IBM Business Monitor and Cognos performance problem

This from a friend: -

Business Monitor and Cognos performance problem

...

Recently we have been seeing some issues with our Business Monitor servers on start up.   After running IBM Business Monitor 7.5.1 for over a year, every time we restarted the environment there was a spike in CPU consumption that lasted for over half an hour.

On closer inspection it was the cognos process spawned by Monitor that was consuming all this CPU.    A quick call to IBM support pointed us at the NC tables used by cognos.  A few of our tables had over half a million rows, where as the following document suggestes anything over 1000 could impact performance:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21637944

So we followed the steps in the technote and cleared down the NC tables and all of a sudden there was no issue following the next restart.

...

I've checked our own IBM Business Monitor 8.0.1.2 environment, but the NC_ tables are all clear. However, YOUR mileage MAY vary :-)

Ahh, Active Directory and LDAP ...

So I was seeing: -

ldap_bind: Invalid credentials (49)
additional info: 80090308: LdapErr: DSID-0C0903A9, comment: AcceptSecurityContext error, data 52e, v1db0

and: -

06:02:19 PM: Failed to connect to ldap://localhost:389
Root error: [LDAP: error code 49 - 80090308: LdapErr: DSID-0C0903A9, comment: AcceptSecurityContext error, data 52e, v1db0

using tools such as LDAPSearch and LDAP Browser Editor and Apache Directory Studio.

This IBM Technote was of some help: -

The Technote is right on - invalid credentials - but could be a leeetle more revealing.

Of course, I solved it, after some trial and error, and some hair pulling ( for which I apologise !! ).

Yes, I was using the WRONG credentials ( Grommit ).

This is what I had been using: -

ldapsearch -h 192.168.1.130 -p 389 -D ldapbind -w passw0rd cn=*

and this is what I should have been using: -

ldapsearch -h 192.168.1.130 -p 389 -D CN=ldapbind,CN=Users,DC=Clanville,DC=uk,DC=ibm -w passw0rd cn=*

Thanks to the built-in, and excellent, adsiedit tool that now ships with AD2008.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3 - Creating a local Yum Repository

This is an update to an earlier post, somewhat shortened: -

Adding a local Yum repository to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2

Pre-Requisites

- RHEL 6.3 ISO is mounted in VMware Fusion

See what we have

cat /etc/redhat-release

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 6.3 (Santiago)

Mount CD-ROM in Linux - as root

mount /dev/cdrom /mnt

mount: block device /dev/sr0 is write-protected, mounting read-only

Install Pre-Requisite RPMs

rpm -ivh /mnt/Packages/deltarpm-3.5-0.5.20090913git.el6.x86_64.rpm

warning: /mnt/Packages/deltarpm-3.5-0.5.20090913git.el6.x86_64.rpm: Header V3 RSA/SHA256 Signature, key ID fd431d51: NOKEY
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
   1:deltarpm               ########################################### [100%]

rpm -ivh /mnt/Packages/python-deltarpm-3.5-0.5.20090913git.el6.x86_64.rpm 

warning: /mnt/Packages/python-deltarpm-3.5-0.5.20090913git.el6.x86_64.rpm: Header V3 RSA/SHA256 Signature, key ID fd431d51: NOKEY
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
   1:python-deltarpm        ########################################### [100%]

rpm -ivh /mnt/Packages/createrepo-0.9.8-5.el6.noarch.rpm 

warning: /mnt/Packages/createrepo-0.9.8-5.el6.noarch.rpm: Header V3 RSA/SHA256 Signature, key ID fd431d51: NOKEY
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
   1:createrepo             ########################################### [100%]

Import GPG Keys

rpm --import /mnt/RPM-GPG-KEY-redhat-beta
rpm --import /mnt/RPM-GPG-KEY-redhat-release

Create Required Directory Structure

mkdir /var/repo

mkdir /var/repo/rhel63

Copy RPMs from ISO to local disk

cd /mnt

cd /var/repo/rhel63/

cp -R /mnt/Packages/* .

Create Repository Metadata

cd /var/repo/

createrepo .

1073/3653 - rhel63/kdegraphics-devel-4.3.4-6.el6.i686.rpm                     
iso-8859-1 encoding on Ville Skytt? <ville.skytta@iki.fi> - 2.8.2-2

3653/3653 - rhel63/libselinux-2.0.94-5.3.el6.i686.rpm                         
Saving Primary metadata
Saving file lists metadata
Saving other metadata

Create Repository for Yum to use

cd /etc/yum.repos.d/
vi server.repo 

[server]
gpgcheck=1
name=Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3
baseurl=file:///var/repo

Test Repository

yum list

Loaded plugins: product-id, security, subscription-manager
Updating certificate-based repositories.
Unable to read consumer identity
Installed Packages
ConsoleKit.x86_64                      0.4.1-3.el6                        @anaconda-RedHatEnterpriseLinux-201206132210.x86_64/6.3
ConsoleKit-libs.x86_64                 0.4.1-3.el6    

...

zenity.x86_64                          2.28.0-1.el6                       server

zlib.i686                              1.2.3-27.el6                       server
zlib-devel.i686                        1.2.3-27.el6                       server
zlib-devel.x86_64                      1.2.3-27.el6                       server
zsh.x86_64                             4.3.10-5.el6                       server

Test Further - Install an RPM

Note - just to ensure that I'm not cheating, I also unmounted the RHEL ISO: -

umount /mnt

yum install gcc

Loaded plugins: product-id, security, subscription-manager
Updating certificate-based repositories.
Unable to read consumer identity
Setting up Install Process
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package gcc.x86_64 0:4.4.6-4.el6 will be installed
--> Processing Dependency: cpp = 4.4.6-4.el6 for package: gcc-4.4.6-4.el6.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: glibc-devel >= 2.2.90-12 for package: gcc-4.4.6-4.el6.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: cloog-ppl >= 0.15 for package: gcc-4.4.6-4.el6.x86_64
--> Running transaction check
---> Package cloog-ppl.x86_64 0:0.15.7-1.2.el6 will be installed
--> Processing Dependency: libppl_c.so.2()(64bit) for package: cloog-ppl-0.15.7-1.2.el6.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: libppl.so.7()(64bit) for package: cloog-ppl-0.15.7-1.2.el6.x86_64
---> Package cpp.x86_64 0:4.4.6-4.el6 will be installed
--> Processing Dependency: libmpfr.so.1()(64bit) for package: cpp-4.4.6-4.el6.x86_64
---> Package glibc-devel.x86_64 0:2.12-1.80.el6 will be installed
--> Processing Dependency: glibc-headers = 2.12-1.80.el6 for package: glibc-devel-2.12-1.80.el6.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: glibc-headers for package: glibc-devel-2.12-1.80.el6.x86_64
--> Running transaction check
---> Package glibc-headers.x86_64 0:2.12-1.80.el6 will be installed
--> Processing Dependency: kernel-headers >= 2.2.1 for package: glibc-headers-2.12-1.80.el6.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: kernel-headers for package: glibc-headers-2.12-1.80.el6.x86_64
---> Package mpfr.x86_64 0:2.4.1-6.el6 will be installed
---> Package ppl.x86_64 0:0.10.2-11.el6 will be installed
--> Running transaction check
---> Package kernel-headers.x86_64 0:2.6.32-279.el6 will be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution

Dependencies Resolved


==================================================================================================================================
 Package                           Arch                      Version                              Repository                 Size
==================================================================================================================================
Installing:
 gcc                               x86_64                    4.4.6-4.el6                          server                     10 M
Installing for dependencies:
 cloog-ppl                         x86_64                    0.15.7-1.2.el6                       server                     93 k
 cpp                               x86_64                    4.4.6-4.el6                          server                    3.7 M
 glibc-devel                       x86_64                    2.12-1.80.el6                        server                    970 k
 glibc-headers                     x86_64                    2.12-1.80.el6                        server                    600 k
 kernel-headers                    x86_64                    2.6.32-279.el6                       server                    1.9 M
 mpfr                              x86_64                    2.4.1-6.el6                          server                    156 k
 ppl                               x86_64                    0.10.2-11.el6                        server                    1.3 M

Transaction Summary
==================================================================================================================================
Install       8 Package(s)

Total download size: 19 M
Installed size: 38 M
Is this ok [y/N]: y

Downloading Packages:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total                                                                                             143 MB/s |  19 MB     00:00   
Running rpm_check_debug
Running Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Running Transaction
Warning: RPMDB altered outside of yum.
  Installing : ppl-0.10.2-11.el6.x86_64                                                                                       1/8
  Installing : cloog-ppl-0.15.7-1.2.el6.x86_64                                                                                2/8
  Installing : mpfr-2.4.1-6.el6.x86_64                                                                                        3/8
  Installing : cpp-4.4.6-4.el6.x86_64                                                                                         4/8
  Installing : kernel-headers-2.6.32-279.el6.x86_64                                                                           5/8
  Installing : glibc-headers-2.12-1.80.el6.x86_64                                                                             6/8
  Installing : glibc-devel-2.12-1.80.el6.x86_64                                                                               7/8
  Installing : gcc-4.4.6-4.el6.x86_64                                                                                         8/8
Installed products updated.
  Verifying  : kernel-headers-2.6.32-279.el6.x86_64                                                                           1/8
  Verifying  : glibc-devel-2.12-1.80.el6.x86_64                                                                               2/8
  Verifying  : gcc-4.4.6-4.el6.x86_64                                                                                         3/8
  Verifying  : mpfr-2.4.1-6.el6.x86_64                                                                                        4/8
  Verifying  : glibc-headers-2.12-1.80.el6.x86_64                                                                             5/8
  Verifying  : cpp-4.4.6-4.el6.x86_64                                                                                         6/8
  Verifying  : ppl-0.10.2-11.el6.x86_64                                                                                       7/8
  Verifying  : cloog-ppl-0.15.7-1.2.el6.x86_64                                                                                8/8

Installed:
  gcc.x86_64 0:4.4.6-4.el6                                                                                                      

Dependency Installed:
  cloog-ppl.x86_64 0:0.15.7-1.2.el6          cpp.x86_64 0:4.4.6-4.el6                     glibc-devel.x86_64 0:2.12-1.80.el6    
  glibc-headers.x86_64 0:2.12-1.80.el6       kernel-headers.x86_64 0:2.6.32-279.el6       mpfr.x86_64 0:2.4.1-6.el6             
  ppl.x86_64 0:0.10.2-11.el6              

Complete!

Test

gcc -v

Using built-in specs.
Target: x86_64-redhat-linux
Configured with: ../configure --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man --infodir=/usr/share/info --with-bugurl=http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla --enable-bootstrap --enable-shared --enable-threads=posix --enable-checking=release --with-system-zlib --enable-__cxa_atexit --disable-libunwind-exceptions --enable-gnu-unique-object --enable-languages=c,c++,objc,obj-c++,java,fortran,ada --enable-java-awt=gtk --disable-dssi --with-java-home=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-gcj-1.5.0.0/jre --enable-libgcj-multifile --enable-java-maintainer-mode --with-ecj-jar=/usr/share/java/eclipse-ecj.jar --disable-libjava-multilib --with-ppl --with-cloog --with-tune=generic --with-arch_32=i686 --build=x86_64-redhat-linux
Thread model: posix
gcc version 4.4.6 20120305 (Red Hat 4.4.6-4) (GCC) 

Sources

Creating a Redhat package repository

Creating A Local and HTTP RedHat Yum Repository

VMware Workstation on OpenSUSE 13.1 - Success at last

So, the moral of the story is .....

Hang on, what was the problem ?

I tried, and failed - for several hours - to work out the precise combination to get VMware Workstation 9.0.0 working on OpenSuSE 13.1.

Long story short, VMware was failing to find the right Linux kernel headers, despite my having installed the supposedly missing pre-requisites, including Linux kernel headers, gcc, make etc.

I spent ages Googling and trying various different sources, including: -

Installing VMware Workstation in openSUSE 11 (1026369)

Linux Kernel 3.11, VMWare Workstation, and NVidia Legacy Drivers

etc.

The latter was useful, in terms of providing a whole slew of different VMware patches, none of which were for the precise combination of Linux kernel ( 3.11 ) and VMware ( 9.0.0 ).

The solution ?

Go to VMware Workstation 10.0.3 ( specifically this binary VMware-Workstation-Full-10.0.3-1895310.x86_64.bundle ).

Once I did this, it just worked out of the box.

Now I'm off to build a Windows 2008 server in order to get Active Directory working ... this in order to allow me to test Single Sign-On (SSO) between AD and WebSphere Application Server 8.5.

Ah, SSH from Mac OS X to OpenSuSE - The firewall, (s)he say "No"

So I was trying to work out why I wasn't able to SSH from my Mac to my new server running OpenSuSE 13.1.

This is what I was doing: -

ssh hayd@192.168.1.84

but that was simply timing out.

I then tried telnet e.g.

telnet 192.168.1.84 22

but to no avail: -

Trying 192.168.1.84...
...

On the SuSE box, I confirmed that sshd was running: -

netstat -anp | grep 'LISTEN' | grep 22

which returned: -

...

tcp 0 0.0.0.0:22 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 17611/sshd

tcp 0 0 ::22 :::* LISTEN 17611/sshd

...

and: -

pgrep sshd

which returned: -

17611

As ever, a quick Google search for openlinux firewall which brought me here: -

OpenSuSE: Disable firewall completely

...

I was wondering… why I can't connect through ssh. sshd daemon is running fine, so I found out that OpenSuSE installs its stikin' firewall by default and blocks everything. I'm pretty well protected behind enough high end security devices, and don't need to micro-manage my connection. Here is how I disabled the firewall altogether:

/sbin/SuSEfirewall2 off

To start the firewall:

/sbin/SuSEfirewall2 on

If you want to temporarily disable your firewall:

/etc/init.d/SuSEfirewall2_setup stop

Enter the above line without "stop" and you will see all available switches.
...

Lo and behold, once I did the same on the OpenSuSE box: -

/sbin/SuSEfirewall2 off

telnet worked: -

Trying 192.168.1.84...
Connected to 192.168.1.84.
Escape character is '^]'.
SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_6.2

as did ssh: -

ssh hayd@192.168.1.84

Password: 
Last login: Sat Oct  4 19:42:44 2014 from 192.168.1.70
Have a lot of fun...

I did, of course, bring the firewall back up again when I'd finished ......

Synology NAS - Ever wonder why you cannot write to a USB external drive ?

So I was seeing this: -

cd /volumeUSB1/usbshare

touch foo

touch: foo: Permission denied

when I tried to write a file to an EXT2-formatted USB drive on my Synology DS414 NAS as a non-root user.

However, I was able to write a file as the root user.

Well, it's quite simple actually: -

Yes, the USB drive appears as this: -

/dev/sdr1 on /volumeUSB1/usbshare type ext3 (0)

and my admin user did NOT have Read/Write access to that drive.

It was actually this article that led me to the solution: -

Log in to a Synology DiskStation using SSH keys as a user other than root

so I will explore the SSH keys option :-)

 OS X and NFS

So I was seeing: -

Operation not permitted

whilst trying to mount a NFS export from my Mac: -

sudo mount -t nfs 192.168.3.5:/macbak /tmp/foobar

Simple solution, thanks to Google: -

Operation Not Permitted Mounting NFS Share on OS X Mountain Lion

...

simply adding -o resvport to the mount_nfs command resolves the above error and successfully mounts the NFS share.

...

which leads me to this: -

sudo mount -t nfs -o resvport 192.168.3.5:/macbak /tmp/foobar

The original article also refers to this: -

How To mount a NFS in Mac OS X Mountain Lion

PS For the record, I'm using OS X 10.9.5 Mavericks, but the solution remains the same, which is nice :-)