Web Hosting

Question: What is a “man” page? Answer: Linux and other Unix-like operating systems usually have hundreds of commands that a user can execute from the command line. When running a dedicated server, there are a few that you will use regularly, but there may be instances when you need to …

You know what they are and have probably seen hundreds of them in various forms on websites, in software, and even cable and telephone service. But how many of them have you actually read? For most people Terms of Service (TOS) Agreements or Acceptable Use Policies are just legal formalities …

In Linux, most server configuration files are located in /etc. Most of them are text files, and although it is fairly easy to edit them, Redhat-based distributions have a handy graphical ncurses program that allows the dedicated server system administrator to handle certain tasks. The program is simply called setup …

Question: What is a subdomain and why should I use one? Answer: A subdomain is simply a word used as a prefix before a domain name. For example, if the domain is domain.com, a subdomain could be sub.domain.com. Typically, a subdomain would serve as an alternative to domain.com/sub, although if …

Question: I downloaded a script that I want to install on my website, but the file extension is tar.gz. What is it, and what do I do with it? Answer: That file extension, .tar.gz means that the file has been doubly compressed with both TAR and GZIP. These are both …

Over the past decade, home Internet connections have become substantially faster and many websites have found themselves delivering larger and larger files to visitors. The average website file size and amount downloaded by visitors have increased, but has your host ever raised its bandwidth and storage limits? Most hosts have …

The vast majority of dedicated server owners don’t have the time or experience to handle complex system administration tasks, but fully managed servers can be quite expensive. For those with a bit of computer know-how on a budget, semi-managed servers are a popular alternative. With a semi-managed server, the most …

Question: Where do I view logs on my dedicated server? Answer: Most of the logs on a Linux operating system are kept in the /var/log directory. There you will find logs for the main system, kernel, network, hardware, Apache, MySQL, and often times other third-party applications that you might happen …

Question: What is the purpose of a cgi-bin directory? Answer: CGI programs running on a server must be executable. While this allows the user to run server-side scripts, including convenient free ones found on the web, it also presents a security risk. Most virtual hosting situations restrict execution of Perl …

Question: My PHP content management program “X” needs more RAM. How do I fix this? Answer: Depending on your server setup and whether you have shared hosting or a dedicated server, you may or may not be able to change the allowed PHP memory usage. What happens is that PHP …