LAMP web hosting is probably the most popular and affordable server setting for webmasters these days. If you aren’t already aware, LAMP stands for Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP and defines how your dedicated server will run – it will be Linux hosting with an Apache server, MySQL databases, and PHP development.

The first step to create a LAMP server setup is to install Apache on your Linux machine.

1) Download Apache from Apache Software Foundation.

2) Uncompress the archive using gunzip and tar and replace apache_1.3.11.tar.gz in the example here with the name of the current live version you just downloaded:

gunzip < apache_1.3.11.tar.gz | tar xvf –

This should create an apache_1.3.11 directory.

3) Move into the new directory you just created and use cd apache_1.3.11.

4) ./configure in the root so that your screen appears as such:

# ./configure
Configuring for Apache, Version 1.3.11
…
Creating Makefile
Creating Configuration.apaci in src
Creating Makefile in src
+ configured for Linux platform
+ setting C compiler to gcc
+ setting C pre-processor to gcc -E
+ checking for system header files
+ adding selected modules
+ checking sizeof various data types
+ doing sanity check on compiler and options
…
Creating Makefile in src/modules/standard

5) make so that your screen looks like this:

# make
===> src
make[1]: Entering directory `src/httpd/apache_1.3.11′
make[2]: Entering directory `src/httpd/apache_1.3.11/src’
===> src/regex
…
[several lines later]
…
gcc  -DLINUX=2 -DUSE_HSREGEX -DUSE_EXPAT -I../lib/expat-lite

make[1]: Leaving directory `src/httpd/apache_1.3.11′
<=== src
#

6) Install your new Apache with # make install and you’re done!

Now you are welcome to start Apache to make sure it’s working if you’d like.

As root, type /usr/local/apache/bin/apachect1 start and your browser at your brand new web server at yourdomain.com. If you see the Apache standard “It worked!” homepage, you are set.

What is a Rootkit?

Rootkits are programs designed to access your dedicated server systems to intrude on and compromise your server. These rootkits are often designed as Trojans so that you do not suspect but can open a backdoor to your dedicated server so that they can attach and upload suspicious programs and applications to degrade your performance or bring down your website.

What is Rootkit Detection?

Rootkit detection can be handled in two ways:

1. Via Managed Hosting from your dedicated web hosting provider.
2. Via rootkit detection programs, which are a way you can self-manage your web server.

How do rootkit detection programs work?

Rootkit detection software is designed to detect rootkits and distinguish them from normal hidden files that are not suspicious and concealed for a purpose either by you as a webmaster or by the operating system by default. Most often, rootkit detection programs compare various views of your server system to find mismatches. When there is a mismatch, it usually points to something suspicious and the rootkit check will alert you to suspicious software, programs, Trojans, spyware, or malware on your machine.

Originally, rootkit checks would perform a check on the entire dedicated server system to view all files while inside the OS and then boot the Recovery Console to see that file list for comparison. In the second list, the rootkit program will search for files that do not show up in the first list. These hidden files are often rootkit culprits!

Do they work?

As with all software programs, it depends. Rootkit management programs are not meant to be used as a standalone system for customers new to dedicated server hosting. If you fall into that category, you are still better off purchasing Managed Hosting from your dedicated service provider, as they are professionals who will know the difference between default hidden files and corrupted malware.

Also, take note that rootkit programs are sold or downloaded AS IS, so there is never any guarantee of their success.

You’re shopping for a dedicated server. You need not only the best price available but the best dedicated hosting discount, features, and billing cycles. And if you’re not sure where to begin, requesting a dedicated server quote from the provider of your choice is a great first step!

A dedicated server quote needs to contain specifics about what you are purchasing, the reliability of the web host you are choosing, and any terms and conditions that you are required to abide by in order to receive the pricing available. For example, you may only get the best pricing by purchasing a 1-year billing cycle.

So what exactly should be included in a dedicated server hosting quote?

1. Price & Discounts

Price is very, very important. If one provider can get you the server for $500 while another can only offer $1500, that’s a huge difference that needs to be addressed. Oftentimes, the difference will be due to equipment used (i.e. the more expensive company uses more expensive or better-performing servers).

Dedicated hosting discounts are also equally important. Many providers who use top-of-the-line equipment but might be slightly higher priced can get you discounts depending on contract term and length, features, and add-ons. Be sure to ask your dedicated host what discounts they can offer.

2. Technical Specs

How much bandwidth per month do you get? What about storage? Do you get a free domain name or free setup?

Some other features you’ll want to know about ahead of time:

* Type of Processor
* Amount of RAM included
* Managed or UnManaged Hosting
* Linux or Windows Web Hosting

3. Support Options

Does the dedicated webhost provide 24/7 support through telephone, email, and/or ticket help desks, forums, etc? More often than not, dedicated support should be handled via email so that everything is documented.

