IT Support London Technical Business Blog from infrasup ltd

Summer is Finally Here

2011-08-03T18:08:00.001+01:00

"Woof! there it is " ..... bark and the summer is gone....Enjoy ity whilst it lasts

Highlights from STAC Performance summit June 2011

2011-06-09T16:09:00.004+01:00

Major event happened in London Yesterday bringing Buy and Sell sides togther to discuss issues and new inovations within the Securities Finance and Banking industries.

Professionals vendors and specialist consultancies attending the event continue to strive for better performance and less latency for trading purposes, pushing the boundaries of Modern technology and Parallelisation

Through Panel Deiscussion and 5 Minute inovation slots by vendors a full update in the industry was presented

Highlights included:

New regulatory body will improve audit of trading techniques included current I.T used. This may include audit of all orders to subdue ' short selling' and other trading methods

Oracle details its new 'Appliance' solution called Exadata. This merges propriotory O/S Hardware and Storage for an ultra low latency 'Combined solution'. A Major Market Data Vendor is interseted in implementing this is their latest Position Keeping and Risk system.

Discussion on Impact of Non Software Middleware from such companies as Soltace which is alredy offering competative edge to London based trading engines and could have major impact on the 'Top Three' Market Data and Messaging Vendors MQ Series Reuters and Tibco.

Further discussion on programing techniques to increase and reduce latency 'Jitter'

Changes in Intel and AMD Chips to integrate GPU.

If you would like more information please contact us

IT Support London

DNS special symbols

2011-05-19T05:34:00.005+01:00

"*" means any hosts which are not defined in DNS will be sent to the configured dns entry ( host)
in example any hosts not defined in the domain dns like newhost.mydomain.com will be resolved to IP address of dmz.mydomain.com
( CNAME is this example is alias)

"@" symbol in any DNS entry means 'Primary' which means just the domain name need to be specified. For hosts where you dont want a dns host name to have to specified in front of the your domain for a particular purpose. This is useful for email hosts ( mail exchangers or MX records in DNS)
so no other name is needed in front of the domain name

example dns entries

* CNAME dmz.myisp.com
@ MX mxchange.mydomain.com 5
@ MX backupmx.mydomain.com 10
poormx MX mydomain.com 20
mxchange A 52.25.134.234
backupmx CNAME backup.external-ispdomain.com
vpn-hosts A 52.25.134.235

In the example, two mail servers are enabled for mydoamin.com. Should mxchange.mydomain.com fail then backupmx.mydomain would receive email untill mxchange ( the primary server comes back online. notice the DNS priority Preference no's . The lower the number the higher the priority or the order in which the servers should be contacted.

backupmx.mydomain.com in example above is infact an alias for an ISP mail server definined in CNAME ( canonical name) entry lower down backup.external-ispdomain.com. So when the companies internal mail server fails their isp mail server takes over, until the private mail server is back online.

Mail backup servers or relays configuration are not part of this note.

@ is typically used in MX Mail Exchange record where you dont want the hostname to proceed the domain like poormx (above) otherwise your email address would look like someone@poormx.mydomain.com instead of someone@mydomain.com

to check dns entries which you have made have taken effect. use 'dig' on linux/unix hosts

or on windows 'nslookup'
then type
'set type =mx'
'mydomain.com'

will show current like mx records and their route values
mydomain.com MX Preference = 5, mail exchanger =mxchange.mydomain.com
mydomain.com MX Preference = 10 mail exchanger = backupmx.mydomain.com
mydomain.com MX Preerence = 20 mail exchanger = poormx.mydomain.com

REMEMBER DNS replication outside the UK to other Internet facing DNS servers might take upto 5 hours to replicate !

How to create a USB Install Device for Red Hat

2011-03-25T08:25:00.002Z

I always forget how to do this so Ive posted a Link for reference

http://docs.redhat.com/docs/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/5/html/Installation_Guide/ch02s04.html

Regards

Chris

IT Support London

extracting files form .iso images on Linux and Solaris

2011-01-30T06:09:00.003Z

To view the file contents inside a .iso file

Linux:
mkdir /mnt/iso
mount -o loop image.iso /mnt/iso

ls -al /mnt/iso to view files

or

Solaris:
mount .iso file as device
lofiadm -a /solaris10/iso/sol-10-u7-ga-x86-v1.iso /dev/lofi/1

mount device to file system
mount -F hsfs -o ro /dev/lofi/1 /mnt

ls -al /mnt to view files

it support london since 1990

Updated Redhat Virtualisation slides

2011-01-20T15:43:00.003Z

After a recent webinar here is some interesting slides detailing how Redhat Virtualisation has progressed to date

http://www.infrasup.com/downloads/redhat-virtualisation-jan-2011.pdf

see page 19 for a price comparison

it support london Since 1990

Linux: search files hogging space on server files system

2011-01-11T16:45:00.003Z

Ever had a server with a full File system and unsure where the issue is ?

use the command below to show disk usage in size order

as superuser

du -sk /* |sort -nr

Enjoy !

it support london Since 1990

Install Redhat 6 Beta

2010-12-12T11:47:00.004Z

We had issue with the grahics card and harddrive we were trying to use for the lastest Redhat 6 installation ( beta)

To get round these issues use a harddrive which is supported by your PC bios ie under 500MB
Some large disk 2TB are not supported fully by the system BIOS

Secondly you can install RHEL6 remotely via vnc client

to do this edit the Grub options on startup a vnc server from installation DVD like:

vnc vncpassword=Rem0teinstall ip=172.16.55.10 netmask=255.255.0.0 gateway=172.16.0.1

Then you can simply connect you vnc client to the vnc install server to manually run the install program

infrasup Technology Blog now on Facebook

2010-12-12T11:02:00.003Z

All new post's and facebook updates can be found by following us at

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Infrasup-IT-support-london/113172508750779

apple Mac create usb boot disk from .iso

2010-11-04T20:51:00.004Z

Download the .iso image or copy to your Mac

open 'Terminal' from applications/utilities

in terminal navigate to the downloaded iso

cd /Downloads

then create .img from .iso

'hdiutil convert -format UDRW -o bootcdrom-image.img boot-cdrom-iso.iso'

