Apache server

Apache configuration

The document root of apache is at:

/srv/$fqdn/web

Apache is configured to do SSL-only, i.e. all HTTP requests are rewritten automatically to HTTPS.

Apache is configured to respect your overrides, i.e. you can make unrestricted use of htaccess files.

Installing software

We update all systems automatically, however, you can update it manually with:

sudo apt full-upgrade -U

Software from the Debian repository can be installed with:

sudo apt install -U [...]

i.e. sudo apt install -U tmux.

Software not included in the Debian repository needs to be manually installed in your home. Depending on the build system of the software, consider using DESTDIR=$HOME/local or similar.

BFH data

If you need persistent storage, you can create storage shares on our Ceph cluster via BFH.science Self-Service Portal.

All data from Ceph is accessible at /mnt/data/group.

Scratch space

/mnt/local/scratch gives you access to local scratch space, i.e. temporary storage on the hosts fast SSDs.

Please note:

  • no backup: if you delete something by accident, data is gone.

  • no persistency: if we move the container to another host server, all data is gone.

  • limited capacity: compared to Ceph with hundrets of TB of space, the host servers just have two local SSDs in RAID1 shared with all containers for scratch space.

  • no guarantees: if required, we reserve the right to delete data if necessary even without prior notice in order to ensure stable and secure operation.

  • rule of thumb: only store temporary data which you would asume would be gone after a reboot (/tmp).

  • best practice: use /mnt/local/scratch (fast local SSDs) instead of /tmp (RAM disk). /tmp will either eventually kill your processes when used excessively or slow down your calculations because of wasted RAM.