VMware ESXi 4.1 Kickstart Scripted Deployment with UDA (PXE BOOT)
Posted on 18.Mar 2011 by Ray Heffer in ESX, ESXi, Linux, Scripts & Commands, Tech Tips, Virtualisation, VMwareIf you are looking to deploy multiple ESX/ESXi servers then there are plenty of methods and tools out there, some more complex than others. There are vendor specific deployment products available such as HP Rapid Depuployment Pack (RDP) which uses Altiris, or alternatively there are free deployment tools such as ESX Deployment Appliance (EsleeDA) and Ultimate Deployment Appliance (UDA). UDA is my favorite tool for the job as it offers great flexibility such as the use of subtemplates (discussed later), and therefore this will be the basis of this article. It was created by Carl Thijssen and thanks to Mike Laverick of RTFM, it also supports ESX/ESXi deployments, and the latest build supports ESX/ESXi 4.1.
8.3 VCAP-DCA Study Guide – Configuring vMA for Logging
Posted on 07.Mar 2011 by Ray Heffer in ESX, ESXi, Linux, Scripts & Commands, VCAP-DCA, Virtualisation, VMwareIn this article I detail the steps required to configure your vMA as a Syslog server, and configure your ESX/ESXi hosts to send logging information to the vMA. Logging is often overlooked, but when managing multiple hosts it is far easier to send your logs to a Syslog server. I’m studying for the VCAP-DCA exam, and using vicfg-syslog is a requirement of the exam (Section 6.1) and the vMA is also essential to understand (Section 8.1). I hope my notes help you as they have helped me.
New WordPress site for 2010
Posted on 06.Jan 2010 by Ray Heffer in Web HostingJust in time for the start of the new year I decided to ditch the old RayHeffer.com site and replace it with a brand spanking new WordPress site running on my virtual Linux server in London. I have spent the past few nights up late tweaking the new site and adding content, so please look around and don’t forget to leave me a comment!
It’s snowing outside as I write this here in the south east UK, so what better time to develop your Linux skills and build your own virtual Linux server by following my new LAMP guide based on CentOS 5?
Happy New Year!
Ray
Building a secure web server with CentOS 5, part 1
Posted on 05.Jan 2010 by Ray Heffer in LAMP, Linux, Web HostingPart 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Troubleshooting
Introduction
This is an updated version of my original LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL and Perl/PHP) guide that was based on CentOS 4. Now updated and tweaked for CentOS 5, I will take you through the steps required to build a secure Linux web server (LAMP) on CentOS 5.
I have a background working for an ISP, so I’ve based this build on the same configuration many hosting providers use. It supports virtual hosts (multiple websites), secure FTP access, locked down SSH access, and a sensible directory structure.
If you follow this guide, you will get a web server up and running within a couple of hours depending on whether you follow it step by step, or prefer to experiment first. If you are new to Linux then give it a try and learn something new, you never know you may surprise yourself!
Good luck!
Building a secure web server with CentOS 5, part 2
Posted on 05.Jan 2010 by Ray Heffer in LAMP, Linux, Web HostingPart 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Troubleshooting
Part 2: Configuring the Server
Configuring CentOS
- Edit
/etc/hostsand/etc/sysconfig/networkwith hostnames - Install Packages
Example of /etc/hosts:
# Do not remove the following line, or various programs
# that require network functionality will fail.
127.0.0.1 localhost
67.34.32.11 www.mydomain.com
Example of /etc/sysconfig/network
NETWORKING=yes
HOSTNAME=www.mydomain.com
Installing Packages
# yum -y install httpd openssl-devel openssl mod_ssl vsftpd rpm-build rpm-devel autoconf automake lynx gcc
# yum -y install mysql mod_auth_mysql mysql-devel mysql-server
# yum -y install mod_python python python-devel
# yum -y install perl mod_perl mod_perl-devel openssl-perl perl-Convert-ASN1 perl-Date-Calc perl-DateManip perl-HTML-Parser perl-libwww-perl perl-CPAN perl-DBD-MySQL perl-XML-Parser
# yum -y install php-devel php php-domxml php-gd php-mbstring php-mysql php-ncurses php-pear
# yum -y install webalizer
# yum -y install sendmail sendmail-cf
Linux commands and tips
Posted on 07.Jul 2005 by Ray Heffer in Linux, Scripts & Commands, Tech Tips
Checking kernel & CentOS version
To check which kernel version you are running use uname -r
# uname -r
To find out which CentOS (or RedHat) release is installed have a look at /etc/redhat-release
# cat /etc/redhat-release
Checking Disk Space
To check disk space used / free use the df command and it will display each volume. The -h switch turns the bytes reading into GB to make it more readable.
# df -h
If you want to check the size of a particular directory then use:
# du -sh /
