When we talk about VMWARE ESX servers and the virtual environment (virtualization), we actually need to start from understanding what are the virtual machines all about. A virtual machine or virtual computer means that it is a computer & operating system as we know it, only it is based on software (not hardware). Which means all of its characteristics are based on software definition hosted on a physical machine.

To simplify this explanation without going too deep into the technical measures, it is a definition of what a computer needs to be (emulating its exact environment) only those definitions are based on a program that is a configuration of that environment in order to emulate a real computer, but there are no physical parts, they are sort of a logical part.

The resources which are configured for the creation of that virtual machine are being taken from a physical machine, which allocates those resources from the physical machine to the virtual computer. Now since we are allocating part of the real physical sources, we can use the remaining resources to create another instance (another virtual computer), which can use other free resources. So, if we have many resources on a physical computer, like for example a physical 4GB RAM, which we then allocate 1GB of RAM for each virtual machine, we actually get 4 different virtual computers with 1GB RAM, that can be installed with different operating systems, like Linux, different versions of Windows operating systems, either desktop or servers.

Now if you understand that concept, you now realize that you can test any type of computer or operating system, by raising it virtually, test it, and delete it, without destroying or re-installing your own computer. You just host those virtual machines on the same computer you are working on. Many use those types of ESX servers, to create different types of computer machines to enable the testing environment, without purchasing another hardware. For the same price of having a strong server computer, you can get many different servers or desktop, hosted on the same machine, which only shares it’s resources with those virtual servers and saves the cost of purchasing a separate computer for each computer we need to use.

What is an ESX Virtual Server? Well, it is the environment that enables us to place upon it and manage many different virtual machines (desktop, server computers, with different types of operating systems). ESX Server is one of the most used virtual servers, even though the Microsoft Hyper-V virtual server is starting grasp hold in this market, ESX servers are still the most used ones.

The options you can use are:

1. You can dedicate a strong physical server, and install the ESX server operating system on it, which comes as a full environment, which you manage using an external management client (which you can install on your desktop computer) and only certain definitions can be defined using the ESX server management console.
2. You can decide you want to use the ESX Desktop server version, which enables you to host virtual machines, on your desktop computer (no server hardware is required). Now since it is not a server, the number of virtual computers you can operate online at the same time will rely on the number of resources your desktop computer has. You can create many virtual machines if you have the hard-disk capacity for it, but you will be able to get only one of them online, in case you do not have enough memory, for example.

Advantages of Virtual machines on ESX Servers:

1. You can host many different types of computers on one computer (Cost-effective, as you don’t have to spend more money on another hardware computer)
2. You can backup a whole computer (a whole virtual instance) and recover it completely very quickly. (This is a better, quicker solution for backing your whole hardware computer’s operating system, and recover from it, like when you use Norton Ghost).
3. Installation of new servers (virtual servers) is much faster than installing them on a regular physical computer.4.

Disadvantages of Virtual machines on ESX Servers:

1. You need a stronger computer/server to use the ESX server on, in order to utilize many hosted virtual computers at once.
2. If an ESX server crashes, and you have multiple virtual computers/server running on it, they will all go down at once.

Downloading ESX server and start working:

• Follow the instructions on this link – Download ESX Server 3.5
• Installing ESX server – step by step.
• Virtualization Simplified – Guide to Server Virtualization
• Virtual Machine backup guide
• How to install VMware ESX 3.5 inside VMware Workstation 6.5 – Video lesson
• Live IT. Love IT. VMware IT – Comic Video presentation of VMWARE 🙂

Summarizing: There are many benefits to using virtual servers, to be able to have the flexibility and ease of installing new servers, and raising a server environment quickly and more securely. But do not forget that it is risky to place all of your eggs in one basket, so for really important servers that server your network you might want to create a more solid infrastructure is at least a contingency solution in case of a disaster.

What are the e-mail servers? Well, in general, it is a computer that works as your own virtual post office. The e-mail server will consist of a database to store the e-mails and e-mail accounts and communicate with the internal and external networks to deliver the e-mails among the recipients. Mail servers are automatic, and you can set certain configurations, on how you would like your e-mails to be handled.

There are many types of mail servers, some are free, based on open source (Linux) and some are bought for a price that depends on the scale of your organization. The priced ones, are usually more complex and enable more features, and more control over your e-mails.

There are mail servers that are based on basic e-mail services, which only delivers and sends the e-mails, with minor basic ways of maintaining the user accounts. The most common ones are Linux based, like SendMail, Postfix etc… Mostly they support simple protocols like SMTP, POP3, etc… when more complex servers are using MAPI protocol.

You can also use hosting mail services, which means you can define your mail server or your mail relay at a hosting location (which means it will not be in your organization’s server room, it will be placed on the internet at a hosting place). This hosting can be your ISP (Internet Service Provider) or at a hosting place you choose and where you will need to configure your own mail server/mail relay.

Microsoft Exchange Server
Whenever people hear about the “Microsoft Mail Exchange Server” they get nervous, which I basically can understand that, but when you get to know how Exchange server works, you should take comfort in knowing that if you are familiar with the Windows operating system environment, and how things get configured and installed, you should be just fine. There is nothing much about Exchange server than just getting to know it better, and what it provides.

There are advantages for using Exchange Server – you can see the features of Exchange Server 2007 here as an example.

•    MS Exchange Server – Technical Articles by Microsoft – You can find on this link technical articles about the Exchange server 2003, 2007, 2010 – including installation tips etc…
•
•    Installing Exchange – Video guides (yes you can follow a video that shows you how to install exchange).

ZIMBRA mail server
This mail server – is an open-source application, running on Linux operating systems, and can be used with Microsoft’s Outlook application using a suitable connector (the application you download from ZIMBRA’s website). ZIMBRA even has connectors for MAC (If you are a MAC user, you should know there is a Macintosh outlook application as well).

Anyway, this mail server, is a bit complex to install, even though it seems to be pretty straight forward, it sometimes requires some deep Linux configuration file editing skills which makes it suitable only for professionals, but it is a cost-effective solution in comparison to the expensive Exchange server, which you might want to consider as an alternative.

ZIMBRA also has a ZIMBRA desktop client which you can install and use, with either ZIMBRA mail server, or any other mail server you want like the Gmail, Yahoo mail, etc…

•    ZIMBRA Home Page
•    How To Install Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) On Ubuntu
•    Updating ZIMBRA Connector for Outlook – Video
•    POP3 Gmail with ZIMBRA – Video
•    Zimbra-Zmail – Online E-mail server hosting Solution.

MDaemon Email Server
MDaemon Email Server by alt-n technologies, for Windows, Includes mail server features, world client webmail, web admin – remote admin, com agent – secure IM client, blackberry connectivity, e-mail archiving, exchange migration and, mobile device solutions.

Alt-N technologies have a full e-mail solution, which you might consider suitable for your organization, so give it a look, and check it out 🙂

•    MDaemon Email Server For Windows Overview – Video
•    Alt-N Technologies – E-mail solutions

Summarizing the whole e-mail servers subject, you just need to get some idea of how mail servers work, and you can just decide which of the e-mail servers you would like to implement in your business. They all have their own benefits, some are cost-effective, some are more expensive but more common. You make the choice 🙂

What is DNS? well, it means “Domain Name System” and it relates to the fact that no matter how good our memory is, it is easier for us to remember names than numbers. Since any computer/device that is attached to a network, no matter if the network is local or external (Internet), that computer has an IP address (which is how any device is being recognized and attached to the network). Since it might be easy to remember one address (maybe), if you have more than one computer on the network this trick might become a bit complex, so the solution is to turn network IP into names.

DNS is what this is all about, the DNS is a table that translates between network address IP’s to names. The names usually relate to domain names, since on the internet and the way servers work, domain names enable better organizing the naming way. The domain is usually a “name.ext” like google.com. Since we all know from the internet that most of the addresses are divided into 3 parts like www.google.com, the 3 parts enable better dividing of the groups (called the domain) and it’s children. What it means is the WWW is part of the domain called google.com.

There are different types of child names but the most common ones are the WWW (World Wide Web) which is being used for websites on the internet, there are ftp.google.com which will be the FTP of Google (File Transfer Protocol) used for hosting files, or another common full DNS name is the MAIL (e-mails) like mail.google.com – where the mail relates to mail servers for transferring e-mails. So now you can see all of those names actually reside in google.com which means they are all related to the same domain.

Now, DNS servers can reside on your network (local DNS server), which will translate your local network addresses into domain names, and connect the local DNS to a worldwide one. DNS server can also reside on the internet in a hosting, which you can access (usually the ISP will provide you with DNS will translate internet addresses), using the ISP’s DNS will enable you to browse the internet, and by adding it to your local DNS, your company will be able to browse the internet using domain names.

Creating your own DNS:

1. One of the easiest ways if you know Linux – is to create a DNS server based on a Linux operating system. There are some basics already built within Linux that you only need to configure, and then change your DNS IP relations to that Linux DNS server you have created. You might want to use a whole DNS program called BIND9, which is a more sophisticated DNS server software that can be easily installed on any of your Linux operating systems.
   • http://www.aboutdebian.com/dns.htm
   • http://www.linux.org/docs/ldp/howto/DNS-HOWTO.html
   • http://www.linuxhomenetworking.com/wiki/index.php/Quick_HOWTO_:_Ch18_:_Configuring_DNS
   • http://www.linux.org/docs/ldp/howto/Chroot-BIND-HOWTO.html
   • http://linux.justinhartman.com/DNS_Installation_and_Setup_using_BIND9
2. Microsoft Windows servers and operating systems also can enable DNS servers. You can use local DNS using the HOSTS file (which is like a translation table for translating addresses to names, this file is a default file windows uses, so if you define it, windows will check it and use it before other DNS servers) and you can create an actual DNS server.
   • Installing DNS Services on WINDOWS 2003 SERVER
   • Installing DNS Services on WINDOWS 2008 SERVER
   • Server 2008 DNS Manual Setup – Video
   • Windows Server 2008 Training – Configuring DNS – Video
   • 

Now I believe you understand DNS better, what it is and what is it used for. Also, I believe you have some examples to give you some idea on how DNS is being created both on Linux and on Windows operating systems and networks.

