How To Install Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP (LAMP) stack On CentOS 6*

How To Install Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP (LAMP) stack On CentOS 6

About LAMP


LAMP stack is a group of open source software used to get web servers up and running. The acronym stands for Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. Since the server is already running CentOS, the linux part is taken care of. Here is how to install the rest.

Set Up

The steps in this tutorial require the user on the virtual private server to have root privileges. You can see how to set that up in the Initial Server Setup Tutorial in steps 3 and 4.

Step One—Install Apache


Apache is a free open source software which runs over 50% of the world’s web servers.

To install apache, open terminal and type in this command:

sudo yum install httpd
Once it installs, you can start apache running on your VPS:

sudo service httpd start
That’s it. To check if Apache is installed, direct your browser to your server’s IP address (eg. http://12.34.56.789). The page should display the words “It works!” like this.

How to find your Server’s IP address


You can run the following command to reveal your server’s IP address.

ifconfig eth0 | grep inet | awk ‘{ print $2 }’

 

Step Two—Install MySQL


MySQL is a powerful database management system used for organizing and retrieving data on a virtual server

To install MySQL, open terminal and type in these commands:

sudo yum install mysql-server

sudo service mysqld start
During the installation, MySQL will ask you for your permission twice. After you say Yes to both, MySQL will install.

Once it is done installing, you can set a root MySQL password:

sudo /usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation
The prompt will ask you for your current root password.

Since you just installed MySQL, you most likely won’t have one, so leave it blank by pressing enter.

Enter current password for root (enter for none):

OK, successfully used password, moving on…
Then the prompt will ask you if you want to set a root password. Go ahead and choose Y and follow the instructions.

CentOS automates the process of setting up MySQL, asking you a series of yes or no questions.

It’s easiest just to say Yes to all the options. At the end, MySQL will reload and implement the new changes.

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? [Y/n] 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? [Y/n] 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? [Y/n] y

– Dropping test database…
… Success!

– Removing privileges on test database…
… Success!

Reloading the privilege tables will ensure that all changes made so farwill take effect immediately.

Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n] y
… Success!

Cleaning up…
All done!  If you’ve completed all of the above steps, your MySQL
installation should now be secure.
Thanks for using MySQL!

Step Three—Install PHP


PHP is an open source web scripting language that is widely used to build dynamic webpages.

To install PHP on your virtual private server, open terminal and type in this command:

sudo yum install php php-mysql
Once you answer yes to the PHP prompt, PHP will be installed.

PHP Modules


PHP also has a variety of useful libraries and modules that you can add onto your server. You can see the libraries that are available by typing:

yum search php-
Terminal then will display the list of possible modules. The beginning looks like this:

php-bcmath.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications for using the bcmath library
php-cli.x86_64 : Command-line interface for PHP
php-common.x86_64 : Common files for PHP
php-dba.x86_64 : A database abstraction layer module for PHP applications
php-devel.x86_64 : Files needed for building PHP extensions
php-embedded.x86_64 : PHP library for embedding in applications
php-enchant.x86_64 : Human Language and Character Encoding Support
php-gd.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications for using the gd graphics library
php-imap.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications that use IMAP

To see more details about what each module does, type the following command into terminal, replacing the name of the module with whatever library you want to learn about.

yum info name of the module
Once you decide to install the module, type:

sudo yum install name of the module
You can install multiple libraries at once by separating the name of each module with a space.

Congratulations! You now have LAMP stack on your droplet!

We should also set the processes to run automatically when the server boots (php will run automatically once Apache starts):

sudo chkconfig httpd on

sudo chkconfig mysqld on

 

Step Four—RESULTS: See PHP on your Server


Although LAMP is installed on your virtual server, we can still take a look and see the components online by creating a quick php info page

To set this up, first create a new file:

sudo nano /var/www/html/info.php
Add in the following line:

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

Then Save and Exit.

Restart apache so that all of the changes take effect on your virtual server:

sudo service httpd restart
Finish up by visiting your php info page (make sure you replace the example ip address with your correct one): http://12.34.56.789/info.php

It should look similar to this.

