FeministWiki:Technical documentation
This page documents the FeministWiki's technical infrastructure, the target audience being technicians.
Hosts
The following table documents the basic DNS configuration, and can be used as part of the /etc/hosts file on each server to obviate the need for DNS lookups when connecting to one another.
| IP | FQDN | Host | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| 85.214.101.34 | feministwiki.org | Wiki | |
| 85.214.101.34 | www.feministwiki.org | www | Wiki |
| 85.214.101.34 | ldap.feministwiki.org | ldap | LDAP |
| 85.214.101.34 | blogs.feministwiki.org | blogs | Blogging |
| 85.214.101.34 | chat.feministwiki.org | chat | Web-client for XMPP |
| 85.214.101.34 | forum.feministwiki.org | forum | BBS Forum |
| 85.214.101.34 | mail.feministwiki.org | Web-client for Mail | |
| 85.214.101.34 | files.feministwiki.org | files | File storage |
| 85.214.101.34 | imap.feministwiki.org | imap | IMAP |
| 85.214.101.34 | pop3.feministwiki.org | pop3 | POP3 |
| 85.214.101.34 | smtp.feministwiki.org | smtp | SMTP |
| 85.214.101.34 | xmpp.feministwiki.org | xmpp | XMPP |
| 85.214.101.34 | irc.feministwiki.org | irc | IRC |
| 85.214.101.34 | social.feministwiki.org | social | GNU social |
| 85.214.101.34 | add-member.feministwiki.org | add-member | Add a member |
(As you can see, all services are on the same server for now.)
Special DNS entries
For CAA:
| Type | Name | Flag | Tag | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAA | @ | 0 | issue | letsencrypt.org |
| CAA | @ | 0 | iodef | admin@feministwiki.org |
For email:
| Type | Host | Data | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| MX | @ | smtp.feministwiki.org | Mail server |
| TXT | @ | v=spf1 mx -all | SPF |
| TXT | mail._domainkey | v=DKIM1; k=rsa; p=<pubkey> | DKIM |
| TXT | _dmarc | v=DMARC1; p=reject; rua=mailto:admin@feministwiki.org | DMARC |
For XMPP:
| Type | Service | Protocol | Name | Destination | Port |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SRV | _xmpp-client | _tcp | @ | xmpp.feministwiki.org | 5222 |
| SRV | _xmpp-server | _tcp | @ | xmpp.feministwiki.org | 5269 |
Google Site Verification:
| Type | Host | Data |
|---|---|---|
| TXT | @ | google-site-verification=<key> |
SSH access
FeministWiki hosts have ssh enabled for root access, but password login is disabled. You must own a valid private key to log in.
Git repo of scripts and configuration
The following GitHub account hosts repositories with scripts and configuration used by the FeministWiki:
Certs
The FeministWiki uses LetsEncrypt to acquire digital certificates for encrypted communication.
To ease use of the letsencrypt command, the file /root/etc/domains contains all the FQDNs used by the FeministWiki, one per line. Given that, the preferred way to populate the /etc/letsencrypt/live/feministwiki.org directory with fresh certs is to run the following commands while TCP port 80 is free (e.g. stop Apache first):
# Use $() to eliminate the terminating newline, if any. domains=$(cat /root/etc/domains) domains=$(printf '%s' "$domains" | tr '\n' ',') letsencrypt certonly --authenticator standalone --keep --expand -d "$domains"
Additionally, for programs that require a cert file and its private key in a single combined .pem file, run the following commands to generate such a file:
cd /etc/letsencrypt/live/feministwiki.org cat fullchain.pem privkey.pem > certbundle.pem
The script /root/bin/letsencrypt-refresh does all of the above, so in practice you just need to run the following commands to recreate the cert:
service apache2 stop # Assuming Apache is running on the machine letsencrypt-refresh service apache2 start
The above can be used not only to refresh a cert that's running out, but also to add a new domain to the cert. Just add the domain to /root/etc/domains and run the commands.
Note that the letsencrypt command may not work well on a "dumb" terminal such as an Emacs shell buffer. If in doubt, run it from within a proper terminal emulator.
Readability of the key files
To ensure that processes running under unprivileged users can read key files, ensure that the users they run under are members of the ssl-cert group, which should have read access to the files in /etc/letsencrypt/live/feministwiki.org.
Services
This section documents the individual services of the FeministWiki. They should work regardless of what server they're on. I.e. every service could in theory be hosted on its own server.
LDAP
Host: ldap.feministwiki.org
Software: OpenLDAP
The LDAP service contains the central database of FeministWiki members. The structure looks like this:
- dc=feministwiki,dc=org
- ou=members
- cn=username
objectClass: inetOrgPerson
cn: username
uid: username
sn: -
userPassword: {SSHA}saltedhash
mail: username@feministwiki.org - cn=username2
objectClass: inetOrgPerson
cn: username2
uid: username2
sn: -
userPassword: {SSHA}saltedhash2
mail: username2@feministwiki.org
manager: cn=username,ou=members,dc=feministwiki,dc=org - ...
