Untitled

Collection of things I've learnt or am learning at work (and also things I've read/seen at work). A big problem I see is with documentation being too vague or making assumptions you know how to do things already. Hopefully with any steps I put down, they're easy to follow and understand.

[oribbit-blog]

Camtasia incompatibilities

Camtasia files on Mac aren't compatible with Camtasia files on Windows.

:(

[oribbit-blog]

Move a VM into a new VLAN

Background

The VM is currently managed by Citrix XenCenter

The VM is located under a parent VM called VMHost1

The VM will be under a new parent VM called VMHost2

All VM's under VMHost2 will be in VLAN 150

The network is using a router & stick model

Steps

Export the VM from VMHost1

Import the VM into VMHost2

Create VLAN 150 on SW1

Create a network (VLAN 150) on VMHost2 through Citrix XenCenter (so VMHost2 knows about VLAN 150)

On the router, set encapsulation, IP address and description for VLAN 150

In the VM, set VLAN 150 range and gateway (which is the router's IP address)

In the VM, set the network to VLAN 150

[oribbit-blog]

PHP/Javascript - reset form even after submitting

Where the PHP form contains 5 values you want to reset (name, login, password, url_track, url_wiki), you can easily do this using Javascript. I've put the Javascript code above my <?php ... ?> code.

<script> function resetform(){ document.forms[0].name.value = ""; document.forms[0].login.value = ""; document.forms[0].password.value = ""; document.forms[0].url_track.checked = false; document.forms[0].url_wiki.checked = false; } </script>

And now calling it...

<input type="button" name="reset" onclick="resetform();" value="reset" />

[oribbit-blog]

PHP - Keeping form data after error or submit

Reference: http://www.coursesweb.net/php-mysql/data-form-fields-after-submit_t

<?php // define variables with the value for each field // the value from POST, if this exist, or an empty value $name = isset($_POST['name']) ? $_POST['name'] : ''; $email = isset($_POST['email']) ? $_POST['email'] : ''; $msg = isset($_POST['msg']) ? $_POST['msg'] : ''; $url_track_check = ($url_inc['url_inc']==$url_inc['url_track']) ? ' checked="checked"' : ''; $url_wiki_check = ($url_inc['url_inc']==$url_inc['url_wiki']) ? ' checked="checked"' : '';

// define the form into a variable $fhtml = '<form action="" method="post"> Name: <input type="text" name="name" value="'. $name. '" /><br/> Email: <input type="text" name="email" value="'. $email. '" /><br/> Message:<br/> <textarea cols="5" rows="35" name="msg">'. $msg. '</textarea><br/> <div><input class="checkbox" type="checkbox" name="url_inc" id="url_track" value="' .$url_inc['url_track']. '"'. $url_track_check. ' /> Track</div> <div><input class="checkbox" type="checkbox" name="url_inc" id="url_wiki" value="' .$url_inc['url_wiki']. '"'. $url_wiki_check. ' /> Wiki</div> <input type="submit" value="Send" /> </form>'; echo $fhtml; // output /display the form ?>

[oribbit-blog]

PHP form validation - required field

I used this code below to return an error message if a required field in the form was left blank.

function check_input($data, $problem='') {     $data = trim($data);     $data = stripslashes($data);     $data = htmlspecialchars($data);     if ($problem && strlen($data) == 0)     {         die($problem);     }     return $data; }

Now calling it...

$name = check_input($_POST['name'],"Enter in the user's first name.");

[oribbit-blog]

PHP "Notice" warnings

I have initialised some variables in a PHP form that have returned null values. "Notice" warnings appear as a result of the form being submitted, however I do not want them to be appearing. Example:-

Notice: Undefined index: url_track in /var/www/html/xmail/index.php on line 106 Notice: Undefined variable: confirm in /var/www/html/xmail/index.php on line 138

Solution

<?php error_reporting (E_ALL ^ E_NOTICE); ?>

[oribbit-blog]

Listing running processes - tree format

pstree

There are many commands involving "ps" to display the processes running in Linux, but this one here shows the hierarchy of running processes.

