Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) : Setup No Subscription Repository

For the Proxmox Backup Server (PBS), to use it as a Community Edition. We need to setup the "No Subscriptions" repository.

This methods is only for Hobbyist, Developer and alike, not recommended for Production environment.

1. Login to PBS WebUI and select "Console", then type the following command.

nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-enterprise.list

2. Comment out the Enterprise Repository by adding a "#" sign at the front.

3. Then add the following line for the No Subscription Repository.

deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pbs bookworm pbs-no-subscription

* The "bookworm" is the debian release code name and may change, thus change the name accordingly.

4. Next, is to run the Update.

apt update && apt upgrade -y

5. Finally, restart the server.

reboot

!!! HAPPY COMPUTING !!!

NextCloud Install in Ubuntu Server

NextCloud is an Open Source, Self-Hosted or Cloud Hosted, File Sync and Sharing Platform. It's Secure, Private and Easy to use. Compatible with Windows, Linux, Android and Apple iOS devices.

This is assuming that you already have Ubuntu Server installed, patched and updated.

1. Download the latest version of NextCloud.

sudo wget https://download.nextcloud.com/server/releases/latest.zip

2. Install some required packages.

sudo apt install libmagickcore-6.q16-6-extra php php-apcu php-bcmath php-cli php-common php-curl php-gd php-gmp php-imagick php-intl php-mbstring php-mysql php-zip php-xml -y

3. Install Marid DB Server.

sudo apt install mariadb-server -y

4. Secure Marid DB installation, follow on-screen prompt and instructions.

sudo mysql_secure_installation

5. Configure Maria DB Server.

CREATE DATABASE nextcloud; SHOW DATABASES; GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON nextcloud.* TO 'ncuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'ncpass'; FLUSH PRIVILEGES; QUIT;

6. Enable PHP Modules.

sudo phpenmod apcu bcmath gmp imagick intl

7. Install Unzip Apps.

sudo apt install unzip -y

8. Unzip the downloaded NextCloud file.

sudo unzip latest.zip

9. Copy and Rename the extracted NextCloud folder.

sudo cp nextcloud demo.com

10. Move the renamed folder to Apache server path.

sudo mv demo.com /var/www/

11. Grant permissions to NextCloud folder.

sudo chwon -R www-data:www-data /var/www/demo.com

12. Create Apache configuration file for NextCloud.

<VirtualHost *:80>    ServerAdmin webmaster@local.com    ServerName demo.com    DocumentRoot /var/www/demo.com    <Directory /var/www/demo.com>      Options MultiViews FollowSymlinks      AllowOverride All      Order allow,deny      Allow from all    </Directory>    ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/demo.com/error.log    TransferLog /var/log/apache2/demo.com/access.log   <IfModule mod_headers.c>      Header always set Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=15552000; includeSubDomains"    </IfModule> </VirtualHost>

13. Configure and modify PHP file. Modify the value according to your requirements.

memory_limit = 512M upload_max_filesize = 512M max_execution_time = 360 post_max_size = 512M date.timezone = Asia/Kuala_Lumpur opcache.enable = 1 opcache.interned_strings_buffer = 16 opcache.max_accelerated_files = 10000 opcache.memory_consumption = 128 opcache.save_comments = 1 opcache.revalidate_freq = 1

14. Enabled Apache modules for NextCloud use.

sudo a2enmod dir env headers mime rewrite ssl

15. Enable APCU module in PHP.

sudo nano /etc/php/8.3/mods-available/apcu.ini

add the following line :-

apc.enable_cli = 1

16. Open your favorite browser, such as Google Chrome browser. And type the URL of NextCloud server (eg. http://demo.com). At the main screen, you need to configure the NextCloud Database (eg. nextcloud) created earlier including its username (eg. ncuser) & password (eg. ncpass). You also need to create the First Administrator account with a valid email address too.

17. NextCloud screen will auto refresh upon successful connection to the database, now login with the new administrator account created in earlier step.

18. Secure NextCloud with Let's Encrypt SSL.

sudo certbot --apache

19. Fix missing Indices in NextCloud.

sudo chmod +x /var/www/demo.com/occ

sudo /var/www/demo.com/occ db:add-missing-indices

sudo chmod -x /var/www/demo.com/occ

20. Change permissions of NextCloud config file.

sudo chmod 660 /var/www/demo.com/config/config.php

sudo chown root:www-data /var/www/demo.com/config/config.php

21. Modify NextCloud configuration file.

sudo nano /var/www/demo.com/config/config.php

Modify the following lines according to you needs :-

'memcache.local' => '\OC\Memcache\APCu', 'default_phone_region' => 'MY', 'maintenance_window_start' => 1, 'filelocking.enabled' => true, 'memcache.locking' => '\OC\MemCache\APCu',

