Category Archives: open source
Backup and Restore using SpiderOak on Linux
Recently the SSD Operating System disk on my primary work desktop failed without warning and no manner of arcane xfsrepair or xfsdump/xfsrestore chicanery would bring it back. Luckily I had SpiderOak backups as my employer offers this as a service … Continue reading
Using Italics with Vim in your Terminal
I wanted all code, system configuration file comments or in-line replies in neomutt email italicised to stand out easier. Many terminal emulators (xterm, xfce4-terminal, iterm2) don’t support [3m and [23m designators for italics but you can use a custom terminfo … Continue reading
Using Offlineimap with the Gmail IMAP API
In a previous guide I documented my mutt + offlineimap + notmuch setup. If you’re using Gmail with IMAP enabled you can still utilize the superpower of this trio but you’ll need to do some things differently. I’ll show you … Continue reading
Distributed Remote Backups with Git and Etckeeper
Git is a powerful tool for lots of tasks, it makes a wonderful VCS that can drive easy utility and automation. Recently I used git and remote repositories to deploy code & data fanned out to multiple locations. Here are … Continue reading
Shell One-liners and Quick and Dirty Loops
Sometimes you just need to get stuff done quickly and there’s nary a replacement better than a quick shell one-liner. Recently I’ve needed to feed some large, multi-variable commands into an external program for processing. Here’s some simple shell one-liners … Continue reading
Let’s Encrypt Everything – Setting up the Free, Automated CA
Let’s Encrypt is a free, public SSL certificate authority (CA) you can use to generate and automate SSL certificate renewal. I co-manage Trystack.org, a free OpenStack sandbox for the general public and our Horizon SSL certificate came up for expiration … Continue reading
How to Use Self-signed SSL Certificates for Plex Media Server
Plex is a fork of the Open Source Kodi (previously XBMC) project from 2008, the Plex Media Server has evolved into what amounts to a free, personal Netflix + Spotify that lets you stream home content to devices or browsers … Continue reading
10 Must-have Firefox Addons for Privacy, Security and Utility
I have used every manner of web browser from lynx, Mosaic and Netscape builds to abusing curl commands and mostly prefer Firefox for the bulk of my daily desktop/laptop needs due to the strong plugin ecosystem. Below you’ll find my … Continue reading
Funcamp ET Legacy and Urban Terror Servers Upgraded
Recently two fun, actively developed Open Source FPS game projects have had major updates: Enemy Territory: Legacy and Urban Terror. Over the weekend I’ve upgraded the Funcamp ET:L (2.75) and UT (4.3.1) servers to the latest versions. Setup instructions and … Continue reading
Quick and Dirty SSH Key Management with Python
Sometimes I need to quickly copy SSH keys to remote systems in a pinch. I can do this with the Ansible authorized_key module but that’s not always available. I might be on a random system and Ansible or external internet … Continue reading
Fun and Automation with Git Hooks
Git is more than just an awesome, decentralized version control system (VCS) – it can also drive lots of useful automation by triggering actions to deploy infrastructure and services based on event and commit-based hooks. You can drive a lot … Continue reading
Automate Infrastructure Docs with Python, WordPress and Foreman
“It’s not done unless it’s documented,” says the wise Ops sage. Frequently updated documentation is critical, it’s also one of the most neglected parts of technology. Learn how we auto-generate server resource wiki data with Python, WordPress and Foreman.
Automate SuperMicro Server Provisioning or Die Trying
We use Foreman for systems provisioning and recently received a large shipment of Supermicro for Ceph. Out of the box they were a lot of trouble to get integrated/automated at the same level of our Dell gear but we managed, … Continue reading
