How to install Apache mod_pagespeed on CentOS with Plesk
I bumped into Kristian Markroft from Simplyroot in New Orleans last week, and he told me about an interesting speed-up module for the Apache Webserver. mod_pagespeed is an open source project which speeds up page loads without having to change the code of the actual page. mod_pagespeed does this by adding filters before pages are served. For example it will resize images and minify CSS/JS files, which can speed up page load considerably. The project is hosted on Google Code: https://code.google.com/p/modpagespeed/ Let’s see how we can...
read moreHow to remove data from your iCloud Storage
Trouble backing up your device to iCloud? Is your storage constantly at the limit and you don’t know what to do about it? Fret not! In this video I will show you some option you have to deal with that dreaded message “Not enough iCloud Storage”. Essentially there are four things you can do to prevent this problem: buy more iCloud Storage backup less data (for example, don’t backup pictures) remove older iCloud backups (think of devices you no longer own) use less iCloud Document Storage (remove data from iMovie...
read moreGetting Started with ZEND Server 6 on Mac OS X
I’ve just installed ZEND Server 6.3 on my MacBook running Mavericks 10.9.1. Needless to say I’m sill a little shaken up from the huge amount of brain pain this adventure has caused. Because once downloaded and installed on your system, you may ask yourself a vital question: Now What? Let’s find out. This article is Work in Progress – bear with me while I flesh it out. The Basics ZEND Server on Mac is located here: /usr/local/zend/ Your web files live here: /usr/local/zend/apache2/htdocs To open this directory in Finder...
read moreCrash Course in BASH Script Programming a classic…
Crash Course in BASH Script Programming (a classic): http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Bash-Prog-Intro-HOWTO.html
read moreHow to create an Extension in Plesk
Extensions are to Plesk what Plugins are to WordPress. They allow developers to add functionality to the Plesk Panel via PHP, make CSS and JavaScript tweaks and allow a very fine grained amount of customisations. Creating modifications in isolated files instead of hacking Plesk core files also assures that upgrades won’t overwrite any changes you’ve made (much like the Child Theme philosophy in WordPress). Here’s a quick how-to guide on writing your first extension. Uploading an existing Extension Extensions come into Plesk...
read moreHow to upgrade to MySQL 5.5 and PHP 5.4 in Plesk 11.5 (CentOS)
One of my clients wanted to run a web application that required MySQL 5.5 instead of the default MySQL 5.1 that ships with Plesk at the time of writing. He needed it due to the better handling of UTF8 characters. I struggled to find clear instructions on how to do this – so here they are CentOS 5.x In CentOS 5 you can switch to MySQL 5.5 under Tools and Settings – Updates and Upgrades. The installer shows something like this: Simply switch to MySQL 5.5 (packaged by Parallels) and hit install. CentOS 6.x Sadly the above convenience...
read moreHow to install ZEND Framework for use with MAMP
If you have MAMP installed and working on your Mac, it’s easy to get started with ZEND Framework development. I’ll show you how in this article. Download the framework from here: http://framework.zend.com/downloads/latest Choose the full version without ZEND Server (not necessary as we’re using MAMP). Unpack the download and put it somewhere safe. I’m adding mine to my Documents directory. I’ll also rename my folder to something like “ZendFramework” without the version number. To access it from...
read moreHow to run Plesk on your local network and access virtual domains on your Mac
Whether you’re running Plesk on a dedicated machine on your network or in a virtual environment, you’ll want to setup test domains and work with them as if they were live – just like it was running in a data centre. It’s not as easy as I thought, which is why I took some notes on how to do it. In this example I’ve got a dedicated CentOS instance on my local network. This can be my trusty old NC10 netbook, or a virtual machine running on Parallels Desktop on your Mac (I’ve explained how to set this up here:...
read moreHow to create a Plesk Mirror
When you deploy Plesk to various instances on your local network you can save the world (and yourself) from a lot of internet traffic by creating a local mirror. This is a duplicate of the original installer files needed to deploy Plesk which are downloaded once and can then be used from a machine on your network – which makes the installation much faster. This used to be a bit of a pain, but thanks to a new knowledge base article – and Ivan Butorin for telling me about this – it’s become so much easier to do. In this...
read moreHow to SSH into a Virtual Machine in Parallels Desktop
I was pulling my hair out the other day trying to connect to a VM in Parallels Desktop. It’s fairly straightforward, yet rather complex at the same time. Here’s how to do it step by step. In this example I’m running Parallels Desktop 8 under Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks, and my Guest OS CentOS 6.5. Configuring your VM Before starting the VM, start Parallels Desktop and head over to Virtual Machine Configure Hardware Network You’ll get to a screen like this: Make sure the tick box is “Connected”. Under Type you...
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