18May 2014 by Asim Zeeshan 2 Comments

Play all media formats on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS Desktop

Experiments, How to, Linux
I still remember the first time I test-drove Mandriva Linux (formerly known as Mandrake), I could run every other audio and video format out-of-the-box without downloading anything (it was a dialup modem era so downloading was a pain-in-the-rear). Many years after, I finally installed Ubuntu 14.04 LTS on my new laptop but it does not recognize some of my mp3 files and im like "Are you kidding me?" Im glad I found a solution, there is a package called ubuntu-restricted-extras (read the Wikipedia entry and Ubuntu documentation) that you can install and it support all major media formats, Codecs and even Flash Player. To install, you need to run [code lang="bash"]sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras[/code] Legal Notice Patent and copyright laws operate differently depending on which country you are in. Please obtain legal advice…
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16May 2014 by Asim Zeeshan 3 Comments

Windows to Linux (Ubuntu 14.04 LTS) Migration

Experiments, Linux, OpenSource, Ubuntu
I have been a hardcore Linux user from a Server-OS point of view since many years. Have used CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian and Fedora extensively. I have always recommended and used Linux without hesitation since I knew this is one thing that I cannot be wrong about. One place where I was reluctant to use Linux iswas my Desktop. My PC, Laptop and Work-Laptop running Windows 7. Although I love the simple interface of Windows, now its time that I try to experiment with a Linux Desktop OS. I am sure that within a few weeks, if not days, I would get in love with my decision which I have been postponing since many years now. I have chosen Ubuntu 14.04 LTS for this purpose. What follows is my transition from…
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29Aug 2012 by Asim Zeeshan 1 Comment

How to find zombie processes on linux

CentOS, Linux, Tips and Tricks, Ubuntu
My NAGIOS monitor alerted me that of my dedicated server has 10 Zombie processes, how to find Zombie processes via command line on Linux especially CentOS? [code] ps aux | awk '{ print $8 " " $2 }' | grep -w Z [/code] So it returns state (Z = Zombie) and the process id (PID) [code]root@sirius [~]# ps aux | awk '{ print $8 " " $2 }' | grep -w Z Z 4399 Z 4435 Z 4868 Z 5143 Z 5400 Z 5834 Z 7584 Z 11943 Z 16286 Z 24365[/code] Technically, you cannot kill a zombie process since its already dead but the entry in the process table is not removed because the parent will access the result via the PID in the process table.
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18Aug 2012 by Asim Zeeshan No Comments

Webalizer not working on Ubuntu

Linux, Tutorials, Ubuntu
One of my Ubuntu based VPS had Webalizer installed to collect stats from webserver but it was not working because I could see not stats at /webalizer/. If thats the case with you try the following 1) Try running the webalizer crontab [code]root@backups:~# /etc/cron.daily/webalizer Error Opening file /usr/share/GeoIP/GeoIP.dat[/code] So we have identified the culprit that geoip-database is not installed. 2) Fix this by installing geoip-database [code]root@backups:~# apt-get install geoip-database[/code] (more…)
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27May 2012 by Asim Zeeshan No Comments

How to find specific files and send alerts

CentOS, How to, Linux, Tips and Tricks, Ubuntu
Maintaining a shared hosting server is a full time job but tools and proper checks and balances can help make this burden lot less. I manage a shared hosting server for one of my friends and numerous times the scripts that people have installed over on their websites have vulnerabilities and hackers exploit it to upload stuff that mass-email or do other nasty stuff. Luckily, most of these exploits have common patterns like files names or other signatures that make them traceable (most of the time the so called hackers are just kiddy scripts) Create a file and put this in it [code]#!/bin/bash find /home -name 'paypal.com*' | mail -s '[Woodcrest] Phishing Alert!' me@mydomain.com find /home -name 'rout.php' | mail -s '[Woodcrest] Phishing Alert - Mail Bomber!' me@mydomain.com[/code] This is…
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26May 2012 by Asim Zeeshan 2 Comments

package-cleanup: command not found

CentOS, How to, Linux, Tips and Tricks
I tried to do package-cleanup and found this [code highlight="2"]root@ns1 [~]# package-cleanup --problems -bash: package-cleanup: command not found[/code] If I was on Ubuntu, I would have done "apt-get install package-cleanup" but it does not work that way on CentOS, its actually available in yum-utils package, install it by typing [code]yum install yum-utils[/code] Enjoy!!
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