https://limedaley.com/ Recent content on Lime Daley Hugo en-US Fri, 18 Sep 2026 15:45:55 -0400 https://limedaley.com/post/wordpress-xmlrpc.php-and-spammers/ Fri, 18 Sep 2026 15:23:55 -0400 https://limedaley.com/post/wordpress-xmlrpc.php-and-spammers/ Spammers love the xmlrpc.php  - I just checked one server, and it has ~60K over the last month, and it is only that small because I block 100% of the hits to them and then my firewall blocks the IP addresses if people try multiple times.  And basically all of those requests are trying to hack into wordpress sites by testing usernames and passwords. But, the reason for this post is that today I had an actual customer who wanted to use it for a legitimate purpose - he has a 3rd party site that he wants to allow backend access into his site through automated means. https://limedaley.com/post/nifty-ssh-config-entry/ Sat, 14 Mar 2026 06:01:48 -0400 https://limedaley.com/post/nifty-ssh-config-entry/ I've done some interesting things in the past with the config file for the ssh client, but ChatGPT pointed out a neat way to manage an ssh server for which you have two ssh keys and want to be able to login easily to each one at different times. In my case, I'm using Subversion, and use the svn+ssh method of connecting.  And I have two users (one for the main LifeType source code and one for my customizations. https://limedaley.com/post/in-the-never-ending-saga-of-the-good-guys-vs-the-spammers.../ Sat, 14 Mar 2026 05:55:36 -0400 https://limedaley.com/post/in-the-never-ending-saga-of-the-good-guys-vs-the-spammers.../ I just recently discovered Cloudflare's Turnstile app, which is their answer to stopping spam, and it looks to work quite well, and was easy to code, so I added it to my contact plugin for LifeType.  Commenting on LifeType has generally worked pretty well, and we rarely get any spam, but the spammers have recently figured out my hidden input plugin, which was created just over 20 years ago, so it has lived a good life, stopping almost 100% of the spam. https://limedaley.com/post/spf-macro-validation/ Thu, 08 Jan 2026 13:02:16 -0500 https://limedaley.com/post/spf-macro-validation/ I came across a "new" feature in SPF records today called macros.  It is an interesting idea that hasn't gained widespread adoption, but something I need to think about if it is useful for any of my customers.  It is one way around the 10 lookup limit that is easy to hit if you use a bunch of 3rd party mailing services, each which require their own SPF record (and sometimes have quite extensive include statements within each record). https://limedaley.com/post/subversion-server-moved/ Fri, 29 Aug 2025 11:50:54 -0400 https://limedaley.com/post/subversion-server-moved/ One of my old physical servers finally died and I had to move the Subversion server to a new machine.  This resulted in the ssh host key changing, so if you get this error: svn: E170013: Commit failed (details follow) svn: E170013: Unable to connect to a repository at URL 'svn+ssh://svn@svn.limedaley.com/...' svn: E210002: To better debug SSH connection problems, remove the -q option from 'ssh' in the [tunnels] section of your Subversion configuration file. https://limedaley.com/post/improved-spam-detection/ Fri, 15 Aug 2025 03:07:35 -0400 https://limedaley.com/post/improved-spam-detection/ I recently noticed that unblocked spams had gone up and that our mail server was getting error reports from a spam checking service konwn as "validity". Which is yet another list that tries to promote good internet behavior by listing good and bad actors.  However, reportedly, they have changed their free service layer from a reasonable number of hits down to 13 per hour.  This causes three rules to be hit in the default configuration of SpamAssassin to be hit: RCVD_IN_VALIDITY_CERTIFIED,RCVD_IN_VALIDITY_RPBL, and RCVD_IN_VALIDITY_SAFE, two of which are negative rules (negative means a good email), and thus emails that would have otherwise been tagged as spam were now being marked good. https://limedaley.com/post/no-news-is-good-news/ Fri, 11 Jul 2025 12:35:55 -0400 https://limedaley.com/post/no-news-is-good-news/ We haven't had many announcements for quite a while, and that is because everything has been running smoothly.  A few new customers here and there, some small website changes, etc. But...  Today our mail server got listed on the dreaded SBL (which is a great service, and I use it to block incoming email), not because any of our servers were hacked, but because our ISP had a "fraudulent customer" https://limedaley.com/post/new-mail-server/ Tue, 14 Jan 2025 14:10:12 -0500 https://limedaley.com/post/new-mail-server/ After much procrastination, Lime Daley has a new mail server, thus finally bringing it up to date with the latest standards, etc. Due to the way the hostnames work, as long as you have your configuration setup correctly, you shouldn't have noticed any problems. If you are now getting login problems, check your configuration according to the link above, and then give us a call to help you figure out what you need to change. https://limedaley.com/post/voip-provider-switch-pending/ Fri, 19 Apr 2024 17:00:14 -0400 https://limedaley.com/post/voip-provider-switch-pending/ Flowroute has served Lime Daley for the last 15 years and they have done well for the most part, but every once in a while they make really bad policy decisions.  Last time they almost made me switch to a new provider was a silly decision to charge all customers a monthly fee for 911 access even if they couldn't actually call 911 due it being an incoming-only line or not even registered. https://limedaley.com/post/salary-calculation-based-on-401k-contribution-plus-taxes/ Fri, 05 Apr 2024 15:53:53 -0400 https://limedaley.com/post/salary-calculation-based-on-401k-contribution-plus-taxes/ I was faced with an interesting problem yesterday of trying to calculate the optimal salary for someone who wants to contribute all of their income to their 401K.  And "optimal" is defined as "near as possible to the deductible maximum and not have any half penny or rounding issues per month or for the quarterly social security and medicare reports".  