Python's with statement

Old habits die hard. I learned a long time ago (Python 1.x) this pattern for opening and operating on files:

    try:    

        f = open("filename.txt", "ro")

        try:

            for l in f:

                print l

        finally:

            f.close()

    except IOError as e:

        print "I/O error({0}): {1}".format(e.errno, e.strerror)

Since Python 2.6, the with statement does this automatically:

    with open("filename.txt", "ro") as f:

        for l in f:

            print l

The with statement works with some other classes, too.

PS Blogger really needs a code block style.

A Git branching model

Vincent Driessen has a clear write-up on a git branching model that works for his team.

Ganglia

Word to the wise: do not enable the multiplecpu multicpu module. It doesn't get disabled even if you append ".disabled" to the file name. Now, I have 265 CPU metrics.

Limiting logins under SSSD

Under SSSD, you can pretty easily limit logins to specific users or groups. The syntax is different from that of /etc/security/access.conf, and is actually easier. Red Hat has some documentation (may require login). There is also a man page for sssd.conf(5).

Under the your domain, add some lines to configure "simple" access control:

[domain/default]  

access_provider = simple 

simple_allow_users = topbanana 

simple_allow_groups = bunchofbananas,wheel

Using the NVIDIA Python plugin for Ganglia monitoring under Bright Cluster Manager

The github repo for Ganglia gmond Python plugins contains a plugin for monitoring NVIDIA GPUs. This presumes that the NVIDIA Deployment Kit, which contains the NVML (management library), is installed via the normal means into the usual places. If you are using Bright Cluster Manager, you would have used Bright's cuda60/tdk to do the installation. That means that the libnvidia-ml.so library is not in one of the standard library directories. To fix it, just modify the /etc/init.d/gmond init script. Near the top, modify the LD_LIBRARY_PATH:

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/cm/local/apps/cuda/libs/current/lib64

The modifications to Ganglia Web, however, are out of date. I will make another post once I figure out how to do modify Ganglia Web to display the NVIDIA metrics.

UPDATE: Well, turns out there seems to be no need to modify the Ganglia Web installation. Under the host view, there is a tab for "gpu metrics" which shows 22 available metrics.

root cron jobs and /etc/security/access.conf

On RHEL6, if your root cron jobs do not run, check your /var/log/secure file for lines that look like:

crontab: pam_access(crond:account): access denied for user `root' from `cron'

You may also see the following message when, as root, you type "crontab -e":

Permission deniedYou (root) are not allowed to access to (crontab) because of pam configuration.

If there are any like that, check /etc/security/access.conf -- you need to allow root access via cron and crond by adding the following line:

+ : root : cron crond 

Keepass, Google Drive, and multi-OS access

UPDATE 2014-06-11: The kdbx file seems to work fine on Dropbox. Luckily, I had a backup there.

If you store your Keepass DB file on Google Drive plus InSync in order to access it via Linux, Windows, and Android, you might want to stop doing so. My Keepass file seems to be irretrievably corrupted.