Code, InfoSec and Server Stuff

Views are personal and not my employers.

Personal Development Blog

Coding for fun since 1996, Learn by doing and sharing.

Create your own server on UpCloud here

Follow me on Twitter: @FearbySoftware

View My Old Hobby /blog/

View All Posts.

to

How to use the UpCloud API to manage your UpCloud servers

by

How to use the UpCloud API to manage your UpCloud servers.

Advertisement:



If you have not read my previous posts I have now moved my blog etc to the awesome UpCloud host. Sign up using this link to get $25 free credit.

I recently 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.

Spoiler: UpCloud performance is great.

Upcloud Site Speed in GTMetrix

I have never had an UpCloud page load take longer than 2 seconds since moving.

UpCloud API

UpCloud has an API that we can opt into to using where we can manage servers. Read the official UpCloud API documentation here.

The API allows you to control:

  • Accounts
  • Pricing
  • Zones
  • Timezones
  • Plans
  • Servers
  • Storages
  • IP-Addresses
  • Firewall
  • Tags
  • etc

Create a sub-account to query the API

You should create a new user account (in the UpCloud dasbboard) just for API access. I created two accounts for use on my server and on my home laptop and my server (and set a limiting IP(s) that can access it).

Create a Sub Account for API Access

Login to your UpCloud account (create an account here and get $25 free credit),

  1. Click My Accounts,
  2. Click User Accounts,
  3. Click Change on your user and enable API connections.
  4. TIP: Set up an IP rule to limit access to your API for security (I set up a VPN to get a static IP on my dynamic IP Internet host at home)).
  5. Save the changes

Enable API Connections

TIP: Lock down the account to have the minimum permissions required.

e.g

  • Disable access to the control panel (Untick).
  • Allow API Connections (Tick) and specify an IP
  • Disable access to billing contact (Untick).
  • Disable access to billing section in the control panel (Untick).
  • Disable allowing of emails to billing contact (Untick).
  • Allow or Remove access to all server (or manually add access to desired servers)
  • Allow or Remove access to modify storage (or manually allow or remove access to desired storage)
  • etc

Lock down the account to the minimum needed

Save the account.

Now let’s make our first API call

I use OSX and I use the awesome Paw API testing tool from https://paw.cloud (This is not a plug, they are awesome). Postman is a popular API testing tool too. Any good programing language or CLI will allow you to send API requests.

First, let’s prepare the authorization string (this is a Base64 encoded combination of your username and password) read more here.

  1. Head over to https://www.base64encode.org/
  2. Click the Encode tab
  3. Add your “username:password” (without the quotes).
  4. Click Encode

A Base64 string will be outputted 🙂

e.g > eW91cmFwaXVzZXJuYW1lOnlvdXJzdXBlcnNlY3VyZXBhc3N3b3Jk

fyi

You can encode also Encode and Decode Base64 from the Ubuntu Command line

Encode Base64 from the CLI Sample

Decode Base64 from the CLI Sample

Now we can add an “Authorization Basic” token to the API request in Paw.

Authorization Header added with my base64 token.

A quick test of the UpCloud Prices API endpoint https://api.upcloud.com/1.2/price reveals the API is working.

Add Authorization Token

I can now see a full breakdown of my service prices in JSON 🙂

Query My Account

OK, Let’s see how much credit I have left by querying the https://api.upcloud.com/1.2/account, I duplicated the item in Paw and changed the URL to https://api.upcloud.com/1.2/account but no data returned?

I had to enable “Access to Billing section in Control Panel” for the user before this data returned from the API (make sense).

> HTTP/1.1 200 OK

Query (GET)

Output

”2500.00″ = cents ($25)

Query All of Your Servers

Ok, Let’s get server information by querying https://api.upcloud.com/1.2/server

Query (GET)

Output

Query Server Information

I have redated the UUID’s for my servers but once you know them you can query them by hitting https://api.upcloud.com/1.2/server/########-####-####-####-############

Query (GET)

Output

The servers name, IPv4 and IPV6 network adapters are listed, CPU(s), Memory, Disk Sized and UUID’s are all visible 🙂

Surprisingly the VNC password is visible (enabling access to the root console).

TIP: Ensure your API account is safe and secure.

