[How2CentOS] CentOS Tutorials

BIOS and Firmware Updates Using Dell Linux Repository

Published on October 28th, 2011

You can update your CentOS 6 system to the latest version or to a specific version of the BIOS and firmware available in the Dell Linux online repository. You can inventory your CentOS 6 system, scan the repository for matching firmware with newer version using repository management software such as yum.

Firmware-tools are used to update BIOS and firmware on your system. Using a repository management software, you can easily update your BIOS and firmware to the latest or specific versions on your system.

Setting Up/Bootstrapping the Repository

To setup/bootstrap the Dell Linux online repository on your CentOS 6 sever, run the following command at the command prompt:

# wget -q -O - http://linux.dell.com/repo/hardware/latest/bootstrap.cgi | bash

The system is configured to access the Dell Linux online repository using supported repository management software. The Dell GPG keys and libsmbios (BIOS library) are also installed.

Installing Firmware Tools

# yum install dell_ft_install

Downloading Applicable Firmware

# yum install $(bootstrap_firmware)

You can also inventory your system for the list of existing versions of BIOS and firmware using the following command:

# inventory_firmware

Updating BIOS and Firmware Using CLI

Run the following command to inventory the system and scan the repository for new versions of components:

# update_firmware

This command provides information about the existing versions of components on your system and the list of component versions that are available to be installed.

To install all applicable BIOS and firmware updates on your system, run the following command:

# update_firmware --yes

Once the devices are updated, the “Execution Success” message is displayed.

Automatically Update Firmware

By default, installing a BIOS or firmware RPM does not apply the update to the hardware. The update is manually applied using the update_firmware command. However, you can automatically update the hardware during RPM installation by configuring the /etc/firmware/firmware.conf file.

To automatically install BIOS and firmware updates, ensure that rpm_mode is set to auto in the firmware.conf file as shown:

[main]
 
# Automatically install BIOS updates when an RPM BIOS Update file is installed
# values: 'auto', 'manual'
# default: 'manual'
rpm_mode=auto

Viewing Log Information

# cat /var/log/firmware-updates.log

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CentOS 6 Channel Bonding

Published on October 28th, 2011

CentOS 6 Channel Bonding allows administrators to bind multiple network interfaces together into a single channel using the bonding kernel module and a special network interface called a channel bonding interface. Channel bonding enables two or more network interfaces to act as one, simultaneously increasing the bandwidth and providing redundancy.

CentOS 6 Channel Bonding

Channel bonding (also known as “Ethernet bonding”) is a computer networking arrangement in which two or more network interfaces on a host computer are combined for redundancy or increased throughput.

mode=0 (Balance-rr) – This mode provides load balancing and fault tolerance.
mode=1 (active-backup) – This mode provides fault tolerance.
mode=2 (balance-xor) – This mode provides load balancing and fault tolerance.
mode=3 (broadcast) – This mode provides fault tolerance.
mode=4 (802.3ad) – This mode provides load balancing and fault tolerance.
mode=5 (balance-tlb) – Prerequisite: Ethtool support in the base drivers for retrieving the speed of each slave.
mode=6 (balance-alb) – Prerequisite: Ethtool support in the base drivers for retrieving the speed of each slave.
(more…)

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Disable SELinux CentOS 6

Published on October 17th, 2011

If you really need to disable SELinux on CentOS 6 please consider the following:

SELinux Warning

# vi /etc/selinux/config

Change SELINUX=enforcing

# This file controls the state of SELinux on the system.
# SELINUX= can take one of these three values:
#     enforcing - SELinux security policy is enforced.
#     permissive - SELinux prints warnings instead of enforcing.
#     disabled - No SELinux policy is loaded.
SELINUX=enforcing
# SELINUXTYPE= can take one of these two values:
#     targeted - Targeted processes are protected,
#     mls - Multi Level Security protection.
SELINUXTYPE=targeted

to SELINUX=disabled

# This file controls the state of SELinux on the system.
# SELINUX= can take one of these three values:
#       enforcing - SELinux security policy is enforced.
#       permissive - SELinux prints warnings instead of enforcing.
#       disabled - SELinux is fully disabled.
SELINUX=disabled
# SELINUXTYPE= type of policy in use. Possible values are:
#       targeted - Only targeted network daemons are protected.
#       strict - Full SELinux protection.
SELINUXTYPE=targeted

This will disable SELinux on your next reboot.

To diable SELinux, without having to reboot, you can use the setenforce command like so:

# setenforce 0

This will revert to enforcing once you reboot
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Installing PHP 5.3 on CentOS 5.7

Published on October 10th, 2011

The assumption for this CentOS 5.7 tutorial is that you are running as root and have a basic understanding of the software required but if you follow this tutorial you should be able to complete the task successfully.

# yum install yum-priorities

Installing PHP 5.3 on CentOS 5.7 x86_64

Install the EPEL x86_64 Repo

# rpm -Uvh http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/epel/5/x86_64/epel-release-5-4.noarch.rpm

Install the IUS x86_64 Repo

# rpm -Uvh http://dl.iuscommunity.org/pub/ius/stable/Redhat/5/x86_64/ius-release-1.0-8.ius.el5.noarch.rpm

# yum install php53u php53u-common php53u-devel

# php -v
PHP 5.3.8 (cli) (built: Aug 23 2011 06:33:32)
Copyright (c) 1997-2011 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v2.3.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2011 Zend Technologies

Installing PHP 5.3 on CentOS 5.7 i386

Install the EPEL i386 Repo

# rpm -Uvh http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/epel/5/i386/epel-release-5-4.noarch.rpm

Install the IUS i386 Repo

# rpm -Uvh http://dl.iuscommunity.org/pub/ius/stable/Redhat/5/i386/ius-release-1.0-8.ius.el5.noarch.rpm

# yum install php53u php53u-common php53u-devel

# php -v
PHP 5.3.8 (cli) (built: Aug 23 2011 06:33:32)
Copyright (c) 1997-2011 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v2.3.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2011 Zend Technologies