Miscellaneous (Linux, UNIX)

root's picture

Index:

[anchor=top][/anchor]
How to check the block size and hardware sector size of any disk in your linux:
How to have a tree view of your block devices (partitions, raid devices, lvm, etc)
How to change the keyboard layout
If you want to enable bonjour on your linux system, you may want to know that this protocol is supported by avahi-daemon
How to see memory usage
Just some sizes explanation
How to monitor the processors
A simple solution for the following error 0403-027 The parameter list is too long.
How to find information about a file, like when it was last modified, updated, accessed
How to prevent timeouts in SSH
How to set up ssh keys
How to get a list of users from /etc/passwd with perl
How to unzip/unrar/extract .001 files
How to find out the username if you have his real name
How to generate random number in bash
How to speedup rdesktop session via linux command line
How to wipe GPT partition table / MBR from a drive
How to wipe partition table / MBR from a drive
How to wipe disk label of a drive
How to export/unexport nfs mounts with command
How to see the processes with I/O wait
How to sort processes by context switch number
How to monitor processes with I/O wait and cpu usage in the same time
How to find the SATA link speed
What to do if you keep getting "Enter password for default keyring to unlock" and the password is not working?
How to see dmesg timestamp in human readable format

[anchor=blocksizehwsectorsize][/anchor]top

How to check the block size and hardware sector size of any disk in your linux:

root@core:~# cat /sys/block/sd?/queue/logical_block_size
512
512
512
512
512
root@core:~# cat /sys/block/sd?/queue/hw_sector_size
512
512
512
512
512

[anchor=blockdevicestreeview][/anchor]top

How to have a tree view of your block devices (partitions, raid devices, lvm, etc):

root@pluto:~# lsblk
NAME                      MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE  MOUNTPOINT
sda                         8:0    0    20G  0 disk
├─sda1                      8:1    0   243M  0 part  /boot
├─sda2                      8:2    0     1K  0 part
└─sda5                      8:5    0  19.8G  0 part
  ├─rootvg-root (dm-0)    254:0    0   512M  0 lvm   /
  ├─rootvg-usr (dm-1)     254:1    0     2G  0 lvm   /usr
  ├─rootvg-var (dm-2)     254:2    0     2G  0 lvm   /var
  ├─rootvg-tmp (dm-3)     254:3    0   380M  0 lvm   /tmp
  ├─rootvg-home (dm-4)    254:4    0   352M  0 lvm   /home
  ├─rootvg-exploit (dm-5) 254:5    0     1G  0 lvm   /exploit
  └─rootvg-swap (dm-6)    254:6    0     1G  0 lvm   [SWAP]

[anchor=changekeyboardlayout][/anchor]top

How to change the keyboard layout (to us for example):

# loadkeys us

[anchor=linuxenablebonjour][/anchor]top

If you want to enable bonjour on your linux system, you may want to know that this protocol is supported by avahi-daemon.

[anchor=memoryusage][/anchor]top

How to see memory usage (may vary with version of UNIX):

# svmon -u | more
# svmon -P | more
# ps aux | more
# ipcs -ma | more

[anchor=sizesexplanation][/anchor]top

Just some sizes explanation:

2^10 = k
2^20 = M
2^30 = G
2^40 = T
2^50 = P
2^60 = E
2^32 = 2^2 * 2^30 = 4GB
2^64 = 2^4 * 2^60 = 16E

[anchor=processorsmonitoring][/anchor]top

How to monitor the processors:

Linux:
core:~# [color=green]mpstat 1 10[/color]
Linux 2.6.32-core1.1-zubaz (core) 	12/07/2011 	_x86_64_

03:12:31 PM  CPU   %user   %nice    %sys %iowait    %irq   %soft  %steal   %idle    intr/s
03:12:32 PM  all    1.87    0.00    4.24    0.00    0.00    0.25    0.00   93.64   3431.00
03:12:33 PM  all    1.24    0.00    4.96    0.12    0.12    0.12    0.00   93.43   4042.57
03:12:34 PM  all    0.37    0.00    4.23    0.37    0.00    0.37    0.00   94.65   3795.05
03:12:35 PM  all    1.74    0.00   13.28    0.12    0.00    0.37    0.00   84.49  12002.00
03:12:36 PM  all    1.25    0.00   11.72    0.37    0.00    1.50    0.00   85.16   9082.18
03:12:37 PM  all    1.12    0.00   10.43    0.00    0.12    1.12    0.00   87.20   6577.00
03:12:38 PM  all    3.10    0.00   12.90    0.00    0.00    0.62    0.00   83.37   7377.23
03:12:39 PM  all    3.36    0.00   12.20    0.00    0.00    0.25    0.00   84.18   6279.00
03:12:40 PM  all    0.50    0.00    6.20    0.12    0.00    0.25    0.00   92.93   4627.72
03:12:41 PM  all    0.25    0.00    4.73    0.37    0.00    0.12    0.00   94.53   3858.42
Average:     all    1.48    0.00    8.49    0.15    0.02    0.50    0.00   89.36   6103.38
AIX:
root@aix~# [color=green]mpstat 1 5[/color]

System configuration: lcpu=2 ent=0.8 mode=Uncapped 

cpu  min  maj  mpc  int   cs  ics   rq  mig lpa sysc us sy wa id   pc  %ec  lcs
  0   17    0    0  455  495  220    1    1 100  825 21 63  0 16 0.03  3.4  380
  1    0    0    0   52   10   10    0    0   -    0  0 48  0 52 0.00  0.3   52
  U    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   -    -  -  -  0 96 0.77 96.3    -
ALL   17    0    0  507  505  230    1    1 100  825  1  2  0 97 0.03  3.7  432
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  0    1    0    0  419  479  215    1    0 100  641 18 65  0 17 0.02  2.6  366
  1    0    0    0   63   10   10    0    0   -    0  0 55  0 45 0.00  0.4   62
  U    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   -    -  -  -  0 97 0.78 97.1    -
ALL    1    0    0  482  489  225    1    0 100  641  0  2  0 98 0.02  2.9  428
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  0    0    0    0  440  480  215    1    0 100  653 18 65  0 18 0.02  2.8  374
  1    0    0    0   45   10   10    0    0   -    0  0 46  0 54 0.00  0.3   44
  U    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   -    -  -  -  0 97 0.78 97.0    -
ALL    0    0    0  485  490  225    1    0 100  653  0  2  0 98 0.02  3.0  418
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  0    0    0  871  621  955  455    1    4 100 19848 44 53  0  3 0.19 23.2  578
  1    0    0  871 1043   21   14    0    3 100    9  0 39  0 61 0.01  1.3 1039
  U    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   -    -  -  -  0 75 0.60 75.5    -
ALL    0    0 1742 1664  976  469    1    7 100 19857 10 13  0 77 0.20 24.5 1617
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  0 2181    0  196  399  421  194    1    6 100 5937 37 58  0  4 0.09 11.0  324
  1  301    0  196  347  173   87    0    9 100  222 17 54  0 29 0.01  1.2  349
  U    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -   -    -  -  -  0 88 0.70 87.8    -
ALL 2482    0  392  746  594  281    1   15 100 6159  4  7  0 89 0.10 12.2  673

[anchor=listtoolong][/anchor]top

A simple solution for the following error 0403-027 The parameter list is too long., example with rm:

# ls | wc -l
    7634
# rm *
ksh: /usr/bin/rm: 0403-027 The parameter list is too long.
# [color=green]find . -type f -exec rm {} \;[/color]
# ls | wc -l
       0

[anchor=fileinformation][/anchor]top

How to find information about a file, like when it was last modified, updated, accessed:

Linux:
florian@gzlinux:~$ [color=green]stat .profile[/color]
  File: `.profile'
  Size: 774             Blocks: 8          IO Block: 4096   regular file
Device: 806h/2054d      Inode: 7           Links: 1
Access: (0644/-rw-r--r--)  Uid: ( 1000/ florian)   Gid: ( 1000/ florian)
Access: 2012-02-27 09:05:28.000000000 +0100
Modify: 2011-09-05 11:57:35.000000000 +0200
Change: 2011-09-05 11:57:35.000000000 +0200
AIX:
[gzaix:root:/home/root:] [color=green]istat .profile[/color]
Inode 96 on device 10/8 File
Protection: rw-r--r--   
Owner: 0(root)          Group: 0(system)
Link count:   1         Length 129 bytes

Last updated:   Thu Nov  4 14:33:25 2010
Last modified:  Thu Aug 12 11:25:50 2010
Last accessed:  Mon Feb 27 09:56:24 2012

[anchor=preventsshtimeout][/anchor]top

How to prevent timeouts in SSH

Server side:

Add the following two lines to /etc/ssh/sshd_config:

ClientAliveInterval 30
ClientAliveCountMax 4
Client side:

Add the following two lines to /etc/ssh/ssh_config (or $HOME/.ssh/config if you don't have root access):

ServerAliveInterval 30
ServerAliveCountMax 4

[anchor=setupsshkeys][/anchor]top

How to set up ssh keys:

1. On the client use the following command to generate a dsa key (if you prefer rsa, use it instead):ssh-keygen -t dsa
2. Copy the generated key to the .ssh/authorized_keys to the server where you want to log in without password. The key file is normally ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub.

[anchor=listpasswdperl][/anchor]top

How to get a list of users from /etc/passwd with perl:

# perl -p -e '$_ = (split(/[:\n]/))[0] . "\n"' /etc/passwd | xargs

[anchor=extract001][/anchor]top

How to unzip/unrar/extract .001 files:

florians-MacBook-Pro:ARCH florian$ ls -la
total 14458152
drwxr-xr-x  79 florian  florian       2686 Mar 30 11:42 .
drwxr-xr-x@  7 florian  florian        238 Mar 30 09:17 ..
-rw-r--r--@  1 florian  florian       6148 Mar 30 11:31 .DS_Store
-rw-r--r--@  1 florian  florian  100000000 Mar 30 12:46 flt-binb.001
-rw-r--r--@  1 florian  florian  100000000 Mar 30 08:55 flt-binb.002
[...]
-rw-r--r--@  1 florian  florian  100000000 Mar 30 08:46 flt-binb.074
-rw-r--r--@  1 florian  florian    2270390 Mar 30 03:36 flt-binb.075
-rw-r--r--@  1 florian  florian       1725 Mar 29 22:58 flt-binb.sfv
florians-MacBook-Pro:DVD2 florian$ [color=green][b]7z e flt-binb.001 [/b][/color]

7-Zip [64] 9.20  Copyright (c) 1999-2010 Igor Pavlov  2010-11-18
p7zip Version 9.20 (locale=utf8,Utf16=on,HugeFiles=on,4 CPUs)

Processing archive: flt-binb.001

Extracting  flt-binb.iso

Everything is Ok

Size:       8543797248
Compressed: 7402270390

[anchor=usernamefromrealname][/anchor]top

How to find out the username if you have his real name. This works if GECOS (user information) is filled correctly.

Most LINUX/UNIX (including AIX):

gzaix@root:/home/root # grep -i max /etc/passwd
togex:!:216:1:RO/C//GZM/Toge.Max APPLI:/home/togex:/usr/bin/ksh

AIX:

gzaix@root:/home/root # lsuser -a gecos ALL | grep -i max     
megot gecos=RO/C//GZM/Toge.Max APPLI

[anchor=bashgeneraterandomnumber][/anchor]top

How to generate random number in bash:

jupiter:~# echo $[ 1 + $[ RANDOM % 10 ]]
1
jupiter:~# echo $[ 1 + $[ RANDOM % 10 ]]
2
jupiter:~# echo $[ 1 + $[ RANDOM % 10 ]]
4
jupiter:~# echo $[ 1 + $[ RANDOM % 10 ]]
6

[anchor=rdesktopspeedup][/anchor]top

How to speedup rdesktop session via linux command line:

This is simple, you just have to add -P and -z which enables local disk cache and transmission compression.
Example of such command with custom resolution and user/password requirement:

florian@florian:~$ /usr/bin/rdesktop 10.8.10.1:2222 -P -z -u vbox -g 1280x750 -E -p -
Autoselected keyboard map en-us
Password: 
WARNING: Remote desktop changed from 1280x750 to 1024x768.

How to wipe disk label of a drive

00:50:21 root@minivm:~# wipefs /dev/sdh
DEVICE OFFSET        TYPE UUID LABEL
sdh    0x200         gpt       
sdh    0x3a3817d5e00 gpt       
sdh    0x1fe         PMBR      
00:50:51 root@minivm:~# wipefs --all /dev/sdh
/dev/sdh: 8 bytes were erased at offset 0x00000200 (gpt): 45 46 49 20 50 41 52 54
/dev/sdh: 8 bytes were erased at offset 0x3a3817d5e00 (gpt): 45 46 49 20 50 41 52 54
/dev/sdh: 2 bytes were erased at offset 0x000001fe (PMBR): 55 aa
/dev/sdh: calling ioctl to re-read partition table: Success
00:51:08 root@minivm:~# wipefs /dev/sdh
00:51:10 root@minivm:~#
00:51:10 root@minivm:~# fdisk -l /dev/sdh
Disk /dev/sdh: 3.64 TiB, 4000787030016 bytes, 7814037168 sectors
Disk model: 2135            
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

[anchor=wipegptpartitiontablembr][/anchor]top

How to wipe partition table / MBR from a drive:

The following disk have GPT partition table and one partition:

[root@florian ~]# fdisk -l /dev/sdb

WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on '/dev/sdb'! The util fdisk doesn't support GPT. Use GNU Parted.


Disk /dev/sdb: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x366ade79

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1       38914   312571192+  83  Linux

Trying to use DD to wipe the partition table. Actually it only deletes the partion(s):

[root@florian ~]# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=512 count=1
1+0 records in
1+0 records out
512 bytes (512 B) copied, 0.263887 s, 1.9 kB/s
[root@florian ~]# fdisk -l /dev/sdb

WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on '/dev/sdb'! The util fdisk doesn't support GPT. Use GNU Parted.


Disk /dev/sdb: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

What you have to do in order to achieve this (there are many other ways too):

[root@florian ~]# parted /dev/sdb
GNU Parted 2.1
Using /dev/sdb
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted) mktable                                                          
New disk label type? msdos                                                
(parted) quit                                                             
Information: You may need to update /etc/fstab.                           

[root@florian ~]# fdisk -l /dev/sdb

Disk /dev/sdb: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000d4499

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

[anchor=wipepartitiontablembr][/anchor]top

How to wipe partition table / MBR from a drive:

Just MBR: dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=446 count=1
MBR and partitions: dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1

[anchor=exportunexportnfscommand][/anchor]top

How to export/unexport nfs mounts with command, without populating /etc/exports:

exportfs -o rw,sync,mp,fsid=1 192.168.1.0/24:/mnt/fs/to/export
exportfs -u 192.168.1.0/24:/mnt/fs/to/export

[anchor=iowaitprocesses][/anchor]top

How to see the processes with I/O wait (processes in uninterruptible sleep marked with D):

watch -n 1 "ps -eo state,pid,cmd | grep ^D"

[anchor=sortprocessescs][/anchor]top

How to sort processes by context switch number:

watch -n 1 "pidstat -w | sort -k 4n | tail -n 20"

[anchor=monitorprociocpu][/anchor]top

How to monitor processes with I/O wait and cpu usage in the same time:

watch -n 1 "ps -eo state,pid,cmd | grep ^D ; top -b -n 1 -c | head -n 40"

[anchor=satalinkspeed][/anchor]top

How to find the SATA link speed:

Small note before the commands:

SATA REVISION => SPEED ({Gbit|MB}/s)
SATA revision 1.0 => 1.5 Gbit/s, 150 MB/s
SATA revision 2.0 => 3 Gbit/s, 300 MB/s
SATA revision 3.0 => 6 Gbit/s, 600 MB/s
SATA revision 3.2 => 16 Gbit/s, 1969 MB/s

Via dmesg:
root@gate:~# [color=green]dmesg | grep -i sata | grep 'link up'[/color]
[    9.603363] ata1: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
root@gate:~# [color=green]dmesg | grep -i --color ahci[/color]
[    9.282782] ahci 0000:00:1f.2: version 3.0
[    9.283862] ahci 0000:00:1f.2: irq 40 for MSI/MSI-X
[    9.283917] ahci 0000:00:1f.2: SSS flag set, parallel bus scan disabled
[    9.284069] ahci 0000:00:1f.2: AHCI 0001.0100 32 slots 1 ports 3 Gbps 0x1 impl SATA mode
[    9.284071] ahci 0000:00:1f.2: flags: 64bit ncq stag only ccc 
[    9.284469] scsi0 : ahci
root@gate:~# [color=green]dmesg | grep -i  ahci | grep -i --color Gbps[/color]
[    9.284069] ahci 0000:00:1f.2: AHCI 0001.0100 32 slots 1 ports 3 Gbps 0x1 impl SATA mode
Via messages log:
root@gate:~# [color=green]grep -i SATA /var/log/messages | grep --color -i 'link up'[/color]
Nov 15 16:41:02 gate kernel: [ 1746.589306] ata1: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
Nov 15 16:48:34 gate kernel: [    9.176402] ata1: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
Nov 16 04:21:16 gate kernel: [41571.102917] ata1: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
Nov 16 06:45:45 gate kernel: [    9.707394] ata1: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
Nov 16 17:00:09 gate kernel: [    9.603363] ata1: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
Via hdparm:
root@gate:~# [color=green]hdparm -I /dev/sda | egrep "Model|speed|Transport"[/color]
	Model Number:       VBOX HARDDISK                           
	   *	Gen2 signaling speed (3.0Gb/s)

