devopslife

Resolve dns locally using google chrome

It is quite easy to resolve a domain locally using the /etc/hosts file. Similar thing can be done by editing the hosts file in windows which is located at c:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts. But this can be done only if we have Admin access. This article focus primarily on how to resolve the dns locally using google chrome browser when you are not an admin user.

Migrating the wordpress blog to jekyll in github pages

I was not getting much time recently to maintain this blog. We all know how dangerous it is to keep something in internet unmaintained amidst the new vulnerabilities which are coming up day by day. The same applies to wordpress as it have multiple third party plugins as well which may open doors to hackers unless we update it with all patches. I read an article in Linkedin recently about jekyll which is a static site generator based on ruby. The good thing about jekyll is it can be hosted in github pages for free.

Recovering SSH public key with the private key

I recently came across this situation by which the public SSH key of a server is lost and I was instructed to add the public key to other server’s authorized_hosts file to enable password less SSH authentication. However I was not allowed to create a new keypair as the old key could be in place in multiple places. This ssh-keygen command was a lifesaver.

Managing AWS SimpleAD from Linux

SimpleAD is a managed directory service that is powered by a Samba 4 Active Directory Compatible Server. User accounts can be created in SimpleAD to access AWS applications such as AWS Client VPN, Amazon WorkSpaces, Amazon WorkDocs, or Amazon WorkMail.

Testing cloudwatch alarm using AWS CLI

Many of us are using Cloudwatch alarms for triggering some action. It could be an SNS or a lambda function etc. We can use this AWS CLI command to temporarily set cloudwatch alarm state for testing purposes.

Increase session duration of AWS CLI while assuming role

This will be useful for you if you are using profile in aws CLI configuration files for switching roles with 2FA enabled. An example configuration as follows.

Redirect a route53 domain to another domain using S3

If you recently migrated your domain & DNS records from some third party domain registrar to AWS Route 53, you might be searching a way to configure a simple redirect of the apex (root) domain to an external domain. Many companies used to buy all the popular TLDs of their domains to avoid cybersquatting. All of those domains will be configured with a simple redirect to the main domain. It was easy while using the domain registrar’s DNS service as we were able to configure the redirect there with ease.

But, when using Route53, there is no direct way to do this. We can make use of S3 service to do this. In this example, I am trying to redirect example.org to example.com. Assuming, we already have a hosted zone for example.com.

Find out which role is used when an AWS CLI command is called

This is very useful if you are running an AWS command on an ec2 instance which is using an IAM role or instance profile and you would like to verify if it is using the intended role.

Using profiles in Boto3

If you are a boto3 user and have multiple AWS profiles defined in your shell, I am sure that you have faced this issue at least once. Boto3 loads the default profile if you don’t specify explicitly. I am trying to explain how to specify AWS profiles while using boto3.

Get notified on AWS root account login

The best practice always is to create IAM logins for each user in an organization rather than sharing the root account. Most of the companies are following this trend as per their compliance regulations. But what if the root account is compromised by some way?