LAMPdocs: Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP

Today I’ll tell you about an excellent software that allows to create any kind of info backups. That’s greatly important as you will be able to restore anything you like in just minutes. For example, if you have installed a fresh copy of Microsoft Windows, you know how much time it takes among with software setup. Acronis True Image Home will revert your system to the tuned condition in just minutes. I’ve got a Russian version that’s why I won’t post any screenshots here.

Acronis true image Home is a powerful software that allows you to deal with any kind of data backup. It comes with scheduler so you won’t even need to create your backups manually - you will just have to keep your backups in a safe place. The rest is done with this software - I consider it’s more useful than Norton Ghost (I’ve used it for some time).

Acronis True Image Home also comes with secure file shredder - you can now safely delete your files. You can also Protect your privacy by cleaning up your activity track stored by Windows.

I suggest you to download and install this software. I think you will be impressed with all the features it has and I think it’s worth its money

Do you know Snap.com? If you don’t I’d encourage you to visit it as their tools make web much better. Even if I don’t like Ajax and Javascript tools, that often overload sites, I consider having site screenshots is a very good idea. But… where to take these shots and how to do them? If you try to do this manually, you’ll have to press print screen, then to run paint, then save the image, then rename it… Hard work, isn’t it?

If you want this for one site and want to see what’s shown to user in different browsers, then browsershots.org will be great for you. This service allows to take screenshots with different browser - this is the most comprehensive tool related to page screens I’ve seen on the Web.

There is also a Windows software that allows to do this. It’s Thumbnail Grabber. Thumbnail Grabber is a free utility for creating thumbnail screenshots of web pages in JPEG format. You can choose web page size (width and height) and thumbnail image size (in percent of the web page size). The program can batch process URLs and domains from a text file that makes it extremely useful for sites that have reviews or galleries, etc.

Now the process of Image creation is very simple. All you have to do is to have a list of web pages to crawl and Thumbnail Grabber will do everything for you. Nice that it doesn’t capture any browser elements, so your screenshots are clear and look great

Seoquake is a browser extension that allows you to monitor multiple parameters that are important for search engine optimization. It doesn’t do anything extraordinary, but the information is presented pretty well. Google, Yahoo and Live.com indexation, number of pages in each search engine, Alexa Rank and other parameters. It is fully customizable: you may tune almost all features that Seoquake has. Here is how it looks like:

Just try it and I’m sure you’ll find it useful. You may get it here. Plugin is often updated so it will be working even after any SERP changes.

If you often need to know Pagerank of web pages you visit you might use Firefox with Google Toolbar, The same toolbar for IE, or Firefox Plugins like Seoquake. But if your browser is Opera there is a solution for Pagerank viewing. It is Opera Pagerank button. This is a piece of javascript code for Opera that queries Google toolbar service for Pagerank and displays it. Here is how it looks like:

Pagerank results are displayed in a small window that pops up in the top left corner of Opera. Note that this button will not work if JavaScript is turned off. You may place the button anywhere you want, I prefer to put it near the address bar.

I’ve seen some new widgets for Opera, but this one seems to work more stable. Note, that Google has limits on number of toolbar queries per IP per day, but if you just use browser I don’t think you can reach this limit.

Today I’ve checked for Opera updates and found there is an update - version 9.50 has been finally released. I’ve been using 9.50 beta for about a month and was unsatisfied with some features, especially I was unable to add Webmoney keeper Light as Opera told me it is not enough secure. But today I found a new Opera and tried to install it.

Even the installation window changed to futuristic one. Then I was proposed to upgrade my existing installation and I did it. When I started the updated version, I’ve noticed that my tabs that were opened before the installation were not saved, so be careful to do it before upgrading. Bookmarks and other stuff were saved as usual.

I was a little shocked with interface. Here it is:

I didn’t like bookmark folder icons and black tab panel - I think I’ll have to search for some skins that will revert Opera interface to the usual one.  New icons are quite beautiful but I think I need some time to get acquainted to it.

It’s a pity that Opera does not support my password manager, Sticky Password. I had to change my default browser to Firefox but I hope to revert back to Opera when the support is realized. I think it’s one of the most secure browsers and I really recommend it to all users, Linux and Windows.

System administrator should always be able to have access to his servers. If anything goes wrong it is always important to fix it as soon as possible. If you are near your PC, there are no problems, as you may use SSH clients, in almost every operating system. But what to do when you are far from PCs with Internet connection available?

If you have a Java MIDP2 enabled mobile phone (Almost all modern GSM mobile phones support it), you have a glue! There is an excellent solution for such emergency outages, and it is called MidpSSH. MidpSSH allows you to control any server on the web through a GPRS connection. It is not so fast, but you can enter any commands and manage your server in the way you like. There will be some delay between command execution and result appearance on your mobile phone, but your command will be executed as usual. It is great if you need to reboot some services or solve any other emergency situations. Of course, it is not so easy to type long commands using your mobile phone’s keys and you’ll need some time to get used. But sometimes this software really solves the situation and I would like to thank guys from xk72.com for this excellent midlet.

My mobile phone does not have a big display (It’s Sony Ericsson W810i) that’s why I cannot see the true output of some commands, but I should repeat that you should not use it as unique solution. This midlet makes me sure that I can always do something with any of my servers, when I am away from my workplace. So, If you really need a mobile solution (it’s completely free of charge), that’s what you need.

I’ve found a collection of Java midlets, that include not only ssh, but Telnet and VNC options too. Here it is: Java Midlets for sysadmin

I will post some screenshots for this software as soon as I get my camera back

Today I would like to talk about software that could be used for LAMP administration. As a typical LAMP administrator does not have physical access to his server, he should use some programs to access it. If you are on Linux, there is no problem as you can run any console application you like and ssh to your server. You are welcome to use Midnight Commander to easily transfer and edit your files. But what to use when you’re on a Windows machine, that has no standard software to interact with Linux?

Most administrators are using PuTTY. It is an easy, lightweight application that allows you to take full control over your Linux server. The only thing I have to say that it does not work with Windows password managers, so, if you have many servers, is is quite difficult to remember all your passwords. You’ll either have to store them in a text file, either make them simple (I suppose, you’re not writing them on the paper).

I found an open source solution that combines the power of PuTTY and allows to have as many servers as you like. It’s WinSCP. It is a free ssh client, translated into many languages, and it allows you to have as many server sessions as you like. On Windows I am using a password manager, it’s Sticky Password. WinSCP has PuTTY in it and it allows to easily transfer files between your server and your local machine. It has Norton Commander and Explorer-like interface, a plenty of settings, that allow you to customize it in the way you like. Take a look at the program Interface:

WinSCP with PuTTY in it are enough for a system administrator. Both are free of charge, accessible and very useful. If you need more functionality, e.g. ability to connect your server as a Windows drive, there is a shareware named SftpDrive. It allows you to have a new drive to easily transfer files. You don’t have ability to use the command line, but this could be helpful in editing files, as you can use them with your favorite Windows viewers and editors. You can try it for 6 weeks and if you decide it is worth $39, you can buy it.

That’s all for today. Next time I am going to present some tools written on PHP, that allow to work with text files. Bye-bye!