Posts tagged web
Web Based SSH Clients
Dec 25th
If you want to connect to your server in an encrypted and secure fashion, but do not want to or cannot install a binary on your local system, you can use a web based ssh client. The original software, that I have heard of, is Anyterm. It has since been replaced by Sjax Term, and subsequently Web Shell. I have played with Ajax Term a bit, but could never get everything working as I wanted. I’m going to take a second crack as Ajax Term, and then Web Shell. I would like a secure means of connecting to my server, but there is a hitch. The most secure means is to use rsa keypairs. Which means the key must be transportable on a usb drive or the like. I wonder how well Ajax Term or Web Shell function using a rsa key. Conveniently you can install ajax term directly from the Ubuntu repos. A simple:
sudo apt-get install ajaxterm
Ajax Term will be installed as a system server complete with an init.d script. In Karmic you will issue:
sudo service ajaxterm start
Configure Ajax Term in /etc/default/ajaxterm. Ajax Term does not do encryption, therefore for security you would do ssl, and connect to your server with https. Refer to the Ubuntu documentation for more information about ssl setup for Ajax Term. As per Ubuntu documentation there is also Shell in a Box. There are various choices and wants to get a secure connection to your home machine.
The main reason I recommend, and prefer rsa keypairs is to completely disable password authentication on the server. This eliminates the possibility of a brute force attach, or a ssh DOS. The server rejects are password attempts no matter what. It is a sweet configuration, and as a server administrator you can walk around with a usb drive with your rsa key to connect to the server securely.
Personal Cloud Computing From Your Own Server – EyeOS
Oct 25th
EyeOS
EyeOS is a fully functional personal cloud desktop. Install it on your server, with or without mysql database support. The software supports flat file storage, so basically drag and drop the package, set a couple of file and folder permissions, walk through the administrator panel and your good to go with your own personal cloud computer. Best of all you are not paying any subscription fees. If you host your own server, there you go, and if you rent space, there you go too. In your browser remove the status bar from the bottom; which is most likely in the view tab. Then hit maximize and viola a fullscreen desktop anywhere you have a web browser. Frankly it works just fine for most things. Clearly its not going to run Windows applications, or Linux apps for that matter, but you can do the basics. Word processing, spreadheets and all that office goodness. FTP, and a web browser so you don’t have to leave your cloud desktop to search the net. I think the idea of a cload computer is excellent. Functionality is the most important thing, and it still feels like a desktop in your web browser is missing a couple of things. In time maybe the browser based desktop experience may feel more seamless, which hopefully is the primary goal of such projects.
Nagios Virtual Server Monitoring in 15 Minutes – Intro
Feb 26th
Nagios allows you to graphically monitor your virtual servers from a single web page. No longer will you have to load each individual website or web service in order to verify consistent operation. Nagios can be downloaded directly from their website at: http://www.nagios.com On the Nagios homepage is a link to a 15 minute tutorial, which is relatively straight forward, and works like a charm. I recommend Ubuntu JeOS for your virtual OS specifically because the kernel works flawlessly with the host operating system.
Internet Utility – Web Browser Addons
Aug 23rd
Firefox is an extremely extendible web browser that can utilize plugins as well as themes. The main Firefox website provides a repository of many files that are predominantly, if not all, free to download. The Mozilla Firefox plugins are referred to as extensions, and can be viewed at:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browse/type:1
Firefox Themes can be viewed at:
Diversifying Your Servers for Stability
Aug 18th
It is intuitive to spread out different servers across several machines. If one machine goes down it won’t take down all your services. I feel that the bare minimum is 2 machines. One for at least the web server, and the other for at least a backup of the servers files. I use two machines at the moment, 1 for the webserver, and the other for my mail server. I also use the mail server to backup my server files as said above. As described in a latter post, automatic backing up of a web server can be achived with two simple bash script run by cron. http://www.bgevolution.com/blog/index.php/cron-server-backup-scripts/ I would like to have an additional computer running the Mysql server. This would slightly minimize down time associated with the need for an occasional fresh OS install 
