Web servers

SSL allows you to serve encrypted web pages to website visitors over the HTTPS protocol. Certificates must be signed in order to not set off browser flags that will question your site’s authenticity. But OpenSSL also provides the option to create a self-signed certificate, and many web hosting control panels …

No matter what browser you use, there is a good chance you have come to a website that would not load. I am not referring to the sites that function incorrectly in a browser. I mean those websites that purposely deny your browser access because it is not the “right” …

Server-side scripting means that a script that is executed on a website will be processed by the server and then displayed as regular HTML in the user’s browser. The alternative to it, client-side scripting relies on the user’s own browser, often including plugins, to execute the designated scripts. Both are …

In the world of web hosting, email addresses can either be real or aliases. A real email address is connected to a mailbox on the mail server. That mailbox will hold any messages sent to the address in queue, awaiting the user to either download it or access it from …

In a previous post this week, we examined various free Unix-like operating systems that were direct competitors with Linux, but there is another type of Unix-like operating system that still largely occupies many of the enterprise servers on the Internet. Those unices are proprietary creations of commercial companies like IBM, …

SSL certificates allow website owners to provide something like a badge of authenticity to their users. In theory a website with a valid certificate should be trustworthy and secure. By default, web browsers will recognize a number of certificate authorities, companies that sell annual certificates and verify them. Depending on …

In the web hosting world, certain database software is commonplace. Most system administrators, even the new ones, have heard of MySQL, MSSQL, and/or PostgreSQL. Using SQL databases typically requires a database server to be running on the system. MySQL, for example, runs as a service in Linux called mysqld, or …

Your server is your baby. You have worked hard to nurture it and prepare it for the world. Now, the question you need to ask yourself is: Do I want my baby to wear brand name clothes or generic ones? Commercial Linux distributions offer the “brand name”, but is that …

Debian-based servers have a unique ability to easily upgrade from one major version to another without re-installation and will little reconfiguration. To begin you will need to specify the location of the new packages in /etc/apt/sources.list. In other words, APT will need to know where the new packages are. To …

As the name implies, MailScanner scans incoming mail sent to users on a server and flags them, and handles them according to the server administrators configurations. It is one of the most popular virus/spam filters It is written in Perl and links with other packages in order to accomplish its …