So far we have covered Linux, Windows, BSD, and Solaris. Another server operating system worth mentioning is Mac OS X Server. Although most tend to think of OS X as a desktop OS, there is a server version that has the same Unix-like structure and stability as other BSD distributions. …
Read More »How to set cookie expiration in Apache
Cookies are very important for dynamic websites. They allow you to set parameters for user interaction. With cookies, your website can remember visitors and show them appropriate data, ads, and even specific pages. By default, cookies only last for a single browser session. With the CookieExpires Apache directive, you can …
Read More »BSD and its descendants
In a previous post, we looked at FreeBSD, one of the descendants of the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), which was a Unix-like operating system developed at the University of California at Berkeley. There are other descendants of BSD that have developed as well. Here is a quick overview of them: …
Read More »Installing software on an OpenSolaris server
Continuing with our tour of server operating systems, today we will take a look at Sun Microsystems’ OpenSolaris, the free and open source version of the popular Unix-based Solaris OS. Those who experience with other Unix or Linux servers should find much of OpenSolaris familiar. Nevertheless, there are some key …
Read More »How to install Apache on a FreeBSD server
Continuing with our series this week on non-Linux operating system servers, today we will learn about FreeBSD. Its proponents (of BSD distributions in general) call it the most secure and reliable operating system for Internet-connected servers. It comes with several different versions of Apache. Here is a quick guide to …
Read More »Remotely managing your Windows web server
Question: How do I setup remote management of an IIS 7 server on Windows Server 2008? Answer: By default, remote management is turned off. Therefore, you must turn it on before you can use any of its features. Although IIS is available for Vista and other versions of Microsoft Windows, …
Read More »How do I install FTP on IIS 7.5
Question: How do I install FTP on IIS 7.5 in Windows? Answer: IIS (Internet Information Service) is a set of Microsoft’s Internet-based services. As a web server, it is second only to Apache HTTP Server, serving 29% of all websites. In addition to HTTP services, it also includes FTP. On …
Read More »WampServer on Windows
We have spent a great deal of blog space learning about Linux servers and how to optimize them, but Linux is certainly not the only kid on the block. This week we will look at some other operating systems and how they interact with the Web. First up is Microsoft …
Read More »Disable unused services on your server
Unused services may seem like a non-issue, but they cause your server to take longer at boot, and they eat up RAM that could be used for critical services. This is a cross-platform issue, so Linux, Windows, BSD, and Solaris servers could all potentially have unused services running in the …
Read More »The benefits of SFTP
FTP is the primary method used by website owners to upload content to their servers or distribute large amounts of data. FTP is easy to use and generally efficient at doing its job, but no one would claim that it is completely secure. Generally speaking, files you upload to your …
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