Red Hat/CentOS 7 Bits

Posted on May 26, 2015 by Freejack

As I prepare for the RHCSA/RHCE certifications, I have to do some conversion between the RH6 book I’m using examining the new ways of doing things in RH7 (when I say “RH6” or “RH7” I’m including CentOS and ScientificOS in the list). On to Things to Think About:

System Logging

One of the new bits in RH7 is how to manage logs. Lots are now binary and contain all the logs for the system. With RH6, logs were generally in /var/log under various files like messages, secure, httpd, etc. Now you use journalctl to view logs.

I have a couple of concerns with this. First, I can’t seem to let a non-root user access the log files. Since in RH6, the files are ‘600’ in permissions, in order for regular users to view the log files (messages or httpd error_log), you’d just change the permissions to ‘640’. The benefit is I can pull the logs to a central server for review. With almost 1,000 systems, having to log in to each one, become root, and review the log is impossible. I’d like to have a central syslog server but I’d also like to keep network traffic down, especially for systems where the application is logging several times a second.

journalctl doesn’t seem to have the ability to let a user view logs on a system without using sudo or having root run the journalctl command to export the data.

I can see this being an issue, not just for system admins, but for users of applications who need access in order to manage the behavior of their applications. Same with monitoring tools such as OpenView. Many of the alarms are generated by syslog scraping (the messages file).

There’s also an issue for application developers. How do they now write their logs, especially for dealing with application level issues.

Is systemd replacing syslogd or rsyslogd or just augmenting it for now, but eventually replacing it? I do see messages, secure, and even dmesg in /var/log.

Links:

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-use-journalctl-to-view-and-manipulate-systemd-logs
http://blog.delouw.ch/2013/07/24/why-journalctl-is-cool-and-syslog-will-survive-for-another-decade/

Posted in Computers | 1 Comment

Red Hat Certifications

Posted on May 24, 2015 by Freejack

I’ve been mucking around with computers since I picked up a Timex/Sinclair in a K-Mart somewhere in Virginia around 1980. I’d been working as a Typesetter on a computerized system (CompuGraphic EditWriter) and a Field Engineer (FE) gave me an 8″ floppy with a few games on it.

My first certification was the result of quite a few classes for working on 3Com 3+Share local area network products. I was certified as a 3Wizard.

My second set of certifications was the result of becoming a Unix Administrator. I’d taken several different courses on Token Ring, Novell Networks, and Microsoft LAN Manager before I got to this point. I took and got the Sun Certified System Administrator and Sun Network Administrator. Mainly I took those certs to test my knowledge in Unix and specifically Solaris 2.5.1. Currently Oracle has Solaris at version 11 (sunos 2.11) so it’s been a while.

My third set of certifications came about when I went through several company changes when working at NASA HQ. One of the things I wanted to do was learn more about the deeper networking stuff so I asked to get a Cisco Certified Network Administrator class so I could get my CCNA certification. The company happened to have a CCNA/CCNP (Cisco Certified Network Professional) fast track class for me (a cram type course intended more for folks who were already pretty knowledgeable about computers and needed the extra bits to reach certification status). Once class ended, I spent the following few months getting my CCNA and then taking the tests for each of the categories that elevated me to CCNP.

It’s now that time again. I’ve signed up to take the Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA) test followed up immediately by the Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) test the same day (that afternoon). I will note that you can’t take the RHCE test until you’ve passed the RHCSA test so there’s a bit of hubris here in knowing I’ll pass the one before the other. The tests are $400 each but as long as I pass, the company will reimburse me for them. Red Hat claims that the pass rate for the certification tests are as low as 50% of candidates but they’re pushing their classes as well so take it with a grain of salt 🙂

In reviewing the RHCSA exam prep page, I find the requirements fairly normal for a Unix admin. There are a few bits that only exist in smaller or Red Hat exclusive shops such as using KVM to manage virtual machines, SELinux, system level firewalls (iptables or firewalld), and a few other things. In review, I believe I could pass the RHCSA test right now without studying for it. I do want to do well (not perfect) so I’ll do some poking about at it to make sure I at least understand the bits we don’t normally do in an Enterprise environment.

