Run your own server
Start small, connect securely, and keep your services and backups running.
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01
Linux
Create .ppk Files for plink/pscp on Windows Without Opening puttygen
puttygen.exe on Windows is GUI-only and cannot batch-convert OpenSSH to .ppk (it returns unrecognised option) — this article writes PPK v3 files directly with Python, including the hard-to-find HMAC-SHA-256 MAC formula, ready to use with plink/pscp/WinSCP.
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02
Security
Read-only Debian shared-host security audit — avoid banning yourself
Audit the security of a Debian server running DirectAdmin in read-only mode first — but the first trap is that scan traffic itself triggers CSF's brute-force rules and gets your own IP banned. This article lays out a safe audit sequence + areas to check in 2024-2026
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03
Linux
MariaDB on defaults — a 128M buffer pool on a 55 GB RAM server
A 16 core server with 55 GB RAM and an SSD, but MariaDB still had the default 128 MB buffer pool. The result was 50 million disk reads in 5 days. The full before-and-after settings, service name and config path traps on DirectAdmin/Debian, rollback steps, and another 500 MyISAM tables waiting for conversion.
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04
Backup
Off-Site Backups with Pull Architecture + rclone/rsync
Add off-site Layer 3 to complete 3-2-1 with pull architecture (the destination host fetches the data), rclone + rsync, and lessons from real pitfalls involving NAT, RSA host keys, cwRsync, and PID recycling.