I’ve reported this problem to Dreamhost and they are already working for a fix. For now, if you still want to use Railgun and be able to login to your Dashboard while “Extra Web Security” is enabled, the work-around is to use Cloudflare’s Pagerule:

On your Cloudflare account, create the following Pagerule on your website.

Pattern: www.yourwebsite.com/wp-login.*
Rule: Apps: Off, Performance: Off, Security: Off, Cache level: Bypass cache

Pattern: www.yourwebsite.com/wp-admin*
Rule: Apps: Off, Performance: Off, Security: Off, Cache level: Bypass cache

If you are using SSL on your Dashboard, you can set this rule instead of the rules above:

Pattern: https://www.yourwebsite.com/*
Rule: Apps: Off, Performance: Off, Security: Off, Cache level: Bypass cache

After setting these up, you’re good to go after 60 seconds. You will be able now to login to your WordPress Dashboard while your visitors are being served fast with Railgun.

Based on my experience, Vaultpress is also having problems connecting to your site when you enabled Railgun and “Extra Web Security” is enabled. If you are using Vaultpress and encountered 500, 502, or 503 errors after enabling Railgun, set this Pagerule and everything will be back to normal:

Pattern: www.yourwebsite.com/wp-load*
Rule: Apps: Off, Performance: Off, Security: Off, Cache level: Bypass cache

These settings work for me. It is configured on this blog. As you can see, I can login to my Dashboard and post this post and Railgun is enabled on this blog. I can’t guarantee that it will work for you too. Hopefully, it does.

That’s all folks.

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Image Credit: Cloudflare

See TLDR below if you are in a hurry.

Now, let’s start first with my story…

The past few days, I’ve been trying to setup SSL on BatangasToday.com for extra security using Cloudflare’s Flexible SSL. After several days of trial-and-error, I finally nailed it!

The instruction on the WordPress.org website is simple. Just add the following code on wp-config.php file and it will work.

define(‘FORCE_SSL_ADMIN’, true);

Well, it will work if you have a Full SSL setup. (Refer to the image on the right to know the difference, ok?) But for a Flexible SSL on Cloudflare, setting it will result in infinite redirect loop error.

However, according to that same instruction, you need to put additional code on wp-config.php if you are on Reverse Proxy, just like Cloudflare. The code looks like this:

define(‘FORCE_SSL_ADMIN’, true);
define(‘FORCE_SSL_LOGIN’, true);
if ($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO'] == ‘https’)
$_SERVER['HTTPS']=’on’;

Tried the code. The result is the same infinite redirect loop error. That’s because maybe, Cloudflare is not setting up HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO properly.

When I contacted Cloudflare asking them to check if they are setting up HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO properly, they instead suggested me to go the Full SSL route.

So I asked them, “Can’t you fix this without advising us to go to the Full SSL route?” In which their support replied, “I can most certainly have us check it out. I am curious, however, if choosing the full option gets rid of the loop.”

Well, I don’t know if choosing the full option can get rid of the loop, since I don’t have the ability to go Full SSL since I don’t have SSL setup on my host. Setting up my own SSL on my host costs $3.95/month for self-signed certificate. I’m a cheap a$$ so I insisted that they set HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO properly.

Then, after some more googling, I found this forum post. Analyzing the code there made me think that Cloudflare might not be setting up HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO properly, but they are sending HTTP_CF_VISITOR with “https” substring on its value when the site is being accessed on https.

So, instead of checking for HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO, I checked HTTP_CF_VISITOR on wp-config.php file. I added the code below instead of the code suggested above:

define(‘FORCE_SSL_ADMIN’, true);
define(‘FORCE_SSL_LOGIN’, true);
if( isset($_SERVER['HTTP_CF_VISITOR']) && strpos($_SERVER['HTTP_CF_VISITOR'], ‘https’) )
$_SERVER['HTTPS']=’on’;

And bang! No more infinite redirect loop. And I can access all admin pages on https. And everything works fine! Except for the mixed content error, which simply means that I am showing pages on http and https, mixed, since some CSS files are taken from the http.

To fix that, I installed the WordPress HTTPS plugin, to remove the mixed content error and see the “green lock” on the browser when I’m on the WordPress Admin panel.

Everything works fine now.

