How I set up Gutsy Gibbon with KDE/Compiz on Nvidia

I was psyched for the new Ubuntu 7.10 release, Gutsy Gibbon, but I'm a KDE user and I had a lot of problems upgrading Feisty/Kubuntu to Gutsy. I followed the instructions using AdeptI had some minor successes, but I was unable to get the upgrade, and KDE and Compiz to work in combination. In the end, here's a rough overview of what I wound up doing:

1. Clean install of Gutsy Ubuntu (Gnome)

2. Go into restricted driver manager and enable restricted drivers for nVidia (Compiz worked right off!)

3. Using Synaptic package manager, add the Advanced Desktop Effects Manager (CompizConfig Settings Manager)

4. Now there is a new button "Custom" when you configure your desktop settings

5. Stop to play around with adding desktop effects. Remember to turn your vertical desktop size to 1 and horizontal to 4. Otherwise you will have a plane instead of a cube.

6. Back to Synaptic. Add "kubuntu-desktop". Wait a long time for lots of packages to download/install

7. Select KDE as the default environment

8. Wait some more. Reboot the machine when everything is finished.

9. The machine will come up in KDM. Go over to the little picture of a drop down, click, and select Session Type->"KDE", instead of "Default (previous)"

10. Log in and wait for desktop to come up

11. Compiz will be disabled. Don't panic: go to the KDE menu and select Settings->GL Desktop

12. Enable GL Desktop

13. Configure Compiz as desired using Settings->Advance Desktop Effets Settings

I won't bother going into any more details for now. Feel free to post comments if you have any questions

6 tips on keeping your e-mail server space usage under control.

I was inspired to write this post when listening to this week's Casting From the Server Room Podcast.

There are lots of hidden costs that make megabytes matter - RAID disk space, backup space, backup transfer time.... and not to mention (as every sysadmin knows) the fact that an e-mail server running low on disk space can be a sustainable source of stress. Here's a few preventative tips that might help you keep your head on straight.

1. Invest in a good anti-spam solution

The battle against bloat starts at the source. Every message that comes into your system has a chance of taking up space. Use a combination of anti-spam measures and hit it from all angles. An edge MTA and DNS black listing are very effective measures because messages are stopped even before they enter your mail store - and occupy inboxes and junk folders.

2. Teach your users the do's and don'ts of e-mail

Education is always a good defense- remember, even if your efforts fall on deaf ears, there are always some users that want to do the Right Thing(tm), and are just waiting for you to tell them what that is. Make a simple list of do's and don'ts and distribute it to your users once a year.

3. Give users adequate network space

Network drive space is cheaper for you to manage than e-mail server space. Don't give users an excuse to keep those big attachments in their e-mail account. They should save them and delete the message.

4. Set conservative mailbox quotas, early

...Even if you have extra space. Users will be more likely to adopt good mail management habits if quotas are on. They need to see the size of their inbox grow against a limit, or it will be perceived as bottomless. If you're implementing a new quota policy, a good rule of thumb is to take the average mailbox size, double it, and use that for the quota.

5. Police inactive accounts

This may seem obvious, but don't leave dead accounts open for business. When students or employees leave, be sure to stick to a firm and consistent account removal policy. The fewer accounts you have, the less the chances of both spammers - and spam - finding your system.

6. Set your system to expire trashed items after a reasonable amount of time.

Some users just don't empty the trash. You don't need to be a star and set a super short expiry time, just assign some kind of a time period.