How to connect and upload files to a remote machine using OpenVPN and SSH on macOS

Motivation:

You have a server inside a network. You are granted OpenVPN and SSH access to the server. You have a MacBook. You want to upload files to the server. You want to execute a process on the server (e.g. training a machine learning model).

Procedure:

  • Request a certificate and an Open VPN configuration file (an .ovpn file) from your network administrator.
  • Install Tunnelblick https://tunnelblick.net
  • Drag the Open VPN configuration file to the Tunnelblick Configurations tab.
  • Click the Connect button.
  • On macOS, open Terminal and execute below command
ssh [email protected] -p 7081

where 172.29.64.144 is the machine IP and 7081 is the SSH port

How to Completely Uninstall Python on macOS

Problem:

You have an issue with a Python version (e.g. the 3.7 version) and want to install another version (e.g. the 3.6 version). In order to install a fresh version you need to uninstall the current version first.

Solution:

Assume that the current version is 3.7. Replace 3.7 with another version that you installed.

Follow these 3 steps below.

1. Remove the third-party Python 3.7 framework

sudo rm -rf /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7

2. Remove the Python 3.7 applications directory

sudo rm -rf "/Applications/Python 3.7"

3. Remove the symbolic links, in /usr/local/bin, that point to this Python version. Ensure that the links exit using below command

ls -l /usr/local/bin | grep '../Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7'

then run the following commands to remove all the links:

cd /usr/local/bin/
ls -l /usr/local/bin | grep '../Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7' | awk '{print $9}' | tr -d @ | xargs rm

Installing a new version:

  1. Download a version from https://www.python.org/downloads/mac-osx/, double click the file and follow the instructions.
  2. Verify installation: python3 –version
  3. Install Homebrew from https://brew.sh
  4. Install virtualenv
pip3 install virtualenv
pip3 install virtualenvwrapper

5.  Create and activate a virtual environment

cd

/Users/admin/Downloads/training_model/model

 
python3 -m virtualenv

/Users/admin/Downloads/training_model/model

source bin/activate

How to Fix the Dell Laptop “Hard Drive Not Installed” issue

Problem:

Suddenly, when turning your Dell laptop on you get the error message “Hard drive Not installed” and cannot boot into Windows.

Solution:
  1. Power your laptop and quickly press F2 key to enter BIOS.
  2. Expand System Configuration node.
  3. Click SATA Operation.
  4. Select AHCI option.
  5. Click Apply button.
  6. Click Exit button.
  7. If the problem still persists then restore BIOS settings to Default BIOS settings, then try the procedure again.
More information:
  • PCI Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express), officially abbreviated as PCIe or PCI-e, is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard. It is the common motherboard interface for personal computers’ graphics cards, hard drives, SSDs, Wi-Fi and Ethernet hardware connections.
  • NVM Express (NVMe) or Non-Volatile Memory Host Controller Interface Specification (NVMHCIS) is an open logical-device interface specification for accessing non-volatile storage media attached via PCI Express (PCIe) bus. By its design, NVM Express allows host hardware and software to fully exploit the levels of parallelism possible in modern SSDs. As a result, NVM Express reduces I/O overhead and brings various performance improvements relative to previous logical-device interfaces, including multiple long command queues, and reduced latency.
  • Serial ATA (SATA, abbreviated from Serial AT Attachment) is a computer bus interface that connects host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives, optical drives, and solid-state drives.
  • The Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) is a technical standard defined by Intel that specifies the operation of Serial ATA (SATA) host controllers in a non-implementation-specific manner in its motherboard chipsets. AHCI is mainly recommended for SSDs that have better NVMe drivers from their factories.
  • RAID (“Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks” or “Redundant Array of Independent Disks“) is a data storage virtualization technology that combines multiple physical disk drive components into one or more logical units for the purposes of data redundancy, performance improvement, or both.