Query Storage Information

Now, Let’s query the storage with the GUID from above by querying https://api.upcloud.com/1.2/storage/########-####-####-####-############

Query (GET)

Output

I can see information about the storage’s assigned server and backups 🙂

Query Backup Information

Backup storage can be queried with the same storge API endpoint https://api.upcloud.com/1.2/storage/########-####-####-####-############

Query (GET)

Output

Rename Backup

One thing that I would like to be able to do is to rename on-demand backups in the UpCloud dashboard (this is not a feature yet) but I can rename manual backup’s in the API though 🙂

Boring “On-Demand Backup” label.

Rename Backups Not possible in the GUI

I tried sending JSON to https://api.upcloud.com/1.2/storage/########-####-####-####-############ to rename a backup but kept getting an error?

JSON

{
> “storage”: {
> “title”: “Latest manual backup , Working NGINX, PHP, MySQL w Tweaks”,
> “size”: “50”
> }
> }

Result

> “error_code” : “CONTENT_TYPE_INVALID”,
> “error_message” : “The Content-Type header has an invalid value.”

I googled and found an old manual for UpClouds API (official support here).

I added these missing content type headers (108 was the length in chars of the payload)

Still no go?

I think the content length value is wrong, more here.

I fixed it, it turned out I had a semicolon in the Content-Type value. The JSON RFC always assumes that Content-Type is UTF8 encoded (more here).

This Fails

This Works

Now I can rename my Backup (storage). I manually calculated the length of the JSON payload and added a “Content-Length” header and value.

Query (PUT)

Output

Success 🙂

Backup Renamed

Create a Backup

Backups can be performed with a “/backup” added to the end of the query string.

Query (POST)

Output

Success (UpCloud GUI)

Conclusion

UpCloud does have great API docs.

I can easily integrate this into bash scripts to manage my servers via API and a future Java app for managing servers.

Paw does give CURL output to allow me to copy working API’s for use in BASH 🙂

More to come

  1. BASH Script to Deploy and configure a server on UpCloud via Initalization scripts (or manual) (1 week)
  2. JAVA App to manage your server (3 months)

If you are signing up for UpCloud please consider using my referral code and get $25 credit for free.

Read my setup guide here.

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

I hope this guide helps someone.

Ask a question or recommend an article

Your Name (required)

Your Email (required)

Your Question

Revision History

V1.1 updated typo

v1.0 Initial Post.

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

by

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.

Advertisement:



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.

    Advertisement:



    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

    Advertisement:



    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

    Advertisement:



    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/

    Ask a question or recommend an article

    Your Name (required)

    Your Email (required)

    Your Question

    Revision History

    v1.3 Fixed typo in the title/url.

    v1.2 Added Links

    v1.1 Added Conclusion

    v1.0 Initial post

    How to install PHP 7.2.latest on Ubuntu 16.04

    by

    How to install PHP 7.2.latest on Ubuntu 16.04

    Advertisement:



    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. PHP is my programming language of choice.

    PHP has a support page that declares the support date ranges and support types: http://php.net/supported-versions.php

    PHP Versions

    A version of PHP is either actively supported, security fix supported or end of life.

    PHP Support

    From time to time vulnerabilities come up that require PHP updates to be applied.

    Source Link here

    I have guides on setting up PHP 7 here on Digital Ocean, here on AWS and here on Vultr. I have tried upgrading to PHP 7.1 in the past with no luck (I forgot to change something and rolled back to 7.0).

    FYI: I have a guide on setting up PHP child workers so the output from some commands below may be different than yours. Here are the steps I performed to install PHP 7.2 alongside 7.0 then switch. to 7.2.

    Backup your system

    Perform a Snapshot or Backup before proceeding. Nothing beats a quick restore if things fail.

    Note: Use this information at your own risk.

    Update your Ubuntu systems

    Backup PHP

    Install Helper

    This software provides an abstraction of the used apt repositories. It allows you to easily manage your distribution and independent software vendor software sources. More Info

    Add the main PHP repo (more information)

    Update the package lists

    “In a nutshell, apt-get update doesn’t actually install new versions of software. Instead, it updates the package lists for upgrades for packages that need upgrading, as well as new packages that have just come to the repositories.” from here

    Verify New Packages

    Install PHP 7.2

    Install common PHP modules

    Install PHP FPM

    Update all packages (may be needed to update from php 7.2.4 to 7.2.5)

    Edit your NGINX sites-available config

    Edit your NGINX sites-enabled config

    I edited these lines

    Edit your PHP config (and make desired changes)

    Edit your PHP pool config file (as required). See this guide here.

