When I deploy a new Nagios box, I always start with this. I do not use deb packages here because they are too many versions behind. Plus, I like to have full control over how this is configured.
Author Archives: Andrew Wells
Vim
Vim is the text editor that I have been working on learning recently. I will eventually have a dotfiles repository on GitHub, but for now, I will keep this here.
Puppet
I build up and tear down servers often for testing and development. I use Puppet to assist with bringing up servers quickly. Using Puppet with Debian preseed files allows me to spin up a VM, walk away, and come back to a fully configured box – super cool!
Nano
Nano is a pretty simple text editor. I only have a few customization options with auto-tabbing and word wrap.
Rescue a WordPress Install With Incorrect URL Settings
When moving existing WordPress installs around, you may find that the site becomes inaccessible because the site URL is contained in the database table, wp_options to be exact. In order to make this site accessible, the site URL option needs to be changed. Where can that be changed? From the admin center. On the website. Yeah, it’s a catch 22. But, there are several alternative ways to change this option, even if your blog is not accessible.
Test Passwordless SSH Authentication
I needed a way to test if I have a passwordless way to authenticate to another SSH system. This script is written in expect and basically attempts to ssh into the specified host. It assumes the user prompt will contain user@host.
I should also note that I wrote this with the intention of using it as a Nagios plugin for ssh checks. That is why it exists with the code of 2 (critical) or 3 (unknown) when there are problems.
Ubuntu 12.04 Deployment Server
My Ubuntu deployment server setup provides PXE boot support for network installations, preseeding, apt mirror, and memtest as a bonus. This article documents how to replicate this setup.
This guide assumes existing knowledge in Ubuntu Server, PXE, dnsmasq.
WIC-1DSU-T1 Crossover Config
T1 cards can be used to make direct connections for lab purposes.
Frame Relay Switch on Cisco 2600 Series Routers
This is the procedure for configuring a frame relay switch. This requires lots of serial interfaces.
Default Cisco Switch Configuration
When building and tearing down Cisco network labs, I used this file to initialize switches. Feel free to try to figure out my lab passwords, they are not that secure 🙂