22. Restart Apache server.

sudo systemctl restart apache2

23. Configure Crontab.

sudo crontab -u www-data -e

Add the following line :-

00 * * * 1 php -f /var/www/demo.com/cron.php

OPTIONAL STEPS

24. Remove Skeleton Files and Folders when User account is created.

sudo rm -R /var/www/demo.com/core/skeleton/Templates

25. Remove Work Flow Engine, to prevent User from installing WorkFlow.

sudo /var/www/demo.com/occ config:app:set workflowengine user_scope_disabled --value yes

26. Install "Redis" as MemCache for NextCloud.

sudo apt install redis php-redis -y

sudo systemctl enable redis

sudo systemctl start redis

sudo nano /var/www/demo.com/config/config.php

'memcache.local' => '\OC\Memcache\Redis', 'memcache.locking' => '\OC\Memcache\Redis', 'redis' => array(      'host' => '/var/run/redis/redis.sock'.      'port' => 0,      'timemout' => 0.0,      ),

sudo nano /etc/redis/redis.conf

unixsocket /var/run/redis/redis.sock unixsocketperm 660

sudo usermod -aG redis www-data

sudo systemctl restart redis

27. If Redis is distributed, add following line into NextCloud config file :-

'memcache.distributed' => '\OC\Memcache\MemCached',

28. To clear all NextCloud log entries.

sudo -u www-data truncate /var/www/demo.com/data/nextcloud.log --size=0

!!! HAPPY COMPUTING !!!

Command : Rename Multiple Files via Batch Script

Rename multiple files via batch script. Some times you need to rename multiple files and instead of renaming each file individually or relying on some 3rd party apps, you can now just use a simple batch script to achieve the same results.

@echo off setlocal enabledelayedexpansion set prefix="[Filename]" set count=1 for %%f in (*.[Extension]) do (     set formattedCount=00!count!     set formattedCount=!formattedCount:~2!     ren "%%f" "!prefix!!formattedCount!.[Extension]"     set /a count+=1 ) echo Done renaming files. pause

!!! HAPPY COMPUTING !!!

Windows : Microsoft Edge Browser with Script

Sometimes we just need to create a shortcut that run Microsoft Edge browser to a specific URL or Website. This could be achieved easily if your "Default" browser is configured to Microsoft Edge, but what if your computer have 2 or more browsers like Google Chrome ?

This is especially true if the "Default" browser is configured to Google Chrome and that specific URL or Website only works with Microsoft Edge.

Thus by simply creating a shortcut to open that specific URL will only opens up Google Chrome instead of Microsoft Edge which is a bummer.

Let's get started :-

1. First you will need to create .vbs file with the following code.

Set Edge = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") Edge.Run "msedge.exe https://demo.com"

* Replaced https://demo.com with your specific URL.

2. Save the above file as "edge.vbs", you can of course name it whatever filename you want.

3. Then create the shortcut to that "edge.vbs" on your desktop or any location you preferred.

4. If you want Microsoft Edge to open up with "Maximized" screen, just add the following line into .vbs file.

Set Edge = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") Edge.Run "msedge.exe https://demo.com", 3, false

Now Microsoft Edge will open that specific website in maximized screen.

!!! HAPPY COMPUTING !!!

Ubuntu : Install Samba Server

How to install Samba Server in Ubuntu Server v.22.04.4

1. As usual, update Ubuntu's repositories.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

2. Install the Samba server.

sudo apt install samba -y

3. To verify the Samba installation.

sudo whereis samba

OR

sudo samba -v

OR

sudo systemctl status smbd

4. Make a backup of Samba's configuration file.

sudo cp /etc/samba/smb.conf /etc/samba/smb.conf.bak

5. Edit the Samba's configuration file.

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

6. Browse to the end of the file and add in the following configurations.

[global]    server string = [Hostname] [samba_share]    comment = Samba Shared Folder    path = /mnt/samba_share    browsable = yes    writable = yes    read only = no    guest ok = no    valid users = [Samba Username]

7. Assign the proper permissions to the shared folder.

sudo chmod -R 755 /mnt/samba_share

8. Create a new Samba user.

sudo smbpasswd -a [Username]

*Note : you will be prompted to key-in the user's password.

9. Enable the created User for Samba access.

sudo smbpasswd -e [Username]

10. Test the Samba configuration.

sudo testparm

11. Restart Samba service for the new configurations.

sudo systemctl restart smbd

12. Test the Samba connections using another computer and with the credentials created.

!!! HAPPY COMPUTING !!!

HP Z800 Workstation : Update Firmware for LSI 1068E Controller

The LSI 1068E SAS/SATA RAID Controller is an embedded controller available in HP Z800 Workstation system. But the supported RAID level on this controller is RAID-0, RAID-1 and RAID-1E which is not suitable, due to the hardware designed you are not able to do RAID-5.

As such it makes sense to just update the firmware to IT Mode (Initiator-Target Mode) so that you can make use of ZFS that mostly found in TrueNAS, UnRaid, Proxmox VE etc.

