> Connect through SSH and root to the server :
> Install php with the following :

% vinstall php(enter version here)-cgi

> Select the extension that are required
> Please make sure you only select the appropriate extensions
> At any point of time, you may edit php.ini file and add the exntensions
> It is always advisable to upgrade to the recent version
> PHP CGI on VPS Hosting package is installed at ~/usr/local/bin/php

% cd ~/www/cgi-bin

% ln ../../../bin/php.cgi php

> Also, you can make the following changes to httpd.conf file :

Changes in the directory file in order to include PHP CGI

> Also, add the lines so that all files and extensions will be redirected to PHP CGI executables :

for e.g.

Action php4-script /cgi-bin/php
AddHandler php4-script .php .php3 .php4 .phtml

> Restart the VPS by running restart_apache

> In order to check PHP installation, create the following :

~/www/htdocs/test.php(Version) and you may view it in the web browser

phpinfo();
?>

This is how to install PHP CGI on linux vps hosting

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> SSH to the VPS as access the server as root
> Make directory :

mkdir /root/rvadmin

> Once the directory is created, cd into the directory :

cd /root/rvadmin

> Download rvskin from rvskin website
> The installer created a hosting account ‘rvadmin’ which is basically for configuration
> Login to RVskin Manager
> Root and reseller can access RVskin in WHM / Plugins
> If in case you cannot view any message, you may simply run the following commands :

rm -f /usr/local/cpanel/Cpanel/rvversion
perl /root/rvadmin/auto_rvskin.pl

> Following are RVskin Manager Configurations :

> You can set global configuration
> Set languages
> Create feature list for users
> Set twaks, reseller, body links, top links
> two accounts can be setup :
rvadmin : Belongs to root user
Client : It will show reseller skin manager settings

> cPanel themes can be changes
> cPanel language can be changed

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VPS Hosting is provided with some resources and these resources can be used by the server itself and no other VPS on the server can use these resources. Reseller hosting accounts are also provided with some resources but in this case these resources can be used by other reseller hosting account on the same server. Also, it might be possible that your reseller account is setup on a shared server and this is the reason that reseller hosting accounts are not considered to be reliable enough as shared servers are not considered to be reliable. On the contrary, VPS is reliable enough as VPS act like a dedicated server for the client and even if there is an issue with any other VPS on the same dedicated server the other VPS are not affected by it. Even if the reseller account is hosted on the server where there are reseller accounts only then to it is not reliable as the reseller hosting providers host many clients under the same account due to which the server gets overloaded and might face downtime. Some of the hosting providers who have a reseller hosting package also oversell resources and this also causes problems to the server on which the reseller hosting account is setup. Some of the web hosting providers do not provide reseller hosting accounts on the servers due to the problems the server and the web hosting providers face if they have reseller hosting accounts on the servers. Also, web hosting providers do not hesitate to suspend the account of a reseller if they face any kind of problem with the account.

So, VPS has many benefits over the reseller hosting account. This is the reason that many of the resellers now prefer VPS over the reseller hosting account as VPS is reliable and also the features which are offered with reseller hosting account are much more in comparison to reseller hosting account.

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As audio, video streaming requires a lot of resources it is necessary to have a good web hosting package or say a server with high amount of resources. This is the reason that audio, video streaming is not allowed on small or medium sized web hosting packages as they require a high amount of resources and if they will be allowed on small or medium sized web hosting packages they will overload the server and the server might crash. So if you wish audio, video streaming on your website than you will have to consider higher packages or say servers for this. If dedicated servers are not in your budget or you do not want to have one than the only option for you is a VPS.

VPS Hosting for Audio, Video streaming :-

VPS (Virtual Private Server) are the servers which are considered after dedicated servers. These servers provide the dedicated environment to the client. Some VPS servers are setup on a single dedicated server. So VPS servers are also a kind of shared server but they provide the features of the dedicated server to the client and this is a great benefit for the client. As a number of VPS servers are setup on the same dedicated servers the resources of the dedicated server are distributed among the servers and hence they get a part of the resources. If you wish to have a VPS server for audio, video streaming you can have it but this will be an experiment. As VPS servers only have a part of the resources of the dedicated server on which the VPS servers are hosted. So it might be possible that these resources are not enough for audio, video streaming. However, these resources might be enough for you if your website does not have many visitors on it. Also, if you are going for a VPS server for audio, video streaming then you should go for the highest specifications available for VPS servers so that you do not face any problem in future. The web hosting server you choose should be chosen according to your requirements. If you think that VPS server is the best option according to your requirements than you can go for it. Otherwise, the best option if you want to have audio, video streaming on your website will be a dedicated server.