DotNetNuke Web Hosting is a unique website development and management choice, popular with ASP.NET hosting enthusiasts. Like many other content management systems, DotNetNuke requires little knowledge of actual web development or programming skills and allows for novices as well as intermediates and experts to navigate its control panel to update websites. But unlike other CMS applications and software, DotNetNuke can actually be used to run intranet and extranet as well.

The only downside to DotNetNuke is that it is not completely versatile in that it does require the ASP.NET environment, although Windows Web Hosting is incredibly powerful and a great option for dedicated server hosting. The big upside is that DotNetNuke is easy to install, easy to work with, and easy to customize – plus, it’s open source software, which means you can get it completely free. There are also a wide variety of websites that support documentation and troubleshooting, so you’re always able to find a skin or solution for your DotNetNuke website.

When searching for a reliable dedicated hosting provider, you know already that you can often find great dedicated hosting coupons and discounts if you compare companies and give them a call or get a custom quote like what Lunarpages offers on their website. But we have some amazing web hosting news for you, as the folks at Lunarpages are offering some phenomenal dedicated hosting freebies!

If you are in the market for Dedicated Windows Hosting, look no further than Lunarpages! With any new 12 or 24 month Windows Dedicated purchase, you will receive a FREE copy of Microsoft Web Expression, a WYSIWYG HTML and webpage editor, as well as a year’s worth of Microsoft-related training from Total Trainning! The training sessions alone are valued at over $700, making this free offer from Lunarpages worth over $1,000!

For more information, please visit Lunarpages Dedicated Hosting and view their Special Offer.

Wondering what you get with Lunarpages Windows Dedicated Hosting? Check out these awesome features:

* Windows Server 2008
* Microsoft Frontpage, Silverlight, and ASP/ASP.NET 3.5, IIS7 compatible
* MS SQL standard
* Plesk Control Panel
* Managed Hosting options
* 80-250GB (and more) storage space
* at least 1,000GB (1TB) bandwidth/month
* 24×7 Dedicated Technical Support

There are many different dedicated server and web hosting technologies available to use when building and accessing your website. Probably the most popular free tool for database web hosting is MySQL.

So what is MySQL Web Hosting?

MySQL (pronounced My-Ess-Queue-El or My-See-Quel) is an open source or free database software, providing ease and speed to its resource base. MySQL boasts over 100 million downloads of this extremely familiar database software, and for good reason – most web hosting companies these days utilize MySQL for their databases and offer it free to their customers for database management as well.

The popularity of MySQL web hosting really came into light as a new application pack for technology was devised called LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP/Perl/Python). This, coupled with the fact that MySQL can be used on Linux as well as Windows and over 20 other platforms, makes MySQL hosting a huge choice for developers and webmasters in the dedicated web hosting and shared hosting fields.

You already know the importance of backing up your dedicated server, but there are easier ways to accomplish that, which do not require periodic backups by hand. In fact, you can easily setup website backups to run automatically via what are called “cron jobs”.

What is a con job? A cron job is what’s known as a time-based scheduling service. This just means it does a specific job at a specific time. It’s most often used in Linux or Unix operating systems, so normally you can run them easily from cPanel or SSH.

Here are some helpful scripts that you can use to setup cron jobs with dedicated web hosting! These make backing up your website a breeze.

Site Backup via Cron

<?
$datestamp = date(”Y-m-d_H-i-s”); // Current date to append to filename of backup file in format of YYYY-MM-DD

/* CONFIGURE THE FOLLOWING VARIABLES TO MATCH YOUR SETUP */
$filename= “Full_Account_Backup-$datestamp.tar”; // The name (and optionally path) of the dump file
$ftp_server = “123.123.123.123″; // Name or IP. Shouldn’t have any trailing slashes and shouldn’t be prefixed with ftp://
$ftp_port = “21″; // FTP port - blank defaults to port 21
$ftp_username = “anonymous”; // FTP account username
$ftp_password = “”; // FTP account password - blank for anonymous
$filename = “/home/YOURACCOUNT/” . $filename . “.gz”;

$command = “tar cvf ~/$filename ~/*”;
$result = exec($command);

$command = “gzip -9 -S .gz ~/$filename”;
$result = exec($command);

// set up basic connection
$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server);

// Turn PASV mode on or off

ftp_pasv($ftp_conn, false);

// login with username and password
$login_result = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_password);

// check connection
if ((!$ftp_conn) || (!$login_result))
{
echo “FTP connection has failed.”;
echo “Attempted to connect to $ftp_server for user $ftp_username”;
exit;
}
else
{
echo “Connected to $ftp_server, for user $ftp_username”;
}

// upload the file
$upload = ftp_put($ftp_conn, “foo.tar.gz”, $filename, FTP_BINARY);

// check upload status
if (!$upload)
{
echo “FTP upload has failed.”;
}
else
{
echo “Uploaded $filename to $ftp_server.”;
}

// close the FTP stream
ftp_close($ftp_conn);

unlink($filename); //delete the backup file from the server
?>

**Make sure that this script is with a .php extension, and the file has 755 permissions. You also need to change the first few variables to those of your site setup and add a cron job in Cpanel with a path to the script such as php /home/username/path-to-the-php-script (replacing path-to-the-php-script with your actual path to it).