See More

After installing LAMP, you can go on to do more with MySQL (A Basic MySQL Tutorial), Create an SSL Certificate, or Install an FTP Server.

By Etel Sverdlov
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/articles/how-to-install-linux-apache-mysql-php-lamp-stack-on-centos-6

Create MySQL database via command line

Create MySQL database via command line

Often times you’ll find yourself wanting to quickly create a database in your MySQL installation for some project you are working on. Follow this quick guide to do so.

We’re going to create a database named ‘testing’ with a user named ‘test_user’ and a password of ‘test_pass’. We’re going to give him all privileges on this database and allow him to connect only from localhost.

First, log into the mysql shell as a privileged user:

root@localhost:~# mysql -u root -p

Now, create your database:

mysql> CREATE DATABASE testing;

Now, add your user and his access:

mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON testing.* TO test_user@localhost IDENTIFIED BY ‘test_pass’;

All done!

www.linux.org

Why We Love Linux

Privatejetscharter.net: Why We Love Linux

As a private jet charter company, our clientele is expecting refined, efficient, luxury on every leg of their journey. This includes our website and this is the reason Private jets Charter chose Linux and Open Source software to design our site.

Open Source gave Privatejetscharter.net the Flexibility to Grow Quickly

Running a private jet charter company is often like herding cats. Planes and orders arrive from all over the planet on a daily basis and all of this information must be flawlessly handled in order to satisfy our very demanding clients. This is a business that changes quickly and one where having enough of the right planes in the right places is critical.

Open Source software gave us the flexibility to quickly make changes to our software on demand. The lack of proprietary licenses means that we can use a variety of languages and solutions together including Java and PHP without having to worry about predefined limitations established by the software vendor. We simply haven’t enough time to deal with such nonsense.

When we need to grow our business quickly in a remote place like Western Australia there are already enough headaches as it is. Having Open Source software has given Privatejetscharter.net the agility it needs to be better than the competition. Our company has grown substantially during the last few years despite the sluggish economy in the United States and Europe. We attribute a large measure of this success to the use of Open Source and our excellent team.

Open Source Software Provides us with An Extra Layer of Security

Most online businesses are worried about the security of the information on their websites but for Privatejetscharter.net keeping the information about our clients confidential is critical to the survival of our business. Movie stars, sheiks and business moguls count on us to keep their information secure and confidential. Moreover, in the class of people we service, many of them know each other so if there are any problems other clients or potential clients are sure to hear about it. Our planes, crew and website must run flawlessly and quickly to keep our clients happy.

Open Source software gave us an extra level of security and speed that just wasn’t available through proprietary software. Our website has unique demands and we designed customized security for it that we are constantly changing and updating. Unlike static proprietary software that can be studied and then hacked in mass, attacking unique open source sites just isn’t profitable and it is much more difficult.

What Our Engineers Love About Open Source Software

The sky is the limit! Using Open Source software this is truly the case. Privatejetscharter.net is proud to have some of the most talented computer engineers in the business working for us. These are bright guys that wanted the freedom to use their extensive computer skills as they pleased to build the website in a manner that best suited the needs of our business. With Open Source they have this freedom and it has allowed them to produce a fast, amazingly beautiful and useful website that works seamlessly with the rest of our business.

Linux has given us a highly reliable posix compliant operating system and the best of class development tools available today. Our engineers have the freedom to code in a variety of ways and a worldwide support community to count on to answer questions when there are issues.

In a company with less talented individuals the complexity of Open Source and the lack of proprietary “support” might have been an issue. However, in our case our programmer’s experience combined with the vast Open Source support community has meant that our company has been very happy with the results.

In a previous life we used proprietary software and the tech support phone bills alone were a testament to the amount of time that was wasted trying to solve simple problems. In our business there just isn’t time for this type of “support.” A rival company will be more than happy to pick up any passengers we can’t (and these customers won’t come back).

