I recently had a request from someone on how to setup multiple domains on a single IP address. This is something that I’ve thought about doing before, but haven’t taken the time to stop and set it up. After getting sub-domains working, this was a breeze, as it’s the same process. I’m working on an Ubuntu server, so this may be a little different for you.

DNS

First setup the DNS, since it will probably take about an hour for that to update anyway, depending on the TTY that you use. If you’re setting this up and you want to make sure it works, you can edit your /etc/hosts file on a mac or linux machine. I think there’s a way to do this in windows as well, but I’m not sure of what file you’d be looking for. Just remember to delete that entry after you know it works.

To setup the DNS you first need to find the DNS control for the domain registrar that you use. In GoDaddy the option would be called Total DNS. Change the A record to the IP address you want to use as a server and you’re done.

Configuration

Now you need to create a new file in /etc/apache2/sites-available/. Call it whatever you want. I will call it NEWSITE.TLD. In this file you will create a new file that looks similar to this, only substituting information specific to your server:

NameVirtualHost *:80
<VirtualHost *:80>

ServerAdmin you@your-domain.tld
ServerName your-domain.tld

DocumentRoot /var/www/your-root/
<Directory /var/www/your-root/>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
Allowverride None
Order allow,deny
allow from all
</Directory>

ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log
LogLevel warn
CustomLog /var/log/apache/access.log combined
ServerSignature On
</VirtualHost>

Now we enable the site with:

sudo a2ensite /etc/apache2/sites-available/NEWSITE.TLD

Reload the apache configuration and you should be good to go.

We spent a few days in the dells and it was a lot of fun. We didn’t take a ton of pictures. Here’s a few of them

So. Is this supposed to be a joke or did somebody really not read his shirt before they sent out a newsletter with this photo?

I decided this week to switch over my web hosting from Godaddy to iPower. I was a little worried about the process at first, but it was pretty simple and now that it’s all over I’m definitely glad I did it.

I had been thinking about it for over 3 weeks, ever since I got the recommendation. Then a couple weeks ago my blog started being super slow. At first I was worried that it was my design, but even the back-end was going slow. After a little research I came to the conclusion that the GoDaddy MySQL database wasn’t really setup very good for WordPress. I was a little worried because I had just signed up for a two year hosting plan and I didn’t want to be stuck with that service for two more years.

Finally, one day I was just fed up with it and I called tech support to figure out how much money I could get back, if any. The guy I talked to told me that I would be refunded for any unused time, but that they had to manually refund my money. He asked some questions about why I wanted to switch, but I only talked to him for a few minutes.

I backed up my site, setup my my iPower account, and then, after iPower was all setup, I changed the DNS in my GoDaddy account to point to iPower. Then the next day I called GoDaddy and cancelled my hosting account and got 23 months refunded. It was really great. I wish I didn’t have to switch off of GoDaddy, since their customer service was so great, but everything about the experience was slow. Even navigating through their menus was slow with too many steps. When I login to iPower I’m already set to manage my hosting account, but with GoDaddy there were three or four mouse clicks just to get to that point. And with iPower all the options are right there, on one page, whereas with GoDaddy it just feels like everything is more complicated than it needs to be, with too many menus.

One last note: When I first setup my iPower account and I was trying to setup my new blog, it wasn’t working. I didn’t know why at first, but it turns out that CGI scripting wasn’t turned on, so PHP wasn’t working. I went to the support section to submit a ticket for support and within a half hour I had an email explaining what had happened and that the issue had been taken care of. So far the iPower support has also been very good.

I recently upgraded my macbook’s Hard drive and RAM. After skimming the Howtos for the past year, it was a very simple process, and well worth it.

The RAM

To start, I had to research the type of memory that my MacBook uses. There are a million websites that will give the specs on the RAM you need. I don’t recomend that you buy the “Apple” memory, as it’s much more expensive than just buying regular laptop memory from newegg. Not to mention, it’s the exact same thing.

It turns out that even though Apple only recommends that you use 4GB of RAM in the white macbook, people have been able to get 6GB working, with 1 x 2GB and 1 x 4GB. When I saw this I thought about it for about a half-second and decided against it. 4GB would double my RAM, and dual channel memory works best with two identical sticks.

The Hard Drive

For a little less than a year now, since shortly after I got my macbook I have been looking at hard drives to replace the one that came in the system. I explored many options, including small SSD drives and large 7200RPM HDDs. In the end I decided to go with the new 500GB 7200RPM drive from Seagate. I was a little worried at first that the drive would be loud or create noticeable vibration, but so far neither is true. It is also running quite cool, currently at 35 degrees Celsius after running almost all day.

The Process

As I’ve already mentioned, it was quite easy to install the new hardware and get working again quickly. There are a zillion tutorials online about how to do it. The first thing you need to do is check out this episode of Systm, all about upgrading laptop hard drives on Macs and PCs. This one is google: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=macbook+hard+drive+upgrade.

Swapping the RAM is a very simple process. Take out the battery, take out 3 screws on the L-bracket, push the little switches to the other side to pop the RAM out, replace it and put it all back together.

The Hard Drive is even easier. Once you get the L-bracket out, you pull the tab on the hard dive to get it out, put the new hard drive on the tray and slide it back in. If you want to restore your documents and settings you’ll also need a 2.5″ hard drive enclose with USB or Firewire.

After the Hard Drive was back in I put in the OS X disks that came with the computer to install OS X. After the install I plugged in the old hard drive, now in a USB enclosure and chose the option to get documents from another hard dive on the computer. It copied everything in my home directory along with all my applications and network settings. When the computer booted up it looked like I never replaced the hard drive at all. The only thing left to do was Software Update.