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Archives for March 2013

Turning Off Google Two Step Verification

Google created a two step verification process to increase security. The process requires entering some code, typically a six digit number, in addition to the regular user password. The code is normally sent by Google via SMS text message to the user’s phone.

The downside is if you have any applications that use Gmail’s SMTP to send out email messages, it will be rendered useless due to the extra authentication.

I ended up using another SMTP server. Thanks to AT&T. I’m glad I found another option for sending out email messages within applications. Google does give you the option to turn off the two step verification process, which I ended up doing anyways.

I think the two step process is more of annoyance than anything. Clearing your browser’s cache requires you to re-enter a new code. Each time you’ll receive a new code via SMS text from Google. After doing it for about 10 times all within a week, I grew tired of it.

Now, the two step verification is turned off for good. Thank goodness.

How to Start, Stop and Restart MySQL

What do you do if your database server is down? Well, you can certainly reboot the server. That might solve the problem, but I rather restart the database first before doing something as drastic as rebooting a server. There are instances were rebooting doesn’t always solve the problem if there’s an issue with the database. Now, most open-source blogs and web applications today use MySQL as their database of choice. So, here are instructions on how to start, stop and restart MySQL on Ubuntu and Debian-based systems.

Stop MySQL database

$ sudo /etc/init.d/mysql stop

Start MySQL database

$ sudo /etc/init.d/mysql start

Restart MySQL database

$ sudo /etc/init.d/mysql restart

Ubuntu Releases

Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu is once again contemplating whether to go with interim releases or go with rolling releases. The company has entertained this idea at least once before ultimately settling with the old release schedule. Now, there are talks again of doing away the old schedule or going with a rolling release.

Why can’t Ubuntu do both releases. Canonical should do LTS (Long Term Support) for companies and individuals who clearly have a need for long term support, while most individuals like myself would rather have a rolling release to keep with latest developments, as well as avoid big haul upgrades every six months. That would be the ideal situation.