This morning a number of our internal users reported a problem trying to make updates via the GUI with the following pertinent error message buried within a long list of errors:

Data store space exhausted

Initially I checked all the Broadworks servers to look for space issues but none were found, which matched with the fact that none of our monitoring servers reported a disk space issue. The next step was to SSH into the application servers (as1 & as2) where the following error was immediately reported by Broadworks:

TimesTen temporary memory area is at 95% of total temporary size. (Currently in use size is at 95%. Allocated size is 16384, high water mark is 16062 and in use size is 15667.)
Increase your datastore temporary size area (using the resizeDSN tool)

This gave some more useful information so it was time to use some Google-fu and find some answers. Thankfully someone had experienced the very same problem very recently and had included a guide on his blog. So hats off to Mark Holloway for posting his entry Resizing the Broadworks Datastore (DSN). The rest of my guide is based on the article published by Mark along with some of the issues we experienced on the way.

The first step is to check the amount of available memory on the as1 & as2 servers. Our servers run Solaris so the following command was suitable for us:

bash-2.05$ prtconf | grep Mem
Memory size: 2048 Megabytes

The guidelines seem to suggest that the perm size shoud equal approx 25% of the physical memory and the temp size should equal approx 25% of the perm size allocation. We noted that nothing so far really revealed what the allocations were but we proceeded anyway but then found at step 7 that the system will show you the current settings before asking for the new values. In our case, after revewing the current memory allocation, we decided to leave the perm size alone and just slightly increase the temp size.

This is the type of output you will see at step 7 to give you an idea of how to check the current allocation and what the change request will look like:

——————–
Current Date:
Current Perm Size:  128
Current Temp Size:  16
Current Total Size: 144
——————–

Select the new database Perm size….
Available Perm sizes in MB (64 128 256 512 1024 1536 2048) [144

Current Date:
Current Perm Size:  128
Current Temp Size:  16
Current Total Size: 144
Target Perm Size:  128
Target Temp Size:  32
Target Total Size: 176
--------------------

Do you wish to proceed (y/n) [y]?

Below are the steps required:

1. SSH to as1 as bwadmin
2. stopbw
3. repctl stop
4. su as root
5. cd /usr/local/broadworks/bw_base/bin
6. ./timesten.pl unload
7. ./resizeDSN
8. exit (return to bwadmin)
9. repctl start
10. startbw

We found the Broadworks would not start properly straight away afterwards had 2 reported issues. The first related to the ‘Execution Server’:

——————————–
System Health Report Page
BroadWorks Server Name: as1
Date and time : Wed Oct 28 10:22:25 GMT 2009
Report severity : CRITICAL
Server type : AppServer
Server state : Unlock
——————————–

BroadWorks AppServer processes in trouble:

Execution Server not running

——————————–

Recommendations
—————

The Application Server needs to be restarted

——————————–

However, while trying to look around the system Broadworks generated abroadcast message to state that a start had been initiated:

bwadmin@as1$ Broadcast Message from bworks (console) on as1 Wed Oct 28 10:45:33…
===== BROADWORKS CONTROL — START INITIATED =====

The error message then changed to:

——————————–
System Health Report Page
BroadWorks Server Name: as1
Date and time : Wed Oct 28 11:00:33 GMT 2009
Report severity : CRITICAL
Server type : AppServer
Server state : Unlock
——————————–
Replication is not running for DSN AppServer. Databases may be out-of-synch.

File replication is not running.

——————————–

Recommendations
—————

Replication must be started (repctl start). If databases are out-of-synch they must be re-synchronized first (with the
importdb.pl tool). Please refer to the BroadWorks Maintenance Guide for detailed procedures.

