[BLUG] Introduction

A brief introduction:

I've been a Linux Systems Administrator for a little over 11 years. My
former employer, a northern Indiana ISP named KC Online recently laid
off most employees, including me. I moved down here to work on the
family farm while trying to find another job, but the tech sector is not
in good shape so it looks like I'll be here awhile. That's why I started
looking for LUGs and behold, I found this one. :)

I have some background in FreeBSD, HP-UX, and Solaris due to various
places I've worked, but most of my experience in server administration
(and all UNIX-like desktop experience) is in Linux. For 6 years I was an
editor of the Linux From Scratch series of books and was the project
leader and creator of the hardened version of that book. Only after
accepting a large workload increase in hopes of avoiding the layoffs, I
finally ran out of time to maintain my own LFS OS. I found no enjoyment
in any major distro, so I finally settled on Arch Linux. While there are
some things I dislike about it, it gave me the raw configurability I
need as a control freak. ;)

Since the layoff, I have been planning and developing a successor to my
old manually-compiled LFS systems that includes using Arch's pacman
package manager. I've recently dipped my toes *slightly* into pacman
development in the hopes of eventually contributing code and or ideas.

As for languages, I mainly stick to bash since I am an admin, not a
programmer. I dabble in C, C++, PHP, and assembly from time to time, but
nothing serious. If this unemployment streak lasts much longer, that may
change. ;)

I look forward to meeting fellow enthusiasts!

--
Jeff

My other computer is an abacus.

_______________________________________________
BLUG mailing list
BLUG@linuxfan.com
http://mailman.cs.indiana.edu/mailman/listinfo/blug

Re: [BLUG] Install Fest

Personally, I wouldn't recommend XP to anyone. It has security holes that Microsoft will never fix. It is obsolete. Windows 7 has the advantage over Vista in that most people find it runs faster, and it has the same system requirements as Vista.

But really, why fix what ain't broke? The system came with Vista, you don't particularly have problemas with it, so stick with it. It is enough to work getting things working in Linux, there's no reason to add fixing problems caused by switching Windows versions, too. You already know what to expect with Vista.

Also, Windows 7 can not do an in-place upgrade of XP. If you decide you want to go to a modern version of Windows, it will be a wipe and reinstall. Save the time, save the effort. Don't touch XP.

Just my two cents,
Steven

On Mar 11, 2010 9:34 AM, "Mark Warner" <markwarner1954@att.net> wrote:

If XP would be acceptable to you, then that would be fine as well. One
thing you should do ahead of time is plug the Dell Service Code into the
Dell website and make sure that there are no issues getting XP drivers
for your machine.

Another thought -- you might want to consider buying a replacement hard
drive. It looks like you have ~80G; you can get a lot bigger than that
for cheap anymore. You can then remove the existing drive and set it off
to the side. That's the most sure fire way to assure that you've got a
good image/backup/whatever.

If you want to carry this any further, it would probably be best to
contact me off-list:

markwarner1954 AT att DOT net

Erik Wallace wrote:
> Hi Mark
> Ok, well that sounds pretty close to what I had in mind. So far a...

> <mailto:markwarner1954@att.net>> wrote:
>
> If it were mine I'd backup/image/whatever, then b...

_______________________________________________
BLUG mailing list
BLUG@linuxfan.com
http://mailman.c...

Re: [BLUG] Install Fest

If XP would be acceptable to you, then that would be fine as well. One
thing you should do ahead of time is plug the Dell Service Code into the
Dell website and make sure that there are no issues getting XP drivers
for your machine.

Another thought -- you might want to consider buying a replacement hard
drive. It looks like you have ~80G; you can get a lot bigger than that
for cheap anymore. You can then remove the existing drive and set it off
to the side. That's the most sure fire way to assure that you've got a
good image/backup/whatever.

If you want to carry this any further, it would probably be best to
contact me off-list:

markwarner1954 AT att DOT net

Erik Wallace wrote:
> Hi Mark
> Ok, well that sounds pretty close to what I had in mind. So far as I
> understand media direct is supposed to allow viewing of DVD's without
> launching into the OS, I have not made much use of it though. I think
> you are right that blowing everything away and repartitioning from
> scratch is a better idea. But do I really need to be installing windows
> 7? If I can get my hands on an XP disk, why bother with windows 7? I
> even have a Vista installation CD among my recovery CDs, so if windows 7
> were to be installed, it seems I could use my Vista installation CD and
> then install windows 7 over it. You mentioned earlier that you would be
> willing to help me set this up. If you really are willing to do this,
> then maybe we could arrange a time for it soon. Thank you for all of
> your advice.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Erik
>
> On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 5:39 PM, Mark Warner <markwarner1954@att.net
> <mailto:markwarner1954@att.net>> wrote:
>
> If it were mine I'd backup/image/whatever, then blow everything away,
> and repartition the raw drive with a target NTFS basic partition for
> Windows, and an extended with a swap, root, and home partition for
> Linux. (I don't know what the Media Direct thing is all about.) Then
> install Windows using the recovery disks, followed by the Linux install.
>
> OEM installs with all the hidden partitions and whatnot are a right
> PITA. It appears you are affiliated with IU? You can get a Windows 7
> disk for $20. An install of XP or Vista is a prerequisite, but that's
> easily accomplished -- get a copy of the IU XP disk (everybody in town
> has one), do a quick base install, then install Win 7. After going
> through all that nonsense, the Linux install will be a breeze, and
> you'll have a much greater appreciation for what FOSS is all about.
>
> Erik Wallace wrote:
> > My computer is a dell laptop. I have all of the original recovery
> disks
> > (still unopened).

--
Mark Warner
_______________________________________________
BLUG mailing list
BLUG@linuxfan.com
http://mailman.cs.indiana.edu/mailman/listinfo/blug

Re: [BLUG] Server monitoring tools

It kind of seems that all of this is a matter of need and design more so than there being legitimate debate over there being a clear cut dominant tool. Comparing Nagios to Zenoss seems like an apples vs. oranges comparison - namely comparing a tool vs. a turnkey application.

If you want to, for instance, not have your monitoring software bother you during maintenance windows, or require x number of failures prior to notification, or setup ACLs for various people to see various things, or integrate your graphing stuff, and don't want to invest a whole lot of time into building these pieces yourself, a turnkey style application such as Zenoss is probably better suited for your purposes.


Lord Drachenblut wrote:

Just to drop a name that I haven't used personally. Opennms

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 10, 2010, at 10:15 PM, Steven Black <yam655@gmail.com> wrote:

I've used Nagios, though not the current version. I'm currently migrating to Zenoss as it does a lot more. (Especially with some tweaks.)

I like Python, though, so mucking around with Python to extend it is something I sort of enjoy. My setup displays all the installed packages, as well as the more typical system info.

On Mar 10, 2010 6:49 PM, "Kirk Gleason" <kgleason@gmail.com> wrote:

All,
 Recently I went to a demo from a vendor about server / service
monitoring. One of the presenters kept telling us how "sexy" it all
was. I do have to admit that you can do some cool stuff with WMI and
server monitoring. Of course once they were asked about providing the
same stuff for non-Windows servers, the crowd was presented with the
blank stare and babbling response that no sales person ever wants to
give.
 However this presentation got me thinking. What is out there? I am
currently using a Nagios install for availability monitoring and Cacti
for historical performance graphing. I do like what I can get from the
NSclient++ and WMI monitoring on the windows machines, but the same
type of functionality for linux always seem kludgy and clunky to me.
Maybe it is me. I don't really have any specific example (I am at
basketball practice for one of my kids as I type this), but it seems
like I should be able to get more.
 I've tried Groundwork Open Source and Zenoss in addition to Nagios
with various combinations of Cacti and/or mrtg. I always seem to come
back to Nagios, and I always seem to start immediately looking for
something else.
 Which brings me to my question: is anyone doing any type of
monitoring / graphing out there? If so, what tools are you using?  How
would you rate your current solution to other things you have tried?

--
Sent from my mobile device

Kirk Gleason
_______________________________________________
BLUG mailing list
BLUG@linuxfan.com
http://mailman.cs.indiana.edu/mailman/listinfo/blug

_______________________________________________
BLUG mailing list
BLUG@linuxfan.com
http://mailman.cs.indiana.edu/mailman/listinfo/blug

 
 _______________________________________________ BLUG mailing list BLUG@linuxfan.com http://mailman.cs.indiana.edu/mailman/listinfo/blug   

--
Joe Auty, NetMusician
NetMusician helps musicians, bands and artists create beautiful, professional, custom designed, career-essential websites that are easy to maintain and to integrate with popular social networks.
www.netmusician.org
joe@netmusician.org

Re: [BLUG] Install Fest

Hi Mark

Ok, well that sounds pretty close to what I had in mind.  So far as I understand media direct is supposed to allow viewing of DVD's without launching into the OS, I have not made much use of it though.  I think you are right that blowing everything away and repartitioning from scratch is a better idea.  But do I really need to be installing windows 7? If I can get my hands on an XP disk, why bother with windows 7?  I even have a Vista installation CD among my recovery CDs, so if windows 7 were to be installed, it seems I could use my Vista installation CD and then install windows 7 over it.  You mentioned earlier that you would be willing to help me set this up.  If you really are willing to do this, then maybe we could arrange a time for it soon.  Thank you for all of your advice.

Best wishes,

Erik

On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 5:39 PM, Mark Warner <markwarner1954@att.net> wrote:

If it were mine I'd backup/image/whatever, then blow everything away,
and repartition the raw drive with a target NTFS basic partition for
Windows, and an extended with a swap, root, and home partition for
Linux. (I don't know what the Media Direct thing is all about.) Then
install Windows using the recovery disks, followed by the Linux install.

OEM installs with all the hidden partitions and whatnot are a right
PITA. It appears you are affiliated with IU? You can get a Windows 7
disk for $20. An install of XP or Vista is a prerequisite, but that's
easily accomplished -- get a copy of the IU XP disk (everybody in town
has one), do a quick base install, then install Win 7. After going
through all that nonsense, the Linux install will be a breeze, and
you'll have a much greater appreciation for what FOSS is all about.

Erik Wallace wrote:
> My computer is a dell laptop.  I have all of the original recovery disks
> (still unopened).

--

Mark Warner
MEPIS Linux
Registered Linux User #415318



_______________________________________________
BLUG mailing list
BLUG@linuxfan.com
http://mailman.cs.indiana.edu/mailman/listinfo/blug

Re: [BLUG] Server monitoring tools

Just to drop a name that I haven't used personally. Opennms

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 10, 2010, at 10:15 PM, Steven Black <yam655@gmail.com> wrote:

I've used Nagios, though not the current version. I'm currently migrating to Zenoss as it does a lot more. (Especially with some tweaks.)

I like Python, though, so mucking around with Python to extend it is something I sort of enjoy. My setup displays all the installed packages, as well as the more typical system info.

On Mar 10, 2010 6:49 PM, "Kirk Gleason" <kgleason@gmail.com> wrote:

All,
 Recently I went to a demo from a vendor about server / service
monitoring. One of the presenters kept telling us how "sexy" it all
was. I do have to admit that you can do some cool stuff with WMI and
server monitoring. Of course once they were asked about providing the
same stuff for non-Windows servers, the crowd was presented with the
blank stare and babbling response that no sales person ever wants to
give.
 However this presentation got me thinking. What is out there? I am
currently using a Nagios install for availability monitoring and Cacti
for historical performance graphing. I do like what I can get from the
NSclient++ and WMI monitoring on the windows machines, but the same
type of functionality for linux always seem kludgy and clunky to me.
Maybe it is me. I don't really have any specific example (I am at
basketball practice for one of my kids as I type this), but it seems
like I should be able to get more.
 I've tried Groundwork Open Source and Zenoss in addition to Nagios
with various combinations of Cacti and/or mrtg. I always seem to come
back to Nagios, and I always seem to start immediately looking for
something else.
 Which brings me to my question: is anyone doing any type of
monitoring / graphing out there? If so, what tools are you using?  How
would you rate your current solution to other things you have tried?

--
Sent from my mobile device

Kirk Gleason
_______________________________________________
BLUG mailing list
BLUG@linuxfan.com
http://mailman.cs.indiana.edu/mailman/listinfo/blug

_______________________________________________
BLUG mailing list
BLUG@linuxfan.com
http://mailman.cs.indiana.edu/mailman/listinfo/blug

Re: [BLUG] Server monitoring tools

I've used Nagios, though not the current version. I'm currently migrating to Zenoss as it does a lot more. (Especially with some tweaks.)

I like Python, though, so mucking around with Python to extend it is something I sort of enjoy. My setup displays all the installed packages, as well as the more typical system info.

On Mar 10, 2010 6:49 PM, "Kirk Gleason" <kgleason@gmail.com> wrote:

All,
 Recently I went to a demo from a vendor about server / service
monitoring. One of the presenters kept telling us how "sexy" it all
was. I do have to admit that you can do some cool stuff with WMI and
server monitoring. Of course once they were asked about providing the
same stuff for non-Windows servers, the crowd was presented with the
blank stare and babbling response that no sales person ever wants to
give.
 However this presentation got me thinking. What is out there? I am
currently using a Nagios install for availability monitoring and Cacti
for historical performance graphing. I do like what I can get from the
NSclient++ and WMI monitoring on the windows machines, but the same
type of functionality for linux always seem kludgy and clunky to me.
Maybe it is me. I don't really have any specific example (I am at
basketball practice for one of my kids as I type this), but it seems
like I should be able to get more.
 I've tried Groundwork Open Source and Zenoss in addition to Nagios
with various combinations of Cacti and/or mrtg. I always seem to come
back to Nagios, and I always seem to start immediately looking for
something else.
 Which brings me to my question: is anyone doing any type of
monitoring / graphing out there? If so, what tools are you using?  How
would you rate your current solution to other things you have tried?

--
Sent from my mobile device

Kirk Gleason
_______________________________________________
BLUG mailing list
BLUG@linuxfan.com
http://mailman.cs.indiana.edu/mailman/listinfo/blug