![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 performance tuning
Linux Performance Tuning
April | May 2007 | by Jaqui Lynch
Note: This is the second article in a two-part series. The first installment was published in the February/March issue.
In last issue’s article I introduced basic Linux* …
MySQL query cache
Query cache can significantly speed up database operations for identical search queries. This is particularly useful for Web server applications, where multiple requests for the same data are a regular occurrence.
To enable query caching on …
MySQL LOAD DATA Syntax
Using LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE is a much faster way to insert lots of data into a table than using INSERT. The only preliminary step is to format the input file with unique field separators.
In …
Configuring eMule for Best Performance
“eMule is a peer-to-peer file sharing application that works with both the eDonkey network and the Kad network. The distinguishing features of eMule are the direct exchange of
sources between client nodes, fast recovery of corrupted …
Creating table indexes in MySQL
Creating an index for specific columns in a database table can greatly speed up search operations. This is important for any database query that use WHERE in the SQL string. Below is a practical example …
Windows XP Desktop
A few screenshots of my Windows XP to supplement my collection of KDE and Sun Java Desktop screenshots.
Recovering from Veritas VEA GUI errors
Veritas Volume Manager GUI is more functional and intuitive that that of any other volume management application. However, once in a while the VEA GUI becomes corrupted and displays incorrect information. One of the symptoms …
Exceed session quits after login
The following problem is encountered occasionally in most flavors of Unix and versions of Exceed. A user was able to use Exceed without problems to connect to the same Unix server just the other day. …
Contacting the sysadmin from command line
If you are a sysadmin, communicating with your users is an important aspect of your job. Phone, e-mail, SMS, and various service request systems are commonly used by most businesses. The problem with all these …
The correct MySQL GRANT syntax
It is surprising how many people run into problems trying to use the GRANT command: everything from not being able to access a database table to losing admin access to MySQL altogether. There’s a bunch …
Palm TX: Review, Software, and Configuration
Recently I got a Palm TX and so far I like everything about it. Except for the $300 price tag. Built-in Wi-Fi card and a larger screen that can operate in landscape mode are the …
Changing time
Unix systems record several time parameters associated with files. Sometimes you might need to set time parameters on a file to a particular value. Or you might need to modify a file without changing any …
Distributed password cracking with Medussa
Medussa is a password cracking application that supports distributed processing. One node acts as the Medussa server and the rest of the nodes are running the client application. The server node, in addition to running …
Mountpoint permission problem in Solaris
The following condition was originally discovered in OpenSolaris 11 (Bug ID: 4697677). This problem occurs when you do mkdir -m 700 on a mountpoint before mounting it. This superceeds whatever permissions you might give to …
Managing your MP3 collection
Remember all the MP3s you ripped or downloaded sitting in that big directory somewhere on your hard drive? Getting those files organized by genre, performer, or album can be daunting task if the MP3s are …
Informix database migration on HP-UX
Rather than rebuilding an Informix database on the new HP-UX server, it possible to migrate the existing installation from the old server. The database resides on raw disks with transparent volumes that are not visible …
Creating large AIX JFS filesystems
A quick note on creating large JFS filesystems on AIX: if the filesystem is 64Gb or might be expanded to over 64Gb any time in the future, make sure the NBPI (Number of Bytes Per …
Monitoring Veritas VM problems on Solaris
Several Veritas VM and system logs can be used to monitor and diagnose problems with the Volume Manager. An automated script can be used to grab the last few lines from these logs whenever a …
Timeline Plots with GNUPlot
GNUPlot is an open-source versitile data plotting and mathematical charting application. Timeline plot is the most common type of a plot you would generate. It also seems that it’s one of the more capricious features …
Simple network monitoring with ping
In the Spring of 2005 Comcast experienced a major DNS outage. Since then many Comcast users have switched to DNS servers that belong to Verizon and other ISPs. Comcast started taking a lot of flak …
CUPS printing on Solaris 10
Download the Companion CD for Solaris 10 GA on: Solaris 10 Companion cd download
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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