Linux Server and Home Web Hosting

By Jan Pascal

If you are interested in web design or development you should have some local test place where you can check and debug websites. If you are doing this professionally you will probably invest in a real web server. But if you are doing this for fun or the reliability and speed is not a problem then you can have a simple solution with minimal investment–own Linux server. There are also some simple and effective solutions with applications like WampServer or EesyPHP. You can use them and have a good testing environment. However, having a dedicated Linux computer offers many opportunities for additional functions. In addition to this, a physical web server running Linux is a very close approximation of the real hosting environment. To install and use such server you need no special knowledge or skills. All you need is access to the internet and computer with web browser.

To set up a small but useful Linux server you need a computer. Your old computer that was replaced with a new fancy multi-core machine is a perfect candidate for this project. Linux operating system usually runs on any machine so you should not be concerned about the processor speed or the amount of RAM. If you are new to Linux you should learn some basic tips by browsing the web. There are many websites that provide step by step instructions on how to download and install Linux on any computer. The most important rule about solving any problem is to simply google for it. Every problem you may encounter during installation or customization is somewhere already mentioned together with possible solutions or hints.

After you have a running Linux computer you should check if networking is working and if it boots without any errors. Then you need to install web server software. For this you will need at least Apache, MySQL and PHP. To upload files you will also need a FTP server software. To find out how to install applications you should again check web resources where you will find every step described in details. Before you can test your home hosting you should configure Apache for shared hosting and create few directories for your projects. This should be enough for basic web development.

Now you can put some files in the www folder and they should be visible in your browser. Simply enter the IP address of your Linux computer into the address bar of your browser and you should get your default website. You can add a line to your hosts file where you can associate a name with the IP address of the server. Then you will be able to access the server with this name.

An additional upgrade of the server can be some software to allow access from windows computers. For this purpose you can install a Samba file server which will allow you to access www or any other folder from the explorer in any Windows computer. With a Linux system running on your old computer you can get much more than just a testing environment for web development.

The author uses home Linux server for file storage and web development. One of his latest projects is a website about home hair removal which provides information about popular hair removal topics like facial hair removal for women. This website was created on the local Linux computer and then uploaded to the real web hosting server where you can access it.

Top Social Network Platforms
By Jonathon R Boone

If you are hoping to produce a social network and you are in a rush, then you should visit a website like Ning. Ning is the first larger hosted social networking site that comes to mind. If you are one of those who wish to have more control of their web site, that is, having your own personalized domain name, controlling the design and of course, the brandmark, then the advisable way is to run one of the off the shelf networking scripts available.

There are quite a few social networking scripts on the market these days, both free and paid for. The reality is that only a handful are worth the money.

After a brief community survey amongst social networking webmasters, it didn’t take long to figure out who was running what. From our tally we determined these four social networking sites to be the top five currently on the market.

DZOIC Handshakes offers up one of the foremost open source community programs for this year, so there is very little doubt about the usability of this software. For the most part, Dzoic Handshakes is a potent piece of computer software that dishes up article writing, instant messaging, community, video, music plus tons more. In fact, it is one of the most versatile pieces of software that provides pretty much everything you need to start a social site right out of the box.

Dzoic Handshakes works on a runs on a Linux, Apache, MySql and Php environment is simple to upload, install and configure. Having very little php skill, you can get your social networking script up and functional in no time.

PhpFox is possibly Dzoic Handshakes strongest competitor and designed with similar functionality. It is awesome platform perfect for just about any niche. With PhpFox, you can tap into a huge community of adept PhpFox users and utilize their talents. Features in the software include live chat, Videos, Advanced profile editing, video and image tagging, RSS feeds plus much more. You have endless possibilities with this software and like Handshakes, it is 100% encryption free.

PhpFox works on a runs on a Linux, Apache, MySql and Php environment like handshakes.
What are people saying about PhpFox? Find out here.

Social Engine, is 100% open source, is a modulure based, social networking software that operates on the Php, MySql,Apache and Linux environment. You can easily customize Social Engine and the Social Engine script writers have gone to surpassing lengths to get Social Engine user friendly and easy to customise. Using thoroughly anotated and unencrypted source code, you should have no problem navigating your webpages. The Coders also went out of their way to supply fully commented HTML templates for all the pages of your social network.

