Normalize Accept-Encoding Headers via HAProxy for Squid Cache

I noticed that when browsing one of our heavy traffic website’s under different browsers, I would see completely separate versions of a page depending on which browser I used. We use a cluster of Squid servers to cache the many pages of this particular website, but I believed the only thing that needed to happen […]

Using the ACL in HAProxy for Load Balancing Named Virtual Hosts

Until recently, I wasn’t aware of the ACL system in HAProxy, but once I found it I realized that I have been missing a very important part of load balancing with HAProxy! While the full configuration settings available for the ACL are listed in the configuration doc, the below example includes the basics that you’ll […]

Generate a PKCS #12 (PFX) Certificate from Win32 CryptoAPI PRIVATEKEYBLOB

We had an accounting system that used a Microsoft Win32 CryptoAPI blob to encrypt/decrypt credit card information for recurring customer information. It was time for an upgrade to .NET land. Keith, the lead developer for this project, decided it would be beneficial to switch to x509 certificates for improved key management (and I wasn’t going […]

How to Copy or Move a Joomla Website

Intro If you manage one or more Joomla websites, eventually you’ll have to move them elsewhere. It’s pretty much fact. Performance requirements will change, you’ll find better pricing elsewhere, your dedicated server died, etc. There are a few options most people have to choose from: FTP client and phpMyAdmin method (aka the long, boring method) SSH/Shell […]

Cloud Hosting – Scaling Websites the Easy Way

One often has to make a choice when it comes to website hosting. You weigh the variables and decide on the best solution for your hosting needs. Cloud hosting makes this decision a WHOLE lot easier. Let’s break it down. Price. You want to get the best deal possible. Shared hosting probably comes to mind […]

How-to Backup Joomla! 1.5 to Amazon S3 with Jets3t

Introduction to backing up a Joomla website to Amazon S3 storage using Jets3t. We all know backups are important. I’ve found what I consider a pretty good backup solution using Amazon S3. It’s super cheap, your backups are in a secure location, and you can get to them from anywhere. For my backup solution, I’m […]

Tips on Load Balancing a Joomla Cluster with HAProxy

For the past several weeks, I have been working with Joomla in a clustered environment. We have a single load-balancer running HAProxy that sends requests to two web servers synchronized with unison. One server is a hybrid and includes both the MySQL database as well as Apache2/PHP5. The other web server is strictly Apache2/PHP5. We […]

XenServer 3.2.0: Upgrade Debian Linux from Sarge to Etch

If you are running XenServer 3.2.0, then you have a built in Debian Sarge image. If you happen to want to upgrade an instance to Debian Etch (the latest stable build as of February 1, 2008), you should follow these steps. It isn’t a simple apt-get dist-upgrade command as other websites may have you believe. […]