dracut Warning: No root device “block:/dev/disk/by-label/root” found – CentOS 6

I’ve been on GE-mode for the past few months. In effort to maintain stability, I resisted upgrading the KVM-host machine to the latest kernel. Sorry guys, I’m still on CentOS, not on OEL, so no Ksplice!

To cut story short, the kernel upgrades results in the infamous CentOS/RHEL depmod bug! -

dracut Warning: No root device "block:/dev/disk/by-label/root" found
dracut Warning: Boot has failed. To debug this issue add "rdshell" to the kernel command line.
dracut Warning: Signal caught!
dracut Warning: Boot has failed. To debug this issue add "rdshell" to the kernel command line.
Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!
Pid: 1, comm: init Not tainted 2.6.32-358.6.2.el6.x86_64 #1
Call Trace:
[] ? panic+0x78/0x143
[] ? do_exit+0x852/0x860
[] ? fput+0x25/0x30
[] ? do_group_exit+0x58/0xd0
[] ? sys_exit_group+0x17/0x20
[] ? system_call_fastpath+0x16/0x1b

The system kernel-panics!

Even the built-in kernel fallback options in GRUB did not activate!!

Canvassing the net suggests that the kernel modules did not install properly and the solution is to install manually via the commands below -

# depmod -ae -F /boot/System.map-2.6.32-358.6.2.el6.x86_64 2.6.32-358.6.2.el6.x86_64
# dracut --force '' 2.6.32-358.6.2.el6.x86_64

I tried that via CentOS Rescue Mode and ‘chroot /mnt/sysimage’. This too was fun, KVM Console ISO Image redirection from your local PC to a site on the far side of the galaxy is something you should only attempt on a high-bandwidth! UniFi is crap!

Luckily the KVM Console supports mounting ISO Image from a SAMBA Share. A small tiny low-end-box serves the purpose nicely and being much closer in peering to the main KVM-host site makes it even better!

Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to work for me.

But what does work – instead of ‘yum update’, I did a ‘yum localinstall’. Downloaded the kernel and kernel-devel RPMs onto the local disk and installed it after removing the broken kernel before that.

That seems to do the trick!

Hope it solves someone else issue with this.

God willing!

Centos 6.3 – D-Link DWM-652 3G HSDPA Modem – DiGi

Recently I had a need to have a CentOS 6.3 Server connected to the Internet. So, I dug out my old trusty D-Link DWM-652 3G HSDPA Modem and subscribed to a Data-Only DiGi Broadband Internet.

The next challenge is to configure it.

Fortunately, CentOS 6.3 and its most recent kernel - 2.6.32-279.19.1 (at the time of writing) seems modern enough, that it detects the built-in cd-rom storage of the D-Link DWM-652 and promptly ejects it and re-detects the GSM Modem and properly mounts it.

Dmesg Output -
# dmesg
much truncated
usb 5-4: new full speed USB device number 2 using ohci_hcd
usb 5-4: New USB device found, idVendor=1186, idProduct=3e02
usb 5-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
usb 5-4: Product: USB Mass Storage
usb 5-4: Manufacturer: D-Link Corporation
usb 5-4: SerialNumber: 000000000002
usb 5-4: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
scsi6 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
usb-storage: device found at 2
usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
USB Mass Storage support registered.
usb-storage: device scan complete
scsi 6:0:0:0: CD-ROM D-Link CDROM 1.01 PQ: 0 ANSI: 4
scsi 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 5
sr0: scsi3-mmc drive: 0x/0x caddy
Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.20
sr 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0
sr0: CDROM (ioctl) error, command: Get configuration 46 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 00
sr: Sense Key : Hardware Error [current]
sr: Add. Sense: No additional sense information
sr0: CDROM (ioctl) error, command: Get configuration 46 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 00
sr: Sense Key : Hardware Error [current]
sr: Add. Sense: No additional sense information
sr0: CDROM (ioctl) error, command: Get configuration 46 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 00
sr: Sense Key : Hardware Error [current]
sr: Add. Sense: No additional sense information
usb 5-4: USB disconnect, device number 2
Buffer I/O error on device sr0, logical block 1
Buffer I/O error on device sr0, logical block 512
Buffer I/O error on device sr0, logical block 7
Buffer I/O error on device sr0, logical block 1
Buffer I/O error on device sr0, logical block 512
usb 5-4: new full speed USB device number 3 using ohci_hcd
usb 5-4: New USB device found, idVendor=1186, idProduct=3e04
usb 5-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=20
usb 5-4: Product: D-Link DWM-652 3.5G HSDPA Adapter
usb 5-4: Manufacturer: D-Link Corporation
usb 5-4: SerialNumber: 0000000000000000
usb 5-4: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
usb-storage: device ignored
usb-storage: device ignored
usb-storage: device ignored
usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial
USB Serial support registered for generic
usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic
usbserial: USB Serial Driver core
USB Serial support registered for GSM modem (1-port)
option 5-4:1.1: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
usb 5-4: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB0
option 5-4:1.2: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
usb 5-4: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB1
usbcore: registered new interface driver option
option: v0.7.2:USB Driver for GSM modems

