Bit Note

Adding swap space on Solaris

2009-06-04T10:02:00.007+02:00

In my previous post, I provided some information about how to add swap space on Linux.
Recently, I installed an application on my Sun Ultra 10 machine (quite old but still usable) and this application requires a decent amount of memory. To meet this requirement, I only added swap space.

Here's how to add swap on Solaris:
1. Create a swap file. Let's say I need 2GB of swap on a partition that has a lot of available disk space (e.g. /export/home).

# mkfile 2g /export/home/swap_file

2. Add the file to the swap area.

# swap -a /export/home/swap_file

Check the swap space info to verify.

# swap -l
swapfile dev swaplo blocks free
/dev/dsk/c0t0d0s1 136,1 16 4195280 4195280
/export/home/swap_file - 16 4194288 4194288

Setting Up an IT Asset Management System using GPLI and OCS Inventory NG

2009-05-25T12:01:00.034+02:00

A lot of IT admins are good at setting up IT infrastructure, fixing hardware and software related issues, securing the network, and other IT stuff. However, writing documentation is the lasting thing most techie persons want to do.
As a result, maintaining these IT assets can be a pain due to poor or lack of documentation.

No one knows where to find the hardware that hosts the company's services, who is the owner of such device, and what softwares are installed on which machine, and whether the softwares are patched or not. To add to this pain, if the IT admin leaves the company, it would require a lot of time for the new hire to get familiarized with the IT infrastructure. This results to loss of productivity, and worse, long downtime in case of service outtage, which costs some money.

Two free open source tools, OCS Inventory NG and GLPI, help IT admins to manage their IT assets. There can be more products that do the same thing, but these two are the best candidate so far as they are free. Combining these two provides a very powerful IT asset management system.

Open Computer and Software Inventory Next Generation (OCS Inventory NG) is a free open source software that enables IT admins to create an inventory of their IT assets and manage them through a web interface. This allows IT admins to know the devices that are connected to their network and which software and hardware component are installed on a computer, and to deploy softwares on their computers.

"GLPI is the Information Resource-Manager with an additional Administration- Interface. You can use it to build up a database with an inventory for your company (computer, software, printers...). It has enhanced functions to make the daily life for the administrators easier, like a job-tracking-system with mail-notification and methods to build a database with basic information about your network-topology." (source http://glpi-project.org )

Preparing the system that hosts OCS and GLPI

Setting Up OCS Inventory NG

Setting Up GLPI

Installing OCS NG Agent on Linux

Installing OCS NG Agent on Solaris

Preparing the system that hosts OCS and GLPI

Virtualization is the best way to test softwares without needing additional hardware. In this setup, I used the free VMWare Server to run SUSE Enterprise Linux Server 10 that hosts OCS and GLPI. You can also use other Linux distribution that you are most comfortable with. When installing Linux, make sure to install Development Libraries and Tools package because this is needed for installing the required perl modules.

For the web host, I used Apache MySQL PHP Perl bundle called XAMPP (available at http://www.apachefriends.org). These are the components needed to run the OCS Inventory Server and GLPI.

Installing XAMPP is quite easy as doing the following:

tar xvfz xampp-linux-1.7.1.tar.gz -C /opt

To start XAMPP:

/opt/lampp/lampp start

There are required Perl modules that are not included in XAMPP which you need to install. To install these modules, use the following commands:

/opt/lampp/bin/perl -MCPAN -e 'install Apache::DBI'
/opt/lampp/bin/perl -MCPAN -e 'install XML::Simple'
/opt/lampp/bin/perl -MCPAN -e 'install Net::IP'
/opt/lampp/bin/perl -MCPAN -e 'install SOAP::Lite'
/opt/lampp/bin/perl -MCPAN -e 'install XML::Entities'

After installing the Perl modules, restart XAMPP.

/opt/lampp/lampp restart

Setting Up OCS Inventory NG

To setup OCS, download OCS Inventory NG Management server for Unix/Linux from http://www.ocsinventory-ng.org and install it as:

sles10sp1:/tmp # tar xvfz OCSNG_UNIX_SERVER-1.02.tar.gz
sles10sp1:/tmp # export PATH=$PATH:/opt/lampp/bin
sles10sp1:/tmp # cd OCSNG_UNIX_SERVER-1.02
sles10sp1:/tmp/OCSNG_UNIX_SERVER-1.02 #
sles10sp1:/tmp/OCSNG_UNIX_SERVER-1.02 # ./setup.sh

+----------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| Welcome to OCS Inventory NG Management server setup ! |
| |
+----------------------------------------------------------+

CAUTION: If upgrading Communication server from OCS Inventory NG 1.0 RC2 and
previous, please remove any Apache configuration for Communication Server!

