Automating Server Deployments in AWS with Terraform
Posted on February 28, 2023
| 5 minutes
| 996 words
Previously I discussed deploying Enterprise Linux in AWS which I demonstrated by using the AWS console. This is a common way to deploy servers to the cloud, however doing server deployments manually can create a situation where you’re stuck with static images that are difficult to replicate when your infrastructure grows.
One of the benefits of Cloud Computing is that the infrastructure is programmable, meaning we can write code that can automate tasks for us.
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Deploying Enterprise Linux in AWS
Posted on February 28, 2023
| 5 minutes
| 892 words
In a previous post I discussed installing Enterprise Linux in VMWare, this time I wanted to write about deploying a server to the cloud.
Cloud Computing platforms like Amazon’s AWS allow you to build and run all kinds of Infrastructure and services on-demand without having to purchase and maintain expensive physical computing hardware. You can deploy a server in minutes and have the capability to scale your workload as much as you need.
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Rickdiculously Easy Writeup
Posted on December 10, 2022
| 5 minutes
| 932 words
Disclaimer: This post demonstrates hacking techniques and could be considered dangerous. I’m doing this for my own personal research using freely available tools and information, and testing against a vulnerable machine specifically designed for security assessments that has been installed in my own personal lab isolated from the public Internet. Please do not use these techniques against any computer system that you either do not own or do not have permission to work on.
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Setting up a Cyber Security Lab
Posted on November 8, 2022
| 7 minutes
| 1440 words
This post is a brief outline on setting up a home lab for Ethical Hacking, Penetration Testing and Cyber Security research. I’ll use the steps in this article as a base for future articles on more in-depth techniques.
There’s already plenty of existing articles and tutorials about this kind of stuff and everyone has their own personal preferences, but this is my take and how I like to work.
A personal lab is also going to reflect what you’re working on at the time, and not all lab environments will be the same.
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OpenLDAP on Enterprise Linux
Posted on August 21, 2022
| 6 minutes
| 1232 words
This post will demonstrate setting up an OpenLDAP Server for user authentication on Enterprise Linux.
OpenLDAP is an implementation of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol and is often used for user identity and authorisation services in corporate environments.
I’ve previously demonstrated setting up an Enterprise Linux virtual machine, so if you haven’t already done so please setup a Linux system to work with, ideally to test authentication across multiple servers you’ll also have a second Linux server to work with as well.
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Configuring NTP on Enterprise Linux
Posted on August 21, 2022
| 2 minutes
| 331 words
In this post we’ll configure Network Time Protocol services in our local network. NTP provides time synchronisation which is important for authentication services and single-signon which we’ll set up in a later post.
This post assumes you’ve already got an Enterprise Linux server setup. I’ll be using AlmaLinux that I installed in this post, although any RHEL variant should be similar. You’ll also need a second client machine that can communicate remotely with the NTP server.
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Setting Up Oracle Linux Automation Manager
Posted on August 19, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 781 words
Previously I wrote about using Ansible to manage the configuration of Linux servers. I love using Ansible and use it almost every day, however in a large Enterprise environment with multiple users and a lot of Ansible roles and playbooks, sometimes using Ansible on its own becomes difficult to maintain.
In this post I’m going to run through configuring Oracle Linux Automation Manager. Oracle’s Automation Manager is essentially a rebranded fork of Ansible Tower and provides a web user interface to easily manage your Ansible deployments and inventory.
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Managing Linux servers with Ansible
Posted on August 19, 2022
| 7 minutes
| 1475 words
Ansible is an open source, configuration management and automation tool sponsored by Red Hat. Ansible lets you define the state that your servers should be in using YAML and then proceeds to create that state over SSH. For example, the state might be that the Apache web server should be present and enabled.
The great thing about Ansible is if the server is already in the state that you’ve defined then nothing happens.
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Joining Enterprise Linux to Active Directory
Posted on August 19, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 498 words
In this post I’ll outline the steps to join an Enterprise Linux host to Microsoft Active Directory for user account management.
Why would you want to do this?
In an Enterprise environment it’s common to have a mix of Windows and Unix/Linux machines that offer different services across the organisation. To resolve the issues of user account management across a network of systems you’ll typically find a centralised directory service such as Microsoft Active Directory.
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Installing Enterprise Linux
Posted on August 19, 2022
| 6 minutes
| 1252 words
In this post I’m going to demonstrate the installation of Enterprise Linux in VMware Workstation Player.
I’ll be installing the AlmaLinux distribution because it’s a completely free, community maintained Enterprise distribution, though the steps outlined here should be the same for all variants of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, including Oracle Linux, Rocky Linux and CentOS.
First of all, download the AlmaLinux installation ISO from the official website. I’ll be installing version 8.
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