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8 examples of influential women in tech AmyJune Wed, 03/08/2023 - 03:00

A journey through open source is rarely something you do alone. Your hobby, career, and your life has been affected by others in the tech space, and statistically some of those people have been women. That's one of the many reasons International Women's Day exists, and it's a good excuse to reflect upon the women who have inspired your career in tech. We asked Opensource.com contributors for their thoughts.

Inspirational women Dr. Kathleen Greenaway

One of the women that inspired me was my university professor, Dr. Kathleen Greenaway. She was exactly who I wanted to be. I remember her saying at a women's event about breaking the glass ceiling that she couldn't believe that we were still talking about it so many years later. I now find myself thinking the very same thing. This is just one example, but she was it.

—Shanta Nathwani

Hilary Mason

I owe my knowledge and start in PHP to Hilary Mason. While she was a professor at Johnson & Wales in Providence RI, she ran an elective study on server-side programming. She showed us PHP, and for a final project had us build something using a database. I think I built a simple login system and a commenting tool or something. I love telling folks I learned PHP from a woman (the lead data scientist at bit.ly, at that!)

—John E. Picozzi

Carie Fisher

The most inspirational woman in tech for me is Carie Fisher. I met her when I first started getting involved in the accessibility community. She invited me to help with projects and helped me through my impostor syndrome when applying to jobs, getting certified, and speaking at conferences. Her compassion and devotion to digital inclusion is matched by only a few.

—AmyJune Hineline

Kanopi Studios

I've been working in tech for 25 years and have often been the only female developer in a company or department. Then I joined Kanopi Studios, a women-owned and led agency with many smart, tech-savvy women from whom I am inspired every day. My gender is no longer a barrier to my career success. I feel respected and heard, and my accomplishments are recognized.

—Cindy Williams

Barbara Liskov and Sandi Metz

I think Barbara Liskov is one of the most influential figures in our field I also really really like Sandi Metz, whose speaking and teaching skills helped me a lot in my career. I recommend any of her books or conference videos.

—benelori

Family

I have been inspired by a number of women in my life, both personally and professionally. I always say that my mother, my sister and my grandmother have been great references for me in everything. But I have great colleagues with whom I work today who, for me are my references. I always think something like: Those people who have been important to you, try to keep them close. When I was studying development, we had no references. No one taught us that the first programmer was a woman or that we have WiFi or GPS, thanks to a woman. There is a very good book that I am reading right now The Invisible Woman that I highly recommend.

—Marta Torre

More open source career advice Open source cheat sheets Linux starter kit for developers 7 questions sysadmins should ask a potential employer before taking a job Resources for IT artchitects Cheat sheet: IT job interviews Sarah Drasner

Written by an amazing woman in tech, it brought to my attention to another amazing woman in tech, Engineering Management for the Rest of Us by Sarah Drasner. This book (and the amazing dev manager, Jody, who sent copies to all the leads) is the reason I am going to be facilitating some discussions about how we experience feedback differently. We realized that a lot of folks may not even really know how to talk about what they need or what works for them, so an open/casual chat where we share some good and bad experiences (optionally, of course) and look at some examples of different styles will hopefully be a really helpful collaborative learning experience.

—Fei Lauren

Sheryl Sandberg

My first book about women in tech, which was recommended to me at the WomenPower conference in Hannover, Germany, was Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg. Not only was I impressed by her own way but very much by how she managed to use the powers we as women are given and what makes us different for her own success and the company's success.

—Anne Faulhaber

Your own influence

In open source, maybe more than anywhere, we all are influences on each other. Sharing and collaborating are built into the process of open source. Tell us about the influences you've had during your open source journey.

Members of the Opensource.com community share stories about the important women who influenced their tech careers.

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Opensource.com

Women in tech Careers Opensource.com community What to read next This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License. 16 points Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Equipped with a Bachelor of Commerce in Information Technology Management and a Black Belt in Karate, there’s nothing Shanta Nathwani can’t do. She is a full-stack developer who specializes in WordPress, Node and React with a love for life and learning.

A natural teacher, Shanta spent six years teaching WordPress courses at Sheridan College as well as having given more than 40 WordCamp talks. Her topics include data architecture, custom post types and ACF, as well as beginner topics like posts versus pages and how to create a website in 30 minutes. She served as a QA Supervisor at a software company for 2 years before starting her own company, Namara Technologies Inc., where she served as the President & CEO. After being accepted at Codeable.io as an expert, she is now the Project Liaison Manager for the platform.

When she’s not working, she can be found volunteering as a Co-organizer for the Hamilton WordPress Meetup Group, taking stunning photographs, singing karaoke, and, of course, practicing martial arts.

| Follow ShantaDotCa | Connect nathwani Community Member 78 points Providence RI

My official role is Solution Architect at EPAM working from home in Rhode Island. My unofficial role at any organization I work for is resident Drupal fanatic; I believe strongly in contributing to the Drupal community and supporting open source in any way I can.

I’m the organizer of the Drupal Providence Meetup, an Acquia-certified Site Builder, a co-host on Talking Drupal, and a co-organizer of the New England Drupal Camp. I hold a bachelor degree in Web Management and Internet Commerce, as well as an associate degree in Web Development from Johnson & Wales University. Throughout my career I have crafted Drupal solutions for organizations like CVS Caremark, Leica Geosystems, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Marriott International, Rhode Island School of Design, and Getty Images.

When I’m not immersed in the world of Drupal, I enjoy spending time with my family, traveling, drinking craft beer, coffee, and cooking!

| Follow johnpicozzi Open Enthusiast Author 16 points Nashville, TN

I am a full-stack web developer based in Nashville, TN with over 20 years of professional experience creating and maintaining websites for businesses, schools, non-profits and healthcare organizations.

I am currently employed as a Drupal Engineer at Kanopi Studios, where I work within the support department to maintain and enhance customers' Drupal and WordPress websites.

| Follow cindytwilliams Community Member 16 points Community Member 16 points Santander

Freelance full-stack developer at martatorre.dev. In love with open source, teamwork, good practices in software development and I am an active volunteer in the WordPress support and translation teams.

Recently, I've been a very active #Diversity volunteer in the global WordPress team, because I see it as unfair not to include one type of person because they are different.

| Follow martatorredev | Connect martatorredev Community Member 16 points Community Member 16 points | Connect anne-faulhaber Community Member Register or Login to post a comment.

What cloud developers need to know about hardware JayF Wed, 03/08/2023 - 03:00

It's easy to forget the progress that people in tech have made. In the early 2000s, most local user groups held regular install fests. Back then, to configure a single machine to run Linux well, we had to know intimate details about hardware and how to configure it. Now, almost twenty years later, we represent a project whose core ideal is to make getting a single computer to run Linux as easy as an API call. In this new world, operators and developers alike no longer have to worry about the hardware in their servers. This change has had a profound impact on the next generation of operators and developers.

In the early days of computer technology, you had to put your hands on the hardware frequently. If a computer needed more memory, you just added it. As time passed, technology also evolved in big ways. This ended up moving the operator further from the hardware. What used to be a trip to the data center is now a support ticket to have remote hands on the hardware. Eventually, hardware was disposed of altogether. Instead, you now summon and destroy "servers" with simple commands and no longer have to worry about hardware.

Here is the real truth: hardware exists because it is needed to power clouds. But what is a cloud, really?

Why hardware is critical to the cloud

A cloud is a centralization of foundational resources built upon utilizing abstractions. It can range from being as simple as a hypervisor running a few VMs in your homelab to levels of complexity that include custom servers, networking gear, containers, and technology that's been designed from the ground up to focus on efficiencies of scale.

They are nebulous. They evolve.

Those entering technology today don't have the same hands-on experiences as more experienced developers had. Many are trained to use clouds from their earliest interactions with computers. They don't know a world without a button to change the memory allocation. They can point their attention to higher levels in the technology stack. Yet without an understanding of the foundations the infrastructure they use is built upon, they are implicitly giving away their opportunity to learn the lower levels of the stack, including hardware. No fault exists here because the implementer and operator of the cloud infrastructure have made specific choices to intentionally make their products easier to use.

This means that now, more than ever, you have to think intentionally about what trade-offs you make — or others make — when choosing to use cloud technologies. Most people will not know what trade-offs have been made until they get their first oversized cloud bill or first outage caused by a "noisy neighbor". Can businesses trust their vendors to make trade-offs that are best for their operations? Will vendors suggest more efficient or more profitable services? Let the buyer (or engineer!) beware.

[ Related read 5 things open source developers should know about cloud services providers ]

Thinking intentionally about trade-offs requires looking at your requirements and goals from multiple perspectives. Infrastructure decisions and the trade-offs therein are inherent to the overall process, design, or use model for that project. This is why they must be planned for as soon as possible. Multiple different paths must be considered in order to find your project a good home.

Explore the open source cloud Free online course: Developing cloud-native applications with microservices eBook: Modernize your IT with managed cloud services Try for 60 days: Red Hat OpenShift Dedicated Free online course: Containers, Kubernetes and Red Hat OpenShift What is Kubernetes? Understanding edge computing Latest articles for IT architects

First, there is the axis of the goal to be achieved, or the service provided. This may come with requirements around speed, quality, or performance. This can in itself drive a number of variables. You may need specialized hardware such as GPUs to process a request with acceptable speed. Will this workload need to auto-scale, or not? Of course, these paths are intertwined. The question already jumps to "Will my wallet auto-scale?"

Business requirements are another part of this to consider. Your project may have specific security or compliance requirements which dictate where data is stored. Proximity to related services is also a potential concern. This includes ensuring a low-latency connection to a nearby stock exchange or ability to provide a high-quality local video cache as part of a content delivery network.

