Solution:

1. Copy over the packages pcmciautils and libsysfs2 (I had to download them and transfer via USB flash drive: pcmciautils, libsysfs2)
2. Install the packages: sudo dpkg -i [name].deb
3. Reboot

Voilà!

For this particular instance I was running Ubuntu Server 8.04.4 LTS, but these steps should work fine on other versions and distros.

1. Install sSMTP and mailx

sudo apt-get install ssmtp mailx

2. Configure sSMTP by editing /etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf

# Config file for sSMTP sendmail
#
# The person who gets all mail for userids < 1000
# Make this empty to disable rewriting.
root=[your user account]@[yourdomain.com]

# The place where the mail goes. The actual machine name is required no
# MX records are consulted. Commonly mailhosts are named mail.domain.com
mailhub=smtp.gmail.com:587

# Where will the mail seem to come from?
rewriteDomain=

# The full hostname
hostname=[some hostname here]
UseTLS=YES
UseSTARTTLS=YES
AuthMethod=LOGIN
AuthUser=[your user account]@[your domain]
AuthPass=[your password]

# Are users allowed to set their own From: address?
# YES - Allow the user to specify their own From: address
# NO - Use the system generated From: address
# This is optional if you're going to use revaliases - I didn't
FromLineOverride=YES

3. Lock down /etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf to help protect your plaintext password

sudo chown root:nagcmd /etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf
sudo chmod 640 /etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf

4. Alter your Nagios commands.cfg file for the correct mail path (for Ubuntu at least)

sudo vim /usr/local/nagios/etc/objects/commands.cfg

And change all instances of /bin/mail to /usr/bin/mail. Be sure to reload your Nagios configuration after making these changes.

That should be it! If you’re having trouble, break things down to troubleshoot. First test out sSMTP by doing the following:

sudo -vvv ssmtp somebody@somedomain.com

Write a message, press enter, then hit CTRL+D. If that works successfully but Nagios still isn’t sending alerts, be sure to check the Event Log in the Nagios interface to see if there are any errors.

Before we start I must say I don’t recommend anyone who may be slightly scared of the Terminal, “vi”, and or possibly really screwing something up to do this. If you have access to a nerd who knows what they’re doing, I suggest you grab them. I’m not responsible for any hosed systems.

To keep any partition from automatically mounting in OS X do the following:

1. In Terminal, run “sudo vifs”

Why we run this:

The command “sudo” just means run the command after it (in this case “vifs”) as another user, namely root – so that we can make changes to files regular users normally wouldn’t have access to.

The command “vifs” is a utility to safely edit the “/etc/fstab” file – the configuration file we’re going to tell to not mount our partition. The “vi” part is actually from the fact that we’re using the text editor “vi” to change our file.

2. Add the entry of the partition you want to keep from mounting

If the file “fstab” in /etc/ didn’t already exist, vifs will generate it for you. If it did already exist and there were entries, you’ll see them listed. Most users will just see this:

#
# Warning - this file should only be modified with vifs(8)
#
# Failure to do so is unsupported and may be destructive.
#

What we want to do now is add our entry. This can be tricky for people who aren’t familiar with the wonderful world of the vi text editor. Move the cursor down to the last line (with the down arrow key or by pressing shift+G) and then go to the end of that line (by pressing the right arrow or ‘)’). Press ‘i’ and hit the right arrow over one, then press enter to create a new line. At this point you should be able to type text on a new line.

Here’s an example entry of what we’ll put on that line:

UUID=12A4B6C8-1A3B-1C3D-6E8F-123456789876 none hfs rw,noauto

There are four parts to each entry we need to supply: partition, mount point, file system type, and options. All of the things you can do in fstab are way beyond the scope of this article. Running “man fstab” will give you plenty of information if you need to do something different.

In OS X one way to get the UUID for the partition is to go to Disk Utility, right-click on the partition you want to prevent from being automatically mounted, and select “Information”. From there you will be able to copy the “Universal Unique Identifier” line. Pasting it into our Terminal window is as simple as right-clicking and selecting “Paste”.

“none” simply means we’re not giving it a location to mount – this will be handled automatically by OS X.

“hfs” is the type of file system we’re dealing with. Since my partition was a Mac OS Extended (Journaled) type, this is what I used. If the partition is another type, this must match what type it is. This information is also explained in “man fstab” and many places on the web.

“rw,noauto” is our options. “noauto” tells OS X not to automatically mount the partition.

After you’ve added your line, your Terminal should look close to this:

#
# Warning - this file should only be modified with vifs(8)
#
# Failure to do so is unsupported and may be destructive.
#

UUID=12A4B6C8-1A3B-1C3D-6E8F-123456789876 none hfs rw,noauto

To save our file and quit hit “esc”, then type “:wq” and press Enter. If something went wrong and you want to exit vi without making any changes, type “:q!” instead.

Reboot to test this out and you should be good to go. If you want to, check out your system logs in Console to make sure there weren’t any fstab errors.