Somerset Technical Solutions

WordPress, HTTPS, CDN and W3 Total Cache

Anthony Somerset — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:37:52 +0000

I’ve worked with a few sites recently that use HTTPS to secure certain parts of there site and also a couple of pages here are SSL protected due to the data captured. If you use the W3 Total Cache plugin like I do, and I really recommend that you do if you have a wordpress [...]

Nginx and SSL – PHP Redirect Loops

Anthony Somerset — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 11:07:10 +0000

Small post, I’ve been struggling a little with getting ssl to work reliably with https. specifically relating to the following piece of code: fastcgi_param HTTPS on; Lets wind back, I can get HTTPS working with nginx no problem and the above provided I do the following, maintain 2 vhosts for the same domain, one for [...]

Review: VPS.net

Anthony Somerset — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:32:08 +0000

Its been a little while so why not start by writing a review as a shameless disclaimer this is motivated by VPS.net’s offer of a free node for life over on there blog, eagle eyed readers may notice that I have previously blogged about them before: http://antsomerset.co.uk/2009/09/29/vps-net-thoughts-and-review-kinda/ http://antsomerset.co.uk/2010/06/22/vps-net-9-months-in/ http://antsomerset.co.uk/2010/09/19/vps-net-san-2-0-early-thoughts/ I’ve used VPS.net in various guises [...]

Alternative’s to Cpanel: Webmin

Anthony Somerset — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 17:12:10 +0000

I’m going to start a mini series of posts here called Alternatives to Cpanel, first you might ask why not Cpanel and its worth pointing out that Cpanel is arguably one of the most popular and most comprehensive control panel solutions for web hosting out there, it might not be good for some people or [...]

Choosing the Right Host

Anthony Somerset — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 09:43:07 +0000

Customer support, or customer failure? A good web host has good customer and technical support departments. People often believe that if their web host offers 24/7 support, their support is good. Often, this is not the case. Why? Put it this way; would you like to be working a night shift with your eyes droopy, [...]

HOWTO: Upgrade Debian Lenny (5.0) to Debian Squeeze (6.0) on Rackspace Cloud Servers

Anthony Somerset — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 19:31:10 +0000

I recently posted on how to update Debian for vps.net servers and its intricacies, I have since been able to document the process for Rackspace and this guide also works for Virtuozzo or OpenVZ VPS’ where you don’t have direct control over the kernel from your VPS so here goes. strong>Disclaimer: please test this yourself [...]

Is your WordPress site embedding tracking code without your knowledge?

Anthony Somerset — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 12:42:12 +0000

I just stumbled upon a couple of important articles relating to the WordPress Stats plugin available for free to all wordpress users and gives a sort of cut down Google Analytics functionality. i found the articles because i was googling as to why all of a sudden my sites were loading a file from quantserve.com, [...]

HOWTO: Upgrade Debian Lenny (5.0) to Debian Squeeze (6.0) on VPS.net

Anthony Somerset — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:14:48 +0000

Here are the working upgrade instructions from Lenny to Squeeze (Debian 6) on VPS.net. Disclaimer: please test this yourself first on a NON PRODUCTION SERVER. this may or may not work with other server providers but is specifically tailored to the VPS.net system, I do not guarantee its results outside of my tested system (OnApp [...]

Email alerts whenever someone logs into root via SSH

Anthony Somerset — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 22:00:34 +0000

Want to be notified instantly when someone logs into your server as root? No problem. there was recently a discussion over on the vps.net forums after an incident where a user had had several of there servers logged into as root by an unknown source (since resolved) a helpful user (R4Z0R49) posted this helpful guide [...]

SSH Root Security Tips

Anthony Somerset — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 23:20:39 +0000

ok so i thought i would shove a quick techy thing up while its fresh in my head. this post i think is great when you are in an environment where you have to compromise on security and ease of use. I have to admit though, this tip is not my own i read this [...]