A repository of information technology questions and answers

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#man RTFM

Updated   Read time 3 min(s) 22 sec(s)   (3085 visits).

RTFM is often used as a response to technical questions. Unfortunately, some folks do not even know how to find the manual, let alone understand it.

AWS Terminology

Updated   Read time 5 min(s) 26 sec(s)   (834 visits).

Confused by Amazon Web Services? Learning all of the terminology is a great way to become acquainted with it.

Installing Nibbleblog on Ubuntu 16.04

Updated   Read time 2 min(s) 33 sec(s)   (809 visits).

This article describes how to install Nibbleblog on a Ubuntu 16.04 system running Apache and PHP.

Sun Serial number locations

Updated   Read time 7 min(s) 14 sec(s)   (2752 visits).

A simple table which provides a listing of where to locate the serial number on various Sun related products.

Turn On/Off Apache Directory Listing

Updated   Read time 1 min 5 sec(s)   (2127 visits).

To enable the directory browsing in Apache server, we need to add the directory option in apache configuration file.

Hard drive sanitisation - A homebrew approach

Updated   Read time 7 min(s) 13 sec(s)   (3614 visits).

The most efficient means of sanitising computers and/or a storage media device is to overwrite the entire device with zeroes or with a random pattern.

How to find System Serial number from command line

Updated   Read time 1 min 45 sec(s)   (3104 visits).

Ever needed to obtain the serial number of a system without physically inspecting the hardware. Here's some command-line examples for various systems.

Cluster Cheat Sheet

Updated   Read time 1 min 4 sec(s)   (2900 visits).

This cheat sheet contains common commands and resources for Sun Cluster, Veritas VCS, IBM HACMP, Redhat-HA and HP ServiceGuard cluster environments.

Subnet Mask and Subnetting

Updated   Read time 3 min(s) 22 sec(s)   (2488 visits).

Subnetting gives you the possibility to organize your hosts into logical groups, configuration that improves the network security and performance.

IP Address overview

Updated   Read time 3 min(s) 10 sec(s)   (1643 visits).

What's an IP address? In short an IP address is the short expression used for Internet Protocol (IP) address.

DNS lookup process

Updated   Read time 1 min 14 sec(s)   (1591 visits).

When a name query from a client computer cannot be resolved locally, DNS servers can be queried as needed to resolve the name.

Types of DNS Records

Updated   Read time 11 min(s) 7 sec(s)   (1734 visits).

This list of DNS record types is an overview of resource records (RRs) permissible in zone files of the Domain Name System (DNS).

Allocating Sufficient Swap Space

Updated   Read time 1 min 29 sec(s)   (2343 visits).

If the system needs more memory resources and the RAM is full, inactive pages in memory are moved to the swap space.

Cloud Computing in a nutshell

Updated   Read time 5 min(s) 19 sec(s)   (2377 visits).

A practice of using a network of remote servers on the Internet to store, manage, and process data, rather than a local server or personal computer.

emacs Quick Reference Guide

Updated   Read time 1 min 22 sec(s)   (2332 visits).

Emacs commands are accompanied either by simultaneously holding down the control key or by first hitting the escape key.

vi Quick Reference Guide

Updated   Read time 2 min(s) 44 sec(s)   (2898 visits).

All commands in vi are preceded by pressing the escape key. Each time a different command is to be entered, the escape key needs to be used.

Running Gramps genealogy on Solaris 11 Express

Updated   Read time 2 min(s) 2 sec(s)   (2978 visits).

A simple article on how to install the Gramps (Genealogical Research Software) on the Solaris/OpenSolaris Operating Systems.

Running Gramps Genealogy program on Solaris 10

Updated   Read time 3 min(s) 45 sec(s)   (2378 visits).

A simple article on how to install the Gramps (Genealogical Research Software) on the Solaris/OpenSolaris Operating Systems.

GIT vs SVN

Updated   Read time 1 min 6 sec(s)   (2406 visits).

This is a simple post which lists the basic equivalent commands for both git and svn version control systems.

xargs examples

Updated   Read time 5 min(s) 11 sec(s)   (2512 visits).

xargs command are unlike most other Unix commands in that its function is not so much to do something on its own, but to construct other commands

Testing ping with jumbo frames

Updated   Read time 1 min 30 sec(s)   (3109 visits).

Depending on the OS you are running determinas which command and options to use in your testing.

Less is More, or is it Most?

Updated   Read time 1 min 4 sec(s)   (2404 visits).

The standard pager in Solaris is more, the standard pager in Linux is less, so is less more or most

CRONTAB Quick Reference Guide

Updated   Read time 3 min(s) 59 sec(s)   (2332 visits).

A Solaris utility that allows tasks to be scheduled at regular intervals via the cron daemon. The crontab is the file containing the scheduled tasks.

Running ESXi and vSphere 5.1 in a VMware workstation

Updated   Read time 1 min 29 sec(s)   (2979 visits).

VMware workstation will be installed on a host such as a laptop and the ESXi/ESXi free/V-Sphere will run on a VM guest within VMware workstation.

Virtualisation products compared

Updated   Read time 1 min 37 sec(s)   (2877 visits).

The 3 major players, at the moment, in the virtualisation market are VMware, Microsoft and Citrix.

Introduction to Virtualisation

Updated   Read time 2 min(s) 5 sec(s)   (2410 visits).

When starting off in virtualisation you can use products such as MS Virtual server or VMware workstation/server.

Installing BMC Patrol Agent 9.5

Updated   Read time 30 sec(s)   (2419 visits).

This topic describes how to perform a first-time installation of the BMC patrol agent, which includes the system collectors and service daemon.

Setting up BMC event log file and size

Updated   Read time 1 min 17 sec(s)   (2424 visits).

When the cache becomes full, events are removed from it and placed in the repository file, which uses the following naming convention

Event log for BMC Patrol 9.5

Updated   Read time 1 min 24 sec(s)   (3011 visits).

As new events are created, older events are written to a log file called the PEM log.

Nibbleblog plugin: Visitor Stats

Updated   Read time 49 sec(s)   (2936 visits).

This plugin shows the number of visitors currently online, how many have visited today, yesterday, this week, this month, this year, and total visits.

Converting Nibbleblog .htaccess to IIS

Updated   Read time 11 min(s) 18 sec(s)   (2509 visits).

This post gives an example how to convert the .htaccess file provided with Nibbleblog when SEO is enabled into the equivalent IIS web.conf file.

Creating dummy files with mkfile/fsutil

Updated   Read time 38 sec(s)   (2387 visits).

The following command will create a dummy file in the specified path with the specified size (in bytes):

Special file permissons (setuid, setgid and sticky bit)

Updated   Read time 2 min(s) 21 sec(s)   (3136 visits).

setuid and setgid are unix access rights flags that allow users to run an executable with permissions of the executables owner and group respectively

World Backup Day 2014

Updated   Read time 35 sec(s)   (2374 visits).

Until you need them, backups are a boring irritating waste of time. But when you need them, they can be an absolute life saver.

Text file end-of-line termination

Updated   Read time 2 min(s) 16 sec(s)   (2376 visits).

Solaris and Linux use only a new-line character. Windows based systems use both a new-line and a carriage return

How to bypass BIOS Passwords

Updated   Read time 7 min(s) 5 sec(s)   (2392 visits).

BIOS passwords are used to either prevent a user from changing the BIOS settings or to prevent the PC from booting without a password

first login password change in WEBMIN fails

Updated   Read time 49 sec(s)   (595 visits).

When creating webmin users and setting the flag change password after first login, 80% of the systems are successful