Author: admin

iPhone Sucks! Another Reason

admin •
As a user of Windows and Linux desktop and server operating systems and a user for Android phones, I find it particularly annoying to have to figure out a problem on an iPhone.  A little background.  Someone I know became an iPhone user several years back because they wanted a stable phone with good support, battery life, and ease of...Read More »

Install AWX or Ansible Tower without Docker on CentOS7

admin •
Ansible Tower (formerly ‘AWX’) is a web-based solution that makes Ansible even more easy to use for IT teams of all kinds. It’s designed to be the hub for all of your automation tasks. Installation There are quite a few good scripts that are already circulating around. This script resolves a few issues with the others I have seen.  I...Read More »

Install duo client on CentOS

admin •
DUO is a self-described "easy-to-use" two-factor authentication method that protects access to federated cloud and on-premises applications and servers.  DUO offers several pricing plans and a free tier.  The free tier is quite generous providing dual factor authentication to up to 10 users.   This article assumes that you have created a DUO account, logged into the admin dashboard and ready...Read More »

Install Apache Tomcat 9 Complete with Updated Scripts

admin •
In this exercise, Tomcat 9 will be installed with OpenJDK 8 using a self-signed certificate using the http2.Http2Protocol protocol.  I've updated and simplified the script since my last attempt at a similar Tomcat 9 installation.  I have also added SELinux context, log rotation, and speed! Enjoy Tomcat Screenshot from an earlier version, but the end result is the same.  Read More »

MySQL Plugin FEDERATED is disabled resolution

admin •
MySQL 5.6.xx  logs may contain a "Note" message that the "Plugin 'FEDERATED' is disabled." The plugin has been available since MySQL 5.0.3 and is a storage engine that accesses data in tables of remote databases rather than local tables. There is a resolution to this. Log Entries 2019-11-12 21:52:18 2338 [Note] Plugin 'FEDERATED' is disabled. Resolution Then edit the my.cnf...Read More »

MySQL RSA private key file not found resolution

admin •
MySQL 5.6  logs may contain a "Note" message that the RSA private key file not found ... and [s]ome authentication plugins will not work. There is a resolution to this. Log Entries 2019-11-12 21:22:15 897 [Note] RSA private key file not found: /var/lib/mysql//private_key.pem. Some authentication plugins will not work. 2019-11-12 21:22:15 897 [Note] RSA public key file not found: /var/lib/mysql//public_key.pem....Read More »

Thin Provisioned Logical Volumes

admin •
One virtual machine for some unknown reason is utilizing thin provisioned logical volumes.  This one virtual machine is the only one in a series of virtual machines.  In any case, I didn't understand what it meant to have a system running thin provisioned logical volumes until it crashed and I couldn't revive it.  Fortunately, there was a snapshot that the...Read More »

Sudo Flaw Permits Restricted Root Runas Access

admin •
Sudo Flaw Permits Restricted Root Runas Access.  sudo configured to allow a user run commands as another user with the ALL keyword using the runas command specifying the user ID -1 or 4294967295 can run commands as root even when explicitly disallowed.  The PAM session will not run for the command.  This vulnerability is assigned as CVE-2019-14287 and affects sudo...Read More »

How to Create a Centralized Log Server with Rsyslog in CentOS/RHEL 7.4+

admin •
The syslog server comes standard on CentOS/RHEL 7+ and is a system utility providing support for message logging. Support of both internet and unix domain sockets enables this utility to support both local and remote logging.  With a couple of configuration changes can become a central monitoring server. There are syntax changes pre CentOS/RHEL 7.4 and CentOS/RHEL 7.4+ for semanage...Read More »

Create an Ansible script for DISA STIG and execute it in CentOS 7

admin •
Securing a CentOS 7 install doesn't have to be tough.  Code already exists, we just have to find it and execute it. Prerequisites yum install openscap scap-security-guide -y Verification The version of the scap-security-guide that was tested is 0.1.40. scap-security-guide.noarch 0.1.40-13.el7.centos @updates Test The purpose of this test is to determine if the scap-security-guide supports DISA STIG. oscap info /usr/share/xml/scap/ssg/content/ssg-centos7-ds.xml...Read More »

Ansible TRANSFORM_INVALID_GROUP_CHARS settings warning [resolution]

admin •
I have an ansible playbook that has worked for months.  It still works but, now has a DEPRECATION WARNING that looks ominous along with a python error. Problem BECOME password[defaults to SSH password]: [DEPRECATION WARNING]: The TRANSFORM_INVALID_GROUP_CHARS settings is set to allow bad characters in group names by default, this will change, but still be user configurable on deprecation. This...Read More »

How to remove a bad disk from LVM2

admin •
While doing a little house cleaning on a VM, I discovered I was unable to reboot it.  Basically, I had a logical volume that was rather large and wanted to remove it.  I used the lvremove to remove the logical volume that spanned across two hard drives. There was no other logical volume on those drives.  Shutdown the server and...Read More »