Daniel Sokolowski's Blog

I had this error appear almost on every reboot in my /var/log/mail.err file. Rather frustrating considering reboots are so infrequent that I would forget that dovecot failed to start and troubleshoot anew IMAP access failure. Well last time this happened I decided to fix the root cause and below is the solution. As per dovecot wiki this error can appear on some VPS hosts. Resolving this is relatively easy but it's not obvious, the solution consists of installing NTP - Network Time Protocol daemon which keep your time correct and synchronized and then delaying the execution of dovecot service until ntpd service is loaded. Ubunty/Debian Sollution Install the ntp package: # aptitude update Get:1 http://security.debian.org squeeze/updates Release.gpg [836 B] ... # aptitude install ntp By default dovecot startup script does not require the ntp servicet before it starts, so we must modify it that it waits for the ntp before it starts itself. Edit the /etc/init.d/dovecot ...

I've deployed a few SSL enabled sites in the past but have never encountered as much trouble as I did with Verisign/Symantec Secure Site SSL certificate. And the thing is it can all be blamed on a poorly formatted Download Symantec Secure Site Primary and Secondary Intermediate CA bundle page. Yes even though it does say the word 'Download' you are actually asked to copy and paste; brilliant considering that if you do so your resulting file is malformed due to additional white space on each line I did not notice the white space until well into my second hour of frustration and pain. Apache just chokes with "Failed to configure CA certificate chain!" or "Unable to configure verify locations for client authentication" errors. For the substantial premium clients pay to use SSL Verisign certificates I must say I really expected better. To resolve the issue either manually remove the white spaces or create the chain file by copying and pasting from th...

Setting up apache + passanger to serve a RoR app on Ubuntu/Debian ( VPS Linode ) I'm a Django/Python developer that was tasked with transitioning a Heroku hosted app to a Linode VPS running stock Ubuntu. This turned to be a two day adventure with a lot of dead ends and a fair share of frustration. I had the app running relatively quickly using the `rails server` built in command but could not get apache + mod_passanger to serve it. I must say that in my opinion RoR cummunity is doing it's self a disservice by not having solid easy to follow deployment instructions - doing a search on ruby on rails deployment returns outdated noise and official page that is of no help. Below is a quick summary of what I have learned and how I deployed a Ruby on Rails site with Apache on a Ubuntu system running on a Linode VPS. If this blog does help you out I ask that you do +1 or share it; so now let's begin. Do not use the Ubuntu/Debian system packages I mean do NOT, this is t...