In previous years (especially last year) it was trivial to get the right number, and I didn't have to think too much. https://limedaley.com/post/mail-migration-long-overdue/ Wed, 17 Aug 2022 23:39:34 -0400 https://limedaley.com/post/mail-migration-long-overdue/ We are moving all email accounts to a new server which will improve reliability, security, and features. We are hoping that customers won't notice any changes, but it is possible that there will be some connection issues, particularly if you have an old email client; it might need to be upgraded to connect to the new SSL certificates and ciphers. Contact us if you have any problems in the coming weeks. https://limedaley.com/post/lets-encrypt-dehydrated-retry/ Tue, 02 Aug 2022 02:54:06 -0400 https://limedaley.com/post/lets-encrypt-dehydrated-retry/ I get sporadic errors when running dehydrated -c from my regular cron job.  The errors I get vary from time to time, but they are: ERROR: Problem connecting to server (get for https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory; curl returned with 35) ERROR: Problem connecting to server (post for https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/acme/authz-v3/xxxx; curl returned with 35) It seems to happen to some servers more than others, particularly newer ones (Debian 11). [@more@] I added this to /etc/dehydrated/conf. https://limedaley.com/post/major-power-loss-at-the-datacenter/ Fri, 15 Apr 2022 06:42:52 -0400 https://limedaley.com/post/major-power-loss-at-the-datacenter/ The servers have redundant A/B power connections, but there was a circuit breaker problem at the utility or something that somehow took out both power legs and didn't let the generator startup either.  Power went down at 3AM, and came back up at 4ish, but there are still some lingering affects. Update: 06:52AM: Everything seems to be up and running at this point.  Let us know if you are still having any problems. https://limedaley.com/post/receiving-mms-messages/ Wed, 06 Apr 2022 19:53:01 -0400 https://limedaley.com/post/receiving-mms-messages/ After a long time of not being able to figure out why some MMS messages don't come through well, and others are fine, I finally figured it out. PHP's mail() function doesn't do anything with line-wrapping and some email clients and servers have trouble with long lines.  The RFC standard is 80 characters (78 plus the carriage return/line feed), and Amazon (which is where the MMS images get hosted temporarily) uses really long lines in their URLs - over 1,000 characters, so I suppose it is reasonable that mail servers don't like emails that go past the standard by 12X. https://limedaley.com/post/virtual-server-outage/ Sun, 31 Oct 2021 21:08:33 -0400 https://limedaley.com/post/virtual-server-outage/ The virtual server system has been having trouble over the last week and the ISP thought they would be ok for a few more days, but a switch died again and took everything down. They are working on it now, but don't have an estimated uptime yet.   This affects various websites and all email services use a virtual server as a proxy, though I'm wondering about bringing that proxy server up at a new host. https://limedaley.com/post/programming-class-prices/ Wed, 13 Oct 2021 08:02:27 -0400 https://limedaley.com/post/programming-class-prices/ We accept cash, check, credit card and also government-sponsored educational payments through organizations like ClassWallet, Educational Freedom Accounts, or the Children's Scholarship Fund. If your state has an educational fund that we aren't currently listed as a vendor, we can probably register to be paid using those funds. Class pricing depends on the content and length of class that you choose. [@more@] Introduction to Scratch: Available for any age student; being able to read is quite helpful, though we have some students who are able to navigate the language/site by pictures and only need minimal reading ability. https://limedaley.com/post/voip-phones/ Wed, 13 Oct 2021 07:35:45 -0400 https://limedaley.com/post/voip-phones/ Lime Daley runs a Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) phone system that far exceeds what is possible with a traditional phone company.  Our customers range from individuals to small business offices.  We can save you money on your monthly costs and add additional features that you either can't get or is cost prohibitive with other phone compnaies. [@more@] Our base rate is $10/month for an incoming phone number; this includes e-911 addressing for one address. https://limedaley.com/post/phone-hosting-systems/ Wed, 13 Oct 2021 07:32:19 -0400 https://limedaley.com/post/phone-hosting-systems/ We have been running a phone company for the last 15 years, and this part of our business has been expanding recently, as people are moving away from the expense of landlines, and businesses discover that the traditional phone companies are in the dark ages as far as costs and features go.  Read more about our pricing and features. https://limedaley.com/post/classes/ Wed, 13 Oct 2021 07:26:50 -0400 https://limedaley.com/post/classes/ Lime Daley offers programming classes for students of all ages.  For beginner students, we'll explore MIT's Scratch program with some easy samples and then progress to harder assignments, depending on the skill and interest of the student.  For advanced students, we will move to a programming language that is actually used for development in commercial environments, Python or C++. Python and C++ will need some setup on your own computer, and we can help you get your development environment setup. https://limedaley.com/post/programming-classes/ Tue, 05 Oct 2021 04:55:09 -0400 https://limedaley.com/post/programming-classes/ I've done informal programming classes in the past, but I've been thinking lately of making it more formal.  There are a few professional coding classes available, and we've tried some with our own kids  Khan Academy is great, though Jonathan was disappointed when he discovered the "fake" javascript world that coding system lives in isn't that practical for making actual programs.  Scratch is pretty great too, and I think the best introduction to programming that currently exists, particularly for young kids, because you don't even need to be able to read that well to be able to program proficiently there.