Pointer to VisualAWR blog

I had sent a link to some folks for http://visualawr.blogspot.com.  Unfortunately, it pointed here instead.

Here is the correct link:  http://visualawr.blogspot.com

Fix my Samba Share Issues

I was only able to see folders, no files, in my samba share.  This appears to be related to some SELinux issues.  I tested this by turning it off with:
#> setenforce 0

if the files appear, then it's a SELinux missing context. Enable SELinux again, then add context to folder:

#> setenforce 1
#> chcon -Rt samba_share_t <<directory of my share>>

Setting up a shared drive with my VirtualBox Guests

1. Oracle VM VirtualBox
2. Your Host can be any OS
3. The Guest can be any version of Microsoft Windows (98, XP, Vista, 7, etc.). I used Windows XP.

Now you can follow these steps:

Step 1 

Run your Host OS and launch VM VirtualBox.

Step 2 

Start your Guest OS in which you want to share drives/folders and files contained in them.

Step 3 

Click on "Devices" tab provided on the VM VirtualBox taskbar and select "Shared Folders" from the drop-down list.

Step 4 

VirtualBox will open a window "Shared Folders". Click on the top icon in the right-hand corner to add the drive/folder. Another window will open—"Add Share".

Step 5 

"Add Share" allows you to give the path of the drive/folder you wish to share from the Host OS by giving the path in "Folder Path". You can also browse the drive/folder from your Host OS if you don't remember the exact path of the contents you want to share.

Step 6 

Now type the name of the folder in the "Folder Name" box. It can be any name you wish to have on Guest OS. Also, check the boxes "Auto Mount" and "Make Permanent" and click "OK".

Step 7 

Go to "Start", select and click "Run" on Guest OS. Type "net use x: \\vboxsrv\Drive F" as the run command and click "OK". If you have done everything alright, then no message or notification will appear. Note that the shared drive/folder name should be the same as given in the "Share Folder" window from Step 6. I gave it "Drive F".

Step 8 

Go to "My Computer" and there you will see your shared drive/folder under "Network Drives". Now you can access all contents contained in the shared drive/folder that you just shared. You can add as many drives and folders as you want following the same steps.

Backing Up My FreeNAS Server

I run my FreeNAS as a VirtualBox VM, with VirtualBox running on Oracle Enterprise Linux 6.5.    This has created a bit of a stability problem as sometimes the VM will crash or be a victim of a power outage.  Anytime the the VM goes down unexpectedly, there is risk that the virtual drive, VMDK in my case, will get corrupted.  At any rate, backing up your backup is a good DR policy.  I have chosen to use the following strategy:

1.  Use the CRON job process in FreeNAS do an RSYNC between the VMDK drive and my host OS (OEL6.5).  This will get my files out of the VMDK and onto a separate drive mounted on OEL6.5.  RSYNC is feature rich allowing me to copy only files that have been changed.

Here is my RSYNC script on the FreeNAS system:

Since this script will need to automatically login to my host OLE6.5, I'll need to setup passwordless login for SSH.  I do this using the following commands:

jsmith@local-host$ [Note: You are on the guest VMBox FreeNAS system here]
jsmith@local-host$ ssh-keygen
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/jsmith/.ssh/id_rsa):[Enter key]
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase): [Press enter key]
Enter same passphrase again: [Pess enter key]
Your identification has been saved in /home/jsmith/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /home/jsmith/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
33:b3:fe:af:95:95:18:11:31:d5:de:96:2f:f2:35:f9 jsmith@local-host

Now Copy the SSH Key to my host OEL6.5 keystore:
cat /home/jsmith/.ssh/id_rsa.pub | ssh root@192.168.1.250 'cat >> .ssh/authorized_keys'

2.  Once I get the files onto the OEL6.5 mounted volume, I use CrashPlan to upload the files into the CrashPlan cloud.  CrashPlan has a nice GUI (Java) and is one of the few that supports all platforms, including Linux.  They are also surprisingly economical;  $59/year for unlimited space.

3.  Finally I purchased a CyberPower UPS (CP1350AVRLCD) to protect against surprise outages and to regulate my AC power.  This was a pretty good deal for $125.  This is the only one I could find that has Linux compatible software for shutdown and monitoring.

Tagging in Git

Some aspects of working with GitHub can be very non-intuitive.  One in particular is Tagging a new release of my project and pushing the tags to the remote repository.  See the image below of a GitBash session I use to do my tagging.  This set of commands seems to be working for me.  I use tags to mark a new release of my project.  With this approach it appears I can pull down the full code base for each release by using GitHub to download a zip for the desired tag.  I would also like to do a diff between releases (tags)....still looking for an easy way to do this.

//Other useful commands:
//Show all tags in repository with date
git log --tags --simplify-by-decoration --pretty="format:%ai %d"
//Show changes since a date
git whatchanged --since='11/05/2014' > git.out

Adobe FormsCentral Page Numbering

This is a bit less technical blog entry, but alas, there are many gotchas in our so called "productivity" software that sometimes requires a bit of research.  Recently I have been using Adobe FormsCentral to create customer current state questionnaires that we use prior to engaging on-site with a customer.  This is a nice format for questionnaire distribution as it has the ease of filling out a web form and intermediate revisions can be saved in PDF files, and finally returned to me as PDF attachments in an email.  One issue I have been having is the mundane but necessary task of adding page numbers to the FormsCentral questionnaires.  Here is the solution I have found that works.  Unfortunately a rather complex solution to a simple requirement.

PDF forms generated by FormsCentral are Reader Extended to allow Adobe Reader users to fill and save PDF forms. A side effect of Reader Extending the PDF form is that it cannot be modified in the full (paid-for) Adobe Acrobat product. The instructions below explain how to edit FormsCentral PDF forms in Acrobat X or XI:

1. Open the FormsCentral PDF form in Adobe Acrobat
2. Go to the File menu and select the Save a Copy… menu item (Note: this is not the same as File > Save As...). This step is important as it will remove the Reader Extended rights and allow you to modify the PDF. Make sure you save under a different name than the current PDF.
3. Open the copy you just saved in step #2
4. Do your modifications. Note: If the form has a FormsCentral Submit button on it then be careful making changes because you could break the Submit button.
5. If your form has a Submit button then test your form by submitting data to make sure the changes you made didn't break anything
6. If you have Acrobat XI then go to File > Save as Others... > Reader Extended PDF > Enable More Tools (include form fill-in & save)…; If you have Acrobat X then go to File >Save as... > Reader Extended PDF > Enable Additional Features... This will add the Reader Extended Rights back so that the fillers can save the PDF in previous version of Reader

Linux file system sometimes reverts to read-only

Sometimes my VM's disks get corrupted and switch to read-only.  This is most likely because they do not always get safely shutdown i.e. power outages.

One way that I have resolved this

1. Force fsck:  shutdown -rF now

To remount the read-only filesystem, use:  mount -o remount,rw /dev/xvdb1

touch /forcefsck
reboot

In case I don't know what the filesystem name is, just use "mount" or "ls /etc/mtab"