Wouldn’t we want to access our favorite music whenever we want to? Wouldn’t we want to watch movies from our stored selected folder no matter where we
are? Well, there are solutions for that kind of needs and they are called digital media servers or digital music servers.

There are digital servers that you can create on your own and there are internet servers that enable you to place your files and
access them when you want them. There is also a way to place your favorite music selection and just listen online to your favorite singers on websites like “http://www.jango.com“, where you can log in freely, create your own pleasurable music selection and even divide it to groups of singers, where you can set each group to different music types.

With all that I have mentioned, what is out there that we can use, or create on our own? Well, anyone can create a shared folder from his own computer. You can use that shared folder which will hold all of your kept MP3 music (smaller files which enable larger capacity of music) or your AVI (DIVX) movies, or even your HI-DEF movies in .MKV format (720p, 1080p etc…).

You can also get those folders and share them with the world using the internet. All you need is a constant IP from your ISP provider, set the shared folder to be accessible from the outside, by configuring your firewall accordingly and the folder will be accessible from the outside, either publically or only for authorized people who know your user/password. You can buy a domain name, and attach it to your constant home IP, and create a media server accessible using a browser, that will even be accessible using an internet search engine.

Another thing you might want to do is to place the music files (upload them) into a digital media server that enables you to load music/movies freely (limited capacity) or for large GB capacities for a small fee. Those servers usually have a great bandwidth capacity, and the streaming of your media will be performing well when you want to listen to it (from their hosted place, without downloading them to your computer).

Digital Music servers on the internet:

1. Grooveshark – This is an online website that enables you to listen to music online. You can create playlists and your favorites. This website streams well.
2. Jango – This website enables you to listen online to your favorite artists. You can create groups of singers according to your music style. This website knows how to choose other singers who resemble the type of music your chosen artists fit into, and you will be able to get to know other new artists that fit that style of music you love so much.
3. Jukeboxalive – This is another website that enables us to share, listen and enjoy music online.
4. Smashitsusa – This is another website, that enables you to choose your music style, listen to online radio, favorite albums and create your own collections.

Digital Movie servers on the internet:

1. Hulu – This is the most common website to watch full-length high-quality movies online. You can also find TV shows here.
2. IMDB – This website is known as the Internet movie database and it has added full-length movies that you can watch online. This website includes movie news, movie reviews, movie trailers (even though I love the movie trailers by Apple, movie show time and much more.
3. Joost – This website is well organized and you can make a movie search, browse channels, or see Joost favorites from the Joost staff picks.
4. Babelgum – This is a great website for free online movie watching. You can also see independently made videos, music, and films.

How to create your own digital media server:
I have concentrated some links that explained just that, how to create your own digital media server.

• How To Build Your Own Digital Media Server: Part I
• How To Build Your Own Digital Media Server: Part II
• How to make your own home server
• How to Build Your Own Windows Home Server

What is the virtual machine/virtual server, and why has this issue became such a needed and common solution for organizations?

The virtual machine provides a tool that can run different applications, operating systems on the same machine as if it was a physical computer. The idea is that you can install either a full VMware server (virtual server), that is designated to run different operating systems simultaneously. This means you can install several servers on one hardware machine, and they all will work fine as if they were all different physical servers.

This shows that on one hardware physical computer, we can run different servers and services, and save the cost of buying other hardware machines. This solution enables many different advantages which are not just cost-effective but more flexible and for different purposes that benefit organizations.

Virtual services for QA purposes: Usually QA (Quality assurance) department, needs to simulate a certain environment to enable the testing as close to the real environment where the application/device will be running. When you know a client has a specific network environment, or a specific server that he needs our application to run upon, we will need to do testing of our development on that environment.

The simplicity of it all is that without buying a specific hardware, installing the environment of the client on that hardware and then do out testing. We can just install the environment on a virtual server, do our testing, play around with it (since it is a server (we installed) for the testing purposes and it is not a real server that serves others) and when we are done, we can shutdown this environment we built, and clear the space for our next QA project.

Virtual servers for support: When we need to give a client support, and we stumble upon a situation where we can’t reach a solution since the client is using an environment that we do not have on our system and we want to simulate exactly the environment the client has, so we could see the same problems he encounters. We can build such an environment easy, simply by creating the virtual system the client uses, install all of the applications he is using, and then our system, to test and see what he stumble upon, and find a solution locally on our system.

Again when we are done, we can just remove that server, and clear space for a new server to be installed. This is the flexibility the virtual environment enables us to use.

Virtual servers for multiple organization services: The virtual server can run multiple servers at the same time on the same machine. There are servers organization uses, that do not need many resources to run, like a monitoring server, or a DNS server, or a DHCP server, etc…

Those servers, without the virtual environment, will have to be installed separately on different hardware machine, so for each of the server I mentioned Monitoring server, DNS and DHCP servers, we will be keeping 3 different hardware computers, and on each one, we will install a different server.

