Installing Gimp on Redhat 6.4

Gimp is the GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed piece of software for tasks like photo retouching. I wanted to use it to crop photos, like Irfanview does so easily on Windows.

Unfortunately, like so many other software installations on Redhat Linux, the install was not straightforward and required overcoming errors. 😦  Here’s how to install gimp on Redhat 6.4.

gimp – GNU Image Manipulation Program

Installing Talend Open Studio For Big Data 5.5.1 on Redhat 6.4

Recently, Talend Open Studio For Big Data was recommended for me, so I thought I’d try it out.

But as I’ve so often encountered with Java on Linux, the install was a long process, full of java error stacks, google searches, research, trial and error, debugging, forum posts, and so on. Sigh, not again!

Here’s what I did to get Talend Big Data to install and work.  Big errors I encountered are detailed at the bottom.

 

Talend Open Studio 5.5.1

 

Download Talend Big Data Software:

Install Sqlite And Query Firefox Log Files Using SQL

Firefox saves a lot of log information in RDBMS files that can be queried in sqlite, using standard SQL commands.

SQLite3

 

To query the files, you have to have the right version of sqlite. Turns out that an old version was installed with my Redhat Linux 6.4 installation and I had to upgrade it in order to see the data. Here is how you can install the software and query the logs.

 

When I ran sample sqlite queries I found on the web, I got lots of errors:

sqlite3 ./cookies.sqlite 'select count() from moz_cookies'
Error: file is encrypted or is not a database

Four Ways To Install Software On Linux

New to Linux?  Here’s some information that might be useful.

Linux is different from Windows in how software is installed. In Windows, starting with a CD, DVD, or an executable file, you run an executable file and install the software, usually via a GUI with prompts.

 

Redhat Desktop

 

However, in Linux, there are at least 3 or 4 different ways to install software:

rpm packages
yum (related to rpm)
Unzip a file into a directory
Run an executable file or script  

Installing Gephi On 64 bit Machines

The instructions for installing Gephi can be found at:

https://gephi.org/users/install/

They seem simple enough. But I found out that on a 64 bit server, it’s really important that you have a full 64/64/64 bit combination. That represents the operating system, Java, and Gephi. Here are some hints to get it right.

Java:

Be sure to download the right java file.  

Installing NVidia Drivers on Redhat 6.4 and Removing Nouveau

Recently I’ve been working with the graph database, NEO4J. Much of the usefulness of graph software is in visualizing it. So, I decided to install Gephi on Redhat 6.4. Gephi installed on Redhat easily enough. But it did not display the most important thing, the graph window!  😦

Gephi With No Graph Section

Debugging Gephi:

The Gephi website says:  “Gephi uses an OpenGL 3D engine to speed up graph visualization. However a compatible graphic card is required.”

Here’s how you can add some debugging to Gephi.

OBIEE 11.1.1.6.2 BP1 SampleApp v207 on Virtual Box 4.2.12

You might have read of how long and complex it is to install OBIEE directly onto Redhat.

OBIEE SampleApp v207 Desktop

This year I heard that there was a new Virtual Box image of OBIEE. The idea being: you install and start Virtual Box, then use the OBIEE virtual machine. Great idea. You should be able to get on with actually using OBIEE, not struggling with its installation, startup, and administration.

However, that would assume that all the components work. Like any technology stack.

Unfortunately for me, they did not.

Installing Virtual Box 4.2.12 r84980:   

At Least Nine Ways To Identify Hard Disks

After writing the long post, Secrets of BIOS, Grub, and Triple Boot Servers, I still had some notes left over.

Here’s some more detailed info on the many different ways that hard drives are identified in my server using: Phoenix BIOS, ASUS BIOS 1006, Sept 1, 2008. There are at least 9 different properties or ways to identify them.

Disk Drive Model Name	WD10	Hitachi	WD400
Hard Disk	3	4	5
Fixed Disk	0	1	2
Sata Port	2	3	4
IDE	3	4	5
BIOS Boot Order	2	3	1
Grub HD?	(hd1)	(hd2)	(hd0)
Operating System	Windows 7	Redhat 5.5	Redhat 6.4
/dev/sd?	/dev/sdb	/dev/sda	/dev/sdc

Make sense? Quick, how many can you recall?

