Linux provides numerous options for configuring storage, such as Logical Volume Management (LVM), Software RAID (metadisks), and many various filesystem types. After a full system failure, recovering a server to its previous configuration can be quite a daunting task.

Also the cost involved to have a hardware technician perform the work could be very expensive.  Add a change in disk hardware to the mix, and you may experience days of downtime!

While SBAdmin for Linux is a tape and disk backup management solution with many advanced features for managing your user data backup and restore strategy, it is the full system backup and recovery features that set us apart.  Storix SBAdmin for Linux is the leader in Adaptable System Recovery (ASR).

This is the process to be able to perform hardware migration of the entire system (operating system and user data) onto different system and disk configurations. SBAdmin understands your Linux system and can individually backup and restore files, directories, filesystems, raw partitions, volume groups, raw logical volumes, software RAID devices or the entire system in case of disaster recovery.

Another versatile advantage is that backups can be archived to local or remote tape or disk.
Most bare metal restore products for Linux create disk images that limit your ability to flexibly restore the system.

SBAdmin records your system and storage configuration with each system backup. This information can then be used to rebuild the system from the ground up. Since we are rebuilding the system and not copying the system, within our System Installation Menus, you can easily make changes to that configuration to restore onto completely different hardware.

SBAdmin for Linux can not only restore your user data, but also can easily rebuild and restore your entire system.  Every detail, including the disk placement of partitions, logical volumes (LVM1 & LVM2) and RAID devices, file system types and attributes is retained.

You can then change the configuration when reinstalling from a system backup to install onto different hardware or migrate to a different software storage configuration to increase flexibility, performance and availability. When it comes to Linux backup and recovery SBAdmin offers the most flexibility and reliability.

SBAdmin is very versatile and supports virtually any Linux distribution including RedHat (RHEL and Fedora), SuSE (SLES and OpenSuse), Ubuntu, Debian, Mandriva and Slackware, on the following hardware platforms.

Intel 32-bit (x86) systems, AMD64, EM64T, and x86_64 64-bit systems, IBM System p (pSeries/RS6000) and System i (iSeries), IA64 Itanium II (HP Integrity).

For more information about Linux backup and recovery or to learn more about how to data backup visit our site.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?Understanding-Linux-Data-Backup-And-Recovery&id=657697

One of the many features of the PlayStation 3 is that it’s capable of using Linux, which means that owners of the PS3 can customize their system and get lots more out of it. Game consoles tend to be designed in order to prevent foreign systems from running on them, but Sony have gone in total the opposite direction with the PS3, allowing an experienced Linux user to personalize their system. Most of the gaming systems will be intentionally locked so that other systems will be unable to run, so the PlayStation is unconventional in allowing this. The only thing that is not possible with the PS3 is to run accelerated graphics.

The PlayStation 3 isn’t the first gaming system to allow Linux. The Xbox also utilizes this feature, but the PS3 differs in several ways. To start with, the PS3 is more powerful. In addition, the Xbox requires an additional chip to run Linux, whereas the PS3 is capable of running it without. In fact, it’s completely free to run Linux on the PlayStation 3.

Here are some options that you have with the Linux on the PlayStation 3:

With an addition of a keyboard and mouse, the PlayStation 3 can be used like a PC. Not all PC programs are able to adapt to the PS3 environment, as least not yet, but Linux enables you many choices.

Run your own operating system. This is a great advantage to those that would prefer to personalize their system.

Make sure of the Internet. You can search the web on your PS3 with the Firefox internet browser.

Use the office software package. Although, at present it’s been reported that Windows doesn’t run that well on the PS3. However, in the future, Microsoft may consider creating a version of Windows that can run on the PlayStation 3. There is no official word on this at the moment.

Run various kinds of emulators. This will allow you to play of your favourite games of yesteryear on your brand new PlayStation 3.

Play a variety of media types, such as CD’s, DVD’s and ROM’s. With Linux running, you can listen to music or watch movies on your PS3

Connect to share networks. This will enable you to save and retrieve file on a outside server, meaning a saving in memory.