Perform a file replication restart (repctl restart)

——————————–

We tried to restart replication as stated, which appeared to work, but then the same error would appear again. At this point we started to raise a support ticket with Broadsoft but by magic the error vanished and the system began to respond without any errors. It seems we had rushed through the changes so quickly that we had not allowed all the systems to start correctly and it was just a case of learning some patience. If in doubt just slow down and use the healthmon command to check on the status:

healthmon -l

The blog article then advises to wait 10 minutes before moving onto as2 so we popped down to the vending machine to shoot the breeze and catch up on the gossip.

Here are the steps we then used on as2:

1. SSH to as2 as bwadmin
2. stopbw
3. repctl stop
4. su as root
5. cd /usr/local/broadworks/bw_base/bin
6. ./timesten.pl unload
7. ./resizeDSN
8. exit (return to bwadmin)
9. importdb.pl AppServer as1 AppServer (replace as1 with your primary AS hostname or IP)
10. repctl start
11. startbw

We found that step 9 came with a big bag of fail attached so had to backup the database on as1, copy across to as2, and then manually import onto as2:

1. On as1:  bwBackup.pl AppServer dbBackup.db
2. scp the file to as2:  scp dbBackup.db bwadmin@as2:dbBackup.db
3. On as2: stopbw
4. repctl stop
5. bwRestore.pl AppServer dbBackup.db
6. repctl start
7. startbw

That dealt with our problem and our 2 servers were once again fully operational with the Helpdesk busy dealing with requests to make changes on the system.

I realise that I am just standing on the shouler of giants and without the original posting I would probably still be busy dealing with the Broadsoft support team at the moment (who are generally excellent btw).

We spent a lot of time looking for a suitable holiday destination this year although as usual our search took so long that we ended up leaving the actual booking until quite late. Last year we visited the Mark Warner San Agostino resort in Greece where we had a fantastic family holiday and we considered visiting San Agostino again or visiting one of the other Mark Warner resorts but we decided that we would find somewhere with a more balanced climate this time around. I loved the hot sunny weather in Greece but for Mrs danyul it was a too hot and for MiniMe it was difficult trying to make him rest at times to make sure he was not in the sun all the time. So this year we looked at various options in France. Switzerland, and Austria before deciding to stay closer to home with a family holiday in Cornwall. Our selection criteria was based on finding a location with plenty of individual activities (such as sailing for me and spa like facilities for Mrs danyul and kids play for MiniMe) and having a dedicated kids club so MiniMe could be looked after and play with other children. After much deliberation we settled on the 4 star Bedruthan Steps Hotel on the North Cornish Coast.

After competing at the JKAE Kyu Grade Championship in 2007 and 2008 plus attending the JKAE 2008 National Championship as spectators, it was time for us to step up and challenge ourselves at the JKAE 2009 National Championship. The event was held at the Elmbridge Xcel Leisure Complex in Walton on Thames on Sunday 5th July and saw karateka travel from all over the UK to compete.

The championship followed the same format as the previous Kyu grade championships with individual kata and kumite events but with the addition of team kata and kumite events. The major difference being the change of rules in kumite for adults and the very high standard of karateka competing across the board. Both of us were competing in our respective individual kata and kumite events while we were both also competing in the team kata events. I was not competing in the team kumite competition and there was not an equivalent for MiniMe to enter.

We arrived at the venue nice and early to get our bearings and to also make sure that the registration went smoothly. We have attended a number of karate events at the Xcel leisure centre and although it has nice facilities, you can end up struggling to find a parking space unless you get there early. The Nationals are usually held at the Guildford Spectrum, which caters for large groups of people with disparate hobbies (ice skating, gymnastics, swimming etc) all arriving on the same day, but at the Xcel centre you are very much competing for parking space with the swimmers and the other sporting clubs.

Thankfully the organisation of the Nationals was up to the usual high standards of all the JKAE events and it did not take long for us to find our nominated Kilburn representative to complete our registration. We were soon both adorned with our competitor stickers and joining everyone in the main hall for a warm-up and stretch.