When you purchase your Windows or Linux Dedicated Server, you have the option to add the Plesk Control Panel, one of the most powerful control panels on the planet. And if you do decide to add Plesk as your control panel, you also have the ability to add the Plesk Power Pack, a series of amazing add-on modules similar to cPanel’s Fantastico Script Library.

So what do you get with your dedicated server and the Plesk Power Pack?

• Application Pack – With the Plesk Power Pack’s Application Pack, you can pretty much do everything you need, all from one simple administrative panel. The Application Pack comes complete with the Mambo Content Management System (CMS), a Website Builder Tool to create dynamic websites, support for post-Nuke Web Hosting, osCommerce Ecommerce software for ecommerce web hosting, phpBB software, picture gallery software, phpBook for guestbooks, bbClone for website statistics, and gtChat for chat web hosting.

• Anti-Spam Solutions – Plesk’s Power Pack utilizes SpamAssassin’s Anti-Spam solutions software to eliminate spam forever.

• Tomcat Web Hosting – Tomcat java servlet support allows you to manage and deploy Tomcat web applications and run Tomcat’s JSP web hosting.

• ColdFusion Web Hosting – Administrators can configure and enable/disable ColdFusion right within the hosting panel. Perfect for ColdFusion web hotsing.

• MS SQL Hosting – Need the world’s most popular and powerful relational database manage system? You got it with Plesk Power Pack’s support for MS SQL web hosting. You can deploy and manage MS SQL databases on local and remote instances. Your Windows Web Hosting solution is complete. Also perfect for Windows Server 2008 Hosting!

• Multi-Level Helpdesk – Now you can run your own HelpDesk solution for answering tickets and support inquiries via a powerful integration system within Plesk’s Power Pack.

Windows Dedicated Hosting plans don’t automatically come with a control panel, as you can access the server via SSH/Shell Commands if necessary. However, having a control panel allows you to do all the things you can do via Shell access but in an intuitive, often automated manner. This means that you don’t have to memorize shell commands or scripts but can deploy then with the click of a mouse.

The most adaptive and secure control panel for Windows Web Hosting is Plesk, a powerful control panel with many advantages over the competition.

So what are the advantages of Plesk for Windows Web Hosting?

In the Dedicated server or shared server sphere, Plesk has the same kinds of advantages, which include:

• Innovative & Easy Icon-Based Control Panel – this mean no fumbling for the proper commands; simply find the icon that describes what you want to do (create an email, deploy a script, add a subdomain) and click it

• Secure & Stable Interface – Plesk has the ability and has proven itself handling over 5 million domains around the world on thousands of accounts per server and contains some of the most powerful security measures in the industry

• Support for Multiple Platforms – That’s right, Plesk works on Windows and Linux! This is a huge deal in case you’re not sure which platform you need and takes away the fear of having to change the operating system later while your website is already running on a secure dedicated server

• Multilingual Support – Plesk is available in most languages, including English, German, Japanese, Spanish, French, Chinese, and Russian, so you should be able to make sure the control panel speaks your language

• Microsoft Server 2008 & Silverlight Support - With Plesk, you can use Microsoft Server 2008 Web Hosting and Microsoft Silverlight Web Hosting as well, as both are 100% compatible with this intuitive and affordable control panel

Microsoft is always on the cusp of what makes technology tick, and recently, they launched a streaming content application that works directly in your browser and will compete (and likely overwhelm) flash media on the internet. It’s called Microsoft Silverlight, and it happens to be one of the coolest technologies coming from Microsoft to date. Microsoft Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of Windows, ASP, and ASP.NET-based media experiences. Microsoft Silverlight works on any operating system (Windows, Mac OS, Linux), from any browser (IE, Firefox, Opera, Flock, Safari) and delivers rich interactive applications similar to flash media but better because it supports AJAX technology and can integrate with your web applications, displaying the highest quality videos and media right in your browser.

So what is Microsoft Silverlight Hosting?

Silverlight Web Hosting is just a term used to describe the fact that Silverlight is compatible on your dedicated server. Normally, you’ll need media server hosting to accommodate Microsoft Silverlight, so make sure to verify that your dedicated web host can run media servers for you.

So is our recommended reliable dedicated hosting provider, Lunarpages Dedicated Hosting, capable of handling Microsoft Silverlight Hosting? You guessed it – yes!! Take advantage of this new technology today and put it on any of Lunarpages Dedicated Server Hosting Plans.