Have you taken on the admin role for an Ubuntu Server? You do need to configure it as a web server with one or more websites?

Check out http://www.adminbuntu.com. There you can find out how to:

• Configure a web server
• Back up your data
• Make your server more secure
• Monitor your server
• Manage users and groups
• Much more

I use separate, very long, randomly generated passwords for everything.

This short script does the job.

#!/bin/sh
# genpasswd [number of characters]
 
if [ -z "$1" ]; then
  echo "usage: genpasswd [number of characters]"
  exit 1
fi
 
tr -dc A-Za-z0-9_ < /dev/urandom | head -c $1 | xargs

If you have a script to automatically back up to Amazon S3 from your server, it is good to limit the age of stored backups.

This bash script allows you to use s3cmd to do just that. You specify the bucket to process and the age os files to retain.

Important: You must first install and configure s3cmd.

#!/bin/bash
 
usage (){
  echo " "
  echo Usage: s3-del-old "bucketname" "time"
  echo Example: s3-del-old \"mybucket\" \"30 days\"
  echo " "
  echo "Do not include a leading slash in bucketname."
  echo " "
}
 
# if incorrect # parameters, show usage
if [ $# -lt 2 ]; then
  usage
  exit 2
elif [ $# -gt 2 ]; then
  usage
  exit 2
fi
 
# don't allow leading slash in bucketname
firstchar=${1:0:1}
if [ $firstchar = "/" ]; then
  echo "ERROR: Do not start bucketname with a slash."
  usage
exit 2
fi
 
# don't allow "s3:" in beginning of filename
teststring=${1:0:3}
teststring=${teststring,,}
if [ $teststring = "s3:" ]; then
  echo "ERROR: Do not start bucketname with \"s3:\""
  usage
exit 2
fi
 
# transform first parameter into fully formed s3 bucket parameter with trailing slash star
target='s3://'${1%/}'/*'
 
s3cmd ls $target | while read -r line;
do
  create_date=`echo $line | awk '{print $1,$2}'`
  create_date_unixtime=`date -d"$create_date" +%s`
  older_than_unixtime=`date -d"-$2" +%s`
  if [[ $create_date_unixtime -lt $older_than_unixtime ]]
  then
    filename=`echo $line|awk '{print $4}'`
    if [[ $filename != "" ]]
    then
      echo deleting $filename $create_date
      s3cmd del $filename
    fi
  fi
done;

Do you have a server that you can access with OpenSSH? Do you want to be able to browse the web, even non-SSL, unencrypted pages, without others on the network being able to see what you’re looking at or even hijacking your sessions? Given the existence of Firesheep, it is really easy for even unsophisticated users to hijack a web browsing session.

The method I’m presenting is easy and effective. OpenSSH makes this a snap. Your web browsing packets will be routed via an encrypted connection to your server.

Create a SOCKS Proxy Connection on localhost

First, in a terminal, open a SOCKS connection to your server with OpenSSH. Just add “-D 9999″ to your normal SSH command. This will create a SOCKS proxy on localhost at port 9999.

ssh -D 9999 username@myserver.com

Depending on your configuration, you may need to enter your server account password. Whatever your normal authentication is for SSH. This will even open a normal SSH session, you will get a shell prompt on the server like normal. If you do not want a shell prompt, use “-ND” instead of “-D” and the

You now have a proxy on your local computer using SOCKS on port 9999. Now we just need to use it.

Install Switchy! in your Chrome browser

This can be easily found in the Chrome Web Store.

Use your Shiny New SOCKS Proxy

Open the Switchy! Options dialog. Type the a name for this proxy in Profile Name. On the SOCKS Host line, enter “localhost” in the first blank and “9999″ for the Port. Click the Save button. You are using a SOCKS proxy running on your localhost.

Then, select the proxy by clicking the Switchy! icon in Chrome and selecting the proxy name you just entered.

You are now using a secure connection to browse the web. Note that someone on the network where your server is hosted can still snoop your traffic, but not in the Starbucks where your are sitting.