All the competitors, the judges, and the JKAE committee lined up for the opening ceremony, which included a short speech from Ohta Sensei wishing everyone good luck. Next up was the task of finding the location and times of our first events, which for both of us would be the kata event. At the Kyu Nationals the kata event was split by both age group and grade; however, for the Nationals we were just split by age. MiniMe was grouped in the boys 7-11 years old kata group, which was open to 3rd kyu and above (brown-black belts), while I was competing in the male individual kata 21+ years where competitors were again 3rd kyu and above. For MiniMe this meant quite a wide age range to deal with, especially since he would be one of the youngest competitors, plus the mental issue of having to compete against black belts.

The format was the same as our previous Kyu National efforts, with competitors being called up in pairs where the senior judge would flip through various sheets of paper and then call out the kata name from the sheet pulled at random. I was hoping that MiniMe would avoid Heian Godan as the chosen kata but lo and behold Heian Godan was called out for MiniMe and his opponent. I know that we have to learn all the kata and should have the ability to perform any of them at request but we had only just passed our 2nd kyu grading 2 days before so we had been spending a lot of time practising the kata Bassai Dai. Heian Godan shares some similar movements to Bassai Dai and with just a brief drop in concentration you can find yourself all to obviously suddenly stuttering briefly from kata to kata. We had spent so much time practising for the grading that we had not put the required effort into all the kata ready for competition and MiniMe found himself stalling through Heian Godan. This meant a successive elimination during the first round of kata but I was proud of him for going out there and trying his best. MiniMe still has another 4 years in the same age group so hopefully he can put in a better performance as our karate training continues.

The competition was in full swing and since there was some time before the male 21+ heats, we took some time to watch some of the younger competitors performing their kata. I am always amazed at how the kids can perform under the pressure and the kata was of a very high standard across the board. If I could perform kata to that level, at any point in my karate life, then I would be a very happy man.

Soon it was time to begin my heats and I was up against a fellow brown belt Kilburn competitor, although one who trains at one of the other Kilburn venues, and we were drawn to perform the kata Heian Nidan. I managed to keep my concentration together and put together a reasonable kata, in my view anyway, and then it was over to the judges for their verdict. I did not take a view of how the judges voted but the senior judge did raise their red flag, which meant that I was through to the second round. I sat and watched the rest of the people competing on the same mat and it was soon time for me to return but this time I was up against a black belt. I long ago learnt not to judge a competitor by the colour of their belt so I went out to give my all and once again Heian Nidan was drawn. It was not my most accomplished kata performance but on the day it was not good enough and I was eliminated in the second round. I was happy with my kata performance and more importantly I had achieved my overall aim of going out there to enjoy myself and improve my karate in some way.

I had a short amount of time to track MiniMe down so found him in the cafeteria area with a hot dog; thankfully he is at an age now where I can arm him with some cash and he could sort out his own food and drink if necessary. It can be very difficult trying to coordinate where we are both meant to be, especially as I cannot persuade a family member to sit and watch through the day, but MiniMe was quite content to feed himself and keep himself active by speaking with friends or playing on his Nintendo DS.

There was not much time to finish eating before MiniMe had to be back into the hall ready for the team kata event. This was a new category for us compared to the Kyu Grade Nationals but we had both been training for a month or so with our respective teams. The children’s team kata is mixed and open to the 7-15 age group (although the results document does state 7-11 for some reason) so his team were really up against it in their bid to try and make the finals. The team gave a great account of themselves and their performance of Heian Nidan was excellent. Sadly they did not make it through to the finals but with only 2 teams going through from the mat and so many teams competing then it was always going to be difficult. With such a wide age range there were very experienced black belts, some of whom are part of the national squad, then it was always going to be an uphill struggle. However, if their team remains together and continues to train together then they have a good chance since they have the opportunity to compete as a team for the next 6 years.

It was soon time for me to compete in the team kata event and our optimism of gaining a respectable result soon vanished when we realised that the mixed adult team event was not limited by grade, so we were the only team of brown belts lined up against some very experienced black belts (1st-4th dan). Our goal quickly changed from ‘reasonable result’ to ‘give it our best and not come last’ as we watched all the other teams perform then it was quickly our turn onto the mat. We performed Heian Sandan as our chosen kata, where we were the only team to perform a Heian kata or indeed a non-black belt kata, and it was down to the judges to score. I cannot remember our score since the performance and walking off the mat went by in such a blur but we did not receive the lowest score so were very happy with the end result. We seemed to be the only kyu grade competitors in the team kata event but we’ll be back for more next year as the 3 of us enjoyed ourselves so much.

I tracked down MiniMe and we took some time together to eat some lunch and discuss how the day had gone so far. Our remaining event was the individual kumite and MiniMe was soon needed back in the hall for his event, which was the boys individual kumite ages 7, 8 & 9. MiniMe was on slightly firmer ground with this event since we had been practising kumite for the grading although we had given any focus to competition and the slight changes in rules and the need to wear gloves and a gum shield. He progressed through 2 rounds but was then up against one of his fellow Kilburn friends who was also a member of the same kata team. MiniMe made an error on his age uke block and the judges awarded the tie to his friend by 3 votes to 1 and that was the end of the Nationals for MiniMe this year.

It was finally time for my kumite event and the first time to stand up tall with some full contact kumite. There was a grade split for this category so I was in the brown belt to black belt (1st dan) category while the 2nd dan and above grades competed separately. I had a bye in the first round so sat down on the edge of the mat to watch some action and to try and compose myself. I was soon called up and was facing a black belt although again I paid no real attention to the colour of his belt. Unfortunately my aim to keep composed and to use correct technique seemed to slide away as the bout started and we both received a warning from the referee to control ourselves more. I was soon a point down as a front kick (mae geri) landed against me and from that point on I was chasing the bout. I did manage to sweep my opponents front foot but he managed to spin away quickly before I could follow it up and we were soon out of time.

To be honest I cannot remember much of the bout although I can clearly recall my lack of composure, my lack of technique, my lack of control and for some bizarre reason I kept dropping my line of sight down rather than focusing on chin level as normal. All the things I practice each week in training went out of the window and I know it is just a loss of concentration due to the pressure of competing in front of a audience against an opponent I had not seen before. I did really enjoy the experience though and took away a lot to work on ready for next year. While I know that I will not ever be competing for a medal, I do know that learning the composure to compete under pressure will improve my karate.

I had promised to take MiniMe swimming once our competition was over so we both changed and headed to the swimming pool. It was good to soak away some of the aches and pains from the day before we went back to the cafe area to grab some food before making our way to the hall to watch the finals begin. We both sat and watched all the competitors parade through into the hall ready for the finals and then sat through some of the kata finals. As always the standard was excellent and some of the juniors really stood out. I can see the level of competition increasing each year as some of these juniors coming through the ranks. Unfortunately we had to leave since MiniMe was at school the next day so we missed the senior final events.

We did have time to catch the Boys 16-20 years kata final and I have found two of the performances online via YouTube.

First we have Mohammed Salih performing Unsu:

Second we have Jack Morgan performing Nijushiho:

Checking the 2009 National Results on the JKAE web site I can see that Mohammed came 1st and Jack 3rd. I am not sure whether it is the camera angle of the camera type but both do not give full justice to each performance as I remember watching them on the day. Thanks for making the video available!

We both had an enjoyable day and we both took something away to practice in the dojo ready for next years competition. As always I would like to thank everyone involved in arranging the Nationals, all those who took time to come and cheer on their family / friends, and finally a big thanks to everyone who put themselves on the line and took on the challenge of competing. Some were there to win medals and they were a joy to watch; however, I doff my hat to the true karateka who went out to improve their karate and not just make up the numbers.

On the 3rd July 2009 we returned to Willesden Sports Centre for a training session with Ohta Sensei, followed by our grading for 2nd kyu. Following our injury plagued grading in March I made sure that MiniMe kept well away from any activity where he could sustain an injury.

