Rimuhosting May 2015 newsletter

Contents:

• A recap of recent improvements
• Security matters
• A reminder about who we are.
• Keep informed
• Help us improve?
• Refer a friend or colleague?

Debian 8 available

We now have a Debian 8 image available for new VM setups and reinstalls. There is a 64 bit image, and we have not done a 32 bit image. Most customers are now ordering 64 bit distros. And some distros only come in a 64 bit flavor, e.g. Centos 7. Debian 8 is also an option for regular dedicated server setups.

Linux 4.0 kernel available

On the http://rimuhosting.com/cp/vps/kernel.jsp page you can now select the 4.0 kernel for your VM. Includes: OverlayFS, carries on with support required for Docker and SELinux, lots of new nf/eb table options, openvswitch, nfs4 support and too many other new kernel tweaks to mention. Plus newer, fresher kernel code with lots of fixes to bugs (which likely are not affecting you).

We have only produced a 64 bit kernel this time around. That should be fine even for 32 bit distros.

Dallas network upgrade

Dallas is our busiest location. We have many, many cabinets there filled with wonderfully shiny servers (all black, as befits our Kiwi origins). That setup has grown somewhat organically since 2005. Our core networking wiring was starting to be a little scary. And network capacity (ports and bandwidth was staring to be an issue). So for our 10th year in Dallas we opted to rebuild our network from scratch. Get new, faster networking gear; tidily re-cable everything with fiber; simplify things as much as possible; and increase our uplink capacity.

Brute force SSH protection

We have implemented some brute force SSH attack protection on VMs. Your servers should start to receive fewer connections from bots trying to bruteforce crack passwords on your server user accounts.

Tuning apache for production use

Apache is probably the most common web service our customers use. It is an amazingly powerful and mature tool for serving all your website needs. And is very easy to get up and running with Our team is often asked to tune apache to run more smoothly, more quickly, and more reliably. With a few simple server side tweaks you can easily polish your server till it is ready for ‘production’ use of your website.

deghost ridding the world of the ghost vulnerability one host at a time

As part of our mission to wipe the ‘ghost’ vulnerability (CVE-2015-0235) from our customers servers we have created 'deghost'. Deghost is a cross-distro script to determine the vulnerability of a libc library on a server and then patch that where possible.

RimuHosting adds a Frankfurt presence

We are excited to announce that we now offer servers in Frankfurt, Germany. This will be a great for users wanting a server central to the EU, and complements the plans we already offer in London. You can see more information about the data center at http://rimuhosting.com/datacenters.jsp.