The only major downside to using the Social Engine is that it can get expensive. If you were to simply purchase the bare bone script you would not have enough to make a sound social network. You would have to purchse additional modules which can get expensive.

Get more reviews on the Social Engine Networking script here.|See what other people are saying

Dolphin 6 – Smart Community Builder is versatile social networking script that boasts itself as being free. We all know all great things come with a catch. Boonex has licensing features that allow you to slowly get away from their control for a small cost. The fees are dependent upon the duration of the licensing. Boonex comes with stockpile of bells and whistles. Bells and whistles include 100% AJAX Forums, Photo Sharing, Video Sharing, Music Sharing, Blogs, Polls, Search Events, Groups, Mailbox, Friends, Customizable Profiles, Powerful Admin Panel, Design Templates and Languages!

Dolphin – Smart Community Builder is based on php and operates on the Php, MySql, Apache and Linux environment

John is a fulltime social networking consultant who helps newcomers get their social networking websites off the ground

social networking software reviews

5 Linux VPS Performance Tips
By Christopher Pace

As a freelance Linux consultant, many of my clients are often interested in making their VPS (Virtual Private Server) as responsive as possible. Since VPS servers by nature have somewhat limited system resources (often less than 1 GB of RAM), getting the best VPS performance can be a crucial part of running a successful server. To make matters worse, most clients assume that the VPS host has already optimized their server- which simply isn’t true (even Rackspace, a wonderful VPS host, doesn’t do this). Therefore, I’ve written this article as a brief introduction to some of the more common ways to get the best performance from a VPS.

Tip #1: Disable system services
The top way to increase your VPS performance is to disable any system services that are not necessary. Services that are never used will still use up valuable RAM and CPU time, and also possibly allow your server to be attacked remotely. If you don’t need these services, why have them? Manage the startup scripts that start these services at boot time, and disable them.

Tip #2: Configure MySQL properly.
One of the more common ways to increase the available RAM (or to allocate more RAM to MySQL) is to configure the MySQL cache sizes. If your MySQL server instance is using too much memory, decrease the cache sizes. Likewise, if MySQL gets bogged down with large requests, increase the MySQL cache.

Tip #3: Configure Apache properly.
With Apache 2.0, many system administrators and clients alike have become confused as to the proper configuration of the Apache worker threads. Check how much memory Apache is using, and adjust the StartServers and MinSpareServers directives as needed to free up more memory.

Tip #4: Clean up your modules!
Without exception, there will always be modules or features that are enabled in memory hungry server software packages (such as Apache) that simply are not needed. Take a look at the configuration files for Apache, and decide if you need FrontPage support, or some of the other extra modules that ship with the VPS software packages. Disabling unnecessary modules or plugins will decrease the system memory that server software such as Apache requires, which will give you more resources for the software that needs it!

Tip #5: Disable control panels.
Let’s face it, everyone loves the more popular control panels, such as Cpanel, Plesk, Webmin, and phpMyAdmin. Heck, I’ve even written tutorials on how to use some of these control panel software packages. However, disabling these software packages frees up quite a bit of resources- sometimes as much as 120 MB of RAM! Sometimes the best solution is to disable these control panels until you actually need them- then they can be turned on via a PHP script (albeit somewhat insecure), or via a command entered at a shell prompt.

These 5 tips should decease the amount of RAM that your VPS uses by as much as 30-40%, which might save you quite a bit of money per month. Since most providers start out their VPS plans at systems with 256MB of RAM (and upgrades from there are expensive, often costing $40/month for an additional 256 MB), optimization of a VPS server is a crucial step. In addition, these 5 tips can be performed by a talented system administrator or consultant in typically less than two hours, which can mean a return on investment after only two or three billing cycles. What you do with the extra money saved is your business- you’ve earned it!

Christopher J. Pace is a freelance Linux consultant who has worked with Linux since 2001. Currently, he provides remote Linux consulting services for sick servers.

Six Steps to a More Secure Linux Server
By Christopher Pace

I’ve worked as a remote Linux System Administrator for quite a while, and one thing that I’ve noticed is that many “administrators” out there don’t know how to configure or secure a server properly. This article is a quick reference on some of the more important (and easy) security or configuration tweaks that any administrator should do for their server. These six steps can dramatically increase the security and stability of any Linux server. The best part about these tips, is that they are all quick and easy to do as well, with each step taking less than 15 minutes!

1.) Security Updates Not Installed
Nearly every server that I work on is not running the latest (and most secure) software. Yes, Linux is a great Operating System- but all software has security problems. Enabling the installation of automatic updates via a cron script or similar is the easiest and most foolproof way to ensure that your server isn’t compromised. There really isn’t any excuse not to install the latest security updates- older packages are saved in the package archives in case there is a stability or compatibility issue, and the updated packages are logged as they are updated.

2.) Disable root login via SSH, and password authentication
Admittedly, I’ve been guilty of this myself sometimes. Let’s face it, everyone likes being able to quickly and easily log into their servers, and change settings. However, if you’re using password authentication, what’s to keep someone else from logging into your server? In addition, you should not use password authentication on your Linux server, to prevent others from logging into your Linux server. Instead, enable RSA signed authorization keys. This is more secure, since an attacker will not be able to guess or brute force a login session with your server.

3.) Disable or filter extra services
This is the second biggest issue that I see working with new client’s servers. Often, the system administrator who setup their Linux server did not perform a necessary final step- filter incoming connections that aren’t necessary. I’ve seen everything from the daytime service running, to MySQL listening for connections on a remote IP. If a Linux administrator is not familiar with iptables, there are several tutorials out there that will show someone how to create even a basic firewall ruleset. In addition, disabling unnecessary services is a basic step in server optimization as well- why run extra services that tie up resources if they aren’t needed?

4.) Test accounts or guest accounts still active
Another glaring security issue (and an often exploited one) is that a client will still have test user accounts running (often with extremely easy passwords, such as test) once a software solution is deployed to a production server. I don’t need to go into the security ramifications with this one- make sure that you get rid of those guest or test accounts!

5.) Advertising banners left on
We all love advertising, don’t we? However, advertising to the world that the version of Apache or Sendmail that you run on your Linux server is 3 years old is not the type of attention that you want. Simply disabling the server banners will help hide your server from the basic script-dependent attackers. Besides, why help the bad guys determine what software your server is running?

6.) PHP errors or application errors
I’m pretty confident that we have all seen an error or two displayed on a website. Some errors that are displayed are not a security issue at all, for instance Javascript errors. However, some errors are security issues (PHP is particularly bad with this), because they disclose sensitive information. The easiest way around this is to disable displaying errors in PHP (or your web applications). Otherwise, an attacker may be given information about your website’s database details, or file locations.

These issues are the top 6 security issues that I see on a daily basis in my work. You can all check your server or servers for these quick issues (these tips take almost no time at all), and dramatically increase the security of your server. However, if you have any problems implementing these security steps, please feel free to contact me.

Christopher J. Pace is a freelance Linux consultant who has worked with Linux since 2001. He provides remote Linux consulting services for Linux servers.

Host Your Webpage Using Your Own Computer
By David Nies

There are many web hosting companies available willing to host your website for various monthly fees. Most of these fees are based on bandwidth usage, storage usage and anything else they can think of to add on fees.

Each company offers similar packages which include add-ons like support for programming languages such as PHP, ASP, Perl, database support such as MySQL or even a shopping cart for those of you interested in selling items from your website. If you have a need there is probably a company able to meet it for you and if not you may have just found yourself a business opportunity.

Don’t want to to pay the fees? Then I have a possible solution for you and I say possible because it will take a little patience to set everything up but if you’re willing I’ll show you how to setup your own computer to host your webpage yourself for free. Well not actually free you will still have to pay for the electric and your time to set it up but pretty close to free.

In order for you computer to act as a server it needs to be setup like one. And this is How. Every computer running Windows probably has a built in server that just needs to be started but I prefer using Apache Web server. Don’t panic it is also free.

Many of you may have read or heard how difficult it is to setup Apache server on your computer and not to discount those unfortunate soles in any way but there is a much easier way to install Apache along with several other items that may come in handy as your knowledge increases. (MySql, PHP, phpMyAdmin, Filezilla FTP Server, and Mercury Mail Transport System). Now all of these additional programs are beyond the scope of this article but I wanted to at least mention them.

Sound scary? Take some deep breaths or maybe count to 10 because it’s really not that bad. Okay here we go!

Setting up the Apache Web Server On your computer!

