A fractal spectrum of tales

• Brute force attacks and fail2ban

  Even a nearly unkown server like mine receives every day a number of brute force attacks. Usually I have an instance of fail2ban monitoring the logs of all my services and readily banning the attackers after few attempts.

  Not tonight…

  Let’s move a step backwards. What is fail2ban and how does it work?

  Reaching out the home page of the software you can read

  Fail2ban scans log files and bans IPs that show the malicious signs - too many password failures, seeking for exploits, etc. Generally Fail2Ban then used to update firewall rules to reject the IP addresses for a specified amount of time, although any arbitrary other action (e.g. sending an email, or ejecting CD-ROM tray) could also be configured. Out of the box Fail2Ban comes with filters for various services (apache, curier, ssh, etc).

  
  3 min read - Dec 12, 2013

• On iTerm2 and solarized dark

  This weekend I’ve spent some time to understand Z Shell. I admit that I’ve should have done it ages ago. I actually regret not having done it ages ago, I would have saved a lot of time.

  Moving your .bashrc to your new .zshrc is almost just copy and paste. And you suddently find yourself with a shell that makes you feel in the future!

  If you additionally install oh my zsh, the only thing that your shell will be missing is the capability of making coffee. The official description is literally true:

  
  2 min read - Dec 7, 2013
• On the differential logistic equation

  This fall I am teaching Mathematical Methods for Scientist. This week we started to talk about differential equations and for the lecture I was looking for an example of a broadely used first order ODE: my final choice has been the logistic equation.

  It is a fairly simple differential equation that is used to describe the growth (and saturation) of populations in environments with competition for limited resources. Before entering into more details I think it’s time to digress slightly and talk about something simpler.

  
  4 min read - Dec 6, 2013
• Deploying Anchor CMS on OpenShift

  Some of you may already know that installing ghost on OpenShift is extremely easy (and free). You can check this post if you don’t believe me.

  I was wandering how is it with other small and less known CMS. Given that I was already making some local tests with [Anchor CMS](https://anchorcms.com" _target=“blank) for a friend, and given that there is almost nothing around about its deployment on Open Shift I decided to give it a try and write about it.

  
  8 min read - Nov 8, 2013
• The beauty of mathematics

  After having watched this video I hope you will agree with Bertrand Russell:

  "Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty — a beauty cold and austere, without the gorgeous trappings of painting or music."

  — Bertrand Russell

  And this is just a scratch of the surface of the mysterious wonderful world that is hiding behind those fascinating symbols.

  A video by Yann Pineill & Nicolas Lefaucheux.

  
  1 min read - Nov 5, 2013
• A great workaround for targeting links in Ghost

  When I am reading something, I hate to click on some link (that I will supposedly read later) and be redirected to the new page. I’d rather prefer the links to open in background in a new tab.

  You may say that it is enough to click while pressing Command or Control and the page will be opened in a background tab, but it’s not the same. What if I accidentally click for example?

  
  2 min read - Oct 29, 2013
• Git workflow for lazy mathematicians

  This post is pretty old, You can refer to my new post here for a more modern version.

  First of all, what is git? Citing its website

  Git is a free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency. [It] is easy to learn and has a tiny footprint with lightning fast performance.

  In other words Git provides a source control repository that enables you to roll back code changes as needed, to merge the updates when collaborating with others and eventually to have an online backup of your work.

  
  11 min read - Oct 21, 2013
• Update script explained

  I am going to proceed step by step through the code of the script that I have posted few days ago.

  I purposedly updated the script to be a bit more general and flexible (but not too much). At the end of the file I explain how to run it. You should make a backup before doing the update (the simplest way is probably running tar czf backup.tar.gz YOUR_GHOST_FOLDER). Be careful that there is no warranty with this script and I will not take any responsibility for claims or damages consequent to the use of it.

  
  4 min read - Oct 21, 2013
• A simple script to update ghost

  You can update your ghost engine in many different ways, two for all by hand or by using git.

  I am personally using a very basic bash script. If you need a semiauthomatic way to run the update, you can just copy/download it from gist and adapt to your needs.

  I think it is simple enough to require no explanation.

  
  1 min read - Oct 19, 2013
• nginx, ghost 0.3.3 and modsecurity

  In my previous post, Ghost on Amazon EC2 without using sudo, I was proposing some way of running ghost without having to use sudo and with at least a minimal eye on security.

  If you have followed one of the guides that I suggested, namely Dude Looks Like a Ghost, or you have installed your own modsecurity configuration you should have received a big page announcing an Error 403 right after the update of your ghost to version 0.3.3.

  
  2 min read - Oct 18, 2013

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