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Simmons Tech

Actions to Transition Next Tech Chair

  • Get root kerb from IS&T (optional, good practice in case kerb password is stolen)
  • Add to mailing lists (simmons-tech)
  • Make moderator on mailing lists
  • Share transition docs / passwords
  • Share links
  • Give superuser / staff access on rooming admin site
  • Add kerb to elections:
    • /mit/simmons-hall/Scripts/django/SimmonsElections-repo/SimmonsElections/polls/views.py admin kerbs
  • Get RoR access (since the server lives there)

General Tips

Section titled “General Tips”
  • Skim this entire document when you run into issues
  • Super useful to memorize the mailing list default pw (can be found in the spreadsheet)
  • If you can’t figure something out and no one knows the answer, talk to Quentin Smith

Notes on Server

Section titled “Notes on Server”
  • Located in the RoR
  • PLEASE DO NOT TAMPER WITH THE PHYSICAL SERVER. THE SERVER EXISTS ON A VIRTUAL IMAGE AND THE IMAGE MAY NOT BE ABLE TO START IF YOU RESTART THE SERVER. CAN CONFIRM BASED ON PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.
  • 3 hard drives
    • The 80 GB one runs the old version simmons.mit.edu
      • OS: Scientific Linux 5.1
    • The other 2 run metal-gear
      • OS: Debian 7
      • Metal-gear is the actual server, the simmons server is actually a vm on metal-gear
    • Simmons.mit.edu is potentially on old-simmons
      • old-simmons5 contains root filesystem, old-simmons6 contains /var/

Virtual Machines

Section titled “Virtual Machines”
  • ssh root@metal-gear.mit.edu (password in spreadsheet)
  • cd /etc/xen && ls -al to list all possible vms
  • xl create <server name> to spin one up
  • xl console <server name> to attach to a console (kinda flakey? )

How to make new VM

Section titled “How to make new VM”
  • Request new hostname: https://ist.mit.edu/network/ip-student
    • Hardware addresses follow the pattern 00:16:3e:ff:ff:xx (change last bit)
  • root@metal-gear:/etc/xen# lvcreate -L 50G -n <hostname>-root metal-gear
  • Do the same step as above except for swap instead of root (and use 8G)
  • root@metal-gear:/etc/xen# cat /etc/xen/<hostname>
cat /etc/xen/<hostname>
vcpus = 2
memory = 4096
maxmem = 16384
name = '<hostname>'
#bootloader = 'pygrub'
disk = ['phy:/dev/metal-gear/<hostname>-root,xvda,w', 'phy:/dev/metal-gear/<hostname>-swap,xvde,w']
vif = ['bridge=xenbr0, mac=00:16:3e:ff:ff:10']

Simmons DB

Section titled “Simmons DB”

Admin/Permissions

Section titled “Admin/Permissions”
  • DB Control Panel: https://simmons.mit.edu/sds/administrators/
    • Can add users to different access groups
    • Don’t forget to refresh group cache!
  • To access Simmons website and DB backend code, first
    • $ ssh <username>@athena.dialup.mit.edu
    • Log in with kerb pw
  • Then $ ssh root@simmons.mit.edu

People Locked Out

Section titled “People Locked Out”
  • Impersonate them (Be Another User under admin header) on db
  • Set login password

Editing the DB

Section titled “Editing the DB”
  • Can make changes to existing users directly on the DB site (kerb will stay the same)
  • Ssh into root@simmons.mit.edu
  • Get credentials from /var/www/sds/sdb-passwd-apache
  • Log in with command
    • $psql sdb sds
    • $\dt to list all tables
  • DB scripts in /var/www/html/sds
  • Changing people in the DB:
    • Edit directory and sds_users_all tables
    • /var/www/html/sds/sds/header.php contains nav bar links
SQL Commands
PSQL commands

Editing the website (simmons.mit.edu)

Section titled “Editing the website (simmons.mit.edu)”
  • Files in /var/www/

Scripts

Section titled “Scripts”
  • On athena dialup machine
  • cd /mit/simmons-hall (hidden but there)
  • Read scripts.mit.edu site
  • Rooming and elections are here
  • cd /mit/simmons-hall/Scripts/django for repos
  • Slowly migrate dashboard and 7k to here
  • These are github repos
  • Add people to the git org

Adding login to simmons server

Section titled “Adding login to simmons server”
  • Ssh into root@simmons.mit.edu
  • Add kerb to /root/.k5login

Mailman bug

Section titled “Mailman bug”
  • View log at /var/mail/root
  • Silent fail- no mailing list updates
  • Remove the rule
  • Potentially do DB mailing list for all non-mit emails

Fix Officers Mailing list

Section titled “Fix Officers Mailing list”
  • Broken SSL
  • simmons.mit.edu/mailman/admindb/LIST_NAME
  • Click admin interface link on any mailing list
  • Click Membership management / mass subscription to add all new frosh

Dashboard

Section titled “Dashboard”

7k Add Access

Section titled “7k Add Access”

Mailing Lists

Section titled “Mailing Lists”
  • Rules for lists
  • Diff for mod vs unmod
  • Need to refresh group cache and mailing lists after modifying/creating a list!

Replacing Reimbursement PDF

Section titled “Replacing Reimbursement PDF”
  • View PDF here
  • ssh into simmons.mit.edu
  • Scp the PDF into /var/www/html/SimmonsReimbursement.pdf
Section titled “Short links (simmons.mit.edu/<x>)”
  • ssh into simmons.mit.edu
  • Edit apache config (at /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf (I think?)) Just copy an existing rule (search for reimbursement, for example)

Elections

Section titled “Elections”
  • https://sql.scripts.mit.edu/phpMyAdmin/ (password is in passwords spreadsheet)
  • Table: elections
    • Update polls_poll with open elections (positions)
      • Role: pull from simmons.mit.edu/officers (just first sentence)
      • Order: Roughly as listed by the officers page (or by constitution), with uncontested elections last
    • Update auth_user with resident list
      • Ask rooming, or pull from the DB (Desk -> Full Directory Listing (you might need to give yourself desk privileges))
      • Save as CSV
      • Easiest way: Import tab on phpMyAdmin (you usually need to use the column names field)
    • Update polls_resident with resident kerbs
    • Update polls_choice with candidates
      • Poll_id -> polls_poll id for race
      • Choice: name(s)
      • Bio: whatever they submit (use <br> for line breaks!)
      • Profile: name of photo from from /mit/simmons-hall/web_scripts/elections/static/polls/pics
        • Should be square (crop for them)
        • If no submission, use empty-photo.jpg
  • Site: https://simmons-hall.scripts.mit.edu:444/elections/index (or simmons.mit.edu/vote)
    • Elections should show up there after those two steps
  • On athena go to
    • /mit/simmons-hall/Scripts/django/SimmonsElections-repo/SimmonsElections/polls/views.py
    • Set status to polls_open
    • Close it there in a week
  • Put photos in /mit/simmons-hall/web_scripts/elections/static/polls/pics on athena
    • Put the name.jpg in the entry in polls_choice
  • Edit /mit/simmons-hall/Scripts/django/SimmonsElections-repo/SimmonsElections/polls/templates/polls (various html files)
    • Put the date that voting ends
    • Update 20xx-20xy to the current year
  • Results:
    • On Athena, ssh to scripts: ssh -K
    • Broken????

Jordan’s Notes

Section titled “Jordan’s Notes”
  • Will upload files somewhere later (on server)
    1. 100% the script works on 2 candidate elections/clear majorities
    2. 90% sure it works on the rank choice but has only ever been needed/tested on 3 candidates
    3. I lied, Script is in drive cuz that was easier
  • Once elections are over
    1. Go to MyPHP thingy and export the following tables to CSVs (do them separately so they’re not all one CSV):
      • Polls_answerset
      • Polls_choice
      • Polls_poll
    2. Upload them to the same folder that my script is in/rename files to their table names
    3. Run script and pray

@ /mit/simmons-hall/ on athena Web_scripts is static resources Django code is in Scripts

Updating officers on the website

Section titled “Updating officers on the website”
  • To update https://simmons.mit.edu/officers/, ssh to simmons.mit.edu server
  • It’s at /var/www/officers on simmons.mit.edu.
  • Edit js/incumbents.js to put in which officers go where.
  • Edit js/people.js to add in any new officers.
  • For any new officers (+ joint tickets), you’ll need to add photos to img/photos. You should be able to scp over anything you need from /mit/edwardf/elections_2017 /mit/simmons-hall/web_scripts/elections/static/polls/pics on Athena.
  • Check that the page looks right!
  • Photos /var/www/officers/img/photos

Rooming

Section titled “Rooming”

Getting ready for lottery

Section titled “Getting ready for lottery”
  • On athena, /mit/simmons-hall/Scripts/django/simrooming/rooming-randomization/rooming-randomization.py has the lottery script - instructions are in the file
    • in.csv provided by rooming chair

Rooming Picks

Section titled “Rooming Picks”
  • Empty out simmonshall-rooming1 rooming_resident (clears the map) on https://sql.scripts.mit.edu/phpMyAdmin/
  • On athena, cd /mit/simmons-hall/Scripts/django/simrooming/rooming
  • Edit views.py and flip flag to enable or disable access
  • On athena, update /mit/simmons-hall/Scripts/django/simrooming/rooming/templates/rooming/index.html with the correct year and google doc
  • /mit/simmons-hall/Scripts/django/simrooming/rooming/templates/rooming/index.html change class of rooms to change color (double -> single or vice versa)
  • /mit/simmons-hall/Scripts/django/simrooming/rooming/static/js/views.js makes triples purple after above coloring - pulls data from phpAdmin
  • During the rooming pick:

CPW

Section titled “CPW”

Other things that exist

Section titled “Other things that exist”

Redirects for the DB

Section titled “Redirects for the DB”
  • Edit the apache conf @ /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf on simmons.mit.edu
  • Add a Rewrite rule :
Terminal window
  RewriteRule ^/procard https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc0RfgkEGTwSJn8BfNc8yHxb7JQlTpecAoLFpORdJAge5w3AA/viewform
  • To put changes in action, run /etc/init.d/httpd reload

