Software

Nginx (pronounced “Engine X”) is a lightweight web server that offers speed and flexibility without all of the extra features that larger web servers like Apache offer. Although it is a free and open source application, CentOS does not offer the latest version in its default YUM repository. To install …

cPanel is best known as a graphical web hosting control panel. Since it is web based, however, there may be times when a system administrator may prefer or may need to execute commands from the Linux shell, either locally or remotely via SSH. Fortunately, cPanel comes with a host of …

At one time, managing a website meant manually updating dozens of HTML pages or using some type of local site management software like Netscape Composer, Microsoft Frontpage, or Adobe Dreamweaver. There are now a plethora of content systems available that include web-based backends. Pages are now actually dynamic representations of …

Many web hosting companies offer free script and CMS installation. In most cases, the installation is automatic and done through the host’s control panel system. For example, users of cPanel might have an option for Fantasico De Luxe, which installs a number of web applications, such as Joomla, WordPress, and …

Microsoft provides a tool for Windows Server 2008 that tests for security misconfiguration. It comes with a graphical interface and a command line interface for both local and remote scans. It looks for vulnerabilities, performs assessment checks, and checks SQL Server 2005. In addition to Windows Server 2008, MBSA runs …

It is very difficult to test a server’s real-world performance under stress. While you could hire a company or individual to bombard your server, the cost involved may not be worth the results. The open source application called curl-loader simulates load and application behavior of thousands of HTTP/HTTPS and FTP/FTPS …

In yesterday’s post, we learned how to find the discrepancies between two similar files using a command called diff. With it, we were able to compare them and identify the actual lines containing differences. Once you have identified the differences between the two, you have a couple of options. If …

MySQL databases require regular maintenance, but usually the databases just need to be re-optimized and checked for errors. In such cases, having to go through each database on your server can be time consuming. Following these steps, you can setup a cron job that will automatically check and repair your …

Question: I have two scripts in a directory on my server. One is the right one and one is not, but I do not remember which is which. How can I compare the two files? Answer: Linux and UNIX-like operating systems usually come with a comparison command called “diff”. This …

Question: Two of my directories on my server have some the same files. How can I easily delete any duplicates while preserving the unique files? Answer: There exists a Linux tool for just about everything, and this is no exception. You need a tool called fdupes, which searches the path …