I have an FTP server running on my web server to easily update plugins via the web admin page since the default WordPress install only allows updates to be made via FTP and FTPS. FTP is an old protocol that is insecure. To update via sftp (ssh), install libssh2-php in Ubuntu and restart apache (credit read more
I recently performed a full disk encryption on my server using dm-crypt + LUKS. I did not address remote unlocking of the disk then because I did not know how. Remote unlocking is highly desirable I might not be physically near the server when a restart is necessary. To remotely unlock the disk, one needs read more
[SSH](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Shell) has come to be my most used protocol besides http. It allows me to fully access a computer, transfer files, and all communications are encrypted (so I feel safe!). Since all my computers are Linux-based, I can use ssh by starting a terminal. However, what If I’m on a computer without an ssh client, read more
[This](http://lifehacker.com/237227/geek-to-live–encrypt-your-web-browsing-session-with-an-ssh-socks-proxy) post describes how one can set up an ssh-encrypted proxy for browsing the web when connected to a public wifi. [This](http://lifehacker.com/5803880/how-to-encrypt-all-internet-use-on-your-android-phone) post describes how to do so with an Android device. The gist is to have your proxy server request all internet contents, and pass over the information to you over an encrypted ssh read more
I use [sshfs](https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SSHFS) to mount remote directories on my laptop to access files as if they are stored locally. I love it. I also [use](http://blog.nguyenvq.com/2010/06/16/controlmaster-in-openssh-speeding-up-editing-files-remotely-with-emacs-tramp/) the [ControlMaster](http://www.linux.com/archive/articles/54498) feature of OpenSSH to reuse an existing ssh connection when opening new ssh connections to the same host. The problem is that X11 Forwarding [doesn't work](https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/sshfs-fuse/+bug/83631) with sshfs, read more
I recently needed to set up an ftp server (or sftp server) that allows the user to transfer files. I had some restrictions: 1. The account cannot have `ssh` access since I don’t want an unauthorized person to run jobs on the server. 2. The account needs to be restricted to a single directory. I read more
Since all my computers are Linux-based, I have OpenSSH installed on them so I can connect to them remotely. If I am not on the home network, I either have ports forwarded from the router or [VPN](http://blog.nguyenvq.com/2010/11/09/be-on-my-home-network-when-im-away-from-home-via-openvpn/) to my home network in order to connect to my destination. In addition, I almost always use [screen](http://www.gnu.org/software/screen/) read more
Dear list, I brought up [this](https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/ess-help/2009-June/005388.html) issue before but a good solution never arised: being able to use screen on a remote server (so if something goes wrong on my side I can always resume that R session) inside of emacs in order to utilize ESS. The closest [thing](http://blog.nguyenvq.com/2009/06/01/run-screen-in-emacs-with-ansi-term-combine-this-with-emacs-ess-remote-r/) I found to a good work read more
Now that I have a NAS at home, I plan to place stuff that takes up a lot of space that doesn’t get used so often on there. However, with that comes the issue of file access. Since my NAS is linux based — ubuntu server edition to be exact — I can access files read more
So I was googling around to find out how to change the shell in tramp for emacs, and I ran into [this](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/148578/using-emacs-tramp-vs-rsync-for-remote-development) and [this](http://www.linux.com/archive/articles/54498). When editing remote files with emacs using tramp, opening and saving files can take a bit of time, due to re-logging in and authenticating. I discovered that you OpenSSH has a read more
