How to Fix Windows Update Problems: A Complete Guide


July 11th, 2025

fix-windows-update-problems-howto-picture

Windows Update is essential for keeping your Windows system secure, stable, and up to date to be on track with latest security patches and (for those working in large corporations) for the PC to be compliant to Company / Corporation / Domain security defined policies and standards. However, users often encounter issues like updates failing to install, being stuck at a certain percentage, or causing error messages. Whether you're using Windows 10 or Windows 11, this guide walks you through proven steps to fix Windows Update problems.

Common Symptoms of Windows Update Issues

Before diving into the solutions, it helps to identify typical signs of update problems:

  • Updates stuck at 0%, 35%, or 100%
  • Update error codes like 0x80070002, 0x800f081f, or 0x8024a105
  • "Windows Update Failed" or "There were problems installing updates"
  • PC crashes or slowdowns after an update
  • Restart loops or repeated update attempts

Step-by-Step Guide to Fix Windows Update Problems

 1. Restart Your PC and rerun updates

Sometimes (very rarely) a simple reboot clears temporary glitches in the update process.

Steps:

  • Click Start > Power > Restart
  • Try running Windows Update again

 2. Run the Windows Update Troubleshooter

Windows includes a built-in tool that can automatically detect and fix common update problems.

Steps:

  1. Open Settings > System > Troubleshoot > Other troubleshooters

  2. Find Windows Update and click Run

  3. Follow the prompts and apply any fixes it suggests

 3. Check Your Internet Connection

A slow or intermittent connection can prevent updates from downloading or installing.

Tips:

  • Ensure a stable connection
  • Avoid using mobile hotspots during large updates
  • Try a wired Ethernet connection if possible

4. Free Up Disk Space

Windows Update needs adequate space to download and install updates.

To free space:

  • Open Settings > System > Storage
  • Use Storage Sense or manually delete:

    • Temporary files
    • Old downloads
    • Unused programs

5. Manually Restart Windows Update Services

Windows Update relies on several background services. Restarting them can resolve stuck updates.

Steps:

  1. Press 

    Windows + R

    , type 

    services.msc

     and press Enter

  2. Find and restart the following:

    • Windows Update
    • Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS)
    • Cryptographic Services
  3. Right-click each > Restart

6. Clear the Windows Update Cache (SoftwareDistribution Folder)

Corrupted update files in the SoftwareDistribution folder can cause problems.

Steps:

  1. Press 

    Windows + R (key)

    type 

    Right-click > Run as Administrator

     

  2. Stop update services:

    net stop wuauserv
    net stop bits

     

  3. Delete the update cache:  

    Cmd line

    del /f /s /q %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\

  4. Restart services:  

    net start wuauserv net start bits

  5. Try updating again

7. Use the System File Checker (SFC) and DISM Tools

Corrupt system files can interfere with updates.

Steps:

  1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator

  2. Run SFC from cmd line:  

    sfc /scannow

  3. After it completes, run DISM:  

    DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

These commands check for system corruption and repair it.

 8. Install Updates Manually via Microsoft Update Catalog

If a specific update keeps failing, download and install it manually.

Steps:

  1. Go to: https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/

  2. Search the KB number of the failed update

  3. Download the correct version for your system

  4. Run the installer

 9. Pause and Resume Updates

This can force Windows to reattempt updates cleanly.

Steps:

  1. Open Settings > Windows Update

  2. Click Pause updates for 1 week

  3. Restart your PC

  4. Go back and click Resume updates

10. Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Repair Install)

If nothing else works, a repair install reinstalls Windows while keeping your files and apps.

Steps:

  1. Download the Media Creation Tool from Microsoft

  2. Choose Upgrade this PC now

  3. Follow prompts and select Keep personal files and apps

This replaces system files and refreshes Windows Update components.

11. Use WuFix.bat script that refreshes services

wufix.bat

SC config trustedinstaller start=auto
net stop bits
net stop wuauserv
net stop msiserver
net stop cryptsvc
net stop appidsvc
Ren %Systemroot%\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
Ren %Systemroot%\System32\catroot2 catroot2.old
regsvr32.exe /s atl.dll
regsvr32.exe /s urlmon.dll
regsvr32.exe /s mshtml.dll
netsh winsock reset
netsh winsock reset proxy
rundll32.exe pnpclean.dll,RunDLL_PnpClean /DRIVERS /MAXCLEAN
dism /Online /Cleanup-image /ScanHealth
dism /Online /Cleanup-image /CheckHealth
dism /Online /Cleanup-image /RestoreHealth
dism /Online /Cleanup-image /StartComponentCleanup
Sfc /ScanNow
net start bits
net start wuauserv
net start msiserver
net start cryptsvc
net start appidsvc

12. Contact Microsoft or other tech guru Help

If problems persist even after trying the above methods, consider:

  • Contacting Microsoft Support
  • Consulting with a local technician
  • Performing a clean install (as a last resort)

13. Few Final Tips for Smooth Windows Updates

  • Always back up important data before major updates
  • Keep drivers and antivirus software up to date
  • Avoid interrupting the PC during updates
  • Check for known issues on Microsoft’s support site before installing major feature updates

14. Advanced Commands and Additional Ways to Fix Windows Update Problems

These methods go deeper into system-level repairs and are ideal when the basic fixes fail.

14.1. Reset Windows Update Components Manually (Full Command Script)

Instead of just clearing the cache, reset all update-related services and components.

Steps:

Open Command Prompt as Administrator, and run these commands one at a time:

net stop wuauserv
net stop cryptSvc
net stop bits
net stop msiserver

Rename update-related folders:

ren C:/\Windows/\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old ren C:/\Windows/\System32/\catroot2 catroot2.old

Restart the services:

net start wuauserv
net start cryptSvc
net start bits
net start msiserver

This fully resets the update components.

 14.2. Use PowerShell to Re-register Update DLLs

Sometimes DLLs (Dynamic Link Libraries) related to updates become unregistered.

Run this in PowerShell (Admin):

regsvr32 wuaueng.dll regsvr32 wups.dll regsvr32 wups2.dll regsvr32 wuwebv.dll regsvr32 wucltui.dll

 14.3. Use PowerShell to Force Update Scan and Install

Open PowerShell as Administrator, and run:

Install-Module PSWindowsUpdate -Force Import-Module PSWindowsUpdate Get-WindowsUpdate Install-WindowsUpdate -AcceptAll -AutoReboot

 You may be prompted to install NuGet or trust the repository—accept these prompts.

 14.4. Enable Update Services via Registry Editor (Caution)

If your update services are being disabled by group policy or a third-party app, you can reset the registry settings.

Steps:

  1. Press 

    Win + R

     → type 

    regedit

     → Enter

  2. Navigate to:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU

  3. Delete values like NoAutoUpdate, AUOptions, etc.

  4. Also check:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wuauserv

    • Ensure Start is set to 2 (automatic)

 Always back up your registry before editing!


 14.5. Check Group Policy Settings (Windows Pro or Enterprise)

Group Policy can block updates.

Steps:

  1. Press 

    Win + R

     → type 

    gpedit.msc

     → Enter

  2. Navigate to:

    Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update

  3. Check and disable any restrictive settings like:

    • No auto-restart with logged on users
    • Configure Automatic Updates
    • Do not connect to any Windows Update Internet locations

 14.6. Use the Windows Update Assistant

Download the latest Windows Update Assistant from the Microsoft website or Windows 11 equivalent.

  • This tool bypasses built-in update problems
  • It can force the latest feature update or build version

 14.7. Delete Windows Update Pending.xml File

Sometimes updates fail due to a corrupted 

Pending.xml

 file.

Steps:

  1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator

  2. Run:

    del %windir%\winsxs\pending.xml

 This is advanced; use only if you're stuck with a failed update loop.

 14.8. Use Event Viewer to Identify Update Errors

Event Viewer can show exactly which update or process is failing.

Steps:

  1. Press 

    Win + X

     → Event Viewer

  2. Navigate to:

    Windows Logs > System

  3. Filter by Error and Warning

  4. Look for sources like:

    • WindowsUpdateClient
    • CBS (Component-Based Servicing)
    • WUSA

Note any error codes or update KB numbers.

 14.9. Use Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) from ISO

DISM can be more powerful when pointed to a known good source like an ISO image.

Steps:

  1. Mount a Windows ISO (right-click > Mount)

  2. Note the drive letter (e.g., D:)

  3. Run in CMD (Admin):

    cmd.exe

    DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:D:\Sources\install.wim /LimitAccess

Replace 

D:\

 with the correct drive.

 14.10. Revert Problematic Updates Using Recovery or Uninstall

If an update caused system problems:

Option A: Uninstall via Settings

  • Go to Settings > Windows Update > Update History > Uninstall updates

Option B: From Advanced Startup

  • Hold 

     

     while clicking Restart

  • Go to Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Uninstall Updates 

15.How to install Windows 11 without losing files (Re-install windows with keeping All stored files)

15.1. Download and Use the Media Creation Tool:

  • Download the Media Creation Tool from Microsoft's website.

    a) Go to this website:
    www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11

    b) Click Download Now.

    c) Open the file you downloaded.
    Double-click it.

    d) Accept everything.
    Click Accept and Install.

    e) Important:
    When it asks about keeping files, select:

    f) Keep personal files and apps

    Wait until it finishes.

    Your PC will restart many times.

    g) After install:
    Your files and programs will still be there.

  • Run the tool and choose to create installation media for another PC.
  • Select your language, architecture, and edition of Windows.
  • Choose to create either a USB flash drive or an ISO file.
  • Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process. 

15.2 Perform a Clean Install or In-place Upgrade:

  • Clean Install: This will erase all your personal files, apps, and settings, so be sure to back up your data if you choose this option.
  • In-place Upgrade: This will keep your files, apps, and settings while reinstalling Windows. This is a good option if you want to try and preserve your existing setup.
  • To perform an in-place upgrade, boot from the installation media and choose the "Upgrade" option, according to Microsoft Support. 

1️⃣ Go to this website:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11

2️⃣ Download “Installation Assistant.”
Click Download Now.

3️⃣ Open the file you downloaded.
Double-click it.

4️⃣ Accept everything.
Click Accept and Install.

5️⃣ Important:
When it asks about keeping files, select:
✅ Keep personal files and apps

6️⃣ Wait until it finishes.

Your PC will restart many times.

It can take 1–2 hours.

After install, Your files and programs will still be there. But anyways just in case don't forget to create a full backup of everything important before you started.

Summary of Useful Commands

Purpose Command or Tool
Stop Update Services net stop wuauserv etc.
Delete Update Cache del %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\*.* /s /q
Run SFC sfc /scannow
Run DISM DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
PowerShell Update Module Install-Module PSWindowsUpdate
Force Install Updates Install-WindowsUpdate -AcceptAll
Reset Update Components (Full) See above command sequence
Manual Update via Catalog

Conclusion

Windows Update problems can be frustrating, but they’re usually fixable with a methodical approach. From restarting services to clearing cache and running built-in tools, this guide covers all essential fixes. Staying updated ensures your PC remains secure, efficient, and compatible with the latest software.

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Life of the Holy Martyr Confessor Acacius Serski (of Asvestochori, Thessaloniki) The Bulgarian


July 9th, 2025

1-ви май свети преподобномъченик Акакий Серски | Facebook

 

Short  Biography of Saint Acacius Serski (of Asvestochori, Thessaloniki)

He was born with the name Atanas in 1792 in the Bulgarian village of Novo Selo near Thessaloniki.
When he was nine years old, his family moved with him to the town of Syar,[1] where he was taken as a foster child by the local bey as an infant and became a Muslim.
His parents, embittered, returned and settled in Thessaloniki.[5] Slandered by his stepmother for wanting to rape her, Atanas was expelled by the bey at the age of 18 and went to live with his parents.
Realizing the sin of his apostasy, he repented and was tonsured a monk at the Hilendar Monastery on Mount Athos, where he was accepted back into the bosom of the church.
After a year, he withdrew to the Iveron Monastery, where the monks Euthymius and Ignatius had recently suffered. Upon learning of their martyrdom, Akakiy decided to follow their example and publicly declare his renunciation of Islam, even though he knew that he would be sentenced to death for it.

On April 1, he departed by ship from Mount Athos and arrived in Galata, a district of the capital Constantinople, on April 23. On April 29, Saturday, Akakiy appeared before the Turkish court, recounted his renunciation, and publicly cursed Muhammad, calling him a false prophet.
The Ottomans began to try to persuade him to remain in Islam with exhortations and torture, but Akakiy refused and was condemned. On May 1, 1816, he was beheaded at the place of his forehead called Parmak Kapi.[10] His body was bought for 800 groschen and taken to Mount Athos.

His holy relics were placed first in his cell, and then in the newly built church in honor of the martyrs Euthymius and Ignatius who had suffered before him. The head of Saint Akakiy is today in the Russian Athos monastery "Saint Panteleimon".

The Bulgarian saint Akakiy of Sersky is commemorated on Mount Athos on the day of his martyrdom, May 1, together with the martyrs Euthymius (March 21) and Ignatius (October 8), for which a common service of the three saints was composed.

Sant Acacius is not to be mistaken with Sant Acacious of Byzantium.
Saint Acacius (Greek: Ἅγιος Ἀκάκιος; died 303), also known as Agathius of Byzantium, Achatius, or Agathonas to Christian tradition, was a Cappadocian Greek centurion of the imperial army, martyred around 304.)

Biography Source: 
https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/
%D0%90%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%A1%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8

 

Светците Акакий, Евтимий и Игнатий

Life of the Holy Martyr Akakiy (Syarsky) according to Living of Saints

The Holy Martyr Akakiy (Acacius), in holy baptism Athanasius, was born in the Bulgarian village of Novo Selo (Greek: Neochori) nowadays Asvestochori, Thessaloniki near the city of Thessaloniki.
Due to poverty, his parents moved to the city of Serres. 
When he was nine years old, they send him to learn the trade from a shoemaker.

But the shoemaker beat the boy so severely every day that once, on Good Friday, he could not stand it and ran away in tears into the street.
Unfortunately, two Turkish women met him, flattered him, took him into their home, fed him, and so bewitched him with their beautiful words that they convinced him to renounce Christ.
Then the city bey (local area governor) took him to himself, performed the rite of Mohammedan circumcision over him, adopted him, and loved him and his wife as his own son.

After Athanasius had lived in the Bey's house for nine years and had already grown to manhood, the Bey's mistress changed her love for him from maternal to carnal and – like Potiphar's wife – tried to entice him into sin.
The chaste youth – like the wonderful biblical Joseph – fled from her, but she, embittered, slandered him through her husband that he allegedly wanted to defile herself with her.
Believing his wife false accusations, the Bey expelled him from his home and granted him complete freedom to go wherever he wanted.

He went to his parents, who after his renunciation returned to Thessaloniki. They were very happy about his return and especially about his desire to return to the Church of Christ.
But his wise mother warned him that he who voluntarily renounced Christ must wash away the sin of his renunciation with his own blood. He took his mother's advice deeply to heart, withdrew to the Hilendar Monastery on Mount Athos, confessed to the priest of the Xenophon Skete, and was restored to Christianity through chrism. Hearing of the exploits of the recently martyred Athonite holy martyrs Euthymius and Ignatius, he went to their former mentor, Hieromonk Nicephorus, with a request to prepare him for martyrdom. The priest explained to Athanasius all the difficulty of this feat, but he agreed to take him under his guidance.

After a little hesitation, Athanasius quickly advanced in the spiritual life – he labored with love, and his eyes, from heartfelt tenderness, became springs of incessant tears.
Seeing his perfection in virtue and steadfastness in thought, the clergyman tonsured him into monasticism with the name Akakiy ( Acacius ) and after some time blessed him to set out on a martyr's journey, for which he gave him as a companion the same elder Gregory, who at one time accompanied the venerable martyrs Euthymius and Ignatius.

Soon after that, they left the Holy Mountain and went to Constantinople.
On the day of the journey itself, Akakiy partook of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, dressed as a Turk and, shedding tears, accepted the last blessing of the venerable Gregory for martyrdom.

Having arrived at the High Ottoman Gate, he threw off his green turban from his (a sign for belonging to Islamic faith) head and began to trample it with his feet, confessed Christ and cursed Muhammad.
Having failed to persuade him to remain a Mohammedan with exhortations, the judges ordered him to be beaten and thrown into prison.
The next day, Akakiy was brought before the vizier himself, but this also proved to be useless, which is why the sentence of beheading followed.
On the eve of the execution of the sentence, the holy martyr communed with the Holy Mysteries.

saint_Akakius-the-Bulgarian-of-Asveotochy-village-near-Thessaloniki

On May 1, 1816, the Turks beheaded the holy martyr Akakiy in a place called Parmak-kapi.
With money collected by Christians, the monk Gregory bought the body of the holy martyr from the soldiers-guards and took it to Mount Athos.
His holy relics were first placed in his cell, and then he was buried in the newly built church in honor of the holy martyrs Euthymius and Ignatius, who had suffered before him.
The head of Saint Akakiy is now in the Russian Athonite monastery “St. Panteleimon” on Holy Mount Athos.

On the day of his martyrdom, his memory on Mount Athos is honored together with that of the venerable martyrs Euthymius (March 21) and Ignatius (October 8), because a common service has been composed for the three saints, and there is no separate service for St. Acacius.

Source:
© Lives of the Saints. Synodal Publishing House, Sofia, 1991, edited by Parthenius, Bishop of Levkiy and Archimandrite Dr. Athanasius (Bonchev).

Let by the Holy Prayers of Saint Akakiy Serski God have mercy on everyone !

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How to install BASH and use shell scripting on Windows ?


June 26th, 2025

install-bash-on-windows-run-and-use-shellscripting-on-windows-howto

Bash (Bourne Again SHell) is definitely a technology that will stay for years to come its simplicity and multi-platoformness is a factor that will definitely continue for many years thus even though it is mostly used on Linux / BSD / Unix, its application on Windows OS-es nowadays is perhaps increasing. Hence since so many people use Winodws nowdays (for work) it is really useful to have Bash set-up on Windows host machine.
In this article, I'll shortly explain how this is done, the article will not have anything too much interesting for the advanced admin or dev ops guy, but I hope people who are entering the business of system administration and high level computing and still orienting might benefit from it.

To install and use Bash shell terminal in Windows there are at least 3 ways:

  • Use Git Bash (Download and install it directly precompiled on WIndows)
  • Use Windows WSL emulation (install some Linux distro)
  • Use Virtualbox / Vagrant / VMware / Hyper-V emulation and install VM from public ISO image.

As a Free Software Lover, I would recommend and  always prefer to use the Free Software alternative if that is possible and thanksfully usually I use and install Git Bash or completely install Cygwin (Full set of Linux tools to run like native on Windows together with  Mobaxterm) together.

 

1. Installing Git Bash on Windows (uses MinGW Minimalist GNU for Windows)

Some might prefer to not use Microsoft for managing their bash especially the more freedom in mind people who like GNU and Free software and people.

MinGW is well known among free and open source enthusiasts.
It includes a port of the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), GNU Binutils for Windows (assembler, linker, archive manager), a set of freely distributable Windows specific header files and static import libraries which enable the use of the Windows API, a Windows native build of the GNU Project's GNU Debugger, and miscellaneous utilities.

MinGW does not rely on third-party C runtime dynamic-link library (DLL) files, and because the runtime libraries are not distributed using the GNU General Public License (GPL), it is not necessary to distribute the source code with the programs produced, unless a GPL library is used elsewhere in the program.

 

MinGW can be run either on the native Microsoft Windows platform, cross-hosted on Linux (or other Unix), or "cross-native" on Cygwin.


To install Bash via Git, you can use Git for Windows, which includes Git Bash — a lightweight Bash emulator.


