There was this one guide I followed to install Opentaps on a Ubuntu machine, but it was so badly written that I had to rewrite it for future reference. Also, it was a bit outdated (using Java 1.5 as opposed to OpenJDK 1.6).
Note: I’m a FreeBSD guy, so getting Ubuntu running required a bit of reading when it came to installing packages. Luckily, Ubuntu has apt-get, which is similar to the ports system.
Continue reading How to Setup Opentaps 1.5M2 on Ubuntu Server 10.10
I recently acquired a new Dell R610 server for my web hosting clients. Here’s how I set it up under ESXI 4.0 and configured it for the best performance.
Specifications of the Dell R610
Initial Setup and Configuration of the Server
FreeBSD Installation
Installing FreeBSD 7.2 amd64 is easy. Here is what my mounts look like:
FreeBSD Updating
Before we move on to installing open-vm-tools and DirectAdmin, I want to do some basic updates to the core system. I won’t be installing any of the web services (Exim, Apache, MySQL, etc.) because DirectAdmin takes care of all that for me.
FreeBSD Configuration for VMWare ESXI 4.0
Install Open VM Tools:
# make install clean -CÂ /usr/ports/emulators/open-vm-tools-nox11
An error message will appear when trying to install fusefs-kmod:
===> fusefs-kmod-0.3.9.p1.20080208_05 requires the userland sources to be installed. Set SRC_BASE if it is not in /usr/src. *** Error Code 1
The quick fix for this is as follows (source):
csup -g -L2 -h cvsup.freebsd.org /usr/share/examples/cvsup/stable-supfile
This will pull down all the userland sources and allow fusefs-kmod to compile correctly. Once the synchronization has been finished, you can go ahead and resume the installation of Open VM Tools (just type “make install clean” again).
Modify rc.conf so it loads the Open-VM-Tools:
vmware_guest_vmmemctl_enable="YES" vmware_guestd_enable="YES"
Install DirectAdmin
Installing DirectAdmin is easy, just follow their instructions. You’re done.
Call me Saro; I’m your basic computer geek with a love for technology.
I’ve always had a passion for assembling custom computers. I don’t know about the rest of you geeks out there, but the fun part for me is to select the components and then put it all together. I like to think of it as a more expensive form of Lego, only components are not always interchangeable between generations. 🙂
This site aims to educate the newcomer to building computers systems, whether it’s desktops, laptops or servers, with guides and how-tos that I have put together. I want this site to cater every type of buyer out there, willing to spend a bit of time to research and discover the right components for their machine.
Sometimes, however, I will be recommending brand name computers (such as Dells) when it comes to business use (workstations and servers). Even though there is this notion that brand name computers are not customizable or upgradeable, I beg to differ. Most systems today from vendors such as Dell or HP are fully upgradeable and have long lifespans. However, most businesses buy computers and stick with them for a while (usually 3 to 5 years) and then buy brand new systems when their age starts to show.
All in all, I hope my site helps people out there in making the right choices when it comes to buying hardware. Now, on with the site!
I recently got my hands on a HTC Fuze (AT&T’s version of the Touch Pro) as a new mobile phone. I’m a Rogers user, so I went ahead and got a data plan to go with my wireless services. I soon realized it wasn’t as easy to set the whole thing up, especially with the amount of outdated information out there. I managed to piece together all the available information and have the damn thing work in the end as frustrating as it was.
Here’s what you have to do to get it working. Please note that this is for people who have a data plan (e.g. 500 MB, 1 GB, 6 GB, etc.) and not the Vision/on-device WAP browsing plans. For those types of connections, you will have to substitute the APNs for something else.
Step 1: Create the Rogers Internet connection
Step 2: Switch over to PAP Authentication
Rogers does not work with CHAP authentication, so let’s go ahead and switch over to PAP.
Step 3: Remove the hidden proxy
Download and run this file on your Fuze. This will now disable and remove the hidden proxy that comes shipped with the HTC Fuze. Opera at this point will not work as far as I have tested, but Internet Explorer and everything else will work just fine, including weather updates on the TouchFLO 3D interface. The fix for Opera is below, keep reading!
Step 4: Soft reset the device
Reset the device by turning it on and off.
Step 5: Enable Data Connections
Step 6: Test with Internet Explorer
Launch Internet Explorer and test your connection. It should work at this point if I haven’t forgotten to mention anything. Try going to Google or any other fast loading site, and try doing a search just to be safe that you’re not loading the pages through cache.
Step 7: Remove and reinstall Opera 9.5 (stock)
Basically, the version that comes with the HTC Fuze contains the proxy settings hard-coded into it. Even though you disable the proxy in IE, it still remains in Opera. The only fix I know for this without modifying registry or configurations files is to remove Opera through Add/Remove programs and reinstall it from the official Opera Mobile website. After doing this step, you’re ready to surf the web on your Fuze. Enjoy!
REVISED: Mencoder 1.0rc2 has too many problems with WMV files. Modified the guide to work with Mencoder 1.0rc1 instead. Also, added the necessary steps to install GCC 4.2 to compile FFMPEG correctly.
For the past week, I have been trying to figure out how to get Clip-Share 4.0.9 working on a FreeBSD system. Uploading script files are easy, but when it comes to compiling and installing binaries, everything can go wrong and then some. I wanted to install everything from ports to keep the system clean and organized, and to make future upgrades easy. I also wanted all the options in CS 4.0.9 to work with minimal customization of the scripts, so if I ever update to the next version, I don’t have to worry about overwriting files that are heavily customized. This guide is for the user who can’t get Clip-Share to work on a FreeBSD 6.3 system. Basic understanding of the operating system is required to follow this guide.
