But it's on Unix

Setting default browser for Lotus Notes under Linux

2010-03-10T15:01:00.002+01:00

If you are using Lotus Notes 8.5 on Linux you've probably noticed how stupid the settings for external browser are! You can choose between internal notes browser or "system default" browser.
You've probably done what I did, set Gnome default browser to Firefox, set KDE default browser to Firefox and still, when you click on a link and Epiphany or Google Chrome comes up showing your page...

To check what "system default" is type:


$ xdg-mime query default text/html
google-chrome.desktop

then to change it, create firefox37.desktop in /usr/local/share/applications:


[Desktop Entry]
Comment[en_US]=
Comment=
Exec=/usr/firefox37/firefox %U
GenericName[en_US]=
GenericName=
Icon=/usr/firefox37/icons/mozicon128.png
MimeType=text/html
Name[en_US]=Firefox 3.7
Name=Firefox 3.7
Path=
StartupNotify=true
Terminal=false
TerminalOptions=
Type=Application
X-DBUS-ServiceName=
X-DBUS-StartupType=
X-KDE-SubstituteUID=false
X-KDE-Username=

Mimetype should be set to what you intend to use it for...

and set it:


$ xdg-mime default firefox37.desktop text/html
$ xdg-mime query default text/html
firefox37.desktop

happy browsing...

debian update breaks java networking

2009-12-29T14:59:00.003+01:00

My testing Debian was recently upgraded to latest version and suddenly java applets stopped working with ConnectionExceptions and ClassNotFoundExceptions. After 1,5 days of searching I found that there is a new config file in /etc/sysctl.d/bindv6only.conf which breaks java networking!!!!

To "fix" it change net.ipv6.bindv6only = 1 to 0 and run:
invoke-rc.d procps restart

java now works again!!! I don't understand why (and I don't care) but this kind of things should be more public and more easy to find... Debian mainteners PLEASE don't break things so silently...

firefox 3.6 and java...

2009-12-08T14:05:00.002+01:00

I lost 2 days trying to get new firefox 3.6b4 to use java 1.6 only to find out they changed the way plugins are handeled and that I need a new plugin!

new setting is:


user@server~/firefox36/plugins$ ls -la
lrwxrwxrwx  1 user users       58 2009-12-07 19:47 libnpjp2.so -> /home/user/ibm-java-i386-60.sr6/jre/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so

yours should probably point to something like:


/usr/java/latest/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so
for SUN java or
/opt/ibm-java-i386-60/jre/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so
for IBM java

Lets hope google will index this soon so others don't have to dig too deep...

DB2, ITDS on Linux issues...

2009-09-05T10:54:00.002+02:00

If you ever tried installing any IBM products on a linux distribution you already know that you need some black magick to do it...

Configuring it on the supported platform is a little bit easier but still not as it should be!

Most of the problems come from the use of InstallShield installer on all platforms (instead only on windblows where it actually works)...

Installshield prerequisites are almost nondocumented (except for compat-libstdc++-33.i386 or libstdc++5 on debian-based distros). Other than that you'll also need:libXp6, libxtst, xclock (for some basic X libs)... For centos I also needed compat-libstdc++-296 and pdksh (uninstall ksh and download pdksh from Internet since it's not part of the distribution)

Now you can at least install the product! But if it's WebSphere you should also add libgtk2.0-0 or your profile management tool dies...

If you are installing DB2 v9 on Ubuntu make sure you:

1. change /bin/sh as a link from /bin/dash to /bin/bash (or scripts will fail silently)

2. change /etc/pam.d/common-password from

password [success=1 default=ignore] pam_unix.so obscure sha512
to
password [success=1 default=ignore] pam_unix.so obscure md5

or DB2 will not be able to authenitace remote users (since their encrypted password will be to big!)

IBM please document your linux stuff and stop using InstallShield - it's simply broken!

split a file in 2 with sed...

2009-04-03T22:22:00.003+02:00

If you need to split a file around a line containing special text (lets say "hello world") you shoud do it with sed!

