Github Social Coding

(Source Control Management)

Github can be summarized as the software developers Dropbox. Added bonuses that only groups of software developers can appreciate differentiate it from the rest. Simply, Github provides multiple developers the ability to work on the same project without causing an interference with another developer. This means that any developer can continue to code as if it were their own program and essentially have their own version of the same project. Ultimately all collaborators will share and compile code to complete the project. To learn more of the intricate details of Github, the developers have a well written documentation of functions at http://help.github.com/

Personally I am a fairly regular user for work and therefore I am not an expert but I shall divulge common functions I uses on a regular basis.

I am a Mac user and therefore  this will initially work only for fellow Apple users. I intend this article to be followed by a Windows solution. Globally for all platforms, Github uses a terminal interface I would casually describe as Linux-esque. Most commands will be performed through the terminal interface.

Registration

The registration is quite simple. It is when initiating the terminal interface for different platforms does it become tricky (ie. Windows). New users need to register through the web interface of Github. It is easily described as common as signing up for a new email account on gmail. Once the accounts username, password, and email address has been registered the new user will need to set up the account credentials on their terminal. You’ll first need to install the file on your machine which can be easily accomplished in various ways.

• Mac users can install through pre-compiled installers, Homebrew, MacPorts, and manual configuration all of which can be researched at http://help.github.com/mac-git-installation/
• Linux users can install through Synaptic Package Manager installing git-core, git-gui, and git-doc or use the command $ sudo apt-get install git-core git-gui git-doc. Information on these installs can be found at http://help.github.com/linux-git-installation/ Note that example uses Ubuntu Linux though I am fairly certain that Fedora, Red Hat, and all other distributions have their respective installation process.
• Windows users can use msysgit as their installer for git. It is straight forward but is advised by both the help github site as well as my self that if prompted for the option of using PuTTY against openSSH that users always choose openSSH. Github only supports openSSH as their security socket/protocol.

Terminal Account Setup

The next step into Github is establishing your account in the terminal. This step is fairly simple. The user will need the same credentials as the registration process. The task for this setup is the global configuration of git on the users local machine as well as generating ones ssh keys for authentication. The first task that should be completed is retrieving ones ssh keys. Since all platforms, at this point, are using similar instances of terminal client the command for all machines will be as follows.

$ ssh-keygen -t rsa -C “email@address.com”

Once the key is generated a file named id_rsa.pub should be in the directory the keygen command was called. Open that file in a text editor and copy that contents as is and paste into SSH Public keys of the web interface of Github.

Next is to configure the global user account. The following commands will setup the user account on the users terminal client.

Once this procedure has been completed, the user will have a secure means of sending new revision to and from their web account.

Creating a repository

You’ll achieve this feature by going through the web interface.

You’ll want to create a new repository. The next screen will prompt you for a few details. Project name, Description, and Homepage URL if you decide to include.

Once the repository is created you can then sync a project from your local machine. The next set of steps is written on the next screen after the repository is created.

In the terminal while inside of the directory you’ll want to execute the following commands.

Git init will initialize the repository on your local machine.

Touch Readme is actually trivial and is often skipped by other developers. It is used to force the directory to experience an addition or modification.

Git commit is another common command uses will use. This function will essentially add your changes to your local repository and can be pushed online.

The command git remote add origin git@github.com:gilsal/SmallTownGeeks.git is the command the user will use to bridge their local repository to their online one. This command is only need once during the initialization process.

Git push origin master is how to merge changes between the local repo and the online.

Once the repository has been initialized both online and on the local machine the the most common commands one will use is the “git commit” and “git push.” Other common commands will be “git reset –hard”, “git checkout”, and “git pull”. “Git reset –hard” and “git checkout” both reset changes that ones made on the local machine. “Git reset –hard” reset working branches where as “git checkout” resets a single file. “Git pull” allows a user to copy another users repository on their local machine. This is useful for when collaborating with other developers on projects.

If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment and we can give you a hand!

I know, I know, Who is going to have a wireless card even close to there data center? The answer, no one. But you may find yourself wanting to create, test, and verify VHD’s while on the road or away from the server. Hyper-V does not natively support using Wireless Cards as they are un-likely to be used in production environments, that said it is still possible.

There are three different types of virtual networks that we can utilize in Hyper-V .External which binds a physical interface to the connection to the machine can access a physical network. Internal which will create a Virtual network adapter that you use to communicate between the machines on the server and the physical machine itself. The final one which is Private which creates a network that only the machines that you select can communicate on the virtual network.

The connection type that we will be using is the “Internal” type of connection. Like I stated earlier this connection creates a network interface on the physical computer so it can communicate with the virtual machine.

Go into Hyper-V Virtual Network Manager and create a new network. We will call it STG.

Now go into “Network Connections” (Control Panel –> Network and Internet –> Network and Sharing Center –> Change Adapter Settings )

Select the virtual adapter that was created and the wireless adapter and right click “Add to Bridge” You will now see a Network bridge that displays both networks IE STG and DadderN (Home Network).

Now set the IP settings to your default gateway and other network settings.

Now you will have given outside network access to your virtual switch and you will be able to navigate outside of your lan.

If you have any problems feel free to email me at tj{at}smalltowngeeks{dot}net

TJ

Here is a Quick Guide on how to install Ubuntu.

Installation of Ubuntu

1. Download the most up to date distro of Ubuntu from : http://ubuntu.com

2. Burn ISO image to a optical media such as a DVD or CD

3. Insert disk into the server and set your boot options within the bios to boot to optical drive.

4. When the installer starts you will be presented with a prompt to choose your language, select your language.

5. Next you will see a menu with different options that you can choose to do with the disk. We want to select “Install Ubuntu”

6. Next choose your language again.

7. Now select your Time Zone and adjust the time.

8. Next select your keyboard layout.

9. Next is when you can select different partition options. In this example we are going to use the whole disk.

10. Now we must name the machine as well as setup passwords for the unit.

Tip: If on a domain make sure you stay within naming policies to save yourself some hassle later.

11. Now we are ready to install, verify your settings and click next to start the installation.

12. Ubuntu will now be installed on your system.

13. Click Login to begin.