A few weeks ago I published a how to guide to configure Apache HTTP as a reverse proxy. On that ocasion I was following what the average guide on the internet does on Linux. A front end server with Apache HTTP on calls a backend server where the real site is sitting. Many backend calls […]

How to configure Apache HTTP with a TLS reverse proxy backend on FreeBSD

FreeBSD Jails
The FreeBSD jails is a virtualization technology you may have skipped for too long. It is an operating system level virtualization and is one of the differential characteristics of FreeBSD from Linux. Solaris took it to the main corporate use with Zones and as it couldn’t be any other way the Illumos folks also play […]

How to install the Clamav antivirus in FreeBSD
Clamav is an antivirus. But don’t think of Clamav as the antivirus you have sitting in your personal computer at home or in your office. It’s an antivirus that works under user demand. It is not constantly monitoring the system. So you will have to setup some cronjobs in order to check and monitor the […]

Nmap cheatsheet
Nmap is a discovery tool used in security circles but very useful for network administrators or sysadmins. One can get information about operating systems, open ports, running apps with quite good accuracy. It can even be used in substitution to vulnerability scanners such as Nessus or OpenVAS for not very large environments, or quick audits. […]

How to install Webmin on FreeBSD 12
Webmin is a fantastic tool for those willing to administer UNIX or unix-like systems through a GUI interface. While the CLI interface lets any user to interact with these kind of systems to the very core and extract all the juice, there are tasks where the graphical interface makes sense and its visual and quick […]

How to secure the ELK stack on CentOS 8
This is a follow up of the ‘how to install the ELK stack on CentOS 8’. That is a basic setup with no security at all. There is no encryption, no username and password setup, nothing. Not even firewall rules to filter ports. And as it’s known security can’t only rely on one factor but […]

Nessus vulnerability scanner
Nessus is a very well known vulnerability scanner used by many large and small companies to assess their systems and correct the issues found in them. Cybersecurity teams and specially auditors, make heavy use of tools like this in order to follow up the state of infrastructure and environments. Having a tool like this saves […]

How to compile cloudflared in FreeBSD 13/14
I happen to self-host my websites using Cloudflare’s services (article 1, article 2). Since the FreeBSD port seems to be delaying its releases and Cloudflare’s policy on maintaining versions only considers 1 year old code, in an act of prevention I have learnt, and I am publishing, how to compile cloudflared in FreeBSD. Note: At […]

A word on Spectre and Meltdown
As professionals and many aficionados know, early this year some widespread vulnerabilities were found on Intel CPU’s as well as on AMD’s. It was a bit later discovered the flaws also affected some RISC architectures such as Power and ARM. Everybody went nuts and the world seemed to be tumbling because of two CPU vulnerabilities […]

How to configure a Virtual Host in Apache
You may have just one website and that is ok. If that is your case you can avoid this entire chapter. But some of you may also have several websites. And quite probably you want to use one single public ip to resolve all the domains you have. The Apache documentation is the main resource […]
