Nefertitian's Blog

Joshua Tree National Park / Rock Climbing Trip

2011-02-24T00:09:00.001-08:00

Another long overdue post. One of my recent trips to Joshua Tree National Park in December 2010.

I did this trip on Dec 05, 2010. A three hour drive from San Diego, I arrive too late to JTNP to be able to camp, but got up early enough the next day (resting my ass off in a nice hotel close to JTNP) to join my rock climbing group to do some pretty neat climbs (mostly 5.7 crack climbs ).

Half Dome Hike - July 3, 2010

2011-02-15T23:01:00.000-08:00

Long overdue post. Almost six months have passed since I had done this hike (did it on July 3rd, 2010). Probably one of the best hikes I have done so far. Can't wait to get back and do this hike once again. Amazing scenery all along the way.

Some pics I took during my half dome hike:

Palomar Mountain Hike (May 9, 2009)

2009-05-09T20:25:00.000-07:00

I had been asking for a nice, slow paced, relaxful and shady forest hike that had some decently dense vegetation. My hiking friend Stephen picked the palomar mountain for this weekend's hike which fit my description perfectly. Most of the palomar trails are wooded flat terrains at around 5000 feet above sea level. These forest trails are an ideal hike for a summer day where there is plenty of shade and beautiful breezes.

Overall, at the Palomar mountian, we hiked up the entire loop of the palomar map, covering several trails in a single day. We started off from the park headquarters towards the chimney flats trail, and then towards the thunder springs trail until we came across the Doane pond (which apparently is popular for trout fishing). We relaxed for a bit there and then hit the doane valley nature trail, then up across till the end of the french valley trail. We then backtracked back via the baptist trail, passed through cedar grove campground and across the adams trail , boucher trail and finally reached our starting point via the silver crest trail. About 10-11 miles of nice and peaceful forest hike on mostly flat terrain littered with huge old oak trees, and plenty of burnt and fallen tree stumps (the baptist trail was a tad bit steeper).

I had plenty of good photo opportunities along the different trails but unfortunately most of the wildlife pictures I was able to capture came out pretty bad to the point that it was not worth uploading. I even ran into a group of photographers on a field trip led by a lady teacher from Palomar College. I ended up getting a free lesson from her on how to use those heavy speedlite canon flashes.

Some Wild Flowers:

I dont' remember but I think they are one of them oak tree seeds? Too bad the squirrel in that movie Ice Age didn't know about this area. I heard they are edible when cooked in a certain manner.

Skunk Cabbage, apparently named because of their smell. They smelled fine to me:

I forgot the name of this plant but the fine threads on the stem give you a nasty itch:

The grey goose squirrel, maybe:

Apparently, this is where the water comes out of the mountain, Stephen says:

One of them very old type of can openers. Stephen mentioned that thing must have been lying there for decades:

Palomar is so named after these type of pigeons, the brochure said so:

Another new trick I learnt from Stephen. If you are hungry, its safe to eat these things. Tasted like almonds to me, and walnuts to stephen who apparently ate several.

The photography teacher I met on the trail, with the strangest looking camera I had ever seen in the recent times.

Doane Pond, famous for trout fishing:

Wild Flowers:

Deer!

Plenty of fallen tree trunks, branches and burnt vegetation along the trails:

The woodpecker has been real busy on this one:

Wild Flower:

Who want's to go back to civilization? ME...somebody's gotta pay the bills.

The El Capitan Hike - The hike of all san diego hikes

2009-04-27T22:35:00.000-07:00

Brutal. And brutal all the way up. And brutal all the way down.

First Thoughts: Of all my past hikes, the easiest part of hiking was the one where you reach the top and then you back down to the starting point where its all supposed to be downhill and easy. Not quite so for the El Capitan trail. The 12 mile trail (with a sheer 4000 feet of elevation gain in just six miles) snakes it way across several smaller hills with really steep ups and downs before you get to the topmost part of the mountain and then back. As such, it gets pretty difficult on either directions. The trail is considered extremely strenuous even for intermediate-to-advanced hikers and you have to be not just in better physical condition but also well equipped with plenty of water, a hat and a snack to help you through.

