How to Replace MySQL with MariaDB in Ubuntu Server

Replace MySQL with MariaDB in an active server

Last night I thought it would be a good idea to try MariaDB on an Ubuntu server. What a mistake! The MariaDB installation screwed up. Took 4 hours to fix my server but I did eventually get MariaDB installed in Ubuntu, yay! My home server used Apache2, MySQL and PHP, all managed with Webmin and … Read more

Missing Apache2 Module mod_env in Ubuntu? Follow This…

So easy to fix but hard to find the solution. Hope this helps all you who are stuck with this. If your Apache server doesn’t start and you get an error message like this: Failed to start apache : * Starting web server apache2 Syntax error on line 63 of /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/mythweb.conf: Invalid command ‘SetEnv’, perhaps … Read more

Fix Open_BaseDir Restriction Errors

I don’t know a secure solution but I do know the cause. The cause is a PHP security restriction. It’s a good one to have and shows your host cares about you and other users on your server. A typical open_basedir error looks like this: PHP Warning: file_exists(): open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/var/www/your-website/wp-config.php) is not … Read more

Quick Tip For Creating and Testing Database Backups

It’s a gut wrenching feeling to find you’ve deleted a database and your backup is mashed-up because your server timed-out during the export or that your export completed properly but it’s too big to import into your database because your server’s max file upload size is too small. Whenever you create a MySQL database backup … Read more

Fix 404 Errors Caused by Requests for Missing files

If your website stats and server error logs are filled with requests for missing images, non-existent Javascript files or just plain old missing CSS and TXT files, or any other file type you can think of then you can quickly cure those 404 errors with an .htaccess snippet and set of default replacement files. How … Read more