MacOSX tends to add .dmg to end of name

next insert usb flash drive and list all devices to determine the usb flash device name

diskutil list
/dev/disk0
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *160.0 GB disk0
1: EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_HFS data 80.0 GB disk0s2
3: Apple_HFS Untitled 2 79.5 GB disk0s3
/dev/disk1
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: FDisk_partition_scheme *1.0 GB disk1
1: DOS_FAT_32 MULTIBOOT 1.0 GB disk1s1
/dev/disk2
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: bootcdrom-image *729.7 MB disk2

in our case above usb disk is /dev/disk1 (1GB disk)

unmount the usb drive

i.e

diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk1

Unmount of all volumes on disk1 was successful

create usb image of .dmg file created earlier

sudo dd if=./bootcdrom-image.img.dmg of=/dev/rdisk1 ( note /dev/rdisk1 and not /dev/disk1 as shown in diskutil list)

wait for some time for copy to complete.

To check progess you could open a new terminal window and type 'iostat 5'

you wil see stats update for disk 0 and disk 1 ( in our case) hard drive to usb drive whilst copy if going on

disk0 disk1 disk2 cpu load average

KB/t tps MB/s KB/t tps MB/s KB/t tps MB/s us sy id 1m 5m 15m

28.01 61 1.67 0.50 79 0.04 1.29 0 0.00 5 6 88 0.91 0.53 0.34

76.66 22 1.63 0.50 1970 0.96 0.00 0 0.00 2 40 59 0.92 0.54 0.35

108.34 9 0.99 0.50 1996 0.97 0.00 0 0.00 2 37 61 0.93 0.55 0.35

350.32 4 1.30 0.50 1147 0.56 0.00 0 0.00 3 22 75 0.85 0.54 0.35

23.90 40 0.93 0.50 1598 0.78 0.00 0 0.00 0 34 66 0.94 0.56 0.36

227.26 8 1.69 0.50 1989 0.97 0.00 0 0.00 2 37 61 0.95 0.57 0.36

55.97 41 2.23 0.50 1997 0.98 0.00 0 0.00 2 37 62 0.95 0.58 0.36

37.38 47 1.71 0.50 2007 0.98 0.00 0 0.00 2 37 61 0.96 0.58 0.37

45.29 42 1.84 0.50 1986 0.97 0.00 0 0.00 3 37 60 0.96 0.59 0.37

35.61 57 1.97 0.50 1993 0.97 0.00 0 0.00 2 37 61 0.88 0.58 0.37

after the dd has complete you can close down the mac and remote the usb flash drive

you'll see something like.....

1425188+0 records in

1425188+0 records out

729696256 bytes transferred in 742.131480 secs (983244 bytes/sec)

you can close down the mac and remote the usb flash drive

then you can plug in usbdrive to mac or pc to boot from

it support london Since 1990

MAC how to change hostname on command line via Terminal

2010-09-26T10:26:00.005+01:00

To change your Mac's Fully Qualified Hostname open a terminal window, and become superuser

su ( then type your su admin password)

sudo the command below

First type 'hostname'

your hostname will look something like

sh-3.2# hostname

mymac.local

To change this to your desired dns domain name

type

scutil --set HostName mymac.mynewdomain.co.uk

sudo scutil --set HostName mymac.mynewdomain.co.uk ( if you havent already become su)

Then type 'hostname' again to check the change

sh-3.2# hostname

mymac.mynewdomain.co.uk

IT Support London since 1990

find out which version of Ubuntu or Debian your running

2010-02-27T19:15:00.001Z

to find out which version of Ubuntu or Debian Linux you are running

lsb_release -a

No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Debian
Description: Debian GNU/Linux 5.0.4 (lenny)
Release: 5.0.4
Codename: lenny

lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 9.10
Release: 9.10
Codename: karmic

Solaris 10 mount .iso read .pkg

2010-01-31T22:11:00.002Z

Need to see whats inside or install Solaris 10 from a .iso file ?

lofiadm -a /export/home/sol-10-u7-ga-x86-v3.iso

/dev/lofi/1

mount -o ro -F hsfs /dev/lofi/1 /mnt

cd /mnt

# ls -l

individual packages can then be added by

pkgadd -d /mnt/Solaris_10/Product SUNWxvnc

Solaris find Serial Number of Sun Intel/Sparc Hardware

2009-06-15T06:21:00.004+01:00

When you phone Sun support or third parties, they always ask for the serial number of the machine you need assistance with.

On Solaris 10 (or Solaris 8 from 4/01) on Sun Intel / Sparc hardware, you can now find the serial number of a remote piece of Sun hardware, from the command line.

This will obviously save you from visiting each machine in your inventory and finding the little lable on the chassis.....

sneep -a

also available from http://www.sun.com/sneep

IT Support London since 1990

Can't Remote desktop to Vista from Red Hat Linux ?

2009-05-30T08:57:00.004+01:00

Until Vista arrived it was relatively straight forward to connect to microsoft server or PC's from Linux using krdc or rdesktop utilities.

Although XP and Windows 2003 can still be connected from standard yum updated versions of rdesktop, Vista doesnt work.

This is because Microsoft changed the encription and pixel levels in Vista mstsc, so to connect you need to upgrade your linux client

You normaly see the image of the vista remote PC quickly flash and disapear ( in krdc) or using rdesktop 1.4 something like
"rdesktop 192.168.1.5
ERROR: Modules len 0x108
ERROR: send: Connection reset by peer
Error Connection closed"

in Redhat RHEL5 list the current version of rdesktop installed

'yum list installedgrep rdesktop'
rdesktop.i386 1.4.1-6

if your version like above is not 1.5 or better 1.6 then you need to upgrade

go to http://www.rdesktop.org

Download the rdesktop-1.6.0.tar.gz file to /tmp

cd /tmp/rdesktop-1.6.0.

