Table of Contents
hpc0 Keywords
hpc0 Optimization
Definition
Experienced administrators realize the importance of ensuring a systems longevity. Legacy systems are often useful a decade or more after initial deployment. The key to this longevity is being smart about the software you use.
Demonstration
In the OS X environment users are given a lot of gloss: the dashboard, three demential/reflective docks, a transparent menu bar, and various other visual enhancements. If you find that these features aren't imperative to your work and you would like some free system memory you may want to consider disabling them. (I will be describing these procedures further in my first project)
If Mac OS isn't your thing and Linux is you may want to consider compiling a customized version of the openSUSE linux distribution. The openSUSE project offers a simple web tool that enables the user to customize the components of their operating system before installation. The openSUSE build project can be found here: “https://build.opensuse.org/”
hpc0 Octave
Definition
Octave is mathematical analysis/computation HPC tool. Scientists and Engineers use programs like Octave to solve complex mathematical situations. High performance computing systems permit less latency and therefore, faster results.
Demonstration
Scientists and Engineers can input complex equations and weigh the processing over HPC nodes within a cluster. This kind of balanced processing is widely popular and practical for HPC applications. Octave gives the user a command line interface for processing requests, shown below:
server@Dimension-4600:~$ octave GNU Octave, version 3.2.4 Copyright (C) 2009 John W. Eaton and others. This is free software; see the source code for copying conditions. There is ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. For details, type `warranty'. Octave was configured for "i686-pc-linux-gnu". Additional information about Octave is available at http://www.octave.org. Please contribute if you find this software useful. For more information, visit http://www.octave.org/help-wanted.html Report bugs to <bug@octave.org> (but first, please read http://www.octave.org/bugs.html to learn how to write a helpful report). For information about changes from previous versions, type `news'. octave:1> help For help with individual commands and functions type help NAME (replace NAME with the name of the command or function you would like to learn more about). For a more detailed introduction to GNU Octave, please consult the manual. To read the manual from the prompt type doc GNU Octave is supported and developed by its user community. For more information visit http://www.octave.org. octave:2>
hpc0 Xen Virtualization
Definition
Xen offers virtualization software with a focus on technical specification. Xen supports various architectures, is widely popular and is very robust; xen virtualization is trusted by larger internet groups such as Amazon.
Demonstration
In lab46 we've worked with Xen in a CLI but there is a GUI version as well. Xen offers an array of administrative tools accessible via the command line:
vmserver03:~# xm Usage: xm <subcommand> [args] Control, list, and manipulate Xen guest instances. Common 'xm' commands: console Attach to <Domain>'s console. create Create a domain based on <ConfigFile>. new Adds a domain to Xend domain management delete Remove a domain from Xend domain management. destroy Terminate a domain immediately. dump-core Dump core for a specific domain. help Display this message. list List information about all/some domains. mem-set Set the current memory usage for a domain. migrate Migrate a domain to another machine. pause Pause execution of a domain. reboot Reboot a domain. restore Restore a domain from a saved state. resume Resume a Xend managed domain save Save a domain state to restore later. shell Launch an interactive shell. shutdown Shutdown a domain. start Start a Xend managed domain suspend Suspend a Xend managed domain top Monitor a host and the domains in real time. unpause Unpause a paused domain. uptime Print uptime for all/some domains. vcpu-set Set the number of active VCPUs for allowed for the domain. <Domain> can either be the Domain Name or Id. For more help on 'xm' see the xm(1) man page. For more help on 'xm create' see the xmdomain.cfg(5) man page. For a complete list of subcommands run 'xm help'. vmserver03:~#
Xen allows powerful critiquing of its settings.
hpc0 DD
I desided to swap my 80Gb IDE USB drive on my PogoLab server for a faster, 120Gb 5400RPM SATA drive. After a few Google queries I stumbled upon a tutorial that called for the DD tool.
Definition
DD is a tool for cloning disks.