Steps to Install Git Bash on Windows
 

a. Download Git for Windows

Go to the official Git website:

https://git-scm.com/download/win

The download should start automatically.

b. Run the Installer

  • Open the downloaded .exe file
  • Follow the installation prompts

Recommended Settings:

  • Select components: Keep default
  • Editor: Choose your preferred text editor (e.g., Notepad++ or Vim)
  • Adjust PATH environment: Choose “Git from the command line and also from 3rd-party software”
  • Choose SSH executable: Use Built-in OpenSSH
  • Choose HTTPS transport backend: Use the default (OpenSSL)
  • Configure line endings: Select “Checkout Windows-style, commit Unix-style line endings”
  • Terminal emulator: Choose “Use MinTTY (the default terminal)”

Click Next through the remaining steps and then Install.

c. Launch Git Bash

After installation:

  • Press Windows key, type "Git Bash"
  • Click to launch the terminal

Now you're using a Bash shell on Windows.

Perhaps most common way is to use Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), people follow. WSL is a technology which is native Windows but gives MS Windows the opportunity to act in a way similar to docker containers. WSL lets you run a full Linux environment (including Bash) directly on Windows without using a virtual machine and is really fast and easy on Machine system resources. 


 2. Installing WSL bash easy from Windows 10 / 11 using  Win GUI menus


Steps to install WSL on Windows 10 / 11

Microsoft has since only continued to improve its Windows Subsystem for Linux, and an update in a Windows 10 preview build back in mid-2020 made it easier to install Bash.

That method also works the same as on Win 10 as well as on Win 11.
To install Bash shell emulation, hence open Windows Terminal as an admin user. You can do this by right-clicking the Windows icon and selecting “Windows Terminal (Admin)” from the power user menu.

(If you’re on Windows 10, you should see it listed as “Windows Powershell (Admin)” in the menu.)

 

windows-run-powershell-from-start-menu-screenshot

 


To complete WSL install with Virtualized Ubuntu OS

In Windows Terminal, run this command:

PS C:\Users\MyUser> wsl –install

Once everything is downloaded needed to run WSL emulation and Ubuntu Linux distribution,  Restart the PC.

Once your PC rebooted, installation will continue automatically.

After Ubuntu installed successfully, you’ll next be prompted to create a username and password and Ubuntu will fire up, and you will have your bash in Windows

 

Install-WSL-linux-subsystem-for-windows-from-powershell-prompt-screenshot


a. Enabling and Intalling BASH via command line (if WSL Linux subsystem for Windows is not enabled on Windows


It might be your Windows has no configured Windows Subsystem for Linux, hence if that is the case you will need to enable it following below few steps.

b. Enable WSL via dism.exe cmd

Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:

Powershell

PS C:\Users\MyUser> wsl –install

This installs WSL 2 and a default Linux distribution (like Ubuntu).

If you're on Windows 10 or on a PC where whoever installed the OS has not installed the Win Subsystem for Linux, you may need to manually enable WSL:

Launch Powershell

PS C:\Users\MyUser> dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart

PS C:\Users\MyUser> dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart

Then restart your computer and run:

from the Windows Magnifier run Powershell and type in PS1 prompt:

PS C:\Users\MyUser> wsl –set-default-version 2

c. Installing other Linux Distribution (different from Ubuntu)

If not already installed during wsl –install, open the Microsoft Store and search for:

  • Ubuntu
  • Debian
  • Kali Linux
  • etc.

Click Install on the one you want.

d. Launching WSL / Bash terminal

Once installed:

  • Open Start Menu
  • Search for your Linux distro you just installed (e.g., “Ubuntu”)
  • Launch it

This opens a Bash shell where you can run Linux commands, like in regular Linux but on your Microsoft Windows OS.
 

Sum it up

What we learned is how to install bash via Bash Git and start using it to have more hybrid environment Windows / Linux. The article explained the two main methods using GIt Bash and using embedded Windows emulator WSL with an emulated Linux distro.

Enjoy ! 🙂

 

 


 

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Deploying a Puppet Server and Patching multiple Debian Linux Servers


June 17th, 2025

how-to-install-puppet-server-clients-for-multiple-servers-and-services-infrastructure-logo

 

Puppet Overview

Puppet is a powerful automation tool used to manage configurations and automate administrative tasks across multiple systems. This guide walks you through installing a Puppet server (master) and configuring 10 Debian-based client servers (agents) to automatically install system updates (patches) using Puppet.

Table of Contents

  1. Prerequisites

  2. Step 1: Install Puppet Server on Debian

  3. Step 2: Configure the Puppet Server

  4. Step 3: Install Puppet Agent on 10 Debian Clients

  5. Step 4: Sign Agent Certificates

  6. Step 5: Create a Puppet Module for Patching

  7. Step 6: Assign the Module and Trigger Updates

  8. Conclusion


1. Prerequisites

  • Debian server to act as the Puppet master (e.g., Debian 11)
     
  • Debian servers as Puppet agents (clients)
     
  • Root or sudo access on all systems
     
  • Static IPs or properly configured hostnames
     
  • Network connectivity between master and agents
     

2. Install Puppet Server on Debian

a. Add the Puppet APT repository

# wget https://apt.puppet.com/puppet7-release-bullseye.deb
# dpkg -i puppet7-release-bullseye.deb
# apt update

b. Install Puppet Server

# apt install puppetserver -y

c. Configure JVM memory (optional but recommended)

Edit /etc/default/puppetserver:  

JAVA_ARGS="-Xms512m -Xmx1g"


d. Enable and start the Puppet Server

# systemctl enable puppetserver 
# systemctl start puppetserver


3. Configure the Puppet Server

a. Set the hostname
 

# hostnamectl set-hostname puppet.example.com


Update /etc/hosts with your server’s IP and FQDN if DNS is not configured:  

192.168.1.10 puppet.pc-freak.net puppet

 

b. Configure Puppet

Edit /etc/puppetlabs/puppet/puppet.conf:

[main] certname = puppet.pc-freak.net
server = puppet.pc-freak.net
environment = production
runinterval = 1h

 

Restart Puppet server:

# systemctl restart puppetserver

4. Install Puppet Agent on 10 Debian Clients

Repeat this section on each client server (Debian 10/11).

a. Add the Puppet repository

# wget https://apt.puppet.com/puppet7-release-bullseye.deb
# dpkg -i puppet7-release-bullseye.deb 
# apt update


b. Install the Puppet agent

# apt install puppet-agent -y


c. Configure the agent to point to the master

# /opt/puppetlabs/bin/puppet config set server puppet.example.com –section main


d. Start the agent to request a certificate

# /opt/puppetlabs/bin/puppet agent –test

 

5. Sign Agent Certificates on the Puppet Server

Run on the Puppet master below 2 cmds:

# /usr/bin/puppetserver ca list –all


Sign all pending requests:

# /usr/bin/puppetserver ca sign –all

Verify connection to puppet server is fine:

# /opt/puppetlabs/bin/puppet node find haproxy2.pc-freak.net


6.  Create a Puppet Module for Patching

a. Create the patching module

# mkdir -p /etc/puppetlabs/code/environments/production/modules/patching/manifests


b. Add a manifest file
/etc/puppetlabs/code/environments/production/modules/patching/manifests/init.pp:

class patching {

  exec { 'apt_update':
    command => '/usr/bin/apt update',
    path    => [‘/usr/bin’, ‘/usr/sbin’],
    unless  => '/usr/bin/test $(find /var/lib/apt/lists/ -type f -mmin -60 | wc -l) -gt 0',
  }

  exec { 'apt_upgrade':
    command => '/usr/bin/apt upgrade -y',
    path    => [‘/usr/bin’, ‘/usr/sbin’],
    require => Exec[‘apt_update’],
    unless  => '/usr/bin/test $(/usr/bin/apt list –upgradable 2>/dev/null | wc -l) -le 1',
  }

}

This class updates the package list and applies all available security and feature updates.

7.  Assign the Module and Trigger Updates

a. Edit site.pp on the Puppet master:

 

# vim /etc/puppetlabs/code/environments/production/manifests/site.pp

 

node default {
  include patching
}

node 'agent1.example.com' {
  include patching
}

b. Run Puppet manually on each agent to test:

# /opt/puppetlabs/bin/puppet agent –test

Once confirmed working, Puppet agents will run this patching class automatically every hour (default runinterval).

8. Check the status of puppetserver and puppet agent on hosts is fine
 

root@puppetserver:/etc/puppet# systemctl status puppetserver
● puppetserver.service – Puppet Server
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/puppetserver.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Mon 2025-06-16 23:44:42 EEST; 37min ago
       Docs: https://puppet.com/docs/puppet/latest/server/about_server.html
    Process: 2166 ExecStartPre=sh -c echo -n 0 > ${RUNTIME_DIRECTORY}/restart (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
    Process: 2168 ExecStartPost=sh -c while ! head -c1 ${RUNTIME_DIRECTORY}/restart | grep -q '^1'; do kill -0 $MAINPID && sleep 1 || exit 1; done (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 2167 (java)
      Tasks: 64 (limit: 6999)
     Memory: 847.0M
        CPU: 1min 28.704s
     CGroup: /system.slice/puppetserver.service
             └─2167 /usr/bin/java -Xms512m -Xmx1g -Djruby.lib=/usr/share/jruby/lib -XX:+CrashOnOutOfMemoryError -XX:ErrorFile=/var/log/puppetserver/puppetserver_err_pid%p.log -jar /usr/share/pup>

юни 16 23:44:06 haproxy2 systemd[1]: Starting puppetserver.service – Puppet Server…
юни 16 23:44:30 haproxy2 java[2167]: 2025-06-16T23:44:30.516+03:00 [clojure-agent-send-pool-0] WARN FilenoUtil : Native subprocess control requires open access to the JDK IO subsystem
юни 16 23:44:30 haproxy2 java[2167]: Pass '–add-opens java.base/sun.nio.ch=ALL-UNNAMED –add-opens java.base/java.io=ALL-UNNAMED' to enable.
юни 16 23:44:42 haproxy2 systemd[1]: Started puppetserver.service – Puppet Server.

root@grafana:/etc/puppet# systemctl status puppet
* puppet.service – Puppet agent
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/puppet.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Mon 2025-06-16 21:22:17 UTC; 18s ago
       Docs: man:puppet-agent(8)
   Main PID: 1660157 (puppet)
      Tasks: 6 (limit: 2307)
     Memory: 135.6M
        CPU: 5.303s
     CGroup: /system.slice/puppet.service
             |-1660157 /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/bin/ruby /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/bin/puppet agent –no-daemonize
             `-1660164 "puppet agent: applying configuration"

Jun 16 21:22:17 grafana systemd[1]: Started puppet.service – Puppet agent.
Jun 16 21:22:28 grafana puppet-agent[1660157]: Starting Puppet client version 7.34.0
Jun 16 21:22:33 grafana puppet-agent[1660164]: Requesting catalog from puppet.pc-freak.net:8140 (192.168.1.58)

9. Use Puppet facter to extract interesting information from the Puppet running OS
 

facter is a powerful command-line tool Puppet agents use to gather system information (called facts). You can also run it manually on any machine to quickly inspect system details.

Here are some interesting examples to get useful info from a machine using facter:


a) Get all facts about Linux OS

$ facter
…

 

b) get OS name / version

$ facter os.name os.release.full
os.name => Debian
os.release.full => 12.10


c) check the machine  hostname and IP address

$ facter hostname ipaddress

hostname => puppet-client1
ipaddress => 192.168.0.220

d) Get amount of RAM on the machine

$ facter memorysize
16384 MB


e) Get CPU (Processor information)

$ facter processors

{
  count => 4,
  models => [“Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8250U CPU @ 1.60GHz”],
  physicalcount => 1,
  speed => "1.60 GHz"
}

10. Conclusion

You've successfully set up a Puppet server and configured a sample Debian client systems to automatically install security patches using a custom module.
To apply this on the rest of systems where puppet agent is installed repeat the process on each of the left 9 nodes.
This approach provides centralized control, consistent configuration, and peace of mind for you as system administrator if you have the task to manage multiple Debian servers
with an easy.
Of course the given configuration is very sample and to guarantee proper functiononing of your infrastrcutreu you'll have to read and experiment with puppet, however I hope article is a good
standpoint to have puppet server / agent running relatively easy.

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How to Рecover deleted files in windows with Free ( unpaid ) software


June 5th, 2025

How to Restore Deleted Files on Windows 10/11 - TinyFrom

It happens sometimes on Windows that accidently you deleted some files or directory with pressing Shift + DELETE key (not sending it to Trashbin) or by deleting fies / dirs by sending them in Trashbin but you decided you want them back once you have cleared up the Trashbin.
If this is the case it is pretty easy  to recover deleted files in Windows using free (freeware) unpaid soft and tools, to do so chooose on of the many options described and follow the some of below methods by the well known and  reputable tools pointed next.

1. Use Recuva (Free Version)

Recuva is one of the most popular free file recovery tools from the makers of CCleaner.

Steps:

  1. Download from the official site: https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva

  2. Install and open Recuva.

  3. Select the type of files you want to recover (e.g., pictures, documents).

  4. Choose the drive where the file was deleted.

  5. Use the Deep Scan option if the regular scan fails.

  6. Select files to recover and save them to a different drive to avoid overwriting.

2. Use PhotoRec (Part of TestDisk)

Despite the name, PhotoRec can recover many types of files, not just photos.

Steps:

  1. Download TestDisk & PhotoRec: https://www.cgsecurity.org/

  2. Extract the archive and run photorec_win.exe.

  3. Select the drive, then the partition.

  4. Choose the file system type (typically "Other").

  5. Select a destination for recovered files on another drive.

  6. Let it scan and recover files.

  7.  

⚠️ PhotoRec runs in a command-line interface but is powerful and completely free.

 

Note that Photorec is also available and can be used on Linux to recover files and if you're used to do things from command line I strongly recommend to give it a try on Windows as well.

3. Windows File History / Previous Versions (If Enabled)

If File History or System Protection was enabled:

Steps:

  1. Right-click the folder where the file was.

  2. Choose Restore previous versions.

  3. Browse previous versions and restore as needed.


4. Windows File Recovery (Microsoft's Free CLI Tool)

A command-line tool from Microsoft for advanced users is avalable it is called winfr

Steps:

  1. Download from Microsoft Store: Windows File Recovery

  2. Open Command Prompt as Administrator.

  3. To recover just a single file use the command:

    C:\>

    winfr C: D: /regular /n \Users\YourName\Documents\file.txt

     

    Replace paths as needed.

  4. To recover a directory it is pretty much the same except you have to include the directory instead of file

C:\> 

winfr C: D: /regular /n \Users\YourName\Documents\YourDeletedFolder\

 

Replace

C:

and

D:

with the appropriate source and destination drives.

 

 

  • C:

    = source drive (where the folder was deleted)

  • D:

    = destination drive (where recovered files will be saved)

  • /n

    = path filter (target folder)

  • /regular

    = mode suitable for NTFS drives


Important Tips:

 

  • Stop using the drive where the file was deleted to avoid overwriting it.
  • Always recover to a different drive.
  • The sooner you act, the higher the recovery success rate.

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Deploying a Server and Managing a 10-Node Linux Infrastructure with Ansible


May 30th, 2025

File:Ansible Logo.png - Wikimedia Commons

As organizations grow, manually configuring and maintaining servers quickly becomes inefficient, error-prone, and unscalable. Ansible, a powerful open-source automation tool, allows sysadmins and DevOps engineers to automate server provisioning, configuration management, and application deployment across multiple nodes—making it ideal for managing a fleet of Linux servers.

In this article, you’ll learn how to deploy a server using Ansible and manage an infrastructure of 10 Linux servers with ease.


What Is Ansible?

Ansible is a suite of software tools that enables infrastructure as code. It is open-source and the suite includes software provisioning, configuration management, and application deployment functionality.Ansible is an agentless IT automation tool. It uses SSH to connect to remote machines and YAML-based playbooks to define automation tasks. With Ansible, you can:

  • Install and configure software packages
  • Enforce configuration consistency
  • Perform updates across nodes
  • Deploy applications
  • Orchestrate complex workflows
     

Pre-requisites

To follow this guide, you need:

  • A control node (the machine from which you run Ansible)
  • 10 Linux servers (can be VMs or physical machines)
  • SSH access from the control node to all servers
  • Python installed on the target machines (most Linux distros have this by default)
     

1. Install Ansible on the Control Node 

On Ubuntu / Debian Linux

# apt update sudo apt install ansible -y

Or for CentOS/RHEL

# yum install epel-release -y
# yum install ansible -y

Verify installation:

# ansible –version

2. Configure Your Inventory File

Ansible uses an inventory file to define which servers to manage. By default, this is located at /etc/ansible/hosts , but you can also create a custom one.

Create an inventory file hosts.ini 

[webservers]
server1 ansible_host=192.168.1.101
server2 ansible_host=192.168.1.102
server3 ansible_host=192.168.1.103
[dbservers]
server4 ansible_host=192.168.1.104
[all:vars]
ansible_user=ansible_user
ansible_ssh_private_key_file=~/.ssh/id_rsa

You can also use hostnames if DNS is configured.

3. Test Connectivity

# ansible -i hosts.ini all -m ping

If everything is set up correctly, you should see pong responses from all servers.

4. Write Your First Playbook (Provisioning Example)

Create a file called server_setup.yml:

—
– name: Provision and configure Linux servers
  hosts: all
  become: yes
  tasks:

    – name: Update apt cache (Debian/Ubuntu)
      apt:
        update_cache: yes
      when: ansible_os_family == "Debian"

    – name: Install common packages
      package:
        name:
          – curl
          – git
          – htop
        state: present

    – name: Ensure Nginx is installed on webservers
      apt:
        name: nginx
        state: present
      when: "'webservers' in group_names"

    – name: Start and enable Nginx
      service:
        name: nginx
        state: started
        enabled: yes
      when: "'webservers' in group_names"
 

5. Run the Playbook

# ansible-playbook -i hosts.ini server_setup.yml

Ansible will SSH into each server, execute the tasks, and return status messages.

6. Scaling to 10+ Servers

Managing a growing infrastructure is simple with Ansible:

  • Add new servers to hosts.ini
  • Reuse existing playbooks for setup
  • Use roles to modularize configuration (e.g., webserver, database, monitoring)
  • Schedule playbooks using cron or CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitHub Actions, Jenkins)

7. Sample Ansible Project Structure

Organizing your Ansible project effectively is crucial for scalability and maintainability. Here's a sample recommended directory layout:

ansible-infra/
├── hosts.ini
├── server_setup.yml
├── roles/
│   ├── common/
│   │   ├── tasks/
│   │   │   └── main.yml
│   │   └── files/
│   └── webserver/
│       ├── tasks/
│       │   └── main.yml
│       └── templates/
└── group_vars/
    └── all.yml
 

Key Components:
 

  • ansible.cfg: Configuration file defining paths and settings.
  • inventories/: Directory containing environment-specific inventory files.
  • playbooks/: Directory for playbooks that define automation tasks.
  • roles/: Directory for reusable roles, each with its own tasks and variables.
  • requirements.yml: File listing external roles or collections.
     

For a detailed explanation of this structure, refer to the Ansible Documentation.

Visual Workflow (text) Diagram

To illustrate the workflow, here's a diagram depicting how Ansible interacts with your infrastructure:

+——————+        +——————+        +——————+
|   Control Node   |        |    Ansible      |        |   Managed Nodes  |
|  (Your Machine)  |        |  (Ansible Core) |        |  (10 Linux Servers)|
+——————+        +——————+        +——————+
        |                               |                                 |
        | SSH                      | Execute Playbooks  | Apply Configurations
        |                               |                                 |
        +————————->+————————->+

Workflow Steps:

  1. Control Node: You initiate commands from your local machine.

  2. Ansible Core: Ansible connects via SSH to each managed node.

  3. Managed Nodes: Ansible applies configurations as defined in your playbooks and roles.

This workflow ensures consistent and automated management of your infrastructure.

Best Practices

  • Use roles: Organize playbooks into reusable roles
     (ansible-galaxy init myrole)
  • Maintain version control: Keep playbooks and inventory in Git
  • Encrypt secrets: Use ansible-vault for secure credentials
  • Test in staging: Always validate changes before pushing to production

Conclusion

Ansible is a game-changer for managing Linux infrastructure. With a few simple playbooks, you can provision, configure, and maintain your servers consistently and securely.
For a 10-node infrastructure, it offers the perfect balance of simplicity and power—letting you scale efficiently without the overhead of agent-based solutions.

