 55g
• Light Brown Muscavado Sugar - 55g
• Blackberries - Handful
• Cooking Apples (Bramley) - 2 Large
• Cornflour - 10g
• Golden Granulated Brown Sugar - 10g

Sneering Imperialist

• Flour (Plain, S/R, or Wholemeal) - 4oz
• Butter (or Stork Margerine.) - 2oz
• Light Brown Muscavado Sugar - 2oz
• Blackberries - Handful
• Cooking Apples (Bramley) - 2 Large
• Cornflour - 2 tsp
• Golden Granulated Brown Sugar - 2 tsp

Method:
Making the Crumble Topping

1. Rub the Butter into the Flour.
2. Mix in the Muscavado Sugar, breaking up any lumps.

Making the Filling:

1. Peel and chop the Apple into cubes
2. Stew the Apple in a pan with a spot of water to stop it burning to the bottom. Do not let the Apple go mushy, just soft on the outside.
3. Add the stewed Apple to a Souffle dish or a Vegetable Dish
4. Add the Blackberries to the same dish
5. Mix the Cornflour and Golden Granulated Brown Sugar together in a separate bowl
6. Add the Cornflour Sugar mix to the main dish and stir it into the Apple and Blackberries to coat them
7. Pour the Crumble Topping over the filling. Do not press it down, just spread it over the entire dish.
8. Bake in the oven on Gas Mark 5 / 190C until browned on top, or when the filling is sneaking out up the sides (approx. 30mins)

My Virtual Machine Keeps Shutting Down.

I recently p2v - ed a Server 2003 box that had been on a Dell PowerEdge 2950 attached to an APC UPS. When I booted up the virtual machine it just shuts down again.

What's happening is that because the APC Powerchute service can't see the UPS, it thinks the power is about to fails, so shuts the server down.

You need to boot into safe mode and uninstall the APC Powerchute software. To get into safe mode you need to edit the settings of the VM so that it will go directly into the BIOS when it is Powered On. When you power it on and the BIOS shows on the screen, press F10 to Save and Close the BIOS screen. Hover your finger over the F8 key and as soon as you press Enter to confirm the exit from the BIOS, rapidly press the F8 key.

Select the top option for "Safe Mode" and then Select your OS. Once you are booted up, you will need the Local administrator password for the server. Then just uninstall the APC Powerchute Program.

All done.

Searching within config files

Need to search or find some text within config files in directories and subdirectories?

user@computer$ grep -e 'DocumentRoot' -f $(find .)

Stoopid BackupExec RAWS32

When I tried to install the RAWS32 Windows Agent for BackupExec 12 on Server 2008, it didn't work. It just hangs, or freezes, take your pick.

Turns out the event log shows:
Failed to connect to server. Error: 0x800401F0

The BackupExec Media Server I put in needed to be the FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name).

Wibble - didn't work
Wibble.mydomian.co.uk - did work

This seems a bit odd as both servers are in the same domain.

Chiptune can Rock!

Tracks I liek and found today are:
Search For Atlantis by Random

09-F9-11-02-9D-74-E3-5B-D8-41-56-C5-63-56-88-C0

Go freedom of speech!

Windows -> Dapper -> Edgy

I work currently for a two letter, printer associated, acronym. The PC on my desktop came with Windows XP pre-installed on it, and MS Office 2003 or whatever. Thanks to the liveCD of gParted I was able to shrink the ntfs partition mit no trouble. Make sure you read a guide on this if you're feeling adventureful.

With the free space I put Ubuntu Linux 6.06 LTS (Dapper Drake) on it. Since nearly everyone else in the office are using Outlook to connect to the MS Exchange server, I found I needed an equivalent. Evolution, an email client on Dapper should have done the trick. Sadly it is amazingly unstable for free open source software. I had been seeing a lot of people recommending the next version of Evolution.