If your file is original.txt, you can do it like this:


sed '1,/^hello world$/!d' < original.txt > first_half.txt
sed '1,/^hello world$/d' < original.txt > second_hald.txt

just simple sed...

hope you like it

vi is all you need!

2009-03-15T22:48:00.002+01:00

vi is a great editor and I just want to say it out loud!

Learn to use it, learn to love it and then learn to enjoy it...

I constantly find myself typing ESC h,j,k,l don't you?

PS learn to use hjkl and not the arrows, it will help you when you get your shell to vi mode (set -o vi)

Learn the tricks, learn search/replace and other tools and you'll greatly enhance your job performance...

I currently have to edit a lot of SQL files and search/replace just saved me 4-5 days of typing (and who knows how many mistakes)...

a simple ESC
:% s/what am I changing/what the new text will be/g
is all it takes... (g is for global, so if you have more occurencies of the same text all will be changed)

good options to know are
:4,8 s/what/new/gc
which will only run from 4th to 8th line and ask you to approve every change

other regexp formats are also supported:
:% s/this line has \(first\) argument/here was the \1 argument/g

just to make sure you know which lines to include try:
:set nu
and
:set nonu

How to change websphere app. server name from server1 to something usefull

2009-01-26T22:37:00.005+01:00

If you are running WSAS as a standalone server (no deployment manager or cluster) you probably created a profile with a default server called server1. This is ok unless you have 2 profiles with 2 servers both called server1! Due to a bug in WSAS this will prevent EJB communication between them in some cases so you need to rename one of them!

This is not a simple task without deployment manager. You have to do it via scripts. IBM provides this scripts for free but they are not easy to find :-)

URL is:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/library/samples/SampleScripts.html

and you are looking for ConfigScripts.zip

To rename it:


/usr/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/AppSrv01/bin/ws_ant.sh -profileName AppSrv01 -buildfile exportImport.xml -logfile rename.log -DoldServerName=server1 -DnewServerName=server2 -DnodeName=yourNode01 changeServerName

I would expect this to be a much easier process but IBM obviously doesn't share my ideas...

Installing WebSphere application server on Debian Testing

2008-12-22T19:02:00.002+01:00

To install WSAS 6.1 on Debian testing I did a clean text mode install of debian and just added this packages via apt-get install: pdksh, libstdc++5, ntpdate, ntp, xclock (to get X libraries), libxtst6, libgtk2.0-0 with all their dependencies...

Now you can run the GUI installer and install websphere!

good luck

Install RHEL 5.1u2 + heartbeat + DRBD

2008-12-17T22:18:00.012+01:00

Installation will be done on two IBM x3650 servers with integrated RSA II slimline adapters. I started the installation after changing some parameters in BIOS (OS type changed to Linux OS, BMC serial port sharing disabled). After booting I started install with this parameters: linux pci=nommconf nophet

I setup disks through ServerRAID adapter software to /dev/sda as RAID 1 out of 2 volumes and /dev/sdb as RAID 5 out of remaining 4 volumes. Linux will be installed on /dev/sda and /dev/sdb will be shared.

Don't forget to connect eth2 adapters with crossover cable and serial ports with null modem cable. I then changed network settings for production ethernet to 100Mbit/s full duplex and crossover cable to 1000Mbit/s full duplex (100Mbit/s was a requirement from the customer).

Example files from server1 are below.

/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0:

DEVICE=eth0
BOOTPROTO=none
ONBOOT=yes
IPADDR=10.1.1.10
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
GATEWAY=10.1.1.1
TYPE=Ethernet
ETHTOOL_OPTS="speed 100 duplex full autoneg off"

/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth2:

 DEVICE=eth2
BOOTPROTO=none
ONBOOT=yes
IPADDR=10.1.2.10
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
TYPE=Ethernet
ETHTOOL_OPTS="speed 1000 duplex full autoneg off"

/etc/hosts needs to be changed accordingly:

 10.1.1.10 server1
10.1.1.11 server2
10.1.1.12 serviceIP
10.1.2.10 server1repl
10.1.2.11 server2repl
10.1.1.13 s1rsa
10.1.1.14 s2rsa

