Table of Contents

  1. Hosts
    1. Deprecated
  2. Services Supported
  3. System Applications
  4. Versioning /etc
  5. Email
    1. SMTP
    2. Procedure for a New Domain and Virtual Users
  6. DNS
  7. Mailman
  8. Other Accounts
    1. Feedburner
    2. iBiblio
    3. Monastic (monitoring)

Hosts

Hosts are allocated names of form usX,euX where X is a number. Such hosts are then always given dns names of form {name}.okfn.org.

  • eu0: eu0.okfn.org -- based in EU and provided by hetzner.de (since 2007)
    • with them now for ~ 1 yr
    • 64bit machine, 1024MB Ram, 80GB HD, ~1TB b/w / month
    • login details/help desk etc: contact sysadmin@…
  • eu1: eu1.okfn.org -- based in UK provided by bytemark.co.uk
    • 32bit machine, 368MB ram, ~20GB HD
    • login details/help desk etc: contact sysadmin@…
  • us1: us1.okfn.org -- aka ec2-174-129-36-142.compute-1.amazonaws.com - ec2 based host
    • 32 bit machine, 17000MB, EBS
    • login details - root access via okfn ec2 key, otherwise contact sysadmin@…
    • debian lenny
    • EBS 60 GB disk vol-278b754e attached via i-a83bb6c0:/dev/sdf
    • both the disk and host are running in zone us-east-1d
    • management console  https://console.aws.amazon.com/
    • elastic IP 174.129.36.142 assigned
    • see wiki:AWS for the application setup
  • us2: us2.okfn.org
    • shared hosting account provided by dreamhost and used for wordpress hosting
    • login details: user: okfn, password: std
    • created: 2009-11
  • eu2: eu2.okfn.org
    • EC2 machine in eu west region
    • login details - root access via okfn ec2 key, otherwise contact sysadmin@…
    • created: 2010-01

Deprecated

  • us0: us0.okfn.org -- based in US and provided by layeredtech.com (since 2004) Dead

Services Supported

Host to Service Matrix:  http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=t-Hgi0D3-_fZ3FD-eIC0kew

System Applications

This is clearly not an exhaustive list (do dpkg -l if you want) but lists the major applications made available on the system:

  • apache2
    • mod-ssl
    • mod-python
    • fastcgi with support for php and ruby
  • exim4 + courier (email)
  • mailman
  • postgresql
  • mysql
  • moinmoin
  • drupal
  • wordpress
  • kforge
  • python

Versioning /etc

/etc is stored in a subversion repository so that changes can be tracked (and reverted). The procedure is described in EtcInSubversionHowto.

Email

  1. All mail for local users saved to: /home/username/Maildir
  2. only support imap, preferably over ssl
  3. for domains assume that mail gets put to: /home/domain_username/Maildir/local_part/
  4. configuration is located in /etc/mailconfig

Details of how it is configured comes from the following svn commit message:

Updated exim configuration to support virtual users and forwarding

  • update-exim4.conf.conf:
    1. gets list of domain from mailconfig/mail_domains
  • virtual users:
    • 350_exim4-config_virtualuser + 40_exim4-config_virtualuser_delivery
    • mailconfig/virtual_users/* + mailconfig/mail_domains
    • details how this works on old codeabode sysadmin wiki
  • forwarding (i.e. x@… -> u@… or *@x.com -> localuser etc)

References to mailconfig are shorthand for /etc/mailconfig

SMTP

Couldn't get sasl2-bin stuff to work (got relay not permitted message and couldn't even authenticate) So decided to use authdaemon:

  • Need to do chmod 777 /var/run/courier to allow exim access
  • Didn't seem to work with TLS
    • Solved by commenting out .ifdef MAIN_TLS_... at top of main/03_...

Procedure for a New Domain and Virtual Users

1. if domain is to have virtual users or wants to use aliasing then add domain name to mail_domains along with corresponding local user

  • these domains are auto-added to exim4 localdomain list (dc_other_hostnames in update-exim4.conf.conf)
  • this is not needed for some domains which are just used e.g. for lists. These need only be added to localdomain list directly

2. create virtual_users/<domain_name> EVEN IF there will be NO virtual users (i.e. just doing aliasing)

  • This is needed because otherwise exim4 will crash when it runs virtual_user router and tries to look up virtual users (file will not exist)

3. add all virtual users to that file 4. edit mail_domains.forward to add catch-all addresses and forwarding off or on machine

DNS

For DNS we currently use free DNS service provided by  http://www.everydns.net/. Standard login info (for details contact sysadmin [at] okfn [dot] org).

Mailman

 http://lists.okfn.org/

List creation password: std low-sec pwd

Other Accounts

Feedburner

Login info: std okfn low-sec login info.

iBiblio

see:  http://okfn.org/board/wiki/HostingDetails 

 Executive summary of login and usage information:
 ------------------------------------------------

 o username:        xxxxx
 o ssh/scp/sftp:    login.ibiblio.org
 o FAQ:             http://www.ibiblio.org/faq
 o List your site:  http://www.ibiblio.org/faq/index.php?sid=2#14
 o Need help?       http://www.ibiblio.org/help


 Full text:
 ---------

 To access your ibiblio account administratively, you should connect to
login.ibiblio.org.  Please use this address for shell connections
(ssh) and file transfers (scp/sftp).  We strongly recommend that
you use secure services (ssh & scp/sftp) to reduce the risk of
unauthorized use of your account.

 For your convenience, your ibiblio email is being forwarded to the
email account you used when you made a request for us to host your
collection.  If you like, you may choose to use our rebranded Gmail
service, but ibiblio.org e-mail accounts are no longer set up except by
request.

 By default all accounts are subscribed to two mailing lists:
"ibiblio-announce" and "webgroup." The former is a one-way list for the
ibiblio administrators to notify you of system changes and planned
downtime (and to explain any unplanned downtime).  The latter is more of
a discussion list for ibiblio users/contributors and you may unsubscribe
from it if you wish.  You will receive a welcome message with
instructions on accessing the mailman list interface if you want to
unsubscribe.

 We ask that you display a "Hosted by ibiblio" image at the bottom of
your site's home page.  This helps to boost our visibility on the 'Net
and is one of the easiest ways you can help ensure the longevity of our
archive.  You may choose an image size and format from
http://www.ibiblio.org/hosted

 Once your site is ready, you will want to add it to the ibiblio
collection index. More information about how to do so can be found here:
http://www.ibiblio.org/faq/index.php?sid=2#14

 Please see http://www.ibiblio.org/faq/ for full information on
ibiblio's systems and policies.

 If you wish to request a database, mailing list, or have any questions
setting up your new site, please drop us a note at http://ibiblio.org/help.

Monastic (monitoring)

see #93