Then there is the final part which is the value and cost of the service provided — how much one wishes to or can spend to meet the requirements. This is tightly bound  with the first path. The "what" your business is and "how" your business operates. This can be something as mundane as whether your business prefers CapEx versus OpEx.

[ Also read Cloud services: 4 ways to get the most from your committed spend ]

When looking at these options it is easy to see how changing any one variable can begin to change the other variables. They are inherently intertwined, and some technologies may allow for these variables to shift dynamically. Without understanding lower layers of substrate, you risk taking paths that further this dynamic model of billing. For some, this is preferred. For others, it can be dreaded.

Even though learning hardware-specific knowledge has become more optional in modern technology stacks, we hope this article has encouraged you to look into what you may be missing out on without even knowing. Hardware improvements have been a large part of feature delivery and efficiency gains, shrinking computers from room-sized monstrosities to small enough to implant inside a human. We hope you take time to stop, learn, and consider what hardware platform your next project will be running on, even if you don't control it.

If you are a student who hasn't gotten their head out of the clouds yet, go find an old computer, install a stick of RAM, and challenge yourself to learn something new.

The cloud is everywhere, so hardware is more critical than ever.

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Photo by Ian StaufferonUnsplash

SCaLE Hardware Cloud What to read next This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License. 33 points Open Enthusiast Author Register or Login to post a comment.

Own your cloud with NextcloudPi on the Raspberry Pi hej Wed, 03/08/2023 - 03:00

You can now say goodbye to big commercial cloud providers and manage your appointments, contacts, and other data in your own home network. Install NextcloudPi on your Raspberry Pi in less than 30 minutes, synchronize your mobile devices with your own Nextcloud, and gain total digital sovereignty and privacy!

I remember when the first Raspberry Pi hit the market in 2012. My Linux friends and I were absolutely thrilled: a tiny computer, available for little money, but with enough computing power to be useful. It has a fully-fledged Linux system running on it, too! We started all sorts of DIY projects, set up media centers, web servers, blogs, control centers for our smart homes, and even a monitoring solution for bee hives.

Last year in December, I decided to install and run my own cloud on the Raspberry Pi. After some digging around, I settled on NextcloudPi, a ready-made instance of Nextcloud. The open source software runs not only on the Raspberry Pi, but on many other single-board computers and other operating systems.

This article shows how to install and configure NextcloudPi. I also explain how to secure the system and talk about different backup and restore methods.

In addition to this tutorial, you can check out how to synchronize data from Google Workspace and Apple iCloud with Nextcloud in my previous articles.

Prerequisites

To run NextcloudPi on a Raspberry Pi, you need at least a Raspberry Pi 2. However, newer models like the Raspberry Pi 3, Pi 3+, and especially the Raspberry Pi 4 are much faster. At my home, I use a Raspberry Pi 3, Model B+ with a 64 Bit quad-core processor (1,4 GHz) and 1 GB of RAM. Since I don't use a graphical desktop environment, this equipment is completely sufficient for my purposes (maximum 10 users/devices).

What else do you need? Here is a checklist:

• A microSD card with 8 GB minimum capacity

• A computer to write the NextcloudPi image to the SD card

• An Ethernet cable (NextcloudPi also works via WLAN, but a direct connection is much more stable and faster)

• An optional additional external storage to store the data of your own cloud. This depends on the amount of data you have. You should choose a USB stick or an external hard drive of sufficient size

Normally, you don't need a monitor or an external keyboard. After you have flashed the NextcloudPi image onto the SD card, the rest of the setup and operation is done with a web interface. You can also access the Raspberry Pi over SSH from Linux, Windows, and macOS. You can also access it from your mobile devices.

Nextcloud vs. NextcloudPi

Of course, you can always install Nextcloud on Raspberry Pi OS (formerly Raspbian) or another operating system on the mini computer. However, this means you have to install the operating system, set up a database server and a database — a complex task that scares off many beginners. The process is easier and faster with NextcloudPi. The open source project offers ready-made images for various single-board computers. It also has an installation script that allows you to set up your own cloud in no time at all.

NextcloudPi takes a lot of work off your hands. It installs and configures Nextcloud so that you can start right away. The developers have published a list of supported hardware/systems on their website. For example, Raspberry Pi (all models, there are also Berryboot images to run NextcloudPi directly from an external hard drive), Odroid, Rock64, RockPro64, Banana Pi, and so on. They also offer a container image that runs on all architectures and operating systems that run containers.

In addition to the current Nextcloud version, NextcloudPi includes a web server with a pre-configured database connection. An administration interface for the web browser is also included so that beginners can quickly find their way around. Those who prefer administration on the command-line can activate SSH access. NextcloudPi has a number of useful presets, including automatic HTTPS forwarding, HSTS (HTTP Strict-Transport-Security, a security mechanism for HTTPS connections), PHP extensions to improve performance, and more. The configuration wizard assists you with the first steps and the formatting of external USB media as well as access from outside using various Dynamic DNS services.

Nextcloud itself has a number of pre-installed apps, including a calendar, address book, dashboard, file sharing, PDF viewer, image and file management, notes and tasks, and Nextcloud Activities.

Flash the image to the SD card

The GitHub repository contains ready-made images for the Raspberry Pi and other devices. After downloading and unpacking the zip file, you can use the dd command on Linux or macOS to write the image to the SD card:

sudo dd bs=4M conv=fsync if=NextCloudPi[…].img of=/dev/mmcblkXX

Replace the device name of the SD card with the correct name. Be careful to choose the correct device name, because dd does not ask for confirmation!

Alternatively, you can use the open source program Etcher to write the image to the SD card. It runs on Linux, Windows, and macOS. Simply select the image on your hard drive (Flash from file) or enter the address of the NextcloudPi image in GitHub (Flash from URL). After that, click Select target, select the SD card, and Flash starts the writing process.

Image by:

(Heike Jurzik, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Boot and activate NextcloudPi

Insert the prepared SD card into the slot of the Raspberry Pi, connect the Ethernet cable to a free port on your network switch or router, and connect the Raspberry Pi to the power supply to boot it. First, you need to find out the IP address of the Raspberry Pi. This is how you access both the web interface for setting up NextcloudPi and Nextcloud itself.

If you are using a router equipped with a DHCP server, you can look in the router's administration interface to see which address it has assigned to the Raspberry Pi.

Alternatively, use a network scanner like nmap on the command-line to find out the IP.

Open a web browser and enter the IP address or hostname of your Pi. This opens the configuration wizard. By default, NextcloudPi only has a self-signed SSL/TLS certificate that hasn't been signed by a known certificate authority (CA). Most web browsers warn against such self-signed certificates. In this case, it's safe to ignore the warning, accept the risk and continue.

Next, you see the NextcloudPi Activation screen. The web interface contains information about the two accounts it has created: one for the NextcloudPi administrator and one for Nextcloud. At this point, it's a good idea to take notes or save the passwords in a password manager so you can change them later. Click on the Activate button, log in as the user ncp along with the associated password to start the configuration wizard.

Image by:

(Heike Jurzik, CC BY-SA 4.0)

NextcloudPi configuration wizard

The first time you navigate to your Pi in your browser, click the Run button to start the configuration wizard.

Image by:

(Heike Jurzik, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Switch to the USB Configuration tab to set up an external USB device (for example, an external hard disk or a USB stick) for the Nextcloud data. If the USB medium already has a suitable file system (Ext2, Ext3, Ext4 or Btrfs), you can continue by clicking Skip. Otherwise, instruct NextcloudPi with the Format USB button to format the disk with the Btrfs file system. Caution! Formatting erases all data on medium!

In the External access tab, you can set up NextcloudPi so that the system can be accessed from outside (the internet). At this point, I recommend selecting no. You can always connect various dynamic DNS services through the NextcloudPi NETWORKING menu. After this last step, the initial setup is complete. The Finish tab offers two links to access your new Nextcloud installation and the NextcloudPi dashboard:

• https://nextcloudpi.local: your Nextcloud

• https://nextcloudpi.local:4443: NextcloudPi administration interface

First steps in NextcloudPi

The NextcloudPi administration interface is very intuitive. The menu bar shows the version number, a language switcher, a search function, and icons that link to your own Nextcloud installation. You can also find information about the system, access existing backups and snapshots, display an overview of the Nextcloud configuration, log files, and re-start the configuration wizard. Use the icon on the far right to shut down or restart the operating system.

In the left sidebar, there are seven menus containing essential options for managing the NextcloudPi system:

• BACKUPS: (Automatic) backups, configure backup media, define a backup schedule, export and import the NextcloudPi configuration, create a snapshot of the Btrfs file system, restore existing backups

• CONFIG: Display and (re)set the password for the administrator account ncp, move the Nextcloud database to an external (USB) device, move the Nextcloud data directory, force secure HTTPS connections, restart Nextcloud with a clean configuration, and configure system limits

• NETWORKING: Activate NFS, SSH access, various DNS services and providers, TLS/SSL certificates with Let's Encrypt, port forwarding for access from the outside, a static IP address, trusted proxy servers, and Samba

• SECURITY: Configure the firewall and the intrusion prevention system Fail2ban, and initiate a manual security check

• SYSTEM: Activate the monitoring for Prometheus and automatic mounting of USB devices, check the status of external hard disks and save the system logs in RAM to protect the SD card, define the size and location of the swap space, and activate compressed RAM to improve swap performance

• TOOLS: Uses various utilities for fixing permissions of Nextcloud data files, formatting USB drives (Btrfs file system) and switching Nextcloud's maintenance mode on and off

• UPDATES: Enables automatic Nextcloud and NextcloudPi updates, notifications about new versions and regular updates of all installed Nextcloud apps, update the current instance to a new Nextcloud version, install NextcloudPi updates, and activate the automatic installation of security updates

Starting Nextcloud

You can log into your Nextcloud with the username ncp and the password displayed in the activation window. The Nextcloud dashboard offers quick access to certain files and folders, your calendar, and your online status (Online, Away, Do not disturb, and so on). You can also select your location for a weather forecast.