You should install additional RPMs:

libnet-1.1.2.1-2.1.x86_64.rpm
perl-Net-SSLeay-1.30-4.fc6.x86_64.rpm
perl-TimeDate-1.16-5.el5.noarch.rpm
heartbeat-2.1.4-2.1.x86_64.rpm
heartbeat-devel-2.1.4-2.1.x86_64.rpm
heartbeat-pils-2.1.4-2.1.x86_64.rpm
heartbeat-stonith-2.1.4-2.1.x86_64.rpm
drbd82-8.2.6-1.el5.centos.x86_64.rpm
kmod-drbd82-8.2.6-1.2.6.18_92.el5.x86_64.rpm

I manually created haclient group and hacluster user:

# groupadd -g 496 haclient
# useradd  -M -g haclient -u 498 -d /var/lib/heartbeat/cores/hacluster hacluster

This install should be done on both server1 and server2. After installing DRBD you'll have to start it which will make /proc/drbd file available. I'll put config files a little bit later.

Create meta data on both machines:

[root@server1]# drbdadm create-md r0
[root@server2]# drbdadm create-md r0

Start DRBD on both machines:

[root@server1]# /etc/init.d/drbd start
[root@server2]# /etc/init.d/drbd start

Now we can check the status:

[root@server1]# cat /proc/drbd
version: 8.2.6 (api:88/proto:86-88)
GIT-hash: 3e69822d3bb4920a8c1bfdf7d647169eba7d2eb4 build by buildsvn@c5-x8664-build, 2008-06-21 08:48:13
0: cs:Connected st:Secondary/Secondary ds:Inconsistent/Inconsistent C r---
   ns:0 nr:0 dw:0 dr:0 al:0 bm:0 lo:0 pe:0 ua:0 ap:0 oos:425709436

They both are secondary and inconsistent. Let's make server1 our primary:

[root@server1]# drbdsetup /dev/drbd0 primary -o
[root@server1]# cat /proc/drbd
version: 8.2.6 (api:88/proto:86-88) 
GIT-hash: 3e69822d3bb4920a8c1bfdf7d647169eba7d2eb4 build by buildsvn@c5-x8664-build, 2008-06-21 08:48:13
0: cs:SyncSource st:Primary/Secondary ds:UpToDate/Inconsistent Cr---
   ns:787924 nr:0 dw:0 dr:795968 al:0 bm:48 lo:2 pe:4 ua:253 ap:0 oos:424921628
   [>....................] sync'ed:  0.2% (414962/415731)M
finish: 14:45:15 speed: 7,648 (7,800) K/sec

This will take some time to synchronise. If you reboot the machine after synchronisation they will both be Secondary but UpToDate so change one of them to be a master with:

[root@server1]# drbdadm primary r0

Now that one of them is the master, make a filesystem:

[root@server1]# mke2fs -j /dev/drbd0

and add it to /etc/fstab on both machines:

/dev/drbd0 /u ext3 defaults,noauto 0 0

Now you have a working DRBD configuration and you can mount /u filesystem on the primary node. This is the DRBD config file /etc/drbd.conf:

global {
    usage-count no;
}
common {
  syncer { rate 30M; }
}
resource r0 {
  protocol C;
  handlers {
    pri-on-incon-degr "echo o > /proc/sysrq-trigger ; halt -f";
    pri-lost-after-sb "echo o > /proc/sysrq-trigger ; halt -f";
    local-io-error "echo o > /proc/sysrq-trigger ; halt -f";
    outdate-peer "/usr/lib64/heartbeat/drbd-peer-outdater -t 5";
  }
  startup {
    degr-wfc-timeout 360;    # 6 minutes.
  }
  disk {
    on-io-error   detach;
  }
  net {
    timeout       60;    #  6 seconds  (unit = 0.1 seconds)
    connect-int   10;    # 10 seconds  (unit = 1 second)
    ping-int      10;    # 10 seconds  (unit = 1 second)
    ping-timeout   5;    # 500 ms (unit = 0.1 seconds)
    max-buffers     2048;
    unplug-watermark   128;
    max-epoch-size  2048;
    ko-count 4;
    cram-hmac-alg "sha1";
    shared-secret "SomeSecret";
    after-sb-0pri disconnect;
    after-sb-1pri disconnect;
    after-sb-2pri disconnect;
    rr-conflict disconnect;
    data-integrity-alg "md5";
  }
  syncer {
    rate 30M;
    al-extents 257;
  }
  on server1 {
    device     /dev/drbd0;
    disk       /dev/sdb1;
    address    10.1.2.10:7788;
    flexible-meta-disk  internal;
  }

