People often talk about security. There are many different types of security. Personal security. Security theater. Physical security. In this post, we’ll talk about securing communications channels so that others cannot listen in, and so that others cannot connect. In this article, I’ll talk about using a toolkit, ssl-admin, to create a certificate authority, create self-signed certificates, and use them for both backups (via Bacula) and for a VPN (using OpenVPN). We will […]
I wrote this some time ago, but never published it. Here we go… Bacula is a fantastic backup solution. It’s open source. It uses a database to keep track of backups. I’ve been writing recently about using ssl-admin as a certificate authority tool. Today, I started using ssl-admin for generating certificates for my backup clients. In this post, I’m using Bacula 5.2.12 and using this reference page as a guide. I started playing
Bacula: TLS Allowed CN Read More »
I found this special idea about banning spammers: echo “select comment_author_IP from wp_comments where comment_approved = ‘spam'” | \ mysql –skip-column-names -u root wordpress_danlangilleorg | \ xargs -n 1 -J % sudo pfctl -t idiots -T add % Anyone care to explain how this works?
The PGCon 2013 Call for papers is out. It’s been out for over two weeks. Had you heard about it already? If you have not already submitted, please do so. The deadline for submissions (19 Jan) is just over a month away. That time will fly past. Please don’t leave it to the last minute. If you are doing something interesting with PostgreSQL, please submit a proposal. You might be one of the
PGCon 2013 call for papers Read More »
I use Bacula for my backups. Most of my backups are done to disk, then copied to tape. I have long liked the idea of having multiple backups on different media. On a regular basis, I move the FULL backup tapes to an offsite location. This is standard practice and highly recommended if you can do it. I don’t use the latest and greatest tape drives. I’m using DLT drives. I like them
Adding Nagios checks for tape drives / libraries Read More »
From this morning: $ bconsole Connecting to Director bacula.example.org:9101 1000 OK: bacula-dir Version: 5.2.6 (21 February 2012) Enter a period to cancel a command. *mount storage=DigitalTapeLibrary slot=1 3001 OK mount requested. Specified slot ignored. Device=”DTL01″ (/dev/nsa0) And nothing mounts… But…. *mount storage=DigitalTapeLibrary slot=1 3001 OK mount requested. Specified slot ignored. Device=”DTL01″ (/dev/nsa0) Eh? OK, backups are running again… *m 14-Dec 11:39 bacula-dir JobId 114017: Recycled volume “ETU137” 14-Dec 11:39 bacula-dir JobId 114017: Using
Bacula? Why you no mount? Read More »
I use WordPress for three websites: http://dan.langille.org/ (this website) http://news.freshports.org/ http://wp.freebsddiary.org This also mean I have WordPress installed three times. Recently, I looked at moving to multi-site WordPress. I failed. Or rather, I abandoned the process. My goals: have one instance of WordPress for all three website have each blog available via both https Option 1 is to reduce the work required when upgrading WordPress and plugins. Option 2 is to ensure I
Multi-site WordPress installation Read More »
This article talks about FreeBSD 8.2 and how device names might change when you add new devices to an existing system. The other day, when I was telling you about the new tape library, one of the important bits was the device names. The existing tape drive was sa0. The new one was sa1. That’s good. But today, after a system reboot, the tape drives are renumbered. Here is what I had: Today,
Hardcoding device names Read More »
As recently written, I have acquired a tape library with a 15-tape magazine. It contains a DLT-8000 tape drive which, although it is no longer state-of-the-art, is a step up from the DLT-7000 I am currently using. Today, I will try using this unit for the first time. I’ll do a simple write, try changing tapes, etc. I’ll be using my previous postings on this topic, such as one on using tape libraries
Testing a tape library Read More »
Recently, I rearranged the bottom shelf of my rack and rotated the DEC library 90°. Then I placed a new [to me] Overland DLT MinilibraryXpress (model LXM8115). I plugged the cable from my server into the Overland unit and daisy-chained that to the DEC library. The grey cable which leads up and out of the photo leads to the server. The cable which leads slightly up and to the left and then loops
Adding a new tape library Read More »