You can understand that we are keeping 3 hardware servers, for applications that probably will not even use all of the hardware PC/Server resources it will be installed on, and we will be wasting valuable resources, and of course, it occupies more space on our server room (3 servers take more space than one).

Virtual servers enable us to reduce cost, be more efficient, configure the exact resources and image requires for proper function and be more efficient by maximizing the use of one hardware server, with multiple solutions on one machine.

Virtual server as a reliable backup system: When we install instances/images (each instance represents a different server on a virtual machine), we can define a schedule that will save the instance snapshot or a full exported file of the whole instance.

This enables to restore into a previous snapshot, in case we caused damage to the server, or restore the image fully, in case it is malfunctioning and we can’t use it anymore, so we restore from the last exported image (which is a stored file of the whole operating system with everything on it), a process that can take around 30 minutes maybe less, depends on the size of the server and how much was installed. This saves the whole re-installation process from scratch, and re-deploy of all the necessary applications, and their configuration to make them run, as the original server

did.

Anyone who uses NORTON GHOST to keep a whole computer image backup knows how simple it makes the restore operating and of course saves time and the headache of needing to re-install re-configure everything from scratch.

These are the most important benefits of using a virtual server, and I would have to say that you will need at least one virtual server on an organization just to enable a flexible environment for IT to use, in case a quick server needs to be deployed for a very urgent project.

• Microsoft Virtual Server
• Windows 7 – Virtual PC
• VMware server

A Dedicated server, means that you are dedicating a server only for your purposes. This server is not shared with anyone else, and it’s resources are only for your use and purposes. Mostly what you get from a hosting service is servers as part of the same machines (same hardware) where you get a set of resources as you define them, and they might be a part of a stronger machine, where you get only a part of it, and that machine might serve other servers, and other resources.

The Dedicated server means that you get to decide what operating system it will have, which type of hardware etc… which means this is your server, a complete machine only for you, and all of its resources are dedicated to your purpose and the server services you intended for it. That is what a dedicated server is.

Dedicated e-mail server: E-mail servers became very important servers, as e-mails became one of the most important communication technique used by many. Since e-mails are being used both by regular home users, and of course by companies, the resources required from an e-mail server that serves a huge amount of users simultaneously, it require a great deal of resources to be able to cope with such traffic and load. Creating a dedicated e-mail server, serves that purpose, making sure all of the resources of the server are focused to serve the e-mail server requirements. That way the e-mail server is keeping it services at high availability and performance all the time. The control of the whole resources are in your hands.

The dedicated e-mail server can be either a dedicated Exchange server, or a dedicated Zimbra server (based on Linux), as long as the dedicated server is configured completely for those purposes, to keep the dedicated e-mail server at its best performance at all times.

Dedicated game server: Game servers are usually machines that can cope with many requests at the same time. When gamers want to play online games, they usually connect to a server hosting those online games, such a server if it will be a dedicated game server, it will be able to cope with all of the enormous amount of traffic, as many online gamers all around the world, get online and use it’s resources to run their game application.

Since a distant gamer connects to the server and gets the game application resources from the server he connects to, that server needs to be able to cope with the processing capabilities of a graphical game requirements, including very fast graphic cards, that can process all those amazing graphics, computer games have today. So a dedicated game server for that purpose is what you will need, that way you will have the full control over what and where to adjust the resources from the game servers to be able to adjust the setting in such way, that your computer online game, will work perfectly for all participants.

Dedicated collocation server: The collocation server is actually a collocation center. This means that this server is a type of a “Data Center” that enables multiple connections, at a cost benefit way. The idea is multiple servers share resources and data center infrastructure using large scaled powerful machines. This powerful machines enable best performance and less latency, that enable businesses to focus on their business instead of the high performance network problems. Making sure this collocation server is a dedicated one, enables the full control I mentioned before and of course the full use of all of the resources.

Collocation Hosting Places:
•    http://www.nyi.net/colocation.html
•    http://www.ubiquityservers.com/
•    http://www.colocationamerica.com/
•    http://utropicmedia.net/

Here are some places where you can get a dedicated server hosted:
•    Eukhost
•    Hivelocity
•    Bodhost

Microsoft servers have been a great addition to the business world, and many companies have used them to improve their business control and efficiency. The Microsoft server world was built on the main servers, which were the Server 2003 replaced by the Server 2008 version, with the Microsoft exchange server for using e-mails and the Microsoft SQL server, for Database use.

Those main servers have built the base for a whole organizational network infrastructure where all of the company’s employees could get their whole services out of the same Microsoft environment and developers could use the Microsoft Visual Studio (which is now at version 2010) to develop applications for the same Microsoft network environment.

The Microsoft server 2008 includes more technologies to enable IT, professionals, to increase reliability, stability and flexibility for their servers infrastructure and enable the control needed for managing the organization’s needs. This system includes Virtualization tools, enhanced management and great integration with the Windows 7 operating system (as it is the OS system designated for the client computers on the network, replacing the Windows XP and Windows Vista versions).

