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Replacing Google Analytics with Piwik/Matomo for a locally hosted privacy focused open source analytics solution

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This is how I replacing Google Analytics with Piwik/Matomo for a locally hosted privacy-focused open source analytics solution

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Aside

I have a number of guides on moving away from CPanel, Setting up VM’s on AWS, Vultr or Digital Ocean along with installing and managing WordPress from the command line. PHP is my programming language of choice.

Now on with the post

Google Analytics

I will fully admit Google Analytics is good. I posted this a while ago on how you can set up Google Analytics on your site.

Google Analytics has some great charts and graphs. Simple to set up and easy to use.

Analitics Home

My site traffic is growing and I would prefer to hold my own analytics on user data. Matomo is an analytics solution that stays on my server and not in the hands of Google.

Blog Growth

 

Google Analytics can be Slow

Sometimes the Google Analytics server is slow (affecting the speed of my server). I blogged recently about speeding up a WordPress site here and GOogl Servers were not adding expiry headers on assets.

I did log a ticket with Google to fix this and the experience was terrible.

Support for Google Analytics is terrible

Gogole Analytics support of terrible

GT Metrix scores show poor delivery of tracking assets.

Google Slow Assets

Privacy

After the Cambridge Analytica fiasco (that made me decide to delete facebook) sending analytics to Google is not a good idea.

I am not saying Google is evil but I want my site’s visitors tracking data to remain local.

 

Website Speed Benchmark before installing Matomo

I can load my site in 1.3 seconds at best, 1.5 seconds on average and 2.0 seconds at worst. My site is loading 11 assets.

GTmetrix 1.3 second page load time

Page Speed Scores

GTMerix page speed load times

Y Slow Scores, Gogol Assets are reporting no expiry headers (slowing down scores)

GTMetrix yslow load times

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Google Analytics tracking assets are slow.

Gmetrix waterfall list

Optimizations to be made

Browser caching is not possible with Google Analytics.

Gogole lacking browser caching

Missing Expiry Headers (I can see a Google Tag Manager server is slowing down my servers benchmark score)

Google lacking Expiry Headers

Why Mamoto (instead of Google Analytics)

I came across

Mamoto was mentioned

I visited https://matomo.org/

Mamoto webpage

Snip

> Take care of running Matomo yourself by installing it on your own server. There is no cost for Matomo itself but you need a server and update Matomo & your server regularly to keep it fast and secure. Need help? The Matomo team provides free help resources and paid support.

Mamoto Setup Instruction Guide

Source Code

Source code is available.

> Matomo is the leading open alternative to Google Analytics that gives you full control over your data. Matomo lets you easily collect data from websites, apps & the IoT and visualise this data and extract insights. Privacy is built-in. We love Pull Requests! https://matomo.org/

https://github.com/matomo-org/matomo

 

Installation Guide

I read the installation guide here https://matomo.org/docs/installation/

You can view the changelog here https://matomo.org/changelog/

 

Downloading Mamoto

I logged into my server via SSH and downloaded the 18MB download to the desired folder

I unzipped the zip file

I loaded the URL where Matoto was installed (e.g “https://fearby.com/folder/subfolder/matomo/”)

I received this well-crafted error.

Matomo File Permission Error

Raw Output

I refreshed the page after running the commands above on my site (via SSH)

Matomo Setup Step 1

A system check was performed. I installed when PHP 7.2.11 was the latest, PHP 7.2.12 or higher might be available. Follow my guide to update PHP on Ubuntu.

System Check

I had one Issue with Freetype not being installed.

Install Freetype

I solved this error by installing freetype

Output

Then I installed “php-gd”

Output:

I refreshed the Matomo setup wizard page, Freetype is now installed 🙂

FreeType is installed

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Database Settings

For the life of me, I could not get Matomo to talk to a database on another server so I set it up on my localhost.

I used this guide to help in mysql CLI to create the database and users.

Enter Matomo Database settings

Commands in mysql to create a database and user and assign the user to the database. If you are not comfortable with MySql CLI you can use Adminder GUI.

I used this PHP code to test connecting to the dedicated server before using the localhost

Database created ok

Database OK

I created a Matomo user then I grabbed the javascript tracking ID code so I could paste this into WordPress.

Matomo Tracking ID

I opened my WordPress theme settings and deleted the Google tracking tags and added the Matomo tracking code.

Delete Google Tracking Tags

 

I added the Matomo tracking javascript in the head section.

The dashboard is up and collecting data.

Matomo Dashboard

Some reports are missing data so I will come back later.

After 1 week I could see data

Matomo is not collecting daya

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Securing Mamoto

I read this guide here to secure Matomo

 

Opt Out Tracking

I enabled Opt Out Tracking in the Mamoto settings and added the generated opt-out code to my front page and at the bottom or all existing articles.

I had to allow iframe tags on my site by adding this header in NGINX (previously I blocked iframes)

Add Opt Out Tracking Code to WordPress.

Matomo Opt Out Added to WordPRess widgets

I updated my privacy page and my GDPR notification bar. Now visitors will see a opt out of tracking on the front page and all article pages.

Opt out of tracking enabled

SMTP Settings

I added my GSuite mail server settings to enable sending of reports via email. I loaded my old guide here to get the GSuite SMTP settings.