Note the USB Device’s ttyUSB which you may need to guess the proper ones. Usually if you do not have any other USB Devices connected to it, it’ll be the ttyUSB0 which you will need as the modem entry for the /etc/wvdial.conf file.

# ls -l /dev/ttyUSB*
crw-rw----. 1 root dialout 188, 0 Feb 3 02:16 /dev/ttyUSB0
crw-rw----. 1 root dialout 188, 1 Feb 3 00:36 /dev/ttyUSB1

Next is to install the necessary RPM Packages, in this case – wvdial

# yum install wvdial

You’ll notice that it installs the dependencies -

================================================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
================================================================================
Installing:
wvdial x86_64 1.60-12.el6 base 92 k
Installing for dependencies:
libwvstreams x86_64 4.6-6.el6 base 603 k
lockdev x86_64 1.0.1-18.el6 base 25 k
ppp x86_64 2.4.5-5.el6 base 323 k

Below is the contents that I used in the file /etc/wvdial.conf. Take note of the Modem entry and its tty device.

# cat /etc/wvdial.conf
[Dialer Defaults]
Modem = /dev/ttyUSB0
Modem Type = Analog Modem
ISDN = 0
Baud = 460800
Dial Attempts = 1
Username = user
Password = pass
Init1 = ATZ
Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
Init3 = AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","DiGi.internet"
Phone = *99#
Stupid Mode = 1

Connecting -

# wvdial Defaults
--> WvDial: Internet dialer version 1.60
--> Cannot get information for serial port.
--> Initializing modem.
--> Sending: ATZ
ATZ
OK
--> Sending: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
OK
--> Sending: AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","DiGi.internet"
AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","DiGi.internet"
OK
--> Modem initialized.
--> Sending: ATDT*99#
--> Waiting for carrier.
ATDT*99#
CONNECT
--> Carrier detected. Starting PPP immediately.
--> Starting pppd at Sun Feb 3 01:11:03 2013
--> Pid of pppd: 29518
--> Using interface ppp0
--> local IP address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
--> remote IP address 10.64.64.64
--> primary DNS address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
--> secondary DNS address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

Note – remote IP is the ISP’s Gateway IP, you may need to alter your current Default Gateway to this one -

Make note of the current Default Gateway, if it is an IP Address -

# netstat -r|grep default | awk {'print $2'}

If it is a hostname -

# netstat -r|grep default | awk {'print $2'}| awk -F. '{ print $1 }'

Delete the existing -

# route del default

Add new one -

# route add -net default gw 10.64.64.64 dev ppp0

To disconnect, simply press CTRL-C

^CCaught signal 2: Attempting to exit gracefully...
--> Terminating on signal 15
--> Connect time 21.4 minutes.
--> Disconnecting at Sun Feb 3 01:32:28 2013

Once disconnected, you may want to revert back to the previous Default Gateway. Use below command to add it back -

# route add -net default your-gateway

Syeikh Daud al-Fathoni

Koleksi Tulisan Allahyarham: WAN MOHD. SHAGHIR ABDULLAH
NAMA penuh beliau ialah al-Alim Allamah al-Arif ar-Rabbani Syeikh Wan Daud bin Syeikh Wan Abdullah bin Syeikh Wan Idris (juga dikatakan Wan Senik) al-Fatani. Ibunya bernama Wan Fathimah anak Wan Salamah bin Tok Banda Wan Su bin Tok Kaya Rakna Diraja bin Andi (Faqih) Ali Datok Maharajalela bin Mustafa Datu Jambu (Sultan Abdul Hamid Syah) bin Sultan Muzaffar Waliullah bin Sultan Abu Abdullah Umdatuddin.

Beliau yang lebih dikenali dengan panggilan Tok Syeikh Daud Patani ini mempunyai lima beradik iaitu Syeikh Wan Abdul Qadir, Syeikh Wan Abdul Rasyid, Syeikh Wan Idris dan seorang adik perempuan namanya Siti Khadijah bin Abdullah al-Fathani.

Syeikh Daud al-Fathani adalah keturunan Faqih Ali. Rujukan asal yang mengatakan Syeikh Daud bin Abdullah al-Fathani berketurunan Faqih Ali diperolehi tulisan Nik Mahmud Perdana Menteri Paduka Raja Kelantan iaitu: “Syahdan dan pada suatu masa bulan sedang mengambang di tepi langit, tersebutlah cerita anak raja Bugis lari daripada saudaranya menumpang sebuah bahtera sampai ke Johor dan tumpang duduk berkirim diri rumah Laksamana Kota Tinggi, dipanggil Andik Ali.

“Tatkala Laksamana memandang kepadanya berasalah kasihan belas dan dipeliharanya sebagai anak angkatnya sendiri. Tidak berapa tahun kemudian diperjodohkan dengan anaknya Wan Tija. Tidak berapa lama selepas itu Andik Ali serta dengan isterinya pun beredar ke Patani menumpang di rumah Mekong Damit Kampung Bira pada tahun 1049 H.
“Maka kerana lemah lembut tingkah lakunya dan berpelajaran orang di Patani memanggilnya Faqih Ali. Di situ ia beristeri kepada Ce’ Dewi anak Sri Biji Diraja. Baginda sampai di Patani kira-kira tahun 1637 M”.

Berbalik kepada Syeikh Daud al-Fathani, beliau dilahirkan di Kampung Parit Marhum, Kerisek, Patani. Kota Kerisek ini terkenal dalam sejarah kerana di sinilah Maulana Malik Ibrahim iaitu salah seorang Wali Songo pernah tinggal dan mengajar, sebelum berpindah ke Jawa Timur.
Tahun kelahirannya tidak dapat dipastikan kerana terdapat perselisihan pendapat di kalangan penyelidik mengenainya. Dalam catatan-catatan beberapa keluarga penulis yang ada hubungan dengan beliau, ada yang mencatat tahun 1133 H, 1153 H dan tahun 1183 H.

Sheikh Daud dan ilmu pengetahuan
Ayah Sheikh Daud iaitu Sheikh Wan Abdullah dan datuknya Sheikh Wan Idris adalah ulama besar untuk zamannya. Sejak kecil Sheikh Daud al-Fathani ditanam dan dididik dengan ajaran Islam oleh datuk dan ayahnya.
Tambahan pula menjadi tradisi zaman itu di Patani sentiasa diperkenalkan Islam sejak kanak-kanak lagi. Anak-anak yang berumur lima atau enam tahun dipaksa supaya menghafal pengetahuan mengenal Allah (ilmu tauhid), dan seterusnya diberi pelajaran nahwu dan sharaf juga secara menghafal.

Syeikh Daud al-Fathani telah melalui kesemua sistem pendidikan tradisional yang ada di Patani pada ketika itu.
Pada peringkat awalnya Syeikh Daud berguru dengan kaum keluarganya sendiri yang memang terkenal alim. Seorang daripada mereka ialah bapa saudaranya, Sheikh Shafiyuddin.
Ada yang berpendapat bahawa Sheikh Daud al-Fathani menerima pelajaran asasnya di Patani selama lima tahun, kemudian ke Aceh belajar dengan Sheikh Muhammad Zain bin Faqih Jalaluddin al-Asyi selama dua tahun. Sheikh Muhammad Zain al-Asyi adalah seorang ulama terkemuka di Kesultanan Aceh.