[oribbit-blog]

Setting up a screen saver GPO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTmDIP01AXY

[oribbit-blog]

List all groups and users on Linux

getent group

[oribbit-blog]

Show installed linux distribution and version

Distribution

cat /etc/redhat-release

example output: CentOS release 5.5 (Final)

Version

uname -a

example output: Linux secretdomain.com 2.6.18-194.3.1.el5xen #1 SMP Thu May 13 13:49:53 EDT 2010 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[oribbit-blog]

Find total server size on Linux

du -ch | grep total

NB: Could take a minute+ depending on how big the server actually is.

[oribbit-blog]

Join Mac OSX to Active Directory domain

In AD add the Mac’s computer name into CN=Computers as a new entry

On the Mac, ppen Network Preferences

Set the DNS Server to be the IP address of the server (AD)

Click on “Advanced”

Under WINS tab, add a WINS server with the IP address of the server (AD)

Go to Apple > System Preferences > Accounts (under System)

Click on Login Options

Select “Join” on the right

Click “Open Directory Utility”

Select “Active Directory” and click the pencil icon at the bottom to edit

Enter in computer/domain details - example: Active Directory Domain: nemstar.local Computer ID: nemu-mac

Click “Bind”

Authenticate connection - example: Administrator: [email protected] Computer OU: CN=Computers,DC=nemstar.local

When the popup appears that there is an existing computer, agree to join with that account

Confirm you are on the domain - go to Network Preferences > Advanced > WINS

The domain name should appear under “Workgroup” (e.g. NEMSTAR)

[oribbit-blog]

Setup and configuring Windows Server 2008 R2

Just set it up with AD following this nice tutorial: http://www.petri.co.il/installing-active-directory-windows-server-2008.htm

[oribbit-blog]

Network adapter not recognised on Windows Server 2008 R2 VM in VMWare Fusion

Problem: As the post title suggests

Solution:

Install VMWare Tools (I installed Complete) in the VM

Shutdown the VM

In the VM Library window, right click on the VM > Settings and ensure the correct OS is selected

Add the below line to the VMX file in the VM directory (e.g. /Users/username/Documents/Virtual Machines.localized/Windows Server 2008 R2.vmwarevm/Windows Server 2008 R2.vmx)

ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"

Start up the VM again

:)

[oribbit-blog]

Extend LVM on VM

Purpose: This process is to extend the LVM to add more disk space to the /usr directory in a VM.

Step 1: Confirm disk space is required

df –h

Step 2: Check available disk space on the VM

vgdisplay

See how much GB/PE is available for you to extend the LVM by. Step 3: Extend /usr

lvextend –L +5.97G /dev/mapper/vg0-usr

There’s an error because of rounding the GB. Let’s try using the PE amount this time.

lvextend –l +191 /dev/mapper/vg0-usr

Success! Now we need to resize /usr so the system knows the new space is there.

Step 4 - Resize /usr

resize2fs /dev/mapper/vg0-usr

Looks like the system knows now. Let’s confirm that /usr has now been extended. Step 5 - Confirm /usr has been extended

df –h

Check how much % /usr is full. Note: If there wasn’t enough space on the VM to extend the LVM, additional steps would be required. Something along the lines of... (not yet tested this)

fdisk -l fdisk /dev/xvde pvcreate /dev/xvde1 vgextend vg0 /dev/xvde1 vgdisplay

[oribbit-blog]

Arty short film

So nice. :)

The Adventures of a Cardboard Box from Studiocanoe on Vimeo.

[oribbit-blog]

Configure Cisco router as NTP server

Summary: Use au.pool.ntp.org as the source, instead of using a Server time.

By default Cisco routers can server as NTP Servers, so no need of any config change required to use our router as Authoritative NTP Server. 1. Currently Router is configured to sync with 172.16.4.222, which needs to be updated to au.pool.ntp.org. Commands required to do this are: #conf t #no ntp server 172.16.4.222 #ntp server au.pool.ntp.org #exit #write #copy run start 2. Update dhcp/Server with new NTP server Once step 1 is completed, update /etc/dhcpd.conf file on server as below and restart dhcpd. option ntp-servers {router IP address};