Server Room DIY, In-House vs. Hosted [07/18/2008]Launching a new site? Leaving the hosting to someone else may seem easier, but there are advantages to keeping it in-house. Learn the pros and cons of being your own Web host.
Changes Afoot at ServerWatch [07/14/2008]Wondering where the usual columns and writers have gone? Find out who's in and who's out, and what they're going to be looking at.
Tip of the Trade: QEMU [07/14/2008]Hungry for an open source virtualizer that is a full-meal deal? Consider tasting QEMU.
Tip of the Trade: Ext4 [07/07/2008]Linux's Ext4 is almost ready. Take this new filesystem out for a test drive and see what its new feature sets offer.
Ready, Aim .... Fire Up the Gaming Server [07/01/2008]Setting up a gaming server is generally a piece of cake for most techies. The skills required transfer easily from the data center to home.
Tip of the Trade: Phoronix Test Suite [06/23/2008]Need to run some Linux benchmarks? The Phoronix Test Suite eliminates the need to search out benchmarking utilities. The comprehensive and easy-to-use test suite is designed to be both customizable and extensible.
Tip of the Trade: Assign Multiple Addresses to a Network Interface [06/16/2008]Still using ifconfig and route commands? Today's network environments require functionality beyond their capabilities. Consider using the ip command, which is part of the iproute2 suite of TCP/IP networking utilities, and is trying to muscle in.
Win Server 2008 Directory Services, More About RDOCs [06/09/2008]We revisit Read Only Domain Controllers, a bundle of standard Active Directory mechanisms that has been released as a new product feature set. Learn the requirements and restrictions that come into play when planning and managing a deployment.
Tip of the Trade: OpenSolaris liveCD [06/09/2008]Want to test drive OpenSolaris but don't want to deal with the convoluted installation? OpenSolaris liveCD from the OpenSolaris team streamlines the process and brings a raft of add-ons from the GNU/Linux world.
Tip of the Trade: Squid [06/02/2008]Visitors to your Web site don't care about exotic database backends or fancy scripting tricks. They just don't want to die of old age waiting for your pages to load. Turbocharge your Web servers (and eliminate this issue) with Squid.
Tip of the Trade: Specto [05/27/2008]This excellent little Python script can monitor changes throughout the network and report back on all manner of events. And you probably already have it -- Specto is included in most Linux distributions, including Fedora and Debian.
Last Call to Vote in the 2008 ServerWatch Product Excellence Awards 05/22/2008There's still time, but only if you hurry. Only one more day to vote for your favorite server room products. If you haven't yet cast your ballot, there's no better time than the present to do so.
Tip of the Trade: Web Console [05/19/2008]Need universal server administration? Forget Webmin. Web Console is a fast, light-weight AJAX-based interface that facilitates execution of desired commands.
Tip of the Trade: Gibraltar Security Gateway [05/12/2008]Gibraltar Security Gateway offers solid-as-a-rock security at several price points. The code for the open source solution is available as a free download and as a free-for-personal-use edition for up to five network devices.
ServerWatch Wants YOU ... 05/12/2008To vote for your favorites in the third annual ServerWatch Product Excellence Awards program. Less than two weeks remain for your voice to be heard.
Tip of the Trade: Vyatta [04/28/2008]Looking to save on networking costs? XORP-based Vyatta makes it possible to replace expensive gear with commodity hardware at a fraction of the cost.
Tip of the Trade: Cryptmount [04/21/2008]Need strong file encryption for underprivileged users? Cryptmount puts a friendly face on the technology.
4 Passwords to LAMP Security [04/15/2008]It's easy to install a LAMP stack and throw up a dynamic Web site over a weekend -- the real toil comes in securing it. Here are four steps to help avert complacency and get you on the correct path.
Tip of the Trade: Grsecurity [04/14/2008]The venerable Grsecurity is one option for closing Linux security holes.
Win Server 2008 Directory Services, Read Only Domain Controllers [04/11/2008]If you've been concerned about hosting full-fledged domain controllers in environments that could be easily compromised, consider a Read Only Domain Controller. Microsoft recently released this bundle of standard Active Directory mechanisms as a new product feature set.
Tip of the Trade: lm-sensors [04/07/2008]lm-sensors make it easy to monitor computer temperatures, no matter how little you paid for your hardware.
Tip of the Trade: psad [03/31/2008]Turbo-charge your intrusion detection with psad, the port scan attack detector.
2008 Product Excellence Awards Nominations Process Continues 03/31/2008There's still time, but you have to hurry. Only two weeks remain to nominate your favorite products and vendors in the ServerWatch Product Excellence Awards. Tell us who should get top honors.
Reining in Bandwidth With Squid Proxying [03/28/2008]SWatch Reader Favorite! Network hogs gobbling too much bandwidth? Consider throttling them with the squid caching proxy.
Tip of the Trade: SATA Storage Servers [03/24/2008]SCSI drives may be the toughest and most reliable, but oftentimes SATA drives are equally good. From price point to form factor and feature options, they offer a plethora of advantages.
Term of the Week: iLO 03/24/2008Short for integrated Lights-out, iLO is an intelligent remote management processor integrated in many HP ProLiant servers that enables admins to fully control servers from remote sites as though they were local and using the server directly.