Namun yang dapat dipercayai bahawa Sheikh Daud al-Fathani dan kawan-kawannya telah belajar di Mekah selama 30 tahun dan lima tahun di Madinah. Disebabkan masa belajar yang lama itu beliau digelar al-Alim Allamah al-Arif ar-Rabbani.
Setelah demikian lama beliau menuntut ilmu pengetahuan, maka beliau pulang ke Patani untuk menyebarkan ilmu pengetahuan di negeri tumpah darah sendiri. Namun timbul krisis peperangan antara Patani dengan Siam pada ketika itu.

Diriwayatkan bahawa beliau melibatkan diri dalam peperangan itu, terjun secara langsung di gelanggang jihad fi sabilillah.
Apabila terjadi peperangan tersebut, akhirnya beliau kembali ke Mekah bersama-sama beberapa pelarian politik. Sampai di Mekah, beliau dilantik menjadi Ketua Sheikh Haji dan beliau adalah orang pertama dilantik secara langsung sebagai ketua. Beliau juga melibatkan diri dengan penulisan yang merupakan hobi beliau, di samping mengajar di Masjidil Haram. Karangannya dalam dua bahasa iaitu bahasa Melayu dan bahasa Arab.
Karangan beliau dalam bahasa Arab tidak banyak tersebar di Asia Tenggara. Adapun dengan bahasa Melayu tersebar secara meluas, walaupun di zamannya masih merupakan kitab tulisan tangan sahaja kerana belum ada yang bercetak.

Dalam beberapa karyanya, beliau mengupas masalah-masalah keilmuan. Antara lain tulisan beliau: Maka lazimkan olehmu hai saudaraku dengan menuntut ilmu yang fardu ain yang wajib atasmu. Belajar akan dia pada syarak supaya engkau dapat sahkan iktikad kamu dan ibadat kamu. Dan supaya sejahtera daripada seksanya. Dan supaya engkau akan dapat pahala, keredaan dan kasihnya”.
Pada mukadimah karyanya Bughyatuth Thullab, beliau menulis, ertinya “Dan adapun kemudian daripada itu maka bahawasanya beberapa nafas yang cerdik-cerdik yang menuntut bagi beberapa martabat yang tinggi-tinggi sentiasa perangainya itu di dalam menghasilkan beberapa ilmu syarak.

Beliau juga membuat penafsiran dalam beberapa hadis. Antaranya hadis berikut, “Sedikit Fiqhi itu lebih baik daripada banyak ibadat” yang ertinya: “Barang siapa belajar ilmu dan tiada berkehendak dengan dia akan wajah Allah s.w.t., tiada kerana-Nya melainkan supaya mengena dengan dia akan kehendaknya daripada dunia tiada akan bilik syurga yang ke atas pada hari kiamat”.
Beliau mengulas tentang hadis-hadis tersebut dalam Bughyatuth Thullab seperti berikut: “Maka dapat difahami hadis ini, tiada dipuji daripada kelebihan ilmu itu melainkan jikalau ada qasadnya dan tuntutnya itu berkehendak dengan dia akan wajah Allah s.w.t. dan berkehendak ia mengeluarkan dirinya daripada kelam kabut jahilnya kepada Nur ilmu.
“Maka jika ada qasadnya akan dunia seperti harta atau kebesaran atau gelaran atau kemegahan atau masyhur atau melengkapi muka manusia kepadanya dan lainnya maka iaitu dicela seperti barang yang tersebut pada hadis itu”.
Menurut beliau lagi: “Maka tatkala adalah kelebihan ilmu demikian itu maka sebenarnya bahawa tiap-tiap orang yang kasih bagi dirinya kebajikan maka hendaklah ia ijtihad atas qadar kuasa pada menghasilkan dia, kadang-kadang mengaji, kadang-kadang mengajar, kadang-kadang menunjukkan orang yang jahil satu bab daripada masalah memberi manfaat pada agama istimewa pula jikalau lebih lagi”.