All installed Nextcloud apps are listed in the top menu bar: Files, Photos, Activity, Contacts, Calendar, Notes, and so on. If you select an app, a menu in the left sidebar provides filters and tasks associated with it. In the Files app, for example, you get search functions and filters that provide quick access to your own files and folders or those shared with you. In the Contacts app, on the other hand, there is a button for creating new contacts and managing groups and circles. At the bottom left, you can access the app's settings.

All Nextcloud users can find their personal settings by clicking on the profile picture or the initials of the username in the top right corner. The administrator account ncp may also (un)install apps, manage user accounts, and perform other administrative tasks.

Image by:

(Heike Jurzik, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Before you start importing your address book and calendars, it's a good idea to create a new user account without administrator privileges for your daily work. For security reasons, you should only use the ncp account when you change something in the configuration. This includes installing and updating Nextcloud apps, creating users and groups, and so on.

To create a new user, click on the icon with the N in the top right corner to open the settings and select the Users entry there. In the left sidebar, click the New user button, enter the username, first and last name, a password, and an email address. You can also add the account to an existing group. In the Default quota field, you can define how much hard disk space is granted to the user in the cloud.

Synchronize

Once you have Nextcloud up and running, you can synchronize your Android or Apple devices. You can read about how to do that in my previous articles, Switch from Google Workspace to Nextcloud and Switch from iCloud to Nextcloud.

Set access to your system

Even if you operate Nextcloud in the local network only and no services are accessible from the outside, it's vital to consider additional security measures. Here are some suggestions:

• Activate SSH access: To enable SSH access for the Raspberry Pi, go to NETWORKING > SSH in the NextcloudPi web interface. Click the Active checkbox and enter a password for the pi account. Finally, click Apply to start the SSH service on the Raspberry Pi. By default, the password raspberry is set up for the user pi. You must change it to something different. After your first login through SSH, the system prompts you to change this password as well!

• Set up a Firewall: You can activate the firewall in the Security > UFW section. The Uncomplicated Firewall (UFW) is a frontend for the powerful but quite complex Netfilter firewall Iptables. The NextcloudPi developers simplify the setup by entering the three essential ports in the web interface that UFW should allow: 80 (HTTP), 443 (HTTPS), and 22 (SSH). Click Active and then Apply to start the firewall. In the dialogue window you can see messages from the operating system about added rules.

• Fail2ban: If you only use Nextcloud on your home network, you can do without the setup. If, on the other hand, Nextcloud is accessible from the Internet, then set up this additional protective measure via SECURITY / fail2ban. Fail2ban secures services against DoS attacks. For this purpose, the program blocks IP addresses after a certain number of failed connection attempts — first temporarily and then permanently.

• TLS/SSL Certificates: By default, NextcloudPi includes self-signed SSL/TLS certificates.This can lead to a warning. In the case of NextcloudPi in your local network, the warning is merely a technicality and you can define an exception for the respective web browser. Alternatively, you can generate valid TLS/SSL certificates with the Let's Encrypt certification authority (or set up your own Certification Authority).

• Enable 2FA for Nextcloud: You can activate the two-factor authentication (2FA) through the menu Administration > Security. In the security section of the Nextcloud app catalog, there are numerous apps that set up a second factor for logging in — provided by an app or as hardware (with a YubiKey, for example). If you have enabled two-factor authentication, set up an app password under Personal > Security. You can use this password for authentication in the Apple or Android devices so that the synchronization of contacts and calendars succeeds. For security reasons, the password is only displayed once.

• Password Policies: You can also set up password policies for Nextcloud in Administration > Security. For example, you can define a minimum password length, the number of days until a user password expires, and the number of login attempts before an account gets blocked. Additionally, you can forbid common passwords and enforce combinations of upper and lower case, numeric, and special characters.

Image by:

(Heike Jurzik, CC BY-SA 4.0)

For the security of an operating system, it is essential to install security updates promptly. For NextcloudPi, there are a total of three different updates: NextcloudPi updates, Nextcloud updates, and the apps installed. There are also updates for the underlying operating system (Raspberry Pi OS). Use the menu Updates in the NextcloudPi interface to activate notifications about new versions, automatic updates, and manual updates of Nextcloud apps.