'if=' - The drive you're going to copy. 'of=' - The drive being copied to.
Demonstration
andrew@Lab:/media$ sudo dd if=/dev/sdh of=/dev/sdg [sudo] password for andrew: 156301488+0 records in 80026361856 bytes (80 GB) copied, 7342.41 s, 10.9 MB/s andrew@Lab:/media$
hpc0 Packages
Definition
As an administrator you'll often need to install packages from external repositories.
Demonstration
In Debian you source file for repositories is located in “/etc/apt/sources.list” There you can add or modify sources.
hpc0 Using Package managers
Definition
In Debian we rely on a program called aptitude to install external packages
Demonstration
To update aptitude, use the aptitude update command shown below:
vmserver03:~# aptitude update Writing extended state information... Done Get:1 http://dl.google.com stable Release.gpg [189B] Get:2 http://security.debian.org lenny/updates Release.gpg [836B] Ign http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/main Translation-en_US Ign http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/contrib Translation-en_US Ign http://dl.google.com stable/non-free Translation-en_US Ign http://dl.google.com stable/main Translation-en_US Get:3 http://dl.google.com testing Release.gpg [189B] Ign http://dl.google.com testing/non-free Translation-en_US Get:4 http://security.debian.org lenny/updates Release [92.4kB] Get:5 http://packages.enlightenment.org lenny Release.gpg [197B] Get:6 http://dl.google.com stable Release [2544B] Get:7 http://packages.dotdeb.org oldstable Release.gpg [836B] Ign http://packages.dotdeb.org oldstable/all Translation-en_US Get:8 http://dl.google.com testing Release [2513B] Ign http://dl.google.com stable Release Ign http://dl.google.com testing Release Ign http://dl.google.com stable/non-free Packages/DiffIndex Ign http://dl.google.com stable/main Packages/DiffIndex Ign http://packages.enlightenment.org lenny/main Translation-en_US Hit http://packages.dotdeb.org oldstable Release Err http://packages.dotdeb.org oldstable Release Ign http://dl.google.com testing/non-free Packages/DiffIndex Get:9 http://dl.google.com stable/non-free Packages [1010B] Ign http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/main Packages/DiffIndex Get:10 http://packages.dotdeb.org oldstable Release [2177B] Get:11 http://dl.google.com stable/main Packages [1082B] Ign http://packages.dotdeb.org oldstable Release Ign http://packages.enlightenment.org lenny/extras Translation-en_US Ign http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/contrib Packages/DiffIndex Ign http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/main Sources/DiffIndex Ign http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/contrib Sources/DiffIndex Get:12 http://dl.google.com testing/non-free Packages [793B] Get:13 http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/main Packages [346kB] Ign http://packages.dotdeb.org oldstable/all Packages/DiffIndex Hit http://packages.enlightenment.org lenny Release Err http://packages.enlightenment.org lenny Release Ign http://packages.dotdeb.org oldstable/all Sources/DiffIndex Hit http://packages.dotdeb.org oldstable/all Packages Get:14 http://packages.enlightenment.org lenny Release [910B] Ign http://packages.enlightenment.org lenny Release Hit http://packages.dotdeb.org oldstable/all Sources Ign http://packages.enlightenment.org lenny/main Packages/DiffIndex Get:15 http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/contrib Packages [766B] Get:16 http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/main Sources [121kB] Ign http://packages.enlightenment.org lenny/extras Packages/DiffIndex Get:17 http://security.debian.org lenny/updates/contrib Sources [811B] Ign http://packages.enlightenment.org lenny/main Packages Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org lenny Release.gpg Ign http://packages.enlightenment.org lenny/extras Packages Ign http://ftp.us.debian.org lenny/main Translation-en_US Ign http://ftp.us.debian.org lenny/contrib Translation-en_US Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org lenny Release Hit http://packages.enlightenment.org lenny/main Packages Ign http://ftp.us.debian.org lenny/main Packages/DiffIndex Get:18 http://www.bimoid.com stable Release.gpg [490B] Ign http://ftp.us.debian.org lenny/contrib Packages/DiffIndex Ign http://ftp.us.debian.org lenny/main Sources/DiffIndex Ign http://ftp.us.debian.org lenny/contrib Sources/DiffIndex Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org lenny/main