Category: Computers

Computers

Fixing ZoneMinder and zmNinja on Upgrade to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

Another quick technical post today to talk about getting ZoneMinder and zmNinja to work again after upgrading Ubuntu from 20.04 LTS to 22.04 LTS. If you’re struggling to get ZoneMinder working again, or having trouble connecting with zmNinja, after upgrading Ubuntu, then this is for you. Background I’m assuming, if you’re reading this, that you already know that ZoneMinder is a popular open-source software for … Continue reading Fixing ZoneMinder and zmNinja on Upgrade to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

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Computers

VPN Errors on Upgrade to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

I recently upgraded my home desktop from 20.04 LTS to 22.04 LTS, in anticipation of rolling out similar updates at work and on my home server. As upgrades go, this went down reasonably well, with the main inconvenience being Ubuntu’s insistence with snap, and its recent migration of Firefox from a regular package to a snap release. (For reasons I’ll go into another time, I … Continue reading VPN Errors on Upgrade to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

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Computers

Cluster Monitoring with Grafana and Prometheus on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

As systems get more complex, it quickly becomes necessary to have a high-level view of the whole operation, both to quickly become aware of issues as they arise, and to help diagnose the cause. Thankfully, the tools available for this have improved tremendously over the last decade or so, as can be witnessed by any search on analytics and visualisation applications. The one I’ll be … Continue reading Cluster Monitoring with Grafana and Prometheus on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

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Computers

Synchronising with a remote folder using a USB drive

rsync is a lovely tool. Among other things, it can easily synchronise a local folder with a remote one, without needing any additional software on the remote server (as long as you can ssh to it). Of course, it will only actually transfer those files that have changed (or are missing at the receiving end), so it’s as efficient as it could be. However, there … Continue reading Synchronising with a remote folder using a USB drive

Johann A. Briffa2 Comments
Computers

A Practical Introduction to ZFS on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

A few months ago I finally took the plunge and moved all the data on our home network to ZFS. I have been meaning to write about this for some time, and in a recent weekly meeting with my department’s systems engineer I realised it’s way overdue. So here follows a brief introduction to the use of ZFS for data storage on Ubuntu. Just to … Continue reading A Practical Introduction to ZFS on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

Johann A. Briffa2 Comments
Computers

Sharing a folder with other authenticated users over a network in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

Today’s tech post is a bit of a note to self. All the information here is available elsewhere on the internet, notably in this post by Elliot Cooper. However, a concise version for my own reference is useful. Perhaps it will also be of use to someone else. Problem description I want to share a folder (/opt/share) on my workstation (server.domain) with co-workers, so they … Continue reading Sharing a folder with other authenticated users over a network in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

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Computers

Using a SSD to cache data volume on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

[Note 9-Apr-2020: Since writing this post I migrated my data HDDs to ZFS; I write about ZFS, and on how to cache on SSD, in a more recent post. The OS remains on SSD using LVM.] [Updated 7-Nov-2019: clarified need for thin-provisioning-tools package.] [Updated 30-Aug-2019: added instructions for setting caching mode to writeback.] For the last several years I have been using a combination of … Continue reading Using a SSD to cache data volume on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

Johann A. Briffa5 Comments
Computers

Installing (Son of) Grid Engine on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

[Edited 2019-08-01: changed Debian release to ‘stretch’] This blog post has been a long time coming. For many years I have used the Torque/PBS job scheduler on machines that I administer or am otherwise responsible for. My blog post on setting up Torque on Ubuntu topped this site’s most-visited pages by a wide margin. I’m also a creature of habit, avoiding changes when there is … Continue reading Installing (Son of) Grid Engine on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

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Computers

Fixing Bluetooth Headset Playback Profile on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

[Edited 16-May-2019: Added autoconnect option.] I recently started using a pair of Bluetooth headphones with my computer, and initially had a problem with the connection. Specifically, it was pairing properly, but defaulted to the HSP/HFP headset profile (which is suitable for making calls) rather than the A2DP profile (which is higher quality and suitable for media playback). To make matters worse, when I tried to … Continue reading Fixing Bluetooth Headset Playback Profile on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

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