Secure Infrastructure

Every cool app or website needs a strong foundation to run on. This is the part nobody sees, but it's what keeps everything safe, fast, and online, even when things get busy or go wrong.

This foundation can live in the "cloud," which is like renting space on a super-computer, or it can be a powerful physical system you build yourself for massive amounts of data. I have experience with both, helping projects move to the cloud or building large, professional storage systems from scratch.

Migrating to the Cloud

Migrating to the Cloud

Clearing an on-premise server room

For a Dutch organisation that serves customers throughout Europe, I was asked to help dismantle a live server room. Instead of simply pulling the plugs, some of the services had to be migrated to the cloud. For fun and inspiration I share three different strategies to do so.

Building a professional 72TB NAS

Building a professional 72TB NAS

Configuration and installation of an HPE ProLiant DL380 server

Over the past few years I have been moving my data and work from local computers (mostly laptops) into the cloud. Cloud computing is done by servers in a datacenter, powerful computers that do the hard work. As my company grew, I needed more capacity. It was time to add some power to my cloud!

Just like a house needs strong locks, this digital foundation needs to be protected from hackers and other threats. A huge part of my job is making sure all the digital doors are locked and secure, from the main servers to the complex systems that handle your email.

Protecting VMware ESXi

Protecting VMware ESXi

Improve security using a firewall and proxy server

In response to an incident on a server, I detected a possible security breach. The affected machine ran VMware ESXi, a bare metal hypervisor used to run virtual private servers. In standalone mode, a web based management console offers full control over the infrastructure, posing a risk.

Fighting backscatter spam at server level

Fighting backscatter spam at server level

Configure Postfix to block spam before it enters the server

This month I had to deal with backscatter spam, affecting one of the mail servers I manage. As server engineer I make sure that servers don't send spam and that incoming email gets filtered. Despite all good efforts, this server kept being blacklisted for sending spam to iCloud, Office 365 and Google Gmail for Business (G Suite). Read along to find out how what caused this and how to fix this.

Even the best systems can have problems. That's why it's crucial to watch them constantly, so you know instantly if something is wrong, often even before the users do. And for those "just in case" moments, having a smart backup plan is essential to get everything back online quickly.

Backup Rotation Scheme

Backup Rotation Scheme

Rotate your backups with 'rsync-backup-rotator'

In today's digital age, safeguarding your data is paramount. Simply creating a copy of your files may not be enough as they can get corrupted, overwritten or blocked by ransomware. Having multiple, time-rotated (and ideally, offsite) backups is a stronger defense. I created a new tool, rsync-backup-rotator, to help you with this.

Realtime service uptime monitoring

Realtime service uptime monitoring

Discover problems before your customers do

Downtime happens and it is nothing to be ashamed of, just make sure that you set yourself up to discover problems as soon as possible! You can use realtime uptime monitoring to automatically keep an eye on your servers and services. Read along to find out how.

Keeping things running smoothly means knowing the deep, technical details. It's about mastering the tools to make perfect copies of your data and understanding how to manage complex updates to critical software without causing problems for your users.

Breaking Changes

Breaking Changes

Upgrading Dovecot 2.3 to 2.4 in Debian Stable

Last week I ran into unexpected trouble during a routine maintenance procedure on my company's email infrastructure. Processing thousands of emails each day, we use Dovecot to give our clients access to their messages. That all came to a grinding halt when I updated to version 2.4 which features breaking changes... oh dear!

How to use rsync to make backups

How to use rsync to make backups

Explaining a powerful file transfer tool

It is very important to make backups of your data, as you never know when disaster strikes! One powerful, cross platform, tool to help you achieve this is 'rsync'. In this post I'll explain why rsync is useful and how you can use it to set up your own backups.

Worried about your website's foundation? Or need to make sure your systems are strong and secure? Let's talk about building something you can rely on.

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