MacLochlainns Weblog

Michael McLaughlin's Technical Blog

Site Admin

Archive for the ‘AlmaLinux’ Category

AlmaLinux+PostgreSQL

with one comment

This installs PostgreSQL 15 on AlmaLinux 9 (don’t forget the PostgreSQL 15 Documentation site). The executable is available in the script that the postgresql.org provides; however, it seems appropriate to show how to find that script for any platform.

When you launch the postgres.org web site, you will see the following dialog. Click the Download-> button to choose an operating system.

On the next webpage, click on the Linux icon button to proceed.

This page expands for you to choose a Linux distribution. Click on the Red Hat/Rocky/CentOS button to proceed.

This web page lets you choose a platform, which should be Red Hat Enterprise, Rocky, or Oracle version 9.

The selection fills out the web page and provides a setup script. The script installs the PostgreSQL packages, disables the built-in PostgreSQL module, installs PostgreSQL 15 Server, initialize, enable, and start PostgreSQL Server.

Here are the detailed steps:

  1. Install the PostgreSQL by updating dependent packages before installing it with the script provided by the PostgreSQL download web site:

    # Install the repository RPM:
    sudo dnf install -y https://download.postgresql.org/pub/repos/yum/reporpms/EL-9-x86_64/pgdg-redhat-repo-latest.noarch.rpm
     
    # Disable the built-in PostgreSQL module:
    sudo dnf -qy module disable postgresql
     
    # Install PostgreSQL:
    sudo dnf install -y postgresql15-server
     
    # Optionally initialize the database and enable automatic start:
    sudo /usr/pgsql-15/bin/postgresql-15-setup initdb
    sudo systemctl enable postgresql-15
    sudo systemctl start postgresql-15

  2. The simpmlest way to verify the installation is to check for the psql executable. You can do that with this command:

    which psql

    It should return:

    /usr/bin/psql
  3. Attempt to login with the following command-line interface (CLI) syntax:

    psql -U postgres -W

    It should fail and return the following:

    psql: error: connection to server on socket "/var/run/postgresql/.s.PGSQL.5432" failed: FATAL:  Peer authentication failed for user "postgres"

    This error occurs because you’re not the postgres user, and all other users must designate that they’re connecting to an account with a password. The following steps let you configure the Operating System (OS).

    • You must shell out to the root superuser’s account, and then shell out to the postgres user’s account to test your connection because postgres user’s account disallows direct connection.

      su - root
      su - postgres

      You can verify the current postgres user with this command:

      whoami

      It should return the following:

      postgres

      As the postgres user, you connect to the database without a password. You use the following syntax:

      psql -U postgres

      It should display the following:

      psql (15.1)
      Type "help" for help.
    • At this point, you have some operating system (OS) stuff to setup before configuring a PostgreSQL sandboxed videodb database and student user. Exit psql with the following command:

      postgres=# \q

      Navigate to the PostgreSQL home database directory as the postgres user with this command:

      cd /var/lib/pgsql/15/data

      Edit the pg_hba.conf file to add lines for the postgres and student users:

      # TYPE  DATABASE        USER            ADDRESS                 METHOD
       
      # "local" is for Unix domain socket connections only
      local   all             all                                     peer
      local   all             postgres                                peer
      local   all             student                                 peer
       
      # IPv4 local connections:
      host    all             all             127.0.0.1/32            scram-sha-256
      # IPv6 local connections:
      host    all             all             ::1/128                 scram-sha-256
      # Allow replication connections from localhost, by a user with the
      # replication privilege.
      local   replication     all                                     scram-sha-256
      host    replication     all             127.0.0.1/32            scram-sha-256
      host    replication     all             ::1/128                 scram-sha-256

      Navigate up the directory tree from the /var/lib/pgsql/15/data directory, which is also the data dictionary, to the following /var/lib/pgsql/15 base directory:

      cd /var/lib/pgsql/15

      Create a new video_db directory. This is where you will deploy the video_db tablespace. You create this directory with the following command:

      mkdir video_db

      Change the video_db permissions to read, write, and execute for only the owner with this syntax as the postgres user:

      chmod 700 video_db
    • Exit the postgres user with the exit command and open PostgreSQL’s 5432 listener port as the root user. You can use the following command, as the root user:

      firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port 5432/tcp --permanent
    • You must shell out from the root user to the postgres user with the following command:

      su - postgres
  4. Connect to the postgres account and perform the following commands:

    • After connecting as the postgres superuser, you can create a video_db tablespace with the following syntax:

      CREATE TABLESPACE video_db
        OWNER postgres
        LOCATION 'C:\Users\username\video_db';

      This will return the following:

      CREATE TABLESPACE

      You can query whether you successfully create the video_db tablespace with the following:

      SELECT * FROM pg_tablespace;

      It should return the following:

        oid  |  spcname   | spcowner | spcacl | spcoptions
      -------+------------+----------+--------+------------
        1663 | pg_default |       10 |        |
        1664 | pg_global  |       10 |        |
       16389 | video_db   |       10 |        | 
      (3 rows)
    • You need to know the PostgreSQL default collation before you create a new database. You can write the following query to determine the default correlation:

      postgres=# SELECT datname, datcollate FROM pg_database WHERE datname = 'postgres';

      It should return something like this:

       datname  | datcollate  
      ----------+-------------
       postgres | en_US.UTF-8
      (1 row)

      The datcollate value of the postgres database needs to the same value for the LC_COLLATE and LC_CTYPE parameters when you create a database. You can create a videodb database with the following syntax provided you’ve made appropriate substitutions for the LC_COLLATE and LC_CTYPE values below:

      CREATE DATABASE videodb
        WITH OWNER = postgres
        ENCODING = 'UTF8'
        TABLESPACE = video_db
        LC_COLLATE = 'en_US.UTF-8'
        LC_CTYPE = 'en_US.UTF-8'
        CONNECTION LIMIT = -1;

      You can verify the creation of the videodb with the following command:

      postgres# \l

      It should show you a display like the following:

                                                       List of databases
         Name    |  Owner   | Encoding |   Collate   |    Ctype    | ICU Locale | Locale Provider |   Access privileges   
      -----------+----------+----------+-------------+-------------+------------+-----------------+-----------------------
       postgres  | postgres | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 |            | libc            | 
       template0 | postgres | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 |            | libc            | =c/postgres          +
                 |          |          |             |             |            |                 | postgres=CTc/postgres
       template1 | postgres | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 |            | libc            | =c/postgres          +
                 |          |          |             |             |            |                 | postgres=CTc/postgres
       videodb   | postgres | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 |            | libc            | 
      (4 rows)

      Then, you can assign comment to the database with the following syntax:

      COMMENT ON DATABASE videodb IS 'Video Store Database';
  5. Create a Role, Grant, and User:

    In this section you create a dba role, grant privileges on a videodb database to a role, and create a user with the role that you created previously with the following three statements. There are three steps in this sections.

