Running an Open Source Web Server

There are many reasons to use free and open source software on a web hosting dedicated server that go beyond simple financial savings. From increased security and flexibility in development release cycles to highly customizable and modular components, the possibilities are vast. There are several operating systems and software setups to consider.

Operating Systems choices include Linux (with choices such as CentOS, Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, and OpenSUSE), BSD (OpenBSD, FreeBSD, and NetBSD), and Open Solaris. Each has its own list of features and release cycles. You should check each link and evaluate them. A large number of the Internet’s web servers now run one of these Unix-like operating systems or one of the many other choices.

For software, the opportunities are even more expansive. If you want a robust HTTP server, there is probably no better and more widely acclaimed than Apache. For something that is light but can handle heavy loads, you might prefer lighttpd. Most of the operating systems mentioned above will come with their own set of software packages for mail servers, DNS servers, firewalls, and other tools, but you can pick and choose the ones that fit your needs.
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VMware buys SpringSource for US$420M

VMware announced today that it plans to purchase SpringSource, a leader in cloud computing application management. VMware specializes in virtualization and intends to extend their reach naturally into cloud computing. The deal will reportedly involve US$362 million in cash and equity, as well as US$58 million in stock options.

The goal of the alliance is to solidify VMware’s offering of platform-as-a-service, providing customers with integrated SpringSource Software and VMware’s vSphere cloud operating system. SpringSource also offers open source products and has a strong open source developer community base that VMware intends to honor and continue to support.

In a blog post, CEO Rod Johnson explained the opportunities as IT transforms itself. He wrote:
“The way in which people think about software stacks is changing. Virtualization is reshaping the data center, and cloud computing is set to drive far-reaching changes. Significantly, cloud computing blurs the division between development and operations, bringing new power (and responsibility) to developers…

SpringSource specializes in enterprise Java applications, including development support for Apache Tomcat, the open source Java application server. They also provide support for Apache HTTP Server, a web server application used by more web hosting companies than any other. VMware expects to finalize the deal in the third quarter of this year.

Source: ZDNet Asia
Photo: Flickr

HostingCon Begins Monday August 10

HostingCon, which calls itself the “largest gathering of hosted services professionals in the world”, begins next Monday, August 10, in Washington,D.C. It is both a conference and a trade show, showcasing news, ideas, and networking opportunities for web hosting professionals. This is the 5th annual conference, and organizers expect a turnout of around 2,000 people.

Among the keynote speakers this year are: Zane Adam of Microsoft, Antonio Piraino of Tier1 Research, Stephen Cho of Google, Daniel Burton of Salesforce.com, and Emil Sayegh of Mosso. Cloud computing seems to be the hot topic, with many of the keynote speakers focusing on it. Other topics include data protection, SEO, surviving a financial crisis, and virtualization.

Registration is $570 for the full conference with lunch, $415 without lunch, $259 for a single day without lunch, and $71 for exhibits only. Those on a budget can purchase an exhibits only pass and still visit booths, pickup freebies, and network with leading professionals in the industry. There will be over 100 exhibitors this year.

Photo: Flickr

Researchers virtualize 1 million Linux kernels

Villains beware. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have created the mother of all supercomputers that could be used in the fight against botnets and other massive computer attacks. Their supercomputer, called Thunderbird is made up of a 4,480-node high performance cluster. Each cluster ran 250 virtual machines, each running the Linux kernel, for a total of 1.12 million.

Prior to this feat, the best they could manage was a measly 20,000 kernels. Aside from the huge Enemy Territory bot army you could create, the virtualized kernels could be used for more real-world uses like modeling climate change, developing new medicine, and monitoring large cyberattacks.

“Eventually, we would like to be able to emulate the computer network of a small nation, or even one as large as the U.S., in order to ‘virtualize’ and monitor a cyberattack,” [Ron] Minnich said in a statement.

A botnet is an automated malware program that is unknowingly installed on user computers throughout the world, sometimes numbering in the thousands. The bots collectively strike at a predetermined time, wreaking havoc on computer networks, even large ones. Running virtualized clusters will allow researchers to study the botnet behavior in a closed environment.

Source: ZDnetAsia
Photo: Sandia.gov

Microsoft embraces the GPL

For years Microsoft has moaned about the evils and dangers of Linux, the GPL, and free and open source software in general. CEO Steve Ballmer notably once called Linux a “cancer”. That was in 2001. Since then, Linux’s share of the server market has grown, chipping away at the old Unix dominance and leaving Microsoft scrambling for solutions.

Microsoft could not make Linux go away. Instead they have begun to make deals with companies like Novell and Redhat. In an age where virtualization is commonplace in data centers, and the number of servers a company can afford to run shrinks, Microsoft has done the unthinkable. They released 20,000 lines of code under the GPL, in the form of drivers that are expected to be added to the Linux kernel.

Their motives are clear. They need interoperability between Linux and their Hyper-V server virtualization technology. They would much rather prefer people run Windows servers and then run Linux in virtual machines than the reverse, relying on Xen or KVM technology built into Linux or VMWare. Nevertheless, it is a hug step, one that will surely have the open source community talking, and perhaps laughing at the old days when Microsoft thought Linux would die quietly.

Source: ZDnet
Photo: SXC

Lenovo new servers rally against Dell, HP, and IBM

Multinational computer giant Lenovo has announced the release of their new ThinkServer line of small to midsize business servers, featuring Intel Xeon 5500 processors. The servers will feature built-in virtualization from Microsoft, Novell, VMWare or Redhat, depending on customer preference. Their dual-socket version will allow up to 128 GB of RAM and up to 16 hard drives.

The servers will also feature a power saving technique that will produce lower CPU output, coupled with their small form-factor hard drives. All servers will come with a web-based management tool allowing administrators to monitor them remotely. Lenovo is specifically targeting SMBs (small to medium sized businesses).

Prices start at around $1,699 and peak at $2,699. Lenovo has undoubtedly witnessed the push by other major manufacturers to tap into the SMB market in a time when many larger businesses are scaling back data centers. Their main competitors are Dell, HP, and IBM. The ThinkServer name follows the line of ThinkPad notebooks that the company inherited from IBM several years ago. The Chinese-based company is the world’s fourth largest PC manufacturer with a revenue of over $16.4 billion.

Source: InformationWeek
Photo: Flickr

Lightning strike brings outages for Amazon cloud

Amazon.com has released a statement saying that the recent outages experienced on some of their Web services were due to lightning strikes in the United States. On 6:30pm Pacific Daylight Time, a lightning strike caused some of the servers to lose power. This led to disruption with their EC2 service for a limited number of customers.

Such an outage will once again raise questions about the reliability of cloud computing services. On one hand, such outages could have easily happened at any data center, even one locally owned by a small business. On the other hand, users of the services are still putting their data, sometimes of a sensitive nature, at the mercy of the service provider, something that makes some businesses uneasy.

EC2 is a service providing customers with access to Amazon servers using Xen virtualization, a free and open source virtual machine environment for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. This is not the first service disruption for Amazon’s offerings. Google’s services were also interrupted recently, leading some critics to step to the debate table for a fresh round of anti-cloud computing arguments. Undoubtedly the debate will rage on, and only time will tell how reliably the services can be.

Source: ZDNet Asia
Photo: Flickr

Fedora Linux 11 Released

Fedora, a free and open source Linux-based operating system that powers many of the world’s web servers, has released a new version. Among the highlights are its new virtualization features that make it easy for users to switch between the host operating system and the virtual operating system. They have also added security features to their virtualization that rely on SELinux (Security Enhanced Linux) technology.

Among other improvements with the release of Fedora 11 is the community portal, which allows users to interact with each other in real time and provide technical support to one another. The portal is currently only for developers but will eventually be open to all contributors within the next six to twelve months.

Fedora is an operating system sponsored by Redhat, a leading Linux company in the server market. Many of the cutting edge features of Fedora are eventually incorporated into Redhat’s commercial offering: Redhat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Numerous web hosting providers offer hosting plans with RHEL, Fedora, or a RHEL variant such as Cent OS. Fedora is available for download free of charge for both servers and personal computers.

Source: ComputerWorld