There is one slight problem with getting Linux on your PlayStation 3 console though, and that is because it’s difficult to install and hard to use. At this moment, it’s pretty much restricted to the programmers and hobbyists. In the future, hopefully, there will be a more user friendly interface to accompany Linux on the games console. Since PS3 emerged, most programmers like to use Fedora Core to run Linux on their PS3’s, but there is now a new system in town called Yellow Dog, which is intended to be used specifically on the PS3. Yellow Dog is being highly rated and gaining exposure.

Still, the best thing about Linux is that it’s totally free. All you need is a PlayStation 3, the necessary cable, a USB keyboard and mouse, a USB flash drive and various other accessories to make the installation run smoother… ok, so if you don’t already have all that stuff, its not really free, but Linux itself certainly is! It may not be that tough to install, if you’ve used Linux before. There is a wide choice of websites out there that provide tips on installation, and most seem to recommend Yellow Dog. You will also discover many great ideas on how to run Linux in the gaming forums.

For more information on the PlayStation 3 try visiting www.andallconsoles.com, a popular games console website that provides console news, tips, and game reviews for the Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.

If your host is running under the Linux (Unix) operating system, you can perform tasks in the server on a regular basis. For example, sending mails at a certain time of the day, backing up database at 6 in the morning and so on.

"Cron" is a program that runs in the background of the Linux server. The program runs certain commands defined by you at fixed time intervals. A tyical cron file will look something like this:

# My Sample Cron File
12   01   02   *   *   /usr/bin/du /var > /home/test/diskSpace.txt

Cron command lines consist of 6 whitespace separated fields. The first 5 fields are used to specify when to run the command, and the last field determines what command to run. The first field(12 in this case) represents minute, the second field represents hour, third field represents day of month, fourth field represents month(1=Jan, 2=Feb and so on), fifth field represents day of week(0=sunday, 1=monday and so on).

Note: * means every time and # means comments.

To edit the crontab file, we use the crontab command like so:

"crontab [ -e | -l -r ]"

The switch -e means to edit the current cron file. -l means to list the current file, and -r means to remove the current cron file. Try typing "crontab -l" and you will see the cron file contents. To access the crontab command, you need to have SSH(Secure Shell) access to the server. Basically, SSH allows you to type commands in the command prompt. If you have limited access to SSH, your host might provide some other ways to access cron via the control panel.

For example, if I want to run a php script at 12 midnight everyday, I will type "crontab -e", then write my script as follows:

0 0 * * * php /home/username/public_html/www.sitecritic.net.php

The command that I run is "php". It is also recommended that you use full path reference to your script. In this case, it is /home/username/public_html/www.sitecritic.net.php.

In Conclusion, cron can save you alot of time and effort in doing daily repetitive tasks. By running a customised php script, you can automate the task of sending mass mails, backing up database, creating RSS feeds…etc.

Bernard Peh is a great passioner of web technologies and one of the co-founders of Sitecritic.net. He works with experienced web designers and developers for more than 5 years, developing and designing commercial and non-commercial websites. More of his work can be seen at Sitecritic.net Internet articles.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?How-To-Automate-Tasks-In-Your-Linux-Server&id=130986

Web hosting is divided into 2 categories, Linux and Windows plans. Getting a website with a Windows plan will be more expensive because of license issue with Microsoft. There are thousands of web hosting companies out there using either Linux or Windows plans. Which one is better? Like many other things, different people will have different preferences.

The Windows operating can be found in 95% of all personal computers around the globe. With this numbers in hand, Windows is the dominant figure and most people will go for this kind when they shop for a web hosting company.

As for web servers, Linux based hosting plan seem to have the upper hand based on a study made by securityspace.com. It is said that Windows based servers are behind by 20%. Therefore, if you are using Linux based hosting plan, you will probably have no problems at all. However, the Windows hosting is suitable to be used in a few scenarios.

When you are using .NET technologies including ASP.Net which is not available in Linux platforms, you will need to use Windows hosting plan. Another issue is the access to database which is also only available in Windows hosting plan. With Windows hosting plan, you will have access to MySQL class database. Furthermore, you can use Microsoft programs like Sharepoint which is available in Frontpage 2003.

As for Linux hosting, you can run your website professionally with Apache, MySQL and PHP which can provide you with the infrastructure that can build you a very good website. This is because PHP is more efficient when running with Linux server compared to Windows server. Another good thing about using Linux server is it will cost 20% cheaper compared to a Windows server. Therefore, depending on your preferences, Linux system could still be very good and efficient.

Hey you, looking for the right web hosting? Perhaps you should check out Host Monster! Read unbiased reviews on Hostmonster at HostMonsterSecretRevealed.com.

Article by Teddy Low.

A process is an executing program. Unix was designed from the beginning to handle multiple processes. Linux follows this excellent tradition. The operating system gives users and particularly the root user control over processes. Let’s take a closer look at processes and what they mean to users.

The kernel is the part of the Linux operating system that handles system management. It is not accessible to ordinary users. You may run Damn Small Linux as the root user and learn how the kernel works. When you have demonstrated your mastery of system concepts you may be given permission to apply your knowledge on larger Linux systems.

Part of the kernel’s work is managing processes. There are basically four such functions: controlling process execution, allocating memory for processes, scheduling processes, and managing resource access for processes. Let’s look briefly at each function.

The kernel creates, terminates, and coordinates processes. The root user and sometimes a regular user have access to these functions. It is possible to terminate a haywire process, one for example that has taken over the computer virtually blocking other processes.

The kernel allocates memory for processes. Root users and their authorized agents may review statistics on memory usage and improve system performance.

Scheduling and resource access are very important to maximize system performance and minimizing user waiting times. Knowledge of how processes work and what is really happening in a busy system can improve system performance and user satisfaction. Sometimes it isn’t necessary to spend a penny to improve performance. There is room in the marketplace for specialists in Linux scheduling and resource management. You cannot become such a specialist overnight but you can start by learning the tools with Damn Small Linux.

A given process is identified by a process number. During the course of system execution processes terminate, by themselves or because some one shut them down. Over time other processes are created. The process number always increases until the system is restarted. Some processes are system processes; they are part of the overhead in running a system. They work behind the scenes. Other processes are user processes, doing the work that users actually want.

The ps command provides information on running processes. For example, it may provide the name of the user associated with the process, the process identifier, the identifier of the father process (the one that created - the technical word is spawned) the given process, when the process was spawned and other information that may help manage a busy system.

I think that you can guess what the kill command does. It has several options, for example, some haywire processes are more difficult to remove than others.

Our next subjects are Linux shells and utilities.

Levi Reiss has authored or co-authored ten books on computers and the Internet. He loves the occasional glass of wine as exemplified by his wine websites including www.theworldwidewine.com. He teaches Linux and Windows operating systems plus other computer courses at an Ontario French-language community college. Visit his new website www.linux4windows.com which teaches you how to download and run Damn Small Linux on Windows computers, even if they are "obsolete."

Anybody who decides to get a web hosting service or facility for their website will also soon be faced with the tough question of what server they will need. Will their website be run by a Windows server operating system or will they prefer to go for a Unix system?

Typical Windows servers will run on Windows NT, Windows 2000 or Windows XP, while Unix servers could be Linux or Open BSD to name just two. The truth is that both systems have there pros and cons.

If site stability and uptime are critical for you and your new website, then Unix should be your choice because they are generally thought to be superior in stability. Windows have the disadvantage that they usually require rebooting much more often. Still Windows are miles ahead when it comes to ease of use. A Windows server operating system will generally be much easier to operate and administer than its’ Unix counterpart.

On the other hand, Unix, even with its’ stability may not end up being so user-friendly, especially for non-techies. There is also a price to pay for the extra stability which is evident in Unix systems. Usually Unix machines will require their software to be updated on a very regular basis. All in all, Unix server operating systems are favored over windows as they are widely considered to be more stable.

Still if truth be told, when both systems are correctly installed, there is really very little difference and they will give you basically the same results. In effect this does not make this an easy decision to reach. In fact this is the main factor that complicates the issue, causing even more confusion and making it very difficult for the webmaster to make a decision either way. However for many, the final answer to the question of which server operating system is preferable, is quite often made by analyzing and comparing the costs of both and going with the more affordable option.

Lois S.  is a Technical Executive Writer for http://www.websitesource.com and http://www.lowpricedomains.com with experience in the  website hosting industry.

What is Open Office?

Simply put, it’s a Open Source product that gives users comparable features to those of Microsoft Office.

Typically, Open Office is seen pre-installed on Linux platforms but Open Office org has also produced installation files for MS Windows platforms. The following list gives a comparison of applications within the two productivity suites:

Open Office          Microsoft

Writer                 Word

Calc/Base            Excel

Impress               Powerpoint

Although the features are similar, Open Office lagged in performance. Many users reported extremely slow start up and running of Open Office applications. These problems seem to have been ironed in the latest release, version 2.4.

Currently, Open Office does not provide capabilities to match those of Visio but Open Source products such as Dia give users limited diagramming utilities. KOffice, another Open Source product, ships with the Kivio application which provides features akin to Visio although the free templates within the base application are rather limited. A number of companies sell Kivio templates that enable users to create Visio-like diagrams at  a significantly lower cost than that of purchasing a full Microsoft Office package.

Office is the jewel in the crown for Microsoft. Sales of the propietary productivity suite supply MS with huge sums of revenue which has enabled diversification into other areas of technology. Consider the tight integration of Microsoft Windows and Office. By creating hooks into products such as Windows XP and Vista plus dedicated monitoring, package, deployment and update services Microsoft has ensured that Office is optimised for only Microsoft platforms.

Considering the points given above, why would anyone want to attempt an Office installation on anything but Windows? Simple. Freedom of choice. Open Office is availble for a huge range of OSes, including Windows. KOffice is working on porting their application to Windows. But for some users only Office will do. However, they are not prepared to pay to the price of purchasing Windows in order to run MS Office. So, how can Office be run on Linux?

Wine, the Open Source compatibility layer for running Windows applications on Linux/UNIX. Wine is not an emulator, the software Wine implements a compatibility layer which provides alternative implementations of the DLLs required by Windows programs. The Wine project has focused primarily on 32 bit applications and will not run 64 bit apps. Another issue associated with the use of Wine is the way in which Microsoft validates the installation of applications. If WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) detects Microsoft apps running on Wine it will disallow genuine updates, downloads and security patches for the affected applications.

The choice of office productivity suites is a personal choice. In some cases, users may not have a choice. Consider UMPC hardware such as the Eee PC. The current CPU installed is simply not sufficient for a device that needs to run Microsoft Vista and Office as an installed application but IS ideally suited to a Linux/Open Office installation. MIDbuyer - UMPC news

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?Running-MS-Office-on-Linux&id=1258774

There are currently four programs that enable people to become certified as Linux Systems Administrators. These programs are offered by the Computing Technology Industry Association, the Linux Professional Institute, the Novell Corporation, and Red Hat, Inc. The first two are professional industry associations whose certification programs do not depend on any specific Linux distribution. Novell and Red Hat Linux certifications are closely associated with their popular Linux distributions. Should you wish to prepare for either of these two certifications you will definitely need access to their Linux version.

What’s involved in obtaining a Linux Certification? You must pass one or more extensive tests that demonstrate your prowess in dealing with the typical and some atypical problems faced by Linux systems administrators. We’ll take a closer look at the CompTIA Linux+™ Certification, the one often recommended as the first certification for people new to Linux. This certification does not apply to any specific Linux version. The test is designed to validate the knowledge of individuals with a minimum of six to twelve months of practical Linux experience. According to the Computing Technology Industry Association, professionals achieving the CompTIA Linux+ certification can explain fundamental management of Linux systems from the command line, demonstrate knowledge of user administration, understand file permissions, software configurations, and management of Linux-based clients, server systems, and security. Many of these functions are available on Damn Small Linux.

