29Aug 2012 by Asim Zeeshan 1 Comment

How to find zombie processes on linux

CentOS, Linux, Tips and Tricks, Ubuntu
My NAGIOS monitor alerted me that of my dedicated server has 10 Zombie processes, how to find Zombie processes via command line on Linux especially CentOS? [code] ps aux | awk '{ print $8 " " $2 }' | grep -w Z [/code] So it returns state (Z = Zombie) and the process id (PID) [code]root@sirius [~]# ps aux | awk '{ print $8 " " $2 }' | grep -w Z Z 4399 Z 4435 Z 4868 Z 5143 Z 5400 Z 5834 Z 7584 Z 11943 Z 16286 Z 24365[/code] Technically, you cannot kill a zombie process since its already dead but the entry in the process table is not removed because the parent will access the result via the PID in the process table.
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27Aug 2012 by Asim Zeeshan No Comments

PhotonVPS / YardVPS Misleading Marketing Gimmick

Promotions and Offers, Thoughts, Virtual Private Server
We see misleading marketing gimmicks everyday when we visit the superstore where false advertisement and sel-proclaimed-number-one is common but if thats coming from a reputable (so-called) company, its somewhat a underwhelming gesture. PhotonVPS posted this advertisement on WHT [caption id="attachment_1349" align="aligncenter" width="584"] PhotonVPS / YardVPS Advertisement on WebHostingTalk.com[/caption] It seemed nice and I wanted to post this offer on Low End Box, being a writer there but when I tested out the code, it turned out to be another marketing gimmick. I am beginning to think that the mostly negative reviews on Low End Box's past PhotonVPS / YardVPS offers may be right. [caption id="attachment_1350" align="aligncenter" width="1011"] PhotonVPS / YardVPS Marketing Gimmick[/caption]
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24Aug 2012 by Asim Zeeshan No Comments

Slices.me is now open for public, while still in beta

Android, News, Reviews
[caption id="attachment_1341" align="aligncenter" width="882"] Slices.me for Web Now Open to the Public[/caption] Slices.me, a web-based application for the new Slices for Twitter application on Android open for public (while still in beta) today. The web interface is an attempt to give the same look and feel as the popular android application on the web. I gave it a few minutes and I must admit they have done a splendid job although there are still bugs in it like, I was not able to pull anyone's twitter profile even after multiple click using Firefox browser. Hopefully it will improve in near future. How did you find Slices for Android? if its not your favorite twitter application, which one is it and why? I'd love to know about it in the comments…
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24Aug 2012 by Asim Zeeshan No Comments

WordPress.com now offers free Wedding Blogs (with special wedding themes)

News
Just stumbled upon the wicked (in a good way) feature by Wordpress.com that lets you create a free blog for your wedding. It also features some amazing (and free) wedding themes. I don't think they are giving any of the extra paid-addons as a wedding gift to whomsoever  creating the blog because it may open a potential gateway to get those free addons by faking a wedding :D Visit the special page for more details  
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23Aug 2012 by Asim Zeeshan 4 Comments

Frantech / BuyVM opening new location in Buffalo, NY

News, Virtual Private Server
The other day, I was looking at the Frantech's weird (as in cool) way of showing their stock / restock and last stock status at DoesBuyVMhaveStock.com and I noticed there is a new tab for Buffalo, NY (yayy!!!) Currently they operate out from only one location that is San Jose, CA which gives me like 400ms from PTCL which makes it very hard to use their VPN service or host any content targeted for Pakistani users. Psst!! have been using Amazon's S3 along with Amazon CloudFront for such purposes which is dirt cheap anyway. Coming to the point, I contacted and got confirmation that they will have stock on the new location in next week, it will be released in two phases For the current customers If there is something…
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19Aug 2012 by Asim Zeeshan 1 Comment

Routing a root domain / zone apex / naked domain to Amazon S3

Reviews, Tips and Tricks
Even though the sound of hosting a static website entirely out of Amazon s3, it has a catch. You can only host subdomains there (including www.example.com, cdn.example.com, images.example.com etc assuming your primary domain name is example.com) but not "apex domain" like example.com I had an idea of redirecting the example.com traffic to one of my VPSes and then redirecting via .htaccess or PHP to www.example.com at which point www is already hosted on s3 Just to double check, I posted the question online and got a reply from D. Svanlund who pointed me out to an awesome time-saver service still in beta called ARecord.net. They are right when they say Zone Apex issue on Cloud.
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18Aug 2012 by Asim Zeeshan No Comments

Webalizer not working on Ubuntu

Linux, Tutorials, Ubuntu
One of my Ubuntu based VPS had Webalizer installed to collect stats from webserver but it was not working because I could see not stats at /webalizer/. If thats the case with you try the following 1) Try running the webalizer crontab [code]root@backups:~# /etc/cron.daily/webalizer Error Opening file /usr/share/GeoIP/GeoIP.dat[/code] So we have identified the culprit that geoip-database is not installed. 2) Fix this by installing geoip-database [code]root@backups:~# apt-get install geoip-database[/code] (more…)
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12Aug 2012 by Asim Zeeshan 12 Comments

Error: Could not stat() command file ‘/var/lib/nagios3/rw/nagios.cmd’!

How to
Error: Could not stat() command file '/var/lib/nagios3/rw/nagios.cmd'! The external command file may be missing, Nagios may not be running, and/or Nagios may not be checking external commands. An error occurred while attempting to commit your command for processing. Return from whence you came   Just do the following [code highlight="1,3,4,6"]root@nagios:~# ls -l /var/lib/nagios3/rw/nagios.cmd prw-rw---- 1 nagios nagios 0 Aug 11 22:27 /var/lib/nagios3/rw/nagios.cmd root@nagios:~# chmod -R g+x /var/lib/nagios3/rw root@nagios:~# ls -l /var/lib/nagios3/rw/nagios.cmd prw-rwx--- 1 nagios nagios 0 Aug 11 22:27 /var/lib/nagios3/rw/nagios.cmd root@nagios:~# service nagios3 restart[/code] Also change group of the file [code highlight="1,3"]root@nagios:~# ls -l /var/lib/nagios3/rw/nagios.cmd prw-rw---- 1 nagios nagios 0 Aug 11 22:27 /var/lib/nagios3/rw/nagios.cmd root@nagios:~# chown nagios:www-data /var/lib/nagios3/rw/nagios.cmd[/code] And also, you may need to do the following and restart apache afterwards [code highlight="1,2"]root@nagios:~# usermod -G nagios www-data root@nagios:~# service apache2…
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24Jul 2012 by Asim Zeeshan 1 Comment

PTV’s Shaista Zaid delivers last bulletin after 43 years

News
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJRWEJL8NTg Eversince I was a child, I can recall her face in the evenings when there was just PTV and later STN. I am sure a generation can recall her face seeing on PTV English Bulletin @ 7pm everyday A little bio of Shaista Zaid, the legend http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwPZlWfWO4Y There were people on twitter recalling her and expressing sorrow on her retirement news [blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/AliDayan/status/227361256154214400"] [blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/Rida_Imran/status/227415866801799168"] [blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/wesmalik/status/227554546384265217"] [blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/M_Saad_K/status/227427913446866944"] [blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/MansoorGeoNews/status/227374207393202176"] [blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/jehan_ara/status/227355369205268480"]
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