Articles by Falko Timme

About Falko Timme

Falko Timme is an experienced Linux administrator and founder of Timme Hosting, a leading nginx business hosting company in Germany. He is one of the most active authors on HowtoForge since 2005 and one of the core developers of ISPConfig since 2000. He has also contributed to the O'Reilly book "Linux System Administration".

• How can I get a list of quotas assigned to my users and groups and of the space used by them?

  Author: Falko Timme • Tags: linux • Comments: 0

  repquota -avug shows a list for both users and groups. repquota -au shows a list for users, repquota -ag a list for groups.

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• How do I create SSL certificates with OpenSSL on the command line?

  Author: Falko Timme • Tags: apache • Comments: 0

  You do it like this: openssl genrsa -des3 -passout pass:yourpassword -out /path/to/your/key_file 1024 openssl req -new -passin pass:yourpassword -passout pass:yourpassword -key /path/to/your/key_file -out /path/to/your/csr_file -days 365 openssl req -x509 -passin pass:yourpassword -passout pass:yourpassword -key /path/to/your/key_file -in /path/to/your/csr_file -out /path/to/your/crt_file -days 365 openssl rsa -passin pass:yourpassword -in /path/to/your/key_file -out /path/to/your/key_file2 chmod 400 /path/to/your/key_file2

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• How do I make an sql dump of a MySQL database on the command line?

  Author: Falko Timme • Tags: mysql • Comments: 2

  If your MySQL user has a password: mysqldump -h localhost -u [MySQL user, e.g. root] -p[database password] -c --add-drop-table --add-locks --all --quick --lock-tables [name of the database] > sqldump.sql Please note:  there's no space between -p and the password!If there's no password: mysqldump -h localhost -u [MySQL user, e.g. root] -c --add-drop-table --add-locks --all --quick --lock-tables [name of the database] > sqldump.sql

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• I'd like to disable the use of the exec() function in my PHP. Can this be done?

  Author: Falko Timme • Tags: php • Comments: 0

  Yes, you can disable it in your php.ini. Search for the line disable_functions = and change it: disable_functions = exec Don't forget to restart Apache afterwards.

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• I get the feeling that my hard disk is very slow. Is there a way I can verify and tune it?

  Author: Falko Timme • Tags: other • Comments: 0

  You can use hdparm to tune your hard disk. On Debian, you would run apt-get install hdparm to install it. hdparm --help shows a list of all available options. To get more information about your hard disk, run hdparm -i /dev/hda This will look like: /dev/hda: Model=MAXTOR 6L060J3, FwRev=A93.0500, SerialNo=663214759549 Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs } RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=32256, SectSize=21298, ECCbytes=4 BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=1819kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16 CurCHS=4047/16/255, CurSects=16511760, LBA=yes, LBAsects=117266688 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120} PIO modes: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 DMA modes: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 *udma2 AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled Drive conforms to: ATA/ATAPI-5 T13 1321D revision 1: * signifies the current active mode To see how fast your hard disk currently is execute

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• Is it possible to find out which CPU my Linux system uses?

  Author: Falko Timme • Tags: other • Comments: 1

  Yes, with cat /proc/cpuinfo

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• How do I find out about my system's memory usage?

  Author: Falko Timme • Tags: other • Comments: 0

  With cat /proc/meminfo

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• Postfix-SMTP-AUTH-TLS-Howto

  Author: Falko Timme • Tags: postfix • Comments: 1

  Postfix-SMTP-AUTH-TLS-Howto This document describes how to install a mail server based on postfix that is capable of SMTP-AUTH and TLS. It should work (maybe with slight changes concerning paths etc.) on all *nix operating systems. I tested it on Debian Woody and Fedora Core 1 so far.

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• Chkrootkit-Portsentry-Howto

  Author: Falko Timme • Tags: security • Comments: 1

  Chkrootkit-Portsentry-HowtoThis document describes how to install chkrootkit and portsentry. It should work (maybe with slight changes concerning paths etc.) on all *nix operating systems. Chkrootkit "is a tool to locally check for signs of a rootkit" (from http://www.chkrootkit.org). "The Sentry tools provide host-level security services for the Unix platform. PortSentry, Logcheck/LogSentry, and HostSentry protect against portscans, automate log file auditing, and detect suspicious login activity on a continuous basis".

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• The Perfect Setup - White Box Linux / Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0

  Author: Falko Timme • Tags: linux • Comments: 0

  The Perfect Setup - White Box Linux / Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 This is a detailed description about the steps to be taken to setup a Linux server based on White Box Linux that offers all services needed by ISPs and hosters (web server (SSL-capable), mail server (with SMTP-AUTH and TLS!), DNS server, FTP server, MySQL server, POP3/IMAP, Quota, Firewall, etc.).

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