    • The first step creates a dba role:

      CREATE ROLE dba WITH SUPERUSER;
    • The second step grants all privileges on the videodb database to both the postgres superuser and the dba role:

      GRANT TEMPORARY, CONNECT ON DATABASE videodb TO PUBLIC;
      GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE videodb TO postgres;
      GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE videodb TO dba;

      Any work in pgAdmin4 requires a grant on the videodb database to the postgres superuser. The grant enables visibility of the videodb database in the pgAdmin4 console as shown in the following image.

    • The third step changes the ownership of the videodb database to the student user:

      ALTER DATABASE videodb OWNER TO student;

      You can verify the change of ownership for the videodb from the postgres user to student user with the following command:

      postgres# \l

      It should show you a display like the following:

                                                       List of databases
         Name    |  Owner   | Encoding |   Collate   |    Ctype    | ICU Locale | Locale Provider |   Access privileges   
      -----------+----------+----------+-------------+-------------+------------+-----------------+-----------------------
       postgres  | postgres | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 |            | libc            | 
       template0 | postgres | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 |            | libc            | =c/postgres          +
                 |          |          |             |             |            |                 | postgres=CTc/postgres
       template1 | postgres | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 |            | libc            | =c/postgres          +
                 |          |          |             |             |            |                 | postgres=CTc/postgres
       videodb   | student  | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 |            | libc            | =Tc/student          +
                 |          |          |             |             |            |                 | student=CTc/student  +
                 |          |          |             |             |            |                 | dba=CTc/student
      (4 rows)
    • The fourth step creates a student user with the dba role:

      CREATE USER student
        WITH ROLE dba
             ENCRYPTED PASSWORD 'student';

      After this step, you need to disconnect as the postgres superuser with the following command:

      \q
  6. Connect to the videodb database as the student user with the PostgreSQL CLI, create a new_hire table and quit the database.

    The following syntax lets you connect to a videodb database as the student user. You should note that the Linux OS student user name should match the database user name.

    psql -Ustudent -W -dvideodb

    You create the new_hire table in the public schema of the videodb database with the following syntax:

    CREATE TABLE new_hire
    ( new_hire_id  SERIAL        CONSTRAINT new_hire_pk PRIMARY KEY
    , first_name   VARCHAR(20)   NOT NULL
    , middle_name  VARCHAR(20)
    , last_name    VARCHAR(20)   NOT NULL
    , hire_date    DATE          NOT NULL
    , UNIQUE(first_name, middle_name, hire_date));

    You can describe the new_hire table with the following command:

    \d new_hire

    You quit the psql connection with a quit; or \q, like so

    quit;
  7. Installing, configuring, and launching pgadmin4 (don’t forget the pgAdmin 4 Documentation site):

    • You need to install three sets of packages. They’re the pgadmin-server, policycoreutils-python-utils, and pgadmin4-desktop.

      • Apply the pgadmin-server package:

        sudo yum install https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/pgadmin/pgadmin4/yum/redhat/rhel-9Server-x86_64/pgadmin4-server-6.16-1.el9.x86_64.rpm

      • Apply or upgrade (which is the default at this point) the policycoreutils-python-utils package:

        sudo dnf install policycoreutils-python-utils

      • Apply the pgadmin4-desktop package:

        sudo dnf install -y https://ftp.postgresql.org/pub/pgadmin/pgadmin4/yum/redhat/rhel-9Server-x86_64/pgadmin4-desktop-6.16-1.el9.x86_64.rpm

    • You configure your .bashrc file to add the pgadmin4 directory to your $PATH environment variable.

      # Add the pgadmin4 executable to the $PATH.
      export set PATH=$PATH:/usr/pgadmin4/bin

      You also configure your .bashrc file to add a pgadmin4 function, which simplifies how you call the pgadmin4 executable.

      # Function to ensure pgadmin4 call is simplified and without warnings.
      pgadmin4 () 
      {
        # Call the pgadmin4 executable.
        if [[ `type -t pgadmin4` = 'function' ]]; then
          if [ -f "/usr/pgadmin4/bin/pgadmin4" ]; then
            /usr/pgadmin4/bin/pgadmin4 2>/dev/null &
          else
            echo "[/usr/pgadmin4/bin/pgadmin4] is not found."
          fi
        else
          echo "[pgadmin4] is not a function"
        fi
      }

      You can launch your pgadmin4 program file now with the following syntax as the student user:

      pgadmin4

      It takes a couple moments to launch the pgadmin4 desktop. The initial screen will look like:

      After pgadmin4 launches, you’re prompted for a master password. Enter the password and click the OK button to proceed.

      After entering the password, you arrive at the base dialog, as shown.

      Click the Add New Server link, which prompts you to register your database. Enter videodb in the Name field and click the Connection tab to the right of the General tab.

      In the Connection dialog, enter the following values:

      • Host name/address: localhost
      • Port: 5432
      • Maintenance database: postgres
      • Username: student
      • Password: student

      Enter a name for your database. In this example, videodb is the Server Name. Click the Save button to proceed.

This completes the instructions for installing, configuring, and using PostgreSQL on AlmaLinux. As always, I hope it helps those looking for instructions.

Written by maclochlainn

November 24th, 2022 at 11:48 pm

AlmaLinux MySQL Workbench

without comments

AlmaLinux doesn’t natively support MySQL Workbench but these notes will help you install it. The great news is that MySQL Workbench works perfectly once you’ve installed all the dependent libraries. It’ll look like the following:

Disclaimer of sorts:

AlmaLinux is an open-source, community-driven project that intends to fill the gap left by the demise of the CentOS stable release. AlmaLinux is a 1:1 binary compatible fork of RHEL® 9 and it is built by the AlmaLinux OS Foundation as a standalone, completely free OS. The AlmaLinux OS Foundation will support future RHEL® releases by updating AlmaLinux. Ongoing development efforts are governed by the members of the community.

You can download MySQL Workbench from the following website:

https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/workbench

When you open this page, select the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 / Oracle Linux 9 (x86, 64-bit), RPM Package from the dropdown menu. Then, click the Download button. You may be prompted for your credentials or to create new credentials, but you can skip that by clicking on the No thanks, just start my download link.

When the download completes, open a terminal session as the student user. Navigate to the Downloads directory with the following command:

cd $HOME/Downloads

List the files in the $HOME/Downloads directory and you should see:

mysql-workbench-community-8.0.31-1.el9.x86_64.rpm

As the sudoer user or root, run the following command (naturally, exclude sudo if you’re the root user):

sudo dnf install -y mysql-workbench-community-8.0.31-1.el9.x86_64.rpm

It will most likely fail with an error message like this:

Last metadata expiration check: 2:50:04 ago on Thu 17 Nov 2022 09:33:15 AM EST.
Error: 
 Problem: conflicting requests
  - nothing provides gtkmm30-devel needed by mysql-workbench-community-8.0.31-1.el9.src
  - nothing provides libzip-devel needed by mysql-workbench-community-8.0.31-1.el9.src
  - nothing provides proj-devel needed by mysql-workbench-community-8.0.31-1.el9.src
  - nothing provides swig >= 3.0 needed by mysql-workbench-community-8.0.31-1.el9.src
(try to add '--skip-broken' to skip uninstallable packages or '--nobest' to use not only best candidate packages)

AlmaLinux doesn’t install these prerequisite packages. You’ll need to resolve these dependencies by installing them in the right order and groups before you can run the MySQL Workbench packages.

You can discover missing packages at the pkgs.org website. You need to resolve all four prerequisites before installing MySQL Workbench.

  1. Let’s start with the gtkmm30-devel package, which has eight separate dependencies. Assuming you’re still in your $HOME/Downloads directory, you can run the following command to get the gtkmm30-devel for AlmaLinux 9:

    wget https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/9/CRB/x86_64/os/Packages/gtkmm30-devel-3.24.5-1.el9.x86_64.rpm

    It downloads the following package:

    gtkmm30-devel-3.24.5-1.el9.x86_64.rpm

    If you attempt to run it, the gtkmm30-devel package raises the following errors:

    sudo dnf install -y gtkmm30-devel-3.24.5-1.el9.x86_64.rpm
    Last metadata expiration check: 0:41:13 ago on Thu 17 Nov 2022 02:39:59 PM EST.
    Error: 
     Problem: conflicting requests
      - nothing provides pkgconfig(atkmm-1.6) >= 2.24.2 needed by gtkmm30-devel-3.24.5-1.el9.x86_64
      - nothing provides pkgconfig(cairomm-1.0) >= 1.12.0 needed by gtkmm30-devel-3.24.5-1.el9.x86_64
      - nothing provides pkgconfig(giomm-2.4) >= 2.54.0 needed by gtkmm30-devel-3.24.5-1.el9.x86_64
      - nothing provides pkgconfig(pangomm-1.4) >= 1.12.0 needed by gtkmm30-devel-3.24.5-1.el9.x86_64
    (try to add '--skip-broken' to skip uninstallable packages or '--nobest' to use not only best candidate packages)

    While you only get four errors, there are more packages required. You need to use the wget utility to download these packages. I would recommend you create a temporary gtkmm30 subdirectory inside your $HOME/Downloads directory and change to that directory before downloading these files.

    wget https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/9/CRB/x86_64/os/Packages/atkmm-devel-2.28.2-2.el9.x86_64.rpm
    wget https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/9/CRB/x86_64/os/Packages/cairomm-devel-1.14.2-10.el9.x86_64.rpm
    wget https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/9/AppStream/x86_64/os/Packages/gdk-pixbuf2-devel-2.42.6-2.el9.x86_64.rpm
    wget https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/9/CRB/x86_64/os/Packages/glibmm24-devel-2.66.1-1.el9.x86_64.rpm
    wget https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/9/AppStream/x86_64/os/Packages/gtk3-devel-3.24.31-2.el9.x86_64.rpm
    wget https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/9/CRB/x86_64/os/Packages/pangomm-devel-2.46.1-1.el9.x86_64.rpm
    wget https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/9/CRB/x86_64/os/Packages/libsigc++20-devel-2.10.7-2.el9.x86_64.rpm

    You need to run these as a set of prerequisites, so from your gtkmm30 subdirectory use the following dnf command as the sudoer user:

    sudo dnf install -y *.rpm

    The log file for this is:

    Now return to your $HOME/Downloads directory and run the following command. You’ll notice that it installs and upgrades many more packages than you might expect.

    sudo dnf install -y gtkmm30-devel-3.24.5-1.el9.x86_64.rpm

    The log file for this is:

    All that done and you’ve only got the first of four dependencies resovled.

  2. Next, start with the libzip-devel package, which has a couple dependencies. Assuming you’re still in your $HOME/Downloads directory, you can run the following command to get the libzip-devel and its prerequisite packages for AlmaLinux 9:

    wget https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/9/CRB/x86_64/os/Packages/libzip-devel-1.7.3-7.el9.x86_64.rpm
    wget https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/9/AppStream/x86_64/os/Packages/cmake-filesystem-3.20.2-7.el9.x86_64.rpm
    wget https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/9/AppStream/x86_64/os/Packages/libzip-1.7.3-7.el9.x86_64.rpm

    You can run the prerequisites with the following command:

    sudo dnf install -y cmake*.rpm libzip-1.7.3*.rpm

    Now, you can run the libzip-devel package with this syntax:

    sudo dnf install -y libzip-devel*.rpm

    Having resolved the two dependencies, you can install the compression development kit. This completes the second step.

  3. Next, you need to apply the proj_devel package for AlmaLinux 9:

    wget https://download-ib01.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/9/Everything/x86_64/Packages/p/proj-devel-8.2.0-1.el9.x86_64.rpm

    Now, you can run the proj-devel package with this syntax:

    sudo dnf install -y proj-devel-8.2.0-1.el9.x86_64.rpm
  4. Next, you need to apply the swig packages for AlmaLinux 9:

    wget https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/9/CRB/x86_64/os/Packages/swig-4.0.2-8.el9.x86_64.rpm
    wget https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/9/CRB/x86_64/os/Packages/swig-doc-4.0.2-8.el9.noarch.rpm
    wget https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/9/CRB/x86_64/os/Packages/swig-gdb-4.0.2-8.el9.x86_64.rpm
    sudo dnf install -y swig*.rpm
  5. Next, you need to apply the mysql-community-workbench packages for AlmaLinux 9. The download instructions where provided above. You apply the packages with the following command.

    sudo dnf install -y mysql-workbench-community-8.0.31-1.el9.x86_64.rpm

After applying the dependent and mysql-community-workbench packages, you can launch MySQL Workbench by clicking the Activities symbol in the upper left hand corner. That displays the nine-dots for Show Applications icon. Click the Show Applications icon and choose the MySQL Workbench icon to launch MySQL Workbench.

You’ll be prompted with the following dialog. Just click Don’t show this message again checkbox and the OK button to launch MySQL Workbench.

As always, I hope this helps those looking to solve a real problem.

Written by maclochlainn

November 20th, 2022 at 11:31 pm

AlmaLinux MySQL+Perl

without comments

A quick primer on Perl programs connecting to the MySQL database. It’s another set of coding examples for the AlmaLinux instance that I’m building for students. This one demonstrates basic Perl programs, connecting to MySQL, returning data sets by reference and position, dynamic queries, and input parameters to dynamic queries.

  1. Naturally, a hello.pl is a great place to start:

    #!/usr/bin/perl
     
    # Hello World program.
    print "Hello World!\n";

    After setting the permissions to -rwxr-xr-x. with this command:

    chmod 755 hello.pl

    You call it like this from the Command-Line Interface (CLI):

    ./hello.pl

    It prints:

    Hello World!
  2. Next, a connect.pl program lets us test the Perl::DBI connection to the MySQL database.

    #!/usr/bin/perl
     
    # Import libraries.
    use strict;
    use warnings;
    use v5.10;     # for say() function
    use DBI;
     
    # Print with say() function message.
    say "Perl MySQL Connect Attempt.";
     
    # MySQL data source name should have a valid database as the
    # third argument; this uses the sakila demo database.
    my $dsn = "DBI:mysql:sakila";
     
    # Local variables to build the connection string.
    my $username = "student";
    my $password = "student";
     
    # Set arguments for MySQL database error management.
    my %attr = ( PrintError=>0,  # turn off error reporting via warn()
                 RaiseError=>1);   # turn on error reporting via die()           
     
    # Create connction with a data source name, user name and password.
    my $dbh  = DBI->connect($dsn,$username,$password, \%attr);
     
    # Print with say() function valid connection message.
    say "Connected to the MySQL database.";

    After setting the permissions to -rwxr-xr-x. you call it with this CLI command:

    ./connect.pl

    It prints:

    Perl MySQL Connect Attempt.
    Connected to the MySQL database.
  3. After connecting to the database lets query a couple columns by reference notation in a static.pl program. This one just returns the result of the MySQL version() and database() functions.

    #!/usr/bin/perl
     
    # Import libraries.
    use strict;
    use warnings;
    use v5.10;     # for say() function
    use DBI;
     
    # Print with say() function message.
    say "Perl MySQL Connect Attempt.";
     
    # MySQL data source name must have a valid database as the
    # third argument; this uses the sakila demo database.
    my $dsn = "DBI:mysql:sakila";
     
    # Local variables to build the connection string.
    my $username = "student";
    my $password = "student";
     
    # Set arguments for MySQL database error management.
    my %attr = ( PrintError=>0,  # turn off error reporting via warn()
                 RaiseError=>1); # turn on error reporting via die()           
     
    # Create connction with a data source name, user name and password.
    my $dbh  = DBI->connect($dsn,$username,$password, \%attr);
     
    # Creaet a static SQL statement or query.
    my $sth = $dbh->prepare("SELECT version() AS version \
    	                 ,      database() AS db_name");
     
    # Execute the static statement.
    $sth->execute() or die "Execution failed: $dbh->errstr()";
     
    # Read data and print by reference.
    print "----------------------------------------\n";
    while (my $ref = $sth->fetchrow_hashref()) {
      print "MySQL Version:  $ref->{'version'}\nMySQL Database: $ref->{'db_name'}\n";
    }
    print "----------------------------------------\n";
     
    # Close the statement.
    $sth->finish;
     
    # Disconnect from database connection.
    $dbh->disconnect();
     
    # Print with say() function valid connection message.
    say "Connected to the MySQL database.";

    After setting the permissions to -rwxr-xr-x. you call it with this CLI command:

    ./static.pl

    It prints:

    Perl MySQL Connect Attempt.
    ----------------------------------------
    MySQL Version:  8.0.30
    MySQL Database: sakila
    ----------------------------------------
    Connected to the MySQL database.
  4. After connecting to the database and securing variables by reference notation, lets return the value as an array of rows in a columns.pl program. This one just returns data from the film table of the sakila database. It is a static query because all the values are contained inside the SQL statement.

    #!/usr/bin/perl
     
    # Import libraries.
    use strict;
    use warnings;
    use v5.10;     # for say() function
    use DBI;
     
    # Print with say() function message.
    say "Perl MySQL Connect Attempt.";
     
    # MySQL data source name must have a valid database as the
    # third argument; this uses the sakila demo database.
    my $dsn = "DBI:mysql:sakila";
     
    # Local variables to build the connection string.
    my $username = "student";
    my $password = "student";
     
    # Set arguments for MySQL database error management.
    my %attr = ( PrintError=>0,  # turn off error reporting via warn()
                 RaiseError=>1); # turn on error reporting via die()           
     
    # Create connction with a data source name, user name and password.
    my $dbh  = DBI->connect($dsn,$username,$password, \%attr);
     
    # Creaet a static SQL statement or query.
    my $sth = $dbh->prepare("SELECT title         \
    	                 ,      release_year  \
    			 ,      rating        \
    			 FROM   film          \
    			 WHERE  title LIKE 'roc%'");
     
    # Execute the static statement.
    $sth->execute() or die "Execution failed: $dbh->errstr()";
     
    # Read data and print by comma-delimited row position.
    print "----------------------------------------\n";
    while (my @row = $sth->fetchrow_array()) {
      print join(", ", @row), "\n";
    }
    print "----------------------------------------\n";
     
    # Close the statement.
    $sth->finish;
     
    # Disconnect from database connection.
    $dbh->disconnect();
     
    # Print with say() function valid connection message.
    say "Connected to the MySQL database.";

    After setting the permissions to -rwxr-xr-x. you call it with this CLI command:

    ./columns.pl

    It prints:

    Perl MySQL Connect Attempt.
    ----------------------------------------
    ROCK INSTINCT, 2006, G
    ROCKETEER MOTHER, 2006, PG-13
    ROCKY WAR, 2006, PG-13
    ----------------------------------------
    Connected to the MySQL database.
  5. After connecting to the database and securing variables by reference notation, lets return the value as an array of rows in a dynamic.pl program. This one just returns data from the film table of the sakila database. It is a dynamic query because a string passed to the execute method and that value is bound to a ? placeholder in the SQL statement.

    #!/usr/bin/perl
     
    # Import libraries.
    use strict;
    use warnings;
    use v5.10;     # for say() function
    use DBI;
     
    # Print with say() function message.
    say "Perl MySQL Connect Attempt.";
     
    # MySQL data source name must have a valid database as the
    # third argument; this uses the sakila demo database.
    my $dsn = "DBI:mysql:sakila";
     
    # Local variables to build the connection string.
    my $username = "student";
    my $password = "student";
     
    # Set arguments for MySQL database error management.
    my %attr = ( PrintError=>0,  # turn off error reporting via warn()
                 RaiseError=>1); # turn on error reporting via die()           
     
    # Create connction with a data source name, user name and password.
    my $dbh  = DBI->connect($dsn,$username,$password, \%attr);
     
    # Creaet a static SQL statement or query.
    my $sth = $dbh->prepare("SELECT title         \
    	                 ,      release_year  \
    			 ,      rating        \
    			 FROM   film          \
    			 WHERE  title LIKE CONCAT(?,'%')");
     
    # Execute the dynamic statement by providing an input parameter.
    $sth->execute('roc') or die "Execution failed: $dbh->errstr()";
     
    # Read data and print by comma-delimited row position.
    print "----------------------------------------\n";
    while (my @row = $sth->fetchrow_array()) {
      print join(", ", @row), "\n";
    }
    print "----------------------------------------\n";
     
    # Close the statement.
    $sth->finish;
     
    # Disconnect from database connection.
    $dbh->disconnect();
     
    # Print with say() function valid connection message.
    say "Connected to the MySQL database.";

    After setting the permissions to -rwxr-xr-x. you call it with this CLI command:

    ./dynamic.pl

    It prints:

    Perl MySQL Connect Attempt.
    ----------------------------------------
    ROCK INSTINCT, 2006, G
    ROCKETEER MOTHER, 2006, PG-13
    ROCKY WAR, 2006, PG-13
    ----------------------------------------
    Connected to the MySQL database.
  6. After connecting to the database and securing variables by reference notation, lets return the value as an array of rows in a input.pl program. This one just returns data from the film table of the sakila database. It is a dynamic query because an input parameter is passed to a local variable and the local variable is bound to a ? placeholder in the SQL statement.

    #!/usr/bin/perl
     
    # Import libraries.
    use strict;
    use warnings;
    use v5.10;     # for say() function
    use DBI;
     
    # Get the index value of the maximum argument in the
    # argument.
    my $argc = $#ARGV;
     
    # Accept first argument value as parameter.
    my $param = $ARGV[$argc];
     
    # Verify variable value assigned.
    if (not defined $param) {
      die "Need parameter value.\n";
    }
     
    # Print with say() function message.
    say "Perl MySQL Connect Attempt.";
     
    # MySQL data source name must have a valid database as the
    # third argument; this uses the sakila demo database.
    my $dsn = "DBI:mysql:sakila";
     
    # Local variables to build the connection string.
    my $username = "student";
    my $password = "student";
     
    # Set arguments for MySQL database error management.
    my %attr = ( PrintError=>0,  # turn off error reporting via warn()
                 RaiseError=>1); # turn on error reporting via die()           
     
    # Create connction with a data source name, user name and password.
    my $dbh  = DBI->connect($dsn,$username,$password, \%attr);
     
    # Creaet a static SQL statement or query.
    my $sth = $dbh->prepare("SELECT title         \
    	                 ,      release_year  \
    			 ,      rating        \
    			 FROM   film          \
    			 WHERE  title LIKE CONCAT(?,'%')");
     
    # Execute the static statement.
    $sth->execute($param) or die "Execution failed: $dbh->errstr()";
     
    # Read data and print by comma-delimited row position.
    print "----------------------------------------\n";
    while (my @row = $sth->fetchrow_array()) {
      print join(", ", @row), "\n";
    }
    print "----------------------------------------\n";
     
    # Close the statement.
    $sth->finish;
     
    # Disconnect from database connection.
    $dbh->disconnect();
     
    # Print with say() function valid connection message.
    say "Connected to the MySQL database.";

    After setting the permissions to -rwxr-xr-x. you call it with this CLI command:

    ./input.pl ta

    It prints:

    Perl MySQL Connect Attempt.
    ----------------------------------------
    TADPOLE PARK, 2006, PG
    TALENTED HOMICIDE, 2006, PG
    TARZAN VIDEOTAPE, 2006, PG-13
    TAXI KICK, 2006, PG-13
    ----------------------------------------
    Connected to the MySQL database.

I think these examples cover most of the basic elements of writing Perl against the MySQL database. If I missed something you think would be useful, please advise. As always, I hope this helps those working with the MySQL and Perl products.

Written by maclochlainn

November 17th, 2022 at 12:01 am

AlmaLinux LAMP

without comments


After installing and configuring MySQL 8.0.30, I installed the Apache Web Server, PHP and the MySQLi packages. Here are the step-by-step instructions after installing and configuring the MySQL Server and provisioning a student user and the sakila and studentdb databases (blog for those steps). After installing the major components, I completed the HTTPS configuration steps for Apache 2.

The installation steps are:

  1. Install the Apache packages as the sudoer user with this command:

    sudo dnf install -y httpd
  2. Enable Apache as the sudoer user with this command:

    chkconfig httpd on

    This returns the following completion message:

    Note: Forwarding request to 'systemctl enable httpd.service'.
    Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/httpd.service → /usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service.

    A quick Linux syntax note in the event you want to confirm the link or link target later. You can use the following syntax as a sudoer user to find the link:

    ls `find /etc -type l | grep httpd.service 2>/dev/null`

    and the following syntax as a sudoer user to find the link’s target:

    readlink `find /etc -type l | grep httpd.service 2>/dev/null`
  3. You still need to start the Apache service unless you reboot the operating system as the sudoer user with this command:

    apachectl start
  4. At this point, you need to check the firewall settings because Apache can’t even read localhost at this point. If you’re new to these firewall commands, you should consider reviewing Korbin Brown’s tutorial. As the sudoer user check the Apache available services with this command:

    firewall-cmd --zone=public --list-services

    It should return:

    cockpit dhcpv6-client ssh

    Add the following services and ports with these commands:

    firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port 80/tcp --permanent
    firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port 443/tcp --permanent
    firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port 8080/tcp --permanent
    firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-service=http --permanent
    firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-service=https --permanent

    Check the open ports with the following command:

    firewall-cmd --zone=public --list-ports

    It should return:

    80/tcp 443/tcp 8080/tcp

    Check the open services with the following command:

    firewall-cmd --zone=public --list-services

    It should return:

    cockpit dhcpv6-client http https ssh
  5. Create the hello.htm file in the /var/www/html directory as the root user:

    Restart the Apache service as the sudoer user:

    apache restart

    <html>
    <body>
    Hello World!
    </body>
    </html>

    Then, you can launch the Firefox browser and type the following:

    localhost/hello.htm

    It should print “Hello World!” in the browser.

  6. Install the php package as the sudoer user with the following command:

    sudo dnf install -y php

    Create the info.php file in the /var/www/html directory as the root user:

    <?php
      phpinfo();
    ?>

    apache restart

    Then, you can launch the Firefox browser and type the following:

    localhost/info.php

    It should return the following in the browser.

  7. Install the php_mysqli package as the sudoer user with the following command:

    dnf install -y php-mysqli

    Create the mysqli_check.php file in the /var/www/html directory as the root user:

    <html>
    <header>
    <title>Static Query Object Sample</title>
    </header>
    <body>
    <?php
      if (!function_exists('mysqli_init') && !extension_loaded('mysqli')) {
        print 'mysqli not installed.'; }
      else {
        print 'mysqli installed.'; }
      if (!function_exists('pdo_init') && !extension_loaded('pdo')) {
        print '<p>pdo not installed.</p>'; }
      else {
        print '<p>pdo installed.</p>'; }
    ?>
    </script>
    </body>
    </html>

    apache restart

    Then, you can launch the Firefox browser and type the following:

    localhost/mysqli_check.php

    It should print the following in the browser.

    mysqli installed.
     
    pdo installed.
  8. Check if the mod_ssl module is installed. You can use the following command::

    rpm -qa | grep mod_ssl

    Assuming it’s not installed, you install it like this:

    dnf install -y mod_ssl

    Recheck after installing mod_ssl with the following command::

    rpm -qa | grep mod_ssl

    It should print:

    mod_ssl-2.4.51-7.el9_0.x86_64
  9. AlmaLinux and Apache require you to resolve the ServerName values and the public and private keys. Run this command on AlmaLinux to begin verifying and configuring the ServerName values and the public and private keys:

    httpd -M | grep ssl

    Assuming a new installation consistent with were MySQL and Apache were just configured, you should get the following message:

    AH00558: httpd: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using localhost.localdomain. Set the 'ServerName' directive globally to suppress this message
     ssl_module (shared)

    Recheck the failure for more detail with this command:

    sudo systemctl status httpd.service -l --no-pager

    It should print:

    ● httpd.service - The Apache HTTP Server
         Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
        Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service.d
                 └─php-fpm.conf
         Active: active (running) since Sun 2022-11-13 22:39:07 EST; 1h 37min ago
           Docs: man:httpd.service(8)
       Main PID: 1351 (httpd)
         Status: "Total requests: 0; Idle/Busy workers 100/0;Requests/sec: 0; Bytes served/sec:   0 B/sec"
          Tasks: 213 (limit: 23280)
         Memory: 43.1M
            CPU: 2.733s
         CGroup: /system.slice/httpd.service
                 ├─1351 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
                 ├─1443 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
                 ├─1452 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
                 ├─1456 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
                 └─1459 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
     
    Nov 13 22:39:06 localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: Starting The Apache HTTP Server...
    Nov 13 22:39:07 localhost.localdomain httpd[1351]: AH00558: httpd: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using localhost.localdomain. Set the 'ServerName' directive globally to suppress this message
    Nov 13 22:39:07 localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: Started The Apache HTTP Server.
    Nov 13 22:39:07 localhost.localdomain httpd[1351]: Server configured, listening on: port 80

    It takes the next set of steps to fix the ServerName values.

    • Generically, on Linux you need to find the files to modify. You can use the following command from within the /etc directory to find the configuration files in the /etc directory that include ServerName in them. Their values will be proceeded by a # symbol because they’re comments by default.

      find /etc -type f | xargs grep -i ServerName

      It should return the following:

      ./httpd/conf.d/ssl.conf:#ServerName www.example.com:443
      ./httpd/conf/httpd.conf:# ServerName gives the name and port that the server uses to identify itself.
      ./httpd/conf/httpd.conf:#ServerName www.example.com:80
      ./dnsmasq.conf:# tftp_servername (the third option to dhcp-boot) and in that
    • Add the following line to the ssl.conf file as the root user:

      ServerName localhost:443
    • Add the following line to the httpd.conf file as the root user:

      ServerName localhost:443
    • After adding the two values, restart Apache with the following command:

      sudo apachectl restart
    • Rerun the systemctl command to get the status of the httpd service with this command:

      sudo systemctl status httpd.service -l --no-pager

      It should print:

      ● httpd.service - The Apache HTTP Server
           Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
          Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service.d
                   └─php-fpm.conf
           Active: active (running) since Mon 2022-11-14 00:37:03 EST; 3min 23s ago
             Docs: man:httpd.service(8)
         Main PID: 53596 (httpd)
           Status: "Total requests: 0; Idle/Busy workers 100/0;Requests/sec: 0; Bytes served/sec:   0 B/sec"
            Tasks: 213 (limit: 23280)
           Memory: 34.0M
              CPU: 183ms
           CGroup: /system.slice/httpd.service
                   ├─53596 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
                   ├─53597 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
                   ├─53598 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
                   ├─53599 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
                   └─53600 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
       
      Nov 14 00:37:03 localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: Starting The Apache HTTP Server...
      Nov 14 00:37:03 localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: Started The Apache HTTP Server.
      Nov 14 00:37:03 localhost.localdomain httpd[53596]: Server configured, listening on: port 443, port 80
  10. Your next step requires setting up an SSL Certificate. Consistent with the design to build a standalone test system that uses a DHCP assigned IP address to resolve a localhost server name, you require the following two tasks to create an openssl self-signed certificate.

    • On the new instance, you create a private subdirectory with this command:

      sudo mkdir /etc/ssl/private

    • Then, you can build a self-signed certificate with this command:
      sudo openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /etc/ssl/private/apache-selfsigned.key -out /etc/ssl/certs/apache-selfsigned.crt

      The openssl command will prompt you for these values to create a private key:

      You are about to be asked to enter information that will be incorporated
      into your certificate request.
      What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name or a DN.
      There are quite a few fields but you can leave some blank
      For some fields there will be a default value,
      If you enter '.', the field will be left blank.
      -----
      Country Name (2 letter code) [XX]:
      State or Province Name (full name) []:
      Locality Name (eg, city) [Default City]:
      Organization Name (eg, company) [Default Company Ltd]:
      Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:
      Common Name (eg, your name or your server's hostname) []:
      Email Address []:
  11. Your last step requires three tasks to configure Apache to use SSL.

    • You need to create the following sites-available directory with the following command as the root user:

      mkdir /etc/httpd/sites-available

    • Add the following localhost.conf/etc/httpd/sites-available directory:
      <VirtualHost *:443>
         ServerName localhost
         DocumentRoot /var/www/html
       
         SSLEngine on
         SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/localhost.crt
         SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/apache-selfsigned.key
      </VirtualHost>

    • Restart Apache with the following command:

      sudo apachectl restart
  12. After configuring everything, let’s test our self-signed HTTPS skunkworks. Launch the default Firefox browser and enter the following URL, which uses the mysql_check.php file from step #7:

    https://localhost/mysqli_check.php

    It will raise a warning message about a potential security risk, which is caused by our self-signed certificate. Click the Advanced… button and will see the option to Accept the Risk and Continue. If you want to use the self-signed and contained AlmaLinux LAMP stack for developer testing, accept the risk.

