GRUB ( The Grub bootloader )

GRUB stands for GRand Unified Bootloader. It's meant as a alternative to the widely-used LILO (LInux LOader). In many ways, it is superior to LILO. One such advantage of GRUB is that if the configuration file is incorrect or corrupted, you may still be able to boot your system. It does require a basic familiarity with using GRUB in Interactive mode.

Few methods to deal with GRUB Issues :

To restore Grub to the MBR:

$ su
< password >
# grub-install /dev/hda

To setup Grub or add new entries:

Note:

Grub uses its own naming structure for drives and partitions, in the form of (hdn,m), where n is the hard drive number, and m the partition number, both starting from zero. This means, for instance, that partition hda1 is (hd0,0) to Grub, and hdb2 is (hd1,1). Grub doesn't consider CD-ROM drives to be hard drives, so if you have a CD on hdb, for example, and a second hard drive on hdc, that second hard drive would still be (hd1).

Note that GRUB does _not_ distinguish IDE from SCSI - it simply counts the drive numbers from zero, regardless of their type. Normally, any IDE drive number is less than any SCSI drive number, although that is not true if you change the boot sequence by swapping IDE and SCSI drives in your BIOS.

Setup Grub:

# grub

First, tell Grub where to find the 'stage files' -- you can use Tab to show the alternatives: ( in this example hda4 )

root (hd0,3)

Now tell Grub to install into the MBR of hda:

setup (hd0)

And close with:

quit

Make or adapt the menu.lst: ( And new entries )

# vi /boot/grub/menu.lst

# Begin /boot/grub/menu.lst

# By default boot the first menu entry.

default 0

# Allow 30 seconds before booting the default.

timeout 30

# Use prettier colors.

color green/black light-green/black

# The first entry is for Linux.

title Linux
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda4 ro

# If you want, a second entry for RedHat

title RedHat
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/kernel-2.4.20 root=/dev/hda3 ro
initrd /boot/initrd-2.4.20

# You wish to include Windows ?

title Windows
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

Emergency

If things go really wrong and you get only a grub prompt you can still boot . . . .

For Windows:

grub> root noverify (hd0,0)
grub> chainloader +1
grub> boot

For Linux ( on hda4 like in example above ):

grub> root (hd0,3)
grub> kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda4 ro
grub> boot

More info: http://www.gnu.org/software/grub

Install and Run DHCP Server on Windows XP / Vista / 7

A DHCP Server assigns IP addresses to client computers. This is very often used in enterprise networks to reduce configuration efforts. All IP addresses of all computers are stored in a database that resides on a server machine.
This is a very simple and easy to use implementation of a DHCP Server for Windows based systems supporting all Windows operating systems from Windows 98 to Windows 7.

The configuration data as well as the client “database” is kept in an INI file.

The DHCP Server runs instantly without any installation as a service or application.

RUNNING THE DHCP SERVER

A DHCP Server is a protocol server for TCP/IP networks that supplies IP addresses to other computers. DHCP Server for Windows also supports TFTP, DNS and HTTP protocol which makes a nice package for easy and simple to install networks e.g. for remote boot and other purposes. DHCP server runs on all Win32 capable Windows operating systems starting from Windows 95 to Windows 7.

Installation

The DHCP Server is a portable application and runs from anywhere on your computer. Extract the content of the zip file wherever you like, e.g. D:\dhcpsrv. You will now find the following files in there:

• dhcpsrv.exe
• dhcpwiz.exe
• readme.txt
• wwwroot
• dhcpstyle.xsl
• dhcppkgstyle.xsl
• favicon.ico
• index.html
• RJ45_5.jpg
• RJ45_52.jpg

Configuration with dhcpwiz.exe

If you are a first time user of DHCP server then the dhcpwiz.exe program gives you a good head start in setting up the ini file needed to run the DHCP server. The dhcpwiz.exe program is a wizard style configuration program for the DHCP server. It will guide you in 6 easy steps through the basic configuration of the software.

For More details regarding DHCP Installation and Configuration please visit the following link :

http://www.dhcpserver.de/dhcpsetup.htm

For Downloading the DHCP Server files please visit the following link:

http://www.dhcpserver.de/dhcpsrv.htm

DHCP Server assigns IP addresses to multiple clients

What is Mac OS HFS+ format ?

