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Using perror to explain mysql error codes
A customer came to us with a problem copying one database to another, and requested we do it for him. Once we logged in we saw the error fairly quickly ~# mysqldump -uadmin -p`cat /root/.mysqlpass` database >dbdump.sql mysqldump: Got error: 29: File ‘./database/tablename.MYD’ not found (Errcode: 24) when using LOCK TABLES ~# It can be…
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DNS amplification DoS attacks
If you are running a DNS server, then you need to check it is not being co-opted into ‘DNS amplification attacks’. Random nasty servers (typically part of virus created bot-nets) send your DNS server a short request but use a fake source IP address. Your DNS server then sends a (typically) long reply back to…
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Happy holidays 2012
Thank you to all our wonderful customers for your business in 2012. A number of our staff are taking a break over Christmas and the New Year to be with friends and family. And to take advantage of this beautiful kiwi summer. Sometimes downtime really is a good thing. So we will be operating with…
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Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal install images
We are proud to announce the release of the new installer images for Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal Server Edition. It is available as an reinstall option for existing servers, or in the new servers orders page The version is intended for those looking at getting newer versions of the packages for the 12.04 LTS (long…
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Custom VPS Image via API
The RimuHosting server management API can be used to create new servers (and shut them down and reinstall them and more). The API lets you pass in scripts that run during setup. And to provide links to external files. This lets you do some interesting things. Like using the API to setup a custom image. …
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New Relic Shirts and Goodies Arrived
Today a box arrived apon my doorstep, i was super excited when i saw the New Relic stickers on the outside! I took it to work, and opened it to find a slew of goodies including shirts, bottle openers, can coolers, stickers galore! I carefully went around every ones desk in the office sharing out…
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Finding Exploits and Trojan php hacks on a website
Its always unfortunate when you are exploited, and the best method to fix a site is to wipe and restore from a known backup as well as track down the entry point they gained access and fix it. Sometimes you need to ‘clean’ a site of these files before migrating things over however , or…
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Servers for Hurricane Sandy refugees
Has your hosting been affected by Hurricane Sandy? We would like to offer you free hosting. Order a server from http://launchtimevps.com In the order comments say “My server xyz.com is affected by Hurricane Sandy. May I please have the $50 credit.” We will verify that server has been ‘Sandy-ized’, apply the credit and setup your…
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Blocking malicious crawlers or scrapers in Apache
Occasionally we see a customer who has a popular website that often gets people trying to crawl it and copy the lot, This has the unfortunate side effect that its hammering the site. Made worse only by dynamic pages and loops this can literally take down a server in some occasions. Often you can slow…
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Finding spam sending PHP scripts on your server
Everyone has the occasional user who may leave something on their server that may send spam, or not update things as fast as they should. Tracking down the spammer can be a real problem though. Sometimes you can track down the domain, but not the script, other times they may have so many files that…