Blog (tagged #VPS)
Logwatch a Custom Log File
So I own a VPS (if you can ever really own a VPS) which does a number of things for me. It's backed up by the hosting company, something which requires root access. Now I always worry when giving someone root access, no matter how much I trust them, so the back ups are performed through a simple script which only allows certain commands to be ran, as well as logging all attempts.
Make SSH Hang Higher
Several of the scripts used by the script kiddie varity of crackers assume a large amount about the system(s) they're attacking. Some simple changes to the configuration of SSH make sure that other machines are an easier target, thus making their fruit hang lower than yours. All that needs done is to change the port you use for SSH, so follow these steps to make SSH listen on another port, simply replace <PORT> with whatever number you want to use, for extra piece of mind keep it above 1024. It looks like there's a lot of steps but it can be done in under 2 minutes.
VPS Admin Links
Just a few useful reference links so I can find them:
VPS Entropy
Entropy (ie the source of random numbers) is generated by keeping an eye on such things as mouse/keyboard use, hardware interupts. However on VPSs some of this is unavailable, so here's the process for using the bitfolk entropy service.
VPS Setup Guide
This is intended to be a very basic guide to getting a VPS up and going, it's aimed at the hobbiest who has enough linux knowledge to want to use a VPS but isn't quite sure how to go about getting it up and going. It assumes you'll be using an Ubuntu VPS from bitfolk, if this isn't the case then some of the things in this guide may be slightly off.