Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Bitnami Bootcamp 2014

Earlier this summer, we announced the first Bitnami Cloud System Administration Bootcamp with the goal of sharing the know-how we have accumulated over the years at Bitnami to train the next generation of system administrators. Over the course of a few weeks, we received over a hundred applications, from which we invited 14 candidates to participate after an extensive selection process and one-on-one interviews.

Over a four week period that just wrapped up last week, we geeked out on Linux and the cloud. The mornings covered mostly theory (albeit with small interactive examples) while the afternoons were devoted to practical exercises. Each student managed their cloud servers using Bitnami Cloud Hosting (of course!) and we tracked and reviewed all assignments using a Bitnami-hosted Phabricator server. We started out learning about system internals, Git, bash scripting, networking and Unix build toolchains. We continued with the ins and outs of automating the deployment of apps written in a variety of languages and frameworks: PHP, Python, Java, Rails and Node.js. We invited guest speakers that covered in-depth a variety of topics, including Tomcat, OpenStack and configuration management tools. We explored the AWS, Azure and Google clouds, learning how to servers in each one of them both through the management console and their APIs/command line tools. We learned how to perform end to end deployment automation using Docker, Ansible and Bitnami tools. We ended with sessions on security and performance and built a project that brought together everything we covered in the course.

After the bootcamp, we invited six of the attendees to join the Bitnami team and they will start this Wednesday! We are excited to have these awesome engineers as part of the team and you can expect a significant increment in the number of apps we provide in the near future thanks to our expanded team.

We plan to repeat the experience early next year, expanding and improving the topics and materials. If this sounds interesting to you, consider applying and joining us next year in Seville!

Cloud System Administration Bootcamp 2015 early sign up

Monday, September 29, 2014

Bitnami Open Source Leaders Interview Series: Dave Page from PostgreSQL

Billing itself as the "world's most advanced open source database", PostgreSQL is bundled with many of our most popular Bitnami apps, including our LAPP stack, Dev Pack, OpenERP/Odoo, Discourse and more. To kick off our new Open Source Leaders podcast series, we interviewed Dave Page, the Director of PostgreSQL Europe, to learn more about the PosgreSQL database and what's to come from the project.

Here are just a few of the topics we covered:

How does the PostgreSQL community work?
Why should one be involved in the community?
What is next for PostgreSQL?  
How does PostgreSQL stack up next to no-SQL leaders?
Does PostgreSQL work on the cloud?
What level of experience do you need run PostgreSQL?

You can launch a PostgreSQL application or stack to the cloud with Bitnami for free, or download any of our free native installers or VMs to run the software locally. Get started in the cloud for free with a $200 credit from Microsoft Azure. You can browse a full list of Bitnami app stacks that contain PostgreSQL on the Bitnami site.



Stuart Langridge:        This is the Bitnami Open Source Leaders series of interviews.  I’m Stuart Lankridge and I’m here talking to Dave Page.  Dave is Director of PostgreSQL Europe, Vice Chair of the PostgreSQL Community of Canada, he’s chief architect of Tools and Installs at EnterpriseDB and he’s a core team member of the PostgreSQL project.  Hey Dave, welcome to the interview.

David Page:                Thank you, Stuart nice to talk to you.

Stuart Langridge:        So what is Postgres? 

David Page:                Postgres is an open source relational database management system. We compete mostly with the likes of Oracle and SQL Server.  It’s a completely open source permissive license.  We have a very large community that are both using Postgres and submitting patches on a regular basis.  So we’re pretty diverse in the things that Postgres supports because we have this large community of people from all sorts of different areas and different industries helping us build the product and add support for all sorts of useful features.

Stuart Langridge:        You talked there about the size and diversity of the community.  Is Postgres targeting a particular use case or does it do everything from small data storage up to huge data stores?

Friday, September 26, 2014

Critical bash security issue in all versions of Linux (CVE-2014-7169)

Two days ago we announced a critical vulnerability in the bash shell that is remotely exploitable (CVE-2014-6271) known as Shellshock.

