Create a CA and a Signed Cert

To make certificate authority:

mkdir CA
cd CA
mkdir certs crl newcerts private
echo "01" > serial
cp /dev/null index.txt
cp /usr/local/openssl/openssl.cnf.sample openssl.cnf
vi openssl.cnf   (set values)
openssl req -new -x509 -keyout private/cakey.pem -out cacert.pem -days 365 -config openssl.cnf

To make a new certificate:

cd CA        (same directory created above)
openssl req -nodes -new -x509 -keyout newreq.pem -out newreq.pem -days 365 -config openssl.cnf

(certificate and private key in file newreq.pem) To sign new certificate with certificate authority:

cd CA        (same directory created above)
openssl x509 -x509toreq -in newreq.pem -signkey newreq.pem -out tmp.pem
openssl ca -config openssl.cnf -policy policy_anything -out newcert.pem -infiles tmp.pem
rm -f tmp.pem

(newcert.pem contains signed certificate, newreq.pem still contains unsigned certificate and private key)

Installing sshfs on RHEL5

installing sshfs on rhel5
yum install kernel-devel gcc
wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/fuse/fuse-2.7.4.tar.gz
tar xvf fuse-2.7.4.tar.gz
cd fuse-2.7.4
./configure
make
make install
modprobe fuse
echo "modprobe fuse" > /etc/sysconfig/modules/fuse.modules
ls -la
wget http://dag.wieers.com/rpm/packages/fuse-sshfs/fuse-sshfs-1.9-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm
wget http://dag.wieers.com/rpm/packages/fuse/fuse-2.7.3-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm
rpm -Uvh ./fuse-2.7.3-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm
rpm -Uvh ./fuse-sshfs-1.9-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm

Remove nameserver references from resolv.conf

sed -i 'N;$!P;$!D;$d' /etc/resolv.conf

Howto Shrink a VM

First, run a script similar to the following, one for each significant mountpoint as defined in /etc/fstab

#!/bin/sh

cd /
cat /dev/zero > zero.fill;sync;sleep 1;sync;rm -f zero.fill
cd /tmp
cat /dev/zero > zero.fill;sync;sleep 1;sync;rm -f zero.fill
cd /home
cat /dev/zero > zero.fill;sync;sleep 1;sync;rm -f zero.fill
cd /var
cat /dev/zero > zero.fill;sync;sleep 1;sync;rm -f zero.fill
cd /usr
cat /dev/zero > zero.fill;sync;sleep 1;sync;rm -f zero.fill

# Delete this script

rm -rf /usr/local/jboss/server/default/log/*
cd /root/tools
rm -rf shrink.sh

Then shutdown the vm and close vmware workstation.
Run the following command at the Windows Command Interpreter.

vmware-vdiskmanager -k <path to vmdk>