Using rootful podman-compose on Centos9

In the last weeks I updated my home server from Centos8 to Centos 9 stream. As part of this I also switched from docker to podman. This was no problem for single container but in case of multiple container working together - aka are composed - it wont work as expected. 

E.g in a setup of two container in a pod - app and db - the app can't resolve (and reach) the db. 

After multiple trial and error setups, crawling, reading through the web - filter out obsolete tips etc. I switch to "netavark" - (see https://github.com/containers/podman-compose/issues/455), be aware that the mentioned command podman system reset --force will remove all volumes (Yes, I did have a backup.)

In the end - all does not help ... I was about to give up. But then I found a hint how to look in the dns config of the container:

$ more /run/containers/networks/aardvark-dns/gogs_default
10.89.0.1
9951847ba473d97b6bf1e834b490 10.89.0.4 gogs_db,db,9951847ba473
6b06aee614d7584d32f3912e3b2c 10.89.0.5 gogs_app,app,6b06aee614d7

Ok, this mean the aardvark-dns is configured right. Next I look in the logs:

$ journalctl -t aardvark-dns
21:06:57 s...de aardvark-dns[1998]: Received SIGHUP will refresh servers: 1
21:06:57 s...de aardvark-dns[1998]: Unable to start server unable to start CoreDns server: \
                                    Address already in use (os error 98)

Looks like the aardvark-dns is in conflict with my name server runing on the same maschine.

$ ps 1998
 PID TIME COMMAND
1998 0:00 /usr/libexec/podman/aardvark-dns --config /run/containers/networks/aardvark-dns -p 53 run

Interesting - it is running on port 53 - like bind.

Finally I found out how to configure the port aardvark is using: it is a further entry in the file where I already switch to netavark.

$ more /etc/containers/containers.conf
[network]

# Explicitly use netavark. 
# See https://github.com/containers/podman-compose/issues/455
network_backend = "netavark"

dns_bind_port = 5533

Restart ... it runs.

HP MFP M754DN Fix "Scan to Network" error

My multifunction printer HP MFP M754DN has the ability to scan to a network folder. The target folder is provided by a samba server running CentOS8. It works with out problem but stops to be able to access the network folder some weeks ago. 

Testing the connection on the webgui results in the message: "Cannot connect to the network folder. Ensure the shared folder name is correct."

To fix it I have added the following lines in the smb.conf file on the samba server.

server min protocol = NT1    
min protocol = NT1

A further analysis of my last update activities showed that this was related to the update of the samba package from samba-4.10.4-101.el8_1.x86_64 to samba-4.11.2-13.el8.x86_64. 

According to Samba 4.11 WhatsNew the "SMB1 is disabled by default" now - and the HP printer unfortunately uses only SMB1. With the mentioned settings you enabled the SMB1 protocol again.

Little helper: mwc = more-without-comment

While configuring my linux nodes I found my alias mwc very helpful:

I used it to show the relevant (= uncommented and non-empty) lines in typical linux config files.

Updated inadyn-mt package for CentOS 8

I have updated my inadyn-mt rpm/srpm package for CentOS 8. It is based on inadyn-mt v02.28.10.

• inadyn-mt-2.28.10-4.el8.x86_64.rpm (RPM)
• inadyn-mt-2.28.10-4.el8.src.rpm (SRPM)

I follow again the steps I described here, but started with the current source rpm inadyn-mt-2.28.10-4.fc31.src.rpm

Updated inadyn-mt package for CentOS7

I have updated my inadyn-mt rpm/srpm package for CentOS7. It is based on inadyn-mt v02.28.06.

• inadyn-mt-2.28.06-2.el7.centos.x86_64.rpm (RPM)
• inadyn-mt-2.28.06-2.el7.centos.src.rpm (SRPM)

Install inadyn-mt on CentOS7

(Update: see post "Updated inadyn-mt package for CentOS7")

I didn't found an inadyn-mt rpm package for CentOS7. So I built one myself:

• Download the source rpm for Fedora 22.
• Install the source rpm
  

  rpm -i inadyn-mt-2.24.44-1.fc22.src.rpm

• The sources are installed in the ~/rpmbuild directory.
• Move to the rpmbuild directory and run rpmbuild
  

  cd ~/rpmbuild/SPECS
  rpmbuild -ba inadyn-mt.spec
  

• That's all. The rpm can now be installed with
  

  rpm -i ~/rpmbuild/RPMS/x86_64/inadyn-mt-2.24.44-1.el7.centos.x86_64.rpm

Here you can download it: inadyn-mt-2.24.44-1.el7.centos.x86_64.rpm

Build your own CentOS 7 Broadcom Wireless Driver

I just finished my first experiments with Docker. To doing this I put a new SSD in my MacBook and start with my experiments. Some hours later I wanted to moving around at home and realized that the wireless network didn't work. So I found a first use case of my experiences.

To use the wireless network on the MacBook you need a Broadcom wireless driver (in my case for a BCM4322, VendorID:DeviceID 14e4:432b) which you have to build by your own as documented here. Before following the steps described there I wrote a Dockerfile which builds a Docker image with all the packages needed to build the wireless module. Also I wrote a shell script which executed the build steps to assemble the wireless module (driver).

If you need/want to build the Broadcom wireless driver for your CentOS 7 installation you just need:

• Copy the script to an empty directory, 
• download the Broadcom wireless driver source and 
• put it in the same directory
• then run the script
• continue at step 4 in the CentOS HowTo 

Hope it works.