This is a quick story of how moving to IPv6 caused an odd problem where requesting one website on my server returned another website. I moved my AWS EC2 instance from public IPv4 to IPv6 address only to avoid the IPv4 charges AWS introduced in 2023. I have about six…
New Zealand Plant Based Protein Powder Reviews
Recently I’ve been trying different plant based protein powders. In general the plant based protein powders are somewhere between okay and awful, with most of them closer to awful than ok. I share this information to help others choose from the better protein powders available in New Zealand. It’s a…
Panasonic Comfort Cloud Setup with Ducted HVAC and General Tips
Introduction We recently installed a Panasonic ducted HVAC system, referred to as a “heat pump” in New Zealand. We had a lot of problems getting the WiFi connected and working. It eventually took about four visits and help from Panasonic New Zealand (thanks Mark!) who got help from Panasonic Japan.…
Solution – Google reCAPTCHA V2 Problem – Works in Internet Explorer but not Firefox or Chrome
Today I had a Google reCAPTCHA V2 problem – it was only working in Internet Explorer (IE), but not Firefox or Chrome. Short Answer: Content Security Policy (CSP) was blocking the resources from loading or displaying.
Backup Software Reviews and Best Practice
Backup Software Reviews Introduction This article is an introduction to a series on computer backups for your home or small business PC. We discuss the background of backups, backup best practices, and related articles review specific backup tools. The recommendations apply to both Windows and MacOS computers, but all testing was done…
Rotate OpenSSH Certificates on AWS Amazon Linux or Ubuntu
OpenSSH certificates are used to authenticate you against your server, so you can log in to administer your server. It’s a good idea to rotate OpenSSH certificates occasionally, in case they’ve someone been released or compromised. This isn’t something AWS can do for you, so you have to do it manually.…
Fixing WordPress indexes, foreign keys and auto_increment fields
NB: this article is from 2017. While it is a useful guide, you should validate the process before using it. It may be inaccurate or incomplete as WordPress evolves. Comments in 2024 have indicated it still works, but use it at your own risk! I recently migrated a number of…
How to Migrate from RDS to MySQL on EC2
Introduction A year ago I moved all my websites to AWS using the free tier, using an EC2 t2.micro and the RDS relational database service. Now that my year of free tier is up I’d like to reduce my costs. I want to migrate from RDS to MySQL on EC2.…
Remove Gmail Warnings: Setting up DKIM and SPF for your domain
Google has announced recently that they will show an alert if they can’t authenticate the identity of the sender, in both the Gmail website, Android, and Apple iPhone, instead of showing your contact photo. Read on to see how to do something about this by setting up DKIM and SPF…
Small Business Websites – What, Why, and How
Small Business Websites What Are They For, Why Do I Need One, and How Can I get One? My wife and I are away on holiday at the moment, I needed to find a small business to help with a service I required. Outside of the main centers of New Zealand it…