Caching RPMs with automirror
Introduction In a previous article, I wrote about how to use pkg-cacher to cache requested RPM files. Since then, the website for pkg-cacher has become unavailable and coincidentally I wrote my own tool that provides the same functionality called automirror. This article describes how to use it.
It’s All Just Files and Folders
Introduction I ran into a situation today where a virtual machine had outgrown its environment and needed moved to a dedicated server. This article describes the migration.
Caching RPMs with pkg-cacher
Introduction apt-cacher is an excellent proxy server for caching .deb packages. It integrates into apt so that when a package is requested, apt-cacher checks to see if there is a cached copy. If there is, it sends the cached copy. If there isn’t, it downloads the package from the Internet, caches it, and sends it [...]
Cobbler and SSH Keys
Introduction Utilizing SSH keys for server access, whether password-less or with a passphrase, is a staple of system administration and automation. However, configuring this type of access is usually done manually: an admin will manually log in to the server, manually create the /root/.ssh directory, and then manually paste the source server’s public SSH key [...]
Deploying Ubuntu with Cobbler
Introduction In my previous article, I described the basics of Cobbler and how to get a simple installation up and running and distributing Linux. While I was able to get simple RedHat-based distributions installed easily, I had some problems with Ubuntu. Although it was easy enough to configure Cobbler to distribute Ubuntu via PXE, I [...]
Cobbler
Introduction I recently discovered Cobbler, an server that assists in the automated deployment of Linux distributions. A normal installation infrastructure is composed of several components: DHCP, DNS, PXE, TFTP, and the actual install media. Cobbler glues all of these components together very nicely. In addition, it provides dynamic configuration support by the way of kickstart [...]
Automating an Ubuntu Server Install
Introduction Updated for Ubuntu 10.04 LTS While the installation procedure for Ubuntu Server is simple enough, I wanted to create a total hands-free solution. Doing so would allow me to simply boot a new PC or Virtual Machine and have a working Ubuntu Server in 10 minutes or so. The solution I came up with [...]
VMWare Tools on Ubuntu 8.04 Server
Introduction I maintain a VMWare Server (not ESX) that currently hosts 9 Ubuntu 8.04 LTS guests. To my mistake, I never thought of installing VMWare Tools on any of them until I started seeing premature performance bottlenecks. Being tasked with 9 installations, I could either install the Tools on each guest manually or look for [...]
How I Deploy Websites
Introduction I’ve gotten into the habit of using a Virtual Machine to develop my websites. The VM mimics the production server as much as possible so there are little-to-no changes that need made when the site is moved to production. To move a site from the development server to the production one, I wanted a [...]
My Git Workflow
Introduction I was never a fan of Subversion because every time I tried using it, I always managed to corrupt the repository. Also having .svn files everywhere really annoyed me. On the other hand, I have yet to ruin a Git repository. It’s incredibly easy to use and everything is stored in a top-level .git [...]