Do you wish to continue ([y]/n)?y
Assuming Communication server 1.0 RC2 or previous is not installed
on this computer.

Starting OCS Inventory NG Management server setup from folder /tmp/OCSNG_UNIX_SERVER-1.02
Storing log in file /tmp/OCSNG_UNIX_SERVER-1.02/ocs_server_setup.log

+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Checking for database server properties... |
+----------------------------------------------------------+

Your MySQL client seems to be part of MySQL version 5.1.
Your computer seems to be running MySQL 4.1 or higher, good ;-)

Which host is running database server [localhost] ?
OK, database server is running on host localhost ;-)

On which port is running database server [3306] ?
OK, database server is running on port 3306 ;-)

+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Checking for Apache web server daemon... |
+----------------------------------------------------------+

Where is Apache daemon binary [/opt/lampp/bin/httpd] ?
OK, using Apache daemon /opt/lampp/bin/httpd ;-)

+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Checking for Apache main configuration file... |
+----------------------------------------------------------+

Where is Apache main configuration file [/opt/lampp/etc/httpd.conf] ?
OK, using Apache main configuration file /opt/lampp/etc/httpd.conf ;-)

+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Checking for Apache user account... |
+----------------------------------------------------------+

Which user account is running Apache web server [User] ?nobody
OK, Apache is running under user account nobody ;-)

+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Checking for Apache group... |
+----------------------------------------------------------+

Which user group is running Apache web server [nogroup] ?
OK, Apache is running under users group nogroup ;-)

+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Checking for Apache Include configuration directory... |
+----------------------------------------------------------+

Setup found Apache Include configuration directory in
.
Setup will put OCS Inventory NG Apache configuration in this directory.
Where is Apache Include configuration directory [] ?/opt/lampp/etc/extra
OK, Apache Include configuration directory /opt/lampp/etc/extra found ;-)

+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Checking for PERL Interpreter... |
+----------------------------------------------------------+

Found PERL Intrepreter at ;-)
Where is PERL Intrepreter binary [/usr/bin/perl] ?/opt/lampp/bin/perl
OK, using PERL Intrepreter /opt/lampp/bin/perl ;-)

Do you wish to setup Communication server on this computer ([y]/n)?y

+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Checking for Make utility... |
+----------------------------------------------------------+

OK, Make utility found at ;-)

+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Checking for Apache mod_perl version... |
+----------------------------------------------------------+

Checking for Apache mod_perl version 1.99_22 or higher
Found that mod_perl version 1.99_22 or higher is available.
OK, Apache is using mod_perl version 1.99_22 or higher ;-)

+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Checking for Communication server log directory... |
+----------------------------------------------------------+

Communication server can create detailled logs. This logs can be enabled
by setting interger value of LOGLEVEL to 1 in Administration console
menu Configuration.
Where to put Communication server log directory [/var/log/ocsinventory-server] ?
OK, Communication server will put logs into directory /var/log/ocsinventory-server ;-)

+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Checking for required Perl Modules... |
+----------------------------------------------------------+

Checking for DBI PERL module...
Found that PERL module DBI is available.
Checking for Apache::DBI PERL module...
Found that PERL module Apache::DBI is available.
Checking for DBD::mysql PERL module...
Found that PERL module DBD::mysql is available.
Checking for Compress::Zlib PERL module...
Found that PERL module Compress::Zlib is available.
Checking for XML::Simple PERL module...
Found that PERL module XML::Simple is available.
Checking for Net::IP PERL module...
Found that PERL module Net::IP is available.

+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Checking for optional Perl Modules... |
+----------------------------------------------------------+

Checking for SOAP::Lite PERL module...
Found that PERL module SOAP::Lite is available.
Checking for XML::Entities PERL module...
Found that PERL module XML::Entities is available.

