Create an FTP only account in Solaris

The FTP-only username is ftpuser in the following instructions.
   
1. su to root

2. # cat /etc/passwd|cut -f 1 -d: > /etc/ftpusers

3. # echo 'echo "FTP user"' > /bin/ftpuser
# chmod a+x /bin/ftpuser

4. If /etc/shell exists, add 

/bin/ftpuser 

to the last line. 

If not

# ls /bin/*sh > /etc/shells
 
Then add /bin/ftpuser to the last line

5. # useradd -c "FTP User" -d /export/home/ftpuser -m -s /bin/ftpuser -g staff ftpuser
6. # passwd ftpuser


Source: http://www.tek-tips.com/faqs.cfm?fid=2315 + my modifications.
  
Added on 6/9/2010: I just found that my full access account couldn't ftp any more after this. Only ftpuser can ftp. For some strange reason, my username got added to /etc/ftpusers which lists the users that can NOT ftp... Very very weird. After removing my username, the ftp works again.

Loud loud Sun Ultra 45 SPARC

Came in to work this morning, at around 2 or 3 cubicles away from my desk. I heard a huge huge humming noise (sounds like somebody was vacumning.) Immediately I was afraid it's my machine and changed my mind next second because I thought it was just too loud. But unfortunately, it IS my machine. It was toally intolerable. I shut it down right away.

After around 10 minutes, I booted it up again. Thought the noise was getting better. But when I came back from the restroom, the huge humming started again. Googling "loud ultra 45" returned this link. Forget about the cables + fanctl suggestion. I tried the second suggestion.

It worked! But the noise still seems to cycle from quite to medieum loud especially I started to work on something after a long rest. Well, at least it doesn't look like it's due to refurbishment since other people had the same problem as well.

Steps:

1. Change to root
2. # vi /etc/power.conf

Add the following lines:

cpupm enable
cpu-threshold 15s

3. # pmconfig

DHCP in Solaris 10

# Setup DHCP client in Solaris 10

find the interface name.e.g. /etc/hostname.eri0

touch dhcp.eri0

Reboot

Triple Boot with OpenSolaris, Fedora and Ubuntu

After too many trial-n-errors, finally I was able to put these three OSes in one harddisk. They have to be installed in the following order:

OpenSolaris - Has to be the first partition. Don't know if it's due to the fact that the boot loader has to be under 1024-cylinder limit thing. The installation never stated what the real problem is, it only says it couldn't create the partition or worse, it let you install the system but it won't boot after your're done.

Fedora 10 - It's pretty uneventful to install this. Create a partition to mount to / and swap area (double the RAM size). Just to be safe, after installation, save /boot/grub/menu.lst file in another machine (ftp, vsftp setup on Fedora is another topic, not straightford at all)

Ubuntu 8.10 - Create a partition in the remaining free space and mount it to /. It will ask if you want o import Fedora. Tick that to agree.

After installing Ubuntu, go to System -> Administration to unlock root. Double click on root to change the password. After that,

su
password: xxxx
vi /boot/grub/menu.lst

The Fedora boot entry should already be included. Add the following to include OpenSolaris's boot menu:

title OpenSolaris
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

Also remember to change timeout from 10 to 20 or more.

Reboot Ubuntu.

OpenSolaris Release

Just a note here to myself.

OpenSolaris 2008.11 is only for X86

OpenSolaris 2009.4 will have support for SPARC

Download site: http://www.genunix.org/

The following article is from Softpedia.

OpenSolaris 2008.11 ReleasedPowerful, secure OS powered by Solaris

Two days ago, Sun Microsystems announced the second stable release of its OpenSolaris project. Not only is this release much better, faster and powerful than the previous one, OpenSolaris 2008.05 (announced at the beginning of May 2008), but it also includes all the latest technologies and applications, such as OpenOffice.org 3 or wireless drivers that "just work." OpenSolaris is now a stable, open source, secure, highly scalable, freely re-distributable and reliable operating system.

The new release, OpenSolaris 2008.11, has a wonderful and highly customized GNOME 2.24, patched with many improvements requested by users, which offers you a lightweight but very powerful desktop environment. The amazing ZFS filesystem will automatically create snapshots of your files, and they can be browsed using the Time Slider feature from Nautilus.

OpenSolaris 2008.11 introduces limited suspend and resume from RAM on the Toshiba Tecra M8, Tecra M10, Tecra M9, Tecra A9, Portege R500 and Satellite A205; Lenovo 889703U and 64608VU; Dell Precision M4300 and Latitude D630 and Sun Microsystems' Ultra 24, Ultra 20 Workstation, Ultra 40 Workstation laptops. Moreover, support for the following languages has been added in the new release of OpenSolaris: Indonesian, Malay, Kazak, Vietnamese and Ukrainian.

Highlights of OpenSolaris 2008.11:

· ZFS Filesystem (with snapshot support);
· GNOME 2.24 - Powerful desktop environment;
· Mozilla Firefox 3.0 - Award winning web browser;
· OpenOffice.org 3.0 - Open source office suite;
· NetBeans and Eclipse - Powerful Integrated Development Environments;
· Songbird - Powerful music player;
· Transmission - Popular BitTorrent client;
· Gobby - A collaborative editor;
· Tracker - Desktop search tool;
· Improved printer manager;
· Improved package manager;
· Software updates notifier;
· New software repositories;
· Better wireless drivers;
· Improved hardware support;
· Improved Web Stack;
· Storage profiles;
· Automated installer - Supports local and network installations;
· COMSTAR - Turns an OpenSolaris host into an SCSI storage device or target;
· Distribution constructor - Build bootable and pre-configured OpenSolaris images.

With the OpenSolaris 2008.11 being released and all that, Sun Microsystems has already started to work on the next version, OpenSolaris 2009.4, which will introduce support for the SPARC architecture, a new tool for resource control and network virtualization, called Crossbow, and virtual consoles. Users should also expect improvements to the package management, automated installer and network auto-magic projects, along with new applications. OpenSolaris 2009.4 will be released in April 2009. Until then, download OpenSolaris 2008.11 right now from Softpedia.

Set up DNS in Solaris 8

/etc/resolv.conf (not resolve.conf)- add the "nameserver xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx"

here/etc/nsswitch.conf- change the line that starts with "hosts" to include "dns" immediately
after "files""hosts files" to "hosts files dns"

/etc/defaultrouter- add the gateway IP here "xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx"

Restart inetd

Supposedly the following should work but it doesn't.
$ pkill -HUP inetd

I just kill inetd process and start it with
$ inetd -s

To check if it works. It will show how it routes to the yahoo's ip.
$ nslookup
> www.yahoo.com
.
.
.
> exit

$

Screen Saver and Power Management in Solaris CDE desktop

Tools->Desktop Controls->Screen Style Manager->Style Manager - Screen

NTP Client Configuration on Solaris 10

NTP Client Configuration on Solaris 10

1. Check the ntp daemon
ps -ef | grep ntp

It returns xntpd is running.

2. Stop the daemon:
svcadm disable ntp

3. Copy /etc/inet/ntp.client to /etc/inet/ntp.conf. Change mode of ntp.conf to make it writable. Use vi to edit ntp.conf.

Add the following lines:

server yourcompanystimeserver prefer
server 192.43.244.18
server 129.6.15.28
server 216.200.93.8
server 64.236.96.53

multicastclient 224.0.1.1

4. Sync with the time server:
ntpdate yourcompanystimeserver

5. Start ntp daemon
svcadm enable ntp


In Windows XP,
1. download TimeTools SNTP Client from this link.
2. Open a command prompt. Type the following to stop w32time from blocking the port
u:\> net stop w32time

3. Launch TimeTools SNTP Client, in Option page, enter the NTP server IP, tick Adjust System Time and click OK to synchronize. Remember close it immediately because this tool has some bug which causes huge time error if you let it run continuously.