RimuHosting Blog

Tag: Server administration

  • Using Ansible to manage your VPSs – Part Two

    In this post I’m going to introduce playbooks, and show you how to customise the /etc/resolv.conf file on each server.  I assume you have followed Part One of this series and have created a hosts file and files in ~/myansible/host_vars/. Tasks, playbooks, groups and roles A note on terminology.  A task is something done on…

  • Using Ansible to manage your VPSs – Part One

    Ansible is a system to automate the updating of server configurations and other administration tasks.  In this post I’ll explain what’s necessary to get started with Ansible, creating a configuration structure, telling Ansble about your hosts and running ad-hock commands on multiple hosts. Ansible is useful when you have 3 or more VPSs and need…

  • Monitor sites for exploits

    We dislike dealing with exploited websites. A common cause is “the long forgotten outdated install from a web developer who left years ago. hoping works forever”. Public facing services need to be kept updated in order to remain secure, so script-kiddies can’t use your server for abuse, like selling dodgy medicinal products. One would always…

  • Ubuntu 16.04 LTS is here!

    We are pleased to announce the availability of Ubuntu 16.04 LTS server for new setups. This release has been code named Xenial Xerus. The official release notes are available from the Ubuntu team here. Our new VPS images are based on the official builds provided directly from http://cloud-images.ubuntu.com Significant updates in this release include

  • Don’t let the OOM killer stop MySQL

    Many of our customers are successfully using MySQL (or MariaDB) databases on their servers, and they usually run fine as installed and do not need any special attention. However, occasionally problems can occur with MySQL, and this may indicate that some manual tuning is required. One scenario is when the system is short of memory,…

  • Using Vagrant to Manage Rimu VPS systems

    Vagrant is high level wrapper around virtualization and configuration management software. It simplifies the creation and management of easily reproduceable environments. It is particularly suited for development and test enviroments where servers are brought up and down frequently. It can also be used to bootstrap production systems. It can be used with configuration management software…

  • WordPress + nginx quick setup

    WordPress is a very popular blogging platform. We have a number of posts on how to set it up and keep it up to date on here already. In general those methods focus on deploying under the Apache web server. Recently we were pointed to a scripted method developed by they guys at rtcamp.com. They…

  • Debian 8 (Jessie) available

    We now have a Debian 8 image available for new VM setups and reinstalls. Debian 8 is code named “Jessie”. There is only a 64 bit image.  Most customers are now ordering 64 bit distros.  And some distros only come in a 64 bit flavor now, e.g. Centos 7. Debian 8 is also an option…

  • Linux 4.0 kernel available

    On the http://rimuhosting.com/cp/vps/kernel.jsp page you can now select the 4.0 kernel for your VM.  Includes: OverlayFS, carries on with support required for Docker and SELinux, lots of new nf/eb table options, openvswitch, nfs4 support and too many other new kernel tweaks to mention.  Plus newer, fresher kernel code with lots of fixes to bugs (which…

  • Brute force SSH protection

    We have implemented some brute force SSH attack protection on VMs. Your servers should start to receive fewer connections from bots trying to bruteforce crack passwords on your server user accounts. Behind the scenes we have setup honey trap servers.  Botnets with no good reason to connect to these servers attempt to connect to the…