Michael Mikhailidi

Database

JDBC URL: Short And Secure

For years, Oracle SQL*Net offered a secured connection to the database and a prevalent unencrypted one. With the Zero Trust Architecture, that is no longer an option; you should get ready for end-to-end encryption in any environment, including your workstation.

Security

Python: Testing Secure Connections

Security control validation and enforcement are tasks we have regularly. We have created a small Python application that simplifies socket tests

Oracle Database

Database: Rolling Password Change

Recently, I've found about great Oralce Database 21c feature: Gradual Password Rollover. Here is the best part it was backported to the Database 19c.

Git

Git: From SSH to Personal Access Tokens

Accessing remote repositories over SSH is a convenient, reliable, and secure way to sync your local and remote repositories. However, architectural changes and security requirements encourage moving from SSH to HTTPS/TLS protocols.

Ansible

AAP: Code Compatibility

Our good old Red Hat Ansible Tower was recently upgraded to the Ansible Automation Platform. Although the AAP adoption was fast, Ansible compatibility tack derailed half an O&M

GCP

Ghost: Create an Instance Group

Since the beginning of the quest, we have had cloud-based site backups, Google Cloud architecture for a low-maintenance and inexpensive test site, plus a working instance template. Now let's ensure instance availability and security.

Google

Ghost: Building an Instance

I publish journal notes of my cost-effective blog engineering challenge. This time I'll walk you through the cornerstone of my design - compute instance. Bear with me for

GCP

Ghost: Architecting a Test Site

My previous topic described preparation steps for my new pet project - a test site in the Google Cloud. This post describes the design stage with my train of thought

Ghost: Rebuild Backup Procedure

Ahmed and I run this blog on the standalone Ghost for almost four years. Around the same time, I created a small cron task that backs up the site content,

Certification

Google Cloud Certified: Done!

This post is straight and clear brag about myself. Last week I passed one of the most challenging exams I've ever had - Google Cloud Certified Professional Cloud

Database

Oracle Database: Zoning Conundrum

The Oracle Database has long and complicated relations with time-aware data. It has gotten even more interesting in the internet era and global data processing. As usual, it's a story about how a single line of code at the design time could save many work hours in maintenance.

Oracle Fusion Middleware

Security Scans: Hide and Seek

Oracle recently made a gift to all middleware engineers who operate in "security-first" environments. Government contractors should love it as much as I do, especially if you are adopting or already have continuous ATO.

OCI

OCI: Secure Load Balancer

It started as a routine wildcard certificate renewal and updating on the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. It usually takes about 20 minutes, but not today when the certbot offered me a private key update.

Database

Database: It's Hard to Explain

When you are enough time in the business, you learn the universal rule of IT: "Computers don't make mistakes, people do." It is especially true for database performance tuning.

Bash

A Shell Tricks: Session Color Coding

The best way to understand what server you deal with is color-coded command line prompts. Different Shell interpreters and different terminals offer different commands and capabilities, but modern server-side world is extremely Linux centric, where the BASH dominates the market.

OHS

Maintaining Oracle HTTP instances

The Oracle HTTP Server (OHS) is essential to any large Oracle Fusion Middleware environment. And despite the most common description for that product being "Apache HTTP server with custom modules," it's not as simple as it sounds. Let's walk around and take a look at how it's made.

Bash

A Shell Tricks: Forwarding X session

I use MobaXterm as my primary terminal client. Besides some excellent features, it has a selling point - the built-in X server. Yet you may still be in a position where you can't just forward your X windows to your local machine and have to make some extra steps.

Happy New Year!

I want to say thank you for reading our blog. I wish you and your families all the best in the new 2023!! How cool it would be to rollback

OCI

Oracle OCI: It has queues!

Oracle OCI and Amazon AWS are similar and different at the same time. Yes, at the very basic, they offer you the same services - cloud infrastructure to run your workload, but AWS always dominated by the broad set of tools, features, and capabilities if you compare them by dozens.

AWS

AWS API Gateway: Stage Variables

AWS API Gateway allows you to deploy the same API for different stages. It separates deployments of the same code for different environments, enabling "code once" principles. But you already see where the trap is.

Bash

A Shell Tricks: Search and Replace

It's easy to use VS Code to search and replace text entries. Yet, mass file renaming is a fairly common task, especially when you move Ansible inventories or other artifacts across environments.

Linux

A Shell Tricks: Dash-Minus Fuss

All *nix systems are similar to ogres and onions - they all have layers. System layer, user layer, core commands with the neanderthal accessory lines. It adds to neverending fun. Command-line warriors should memorize all kid of argument notations and formats for the most common tools.

Ansible

Ansible: Date and Time

Anyone who works with Ansible knows how to access the current date and time. But have you ever dealt with something a bit more advanced? There are a few tips you may find helpful.

Database

Ghost + MySQL Upgrade

I have delayed the blog upgrade as much as possible due to a mandatory upgrade to MySQL8. However, I had my decent share of database upgrades in the past, and I'm not happy to get back into this boat.

AWS

When specialty beats functionality

While back I wrote a short piece about Pandoc. My excitement about it stands true, yet it's a last-century utility you don't want or can't use in cloud-native applications. Well, I found a new one - WKHTMLTOx