Problems with MySQL after an unattended-upgrades

Wake up this Labor Day to a couple of emails from the Monit on remote a server, reporting a problem with the MySQL process.
Checking the emails from that server, this is what the unattended-upgrades email reported:

Checking if update is needed.
Checking server version.
Error: Server version (5.7.25-0ubuntu0.16.04.2) does not match with the version of
the server (5.7.26) with which this program was built/distributed. You can
use --skip-version-check to skip this check.
mysql_upgrade failed with exit status 3
dpkg: error processing package mysql-server-5.7 (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script\
 returned error exit status 1

Got onto the server, and this is what the MySQL error log (/var/log/mysql/error.log) reported:

2019-05-01T06:25:42.111425Z 0 [ERROR] InnoDB: Unable to lock ./ibdata1 error: 11
2019-05-01T06:25:42.111470Z 0 [Note] InnoDB: Check that you do not already have another mysqld\
 process using the same InnoDB data or log files.

So, this usually means that there are more than one MySQL server running.
First thing first, stop MySQL, and then, kill any other MySQL process by hand.
Then, run apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade, this finished the MySQL update A Ok.
Then started the MySQL server, and everything was kosher.

Frankuntu Ye Olde Sony Vaio PCG FRV37

A bit of a Frankenstein experiment with the really ancient Sony Vaio... Sort of a continuation of my stupid and time wasting experiments with slimmed down Linux installations on old boxes, just because it can be done.

Installed Ubuntu Server 16.04 from a Mini CD install, and then added a minimal GUI.
The base installation took about an hour choosing: Standard System utilities, OpenSSH server and Basic Ubuntu Server.

As usual, the installer detected the PCIA WiFi card, but after the was over it left me with a system without Wifi and using 1.3 GB of HDD (from a 60 HDD one).

Setting up the WiFi card manually took a minute, and on onto the GUI install we go!
Issued a:

sudo apt-get install xorg

That downloads 44.6 MB of files, and then expands those onto 256 MB.

Executing a startx (and not X you old fart!!!) starts X Window with no window (the thing actually looks like a full screen xterm), the mouse pad works, but I can't type dink on that huge xterm.

Switched to a virtual console, and killed X. or, you know, startx :p

Installed a window manager, and the program to configure it:

sudo apt-get install openbox obconf

That downloads 21 MB of files, and then expands those onto 104 MB.

Installed a little panel and a small Calendar program:

sudo apt-get install tint2 gsimplecal

It downloads 2 MB of files, and then expands those onto 8 MB.

sudo apt-get install thunar thunar-volman thunar-archive-plugin thunar-media-tags-plugin gvfs gvfs-backends

The thing downloads 22 MB of files, and then expands those onto 103 MB.

Logged out of X Window, restarted it, but still no Tint2 Panel nor a way to access Thunar yet.

So copied the file "/etc/xdg/openbox/autostart:  to "~/.config/openbox/autostart".

And then added to the bottom of the file:

tint2 &

thunar &

And then startx once again!

Out of the box, the whole thing looks as if a demon from hell has vomited scorpions on my eyes...

The Optimess

Last Thursday, installing Ubuntu Server 14.04 on the Optiplex...
Made a mess of the working table during the duration.
The idea is to, eventually, get this server, via Plex, to work as a media server at home.
Will see..

Monit & Ruby: What a (Environment) Hell!!

These last couple of days I've been dealing with Monit and a Linux box running a bunch of Ruby stuff...
What a freakin' fucking nightmare is to setup Monit to start those damn processes, by Jeebus!
It took me a lot of fumblin' and testing to get those fuckers up & running thru Monit.
The whole thing remind me of those halcyon days of setting up Oracle on a Red Hat 6.2 box, the only difference was that getting Oracle installed and running on those boxes was a pain, and getting this hipster crap is a piece of cake, the hard part was getting it to start using a different user.

Monit: Apache returns "Execution Failed" status

Got a gig to administer a couple of servers on the Google Cloud Platform the other day.
So I got a few Ubuntu Servers 14.04 up & running and installed all the crap I usually need/ run on the boxes I get my hands on...

Now, after setting up Monit a bit, and starting it up, I've noticed that the Apache process was in problems.
No matter what I did, I got the same status... In the end, the problem was really, really stupid to fix...

Check the path to the pid file on the /etc/monit/conf.d/apache2 file:
Change the pid from /var/run/apache2.pid to /var/run/apache2/apache2.pid and restart the Monit service.
Of course, you already have copied the file /etc/monit/monitrc.d/apache2 to /etc/monit/conf.d/apache2, right?