Archive for Linux

longip script

I wanted to create a script that would convert a normal IP address to a long IP, just like mIRC Script’s $longip alias.

$longip(address)

Converts an IP address into a long value and vice-versa.

$longip(158.152.50.239)  returns 2660774639

$longip(2660774639)       returns 158.152.50.239

What I was originally trying to do was increase an IP by 1, but due to the octets only allowing up to 255, this became increasingly difficult to do.

What I decided to do in the end was convert the IP to a “longip” then increase it by 1, then convert the IP BACK to normal IP.

This required a way to convert an IP to and from longIP, I was told it could be done purely using shell script, here’s what I did…

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OpenCart v0.7.9 released

OpenCart is an open source PHP-based e-commerce online shop website solution. Ideal for new or existing stores to start selling online.

OpenCart all began because (at the time) the leading open source e-commerce solution out there was not very good, to say the least.

The first notable release was OpenCart v0.5 back in late 2006 and has been gaining momentum ever since.

The project is lead by Daniel Kerr, and I have also recently joined the team.

Download OpenCart v0.7.9

If you need any assistance with OpenCart, you can find me on the OpenCart Community Forums, and on the OpenCart Google Code project site.

Don’t forget to donate!

Enjoy!

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Next time i’m buying a mac

Recently I decided to get away for a break, so I left the country with all intention of not doing anything work related for a week.

This was all fine, but to check my personal emails I decided to find an internet café to rather than use my mobile phone to save my pennies.

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Installing IonCube Loader with cPanel on CentOS

There seems to be limited details of how this is done. It’s fairly simple to be honest, but I felt it could save somebody some time if it was documented.

In case you were wondering IonCube is a PHP encoder, usually used to stop people stealing your PHP code when you distribute it. Consequently to run the encoded PHP you require a “loader”, which will run it correctly.

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Xen on CentOS Host running FreeBSD Guest

Recently i’ve been investigating Xen. In short, Xen is open source virtualisation software that provides you with the ability to split a physical hardware server (host or dom0) into multiple virtual servers (guest or domU).

What makes Xen so special above the rest is that it offers such a wide span of guest operating systems. Read the rest of this entry »

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The requested URL /cpanel was not found on this server

If you run cPanel servers, then you may at some point experience this issue.

The problem is when you attempt to visit “http://server.example.com/cpanel” and you get the following message or similar:

The requested URL /cpanel was not found on this server.

The requested URL /whm was not found on this server.

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Migrating from Windows to Linux

These days I find myself playing less and less games on my computer. This is mainly because I use my computer as a workstation, and playing games would interfere with that.

My workstation, like most runs Microsoft Windows - Why? - Because I always have done.

With the release of Windows Vista ever dawning, and the new Windows Genuine Advantage checks, there has never been a better time to find an alternative solution.

Over the past few years I have had more and more dealings with Linux, and I find myself asking the same question… “What is stopping me from migrating from Windows to Linux?”, I then find myself creating all kinds of excuses why I cannot.

I spent many months attempting to eliminate these excuses, by offering the solutions to your problems.

My reason for sharing this with you is to make it more of a realistic possibility for everyone, not just IT gurus or geeks, but anyone.

Why would I want to migrate?

There are many reasons why you would want to migrate, I’m sure that the reasons to migrate out weigh the petty reasons of why you are forced to stay on windows.

  • Affordable - Not only is it that Windows costs a lot of money, but the additional software you require, such as Microsoft Office costs money too! Using Linux and Open Source software eliminates these costs, as they are freely available for download.
  • Reliable - This is the reason why a large percentage of the worlds websites run on Linux based servers, and not windows.
  • Secure - It’s not that it doesn’t have its fair share of issues, its that its not targetted in the same way as windows, meaning that there are a fraction of the problems.
  • Compatible - Anything runs on Linux. Almost.
  • Support - Linux has been very well received over the years, therefore there is much support behind any Linux related project.
  • Future - Is it really a realistic idea that people will pay for an operating system when they can get one for free that can do exactly the same things. Certainly not, therefore this is the future.
  • Choice - One of the best thing about Linux is that there is a vast choice of distributions that all offer their individual advantages. No longer are you forced to purchase an operating system from one distributor, you can simply download it free from your choice of distributors.
  • Anti-monopolisation - Microsoft have had it too easy for too long, holding a large percentage of the workstation market, give them a reason to really get competitive.
  • Privacy - By running windows and connecting to the internet, you are seriously compremising your privacy, Microsoft now checks your OS Version, System Manufacturer, System Model, Windows Product Key, the date, and most likely your IP address will be logged, as this is standard protocol when you access a server.
  • Open Source - No more closed source non-sense like the software from Microsoft.

There are the reasons to migrate, and i’m sure you’ll agree, they are good enough reasons.

Usually at this point you will find excuses of why you can’t migrate, usually along the lines of “My [essential software] will not run on linux”.