The next version of Evolution is provided on the next version of Ubuntu, 6.10 (Edgy Eft.) So since this next version goes stable on the 26th October, I thought I'd bite the bullet and upgrade now. This went less than super smooth. See this forum post. However, (my english teacher would kill me for that,) after following fix instructions it all seems pretty damn stable.

Hats off to Edgy!

Missing the CU at aber

Maybe someone in the CU will read this.

I've had quite a strengthening experience in relying on God for help and support. Bringing me into the church family in Galway. I now have brothers and sisters who are a strong support in place of my family and friends back in the UK.

Jesus is my Rock. He never fails and never leaves me, especially when he is teaching me through trials and struggles. The lesson he seems to have focused me on is spending time with people, and not being so task oriented. "As long as it takes." This is a good phrase to describe how much time we should spend with those who haven't yet claimed their salvation.

Jesus is holding out the gift of eternal life with open arms. Revelation 22:17 -

The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

Nobody is excluded.

Jesus is trying to remove my stubborn and selfish nature, so that I will spend time with the people he loves.

I hope that if you do know the freedom to fight against sin, that you will know the value of spending time with people. More importantly, if you do not know this freedom from the shackles that sin can keep us in, I hope that Jesus would send a person to spend time with you, to be a light in darkness.

oldGames == goodGames

I've got my gp2x, and have some games on it, namely Duke Nukem 3D, Sam 'n' Max Hit the Road and Day of the Tentacle. All work pretty much fine. A must in terms of purchase of a gp2x is some 2000mAh or greater rechargable AA batteries. I'd say 6 should do, so you can have some on charge, some in the gp2x and some spare with you.

Duke 3D is pretty rockin, brings me back to the days of skewed perspectives and a bit of auto-aim. I can't cheat cos I'd need a keyboard to put the cheats in, but it actually gives me a challenge. I could do with a way to un-bind some of the controls as I currently have JUMP and LOOK UP on the same button. :)

Sam 'n' Max has just got dufficult as the Whack A Rat game really neads a mouse, but it plays perfectly apart from that.

Day of the Tentacle is pretty much a ditto of Sam 'n' Max, scummvm is pretty damn hot for gp2x. I'm looking to maybe get hold of a copy of some of the Monkey Island series. I just want to laugh at the cheesey jokes.

I have tried the video playback, about a 5mb divx in a .avi file. Played nicely. Also put a few photos on it too. The image viewer's rotate function with the shoulder buttons it damn quick and impressive. I bought a 1Gb SD card and have all my game stuff on that.

That's all on the gp2x for now, if you want specifics on anthing to do with anything mentioned here, post a comment or email me with WARPY in the subject -> munk3h@gmail.com

I misses Aber, yar!!!

I thought I should post about why Aber's great and why I miss it.

I miss going to the Ship and Castle with all the lads: Baz, OT, Indie, Alex, Fisk and Paul Brasil when he drops by. Getting a guest ale for £2.20, or £2.40 depending on the bar staff, and maybe a few free games of pool during the day.

I think those days are all but gone for me. Won't be back in Aber till Sept 2007, but I'm sure I'll see some of the lads before then.

Aber's great cos if the weather's nice you can just while away the hours on the beach, and if it's bad outside you can pile into any of the great pubs. The Ship and Castle, The Castle, Coopers Arms, The Angel ( with IndieSoc. on Monday night ) and if you're up on the campus during the day you can nearly always get a pool table in the Union.

Not up for drinking, then why not see a film. Stuff the food from 24hr Spar into yer coat pockets and grab a pint in the bar under the cinema. Sit back and watch Revenge of the Sith while sippin' on Brains and muching down Wings n Wedges, beautiful!

Bored still, swing by the brown house, or even the pink house and there's sure to be a friendly face with something to talk about. With DVD rentals at £1.50 a pop from Pier Video and 50p back for an early return how can you possibly be stuck for stuff to do. But it's all nothing without the lads!