[anchor=keyring][/anchor]top

What to do if you keep getting "Enter password for default keyring to unlock" and the password is not working?

Most probably the keyring is corrupt so unfortunately you will have to remove it. This is how I did it, maybe it works for you too!
Source: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=344611

florian@florian:~$ ls -la .gnome2/keyrings/
total 12
drwx------.  2 florian florian 4096 Dec  3 12:46 .
drwx------. 18 florian florian 4096 Jan 29  2015 ..
-rw-------.  1 florian florian 148679 Nov 24 10:57 login.keyring
florian@florian:~/.gnome2/keyrings$ rm .gnome2/keyrings/login.keyring
florian@florian:~/.gnome2/keyrings$

[anchor=dmesgminuscapitalt][/anchor]top

How to see dmesg timestamp in human readable format

Default timestamp (for robots):

root@minivm:~# dmesg | tail
[2334087.877445] =================================== Tue 06 Apr 2021 10:40:01 PM EEST ===================================
[2334687.896271] =================================== Tue 06 Apr 2021 10:50:01 PM EEST ===================================
[2335287.914795] =================================== Tue 06 Apr 2021 11:00:01 PM EEST ===================================
[2335887.933947] =================================== Tue 06 Apr 2021 11:10:01 PM EEST ===================================
[2336487.959855] =================================== Tue 06 Apr 2021 11:20:01 PM EEST ===================================
[2337087.979591] =================================== Tue 06 Apr 2021 11:30:01 PM EEST ===================================
[2337688.000499] =================================== Tue 06 Apr 2021 11:40:01 PM EEST ===================================
[2338288.021460] =================================== Tue 06 Apr 2021 11:50:01 PM EEST ===================================
[2338888.091328] =================================== Wed 07 Apr 2021 12:00:01 AM EEST ===================================
[2339488.144357] =================================== Wed 07 Apr 2021 12:10:01 AM EEST ===================================

Human readable timestamp:

root@minivm:~# dmesg -T | tail
[Tue Apr  6 22:40:36 2021] =================================== Tue 06 Apr 2021 10:40:01 PM EEST ===================================
[Tue Apr  6 22:50:36 2021] =================================== Tue 06 Apr 2021 10:50:01 PM EEST ===================================
[Tue Apr  6 23:00:36 2021] =================================== Tue 06 Apr 2021 11:00:01 PM EEST ===================================
[Tue Apr  6 23:10:36 2021] =================================== Tue 06 Apr 2021 11:10:01 PM EEST ===================================
[Tue Apr  6 23:20:36 2021] =================================== Tue 06 Apr 2021 11:20:01 PM EEST ===================================
[Tue Apr  6 23:30:36 2021] =================================== Tue 06 Apr 2021 11:30:01 PM EEST ===================================
[Tue Apr  6 23:40:37 2021] =================================== Tue 06 Apr 2021 11:40:01 PM EEST ===================================
[Tue Apr  6 23:50:37 2021] =================================== Tue 06 Apr 2021 11:50:01 PM EEST ===================================
[Wed Apr  7 00:00:37 2021] =================================== Wed 07 Apr 2021 12:00:01 AM EEST ===================================
[Wed Apr  7 00:10:37 2021] =================================== Wed 07 Apr 2021 12:10:01 AM EEST ===================================

Thou shalt not steal!

If you want to use this information on your own website, please remember: by doing copy/paste entirely it is always stealing and you should be ashamed of yourself! Have at least the decency to create your own text and comments and run the commands on your own servers and provide your output, not what I did!

Or at least link back to this website.

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