Setting

Setting strong SSL cryptographic protocols and ciphers on Ubuntu and NGINX

May 15, 2018 by Simon

This guide will aim to inform you of strong cryptographic protocols and ciphers to use on a web server on Ubuntu 16.04 and NGINX.

Secure encryption protocols are used to secure communications between a server and client. Older SSL protocols like Netscape’s Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) are flagged as DO NOT USE use by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Newer protocols like Transport Layer Security (TLS) are the newer recommended SSL protocols to use.

Wikipedia Article on Cryptographic Protocol’s

A security protocol (cryptographic protocol or encryption protocol) is an abstract or concrete protocol that performs a security-related function and applies cryptographic methods, often as sequences of cryptographic primitives. A protocol describes how the algorithms should be used. A sufficiently detailed protocol includes details about data structures and representations, at which point it can be used to implement multiple, interoperable versions of a program.

Wikipedia on Ciphers

In cryptography, a cipher (or cypher) is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption—a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is encipherment. To encipher or encode is to convert information into cipher or code. In common parlance, “cipher” is synonymous with “code,” as they are both a set of steps that encrypt a message; however, the concepts are distinct in cryptography, especially classical cryptography.

Wikipedia article on Elliptic-curve cryptography

Wikipedia article on Diffie–Hellman key exchange

Bad SSL Assumptions I have heard for not using HTTPS

I am not a bank so I don’t need HTTPS
SSL overhead is was too high on servers.
My site only has static content, I don’t need HTTPS
I don’t need SSL to secure my site I just need to be less of a target than others
I don’t hold confidential information (Wrong)

Don’t be Lazy and secure a site poorly

A local business that wanted me to buy their goods is not convincing me.

(tested with SSL labs and asafaweb)

Why SSL

If you are unsure of why you need SSL visit https://doesmysiteneedhttps.com/, Avoiding the Not Secure Warning in Chrome, Why HTTPS matters and securing your site with HTTPS.

Google has an HTTPS usage graph for all communications to its services (hint it’s growing): https://transparencyreport.google.com/https/overview?hl=en

SSL Future

SSL is here to stay, Non-SSL sites will soon be labelled insecure, Non-SSL sites will have Search Engine Optimization (SEO) adversely affected.

Also, secure pages will be treated as normal (not flagged as secure)

In October, Chrome will remove the “secure” indicator on all HTTPS pages and mark pages that do no use the secure version of the HTTP protocol with a red “not secure” warning. This change will make the web safer to use by default. https://t.co/ar3lwB9aRt

— J-François Lavigne (@jflavigne) May 25, 2018

History of Protocol’s – Launch Dates

SSL 1.0 (never launched)
SSL 2.0 1995
SSL 3.0 1996
TLS 1.0 1999
TLS 1.1 2006
TLS 1.2 2008
TLS 1.3 2018

Sites like https://caniuse.com can show you if our browser can use new protocols like TLS (e.g TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, TLS 1.2, TLS 1.3)

TLS 1.0 is supported by All Browsers
TLS 1.1 is supported on IE11+, Edge, Firefox 24+, Chrome 22+, Safari 7+, Opera 12.1+, iOS Safari 5.1+, Chrome 62 on Android 5+ etc
TLS 1.2 is supported on IE11+, Edge, Firefox 27, Chrome 30+, Safari 7+, Opera 17+, iOS Safari 5.1, Chrome 62 on Android 5+ etc
TLS 1.3 is not supported by IE, Edge, Safari, iOS Safari, Android but is supported by Firefox 52, Chrome 56, Opera 43.

I have a guide here on setting up TLS 1.3 on Ubuntu 16.05 and Chrome, I use the draft build of OpenSSL but Open SSL 1.1.1 will support TLS 1.3. I am still figuring our TLS 1.3 on Ubuntu 18.04.

At the time of writing, you need to opt into TLS 1.3 draft specification in Chrome.

Cypher or Cypher

Read this page to see the history of the word Cipher or Cypher?

Buying an SSL certificate

Opening your wallet may not buy you the best certificate either, this was an SSL Labs review of a $150 SSL certificate Ii purchased a few years ago from a CPanel web host.

I don’t buy commercial certificates anymore, I prefer free SSL certificates from Lets Encrypt

SSL Strength

I prefer to set up my own (free) SSL certificate with Lest Encrypt and tets those certificated with https://dev.ssllabs.com/ssltest/

You can configure your web server to only use certain protocols.

ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;
ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;

And define preferred ciphers

ssl_ciphers ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA512:DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA512:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256;

Don’t forget to renew your SSL certificates ahead of time.

Also run a modern browser like Google Chrome Canary as some old browsers thnk expired SSL certificates are Secure

Ciphers

OpenSSL has implemented support for five TLS v1.3 cipher suites:

TLS13-AES-256-GCM-SHA384
TLS13-CHACHA20-POLY1305-SHA256
TLS13-AES-128-GCM-SHA256
TLS13-AES-128-CCM-8-SHA256
TLS13-AES-128-CCM-SHA256

Test OpenSSL Cipher Suites

openssl ciphers -s -v
TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384  TLSv1.3 Kx=any      Au=any  Enc=AESGCM(256) Mac=AEAD
TLS_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256 TLSv1.3 Kx=any      Au=any  Enc=CHACHA20/POLY1305(256) Mac=AEAD
TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256  TLSv1.3 Kx=any      Au=any  Enc=AESGCM(128) Mac=AEAD
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 TLSv1.2 Kx=ECDH     Au=ECDSA Enc=AESGCM(256) Mac=AEAD
ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 TLSv1.2 Kx=ECDH     Au=RSA  Enc=AESGCM(256) Mac=AEAD
DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 TLSv1.2 Kx=DH       Au=RSA  Enc=AESGCM(256) Mac=AEAD
ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305 TLSv1.2 Kx=ECDH     Au=ECDSA Enc=CHACHA20/POLY1305(256) Mac=AEAD
ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305 TLSv1.2 Kx=ECDH     Au=RSA  Enc=CHACHA20/POLY1305(256) Mac=AEAD
DHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305 TLSv1.2 Kx=DH       Au=RSA  Enc=CHACHA20/POLY1305(256) Mac=AEAD
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 TLSv1.2 Kx=ECDH     Au=ECDSA Enc=AESGCM(128) Mac=AEAD
ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 TLSv1.2 Kx=ECDH     Au=RSA  Enc=AESGCM(128) Mac=AEAD
DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 TLSv1.2 Kx=DH       Au=RSA  Enc=AESGCM(128) Mac=AEAD
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA384 TLSv1.2 Kx=ECDH     Au=ECDSA Enc=AES(256)  Mac=SHA384
ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384 TLSv1.2 Kx=ECDH     Au=RSA  Enc=AES(256)  Mac=SHA384
DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA256   TLSv1.2 Kx=DH       Au=RSA  Enc=AES(256)  Mac=SHA256
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA256 TLSv1.2 Kx=ECDH     Au=ECDSA Enc=AES(128)  Mac=SHA256
ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256 TLSv1.2 Kx=ECDH     Au=RSA  Enc=AES(128)  Mac=SHA256
DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256   TLSv1.2 Kx=DH       Au=RSA  Enc=AES(128)  Mac=SHA256
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA  TLSv1 Kx=ECDH     Au=ECDSA Enc=AES(256)  Mac=SHA1
ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA    TLSv1 Kx=ECDH     Au=RSA  Enc=AES(256)  Mac=SHA1
DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA      SSLv3 Kx=DH       Au=RSA  Enc=AES(256)  Mac=SHA1
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA  TLSv1 Kx=ECDH     Au=ECDSA Enc=AES(128)  Mac=SHA1
ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA    TLSv1 Kx=ECDH     Au=RSA  Enc=AES(128)  Mac=SHA1
DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA      SSLv3 Kx=DH       Au=RSA  Enc=AES(128)  Mac=SHA1
AES256-GCM-SHA384       TLSv1.2 Kx=RSA      Au=RSA  Enc=AESGCM(256) Mac=AEAD
AES128-GCM-SHA256       TLSv1.2 Kx=RSA      Au=RSA  Enc=AESGCM(128) Mac=AEAD
AES256-SHA256           TLSv1.2 Kx=RSA      Au=RSA  Enc=AES(256)  Mac=SHA256
AES128-SHA256           TLSv1.2 Kx=RSA      Au=RSA  Enc=AES(128)  Mac=SHA256
AES256-SHA              SSLv3 Kx=RSA      Au=RSA  Enc=AES(256)  Mac=SHA1
AES128-SHA              SSLv3 Kx=RSA      Au=RSA  Enc=AES(128)  Mac=SHA1

A handy guide about using ciphers

SSL/TLS: How to choose your cipher suite

Testing a remote host’s ciphers and protocols with cipherscan

Clone this repository: https://github.com/mozilla/cipherscan

Scan a site

./cipherscan fearby.com

Result

Target: fearby.com:443

prio  ciphersuite                        protocols  pfs                 curves
1     ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305-OLD  TLSv1.2    ECDH,P-256,256bits  prime256v1
2     ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256      TLSv1.2    ECDH,P-256,256bits  prime256v1
3     ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA             TLSv1.2    ECDH,P-256,256bits  prime256v1
4     ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA256          TLSv1.2    ECDH,P-256,256bits  prime256v1
5     ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384      TLSv1.2    ECDH,P-256,256bits  prime256v1
6     ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA             TLSv1.2    ECDH,P-256,256bits  prime256v1
7     ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA384          TLSv1.2    ECDH,P-256,256bits  prime256v1

Certificate: trusted, 256 bits, ecdsa-with-SHA256 signature
TLS ticket lifetime hint: 64800
NPN protocols: h2,http/1.1
OCSP stapling: supported
Cipher ordering: server
Curves ordering: server - fallback: no
Server supports secure renegotiation
Server supported compression methods: NONE
TLS Tolerance: yes

Intolerance to:
 SSL 3.254           : absent
 TLS 1.0             : PRESENT
 TLS 1.1             : PRESENT
 TLS 1.2             : absent
 TLS 1.3             : absent
 TLS 1.4             : absent

Cipher scan can also recommend settings to change to help you harden a server (based on https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Server_Side_TLS)

Analyze Command

./analyze.py -t fearby.com

Results

fearby.com:443 has bad ssl/tls

Things that are bad:
* remove cipher ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305-OLD

Changes needed to match the old level:
* remove cipher ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305-OLD
* enable TLSv1.1
* enable TLSv1
* enable SSLv3
* add cipher DES-CBC3-SHA
* use a certificate with sha1WithRSAEncryption signature
* use DHE of 1024bits and ECC of 160bits

Changes needed to match the intermediate level:
* remove cipher ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305-OLD
* consider enabling TLSv1.1
* consider enabling TLSv1
* add cipher AES128-SHA
* use a certificate signed with sha256WithRSAEncryption

Changes needed to match the modern level:
* remove cipher ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305-OLD
* remove cipher ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA
* remove cipher ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA

More info on hardening here.

TLS 1.3 Information

Securing Google G Suite email by setting up SPF, DKIM and DMARC with Cloudflare

April 14, 2018 by Simon

This post will show you how you can setup Sender Policy Framework (SPF), DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) Signatures and Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) on your GMail (G Suite) email to limit spam and increase security.

I have a number of guides on moving away form CPanel, Setting up VM’s on AWS, Vultr or Digital Ocean along with installing and managing WordPress from the command line. I use Google G Suite to send and receive emails that are linked to my domain (even via the command line) using multiple domains (with aliases).

For the best performing VM host (UpCloud) read my guide on the awesome UpCloud VM hosts (get $25 free credit by signing up here).

Buy a domain name from Namecheap here.

Buy how can you extend your email security and limit spam?

Enter..

Sender Policy Framework (SPF) for Authorizing Use of Domains in Email

Background: SPF summary from the RFC document from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

“Email on the Internet can be forged in a number of ways. In particular, existing protocols place no restriction on what a sending host can use as the “MAIL FROM” of a message or the domain given on the SMTP HELO/EHLO commands. This document describes version 1 of the Sender Policy Framework (SPF) protocol, whereby ADministrative Management Domains (ADMDs) can explicitly authorize the hosts that are allowed to use their domain names, and a receiving host can check such authorization.”

Google has a guide in setting up SPF records for your G Suite account.

Scan your site for SPF, DKIM and DMARC configuration(s).

Gmail has a test site where you can check your site SPF, DKIM and DMARC etc: https://toolbox.googleapps.com/apps/checkmx/

How to set up an SPF Record

I followed this guide to set up an SPF record on my G Suite account. I use Cloudflare for my DNS provider so I’ll make my DNS changes there.

