Blog
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The Pragmatic Bookshelf: Fire in the Valley
In the 1970s, while their contemporaries were protesting the computer as a tool of dehumanization and oppression, a motley collection of college dropouts, hippies, and electronics fanatics were engaged in something much more subversive. Obsessed with the idea of getting computer power into their own hands, they launched from their garages a hobbyist movement that grew into an industry, and ultimately a social and technological revolution. What they did was invent the personal computer: not just a new device, but a watershed in the relationship between man and machine. This is their story.
https://pragprog.com/book/fsfire/fire-in-the-valleyI quite enjoy listening to the audio book (VLC on the MacBook, using the MP3 files corresponding to the chapters of the book – that’s the only viable approach for me indeed) and reading it on my iPad at the same time:
- https://pragprog.com/titles/fsfire/fire-in-the-valley/
- https://pragprog.com/titles/a-fsfire/fire-in-the-valley/ – the audio book
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O’Reilly Media book: Managing NFS and NIS, 2nd Edition
From the publisher:
A modern computer system that’s not part of a network is even more of an anomaly today than it was when we published the first edition of this book in 1991. But however widespread networks have become, managing a network and getting it to perform well can still be a problem.Managing NFS and NIS, in a new edition based on Solaris 8, is a guide to two tools that are absolutely essential to distributed computing environments: the Network Filesystem (NFS) and the Network Information System (formerly called the “yellow pages” or YP).The Network Filesystem, developed by Sun Microsystems, is fundamental to most Unix networks. It lets systems ranging from PCs and Unix workstations to large mainframes access each other’s files transparently, and is the standard method for sharing files between different computer systems.As popular as NFS is, it’s a “black box” for most users and administrators. Updated for NFS Version 3, Managing NFS and NIS offers detailed access to what’s inside, including:
- How to plan, set up, and debug an NFS network
- Using the NFS automounter
- Diskless workstations
- PC/NFS
- A new transport protocol for NFS (TCP/IP)
- New security options (IPSec and Kerberos V5)
- Diagnostic tools and utilities
- NFS client and server tuning
NFS isn’t really complete without its companion, NIS, a distributed database service for managing the most important administrative files, such as the passwd file and the hosts file. NIS centralizes administration of commonly replicated files, allowing a single change to the database rather than requiring changes on every system on the network.If you are managing a network of Unix systems, or are thinking of setting up a Unix network, you can’t afford to overlook this book.
This book is rather focusing on Solaris, I still think, THIS IS THE BOOK, but then I really did not research the market before acquiring this book. E.g. regarding “exportfs”: the command just gets mentioned in a table, no further explanations. Right, the “current” main author was mostly on Sun’s payroll, but O’Reilly’s could have “forced” a more Linux/AIX/… oriented co-author on board of the authors.
I acquired this book, when I had trouble making use
- of a Synology DiskStation NAS as a server
- and an openSUSE Linux VM as a client.
True, I am not using NIS.
True, my server and my client don’t have the same values for corresponding users (UIDs). Should I better “chown -R …” the respective users’ directory trees on the NAS in order to achieve the proper UID mapping?!?
My NFS server does not accept “root=…”.
Is making brute force use of “anonuid=…” on the server side (mapping all accesses from outside to a single user w/o further proper authentication) the only (and admittedly unappropriate) way to achieve my goal then? Yes, I do have an idea of what anonuid should be used for.
AFS and Samba seem to be able to deal with user accounts, that do not have the same UIDs on both sides – how to deal with that in the NFS context w/o NIS?!?
My notes following the TOC:
Chapter 6 covers basic NFS operations, such as mounting and exporting filesystems.
- commands: exportfs, …
- system files: …
Chapter 13. Network Diagnostic and Administrative Tools
- commands: showmount, …
- NIS maps: …
- system files: …
Chapter 14. NFS Diagnostic Tools
- commands: showmount, …
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Wiley: Home Recording For Musicians For Dummies
- http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9781118968017.do
- get the Kindle edition through your local Amazon, then DRM-ize and EPUB-ize it, that’s the best path for easy future access to this nice book
Save studio fees with pro-quality recording at home
Home Recording For Musicians For Dummies offers simple explanations on how to record music in a home studio, no matter your style, method, or sound. With expert guidance every step of the way, you’ll find the answers to your questions about choosing equipment, recording tracks, editing, mixing, mastering, and more. Updated to reflect the latest home recording technology, this new edition addresses styles from live bands to electronica with easy navigation to the information you need most. Beginners will find straightforward instruction on the fundamentals, while more experienced home recording engineers will appreciate insight to the tricks the pros use.
With home recording gear increasingly approaching professional quality, the home studio is no longer the domain of the DIY-or-die. Even professional musicians are saving studio fees by recording at home, and today’s plug-and-play technology makes high-quality sound accessible to those with a more amateur level of experience and budget. Home Recording For Musicians For Dummies gives you the information you need to set up your studio and use it like a pro:
- Choose the right gear for the job, and set up for quality sound
- Learn the fundamentals of recording, from choosing a mic to working with a mixer
- Master MIDI, multitrack recording, and audio capture for optimum sourcing
- Edit, mix, and master your tracks, and add effects to enhance your sound
Don’t let poor audio quality distract from your music. Find out what tools you need, how to use them, and how to follow the time-tested steps of making a record. You spend valuable time developing your talent, skills, and sound, so take a minute to learn how to make your music shine with the expert advice and easy-to-follow instruction in Home Recording For Musicians For Dummies.
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my Synology DiskStation now functions as a NAS to my entire I.T. landscape including Mac OS X, Windows, and NFS
- http://linux.die.net/man/5/exports – /etc/exports
Actually (as you might remember) there is not just one Synology DiskStation (AKA NAS) here, but three of them – you will find more information here on the blog, if you follow category Synology or NAS. So I am referring to my “primary” NAS here.
NFS is the most recent achievement, and it is the one, that will need a little more work to be production reliable, but functionally it serves its purposes and I am rather glad.
NFS is the genuine way of “file serving” on Unix/Linux/… and alike systems.
So as of today I am able to access the files sitting on my (“primary”) NAS from my Macs, my Windows boxes, and my Linux boxes.
There are still files sitting within “Virtual Machines”, that are a little difficult to access from outside; but migrating them to the NAS is not a short-term goal.
I would love to be able to “stroll around” with just my MacBook Air and my (mobile) NAS, and still be able to access every possible file and achieve every possible task.
Alright, I do accept, some some tasks can only get performed on certain machines, but I can reach them (from remote) “at home” (via a command line, i.e. SSH) on a box (or a “Virtual Machine”).
My 1st task performed under the new circumstances is my November payroll. Imagine:
- a Mac
- hosting a Virtual Machine (Oracle VirtualBox),
- running openSUSE Linux,
- accessing files through NFS served on my NAS,
- (the Linux “box”) running GNU Emacs,
- running a bash,
- running a couple of shell sniplets converting simple CSV files into more readable / comparable ones (I dare to call this “data science”);
- in the end telling me, that last month’s payroll files essentially look like this month’s ones;
- so within my actual banking software (Lexware Quicken on Win8.1 in yet another Virtual Machine)
- I will be able to kick off the new payroll payments
- and also the monthly payment to the accountants.
Why did an article with such a simple name get so extensive again? Well, I just needed to write it down again and “tell somebody”. Actually (yet another time) I have no idea, who will read it and whether this article will be read at all, but it does indead make me feel rather, rather well.
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using a Synology DiskStation as an NFS4 server – client is an openSUSE in a virtual machine
Facts (smile!):
- the Synology DSM NFS server keeps its “mount information files” (etab, rmtab, …) at /var/lib/nfs/rmtab as opposed to /etc, where they “usually” go
- make sure, that /var/lib/nfs/rmtab exists, otherwise you will find ongoing complaints in /var/log/messages; a “touch …/rmtab” will do
- …
“Last resort” resp. “desaster” suggestions – they should always only be of temporary use:
- within /etc/exports set anonuid to the UID of the server-local user, that “deals” with the files in question
- …
I have tried quite a few variations, currently it seems to run (DO NOT TAKE THAT TOO LITERALLY!!!), but I am not very sure, why, and what the implications are.
- http://forum.synology.com/wiki/index.php/How_to_enable_NFS_on_the_Synology_Server – looks a little outdated, but the suggestion to “touch /var/lib/nfs/rmtab”, so that “/usr/sbin/exportfs -a” (in order to make your changes to /etc/exports effective) would not result in an annoying entry in /var/log/messages, is quite nice
- replacing no_root_squash with all_squash within /etc/exports and “…/exportfs -a” seems to help tremendously, setting “squash” to “no mapping” is not the same; looks like you can’t achieve the wished purpose through the web GUI
Update 2015-01-26 / 0: /etc/idmap.conf – but the respective software on openSuSE seems to have problems.
Update 2015-01-26 / 1:
- no more UID squashing or mapping within the DSM GUI,
- no more changes to /etc/exports on the NAS “under the hood”,
- simple vanilla “Squash: No mapping” within the DSM GUI;
- ie. the respective UIDs on the NFS server and the NFS clients must match 1:1.
- It is quite simple to rectify this on the NFS clients.
- I have no idea, why I hesitated doing that from the beginning (when I started using the Synology devices as NFS servers).
- For the time being this is “the proper way” here.
- For the “better future” of course implementation of a Kerberos set-up is the way to go:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerberos_(protocol)
- http://linux.die.net/man/5/exports – /etc/exports
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PSmisc – small utilities that use the /proc filesystem
I failed compiling the PSmisc package on OS X 10.10 AKA Yosemite. Maybe I wasn’t patient enough.
If I had a running Fink system these days, I wouldn’t even bother installing PSmisc resp. pstree myself. But my Fink system broke little after upgrading to Yosemite.