The Mac OS Extended Format (HFS+) is a volume format compatible with Mac OS 8.1 and higher, including Mac OS X. In terms of volume, folder, and file size limits, it is similar to the Macintosh Standard Format (HFS). 
HFS+ or HFS Plus is a file system developed by Apple Computer Inc. to replace their Hierarchical File System (HFS) as the primary file system used in Macintosh computers (or other systems running Mac OS). It is also one of the formats used by the iPod music player. HFS+ is also referred to as Mac OS Extended Volume Hard Drive Format, where its predecessor, HFS, is also referred to as Mac OS Standard.

HFS+ is an improved version of HFS, supporting much larger files (block addresses are 32-bit length instead of 16-bit) and using Unicode (instead of Mac OS Roman or any of several other character sets) for naming the items (files, folders) - names which are also character encoded in UTF-16 and normalized to a form very nearly the same as Unicode Normalization Form D (NFD) (which means that precomposed characters like é are decomposed in the HFS+ filename and therefore count as two characters and UTF-16 implies that characters from outside the Basic Multilingual Plane - often seldom used and characters from ancient writing systems - also count as two characters in an HFS+ filename). HFS Plus permits filenames up to 255 UTF-16 characters in length, and n-forked files similar to NTFS, though until recently, almost no software takes advantage of forks other than the data fork and resource fork. HFS+ also uses a full 32-bit allocation mapping table, rather than HFS’s 16 bits. This was a serious limitation of HFS, meaning that no disk could support more than 65,536 allocation blocks under HFS. When disks were small, this was of little consequence, but as larger-capacity drives became available, it meant that the smallest amount of space that any file could occupy (a single allocation block) became excessively large, wasting significant amounts of space. For example, on a 1 GB disk, the allocation block size under HFS is 16 KB, so even a 1 byte file would take up 16 KB of disk space.

How do I know a hard disk is HFS+ format?

Select the hard disk in the Finder and choose the Get Info command in the File menu. The format information will specify either Mac OS Standard (hfs) or Mac OS Extended (hfs+). 

What are the differences between HFS+ format and HFS format?

The most visible difference between HFS+ format and HFS format, other than the minimum file size, is the maximum number of files. 

An HFS+ volume contains five special files:

1. Catalog file - Describes the folder and file hierarchy of the volume. It is organized as a "balanced tree" for fast and efficient searches
2. Allocation file - Specifies whether an allocation block is free (similar to $Bitmap in NTFS). This is stored in a bitmap, specifying a free allocation block with a "clear bit"
3. Attributes file - Contains attribute information regarding files or folders
4. Extents overflow file - Additional extents (contiguous allocation blocks allocated to forks) are stored in a b-tree in this file
5. Startup file - Allows computers to boot that do have built in support for HFS+ file systems

What is FAT and NTFS ?

FAT Definition:

FAT, short for File Allocation Table (used by hard disks, disks, Smartmedia™, Compact Flash™, Memory Stick and other), 
A table that the operating system uses to locate files on a disk. Due to fragmentation, a file may be divided into many sections that are scattered around the disk. The FAT keeps track of all these pieces. 
It is a file system that was created by Microsoft in 1977. FAT ( also know as FAT, FAT16, and FAT32 ) is still in use today as the preferred file system for floppy drive media and portable, high capacity storage devices like flash drives.

FAT was the primary file system used in all of Microsoft's consumer operating systems from MS-DOS to Windows ME. The New Technology File System (NTFS) is the primary file system on Microsoft's newer operating systems but FAT is still a supported option.

Below is more information on the versions of the FAT file system:

• FAT12 - The initial version of the FAT file system, FAT12 was introduced in 1977, even before MS-DOS, and was the primary file system for Microsoft operating systems up to MS-DOS 4.0. FAT12 supports drive sizes up to 32MB.
  
• FAT16 - The second implementation of FAT was FAT16, introduced in 1981. FAT16 was the primary file system for MS-DOS 4.0 up to Windows 95. FAT16 supports drive sizes up to 2GB. It was designed originally to handle files on a floppy drive, and has had minor modifications over the years so it can handle hard disks, and even file names longer than the original limitation of 8.3 characters, but it's still the lowest common denominator. The biggest advantage of FAT16 is that it is compatible across a wide variety of operating systems, including Windows 95/98/Me, OS/2, Linux, and some versions of UNIX. The biggest problem of FAT16 is that it has a fixed maximum number of clusters per partition, so as hard disks get bigger and bigger, the size of each cluster has to get larger. In a 2–GB partition, each cluster is 32 kilobytes, meaning that even the smallest file on the partition will take up 32 KB of space. FAT16 also doesn't support compression, encryption, or advanced security using access control lists.
  
