Setting up a RedHat Linux and Apache Web Server

What you need (continued):

 

A Linux release

After investigating the various possibilities, I chose the RedHat version of Linux because of the work RedHat has done to make the installation process easy. I ordered version 5.2 on CDROM, and waited for it to arrive. Even though everything is available over the net, I strongly recommend that you do the same. The advantages are enormous. First, for a very modest fee, you help support their effort. More importantly, you receive on CDROM all the binaries necessary for installation as well as the source for everything. You also receive a boot diskette and an excellent printed installation guide (approximately 400 pages). The installation guide alone is worth the price paid.
I am currently experimenting with RedHat 6.0 and hope to switch over to it in the near future. However, I still have some work to do on sendmail and smbmount (more on this later).

Lots of Time and Enthusiasm

You should not underestimate the time and work that it takes to put up a Web site. Nor the amount of time it takes to administer a network. Neither is easy. Most Web Masters spend an enormous amount of time keeping their site up to date and attempting to avoid the inevitable broken link or other problem.

To Implement Security Measures

You should realize that, unfortunately, your site WILL be attacked. Therefore to prevent embarrassment to you and lots of wasted time, you must implement at least minimum security measures over what is standard on Linux and Apache. I consider a minimum, the following: implement shadow passwords, remove virtually all services, any services (tcp, ftp, ...) that you do permit, implement with tcpwrappers, turn on error logging, read your log files at least once a week, implement tripwire, add a firewall. Security measures also include protection from the forces of nature, lightning strikes, and power outages (surge protectors, UPS). Security measures also include backups. I will explain what I did for all of the above later in this documentation.

To Make Backups!

The need to do regular backups of your site cannot be over emphasized. For example, oOn Tuesday 1 June 1999, lightning struck nearby my home. This is to be expected when you live in the Swiss mountains at 500 meters (about 1650 feet). The electronics circuits of our entry gates were cooked, and despite the fact that the Web server was connected to a UPS, it was knocked out too (fried mother board). The next day, we were hit with a violent thunderstorm with very high winds that caused a power outage for several hours. Consequently, this site was down for several days, and it took a week to replace the server's mother board. Due to sufficient tape backups and a spare server we were back on line within a day using our new "hot" server. We had planned for quite some time to put the new server online with the old one remaining as a "hot" backup, but we never quite found the time to complete the installation until disaster struck -- isn't mother nature helpful? :-).

 

Linux Installation on next page ...

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