Packages Ign http://www.bimoid.com stable/non-free Translation-en_US Hit http://packages.enlightenment.org lenny/extras Packages Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org lenny/contrib Packages Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org lenny/main Sources Hit http://www.bimoid.com stable Release Err http://www.bimoid.com stable Release Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org lenny/contrib Sources Get:19 ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny-proposed-updates Release.gpg [836B] Get:20 http://www.bimoid.com stable Release [1681B] Ign http://www.bimoid.com stable Release Ign http://www.bimoid.com stable/non-free Packages/DiffIndex Ign http://www.bimoid.com stable/non-free Packages Hit http://www.bimoid.com stable/non-free Packages Get:21 ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny-proposed-updates/main Translation-en_US Ign ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny-proposed-updates/main Translation-en_US Get:22 ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny-proposed-updates Release [142kB] Get:23 ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny-proposed-updates/main Packages/DiffIndex [2023B] Get:24 ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny-proposed-updates/main 2012-03-02-2013.04.pdiff [2688B] Get:25 ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny-proposed-updates/main 2012-03-02-2013.04.pdiff [2688B] Get:26 ftp://ftp.debian.org lenny-proposed-updates/main 2012-03-02-2013.04.pdiff [2688B] Fetched 724kB in 17s (42.1kB/s) Reading package lists... Done W: GPG error: http://dl.google.com stable Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY A040830F7FAC5991 W: GPG error: http://dl.google.com testing Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY A040830F7FAC5991 W: GPG error: http://packages.dotdeb.org oldstable Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY E9C74FEEA2098A6E W: GPG error: http://packages.enlightenment.org lenny Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 6B2226D9969C86CA W: GPG error: http://www.bimoid.com stable Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY AD17586265F2FB00 W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these problems vmserver03:~#
Then grabbing a new package:
use aptitude install “…”
Displayed below:
vmserver03:~# aptitude install calcurse Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done Reading extended state information Initializing package states... Done Reading task descriptions... Done The following NEW packages will be installed: calcurse 0 packages upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 231kB of archives. After unpacking 872kB will be used. Writing extended state information... Done Get:1 http://ftp.us.debian.org lenny/main calcurse 2.1-1 [231kB] Fetched 231kB in 1s (150kB/s) Selecting previously deselected package calcurse. (Reading database ... 46642 files and directories currently installed.) Unpacking calcurse (from .../calcurse_2.1-1_i386.deb) ... Processing triggers for man-db ... Setting up calcurse (2.1-1) ... Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done Reading extended state information Initializing package states... Done Writing extended state information... Done Reading task descriptions... Done vmserver03:~#
hpc0 What to do with a VM server
Definition
A popular use for a Virtual Machineis a LAMP server (Linux, Apache, Mysql, PHP) server
Demonstration
A virtualized operating system is ideal for handling a simple webserver like this. it has the potential for always on applications and the files are segregated from the rest of the system. It also adds another level of security for your web server, this is because it is VM is hidden from the rest of the system and requires a second authentication for access.
hpc0 What not to do with a VM server
Make time go backwards…because you'll need to fuddle with your config file and reinitiate your VM. Luckily Haas is a master of time and can deal with such impasses.
hpc0 Objective
hpc0 Objective
Further understand the necessary components of a proper web server
Definition
If i hope to get into this line of work I want my focus to be web technologies. I need to know as much as I possibly can.
Method
Lab46 resources, real world experience, contemplation of concepts based on work in the lair.
Measurement
Jacob and I have started http://www.adaptivelogicdesign.com to open our services to new clients and learn new skills while doing so.