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Web server dos and don'ts????


proskater123

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I want to set up a home based server with all the hott stuff. (Chat servers, ftp servers, and so on.) What can i use i already have a server for web but what can i use for chat servers and ftp that have the least amont of vulnerabilitys. TAnd the safeist to run on my only computer. please don't tell me the rsik i know alot. im just stupid. AND YES I ADMIT IT. IM A NEWB AND GOOGLE IS MY FREIND.

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If you wan't a server with all of the hot stuff, starting with a web server is good. May I ask what type it is?

Anyway, vulnerabilities are occurent in any piece of software wether you know it or not. Basically, who is to know how secure you are. May I simply suggest a software and hardware firewall to aid you on your journey?

As for FTP server, you may want to kill two birds with one stone and use Synchronet. You can set up a BBS and an FTP server all in one.

As for a chat server, IRC sounds like the way to go, but I hear that they are really a pain to run, but also there is a simple daemon that will work.

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http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html

Pretty much turns an old windows (less sercure by default) or linux box into a web server in about 5 clicks. When i was starting out with servers, this taught me a lot about how they work, and worked fine as a test/backup server for 4 months continuous usage. Install it, and turn everything but the ftp server off.

As for IRC, i think those are mostly run off of shells. Google for a free shell account and see how that goes.

Oh, and welcome to the forums!

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4 months solid uptime on a windows 2003 server, not one issue... (turned it off when i moved house)

Windows is fine, if you know how to set it up, which a lot of people don't. Don't use a DMZ, only forward the ports you need, use a firewall that restricts things on the application level on your host OS. Use long complicated passwords with the £ or € symbol in (a lot of this stuff is made by, or targated at americans so using chars that don't appear in regular american english is somewhat of a spanner in the works, they have to be set to look for them). Lock apache down. AND ALWAYS USE A HARDWARE ROUTER UPSTREAM.

xp was a different matter though, although that might have had more to do with my DMZ experiments and a pirated version of zonealarm...

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thanks for all you compents. I was wondering if it is safe to tell you what server i am useing. And i am onn a network with two routers between me and the intnet. one for dsl, secound to split the dsl to 2 computers. As i only have windows i don't know how to run linix, and any sugestions on what servers to use. As i am a free loader i can't spend money on anything that i can download. (Limewire works well) And i do have mcafee although it lags my intenet connection down very much. Any sugestions on that too. You guys are really helping me.

p.s whats a BBS (nvm ill google it)

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McAfree = teh suck!

You probably get more security from using AntiVir and Kerio personal firewall, which are both free any way. You will at least notice a performance increase.

SuSE is easy to setup, and you can do what I did for setting up my SuSE 10.1 server (I know this isn't the best practice in the world, but it works). Initialy set it up as a multiuser network desktop (Runlevel 5). After configuring everying with the brightly colouered yast GUI set the default runlevel to 3 (Full networking in text mode) so you now get the performance of a dedicated server, as well as tighter security. If you need to change some thing there after and for some reason can't do it in the text based yast (Just type yast as root, and you get a lovly text based yast) you can always type init 5 as root and the desktop will start! After you have fnished, open a terminal, root up and type init 3!

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vsftpd is hands down the best FTP server around today.

I'd consider switching OS just to be able to run that piece of software.

The 'vs' bit stands for 'Very Secure', and so far it's living up to that.

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Windows can be a perfectly fine OS for a server, i would just be weary of using services (at least their default settings). Apache for example, is set to run as System (check the wiki for the apache + junction hack). I personally run debian on my home server and use port forwarding for just about everything. if you REALLY want a slick setup, i would say ditch the generic router and use ipcop (use it for the gateway if nothing else, you can uplink routers together). Ipcop filters port forwarded traffic for possible exploits (via an IDS and snort). Anyway, those are my suggestions

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Are we going for quotes from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory now? ;)

Is it strike? I though it was scratch. Oh well, didn't think anyone would notice so easily and quickly. Job well done Sparda.

Actually it was from the original, Willy Wonka And the Chocolate Factory, not Johnny Depp's remake.

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