In reviewing the RHCE exam prep page, I find again that most of the stuff being done would be in a dedicated Red Hat shop however they are things that I do now for the most part. Configuring various services like http, ftp, nfs, smb, smtp, ssh, and ntp, networking like routing, packet filtering, and NAT, and other (for me) standard system admin tasks.

I also have the RHCSA/RHCE Study Guide, which is a couple of years out of date but still should be relevant especially when I use it with a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1 VirtualBox Virtual Machine.

I don’t think I’ll have much of a problem with this but I do want to pass and $400 twice is a bit much to blow on a couple of tests if I fail them.

I will note that I’m also creating a study group at work to go over the requirements and do some studying for the exams.

Posted in Computers | Leave a comment

Building a New Computer

Posted on February 4, 2015 by Freejack

Starting in on checking out parts and bits in order to build a new system. My current system actually works pretty well but it’s also getting old enough (2008) that the parts I do have will not be easy to replace should something happen; motherboard failure for instance.

So I’ll move this one to the left and set it up as a file server or Virtual server.

In checking out new systems, I was referred to http://falcon-nw.com They have a few very nice, and expensive, systems. But they also show you what parts are something to look at for mid level and higher level systems. A quick run through the parts to compare with http://newegg.com or http://tigerdirect.com and there seems to be a $1,500 to $2,000 extra cost. Probably the warranty with Falcon plus the extra bits. It’d be nice to have a single place to contact should there be a problem but I’m not sure it’s worth $1,500.

Here is the break down for the $8,200 Falcon Mark V I spec’d out for fun. It spec’d out to a touch over $6,000 for the individual parts without the case and a few other bits. The parts marked with an asterisk (*) are part of the default kit if $0.00 or this is an upgrade price over the default if > $0.00. The basic system is $2,939 and noted below with a #.

Item Falcon NewEgg Tigerdirect Amazon
Icon2 Tower Case # 169.00 @ NA NA
Chassis Fan Kit
AcoustiPack Sound Dampening Foam
Asetek Liquid Cooling
SilverStone 750 PSU (80 Silver)# # NA 129.99 133.20
SilverStone 1500 PSU (80 Silver)* 221.00 364.82 354.99 289.99
Gigabyte X99 GA-X99-UD4# # 254.99 239.99 254.99
Asus X99 Rampage V Extreme* 297.00 469.99 499.99 469.99
Intel core i7 5820K 3.3GHz (6 cores)# # 389.99 389.99 387.37
Intel core i7 5930X 3.5GHz (6 cores)* 273.00 579.99 NA 575.99
Intel core i7 5960X 3.0GHz (8 cores)* 903.00 1049.99 1049.99 1044.99
16GB – 4x4GB – 2133MHz – DDR4# # 229.99
32GB – 4x8GB – 2400MHz – DDR4* 260.00 449.99 439.99 429.99
64GB – 8x8GB – 2400MHz – DDR4* 776.00 1,099.00 879.98 (32Gx2) 1,099.00
nVidia GeForce GTX 960 2 GB (MSI)# # 209.99 204.99 209.99
nVidia GeForce GTX 970 4 GB (MSI) 348.00 399.99 399.99 344.99
nVidia GeForce GTX 980 4 GB (MSI) 632.00 559.99 559.99 559.99
Asus 28″ 4k Monitor 609.99 599.99 649.99 562.99
Micron M600 SSD (256GB) 138.00 119.99 134.99 104.99
Western Digital Red 3TB 158.00 114.99 124.99 114.00
Western Digital Red 3TB 158.00 114.99 124.99 114.00
Western Digital Red 3TB 158.00 114.99 124.99 114.00
Asus 16x DVD Writer 23.00 48.98
Asus 12x Blueray Writer 180.00 74.61
Windows 8.1#
Windows 8.1 Pro* 43
USB Rescue Drive
System Documentation
Warranty
Shipping
Totals $2,939.00

@ For the tower, I’m considering the ThermalTake Core X9 cube. Since I’m looking at water cooling for the first time, I need to research and see what components I need in order to properly cool the system. The price is for this tower.