GSuite SMTP Settings Added

I enabled force https on the Mamoto application (edited: config/config.ini.php file)

 

Matomo Plugins (Marketplace)

I opened the System then Plugins section of Matomo to open the Marketplace

Plugins

I installed these plugins

  • Force SSL
  • HidePasswordReset
  • Google Authenticator
  • Device Pixel Ratio
  • Bandwidth
  • Js Tracker Force Async
  • Treemap Visualization
  • Security Info
  • Custom Alerts
  • IP Reports
  • Live Tab
  • etc

Updating PHP

Matomo Admin (Panel – Security/Diagnostics) section will report if your PHP gets out of date.

Matomo warning of PHP being out of date

Hardening Advice

Matomo also recommended some php.ini file changes.

> open_basedir – open_basedir is disabled. When this is enabled, only files that are in the given directory/directories and their subdirectories can be read by PHP scripts. You should consider turning this on. Keep in mind that other web applications not written in PHP will not be restricted by this setting.

> upload_tmp_dir – upload_tmp_dir is disabled, or is set to a common world-writable directory. This typically allows other users on this server to access temporary copies of files uploaded via your PHP scripts. You should set upload_tmp_dir to a non-world-readable directory

This may break your WordPress so enable at your own risk. I might move Mamoto to a dedicated “analytics” subdomain then enable these options.

 

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Troubleshooting

I had to run this command when installing Device Pixel Ratio, Device Network Information, Bandwidth plugins

Output:

 

GTMetrix (After)

GT Metrix reports that my site is not slower (still 1.5 seconds)

GTMetrix After Pagespeed

I can see that some JavaScript is not being picked up by CDN.

GTMetrix After YSlow

Also 2 More files loading (when compared to Google Analytics)

2 More Files

Time to add the Mamoto files to my CDN.

 

Adding Matomo Resources to a CDN

I read this Matomo forum post.

I copied these 2 assets to my WordPress wp-content folder (my WordPress CDN ewww.io will then upload them to the CDN).

I have cache everything enabled in ewww.io and this will copy the javascript assets ot my CDN.  I will need to manually update these js files each time a Matomo update is installed.

I change my Matomo tracker code to include the new CDN location

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I could not find out how to change the location of my (now CDN cached https://fearby-com.exactdn.com/wp-content/optOut.js) so I temporarily disabled the opt-out form on my front page.

todo: Find out how to change the CDN location of optOut.js and re-enabled the form.

All assets are loading from CDN.

GT Metrix shows my site loads in 1.4 seconds

Analytics Reporting

Graphs are not as pretty as Google Analytics but they are working.

Matomo is not collecting daya

 

Mobile Reporting

Mobile reporting is good too.

Screenshot of the Matomo Mobile app

 

 

Good luck and I hope this guide helps someone

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v1.0 Initial post

No matter what server-provider you are using I strongly recommend you have a hot spare ready on a different provider

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I recently had an issue where I set up a website for a friend. I invested 6 hours into setting up, the server and backups were automatically deleted after 7 days while I was away from my keyboard because I assumed the account was valid and had credits.

 

Read Full Article:

https://fearby.com/article/no-matter-what-server-provider-you-are-using-i-strongly-recommend-you-have-a-hot-spare-ready-on-a-different-provider/

No matter what server-provider you are using I strongly recommend you have a hot spare ready on a different provider

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No matter what server-provider you are using I strongly recommend you have a hot spare ready on a different provider

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Aside

If you have not read my previous posts I have now moved my blog to the awesome UpCloud host (signup using this link to get $25 free UpCloud VM credit). I compared Digital Ocean, Vultr and UpCloud Disk IO here and UpCloud came out on top by a long way (read the blog post here). Here is my blog post on moving from Vultr to UpCloud.

Buy a domain name here

Domain names for just 88 cents!

Now on with the post.

Murphy’s Law

I recently had an issue where I set up a website for a friend. I invested 6 hours into setting up..

I setup…

  • Debian OS
  • NGINX Web Server
  • MySQL Database
  • PHP 7.2
  • PHP-FPM Child Workers
  • HTTPS Certificate
  • Security (Firewall/Headers/SSH, WordPress, Plugins etc).
  • Installed WordPress and Plugins
  • Setup DNSSEC
  • Etc

I had tested GTMetrix scores = less than 1 second.  Security headers were tested and I was happy with the site.

The server and backups were automatically deleted after 7 days while I was away from my keyboard because I assumed the account was valid and had credits.

Lesson Learned

  • Always have a backup (of the server, setup/ www, MySQL etc).
  • Script setups (Ansible, Puppet or Scripts) to sate time redeploying if need be.
  • Backups are not always available.
  • Do have setup documented (Check)
  • Do have a disaster plan

I have guides on setting up a server on UpCloud, AWS, Vultr, Digital Ocean but setting up can be rather repetitive so how can you prevent resetting up servers?

Why Plan for the Worst

  • Companies disappear.
  • Some hosts go down.
  • Some hosts have weird trial modes and internal process that could take your site down.
  • Human error?
  • Murphy’s Law

How I will prevent this in future

  1. I am building a Java desktop app for Windows/OSX/Linux app that will deploy and set up on UpCloud/Vultr/Digital Ocean providers and allow for 1 click deploy and backup and restore.
  2. I am going to re-establish replication between servers with RSync etc.
  3. I am going to start to automate installs and environments.
  4. I am going to set up a hot (ready to go) Green/Blue mirrored environments (www and DB server) on different providers in case of emergency. Then I can set the active live servers with DNS (blog posts soon).
  5. Consider a server farm (same provider or different providers)

 

I hope this guide helps someone.

