[Blackpool] Saturday

Fri Feb 13 13:22:54 UTC 2015

I once worked with a guy that let slip he maintained the No1 fan website for a world famous pop star but we were all intrigued when he wouldn't give up the URL or who it was.  

After a while and snooping of some logs it came out it was Belinda Carlisle, the website has gone but it was halftheworld.com.  After a bit this guy unravelled and confessed he was obsessed with her.

This was in a dev team where the culture was a bit macho/competitive and he lost his footing in the pecking order entirely.  It was never the same for him.

Another guy I once knew maintained an online repository of Jo Guest (page 3 stunna model at the time) animated gifs.  You'd have never guessed talking to him.

I confess, I am totally intrigued and wasting my Friday afternoon trying to guess what subject James would run a forum on.

Regards

Arthur

> Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2015 13:08:11 +0000
> From: jmsp.1983 at gmail.com
> To: blackpool at mailman.lug.org.uk
> Subject: Re: [Blackpool] Saturday
> 
> Michael,
> 
> I'm with HTTPZoom. I think it's the following package:
> 
> Platform OpenVZ
> 4GB Dedicated Ram
> 4GB vSwap Ram
> 50GB Diskspace
> 2TB Transfer
> 4 Core CPU Fair Share
> 100mb Shared Port
> SolusVM Control Panel
> Maidenhead Location
> 
> I don't suspect a resources issue - at least, Webmin isn't showing any
> unusual RAM or CPU usage, anyway.
> 
> I'm running a myBB forum on Apache. It's only got a handful of members and
> posts each day, whilst the other sites being hosted are also dormant,
> low-traffic WP sites.
> 
> The forum's only started to run noticeably slow over the past week or so.
> I'd had a look at some Apache optimisation pages, but they didn't tally
> with what I saw in my httpd.conf file, so I didn't touch it.
> 
> I thought it might be brute force attempts on the server which were slowing
> things down, so I made some changes in iptables to close off SSH as a route
> in, whilst I increased my Cloudflare security settings to deal with those
> trying to get in via Web.  No change, but at least I think I managed to
> deal with some security issues.
> 
> 
> 
> Best,
> James
> 
> 
> Best wishes,
> James
> 
> On 13 February 2015 at 12:39, Michael <heed at bigmassiveheed.co.uk> wrote:
> 
> > @Elizabeth
> >
> > For an amusing abut aimed at numpties look at how the internet works have a
> > look at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBWhzz_Gn10
> >
> > @Arthur
> >
> > It can be explained simpler than that....If I get some time I'll knock
> > something together.
> >
> > @James
> >
> > Who is the VPS provider and what level package have you got.
> > Are you going via Apache or nginX
> > Important question....is it a Wordpress site?
> >
> > On 13 February 2015 at 12:25, Arthur Garlick <arthur_garlick at hotmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Hi,
> > > I'm sceptical that it can be written in a useful guide, or else I'd have
> > > found one someone else had done that fit the job when I googled it.
> > >
> > > In my mind it's more a learning by doing experience than a written down
> > > guide.  We do need a crib sheet at the end with the details of the things
> > > we did so that people can go off and do the experiments in their own
> > time.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > So:
> > > ipV4 addresses, how to find yours.
> > >
> > > Difference between our ip address and a real fixed ip on the internet.
> > > Touch on Class C and what is DHCP on a local router.
> > >
> > > What is a router, why do we need one.
> > >
> > > What a web server is and does.  HTML. What actually is a browser.  Whats
> > > that http:// about, and https:// ?
> > >
> > > How we find all of these webservers without knowing ip addresses of
> > > everything - DNS
> > >
> > > Routing worldwide, the origins of internet and robustness of packet
> > > switching.
> > >
> > > Traceroute, just like on the TV with the hackers, where did the data
> > visit
> > > on it's way to us
> > >
> > >
> > > I'd cover all that in 15 minutes but by doing hands on stuff, like this:
> > >
> > > find out your ip address using command line
> > > find out ip address of someone else's pc
> > > notice similarities in the ip address's (talk about DHCP, router, real ip
> > > addresses vs class C.)
> > > ping somebody elses ip address in the room, what does that time mean?
> > > open the router setup in a browser look at DHCP (need to ask about
> > that...)
> > > Have a machine with a standalone web server running and access it via
> > http
> > > direct from its ip
> > > Open the default html file on the server and edit it
> > > Do view source at the browser side
> > > Quick overview of the F12 debug features in a browser are to find the
> > code
> > > behind a particular area in a big web page
> > > Use reverse DNS to look up an ip of a famous site
> > > Ping that ip address - understand what just happened request and response
> > > compare time with the local ping.
> > > Use traceroute to see how that data was routed across the world
> > >
