Owncloud on EC2 (Linux Micro) + OS X Address Book and iCal + iPhone iOS 7

This discussion demonstrates how to install the ownCloud platform on Linux residing in an AWS Free Tier (Amazon Web Services) environment. ownCloud is an open source application that allows for the synchronization of personal data (contacts, calendars, bookmarks, photos) from a variety of devices (desktop, tablet, phone). Some basic knowledge of Linux, networking, and computer… Continue reading Owncloud on EC2 (Linux Micro) + OS X Address Book and iCal + iPhone iOS 7

Munin on AWS EC2 (Linux Micro Instance)

Systems monitoring with visual representations of trending and resource consumption is an essential component of the bigger picture of infrastructure management and design. The open source (GPL) project Munin is an excellent approach to getting graphs of systems behavior quickly. A default installation producing useful information takes less than 30 minutes and requires only a… Continue reading Munin on AWS EC2 (Linux Micro Instance)

AWS EC2: Launch a Micro Instance (Linux, 32 bit) on Command Line

In red: ezekieldas-security-one, ezekieldas-keypair-one are the security group and ssh keypair name respectively In green: ami-8c1fece5 is the AMI ID for a 32-bit Linux In blue: t1.micro is the EC2 type. It’s necessary to specify type or a m1.small will be launched by default In fuschia: i-03d51662 is the instance ID In grey: 50.17.157.113 is… Continue reading AWS EC2: Launch a Micro Instance (Linux, 32 bit) on Command Line

Loggly with TLS

Loggly is a relatively new Bay Area startup, offering a free-tier plan, in a super intuitive, easy to use package (big button infrastructure service). Their mission statement is “Loggly is a cloud based logging service. With Loggly, you can collect logs from your servers and then quickly search them with an intuitive user interface.” All… Continue reading Loggly with TLS

Multi-Factor Authentication for ssh with Duo Security

Some time ago we realized general ssh access was increasingly becoming a security vulnerability. At some sites I’d witnessed a near non-stop stream of dictionary attacks. For large organizations, supporting many logins, it was no longer possible to offer offsite ssh without another layer of security like a VPN or the use of a IPS/IDS.… Continue reading Multi-Factor Authentication for ssh with Duo Security

music beta by Google

* note: recent updates at end of this post! So many months and weeks had passed since I requested an invitation to Google’s cloud based music project I had nearly forgotten all about it. I was surprised to see the invitation arrive in my email around mid-June. Since I’ve been keen on developments of digital… Continue reading music beta by Google