./configure
make
make install

Then run it “/usr/local/bin/rdesktop 192.168.1.5”

Vista console should now show on your Linux/rhel 5 server screen
(as long as all the usual remote settings have been made on vista remote pc, firewall 3389 enabled etc)

Have fun

Chris

IT Support London since 1990

Redirecting boot console RHEL5 and Xen

2009-05-23T15:33:00.005+01:00

If your server/pc is recent enough to allow console redirection from the bios to a serial port or has a Fujitsu iRMC or ilo your need to change the /etc/grub.conf to allow bootup process to be monitored

Many manufactuers provide full console redirection at VGA resolution for an additional license fee around £200

But if you just want a serial redirection in an emergency you dont really new the full GUI especially if youve not install gnome Xwindows or KDE.
With text only display this should be available free of charge if you have iLO or iRMC or Sun XSCF

If you wanna use Redhat as the boot O/S you'll need to edit the grub.conf to enable the boot process to be displayed via a serial port ( tty)

in red hat rhel 5 , the example below shows com1 or tty0 redirection:

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
# root (hd0,0)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVolroot
# initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
serial --unit=0 --speed=57600 --word=8 --parity=no --stop=1
terminal --timeout=5 console serial
title Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.18-128.1.10.el5)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVolroot console=tty0 console=ttyS0,57600n8 rhgb quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.img

then if you connect via ssh to irmc port or via https and open redirected console window

However if your booting Xen kernels you need to change further lines

title Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.18-128.1.10.el5xen)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /xen.gz-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5 com1=57600,8n1
module /vmlinuz-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5xen ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVolroot console=tty0 console=ttyS0,57600n8 rhgb quiet
module /initrd-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5xen.img

Hey presto you then get a output like below !

Starting anacron: [ OK ]
Starting atd: [ OK ]
Starting jexec: Starting jexec services[ OK ]
Starting background readahead: [ OK ]
Starting libvirtd daemon: [ OK ]
Starting Red Hat Network Daemon: [ OK ]
Starting yum-updatesd: [ OK ]
Starting Avahi daemon... Bridge firewalling registeredvirbr0: [ OK ]
Starting HAL daemon: [ OK ]
Starting xend: xenbr0: feature.peth0: Promiscuous mode enabled.[ OK ]
Starting RHN Managed Xen Domains:[ OK ]
Starting smartd: [ OK ]

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5.3 (Tikanga)
Kernel 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5xen on an x86_64

if you now would like to connect to com1 via a cable or have an interactive login on tty0 remotely add the following to the bottom of your /etc/inittab

# allow interactive shell or serial cable connection com1 (ttyS0)
S0:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -L 57600 ttyS0 vt100

Quite useful

Chris

infrasup helping Business in London with I.T support since 1990

Vista , XP and Apple Immediate Remote I.T Support London

2009-04-02T06:28:00.012+01:00

It maybe stating the obvious but Microsoft and Apple, both have built some cool devices into their desktops to enable you to get remote I.T support from Companies like infrasup Simply follow the instructions below, to enable us to log into your machine from our office and help you fix I.T issues.

Click on ‘Start’, ‘Help and Support’

Then ‘Windows Remote Assistance’

Then select ‘Invite Someone you trust to help you’

Select ‘Email invitation’

Type Password like ‘RemoteSupport2009’

After a brief pause you should see a window like this. Please use the email for us in the picture

Then after we receive this email and we run the attachment, you will be asked if you want to accept our connection, as we try to connect to your PC. Click on ‘Yes’

And then

Hey PRESTO! we should have full access to your desktop from our office

We hope you find this useful

infrasup helping Business in London with I.T support since 1990

SONY AIT 460V Tape drive on Rhel 5, tar fails mt OK

2009-01-19T15:17:00.003Z

We've being having issues in the office with a SONY 460V IDE tape drive in a test Fujitsu Siemans Econnel 100, Red Hat RHEL 5.2 machine.

All the comands on Sonytape tool and mt ( mt-st yum rpm package) seem to work OK

However run tar -cvf /dev/st0 anyfile' or dd or cpio
the command stops after a few mins with:

'tar: /dev/st0: Cannot open: Input/output error
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now'

After this the device seems to be dropped and you can no longer see the drive

We found that
rmmod ide_scsimod
probe ide_scsi
got the drive working again, but tar never completed

After a lot of forum bashing , firmware uploads and trail and error this is the fix for the

Contary to what cruzeta says later on http://forums.fedoraforum.org/archive/index.php/t-145201.html this fix worked for us...............

remove DMA support from IDE

vi /etc/grub.conf

#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.18-92.1.22.el5)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-92.1.22.el5 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb ide=nodma quiet crashkernel=1728M@16M

also add modprobe-scsi to /etc/rc.local
#
touch /var/lock/subsys/local
# add for tape drive
modprobe ide-scsi

test with ./sonytape /dev/st0 -t ( should give you an ouptu file called nori_trace.txt )

then try
tar -cvf /dev/st0 /home/*

you should no longer see tar: /dev/st0: Cannot open: Input/output error
or anything in /var/log/messages

good luck

Create ISO image from CDROM / DVD Red Hat RHEL 5.1

2008-12-10T09:23:00.004Z

Simple command to create an ISO image of a CD or DVD on Redhat rhel 5.1.
NO ADDITIONAL software or utilities need to be installed but the interface is not exactly user friendly

dd if=/dev/hdc of=/tmp/my_cd_backup_iso_file.iso

However, if you want to 'burn CD' from an iso file on a redhat ide type CDRW drive ,use:

cdrecord -v -dev ATAPI:/dev/hdc -data my_iso_file_to_burn.iso

To Blank a rw dvd

make sure dvd+rw-tools.i386 package is installed

yum listgrep dvd

or download from rhn

yum install dvd+rw-tools

then format the dvdrw

/usr/bin/dvd+rw-format /dev/cdrom

Happy burning!

