OpenStack PHP and OVH

Some time ago I built a setup using Amazon’s S3 and Cloudfront that would allow large file uploads/downloads directly from the an S3 bucket, through a Cloudfront endpoint (which provided both a lower latency and allowed using SSL on a custom domain). I recently came across OVH, and two things caught my attention – low… Continue reading OpenStack PHP and OVH

Adding a Notification to Old WordPress Posts

While some articles may be timeless, depending on the type of content being published, many posts have a definite expiry date. It is the double edged sword of rapidly evolving technologies – they improve swiftly, but articles written about them become outdated just as fast. This site, for instance, is primarily about cloud computing and… Continue reading Adding a Notification to Old WordPress Posts

WebSockets – Varnish, Nginx, and Node.js

Like many others I have been drawn in by the appeal of websockets and their use in (near) real-time communication. As such one of my current projects uses Node.js and websockets (via socket.io). To maximize compatibility, I would, of course, like my Node.js site to run on port 80. My server, however, is not used… Continue reading WebSockets – Varnish, Nginx, and Node.js

DRBD on Amazon’s Linux

Note: this was done more as an experiment than for something I intended to use in production – so consider it to be more a compilation of notes than a full out procedure. DRBD – Distributed Replicated Block Device – is a kernel level storage system that replicates data across a network. It uses TCP… Continue reading DRBD on Amazon’s Linux

Windowless VirtualBox VMs (Windows Host)

Since I haven’t gotten around to playing with VMware or xen yet – VirtualBox is what I am using for virtualization in my test environment. Under Windows I like to use PuTTy to connect to my VMs – even those running on the same machine. Other than providing a consistent interface, it has a few… Continue reading Windowless VirtualBox VMs (Windows Host)

WordPress – SSL login page without SSL admin

In WordPress (v3.3), FORCE_SSL_LOGIN will transmit login credentials over SSL, however, the login page itself may be accessed over HTTP (as opposed to HTTPS). If the login page is accessed via HTTP, the user has no (easy) way of verifying that the page is legitimate and that the credentials will in fact be sent over… Continue reading WordPress – SSL login page without SSL admin

Easy Windows-Linux File Sharing with a LiveCD

The intent of this article is to address a very specific case – it is not meant as a best practices guide. Scenario: A. You have a windows computer (Computer 1) with files that are remotely accessed from second windows computer (Computer 2). B. Access from Computer 2 is via a program that expects the… Continue reading Easy Windows-Linux File Sharing with a LiveCD

Building Ice Cream Sandwich (Android v4) for VirtualBox on EC2

This was completed 2 weeks ago, but I am only now getting around to posting it online. This experiment was purely for the fun of it – I don’t own (or want) a cell phone, and have never used Android. However, it is an interesting operating system, and I always enjoy playing around with such… Continue reading Building Ice Cream Sandwich (Android v4) for VirtualBox on EC2

Installing Corosync on EC2

The notes for this have been sitting on my computer for almost 6 months, but a comment from today spurred me onto editing, updating, and posting them. Corosync is a messaging layer used for high-availability. It serves essentially the same purpose as Heartbeat, but appears to be the project that will supersede it. Currently, it… Continue reading Installing Corosync on EC2