Author name: Dan Langille

I've been playing with computers since I read an Elementary Electronics magazine way back in the 1970s. I started contributing to open source projects in 1998. After that, I gradually moved from being a software developer to being a systems administrator.

nagios – check_ping CRITICAL – You need more args!!! Could not open pipe:

2 Comments / Jails, Nagios / By /

I’ve been moving some services around lately. A server is dying and I need to move stuff off it. Today I managed to move Bacula and Nagios onto a new server. After a short bit of struggle, I had just one service check that was failing: check_ping. Here’s the example: $ /usr/local/libexec/nagios/check_ping -H bast.example.org -w 3000.0,80% -c 5000.0,100% -p 1 CRITICAL – You need more args!!! Could not open pipe: Google searches did […]

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ezjail – renaming, moving, and renumbering

1 Comment / Jails, Open Source / By /

ezjail is my tool of choice for managing jails. I’ve been using it since 2008. Today, I want to do something which ezjail won’t do for me, but will allow me to do. I created a bunch of jails for a Bacula tutorial at BSDCan. Now that I have that server safely home again, I need to add more services to this jail server. My main development machine is acting up. It is

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smartctl: FAILING_NOW

Leave a Comment / Disks, hardware / By /

I noticed this in my logs today: May 22 14:04:39 bast smartd[1577]: Device: /dev/ad0, Failed SMART usage Attribute: 9 Power_On_Hours. Oh. Really? I looked at the output of smartctl and found: This HDD is part of a gmirror: $ gmirror status Name Status Components mirror/gm0 COMPLETE ad0 ad2 How’s ad2 doing? That seems OK. Regardless of the status, I can do nothing for a week. I’m out of town. I do have several

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Setting up the Planex MZK-RP150N to act as a wireless ethernet adaptor

Leave a Comment / Networks, Wireless / By /

I have a Planex MZK-RP150N. Sometimes (always), I forget how to change the SSID it connects to. This documents it so I can do this faster next time. Wireless LAN Basic Settings Site Survey select the SSID click on Connect Enter the password OK Apply (saves settings) Apply (again; this time it restarts the unit) Done.

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Restricting IP addresses to specific databases

1 Comment / Open Source, PostgreSQL / By / /

Sometimes, you don’t want just anyone talking to your database. In fact, sometimes, you don’t want anyone accessing your database except very specific applications. In this case, I am setting up about 20 databases, each one dedicated to a specific use, and to be accessed only from one IP address each. In this post, I’ll talk about how I first set this up with pg_hba.conf, and then how I altered it to be

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The Bacula Tutorial jail server

Leave a Comment / Backups, Bacula, BSDCan, Conventions, DHCP, Disks, File Systems, FreeBSD, Jails, NAT, Operating Systems, pf, PostgreSQL, ssh, ZFS / By /

One of the challenges of providing hands-on demonstrations is giving everyone their own sandbox to play in. I don’t want people to spend time on installing software. I want people to learn about the software in question, specifically Bacula. With this in mind, I’ve been building up a solution based on FreeBSD 9.1, ZFS, and jails. My solution is pretty nifty, but I don’t think it’s anything special. The key is simplicity. The

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Creating a ZFS-only box – the first look

3 Comments / File Systems, FreeBSD, ZFS / By /

I’m about to start setting up a ZFS-only box using FreeBSD 8.2. There will be no UFS volumes in this system. Every previous server I have set up has always booted from a gmirror’d UFS system first, then mounted a ZFS array. This time, everything will be on ZFS. I’ve described this server previously when I first chose the parts back in January. Now, the push is on to get this system installed

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PGCon 2013 registration is now open

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PGCon 2013 is coming up soon. We’ve had confirmation from EnterpriseDB that they be hosting a social event on the Thursday night. You’ll have heard about this party from 2012, seen the pictures, and wish you’d been there. This year, they are going back to the same venue again this year. Of course, in addition to the great social opportunities, we’re also bringing in some big-name speakers for the tutorials and talks. Do

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BSDCan 2013 – registration now open

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BSDCan 2013 will be the tenth BSDCan. This will be big. A huge party is planned for the Friday night. We’re also bringing in some big-name speakers for the tutorials and talks. Do not underestimate how much you’ll learn, how much fun you’ll have, and how many good working relationships and friendships you will develop at BSDCan. One word of advice: accommodation. Book it now. I know that on-campus accommodation will sell out

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