> > > Also something about what Jo (and James!) does, managing VMs that are on
> > > boxes physically half way around the world and the reasoning to have two
> > > VMs.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Maybe back it up with a handout which might need to be custom to the kit
> > > that person has so that the commands are right for them
> > > Mint/Ubuntu/PC/Raspbian.  In my mind it's too hard to have a proper
> > printed
> > > guide... too many variables.  (But we can try!)
> > >
> > >
> > > So in my mind it's a snappy practical exercise (15mins might be
> > > optimistic) that we can do with all sorts of people, this would be just
> > as
> > > good done with Pis at the CoderDojo or new families that visit the
> > > Makerspace for example.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > I am a dev, I just do the code, there are people on here that could take
> > > the idea and improve it or put it in the bin and do it better from
> > > scratch...  PLEASE DO!
> > >
> > >
> > > regards
> > >
> > > Arthur
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > > Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2015 11:46:20 +0000
> > > > From: heed at bigmassiveheed.co.uk
> > > > CC: blackpool at mailman.lug.org.uk
> > > > Subject: Re: [Blackpool] Saturday
> > > >
> > > > How deep do you want this guide to be?
> > > >
> > > > On 13 February 2015 at 10:47, Elizabeth C <
> > > elizabethcoop1945 at hotmail.co.uk>
> > > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > re " I want to write down what will be in our 15 minute practical
> > > guide to
> > > > > how the internet works."
> > > > >
> > > > > I would be sooooo very grateful for something like that written....
> > > > >
> > > > > Elizabeth
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > > From: arthur_garlick at hotmail.com
> > > > > > To: jmsp.1983 at gmail.com; blackpool at mailman.lug.org.uk
> > > > > > Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2015 10:01:05 +0000
> > > > > > Subject: Re: [Blackpool] Saturday
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Hi,
> > > > > > The plan with the Pi wearable got changed to me delivering it to
> > Les
> > > and
> > > > > Tom at Mereside tomorrow morning. We will be making a slightly late
> > > > > appearance at the makerspace.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I know nothing James! But interested.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Been busy this week, I'll be playing with the Arduino compatible
> > > Teensy
> > > > > and working out what the 'compatible' there actually means.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I want to write down what will be in our 15 minute practical guide
> > to
> > > > > how the internet works.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Or maybe I'll just drink coffee, sit back and pontificate on the
> > vast
> > > > > expanse of things tech that doth offend mine eye.
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > See you tomorrow
> > > > > >
> > > > > > A
> > > > > >
> > > > > > > Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2015 21:42:29 +0000
> > > > > > > From: jmsp.1983 at gmail.com
> > > > > > > To: blackpool at mailman.lug.org.uk
> > > > > > > Subject: [Blackpool] Saturday
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Ahoyehoyey, peeps!
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > If there's anybody coming on Saturday who knows their way around
> > a
> > > Web
> > > > > > > server, could you help me out with a site on my VPS? I run a
> > small
> > > > > forum
> > > > > > > and it's recently started running pretty slowly - I'm at a loss
> > as
> > > to
> > > > > what
> > > > > > > it could be. I haven't noticed anything unusual in terms of
> > > processes
> > > > > and
> > > > > > > memory.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > James
> > > > > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > > > > Blackpool mailing list
> > > > > > > Blackpool at mailman.lug.org.uk
> > > > > > > https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/blackpool
> > > > > >
> > > > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > > > Blackpool mailing list
> > > > > > Blackpool at mailman.lug.org.uk
> > > > > > https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/blackpool
> > > > >
> > > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > > Blackpool mailing list
> > > > > Blackpool at mailman.lug.org.uk
> > > > > https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/blackpool
> > > > >
> > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > Blackpool mailing list
> > > > Blackpool at mailman.lug.org.uk
> > > > https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/blackpool
> > >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Blackpool mailing list
> > Blackpool at mailman.lug.org.uk
> > https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/blackpool
> >
> _______________________________________________
> Blackpool mailing list
> Blackpool at mailman.lug.org.uk
> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/blackpool