Debian Linux Stretch - Installing The LAMP Stack

This Linux Thing is no more difficult than your Windows Thing.  Let that sink in.

It's an operating system.  You have probably been using Windows since you were a wee brat.  That is bound to be years and years of training.  I've been using Linux since the mid 1990s, probably earlier.

Oh and I am still learning.  I like to learn so that's why I keep coming back.

One very important point - It's all about how good you are at finding the Correct Instructions.  

I spent three hours going through some instructions that were from the Debian Wiki until I hit a road block.  That led me to realize that the Debian Wiki has an incomplete article on how to install the LAMP Stack on an older version of the operating system.  Even if I had read it through top to bottom first, I would not have found that out until I actually started using it.

LAMP is what you are installing.

• L is Linux.  If you got here, you have it or are researching it.  Debian, or a derivative like Ubuntu.
• A Is Apache.  That is the actual web server.  You can write basic web pages if you have this installed.
• M is MySQL or MariaDB.  It's the database so you can write data driven pages.
• P is PHP or it could be Python or Perl.  That's your scripting language.

"Yeah, I know, me too."  That was basic stuff for people just learning.

At any rate, I went back to the web and found another page from which I am using for my own instructions.  If something isn't quite right with what I am writing below, then check back there.

This is a recipe so I can come back later when I get interested in trying this on another machine.

Importantly, there is a design strategy called "Don't Break Debian".  Don't install anything outside of Debian's Repositories or you may end up with a broken install.  While that is a bit impractical in many cases, and I have gone "outside" Debian, things do sometimes not work or they work strangely. 

If you find an install somewhere that says add a repository, then your caution flags should go up.

On the other hand, it also implies that you should use Debian's information first before you go outside to another site.  Since i am writing this, it shows that I don't agree.  Their info was flawed.


Here are the instructions, as brief as possible:
All commands are done from Terminal as Root.


Prep - Get the Computer up to date.:

• apt update
• apt upgrade
• apt dist-upgrade

MariaDB:

• apt install mariadb-client mariadb-server
• mysql -u root -p   (add a root password)
• CREATE DATABASE newdb;
• CREATE USER 'user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
• GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON newdb.* to 'bill'@'localhost';
• FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
• quit

PHP:

• apt install php7.0 php7.0-mysql

Apache2:

• apt install apache2 apache2-mod-php7.0

Testing the Server

• mousepad /var/www/html/index.php

• enter this on the first line, save, and quit:  <? php phpinfo( ) ?>

• firefox localhost/index.php 
• Result is you will see information about your system in Firefox, or chrome if you must.

PHPMYADMIN:

• apt install phpmyadmin

Answer following questions by hitting space and then tab to OK and enter:

• Web Server: Apache2
• PHPCOMMON: Yes
• MySQL Application Password - same as you created earlier

Test with the following to get to the PHPMyAdmin login page:

• firefox localhost/phpmyadmin

That's it.  You're done.  Took me less time than installing the operating system which was under a half hour.  Granted I'm on a fast computer and reasonable internet speeds.

There is one more thing to consider.  I am not worried about anyone hacking my server because this is not exposed to the internet.  If you are going to proceed with this server serving pages to the world, you will most certainly need to get the security brought up to date.  I don't believe that this server even has a firewall active at this point.

Gnome 3 in Debian Jessie Using VMWare Workstation 9 With No Fallback Mode

First the "TL:DR" executive summary:  Get Debian Jessie to install to VMWare Workstation 9.0 to have Gnome 3 run in full graphics mode and not gnome-fallback mode.

Instructions to make it work like I did in a cookbook and a narrative follows the instructions after the jump break:

To install

• Download debian-jessie-di-a1-amd64-gnome-CD-1.iso
• Create a VM called Debian Jessie with 2048mb memory, NAT networking, 20gb max drive
• System came up in XFCE

First Boot

• Go into VM Settings.  Make sure that the CD/DVD virtual Device is connected to the Debian Jessie ISO file.
• Start Synaptic and install gnome-core
• Mark upgrades and apply
• I got a window asking Configuring GDM3 - Default display manager: GDM3, just because I could.  This enables Gnome 3.0 as your default display manager where lightdm is xfce.  Since you specifically wanted a clean gnome 3.0, this is how to enable it.
• It will run dpkg and install a lot of stuff.
• Close Synaptic and reboot

Second Boot: Logged in, and ticked the session for gnome, gnome 3.0 is active without fallback.

To install the VMWare Tools

• Under Jessie, the kernel headers for Linux did not seem to be installed.
• To install the kernel headers apt-get install linux-headers-3.2.0-4-amd64 or install the latest linux-headers from synaptic.    
• At this point, click on the gnome menu and eject the Debian Jessie ISO. 

My VM had problems seeing the vmware tools. 

• In VMWare Workstation, click VM, Install VMWare Tools
• Having clicked on help, I typed mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom in terminal and got an error, then magically the iso automounted.  I. Just. Don't. Know.  Linux magic.  Trust me on this one, I was frustrated waiting for it to decide to find the blasted VMWare Tools ISO myself.
• Extract the files with full path to somewhere useful like your home directory.
• In root terminal, run vmware-config-tools.pl from the directory you just created and take the defaults.
• The VM will hunt all printers available to the host machine and tell you that Printer Added a number of times.

At this point you should be up and running with Gnome 3.0 in Full Graphics Mode.  
You can manually tell Gnome to flip back and forth between Full Graphics and Fallback with a command shown at this link.
You will now have the ability to arbitrarily resize the windows.
You will probably need to go into dconf to configure the way your linux works.  There are a lot of tweaks you can do in there.

Personally I prefer xfce for its speed and lack of clutter, but that's just me.

Job Recruiters Amuse Me

Having my resume on Dice.Com, Monster.com, and Careerbuilder.com I get to speak with recruiters.

It is like saying you will get wet if you stand outdoors.  Underwater.  Repeatedly.

Yesterday I had two things happen that had me amused.  

I have a Lot of Project Management experience.  I'm doing some consulting for New Divine Mercy church where I have migrated their website off of LAMP and Joomla to Google Sites.  I also act as their videographer, and handle their technology needs.  I also have been the treasurer for a political campaign, and a webmaster for two campaigns.  I have written advertising copy and have been a speech writer - all of which in the last year.

I am also the social media director for Wilton Manors Main Street, maintaining their facebook group and their blog, as well as producing the monthly newsletter.  I produce the newsletter and the embedded newsletter site with content from Krishan Manners and it was my idea to get content from other organizations within the area so that there would be one central place to find the information as well as one newsletter going out instead of five or six.  It is well received and is growing each month.  If you would like to get our next newsletter - click on this link. We don't sell the email addresses to anyone else.

Yesterday I got an email from someone at Robert Half International about a position.  I had read it, shrugged since I thought I was a little "short of the qualifications" and moved on.  A couple hours later I got a phone call from the same "associate" who sent me the email.  After her interviewing me and going past the elevator pitch, I told her my opinion.  I also told her how they typically do their interviews.  After being in the market as long as I have been , I'm a bit more wary of agreeing to go in to talk to recruiters.   They have a habit of wanting to see you, a Meet and Greet, without anything concrete behind it.   Robert Half is guilty of this as are some of the other firms in this field.  I have a hard and fast rule if I have done the Meet and Greet before, I won't do it again unless you are ready to send me out on an interview.   I told her this and thanked her for her interest but since "gasoline is $4 a gallon and this would take two hours out of my day to get there and back, I was not inclined to come in for a face to face but would consider it 'if there was something concrete' involved".

You see if you are interviewing your time is free, theirs is not.

Nothing against this particular recruiter, she was knowledgeable and understanding, she was polite, and she was willing to listen.  I just didn't want to play by the script.

The other wrinkle I found over the time of interviewing is that most recruiters are fairly useless.  There are some exceptions and I write THEM, directly.  These are the ones that after going the first meet and greet contact me about specific opportunities.   I keep their emails on a spreadsheet for easy access.  There simply are too many folks in and out of that career for me to bother with the fly by nights.

Why I consider most fairly useless is that there is a pattern.

First the company needing the new hire will post a direct job specification either on their website or on one of the job search boards.  In Technology, Dice.Com is probably my favorite - I can submit a resume in under 5 minutes, a little more if I have to tweak my resume or my cover letter. The State of Florida has a page that is utterly useless, and the Federal Government's is bad as well but better than Florida's.

After the company posts the specification, recruiters will spot this and contact the company and find out if they are open to recruiters.  That may be as simple as Recruiter A sees Company Posting B at 8AM, claims it as their own and posts it to Recruiting Company internal website and then onto Dice/Monster/Careerbuilder.  That happens usually by 8:01AM.  It can be that fast.

If it is a Project Management or Business Analysis position I know I will have a busy day because I will notice multiple hits on my resume on those boards.  I keep a spreadsheet that tells me what the raw counts are and how many hits there were since yesterday. 

Usually after the local boards send me a feeler, a couple days later the Out Of State recruiters start calling.   They're much later because they're "fishing" for a hit.  The problem with the Out Of State recruiters is that you will never have any kind of a relationship with these peoples.  It is like a door to door contractor showing up and asking if you need your driveway sealed.  That's a call I get every other week, the recruiters are daily.

If there is a phone call on my cell I immediately look to see the caller ID.  I have a definite priority of who I answer.  If you have called me, I add you to the SIM list.  If you haven't then it shows as a raw phone number.  

First Priority are people who I have spoken with before - Friends, Family,  Business Contacts and former recruiters who I have dealt with.

Second Priority are those who have a local area code.  954, 754, 561, 305, and 786 area codes.  I'll consider my own time constraints as it is usually easier for me to go on and let them talk to my phone and I can screen it later.

Lowest priority are out of state first time callers.   If they are from places like NYC Metro, specifically North Jersey I will always let them go to the answering machine.

The lowest priority calls are invariably someone calling from India as a recruiter on a scratchy Voice Over IP phone line trying to pretend that they are here.  If I make the mistake and actually speak with one, I can't hear the accent over the static and tell them that they need to email me, they have my email address on the resume, and that they can expect an answer "shortly".

Then I forget they ever called.

After all, there are people here in the United States who need the jobs more than shipping them overseas.  I know one, intimately. 

So if you need a Project Manager, Business Analyst, COBOL Programmer, Web Developer, Social Media Director, Software Development Manager, or one of about 30 other hats I wear or wore, let me know.  We can work something out.

Did I tell you about the telecommuting organization that I built using Skype and functioned as it's CTO with help from my business partner?

Yeah, I've done it.