Finding a Linux Application Version

During a recent Wordpress installation endeavor, I needed to confirm I had the correct versions of Apache, PHP, etc., and didn't exactly know how to accomplish that. As with many things in the computer world, there are many ways to skin a cat...

This example uses Apache, which is httpd as a service (daemon in Linux-speak).

Add -v to the binary (or -V depending on the app), and this doesn't work for everything.

[root@spidey ~]# httpd -v

Server version: Apache/2.2.15 (Unix)

Server built:   Feb  7 2012 09:50:11

Use which to locate the full path of a command

[root@spidey ~]# which httpd

/usr/sbin/httpd

Use whereis to locate the binary, source and man pages

[root@spidey ~]# whereis httpd

httpd: /usr/sbin/httpd /usr/sbin/httpd.event /usr/sbin/httpd.worker /etc/httpd /usr/lib64/httpd /usr/share/man/man8/httpd.8.gz

Querying the installed package by using rpm -q

[root@spidey ~]# rpm -q httpd

httpd-2.2.15-15.el6_2.1.x86_64

You can do a locate to see everywhere on the system httpd shows up

[root@spidey ~]# locate httpd

/etc/httpd

/etc/httpd/conf

/etc/httpd/conf.d

/etc/httpd/logs

...

Or a find with -name

[root@spidey ~]# find / -name httpd
/etc/httpd
/etc/rc.d/init.d/httpd
/etc/sysconfig/httpd
/etc/logrotate.d/httpd
...

And yes, I did have the correct version :)

Blog migration...

My previous Wordpress blog host has been shutdown, so it was time to move on. The logical choice seemed to be Wordpress.com, it was a direct import.

Unfortunately they don't make it easy to forward your subdomain, there's a $13/yr charge (which I was willing to pay), but they drop all "www" requests. That is where all my links point as well as links from other forums and blogs. Okay stop laughing, there is over four other blogs that link here ;)

Anyway, the next choice was Blogger/Blogspot, where we are now. It was super easy to point the domain here, GoDaddy which holds my domain even has a wizard to make the forward easy as 3.14159265...

Blogspot even take imports for XML, same as Wordpress exports! But not the same format as Wordpress (Finished: Sorry, the import failed due to a server error. The error code is bX-a9cw3d). A quick search pointed me to an article at Squidoo which then pointed to an XML conversion site Wordpress-to-Blogger. There was only a little massaging to be done, reporting and the re-addition of my About page (which needed updating anyway) and now we're here...

How Good is Your Password?

This is a question that people rarely ask themselves. I know numerous people who've had mail and video game accounts hacked due to weak passwords. I'm a big fan of using passphrases and special characters whenever possible. It irks me to no end that some of my financial institution's websites don't allow special characters and even limit the password to eight digits (seriously it's 2012).

Steve Gibson, a long time security hawk and software developer, has a great website for checking out how your password will do against a brute-force attack. However, it won't tell you if it's easy to guess (like your dog's name that's all over FaceBook) or is an easily cracked dictionary word (note: stay away from words found in the dictionary).

Try your password/passphrase out here: Haystack

FATAL: Pppd is not setuid-root

We've been rolling out shiny new MacBooks lately along with the SonicWALL SSL-VPN NetExtender client. Little did we know that some of the MacOS X connections were going to fail. Luckily the error message pointed the way: "FATAL: Pppd is not setuid-root and the invoking user is not root."

It seems the later versions of Mac OS X (10.6+) don't allow the setuid flag to be set on PPPD.

You can fix this by getting your bash on.

1. Open Terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal)


2. Type: sudo chmod u+s /usr/sbin/pppd and hit Enter


3. Type the user’s password and hit Enter


4. Now connect and get to work :)

Setting Google Chrome as your Default Mail Client

Want Google Chrome to handle all of your mail links or perhaps calendar requests? Or stop Chrome from taking those requests?

Go to the Settings subpage for the handlers: chrome://chrome/settings/handlers

More info can be found here.

Fedora 17 Now Available

Hot off the presses, the Fedora Project released their latest operation system, Fedora 17.

I'm downloading my copy right now, you can too.

Dell Server Parts

Recently a customer's Dell PowerEdge T105 blew out its power supply. Too bad the three-year warranty ended just four months ago.

What to do? Call Dell with credit card in hand...and proceed with being transferred all over because you're out of warranty. Normally I'm very happy with Dell support, but I guess you're treated well when you are still in warranty.

Where else can you go when you need parts and they've stopped making them or cost too much from Dell? You can go with eBay and take your chances, or go to either Server Supply or Velocity Tech Solutions. You can even get real warranties on the parts.