Apache is an open source software that is free for everyone to use and the best place I’ve found for downloading the program is ApacheFriends.org.

Apache Friends have an installation package available for download that takes all the headaches out of the setup process and pretty much does it all for you. To get started click on the link below and download (based on your computer’s operating system) the right version of what is called ? XAMPP

They have a download for Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, and Solaris. I downloaded and setup the installation package for windows so there might be some differences between my version and the one you will need however there is instructions available for each platform.

To get the ball rolling create a folder on your C drive called x or maybe xampp. x is shorter and to the point so I’ll use that. Now we need to double click the xampp installation package that we previously downloaded. The program start and ask you to select your language, once selected click next and then you’ll be prompted to enter in the path or location of the folder we previously setup.( “c:\x”) then click next. Here you will be prompted to create an icon on the desktop etc.

At the bottom of this screen the software will provide options for installation. You can install either or all of Apache, MySQL, and Fileszilla. I selected all of them and then clicked install but you begin with only setting up Apache if you like. At this point you will see the software begin to install and once it’s finished you will receive a message stating “Installation Complete” and a popup box asking if you would like to start the Xampp Control Panel now? Click yes.

Xampp Control Panel should now open and if we look at it we can see that Apache has the word “Running” beside it. MySQL and Fileszilla will to if you installed them as well. If the word “Running” is not there you can click on the button labeled start beside each one to get them running.

Once these are running you should be able to open your web browser and type http: //localhost/xampp/splash.php to see a page that was created through the installation process. Feel free to explore the different information that is available by selecting your language.

Now your all setup and rolling right? Okay maybe not yet.Where do we put the web pages we have created?

If you navigate to your C: drive and then locate and open the folder we called x you will see several folders along with a number of files. For now we are going to be interested in the folder called “htdocs” this is where you will keep the index.htm or start page. If an index file already exists then rename it for now and then open up notepad and type the following.

THIS ACTUALLY WORKED!

Then save it as index.htm or index.html file. Now let’s try out our new web server by opening up your web browser and typing in http: //localhost/index.htm, http: //localhost/index.html or just type in http: //127.0.0.1 which is sort of an alis for your computers home ip address. If the words above in bold displays then it’s working and your all set.

For more articles and helpful information to help you make money on the internet Click Here to Go to Webmasters Huddle

Taking Advantage of Linux Hosting Options
By Alberto Sanchez

Linux hosting is a popular choice for web hosting among various companies and designers for a number of reasons, not least of which being the price. Web hosting refers to the provision of space on a server to host a website, and these servers must include the necessary software, such as operating systems, developmental languages, etc, to effectively store and deliver them. Developers who choose to employ Linux hosting options have all these programs available to them at a very affordable price.

Linux is an open source operating system that has been widely adapted by many web hosting providers. An open source program is free to the public and can even be changed and modified to meet any unique need. That is why Linux hosting is so much cheaper than a server with a commercial operating system.

In the past, users have been hesitant to use a Linux hosting solution because of the fear that it would not have the same support as a commercial system, or that the necessary programs would not be available or would at least be less powerful than their proprietary alternatives. But as the Linux community has grown, that has become less and less of a worry. In fact, there are many open source programs that are the preferred choice in the industry.

For example, a functional web server requires an HTTP server, developmental language, database management software, and, of course, an operating system. There are powerful, respected open source solutions for all of these

Linux Server hosting

requirements, and they all work extremely well on a Linux machine. With Linux as the operating system the available programs include the Apache server, PHP developmental language, and MySQL database. Together these programs offer developers and designers an affordable, stable way to host websites of all shapes and sizes.

Not only is Linux hosting a cost saving measure, but it is also a very secure and stable platform. Even in the face of high traffic patterns, the resource-efficient operating system can remain much more stable than its commercial alternative. Server downtime can seriously damage a fledgling business. In truth, though, it can even do impressive damage to a large established company as well. And that is why the dependability offered by a Linux hosting system is another reason it is such a popular web server operating system.

Open source software is becoming more and more popular among developers. Because of its communal nature, there are quite often scripts and programs that have been developed and put online for anyone to take advantage of. Using a Linux hosting solution allows you to employ these free programs and easily implement them into your affordable, stable, and secure web server.