Stumbled on to a build it article using the same components I’m considering here with a recommended cooling system.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2838932/behold-the-most-powerful-diy-gaming-pc-you-can-build-today.html

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Black Friday Sale

Posted on November 30, 2014 by Freejack

Black Friday. I planned on heading down to the local guitar shop (Guitar’s Etc in Longmont) since the email they sent out said they had some good deals. I had my eye on a BC Rich as I wanted a metal toned guitar in my collection. I also had a fund limit (generally budget+$100 or so per usual ). Todd (the owner) pulled it down for me and started tuning it up. Since it has a locking nut, he loosened things up but the nut on the lowest two strings came totally out and with the customers he had coming in, he was having a hard time scurrying back and forth between the cash register and the guitar. In the mean time I was looking for a second BC Rich. He had a few but not the same as the one I was looking at. In the same area he had a few Dean guitars and a Flying V caught my eye. “We just got that in this week, let me check the sale price.” He pulled it down for me and complained a bit when he wasn’t able to get to his web site from his phone so he had to get back to the desk to look up the prices. While he was checking, I ran through some quick tunes I’d been playing. He had it on a Line 6 amp so I changed up the various presets and played with the two pickups and tone knob. The neck felt good in my hand and it felt pretty playable. Without a strap it was pretty awkward though. At one point I had Jeanne hold up the neck so I could play it 🙂 He came back with it $300 off his price (he matches the online places like Zzounds pretty closely; it’s one of the reasons I buy there if he stocks the gear). Since that fit in my price range and it felt and sounded good, I was good with it.

I got it home and attached the strap locks to my strap however the neck one failed to seat in the guitar (I do like the recessed seats a lot better than the posts let me just say). I tried the post in the one by the plug and both worked fine. I called the store and brought the guitar back. Todd and one of the techs removed the neck seat and the screw was very long, it seems like it could reach the fretboard with just a few more turns. The tech took the screw downstairs to the shop and trimmed off the last three threads and brought it back up. That did the trick and the strap lock seats perfectly now.

Pics of course:

And video. I had Jeanne take video however I was concentrating on the song so didn’t turn so you can see the guitar. Leave it to the pics

Tom Petty’s I Won’t Back Down

I had a few comments that with a Metal guitar, I should be playing something a bit harder 🙂 Plus my aunt complained that I didn’t smile enough. I am concentrating on playing so there’s that.

Avenged Sevenfold’s Nightmare

I have to say the guitar feels really good. Weight isn’t too heavy, sounds great, the neck feels tight. I really like this guitar.

Posted in Music | Leave a comment

Income/Bill Forecasting

Posted on September 28, 2014 by Freejack

Currently I have a Spreadsheet that contains the normal bills I have plus income and lets me know how much I have. Part of this is to tell me how much I can put into my credit card bill for now. I use my credit card for everything. It lets me be even more granular in seeing my trends in purchases and savings. At the moment, I’m tapped and pay everything other than a couple of hundred into the credit card bill each month.

Since the utilities (water, gas, electric, cable) are generally pretty stable and the other bills pretty consistent, there are only a few things now and then that pop up such as yearly vehicle insurance, mortgage payments, county taxes, and some misc stuff. So I can reasonably plan out the upcoming months and even year through this spreadsheet.

The spreadsheet is broken out into 2 week periods coinciding with payday. The header shows every monthly bill title plus the due date. The last line is what’s pending for that two week period. As bills are paid, they are moved out of the pending line and into the two week period. There’s a calculation on the left for that period that gives the Pending total and a second number that’s the final amount left in checking plus the previous 2 weeks’ final amount. This lets me put the regular bills into their slots and for the credit card statement, I can put the remaining in less between $200 and $300. Since it’s a forecasting spreadsheet, I can look ahead months and make sure I’m not over extending later and decrease the amount going to the credit card.

    Date Income Mortgage Auto Electrical Water Cable Gas Credit
    Dec 31 $2,000              
    Jan 1                
    Jan 2                
    Jan 3                
    Jan 4                
    Jan 5                
    Jan 6                
    Jan 7                
    Jan 8                
    Jan 9                
    Jan 10                
  -$1,835 Jan 11                
  $165 Jan 12                
    Jan 13                
    Pending   -$1,000 -$300 -$100 -$30 -$95 -$10 -$300

It sounds complicated but once it’s all working correctly, it’s a reasonably quick process. I just move the pending items up and the calculations are done.

One of the problems though is if I have to add some extra stuff for a block of time. I have to adjust the spreadsheet calculations and if something changes, it tends to muck with the layout.

So I’m rewriting it into a database. This lets me more easily manage the periods plus the ability to add items easily and know they’ll be included.

The requirements: Item Name, Amount, Start Date, Due Date, End Date, Recurring/Single Payment, Autofill

I create a standard form edit and display area. This gives me the data entry point for items. Under the Edit Form display area, I have a link on each recurring item that changes the start date of a recurring item to next month, then loads up the data into the form resetting the recurring portion to single payment.

A second page just takes the data, creates the bi-weekly blocks with the headers and pending amounts. Single Payments are noted. Recurring payments are extrapolated forward including the totals as listed above. So it’ll look similar to the above table but with an easier management of the data.

I have the Edit Form completed and am adding in the data (off to bed shortly). Once the data is in place, I’ll work on the second display page.

Posted in About Carl, Computers | Leave a comment

Electrical Work

Posted on September 28, 2014 by Freejack

I spent a good part of Saturday finally mapping out all the plugs and lights and their panel correlation. Since I’m working on the house, replacing carpet, I want to replace the painted over plugs with newer ones, replace the painted over covers with plain ones (for the plugs), and fancy ones (for the switches). Of course the panel was old and some of the writing was too faded to read.

1 – Might have said refer, very faded.
2 – MBR Plugs (I wrote that)
3 – Blank
4 –
5 – no switch
6 –
7 – Range, very faded.
8 –
9 – AC(r)/Dryer(l)*
10 – Kitchen
11 – AC(r)/Dryer(l)*
12 – Kitchen
13 – Furnace**
14 – Blank
15 – Unreadable
16 – Blank
17 – no switch
18 – no switch
19 – no switch
20 – no switch

* Double switches with the two (r) and two (l) connected.
** Double switch

I figured out last weekend that 14 was the front set of plugs plus the bathroom light and the center rec room light in the basement and 16 was the back set. Because I needed to replace the switches and covers in the basement, I was hunting the light switch downstairs. I figured as I went through the switches on the panel, I’d try to identify exactly what each panel switch connected to.

1 – Refrigerator (1 plug behind)
2 – Master Bathroom, Bedroom, and two other bedroom plugs (14) plus the roof fan and the ceiling fan in the Master Bedroom.
3 – Dishwasher and Garbage disposal (1 plug under the sink)
4 – Every upstairs light fixture plus the Master Bathroom ceiling fan.
5 – no switch
6 – Living room (5), kitchen plug next to stove (1), garage (1), and pantry plug (1).
7 – Range
8 – Keeping room plugs (3) and maybe the gas fireplace starter (didn’t test that).
9 – AC(r)/Dryer(l)
10 – Kitchen plugs (left of sink) (2)
11 – AC(r)/Dryer(l)
12 – Kitchen plugs (right of sink) (2) and dining room plug on the kitchen wall (1)
13 – Furnace(r)/basement lights(l)
14 – Front half of basement plugs (9), bathroom light, rec room center light (always on; no switch)
15 – Outside sump pump
16 – Back half of basement plugs (14)

I didn’t check the outside plug but I did make an effort to check every other plug with a night light to be sure.

When I put the master bedroom fan in last year, I discovered the roof fan electrical was just twisted and capped and hanging hanging in the air like a big old cobweb. I put in a junction box and put the wires there plus a second junction box for the fan.

A couple of years back, I replaced the can light in the Keeping Room (west of Kitchen) with a fan, replacing the can with an over-sized junction box. The can had the wires that continued on to the wall switches next to the sliding glass doors so there were 4 wires; 2 in (switch and power) and 2 out power and switch.

This weekend I’m replacing the can light in the dining room with a nice chandelier. I may make a couple of ceiling repairs at the same time.

I’ve already replaced plugs and the switches in the Master Bedroom and Bathroom. I planned on replacing all the water plugs with GFCI. But when I did that in the Master Bathroom, turning on the ceiling fan popped the GFCI so there must be a fault somewhere. I do have the two remaining bedrooms to replace so when I put new plugs in, I’ll be careful.

Posted in Colorado, Cornell, Home Improvement | 2 Comments

Gaming Updates

Posted on September 28, 2014 by Freejack

With the kickback from the refinance and the October skipped payment, I can get caught up on some gaming gear. Mostly books and such that I’ve been putting off.

Saturday we had the Denver RPG Meetup get together. Jon is the “Owner” of the Meetup and Wendy and I are Co-Coordinators. There are 20 or so Event Coordinators. The group was created to help get the folks who run games together with gamers looking for games to play in. Last year we reached 1000 meetups and Wendy went ahead and had a 1000 Meetup Commemorative die created and passed them out. August we hit 1000 members so Wendy did it again with a 1000 Member Commemorative die and Saturday was the get together.

Anyway, Jeanne and I went and poked around a bit. I snagged several Legend of the Five Rings books plus a couple of Solomon Kane Savage Worlds books, a Rogue Trader book, and a couple of board games. Goblins Inc and Bioshock Infinite. I broke that out and we played a game. Took a bit but it was still an interesting game. Not quite a resource manager. More of an expanded Risk type game.

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State of the House

Posted on September 28, 2014 by Freejack

I recently refinanced the house as part of our separation agreement. This removes the responsibility for the house from Rita in case something happens to me, financially or otherwise. It’s a big sigh of relief for her as this isn’t over her head plus the refinance lets me lower the payments a bit.

I wasn’t in all that much of a hurry to get it done although our agreement says by Jan 2015. I started back in January or February with a recommendation. Contacted them and started getting stuff together. They needed the separation agreement so they could see what I was paying Rita plus the normal pay stubs and tax records. I had to clear up a couple of items on the credit report, no biggie. Plus the separation agreement wasn’t 100% accurate since it was before Rita got her place in Virginia. So I updated it with accurate information, sent it to Rita for approval and Notary stamps and forwarded it along with a letter explaining what changed and why. The county wouldn’t let me submit an updated separation agreement, only updates to maintenance. Since that part didn’t really change no update could be done. Rita also had to submit a quit claim deed giving up her rights to the house.

Anyway with the paperwork done and approved by the underwriter, the refinance went through on September 19th. I stopped in at the finance office and signed or initialed 70 or so documents. I was expecting to pay about $100 but in fact got back $641. The payments are lowered about $200 a month plus I get to skip October’s payment. I am expecting an escrow dispersal from Wells Fargo as well of around $1,500.

Plus Rita got a job starting around October 20th. This helps her because she’ll be self supporting plus her income will be a bit more than the support checks I’ve been sending her. She’s on her feet again 🙂 I’ll be able to do some of the more one time costly updates to the house vs the little bit at a time updates I’ve been doing. And since she’s getting paid, she’ll be sending me her mortgage payments until she can take over her mortgage (I’m paying it now as it’s in my name). It may take a little while but that’ll get done in a year or two.

From the house perspective I’ve been gradually replacing the ancient carpet. The last carpet guy said it was at least 20 years old based on the pad he pulled up. I’ve replaced the downstairs living room carpet, one of the downstairs bedrooms, and the master bedroom carpet. I just paid to have the second downstairs bedroom replaced which completes the basement as far as carpet. I’ve also been replacing plugs and switches since the existing ones have been painted over several times. They’re also quite old and in some places either broken or just don’t have enough tension to hold a plug. Not good at all.

I intend on replacing the carpet in the dining room with hardwood; a medium light/dark color. Plus there’s a spotlight in the ceiling vs a chandelier. I checked out the local lamp store and found one that I like the look of. That’ll be the next purchase (with the October skipped mortgage check). Once that’s done, I’ll have the last two bedrooms and living room to do and that’ll be completed.

Next year I’ll be looking at putting a deck over the concrete patio. It’s 10×30 I think and has sunk in different spots. I can put a simple deck in for a reasonable cost and with the new materials, I can have a beige deck (matches the house) with a green pattern (matches the shed). Should look pretty good. I also have a treehouse picture I scraped from Facebook that I’ll plan and execute. Plus putting in the patio in front of the shed and trim around the west side of the house for the flowers and a pad for the two trash cans.

Other than that, painting the bedrooms downstairs, building gaming book cases, getting the basement organized, and of course the plug and switch replacements. Mostly minimal but time consuming stuff.

There are a few more things in the works but farther out.

