Author Archives: Jethro Carr

Easy IKEv2 VPN for mobile devices (inc iOS)

I recently obtained an iPhone and needed to connect it to my VPN. However my existing VPN server was an OpenVPN installation which works lovely on traditional desktop operating systems and Android, but the iOS client is a bit more … Continue reading

Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Ubiquiti UniFi video lack of SSL/TLS validation

Posting this here since I’ve filed a disclosure with Ubiquiti on Feb 28th 2016 and had no acknowledgment other than to be patient. But two months of not even looking at what is quite a serious issue isn’t acceptable to … Continue reading

Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Upcycling 32-bit Mac Minis

The first generation Intel Apple Mac Mini (Macmini1,1) has a special place as the best bang-for-buck system that I’ve ever purchased. Purchased for around $1k NZD in 2006, it did a stint as a much more sleep-friendly server back after … Continue reading

Tagged , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Node.js deployments at Fairfax with Code Deploy, Codeship and 12factor

This week I presented at the Node.js Wellington meetup around the tooling we have setup at Fairfax for running micro services for Node.js apps. Essentially we have a workflow that uses Codeship for CI/CD and AWS Code Deploy for deployment. Our apps … Continue reading

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

AWS Cost Control at Fairfax

Earlier this month I was invited to speak at the AWS Wellington User Group around how we’ve been handling cost control at Fairfax including our use of spot pricing. I’ve now processed the video and got a recording up online for … Continue reading

Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How much swap should I use on my VM?

Lately a couple people have asked me about how much swap space is “right” for their servers – especially in the context of running low spec machines like AWS t2.nano/t2.micro or Digital Ocean boxes with low allocations like 1GB or 512MB … Continue reading

Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

/tmp mounted as tmpfs on CentOS

After a recent reboot of my CentOS servers, I’ve inherited an issue where the server comes up running with /tmp mounted using tmpfs. tmpfs is a memory-based volatile filesystem and has some uses for people, but others like myself may … Continue reading

Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

No linux.conf.au this year

So 2016 marks 10 years since my first very linux.conf.au in 2006. That’s so long ago it even predates the start of this blog! Sadly I’m not heading to LCA 2016 in Geelong this year. A number of reasons for this, but … Continue reading

Tagged | 3 Comments

Secure Hiera data with Masterless Puppet

One of the biggest limitations with masterless Puppet is keeping Hiera data secure. Hiera is a great way for separating site-specific information (like credentials) from your Puppet modules without making a huge mess of your sites.pp. On a traditional Puppet master environment, this … Continue reading

Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

HowAlarming

The previous owners of our house had left us with a reasonably comprehensive alarm system wired throughout the house, however like many alarm systems currently in homes, it required an analogue phone line to be able to call back to … Continue reading

Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments