Questions tagged [best-practices]

Questions asking for best practices in a given field. Be aware, that sometimes there might be no generally accepted best practices, in which case the question is likely to be closed for being subjective.

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Puppet: How to use a set of common packages but allow exceptions?

I have about 200 more or less identical Linux VMs. There is a class for all common configuration: class my_packages { class { "::ntp": servers => [ "de.pool.ntp.org" ], } ....
nn4l's user avatar
  • 1,336
24 votes
1 answer
11k views

Usermod -aG vs gpasswd -a as a best practice

I am aware that usermod -g is not best practice from many posts like this however they normally explain the usermod should not be used as it changes the primary group of a user. These posts don't seem ...
ZZ9's user avatar
  • 918
0 votes
1 answer
88 views

Process separation on an OpenBSD server

I fear this may be a somewhat open-ended question that gets closed: Apologies in advance, but I'll give it a shot! I'm considering operating an OpenBSD VM with a number of services running on the ...
Xophmeister's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
6k views

Best practices for secondary DNS in case of a single Active Directory

I have a setup with only one Active Directory (not redundant). What should be configured on the client pc's to ensure the best DNS resolution ? Currently somebody configured the IP address of the AD ...
user221027's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
309 views

Setting affinity for virus protection on workstations - best practice?

Despite the modern virus protection is based on prevention by scanning network traffic and by real-time protection, many companies still have policies, that full scans must be performed regularly. ...
Esa Jokinen's user avatar
  • 49.7k
0 votes
2 answers
200 views

Active Directory Multi Domain Enviornment

I work for a small organization which will be starting another branch of business here shortly. We have an existing active directory infrastructure and are looking to add another domain to the forest....
user2891487's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
1k views

How to have automatic file system checks for Linux Software Raid?

In a Linux Software raid, what is the best practice for periodically having the filesystems checked? With single drive or hardware raid, tune2fs -c 5 -i 1w /dev/sda1 means check the filesystem every ...
rjt's user avatar
  • 584
0 votes
1 answer
140 views

Creating enterprise init script (to support all Linux distros)

I'd like to create my own init script to make my program start at boot and be controlled via "service" utility in most popular Linux distributions. Requirements: it should be portable across ...
guZ's user avatar
  • 1
0 votes
1 answer
48 views

Where should the DB server be and its updates scripts should run from where?

I currently have a web application and database on the same server. I am moving the database to a new server that is spec'd for being a database. Now i have nightly scripts that run on the web ...
Ominus's user avatar
  • 105
34 votes
3 answers
98k views

How to get php-fpm to log to stdout / stderr when running in a docker container

I have php-fpm in a docker container and in the Dockerfile I edit the fpm config file (/etc/php5/fpm/pool.d/www.conf) to set up access logs to go to /var/log/fpm-access.log and error logs to go to /...
Tom's user avatar
  • 4,367
4 votes
0 answers
326 views

What is the best practise to autostart unprivileged lxc containers on Ubuntu 14.04 64bit? [duplicate]

The current implementation of the LXC technology deals nicely with an issue of starting the privileged containers upon system start.. Users of the unprivileged containers (which arguably promise ...
Adam Ryczkowski's user avatar
31 votes
6 answers
5k views

How can I prevent accidentally jacking with a production database?

Just recently, I had a developer accidentally try to restore a database to production, when he should have been restoring to a staging copy. It's easy to do, given that the db names are similar, i.e., ...
Chris B. Behrens's user avatar
-2 votes
1 answer
176 views

How do you "prevent powerful accounts from being used on unauthorized systems"? [closed]

I was browsing through Microsoft's Best Practices for Securing Active Directory and saw the chart linked which includes some of the best practices included in the document, rated by importance. At ...
cutrightjm's user avatar
11 votes
3 answers
15k views

The impact of Apache graceful restarts and user experience

Is it safe to perform a graceful restart of Apache on a production server? What effects will a graceful restart cause and what would be the impact (if any)? Will there be any detrimental impacts (e.g. ...
stellarchariot's user avatar
27 votes
5 answers
30k views

Where do companies typically store SSL certificates for future use?

We recently bought a wildcard SSL cert for our domain. We converted all of the certs to a Java keystore, but now we are asking ourselves where we should store these for later use. Do people use ...
AmericanKryptonite's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
62 views

IP Network Best Practice [closed]

On my On Premise network we use IP Span 172.17.101.0-172.17.103.254 I should now connect our Windows Azure network to the On Premise network using VPN. Is it okay to use IP Span 172.16.1.0 in the ...
anpe's user avatar
  • 149
14 votes
3 answers
11k views

Best practices for file layout in a Hyper-V server?

We've got a Hyper-V server set up, and the layout of the files is inconsistent because it was set up by several people. Here are the two different "templates" that were used: Template 1 D:\Hyper-V\...
Benjamin Peikes's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
574 views

Transition away from Domain Admin only account

In our Windows environment, our Domain Admins only have one user account. This single user account is used across the board including running on a day to day workstation. In our transition away from ...
Mark's user avatar
  • 71
4 votes
2 answers
428 views

Adding an Active Directory to a computer-local group - which scope to choose?

I am aware of the "AGDLP" rule of thumb when it comes to group nesting inside an AD strcture. But now I am wondering if there are any best practises when it comes to adding Active Directory groups to "...
Matthias Güntert's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
245 views

AD IT Helper Permissions

My apologies if this has been asked before. If I knew the proper search terms then google would be more effective. I would like to add a user that can join computers to the domain, Install software ...
Jimmy's user avatar
  • 111
5 votes
1 answer
1k views

Managing puppet modules with git

I have a puppet/foreman server running on Debian 7 for managing my systems. I use the community version 3.7 of puppet and foreman 1.6.0. I use directory environments. At the moment I use a rather ...
Christoph's user avatar
  • 107
5 votes
3 answers
482 views

What is the name for sorting a directory with lots of files into subdirectories? [closed]

One way to make manageable a directory with a huge number of files into it is to sort the files into subdirectories named after progressive characters in the files' names. E.g.: - ...
user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
86 views

Manage User Specific PowerShell Functions in Active Directory Domain

Given: Windows Server 2012 R2 / PowerShell 4 Do need: a way to manage user/role specific PowerShell functions in an Active Directory domain. Do NOT need: help with coding these scripts. This ...
Jani Hyytiäinen's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
834 views

Performing root mysql operations in bash scripts

What is a good practice to execute root operations on mysql databases in bash scripts? For example, I want to create new database and grant privileges, I have to use: mysql -u $ROOT -p"$ROOTPASS" -e ...
Sfisioza's user avatar
  • 592
-3 votes
2 answers
924 views

Scheduled Task Naming Conventions? [closed]

I would like to hear of examples of a naming convention for Scheduled Tasks in Windows, along with rationale. Thanks.
Christopher's user avatar
  • 1,683
2 votes
2 answers
716 views

Apache2.2 vhosts - disadvantages of using one file with many vhosts

As i am working with Apache2.2 more and more lately this thought crossed my mind (apologies if this seems a 'silly' question, still learning alot) Are there any blatant disadvantages if you use just ...
Jake's user avatar
  • 248
0 votes
1 answer
3k views

Regarding AD Domain controllers and remote branch offices

We have central HQ building and a lot of small branch offices connecting via VPN and want to implement AD (If you can believe we still haven't). We want everyone to log in using domain accounts and be ...
Alex's user avatar
  • 516
2 votes
1 answer
5k views

HPC Cluster (SLURM): recommended ways to set up a secure and stable system

I'm working with a SLURM driven HPC Cluster, containing of 1 control node and 34 computation nodes and since the current system is not exactly very stable I'm looking for guidelines or best practices ...
basilikum's user avatar
  • 217
3 votes
2 answers
1k views

Importance of ha.cf file in a heartbeat/pacemaker environment?

I'm having a few issues trying to understand ha.cf and how the cluster picks up on updates. For example, when creating a new cluster, I usually: Set some default options in ha.cf on node 1 - node x ...
William Hilsum's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
1k views

Reusable piece of code in Chef to be used several times in recipe(s)

I need to reuse some scenario in my cookbooks - create several users on a single machine and install same software for each of them. Installing the software is a repeating operation which I'd like to ...
Stanislav Bashkyrtsev's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
432 views

How to go about rotating logs which are arbitrary named and placed in deeply nested directories?

I have a couple of hosts which are basically a playground for developers. On these hosts, each of them has a directory under /tmp where he is free to do all he wants - store files, write logs etc. Of ...
Roman Grazhdan's user avatar
6 votes
4 answers
3k views

powershell vs GPO for installation, configuration, maintenance

My question is about using powershell scripts to install, configure, update and maintain Windows 7 Pro/Ent workstations in a 2008R2 domain, versus using GPO/ADMX/msi. Here's the situation: Because ...
user52874's user avatar
  • 829
5 votes
1 answer
858 views

BPA for AD Server 2008 and 2008 R2 DCs W32Time setting complaint

I have been going through some of the warnings raised by BPA against our DCs to make sure everything is as it should be. Everything has been going well until I got to the following warnings: The ...
user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
822 views

Video hosting: Host files on web server, storage server, NAS? [duplicate]