Daripada kalimat-kalimat beliau itu dapatlah kita fahami bahawa seseorang Islam yang bertanggungjawab adalah terlebih dahulu memberikan pendidikan agama Islam kepada anak-anaknya. Ini adalah merupakan kewajipan agama Islam.
Adapun pendapat Sheikh Daud al-Fathani bahkan ulama-ulama di zaman lampau lebih terikat dan menitikberatkan pendidikan Islam berbanding pendidikan lainnya. Menurut Islam, yang utama dipelajari ialah belajar akan memberi faham dua kalimah syahadat, wajib taharah (bersuci), solat, puasa, hukum zakat, hukum berjual-beli menurut Islam dan lain-lainnya, semuanya telah diatur dalam fikah Islam.
Sheikh Daud al-Fathani dalam Bughyatuth Thullab berkata: “Selagi seseorang masih tidak mengerti akan seluk belok tentang keIslaman, maka seseorang itu tetap masih jahil, walau pengetahuan lain masih dikuasai demikian rupa”.

Kewafatan
Sheikh Daud al-Fathani wafat dan dimakamkan di Taif. Kuburnya bersampingan dengan kubur Saidina Abdullah bin Abbas iaitu sepupu Rasulullah s.a.w.. Tahun kewafatannya juga belum diketahui dengan pasti. Tetapi ada yang berpendapat beliau wafat sekitar tahun 1847 M, juga ada yang menyebut tahun 1265 H.

Menurut cerita ibu penulis Hajah Wan Zainab binti Syeikh Ahmad al-Fathani, beliau mendengar daripada ibunya, Hajah Wan Siti Saudah binti Abdullah bahawa jenazah beliau telah dipindahkan oleh Sheikh Nik Mat Kecik al-Fathani ke Mekah, ditanam di bawah pohon Bedara di rumahnya.
Hal ini disebabkan pada zaman itu pihak Wahabi akan membongkar semua kubur yang dikeramatkan termasuk kubur Sheikh Daud al-Fathani.

Bagi penulis, walaupun beliau telah lama meninggal dunia namun jenazahnya tidak hancur, darah masih berjalan kecuali nafas sahaja yang tiada.

PPSMI – Teaching of Science and Mathematics in English – The Dilemma

I support PPSMI as an option, or even PPSMI as a requirement when the school’s medium itself is English!

But to have PPSMI in national or national type schools where the medium is not English is madness. Technical subjects such as Science, Maths, Geography, History,Accounts, Economy, etc etc – must be taught in a language that students can understand them. Teaching technnicals in a language that the students themselves have problems with won’t make them understand the technical subjects much less master the language it being taught in! It might be taught in Klingon and it’ll have the same effect!

My experience – I learnt all these technical subjects at national school in bahasa and when I graduated high school, in college, everything else is in English. I had no problems learning those technicals in English because, after high-school, my English was proficient enough! Thanks to my visionary parents who assisted in my English language education!

It is my opinion that abolishing PPSMI in national and national type schools where the medium is not English is the correct move _BUT_ make it an option, if not possible, then establish English medium schools!

English as a foreign or second language cannot be stressed enough of its importance! English language proficiency and its teaching must be improved – this is what our national education policy is lacking. We are very weak in English language teaching in our national/national-type schools! Improving English must be in form of better teaching – more classes or better methods. Methinks its because we lacked the staff and methods.

Lastly, national identity is also important. One of the key ingredients is of national language. In national schools, this is not an issue. National-type schools, Chinese, Tamil, English (if and when they establish one) should teach our national language, at least to be literate enough to communicate in both written and spoken.

Where do I come from? My Mom was a Malay Language Teacher and my better half is an English Lecturer!

Loading US Keyboard Map QWERTY on Linux

Sometimes, when you’re supporting machines located on various parts of the world, you’ll encounter machines with funny keyboard arrangements.

This is normal!

