Featured Article

Presenting Bastille at SCaLE18x

I am excited to announce that I will be presenting “Bastille: Secure Container Automation” at SCaLE18x in Pasadena, CA. This presentation will demonstrate container automation on FreeBSD using Bastille. Bastille is an open-source system for automating deployment and management of containerized applications on FreeBSD. Bastille automates deployment and management of containers using a container technology… Read More »

DenyHosts Synchronization Mode

I recently deployed a new server to host this and my other websites. Because this is a public facing server, part of this deployment includes securing the network. To secure SSH I generally limit the users that are allowed to login to the system using AllowUsers directive, disallow root login using PermitRootLogin no and often change… Read More »

Configure Automatic Updates : Ubuntu Server

Configure Automatic Updates : Ubuntu Server Ubuntu Server allows you to activate automatic updates during the initial installation process. This setting configures your system to automatically download and install security updates. This system is configurable and this tutorial will outline how to enable it if you hadn’t previously, disable it if you no longer want… Read More »

Tunnel SSH over SSL

Tunnel SSH over SSL Have you ever found yourself behind a restrictive firewall that only allows outbound http(s) traffic, but you need to SSH out? Perhaps you’ve tried running SSH on port 443 (https) but those connections have been denied as well. In this post I’ll outline how to configure stunnel on an SSH server… Read More »

Win a Free Copy of Instant Ubuntu

By now you’ve probably heard about my new book, Instant Ubuntu. If you haven’t yet picked up a copy, you’ll be happy to hear that I’ve teamed up with Packt Publishing to organize a giveaway! Three lucky winners stand a chance to win a copy of the eBook. Keep reading to find out how you… Read More »

Find your Ubuntu kernel version

I’m often surprised at the obscure ways that people find my site through Google searches. Looking through my traffic statistics I find that one of the most popular methods used to find my blog is by searching for the term “ubuntu kernel version”. I would not have expected that to be a popular search term,… Read More »

Instant Ubuntu Now Available

I’m very happy to announce the availability of my new book, “Instant Ubuntu“! I spent most of the summer working on this and I’m very happy to finally see it published. This book is written for those brand-new to Ubuntu. The book includes step-by-step installation instructions, a tour of the Unity desktop and an outline… Read More »

Announcing: Into The Salt Mine

I’ve started a new blog that I’d like to announce called Into the Salt Mine. This blog will focus solely on using the suite of free software applications developed by Salt Stack. This includes configuration management, remote execution, cloud provisioning and more. The goal is to provide regular tips and updates on managing systems using Salt and… Read More »

Install Salt Stack on Ubuntu LTS

As a system administrator I’m always on the lookout for new systems and tools to make my life easier. As the saying goes, “a good admin is a lazy admin.” Any day I can find a new tool to improve the efficiency in which I’m able to manage my machines is a good day. To… Read More »