Practical Internet Server Configuration: Learn to Build a Fully Functional and Well-Secured Enterprise Class Internet Server

Description

Learn the skills to complete the full installation, configuration, and maintenance of an enterprise class internet server, no matter what Unix-like operating system you prefer. This book will rapidly guide you towards real system administration, with clear explanations along the way. After a chapter explaining the most important Unix basics, you will start with a vanilla server as delivered by a hosting provider and by the end of the book, you will have a fully functional and well-secured enterprise class internet server. You will also be equipped with the expertise needed to keep your server secured and up to date.  All configuration examples are given for FreeBSD, Debian and CentOS, so you are free to choose your operating system. No single blueprint exists for an internet server, and an important part of the work of a system administrator consists of analyzing, interpreting and implementing specific wishes, demands and restrictions from different departments and viewpoints within an organization. Practical Internet Server Configuration provides the information you need to succeed as a sysadmin. What You'll Learn Configure DNS using Bind 9Set up Apache and NginxCustomize a mail server: IMAP (Dovecot) and SMTP (Postfix), spam filtering includedAuthenticate mail users using LDAPInstall and maintain MariaDB and PostgreSQL databasesPrepare SSL/TLS certificates for the encryption of web, mail and LDAP trafficSynchronize files, calendars and address books between devicesBuild a firewall: PF for FreeBSD and nftables for Linux Who This Book Is For This book can be used by aspiring and beginning system administrators who are working on personal servers, or more experienced system administrators who may know Unix well but need a reference book for the more specialized work that falls outside the daily routine. Basic understanding of Unix and working on the command line is necessary. Tabsle of Contents About the Author About the Technical Reviewer Chapter 1: Introduction and Preparations Addendum Free Software Required Knowledge and Experience Required Time and Motivation External Account for Email and Disk Space Selecting a System and a Provider Hardware Physical Server or Virtual Machine? Minimum Specifications Operating System File System Provider BIOS or UEFI Configuration Log On to the New Server Names and Addresses Used in This Book IP Address Domain Names Hostname Usernames Summary Chapter 2: Unix and POSIX in a Few Words User Accounts Shell Shell Configuration Shell Script Directory Structure Filename Extensions Network Ports Processes Displaying Processes Terminating Processes Switching Off/Restarting the System Daemons Starting and Stopping Daemons BSD-Style init SysV-Style init systemd Other Background Processes Logs Documentation Man and Info Pages HTML and Text Request for Comments (RFC) Summary Chapter 3: Software Management FreeBSD Base System Additional Software Package Installation Package Updates Installation of the Ports Collection Installation of Ports Port Updates Package and Port Information Removal of Packages and Ports Restarting the Interrupted Installation of a Port Debian Updates Installation Information Removal CentOS Updates Installation Information Removal Perl and Python Perl: CPAN/cpan Python: PyPI/pip Summary Chapter 4: Network Basics and Firewall Network Configuration About the Netmask and the Routing Prefix FreeBSD Debian CentOS Firewall Martians FreeBSD Sample Configuration Firewall Manipulation Linux Sample Configuration Firewall Manipulation Brute-Force Attacks Fail2ban Configuration Brute-Force Attacks Against Websites Summary Chapter 5: User Management and Permissions Users and Groups Files User Accounts Groups Manipulation Account Creation FreeBSD Debian CentOS Password Modification Account Modification chfn chsh Locking an Account Account Deletion FreeBSD Debian and CentOS User Information Group Creation and Deletion FreeBSD Debian CentOS Changing Group Memberships FreeBSD Debian CentOS Group Information Permissions Traditional Numerical Representation of Permissions Default Permissions Changing Permissions Special Permissions Access Control Lists Preparation Usage Default ACLs Limiting Root Access sudo Locking the Root Account setuid Accounts for Other