Category: LINUX

Linux posts

Basic commands for Linux OS Performance Monitoring

One comment

Monitoring the system performance regularly is very much important to ensure the services are being delivered to the end customers without any latency. OS Performance monitoring is an important layer of the entire system performance, along with other layers including application performance, network performance etc…

OS Performance monitoring tools are used for monitoring, visualising, storing, and analysing system-level performance measurements. It allows the monitoring and management of real-time data, and logging and retrieval of historical data.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux provides several tools that can be used from the command line to monitor a system performance.

We are discussing here some of the built-in command line tools for system monitoring.

top

Read more

The top program provides a dynamic real-time view of a running system.  It can display system summary information as well as a list of processes or threads currently being managed by the Linux kernel.

Top command helps the system administrator to find the process and users who utilize more resource in the system.

——————- advertisements ——————-

———————————————————

Let’s see the example below.

top is provided by the procps-ng package. It gives a dynamic view of the processes in a running system. It displays a variety of information, including a system summary and a list of tasks currently being managed by the Linux kernel

ps

It is the abbreviation of “process status”. ps displays information about a selection of the active processes. The output of ps command may vary depends on the parameters we used with it.

Let’s see the example below

——————- advertisements ——————-

———————————————————

ps is provided by the procps-ng package. It captures a snapshot of a select group of active processes. By default, the examined group is limited to processes that are owned by the current user and associated with the terminal where the ps command is executed.

vmstat

It is the abbreviation of virtual memory statistics. vmstat reports information about processes, memory, paging, block IO, traps, disks and cpu activity.

Let’s see the example below

Virtual memory statistics (vmstat) is provided by the procps-ng package. If we use vmstat as a command with no parameters, it will show you the report  which contains the averages for each of the statistics since the last reboot.

sar

It is the abbreviation of System activity reporter.  It collects and reports information about system activity that has occurred so far on the current day.

sar is provided by the sysstat package.  It can be used to monitor Linux system’s resources like CPU usage, Memory utilization, I/O devices consumption, Network monitoring, Disk usage, process and thread allocation and more.

——————- advertisements ——————-

———————————————————

Let’s see the example below

sar command will show only cpu monitoring activity if any flag is not specifies by user. It displays result on the output screen by default , in addition the result can also be stored in the file specified using  -o filename option.

netstat

It is the abbreviation of network statistics. Netstat prints information about the Linux networking subsystem. Print network connections, routing tables, interface statistics, masquerade connections, and multicast memberships.

netstat is provided by the package net-tools .By default, netstat displays a list of open sockets.  If you don’t specify any address families, then the active sockets of all configured address families will be printed.

Below example shows how netstat can be used to print the routing table.

iostat

It is the abbreviation of input/output  statistics .The iostat command is used for monitoring system input/output device loading by observing the time the devices are active in relation to their average transfer rates.

——————- advertisements ——————-

———————————————————

Let’s see the example below

iostat is provided by the package sysstat.The iostat command generates reports that can be used to change system configuration to better balance the input/output load between physical disks.

That’s some of the very basic and important commands and it’s usage. Hope it will help you to monitor your system effectively. We will discuss more performance related topics in upcoming posts.

Linux basics – interview questions and answers -Booting Part 2

Leave a comment

Our second post from the blog series on Linux basics. Hope you have gone thru the part-1 of this series already, if not, we recommend reading it. In continuation with the booting Q&A, we are adding a few more to it in this post.

Let’s get into the questions and answers

  • How to set password for single user mode.

Change the definition of the single user login shell in /etc/sysconfig/init from sushellto sulogin

#sed -i “s,^SINGLE=.*,SINGLE=/sbin/sulogin,” /etc/sysconfig/init

  • How to reinstall boot loader.

# grub-install /dev/sda Read more

  • What is initial RAM disk image.

The initial RAM disk (initrd)is an initial root file system that is mounted prior to when the real root file system is available. The initrd is bound to the kernel and loaded as part of the kernel boot procedure

  • How to create initramfs in rescue mode, what are the two utilities
——————- advertisements ——————-

———————————————————

mkinitrd utility can be used to recreate the initrd image in RHEL4 and 5

dracut utility can be used in later versions of RHEL to rebuild the initrams image

  • How to list the content of initramfs

lsinitrd

  • What will happen if grub.conf file deleted and how to recover

The system will fail to boot and fall in to the grub prompt

Need to restore the boot partition in hd0 and setup grub.

