Anyone running a MySQL database needs to make regular database dumps so that the database can be easily backed up. I have used several scripts in the past to dump MySQL databases to a file. The script I am posting here was originally based on a blog post by Sonia Hamilton. Sonia's post shows a nice basic script, but I have gradually made several revisions.

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One of the utility type programs that I use all the time is Unison. It does a very nice job of synchronizing two directories including propagating deletes.

I use Unison for synchronizing podcasts between my Ubuntu 8.04 server (running bashpodder) with my MP3 player (a Sansa Clip).

I have been experimenting with Linux for several years and have been pleased by the progress Linux has made in that time. During the time that I have been experimenting with Linux, the Achilles heel has always been hardware support. When I first tried Linux the problem was with support for my Winmodem. More recently, the problem was with the Realtek 8187b wifi card in my Toshiba laptop. A few weeks ago I salvaged a Broadcom wifi card out of a dead computer and tried it in my Toshiba. Since then, Ubuntu 9.04 has been running very well.

Introduction

Jungledisk is an excellent application for making backup copies of your data. The way it works is that Jungledisk works with online storage providers to encrypt then transfer your data to the online storage service. Please see jungledisk.com for more details.

I have reinstalled my server running CentOS 5.2 and VirtualBox. In the process I have found some items that weren't documented well in the previous post VirtualBox in rc.d

I have modified the vboxcontrol script. The new script is available here.
vboxcontrol.

After setting up the script, you need to run chkconfig --add vboxcontrol

My first step after installing a new Linux server is usually to setup SSH. I have setup key based authentication a couple times, but am still getting the hang of it. If you run into any problems, see the additional explanation at the end of this post. Here are the steps for a client using Putty on Windows and a server running CentOS.

1. Run ssh-keygen -t rsa. This will create the private and public key files. Be sure to use the default file location.
2. Run cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys.

There are some portions of the CentOS 5.2 netinstall process that aren't as intuitive as I expect.  So these notes are to help me next time I install CentOS.

First, make sure to disable IPv6 in the DHCP setup.

Also, when you get to the installation source, select HTTP and enter the following:
Server address: mirror.centos.org (no http://)
Directory: centos/5.2/os/i386 (no / before and after)

If any of this is slightly wrong, the installation will not complete.

I have been experimenting with Linux servers for a while now.  My latest experiment was at using VirtualBox to run virtual servers.  I used a helpful tutorial from howtoforge.com to guide me through the setup.  After setting up VirtualBox on CentOS and installing Fedora in a VM, I wanted the Fedora VM to automatically start up and shut down when the CentOS host started up and shut down.