+----------------------------------------------------------+
| OK, looks good ;-) |
| |
| Configuring Communication server Perl modules... |
+----------------------------------------------------------+

Checking if your kit is complete...
Looks good
Writing Makefile for Apache::Ocsinventory

+----------------------------------------------------------+
| OK, looks good ;-) |
| |
| Preparing Communication server Perl modules... |
+----------------------------------------------------------+

+----------------------------------------------------------+
| OK, prepare finshed ;-) |
| |
| Installing Communication server Perl modules... |
+----------------------------------------------------------+

+----------------------------------------------------------+
| OK, Communication server Perl modules install finished;-)|
| |
| Creating Communication server log directory... |
+----------------------------------------------------------+

Creating Communication server log directory /var/log/ocsinventory-server.

Fixing Communication server log directory files permissions.
Configuring logrotate for Communication server.
Removing old communication server logrotate file /etc/logrotate.d/ocsinventory-NG
Writing communication server logrotate to file /etc/logrotate.d/ocsinventory-server

+----------------------------------------------------------+
| OK, Communication server log directory created ;-) |
| |
| Now configuring Apache web server... |
+----------------------------------------------------------+

To ensure Apache loads mod_perl before OCS Inventory NG Communication Server,
Setup can name Communication Server Apache configuration file
'z-ocsinventory-server.conf' instead of 'ocsinventory-server.conf'.
Do you allow Setup renaming Communication Server Apache configuration file
to 'z-ocsinventory-server.conf' ([y]/n) ?y
./setup.sh: line 878: [: y: integer expression expected
./setup.sh: line 878: [: y: integer expression expected
OK, using 'ocsinventory-server.conf' as Communication Server Apache configuration file
Removing old communication server configuration to file /opt/lampp/etc/extra/ocsinventory.conf
Writing communication server configuration to file /opt/lampp/etc/extra/ocsinventory-server.conf

+----------------------------------------------------------+
| OK, Communication server setup sucessfully finished ;-) |
| |
| Please, review /opt/lampp/etc/extra/ocsinventory-server.conf
| to ensure all is good. Then restart Apache daemon. |
+----------------------------------------------------------+

Do you wish to setup Administration Server (Web Administration Console)
on this computer ([y]/n)?y

+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Checking for Administration Server directories... |
+----------------------------------------------------------+

CAUTION: Setup now install files in accordance with Filesystem Hierarchy
Standard. So, no file is installed under Apache root document directory
(Refer to Apache configuration files to locate it).
If you're upgrading from OCS Inventory NG Server 1.01 and previous, YOU
MUST REMOVE (or move) directories 'ocsreports' and 'download' from Apache
root document directory.
If you choose to move directory, YOU MUST MOVE 'download' directory to
Administration Server writable/cache directory (by default
/var/lib/ocsinventory-reports), especialy if you use deployement feature.

Do you wish to continue ([y]/n)?y
Assuming directories 'ocsreports' and 'download' removed from
Apache root document directory.

Where to copy Administration Server static files for PHP Web Console
[/usr/share/ocsinventory-reports] ?
OK, using directory /usr/share/ocsinventory-reports to install static files ;-)
Where to create writable/cache directories for deployement packages and
IPDiscover [/var/lib/ocsinventory-reports] ?
OK, writable/cache directory is /var/lib/ocsinventory-reports ;-)

+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Checking for required Perl Modules... |
+----------------------------------------------------------+

Checking for DBI PERL module...
Found that PERL module DBI is available.
Checking for DBD::mysql PERL module...
Found that PERL module DBD::mysql is available.
Checking for XML::Simple PERL module...
Found that PERL module XML::Simple is available.
Checking for Net::IP PERL module...
Found that PERL module Net::IP is available.

+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Installing files for Administration server... |
+----------------------------------------------------------+

Creating PHP directory /usr/share/ocsinventory-reports/ocsreports.
Copying PHP files to /usr/share/ocsinventory-reports/ocsreports.
Fixing permissions on directory /usr/share/ocsinventory-reports/ocsreports.
Creating database configuration file /usr/share/ocsinventory-reports/ocsreports/dbconfig.inc.php.
Creating IPDiscover directory /var/lib/ocsinventory-reports/ipd.
Fixing permissions on directory /var/lib/ocsinventory-reports/ipd.
Creating packages directory /var/lib/ocsinventory-reports/download.
Fixing permissions on directory /var/lib/ocsinventory-reports/download.
Configuring IPDISCOVER-UTIL Perl script.
Installing IPDISCOVER-UTIL Perl script.
Fixing permissions on IPDISCOVER-UTIL Perl script.
Writing Administration server configuration to file /opt/lampp/etc/extra/ocsinventory-reports.conf

+----------------------------------------------------------+
| OK, Administration server installation finished ;-) |
| |
| Please, review /opt/lampp/etc/extra/ocsinventory-reports.conf
| to ensure all is good and restart Apache daemon. |
| |
| Then, point your browser to http://server//ocsreports
| to configure database server and create/update schema. |
+----------------------------------------------------------+

Setup has created a log file /tmp/OCSNG_UNIX_SERVER-1.02/ocs_server_setup.log. Please, save this file.
If you encounter error while running OCS Inventory NG Management server,
we can ask you to show us his content !

