Colin Charles Agenda

Peter posted that CentOS comes with a build of MySQL Enterprise. It should really be clarified that CentOS itself, comes with MySQL Community, as does Red Hat Enterprise Linux. On RHEL5/CentOS5, you’ll see:

mysql-5.0.22-2.2.el5_1.1
mysql-server-5.0.22-2.2.el5_1.1

The above are the default packages that CentOS provides. However, what Peter really is referring to is the CentOSPlus Repository, which by their own admittance is “not part of the upstream distribution and extend CentOS’s functionality at the expense of upstream compatibility. Enabling this repository makes CentOS different from upstream.”

The idea behind providing Enterprise builds, largely came from RHBZ#230412: No src.rpm available for mysql. Red Hat provides something called the Web Application Stacks product (RHWAS), in where they include MySQL Enterprise, amongst other software packages, and they charge for support (that differs from buying just a RHEL license). Max Spevack answers it pretty well, as this is the response he came to, after talking to folk at MySQL.

Its worth noting that CentOSPlus does not use Enterprise tarballs/SRPMS, but use sources from the BitKeeper tree. Its worth noting, that at the time of this writing, CentOSPlus does not include Enterprise RPMs for CentOS 5, just CentOS 4. Its also worth noting that patches are being applied, that are out of tree, to the RPMs. A snippet from the RPM changelog (rpm -q –changelog <packagename> if you must):

* Mon Dec 24 2007 Johnny Hughes <johnny@centos.org> 5.0.54-1.el4.centos
- upgraded to the 5.0.54 Enterprise BK tree. Removed patches that are
already incorporated into 5.0.54.

- added mysql-5.0.52-mysqldump-hang-33057.patch for mysql bug #33057

- added mysql-5.0.50-openssl-handshake-33050.patch fo mysql bug #33050

* Sun Dec 23 2007 Johnny Hughes <johnny@centos.org> 5.0.48-3.el4.centos
- modified the process of obtaining the Enterprise Sources to using bkf and
downloading directly from the MySQL Enterprise BitKeeper tree.

So, definitely interesting times. If you hit a bug, you might be wondering if its an upstream bug, or something that was provided by your packager. Of course, this is what is so great about the MySQL community - the ability to do just this! Currently, against 5.0.54, CentOSPlus is shipping 2 patches, with a few extra source packages that don’t come with regular tarballs. Will this number grow? Just remember, the “Enterprise” version you get in CentOSPlus is not “MySQL Enterprise”.

Technorati Tags: centos, mysql, distributions shipping mysql, patches

If CentOS (and by the same vein, Oracle Enterprise Linux) claims compatibility with RHEL, why is Zimbra saying that the issue with ZCS 5.0, Scalar::Util, and Perl, is caused by CentOS?

QA’ing against RHEL, and not CentOS is expected, but saying there’s no compatibility between CentOS and RHEL, sounds like a bit of a fib, don’t you think?

Even better, the recommendation to use Ubuntu. Will there be a LTS release, at some stage soon? It looks like Canonical are behind schedule for another LTS release…

Technorati Tags: zimbra, zimbra collaboration suite, zcs, zcs5, qa, scalar:util, centos, perl, compatibility, rhel

I took the opportunity today evening to get myself upgraded (from 4.5.3_GA_733) to the latest (5.0.0_GA_1869) open source version of Zimbra - ZCS 5.0 GA. The database migration took about the longest, mainly due to some schema changes. Lots of starts and stops to the database. Its now running MySQL 5.0.45 Community.

What prompted the upgrade? A few days ago, I got a bunch of new packages, and rebooted the server (new kernel). To my dismay, Zimbra started to have issues - amavisd wouldn’t start. This meant that there was a large amount of mail, sitting in the queue, not being delivered. Things you don’t normally check for, immediately, anyway.

Turns out Compress::Zlib was too old. Well, not the system provided Compress::Zlib, but the Zimbra provided Compress::Zlib. Kind of annoying when there are two packages of software, sitting on your system, right? However, the benefits of having an easy-to-administer and use mail system, somehow I think outstrips all the pain associated.

I found the web interface in ZCS 4.5.3 to be a bit limited, even when logged in as an administrator. There was absolutely no way to restart, failed services. For this, I actually needed to login via SSH, and use zmcontrol. Running SSH on a non-standard port, and not having your laptop nearby (or remembering the non-standard port) can allow you to have some fun :)

So after fixing ZCS 4.5.3, and realising that it had some gaping holes, I decided to upgrade. The upgrade process went on pretty smoothly, till I saw:
Updating from 5.0.0_RC3
5 is only avaliable with the XS version at /opt/zimbra/zimbramon/lib/IO/Socket/SSL.pm line 30
BEGIN failed–compilation aborted at /opt/zimbra/zimbramon/lib/IO/Socket/SSL.pm line 30, <DBCONFIG> line 21.
Compilation failed in require at /opt/zimbra/zimbramon/lib/Net/LDAP.pm line 970, <DBCONFIG> line 21.

This has largely got to do with the RHEL4 supplied Perl, as referenced by zimbra bug #22466. However, it seems that it was fixed in 5.0.0_GA_1809. Problem still seems to be around in 5.0.0_GA_1869. Verified that it existed - /opt/zimbra/zimbramon/lib/i386-linux-thread-multi/Scalar/Util.pm (and was newer than the version on the system). Verified that Zimbra saw it too - check out .bashrc in /opt/zimbra (the home directory for the zimbra user) for the various PATHs that Zimbra sees/requires. However, I was running this install, not as the zimbra user, so the Perl PATHs had to be specified.