CS

IT Support London since 1990

Find real Version of Redhat Installed

2008-11-28T09:45:00.002Z

uname -a will show you the kernal discription and type

ie. Linux rh-64.test.dev.ldn 2.6.18-92.el5 #1 SMP Tue Apr 29 13:16:15 EDT 2008 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

but to find the actual version of Red Hat you are running

more /etc/redhat-release

i.e Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5.2 (Tikanga)

Cheers

Chris

Easy Guide to dual booting Mac OS X with Vista or XP

2008-11-20T16:28:00.003Z

The new hardware from apple is ideal for anyone wanting to use the best of Microsoft and Apple on one piece of hardware

Thanks to some clever utilities called 'Boot Camp' it is very easy to install Windows Vista or XP
onto any exisiting Mac OS X Partition

Simply enter the utility and follow the instructions to create a new windows partiton and boot into the regular vista setup, then install xp or vista to the new seperate partition.

Once installed all the VGA, Ethernet, Airport and sounds drivers can be easily installed too, by inserting the regular Mac OS X DVD and runing the setup.exe.

The windows setup.exe version of 'Boot Camp' drivers, even setup apple keyboard for windows too.

The whole process took us under 45 mins to complete, when using Macos 10.5 and Vista Business edition, without any loss of data to the Mac partition and full hardware compatability.

Only downside we have seen is that some recent Microsoft updates trashed out first attempt, rendering Vista unbootable and unrepairable. So its probably best to backup the Windows partition before installed any Microsoft Service packs, especially on Vista.

So far though, weve been very impressed with this cool utility which gives a new Apple user a real value for money experience and easy acessability to their old Windows files and applications

Akbel

Apple Mac Workshop Repair Manuals

2008-11-07T15:43:00.005Z

Weve now published popular Apple Mac WorkShop repair manuals for you to download via http://www.diycomputers.org.uk , our FREE advice site for people wanting to attempt to repair their own Mac's

Current Mac workshop service manuals included for you to download are:

Mac Book Pro 15 inch Repair Manual 2008

Mac Book 13 inch Repair Manual 2008

Mac Mini Repair Manual

iMAC G5 20 inch LCD Repair Manual

eMac Repair Manual

iMac CRT repair Manual

Powerbook Pro G4 15 inch FW 800 Repair Manual

see http://www.diycomputers.org.uk for the full listing

All steps to upgrade RAM, Replace Hard Drives , fix LCD, upgrade super drive etc are included.

If you need an help with apple spares or advice on Mac repair in London, please call us for a quote +44 207 112 6744

cheers Akbel

Apple Mac useful, boot keys and mouse short cuts

2008-11-07T14:53:00.009Z

For any Apple Mac newbies here's a listed of Special Keys on the Apple Keyboard which can be used to help you diagnose issues with your Mac.

CMD Key= apple symbol key
Opt Key = Alt key

Magic Keys used by Mac Hardware "Magic Keys" hold down during boot

• Cmd-V Verbose startup (text console)
• Cmd-S Single user mode
• Opt select which device to boot from Hardrive, External Hard Drive, CD etc
• T Export internal Disk as firewire device
• C Boot from CD-ROM
• N Boot from Network
• X Switch boot device to MacOS X folder
• Opt Boot device selection
• Cmd-Opt-O-F Enter OpenProm prompt
Password ( to add passwd to FIRMWARE)
Setenv Security-mode full ( to maximise security security-mode="none" resets secuirty
printenv ( shows all variables)
Mac-boot ( restart mac -softboot)
Cmd ( boot with virtual memeory switched off v8-9x only)
Shift (boot withour extentions, control panel,startup optionr or virtual memory)
Space ( open extension manager)
R: (Force PowerBook to reset screen)
• Cmd-Opt-P-R Flush OpenProm nvram reset systems devices to default

"Magic Keys" during operation

• Cmd-Shift-3 Create screenshot
• Cmd-Alt-Esc End program
• Ctrl-Cmd-Opt-8 Switch to Black and White :)

Settings for boot-args - may be set by command nvram or in the OpenProm
prompt:
• -v Verbose boot
• -s Single user
• -x Safe (used by kextd)

Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts.

Startup Keystroke Description

Press X during startup Force Mac OS X startup
Press Option-Command-Shift-Delete during startup Bypass primary startup volume and seek a different startup volume (such as a CD or external disk)

Press C during startup Start up from a CD that has a system folder
Press N during startup Attempt to start up from a compatible network server (NetBoot)
Press R during startup Force PowerBook screen reset
Press T during startup Start up in FireWire Target Disk mode
Press Shift during startup start up in Safe Boot mode and temporarily disable login items and non-essential kernel extension files (Mac OS X 10.2 and later)
Press Command-V during startup Start up in Verbose mode.
Press Command-S during startup Start up in Single-User mode

Finder window

Keyboard shortcut Description

Command-W Close Window
Option-Command-W Close all Windows
Command-Right Arrow Expand folder (list view)
Option-Command-Right Arrow Expand folder and nested subfolders (list view)
Command-Left Arrow Collapse Folder (list view)
Option-Command-Up Arrow Open parent folder and close current window

Menu commands

Keyboard shortcut Description
Shift-Command-Q Apple Menu Log out
Shift-Option-Command-Q Apple Menu Log out immediately
Shift-Command-Delete Finder Menu Empty Trash
Option-Shift-Command-Delete Finder Menu Empty Trash without dialog
Command-H Finder Menu Hide Finder
Option-Command-H Finder Menu Hide Others
Command-N File Menu New Finder window
Shift-Command-N File Menu New Folder
Command-O File Menu Open
Command-S File Menu Save
Shift-Command-S File Menu Save as
Command-P File Menu Print
Command-W File Menu Close Window
Option-Command-W File Menu Close all Windows
Command-I File Menu Get Info
Option-Command-I File Menu Show Attributes Inspector
Command-D File Menu Duplicate
Command-L File Menu Make Alias
Command-R File Menu Show original
Command-T File Menu Add to Favorites
Command-Delete File Menu Move to Trash
Command-E File Menu Eject
Command-F File Menu Find
Command-Z Edit Menu Undo
Command-X Edit Menu Cut
Command-C Edit Menu Copy
Command-V Edit Menu Paste
Command-A Edit Menu Select All
Command-1 View Menu View as Icons
Command-2 View Menu View as List
Command-3 View Menu View as Columns
Command-B View Menu Hide Toolbar
Command-J View Menu Show View Options
Command - [ Go Menu Back
Command - ] Go Menu Forward
Shift-Command-C Go Menu Computer
Shift-Command-H Go Menu Home
Shift-Command-I Go Menu iDisk
Shift-Command-A Go Menu Applications
Shift-Command-F Go Menu Favorites
Shift-Command-G Go Menu Goto Folder
Command-K Go Menu Connect to Server
Command-M Window Menu Minimize Window
Option-Command-M Window Menu Minimize All Windows
Command-? Help Menu Open Mac Help
Command-Space Open Spotlight (Mac OS X 10.4 or later)