    Make sure you set: listen = /run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock

    Set PHP 7.2 as the default PHP

    Check your PHP version

    Reload PHP

    Reload NGINX

    Check the status of your PHP (and child workers)

    Check your website.

    Troubleshooting

    Guides that helped me.

    https://thishosting.rocks/install-php-on-ubuntu/

    https://websiteforstudents.com/wordpress-supports-php-7-2-heres-how-to-install-with-nginx-and-mariadb-support/

    Check your log files

    Debug FPM Service

    Remove PHP 7.0

    PHP 7.0 Removed 🙂

    Remove other unused packages

    Good luck and I hope this guide helps someone

    Ask a question or recommend an article

    Your Name (required)

    Your Email (required)

    Your Question

    Revision History

    v1.1 Remove PHP 7.0 steps

    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).

    Advertisement:



    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.

    Ask a question or recommend an article

    Your Name (required)

    Your Email (required)

    Your Question

    Revision History

    v1.0 Initial post

    How to install Windows 10 Pro alongside an OSX partition with Apple Boot Camp

    by

    This guide will show you how to install Windows 10 Pro alongside an OSX partition with Apple Boot Camp.

    Advertisement:



    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. I use OSX to develop and occasionally need to use Windows to achieve some development tasks, this is how you can install Windows on an Apple PC.

    Apple Boot Camp

    Apple Bootcamp software can be found here: https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT201468

    Bootcamp

    Bootcamp Steps.

    BootStrap Steps

    You can download a Windows 10 ISO here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/software-download/windows10

    Download ISO

    You will need to plug in a 16GB or larger USB key to use as an install medium.

    Download Boot Camp

    Download AppBoot Camp here: https://support.apple.com/en-au/boot-camp

    Start Apple Boot Camp, click Continue, Tick all options, select the Windows 10 ISO file (beware Bootcamp will select the first ISO file it finds, ensure your USB is selected, Click Continue (tip: You may need to er format and prepare the USB key 10 times, Apple Bootcamp is not the most reliable program), It may take 6 hours to copy files pre Window Setup).

    Bootstrap Steps

    Choose your Windows partition size (at least 200GB is ideas)

    Partition

    When the Bootcamp Wizard is complete you can reboot into Windows (automatic at the end of the wizard)

    Windows Booting

    Enter the desired details in each step (e.g Local, Windows Key, Windows Version, Partition and Country etc)

    Windows Setup Options

    Loads more steps like Keyboard Layout, Domain, Microsoft Account, Password and Cortana and Privacy etc.

    Windows Setup Options

    Windows is now installed, Apple Bootcamp will set up appropriate drivers for your Mac,

    Instaling

    While this is happening I will install Google Chrome Canary.

    Chrome

    Bootcamp has now finished setting up drivers.

    Bootstrap Done

    Windows 10 Start menu (I prefer OSX’s simplicity)

    Windows Strart Menu

    You can set up your prefered Startup disk in the Apple System Preferences or press the Option key on startup and choose a partition to boot.

    Bootup Options

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

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

    Windows

    I hope this guide helps someone.

    Ask a question or recommend an article

    Your Name (required)

    Your Email (required)

    Your Question

    Revision History

    v1.1 Added Open Bootcams as VM

    v1.0 Initial post

    Moving an Ubuntu 16.04 VM on Vultr from one data centre to another via snapshots

    by

    This guide will show how you can move an Ubuntu VM server domain between Vultr data centres via snapshots.

    Advertisement:



    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. Sometimes you need to move a sever between locations and/or upgrade the server (to have more memory t install WordPress).

    Moving an existing Vultr server

    If you don’t have an Ubuntu server click here (follow this guide).

    Login to Vultr and specify a source server, click Snapshots and click Take Snapshot.

    Make snapshot

    Wait for the snapshot to finish (It may take 1 hour).

    Snapshot Started

    Great, the snapshot is done.

    Snapshot Ready

    Now I can create a new server (in a different data centre).

    Add

    Deploy New Instance

    Choose a location (Australia is at capacity, so I’ll deploy to Silicon Valley then move again in a few weeks), choose the snapshot to restore, choose a plan, I enabled IPV6/Auto Backups and Private Networking.

    TIP: The password for the server will be the same as the source server so write it down.

    Deploy

    Click Deploy Now

    Deploy

    After a few minutes, you can see the new servers IP address, you can log in to your domain name provider (in my case Namecheap) and update the target IPV4 and IPV6 address.

    You can find IPV4 and IPV6 addresses by opening your server, clicking settings then IPxV4 or IPV6.

    ip

    You will need to update Vultr DNS settings (login to Vultr, Click Servers, Click DNS then edit your existing Domain DNS entry).  Add you’re new serves IP addresses.

    Vultr DNS

    Update: I added an IPV6/AAAA record too.

    Wait for DNS Replication

    Goto https://www.whatsmydns.net/ and check the global DNS propagation for your new domain’s server.

    DNS Propigation

    If you are happy that the server has been migrated (snapshot restored) and that the domain DNS is pointing to your new server you can delete the old server in the Vultr server list.

    Servers

    Post-Migrate Actions

    I hope this guide helps someone.

    Ask a question or recommend an article

    Your Name (required)

    Your Email (required)

    Your Question

    Revision History

    v1.1 Vultr Link

    v1.0 Initial post

    Using Cloudflare DNS servers to speed up the internet and add privacy on OSX

    by

    Below is how I setup my OSX to use Cloudflare’s new DNS servers to speed up internet browsing and add privacy on OSX

    Advertisement:



    Cloudflare has launched a DNS service: https://blog.cloudflare.com/announcing-1111/

    DNS Performance

    You can view worldwide DNS performance by viewing https://www.dnsperf.com/#!dns-providers

    DNS Performance

    I check the DNS at my router, I am using ISP provided DNS servers.

    Review DNS

    Cloudflare DNS

    On April Fools 2018 Cloudflare Released a DNS server service.

    Snip from here: “DNS: Internet’s Directory Nearly everything on the Internet starts with a DNS request. DNS is the Internet’s directory. Click on a link, open an app, send an email and the first thing your device does is ask the directory: Where can I find this? Unfortunately, by default, DNS is usually slow and insecure. Your ISP, and anyone else listening in on the Internet, can see every site you visit and every app you use — even if their content is encrypted. Creepily, some DNS providers sell data about your Internet activity or use it target you with ads.”

    https://1.1.1.1/

    Set Cloudflare Nameservers using OSX

    Open the Apple System Preferences, click Network, click on your Network (Wifi or ethernet), Click Advanced then DNS and add 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1

    Alternatively, you can manually set your DNS servers in OSX by editing the /etc/resolv.conf, by default SX will inherit DNS settings from our router.

    Troubleshooting: Clear DNS Cache

    Debug DNS Data

    Confirm Cloudflare DNS from the OSX Comand line

    Privacy

    I am not sure if Cloudflare is any more private than using ISP DNS but I’ll happily use it.

    Speed

    I can’t tell if DNS is faster, I did ping my ISP DNS before switching and it was about the same (sub 25ms), time will tell.

    Conclusion

    I have used https://www.opendns.com/ before and loved the dashboards, I hope Cloudflare add dashboard options too.

    I hope this guide helps someone.

    Ask a question or recommend an article

    Your Name (required)

    Your Email (required)

    Your Question

    Revision History

    v1.0 Initial post

    How to purchase your own domain name and set up a web server from $5 a month

    by

    This guide will show technically minded people how you can purchase your own domain name, set up a web server on Vultr with an online store using WordPress/WooCommerce from $5 a month. Warning this post is technical (if you have never used SSH, Ubuntu, Linux Command Line, hate risk or are not patient then this is NOT the guide you are after).

    Advertisement:


    Draft Post (released early to share)

    I personally recommend (not a paid endorsement) the free WooCommerce plugin for the free WordPress.org CMS on the free Ubuntu Operating system with the free NGINX web server and the free MYSQL database engine and free SSL certificates from Lets Encrypt.