Give Me Free Software or Give Me Death…

This is the new motto at Private jets Charter when it comes to computer software. Our line of business has enormous overhead and some of the strictest safety regulations on the planet. Our profit margins are always at risk and we just can’t afford to constantly update software licenses. This is an added expense that does nothing to improve our bottom line or keep us flying high.

There is a misunderstanding among much of the business community that Open Source software is fine for small blogs but that it can’t handle the needs of their company website. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Some of the largest and most prestigious websites on the planet use Linux including the Federal Aviation Administration, the US Department of Defense, Google and DreamWorks Animation to name only a few. Private jets Charter is happy to belong to such a prestigious crowd!

PrivateJetsCharter.net

Install a GoDaddy SSL certificate

Generate certificate for GoDaddy:

openssl genrsa -des3 -out www.sample.com.key 2048
openssl req -new -key www.sample.com.key -out www.sample.com.csr

Give to GoDaddy the contain of www.sample.com.csr

Then you’ll receive a mail on the administrative contact of the domain mail address.
After that you’ll receive from GoDaddy a zip file containing the cert, in our example sample.com.crt.

If you set up a pass when you’ve created the cert file and you want to get rid of it here is how you can remove the pass:

Always backup the original key first (just in case)!

 # cp www.sample.key www.sample.key.orig

Then unencrypt the key with openssl. You’ll need the passphrase for the decryption process:

 # openssl rsa -in www.sample.key -out new.sample.key

Now copy the new.key to the www.key file and you’re done. Next time you restart the web server, it should not prompt you for the passphrase.

mv www.sample.com.key.nopass www.sample.com.key

Then place the key and crt file into /etc/pki/tls/cets

mv sample.com.crt /etc/pki/tls/certs/
mv www.sample.com.key /etc/pki/tls/certs/

Make sure that nobody other then root can access those files:

chmod 0600 /etc/pki/tls/certs/sample.com.crt
chmod 0600 /etc/pki/tls/certs/www.sample.com.key

Configuring apache:

Install mod_ssl for apache:

yum install mod_ssl

Edit /etc/httpd/conf.d/ssl.conf according to this:

#SSLCertificateFile /etc/pki/tls/certs/localhost.crt
SSLCertificateFile /etc/pki/tls/certs/sample.com.crt
#SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/pki/tls/private/localhost.key
SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/pki/tls/certs/www.sample.com.key
Add document root wich should contain the dir where your webfiles are stored:

DocumentRoot /virtual/web/sites/shared/www.sample.com/html

Add Directory wich should contain path to your web files:
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
Order allow,deny
Allow from all

Then restart the apache:

/etc/init.d/httpd restart or service httpd restart

Next you need to force http request to https. In order to do that create a .htaccess file inside your web dir containing:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} =80
RewriteRule ^(.*) https://%{SERVER_NAME}%{REQUEST_URI}

Volume Manager CLI examples

display disk listings:

# vxdisk list

display volume manager object listings

# vxprint -ht

display free space in a disk group

# vxdg -g <diskgroup> free

list all volume manager tasks currently running on the system

# vxtask list

add a disk to Volume Manager (devicename = cXtXdX) (prompt driven)

# vxdiskadd <devicename>

designate/remove a disk as a hot-relocation spare

# vxedit set spare=on <diskname>

# vxedit set spare=off <diskname>

rename a disk

# vxedit rename <old_diskname> <new_diskname>

reserve/unreserve a disk (space won’t be allocated unless specifically mentioned in vxassist)

# vxedit set reserve=on <diskname>

# vxedit set reserve=off <diskname>

take a disk offline (first remove the disk from its disk group) (devicename=cXtXdXs2)

#vxdisk offline <devicename>

remove a disk

(first, stop any applications associated with the volume,
unmount the volume, stop the volume,
if you need the data on the disk, move the volumes to another disk or back up volume)

–removing the disk from its disk group:

# vxdg -g <diskgroup> rmdisk <diskname>

–remove the disk from volume manager control (devicename=cXtXdXs2)

# vxdisk rm <devicename>

display multipath information

# vxdisk list <diskname>

create a disk group

(see ‘add a disk to volume manager – if the group does not exist, you will be prompted)

upgrade a disk group

–list disk group version

# vxdg list <diskgroup>

–upgrade disk group to highest version currently running

# vxdg upgrade <diskgroup>

destroy a disk group

# vxdg destroy <diskgroup>

display disk group information

# vxdg list

# vxdg list <diskgroup>

move a disk group

(stop any applications associated with all volumes in the disk group,
unmount and stop all volumes in the disk group:

–deport (disable local access) the disk group to be moved on first system

# vxdg deport <diskgroup>

–import (enable local access) the disk group and its disks from the second system

# vxdg import <diskgroup>

–start all volumes in the disk group on the second system

# vxrecover -g <diskgroup> -sb

or # vxvol -g <diskgroup> startall

estimating maximum volume size (any_valid_type = raid5, stripe, mirror)

# vxassist -g <diskgroup> maxsize layout=<any_valid_type>

create a concatenated volume (length examples = 15g, 15m)

# vxassist -g <diskgroup> make <volumename> <length> <diskname> <diskname>

create a striped volume (length examples = 15g, 15m)

# vxassist -g <diskgroup> make <volumename> <length> layout=stripe <diskname>
<diskname>

create a raid5 volume (without logging) (length examples = 15g, 15m)

# vxassist -g <diskgroup> make <volumename> <length> layout=raid5,nolog <diskname>
<diskname> <diskname> <diskname>

create a raid5 volume (with logging) (length examples = 15g, 15m)

# vxassist -g <diskgroup> make <volumename> <length> layout=raid5,log <diskname>
<diskname> <diskname> <diskname>

create a mirrored volume (without DRL) (length examples = 15g, 15m)

# vxassist -g <diskgroup> make <volumename> <length> layout=mirror,nolog <diskname>
<diskname>

create a mirrored volume (with DRL) (length examples = 15g, 15m)

# vxassist -g <diskgroup> make <volumename> <length> layout=mirror,log <diskname>
<diskname>

mirror an existing volume

# vxassist mirror <volumename> <diskname_of_disk_to_be_mirrored>

mirror all volumes within a disk group

# vxmirror -g <diskgroup> -a

mirror the root (boot) disk

EEPROM variable “use-nvramrc?” must be set to true

# vxrootmir -v <medianame>

remove a mirror (use ‘vxprint -g <diskgroup> -ht’ to get plexname)

# vxplex -o rm dis <plexname>

add a log to an existing volume

# vxassist addlog <volumename> <diskname>

remove a log from an existing volume

# vxassist remove log <volumename>

create a raid 0+1 volume (without DRL)

# vxassist -g <diskgroup> make <volumename> <length> layout=mirror-stripe,nolog
nmirror=# nstripe=# <diskname> <diskname> <diskname>

create a raid 1+0 volume (without DRL)

# vxassist -g <diskgroup> make <volumename> <length> layout=stripe-mirror,nolog
nmirror=# nstripe=# <diskname> <diskname> <diskname>

resize a volume

# vxassist -g <diskgroup> growto <volumename> <length>

# vxassist -g <diskgroup> growby <volumename> <length>

# vxassist -g <diskgroup> shrinkto <volumename> <length>

# vxassist -g <diskgroup> shrinkby <volumename> <length>

estimate how much a volume can grow

# vxassist -g <diskgroup> maxgrow <volumename>

remove a volume

(stop all applications associated with the volume,
unmount volume (remove /etc/vfstab entry))

–stop volume

# vxvol stop <volumename>

— remove volume (for raid 1+0, use ‘rf-rm’)

# vxedit -r rm <volumename>

or # vxassist remove volume <volumename>

change the volume read policy

# vxvol rdpol <policy> <volumename>

# vxvol rdpol prefer <volumename> <preferred_plex_name>

change volume attributes

# vxedit set <field>=<value> <volumename>

resize a filesystem (ufs cannot be shrunk, only grown)

# vxresize -g <diskgroup> <volumename> + <size>
# vxresize -g <diskgroup> <volumename> – <size>

join subdisks (must be in the order of offset on disks)

# vxsd join <subdisk> <subdisk> <subdisk>

Weekend Project: Taking the Next Step with Linux after the Install

Written by Joe ‘Zonker’ Brockmeier

Friday, 18 February 2011 10:4

You’ve installed Linux. Now what? A lot of folks hear great things about Linux, decide to try it out, and then aren’t really sure where to go from there. Relax, and take the weekend to get settled with your brand new Linux install.

One of the things I’ve run into time and again when recommending Linux to people is that they find Linux easy enough to install, but then don’t know where to go next. So here’s a step-by-step guide to setting up Linux for new users. If you’ve been using Linux for a while, most of this is going to be obvious. But every day is somebody’s first day with Linux, so here’s to the new users who need a little nudge in the right direction.

For the purpose of this piece, we’ll assume that you’re running Ubuntu Linux. The overall suggestions should hold true for most of the Linux distributions, but some of the particulars (like the Ubuntu Software Center) will not translate exactly to other distros.

Master Your Machine with Updates

Step one? Whether you’ve installed Linux yourself or bought a machine with Linux pre-installed, you should start with running updates. Go to the System menu and select Administration -> Update Manager. Click theCheck button, and then select Install Updates. You’ll need to enter your password and then just sit back and let it work its magic.

Most of the time, you’ll be able to resume using your system without a reboot or logging in and out of X. However, if the system update requires a reboot (like a kernel update), you’ll see a notice that directs you to reboot the system.

As a rule, Linux is immune to viruses and malware that might affect Windows machines. However it’s always better to be safe than sorry — and some vulnerabilities in browsers or other applications are cross-platform. And, of course, not all updates are security related — so be sure to run updates at least once a week.

Note that Ubuntu will check for updates in the background every day. But you can change that to every two days, weekly, or every two weeks via the Settings dialog in the Update Manager.

While you’re there, you might also want to enable pre-released updates. This will include “proposed” updates, which means that you’ll get security and bug fixes faster. It also means that an update might be untested or not as thoroughly tested as released updates — so there’s a tiny chance that a proposed update will have bugs. (In my experience, this is rarely an issue.)

Secure Your System

If your Linux machine is directly connected to the net, you might also want to have a firewall configured. By default, Ubuntu doesn’t set up any firewall rules. You could set them by hand using iptables, but if you’re familiar with iptables, you probably don’t need any help setting up a Linux system! Rather than learning the CLI way of doing it, try out Firestarter.

Firestarter is a desktop Firewall tool. You can get this by going to Applications -> Ubuntu Software Center. Search for “Firestarter” and select Install. You’ll need to enter your password and it will take a minute or so to download, depending on your connection speed. You’ll need to run Firestarter with administrator (root) privileges. Go to System -> Administration and select Firestarter.

Firestarter is very easy to use, and should be relatively easy to configure if you’re at all familiar with firewalls. If not, stay tuned — we have a Firestarter tutorial in the works.

Customize the Desktop

Now that you’ve run updates and set up a firewall, you can relax and customize your system to fit your preferences.

If you want to tweak the desktop wallpaper and such, all you need to do is right-click on the desktop and select Change Desktop Background. There you can change the background, as well as the desktop theme, visual effects, and fonts.

Ubuntu comes with a handful of attractive themes, but if you want a wider selection, you might want to revisit the Software Center and search for themes.

By default, Ubuntu starts a number of programs behind the scenes. You might want to pare down the startup apps or add something to the startup routine. For instance, you may not be using any of the Ubuntu One services. If not, you can go to System -> Preferences -> Startup Application Preferences and uncheck Ubuntu One. If you want to add an application, go to Add and give the name and command that you’d like to have started.

GNOME has a number of keyboard shortcuts that you can use to work with the desktop more efficiently. Some are fairly standard if you’ve been using Windows. For instance, Alt+Tab cycles through application windows, just like Windows. But others aren’t obvious, and you can change them if you like as well. Go toSystem -> Preferences -> Keyboard Shortcuts and scroll through the shortcuts. Some are disabled by default, others are assigned to your keyboard’s multimedia keys (if it has them).