Different parts of Europe and Canada uses different keyboard language layout. You’re using a machine with US Keyboard layout to access these machines and to change the layout to it, issue the following commands -

/bin/loadkeys /usr/share/kbd/keymaps/i386/qwerty/us.map.gz

Inside the same directory lists a bunch of other commonly/un-commonly used keyboard keymaps. Your mileage vary depending were you’re located from and what type of keyboard you’re using.

Enjoy!

Solaris Ping Results

Ever tried to ping a host on a Solaris machine?

$ ping pong

pong is alive

You’ll get a plain ‘is alive’ results. If you need packets received and timing information, you have to add the option -s like thus -

user@tennis:/usr/sbin > ping -s pong

PING pong: 56 data bytes
64 bytes from pong (x.x.x.x): icmp_seq=0. time=0. ms
64 bytes from pong (x.x.x.x): icmp_seq=1. time=0. ms
64 bytes from pong (x.x.x.x): icmp_seq=2. time=2. ms
64 bytes from pong (x.x.x.x): icmp_seq=3. time=0. ms
64 bytes from pong (x.x.x.x): icmp_seq=4. time=0. ms
64 bytes from pong (x.x.x.x): icmp_seq=5. time=0. ms

----pong PING Statistics----
6 packets transmitted, 6 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip (ms) min/avg/max = 0/0/2

Funny Solaris trying not to conform with the rest of the *NIX community.

Enjoy!

Customizing the Bash Prompt

If you’re on Linux, most of the time the current existing bash prompt is fine. Other types of UNIX, in my case is Solaris, is somewhat spartan in appearance. You’ll either get a boring ‘$’ or ‘#’ or simply a display of version.

The table below are the various options available -

  • \a : an ASCII bell character (07)
  • \d : the date in “Weekday Month Date” format (e.g., “Tue May 26″)
  • \D{format} : the format is passed to strftime(3) and the result is inserted into the prompt string; an empty format results in a locale-specific time representation. The braces are required
  • \e : an ASCII escape character (033)
  • \h : the hostname up to the first ‘.’
  • \H : the hostname
  • \j : the number of jobs currently managed by the shell
  • \l : the basename of the shell’s terminal device name
  • \n : newline
  • \r : carriage return
  • \s : the name of the shell, the basename of $0 (the portion following the final slash)
  • \t : the current time in 24-hour HH:MM:SS format
  • \T : the current time in 12-hour HH:MM:SS format
  • \@ : the current time in 12-hour am/pm format
  • \A : the current time in 24-hour HH:MM format
  • \u : the username of the current user
  • \v : the version of bash (e.g., 2.00)
  • \V : the release of bash, version + patch level (e.g., 2.00.0)
  • \w : the current working directory, with $HOME abbreviated with a tilde
  • \W : the basename of the current working directory, with $HOME abbreviated with a tilde
  • \! : the history number of this command
  • \# : the command number of this command
  • \$ : if the effective UID is 0, a #, otherwise a $
  • \nnn : the character corresponding to the octal number nnn
  • \\ : a backslash
  • \[ : begin a sequence of non-printing characters, which could be used to embed a terminal control sequence into the prompt
  • \] : end a sequence of non-printing characters

Personally, I just wanted to duplicate the bash prompt on Linux into Solaris. All I did was thus in the “/etc/profile” -

export PS1
PS1='[\u@\h:\w]\$ '

Remember to use single quotes ” ‘ ” rather than the double quotes. Otherwise the “\$” will not work.

Enjoy!

Howto: Disable GUI Desktop on Solaris 10

My life seems to be centered around *NIX. After many false start, I am about to embark on a serious Solaris journey.

*NIX politics aside. I’ve formed judgment already, but I reserve publishing it at the moment. For the time being, enough said – it is a pure workplace choice.

# date;uname -a;uptime
Sun Dec 19 14:27:32 MYT 2010
SunOS solaris 5.10 Generic_142910-17 i86pc i386 i86pc
2:27pm up 25 min(s), 1 user, load average: 0.01, 0.11, 1.05

By default, Oracle Solaris 10 will start with Gnome/CDE GUI interface upon start-up. To disable GUI, especially if you intend to run a headless server, do this -

# /usr/dt/bin/dtconfig -d

To enable it again, simply -

# /usr/dt/bin/dtconfig -e

Enjoy!

