Setting up a RedHat Linux and Apache Web Server
- What you need (continued):
-
- A Linux release
- After investigating the various possibilities, I chose the RedHat version
of Linux because of the work RedHat has done to make the installation process
easy. I ordered version 5.2 on CDROM, and waited for it to arrive. Even though
everything is available over the net, I strongly recommend that you do the
same. The advantages are enormous. First, for a very modest fee, you help
support their effort. More importantly, you receive on CDROM all the binaries
necessary for installation as well as the source for everything. You also
receive a boot diskette and an excellent printed installation guide
(approximately 400 pages). The installation guide alone is worth the price
paid.
I am currently experimenting with RedHat 6.0 and hope to switch over
to it in the near future. However, I still have some work to do on sendmail
and smbmount (more on this later).
- Lots of Time and Enthusiasm
- You should not underestimate the time and work that it takes to put up a
Web site. Nor the amount of time it takes to administer a network. Neither is
easy. Most Web Masters spend an enormous amount of time keeping their site up
to date and attempting to avoid the inevitable broken link or other problem.
- To Implement Security Measures
- You should realize that, unfortunately, your site WILL be attacked.
Therefore to prevent embarrassment to you and lots of wasted time, you must
implement at least minimum security measures over what is standard on Linux
and Apache. I consider a minimum, the following: implement shadow passwords,
remove virtually all services, any services (tcp, ftp, ...) that you do
permit, implement with tcpwrappers, turn on error logging, read your log files
at least once a week, implement tripwire, add a firewall. Security measures
also include protection from the forces of nature, lightning strikes, and
power outages (surge protectors, UPS). Security measures also include backups.
I will explain what I did for all of the above later in this documentation.
- To Make Backups!
- The need to do regular backups of your site cannot be over emphasized. For
example, oOn Tuesday 1 June 1999, lightning struck nearby my home. This is to
be expected when you live in the Swiss mountains at 500 meters (about 1650
feet). The electronics circuits of our entry gates were cooked, and despite
the fact that the Web server was connected to a UPS, it was knocked out too
(fried mother board). The next day, we were hit with a violent thunderstorm
with very high winds that caused a power outage for several hours.
Consequently, this site was down for several days, and it took a week to
replace the server's mother board. Due to sufficient tape backups and a spare
server we were back on line within a day using our new "hot" server. We had
planned for quite some time to put the new server online with the old one
remaining as a "hot" backup, but we never quite found the time to complete the
installation until disaster struck -- isn't mother nature helpful? :-).
- Linux Installation on next page ...
Home: http://www.sibbald.com/
Contact: kern at sibbald dot
com
Last Update: