Linux Server Hacks

This handy new book's collection of tips, tools and scripts reflect the real-world experience of expert system administrators who managed Linux servers the hard way, through years of tedious trial and error. Each hack in this book can be read easily in a few minutes, saving countless hours of searching for the right answer. Linux Server Hacks includes tips for Apache, MySQL and other open source tools that are typically part of a Linux server installation, and covers system monitoring tools for performance tracking and tuning.

Rob Flickenger has been a professional systems administrator for more than 10 years, and all around hacker for as long as he can remember. Rob enjoys spreading the good word of open networks, open standards, and ubiquitous wireless networking. His current professional project is Metrix Communication LLC, which provides wireless hardware and software that embodies the same open source principles he rants about in his books. Rob also works with the U.N. and various international organizations to bring these ideas to places where communications infrastructure is badly needed. He hopes that all of this effort is contributing toward the ultimate goal of infinite bandwidth everywhere for free. He is the author of Linux Server Hacks, Wireless Hacks, and Building Wireless Community Networks (which is in its second edition).

How to Become a Hacker

vii

Preface

xi

Server Basics

1

(2)

Removing Unnecessary Services

3

(3)

Forgoing the Console Login

6

(1)

Common Boot Parameters

7

(1)

Creating a Persistent Daemon with init

8

(2)

n>&m: Swap Standard Output and Standard Error

10

(2)

Building Complex Command Lines

12

(3)

Working with Tricky Files in xargs

15

(2)

Immutable Files in ext2/ext3

17

(1)

Speeding Up Compiles

18

(1)

At Home in Your Shell Environment

19

(3)

Finding and Eliminating setuid/setgid Binaries

22

(3)

Make sudo Work Harder

25

(2)

Using a Makefile to Automate Admin Tasks

27

(2)

Brute Forcing Your New Domain Name

29

(1)

Playing Hunt the Disk Hog

29

(2)

Fun with /proc

31

(3)

Manipulating Processes Symbolically with procps

34

(1)

Managing System Resources per Process

35

(2)

Cleaning Up after Ex-Users

37

(2)

Eliminating Unnecessary Drivers from the Kernel

39

(3)

Using Large Amounts of RAM

42

(1)

hdparm: Fine Tune IDE Drive Parameters

43

(3)

Revision Control

46

(17)

Getting Started with RCS

47

(1)

Checking Out a Previous Revision in RCS

48

(1)

Tracking Changes with rcs2log

49

(2)

Getting Started with CVS

51

(3)

CVS: Checking Out a Module

54

(1)

CVS: Updating Your Working Copy

54

(1)

CVS: Using Tags

55

(1)

CVS: Making Changes to a Module

56

(1)

CVS: Merging Files

57

(1)

CVS: Adding and Removing Files and Directories

57

(1)

CVS: Branching Development

58

(1)

CVS: Watching and Locking Files

59

(1)

CVS: Keeping CVS Secure

60

(1)

CVS: Anonymous Repositories

61

(2)

Backups

63

(24)

Backing Up with tar over ssh

64

(1)

Using rsync over ssh

65

(1)

Archiving with Pax

66

(6)

Backing Up Your Boot Sector

72

(1)

Keeping Parts of Filesystems in sync with rsync

73

(5)

Automated Snapshot-Style Incremental Backups with rsync

78

(6)

Working with ISOs and CDR/CDRWs

84

(1)

Burning a CD Without Creating an ISO File

85

(2)

Networking

87

(23)

Creating a Firewall from the Command Line of any Server

87

(3)

Simple IP Masquerading

90

(1)

iptables Tips & Tricks

91

(2)

Forwarding TCP Ports to Arbitrary Machines

93

(1)

Using Custom Chains in iptables

94

(2)

Tunneling: IPIP Encapsulation

96

(2)

Tunneling: GRE Encapsulation

98

(1)

Using vtun over ssh to Circumvent NAT

99

(6)

Automatic vtund.conf Generator

105

(5)

Monitoring

110

(29)

Steering syslog

110

(3)

Watching Jobs with watch

113

(1)

What's Holding That Port Open?

114

(1)

Checking On Open Files and Sockets with lsof

115

(3)

Monitor System Resources with top

118

(1)

Constant Load Average Display in the Titlebar

119

(2)

Network Monitoring with ngrep

121

(2)

Scanning Your Own Machines with nmap

123

(1)

Disk Age Analysis

124

(2)

Cheap IP Takeover

126

(3)

Running ntop for Real-Time Network Stats

129

(2)

Monitoring Web Traffic in Real Time with httptop

131

(8)

SSH

139

(10)

Quick Logins with ssh Client Keys

139

(2)

Turbo-mode ssh Logins

141

(1)

Using ssh-Agent Effectively

142

(2)

Running the ssh-Agent in a GUI

144

(1)

X over ssh

145

(1)

Forwarding Ports over ssh

146

(3)

Scripting

149

(8)

Get Settled in Quickly with movein.sh

149

(2)

Global Search and Replace with Perl

151

(2)

Mincing Your Data into Arbitrary Chunks (in bash)

153

(2)

Colorized Log Analysis in Your Terminal

155

(2)

Information Servers

157

(56)

Running BIND in a chroot Jail

158

(2)

Views in BIND 9

160

(5)

Setting Up Caching DNS with Authority for Local Domains

165

(2)

Distributing Server Load with Round-Robin DNS

167

(1)

Running Your Own Top-Level Domain

168

(1)

Monitoring MySQL Health with mtop

169

(3)

Setting Up Replication in MySQL

172

(3)

Restoring a Single Table from a Large MySQL Dump

175

(1)

MySQL Server Tuning

175

(3)

Using proftpd with a mysql Authentication Source

178

(2)

Optimizing glibc, linuxthreads, and the Kernel for a Super MySQL Server

180

(2)

Apache Toolbox

182

(3)

Display the Full Filename in Indexes

185

(1)

Quick Configuration Changes with IfDefine

186

(2)

Simplistic Ad Referral Tracking

188

(3)

Mimicking FTP Servers with Apache

191

(2)

Rotate and compress Apache Server Logs

193

(1)

Generating an SSL cert and Certificate Signing Request

194

(2)

Creating Your Own CA

196

(2)

Distributing Your CA to Client Browsers

198

(3)

Serving multiple sites with the same DocumentRoot

201

(2)

Delivering Content Based on the Query String Using mod_rewrite

203

(1)

Using mod_proxy on Apache for Speed

204

(2)

Distributing Load with Apache RewriteMap

206

(2)

Ultrahosting: Mass Web Site Hosting with Wildcards, Proxy, and Rewrite

208

(5)

Index

213

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The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

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Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials