Tag Archives: linux

CompTIA Linux+ and LPI Certifications

I’m currently CompTIA Linux+ certified.  I passed the 2004 exam back in 2005, and more recently the 2009 exam while it was in beta.  The Linux+ certification has since been updated and essentially merged with the LPIC-1 from the Linux … Continue reading

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STEC SSD firmware updates with IBM SAS/SATA update utility

I have an IBM-branded STEC MACH8 SSD installed in a Supermicro server with a PDSME+ motherboard.  This 50 GB SLC SSD works great as a Logzilla for ZFS, but updating the firmware can be a hassle.  Getting the latest firmware … Continue reading

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Configuring CentOS 6 and Windows VMs for virsh console on KVM

Accessing the console of a KVM VM directly rather than via SSH (Linux) or RDP (Windows) can occasionally be useful.  For example, if a Linux VM suffers a disk issue and is stuck at a single-user mode prompt, SSH won’t … Continue reading

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Securing Wi-Fi with PEAP and FreeRADIUS on CentOS

I recently read Low-cost RADIUS servers for Wi-Fi security, a review of four RADIUS servers with an emphasis on Wi-Fi network security use cases.  The main complaint about FreeRADIUS, the only no-cost option mentioned, is the difficulty of configuration.  To see … Continue reading

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Install VMware Tools in CentOS using yum

When running CentOS (or RHEL, or Scientific Linux) in a VM on VMware ESXi, you may want to install VMware Tools.  Modern Linux distributions include the drivers necessary to run the OS in a VM on VMware ESXi, even those for PVSCSI controllers and … Continue reading

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Updating LSI MegaRAID firmware in VMware ESXi 5

I recently built a new server to run VMware ESXi.  After installing ESXi 5.0 update 1 and applying the latest patch (ESXi500-201207001), I decided I should update the firmware on the installed MegaRAID SAS 9261-8i RAID controller.  I have a … Continue reading

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