Posted in Cornell, Home Improvement | 2 Comments

Master Bedroom Update

Posted on July 9, 2014 by Freejack

When we went to Prague a couple of years back, I was struck by the art of Alphonse Mucha. His work was done around the end of the 1800’s, early 1900’s and I found I really liked the, well the joy and happiness for lack of a better word of the art that I liked. He would get real people and pose them then take photographs and paint from them. It let him create interesting poses that folks wouldn’t be able to hold and that he could put into any frame or backdrop.

When I had the carpet replaced in the Master Bedroom, I had to remove all the furniture and remove pictures and such from the walls. To prevent damage according to the instructions. While everything was out, I spent time replacing the sockets and light switch. The sockets and switch had been painted over and the sockets themselves were so old, they barely held plugs (it was one of the reasons we didn’t care too much when painting the plugs, etc).

The back wall have the old green bubble glass installed. It lets in the light of course but it isn’t very efficient with regards to the winter (or summer for that matter). The previous owners had covered up the inside with a panel of wood and tacked in a wood bit to hold it in place. We put a bit of foam-core on the outside and covered it with a couple of mosaic panels.

In the bedroom, the walls are painted maroon and the ceiling is a darker yellow. We also painted the wood (which was white) the same yellow color. But it wasn’t fully painted, leaving a foot or so at the base the original white. If I remember correctly, we’d gotten to the end of the paint in the pan and didn’t want to waste it.

Rita put up a couple of curtain rods and draped a long piece of gold cloth over one and purple cloth over the other one. When I removed everything from the room for the carpet folks, I also removed the curtains. I chased down the yellow paint and finished up the panel, which looked a lot better on a bare wall vs the curtains so I left them off when I put the room back together.

But what to put in the panels? They looked pretty bare but I liked the look itself. I remembered Mucha and popped out to see what I could find that might work. It just so happens there are thin tall prints of Mucha’s work. The panel itself is about 16″ or so wide but about 7′ high. I located a couple of 12″ x 36″ prints that I liked on Amazon and put them in my cart.

It happens that Saturday we headed to Boulder to the Pearl Street Mall for lunch and to walk around enjoying the mall itself. We stopped in at the art shop and sure enough, they had two of Mucha’s 12″ x 36″ prints. They aren’t the ones I liked from Amazon but they’re still very nice ones. I snagged them and carried them up and down the mall.

This one is over my side of the bed. The French is “in the morning” which fits me to a tee (I didn’t translate until I had them up on the wall but it was perfect).

This one is over the other side. The French is “the night”. Both are excellent prints that I really enjoy having up on the wall. I also snapped a wall picture of both with the lamps. The picture does pretty well but the lamps are a bit over-exposed. It’s a bit more subdued in person.

The lamps were originally taller but I didn’t like the lighting so I removed one of the center rods. Looks a lot better.

That’s all. I just wanted to share. I thought it came out quite well and do really enjoy the room and the new carpet 🙂

Posted in About Carl, Cornell | 2 Comments

Photo Site Updated

Posted on June 24, 2014 by Freejack

Personally I’d rather manage my own photos. I’ve been doing it for some time and have some 30,000 or so files (most are pictures) on the http://schelin.org site. Mainly I’ve just been putting the pictures on my local server and pushing out changes. This lets me have a local copy of the web site in case the server crashes (which it has in the past) and if the server is hacked, I can simply wipe the server and load up new files again.

I’ve been working on several web application projects over the past few years learning CSS, Javascript, PHP, and MySQL. This has given me the experience to finally whip up a better photo management site.

I was using a couple of manually updated text files. The files were parsed and imported into a new database. This database holds the event, picture, and other information so I can better manipulate it.

I’m also moving all the event documentation from the photo site over to this blog. That way I can again, easily manage the content here and still make all the photos available for viewing if that’s what you want to do. I’m also doing more investigation into the word press site configurations in order to better manage that content. One of the problems is I tend to use an 800px wide image but that mucks with the right side menu bar. I don’t want to snag a custom theme in part because of security issues. Having a default theme means when Word Press is updated, so is the theme and I’ve at least reduced the possible security vectors down a few notches.

In general, I’ll be pointing folks to the photo site since that’s where I manage the events themselves. Grouping the days into a single event, etc. Where this blog will hold the event or each individual day’s events.

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