My Gear: Having learned my lesson well from the last San Bernardo hike (where I attempted that six mile hike over an elevation of 1000 feet with just a 20 oz bottle of water and temperatures hovering at high nineties), I geared up fairly well for the El Capitan. A generously packed day pack (Futura Pro 42) with a snack, 100Oz water pouch (CamelBak 3L Unbottle), a few extra bottles of water just in case, a nice big hat and plenty of sunscreen.

Mistakes Learned: I still made a couple of mistakes by ignoring two more critical items (good hiking shoes, and walking sticks). Your hike shoes need to have a really good grip (and mine were basic nike running shoes) and those walking sticks can be a life saver. Because of those steep up and down climbs, those walking poles can you give you good support. It is very easy to slip and if you do, the trail is pretty rocky and one side of the trial often tapers in a dangerously sheer vertical drop. But I nevertheless did the trail without them and survived. A bad choice and I got lucky.

Solo all the way to the top and back: I decided to go solo on this hike since my hiking group consisted of pretty advanced hikers and I knew there was no way I can catch up to their speed. I also wanted to do it at my own slow pace (since I was a beginner hiker), and enjoy the scenery around and spare some time for photography.

The El-Capitan himself!!!

No wonder its called the old jeep's trail

Wild Flower

Somewhere close to the top

Burnt Trees - Remands of California Wild Fires

Wild Plants

Wild Flower

Trail Pointer

Wild Plant

Sailing on The JADA, the all-wooden sailing boat from 1930s era

2009-04-24T21:05:00.000-07:00

It's actually been more than a week since the trip and I can't seem to remember much except that it was fun (like everything else). The JADA is an all-wooden sailing boat built in early 1930s. It was my first trip abroad a sail boat so I was able to see in person how the sails were hosted and the boat navigated via the sails. Really interesting. Brad, I think was the shippie onboard, and I also met a professional photographer who gave some splendid tips on photography.

Some of the pictures that I took while I was abroad the JADA:

Enjoying the sun:

Pirates Ahoy!!!

Sheesh..musta got on the wrong boat..THAT's the boat shud hav bin on:

Hmm...

Hmm....

Hmm...what do you think this is? titanic?

Hoisting the sails:

Ship engine/navigation control:

Cabin:

And I thought I had parking problems:

San Bernardo Mountain Hike (19th April, 2009)

2009-04-19T19:54:00.000-07:00

Whew! While there was not much of scenery involved on the hike, this was to be my first seven mile hike over an elevation of about 1000 feet, and at day temperatures hovering at high nineties. The trail was a mix of flat dirt trails and some steep rocky climbs and way too demanding for a beginner hiker like me. But Stephen from my hiking group who turned out to be professional hiker gave me plenty of useful tips that I definitely intend to follow for my next hike.

I wish I could have taken more pictures along the trail but I was so dead exhausted and at one point, almost decided to turn back with the rest half of the group who couldn't take the high temperatures any longer. But Stephen, Jen and Martin stuck on to continue up the trail, and I am glad I decided to tag along. Nothing is more thrilling than the experience of reaching at the top. One more mountain conquered. Veni, Vedi, and Vici, my roman and non-roman brethren.

And yup, this time I learned my lesson. Plenty of sunscreen lotion, lots of water and some snack bars can really make a huge difference.

Martin, Jen and Stephen at the top of the bernardo mountain:

View from top:

Trail Path:

Poison Oak!

Cowles Mountain Hike (17th April, 2009)

2009-04-18T18:36:00.000-07:00

My second hike trip came within a week of my first one. This time I picked up Cowles mountain. At an elevation of around 1600 feet, at the top of the mountain you get to see a panoramic view of the entire city of san diego. It's also supposed to be the highest hiking spot within the city. The trail covers a distance of about 1.5 miles snaking its way across to the top of the mountain. The altitude change is somewhere within 1000 feet.

I started off my hike at around 6.30. I was about 20 minutes late so I missed my hiking group who were already half way up the mountain. Since the trail wasn't too difficult and plenty of people around to help if I happen slip and broke my leg or something , so I decided to go ahead, solo. But starting at 6.30 was a bad idea as I tripped over a few rocks and sprained my ankle since it became pretty dark on the way back. Definitely would advice anybody to avoid night trails unless you are really familiar with the trail itself.

Cowles Mountain is also an excellent place if you are into stamina training. It would be one of my main reasons to be go back there on a regular schedule.