Update: Google instructions were wrong, use a TXT record and not a SPF record.

Setting up a website to use Cloudflare on a VM hosted on Vultr and Namecheap

March 13, 2018 by Simon

This guide will show how you can set up a website to use Cloudflare on a VM hosted on Vultr and Namecheap

I have a number of guides on moving hasting away form CPanel, Setting up VM’s on AWS, Vultr or Digital Ocean along with installing and managing WordPress from the command line. This post will show how to let Cloudflare handle the DNS for the domain.

Update 2018: For the best performing VM host (UpCloud) read my guide on the awesome UpCloud VM hosts (get $25 free credit by signing up here).

Snip from here “Cloudflare’s enterprise-class web application firewall (WAF) protects your Internet property from common vulnerabilities like SQL injection attacks, cross-site scripting, and cross-site forgery requests with no changes to your existing infrastructure.”

Buy a Domain

Buy a domain name from Namecheap here.

Cloudflare Benefits (Free Plan)

DDoS Attack Protection (Huge network to absorb attacks DDoS attacks over 600Gbps are no problem for our 15 Tbps networks)
Global CDN
Shared SSL certificate (I disabled this and opted to use my own)
Access to audit logs
3 page rules (maximum)

View paid plan options here.

Cloudflare CDN map

Cloudflare CDN says it can load assets up to 2x faster, 60% less bandwidth from your servers by delivering assets from 127 data centres.

Setup

You will need to sign up at cloudflare.com

After you create an account you will be prompted to add a siteCloudflare will pull your public DNS records to import.

You will be prompted to select a plan (I selected free)

Verify DNS settings to import.

You will now be asked to change your DNS nameservers with your domain reseller

TIP: If you have an SSL cert (e.g Lets Encrypt) already setup head to the crypto section and select ” Full (Strict)” to prevent ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS errors.

Cloudflare UI

I asked Twitter if they could kindly load my site so I could see if Cloudflare dashboard/stats were loading.

Could I kindly ask if you are reading this that you visit https://t.co/9x5TFARLCt, I am writing a @Cloudflare blog post and need to screenshot stats. Thanks in advance

— Simon Fearby (Developer) (@FearbySoftware) March 13, 2018

The Cloudflare CTO responded. 🙂

Sure thing 🙂

— John Graham-Cumming (@jgrahamc) March 13, 2018

Confirm Cloudflare link to a domain from the OSX Comand line

host -t NS fearby.com
fearby.com name server dane.ns.cloudflare.com.
fearby.com name server nora.ns.cloudflare.com.

Caching Rule

I set up the following caching rule to cache everything for 8 hours instead of WordPress pages

“fearby.com.com/wp-*” Cache level: Bypass

“fearby.com.com/wp-admin/post.php*” Cache level: Bypass

“fearby.com/*” Cache Everything, Edge Cache TTL: 8 Hours

Cache Results

Cache appears to be sitting at 50% after 12 hours. having cache os dynamic pages out there is ok unless I need to fix a typo, then I need to login to Cloudflare and clear the cache manually (or wait 8 hours)

Performance after a few hours

DNS times in gtmetrix have now fallen to a sub 200ms (Y Slow is now a respectable A, it was a C before). I just need to wait for caching and minification to kick in.

webpagetest.org results are awesome

See here: https://www.webpagetest.org/result/180314_PB_7660dfbe65d56b94a60d7a604ca250b3/

Load Time: 1.80s
First Byte 0.176s
Start Render 1.200s

Google Page Speed Insights Report

Mobile: 78/100

Desktop: 87/100

Check with https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/

Update 24th March 2018 Attacked?

I noticed a spike in and traffic (incoming and threats) on the 24th of March 2018.

I logged into Cloudflare on my mobile device and turned on Under Attack Mode.

Cloudflare was now adding a delay screen in the middle of my initial page load. Read more here. A few hours after the Attach started it was over.

After the Attack

I looked at the bandwidth and found no increase in traffic from my initial host VM. Nice.

Thanks, Cloudflare.

Cloudflare Pros

Enabling Attack mode was simple.
Soaked up an attack.
Free Tier
Many Reports
Option to force HTTPS over HTTP
Option to ban/challenge suspicious IP’s and set challenge timeframes.
Ability to setup IP firewall rules and Application Firewalls.
User-agent blocking
Lockdown URL’s to IP’s (pro feature)
Option to minify Javascript, CSS and HTML
Option to accelerate mobile links
Brotli compression on assets served.
Optio to enable BETA Rocket loader for Javascript performance tweaks.
Run Javascript service workers from the 120+ CDN’s
Page/URL rules o perform custom actions (redirects, skip cache, Encryption etc)
HTTP/2 on, IPV6 ON
Option to setup load balancing/failover
CTO of Cloudflare responded in Twitter 🙂
Option to enable rate limiting (charged at 10,000 hits for $0.05c)
Option to block countries (pro feature)
Option to install apps in Cloudflare like(Goole Analytics,

Cloudflare Cons

No more logging into NameCheap to perform DNS management (I now goto Cloudflare, Namecheap are awesome).
Cloudflare Support was slow/confusing (I ended up figuring out the redirect problem myself).
Some sort of verify Cloudflare Setup/DNS/CDN access would be nice. After I set this up my gtmetrix load times were the same and I was not sure if DNS needs to replicate? Changing minify settings in Cloudflare did not seem to happen.
WordPress draft posts are being cached even though page riles block wp-admin page caching.
Would be nice to have ad automatic Under Attack mode
Now all sub-domains were transferred in the setup ( id did not know for weeks)

Cloudflare status

Check out https://www.cloudflarestatus.com/ for status updates.

Don’t forget to install the CloudFlare Plugin for WordPress if you use WordPress.

More Reading

Check out my OWASP Zap and Kali Linux self-application Penetration testing posts.

I hope this guide helps someone.

Ask a question or recommend an article

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Revision History

v1.8 host Command from the OSX CLI

v1.7 Subdomain error

v1.6 Cloudflare Attack

v1.5 WordPress Plugin

v1.4 More Reading

v1.3 added WAF snip

v1.2 Added Google Page Speed Insights and webpage rest results

v1.1 Added Y-Slow

v1.0 Initial post

Setting up the Debian Kali Linux distro to perform penetration testing of your systems

March 7, 2018 by Simon

This post will show you how to setup the Kali Linux distro to perform penetration testing of your systems

I have a number of guides on moving hasting away form CPanel, Setting up VM’s on AWS, Vultr or Digital Ocean along with installing and managing WordPress from the command line. Securing your systems is very important (don’t stop) and keep learning (securing ubuntu in the cloud, securing checklist, run a Lynis system audit etc)

snip from: https://www.kali.org/about-us/

“Kali Linux is an open source project that is maintained and funded by Offensive Security, a provider of world-class information security training and penetration testing services. In addition to Kali Linux, Offensive Security also maintains the Exploit Database and the free online course, Metasploit Unleashed.”

Download Kali

I downloaded the torrent version (as the HTTP version kept stopping (even on 50/20 NBN).

After the download finished I checked the SHA sum to verify it’a integrity

cd /Users/username/Downloads/kali-linux-2018.1-amd64
shasum -a 256 ./kali-linux-2018.1-amd64.iso 
ed88466834ceeba65f426235ec191fb3580f71d50364ac5131daec1bf976b317  ./kali-linux-2018.1-amd64.iso

A least it matched the known (or hacked) hash here.

Installing Parallels in a VM on OSX

I use Parallels 11 on OSX to set up a VM os Demina Kali, you can use VirtualBox, VMWare etc.

Hardware: 2x CPU, 2048MB Ram, 32MB Graphics, 64GB Disk.

I selected Graphical Install (English, Australia, American English, host: kali, network: hyrule, New South Wales, Partition: Guided – entire disk, Default, Default, Default, Continue, Yes, Network Mirror: Yes, No Proxy, Installed GRUB bootloader on VM HD.

Post Install

Install Parallel Tools

Official Guide: https://kb.parallels.com/en/123968

I opened the VM then selected the Actions then Install Parallels Tools, this mounted /media/cdrom/, I copied all contents to /temp/

As recommended by the Parallels instal bash script I updated headers.

apt install linux-headers-4.14.0-kali1-amd64

Then the following from https://kb.parallels.com/en/123968

apt-get clean
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade -y
apt-get dist-upgrade -y
apt-get install dkms kpartx printer-driver-postscript-hp

Parallels will not install, I think I need to upgrade to parallel 12 or 12 as the printer driver detection is not detecting (even though it is installed).