Users Departure of a System Administrator Summary Chapter 6: Domain Name System (DNS) Installation FreeBSD Debian CentOS Configuration Adding Domains Zone File SOA Record NS Record MX Record A Record AAAA Record CNAME Record TXT Record SSHFP Record PTR Record Other Records The Other Zone Files Adding Zones to the Configuration Loading the Configuration Reverse Resolution Consulting and Debugging Summary Chapter 7: Secure Shell (SSH) Installing and Configuring the SSH Server Installation on FreeBSD Installation on Debian Installation on CentOS Configuration Starting and Stopping FreeBSD Debian and CentOS Starting a Session Linux, BSD, and macOS Windows File Transfer via an SSH Connection SFTP SCP rsync SSH Keys Instead of Passwords Generating a Key Pair Unix Windows Installing the Key on the Server Using a Key to Connect Unix Windows Rejecting Password-Based Authentication Summary Chapter 8: Task Scheduling Network Time Protocol (NTP) FreeBSD Debian CentOS Cron Anacron at Summary Chapter 9: Web Server Part 1: Apache/Nginx Basics Directory Apache Installation on FreeBSD Installation on Debian Installation on CentOS First Test Configuration FreeBSD Debian CentOS .htaccess Nginx Installation on FreeBSD Installation on Debian Installation on CentOS First Test Configuration mod_php PHP-FPM Installation on FreeBSD Installation on Debian Installation on CentOS Configuration PHP Configuration Extensions A First Virtual Host or Virtual Server DNS Names User Directories PHP-FPM Apache Nginx FreeBSD Debian CentOS Common Test It Works! Replacing mod_php with PHP-FPM Summary Chapter 10: Traffic Encryption: SSL/TLS Let’s Encrypt Certbot Installation of the green.example.com Certificate Apache Nginx Automatic Renewal Restart the Web Server Certificate Removal Summary Chapter 11: Databases db.example.com MariaDB (MySQL) Installation on FreeBSD Installation on Debian Installation on CentOS Post-installation phpMyAdmin Installation on FreeBSD Installation on Debian Installation on CentOS Configuration Apache Configuration Nginx Configuration PHP-FPM Configuration phpMyAdmin Connecting to phpMyAdmin PostgreSQL Installation on FreeBSD Installation on Debian Installation on CentOS Post-installation phpPgAdmin Installation on FreeBSD Installation on Debian Installation on CentOS Configuration Apache Configuration Nginx Configuration PHP-FPM Configuration phpPgAdmin Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) Installation TLS Certificate Daemon Configuration Client Configuration Container for Users phpLDAPadmin Installation on FreeBSD Installation on Debian Installation on CentOS Configuration Apache Configuration Nginx Configuration PHP-FPM Configuration phpLDAPadmin Connecting to phpLDAPadmin Apache Directory Studio Other Databases DBM SQLite Summary Chapter 12: Email Basics DNS TLS Certificate Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) Dovecot Installation FreeBSD Debian CentOS Directory Configuration Users Dovecot Email Client Test Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) Postfix Installation FreeBSD Debian CentOS Configuration Test Basic Mail Server Finished Summary Chapter 13: Web Server Part 2: Advanced Apache/Nginx www.example.com CGI (Common Gateway Interface) Apache Nginx Alias Apache Nginx Access Control Apache Nginx WebDAV Apache Nginx CalDAV and CardDAV Radicale and Apache Radicale and Nginx Clients Logs and Statistics Instant Web Applications Complete Website Ecommerce Customer Service Wiki Personal Cloud Service Summary Chapter 14: Advanced Email Sieve Installation FreeBSD Debian CentOS Configuration Manipulation of the Filters Fine-tuning the Postfix Configuration Verification of HELO/EHLO Command Verification of Addresses Unused Addresses Greylisting Installation Configuration DNS Blackhole List (DNSBL) Sender Policy Framework (SPF) pypolicyd-spf DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) Spam Filter Reclassification of Emails Web Mail Summary Chapter 15: Backup and Monitoring Backup What Needs to Be Backed Up? Where Are Backups Stored? When Are Backups Created? Conclusion Monitoring Mailing Lists Monitoring Locally Log Files Scripts Remote Monitoring Summary Chapter 16: Taking It Further chroot and Virtualization Kernel Configuration Load Balancing RAID Reduce the System Administrator’s Work Web Hosting Control Panel Configuration Management Summary Appendix: Default Port Numbers Index