    Having assumed the risk, the confirmation of the configuration will be displayed as follows:

As always, I hope this helps those looking to install MySQL, PHP, on AlmaLinux.

Written by maclochlainn

October 30th, 2022 at 11:16 pm

AlmaLinux Rust

without comments

Installed the Rust programming language on AlmaLinux as a sudoer user with this command:

sudo yum install -y rust

Wrote a simple Hello World! program, as qualified in the Rust Programming language online reference. Only, I changed the name of the file to hello.rs rather than main.rs because I thought that beginning programmers might not tell the difference between a program name and the main function.

fn main() {
  println!("Hello World!");
}

Compiled the program with:

rustc hello.rs

Then, ran the generated hello executable file from its local directory:

./hello

It printed:

Hello World!

You need to install cargo, which is the Rust Programming Language’s package manager to build anything other than the simplest examples. The easiest way to install the cargo package manager at this point is to type:

cargo --version

It’ll tell you that it isn’t installed on a fresh AlmaLinux environment and prompt you to install it, as shown:

Install package 'cargo' to provide command 'cargo'? [N/y] y
 
 
 * Waiting in queue... 
 * Loading list of packages.... 
The following packages have to be installed:
 cargo-1.58.1-1.el9.x86_64	Rust's package manager and build tool
Proceed with changes? [N/y] y
 
 
 * Waiting in queue... 
 * Waiting for authentication... 
 * Waiting in queue... 
 * Loading list of packages.... 
 * Downloading packages... 
 * Requesting data... 
 * Testing changes... 
 * Installing packages... 
cargo 1.58.0

I’m hoping that introducing Rust to the blog may encourage more exploration of the Rust Programming Language.

Written by maclochlainn

October 30th, 2022 at 1:11 pm

Posted in AlmaLinux

Tagged with ,

AlmaLinux MySQL+Python

without comments

After installing and configuring MySQL 8.0.30, I installed the Python connector. During that process on AlmaLinux, there were several changes since I last installed the Python’s mysql module. Here are the step-by-step instructions after installing and configuring MySQL Server (blog for those steps).

Using the MySQL Connector/Python X DevAPI Reference, you must install the pip utility before you install the library. You install the pip library as a sudoer user with the following command:

sudo yum install -y pip

Then, using the pip utility as a sudoer user install the mysql-connector-python module with the following command:

sudo pip install mysql-connector-python

Please note that this type of library installation can cause problems when you maintain multiple testing environments. If you plan to maintain multiple testing environments, please install this library in a virtual environment.

You create a bare-bones Python connection test program, like connect.py below:

# Import the library.
import mysql.connector
from mysql.connector import errorcode
 
try:
  # Open connection.
  cnx = mysql.connector.connect(user='student',
                                password='student',
                                host='127.0.0.1',
                                database='studentdb')
 
  # Print the value.
  print("Database connection resolved.")
 
# Handle exception and close connection.
except mysql.connector.Error as e:
  if e.errno == errorcode.ER_ACCESS_DENIED_ERROR:
    print("Something is wrong with your user name or password")
  elif e.errno == errorcode.ER_BAD_DB_ERROR:
    print("Database does not exist")
  else:
    print(e)
 
# Close the connection when the try block completes.
else:
  cnx.close()

You test the connect.py program with this command:

python connect.py

It’ll return the following provided you provisioned the student user and studentdb database:

Database connection resolved.

If you’d like to run it without calling the python executable, you can add the following as the first line:

#/usr/bin/python

and, change the default file permissions from

-rw-rw-r--. 1 student student 717 Oct 30 13:57 connect.py

with the chmod command to

-rwxr-xr-x. 1 student student 717 Oct 30 13:57 connect.py

These instructions should set you up to develop Python code against your AlmaLinux MySQL studentdb database. You use this syntax, assuming a default $PATH environment variable that excludes the present working directory.

./connect.py

As always, I hope this helps those trying to get a complete solution.

Written by maclochlainn

October 30th, 2022 at 12:37 pm

AlmaLinux Installation

without comments

These are the instructions for installing AlmaLinux 9 on MacOS Intel with VMware. It’s broken into three parts: Configuration, Installation, and Setup.

You should download the current or desired older version of AlmaLinux from the website. It’s a good idea to install it in a source directory or folder.

You need to launch VMware, click the File menu option and then the New menu option before you can configure, install, and setup AlmaLinux. It will show you the following dialog.

Use the Finder to drag the AlmaLinux-9-latest-x86_64-dvd.iso file on to the Install from disc or image to begin the configuration process.

Configuration

Oracle12cInstall01

  1. The first thing you need to do is configure the VMware container. You click on the wrench icon in the menu bar that lets you edit the hardware settings for this virtual machine. This opens the general settings dialog.

Oracle12cInstall02

  1. The General System Settings dialog lets you will configure the isolation properties for “drag and drop” and “copy and paste”, and define the network adapter.

Oracle12cInstall03

  1. Click on the Isolation menu option from the General System Settings dialog, and enable “Drag adn Drop” and “Copy and Paste” checkboxes. Then, return to the General System Settings dialog/li>

Oracle12cInstall03

  1. Click on the Network Adapter menu option from the General System Settings dialog, and click the “Autodetect” checkbox. Then, return to the General System Settings dialog.

Installation

Oracle12cInstall02

  1. The first the install asks you to do is type an I for install or T for test. Generally, you can skip the test if this is a copied file rather than DVD.

Oracle12cInstall01

  1. Click the Tab key to configure the target installation or Enter key to skip the automatic boot delay.

Oracle12cInstall03

  1. Choose the installation language and click the Continue button.

Oracle12cInstall04

  1. The Installation Summary dialog lets you fix anything with a warning message orange triangle. Fix the Root Password first by clicking on the text.

Oracle12cInstall05

  1. Enter the Root Password twice, click the Lock root account checkbox to unselect it, and click the Allow root SSH login with password checkbox to enable it.

Oracle12cInstall06

  1. Click the Done button to complete setting the root password.

Oracle12cInstall07

  1. After fixing the root password, click on the Installation Destination item to change the default partition.

Oracle12cInstall08

  1. Click the Done button to accept the initial size of the VM partition.

Oracle12cInstall08

  1. Click the Software Selection element to add software components to the default installation.

Oracle12cInstall09

  1. Click the checkboxes for the following additional software:
    • Debugging Tools
    • Performance Tools
    • Remote Desktop Clients
    • Remote Management for Linux
    • Legacy UNIX Compatibility
    • Console Internet Tools
    • Development Tools
    • .NET Development
    • Graphical Administration Tools
    • System Tools

    Click the Done button to accept the added software elements.

