Server Upgrade | Stress Testing

So I wrote a program that makes really big numbers in python in an attempt to break a VM. Here’s the code:

I left it on for a few days and ended up with this:

Someone try and beat 26 compounds!

Server Upgrade | Understanding and Accessing VM’s

Eventually, I’d like to migrate this website to the new server that I’m working on now, and to be able to do that I’m probably going to need to be able to use SSH to access the server, access files from it using S/FTP, use some sort of apache webserver etc etc.

Turns out, it is comically easy change the ports on a virtual machine using phpvirtualbox, and I was expecting to have to write a much longer post than this.

 

Server Upgrade | Getting a VM running

Alright! Time to get VM’s rolling.

I’m going to be running phpvirtualbox on Ubuntu Server 12.04.3. The phpvirtualbox software will work really well because it’s web based and the server is headless.

Basically I’m following these guides:

http://www.howtoforge.com/vboxheadless-running-virtual-machines-with-virtualbox-4.1-on-a-headless-ubuntu-12.04-server

http://www.howtoforge.com/managing-a-headless-virtualbox-installation-with-phpvirtualbox-ubuntu-12.04

https://gist.github.com/dominicsayers/3012172

And doing the following:

Install VirtualBox – note you will most likely need to upgrade

Add the line

To that file then exit by hitting ^X. Continuing:

Then install phpvirtualbox

Edit this file to set $username and $password match the user you created earlier
Also add the following disable phpVirtualbox’s authentication:

Then ^X to exit. Continue with the installation:

Add the line:

Then ^X to exit. Start virtualbox with:

And then navigate to yourserversip/phpvirtualbox

Then getting a virtalbox VM running inside of that is easy!

Server Upgrade | Pictures!

Alright so the build works, here are a bunch of pictures!

The final setup!

Server Upgrade | Initial Build Spec

Hello! Long time no write!

Lemme jump right in, the server that hosts all of my content is dying. Right now, I get around 200 hits a day, and that’s only rising (thanks youtube dudes!) which is really taking a toll on the server. It’s an HP laptop that has been on for almost two years straight, in addition to being my only computer for 4 years before that.

The only reason this is worth writing about is because I intend on using this machine for a few things other than hosing a WordPress server (hopefully I’ll write a post about migrating a content rich blog across servers).

I also want to run a series of email servers on the machine as well! It would appear that a series of virtual machines would be the most efficient way to accomplish this.

Here is a list of the components that I have ordered: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/egg/saved/3deW

WordPress installation on ubuntu 10.04

There are probably a million tutorials out there to do this, but as I’m doing it for the second time, I figure that I should probably write it down.

First thing’s first, make sure you’re all updated:

Then install lamp

and run through the install process. Make sure you write all of that info down.

Then download wordpress. Assuming they still have their download architecture the same as the time I’m writing this, you can just use this command.

And unzip this file.

You should see a LOT of stuff unzipping.

Then remove the tarball

Now you need to create a database.

Write down this information.

Next move your wordpress folder to where it’s going to be seen by the web, in my case /opt/bitnami/wordpress/risp

rename the file “wp-config-sample.php” to “wp-config.php”

edit it using your favorite text editor, in my case vim

Follow the instructions in the document to add your MySQL DB stuff that you established earlier.

At this point you’re pretty much done. Navigate you localhost/wp-admin/install.php in your favorite browser to set it all up.


To be able to upload images, you will need to run the following command:

To be able to use custom permalinks within wordpress, we’ll need to make a couple modifications. The first is modify the apahce2 virtual host settings with:

Change the /opt/bitnami/wordpress/ settings so AllowOverride None is set to all like so:

We will also need to give the proper permissions of apache to the .htaccess (found in the root directory of your wordpress install, mine is /opt/bitnami/wordpress/) file by running the following commands:

Note: If the file does not exist, you can create it with: