vdi
VirtualBox VDI – Clonevdi to USB Hard Drive
Dec 3rd
VDI images should be backed up with the VBoxManage clonevdi tool in order to preserved file system integrity. I myself has made the mistake of copy pasting, and the result is a damaged system with many configuration changes, and files missing. I was able to salvage the contents of the VDI by getting an external ip and using ssh; whewww. To avoid potential backup meltdowns simply use the VBoxManage clonevdi tool:
VBoxManage clonevdi /home/user/.VirtualBox/VDI/example.vdi /media/usbdisk/example.vdi
RAID – Virtual Servers – Uptime and Backup Integrity
Nov 26th
RAID is really tempting, especially the hot swapping feature of hardware RAID. The obvious deterrent is the high costs of a quality raid controller. The economical alternative is Linux software RAID. This is easily implementable with reference to a variety of easily available online tutorials. Considering the ease of implementation RAID is a viable option. I do not use RAID primarily because I don’t have multiple hard drives nor the capital requirements to purchase them. Sometimes you have to work with what you got. I have a simple backup solution, and since this server environment is Virtual, my entire backup involves the copying of a single .VDI file to a USB hard drive. For redundancy I also transfer via ssh the server .VDI file to my laptop, and the host system. The fourth backup goes to my mail server. Essentially I have a relatively fault resistant server environment. Worst case scenario is the host environment will have to be formatted with a clean OS, and then the virtual server copied form the USB backup. After a quick install of VirtualBox the server environment would be back up in no time. Overall this process would probably take about 35 minutes.
WordPress Alternative – Web 2.0 Ajax Ruby on Rails
Nov 26th
Typosphere is blogging software written with the ever popular Javascript framework Ruby on Rails. The software reminds me of WordPress although the Ajax page enhancements are slightly more pronounced. Theoretically WordPress is enough, but in todays day and age even blog-masters wan’t to blog in style. This is style, and Typosphere most definitely has a bright future. I will be creating a Debian VirtualBox VDI with Typosphere preinstalled 
http://www.typosphere.org/ http://www.rubyonrails.org/
VirtualBox Backup Restore
Nov 25th
When you create a guest operating system it is stored in a VirtualBox .vdi file. This .vdi is the hard drive that you created during the setup of your guest OS. Your .vdi images are stored in /home/user/.virtualbox/vdi. To backup your VirtualBox guest operating systems simply copy the specific .vdi file to a usb hard drive, another partition, or a separate internal hard drive. I typically use SSH or FTP to transfer the .vdi image of my server to my laptop To restore your VirtualBox guest operating system simply copy the specific VDI file from your usb hard drive, another partition, or your separate internal hard drive to /home/user/.virtualbox/vdi. Then in VBoxManage you can create a new guest operating system and use the imported VDI as the hard drive. I also happen to offer a variety of .vdi images of your favorite Linux distributions. See VirtLinux.com for more information
Hardware Software Backup Importance
Nov 13th
With a Virtual Server your hardware is backed up completely within the VDI image. Your Mysql databases, specifically for websites that are blogs update often; more often than you would like to backup your 50 Gigabyte VDI image. To compensate, and significantly ease backup procedures have your mysql databases backed up regularly. Daily, hourly, or even after each post is recommended in order to effectively secure needed files in case a system restore is required. To backup your mysql databases you can view my previous post: http://www.bgevolution.com/blog/index.php/cron-server-backup-scripts/
Virtual Server Can Fool Hackers – Backup/Restore is Easy
Nov 12th
When a virtual server is utilizing the host systems network, and receives an independent local IP via DHCP from your router it appears to be an actual computer form the outside world. If a backup of the VDI is kept regularly it can simply replace a damaged, or hacked system in the time it takes to copy a file. Virtual servers exist as a single VDI file, therefore for blogs that utilize database backends simply copy your backup server VDI image, boot, then use your phpmyadmin to update your mysql databases from your backups; obviously this entails keeping mysql database backups. For more information about mysql backups utilizing automated cron scripts see: http://www.bgevolution.com/blog/index.php/cron-server-backup-scripts/