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

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 9
• Set up Apache and Nginx
• Customize a mail server: IMAP (Dovecot) and SMTP (Postfix), spam filtering included
• Authenticate mail users using LDAP
• Install and maintain MariaDB and PostgreSQL databases
• Prepare SSL/TLS certificates for the encryption of web, mail and LDAP traffic
• Synchronize files, calendars and address books between devices
• Build 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.

About the Author

Robert La Lau has been active on the internet since the mid-90s. What started as a hobby – playing around with Linux, and developing small games and applications using Perl, HTML and JavaScript – turned into a job when he became a full-time freelance web developer in 1999. Shortly thereafter, a web hosting server and freelance Linux and FreeBSD administration were added. In the years that followed, new programming languages were learned, and software development was added to the range of services offered. In his spare time, Rob was involved in several smaller and larger open source projects; among other things, he was the initiator and first administrator for the official online KDE forums. After 15 years of freelance IT work, Rob thought he'd had enough of IT work, finished his running affairs, and left the Netherlands to discover the world. However, the IT kept calling him, and once installed in his new home country France, he decided to return to his old métier. Only this time, it was not to get his own hands dirty in the field, executing orders for clients, but to transfer his knowledge and experience onto the next generations of system administrators and developers. He rebooted his IT career translating and narrating educational books and videos, taught some Unix classes, and seems to have found his destination publishing books now.