More on Raspberry Pi What is Raspberry Pi? eBook: Guide to Raspberry Pi Getting started with Raspberry Pi cheat sheet eBook: Running Kubernetes on your Raspberry Pi Whitepaper: Data-intensive intelligent applications in a hybrid cloud blueprint Understanding edge computing Our latest on Raspberry Pi Backup and restore

Now that you have your own cloud, ideally within your own four walls — that's the end of the setup. The article could end right here. It could, that is, if there weren't one more essential topic to discuss: backups! The small SD cards in the Raspberry Pi are particularly prone to hardware defects compared to standard disks, but there can also be other reasons for hardware failure. NextcloudPi contains all the necessary tools to create automated backups and restore them in an emergency.

You can immediately back up your data at any time via the NextcloudPi web interface. To do this, open the nc-backup entry from the BACKUPS menu. The backups are better off on an external USB device than on the SD card — an external hard drive not only has more space but is also more reliable. To create a full backup that includes not only the NextcloudPi configuration but also the Nextcloud database, the Nextcloud apps and the users' data (calendar, contacts, and other files), activate the Include data checkbox. Optionally compress the data by ticking the checkbox Compress. An alternative to the full backup is to simply export the NextcloudPi configuration via the menu entry BACKUPS > nc-export-ncp. This way you only save the NextcloudPi settings — without the Nextcloud database, its configuration, and user data.

To make things easier, you can activate automatic backups (BACKUPS > nc-backup-auto). Again, it's up to you whether you want to include the users' data and whether you want to compress the backups. In the default settings, NextcloudPi creates a full backup every seven days after clicking Apply. After four weeks, it overwrites the oldest version. Both methods, the manual backup and the automatic backup, have the advantage that they can be set up quickly. However, the backups can — depending on the amount of data in your Nextcloud — take up a large amount of space, even if they are compressed. As the amount of data grows, NextcloudPi also needs more time to create the backups. The cloud is in maintenance mode during this time and cannot be used.

As an alternative, you can create incremental backups by creating and synchronizing Btrfs snapshots. This backup method saves disk space and is significantly more performant than the other approaches. Especially for large amounts of data in the cloud. This variant has a real advantage: during the backup, Nextcloud does not have to be put into maintenance mode, so there is no downtime. The B-tree FS (also called Butter FS) is a so-called Copy-On-Write file system (COW) and allows snapshots of the current data to be created from the running system. These are frozen images of a subvolume at the time of creation. They do not require any additional disk space.

Please note: To do this, the Nextcloud data directory must be moved from the SD card (or another data medium) to a USB drive with a Btrfs file system. You may have already configured this in the configuration wizard, otherwise you can move the data:

1. Format the external USB drive with the Btrfs file system (TOOLS > nc-format-USB).

2. Move the Nextcloud data directory to the external USB disk (CONFIG > nc-datadir). You should see the message The NC data directory has been moved successfully in the window below.

3. As a test, you can now create a snapshot (BACKUPS > nc-snapshot) before activating the automatic snapshots feature.

4. To create the snapshots automatically, open the nc-snapshot-auto entry from the BACKUPS menu, check Active and click Apply. NextcloudPi now automatically creates a Btrfs snapshot of the Nextcloud data directory every hour.

The newly cloned directories only ever take up as much additional storage space as new files have been added since the last snapshot — so the whole thing is extremely efficient in terms of space. You can incrementally send the snapshots to another Btrfs file system. NextcloudPi supports you with the setup (BACKUPS > nc-snapshot-sync). You can choose either another external drive or a directory on a remote computer. This must be accessible over SSH (without a password) and the disk must also be formatted with Btrfs.

After you have set up your backup strategy, you should always test whether you can restore your data with the NextcloudPi web interface. For almost all methods presented here, there is a corresponding menu item for recovery:

• nc-import-ncp: import your NextcloudPi configuration

• nc-restore-snapshot: restore a specific snapshot

• nc-restore: restore a full backup of your Nextcloud

Image by:

(Heike Jurzik, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Explore Nextcloud

There is an active Nextcloud community out there:

• Nextcloud forum

• NextcloudPi topics in the Nextcloud forum

• Bug reports and feature requests for NextcloudPi

• Matrix chat

The NextcloudPi developers have put together a website explaining which questions are best asked where.

NextcloudPi offers a cost-effective and robust alternative to commercial cloud providers. By installing it on a Raspberry Pi, you can have control over your data and ensure privacy. With its compatibility with Android and Apple devices, it makes it easy to synchronize your appointments, contacts, and other data. The installation process is straightforward and can be completed in under 30 minutes. By taking the necessary steps to secure the system and implementing backup and restore methods, you can have peace of mind knowing your data is safe.

For more in-depth information on NextcloudPi, you can check out my book Nextcloud on the Raspberry Pi: Set up your own cloud with NextcloudPi. It provides a comprehensive guide to setting up and using NextcloudPi, and will help you get the most out of your personal cloud solution — take the first step towards digital sovereignty!

This article has been adapted from Heike Jurzik's book, Nextcloud on the Raspberry Pi.

Install NextcloudPi on your Raspberry Pi in less than 30 minutes, synchronize your mobile devices with your own Nextcloud, and gain total digital sovereignty and privacy.

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The power of sisterhood and allyship in open source discombobulateme Wed, 03/08/2023 - 03:00

A little more than two years ago, I switched my career from artist to software developer. I didn’t do it alone. I had the support of PyLadies Berlin, the local Berlin chapter of an international volunteer-based group made to support women in technology.

We are used to the term “career change” as if it were a break in a trajectory. But in my experience, that’s never really the case. A person cannot erase themselves from what they consist of, and this richness of diverse backgrounds resulted in several breaking points. Individual journeys, often far from computer science, hold accountability for the social implication of technology and bring richness and creativity to the technology industry.

Being an artist has always given me freedom and opened doors to explore several fields, from architecture to sciences. A great part of my artistic experience took place in hackerspaces in Brazil, surrounded by the Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) ideology, the open free/libre culture of sharing. Nowadays, for several ideological and practical reasons that do not fall within the scope of this article, the most common term is “open source”. And lucky for me, my career switch started with an internship in an Open Source Program Office (OSPO), which made this switch feel — almost — like home.

Standing on the shoulders of giants

We all benefit from open source. Whether you code or not, the software you use relies on it. Since it is an open culture where everything is built upon the work of others, it’s common to hear the term “standing on the shoulders of giants”, which refers to the idea that advancements are built upon the work and contributions of those who came before us. This highlights the importance of learning from the experiences and accomplishments of others.

This article is meant to unveil whose shoulders I am standing on. And this is not only to show my gratitude to them but also to answer a question I was asked while being interviewed by Kevin Ball and Christopher Hiller at JSParty: What can you do to improve diversity in your surroundings?

“Standing on the shoulder of giants” regards not only to open source but its the base of sisterhood in technology by recognizing female pioneers and leaders’ roles in the field. By acknowledging the contributions of women who came before us, we can gain inspiration and insight into the challenges they faced and learn from their experiences in overcoming some shackles. In this way, we “stand on the shoulders of giants” and build upon their work to create a more inclusive and supportive environment for women and underestimated [2] people in technology.

By supporting one another, recognizing the importance of learning from the experiences of others, and forming a supportive network, we can work together to overcome challenges and build a better future for all by creating a more equitable environment. By doing so, we are creating new giants for others to stand upon in the future.

Organizing a local community: Meili Triantafyllidi and Jessica Greene

I joined PyLadies Berlin, which was founded by Meili in 2013. Jessica, one of the organizers, was a junior software engineer at Ecosia. Being a community organizer means using your free time to passionately do all the work needed to create a safe, supportive networking and learning space. It includes finding a hosting place, promoting the event, curating themes, finding speakers, and most importantly, listening to the needs of the community.

Being new in a multicultural city and trying to find my place in it, PyLadies was less a place to learn Python and more a center to be welcomed and understood.

According to the narrative we are told, tech is the new promise land everyone is heading to, with infinite job postings, freedom to switch countries, and a well-paid careers. This isn’t being offered in other sectors, or at least not at this scale. And communities focused on bringing diversity to the space offer to make this a realistic possibility for everyone.

Every event starts with community announcements, a simple slide containing an agenda, and promotions for similar events. Two of the events I heard guided me to my career path: the Rail Girls Summer of Code program and the FrauenLoop. Feeling compelled to contribute back to the supportive community I’d already received, I became one of the co-organizers.

Networking and learning: FrauenLoop

Founded by Dr. Nakeema Stefflbauer in 2016, FrauenLoop has committed to changing the face of EU-based tech companies. The program is divided in 3 months cycles, which are composed of weekly evening classes and weekend workshops to train women who don’t have a tech industry connection.

The learning curriculum is developed around the professional needs of women, from technical industry-focused classes to workshops delivered by women on how the tech industry really works and how to successfully navigate it. Some common topics are salary negotiation and practicing technical interviews. Most recently, in response to the layoffs, there was a workshop run with the Berlin Tech Workers Coalition about Demystifying the Termination Challenge Process.

The focus is on women, especially migrants, the ones changing family status and careers who are really ready to go job searching.

Being around Nakeema is itself an inspiration. The program was a starting point for understanding what coding means and learning the basics of web development. But the greatest part was connecting with others who would later become PyLadies co-organizers, speakers, mentors in side projects, and friends.

FrauenLoop also gives its students the opportunity to go back as mentors. For me, this was the breaking point that definitively set my path. I have been a mentor for over a year, and it has improved my confidence in myself and reinforced my own learning. Being challenged by the responsibility to facilitate the learning to others, you inevitably have to learn.

There I met Victoria Hodder, who was my partner applying to Rail Girls Summer of Code.

Diversity programs: from Rail Girls Summer of Code to Ecosia Summer of Code

Rail Girls Summer of Code was a global fellowship program for women and non-binary coders where successful applicants received a three-month scholarship to work on existing open source projects. The program was active from 2013 to 2020.

The application was submitted by a team, meaning two people from the same city. While it was a remote program, having a local peer ensured accountability and support.

It also required a place to work, an environment suitable for working for three months. This place could be your home, a co-working space, a work office, or in the best-case scenario, a coaching company. Although the coaching company had no obligation beyond offering a space to work, it connected us with a local company and gave us a space to have visibility and network with people within the industry we wanted to enter.

Jessica, my PyLadies Berlin co-organizer, had kick-started her career in tech with the program. She proposed Ecosia, her then and current company, to be the coaching company for two teams. One team was myself and Victoria (we focused on web development) and the other was Taciana Cruz and Karina Cordeiro (they focused on data).

During the three month application period, the COVID-19 pandemic hit hard. Victoria and I had been sort of selected for the Rail Girls Program after getting involved with the if-me project. Sort of selected. Communication with Rail Girls got really messy by the end of the selection period until they finally canceled the program at the last minute.

We were all devastated. The weight of the pandemic hit us hard, crushing not only a chance for a paid job but a dream of starting a new career that had been cultivated for so long.

Jessica, a junior software developer at the time, knew that. So she took a step further and, instead of feeling powerless, she took a stand. She piled more work on top of her personal struggles navigating her new role and created the Ecosia Summer of Code.

Ecosia couldn’t cover scholarships, but Jessica developed a mentorship instead. The program used the company’s available resources, offering mentorship from highly qualified professionals to fill gaps in our knowledge. As Victoria and Karina dropped the initiative, needing paid jobs, Taciana and I managed to continue on individual projects. We found common themes to work on and supported each other.

About a year later, I was invited by one of those mentors, Jakiub Fialla, to talk about open source to the company. I am still connected with a few others, and every now and then, I stop by and meet some of them when they host PyLadies Berlin events. How sweet is that?

Sponsoring diversity: Coyotiv and Armagan Amcalar

When Rail Girls was canceled, I saw an Instagram post about a bootcamp offering a full stack web development program scholarship.

The application was fairly simple, so I applied. I quickly received a spontaneous invite for an interview. Depressed, messy, and hopeless, I attended without any preparation, so I was brutally honest. The conversation was equally honest, which I highly appreciated.

The interviewer was Armagan Amcalar, the founder of the Coyotiv School Of Software Engineering. Coming from a music background, Armagan is creative and thinks critically about the world around him. The school itself started after he offered free crash courses in Women Techmakers Berlin for three years. He doesn’t use a rote diversity speech, he acts upon it, offering scholarships to all full-time participants.

More open source career advice Open source cheat sheets Linux starter kit for developers 7 questions sysadmins should ask a potential employer before taking a job Resources for IT artchitects Cheat sheet: IT job interviews

I got the scholarship, and together with four other people (3 of them women), the first cohort was formed. Bootcamp lasted for 17 super intense weeks. This was fundamental in changing my perspective on code. Unlike other places I had tried to learn, the least of Armagan’s concerns is about the framework we choose. Instead, it was all about understanding what we were doing, and thinking about software engineering as a creative, powerful tool shaping the world we live in. I didn’t get just a scholarship, I got a friend and a mentor for life who offered me a turn and opened a door for a better life.

Do you think I am overreacting? Talk to people around me. My partner, who has known me for about 14 years at this point, commented on how much I had changed. Disciplined, vibrating, happy about the things I was learning along the way, having deep conversations about software and its surroundings, not being conflicted, letting go a life-long career in arts, and finding a purpose. It was so remarkable that he joined a few cohorts after me.

The school provided me with technical knowledge, interview training, CV support, and public speaking training. Graduation was not only about developing a personal full-stack project. You also had to give back to open source, in recognition that so much software is built upon it, by publishing a library on npm. Node Package Manager (npm), is a Javascript package repository that allows you to reuse code by easily installing it within your Javascript-based projects. Although I have been involved with the free software movement and open source for over a decade, I’d never thought I could give back to it with actual code.

My contribution

This is how rainbow-penguin was born. It’s an npm library that sends motivational messages to developers while coding. Maybe it’s not a very functional tool. Still, to me, it was a needed tool based on my personal experience wading through the frustrations of learning to code, contributing to the if-me project, and hearing so many similar stories from other learners.

Through my experiences in these programming communities, I learned that code is much bigger than the lines of code, and how powerful and necessary it is to have allies. No matter who you are or what you think you know, there are opportunities within the free and open source software communities. Your participation doesn't have to be big, because together our contributions are greater than their sum. Take the first step. Find your allies within open source.

“Standing on the shoulder of giants” regards not only to open source but its the base of sisterhood in technology by recognizing female pioneers and leaders’ roles in the field.

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