I didnt realize until only recently that everything you type into you terminal window gets logged. So if you ever want to recall your previous bash scripts open your terminal and simply type

history

Which will return the log dump of your bash history, every command you have ever typed. Great if you cant remember exactly which vnc server you installed last year to get a headless server running flex unit or whatever may have slipped your mind. Test

First thing your going to want to do on a fresh install is update your repository sources list otherwise your box is pretty much useless.

Update Sources List

sudo apt-get update

Now your repository is updated and ready for installs

Install LAMP

sudo apt-get install apache2
sudo apt-get install php5
sudo apt-get install libapache2-mod-php5
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart
sudo apt-get install mysql-server

If / when prompted set your mysql root password. Next edit bind-address in /etc/mysql/my.cnf and replacing its value (127.0.0.1) by your IP address

sudo nano /etc/mysql/my.cnf

Install phpMyAdmin

sudo apt-get install libapache2-mod-auth-mysql php5-mysql phpmyadmin

Now edit the apache2 configuration file to include phpMyAdmin

sudo nano /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

At the end of the file add the following two lines

# Include phpmyadmin configuration
Include /etc/phpmyadmin/apache.conf

For good measure restart apache

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Now lets get phpMyAdmin to work with php5

sudo apt-get install php5-mysql mysql-client

You’r going to need to add the following line to the php.ini file “extensions=mysql.so”

sudo nano /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Now that your done, make sure you chmod your web directory

sudo chmod 0777 /var/www -R

original sources
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/ubuntu/installing-php5-and-apache-on-ubuntu/
http://joeabiraad.com/linuxunix/installing-lamp-on-ubuntu-710-linuxapachemysqlphp/100
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ApacheMySQLPHP

The Setup

Install some base packages

# yum install rpm-build gcc-java

Add jpackage repository to your yum repos

# cd /etc/yum.repos.d/
# wget https://jpackage.org/jpackage.repo
# vi /etc/yum.repos.d/jpackage.repo

set enabled = 1 on all repo files and save the .repo file. Next update yum.

# yum update

Download and install some SRPMs.

# cd /usr/local/src
# wget ftp://jpackage.hmdc.harvard.edu/mirrors/JPackage/1.7/generic/non-free/SRPMS/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.11-1jpp.nosrc.rpm
# wget ftp://jpackage.hmdc.harvard.edu/mirrors/JPackage/1.6/generic/non-free/SRPMS/jta-1.0.1-0.b.4jpp.nosrc.rpm

Download some required files to /usr/src/redhat/SOURCES:

# cd /usr/src/redhat/SOURCES

Download jta-1_0_1B-classes.zip here after agreeing to the license.
Download jdk-1_5_0_11-linux-i586.bin, again after agreeing to a license.
Build and install the rpms.

# rpmbuild --rebuild /usr/local/src/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.11-1jpp.nosrc.rpm
# rpm -ivh /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i586/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0-11-1jpp.i586.rpm
# rpm -ivh /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i586/java-1.5.0-sun-devel-1.5.0.11-1jpp.i586.rpm
# rpmbuild --rebuild --without javadoc /usr/local/src/jta-1.0.1-0.b.4jpp.nosrc.rpm
# rpm -ivh /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/noarch/jta-1.0.1-0.b.4jpp.noarch.rpm

Now install tomcat

# yum install tomcat5 tomcat5-webapps tomcat5-admin-webapps

note: if you get a dependency error at this point, like I did at first, try this solution for updating your jpackage-utils http://blog.sixsigns.com/2008/07/11/java-142-gcj-compati386-update-problem-on-centos/ which basically is to install the http://dev.centos.org/centos/5/testing/i386/RPMS/jpackage-utils-1.7.5-1jpp.1.el5.centos.noarch.rpm package and update yum

At this point you should be able to navigate to your ip on port 8080 and see the default tomcat page

With that said, I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention that fact that, while I have some issue with plesk and its somewhat cookie cutter approach to web administration, it still is a great web administration tool for the most part.

My goal is basically to get a bare server up and running and administer-able without using Plesk or CPanel. The more I play around with this setup the more I will update the server section of this site with new configurations and additions as I learn them.

Setting up a fresh CentOS server

1. Get a dedicated server from someone, I used aplus.net
2. Choose a basic installation, this means no plesk, cpanel etc… (keep in mind, eventually we will setup Webmin)
3. Start setting up your new box

The setup
shell into you server

# ssh root@111.111.11.111

Install LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL PHP) installed.
You will do this using yum. Yum is an rpm wrapper that will allow you to install various services and applications with a lot more ease.

# yum -y install httpd
# yum -y install php
# yum -y install mysql
# yum -y install mysql-server
# yum -y install php-mysql

note: the -y switch forces “yes” when prompted, so you don’t have to

Next configure the services you just installed to start automatically when the server restarts

# /sbin/chkconfig httpd on
# /sbin/chkconfig --add mysqld
# /sbin/chkconfig mysqld on
# /sbin/service httpd start
# /sbin/service mysqld start

At this point, you now have mysql installed, but you will want to set up the mysql database root password. Without a password, any user on the box can login to mysql as database root. The mysql root account is a separate password from the machine root account.

# mysqladmin -u root password 'new-password'

At this point, some of you may be able to navigate to your public ip address and see the default CentOS page, I was not able to see this. Basically at this point, what I had was LAMP installed on my shiny new server but no one would ever know because port 80 was blocked.

