Learning Web Server

neo468

I want to build and learn how to use a web server. I need opinions on which one is the best to learn and use, especially in relation to what companies are using.

int80h

Apache, Apache, and oh yea, Apache.

garv221

Know static IP mapping for firewalls. Know how to add more than one IP address to a single nic cards. Know IIS, permissions and DNS.

neo468

what is the purpose of more than one ip address on a single nic? And what all should I know about DNS, can you point me to an area for DNS learning that i need to know

s0c0

ISS and Apache are both good web servers. I like Apache though and seeing as it is more widely used than other http servers I would go with that. Of course you will need to learn Linux first. If you aren't afraid to learn Linux then sure go Apache. I would start with either Fedora Core or Ubuntu as a good novice ddistribution. Check out distrowatch.com for more.

However it doesn't hurt to learn how to setup both ISS and Apache and both 2000 and XP pro come with ISS. microsoft.com/technet should have some articles on setting up ISS.

s0c0

neo468 wrote:

what is the purpose of more than one ip address on a single nic? And what all should I know about DNS, can you point me to an area for DNS learning that i need to know

The purpose of having more than 1 IP address per NIC is to setup virtual hosts. Thats more than one web page per server. Meaning that apache for instance would listen for website1.com on 111.111.111.112 and for website2.com on 111.111.111.112. Does this make sense?

F

seuss_ssues

apache....it is the standard at which all web servers are measured against, it powers like 85% of the internet, and you can get it running on any platform.


Its part of the LAMP setup that many companies rely on.
Linux
Apache
Mysql
Php

And the great thing is they are all open source and free.

neo468

The purpose of having more than 1 IP address per NIC is to setup virtual hosts. Thats more than one web page per server. Meaning that apache for instance would listen for website1.com on 111.111.111.112 and for website2.com on 111.111.111.112. Does this make sense?

F[/quote]

Yes that makes sense. So if you are using a NAT would you be using 2 local IP addresses, or would you need to have 2 public IP addresses?

Also does a web server demand a lot of resources? Can I use a pentium III with say 512mb ram, or do I need to use a p4 with 1gb or more, and how much hard drive space should I allow

s0c0

You need to read up on this. A small web server will not require much. I've run a a web server on a P3 700 Mhz with about 256 MB of RAM and had over 20 people hit it at once with no problems. An e-commerce site however would require some meat to it. You should get a book and read up on this. First I would focus on getting a basic webserver working and then move on from there.

neo468

thanks for all the help guys, time to get to work

TheShadow

s0c0 wrote:

ISS and Apache are both good web servers. I like Apache though and seeing as it is more widely used than other http servers I would go with that. Of course you will need to learn Linux first. If you aren't afraid to learn Linux then sure go Apache. I would start with either Fedora Core or Ubuntu as a good novice ddistribution. Check out distrowatch.com for more.

However it doesn't hurt to learn how to setup both ISS and Apache and both 2000 and XP pro come with ISS. microsoft.com/technet should have some articles on setting up ISS.

While I am conversant in Linux (SUSE mainly) I often wonder why people always say you have to learn Linux before you can use Apache. I understand the LAMP gospel but WAMP also exists. Apache is available as Apache/2.0.54 (Win32) right now. Windows versions of MySQL and PHP are also available. Apache for windows is a half hour setup tops using the defaults.