Awk & sed Snippets for SysAdmins

Protected: SuSE Mail Transfer Agent Configuration

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Korn Shell Arrays

Here are a few useful examples of how to use data arrays within Korn shell. Arrays are a great tool for storing user input and other data for quick, on-the-fly access. If, for example, you …

A simple text string search script

Sometimes you need to locate a text string in various configuration files. You don’t know which files. You can just use “grep *”, but the output is rather messy and you can only search in …

Upgrade procedure for phpBB2

The following is an example procedure for upgrading phpBB2 bulletin board software running under Linux. This procedure allows to retain forum customization.

Download “Changed files only” package from http://www.phpbb.com/downloads.php
Tar cvf and gzip the entire phpBB2 installation …

Linux performance tuning

Linux Performance Tuning
April | May 2007 | by Jaqui Lynch
Note: This is the second article in a two-part series. The first installment was published in the February/March issue.
In last issue’s article I introduced basic Linux* …

MySQL query cache

Query cache can significantly speed up database operations for identical search queries. This is particularly useful for Web server applications, where multiple requests for the same data are a regular occurrence.
To enable query caching on …

MySQL LOAD DATA Syntax

Using LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE is a much faster way to insert lots of data into a table than using INSERT. The only preliminary step is to format the input file with unique field separators.
In …

Configuring eMule for Best Performance

“eMule is a peer-to-peer file sharing application that works with both the eDonkey network and the Kad network. The distinguishing features of eMule are the direct exchange of
sources between client nodes, fast recovery of corrupted …

Creating table indexes in MySQL

Creating an index for specific columns in a database table can greatly speed up search operations. This is important for any database query that use WHERE in the SQL string. Below is a practical example …

Windows XP Desktop

A few screenshots of my Windows XP to supplement my collection of KDE and Sun Java Desktop screenshots.

Recovering from Veritas VEA GUI errors

Veritas Volume Manager GUI is more functional and intuitive that that of any other volume management application. However, once in a while the VEA GUI becomes corrupted and displays incorrect information. One of the symptoms …

Useful Applications

Most parents today exercise some effort to limit the time that their children spend on internet enabled devices. Regardless these valiant efforts it is a fact that kids are connected and online more than ever before, with …

Exceed session quits after login

The following problem is encountered occasionally in most flavors of Unix and versions of Exceed. A user was able to use Exceed without problems to connect to the same Unix server just the other day. …

Contacting the sysadmin from command line

If you are a sysadmin, communicating with your users is an important aspect of your job. Phone, e-mail, SMS, and various service request systems are commonly used by most businesses. The problem with all these …

The correct MySQL GRANT syntax

It is surprising how many people run into problems trying to use the GRANT command: everything from not being able to access a database table to losing admin access to MySQL altogether. There’s a bunch …

Palm TX: Review, Software, and Configuration

Recently I got a Palm TX and so far I like everything about it. Except for the $300 price tag. Built-in Wi-Fi card and a larger screen that can operate in landscape mode are the …

Changing time

Unix systems record several time parameters associated with files. Sometimes you might need to set time parameters on a file to a particular value. Or you might need to modify a file without changing any …

Distributed password cracking with Medussa

Medussa is a password cracking application that supports distributed processing. One node acts as the Medussa server and the rest of the nodes are running the client application. The server node, in addition to running …

Mountpoint permission problem in Solaris

The following condition was originally discovered in OpenSolaris 11 (Bug ID: 4697677). This problem occurs when you do mkdir -m 700 on a mountpoint before mounting it. This superceeds whatever permissions you might give to …

Managing your MP3 collection

Remember all the MP3s you ripped or downloaded sitting in that big directory somewhere on your hard drive? Getting those files organized by genre, performer, or album can be daunting task if the MP3s are …

Informix database migration on HP-UX

Rather than rebuilding an Informix database on the new HP-UX server, it possible to migrate the existing installation from the old server. The database resides on raw disks with transparent volumes that are not visible …

Creating large AIX JFS filesystems

A quick note on creating large JFS filesystems on AIX: if the filesystem is 64Gb or might be expanded to over 64Gb any time in the future, make sure the NBPI (Number of Bytes Per …