Tag: configuration

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Adding Block Storage to an Existing Cloud at Linode

This site is hosted at Linode’s smallest package. Besides this blog, I have some other domains and small WordPress-based sites here. Most of them are not busy site. So, $5/mo is just gret. But, there is a small problem: storage.

Yesterday, I almost utilised 95% of the 25GB of storage limit. I was thinking of upgrading the to the higher specs. $10/mo is still a good deal. But, I only need the storage at this moment. Paying $10/mo will give me additional 25GB of storage.

I already knew that Linode also provides block storage, and I never looked up for this addons. So, I gave it try and tried to prove that the how-to works as written. So, from the panel, I chose to add 20GB of storage and follow the instruction in the input fields.

It took only less than a minute I think to create the disk storage.

Once the disk created, I only need to run some commands as instructed in the configuration page. It was that simple.

After that, I moved some of my files to the new partition, and changed some configurations. Also, I moved MySQL storage to this partition, because it utilises the most. the process also pretty straightforward.

And, I only need to pay extra $2/mo for 20GB additional storage.

Nice!

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OpenVPN Setup on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

I could not remember exactly when I setup OpenVPN for the first time. As far as I remember, it was not an easy task. But, I need to have it installed, and I found it easier. Probably, because it’s easier to setup on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS?

I need to have it setup because I have some sites blocked by my internet provider. Using Google’s DNS (8.8.8.8) or even ClouFlare’s 1.1.1.1. did not help either. Changing the DNS made my internet connection do not work.

So, I need to set OpenVPN up somewhere. I was thinking of having it setup on my own cloud server at Linode. Lucky that there is a straight-forward tutorial on how to setup OpenVPN on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. I will write it down also here for my personal documentation.

Installation

First, update the system by running apt-get update and then apt-get upgrade. For me this is optional.

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nginx error: client intended to send too large body

After moving this site to DigitalOcean‘s cloud environment, I found a problem when uploading a file from my blog posting interface. Looking up from the error log, it says "client intended to send too large body: 1122400 bytes". I wanted to upload a file larger than 1 MB. I’m using nginx for the web server, and the solution is pretty simple.

Edit /etc/nginx/nginx.conf configuration file, and add client_max_body_size 20M; between http { }. Save the config file and start the nginx. Problem solved. If you need higher value, just change the 20 MB to something higher.

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Delete Old Devices Backup on OS X to Reclaim Disk Storage

One of the routines relate to my laptop is to keep everything organised. This includes folders management, removing unused files or installing/uninstalling applications, etc.
For disk usage checking purpose, I use OmniDiskSweeper. Yes, I also have Macpaw’s CleanMyMac 2, but OmniDiskSweeper will do a simple and specific task as mentioned on its site:

OmniDiskSweeper is really great at what it does: showing you the files on your drive, in descending order by size, and letting you decide what to do with them.

One of the directories using lots of storage was ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/. This directory stores the backup of the iOS devices. I have iPad and also iPhone. I only have 250 GB of storage configuration for my Macbook Pro, and the backup consumes tens of GB.
iTunes Devices Preferences
To remove the unnecessary backup files, open iTunes, choose Preferences, and select the Devices menu. There are some old backups that I think safe enough to be removed. So, I did that. So, I only keep the latest backup for now.
odw-183581841-20851-0825
The backup solution is pretty easy and straight forward. Even I don’t regularly synchronised my files, in most cases I only backup the media files especially photo. And, I prefer to use Image Capture to save the photos/videos to the folder I wanted.

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Let's talk about NOKN: A smart modular bag

I couldn’t remember how many bags I had. I was not so picky about the design, colors, or models. I only need some common criteria: it’s functional, and its price should be good. I don’t mind spending more cash on bags (or any other fashion items) as long as it’s good and it fits me.
Last year, I discovered NOKNbag. It’s a business by some cool guys in my hometown, Jogjakarta. One of them is my junior high school friend who I haven’t met for years. He  shared about NOKNbag products. I have to admit that it was cool. But, I decided not buying it right away. “Well, may be later…”, I thought. In some occasions, I saw more people having this kind of bag. And, I had a chance to experience this bag, to meet this bag in person. And, it only took me seconds to decide: I need to have one.
And, I didn’t buy one. Not two, but also bought  special vouchers (worth around 50% off) for all friends at work. We invaded NOKN’s studio — it’s not far from the my office — to do a live mix-and-match. These are some items we bought back in 2013.
NOKN
The collection has only simple name: NOKNbag v2.1. And, it’s only a single product, but each element can be purchased separately. Some color options are also available. This is my configurations (I don’t always have them at once, anyway):

  • One Metal Gun body color
  • 3 flaps (red, blue, and white)
  • 1 shoulder pad (Metal Gun)
  • Inside Partition (Grey)
  • Laptop case (Grey). I can bring my 15″ MacBook Pro Retina Display!

nokn-office-1824121724124
Some customers mentioned that they could bring lots of stuff in it. And, they’re right. When I need to do a short trip (2-3 days) to Jakarta for example, I only bring one bag that contains these following items: 15″ MacBook Pro (with its MagSafe), iPad (with charger), iPhone, 3 t-shirts, 2 skirts, 2 shirts, small towel, and some stationaries.
It’s  my primary (and daily) bag. It’s my companion for work, or business trip.

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Moving a WordPress-powered site to another domain: The Permalink

Yesterday, I needed to move a self-hosted WordPress site to another domain. The process was easy because it’s like copying all files, edit the configuration file and editing internal links in all posts. All process only took less than 15 minutes. But, that’s not the only thing. One of the important things needed is to maintain the article links — known as “permanent link”.
This is important because I don’t want to send the visitors coming from other sources (links in blog posts, shared link on Twitter or Facebook) to missing pages. It’s called “permanent link”, right? So, having the permanent link broken is not a good idea.
I came up with a simple solution: using .htacess. After moving all files and checking all configurations I put these lines in the .htaccess file:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^.*olddomain.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://newdomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

So, when visitors visit olddomain.com/path/to/article/, the browsers will go automatically to newdomain.com/path/to/article/. Easy!

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Some Notes About Enabling Multi-Site option in WordPress 3.0

After upgrading my blog using WordPress 3.0, I was thinking of taking the opportunity to have the multi-site option. Previously, I played with WordPress Multi User. So, I think it would something I’m familiar with. If you’re not familiar with WordPress 3.0 features, you can check WordPress Codex first. You can find lots of useful information there. It’s a good place to start.
Currently, this blog is already using Multi-Site feature. The setup was easy, but I want to share few things I had during the ‘migration’. By default, this feature is disabled. So, you will see no settings/option under your WordPress Dashboard menus. If you’re ready to enable this feature, the first thing you need to do is to modify WordPress configuration file (wp-config.php). Add this line of code into wp-config.php:

define('WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true);
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Unable to locate WordPress Plugin directory

I just made a fresh install of WordPress 2.8. As usual, the installatoin process was simple and straight forward. After doing some configurations, I wanted to install some plugins directly using the automatic installer from dashboard. But, I had a problem.
After filling in the FTP information, my WordPress gave me this message:

Unable to locate WordPress Plugin directory

I have no idea about this error. I never got this kind of error. What’s wrong? It seems that some users also found this problem. There’s also an interesting discussion about this. Is it WordPress’ bug? Or, is it related to server configuration? Anyone got this problem too?

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vBulletin Database Backup

I’m maintaining a pretty big forum. It has a great amount of traffic, AND huge database size. Right now, it has a remote backup server. The optimization is always challenging. Anyway, vBulletin upgrade process was easy. The forum I maintain used vBulletin 3.6.x when it was firstly installed. Right now, it’s using the latest stable release.

The first thing I did before upgrading is to backup its database. Using web-based database management tool like phpMyAdmin is easy. We can export and store it in minutes. BUT, in some cases, it takes more time if we have a large database. So, I use the other method: using the backup script.

When we download vBulletin, there is a backup script included in the distribution. It’s under do_not_upload directory. The file is vb_backup.sh. The first thing we need to do is to edit this script, to locate the configuration file. After that, we only need to execute this command: ./vb_backup.sh backup

It will generate a backup file using this pattern: databasename-dd-mm-yy.sql.gz. Just keep the file into the safe place (outside public directory always recommended), and start upgrading. All done.

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twibble Desktop Application

Twibble Logo
I’m installing twibble on my mobile device and so far, it works great. I use this as a primary application to upload photos from my Twitter account.
Today, I tried twibble for desktop application. Anyway, I’m having TweetDeck and TwitterFox (for Mozilla Firefox and Flock). Well, I use TwitterFox most of the time. I don’t know, I just like TweetDeck being installed, as an application to learn about interface design. :)
If you have TweetDeck installed, you can install twibble for desktop application since both are using Adobe AIR technology. Compared to TweetDeck, I think TweetDeck is much better. BUT, I like these twibble (for desktop) features:

  • Multiple Twitter accounts — if you manage multiple account. I do.
  • Location awareness — it understands GPS position sent from twitter mobile.
  • Easy to post pictures/photos.
  • twitter search
  • identi.ca support

When I firstly installed, I was a little bit lost about the menu and interface. For example, on the configuration screen, I could not see the “Go” or “Save” links/button. Well, it’s there, using a small green arrow icon.

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Troubleshooting: SoftException in Application.cpp:544

When I had problem with WordPress installation, it was about WordPress Admin Area (Dashboard) Redirect Loop, I got the solution. Today, I experienced different problem. Still related to WordPress.
Okey, I’m not going to tell you that the problem only happens for WordPress. It might happen for other platforms or applications. Read on the details, you’ll know what I mean.
When I enter WordPress dashboard (admin area), I got 404 error page. It seems that the wp-admin folder does not exist. But, it’s there. I told Lala about this, and she reminds me that I’m not the one who got this problem. (see WordPress Support Forum thread for details).
So, I checked the error log. If you’re using cPanel for your hosting account, you should find the error log there. And, I got this:

[Tue Dec 30 09:20:18 2008] [error] [client ip.address.here] SoftException in Application.cpp:544: Directory "/home/username/public_html/somefolder" is writeable by group

Okey, it’s about SoftException in Application.cpp:544. I searched for answer using Google, and I found a useful answer.

As the message says, the specified foldername has been made writable by group.
That suggests that your server’s apache configuration doesn’t allow you to make folders writable by group.
ie: you’ve got the wrong permissions set on one or more folders.
Check with your hosting company to find out what permissions you’re allowed to set.

The answer is not related to WordPress issue, but it’s a solution for the same problem. So, I checked the wp-admin folder permission again. It was 777. Okey, I changed it into 755… and voila! Problem solved.
Okey, everything is working great now. It’s a new lesson for me :)

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vBulletin Performance Optimization

I have been dealing with vBulletin for almost a year now. I manage a vBulletin installation for my friend at Fashionese Daily forum. Anyway, Fashionese Daily forum have used other forum/discusion engines like punBB and MyBB. It’s now using vBulletin 3.7.3 Patch Level 1.
It’s a pretty busy-traffic forum anyway. In average, there are 1,000 new posts everyday. According to forum stats, there are 500 – 600 online users during the prime ours (registered and guests). From the very beginning, I try to maintain its performance so that the forum is available.
Based on many articles about vBulletin optimization, here are what I did:

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WordPress Troubleshooting: WordPress Admin Area (Dashboard) Redirect Loop

Yesterday, I helped one of my clients with her WordPress-powered blogs. When I tried to find the solution — using search engines — I could not find any exact solution.
Problem overview
Okey, here’s the problem: When I tried to login to WordPress dashboard — not WordPress.com, but self-hosted — I always got these errors:

Redirect Loop
The browser has stopped trying to retrieve the requested item. The site is redirecting the request in a way that will never complete.
The browser has stopped trying to retrieve the requested item. The site is redirecting the request in a way that will never complete.

  • Have you disabled or blocked cookies required by this site?
  • NOTE: If accepting the site’s cookies does not resolve the problem, it is likely a server configuration issue and not your computer.

I’m not sure what caused this problem. I thought it was my browser (Firefox), but I got the same problem on other browsers.

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WordPress 2.6 Upgrades


Today, WordPress 2.6 is available with code name “Tyner”. You can read what features shipped in this version at WordPress Development blog. I have been following WordPress 2.6 since the beta release from Sub Version, and it looks good. So, I upgraded my WordPress install right away. The upgrade process — from WP 2.5.1 — was smooth, without any issues. If you not using the latest version, it’s time to upgrade.
Probably, there are few things to consider before upgrading like plugin and compability. I was there too. If you have plugins that are not supported in the latest version, and you need them so bad, you probably need to wait until the patches are available. Luckily, I have all installed plugins work great here. If you’re still not sure, please do a complete upgrade mechanism: Backup everything. Not only the database, but also the entire WordPress files. It should not be difficult.
After upgrading, I made some adjustments on the settings. For example, the Remote Publishing Settings, and let’s not forget about some other features. If you haven’t touch your wp-config.php files, there are some other settings managed from the configuration file like Post Revisions and some security definition settings. Anyway, WordPress 2.6 has full support of SSL in the core and it has the ability to force SSL for security. Read Ryan Boren‘s post about SSL and Cookies in WordPress 2.6.
So far, my favorites are the Gears for faster browsing experience and Press This. The “Press This” is really smart!

For example, if you click “Press This” from a Youtube page it’ll magically extract the video embed code, and if you do it from a Flickr page it’ll make it easy for you to put the image in your post.

If you like posting short entries in your blog while browsing, make your life easier by this feature. Just drag the link — you can find it on the entry creation page — to your browser toolbar. Want to try it? Download WordPress 2.6 now.

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How's your wp-config.php file?

WordPress relies on wp-config.php file to connect to database. Here, there are some basic settings about our WordPress installation like database-related information and language interface. When we upgrade our WordPress installation to new release, we can have our WordPress blog running without problem, even without touching wp-config.php file.
But, in some release, there are some new settings that should be — well, I’d rather say ‘recommended’ — added. For example, WordPress 2.5 introduced a new setting called SECRET_KEY. Read more about this new at Ryan Boren’s blog or WordPress Codex.
Do you have those setting in your wp-config.php? If not, it’s time to add it.
For the next release, there will be another new settings that can be added. So far, there will be WP_POST_REVISIONS. It’s related to Post Revisions feature that will be introduced in WordPress 2.6. Since I have taken the decision not to use that feature, I will turn this feature off for my coming upgrade. So, right now — I’m still using WordPress 2.5.1 — I added a setting to disable Post Revisions feature in my wp-config.php.
It’s always a good idea to have wp-config.php has the recommended settings, according to WordPress version we’re using. It’s never too late to fix your configuration file.