Linux
CentOs 5 on Dell R200
For our company there was a need to do some expansion and we decided to do that with the Dell R200.
Since it was just the new version of the PowerEdge 860 ( an other server we have ) I thought it would be fairly easy to install this machine, since I had the kickstart and all other docs and scripts of the 860 installation. But that turned out otherwise.
After trying and failing several times, it was time for googling.
Went through several pages till I hit this one: http://www.jameslittle.me.uk/installing-centos-5-on-a-dell-r200/
It saved my day.
HTTP_PROXY vs http_proxy
Today I had to work with both a fedora and an ubuntu machine. The location required setting a proxy.
I did on both: export HTTP_PROXY=proxy:port
And that just worked fine on my fedora machine, but it didn't on the ubuntu machine.
After searching and debugging for way to long I found that ubuntu needs an http_proxy.
Cut boottime
I discovered something what meant a major cut in boot time of my portable and a major "Duh" - feeling.
chkconfig network off
chkconfig NetworkManager on
When turning of the network service it doesn't try to connect to a network on boot, while NetworkManager takes care of your network handling on logging in.
The difference is not that big when only having a wired nic, but really noticable when having a wireless card
So simple ...
OTRS and remote MySQL database
At our new company we have a dedicated MySQL database machine and we use OTRS for ticketing.
The thing is when you use the packages provided by otrs, you end up installing mysql-server on the otrs-machine. And that's just what I didn't want to do. So instead of just complaining I edited the spec files, the rcotrs-config files and rebuilded the rpm.
Now you don't need to install mysql-server anymore and the otrs init file isn't checking anymore for a running database. However the otrs init still tests the connection to the database. Just what we want.
You can download the src rpm here and the normal rpm here. In the src rpm you also find the spec files for the other supported plaforms (redhat 7.x, redhat 8.0, suse from off 7.3)
O2Micro cardreader on Dell, Acer
This is how you can get the O2Micro smart card reader that is used on Dell D820 and my Old Acer Travelmate 6003. This reader is for sure used at allot of other machines, but those are listed here I've tested myself.
You can get the tar package here. This one was originally only for kernel 2.6.16 but some of the source is replaced by new files found here. For this tar package you don't have to do anything. I use it since kernel 2.6.19 and I now use it on kernel 2.6.22.4.
This package has one dependencie: pcsclite-1.2.9 or higher
All you have to is download and untar the package.
- run configure-release or configure-debug
- modprobe ozsrclx
There is a new package on this site, but was not able to get it working yet.
Import kvm machines to virt-manager
Let's say you have already run some kvm virtual machines, and you just upgraded your virt-manager to a version that supports Qemu/kvm. Wouldn't it be nice that those machines could be monitored by
your virt-manager?
Of course it is,so here's how to do it:
Just start to install a new virtual machine with the disk file of your already existing qemu-kvm image. ( Here you can download some qemu-kvm images.)
And when install starts, just stop it. Next time you start that machine again you'll find your pre-existing machine. An other benefit of this is that you don't have to worry about the bridging stuff, it's all done for you.

For stopping the install:
killall qemu
Next time you open virt-manager, the new machine is there and when you run it, it is accessible from all your other guests and your host.



Recent comments
1 week 5 days ago
3 weeks 4 days ago
4 weeks 1 day ago
5 weeks 2 days ago
5 weeks 4 days ago
10 weeks 3 days ago
10 weeks 5 days ago
10 weeks 5 days ago
11 weeks 12 hours ago
11 weeks 2 days ago