Universal Access and VoiceOver

Keyboard shortcut Description

Option-Command-* (asterisk) Turn on Zoom
Option-Command-+ (plus) Zoom in
Option-Command-- (minus) Zoom out
Control-Option-Command-* (asterisk) Switch to White on Black
Control-F1 Turn on Full Keyboard Access
When Full Keyboard Access is turned on, you can use the key combinations listed in the table below from the Finder.
Control-F2 Full Keyboard Access Highlight Menu
Control-F3 Full Keyboard Access Highlight Dock
Control-F4 Full Keyboard Access Highlight Window (active) or next window behind it
Control-F5 Full Keyboard Access Highlight Toolbar
Control-F6 Full Keyboard Access Highlight Utility window (palette)
Command-F5 or fn-Command-F5 Turn VoiceOver on or off (Mac OS X 10.4 or later)
Control-Option-F8 or fn-Control-Option-F8 Open VoiceOver Utility (Mac OS X 10.4 or later)
Control-Option-F7 or fn-Control-option-F7 Display VoiceOver menu (Mac OS X 10.4 or later) Control-Option-; or fn-Control-option-; Enable/disable VoiceOver Control-Option lock (Mac OS X 10.4 or later)

The Universal Access preference pane allows you to turn on Mouse Keys. When Mouse Keys is on, you can use the numeric keypad to move the mouse. If your computer doesn't have a numeric keypad, use the Fn (function) key.

Mouse Keys Keystroke Description
8 Move Up
2 Move Down
4 Move Left
6 Move Right
1, 3, 7, and 9 Move Diagonally
5 Press Mouse Button
0 Hold Mouse Button
. (period on keypad)
Release Mouse Button (use after pressing 0)

Other Commands Keystroke Description

Option-Command-D Show/Hide Dock Command-Tab Switch application tab Highlight next item
Command-Up Arrow Move up one directory
Command-Down Arrow Move down one directory
Page Up or Control-Up Arrow Move up one page
Page Down or Control-Down Arrow Move down one page
Option-Drag Copy to new location
Option-Command-Drag Make alias in new location
Command-Drag Move to new location without copying
Shift-Command-C Show Colors palette in application
Command-T Show Font palette in application
Command-Shift-3 Take a picture of the screen, equivalent to Print Screen on PC
Command-Shift-4 Take a picture of the selection
Command-Shift-4, then press Control while selecting Take a picture of the screen, place in Clipboard Command-Shift-4, then Spacebar Take a picture of the selected window
Option-Command-esc Force Quit
Control-Eject Restart, Sleep, Shutdown dialog box
Control-Command-Eject Quit all applications and restart
Option-Command-Eject or Option-Command-Power Sleep Command-click window toolbar button (upper right corner) Cycle through available views for the window's toolbar (dependant on the nature of the Finder or application window)
Command-` Cycle through windows in application or Finder (if more than one window is
open)
Function-Delete (PowerBook, iBook only)
Forward Delete (delete the character to the right of your cursor)

Mount cd image:

Open terminal
cd /volumes
ls to show devices
cd "/volumes/eMac Restore CD/.images"
Open ./Classic.dmg ( this will attach the volume as another drive)

Have fun

Mark

resize linux root partition

2008-10-20T07:53:00.005+01:00

The last year that ive been doing I.T Support in London, Ive seen quite a few linux servers which dont have sufficent root partition space.

So here's a procedure ive used several times to extend a ext3 root partiton and filesystem on redhat enterprise 5

If you use ext3 ( not LVM) as your root patition and you run out of space this procedure will enable you to create a larger partition, move existing root files to the new partition and expand the filesystem to new size.

You need to have enough spare disk space on your disk to create a large parition, or fit an additional disk to the server.

This guide is detailing resize2fs utility only. Other third party tools can change the partition itself, but this entry details our current procedure.

In this example partion 5 contains the original root partition and partition 6 is the next available spare area of disk

1.Always backup the partition you will be copying in case of errors.

2. boot from redhat cd1/dvd ( rescue CD or first boot cd)
at boot prompt type
:'linux rescue'
when prompted, dont mount the disk partitions you need to change
(umount /dev/sda5 if needed)

3. create the new partition 9no6) using fdisk
fdisk /dev/sda
(m)ake a new partion at the correct size ( partion 6)
(w)rite the partiton to disk

4. reboot and boot from rhel cd again for partition table to be loaded
fsck.ext3 -f /dev/sda5 ( check original fsystem is clean)

5. copy the old partion files to the new larger partition
dd if=/dev/sda5 of=/dev/sd6
(This can take some time, no progress is show)

Note: dd copies original partiton contents and filesystem size ( inodes), so when you next reboot it will apprear the new partion size has shrunk to the old partition size.
This is becase dd does a track by track copy of the original data including any spare filesystem.
As we hav'nt create the filesystem on the new disk so it is using exactly the same data as partition 5.

Logical Volume Manager (LVM) can be then used to create inodes upto the end of the new partiion size.

Remember resize2fs is not able to extend a partion itself ,only any unused filesystem within that partition.

6. Next you need to extend inodes to continue to the end of the new partion,but keeping the original copied root data untouched .

/sbin/resize2fs -p /dev/sda5 9000M ( extends the file system to 9 GB, the actual partition max size)

This will only extend the filesystem to the current partition size. As mentioned above, if the partition is not big enough (d)elete and (w)wrie the new partion again in fdisk.

