10 Open Source Web-Based Project Management

Project management software is not just for managing software based project. It can be used for variety of other tasks too. The web-based software must provide tools for planning, organizing and managing resources to achieve project goals and objectives. A web-based project management software can be accessed through an intranet or WAN / LAN using a web browser. You don't have to install any other software on the system. The software can be easy of use with access control features (multi-user). I use project management software for all of our projects (for e.g. building a new cluster farm) for issue / bug-tracking, calender, gantt charts, email notification and much more.

10 UNIX Command Line Mistakes

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new. -- Albert Einstein.
Here are a few mistakes that I made while working at UNIX prompt. Some mistakes caused me a good amount of downtime. Most of these mistakes are from my early days as a UNIX admin.

20 tutorial:Sure Unix / Linux Configuration Files From Syntax Errors

In Linux and UNIX in general, services are configured using various text files,in the /etc/ directory trees. A typical server system could have dozens of configuration files. It is important that you check the validity of the configuration file. In some cases it is possible to to check the sanity of the special data (such as keys) or directories (such as /var/lib/cache/). Text files are easier to manage remotely. You can use ssh and a text editor. If there is an error in configuration, server may not start. This may result into a disaster. In this article I will explains howto find out a syntax error for popular servers and test configuration file for syntax errors.

Top 20 Nginx WebServer Best Security

Nginx is a lightweight, high performance web server/reverse proxy and e-mail (IMAP/POP3) proxy. It runs on UNIX, GNU/Linux, BSD variants, Mac OS X, Solaris, and Microsoft Windows. According to Netcraft, 6% of all domains on the Internet use nginx webserver. Nginx is one of a handful of servers written to address the C10K problem. Unlike traditional servers, Nginx doesn't rely on threads to handle requests. Instead it uses a much more scalable event-driven (asynchronous) architecture. Nginx powers several high traffic web sites, such as WordPress, Hulu, Github, and SourceForge. This page collects hints how to improve the security of nginx web servers running on Linux or UNIX like operating systems.

Linux: 20 Iptables Examples

Linux comes with a host based firewall called Netfilter. According to the official project site:

netfilter is a set of hooks inside the Linux kernel that allows kernel modules to register callback functions with the network stack. A registered callback function is then called back for every packet that traverses the respective hook within the network stack.

This Linux based firewall is controlled by the program called iptables to handles filtering for IPv4, and ip6tables handles filtering for IPv6. I strongly recommend that you first read our quick tutorial that explains how to configure a host-based firewall called Netfilter (iptables) under CentOS / RHEL / Fedora / Redhat Enterprise Linux. This post list most common iptables solutions required by a new Linux user to secure his or her Linux operating system from intruders.

20 Linux Server Hardening Security Tips

#1: Encrypt Data Communication

All data transmitted over a network is open to monitoring. Encrypt transmitted data whenever possible with password or using keys / certificates.

1. Use scp, ssh, rsync, or sftp for file transfer. You can also mount remote server file system or your own home directory using special sshfs and fuse tools.
2. GnuPG allows to encrypt and sign your data and communication, features a versatile key managment system as well as access modules for all kind of public key directories.
3. Fugu is a graphical frontend to the commandline Secure File Transfer application (SFTP). SFTP is similar to FTP, but unlike FTP, the entire session is encrypted, meaning no passwords are sent in cleartext form, and is thus much less vulnerable to third-party interception. Another option is FileZilla - a cross-platform client that supports FTP, FTP over SSL/TLS (FTPS), and SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP).
4. OpenVPN is a cost-effective, lightweight SSL VPN.
5. Lighttpd SSL (Secure Server Layer) Https Configuration And Installation
6. Apache SSL (Secure Server Layer) Https (mod_ssl) Configuration And Installation

Tutorial Linux: 25 PHP Security Best Practices For System Administrator

PHP is an open-source server-side scripting language and it is a widely used. The Apache web server provides access to files and content via the HTTP OR HTTPS protocol. A misconfigured server-side scripting language can create all sorts of problems. So, PHP should be used with caution. Here are twenty-five php security best practices for sysadmins for configuring PHP securely.

Tutorial 30 Handy Bash Shell Aliases For Linux - Unix - Mac OS

An alias is nothing but shortcut to commands. The alias command allows user to launch any command or group of commands (including options and filenames) by entering a single word. Use alias command to display list of all defined aliases. You can add user defined aliases to ~/.bashrc file. You can cut down typing time with these aliases, work smartly, and increase productivity at the command prompt.

Configure and Install With IPv6 Networking Support on Nginx

Compile Nginx With IPv6 Support

You need to pass the --with-ipv6 option to configure command. Type the following command to compile it, enter:
# cd /path/to/nginx-src-code/
# ./configure --without-http_autoindex_module --without-http_userid_module \
--without-http_auth_basic_module --without-http_geo_module \
--without-http_fastcgi_module --without-http_empty_gif_module \

Block And Deny IP Address OR Network Subnets on Nginx

Nginx comes with a simple module called ngx_http_access_module to allow or deny access to IP address. The syntax is as follows:

deny IP;
deny subnet;
allow IP;
allow subnet;
# block all ips
deny    all;
# allow all ips
allow    all;

Note rules are checked in the order of their record to the first match.