Navigation



Server Migration – Moved To Linode! And Changed To Nginx/PHP-FPM/APC/W3TC

Last updated: April 5, 2012 | 1,133 views

Outsmart Malicious Hackers


So lately I’ve being doing a lot more DevOps stuff than security stuff and I’m pretty much enjoying it (apart from some of the tedious sys-admin stuff).

So with some of the new stuff I’ve learnt along the way, I decided to move Darknet from a rather bloated managed VPS with 2GB of RAM and Cpanel + a bunch of other crap to a very lean 512MB unmanaged VPS instance on Linode. This has no control panel, no DNS server (using Linode DNS now), no mail server (switched over to Google Apps) and a very minimal software setup.

Linode VPS

I also shifted from Apache2 to nginx + PHP-FPM which is a lot more memory friendly, and PHP-FPM has very intelligent self-healing and auto-scaling features.

And I’ve managed to get W3 Total Cache working nicely with the site, so basically all pages are served as static HTML, js + css are minified and DB + WP objects are cached in APC.

The most memory I’ve used so far is a little over 100MB, and the most CPU I’ve used is 32% out of an available 400% (4 cores) – pretty good for a reasonably busy site like this.

Anyway if you find the site faster or slower now, let me know – and if you see any weird stuff/errors/missing pages – please let me know (either in a comment here or via the Contact Page).

And yah, if you do want to sign up with Linode, please use the links on this page – if you stay a customer for 3 months I’ll get $20 credit which will go towards the hosting costs of this site :)

Share3
+14
Share5
Shares 31
Posted in: Site News

,


Latest Posts:


snallygaster - Scan For Secret Files On HTTP Servers snallygaster – Scan For Secret Files On HTTP Servers
snallygaster is a Python-based tool that can help you to scan for secret files on HTTP servers, files that are accessible that shouldn't be public and can pose a s
April 17, 2018 - 165 Shares
Portspoof - Spoof All Ports Open & Emulate Valid Services Portspoof – Spoof All Ports Open & Emulate Valid Services
The primary goal of the Portspoof program is to enhance your system security through a set of new camouflage techniques which spoof all ports open and also emulate valid services on every port.
April 7, 2018 - 205 Shares
Cambridge Analytica Facebook Data Scandal Cambridge Analytica Facebook Data Scandal
One of the biggest stories of the year so far has been the scandal surrounding Cambridge Analytica that came out after a Channel 4 expose that demonstrated the depths they are willing to go to profile voters, manipulate elections and much more.
March 25, 2018 - 116 Shares
GetAltName - Discover Sub-Domains From SSL Certificates GetAltName – Discover Sub-Domains From SSL Certificates
GetAltName it's a little script to discover sub-domains that can extract Subject Alt Names for SSL Certificates directly from HTTPS websites which can provide you with DNS names or virtual servers.
March 19, 2018 - 261 Shares
Memcrashed - Memcached DDoS Exploit Tool Memcrashed – Memcached DDoS Exploit Tool
Memcrashed is a Memcached DDoS exploit tool written in Python that allows you to send forged UDP packets to a list of Memcached servers obtained from Shodan.
March 13, 2018 - 211 Shares
QualysGuard - Vulnerability Management Tool QualysGuard – Vulnerability Management Tool
QualysGuard is a web-based vulnerability management tool provided by Qualys, Inc, which was the first company to deliver vulnerability management services as a SaaS-based web-service.
March 11, 2018 - 122 Shares


5 Responses to Server Migration – Moved To Linode! And Changed To Nginx/PHP-FPM/APC/W3TC

  1. geeknik April 5, 2012 at 6:23 pm #

    Linode is awesome! Been with them for almost a year, zero downtime, no complaints. Good choice! =)

  2. Spoonfed April 6, 2012 at 10:00 am #

    Can you detail maybe a bit more on how you set this thing up? This sounds like a dream to be running such a setup.

    • Darknet April 6, 2012 at 4:40 pm #

      If you have any specific questions let me know, I’ll be happy to answer :)

  3. infodox April 6, 2012 at 12:02 pm #

    Wow, never had checked out Linode before but it does look pretty amazing! Cheap too! Will be using your referral link obviously, gotta support other webmasters/security people :)

    BTW, as Spoonfed asked – care to explain the config you used? Provide some setup advice?

    • Darknet April 6, 2012 at 4:41 pm #

      Mostly just read/researched (stackoverflow, nginx documentation). nginx just installed from stock Ubuntu 10.04 repo, php-fpm from a backport. APC latest version using PECL, w3 total cache using minify to disk, object & db cache with APC and advanced disk page caching.

      Just do it, that’s my only advice – you’ll learn a lot along the way :)