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Christ is Risen Eastern Orthodox Resurrection Paschal Greeting in Different Languages


April 24th, 2020

Resurrection-of-Christ-holy-orthodox-icon-Voskresenie-Hristovo

Happy Easter to All Orthodox Christians worldwide ! 
We are the the bright week –  this is the week after The Feast of Feasts Resurrection of Christ. This year in 2020, we Orthodox Christians celebrated this feast on 19th, 20th and 21st of April. The celebrations of the Feast of Christians and the Paschal joy continues for the whole week, so I found some time to quickly blog to share the Joy of the Resurrection of the Savior Jesus Christ who has freed all People from the Fear of the Death by Manifestating Death has been overtaken by Life Eternally.
Earlier years, I've blogged shortly on the Christ is risen in many languages. But this time I decided to extend my previous blog by adding some more details on which are the Member Churches consisting the Christ body of Holy Orthodoxy, What is the Creed of Faith (Symbol of Faith) difference Between Orthodox Christians and Roman Catholics and why we're not catholics and do celebrate Easter on a different date from Roman Catholics. Finally I will post the Paschal Greeting translated to as many languages I could find.

In the Eastern Orthodox Christian world which is the True Church of Christ consists of 15 National Churches each traced back to the Holy Apostles of Christ, each of Churches is in eucharistic Communion with the other. 

Canonical Orthodox Christ Churches as of year 2020 are the following:

1. Orthodox Church of Constantinople
2. Orthodox Church of Alexandria
3. Orthodox Church of Antiochia
4. Jerusalem Patriarchal Orthodox Church
5. Bulgarian Orthodox Church
6. Georgian Orthodox Church
7. Serbian Orthodox Church
8. Russian Orthodox Church
9. Romanian Orthodox Church
10. Orthodox Church of Cyprus (archibishopship)
11. Greek Orthodox Church
12. Albanian Orthodox Church
13. Polish Orthodox Church
14. Orthodox Church of Chech Lands and Slovakia
15. American Orthodox Church


Historically Christ Church was one before the Great Schism that was perhaps the greatest tragedy of mankind after Christ's Crucifix it occured in 1054 A.D. About this saddening events, the manuscripts and contemporary saints says with this terrible event, the whole world shaked its basis. The result of the Bulla brought by Pope's messangers in Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople in the Holy Alter of the Church putting in document of official schism and the Church of the east condeming the Western Church Cuhrch action headed by the pope due to the false Creed of faith inclusion legallized by the pope with the so called 'Filioque' word formula that changed the original agreement of Church fathers decisions on the First Ecumenical Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D. (which by the way puts Anathemas on anyone who dares to change the Creed of Faith as well change by the Popes in the well known ancient Baptism Formulas like oilment (receving the sign of the holy spirit during baptism).

The historical number of Orthodox Churche dioceses were much more numerous but with the time and the hardships this are the only ones that left as official Churches, many dioceses were destroyed by the Muslims Conquests and Roman Catholics orders like the Jesuits whose fight against orthodoxy has been severe in their attempt to make the whole world to turn to the pope, this is very well known by the many remains of Uniates around Europe, especially in nowadays Ukraine. There is a lot of nations like Chechz and Hungarians whose for many centuries confessed orthodoxy but due to the economic relations with the West and the converion of their rulers (princes / Kings) etc. to Roman Catholicism has gradually converted their Eastern Churches to Roman Catholics.

The origional Nicean Creed (Nicea-Constantinople) creed of faith reads as this:

Nicean Creed of Faith ( Agreed on 381 Anno Dommini in Emperor Constantine City of Byzantine Empire Constantinople)

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds (æons), Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;

by whom all things were made;

who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary, and was made man;

he was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried, and the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father;

from thence he shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead. ;

whose kingdom shall have no end.

* And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spake by the prophets.

In one Holy Catholic and apostolic Church; we acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

The Western Church head Bishop the Pope and local priests due to some historical regions of Spain and other parts of Western Europe's aim to fight heresies included the word Latin word Filioque in above translated text (Word which is translated as "And from the Son") in above starred line 'And in te Holy Ghost, The Lord Giver of Life who proceedeth from the Father' become 'And in the Holy Ghost, The Lord Giver of Life who proceedeth from the Father (Filioque) = and from the Son.' this was acceptable for the Eastern Churches until the moment when this Confession of Faith has been legalized for the Whole Western Church with a decree so called pope 'Bulla' with which it become the official confession of faith for the whole Catholic Church. The Eastern Church of course was following the accepted Canon rules from the first Ecumenical Council in 381 A.D. and rejected to accept the definition of the Pope at first in the Face of Saint Patriarch Photios I of Constantinople (year 810 –  893) and become official in 1054 by the rule of Pope Leo whose legates tried to claim Headship of the Pope over the whole Church and questioned the title of the Constantinople Ecumenical Patriarch Michael I Cerularius.
Along with the chages of the Creed of Faith the West, the years during centuries VII and IX centuries has already put a lot of differences in the East and West Church along doctrinal, theological, linguistic, political, and geographical lines so the split was a reflection of all this. The Latin Church was much more power hungry and more progressive for its time and authoritarian, trying to combine the Worldly power with the Spiritual one given by the line of Apostoles from Christ Ceasaris-Papism, where the Eastern Church was governed in the ancient model of the Worldly power in face of Eastern Roman empire Emperor and the Patriarch who was a governor of the Spiritual power. The schism was worsened also by the many Latins raids in the Eastern Empire Christian brothers and the sacking of Constantinople in 8-13 April year 1204. Of course both Wester and Eastern Roman Empire had an appetite for a conquest over the other and often this has lead the secular rulers on both sides to try to manipulate activities of the spiritual leaders of both to work for their interests, but the schism would never occur if the spiritual establishment of the Church which are the Holy Canons (decision of the Ecumenical Councils) were not breached by the Western Church.
One of this breaches of the Ancient canons is the Celebration of Eastern Pascha which says the Christian Pascha should never coincide with Jewish Pascha. However in the Western Church this rule was breached and nowadays The Eastern (The Day of the Resurrection of Christ) in the Roman Catholic Church (Western Church) coincides most of the years with Jewish Pascha (both Roman Catholics and the executors of Christ who never accepted him the Jews celebrate together … a sad fact).

Nowadays most of the Ancient Churches of the East together with the Eastern Orthodox Churches, who are confessing the Faith of Christ such as it was handed by the Saint Fathers has a very specific ancient way of confession of faith similar to the Creed of Faith which was a very common short ancient way to confess the faith when two Christians met it is perhaps originating from the times of the Heresies in the 1st century right after the Christ Crucifix, when the pupil of Christ used it to confirm the Glorious and unexplainable Miracle of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the Death in Real Body in the 3rd day from the Grave in the Cave where his body was buried.

Resurrection-of-Christ-Anastasis-Greek-orthodox-icon

The Greeting Formula is the well known in the Eastern Orthodox Churches such as in Bulgaria / Greece / Russia / Serbia etc. Christ is Risen.
On every easter Almost everyone in the Orthodox Christian Countires greats everyone else both in homes on the street at work or anywhere relatives friends and even unfamiliar people who has to do business deeds with the immersely joyful greeting.

ХРИСТОС ВОСКРЕСЕ / CHRIST IS RISEN !!!!! !!!

Then the greeted Person answers back

ВОЙСТИНУ ВОСКРЕСЕ / TRULY HE IS RISEN (INDEED HE IS RISEN) !!!!!!!!

In the Orthodox Churches, believers do greet themselves with this heartful joyful greeting for the whole 40 days after the Feast of Resurrection of Christ.

In Russia, Ukrain, Belarus and the surrounding Slavonic lands there is this tradition that the greeting is repeated 3 times as an interaction between person A and person B, for example.

Person A (3 times) greets:
ХРИСТОС ВОСКРЕСЕ = CHRIST IS RISEN !!!
Person B (3 times) answers:
ВОЙСТИНУ ВОСКРЕСЕ = TRULY HE IS RISEN !!!

Resurrection-of-Christ-Velikden-orthodox-holy-icon

Below is a good list with Paschal Resurrection Greeting in multiple languages, for those who has curious polyglot minds who want to learn few words in different languages.

Indo-European languages

Greek: Χριστὸς ἀνέστη! Ἀληθῶς ἀνέστη! (Khristós anésti! Alithós anésti!)

Voskresenie-Gospoda-Nashego-Iisusa-Hrista-Mosaic

Slavic languages

Church Slavonic: Хрїсто́съ воскре́се! Вои́стинꙋ воскре́се! (Xristósŭ voskrése! Voístinu voskrése!

Bulgarian: Христос воскресе! Воистину воскресе! (Khristos voskrese! Voistinu voskrese!), as if in Church Slavonic; Христос възкресе!

Belarusian: Хрыстос уваскрос! Сапраўды ўваскрос! (Chrystos uvaskros! Sapraŭdy ŭvaskros!)

Наистина възкресе! (Khristos vâzkrese! Naistina vâzkrese!) in Modern Bulgarian

In Georgia Christ is risen! Truly is risen would be: " ქრისტე აღსდგა![Qriste Agsdga],—– ჭეშმარიტად! [Cheshmaritad].

Croatian: Krist uskrsnu! Uistinu uskrsnu!

: Kristus vstal z mrtvých! Vpravdě vstal z mrtvých!

Macedonian: Христос воскресе! Навистина воскресе! (Hristos voskrese! Navistina voskrese!), traditional; or Христос воскресна! Навистина воскресна! (Hristos voskresna! Navistina voskresna!)

Polish: Chrystus zmartwychwstał! Prawdziwie zmartwychwstał!

Russian: Христос воскрес(-е)! Воистину воскрес(-е)! (Khristos voskres(-е)! Voistinu voskres(-е)!) (the version with -e is in Church Slavonic, one without it is in modern Russian; both are widely used)

Rusyn: Хрістос воскрес! Воістину воскрес! (Hristos voskres! Voistynu voskres!)

Serbian: Христос васкрсе! Ваистину васкрсе! (Hristos vaskrse! Vaistinu vaskrse!) or Христос воскресе! Ваистину воскресе! (Hristos voskrese! Vaistinu voskrese!)

Slovak: Kristus vstal z mŕtvych! Skutočne vstal (z mŕtvych)! (though the Church Slavonic version is more often used)

Slovene: Kristus je vstal! Zares je vstal!

Ukrainian: Христос воскрес! Воістину воскрес! (Khrystos voskres! Voistynu voskres!)

Tosk Albanian: Krishti u ngjall! Vërtet u ngjall!

Armenian

Western Armenian: Քրիստոս յարեա՜ւ ի մեռելոց: Օրհնեա՜լ է Յարութիւնն Քրիստոսի: (Krisdos haryav i merelotz! Orhnyal e Haroutyunen Krisdosi!)

eastern dialect, Քրիստոս հարյա՜վ ի մեռելոց: Օրհնյա՜լ է Հարությունը Քրիստոսի: (Khristos haryav i merelotz! Orhnyal e Harouthyoune Khristosi!); literally "Christ is risen! Blessed is the resurrection of Christ!")
 

Christus-Resurrexit-Latin-icon-Christ_Resurrection

 

Germanic languages

 

Anglic languages

Scots: Christ has ryssyn! Hech aye, he his ain sel!

English: Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Or Christ is risen! Truly, he is risen!

Old English: Crist is ārisen! Hē is sōþlīċe ārisen!

Middle English: Crist is arisen! Arisen he sothe!

Danish: Kristus er opstanden! Sandelig Han er Opstanden!

West Frisian: Kristus is opstien! Wis is er opstien!

German: Christus ist auferstanden! Er ist wahrhaft auferstanden! or Der Herr ist auferstanden! Er ist wahrhaftig auferstanden!

Icelandic: Kristur er upprisinn! Hann er sannarlega upprisinn!

Faroese: Kristus er upprisin! Hann er sanniliga upprisin!

Low Franconian languages

Dutch: Christus is opgestaan! Hij is waarlijk opgestaan! (Netherlands) or Christus is verrezen! Hij is waarlijk verrezen! (Belgium)

Afrikaans: Christus het opgestaan! Hy het waarlik opgestaan!

Norwegian

Bokmål: Kristus er oppstanden! Han er sannelig oppstanden!

Nynorsk: Kristus er oppstaden! Han er sanneleg oppstaden!

Swedish: Kristus är uppstånden! Han är sannerligen uppstånden!

Italic languages

Latin: Christus resurrexit! Resurrexit vere!

Romance languages

Aromanian: Hristolu anyie! Di alihea anyie!

Resurrection-of-Christ-Coptic-christian-icon

Catalan: Crist ha ressuscitat! Veritablement ha ressuscitat!

French: Le Christ est ressuscité ! En vérité il est ressuscité! Or Le Christ est ressuscité ! Vraiment il est ressuscité !

Galician: Cristo resucitou! De verdade resucitou!

Italian: Cristo è risorto! È veramente risorto!

Portuguese: Cristo ressuscitou! Em verdade ressuscitou! or Cristo ressuscitou! Ressuscitou verdadeiramente!

Arpitan: Lo Crist es ressuscitat! En veritat es ressuscitat!

Romanian: Hristos a înviat! Adevărat a înviat!

Romansh: Cristo es rinaschieu! In varded, el es rinaschieu!

Sardinian: Cristu est resuscitadu! Aberu est resuscitadu!

Sicilian: Cristu arrivisciutu esti! Pibbiru arrivisciutu esti!

Spanish: ¡Cristo resucitó! ¡En verdad resucitó!

Walloon: Li Crist a raviké! Il a raviké podbon!

Baltic languages

Latvian: Kristus (ir) augšāmcēlies! Patiesi (viņš ir) augšāmcēlies!

Lithuanian: Kristus prisikėlė! Tikrai prisikėlė!
 

Celtic languages

Goidelic languages

Old Irish: Asréracht Críst! Asréracht Hé-som co dearb!

Irish: Tá Críost éirithe! Go deimhin, tá sé éirithe!

Manx: Taw Creest Ereen! Taw Shay Ereen Guhdyne!

Scottish Gaelic: Tha Crìosd air èiridh! Gu dearbh, tha e air èiridh!

 

Brythonic languages

 

Breton:Dassoret eo Krist! E wirionez dassoret eo!

Cornish: Thew Creest dassorez! En weer thewa dassorez!

Welsh: Atgyfododd Crist! Yn wir atgyfododd!

Indo-Iranian languages

Ossetian:Чырысти райгас! Æцæгæй райгас! Or бæлвырд райгас! (Ḱyrysti rajgas! Æcægæj rajgas or bælvyrd rajgas!)

Persian: مسیح برخاسته است! به راستی برخاسته است!‎ (Masih barkhaste ast! Be rasti barkhaste ast!)

Hindi: येसु मसीह ज़िन्दा हो गया है! हाँ यक़ीनन, वोह ज़िन्दा हो गय یسوع مسیح زندہ ہو گیا ہے! ہاں یقیناً، وہ زندہ ہو گیا ہے!‎ (Yesu Masīh zindā ho gayā hai! Hā̃ yaqīnan, voh zindā ho gayā hai!)

Marathi: Yeshu Khrist uthla ahe! Kharokhar uthla ahe!

Abkhazian: Kyrsa Dybzaheit! Itzzabyrgny Dybzaheit!
 

Jesus-Christ-Resurrected-arabic-coptic-icon

Afro-Asiatic languages

 

Semitic languages

 

Standard Arabic: المسيح قام! حقا قام!‎ (al-Masīḥ qām! Ḥaqqan qām!) or المسيح قام! بالحقيقة قام! (al-Masīḥ qām! Bi-l-ḥaqīqati qām!)

Aramaic languages

 

Classical Syriac: ܡܫܝܚܐ ܩܡ! ܫܪܝܪܐܝܬ ܩܡ!‎ (Mshiḥa qām! sharīrāīth qām! or Mshiḥo Qom! Shariroith Qom!)

Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܡܫܝܚܐ ܩܡܠܗ! ܒܗܩܘܬܐ ܩܡܠܗ!‎ (Mshikha qimlih! bhāqota qimlih!)

Turoyo: ܡܫܝܚܐ ܩܝܡ! ܫܪܥܪܐܝܬ ܩܝܡ!‎ (Mshiḥo qāyem! Shariroith qāyem!)

 

East African languages

 

Tigrinya: Christos tensiou! Bahake tensiou!

Amharic: Kristos Tenestwal! Bergit Tenestwal!

Hebrew: המשיח קם! באמת קם!‎ (Hameshiach qam! Be'emet qam!)

Maltese: Kristu qam! Huwa qam tassew! or Kristu qam mill-mewt! Huwa qam tassew!

Egyptian

Coptic: (Pi'Christos aftonf! Khen oumetmi aftonf!)

Judeo-Berber: Lmasih yahye-d ger lmeytin! Stidet yahye-d ger lmeytin!


Dravidian languages

Tamil: கிறிஸ்து உயிர்த்தெழுந்தார், மெய்யாகவே அவர் உயிர்த்தெழுந்தார்.

Malayalam: ക്രിസ്തു ഉയിര്ത്തെഴുന്നേറ്റു! തീര്ച്ചയായും ഉയിര്ത്തെഴുന്നേറ്റു! (Christu uyirthezhunnettu! Theerchayayum uyirthezhunnettu!)
 

Eskimo–Aleut languages

Aleut: Kristusaaq Aglagikuk! Angangulakan Aglagikuk!

Pacific Gulf Yupik: Kristusaq ungwektaq! Pichinuq ungwektaq!

Central Yupik: Kristuussaaq unguirtuq! Ilumun unguirtuq!

Mayan languages

Tzotzil: Icha'kuxi Kajvaltik Kristo! Ta melel icha'kuxi!

Tzeltal: Cha'kuxaj Kajwaltik Kristo! Ta melel cha'kuxaj!

Christ-resurrection-Anastasis

 

Austronesian languages

Malayo-Polynesian

Batak: Tuhan nunga hehe! Tutu do ibana hehe!

Carolinian: Lios a melau sefal! Meipung, a mahan sefal!

Cebuano: Nabanhaw Si Kristo! Nabanhaw gayud!

Waray: Hi Kristo nabanwaw! Matuod nga Hiya nabanhaw!

Chamorro: La'la'i i Kristo! Magahet na luma'la' i Kristo!

Fijian: Na Karisito tucake tale! Io sa tucake tale!

Filipino: Nabuhay muli Si Kristo! Nabuhay talaga!

Hawaiian: Ua ala hou ʻo Kristo! Ua ala ʻiʻo nō ʻo Ia!

Indonesian: Kristus telah bangkit! Dia benar-benar telah bangkit!

Kapampangan: Y Kristû sinûbli yáng mèbié! Sinûbli ya pin mèbié!

Malagasy: Nitsangana tamin'ny maty i Kristy! Nitsangana marina tokoa izy!

Cook Islands Māori: Kuo toetu’u ‘ae Eiki! ‘Io kuo toetu’u mo’oni!

 Austroasiatic languages: Mon-Khmer

: Preah Christ mean preah choan rous leong vinh! trung mean preah choan rous leong vinh men!

 Vietnamese

: Chúa Ki-tô đã sống lại! Ngài đã sống lại thật!

 Thai

Thai: พระคริสต์เป็นขึ้นจากความตาย! or พระคริสต์ทรงกลับคืนพระชนม์ชีพ!

Basque

Basque: Cristo Berbiztua! Benetan Berbiztua!

Japanese

Japanese: ハリストス復活！実に復活！ (Harisutosu fukkatsu! Jitsu ni fukkatsu!)

 Korean

Korean 그리스도 부활하셨네! 참으로 부활하셨네! (Geuriseudo buhwalhasyeonne! Chameuro buhwalhasyeonne!)

 Na-Dené languages

Athabaskan languages

Navajo: Christ daaztsą́ą́dę́ę́ʼ náádiidzáá! Tʼáá aaníí daaztsą́ą́dę́ę́ʼ náádiidzáá!

