[axxs-sysadmin] behold, we have BORG!

[Cameron Gregg]

Hi all,

for those who haven't heard, our new server is in. We have called it 
borg.axxs.org

Currently we are still installing packages to make it functional.

here is a log from IRC of what I did tonight. I would like feedback 
about the mysql settings, if someone sees a way to improve...and 
anything else i did of course.

thanks
Cam

<Kameron> ok, lets have a look at borg...
<Kameron> kernel upgrade is out
<Kameron> installing...
<Kameron> rebooting...
<Kameron> ok, back in
<Kameron> yay! :)
<Kameron> now, mysql
<Kameron> hmm
<Kameron> ? The way passwords were stored was not very secure. This has 
been improved with the drawback that clients   ?
<Kameron>   ? (e.g. PHP) from hosts running Debian 3.1 Sarge will not be 
able to connect to account which are new or     ?
<Kameron>   ? whose password have been changed. See 
/usr/share/doc/mysql-server-5.0/README.Debian.                       ?
<Kameron>   ? 
                                                  ?
<Kameron>   ? Support MySQL connections from hosts running Debian 
"sarge" or older?
<Kameron> i chose no
<Kameron> more secure :)
<Kameron> hmm, query cache...
<Kameron> # * Query Cache Configuration
<Kameron> #
<Kameron> query_cache_limit       = 1M
<Kameron> query_cache_size        = 16M
<Kameron> that needs enlarging...
<Kameron> now 8M and 128M
<aketus> good good
<Kameron> it could probably be more
<Kameron> but ill mail the list for feedback
<Kameron> also
<Kameron> i dont know what these are, so havent touched them
<Kameron> # * Fine Tuning
<Kameron> #
<Kameron> key_buffer              = 16M
<Kameron> max_allowed_packet      = 16M
<Kameron> thread_stack            = 128K
<Kameron> thread_cache_size       = 8
<Kameron> #max_connections        = 100
<Kameron> #table_cache            = 64
<Kameron> #thread_concurrency     = 10
<Kameron> i assume the commented out ones are default
<aketus> cool
<aketus> P.S max_connections is something we could probably increase 
given the bigger load this new server should be able to take
<aketus> most of the mysql dropouts on axxs were due to spambots maxing 
out the connections even though i think it had been increased
<aketus> nevertheless, we'll see. interesting it's commented out (i just 
caught on to that)
<Kameron> ok. apache/php
<Kameron> ooo, apache2 is now using 2.2
<aketus> nice
<Kameron> http://borg.axxs.org/   yay
<Kameron> heheh
<aketus> w00t!
<Kameron> now, php5
<Kameron> ill install php-gd as well
<aketus> yep, cool
<aketus> i think it's called php5-gd
<Kameron> yep
<Kameron> installed
<Kameron> also did  cam at borg:~$ sudo /usr/sbin/a2enmod rewrite
<Kameron> so mod_rewrite is installed.
<Kameron> should all thats needed for drupal
<aketus> cool
<Kameron> oh, and also ttf-bitstream-vera for captcha true type fonts
<aketus> good one
Kameron> ok, installed nmap
<Kameron> cam at borg:~$ sudo nmap borg.axxs.org
<Kameron> Starting Nmap 4.11 ( http://www.insecure.org/nmap/ ) at 
2007-05-04 12:28 UTC
<Kameron> Interesting ports on borg.axxs.org (66.135.32.15):
<Kameron> Not shown: 1677 closed ports
<Kameron> PORT    STATE SERVICE
<Kameron> 22/tcp  open  ssh
<Kameron> 80/tcp  open  http
<Kameron> 225/tcp open  unknown
<Kameron> Nmap finished: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 0.183 seconds
<Kameron> cam at borg:~$
<Kameron> is that 225 port webmin?
<Kameron> on borg its 23901
<Kameron> oh
<Kameron> cam at borg:~$ telnet borg.axxs.org 225
<Kameron> Trying 66.135.32.15...
<Kameron> Connected to borg.axxs.org.
<Kameron> Escape character is '^]'.
<Kameron> SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_4.3p2 Debian-9
<Kameron> i thought it ran on 22
<Kameron> weird
<aketus> http://forums.serverbeach.com/showthread.php?threadid=1820
<aketus> http://forums.serverbeach.com/archive/index.php/t-3162.html
<aketus> yeah not sure, it may be a serverbeach thing
<aketus> sbadm - dunno what that is
<Kameron> ah yes, for serverbeach admin
<Kameron> seems pretty secure the way they set it up
<aketus> ah
<aketus> yeah
<Kameron> ok, heres an nnap for localhost and borg
<Kameron> cam at borg:~$ sudo nmap localhost
<Kameron> Starting Nmap 4.11 ( http://www.insecure.org/nmap/ ) at 
2007-05-04 12:35 UTC
<Kameron> Interesting ports on localhost (127.0.0.1):
<Kameron> Not shown: 1675 closed ports
<Kameron> PORT     STATE SERVICE
<Kameron> 22/tcp   open  ssh
<Kameron> 25/tcp   open  smtp
<Kameron> 80/tcp   open  http
<Kameron> 225/tcp  open  unknown
<Kameron> 3306/tcp open  mysql
<Kameron> Nmap finished: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 0.143 seconds
<Kameron> cam at borg:~$ sudo nmap borg.axxs.org
<Kameron> Starting Nmap 4.11 ( http://www.insecure.org/nmap/ ) at 
2007-05-04 12:35 UTC
<Kameron> Interesting ports on borg.axxs.org (66.135.32.15):
<Kameron> Not shown: 1677 closed ports
<Kameron> PORT    STATE SERVICE
<Kameron> 22/tcp  open  ssh
<Kameron> 80/tcp  open  http
<Kameron> 225/tcp open  unknown
<Kameron> Nmap finished: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 0.141 seconds
<Kameron> cam at borg:~$
<Kameron> looks pretty safe