The problems is that the LSI 1068E firmware are custom and specially made for HP Z series and there are no download available to change the controller to IT Mode. However someone on the Internet managed to find out that the 1068E chip is the same chip as 3081E (or compatible).

Pre-requisites :-

1. A 4GB or larger USB Flash drive.
2. LSI 3081E Firmware and MPT ROM files (https://www.broadcom.com/support/download-search?pg=Legacy+Products&pf=Legacy+Host+Bus+Adapters&pn=LSI+SAS+3081E-R&pa=Firmware&po=&dk=&pl=&l=false).
3. Rufus Utility (https://rufus.ie/en/).

Steps-By-Steps :-

1. Prepare the USB Flash drive with Rufus, at the "Boot Selection" dropdown, select --> FreeDOS option.

2. Once completed, extract the downloaded firmware file into the USB flash drive, you might want to create a simple and short folder name for it (eg. SAS3918E).

You need to copy "sasflash.exe" from "SASflash_DOS_rel" folder and replace the existing file in the main folder. This is because the existing file in the main folder is for Windows use and not for DOS use, thus replacing the file is IMPORTANT.

3. Then plugin the USB flash drive to HP Z800 Workstation and boot the computer via the USB flash drive. You might need to press --> [F9] key to invoke the "Boot menu selection".

4. Once booted up, type the following command --> sasflash.exe -list

You should see the result something similar as below screenshot. Take note on the "Controller" where the "(B3)" is the type of the controller version. And also the "SAS Address" displayed, you might need this info at a later stage. Write it down or take a screenshot of the information.

5. Next is to run the batch file to update it, type --> hbaFlash.bat

The batch file will prompt you multiple questions, just follow the on-screen instructions. Below are just an example of my run :-

Welcome to LSI Logic Integrated SAS Flash Utility      This Utility will upgrade your LSI SAS HBA              !!!             WARNING              !!!             !!! LSI strongly recommends you save !!!             !!!  the existing firmware and BIOS  !!!             !!!    currently installed on your   !!!             !!!          SAS Controller          !!!      Your existing firmware will be saved as Firmware.fw      Your existing BIOS will be saved as     BIOS.rom      in the current directory      press y or n     (yes or no) ? Y      Saving old firmware and BIOS sasflash -ufirmware Firmware.fw sasflash -ubios BIOS.rom

TO FLASH  3080     press  1 TO FLASH  3081     press  2 TO FLASH  3800     press  3 TO FLASH  3801     press  4 TO FLASH  3442     press  5 TO FLASH  3041     press  6 TO FLASH  3444     press  7 TO FLASH  31601    press  8 TO EXIT press 9 press 1 to 9 ? 2

The HBA is PCI-X or PCIe For PCI-X press  X or x For PCIe  press  E or e To Exit press    Q or q press X, E or Q ? E

IR or IT Firmware For Integrated RAID (IR) press   R or r For Initator-Target (IT) press   T or t TO EXIT press   q press R, T or q ? T

Which Chip Version? For A3  press  1 For A4  press  2 For B0  press  3 For B1  press  4 For B2  press  5 For B3  press  6 To Exit press  7 press 1 to 6 (or 7 to quit) ? 6

You have selected 3081PCI-e T firmware with chip B3 sasflash -f 3081ETB3.fw -b MPTSAS.ROM OK to Flash  press  F or f TO EXIT press       q TO EXIT press       q ? F sasflash -o -f 3081ETB3.fw -b MPTSAS.ROM

6. Once the Flash have completed, type --> sasflash.exe -list 
to confirm the results of the flash, it should have the results as per screenshot below.

7. If for some reasons, the "SAS Address" displaying an error or have a "xxxxxxx-x-xxxx-xxxx" as a results, then you will need to change the address manually.

Type --> sasflash.exe -o -sasadd [your SAS Address]

Example:

sasflash.exe -o -sasadd 5001458007d1e026

8. Type --> sasflash.exe -list to confirm the changes of the "SAS Address", if the results is the same as per mine then you are good to go.

9. Reboot the computer and unplug the USB flash drive. During the normal boot-up process, you should see the new firmware version, new BIOS version and the new Mode displayed during the initialization of the HDDs.

!!! HAPPY COMPUTING !!!

Proxmox : Graphics Issues During Installation

During the installation of Proxmox VE, you may or may not encounter issues with graphics card. Some graphics card tends to run at a very high resolutions thus your existing Monitor may not able to support such high resolutions.

The solutions is to run Proxmox VE installation in "Terminal Mode" and modify the boot configurations prior to the boot-up process.

1. At the Main Menu screen, select --> Install Proxmox VE (Terminal UI) and press --> E

2. Find the following line "linux" and add "nomodeset" at the end of the line.

3. Press --> [CRTL] + [X] to continue boot.

Now your display should match your monitor's supported resolutions and the installation will continue.

!!! HAPPY COMPUTING !!!