rndsleep – add a random delay to cron jobs

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A command-line utility written in Go to sleep for a random period, then run another command line executable.

Typical usage would be to run puppet agent in onetime mode in cron to save resources – the random sleep will help to avoid thundering herd issues at the puppetmaster.

rndsleep --randmax=30 --command="puppet agent --no-daemonize --onetime"

would run puppet agent with a random timeout of 0-30s.

Can be compiled on all platforms that Go is available for. Download it from github.

Comment-line in emacs

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To comment/uncomment a line in emacs, add this to your ~/.emacs

;; comment line
(defun comment-or-uncomment-region-or-line ()
    "Comments or uncomments the region or the current line if there's no active region."
    (interactive)
    (let (beg end)
        (if (region-active-p)
            (setq beg (region-beginning) end (region-end))
            (setq beg (line-beginning-position) end (line-end-position)))
        (comment-or-uncomment-region beg end)
        ;(next-line)
	))
(global-set-key (kbd "M-#") 'comment-or-uncomment-region-or-line)

(courtesy of Gerstmann on StackOverflow)

Using ssh agent for sudo authentication on debian

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Using this ubuntu guide with 2 changes.

1. Change the configure line to

./configure --libexecdir=/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/security/ --with-mantype=man

2. Instead of editing the sudoers file, create a file under sudoers.d (more modular):

echo "Defaults env_keep += SSH_AUTH_SOCK" > /etc/sudoers.d/ssh_auth

Also note that the latest version of this module on sourceforge is more recent than linked.

Cleaning up repos in cobbler

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Here’s a cobbler snippet that disables the default repomirror (presuming you are serving the rpms yourself) and adds the updates channel


# disable Centos Base Repo (get updates elsewhere)
sed -i -e 's/^/#/g' /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo
# download updates repo file
wget -O - http://$http_server/cobbler/repo_mirror/Centos6-UPDATES/config.repo > /etc/yum.repos.d/Centos6-Updates.repo
sed -i -e 's/\${http_server}/$http_server/' /etc/yum.repos.d/Centos6-Updates.repo

Change the name of the update repo to suit & include it the post section of your .ks template.

Including the update channel in the cobbler profile broke for me – and others too (freezes when it tries to install dbus).

 

cliget :: Add-ons for Firefox

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Download files using curl or wget. This addon generates curl/wget commands that emulate the request as though it’s coming from your browser allowing you to download protected files directly to a separate machine (e.g. server).

via cliget :: Add-ons for Firefox.

Very useful for downloading ISOs directly to your server that you have to log in and traverse various forms (eg Oracle Enterprise Linux).

 

SSH’ing via a gateway host using Putty

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(or Kitty to be more exact, which is Putty on steroids)

1. Set up key authentication to your host with PuttyGen & Pageant (ssh-agent for Putty) – or KittyGen & Kageant if you’re using Kitty. Paste your public key into authorized_hosts on the gateway & destination box.

2. Set up your configuration, IP address in session should be of destination (see screenshot, this is an internal IP).

2014-06-21 17_48_43-KiTTY Configuration

3. Go to Connection -> SSH -> Auth. Check Allow agent forwarding.

4. Connection -> Proxy. Enter your gateway IP in Proxy hostname & exclude Hosts, choose Proxy type local & put your username in the box.

In telnet command put

klink.exe %user@%proxyhost -nc %host:%port \n

(or plink.exe if using putty). This will be run first to tunnel your connection through.

2014-06-21 17_52_38-KiTTY Configuration

5. Done!