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 […]
Creating a ZFS-only box – the first look Read More »
I think I’m now at the point where I have all the hardware assembled and it’s ready for testing. Now I’m trying to determine what set of fio tests to run. If you know of a set of standard tests, or just have some of your own, please let me know in the comments. The hardware The disks I have assembled are all available via the LSI 9211-8i. The basic hardware specs are:
The hardware is ready. What tests to run? Read More »
This is the third in a series of posts about building a new server. What’s happened since? My main development server is acting up again. One of the two HDD in the gmirror has gone off line. Also, I recently read an article about an interesting scam which introduced me to the phrase ruthlessly eradicate legacy. That phrase and strategy lodged firmly in my brain. Those two triggers, along with the urge to
Designing a new server, part III Read More »
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
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 »
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 »
As recently written, I have acquired a tape library with a 15-tape magazine. It contains a DLT-8000 tape drive which, although it is no longer state-of-the-art, is a step up from the DLT-7000 I am currently using. Today, I will try using this unit for the first time. I’ll do a simple write, try changing tapes, etc. I’ll be using my previous postings on this topic, such as one on using tape libraries
Testing a tape library Read More »
Right after getting my SCSI cable problems fixed, I was all set to run some Bacula jobs. They immediately started failing: 27-Nov 12:59 bacula-dir JobId 112458: Start Copying JobId 112458, Job=CopyToTape-Diff.2012-11-27_12.58.05_08 27-Nov 12:59 bacula-dir JobId 112458: Using Device “DTL01” 27-Nov 12:59 kraken-sd JobId 112458: Ready to read from volume “DiffAuto-2357” on device “MegaFile” (/storage/compressed/bacula/volumes). 27-Nov 12:59 kraken-sd JobId 112458: 3301 Issuing autochanger “loaded? drive 0” command. 27-Nov 12:59 kraken-sd JobId 112458: 3991 Bad
cannot open SCSI device ‘/dev/pass11’ – Permission denied Read More »
This is the sixth in a series of articles on my migration to WordPress. In this post, I’ll talk about how I enabled the old URLs. This is important only if you want the ‘old’ content to be found. This is especially important if your website is well established. People will have links to your website from their websites. Search engines have results which need to continue to be valid. Myself? I know
WordPress Migration: redirecting old URLs Read More »
I’m sitting in the The Warden – FreeBSD and Linux Jail Management talk at EuroBSDCon 2012. He has mentioned two things, so far, that give me ideas. Evil ideas. Put each jail in a different ZFS data set – this may be useful for my jails running Bacula regression testing Schedule cron jobs to do snapshots on a regular basis – useful for snapshots, which I’m not really using at all And he’s
Idea from Kris Moore – PC-BSD Read More »