Oracle12cInstall08

  1. Click the Begin Installation button to begin the installation of AlmaLinux.

Oracle12cInstall11

  1. The Installing Progress dialog will show a progress bar for several minutes.

Oracle12cInstall11

  1. The Installing Progress dialog eventually completes, and you click the Reboot System button to complete the installation.

Setup

Oracle12cInstall02

  1. The Welcome to AlmaLinux page begins the set up of the operating systems.

Oracle12cInstall01

  1. Click the Slide to disable location services.

Oracle12cInstall01

  1. After clicking the Slide location services are disabled.

Oracle12cInstall01

  1. The Online Account dialog lets you connect your email, online calendar, contacts, documents, and photos. You click the Skip button to avoid setting up any of the online accounts.

Oracle12cInstall01

  1. The About You dialog lets you enter user account with sudoer privileges.

Oracle12cInstall01

  1. The About You dialog enters a title case user’s name and a lowercase user’s name.

Oracle12cInstall01

  1. The Password dialog lets you enter a case sensitive password.

Oracle12cInstall01

  1. The Password dialog displays the entry of the passwords as dots.

Oracle12cInstall01

  1. The Setup Complete dialog leaves you to click the Start Using AlmaLinux button to complete the setup.

Oracle12cInstall01

  1. The blank image page displays until you click on it.

Oracle12cInstall01

  1. The Welcome to AlmaLinux dialog invites you to take a tour or decline it. Click the No Thanks button to decline the tour.

Oracle12cInstall01

  1. After declining the tour, it displays the core AlmaLinux screen.

Oracle12cInstall01

  1. Rebooting the system is necessary to complete the installation. Click on the circle icon on the right to begin the process to restart or shutdown the operating system. Click on the Power Off / Log Out dropdown to continue.

Oracle12cInstall01

  1. Click the Restart… menu option to restart the operating system.

Oracle12cInstall01

  1. Click the Restart… menu option to confirm the restart of the operating system.

Oracle12cInstall01

  1. Click the Student icon to get prompted for a password.

Oracle12cInstall01

  1. Enter the Student password to connect to the AlmaLinux operating system.

Oracle12cInstall01

  1. This displays the standard working interface for the AlmaLinux operating system.

Written by maclochlainn

October 28th, 2022 at 11:39 pm

MySQL on AlmaLinux

with 2 comments

After installing AlmaLinux in a VMware VM on my MacBook Pro (Intel Chip), and updating the packages with the following command:

sudo dnf upgrade --refresh -y

MySQL was first on my installation and configuration list. Here are the commands to install and configure it on AlmaLinux.

Install the MySQL Server packages and dependents:

sudo dnf install mysql mysql-server -y

Install the MySQL service utilities with the initscripts package, using the following command:

sudo yum install -y initscripts

Start the MySQL daemon with the following command:

sudo service mysqld start

Connect and verify the root user can connect to the database. At this point, you’ve not set the root user’s password and should use the following syntax:

mysql -uroot

It should connect and display:

Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 10
Server version: 8.0.30 Source distribution
 
Copyright (c) 2000, 2022, Oracle and/or its affiliates.
 
Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its
affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective
owners.
 
Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.
 
mysql>

Exit MySQL and run the following command:

mysql_secure_installation

It’ll run you through the following prompts, which you may change to suit your installation. My choices are a trivial student database isolated inside a VM.

Securing the MySQL server deployment.
 
Connecting to MySQL using a blank password.
 
VALIDATE PASSWORD COMPONENT can be used to test passwords
and improve security. It checks the strength of password
and allows the users to set only those passwords which are
secure enough. Would you like to setup VALIDATE PASSWORD component?
 
Press y|Y for Yes, any other key for No: n
Please set the password for root here.
 
New password: 
 
Re-enter new password: 
By default, a MySQL installation has an anonymous user,
allowing anyone to log into MySQL without having to have
a user account created for them. This is intended only for
testing, and to make the installation go a bit smoother.
You should remove them before moving into a production
environment.
 
Remove anonymous users? (Press y|Y for Yes, any other key for No) : y
Success.
 
 
Normally, root should only be allowed to connect from
'localhost'. This ensures that someone cannot guess at
the root password from the network.
 
Disallow root login remotely? (Press y|Y for Yes, any other key for No) : y
Success.
 
By default, MySQL comes with a database named 'test' that
anyone can access. This is also intended only for testing,
and should be removed before moving into a production
environment.
 
Remove test database and access to it? (Press y|Y for Yes, any other key for No) : y
 - Dropping test database...
Success.
 
 - Removing privileges on test database...
Success.
 
Reloading the privilege tables will ensure that all changes
made so far will take effect immediately.
 
Reload privilege tables now? (Press y|Y for Yes, any other key for No) : y
Success.
 
All done!

The next step requires setting up the sample sakila and studentdb database. The syntax has changed from prior releases. Here are the new three steps:

  1. Grant the root user the privilege to grant to others, which root does not have by default. You use the following syntax as the MySQL root user:

    mysql> GRANT ALL ON *.* TO 'root'@'localhost';
  2. Download the sakila database, which you can download from this site. Click on the sakila database’s TGZ download.

    When you download the sakila zip file it creates a sakila-db folder in the /home/student/Downloads directory. Copy the sakila-db folder into the /home/student/Data/sakila directory. Then, change to the /home/student/Data/sakila/sakila-db directory, connect to mysql as the root user, and run the following command:

    mysql> SOURCE /home/student/Data/sakila/sakila-db/sakila-schema.sql
    mysql> SOURCE /home/student/Data/sakila/sakila-db/sakila-data.sql
  3. Create the studentdb database with the following command as the MySQL root user:

    mysql> CREATE DATABASE studentdb;
  4. Create the user with a clear English password and grant the user student full privileges on the sakila and studentdb databases:

    mysql> CREATE USER 'student'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'student';
    mysql> GRANT ALL ON studentdb.* TO 'student'@'localhost';
    mysql> GRANT ALL ON sakila.* TO 'student'@'localhost';

You can now connect to a sandboxed sakila database with the student user’s credentials, like:

mysql -ustudent -p -Dsakila

or, you can now connect to a sandboxed studentdb database with the student user’s credentials, like:

mysql -ustudent -p -Dstudentdb

As always, I hope code and step complete instructions help others get things done more quickly.

Written by maclochlainn

October 27th, 2022 at 12:10 am