Once the correct size and disk dump has completed ,delete the orginal partition on the disk.

In example if you remove sda5 then the new partition sda6 becomes sda5, so there is not need to change partition lables or edit /etc/fstab

Occasionally we have seen that you might need to rewite the journel if the disk doesnt mount properly on first reboot.

Boot from cdrom again,

tune2fs -j /dev/sda5
or tune2fs -O has_journal /dev/sda5 ( to remove the journel or make partition on an older ext version)

Have fun
Akbel

Red Hat 5 ip forwarding

2008-10-10T10:19:00.003+01:00

By Default , whether firewall and SELinux are switched on or not, Traffic will NOT be routed between two network cards in a Red hat box. You need to manually setup as a router

To make the machine act as a router, you need to add some policies to iptables and enable
/etc/sysctl.conf net.ipv4.ip_forward=1

iptables -A FORWARD -i eth1 -j ACCEPT ( allow network ip's from eth1 thru )
iptables -A FORWARD -o eth1 -j ACCEPT

add the line below to iptables script in /etc/init.d/iptables

iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE
masks requests from LAN nodes with IP of the eth0

Note: masquerade not show in /sbin/iptables -L for some strange reason
In the example above eth1 is Internet side eth0 is private LAN

Set the default gateway to pint to dns/inetrnet router

test from client on Private LAN ,should be set to defaultgateway to eth1 to test packet forwarding.

On Linux Check operation using /usr/sbin/tcpdump -X port 80 -i eth0 -w filename
/usr/sbin/tcpdump -r filename -X port 80

Regards

Chris

Increasing SBS 2003 MS Exchange 2003 Mailbox / Message store sizes

2008-07-28T09:04:00.007+01:00

By default all MS SBS users have a maximum mailbox size of 200MB.

The user will receive a message in outlook indicating their mailbox has reached its limit at 175MB

This can be increased individually per user up to 2GB ( 2097151 KB) using the SBS Server Management, Users, Exchange General Tab and Storage Limits button

However this can mean one user is hogging the whole exchange storage. So lets look at the big picture

ALSO REMEMBER this will also effect the maximum users that you can support of your SBS server, as well as it being harder to administer the system ( if all users max mailbox sizes are different)

All Mail box sizes are displayed from SBS server
Administrator tools, Server Management, Advanced, Exchange, Administrive groups, First Administrive Group, Servers, , First Storage group, Mailbox store, Mailboxes

Total storage group size =(user1+user2+user3)

Default of the whole mailbox store database is limited to 18GB following the installation of Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2. A registry change is required to enable the database to grow to the new 75GB limit

This is covered in step by step instructions via http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=67569

DO NOT go any further unless you have a full system backup including the mailbox stores. Corruption can result if mistakes are made and it may require a complete reload of Windows 2003 SBS and or Exchange 2003.

Once you have unmounted , reconfigured new storage size ( using regedit) for mailbox store and remounted the message store (with no errors in event viewer) you need to configure message store monitoring..... This comes a little tricky

You want event viewer to tell you if the databse is getting full or possibly email you so you can perform maintenance.

But, once again, if you try and use Exchange Mailbox Store properties, Limits, you cant set the value above 2097151 !

So to increase the maximum database size warning threshhold "Issue Warning at" or "Prohibit send and receive" , instead of the Exchange gui, you need to use adsiedit

This tool can create some real damage, so be careful.

First you need to download adsiedit plugin ( Windows Support tools) from

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=6EC50B78-8BE1-4E81-B3BE-4E7AC4F0912D&displaylang=en

Then install the support tools in c:\program files\support tools

Run a DOS command prompt from c:\program files\support tools\adsiedit.msc

If you want to increase users mailbox above 2GB you will also need to follow instructions, as once again the gui is set NOT to allow greater size than 2097151

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930366

NOTE: We had Error setting the mailbox store value as detailed by Microsoft on our SR2 SBS 2003 servers.

We saw "the server is unwilling to process this event" using the configuration MS recommend. All values where Greyed out and we could amend the size parameters

Instead we configured using different adsiedit paramters found in

Configuration [YOUR_SERVER.YOUR_DOMAIN.london]

CN=Configuration,DC=YOUR DOMAN,DC=london

CN=ServicesCN=Microsoft Exchange

CN=YOUR_DOMAIN

CN=Administrative Groups

CN=first administrative group

CN=Servers

CN=YOUR_SERVERNAME

CN=InformationStore

CN=First Storage Group

CN=Mailbox Store (YOUR_SERVERNAME)

like

the mDB parameters map to Exchnage gui parameters

mDBStorageQuota Prohibit = Issue warning at (KB)

mDBOverQuotaLimit Prohibit = Prohibit send at (KB)

mDBOverHardQuotaLimit = Prohibit send and receive at (KB)

The user parameters also needed finding for us on SBS too.

Domain [YOUR_SERVER.YOUR_DOMAIN]

DC=DOMAIN,DC=london

OU=MyBusiness

OU=Users

OU=SBSUsers

So you should now have configured a large Database size, and increased the monitoing of when theta data and user mailbox begin to be used again.

The only disadvantage of doing all this, is now you have to configure Database and user limits using adsiedit.smc, the SBS guis wont work above 2GB. I suspect this is resolved in 2008 SBS

Akbel

trace users to hostname on Windows domain - PsTools

2008-07-25T13:13:00.007+01:00

After nbtstat was disabled by Microsoft you can now use a utility to search for usernames and PC's on the windows domain and see who is logged in.

Download the utilies from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896649.aspx

then run

psloggedon BrainCant -l ( find where user is logged in )

and see something replied back like

'LONDON\BrainCant logged onto ldn-sales-pc24 locally'

or psloggedon -l \\ldn-sales-pc24

loggedon v1.33 - See who's logged on
Copyright ⌐ 2000-2006 Mark Russinovich
Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com

Users logged on locally:
Error: could not retrieve logon time
NT AUTHORITY\LOCAL SERVICE
Error: could not retrieve logon time
NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE
13/07/2008 08:25:50 LONDON\BrianCant
Error: could not retrieve logon time
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM

Other useful utilities are included to run service remotely and dump event logs are useful too

Ie pslist \\ldn-sales-pc24

Process information for ldn-sales-pc24 :

Name Pid Pri Thd Hnd Priv CPU Time Elapsed Time
Idle 0 0 4 0 0 762:12:56.359 0:00:00.000
System 4 8 85 2606 0 9:49:53.109 0:00:00.000
smss 384 11 3 21 164 0:00:00.359 218:21:51.437
csrss 440 13 12 1024 1936 0:05:43.421 218:21:46.671
winlogon 464 13 23 668 10596 0:00:48.781 218:21:39.093
services 508 9 17 487 7556 0:25:07.546 218:21:38.937
lsass 520 9 22 716 5144 0:25:50.796 218:21:38.921
svchost 692 8 22 241 3028 0:00:09.875 218:21:38.249
svchost 740 8 11 552 2492 0:02:44.609 218:21:38.077
svchost 808 8 65 1707 19544 0:04:57.250 218:21:38.015
svchost 924 8 6 87 1412 1:59:58.000 218:21:37.968
svchost 972 8 18 348 3304 0:00:05.437 218:21:37.921
spoolsv 1128 8 12 199 6344 22:05:51.109 218:21:37.405
scardsvr 1176 8 10 109 944 0:00:00.375 218:21:37.343
residentAgent 1288 8 7 106 1152 0:00:03.984 218:21:35.405
DACS_S~1 1336 8 4 74 18100 0:01:25.000 218:21:35.312
GoogleUpdaterService 1388 8 9 188 2496 0:01:56.531 218:21:35.280
LocalSch 1416 8 4 51 520 0:00:13.343 218:21:35.249
pds 1456 8 4 63 940 0:00:01.265 218:21:35.218
tmcsvc 1540 8 12 102 4200 0:00:04.781 218:21:35.077
issuser 1568 8 7 95 1848 0:00:00.765 218:21:35.046
Matrox.PowerDesk.Services 1628 8 2 44 4328 58:59:40.953 218:21:35.
015
FrameworkService 1672 8 35 387 9272 0:02:24.437 218:21:34.983
Mcshield 1744 13 53 432 83476 0:15:50.281 218:21:34.718
VsTskMgr 1780 8 17 307 7388 0:02:57.281 218:21:34.671
MDM 1860 8 4 98 1048 0:00:00.578 218:21:33.749
svchost 1976 8 2 67 1088 0:00:03.812 218:21:33.421
svchost 1988 8 2 69 1196 0:00:01.781 218:21:33.343
sync 2044 8 5 191 1968 0:00:03.031 218:21:33.233
collector 404 8 1 53 604 0:00:04.906 218:21:32.796
SoftMon 668 8 5 88 40492 0:13:36.093 218:21:32.593
svchost 788 8 6 138 2692 0:00:17.250 218:21:32.562
wdfmgr 840 8 4 70 1496 0:00:00.359 218:21:32.343
rvd 1300 8 16 225 41232 2:02:13.812 218:21:30.218
rcgui 2784 8 2 42 1048 0:00:03.250 218:21:15.140
explorer 3868 8 13 520 14632 0:14:39.062 195:14:12.519
UdaterUI 4828 8 5 125 3232 0:00:11.343 195:14:11.394
shstat 3532 8 8 84 1780 0:00:01.250 195:14:11.332
Matrox.PowerDesk SE 3392 8 1 52 4572 0:00:15.296 195:14:11.300
Mctray 4236 8 1 25 564 0:00:08.687 195:14:11.160
SDClientMonitor 5176 8 1 38 864 0:00:04.125 195:14:11.035
SweetIM 3732 8 5 157 1956 0:00:06.078 195:14:10.566
jusched 5132 8 3 205 1716 0:00:06.781 195:14:10.535
aetcrss1 2492 8 2 64 884 0:00:04.093 195:14:10.504
RMC 656 8 26 814 38200 0:04:11.703 195:14:10.441
ctfmon 4068 8 1 188 1156 0:00:34.703 195:14:10.129
VideoAdvantage 4676 8 13 206 13844 0:01:12.296 195:14:09.769
ifagent 2028 8 3 71 876 0:00:14.046 195:14:09.347
YahooMessenger 4168 8 43 2331 37840 0:02:26.734 195:14:09.285
IEXPLORE 4628 8 14 1033 42216 0:04:59.687 195:13:43.218
OUTLOOK 3084 8 27 1175 106664 0:27:30.453 190:18:05.551
WINWORD 680 8 18 932 46992 0:02:50.546 190:17:52.831

pskill 680 \\ldn-sales-pc24

Saves your legs a bit, handy for remote support too

Ringo

Tibco RVD Monitoring stats

2008-07-21T17:23:00.007+01:00

Here's a basic perl script to help you monitor the status or RVD clients on your infrastructure -> rvhosts.pl

Ive found this useful to look for any users machines who maybe stuggling on the network due to performance issues ( CPU or RAM limitations).

I.E

Host "172.27.36.155" lost point-to-point message
RV: Lost 1 broadcast messages from host "172.27.36.155"
ERROR: RV: Lost 1 broadcast messages from host "172.27.36.155"
ERROR: RV: Host "172.27.36.155" lost point-to-point message
RV: Lost 2 broadcast messages from host "172.27.36.155"
RV: Lost 2 broadcast messages from host "172.27.36.155"
ERROR: RV: Host "172.27.36.155" lost point-to-point message

What the script basically does is listens to RVD status messages ( which rvd process generates every 90 seconds )and displays in a readable format.The headings are quite useful as its difficult to find documentation on this .

tibrvlisten -daemon ... -network ... - service... "_RV.>"

#hostaddr ip address of host
#sn Serial number or ticket file
#os version of Operating system
#ver rvd version
#up rvd uptime
#ms Messages Sent
#bs Bytes Sent
#mr Messages Received
#br Bytes Received
#ps Packets sent
#pr Packets received
#rx *Retransmitted Packets
#pm *Missed Packets

Adapt this script slightly and you can print stats to a webpage or .csv fomat for excel/reporting.

