![8vl3onvznkopxa6ny9995yrc4gw[1]](https://i0.wp.com/www.krazyworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/8vl3onvznkopxa6ny9995yrc4gw1-175x150.jpg "Awk & sed Snippets for SysAdmins")
Books have been written on the subject of awk and sed. Here’s a small sample of commands I put together over the years that are useful for everyday system administration tasks. Most of these tasks …
Read the full story »Linux and High I/O Wait
When you look at the CPU activity of your computer, one of the parameters is the iowait. This value shows how much time your CPU wastes while it is waiting for I/O operations for complete. …
Sharing Videos from Linux to Xbox 360
Xbox 360 uses UPnP protocol to stream multimedia files from computers on your home network. Normally, you would have a Windows PC running WMP and sharing files. But what if you have a Linux box …
What’s the Best CMS
Content management systems are sprouting up like mushrooms after a warm April rain. If your job is to find the perfect CMS for your needs, you can spend weeks analyzing and comparing features of various …
Partitioning System Disk
When performing a new Unix OS installation you are usually presented with a choice of accepting the default partitioning layout or going into advanced settings and defining your own partitions. The default layout will normally …
Google Tips and Tricks
Google offers a remarkable set of powerful features. Unfortunately, most people are not aware of these possibilities. They use only the most basic functionality offered by Google and then waste their time on weeding out …
Convert Images to PDF
Converting sets of images into multi-page PDF files makes it easier to organize and share them. All you need for the conversion is the free that will run on your Windows, Linux, MacOS and many other operating systems. If you are running a recent version of Linux, chances are that ImageMagick is already installed on your computer (just type “which convert” to check).
Best of Web Design
As more Web surfers get high-speed access, Web designers are tempted to go overboard with multimedia sites that waste your time and distract you from the content. This little collection of Web designs is proof …
Random Filename Chooser
This is a rather peculiar little script with a purpose that may not be immediately apparent. The script will look for files in the specified folder; it will then pick one at random from the …
WordPress Quick Upgrade for Linux
Never ever upgrade WordPress to the latest version as soon as it comes out, unless you want to be the guinea pig dealing with the new bugs and incompatible plugins. Even if the new version …
Linksys WAP54G Secure Configuration
Below are some basic steps to secure a wireless access point (WAP). The screenshots are for Linksys WAP54G v. 3.04, however, the same steps will apply to wireless access points from other manufacturers. Understand this: …
Apache and Multiple Domains – from Home
Apparently there are folks out there who are still interested in running their own Web server from home. More than that – they want to have multiple domains. Guys, Web hosting these days is so …
Data Security and Online Privacy
You have information on your computer that you don’t want others to see. Sometimes you want to share information with someone, but you don’t want anyone to know that you are the one sharing it. Let’s say that you came across some information suggesting that your employer may be breaking law. You want to make this information public, but you can’t do it openly becausloe you will be fired. Another example: you are at work and you need to send a personal, confidential email…
Scali Manage (Platform Manager) CLI Guide
Scali Manage – the bloated and unpredictable HPC cluster management tool – has recently been acquired by Platform Computing Corp. It is to be integrated into Platform LSF and Platform OCS products. I can’t say …
Dealing With Disk Hogs
Some users and application developers believe that any free disk space on the server belongs to them. Suddenly you get an email alert saying that a server “xyz” ran out of disk space in /home. …
Useful SysAdmin Scripts: Search-and-Replace
Let’s say you moved your server to a new network and now it has a different IP address. You know your users have a habit of hard-coding the server’s IP into their scripts. So you …
Effective Virus Protection
How do you protect your computer from viruses? Most computer users just buy antivirus software, install it, and reboot their PC – done. If only it was that easy. Over the past several years percentage of home and business computers infected with viruses has been steadily growing. Most PCs are sold these days with preinstalled antivirus software. And yet, the number of infected computers keeps on growing…
Tips on dealing with the Bagle rootkit
Normally I don’t concern myself with Windows- related matters. However, the infamous Bagle rootkit and its numerous variations deserve some attention even from Unix sysadmins. Bagle annoyed me and my customers long enough. Essentially, Bagle …
Disaster Recovery Management
You business depends on your computers. Your employees need their databases, emails, files and applications to do their jobs. Imagine that you come to work on Monday and your database server is gone. How? It doesn’t matter. Let’s say it was transported out of your datacenter by the Romulans. Or, perhaps, the sprinkler system malfunctioned, flooded your datacenter and reduces your database server to a steaming, shorted out pile of junk.