Tlingit: Xristos Kuxwoo-digoot! Xegaa-kux Kuxwoo-digoot!

Niger–Congo languages

: Kristo Ajukkide! Kweli Ajukkide!

Swahili: Kristo Amefufuka! Amefufuka kweli kweli!

Gikuyu: Kristo ni muriuku! Ni muriuku nema!

Quechuan languages

Quechua: Cristo causarimpunña! Ciertopuni causarimpunña!

Mongolic languages

Classical Mongolian: Есүс дахин амилсан, Тэр үнэхээр амилсан! (Yesus dahin amilsan, ter uneheer amilsan)

Turkic languages

Turkish: Mesih dirildi! Hakikaten dirildi!

Uyghur: ‫ئەيسا تىرىلدى! ھەقىقەتىنلا تىرىلدى!‬‎ (Əysa tirildi! Ⱨəⱪiⱪətinla tirildi!)

Azerbaijani: Məsih dirildi! Həqiqətən dirildi!

Chuvash: Христос чĕрĕлнĕ! Чăн чĕрĕлнĕ! (Hristos čĕrĕlnĕ! Čyn čĕrĕlnĕ!)

Khakas: Христос тірілді! Сыннаң тірілді! (Hristos tíríldí! Sınnañ tíríldí!)

Uzbek: Масих тирилди! Хақиқатдан тирилди! (Masih tirildi! Haqiqatdan tirildi!)

Sino-Tibetan languages

Chinese: 基督復活了！他確實復活了！ (Jīdū fùhuó-le! Tā quèshí fùhuó-le!) or 耶穌復活了，真的他復活了！ (Yēsū fùhuó-le, Zhēnde tā fùhuó-le!)

Uralic languages

Estonian: Kristus on üles tõusnud! Tõesti on üles tõusnud!

Finnish: Kristus nousi kuolleista! Totisesti nousi!

Hungarian: Krisztus feltámadt! Valóban feltámadt!

Karelian: Hristos nouzi kuollielois! Tovessah nouzi!

Glorious-Resurrection-of-Jesus-Christ-icon

Constructed languages

International auxiliary languages

Esperanto: Kristo leviĝis! Vere Li leviĝis!

Ido: Kristo riviveskabas! Ya Il rivivesakabas!

Interlingua: Christo ha resurgite! Vermente ille ha resurgite! or Christo ha resurrecte! Vermente ille ha resurrecte!

Quenya: (Hristo Ortane! Anwave Ortanes!)

Klingon: Hu'ta' QISt! Hu'bejta'!

 

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Debugging Jitsi Meet Server Problems: A Practical Guide


April 26th, 2025

Jitsi Meet is a powerful open-source video conferencing platform. But like any real-time communication system, it can run into issues—from video/audio glitches to full-blown connection failures. Debugging Jitsi Meet can be tricky due to its multi-component architecture. This guide walks you through a systematic approach to identify and resolve common server-side issues.

1. Understand the Architecture

Before diving into logs, it's important to understand Jitsi Meet's core components:
 

  • Jitsi Meet (Web UI) – The front-end interface.
  • Jicofo (Focus component) – Manages conference sessions.
  • Prosody (XMPP Server) – Handles user authentication and signaling.
  • JVB (Jitsi Videobridge) – Routes video/audio streams.
  • Nginx or Apache – Web server proxy (often with HTTPS and WebSocket forwarding).


Knowing how these interact helps pinpoint the failing layer.

2. Check Logs in the Right Places

Each component has its own logs. Check them in the following order:

✅ Prosody Logs

Location: /var/log/prosody/prosody.log and prosody.err
​Look for: Authentication issues, connection denials, or component registration problems.
 

✅ Jicofo Logs

Location:  /var/log/jitsi/jicofo.log
​ Look for: Room creation errors, XMPP connection failures, conference creation attempts.
 

✅ JVB Logs

Location: /var/log/jitsi/jvb.log
​Look for: ICE failures, STUN/TURN issues, packet loss, and bridge reachability.
 

✅ Web Server Logs (Nginx/Apache)

Location (Nginx): /var/log/nginx/error.log and access.log
Look for: HTTP errors (404, 502), WebSocket connection problems.
 

✅ Browser Console Logs
 

Tools: Press F12 in browser → Console/Network tabs.
Look for: WebSocket failures, CORS issues, or media permission problems.
 

3. Common Problems & Fixes

"Failed to join conference"

  • Cause: Prosody may not be running or not configured correctly.​

Fix: Restart Prosody and check domain configuration in /etc/prosody/conf.avail/

 

 

No Audio or Video
 

Usual Cause: Media not reaching the bridge or blocked by firewall

Fix:

  • Verify JVB is listening on correct ports (UDP 10000).
  • ​Check firewall/NAT settings (especially on cloud VMs).
  • Use tcpdump or ss to check traffic flow.
     

WebSocket Connection Fails

 

Usual Cause: Web server (Proxy) misconfiguration.

Fix:

Ensure Nginx is forwarding WebSocket requests to /xmpp-websocket/ .
Add proper proxy settings in nginx.conf
 

Authentication Not Working


Cause: Misconfigured JWT or internal authentication.

Fix:

  • Check Prosody's config for authentication method.
  • If using JWT, verify token structure and shared secret.
     

4. Use Debugging Tools

  • Jitsi Meet in debug mode:


​Add #config.debug=true to your meeting URL.
 

  • ICE Debugging:

     

     

     

    Check about:webrtc (Firefox) or WebRTC Internals (Chrome).
    Look at ICE candidate gathering and connectivity checks.
    Test TURN/STUN:

    • Use tools like trickle-ice to validate your server's ICE configuration.

5. Networking and Firewall Checks

Make sure these ports are open:
 

  • TCP 443 – HTTPS
  • UDP 10000 – Media (JVB)
  • TCP 4443 – (Optional, fallback media)
  • TCP 5222 – XMPP (if not using BOSH/WebSocket)
     

# ss -tuln ufw status


6. Component Health Checks

Do 
# systemctl status for each main jitsi component services:

# systemctl status prosody
# systemctl status jicofo
# systemctl status jitsi-videobridge2

Check uptime, errors, or failure restarts.

7. Enable More Verbose Logs

Increase logging levels for deeper debugging:
 

  • Prosody: Edit /etc/prosody/prosody.cfg.lua → set log = { ... debug = "*" }.
  • Jicofo/JVB: Edit /etc/jitsi/jicofo/logging.properties and /etc/jitsi/videobridge/logging.properties
    → change log level to FINE or ALL .

 

8. Update & Restart Services

Sometimes updates or configs don’t apply until services are restarted:
 

# apt update && apt upgrade systemctl restart prosody jicofo jitsi-videobridge2 nginx

 

Final Closure Thoughts

Debugging Jitsi Meet requires a structured approach, start from the user-facing symptoms, trace through each service, and verify network and authentication configurations.
Debug the status of prosody, jicofo and jitsi-videobridge2, check the firewall openings are okay to the jitsi server
With some log analysis and a bit of patience, experimentation and the help of forums or Artificial Intelligence tool like ChatGPT, the Jitsi server errors will get solved.

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How to Install Jitsi Meet on Debian Linux to have your own free software video conferencing secure server


April 24th, 2025

 

jitsi-meet-create-new-room-for-video-meetings-linux

 

Jitsi Meet is a free, open-source video conferencing platform that allows you to host secure and scalable video calls both using a Mobile Phone / Tablet / PC or any other electronic device for which jitsi client has available port. Jitsi meet is the best free alternative one can get to Rakuten Viber / Facebook (Meta) / Zoom / Apples' Facetime etc.
What makes Jitsi really worthy is it can make your Video streaming communication give you flexibility to keep your communication a little bit private and harder to be captured than if you use the general Video streaming platforms. 
Jitsi is also a very simple to use and can be used either with a Desktop Client on Windows / Linux and Mac OS or Smart Phone running Android (Samsung / Huawei etc.) or iOS (iPhones) you can configure to use the Jitsi server or directly via a SSL encryption secured web URL address. The only thing i really don't like about Jitsi is it uses Java and its way of work is cryptic just like it is pretty hard to debug or understand exactly how the software works, as when errors came the usual crazzy Java exceptions are filling the jitsi logs.

In below short guide, I'll try provides a simple step-by-step instructions for installing Jitsi Meet on a Debian-based systems, hoping that anyone can benefit from Jitsi by building his own server.

 

jitsi-meet-conference-free-open-source-video-streaming-viber-and-facebook-alternative


What you should have before you start buillding your new Jitsi meet server

Before you begin, ensure that your system meets the following requirements:

  • A fresh installation of Debian 10 (Buster) or newer.

  • A non-root user with sudo privileges.

  • A fully updated system.

  • A domain name pointing to your server's IP address.

  • OpenJDK 11 installed.​

To get a better understanding on how Jitsi meet works it is worthy to take a quick look on Jitsi Architectural diagram:

Jitsi-meet-video-conferencing-software-linux-windows-mac-Architectural-diagram
 

1. Update Your System

Start by updating your system's package list and upgrading existing packages:​

# apt update sudo apt upgrade -y

2. Install Required Dependencies

Install the necessary packages for adding repositories and managing keys:​

# apt install apt-transport-https curl gnupg2 -y

3 Add Jitsi Repository

Add the Jitsi repository key to your system:

# curl https://download.jitsi.org/jitsi-key.gpg.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/jitsi-keyring.gpg

Then, add the Jitsi repository:​

# echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/jitsi-keyring.gpg] https://download.jitsi.org stable/" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jitsi-stable.list > /dev/null

Update your package list to include the Jitsi repository into apt database:​

 # apt update

4. Install Jitsi Meet

Install the Jitsi Meet package:​  

# apt install jitsi-meet -y

During installation, you'll be prompted to:​

  • Enter the hostname: Provide your domain name (e.g., meet.example.com ).

  • Choose SSL certificate: Select "Generate a new self-signed certificate" or "Obtain a Let's Encrypt certificate" if you have a valid domain.​JitsiScaleway

If you opt for Let's Encrypt, ensure that ports 80 and 443 are open on your firewall.​

5. Configure Firewall openings

If you have already a configured firewall to filter out traffic, open the necessary ports to allow traffic to your Jitsi Meet server from your router or entry firewall device as well as on the Linux itself: ​

Allow access to SSH server

# ufw allow 22/tcp


Allow access to HTTP unecrypted to Jitsi meet server

# ufw allow 80/tcp
# ufw allow 443/tcp


Allow access necessery for proper operation of Jitsi VideoBridge (port range 10000 to 20000)
 

# ufw allow 10000:20000/udp
# ufw enable

 

Verify the firewall status is Okay​ 

# ufw status

6. Access Jitsi Meet in a browser

Open a web browser and navigate to your server's domain or IP address:​

https://meet.your-custom-domain-or-IP.com

Hopefully all is okay and You should see the Jitsi Meet interface, where you can start or join a meeting.​

7. Secure Conference Creation (Optional extra)

By default, anyone can create a conference. To restrict this:​

  1. Install and configure Prosody for authentication.
    For those who don't know Prosody is a modern XMPP communication server

  2. Set up secure domains and configure authentication settings.​

For detailed instructions, refer to the Jitsi DevOps Guide. ​
 

Conclusion

Now You should have successfully installed Jitsi Meet on your Debian server.
Installing to Ubuntu and Redhat OSes such as Fedora or Redhat based distros should be not much difrerent from on this guide, except you have to use
the correct RPM repositories.

Now you can further now host secure video conferences using your own infrastructure and have an increased privacy and perhaps be more calm that the CIA or Mussat, MI6 / FSB might be not spying your Video conference talks (except if they don't already do it on an OS level which most likely the case but this doesn't matter. :).

For advanced configurations and features, consult the Jitsi Handbook and the Jitsi DevOps Guide.​Jitsi

That's all folks Enjoy !

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How to Install and Set Up an NFS Server network Shares on on Linux to easify data transfer across multiple hosts


April 7th, 2025

How to Configure NFS Server in Redhat,CentOS,RHEL,Debian,Ubuntu and Oracle Linux

Network File System (NFS) is a protocol that allows one system to share directories and files with others over a network. It's commonly used in Linux environments for file sharing between systems. In this guide, we'll walk you through the steps to install and set up an NFS server on a Linux system.

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you have:

  • A Linux system distros (e.g., Ubuntu, CentOS, Debian, etc.)
  • Root or sudo privileges on the system.
  • A network connection between the server (NFS server) and clients (machines that will access the shared directories).
     

1. Install NFS Server Package

 

On Ubuntu / Debian based Linux systems:

a. First, update the package list 

# apt update

b. Install the NFS server package
 

# apt install nfs-kernel-server

On CentOS/REL-based systems:

 2. Install the NFS server package
 

      # yum install nfs-utils

Once the package is installed, ensure that the necessary services are enabled.

 3. Create Shared Directory for file sharing

Decide which directory you want to share over NFS. If the directory doesn't exist, you can create one. For example:

# mkdir -p /nfs_srv_dir/nfs_share

Make sure the directory has the appropriate permissions so that the nfs clients can access it.

# chown nobody:nogroup /nfs_srv_dir/nfs_share 
# chmod 755 /nfs_srv_dir/nfs_share

4. Configure NFS Exports ( /etc/exports file)

The NFS exports file (/etc/exports) is perhaps most important file you will have to create and deal with regularly to define the expored shares, this file contains the configuration settings for directories you want to share with other systems.

       a. Open the /etc/exports file for editing:

vi /etc/exports

Add an entry for the directory you want to share. For example, if you're sharing /nfs_srv_dir/nfs_share and allowing access to all systems on the network (192.168.1.0/24), add the following line:
 

/nfs_srv_dir/nfs_share 192.168.1.0/24(rw,sync,no_subtree_check)


Here’s what each option means:

  • rw: Read and write access.
  • sync: Ensures that changes are written to disk before responding to the client.

 

Here is few lines of  example of my working /etc/exports on my home running NFS server

/var/www 192.168.0.209/32(rw,no_root_squash,async,subtree_check)
/home/jordan 192.168.0.209/32(rw,no_root_squash,async,subtree_check)
/mnt/sda1/icons-frescoes/ 192.168.0.209/32(rw,no_root_squash,async,subtree_check)
/home/mobfiles 192.168.0.209/32(rw,no_root_squash,async,subtree_check)
/mnt/sda1/icons-frescoes/ 192.168.0.200/32(rw,no_root_squash,async,subtree_check)
/home/hipo/public_html 192.168.0.209/32(rw,no_root_squash,async,subtree_check)
/home/alex/public_html 192.168.0.209/32(rw,no_root_squash,async,subtree_check)
/home/necroleak/public_html 192.168.0.209/32(rw,no_root_squash,async,subtree_check)
/bashscripts 192.168.0.209/32(rw,no_root_squash,async,subtree_check)
/backups/Family-Videos 192.168.0.200/32(ro,no_root_squash,async,subtree_check)
 

5. Export the NFS Shares with exportfs command

Once the export file is configured, you need to inform the NFS server to start sharing the directory:
 

# exportfs -a


The -a flag will make it export all the sharings.

6. Start and Enable NFS Services

You need to start and enable the NFS server so it will run on system boot.

On Ubuntu / Debian Linux run the following commands:
 

# systemctl start nfs-kernel-server 
# systemctl enable nfs-kernel-server


On CentOS / RHEL Linux:
 

# systemctl start nfs-server
# systemctl enable nfs-server


7. Allow NFS Traffic Through the Firewall

If your server has a firewall configured / enabled, you will need to allow NFS-related ports through the firewall.
These ports include 2049 TCP protocol Ports (NFS) and 111 (RPCbind) UDP and TCP protocol , and some additional ports.

On Ubuntu/Debian (assuming you are using ufw [UNCOMPLICATED FIREWALL]):

# ufw allow from 192.168.1.0/24 to any port nfs sudo ufw reload

On CentOS / RHEL Linux:

# firewall-cmd –permanent –add-service=nfs sudo firewall-cmd –permanent –add-service=mountd sudo firewall-cmd –permanent –add-service=rpc-bind sudo firewall-cmd –reload

8. Verify NFS Server is Running

To ensure the NFS server is running properly, use the following command:
 

# systemctl status nfs-kernel-server

or

# systemctl status nfs-server

You should see output indicating that the service is active and running.

 

9. Test the NFS Share (Client-Side)

To test the NFS share, you will need to mount it on a client machine. Here's how to mount it:

On the client machine, install the NFS client utilities:

Ubuntu / Debian Linux

# apt install nfs-common

For CentOS / RHEL Linux

# yum install nfs-utils


Create a mount point (Nomatter the distro),:
 

# mkdir -p /mnt/nfs_share


Mount the NFS share:

# mount -t nfs <nfs_server_ip>:/nfs_srv_dir/nfs_share /mnt/nfs_share

Replace <nfs_server_ip> with the IP address of the NFS server or DNS host alias if you have one defined in /etc/hosts file.

Verify that the share is mounted:

​# df -h

You should see the NFS share listed under the mounted file systems.

10. Configure Auto-Mount at Boot (Optional)

To have the NFS share automatically mounted at boot, you can add an entry to the /etc/fstab file on the client machine.

Open /etc/fstab for editing:

# vi /etc/fstab

Add the following line: 

<server-ip>:/nfs_srv_dir/nfs_share /mnt/nfs_share nfs defaults 0 0

Save and close the file.

The NFS share will now be automatically mounted whenever the system reboots.

Debug NFS configuration issues (basics)

 

You can continue to modify the /etc/exports file to share more directories or set specific access restrictions depending on your needs.

If you encounter any issues, checking the server logs or using
 

# exportfs -v
/var/www          192.168.0.209/32(async,wdelay,hide,sec=sys,rw,secure,no_root_squash,no_all_squash)
/home/var_data      192.168.0.205/32(async,wdelay,hide,sec=sys,rw,secure,no_root_squash,no_all_squash)
/mnt/sda1/
        192.168.0.209/32(async,wdelay,hide,sec=sys,rw,secure,no_root_squash,no_all_squash)
/mnt/sda2/info
        192.168.0.200/32(async,wdelay,hide,sec=sys,rw,secure,no_root_squash,no_all_squash)
/home/mobfiles    192.168.0.209/32(async,wdelay,hide,sec=sys,rw,secure,no_root_squash,no_all_squash)
/home/var_data/public_html
        192.168.0.209/32(async,wdelay,hide,sec=sys,rw,secure,no_root_squash,no_all_squash)
/var/public
        192.168.0.209/32(async,wdelay,hide,sec=sys,rw,secure,no_root_squash,no_all_squash)
/neon/data
        192.168.0.209/32(async,wdelay,hide,sec=sys,rw,secure,no_root_squash,no_all_squash)
/scripts      192.168.0.209/32(async,wdelay,hide,sec=sys,rw,secure,no_root_squash,no_all_squash)
/backups/data-limited
        192.168.0.200/32(async,wdelay,hide,sec=sys,ro,secure,no_root_squash,no_all_squash)
/disk/filetransfer
        192.168.0.200/23(async,wdelay,hide,sec=sys,ro,secure,no_root_squash,no_all_squash)
/public_shared/data
        192.168.0.200/23(async,wdelay,hide,sec=sys,ro,secure,no_root_squash,no_all_squash)


 Of course there is much more to be said on that you can for example, check /var/log/messages /var/log/syslog and other logs that can give you hints about issues, as well as manually try to mount / unmount a NFS stuck share to know more on what is going on, but for a starter that should be enough.

command can help severely in troubleshooting the NFS configuration.

Sum it up what learned ?

We learned how to  set up basic NFS server and mounted its shared directory on a client machine.
This is a great solution for centralized file sharing and collaboration on Linux systems (even though many companies are trying to not use it due to its lack of connection encryption for historical reasons NFS has been widely used over the years and has helped dramatically for the Internet as we know it to become the World Wide Web of today. Thus for a well secured network and perhaps not a critical files infrastructure, still NFS is a key player in file sharing among heterogenous networks for multitudes of Gigabytes or Terra Pentabytes of data you would like to share amoung your Personal Computers / Servers / Phones / Tablets and generally all kind of digital computer equipment devices.

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