=======

TLDR. If Flexible SSL is already setup on your Cloudflare account, you just need to add the following code on wp-config.php file.

define(‘FORCE_SSL_ADMIN’, true);
define(‘FORCE_SSL_LOGIN’, true);
if( isset($_SERVER['HTTP_CF_VISITOR']) && strpos($_SERVER['HTTP_CF_VISITOR'], ‘https’) )
$_SERVER['HTTPS']=’on’;

You can optionally install WordPress HTTPS plugin to remove mixed content warning on your browser and see the “green lock”.

That’s all folks!

BTW, I’m using Dreamhost’s Cloudflare Plus option, cheaper than the Cloudflare Pro option.

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Below is its new features:

So far, I haven’t encountered any problems with the plugins. All my plugins still work after the upgrade. If you see any WordPress errors on this blog, kindly inform me. Thanks!

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Well, it’s actually easy to put some falling snow on your blog. All you have to do is install the “Let It Snow” plugin.

Let It Snow plugin is available at the WordPress plugin directory for free. Simply install it on your blog, activate and snow will start falling on your blog.

There are some settings you can adjust. Like changing the color of the snow. Changing the speed of the snow. And many more. But if you are lazy like me, the default configuration is already good to go. I simply changed the color.

Download the falling snow plugin here. See it in action at my other site: 90.7 Love Radio.

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Kindly inform me thru the comments if you see errors on this blog.

What’s new on 3.2? Aside from the new look, there is a full-screen mode when composing your post. Fullscreen in the sense that all you see is your post, everything is hidden.

According to WordPress, they have made security fixes on this new version, fixing about 400 issues.

So far, so good.

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So, how do you setup MaxCDN on a WordPress blog? Here’s how.

1. Create a pull zone on MaxCDN and a CNAME record. I’ll just refer you to an easy to follow tutorial on how to do this on WPVeda. Just follow that guide up to step 3 (Creating a CNAME record) then come back here.

2. By this time, you already created a pull zone and a CNAME record. Setting the CNAME record varies from registrar to registrar. If you are still confused, here’s how I created the CNAME record for macuha.com on Dreamhost.

Click image for larger view

Wait for 24 hours to make sure your settings are propagated already. After 24 hours, configure WP Super Cache.

3. Simply go to CDN tab of the WP Super Cache settings, check the Enable CDN Support and input your CDN URL on the Off-site URL.

Click image for larger view

4. Check your site’s source code and make sure that images and css files are now served using the CDN URL. For example:

http://www.macuha.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif

is now served as

http://cdn.macuha.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif

5. Clear your WP Super Cache contents to make sure all your pages will now start uploading files on the CDN pull zone and start serving CDN files to the visitors.

That’s all folks!

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For example, if somebody from Amsterdam visits this blog, instead of downloading all the static files (css, jpg, ico, js, etc..) directly from my host (Dreamhost), the files will be delivered from a server in Amsterdam, making it load faster. If someone from LA visits this blog, it will receive the files from an LA server.

Aside from speed advantage, it lightens the load on my server. It will only serve the static files to the CDN and the CDN will be the one delivering them to the visitors. Bandwidth and memory usage decrease which in turn pull down my monthly hosting payment.

I just paid $39.95 for the CDN for 1 TB bandwidth for 1 year, speed up my sites and made a monthly savings on my hosting payment of around $50. This means that I paid $39.95 to save $600 in one year. Not bad, isn’t it? Though $39.95 is just a promo price, the regular price is only $99, which I’ll pay on my second year. Still, an advantage for me.

I use MaxCDN for my CDN needs. The CDN used by John Chow, Mashable and CopyBlogger. I’ll be posting a tutorial on how to implement MaxCDN to a self-hosted WordPress blog using WP Super Cache in the near future. Most of the tutorial I see online uses W3 Total Cache. Since I’m a WP Super Cache user and I don’t like changing plugins just to use another service, I studied and found a way to implement CDN using WP Super Cache. I’ll blog about it later, maybe tomorrow.

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To back-up the database, you need to install a WordPress plugin. This plugin will automatically e-mail a copy of your database to your chosen email address using the schedule you set. You can set it up to email the back-up everyday, every week or every month, depending on your needs.

So, here’s the simple process.

1. Download, install and activate the WP-DBManager Plugin on your blog. Plugin Download and Installation Guide.

2. Go to Database > DB Options on your WordPress sidebar. Set your schedule and you’re done! Use GZIP to lessen the file size. Of course, you need to check your email if it successfully received the back-up file. (Click screenshot below for a full size view)

3. Optionally, you can also do an automatic optimization of your database as you can see from the screenshot above. This is highly recommended for high-traffic and often updated blogs to keep your database healthy.

To make life easier for me, I created a dedicated email address for my back-up as you see on the screenshot. I did this so that it does not clutter my existing email, and if I need a back-up of my WordPress database, I’ll just open that email address.

That’s all!

Wait there’s more! Learn how to automatically back-up your WordPress files here.

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Ideally, you must back-up all the contents of wp-contents folder to have a full back-up of your WordPress files. However, that would consume a lot of time, CPU and memory resources. In my case, I just made a one-time back-up of my plugins and themes folder and made a scheduled back-up of the uploads folder. Contents of plugins and themes folder don’t change a lot. You can even download them from the plugin and theme maker when you lost your copy. Uploads folder contains all your images and other uploads when you make a post. This is what you should back-up regularly.

So, how do I back-up my uploads folder regularly and automatically? I use SyncBack. It’s an award winning back-up software. Best of all, it’s a free software! No nag screen. No advertisement. No registration. No payments. No expiration. A completely free software that does the job very well.

Syncback is a flexible back-up software. You can configure it to connect to your FTP server, check the files there, compare the files to your local back-up and download only the new files and files that are modified. You can schedule this task to run automatically every day, every week, every month depending on your needs.

Initial running of the software might consume so much time depending on your internet connection speed and the amount of files in your FTP server, since it will download ALL the files from your server to your local folder. Mine takes at least an hour to finish. But after that, it will just download the new and modified files on the next scheduled run. During a scheduled run, it runs in the background consuming less CPU and memory resources. So, you can do your work on your computer while it is backing-up your files.

Now, let me guide you on how to setup Syncback in your computer so that you can back-up your WordPress files automatically.

Download Syncback software here. Just download the free version which is only 1.77MB. Then, install it on your computer. Then, follow the instruction below to back-up your files from your server to your PC automatically:

1. Prepare your back-up folder. Create a back-up folder in your PC.

2. Run the Syncback software.

3. Create a new Profile. Click Profile > New. Choose Back-up when prompted. Create a descriptive name for your profile.

4. Click the Expert button below.

5. Specify the Source by clicking the folder icon beside it. Use the one you created on Step 1.

6. For the Destination, DON’T click the folder icon yet. Click the FTP tab first.

7. On the FTP tab, check “The destination directory is on an FTP server.” Then, input your FTP credentials. Click Test FTP settings to make sure that everything works fine.

8. Now, click the folder icon on the Destination. It will now connect to your FTP server. Browse until you find the uploads directory and click OK.

9. Now, you have defined the Source as your local folder and the Destination as the uploads folder in your FTP server. However, what we want is the other way around, your Source must be the FTP server and the Destination must be the the local folder in order to have a successful back-up. To do this, follow the next steps.

10. Click the Advanced tab. Copy the settings below. As you can see, we instructed the Destination and Source to do the reverse of their function.

Destination overwrites source always (restore). This means that your FTP server will always overwrite your local folder.

If the file is in the source but not in the destination, do nothing. This means that if it found a file in your local folder but not existing in your FTP server, don’t do anything. This is to protect your FTP server from getting unnecessary files from your local PC.

If a file is in the destination but not in the source, copy file to source. If a file is in the FTP server but not in your local folder, copy it to your local folder. This is the ultimate back-up command. When it find files in your FTP server that is not yet in the local folder, copy it!

11. Click OK. It will prompt you to do a Simulated Run. Click Yes. It will show you a report of what files it will copy if you actually run your settings.

12. If you are satisfied with the result of the Simulated Run, click Run. It will start copying those files from the FTP server to your local folder. This might take time depending on the contents of your uploads folder and your internet connection speed.

13. When everything is finished, click Schedule to make a schedule on when you want to run the settings automatically from your PC. Schedule uses your Windows Scheduled Task. Simply fill it up with your desired schedule and you’re done.

That’s it! Just make sure your computer is turned-on on your scheduled time. It will automatically start in the background while you are watching Youtube, Facebooking, or simply reading this blog.

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Obviously, I already solved this problem that’s why I’m blogging about it. So, what did I do to allow users with Author and Contributor roles to embed Youtube videos on their posts? Again, Capability Manager plugin saves the day!

I simply checked the “Unfiltered html” option on the Capabilities for Contributor and Author roles. That fixed the problem. Now, Authors and Contributors can embed Youtube videos on their posts.

Here’s the screenshot of the settings (click for a larger view):

Capabilities Manager Settings

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