The Apache access.log file is a good place to look for evidence of hacking activity. Code injections, brute force attacks and excessive crawling all show up in there, along with legitimate hits. While searching recently, I was surprised to see that Linux had started to regard the file as binary data:
$ grep something access.logContinue reading
Binary file access.log matches
SD cards are used in digital cameras, phones and other devices, where their speed and large capacity makes them useful for storing pictures, video and other voluminous multi-media items. It is quite common these days for a mobile device to contain a 16 Gb or 32 Gb SD card.
With the devices being so mobile, backups are easily overlooked. And it is quite easy for an SD card to become corrupted, for example if the card is removed while the device is on, or the battery is taken out while a video is being shot.
I was given a corrupted 16 Gb card and asked to recover the files, if possible. The rest of this post explains how the data was safely restored using simple Linux tools. Continue reading
You can recover a running MySQL database with the mysqlcheck command.
After a power cut, I found these errors in /var/log/daemon.log. This was on Debian Squeeze running WordPress 3.3.1 and MySQL 5.1.61.
Mar 22 11:22:16 debian /etc/mysql/debian-start[2153]: Triggering myisam-recover for all MyISAM tables
Mar 22 11:22:17 debian mysqld: 120322 11:22:17 [ERROR] /usr/sbin/mysqld: Table './wordpress/wp_commentmeta' is marked as crashed and should be repaired
Continue reading