Best Regards

Chris

Perl Script to email on NT backup failure

2008-07-18T10:10:00.005+01:00

Dear All,

Its handy to know when your auto backup product ( in this case Microsoft NT Backup) has failed on your Server or PC.

It maybe because disk space is low or data corruption, either way you want to know about it, so you can resolve the problem before you miss too many backups.

The perl script below checks a log directory for last updated file and looks for Error keywords and then emails out to admin@email.com

Download the Windows Sendmail ' bmail ' client app, this works great

#!C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe
# SEARCH-NEW-ERROR-EMAIL.PL
# list files in a directory and sort by Modified time
# check for 'Error' in last last modofied file and email if exisits
# ----help@infrasup.com March 2008

$dir = "C:\\Documents and Settings\\Administrator\\Local Settings\\Application Data\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\NTBackup\\data\\";
opendir (DIR, $dir);
@dir=readdir(DIR);
closedir(DIR);

@dir = sort { -M "$dir/$a" <=> -M "$dir/$b" } (@dir);

print "@dir\n"; # print all array entries

$file=$dir[0]; # only print files not '.' or '..'
print "$file\n";

# convert unicode log files to ansi file for searching for string

print "$dir$file\n";
open (CONVERT, "|type \"C:\\Documents and Settings\\Administrator\\Local Settings\\Application Data\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\NTBackup\\data\\$file\" > $file ") ;
sleep 5;
print "copied $dir$file to local $file \n";

sleep 2; # little pause to ensure files copied

# search for Error in file
#
#
#
#
open (STRINGS, "$file");
foreach $line ()
{

if ($line =~ m/Error(.*) ./)
{

#$found=1 ;
$description=$1;
print " found Error $description\n" ;
$found="errors found" ;
#print " hello" ; # add new line this is the last field
}

#print "$description" ; # print ; field delimiter for excel

}
print "$found\n";

## email results
if ($found eq "errors found") {

print "MAILED\n";
open (MAIL, "|\"c:/Program Files/bmail/bmail\" -s MAILSVR -t admin\@email.com -a \"Found Error in file backup file '$file' \" -f backups\@email.com -m $file ") || die "bmail failed:$!\n";
}

# note: del .log files in current script directory using a batch file

You can set this script to run every day using Windows Scheduler

Enjoy, Akbel

Reuters DACS check GUI Modifications

2008-07-14T13:51:00.012+01:00

Reuters use Sybase ( Even in DACS 6) as the prefered database for storing users permissions to exchange data for RMDS5 and RMDS6.

Oftern its quicker in Sybase to run SQL queries, than wait for DACS to finish its reporting.

ASE ISQL is quite a nice tool to run from your PC ( similar to Toad)that enables you to interigate the Sybase directly ( without need for DACSUI installed)

For Example, if you want a list of the recent user permissions removed by the DACSUI from the dacs_main database ( on Reuters DACS 5.1 and above) , connect to the Sybase Database manager using the connection parameters below in your sql.ini

then run sql to see modifications
select * from user_ae where site like 'your-site' order by deactivation desc

To find who made the distribtuion changes ( assuming dacs admin user have seperate i'd that they use to make changes)

select * from load_control where site like 'your-site' order by commit_time desc

Some of these sql queries could be created into perl html scripts to display view only output in an intranet for example

Best Regards

Chris

Alternative to Microsoft Exchange and SBS 2003

2008-07-04T10:40:00.006+01:00

Over the last few months we've been testing alternative open source products to Microsoft SBS 2003 and Exchange.

Open
Source is intended to be an alternative method of writing software,
were you offer the source code to be downloaded on the public domain.

The Methodology prevents previous 'Black Box' proprietary
systems, removing the need for clients to always use the same Vendor.

This has the additional benefit for the authoring company that their
product can be tested on many different Hardware, in the community and
reducing the amount of support needed. Also any suggestions for future enhancements can be receieved from the many community contributors

Many Open source solutions offer a community edition to test ( with most features
enabled) or a 30 dat trail, then you need to purchase the full blown version to get the Business critical parts.

Often a support package is needed as well to insure Updates and Telephone/Web based support is available.

One product we have found to be very impressive is Scalix, a serious alternative to Microsoft SBS and Exchange.

You can download a community edition FREE of charge and Installation, Admin
and Migration manuals and Community forums are well used and supported.

Scalix also has an Outlook connector available so you don't even need to change the clients apps.

Run this on top of Redhat RHEL 5 and you have a great, out of the box, replacement for MSoft's/ Lotus domino bespoke system Freeing you use use non Microsoft Groupware solutions ( Anti Sharepoint)

If you would like a trail on this type of solution, which we are now offering as a alternative for Virtual HQ / VPN cleints, Please contact sales and ask for Mark.

XBox 360 overheats

2008-07-04T10:34:00.007+01:00

Apparently early Xbox 360's have issues with overheating.

We would ALWAYS recommend you talk to Microsoft before opening your XBOX.
0870 60 10 100 . They currently offer a FREE repair service

The infamous 3 'red lights of death' display a hardware issue and most times its caused by what appears to be a design fault by Microsoft.

You can debug the error further by extracting a four digit code.
http://www.clevermod.com/index.php?article=38

We've read Various websites and other blogs relating to the VRAM on Main board and Processor issues.

Some users who have sent back their XBOX to Microsoft for repair ( which is the best option - see below) have had Sticky pads fixed to the bottom of the main PCB.

This modifaction appears to fix the main board away from the bottom of the case ( to increase cooling) and to help keep the VRM in position ( some soldering issues have also been mentioned on the VRAM)

So far weve tried 'Pennie mods' and Over heat 'wrapping towel around 360' to clear the lights, but not the ice and vinegar!

But in our experince, after a few minutes the green lights always change back to RED again.

If your XBOX has the S/N sticker and "Microsoft" logo slicker intact, and no obvious signs of opening and was manufactured after Oct 2005, Microsoft will replace your XBOX Free of Charge.

So DONT play with the insides of your XBOX before speaking to Microsoft.

Hope this clarifies things, Ringo