This version is also cost-benefit and provides a more efficient data center. The IIS (Internet information system) is more advanced at version 7.5, better updates system, Hyper-V platforms, and window PowerShell version 2.0 to enable better control for customers, increasing efficiency and availability pushing performance to the front line of businesses today.

Summarizing the Microsoft Server 2008 platform is saying it is the most efficient and solid server system by Microsoft, more reliable, stronger, and efficient. Businesses that were using the previous version, should upgrade and get more efficient ways to conduct their business.

The SQL Server by Microsoft is one of the best-enhanced databases out there. This Microsoft SQL server now at version 2008, is stronger and more efficient than it predecessors. The database delivers the same reliability and flexibility needed by programmers/developers and much more. Microsoft developers have grown to love the flexibility this database enables, to create whatever is needed by their programs.

The Microsoft SQL Server has proved that it can contain a large amount of data, and process it with an efficiency that is so required by large organizations. Large companies, with even 1000’s of employees require efficiency, and performance for their applications. Since most of the programs who compute and store a large amount of data need to perform quickly and efficiently the Microsoft SQL server delivers that requirement, and Microsoft keeps updating and improving this great database system.

The Microsoft Exchange server system, is one of the most common ones, for large enterprises. This is a communication system that is cost-effective and flexible. Which can deal with the enormous amount of communication and data being transferred by large organizations? This system is one of the best in the market (again for large companies), it might not fit smaller companies who wants to save on spending a large amount of expense on a mail server.

For large organizations, this is the system to have. It grew much since it began, and got more reliable, more efficient and its performance got better.
Like any system developed there are always things you might find irritating, but in global, this system has improved greatly, and when used by a professional who got to know all of its techniques, and organization can soundly sleep knowing the system works, and the communication will be received and delivered on time.

Summarizing the Microsoft main servers systems, we have to acknowledge that Microsoft has proved that their system is the best as a whole package, and they keep improving them, to enable large organizations to feel at home and trust that the systems will deliver when it counts.

The Microsoft commerce server was designed to simplify and assist e-commerce (Electronic Commerce) solutions, which include buying and selling of products or services using electronic systems, over the internet or over a computer network. Since there are many businesses that conduct their businesses online as the Internet became a huge platform for reaching almost everyone, a good simple effective e-commerce solution became needed.

The target audience of such systems are either clients or businesses, so a solution that knows how to address those market transactions and enable the control, management, transaction tracking and administration was needed by the market, and the Microsoft commerce server provided the solution for that need.

What is the Microsoft commerce server? well, it is part of the Share-point package by Microsoft, which includes web parts that provide a WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) for business people and web designers.

The tools included in a commerce server are Orders & inventory, Catalog, Marketing, Profile, Other components that assist the system.

Orders & Inventory: This system enables order tracking and can also open to connect to other inventory tracking systems, so you will be able to collect all of the Inventory changes and be updated at all times. The system can update you on low inventory according to the definition of minimal quantities and enable stock updates on time. The system also uses Microsoft SQL Server analytics to create proper reports and product sales statistics.

Catalog: Company that wants to sell products, usually creates a catalog of products to show the customers, so they can have a list of products to choose from. The Microsoft commerce server enables the creation of catalogs, divided into categories and a connection to other products that are being tracked by a commerce server. The system uses a configurable meta-data system that enables the server to address any transaction scenario that might occur.

Marketing: The hardest thing to do in sales, in my opinion, is the marketing part of the sale. How to reach the customers, how to appeal to their needs, and convince them to purchase your products, why should they purchase your products? The Microsoft commerce server enables the one of the most important tool needed by marketing people, which is to track the marketing tasks and it is using a promotion management tool for web marketing management that tracks online advertising and the commerce server manager can control all of the marketing ads and set the rules that set the proper conditions needed from each ad.

Profile: The profile system of the Microsoft commerce server enable shopper tracking, and tailor website designs and purposes according to shopper needs and the proper promotion presentation that fit the individual shopper.

Other components: The other components are tools included in the background and assist the commerce server to become what it is. The Microsoft commerce server includes data warehouse analytic, which creates reports, based on the Microsoft SQL server analytics module. It also includes CSS (Commerce server staging) system, which automates the deployment of dynamic active content across websites and some say the performance of the CSS feature is one of the best in the market today. The Biz-talk adapters also are included in this commerce server which integrates with the Microsoft BizTalk for organizational data manipulation.

Summarizing this article: When you consider including a full e-commerce system, you might want to check the Microsoft commerce server. Check it out it might be the solution you where looking for.

Cisco Systems is a huge company that has shaped the face of communication and networking in organizations since 1984. There is almost no organization that doesn’t have at least one of Cisco’s equipment like their Cisco routers, switches, security managers, load balance appliances, VOIP, etc…

I chose this article to go over three of its services, the FTP, VPN, and Terminal Server. I will describe those services, some configurations, and other valuable information.

Cisco FTP – Every router has its own CLI (Command Line Interface), set of commands that let a developer/user configure the device. The software is used on most of the Cisco Devices is called an IOS (Internetwork Operating System) – that is included in Cisco’s routing, switching, internetworking and telecommunications functions.