Some more pictures of this place below:

Torrey Pines Glider Port Hiking Trip

2009-04-08T19:46:00.000-07:00

Hardly 3 days after moving from East Coast (New Jersey) to West Coast (San Diego), I decided to check out some of the more notable hiking spots closest to my new home. And I picked Torrey Pines Glider Port Park for my first hike in San Diego. And ohboy! I certainly wasn't disappointed.

The drive to the hiking spot itself was something to appreciate about, as I cruised along the Torrey Pines Scenic Drive Road. At the end of the road you arrive at the Torrey Pines Glider Port park which seemed to be a pretty popular area for handgliders, paragliders, beachgoers, surfers, and hikers alike. If you happen to be into paragliding, definitely check out this website (http://www.flytorrey.com). I found plenty of parking space at the gliderport despite a large crowd. However the road inside the park is unpaved and very dusty and its just too bad if you washed your car recently because it most likely is going to end up with a nice coat of fine dust when you leave.

The hiking trail, leading from the top of the cliffs at the north end of the gliderport down to the bottom of the cliff leading to the beach (Black's beach) is over 350 ft high (according to Brett). And the views, like Brett promised, was simply breathtaking. While it does not take much time to walk down the trail and back up, but do it a few times in a row and you'll know how challenging it becomes. There is a also a side trail that splits somewhere in the middle (I believe its called the goat's trail or something) that is way more challenging (I was literally walking on fours on my third trip up but via the goats trail).

Some pictures of the trail below:

Picture from top

A broad view

Sideview from top

Steep and rickety rickety

Paragliders at dusk, on top of the cliffs

A fatwa against all fatwas

2008-09-16T12:27:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago I was reading an article about Salim Khan's family being issued a fatwa for celebrating the Ganesh Utsav. The incident struck me as hilarious - for it seemed like a bunch of unknown nincompoops issuing a fatwa against another bunch of not so unknown nincompoops. Also apparently, according to the article, this isn't the first time a fatwa was issued against the Salim family. My humour eventually turned to curiosity and I decided to research a bit further on the whole episode. And if you happen to get curious as well, check out the below link which features a YouTube video capturing the whole incident.

youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKSzB3VcwQ

But first, my disclaimer given the (potential) sensitivity of the whole issue - I am a muslim myself and the views I state are my own. And I am not so crazy about celebrity craze either. Where I mention the term 'society', I actually refer to humanity in general, a group that comprises of each and every individual regardless of their religious preferences (as opposed to a religious society which constitutes a bunch of people following a particular religion). The fatwa in question was issued by a member of a religious organization by the name of All India Muslim Personal Board (AIMPB).

About AIMPB: If wikipedia sources are to be believed, the AIMPB was originally constituted by a group of three people (MJ Akbar, Syed Shahabuddin and Obaidullah Khan Azmi) as a direct outcome of the supreme court ruling on the Shah Bano case of 1978. AIMPB is non governmental, has no legal binding but offers advice to the government to support the application and promulgation of sharia law (muslim personal law) within the muslim minority. For lack of time, I am not going to spend any more time researching on the contributions of these three people to the religious community.

This is a perfect example why I dislike the idea of institutionalization of religion in general. Agreed, such institutionalization has its benefits. If you look back in history, it certainly played an important role in retaining the origins of the religion itself. Besides promoting faith, it also seeks to foster a harmonious community spirit among its members. But then it is also undeniably true that some of these so called representatives of a religion (aka the institutional powers that be) abuse their privileges and instill a sense of disharmony into the very heart of the society they live in. Mind you, I speak not of a particular religion but any religion in general (and I can give you plenty of examples of different religions from our modern civilization who are guilty of this craziness).

The society that we live in has its more than enough share of religions and it becomes very important that religious tolerances exist among those who seek to coexist within a society. The Salim family is a perfect example of such co-existence. Salim is a muslim and his wife a hindu. I fail to see the rationality of a religious body issuing some so called 'fatwa' against Salim khan merely because Salim khan loves his family and happens to be tolerant of his wife's faith. If the members of the religious body that issued this fatwa have a problem with this, IMHO they themselves are violating the basic rules of living in our society and hence should leave our society and go find some remote uninhabited spot of savage land, far away from this society and perhaps enforce their pompous rules onto one another until they become totally extinct. Salman khan is a lunatic by all means but I fully support him and his dad in this case. I could have probably understood the reasons if Salim said something to promote disharmony within the religion or enforce his views onto others but I fail to see a shred of evidence that this is the case. Instead this just reeks of cheap publicity gimmicks of some institutionsstruggling to announce their presence. Just like in the case of the Sania fatwa.

