Automatic versioned backups of Sqlite in a Docker Compose container
For relatively lightweight applications that are either in development, or single user, or have limited requirements for concurrency and massive data sets, SQLite is a superb, full-function, but compact, almost ubiquitous database (it's used on every mobile device, for example).
Installing NextCloud Hub with OnlyOffice on Ubuntu 18.04
I have previously provided an in-depth explanation about NextCloud with Collabora Office Online and how we've installed it on Ubuntu 16.04. This is an update both of the process, and of the technology.
Configuring a Linux server to send email via the Postfix SMTP server using an external authenticating SMTP host
Just about any and every server needs to be able to send email - whether it's end-user-email, like password recovery services for a website to emails to system administrators reporting on the status of system backups and errors. The problem is that it's non trivial (understatement) to set up a mail server properly.
Upgrading RocketChat to 1.0.x and MongoDB to 4.0
With the recent release of Rocket.Chat 1.0.x (after a couple years undergoing development at a fairly blistering pace), it's time for many of us to upgrade!
Previously, I showed how to install Rocket.Chat via Docker Compose but that was a much earlier version of Rocket.Chat and version 3.4 of MongoDB, which is now quite old (by FOSS standards at least). And it turns out upgrading everything has a few gotchas, so here's how I managed to do it.
Installing NextCloud and Collabora Office Online with Docker on Ubuntu 16.04
Dropbox is the best known of the end-user "cloud storage" services for documents, backups, and synchronising data among multiple devices, although now Google's Drive and Microsoft's OneDrive are functionally similar and are being heavily promoted and tied into all sorts of services.
Installing Mastodon with Docker-Compose on Ubuntu 16.04
Not long ago, Mastodon, an open source, federated alternative to the proprietary network-effect wunderkind, Twitter, came out of no where.
Docker Compose: A better way to deploy Rocketchat, Wekan, and MongoDB
A few months back, I posted instructions on deploying Rocket.Chat and Wekan instances (and their mutual dependency, MongoDB) individually. Since then, I've spent some time with Docker Compose, a set of scripts which help you to define, build, and manage a set of Docker containers. Docker Compose is a thing of beauty. This is the way I now deploy Rocket.Chat, Wekan, and MongoDB together.
Many simple tools, loosely coupled
Our approach to technology here at the OERu is inspired by the UNIX tool philosophy which can be summarised as follows:
"create simple tools that do one job well, and make it easy to combine them to work together"
Protecting your users with Let's Encrypt SSL Certs
SkFor any website that requires anyone (users or even just a few admins) to transfer secrets to and from it, you want to ensure the data is end-to-end encrypted. Today various browsers (like Firefox) give warnings when you're sending secret data (like passwords) "in the clear", namely unencrypted.
Multiple Discourse Forums on the same server
At the OERu we have two separate instances of market category leading Discourse Forum: one for OER partner and contributor collaborators and the other for learners. These days, online forums are seen as a bit old-school: fuddy-duddy. From my point of view, however, Discourse is "Forum-NG" (a Next Generation forum).