Please consider using my referral code and get $25 UpCloud VM credit if you need to create a server online.

https://www.upcloud.com/register/?promo=D84793

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v1.0 Initial Post

Setup a dedicated Debian subdomain (VM), Install MySQL 14 and connect to it from a WordPress on a different VM

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This is how I set up a dedicated Debian subdomain (VM), Installed MySQL 14 and connected to it from a WordPress installation on a different VM

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Aside

If you have not read my previous posts I have now moved my blog to the awesome UpCloud host (signup using this link to get $25 free UpCloud VM credit). I compared Digital Ocean, Vultr and UpCloud Disk IO here and UpCloud came out on top by a long way (read the blog post here). Here is my blog post on moving fearby.com from Vultr to UpCloud.

Buy a domain name here

Domain names for just 88 cents!

Now on with the post.

Fearby.com

I will be honest, fearby.com is my play server where I can code, learn about InfoSec and share (It’s also my stroke rehab blog).

There is no faster way to learn than actually doing. The problem is my “doing” usually breaks the live site from time to time (sorry).

I really need to set up a testing environment (DEV-TEST-LIVE or GREEN-BLUE) server(s). GREEN-BLUE has advantages as I can always have a hot spare ready. All I need to do is toggle DNS and I can set the GREEN or BLUE server as the live server.

But first  I need to separate my database from my current fearby.com server and setup up a new web server. Having a Green and Blue server that uses one database server will help with near real-time production website switches.

Dedicated Database Server

I read the following ( Should MySQL and Web Server share the same server? ) at Percona Database Performance Blog. Having a separate database server should not negatively impact performance (It may even help improve speeds).

Deploy a Debian VM (not Ubuntu)

I decided to set up a Debian server instead of Ubuntu (mostly because of the good focus on stability and focus on security within Debian).

I logged into the UpCloud dashboard on my mobile phone and deployed a Debian server in 5 mins.  I will be using my existing how to setup Ubuntu on UpCloud guide (even though this is Debian).

TIP: Sign up to UpCloud using this link to get $25 free UpCloud VM credit.

Deploy Debian Sevrer

Deploy a Debian server setup steps:

  1. Login to UpCloud and go to Create server.
  2. Name your Server (use a fully qualified domain name)
  3. Add a description.
  4. Choose your data centre (Chicago for me)
  5. Choose the server specs (1x CPU, 50GB Disk, 2GB Memory, 2TB Traffic for me)
  6. Name the Primary disk
  7. Choose an operating system (Debian for me)
  8. Select an SSH Key
  9. Choose misc settings
  10. Click Deploy server

After 5 mins your server should be deployed.

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After Deploy

Setup DNS

Login to your DNS provider and create DNS records to the new IP’s (IPv4 and IPv6) provided by UpCloud. It took DNS 12 hours to replicate to my in Australia.

Add a DNS record with your domain registra A NAMe = IPV4 and AAAA Name = IPv6

Setup a Firewall (at UpCloud)

I would recommend you set up a firewall at UpCloud as soon as possible (don’t forget to add the recommended UpCloud DNS IP’s and any whitelisted IP’s your firewall).

Block everything and only allow

  • Port 22: Allow known IP(s) of your ISP or VPN.
  • Port 53: Allow known UpCloud DNS servers
  • Port 80 (ALL)
  • Port 443 (ALL)
  • Port 3306 Allow your WordPress site and known IP(s) of your ISP or VPN.

Read my post on setting up a whitelisted IP on an UpCloud VM… as it is a good idea.

UpCloud thankfully has a copy firewall feature that is very handy.

Copy Firewall rules option at UpCloud

After I set up the firewall I SSH’ed into my server (I use vSSH on OSX buy you could use PUTTY).

I updated the Debian system with the following  command

Get the MySQL Package

Visit http://repo.mysql.com/ and get the URL of the latest apt-config repo deb file (e.g “mysql-apt-config_0.8.9-1_all.deb”). Make a temp folder.

Download the MySQL deb Package

Install the package

Update the system again

Install MySQL on Debian

Secure MySQL

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You can secure the MySQL server deployment (set options as needed)

Install NGINX

I installed NGINX to allow Adminer MySQL GUI to be used

I ran these commands to install NGINX.

I edited my NGINX configuration as required.

  • Set a web server root
  • Set desired headers
  • Optimized NGINX (see past guides here, here and here)

I reloaded NGINX

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Install PHP

I followed this guide to install PHP on Debian.

Install PHP FPM

Increase Upload Limits

You may need to temporarily increase upload limits in NGINX and PHP before you can restore a WordPress database. My feabry.com blog is about 87MB.

Add “client_max_body_size 100M;” to “/etc/nginx/nginx.conf”

Add the following to “/etc/php/7.2/fpm/php.ini”

  • post_max_size = 100M
  • upload_max_filesize = 100M

Restore a backup of my MySQL database in MySQL

You can now use Adminer to restore your blog to MySQL. Read my post here on Adminer here. I used Adminer to move my WordPress site from CPanel to a self-managed server a year ago.

First login to your source server and export your desired database then login to the target server and import the database.

Firewall Check

Don’t forget to allow your WordPress site’s 2x Public IP’s and 1x Private IP to access port 3306 in your UpCloud Firewall.

How to check open ports on your current server

Set MySQL Permissions

Open MySQL

I ran these statements to grant the user logging in on the nominate IP’s access to MySQL.

Reload permissions in MySQL

Allow access to the Debian machine from known IP’s

Edit “/etc/host.allow”

Additions (known safe IP’s that need access to this MySQL remotely).

Tell MySQL to listen on

Edit “/etc/mysql/my.cnf”

Added..

I guess you could change the port to something random???

Restart MySQL

Install a second local firewall on Debian

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Install ufw

Do add the IP of your desired server or VPN to access SSH

Do add the IP of your desired server or VPN to access WWW

Now add the known IP’s (e.g any web servers public (IPv4/IPv6) or Private IP’s) that you wish to grant access to MySQL (e.g the source website that used to have MySQL)

Do add UpCloud DNS Servers to your firewall

Add all other rules as needed (if you stuff up and lock your self out you can login to the server with the Console on UpCloud)

Restart the ufw firewall

Prevent MySQL starting on the source server

Now we can shut down MySQL on the source server (leave it there just in case).

Edit “/etc/init/mysql.conf”

Comment out the line that contains “start on ” and save the file

and run

Reboot

Stop and Disable NGINX on the new DB server

We don’t need NGINX running now the database has been imported with Adminer.

Stop and prevent NGINX from starting up on startup.

Check to see if MySQL is Disabled

Yep

Test access to the database server in PHP code

Add to dbtest.php

Check for open ports.

You can install nmap on another server and scan for open ports

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Install nmap

Scan a server for open ports with nmap

You should see this on a server that has access to see port 3306 (port 3306 should not be visible by non-whitelisted IP’s).  Port 3shouldoudl not be seen via everyone.

You should see something like this on a server that has access to see port 80/443 (a web server)

I’d recommend you use a service like https://pentest-tools.com/network-vulnerability-scanning/tcp-port-scanner-online-nmap# to check for open ports.  https://hackertarget.com/tcp-port-scan/ is a great tool too.

https://www.infobyip.com/tcpportchecker.php is also a free port checker that you can use to verify individual closed ports.

Screeshot of https://www.infobyip.com/tcpportchecker.php

Hardening MySQL and Debian

Read: https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/securing-debian-howto/ap-checklist.en.html

Configuring WordPress use the dedicated Debian VM

On the source server that used to have MySQL edit your wp-config.php file for WordPress.

Remove

add (read the update below, I changed the DNS IP to the Private IP to have free traffic)

Restart NGINX

Restart PHP-FPM

Conclusion

Nice, I seem to have shaved off 0.3 seconds in load times (25% improvement)

1sec gtmtrix load time

Update: Using a Private IP or Public IP between WordPress and MySQL servers

After I released this blog post (version 1.0 with no help from UpCloud) UpCloud contacted me and said the following.

I will have updated my references in this post and replace the public IP address (that is linked to DNS record for db.fearby.com) and instead use the private ip address (e.g 10.x.x.x), your servers private IP address is listed against the public IPv$ and IPv6 address.

I checked that the local ufw firewall did indeed allow the private IP access to MySQL.

On my new Debian MySQL server, I edited the file /etc/mysql/my.cnf and changed the IP to the private IP and not the public IP.

Now it looked like

(10.x.x.x  my Debian servers private IP)

On my WordPress instance, I edited the file  /www-root/wp-config.php

I added the new private host

(10.x.x.x  my Debian servers private IP)

 

Alos on Debian/MySQL ensure you have granted access to the private IP of the WordPress server

Edit /etc/host.allow

Add

Restart MySQL

TIP: Enable UpCloud Backups

Do setup automatic backups (and or take manual backups). Backups are an extra charge but are essential IMHO.

UpCloud backups

Troubleshooting

If you can’t access MySQL log back into MySQL

and run

Reboot

Lower Upload Limits

Don’t forget to lower file upload sizes in NGINX and PHP (e.g 2M) now that the database has been restored.

 

I hope this guide helps someone.

TIP: Sign up to UpCloud using this link to get $25 free UpCloud VM credit.

https://www.upcloud.com/register/?promo=D84793

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Revision History

v1.6 Changed Public IP use to private IP use to ensure we are not charged when the serves sage goes over the quota

v1.5 Fixed 03 type (should have been 0.3)

v1.4 added disable nginx info

v1.3 added https://www.infobyip.com/tcpportchecker.php

v1.1 added https://hackertarget.com/tcp-port-scan/

v1.0 Initial Post

Why I will never buy a new Apple Laptop until they fix the hardware cooling issues.

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This post will explain why I will never buy a new Apple Laptop until they fix the hardware cooling issues.

Background

I used to work in retail selling computers and I would go to great lengths to open a desktop computer chassis and talk someone out of buying a cheaper/slower computer (usually when it had a Cyrix Media GX processor in it). I would do myself out of higher commission and burn time educating customers. I have blogged about what to look for when buying a computer (here).

2012

In 2012 I bought my first Apple Mac computer to write iOS apps (write your first OSX app). I would call myself an Apple fanboy (previously being a PC fanboy for 15 years). I have never rebuilt my OSX system in 6 years buy would rebuild Windows every 6 months. Some Apple things I like.

2017

My Mid 2012 Mac Book Pro i7 processor overheats like crazy. I have blogged about my Mid 2012 MPB overheating issues (read here). I have even gone and installed third party software to control the speeds of my Mac’s fans (read here).

Inside my Mid 2012 Mac Book Pro (heatsink and fans at the top)

Tiny Mac book pro heatsink

Stupidly thin heatsink (IMHO).

Heatsink is 3mm thick

Complete heatsink (CPU and GPU plate)

MBP Heatsink

I am certain this Mac Book heatsink is too small for the processor and graphics card.

As I type this my Mac Book Pro is Thermal throttling (slowing down the CPU) while typing a blog post (not gaming).

Apple 2012 overheating

My only option is to crank up the fans to 100% and overrise Apple silence first mantra.

TgPro fan speed rules

Intel Power Gadget showing thermal throttling (CPU dropping t0 almost 1Ghz to drop temps).

Thermal Throtelling

Move forward to 2018

Today I learned that Apple is putting an Intel i9 Procesor into a laptop, great? Hold onto your cash, that thing will run very hot and will never operate at its maximum potential.

Reviews are scathing.

I tweeted..

Apple’s Website: https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/

Apples website saying it now has i9 macs

What a waste of a good processor.

Below you will see the fallout on YouTube from Apple putting an i9 Processor in the latest 15″ Mac Book Pros.

Dave Lee posted “MacBook Pro 15 (2018) – Beware the Core i9”

TechLinked posted “2018 Macbook ALREADY Overheating?”

AppleInsider – 2018 MacBook Pro i9 Thermal Throttling CONFIRMED!

Best of all, Louis Rossmann summed up the Apple situation perfectly.

 

 

Update 25th July

Apple is doubling down on the lack of cooling (calling it a “missing digital key”).

I will #BoycottAppleProMachines

That’s all.

Revision History

v1.4 Added update 25th July 2018 Missing Digital Key

v1.3 Gizmodo link

v1.2 Test new db server

v1.1 Added Apple Insider video

v1.0 Initial Post

Adding two sub domains (one pointing to a new UpCloud VM and the other pointing to an NGINX subsite) on Ubuntu 18.04

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Here is how I added two subdomains (one pointing to a new UpCloud VM and the other pointing to an NGINX subsite) on Ubuntu 18.04

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If you have not read my previous posts I have now moved my blog to the awesome UpCloud host (signup using this link to get $25 free credit). I compared Digital Ocean, Vultr and UpCloud Disk IO here and UpCloud came out on top by a long way (read the blog post here). Here is my blog post on moving from Vultr to UpCloud.

UpCloud performance is great.

Upcloud Site Speed in GTMetrix

Buy a domain name from Namecheap here.

Domain names for just 88 cents!

Goal(s)

Setup 2x subdomains on https://fearby.com

– Sub Domain #1: https://test.fearby.com (pointing to a dedicated UpCloud VM in Singapore for testing).

– Sub Domain #2: https://audit.fearby.com (pointing to a sub-website on the NGINX/VM that runs https://fearby.com )

Let’s set up the first Sub Domain (dedicated VM) and SSL

Backup

Do backup your server first.

VM

I created a second server ($5 month or $0.07c hour 1,024MB Memory, 25GB Disk, 1024 GB Month Data Transfer) at UpCloud. If you don’t already have an account at UpCloud use this link to signup and get $25 free credit ( https://www.upcloud.com/register/?promo=D84793 ). Read my blog post on why UpCloud is awesome and how I moved my domain to UpCloud.

Once I spun up a second server I obtained the IPv4 and IPv6 IP addresses of the new “test” VM from the UpCloud dashboard.

DNS

These DNS records were already in place with my DNS provider (Cloudflare).

I added these DNS records for the subdomains.

I added a new A NAME record for the new shared NGINX subdomain (for https://audit.fearby.com), this subdomain will be a sub-website that is running off the same server as https://fearby.com

I added another set of records for the new dedicated VM  subdomain (for https://test.fearby.com)

I waited for DNS to replicate around the globe by watching https://www.whatsmydns.net/

Setup a Firewall

On the new dedicated https://test.fearby.com VM, I installed the ufw firewall.

I configured the firewall to allow minimum ports (and added whitelisted IP for port 22 and added UpCloud DNS servers). I will lock this down some more later.

TIP: If your ISP does not offer a dedicated IP try a VPN. I use https://cyberghostvpn.com on OSX and Android.

Firewall rules.

I enabled the firewall.

Install NGINX (on https://test.fearby.com)

On the new dedicated https://test.fearby.com VM I…

Created a new www root

Set permissions

Installed NGINX

I created a placeholder webpage

Configured the root value in /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

Created a symbolic link of the nginx config

Lets Encrypt SSL

I have previously setup Lets encrypt on Ubuntu 16.04 but not 18.04. Certbot had info on setting up Lets Encrypt for 14.x 16.x and 17.x but not 18.x

Full credit for the SSL steps goes to @Linuxize ( tips on setting up Lets Encrypt on Ubuntu 18.04 ). Check out https://linuxize.com/

I installed Lets Encrypt certbot

I created a new Diffie–Hellman key

Map requests to http://test.fearby.com/.well-known/acme-challenge to /var/lib/letsencrypt/.well-known ( Read the linuxize post for detailed steps ).

Create a /etc/nginx/snippets/letsencrypt.conf on http://test.fearby.com and enforce the redirect.

Create a /etc/nginx/snippets/ssl.conf file on http://test.fearby.com

Let’s get a certificate

Certificates have been created 🙂

Now lets edit “/etc/nginx/sites-available/default” on https://test.fearby.com VM and add the cert paths.

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Reload NGINX

or

Now let’s setup the second subdomain (subsite off https://fearby.com) and SSL

VM

I already have NGINX on https://fearby.com set up a second site.

DNS

We have already setup a DNS record for https://audit.fearby.com (above)

Firewall

Already configured at https://fearby.com

SSL

Because I had an existing Comodo certificate on https://fearby.com I am going to repeat the steps above to generate a new certificate but save the NGINX config to /etc/nginx/sites-available/audit.fearby.com (this activates the second site)

TIP: Follow the Linuxize guide here (for creating ssl.conf, letsencrypt.conf etc config files), Do a backup and restore if need be.

I created a new Diffie–Hellman key

Let’s get a certificate

Configure NGINX

Map requests to http://audit.fearby.com/.well-known/acme-challenge to /var/lib/letsencrypt/.well-known ( Read the linuxize post for detailed steps ).

I created a new NGINX site ( /etc/nginx/sites-available/audit.fearby.com )

I created a symbolic link of the config file

Reload NGINX

or

How to test the certificate renewal

Automate the renewal in crontab (every 12 hours)

I set this crontab entry up on https://fearby.com and https://test.fearby.com

Conclusion

Yes, I haVe 2 subdomains (1x dedicated VM and the other is a sub-website off an existing server) with SSL certificates.

Ping Results

Webpage Results

Screenshow showing the main site and 2 subdomains in a web browser

Troubleshooting

If you are having troubles generating the initial certificate check that you have not blocked port 80 and don’t have “Strict-Transport-Security” heavers enabled.

I re-ran the certbot command but pointed to the real /www-root (not/var/lib/letsencrypt/)

Create a new

 

 

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I hope this guide helps someone.

Please consider using my referral code and get $25 credit for free.

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v1.1 Troubleshooting

v1.0 Initial Post

How I upgraded from a standalone 1Password 6.x licence to 1Password (7+) cloud subscription on OSX

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This is how I upgraded from my standalone 1Password 6.x family licence to a 1Password 7 cloud subscription on OSX. I am not reviewing 1Password here.

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This is NOT a paid endorsement, this is output from my legitimate quest from upgrading an old stand-alone family licence to a cloud subscription. I have been using 1Password for the past 5 years and have recommended it to everyone I know.

Always backup your data before updating (things can go wrong), good luck. At the time of writing 1Password 7 was not out of beta.

Why

I have a number of guides on moving away from CPanel, Setting up VM’s on UpCloud, AWS, Vultr or Digital Ocean and let’s say 1Password has helped me store everything from service invoices, SSH password service passwords etc. I did have a stroke last year (caused by the flu (a cough) and luckily all is OK ) and I now realise that having everything out of my brain and in a secure vault is a good idea (touch wood).

Reasons why I use 1Password – Password Manager.

  • It is a good idea to use a password manager.
  • It has allowed me to have a different password on every site I use.
  • I managed to stop using my old “same” password on every site I used since the 1990’s.
  • I am paranoid (check out https://howsecureismypassword.net/, https://haveibeenpwned.com/ and google “sites hacked” or “passwords exposed”).
  • It’s a good idea.

1Password 7 News

1Password 7 has been hitting my twitter timeline, should I upgrade? Here is the official upgrade guide.

Security Researcher Troy Hunt’s – https://haveibeenpwned.com/ is now a feature in 1Password 7

I wrote a PHP implementation to check a password exposure level with Troy Hunt’s pwned passwords API and know it’s a good idea.

Also, there are loads of great features in 1Password 7.

1 Password site showing 1Password 7

Anything that can help create secure passwords is a good idea.

1Password Twitter Support Shoutout

Before I begin I would like to acknowledge the patient 1Password support team on twitter. They answered well over 20 questions from me and handled my frustrations of there not being a clear standalone family licence, I suspected a plot to force people onto a cloud subscription at first.

In an ideal world upgrading, 1Password should be an easy process (1Password Twitter Support indicated)

NBN Support

Load’s of 1 Password activity on Twitter

Before I downloaded the latest 1Password 7 I fired heaps of questions at the twitter support. I hope 1Password give them a raise or bonus.

1Password Twitter DM's

I did spend way too long reading past the negative 1Password support posts on “where is the standalone licence”, “beta discounts are gone”, “why so expensive” and “how can I upgrade from 1password 6 and still use dropbox” etc.

1Password Forum Searches

I ended up logging a support ticket (looking for the unicorn beta tester discount/stand-alone licence, I think I was too late to join the beta program).

1Password Forum Support

I backed up my 1Password 6 data

Always take backups of your data before upgrading anything.

    • Open your existing 1Password 6
    • Click File, Export, All Items
    • Choose a File Name and press Save
    • Verify Data (open Finder)

    Backup Existing 1Password 6 Vaults

    I also backed up the 1Password file in Dropbox before upgrading. Simply drag it to your desktop.

