Linux

I sometimes work on client's servers where the installed distribution and version of Linux are unknown at first. How do you find out which version of Linux is installed? Well, each distribution is different, so it may be necessary to try all of the following.

Determine the Installed Version of Redhat-based Systems


cat /etc/redhat-release


Determine the Installed Version of Debian


cat /etc/debian_version


Determine the Installed Version of Ubuntu


cat /etc/issue


or


cat /etc/lsb-release


From http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=827712&admit=-682735245+1152513688084+28353475

interrupt the grub loader (hopefully you've got a pause there) by just hitting the arrow key around at the menu choice for the grub loader - this will make the timer countdown stop.

Then,
go to the line that holds your choice of the Linux load you want and hit "e" (for edit). This will bring you into an editor for the current load command. Choose the line you want ( I can't remember which one you need off the top of my head - there's probably two - try it on both), and hit "e" once again. Now, you should be editing a single line of the loader. Arrow key to the end of teh command and and the parameter "single" to the end of the line. Hit enter to "save" (only in the buffer - not on the disk) the command.

1. Install Ubuntu.
2. Run all updates from Synaptic.
3. Install Automatix

Edit /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://www.beerorkid.com/automatix/apt dapper main


Import key

wget http://www.beerorkid.com/automatix/apt/key.gpg.asc
gpg --import key.gpg.asc
gpg --export --armor 521A9C7C | sudo apt-key add


Install

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install automatix


4. Run Automatix

Choose the following:
- Thunderbird 1.5
- DVD Codecs
- Music players and codecs
- Flash
- Java 1.5 JDK and JRE
- nVidia Card Drivers
- Web editing and code tools

1. Install Ubuntu.
2. Fix Grub


title Windows XP
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1


3. Install Automatix

Edit /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://www.beerorkid.com/automatix/apt dapper main


Import key

wget http://www.beerorkid.com/automatix/apt/key.gpg.asc
gpg --import key.gpg.asc
gpg --export --armor 521A9C7C | sudo apt-key add


Install

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install automatix


4. Run Automatix

Choose the following:
- Thunderbird 1.5
- DVD Codecs
- Music players and codecs

I recently ran out of space in an lvm partition on a server I manage. I needed to grow the partition with minimal interruption. Here's what I did.

First, I used the lvextend command to grow the logical volume.


lvextend -L +4G /dev/vgname/lvname /dev/hda4


That assigns 4 gigs of space from the physical volume hda4 into the lvname logical volume.

After this step, that extra space is still not usable because the filesystem has not been resized. Resizing the filesystem is done with the following steps.

Note: These steps are specific to ext2/ext3 filesystems. These steps are dangerous. At the time this procedure was done, the volume was completlely full, and problems were already occuring in applications using the volume. This solution represents a brute-force, as fast-as-possible solution to the issue. The good news is that it worked for me, and only minimal data was lost.

Install mysql:


apt-get install mysql


Set root password for mysql


mysqladmin -u root -p password NEW_PASSWORD


Create new client super-user


nml_clientadd superusername


Create client user


nml_useradd superusername username


Installing the Sun JDK on Ubuntu requires building your own .deb package for it. Thankfully, this is a simple process.

First, install the package building tools.


sudo apt-get install fakeroot java-package


Now download the binary from http://java.sun.com.

Finally, make a .deb package of the binary file. Do not run this command as root, the fakeroot tool builds the package as if by root. You'll need to be root when you install it.


fakeroot make-jpkg jdk-1_5_0_06-linux-i586.bin


Then install the package (as root).


sudo dpkg -i sun-j2sdk1.5_1.5.0+update06_i386.deb