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03 18th, 2009| 
cPanel is the most popular Linux control panel around, and if you are using Linux web hosting services then you are likely to have access to the cPanel control panel so that you can easily manage your web hosting account. Although cPanel as a control panel is fairly easy to use, some of the advance features that it has on offer may be confusing to those who are using cPanel for the first time meaning that it is always a good idea for such people to know what they are doing. If you are using web hosting for the first time then you may find any web hosting control panel confusing to use, and because of this you should follow guides on how to setup your web hosting account correctly using cPanel. If you are looking into using a web hosting provider that offers cPanel web hosting then you should make use of their cPanel demo before purchasing any web hosting services, since by doing this you are able to decide whether the control panel is right for you or not. The same can be said for VPS and dedicated server administrators; a certain level of knowledge is needed to be able to manage a VPS server or dedicated server properly, and if you are going to be using a control panel then it is important for you to ensure that you will be able to manage your server correctly using he control panel as well. Read the rest of this entry »
The point of this “Learning Linux” blog is to discuss learning more about Linux. In the next several blogs, at least, leading up to the training at the Collaboration Summit, we will look at topics that will be addressed in one of the training classes. To whet your appetite.
In this blog let’s look at something simple, yet apparently, not used nearly enough. Let’s look at configuring the Linux kernel with various options for debugging.
Linux kernel configuration is achieved by assigning values to macros These values are commonly just ‘y’ or ‘m’, for “yes” or “module”. The yes generally means to link that feature into the kernel image. The module, of course means to compile and link that option as a loadable kernel module.
The “make xconfig” configuration tool has a nice way to search for configuration macros and to see the names. Choose Option ? Show Name to see them. Use Edit ? Find to search for them. Below are a couple screen shots so you can better remember. Read the rest of this entry »
Installing and Configuring Rootkit Hunter (RKHunter)
Rookit hunter is probably one of the most useful applications that you can have installed on your cPanel VPS server. Although rootkits can’t be removed in most cases simply because they are installed into system files, RKHunter will still notify you of any rootkits that may exist in your system so that you can take the necessary steps to reload your cPanel server. Rootkit hunter is both easy to install and configure, and the best thing about it is that you can configure it to do daily scans to ensure that if any rootkits are discovered they aren’t able to affect your server too much. The main steps for installing RKHunter are:
- wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/rkhunter/rkhunter-1.3.2.tar.gz
- tar -xzf rkhunter-1.3.2.tar.gz
- cd rkhunter-1.3.2
- ./installer.sh
Once you have RKHunter installed it may be useful to schedule it to do daily scans and to update itself on a regular basis so that you don’t have to. In order to schedule it to do a daily scan you should follow these steps:
- vi /etc/cron.daily/rkhunter.sh (press ’shift + I’ to make the file editable)
- (/usr/local/bin/rkhunter –update && /usr/local/bin/rkhunter -c –cronjob 2>&1 | mail -s “RKhunter Scan Details” email@domain.com) - (replace email@domain.com with your own email address)
- press ‘esc’ and then type ‘:wq’, and your file will be saved
- chmod 700 /etc/cron.daily/rkhunter.sh
By following the steps above you are able to configure RKHunter to run a daily scan which will then be emailed to you but the same script will also do a daily update check.
This blog entry will explain how to encrypt a shell script on your linux or a Unix based system. Although there might be other ways to
encrypt your
shell script I found this one the most easiest to use. We will
encrypt the script using the shc utility. I have been using this utility since last 3 years and it works great in situations where you want users to execute the
shell script but at the same time you don’t want them to see the source code of the
shell script. So let’s get started…
Step 1: Download or obtain the source
Luckily Debian Etch has “.deb” package for the shc utility so we will use it. On a Debian Etch system do:
# apt-get update;
# apt-get install shc Read the rest of this entry »
When select your hosting you need to know the basic things of web hosting. You are the best person to judge that what required features are and what about your budget.Commonly, this choice to host your website depends upon the scripting language that is used in your website. If languages like PHP, My-SQL, or Perl are used in your website, Linux hosting is preferable. But if you are thinking for ASP Dot Net scripting language then your finest choice would the window hosting.
If you need some interactive facilities like chat or search-help database, Linux may not be the best choice. Also, a Linux-based web server is not fully acquiescent with Windows technologies. If you are using any Windows-centric technologies like Visual Basic, then Windows-based servers would be the required choice for you. Read the rest of this entry »
You can find cheap web hosting providers but choosing cheapest web hosting is not a good deal. If the user will only consider the money factor then he will have to regret later on as he will not get all the required facilities and the package he has chosen will then prove havoc.
If any user launches his website earlier in the “dark ages” of 1997 at that time he was charged $150 per month for hosting and data transfer charges. Then his web host keeps a close eye like an eagle over the number of files he uploads and always sends their heavily built invoices earlier with each passing month.
This is the claim not by just one person but by many people. Then suddenly a whole industry of “bargain” web hosts sprang up all over the web. Read the rest of this entry »
Spam has become as common as the internet itself. This annoying epidemic has resulted in the development of various tools to combat the issue from both the client and server side. In this tutorial we will discuss the powerful Spam Assassin spam filter and how it can be set up in cPanel.
Description
Spam Assassin is one of the most efficient spam-fighting tools on the market, available with almost any hosting plan offering cPanel. By default, this utility is disabled in your control panel but enabling it is fairly simple. Read the rest of this entry »
As a webmaster, there may come a time in your life where you need to run automated tasks on preset schedules. Perfect examples would be if you are running an auction on your site or would like to schedule automatic backups of your MySQL databases. In this case, you need to set up a cron job. This article will provide some beginner tips on setting up cron jobs from the cPanel control panel.
Getting Starting
First things first - log in to your cPanel account and find the “Cron Job” icon on the interface. After clicking on the icon, you will be then be asked to choose an experience level. Since this a beginner’s tutorial, click on “Standard”. Read the rest of this entry »
Limiting user processes is important for running a stable system. To limit user process just add user name or group or all users to /etc/security/limits.conf file and impose process limitations.
Understanding /etc/security/limits.conf file
Each line describes a limit for a user in the form:
<domain> <type> <item> <value>
Where:
- <domain> can be:
- an user name
- a group name, with @group syntax
- the wildcard *, for default entry
- the wildcard %, can be also used with %group syntax, for maxlogin limit
- <type> can have the two values:
- “soft” for enforcing the soft limits
- “hard” for enforcing hard limits
- <item> can be one of the following: Read the rest of this entry »
What is SPF?
Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is an attempt to control forged e-mail. SPF is not directly about stopping spam – junk email. It is about giving domain owners a way to say which mail sources are legitimate for their domain and which ones aren’t. While not all spam is forged, virtually all forgeries are spam. SPF was created in 2003 to help close loopholes in email delivery systems that allow spammers to “spoof” or steal your email address to send hundreds, thousands or even millions of emails illicitly.
More information about SPF can be found at http://www.openspf.org