AWS EC2 Mount Point Fails To Mount

While creating PeopleSoft Upgrade Maintenance (PUM) environments using the DPK’s from Oracle, we often use spot instances and these spot instances can terminate on a moments notice. So we have them setup to not delete the volumes and we re-create the server using AMI’s from the previous volumes. However, if you have a mount point in the /etc/fstab which can no longer mount because it is gone, you may run into a small problem trying to mount a new drive to the mount point that was previously used.

I usually have a data drive mounted as /oracle and in case the server reboots I have an entry in the fstab that will remount the drive.

If I rebuild the environment using that environment as an example it will fail to mount the drive and I can’t mount anything new there. So to fix the issue.

1. Simply remove the entry from the /etc/fstab
2. run:   systemctl daemon-reload
3. mount the new drive to the mount point

Enjoy the new mount point.

AWS EC2 Create Swap File

While creating PeopleSoft Upgrade Maintenance (PUM) environments using the DPK’s from Oracle, they require that you have a swapfile in order to complete the install.  Sometimes it will warning you and sometimes it won’t. We run the DPK’s using the OEL 7.3 OS, and these instructions will create a swapfile.

1. Login to EC2 using SSH (switch to root user)

2. Create a file for the swapfile:
fallocate -l 2G /placewithspace/swapfile

3. Change the permissions on the swapfile:
chmod 600 /placewithspace/swapfile

4. Allocate the file as a swap file:
mkswap /placewithspace/swapfile -f

5. Turn the swap file on:
swapon /placewithspace/swapfile

6. Check swap file is active:
swapon -s

Enjoy DPK installing.

Panda + Community Summer 2017

Golfing, Big Ball Drop, Biking, Races, Rotary, Camp, Horses, Elephants and Christmas oh my!! The panda team has been very busy doing their thing this summer.

The pandas attended the Big Brothers Big Sisters GolfforKids event in August where OurOnlineCompany was a title sponsor. The Big Ball Drop via helicopter was exciting for everyone in attendance…

This summer the kids were busy with horses and theater camp. J attended Original Kids Theatre Camp and had an amazing time. So proud of him for trying something new and stepping outside his comfort zone. He was entrusted with the power of the panda as Red Ranger – awesome job! And A kept busy with the horses this summer. Back and forth to the barn through the week and successful shows on the weekends. She did a great job and even had to overcame the obstacle of her horse being injured but she persevered.

Pandas and friends took part in the Railway City Road Races in September. We came, we saw, we conquered – nothing pretty, just determination!! The Race helps raise money for local community Hospital projects. This year there were more than 550 participants!

September is Big Brothers Big Sisters Awareness Month. A purple ribbon was tied around the neck of our city’s mascot, Jumbo the elephant, for the month of September.

We’ve already started gearing up for Christmas. The pandas will be in the community helping locally with Christmas Care again this year.

Check back next month for pictures of Panda adventures in our communities! Till next month ………

AWS EC2 Update Java

While working on a new Amazon EC2 Instance the default java that shows up is an openJDK version which may not necessarily be the right java for certain enterprise applications. This is a nice clean way of installing and changing to a new version of Java. In this example we are installing Oracle JDK 1.8.0 update 141. So here we go:

1. Go to Oracle’s Java Download Page and find the right rpm that you want to install: Java Download Page

2. Log into your EC2 Instance and switch to the root account

3. Execute the command: wget –no-check-certificate –no-cookies –header “Cookie:oraclelicense=accept-securebackup-cooke” {URL FROM Step 1}
– This is the command I used for Linux x64 rpm download:

wget --no-check-certificate --no-cookies --header "Cookie: oraclelicense=accept-securebackup-cookie" {URL}

In order to get the URL, go to the Oracle Java Download page at: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk8-downloads-2133151.html, accept the license agreement, and then right click on the file you wish to download and select copy link address. This will give you the {URL} you need as it will have the random key in it. For example the URL I just used was:

http://download.oracle.com/otn-pub/java/jdk/8u141-b15/336fa29ff2bb4ef291e347e091f7f4a7/jdk-8u141-linux-x64.rpm

4. Install the new Java RPM: rpm -i jdk-8u141-linux-x64.rpm

5. Check your Java Version: java -version (Will most likely show a different version than you just installed)

6. Switch to an alternate version: alternatives –config java (Select the version you just installed for me: /usr/java/jdk1.8.0_141/jre/bin/java)

7. If the version you want is not there you may need to install it as an alternative: alternatives –install /usr/java/jdk1.8.0_141/bin/java 2000

8. Check your Java Version again: java -version (It should be pointing correctly now).

Go have some fun with your newly install version of Java!

SmartThinking || March to June 2017 Newsletter

Message from Wade

Oh my, how did Canada day get here so quickly? I had the March newsletter all ready to send and I was just waiting on some pictures and now it’s almost Canada Day. So what can we learn from this? Clearly, I am good at managing computer systems, but managing communications on a schedule – not so much. Verne Harnish, who has a great book on “Scaling Up,” talks about this in great detail. Focus on what you do well and for the rest of the stuff get people that are good at those things and let them focus on getting those tasks done.

I am not sure why I tend to forget that all the time, but it couldn’t be more true.  If you are great at managing projects, development, administration, day to day operations or something other than technical managed services and you are doing technical managed services duties – maybe it’s time to get somebody that can do technical managed services for you?!