It seemed that the Cisco FTP service wasn’t a successful feature being used within Cisco devices, and eventually, it has been removed from Cisco’s devices and Cisco created software FTP servers that are mostly used on the Windows operating systems.
There was a notion that the Cisco IOS FTP feature was a hacker backdoor, and became a security hazard since the “startup-

config” file of the Cisco devices was accessible by unauthorized users, and Cisco offered to remove the FTP feature from their IOS to prevent that from happening.

Enable FTP server in Cisco IOS:
To enable the FTP server in the Cisco IOS, use the Ftp-Server Enable configuration command and then setting the Ftp-Server topdir directory command which sets the top-level FTP directory (like Flash). The users and passwords are being configured in the local user-name user/password configuration commands.

Some Examples:

• This Article shows some Cisco PIX Advanced features and attacks guards. (FTP mode passive).
• How to test Cisco IOS FTP Server Multiple Vulnerabilities. Cisco IOS Ftp service is being exploited by hackers, even to the point of DOS (Denial-of-Service).

Cisco Terminal Server – We can configure a Cisco router as a terminal server. This will enable us to reach any of the other Cisco routers on the network, in case we need to configure each and every one of them from one external station. Also, the Cisco terminal server ability enables us to reach other servers on the network, for maintenance from a distance.

You can read another more technical way for “Configuring a Cisco router as a terminal server”. Cisco terminal server devices are the 2509 and 2511 models and the configuration, in general, enable each line to get a specific port, so you can access the end device directly using the proper port number.

Some other links:

• Connecting via a Cisco Terminal Server
• Cisco IOS SSH Terminal Server
• Cisco Terminal Server with ‘Menu’ command
• Configuring Terminal Operating Characteristics for Dial-In Sessions

Cisco VPN server – There are two sides of the Cisco VPN, the first one is the Cisco VPN server, the second one is the Cisco VPN client (mostly installed on Windows OS some on MAC OS).

The Cisco server-side requires only enabling VPN access and setting the users and password (without getting into specifics). Then you can use the Cisco VPN client to get the login credentials. You place the correct user and password and you’re in, getting the access privileges that were defined for you (what is allowed to access and what is not allowed).

• Cisco VPN Client – link2
• http://www1.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/
• Configuring a Cisco VPN concentrator as a remote-access VPN server
• Cisco Router as a Remote VPN Server using SDM – Link2
• Connect to a Cisco VPN server from Mac OS Snow Leopard
• How-To: Connect to a Cisco VPN with vpnc – From Linux

I hope this will give you some grasp on these Cisco features, and how to set things up.

When we need to place a server in a hosting farm, so it will serve clients and be available all the time and of course safe from harm, but we do not want to spend too much money on it. We need to find affordable options that will still work, and be cost-effective.

There are different types of 1U rack-mount servers some are very strong to suit heavy-duty servers that need to serve many clients and most likely will cost a huge sum of money. We can also find some who are not as strong but still can get the job done and be also cost-effective and affordable.

There are two options to store a dedicated server:

1. Purchase the 1U server yourself and then:

• a.    Host it on a hosting farm
• b.    Host it in your own company’s server’s room.

2. Purchase a server from a Hosting Farm from one of these options:

• a.    Hosting place near your location
• b.    Hosting place anywhere in the world

So what are our options to get an affordable dedicated server? Well, I made a list of websites that centralize a list of hosting websites that you can use so review and make your decision on which website suit you best.

When registering a server in any type of hosting, you need to know what to expect – the basics are:

You Provide:

• a.    You need to order the server you need with the proper configuration that suits your server needs (CPU, Memory (RAM) needed, hard-disk Capacity etc…).
• b.    You need to provide/choose the OS you need installed on the server.
• c.    Which services it requires as basic (if you need SSH access to the Linux server or remote desktop for a Windows server etc…).
• d.    Define the security you need – basically, you will get a full close firewall, and until you will define which ports you need open from the outside, and from the inside, it will not be accessible.

You Receive:

• a.    You will need to receive from them an IP of your server (After it is set up).
• b.    User/Password – to access your server
• c.    Recommended: To get a chart of the Firewall rules they defined – they usually send it.

I did some research for you and found some websites that contain cheap hosting server lists, Read the reviews and comments of other users on those suggested hosting websites. Also, make sure you get the configuration you need for your servers.

1.    You can find a list of cheap web hosting servers at these links:

• http://b2evolution.net/web-hosting/budget-web-hosting-low-cost-lamp.php
• http://www.findmyhosting.com/
• http://www.hosting-review.com/

2.    Here is a list of the Top 10 Affordable hosting companies:

• http://www.hosting-review.com/hosting-directory/top-10-lists/Top-10-Affordable-Hosting-Companies.shtml

3.    Here is a list of basic hosting websites:

• http://reviews.cnet.com/Basic_hosting/7026-6541_7-0.html

4.    This is a list of “dedicated hosting” – you will be able to see it is more expensive, usually:

• http://reviews.cnet.com/Dedicated_servers/7026-6544_7-0.html

Dedicated servers are usually being used on hosting farms. The Dedication part means that the server is solely yours, and the definitions you require for it, like bandwidth, security, resources and other configurations that you have requested, will be dedicated to you, so you will always have them available.

