Prerequisites A domain managed by Google Cloud DNS A Linux server (Ubuntu/Debian) Root/sudo access Google Cloud project with billing enabled Installation Steps First, install the required Certbot DNS plugin: pip install certbot-dns-google sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install python3-certbot-dns-google Google Cloud SDK Setup Install the Google Cloud SDK: curl -O https://dl.google.com/dl/cloudsdk/channels/rapid/downloads/google-cloud-cli-linux-x86_64.tar.gz tar -xf google-cloud-cli-linux-x86_64.tar.gz ./google-cloud-sdk/install.sh Service Account Configuration Create and configure a service account for Certbot: gcloud iam service-accounts create certbot-UNIQUE_IDENTIFIER \ --display-name ……

Breaking the Monotony of Regular Coding If you’re finding coding monotonous, here’s an exciting approach: implement research papers and standards using code. Let’s explore how to transform theoretical concepts into practical implementations. Why Read Standards and Research Papers? Reading standards and research papers isn’t just about staying updated - it’s about understanding the foundational architecture of technology. For instance, when you read an IETF RFC about HTTP/3, you’re learning about the protocol that powers modern web communication. Practical Implementation Example Let’s take an example of implementing a research paper concept using ……

In today’s hyper-connected world, we face a curious dilemma: the choice between digital invisibility and digital overload. While some strive to erase their online presence, others flood the digital sphere with an overwhelming amount of information. The Invisible Man: Pros and Cons Digital invisibility, the practice of minimizing one’s online footprint, offers several advantages: Privacy protection Reduced risk of identity theft Control over personal information Freedom from social media pressures However, it comes with significant drawbacks: Limited professional opportunities Difficulty in building networks Potential suspicion from employers and peers Challenges in accessing ……

In a world obsessed with quick fixes and surface-level changes, we often find ourselves trapped in an endless cycle of self-improvement that yields little real growth. We chase after the latest trends, buy self-help books by the dozen, and religiously follow influencers promising to unlock our hidden potential. But what if this relentless pursuit of betterment is nothing more than a comforting illusion? “Self-improvement is a soothing placebo,” a provocative statement that slices through our misguided efforts. Like a placebo, conventional self-improvement often provides temporary satisfaction and a fleeting sense of progress, but ultimately leaves us stagnant and unchanged at our ……

Breaking Bad Habits in Neovim with hardtime.nvim If you’ve found yourself slipping into inefficient editing habits while using Neovim, hardtime.nvim might be the tool you need. Developed by m4xshen, this plugin is designed to help users establish a more effective command workflow by restricting habitual keypresses and providing suggestions for better commands. What is hardtime.nvim? hardtime.nvim is a Neovim plugin that discourages bad habits by blocking repeated key usage within a set period of time and suggesting more efficient alternatives. For instance, it encourages using ci" instead of the less efficient di"i. This helps in honing your skills to become a more proficient ……

1. Log Level Methods Understanding and utilizing log level methods in JavaScript can enhance debugging effectiveness. The console object offers methods like console.log(), console.info(), console.warn(), and console.error() for different levels of logging severity. Example: console.info('Informational message'); console.warn('Warning message'); console.error('Error message'); 2. Console Formatting The console.log() method supports advanced formatting, allowing detailed and structured log messages by using format specifiers like %s for strings and %o for objects. Example: console.log('Name: %s, Age: %d', 'Alice', 30); 3. Console Grouping To manage ……

We often hear about how important it is to be happy, but there’s a different way to look at life: focusing on gaining strength and growing as a person instead of just trying to be happy. This idea suggests that becoming a powerful, well-developed individual is more rewarding than seeking happiness alone. Understanding Power as a Drive in Life Power is a fundamental force present in every living thing, pushing us to grow, evolve, and make our mark on the world. It’s not just about being strong or in charge in a traditional sense. Instead, power includes creativity, innovation, and expressing our unique skills and strengths. It’s the ability to create something new and ……

In the labyrinth of software development, where every turn presents a new decision, a new language, or a new framework, it’s easy to find oneself at a standstill, caught in the headlights of the proverbial analysis paralysis. This is where the mantra “Don’t think, just code” comes into play, not as a dismissal of planning and forethought, but as a clarion call to action in the face of overwhelming options and fear of failure. The Trap of Overthinking Overthinking is the silent saboteur of progress. It’s that voice in your head that critiques every line of code before it’s written, that questions every decision, and that imagines every possible failure. ……

Application Interaction Tools strace & ltrace: These are your magnifying glasses for inspecting what happens during program execution. strace monitors system calls (interactions between programs and the kernel), while ltrace focuses on library function calls (how programs use shared code). Alternatives like systemtap offer similar capabilities with more customization options. opensnoop & fatrace: Think of these as detectives tracking which files are accessed by which processes. They’re invaluable for uncovering file access patterns that could slow down your system. auditd is a more comprehensive alternative for auditing file accesses across the system. Deep Dive into System ……

Introduction to Winston and Logstash Winston is a popular logging library for Node.js, known for its flexibility and ease of use. It allows developers to log messages in various transports (such as console, file, and remote services) with different levels of severity. Logstash is a server-side data processing pipeline that ingests data from multiple sources simultaneously, transforms it, and then sends it to a “stash” like Elasticsearch. It’s a powerful tool for managing logs and event data. Creating a Custom Logstash Transport for Winston To integrate Winston with Logstash, we’ll create a custom transport that sends log messages from Winston to Logstash over TCP. ……

In the ever-evolving digital age, convenience often comes at a price, and sometimes, that price is our security. A fascinating, yet alarming, sequence of events involving one of the leading digital payment platforms, sheds light on just how a simple oversight can lead to substantial financial and reputational damage. The Unintended Link Imagine signing up for digital payment platforms say (JohnDoe’s Payments company) with your phone number, embracing the digital revolution for seamless transactions. Now, fast forward a bit, and due to a clerical error at the bank or a mix-up by someone opening a new account, your phone number gets linked to a bank account you’ve never heard of. ……

In this post, we’ll explore how to enhance your application’s security using Time-based One-Time Passwords (TOTP) in Node.js. We’ll dive into practical steps for implementing TOTP, incorporating cryptography and QR code generation to strengthen your digital security. Understanding TOTP TOTP, a cornerstone in two-factor authentication (2FA), generates a transient password using a shared secret key and the current time. This password refreshes periodically, typically every 30 seconds, ensuring a dynamic and secure authentication process. Prerequisites Before diving in, ensure Node.js is installed on your system. Then, install the necessary packages using the following ……

Web scraping and automated testing are essential parts of modern web development. Puppeteer, a Node library, provides a high-level API over the Chrome or Chromium browser. However, setting it up in a Docker container can be challenging. This blog post will guide you through setting up a browser inside Docker for Puppeteer, using the slim variant of the Node 20 image. # Use the slim variant of the Node 20 image FROM node:20-slim WORKDIR /app # Install dependencies for Puppeteer # The slim image is Debian-based, so we use apt-get RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \ wget \ curl \ git \ libx11-xcb1 \ libxcb1 \ libxcomposite1 \ libxcursor1 \ libxdamage1 \ libxext6 \ libxi6 \ ……

HTTP/2, the second major iteration of the HTTP network protocol, was introduced to enhance the performance of websites and web applications by addressing the performance bottlenecks of its predecessor, HTTP/1.1. However, as with any technological advancement, it comes with its own set of vulnerabilities. One such vulnerability that has gained attention is the “Rapid Reset Attack.” What is the HTTP/2 Rapid Reset Attack? The Rapid Reset Attack specifically targets the HTTP/2 protocol’s “RST_STREAM” frames. These frames are designed to allow either the client or the server to abruptly terminate a particular stream, ensuring that resources aren’t squandered on ……

Installing software from source provides a level of control and flexibility that packaged versions might not offer. However, this also means you’ll have to manage dependencies and updates manually. Here’s how you can install the latest version of NGINX from its GitHub source on an Ubuntu system: 1. Install Required Dependencies First, update the package list and install the required packages to build NGINX from source: sudo apt update sudo apt install -y build-essential libpcre3 libpcre3-dev zlib1g zlib1g-dev openssl libssl-dev 2. Clone the NGINX Repository from GitHub To get the latest version of NGINX from GitHub, you’d first clone the repository: git clone ……

fail2ban is an essential security tool for Linux administrators and users alike. It serves as the first line of defense against brute-force attacks by vigilantly monitoring system logs for suspicious activity and reacting promptly, often by banning the IP addresses linked to these malicious activities. For those running Ubuntu and looking to bolster their system’s security, this blog post provides a step-by-step guide to setting up and operating fail2ban. 1. Installation: Kick things off by getting the latest package lists and then installing fail2ban. sudo apt update sudo apt install fail2ban 2. Getting the Service Up and Running: After installation, you’ll want to start the ……

Ensuring that your web application remains live and resilient against potential crashes is a critical aspect of deployment. If you’re using Next.js, one of the tools you can employ to achieve this is pm2. In this blog post, I’ll guide you through the process of setting up and running your Next.js application with pm2. What is PM2? PM2 is a powerful, production-ready process manager for Node.js applications. It ensures that your application remains online by auto-restarting in case of crashes. Moreover, with its cluster mode, you can run your application across multiple CPU cores. Let’s Dive In! 1. Installing PM2 If pm2 isn’t already part of your toolset, installing it ……

JavaScript is an ever-evolving language, continuously being updated with new methods and features to enhance its capabilities. Today, we’ll delve into some of the latest additions to the JavaScript repertoire. We’ll provide practical examples for each to give you a hands-on feel of how they operate. 1. Array.prototype.toSorted This is an effortless way to sort arrays. Check out the example below: let arr = [5,4,2,3,1]; console.log(arr.toSorted()); // [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] 2. Array.prototype.toReversed Reversing arrays is now simpler: let arr = ["a", "b", "c", "d", "e"]; console.log(arr.toReversed()); // ['e', 'd', 'c', ……

When deploying a new version of a User Interface (UI) application, it’s crucial to ensure that your users access the updated content without the hassles of manually clearing their browser cache. This becomes even more significant in the context of single-page applications (SPAs), where a large part of the application logic is loaded just once and executed on the client-side. This blog post will dive into several strategies that can be employed to keep your application fresh for users. Versioned Filenames What Are They? By appending a hash or version number to the filenames of assets such as CSS and JS files, you ensure that browsers download the new files whenever there’s a new build because ……

Premature optimization is a prevalent phenomenon in software development, where a programmer prioritizes optimizing aspects of the code that may not require optimization, often before the program’s behavior and requirements have been fully understood or defined. This process can unnecessarily complicate the code and paradoxically decrease its efficiency. In this article, we will delve into the concept of premature optimization, explore its common manifestations, and discuss why it’s essential to avoid it. Understanding Premature Optimization Premature optimization is akin to putting the cart before the horse. It is the act of making changes to your codebase with the aim of ……