Darryl Hoytt's Personal Blog

February 25, 2012
by dhoytt
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New Servers in Environment with Linux VMware Possibly Solaris

Well after some freaky months of numerous issues coupled with having to spend money on other projects I finally have my systems at the proper foundation hardware & base OS roles and assignments moving forward!

The main issue that I had was that the SAS RAID daughter cards initially didn’t quite work the way I wanted even with the specialty connector’s that I ordered for my Intel S5000XAL motherboards. I initially ordered these because they were quite a bit less expensive than the internal cards plus the information out there was sketchy for this motherboard and I incorrectly thought the external daughter cards also had internal connectors and I was wrong. I also ended up with some faulty SAS drives so that combination didn’t help.

I updated and downgraded the SAS daughter card firmware several times but with that combination of bad drives & incompatible SAS daughter cards & specialty customized cables I connected externally then ran internally there were way too many issues!

I finally ended up buying the internal SAS daughter board cards and they didn’t work with the drives so I really thought I was against it. Next step I purchased another SAS RAID card for another system and tested the drives and the drives didn’t respond to that SAS controller either.

I finally brought in two new Dell systems 1850 & 1950 which has SAS and I confirmed that the drives I had were bad by trying to use them in the Dell 1950 SAS drive bays. I then took one of the known good drives off of the 1950 and tested with the internal SAS controller cards on my custom system with the S500XAL motherboards and they worked just fine.

So now I have the two identical systems with the S5000XAL motherboards in custom 2U cases and the two Dells systems in my environment which are 1u.

I will use one Dell system for my web server for now and the other for my management server running Open source application monitoring software, backups and software in that genre. The two custom built identical systems with my Intel S5000XAL motherboards will run VMware. I will then load Solaris x86 on either my former web server or another VMware system I have already in my environment and the other will be my duplicate web server.

I have other systems that will play a flex role and I will use for tests and filling in holes in the environment and/or development.

February 14, 2012
by dhoytt
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Replaced Switch in Enviornment After Failure

I was working on some new pages on my site and then my site went down. I
had to troubleshoot the issue and found that it was my switch that
comes into my entire environment from the WAN that then goes to my
routers. I had to fire up Wireshark to see that the responses were being
rejected until I bypassed the switch to each router. still the switch
would act as if it was working and then finally after the last power
recycle of switch not even the connectivity activity lights came back
on.

While the switch was connected the routers started cycling to show a
status of WAN disconnected so that was another clue. Oh well time I
slapped another switch in its place and I’m fully back up once again.
I’ll have to upgrade in that area once again which I was already looking
at but wanted to look into other upgrades in the environment first.

Either way back up and serving web pages and streams once again!

January 9, 2012
by dhoytt
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Working On New Look & Functionality For Site

In the background on my others servers I’m working on a completely new look for the site with a new CMS\Blog platform! Seems that my current platform has been somewhat bogged down in the development area and the others are taking nice stride forward and will give me the functionality to really craft my site it seems more to my liking. I think that the pieces and parts will be more but the customization that I’m running into is great but I just need to get up to speed on it!

I will be able to have more forms more interaction and that should make it more user friendly with more to do and integrate with other sites you may use.

Stay tuned!

November 21, 2011
by dhoytt
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Starting to Like systemd systemctl to Control Linux Services

Looks like “systemd/systemctl” are taking over from System V service controls in Linux. Fedora 16 this is the default manager for controlling the services on Linux. I was attempting to use “chkconfig” and it kept forwarding the request to “systemctl” so I was finally forced to look at the man pages and the Fedora page and so far I like what I see except the assigning of start levels takes too many keystrokes and too long to check status.

Not completely sold on “systemd” but I will work with it and see how it does for now it seems to be working just fine.

Here are some helpful links:

Fedora SysVinit to Systemd Cheatsheet
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/SysVinit_to_Systemd_Cheatsheet

Fedora Systemd Page
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Systemd

November 20, 2011
by dhoytt
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Cannot login After Mounting Home From Previous Fedora Install Error “call to lnusertemp failed (temporary directories full ?).Check your installation”

I performed a fresh install on my boot disk of Fedora 16 moving from Fedora 13 after using the “linux noprobe” to see my devices on the HP DL580 smart array as mentioned in my previous post. Once I had Fedora 16 properly installed and updated now was the time to bring in the other drives I didn’t want the installation to touch into use.

I didn’t have to perform “vgimport”. When I ran the “vgdisplay -v” command to find what the current state of LVM and names the volume groups and logical volumes were already imported so all I had to do was enter them into “/etc/fstab/” and mount the directories.

After mounting “/home” and the other directories in “init level 3” I entered “init level 5” to start the desktop and after trying to login into my users I created on the system I get the error “call to lnusertemp failed (temporary directories full ?).Check your installation”.

I restarted the system in “single-user mode” and well “/tmp” or the mountpoint it was connected to “/” wasn’t full and the permissions were wide open. I looked at a few more items and checked log files then decided to copy the files from the “/home” created by the system which I had renamed to “/home.orig” before mounting my old logical volume to the newly created “/home” and still couldn’t login.

After rebooting again into single-user-mode, I then looked at the permissions of the user directories in /home and noticed that the numeric values were being used and not the user names. I then looked in “/etc/passwd” (#cat /etc/passwd |grep <username>) and of course the numeric values in the new “/etc/passwd” didn’t match the numeric values from my previous install.

to correct the issue I performed the chown command for each user’s directory:
#chown -R <username>:<username> /home/<user-directory>/

Now “ls -al /home/<user-directory>/” shows the user name instead of the numeric value and I can login just fine into each user on the system.

November 20, 2011
by dhoytt
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Fedora SCSI install issues continue with FC16

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Who is making the decisions about what
to include in the Fedora distributions? I have noticed Ever since at least Fedora
10 and maybe sooner you have had to jump through various hoops to get SCSI and
RAID controllers to operate properly.

Does the Fedora project have a lot of people
unaware of the enterprise part of computing as far as the hardware layer is
concerned? I’m trying to do a simple
base installation on an HP DL580 with a smart array and I have tried the
suggestions on Fedora’s kernel issue page @ http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Common_kernel_problems
but still I’m unable to get Fedora 16 to recognize the RADI/SCSI controller on
my DL580. Every other Distribution I have tried without any alterations to the
boot parameters recognize the devices without fail and also pick up on the
current custom LVM partitioning I have setup so I can
preserve the data on those partitions to save me having to restore after boot!

I really have been a Fedora fan
since its inception and Red Hat going back to the really early versions in
early to mid ’90’s but I really don’t want to have to insert or exclude certain
kernel drivers or parameters for fresh install all of the time when other distributions
of Linux like Ubuntu & Centos, see the devices in question right away
without any further action from myself! I have other things to worry about like
rebuilding my web sites, studying up on new software/hardware, fishing, etc..,
don’t make me have to jump through hoops just to see standard hardware other Linux
distro plans for!

Time to expand my horizons and check out the other Linux distributions to save my precious time which is the reason I have always used Fedora it used to save me time hunting down drivers/software etc..!

*****************************UPDATE***************************************

Okay after blowing off some steam I did finally get the Fedora 16 install to recognize my Smart Array on my DL580 by sspeciffying the following as boot options during the install: “linux noprobe acpi=noirq askmethod”. I then selected SmartArray2 and presto I can see my drives!

Credit due to old post on Linux forums though I do recall doing this before I had not recalled it until seeing this post: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-hardware-18/cannot-install-scsi-driver-for-compaq-smart-array-in-fedora-core-v-438887/

I did this after installing Centos and looking around it for a while. I just really like the glob of software that I get with Fedora. I have discovered so many helpful programs with Fedora its addictive and hard to give up even with some of the install issues I have had to work around with what seems to be a devalued view of some SCSI/RAID/SAS controller cards or maybe I’m missing the maintainers vision. I will still be playing with Centos since it mirrors so enterprise Red Hat so closely which I see in the work place so much but without the cost. I will also play further with Ubuntu & OpenSUSE to get familiar with those distributions software they package with.

August 27, 2011
by dhoytt
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New Barrel Smoker & BBQ Pit

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I just purchased a smoker made out of a 55 gallon steel
barrel last weekend from someone based out of Riverbend right outside of
Modesto. The unique part of this is that it is a standup vertical pit not laid
down horizontally. He also put a design on it but when I burnt out the insides
Tuesday or was it Wednesday it ran the design off the pit but left the impression
in a spooky manner I like.

I actually found a local place here in Sacramento that has steel barrels for sale
and I think I will design my own pit and create a vertical and horizontal
smoker then sell off a few of my purchased pits. I’ll also buy a barrel for my
dad who made his own horizontal pit about 20 something years ago and he wants
to replace his in the stand he created.

Here are pictures of my new pit BBQ Pit Smoker as it joins my grilling lineup:

August 10, 2011
by dhoytt
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Replacing Router Brief System Interruptions

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I am replacing one of my main routers to the internet so
there will be some brief interruptions as I place my newly configured router in
place.

July 8, 2011
by dhoytt
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Vegetable & Backyard Photos 2011

This year my vegetable garden has taken on a different look. The grapes vines I planted the year before came out like mad this year along with the raspberry bushes. I tried to build some structure for the grapes to grow over and still may get a trellis. The artichoke plant that overran a huge part of the garden last year is gone replaced with its smaller runt cousin.

The collards are looking hearty, along with my Armenian cucumbers and one of my zucchini plants. Beans & peas didn’t come up as I wanted so I may replant some more. My Okra wasn’t doing great so I planted another plant in a different part of the garden and that plant seems to have stabilized.

Overall I have a promising looking garden plus an ultrasonic pest deterrent device I picked up because of the rodent issue I had last year in my garden. Take a look and hope your garden does well if you have one!

Anaheim Peppers growing well.

Yellow Pear Tomatoes has some fruit starting to grow.

Grapes growing strong.

My First Zucchini Squash of the season.

Collard Greens, Armenian Cucumbers, Pumpkins, Watermelon, Beans, Raspberries, Grapes, Artichokes, Egg Plant, Backyard Vegetable Garden, intertwined in some cases.

This years Artichokes aren’t as impressive as last year but I didn’t want them to over run the rest of the garden like last year.

Ultrasonic Pest Control Device

Vegetable Garden East Part of Backyard

Vegetable Garden West Part of Backyard

Backyard View From Patio Door, Pool, Gardens, Hammocks

BBQ Pits Backyard

June 22, 2011
by dhoytt
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Getting Back Into Proper Stretch Routine

I have been getting back into my work outs in fits & spurts so I re-examined my approach and mentality as I always do with all areas of my life to find the reason for the inconsistent effort.

Well one of the largest issues but not the only issue for sure is that I haven’t been keeping true to my extensive stretching routines as I used to! I started sliding off of my stretching in part because my body doesn’t feel as beat up after a run like it did before I started running in the VFF’s (Vibram Five Fingers). Since my back and legs weren’t beat up I wasn’t as dedicated to my stretching especially after the runs and actually before the runs the stretching activities were half assed!

Well I am back into my stretching routine where I stretch without taking shortcuts before the run]workout after the workout and prior to going to bed whether I worked out or not. Today this was very important since I had a hard gym workout last night along with a nice stroll on the treadmill after hitting the weights & abs.

Besides the stretching I need to be more dedicated to hitting push ups, leg raises, crunches & trunk twists after my runs. My runs are plodding right now when I do back to backs but I feel the body ready to move forward to shed weight and firm up. Man I have been through this enough times I shouldn’t let myself get in this shape anymore.

One of the things I read that made me re-examine is this article from Active.com which helped me realize I wasn’t doing my all:
http://www.active.com/running/Articles/A-Full-Body-Strength-Workout-for-Better-Runs.htm?cmp=291&memberid=105296370&lyrisid=22276275