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Features of Plesk control panel-

1) Tools and features ;

Edit- Edit and update your contact information details.

Report-Displays a summary of the current user’s account information.

Preferences- User can change their user interface skin.

Permissions-Allows the user to change their user interface skin.

Limits- View the traffic, disk space, domain and other limits of the account.

IP pool- View the current IP’s in use. Most of the users have 1 at a time.

Logo setup- Customize the logo at the top left of the control panel.

Custom Buttons- Create, edit and delete the custom buttons in the control panel.

Add new domain- Allows the user to create a new domain/account in the control panel.

Domain templates- Create edit and delete domain templates.

Current traffic- Allows to view the summary of traffic stastistics.

Register- Register a new domain name.

Manage- Manage the registered domains.

2) Domains ;

Report- Displays a summary of the domains use information.

Limits- View the traffic, disk space, domain and other limits of the account.

Domian admistrator- Configure new domain user.

Custom buttons- Create, edit and delete the custom buttons in the control panel.

3) Email and other services ;

Mail- Manage email accounts, mail boxes, mail names, mail redirects, mail groups, autoresponders.

DNS- Administrator DNS records for the domain. users may add A records and restore the dns zone to the template settings.

Databases- Add, manage and delete MySQL databases. The number of databases are according to your hosting account.

Certificates-Add and manage the SSL certificates. SSL certificates are used for secured website browsing.

4) Hosting ;

Setup- Setup and administer web hosting for a domain.

Delete- Delete the current hosting account.

Web users- setup some other web users for the domain.

Directories- Create SSL or non-SSL password protected databases.

Anonymous FTP- Setup anonymous FTP for the domain.

Log manager- View and manage log files and other options related to it.

File manager- Allows you to navigate and manipulate server file system.

FP webadmin- Accesses the front page extensions administration tool for the site you have selected.

FP SSL webadmin- Accesses the front page extensions administration tool for the site you have selected.

Crontab- View, add and modify scheduled tasks for your systems.

Mambo CMS- This is a feature rich content management system.

Application vault- Allows the user to install or remove any set of free applications through the control panel.

Site preview- Allows the user to preview the current domain in the browser.

5) Some other features ;

Billing management system- This feature allows you to view the invoices to be paid off, update your credit card, change the personel information and make a payment.

Get traffic toolbox- Click to install or access an existing information of the existing tool box.

Internet marketing course- Free internet marketing course.

Keyword verification tool- This is a free verification tool that allows you to check whether your site is listed in the first three pages of the search engine for a specific keyword.

Link popularity checker- This is a free tool that informs you about the number of pages on the internet which have the link of your website.

Meta tag generator- This tool helps the user to add meta tags to your website.

Search engine saturation tool- This tool will inform you about the number of pages of your domain that are listed in the search engines.

Mail box Cop Spam/Virus Filter-This is an automatic feature which filters the Spams and checks for Viruses.

Stats tracker- This feature will provide the details of the website traffic to the user.

Submit site to search engines- This enables submissions to search engines easily.

These are some of the features of Plesk. Plesk control panel also has some other features which allow the user to manage server easily and this is the reason that many of the users prefer Plesk as control panel when they use Windows VPS. Plesk control panel also works with Linux VPS and this is yet another benefit of the Plesk control panel. As VPS are the servers which are provided with the dedicated environment, these servers are also provided with a lot of resources and features and without the control panel it is very difficult to manage the server unless and until you have excellent technical skills. All the servers are provided with the control panel and it is recommended to have the control panel as they will allow you to manage your server properly and save a lot of time. Plesk control panel has some licensing fees and you have to pay the fees to use Plesk control panel. But, as you are getting so many features with Plesk, it is not a bad deal to pay for it.

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Overselling may be defined as a claim to sell beyond the means of delivery. Overselling is better understood by an example.

Suppose there is a web hosting company. It has a server with 40 GB hard drive and 400 GB bandwidth. If the company has sold 10 GB to one single client and has 4 clients in total on the same server then the company has sold out 40 GB hard drive. Also, the company has provided 100 GB bandwidth to each client which makes 400 GB for 4 clients than the resources of the server have been sold out. If in future the company notices that the disk space used by each client is not more than 7 GB and the bandwidth used by each client is not more than 70 GB and the company decides to host yet another client on the same server and provide the client with the same resources which are allocated to other clients on the server.

This means that the company has provided the client with 10GB disk space and 100 GB bandwidth which is not available on the server as it has been assigned to other clients. This is called overselling. It is called overselling as the resources which are offered to the clients are practically not available.