   on server2 {
     device    /dev/drbd0;
     disk      /dev/sdb1;
     address   10.1.2.11:7788;
     meta-disk internal;
   }
}

To configure heartbeat first unmount the newly created filesystem and make /dev/drbd0 secondary on both nodes. Now go to /etc/ha.d directory and make a ha.cf config file:

logfacility     local0
keepalive 2
deadtime 30
warntime 10
initdead 120
udpport 694
baud    19200
serial  /dev/ttyS0      # Linux
bcast   eth0 eth2       # Linux
auto_failback off
stonith external/ibmrsa-telnet /etc/ha.d/stonith.ibmrsa
node    server1
node    server2
ping 10.1.1.1
respawn hacluster /usr/lib64/heartbeat/ipfail
apiauth ipfail gid=haclient uid=hacluster

All you need now is some more files...

/etc/ha.d/authkeys MUST be the same on both machines:

auth 1
1 sha1 letsmakeitsecret

/etc/ha.d/haresources MUST be the same on both machines:

server1 10.1.1.12 drbddisk::r0 Filesystem::/dev/drbd0::/u::ext3

/etc/ha.d/stonith.ibmrsa on server1 (user and password are still default):

server1 10.1.1.14 USERID PASSW0RD

/etc/ha.d/stonith.ibmrsa on server2 (user and password are still default):

server2 10.1.1.13 USERID PASSW0RD

You can now start heartbeat on both nodes:

[root@server1]# /etc/init.d/heartbeat start
[root@server2]# /etc/init.d/heartbeat start

You can check what's going on by tailing /var/log/messages and soon you'll have eth0:0 alias with 10.1.1.12 IP and /u filesystem mounted.

You should now do some testing, try at least this:

turn the primary node off with holding the power switch

takeover happens ok with STONITH turning primary node back on

unplug the power cables from primary node

no takeover on this environment since RSA adapter is also without power and heartbeat will not takeover without assurance from STONITH that the node is down! Just make sure both nodes have redundant power supplies and everything will be ok

unplug production ethernet from eth0 adapter on primary node

takeover happens ok without resetting primary machine with STONITH

To return resources back to the primary machine you should turn it on (if it isn't already on) and wait for DRBD to synchronise the disks. (DRBD should be set to start automatically during the boot)

[root@server1]# cat /proc/drbd
version: 8.2.6 (api:88/proto:86-88)
GIT-hash: 3e69822d3bb4920a8c1bfdf7d647169eba7d2eb4 build by buildsvn@c5-x8664-build, 2008-06-21 08:48:13
0: cs:Connected st:Secondary/Primary ds:UpToDate/UpToDate C r---
    ns:787924 nr:0 dw:0 dr:795968 al:0 bm:48 lo:2 pe:4 ua:253 ap:0 oos:424921628

When the disks are synchronised start heartbeat on server1 and wait for cluster to stabilise.

[root@server1]# /etc/init.d/heartbeat start

Now you have both machines up and running but resources are still on server2. To get them back to server1 turn heartbeat off on server2, wait for resources to get back and then turn it back on.

[root@server2]# /etc/init.d/heartbeat stop

Wait for resources to move back...

[root@server2]# /etc/init.d/heartbeat start

First post

2008-12-16T19:22:00.000+01:00

This is my first post so I'll just describe the basics. I'll use this blog to post about my everyday issues and experiences with Linux, AIX, clustering, networking and scripting. Sometimes it will be only a small comment about something and sometimes a whole cookbook!