Anyway, as cool as Oracle Enterprise (Unbreakable?!) Linux may be, I’m running CentOS and am perfectly happy with it. Oracle VM wants a dedicated machine for the management station, which I can arrange for with a little tweaking. However, I build most of my machines up from ‘minimal’ installs. I read in the Oracle documentation that I would need libaio installed to make things go, which I did without any trouble.

However, I also needed to install the ‘bc’ package in order for the install script to work. I had to install the oracle XE .rpm by hand in order to figure this out. Note to Oracle. Get with the program and put a dependency on the ‘bc’ package! You’ll also need to install vixie-cron if you built up from minimum, as Oracle VM expects to be able to install a cron.d script.

In addition, it wasn’t entirely obvious from the documentation that’ll need a jdk installed. Well, you will. I’m using jdk-6u2-linux-i586.rpm, you can likely download it from java.sun.com.

Next, while the installer does tell you that the oc4jadmin default password is ‘oracle’, when I was asked for it I kept trying to use the passwords I’d already provided for all the other services. This didn’t work well, so bear in mind you’ll need to supply the ‘oracle’ default password at that state.

So, to recap:

yum install libaio vixie-cron bc
rpm -Uvh jdk-6u2-linux-i586.rpm
sh ./runInstaller.sh


Follow the prompts, remembering to supply ‘oracle’ as the oc4jadmin password.

Maybe this will save somebody the couple hours of messing around I wasted trying to get this to run! It does appear as if the install has completed, and I’m able to see the console, so look forward to an actual report soon.

If you’ve ever tried to install them, or even worse, remove the heatsink after a not-perfect installation, you’ll know why I need replacements. They break easily! Well, after spending a few hours looking at complete new replacement heatsink units and noting that half of them use these pins in the first place, I renewed my search and finally found a forum post link directly to the intel site where they sell them in packs of 4!

Voila, Kit Fasteners for LGA775 fan heatsinks (set of 4)

Now, if only their store would work … grrrrrr.

Based on http://blog.scottlowe.org/2007/01/15/linux-ad-integration-version-4/

First, install windows 2003 R2 and install the identity management for unix option. Open control panel, select add remove programs, click add/remove windows components. It will grind a while and give you a list of possible services. You’ll need to expand ‘Active Directory Services’ and check the ‘Identify Management for Unix’ service. You will need to be in the schema admins group to do this.

In order to test, you’ll want go to the ‘Unix Attributes’ tab on a user and activate them as a unix user. You’ll need to pick a NIS domain (you’ll probably only have one if you haven’t done this before) and add a unix ID and home directory. Typically the default values will be fine to get you started.

Now, log into your unix machine. Make sure it can resolve the dns name of your active directory server(s).

Run authconfig.

Check [] Use LDAP
Check [] Use LDAP Authentication
Check [] Use Kerberos
Check [] Local authorization is sufficient

You can check [] Cache Information if you want. I wouldn’t until you know things work, as nscd can get out of sync with server and cause confusion.

Select [ Next ]

Enter your AD server dns name in the server. For example, adserver.corp.example.com
Enter your AD base DN in the Base DN field. For example, dc=corp,dc=example,dc=com

Select [ Next ]

Enter your local dns name, in ALL CAPS in the realm field. For example, corp.example.com.
Enter your server name:88 in the KDC field. For example adserver.corp.example.com:88
Enter your server name:749 in the admin server field. For example adserver.corp.example.com:749
Check [] Use DNS to resolve hosts to realms
Check [] Use DNS to locate KDCs for realms

Select [ Finish ]

Now a lot of things are set up, but of course we’re not quite done. We’ll need to add lines to /etc/ldap.conf in order to allow us to query ldap. Ideally, you’ll have created an account specifically for this purpose (Domain Users group seems to work). I use linux_auth but it truly doesn’t matter.

echo “binddn linux_auth@corp.example.com” >> /etc/ldap.conf
echo “bindpw secret” >> /etc/ldap.conf

you will also need to uncomment or add the RFC2307 AD mappings from the /etc/ldap.conf file. You can also just run this:

cat >> /etc/ldap.conf < <-ENDDOC
# RFC 2307 (AD) mappings
nss_map_objectclass posixAccount user
nss_map_objectclass shadowAccount user
nss_map_attribute uid sAMAccountName
nss_map_attribute homeDirectory unixHomeDirectory
nss_map_attribute shadowLastChange pwdLastSet
nss_map_objectclass posixGroup group
nss_map_attribute uniqueMember member
pam_login_attribute sAMAccountName
pam_filter objectclass=User
pam_password ad
ENDDOC

Test your config exactly like Scott’s directions say. Using your regular user account for the test should be fine. If you get the error kinit(5): KDC reply did not match expectations while getting initial credentials, it’s because you didn’t log in using the kerberos realm, which is in ALL CAPS! Scott’s directions aren’t real explicit about this and I spent a while figuring it out. Maybe you won’t have to.

kinit user@CORP.EXAMPLE.COM

It will ask for your password and should just return blank if it was successful. You can then use klist to check and see if you got a TGT.

getent passwd user

You’ll see something like this:

user:x:10000:10000:User:/home/user:/bin/sh

Now we’re almost done. We just need to use samba to join the computer to the domain. you’ll need the following in your smb.conf

  workgroup = CORP
  security = ads
  realm = corp.example.com
  use kerberos keytab = true
  password server = adserver.corp.example.com

Then you need to destroy any old kerberos tickets

kdestroy

Then authorize kerberos with a domain admin account to join active directory

kinit Administrator@CORP.EXAMPLE.COM

Then finally join the domain

net ads join

That will grind for a little while and you’ll be all set. You should get something like this:

[root@vpc-dev0 ~]# net ads join
Using short domain name — CORP
Joined ‘VPC-DEV0′ to realm ‘CORP.EXAMPLE.COM’

Finally, you’ll need to get everybody home directories. I always use autofs, something like this:

echo /home /etc/auto.home >> /etc/auto.master
echo *       -rw,bg,intr,hard,rsize=32768,wsize=32768,tcp,vers=3       nfsserver:/vol/work/users_unix/& >> /etc/auto.home
chkconfig autofs on
service autofs start

So now the final test… try to log in with ssh!

Get putty from http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html. I use the installer.

Get puttycyg from http://web.gccaz.edu/~medgar/puttycyg/. Unpack the .exe files over your putty folder. This will be c:\program files (x86)\Putty if you use the installer on x64 windows. You’ll want to replace the originals.

Drag pageant.exe into your startup folder.

Download bitstream vera from http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/ttf-bitstream-vera/1.10/

Unpack the zipfile somewhere. Select all the .ttf files, right click, select install.

Start putty (you did make a quicklaunch icon, right?)

* Under keyboard, select ‘Linux’ under ‘The function keys and keypad’
* Under window, set lines of scrollback to something nice, like 10000
* Under appearance, change the font to BitSteam Sans Vera Mono, any size you like. I use 9.
* Under behavior, check ‘full screen on alt-enter’
* Under translaction set character set to UTF-8
* Under colors, adjust ANSI Blue to something like 100,100,255 (it’s too dark to read by default
* Under connection, set seconds between keepalives to 600
* Under connection-data, set terminal-type string to ‘linux’
* Under SSH-Auth, check ‘Allow Agent Forwarding’

Finally… go back to session, click ‘Default Settings’, and ‘Save’.

The issues apparently come and go with varying kernel versions, although I’m sure many folks don’t notice them since they don’t put the machine under heavy load or try to use both ethernet ports. For instance, the 3com and nvidia ethernet controllers absolutely will not stay bound to the same ethX devices after a warm reboot. Disabling one or the other ethernet card in the BIOS eliminates this problem fairly effectively.

Secondly, the machine crashes consistently under heavy I/O load. Sometimes it takes an hour, other times copying a video file from one drive to another will crash it immediately.

I’ve got it running with only a few crashes per week under FC5 by using the following kernel line

kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-1.2257.fc5 ro root=/dev/hda2 rhgb acpi=off noapic nolapic.

I’ve not yet tried an FC6 era kernel, but at this point since the general consensus is that the board runs windows reliably, I think I’m going to try and do some shuffling in order to make using windows on it a possibility.

References:

• http://web.archive.org/web/20040117183728/http://attila.stevens-tech.edu/~dkopko/a7n8x.txt
• http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=6946
• http://lkml.org/lkml/2003/11/11/217

A coworker of mine with the same machine had the exact same problem with Vista. After reinstalling back down to windows XP, he’s getting intermittent screen freezes throughout the day. I seem to only get them when I try to activate the intellimouse ‘zoom’ feature it so helpfully bound to my mouse button directly under my pinkie. Trying to start directX games will keel the machine over immediately as well.

Lending credence to the problem being in the chipset itself, last time I tried to run a linux desktop with FC5 or CentOS 4 I was basically unable to use it effectively due to screen lockups. At the time I was inclined to blame the x.org drivers for my video card. In any case, hopefully this saves some poor soul an hour or two of troubleshooting an intermittent display lockup problem.

Phone Number: #777
Username: nxxnxxxxx@alltel.com
Password: alltel

where nxxnxxxxxx is your Alltel mobile number.

Also, for ease of reference, heres the skinny on Alltel data plans,
from the [Howardforums Alltel Data Thread](http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1026028)

SPEEDS
1XRTT: Gives you about 100k down speed and is supported by all phones and running in most areas

EV-DO: Gives you about 500k down speed and is currently supported by only some models, this speed is only available in some places but is rapidly expanding and is indicated by a EV icon next to the signal strength on your handset
QNC: Gives you about 10k down speed and is supported by all phones but this is being discontinued in some areas

PLANS
FST1: This allows unlimited 1xrtt and evdo data usage for anything you want and minutes are used just as they are in a phone call (so that means ulimited on nights and weekends!). You must have this on your plan/account for 1xrtt or evdo to work at all, it comes on most but if you do not have this it can be added for free with a call to *611

Axcess My Mins: This gives you unlimited 1xrtt and evdo when it is used for on-phone axcess services (sorry, no dialup allowed on this plan) and it does not use your minutes and is for normal handsets only. Cost: $10/month per line

Axcess Data Connection: This gives you unlimited 1xrtt and evdo for anything you want without using your mnutes and is only for normal handsets. Cost: $25/month per line

Smartphone: This gives unlimited 1xrtt and evdo to smartphones only for anything you want without using your minutes. Cost: $30/month per line

Axcess National Unlimited: This gives you unlimited 1xrtt and evdo for your PC card. Cost: $80/month per line, $60/month per line if you already have a current voice plan

NO DATA IS CHARGED PER KILOBYTE!

I’ve had FST1 on my phone for over a year, and have had great luck just using data against my minutes, and for my usage pattern its absolutely perfect. Usually, I’m just on 1xRTT which usually ends up giving around 128kbps, which makes for a pretty decent web browsing experience. Ping times to the office under 400ms under PPTP makes for reasonably usable ssh sessions, but really slow RDS.

Today, however, I’m connected using EVDO in ohio, which appears to be able to saturate my ‘Motorala USB Modem’s 1Mbit maximum serial connection speed downloading. I was able to get 128kB/sec downloading the Python 2.5 installer for windows, which is pretty darn impressive for a cell phone connection in my book. I’m getting consistent sub 200ms pings under PPTP also, which is resulting in darn near usable RDS sessions.