Installing Google Chrome

I used the video below

I have to run chrome with

/usr/bin/gogole-chrome-stable %U --no-sandbox --user-data=dir &

It works.

Running your first remote vulnerability scan in Kali

I found this video useful in helping me scan and check my systems for exploits

Simple exploit search in Armitage (metasploit)

A quick scan of my server revealed three ports open and (22, 80 and 443). Port 80 redirects to 443 and port 22 is firewalled. I have WordPress and exploits I rued failed to work thanks to patching (always stay ahead of patching and updating of software and the OS.

Without knowing what I was doing I was able to check my WordPress against known exploits.

If you open the Check Exploits menu at the end of the Attacks menu you can do a bulk exploit check.

WP Scan

Kali also comes with a WordPress scanner

wpscan --url https://fearby.com

This will try and output everything from your web server and WordPress plugins.

/xmlrpc.php was found and I was advised to deny access to that file in NGINX. xmlrpc.php is ok but can be used in denial of service attacks.

location = /xmlrpc.php {
	deny all;
	access_log off;
	log_not_found off;
}

I had a hit for a vulnerability in a Youtube Embed plugin but I had a patched version.

TIP: Check your WordPress often.

More to come (Draft Post).

OWASP scanner
WPSCAN
Ethical Hacker modules
Cybrary training
Sent tips to @FearbySoftware

Tips

Don’t have unwanted ports open, securely installed software, Use unattended security updates in Ubuntu, update WordPress frequently and limit plugins and also consider running more verbose audit tools like Lynis.

More Reading

Read my OWASP Zap guide on application testing and Cloudflare guide.

I hope this guide helps someone.

Ask a question or recommend an article

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Revision History

v1.2 added More Reading links.

v1.1 Added bulk exploit check.

v1.0 Initial post

Setting up additional server storage on cloud servers (block storage on Vultr)

October 7, 2017 by Simon

Vultr has a generous disk quota with the cloud servers you can set up. But what do you do when you want more space than the default allocation (for backup or application data)?

I have blogged before about setting up an Ubuntu server on the cloud on Vultr and configuring it if you do not already have a cloud server.

Vultr allows you to set up a server in minutes.

A Vultr $2.5 a month server comes with 20GB storage, a $20 a month server comes with 60GB of SSD storage.

Vultr does offer more storage for about 0.10c per GB. At this time or writing Vultr allows you to add more storage to serves in NY/NJ (only). Read my guide on moving data between servers with RSync. And cond forget yo secure your server with a free SSL certificate and secure it (read more here and here).

An additional 10GB of storage would cost $1/m.

An additional 50GB of storage would cost $5/m.

An additional 100GB of storage would cost $10/m.

An additional 250 GB of storage would cost $25/m

View the Vultr pricing calculator here. Vultr does say that you can resize your block storage volume but there are manual actions and risks involved so get the space you need early on and prevent resizing later.

Read the Vultr Block Storage FAQ here: https://www.vultr.com/docs/block-storage

Vultr did offer early customers in (limited location’s) a free 50GB storage (read more on these limits here).

I am going to spin up a Block storage and attach to my server in Sydney.

fyi: Read the official guide on Attacking Block Storage to a Vultr server.

1. Login to your Vultr admin panel ( https://my.vultr.com/ ) and click Block Storage ( https://my.vultr.com/blockstorage/ ).

2. Click Add Block Storage

3. Choose the size of your block storage volume.

Darn, I can’t choose Syndey yet as a location to create a block storage volume (I have asked Vultr when we can) so I’ll continue this guide with my existing (free) 50GB volume in New Jersey) and mount it in a server in NY/NJ (and also Syndey).

It appears I can’t connect to a Block Storage volume outside the block storages location (data centre).

You will need to attach the block storage volume to the server at that data centre location or you will get this error when you try and connect to it later.

In my case, the server did not automatically restart so I manually restarted it.

