100% Ground Up CentminMod Server Setup & Optimization Saving You Money On Hosting

Hey Brent thanks for the quick reply! Can you help me understand why mine had the scripts installed please?

I sent you the details. Again, this was specific to his server and was an error on my part. The server was never at any risk of compromise. I do apologize for the error. It was my fault.
 
Brent - you have been using my server for your own mining. You run the scripts after every reboot. You changed the config files and put your own wallet ID in there.

You opened port 3333 on my firewall so it could connect to the pool you were running.

Sorry to call you out so harshly on this but you didn’t reply to my mails for help or questions on why this was done. Trust broken.

I just want others to be aware of the risk. I won’t add any more to this thread of be in any more contact with Brent.
 
Brent - you have been using my server for your own mining. You run the scripts after every reboot. You changed the config files and put your own wallet ID in there.

You opened port 3333 on my firewall so it could connect to the pool you were running.

Sorry to call you out so harshly on this but you didn’t reply to my mails for help or questions on why this was done. Trust broken.

I just want others to be aware of the risk.

I opened the port up so it would connect or the benchmarking would have never worked. Same with a wallet id. I did not set it up to run on startup. I understand that it looks bad to you and I am sorry. I wanted to test the CPUs out for that server as I have never used them before. It was my mistake. I understand if you do not believe me or wish to not work with me again.

I don't have anything else to say other than the above and that I am sorry. As far any others that I have worked with, my previous offer stands. I've been working with Linux servers for over 15+ years and have never had a server compromised. Installing those scripts a year ago on your server was an error in judgement. I can only apologize at this point as you are upset and that was never my intention.
 
You were running the mining scripts from August 2017 to February 2018. That's NOT benchmarking CPUs. In November 2017 you helped me get my site back up then started the script running again.

If I had the scripts setup on reboot then I am sorry but I sincerely do not remember ever setting that up. It was setup out of curiosity before your sites were ever moved over and if it was left mining on reboot I apologize. The damage is done as far as you are concerned and I understand that.

Sorry, again. I don't expect you to accept it.
 
Nope. I would be more than happy to give you the login details to my Linode, Digital Ocean and OVH accounts where those do exists.
 
Screenshot 2018-02-20 03.23.43.webpScreenshot 2018-02-20 03.24.05.webp

As well as my 6 GPU and other mining rigs I have at my house. That is what is mentioned within your screenshot. Again, I am sorry that your server was left with that running but I am being nothing but honest with you right now. It was not meant to be and it was a very bad judgement call for me to ever have been testing it on your server without asking you in the first place.

I get you are mad but I can only tell you that it was not intentional on my part to have it running on your server if it was left running. I am sorry. I feel like all I can do is repeat that and it will not be enough. If you want don't want to believe me I understand but there isn't much more I can say than I am sorry for the trouble.
 
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The audit company has been through the server, and from the bash history, can see that access was made multiple from the same IP addresses over a 9 month period.

The first instance they were able to detect of mining scripts being installed on the server was August 2017, 3 months after the server was originally provisioned.

They were not set to execute on reboot, they were being manually started through "screen" sessions on the server. The most recent case of one of these being started up was 13th Feb 2018
 
The audit company has been through the server, and from the bash history, can see that access was made multiple from the same IP addresses over a 9 month period.

The first instance they were able to detect of mining scripts being installed on the server was August 2017, 3 months after the server was originally provisioned.

They were not set to execute on reboot, they were being manually started through "screen" sessions on the server. The most recent case of one of these being started up was 13th Feb 2018

Then your server IP was in my miner management script. It shouldn't have been, not sure why it was but at the end of the day it was running on your server and I am sorry. I hate that I have messed this up and understand why you are upset. I have always enjoyed great feedback from clients and I hate that that has ended.
 
Code:
722  [13.02.18] 16:49:50   htop
  723  [13.02.18] 16:50:03   cd /home/nginx/domains/
  724  [13.02.18] 16:50:04   ls -lha
  725  [13.02.18] 16:50:36   crontab -e
  726  [13.02.18] 16:50:48   exit
  727  [13.02.18] 16:51:03   cd /usr/local/src/xmr-stak-cpu/bin/
  728  [13.02.18] 16:51:05   ls -lha
  729  [13.02.18] 16:51:07   nano config.txt
  730  [13.02.18] 16:52:23   ./backup
  731  [13.02.18] 16:52:28   screen
  732  [13.02.18] 16:52:35   screen -r
  733  [13.02.18] 16:52:38   screen
  734  [13.02.18] 16:52:47   screen -r
  735  [13.02.18] 16:52:54   exit

Those are all manual commands, why would your "miner manager" script be going into the nginx folder in the /home directory?
 
Code:
  723  [13.02.18] 16:50:03   cd /home/nginx/domains/
  724  [13.02.18] 16:50:04   ls -lha
  725  [13.02.18] 16:50:36   crontab -e
  726  [13.02.18] 16:50:48   exit
  727  [13.02.18] 16:51:03   cd /usr/local/src/xmr-stak-cpu/bin/
  728  [13.02.18] 16:51:05   ls -lha
  729  [13.02.18] 16:51:07   nano config.txt
  730  [13.02.18] 16:52:23   ./backup
  731  [13.02.18] 16:52:28   screen
  732  [13.02.18] 16:52:35   screen -r
  733  [13.02.18] 16:52:38   screen
  734  [13.02.18] 16:52:47   screen -r
  735  [13.02.18] 16:52:54   exit

The home directory is me checking that your server is backing up correctly then logging out of the server. Your ip was in my miner script which also means its an IP that I keep in a list of miners that I check on which is what is happening in the second part.

I am not denying that the script files were on the server nor am I am denying that they were running. They shouldn't have been. I am sorry that it happened to your server. You have made your point that you are done with me and I don't blame you. This was negligence on my part to not realize this was running on a clients server.
 
Was just about to hit brent up to go through with setting up a new server for me as he had quoted a few months back and i read the above. Not a good look. Thanks for posting this on here @Mackeral_Fillet. Will now be contacting mattw instead as i know he would never install such scripts.
 
Was just about to hit brent up to go through with setting up a new server for me as he had quoted a few months back and i read the above. Not a good look. Thanks for posting this on here @Mackeral_Fillet. Will now be contacting mattw instead as i know he would never install such scripts.

No worries. @MattW does great work. I am sure you will be very happy with the results.
 
I've sent this to the last few customers so I figured I would post it here to help speed up the process of getting new customers a quote:
  • How much do you pay per month?
  • Dedicated or VPS?
  • What are the specs?
    • Processor
    • Memory Total
    • SSD or Hard Disk
    • Total Storage Size
  • How large is your database?
  • How large is your attachment folder?
Where are your top 3 traffic referrals by country?

Here is what I provide for each customer:

My setup service consists of:
  • Install CentminMod on fresh Centos 7.4
  • Compile Nginx & PHP 7.2 with my optimized configuration
  • Optimize MariaDB 10.1 for XenForo InnoDB
  • Cloudflare & SSL Setup
  • FTP account setup for each domain.
  • Setup Amazon SES for outgoing email (or other preferred SMTP provider)
  • Setup Amazon S3 file and database backup service. MariaDB and file backups done without interruption of forum. (We backup our 70GB ChristianForums.com DB every 6 hours, for example)
  • Setup Google Apps or Zoho mail for receiving mail
  • Move forum from old server to new server
I also offer a monthly service at $35 to insure that Nginx/PHP/MariaDB and all Centos 7 packages are kept updated. Normal releases are updated within a week of release. Security updates within 24 hours.

What my service is not is a 24/7/365 emergency service. This is why I always recommend companies like OVH or ReliableSite that offer real time monitoring and/or fully managed services at reasonable prices.

As with anything, the server can only be as good as the software that runs on it. Some of the things that can hurt performance are:
  • Excessive add-ons. I try to stress to clients that each add-on should provide a valuable service to either you or your members. If you can live without a plugin then you should remove it. You would be surprised at how poorly coded most of the plugins are that are on the Resource Manager.
  • Updated software. Always run the latest version of Xenforo 1 or Xenforo 2 that is available and always keep add-ons updates.
My service is ideal for those looking for a new server. I do not do work on existing servers that are not setup by me.
 
30$ for managed VPS included Cpanel and root access

If you (or any others) wish to get a quote please open a private message with me. Generally with a $30 a month budget there isn't much room to save money but there is potential for a better optimized server for that price range depending on current setup.
 
That is my setup when use VPS for 30$

Intel Xeon X5650 2.6GHz
80GB HDD
3GB RAM
Unlimited Bandwidth
SAS 15K HDD
Fully Managed
 
I want to share my experience working with Brent recently. Recently after reading this thread, I had messaged Brent and told him that I had been paying a large bill for my hosting with a very popular hosting company. I have been with this hosting company for more than 6 years and really loved their servers and service but I could not continue paying that amount. I was forced to keep my site on this expensive plan because for some reason my site was using up a lot of resources so the plan that I had been on was the minimum that I could choose.

Via pm, Brent offered me a few options with the assurance that he would bring down the cost to about 1/4th of what it was. I went ahead and agreed and he started the work. Within a few days, my websites were moved, server optimized, cloudflare and mail setup and he patiently answered many questions I had regarding the new setup. I was quite happy with the work but I wanted to confirm if my forum moderators were happy with forum performance post migration. I got a very positive feedback from all of them. My cost is now about 1/4th of what it was before which is a massive savings for me. I am now contemplating whether to use Cloudflare's Argo to speed my website even more but even then I would still save at least 50% of what I used to pay for in the past 6 years. I want to thank Brent for his expert services and I highly recommend him for your custom hosting needs.
 
Just want to remind anyone that I do offer a $50 referral fee for anyone who recommends a customer to me. You do not have to be an existing or past customer. Anyone that refers a customer will get paid $50 after full payment from the customer and job is done. :)
 
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