I tend to make typos in the log messages to SubVersion commits and it is always embarrassing when I later come across these typos. Svn can be configured to allow changing log messages by adding a server hook, but that's not the default. The now defunct OSDN, which was based on an old version of … Continue reading Configure a svn repository on SourceForge to allow changing a log message
Category: Linux
Prevent the Proxmox Terminal UI installer to switch to graphics mode
I wanted to try Proxmox VE on one of the BMAX B6 mini PCs we recently bought - the ones which turned out to not meet the Windows 11 minimum requirements - and ran into an unexpected problem: Regardless whether I selected the graphical or Terminal UI installer, after a few seconds the display went … Continue reading Prevent the Proxmox Terminal UI installer to switch to graphics mode
When setting sshd PasswordAuthentication to no has no effect
After setting up ssh authentication via public/private key for my user account on my Ubuntu 22.04 server, I wanted to disable authentication via password for security reasons. So in /etc/ssh/sshd_conf I changed the entry PasswordAuthentication from yes (the default) to no: [plain] # To disable tunneled clear text passwords, change to no here! PasswordAuthentication no … Continue reading When setting sshd PasswordAuthentication to no has no effect
Using two factor authentication for ssh with Ubuntu 22.04
Since many of the instructions I found on the internet seem to be flawed or at least outdated, here is how I managed to enable two factor authentication (2fa) with (time based) OTP in Ubuntu 22.04 using the Google Authenticator PAM plugin. Note: When using ssh private/public key based authentication, no OTP prompt will be … Continue reading Using two factor authentication for ssh with Ubuntu 22.04
Preventing accidental data loss with ZFS
I have recently converted the file system of some of our Samba servers from ext4 to ZFS. The idea was to use ZFS's compression feature to reduce the space some excessingly large files consume which can be easily compressed to take less than 1/10 the space. This works fine. Today we found that a directory … Continue reading Preventing accidental data loss with ZFS
When changing your password in a Samba NT domain does not work
I recently set up a Samba Server using Ubuntu 22.04 as an NT domain controller (not Active Directory!). After quite some time fiddling with the settings and finally getting external help it worked. I could successfully add a Windows 10 computer to the domain and then log into it using any of the configured domain … Continue reading When changing your password in a Samba NT domain does not work
A few things I recently learned about PuTTY (the ssh client)
I have been playing around with PuTTY (Yes, I know, a grown man playing with putty evokes some rather odd pictures. I'm talking about the ssh client tool here though). recently and discovered a few things I didn't know. You can specify the user name to connect with I already knew that there is a … Continue reading A few things I recently learned about PuTTY (the ssh client)
Replacing a failed drive in a zfs pool
So I can look it up later: When a drive that is part of a zfs pool fails and has already been physicall replaced in the server. zpool status looks like this: [bash] user@server:~$ zpool status pool: main state: DEGRADED status: One or more devices could not be used because the label is missing or … Continue reading Replacing a failed drive in a zfs pool
Installing Webmin on Ubuntu 22.04 server
As a follow up to my notes on installing Webmin on Ubuntu 16.04 and 18.04 (on 20.04 it worked as in 18.04) now two additional steps are necessary for Ubuntu 22.04. Those steps must be executed as root: Convert Webmin's PGP key to a format that apt can use to verify files: [bash] cat jcameron-key.asc … Continue reading Installing Webmin on Ubuntu 22.04 server
Setting colors for Linux ls command
Those people who selected the default colors for the Linux ls command must have much better eyes than I. E.g. I think that dark blue text on black background is very difficult to read, but apparently they think it is fine. Fortunately it is easy to change these colors by setting the LS_COLORS environment variable. … Continue reading Setting colors for Linux ls command