Migrate to GRUB 2

The tools used to boot Linux® are changing. Specifically, the Grand Unified Bootloader (GRUB) is now officially in maintenance mode only, and GRUB's developers have abandoned the original GRUB in favor of an entirely rewritten package, known as GRUB 2. Discover GRUB 2's new capabilities and how to use it.

RPM and YUM package management

Learn how to install, upgrade and manage packages on your Linux® system. This article focuses on the Red Hat Package Manager (RPM) developed by Red Hat, as well as the Yellowdog Updater Modified (YUM) originally developed to manage Red Hat Linux systems at Duke University's Physics department.

Introducing KDE 4 plasmoids

KDE 4 includes many exciting new technologies, including Plasma, a feature that forms the desktop shell of KDE 4. See how to write simple Plasma applets (known as plasmoids) to greatly improve the desktop experience and how to turn a plasmoid into a simple memory monitor. Read th e full story here

Speaking UNIX: 10 great tools for any UNIX system

The universe of UNIX® tools changes constantly. Here are 10 tools—some you may have overlooked and some new—to tinker with.

Add adanced Ajax to PHP apps with jQuerrys

For some PHP developers, Ajax is still a mystery. It's something that the "cool kids" and "bad boys" of Web development do, and they've never had the time, patience, or skill to take it on. If you're one of these PHP developers, never fear: By the time you're done reading this article, you'll know enough to become a real Ajax pro. This article shows how to use jQuery to easily add Ajax functionality to any PHP Web application. When you're done, you should have a pretty good grounding in not only some jQuery basics but also in the fundamentals of Ajax.

Ganglia and Nagios, Part 2: Monitor enterprise clusters with Nagios

This is the second article in a two-part series that looks at a hands-on approach to monitoring a data center using the open source tools Ganglia and Nagios. In Part 2, learn how to install and configure Nagios, the popular open source computer system and network monitoring application software that watches hosts and services, alerting users when things go wrong. The article also shows you how to unite Nagios with Ganglia (from Part 1) and add two other features to Nagios for standard clusters, grids, and clouds to help with monitoring network switches and the resource manager.

Ganglia and Nagios, Part 1: Monitor enterprise clusters with Ganglia

This is the first article in a two-part series that looks at a hands-on approach to monitoring a data center using the open source tools Ganglia and Nagios. In Part 1, see how to install and configure Ganglia, the scalable, distributed monitoring system for high-performance clusters based on a hierarchical design. Also learn how to add more monitoring capability by writing Ganglia plug-ins and by enabling external-source spoofing.

Cloud computing versus Grid computing

Want to know more about cloud and grid computing? Learn how you can use Infrastructure as a Service to get a full computer infrastructure using Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). See the similarities, differences, and issues to consider in grid and cloud computing. Explore some of the security issues and choices for Web development in the cloud, and see how you can be environmentally friendly using cloud computing.

Finding rootfs during boot

As a Linux® administrator, you may encounter rootfs errors like cannot mount rootfs and kernel panic when you try to reboot a server after attaching volumes from external storage or even after installing a new Linux operating system.. This article outlines the Linux booting process on an x86 platform, shows why this problem happens, and offers four tips to avoid it or fix it.

Linux kernel advances

Life's certainties include death and taxes but also the advancement of the GNU/Linux® operating system, and the last two kernel releases did not disappoint.The 2.6.28 and 2.6.29 releases contain an amazing amount of new functionality, such as a cutting-edge enterprise storage protocol, two new file systems, WiMAXbroadband networking support, and storage integrity checking. Discover why it's time to upgrade.

Backing up MySQL

There are several ways to backup MySQL data. In this articlewe’ll look at how to backup your databases using different methods, we will also learn how to achieve an automatic backup solution to make the process easier. Starting with the mysqldump utility that comes with MySQL, we will review several examples using mysqldump, including the backup of your database to afile, another server, and even a compressed gzip file and send it to your email

Monitor file system activity with inotify

Inotify is a Linux® feature that monitors file system operations, such as read, write, and create. Inotify is reactive, surprisingly simple to use, and far more efficient than, say, busy polling from a cron job. Learn how to integrate inotify into your own applications, and discover a set of command-line tools you can use to further automate system administration. Read full story

Python 3 primer, Part 1: What's new

Python 3 is the latest version of Guido van Rossum's powerful general-purpose programming language. It breaks backwards compatibility with the 2.x line but has cleaned up some syntax issues. This article is the first in a series that talks about the changes that affect the language and backwards compatibility, and it provides examples of new features. Full article

Patterns and string processing in shell scripts

Shell programming is heavily dependent on string processing. The term string is used generically to refer to any sequence of characters; typical examples of strings might be a line of input or a single argument to a command. Users enter responses to prompts, file names are generated, and commands produce output. Read full article

Anatomy of Linux process management

Any given Linux system might be asked to handle a lot of processes or only a few, simple or complicated, long-lived or short, and on one processor or many. Learn how the kernel keeps user-space processes sorted out. Read complete article

Revised Slackware keeps it simple

At a time when new and buggy features cloud basic computer functions, it's refreshing to see a new release of a distro like Slackware that stays true to its core philosophy. Slackware has an unfair reputation of being a distro only for experienced users. Granted it doesn't sport many graphical configuration tools, but it balances that with stability and speed. Full article

Hardening the Linux server

Understand your servers' vulnerabilities with the help of this tutorial. Learn how to maintain confidentiality, integrity, and availability by securing SSH sessions, configuring firewall rules, and setting up intrusion detection to alert you to possible attacks. Read the complete article

Hardening the Linux desktop

Although GNU/Linux® has the reputation of being a much more secure operating system than Microsoft® Windows®, you still need to secure the Linux desktop. This tutorial takes you through the steps of installing anti virus software, creating a backup-restore plan, and making practical use of a firewall. When you finish, you'll have the knowledge and tools you need to harden your Linux desktop against most attacks and prevent illegitimate access to your computer. Read the full article

Lazy Linux: 11 secrets for lazy cluster admins

Cluster means different things to different people. In the context of this article, cluster is best defined as scale-out -- scale-out clusters generally have a lot of the same type of components like Web farms, render farms, and high performance computing (HPC) systems. Administrators will tell you that with scale-out clusters any change, no matter how small, must be repeated up to hundreds of thousands of times; the laziest of admins have mastered techniques of scale-out management so that regardless of the number of nodes, the effort is the same. In this article, the authors peer into the minds of the laziest Linux® admins on Earth and divulge their secrets. Read the complete story

Deliver high availability with a Xen virtual server

Get step-by-step details to implement Xen virtual server high availability via the IBM® System Director Virtual Availability Manager. The Virtual Availability Manager is included in the IBM System Director Virtualization Manager package, an extension for IBM Director. In this article, the authors walk you through all the steps, from prerequisites and setup to troubleshooting—everything you need to get started delivering virtual high availability capabilities. Read the full story