Online directory listings are useful for keeping an online storage bin of files that are easily accessible from any web browser. All you have to do is transfer the files to a specified folder on the web server (via FTP, SSH, or Webmin), and then browse to that folder from an internet browser. This can be used to transfer files online as opposed to a flash drive or for sharing files that might be too big to email. You can also setup protected directories which require a username and password to access. Read more…
A secure site encrypts all data passed between the user and the server. This is not only useful for sensitive activities like online banking but also just about anywhere a password is used. For example, I set up secure access to this site so that I can login to my blog administration pages from anywhere without worrying about my password being sniffed in transit. Each secure site requires the purchase of an SSL certificate, but fortunately SSL certificates for personal use are pretty cheap. Also, the Webmin GUI makes setup easy as opposed to dealing with the console and config files as I have posted about before.
Read more…
With two months of iPhone usage under my belt, I finally joined the jailbreak club. Yes, software 2.0 has plenty of awesome apps but the temptation of tethering, copy/paste, and video recording wouldn’t let me pass it up.
Read more…
So I’ve taken a small break break from posting about the web server to post a few goodies concerning iPhone hacks. The other day, I jailbroke my iPhone with the primary motivation of tethering the 3G connection to my EEE PC running Ubuntu 8.10. Currently, there is no tethering plan available from AT&T, however tethering via this hack is a violation of your usage agreement. I have posted about a similar process with Verizon, but that hack has recently been disabled.
Read more…
Once you have your home server up and running with Webmin you will likely realize that your personal use will only utilize about 1% of its capacity. This tutorial will show you how to setup multiple users and websites on your server. I will go over the process of adding one user and one website, and you can simply repeat for as many as you like. Read more…
Its been about six months since my last post. However I have say, I have been getting well over 100 views per day since I have been gone. Now, I miss blogging and I’ve decided to pick back up where I left off with minor changes in style. Starting with this tutorial, I will try and make things less complicated, specifically with less command line and more easy to understand GUI (graphical) driven procedures. This tutorial will show you how to setup a headless home server using Ubuntu Server Edition 8.10 Intrepid Ibex using the popular graphical administration interface, Webmin.
Read more…
I recently received a comment on one of my Ubuntu tutorials about installing some perl modules. I didn’t want to mess with my stable server configuration, so I decided to install another instance of Ubuntu Server in a copy of Virtual PC 2007 that I received through DreamSpark. The process was not as seamless as I had hoped. I kept getting the following error:
An unrecoverable processor error has been encountered.
The virtual machine will reset now.
Reset
I managed to get it up and running perfectly with a little help from fellow bloggers. Here’s how:
Read more…
Today I helped a friend, who has a blog on my server, login to his his wordpress dashboard. He forgot his password and the forgot password link wouldn’t work because the server does not have a SMTP server for it to use. I managed to reset the password by modifying the password field in his database with a new MD5 hash.
Read more…
About three weeks ago, I posted about my adsense campaign and how I was going to make tons of money to help pay for the web server that hosts this blog. About a week later, I got together with a few friends who also host blogs on my server and we discided to coorporately host ads and do our best to boost traffic and subsequent ad clicks. Adsense has been working better than I could have possibly imagined.
Since June 17th, we have had over 20,000 ad impressions, and about 250 clicks, totaling to $82.53! That’s in less than one months time. Our traffic has multiplied (some exponentially) through referrals from Digg, stumbleupon, and even mainstream blogs. Things are looking good, maybe even good enough for some fun. Here’s my recient stats, averaging from 70 hits/day to over 200 since I started this campaign.
When I started this blog, I told myself that I could average 100 hits per day, I would host ads on my page to help pay myself back for the web server. Well, its been almost 10 months, and I average right about 70 hits per day, with the occasional spike from a sharing site like stumbleupon. The other day I got bored, and decided to give adsense a shot. Adsense is ad distribution by google. You sign up for an account, create a virtual ad, and put it on your page. The ad is contextual, displaying advertisements relative to the visitors search query or the content of that particular page (or in this case, blog post). If no relative ads are available, the ad space is consumed by a neutral PSA from google. How much money you actually earn is based on a factor of how many clicks your ads receive, and how much advertisers are willing to bid to be represented on your particular site. I’ve been hosting ads for just a few days, and have earned about $3.00, Theoretically that rate should increase as I serve more ads. When you reach a $100.00 account balance, google mails you a check, simple as that.
Read more…