Save USB ports using Logitech Devices in Linux

A new find. I was watching a tech reviewer video of some Logitech stuff. I am a huge fan of Logitech especially on Linux as seems to have the best driver support for both there unifying receiver and bluetooth. In the review, they mentioned that the support software for Logitech can allow a single unifying receiver connect multiple devices. OMG!

Googling quickly about how to accomplish the same task on Linux, which Logitech doesn't officially support with their software, again the community came to the rescue. I stumbled upon Solaar!

Solaar allows for device management of Logitech stuff with a simple GUI and easy install. In PopOS - I imagine Ubuntu as well, likely Debian too - you can simply run 'apt search solaar', and then install with a 'sudo apt install solaar'. 

Launch the application from the application center - in my case hit the Window key and just type 'solaar'. Like any Linux software with a GUI it should appear.

To combine the devices connected on a single receiver you can simply start a search. There will be a warning that if the devices are connected you need to unplug them for them to appear. Unplug, re-plug the 2 USB receivers. 

The devices and their respective receivers should appear. 

To pair a new device click on a single receiver. Click 'Pair new device'. 

Unplug the mouse receiver or keyboard. 

The device will start broadcasting, and the other receiver will pick it up. If the mouse is removed, there is a confirmation button that needs to be clicked. Tab to the 'Confirm' button from the keyboard and press 'Enter'. 

At this point you should have 2 Logitech wireless devices on a single receiver, thus saving a USB port in Linux, or perhaps saving the need to get a new receiver in case one is lost!

More info on the project: https://pwr-solaar.github.io/Solaar/

Backing up MongoDB

Explored in previous posts and videos, MongoDB is a great way to store information without a schema. All of the information is stored in a JSON like format called BSON which essentially are documents, but similar to a SQL Database the data cannot be directly read on the host system. 

I was interested in learning some more about how to backup the files. Turns out that MongoDB provides a dump tool similar to MySQL called mongodump and mongorestore. 

To get started one can run the following command on their host system or container. If you used the MongoDB Docker image, the mongodump command can be run inside the container directly. 

Local Run

mongodump -u=<user> -p=<password> --authenticationDatabase=admin --db=<database to download>

The part '--authenticationDatabase' is important. On the MongoDB container the users allowed to access the database are specified are in that 'admin' database on the Mongo instance, and it must be defined in the mongodump command for the connection to be successful.

Similar to mysqldump, the mongodump command can also be used from a remote host.

Install the MongoDB Command Line Database Tools on the remote host. They offer the tools for Windows, Linux, and MacOS. 

*Note on Fedora 36, using the RedHat/CentOS 8.0 package worked. *

Modify the previous command to the below:

Remote Run

mongodump --host=<Domain/IP> --port=<Mongo service port - default is 27017> -u=<user> -p=<password> --authenticationDatabase=admin --db=<database to download>

Assuming a connection can be made all of the database files and relevant metadata will come down to the directory where the command was run. A successful run will look similar to the below. 

Once complete you will see a directory called 'dump' with the database(s) listed as directories inside. 

To specify the output location on the local system (the system being used to access and backup the MongoDB instance) you may use the '-o' or '--output' flag. 

Remote Run | Specify Download Location

mongodump --host=<Domain/IP> --port=<Mongo service port> -u=<user> -p=<password> --authenticationDatabase=admin --db=<database to download> -o=<directory location>

Restoring data from a Mongodump

The companion utility to mongodump is mongorestore. Mongorestore works similarly to mongodump, but the user specifies the db and the back up files. 

mongorestore --host <Domian/IP:Port> --authenticationDatabase=admin -u <user> -p <password> -d <db to restore> <backup folder location>

One additional tip: 

If the container was installed using the same docker-compose from the PHP and MongoDB tutorial, the port for the MongoDB Instance isn't exposed on the local system. This is good from a security standpoint. The companion web server accesses using the hostname from the private Podman / Docker network. To access the container host from the physical machine you need to use the IP address of the MongoDB container itself.

Using either Docker or Podman, run the inspect command to check to find the Network information. 

sudo podman inspect <container name or ID> | grep "IPAddress" OR
sudo docker inspect <container name or ID> | grep "IPAddress"

Additional information:

Information about using mongodump

Information about using mongorestore