  • What is kernel module

Kernel modules are pieces of code that can be loaded and unloaded into the kernel upon demand. They extend the functionality of the kernel without the need to reboot the system

  • Which package is require for kernel module utilities

module-init-tools

——————- advertisements ——————-

———————————————————

  • How to list loaded kernel modules

lsmod

  • How to get the information about module

Modinfo <module name>

  • How to load module into kernel

Modprobe

  • From which location the modprobe command will load modules

/lib/modules/’uname -r’

  • How modprobe command will resolve dependencies, Which file contains information about dependencies.

modprobe expects an up-to-date modules.dep.bin file (or fallback human readable modules.dep file), as generated by the depmod utility. This file lists what other modules each module needs (if any), and modprobe uses this to add or remove these dependencies automatically.

——————- advertisements ——————-

———————————————————

  • What is the difference between modprobe and insmod

modprobe is the intelligent version of insmod simply adds a module where modprobe looks for any dependency (if that particular module is dependent on any other module) and loads them

  • What is the two command for unload the module from kernel

Modeprobe -r <module name>

Rmmod <module name >

  • How to blacklist a module

You can modify the /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf file that already exists on the system by default. However, the preferred method is to create a separate configuration file, /etc/modprobe.d/<module_name>.conf, that will contain settings specific only to the given kernel module.

  • What is udev
——————- advertisements ——————-

———————————————————

udev is a generic device manager running as a daemon on a Linux system and listening (via a netlink socket) to uevents the kernel sends out if a new device is initialized or a device is removed from the system

  • How to view the serial number of system

Dmidecode -t system

That’s it in this post. Hope you are enjoying the content. Please feel free to add your suggestions/comments/feedback in the comments section.

Linux basics – interview questions and answers -Booting Part 1

One comment

It’s been a while without a Linux/Unix post, now we are starting a series here. A series posts with some of the basics, in a Q&A format. We are attempting to help you improve your basics, which can be helpful in your revision for job interviews as well.

Here comes the first part, where we will be discussing some of the Q&As from the booting part. This will be helpful for those who are at an L1- L2 level in your Linux knowledge.

Let’s get in to the stuff…

  • Which file is responsible for Starts/kills services depending on RUNLEVEL

/etc/rc.d/  rc0 to rc6 files Read more

  • Which file is responsible for configure Ctrl+Alt+Del key combination to shutdown the system at console.

/etc/inittab è comment out the line “ca:12345:ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -t1 -a – r now”

  • What are the two display manager?
——————- advertisements ——————-

———————————————————

GDM (GNOME Display Manager) — The default display manager for Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

KDM — KDE’s display manager which allows the user to shutdown, restart or log in to the system

  • How to switch a run level from one to another?

Init <run level>

  • What is happening when we switch into another run level

When init is requested to change the runlevel, it sends the warning signal SIGTERM to all processes that are undefined in the new runlevel. It then waits 5 seconds before forcibly terminating these processes via the SIGKILL signal

  • How to find the current run level

Who -r

  • What is rescue mode?

Rescue mode provides the ability to boot a small Red Hat Enterprise Linux environment entirely from CD-ROM, or some other boot method, instead of the system’s hard drive.

There may be times when you are unable to get Red Hat Enterprise Linux running completely enough to access files on your system’s hard drive. Using rescue mode, you can access the files stored on your system’s hard drive, even if you cannot run Red Hat Enterprise Linux from that hard drive

——————- advertisements ——————-

———————————————————

  • How to enter in to rescue mode?

To boot into rescue mode, you must be able to boot the system using one of the following methods 1:

By booting the system from an installation boot CD-ROM.

By booting the system from other installation boot media, such as USB flash    devices.

By booting the system from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD-ROM #1.