Specifying the Perl PATH, also didn’t help. The forums mentioned just installing from cpan, Scalar::Util and letting the install progress. It still failed.

I thought I’d try a clean install. By golly, it failed on RHEL4. An upgrade of a clean install from ZCS 4.5.10 also failed. I’m almost convinced that Zimbra spent very little time QA’ing ZCS on RHEL4. Sure, RHEL5 probably works a charm, but the drive of enterprise software is not upgrading the OS too often. This is where I can so see, FreeBSD succeeding - pity there isn’t an official Zimbra/FreeBSD port.

For fun reading, check out their forums: [SOLVED] Big Fubar on 5 FOSS GA Upgrade (how was it solved?), Upgrade 4.5.7 -> 5.0 GA Failed, centos4 upgrade to 5.0 errors. I’m sure this magical list can go on and on. All purported solutions generally, do not work.

Moral of the story? Even with backups, don’t try upgrading Zimbra on a production box. Be prepared to cry, a lot.

Technorati Tags: zimbra, zimbra collaboration suite, zcs, zcs5, qa, ga, upgrades

Zimbra is truly the answer to the open source mail+calendering+contact management application. I have been playing around, and more recently using in production, the Zimbra Collaboration Suite, and all I can say is that it’s darn impressive.

While evaluating, I was always worried about the upgrade process - it seemed like pain for some software you run out of an ./install.sh script, that has its own versions of a web server, LDAP, database, and so on. In fact, reading the Single Server installation guide states:

Important. You cannot have any other web server, database, LDAP, or MTA server running, when you install the Zimbra software. If you have installed any of the applications, before you install Zimbra software, disable these applications.

However, this is fully configurable during the setup process - run it at another port besides port 80, and you’ve got the usage of Apache again. This might I add, even works for upgrades - it saves the configuration rather sensibly. It doesn’t recognize CentOS officially, and that might be something they should fix in the Community edition. A Zimbra appliance (on Ubuntu Server?) might be really cool - think about the possibilities of collaboration in a box.

As with anything, there are complaints. No live backup, unless you buy the Network edition? Though the promising thread means that people are interested in prodding this further (I know, I am). Backups are horrendous - stop the server, copy /opt/zimbra, then restart. /opt/zimbra is large. mailx seems to not be so sensible in working, any longer, which means logwatch doesn’t get emails out to the root user.

Today, I also decided to give Zimbra Desktop a twirl. They have installers for Windows, OS X and Linux. It installed fine on Fedora Core 6 (i.e. for its java requirements, gcj must’ve sufficed. UPDATE: They have their own, shipped, JRE.). At version 0.36, upon asking it to start, it does ask for the location of my web browser, which seems a little daft. When I send it to the path that Firefox has, it automatically shuts the installer down, making me think it might have crashed (actually, moving to the workspace with Firefox installed, shows that the desktop account manager configuration has started!). Lo and behold, at localhost:7633, Zimbra starts syncing everything and I’ve got my mail locally! I don’t need to use Thunderbird for mail, or Evolution for calendering - the Zimbra Desktop just brings it all right to me, in my browser, even when I’m offline.

The Zimbra Desktop is your exact Zimbra online experience, delivered to you offline. It performs a sync at 60 seconds by default, and you get the full experience of the client, in your web browser. Cross browser, cross platform, similarity. They mention they’ve not got a price yet for this, but if I were them, I’d not charge for it - the client, really, needs to be free for mass adoption (and of course work with the Community and Network Editions). Of course, the differentiation can come from things like attachment searches/HTML rendering, rebranding, support, and so forth. But email in your web browser that syncs with the online server, that in itself should be free - no crippling necessary.

Technorati Tags: zimbra, zimbra desktop, zimbra collaboration suite, zcs, backup

Well, its been a while since I dirtied my hands in the sysadmin forays. I was wondering why my system was not accepting mail for a domain that clearly pointed to it. Running host just pointed to the mailserver correctly, but when I ran it on the mailserver, there was an IP address mismatch. Thinking back a little, it seems that there was an IP change, just something I’d forgotten about. Oh how the great DNS, comes to bite you in the behind.

MediaWiki these days likes PHP 5 (5.1 being preferred). I’ve discovered why Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 might suck - they only ship PHP 4.3.9, which is nowhere near as adequate for modern applications. So if I were a corporation and wanted to run the latest greatest Mediawiki on my corporate wiki, I’d be in a bind if I’m on RHEL4. Luckily, this is where the centosplus repository comes into active play - its got a modern PHP, and modern databases.

I’ve gotten out of the Planet game. After running Planet MyOSS for a countless number of years, I’ve just decided that the final migration should happen today - and it did thanks to a Redirect 301 / http://planet.foss.org.my/. Update your bookmarks, feed readers, etc.. as Planet MyOSS now resides at: http://planet.foss.org.my/. (except I checked it just now, and foss.org.my was down… it seems to be regularly down, why?)

Those having to deal with MYNIC, keep in mind that their online forms differ if you’re logging in as the Administrative or Technical contact (the latter is where you get to change DNS servers). And no, its not instant, they say its a 24-hr waiting period.

Back to RHEL/Centos. Why does the Linux Standards Base (LSB) stipulate that servers need to have CUPS installed, to be LSB compliant? I’ll probably talk more about the recent cleanups I’ve been doing at another stage.