This is important when the server has special features that need to be kept at all times, like a constant bandwidth that is always available at a certain capacity, so no bottleneck will be created. This is useful when the server is serving many clients at the same time.

Dedicated servers include redundant solutions for electricity, for databases, SQL server applications and management for them, which warn in case of problems, network issues or server down situations. Such solutions are mostly available for Windows or Linux operating system servers.

The dedicated managed servers are usually 1U Rack servers, (I prefer the DELL server hardware) and they do not include desktop components. They are much secured for websites or SQL databases and you can customize them to any of your requirements.

The dedicated servers are usually blade servers that enable scalable and redundant solutions to be able to guarantee reliability and the ability to grow in case it is required.

Dedicated servers can support Linux distributions like Red-Hat, CentOS, Debian, Fedora or Windows Servers 2006, 2008, Microsoft SQL Server 2000, 2005 or Microsoft Exchange server, ColdFusion application servers using management tools like cPanel, Plesk control panel or the DotNetPanel.

You can register your servers on a local hosting farm, or anywhere in the world, at any hosting just make sure you read the terms agreement carefully to make sure you get all of those guarantees and reliability with your dedicated servers.

You will need to define, the bandwidth you need, the hard-disk capacity allocation requirements, the memory (RAM) you require and CPU needs (2 Processors (Duo) or 4 Processors (Quad)) and the kind of dedication server you require – if it’s a Dell server or HP or whatever the hosting offers and you find suitable.

Here are some examples of Dedicated hosting server links:

• http://b2evolution.net/about/linux-dedicated-servers-web-hosting.php

• http://www.hostgator.com/dedicated.shtml

• http://www.webhostingsearch.com/dedicated-server.php

• https://www.webstuff.co.il/home.asp?lang=english&

• http://www.layeredtech.com/

When we want to use one of the U family servers, to host on our communication cabinet (usually not for private use – unless you have placed a communication cabinet at your home  ), you need to consider a couple of variables in order to understand exactly what type of server do you need and for what purpose. How strong the server needs to be (CPU power, Memory), capacity of hard-disks, how resistant should it be? (Does it need a RAID controller? So how many hard-disks do we need?).

The communication cabinets which U servers are being placed into are also called rack-mount. The reason is that the computers are being stacked up one on the other, mounted into the shelves of the communication cabinet creating a rack of servers.

The decision procedures on how to assess the server we need are:

1. The main decision should be what is the purpose of the server?
2. Who will be the designated audience and how many will be using the server at the same time?
3. What types of services are going to run on it, and how strong in terms of processing and memory does it need. (CPU needs – dual core, quad core, 2.4 MHZ etc… and RAM, 4GB, 8GB, 32GB etc…).
4. Total hard-disk capacity needed, expected storage needs according to use. What type of RAID controller does it requires and how many disks are needed – storage capacity.
5. How much do we want to spend on hosting our server on a hosting farm, money wise.

• When we use all of those basic features that define the server, then we can choose what type of server we need, and how large it will be. Each U (height) of the server will usually cost us extra money to host, since each U space is being charged by the hosting farm.

Well, now we know what type of server we need, so all we have to do is decide which server type and model we want that fits our requirements.

We probably will want a brand (A known company manufacturer like DELL, IBM, HP etc…) type of a server. I like the Dell Power-Edge models, but you can choose which server you prefer and compare prices between one to the other, to make your best choice.

Places where you can buy and choose U servers are:

• DELL Power-Edge Servers
• HP Integrity System Family
• HP Integrity Server Blades
• HP ProLiant Servers
• IBM Rack-Mount Servers

There are different reasons for why we might want to build our own web server at home. Some might be that we just want to be able to place our own information on the internet, some might be that we want to be able to access information from our home computer at all times and from anywhere. We can use the webserver to show our shared directory, to include information, movies, documents, and any other information that we place on our own web server, which is ours and we can do with it whatever we want.

What do we need to do to establish our own web server at home? How much should it cost us? What type of communication and network do we need to configure? I will answer all of those questions and you will discover it’s not that hard to do. The building of our own web server shouldn’t cost us money, especially if we already have a computer, we can use a Linux based server with Apache on it, and we have a web

You might say, hey I am using windows, and I would still want to use windows, so my answer is – “Virtual Server“. We can host a virtual server on our Microsoft windows computer, and install on that VMware server – the Linux operating system we want to use as our home web server or we can just create a partition and install on that partition that web server, and just load into the Linux operating system, and let that run always, so the webserver will be online and accessible from the outside at all time.server alive and kicking.

I will explain how to install a Linux based webserver here in a bit, but first, let’s just understand the network configuration we need to establish to make it work like any other web server on the internet.