Once you have booted using one of the described methods, add the keyword rescue as a kernel parameter. For example, for an x86 system, type the following command at the installation boot prompt: linux rescue

  • How to load a driver at the time of booting in to rescue mode

Type linux dd at the boot prompt at the start of the installation process and press Enter

  • If a driver that is part of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 distribution prevents the system from booting, How to blacklist that driver

Boot the system into rescue mode with the command linux rescue rdblacklist=name_of_driver

——————- advertisements ——————-

———————————————————

Open the /mnt/sysimage/boot/grub/grub.conf file with the vi text editor

#vi /mnt/sysimage/boot/grub/grub.conf

kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.32-71.18-2.el6.i686 ro root=/dev/sda1 rhgb quiet rdblacklist=foobar ( edit the kernel line by adding entry  rdblacklist=drivername)

Create a new file under /etc/modprobe.d/ that contains the command blacklist name_of_driver

echo “blacklist foobar” >> /mnt/sysimage/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-foobar.conf

Reboot the system

  • What is chroot, what are the uses.

A chroot is an operation that changes the apparent root directory for the current running process and their children

  • What is single user mode, how to enter into single user mode ?

Single-user mode provides a Linux environment for a single user that allows you to recover your system from problems that cannot be resolved in networked multi-user environment. You do not need an external boot device to be able to boot into single-user mode, and you can switch into it directly while the system is running

——————- advertisements ——————-

———————————————————

At the GRUB boot screen, press any key to enter the GRUB interactive menu.

Select Red Hat Enterprise Linux with the version of the kernel that you want to boot and press the a to append the line.

Type single as a separate word at the end of the line and press Enter to exit GRUB edit mode. Alternatively, you can type 1 instead of single

  • What is emergency mode, how to enter in to emergency mode, main difference between single user mode and emergency mode

Emergency mode, provides the minimal bootable environment and allows you to repair your system even in situations when rescue mode is unavailable. In emergency mode, the system mounts only the root file system, and it is mounted as read-only. Also, the system does not activate any network interfaces and only a minimum of the essential services are set up.

At the GRUB boot screen, press any key to enter the GRUB interactive menu.

Select Red Hat Enterprise Linux with the version of the kernel that you want to boot and press the a to append the line.

Type emergency as a separate word at the end of the line and press Enter to exit GRUB edit mode.

——————- advertisements ——————-

———————————————————

In emergency mode, you are booted into the most minimal environment possible. The root file system is mounted read-only and almost nothing is set up. The main advantage of emergency mode over single-user mode is that the init files are not loaded. If init is corrupted or not working, you can still mount file systems to recover data that could be lost during a re-installation.

In single-user mode, your computer boots to runlevel 1. Your local file systems are mounted, but your network is not activated. You have a usable system maintenance shell.

Hope you have enjoyed reading this post. Please feel free to add your feedback in the comments section.

Troubleshooting NFS Mount Issues in Linux

3 comments

Network File System (NFS) is a protocol which allows a system to share directories and files with others over a network. By using NFS, users and programs can access files on remote systems almost as if they were local files.

This post refers how to mount the network share in our local system and what are all the common issues and how to generally troubleshoot connectivity and config issues.

NFS Client Configuration

1. Install the required nfs packages if not already installed on the server Read more

# rpm -qa | grep nfs-utils


# yum install nfs-util

2. Use the mount command to mount exported file systems. Syntax for the command:

# mount -t nfs -o options host:/remote/export /local/directory

——————- advertisements ——————-  

———————————————————

Example :

# mount -t nfs -o ro,nosuid remote_host:/home /remote_home

This example does the following:
– It mounts /home from remote host (remote_host) on local mount point /remote_home.
– File system is mounted read-only and users are prevented from running a setuid program (-o ro,nosuid options).

3. Update /etc/fstab to mount NFS shares at boot time.

# vi /etc/fstab


remote_host:/home      /remote_home nfs        ro,nosuid           0            0

Troubleshooting NFS connectivity issues

Depending on the client and the issue, wide range of error messages can appear while trying to mount an NFS share, it might also take forever to mount, or even mount normally but the mount points will be empty.Below are the common errors we face in the client side while mounting the NFS/NAS shares.

——————- advertisements ——————-  

———————————————————

Error 1: 

mount: mount to NFS server 'NFS-Server' failed: System Error: No route to host.

This can be caused by the RPC messages being filtered by either the host firewall, the client firewall, or a network switch. Verify if a firewall is active and if NFS traffic is allowed. Normally nfs is using port 2049.

  1. Check the show mount output of the server to verify the filesystem has exported for the client ip.
# showmount –e <NFS server IP > | grep –I  <clientIP>

Check the port Connectivity of the NFS server using telnet

# telnet <NFS server IP> 2049

 

Error 2:

mount_nfs: can't mount / from 1.2.3.4 onto /mnt: RPC prog. not avail

Error: “mount clntudp_create: RPC: Port mapper failure – RPC: Unable to receive”

The Linux NFS implementation requires that both the NFS service and the portmapper (RPC) service be running on both the client and the server. Check it like this:

——————- advertisements ——————-  

———————————————————

            # rpcinfo -p
     program vers proto   port  service

    100000    4   tcp    111  portmapper

    100000    3   tcp    111  portmapper

    100000    2   tcp    111  portmapper

    100000    4   udp    111  portmapper

    100000    3   udp    111  portmapper

    100000    2   udp    111  portmapper...

          # ]# systemctl status rpcbind
  •  rpcbind.service - RPC bind service
             Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/rpcbind.service; indirect; vendor preset: enabled)

            Active: active (running) since Fri 2018-05-18 12:39:15 IST; 2s ago

            Process: 15222 ExecStart=/sbin/rpcbind -w $RPCBIND_ARGS (code=exited,      status=0/SUCCESS)

 Main PID: 15223 (rpcbind)

            CGroup: /system.slice/rpcbind.service

           └─15223 /sbin/rpcbind -w

 

May 18 12:39:15 nfsserver systemd[1]: Starting RPC bind service...

May 18 12:39:15 nfsserver systemd[1]: Started RPC bind service.

If not, start it with the commands give below.

# systemctl start rpcbind

——————- advertisements ——————-  

———————————————————

Error 3: 

Error: “NFS Stale File Handle”

Unlike traditional Linux file systems that allow an application to access an open file even if the file has been deleted using unlink or rm, NFS does not support this feature. An NFS file is deleted immediately. Any program which attempts to do further I/O on the deleted file will receive the “NFS Stale File Handle” error. For example, if your current working directory is an NFS directory and is deleted, you will see this error at the next shell prompt.

To refresh the client’s state with that of the server you may do a lazy unmount the mount point and remount it

# umount -l /mnt/mount_point

or kill the process, which references the mounted file system:

# fuser -k [mounted-filesystem].

——————- advertisements ——————-  

———————————————————

Error 4:

Error: “Access Denied” or “Permission Denied”

Check the export permissions for the NFS file system. You can do this from the client:

# showmount -e server_name

 

Error 5:

Error: “rpc mount export: RPC: Timed out”

Unable to access file system at [NFS SERVER]: rpc mount export: RPC: Timed out This is caused by DNS name resolution issue. NFS(RPC) needs reverse name resolution. If NFS server or client cannot resolve their name, this error occurs. In case gets the error message, check DNS configuration and /etc/hosts configuration.

 

Hope we have covered almost all the regular errors and steps for solving those. Please share your thoughts in the comments section. If you want us to add any additional issues-resolution, kindly let us know.

Thanks for reading..!

LINUX- Active Directory Integration

Leave a comment

Most of the organisation uses Active directory domain services for user administration and management.Like windows machines, Linux servers also can authenticate and managed via active directory. In this tutorial, we are describing how to join a Linux server in to an active directory domain.

 Environment Prerequisites

Read more

  • Microsoft Windows Active Directory.
  • Linux host – RHEL
  • Below Packages needed to be installed on Linux host
  • Samba (version 3):
    • samba3x
    • samba3x-client
    • samba3x-winbind
    • samba3x-common
    • And  packages that might be needed to meet dependencies
  • Kerberos:
    • krb5-workstation
    • krb5-libs
    • And packages that might be needed to meet dependencies
  • PAM:
    • pam_krb5
  • NTP:

——————- advertisements ——————-  

———————————————————

   Configuration

This section describes the technical configuration of how to add Linux host as member of a Microsoft Windows Active Directory domain.Technical steps are below.

1. Update  the FQDN in /etc/hosts

It’s highly recommended to update  /etc/hosts with Acive directory FQDN. If something happens to DNS ,system can still resolve out to it.

2. Update the Host name – /etc/sysconfig/network

where “master” is the RHEL host name and “ADserver “is the ADDS (Active directory domain service) Server name.

3. Update the DNS – /etc/resolve.conf

Set the system’s search domain and point to the AD DNS server in /etc/resolv.conf

4. Synchronise the Time – /etc/ntp.conf

Its mandatory to have time synchronization between the domain server and its client. To achieve this, edit the ntp server details in the ntp.conf.

——————- advertisements ——————-  

———————————————————-

5. Update the Samba and krb configuration using authconfig-tui

Check if necessary packages are installed and backup the below configuration file 

/etc/krb5.conf

/etc/samba/smb.conf

Execute the command authconfig-tui. You will get the below text user interface. Fill in the field as below

Once You checked the necessary fields mentioned above, click on Next

——————- advertisements ——————-  

———————————————————-

Update the Kerberos setting as per your environment and click next.

Modify the Samba settings and click Ok.

Verify the configuration

Validate and update the additional information on the Kerberos and samba configuration files

  1. Verify /etc/krb5.conf

2.Update /etc/samba/smb.conf for ID management

Update idmap config range as below as well as backend connection as rid. This is to keep      same UID for the users across the domain. Please insert if these lines are not present

——————- advertisements ——————-  

———————————————————-

3. verify /etc/nsswitch.conf

In order to tell the system to use winbind for authentication, add winbind to passwd and group in /etc/nsswitch.conf as below if it is not already get updated

Join the server to the domain

To join the server in domain, under the specific OU , use the below command

#net ads join createcomputer=Datacenter-FI/Linux_Servers -U <admin id>

Replace the OU names accroding to your environment (Datacenter-Fi/Linux_servers is based on my test environment).You should be having an admin ID created in the AD already to join the computer.

Restart the service

Once joined to the domain , restart the  winbind service

#systemctl restart winbind

——————- advertisements ——————-  

———————————————————-

Restrict Access only to a specific AD group

To restrict access to the server for a specific AD group is possible via editing the file /etc/security/pam_winbind.conf .

 

Edit the line require_membership_of  and add the SIDs of the group which needs access to this server by comma separated.

Enable the Home directory on first login

Enable oddjobd to create home directory automatically in the initial login with default permissions of 700

# authconfig –enablemkhomedir –update

Verify Your Access

We have completed the AD integration in the server. now test your access with your AD id and password.

eg: login -urid@domain and password – AD password.

Hope this helps you. Please have your queries and suggestions in the comments section below.

Linux Swap Space Creation and Monitoring

Leave a comment

Overview

This Post is intended to understand the swap creation, monitoring and extending in Redhat Linux.

Swap space is a restricted amount of physical memory that is allocated for use by the operating system when the amount of physical memory (RAM) is full. If the system needs more memory resources and the RAM is full, inactive pages in memory are moved to the swap space. While swap space can help machines with a small amount of RAM, it should not be considered a replacement for more RAM. Swap space is located on hard drives, which have a slower access time than physical memory. Read more

Recommended System Swap Space
In years past, the recommended amount of swap space increased linearly with the amount of RAM in the system. But because the amount of memory in modern systems has increased into the hundreds of gigabytes, it is now recognized that the amount of swap space that a system needs is a function of the memory workload running on that system. However, given that swap space is usually designated at install time, and that it can be difficult to determine beforehand the memory workload of a system, Redhat recommend determining system swap using the following table.

Amount of RAM in the System Recommended Amount of Swap Space
4GB of RAM or less a minimum of 2GB of swap space
4GB to 16GB of RAM a minimum of 4GB of swap space
16GB to 64GB of RAM a minimum of 8GB of swap space
64GB to 256GB of RAM a minimum of 16GB of swap space
256GB to 512GB of RAM a minimum of 32GB of swap space

Note : On most distributions of Linux, it is recommended that you set swap space while installing the operating system

 

How to Monitor Swap Space

We shall look at different commands and tools that can help you to monitor your swap space usage in your Linux systems as follows

Using the swapon Command

To view all devices marked as swap in the /etc/fstab file you can use the –all option. Though devices that are already working as swap space are skipped

If you want to view a summary of swap space usage by device, use the – summary (swapon –s) option.

[root@nfsserver ~]# swapon –summary
Filename                                Type            Size    Used    Priority
/dev/dm-1                               partition       2097148 0       -1
[root@nfsserver ~]#
[root@nfsserver ~]# swapon -s
Filename                                Type            Size    Used    Priority
/dev/dm-1                               partition       2097148 0       -1
Note :- Use –help option to view more options and information.
Using /proc/swaps

The /proc filesystem is a process information pseudo-file system. It actually does not contain ‘real’ files but runtime system information, for example system memory, devices mounted, hardware configuration and many more.

[root@nfsserver ~]# cat /proc/swaps

Filename                                Type            Size    Used    Priority

/dev/dm-1                               partition       2097148 0       -1

[root@nfsserver ~]#

Using ‘free’ Command
The free command is used to display the amount of free and used system memory. Using the free command with -h option, which displays output in a human readable format.
[root@nfsserver ~]# free -h
              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:           7.6G        674M        6.5G        9.8M        507M        6.7G
Swap:          2.0G          0B        2.0G
[root@nfsserver ~]#
 Using top Command
To check swap space usage with the help of ‘top’ command
Using the vmstat Command
This command is used to display information about virtual memory statistics
[root@nfsserver ~]# vmstat
procs ———–memory———- —swap– —–io—- -system– ——cpu—–
 r  b   swpd   free   buff  cache   si   so    bi    bo   in   cs us sy id wa st
 1  0      0 6791708   2784 516484    0    0     7     0   24   23  0  0 100  0  0
[root@nfsserver ~]#
ADDING SWAP SPACE
Sometimes it is necessary to add more swap space after installation
You have three options: create a new swap partition, create a new swap file, or extend swap on an existing LVM2 logical volume. It is recommended that you extend an existing logical volume
Extending Swap on an LVM2 Logical Volume
To extend an LVM2 swap logical volume(suppose /dev/mapper/centos-swap is our swap volume)
1. Disable swapping for the associated logical volume:
[root@nfsserver ~]# swapoff -v /dev/mapper/centos-swap
swapoff /dev/mapper/centos-swap
[root@nfsserver ~]# swapon -s
[root@nfsserver ~]#
2. Resize the LVM2 logical volume by 256 MB
 [root@nfsserver ~]# lvresize /dev/mapper/centos-swap -L +256M
  Size of logical volume centos/swap changed from 2.00 GiB (512 extents) to 2.25 GiB (576 extents).
  Logical volume centos/swap successfully resized.
 [root@nfsserver ~]#
3. Format the new swap space
[root@nfsserver ~]# mkswap /dev/centos/swap
mkswap: /dev/centos/swap: warning: wiping old swap signature.
Setting up swapspace version 1, size = 2359292 KiB
no label, UUID=5e487401-9ae0-4e1d-adff-2346edfc6244
[root@nfsserver ~]#
4. Enable the extended logical volume
[root@nfsserver ~]# swapon -va
swapon /dev/mapper/centos-swap
swapon: /dev/mapper/centos-swap: found swap signature: version 1, page-size 4, same byte order
swapon: /dev/mapper/centos-swap: pagesize=4096, swapsize=2415919104, devsize=2415919104
[root@nfsserver ~]#
5. Test that the logical volume has been extended properly
[root@nfsserver ~]# free -h
              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:           7.6G        677M        6.5G        9.8M        507M        6.7G
Swap:          2.2G          0B        2.2G
[root@nfsserver ~]# swapon -s
Filename                                Type            Size    Used    Priority
/dev/dm-1                               partition       2359292 0       -1
[root@nfsserver ~]#
Creating an LVM2 Logical Volume for Swap
To add a swap volume group (suppose /dev/centos/swap2 is the new volume)
1. Create the LVM2 logical volume of size 256 MB
[root@nfsserver ~]# lvcreate centos -n swap2 -L 256M
  Logical volume “swap2” created.
[root@nfsserver ~]#
2. Format the new swap space
[root@nfsserver ~]# mkswap /dev/centos/swap2
Setting up swapspace version 1, size = 262140 KiB
no label, UUID=6ea40455-47a0-46bf-844e-ec0ebd4a4e6a
[root@nfsserver ~]#
3. Add the following entry to the /etc/fstab file
/dev/mapper/centos-swap2 swap                    swap    defaults        0 0
4. Enable the extended logical volume
[root@nfsserver ~]# swapon –va
swapon /dev/mapper/centos-swap2
swapon: /dev/mapper/centos-swap2: found swap signature: version 1, page-size 4, same byte order
swapon: /dev/mapper/centos-swap2: pagesize=4096, swapsize=268435456, devsize=268435456
[root@nfsserver ~]#
5. Verify the swap space
[root@nfsserver ~]# swapon -s
Filename                                Type            Size    Used    Priority
/dev/dm-1                               partition       2097148 0       -1
/dev/dm-3                               partition       262140  0       -2
Creating a Swap File
To Add a swap file
1. Determine the size of the new swap file in megabytes and multiply by 1024 to determine the number of blocks. For example, the block size of a 64 MB swap file is 65536.
2. At a shell prompt as root, type the following command with count being equal to the desired block size:
[root@nfsserver ~]# dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=1024 count=65536
65536+0 records in
65536+0 records out
67108864 bytes (67 MB) copied, 0.0893063 s, 751 MB/s
[root@nfsserver ~]#
[root@nfsserver ~]# ls -ld /swapfile
-rw-r–r–. 1 root root 67108864 May 17 16:38 /swapfile
[root@nfsserver ~]# du -sh /swapfile
64M     /swapfile
[root@nfsserver ~]#
3. Change the permissions of the newly created file
[root@nfsserver ~]# chmod 0600 /swapfile
[root@nfsserver ~]#
4. Setup the swap file with the command
[root@nfsserver ~]# mkswap /swapfile
Setting up swapspace version 1, size = 65532 KiB
no label, UUID=8a404550-e8a3-4f2b-9daf-137fc34f7b6d
[root@nfsserver ~]#
5. Edit /etc/fstab and enable the newly added swap space
/swapfile          swap            swap    defaults        0 0
[root@nfsserver ~]# swapon -va
swapon /swapfile
swapon: /swapfile: found swap signature: version 1, page-size 4, same byte order
swapon: /swapfile: pagesize=4096, swapsize=67108864, devsize=67108864
[root@nfsserver ~]#
6. Verify the swap space created.
[root@nfsserver ~]# swapon -s
Filename                                Type            Size    Used    Priority
/dev/dm-1                               partition       2097148 0       -1
/dev/dm-3                               partition       262140  0       -2
/swapfile                               file    65532   0       -3
[root@nfsserver ~]#
Hope this has helped you ..
Thanks!!!!

Creating and deleting a hard link in Linux

One comment

In one of our recent post (click here to read) we discussed about soft links . Now in this post we will discuss how to create and delete a hard link in Linux.

Hard links are also shortcuts used in Linux, but it is bit different from Soft Links. In case of a hard link, no new Inode will be created. If you are creating a hardlink to a fie with inode number 123456, hard link will use the same Inode. In case of soft links, a new Inode will be created for the link. Data can still be accessed via link even if the original file is deleted or moved to a different location. Read more

Here Let us see the commands and some examples of them.

Syntax :

ln sourcefile linkfile    #ln command is used for hard link creation with this syntax.

Examples :

[root@bforum test]# cat >> testfile  #Created a file named testfile for use in next steps
this is a test file

[root@bforum test]# ls -li

30760 -rw-rw-r– 1 admin admin 20 Jan 3 11:39 testfile #Listing with inode number (30760)

[root@bforum test]#ln testfile testlink #Created a link named testlink

[root@bforum test]# ls -li

30760 -rw-rw-r– 1 admin admin 20 Jan 3 11:39 testfile #Both files with same inode number

30760 -rw-rw-r– 1 admin admin 20 Jan 3 11:39 testlink

[root@bforum test]#more testlink #Source being accessed via link.
this is a test file

 

[root@bforum test]#rm -rf testfile #Deleting the source file

[root@bforum test]#more testlink #Actual content via link even after source deletion.
this is a test file

[root@bforum test]#

Now let us see the link removal. unlink command can be used to remove a link.

Syntax :

unlink linkname

Example

[root@bforum test]#unlink testlink

[root@bforum test]#

Thus we have tried creating and deleting a hard link in Linux. Hope this was helpful for you.

For more posts on Linux please click here. We are happy to have your suggestions/queries in the comments section below.

 

Creating and removing a Symbolic link (soft link) in Linux

One comment

Symbolic links or soft links are like shortcuts in Windows systems. We use these to point/redirect to another file/directory. Links are a mandatory in some cases where we need a shortcut to actual data, in our day-to-day tasks. With soft links, we can even point to a directory – which is not possible with hard links. Hard links are discussed in another post, which can be accessed by clicking here.

Let us see how can we create a soft link, how to use it and how can we remove/delete the link below. Read more

Symbolic link can be created by running the ln -s command. Let us see the syntax and example for creating a link.

Syntax :

ln -s target source(linkname)

Example :

[root@bforum test]#ln -s /home/beginnersforum/linux testlink   #A link to linux directory will be created with name testlink

[root@bforum test]#ls -l

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   26 Jan  1 2015  testlink -> /home/beginnersforum/linux

[root@bforum test]

Here in the above example, we have created a link named testlink to the directory /home/beginnersforum/linux. Now accessing the testlink will redirect us to the linux directory as required.

 

Now we will see how we can remove the link,.  The command will be unlink for removing the link. Below are the syntax and example for the command.

Syntax :

unlink linkname

Example :

[root@bforum test]#ls -l

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   26 Jan  1 2015  testlink -> /home/beginnersforum/linux

[root@bforum test]#unlink testlink                    #Removing the link named testlink

[root@bforum test]#ls -l

[root@bforum test]#

Thus in the above unlink command example, we have removed the link named testlink which was created in our previous example.

For more options with these commands, you may refer to the man pages (man ln, man unlink).

That’s it..! We are done with creation and deletion of soft links. Hope this helped you.

For more posts on Linux please click here. We are happy to have your suggestions/queries in the comments section below.

 

How to resize a linux filesytem without Data Loss

Leave a comment

Today i’m going to show you how to resize a filesystem without data loss.This can be quite useful, if you do not use the LVM technology.

Note:- Before doing this in live enviornment, kindly test it in your testbox
Here i’m using my susebox .
Tools Used :- fdisk, umount, fsck, tune2fs, e2fsck, resize2fs.

I’m going to resize the /dev/sdb1 in this tutorial. ( if your partition is named diferently, kindly replace it) Read more

a

s

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the above screenshot, you can able to see the harddisk size, mount point etc.

So /dev/sdb harddisk is of 16GB size

/dev/sdb1 is 8.7 GB . and it’s mounted to /testdir directory.

To extend the size of /dev/sdb1 , the filesystem should be unmounted. Here /dev/sdb1 is mounted on /testdir, run the umount command to unmount the same.

s

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now run fsck -n /dev/sdb1 for checking the filesystem.

a

 

 

 

 

Then we need to remove the journal from the filesystem , this will bring ext2 filesystem to /dev/sdb1

s

 

 

 

 

Now run e2fsck to check the filesystem,

t

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now we can resize the filesystem using resize2fs tool.

Resize2fs can resize ext2 file systems, but not ext3 file systems, that’s why we changed /dev/sdb1 to ext2 by removing journel from it.

8.7GB is the size of /dev/sdb1 (check the above df -h screenshot). Now we are going to extend  the /dev/sdb1 from 8.7 GB to 15 GB .

Note :- In case of shrinking data , don’t make it smaller than 1.9GB (space used as per df-kh output), you will lose data!

 


So we are going to run resize2fs /dev/sdb1 15000M

dd

 

 

 

 

 

Kindly note the number of blocks (384000) and their size (4k). We need it later..

Now we are going to delete the partition /dev/sdb1 using fdisk tool

” Dont worry about your data 🙂 ”

sss

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we will create a new /dev/sdb1 partition. It was a primary partition earlier, so  choose p again, and again it is our partition no. 1:

sss

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then comes the important part,

Size of the partition:-

The  First Cylinder is not an issue , it’s default (1). But in the case of  Last Cylinder , we don’t have the value , So we can specify the size in kilobyes (K) .

We can calculate the size like this ,

Last Cylinder Size = The amount of blocks from the resize2fs output *  the size of block

// amount of blocks = 384000 .

// Size of block = 4k

Last Cylinder Size =    384000 * 4k =  1536000K

Apply this with +1536000K and write the partition using ‘w’

dddddThen run fsck -n /dev/sdb1.

 

Then  create the journal on our new /dev/sdb1, thus turning it into an ext3 partition again:

www

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check the size of filesystem,

q

 

 

 

 

Check with df -h and you are good to mount the filesystem.

Capture

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope this helped.

 

1 2