Open Source

Aligning disk partitions for better throughput

7 Comments / File Systems, FreeBSD, Open Source / By /

During a recent install of FreeBSD 9.1 onto a gmirror, it was pointed out that my disk partitions were not aligned. Today, I’ll look at how that affects performance, both before and after alignment. Last night, I installed FreeBSD 9.1 onto a separate HDD, which I’ll use as a floater. I can attach this HDD to any system I need to work on without booting from the main HDD. In attached this HDD […]

Aligning disk partitions for better throughput Read More »

Installing FreeBSD 9.1 into a gmirror

Leave a Comment / FreeBSD, Open Source / By /

Late last week I installed FreeBSD 9.1 onto a gmirror, which I created during the install process. I documented it via photographs and comments. Hopefully, the next time I do this, it will be useful to refer to this resource. NOTE that when I did this, the partitions were not aligned properly. See the comments in the above URL for details. I will be covering this in a future post.

Installing FreeBSD 9.1 into a gmirror Read More »

ssl-admin

Leave a Comment / Open Source, OpenVPN, ssl-admin / By /

People often talk about security. There are many different types of security. Personal security. Security theater. Physical security. In this post, we’ll talk about securing communications channels so that others cannot listen in, and so that others cannot connect. In this article, I’ll talk about using a toolkit, ssl-admin, to create a certificate authority, create self-signed certificates, and use them for both backups (via Bacula) and for a VPN (using OpenVPN). We will

ssl-admin Read More »

Bacula: TLS Allowed CN

Leave a Comment / Bacula, FreeBSD, Open Source / By /

I wrote this some time ago, but never published it. Here we go… Bacula is a fantastic backup solution. It’s open source. It uses a database to keep track of backups. I’ve been writing recently about using ssl-admin as a certificate authority tool. Today, I started using ssl-admin for generating certificates for my backup clients. In this post, I’m using Bacula 5.2.12 and using this reference page as a guide. I started playing

Bacula: TLS Allowed CN Read More »

PGCon 2013 call for papers

Leave a Comment / Open Source, PGCon, PostgreSQL / By / /

The PGCon 2013 Call for papers is out. It’s been out for over two weeks. Had you heard about it already? If you have not already submitted, please do so. The deadline for submissions (19 Jan) is just over a month away. That time will fly past. Please don’t leave it to the last minute. If you are doing something interesting with PostgreSQL, please submit a proposal. You might be one of the

PGCon 2013 call for papers Read More »

Adding Nagios checks for tape drives / libraries

Leave a Comment / Nagios / By /

I use Bacula for my backups. Most of my backups are done to disk, then copied to tape. I have long liked the idea of having multiple backups on different media. On a regular basis, I move the FULL backup tapes to an offsite location. This is standard practice and highly recommended if you can do it. I don’t use the latest and greatest tape drives. I’m using DLT drives. I like them

Adding Nagios checks for tape drives / libraries Read More »

Bacula? Why you no mount?

Leave a Comment / Bacula / By /

From this morning: $ bconsole Connecting to Director bacula.example.org:9101 1000 OK: bacula-dir Version: 5.2.6 (21 February 2012) Enter a period to cancel a command. *mount storage=DigitalTapeLibrary slot=1 3001 OK mount requested. Specified slot ignored. Device=”DTL01″ (/dev/nsa0) And nothing mounts… But…. *mount storage=DigitalTapeLibrary slot=1 3001 OK mount requested. Specified slot ignored. Device=”DTL01″ (/dev/nsa0) Eh? OK, backups are running again… *m 14-Dec 11:39 bacula-dir JobId 114017: Recycled volume “ETU137” 14-Dec 11:39 bacula-dir JobId 114017: Using

Bacula? Why you no mount? Read More »

Multi-site WordPress installation

Leave a Comment / Open Source, WordPress / By /

I use WordPress for three websites: http://dan.langille.org/ (this website) http://news.freshports.org/ http://wp.freebsddiary.org This also mean I have WordPress installed three times. Recently, I looked at moving to multi-site WordPress. I failed. Or rather, I abandoned the process. My goals: have one instance of WordPress for all three website have each blog available via both https Option 1 is to reduce the work required when upgrading WordPress and plugins. Option 2 is to ensure I

Multi-site WordPress installation Read More »

Hardcoding device names

Leave a Comment / Backups, Bacula, Open Source, SCSI / By /

This article talks about FreeBSD 8.2 and how device names might change when you add new devices to an existing system. The other day, when I was telling you about the new tape library, one of the important bits was the device names. The existing tape drive was sa0. The new one was sa1. That’s good. But today, after a system reboot, the tape drives are renumbered. Here is what I had: Today,

Hardcoding device names Read More »

Scroll to Top