ServerWatch Product Excellence Awards Nomination Period Opens [03/21/2008]From midrange servers to virtualization and storage applications, now is the time to let the world in on your server room favorites: Nominate them for 2008 ServerWatch Product Excellence Awards.
Tip of the Trade: ZFS on Leopard [03/17/2008]Coming soon to a Mac near you -- the power of ZFS for Mac OS X Leopard is now in beta.
Term of the Week: Disaster Recovery Plan 03/17/2008A disaster recovery plan makes arrangements for business continuity in the event of a disaster that destroys part or all of a business' resources, including IT equipment, data records and the physical space of an organization.
Tip of the Trade: GRUB2 [03/10/2008]With GRUB2, the venerable GRand Unified Bootloader for Linux and Unix has finally entered the new millennium.
Term of the Week: DIMM 03/10/2008A DIMM, or dual in-line memory module, is a small circuit board that holds memory chips. A single in-line memory module has a 32-bit path to the memory chips, whereas a DIMM has a 64-bit path.
Integrating Tomcat with Apache [03/07/2008]SWatch Reader Favorite! Looking to add Java functionality to your Apache Web server? The tool of choice from the Apache Foundation is the Tomcat Java server. Learn how to install and configure Tomcat to work with your Apache server.
Tip of the Trade: IP Address Management [03/03/2008]IP Address Management has historically been restricted to Windows shops and organizations willing to pay in the five-figure range for the integrated network discovery tool. This is changing, now that three recent prefab open source IPAM apps have hit the market.
Term of the Week: InfiniBand 03/03/2008Instead of sending data in parallel like PCI does, InfiniBand sends data in serial and can carry multiple channels of data at the same time in a multiplexing signal.
Back to Basics: The DHCP Relay Agent [02/29/2008]SWatch Reader Favorite! Among the many agents you can put to work on your Windows 2000 network is the DHCP Relay Agent.
Tip of the Trade: OpenSSH Speed Tips and Tricks [02/25/2008]Using public key authentication is a great way to make SSH transfers more secure. Transferring SSH identity keys can be a royal pain, however. Fortunately, ssh-copy-id, a slick utility included with OpenSSH, simplifies the process.
Term of the Week: NOC 02/25/2008A NOC, or network operations center, is the physical space from which a typically large telecommunications network is managed, monitored and supervised.
Optimizing Apache Server Performance [02/22/2008]SWatch Reader Favorite: Squeezing the most performance out of your Apache server can make difference in how your Web site functions and the impression it makes. We look at configuration and installation, two areas where you have the most control.
Term of the Week: Throughput 02/18/2008Data transfer rates for disk drives and networks are measured in terms of throughput -- the amount of data transferred from one place to another or processed in a specified amount of time.
Deploying Windows XP, Using the Windows PE [02/15/2008]SWatch Reader Favorite! Life is filled with challenges for a sys admin rolling out a large-scale operating system install. Windows Preinstallation Environment, a stripped-down version of the OS designed specifically for deployment, simplifies the process.
Tip of the Trade: Smartmontools [02/11/2008]Got S.M.A.R.T. drives? Consider adding smartmontools to test and monitor drive health as well as issue early warnings of possible failures.
Term of the Week: Fibre Channel 02/11/2008This serial data transfer architecture was developed by a consortium of computer and mass storage device manufacturers. Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop, the most popular standard, was designed for mass storage and other peripheral devices that require very high bandwidth.
Database Normalization [02/08/2008]SWatch Reader Favorite!
A poor database design can cripple an application, producing problems with data redundancy, accuracy, consistency and concurrency. Normalization reduces, if not eliminates, these problems.
Tip of the Trade: VirtualBox [02/04/2008]VirtualBox could easily be dubbed, 'the best virtualization program you've never heard of.' Its polish and ease-of-use set it apart from other free-of-cost, x86-based solution virtualizers.
Term of the Week: PCI Express 02/04/2008PCI Express is an I/O interconnect bus standard that expands on and doubles the data transfer rates of original PCI. The two-way, serial connection carries data in packets along two pairs of point-to-point data lanes.
Tips and Tricks for Taming SELinux [02/01/2008]Using Fedora's SELinux implementation as a guide, learn how MAC security policies work in practice.
Tip of the Trade: SplashTop [01/28/2008]Tired of twiddling your thumbs after your computer boots up? With Splashtop, you can be up and running in as little as five seconds.
Term of the Week: SATA 01/28/2008Often abbreviated as SATA, Serial ATA is an evolution of the Parallel ATA physical storage interface. Serial ATA is a serial link -- a single cable with a minimum of four wires creates a point-to-point connection between devices.
News OS Roundup: BSD Bug Emerges From Chrysalis [July 23, 2008]
When it comes to operating systems, maturity isn't everything. After 33 years in hibernation, a BSD bug has emerged. And it's not the only decades old vulnerability to surface in recent weeks. Kinda puts those Windows bugs in perspective.
Reviews The 'Other' Open Source Web Server [July 7, 2008]
If you thought Apache was the only viable open source Web server out there, you thought wrong. nginx boasts a lightweight footprint and high load handling capabilities.