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    Backup Dropbox Vault

    I visited https://1password.com/extlink/signin/ and…

    1. Signed in (create an account if you don’t have one), I had one from a previous support ticket I logged.
    2. I chose “Individual” account type.
    3. Specified my Email Address
    4. Verified My Email

    1Password signin process

    Then I..

    1. Added my Name
    2. Skipped the Credit card option (to activate the trial)
    3. Generated a master key (this is combined with your password)
    4. Created a new password for a new password vault
    5. Logged in
    6. Saved my Emergency Recover PWF (with details)

    Account Details

    I did have a peek at the 1Password SSL certificate strength and other tools and they came up all good (I don’t want to use an insecure service).

    You too can test SSL on sites with https://dev.ssllabs.com/ssltest/

    Check 1Password SSL

    The only concern I have is TLS 1.3 is not an option yet. I use it on my blog’s web server (guide here) also a few SSL labs identified weak cyphers are presented as available from the server (Is this an issue)?

    I also had a look at Google Chrome’s developer console to see if anything out of the ordinary was popping up? The console appears a little chatty? TLS 1.2 was in force securing the client/server communications so that’s nice.

    1Password Website Debug Output

    Now that I am logged into my cloud 1Password (trial) account I can…

    1. Add/View/Edit/Delete items in my vault.
    2. Download desktop/mobile apps.
    3. Import data to vaults.
    4. Turn on Two Factor authentication.
    5. Create/Edit/Delete a password vault (or set as default).
    6. Update billing details (if you wish to subscribe)
    7. Contact Support

    Get 1 Password Apps

    Now I can connect my new 1Password cloud account to my local 1Password 6 installation by.

    1. Open 1 Password (on my Mac)
    2. Open the Preferences and go to the Account tab
    3. Click on Scan the account details
    4. Move the scan window over a QR Code (Setup Code) in a logged in 1password.com screen (login detail like login server, master key and username are auto-entered).
    5. Enter my vault password.

    Loud Account

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    Now I am prompted to import my local 1Password data into the cloud account from my local 1Password.

    Import Old Items

    When the import completed I was prompted to delete the local vault (I said yes because I backed it up).

    Remove Old Vault

    Tip: 1Password 6 on my Mac did not appear to delete the Dropbox data so I deleted this manually.

    After a few minutes, I noticed Dropbox was still syncing files?

    1Password is still using Dropbox

    Troubleshooting: I had to set my new cloud vault as the primary vault to save to and not the old vault that was syncing via Dropbox. I also deleted all links to Dropbox on iOS and Android devices.

    I did notice that 1Password was 6.8.9 (I thought 1password 7 was the latest?, I did try the update button). I ended up ticking “Include beta builds” and then 1Password 7.0 is a download option (maybe this will change in the next few days)?

    Opt Into Beta

    I opened 1Password 7 on my local desktop.

    1Password 7 instaled

    I had a quick look around in 1Password 7 for the https://haveibeenpwned.com/ feature. I opened an existing account I added to 1Password. It look’s nice.

    Vulnerable Passwords Feature

    Some nice alerts and features I noticed when viewing my data in 1 Password 7.

    Some 1 Password features noticed

    Aside: I had to opt into beta builds on Windows to get 1Password 7 too.

    Windows 1Password Instaled

    Summary

    When I set out and wanted a stand-alone licence but it appears I would need to pay for a licence on Windows and Mac and portable devices.

    I overlooked an earlier DM from 1Password (that provided the purchase links) so I decided to go with a subscription (I think I missed the BETA program too, no reply from the hockey app email when opting into beta on Windows).

    Standalone

    Buy standalone licences

    From what I could see standalone licences only work via Dropbox (or locally) and not via the 1Password cloud.

    However, the subscription does away with the requirement to buy multiple licences (all apps are free once you subscribe). I am not sure when 1Password 8 is coming out so I think it is wiser to go with a yearly subscription (that’s about 10.8c a day in Australian peso’s).

    Time to Subscribe

    I pulled the trigger and subscribed 🙂

    Subscribe

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    One nice thing is the trial time is added on to the subscription length so if you have 30 days left in the trial it add’s on to the yearly subscription length (13 months), that’s nice.

    Subscribed

    Conclusion

    Happy = Yes (they are shooting fish in a barrel)

    Could have been easier to upgrade from 1 password = Yes

    I hope this guide helps someone.

    Find out more about 1Password at http://1password.com/

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    Revision History

    v1.3 Fixed typo in the title/url.

    v1.2 Added Links

    v1.1 Added Conclusion

    v1.0 Initial post

    Open a Windows 10 Boot Camp Installation on OSX in Parallels (like a VM)

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    This guide will show you how you can open a Windows 10 Boot Camp Installation on OSX in Parallels (like a VM).

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    Installing Parallels on a Mac allows you to install Windows in A VM, this is handy but you may want to install Windows on a Mac drive with Boot camp (guide here)  for better performance.

    Can you load this VM-less Windows install in OSX rather than reboot it, the answer is YES (with Parallels v13).

    Setup your Windows Bootcamps (see my guide here).

    Create a new VM image in Parallels (Select Boot Camp)

    New Image

    Click Continue

    Use Windows Bootcamp

    Confirm the reaction warning.