Alberto Sanchez represents MyHosting.com which is one of the internet’s premier website hosting companies. They have affordable hosting packages for businesses and individuals, including packages that include linux hosting Find the right package and set of features that fit your needs today!

Linux Reseller
By Anand Maheshwari

What is Host Reselling?

Host reselling has become one of the most feasible options available on the internet and affordable domain names are easily to procure with several web hosting and domain booking websites. These domain names, in turn, can be used for different purposes. Acquiring a host reselling account may prove an excellent option. Now-a-days most of the organizations prefer using Host Reselling Accounts. Organizations that are into the business of offering website hosting, the option of reselling account is no less than a boon.

Linux Reseller Hosting

Linux Reseller Hosting has got the approbation of being considered as one of the best hosting plans. Using Linux Reseller hosting, unlimited domains can be hosted on servers of Linux. Linux hosting is cheap and much easy to manage apart from the fact that it is widely accepted and accredited by web hosting companies. If you are using Linux then, you will be offered various loaded characteristics.

Linux server is acclaimed for its dedicated features and one interesting thing is that this is PHP compatible. Being associated with Linux Reselling is a nice thing for customers as this is secured. Linux reselling hosting come with free software like Apache, APF and Sendmail.

Benefits of Linux Reseller Hosting are as follows:

• All technical issues can be tackled very easily if you use Linux Reseller Hosting Plan.
• State-of-the Art Technology along with latest equipments like communications, routers.
• One gets appropriate commission if the name of Linux is recommended.
• The staff of Linux is committed to provide qualitative services to the clients.
• Linux has introduced easy proceedings such as online activation and nice support.

Linux Hosting Plan Explained

Linux hosting plan is preferred by most of the individuals and resellers. Every hosting plan of Linux has attractive features and is affordable; this is the main reason that hosting plans of Linux are trusted. Each hosting plan is different and the reseller can have several options displayed to the buyer for choosing. Apart from all this, set up procedures of these hosting plans are very easy.

One commendable thing is that Linux Reselling Hosting plan is considered best when it comes to reliability. Cost effectiveness of Linux Reseller hosting is known to all and it is quality hosting at cheap prices. In order to cater to the needs of reseller, many companies have opted for Linux Reselling Hosting.

If one is planning for entering into the business of reseller hosting then, you can use multiple domain hosting plan with Linux. These plans allow the buyer to have multiple domain names and related security features. In addition to all this, back up, Email support with unlimited account services and database support are other common characteristics of Linux Reseller Hosting.

Anand is a webmaster for WHM Reseller visit: resellers-hosting.b4uindia.com

Advantages of Linux Web Servers
By Mohan Kumar

If you need your web site to be online, you need a web hosting service to host your site. The servers used by them need an operating system (OS) to run. The two most widely used OS for web servers are Linux and windows. So which is the best? Linux based or windows based. You can’t decide on this issue by comparing your PC’s OS performance or user-friendly advantages. The OS used in your PC has nothing to do with OS used by web hosts. So just because of using user friendly windows in your personal computers, you can’t say it will do well for hosting your website too. The functions of PC’s operating system are entirely different from those of servers to host your websites. So if you are using windows running desktop PC, it’s not compulsory to have your web hosting in it too.

So when coming to web servers Linux is considered to be the best OS by many professionals. The several advantages of using Linux servers over windows are listed below.

Cost Effective : Linux operating system is an open source and therefore you get it for free with all server applications. Free availability of PERL, PHP and MySQL reduces the hosting cost effectively.

Very High Up-time : Linux servers have a very high up-time of 99.9%. So the proportion that your website will be down is very less.

Scalability : This is the most important feature for modern websites. The ages of static websites have gone and today most of the sites have high dynamic contents and it grows at a faster rate. Consider a blog or forum or social network websites, these websites have high amount of content added daily. Linux offers easy scalable options without having changes in the web design.

Portable: Websites with Linux based web host can be moved to a windows based web host but you cannot move a website from windows web hosting to Linux at all situations.

Robust and User Friendly : The robust nature of Linux is a great advantage against viruses, hackers. The steps involved in uploading and hosting your website in a Linux based web server is very easy and it’s user friendly.

If you are a professional in web development then install Linux, PHP, MySQl and apache in your PC to test your website before launching it live.

Take a look at this free e-book here on using Linux and Apache to host your website.