DON'T FORGET TO RESTART APACHE DAEMON !

Enjoy OCS Inventory NG ;-)

sles10sp1:/tmp/OCSNG_UNIX_SERVER-1.02 #
sles10sp1:/tmp/OCSNG_UNIX_SERVER-1.02 # cd /opt/lampp/etc
sles10sp1:/opt/lampp/etc # echo "Include etc/extra/ocs*.conf" >> httpd.conf
sles10sp1:/opt/lampp/etc # /opt/lampp/lampp restart

The OCS is ready and it's time to do the initial configuration by accessing http://yourserver_ip/ocsreports/install.php .

Enter "root" as MySQL login and without a password. If you want to use a password, you have to modify the MySQL admin account (see MySQL documentation for instructions).

After successful OCS configuration, go to http://yourserver_ip/ocsreports to access the GUI and use "admin" as username and password.

This will issue a message to edit the php.ini in order for OCS to deploy packages that are more than 8MB.

Set the following in /opt/lampp/etc/php.ini file and restart XAMPP:

post_max_size = 100M
upload_max_filesize = 100M

Setting Up GLPI

Download the GLPI installer from http://www.glpi-project.org and install it as:

tar xvfz glpi-0.71.5.tar.gz -C /opt/lampp/htdocs
chown -R nobody:nogroup /opt/lampp/htdocs/glpi

GLPI is ready and it's time to configure it by accessing http://yourserver_ip/glpi .

When the configuration wizard issues a warning message about Allocated memory, set the following in /opt/lampp/etc/php.ini file and restart XAMPP:

memory_limit = 64M

Use the following settings when ask for database connection setup:

MySQL server: localhost
MySQL user: root
MySQL pass:

You can also create a new MySQL account for GLPI with less privileges instead of root. Please refer to MySQL documentation for instructions. When prompted to select a database, choose to create a new one. Remember the following default logins:

glpi/glpi for the administrator account
tech/tech for the technician account
normal/normal for the normal account
post-only/post-only for the postonly account

Now, go to Setup menu->General and on Restrictions tab select OCSNG mode to yes.

Then, go Setup menu->OCSNG mode, click localhost, and chnage the Name from "localhost" to say "OCS Server 1". The defaults should be fine. Password is "ocs".

Installing OCS NG Agent on Linux

OCS NG agent collects information about the system and sends it to the OCS Server. To this job, the agent has to be installed on each computer.

Let's install the first agent on the server that hosts the OCS and GLPI. To do this, download the Unix Unified Agent from http://www.ocsinventory-ng.org, and do the following:

sles10sp1:/tmp # tar xvfz OCSNG_UNIX_AGENT-1.02.tar.gz
sles10sp1:/tmp # cd Ocsinventory-Agent-1.0.1
sles10sp1:/tmp/Ocsinventory-Agent-1.0.1 # /opt/lampp/bin/perl -MCPAN -e 'install Digest::MD5'
sles10sp1:/tmp/Ocsinventory-Agent-1.0.1 # /opt/lampp/bin/perl -MCPAN -e 'install XML::Simple'
sles10sp1:/tmp/Ocsinventory-Agent-1.0.1 # /opt/lampp/bin/perl -MCPAN -e 'install NET::IP'

sles10sp1:/tmp/Ocsinventory-Agent-1.0.1 # /opt/lampp/bin/perl -MCPAN -e 'install LWP::Simple'
sles10sp1:/tmp/Ocsinventory-Agent-1.0.1 # /opt/lampp/bin/perl Makefile.PL
sles10sp1:/tmp/Ocsinventory-Agent-1.0.1 # make
sles10sp1:/tmp/Ocsinventory-Agent-1.0.1 # make install

.

.

Do you want to configure the agent Please enter 'y' or 'n'?> [y] Where do you want to write the configuration file?
0 -> /etc/ocsinventory
1 -> /usr/local/etc/ocsinventory
2 -> /etc/ocsinventory-agent
?> 2

Do you want to create the directory /etc/ocsinventory-agent? Please enter 'y' or 'n'?> [y]
What is the address of your ocs server?> [ocsinventory-ng] 10.13.9.217 <-- change this to the right IP of OCS server
Do you need credential for the server? (You probably don't) Please enter 'y' or 'n'?> [n]

Do you want to apply an administrative tag on this machine Please enter 'y' or 'n'?> [y]
tag?> OCS Server
ocsinventory agent presents: /opt/lampp/bin/ocsinventory-agent Do yo want to install the cron task in /etc/cron.d Please enter 'y' or 'n'?> [y]

Where do you want the agent to store its files? (You probably don't need to change it)?> [/var/lib/ocsinventory-agent]
Do you want to create the /var/lib/ocsinventory-agent directory? Please enter 'y' or 'n'?> [y]
New settings written! Thank you for using OCS Inventory Should I remove the old linux_agent Please enter 'y' or 'n'?> [n]
Do you want to use OCS-Inventory software deployment feature? Please enter 'y' or 'n'?> [y]
Do you want to send an inventory of this machine? Please enter 'y' or 'n'?> [y]
[info] Accountinfo file doesn't exist. I create an empty one. -> Success!

Login to GLPI GUI, go to Tools menu->OCSNG, and click "Import new computers" and import the computer that you've just added. You should be able to see the name of this computer when you click the Inventory menu.

Installing OCS NG Agent on Solaris

Installing OCS Agent on Solaris is a bit challenging. You need to install an updated Perl version (not the Solaris default), and GCC compiler in order to install the required perl modules.

Before installing GCC compiler, make sure that the following Solaris packages are installed:

SUNWcpp
SUNWbtool
SUNWsprot
SUNWtoo
SUNWhea
SUNWarc
SUNWlibm
SUNWlibms
SUNWdfbh
SUNWcg6h

SUNWxwfnt

SUNWxwice

SUNWzlib

SUNWxwplt
SUNWxwinc

SUNWgzip

Now, install the following GCC packages and newer version of Perl (available at http://www.sunfreeware.com).

gcc-xxx.local.gz
libconv-xxx.local.gz
perl-xxx.local.gz

Add or set the following lines in ~/.profile file:

PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/ccs/bin:/usr/sfw/bin
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib

and then, execute the command:

# source ~/.profile

Change the link of /usr/sbin/perl and point it to /usr/local/bin/perl.

# cd /usr/bin
# mv perl perl.orig
# ln -s /usr/local/bin/perl perl

To install the perl modules required by OCS Agent, you need the following additional SUN packages (available at www.sunfreeware.com):

libidn
wget
libintl
readline
openssl
expat
gnupg

After that, install the required perl modules as:

perl -MCPAN -e 'install XML::Parser'

perl -MCPAN -e 'install XML::Simple'
perl -MCPAN -e 'install Digest::MD5'

perl -MCPAN -e 'install Net::IP'

And then, download the Unix Unified Agent from http://www.ocsinventory-ng.org, unpack the installer, and install it as:

perl Makefile.pl
make
make install

Login to GLPI GUI, go to Tools menu->OCSNG, and click "Import new computers" and import the computer that you've just added. You should be able to see the name of this computer when you click the Inventory menu.

Is Firefox the most widely used browser?

2009-05-12T12:23:00.013+02:00

I have been checking the traffic statistics of my blog lately using statcounter.com and something caught my attention. Firefox is the on top spot among the browsers used to visit my blog. This is followed by Google Chrome.

Expert opinion or statistics still show that IE is still the most widely used browser with around 66% of the users using it. While I don't disagree with the experts, it appears that Firefox and Chrome is gaining grounds.

Most of the visitors of my blog are also bloggers, and it seems that Firefox is the bloggers' favorite browser.

How about you? Which browser is on the top spot on your blog's stat?

Repairing a Showcenter 200

2009-05-10T17:19:00.010+02:00

My Pinnacle Showcenter 200 has recently stopped working. It turned on using the power button, but it did not respond to the remote control. At first, I though it was remote control's fault, so I decided to change the batteries which did not help.
I was thinking of returning the device to the vendor. But, the warranty has already expired.
After searching Google, I found some information from users which had similar problem. Pinnacle told him that the device was out of warranty and they will repair the device for a fee, and they will gladly help dispose it properly if it cannot be repaired. Another user said that his device was repaired by simply replacing the capacitors.So, I opened the device and found two bulging capacitors on the PSU (power supply unit). Bulging at the top of a capacitor is a sign of failure.

I went to Conrad and bought a cheap Soldering Iron-set for 10 Euros and three 1000uF 16v capacitors for 0.67 Euro each. The original capacitor specs was 1000uF 10v, but since this capacitor specs was not available, the lady at Conrad gave me 1000uF 16v and said that it's the alternative.
When I went home, I opened the Showcenter 200 right away, desolder the two defective capacitors, and replace them with the new ones.
After that, I powered up the device and bingo! It worked!

How to enable name resolution caching on Solaris

2009-05-09T10:11:00.000+02:00

Caching of DNS queries avoids re-querying of hostname from the DNS server, and therefore improves the performance of the system.
This instruction enables Solaris system to cache DNS query results.

1. Edit the file /etc/nscd.conf and change the following line:

From:

# enable-cache hosts no

To:

enable-cache hosts yes

2. Restart the nscd daemon.

# /etc/init.d/nscd stop

# /etc/init.d/nscd start

How to check which Solaris package a file belongs to

2009-04-20T19:06:00.002+02:00

I always setup Solaris with minimum packages installed (Core Installation) for security reason, and oftentimes I encounter package dependency problem on a lot of applications I install.
The challenge is, how to know what packages the application requires? This is where the "pkgchk" command comes in handy.
First, you have to check what libraries the binaries of the application requires by using "ldd" command.
e.g.
# ldd file1

This command displays several files that are required by file1.
Next, check which which Solaris package the files belong to by using "pkgchk" command. You need to run this command on a Solaris machine that has all the packages installed (Entire Distribution).

For example, to check which package "truss" file is found:
-----

# pkgchk -l -p /usr/bin/truss

Pathname: /usr/bin/truss

Type: linked file

Source of link: ../../usr/lib/isaexec

Referenced by the following packages:

SUNWtoo

Current status: installed

-----

These commands can be add in a shell script to automate the package dependency check.

Creating Linux RPM package from source

2009-04-16T23:46:00.002+02:00

A lot of Linux applications are available only as source code. Redhat, SUSE, and other Linux distributions uses RPM package management which makes it easier to distribute and keep track of installed applications through the RPM database.

To create an RPM database, you need to install a Linux package called checkinstall. This is available from the Redhat or SUSE installation CD.
Then, do the following:

1. Unpack the source code of the application.

2. Compile it.

3. After compiling, execute

# checkinstall

That's it. An RPM package is created.

How to get a SUN Solaris system Ready for Production

2009-04-10T17:22:00.001+02:00

Setting up a SUN Solaris system can take a while from installation to configuration. The installation itself can take about an hour depending on the speed of the machine and also the Solaris packages you want to install. Configuration can take about another hour or more. If you have a jumpstart server, then it will save a lot of time.

However, if this is your first SUN Solaris system or first time to install SUN Solaris, then you need some list of things to configure before putting the system to production.

Configuring Solaris for production includes restricting how users log in, disabling unnessary services, TCP tuning, kernel tuning, adding security warning banner, setting up secure shell (SSH), and locking down.

This article from Collin Bitterfield provides details on which files to modify to make SUN solaris ready for production. http://colin.bitterfield.com/how_to_production_ready.html

Adding a swap file in Linux

2009-03-29T17:18:00.003+02:00

I have problem sometimes with Linux when using older machines with limited amount of memory. Several applications won't create additional process due to lack of memory. Adding swap space helps a lot. The application runs a bit slower, but at least it runs properly.

Here's how to add swap space:

1. Determine the size of the new swap file and multiple by 1024 to determine the block size. For example, the block size of a 64 MB swap file is 65536.

2. At a shell prompt as root, type the following command with count being equal to the desired block size:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=1024 count=65536

3. Setup the swap file with the command:

mkswap /swapfile

4. To enable the swap file immediately but not automatically at boot time:

swapon /swapfile

5. To enable it at boot time, edit /etc/fstab to include:

/swapfile swap swap defaults 0 0

The next time the system boots, it will enable the new swap file.

6. After adding the new swap file and enabling it, make sure it is enabled by viewing the output of the command cat /proc/swaps or free.

source: Redhat