This article describes how to install Varnish 4 with Drupal 7 on Ubuntu 16.04. The procedure is similar to installing Varnish 3 in my Drupal recipe, but the update to Varnish 4 requires a few changes. These are described below. Installing Varnish 4 Run apt-get install varnish. Then ensure your /etc/default/varnish has the correct startup […]
Perl XHTML Validation
Fixes some common XHTML validation errors, to make a web page pass the W3C markup validator. Does this still work? I have no idea, I never build web pages by hand anymore.
OSSEC on Ubuntu 16
OSSEC is a HIDS (Host-based Intrusion Detection System) that can perform real-time logfile analysis, rootkit detection, file integrity checking, and notification. Resources: The home page, documentation, and current code. OSSEC works by assembling a “safe” profile of your system and then continuously checking files and processes for deviation from this profile. In particular, for a […]
logwatch on Ubuntu 16
logwatch is a utility that helps you track your system’s log files, and it can monitor them on a schedule and email you a daily summary of its findings. Like most security packages, logwatch itself isn’t a magic bullet, but it can be a useful component of a secure setup. If nothing else, it can […]
Ubuntu dpkg Error
If you run a recent vintage of Ubuntu, you may encounter the following dpkg error when you’re trying to update or install packages. This is usually caused by Ubuntu simultaneously running another instance of the package manager, often on system startup. Still, it can be annoying when you’re trying to update your system. So you […]
rkhunter on Ubuntu
This article details how to install and use rkhunter, the Rootkit Hunter anti-rootkit utility, on Ubuntu Server 16.04. Install and Update rkhunter Run a Scan If you don’t want to see all the checks, you can print only the warnings and positives instead: Interpreting the Results In this case, /usr/bin/wp is an installation of WP-CLI. […]
Bash: Make a Web Site Index
An old Bash script that uses awk to construct an index with hyperlinks from the .html files in a web tree. Attempts to use the <title> tag to name each link. To use, change your directories in the ‘for dir’ line to the directories you want to scan, then run the script: ./myscript.sh > myfile.html.
Using ufw on Ubuntu
ufw, or the Uncomplicated Firewall, is a convenient front end for managing iptables on your Ubuntu server. This article provides a brief tutorial on some of the most commonly used commands. ufw is available in Ubuntu from the 8.04 release onward, and the commands here should apply to any current version. Viewing the ufw Status […]
Ubuntu 16.04 Mail Server Updates
My previous instructions for setting up a Postfix/Dovecot/MySQL mail server on Ubuntu 12.04 work mostly as-is for Ubuntu 16.04, but there are a couple of gotchas. These workarounds are necessary due to some different locations of utilities on the filesystem and some changes to Ubuntu’s internals. We’ll go through these differences one by one. Mail […]
Install WP-CLI
The wp-cli command-line utility allows you to manage your WordPress sites without going through the WordPress dashboard, much like Drush does for Drupal. To install Composer and wp-cli on Ubuntu 16.04: Install Composer (I’d recommend not doing this as root.) Install wp-cli This installs wp-cli to $HOME/.config/composer/vendor/wp-cli/wp-cli/bin/wp To make things easier on yourself, symlink it: