RichC | May 3, 2024
A bigger than usual update this month for my Linux based servers and as it the norm, I spent a few minutes cleaning up storage and deleting unwanted bulked up logs (usual for me). Hopefully all will continue to run normally and that security will be improved. Personally I’ve notice a speed improvement (???), but […]
RichC | September 28, 2023
It is not Tech Friday, but I’ve been fighting through the nightmare of updating my blog’s very OLD modified WordPress theme so I could update it to PHP 8.2 running on my server (manually modifying theme code). Believe me, it was not without pain and suspect this is not the end of things (still problems, […]
RichC | May 19, 2023
The Linux server and WordPress version was updated this afternoon; Comet cache cleared and backups done. Hopefully all is as it should be on MyDesultoryBlog.com. Since I’ve been sitting on this interesting outdoor stove project video for a while, I’ll include it below the break as a test both of the update and autoplay.
RichC | December 9, 2022
About this time of year the handful of servers that I maintain need to be looked at a little closer. Often I’m only doing the minimum maintenance, updates and backups … because there are often problems after an update. Pointing being, maintenance on this server have been getting over looked and put on the back […]
RichC | July 1, 2022
For Tech Friday today, here’s an impressive slow-motion video used more for an internal streaming test than for the actual content. In my quest for low-cost minimalist data storage and serving, this is just a tiny computer test. (EDIT: It failed, but will include the video from my normal server anyway.)
RichC | June 18, 2022
Not that I was bored or anything while running on generator power for 24 hours, but last week’s outage had my small load-sharing Raspberry Pi “server farm” (semi-joke) that I run at the house (see Brenich.com), in need of service. One thing lead to another and I ended up tinkering a bit more with this […]
RichC | May 17, 2022
Testing Internet speeds on my end after struggling to upload to AWS servers this afternoon. All seems normal for both 4G and WiFi in my temporary basement home office due to painting and getting thing put back together after hardwood floors were done. It is S-L-O-W-L-Y coming together.
RichC | March 10, 2021
After having a server glitch and failed update this morning, it seemed like a good time to backup, updated Linux and test WordPress 5.7 “Esperanza” with a post today. For the most part everything has been running fine since setting up SWAP space, but any issue triggering a crash makes me question what I’m missing? […]
RichC | January 15, 2021
Years ago when RAM was expensive, it was common to set up a SWAP space file for additional memory on computers and servers with plenty of fast hard drive space … especially when speed was not as important as preventing crashes. As applications get a little more demanding and server traffic increases, memory use steadily […]
RichC | January 1, 2021
After the previous challenging server update from years on Ubuntu Linux 12, 14 and 16 to a questionable 18 upgrade … I’ve been hesitant to upgrade the server to “Focal Fossa” 20.04 in the spring and summer … so I didn’t. But now that we are at the end of the year (actually by the […]
RichC | November 27, 2020
It is not uncommon for me to head down a rabbit hole when learning a little more about Hugo the fast static site generator (SSG). The experimenting from a few weeks ago on a 64-bit Linux ubuntu server had me wondering if it might work on a Raspberry Pi. Unfortunately with Raspian, the normal Linux […]
RichC | August 14, 2020
Friday afternoon was a day of server housekeeping, along with the week’s usual billing and accounting. It was also time to update this blog’s WordPress plugins and to the current version called “Eckstine” 5.5. In WordPress 5.5, your site gets new power in three major areas: speed, search, and security. Thankfully after the move to […]
RichC | June 19, 2020
Way too often those who maintain their own web servers and computers grit their teeth and cringe when it is time to update and upgrade. A month or so ago I replaced one of my servers (the one this blog is on) and suffered through the anxiety of getting everything working again. I generally follow […]
RichC | May 6, 2020
Today’s post serves as a test … since I’m having a few webserver and database problems. If you are a regular reader, this will also be a notice that this blog will likely be sporadic until it is fixed. Once my business sites are updated, then I’ll address my long-in-the-tooth (see below) Quickdex project site and […]
RichC | May 23, 2019
It is time to work on a few long in the tooth server updates and one of them isn’t compatible with my “old” WordPress video plug-in – it is no longer supported. There are several options that I’m testing both for my site as well as customer installs so am testing one of them with […]
RichC | January 29, 2019
Just another "Patriots are in the Super Bowl" year again. Whoop-de-do. Scott Bilik and I have been Internet “tech” friends for a long time … and humorously is my Twitter “Godfather.” He has suffered his share of heartache having lost his wife Michelle to cancer in 2013, but remains strong in his faith and marches […]
RichC | January 21, 2019
It has been a morning of computer server problems after updating Certbot on one of my Linux servers in order to keep the Let’s Encrypt certificates updating properly (the email warning below). For customers on Consolidated Printing and Publishing servers, there will not be a problem as the certs are commercial … but for my […]
RichC | May 5, 2017
Ever since the switch from Time Warner to Cincinnati Bell Fioptics, the Raspberry Pi2 and Pi3 that I’ve been using for testbed Linux servers have been out of commission. I’m struggling to come up with a way to bypass the Port 80 block that CB and many ISPs put in place to protect users equipment […]
RichC | November 13, 2016
Surprise! At least that’s what I found out when I opened a couple virtual invoices from Amazon for my two AWS accounts (personal and business). After moving files for online web content to Amazon’s fast and reliable S3 cloud-based servers a couple years ago, I’ve been happily adding content regularly since then as the cost […]
RichC | August 10, 2016
One of the great things about working with Digital Ocean is the ability to spin up a new droplet server based on a previously saved image/backups within a few minutes. Due to recent improvement of adding volumes in order to expand storage, currently only a couple of their data centers, I opted to image an […]
RichC | May 25, 2016
The Raspberry Pi 3 acting as the American Pi Apache server may have over heated last week. I detected a slow and steady rise in processor temperatures near the time it flickered the monitor on and off three times before it gave up the ghost (solid red light only); it was over 70 degrees Celsius […]
RichC | December 30, 2015
Digital Ocean’s cloud based servers have me debating which is best for the MyDesultoryBlog.com in a worse case scenario? Do I continue with the $1/mo automated backups 4 times per month or go with the no-charge manual “Snapshops?” The $12/yr charge in the short term is probably reasonable but would have preferred a daily image […]
Admin | December 10, 2015
I move my WordPress blog to Digital Ocean‘s smallest cloud based Linux server and the move is now complete, I think. Everything seems to be working as it should, although I’ve experienced a couple snags. All posts have been consolidated (except this one) under the RichC user_id and I’ve updated to WordPress to 4.4. The Linux “swap” as been set […]
RichC | December 6, 2015
Slowly but surely I'm rebuilding the archives and associated linked images from my old back ups for MyDesultoryBlog. There may be a reason to keep things in multiple locations BUT it does make upgrading servers a bit more difficult. The long story is that through Consolidated Printing and Publishing, I have worked with the same […]
RichC | April 20, 2014
It is Easter and no matter what else is happening in the world, it is a “Happy” Easter knowing He Lives. I was reminded the other day just how casual those of us living in a democracy take our freedom to worship … or at least some of need a reminder. My reminder came when […]