Batch Updating ‼️

Section titled “Batch Updating ‼️”
  • Important: never click the clear rooms buttons
  • When batch updating, always use the options to disable if undergrad. Other options now have issues

Rooming Night + things to do when there are new frosh

Section titled “Rooming Night + things to do when there are new frosh”
  • Manually add them all to sponge-talk
  • Rooming night - be there with rooming chairs, use the script to format the rooming sheet in latex and print everything and then it spits out output for frosh friend graph
    • Scripts in Rooming Scripts 2019-2020
  • Frosh friend graph : html @ /var/www/html/#rooming-frosh-social-graph.html#
  • Run locally so it’s not public

Back at School Checklist

Section titled “Back at School Checklist”
  • Make sure lists of AAs, GRAs, Residential Scholars, and Medlinks is updated
  • Double check officers page for updates (any special elections)
  • Add all frosh manually to sponge-talk
  • All the rooming stuff listed above

Summer

Section titled “Summer”
  • Fix broken things
  • Delete lounge mailing lists here

Packages

Section titled “Packages”

When picking up packages for old users:

  • ssh into root@simmons.mit.edu

  • Go into the actual psql db

  • Enter this command:

    UPDATE packages set pickup=now(), pickup_by='<KERB>' WHERE recipient='<KERB>';

    • Updates all their packages every to be updated now

    • If they’ve moved out it doesn’t seem like a problem

    • Another useful command if u don’t know kerbs:

      UPDATE packages SET pickup=NOW(), pickup_by='<YOUR KERB>' where checkin>TO_DATE(DAY OF 'REGISTERED', 'YYYY-MM-DD') AND checkin<TO_DATE('DAY AFTER REGISTERED', 'YYYY-MM-DD') AND pickup is NULL;

  • It might be easier to just reenable them on the DB (Add Rooming Entry), pick up their package, then disable them

Rooming map

Section titled “Rooming map”

Certificate Expiry

Section titled “Certificate Expiry”

  • Certs for simmons.mit.edu regularly expire (approx ~2 years)

  • Request a certificate from IS&T

    • NOTE: the Simmons certificates/keys are at different locations than what is specified in the link above; look at ssl.conf in the home directory to see the configs, or change them if you want
    • Skip the step for generating a new key
    • The private key resides in /etc/pki/tls/private/simmons.mit.edu.key

  • Install:

    • Create a backup of the old certificate (include the year when you name the backup) and move it to the old directory (IMPORTANT)
    • Download the “as X509 Certificate only, Base64 encoded” certificate from the email
    • Put the new certificate in /etc/pki/tls/certs and name it simmons.mit.edu.crt
    • Make sure the private key and certificate match by running the following commands:
    Terminal window
    openssl x509 -noout -modulus -in /etc/pki/tls/certs/simmons.mit.edu.crt | openssl md5
    openssl rsa -noout -modulus -in /etc/pki/tls/private/simmons.mit.edu.key | openssl md5
    • The outputs should be the same; if not, make sure the correct certificate was downloaded
    • Restart the httpd service
    Terminal window
    service httpd restart

Links/Filepaths

Section titled “Links/Filepaths”
  • Rooming admin
  • Rooming map
  • Php MyAdmin
    • For adding election candidates
  • DB permissions - give them admin
  • Simmons website /var/www/
    • Officers: /var/www/officers
    • Prospectives page: /var/www/html/prospectives.html

Fixing Read Only Filesystem

Section titled “Fixing Read Only Filesystem”
  • backup system
    • Commands to check filesystems: fdisk -l
    • Ran e2fsck /dev/device
    • Generated a sosreport (by running sosreport and filling out prompted info)
  • Rebooted the system, fixed the issue
RedHat Guide for File System Backup

Resetting Lounge Proposals

Section titled “Resetting Lounge Proposals”
  • Need to reset lounge proposals at the beginning of each semester so lounge fund calculations are correct
  • Save copy of both Events in Progress and Official Expenses for records
  • Govtracker -> Lounge Expenses -> View Official Expenses -> Remove All Expenses

Fixing the server

Section titled “Fixing the server”
  • To poke at ip addresses: qy -s ghbd W79-PUBLIC \*
    • ghbd = get host by address
  • METAL-GEAR IP ADDRESS: METAL-GEAR-MGMT.MIT.EDU 18.18.96.17
Debian installers

Jordan’s Notes (20-21 Tech Chair)

Section titled “Jordan’s Notes (20-21 Tech Chair)”

Restarting the physical server

Section titled “Restarting the physical server”

The physical server for simmons.mit.edu lives in the Simmons basement in the RoR (room of requirements). If you don’t have access, then ask the current house manager to help.

The buttons you need to press should be facing you when you enter the room with the server. Press the power button, not the reset button to restart the server. (The reset button causes bad stuff to happen). This is what the buttons look like:

Server power button

Managing mailing lists

Section titled “Managing mailing lists”

You have to manually add new people to certain mailing lists like simmons-announce. You can do this at https://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/admin/simmons-announce-remake (the password is also in Simmons Tech Passwords).

Note that simmons-announce is on mailman as simmons-announce-remake.