How to run QEMU full virtualization with MacVTap networking using NetworkManager under CentOS 8

In addition to the previously presented article on the subject Howto do QEMU full virtualization with MacVTap networking this one shows how to run a QEMU virtual machine with a MAcVTap device in bridge mode on the host server configured only by using the NetworkManager cli – nmcli.

It is worth mentioning the MacVTap is a virtual bridge, which will make the host and the guest device show up directly on the host switch. So when using QEMU, the guest virtualized system will be as if it is connected to the host switch with one limitation – the host and guest cannot communicate with each other. The IPs of the host won’t be reachable from the guest, so NAT (masquerade) between the host and guest is not possible with this setup. Still, if the NAT server is on another server or a real IP is planned for the guest, MacVTap is the right functionality to use with the QEMU guest system.

Summary

  1. Add MacVTap device in bridge mode with name macvtap0.
  2. Install QEMU.
  3. Create QEMU local disk.
  4. Run a QEMU virtual server.

STEP 1) Add MacVTap device in bridge mode with name macvtap0

[root@srv ~]# nmcli connection add type macvlan dev enp0s3 mode bridge tap yes ifname macvtap0 con-name macvtap0 ip4 0.0.0.0/24
Connection 'macvtap0' (7a5ef04c-ea98-4642-ac5d-4239f715f631) successfully added.
[root@srv ~]# nmcli con
NAME      UUID                                  TYPE      DEVICE   
enp0s3    09497bbf-da59-42b7-a72c-d69369760b36  ethernet  enp0s3   
macvtap0  7a5ef04c-ea98-4642-ac5d-4239f715f631  macvlan   macvtap0 

First, create a MacVTap device with the name macvtap0 in bridge mode with the network interface enp0s3 a and a connection with the name macvtap0. The IP is set to manual mode.
More detailed information on how to create and add MacVTap device with the NetworkManager here – Create MacVTap device using NetworkManager nmcli under CentOS 8

STEP 2) Install QEMU.

Install the QEMU virtual tools under CentOS 8 Stream. At present, the QEMU version is 6.2, which is pretty new.
Keep on reading!

Bacula – show configuration, status and information with bconsole tool

The following list of commands could be used to get a brief or detailed view of a Bacula backup server from the management utility

bconsole

. These commands are extremely useful for getting information on the backup process and policy and Bacula troubleshooting – could be used for fast debugging of an error, problems or misconfiguration.

the following commands give information for

  • Jobs

    list jobtotals Lists stats for all jobs, it also shows all jobs’ names
    show jobs Lists all jobs with their full configurations – show all jobs and for each job show detail explanation of what represent. The detail output includes full configuration of a job including client, catalog, fileset,schedule,pool,message. This will show all relationships between the different components of bacula system, how and which clients,storages,pools,schedules,filesets relate to. You’ll a thoroughly view of how let’s say a server is made the backup.
    show job=[job_name] shows full configuration for a job, the name could be taken by the two above commands
    list jobs Lists all jobs’ status – ID, StartTime, Type (backup?), Level (Full, increment, differential?), Files and bytes processed and the status of the job (Terminated normally, Running,Fatal error and so on)
    list files jobid=[ID] which files were included in the backup? Lists all paths and files included in the backup, not a configuration set but real physical path and filenames.
    status dir if you want to find all scheduled jobs for the next day (or more if you add a parameter). This will show the status of the director process.
  • Storages

    status storage list storage devices and their status – you can see the physical path on the filesystem where the Devices will put backup files
  • Clients

    show client show all clients’ names and backup policy
    status client=[client_name] show client status and what is doing, check the network connection between the director and the client, last terminated jobs and their status.
  • Filesets

    show fileset show all filesets, a fileset is a set with files and directories to include or exclude from a backup.
  • Schedule

    show schedule shows all registered schedulers and details for each one (Run Level=Full,Differential,Incremental), months, days, minutes.
    show schedule=[scheduler_name] shows details for a schedule with name scheduler_name (Run Level=Full,Differential,Incremental), months, days, minutes. It’s like the schedule backup plan of a server
  • Director

    message shows the last message of the backup process. If empty all logs of the backup process could be found in “/var/log/bacula/bacula.log”
    reload the director will re-read its all configuration files. Should be used when adding configuration files.

And here is the example output of the above commands with a little bit of explanation:

  • Jobs

    1) Get the stats and the jobs’ names, the names could be used in many other commands!

    srvbkp@local # bconsole 
    Connecting to Director localhost:9101
    1000 OK: 1 srvbkp-dir Version: 7.0.5 (28 July 2014)
    Enter a period to cancel a command.
    *list jobtotals
    Automatically selected Catalog: allbackup
    Using Catalog "allbackup"
    +------+-----------+-------------------+--------------------------------+
    | Jobs | Files     | Bytes             | Job                            |
    +------+-----------+-------------------+--------------------------------+
    |   90 |        90 |   123,665,584,337 | BackupCatalog                  |
    |    5 |         5 |   281,593,737,603 | RestoreFiles                   |
    |   13 | 1,232,316 |   118,480,634,434 | srv1-media                     |
    |   32 |        12 |             3,674 | srv1-dns                       |
    |   32 |        10 |             3,064 | srv2-dns                       |
    |   32 |        10 |             3,064 | srv3-dns                       |
    |   32 |        10 |             3,086 | srv4-dns                       |
    |   32 |        10 |             3,084 | srv5-dns                       |
    |   26 | 3,837,536 |   587,812,183,466 | srv1-images                    |
    +------+-----------+-------------------+--------------------------------+
    +-------+------------+-------------------+
    | Jobs  | Files      | Bytes             |
    +-------+------------+-------------------+
    | 1,474 | 14,925,321 | 5,475,024,028,957 |
    +-------+------------+-------------------+
    *
    

    2) Get all configurations for all jobs, here are included only two for clarity. All needed information for taking a backup of a server. You can see the files, which will be included (or excluded), where the backup will be stored when will happen in time, and how many different types of backup will be done – full, incremental, and differential. And this whole information is for all clients (servers).

    *show jobs
    Job: name=srv1-dns JobType=66 level= Priority=10 Enabled=1
         MaxJobs=1 Resched=0 Times=0 Interval=1,800 Spool=0 WritePartAfterJob=1
         Accurate=0
      --> Client: name=srv1-dns address=192.168.0.100 FDport=9102 MaxJobs=1
          JobRetention=1 month  FileRetention=1 month  AutoPrune=1
      --> Catalog: name=allbackup address=localhost DBport=0 db_name=bacula
          db_driver=*None* db_user=bacula MutliDBConn=0
      --> FileSet: name=bind
          O MZ6
          N
          I /var/lib/named
          N
      --> Schedule: name=bind
      --> Run Level=Full
          hour=20 
          mday=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
          month=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 
          wday=0 
          wom=0 
          woy=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 
          mins=0
      --> Run Level=Differential
          hour=20 
          mday=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
          month=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 
          wday=0 
          wom=1 2 3 4 
          woy=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 
          mins=0
      --> Run Level=Incremental
          hour=20 
          mday=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
          month=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 
          wday=1 2 3 4 5 6 
          wom=0 1 2 3 4 5 
          woy=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 
          mins=0
      --> Storage: name=bind address=192.168.0.10 SDport=9103 MaxJobs=10
          DeviceName=bind MediaType=File StorageId=17
      --> Pool: name=Default PoolType=Backup
          use_cat=1 use_once=0 cat_files=1
          max_vols=100 auto_prune=1 VolRetention=1 year 
          VolUse=0 secs recycle=1 LabelFormat=*None*
          CleaningPrefix=*None* LabelType=0
          RecyleOldest=0 PurgeOldest=0 ActionOnPurge=0
          MaxVolJobs=0 MaxVolFiles=0 MaxVolBytes=53687091200
          MigTime=0 secs MigHiBytes=0 MigLoBytes=0
          JobRetention=0 secs FileRetention=0 secs
      --> Pool: name=bind-full PoolType=Backup
          use_cat=1 use_once=1 cat_files=1
          max_vols=0 auto_prune=1 VolRetention=2 months 
          VolUse=0 secs recycle=1 LabelFormat=bind-full
          CleaningPrefix=*None* LabelType=0
          RecyleOldest=0 PurgeOldest=0 ActionOnPurge=0
          MaxVolJobs=0 MaxVolFiles=0 MaxVolBytes=0
          MigTime=0 secs MigHiBytes=0 MigLoBytes=0
          JobRetention=0 secs FileRetention=0 secs
      --> Pool: name=bind-incr PoolType=Backup
          use_cat=1 use_once=0 cat_files=1
          max_vols=0 auto_prune=1 VolRetention=7 days 
          VolUse=23 hours  recycle=1 LabelFormat=bind-incr
          CleaningPrefix=*None* LabelType=0
          RecyleOldest=0 PurgeOldest=0 ActionOnPurge=0
          MaxVolJobs=0 MaxVolFiles=0 MaxVolBytes=0
          MigTime=0 secs MigHiBytes=0 MigLoBytes=0
          JobRetention=0 secs FileRetention=0 secs
      --> Pool: name=bind-diff PoolType=Backup
          use_cat=1 use_once=0 cat_files=1
          max_vols=0 auto_prune=1 VolRetention=1 month 1 day 
          VolUse=0 secs recycle=1 LabelFormat=bind-diff
          CleaningPrefix=*None* LabelType=0
          RecyleOldest=0 PurgeOldest=0 ActionOnPurge=0
          MaxVolJobs=0 MaxVolFiles=0 MaxVolBytes=0
          MigTime=0 secs MigHiBytes=0 MigLoBytes=0
          JobRetention=0 secs FileRetention=0 secs
      --> Messages: name=Standard
          mailcmd=/usr/sbin/bsmtp -h localhost -f "(Bacula) <%r>" -s "Bacula: %t %e of %c %l" %r
          opcmd=/usr/sbin/bsmtp -h localhost -f "(Bacula) <%r>" -s "Bacula: Intervention needed for %j" %r
    Job: name=srv2-dns JobType=66 level= Priority=10 Enabled=1
         MaxJobs=1 Resched=0 Times=0 Interval=1,800 Spool=0 WritePartAfterJob=1
         Accurate=0
      --> Client: name=srv2-dns address=192.168.0.101 FDport=9102 MaxJobs=1
          JobRetention=1 month  FileRetention=1 month  AutoPrune=1
      --> Catalog: name=allbackup address=localhost DBport=0 db_name=bacula
          db_driver=*None* db_user=bacula MutliDBConn=0
      --> FileSet: name=bind
          O MZ6
          N
          I /var/lib/named
          N
      --> Schedule: name=bind
      --> Run Level=Full
          hour=20 
          mday=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
          month=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 
          wday=0 
          wom=0 
          woy=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 
          mins=0
      --> Run Level=Differential
          hour=20 
          mday=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
          month=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 
          wday=0 
          wom=1 2 3 4 
          woy=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 
          mins=0
      --> Run Level=Incremental
          hour=20 
          mday=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
          month=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 
          wday=1 2 3 4 5 6 
          wom=0 1 2 3 4 5 
          woy=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 
          mins=0
      --> Storage: name=bind address=192.168.0.10 SDport=9103 MaxJobs=10
          DeviceName=bind MediaType=File StorageId=17
      --> Pool: name=Default PoolType=Backup
          use_cat=1 use_once=0 cat_files=1
          max_vols=100 auto_prune=1 VolRetention=1 year 
          VolUse=0 secs recycle=1 LabelFormat=*None*
          CleaningPrefix=*None* LabelType=0
          RecyleOldest=0 PurgeOldest=0 ActionOnPurge=0
          MaxVolJobs=0 MaxVolFiles=0 MaxVolBytes=53687091200
          MigTime=0 secs MigHiBytes=0 MigLoBytes=0
          JobRetention=0 secs FileRetention=0 secs
      --> Pool: name=bind-full PoolType=Backup
          use_cat=1 use_once=1 cat_files=1
          max_vols=0 auto_prune=1 VolRetention=2 months 
          VolUse=0 secs recycle=1 LabelFormat=bind-full
          CleaningPrefix=*None* LabelType=0
          RecyleOldest=0 PurgeOldest=0 ActionOnPurge=0
          MaxVolJobs=0 MaxVolFiles=0 MaxVolBytes=0
          MigTime=0 secs MigHiBytes=0 MigLoBytes=0
          JobRetention=0 secs FileRetention=0 secs
      --> Pool: name=bind-incr PoolType=Backup
          use_cat=1 use_once=0 cat_files=1
          max_vols=0 auto_prune=1 VolRetention=7 days 
          VolUse=23 hours  recycle=1 LabelFormat=bind-incr
          CleaningPrefix=*None* LabelType=0
          RecyleOldest=0 PurgeOldest=0 ActionOnPurge=0
          MaxVolJobs=0 MaxVolFiles=0 MaxVolBytes=0
          MigTime=0 secs MigHiBytes=0 MigLoBytes=0
          JobRetention=0 secs FileRetention=0 secs
      --> Pool: name=bind-diff PoolType=Backup
          use_cat=1 use_once=0 cat_files=1
          max_vols=0 auto_prune=1 VolRetention=1 month 1 day 
          VolUse=0 secs recycle=1 LabelFormat=bind-diff
          CleaningPrefix=*None* LabelType=0
          RecyleOldest=0 PurgeOldest=0 ActionOnPurge=0
          MaxVolJobs=0 MaxVolFiles=0 MaxVolBytes=0
          MigTime=0 secs MigHiBytes=0 MigLoBytes=0
          JobRetention=0 secs FileRetention=0 secs
      --> Messages: name=Standard
          mailcmd=/usr/sbin/bsmtp -h localhost -f "(Bacula) <%r>" -s "Bacula: %t %e of %c %l" %r
          opcmd=/usr/sbin/bsmtp -h localhost -f "(Bacula) <%r>" -s "Bacula: Intervention needed for %j" %r
    

    3) You can get the full configuration information of a job (the information is the same as above, but for a given job name, which could be taken from the first command above, it is not necessary to output all the configurations every time):

    srvbkp@local # bconsole 
    Connecting to Director localhost:9101
    1000 OK: 1 srvbkp-dir Version: 7.0.5 (28 July 2014)
    Enter a period to cancel a command.
    *show jobs=srv2-dns
    Job: name=srv2-dns JobType=66 level= Priority=10 Enabled=1
         MaxJobs=1 Resched=0 Times=0 Interval=1,800 Spool=0 WritePartAfterJob=1
         Accurate=0
      --> Client: name=srv2-dns address=192.168.0.101 FDport=9102 MaxJobs=1
          JobRetention=1 month  FileRetention=1 month  AutoPrune=1
      --> Catalog: name=allbackup address=localhost DBport=0 db_name=bacula
          db_driver=*None* db_user=bacula MutliDBConn=0
      --> FileSet: name=bind
          O MZ6
          N
          I /var/lib/named
          N
      --> Schedule: name=bind
      --> Run Level=Full
          hour=20 
          mday=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
          month=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 
          wday=0 
          wom=0 
          woy=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 
          mins=0
      --> Run Level=Differential
          hour=20 
          mday=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
          month=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 
          wday=0 
          wom=1 2 3 4 
          woy=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 
          mins=0
      --> Run Level=Incremental
          hour=20 
          mday=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
          month=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 
          wday=1 2 3 4 5 6 
          wom=0 1 2 3 4 5 
          woy=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 
          mins=0
      --> Storage: name=bind address=192.168.0.10 SDport=9103 MaxJobs=10
          DeviceName=bind MediaType=File StorageId=17
      --> Pool: name=Default PoolType=Backup
          use_cat=1 use_once=0 cat_files=1
          max_vols=100 auto_prune=1 VolRetention=1 year 
          VolUse=0 secs recycle=1 LabelFormat=*None*
          CleaningPrefix=*None* LabelType=0
          RecyleOldest=0 PurgeOldest=0 ActionOnPurge=0
          MaxVolJobs=0 MaxVolFiles=0 MaxVolBytes=53687091200
          MigTime=0 secs MigHiBytes=0 MigLoBytes=0
          JobRetention=0 secs FileRetention=0 secs
      --> Pool: name=bind-full PoolType=Backup
          use_cat=1 use_once=1 cat_files=1
          max_vols=0 auto_prune=1 VolRetention=2 months 
          VolUse=0 secs recycle=1 LabelFormat=bind-full
          CleaningPrefix=*None* LabelType=0
          RecyleOldest=0 PurgeOldest=0 ActionOnPurge=0
          MaxVolJobs=0 MaxVolFiles=0 MaxVolBytes=0
          MigTime=0 secs MigHiBytes=0 MigLoBytes=0
          JobRetention=0 secs FileRetention=0 secs
      --> Pool: name=bind-incr PoolType=Backup
          use_cat=1 use_once=0 cat_files=1
          max_vols=0 auto_prune=1 VolRetention=7 days 
          VolUse=23 hours  recycle=1 LabelFormat=bind-incr
          CleaningPrefix=*None* LabelType=0
          RecyleOldest=0 PurgeOldest=0 ActionOnPurge=0
          MaxVolJobs=0 MaxVolFiles=0 MaxVolBytes=0
          MigTime=0 secs MigHiBytes=0 MigLoBytes=0
          JobRetention=0 secs FileRetention=0 secs
      --> Pool: name=bind-diff PoolType=Backup
          use_cat=1 use_once=0 cat_files=1
          max_vols=0 auto_prune=1 VolRetention=1 month 1 day 
          VolUse=0 secs recycle=1 LabelFormat=bind-diff
          CleaningPrefix=*None* LabelType=0
          RecyleOldest=0 PurgeOldest=0 ActionOnPurge=0
          MaxVolJobs=0 MaxVolFiles=0 MaxVolBytes=0
          MigTime=0 secs MigHiBytes=0 MigLoBytes=0
          JobRetention=0 secs FileRetention=0 secs
      --> Messages: name=Standard
          mailcmd=/usr/sbin/bsmtp -h localhost -f "(Bacula) <%r>" -s "Bacula: %t %e of %c %l" %r
          opcmd=/usr/sbin/bsmtp -h localhost -f "(Bacula) <%r>" -s "Bacula: Intervention needed for %j" %r
    

    4) Lists all jobs’ status – ID, StartTime, Type (backup?), Level (Full, increment, differential?), Files and bytes processed and the status of the job (Terminated normally, Running,Fatal error and so on). Found out if you have backups of a server or the backup process failed!

    srvbkp@local # bconsole 
    Connecting to Director localhost:9101
    1000 OK: 1 srvbkp-dir Version: 7.0.5 (28 July 2014)
    Enter a period to cancel a command.
    *list jobs
    +-------+--------------------------------+---------------------+------+-------+-----------+-----------------+-----------+
    | JobId | Name                           | StartTime           | Type | Level | JobFiles  | JobBytes        | JobStatus |
    +-------+--------------------------------+---------------------+------+-------+-----------+-----------------+-----------+
    |   128 | srv1-test                      | 2016-12-04 23:05:00 | B    | F     |    17,506 |      52,116,400 | T         |
    |   178 | srv1-test                      | 2016-12-09 23:05:01 | B    | I     |        13 |           1,509 | T         |
    |   188 | srv1-test                      | 2016-12-10 23:05:01 | B    | I     |        13 |           1,509 | T         |
    .........................................................................................................................
    | 8,927 | srv2-images                    | 2018-03-04 20:00:00 | B    | F     |         0 |               0 | f         |
    | 8,928 | srv1-media                     | 2018-03-04 20:00:00 | B    | F     |         3 |             978 | T         |
    | 8,930 | srv1-dns                       | 2018-03-04 20:00:01 | B    | F     |         6 |           1,843 | T         |
    | 8,932 | srv2-dns                       | 2018-03-04 20:00:01 | B    | F     |         6 |           1,837 | T         |
    | 8,931 | srv3-dns                       | 2018-03-04 20:00:03 | B    | F     |         5 |           1,542 | T         |
    | 8,933 | srv4-dns                       | 2018-03-04 20:00:04 | B    | F     |         4 |           1,258 | T         |
    | 8,934 | srv5-dns                       | 2018-03-04 20:00:04 | B    | F     |         4 |           1,258 | T         |
    +-------+--------------------------------+---------------------+------+-------+-----------+-----------------+-----------+
    

    5) Which files were included in a backup job? Lists all paths and files included in the backup job (the ID is from the above command):

    *list files jobid=8934
    +----------+
    | Filename |
    +----------+
    | /var/lib/named/ |
    | /var/lib/named/root.cache |
    | /var/lib/named/sec |
    | /var/lib/named/sec/example.com.db |
    | /var/lib/named/sec/example2.net.db |
    | /var/lib/named/pri |
    +----------+
    +-------+----------+---------------------+------+-------+----------+----------+-----------+
    | JobId | Name     | StartTime           | Type | Level | JobFiles | JobBytes | JobStatus |
    +-------+----------+---------------------+------+-------+----------+----------+-----------+
    | 8,934 | srv5-dns | 2018-03-04 20:00:20 | B    | F     |        6 |    1,851 | T         |
    +-------+----------+---------------------+------+-------+----------+----------+-----------+
    

    6) Get the scheduled jobs. Which jobs will be executed and when:

    *status dir
    Scheduled Jobs:
    Level          Type     Pri  Scheduled          Job Name           Volume
    ===================================================================================
    Incremental    Backup    10  06-Mar-18 20:00    srv1-dns           *unknown*
    Incremental    Backup    10  06-Mar-18 20:00    srv2-dns           *unknown*
    Incremental    Backup    10  06-Mar-18 20:00    srv3-dns           *unknown*
    Incremental    Backup    10  06-Mar-18 20:00    srv4-dns           *unknown*
    Incremental    Backup    10  06-Mar-18 20:00    srv5-dns           *unknown*
    ...................................................................................
    Incremental    Backup    10  06-Mar-18 23:05    srv1-media         *unknown*
    Full           Backup    10  06-Mar-18 23:05    srv1-images        *unknown*
    ====
    Running Jobs:
    Console connected at 06-Mar-18 13:36
    No Jobs running.
    ====
    Terminated Jobs:
     JobId  Level    Files      Bytes   Status   Finished        Name
    ====================================================================
      9006  Incr        472    296.8 M  OK       05-Mar-18 23:05 srv1-dns
      9007  Incr     10,547    194.8 M  Error    05-Mar-18 23:05 srv2-dns
      9002  Incr         37    133.0 M  OK       05-Mar-18 23:05 srv3-dns
      8995  Incr         57    372.2 M  OK       05-Mar-18 23:06 srv4-dns
      9000  Incr        391    1.195 G  OK       05-Mar-18 23:07 srv5-dns
      9008  Full        832    7.139 G  OK       05-Mar-18 23:49 srv1-images
      9009  Full          1    1.493 G  OK       05-Mar-18 23:50 srv1-media
      9011  Full    315,027    121.6 G  OK       06-Mar-18 03:44 srv2-images
      9012  Full    314,804    93.85 G  OK       06-Mar-18 04:18 srv2-media
    ====
    *
    
  • Storages

  • Where are the backup files on your system? Trace the bacula media devices to the real path of your backup files.

    *status storage
    Automatically selected Storage: bind
    Connecting to Storage daemon bind at 192.168.0.10:9103
    srvbkp-sd Version: 7.0.5 (28 July 2014) x86_64-pc-linux-gnu ubuntu 16.04
    Daemon started 06-Nov-17 17:25. Jobs: run=5025, running=0.
     Heap: heap=135,168 smbytes=2,231,640 max_bytes=5,264,027 bufs=439 max_bufs=2,152
     Sizes: boffset_t=8 size_t=8 int32_t=4 int64_t=8 mode=0,0
    Running Jobs:
    No Jobs running.
    ====
    Jobs waiting to reserve a drive:
    ====
    Terminated Jobs:
     JobId  Level    Files      Bytes   Status   Finished        Name
    ===================================================================
      9071  Incr          0         0   OK       06-Mar-18 20:00 srv1-dns
      9074  Incr          0         0   OK       06-Mar-18 20:00 srv2-dns
      9073  Incr          0         0   OK       06-Mar-18 20:00 srv3-dns
      9075  Incr          5    2.043 K  OK       06-Mar-18 20:00 srv4-dns
      9078  Incr          5    2.042 K  OK       06-Mar-18 20:00 srv5-dns
      9077  Incr          0         0   OK       06-Mar-18 20:00 srv1-media
      9079  Incr          0         0   OK       06-Mar-18 20:00 srv1-images
      9076  Incr          0         0   OK       06-Mar-18 20:00 srv2-images
      9057  Full          0         0   Other    06-Mar-18 20:31 srv2-media
    ====
    Device status:
    Device "localstorage" (/mnt/storage1/bacula-storage/local) is not open.
    ==
    Device "media" (/mnt/storage1/bacula-storage/media) is not open.
    ==
    Device "bind" (/mnt/storage1/bacula-storage/bind) is not open.
    ==
    Device "image" (/mnt/storage1/bacula-storage/image) is not open.
    ==
    ====
    Used Volume status:
    ====
    Attr spooling: 0 active jobs, 34,753 bytes; 120 total jobs, 34,753 max bytes.
    ====
    *
    
  • Clients

    1) Show all client names in the bacula system, this could be useful to link a client name with a server and then to use the name in the next command (below in 2):

    *show client
    Client: name=srvbkp-fd address=192.168.0.5 FDport=9102 MaxJobs=1
          JobRetention=3 months  FileRetention=2 months  AutoPrune=1
      --> Catalog: name=allbackup address=localhost DBport=0 db_name=bacula
          db_driver=*None* db_user=bacula MutliDBConn=0
    Client: name=srv1-dns address=192.168.0.100 FDport=9102 MaxJobs=1
          JobRetention=1 month  FileRetention=1 month  AutoPrune=1
      --> Catalog: name=allbackup address=localhost DBport=0 db_name=bacula
          db_driver=*None* db_user=bacula MutliDBConn=0
    Client: name=srv2-dns address=192.168.0.101 FDport=9102 MaxJobs=1
          JobRetention=1 month  FileRetention=1 month  AutoPrune=1
      --> Catalog: name=allbackup address=localhost DBport=0 db_name=bacula
          db_driver=*None* db_user=bacula MutliDBConn=0
    Client: name=srv3-dns address=192.168.0.103 FDport=9102 MaxJobs=1
          JobRetention=1 month  FileRetention=1 month  AutoPrune=1
      --> Catalog: name=allbackup address=localhost DBport=0 db_name=bacula
          db_driver=*None* db_user=bacula MutliDBConn=0
    Client: name=srv4-dns address=192.168.0.104 FDport=9102 MaxJobs=1
          JobRetention=1 month  FileRetention=1 month  AutoPrune=1
      --> Catalog: name=allbackup address=localhost DBport=0 db_name=bacula
          db_driver=*None* db_user=bacula MutliDBConn=0
    Client: name=srv5-dns address=192.168.0.105 FDport=9102 MaxJobs=1
          JobRetention=1 month  FileRetention=1 month  AutoPrune=1
      --> Catalog: name=allbackup address=localhost DBport=0 db_name=bacula
          db_driver=*None* db_user=bacula MutliDBConn=0
    Client: name=srv1-media address=192.168.0.106 FDport=9102 MaxJobs=1
          JobRetention=1 month  FileRetention=1 month  AutoPrune=1
      --> Catalog: name=allbackup address=localhost DBport=0 db_name=bacula
          db_driver=*None* db_user=bacula MutliDBConn=0
    Client: name=srv1-images address=192.168.0.107 FDport=9102 MaxJobs=1
          JobRetention=1 month  FileRetention=1 month  AutoPrune=1
      --> Catalog: name=allbackup address=localhost DBport=0 db_name=bacula
          db_driver=*None* db_user=bacula MutliDBConn=0
    *
    

    2) Show status of a client. We can use this command to check what is going on with the client at the moment of issuing the command, the last terminated backup jobs and their status. In addition we can check the connection between the Director daemon and the client daemon, because the Director connects at the moment we issue the command, so it is useful for debugging purposes:

    *status client=srv1-dns
    Connecting to Client srv1-dns at 192.168.0.100:9102
    
    srv1-dns-fd Version: 7.0.5 (28 July 2014)  x86_64-pc-linux-gnu ubuntu 16.04
    Daemon started 23-Feb-18 00:43. Jobs: run=8 running=0.
     Heap: heap=98,304 smbytes=188,701 max_bytes=571,361 bufs=64 max_bufs=97
     Sizes: boffset_t=8 size_t=8 debug=0 trace=0 mode=0,0 bwlimit=0kB/s
     Plugin: bpipe-fd.so 
    
    Running Jobs:
    Director connected at: 06-Mar-18 22:51
    No Jobs running.
    ====
    
    Terminated Jobs:
     JobId  Level    Files      Bytes   Status   Finished        Name 
    ===================================================================
      1832  Full          4    1.333 K  OK       01-Mar-18 23:48 srv1-dns
      1836  Incr          0         0   OK       02-Mar-18 00:01 srv1-dns
      1864  Incr          0         0   OK       02-Mar-18 20:30 srv1-dns
      1907  Incr          0         0   OK       03-Mar-18 20:00 srv1-dns
      1950  Full          4    1.333 K  OK       04-Mar-18 20:01 srv1-dns
      1994  Incr          0         0   OK       05-Mar-18 20:00 srv1-dns
      1037  Incr          0         0   OK       06-Mar-18 20:00 srv1-dns
    ====
    *
    
  • Filesets

    Which files will be included or excluded from the backup process. The lines starting with “I” mean “include”, the lines starting with “E” mean exclude.

     *show fileset
    FileSet: name=Full Set
     O M
     N
     I /usr/sbin
     N
     E /var/lib/bacula
     E /proc
     E /tmp
     E /sys
     E /.journal
     E /.fsck
     N
    FileSet: name=Catalog
     O M
     N
     I /var/lib/bacula/bacula.sql
     N
    FileSet: name=images
     O MfZ6
     N
     I /
     N
     E /proc
     E /tmp
     E /run
     E /dev
     E /sys
     N
    FileSet: name=bind
     O MZ6
     N
     I /var/lib/named
     N
    FileSet: name=media
     O MfZ6
     N
     I /
     N
     E /proc
     E /tmp
     E /run
     E /dev
     E /sys
     N
    
  • Schedule

    1) The all timeline plans for taking backups

    *show schedule
    Schedule: name=WeeklyCycle
      --> Run Level=Full
          hour=23 
          mday=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
          month=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 
          wday=0 
          wom=0 
          woy=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 
          mins=5
      --> Run Level=Differential
          hour=23 
          mday=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
          month=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 
          wday=0 
          wom=1 2 3 4 
          woy=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 
          mins=5
      --> Run Level=Incremental
          hour=23 
          mday=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
          month=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 
          wday=1 2 3 4 5 6 
          wom=0 1 2 3 4 5 
          woy=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 
          mins=5
    Schedule: name=WeeklyCycleAfterBackup
      --> Run Level=Full
          hour=23 
          mday=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
          month=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 
          wday=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 
          wom=0 1 2 3 4 5 
          woy=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 
          mins=10
    Schedule: name=images
      --> Run Level=Full
          hour=10 
          mday=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
          month=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 
          wday=0 
          wom=0 
          woy=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 
          mins=0
      --> Run Level=Differential
          hour=10 
          mday=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
          month=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 
          wday=0 
          wom=1 2 3 4 
          woy=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 
          mins=0
      --> Run Level=Incremental
          hour=20 
          mday=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
          month=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 
          wday=1 2 3 4 5 6 
          wom=0 1 2 3 4 5 
          woy=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 
          mins=0
    

    2) The schedule plan for one client or groups of clients (server/s):

    *show schedule=bind
    Schedule: name=bind
      --> Run Level=Full
          hour=20 
          mday=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
          month=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 
          wday=0 
          wom=0 
          woy=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 
          mins=0
      --> Run Level=Differential
          hour=20 
          mday=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
          month=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 
          wday=0 
          wom=1 2 3 4 
          woy=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 
          mins=0
      --> Run Level=Incremental
          hour=20 
          mday=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
          month=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 
          wday=1 2 3 4 5 6 
          wom=0 1 2 3 4 5 
          woy=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 
          mins=0
    
  • Director

    1) Show the last messages of the backup processes. As you can see there is an error in one of the jobs, this error means that the client did not connect to the backup daemon (probably the same server with the Director), the problem was the firewall did not allow connections from this client (IP):

    *message
    06-Mar 20:00 srvbkp-dir JobId 1075: Start Backup JobId 1075, Job=srv1-bind.2018-03-06_20.00.01_05
    06-Mar 20:00 srvbkp-dir JobId 1075: Using Device "bind" to write.
    06-Mar 20:00 srvbkp-sd JobId 1066: Elapsed time=00:00:10, Transfer rate=0  Bytes/second
    06-Mar 20:00 srvbkp-dir JobId 1066: Bacula srvbkp-dir 7.0.5 (28Jul14):
      Build OS:               x86_64-pc-linux-gnu ubuntu 16.04
      JobId:                  1066
      Job:                    srv1-media.2018-03-06_20.00.00_56
      Backup Level:           Incremental, since=2018-03-06 20:00:14
      Client:                 "srv1-media" 7.0.5 (28Jul14) x86_64-pc-linux-gnu,ubuntu,16.04
      FileSet:                "bind" 2017-11-07 17:19:45
      Pool:                   "bind-incr" (From Job IncPool override)
      Catalog:                "allbackup" (From Client resource)
      Storage:                "bind" (From Job resource)
      Scheduled time:         06-Mar-2018 20:00:00
      Start time:             06-Mar-2018 20:00:15
      End time:               06-Mar-2018 20:00:26
      Elapsed time:           11 secs
      Priority:               10
      FD Files Written:       0
      SD Files Written:       0
      FD Bytes Written:       0 (0 B)
      SD Bytes Written:       0 (0 B)
      Rate:                   0.0 KB/s
      Software Compression:   None
      VSS:                    no
      Encryption:             no
      Accurate:               no
      Volume name(s):        
      Volume Session Id:      1025
      Volume Session Time:    1509989534
      Last Volume Bytes:      4,618 (4.618 KB)
      Non-fatal FD errors:    0
      SD Errors:              0
      FD termination status:  OK
      SD termination status:  OK
      Termination:            Backup OK
    06-Mar 20:01 srvbkp-dir JobId 1057: Using Device "bind" to write.
    06-Mar 20:05 srv2-dns-fd JobId 1057: Warning: bsock.c:112 Could not connect to Storage daemon on 192.168.0.5:9103. ERR=Connection timed out
    Retrying ...
    06-Mar 20:31 srv2-dns-fd JobId 1057: Fatal error: bsock.c:118 Unable to connect to Storage daemon on 192.168.0.5:9103. ERR=Interrupted system call
    06-Mar 20:31 srv2-dns-fd JobId 1057: Fatal error: job.c:1893 Failed to connect to Storage daemon: 192.168.0.5:9103
    06-Mar 20:31 srvbkp-dir JobId 1057: Fatal error: Bad response to Storage command: wanted 2000 OK storage
    , got 2902 Bad storage
    06-Mar 20:31 srvbkp-dir JobId 1057: Error: Bacula srvbkp-dir 7.0.5 (28Jul14):
      Build OS:               x86_64-pc-linux-gnu ubuntu 16.04
      JobId:                  1057
      Job:                    srv2-dns.2018-03-06_20.00.00_47
      Backup Level:           Full (upgraded from Incremental)
      Client:                 "srv2-dns" 7.0.5 (28Jul14) x86_64-pc-linux-gnu,ubuntu,16.04
      FileSet:                "bind" 2017-11-07 17:19:45
      Pool:                   "bind-full" (From Job FullPool override)
      Catalog:                "allbackup" (From Client resource)
      Storage:                "bind" (From Job resource)
      Scheduled time:         06-Mar-2018 20:00:00
      Start time:             06-Mar-2018 20:00:00
      End time:               06-Mar-2018 20:31:22
      Elapsed time:           31 mins 22 secs
      Priority:               10
      FD Files Written:       0
      SD Files Written:       0
      FD Bytes Written:       0 (0 B)
      SD Bytes Written:       0 (0 B)
      Rate:                   0.0 KB/s
      Software Compression:   None
      VSS:                    no
      Encryption:             no
      Accurate:               no
      Volume name(s):        
      Volume Session Id:      1201
      Volume Session Time:    1509989534
      Last Volume Bytes:      1 (1 B)
      Non-fatal FD errors:    2
      SD Errors:              0
      FD termination status:  Error
      SD termination status:  Waiting on FD
      Termination:            *** Backup Error ***
    

    2) reload – reload the configuration files of bacula system. The daemons will re-read all configuration files in “/etc/bacula”. Unfortunately there is no output:

    *reload
    *
    

Install GO language in Ubuntu 16 LTS from the official site package

Ubuntu 16 LTS comes with too old GO language version, the version in the official repository is

golang-1.6.

Many programs released past couple of years depend on go lang 1.7+, so 1.6 in Ubuntu 16 LTS is really obsolete. At present the latest version is 1.9, so we’ll show you simple steps to install the go lang on your ubuntu 16 lts server

STEP 1) Get root if you want to install it globally to be used from any user!

sudo su
cd

STEP 2) Download the GO language binaries from the official site

https://golang.org/dl/

And copy the URL link of the program from the Linux section, now it has the following text:

Linux 2.6.23 or later, Intel 64-bit processor
go1.10.linux-amd64.tar.gz (114MB)

And download it with wget:

wget https://dl.google.com/go/go1.9.4.linux-amd64.tar.gz

STEP 4) Uncompress the file with “tar”

tar xzvf go1.9.4.linux-amd64.tar.gz

STEP 5) Move the files in “/usr/local/go”

you could put the installation anywhere, but most manual installed programs go to “/usr/local”

mv go /usr/local/

STEP 6) Set properly the environment to use your GO 1.9 installation

    • Create file with path and name

      /etc/profile.d/golang.sh

    • Make the file executable with
      chmod 755 /etc/profile.d/golang.sh
      
    • Insert the following line, which will add to the environment PATH your GO executable binaries
[[ -d "/usr/local/go" ]] && export PATH="$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin"

STEP 7) Reload the environment or just log off/in and check if you could execute the GO tool

root@srv.local:~# source /etc/profile
root@srv.local:~# go version
go version go1.9.4 linux/amd64

* Here are all the commands in one place to install the specific version of GO 1.9.4 AMD64, you can use them in a script:

cd
mkdir go-installation
cd ./go-installation
sudo wget https://dl.google.com/go/go1.9.4.linux-amd64.tar.gz
sudo tar xzvf go1.9.4.linux-amd64.tar.gz
sudo mv go /usr/local/
cat <<END | sudo tee /etc/profile.d/golang.sh 1>/dev/null
[[ -d "/usr/local/go" ]] && export PATH="\$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin"
END
sudo chmod 755 /etc/profile.d/golang.sh
source /etc/profile

And do not forget to

source /etc/profile

in your current shell session. It is mandatory for your current shell if you execute the above command from a script!

* This installation of GO Language 1.9 is from the official source the home site of GO Language. There are other easier ways to do it using, for example there are PPA repositories with Ubuntu packages ready to install, but they are not supported by the official GO team! Use them at your own risk as with all other PPA repositories.

Reset any linux system from the console as if the reset button was pushed

What if you do not have the physical access to your server and you know there is a great possibility your server won’t shutdown properly, when you issue a reboot command (halt, shutdown and so on).
Ok, here is a situation, you have a dedicated server with no panel for resets, no IPMI access and a kernel bug just left a process with Disk sleep or any uninterruptible state that even a kill -9 won’t help! So just rebooting with the normal process of shutdown (going through the init levels or systemd states) won’t help, the shutdown process will be waiting infinite time for proper process termination, which won’t happen! All you need is just a simple old reset button pushed, but you have only a console, here what you can do and it is essentially the same as if someone pushed the server reset button:

echo 1 > /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq
echo b > /proc/sysrq-trigger

This technique is known as magic SysRq key and have more options, but this is probably most used. It will immediately reboot the server, without unmounting or syncing filesystems. So be extremely careful and an additional advice: issue a sync command before the reset, even if you know it it won’t finish.

sync &

BE WARNED, you can break your filesystem (with the modern filesystem and their late state this is unlikely to happen) or database (this is really likely to happen, but you could always repair or at least shutdown the database software and/or make a backup before), but you can save your server!

xmr-stak GPU disabled after kernel or driver updated

Sometime when the user upgrades the kernel or the graphic card driver (NVIDIA or ATI) under Ubuntu (it is essentially the same with the other distros) we may encounter errors with xmr-stak and even not to be able to use our graphic card for mining!
Here we have an UBUNTU 17.10.1 and when we updated the kernel to the latest our mining xmr-stak software stopped using the NVIDIA card:

-------------------------------------------------------------------
[2018-02-16 12:17:11] : Start mining: MONERO
WARNING: NVIDIA Insufficient driver!
WARNING: NVIDIA no device found
[2018-02-16 12:17:11] : WARNING: backend NVIDIA disabled.
[2018-02-16 12:17:11] : WARNING: UNKNOWN_ERROR when calling clGetPlatformIDs for number of platforms.
[2018-02-16 12:17:11] : WARNING: No OpenCL platform found.
[2018-02-16 12:17:11] : WARNING: No AMD OpenCL platform found. Possible driver issues or wrong vendor driver.
[2018-02-16 12:17:11] : WARNING: backend AMD disabled.
[2018-02-16 12:17:11] : Starting 1x thread, affinity: 0.
[2018-02-16 12:17:11] : hwloc: memory pinned

As you can see the NVIDIA backend is disabled! In fact the driver seemed OK and loaded and even the X was working.
So in such a situation just reinstall the NVIDIA driver and install the software dependecies for the mining xmr-software (detailed explanation here)
Here what you can do:

sudo apt-get purge nvidia-*
sudo apt-get -y install libboost-all-dev libleveldb-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev libmicrohttpd-dev libminiupnpc-dev libgmp-dev  cuda nvidia-opencl-dev libmicrohttpd-dev libssl-dev cmake build-essential
sudo reboot

And you’ll have again an usable and properly installed GPU mining system.

Here is the log of the reinstallation, check it if you think you are going in the wrong direction, when purging the driver:

root@srv2:~/xmr-stak/build/bin# apt-get purge nvidia-*
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  bbswitch-dkms cuda-command-line-tools-9-1 cuda-compiler-9-1 cuda-cublas-9-1 cuda-cublas-dev-9-1 cuda-cudart-9-1 cuda-cudart-dev-9-1 cuda-cufft-9-1 cuda-cufft-dev-9-1
  cuda-cuobjdump-9-1 cuda-cupti-9-1 cuda-curand-9-1 cuda-curand-dev-9-1 cuda-cusolver-9-1 cuda-cusolver-dev-9-1 cuda-cusparse-9-1 cuda-cusparse-dev-9-1
  cuda-documentation-9-1 cuda-driver-dev-9-1 cuda-gdb-9-1 cuda-gpu-library-advisor-9-1 cuda-libraries-9-1 cuda-libraries-dev-9-1 cuda-license-9-1 cuda-memcheck-9-1
  cuda-misc-headers-9-1 cuda-npp-9-1 cuda-npp-dev-9-1 cuda-nsight-9-1 cuda-nvcc-9-1 cuda-nvdisasm-9-1 cuda-nvgraph-9-1 cuda-nvgraph-dev-9-1 cuda-nvml-dev-9-1
  cuda-nvprof-9-1 cuda-nvprune-9-1 cuda-nvrtc-9-1 cuda-nvrtc-dev-9-1 cuda-nvtx-9-1 cuda-nvvp-9-1 cuda-samples-9-1 cuda-toolkit-9-1 cuda-tools-9-1 cuda-visual-tools-9-1
  dkms freeglut3 freeglut3-dev lib32gcc1 libc6-i386 libglu1-mesa-dev libice-dev libsm-dev libvdpau1 libxi-dev libxmu-dev libxmu-headers libxnvctrl0 libxt-dev
  linux-headers-4.13.0-21 linux-headers-4.13.0-21-generic linux-image-4.13.0-21-generic linux-image-extra-4.13.0-21-generic linux-signed-image-4.13.0-21-generic
  linux-signed-image-4.13.0-31-generic mesa-vdpau-drivers nvidia-modprobe nvidia-prime nvidia-settings screen-resolution-extra vdpau-driver-all
Use 'apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  cuda* cuda-9-1* cuda-demo-suite-9-1* cuda-drivers* cuda-runtime-9-1* libcuda1-390* nvidia-390* nvidia-390-dev* nvidia-opencl-icd-390*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 9 to remove and 14 not upgraded.
After this operation, 369 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y
(Reading database ... 311518 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing cuda (9.1.85-1) ...
Removing cuda-9-1 (9.1.85-1) ...
Removing cuda-demo-suite-9-1 (9.1.85-1) ...
Removing cuda-runtime-9-1 (9.1.85-1) ...
Removing cuda-drivers (390.12-1) ...
Removing libcuda1-390 (390.25-0ubuntu0~gpu17.10.1) ...
Removing nvidia-opencl-icd-390 (390.25-0ubuntu0~gpu17.10.1) ...
Removing nvidia-390-dev (390.25-0ubuntu0~gpu17.10.1) ...
Removing nvidia-390 (390.30-0ubuntu1) ...
Removing all DKMS Modules
Done.
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/nvidia-390-prime/ld.so.conf to provide /etc/ld.so.conf.d/x86_64-linux-gnu_GL.conf (x86_64-linux-gnu_gl_conf) in auto mode
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/nvidia-390-prime/ld.so.conf to provide /etc/ld.so.conf.d/x86_64-linux-gnu_EGL.conf (x86_64-linux-gnu_egl_conf) in auto mode
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/nvidia-390-prime/alt_ld.so.conf to provide /etc/ld.so.conf.d/i386-linux-gnu_GL.conf (i386-linux-gnu_gl_conf) in auto mode
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/nvidia-390-prime/alt_ld.so.conf to provide /etc/ld.so.conf.d/i386-linux-gnu_EGL.conf (i386-linux-gnu_egl_conf) in auto mode
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/mesa/ld.so.conf to provide /etc/ld.so.conf.d/x86_64-linux-gnu_GL.conf (x86_64-linux-gnu_gl_conf) in auto mode
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/mesa-egl/ld.so.conf to provide /etc/ld.so.conf.d/x86_64-linux-gnu_EGL.conf (x86_64-linux-gnu_egl_conf) in auto mode
INFO:Disable nvidia-390
DEBUG:Parsing /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/quirks/put_your_quirks_here
DEBUG:Parsing /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/quirks/dell_latitude
DEBUG:Parsing /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/quirks/lenovo_thinkpad
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.125ubuntu12) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.15.3-041503-generic
cryptsetup: WARNING: target cryptswap1 has a random key, skipped
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.26-0ubuntu2.1) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.6.1-2) ...
(Reading database ... 310876 files and directories currently installed.)
Purging configuration files for nvidia-opencl-icd-390 (390.25-0ubuntu0~gpu17.10.1) ...
Purging configuration files for nvidia-390 (390.30-0ubuntu1) ...
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.125ubuntu12) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.15.3-041503-generic
cryptsetup: WARNING: target cryptswap1 has a random key, skipped
root@srv2:~/xmr-stak/build/bin# apt-get -y install libboost-all-dev libleveldb-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev libmicrohttpd-dev libminiupnpc-dev libgmp-dev  cuda nvidia-opencl-dev libmicrohttpd-dev libssl-dev cmake build-essential
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
build-essential is already the newest version (12.4ubuntu1).
cmake is already the newest version (3.9.1-1).
libgmp-dev is already the newest version (2:6.1.2+dfsg-1).
libleveldb-dev is already the newest version (1.20-1).
libboost-all-dev is already the newest version (1.62.0.1).
libmicrohttpd-dev is already the newest version (0.9.55-1).
nvidia-opencl-dev is already the newest version (8.0.61-1).
libcurl4-openssl-dev is already the newest version (7.55.1-1ubuntu2.3).
libminiupnpc-dev is already the newest version (1.9.20140610-4ubuntu1.1).
libssl-dev is already the newest version (1.0.2g-1ubuntu13.3).
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  linux-headers-4.13.0-21 linux-headers-4.13.0-21-generic linux-image-4.13.0-21-generic linux-image-extra-4.13.0-21-generic linux-signed-image-4.13.0-21-generic
  linux-signed-image-4.13.0-31-generic
Use 'apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  cuda cuda-9-1 cuda-demo-suite-9-1 cuda-drivers cuda-runtime-9-1 libcuda1-390 nvidia-390 nvidia-390-dev nvidia-opencl-icd-390
The following packages will be upgraded:
  nvidia-modprobe nvidia-settings
2 upgraded, 9 newly installed, 0 to remove and 12 not upgraded.
Need to get 3948 kB/88,1 MB of archives.
After this operation, 369 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/repos/ubuntu1704/x86_64  cuda-runtime-9-1 9.1.85-1 [2534 B]
Get:2 http://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/repos/ubuntu1704/x86_64  cuda-demo-suite-9-1 9.1.85-1 [3943 kB]
Get:3 http://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/repos/ubuntu1704/x86_64  cuda-9-1 9.1.85-1 [2560 B]
Fetched 3948 kB in 3s (1003 kB/s)  
Selecting previously unselected package nvidia-390.
(Reading database ... 310871 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../00-nvidia-390_390.30-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking nvidia-390 (390.30-0ubuntu1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package nvidia-390-dev.
Preparing to unpack .../01-nvidia-390-dev_390.30-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking nvidia-390-dev (390.30-0ubuntu1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libcuda1-390.
Preparing to unpack .../02-libcuda1-390_390.30-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libcuda1-390 (390.30-0ubuntu1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../03-nvidia-modprobe_390.30-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking nvidia-modprobe (390.30-0ubuntu1) over (390.12-0ubuntu1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../04-nvidia-settings_390.30-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking nvidia-settings (390.30-0ubuntu1) over (390.25-0ubuntu0~gpu17.10.1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package nvidia-opencl-icd-390.
Preparing to unpack .../05-nvidia-opencl-icd-390_390.30-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking nvidia-opencl-icd-390 (390.30-0ubuntu1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package cuda-drivers.
Preparing to unpack .../06-cuda-drivers_390.30-1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking cuda-drivers (390.30-1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package cuda-runtime-9-1.
Preparing to unpack .../07-cuda-runtime-9-1_9.1.85-1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking cuda-runtime-9-1 (9.1.85-1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package cuda-demo-suite-9-1.
Preparing to unpack .../08-cuda-demo-suite-9-1_9.1.85-1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking cuda-demo-suite-9-1 (9.1.85-1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package cuda-9-1.
Preparing to unpack .../09-cuda-9-1_9.1.85-1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking cuda-9-1 (9.1.85-1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package cuda.
Preparing to unpack .../10-cuda_9.1.85-1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking cuda (9.1.85-1) ...
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.60ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for ureadahead (0.100.0-20) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.23-1ubuntu3) ...
Setting up nvidia-390 (390.30-0ubuntu1) ...
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/nvidia-390/ld.so.conf to provide /etc/ld.so.conf.d/x86_64-linux-gnu_GL.conf (x86_64-linux-gnu_gl_conf) in auto mode
update-alternatives: warning: skip creation of /usr/share/grub-gfxpayload-lists/blacklist/10_proprietary-graphics-drivers because associated file /usr/share/nvidia-390/nvidia-390.grub-gfxpayload (of link group x86_64-linux-gnu_gl_conf) doesn't exist
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/nvidia-390/ld.so.conf to provide /etc/ld.so.conf.d/x86_64-linux-gnu_EGL.conf (x86_64-linux-gnu_egl_conf) in auto mode
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/nvidia-390/alt_ld.so.conf to provide /etc/ld.so.conf.d/i386-linux-gnu_GL.conf (i386-linux-gnu_gl_conf) in auto mode
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/nvidia-390/alt_ld.so.conf to provide /etc/ld.so.conf.d/i386-linux-gnu_EGL.conf (i386-linux-gnu_egl_conf) in auto mode
update-alternatives: using /usr/share/nvidia-390/glamor.conf to provide /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/glamoregl.conf (glamor_conf) in auto mode
dpkg: error: version '-' has bad syntax: revision number is empty
dpkg: error: version '-' has bad syntax: revision number is empty
dpkg: error: version '-' has bad syntax: revision number is empty
dpkg: error: version '-' has bad syntax: revision number is empty
dpkg: error: version '-' has bad syntax: revision number is empty
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)

A modprobe blacklist file has been created at /etc/modprobe.d to prevent Nouveau from loading. This can be reverted by deleting /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-graphics-drivers.conf.
A new initrd image has also been created. To revert, please replace /boot/initrd-4.15.3-041503-generic with /boot/initrd-$(uname -r)-backup.

*****************************************************************************
*** Reboot your computer and verify that the NVIDIA graphics driver can   ***
*** be loaded.                                                            ***
*****************************************************************************

INFO:Enable nvidia-390
DEBUG:Parsing /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/quirks/put_your_quirks_here
DEBUG:Parsing /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/quirks/dell_latitude
DEBUG:Parsing /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/quirks/lenovo_thinkpad
Adding system user `nvidia-persistenced' (UID 123) ...
Adding new group `nvidia-persistenced' (GID 129) ...
Adding new user `nvidia-persistenced' (UID 123) with group `nvidia-persistenced' ...
Not creating home directory `/'.
Loading new nvidia-390-390.30 DKMS files...
Building for 4.15.3-041503-generic
Building for architecture x86_64
Building initial module for 4.15.3-041503-generic
Done.

nvidia_390:
Running module version sanity check.
 - Original module
   - No original module exists within this kernel
 - Installation
   - Installing to /lib/modules/4.15.3-041503-generic/updates/dkms/

nvidia_390_modeset.ko:
Running module version sanity check.
 - Original module
   - No original module exists within this kernel
 - Installation
   - Installing to /lib/modules/4.15.3-041503-generic/updates/dkms/

nvidia_390_drm.ko:
Running module version sanity check.
 - Original module
   - No original module exists within this kernel
 - Installation
   - Installing to /lib/modules/4.15.3-041503-generic/updates/dkms/

nvidia_390_uvm.ko:
Running module version sanity check.
 - Original module
   - No original module exists within this kernel
 - Installation
   - Installing to /lib/modules/4.15.3-041503-generic/updates/dkms/

depmod...

DKMS: install completed.
Setting up nvidia-390-dev (390.30-0ubuntu1) ...
Setting up nvidia-settings (390.30-0ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.26-0ubuntu2.1) ...
Setting up nvidia-modprobe (390.30-0ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.6.1-2) ...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.13.3-6ubuntu5) ...
Setting up nvidia-opencl-icd-390 (390.30-0ubuntu1) ...
Setting up libcuda1-390 (390.30-0ubuntu1) ...
Setting up cuda-drivers (390.30-1) ...
Setting up cuda-runtime-9-1 (9.1.85-1) ...
Setting up cuda-demo-suite-9-1 (9.1.85-1) ...
Setting up cuda-9-1 (9.1.85-1) ...
Setting up cuda (9.1.85-1) ...
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.125ubuntu12) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.15.3-041503-generic
cryptsetup: WARNING: target cryptswap1 has a random key, skipped
Processing triggers for shim-signed (1.33.1~17.10.1+13-0ubuntu2) ...
Secure Boot not enabled on this system.
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.26-0ubuntu2.1) ...
root@srv2:~/xmr-stak/build/bin#

Avoiding Esc (escape) key, a key combination to simulate it

Writing the last howto there was an idea: how to simulate the ESC key, when the key is not available in our keyboard, which is very often these days. Mobile traffic is the ruler coming from mobile devices, of course! So why to limit console users (probably mainly admins?) only to desktop or “qwerty” keyboards? The tables could weight under 500 grams and event smartphones could be used to ssh to a server and what if you do not have ESC key, but need to use it? You can try the following combination:

The escape key can be replaced with pressing and holding CTRL and pressing “[” (left square bracket) = “CTRL+[”

So next time when trying to use ssh or console under Android or iOS or any device try this combination at lease it could be faster than selecting a menu for a predefined keys like ESC key.

vim – edit, save and exit, it is too simple!

Do not blame admins (or in general users, too) of using nano (pico) it is away too simple for simple tasks, which are probably the most cases under console.

    • Save a file – press Esc key, then press and hold SHIFT and then press colons “:”, the bottom line of your screen will change and will start with colons “:”, then type the key “w” and then hit Enter key, so you’ve just saved the opened file.
        1. press Esc
        2. press and hold SHIFT
        3. press the key with colons “:
        4. type “w
        5. hit Enter key
    • Save a file and quit – press Esc key, then press and hold SHIFT and then press colons “:”, the bottom line of your screen will change and will start with colons “:”, then type the key “x” and then hit Enter key, so you’ve just saved the opened file.
        1. press Esc
        2. press and hold SHIFT
        3. press the key with colons “:
        4. type “x
        5. hit Enter key
    • Save all opened files – press Esc key, then press and hold SHIFT and then press colons “:”, the bottom line of your screen will change and will start with colons “:”, then type the key “wa” and then hit Enter key, so you’ve just saved the opened file.
        1. press Esc
        2. press and hold SHIFT
        3. press the key with colons “:
        4. type “wa
        5. hit Enter key
    • Quit without saving, just quit the vim – press Esc key, then press and hold SHIFT and then press colons “:”, the bottom line of your screen will change and will start with colons “:”, then type the key “q!” and then hit Enter key
        1. press Esc
        2. press and hold SHIFT
        3. press the key with colons “:
        4. type “q!
        5. hit Enter key
  • Enable auto save with two ESC keys – create or edit file

    ~/.vimrc

    Add the following line:

    map <Esc><Esc> :w<CR>
    

* The Esc can be avoided

The escape key can be replaced with pressing and holding CTRL and pressing “[” (left square bracket) = “CTRL+[” and if your “[” is hard typing, you can try CTRL plus “c” = “CTRL+c”, all this is needed to be sure you are not in vim’s insert mode. Avoiding Esc – escape button could be useful under not qwerty keyboards of the mobile devices – smartphones, tablets and so on.

Rename gnu screen session name

Ever wonder how you can rename your screen session name? You are in a hurry make a screen session execute some program and then you decide you want to leave the program executing there, but you named the session something not so informative like nothing (and get the default session name like “5026.pts-5.ubuntu” or similar…) or “test”. So there is an easy way of renaming the screen session name with a simple command of

screen -S <old_session_fullname> -X sessionname <new_session_name>

Here is the example for better clarity! Let’s say we have:

[root@srv ~]# screen -ls
There is a screen on:
        24624.test      (Detached)
1 Socket in /var/run/screen/S-root.

And here is the right renaming command. We want to rename the current gnu screen to “loganalyzing”:

screen -S 24624.test -X sessionname loganalyzing

As you can see you should use the fullname taken from the “screen -ls” command, in newer version you can use only the name like:

screen -S test -X sessionname loganalyzing

And here is the result:

[root@srv ~]# screen -ls
There is a screen on:
        24624.loganalyzing      (Detached)
1 Socket in /var/run/screen/S-root.

GNU Screen with scrolling history under X window system

Screen program is really a good piece of software for every one in the console. We use it every day to execute programs in the “background” or if we want to end our ssh session to the server without stopping our executed program. We need a tiny configuration to use our favorite scrolling of the console program under the X windowing systems!

So if you are under let’s say KDE or Gnome (especially Ubuntu and CentOS) and use konsole or xterm and you want to be able to scroll the history of your ssh sessions, when you start something under gnu screen you must set the following file at your home directory

/home/<your_user>/.screenrc

with this configuration:

termcapinfo xterm* ti@:te@

Busybox ash, Debian dash and simulating bash arrays

Busybox ash (Almquist shell) shell and Debian dash (Debian Almquist shell) are lightweight Unix shell and they are a variant of System V.4 variant of the Bourne shell. Ash/dash shell is known to be very small and is used mainly in embedded (ash) devices and installation scripts (Debian/Ubuntu setup).
Unfortunately they do not support arrays, which could be really a problem in many cases. But we can simulate the arrays with eval function.
So if you need to write a ash/dash script let’s say for an installation script of Ubuntu or Debian or a script for an embedded device, which uses busybox or even you do not want to use arrays in bash, you can follow the consepts below – create variable with a “name” concatenated with a number.

  • 1) Set a variable

    It can be done with two ways:

    1. for myi in 0 1 2 ; do
          setvar mvar$myi "Payload: $myi"
      done
      
    2. for myi in 0 1 2 ; do
          eval mvar$myi=\"Payload: $myi\"
      done
      

    This will create variables with names:

    mvar1, mvar2, mvar3

    and they can be used in any place of your script after the creation of the variables using “eval” or accessing them with the names.

    * bash shell do not support the command “setvar”, so for bash scripts use only eval version.

  • 2) Use a variable

    1. using “eval”
      for myi in 0 1 2 ; do
          eval echo \$mvar$myi
      done
      
      myi=1
      eval newvar="\$mvar$myi"
      echo $newvar
      
    2. direct access
      echo $mvar2
      $mvar2="Payload 20"
      echo $mvar2