Note: Redhat 6.4 is the main boot disk. After booting Redhat 6.4, the /dev/sd? is what is indicated by running fdisk -l. Please read the previous post for the details.

Secrets of BIOS, Grub, and Triple Boot Servers

Have you read: Rodger’s Very Simple Dual Boot Method?

If you haven’t already, do check it out. One advantage: no Master Boot Record (MBR) modifications! Another advantage: it allows all disks and operating systems the option to be completely independent of each other. You can remove any disk, insert it into another machine, and it will boot perfectly fine. The disks are no longer married to each other. But mainly, this post won’t make any sense to you, otherwise.

A few months ago, I used this method with only two operating systems: Redhat 5.5 and Windows 7. Then recently, in the same server, I installed Redhat 6.4 onto a third disk. But suddenly I had an awful time getting all three to work.

Symptoms:

Redhat 6.4 booted Redhat 5.5 perfectly. But when I booted Windows from the Redhat 6.4 grub.conf file, I got the error:

File:  \BOOT\BCD
Status:  0xc0000001
Info:  An error occurred while attempting to read the boot configuration file

—

Redhat 5.5 booted Windows 7 perfectly. But when I tried to boot Redhat 6.4 from the Redhat 5.5 grub.conf file, I got the error:

Error 2: Bad file or directory type

—

So, I could only boot two of the three operating systems at one time.  To make things work, I’d have to be changing sata cables. That really defeated the purpose of a triple boot.

This was really mysterious, and no one on the newsgroups had any idea how to fix it. Mere mortals would have given up and implemented some kind of work around. 🙂 But here is how I ultimately overcome the errors and got all the three disks to boot cleanly. 

Rodger’s Very Simple Dual Boot Method

Yesterday, I blogged how to add a Windows hard disk to a Linux installation. I noted, it’s relatively easy to add a Linux disk to a Windows installation, and how the Windows MBR gets overwritten by Linux. But it’s harder to add a Windows disk to an existing Linux installation. The whole process with Supergrub was rather complex, and required many slow reboots.

After thinking about it, a much simpler and effective method came to me. And it works!

In a sentence, the trick is to just modify the boot order in the BIOS, and add the Windows disk to grub.conf. Here’s how to do it.

Adding A Windows Hard Disk To A Linux Server

It’s relatively easy to add a Linux disk to a Windows machine. But it’s not as easy to add a Windows disk to a Linux machine.

I have a powerful Linux server that I spent a number of weeks installing software on. When I configured it, I decided to make it a dedicated Linux server. However, a lot of software actually works on Windows. I’ve considered virtual machines. But if you have read my escapades with Virtual Box, a dual boot just makes one less variable and software to be concerned with.

In the past, I’ve created a number of Windows/Linux dual boot machines, and the order of operations was pretty easy. First, install Windows on disk 1. Then install Linux on disk 2. Installing Linux will install grub, update the Master Boot Record (MBR) on disk 1, and give a choice of Windows or Linux when booting.

But this time the order of operations was reversed, and Linux was installed first. Since it took so long to install all the software on Linux, I didn’t want to modify anything on the Linux disk. If there was a problem, I wanted to put it back to the way it was; just remove the Windows disk, and boot Linux as before.

So, the requirements were: Install Windows on a second disk. Get the machine to dual boot, without modifying any of the existing Linux install. Allow for rollback.

————-

At first, I tried using EasyBCD for a few hours. But I was unable to figure out a solution. On the forums, there were no responses to my question on how to accomplish my task.

Eventually, I got this to work using two methods. The first was to use an older version of SuperGrub. The second method was to use Linux commands. In both cases, I had to get to the Linux OS using either Supergrub, or Supergrub2.

VMWare Player Versus Virtual Box: One Works, The Other Doesn’t

Trying to get a Virtual Machine to work on 64 bit Redhat 5.5?  You may want to read these reviews of Virtual Box, and VMWare Player first.

Virtual Box:

Over many hours over a number of weeks, I struggled to install Virtual Box on 64 bit Redhat 5.5. Please read about these struggles first. It was version:

rpm -qa | grep -i “virtual”
VirtualBox-4.1-4.1.8_75467_rhel5-1

I’ve also installed the extension pack.
4.1.8 r75467

Interestingly, Virtual Box does not have a simple –version or -v flag!  Unlike the majority of commands and RPMs on Linux.

