1. create a full backup of your vps (databases, websites, accounts, emails, …). I have used “tar” command for that.
2. in plesk 8.1 control panel, do a complete backup (you need plesk backup module to be installed), or if you prefer the command line you can use the following command:

1

# /usr/local/psa/bin/pleskbackup all <backup-file>

Since version 9.x, the structure of Parallels Plesk Panel backup has been changed. Plesk backup created with Plesk Backup Manager is not just one file but a number of files and directories under backups directory /var/lib/psa/dumps. So, you will need to convert your backup file created in plesk 8.1 to be compatible with plesk 9.x. It’s a very simple process, see step 3.

3. convert the created backup file to be compatible with plesk 9.x

1

# /usr/local/psa/bin/pre9-backup-convert -v convert -d /var/lib/psa/dumps/ <backup-file>

where /var/lib/psa/dumps/ is backups directory on the server with Parallels Plesk Panel 9

4. restore the backup files to use them with plesk 9.x. It can be done using the web interface, Home -> Backup Manager -> Server Repository, click the backup name to enter the backup details page and select the required restoration options and click Restore to start the restoration process.

If you would like to use command line to restore your domains, clients, server configuration, … then you can use the following command:

1

# /usr/local/psa/bin/pleskrestore --restore /var/lib/psa/dumps/<your backup xml file> -level server -verbose -debug

You can restore only clients or domains, for more options see:

1

# /usr/local/psa/bin/pleskrestore --help

Note: I had a small problem and I found that it is not possible to have a client with the same name as your name in Plesk Admin Profile. Maybe it is stupid, but I had some errors and only after I changed the name in Admin Profile (in Plesk control panel) to be different, I could restore without any problem everything.

I think that’s all what I did, from what I remember. If something is missing I am sure you can find a lot of useful stuff using our friend google.

Other useful stuff:

1. Plesk 9.x support as well postfix, so if you want to change from qmail to postfix, try that:

1

# /usr/local/psa/bin/autoinstaller --select-release-current --install-component postfix

if you are not happy, you can switch back to qmail:

1

# /usr/local/psa/bin/autoinstaller --select-release-current --install-component qmail.

If you are not sure if you are using qmail or postfix there are many ways to find that, one is to look in Plesk Control Panel on the Services management page {Home -> Services Management} if you have SMTP Server (Postfix) or SMTP Server (QMail)

If you decide you want to switch back, simply, do it, the emails are not lost, don’t worry.

2. Replace Horde webmail with AtMail

One of the many new features of Plesk 9, is the option to choose a different webmail client. The default webmail client Horde can be replaced if you are looking for something a bit lighter, AtMail. You need to install from Plesk Control Panel, both webmail clients, and to switch between them:

• Log into Plesk.
• Chose the domain which you want to use another webmail, enter on “Mail Accounts” page
• Click the “Mail Settings” icon
• Switch the “WebMail” to “AtMail (default is Horde)
• Click “OK”

If you decide you want to switch back, simply reverse the procedure, the emails are not lost, don’t worry.

That’s all.

References:

http://kb.parallels.com/en/5819
http://kb.parallels.com/en/5801
http://kb.parallels.com/en/952
http://kb.parallels.com/en/5969
http://kb.parallels.com/en/5864

Here are the steps to encrypt the hdd:

1. be sure that the device is not part of filesystem

1

umount /dev/sdd1

2. Option 1: write some random data on hdd if you had critical files before

1
2

#slow method to fill hdd with semi-random data
dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sdd1

3. Option 2:

1
2
3

#use next two commands to fill the hdd with "zero" data, much faster
dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sdd1 count=2 bs=1M
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdd1

3. start the encryption setup

1
2
3

cryptsetup -v --key-size 256 luksFormat /dev/sdd1
cryptsetup luksDump /dev/sdd1  #details for encrypted partition
cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sdd1 buffalo

4. format hdd as ext3

1

/sbin/mkfs.ext3 /dev/mapper/buffalo

5. mount the encrypted hdd

1

mount /dev/mapper/buffalo /mnt/buffalo

6. add the entry in /etc/fstab

1

/dev/mapper/buffalo     /mnt/buffalo      ext3    acl,user_xattr        1 2

7. Optional step: try tune2fs -L MYLABEL /dev/mapper/buffalo if you want a nice label for your hdd.

Enjoy!

So here is what I did:

As filesystem I used Fat32. I installed System RescueCD so I have a bootable linux distro with a lot of useful utilities like Partimage, GNU Parted, TestDisk, kernel for i386 and also for x86-64, … The instructions to install it on fat32 filesystem are here: Installation On USB Memory Stick, I used “Instalation from Windows” part.

Next step was to install Truecrypt for windows in portable mode, a step by step guide how to do it, is available here, to be able to open my encrypted volume.

Now I can create an encrypted volume, using truecrypt, where we store all my personal files, let’s say 2 giga.

In that encrypted volume I also installed PortableApps Suite and beeing a LaTeX user I also included USBTeX.

Ok, now I still have space to store some useful small iso images, like Clonezilla, Hiren Boot CD, Acronis True Image BootCD.

That’s my setup for USB Memory Stick, I have it with me all the time, I can use it on any system, mac, windows, linux, I have a bootable linux disto on it, and also my personal files encrypted with some useful software. Maybe I should mention that Portable Apps Suite works well also with wine on linux.

I did a dd copy of my complete usb stick configuration/setup, immediately after I finished to install everything I needed, because if I will lose it, then to be able to recover everything quickly.

1. Go acronis.co.uk website  (http://www.acronis.co.uk/mag/ati10pe)
2. Fill up the form by entering your name and email address
3. You will receive an email, so, click on Confirmation Link in your inbox

Once you have confirmed your email, you will receive a serial number of Acronis True Image 10 Personal Edition in your inbox and you can download the software from your account on Acronis website.

Now, you have a good piece of software

“Munin the monitoring tool surveys all your computers and remembers what it saw. It presents all the information in graphs through a web interface. Its emphasis is on plug and play capabilities. After completing a installation a high number of monitoring plugins will be playing with no more effort.

Using Munin you can easily monitor the performance of your computers, networks, SANs, applications, weather measurements and whatever comes to mind. It makes it easy to determine “what’s different today” when a performance problem crops up. It makes it easy to see how you’re doing capacity-wise on any resources.”

The configuration file is:

/etc/munin/munin.conf

The minimal configuration file for server:

# Configfile for Munin master
dbdir       /var/lib/munin/
htmldir     /var/www/munin/
logdir      /var/log/munin
rundir      /var/run/munin/

[mynode.mydomain.com]
address 192.168.1.105

In the configuration file for server I specified only one single node: mynode.mydomain.com

Next step is to configure the node but the default configuration is fine, only  let the server to acces Munin port 4949:

allow ^192\.168\.1\.1$

where 192.168.1.1 is the ip number for server.

The final step si to check their website to read the documentation/faq for more configuration options.

That’s all

After you followed this procedure there will be no way to recover your data.

The magic command is here, you can use LiveCD (for example Knoppix):

#shred -vz /dev/sda

or

# shred -u -n 30 /dev/hda

This will overwrite the data on the drive with garbage using 30 passes. The drive will need to be re-formatted after this as even the filesystem structure will be destroyed.

If you want to read more about this command try man shred or info shred

-D [bind_address:]port

Specifies a local ``dynamic'' application-level port forwarding.
This works by allocating a socket to listen to port on the local
side, optionally bound to the specified bind_address.  Whenever a
connection is made to this port, the connection is forwarded over
the secure channel, and the application protocol is then used to
determine where to connect to from the remote machine.  Currently
the SOCKS4 and SOCKS5 protocols are supported, and ssh will act
as a SOCKS server.  Only root can forward privileged ports.  Dy-
namic port forwardings can also be specified in the configuration
file.

So the magic command is (you need a ssh account on server):

$ssh -D 10000 user@ssh-server

this will create a SOCKS proxy on port “10000″ of your computer. This is a nice tunnel to the server. Now, all you need to do is to set in xchat to use a SOCKS proxy. The proxy is, “localhost”, with the port 10000. That’s all, the xchat works and you can spend a lot of time on irc.

Also you can use this kind of tunnel for safe browsing. You have to set your preferences in Firefox to use a SOCKS proxy. When you browse, all the connections you make to websites will seem to originate from the server to which you SSH-ed. In addition, all outgoing and incoming data for the browsing session will be encrypted since it passes through the SSH connection. I am using this when I need access to some sites and I don’t have access from home, so I make the ssh-tunnel to university and then I can access them.

There are also applications (email clients) which may also support SOCKS proxy.

Enjoy.