The fix for CVE-2014-6271 was incomplete and command injection is possible even after the patch has been applied. The issue is being tracked as CVE-2014-7169 (Aftershock). Please log in to all of your Bitnami-based Linux VMs or cloud images and upgrade bash. If you are running an Ubuntu machine (and most likely you are) you can execute the following commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install bash

To test that you have successfully updated your installation, type:


env var='() {(a)=>\' bash -c "echo date"; cat echo; rm -f echo

If you get the following, you have successfully patched bash:

bash: var: line 1: syntax error near unexpected token `='
bash: var: line 1: `'
bash: error importing function definition for `var'
date
cat: echo: No such file or directory

If you get the following (with the current date at the end), you are still vulnerable:

bash: var: line 1: syntax error near unexpected token `='
bash: var: line 1: `'
bash: error importing function definition for `var'
Fri Sep 26 09:20:00 UTC 2014


If you have further questions, please refer to our community forums or contact the helpdesk if you are a commercial Bitnami customer.

More information and possible updates on our wiki.




Thursday, September 25, 2014

Odoo (OpenERP 8) now available on Bitnami!



The wait is over, Odoo (OpenERP 8) is now on Bitnami! Odoo is an enterprise resource platform from which you can manage all your business operations – from supply chain and project management, to accounting and HR. 

With Bitnami, you can deploy a ready-to-run Odoo Stack with just one click. It can be deployed using all-in-one free 
native installers (for Linux), virtual machines and Cloud Images

Some of the major changes in this new version are:
  • Website Builder & eCommerce
  • New CRM Kanban view
  • New Google Calendar synchronisation
  • New Warehouse Management
  • Gamification (Goals & Challenges for Users)
  • New enhancements in Accounting, Project Management & Human Resources
  • New Business Intelligence Reporting
  • And much more!

Help spread the word about Odoo by writing a review! You can view and submit your own review at the bottom of the app page

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Critical bash security issue in all versions of Linux (CVE-2014-6271)

There's a critical vulnerability in the bash shell that is remotely exploitable. Please log in to all of your Bitnami-based Linux VMs or cloud images and upgrade bash. If you are running an Ubuntu machine (and most likely you are) you can execute the following command:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install bash

To test that you have successfully updated your installation, type:


env x='() { :;}; echo vulnerable' bash -c "echo this is a test"

If you get the following, you have successfully patched bash:

bash: warning: x: ignoring function definition attempt
bash: error importing function definition for `x'
this is a test

If you get the following, you are still vulnerable:

vulnerable
this is a test

If you have further questions, please refer to our community forums or contact the helpdesk if you are a commercial Bitnami customer.

More information and ongoing discussion:



Friday, September 19, 2014

Bitnami Support for Docker - Sign up for our Private Beta

If you are a developer or system administrator, you probably have heard about Docker (unless you have been living under a rock this past year). Docker is a tool that simplifies the creation and management of Linux containers and that complements (and sometimes replaces) traditional virtualization.

We are big fans of Docker at Bitnami and use it internally. We have been working on adding Docker support to the Bitnami library of applications. It is the ideal delivery method for Bitnami stacks, allowing us to encapsulate applications and all of their dependencies as well as making it easier to distribute, deploy and manage infrastructure components. 

If you would like to take part in our private beta and be among the first ones to know when we release this new functionality, please join our Docker beta group.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

New RubyStack version in Bitnami Library

We are happy to announce that we have updated our Bitnami RubyStacks (2.0.0-20 and 2.1.2-3) to the latest versions of Passenger, Node.js, PHP and Nginx, among others.

If you are not familiar with it, Bitnami RubyStack provides a fully-configured and ready to run Ruby on Rails development environment. You can download or deploy it to the cloud free of charge with our ready-to-run installers, virtual machine images (VMs), Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) or Azure Images

In addition to the base Ruby runtime and libraries, the stack includes the most popular gems for building Rails applications: Passenger, Nokogiri, Rake, RMagick, Mongrel, Thin and more. It also includes the latest stable release of Ruby, RVM, Rails, Apache, NGinx, MySQL, SQLite, Git, Varnish, Sphinx, PHP and phpMyAdmin.

All updates to this development stack are listed in it's changelog, but below are the main components:
  • Updated Passenger to 4.0.50
  • Updated Node.js to 0.10.31
  • Updated PHP to 5.4.32
  • Updated Nginx to 1.6.1
If you have any question about Bitnami RubyStack you can check our quick start guide or you can create a new thread in our community forums .

Bitnami Favorites is Live - Follow Your Favorite Apps to Stay on Top of New Releases

We have just added a new feature to Bitnami to make it easier to keep track of your favorite Bitnami apps. Just click the "favorite" button on any app page.

Once you add an app to your favorites, you will be subscribed to receive email updates whenever a new release is available. Of course, you can unsubscribe from these notifications if you would prefer not to receive them.

You can also view a list of all of your favorite applications in the "My favorites" section, which you can access from either your account page (as shown below) or the "My Favorites" link on the left of the Bitnami Apps page

Help spread the word about your favorite apps by writing a review! You can view and submit your own review from each Bitnami app page.


Monday, September 8, 2014

Wordpress 4.0 available on Bitnami


WordPress, the overwhelmingly popular open source CMS project, has just released version 4.0. This version is known as "Benny" in honor of jazz clarinetist and bandleader Benny Goodman, and for good reason.  This new update brings the user an all-around smoother writing and management experience like the jazz music Benny created. This new version also includes many bug-fixes, which you can view here. We are happy to announce that WordPress 4.0 is now available on Bitnami! Check out our Bitnami WordPress InstallersAmazon EC2 AMIsAzure Cloud Images and virtual machines.

Migrating your WordPress instance has never been so easy!

With this Bitnami WordPress release, we have also included a new pre-installed plugin that will help you to migrate your WordPress instance in a few clicks: All-in-one WP Migration.

With no more than three clicks, this tool allows you to do a clean, fast and safe migration to your new Bitnami WordPress installation. To learn how to install and use this tool, we have created a how-to guide on our wiki. If you run into any issues during your migration process, the Bitnami community will be happy to help.

If you want to get a hosted WordPress instance, check out Bitnami Cloud Hosting, which allows you to deploy and manage WordPress in the cloud in just a few clicks. In addition to one-click deployment, it offers built-in monitoring, automatic backups, 1 click resizing and more.



Friday, September 5, 2014

New Development PHP Platform Stacks released with PHP 5.6.0

During the past few weeks, we have provided new PHP development stacks which ship PHP 5.6 alpha, beta and release candidates. As of last week PHP 5.6.0 has officially been released, and now the new PHP development stacks are available in our Library.

The main features of PHP 5.6.0 include:
  • Constant scalar expression
  • Variadic functions and argument unpacking using the ... operator
  • Exponentiation using the ** operator 
  • Function and constant importing with the use keyword
  • phpdbg as an interactive integrated debugger SAPI
  • php://input is now reusable, and $HTTP_RAW_POST_DATA is deprecated
  • GMP objects now support operator overloading
  • File uploads larger than 2 gigabytes in size are now accepted
Bitnami PHP development stacks ship Apache, MySQL, PHP in addition to other libraries and dependencies required to run out of the box. You can click in the images to download installers or run your own PHP development environments in the Cloud for all supported platforms (Linux, Windows, Mac OS X).

In addition to that, we have also upgraded our PostgreSQL-based development environments for PHP: LAPP for Linux, MAPP for OS X and WAPP for Windows.

Easily test whether your application is ready for PHP 5.6! Check out Bitnami AMP/APP stacks and post your feedback in our community forums