You can see the struggle I had just to install Virtual Box in another post. Four very fundamental things were documented wrong, or not documented at all! Surprise! Finally I got it installed.

Then I tried to create a Windows XP virtual machine. But Virtual Box just didn’t want to work.

What Version of Weblogic Is It?

Ever wonder what version of weblogic is on your server? Here is how to find out.

————-

First, set the environment variables in $DOMAIN_HOME

Using NMAP To Find The Ports For Oracle Apps, OBIEE, Listener

Not finding a port with netstat? Nmap finds what netstat does not. Nmap can also point out your servers’ vulnerabilities.

On my server, there are a number of applications that work via a browser. Each with an associated port.

Usually, I’ll use netstat to find the port.
netstat -a | grep 9704

You can also find the unix process that is using the port by adding the flag, -al.
netstat -al | grep -i 9704

tcp 0 0 black.testrac.com:9704 *:* LISTEN oracle 162677
tcp 0 0 fe80::200:ff:fe00:0:9704 *:* LISTEN oracle 162676
tcp 0 0 ::ffff:192.168.122.1:9704 *:* LISTEN oracle 162675
tcp 0 0 localhost.localdomain:9704 *:* LISTEN oracle 162674
tcp 0 0 localhost6.localdomain:9704 *:* LISTEN oracle 162673
tcp 0 0 fe80::223:54ff:fe73:5f:9704 *:* LISTEN oracle 162672
tcp 0 0 black.testrac.com:49854 black.testrac.com:9704 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 black.testrac.com:9704 black.testrac.com:49854 ESTABLISHED

However, netstat doesn’t find a number of processes or ports. Such as these important ports and applications:
1521 – Oracle listener
1158 – enterprise manager
7003 – Oracle Weblogic/OBIEE admin
8000 – Oracle Applications

I always found this really aggravating. I knew the port was in use. Why didn’t netstat find it? Then recently, I discovered that nmap will find the ports that netstat does not.

Overcoming Oracle Apps R12 FRM-92101 Error On Redhat Linux 5.5

Have you ever got the error, FRM-92101 on with Oracle Applications R12 on 64 bit Redhat Linux 5.5? Here is how to overcome it.

Oracle Forms Runtime Error FRM92101

Firefox, Oracle Apps, Java plugins, on 64 Bit Redhat 5.5

When using Firefox on Linux, have you ever got the aggravating message concerning oaj2se.exe, or NPX_PLUGIN_PATH? Here is the solution.

From what I have read, on Linux, using the Firefox browser for Oracle Forms is not certified. At least it wasn’t in the past. Bizarre.

———–

Symptom:

On Redhat Linux, you try working with an app such as Oracle Apps, and navigate to where the software takes you. But you suddenly get the error message:

In order to access this application, you must install the J2SE Plugin version 1.6.0_07 on your client and NPX_PLUGIN_PATH environment variable is set before starting Netscape. To install this plugin, click here to download the oaj2se.exe executable. Once the download is complete, double-click the oaj2se.exe file to install the plugin. You will be prompted to restart your browser when the installation is complete.

———–

The problem is, oaj2se.exe is an executable that only works on Windows.

Mobaxterm vs Xming: Remote Connections to Redhat 5.5

Putty, Sqlplus, and Cygwin:

I’m often working with my laptop. And I use putty and sqlplus to connect to the server. They both work fabulous! First time, every time. Do exactly as they are told. No surprises. Very reliable. And you can do most everything that you need to do.

I’ve also used cygwin for years, and have it installed on all my Windows machines. Although the cygwin installation could use improvement. Such as a button for: Install every last thing! Currently, installing everything requires a LOT of mouse clicks!

It’s such a pleasure to work with software that works right out of the box.   No wonder I use putty,  sqlplus, and cywin so much.

X Windows:

Recently I figured I would just install some X Windows software to connect to the 64 bit Redhat 5.5 Linux server. Shouldn’t take long. Yeah right.

Installing Virtual Box 4.1-4 on 64 bit Redhat 5.5

Recently I installed Virtual Box 4.1-4 on Redhat 5.5 64 bit. It was a painful experience with some serious Gotchas.  The install docs were confusing. They are probably fine for people already quite familiar with the product. But not for newbies.

————-

xen:

One critical issue with Redhat Oracle and Virtual Box is that: VIRTUAL BOX WILL NOT RUN IN AN XEN ENVIRONMENT.

“xen” is not found in the install doc.     Nor in the table of contents.

Commands To Show The Linux Version. Let the count the ways!

Commands To Show The Linux Version. Let the count the ways.

One thing about Unix and Linux, there are often many ways to do exactly the same thing. And many flags within in each command.  Here’s a quick list I came up with regarding the Linux version. One thing to remember is, there is a difference between the Linux kernel, and the Redhat version.

kernel:

uname -a
Linux black 2.6.18-194.el5xen #1 SMP Mon Mar 29 22:22:00 EDT 2010 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

uname -r
2.6.18-194.el5xen

rpm -qa | grep kernel

kernel-headers-2.6.18-194.el5
kernel-xen-devel-2.6.18-194.el5
kernel-xen-2.6.18-194.el5
kernel-debug-2.6.18-194.el5
kernel-2.6.18-194.el5

———–

Redhat Version or Release:

lsb_release -a
LSB Version: :core-3.1-amd64:core-3.1-ia32:core-3.1-noarch:graphics-3.1-amd64:graphics-3.1-ia32:graphics-3.1-noarch
Distributor ID: EnterpriseEnterpriseServer
Description: Enterprise Linux Enterprise Linux Server release 5.5 (Carthage)
Release: 5.5
Codename: Carthage

osinfo
OperatingSystem Information
Host: black.testrac.com
Name: Enterprise Linux Enterprise Linux Server
( 2.6.18-194.el5xen #1 SMP Mon Mar 29 22:22:00 EDT 2010 )
Version: 2.6.18-194.el5xen
UserLicense: Unlimited user license
Number of Users: 3 users
Number of Processes: 231 processes
OSCapability: 64 bit
LastBootTime: Nov 29, 2011 18:15:53 (-0600)
LocalDateTime: Nov 29, 2011 19:39:01 (-0600)
SystemUpTime: 4987 seconds = 1 hr, 23 mins, 7 secs

cat /etc/redhat-release
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5.5 (Tikanga)

cat /etc/enterprise-release
Enterprise Linux Enterprise Linux Server release 5.5 (Carthage)

cat /etc/issue
Enterprise Linux Enterprise Linux Server release 5.5 (Carthage)
Kernel \r on an \m

cat /proc/version
Linux version 2.6.18-194.el5xen (mockbuild@ca-build10.us.oracle.com) (gcc version 4.1.2 20080704 (Red Hat 4.1.2-48)) #1 SMP Mon Mar 29 22:22:00 EDT 2010

———–

What have I missed? How many more ways are there?

Getting domainname to work

Trying to set a static IP with a fully qualified domain name on Redhat?  But the command domainname still returns nothing? Here’s what you can do.

Backup the following files, then edit them:

/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0

IPADDR=192.168.2.201
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
GATEWAY=192.168.2.1
ONBOOT=yes
BOOTPROTO=none
(I’ve also seen “STATIC”, but mine is running with “none”)

/etc/sysconfig/network

NETWORKING=yes
NETWORKING_IPV6=yes
HOSTNAME=black.testrac.com

/etc/resolv.conf
nameserver 192.168.2.1

cat /etc/hosts
# Do not remove the following line, or various programs
# that require network functionality will fail.
127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
::1 localhost6.localdomain6 localhost6
192.168.2.201 black.testrac.com black

/etc/nsswitch.conf needs a line:
hosts: files dns

You can also use the GUI tool:
/usr/bin/system-config-network &
to set a number of these parameters

You can then reset the network with commands:

Stop the network:
/etc/init.d/network stop

Start the network:
/etc/init.d/network start

or

/sbin/ifdown eth0
/sbin/ifup eth0

However, I prefer a full reboot to be sure. Recently, I had issues after rebooting that were not presenting themselves before. Turns out that two active ethernet ports are not better than one if the second is not plugged in.

Then double check your results:

ping hostname
ping fully.qualified.hostname.com
ping yahoo.com
route -v
hostname
ifconfig -a

But if your experience is like mine, you still get nothing when you run the command: domainname

Here is the secret to get domainname to work:

edit
/etc/sysctl.conf

add the line:
kernel.domainname=testrac.com

then, reinitialize the settings with:
/etc/sysctl -p

domainname
testrac.com

There, finally!