We arrived nice and early for the training session so avoided the fight for a parking space. We sat down in the cafe area with some snacks while we had a quick run through of the grading syllabus. MiniMe had lost a bit of his karate mojo over the past few months since the new school year began in April (he follows the Japanese school year) had meant a substantial increase in homework. It had also been a busy few months for me as I was busy working long hours each day so our little practice sessions at home had disappeared.

The training session was good as usual and I always enjoy the one off training sessions with different Sensei since they take us out of our comfort zones. This session was no different as we worked on different combinations and worked with different partners. Again, the pre-grading training session with Sensei brings all the Kilburn students together so it brings the opportunity to train with partners that we have not seen before or those that we only really catch up with at the grading sessions.

For the last part of the training session we were split into our respective grades to practice kata with the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st kyu grades (brown belts) going through Bassai Dai, the 4th kyu grades going through Tekki Shodan, and the dan grades… well… I can’t remember what they were going through since we were so busy :) There was a lot of focus on the correct hip movement for Bassai Dai along with showing the correct stance. Of course that is on top of knowing the correct movements and also in my mind being able to demonstrate that you understand the correct application through the kata. The training session was soon over and we took a short break before proceeding through our grading syllabus:

• Basics (Chudan Jun-zuki->Sambon Renzuki<-Jodan Age-uke+Gyaku-tsuki->Chudan Soto0uke+Yoko Empi [Zenkutsu-dachi to Kiba-dachi]<-Chudan Uchi-uke+Gyaku-tsuki->Shuto-uke+Nukite [Kokutsu-dachi to Zenkutsu-dachi]->Mae-geri->Rengeri [Chudan/Jodan]->Mawashi-geri->Yoko Ke-age [Kibadachi] left/right->Yoko Ke-Komi [Kinadachi] left/right->Yoko Ke-komi [Zenkutsu-dachi]
• Kara (Bassaidai)
• Kumite (Jiyu Ippon Kumite – Jodan/Chudan/Maegeri/Yoko Ke-komi left only)

As usual I was put through as one of the first groups along with all the adults. Sensei Eric made a general comment to us as a group pointing out that our lack of flexibility, certainly compared to the children, showed since our kicks were all quite low or involved some leaning. It is certainly a comment to take on board and I do find it difficult to prioritise my time for any stretching outside of our normal dojo training sessions. We all sailed through kata and kumite with no further comments although that does not always infer a positive result at the end.

I sat down with the rest of the parents to watch the rest of the grading and it was soon time for MiniMe to progress through the same process. There were no immediate comments about basics but there were a series of comments directed at him by Sensei through both kata and kumite. Firstly, the lack of any stance through the kata was evident to me so must have really stood out for Sensei and there was no hip movement at all. Sensei asked MiniMe to repeat the kata again by himself but again there was a lack of any stance or hip movement throughout. I later received feedback that Sensei could not believe this was the same person who cleared all his previous gradings so had asked him to repeat the kata as a another chance. There was also some quite strong immediate feedback from Sensei through kata telling MiniMe to show more power through his attacks.

MiniMe was not a happy bunny after the grading as we headed downstairs to receive our results. I had achieved a clear pass but MiniMe had received a temporary pass along with comments on his kata. I cannot argue with the results of the grading and the recent loss of karate mojo by MiniMe, specifically his Laissez-faire attitude to training over the past few months. So it was time to give MiniMe a ‘bump’ and help him get his karate mojo back in time to repeat the same grading in September.

We usually head off early to the JKAE events since I am always worried about being late due to traffic incidents and I like to have enough time to register without feeling rushed or having to join a long queue. However, a neighbour wanted some help just as we were leaving and by the time we dropped Mrs danyul off for aerobics, all our ‘extra’ time had gone and we were only going to arrive a little while before the start. I did not help matters by not paying attention at registration so joined the wrong queue. By the time we had registered and made our way to the hall the warm-up had already started so we had to wait until Sensei called us into the lineup then we had to squeeze into some available space; not the ideal start for our training.

