Category: Server

  • esxcli: Update/patch produces “Could not download from depot” error

    In ESXi 5.1 you can patch using the following command:

     

    esxcli software vib install -d /path/to/patch.zip

     

    If you’re getting the following result (using ESXi510-20121001.zip as an example):

     

     [MetadataDownloadError]
    Could not download from depot at zip:/var/log/vmware/ESXi510-201210001.zip?index.xml, skipping ((‘zip:/var/log/vmware/ESXi510-201210001.zip?index.xml’, ”, “Error extracting index.xml from /var/log/vmware/ESXi510-201210001.zip: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: ‘/var/log/vmware/ESXi510-201210001.zip’”))
    url = zip:/var/log/vmware/ESXi510-201210001.zip?index.xml
    Please refer to the log file for more details.

     

    This results from not putting in the absolute path to the .zip – e.g. using:

     

    esxcli software vib install -d ESXi510-20121001.zip

     

    rather than:

     

    esxcli software vib install -d /vmfs/volumes/datastore/ESXi510-20121001.zip

     

    Putting in the full path to the .zip file should resolve that error.

  • How To: Export all mysql databases for backup

    This is a handy command for anyone using multiple mysql databases – it produces a single file which you can easily back up to elsewhere.

     

    mysqldump -u root -p –all-databases > databasesBackup.sql

     

    Note the two hyphens before “all”. This command creates the file databasesBackup.sql which contains the contents of all of your databases. This file can be easily rsync’d or scp’d elsewhere to create an offsite backup of your site’s databases.

  • Error Code 60 on an Asus Z9PE-D16

     

    Today a customer’s Asus Z9PE-D16 wouldn’t boot and displayed the debug code 60 – in this case the problem was that the RAM sticks (8 total, 4 for each CPU) were in the black slots rather than the blue slots. Swapping them across resulted in a boot straight away.

     

    Hope that helps someone!

  • Ubuntu: Securing your remote SSH logins with Denyhosts

    Being able to log in to your server remotely via SSH is an incredibly powerful way of remotely managing your system. With so many devices now able to support consoles (just about any current smartphone or current OS, really) you can check on things, update or make changes from just about anywhere.

     

    One of the less positive consequences of opening up your SSH port to the wider world is that you’re also exposing your server to everyone else in the world, not just yourself. There are many computers and virus-born botnets out there who scan IP addresses for open ports and try to brute-force their way in to steal data, generally cause destruction or create another bot. One good way of protecting yourself is installing a program which monitors the attempted logins via SSH and blocks any IP addresses which match an undesired pattern: Denyhosts.

     

    You can install denyhosts by entering the following:

     

    sudo apt-get install denyhosts

     

    This installs denyhosts on your system, which starts automatically once installed and also on boot. You can edit the settings with the following file:

     

    /etc/denyhosts.conf

     

    Blocked IPs are listed in:

     

    /etc/hosts.deny

     

    It’s not unusual to have hundreds of entries after a couple of months. The default settings are reasonably good; you do have the freedom to make them as lenient or paranoid as you care to which is handy for tailoring it to your specific needs (e.g. strict rules re: logging in as accounts that don’t exist or the root account). Be aware that if you mistype your own password enough times you may ban your ou cown IP address, which might be inconvenient if you don’t have physical access to the server or another IP to fix!

     

    Denyhosts is a quick, easy and powerful way to begin securing your SSH-accessible servers – as far as we’re concerned it or an equivalent program are a must if you’re opening up a SSH port to the outside world.

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    Some customers have been having DNS issues after setting a static IP on Ubuntu 12.04.1 where the server is no longer picking up the DNS settings as it was before; this can be easily fixed by adding the following to /etc/network/interfaces after the eth0 entry:

     

    dns-nameservers [ip.of.your.router]

     

    e.g., for a modem/router that’s 10.1.1.1 on your local network, your /etc/network/interfaces file might look like:

     

    # This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
    # and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

    # The loopback network interface
    auto lo
    iface lo inet loopback

    # The primary network interface
    auto eth0
    iface eth0 inet static
    address 10.1.1.50
    netmask 255.255.255.0
    gateway 10.1.1.1
    broadcast 10.1.1.255

    dns-nameservers 10.1.1.1

    Restart your network with:

     

    sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

     

    …then try pinging Google or something similar and you should have success 🙂

     

    It’s generally not advisable for Australians to use nameservers located elsewhere, e.g. Google’s public DNS’ 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4 – some things which are unmetered by your ISP may be metered if you do so.

     

     

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    There’s not a great deal to say about these cards apart from that they allow you some crazy network speeds, if you have the disk speed to keep up. They can certainly alleviate network bottlenecks if gigabit is holding you back!

    https://www.sotechdesign.com.au/new-jersey-dating-sites/

    This particular card has a fan to keep the chipset cool; it’s not going to be heard in a server room but if your workstation is quiet the high-pitched whine is probably going to be audible.

    The card does get reasonably hot, particularly if you’re making good use of it’s capabilities – make sure you have enough airflow in the chassis to keep the card cool. Keep in mind it’s assumed that these cards will be used in an environment where there’s at least 200 linear feet per minute of airflow passing over them.

    10-gigabit cards are coming down in price quite significantly, though switches are still out of reach of most enthusiasts/small businesses. Watch this space, however, as 10GBe connections are making their way into high-end server boards more regularly and that will slowly filter down to the consumer level. SSD arrays becoming more commonplace will only help with that, as will the new 12gb/s cards from LSI – it’s hard to make use of all that bandwidth if you’re piping it over gigabit!

  • New Product: 1U Rack Dual Temperature and Humidity Sensor

     

    We had some requests for a 1U sensor that did more than just read the temperature in one spot in the chassis and after looking at what was available we decided to make our own.

     

    Featuring two temperature sensors with 1M probes and an ambient temperature+humidity sensor, it’s a great way of measuring intake/exhaust temperatures as well as the internal rack temperature with the added bonus of humidity.  At 1U it takes up a minimal amount of rack space and the probes are quite thin, making it practical to route them around your rack.

     

    Let us know if you want one included with your next server build!

  • Asus Z9PE-D16 review: Part One

    Up for review today we have one of Asus’ dual-socket-2011 server motherboards – the Z9PE-D16. Hit the break to find out what it’s all about and why you might care about it even if you don’t need to run two CPUs…

     

     

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