Category Archives: linux

Checking Whether a Process Exists

Posted on December 31, 2016 by Matthias

On Linux/Unix systems, there’s occasionally the need to check whether a process is running. Some people use it for simple status checks or when building their own lifecycle scripts for startup and shutdown. I don’t think it’s a particularly good practice … Continue reading →

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Detecting Security Upgrades on Ubuntu

Posted on October 22, 2016 by Matthias

In my article on unattended upgrades I described how to set up an Ubuntu system to install security upgrades automatically. This is convenient for small setups, but in an enterprise environment you typically want to perform some QA before applying the … Continue reading →

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Keeping Your Server Secure With Unattended Upgrades

Posted on February 26, 2015 by Matthias

When operating servers, you’re responsible for keeping them up to date with the latest security fixes. Ubuntu comes with a mechanism that installs updates automatically so you don’t have to worry about it. Obviously, this is meant for personal servers … Continue reading →

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Living in the Future with IPv6

Posted on January 18, 2015 by Matthias

It’s not quite flying cars, but since yesterday I’m living in the future. IPv6 has arrived at my home network after I switched to a new VDSL contract. I had to activate it manually in my FritzBox home router though, … Continue reading →

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Managing Docker Container Updates

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Matthias

When running a Debian/Ubuntu-based server, it’s relatively easy to figure out whether updates need to be installed. Tools based on apt work very well in this regard and even offer advanced features like unattended updates. Not so with services running … Continue reading →

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Converting Images to ASCII Art

Posted on September 20, 2014 by Matthias

I’ve been playing with Docker a lot lately. Docker is a tool for creating lightweight virtual environments based on Linux containers. They are extremely useful for running services, but you can also use them for running one-off tasks that you … Continue reading →

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Enabling Hibernate Support in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

Posted on May 1, 2014 by Matthias

In this article, I’ll show you how to enable hibernate support in Ubuntu 14.04 (“Trusty Tahr”) by making a “Hibernate” menu entry appear in Unity’s global system pulldown menu. The Ubuntu developers disabled this a couple of years ago because … Continue reading →

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Remote-Controlling a Sonos Device Using Python

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Matthias

I couple of months ago I bought a Sonos Play:1, a pretty cool wireless speaker that comes with free controller apps for major platforms (Android, Windows etc.). To give the speaker access to my music collection, I hooked up a … Continue reading →

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