Sawada Sensei lead a sequence of sliding in and sliding out, which we then added Uraken-uchi (both left and right) onto with partners. We built up the combinations with particular emphasis on understanding both the rhythm of our own and our partners timing but looking how we could break the rhythm to land our own attack. I really enjoyed the building of momentum as you feel the rhythm of the combinations before striving to break that rhythm, which at the time made me recall the article ‘The Winner Has Gravitity‘ written by Rod Redmond at 24 Fighting Chickens.

After a short break we were split into a group with the other brown belts (3rd-1st kyu) with Osaka Sensei while the dan grades were grouped with their Sensei and the lower kyu grades with another Sensei. The Sunday training directly precedes those students going for a dan grade so the kata focus for the brown belt group was for the application of Heian Godan, which would then be a kata asked for the students going through the lower dan grading. If you are going to grade later than it is vital to listen to what Sensei is teaching since these will be the areas scrutinised later on. For those not grading I sometime feel that the teaching is a little dry because it is more of a focus on how not to fail your grading rather than learning something new about the kata.

However, today we were under the guidance of Osaka Sensei and what an honour that turned out to be because his focus on the application of the kata really brought the session to life. At this point I have to state just how much Osaka Sensei reminded me of my father-in-law; not in how they might look like each other but how both of them have the same mannerisms and expressions and simple joy while they demonstrate something for an audience that does not speak Japanese.

Before MiniMe started to attend the Japanese School, London his only exposure to the Japanese language was through a 3 hour Saturday school session and from Mrs danyul speaking at home. This wasn’t really enough so when we went on our yearly trip to Japan his Japanese grandfather had to rely of using facial expressions and using movements to communicate. This always used to make me laugh, watching them both laughing as they played together, and this stuck in my mind as Osaka Sensei was patient with his group of willing brown belts.

We both had a great day (as usual) and the training was soon over. MiniMe loves visiting the Guildford Spectrum Leisure Centre because it means a burger lunch following by ice skating and swimming. MiniMe was exhausted after our day or training and exercise so he slept soundly on the drive home.

Thanks to everyone involved in organising the JKAE courses and there is also an excellent write-up of the event over at The Shotokan Way.

MiniMe was on school holiday for this grading day so I took the day off work to look after him at home so we could get some final practice for the grading and generally take it easy so we were not worn out. During the afternoon we took a trip to a local park with MiniMe planning to zip around the play area on his scooter. However, despite my warnings to only use the scooter in the play area,he went charging off down a steep hill and was quickly out of sight before I could stop him. I found a very tearful little boy on the ground at the bottom of the hill with blood all around the rips on his jeans. I had to carry him and the scooter back up to the car but even in this distressed state he was still adamant that he was going to karate training / grading that night.

After spending the rest of the afternoon washing out his scooter wounds and bandaging him up, we headed to Willesden Sports Centre for training with Sensei Ohta followed by our 3rd kyu grading. I talked to Sensei Sue before the training to explain that MimiMe had injured his knee and was limping a bit so would probably have some difficulty kicking with his left leg.

Even before we started the training session MiniMe was having issues with the strapping around his knee and the cuts were bleeding again so much that red marks started to appear on his trousers. I patched him up again with the contents of the first aid kit I keep in our training bag and told him to take it as easy as possible with his leg. We made it through the training although I admit to spending most of the session carefully watching MiniMe in case he was having problems. I was still worried whether he would be able to take part in the grading but the adrenalin must have carried him through the training session.

