Just came across this interesting mailing list post on profiling memory usage on Linux.
MediaWiki and reverse proxy
I’ve been trying to ProxyPass from a primary server to a backend (but not firewalled) machine running MediaWiki 1.5.2 with very little luck.
I finally come across the solution. backend.machine.edu is the machine hosting MediaWiki. frontend.machine.edu is the machine acting as a reverse proxy.
1. Proxy machine, httpd.conf
ProxyPass /wiki http://backend.machine.edu/wiki
2. On backend.machine.edu edit DefaultSettings.php
This *shouldn’t* be necessary as this variable can also be provided in LocalSettings.php. However, I found the early stages of the request cycle were not correctly resolved to the front end machine.
3. Edit LocalSettings.php
Add the (possibly redundant) $wgServer variable
I also found that the absolute image path for the Wiki Logo was not resolving correctly through the proxy. Correct this (if necessary) by setting $wgLogo. This assumes that your backend machine is not behind a firewall.
4. Edit squid.conf on squid.machine.org to exclude wiki content
I might want to revisit this decision in the future. For now, I’d rather not fill our cache with Wiki material, saving that space for the heavier acedb content.
no_cache deny wiki
Future-proofing movable type URLS
Here’s a useful tutorial on future proofing the irritating stub-based URLs of movable type (and many blogging systems).
sending email
Just came across this interesting tutorial on sending email from shell scripts. Very useful.