Linux system administration and security

Information for Linux System Administration

Blocking access to SSH

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Security always requires a multi-layered scheme. SSH is a good example of this. Methods range from simple sshd configuration through the use of PAM to specify who can use SSH, to application of port-knocking techniques, or to hide the fact that SSH access even exists. Applying these techniques can make life much harder for possible intruders, who will have to go past three unusual barriers. read more...

permapage | score:9987 | -solrac, September 1, 2010

Run Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux on VirtualBox

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How to run Mac OS X with Virtualbox...

Here's how to run Windows, Mac, and Linux simultaneously and pain-free as possible.

To get a quick idea of where we're headed, check out the video above, which demonstrates my Windows 7 system running OS X and Ubuntu through VirtualBox. Below, we'll build on on the basics you learned in our beginner's guide to creating virtual machines with VirtualBox. We'll show you how to easily install new operating systems (including Mac OS X and Linux) and optimize your installation with shared folders and software to help your virtual machines communicate with your main OS. We'll also do a little extra work to get the newest release of Snow Leopard to play nice, even though it's not fully supported yet.

Ubuntu 10.04 LAMP Server Setup

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In around 15 minutes, the time it takes to install Ubuntu Server Edition, you can have a LAMP (Linux, Apache,MySQL and PHP) server up and ready to go. This feature, exclusive to Ubuntu Server Edition, is available at the time of installation.The LAMP option means you don’t have to install and integrate each of the four separate LAMP components. read more...

permapage | score:9976 | -gg234, August 30, 2010

Install Ubuntu Tweak 0.5.6 in 10.04

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Ubuntu Tweak is an application to config Ubuntu easier for everyone.It provides many useful desktop and system options that the default desktop environment doesn’t provide.With its help, you will enjoy with the experience of Ubuntu! read more...

permapage | score:9971 | -gg234, August 27, 2010

VMware Server 2.0.2-x On Ubuntu Server 10.04

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Today I will tell you how to set up a new Ubuntu 10.04 server which runs VMware server 2.0.2-x and the VMware Remote Console Plug-in. With VMware Server you can create and run guest operating systems ("virtual machines") such as Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, etc. under a host operating system. This has the benefit that you can run multiple operating systems on the same hardware which saves a lot of money, and you can move virtual machines from one VMware Server to the next one (or to a system that has the VMware Player which is also free). read more...

mail this link | permapage | score:9958 | -falko, August 25, 2010

Set up a web gui Print Server on Ubuntu with SWAT, CUPS, and SAMBA

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This how-to describes the process of setting up an intranet based print server using Ubuntu server. By using CUPS SAMBA and SWAT the final product is a webgui based solution to a headless print server. swat-cups-and-samba read more...

permapage | score:9952 | -falko, August 21, 2010

iSCSI On Ubuntu 10.04

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This guide explains how you can set up an iSCSI target and an iSCSI initiator (client), both running Ubuntu 10.04. The iSCSI protocol is a storage area network (SAN) protocol which allows iSCSI initiators to use storage devices on the (remote) iSCSI target using normal ethernet cabling. To the iSCSI initiator, the remote storage looks like a normal, locally-attached hard drive. read more...

permapage | score:9948 | -falko, August 17, 2010

mod_chroot: Chroot Apache2 on Ubuntu 10.04

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This guide explains how to set up mod_chroot with Apache2 on an Ubuntu 10.04 system. With mod_chroot, you can run Apache2 in a secure chroot environment and make your server less vulnerable to break-in attempts that try to exploit vulnerabilities in Apache2 or your installed web applications. read more...

permapage | score:9946 | -falko, August 18, 2010

Install Virtualbox 3.2 in Ubuntu 10.04

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The VirtualBox team released a significant new version of Oracle VM VirtualBox(TM), its high performance,cross-platform virtualization software. VirtualBox 3.2, the first Oracle branded release since the acquisition of Sun Microsystems, Inc by Oracle Corp. earlier this year, contains many innovative new features which deliver further significant improvements in performance, power and supported guest operating system platforms. read more...

permapage | score:9919 | -gg234, May 20, 2010

Tutorial: Build a Multiserver Web, Email, DNS and MySQL Database System on Debian 5.0

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This tutorial describes the installation of an ISPConfig 3 multiserver setup with dedicated web, email, database and two DNS servers all managed trough a single ISPConfig 3 control panel. The setup described below uses five servers and can be extended easily to to a higher number of servers by just adding more servers. E.g. if you want to have two mailservers, do the setup steps from chapter 2 on both of these servers. If you want to set up more web servers, then install ISPConfig on all other web servers in expert mode except of the first one. read more...