The Linux+ certification is a basic, entry-level certification for Linux system administrators. It is intended for people with six-months experience installing, operating and maintaining Linux operating systems. To achieve Linux+ certification, candidates must pass the 98 question Linux+ exam which covers seven areas: Planning and Implementation; Installation; Configuration; Administration; System Maintenance; Troubleshooting; and Identify, Install and Maintain System Hardware. This multiple-choice exam costs about $232 and is a good starting point for those who want to continue with other Linux certifications including those from Novell and Red Hat.

Why would anybody want to start preparing Linux certification on a limited version of Linux? The answer is simple - certification is not to be taken lightly. Don’t make a major financial and time investment unless you know that you really want to be certified and that you possess the required skill set. It’s not hard to find schools that promise you success in Linux certification and in any of their course offerings. But Linux certification may not be for you. Don’t make a major certification investment only to find that it wasn’t what you had in mind. Work your way through my tutorials including the suggestions for going further. Get your hands on a variety of Linux books. I would start with books designed for learning Linux and for running Linux systems before working with Linux certification books.

Don’t be satisfied with running computer exercises in your mind, and nodding your head at the appropriate times. To succeed you must do the exercises on a computer running Linux. Since installation is a component of all Linux Certification exams don’t stint on installing several versions of Linux on your computer. An external USB hard drive is not very expensive. Try to make friends with someone who knows better than you how to do things. Ask a lot of questions. And good luck!

And while you’re working on your certifications take a look at some of Damn Small Linux’s other advantages in our final article in this series.

Levi Reiss has authored or co-authored ten books on computers and the Internet. He loves the occasional glass of wine as exemplified by his wine websites including http://www.theworldwidewine.com - He teaches Linux and Windows operating systems plus other computer courses at an Ontario French-language community college. Visit his new website http://www.linux4windows.com which teaches you how to download and run Damn Small Linux on Windows computers, even if they are "obsolete."

The Linux operating system is growing in popularity by the day. This is because the system is very stable and very well suited for enterprise level tasks. A number of products are now being ported to the Linux platform. You can easily find ERP products for the Linux operating system as a number of popular products of this variety are now available. Moreover most of these solutions are free software and you can modify them to suite your requirements.

Most of the ERP products that have been designed for the Linux operating system are based on the same free and open source software philosophy on which the system is itself based. All of us know that the requirements of every company are not same and that with the change of time, the requirements of every company also tend to change. As you have access to the source code of the products for Linux, you can easily tweak it to act in the way you want.

The most common of all the ERP products available for the Linux platform is ERP5. This is also one of the most comprehensive solutions that is available in the market at this point of time. Informatique Professional magazine has awarded the award for best ERP solution to ERP5. It is powered by another very popular open source product called My SQL. The solution is available for download in the binary and source code forms. You also get the option to go for paid software as a service subscription.

Another very popular name in the list of ERP software solutions that are available in the market at this point of time is Compiere. The solution is available under the terms of GNU General Public License. The solution takes pride in being one of the most secure Linux based ERP products. The solution draws its security from the fact that it is based on the Active Data Directory concept. On the flip side, Compiere is based on Oracle Database for which you have to shell out money.

A number community members are making attempts to make Compiere run with a free database system . The target is to make the solution compatible with different database solutions so that it becomes a choice for the consumer to run it on any database system he wants. Beta testing of this interoperability is currently in progress.

Another name in the list of Linux ERP products is Adempiere. This solution is a fork of the Compiere ERP products for Linux operating system. The solution is powered by JBoss and its based on the almost ubiquitous Java 2 Enterprise Edition. You can use Oracle or Postgre SQL as the back end of this solution.

Apart from this a number of ERP products for the Linux operating system are still in the Pre Alpha, Alpha and the Beta test phases.

You can find out more about ERP Products as well as much more information on everything to do with ERP software at http://www.ErpSoftwareSystem.com