Although the upgrade process is very well described on the FreeBSD handbook you may be looking for a more detailed hands on how to upgrade FreeBSD from version 11.2 up to 12.0 article. We’re going work here on this process, step by step detailing not only how to upgrade but to do it safely. First […]
How to upgrade FreeBSD from version 11.2 up to 12.0
A brief introduction to SSL/TLS certificates
SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer and it an old implementation of a crytographic protocol. TLS, or Transport Layer Security, is a new one. They are both used to have privacy in the communications between different parties. They are used to secure email, web browsing, instant messaging, etc These protocols work in a complex way […]
How to install OSSEC agents on Windows
On a recent post I published about how to install an OSSEC server on Ubuntu I explained how this solution can help secure an infrastructure by deploying agents which report back to a central server. This is the second part of this server-client story. On this guide you will read about setting up agents and […]
How to harden Apache HTTP
Disclaimer: This is a long article. I haven’t collected some nice configuration settings here for the sake of it. There are other hardening guides but some fall short on explaining the functionalities to be enabled or disabled. Every step is shortly, and hopefully clearly, explained so any reader can grasp the main idea of every […]
How to test SSL/TLS configurations
If you are in charge of any site with SSL/TLS conenctions enabled you are always in the chase to get the best possible and most secure configuration. This isn’t always the case and the lack of time does take its toll on many administrators. Those individuals are always asked to do more with less and […]
How to set CentOS 7 repositories
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), […]
WordPress administration over SSL
If you are a WordPress user or prettend to become one and you have some IT administration knowledge this guide is of your interest. Many hostings already provide easy point and click solutions to administer WordPress over SSL. However you may be self hosting WordPress or you’re just a curious person. What is TLS? TLS […]
A word on Spectre and Meltdown
As professionals and many aficionados know, early this year some widespread vulnerabilities were found on Intel CPU’s as well as on AMD’s. It was a bit later discovered the flaws also affected some RISC architectures such as Power and ARM. Everybody went nuts and the world seemed to be tumbling because of two CPU vulnerabilities […]
How to manage site visitors based on IP Geolocation
Whenever someone publishes a website on the internet, most of the times, their intention is that site to be seen around the globe. However, as a site administrator you may want to divert users from one country to visit some specific version of that site, maybe because of the visitor’s language. Other times, less often […]
How to install Nagios on FreeBSD
As explained in an introduction article, Nagios is a monitoring software very well established and used in production on many environments. Results are displayed in a web page so it uses a web server to publish them to the user and needs some php code to do so. It is configured through files which happen […]