mail this link | permapage | score:9911 | -falko, August 20, 2010

Configure the AIDE File Integrity Scanner

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A file integrity scanner is something you need to have. Imagine a hacker placing a backdoor on your web site, or changing your order form to email him a copy of everyone's credit card while leaving it appear to be functionally normally. By setting up daily reporting, this notifies you within, at most, 24 hours of when any file was changed, added, or removed. It also helps establish an audit trail in the event your site is compromised. These instructions are designed for an end user, where you don't need to have root access, to implement and assumes your server has the aide binary installed. Most hosts will have this installed already, or will install it for you upon request. read more...

mail this link | permapage | score:9899 | -falko, August 19, 2010

Tutorial: Build an OpenSUSE 11.3 x86_64 server

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This is a detailed description about how to set up an OpenSUSE 11.3 server (x86_64) that offers all services needed by ISPs and hosters: Apache web server (SSL-capable), Postfix mail server with SMTP-AUTH and TLS, BIND DNS server, Proftpd FTP server, MySQL server, Dovecot POP3/IMAP, Quota, Firewall, etc. In the end you should have a system that works reliably, and if you like you can install the free webhosting control panel ISPConfig 2 (i.e., ISPConfig runs on it out of the box). read more...

permapage | score:9896 | -falko, August 16, 2010

Install a Web, Email, MySQL DB Cluster on Debian 5

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This tutorial describes the installation of a clustered web, email, database and DNS server to be used for redundancy, high availability and load balancing on Debian 5 with the ISPConfig 3 control panel. GlusterFS will be used to mirror the data between the servers and ISPConfig for mirroring the configuration files. I will use a setup of two servers here for demonstration purposes but the setup can scale to a higher number of servers with only minor modifications in the GlusterFS configuration files. read more...

mail this link | permapage | score:9883 | -falko, August 12, 2010

How to Install and Use OpenVZ on Ubuntu 10.04

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In this HowTo I will describe how to prepare an Ubuntu 10.04 server for OpenVZ. With OpenVZ you can create multiple Virtual Private Servers (VPS) on the same hardware, similar to Xen and the Linux Vserver project. OpenVZ is the open-source branch of Virtuozzo, a commercial virtualization solution used by many providers that offer virtual servers. The OpenVZ kernel patch is licensed under the GPL license, and the user-level tools are under the QPL license. read more...

permapage | score:9882 | -falko, August 24, 2010

Tutorial: Install Apache2, PHP5 and MySQL on OpenSUSE 11.3

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LAMP is short for Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP. This tutorial shows how you can install an Apache2 webserver on an OpenSUSE 11.3 server with PHP5 support (mod_php) and MySQL support. read more...

permapage | score:9873 | -falko, August 4, 2010

Set up RAID1 on running Ubuntu 10.04

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This guide explains how to set up software RAID1 on an already running Ubuntu 10.04 system. The GRUB2 bootloader will be configured in such a way that the system will still be able to boot if one of the hard drives fails (no matter which one). read more...

permapage | score:9870 | -falko, July 6, 2010

Tutorial: Install Nginx, PHP5, MySQL on OpenSUSE 11.3

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Nginx (pronounced "engine x") is a free, open-source, high-performance HTTP server. Nginx is known for its stability, rich feature set, simple configuration, and low resource consumption. This tutorial shows how you can install Nginx on an OpenSUSE 11.3 server with PHP5 support (through FastCGI) and MySQL support. read more...

permapage | score:9868 | -falko, August 13, 2010

Set up virt-install with Xen 4.0 guests on Ubuntu 10.04

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Set up Xen 4.0 Dom0 with pvops kernel 2.6.32.12 on top of Ubuntu 10.04 Server. Install packages:

# apt-get install virtinst python-virtinst virt-viewer

It’s important to specify "--connect xen:///" inside virt-install command line to succeed with VNC console launching (vs 9.10) . Variable VIRSH_DEFAULT_CONNECT_URI exported via .bashrc is not understood by virt-install on 10.04 read more...

permapage | score:9863 | -Boris Derzhavets, May 5, 2010

High availability with the Linux 2.6.33 Distributed Replicated Block Device

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The 2.6.33 Linux kernel has introduced a useful new service called the DRBD - Distributed Replicated Block Device. This service mirrors an entire block device to another networked host during run time, permitting the development of high-availability clusters for block data. Explore the ideas behind the DRBD and its implementation in the Linux kernel. read more...

permapage | score:9846 | -solrac, August 6, 2010

Tutorial: Ubuntu 10.04 Samba Server with tdbsam

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This tutorial explains the installation of a Samba fileserver on Ubuntu 10.04 and how to configure it to share files over the SMB protocol as well as how to add users. Samba is configured as a standalone server, not as a domain controller. In the resulting setup, every user has his own home directory accessible via the SMB protocol and all users have a shared directory with read-/write access. read more...

permapage | score:9829 | -falko, July 19, 2010

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