Or perhaps this is just a symptom of something very awfully anemic within our society. If a political scum like Narendra Modi can get away with his co-ordinated murder and rape of thousands of innocent people during the recent Gujarat riots, and still manage to get voted back into power by the very people who come from the same society as us, then perhaps there is no such thing as basic rules of living in a society. Salman Khan was right, fatwas are becoming a joke. In fact, I will take it one step further and say societal rules are becoming a joke too.

The politics of fear, hypocrisy and plain madness about South Ossetia

2008-08-20T09:23:00.000-07:00

Back in the days when I was deciding on which career I ought to take, I received a humorous advice from one of my close friends. Putting it in his own words, I quote: 'Just remember, if you really suck at everything - there is always politics that you can consider for a career'. Apparently, politics has a bit of everything - oodles of human stupidity, a humongous capacity for hypocrisy, an insatiable lust for greed and power, and a lot more than I can care to mention.

Take the recent media attention on the Russia-Georgia conflict over South Ossetia. While I am no expert on South Ossetian history (refer to links at the end of page for more information about this place), it is a no brainer that the region of South Ossetia has been a highly vulnerable hotspot for a very long time. And the demographics of this region are particularly interesting - 70% of the population is Ossetian (most of who hold Russian citizenship) and the remaining 30% are Georgian.

While I cannot attest to the accuracy of the above demographic figures but if the Wikipedia figures are even remotely close, then Georgia's incredibly naive military incursion into South Ossetia cannot be described as anything but stupid. If President Saakhasvili of Georgia thought that Russia would just sit back and enjoy the show, the guy is even more dumber than President Bush.

Infact, Georgia's aggressive military move seems purely based on political greed - especially if you realize that President Saakhasvili used the promise of regaining control of South Ossetia as one of his electoral promises to the Georgian public during his presidential election campaign. This is nothing but political pandering at the lowest level at best, playing and preying on people's emotions to his political advantage. I do not blame President Saakhasvili for promising to seek control of South Ossetia but I do definitely blame the moron for not having a no-nonsense action plan to achieve his promise. Can he not learn a lesson from the past activities of the Bush administration that purely military moves rarely achieve their original objectives?

Stability can only be achieved through peaceful means between the parties directly involved in the current conflict in South Ossetia. International mediation, if present, and where present, should be clearly unbiased or else the outcome of any agreement that could be achieved as a result would merely be namesake and temporary. President Saakhasvili of Georga, emboldened by the Bush administration's vocal support and military incentives, has learnt a brutal lesson at the cost of hundreds of innocent civilian lives.

But this hardly surprises me. Those who don't learn from history are destined to repeat it. If it is South Ossetia today, I am sure there is going to be another sooner or later. I'd hedge my bets on the French-Belgian episode.

Wikipedia Link on South Ossetia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_ossetia

the gizmos grabowski solution to stuck print jobs

2007-12-26T20:33:00.000-08:00

http://worldcadaccess.typepad.com/gizmos/2006/09/tip_plugged_up_.html

works like a charm if you have a lot of print jobs and need to delete them quickly. be sure to use a command terminal when deleting or windows explorer will take forever to delete them.

Debugging tcp connection problems

2007-12-19T08:52:00.000-08:00

Super cool article on debugging tcp problems on unix boxen.

http://prefetch.net/blog/index.php/2006/04/17/debugging-tcp-connections-with-tcptrace/

subversion install / requirements

2007-12-12T14:00:00.001-08:00

1. The apache portable runtime libraries (apr and apr-util)
http://apr.apache.org/download.cgi

Installs by default to usr/local/apr

2. Download expat
http://sourceforge.net/projects/expat/

3. Download subversion from http://subversion.tigris.org

Use the following command, assuming above default installs in step 1 and 2:
./configure --with-apr=/usr/local/apr --with-apr-util=/usr/local/apr
make
make install

openbsd / too many open files /erro no 24

2007-12-11T13:07:00.000-08:00

OpenBSD has a default open file descriptor limit of 64. As such, many of my web apps had been quitting on the "too many open files" error (error 24). To fix this, use the following steps:

