Backing up a Linux server using FreeNAS – harder than you would think

I recently finished building a new FreeNAS machine, my first actually. One of the goals for the machine was to use it to backup my servers. My requirements were the following:

  • It needs to be able to backup an entire Linux server ( / ) but some paths needs to be excluded like /dev and /proc.
  • It should not put too much strain on the server that is being backed up.
  • The FreeNAS server needs to initiate the backup. It’s behind NAT and I don’t want to open up any ports.
  • It would be very beneficial if the UID and GID of the files and folders are kept. So this is not strictly a requirement but I very much would like this feature.
Continue reading “Backing up a Linux server using FreeNAS – harder than you would think”

How to check if your server or any services needs restarting with Nagios

If you are running a Linux server that don’t have rebootless kernel patching like KernelCare or Canonical Livepatch then chances are you are running an out of date kernel. And that is understandable because keep tracking of new kernels and rebooting your servers isn’t fun. But Nagios can do that job for you, or at least the part of looking for a new kernel, and then notify you of when it’s time to reboot! That way you don’t have to worry about being vulnerable to known kernel exploits just because you haven’t rebooted your server.

Continue reading “How to check if your server or any services needs restarting with Nagios”

How to setup a custom SSL certificate for the free version of Pritunl

I haven’t been able to find much information on this but from what I’ve found it looks like you have to pay in order to install a custom SSL certificate for the Pritunl web interface. You get a self signed certificate when you install Pritunl but I’m sure most people that do that want a valid certificate, even if it’s just for a small server running in a closet. Continue reading “How to setup a custom SSL certificate for the free version of Pritunl”