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How to use Bind Mounting in Linux

Bind Mounting allows us to make one directory accessible from more than one location. It’s like “intercepting” directory1 and making the system redirect requests to directory2. Let’s take a look how to set this up and why we may want to use this technique. Quick Refresher: Device Mounting Perhaps you’re familiar with mounting devices to … Read more

How to change the default directory for backups in Plesk

By default the Backup Manager in Plesk stores local backups in /var/lib/psa/dumps. You can change this location by editing /etc/psa/psa.conf. Find the following block in the file: # Backups directory DUMP_D /var/lib/psa/dumps DUMP_TMP_D /tmp Change the path for DUMP_D to your new desired location, then restart Plesk for the changes to take effect: service psa … Read more

How to install Apache mod_pagespeed on CentOS with Plesk

Apache-LogoI bumped into Kristian Markroft from Simplyroot in New Orleans last week, and he told me about an interesting speed-up module for the Apache Webserver.

mod_pagespeed is an open source project which speeds up page loads without having to change the code of the actual page. mod_pagespeed does this by adding filters before pages are served. For example it will resize images and minify CSS/JS files, which can speed up page load considerably. The project is hosted on Google Code:

Let’s see how we can install it on CentOS, test to see if it works and how to manage it in Plesk.

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Getting Started with ZEND Server 6 on Mac OS X

ZEND_logo

I’ve just installed ZEND Server 6.3 on my MacBook running Mavericks 10.9.1. Needless to say I’m sill a little shaken up from the huge amount of brain pain this adventure has caused.

Because once downloaded and installed on your system, you may ask yourself a vital question: Now What?

Let’s find out. This article is Work in Progress – bear with me while I flesh it out.

The Basics

ZEND Server on Mac is located here:

  • /usr/local/zend/

Your web files live here:

  • /usr/local/zend/apache2/htdocs

To open this directory in Finder you can navigate there with a Terminal session and open it, like so:

cd /usr/local/zend/apache2/htdocs
open .

Now you can create a shortcut on your sidebar for easy access.

To access the ZEND Server Admin interface, navigate to the following URL in your browser:

If you’re done with it, you can uninstall ZEND Server with the following command:

sudo /usr/local/zend/bin/uninstall.sh

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How to create an Extension in Plesk

Extensions are to Plesk what Plugins are to WordPress. They allow developers to add functionality to the Plesk Panel via PHP, make CSS and JavaScript tweaks and allow a very fine grained amount of customisations. Creating modifications in isolated files instead of hacking Plesk core files also assures that upgrades won’t overwrite any changes you’ve … Read more