Virtuozzo / Plesk / VPS

!!!USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

Skiplist and up2date config for 7.5.4 on 3ES

I couldn't find a good updated skiplist specifically for VPS accounts, so I made my own. First, I used all of the default skips, plus skipping any package from swsoft that's preinstalled, and also skipping any http, mysql, or php packages.

My final skiplist looks like this:

javamail;jaf;quota;kernel*;glibc*;httpd*;php*;rpm*;perl*;psa*;Cold*;tcp*;mailman
*;ncurses*;java*;mod*;dummy*;mysql*;hspc*;postgres*;frontpage*;

(Forum is putting a space between rpm* and ;. There are no spaces in this skiplist, so paste into a text editor first and ensure that there are no spaces)

You can set this via SSH to your account and typing:

up2date --configure[enter]
20[enter]
[paste list][enter]
[enter]

Next, I made sure that Rollback is enabled. Don't want to fall into the same trap of upgrading, and having to wipe the entire setup because plesk crashed over something it depended on.

You can set this via SSH to your account and typing:

up2date --configure[enter]
5[enter]
Yes[enter]
[enter]

I'm running up2date -u with this skiplist and rollback right now, and everything is upgrading nicely. I'm making down the current time and date in my admin journal, and can now easily undo any of the changes at a later date if something does appear broken.

I tested out a rollback on yum, but it doesn't work for me, so if someone knows how to get it working, they can add their own instructions for that.

Optimizations

Kill ColdFusion (k2server & k2admin)

If you have tried to kill ColdFusion with "chkconfig coldfusionmx7 off", you may notice that for some reason it still starts up after you reboot your VPS. Here's a sure fire way to get rid of ColdFusion.

rpm -e ColdFusion

Then edit your /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.include with a line like:

nano -w /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.include

Remove the line that says:
LoadModule jrun_module /opt/coldfusionmx/runtime/lib/wsconfig/psa/mod_jrun20.so

If you don't remove this line, your httpd will crash because this file is now missing.

After you do all of this, reboot your server.

Notice that this will completely remove ColdFusion from your system. I've tried rpm --repackage -e ColdFusion, but it doesn't seem to repackage correctly. But, if you are ABSOLUTELY SURE you don't need ColdFusion, this will remove the ColdFusion-7.0-1.as3.swsoft package from your system.

What this fixes is if you do a top and see a lot of k2server and k2admin functions. This runs about 180 processes on your system! This will make your VPS redline on the max number of processes. This fix takes you from around 225 processes to about 45. If you are having problems with new processes not spawning correctly, this is probably the biggest fix you can make.

Secure Your Server with R-fx Networks

http://www.rfxnetworks.com/proj.php

Download all, install all, be more secure all. APF+BFD are a good start for better security, the rest will make your system run smoother and cleaner by fighting off process hogs, process hijackers, rogue daemons, and will monitor your system to ensure your critical applications stay online.

Note: To setup APF, you're going to have to endure some errors. Read the thread http://forums.ev1servers.net/showthread.ph...ghlight=vps+apf


RFXN

You will still get errors, lots of them ("iptables: Memory allocation problem" and "iptables: No chain/target/match by that name"), but it will partially work. Partial is better than nothing. And, from all that I hear, you will run into similar problems regardless of what third party firewall you use because the problems are caused by the way iptables is handled by the VPS system and the settings that EV1 runs. The good side is that the author of APF confirms that it will still basically work.

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If anyone has modifications to this skiplist or further VPS specific optimizations, modify below, and I'll periodically update.