Creating print.css for WordPress
Many WordPress theme designers choose to cut some corners with their creations. One of the more important things they skip over is print.css – the stylesheet that controls your blog’s appearance when you print it. …
Migrating email between hosted providers
Recently I ran into a small problem. A customer of mine was moving her site to a new hosting provider. Her old provider was Windows-based and her new provider was Linux-based. The old provider did …
Home Network Configuration Basics
Research shows that majority of everyday computer problems are caused by poor network configuration. That small white Ethernet cable plugged into the back of your PC is where most of your computer-related headaches are coming …
VxVM Recovery Cheatsheet for Solaris
This is a quick-and-dirty guide to recovering VxVM volumes and filesystems on a Solaris server. These instructions are not intended to be an in-depth troubleshooting guide for the Veritas Volume Manager. This is just something …
Commands & Shells »
Plundering Facebook Photo Albums
![wyryr1sn52gntzn65v4fpz5lc6v[1]](https://i2.wp.com/www.krazyworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/wyryr1sn52gntzn65v4fpz5lc6v1-80x80.jpg "Plundering Facebook Photo Albums")
Let’s imagine you need to download all the photos in a Facebook photo album. It can be a public album, a friend’s, or even your own. Sure, you can do this manually, but you probably …
Scraping a Web Page in Bash
![clfud46mxf2t5zph2l04zlpgl1d[1]](https://i2.wp.com/www.krazyworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/clfud46mxf2t5zph2l04zlpgl1d1-80x80.jpg "Scraping a Web Page in Bash")
Just a scripting exercise because I need to do something important, but I am procrastinating. The idea is simple: grab some URL with text containing somewhat structured data and convert it into a spreadsheet. I …
Applications »
Processing Videos with ffmpeg and Lightroom
![DSCF5361[1]](https://i1.wp.com/www.krazyworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/DSCF53611-80x80.jpg "Processing Videos with ffmpeg and Lightroom")
On occasion I wondered how to apply advanced photo filters to my lackluster GoPro and drone videos. You know, not the basic exposure/contrast/saturation or the cheesy special effects you find in video editors, but something …
Searching Twitter
![Cat-Devouring-A-Bird-Pablo-Picasso[1]](https://i0.wp.com/www.krazyworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Cat-Devouring-A-Bird-Pablo-Picasso1-80x80.jpg "Searching Twitter")
Here are just a few hopefully useful tips for searching Twitter to get more relevant results and buy cheap twitter followers.
Data »
Scraping a Web Page in Bash
Just a scripting exercise because I need to do something important, but I am procrastinating. The idea is simple: grab some URL with text containing somewhat structured data and convert it into a spreadsheet. I …
Generating Random Text Files for Testing
![91ebozy1e3b138waujy28agrngy[1]](https://i2.wp.com/www.krazyworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/91ebozy1e3b138waujy28agrngy1-80x80.jpg "Generating Random Text Files for Testing")
Sometimes you need dummy folder structures populated with random data for testing your various scripts and processes – backups, file transfers, encryption, compression, etc. Every time I need something like this, I end up writing …
Monitoring »
Finding Cron Jobs
![iwoau71okwxqh4jv3k4ook32qps[1]](https://i2.wp.com/www.krazyworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/iwoau71okwxqh4jv3k4ook32qps1-80x80.jpg "Finding Cron Jobs")
Cron is an indispensable tool for system administration. The difficulties in working with cron in a large environment stem from its decentralized nature. Cron jobs multiply like rabbits, and keeping track of them is not …
Understanding Memory Utilization in Linux
![5gtysva4wkc8mzc1k3e66vaycxx[1]](https://i1.wp.com/www.krazyworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/5gtysva4wkc8mzc1k3e66vaycxx1-80x80.jpg "Understanding Memory Utilization in Linux")
This is a depressing – and all-too-common – scenario: a user runs the free command and opens a support case because he sees zero “free” memory on the server.
Networking »
Validating HTTPS Cache Peers for Squid
![sy2zeb1vp2h8itlxfbbylw0jrm0[1]](https://i0.wp.com/www.krazyworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/sy2zeb1vp2h8itlxfbbylw0jrm01-80x80.jpg "Validating HTTPS Cache Peers for Squid")
I have a squid proxy server that uses a long list of authenticated cache peers in a round-robin configuration. The process looks something like this:
Verifying SNMP Connectivity on Multiple Hosts
![Photo-2019-10-07-14-39-03_0266[1]](https://i1.wp.com/www.krazyworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Photo-2019-10-07-14-39-03_02661-80x80.jpg "Verifying SNMP Connectivity on Multiple Hosts")
I needed to check if SNMP was accessible on whatever live servers that existed in a particular subnet. Here’s a quick script to do this.
Editor
Igor
Sr. Unix SysAdmin with twenty years experience supporting Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, IRIX, and Linux servers in a large distributed environment.
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