Installing WHMCS on FreeBSD 9.0-RELEASE

Or, if you prefer: “WHMCS versus PHP.” Blogged for the next sysadmin searching Google.

$DAYJOB recently acquired WHMCS to help automate virtual server provisioning, billing, and so on. According to everything I’ve read, WHMCS runs just fine on FreeBSD, so I installed the prerequisites on a 9.0-i386 machine. As with any server for PHP-based Web . . . → Read More: Installing WHMCS on FreeBSD 9.0-RELEASE

New review of SSH Mastery, and print pre-order status

There’s a new review of SSH Mastery over at DragonFlyBSD Digest. I’m delighted that Justin liked the book. (Mind you, I’m appalled that he’s actually reading and paying attention to the minutia I occasionally post here. But I’m delighted he liked the book.)

On the pre-order front: Austin Hook just ordered 200 copies of SSH . . . → Read More: New review of SSH Mastery, and print pre-order status

SSH Mastery available at Smashwords

To my surprise, SSH Mastery is available at Smashwords.

I don’t know if this version will make it through to Kobo and iBooks, but you can buy it now. If I have to update it to get the book through the Smashwords Meatgrinder and into third-party stores, you’d get access to those later versions . . . → Read More: SSH Mastery available at Smashwords

enable DNSSec resolution on BIND 9.8.1

With BIND 9.8, enabling DNSSec resolution and verification is now so simple and low-impact there’s absolutely no reason to not do it. Ignore the complicated tutorials filling the Internet. DNSSec is very easy on recursive servers.

DNS is the weak link in Internet security. Someone who can forge DNS entries in your server can use . . . → Read More: enable DNSSec resolution on BIND 9.8.1

SSH Mastery Cover Rough

Here’s the cover rough for SSH Mastery, by my pet artist the highly talented Bradley K McDevitt. If you see anything wrong with it, please say so now.

SSH Mastery Cover

SSH Mastery Cover Photo

Last summer, preparing for the OpenSSH book, I attended a course on being your own publisher. If you’re interested in publishing, I highly recommend the Think like a Publisher course. The hotel was decorated with a variety of nautical clutter.

This critter hung directly over the breakfast table.

The Hand of Karma

This was . . . → Read More: SSH Mastery Cover Photo

Dec 2011 Updates

The OpenSSH book is in copyedit. I hope to get the copyedits back this year. I’ve seen the first round of copyedits, and they don’t look too bad. Once I make the corrections, the book goes to the print-on-demand layout person and I start on the ebook conversion. The ebook should be out next month.

. . . → Read More: Dec 2011 Updates

sudo auth via ssh-agent

One of the nicest things about writing a book is that your tech reviewers tell you completely new but cool stuff about your topic. While I was writing the OpenSSH book, one of the more advanced reviewers mentioned that you could use your SSH agent as an authentication source for sudo via pam_ssh_agent_auth.

I have . . . → Read More: sudo auth via ssh-agent

Moving Static Sites from Apache to nginx

My more complex Web sites run atop WordPress on Apache and MySQL. Every so often, Apache devours all available memory and the server becomes very very slow. I must log in, kill Apache, and restart it. The more moving parts something has, the harder it is to debug. Apache, with all its modules, has a . . . → Read More: Moving Static Sites from Apache to nginx

mirroring FreeBSD-9 disks with GPT

I recently tried to mirror my hard drives in a new machine. The Handbook instructions, and those in my own Absolute FreeBSD, didn’t work well. (The Handbook now warns about this in a big, friendly, hard-to-miss red box.) So how can I mirror my disk? By using per-partition mirroring rather than full-disk mirroring.

I should . . . → Read More: mirroring FreeBSD-9 disks with GPT