    Before You Proceed

    Name the VM and choose a location

    Location

    Set desired memory etc.

    Choose your desired clipboard and disk access settings.

    Options

    Done, now Parallels will prepare your VM (Really Boot Camp)

    Created

    Preparing

    Creating VM

    Parallel tools will be automatically installed.

    Configuring

    Done, you will now be able to load your Apple Bootcamp partition as it is was a VM inside OSX (or boot it)

    Windows

    yes, the VM file is pointing to the Boot Camp partition.

    VM File

    I hope this guide helps someone.

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    v1.0 Initial post

    How to backup WordPress on a host that has CPanel

    by

    This is a simple guide that demonstrates how you can log in to a host that offers the CPanel tools to backup all of your website files (and databases). Backing up your website should be done often and especially before you migrate to any another website host. I used to change hosts every few years (they don’t own your site, you do).

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    I have a number of guides on moving away from CPanel, setting up VM’s on UpCloud, AWS, Vultr or Digital Ocean along with installing and managing WordPress from the command line copying files to a server via command line editing remote files locally etc but how do you manage a website with CPanel?

    You can normal login to CPanel tools on a shared host by loading www.yourdomainnam.com/cpanel (failing that login to your domain hosts web GUI and find your CPanel interface there).

    Step 1: Login to your Host

    Login to your web host

    Login to Host

    Step 2: Find your CPanel Interface

    Hosts are a bit different but in this case, I just click my domain to find the CPanel link.

    Domain

    I found it, I clicked the CPanel login.

    Cpanel link

    Step 3: CPanel Applications

    CPanel does offer good tools to manage your websites like web-based File Manager and Database tool called phpMyAdmin.

    CPanel Options

    Aside: CPanel/Hosts Downsides

    The thing I don’t like about hosts that offer CPanel is they usually limit delivery of your website to extract more money. Nothing worse than receiving Resource Limit Is Reached errors.

    cpenal_usage_exceeded

    Also shared hosts usually lag way behind in newer software versions like PHP and MySQL (this is a security concern).

    TIP: You can scan your site for vulnerabilities using Qualsys Freescan, Zap or Kali Linux.

    Here is a security scan of a shared host (with CPanel) that I was using in 1999. Note the high vulnerabilities and old version of Linux.

    Static Website

    Also, a shared host will often overcharge you (e.g $150 a year) for a poorly configured SSL certificate.

    This was an SSL cert I paid $150 a year for (evaluated with SSL Labs SSL Test) on a shared host with CPanel.

    Aside: Self Managed Upsides

    After I moved my domain to a self-managed virtual machine I migrated WordPress, set up a free SSL certificate, sped up my site with a CDN, setup Cloudflare, setup better TLS security etc

    When you manage your own server you can install a free SSL certificate in under 1 minute.

    Below is my SSL certificate. A strong SSL certificate will increase search engine traffic

    SSL Cert

    Aside: Compare Shared host speed v Self Managed

    FYI: https://gtmetrix.com/ is a great site for measuring the speed of a website (shared of self-managed). I found great speed improvements after moving away from a host offering CPanel, tweaking the server and setting up cloudflare. A self-managed server will allow you to tweak anything you want.

    GTMetrix results:

    Shared Host Speed

    I like how self-managed servers allow you to scale the server’s resources yourself, move servers or add storage etc.

    Aside: SSL Certificate

    If you have an SSL cert you should test it often as vulnerabilities pop up from time to time.

    FYI: All sites will soon require an SSL certificate to be sent traffic from search engines (no SSL = lower traffic).

    SSL Test my site: https://dev.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html?d=fearby.com&s=104.27.154.69

    Now enough with the self-managed serve asides and back to how to backup your website with CPanel tools.

    Step 4: Backup your web files in CPanel

    Use the File Explorer app in CPanel

    File Manager

    Highlight all files that you want to backup (highlight everything but not past backup files).

    backup-cpanel-006

    View the files to compress summary

    Compress Summary

    Click Compress Files(s) and view the backup progress

    Backup Progress

    You can now download the backup zip file in your browser (click the file and click Download).

    Downaload ZIp

    Download Progress.

    Download File

    Step 5: Backup your database in CPanel

    Now we need to backup any MySQL database(s) that may be used by WordPress

    Open the phpMyAdmin app in CPanel.

    phpMyAdmin

    FYI: Alternatively, you can use a free tool called Adminer to backup and restore our database.

    Click your WordPress database (on the left). You can identify your current WordPress database by opening the wp-config.php file.

    Database Options

    The first step is to perform an online cold backup of the WordPress database.

    1. Click the database you want to backup (on the left)
    2. Click the Options tab
    3. Under the Copy To frame enter a new database name to copy the database too
    4. Click Go

    Online Backup

    Now you have an online cold spare that you can use just in case the original database corrupts itself. You can rename the database or configure WordPress to point to this new database if need be.

    backup-cpanel-013

    Now let’s download a copy of the database (Repeat for multiple databases).

    1. Click the database you want to backup
    2. Click the Export tab
    3. Click Go

    backup-cpanel-014

    You should now have a backup of your website in a zip file and an export of your database in a .sql text file, SQL files can be re-imported to databases later.

    TIP: Backup often.

    Export Done

    I hope this guide helps someone.

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    Revision History

    v1.0 Initial post