check_esx3 error "Permission to perform this operation was denied"

Today I was setting up VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi 5.0) on a new server. Since I'm on the Kool-aid, the first thing I do when setting up a server is getting some kind of Nagios monitoring going. For several years, on ESXi servers, I have been using op5's check_esx3 plugin. Today was the first time I had set up an ESXi 5.0 server though, and when I first ran it after creating my Nagios user in ESXi I got the following error:

Permission to perform this operation was denied

Installing MongoDB with Replication on Ubuntu

Here I describe how to install MongoDB on Ubuntu, with replication. I am using a replica set with 3 nodes (2 DB servers, and 1 arbiter).

Issues Installing x2go

I was having issues today after installing x2go.  Here is was I did to fix them.

Installing PyLucene on Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot)

I recently needed to install PyLucene for our developers on a server running Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot). Unfortunately the version in the repos was much too old, so I had to build it from source. Below I will describe what I did, in the hopes it will help someone else.

Nagios Plugin - check_rss

As IT moves towards the cloud there are certain things we can't monitor effectively with Nagios, so I made a plugin to check RSS feeds. Many cloud services offer an RSS feed with their status. check_rss allows you to parse these feeds either looking for certain keywords that exist (or don't) or the date of the last post.

Login/Boot Scripts for Ubuntu/Gnome

I couldn't find any good information on writing logon/boot scripts for Ubuntu/Gnome, so here you go.

Boot script location (runs before GDM login screen):
/etc/rc.local

Boot scripts run as root. Just change that file to your liking.

Login script location (runs after GDM login):
/etc/gdm/Default

There isn't a default login script, so you have to create it yourself, and make it executable (sudo chmod +x /etc/gdm/Default) and remember to put #!/bin/bash at the start (or whatever you want to use for the environment). Login scripts run as root.

Tiny Borders in Ubuntu

**Update** - This also works in 11.04 (Natty Narwhal)

Maybe I'm a little late to the party, but I figured I would post a fix to the really annoying fact that the default Ubuntu theme (Ambiance) in 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) has super tiny (1 pixel) borders, which makes resizing nigh impossible. All you have to do is open up a terminal and type the following:

gksudo gedit /usr/share/themes/Ambiance/metacity-1/metacity-theme-1.xml

Now change the following values under  frame_geometry_normal to 3 (or whatever you prefer)


<distance name="left_width" value="1"></distance>
<distance name="right_width" value="1"></distance>
<distance name="bottom_height" value="1"></distance>


Save and close the file. Now Open System->Preferences->Appearance and double-click on the Ambiance theme to refresh it. Play around with the values to find what works best for you. Enjoy your new easily resized windows! Note, this is explained in the Launchpad bug report. I'm just posting it here in hopes that it may be easier to find for those struggling. Let me know if you found this useful.