1. Edit /etc/login.conf and make sure the openfile limit is set to a larger number than it currently is.

2. Use ulimit -n to set the maximum number of open files. To see current limit, use "ulimit -a".

Creating ethernet aliases in Suse 9/10

2007-07-26T13:23:00.001-07:00

This link says it all.

http://blog.tiensivu.com/aaron/archives/397-The-correct-way-to-add-IP-aliases-multiple-IPs-on-one-device-in-SuSe-Linux-10-and-below.html

Hardware Information from your linux box

2007-07-06T11:24:00.001-07:00

use these commands:

# sysctl hw
# sysctl kern
# dmesg

Setting Date and Time Information on Linux

2007-07-03T11:23:00.000-07:00

Kewl link

http://www.linuxsa.org.au/tips/time.html

Changing object/folder permissions on the fly, using runas

2007-07-03T08:56:00.000-07:00

Here is a tip to get access to that folder without have to log off and log back in as somebody with admin privs.

Use runas to get to the command prompt:
runas /user:Administrator "cmd.exe"

In the privileged command prompt, use the below command for folder "xyz", granting user "thisuser" full access:
cacls xyz /E /G thisuser:F

For more info, read the man page for cacls.

Adding some content to the freshly created php page in KnowledgeTree DMS (KTDMS Series 2)

2007-05-08T11:47:00.000-07:00

Carrying forward from the same example as described in series 1, you would obviously want to define and output some data out of the php page you created. In this series we will use the dispatcher and templating classes provided by Knowledgetree to output some simple data out of this page.

Pages in knowledge tree are created by extending the KTStandardDispatcher class. For every custom class you create, it should have at least one method "do_main" which is the first of your methods that gets called automatically when a web user tries to access this page. Additional methods can be defined in the format "do_" that can be called conditionally based on the http request variable "action" (HTTP POST/GET vars). For example, you can define a method "do_createnewrecord" and call the php page with a http request variable "action" of value "createnewrecord", and the page will then automatically look for and execute the "do_createnewrecord" method defined in the page class.

Assuming you are already well familiar with the plugins/pages/actions... concepts in ktdms, the following example creates a page plugin class called "MyTrainingRecords", by extending the KTStandardDispatcher class. KTDMS uses the smarty templating system, so I created a test template file called test.smarty that simply outputs a Hello World message. The do_main method calls some of the default variables defined in the KTStandardDispatcher class to instantiate the template and render its output.

//all required includes defined in series 1, plus
require_once KT_LIB_DIR . '/dispatcher.inc.php';

class MyTrainingRecords extends KTStandardDispatcher {
function MyTrainingRecords()
{
//lets add a breadcrumb detail for this page ;optional
$this->aBreadCrumbs = array(
array('action'=>'mytrainingrecords', 'name'=>_kt("My Traininig Records")),
);
return parent::KTStandardDispatcher();
}

function do_main()
{
$oTemplate =& $this->oValidator->validateTemplate('ktabr/test');
$this->oPage->setTitle('My Training Records Page');
return $oTemplate->render();
}
}

$oDispatcher = new MyTrainingRecords();
$oDispatcher->dispatch();

For a plugin page to be meaningful, its class has to be instantiated and dispatched by the dispatcher (by explicitly calling the dispatch method), which is what the last few lines of the above code do.

The below screenshot shows the output of the newly created php page, along with the breadcrumb detail as defined.

Creating and linking a fresh php page in KnowledgeTree DMS (KTDMS Series 1)

2007-05-04T15:29:00.000-07:00

Creating a new php page and linking it on the main page (alongside the dashboard, browse and dms administration hyperlinks) involves several steps described below:

- Create a fresh new php page and make sure you include the following essential includes:

require_once 'config/dmsDefaults.php';
require_once KT_LIB_DIR . '/templating/templating.inc.php';
require_once KT_LIB_DIR . '/templating/kt3template.inc.php';
require_once KT_LIB_DIR . '/dispatcher.inc.php';
require_once KT_LIB_DIR . '/util/ktutil.php';