I intend to look at each piece of “essential software” people use on Windows and offer either a way to run it on Linux or a compatible alternative.

We all have them, software we use on a day-to-day basis that we’d seriously miss if they no longer existed.

My essential software is as follows:

  • Microsoft Outlook (NOT Outlook Express) - This offers Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Notes and Journal, I mainly use Mail, Calendar and Contacts.
  • mIRC - An internet relay chat client that is second to none, not because of its interface, but because of its flexable scripting ability, its very useful to create an automated function to achieve a certain repetitive task. It also obviously allows me to chat to certain people and and within communities.
  • Winamp - There’s nothing better than streaming di.fm or playing mp3s from my vast collection of music.
  • Mozilla Firefox - Possibily the best browser around at the moment.
  • Outlook Express - A very simple mail client and newsgroup reader, I personally don’t use outlook express, as I use Outlook, but I imagine the usenet part is essential to some people.
  • Mozilla Thunderbiard - A reasonable alternative to Outlook Express.
  • FileZilla FTP Client - A rather good open source ftp client, an absolute must for uploading and downloading to/from an FTP server.
  • EditPlus - A really useful text editor, so much better than Notepad.
  • MSN/Live Messenger - I need to beable to communicate with my mates.
  • RealVNC - Important peice of software to allow me to access my PC from anywhere, mainly for access to mIRC and Outlook, but mainly because i’m very often out and about.
  • Photoshop - I like to have a dabble sometimes…
  • Azureus - Bit Torrents are big thing these days, you’re gonna need a good bit torrent client.
  • Microsoft Word - Everyone needs a good word processor, after all, this is why computers were made.
  • Microsoft Excel - Spreadsheets are very useful for displaying tabular data, and creating graphs.
  • Microsoft Access - I know that often people use access for their database systems, although I don’t use it myself, I know its very important to some people.
  • Nero - A great peice of software for making backups, burning images and duplication.
  • PowerDVD - Its nice to beable to play DVD’s on your PC, especially when your PC monitor is bigger than your TV
  • Audiograbber - So when I do actually buy a Music CD I like to convert it into mp3s so I can listen to it without the CD in my drive.
  • Dreamweaver - Its not that important, but its useful sometimes to have a WYSIWYG HTML editor or web authoring software.
  • Putty - The ability to connect to a server via SSH is vital as a server administrator.
  • X-Lite - A peice of SIP Voice Over IP software, very useful in this day and age, especially when people are calling you.
  • Calculator - I don’t physically have a working one, a software one is very useful.
  • Adobe Acrobat Reader - An important peice of software for reading PDF files.
  • Norton Antivirus - I left Mcafee many years ago for Norton, we all need a way to stop those little critters!
  • Kerio Personal Firewall - Godda block those unwanted connections.
  • Winzip and Winrar - Having some kind of compression and more importantly decompression utility is important.
  • Apache - I actually run a local copy of Apache with PHP, usually as part of XAMPP for local development purposes and remote file access.
  • File and Printer Sharing - Although its actually part of windows, i’d seriously miss the ability to access files across my network.

I got this far, my next step was to look at Linux alternatives to this software, however this is where my migration plan breaks down, as I lack research on a solution to Microsoft Outlook in Linux.

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Which is the best operating system?

I’ve done my research and i’ve discovered there’s only 6 Operating Systems that I would ever need to use.

For your workstations

  • At the office: Windows
    • I would choose this in almost all businesses as often they require the ability to run windows based applications.
    • In many business environments windows is required to be a client on their network, meaning you are unable to use their network if you are using Linux or a Mac based system.
  • The developer: Ubuntu Linux (free)
    • I would choose this for developers as it’s quick, stable and allows you easy interfacing with developer tools and services running on Linux based systems.
    • This platform can also be ideal for the future of technology due to the fact it is free and that due to the way technology is heading before long all you will need to use your applications is a web browser.
  • The designer: Mac OS X
    • This is a good stable and compatible platform for graphic design applications, ideal for graphics designers.
    • Generally the graphics applications you see on Windows appear on Mac first. This was often the case with Adobe/Macromedia products.

For your servers

  • Web/Mail/Database Server: CentOS
    • Based on Redhat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) this product is designed to deal with the enterprise market offering you real performance, the real difference between CentOS and RHEL is that CentOS is free.
    • The reason why I would choose CentOS is that because it is based on a Redhat product its very compatible with available applications meaning you get them first. It is also very easy to use.
    • Another great aspect of this is that unlike Fedora there’s no product life cycle.
    • The final attribute of CentOS is it’s great community.
  • Game Server: debian
    • I find that the game server applications run best on debian. This is probably the only reason I would use it.
  • IRC/Shell Server: FreeBSD
    • The main reason for this is because its so well received by the IRC community, and offers great compatibility for IRC applications.
    • This OS also offers the ability to use “Jailing”, which was an important aspect before the ability of creating “virtual servers” on Linux existed.

For more information check out the Comparison of operating systems on the Wikipedia

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