Hosting
From AshWiki
This page is part of the Tech Group area.
Contents |
Set up
The coop server is a virtual server hosted by memset. It uses WHM and cPanel to manage the server (though we can also ssh in - it is CentOS Linux 5.2 under the hood).
The canonical name of the server is argylaa1.miniserver.com - though accessing it as www.ash.coop is the normal way (or mail.ash.coop or new.ash.coop ...)
The worker's email accounts are set up using the cPanel interface (see below). If setting up a mail client (eg thunderbird) then use IMAP rather than POP and use mail.ash.coop for both sending and receiving. There is a paid for certificate in use so you can use SSL/TLS for both sending and receiving.
Note that the user name includes the full email address - eg john@ash.coop rather than just john.
Webmail
Webmail is available. Start by going to http://mail.ash.coop and follow the links :)
cPanel
Anything to do directly with the ash.coop domain is managed through our cpanel interface. This is the place to do
- email set up for ash.coop - adding/editing email accounts and forwarding addresses
- adding sub domains of ash.coop for web serving
- manage FTP accounts
- add new MySQL databases
- manage SSL keys and certificates
- etc
The address is https://mail.ash.coop:2083/ (I bought the certificate for mail.ash.coop, so that is the domain I use for all https stuff). The user name is ashcoop.
WHM
The overall web control panel is WHM - this is used for overall server setup. Most tasks require the cPanel set up, but WHM is the place to do
- overall server set up
- overall email server setup - accounts, which mailbox server to use ... (but not individual accounts)
The address is https://mail.ash.coop:2087/ (I bought the certificate for mail.ash.coop, so that is the domain I use for all https stuff). The user name is root.
SSH
ssh is available to the server, but be careful. If you dig too much you may be in conflict with the cPanel set up. This might mean your changes will be overwritten by cPanel, or it might mean that you break cPanel. Neither is good.
Having said that, there are scripts in /scripts/ that will work with cPanel. But try and do it through the web interface first so others can carry on using it.
Backups
Incremental backups of the office computer to the server are done at 2am every night using rdiff-backup over ssh. It was set up following these instructions. There is a user called backup on the server, and the backup is stored in /home/backup/backups/argyle/ The batch file is basically
rdiff-backup.exe -v5 --no-hard-links --print-statistics --remote-schema "c:\progra~1\putty\plink.exe -i privatekey.ppk %%s rdiff-backup --server" "d:\ASHco-~1" backup@ash.coop::/backups/argyle
rdiff-backup.exe -v5 --no-hard-links --print-statistics --remote-schema "c:\progra~1\putty\plink.exe -i privatekey.ppk %%s rdiff-backup --server" ashcoop@ash.coop::/public_html "d:\backups\webfiles"
rdiff-backup.exe -v5 --no-hard-links --print-statistics --remote-schema "c:\progra~1\putty\plink.exe -i privatekey.ppk %%s rdiff-backup --server" ashcoop@ash.coop::/dbdumps "d:\backups\webfiles"
though without every other line break ... The jobs are scheduled using windows scheduled tasks (XP) or windows 7.
Preventing shutdown
To prevent members shutting down the computer (and hence no backup taking place that night) I have edited some options. First I opened Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Local Security Policy and then I changed the settings under
- Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options -> Shutdown: Allow system to be shutdown without having to logon
- Security Settings -> Local Policies -> User Rights Assignment -> Shut down the system
DNS
Domain Name Management
- The domains are bought through http://www.uk.domains.coop/
- The user to login with is office@ash.coop
- how to add a new contact to the whois information
Nameservers
We are using the memset nameservers. Login to http://www.memset.co.uk/ with user tech@ash.coop
If you are playing with this, please make sure that the MX record (for where email should go) is set to a name, not just an IP address. Otherwise some mail servers won't send email to us. (This has been learnt through bitter experience, let's not make the same mistake twice ...)
Passwords
Passwords and other private information about the server is stored in the office, both on the office computer in D:\ASH Co-op\Tech\TechDetails.txt and on paper in the stationery cupboard (todo). Note that the computer copy of the passwords is only viewable by the Administrator and worker accounts. A copy of this page is also stored on the co-op server at D:\ASH Co-op\Tech\Hosting.htm so that this information can be found if the website/server is offline ...
Why memset?
Starting off by looking at the PC Pro reliablity awards the best for a virtual server would be memset who charge £10 a month for the virtual server and an additional £7.50 for cPanel.