Let's say the new php page you created is "mytrainingrecords.php" and you want to link the action "mytrainingrecords" to this page. Go into the kt3template.inc.php file and scroll across until you come across the "initMenu" function. Populate the $this->menu array to include the following array item:
"mytrainingrecords" => $this->_actionHelper(array("name"=>_kt("My Training Records"), "action"=>"mytrainingrecords", "active"=>0))

That adds up the additional link on the main horizontal menubar alongside the dashboard and browse links. When somebody clicks on this link, the KTDMS will use the controller page (control.php) to figure out what page to call and it does that by following the mapping defined in the siteMap.php (located in the config directory). Open up the siteMap.php page and add the following php line anywhere:

$default->siteMap->addPage("mytrainingrecords", "/mytrainingrecords.php", "My Training Records", Guest, "mytrainingrecords");

That is pretty much it.

PHP Pear / Date Functions / Time Zone Conversions

2007-01-15T16:01:00.000-08:00

Pretty good tutorial on using the Date class of the PEAR library to do various date manipulations:

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-3513_11-6122735.html

Automated database backups via cron

2006-12-27T13:33:00.000-08:00

Here is a quick and dirty script to do automated backups of a mysql database. If you want the script to be executed hourly (as is in my case), place it in your /etc/cron.hourly directory. In my case, I dump the backups onto /local/backups directory which happens to be mirrored via raid1.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#!/bin/sh

x=`date +%d-%H`
abrcimsfile1="v2edclite${x}"
abrcimsfile2="abrcimsv1${x}"

mysqldump -u root -p v2edclite_v1 > /local/backups/$abrcimsfile1
mysqldump -u root -p abrcims_v1 > /local/backups/$abrcimsfile2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Packages required for PAM support with php and cryptocard

2006-12-26T21:14:00.000-08:00

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
missing package 1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For the cryptocard server 6.4 (build 39) and php4, I got some missing errors about libstdc++.so.6 . I checked out /usr/lib/ but the latest version I found was libstdc++.so.5.

Checked out that I needed the following package for Suse Enterprise 9 that I was running: compat-libstdc++-lsb

Easiest way is to do the online update with yast and select the "lsb" update.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
missing package 2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ofcourse the pamauth package that takes care of the magic between php and pam authentication. Dont remember the dowload link but I'll post it back when I come across it again.

missing pam_start function errors

2006-12-26T21:05:00.001-08:00

make sure you have the pam_devel package installed

phpize errors

2006-12-26T20:56:00.000-08:00

Be sure to check your installation of the following packages and if any of them are missing, install it.

1. php-devel
2. automake and autoconf (if you dont have this and get the aclocal error message, its probably because of these missing packages).

pear upgrade pear issues

2006-12-26T17:50:00.000-08:00

Have an old version of pear that just keeps tellin you that you need a more recent version of pear to upgrade pear (pear install PEAR)?

Try this:

1. Run the below command and save the output as "go-pear.php". By default it saves as "index.html" I think. You can rename it to "go-pear.php" after it gets downloaded.

$wget http://go-pear.php

2. Run this to upgrade to the latest version of pear

$php go-pear.php

3. Done.

'connection to 0:0 refused by server' errors

2006-12-19T04:19:00.000-08:00

Try this. Most likely you've logged in as 'abcd' and then su'ed as a different user.

Run the command 'xhost +' in a terminal as the original logged in user. then su' back to whatever user you wanted to su to..Hopefully, it should work. If not, google :) as I just did.

Installing CRYPTOCard Server on Suse Linux 10.1

2006-12-13T00:06:00.000-08:00

I had a bit of an issue when I tried to install the cryptocard server on a recently upgrade Suse Linux 10.1 server. I kept getting the below darn error messages every time I ran the installer:

error while loading shared libraries: libc.so.6: cannot open shared object file:
No such file or directory

This was a bit irrating because my libc.so.6 was right under the "/lib" path. I tried opening up /etc/ld.so.cof and added the "/lib" path to it and run ldconfig -v to update the cache. No luck. Upon googling, I came across a page that provided a suggestion about LD_ASSUME_KERNEL and it worked after I followed through it.

