Just a few notes from getting GitLabHQ up and running on Debian.

Used the following as a reference, however that is geared toward Ubuntu (and most of it applies) https://github.com/gitlabhq/gitlabhq_install Depending upon your situation you may want to skip some of those steps such as installing ruby (I’m using RVM) and using apache…

If you have not done so already, su to root and add apt-get install sudo.

The documentation on that link is assuming you using ubuntu which uses the admin group for sudo access, and by default on debian it the sudo group. You can either edit the /etc/sudoers and add the admin group or just change the first step to the following:

sudo useradd -s /bin/bash -m -G sudo gitlabhq
sudo passwd gitlabhq
Follow the rest of the instructions (ignoring ruby if you have RVM installed)…

There is one little typo where the guide tells you to edit the gitlab.yml file under “Configure GitLabHQ” The correct path is:

~gitlabhq/config/gitlab.yml

In my case I wanted to use MySQL instead of SQLite, so I went ahead and edited the database.yml file to mysql… Added the mysql2 gem to the Gemfile then ran the following commands:

bundle install –without development test
bundle exec rake db:setup RAILS_ENV=production
bundle exec rake db:seed_fu RAILS_ENV=production

On my Dev server I’m running apache with passenger, so I added a new site pointing to the public directory of the gitlabhq user that was created during the process and fired up the url. Everything seems to be working fine, I’ll update this page as I get to play around a bit. So far it seems solid, comitted my first project and update.

My main reason for installing this was to avoid the costs of using one of the git hosting sites. I couldn’t see paying for it when I’d like to create a whole bunch of repositories for testing and side projects, cost wise it just didn’t make sense.

Using this post to keep some notes on a few things I did to my XenServer instance,  most of this is just common sense.

Disable root login via SSH

First things first, make sure you add a user on the Xenserver box.  This is the user you will allow to login via SSH (if you have SSH running at all).

Edit the sshd_config, and find the text #PermitRootLogin yes and change it to:

PermitRootLogin no

Right below that add a new line, and replace USERNAME with the username you created.

AllowUsers USERNAME

If you have more then one user that you want to add just put a space between them and add them in succession.  Example:

AllowUsers john harry bob

Then go ahead and restart sshd:

/etc/init.d/sshd restart

Open up a new terminal session and make sure you can login to the server under your new user, and you should be good to go!

Edit the web page that XenServer shows or limit access completely

Xenserver by default serves up a web page that gives your links to download the Xen Center admin console… The web server also servers up the XAPI that is needed for the admin console to access the server remotely. So you have a few options, edit the index.html page to remove the data on there and serve up a blank page.  Or the better option is to restrict access completely to the XAPI via the hosts file.  And the best option is to toss the Xenserver behind a firewall (hardware or software).  Perhaps I’ll go into detail on how to do that in a future post, but in short, firewall the entire server and tunnel in via SSH, which would be the most secure avenue. The only downside to restricting access via a firewall or restricting access via the hosts file is that if you are not at home / work / at a PC where you have access to the restrictions in place your, out of luck on getting access to your server.   Now keep in mind, there are alternatives for access (port knocking, ssh via another server or VM, etc)  I could go on forever, but everyones situation is different. With that said, lets go over the first two options.

To prevent XenServer from showing the default index.html page, you can either edit the actual file and change it to your liking. The file is located here:

/opt/xensource/www/index.html

For the second option, you can reference the Citrix support document here for detailed information on modifying the hosts file http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX118504, however below is essentially what you need to do.

First edit the hosts.deny file located here: /etc/hosts.deny and enter in: xapi:ALL – What this does is restrict every IP from accessing the XAPI.  Second, you’ll need to edit the hosts.allow file, which takes precedence over the hosts.deny and specify the ip adresses or range of ip addresses that you would like to allow access to the XAPI.  The hosts.allow file is located /etc/hosts.allow

Allow access to a specific ip in the hosts.allow you would put in the following replacing IPADDRESS with the ip you would like to grant access:

xapi:IPADDRESS

Example:

xapi:24.22.12.222

To allow access to a group of ip addresses, for our example, lets use 24.22. – this would allow any ip address that begins with 24.22. to access the XAPI.

Example:

xapi: 24.22.

If you happen to come across this page, what do you do to lock down your XenServer installs?  I’ll be writing a few more articles as I dive deeper into Xen and XenServer, so be sure to check back often.

Figured I’d share a few of my notes from firing up a XenServer instance…  I went through lot of research before deciding to go with XenServer versus just firing up Xen on Debian, but thats for another post. The main reason I setup this server was to move off of Linode because I was at the point where it just made sense cost wise, essentially I have a more powerful server for way less money.  Granted, you do loose some of the conveniences of Linode  (simple management/upgrade/backup).  Anyways, onto XenServer…

When using the free edition of XenServer 6.0, you’ll want to do a few things such as enabling Auto Start / Auto Boot / Auto Power On.  For some reason this feature was removed from the “Free” version in 6.0, so lets go ahead and set this up.

First your going to want to get the UUID of the VM’s you wish to enable auto start on as well as the UUID of the pool these VM’s reside in.

To get the list of the pool’s on your XenServer type:

xe pool-list

Copy the UUID of the pool, in my case there ist just one pool. Then issue the following command, and replace the UUID with your pools UUID.

xe pool-param-set uuid=UUID other-config:auto_poweron=true

Then, at the command prompt of your XenServer type:

xe vm-list

You should get a full list of the VM’s on the server, along with their name and UUID. Copy the UUID of the VM you wish to enable autostart then issue the command below, again replacing the UUID with the UUID of the VM you wish to auto start.

xe vm-param-set uuid=UUID other-config:auto_poweron=true

And thats it, the next time you ever need to power cycle your main server, the Xen instances should power up automatically.

I’ll be adding a few more articles over the next few weeks of some other notes and tips.  Next up is adding some monitoring to your main XenServer to see whats going on with your different instances.

I have a new roof going on the house today.  After a few weeks of getting quotes, and finding the right roofing guy for the right price its finally going on.  We are also getting rid of one skylight towards the back of the house.   Reason for dumping the skylight is that I need to built a wall and the skylight would have been right in the middle of where the wall is going.  Some before / in progress pictures are below.  I’ll have some after shots later today / tomorrow.

I finished up the main detailing to get rid of all the oxidation.  I started to work on some of the corroded wiring and other problems. I had a really hard time getting off some of the body screws because they were so rusted.

All cleaned up:

Bus connector fix (common problem on 2005 and 2006 Kawasaki Brute Force 750′s)

Took the wires out of this plug, stripped then soldered.

Then taped them up nice and secure…

After 10 months of looking I finally found the ATV deal I was looking for.  A 2005 Kawasaki Brute Force 750.  It has 33 hours on the clock ~170 miles, its basically brand new.  I spend about 8 hours today detailing the quad, it was pretty oxidated from sitting outside. I used a oxidation remover and then wax on the whole ATV.  Its coming out pretty good. I took off the racks and starting spray painting some of the rusted bolts and parts with Rustoleum.  The plow needs to be reconditioned as well, I’ll probably strip that down to bear metal with the wizzer next week.  Here are some pics:

My “spray booth”

When browsing around today I saw quite a few sites talking about the Rails Best Practices presentation / talk that ihower did at the Kungfu RailsConf. Check it below, it really covers a lot of basic tips on how to clean up your code and follow some better coding practices.

Someone just released a gem that will analyze your code and check for “Best Practices” -  seems promising. Check it out at GitHub here: http://github.com/flyerhzm/rails_best_practices

These stairs are finally done.  First was the endless sanding, then the staining and polyurethane.  I put off painting the risers and sides because its a nightmare to prep, plus I had other projects from “The List” to get done.  I went through a roll of tape just getting everything ready before painting.  Primed with a good primer, then hit it with a semi gloss white from Benjamin moore.  (I went with the semi gloss because of durability, I used this on all my moldings and doors)

Anyways, here are some pics.  The flash from the camera makes it seem more shiny then it actually is, I think it came out pretty good.

Figured I’d update the old blog with a few house updates.  We had a new door put in, then me and my father-in-law tiled our entry way.  I also just had a fence put in.

Here is our poor attempt at a pumpkin carving

Here are some pics from a few weeks ago when she was all cleaned up.   The stang looks a lot better via photos then in person, but hey… What do you expect for 23+ year old paint?!?! Other pics are for the new switch console I added to the ashtray.  These switches control my Fan, Shift Light, and gauges.   Heading to Englishtown,NJ this weekend for the big Muscle Mustang & Fast Fords Event.  More info on the event here: http://www.etownraceway.com/schedule/fords.aspx It should be fun!

Some pics of the control panel installed in the ashtray, sorry crappy pics, took it with my iPhone.