For example a telephone company. If suppose a telephone company has millions of users and all the users use the service at the same time than it will not be possible for the company to provide them the service as the capacity of the company to provide the service is less as compared to the service used when all the clients use the service at the same time. So overselling is not practical and is not reliable also as their is no guarantee when the resources will be used. Overselling is done on a much cheaper rate than regular. Some of the clients are not aware overselling and this is the reason that they choose cheaper packages which are not reliable enough. Overselling also depends on the server which is being used  by the provider.

What is a Virtual Private Server (VPS) ?

Virtual Private Server (VPS) is one of the few types of servers available for web hosting. As the name suggests, these servers are like dedicated servers but are virtual. These servers are setup on the dedicated servers and provide the dedicated environment to the client. The features which are provided with the Virtual Private Server are more or less the same as the dedicated servers. As these servers are setup on the dedicated server, they are provided with some resources and these resources can only be utilized by the server to which these resources are alloted. This means no other Virtual Private Server hosted on the same dedicated server can use these resources. This is a very great advantage of a Virtual Private Server but for some it is not.

Overselling on a Virtual Private Server.

If you are planning to have VPS Hosting and start your web hosting business than you will not be able to oversell these resources. The reason for this is, when you will have a Virtual Private Server you will be given some resources with the server. you can utilize these resources but if you try to oversell these resources than the server will not be reliable enough. If you oversell these resources and suppose the resources get used up than the server will get overloaded and might crash as it cannot use up the resources alloted to any other Virtual Private Server hosted on the same dedicated server. Also, the web hosting company which has provided you with the server might cancel your server as your Virtual Private Server is causing problems to the dedicated server on which your server is hosted. Virtual Private Servers are unlike the shared server and the reseller servers which can use up the resources which are alloted to any other account on the same server. So if you try overselling on your Virtual Private Server then you might loose your server as well as your clients. This is the reason that Virtual Private Servers are not suggested for overselling.

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Nameserver can be defined as the computers accessible on the Internet which explains the location of the website. Resolving is the process which is done by Nameservers. During this process, the domain name of the website is taken and with the help of the Domain Name System (DNS) which keeps the data of the domain names and the corresponding IP addresses, the IP (Internet Protocol) address corresponding to the domain name is given. The location of the website on the internet is determined by the IP address and this is also called as Nameservers. It is also known as DNS servers as they perform the same function (Return the IP address for the domain when a domain name is given). When you buy or configure a Domain name for your website you will have to provide the names of the namesservers as this is very important. When you go for a web hosting package for your website your web hosting provider will ask you for the names of these nameservers. Also, these nameservers are of two types, one is the Primary Nameservers and the other is the Secondary Nameservers.

Primary server:-

You will have to enter the host name and the IP number of the name server in the column given registrant of your domain and this will contain the authoritative information of the domain name and this will be used to resolve that domain name to the corresponding IP address of the domain name. This is know as primary name server as this will be used first to resolve the domain name and the name server which will be entered after this will be considered after this name server. If this column is not filled, the domain name registrar will not proceed further with the process of registering the domain name as this is one of the most important section of the agreement.

Second level domain:-

These domains are considered to be the most important after the top level domains. For example, 1stDomain.com – the “1stDomain.com” part is the second level domain. These domains are registered under the top level domain registry.

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1) Checking for Formmail

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Hackers use Formmail to send out spam email and this is done with the help of relay and injection methods. You may be in jeopardy if you are using matts script or a version of it.

Command to find pesky form mails:
find / -name “[Ff]orm[mM]ai*”

CGIemail is also a security risk:
find / -name “[Cc]giemai*”

Command to disable form mails:
chmod a-rwx /path/to/filename
(a-rwx translates to all types, no read, write or execute permissions).

(this disables all form mail)

You will have to inform him if a client or some other person on your VPS install form mail that you are disabling their script and give them an alternative.

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2) Root kit checker – [url]http://www.chkrootkit.org[/url]

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Set a root kit on a cron job and check for root kits also. You will know if anyone has compromised with your root if you do this. Get the latest root kit checker by updating chrookit. Try to upload the root kit on your server as hackers and spammers will try to find insecure upload forms on your box and then with injection methods. If he can run it, it will modify *alot* of files, possibly causing you to have to reinstall.

To install chrootkit, SSH into server and login as root.
At command prompt type:

cd /root/
wget [url]ftp://ftp.pangeia.com.br/pub/seg/pac/chkrootkit.tar.gz[/url]
tar xvzf chkrootkit.tar.gz
cd chkrootkit-0.44
make sense

To run chkrootkit

At command prompt type:
/root/chkrootkit-0.44/chkrootkit

Make sure you run it on a regular basis, perhaps including it in a cron job.

