Dan Sosedoff's questions

I was experimenting with dynamic upstream configuration for nginx and cant find any good solution to implement upstream configuration from third-party source like redis or mysql.

The idea behind it is to have a single file configuration in primary server and proxy requests to various app servers based on environment conditions. Think of dynamic deployments where you have X servers that are running Y workers on different ports. For instance, i create a new app and deploy. App manager selects a server and then rolls out a worker (Ruby/PHP/Python) and then reports the ip:port to the central database with status "up". At this time when i go to the given url nginx should proxy all requests to the specified ip:port upstream. The whole thing is pretty similar to what heroku does, except this proof-of-concept is not supposed to be production ready, mostly for internal needs.

The easiest solution i found was using resolver with ruby-based DNS server. It works, nginx gets the IP address correctly, but the only problem is that you cant define port number for that IP.

Second solution (which i havent tried yet) is to roll something else as a proxy server, maybe written in Erlang. In this case we need to use something to serve static content.

Any ideas how to implement this in more flexible and stable way?

P.S. Some research options:

• http://openresty.org/#DynamicRoutingBasedOnRedis
• https://github.com/nodejitsu/node-http-proxy

I have a question regarding packages repository in Debian (Lenny). A new server at rackspace cloud service comes with nothing (plain system) so i had to upgrade system and install all necessary packages by myself. But the problem is that default repositories does not provide newer versions of software i need (PHP is 5.2.6, comparing to 5.2.13). In CentOS i used to get all new packages from third-party sources, which works really well till now. I have talked to guys from rackspace about it and looks like they cant provide anything except kernel headers. And i dont really want to build from source.

So, whats the way to get newer software ? Any good third party sources?

Thanks.

I have a problem setting up FreeRadius server to allow connections from all external IP addresses. My hotspot system is based on CoovaAP and custom made captive portal which communicates with CoovaChilli (deployed on router, not on server). Router is connected to modem via ethernet. Captive portal communicates with radius mysql database to verify the hotspot authorization. Everything works until the modem IP address is changed.

Here is a sample from /etc/raddb/clients.conf:

client x.x.x.x {
  secret = 12345
  shortname = name
}

So, the x.x.x.x ip address somehow needs to be dynamic. And i dont know how to sync modem`s external ip address to radius database to make it work.

The question is: how to make freeradius accept connections from all ip addresses or sync modem`s external ip address into radius database.

Thanks

It is possible to use wildcard in /etc/hosts file?

For example, im developng the application that will have user-defined subdomains, like "user1.foo.bar", "user2.foo.bar".

Im looking for something like this:

127.0.0.1 foo.bar
127.0.0.1 *.foo.bar

How can i make it work ?

Im looking for a solutions to set-up free wifi hot spot, but not completely open - i want to give access to all customers via paper coupons/codes. Like, each code is valid for 3 hours of surfing internet. It is kinda complicated, so i`ll try to explain the idea by steps:

1. Client come to a place (coffee shop, etc) and ask for the access code
2. Connect to unsecured wireless network
3. Redirect to gateway login page until client enter his access code (if not - disconnect in 3-5 mins)
4. Assign the access code to client`s MAC address and IP address
5. Disconnect client on code expiration time

Another problem is: how to control the traffic on regular wifi access point? I know, it is easy to do with server gateway, but the original requirement is based on basic wifi routers.

I understand, this is really specific project, so i wanna know, which systems can fit this requirements the best ? Any helpful ideas ?