I recently started paying more attention to the OpenGear CM4116 remote console server that was installed at my work before I arrived. Ever since I arrived, I thought of it as more of a pain than a useful tool. This was mostly because it was configured to provide only serial console access to servers and storage devices through an SSH tunnel.
Category: Sysadmin
Nanorcs: Ultrasimplistic Configuration File Revision Control
I present to you nanorcs, my ultrasimplistic configuration file revision control method. It’s nothing significant but at least it’s something to post about.
What is nanorcs? It’s a very simple bash script wrapper around the nano, the cute GNU version of pico and RCS, a basic but functional revision control software package. The script is used in place of a call to ‘nano’ when editing a file and it automates the tasks related to change management of configuration files including tasks such as check in/out, and prompting the user when a discrepancy between the current file version and the RCS version exist.
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The Sysadmin’s Toolkit
Today, I present the system administrator’s toolkit. Well, not really today because this is an old post (circa 2006) that I’ve moved over from the previous version of the site, but let’s pretend that today really is today.
This is a compilation of the junk that I have accumulated as part of my own personal toolkit. Some examples are dead serious and others are a bit of joke, I’ll leave it to the reader to discern which ones are which. Since not all sysadmins are the same and not all sysadmins perform the same job or have the same duties, I’m sure there are those out there who have a much larger or expanded toolkit than mine. I’m also sure others out there have a much shittier toolkit at their disposal. Since I feel that I’m situated somewhere in the middle of the pack, I think my toolkit can serve as a decent example to others about what should be in their toolkits or make obvious what I’m missing. I’d love to hear back from others if their toolkits include any important items that I’ve left out.After each tool or set of tools is presented, I’ll provide some reasoning behind the item and it’s purpose.
Without further ado, the toolkit: