Paws & Pages

🔑 Connect

Easiest: Google Cloud Console → Compute Engine → VM instances → SSH next to the VM.

From your PC (Windows cmd), using the key you set up:

ssh -i %USERPROFILE%\.ssh\gcp_vm USERNAME@YOUR-DOMAIN

Replace USERNAME and YOUR-DOMAIN with your own. SSH is only allowed from your home IP and Google's console range.

✎ Visitor notes

Notes left with the ✎ note tab on the home page are private. To read them:

sudo read-notes

Shows each note with its time (UTC) and the sender's IP.

📚 Approve book updates

Requests from ✎ Suggest an update on the Library page wait for approval. To review them:

sudo book-review

• a approve: the site updates and counts are recalculated
• r reject · s skip for later · q quit

Only list the queue, without changing anything:

sudo book-review --list

Rebuild the Reading Log and counts from saved data:

sudo book-review --rebuild

A backup of the pages is saved before every approval.

🩺 Health check

Confirm the web server and both form services are running (each should say active):

systemctl is-active nginx site-notes book-updates

Restart one if needed, for example:

sudo systemctl restart book-updates

📜 Logs

Last 50 website visits:

sudo tail -n 50 /var/log/nginx/access.log

SSH logins and failed attempts this week:

sudo journalctl -u ssh --since "7 days ago" --no-pager | grep -E 'Accepted|Failed|Invalid'

🔒 HTTPS certificate

Renews automatically. To confirm renewal will work:

sudo certbot renew --dry-run

It should end with "all simulated renewals succeeded".

💾 Backup

Pack the whole site into one file in your home folder, then download it with the SSH window's gear icon → Download file:

cd ~ && sudo tar -czf site-backup-$(date +%F).tar.gz -C /var/www html && sudo chown $USER: site-backup-*.tar.gz && realpath site-backup-*.tar.gz

Or pull it straight to your PC with scp. Run this in cmd on your PC, not in the SSH window:

scp -i %USERPROFILE%\.ssh\gcp_vm USERNAME@YOUR-DOMAIN:~/site-backup-*.tar.gz %USERPROFILE%\Downloads\

In PowerShell instead of cmd:

scp -i $env:USERPROFILE\.ssh\gcp_vm USERNAME@YOUR-DOMAIN:~/site-backup-*.tar.gz $env:USERPROFILE\Downloads\

Once it's in Downloads, delete the copy on the server (in the SSH window):

rm -i ~/site-backup-*.tar.gz

• Replace USERNAME and YOUR-DOMAIN with your own.
• Only works from your home IP, because the SSH firewall rule blocks other addresses.
• Windows 11 opens .tar.gz files in File Explorer. On Windows 10, run tar -xzf followed by the file name in cmd.

💤 Save money

Stopping the VM takes the site offline but keeps all files and the static IP. In the Console: VM instances → ⋮ → Stop, and later Start / Resume.

The site and both services start on their own after boot.