- cn=username
- ou=groups
- cn=members
objectClass: groupOfNames
cn: members
member: username
member: username2
member: ...
- cn=members
- ou=members
Notes:
- The
cn(common name) anduid(user ID) fields both contain the username. This is because some software is preconfigured to look atuid, while most look atcn. - The
sn(surname) field simply contains a minus character as a placeholder, because it's a mandatory field. - The
managerfield is optional and we use it to record the member who added the member in question.
To make sure passwords are stored with the {SSHA} scheme rather than plain text, the ppolicy "password policy overlay" is used. ZYTRAX has a very nice book about LDAP which documents how to enable this: http://www.zytrax.com/books/ldap/ch6/ppolicy.html
In short, the steps go as follows (these commands should work verbatim):
# Add the ppolicy schema
ldapadd -Y external -H ldapi:/// < /etc/ldap/schema/ppolicy.ldif
# Enable the ppolicy dynamic module
ldapmodify -Y external -H ldapi:/// <<EOF
dn: cn=module{0},cn=config
changetype: modify
add: olcModuleLoad
olcModuleLoad: ppolicy
EOF
# Add the ppolicy overlay with olcPPolicyHashCleartext set to TRUE
ldapadd -Y external -H ldapi:/// <<EOF
dn: olcOverlay=ppolicy,olcDatabase={1}mdb,cn=config
objectClass: olcPPolicyConfig
olcOverlay: ppolicy
olcPPolicyHashCleartext: TRUE
EOF
Wiki
Host: feministwiki.org, www.feministwiki.org
Software: MediaWiki
The wiki uses a MediaWiki installation located at /var/www/wiki/w with the LDAP Authentication plugin for login management and the "Short URL" feature enabled with help of Apache's vhost configuration, which is located at /etc/apache2/sites-available/wiki.conf.
The wiki uses the SQL database called "feministwiki" and the SQL user of the same name.
Blogs
Host: blogs.feministwiki.org
Software: WordPress (multisite)
This is an installation of WordPress in /var/www/blogs, with the "multisite network" feature enabled on a path-basis, so users can have their own blogs on URLs like blogs.feministwiki.org/janedoe. LDAP authentication is enabled via the AD/LDAP plugin from miniOrange.
Users from LDAP who log in for the first time are automatically registered as "Subscriber" accounts, and the admin can change their WordPress role "Author" to allow publishing.
This WordPress installation uses the SQL database called "blogs" and an SQL user of the same name.
Chat (web interface)
Host: chat.feministwiki.org
Software: Converse.js
The web-interface for the FeministChat uses the full-screen "Impress" variant of the Converse.js XMPP client. The hosted HTML and JS files are located at /var/www/chat, although they load Converse.js as an external script from upstream, which is why the self-hosted HTML and JS are very minimal.
Forum
Host: forum.feministwiki.org
Software: phpBB
The forum uses a phpBB installation located at /var/www/forum. Most configuration of phpBB, including LDAP authentication, is done through its administration panel. The style used by the forum is essentially Basic Orange, though the logo is changed via an inheriting style called FeministWiki.
The forum uses the SQL database called "feministforum" and the SQL user of the same name.
Mail (web interface)
Host: mail.feministwiki.org
Software: Roundcube
The web-interface for the FeministMail uses the Roundcube mail client, installed at /var/www/mail. It uses the standard "larry" style, but with some tweaks to logos and images.
Files
Host: files.feministwiki.org
Software: Nextcloud
FeministFiles is a Nextcloud installation with some branding, and LDAP authentication, installed at /var/www/files.
IMAP
Host: imap.feministwiki.org
Software: Dovecot
FeministMail uses the Dovecot IMAP server, configured for LDAP authentication and using virtual mail boxes under /home/vmail.
POP3
Host: pop3.feministwiki.org
Software: Dovecot
While Dovecot is primarily an IMAP server, it also offers POP3 support, which the FeministWiki installation has enabled.
SMTP
Host: smtp.feministwiki.org
Software: Postfix, OpenDKIM
FeministMail uses the Postfix SMTP server, using SASL authentication through Dovecot, LDAP-based virtual mail boxes under /home/vmail, and DKIM signing via OpenDKIM. Send a mail to a Gmail account and use the "Show original" feature of Gmail to see if the mail passes SPF, DKIM, and DMARC tests.
There are also various tools on the web to automatically test the DNS settings for correctness, to check if the domain/IP is on blacklists, etc., which you can find via Google. All in all, FeministMail is probably the most complicated service of the FeministWiki, as far as technical background goes.
XMPP
Host: xmpp.feministwiki.org
Software: ejabberd
FeministChat uses the ejabberd XMPP server, configured to use LDAP authentication and an LDAP-based shared roster group for all members.
IRC
Host: irc.feministwiki.org
Software: InspIRCd
FeministIRC uses the InspIRCd IRC server with the ldapauth module for LDAP authentication.
Add a member
Host: add-member.feministwiki.org
Software: custom
The page to add a new member, hosted at /var/www/add-member, uses a bit of self-written HTML, PHP, and a setuid-root C program to invoke the shell script located at /root/bin/fw-adduser with root privileges.