    Sorry for using the word free a lot but I like free things.  One of the benefits of a using a self-managed server is you get the option to install free software and configure the server how you want and secure it how you want. Truth be told managed ho (e.g CPanel, etc) are in the business of making money via monthly feed, expensive SSL certificates, taxing your transactions or pushing you to higher priced tiers.

    Legend:

    • Self Managed Server = A server that you create, you configure patch and support (all the reward and risk is owned by you and costs are low).
    • Hosted Server = A server you have partial control of and the hosts manage the server and support (You hand away all risk and most of the control and pay for support/features).

    I moved to a self-managed server after I was paying $25/m for a poorly performing website and $150/y for a poor quality  SSL certificate and a slice of a server that seemed to always say “Usage Limit Exceeded”. Why pay for an insecure website that my visitors could not view because the usage limit was exceeded.

    Bad CPanel SSL Certificate

    fyi: Fearby.com costs me $10 a month for a server and $5/m for CDN abilities.

    CPanel hosts are an option when you don’t want to self-manage a service and take on the hassle but be prepared for server limitations (The image below was taken on an older CPanel based hosts before I moved to a self-managed Vultr server)

    cpenal_usage_exceeded

    I recently discovered a well known and established website hosting service (that I used to use) and a friend is still using is insecure. My friend’s site has a static website on it but the server underneath was very old and insecure. Having a secure web server should be at the top of your list with any self-managed or hosted website (this will help search engine optimization and prevent risks to your website visitors).

    Static Website

    Sites like Virus Total, SSL Labs and Alexa Site Info , Qualys are good ways to review a site’s credibility.

    fyi: The awesome https://seositecheckup.com/ is awesome for evaluating our sites SEO score.

    Before we set up a server with WordPress on your own server let’s quickly look at the alternative commercial ready to go website builders.

     

    Alternative (paid) DIY Website Builders

    The following leading commercial sites will allow you to build a site online.

    In my opinion, five things matter with setting up site online website.

    • Setup Costs, Monthly Cost and Commissions (what are the hidden charges)
    • Security (having a food SSL Certificate is key to having a good organic traffic from search engines)
    • Site Speed (Having a slow site will impact search engine optimization and drive visitors away)
    • Accessibility (if your site is not WCAG accessible it will not rank high on search engines).
    • Control (will you be able to do everything you want too, nothing worse than going so far and being limited)

    Ok, let’s see how much it will cost to set up a simple business site on the sites above.

     

    Wix 

    Setup: Goto https://www.wix.com/, Login to Wix, click Create Site, click Business, Click Choose a Template, Edit the page, Click Save, Click “Connect your own customized domain“, Click “Connect a domain you already own“.

    I was redirected to a Wix plan pricing page where I need to choose a plan to continue. From what I researched you cant control HTML on Wix so can’t add a MailChimp newsletter signup form so you would have to go with the $24.5/m option to enable Email Campaigns.

    Wix Plans Chooser

    I could not see information about included SSL certificates, SEO or other chargers.  SSL is free after you pay right?

    The Wix editor appears OK (it may take a bit of learning though).

    Wix Editoer

    I clicked publish and the site was live

    Wix site published

    A quick check of the SSL, Accessibility and SEO and no obvious deal breakers here apart from the price and platform lock-in.

    Wix Checkup

    I performed a security check on the site with https://freescan.qualys.com (passed)

    Conclusion: I hear Wix templates are hard to change so choose your template wisely, A large collection of apps are available that you can add to the site.

    Although Wix was nice and it does include a full-featured look at the engine it is not for me ($24/m USD is too expensive).

     

    Squarespace 

    Squarespace basic websites cost $16/$25 a month or $34/52 for online stores: https://www.squarespace.com/pricing/

    SquareSpace Pricing

    Setup a Squarespace website: Goto https://www.squarespace.com/, Click Start a Free Trial, Choose a Template, Create an Account (a quick read of the terms of service and privacy policy, #scary), SpareSpace sites are pre-published?

    Square Space Build

    Loading the webpage on a non-logged-in (with SquareSpace login) browser displays a trial warning.  Trial pages are essentially restricted (unlike Wix).

    Login Challenge

    The mobile view does not match the template?  I guess the chosen template is more of a vibe and not a template.

