Managing your authentication service across your network can be achieved in many different ways, but there is a solution that has been available for years that provides synchronized authentication service, and that was designed to work with the Network File System (NFS) for identifying files and access.
The content of the article, as described by the intro:
Examine how to set up, configure, and update a Network Information System (NIS) installation for sharing information, and learn how NIS can be merged with other solutions, such as files and Domain Name System (DNS), to provide subnet, network, and worldwide data sharing facilities. In a large UNIX network, the ability to share information among the many systems helps to alleviate many problems, such as sharing permissions across different systems with Network File System (NFS), or simply providing a single login for the entire network.
Keeping a copy of the vital information that makes up your Unix environment could mean the difference between working again after a failure in hours compared to days. In the latest of my System Administrators Toolkit guide, I examine how best to identify and then back up the files that make up your system - not the data, but the configuration files, drivers and other elements that make you system unique.
In the article, I cover:
How to identify the right files, and what to consider
Simple script using tar to back up the files you want
For a long time I disabled comments on the site because I received a huge amount of comment spam. I’ve been running with Akismet now for months (and filtered over 11,000 items in the process), so I’m going to open up the site for comments.
You’re still going to need to register, but otherwise feel free to get involved!
I’ve noticed that a larger number of people come to the site and start searching for a particular entry, so I’ve decided to add the excellent Wordpress Live Search Plugin to the site.
Now when you search, you’ll get a live list beneath the search panel of the matching posts, which you can click on to go straight to the post in question.
Installing the plugin itself is easy, download it, put it in your plug-in directory, and enable it. Providing you’ve used the standard search panel, the live component is enabled immediately.
The latest article in my System Administration Toolkit series at IBM developerWorks has been released. This article on ways of simplifying and standardizing your environment and command-line tools within a heterogeneous environment.
As someone who regularly switches between Linux, Mac OS X and Solaris, to name but a few, I will often find myself using the wrong command on one host, but one which is perfectly valid on another. I’ve developed a number of different methods and solutions for that over the years, and this article covers the main solutions, including:
For those of you unfamiliar with Martin, he’s a well respected tech journalist who contributes to a number of leading tech magazines and all-around computer guru. He just wrote up a great blog post about Parallels Destkop for Computerworld, titled “Parallels Lowers the Impact of Boot Camp.”
As an extension of the original filesystem piece, I’ve taken a closer look at the methods available for simply moving around directory trees on the Unix filesystem, including across a network.
Occasionally, you need to copy around an entire UNIX directory tree, either between areas on the same system or between different systems. There are many different methods of achieving this, but not all preserve the right amount of information or are compatible across different systems. This article discusses the various options available for UNIX and how best to make them work.
The article covers cp, tar, cpio and some basic scp examples.
I’ve had more than one occasion when I’ve had to move a live filesystem to a new partition or new disk, whether its because I’m short on space on the original partition or through disk failure. I’ve put put my experience of that into my latest developerWorks article on how to move and migrate filesystems.
Traditionally, high performance computing was carried out by specialized hardware and software working together to produce a highly optimized environment. Grids are beginning to change that, by removing the need for the specialized elements while enabling the spreading of the work across a wider range of hardware, software, and networks. A new article takes a closer look at the two solutions, and how they are converging.
From the article introduction:
Parallel computing is a methodology for designing applications designed to work within large parallel computing environments. In a grid system, the execution of an operation or equation is geared toward providing a structure for executing tasks in parallel, where the order in which the work units are executed and received is not sequential and not reliant on previous code iterations. While, overall, the models of these two systems — parallel computing and grids — are converging, the traditional programming models of these two systems remain different. In this article, we will look at parallel computing, grids, and their convergence.
The next article in the System Administrators Toolkit series, this time on monitoring disk space and disk usage by users, is available at IBM developerWorks.
This one focuses on finding out your disk storage, where it is being used, finding out who is using it, and, when necessary, controlling the usage through the quota system.
From the developerWorks preview:
Look at methods for determining disk usage across multiple UNIX systems and how to create a simple warning system to alert you of potential problems. Keeping an eye on your file systems and ensuring they don’t fill up is a trivial, but vital process in the day-to-day management of your UNIX systems. In this article, you’ll look at methods for keeping an eye on disk space, discovering which files, users, or applications are using up the most space, and how to make use of quotas and other solutions to find the information you need.