Damian Zaremba

Changing the MySQL client prompt

It is quite easy to get lost in MySQL when working between a lot of databases.

While you can find out which database you are in, it soon becomes quite irritating having to type

mysql> select database();

+------------------+
| database() |
+------------------+
| test_database |
+------------------+
1 row in set (0.01 sec)

The simplest way to solve this and make life easier, is to change the prompt to include the info! Simple edit the [mysql] section of your my.cnf file and add the prompt option:

[client]
host = "localhost"
user = "mehuser"
pass = "someubersecurepassword"
prompt=mysql [\\u@\\h - \\d]>

Now when you use the client the prompt will show mysql [user@host - database]>:

mysql [test1@localhost - test_database]>

No more getting confused! If you don’t have access to /etc/my.cnf then use ~/.my.cnf, I usually stick the connection details in there as well - then you can have huge passwords and never have to type/remember them:

[client]
host = "localhost"
user = "mehuser"
pass = "someubersecurepassword"
prompt=mysql [\\u@\\h - \\d]>

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Useful cPanel paths

Some common and useful paths for cPanel are as below - please note that these may change at any time.

Location Contents
/etc/ips IP Addresses
/etc/reservedips Reserved IP addresses
/etc/reservedipreasons Reserved IP address reasons
~/.accesshash WHM API key
/etc/cpupdate.conf cPanel update configuration
/etc/wwwacct.conf Basic cPanel config
/var/cpanel/maxemailsperhour System wide max emails per hour setting
/var/cpanel/packages cPanel packages
/var/cpanel/users User data
/var/cpanel/templates/apache2 Apache vhost templates
/usr/local/apache/conf/userdata/std/2/$user/$domain/configuration.conf Apache vhost config customizations for $user's $domain (not SSL)
/usr/local/apache/conf/userdata/ssl/2/$user/$domain/configuration.conf Apache vhost config customizations for $user's $domain (SSL)
/etc/userdomains Users domains
/usr/local/cpanel/version cPanel version
/var/cpanel/resellers Resellers
/scripts Loads of useful cPanel related scripts
/usr/local/cpanel/bin Loads of useful cPanel scripts

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Upgrade EOL Clamav


ClamAV have EOL'd all their versions prior to 0.95 - if you see an error like the following then ClamAV needs an update:
 LibClamAV Warning: ***********************************************************
 LibClamAV Warning: *** This version of the ClamAV engine is outdated. ***
 LibClamAV Warning: *** DON'T PANIC! Read http://www.clamav.net/support/faq ***
 LibClamAV Warning: ***********************************************************
 LibClamAV Error: cli_hex2str(): Malformed hexstring: This ClamAV version has reached End of Life! Please upgrade to version 0.95 or later. For more information see www.clamav.net/eol-clamav-094 and www.clamav.net/download (length: 169)
 LibClamAV Error: Problem parsing database at line 742
 LibClamAV Error: Can't load daily.ndb: Malformed database
 LibClamAV Error: cli_tgzload: Can't load daily.ndb
 LibClamAV Error: Can't load /var/lib/clamav/daily.cld: Malformed database
 ERROR: Malformed database

To upgrade ClamAV on a RHEL based system perform the following:

  1. wget http://pkgs.repoforge.org/clamav/clamav-0.96.1-1.el5.src.rpm
  2. yum install srpm unzip
  3. CFLAGS=”-O0” ./configure –disable-zlib-vcheck
  4. make && make install
  5. Update /usr/local/etc/clamd.conf (notably removing the “Example” line and uncommenting the TCP socket line).

ClamAV should now work once again.

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Spoon!

It still needs some work to smooth out the handle and round the top off as well as sanding the dip out but I’ve made a pretty decent start on a spoon.

This started out as part of a tree trunk which got removed and split with an axe, from there all the work has been done with 3 knives:

  • Spoon knife - for rounding the handle and scraping out the dip
  • 9” knife - for taking off the thick outer and bark
  • Gerber STL 2.5 knife - for taking tiny slivers off the handle and smoothing out some of the head

Here are some “early” (4/5 days of on and off work) pictures…

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SMTP Authentication in Postfix using local system accounts

In /etc/postfix/main.cf ensure the following values are set

message_size_limit = 204800000
smtpd_recipient_restrictions = permit_sasl_authenticated permit_inet_interfaces reject_unauth_destination, permit
smtpd_sasl_auth_enable = yes
broken_sasl_auth_clients = yes

This will ensure postfix denies any un-authenticated attempts to send mail and enabled sasl authentication.

Next we just need to make sure sasl/postfix are setup to run:

chkconfig saslauthd on
/etc/init.d/saslauthd restart
chkconfig postfix on
/etc/init.d/postfix restart

Once this is done all we need to do is add our users and they can send mail:

adduser -s /sbin/nologin -M user1
passwd user1

adduser -s /sbin/nologin -M user2
passwd user2

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