On Wed, June 24, 2015 16:11, Chuck Campbell wrote:
>
> Is there an easy to follow "howto" for normal LVM administration
> tasks. I get tired of googling every-time I have to do something
> I don't remember how to do regarding LVM, so I usually just
> don't bother with it at all.
>
> I believe it has some benefit for my use cases, but I've been
> reticent to use it, since the last time I got LVM problems, I
> lost everything on the volume, and had to restore from backups
> anyway. I suspect I shot myself in the foot, but I
> still don't know for sure.
>
At the risk of some ridicule I suggest that you look at installing
Webmin. It is a web based system administration tool that I find
invaluable. The two most common complaints I encounter when I discuss
its merits are 'security' and 'transparency'.
The security issue is trivially dealt with. Install Webmin and
configure it to listen on 127.0.0.1 using its standard port TCP10000.
Install Firefox on the same host and then run firefox from an 'ssh -Y'
session using the --noremote option. If you are totally paranoid then
firewall TCP10000 as well, configure Webmin to use https only, and
then only start the webmin service when you are performing
maintenance.
There are less draconian measures that are in my opinion equally
secure from a practical standpoint but I am sure that you can figure
those out on your own.
The transparency issue is really unanswerable. There exists a school
of thought that if you are going to administer a Linux system (or OS
of the proponent's choice) then you should learn the command syntax of
every command that you are called upon to use. This is the
one-and-only path to enlightenment. Like upholding motherhood and
promoting the wholesomeness of apple-pie this sort of moralizing
really brooks no answer. You can guess my opinion on that line of
puritanism.
As you have painfully discovered, infrequently used utilities and
commands are difficult to deal with. The process of learning, or
relearning, the correct arcana is particularly noisome given the
notorious inconsistency of syntaxes across different utilities and the
spotty coverage of up-to-date documentation. Google can be a
dangerous guide given the wide variation of practice across differing
flavours of *nix and the widespread aversion to providing dates on
writings. In consequence I consign transparency arguments and their
proponents to the religious fanatic file. Nothing personal but there
is no point in arguing belief systems.
If you want to get infrequently performed sysadmin tasks done reliably
and with a minimum of fuss use something like Webmin and get on with
the rest of your life.
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