Tag: tip
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33 posts · All tags
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OpenSSL Cheat Sheet
Create a strong CSR and private key openssl req -new -nodes -newkey rsa:4096 -out server.crt -keyout server.key Parsing out the data within a certificate openssl asn1parse -in server.crt Checking a certificate/key mod...
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/dev/null not found?
Today I came across a box with no /dev/null. Disturbingly that box even refused to boot. Here's a quick fix in case: Boot with some liveCD and chroot or use some emergency shell and kill the defect dev file in case it...
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Show the TCP connections made
This is a small snippet which has helped me on my server; showing you the top tcp connections made: netstat -atun | awk '{print $5}' | cut -d: -f1 | tail -n+3 | sed -e '/^$/d' |sort | uniq -c | sort -n -r Nothing funk...
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Skype uses SQLite
Skype uses SQLite too! Even if you don't believe it, but it's one of the most handy things for getting data structured; But as every database, even sqlite needs some love every now and then. On a linux box, the databa...
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No SSD? Take a slow HDD instead!
Nowadays, when buying a new laptop, you may choose whether you like to have a SSD disk or a traditional 'spinning disk'. There's nothing special about it, you might say but I could observe that the HDD drives used are...
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Doing a disk change
If you run out of disk space, it's time to get yourself a newer one; Basic rule for users. In my case, I'm just the one who's doing the technical work behind, which is less troublesome than the user. To save me some h...
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Who's connected to my MSSQL server?
Today I was trying to restore a backup of our MSSQL server when a user decided to drive me crazy by not disconnecting after telling anyone that we need to do that restore. So I fired up the management studio and had a...
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Check XFS fragmentation
Using XFS means, that you have to deal with fragmentation of your files. Disregarding fragmentation, XFS is a wonderful filesystem which never caused any problems here. To check fragmentation, we use the xfs-debug too...
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Going online via the N900
Today I was on the road again, carrying my laptop with me. I had the need to go online with my laptop. Having my Nokia N900 with me, this shouldn't be a problem, right? So my first step was connecting the devices via...
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Today's hint
Today I was trying to free some space on my server and came across my kernel sources which were a space hog here - especially if they're already compiled: denkbrett src # du -sh linux-2.6.39.3 718M linux-2.6.39.3 denk...
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Linux configs versioned
Sometimes it's really fun to mess around on a Linux box - but it also can be a mess to get things back to a working state after breaking some configurations. As we are just talking about text files, things shouldn't b...
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Mac-Tip
Screenshots are cool for technical support tasks as they are useful for analyzing error messages. I noticed that Apple users usually send quite many screenshots (as I get them quite often). After a while a friend told...
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Remember the Milk!
Today a colleague pointed me towards a nice little web service named Remember The Milk . I am sure you all know about many little task list applications and stuff - one of the most famous is integrated in MS Outlook....
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syslog-ng trap
Today syslog-ng acted up as the most bitchy program of the day - which I won't forget that soon. Due to a configuration issue the program ate 100% CPU power of one core. This was quite annoying as it happened without...
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Speed up Firefox
Our beloved and well known friend and companion Firefox can be quite slow - especially if you are having it for a while now. But what is the reason for that performance loss? Let's investigate and see what we can do....
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CD ISO on DVD
A small hint from the chaos lab: I had to burn an ISO done for a CD disc but we didn't had a CD to burn it. The only thing we had was a bunch of DVDs. It is a big waste, but CD Images also work on DVDs.
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Online Backup - Review
As I am using Online Backup as a virtual data safe since some time now, it is time to look back and see what it did: The amount of data I am keeping safe is something around 2 GB. Sure, this doesn't seem to be much bu...
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Online-Backup
Backup is always one of those beloved topics of system administration as nobody cares, but cries on data loss. This posting shouldn't rate a method of backup - it should just introduce online backup as a way of doing...
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Driving in the rain
First of all, it is to say that it is not a very pleasant experience to drive a motorcycle in the rain - not to say that I would try to avoid it in general. But as you know, it isn't always possible to do. Especially...
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Fast User Switching - Windows XP vs domain
I had to do some changes to our local it infrastructure by migrating anything into an active directory structure to improve things here. The good thing about such changes is, that the administrative stuff gets easier...
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Internet Explorer and Network shares
Last post I have ranted about apple doing crap, but to be honest, it isn't really better on windows - it's just different problems like being unable to execute a binary file from a network drive. As the error message...
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Windows and its trash
Windows can be a real dirty system regarding wasted disk space as you might have noticed. A current case showed amazing numbers. The common TEMP-Directories, found at C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\TEMP and some stuff in the use...
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cmake
I guess I can't keep my hands off my gentoo box trying to test new things until stuff breaks. This might sound tragic, but if you'd ask me, it's those things you learn most of as fix the things you have broken while t...
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IE6 blues
It's one if the most common problems with the old internet explorer that it handles the box model in a wrong way and I have been cursing for hours due to that problem. To be able to do some workarounds, Microsoft offe...
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HTML/CSS height: 100%
Sometimes I wonder why browser developers are still alive just by estimating the number of web developers fighting with their software. Regarding me, I am eating tons of sweets here to calm down, preventing to beat up...
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Registry Disabled By Administrator
The message stated in the topic is the one I hate most - especially if it appears with the user I am supposed to work with. But how to deal with that problem? I started searching the knowledgebase and looked around on...
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Force resetting the printer queue
Sometimes Windows dislikes you and printer jobs get stuck in the queue and you are unable to delete them. Such days are usually unforgotten by every user - but it is not hard to get things working again. The first thi...
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Windows XP made easy
Windows often includes moving the mouse for hours, which I personally dislike. So here is a collection of shortcuts used from CLI (cmd.exe) or Startmenu -> Execute: Add / Remove Programs appwiz.cpl Administrative Tool...
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Dhclient, that bitch
Well. You are used to more beautiful words here, but that program caused some trouble in cooperation with the Networkmanager tool. The Story so far: I am using Networkmanager to configure my network interfaces due to...
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Troubleshooting Firefox
If you got problems with Firefox - no matter if it's Windows, Linux or anything else - it is always a good idea to kill its configs. How come? The problem started after updating Firefox in my Windows-VM. What now? Alr...
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readcd at your service
Is this cd b0rked or is it just my dumbness? A simple CD can drive you mad, especially if it's not fully readable. How do you check CDs? A simple search leads to readcd . # readcd -c2scan dev=/dev/cdrom Read speed: 42...
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On the road again…
Was tun, wenn man immer wieder mobil unterwegs ist und trotzdem seine Sachen beisammen haben möchte? Online arbeiten, aber richtig. Sehen wir uns einmal ein klassisches Szenario an, welches man mit grösster Wahrschein...
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On the road again…
Was tun, wenn man immer wieder mobil unterwegs ist und trotzdem seine Sachen beisammen haben möchte? Online arbeiten, aber richtig. Sehen wir uns einmal ein klassisches Szenario an, welches man mit grösster Wahrschein...