Check your ext3 filesystems for unexpected fscks on reboot
One “feature” of Linux systems is that ext2/ext3 filesystems can be automatically (and unexpectedly) fsck’d upon reboot. Technically, it’s done at mount time, after a configurable number of mounts or days. In theory, I suppose it makes sense to periodically check flaky filesystems running on low-end hardware. In practice, however, it frequently comes as a […]
Setting up a CentOS repository
To celebrate the release (finally!) of CentOS 6, here’s how to create a local repository and keep it up-to-date. The first step is to create the directory structure for the repository. You’ll need about 30GB of free space in the filesystem you use. Let’s assume we have a mountpoint /repo that we want to use: […]
Using dmidecode on Linux to find host information
A handy utility that I use frequently to find information on my systems is dmidecode. We run Dell PowerEdges, and I frequently need to find the Service Tag for licensing, support, and whatnot. The utility is a way to get information on the system BIOS, firmware versions, etc. With dmidecode, I can get this information […]
Linux and free memory
How much memory really is free on a Linux system, anyway? This is something that I have seen cause confusion in the past. A DBA, developer, or consultant is trying to figure out why a particular application or program is running poorly (it’s never, ever their Java or SQL code), runs top or free, sees […]
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