The Apple App Store is not the only way to installation additional applications under OS X - another way is to install .pkg files (which have been created by the Apple Installer Framework). Unfortunately not all applications installed using these files are present in the "Programs" category inside Finder. Uninstalling …

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Many software cluster solutions require shared storage between all cluster nodes. A very prominent example for this might be Oracle RAC (Real Application Clusters). In enterprise environments shared cluster storage is often implemented using SAN storage that is connected to multiple systems. For (private) test …

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Hard drives can be forced into hibernate using hdparm. While it was quite easy to implement automatic setting this hibernation values by inserting the appropriate command (hdparm -B intervall device) into /etc/rc.local (which was executed after the boot) on sysvinit-based Linux distributions this changed on newer …

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When a RAID controllers cache battery fails it is a benefit if you can gather the spare part number without any downtime. If your server is equipped with a HP SmartArray controller you can easily get t hose information using the sautil utility. This requires the HP-UX products RAIDSA and RAIDSA-PROVIDER to be …

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DELL offers an Linux appliance based on CentOS 5 for customers using VMware products. This appliance is called "DELL OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter Appliance" and integrates seamless in VMware vCenter Server (or the appliance). It can be used for monitoring physical servers and also allows controlling the …

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I was very happy when I heard a couple of weeks ago that the coveted Pebble smartwatch can now also be ordered in Germany after a long time. Until now this was a problem due to duty difficulties. It seems like this difficulties have now been solved - ordering the watch in the Netherlands is now possible. After I've …

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I'm not administrating Solaris systems very often - it is even more rare that I need to mount optical media on Solaris. This is just a short reminder so that I don't need to use a search engine everytime. First of all the CD / DVD drive is determined by the iostat command. Afterwards the drive is mounted using the …

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This week the first official CentOS Dojo in Cologne was taking place. CentOS Dojos are one-day events where administrators and developers can exchange knowledge. Talks about recent topics are always part of these events. inovex GmbH kindly features the event by providing their rooms and hearty catering. Beside coffee …

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Files can be easily transfered from an Android device to Windows computer using MTP (Media Transfer Protocol). Unfortunately this protocol is not supported in Finder which means that you need to connect your smartphone as hard drive - if this function is supported. My Android 4.4.x ROM isn't supporting this function …

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OpenVPN connections can be established under Mac OS X using the free software Tunnelblick - I kept in mind. Using the most recent OS X version Mavericks this is a problem. The stable version of Tunnelblick is not ready yet for Mavericks which means that it is necessary to use beta version. Unfortunately those were not …

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