Things are moving along with the Ubuntu Server Project but there’s a bunch of small tasks and configuration changes that will make life easier going forward. This article will cover installing vsftpd, setting up a self-signed SSL certificate in Apache, and configuring my local Mac to access the Ubuntu server virtual machine by name. Even though the server is a VM sitting on my Mac and not accessible from the Internet I’ll still be treating it as if it was on the Internet and needs to be secure. vsftpd The [...] Read the rest »
Ubuntu Server Project #8: Apache Configuration
The previous article in my Ubuntu Server Project series covered the installation of Apache. Now it’s time for some configuration. I’ll start off by looking around the Apache installation ten make some minor configuration changes. The Apache config folder is /etc/apache2 which contains the following files & folders: The names in blue are folders. The sites-available folder has what it says, the sites that are available. But just because they’re available doesn’t mean they’re enabled. There’s one site in the sites-available folder, the default site. To check which sites are [...] Read the rest »
Ubuntu Server Project #7: Apache & PHP Installation
Now that MySQL is installed the only remaining server software is Apache, PHP and WordPress. This time around I’ll install Apache & PHP. The installation is quick & easy. I’ll use aptitude to install both of them. As a refresher, if you haven’t read the previous articles, I’m building a WordPress test environment on a Ubuntu Server server that’s running in a VMware Fusion virtual machine. I connect to the server using a SSH connection and mount the CD-ROM image with the command mount /cdrom/ so that the Apache and [...] Read the rest »
Ubuntu Server Project #6: MySQL Server Installation
It’s been over a month without any activity, but the SQL server build is moving forward again. In the previous five installments I was installing, configuring and getting comfortable with the the basic Ubuntu install. The past articles can be found in the Ubuntu Server Project section on my Linux page. Today’s task is to install MySQL, which is very straight-forward. I’ll make some guesses at a low-memory configuration but I’ll wait until the server is completely up before drilling deep into the optimizing. I’ll be needing the original Ubuntu [...] Read the rest »
Ubuntu Server Project #5: Getting Comfortable With Ubuntu
This is a bit different than the other posts as I won’t actually be installing any major software. Instead I’ll be customizing Ubuntu to make it easier for me to use and finding programs to monitor my server. System Information First I’ll want some commands that tell me about the system. Since there’s only 256MB of memory allocated to this Ubuntu Server virtual machine I’ll want to keep tabs on memory usage. I can do this with the free command and use -m to have the info displayed as easy [...] Read the rest »
Ubuntu Server Project #4: Iptables Firewall
Continuing along the security theme set by the previous article I’ll configure some simple iptables firewall rules for my Ubuntu Server virtual machine. Iptables can be pretty complicated and I won’t attempt to go into great detail. Since this is a virtual machine only accessible from within my home network I have the luxury of being able to play without having to actually be concerned with security. So iptables will be set up for the experience and for future testing. Iptables is installed with every Ubuntu installation so there’s nothing [...] Read the rest »
Ubuntu Server Project #3: Networking & SSH Setup
This is the third installment in my Ubuntu Server Project series which documents my efforts to get a working copy of WordPress running on Ubuntu Server 7.10. It’s summarized, with links to past articles, on my Linux page. Ok, technically security should have been set up immediately after installation so this should have been the second installment and not the third. But Ubuntu was a VM on my own desktop and wasn’t on the Internet so I wanted everything nice and up to date before proceeding. Setting Up Networking I [...] Read the rest »
Ubuntu Server Project #2: Updating the Install and the Basics
This is the second installment in my Ubuntu Server Project series which documents my efforts to get a working copy of WordPress running on Ubuntu Server 7.10. It’s summarized, with links to past articles, on my Linux page or go to the previous article about installing Ubuntu Server 7.10. Most of my experience with the *nix command line is limited as there’s always been a GUI. I think the most I did was over 10 years ago when I did some work on HP-UX. So I’ll be starting with the [...] Read the rest »