What we need are:

1. Computer – any PC will do (Linux operating system doesn’t require much).
2. Installed a Linux operating system with Apache.
3. Request a constant IP from our ISP. (So we will have a permanent IP to host our web server – since it has to be always up, and without a constant IP, our home IP changes regularly, and we won’t be able to access it).
4. This is not a MUST – we can buy a domain – (we can access our home web server using the constant IP, but it might be either nicer to access it using our own domain name which is easier to remember instead of remembering an IP number, or if we want our home web server to be a real server on the outside, we will need a domain, so it will be included in the internet world as a regular websites do.

Installing a Linux based Web Server:

• Install a Linux operating system, You can download the Linux operating system (I prefer Ubuntu) from here (for a web server – no GUI is needed):
  Desktop Edition: (Including the GUI) at http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download
  Server Edition: (No GUI by default) at http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download-server

• After installation – perform these two commands, to get the Ubuntu repository updated and upgraded.
  * apt-get update
  * apt-get upgrade

• Install Apache2: The instructions are as follows:
  * apt-get install apache2
  |
  ** the root directory of apache to place the website files is /var/www/

• If you want to use PHP, you can install it by using:
  * apt-get install php5 libapache2-mod-php5

• If you are going to use a Database, then install the MySQL.
  * apt-get install MySQL-server libapache2-mod-auth-MySQL php5-MySQL

For those who are not web designers, you might consider using “DRUPAL“, like your web designer, it is a nice tool, that with a bit of study, you can have a web-server up and running in no time (well in a short time). You can get all the info you need on Drupal, in the below website, install it, and learn a bit on how to configure it, and your all done.

http://drupal.org/

Active Directory is a package designed by Microsoft to manage an organizational network, this package is using different tools to organize and manage the corporate network. Basically before we get into specifics, the Active Directory is creating a managerial environment, where all of the network clients (end users) are connected to it, and anyone who connects to it is registered and monitored by the Active Directory system. That enables it, to manage the end users, what they are allowed to do, what they can’t, which resources will be available to whom. It creates groups and give those groups policies (group of rules) which binds that group into those rules, and every end user that is defined within this group is bind by it rules, and accordingly can or can’t do things within the network.

The Active Directory, has been built inside the windows servers (server 2003, 2008) and the Active Directory is it’s source of organization. Anyone who connects to the server is actually connected to the Active Directory, and through that can use the network resources, as defined in the Active Directory rules.

So how does it work ?
The tools that Active Directory uses, are the LDAP (lightweight directory access protocol) which is basically a library service. There is the authentication protocol based on Kerberos (authentication protocol for client/server services that enables connection and communication using secret encrypted codes over the internet), then there is the DNS (domain name system, which translate names like website addresses into IP addresses) and finally the group enforcement, making sure the group rules are working properly.

The Active Directory has a Physical aspect which includes a database that is residing on DC (DomainControllers), those DCs can do various operations and purposes, or the same operation for redundancy and loading performance and separations, where each change in domain is replicated using a replication mechanism, to the other domains and of course updating the whole organization accordingly. The Logical aspect of it is hierarchical concepts, like a pyramid, the higher structure is a forest, which is containing trees which resemble a collection of DCs. The forest is actually any object on the network, anything connected to it, and the rules apply using that hierarchy.

Each object on the network is an “Entity” and each entity has its own definitions which divides into 3 types: resources, services & users. Every object has it’s unique GUID (ID), which identifies against the library (the LDAP) and that is how it gets identified.

This is the basic operation of the Active Directory. It’s use and functionality is to centralize manage all of the computerized resources in the organization. The policy can be implemented using a management tool called GPO (group policy) which can manage the policies given to different groups in the organization’s network.

This whole concept enable the network administrator to obtain control over the whole network from one computer (DC) and  to define what type of desktop will a user have, which directories he can access, what tools he can use etc…

What is “Rack-mount“, this is a subject that relates to communication cabinets, those huge rooms with lots of computers. Those computers are being placed in those cabinets, and since we would like to load a maximum number of computers per space, there are Rack-mount computers, exactly for that purpose.

These computers are formed in very thin form, which is sized as U’s, 1U, 2U, 5U etc… The U stands for a number of slots the computer occupies, 1U for 1 slot. A slot is the drawer the computer slides into. What you do is connect to the sizes of the computer tracks which locks into the cabinet’s tracks, so you can slide the computer forward toward you, in case you need to maintain it, and slide it back into place to place it back to its permanent position.

Those U computers (Rack Unit) are usually much more expensive, mostly because of their ability to fit into a communication cabinet, and because their technology is different from the regular standing computers we know of, those who we placed at home, or near our office station. They are built in such way that enables all of the parts to fit into a smaller space, in order for them to fit into those communication cabinet drawers.

Another big benefit for Rack-mount computers is that those are huge computers, which can contain many hard-disk drivers, many CPUs, they are huge processing machines and for the businesses who needs a lot of processing power, these are the computers you need. That is why such computers are being placed in computer rooms, at communication cabinets in hosting places that have huge cooled controlled rooms, with UPSs units that can keep these type of very important servers online at all times.

The most cost effective computer servers to place in a hosting place, are the 1U units, since they catch little place at the hosting farm, and if you need a well kept server at high availability, a hosting farm is what you need.

U servers,

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