You can even create your own Shortcuts. In the Keyboard Shortcuts window, click Add and give the shortcut a name and the command that you want to run. For instance, if you wanted to run the Dictionary applet using a Shortcut, click Add and enter gnome-dictionary in the command field, and Dictionary in the name field. Then you can assign it a shortcut (I use Ctrl-Alt-D and never need to touch the Applications menu to open the dictionary.

Poke around a bit in the Preferences menu. Linux is very flexible, so you will be able to tweak the system quite a bit to fit your needs.

New Applications and Top 5

We’ve already introduced you to the Software Center, so let’s take a look at installing a few more applications that you’re likely to find useful — but aren’t installed by default in Ubuntu.

Ubuntu has a nice default set of applications, but there’s only so much room on a CD. Over time, one of my favorite (and most useful) apps has been nudged off the Ubuntu CD. That’s GIMP, short for the GNU Image Manipulation Program. It’s similar in function, if not form, to Photoshop. Using GIMP, you can do all sorts of photo manipulation and editing. It’s also useful just for cropping photos or converting images. GIMP is generally not regarded as the most user-friendly application compared to other things like Shotwell, but I think it’s friendly enough for most users.

Still missing Windows applications? Don’t reboot or use a second computer for your Windows apps — turn to virtualization. The most full-featured and cost-free virtualization option is VirtualBox. If you’re on Ubuntu 10.10, the release of VirtualBox that’s available in the repos is a bit behind. Check the VirtualBox site for downloads.

A lot of folks really like Google Chrome, but it’s not in Ubuntu’s repositories by default either. No problem — Google packages its browser for Ubuntu, just head to the Chrome download page and click “Download Google Chrome.” Select either the 32-bit or 64-bit release, depending on the version of Ubuntu you’re running. When you download the package in Firefox, you can either choose to open it with Ubuntu Software Center, open the .deb file in the Software Center, or install it from a terminal using dpkg like so:

dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_i386.deb

If you’re into audio editing, you might want to look at the Audacity package. It allows you to edit all kinds of audio formats and is easy to use by amateurs and professionals alike. Audacity is available in the Software Center.

One thing that many new users miss is a good, solid video editor. Ubuntu comes with PiTiVi by default, but I’d recommend checking out OpenShot. It’s easy to use, very full featured, and supports converting to YouTube and other Web-sharable formats without confusing jargon about formats. OpenShot should be packaged for Ubuntu, but the most recent release is available in a Personal Package Archive (PPA) for Ubuntu and it comes with several new features that are worth the extra hassle to install it. See theDownload page for install instructions.

Backup Software

Finally, you really need to think backup. Yes, Linux is very stable — but it’s susceptible to hardware failure just like any other OS.

For most people, I don’t recommend backing up the entire OS and data, just the important stuff. Like your work data or family pictures. The simplest way to do this without having to fuss with any kind of scheduling or extra media is to use Ubuntu One or Dropbox. Since Ubuntu One is limited to Ubuntu, I’d recommend going with Dropbox.

Dropbox provides a Debian package that works on recent releases of Ubuntu. It’s a two-step install. First you install the Dropbox package, then you install the daemon that runs in the background and syncs your data. You can store all your documents and such in the Dropbox folder (or another folder of your choosing) and just let it go. As a bonus, Dropbox has a feature called “LAN Sync” that can sync between computers on a local network (like your home network) much faster than sending up to “the cloud.” So it makes for a handy system for transferring files as well as performing backups.

It is multi-platform, so you’ll find downloads for Windows and Mac OS X as well. This is really nice in households where Linux sits side-by-side with other OSes.

Media Playback and Non-Free Software

In addition to the top 5 apps we recommend installing, you might also want to install some applications to play back popular media formats (like MP3s, Flash, and QuickTime movies).

Some of the apps you want are available via the Ubuntu Software Center. You can grab Adobe Flash and Fluendo’s codecs for MP3 playback via the Software Center. Just go to Applications -> Ubuntu Software Center -> Canonical Partners. Here You’ll find Adobe Flash Plugin 10, Fluendo Codecs, and Skype — among others.