Apache Reverse Proxy to VirtualHost- Centos

This is a classic ones. I first encountered this, apply it and forgotten about it.

Always – always – always remember to specify into “/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf” the option below -

NameVirtualHost *:80

Then, create the individual “VirtualHost” entries either within the httpd.conf or as separate entries in “/etc/httpd/conf.d/”



ServerAdmin webmaster@dummy-host.example.com
DocumentRoot /www/docs/dummy-host.example.com
ProxyPass / http://x.x.x.x:8080
ProxyPassReverse / http://x.x.x.x:8080
ServerName dummy-host.example.com
ErrorLog logs/dummy-host.example.com-error_log
CustomLog logs/dummy-host.example.com-access_log common

Enjoy!

Malaysian Fuel Economy

Today I make a discovery with mixed feelings.

My main mode of transportation is a japanese-made K-Car, locally assembled and branded.  I love that car. It is small, zippy and cute too.  Just nice for my own personal use.

The Malaysian government introduces a new type of petrol/gasoline a few months ago – RON95 and phases out the RON92.  At the same time, the price for RON97 was raised to RM2.05 per litre and RON95 was priced at RM1.80 per litre, the old price for RON97.

Just like sheep, I too committed and tried this new type of fuel. After all, the one which we’re used to are now more expensive, litre-wise. Soon after, I noticed some significant differences when using the RON95 fuel. On one hand, I seem to be missing somewhere about 50KM total of mileage out of a full gas-tank. On the other, my trusty, zippy car now seems to lost it’s pickup and responsiveness.

In response to this new development in my car driving experience, I decided to do a little test -

On a full gas-tank of RON95, I decided to the risk of really pushing the distance. With a sharp-eye on the fuel indicator, waiting until the needle went past ‘Empty’, only then I pull into a gas station for a refill. Usually, it was 430KM, this time, I managed to squeeze 450KM!

The refill was at 35 litres! Thus if I am to refill with RON95 at RM1.80 per litre for 35 litres, with a mileage of about 12.85KM per litre, it will set me back by RM63.

This time, I tried refilling with RON97 fuel at RM2.05 per litre for 35 litres. A full tank of RON97 costs me RM71.75

Now with RON97, I really drove my car almost like a maniac!  Mind you, almost!! I am not a total maniac.  But the responsiveness returned!! I really love it!  The car was so speedy that on the way back home from work on one fine day causes a hatchback german-made luxury car said to be imported from the state of Bavaria felt it’s ego challenged.  No dispute that he’s the emperor of the roads and a K-Car is not your class of competition but some people really do wants to show-off like kids!

Enough digressing, I am sure everyone’s more interested in the mileage distance. Bear in mind, while on Ron95, I drove normally.  On RON97, let’s just say – I enjoyed driving.  This time the distance is 515KM.  I am sure I can go further.  But when I refill the gas-tank again, with RON97, it’s 35 litres!

Let’s calculate – RON97 at 35 litres at RM2.05 per litres, I achieved 515KM.  That gives me 14.71KM per litre! It sets me back by RM71.75 for the 35litres.

If I am to achieve 515KM on RON95 at 12.85KM per litre, I have to put in 40 litres of fuel  which will cost me RM72. Now the difference is so slight here!  But I believe I can achieve better results if I did not substitute a brick for my foot on the accelerator and if I drive more like sane people like everyone else. (No! I believe I am sane, everyone else are maniacs!)

Furthermore, the response that I get from my car is simply fantastic!.  The difference where it counts might be insignificant, but just count how many cars are out there in the streets! Imagine the amount of profit that they rake!  I am driving a car with a fairly efficient engine.  How about those who drove cars with really bad fuel consumption technology? Those on Carburetors instead of Fuel Injections – Uh! disclaimer, I don’t even know what those words means!

Anyhow, enjoy!!