Digitalocean upgraded their Droplets hosting Offering

Good news for those looking for VPS hosting solution. Digitalocean has upgraded their droplet offering by increasing the diskpace and RAM at the same price point.

Here are the new Droplets package from Digitalocean:

The most interesting plan is Flexible droplets where you can resize the droplets at any time choosing between with RAM or vCPU at the same price point.

Benefit for existing customer:

Existing customer can enjoy the new price point by clicking “Resize” option to get the new offering from Digitalocean

Benefit for new customers:

New customer will enjoy USD10 giveaway when signing up with Digitalocean. Remember that Digitalocean charges by hour, so you can test drive their VPS in a few days and can decide whether you want to continue or not with their service without any penalty

Tips for Securing SSH in Linux Box (Securing SSH Series)

Secured Shell or SSH is a great way to enable a secure login for your UNIX / Linux Box. However there are precaution that you should take in order to properly secure SSH daemon from being scanned or attacked by script kiddies or automated bots.

This week I’m going to write a series of article on securing SSH on Ubuntu Linux Box (VPS) and I’m going to link to this post from time to time.

  1. Disable Root login, enable SSH login for a handful of users only
  2. Install and configure Fail2Ban
  3. Limit access with Firewall Rules (limit by ip block, or ip address)
  4. Limit connection rate to SSH port
  5. Disable keyboard interactive login, Use public-key login
  6. Security Security through obscurity: Hiding SSH version
  7. Security Security through obscurity: Change default SSH ports

Hope this will help in securing your Linux Box / Linux VPS

Moved to Singapore!

The server finally has a new home! I finally had the time to look back into this aging blog and decided to moved it to a new datacenter in Singapore!

The new blog also features SSL-only connection which added a layer of privacy between the blog and your browsers.

You can expect more updates from now on!

lowendbox.com: A place to look for cheap-ish VPS and Dedicated Server – Less than USD7 / month!

lowendbox.com is a website that lists bare minimum VPS or Dedicated Server offerings with the lowest price.

For VPS, the category is divided by the virtualization technology and the operating system, as well as the geographical location of the data centers.

low end box VPS

Additionally lowendbox.com provides discussion forum for optimizing web server and databases for the bare minimum servers!

5 things that I look for when getting PHP / MySQL Web Hosting

1. SSH Access
Ftp access is not enough anymore as it is insecure (password is being transfered in plaintext). Besides, SSH access enables me to download updates and patch and updates directly inside the web server instead of having to upload it bit-by-bit from FTP server. Normally, some web hosting provider refuses to give SSH access out fear that their security would be compromised, well those providers aren’t for me.

2. PHP / MySQL release
Alot of webserver claimed to have the *latest* release of PHP and MySQL running on their webserver but is it true? Not all latest software are good/great, I will always ensure that the one offered by the web hosting is the most suitable for my application need.

3. Customizable DNS Record (NS)
A feature noticeably lacking in CPanel (I hate CPanel, with a passion). A customizable DNS record allows you to freely change your domain A, MX and CNAME record to point somewhere else. Sometime the domain registrar (ENOM comes in mind) lets you customize your own DNS Record without web hosting providers help. The ability to change DNS Record is important because it lets you host part of your web application somewhere else like by using Google Apps, etc.

4. Shared Hosting or Virtual Private Server (VPS)
Shared Hosting is probably the best choice if you are just starting to learn on how to host your own php/mysql application. Things to look in Shared Webhosting is whether you are within a ‘bad neighborhood’… meaning that whether my website has to share the same server/ip address with notorious spammers as this will affect website reputation. Plus, bad neighborhood is also the main cause for frequent downtime and website slow downs.

VPS is probably a better choice, but it requires some administrative skills from the site operator (read: you!) side. Things to look for in VPS hosting option is the total RAM and processor slice. If you are hosting a busy website with more than 5000++ unique visitors per day, then do not take a VPS with less than 512MB RAM, because you may find that it won’t cut it. Busy websites require higher RAM, it would also help if you use lighttpd or nginx webserver instead of the resource-hungry Apache. One more thing, when surveying for VPS provider, I will almost certainly look for the one that allows on-the-fly resource resizing or at least offer the option of letting users to re-size resources by themselves.

5. Mod Security Filters
This is in case of shared hosting — Mod security in Apache enhances the security of Apache-hosting websites. Although this feature is rarely advertised on the web hosting providers’ site, It is actually one of the most important feature to have, especially if you are going to host high-risk web application. I would prefer one that allow customization in ‘.htaccess’ file.

That’s it, the FIVE (5) things that I always look for when surverying for web hosting provider. Some of you might notice that I didn’t mention SLA (eg: 100% uptime guarantee or money back guarantee, etc). Well, to me SLA as promised by most Web Hosting provider aren’t even remotely realistic as it is not predictable, and most of the Web Hosting provider (including one that offers VPS) grossly oversell their service, so as a result, most of them fail to meet their own SLA. Don’t get me wrong, I rather host with a provider which have great track record with efficient service.