Category Archives: Apache
Running a Public Mirror
We run the Nexcess public mirror for distros and software our servers and employees use. Running our own mirror reduces our bandwidth usage since the traffic for updates and installations of our CentOS servers never leaves our network. It also … Continue reading
Simple Page Redirects – 301 Moved Permanently
If you have ever built or managed a website, you know that site file names don’t always stay the same for whatever reason. This is when you need to add “301 Moved Permanently” rules to your .htaccess file. This does … Continue reading
Nexcess Moving to Apache/PHP-FPM
Here at Nexcess we’re always on the lookout for ways of improving our technology stack for our clients. This means making things like Varnish or Memcached, which can improve application performance tremendously, to be easy to deploy and manage on … Continue reading
Installing Apache Solr on CentOS
Apache’s Solr search platform is a common solution for more flexible and better performing searches on sites that have outgrown their database’s built-in search facilities. Here at Nexcess, the most common use is by clients with Magento Enterprise Edition (the … Continue reading
Debugging Apache Rewrites and Redirects
Apache’s mod_rewrite and mod_alias can be very useful, but they can also be a huge pain to debug when a problem arises. Luckily, there are a few things that can help, and since you’re probably not the first person attempting … Continue reading
Running CGI Scripts on the CLI
CGI (Common Gateway Interface) is one of the oldest and most widely supported methods of adding dynamic content to a website. However, debugging CGI scripts can be quite a pain, since often the error messages are vague and unhelpful (such … Continue reading
Ruby 1.8.7 (and Newer) on CentOS 5 With RVM
We use CentOS almost exclusively here at Nexcess.net and while it’s very stable, a downside is that it often ships with older versions of software. Unfortunately, Ruby is one of those older software packages that we find our clients will … Continue reading
Useful Apache Rewrite Rules
Apache’s rewrite engine is very powerful and often misunderstood. It can be fairly cryptic to work with and given that a mistake can take down your site it can be costly to debug. While I’ve tested the following rules thoroughly … Continue reading
One Liners for Apache Log Files
I frequently need to look at apache log files to diagnose problems. Over time I’ve developed a series of one liners I can copy and paste to quickly analyze a log file to look for a problems, abuse, popular pages, … Continue reading
Configuring and Using Dell DRAC Cards in Linux
The Dell DRAC (Dell Remote Access Card) is a powerful piece of hardware for remote server management. Utilizing a DRAC card, you can have total server control from remote locations including control to power on or off the server as … Continue reading