    Mobile view

    Setting up a Squarespace website may take some time. Squarespace does have some nifty advance options in a slide-out menu though.

    Squarespace Settings

    Because the public view of the page is restricted I cannot scan it with WCAG accessibility tools. Scanning the site performance speeds with gtmetrix also fails.

    Performance Rejected

    Squarespace is well known to be difficult to set up a website when compared to other drag and drop editors (but Squarespace sites do look nice).

    I am not paying $54/m for a website so let’s move on.

     

    Shopify

    Shopify Setup: Goto https://shopify.com and click Create, Sign up and enter your store name. Complete the wizard. 

    Shopify

    Choose a Shopify Plan

    Shopify Plan

    Scalping transactions, no thanks. let’s move on.

     

    Weebly

    Weebly Setup: Goto https://www.weebly.com/au and click Get Started under Create Store. Enter your account details and click Create Your Site, enter the name of the store, Click I’m just trying Weebly, click the type of product you will be selling.

    Weebly Site Setup

    Weebly Setup

    Theme Selection

    Theme Select

    Choose a Domain

    Domain Select

    Publish the site

    Publish

    Clicking publish appears to be a dead end.

    Verify Weebly

    “Please contact Weebly Support to verify your account”, No Thanks, let’s move on.

    One candidate remains and that is WordPress hosted (wordpress.com not wordpress.org).

     

    WordPress.com

    WordPress.com offer hosted plans for WordPress in the cloud.

    Setup a WordPress site, the only one that removes WordPress branding and allows third-party plugins to be installed it the Business plans for $33 a month.

    WordPress Plans

    Setup Basics

    Wordpress

    Choose a WordPress theme.

    Choose Theme

    Assign a Domain

    WordPress Domain

    In order to buy a domain, you need to log in (top right) with an account

    My working WordPress account (is no longer working), it was in my password manager.

    wordpresscomerror

    I seem to be stuck in a signup loop

    Wordpress

    Time to move on. Time to set up my own server on Vultr and setup WordPress and  WooCommerce,

    But, before we do, let’s ensure our name is secure online.

    Search for your Name/Brand

    Do search for your website (or thing) in search engines to see if your name is already taken, don’t buy a domain that is owned or has IP or trademark presence. It is a  good idea to use sites like https://namechk.com/ to see if your site or social media is already taken.

    https://namechk.com/

    namechk.com will allow you to search for name availability online.  The name “mything” is not fully available online.

    https://namechk.com/ 2

    You will want to see all green squares (name available) below before buying a domain name. This looks better.

    Namechk ok

    I would recommend you create your social media accounts before or right after buying your domain. Sites like Twitter will insist on short usernames names so get your social media sites first.

     

    Trademark and Brand Search

    Also, perform a trademark and IP search.

    Australian Trademark Search: https://search.ipaustralia.gov.au/trademarks/search/quick

    United States Trademark Database: https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-application-process/search-trademark-database

    Global brand Search: http://www.wipo.int/branddb/en/

    etc

    Self Managed Warning

    I tend to go the “self-managed server route” and install the free WordPress CMS because:

    There are many reasons why you would not want to “self-manage” your own server

    • Technical Requirements (and time to support).
    • Higher Risk.
    • Applying Updates and Patches.
    • etc.

    Being technically minded and choosing a “self-managed web servers” can take away time from the fun stuff like SEO, Site Design, customer needs, branding etc.

    Self Managed Costs

    For $5 a month you can buy a server with enough memory to install WordPress (cheaper if you don’t need WordPress)

    Vultr is great. Vultr does have ready to go servers that you can deploy that have WordPress all set up.

    wordpress-template

    The Vultr template above does use the Centos OS (read my guide setting up Centos on a different service provider here) but I prefer to manually setup a server with Ubuntu 16.04 OS on Vultr.

    Wih a $5 server you can do what you want with it.  I have blogged before about setting up your own Server. e.g Installing Centos and Ubuntu server on Digital Ocean.  Digital Ocean does not have data centres in Australia and this kills scalability. AWS is good but 4x the price of Vultr. I have blogged about setting up and AWS server here (and upgrading an AWS instance). I tried to check out Alibaba Cloud but the verification process was broken so I decided to check our Vultr.

