Update UVA Personal Homepage Off-Ground with Fabric

Last updated: Sep, 2013

I used to update my UVA personal webpage via blue.unix.virginia.edu which could be accessed off-Ground. But it was retired in August 2013, and its successor fir.itc.virginia.edu could only be accessed on Ground. Here is how I update this webpage now:

• Find another computer running on Ground (a Raspberry Pi running in office)
• Generate a SSH public-key (with empty passphrase) and add it to fir
• Approach: localhost –> RPi on Ground –> fir.itc.virginia.edu

And a Python library called Fabric can be used to automate the process. Install Fabric (in Ubuntu) first:

sudo apt-get install fabric

The fabfile can be found in my Gist. Save this file somewhere. Also, create a rcfile in $HOME/.fabricrc with content of

fabfile = path_to_your_fabfile

To update the webpage, run

fab fir_html