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Upload Progress with PHP 7.1 and NGINX
While working on a Drupal 8 project served by NGINX and PHP-FPM, the status report looked great aside from UPLOAD PROGRESS at the bottom: Your server is capable of displaying file upload progress, but does not have the required libraries. It is recommended to install...
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Let’s Encrypt + Nginx: Three Months Into Beta
Nginx Plugin During Early Beta When Let's Encrypt started their closed beta, their documentation warned that their Nginx plugin was experimental. Using it as the authenticator to obtain certificates seemed to work, but using it as the installer would almost certainly...
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Let’s Encrypt SSL Certificates and Nginx
HTTPS and Encryption by Default Encryption by default has become the new standard for web applications and many of the world's top busiest sites have already made the switch to serving content via HTTPS. Google is no stranger to encryption, having made HTTPS the...
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Configuring Nginx for CiviCRM
For almost a year now I've been hosting CiviCRM instances for a couple clients. This has resulted in quite a bit of troubleshooting and experimentation with file permissions and Nginx configuration. Unfortunately, most of the documentation I've been able to find out...
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Adding PageSpeed and other Nginx modules on Ubuntu
Enabling Nginx Modules One inconvenience with Nginx is that modules cannot be dynamically added or removed as they can in Apache. Instead, Nginx modules are specified at compile-time. If you want to add or remove any Nginx modules such as ngx_lua,...
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Install CiviCRM on WordPress with Nginx
Over the weekend I installed a copy of CiviCRM on WordPress to demo for a small nonprofit that recently asked me to help with some of their data needs. CiviCRM is a constituent relationship management (CRM) system designed for nonprofit organizations. While I...
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Password protect WordPress admin directory on Nginx
Extra protection against brute force attacks While WordPress has an authentication system of its own, some opt to add additional server-side password protection to /wp-admin/ using basic authentication. This prompts users for a username and a password before even...
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Nginx redirect and SSL configuration example
Over the past few months I've been working with WordPress sites a surprising amount. During this same time, I decided to switch all of my sites over to HTTPS exclusively. The switch was relatively painless, especially since free SSL certificate are now available. I...
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Create a self-signed SSL certificate for Nginx
If your application has any sort of login page or transmits sensitive information, it's wise to make those sections accessible only via HTTPS. Even if your site has no sensitive information, it's worth considering using HTTPS as Google now considers it a ranking...
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Nginx proxy and load-balancing functionality intro
Nginx is one of the most viable (and visible) open-source HTTP servers competing against Apache today. Due to its asynchronous, event-based nature, Nginx is highly scalable and can far outperform Apache under very heavy loads. As a result, it is one of the best...
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LEMP stack installation scripts for Ubuntu 14.04
This weekend I overhauled my quick-lemp scripts for automating part of the server setup and LEMP stack installation process. The basic functionality is the same: standard new server setup is performed and a fully functioning LEMP stack is installed along with a sample...
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Obtain and install a free SSL certificate on Nginx
Until the past year I never really bothered to put my projects behind SSL. It always seemed like more of a hassle than it was worth, and I didn't like the idea of paying $50+ for a properly-signed SSL certificate when none of my projects were commercial or...
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Poodlebleed exploits SSL 3.0
Despite being 15 years old, and theoretically replaced by TLS, SSL 3.0 is still in widespread use. As luck would have it, yesterday Google researchers revealed a vulnerability in 3.0 which allows for the decryption of secure connections. Poodlebleed is a vulnerability...
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Quick introduction to DNS
IP Addresses and Domains In computer networks, every single machine is identified by a numerical label called an IP address like 203.0.113.1 (IPv4) or 2001:0db8:0f61:a1ff:0000:0000:0000:0080 (IPv6). As IP addresses are hard to remember, the Domain Name System has been...
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