• FAT32 - FAT32 is the latest version of the FAT file system. It was introduced in 1996 for Windows 95 Service Pack 2 users and was the primary file system for consumer Windows versions through Windows ME. FAT32 supports drive sizes up to 8TB.
  FAT32 shares all of the other limitations of FAT16, and adds an important additional limitation—many operating systems that can recognize FAT16 will not work with FAT32—most notably Windows NT, but also Linux and UNIX as well. Now this isn't a problem if you're running FAT32 on a Windows XP computer and sharing your drive out to other computers on your network—they don't need to know (and generally don't really care) what your underlying file system is.

New Technology File System (NTFS):

NTFS Short for NT File System, is a high-performance and self-healing file system used in Windows Vista, Windows XP, 2003, 2000, NT and Windows 7, which supports file-level security, compression and auditing. It also supports large volumes and powerful storage solution such as RAID. NTFS supports hard drive sizes up to 256TB.

NTFS supersedes the FAT file system as the preferred file system for Windows operating systems. NTFS has several improvements over FAT and HPFS (High Performance File System) such as improved support for metadata and the use of advanced data structures to improve performance, reliability, and disk space utilization, plus additional extensions such as security access control lists (ACL) and file system journaling.

The most important new feature of NTFS is the ability to encrypt files and folders to protect your sensitive data.

The Advantages of NTFS:

The NTFS file system, introduced with first version of Windows NT, is a completely different file system from FAT. It provides for greatly increased security, file–by–file compression, quotas, and even encryption. It is the default file system for new installations of Windows XP, and if you're doing an upgrade from a previous version of Windows, you'll be asked if you want to convert your existing file systems to NTFS. Don't worry. If you've already upgraded to Windows XP and didn't do the conversion then, it's not a problem. You can convert FAT16 or FAT32 volumes to NTFS at any point. Just remember that you can't easily go back to FAT or FAT32 (without reformatting the drive or partition), not that I think you'll want to.

The NTFS file system is generally not compatible with other operating systems installed on the same computer, nor is it available when you've booted a computer from a floppy disk. For this reason, many system administrators, myself included, used to recommend that users format at least a small partition at the beginning of their main hard disk as FAT. This partition provided a place to store emergency recovery tools or special drivers needed for reinstallation, and was a mechanism for digging yourself out of the hole you'd just dug into. But with the enhanced recovery abilities built into Windows XP (more on that in a future column), I don't think it's necessary or desirable to create that initial FAT partition.

What is a Sector and a Bad Sector ?

A sector is a small area on the surface of a hard drive or a floppy disk.

The smallest unit that can be accessed on a disk. When a disk undergoes a low-level format, it is divided into tracks and sectors. The tracks are concentric circles around the disk and the sectors are segments within each circle. For example, a formatted disk might have 40 tracks, with each track divided into 10 sectors. The operating system and disk drive keep tabs on where information is stored on the disk by noting its track and sector number. 

Modern hard disk drives use a technique called zoned-bit recording in which tracks on the outside of the disk contain more sectors than those on the inside. 

A sector that cannot be used due to a physical flaw on the disk is called a bad sector.

What is Bad Sector?

Hard drives are contain millions of sectors. It is very normal for some of these sectors to be bad sectors, even when the drive is first manufactured.

In addition, a small number of sectors will normally go bad during the lifespan of a drive.

When this happens, the data in those sectors may be lost, but the data on the rest of the disk will be unaffected and the disk is still completely usable.

A bad sector cannot be repaired, but it can be marked as unusable. Once marked as unusable, the Operating System will know not to attempt to store data in that bad sector. The storage capacity of the disk will be decreased by the amount of storage space in the bad sector.

If your hard drive develops a bad sector, back the hard drive up immediately. If the bad sector was caused by a faulty drive head, the problem can quickly spread to other sectors on the disk.

Partition Tables

[ Click on the Image to Enlarge ]

These describe the various partitions on the disk: where they start, how big they are, what type they are. The MBR contains a partition table. 

Partition can be considered as a piece of disk space, which is marked thereby runs on some operating system. Partition table is located at the first sector (cylinder 0, head 0 and sector 1, MBR) of each hard disk. It memorizes information about sizes and locations of partitions on hard disk. The partition information is started on offset 1BEH of master boot sector. Each partition entry is 16 bytes long. The total partition table is 64 bytes long. Then partition table is limited to a maximum of 4 entries. That is, there is a maximum of 4 partitions, which is called primary partition and can be created on hard disk.

If Dynamic disks are used the partition table explanation as described here does not apply anymore.