Server Configuration Notes For Class
Server Configuration Notes For Class
Telnet is a program that allows users to log into your server and get a command prompt just as if they
were logged into the VGA console. The Telnet server RPM is installed and disabled by default on Fedora
Linux.
One of the disadvantages of Telnet is that the data is sent as clear text. This means that it is possible for
someone to use a network analyzer to peek into your data packets and see your username and
password. A more secure method for remote logins would be via Secure Shell (SSH) which uses varying
degrees of encryption.
In spite of this, the older Telnet application remains popular. Many network devices don't have SSH
clients, making telnet the only means of accessing other devices and servers from them.
Features:
[ Server Side ]
FTP [ File Transfer Protocol ] file transfer protocol, a standard for the exchange of program and data files
across a network. FTP [File Transfer Protocol] allows you to transfer files between two computers on the
Internet. FTP server is used to transfer files between server and clients. All major operating system
supports FTP. FTP is the most used protocol over internet to transfer files. Like most Internet operations,
FTP works on a client/ server model. FTP client programs can enable users to transfer files to and from a
remote system running an FTP server program. Any Linux system can operate as an FTP server. It has to
run only the server software—an FTP daemon with the appropriate configuration. Transfers are made
between user accounts on client and server systems. A user on the remote system has to log in to an
account on a server and can then transfer files to and from that account's directories only.
FTP is used for transforming file between different machines, also S/W different Platform.
Configuration files :
Switch the pub directory and Create some file like this
Permanent service on
Open firefox and any other browser type [ IP ADDRESS ] like this ftp://192.168.0.1
DHCP
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) automatically assigns IP addresses and other network
configuration information (subnetmask, broadcast address, etc) to computers on a network. A client
configured for DHCP will send out a broadcast request to the DHCP server requesting an address. The
DHCP server will then issue a "lease" and assign it to that client. The time period of a valid lease can be
specified on the server. DHCP reduces the amount of time required to configure clients and allows one
to move a computer to various networks and be configured with the appropriate IP address, gateway
and subnet mask. For ISP's it conserves the limited number of IP addresses it may use. DHCP servers may
assign a "static" IP address to specified hardware. Microsoft NetBios information is often included in the
network information sent by the DHCP server.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (dhcp) server automatically assign an IP adresss to a client
machine.
Sample file copy and paste the specified location /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf and get the dhcp service.
#### Open the DHCP configuration file and add the following ########
}
Step 5. [root@localhost ~]# service dhcpd restart
NFS
The Network File System is certainly one of the most widely used network services. Network file system
(NFS) is based on the Remote procedure call. It allows the client to auto mount and therefore,
transparently access the remote file systems on the network. It is used to share/map disk from one Linux
System to other Linux System. NFS was developed to allow the user to access remote directory as a
mapped directory. NFS is not a single program. It is a suite of related programs, which work together.
NFS is perfect for sharing files or centralized home directories.
Disable the firewall (if firewall is required in that case enable only NFS ports)
few examples:
/nfsshared *(rw) - means nfsshared is the folder shared to whole world with read write options
/nfsshared 9.120.97.207(ro) - means nfsshared is the folder shared to 9.120.97.207 VM only with read
only option.
5. /usr/sbin/exportfs -a is the command that will put /nfsshared in network share mode.
confirm by running command - /usr/sbin/exportfs
SSH
Secure Shell (SSH) is a cryptographic network protocol for secure data communication, remote
command-line login, remote command execution, and other secure network services between two
networked computers that connects, via a secure channel over an insecure network, a server and a
client (running SSH server and SSH client programs, respectively). SSH uses the client-server model.
The best-known application of the protocol is for access to shell accounts on Unix-like operating
systems, but it can also be used in a similar fashion for accounts on Windows. The encryption used by
SSH is intended to provide confidentiality and integrity of data over an unsecured network, such as the
Internet.
SSH uses public-key cryptography to authenticate the remote computer and allow it to authenticate the
user, if necessary. There are several ways to use SSH:
Automatically generated public-private key pairs to simply encrypt a network connection, and then use
password authentication to log on.
Manually generated public-private key pair to perform the authentication, allowing users or programs to
log in without having to specify a password.
Uses of SSH:
Can transfer files using the associated SSH file transfer (SFTP) or secure copy (SCP) protocols.
Proxy server
Proxy server is a server (a computer system or an application) that acts as an intermediary for requests
from clients seeking resources from other servers. A client connects to the proxy server, requesting
some service, such as a file, connection, web page, or other resource available from a different server
and the proxy server evaluates the request as a way to simplify and control its complexity.
Today, most proxies are web proxies, facilitating access to content on the World Wide Web. A proxy
server has a variety of potential purposes, including:
To speed up access to resources (using caching). Web proxies are commonly used to cache web pages
from a web server.
To prevent downloading the same content multiple times (and save bandwidth).
To log / audit usage, e.g. to provide company employee Internet usage reporting.
Access enhancement/restriction
To apply access policy to network services or content, e.g. to block undesired sites. o To access sites
prohibited or filtered by your ISP or institution.
To allow a web site to make web requests to externally hosted resources (e.g. images, music files, etc.)
when cross-domain restrictions prohibit the web site from linking directly to the outside domains.
To allow the browser to make web requests to externally hosted content on behalf of a website when
cross-domain restrictions (in place to protect websites from the likes of data theft) prohibit the browser
from directly accessing the outside domains.
Types of proxy
A proxy server may run right on the user's local computer or at various points between the user's
computer and destination servers on the Internet.
A proxy server that passes requests and responses unmodified is usually called a gateway or sometimes
a tunneling proxy.
A forward proxy is an Internet-facing proxy used to retrieve from a wide range of sources (in most cases
anywhere on the Internet).
A reverse proxy is usually an Internet-facing proxy used as a front-end to control and protect access to a
server on a private network, commonly also performing tasks such as load-balancing, authentication,
decryption or caching
SAMBA
Samba is a free software re-implementation of the SMB/CIFS networking protocol, which runs on most
Unix and Unix-like system. Samba is standard on nearly all distributions of Linux and is commonly
included as a basic system service on other Unix-based operating systems. The name Samba comes from
SMB (Server Message Block), the name of the standard protocol used by the Microsoft Windows
network file system.
Features
Samba allows file and print sharing between computers running Windows and computers running Unix.
It is an implementation of dozens of services and a dozen protocols
Samba sets up network shares for chosen Unix directories (including all contained subdirectories).
These appear to Microsoft Windows users as normal Windows folders accessible via the network.
Unix users can either mount the shares directly as part of their file structure using the smbmount
command or, alternatively, can use a utility, smbclient (libsmb) installed with Samba to read the shares
with a similar interface to a standard command line FTP program. Each directory can have different
access privileges overlaid on top of the normal Unix file protection
smbd, which provides the file and printer sharing services, and
nmbd, which provides the NetBIOS-to-IP-address name service. NetBIOS over TCP/IP requires some
method for mapping NetBIOS computer names to the IP addresses of a TCP/IP network.
APACHE
Apache, otherwise known as Apache HTTP Server, is an established standard in the online distribution
of website services, which gave the initial boost for the expansion of the World Wide Web. It is an
open-source web server platform, which guarantees the online availability of the majority of the
websites active today. The server is aimed at serving a great deal of widely popular modern web
platforms/operating systems such as Unix, Windows, Linux, Solaris, Novell NetWare, FreeBSD, Mac OS X,
Microsoft Windows, OS/2, etc. The Apache server has been developed by an open source community -
Apache Software Foundation, whose members are constantly adding new useful functionalities, with the
sole purpose of providing a secure and extensible server platform that ensures HTTP service delivery in
accordance with the current HTTP standards.
There is a great amount of modules created especially for the Apache server, which support various
scripts and allow dynamic content to be run on the server. Most of the modules come as part of the
Apache distribution, making the server boast a wide range of capabilities, such as support for CGI
(Common Gateway Interface), a standard protocol for communication between external application
software and a web server, and also SSI (Server Side Includes), a simple server-side scripting language.
The Apache server has been the most popular web server on the Internet. It is by no means considered a
platform criterion for the development and evaluation of other successful web servers.
Apache 1.3
Apache 1.3 boasts a great deal of improvements over 1.2, the most noteworthy of them being - useful
configurable files, Windows and Novell NetWare support, DSO support, APXS tool and others.
Apache 2.0
Apache 2.0 differs from the previous versions by the much re-written code, which has considerably
simplified its configuration and boosted its efficiency. This version also offers a new compilation system
and multi-language error messaging
Apache 2.2
Apache 2.2 came out in 2006 and offers new and more flexible modules for user authentication and
proxy caching, support for files exceeding 2 GB, as well as SQL support.