Connecting the Block Storage to your VM

From the Vultr admin panel ( https://my.vultr.com ), Block Storage ( https://my.vultr.com/blockstorage/ ) you can manage individual Block Storage volumes and see the mounting information.

e.g

(Linux Example) Create partitions:
# parted -s /dev/vdb mklabel gpt
# parted -s /dev/vdb unit mib mkpart primary 0% 100%

(Linux Example) Create filesystem:
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/vdb1

(Linux Example) Mount block storage:
# mkdir /mnt/blockstorage
# echo >> /etc/fstab
# echo /dev/vdb1               /mnt/blockstorage       ext4    defaults,noatime 0 0 >> /etc/fstab
# mount /mnt/blockstorage

FYI: You can only connect to block storage from the same location (one server at a time I’d imagine).

4. From the Vultr Admin panel SSH into the server (in the same location). See my guide here on setting up a Vultr server and configuring it.

Vultr say’s “Block storage is connected to your server as /dev/vdb. We do not create any filesystems on it by default.” Official Block storage documentation is located here.

5. Run the commands listed in the Block Storage screen (above)

Error: In my case, the echo command failed to add to configuration to the /etc/fstab file (even with sudo) and the mount command failed?

mount: can't find /mnt/blockstorage in /etc/fstab

I checked the /etc/fstab file contents

sudo cat /etc/fstab
# ..missing mount commands from Vultr..

I manually edited the /etc/fstab file and added the mount point configuration as suggested by Vultr.

sudo nano ./etc/fstab

Contents

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
# / was on /dev/vda1 during installation
UUID=removedGUID /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
/dev/fd0        /media/floppy0  auto    rw,user,noauto,exec,utf8 0       0
/dev/vdb1       /mnt/blockstorage       ext4    defaults,noatime 0 0 >> /etc/fstab

6. I re-ran the mount command

sudo mount /mnt/blockstorage
#

Success

I can now directory list in the block storage volume.

ls /dev/vdb1 -al
brw-rw---- 1 username disk 253, 17 Nov  7 21:18 /dev/vdb1

Now let’s attach it to another folder in the root folder (e.g /data)

First, unmount the volume

sudo umount /mnt/blockstorage

Edit the /etc/fstab file with sudo nano

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Change the mount point somewhere else (e.g /data)

/dev/vdb1               /data       ext4    defaults,noatime 0 0 >> /etc/fstab

Make a folder in the new path (/data), If you don’t do this the mount will fail.

sudo mkdir /data

Remount the volume (but use the new path)

sudo mount /data

You can now use the path and new storage.

cd /data
mkdir /data/test
cd /data/test
pwd
# /data/test/
sudo nano /data/test/test.txt

Nice

Disposing of Block Storage

TIP: Move or backup any data before you destroy or detach the volume.

First, you will need to unmount the volume (SSH session with your server).

sudo umount /data

Then remove the entry from the /etc/fstab file

Then you can navigate to the https://my.vultr.com/blockstorage/ and edit the said block storage volume and detach the volume (this will cause the server to reboot).

After a few minutes you can delete the volume from the edited Block Storage Volume page (click the Trashcan up the upper right).

Done, You can now add and remove Block Storage volumes on Vultr.

How to check the disk usage of the block storage volume

You may need to remind yourself of the block storage volume (cat the /etc/fstab file and view the drive information on the mount line).

cat /etc/fstab
# .. /dev/vdb1 ..

How much space is used/free

df -h /dev/vdb1
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/vdb1        50G   52M   47G   1% /data

You can also show the usage information in that mounted folder

du -xsch /data
10G     /folder1
10G     /folder2
20G     total

Use the pydf tool to view mounted partitions

Install pydf

sudo apt-get install pydf

Use pydf

pydf
Filesystem Size  Used Avail Use%                                                             Mounted on
/dev/vda1   20G 3496M   15G 17.4 [##########...............................................] /
/dev/vdb1   49G   52M   47G  0.1 [.........................................................] /data

Troubleshooting

You need to attach the block storage volume and reboot in the Vultr admin panel before mounting.
The echo command (as documented by Vultr) may not add information to the /etc/fstab file (a manual edit will work).

How to Resize a Block Storage Volume on Vultr.

Coming soon (if requested below).

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v1.2 added disk usage information

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