Enter iptables...
Iptables is your firewall, its baked into CentOS, and its extremely powerful. I don’t know the complete depth of iptables but for this tutorial you’ll need to just get a few ports opened up and that’s it.

# iptables -F
# iptables -A INPUT -p udp -m udp --dport domain -j ACCEPT
# iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT
# iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 10000 -j ACCEPT
# iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 25 -j ACCEPT
# iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 8080 -j ACCEPT
# iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT
# iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport domain -j ACCEPT
# iptables -A FORWARD -o eth0 -j LOG  --log-level 7 --log-prefix BANDWIDTH_OUT:
# iptables -A FORWARD -i eth0 -j LOG  --log-level 7 --log-prefix BANDWIDTH_IN:
# iptables -A OUTPUT -o eth0 -j LOG  --log-level 7 --log-prefix BANDWIDTH_OUT:
# iptables -A INPUT -i eth0 -j LOG  --log-level 7 --log-prefix BANDWIDTH_IN:

make sure you save your iptables configuration so you don’t have to re-edit it when you reboot your server

# /sbin/service iptables save

now just restart your firewall

# /etc/init.d/iptables restart

now you can check your configuration

# iptables -L -v

at this point, for good measure you might want to reboot your server

# reboot

once your server reboots you should now be able to browse to your public IP address and get the default CentOS page.

you can learn more about iptables here: http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/Network/IPTables

First thing your going to want to do is grab a copy of YUM if you don’t already had it installed, you can check to see if you have YUM installed by typing #yum in your terminal, if you see something like “Loading “installonlyn” plugin” then you have yum installed and then just skip this step, if you see something like “-bash: yum: command not found” then your going to need to install yum. Start by creating an install directory

Step 1.

#mkdir /usr/local/src/yum
#cd /usr/local/src/yum

next download the yum rpm

#wget http://mirror.centos.org/centos/4/apt/i386/RPMS.os/yum-2.4.3-3.el4.centos.noarch.rpm

now install yum

#rpm -Uvh *rpm

finally update your yum

#yum -y update

If you want to clean up after yourself, you can delete the install directory you created at the begining of this step by

#rm -rf /usr/local/src/yum

now your ready to install Subversion

Step 2.

Install Subversion

#yum -y install subversion

Done! you can test subversion is successfully installed by typing #svnadmin in your console, you should see something like “Type ‘svnadmin help’ for usage.”

Step 3. Now your going to want to configure subversion to work with plesk. I like to keep things separate, so I run my subversion server through a subdomain http://svn.domain.com so this part will walk you through configuring subversion in a subdomain.

Your going to want to make sure thatmod_dav_svn.so is being loaded into your http.conf, to do this type

#vi /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

search for “mod_dav_svn.so” in your LoadModules section

my httpd.conf file has the following lines which you can copy and paste into yours

LoadModule dav_module modules/mod_dav.so
 
LoadModule dav_svn_module modules/mod_dav_svn.so
 
LoadModule authz_svn_module modules/mod_authz_svn.so

once you have done this, save the httpd.conf file [esc + w + q (escape, write, quit)]

Step 4
Next your going to want to create your central repository, lets put it in the /var/www directory

mkdir /var/www/repository

svnadmin create /var/www/repository

note, if you choose not to place your repository in this directory, you may run into an issue I came across where my repositories were not configured for the web, and although the authentication windows would display and svn was running correctly, the web browser wouldn’t show the repos correctly.

After a lot of testing and not getting it to work i read this post: http://www.svnforum.org/2017/viewtopic.php?t=372&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15 and it basically said that if your running centos or rehl then there is a known issue on some configurations that causes svn over http not to work due to permissions. this is fixed by putting your repository in the /var/www directory. so my repo is now in /var/www/repository and that worked, this is why I suggested putting the repository in this directory’

now you have a working subversion repository you can start using, but it isn’t accessible to web users yet.

Step 5
Now since plesk will rewrite the main site configuration files every time you use plesk your going to want to write a configuration file in your vhost conf folder

#vi /var/www/vhosts/[you_domain_name]/subdomains/[you_subdomain_name]/conf/vhost.conf

This vhost file will automatically be included in apache’s httpd.conf file. The vhost.conf file will contain the instructions for you subdomain to map to your svn repository.

Edit your vhost.conf file to contain the location of your svn files as shown below

 #svn.yourdomain.com -- vhost.conf file
Location /
DAV svn
 
SVNPath /var/www/repository
AuthType Basic
 
AuthName "Subversion Repository"
 
AuthUserFile /etc/svn-auth-file
Require valid-user
/Location

Save your changes. Now you’ll want to add a valid user to this repository by typing

#htpasswd -c /etc/svn-auth-file my_user_name

whenever you make a change to your vhost files your going to want to restart apache using

/etc/init.d/httpd restart

and there you go… now you should be able to browse to your subdomain and use your repository on your CentOS box running Plesk.

Cheers.

I understand downed systems are somewhat common place in this industry and inevitable, and I have been down this path many of times before. What surprises me, though, is that I ended up getting sold a service which was already down… They sold me a server that was crashed, down, broken, ruined. Ok, well again these things happen… so fix it, right?

Well thats where this all becomes a much more infuriating issue. It has been 1 week, the service is still down, and i have not heard back from anyone at Google nor Dreamhost, no refund, no support, no response, no service.

you can watch the events unfold here

For those of you looking to move to dreamhost I strongly suggest against it.