As recently announced in a previous article I wanted to write a couple of guides on how to mitigate Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities in GNU/Linux and UNIX environments. It is always a good and I hope a standard practice to have your systems patched and if they aren’t for whatever the reason (that legacy thing […]

How to mitigate Spectre and Meltdown on an HP Proliant server with FreeBSD

The CentOS party is over, isn’t it?
Disclaimer: What you are about to read may contain inaccuracies. Feel free to discuss them somewhere else. This is also my opinion and as such it may change through time, maybe tomorrow, next month, next year, next decade or never. I do also make very few reviews (if any) of what I write here, so […]

What is GNU/Linux?
To answer this question one must split it. Plus make other questions like: «What is a, so called, Linux distro?». It seems complex and it is in a way. But let´s explain GNU/Linux in simple terms. GNU stands for GNU is Not UNIX. So it´s clear is not UNIX but it´s related to it in […]

How to compile cloudflared in FreeBSD 13/14
I happen to self-host my websites using Cloudflare’s services (article 1, article 2). Since the FreeBSD port seems to be delaying its releases and Cloudflare’s policy on maintaining versions only considers 1 year old code, in an act of prevention I have learnt, and I am publishing, how to compile cloudflared in FreeBSD. Note: At […]

FreeBSD Jails
The FreeBSD jails is a virtualization technology you may have skipped for too long. It is an operating system level virtualization and is one of the differential characteristics of FreeBSD from Linux. Solaris took it to the main corporate use with Zones and as it couldn’t be any other way the Illumos folks also play […]
Who am I?
My name is Albert Valbuena. I am a retired ski instructor and after a period of five years in the international department of a logistics company I recently moved in to the IT industry. It hasn’t been overnight and it is still work in progress. A few years ago I started a website called www.skireviewer.com. […]

How to install Redis for WordPress on FreeBSD
I happen to self-host a few WordPress sites on FreeBSD. And as much as one can configure OP-Cache to improve PHP’s performance, object cache is a must for many WordPress sites. This how to install Redis for WordPress on FreeBSD will explain how to install an object cache (Redis) for WordPress (via plugin) on this […]

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 […]

Abandon Linux. Move to FreeBSD or Illumos.
If you use GNU/Linux and you are only on opensource, you may be doing it wrong. Here’s why. Is your company based on opensource based software only? Do you have a bunch of developers hitting some kind of server you have installed for them to “do their thing”? Being it for economical reasons (remember to […]

How to find vulnerabilities in your WordPress with WPScan
Vulnerability scanners are useful tools for administrators and security analysts alike. For the casual WordPress user tools like WPScan may look excessive and complicated for their knowledge, they just need their blog, web page, whatever they’re doing up and running. Any complex administration bothers them to the max, and there are good and valid reasons […]