He was still in pain though so following another quick chat with Sensei Sue she promised to pass on a message to Sensei Ohta that MiniMe had injured his leg should may have difficulties through some of the grading. We soon had to forget about injured legs and focus on the grading; our syllabus consisted of:

• Basics (Chudan  Jun-zuki, odan Age-uki+Gyaku-tsuki, Chudan Soto-uke+Gyaku-tsuki+Yoko Empi, Chudan Uchi-uke+Gyaku-tsuki, Shuto-uke+Nukite, Mae-geri, Rengeri, Mawashi-geri, Yoko Ke-age, and Yoko Ke-komi)
• Kata (Tekki Shodan)
• Kumite (Kihon Ippon Kumite (Jodan, Chudan, Mae-geri, Yoko Ke-komi /left/right)

The grading at Willesden is slightly different to Vale Farm Sports Centre in that you start basics facing a much larger group of anxious parents and I found it a little daunting moving towards an audience. There is no respite as you turn either since a bank of mirrors gives you the view of moving towards yet another audience. Ultimately though it’s just the opinion of the Sensei judging you for basics and the Sensei judging kata and kumite that really count.

As usual I was up in one of the first groups since the adults grade first and I was quickly through basics and in front of Sensei Ohta to perform kata. It was probably one of my strongest kata performances in a grading and I enjoy Tekki Shodan so I was pleased with how things went. Finally I went through the kumite sequence, which can can vary on difficulty dependent on who your assigned partner is. If you are partnered with someone who is confident in what they are doing then kunite will generally go very smoothly. However, if your partner is all over the place then kumite is ‘interesting’ to say the least. We are taught to perform the kumite correctly anyway and we should react correctly but if your partner is wild and announces on attack then launches another then you need your wits about you.

My grading sequence was soon over so I sat and watched the other groups go through until MiniMe started his basics. I did not see any problems from where I was sitting and there was no comments from Sensei so he was soon through to kata. I though MiniMe performed Tekki Shodan strongly although he did make one error that Sensei did not seem to notice since his head was down making some notes at that split second. Sensei did shout some comments about the kicks made by MiniMe during kumite but he was reminded that MiniMe was the boy with the injured leg so thankfully he was not asked to perform kumite again. MiniMe certainly had a pained expression when I saw him kicking so it was not a pleasant experience for him.

We both headed downstairs to hear the results and both of us had clear passes across the board so we purchased our new brown belts and were ready for the next step up in our karate journey. Next time MiniMe will not be allowed near anying remotely dangerous on a grading day.

]]> http://danyul.net/?feed=rss2&p=455 1 http://danyul.net/?p=449 http://danyul.net/?p=449#comments Sun, 26 Apr 2009 21:05:00 +0000 danyul http://danyul.net/?p=449 I run my personal email and web on an old Sun Cobalt 550 server installed with Strongbolt (CentOS) Linux. It’s a good way to use end of life hardware but with a current Linux OS that has a small physical form factor and is easy to manage. My server automatically updates itself via yum but every now and then an error crops up with proftpd following an automatic update. My monitoring of the FTP port will go crazy and I will not be able to connect via FTP.

It’s no use trying to restart proftpd via the init script because it is an xinetd service. The following will occur whether xinetd is working properly or not:

[root@jenna ~]# /etc/rc.d/init.d/proftpd restart
Shutting down proftpd: [FAILED]
Starting proftpd: jenna – fatal: Socket operation on non-socket
[FAILED]

However, most people will try the above first because they’re used to using init scripts and a quick Google will reveal lots of people set to use xinetd but then told to swap config. That is not the correct course of action on a Cobalt box installed with Strongbolt because the system is meant to be using xinetd.

Strongbolt / CentOS uses xinetd for proftp and the automatic updates disable the xinetd settings:

[root@jenna ~]# cd /etc/xinetd.d/

[root@jenna xinetd.d]# vi xproftpd

Change this line:

disable                 = yes

To:

disable                 = no

Now restart xinetd:

[root@jenna xinetd.d]# /etc/rc.d/init.d/xinetd restart

That has mostly solved the problem for me before although I once had a completely blank xproftpd file in the same directory so had to restore from the xproftpd.rpmsave, which was in the same directory.

I was hoping to get tickets for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition on our latest visit but I left it too late as usual and all the tickets had been snapped up. So we took a walk around the human body section this time, which I was sure would prompt some ‘interesting’ questions from MiniMe, but he was quite happy looking around by himself. We did group together to compare thumb shapes as we learnt that certain parent combinations will create either a straight or curved thumb. I have a straight thumb, Mrs danyul has a curved thumb, and MiniMe has a straight thumb as correctly predicted from the display.

Next up was a walk around the bug section which MiniMe always likes; especially the ant colony who are busy cutting leaves and crossing back across a bridge with their bounty sticking up in the air. We finished our latest visit by walking around the Earth display where we learnt how the water cycle replenished water around the world. We were approaching the museum closing time so MiniMe chose to have a quick look around the close-by Science Museum.

We were very tempted to pay and look at the Japan Car exhibition but with the museum approaching closing time we felt that we would be better coming back when we had more time. This area is a fantastic area of London to visit and there are many more museums all within walking distance.

]]> http://danyul.net/?feed=rss2&p=400 0 http://danyul.net/?p=353 http://danyul.net/?p=353#comments Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:22:42 +0000 danyul http://danyul.net/?p=353 Following our grading at Vale Farm Sports Centre on the 12th December 2008 we attended a training session at Willesden Sports Centre led by Sensei Ohta. The session was open to everyone 4th Kyu and above with a grading session straight after for those grading from 3rd to 1st Kyu. We were not eligible to grade because it had only been 1 week since our last grading session but we could attend for the training and also to watch those grading on the night.

The training session started out with basics and continued along the same vein but by taking us out of our comfort zone by combining many basic combinations through attacks and blocks with a partner. It can be very easy to slip into a simple routine when you are repeating a set of basics for grading but when various basic sets are combined it can start to push you even though these are just basic sets that you practice from beginner level.

The session was scheduled for an hour but I had been pre-warned that it tends to last longer so nearly 2 hours later the MiniNinja was starting to flag. We finished off by splitting into a group with all the 4th Kyu’s to practice Tekki Shodan ready for grading. This picked MiniMe up as he was keen to show that he knew the kata even though we would not be grading.

We stayed after training to watch the start of the grading to make sure everything ran in the same order as previous gradings and also to get an idea what areas were being looked at in detail. As I expected, the standard required for grading up to 3rd Kyu is higher than our previous gradings and it was interesting to get the perspective of watching the grading without the nerves that stay with you when you know that you are up next. It also gave me the opportunity to see the reactions and comments of Senei Ohta and Sensei Eric. Hopefully this will serve us in good stead for our grading on the 27th March 2009.

We would usually fly out to Japan at the end of December to stay for 2-3 weeks but this year we were unable to go so for the first time we carried on training when Kilburn SKC opened again at the start of January. Again, training has often emphasized basics but put into sets of combinations plus our usual kumite sessions on a Sunday. The MiniNinja was off school with a virus for a week so I worked from home so I could look after him at the same time. We missed a week of training together but to make sure I did not go stir crazy, I went along to some of the (later) night time adult sessions at Vale Farm Sports Centre and Willesden Sports Centre. These were a lot tougher than our normal training and both locations feature smaller dojo’s with less ventilation than Gurnell Leisure Centre so things soon heated up. This also gave me the opportunity to note down the Kilburn SKC lessons at other locations, which will be useful in the future since MiniMe wants to up his training from 3 to 4 sessions per week.

The evacuation message suddenly sounded while I was changing at Bank this past week so I joined the majority of other passengers as we headed for the first available exit. However, I was amazed to see a number of people refusing to leave the platforms even though the station staff were directing them to the emergency exit routes. As I was walking through the ticket barriers at the exit there was even someone trying to sprint past through and dodge around the staff so they could make it down to the platform.

I am just amazed at the number of people who are willing to risk their life and ignore safety announcements all in a bid to save a few minutes getting to work. Whether there is a fire or it is just a false alarm; you are not able to tell and if there was a real fire then you would just be running down into it. Why bother?