Linux

All articles tagged with Linux.

Fasthosts VPS: an honest Review

I have hosted my website and applications on a Fasthosts VPS since September 2019. Each year, I have upgraded my VPS to a current model.

What has kept me hosting with Fasthosts for nearly 3 years, and confident in their services that I can recommend them to others?

This article answers those questions and dives into the Fasthosts VPS product to create an honest review from a real, current customer.

DevOps Read more


Screenshot of a Linux terminal window showing an apt update command

Manage software package upgrades on Linux with NodeBeagle

Updates for devices running the Linux operating system come in the form of packages. Using the Linux system’s package manager, you install new packages and upgrade them as new versions are released.

Now sure you can log onto each Linux device and run apt update && apt upgrade, or dnf update, depending on your distribution. But what if you have several – even hundreds – of devices to keep updated? And how do you know what new updates are available?

DevOps , NodeBeagle Read more


Deploying PHP applications with RunCloud on UpCloud

My first post of 2019 is a tutorial that’s all about the cloud.

I’m going to show you how to deploy a PHP application with a MySQL database on a cloud server from UpCloud. I’ll be using the brilliant RunCloud control panel to deploy my PHP photo gallery – Blue Twilight – to an UpCloud server.

My friends over at UpCloud have provided an awesome promo-code for free credit to try out their service. Details at the end of the article.

DevOps , Software Development Read more


Upgrade Ubuntu Server 16.04 to 18.04

The Ubuntu team will this week release Ubuntu Server 18.04.1, the first minor revision to 18.04 since its release on April 26th.

Following the release on July 26th*, Ubuntu 16.04 machines everywhere will soon start to get notifications that a new release is available to upgrade to.

In this article, I’ll show you how to upgrade Ubuntu 16.04 to 18.04 using the command-line. This can be used on all Ubuntu derivatives, but is mostly aimed at Server installs that do not have a graphical interface.

DevOps Read more


Encrypt your database with MariaDB encryption at rest

The new EU data protection legislation, GDPR, mandates that every reasonable effort and technology is used to protect personal data. It even goes as far as specifying encryption. The open-source database MariaDB (a drop-in, compatible replacement for MySQL) has supported “encryption at rest” since version 10.1. Use MariaDB encryption to satisify the GDPR recommendation of using encryption to protect your personal data.

Let’s have a look at what it can do and how you can set it up. You won’t have to make a single change to your website or application!

DevOps , Software Development Read more


Install a LAMP stack (Apache, MariaDB, PHP) on Ubuntu Server

Ubuntu Server is a Linux distribution that is ideally suited to server workloads. For example: hosting websites and web applications.

In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to install a LAMP stack – that’s Apache, MariaDB (in place of MySQL) and PHP – on Ubuntu Server using the latest available releases, and how to keep it up-to-date.

DevOps , Software Development Read more


Redirect all visitors to a primary domain in Apache

There are several scenarios in which you may want to redirect all your website visitors to a single, primary domain in Apache:

  • Redirect the www and non-www (root domain) hostnames of your domain to avoid duplicate content and improve SEO
  • Redirect an old domain to a new domain, maintaining links and search engine reputation
  • Redirect secondary domains (e.g. “spelling mistake” domains, or alternative-spelling domains) to your primary domain

I have recently implemented the following on my own website, and I would like to share this Apache trick.

DevOps , Software Development Read more


Why I prefer self-hosted Git repositories to Github, Bitbucket, etc.

It’s the year 2018 and it’s impossible for a software developer to have not heard about (or used) Github, or a variant like Bitbucket. Even self-hosted Git evangelist GitLab is a popular choice.

At the start of February 2018, I provisioned a new Cloud VPS to run my website and other apps. I also chose to migrate all my private Git repositories to it and cancelled my paid Github subscription.

This article explores the reasons why I went self-hosted.

DevOps , Software Development Read more


The Great Big Cloud Hosting Speed Test 2017

2017 was an exciting year for the bigger players in the cloud hosting arena.

With all these improvements in cloud hosting, I thought it would be interesting to focus on a key metric of hosting providers that many overlook: network speed.

Most modern cloud hosting providers give your dedicated server or VPS a 100Mbps or 1Gbps network connection. But how close can you actually get to that speed?

DevOps , Software Development Read more


Server maintenance – 1st/2nd November

My hosting company, Memset Ltd., have advised me they will be performing important maintenance work on their Miniserver platform.

This maintenance is to apply critical security patches to the Linux kernel of the physical servers that host the virtual servers like mine – that power this website.

It is taking place between 22:00 GMT on 1st November and 04:00 GMT on 2nd November. My server will be down for 15-30 minutes during this period.

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