Execution

I use these three commands the most.
./chkrootkit
./chkrootkit -q
./chkrootkit -x | more

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Install a root breach DETECTOR and EMAIL WARNING

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Installing a detector and warning at your box will let you know if someone gets the root. You will at least get the hackers or spammers ip address and you will be warned about his presence.

Server e-mail everytime someone logs in as root

To have the server e-mail you everytime someone logs in as root, SSH into server and login as root.

At command prompt type:
pico .bash_profile

Scroll down to the end of the file and add the following line:

echo ‘ALERT – Root Shell Access on:’ `date` `who` | mail -s “Alert: Root Access from `who | awk ‘{print $6}’`” “your@email.com”

Save and exit.

Set an SSH Legal Message

To an SSH legal message, SSH into server and login as root.

At command prompt type:
pico /etc/motd

Enter your message, save and exit.
Note: You can use the following message…

ALERT! You are entering a secured area! Your IP and login information have been recorded. System administration has been notified.This system is restricted to authorized access only. All activities on this system are recorded and logged. Unauthorized access will be fully investigated and reported to the appropriate law enforcement agencies.

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Web Host manager and CPANEL mods.

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Below are the items which are present inside of WHM/Cpanel and you should change them to make your server more secured.

Goto Server Setup =>> Tweak Settings
Check the following items…

Under Domains
Prevent users from parking/adding on common internet domains. (ie hotmail.com, aol.com)

Under Mail
Attempt to prevent pop3 connection floods
Default catch-all/default address behavior for new accounts – blackhole
(SET TO FAIL)

Under System
Use jailshell as the default shell for all new accounts and modified accounts

Goto Server Setup =>> Tweak Security
Enable php open_basedir Protection
Enable mod_userdir Protection
Disabled Compilers for unprivileged users.

Goto Server Setup =>> Manage Wheel Group Users
Remove all users except for root and your main account from the wheel group.

Goto Server Setup =>> Shell Fork Bomb Protection
Enable Shell Fork Bomb/Memory Protection

When setting up Feature Limits for resellers in Resellers =>> Reseller Center, under Privileges always disable Allow Creation of Packages with Shell Access and enable Never allow creation of accounts with shell access; under Root Access disable All Features.

Goto Service Configuration =>> FTP Configuration
Disable Anonymous FTP

Goto Account Functions =>> Manage Shell Access
Disable Shell Access for all users (except yourself)

Goto Mysql =>> MySQL Root Password
Change root password for MySQL

Goto Security and run Quick Security Scan and Scan for Trojan Horses often. The following and similar items are not Trojans:
/sbin/depmod
/sbin/insmod
/sbin/insmod.static
/sbin/modinfo
/sbin/modprobe
/sbin/rmmod

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The resources allotted to a Virtual Private Server cannot be used by any other Virtual Private Server on the same server. Also, the client is provided with the root access to the server and he can customize the server according to his needs. These servers are provided with different operating systems and different control panels and the client can choose them according to him.

One of the operating system is Linux and Linux is generally provided with cPanel control panel. With the cPanel the client can manage his Virtual Private Server easily. There are some features in the cPanel also. One of them is the Add-on domain. This feature provides the client with an extra domain for the hosting account. Each domain will have its different website which is not same as others (for example: yourdomain1.com & yourdomain2.com, etc). The visitors of your websites will be able to access each domain seperately and these domains will appear to be a completely different website.

Below are some easy steps which will help you to add an Add-on domain:-

1) Log-in to your cPanel.

2) Click on the Add-on domains and enter the following information.

a. New Domain Name: The addon domain which you like to add to your account (for example:-mydomain.com)

b. Username/directory/subdomain Name: The name of the subfolder of your account to upload the files of that addon domain (example:mydomain)

c. Password: The password you wish to have except your main account password. The special FTP account of that domain will be accessed with the help of this password.

Important:You should be able to see a folder with the name of your domain once the domain is added (For example: if your domain is mydomain.com your folder name is going to be mydomain – unless you change your folder name).

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If you have Linux VPS Hosting as your web hosting package you can customize the error pages of your website very easily. As the Linux VPS is provided with the cPanel as the control panel, you can easily create some error pages for your website according to you.

Below are some easy steps which will help you to create error pages of your website:-

1) Login in the cPanel of your VPS.

2) Then click on the Error Pages link under the ‘Site Management’ header.

3) Now click on the button of the required error page.

4) Enter the HTML code of the error page. You can use the buttons at the top of the page to insert variables into the    displayed code.

5) Now click on the “SAVE” button.

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