My installation guide works with the following installs:
FreeBSD 6.3, Apache 1.3.41, PHP 5.2.6, MySQL 5.0.51a
Mplayer (mplayer-0.99.11_7)
Mencoder 1.0rc1 (compiled from sources)
FFMPEG (ffmpeg-2008.07.27_7)
libvorbis-1.2.0_2,3
libogg-1.1.3,4
lame-3.97_1
You will need root access to perform certain functions in this guide. If all the binaries are already installed for you, you might want to skip down a section or two and probably go to the convert.php file modification part.
While I have tried to simplify and remove unnecessary steps from this guide, I might become a bit redundant during the ports install. I have listed all the ports that you will need to install. Sometimes, installing one port (e.g. Mplayer) might install everything else for you automatically. Chances are that x264, xvid, speex, libtheora, faac, win32codecs, lame, etc. will all be compiled & installed for you as they can be dependencies (if selected during the configure step).
Just so you know, there is no need for ffmpeg-PHP or phpVideoToolkit. Lastly, you can follow this guide whether or not you have DirectAdmin or any other control panel installed.
First, let’s do some basic httpd.conf configuration. Open up your domain’s httpd.conf file (or global httpd.conf) and find the VirtualHost section for the domain you’re installing Clip-Share on. You will have to insert the following lines between the <VirtualHost></VirtualHost> directives of your domain.
DirectAdmin users: login as Admin, go to “Custom HTTPD Configurations”. Select the domain you are installing Clip-Share on. Add the following lines in the top box (“Httpd.conf Customization for yourdomain.com”).
php_value upload_max_filesize 100M
php_value post_max_size 100M
php_value max_execution_time 1000
php_value session.gc_maxlifetime 14000
php_value output_buffering on
php_admin_value suhosin.executor.func.whitelist exec //if using suhosin
Using your favourite SSH client (putty, SecureCRT, direct console access, etc.) login to your server as root.
While this is not required, I put this setting in make.conf to prevent any of the ports from installing X11 garbage. There is no place for X11 or GUIs on a web server, so this little setting enforces the rule.
In /etc/make.conf, put:
WITHOUT_X11=yes
Now, we get to install the necessary applications and libraries via Ports. Before you actually start installing everything, make sure your ports system is up to date. If you don’t know how to do this, check the FreeBSD handbook, section CVS.
Installing ports is very straight-forward and fun.
Next, we’re going to copy the compiled binary to /usr/local/bin/. Just type:
# cp mencoder /usr/local/bin/
We need to do a small tweak to get things running smoothly. Flvtool++ installs itself under /usr/local/bin/, while Clip-Share looks for this utility under /usr/bin/ (beats me as to why). Rather than have duplicate binaries, we’ll create a symlink. Just do the following (as root):
# cd /usr/bin/
# ln –s flvtool2 /usr/local/bin/flvtool++
Now it’s time to go ahead and upload the Clip-Share files. Don’t forget to transfer the files in Binary mode (as recommended by the developers).
Make sure the .htaccess file is uploaded correctly and that it’s present in the root directory of your website. On an OSX workstation, you won’t see this file as Leopard hides files that begin with a dot. Your best bet is to upload the entire Clip-Share archive file and extract it via console, this way making sure all the files are uploaded correctly and are present.
Make sure the CGI-BIN directory is chmod’ed 755, and both the user AND the group belong to YOUR username on the server. Double-check this now; it’ll take you 30 seconds and save you a lot of trouble. If it is different, do the following via the console:
# chown username:username cgi-bin
Where username is your login name on the server.
Follow the rest of the CS installation file. Change the absolute path in ubr_upload.pl accordingly and verify that it is correct. On a FreeBSD system with DirectAdmin installed, it’ll look like: /home/username/domains/yourdomain.com/public_html/
Modify the convert.php script as follows:
*** Removed previous $encodecommand changes as we’re working with Mencoder 1.0rc1 now. ***
Replace:
exec($config[‘metainject’]. ‘ –Uv ‘ .$config[‘FLVDO_DIR’]. ‘/’ .$vid. ‘x.flv ‘ .$config[‘FLVDO_DIR’]. ‘/’ .$vid. ‘.flv’);With:
exec($config[‘metainject’]. ‘ ‘ .$config[‘FLVDO_DIR’]. ‘/’ .$vid. ‘x.flv ‘ .$config[‘FLVDO_DIR’]. ‘/’ .$vid. ‘.flv’);
Login to your website’s administration panel (/siteadmin) and go to “System Checks”. Make sure there are no binaries missing, other than THEORA and FAAC support.
Go to “Media Settings” and enable “Video resize” if you want.
Upload several test videos of varying sizes and formats. Make sure the audio is in sync and that Clip-Share is resizing them accordingly. Take a look at your server load and see if everything is looking ok. The videos you upload must be error-free and encoded properly. I’ve noticed that videos that are poorly encoded or corrupt won’t convert correctly.
Pay attention to Apache error log file in case something goes wrong. If you get “No file given” errors, it’s related to Mencoder from my experience. Make sure you have 1.0rc1 or 1.0rc2 installed and nothing else.
I hope this guide helps someone out. Feedback is much appreciated. Enjoy!