Now, you’ll have an additional step that you don’t have when installing other packages. You need to enable the “source” before actually installing the package. What this does, behind the scenes, is to enable another software repository for APT. (Specifically, the “partner” repo in /etc/apt/sources.list.)

Another way to get the codecs you want is to check out the restricted codecs page on the Ubuntu wiki. The “click here to install” link for ubuntu-restricted-extras will grab MP3, Flash, QuickTime, WMA and WMV support all in one shot.

Welcome Home

The first time out with Linux can be intimidating, especially if you aren’t a geek or power user. It’s not that Linux is really hard, per se, it’s that it’s different. Sort of like moving into a new house or apartment, it takes a while to get used to the new layout and feel comfortable. And even longer to be able to find your way around in the dark without stubbing your toes — but stick with it and have fun. It’ll feel like home in no time.

Linux Skills Are Hot on Improving IT Hiring Front

Linux Skills Are Hot on Improving IT Hiring Front

By Katherine Noyes, PCWorld

IT professionals enjoyed a dramatically improved hiring landscape in 2010, marked in particular by the fewest job cuts in a year since 2000.

That’s according to global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which on Monday reported that employers announced plans to cut only 46,825 IT jobs during 2010–a full 73 percent fewer than the 174,629 technology job cuts in 2009.

That 73 percent decline also exceeds by far the 59 percent decrease in overall job cuts across all industries, which fell from 1,288,033 in 2009 to 529,973 in 2010, the firm reported.

“Many industries are still struggling, even as the economy recovers; the technology sector does not appear to be in this camp, however,” said John A. Challenger, the consultancy’s CEO. “These firms are definitely on the leading edge of the recovery, as companies across the country and around the globe begin to upgrade and reinvest in their technology.”

The popularity of smartphones and tablets, in particular, is helping to drive growth in electronics, telecom and computers, Challenger noted.

Indeed, Forrester Research predicts that 2011 IT spending will increase 7.5 percent in the U.S. and 7.1 percent globally, Challenger, Gray & Christmas noted, while employment research firm Dice expects IT hiring to increase this year.

‘Looking for Linux Talent’

What’s particularly exciting for those with an interest in Linux, however, is that skills in the open source operating system are in particular demand, according to Dice.

Not only are job postings on the IT and engineering site up 40 percent generally compared with last year, but postings seeking Linux knowledge have increased a full 47 percent over last year, the Linux Foundation reports. Windows-related postings, by comparison, have increased by only 40 percent.

“The number of Linux-based projects is rapidly increasing all over this industry,” Intel’s Linux and Open Source Technologist Dirk Hohndel told the Linux Foundation. “More and more devices and systems and services are built based on Linux, and therefore, more and more manufacturers and vendors are looking for Linux talent.”

Linux professionals also tend to get a significant salary premium of as much as 10 percent over other IT workers, Dice reported last year.

An Employee’s Market

We’ve already seen evidence piling up that large enterprises are increasingly turning to Linux for mission-critical applications. We’ve also seen that a lack of Linux skills is frequently cited as the key stumbling block preventing businesses from using Linux even more.

Put those two facts together, and it’s not surprising to see a surge in demand for Linux skills.

For SMBs, this could mean that it will be tougher than ever to find the skilled Linux workers you need–and that you’ll have to pay them more when you find them. It may be a good time to bolster your in-house Linux skills instead through educational offerings like the online Master’s Program in Free Software and Free Standards, as I noted last fall.

Advice for IT Professionals

For Linux professionals, on the other hand, the outlook for this year could be very rosy indeed. Among the recommendations from the Linux Foundation’s panel of experts were the following:

  • Participate in the open source community — let your code be seen, and attend relevant events.
  • Demonstrate how you’ve helped a business with Linux or open source software.
  • Don’t generalize too far — pick a niche you love and focus on it.
  • Keep learning. The Linux Foundation offers a variety of courses in embedded and kernel-level Linux development, for example.