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The Open-Source Environment (List)

UNIX

It occurs to me that aside from a few exceptions I've managed to get Premier Heart to a nearly 100% open-source / free(-as-in-beer) footing.

As 2009 is pretty much over I think it only makes sense to take stock of the software we're using for posterity - 5 years from now we can look back at this list and laugh the same way people laugh now when they remember FoxPro or COBOL...

Continue reading "The Open-Source Environment (List)"

Broken... and now, UnBroken

UNIX

So yeah, I decided to upgrade the server to FreeBSD 7.2 in preparation for the 7->8 transition.

SOMEHOW (IT speak for "I'm sure it's my fault, but I don't know what the fuck I did to cause it") flexo wound up with the GENERIC kernel instead of his nice customized one.  Customized with all sorts of essentials, like GEOM_MIRROR which provides my RAID.

So obviously the system wasn't going to boot.

I did this on 9/10

CoLo closed(ish) on 9/11

Server fixed 9:30 on 9/14

Spam flow resumed 9:31 on 9/14

Kernel rebuilt. Much other tuning done.

Postgres and Apache upgrades next week.    Hard to really fuck those up.

(Oh, and maybe I'll implement off-site backups now and stop being a douche)

Managing Multiple FreeBSD Machines with radmind -- Part Four

UNIX This is part Four of an N-part series (Definitely 4 parts, plus an epilogue) discussing the investigation of radmin as a patch/deployment tool for FreeBSD. This part deals with creating and deploying patch sets using radmind. I'm assuming you already built an radmind server, created a base load and deployed it to some machine(s). Now you just found out about a "ZOMG SUPER CRITICAL MAY CAUSE YOUR SYSTEM TO SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUST!" vulnerability in the base load, and you need to patch your systems. This is why I started looking at radmind in the first place, and it's pretty well suited to the task. Continue reading "Managing Multiple FreeBSD Machines with radmind -- Part Four"

Managing Multiple FreeBSD Machines with radmind -- Part Three

UNIX This is part Three of an N-part series (I'm thinking 4 parts, plus an epilogue) discussing the investigation of radmin as a patch/deployment tool for FreeBSD. This part deals with initial deployment of machines using radmind, and it has some prerequisites: - You need to have a target machine (a naked FreeBSD install w/ the radmind package installed) - You need to have an radmind server set up - You need to have a base load built If this is the first time you're doing an radmind deployment there is an additional requirement: You need to be willing to break the target machine (It might happen -- If there is a problem with your base load you might wind up with an unusable or even unbootable system). As with Part Two, I'm not getting into the details of how to meet the prerequisites. If you can't get FreeBSD installed and add a package you really don't belong here. Continue reading "Managing Multiple FreeBSD Machines with radmind -- Part Three"

Managing Multiple FreeBSD Machines with radmind -- Part Two

UNIX This is part Two of an N-part series (I'm thinking 4 parts) discussing the investigation of radmin as a patch/deployment tool for FreeBSD. It will be filled in over the course of Q2/2009 as we test (and possibly deploy) radmin at Premier Heart. This part deals with some more basics: Creating an radmind "Base Load" to distribute to your machines. The radmind Base Load is the template that will be deployed to all servers and consists of Three major parts:
  • A "Positive Transcript" (often just called a transcript), which lists files and directories to be included in radmind deployments
  • A "Negative Transcript", which lists files and directories to be created or adjusted, but not replaced by radmind deployments
  • A "Defaults Transcript", which is a special case of a negative transcript.
  • A "Command File", which lists the transcripts to be applied, and the order in which to apply them. These transcripts are used to create "Load Sets", which are what radmind actually distributes to the clients. Continue reading "Managing Multiple FreeBSD Machines with radmind -- Part Two"