CentOS is the free open source replica of the well known Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). With a very good reputation because of its stability and performance RHEL is nowadays the dominating GNU/Linux distribution in the enterprise environment. As a gift, in a similar fashion to Microsoft’s Windows trial versions (without limits to the use), […]
How to setup a simple firewall in FreeBSD using IPFW
Setting the firewall up is a mandatory task on any computer facing the internet. This is a simple, straightforward how to article on how to setup a box with an easy firewall configuration on FreeBSD. FreeBSD can play not only one but three firewalls. Networking is complicated by itself and firewalls can be complex too. […]
Abandon Linux. Jails for developers.
Reading the title you might think I want to put developers in Jail and although some may be good candidates this is in the far opposite of my intention. I am talking about FreeBSD Jails. For the unfamiliar with the concept those Jails are userland secure contained environments that share a common kernel. Purists and […]
What is Expect?
Expect is a handy scripting tool for task automation. You may have never heard of it. I heard about many scripting things before. But one day I needed something simple but didn’t know how to proceed, what would be a good tool for my purpose. The task was simple. Exporting a website content from a […]
How to enable log rotation on FreeBSD
This is a very short simple entry but it may help you. As many others you may be running a web server, or any other service that creates some logging information. Enable log rotation on FreeBSD will keep those log files in a manageable size (at least more readable) and they won’t grow and expand […]
How to set the locale in FreeBSD
The locale is the character set that will be used. And it is very important to match the keyboard you are using. Mind this also matters if you are transferring data to other systems. Different standards as the ASCII, UTF’s and the ISO’s, to name a few, have been put in place through the years […]
Lynis or how to quickly audit your system’s security configuration
A colleague of mine pointed me out to Lynis, a system’s configuration audit tool which checks the hardening of any running UNIX or UNIX-like system, including the BSDs. This tool has a built in check list and a set of sane and safe configurations and compares them to the target system. As output we find […]
How to securely install WordPress on FreeBSD
If you have already read my guide on how to install WordPress on FreeBSD you will have been a bit disappointed since at the end there is a deceptive paragraph that reads as follows: Now be aware you will set a user name and password for your wordpress install. They will be sent in plain […]