I inherited responsibility for the back-end of a growing distance education program. They have a Proliant DL160 Gen8 web server which serves video from a ReadyNAS Pro 6. We currently share the ...
Phteven's user avatar
  • 25
2 votes
1 answer
334 views

Structuring an OU to properly model an Organizational Hierarchy

I'm experimenting with using OUs in my network's Active Directory and group policy. However, I'm having a little trouble figuring out the right way to structure my OUs so that I can have individual ...
mclark1129's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
70 views

Domain Controller's DNS NIC configuration [duplicate]

I've seen conflicting information on this online, but say you have an environment with two domain controllers: one Forest, one Site, one Domain; simple as it gets. How should each domain controller's ...
gravyface's user avatar
  • 14k
2 votes
1 answer
234 views

Seeking alternative to storing binaries in git for devops

I'm not sure how to ask this best practices question since I know many StackExchange users evidently think best practices are a bad thing ... We've got Salt and Vagrant configured to stand up servers ...
bethesdaboys's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
2k views

Synchronizing RODCs to NTP servers?

I've read this nice article from Gareth Hooper regarding Domain Controller syncing to external time sources. In essence, he wrote that although Microsoft don't actually condone the practice, it's a ...
pepoluan's user avatar
  • 5,108
0 votes
1 answer
145 views

Best practice to migrate Server 2003 x64 to Server 2008 x64

We have 2 Domain Controllers running Windows Server 2003 R2 x64. DC1 has the FSMO roles and DC2 acts as a 'secondary' DC. Both are Global Catalog servers. DC1 has these roles installed: Domain ...
user201420's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
156 views

What should I do if an necessary client application has to run on an older (vulnerable) framework?

A client needs to have .NET Framework 4 installed and not patched so their software running on their Windows 2008 R2 Server functions properly. This sparks the questions: When is it okay to ...
Zero's user avatar
  • 315
12 votes
2 answers
24k views

What Are The Best Practices For Business Folder Structure?

We've tended in the past towards having departmental folders (Sales, Marketing, etc) on a single share and then adding folders below these ad-hoc as and when they're needed. It's gotten a bit messy - ...
jidl's user avatar
  • 251
6 votes
1 answer
118 views

When should an org invest in a private infrastructure as opposed to a partially or fully hosted solution? [duplicate]

Not referring to militaries or governments, but for other organizations or shops that needs an IT infrastructure (who doesn't nowadays). Similar to this question, but purely in regard to hardware and/...
MDMoore313's user avatar
  • 5,591
35 votes
8 answers
34k views

Is it best practices to have separate login for a domain for domain admins?

I typically like to set up separate logins for myself, one with regular user permissions, and a separate one for administrative tasks. For example, if the domain was XXXX, I'd set up a XXXX\bpeikes ...
Benjamin Peikes's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
1k views

How much failover redundancy is enough? [closed]

I'm working on a client-server system where all clients currently submit their transactions to essentially a single west-coast IP address to reach what is called the "gateway" application. The ...
Witness Protection ID 44583292's user avatar
49 votes
8 answers
73k views

Should I expose my Active Directory to the public Internet for remote users?

I have a client whose workforce is comprised entirely of remote employees using a mix of Apple and Windows 7 PCs/laptops. The users don't authenticate against a domain at the moment, but the ...
ewwhite's user avatar
  • 198k
1 vote
5 answers
379 views

Windows network shares organization

I would like to have some feedback about the best practices you use to publish your network share. Now, we have on our file server : one named directory for each of our user, which is backed up ...
Alex T.'s user avatar
  • 185
23 votes
3 answers
11k views

Naming a new Active Directory forest - why is split-horizon DNS not recommended?

Hopefully, we all know what the recommendations for naming an Active Directory forest are, and they're pretty simple. Namely, it can be summed up in a single sentence. Use a subdomain of an existing,...
HopelessN00b's user avatar
10 votes
5 answers
8k views

Nagios server best practices?

I run a medium-sized Nagios server. It monitors roughly 40 servers with 180 services currently and is only growing by the day. I migrated from an old Nagios setup that was configured in a very ...
Michael Pobega's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
394 views

Is a dashed hostname preferrable to creating subdomains for an application and its environments?

I am working to standardize our DNS names for our various applications, and I proposed the following scheme: webappname.environment.system.company.tld So, my application named BackOffice in my ...
arcain's user avatar
  • 229
0 votes
1 answer
4k views

IIS 7.5 webfarm setup best practices

I am looking to rebuild the current webfarm setup where I work. Currently we have 4 regions. Each region has 3 WFE's on a ViP. Each of the three has a separate implementation of IIS 7.5 and ...
Acerbity's user avatar

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