Web Server Administration

Table of Contents

Introduction………………………………………02

Overview of HTTP 1.1…………………………... 02

Existing Implementations……………………….. 03 Apache……………………………………………... 03 Lighttpd…………………………………………..... 03 Jigsaw…………………………………………….... 03

Web server……………………………………….. 04

Web administration…………………………….... 04

How a Web server works………………………... 04

Administering the Web Server………………….. 06 Logging…………………………………………….. 06 Web Server Backup Procedures…………………. 06 Recovering From a Security Compromise………. 07 Security Testing Web Servers………………….… 08 Remotely Administering a Web Server…………. 08

Advantages of Web server……………………..... 09

Disadvantages of Web server…………………….10

Conclusion…………………………………………10

Bibliography………………………………………11

Introduction

In the last decade the World Wide Web has become one of the most prevalent things in our modern society. The amount of traffic traveling over the web every day is staggering. Each and every one of us probably use the web daily for communication, research, and fun, but the vast majority have no idea how it all works. This paper will describe one of the most important aspects of the web server, the design and implementation of a web server and how a web server works. That is, after all, the basic idea of the web server. I will begin with a quick refresher on the protocols used and existing implementations, and then delve into our design and implementation, finishing with some conclusions.

Overview of HTTP 1.1 Before getting into web servers and their implementations I want to take a minute to review the Hypertext Transfer Protocol version 1.1. As defined by RFC 2616, “The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application level protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP has been in use by the World Wide Web global information initiative since 1990.” A typical HTTP 1.1 connection will normally involve a client requesting a document from a server.