Daily IT life

If ever you have a problem or question for your system tech or developer, here's some advice that helps us solving problems faster. At least in my opinion. Also, random facts and quotes out of the live of a sys admin and developer.

[a4itsc]

If you happen to start a backup on CPanel and fill up your disk space...

http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/34140/tell-fs-to-free-space-from-deleted-files-now

(Or just rsync to begin with lol)

[a4itsc]

Dat website tho

http://explainshell.com/

Use it. It's awesome.

[a4itsc]

#6 - Breaks

This is for my boss.

If there is a non urgent issue. Don't. Fucking. Call. On my break. Ok?

kthxbye (And yes I know I could've just not picked up but then what if it's urgent?)

[a4itsc]

Transfer mutliple databases to new server with SSH

I had to transfer a bunch of databases to a new server, and since I have access to both of the systems and am a lazy fuck, I dumped the list of DBs into a file and then ran this :

while read db;  do mysqldump -u USER --add-drop-database -h localhost --password=PASS -B $db | ssh NEW_SERVER 'mysql -u root'; done < databases.txt

[a4itsc]

Explain a MySQL table using PHP

Sometimes we don't get access to a client's DB. That sucks if you need to alter it, but there's ways to look at the table anyhow. Found this gem  here : https://www.gidforums.com/t-21077.html

<?php if ($result = mysql_query('EXPLAIN `[TABLENAME]`')) { echo '<pre>'; $widths = array // Column names and widths (number of spaces) ( 'Field' => 20 , 'Type' => 12 , 'Null' => 4 , 'Key' => 3 , 'Default' => 7 , 'Extra' => 14 ); $margin = 2; // Number of spaces between columns // Displays column headings foreach ($widths as $field => $width) { /* * Limits the width of the column. If the contents are wider than the * column, the full contents can be displayed by hovering the mouse * over the cell */ echo '<span title="'.$field.'">'; if (strlen($field) > $width) $field = substr($field, 0, $width - 1).'…'; echo '<b>'.str_pad($field, $width + $margin, ' ', STR_PAD_RIGHT).'</b></span>'; } echo "\n"; // Displays a row for each explained field containing name, type, etc. while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) { // Displays each column for the current row foreach ($widths as $field => $width) { // Similar to the previous foreach loop echo '<span title="'.$row[$field].'">'; if (strlen($row[$field]) > $width) $row[$field] = substr($row[$field], 0, $width - 1).'…'; echo str_pad($row[$field], $width + $margin, ' ', STR_PAD_RIGHT).'</span>'; } echo "\n"; } echo '</pre>'; } else echo 'Explain query failed.';

?>

[a4itsc]

Dear client,

If there's an issue, please describe it as accurately as possible. It will help me fix it quicker because I won't have to look for it or wait for your response to see whether I really got it fixed.

[a4itsc]

Having trouble with your wifi adapter on Windows 8.1, Lenovo G700?

If you run into this issue where your laptop is connected to a wifi but keeps having limited access (if you check the troubleshooter, it might even say "Default gateway is not available" or so), try the following : - Go to device manager (you can search for it by pressing Win + W) - Double click on Network adapters - Right click on Broadcom...  - "Update Driver" - "Browse my computer for driver software" - "Let me pick from a list (...)" - Select "Broadcom 802.11n Network Adaptor (Broadcom)" - Click next. After installation, reconnect to your wifi. You should now have full internet access again. Additionally, if you face an issue where you have internet access but then get limited access after a short time period, in the device manager, right click on Broadcom again, click on Properties, go to Power Management, and untick "Let the computer turn this device off to save power". Solutions courtesy of the Microsoft support forum.

[a4itsc]

I hate it when I don't get any mock up or idea of what I should do, but then have to change everything after I set it up (because "oh just do it so it looks similar"). And probably even get a mock up. Afterwards. 

[a4itsc]

#5 : Weekends / Holidays

Dear client,

As much as I understand that your website is the most important thing in the entire world (attention, sarcasm), please realise that we, just like you, enjoy days off and that we, unless you were willing to pay extra, are not constantly on call. If your website goes down on a Sunday morning, we will most likely not see it until Monday. Therefore, flipping your shit on Monday morning on why you have not yet received an answer is not necessary. Most likely, someone is right now looking into it and prioritises the resolving of this before replying with a "I don't yet know what is going on but am checking". 

If you would like us to be on call, please understand that that would be very expensive and probably not worth it. 

Please also know that if it is really really really important, you would probably have to call the boss whose cell phone number you may (or may not) have. If you're lucky, he can reach one of the developers. Yay!

[a4itsc]

Timthumb images not loading or disappearing on mobile devices?

Yeah, I had this issue. Googled around a bit and found this : http://wpquestions.com/question/showChrono/id/8441 So I checked. Look at that. retina.js was being loaded and I don't even know what for.  If you don't use it, remove the plugin entirely and the images will load just fine.

[a4itsc]

Dear client,

Please be aware that we host and manage a bunch of websites. I therefore do not keep track of your internal e-mail set up if it is not done by us.

[clientsfromhell]

Four more words I hate

Client: “This should be easy.”

[a4itsc]

UBUNTU 13.10 - How to copy files to an MTP-only Android device

Ok so I use the nexus 5 as of last week, and I ran into an issue when I tried to copy files to my phone. I would always get this error "libmtp error : can't send object information". I googled around for a bit but couldn't find a simple working solution (no, gmtp wouldn't do as it didn't even connect).

So what I did was this : I installed SSHDroid from the App Store (it has a pro version but for this purpose, the free version is totally ok), started it, set the password to something other than admin, and then went on to use nautilus to connect to the device. For that, just hit Ctrl + L, and type in the address bar sftp://root@[IP shown in SSHDroid]:[Port shown in SSHDroid] The files are located in /storage/emulated/0

Nicely enough, this also allows you to copy files without looking for an extra USB cord first :)

(you obviously need to be in the same wifi with your ubuntu and the phone tho, although maybe SSHDroid would allow you to connect to the public wifi...)

ADDITION: After you have copied files like music, movies or pictures, you'll have to get your phone to rescan the media. I use Media Scanner for that, which did the job just fine. I think you can also reboot your device.

[a4itsc]

[a4itsc]

Magic Mouse Prefs

So, I am not given the time to install a Linux here at my office so I am using an iMac (ok I can survive this pretty easily). The only thing that was really really really annoying is the one finger scroll on the magic mouse. Found this gem of a software : http://magicprefs.com/

[a4itsc]

Need IE7 Support? If you need IE7 support, you have my condolences. Really. Font Awesome 4.0.3 doesn't support IE7, but an older version does. You'll need to check out the 3.2.1 instructions for using IE7. Then go complain to whomever decided your project needs IE7 support.

fontawesome.github.io

You, sir or madam, win the internet for today.

[a4itsc]

Testing

10 minutes are not enough, dear boss.