$perl -pi -e 's/export LD_ASSUME_KERNEL/#xport LD_ASSUME_KERNEL/' cryptcoserver_6_4_for_linux.bin

Here was the link that I got the perl command idea from:
http://www.mail-archive.com/jxplorer-users@lists.sourceforge.net/msg00132.html

Good luck,
Nefertitian.

Installing Suse Linux Enterprise 10 (SLES 10) with PERC 2/SC controller

2006-11-20T13:26:00.000-08:00

I had a bit of an issue with the PERC 2/SC scsi controller on my dell power edge 2300/450 (Dell 440GX) where, during the installation of SLES 10, the installer refused to recognize my scsi controller and gave an (no hard disk found or something like that).

A bit of googling bought me to a place where a guy mentioned that you could change the emulation (under Objects, Host Adapter in the PERC configuration menu) from I20 to MASS HARDWARE. That I did and on rebooting, my system just froze and wont even proceed with the install. I then flashed the firmware for PERC 2/SC from 3.13 to the older 3.0 . Then proceeded with reboot and everything worked like a charm!

Unix/Linux Backup Strategies (Some useful links)

2006-03-08T09:49:00.000-08:00

g4u - Harddisk Image cloning for PCs. Amazing little software and highly user friendly and very simplistic to use.
http://www.feyrer.de/g4u/

Dirvish, a very fast, disk based, rotating network backup system
http://www.dirvish.org/

Easy Automated Snapshot-Style Backups with Linux and Rsync
http://www.mikerubel.org/computers/rsync_snapshots/

Keith Lofstrom's disk-to-disk backup page (based on dirvish)
http://www.keithl.com/linuxbackup.html

Using Rsync and SSH (This document covers cron, ssh and rsync usage to backup files over a local network or the internet. By using
http://www.jdmz.net/ssh/

Cheap and reliable RAID 5 Network Attached Storage:
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Installing Zope on SLES 9

2006-02-19T15:27:00.000-08:00

My attempt to install Zope and Python on Suse Linux Enterprise 9 met with several errors including conflicting versions of python (SLES did not support readline 5.* and Zope 2.9 demanded readline 4.*, irritating SAXReaderNotAvailable errors when forcefully installing rpm binaries meant for suse linux 10, etc.). I finally decided to install zope and python from scratch, from their latest source distributions. Upgrading existing version of python was not a feasible option for me on SLES 9, so I had to do a custom installation of pyton that will preexist with the existing version of python supported by novell's SLES 9. Below are the steps that I undertook:

Custom Source Installation of Python 2.4.2

- Downloaded the latest version of python which happened to be Python 2.4.2 at the time of this installation.

http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.4.2/Python-2.4.2.tgz

- Unzipped the source distribution to /home/software/Python-2.4.2 and executed the below steps to install python.

./configure --prefix=/opt/custom/python
make
make install exec_prefix=/opt/custom

All done there and thankfully no errors, and then I moved on to installing zope.

Source Installation of Zope

- Downloaded the latest version of Zope which was 2.9.0 at the time of this installation.

http://www.zope.org/Products/Zope/2.9.0/Zope-2.9.0.tgz

- Unzipped them to /home/software and executed the below steps. Since I had two versions of python, one that is supported by SLES 9 (2.3.*) and the other being my above custom installation version (2.4.2), I had to specifically tell zope which one to use.

./configure --prefix=/opt/zope --with-python=/opt/custom/bin/python
make
make install

- Next came the process of creating a default zope instance and to set its default directory to '/opt/zope/default'.

/opt/zope/bin/mkzopeinstance.py

- Next, I tried to start the default zope instance by typing '/opt/zope/default/bin/zopectl start'. Zope failed to start, and gave me some error about 'daemon manager running; daemon process not running' or something like that. After trying to run zope again as a foreground process (fg option), it mentioned about needing to specify the default user the zope process should run as.

Opened up the zope.conf file in /opt/zope/default/etc/zope.conf and set the 'effective-user' directive to a local username 'nefertitian'. I tried 'root' but it gave me some other funny error that I dont remember about. Since the zope process would run as user 'nefertitian', I needed to give 'nefertitian' user read/write permissions to the var and log directories and making sure the stick bet is set (as mentioned in the documentation):

chown nefertitian:root /opt/zope/default/var
chown nefertitian:root /opt/zope/default/log
chmod o+t var

Tried to run zope again, and this time it worked like a charm!