Tag: linux

  • The Little known SSH ForceCommand

    There may be times when you want to restrict what commands a user can issue when they attempt to login over an SSH connection. Instead of executing the users shell, you can instead execute a custom script that limits the user to a specific set of commands. This is known as ForceCommand. There are two…

  • Slow iSCSI performance on ZFS Volumes (zvol)

    TL;DR: For reasons, don’t use ZVOLs for iSCSI volumes. Instead, just use a generic file. I’ve been reorganizing my lab a bit to consolidate some storage and wanted to experiment with iSCSI. I thought “wow, what a great use-case for ZFS ZVOLS…”. If you recall, ZFS has the ability to create block devices called ZVOLs.…

  • Finding Idle Cloud Desktops (Linux)

    Suppose you’re hosting remote Linux desktops in your cloud environment and want to discover which ones could be able to shutdown to save on valuable resources like money, RAM, or CPU. Most Linux remote desktop protocols still utilize Xorg (as opposed to Wayland) for their display server. Prime examples would be tigervnc, tightvnc, or X2go.…

  • Hashicorp Vault Dev Mode

    Ever needed to spin-up a quick Vault cluster to test commands or functionality? Sure, you could spin up minikube and deploy a helm chart, but what if you could do it even faster, without Kubernetes? Vault actually has some *currently* undocumented command-line options that can save you a ton of time. Read on, brother. I…

  • NFS Server in an LX Brand SmartOS Zone

  • Setup Package Cache Server on Ubuntu 18.04

    If you’re like me and have several Debian/Ubuntu machines on your network there’s going to come a time when you need to upgrade them. Doing so, will use up a lot of bandwidth while every machine will likely be downloading the same packages. This may or may not upset your significant other who’s binge-watching Gilmore…