https://thelinuxstudent.in/Recent content on sarath@thelinuxstudentHugoen-usMon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://thelinuxstudent.in/about/Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://thelinuxstudent.in/about/<h2 id="whoami">whoami</h2> <div class="about-conf"> <span class="t-prompt">$</span> <span class="t-cmd">cat /etc/sarath.conf</span> <br><br> <span class="t-out">Name&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;: Sarath</span><br> <span class="t-out">Role&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;: Server Administrator</span><br> <span class="t-out">Experience&nbsp;&nbsp;: 14 years</span><br> <span class="t-out">Expertise&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;: Linux · Windows Server · Automation</span><br> <span class="t-out">Location&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;: Kerala, India</span><br> <span class="t-out ok">Status&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;: active</span> </div> <hr> <h2 id="the-person-behind-the-terminal">The person behind the terminal</h2> <p>I&rsquo;m Sarath, a server administrator based in Kerala, India, with 14 years of hands-on experience keeping infrastructure running — quietly, reliably, and at scale.</p> <p>My work sits at the intersection of Linux and Windows server environments, where I spend my time provisioning systems, hardening configurations, untangling DNS mysteries, and building automation that eliminates the kind of repetitive work that shouldn&rsquo;t exist in the first place.</p>https://thelinuxstudent.in/posts/2026-05-11-openvpn-access-server-almalinux-9/Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://thelinuxstudent.in/posts/2026-05-11-openvpn-access-server-almalinux-9/<p>OpenVPN Access Server (AS) is the commercial, GUI-managed distribution of OpenVPN. It bundles a web-based Admin UI, a Client UI for users to download pre-configured connection profiles, and a licence-based concurrent connection model. The free tier allows two simultaneous VPN connections — enough for personal use, a home lab, or a small team.</p> <p>This guide covers installation on <strong>AlmaLinux 9.x</strong>, which is RHEL-compatible but not officially supported by OpenVPN Inc. In practice, the RHEL 9 packages install and run without issues — with a few AlmaLinux-specific gotchas around SELinux and firewalld that will catch you out if you skip them.</p>https://thelinuxstudent.in/posts/2026-05-11-install-python-for-a-user/Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://thelinuxstudent.in/posts/2026-05-11-install-python-for-a-user/<p>There are scenarios where you need a specific version of Python available for a particular user — without modifying the system-wide Python installation or requiring root access after the initial build. Installing Python under a user&rsquo;s home directory is the cleanest way to achieve this.</p> <p>This guide walks through downloading, compiling, and installing Python from source into a user-specific prefix.</p> <h2 id="prerequisites">Prerequisites</h2> <p>The build process requires a few development libraries. Install them as root before switching to the target user:</p>https://thelinuxstudent.in/posts/nginx-self-signed-error-openvpn/Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://thelinuxstudent.in/posts/nginx-self-signed-error-openvpn/<p><strong>Symptom:</strong> You have a valid Let&rsquo;s Encrypt certificate installed on your Nginx/Virtualmin server, but browsers show a self-signed certificate warning instead. The Nginx configuration looks correct, and <code>openssl s_client</code> from the server itself returns the right certificate — but external connections return the wrong one.</p> <p>If OpenVPN Access Server was installed on your server before Nginx/Virtualmin, this article is for you.</p>