    Manual Setup of Vultr on an Ubuntu 16.04 server

    • Deploy a Vultr Server – Guide here  ($2.5/m to New Jersey or Florida or $5/m to Sydney,  I would recommend you opt in for the auto backup for $0.50c/m and $1/m respectively).
    • Setup NGINX.
    • Setup PHP and PHP-FPM (see guide above), consider adding PHP child workers.
    • Setup and secure MySQL (see guide above), create a database for WordPress to use.
    • Instal Adminder MySQL GUI (guide here).
    • Setup a free Lets Encrypt SSL certificate (guide here).
    • Install WordPress (and Jetpack plugin).
    • Install WordPress CLI.
    • Instal the WooCommerce Storefront WordPress Theme.
    • Install WooCommerce Plugin.
    • Secure Ubuntu.
    • Also consider linking your domain to Cloudflare to boost performance, scanning your site with Qualys Freescan and OWASP ZAP).
    • Consider setting up a WordPress image compressor and CDN plugin. like EWWW.io

    Manual WooCommerce Plugin Setup

    Once you setup Woocommerce you can setup the store defaults. Goto the WordPress dashboard and click WooCommerce Settings

    Woo Commerce Settings

    Settings – General

    General

    • Set Address, City and State and Postcode
    • Set allowed countries to sell in (e.g Australia)
    • Set allowed countries to ship items to (e.g Australia)
    • Set Enable Taxes
    • Set Currency
    • etc

    Settings – Products

    Products

    • Set Weight
    • Set Dimensions
    • Enable Product Reviews
    • Enable Star Ratings on Reviews
    • etc

    Settings – Shipping

    Shipping

    • Enable Shipping Calculator
    • Add Shipping Classes
    • Shipping Zones
    • etc.

    Settings – Checkout

    Settings checkout

    • Force Secure Checkup
    • Create a Terms and Conditions page (and set).
    • etc

    Settings – Account

    Accounts

    • Set Account Options
    • etc

    Settings – Emails

    Emails

    • Set Email Preferences
    • Set Email Header Image
    • Set Email Colour
    • Set Footer Text
    • etc

    Settings – API

    API

    • API can be disabled if you don’t need it.

    Optional Actions

    • Setup Yoast Plugin
    • Setup other plugins

     

    Instaling a Woo Commerce Child Theme

    Goto https://woocommerce.com/product-category/themes/storefront-child-theme-themes/ and choose a theme.

    Themes

    Purchase and Install the desired child theme (I uploaded it to my /wp-content/themes/ folder with forklift). I chose a free deli theme.

    Goto your WordPress then themes folder and activate your new child theme.

    Activate Theme

     

     

    Post Site Setup

    Just because your site is live does not mean you can rest.

    SEO Optimization

    Do use sites like https://seositecheckup.com/ and follow recommended actions to improve your SEO like updating meta tags.

    More Reading

    Attaching an email to your domain

    You can pay $5 a month and link a G Suite email to your domain.

    • Dedicated professional Google G Suite email account for $5 a month with 30GB storage (If you don’t want ot to buy a G Suite email and link it to your domain then you don’t need this).

    Once you have a G Suite account you can link other domains (and domain emails) to it. You can login to your G Suite emails via G Mail and send emails from apps or the command line.

    Why Vultr

    I use the server host Vultr as they have data centres all around the world and the support of great, Digital Ocean is good too but they don’t have data centres in my country (Australia). Vultr allows you to deploy all over the world upgrade servers, move servers, add storage and restore servers.

    Alternatively, you can buy a $2.5/m server and generate  a static website

    I use the Platforma Web HTML generator to build mobile and WCAG compliant websites.

    Buying a domain,  I buy my domains from https://www.namecheap.com/  it is a good idea to look for coupons first at https://www.namecheap.com/promos/coupons.aspx before buying a domain.

    Once you buy a domain you can point it to a Vultr server and upload your website.

    I hope this helps someone.

    Donate and make this blog better

    Ask a question or recommend an article

    Your Name (required)

    Your Email (required)

    Your Question

    Revision History

    v.1.2 WordPress WooCommerce

    v1.1 SEO

    v1.0 Initial Draft